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Grade 7

7.2.A: Reading - Vocabulary Development

7.2.A Determine The Meaning Of English Words

Pavel’s Journey

1. Pavel stood in the dim light of steerage, the lowest section of the boat. It was a foul place, filled with the stench of his fellow passengers, who hadn’t been able to bathe since boarding the ship two weeks ago. His only escape came from the words of a letter, long memorized now, from his uncle. The letter contained no information about the difficulty of the journey—only praise for the destination. Pavel wasn’t sure whether to curse his uncle for this omission or thank him for the descriptions that transported him from this dank vessel.

2. Uncle John, who had changed his name from Johannes after starting his new life in America, had written about the expansive skies, clean air, and endless available farmland in Texas. “We have named our town Praha, in honor of our own capital,” the letter said. “A strong young man such as you could grow rich working a nice piece of land. You would never have such an opportunity in Bohemia.”

3. Pavel envied the passengers in the decks above him. The price of their tickets meant that they could sleep in a bunk bed and eat at a table. But Pavel had chosen to do without these comforts and save what little money he had in order to buy land in his new country.

4. Among the unpleasant odors that filled his nostrils, Pavel could just detect the smell of soup, now being served. From his uncle’s letter he recited silently to himself. “We had the most pleasant feast last evening. We ate smoked sausage and pickled cabbage. I played polkas on my accordion so that we could dance after a hard week’s work. One young woman, Ilona, never tires of dancing. I told her about my nephew Pavel. She is eager to dance with you.”

5. As Pavel imagined the delicious sausage, his stomach began to rumble. Of course, the soup served here contained no sausage. Still, it would offer a bit of nourishment. But when he saw the throng of people between himself and the soup pot, he despaired of reaching it before the pot was empty. A young girl beside him seemed to have come to the same conclusion. Miklos, a giant of a man with a big belly, stood before the soup pot as if guarding it.

6. Trying to maintain his balance as the boat suddenly lurched, Pavel moved toward the soup pot. Pavel’s progress was thwarted by Miklos, who blocked his way.

7. “Pardon me,” Pavel said, hoping Miklos would stand aside so he could get some soup.

8. Miklos looked down at Pavel with scornful amusement. “Pardon you?” he bellowed. And as if he were disposing of a sack of potatoes, Miklos hoisted Pavel by his trousers and deposited him on the other side of the ship.

9. Pavel was enraged. But he knew that a confrontation with Miklos would be pointless—like a sparrow attacking a vulture. Then Pavel had an idea. He began singing “Beautiful America,” a song known by most of the passengers. Soon other voices joined his. Some even began to dance in the confined space. Pavel then joined hands with the young girl and danced with her toward the soup pot.

10. As Pavel ladled soup into his bowl, he thought of the closing lines of Uncle John’s letter. “Although you have a long way to go, keep a smile on your face and a song in your heart. A beautiful life can be yours.”

The Historical Register: Gettysburg Cyclorama

1. Bullets scream past your ears as your battalion advances into enemy artillery fire. The noise of the guns is so loud that you can’t think. You can barely see where you are going through the smoke punctuated by bursts of gunfire. By the time you have neared the enemy troops, half the men who started out with you have fallen.

2. Are you actually on a battlefield? Are you dreaming? Are you playing a computer game that simulates a battle? Actually, you are surrounded by a piece of art called a cyclorama.

3. In the late 1800s cycloramas depicting great battles or scenes from popular literature were a popular form of entertainment. These massive oil paintings provided panoramic views of their subjects and were housed in special circular auditoriums. Viewers of a cyclorama stood on a platform in the center of an auditorium. The area directly in front of the painting featured actual objects that gave the painting a three dimensional effect. Viewers felt as if they were part of the scene being represented.

4. After the Civil War ended in 1865, artists searched for ways to represent its battles. One of the most famous actions of the war, Pickett’s Charge, took place at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, on the third and final day of battle. The French artist Paul Philippoteaux was hired to paint this scene. In 1882 Philippoteaux went to Gettysburg, where he spent several weeks making hundreds of sketches. He had a photographer take pictures of the landscape, and he also interviewed veterans of the battle. Aided by a team of assistants, Philippoteaux worked for the next year and a half to paint the cycloramic scene.

5. The result is said to have made veterans of the battle weep when they visited the exhibit in Chicago. Philippoteaux’s work was such a success that he was hired to paint a second version of the cyclorama to be displayed in Boston. This cyclorama was 377 feet long and 42 feet high and weighed about three tons. It was displayed in a specially designed building for many years.

