MAP G7 Reading

Read the passage.

Brownie cake recipe:

• 4 oz. unsalted butter

• 3 oz. flour

• 2 oz. cocoa powder

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

• 7 oz. granulated sugar

• 2 large eggs

• 2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line a cake pan with parchment and spray well with nonstick cooking spray. Whisk together all the dry ingredients—the flour, cocoa powder, salt, and baking powder−in a small bowl, and set it aside for the moment.

2. Cube the butter and place it in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Stir occasionally as the butter melts. Add the sugar and stir until it all melts.

3. Before the mixture comes to a boil, remove the pan from the heat and let it cool a little. Once it has cooled, add one egg at a time, and whisk well in-between. The initially grainy mixture should become shiny and smooth as you add the eggs. Add the vanilla and whisk well once again. Now add the ingredients from the bowl you set aside earlier and stir them in with a spatula.

4. Scrape the brownie batter into the prepared pan and bake it for 24 minutes until a toothpick comes out with just a few moist crumbs attached. Cool the brownie cake completely before proceeding.

When should the dry ingredients be added to the wet mixture?

• in the beginning, when they are all mixed together

• after the butter comes to a boil

• after the wet mixture becomes shiny and smooth

• just before the mixture is stirred and scraped into the pan

Read the passage.

Fleas are small flightless insects that live as parasites on animals' bodies. They typically live on fur or feathers, their strong claws preventing them from being dislodged. They feed on the blood of their host, which might be a dog, a cat, a bird, a reptile, or a human, but a flea can live more than a hundred days without eating.

Imagine not eating for a hundred days! The female flea consumes 15 times her own body weight in blood every day; imagine eating 1300 pounds of pasta in one day! One final and amazing fact is that fleas can jump up to eight inches, which is approximately 200 times their own height. That is the same as you jumping to the top of the Empire State Building.

How does the author pull the reader into the text?

• by discussing a topic that everyone is familiar with

• by writing in second person

• by stating that fleas can live on human bodies

• by describing fleas

Read the sentence.

Owing to a terrific storm, the captain of the ship had to postpone his departure.

Which possible meanings does the word terrific have in the sentence?

• long or short

• worrying or relaxing

• marvelous or delicious

• intense or frightful

Read the sentence.

Landon had a very important math test. He usually got decent grades in this subject; however, in the last few months it was getting more and more difficult, and this upcoming test was scary. He sat down every night and tried to understand what the teacher had done in class, but it was getting more complicated and he started to realize that he wouldn't be able to solve the problem on his own.

Three days before the test, Landon went to the playground after school to watch his little sister and saw his friend Robin. Robin was a student at another school in town, and they had met at summer camp. Robin came over to talk to Landon and asked why he was looking so glum. Landon told him about his fear of the upcoming math test.

"Not to worry," said Robin. "Let's go to your house, and I'll teach you. We had a test about these things last week and I got an A."

"But do you have the time?" Landon asked. "I need a lot of help, and the test is in three days."

"Don't worry about it," said Robin. Landon called his little sister over and they all went home together. Landon and Robin went up to Landon's room, and Robin took a sheet of paper and explained the material to Landon.

There was a lot of material to go over and Landon didn't understand everything right away. But Robin proved himself to be a marvelous teacher. When he went to bed that night, Landon felt more confident about the test. He knew it was all thanks to Robin and felt very grateful.

The next day, Landon was surprised to find Robin at his doorstep after school. "I came because we didn't finish yesterday," Robin explained. He came in and they kept working, and he returned the next day as well. They covered all the material for the test together, and when Landon sat down in class on the day of the test, he knew he was ready and felt more relaxed than he had all week.

What is the main idea of the story?

• Landon does not like math.

• Landon gets help from an unexpected source.

• Robin comes to a decision.

• Robin sacrifices his only free time to help Landon.

Read the passage.

The dodo was a bird that lived on the island of Mauritius until the seventeenth century. Nowadays, it is extinct. It was a large, flightless bird, with a long beak and gray plumage. It had no natural predators on the island.

When Dutch settlers came to Mauritius in the sixteenth century, they hunted numerous dodos and ate their meat. They also introduced animals that were new to the island, including dogs, cats, macaques, and pigs. Some of those animals escaped captivity and became feral, and they began plundering dodo nests and eating their eggs. Since the dodo only laid one egg per season, the number of eggs decreased quickly and the dodo population declined drastically, until the dodo went extinct in the middle of the seventeenth century.

Which of the following sentences describes the sequence of events in the passage?

• Dutch settlers hunted all the dodos, leading to their extinction.

