1. Colegio San Patricio
th
4 Reading Period Exam
School Year 2010-2011
Name: ___________________________________________________List No. _____
Date: _________________________________________________6th_____________
PART 1: COMPREHENSION (4pts)
Directions
I.George Washington Carver made many great contributions to Southern
farming. Learn about this generous and thoughtful scientist and his agricultural
ideas and inventions. Then answer the following questions.
George Washington Carver
George Washington Carver was born around 1861 near Diamond Grove,
Missouri. The son of an enslaved woman, Carver spent his early years in Arkansas
and Missouri. He lived on a plantation owned by his mother’s former
slaveholders until he was about ten or twelve years old. Although he was
physically fragil as a child, Carver showed a keen and early interest in plants
and animals, as well as drawing and painting, and by the age of twelve he left
the plantation to pursue an education.
After supporting himself by working a variety of jobs, including hotel cook
and farm worker, Carver earned his high school diploma in Kansas. He later
studied at Simpson College in Iowa and at Iowa State Agricultural College,
where he earned degrees in agricultural science. In 1896 the famous black
educator Booker T. Washington invited Carver to direct the newly opened
department of agriculture at the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute, a
college that Washington had founded in Alabama.

2. Although he was offered many other jobs, Carver remained at Tuskegee
throughout the rest of his life, researching ways to help farmers in the South.
When Carver started his research in the 1890s, Southern farmers were suffering
because they had long grown cotton as their only crop. The cultivation of only
cotton resulted in the depletion of the soil’s nitrogen, which the crop needed in
order to thrive. By growing cotton in their fields over and over again, Southern
farmers had used up the nitrogen in their soil, and because the soil was
exhausted, they could grow neither cotton nor anything else.
To solve the problem of nitrogen depletion, Carver encouraged farmers to
diversify their crops by planting peanuts, sweet potatoes, and soybeans, all of
which provide nitrogen to the soil and protein to people who eat the vegetable
products. He knew that by rotating different crops, farmers would be able to
bring their soil back into good balance.
Although Carver’s solution restored the soil, farmers found that not many
people wanted to buy the new crops of peanuts and sweet potatoes. To
address this new problem, Carver conducted a long series of laboratory
experiments to create new uses for these plants. Over many years, he
developed 300 products that could be made from peanuts, including flour, ink,
dyes, wood stains, medicines, and cosmetics, and 118 products from sweet
potatoes, including vinegar, rubber, ink, molasses, and postage stamp glue.
Carver’s ingenious inventions revitalized the Southern farming economy. As
farmers continued to plant peanuts and sweet potatoes, these crops became
more and more in demand. Although the peanut was not even known as a
crop in 1896 when Carver began his experiments, by 1940 the little plant had
become the second biggest cash crop in the South, with cotton remaining the
biggest.
Carver continued to devote his life to agricultural research and earned
many awards for his achievements, including election to the British Society for
the Encouragement of the Arts, Manufacturers, and Commerce in 1916. Several
U.S. Presidents visited him, and the Indian leader and humanitarian, Mohandas
K. Gandhi, was his friend. After a long and extraordinary life, Carver died in 1943
in Tuskegee, Alabama.
____ 1. According to the selection, which of the following events occurred first?
a. The peanut became the second biggest cash crop in the South.
b. Carver started working at the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial
Institute.
c. Carver researched and developed new uses for the peanut and
sweet potatoes.
____ 2. Why did Southern farmers have difficulty growing crops during the 1890s?
a. The soil had become exhausted from planting only cotton.
b. The soil contained too much nitrogen.
c. Too few people were willing to work on the farms.

