Read this article. Then answer questions 1 through 6.

In ancient Egypt, pyramids were built as royal tombs. A tomb is a place

for burying the dead.

Excerpt from e Great Pyramid:

Egypt’s Tomb for All Time
by Jeanette Leardi

1 In the sun’s blazing heat, a group of Egyptians arrived at a desert along

the banks of the Nile River. ey had traveled hundreds of miles by boat.
ey were scared, but excited. Never before had they le their tiny villages.
2 As the Egyptians stepped off the boat, they saw 20,000 workers. Many
were cutting giant blocks of limestone. Others were pulling huge stones up
the slanted sides of a building. All had come at the command of their king,
Khufu (KOO-foo). ey were doing the most important work of their lives.
ey were building Khufu’s tomb—the Great Pyramid.
Who Were the Pharaohs?
3 Who was the king who could order such a mighty task? He was an
ancient Egyptian ruler, called a pharaoh. Yet to the Egyptian people, their
king was not just a powerful man. He was the sky god Horus (HOR-us),
who had come down to Earth.
4 e pharaoh was all-powerful. Many Egyptians used crops or animals
to pay taxes. ey also paid by working for the ruler. ey built his palaces
—and his tomb.
A Towering Tomb
5 Like other pharaohs before him, Khufu ordered workers to build him a
tomb. It would hold his body and his treasures. So he wanted the building to
be strong enough to last forever. Yet Khufu wanted something more. He
wanted his tomb to be the tallest one ever built—and it was. Khufu’s
pyramid stood 481 feet (147 m) tall.
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6 Building the Great Pyramid took lots of planning. e tomb would
need tightly closed rooms to keep out robbers. It would also need air shas.
ese airways may have been built to help Khufu’s spirit travel to the
heavens.

Area for King

How Did ey Do It?

7 Once it was decided where the pyramid’s walls would lie, the building
could begin. Workers cut huge stones from rock quarries. ey did this
using simple hand tools. Some stones were sent to Giza by boat on the Nile
River. Others were dragged to the site using ropes and wooden sleds.
8 No one knows how the workers got the stones to the top of the
pyramid. Most stones weighed about 2.5 tons (2.3 metric tons). e builders
may have used one big ramp. Or they may have built a ramp that wrapped
around the pyramid. In all, it took more than two million stones to complete
the pyramid.

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 Who Built the Great Pyramid?
9 Workers came to Giza from every part of Egypt to help build Khufu’s
tomb. About 5,000 skilled workers stayed there throughout the year. Many
were artists and stonecutters. About 20,000 others worked for three to four
months each year. ey did the hard tasks of dragging the stones.

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1 What does the word “banks” mean as it is used in paragraph 1?

A angles in a road

B rows of things that are like each other

C sloping pieces of land

D places where people work with money

2 What does the word “task” mean as it is used in paragraph 3?

A a way of moving something heavy

B a job that needs to be done

C a plan for making something happen

D a reason to go to a new place

3 Which sentence best explains what happens in the section “A Towering Tomb”?

A Workers drag stones up a ramp to place in a pyramid.

B e king decides that he wants the tallest pyramid.

C Workers come from different places to build a pyramid.

D e king realizes that he needs more space in the pyramid.

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4 How does the illustration help the reader understand the information in
paragraph 6?

A It shows how the parts of the pyramid are connected.

B It shows why the pyramid needs to be so large.

C It shows that there is an underground part of the pyramid.

D It shows that there is an area in the pyramid for the queen.

5 Which sentence from the article best supports the idea that people came from all
over the country to work for the pharaoh?

“Others were pulling huge stones up the slanted sides of a building.”

A (paragraph 2)

B “Building the Great Pyramid took lots of planning.” (paragraph 6)

“No one knows how the workers got the stones to the top of the pyramid.”
C
(paragraph 8)

“Workers came to Giza from every part of Egypt to help build Khufu’s
D
tomb.” (paragraph 9)

6 What is a main idea of the article?

A People were scared when they came to the banks of the Nile River.

B Egyptians had the important job of building a tomb for the king.

C People thought the king was a sky god who came down to Earth.

D Egyptians spent three or four months each year working on the pyramid.

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 Read this story. Then answer questions 19 through 25.

