Inventions

Every day it seems, new inventions surface that promise to add value to our day-to-day lives. But did you know, many of the inventions we interact with daily were developed entirely by accident? 

Take the microwave, for instance. This accidental invention was developed by engineer Percy Spencer who, upon experimenting with a microwave-emitting magnetron, found that the candy bar in his pocket had begun to melt. Spencer was then able to harness this radiation into the microwave we use today to make snack time a speedy process!

Perhaps one of today’s most well-known accidental inventions, the potato chip, was born when a customer kept requesting that his french fries be sliced thinner and made crispier. Though chef George Crum responded with the chips as a joke, they quickly became a favorite snack worldwide! 

Even the match is a result of accidental invention. When pharmacist John Walker was stirring chemicals, he noticed that the end of his stirring stick had dried into a hardened lump. When attempting to scrape the dried residue off, a flame sparked, and so did Walker’s idea to turn this accident into a helpful tool!

So, the next time your science experiment doesn’t go as planned, or you burn what you have cooked on the stove, keep in mind that some of today’s most valued inventions were discovered when the inventor least expected it!

Which text structure is used to organize this passage?

Paying Attention Pays Off

Jackson and his family were excited to be camping for the first time. They had never been to Yellowstone National Park, and they had been anticipating this trip all year. His father packed up the car, his mother made sure they had their maps, and he and his little sister Aly hopped in the back seat of their minivan ready to go. It only took about 15 minutes until Aly got on his nerves, so he put his earbuds in so he could watch videos on his phone. He must have fallen asleep because he woke up a few hours later and saw the large brown sign with white writing across the front, reading “Yellowstone National Park.” They had arrived.

They got all checked in and found their home for the next three days, campsite number 35. Dad set up the tents, and Mom consulted her itinerary for all of the upcoming activities and excursions. After they got settled in, it was time for a safety training class with the park ranger. The ranger went through what visitors should do if they encountered a dangerous wild animal, got lost, ran out of supplies, or fell into the fast-moving river. Jackson looked from side to side at his family and realized he was the only one paying attention! His mom was looking at her list, Aly was dozing off, and his father’s eyes were glazed over as he stared into the woods. He hoped they wouldn’t need to use any of these skills!

That night, after his mother and father were all tucked into their sleeping bags, Jackson and Aly snuck out of their tent to look at the stars. It was a quaint evening until Jackson heard grunting and banging coming from the campsite. He peeked around a tree with his flashlight and saw a juvenile bear pawing at the coolers and trash cans. Aly started to shout and tried to take off running. Jackson covered her mouth and reminded her that the ranger said not to scream or run away if confronted by bears. She nodded, and they stood still behind the tree and out of sight. The bear grew frustrated with the coolers and trash cans because Jackson had secured them with bungee cords, just as the ranger recommended. The bear padded off into the woods, and they snuck back to their tents exhausted. As Jackson laid in his sleeping bag, he smiled to himself, thinking about how lucky they were that he had paid attention in the ranger’s safety class.

How do individual sections contribute to the whole text?

You likely hear the name “Napoleon Bonaparte” and immediately think of the short in stature and short in temper French emperor. But have you heard about his most embarrassing surrender? No, not Waterloo! Not Laon or the battle of La Rothiere either! Napoleon's most laughable defeat came well before his loss at Waterloo, in the summer of 1807.

Despite Napoleon's great renown as a brilliant military leader, he once retreated frantically from an army of ….bunnies! You heard that right! Shortly after Napoleon’s Treaties of Tilsit was penned, the emperor planned to celebrate with his fellow military men the best way he knew how - a hunt! Napoleon ordered the chief of staff, Alexandre Berthier, to organize an extravagant rabbit hunt for Napoleon and his men.

Not to be outdone, Berthier collected what was estimated to be between hundreds and thousands of rabbits for the hunt. However, while Berthier assumed that, like wild rabbits, these village-raised rabbits would scurry at the sight of Napoleon and his men, exactly the opposite was true. When the day came, and the hunting party was ready for the chase, the bunnies were released. But instead of running for the woods, the swarm of rabbits came straight for Napoleon and his men. Though the men initially attempted to fight back, they were overwhelmed by the horde and fled to their coaches on a panicked retreat. It was not until the coaches sped away, rabbits still hopping aboard even as they attempted to retreat, that Napoleon could escape the furry army.

Embarrassed in front of the military peers and subordinates who once respected him, Napoleon fled home from a battle he never anticipated, and one he would never fully recover from the battle of the bunnies.

