Summarize an article without bias
Grade 9 Reading Worksheet - Building Confidence
Circle the best answer.
Read this first
Why the Statue Turned Green (article)
[1] When the Statue of Liberty was dedicated in New York Harbor in 1886, it was not green at all, because its outer skin was made of thin copper sheets that shone a reddish brown, like a new penny. [2] The sculptor, Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi, chose copper because it could be hammered into the deep folds of a robe and was light enough to hang on a frame. [3] That iron frame, designed by the engineer Gustave Eiffel, held the copper skin in place from the inside.
[4] Over the following decades, the statue's color slowly changed as the copper reacted with the air of the harbor. [5] First, oxygen dulled the bright metal to a dark brown, the same change that darkens an old coin. [6] Then water, carbon dioxide and sulfur compounds in the air reacted with that dark layer and formed new minerals that are pale green. [7] Year after year the green spread, until it covered the statue from the torch to the hem of the robe.
[8] Many people assume that the green coat is a sign of decay, but chemists describe it as nearly the opposite. [9] The layer, called a patina, clings tightly to the metal and keeps the air from reaching the copper beneath it. [10] Because of that seal, the copper skin has kept most of its thickness through more than a century outdoors.
[11] The serious damage was hidden inside, where moisture had rusted many of the iron bars that held the copper skin in place. [12] During a restoration in the 1980s, workers replaced those bars with stainless steel and left the green patina where it was. [13] The color that once looked like a problem turned out to be a coat that protects the statue's copper skin.
Gist ladder:
Rung 1 (paragraph 1): The statue was built with a copper skin that began a shiny reddish brown.
↓ sequence
Rung 2 (paragraph 2): The air turned the copper dark brown and then pale green.
↓ contrast
Rung 3 (paragraph 3), where the idea is refined: ?
↓ contrast
Rung 4 (paragraph 4): The real damage was rusted iron inside, so the 1980s repair replaced the iron and kept the green layer.Ari has filled in a gist ladder for the article, with one rung for each paragraph. Which gist belongs on rung 3?
- Water, carbon dioxide and sulfur in the air turned the dark copper into pale green minerals.
- The copper skin has kept most of its thickness through more than a century outdoors.
- The green patina seals the copper from the air, so it protects the metal instead of ruining it.
- Many people assume that the green coat on the statue is a sign that the copper is decaying.
Why the Statue Turned Green (article)
[1] When the Statue of Liberty was dedicated in New York Harbor in 1886, it was not green at all, because its outer skin was made of thin copper sheets that shone a reddish brown, like a new penny. [2] The sculptor, Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi, chose copper because it could be hammered into the deep folds of a robe and was light enough to hang on a frame. [3] That iron frame, designed by the engineer Gustave Eiffel, held the copper skin in place from the inside.
[4] Over the following decades, the statue's color slowly changed as the copper reacted with the air of the harbor. [5] First, oxygen dulled the bright metal to a dark brown, the same change that darkens an old coin. [6] Then water, carbon dioxide and sulfur compounds in the air reacted with that dark layer and formed new minerals that are pale green. [7] Year after year the green spread, until it covered the statue from the torch to the hem of the robe.
[8] Many people assume that the green coat is a sign of decay, but chemists describe it as nearly the opposite. [9] The layer, called a patina, clings tightly to the metal and keeps the air from reaching the copper beneath it. [10] Because of that seal, the copper skin has kept most of its thickness through more than a century outdoors.
[11] The serious damage was hidden inside, where moisture had rusted many of the iron bars that held the copper skin in place. [12] During a restoration in the 1980s, workers replaced those bars with stainless steel and left the green patina where it was. [13] The color that once looked like a problem turned out to be a coat that protects the statue's copper skin.
The choices are Bo's gists for the four paragraphs. At which rung does the article refine its central idea, changing what it first seemed to say?
- Rung 2: The air turned the copper dark brown and then pale green, step by step.
- Rung 4: The real damage was rusted iron, so the 1980s repair replaced the iron and kept the patina.
- Rung 1: The statue was built with a copper skin that began a shiny reddish brown.
- Rung 3: The green layer is a protective patina, not a sign of decay.
