Unit Test Answers

Read the passage from "Carrots with Character,” which is an informational text about the health benefits of genetically modified carrots.The researchers, led by plant geneticist Philipp Simon, haven't limited themselves to the color orange. They've selectively bred a rainbow of carrots—purple, red, yellow, even white. Scientists are learning that these plant pigments perform a range of protective duties in the human body—which is not surprising, says Simon, since many of the pigments serve to shield plant cells during photosynthesis. Red carrots derive their color mainly from lycopene, a type of carotene believed to guard against heart disease and some cancers. Yellow carrots accumulate xanthophylls, pigments similar to beta-carotene that support good eye health. Purple carrots possess an entirely different class of pigments—anthocyanins—which act as powerful antioxidants.While colored carrots are unusual, they're not exactly new. "Purple and yellow carrots were eaten more than 1,000 years ago in Afghanistan and 700 years ago in western Europe,” says Simon. "But the carrot-­breeding process has gone on intensively for just 50 years.”Simon and his team of ARS researchers and colleagues at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW) have recently shown that their highly pigmented carrots are a ready source of some sought-after nutrients.

Read the excerpt from "The Environmental Ethic." Mother Earth . . . is no more than the commonality of organisms and the physical environment they maintain with each passing moment, an environment that will destabilize and turn lethal if the organisms are disturbed too much. . . . To disregard the diversity of life is to risk catapulting ourselves into an alien environment. We will have become like the pilot whales that inexplicably beach themselves on New England shores.Which of the following choices best expresses the type of appeal Wilson uses in this passage?

Read the following excerpt from E. O. Wilson’s “The Environmental Ethic.”It is also easy to overlook the services that ecosystems provide humanity. They enrich the soil and create the very air we breathe. Without these amenities, the remaining tenure of the human race would be nasty and brief. The life-sustaining matrix is built of green plants with legions of microorganisms and mostly small, obscure animals—in other words, weeds and bugs. Such organisms support the world with efficiency because they are so diverse, allowing them to divide labor and swarm over every square meter of the earth’s surface. They run the world precisely as we would wish it to be run, because humanity evolved within living communities and our bodily functions are finely adjusted to the idiosyncratic environment already created. The author tries to persuade the reader to agree with his claim about the importance of ecosystems by

Read the passage from "What Your Most Vivid Memories Say about You,” which is an informational text that explores what makes up a person’s identity.In an intriguing study, Connecticut College psychologist Jefferson Singer and his colleagues (2007) compared older adults with college students on self-defining memories. They found that older adults tended to come up with more general memories that linked several events together and that, in general, older adults tended to feel more positively about their self-defining memories, even if the memories were of events that were negative in nature. These findings fit with other lines of research suggesting that older adults have found ways to make sense out of their life stories. They convert memories of troubling events into stories of redemption in which they make peace with their past struggles. For younger adults, events of a negative nature had more rough edges, causing them to experience greater distress when they recalled them.

Read the excerpt from Freakonomics. It’s worth thinking about the incentive a wrestler might have to throw a match. Maybe he accepts a bribe (which would obviously not be recorded in the data). Or perhaps some other arrangement is made between the two wrestlers. Keep in mind that the pool of elite sumo wrestlers is extraordinarily tight-knit. Each of the sixty-six elite wrestlers fights fifteen of the others in a tournament every two months. Furthermore, each wrestler belongs to a stable that is typically managed by a former sumo champion, so even the rival stables have close ties. Which of the following claims is best supported by the evidence in this excerpt?

Read the procedural text about viewing videos from a camera on a TV.

Read the following excerpt from E. O. Wilson’s “The Environmental Ethic.”Species are disappearing at an accelerating rate through human action, primarily habitat destruction but also pollution and the introduction of exotic species into residual natural environments. I have said that a fifth or more of the species of plants and animals could vanish or be doomed to early extinction by the year 2020 unless better efforts are made to save them. . . . As the last forests are felled [destroyed] in forest strongholds like the Philippines and Ecuador, the decline of species will accelerate even more. In the world as a whole, extinction rates are already hundreds or thousands of times higher than before the coming of man. They cannot be balanced by new evolution in any period of time that has meaning for the human race.Why should we care? What difference does it make if some species are extinguished, if even half of all the species on earth disappear? Let me count the ways. New sources of scientific information will be lost. Vast potential biological wealth will be destroyed. Still undeveloped medicines, crops, pharmaceuticals, timber, fibers, pulp, soil-restoring vegetation, petroleum substitutes, and other products and amenities will never come to light. Based on the excerpt, which statement best summarizes the author’s beliefs about the disappearing species?

