I. Read the following passage and choose the correct answer to each of the questions.
All mammals feed their young. Beluga whale mothers, for example, nurse their calves for some twenty months, until they are about to give birth again and their young are able to find their own food. The behavior of feeding of the young is built into the reproductive system. It is a nonelective part of parental care and the defining feature of a mammal, the most important thing that mammals– whether marsupials, platypuses, spiny anteaters, or placental mammals — have in common.
But not all animal parents, even those that tend their offspring to the point of hatching or birth, feed their young. Most egg-guarding fish do not, for the simple reason that their young are so much smaller than the parents and eat food that is also much smaller than the food eaten by adults. In reptiles, the crocodile mother protects her young after they have hatched and takes them down to the water, where they will find food, but she does not actually feed them. Few insects feed their young after hatching, but some make other arrangement, provisioning their cells and nests with caterpillars and spiders that they have paralyzed with their venom and stored in a state of suspended animation so that their larvae might have a supply of fresh food when they hatch.
For animals other than mammals, then, feeding is not intrinsic to parental care. Animals add it to their reproductive strategies to give them an edgein their lifelong quest for descendants. The most vulnerable moment in any animal’s life is when it first finds itself completely on its own, when it must forage and fend for itself. Feeding postpones that moment until a young animal has grown to such a size that it is better able to cope. Young that are fed by their parents become nutritionally independent at a much greater fraction of their full adult size. And in the meantime those young areshielded against the vagaries of fluctuating of difficult-to-find supplies. Once a species does take the step of feeding its young, the young become totally dependent on the extra effort. If both parents are removed, the young generally do not survive.
Question 1. What does the passage mainly discuss?
A. The care that various animals give to their offspring.
Question 2. The author lists various animals in line 5 to _________.
Question 3. The word “tend” in line 7 is closest in meaning to ____________.
Question 4. What can be inferred from the passage about the practice of animal parents feeding their young?
Question 5. The word “provisioning” in line 13 is closest in meaning to
Question 6. According to the passage, how do some insects make sure their young have food?
Question 7. The word “edge” in line 17 is closest in meaning to
Question 8. The word “it” in line 20 refers to
Question 9. According to the passage, animal young are most defenseless when
Question 10. The word “shielded” in line 22 is closest in meaning to
II. Read the following passage and choose the correct answer to each of the questions.
Before the 1500’s, the western plains of North America were dominated by farmers. One group, the Mandans, lived in the upper Missouri River country, primarily in present – day North Dakota. They had large villages of houses built close together. The tight arrangement enabled the Mandans to protect themselves more easily from the attacks of others who might seek to obtain some of the food these highly capable farmers stored from one year to the next.
The women had primary responsibility for the fields. They had to exercise considerable skill to produce the desired results, for their northern location meant fleeting growing seasons. Winter often lingered; autumn could be ushered in by severe frost. For good measure, during the spring and summer, drought, heat, hail, grasshoppers, and other frustrations might await the wary grower.
Under such conditions, Mandan women had to grow maize capable of weathering adversity. They began as early as it appeared feasible to do so in the spring, clearing the land, using fire to clear stubble from the fields and then planting. From this point until the first green corn could be harvested, the crop required labor and vigilance.
Harvesting proceeded in two stages. In August the Mandans picked a smaller amount of the crop before it had matured fully. This green corn was boiled, dried and shelled, with some of the maize slated for immediate consumption and the rest stored in animal – skin bags. Later in the fall, the people picked the rest of the corn. They saved the best of the harvest for seeds or for trade, with the remainder eaten right away or stored for alter use in underground reserves. With appropriate banking of the extra food, the Mandans protected themselves against the disaster of crop failure and accompany hunger.
The woman planted another staple, squash, about the first of June, and harvested it near the time of the green corn harvest. After they picked it, they sliced it, dried it, and strung the slices before they stored them. Once again, they saved the seeds from the best of the year’s crop. The Mandans also grew sunflowers and tobacco; the latter was the particular task of the older men.
Question 1: What is the main topic of the passage?
Question 2: The Mandans built their houses close together in order to ____________.
Question 3: The word “enabled” in the first paragraph is closest in meaning to ____________.
Question 4: Why does the author believe that the Mandans were skilled farmers?
Question 5: The word “consumption” in the paragraph is closest in meaning to _________.
Question 6: Which of the following processes does the author imply was done by both men and women?
Question 7: The word “disaster” in paragraph 4 is closest in meaning to __________.
Question 8: The word “them” in the last paragraph refers to _________.
Question 9: Which of the following crops was cultivated primarily by men?
Question 10: Throughout the passage, the author implies that the Mandans _________.
