ISEE Reading Comprehension: details (1) Practice Test 9

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Ants are very interesting insects. There are about 8,000 different kinds with various ways of finding food. There are hunter ants that capture other insects, shepherd ants that care for aphids from which they get sweet honeydew, thief ants that live by stealing, slave-making ants that kidnap the children of other ant nations, and mighty military ants that live by plundering and destroying, driving even men and elephants before them.

A city of ants includes the queen, the workers, the baby ants, and their nurses. Ant babies change their form three times. First, they are small, white eggs. When they hatch, they are little, fat, white worms called larvae. The larvae change into pupae, and the pupae change into adults. The queen is the mother of all the ants in the community. The workers bring food to her and protect her from invaders.

1. Hunter ants

  • A. care for aphids.
  • B. kidnap young ants from other colonies.
  • C. capture other insects.
  • D. plunder and destroy.

2. A colony of ants

  • A. includes a queen, workers, babies, and their nurses.
  • B. may have as many as 8,000 members.
  • C. is built in a hill.
  • D. protects its members.

3. Immediately prior to entering the adult stage, ants

  • A. hatch from eggs.
  • B. come from larvae.
  • C. are all workers.
  • D. come from pupae.

Commercial interests were quick to recognize the great possibilities of presenting by means of radio what is in effect a person-to-person appeal. At first the novelty made people listen to almost anything, but as the audiences became more accustomed to broadcasts, varied methods of capturing and holding the attention have developed. These vary from the frank interjection of advertising matter in a program of entertainment to the mere sponsoring of the program. Entertainment at first appeared to have the greatest appeal, and low comedy and jazz music filled the air. There has come, however, the realization that the radio audience is now as complex as the public and that programs must be set up to attract the attention of as many different types of hearers as possible.

4. When radio was new,

  • A. people would listen to almost anything.
  • B. advertising was poor.
  • C. advertising was interjected into the programming.
  • D. entertainment was limited.

The part of the ear we see is only a cartilage and skin trumpet that catches sound waves. Buried in bone at the base of the skull is the delicate apparatus that makes hearing possible.

A passage leads from the outer ear to a membrane called the eardrum. Sound waves striking the eardrum make it vibrate. On the other side of the eardrum lies a space called the middle ear. Across this a chain of three tiny bones carries sound vibrations to another space called the inner ear. Sound messages are conducted along the auditory nerve, located in the inner ear, to the brain for interpretation. The middle ear is connected to the throat by the Eustachian tube. This tube ends near the throat opening of the nose, close to the tonsils. The middle ear also communicates with the mastoid, or air cells in the bone behind the ear.

5. The outer ear is made of

  • A. a delicate apparatus.
  • B. a membrane.
  • C. cartilage and skin.
  • D. three tiny bones.

6. The eardrum is a(n)

  • A. membrane.
  • B. piece of thin cartilage.
  • C. air cell.
  • D. short tube.

7. Sound vibrations are carried

  • A. along the auditory nerve.
  • B. through the eardrum.
  • C. to the inner ear across a chain of three tiny bones.
  • D. to the base of the skull.