Technical and figurative words in an article
Grade 9 Reading Worksheet - Building Confidence
Circle the best answer.
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How a Suspension Bridge Holds Up Its Road (article)
[1] A suspension bridge can stretch across a wide river or bay because its road hangs from cables instead of resting on a long row of piers. [2] Two tall towers rise near the ends of the bridge, and two thick main cables pass over the tops of the towers like ropes draped over a pair of posts. [3] At each end of the bridge, the main cables plunge into an anchorage, a massive block of concrete and rock buried deep in the ground. [4] Each anchorage is a fist of concrete gripping the cable ends, so the cables cannot slide loose under the enormous loads they carry.
[5] Hundreds of thinner vertical cables, called suspenders, hang from the main cables and hold up the deck, the flat roadway that cars and trucks drive on. [6] When a truck rolls across the deck, its weight pulls down on the suspenders, which pull down on the main cables. [7] The main cables are stretched tight by this pull, a force that engineers call tension, and they carry the load toward the towers and anchorages. [8] The towers, in turn, are squeezed from above, and they press the weight down through their foundations into the riverbed. [9] Steel suits the main cables well, because thin steel wires are very strong when they are pulled, and thousands of them can be bundled into one cable.
[10] From the shore, the main cables trace a graceful curve that dips lowest in the middle of the span and rises toward each tower. [11] That curve is not decoration; it is the natural shape a hanging cable takes when it carries a load spread evenly along its length. [12] Because the deck is light and flexible, engineers also stiffen it and test models in wind tunnels so that strong gusts do not set it swinging.
Ari reads sentence [3] of the bridge article. What does anchorage mean in this article?
- a sheltered place along a coast where ships can safely drop anchor and stay overnight
- a huge block set deep in the ground that holds the ends of the main cables
- one of the two tall towers that the main cables pass over near each end
- the spot at each end of the bridge where the main cables slope downward
Sentence [4] calls each anchorage “a fist of concrete gripping the cable ends.” What does Bo decide the phrase means?
- the enormous loads of cars and trucks that the cables carry across the river
- a solid block that holds the cable ends so tightly they cannot slip
- a block that squeezes the cables tighter whenever a strong wind starts to blow
- a concrete statue shaped like a hand that stands at each end of the bridge
Sentence [10] calls the curve of the cables graceful. What feel does graceful give, and what would the plain swap curved lose?
- Negative: it suggests the cables sag weakly in the middle of the span; curved would remove that worry about strength.
- Positive: it admires the curve as smooth and elegant; curved would keep the shape but drop the admiration.
- Neutral: it just names the shape of the cables; curved would say the same thing with nothing lost.
- Positive: it praises the cables for being stronger than any other metal; curved would drop that praise.
Forests That Stand in the Sea (article)
[1] Along many tropical coasts, forests of mangrove trees grow where few other trees could survive, in shallow salt water that rises and falls with the tides. [2] Most plants are harmed by salt, but mangroves have ways of dealing with it, and some kinds even push extra salt out through their leaves. [3] Many mangroves stand on prop roots, curved roots that arch out from the trunk and anchor the tree in soft mud. [4] Others send up thin roots that poke above the mud like pencils, letting the buried roots take in air that the waterlogged soil cannot supply.
[5] From a boat, a mangrove shore can look like a muddy, crowded tangle, and early visitors often described these coasts as wasteland. [6] Scientists now know that the roots form a living seawall that protects the land behind them. [7] As waves move through the maze of roots, they lose much of their energy, so less sand and soil is washed away from the shore. [8] The roots also slow the water enough for mud to settle, and over many years this mud can build up and extend the coast.
[9] Beneath the surface, the shaded spaces between the roots serve as a nursery for young fish, crabs and shrimp, which grow there in safety before moving to open water. [10] Some fish that live far out at sea as adults spent their first months sheltered among mangrove roots. [11] Because mangroves also store large amounts of carbon in their trunks and in the mud beneath them, they help slow the warming of the climate. [12] For these reasons, many coastal countries now protect their mangroves and plant new ones where old forests were cleared.
Jun reads sentence [9] of the mangrove article. What does nursery mean in this article?
- a curved root that arches out from the trunk and anchors the tree firmly in the soft mud
- the open water far from shore where the fish live once they are adults
- a room in a home that is set up for a baby or a very young child
- a sheltered place where young animals live and grow before moving elsewhere
Sentence [6] says the roots form “a living seawall.” What does Kira decide the phrase means?
- a wall of stone built along the shore and covered with growing plants
- a barrier strong enough to hold back the ocean entirely during the fiercest storms
- the mud that settles among the roots and slowly extends the coast
- a natural barrier of roots that weakens waves and shields the land behind it
In sentence [5], early visitors called these coasts wasteland. What feel does wasteland carry, and what would the plain swap undeveloped land lose?
