Words with special meanings in articles

Grade 7 Reading Worksheet - Challenge Me

Circle the best answer.

1. Read this first

   Forces That Hold a Bridge Up (article)

   [1] Every bridge is a stage where two opposing forces perform. [2] Compression squeezes a material and tries to shorten it, while tension pulls on a material and tries to stretch it. [3] A concrete pier under the deck is mostly in compression, but the steel cables of a suspension bridge are in tension because the deck hangs from them. [4] Concrete is strong when squeezed yet cracks when pulled, so builders bury steel bars inside it to carry the pulling.

   [5] Even steel is not safe forever. [6] Each time a truck crosses, a beam bends a tiny amount and then springs back. [7] After millions of crossings, those repeated bends can leave a beam with fatigue, and tiny cracks may begin to grow. [8] Inspectors therefore scan beams for hairline cracks before they can spread. [9] A crack found early can be repaired with a bolted steel plate, but one found late may force engineers to close the bridge.

   [10] The cables of a suspension bridge are locked into huge concrete anchors at each end, so the pull cannot drag them loose. [11] The forces are always wrestling, and a good design makes sure neither one wins.

2. 1.

   Ari reads sentences 6 and 7. Which meaning of fatigue fits both sentences?

   • bending that springs back to the same shape
   • a snap caused by the first heavy truck
   • weakening caused by being bent again and again
   • a tired feeling after hard work
3. 2.

   Bo reads sentence 10. The author says the cables are locked into huge anchors. What does locked add that attached would not?

   • the cables are held shut with padlocks
   • the cables are held so firmly they cannot work loose
   • the cables can slide freely in the anchors
   • nothing, because locked and attached mean the same here
4. 3.

   Esme reads sentences 1 and 11. The article treats the forces as performers who wrestle. What does this suggest about a bridge?

   • Workers perform and wrestle on a stage built into the bridge.
   • Engineers must defeat one force to keep it standing.
   • Concrete cracks when it is pulled.
   • It stands because opposing forces are kept in balance.

5. Why Cities Run Hot (article)

   [1] On a summer afternoon, a downtown street can be several degrees warmer than a park a few miles away. [2] Scientists call this effect an urban heat island. [3] The cause begins with surfaces. [4] Dark pavement and rooftops take in most of the sunlight that strikes them, while light surfaces bounce much of it back into the sky. [5] Planners measure each surface's reflectivity, and a roof with high reflectivity stays far cooler than a dark one. [6] The energy that dark surfaces keep does not vanish; it turns into heat that the pavement stores all day.

   [7] Trees work against that heat in two ways. [8] Their leaves shade the ground, and they also release water vapor, which cools the air nearby. [9] A neighborhood with few trees loses both of these natural air conditioners. [10] At night, the stored heat leaks out slowly, so the city stays wrapped in a blanket of warmth until morning. [11] Planners fight back by painting roofs white, planting trees along streets, and replacing some pavement with grass. [12] Even small changes like these can lower local temperatures and reduce the electricity that people use for cooling.

6. 4.

   Luz reads sentences 9 and 10. The article calls trees natural air conditioners and calls stored heat a blanket. What does this suggest about a city?

   • Trees cool a city, while stored heat keeps it warm.
   • Trees cool a city better than machines do.
   • Cities put blankets and air conditioners in their streets.
   • Planners paint roofs white and replace pavement with grass.

7. How Data Travels (article)

   [1] When you send a photo to a friend, the file does not travel as one piece. [2] Software first chops it into packets, small bundles of data that each carry an address label. [3] Routers, the machines that sit at crossroads in the network, read each label and pass the packet along the fastest open path. [4] Packets from the same photo may take different routes. [5] If one path is broken or crowded, the routers simply send the packets another way. [6] At the destination, the pieces are put back in order, and the photo appears whole.

   [7] Engineers often compare this system to a highway. [8] The bandwidth of a connection is the most data it can carry in a given time, like the number of lanes on a road. [9] When too many packets arrive at once, the network clogs, and each packet waits longer. [10] Engineers measure this waiting time as latency, and a wide connection can still have high latency when it is crowded. [11] Streaming a movie needs far more bandwidth than sending a short message.

8. 5.

   Milo reads sentences 9 and 10. Which meaning of latency fits both sentences?

   • the most data a connection can carry
   • the speed at which a photo is cut into packets
   • the time packets spend waiting to get through
   • the address label each packet carries
9. 6.

   Noah reads sentence 9. The author says the network clogs. What does clogs add that fills would not?

   • movement is blocked and slowed, like choked traffic
   • packets move more freely than before
   • the network gets stuffed with dirt
   • nothing, because clogs and fills mean the same here
10. 7.

    Pia reads sentences 7 and 8. The article compares a network to a highway with lanes. What does the comparison suggest about a wide connection?

    • Making a connection wider ends delay.
    • Packets carry address labels.
    • Data travels on real roads built beside highways.
    • It can carry more data at once, but crowding still slows it.

11. Digging for Answers (article)

    [1] An archaeologist digs the way a careful reader turns pages. [2] The ground at a dig site is built in layers, and each layer, called a stratum, formed during a different period. [3] In an undisturbed site, deeper strata are older than the ones above them, because new soil settled on top of the old. [4] A pottery bowl found in a low stratum therefore probably belongs to an earlier time than a coin found near the surface. [5] Sometimes a dark band of charcoal in one stratum shows where a campfire once burned.

    [6] Archaeologists measure and photograph every find before they lift it. [7] They note the exact spot where it lay, the layer it came from, and the objects around it. [8] That information is called the find's context, and without it even a beautiful bowl tells little, because no one can tell what it was used for or who left it. [9] A single bowl yanked from the soil with no notes becomes a mystery instead of a clue. [10] That is why diggers work slowly, with brushes and small trowels. [11] The ground is a book whose pages must not be torn out of order.

12. 8.

    Ren reads sentences 7 and 8. Which meaning of context fits both sentences?

    • a photograph that shows how old a find is
    • the layer of soil that a find came from
    • the words around a word that help explain its meaning
    • the record of where a find lay and what surrounded it
13. 9.

    Tala reads sentence 9. The author says a bowl is yanked from the soil. What does yanked add that removed would not?

    • nothing, because yanked and removed mean the same here
    • the bowl is pulled out roughly, without care or notes
    • the bowl is lifted slowly and gently
    • the bowl was found in a low stratum
14. 10.

    Zee reads sentences 1 and 11. The article compares digging to reading a book. What does this suggest about the layers of ground?

    • Each layer repeats the story of the layer above.
    • Their order tells a story that is lost if they are mixed up.
    • A dark band of charcoal can show where a campfire burned.
    • Archaeologists find real books buried in the soil.