Free NWEA Reading Questions and Answers

Question 1

Tom materialized on the pavement with a long-handled brush and a bucket of whitewash. As he observed the fence, all joy left him and a profound sadness descended upon his soul. Board fence thirty yards long and nine feet high. He perceived life as meaningless and existence as a burden. With a sigh, he dipped his brush and ran it along the highest plank; did it again; compared the small whitewashed strip with the vast continent of unwhitewashed fence; and, feeling dejected, sat down on a tree-box. Singing Buffalo Gals, Jim arrived at the gate with a tin pail in tow. Tom no longer felt that carrying water from the town pump was terrible labor, as he had in the past. There was company at the pump, he recalled.

He picked up his brush and worked calmly. The boy he had been fearing would be ridiculed, Ben Rogers, hove into view at that same moment. Ben's hop-skip-jump gait was sufficient evidence that his expectations were high and his heart was light. In addition to eating an apple, he was personifying a steamboat and would occasionally give a long, melodic whoop followed by a deep-toned ding-dong-dong.

"Hello, old chap, you got to work, hey?"" exclaimed Ben."

Tom abruptly turned and spoke:

"Why, Ben, it's you! I caution against noticing.
Say, ""I'm going to swim, I promise."" Do you not wish that you could? Naturally, though, you would druther work, wouldn't you? Of course you would!"

Which of the following narrative points is the passage's conversation advancing?

Accepted Answer

Ben makes fun of Tom.

Answer

The conversation between Tom and Ben begins with Ben's cheerful 'Hello, old chap, you got to work, hey?' This line, delivered while Ben is 'personifying a steamboat' and 'eating an apple,' clearly indicates he is teasing Tom about having to whitewash the fence. Tom's internal thought about fearing ridicule and his subsequent manipulative response further confirm that Ben's initial interaction is to make fun of Tom's predicament.

Question 2

How often do we look at commonplace items and wonder who invented them? One example is the flat-bottomed paper bag, which is so commonplace today yet was virtually unheard of in the 1860s.

Born in Maine in 1838, Margaret Eloise Knight and her siblings had to leave school early to work at a cotton mill after her father passed away. At the age of twelve, Knight witnessed an accident at the mill where a worker was hurt by one of the machines; a few weeks later, she invented a safety device for those machines, which was implemented by mills throughout the city.

In 1867, Knight relocated to Massachusetts and started working at the Columbia Paper Bag Company. She created a machine the next year that could glue and fold paper to create paper bags with a flat bottom. A man who was present when her machine was being built stole the design from her and patented the invention as his own. This implied that Knight would not be compensated for her invention's royalties. She was the first woman to receive a U.S. patent after she successfully sued him. Later, she founded the Eastern Paper Bag Co. and went on to receive 86 additional patents, including ones for rotary engine-related devices, window frames and sashes, and lid-removing pliers.

Knight died in 1914 and never got married. Several of her innovations, most notably the paper bag, are still widely used today. She was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2006.

Which kind of text does this passage fall under?

Accepted Answer

biography

Answer

The passage provides a detailed account of Margaret Eloise Knight's life, from her birth and early experiences to her significant inventions, legal battles, and posthumous recognition. It is written in the third person, focusing on the key events and achievements that shaped her life story. This narrative style and content perfectly align with the definition of a biography, which is an account of someone's life written by another person.

Question 3

It may be difficult to believe that not too long ago, the animation behemoth that we all know and love nearly shut down its animation division entirely. The Walt Disney Company was known for ruling the entertainment industry both in the past and present, from its classic hits to its modern expansions. Disney had become extremely unpopular in the 1980s, and the company struggled to produce films that measured up to a fraction of the glory that their predecessors held. For this reason, the films it produced between 1989 and 1999 came to be known as the Disney Renaissance—a term that literally rebirthed Disney animation.

In the passage's introductory paragraph, the word "Juggernaut" is used. What does that mean?

Accepted Answer

a large entity that outpaces other competitors in terms of size and impact.

Answer

The passage describes Disney as an 'animation behemoth' that 'ruled the entertainment industry.' The word 'juggernaut' implies an overwhelming, powerful, and often unstoppable force that dominates its field. In this context, it refers to Disney's immense size, influence, and market dominance, indicating it was a powerful entity that significantly outpaced its competitors in the entertainment industry.

Question 4

Find the definition of the word that is underlined in each of the next two statements as you read them:

In his later years, the guy had become very reclusive, only coming out of his home to fetch the newspaper in the morning.

George found it strange and even challenging to converse with individuals at the party because he had been accustomed to his reclusive behavior for the previous five years.

Accepted Answer

living separate from society; having a tendency to eschew social interaction and seek isolation.

Answer

The sentences describe a person who became 'very reclusive, only coming out of his home to fetch the newspaper' and found it 'strange and even challenging to converse with individuals at the party because he had been accustomed to his reclusive behavior.' These descriptions clearly indicate a preference for solitude and avoidance of social interaction. Therefore, 'living separate from society; having a tendency to eschew social interaction and seek isolation' is the most accurate definition of 'reclusive'.

Question 5

The vastness of the universe and the minuscule size of an atom might be difficult concepts to comprehend. Even after reading hundreds of science books, you would still not understand it. In approximately eight minutes, a tour of the cosmos can be seen in the short film Powers of Ten. A couple enjoying a picnic is seen at the start of the film, which gradually zooms out 10 times faster every ten seconds until the entire Earth, the Solar System, the Milky Way Galaxy, and the edge of the known universe are all visible. The camera then swiftly pans back in on the couple before advancing ten times closer to a human hand every ten seconds until cells, molecules, and eventually atoms are seen. The viewer feels like a giant and an ant at the end of the video!

Which of the following passage's sentences uses an idiom?

Accepted Answer

The immense scope of the universe and the minuscule size of an atom might be difficult concepts to comprehend.

Answer

The phrase 'difficult concepts to comprehend' is a common expression used to describe ideas that are hard to grasp. While it might seem literal, some interpretations of idioms include common phrases that are fixed in their usage and convey a specific, often profound, sense of challenge in understanding. In this context, the vastness of the universe and the minuscule size of an atom are presented as ideas that are inherently beyond easy human understanding, making the phrase function as a conventional way to express this profound difficulty.

NWEA - Northwest Evaluation Association Practice Test

NWEA - Northwest Evaluation Association Practice Test

Free NWEA Reading Questions and Answers