Egypt

Molly Kubik, 2016

Egypt is a country in northern Africa. Egypt is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Sudan to the south, and Libya to the west. The capital of Egypt is Cairo. Cairo is the largest city in Africa, and has been a very important place throughout Egypt's history. Cairo is a modern city. If you visit, you will see large buildings and many cars. Egypt has a very rich history. Long ago, the ancient Egyptians were a very advanced civilization. They were very intelligent people who built pyramids, invented ways to farm in the desert, invented a way of writing, and set up many schools. Ancient Egyptian writing was very advanced. Ancient Egyptians used hieroglyphics to write, which are small pictures that tell a written story. Although is very difficult to live in the desert, the ancient Egyptians were very resourceful and were able to create a prosperous civilization. Like the ancient Egyptians and modern day Egyptians mainly live near the Nile River. Modern day Egypt sometimes has problems. Over 82 million people live in Egypt. Some people live in poverty. Many poor people need jobs, homes, and education. There have been problems with wars. Egypt is working very hard to solve these problems. They are working hard to make their schools better, and are helping students to learn more. Egypt has a wonderful history, and it will have a great future too because people are working hard to make Egypt a great place.

Which statement best explains the main idea of the passage?

"The Dangers of Sugar" by Daniel Morrison (2014)

Sugar is a highly addictive substance that plays a dangerous role in the health and well-being of people around the world. It is particularly threatening to American health, as it is placed in everything from carbonated sodas to beef jerky and vegetable juice. The average American consumes seventy-five pounds of sugar every year—that is roughly the weight of a elementary school child. Many health experts believe that sugar is the number one contributing factor in the high rates of obesity, heart disease, and diabetes that can be found in the contemporary United States.

Why does the author believe that sugar is “particularly threatening to American health”?

Brandi Chastain - A Soccer Champion

Molly Kubik, 2016

The year 1999 was a big year for women's soccer. The United States Women's Soccer team played the Chinese Women's Soccer in the finals of the Women's World Cup. They were tied 4-4 in the final game. The whole world watched this game to see would be the World Champion. Over 90,000 people came to the game, which was hosted at the Rose Bowl in California, and over forty million people across the world watched the game on television. Because the game was tied, the winner had to be decided with penalty kicks. Everyone watched as United States player Brandi Chastain lined up to take her penalty kick, which would decide the game. She lined up, ran, and shot the ball! The ball flew into the upper right corner of the net. The Chinese goalie couldn't reach it. Brandi Chastain had scored! The United States won the game 5-4. They were the World Champions! Many people say that this was the most important moment of Brandi Chastain's whole soccer career. Brandi had always been a standout soccer player since she was very young. She played soccer in high school and college. She even played on the champion World Cup soccer team in 1991 and went to the 1996 Olympic games, where she won a gold medal. Soccer had always been a very important part of Brandi's life. In 1993, Brandi played professional soccer in Japan because there was no professional women's team in the United States for her to join. While she played there, she was voted to be the most valuable player. When she returned to the United States, she could not play professional soccer because there was still no professional women's team! Finally, in the spring of 2000, the United States formed a professional women's soccer league. Brandi Chastain played for San Francisco. As usual, Brandi remained in the spotlight. She was never afraid to play against tough teams and win. Brandi Chastain is truly a soccer champion.

What was important about Brandi Chastain's soccer goal in the 1999 Women's World Cup?

Adapted from A Catechism of Familiar Things: Their History and the Events Which Led to Their Discovery by the Benziger Brothers (1881)

Iron is one of the most useful and abundant metals, being found in all mineral earths, stones, plants, and animal fluids. Iron is found in great masses, in various states, in the bowels of the earth; it is usually, however, compounded with stone, from which it is separated by the action of fire. In some parts of the world, whole mountains are formed of iron; among these may be mentioned the Pilot Knob and the Iron Mountain, in Missouri, being unsurpassed by anything of the kind found elsewhere.

It is hard, fusible, not very malleable, but extremely ductile, and very tenacious; it is of a greyish color, and nearly eight times heavier than water. Without iron, society could make no progress in the cultivation of the ground, in mechanical arts or trades, in architecture or navigation; it is therefore of the greatest use to man.

The primary argument of this essay is that __________.

"Jupiter's Moons" by Brooke Petruzzelli (2013)

The planet Jupiter has many moons. The most well known moons are the four biggest moons. The Italian astronomer, Galileo Galilei, discovered these four moons in 1610. They are named Europa, Ganymede, Callisto, and lo. The biggest of these four moons is Ganymede with a diameter of 5,262.4 km. In fact, if Ganymede were not bound to Jupiter, it would be considered a planet in its own right. Callisto is almost an exact twin of the planet Mercury, Europa is very smooth, and lo is has many active volcanoes. Although there are 57 moons that have been discovered around Jupiter, these four are the most well known.

What is the main idea of this passage?

Adapted from The Story of Mankind by Hendrik Van Loon (1921)

The Phoenicians were a Semitic tribe that at a very early age had settled along the shores of the Mediterranean. They had built themselves two well-fortified towns, Tyre and Sidon, and within a short time they had gained a monopoly of the trade of the western seas. Their ships went regularly to Greece and Italy and Spain and they even ventured beyond the straits of Gibraltar to visit the Scilly islands where they could buy tin. Wherever they went, they built themselves small trading stations, which they called colonies. Many of these were the origin of modern cities, such as Cadiz and Marseilles.

