Words with special meanings in articles
Grade 8 Reading Worksheet
Circle the best answer.
Read this first
The Locked Fault (article)
[1] Earth's outer shell, the crust, is not a single sheet but a mosaic of enormous plates that creep past one another at about the speed that fingernails grow. [2] Where two plates meet, the rock is cracked along a fault, and the plates do not slide smoothly along it. [3] Friction locks the edges together while the plates behind them keep moving, so strain builds up in the rock like tension in a stretched spring. [4] When the strain finally exceeds the strength of the rock, the fault slips and the stored energy is released as waves. [5] Seismologists call the point underground where the slip begins the focus, and the point on the surface directly above it the epicenter.
[6] The 1906 San Francisco earthquake ruptured a stretch of the San Andreas Fault about 300 miles long. [7] Roads, fences and orchards that crossed the fault were offset by as much as twenty feet. [8] Geologists often describe a locked fault as a coiled snake, patient and silent until the moment it strikes. [9] A fault can stay locked for decades or for centuries before it slips. [10] Some segments of the San Andreas Fault have been locked for more than a century.
[11] Because no instrument can yet predict the day of a large quake, engineers focus on building structures that can flex and survive the shaking. [12] Seismic codes in many cities require buildings to be bolted to their foundations for that reason. Entry: strain: 1. to push or stretch something as hard as possible; 2. a breed or variety of an animal or plant; 3. the stress that builds in a material when forces act on it; 4. a feeling of worry from a hard situation.
Ari checks the word strain in sentence 3. Which sense in the entry does the article use?
- Sense 2: a breed or variety of an animal or plant.
- Sense 4: a feeling of worry from a hard situation.
- Sense 3: the stress that builds in a material under force.
- Sense 1: to push or stretch something as hard as possible.
The Locked Fault (article)
[1] Earth's outer shell, the crust, is not a single sheet but a mosaic of enormous plates that creep past one another at about the speed that fingernails grow. [2] Where two plates meet, the rock is cracked along a fault, and the plates do not slide smoothly along it. [3] Friction locks the edges together while the plates behind them keep moving, so strain builds up in the rock like tension in a stretched spring. [4] When the strain finally exceeds the strength of the rock, the fault slips and the stored energy is released as waves. [5] Seismologists call the point underground where the slip begins the focus, and the point on the surface directly above it the epicenter.
[6] The 1906 San Francisco earthquake ruptured a stretch of the San Andreas Fault about 300 miles long. [7] Roads, fences and orchards that crossed the fault were offset by as much as twenty feet. [8] Geologists often describe a locked fault as a coiled snake, patient and silent until the moment it strikes. [9] A fault can stay locked for decades or for centuries before it slips. [10] Some segments of the San Andreas Fault have been locked for more than a century.
[11] Because no instrument can yet predict the day of a large quake, engineers focus on building structures that can flex and survive the shaking. [12] Seismic codes in many cities require buildings to be bolted to their foundations for that reason. Entry: slip: 1. to slide by accident and lose one's footing; 2. to pass by without being noticed; 3. to move suddenly along a surface, as rock does along a fault; 4. a small strip of paper, such as a receipt.
Bo checks the word slips in sentence 4. Which sense in the entry does the article use?
- Sense 4: a small strip of paper, such as a receipt.
- Sense 2: to pass by without being noticed.
- Sense 3: to move suddenly along a surface, as rock does.
- Sense 1: to slide by accident and lose one's footing on a wet floor.
The Locked Fault (article)
[1] Earth's outer shell, the crust, is not a single sheet but a mosaic of enormous plates that creep past one another at about the speed that fingernails grow. [2] Where two plates meet, the rock is cracked along a fault, and the plates do not slide smoothly along it. [3] Friction locks the edges together while the plates behind them keep moving, so strain builds up in the rock like tension in a stretched spring. [4] When the strain finally exceeds the strength of the rock, the fault slips and the stored energy is released as waves. [5] Seismologists call the point underground where the slip begins the focus, and the point on the surface directly above it the epicenter.
[6] The 1906 San Francisco earthquake ruptured a stretch of the San Andreas Fault about 300 miles long. [7] Roads, fences and orchards that crossed the fault were offset by as much as twenty feet. [8] Geologists often describe a locked fault as a coiled snake, patient and silent until the moment it strikes. [9] A fault can stay locked for decades or for centuries before it slips. [10] Some segments of the San Andreas Fault have been locked for more than a century.
[11] Because no instrument can yet predict the day of a large quake, engineers focus on building structures that can flex and survive the shaking. [12] Seismic codes in many cities require buildings to be bolted to their foundations for that reason.
Esme reads that geologists compare a locked fault to a coiled snake. What does the comparison best suggest?
- The fault stores energy that can be released suddenly.
- The fault releases its energy gradually and safely over many years.
- The fault means to harm people when it slips.
- The fault is shaped like a snake along the ground.
Jun studies the stretched spring comparison for strain. How does it help explain what happens at a locked fault?
- The rock springs back to exactly where it was before the slip.
- The rock bounces up and down like a spring after the slip happens to it.
- The rock loses energy as the strain builds up along the fault.
- Energy builds while the rock is held and releases when it gives way.
Kira wonders why the author says the fault slips rather than shatters. What does slips show?
- Slips shows sliding along a crack; shatters means breaking apart.