6. When motion pictures emerged, the popularity of cycloramas decreased. Eventually the Boston version of the Gettysburg cyclorama was sold to an entrepreneur who cut 16 feet off the top of the painting and exhibited it in Gettysburg for many years. In the 1940s the painting was purchased by the U.S. government and brought to Gettysburg National Military Park.

7. In 2003 park conservators began a restoration of the cyclorama that cost $15 million. They returned the skyline to the painting and also added details present in the original that had been lost over the years. Collectors of Civil War memorabilia were asked for donations of artifacts such as boots, uniforms, flags, and weapons. These were set in the foreground of the painting to create a “you are there” illusion. The canvas is slightly curved, further augmenting this visual effect. The cyclorama was placed in its own special auditorium in the park’s new visitor center, which opened in 2008. For the first time in more than a century, the cyclorama could be viewed in its original form.

8. Today’s viewers of the cyclorama stand on a central platform and listen to a 15-minute narrative that is accompanied by light and sound effects. The platform is raised to the mid-level of the painting, allowing viewers to feel as if they are part of the battle scene.

9. The Gettysburg National Military Park receives nearly two million visitors each year. It honors sacrifices made by hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians during a pivotal era in U.S. history. The park is also dedicated to teaching people about the Civil War in general and the battle of Gettysburg in particular. The cyclorama, where art imitates life to an amazing degree, is a significant part of that effort.

A Hard Rain

Characters
ERICA
REGGIE DAD

Scene 1
1. [Curtain opens to a cabin with bare furnishings. Erica is tapping on her cell phone. The room is dark and gloomy. Rain can be heard hitting the roof.]
2. ERICA: No reception at all!
3. REGGIE: [From offstage.] They have a chess set.
4. ERICA: I can’t text. Can’t call. And no Internet! I could be nominated for a Nobel Prize and have no way of knowing it.
5. REGGIE: [Enters carrying a box.] Look, a puzzle. [Hands Erica the box.]
6. ERICA: It’s 2,000 pieces. We could build a boat and sail away before finishing that.
7. REGGIE: [Looking out the window.] I think the rain is stopping. 
8. ERICA: Don’t start that.
9. REGGIE: No, really. There’s a little patch of blue sky.
10. ERICA: [Shaking her head.] I can’t believe Dad dragged us up here.
11. REGGIE: How can you say that? When we were younger, you loved going on trips like this.
12. ERICA: We’re not little kids anymore. Besides, Dad could’ve at least checked the weather first.
13. REGGIE: Remember when we hiked up that mountain? Dad deviated from the trail, and we ended up going in circles for three hours before we realized it.
14. ERICA: If I remember correctly, you were navigating, not Dad. But where is he now? He’s been gone for two hours.
15. REGGIE: You know him. He’s probably chatting with someone at the general store.
16. ERICA: If that’s the case, you will finish the puzzle before he gets back. 
17. REGGIE: At least I’ll have accomplished something other than sitting around and whining.
18. [Thunder roars, and the sound of rainfall increases. The lights dim.]

Scene 2
19. [Lights up. It is one hour later. Rain is still pouring. Erica plays solitaire on the floor. Reggie is sitting on a couch, plucking an out-of-tune guitar while watching the door.]
20. ERICA: [Annoyed.] Can you stop trying to play that thing?
21. REGGIE: Come on, I need to do something to pass the—
22. [Erica’s cell phone rings. Reggie watches her intently.]
23. ERICA: [Looks at the phone screen.] This isn’t Dad’s number. [Answers the phone.] Hello? [Listens.] Dad, is that you? [Listens.] What? I can’t hear any— hello? [A click is heard.]
24. REGGIE: [Eagerly.] Try calling back.
25. ERICA: [Presses redial, listens.] The call won’t connect.
26. REGGIE: I’m sure that was Dad calling to tell us that he’s O.K.
27. ERICA: But what if he was calling because he needs help? I couldn’t hear anything except static. We need to get to a phone that works.
28. REGGIE: There’s no landline here, and we can’t leave the cabin until the storm subsides.
29. [Erica runs offstage and then returns with sneakers and a jacket.]
30. ERICA: [Ties the laces of her sneakers.] Come on, Reggie. We have to try to get to a phone. [She puts the jacket on and zips it.]
31. REGGIE: Erica, seriously, you can’t go out there.
32. [Erica walks across the stage to the door. She opens the door just as a loud crash of thunder is heard over the rain. She pauses, staring at the rain. After a few seconds she turns to Reggie.]
33. ERICA: Are you coming with me?
34. REGGIE: Do you really think this is a good idea? The closest cabin is almost a mile away.
35. ERICA: [Sighs.] And with you as my navigator, we might never find our cabin again. [She closes the door and begins unzipping her jacket as she leaves the room.]
36. [Reggie looks out the window with a worried expression on his face. He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. Another thunderclap is heard. The lights dim.]