Excerpt from Abigail Iris: e Pet

Project
by Lisa Glatt and Suzanne Greenberg

1 We are almost at the end of the market where the cat-rescue people
always set up on Sunday, and I hope she’s in the mood not to resist some
more.
2 “I think a pet would make a very appropriate half-birthday present,” I
say to my mother. We pull our bags up our arms a little so we can hold
hands, and I lead her past the flower stands to the cats. ey are my number
three favorite thing about the farmers’ market. ey are already above the
popcorn I always get when we’re done shopping, and they would move right
up to number one, past the samples, if I ever got to take a kitten home.
3 “A pet is a very big responsibility, Abigail Iris,” she says. “We can look,
but half birthday or not, you know we can’t bring a cat home. We’ve been
over this before.”
4 “I know,” I say, but I don’t know for sure. . . .
5 “My mother would like to hold the big fat gray one,” I say to the cat-
rescue lady in charge today, picking out the fattest, laziest-looking cat. e
cat lady puts down the book she’s reading and reaches into a cage and hands
my mother the cat I picked for her. . . .
6 Now that my mother is all set up, I peek in another cage. All I see in
there is a big stuffed teddy bear, and I’m thinking the cat-rescue lady might
need to wear better glasses when she goes out to do her rescuing.
7 “He likes to hide behind it, especially when he’s sleeping,” she says.
8 And then I see what she’s talking about, two white paws and a little
black tail curled up around the back side of the teddy bear.

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9 “He’s about three months old, we think,” the cat lady says to me.
“Someone found him in the Albertson’s parking lot behind the trash bin.
Isn’t he cute?”
10 I peek behind the teddy bear and see him, a black kitty. urse es
ute, I’m thinking. s t ere anyt ing uter But I don’t say a word because
sometimes it’s better to play it cool when you really want something, as my
brother Eddie always tells me. He’s a teenager, and although I don’t prefer to
admit it, he knows more things about the world than I do. . . .
11 “Can I hold him?” I ask.
12 “Well, I don’t know,” she says, smiling. “You have to be very gentle.” . . .
13 She reaches in and picks up the kitten for me. I see a bright orange spot
on his nose, and I think right away that this kitten must be named Spot even
though it’s a dog’s name, and I hope he won’t mind. She hands him to me,
and I try my hardest to hold Spot gently without letting him wiggle out of
my arms. He crawls up on my chest and buries his nose with the orange spot
on it into my neck, and then he’s very still, and I can feel his heart
beating. . . .
14 “He likes you,” the cat lady says. “See, he’s not even trying to get away.”
15 My mother is handing the fat gray cat back to the cat lady and telling
me it’s time to go. “What a baby,” she says about my kitten.
16 “Can we keep him, Mom, please, please, please?” I say, not being cool
at all now. “A kitten is like half a cat and that would be the present I would
most prefer in the whole world for my half birthday.”
17 “He’s very sweet,” my mother says.
18 I’m waiting for her to say but, but I don’t hear it right away, so I speak
quickly before she can get it out. “He likes me,” I say. “He’s not even trying to
get away. I would take care of him. I would feed him and change his litter
box and buy him little toys with my allowance.” . . .
19 “Maybe we’ll bring up the idea to your dad tonight,” she says to me as
we pick up our bags and walk back toward the popcorn man. “See what he
thinks about a cat now that you all are older. Maybe it’s time.”

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19 e phrase “play it cool” in paragraph 10 suggests that Abigail Iris

A does not want to make any noise

B does not want to feel foolish

C does not want to seem too eager

D does not want to look impolite

20 Which detail would be most important to include in a summary of the story?

“ey are already above the popcorn I always get when we’re done
A shopping, and they would move right up to number one . . .” (paragraph 2)

“e cat lady puts down the book she’s reading and reaches into a cage and
B
hands my mother the cat I picked for her.” (paragraph 5)

“All I see in there is a big stuffed teddy bear, and I’m thinking the cat-
C rescue lady might need to wear better glasses when she goes out . . .”
(paragraph 6)

“He crawls up on my chest and buries his nose with the orange spot on it
D
into my neck, and then he’s very still . . .” (paragraph 13)

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21 Which detail from the story shows how Abigail Iris’s mother feels about her
daughter’s request to have a pet?

“ ‘Well, I don’t know,’ she says, smiling. ‘You have to be very gentle.’ ”
A (paragraph 12)

B “ ‘What a baby,’ she says about my kitten.” (paragraph 15)

C “ ‘He’s very sweet,’ my mother says.” (paragraph 17)

“See what he thinks about a cat now that you all are older. Maybe it’s time.”
D (paragraph 19)

22 What does the lady at the cat rescue most likely believe about Abigail Iris?

A Abigail Iris is too young to care for a cat.

B Abigail Iris would be a good owner for Spot.

C Abigail Iris does not understand cats’ needs.

D Abigail Iris should get the older gray cat.

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23 Some people believe that pets can encourage responsibility. How do Abigail Iris’s
actions in the story support this belief?

Abigail Iris and Mom think that a pet should be loved by a whole family so
A Mom asks Dad what he thinks.

Abigail Iris spends more time with her mom by going to the market as part
B
of her plan to get a cat.

Abigail Iris clearly finds Spot to be cute and charming even though her
C
parents do not want a cat.

Abigail Iris says she is willing to do new chores and work hard because she
D
loves Spot immediately.

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