Reading/Vocabulary READING FINAL EXAM Fall 2014Name: ______

Reading 1:

It is natural foranimalspeciesto become extinct, or die out, over millions of years. However, over the past 200 years, humans have caused the process to speed up. In recent years, the total number of animalsthat are dying out has increased from 5,205 to 5,435. In most cases this is a result of human activity. How are people accelerating, or speeding up, the process of animal extinction?

First of all, people threaten the survival of animals by decreasing their habitats, or living spaces. When human populations grow, urban areas also increase.This destroys fields and woods, and animals’ homes are destroyed. If the wild animals can’t find a place to live, they die out. Sixteen kinds of Hawaiian birds have already become extinct for this reason. Other animals, such as the Florida Key deer, may soon die out because they are losing their homes.

Overhunting is another way that humans are causing some animals to become extinct. In some places in the world, the parts of rare animals are worth a lot of money. For example some people will pay more than $1,000 for a single rhinoceros horn. This encourages hunters to kill rhinos even though the animal is almost extinct. Other animals that are threatened with extinction from overhunting include the blue whale, the mountain gorilla, and the cheetah.

Humans are also polluting the air, water, and soil. The effect of this dirty pollution on animal species can be veryharsh and complicated. For example, when factories dump waste into rivers, the rivers become polluted. The fish that live in the river become fatally poisoned. In addition, birds that eat the poisonedfish become poisoned themselves.

Finally, when humans introduce new species into certain environments, the animals that already live there become threatened and may become extinct. For example, when European settlers brought rabbits and foxes to Australia, they killed many native Australian animals, including the bandicoot. The rabbits and foxes adapted to the Australian environment very quickly and multiplied rapidly. This adaptation transformed the natural order of the wildlife, so now the bandicoots are struggling with extinction in their own land.

Reading 1 questions:

  1. In paragraph 5, what does the word they represent?
  2. native bandicoots
  3. European settlers
  4. native Australian animals
  5. rabbits and foxes
  1. What is the best title for this passage?
  2. Why Are Bandicoots Struggling?
  3. Is Extinction Caused By Overhunting?
  4. How Are Humans Victims?
  5. Why Do Some Animals Die Out?
  1. Which statement is NOT true?
  2. When human populations grow, rural areas increase.
  3. Fish that live in polluted riversdie.
  4. Hunters kill some animalsin order to sell valuable parts of the animals.
  5. Rabbits and foxes adapted to the Australian environment and multiplied rapidly.
  1. What is the correct order of the result of water pollution?
  2. fish die, rivers are polluted, birds are poisoned
  3. birds are poisoned, factories dump pollution, rivers arepolluted, fish die
  4. rivers are polluted, fish die, birds are poisoned, factories dump pollution
  5. factories dump pollution, rivers become polluted, fish die, birds are poisoned
  1. Animals threatened with extinction are:
  2. blue whales,rhinoceros, bandicoots,mountain gorillas
  3. Florida Key deer, rabbits, mountain gorillas, Hawaiian birds
  4. mountain gorillas, bandicoots, cheetahs, foxes
  5. rabbits, blue whales, bandicoots, Florida Key deer
  1. When wild animals can’t find a place to live, what happens?
  2. The air, water, and soil become polluted.
  3. The animals are overhunted.
  4. The animals become extinct.
  5. Adaptation transforms the natural order of life.
  1. Who or what is threatening the survival of wild animals?
  2. rabbits and foxes
  3. threatened animals
  4. European bandicoots
  5. humans
  1. How are animals being threatened?
  2. decreasing habitats, introduction of new species, polluted environments
  3. decreasing habitats, overhunting, spending thousands of dollars
  4. introduction of new species, moving to Australia, polluted environments
  5. fishing in rivers, decreasing habitats, introduction of new species
  1. What is one effect of environmental pollution?
  2. Rhinos are almost extinct.
  3. Overhunting causes extinction.
  4. Rivers become polluted.
  5. Many native Australian animals die.
  1. What is a possible synonym for the word species? Guess from context.
  2. kinds
  3. special
  4. survival
  5. processes

Why do people meditate? Meditation is not complicated to learn, and it is a beneficial way to reduce stress. Most people meditate simply because it makes you a happier and healthier person.

Meditation is not difficult to do. It is accessible for anyone. You don’t need any special equipment or place. You just sit with your eyes closed and think about only one thing. That one thing can be your own breathing, or it can be a certain word. If it’s a word, you repeat it again and again. You don’t move or think about anything else for ten to forty minutes. You don’t think about plans for the day, friends, family, or money problems. You stop thinking about the past, or the future, and think only about the present. This way, you become more peaceful. Because meditation is simple and beneficial, it has lasted throughout the ages.

People have known about the effects of meditation for a long time. In 3,000-2,000 B.C.E., people in India wrote about meditation. It was an important part of the Hindu and Buddhist religions. However, they weren’t the only ones. There were also Jewish, Christian, and Muslim people who practiced meditation. They all believed that it brought them closer to God.

In more recent times, some religious people in the United States became interested in Eastern religions, and they began to practice meditation. For other people in the U.S., however, meditation seemed strange and foreign. Then, in the 1960s, popular music stars such as the Beatles became interested in meditation. Other people followed them, and soon there were many courses and books about meditation.

Today, meditation is no longer just for religious people, and it no longer seems strange. It has become even more popular among Americans, for example. Over ten million Americans practice it at least once a week. Among those ten million people are students, football players, lawyers, doctors, businesspeople, and actors who have benefited from mediation.

All these people find that meditation gives them a better perspective on life. In fact, scientists have discovered that it can change the way people think. People who meditate frequently are more positive. They think less about the problems and negative things in their lives. Instead, they think about the good things. In general, they are more serene, feel happier with themselves, and are more optimistic about life.

Thinking positively through meditating is available to anyone.It is free, and it has no bad side effects. It has transformed people through its simplicity. Perhaps that is why meditation has been around for such a long time.

Reading 2 Questions:

1. The best title for this passage is:

  1. Meditation is Fun
  2. The Beatles and Meditation
  3. Meditation: Good for Blood Pressure
  4. Why Meditate?

2. Which word does NOT have a positive connotation?

  1. stress
  2. popular
  3. serene
  4. happier

3. This passage is mainly about

  1. religion and inspirational meditation.
  2. how to meditate.
  3. the beneficial effects of meditation.
  4. the history of meditation.

4. When you meditate, you think about

  1. only one thing.
  2. lots of things.
  3. your problems.
  4. the past.

5. In the United States today,

  1. only music and sports stars meditate.
  2. many different kinds of people meditate.
  3. people only meditate for religious reasons.
  4. mostly foreign people meditate.

6. Who used meditation many years ago?

  1. football players.
  2. businesspeople.
  3. sick people
  4. religious people

7. Which sentence is NOT true about people who meditate?

  1. Their brain changes.
  2. Their way of thinking changes.
  3. They feel happier about themselves.
  4. They think more about their problems.

8. Which sentence is NOT true about meditation?

  1. It reduces stress.
  2. It lowers blood pressure.
  3. It is hard to learn.
  4. It’s good for people’s health.

9. What is an antonym of positive?

  1. encouraging
  2. optimistic
  3. beneficial
  4. negative

10. What can you infer (logically guess) from the passage?

  1. People in India wrote about meditation thousands of years ago.
  2. Popular music stars such as the Beatles changed American’s perspective on mediation.
  3. Meditation has a lot of bad side effects.
  4. People of different religions have practiced meditation for many years.

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