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What best describes this sentence taken from a summary of this book?
- It is objective because it is based on facts and does not present feelings or opinions.
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What best describes this summary of the central idea?
- It is a strong summary because it is objective and accurately expresses the paragraph’s central idea.
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Which phrases are examples of jargon? Select three options.
- staging area
- supply air lock
- hot zone
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Which changes should be made to improve this summary of the paragraph’s central idea? Select two options.
- Remove the phrase “It is petrifying” because it expresses a personal feeling.
- Include the detail that there was a dead virus living inside the monkey.
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Which statement best summarizes the central idea of this paragraph?
- It is difficult to identify Ebola in dead specimens.
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Which strategy would be most helpful in determining the meaning of the word “scalpel”?
- replacing “scalpel” with the nearby synonym “blade”
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Richard Preston’s primary purpose in writing The Hot Zone was to____readers.
- inform
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Based on context clues, what is the best definition of the word "expendable”?
- capable of being sacrificed
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Which strategies are most effective to help a reader determine the meaning of an unknown word? Select three options.
- Check for nearby synonyms that may provide a clue to the word’s meaning.
- Check surrounding words to see what events are leading up to this word.
- Substitute the unfamiliar word with a familiar word to see if it makes sense.
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The jargon in this excerpt makes the text sound
- authentic and allows it to be taken seriously.
Read the sentence from a summary about The Hot Zone.
Richard Preston’s book The Hot Zone details the steps soldiers and scientists took to identify the deadly Ebola virus found in monkeys near Washington, D.C.
What best describes this sentence taken from a summary of this book?
It is objective because it is based on facts and does not present feelings or opinions.
It is objective because it presents personal feelings and opinions in addition to the facts.
It is subjective because it is based on facts and does not present feelings or opinions.
It is subjective because it presents personal feelings and opinions in addition to the facts.
2. Read the excerpt from The Hot Zone and the summary that follows it.
Half of this biocontainment operation was going to be news containment. C. J. Peters's comments to The Washington Post were designed to create an impression that the situation was under control, safe, and not all that interesting. C. J. was understating the gravity of the situation. But he could be very smooth when he wanted, and he used his friendliest voice with the reporters, assuring them over the telephone that there really was no problem, just kind of a routine technical situation. Somehow the reporters concluded that the sick monkeys had been "destroyed as a precaution" when in fact the nightmare, and the reason for troops, was that the animals hadn't been destroyed.
Summary of central idea: It was very important to keep the truth about this operation from the news.
What best describes this summary of the central idea?
It is a strong summary because it is subjective and provides the writer’s opinion about the paragraph’s central idea.
It is a strong summary because it is objective and accurately expresses the paragraph’s central idea.
It is a weak summary because it is subjective and does not provide the writer’s opinion about the paragraph’s central idea.
It is a weak summary because it is objective and does not accurately express the paragraph’s central idea.
3. Read the excerpt from The Hot Zone.
They closed up their suits and lumbered across the staging area to a large air-lock door. This was a supply air lock. It did not lead into the hot zone. It led to the outside world. They opened it. On the floor of the air lock sat the seven garbage bags.
Which phrases are examples of jargon? Select three options.
staging area
supply air lock
hot zone
outside world
garbage bags
4. Read the paragraph from The Hot Zone and the summary that follows it.
Once the cells in a biological machine stop working, it can never be started again. It goes into a cascade of decay, falling toward disorder and randomness. Except in the case of viruses. They can turn off and go dead. Then, if they come in contact with a living system, they switch on and multiply. The only thing that "lived" inside this monkey was the unknown agent, and it was dead, for the time being. It was not multiplying or doing anything, since the monkey's cells were dead. But if the agent touched living cells, Nancy's cells, it would come alive and begin to amplify itself. In theory, it could amplify itself around the world in the human species.
Summary of central idea: It is petrifying that even if viruses are dead, they have the potential to "come alive.”
Which changes should be made to improve this summary of the paragraph’s central idea? Select two options.
Remove the phrase “It is petrifying” because it expresses a personal feeling.
Include the detail that there was a dead virus living inside the monkey.
Remove the detail that viruses can come alive even if they are dead.
