READTHEORY Passage and Questions Name Date • Reading Comprehension Assessment Directions: Read the passage Then answer the questions below Hunting for Pearls When I was little, my mother told me that pearls came from oysters Once I had learned this fact, every trip to the beach turned into a treasure hunt I was certain that if I searched carefully enough, I would one day find my very own pearl inside an oyster After all, jewelry stores were filled with pearl earrings, bracelets, necklaces, and rings Surely the ocean was also filled with pearl-stuffed oysters As it turns out, this is not quite the case Pearls are formed when small bits of a foreign object—like sand, food, or bacteria—get trapped inside an oyster’s shell The oyster tries to protect itself from this object by covering it in something called nacre, which is the same substance that lines the inside of its shell Layer upon layer of nacre cover this object These layers of nacre form a pearl When this process occurs without any human interference, the result is called a natural pearl Natural pearls are extremely rare and extremely valuable Cultured pearls are much more common than natural pearls Cultured pearls are made on oyster farms, not in the ocean A cultured pearl is created when an oyster farmer carefully inserts a small piece of a foreign object into an oyster A pearl then develops in the same way as it would in the ocean Although natural pearls and cultured pearls are basically identical, natural pearls are much more expensive because they are so uncommon In fact, some experts estimate that one ton of oysters will only contain three or four natural pearls Because natural pearls are so rare, nearly every pearl that you see in a jewelry store is a cultured pearl Now that I have learned how improbable my chances were of finding a natural pearl, I wish that I had spent more time enjoying the beach instead of wasting all those hours hunting for pearls! 1) In the first paragraph, the author mentions jewelry stores “filled with pearl earrings, bracelets, necklaces, and rings.” Based on the information in the passage, we can infer that these pearls in the jewelry store are most likely A B C D extremely rare and extremely valuable something the narrator only imagined seeing when he or she was a child actually made of plastic or glass cultured pearls 2) The main purpose of paragraph is to A B C D convince readers to buy cultured pearls instead of natural pearls explain why natural pearls are more valuable than cultured pearls describe the way natural pearls are formed discuss the process of culturing pearls 3) According to the passage, nacre is I part of an oyster’s shell II what a pearl is made of III foreign matter that enters an oyster READTHEORY A B C D Questions I only I and II only II and III only I, II, and III 4) As used in the last paragraph, what is the best antonym for improbable? A B C D likely small noticeable confusing 5) Based on the passage, what does the narrator understand as an adult that he or she did not understand as a child? A B C D It is important to search carefully when hunting for pearls Natural pearls are almost impossible to find Cultured pearls are basically identical to natural pearls Most pearls are made without any human interference 6) Based on the information in the passage, explain in your own words how pearls (both natural and cultured) are formed _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 7) Knowing that natural and cultured pearls are “basically identical,” would you be willing to pay thousands of dollars more for natural pearls instead of cultured pearls? Do you think rarity is a good enough reason to spend more money? Why or why not? _ _ _ _ READTHEORY Questions _ _ _ _ _ _ 8) Where you think the narrator found the information he or she summarizes in paragraphs and 3? What kinds of resources might contain these facts? Who might have written them? Brainstorm below _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 9) The narrator explains a particular misunderstanding he or she held as a child The narrator thought that if he or she just looked hard enough, he or she would find a pearl at the beach This turned out not to be true Did you ever experience any similar misunderstandings and disappointments in childhood? Give details about at least one such false idea below _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ READTHEORY Answers and Explanations 1) D Question Type: Inference In the first paragraph, the narrator assumes that because jewelry stores were “filled with pearl earrings, bracelets, necklaces, and rings,” the ocean must also be “filled with pearl-stuffed oysters.” As the passage progresses, however, the author explains that natural pearls produced by ocean oysters are very rare In paragraph 3, the author writes: “nearly every pearl that you see for sale in a jewelry store is a cultured pearl.” Based on this information, we can see that the pearls in the jewelry store mentioned in the first paragraph are most likely cultured pearls Therefore, (D) is correct Although the passage does describe natural pearls as “extremely rare and extremely valuable,” based on the above information, we can see that the pearls in the jewelry store are most likely cultured pearls, not natural pearls Therefore (A) is incorrect The narrator never suggests that he or she imagined seeing pearls in a jewelry store as a child Therefore (B) is incorrect The narrator never suggests that the pearls in a jewelry store are actually made of plastic or glass Cultured pearls are actual pearls made by oysters; they are not made of plastic or glass Therefore (C) is incorrect 2) C Question Type: Inference In paragraph 2, the author writes: “Pearls are formed when small bits of a foreign object—like sand, food, or bacteria—get trapped inside an oyster’s shell The oyster tries to protect itself from this object by covering it in something called nacre, which is the same substance that lines the inside of its shell As more and more layers of nacre cover the object, a pearl forms When this process occurs without any human interference, the result is called a natural pearl.” This quotation contains the majority of the sentences in paragraph Almost all of the sentences in this paragraph explain how oysters form natural pearls Therefore (C) is correct Although the passage does explain that cultured pearls are much cheaper and easier to find than natural pearls, paragraph does not try to persuade readers to buy cultured pearls instead of