• The dodo went extinct because it could not fly.

• The dodo went extinct before the Dutch settlers came to Mauritius.

• The dodo went extinct because of hunting and predators eating its eggs.

Read the passage.

Last week I visited my mother’s office. She works as a CEO of a big company. She was busy from the moment we arrived until the moment we left. She ran from meeting to meeting, wrote dozens of e-mails, and answered more phone calls than I could possibly count. The other workers kept going in and out of her office and asking her questions. One of the workers had lost an important file and came to apologize, shaking like a leaf. My mother said quietly, "I have a million things to do now and I have no time to find a solution. Please ask your colleagues for assistance." After the next meeting, the worker came in again to announce the file had been found. My mother exhaled in relief. Then she explained to me just how important that file was. "How did you manage to keep calm when it was missing?" I asked. "Panicking would not have helped," my mother replied. "I was calm so they could keep calm and look for the file in peace. You can’t be useful when you’re panicking." "But weren’t you worried?" I asked her. "Of course I was," my mother answered. "But time is money and I don't allow myself to get emotional."

Which of the following sentences is an example of hyperbole?

• I have a million things to do.

• She was shaking like a leaf.

• She was busy from the moment we arrived until the moment we left.

• Time is money.

Read the passage.

Sidewalks exist on almost every street, and though most are plain-looking, some are decorated. Sidewalk chalk art is found in many big cities in Europe and North and South America. One famous sidewalk chalk artist is Julian Beever, who is originally from the UK and has been creating drawings on sidewalks around the world since the mid-1990s. His drawings create the illusion of three dimensions: some feature holes in the sidewalk, that look so real that pedestrians walk around them instead of crossing them. Others feature extremely realistic swimming pools, dungeons, and scenes from famous movies.

Boston sidewalks, another example of sidewalk art, feature a selection of poems that can only be seen when it rains. The poems were painted with a special paint that only appears when covered by fluids. The city of Boston and Mass Poetry, a non-profit organization, formed a collaboration called "Raining Poetry" and began painting the poems on the sidewalks in April 2016 in honor of National Poetry Month.

Which of the following is a difference between Beever's sidewalk drawings and Boston's sidewalk poetry, according to the passage?

• Beever's sidewalk drawings were created by an individual, while the sidewalk poetry was initiated by a collaboration.

• Beever's sidewalk drawings were created with chalks, while the sidewalk poetry was created with permanent paint.

• Beever's sidewalk drawings never feature poems.

• None of Beever's sidewalk drawings were painted on sidewalks in Boston.

Read the paragraph.

Having spent all his money on a new stereo system for his car, Jonah could not pay his rent. Full of remorse, he headed to his parents' house and beseeched them to give him money for rent. "This is the sixth time this year, Jonah," said his mother, "and every time you sound sadder and sadder. Rent should be the first thing you pay, not the last. I do feel sorry for you though. Please do not cry over it; just be smarter next time."

What is the meaning of the word "beseech"?

• demand

• beg

• steal

• make

Read the passage.

It was late afternoon, and three young children were walking in the forest. The high trees were full of leaves and were blocking their view of the sky, but they were able to see the way. The day was hot—so hot that beads of sweat were running down the children’s foreheads and cheeks, and their clothes were sticking to their backs. Small birds were flying around and chirping, but as the children kept walking, they could hear fewer and fewer birds. The trees were growing further apart now, and they could see the sky.

Suddenly, they came to a clearing. They looked around them, unsure where to go next. Then, before they could reach a decision, they heard thunder in the distance and the sky above them turned dark almost at once. They looked up and saw clouds gathering up quickly—a storm was coming. Heavy raindrops started to fall all around them and the thunder grew louder and closer.

What does the storm in the story symbolize?

• sadness

• a surprise

• danger

• anger

Read the passage.

Red hair is uncommon, occurring in about 1%–2% of people. It is a recessive trait, which means you have to get the trait from both your parents in order to have it. If you have a red-haired parent and a red-haired grandparent on the other side, you have a high chance to be one of the lucky few people with red hair in this world. Then again, you still may not have red hair. You might be interested to know that red hair used to be considered an evil trait. Red-haired people were persecuted by people who believed they were vampires.

Which of the following sentences is an example that the author is biased?

• It is a recessive trait, which means you have to get the trait from both your parents in order to have it.

• If you have a red-haired parent and a red-haired grandparent on the other side, you have a high chance to be one of the luck few people with red hair in this world.

• You might be interested to know that red hair used to be considered an evil trait.

• Red-haired people were persecuted because they were believed to be vampires.