Scene 3
37. [Lights up. Rain falls softly now. Erica and Reggie sit staring at each other.]
38. REGGIE: [Breaks the silence.] How long has Dad been gone?
39. ERICA: Four hours.
40. REGGIE: [Gets up and looks out the window.] That creek is really high.
41. ERICA: Sit down, Reggie.
42. REGGIE: [Pacing.] Maybe we should try to find a neighbor with a landline now that the storm has cleared. Or maybe you should try your phone again. Does it have reception? Now that the rain is gone, it might—
43. ERICA: [Interrupting.] Why don’t we work on that puzzle? That should help you compose yourself. Sound good?
44. REGGIE: [Frantically.] No, Erica. That storm was really bad, and we still don’t know where Dad is.
45. ERICA: Try to relax. I’m sure Dad is fine. There’s nothing we can do right now anyway.
46. [The lights of a vehicle shine through the window. Reggie rushes across the stage to look out the window.]
47. REGGIE: It’s Dad!
48. [Reggie and Erica run to the door.]
49. ERICA: He’s here!
50. [Dad enters.]
51. REGGIE: Dad, we were worried about you!
52. DAD: I’m sorry. I’m fine. I just had no way to reach you.
53. REGGIE: What happened?
54. DAD: When the hard rain hit, I had to go back to town and wait. I tried calling Erica’s cell phone from a landline in town, but I couldn’t get through.
55. REGGIE: I’m just glad you’re safe.
56. ERICA: [To Reggie.] See, there was no reason for you to freak out.
57. REGGIE: [Rolls eyes.] You were the one who worried the whole time Dad was gone.
58. DAD: [Smiles.] Now that the rain has stopped, it’ll be perfect swimming weather soon!
59. [Curtain closes.]

Airball: My Life in Briefs
by L. D. Harkrader

1. I should’ve suspected something.

2. The other guys whooped and dribbled around me, slapping balls out of each other’s hands and charging in for layups at both ends of the court. Layups that mostly bounced wide of the basket.

3. For somebody like me, growing up in a basketball-loving family in a basketball-crazed town, you’d think I’d be screeching around the gym, too. You’d think I’d be rebounding every shot and sinking three-pointers from the lobby.

4. You’d think.

5. I just stood there on the free-throw line, in the shadow of that big orange sign above the scoreboard, clutching a basketball tight to my chest. Outside, a wild October wind whipped through town, rattling the windows high above the bleachers in the gym. The very air felt like change. Like anything could happen.

6. You know the kid who kicks the ball out of bounds when he dribbles? The kid whose jump shots look like bounce passes? The kid who spends most of the game skidding across the floor on his face? That’s me. Last summer my own grandmother beat me in a game of H-O-R-S-E.

7. I studied that orange sign and tried to imagine what it felt like to be six-foot-nine with a gym full of fans cheering and chanting my name. Kirby. Kir-by. KIR-BY!

8. “Hey, Kirby, if you’re just going to stand there, give us the ball.”    

9. Russell Wiles and Eddie Poggemeyer thundered past.

10. “And get out of the way.”

11. I pried the basketball from my chest and thumped it on the floor. I eyed the basket and thumped again. I lined up the ball, flexed my knees, and shot, flicking my wrist like Brett McGrew.

12. The ball hit the rim and bounced straight back. About knocked me over.  

13. My cousin Bragger chased it into the bleachers.

14. “Your aim’s good,” he said, “but you need a little more arc.” He curled one hand up over his head, then down, demonstrating arc. “You get that, Kirby, you’ll be a starter.”

15. “Right.”

16. “Seriously.”

17. “They have this rule, Bragger. To be a starter, you actually have to be on the team. And I’m not going out for basketball, remember?”

18. “That’s what you keep saying.” He twirled the ball in his hands. “Who holds the NBA record for most points in a single game?”

19. “You already know.”

20. “I forgot.”

21. I rolled my eyes. “Wilt Chamberlain. One hundred points against the Knicks. March 2, 1962.”

22. “How many rebounds did Brett McGrew pull down in the NCAA championship game his senior year?”

23. “Twenty-four,” I said. “Why?”

24. He shrugged. “You love basketball, Kirby.”

25. “I can’t play basketball, Bragger. And I don’t need an after-school athletics program to prove it.”

26. He shrugged again. “Can’t be a hero if you’re afraid of looking stupid.”

27. “No problem then, because I don’t want to be a hero.”