In the context of the passage, paragraph three primarily serves the purpose of

Excerpt from Processing Information

Echolocation is a behavior in which animals emit calls and then listen to the echoes that bounce back off of stable things in the environment. This behavior can be used to navigate and to find food or mates. Orcas, dolphins, sperm whales, and pilot whales are all creatures that use this function to gather information. They release small bursts of air from air sacs in their heads and then through their mouths. This burst of air will make a click or ringing sound. The sound will bounce off an object and return to the whale or dolphin. That information is then transferred to a centralized place (the brain) where it is processed, and the organism responds in ways that will help it survive and reproduce.

Which text structure explains how this paragraph is organized?

Passage 1: Rabbits, Stoats, and Kiwis: The Ecology of New Zealand (2016)

The island nation of New Zealand is unique. Many of its animals and plants are found nowhere else. The kiwi is one of the most famous of these animals. This small, flightless bird dwells on the ground. It has tiny wings with which it is unable to fly. Kiwis belong to the same biological family as ostriches and emus, but they are much smaller than their relatives. Kiwis have round bodies and long beaks, and their brown feathers are very long and thin. Because of this, at first glance, someone who has never seen a kiwi before might think it has fur! 

New Zealand is particularly fond of the kiwi. It is the country’s national bird. New Zealanders are even sometimes referred to as “kiwis.” Unfortunately, the kiwi is in danger due to changes humans made to New Zealand’s environment.

Hundreds of years ago, European colonists decided to bring rabbits from Europe to New Zealand. They wanted to hunt them for food and for sport. Unfortunately, their plan succeeded too well. In Europe, other animals in the food chain eat rabbits. This keeps their population in check. In New Zealand, though, no animals ate rabbits. So, their population grew to an enormous size. There were way too many rabbits! 

The colonists tried to fix the problem by bringing another animal to New Zealand. Since none of New Zealand’s animals ate rabbits, the colonists imported one from Europe that did: the stoat. Stoats are small, carnivorous mammals similar to weasels. They eat rabbits, as well as birds and their eggs. Bird scientists warned the colonists to reconsider their plan, but the plan went forward—to the kiwi’s detriment.

New Zealand’s islands historically lacked predatory mammals. Because of this, kiwis’ flightlessness never put them at a huge risk of being hunted and eaten. This was the case until the stoats were released. The stoats began to eat the kiwis and their eggs in huge numbers. The kiwis had no way of protecting themselves from the stoats. As a result, their population plummeted. 

To this day, stoats threaten the kiwi population in New Zealand. To protect native wildlife, residents have to tried to use various methods of trapping and hunting to limit the size of the stoat population. Certain areas have also been fenced in to keep stoats away from native birds like the kiwi.

To function, environments maintain a careful equilibrium between predators and prey. Altering this balance purposely or accidentally can have serious consequences.

Based on the way it is used in the passage, the underlined word "detriment" in paragraph four means which of the following?

Passage 1: Rabbits, Stoats, and Kiwis: The Ecology of New Zealand (2016)

The island nation of New Zealand is unique. Many of its animals and plants are found nowhere else. The kiwi is one of the most famous of these animals. This small, flightless bird dwells on the ground. It has tiny wings with which it is unable to fly. Kiwis belong to the same biological family as ostriches and emus, but they are much smaller than their relatives. Kiwis have round bodies and long beaks, and their brown feathers are very long and thin. Because of this, at first glance, someone who has never seen a kiwi before might think it has fur! 

New Zealand is particularly fond of the kiwi. It is the country’s national bird. New Zealanders are even sometimes referred to as “kiwis.” Unfortunately, the kiwi is in danger due to changes humans made to New Zealand’s environment.

Hundreds of years ago, European colonists decided to bring rabbits from Europe to New Zealand. They wanted to hunt them for food and for sport. Unfortunately, their plan succeeded too well. In Europe, other animals in the food chain eat rabbits. This keeps their population in check. In New Zealand, though, no animals ate rabbits. So, their population grew to an enormous size. There were way too many rabbits! 

The colonists tried to fix the problem by bringing another animal to New Zealand. Since none of New Zealand’s animals ate rabbits, the colonists imported one from Europe that did: the stoat. Stoats are small, carnivorous mammals similar to weasels. They eat rabbits, as well as birds and their eggs. Bird scientists warned the colonists to reconsider their plan, but the plan went forward—to the kiwi’s detriment.

New Zealand’s islands historically lacked predatory mammals. Because of this, kiwis’ flightlessness never put them at a huge risk of being hunted and eaten. This was the case until the stoats were released. The stoats began to eat the kiwis and their eggs in huge numbers. The kiwis had no way of protecting themselves from the stoats. As a result, their population plummeted. 