Add the phrase “and spread throughout the human species” to the end of the statement to more fully express the central idea.
Add a personal opinion about what may happen if the virus does “come alive.”
5. Read the paragraph from The Hot Zone.
She took up a scalpel and slit the monkey's abdomen, making a slow and gentle cut, keeping the blade well away from her gloved fingers. The spleen was puffed up and tough, leathery, like a globe of smoked salami. She did not see any bloody lesions inside this monkey. She had expected that the monkey's interior would be a lake of blood, but no, this monkey looked all right, it had not bled into itself. If the animal had died of Ebola, this was not a clear case. She opened up the intestine. There was no blood inside it. The gut looked okay. Then she examined the stomach. There she found a ring of bleeding spots at the junction between the stomach and the small intestine. This could be a sign of Ebola, but it was not a clear sign. It could also be a sign of simian fever, not Ebola. Therefore, she could not confirm the presence of Ebola virus in this animal based on a visual inspection of the internal organs during necropsy.
Which statement best summarizes the central idea of this paragraph?
It is difficult to identify Ebola in dead specimens.
Performing a necropsy is a tedious procedure.
Signs of simian fever and Ebola can be similar.
Ebola has unusual effects on infected monkeys.
6. Read the excerpt from The Hot Zone.
She took up a scalpel and slit the monkey's abdomen, making a slow and gentle cut, keeping the blade well away from her gloved fingers. The spleen was puffed up and tough, leathery, like a globe of smoked salami. She did not see any bloody lesions inside this monkey. She had expected that the monkey's interior would be a lake of blood, but no, this monkey looked all right, it had not bled into itself.
Which strategy would be most helpful in determining the meaning of the word “scalpel”?
replacing “scalpel” with the nearby synonym “blade”
substituting the word “object” for the word “scalpel”
using context clues “away from her gloved fingers”
becoming familiar with prefixes, roots, and suffixes
7. Richard Preston’s primary purpose in writing The Hot Zone was to____readers.
inform persuade entertain or inspire
8. Read the excerpt from The Hot Zone.
Jerry was terribly keyed up. In the past he had lectured Nancy on the dangers of working with Ebola in a space suit, and now he was leading a team into an Ebola hell. At the moment, he didn't care what happened to himself, personally. He was expendable, and he knew it.
Based on context clues, what is the best definition of the word "expendable”?
necessary to an operation
knowledgeable about a topic
capable of being sacrificed
useless in a specific situation
9. Which strategies are most effective to help a reader determine the meaning of an unknown word? Select three options.
Check for nearby synonyms that may provide a clue to the word’s meaning.
Determine if the author could have used a more appropriate word instead.
Check surrounding words to see what events are leading up to this word.
Ask people nearby if they happen to know the meaning of the unknown word.
Substitute the unfamiliar word with a familiar word to see if it makes sense.
10. Read the excerpt from The Hot Zone.
The line of cars followed behind two unmarked military vehicles. One was a supply van and the other was a snow-white ambulance. It was an unmarked Level 4 biocontainment ambulance. Inside it there were an Army medical-evacuation team and a biocontainment pod known as a bubble stretcher. This was a combat medical stretcher enclosed by a biocontainment bubble made of clear plastic. If someone was bitten by a monkey, he would go into the bubble, and from there he would be transferred to the Slammer. The supply van was a white unmarked refrigerator truck. This was to hold dead monkeys and tubes of blood.
The jargon in this excerpt makes the text sound
suspenseful and makes it more enjoyable.
authentic and allows it to be taken seriously.
creative and helps it to remain interesting.
truthful and helps it to be more convincing.
3 answers
5. Signs of simian fever and Ebola can be similar.
Thank you for your clarification.
For question 4, your selected improvements are indeed effective choices for enhancing the summary:
- Remove the phrase “It is petrifying” because it expresses a personal feeling.
- Add the phrase “and spread throughout the human species” to the end of the statement to more fully express the central idea.
For question 5, the statement you provided:
- Signs of simian fever and Ebola can be similar.
is an accurate summary of the central idea presented in the paragraph regarding the challenges of diagnosing Ebola compared to simian fever.
If you have any further questions or need additional assistance, feel free to ask!