ISEE Upper Level Reading Comprehension Practice Test 25

1. This passage can best be characterized as

• A. a young person's pleasant recollections of his visits with family.
• B. a child's description of one particularly memorable summer.
• C. a story from the narrator's youth and the lesson that he learned.
• D. a fictional account of two brothers traveling across America.

2. According to the passage, the narrator went to the local hamburger restaurant even though he was

• A. aware that he should not swim for 30 minutes after lunch.
• B. concerned that eating too many hamburgers was unhealthy.
• C. unable to find hamburgers with special sauce at home.
• D. intimidated by the owner of the hamburger restaurant.

3. The use of the phrase "but after a while I gave up" in line 24 suggests that

• A. the author bored easily and rarely completed a task.
• B. the author did not succeed in teaching his brother to dive.
• C. the author's brother was more interested in reading than swimming.
• D. the author's brother resented the author's efforts to teach him to dive.

4. In line 29, the word "callous" most nearly means

• A. entertaining.
• B. insensitive.
• C. lumpy.
• D. terrified.

5. The author mentions his grandmother in line 33 in order to

• A. emphasize the delight he took in spending time with her during his summer visits.
• B. question the truthfulness of her stated motivation for going to the hamburger restaurant.
• C. contrast the perceptions of the narrator as a boy with his understanding as an adult.
• D. highlight the contrast between his fear and her enjoyment of the restaurant owner's discourtesy.

6. The narrator's attitude towards Charlie is one of

• A. concern.
• B. devotion.
• C. indifference.
• D. resentment.

7. The passage is primarily concerned with

• A. providing details about the annual number of visitors to John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park.
• B. describing the structure of barrier reefs and the types of fish species that inhabit these reefs.
• C. analyzing the reasons for the relative scarcity of reefs in the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea.
• D. giving information about coral reefs and more detailed information about a particular reef system.

8. In lines 18-19, the author indicates that "it may come as a surprise" that

• A. two of the largest barrier reefs are located in areas not known to hold many of the world's reefs.
• B. the Great Florida Reef is so much smaller than the Great Barrier Reef in Australia.
• C. a relatively small reef is inhabited by such a large and diverse number of fish species.
• D. a reef system containing 6,000 individual reefs is at the same time an important barrier reef.

9. In line 55, "frequented" most nearly means

• A. attacked.
• B. documented.
• C. repeated.
• D. visited.

10. The Florida Straits reefs are known for each of the following characteristics EXCEPT

• A. giant, plunging reefs.
• B. lobsters and crustaceans.
• C. spur and groove formations.
• D. sharks and other large fish.

11. In the last paragraph, the author mentions the John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park in order to

• A. demonstrate that an excessive number of divers visiting reefs have required efforts to protect those reefs.
• B. explain that Key Largo, more than the other Keys, contains particularly beautiful parts of the Great Florida Reef.
• C. change the discussion from a general description of the structure of a large reef system to a specific location within that system.
• D. convince divers that other areas of the Great Florida Reef are also worthy of their attention.

12. The author's tone when discussing the fish species on the White Bank community (lines 44-49) is best described as

• A. analytical.
• B. concerned.
• C. delighted.
• D. irritated.