Esme is summarizing paragraph 4. Which sentence reports it objectively, adding nothing the article does not say?
- Moisture had rusted the iron bars inside, so in the 1980s workers rebuilt the whole statue in stainless steel and kept the patina.
- Moisture had rusted many of the iron bars inside the statue, and in the 1980s workers replaced them but kept the patina because visitors liked it.
- Moisture had rusted many of the iron bars inside the statue, and in the 1980s workers wisely replaced them and left the lovely patina.
- Moisture had rusted many of the iron bars inside the statue, and in the 1980s workers replaced them with stainless steel and left the patina.
How a Refrigerator Moves Heat (article)
[1] Most people would say that a refrigerator makes cold, but engineers describe the machine in a different way. [2] Cold is simply the absence of heat, so a refrigerator works by carrying heat out of the food compartment and releasing it into the kitchen. [3] In that sense, the machine is less a maker of cold than a pump that moves warmth from one place to another.
[4] The method depends on a familiar fact about liquids, which is that a liquid absorbs heat from its surroundings as it evaporates. [5] When sweat evaporates from skin on a hot day, it carries heat away from the body, which is why a breeze feels cooling. [6] A refrigerator uses the same effect, except that its liquid, called a refrigerant, evaporates at a temperature far below the freezing point of water.
[7] Inside the walls of the food compartment, the refrigerant flows through thin tubes, where it evaporates and soaks up heat from the food and air. [8] A pump called a compressor then squeezes the warmed gas, which raises its pressure and makes it even hotter. [9] The hot gas travels to coils on the back or the bottom of the refrigerator, where it gives its heat to the kitchen air and turns back into a liquid. [10] Finally, the liquid passes through a narrow opening that lowers its pressure, and the cycle begins again inside the walls.
[11] Moving heat this way takes energy, so the refrigerator always releases more heat into the kitchen than it removes from the food. [12] For that reason, leaving the door open on a hot day does not cool the kitchen, and the room actually becomes slightly warmer. [13] The warm coils at the back are not a sign that something is broken, since they are exactly where the removed heat ends up.
Gist ladder:
Rung 1 (paragraph 1): A refrigerator does not make cold; it moves heat out of the food compartment into the kitchen.
↓ example
Rung 2 (paragraph 2): ?
↓ sequence
Rung 3 (paragraph 3): The refrigerant evaporates inside, is squeezed hot, gives off its heat at the back, and starts again.
↓ cause
Rung 4 (paragraph 4), where the idea is refined: Moving heat takes energy, so the kitchen gains more heat than the food loses.Rung 2 of Jun's gist ladder is blank. Which gist fills it, covering paragraph 2 as a whole?
- A liquid soaks up heat as it evaporates, and a refrigerant uses that effect far below the freezing point of water.
- A liquid soaks up heat as it evaporates, and a refrigerant puts that effect to brilliant use far below freezing.
- When sweat evaporates from skin on a hot day, it carries heat away from the body.
- The refrigerant evaporates inside the walls, is squeezed hot by the compressor, and gives off heat at the back.
How a Refrigerator Moves Heat (article)
[1] Most people would say that a refrigerator makes cold, but engineers describe the machine in a different way. [2] Cold is simply the absence of heat, so a refrigerator works by carrying heat out of the food compartment and releasing it into the kitchen. [3] In that sense, the machine is less a maker of cold than a pump that moves warmth from one place to another.
[4] The method depends on a familiar fact about liquids, which is that a liquid absorbs heat from its surroundings as it evaporates. [5] When sweat evaporates from skin on a hot day, it carries heat away from the body, which is why a breeze feels cooling. [6] A refrigerator uses the same effect, except that its liquid, called a refrigerant, evaporates at a temperature far below the freezing point of water.
[7] Inside the walls of the food compartment, the refrigerant flows through thin tubes, where it evaporates and soaks up heat from the food and air. [8] A pump called a compressor then squeezes the warmed gas, which raises its pressure and makes it even hotter. [9] The hot gas travels to coils on the back or the bottom of the refrigerator, where it gives its heat to the kitchen air and turns back into a liquid. [10] Finally, the liquid passes through a narrow opening that lowers its pressure, and the cycle begins again inside the walls.