3. ____ 3. Which of the following is a statement of opinion from the selection?
a. Carver developed 300 products that were made from peanuts.
b. Booker T. Washington invited Carver to work at Tuskegee.
c. Carver’s inventions of peanut products were ingenious.
____ 4. George Washington Carver can best be described as a
a. creative chef
b. businessman.
c. problem solver.
____ 5. What happened as a result of Carver’s inventing new uses for the peanut and the
sweet potato?
a. The Southern farming economy became strong again.
b. Southern farmers stopped farming
c. Washington founded a college.
____ 6. This selection is an example of
a. a fantasy story.
b. an interview.
c. a biography
____ 7. Why were farmers reluctant to plant peanuts and sweet potatoes?
a. Researchers were already finding better ways to grow cotton.
b. Peanuts and sweet potatoes were not good for the soil.
c. People were not buying peanuts and sweet potatoes.

4. ____ 8. Which of the following would be a good title for the picture above?
a. “The Parts of a Peanut Plant”
b. “A Map of Alabama”
“A Time Line of Carver’s Life”
PART 2: VOCABULARY
Directions
Mark your answer choice for the following questions.
9. Which meaning of new is used in the following sentence?
Not many people wanted to buy these new crops.
a.
u
nf
a
m
ili
ar
b.
or
igi
n
al
c.
fu
rt
h
er
10. 10. What does the prefix in revitalized mean in the following
sentence?
Carver’s ingenious inventions revitalized the Southern farming
economy.

5. a.
a
g
ai
n
b.
n
ot
c.
w
ro
n
gl
y
11. 11. Which word pair contains antonyms?

6. a.
fo
u
n
d
e
d
—
e
ar
n
e
d
b.
b
ef
or
e
—
e
ar
ly
c.
d
es
tr
o
y
—
re
st
or
e
d
12. 12. What does the word diversify mean in the following sentence?
Carver encouraged farmers to diversify their crops by planting
peanuts, sweet potatoes, and soybeans.

7. a.
pl
a
nt
t
w
o
cr
o
ps
e
v
er
y
y
e
ar
b.
gr
o
w
di
ff
er
e
nt
cr
o
p
c.
a
d
d
fe
rtil
iz
er
to
cr
o
ps

8. 13. 13. Which word pair contains synonyms?
a.
e
xh
a
us
te
d
—
tir
e
d
b.
d
e
p
ar
t
m
e
nt
—
in
sti
tu
te
c.
ni
tr
o
g
e
n
—
pr
ot
ei
n
Use these entries from a dictionary to answer the following questions.

9. ad•dress ( dres´; also ad ´res for 1, 3), 1 n. the place mail is
directed: Write your name and address on this envelope. 2 v. to
write on a letter or package the place where it is to be sent: I
addressed the envelopes for the greeting cards. 3 v. to retrieve or
store n. a formal public speech: The President gave an address to
the nation on TV. 5. v. direct your energies: She addressed herself
to the task of learning French.  n., pl. ad•dress•es.
14. 14. Which meaning of address is used in this sentence?
To address this new problem, Carver conducted a long series
of laboratory experiments.
a.
d
ef
ini
ti
o
n
1
b.
d
ef
ini
ti
o
n
2
c.
d
ef
ini
ti
o
n
5
15. Write a fact using the word “ toll”

10. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
IV. Find the word with the same meaning as the underlined word. Mark your answer
by circling the letter next to your choice. (4pts)
16. On a hot day, lettuce will wilt.
a) flourish
b) grow
c) wither
17. The government has the authority to decide who enters the country.
a) power
b) obligation
c) necessity
18. Sally had never before take trip on a bus unaccompanied
a) with family
b) with out anyone
c) with the company
19. Sally could still sense her mother’s presence in the old room stairs.
a) appearance
b) influence
c) behavior
20. Sally hoped the pets would not miss their former home.
a) old
b) fancy
c) new
V. Write the number of the meaning that match each word . (4pts each).
Alien ore barge refrain hospitable
molten universal version

11. 21. friendly; receptive._______________________________________________
22. An imaginary creature from outer space.__________________________
23. Made liquid by heat; melted.______________________________________
24. of or belonging to all; concerning all._______________________________
25. Large boat for carrying freight._____________________________________