- Slips and shatters mean the same thing when used to describe a fault.
- Slips shows the movement is slow and gentle, not sudden.
- Slips makes the quake seem harmless and minor to the reader.
How a River Rebuilds Its Valley (article)
[1] A river moving across a flat plain rarely follows a straight line. [2] It drifts into long loops called meanders, and the water on the outside of each bend runs faster than the water on the inside. [3] The fast outer current erodes the bank, carving it away grain by grain, while the slower inner current drops sand and gravel, building a gentle bar. [4] Over decades each bend grows more pronounced, and the channel snakes sideways across the valley floor. [5] Eventually the neck between two bends can narrow until the river breaks through, abandoning the loop and leaving a crescent-shaped lake called an oxbow.
[6] The sediment a river carries is called its load, and a fast river can carry far more than a slow one. [7] When a flood spreads over the plain, the water slows, and the load settles into rich layers of silt that farmers have prized for thousands of years. [8] The Nile flooded in this way each summer until the Aswan High Dam was built in the 1960s. [9] In Egypt, farmers once planted their crops in the fresh silt as soon as the floodwater drew back.
[10] A river is often called the artery of a region, because it carries nutrients to the farms and towns along its length. [11] Some geographers prefer to describe a river as a conveyor belt, always rebuilding the ground it runs on. [12] Part of the silt travels all the way to the sea, where it builds a delta. Entry: bar: 1. a long, straight rod of metal; 2. a place that serves drinks; 3. a ridge of sand or gravel left in a river; 4. a line that divides music into equal parts.
Milo checks the word bar in sentence 3. Which sense in the entry does the article use?
- Sense 1: a long, straight rod of metal.
- Sense 3: a ridge of sand or gravel left in a river.
- Sense 2: a place that serves drinks.
- Sense 4: a line that divides music into equal parts.
How a River Rebuilds Its Valley (article)
[1] A river moving across a flat plain rarely follows a straight line. [2] It drifts into long loops called meanders, and the water on the outside of each bend runs faster than the water on the inside. [3] The fast outer current erodes the bank, carving it away grain by grain, while the slower inner current drops sand and gravel, building a gentle bar. [4] Over decades each bend grows more pronounced, and the channel snakes sideways across the valley floor. [5] Eventually the neck between two bends can narrow until the river breaks through, abandoning the loop and leaving a crescent-shaped lake called an oxbow.
[6] The sediment a river carries is called its load, and a fast river can carry far more than a slow one. [7] When a flood spreads over the plain, the water slows, and the load settles into rich layers of silt that farmers have prized for thousands of years. [8] The Nile flooded in this way each summer until the Aswan High Dam was built in the 1960s. [9] In Egypt, farmers once planted their crops in the fresh silt as soon as the floodwater drew back.
[10] A river is often called the artery of a region, because it carries nutrients to the farms and towns along its length. [11] Some geographers prefer to describe a river as a conveyor belt, always rebuilding the ground it runs on. [12] Part of the silt travels all the way to the sea, where it builds a delta. Entry: channel: 1. a television station; 2. a narrow strip of sea between two lands; 3. the path or bed that a river's water flows in; 4. a way of sending a message.
Noah checks the word channel in sentence 4. Which sense in the entry does the article use?
- Sense 3: the path or bed that a river's water flows in.
- Sense 4: a way of sending a message.
- Sense 1: a television station.
- Sense 2: a narrow strip of sea between two lands.
How a River Rebuilds Its Valley (article)
[1] A river moving across a flat plain rarely follows a straight line. [2] It drifts into long loops called meanders, and the water on the outside of each bend runs faster than the water on the inside. [3] The fast outer current erodes the bank, carving it away grain by grain, while the slower inner current drops sand and gravel, building a gentle bar. [4] Over decades each bend grows more pronounced, and the channel snakes sideways across the valley floor. [5] Eventually the neck between two bends can narrow until the river breaks through, abandoning the loop and leaving a crescent-shaped lake called an oxbow.
[6] The sediment a river carries is called its load, and a fast river can carry far more than a slow one. [7] When a flood spreads over the plain, the water slows, and the load settles into rich layers of silt that farmers have prized for thousands of years. [8] The Nile flooded in this way each summer until the Aswan High Dam was built in the 1960s. [9] In Egypt, farmers once planted their crops in the fresh silt as soon as the floodwater drew back.
[10] A river is often called the artery of a region, because it carries nutrients to the farms and towns along its length. [11] Some geographers prefer to describe a river as a conveyor belt, always rebuilding the ground it runs on. [12] Part of the silt travels all the way to the sea, where it builds a delta.
Pia reads that a river is often called the artery of a region. What does the comparison emphasize?
- The river is a tube inside a living body.
- The river carries nutrients away from the region.
- The river should keep one fixed path through the land.
- The river delivers nutrients to the places along it.
Ren compares the artery and conveyor belt comparisons. What does the conveyor belt add?
- It makes the river sound dull next to an artery.
- It shows that people control the river like a machine.
- It shows the river also rebuilds the land it runs on.
- Nothing, since both just say that a river delivers material.
Tala wonders why the author says the current carves the bank rather than damages it. What does carves add?
- It suggests the water shapes the bank slowly, like a sculptor.
- It suggests the river plans the shape of the bank.
- It suggests the river is angry at the bank it passes.
- Nothing, because carves means exactly the same thing as damages does.