The Strategy Focus: Summarizing

(Following the Sun) Which is the best summary of this passage?

A. The Mont Blanc Tunnel and the Chunnel have made travel safer and quicker for people traveling from England to Italy.

D In that year, the French and Italian governments agreed to construct the seven-mile tunnel. Digging started from both sides of the mountain ten years later, in 1959. Rock slides, floods, and even an avalanche caused problems for the engineers and workers. However, in just three years, in 1962, the two digging teams met under the mountain, and in 1965, the tunnel was opened. It has shortened the driving distance for English families by 120 miles and saves them many hours of their vacation time. Millions of people drive through the tunnel every year, and of course, not all of them are English! Which sentence best summarizes the ideas in paragraph D?

A. Despite difficulties, the seven-mile Mont Blanc tunnel between France and Italy opened in 1965 and has saved time for millions of drivers.

C There are three types of wood you will need for a campfire: tinder, kindling, and fuel. Tinder is material that will catch fire easily from a single match. Examples of tinder are dry pine needles, dry bark, and very thin twigs. A handful of tinder is about the right amount. One of the best things to use is the bark from a birch tree. The bark produces a good flame and will burn even when wet. Softwood such as pine or cedar is usually best because it catches fire quickly, but thin, dry hardwoods work as well. Which sentence below would be most important to include in a summary of paragraph C?

A. Materials that quickly catch fire are called tinder.

(The Black Death) D No one knows the exact number of plague deaths in Europe. Some guess that about 25 million people died in Europe from 1347 to 1351. This was about one third of the entire population. The death rate varied from place to place. Towns seemed to be harder hit than the countryside. Some entire villages and towns were wiped out. The plague affected the rich as well as the poor. Even the great and powerful, including royalty, were struck down. Throughout Europe, populations were devastated by, as the Welsh called it, "death coming into our midst like black smoke." Which sentence below would be most important to include in a summary of paragraph D?

A. Perhaps 25 million people died during a five year period.

Look at the underlined supporting details in paragraph 1. What is the unstated main idea that these underlined details support?

A. Smoke jumpers fight fires in remote locations.

(The Black Death) Which is the best summary of this passage?

B. A disease called the Black Death swept through Europe in the 1300s and changed the course of European history.

(The Black Death) What is the main purpose of this passage?

B. to inform people about a famous plague in history

What is the topic of Chapter 2?

B. why tornadoes strike most often in Tornado Alley

Look at the underlined supporting details in paragraph 4. What is the unstated main idea that these underlined details support?

C. Smoke jumping is a tough but important job.

Look at the underlined supporting details in paragraph 3. What is the unstated main idea that these underlined details support?

D. Smoke jumpers use different tools to fight fires.

(The Black Death) B Beginning in 1347, one such disease, a terrible plague, swept through Europe. The disease was called the Black Death because of the darkened color of its victims' faces after they died. The plague began in Asia and spread along busy trade routes. Trading ships carried the disease west to the Mediterranean. From the Mediterranean ports, the disease spread throughout most of Europe. Rats on the ships carried the disease. Fleas from the rats spread the disease to people. What is paragraph B mainly about?

D. how the plague spread

(Building a Campfire) What is the main purpose of this passage?

D. to inform people how to make a campfire properly