1

The Main Idea Questions Part 3 Guessing the Main Idea of Each Paragraph Read the experts below and answer the questions that follow. A. Rael lives on a bus. The bus is on a moshav near Ashkelon. In 1999, Rael bought an old bus and made it into his home. He put his bus on the moshav because many of his friends live near there. They come to visit him. (from Upgrade -ECB) The text is about: a) b) c) a very unusual house a strange young man a moshav near Ashkelon

B. The first people to wear sunglasses were the Inuit (Eskimos) in North America. They needed sunglasses because the sun and the snow were too bright for their eyes. They made them out of the skin and bones of animals. (from Upgrade -ECB) The text is about: a) b) c) Americans. North. History of sunglasses.

C. Imelda Marcos was the wife of the president of the Philippines. She loved to buy shoes. She had 3,000 pairs of shoes. (from Upgrade -ECB) The text is about: a) b) c) hobby of the president's wife of the Philippines. shoes sold in the Philippines. shopping.

D. The Stardust spacecraft is set to land on Earth, bringing with it microscopic dust grains from space. After traveling 2.88 billion miles, NASA's Stardust spacecraft is heading back to earth with its extraordinary delivery. It will carry interstellar and comet dust millions of years old. The stardust was collected during the spacecraft's seven-year mission. Researchers believe that the dust may include the oldest materials in the solar system. (from TimeForKids.com) The text is about: d) e) f) E. Do you like the color blue? The Tuareg people do. They live in the Sahara Desert in Africa. They are called the 'Blue People of the Desert" because their clothes are blue and sometimes the color comes off on their skin. (from Upgrade -ECB) The main idea of the paragraph is a) b) c) the Tuareg people wear blue clothes. the Tuareg people live in the Sahara Desert in Africa. the Tuareg people's skin is blue. a spacecraft dust from space the solar system

F. Did you know that students who eat a healthy breakfast get better grades at school than students who don't eat breakfast? (from Upgrade -ECB) The main idea of the paragraph is a) you have to eat healthy food in order to get grades at school. b) you have to eat a good breakfast in order to succeed at school. c) you can get a good grade for eating a healthy breakfast in the morning. G. The average Italian eats 25 kilograms of pasta a year. That is about eight plates of pasta every week. (from Upgrade -ECB) The main idea of the paragraph is a) b) c) Italian pasta is very heavy you have to eat at least 8 plates of pasta every week. Italians like pasts very much.

H. Dana is a security guard in Tel Aviv. She has to work the night shift. She works from 11 o'clock till 7 in the morning. She has to wear a uniform and she has a gun. She checks the cars and the building. She does not really like the night shift. It is boring and in the winter it is cold. (adapted from Upgrade -ECB) Lines 1-5 talk about: a) b) the difficulties of the night shift. why Dana does not like her job at all.

c)

what Dana has to have in order to work in the night.

I. Tennis started in France 800 years ago. The players hit the ball with their hands. It was a sport which rich people played indoors only. Men wore long pants and women wore long skirts. (from Upgrade -ECB) Lines 1-3 talk about: a) b) c) what clothes people wore when they played tennis. the history of tennis. where tennis was played.

J. There is a new project, called Flex, for children who travel all the time and can't go to different schools while they are traveling. Karen Willaert from Belgium is one of these kids. She has a computer on her barge and every week, her teacher sends her lessons by satellite to her computer. She does her homework, and her teacher corrects it on the computer. With the Flex project, Karen can study wherever she is. (from Upgrade -ECB) Lines 1-7 talk about: a) b) c) Karen's teacher who sends her lessons on the radio. Karen's teacher who sends her lessons on the Internet. A special project for children who travel all the time.

K. Dolphins are very smart animals. They even have their own language. They talk to each other with clicks, whistles, and grunts. Scientists have been studying this dolphin language. They hope that in the future, people and dolphins will be able to talk to each other. (From Comprehension Grade 5) The story mainly tells a) b) c) d) how dolphins talk to people. how smart dolphins are. how dolphins are different from fish. which scientists are studying languages.

L. In the 1800s Benjamin Henry Day started the first penny newspaper. The penny newspaper was a little newspaper. It cost only one penny. Boys sold it on street corners. The penny paper told stories about interesting people. It also told some stories about how the world was changing. Bu 1936 the penny paper had become the largest newspaper in the world. (From Comprehension Grade 5) The story mainly tells a) b) c) d) who sold stories about people. how the first penny paper started. when people's lives changed. when Benjamin Henry Day was born.

M. Camels have adapted well to the desert. The large humps on their backs hold fat that can serve as food. Camels don't sweat very much, so they don't need much water. The camel's broad feet don't sink in the sand. Long eyelashes and big eyelids protect their eyes from the sun. (From Comprehension Grade 5) The story mainly tells a) b) c) d) why camels don't sink in the sand. what the hump of a camel is for. how the camel is suited to live in the desert. why camels do not need a lot of water.