natural pearls Therefore (A) is incorrect Paragraph does state that “natural pearls are extremely rare and extremely valuable.” However, based on the above information, we can see that most of the sentences in paragraph are about how pearls are formed If the main purpose of paragraph were to explain why natural pearls were so valuable, the author would likely have included information about how rare they were Paragraph contains some evidence of their rarity (“natural pearls are much more expensive because they are so uncommon In fact, some experts estimate that one ton of oysters will only contain three or four natural pearls”), but paragraph is about how natural pearls are formed Therefore (B) is incorrect Paragraph is about the process of culturing pearls Paragraph is about how natural pearls are formed Therefore (D) is incorrect 3) B Question Type: Detail In paragraph 2, the author writes: “Pearls are formed when small bits of a foreign object—like sand, food, or bacteria—get trapped inside an oyster’s shell The oyster tries to protect itself from this object by covering it in something called nacre, which is the same substance that lines the inside of its shell.” Based on this excerpt, we can see that nacre lines the inside of an oyster’s shell This supports option (I) In paragraph 2, the author writes: “Layer upon layer of nacre cover this object These layers of nacre form a pearl.” Based on this information, we can see that a pearl is made up of layers of nacre This supports option (II) In paragraph 2, the author writes: “Pearls are formed when small bits of a foreign object—like sand, food, or bacteria—get trapped inside an oyster’s shell The oyster tries to protect itself from this object by covering it in something called nacre, which is the same substance that lines the inside of its shell.” Nacre is not the foreign object The author explains that the foreign matter can be “sand, food, or bacteria,” but does not call this foreign matter nacre Nacre is the substance that lines the oyster shell and creates layers over the foreign object This eliminates option (III) Therefore (B) is correct 4) A Question Type: Vocabulary improbable (adjective): unlikely, doubtful, questionable, almost certainly not going to happen In the last paragraph, the author writes: “Now that I have learned how improbable my chances were of finding a natural pearl in the wild, I wish that I had spent more time enjoying the beach instead of spending all day hunting for pearls!” We can use context clues—hints from known words or phrases around the unknown word or phrase—to help us figure out what the word improbable most nearly means Throughout the passage, the author explains how rare natural pearls are In paragraph 3, the author states: “In fact, some experts estimate that one ton of oysters will only contain three or four natural pearls.” Because natural pearls are so rare, it is very unlikely that the author would have found one at the beach when he/she was a child When the author describes his/her chances as “improbable,” it is another way of saying unlikely An antonym for unlikely would be likely, expected, or probable Based on this information, we can tell that we are looking for a word that means likely or expected Therefore (A) is correct Based on the above information, we can tell that we are looking for a word that means likely or expected In this case, small and improbable are synonyms The author thinks that he/she has a small chance of finding a natural pearl Because we are looking for an antonym, (B) is incorrect Based on the above information, we can tell that we are looking for a word that means likely or expected Noticeable does not mean likely Therefore (C) is incorrect Based on the above information, we can tell that we are looking for a word that means likely or expected Confusing does not mean likely Therefore (D) is incorrect 5) B Question Type: Global In the first paragraph, the author writes: “When I was little, my mother told me that pearls came from oysters Once I had learned this fact, every trip to the beach turned into a treasure hunt I was certain that if I were patient and determined, I would one day find my very own pearl inside an oyster.” The narrator also explains that because jewelry stores are filled with pearls, he/she assumed that the ocean must be filled with “pearl-stuffed oysters.” As a child, the narrator believed that if he/she tried hard enough, he/she would be able to find a pearl in an oyster As the passage progresses, the narrator explains that natural pearls are actually very rare In paragraph 3, the author writes: “some experts estimate that one ton of oysters will only contain three or four natural pearls” and adds that “because natural pearls are so rare, nearly every pearl that you see for sale in a jewelry store is a cultured pearl.” In the final paragraph, the author states that he/she now wishes that he/she had spent more time “enjoying the beach” instead of “wasting READTHEORY Answers and Explanations all those hours” searching for pearls Based on this information, we can see that as a child, the narrator thought that the ocean was filled with pearls waiting to be found As an adult, however, he/she understands that natural pearls are very difficult to find Therefore (B) is correct In the first paragraph, the author says: “When I was little, my mother told me that pearls came from oysters Once I had learned this fact, every trip to the beach turned into a treasure hunt I was certain that if I searched carefully enough, I would one day find my very own pearl inside an oyster.” Here, the author explains that as a child, he/she thought that a careful search would yield a pearl-filled oyster This is something that the narrator believed as a child The question is asking for something the author understands as an adult that he/she did not understand as a child Therefore (A) is incorrect Although paragraph does state that “natural pearls and cultured pearls are basically identical,” the narrator does not present this information as something he/she did not understand as a child but does as an adult Therefore (C) is incorrect In paragraph 3, the author writes: “Cultured pearls are much more common than natural pearls Cultured pearls are made on oyster farms, not in the ocean.” Based on this information, we can see that most pearls are cultured pearls Cultured pearls are made when humans insert foreign matter into oysters Most pearls are actually made with human interference Therefore (D) is incorrect