- Negative: it judges the coast to be useless and worthless; undeveloped land would keep the idea but drop that judgment.
- Positive: it praises the coast as wild and untouched; undeveloped land would remove that praise.
- Neutral: it simply names land without buildings; undeveloped land would say the same thing with nothing lost.
- Negative: it warns that the muddy shore is unsafe for people to walk on; undeveloped land would remove that warning about danger.
How Paper Is Made (article)
[1] Nearly two thousand years ago, a court official in China named Cai Lun is said to have made paper from tree bark, old rags and worn fishing nets. [2] The method has grown enormously in scale since then, but the basic idea has stayed the same. [3] Paper is a thin mat of plant fibers, tiny threads of a tough material called cellulose that gives plant stems their strength. [4] Today most paper begins as wood, which is chipped and then cooked or ground until it breaks down into pulp, a soft, wet mass of loose fibers mixed with water.
[5] The pulp is then thinned with so much water that the mixture is almost entirely water, with the fibers floating loose in it. [6] At the paper machine, this soupy mixture is sprayed onto a wide moving screen, and the water drains away through the holes. [7] As the water leaves, the fibers settle in every direction and tangle with one another. [8] A sheet of paper is a crowd of tiny fibers holding hands, because as the sheet dries, the fibers bond wherever they touch. [9] Heavy rollers then squeeze out more water, and heated drums dry the sheet before it is wound onto huge rolls.
[10] A single sheet can feel flimsy, yet a tall stack of paper is heavy and surprisingly hard to tear through. [11] Paper can be recycled by soaking it back into pulp, but each time the fibers grow shorter and weaker. [12] After several trips through the recycling mill, the fibers become too short to hold together, so new fibers must be added.
Milo reads sentence [4] of the paper article. What does pulp mean in this article?
- the soft, juicy inside part of a fruit such as an orange
- the chips of wood that are cooked or ground at the start
- the tough material in plant stems that gives them their strength
- a soft, wet mass of loose plant fibers mixed with water
Sentence [8] calls a sheet of paper “a crowd of tiny fibers holding hands.” What does Noah decide the phrase means?
- fibers that can let go and grab on again, so a torn sheet mends itself
- the heavy rollers that squeeze the last of the water out of the sheet
- fibers that are bonded to one another where they touch, so the sheet holds together
- a picture printed on the sheet of paper that shows a crowd of people standing hand in hand
Sentence [10] says a single sheet can feel flimsy. What feel does flimsy give, and what would the plain swap thin lose?
- Negative: it complains that the sheet was badly made at the mill; thin would remove that complaint.
- Positive: it praises the sheet as light and easy to carry; thin would remove that praise.
- Neutral: it just gives the size of one sheet; thin would say the same thing with nothing lost.
- Negative: it makes one sheet sound weak and easy to tear; thin would keep the size but drop the weakness.
How a Camera Brings a Picture into Focus (article)
[1] A camera works by collecting light that bounces off a scene and directing it onto a sensor, a flat surface covered with millions of tiny light detectors. [2] Without a lens, light from every point of the scene would spread across the whole sensor, and the picture would be a gray blur. [3] A camera lens is made of curved glass that bends light as it passes through, an effect that comes from light slowing down inside the glass. [4] The lens gathers the light like a funnel, bringing the rays from each point of the scene back together at a single point on the sensor. [5] When those points land exactly on the sensor, the picture is sharp; when they land in front of it or behind it, the picture looks soft.
[6] Focusing a camera means moving the lens slightly closer to the sensor or farther from it until the rays meet in the right place. [7] Inside the lens is an aperture, an adjustable opening that can be widened to let in more light or narrowed to let in less. [8] The amount of light that reaches the sensor while a picture is being taken is called the exposure, and it depends on both the opening and the time the shutter stays open. [9] Too little light makes a photograph dark, while too much washes it out until the brightest parts turn pure white. [10] A narrow opening has a second effect, since it keeps more of the scene in focus, from objects close to the camera to mountains far away.
[11] Early cameras often used a single simple lens, but modern lenses stack several pieces of glass to correct the small errors that one piece would make. [12] This ingenious arrangement lets a camera small enough to fit inside a phone take pictures that once required a heavy box on legs.
Ren reads sentence [8] of the camera article. What does exposure mean in this article?
- being left without shelter from cold weather, wind or rain
- the amount of light that reaches the sensor while a picture is being taken
- an adjustable opening that lets more or less light into the lens
- the brightest parts of a photograph that turn pure white
