Reading Level 1
The third quarter belonged to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. With Milwaukee fans cheering him on, Kareem fired in basket after basket. Nicknamed "the sky hook," Abdul-Jabbar's long hook shot thrilled the fans. Kareem was playing - 1. loudly 2. slowly 3. well 4. poorly
What is well?
"All set?" he asks as we pile in the door. I herd the kids to the back and buckle their seat belts. My father starts the engine of the Wolf's Den, and we head into the morning traffic. We were- 1. ready 2. bigger 3. friendly 4. busy
What is ready?
You probably think of popcorn as a snack for the movies. But did you know U.S colonists ate popcorn for breakfast? They ate the popped kernels in a bowl of milk and cereal. Today, the breakfast seems _________ 1. peculiar 2. fancy 3. humorous 4. revolutionary
What is peculiar?
Peter fixed the bike himself, buying the needed parts from Max's Motorbike and Parts Store. It took him until Wednesday evening to finish it. Then, on Thursday morning, he and Juan rode out to the Bumble Bee Speedway to try it out. Peter was ____ to fix the bike. 1. loathe 2. determined 3. afraid 4. sad
What is determined?
There were more lines on Father's face and his skin was as dark as leather, but he had the same easygoing smile. He swept off his hat and called to Mother. Father had- 1. tripped 2. aged 3. sneezed 4. listened
What is aged?
In everyone's life there are certain people who have helped to form his character and given a direction to his life; they are like big stones in a river that forces the water to alter its course. Lord Akiyama's cook was such a stone in the little stream of my early life. He was- 1. athletic 2. handsome 3. influential 4. fashionable
What is influential?
Long ago the American flag had 13 stars and 13 stripes. It had one star and one stripe for each colony. Today, the American flag has 50 stars. Each star represents one of the 50 states. However, the flag still has 13 stripes. The 13 stripes are a reminder of the original 13 colonies. It represents the country's - 1. values 2. history 3. products 4. councils
What is history?
Good team members know how their team helps their employer. They understand the team's goals. For example, nurses take care of sick people. They understand how their work helps others. They know their work makes their employer successful. They work to reach their goals so everyone succeeds. A good team member tries to be -- 1. early 2. slow 3. useful 4. friendly
What is useful?
"I am so dreadfully hungry" groaned Bilbo, who was suddenly aware that he had not had a meal since the night before last. Just think of that for a hobbit! His stomach felt all empty and loose and his legs all wobbly, now that the excitement was over. Bilbo was - 1. bartering 2. starving 3. laughing 4. responding
What is starving?
The Asians brought with them curry and other spices that add new tastes to Caribbean cooking. In Jamaica, curried goat is a favorite dish. In Trinidad, roti, an Indian flat bread, and curried vegetables, fish, and meat dishes are particularly popular. Curry is _____ in the Caribbean. 1. harmful 2. expensive 3. prevalent 4. impractical
What is prevalent?
Howard Carter was a real slowpoke. He spent ten years searching for the tomb. Then he took eight years to clear out over 5,000 objects and another ten years to list them all in detail. Carter was so thorough and patient that he didn't even open the first coffin until almost three years after he had found it! He wanted to be - 1. precise 2. critical 3. active 4. careless
What is precise?
People across the world have always used maps to travel from place to place. The ancient Babylonians scratched maps on clay tablets. The Chinese painted maps on silk cloth. People who lived on islands in the Pacific Ocean wove maps of reeds and palm leaves. They attached seashells to show where larger islands were located. There are many ways to ___ maps. 1. destroy 2. make 3. purchase 4. conceal
What is make?
Good morning, she said, "I'm Miss Emily Firth. I'm an acquaintance of Mrs. Bell's and she's given me her permission to come out here and sketch." I noticed that her eyes were the color of bluebonnets, and when she smiled, her small white teeth were perfectly even. She held up a large pad of fine white paper and a box of pencils. Emily ______ why she was there. 1. explained 2. overlooked 3. asked 4. perceived
What is explained?
The boat righted but was filled with water. The waves were running high. Cruzatte ordered two of the men to throw out water with some kettles while he and two other men rowed her ashore. Sacagwea, whose fortitude was equal to any person on board, caught and saved most of the light articles which were washed overboard. The boat was - 1. returning 2. departing 3. sinking 4. rupturing
What is sinking?
In some Mbundu kingdoms, salt resources were controlled by royal agents. These agents made sure that local producers promptly paid a share of their salt to the king. Saltwater was filtered and then boiled over low to produce salt crystals that were then made into balls and cones. These were used for trade and as a form of currency. Salt was ____ by the Mbundu. 1. abandoned 2. invented 3. valued 4. mined
What is valued?
