Directions: It should take about 3045 minutes to read
the passages in this book and answer the 16 questions in the Answer
Section. Read each passage, then refer back to it as needed when answering
the questions in the Answer Section.
Read the
story "Julies Race" and then answer Numbers 1 through
8 in the Answer Section.
he
dogsled race was about to begin. Julies team of dogs was lined
up at the starting gate. Julie stood behind them. The air was so cold
that she could see her breath. Other teams were lined up, too, and
the dogs were excited. Julie kept her eyes on the clock. At exactly
ten oclock, she and the other racers yelled, "Mush!"
The dogs knew that meant "Go!" They leapt forward and the
race began!
Julie had trained months for this race, and she hoped she and her
dogs would win. Hour after hour, day after day, Julies dogs
pulled the sled in order to get in shape for the race.
Now, they ran over snowy hills and down into frozen valleys. They
stopped only to rest and eat. They wanted to stay ahead of the other
teams. The racers had to go a thousand miles across Alaska. Alaska
is one of the coldest places on Earth. The dogs thick fur coats
helped keep them warm in the cold wind and weather. In many places
along the route, the snow was deep. Pieces of ice were as sharp as
a knife. The ice could cut the dogs feet. To keep that from
happening, Julie had put special booties on their feet.
At first, the dogs seemed to pull the sled very slowly. They were
still getting used to the race. But on the third day out, they began
to pull more quickly. They worked as a team and passed many of the
other racers. Once, one of the sleds runners slid into a hole
and broke. Julie could have given up then, but she didn't. She fixed
it and they kept going.
When they finally reached the finish line, they found out that they
had come in first place! It was a great day for Julie and her dogs.
Read the
article "Outer Space" and then answer Numbers 9 through
16 in the Answer Section.
From far out in space, Earth looks like
a blue ball. Since water covers three-fourths of the Earths
surface, blue is the color we see most. The continents look brown,
like small islands floating in the huge, blue sea. White clouds wrap
around the Earth like a light blanket. The Earth is shaped like a
sphere, or a ball. It is 25,000 miles around! It would take more than
a year to walk around the whole planet. A spaceship can fly around
the widest part of the sphere in only 90 minutes.
Even though spaceships have traveled to the Moon, people cannot visit
the Moon without special suits. The Moon has no air or water. Plants
and animals cant live there either. Astronauts first landed
on the Moon in 1969. After that, there were six more trips to the
Moon. They brought back Moon rocks, which scientists are still studying.
There are holes, or craters, all over the Moons surface. Scientists
believe that meteorites smashed into the Moon millions of years ago
and formed the craters.
The Sun is the closest star to Earth. A star is a hot ball of burning
gas. The Sun looks very big because it is so close. But the Sun is
just a medium-sized star. Billions of far-away stars are much bigger
than our Sun. The burning gases from the Sun are so hot that they
warm the Earth from 93 million miles away! Even though the Sun is
always glowing, the night here on Earth is dark. Thats because
the Earth rotates, or turns around, every 24 hours. During the day,
the Earth faces the Sun. Then we see light. During the night, the
Earth turns away from the Sun. Then it faces the darkness of space.
Each day we learn more about the Earth, the Moon, and the Sun.