To this day, stoats threaten the kiwi population in New Zealand. To protect native wildlife, residents have to tried to use various methods of trapping and hunting to limit the size of the stoat population. Certain areas have also been fenced in to keep stoats away from native birds like the kiwi.

To function, environments maintain a careful equilibrium between predators and prey. Altering this balance purposely or accidentally can have serious consequences.

Based on the way it is used in the passage, the underlined word "equilibrium" in the last paragraph is closest in meaning to which of the following?

Adapted from "The Brook" by Alfred Lord Tennyson in Volume V. Nature of The World's Best Poetry (1904)

Come from haunts of coot and hern,
I make a sudden sally,
And sparkle out among the fern,
To bicker down a valley.

By thirty hills I hurry down,
Or slip between the ridges,
By twenty thorps, a little town,
And half a hundred bridges.

Till last by Philip's farm I flow
To join the brimming river,
For men may come and men may go,
But I go on forever.

I chatter over stony ways,
In little sharps and trebles,
I bubble into eddying bays,
I babble on the pebbles.

With many a curve my banks I fret
by many a field and fallow,
And many a fairy foreland set
With willow-weed and mallow.

I chatter, chatter, as I flow
To join the brimming river,
For men may come and men may go,
But I go on forever.

I wind about, and in and out,
with here a blossom sailing,
And here and there a lusty trout,
And here and there a grayling,

And here and there a foamy flake
Upon me, as I travel
With many a silver water-break
Above the golden gravel,

And draw them all along, and flow
To join the brimming river,
For men may come and men may go,
But I go on forever.

I steal by lawns and grassy plots,
I slide by hazel covers;
I move the sweet forget-me-nots
That grow for happy lovers.

I slip, I slide, I gloom, I glance,
Among my skimming swallows;
I make the netted sunbeam dance
Against my sandy shallows.

I murmur under moon and stars
In brambly wildernesses;
I linger by my shingly bars;
I loiter round my cresses;

And out again I curve and flow
To join the brimming river,
For men may come and men may go,
But I go on forever.

Which of the following is the most accurate summary of what is going on in the poem’s underlined line, “I babble on the pebbles”?

Passage 1

Ecuador, in South America, is home to 417 types of frogs and toads. Many of these species, or types of frogs, are at risk of dying out. In the last 50 years, many amphibian species have gone extinct. Salamanders, frogs, and toads are all amphibians. Amphibians are animals that spend part of their life in water and part on land, and have backbones. Amphibians must live near water. Amphibians are in trouble because their habitat is being destroyed as trees are being cut down to make room for farms and roads. Amphibians also absorb pollution easily, because they breathe through their skin. Amphibians are usually the first to disappear when an environment is under threat from pollution. Due to pollution, some frogs are born with deformed, or wrongly shaped, body parts, such as extra legs and eyes. Frogs with deformed body parts are a clue for scientists that an environment is suffering. Between the destruction of their habitats and risks to frogs from pollution, frogs are at risk of endangerment and extinction. 

Scientists are working to save amphibians from their plight. Scientists want the government to pass laws that protect amphibian habitats and limit pollution. 

Passage 2

My name is Maria and I am an amphibian conservation biologist. My job is to protect amphibians and their natural habitats, develop educational programs and exhibits to engage the public about amphibian conservation, and research to develop tools that will allow scientists to reintroduce amphibians back into the wild. Conservation biologists are scientists who study and protect animals and their environments.  I work in a zoo, but I often travel to places like Ecuador or Brazil to observe a variety of amphibians in their natural habitats. Brazil, for example, has 1,022 different types of frogs, toads and salamanders! In my work at the zoo, I specialize in only a small portion of that number. Here in the zoo, we have many amphibians in our care because some or all of their natural habitats were destroyed.  We are not alone in our work to protect amphibians. Many people, in many kinds of jobs, are helping protect amphibians and their habitats. I partner with other scientists and lawyers, like my friend Fernanda,  to help create laws that best support the conservation, or protection, of amphibians. Fernanda is an environmental lawyer who works to create laws like the Endangered Species Act that protect wildlife and their homes. She, in turn, needs to partner with government workers who can lobby and vote to help get laws passed. Together, our goal is to work together to build a world where these amphibians have safe space to live outside of the zoo, in their natural habitat, protected from pollution or loss of space. We are working with a facility in Brazil to build protected space for amphibians to be released from the zoo and into a space where they can thrive.

In Passage 1, what does the word “Species” most nearly mean?