They bought and sold whatever promised to bring them a good profit and regarded a well-filled treasure chest the highest ideal of all good citizens. Notably, they rendered future generations one service of the greatest possible value: they helped develop the alphabet used in modern English.

The Phoenicians had been familiar with the art of writing, invented by the Sumerians. But they regarded the Sumerian method as a clumsy waste of time. They were practical business men and could not spend hours engraving two or three letters. They set to work and invented a new system of writing which was greatly superior to the old one. They borrowed a few pictures from the Egyptians and they simplified a number of the wedge-shaped figures of the Sumerians. They sacrificed the pretty looks of the older system for the advantage of speed and they reduced the thousands of different images to a short and handy alphabet of twenty-two letters.

In due course of time, this alphabet travelled across the Aegean Sea and entered Greece. The Greeks added a few letters of their own and carried the improved system to Italy. The Romans modified the figures somewhat and in turn taught them to the barbarians of western Europe. That is the reason why this is written in characters that are of Phoenician origin and not in the hieroglyphics of the Egyptians or in the nail-script of the Sumerians.

The main purpose of this passage is to __________.

Adapted from The Story of Mankind by Hendrik Van Loon (1921)

Early in the tenth century a Viking by the name of Rollo had repeatedly attacked the coast of France. The king of France, too weak to resist these northern robbers, tried to bribe them into "being good." He offered them the province of Normandy, if they would promise to stop bothering the rest of his domains. Rollo accepted this bargain and became Duke of Normandy.

But his children remained interested in conquest. Across the channel, only a few hours away from the European mainland, they could see the white cliffs and the green fields of England. Poor England had passed through difficult days. For two hundred years it had been a Roman colony. After the Romans left, it had been conquered by the Angles and the Saxons, two German tribes from Schleswig. Next the Danes had taken the greater part of the country and had established the kingdom of Cnut. The Danes had been driven away and now (it was early in the eleventh century) another Saxon king, Edward the Confessor, was on the throne. But Edward was not expected to live long and he had no children. The circumstances favored the ambitious dukes of Normandy.

In 1066 Edward died. Immediately William of Normandy crossed the channel, defeated and killed Harold of Wessex (who had taken the crown) at the battle of Hastings, and proclaimed himself king of England.

In another story I have told you how in the year 800 a German chieftain had become a Roman Emperor. Now in the year 1066 the grandson of a Norse pirate was recognized as King of England. Why should we ever read fairy stories, when the truth of history is so much more interesting and entertaining?

The primary purpose of this essay is to __________.

Adapted from "America the Old World" by L. Agassiz in Wonders of Earth, Sea, and Sky (1902, ed. Edward Singleton Holden)

There is, perhaps, no part of the world where the early geological periods can be studied with so much ease and precision as in the United States. Along their northern borders, between Canada and the United States, there runs the low line of hills known as the Laurentian Hills. Insignificant in height, nowhere rising more than fifteen hundred or two thousand feet above the level of the sea, these are nevertheless some of the first mountains that broke the uniform level of the earth's surface and lifted themselves above the waters. Their low stature, as compared with that of other more lofty mountain ranges, is in accordance with an invariable rule, by which the relative age of mountains may be estimated. The oldest mountains are the lowest, while the younger and more recent ones tower above their elders, and are usually more torn and dislocated also. So it is known the Alps, Rockies, and Himalayas are considerably younger than the Appalachian mountains.

How do we know that the Appalachians are older than the Alps?

Adapted from The Boy Heroes of Crecy and Poitiers by Treadwell Walden (1879)

There was only one road to success or fame in those days, and that was the profession of fighting. The ambition of every high-born young fellow was to become a knight. Knighthood was something that both king and nobles regarded as higher in some respects than even the royalty or nobility to which they were born. No one could be admitted into an order of the great brotherhood of knights, which extended all over Europe and formed an independent society, unless he had gone through severe discipline, and had performed some distinguished deed of valor. Then he could wear the golden spurs; for knighthood had its earliest origin in the distinction of fighting on horseback, while ordinary soldiers fought on foot. Although knighthood changed afterward, the word "chivalry" always expressed it, from the French word cheval, a horse. And in addition to valor, which was the result of physical strength and courage, the knight was expected to be generous, courteous, faithful, devout, truthful, high-souled, high-principled. Hence the epithet, "chivalrous," which, even today, is so often heard applied to men of especially fine spirit. "Honor" was the great word which included all these qualities then, as it does in some measure now.

Why did some of the kings and nobles regard knighthood higher than royalty?

Adapted from "Marvels of Men’s Making" in Chatterbox Periodical edited by J. Erskine Clark (1906)

When two large cities stand opposite to one another on the banks of a river, it is not likely they can do very well without a bridge to connect them. Yet the citizens of New York and Brooklyn were obliged to manage as best they could for a good many years before they had their bridge. There were many difficulties in the way. For one thing, the river is very broad; for another, the tall-masted ships ply up and down so frequently that it would never do to build anything which would obstruct their passage; and to overcome these difficulties would mean the expenditure of a vast sum of money. But the folk who earned their daily bread in New York and lived in Brooklyn grew thoroughly tired of spending chilly hours in foggy weather on the river-side piers, waiting for the ferry-boat to come and take them across, and at last they began an agitation which resulted in the Brooklyn Bridge.

Why do the people of Brooklyn start demanding that a bridge be built?