Read the excerpt from Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner’s Freakonomics.Let’s now consider the following statistic, which represents the hundreds of matches in which a 7–7 wrestler faced an 8–6 wrestler on a tournament’s final day: 7–7 WRESTLER’S PREDICTED WIN PERCENTAGE AGAINST 8–6 OPPONENT: 48.77–7 WRESTLER’S ACTUAL WIN PERCENTAGE AGAINST 8–6 OPPONENT: 79.6So the 7–7 wrestler, based on past outcomes, was expected to win just less than half the time. This makes sense; their records in this tournament indicate that the 8–6 wrestler is slightly better. But in actuality, the wrestler on the bubble won almost eight out of ten matches against his 8–6 opponent. Wrestlers on the bubble also do astonishingly well against 9–5 opponents:7–7 WRESTLER’S PREDICTED WIN PERCENTAGE AGAINST 9–5 OPPONENT: 47.27–7 WRESTLER’S ACTUAL WIN PERCENTAGE AGAINST 9–5 OPPONENT: 73.4The authors use the statistics in this excerpt to

Read the excerpt from E.O. Wilson’s “The Environmental Ethic.”Species are disappearing at an accelerating rate through human action, primarily habitat destruction but also pollution and the introduction of exotic species into residual natural environments. I have said that a fifth or more of the species of plants and animals could vanish or be doomed to early extinction by the year 2020 unless better efforts are made to save them. . . . As the last forests are felled in forest strongholds like the Philippines and Ecuador, the decline of species will accelerate even more. In the world as a whole, extinction rates are already hundreds or thousands of times higher than before the coming of man. They cannot be balanced by new evolution in any period of time that has meaning for the human race.What message does the author convey in this excerpt?

Yuki wants to do a multimedia presentation on all the effects of disposing waste in the ocean.

Which text feature is best for helping readers identify the main ideas in a procedural text?

Kami wants to use the following research question for a multimedia presentation.How did colonialism impact modern society?

Read the procedural text.Improving Photo CompositionComposition is a term that refers to where objects are placed in relation to each other in a frame. Basically, it’s the skill of arranging items in a pleasing way. First, you’ll want to decide on a distance from your subject: the farther you are, the more of the surroundings will be included in your photo. Of course you can always crop later but don’t rely on this. Camera orientation and angle are also important. Experiment with tilting your phone or kneeling down to see how the composition changes in your viewfinder.

Read the passage from "The Salem (and Other) Witch Hunts,” which is an informational text about witch hunts in the late 1600s. The sentencing of Bridget Bishop, the first victim of the witch trials, was typical of the Salem justice. Bishop was accused of not living "a Puritan lifestyle" because she wore black clothing. Her coat had been found to be oddly "cut or torn in two ways,” and her behavior was regarded as "immoral.” Thus convicted of witchcraft, she was tried on June 10, 1692, and executed by hanging the same day. Immediately following this execution, the court adjourned for 20 days and asked for advice from New England's most influential ministers "upon the state of things as they then stood.” A mere five days later, they produced a voluble answer penned by Cotton Mather, the prolific pamphleteer of the period, assuring the court and the grand jury that they had done well.The prominent ministers "humbly recommend[ed]" more of the same: that is, "the speedy and vigorous prosecution of such as have rendered themselves obnoxious, according to the direction given in the laws of God, and the wholesome statutes of the English nation . . . ”More people were accused, arrested and examined, but historians believe that by September 1692 the hysteria had begun to abate and public opinion turned against the trials.