Finally, Bobby was left alone in his library. He stoked up the fire until it lit the room with a comfortable golden glow. Selecting a book from his collection. (The Murders in the Rue Morgue by Edgar Allan Poe), Mr. Bobby settled himself into an overstuffed armchair for a nice long read. Every now and then he would look over at his rare book case and sigh happily. He was- 1. creative 2. clever 3. content 4. charming
What is content?
Her professional friends helped Rachel secure two fellowship awards of money for writers. Rachel hoped to sell chapters of the book to magazines, but many magazines rejected the manuscript before the Yale Review bought a chapter. The article won an award as the best example of science writing for the year. The book itself won the John Burroughs Medal for natural history writing from scientists and the National Book Award from publishers. Her writing was-- 1. lengthy 2. acclaimed 3. fictional 4. mediocre
What is acclaimed?
It was always a pleasure to me to see Willie Winter at a banquet. During a matter of twenty years I was seldom at a banquet where Willie Winter was not also present, and where he did not read a charming poem written for the occasion. He did it this time, and it was up to standard: dainty, happy, choicely phrased, and as good to listen to as music, and sounding exactly as if it was pouring unprepared out of heart and brain. Willie Winter was a(an) ___ poet. 1. complex 2. struggling 3. admirable 4. wayward
What is admirable?
Portraits were hanging on the walls, and near the white porcelain stove stood two large Chinese vases with lions on the covers. There, too, were large easy-chairs, silken sofas, large tables full of picture-books, and full of toys worth hundreds and hundreds of crowns--at least the children said so. And the Fir-tree was stuck upright in a cask that was filled with sand: but no one could see that it was a cask, for green cloth was hung all round it, and it stood on a large gaily-colored carpet. The room was- 1. comforting 2. decorative 3. spotless 4. offensive
What is decorative?
In the early days of the modern games, strict rules about amateurism made it hard for poor athletes to afford to train and compete. As time passed, some nations began to help athletes indirectly. Communist governments placed them in the army or enrolled them as teachers, but let them spend all their time on sport. In North America, colleges began giving athletic scholarships to promising stars. Athletes needed - 1. sympathy 2. independence 3. assistance 4. competitors
What is assistance?
Despite what his opponents in the Senate said, Wilson still believed that most Americans wanted the United States to join the League of Nations. He decided to go on a speaking tour in the late summer of 1919 to bring his message to the people. Traveling by train nearly 10,000 miles through the Middle and Far West, his schedule was exhausting. His health was already poor from the strain of his roles as Commander-in- Chief during the war. The many months he had spent in Europe working on the peace treaty and fighting the Senate had also taken their toll. Wilson was- 1. embarrassed 2. relieved 3. fatigued 4. distracted
What is fatigued?
The feeding on the guanacaste and raintree by animals such as monkeys, peccaries, and leaf-cutter ants does not always help the forest grow. For a tree to spread its seeds- for a tree to help make a forest- it needs consumers to transport its seeds. Unfortunately, by the time many of these forest animals are finished eating the fruit, there is nothing left of the seeds. Powerful teeth have crushed them to powder. Fortunately, cattle and free-ranging horses come to the rescue. These seeds consumers sometimes swallow seeds whole, and then wander off to deposit them, undigested, some distance away from the parent tree. Certain animals are key to the ___ of the forest. 1. justification 2. condition 3. innovation 4. expansion
What is expansion?
At last, to my great joy, it was decreed that I should take charge of the young family of a certain Mrs. Bloomfield; whom my kind, prim aunt Grey had known in her youth, and asserted to be a very nice woman. Her husband was a retired tradesman, who had realized a very comfortable fortune; but could not be prevailed upon to give a greater salary than twenty-five pounds to the instructress of his children. I , however, was glad to accept this, rather than refuse the situation- which my parents were inclined to think the better plan. I was- 1. apprehensive 2. overqualified 3. grateful 4. wealthy
What is grateful?
As soon as war broke out, Harrison faced an agonizingly difficult choice. Should he enlist in the Army or not? As a Republican who had supported Lincoln and opposed southern secession, he felt the need to back up his beliefs on the battlefield. If his own party and the government he had helped to elect were fighting to preserve the Union, then surely, he told himself, it was his duty to join the fight. In addition, there was the military tradition of his grandfather, William Henry Harrison, to live up to. Old Tippecanoe had been a professional soldier and a good one, and his grandson being accused of cowardice. Harrison felt-- 1. pressured 2. confident 3. resentful 4. ineffective
What is pressured?
The movies might have faded away altogether had it not been for the release of Cinderella in 1900. Directed by a French magician, Georges Melies, Cinderella was one of the first motion pictures to tell a story with a beginning, middle, and end. The fairy tale was divided into twenty tableaux, or scenes; the action of each tableau kept the plot moving forward. As obvious as this approach may sound; it nevertheless revolutionized the industry. More than a decade after the invention of the celluloid strip, film narrative had at last been discovered. The film Cinderella was-- 1. comical 2. implausible 3. unprecedented 4. biographical
What is unprecedented?