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?

   • a snap caused by the first heavy truck
   • bending that springs back to the same shape
   • a tired feeling after hard work
   • weakening caused by being bent again and again
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 can slide freely in the anchors
   • nothing, because locked and attached mean the same here
   • the cables are held shut with padlocks
   • the cables are held so firmly they cannot work loose
4. 3.

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

   • Concrete cracks when it is pulled.
   • Engineers must defeat one force to keep it standing.
   • Workers perform and wrestle on a stage built into the bridge.
   • 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.

   Jun reads sentences 4 and 5. Which meaning of reflectivity fits both sentences?

   • how much sunlight a surface bounces back
   • how much sunlight a surface takes in
   • how long a surface stores heat after sunset
   • how bright a surface looks to people at night

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

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

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

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

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?

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

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

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

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