[11] Moving heat this way takes energy, so the refrigerator always releases more heat into the kitchen than it removes from the food. [12] For that reason, leaving the door open on a hot day does not cool the kitchen, and the room actually becomes slightly warmer. [13] The warm coils at the back are not a sign that something is broken, since they are exactly where the removed heat ends up.
Kira wrote one gist per paragraph, shown as the choices. Which rung refines the article's central idea instead of stating, showing or explaining it?
- Rung 4: Moving heat takes energy, so the kitchen gains more heat than the food loses.
- Rung 3: The refrigerant evaporates inside, is squeezed hot, gives off heat at the back, and repeats.
- Rung 1: A refrigerator does not make cold but moves heat out of the food compartment into the kitchen.
- Rung 2: Evaporating liquids, like sweat, absorb heat, and the refrigerant works the same way.
Which sentence would let Luz sum up paragraph 1 fairly, reporting both views without adding anything?
- A refrigerator makes cold inside the food compartment, and engineers describe it as a pump that moves warmth into the kitchen.
- Although most people say a refrigerator makes cold, engineers give the fascinating explanation that it carries heat from the food compartment to the kitchen.
- Although most people say a refrigerator makes cold, engineers describe it as carrying heat out of the food compartment into the kitchen.
- Although most people say a refrigerator makes cold, engineers describe it as a pump that removes the heat from the whole kitchen.
Tardigrades and the Art of Drying Out (article)
[1] Tardigrades are animals so small that most are shorter than a millimeter, and under a microscope they look like plump, eight-legged bears paddling through a drop of water. [2] They live almost everywhere, from the moss on city walls to the mud at the bottom of the sea, and they have been found on every continent. [3] News stories often call them the toughest animals on Earth, able to survive freezing, extreme heat and even a trip into space.
[4] That reputation needs a correction, because an active tardigrade is actually quite delicate and needs a thin film of water around its body to move, feed and breathe. [5] Its toughness belongs to a different state, which begins when its home dries out. [6] As the water disappears, the tardigrade pulls in its head and legs, curls into a dry shape called a tun, and slows its body's chemistry almost to a stop. [7] In that state it can wait for years, and when water returns it can swell, uncurl and walk away within a few hours.
[8] Experiments have tested the tun state in extreme ways. [9] In 2007, dried tardigrades were carried into orbit on a satellite and left exposed to the vacuum of space, and many of them revived after they returned to Earth. [10] Tuns have also survived being frozen far below any temperature found in nature on Earth.
[11] Scientists have found that tardigrades make special proteins as they dry, and these proteins seem to form a glass-like gel that holds the parts of each cell in place. [12] Researchers are now studying whether similar proteins could protect medicines and vaccines, many of which must be kept cold to stay useful. [13] What looked like toughness in an active animal turned out to be a careful way of pausing until conditions improve.
Gist ladder:
Rung 1 (paragraph 1): Tardigrades are tiny animals that live almost everywhere and are often called the toughest on Earth.
↓ contrast
Rung 2 (paragraph 2), where the idea is refined: An active tardigrade is delicate; its toughness comes from drying into a tun that nearly stops its chemistry.
↓ example
Rung 3 (paragraph 3): Dried tuns have survived the vacuum of space and extreme cold in experiments.
↓ cause
Rung 4 (paragraph 4): ?Milo needs a gist for the last rung of the ladder. Which one sums up paragraph 4?
- Proteins that seem to form a glass-like gel protect the drying cells, and researchers are studying these remarkable proteins for medicines.
- Tardigrades make special proteins as they dry, and these seem to form a glass-like gel inside each cell.
- Proteins that seem to form a glass-like gel protect the drying cells, and researchers are studying similar proteins for medicines.
- Dried tardigrades have survived the vacuum of space and extreme cold in experiments.
Tardigrades and the Art of Drying Out (article)
[1] Tardigrades are animals so small that most are shorter than a millimeter, and under a microscope they look like plump, eight-legged bears paddling through a drop of water. [2] They live almost everywhere, from the moss on city walls to the mud at the bottom of the sea, and they have been found on every continent. [3] News stories often call them the toughest animals on Earth, able to survive freezing, extreme heat and even a trip into space.
