How an article links and separates people, ideas and events
Grade 8 Reading Worksheet - Challenge Me
Circle the best answer.
Read this first
Voting in Athens (article)
[1] When people call Athens the birthplace of democracy, they point to real likenesses with modern governments. [2] Athenian citizens met in an assembly on a hillside to talk over laws, vote on them and decide questions of war and money. [3] Citizens of democratic countries today also help to make the laws, although they do so in different ways. [4] Both systems rest on the idea that a government should answer to the people it rules.
[5] The chief difference lies in how citizens take part. [6] In Athens, citizens voted on laws themselves, which historians call direct democracy, and many officials were picked by lottery, not by election. [7] In most countries today, citizens elect leaders to vote on laws for them, which is called representative democracy.
[8] A second difference concerns who counted as a citizen. [9] In Athens only adult men born to Athenian parents could vote, and women, enslaved people and foreign residents were left out. [10] Together those groups made up most of the people who lived in the city. [11] Today, in nearly all democracies, almost every adult citizen has the right to vote.
[12] These differences lead some historians to call Athens an early experiment rather than a model. [13] Its assembly showed that ordinary people could govern themselves, but its limits on citizenship show how narrow that self-government could be. [14] That is why the story of Athens is told with both pride and caution.
Ari links paragraph 1 and paragraph 3. Which choice gives the right label and the right reason?
- Like: in paragraph 1 the article says Athens and modern democracies both let citizens help make the laws, and in paragraph 3 it says almost every adult could vote in both, so the two systems match.
- Unlike: in paragraph 2 the article says Athenian citizens voted on laws themselves, but in the same paragraph it says most countries today elect leaders.
- Unlike: in paragraph 1 the article says Athens was a democracy, but in paragraph 3 it says Athens was no democracy at all.
- Unlike: in paragraph 1 the article says Athens and modern democracies both let citizens help make the laws, but in paragraph 3 it says Athens counted only a small group as citizens.
Bo asks about paragraph 3. According to it, where does the comparison between Athens and today's democracies stop working?
- Both let citizens take part in making the laws, and both rest on the idea that a government answers to the people it rules, as paragraph 1 explains.
- Who counted as a citizen: in Athens only adult men born to Athenian parents could vote, but today almost every adult citizen can.
- Citizens in Athens voted on laws themselves, while citizens in most countries today elect leaders to vote on their behalf.
- Athens had no public debate, so nothing about it can be compared with a modern democracy in any way.
Esme asks which distinction best supports the author's idea that Athens was an early experiment rather than a model. Which choice states it?
- Athens and today's democracies both rest on the idea that a government should answer to the people it rules, as the first paragraph says.
- Athens showed that ordinary people could govern themselves, but it limited who counted as a citizen far more than democracies do now.
- Athens was a worse government than any democracy today, because its citizens voted on laws directly instead of choosing leaders.
- Athens chose many officials by lottery, while democracies today choose their officials by election, as the second paragraph explains.
The Telegraph and the Internet (article)
[1] Writers often call the telegraph an early internet, and the nickname points to a real likeness. [2] Before the 1840s a message could travel no faster than the horse, ship or train that carried it. [3] Then wires began to carry signals between distant cities in moments. [4] The internet carries messages across the world in a similar way, as electrical or light signals instead of letters on paper.
[5] Both systems also depend on a code that turns words into signals. [6] Telegraph operators tapped out Morse code, in which dots and dashes stand for letters. [7] Computers today turn text, pictures and sound into patterns of ones and zeros, and the receiving end reverses the process to recover the message.
[8] A telegram passed through the hands of operators, who tapped it in, copied it down and often passed it on from station to station. [9] Messengers then carried the paper to the door of the person it was meant for. [10] On the internet, machines break a message into small packets, send each one along whatever route is open, and put the packets back together at the other end, usually without a person touching them.
[11] Telegraph companies charged by the word, so senders cut their messages down to the fewest possible words, and a long message could cost more than a day's wages. [12] Most home internet users pay a flat monthly fee, and they send as much as they like. [13] Both systems shrank distance, but only one made messages cheap enough to send without a second thought.
Kira asks about paragraph 4. According to it, where does the comparison between the telegraph and the internet stop working?
- The internet is a copy of the telegraph with more wires added, and the two systems are the same.
- Speed: both systems carry signals between distant places in moments, as the first paragraph explains.
- Cost: a telegram was priced by the word, which kept messages short, while internet users pay a flat fee and can send as much as they like.
- Who does the work: operators and messengers handled each telegram, while machines handle internet messages, as paragraph 3 explains in detail.
Luz asks which distinction explains why senders cut their telegrams down to the fewest possible words. Which choice states it?
- Telegraph companies charged by the word, so a long message cost a great deal, while most home internet users pay a flat fee for any amount.
- Telegraph wires could carry just a few words at a time, so long messages had to be sent in pieces and put back together later.
- Both systems turn words into signals that the receiving end can reverse to recover the message, as paragraph 2 explains.
- Operators copied each telegram down and passed it on from station to station, while machines break messages into packets and pass them along open routes.