Read this excerpt from Levitt and Dubner’s Freakonomics. The incentive scheme that rules sumo is intricate and extraordinarily powerful. Each wrestler maintains a ranking that affects every slice of life; how much money he makes, how large an entourage he carries, how much he gets to eat, sleep, and otherwise take advantage of his success. The sixty-six highest-ranked wrestlers in Japan, comprising the makuuchi and juryo divisions, make up the sumo elite. A wrestler near the top of this elite pyramid may earn millions and is treated like royalty. Any wrestler in the top forty earns at least $170,000 a year. The seventieth-ranked wrestler in Japan, meanwhile, earns only $15,000 a year. Life isn’t very sweet outside the elite. Low-ranked wrestlers must tend to their superiors, preparing their meals and cleaning their quarters and even soaping up their hardest-to-reach body parts. So ranking is everything.A wrestler’s ranking is based on his performance in the elite tournaments that are held six times a year. Each wrestler has fifteen bouts per tournament, one per day over fifteen consecutive days. If he finishes the tournament with a winning record (eight victories or better), his ranking will rise. If he has a losing record, his ranking falls. If it falls far enough, he is booted from the elite rank entirely. The eighth victory in any tournament is therefore critical, the difference between promotion and demotion; it is roughly four times as valuable in the rankings as the typical victory.Based on the excerpt, which of the following statements best summarizes the incentive system that ranks sumo wrestlers?

Read the procedural text.A Guide to Training for a 5K RaceThis is a guide for beginners who have never run. This is just the beginning of your running journey. First, sign up for a 5K race in your area. This is your motivation. Then follow the numbered list provided to run 3 days per week. It really is that simple. Let’s get started.Running WorkoutsWalk for 5 minutes at a brisk pace. This is your warm-up.Stretch. Try to stretch both your arms and legs. Reach for the sky and then for your toes.Jog the Monday mileage on your chart for week one. It is ok to walk! Just finish your distance.Walk for 5 minutes at a slow pace. This is your cooldown.Repeat the procedure for the distances for Wednesday and Friday. Repeat the procedure for the distances on MWF for the next 7 weeks until Race Day. Remember, it is ok to walk.

Read the passage from "Stalin: A Brutal Legacy Uncovered,” which is an informational text about Stalin’s atrocities and how he used ambition and fear to rule over people of the Soviet Union.As Khrushchev informed the closed session of the Party apparatchiks, his report—which has entered history as the "Secret Speech"—was based on research by a special commission of senior leaders of the Communist Party. It covered primarily only one part of Stalin's murderous record: the peak years of his savage "Great Purge" in the mid- and late 1930s, a massacre that wiped out a whole generation of Bolsheviks, the Party's oldest and most faithful members.Khrushchev, who went on to become the Soviet prime minister, said next to nothing about the rest of Stalin's victims, who have been estimated at more than 20 million.Stalin's genocidal record was the product of a ruthless, steely personality hardened by searing hardships in his youth: first, brutal beatings by his alcoholic, dirt-poor father; and later, several rounds of imprisonment and exile—from which he often escaped—following his expulsion from a Russian Orthodox seminary for fomenting a strike of railroad workers. For the 20-year-old Stalin, an outstanding student with top marks in Bible and Church studies, the strike was the first step on a new road - a career of rebellion, crime, and radical politics that eventually made him the unquestioned boss of the Communist Party and of 140 million people in the Soviet Union.

Read the excerpt from Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner’s Freakonomics.The incentive scheme that rules sumo is intricate and extraordinarily powerful. Each wrestler maintains a ranking that affects every slice of his life; how much money he makes, how large an entourage he carries, how much he gets to eat, sleep, and otherwise take advantage of his success. The sixty-six highest-ranked wrestlers in Japan, comprising the makuuchi and juryo divisions, make up the sumo elite. A wrestler near the top of this elite pyramid may earn millions and is treated like royalty. Any wrestler in the top forty earns at least $170,000 a year. The seventieth-ranked wrestler in Japan, meanwhile, earns only $15,000 a year. Life isn’t very sweet outside the elite. Low-ranked wrestlers must tend to their superiors, preparing their meals and cleaning their quarters, and even soaping up their hardest-to-reach body parts. So ranking is everything.Which sentence from the excerpt best supports the idea that the high-ranking sumo wrestlers enjoy many luxuries?

