English Language Arts Test III

Read this article. Then answer questions

this excerpt is based on a true story about a boy named William Kamkwamba who lives in Malawi, Africa. is region had suffered a long, terrible drought that caused crop failure and famine.

Excerpt from Winds of Hope
by Katy Duffield

1. William hoped that life could now return to normal. He’d worked hard to pass the exams to enter high school. When the term began, however, William’s father explained that, because of the drought, there was no money to pay his school fees. It appeared
   that William’s education would end at eighth grade.
2. Though he could not attend school, William still wanted to learn. He was curious
   about many things. He took apart radios, trying to discover how they made music. One day, turning a bicycle upside down and cranking the pedals by hand, he figured out that the dynamo that generated electricity for the headlight could be wired to power a radio instead. He asked how gasoline made cars run and how CDs stored songs. No one
   knew, or even cared much about his questions.
3. Some days, William visited the village library. It had only three shelves, but William found books that interested him—science books about how things worked. William would check out Explaining Physics or Integrated Science, plop under a mango tree,
   and pore over the drawings and diagrams inside. Since his English was not very good,
   he often looked up words in the dictionary or asked the librarian. He wondered if something in these books might be useful to his family.
4. One day, while looking for a dictionary on the bottom shelf, he found a book he
   hadn’t seen before pushed behind the others. It was an American school textbook
   called Using Energy. On the book’s cover was a picture of a row of windmills, tall steel towers with blades spinning like giant fans. ey reminded William of the toy
   pinwheels he’d made with his friends.
5. From this book William learned that wind—something of which Malawi had
   plenty—could produce electricity. William was delighted! Only two percent of the
   houses in Malawi have electricity. Aer the sun sets, everyone stops what they’re doing, brushes their teeth, and goes to sleep—at seven in the evening! If William could build a windmill, his family could have lights in their home. And a windmill could be used to pump water to irrigate the family’s maize fields. If another drought came, the windmill could provide the water for life.
6. William could picture in his mind the windmill he wanted to build, but collecting the parts and tools he needed would take months. In a junkyard across from the high school, William dug through piles of twisted metal, rusted cars, and worn-out tractors, searching for anything that might help him construct his machine. He took a ring of ball bearings from an old peanut grinder and the cooling fan from a tractor engine. Cracking open a shock absorber, he removed the steel piston inside. He made four-foot-long blades from plastic pipe, which he melted over a fire, flattened out, and stiffened with bamboo poles.
7. Earning some money loading logs into a truck, he paid a welder to attach the piston to the pedal sprocket of an old bicycle frame. is would be the axle of the windmill. When the wind blew, the rotating blades would turn the bicycle wheel, like someone pedaling, and spin a small dynamo. Although he had no money for a dynamo, a friend came to the rescue and bought one from a man in the road, right off his bike.
8. Village kids laughed at William when they saw him scrounging in the scrap yard.They called him misala, which means crazy. But William was too focused on his idea to care.
9. When he had collected all the parts, William took them out of the corner of his bedroom, laid them outside in the shade of an acacia tree, and began putting them together. Since he did not have a drill to make bolt holes, he shoved a nail through a maize cob, heated it in the fire, then pushed its point through the plastic blades. He bolted the blades to the tractor fan, using washers he’d made from bottle caps. Next he pushed the fan onto the piston welded to the bicycle frame. With the help of his two best friends, William built a 16-foot-tall tower from trunks of blue gum trees and hoisted the ninety-pound windmill to the top.
10. Shoppers, farmers, and traders could see William’s tower from the local market. They came in a long line to find out what the “crazy” boy was up to. “What is it?” they all asked.
11. Since there is no word for “windmill” in Chichewa, the language of Malawi, William answered with the phrase magetsi a mphepo—“electric wind.” From the top of the tower he explained that, by using the power of wind, his machine could create electricity. No one believed him.
12. William knew this was his moment—his moment to show everyone he wasn’t crazy, to find out if his experiment would work. He connected two wires from the dynamo to a light socket he’d made from a reed and that held a small bulb. As the wind whipped around him, he removed the bent spoke he’d jammed into the wheel to lock it. en he held his breath. . . .
13. The blades began to turn, slowly at first, then faster and faster. The light bulb flickered, then flashed to life. e crowd cheered from below. “Wachitabwina! Well done!”
14. A month later William found enough wire to reach from the windmill into his house. His family crowded around to marvel as the small bulb lit up in William’s room. Reading Explaining Physics by its light, he stayed up long after others had gone to bed.
15. In 2006, a school inspector saw the windmill and informed his head office. William’s machine now powered four lights and two radios in his house. He’d added a storage battery with homemade switches and a circuit breaker. He also recharged village cell phones.
16. Soon William was being interviewed on the radio and photographed for the newspapers. The story of the boy with only an eighth-grade education who’d built
    “electric wind” spread across the Internet.