Viruses and Bacteria (article)
[1] Viruses and bacteria are often grouped together as germs, because both can make people sick and both are too small to see without a microscope. [2] Yet biologists treat them as very different things, and the difference shapes how doctors fight each one. [3] A bacterium is a living cell that can feed, grow and divide on its own, while a virus is a tiny package of genes wrapped in a coat of protein.
[4] That difference explains why a virus is not usually counted as fully alive. [5] Outside a living cell a virus does nothing, because it cannot grow or make energy. [6] It spreads only by entering a cell and using the cell's machinery to make copies of itself. [7] A bacterium, by contrast, carries its own machinery, and many kinds live harmlessly in soil, water and the human gut.
[8] Doctors use the difference when they choose a treatment. [9] Antibiotics work by blocking parts that bacteria have and human cells do not, such as the wall around each bacterial cell. [10] Viruses have no such parts, so an antibiotic has nothing to attack, and a cold or the flu will not respond to one. [11] Taking antibiotics for a viral illness gives no benefit and can help resistant bacteria survive.
[12] The main tools against viral disease are vaccines and antiviral drugs, which interfere with how a virus copies itself. [13] Knowing which kind of germ causes an illness is therefore the first step toward a treatment that works.
Milo links paragraph 1 and paragraph 3. Which choice gives the right label and the right reason?
- Like: in paragraph 1 the article says viruses and bacteria are grouped as germs, and in paragraph 3 it says an antibiotic works on both of them.
- Unlike: in paragraph 1 the article says viruses and bacteria are grouped as germs because both can make people sick, but in paragraph 3 it says antibiotics can harm people who take them for a long time.
- Unlike: in paragraph 2 the article says a virus cannot grow outside a living cell, but in paragraph 4 it says vaccines interfere with how a virus copies itself.
- Unlike: in paragraph 1 the article says viruses and bacteria are grouped as germs because both can make people sick, but in paragraph 3 it says an antibiotic works on one and not the other.
Pia asks which distinction the author uses to explain why an antibiotic does not cure a cold. Which choice states it?
- Viruses and bacteria are both too small to see without a microscope, so doctors treat them with the same drugs.
- Antibiotics damage human cells as well as bacteria, so doctors avoid using them against a cold.
- Antibiotics block parts that bacteria have and human cells do not, such as the cell wall, and viruses have no such parts to attack.
- A virus spreads by entering a cell, while a bacterium can feed, grow and divide on its own, which is why a virus is not usually counted as fully alive.
Does a River Join or Divide? (article)
[1] A river looks like a boundary on a map, but historians point out that it can serve as a link just as often as a barrier. [2] The Rhine, for example, separated peoples who lived on opposite banks, yet it was also a highway that carried grain, timber and ideas deep into Europe. [3] Which role a river plays depends on what people can do with it.
[4] Where a river is shallow, swift or wide, travelers on foot or in wagons find it a barrier. [5] Until a bridge or ferry was built, crossing could take days, and armies sometimes chose a river as the line they would defend. [6] Many borders still follow rivers, partly because the water was easy to describe in a treaty and hard to cross.
[7] Where the water is calm and deep enough for boats, the same river becomes a road. [8] Water carries heavy loads more cheaply than wagons, so merchants settled along navigable rivers, and cities such as Cairo, Baghdad and Paris grew where goods changed hands. [9] Communities on both banks often shared a language, a market and a set of customs, even when a border ran down the middle of the stream.
[10] Technology can change a river's role without changing the river. [11] A bridge turns a barrier into a crossing, and a dam can turn a highway into a lake that boats cannot pass. [12] So the more useful question is not whether a river joins or divides, but who is trying to cross it, carry something along it, or claim it.
Ren links paragraph 2 and paragraph 3. Which choice gives the right label and the right reason?
- Unlike: in paragraph 1 the article says the Rhine separated peoples, but in paragraph 4 it says a dam can turn a highway into a lake.
- Unlike: in paragraph 2 the article says a shallow, swift or wide river is a barrier to travelers on foot or in wagons, but in paragraph 3 it says a calm, deep river becomes a road for boats.
- Unlike: in paragraph 2 the article says rivers make good borders, but in paragraph 3 it says no border has ever followed a river.
- Like: in paragraph 2 the article says a shallow, swift or wide river is a barrier to travelers on foot or in wagons, and in paragraph 3 it says it is a barrier to boats too, so the river keeps one role.
Tala asks about paragraph 3. According to it, where does the idea that a river is a barrier stop holding?
- Where a river is shallow, swift or wide, travelers on foot or in wagons find it hard to cross, as the second paragraph says.
- A river stops being a barrier once a city has been built beside it, because merchants will find a way across.
- A bridge turns a barrier into a crossing, and a dam can turn a highway into a lake, as the last paragraph says.
- Where the water is calm and deep enough for boats, a river carries goods cheaply and becomes a road that joins communities.
Zee asks which distinction the author relies on to answer whether a river joins or divides. Which choice states it?
- A river is a barrier for armies and a road for merchants, so it cannot be both things for one traveler.
- Water carries heavy loads more cheaply than wagons, so merchants settled along rivers that boats could use.
- Communities on both banks often shared a language, a market and customs, even when a border ran down the middle of the stream, as paragraph 3 explains.
- Whether a river joins or divides depends on who is trying to cross it, carry something along it or claim it, and on the tools they have.