How people, events and ideas affect each other

Grade 7 Reading Worksheet - Challenge Me

Circle the best answer.

1. Read this first

   The Lantern Walk Returns (article)

   [1] For forty years, the village of Hollin Reach held a lantern walk on the shortest day of winter, until the organizing committee dissolved and the walk stopped. [2] Last year a storm cut power to the village for two evenings in early December. [3] Residents lit candles and oil lamps, and many of them began to remember the old walk.

   [4] Retired teacher Beatrix Oyelaran, who had once carried the lead lantern, mentioned the walk at a neighborhood supper. [5] Her stories helped persuade a few younger residents to try reviving it. [6] They made paper lanterns with the help of a craft group and planned a short route around the green.

   [7] More than two hundred people came, which was far more than the organizers expected. [8] The turnout was partly due to the earlier blackout, since people had already been thinking about light and community. [9] It was also due to a local newspaper article that told the story of the old walk.

   [10] Impressed by the crowd, the village council set aside a small budget so the event could continue. [11] The newspaper's coverage and the council's budget together helped a new organizing committee form. [12] The success of the walk encouraged Beatrix to train younger volunteers to carry the lead lantern.

2. 1.

   Milo wants to trace the chain from the storm to the council's budget. Which choice does that?

   • The storm cut the power, then Beatrix mentioned the walk at a supper, then the lanterns were made, then the council set aside a budget.
   • The storm led residents to remember the walk, the crowd persuaded younger residents to revive it, and Beatrix's stories led the council to set aside a budget.
   • The storm led residents to remember the walk, Beatrix's stories helped persuade younger residents to revive it, and the crowd led the council to fund it.
   • The storm led residents to remember the walk, the newspaper article persuaded younger residents to revive it, and the craft group's lanterns led the council to set aside a budget.
3. 2.

   Noah asks how strongly the article connects the blackout to the size of the crowd. Which choice matches the article?

   • The blackout was partly responsible for the turnout, along with the newspaper article.
   • The craft group's lanterns were the main reason the crowd came, along with the walk's short route.
   • The blackout came two evenings in December, before the crowd, and the article says no more than that.
   • The blackout was the reason the crowd came, and neither the newspaper nor the lanterns mattered.
4. 3.

   Pia sees influence in both directions between Beatrix and the younger residents. Which choice tells how they affected each other?

   • The younger residents' wish to revive the walk led Beatrix to tell her stories, and her training led to its success.
   • Beatrix's stories helped persuade younger residents to revive the walk, and its success led her to train them.
   • Beatrix's stories alone brought back the walk, and she now runs the whole committee herself, with no help.
   • Beatrix mentioned the walk at a supper, and later the younger residents made lanterns and she trained volunteers.

5. A Doubt About the Dam (article)

   [1] The town of Brightwater planned to repair a small river dam that had held back a mill pond for ninety years. [2] Engineer Samuel Adeyemi, hired to inspect the dam before work began, found cracks in the base that the town's drawings did not show. [3] His report warned that repairing only the top would leave the weakest part untouched.

   [4] The report led the town council to postpone the repair and pay for deeper tests. [5] During the delay, a spring storm raised the river higher than it had been in a decade. [6] The high water widened one of the cracks that Adeyemi had marked.

   [7] The widened crack convinced several doubtful council members that his warning had been right. [8] They voted to rebuild the base as well as the top, which raised the cost by about a third. [9] Some residents objected to the higher price, and a few said the storm had been a coincidence.

   [10] Adeyemi answered that the storm did not create the crack but did show how serious it was. [11] The council kept its decision, partly because the deeper tests had already confirmed his findings. [12] The rebuilt dam is expected to last another fifty years.

6. 4.

   Ren asks how strongly the article says the storm affected the crack. Which choice matches the article?

   • The deeper tests widened the crack in the dam's base while the engineers were measuring the damage there.
   • The storm came during the delay, after the council had paid for deeper tests, and the article says no more.
   • The storm caused the crack in the dam's base, and the engineer had marked the damage after it happened, as the article says.
   • The storm widened a crack that was already there and showed how serious it was, but it did not create the crack.
7. 5.

   Tala sees influence in both directions between Adeyemi and the council. Which choice tells how his findings and the council's decisions affected each other?

   • The council let Adeyemi decide everything after the tests, so the vote no longer mattered, and he chose how the dam would be rebuilt.
   • His report led the council to postpone and test, and the tests then confirmed his findings and supported the council's decision.
   • Adeyemi found cracks in the base, then the council paused the work, and the deeper tests were done afterward.
   • The council's decision to postpone the repair led Adeyemi to find the cracks, and his report then led to the deeper tests.