1. How do paragraphs 2 and 3 develop a central idea in the article?

2. What does the phrase “pore over” mean as it is used in paragraph 3?

3. Paragraph 6 develops the author’s central claim by showing that William

4. Which sentence best describes the relationship between William and the people who doubted him?

5. In paragraph 14, what does the word “marvel” suggest?

6. Which quotation shows an effect of success on William’s life?

7. Based on the information in the article, which of the following is most likely the author’s point of view?

Read this story. Then answer questions

The narrator, Holling Hoodhood, has a crush on Meryl Lee Kowalski. Holling’s father has been honored earlier in the story by a local business group as the best businessman of 1967.

Excerpt from The Wednesday Wars
by Gary D. Schmidt

1. The following week the school board met to decide on the model for the new junior high school—which was probably why Mr. Kowalski had been spending all his time muttering “classical, classical, classical.” the meeting was to be at four o’clock in the
   high school administration building. Mr. Kowalski would present his plan and model, and then my father would present his plan and model, and then the school board
   would meet in private session to decide whether Kowalski and Associates or Hoodhood and Associates would be the architect for the new junior high school.
2. I know all of this because my father was making me come. It was time I started to learn the business, he said. I needed to see firsthand how competitive bidding worked. I needed to experience architectural presentations. I needed to see architecture as the blood sport that it truly was. . . .
3. The meeting was in the public conference room, and when I got there after school,
   the school board members were all sitting at the head table, studying the folders with architectural bids. Mr. Kowalski and my father were sitting at two of the high school desks—which made the whole thing seem a little weirder than it needed to be. In front
   of them was a long table with two models for the new junior high school, each one covered with a white sheet, like they were some sort of national secret. . . .
4. Mr. Kowalski picked up his presentation notes and angled out of his seat. He went
   up to the table with the models and stood there for a moment. then he turned and looked at—no, not my father. At me! . . .
5. Mr. Kowalski cleared his throat. Twice. He looked at his design papers. He cleared
   his throat. then he looked back at me once more, and began.
6. “Gentlemen,” he said, “though this is irregular, I have made some significant changes for the interior of the new junior high since my original submission. In fact the entire concept has changed markedly. So the plans that you studied for this afternoon’s presentation have also changed. I have copies of the new interior plan and ask the board’s patience as I show you the concept. This may take slightly longer than the allotted time, but I’m sure that the Chamber of Commerce Businessman of 1967 won’t begrudge Kowalski and Associates a few extra minutes in order to clarify the proposal, and to promote the general business atmosphere of the town.” . . .
7. What could the Chamber of Commerce Businessman of 1967 do? He shrugged and nodded. But the back of his neck grew as red as boiling sin, and I knew he did begrudge the extra time. He begrudged it a whole lot.
8. Mr. Kowalski pulled the sheet off his model of the junior high school. He cleared his throat again. “As you can see, gentlemen,” said Mr. Kowalski, “the design is quite classical, in the best traditions of our national architecture, for a time when our children desperately need to be reminded of our great American traditions.”
9. And it was. It looked like the Capitol in Washington, D.C. Wide steps swooped up past a line of pillars and up to the central doors. Above that rose a steep dome, with thin windows cut all around it. On either side of the dome, the building spread graceful wings—all with thin windows again—and behind, the long gymnasium formed the tail, whose rows of bright windows faced south and north to let in as much light as any gymnasium could ever have.
10. “But we live in 1978, gentlemen,” Mr. Kowalski said. “Just as our children need to be reminded of our great traditions, so, too, do they need to enjoy the advantages of contemporary technology. I think you’ll find the new interior design both modern and innovative, a perfect blend of where we have been and where we are going as a nation.” He handed out copies of the plans for the new design to all the school board members, keeping his back to my father and me the whole time. then he took us through the new interior. Slowly.
11. No pillars, no straight walls. The roof a series of glass plates above the science and art room. The central dome three stories high over the main lobby and clusters of classrooms all looking out into the sunlit space. All as modern as could be. . . .
12. Thee school board was astounded. Three of them applauded—not Mr. Bradbrook, since God doesn’t applaud.
13. My father turned and looked at me again. His face was very red, and I could tell he was fighting for some kind of control. “Holling, there’s something you should have told me, isn’t there?” he whispered slowly. . . .
14. He used the kind of voice that, in my family, means that a voice a whole lot louder is about to come along in a minute or two, so you’d better start preparing.
15.  But let me tell you, I didn’t really care all that much about what he would say or how loudly he would say it. I really didn’t.
16. Because suddenly I knew something a whole lot worse.
17. Romeo was a genius compared to me.
18. I hadn’t seen at all what Meryl Lee was doing on Valentine’s Day, while we were sipping sodas at the lunch counter at Woolworth’s. I hadn’t realized how easily she had gotten what she wanted from me: my father’s design for the new junior high.

