Words with special meanings in articles

Grade 8 Reading Worksheet - Building Confidence

Circle the best answer.

1. Read this first

   Why the Sea Rises and Falls (article)

   [1] Along the coast of Maine, fishing crews and clam diggers plan their days around the tide tables printed in the local newspaper. [2] The tides rise and fall because the moon's gravity pulls on the ocean, and the sun's gravity adds a smaller pull of its own. [3] When the sun, Earth and moon line up at the new moon and the full moon, the two pulls combine, and the sea rises higher and falls lower than usual. [4] These extreme tides are called spring tides, a name that has nothing to do with the season. [5] A week later, at the quarter moon, the pulls work at right angles, and the difference between high and low water shrinks to its smallest. [6] Those gentler tides are called neap tides.

   [7] The difference in height between high and low water is the tidal range, and it varies enormously from place to place. [8] In the Bay of Fundy, in eastern Canada, the range can exceed fifty feet, while in some parts of the Gulf of Mexico it is barely a foot. [9] The strip of shore that lies between the high-tide line and the low-tide line is the intertidal zone. [10] Snails, barnacles and crabs live there, and they must survive hours of both drowning and drying each day.

   [11] Watching the water pull away from a rocky beach, a visitor might say that the sea is breathing, slowly in and out, in most places twice a day. [12] Tide tables list the predicted times of each high and low, and commercial fishing crews depend on them to decide when to leave the harbor.

2. 1.

   Ari reads about spring tides. Which meaning of the term fits the article?

   • Tides that arrive in the months after winter.
   • Tides that flow from underground springs into the sea.
   • Tides with the smallest difference between high and low water.
   • Tides with the greatest difference between high and low water.
3. 2.

   Bo checks the word range in the sentence about the Bay of Fundy. What does range mean there?

   • The difference in height between high and low water.
   • The height of the highest tide ever recorded at a place.
   • The distance that a boat can travel before it needs fuel.
   • A chain of mountains rising near a coast.
4. 3.

   Jun reads that shore animals survive hours of both drowning and drying. What does drowning suggest there?

   • No animal can live in the intertidal zone for more than a day.
   • The animals prefer steady conditions and a calm sea.
   • The tide harms the animals on the shore each day.
   • The conditions change sharply and are hard on the animals.
5. 4.

   Kira compares extreme tides with large tides. What does extreme add in sentence 4?

   • It suggests the tides are dangerous to boats and to swimmers.
   • It suggests the tides pass the usual limits at both ends.
   • It means the same as large, so nothing is added to the meaning.
   • It suggests the tides last longer than usual on the shore.

6. Forces in a Bridge (article)

   [1] A bridge looks still, but engineers describe it as a place where forces are constantly fighting. [2] Every bridge must carry its own weight, called the static load, along with the changing weight of traffic, called the live load. [3] The span of a bridge is the distance between its supports, and longer spans must resist more bending. [4] In a simple beam bridge, the top of the deck is squeezed by compression while the underside is stretched by tension. [5] Engineers can move those forces around, but they cannot make them disappear. [6] Concrete handles compression well but cracks under tension, which is why most concrete beams contain embedded steel bars.

   [7] An arch bridge turns the load into compression that flows down to the abutments, the heavy anchors at each end. [8] A suspension bridge does the opposite, because its main cables hang in tension from tall towers and pull upward on the deck. [9] The Golden Gate Bridge, which opened in 1937, has a main span of about 4,200 feet, which made it the longest suspension span in the world until 1964. [10] Its cables are made of thousands of steel wires bundled together, which lets the structure flex in the wind without snapping.

   [11] Designers sometimes say that a bridge is frozen music, but a bridge is more like a held breath. [12] Everything inside it is waiting, and the slightest failure of any part would release the whole. [13] That is why inspectors climb the cables and crawl through the girders on a fixed schedule.

7. 5.

   Milo reads about bridges. In the sentence about supports, what does span mean?

   • A stretch of time, as in a span of years.
   • The total weight a bridge can carry.
   • The distance between a bridge's supports.
   • A unit of measure, the width of an open hand.
8. 6.

   Noah wants to know what live load means in sentence 2. Which meaning fits?

   • The changing weight of traffic on the bridge.
   • The electric power carried by a cable.
   • The weight of living animals on the bridge.
   • The weight of the bridge itself.
9. 7.

   Pia reads that engineers see forces as constantly fighting. What does this suggest?

   • Workers on the bridge argue about how to build it.
   • The forces are so equal that nothing in the bridge moves.
   • Forces push and pull against one another all the time.
   • The forces will, in time, destroy any bridge that is built.
10. 8.

    Ren reads that a bridge is more like a held breath. What does that comparison suggest?

    • The bridge is relaxed and carries no force from the traffic.
    • The bridge holds forces in balance that could be released.
    • The bridge is about to collapse under the weight of traffic.
    • The bridge needs air to flow through the girders inside it.
11. 9.

    Tala compares release with break in the sentence about a failing part. What does release add?

    • It suggests the failure would be slow and gentle.
    • Nothing, because it means the same as break.
    • It suggests stored force is suddenly let go.
    • It suggests the bridge would be repaired quickly.
12. 10.

    Zee notices that inspectors crawl through the girders. What does crawl suggest?

    • Nothing more than walk, so the word adds no meaning.
    • The inspectors are afraid of the girders.
    • The girders are unsafe to enter.
    • The work is slow and cramped, in tight spaces.