Read Grade-Level Literary Nonfiction Practice Test
•10 QuestionsRead the passage, then answer the question.
(1) In the desert, rain is not a normal event. It is news. The morning the storm arrived, my neighbor Mr. Yazzie stood outside his trailer and watched the sky as if it were a television. The clouds were thick and purple, and the air smelled like dust being erased.
(2) “Listen,” he said when I joined him. At first I heard nothing. Then I noticed a faint tapping on the porch rail, like someone drumming with careful fingers. The first drops didn’t fall in a hurry. They tested the ground.
(3) When the rain strengthened, the neighborhood changed. Dry washes—shallow channels that are usually empty—began to carry water. The sand darkened, and the creosote bushes released a sharp, clean scent. Scientists have a name for that smell: petrichor, the odor that rises when rain hits dry soil.
(4) Mr. Yazzie pointed to a low spot where water collected. “This is why we don’t pave everything,” he said. He explained that soil can absorb water, but concrete cannot. When too much land is covered, water runs off quickly, which can cause flooding.
(5) I watched the puddle grow, then shrink as the ground drank it. The process looked slow, but it was powerful. In contrast, the street gutter filled fast and pushed water toward the drain with noisy speed.
(6) By afternoon the storm had passed, and the sun returned, bright and innocent. The next day, tiny green shoots appeared near the bushes. They were so small I could have missed them, but Mr. Yazzie noticed right away. “The desert remembers,” he said.
Question: Which detail from the passage best supports the idea that the desert responds quickly to rain even though it is usually dry?
Read the passage, then answer the question.
(1) In the desert, rain is not a normal event. It is news. The morning the storm arrived, my neighbor Mr. Yazzie stood outside his trailer and watched the sky as if it were a television. The clouds were thick and purple, and the air smelled like dust being erased.
(2) “Listen,” he said when I joined him. At first I heard nothing. Then I noticed a faint tapping on the porch rail, like someone drumming with careful fingers. The first drops didn’t fall in a hurry. They tested the ground.
(3) When the rain strengthened, the neighborhood changed. Dry washes—shallow channels that are usually empty—began to carry water. The sand darkened, and the creosote bushes released a sharp, clean scent. Scientists have a name for that smell: petrichor, the odor that rises when rain hits dry soil.
(4) Mr. Yazzie pointed to a low spot where water collected. “This is why we don’t pave everything,” he said. He explained that soil can absorb water, but concrete cannot. When too much land is covered, water runs off quickly, which can cause flooding.
(5) I watched the puddle grow, then shrink as the ground drank it. The process looked slow, but it was powerful. In contrast, the street gutter filled fast and pushed water toward the drain with noisy speed.
(6) By afternoon the storm had passed, and the sun returned, bright and innocent. The next day, tiny green shoots appeared near the bushes. They were so small I could have missed them, but Mr. Yazzie noticed right away. “The desert remembers,” he said.
Question: Which detail from the passage best supports the idea that the desert responds quickly to rain even though it is usually dry?