8. What role do paragraphs 1 through 3 mainly play in the story?

9. In paragraph 6, “markedly” means doing something in

10. How does the word choice in paragraphs 9 and 11 affect the story?

11. How do paragraphs 4 and 5 connect to what the reader learns in paragraph 18?

12.What do paragraphs 15 through 18 reveal about Holling?

13. How does the author develop Holling’s point of view in the story?

14. Which detail about Mr. Kowalski and Mr. Hoodhood would be most important to include in a summary of the story?

Read this article. Then answer questions

Antarctica’s Hidden Wetland: 
From Ice to E.T.
by Mary Reina

1. A huge lake hides miles below the ice sheet that covers most of Antarctica. That’s big news for anyone interested in Earth. But scientists who look beyond our planet are excited too. Astronomers see signs of thick sheets of ice covering large bodies of liquid water in other places in our solar system.
2. This unseen world on our own planet could help scientists search for life beyond Earth. This possibility makes Antarctica one of the most valuable environments on Earth. At least, that’s how scientists view it now.
   Unlikely in the Extreme
3. For a long time, most scientists didn’t think liquid water could exist under Antarctica’s ice cover. Water freezes at 32°F/0°C. A research station called Vostok is located on top of a thick Antarctic ice sheet. Scientists there once recorded the surface temperature as –128.6°F/–89°C.
4. In the 1950s, Andrei Kapitsa, a Russian scientist working at Vostok, noticed something strange. A formation of very flat ice stretched over the research area. He believed it was a clue suggesting a body of liquid water existed below the ice.
5. Then, in the 1970s, planes equipped with more advanced equipment offered new information. As part of a mapping project, pilots used ground-penetrating radar over the Vostok station. the data suggested the planes were flying over water. Even then, scientists did not fully realize that an amazing liquid world was hidden beneath the ice. Finally, in 1996, satellite technology revealed the shape of a huge subglacial lake.
6. Lake Vostok is about 140 miles (225 kilometers) long. It is about 30 miles
   (50 kilometers) wide and the water in the lake reaches as much as 2,625 feet
   (800 meters) deep. Such an immense size makes this lake one of the largest in the world. What had seemed impossible turned out to be true.
   Signs of Life? 
7. In addition to Lake Vostok, scientists found a huge system of rivers and almost 400 lakes hidden below the Antarctic ice. this could be the largest wetland in the world, as much as one and a half times the size of the United States.
8. While some scientists mapped out these hidden lakes on Earth, others were discovering ice-covered environments elsewhere in the solar system. During the 1990s, the Galileo spacecraft flew by the planet Jupiter and its moons. It sent back photographs suggesting that an ocean exists below the surface of the ice-covered moon called Europa.
9. As time went on, more research provided new possibilities. Other moons of Jupiter and Saturn seemed to be worlds where thick, icy shells surround large bodies of liquid water.
10. Could life exist in such an extreme environment? It certainly seems unlikely. As with the discovery of Lake Vostok, the clues for scientists seeking life pointed in “unlikely” directions. Most life on Earth depends on sunlight. How could sunlight penetrate an ice cover thousands of feet deep? Living things also depend on nutrients to grow. Where would these come from? Scientists wondered how nutrients could enter a system that has been cut off from the world above for millions of years. What’s more, they knew that any kind of life in this extreme environment would have to survive tons and tons of pressure from the ice above.
11. Yet, in the deep ocean, some life forms exist without sunlight. their nutrients come from the chemicals that rise through the ocean floor from deep inside the Earth. these creatures have developed qualities that allow them to thrive under the weight of tons of water.
12. Could living things with similar abilities exist in Antarctica’s subglacial wetland? If they do, life might also be possible in the icy moons of the outer solar system.
    Looking for Proof
13. First, scientists needed to obtain and test water samples from Antarctica’s hidden world. It was easier said than done. Antarctica’s extreme cold and short summer season permits only a few months of research each year. Even then, drilling into the ice posed another big problem.
14. Drilling technology uses chemicals like kerosene and Freon to help melt the ice, make a borehole, and keep it open. If the drill penetrated the lake, the chemicals could contaminate the water. this process could also introduce microbes from the surface into water that had been isolated from the rest of the world for millions of years.
15. Scientists had been drilling into the ice above Lake Vostok long before its discovery.The ice cores they obtained helped them study a record of Antarctica’s climate going back hundreds of thousands of years. Ice just above the lake showed signs of microscopic life. It was a clue but it was not proof.
16. A research team penetrated Lake Vostok in 2012. they used chemicals to melt the ice and to keep the borehole open. However, they believed they did not contaminate the lake because water rushed into the borehole and froze. The team removed the ice core to study it. However, many other scientists questioned this method.
17. In 2013, Lake Whillans, located in a different area of Antarctica, became the first subglacial lake where clean technology helped scientists obtain a water sample. Hot water and ultraviolet light helped sterilize the drills and equipment. Scientists wore sterile clothing so that they did not contaminate any water samples.
18. They found almost 4,000 types of microbes not only surviving but also thriving in Lake Whillans. Some seem to feed on the chemicals found in solid matter, called sediment, at the bottom of the lake. Others use the dead bodies of other microbes as food.
19. So far, scientists have found only single-celled microbes living in the few places where they have tested the subglacial water. More research and testing may help them discover if larger life forms survive in this extreme environment.

15. How does paragraph 3 relate to the other paragraphs in the section “Unlikely in the Extreme”?

16. What role does paragraph 8 play in the organization of the article?

17. How does paragraph 10 develop a central idea in the article?

18. How did scientists address the concern described in paragraph 14?

19. What is the meaning of the word “contaminate” as used in paragraphs 14 and 16?

20. According to the information in this article, which sentence describes how life was discovered beneath Antarctica?

21. Which sentence best shows the author’s point of view on the topic of the article?