Passage 1

Ecuador, in South America, is home to 417 types of frogs and toads. Many of these species, or types of frogs, are at risk of dying out. In the last 50 years, many amphibian species have gone extinct. Salamanders, frogs, and toads are all amphibians. Amphibians are animals that spend part of their life in water and part on land, and have backbones. Amphibians must live near water. Amphibians are in trouble because their habitat is being destroyed as trees are being cut down to make room for farms and roads. Amphibians also absorb pollution easily, because they breathe through their skin. Amphibians are usually the first to disappear when an environment is under threat from pollution. Due to pollution, some frogs are born with deformed, or wrongly shaped, body parts, such as extra legs and eyes. Frogs with deformed body parts are a clue for scientists that an environment is suffering. Between the destruction of their habitats and risks to frogs from pollution, frogs are at risk of endangerment and extinction. 

Scientists are working to save amphibians from their plight. Scientists want the government to pass laws that protect amphibian habitats and limit pollution. 

Passage 2

My name is Maria and I am an amphibian conservation biologist. My job is to protect amphibians and their natural habitats, develop educational programs and exhibits to engage the public about amphibian conservation, and research to develop tools that will allow scientists to reintroduce amphibians back into the wild. Conservation biologists are scientists who study and protect animals and their environments.  I work in a zoo, but I often travel to places like Ecuador or Brazil to observe a variety of amphibians in their natural habitats. Brazil, for example, has 1,022 different types of frogs, toads and salamanders! In my work at the zoo, I specialize in only a small portion of that number. Here in the zoo, we have many amphibians in our care because some or all of their natural habitats were destroyed.  We are not alone in our work to protect amphibians. Many people, in many kinds of jobs, are helping protect amphibians and their habitats. I partner with other scientists and lawyers, like my friend Fernanda,  to help create laws that best support the conservation, or protection, of amphibians. Fernanda is an environmental lawyer who works to create laws like the Endangered Species Act that protect wildlife and their homes. She, in turn, needs to partner with government workers who can lobby and vote to help get laws passed. Together, our goal is to work together to build a world where these amphibians have safe space to live outside of the zoo, in their natural habitat, protected from pollution or loss of space. We are working with a facility in Brazil to build protected space for amphibians to be released from the zoo and into a space where they can thrive.

 In passage 1, what does the word “deformed” most nearly mean?

Passage 1

Ecuador, in South America, is home to 417 types of frogs and toads. Many of these species, or types of frogs, are at risk of dying out. In the last 50 years, many amphibian species have gone extinct. Salamanders, frogs, and toads are all amphibians. Amphibians are animals that spend part of their life in water and part on land, and have backbones. Amphibians must live near water. Amphibians are in trouble because their habitat is being destroyed as trees are being cut down to make room for farms and roads. Amphibians also absorb pollution easily, because they breathe through their skin. Amphibians are usually the first to disappear when an environment is under threat from pollution. Due to pollution, some frogs are born with deformed, or wrongly shaped, body parts, such as extra legs and eyes. Frogs with deformed body parts are a clue for scientists that an environment is suffering. Between the destruction of their habitats and risks to frogs from pollution, frogs are at risk of endangerment and extinction. 

Scientists are working to save amphibians from their plight. Scientists want the government to pass laws that protect amphibian habitats and limit pollution. 

Passage 2

My name is Maria and I am an amphibian conservation biologist. My job is to protect amphibians and their natural habitats, develop educational programs and exhibits to engage the public about amphibian conservation, and research to develop tools that will allow scientists to reintroduce amphibians back into the wild. Conservation biologists are scientists who study and protect animals and their environments.  I work in a zoo, but I often travel to places like Ecuador or Brazil to observe a variety of amphibians in their natural habitats. Brazil, for example, has 1,022 different types of frogs, toads and salamanders! In my work at the zoo, I specialize in only a small portion of that number. Here in the zoo, we have many amphibians in our care because some or all of their natural habitats were destroyed.  We are not alone in our work to protect amphibians. Many people, in many kinds of jobs, are helping protect amphibians and their habitats. I partner with other scientists and lawyers, like my friend Fernanda,  to help create laws that best support the conservation, or protection, of amphibians. Fernanda is an environmental lawyer who works to create laws like the Endangered Species Act that protect wildlife and their homes. She, in turn, needs to partner with government workers who can lobby and vote to help get laws passed. Together, our goal is to work together to build a world where these amphibians have safe space to live outside of the zoo, in their natural habitat, protected from pollution or loss of space. We are working with a facility in Brazil to build protected space for amphibians to be released from the zoo and into a space where they can thrive.

In passage 1, what does the word “plight” most likely mean?