PASSAGE 1Basketball was invented in 1891 by a physical education instructor in Springfield, Massachusetts, by the name of James Naismith. Because of the terrible weather in winter, his physical education students were indoors rather than outdoors. They really did not like the idea of boring, repetitive exercises and preferred the excitement and challenge of a game. Naismith figure out a team sport that could be played indoors on a gymnasium floor, that involved a lot of running, that kept all team members involved, and did not allow the tackling and physical contact of American-style football.
1. What is the main idea of this passage?
(A) The life of James Naismith
(B) Physical education and exercise
(C) The history of sports
(D) The origin of basketball

PASSAGE 2
Early maps of the North American continent showed a massive river that began in the Rocky Mountains, flowed into the Great Salt Lake, and from there continued westward into the Pacific Ocean. This river, named the Buenaventura River, on some maps rivaled the great Mississippi River.
This mythical river of course does not exist. Perhaps an early mapmaker hypothesized that such a river probably existed; perhaps a smaller river was seen and its path from the Rockies to the Pacific was assumed. As late as the middle of the nineteenth century, this river was still on maps and explorers were still searching for it.

2. Which of the following would be the best title for this passage?
(A) Early Maps of North America
(B) A Non-Existent River on Maps
(C) A Comparison of the Buenaventura and the Mississippi Rivers
(D) Rivers in Mythology

passage 3
Most of the ice on the Earth, close to 90 percent of it, is covering the surface of the continent Antarctica. It does not snow very much in Antarctica, but whatever snow does fall remains and grows deeper and deeper. In some areas of Antarctica, the ice has perhaps been around for as much a million years and now is more than two miles deep.
3. The main idea of the passage is that
(A) The Earth is a cold planet
(B) Most of the Earth’s ice is found in Antarctica
(C) It snows more in Antarctica than in any other place on Earth
(D) Antarctica is only two miles wide but is 90 percent ice
4. The best title for the passage is
(A) Snowfall in Antarctica
(B) The Icy Earth
(C) The Cold, Cold Snow
(D) The Causes of Antarctica’s Ice Pack
PASSAGE 4
The extremely hot and humid weather that occurs in the United States in July and August is commonly called the “Dog Days” of summer. This name comes from the star Sirius, which is known as the Dog Star. Sirius is the brightest visible star, and in the hot summer months it rises in the east approximately the same time as the Sun. As ancient people saw this star rising with the Sun when the weather was at its hottest, they believed that Sirius was the cause of the additional heat; they believed that bright star added its heat to the heat of the Sun, and these two together made summer weather so umbearably hot.
5. The topic of the passage is
(A) How dogs like to play during the summer
(B) The causes of hot and humid weather
(C) Why the hot summer days are known as the “Dog Days”
(D) The day that dogs prefer
6. The main idea of this passage is that
(A) The name for the summer days come from Sirius, the Dog Star
(B) Dogs generally prefer hot summer days
(C) The hottest days occur in the summer because of the movements of the Sun and the star
(D) Sirius rises almost the same time as the Sun during the summer months