8. The Late Bloom (article)

   [1] A spring frost in the Vandermeer valley killed the blossoms on most of the apple trees just as they opened. [2] Orchard owner Kalinda Ross lost nearly her whole harvest that year. [3] Looking at the few trees that survived, she noticed that they were a variety that blooms about two weeks later than the rest.

   [4] That observation gave Kalinda an idea: planting later-blooming trees might protect her orchard from frost. [5] She asked an agricultural advisor, Ravi Mehta, whether the idea was sound, and he said it was a reasonable step but not a guarantee. [6] He pointed out that a late frost could still catch even late blossoms.

   [7] Kalinda planted a section of later-blooming trees anyway. [8] Two springs later another frost arrived, and the late trees kept most of their blossoms while the older section lost many. [9] The result encouraged three nearby orchards to plant late-blooming trees of their own.

   [10] Ravi used the results from the valley in his advice to other growers, though he continued to remind them that no variety is frost-proof. [11] Kalinda's idea had helped, but she kept some of the early trees because their fruit ripened first and sold for a higher price. [12] She now plants both kinds in separate sections.

9. 6.

   Ari sees influence in both directions between Kalinda and Ravi. Which choice tells how they affected each other's thinking?

   • Kalinda's idea convinced Ravi that late-blooming trees are frost-proof, so he told other growers to switch to them entirely.
   • Kalinda asked Ravi a question about her plan for late trees, and later in the valley he gave advice to other growers.
   • Kalinda's question led Ravi to call her plan reasonable but not a guarantee, and her later results shaped the advice he gave to other growers.
   • Ravi's caution about the plan led three nearby orchards to plant late-blooming trees of their own after the frost.
10. 7.

    Esme asks how strongly the article says late-blooming trees protected the orchard. Which choice matches the article?

    • Late-blooming trees helped protect the orchard in one frost, but they are not a guarantee against frost.
    • The later frost, two springs after the first, caused Kalinda to plant late-blooming trees in her orchard.
    • Late-blooming trees made the orchard safe from frost for good, so Kalinda no longer needed the older trees.
    • Late-blooming trees were planted, and a frost struck again afterward, and the article says no more than that.

11. The Pilot's Chart (article)

    [1] The ferry pilots of Harbor Neck had always steered by memory around a field of shifting sandbars. [2] After a ferry ran aground in thick fog, pilot Noemi Castellan began sketching the channel each week, marking where the sand had moved. [3] She did it because she did not trust memory alone to keep passengers safe.

    [4] Her sketches showed that the main sandbar drifted a little toward the channel after every strong storm. [5] She presented the pattern to the harbor master, who agreed to print her chart for all the pilots. [6] For two years, there were no groundings.

    [7] Then a rare storm moved the sandbar much farther than her pattern predicted. [8] A ferry touched bottom briefly, and several pilots blamed the chart. [9] Stung by the criticism, Noemi studied the event and decided that the sandbar behaves differently when a storm comes from the east.

    [10] She revised the chart to mark storms from the east separately, and the harbor master added a rule that pilots must check the weekly update before sailing. [11] The revised chart did not remove the risk, but it helped: the number of near groundings fell the following year. [12] Pilots from two other harbors have asked to use her method.

12. 8.

    Jun wants to trace the chain from the first grounding to the harbor master's rule. Which choice does that?

    • The grounding led Noemi to sketch the channel, her pattern led other harbors to print the chart, and the pilots' blame led the harbor master to add a rule.
    • The harbor master's rule about weekly updates led Noemi to sketch the channel, and the first grounding then led her to revise the chart after a storm.
    • The grounding led Noemi to sketch the channel, her pattern led the harbor master to print a chart, and a surprise storm led to a revised chart and a rule.
    • A ferry ran aground, then Noemi made sketches, then the harbor master printed the chart, then a storm came, then a rule was added.
13. 9.

    Kira asks how strongly the article says the revised chart affected near groundings. Which choice matches the article?

    • The fall in near groundings the following year led Noemi to revise the chart and mark storms from the east.
    • The chart was revised, and near groundings fell the following year, but the article does not say the chart helped.
    • The revised chart ended the risk of groundings in the harbor, so the weekly update was no longer needed.
    • The revised chart helped reduce near groundings the following year, though it did not remove the risk.
14. 10.

    Luz sees influence in both directions between Noemi and the pilots. Which choice tells how her chart and the pilots' reactions affected each other?

    • Noemi made a chart, then pilots used it for two years, then a storm came, then she revised the chart.
    • Her chart protected the whole fleet for two years, and the pilots' blame made her stop sketching the channel.
    • The pilots' blame led Noemi to make the first chart, and her chart led the pilots to blame the storm.
    • Her chart helped pilots for two years, and their blame after the storm led her to study the event and revise it.