28. “Sure you do, Kirby. Everybody does. Down deep inside, everybody wants to be a hero.”

29. “Not me.”

30. Bragger twirled the ball again. “Guess it’s up to me to lead the team to victory.”

31. He dribbled in place, charged the basket, and shot. Airball. Bragger didn’t care. He ran after it, snagged it as it rolled into the wrestling mats, and lobbed it up over the backboard to me.

32. I let it bounce right past. Because that’s when I heard the growl. Deep, low, and gurgling, like a water heater about to blow. I knew that growl. It was Coach Armstrong. Coach “Iron Man” Mike Armstrong. Our new gym teacher. Favorite saying: “Practice till you puke.” Favorite aroma: sweat. Favorite hobby: watching me run extra laps because I couldn’t climb a rope, steal a base, or sink a free throw.

33. That’s all I’d learned about him since he took over the seventh gradeP.E. program at the beginning of the school year. But that’s all I needed to know.

34. Coach clenched and unclenched his fists, then blew his whistle. Right in my ear.

35. He started passing papers out. The other guys crowded in around him. I stood off to one side. No sense getting in anybody’s way.

36. Coach handed a permission slip to Eddie Poggemeyer. “First page is for your parents.”

37. Sure, I’d come watch. Like Bragger said, I love basketball. From the bleachers.

38. “Second page”—Coach slapped permission slips into the outstretched hands of Russell Wiles and Duncan Webber—“is the physical form.”

39. I might even keep unofficial stats on the players. I couldn’t pass, shoot, or dribble, but I could figure percentages in a coma. Being a basketball fan and a citizen of the Basketball Capital of Kansas, I owed it to my fellow seventh graders to support the team.

40. “You want to play basketball, get both pages signed.”

41 .But I didn’t need to put on a uniform and invite the entire town down to the gym to watch me look pathetic. No way.

Something Fishy

1. China’s Three Gorges Dam is the largest hydroelectric dam in the world. It was built to produce electricity and limit downstream floods. The dam, while deemed a technological success, has been criticized for the negative impact it has had on the local ecosystem. The dam is located on the Yangtze River, one of the most important rivers in China, famed for its diverse wildlife.

2. When Three Gorges Dam began altering the flow of water, it also changed the environment, particularly for the fish population. For many of the Yangtze River’s estimated 350 species of fish, the dam obstructs the path they travel to reproduce. The dam also affects the water level and water temperature of fish habitats. These conditions have led to a decrease in the number of fish in the river. For some fish the Yangtze is their only natural habitat. Other fish are important for maintaining the fishing industry, a major part of the economy for cities on the river.

3. Because the massive dam is a permanent fixture on the water, researchers are looking for ways to reverse some of its effects on the ecosystem. One way is to change the timing and amount of water released from the dam, which researchers at the Yangtze River Water Resources Commission have been experimenting with since 2011. They hope to determine the right amount of water to release from the dam in order to support the natural breeding of the fish.

4. For three years Brian Ickes, an American research ecologist, has worked with  the Great Rivers Partnership to help scientists in China develop ways to monitor the fish population in the Yangtze River. “Our colleagues in China have known for a long time that there are serious problems with fish populations in the  Yangtze,” commented Ickes, “but they haven’t had the tools they need to understand the nature of the problem.” Ickes helped researchers embed transmitters into a small sample of fish in the Yangtze River basin. This allows researchers to track the fish. They hope the data will provide insight into the direct causes of the drop in the fish’s reproduction rates. Then they hope to collaborate with Three Gorges Dam management to find a way to support the growth of the fish population.

5. A solution is still many years away, but scientists are hopeful that the fish population will thrive once again. Even though Three Gorges Dam provides clean energy to many people in China, monitoring the dam’s impact on the local ecosystem is an important part of the process.

The Fruit Is Sweet
by Lynsey Steinberg

1. I believe that patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.

2. Growing up in the Pine Barrens I was surrounded by trees. Although surrounded by foliage, my mother felt the need to fill our house with plants. She would plant towering cacti, these gorgeous pink lotus flowers, and so many plants that I couldn’t begin to name them all. Every year in early summer, she would create a makeshift garden in our backyard. She would even buy a little wire fence to help keep out the deer and rabbits, which, to her exasperation, found their way over anyhow. Her guilty pleasure was tomatoes—red, plump and juicy with ripeness. She would treasure her little garden and the life she could create with tiny seeds that came from other fruits and vegetables. She planted them time and time again, and I remember the happiness on her face and the joy in her voice when she wanted to show me what had grown, though I really didn’t ever express any interest. I never understood her gardening obsession.