Read the excerpt from E.O. Wilson’s “The Environmental Ethic.”Why should we care? What difference does it make if some species are extinguished, if even half of all the species on earth disappear? Let me count the ways. New sources of scientific information will be lost. Vast potential biological wealth will be destroyed. Still undeveloped medicines, crops, pharmaceuticals, timber, fibers, pulp, soil-restoring vegetation, petroleum substitutes, and other products and amenities will never come to light. It is fashionable in some quarters to wave aside the small and obscure, the bugs and weeds, forgetting that an obscure moth from Latin America saved Australia’s pastureland from overgrowth by cactus, that the rosy periwinkle provided the cure for Hodgkin’s disease and childhood lymphocytic leukemia, that the bark of the Pacific yew offers hope for victims of ovarian and breast cancer, that a chemical from the saliva of leeches dissolves blood clots during surgery, and so on down a roster already grown long and illustrious despite the limited research addressed to it.Which techniques does Wilson use in this excerpt to convey important information to his readers?

Read this excerpt from Levitt and Dubner’s Freakonomics. The incentive scheme that rules sumo is intricate and extraordinarily powerful. Each wrestler maintains a ranking that affects every slice of life; how much money he makes, how large an entourage he carries, how much he gets to eat, sleep, and otherwise take advantage of his success. The sixty-six highest-ranked wrestlers in Japan, comprising the makuuchi and juryo divisions, make up the sumo elite. A wrestler near the top of this elite pyramid may earn millions and is treated like royalty. Any wrestler in the top forty earns at least $170,000 a year. The seventieth-ranked wrestler in Japan, meanwhile, earns only $15,000 a year. Life isn’t very sweet outside the elite. Low-ranked wrestlers must tend to their superiors, preparing their meals and cleaning their quarters and even soaping up their hardest-to-reach body parts. So ranking is everything.A wrestler’s ranking is based on his performance in the elite tournaments that are held six times a year. Each wrestler has fifteen bouts per tournament, one per day over fifteen consecutive days. If he finishes the tournament with a winning record (eight victories or better), his ranking will rise. If he has a losing record, his ranking falls. If it falls far enough, he is booted from the elite rank entirely. The eighth victory in any tournament is therefore critical, the difference between promotion and demotion; it is roughly four times as valuable in the rankings as the typical victory.Based on the excerpt, which statement provides the best example of incentive for a sumo wrestler to cheat?

Shayla is researching the impact youth groups are having on climate change awareness.

Read the excerpt from Freakonomics. Now let’s look at the win-loss percentage between the 7–7 wrestlers and the 8–6 wrestlers the next time they meet, when neither one is on the bubble. In this case, there is no great pressure on the individual match. So you might expect the wrestlers who won their 7–7 matches in the previous tournament to do about as well as they had in earlier matches against these same opponents—that is, winning roughly 50 percent of the time. You certainly wouldn’t expect them to uphold their 80 percent clip. As it turns out, the data show that the 7–7 wrestlers win only 40 percent of the rematches. Eighty percent in one match and 40 percent in the next? How do you make sense of that?Which type of evidence does the authors use in this excerpt to support the claim that some sumo wrestlers will intentionally lose a match?

Read the excerpt from "The Environmental Ethic."It is fashionable in some quarters to wave aside the small and obscure, the bugs and weeds, forgetting that an obscure moth from Latin America saved Australia’s pastureland from overgrowth by cactus, that the rosy periwinkle provided the cure for Hodgkin’s disease and childhood lymphocytic leukemia, that the bark of the Pacific yew offers hope for victims of ovarian and breast cancer, that a chemical from the saliva of leeches dissolves blood clots during surgery, and so on down a roster already grown long and illustrious despite the limited research addressed to it.Which of the following claims is best supported by the evidence in this excerpt?

Connor is creating a multimedia presentation arguing that it is possible to colonize Mars.

Which excerpt from Fast Food Nation best states a reason supporting the author’s claim that fast food restaurants follow the assembly line model?