[4] That reputation needs a correction, because an active tardigrade is actually quite delicate and needs a thin film of water around its body to move, feed and breathe. [5] Its toughness belongs to a different state, which begins when its home dries out. [6] As the water disappears, the tardigrade pulls in its head and legs, curls into a dry shape called a tun, and slows its body's chemistry almost to a stop. [7] In that state it can wait for years, and when water returns it can swell, uncurl and walk away within a few hours.
[8] Experiments have tested the tun state in extreme ways. [9] In 2007, dried tardigrades were carried into orbit on a satellite and left exposed to the vacuum of space, and many of them revived after they returned to Earth. [10] Tuns have also survived being frozen far below any temperature found in nature on Earth.
[11] Scientists have found that tardigrades make special proteins as they dry, and these proteins seem to form a glass-like gel that holds the parts of each cell in place. [12] Researchers are now studying whether similar proteins could protect medicines and vaccines, many of which must be kept cold to stay useful. [13] What looked like toughness in an active animal turned out to be a careful way of pausing until conditions improve.
Here are Noah's four rungs. Which one is the step where the article's central idea is corrected or narrowed?
- Rung 3: Dried tuns have survived space and extreme cold in experiments.
- Rung 4: Proteins protect the drying cells, and researchers hope to use similar ones for medicines.
- Rung 2: An active tardigrade is delicate, and its toughness comes from drying into a tun.
- Rung 1: Tardigrades are tiny, live almost everywhere and are often called the toughest animals.
Pia is joining paragraphs 1 and 2 into one summary sentence. Which version is objective and true to the article?
- Tardigrades are the toughest animals on Earth, and they survive harsh conditions by drying out into a shape called a tun.
- Tardigrades are often called the toughest animals, but an active one is delicate, so it dries into a tun to hide from enemies.
- Tardigrades are often called the toughest animals, but an active one is delicate, and its toughness comes from drying out into a tun.
- Tardigrades are often called the toughest animals, but an active one is delicate, and its toughness comes from a charming trick of drying out.
Numbers on the Library Shelf (article)
[1] In most public and school libraries in the United States, the nonfiction books carry small labels with numbers such as 599 or 973 on their spines. [2] Those numbers come from the Dewey Decimal Classification, a system that Melvil Dewey published in 1876, when he was working at a college library in Massachusetts. [3] The system was meant to let a reader find books on one subject standing side by side.
[4] Dewey divided all knowledge into ten main classes, each with a range of one hundred numbers, from 000 to 999. [5] The 500s, for example, hold the natural sciences and mathematics, while the 900s hold history and geography. [6] Each class is split into ten divisions and each division into ten sections, so that 599, for instance, stands for mammals, and digits after a decimal point narrow a subject further.
[7] The numbers themselves were not the most important part of Dewey's plan. [8] Before 1876, many libraries gave each book a fixed spot, so that a volume always sat on the same numbered shelf, no matter what else arrived. [9] In such a library, a new book about birds might end up across the room from the other bird books, simply because the bird shelf was full. [10] Dewey tied each number to a subject instead of a shelf, so that new books could slide in beside related ones while the rest of the collection shifted along.
[11] Because knowledge keeps changing, the system has been revised many times, and numbers have been added for new subjects such as computers. [12] Some librarians argue that parts of it still reflect the way people sorted knowledge in the 1870s, and a few public libraries have switched to simpler subject labels. [13] Many large university libraries use a different scheme, the Library of Congress Classification, but it shares Dewey's idea that a book's place should follow its subject.
Tala has a gist for each paragraph. Which rung changes what the article first seemed to say about the numbers?
- Rung 4: The system has been revised and questioned, and another system shares its subject idea.
- Rung 3: The key change was tying numbers to subjects, not to fixed shelves.
- Rung 1: Library numbers come from Melvil Dewey's 1876 system for grouping books by subject.
- Rung 2: Ten main classes are split into divisions, sections and decimals.