3. One year in high school, I had passed through a gardening store, hoping to find a mirror that I could use for my current art piece. I had no luck finding one, so I decided to grab packets of flower seeds instead. I have no idea why; I had  never planted anything in my life. For some reason, these colorful seed packets grabbed my attention, demanding that I purchase them. I bought many packets: morning glories, foxgloves, geraniums, daffodils, and even some moonflowers.

4. When I got home, my mother forewarned me that, if I was going to plant these flowers, it would have to be on my own. Not discouraged, I planted the different seeds in different pots, and placed them outside on the porch in a neat little  row. Every day, I watered those tiny pots hoping that the next day, a little green stem would pop out to say “hello.” But each day, I became glum when I saw  that my flowers hadn’t grown. After about three weeks, when I was ready to give up on them, my mom said to me, in that oh-I-want-to-gloat voice, “Patience is a virtue.”

5. I did wait and one sunny afternoon as I came home from school balancing the mail in my arms, walking up to the house, I took a quick glance at the pots, really not expecting to see that anything had grown. To my amazement, there was a long green stem in one of the planted pots. A twitch of a smile graced my face and I put the mail down to get a better peek at the morning glory vine that had suddenly spurted while I had been at school.

6. In the past few years, I’ve learned that mothers are usually right, and they’re usually proud of that fact. My mother taught me well, even though she really didn’t have to use much effort. I know what it’s like to treasure those little lives that you create. She taught me to wait. I believe that patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.

The World’s Most Valuable Vault

1. Deep beneath the permafrost about 600 miles from the North Pole, a concrete chamber is keeping a treasure safe. The vault is hidden 390 feet inside a mountain in Norway’s remote Svalbard Islands. This isolated location ensures that the treasure concealed in the vault will remain untouched by any human or natural disaster. The vault was built to withstand bomb blasts and earthquakes, but the treasure it shields is not what you might expect. This vault was not built to store precious gems or gold bars. It was designed to store something even more valuable and critical to our very survival—food. This vault is sometimes called the Fort Knox of food.

2. The idea of storing seeds has been discussed by global organizations since the 1980s. Dr. Cary Fowler, who was president of the Global Crop Diversity Trust at the time of the vault’s creation, explained that construction plans for such a vault began to come together shortly after several natural disasters devastated global food crops. Fowler and his agency want to collect and safely store seeds to make sure they do not disappear in the future. He and other scientists are concerned that plant diversity is rapidly diminishing. “We are losing biodiversity every day,” Fowler explains. “It is kind of a drip, drip, drip—it’s also inevitable. We need to do something about it.” When a type of food is no longer grown because of a natural disaster, such as a flood, or because it becomes unpopular or too expensive to grow, it can disappear from stores and kitchens forever. The Global Crop Diversity Trust wants to prevent this by preserving as many varieties of seeds as possible. The assortment at the vault ensures that food supplies can be maintained or replenished if necessary.

3. The Svalbard Seed Vault opened in 2008 with more than 11,000 seed samples from around the world. It has the capacity to store 4.5 million seed samples. The entry to the vault is a carefully guarded tunnel behind a steel door illuminated by fiber-optic light and sunlight reflected off mirrors. There is no full-time staff at the automated facility, and no single person has all the codes to gain entry to the chambers. The chambers in the vault have rows of shelves that hold the packaged seeds. The frigid arctic climate keeps the chamber at a constant temperature of −18°C, which ensures the life of the seeds, even in case of a power failure.

4. This facility was built by the Norwegian government. Storage is free at the vault because preserving the seeds is important. Sealed in foil packages and stored in boxes, corn seeds from Mexico and pea seeds from Nigeria have been deposited for future use. On the vault’s four-year anniversary, it received seeds for amaranth, an ancient grain treasured by Aztecs and Incas, and for a modern variety of wheat from North America that allows the plant to carry a larger amount of grain at the top without falling over. The vault is also home to seeds for lima beans that can grow at extreme altitudes, tomato seeds for a new kind of tomato with increased vitamin A, and hundreds of thousands of other rare varieties of common crops.

5. Fowler reports that when visitors tour the seed vault, they get emotional. He believes it is because when they are standing in the chamber with the greatest collection of biodiversity in the world, they sense that something important is happening and that the Svalbard Seed Vault is playing an important role in the preservation of humanity.

Measures 1 skill from
Grade 7
ELAR (2009)
Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS)

Our brand new solo games combine with your quiz, on the same screen

Measures 1 skill fromGrade 7ELAR (2009)Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS)

Our brand new solo games combine with your quiz, on the same screen

Measures 1 skill from
Grade 7
ELAR (2009)
Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS)