HESI A2 Reading Comprehension Practice Test Related

DAY LIGHT SAVINGS TIME:
It is a well-known fact that it takes the Earth approximately 365 days to move around the sun. At the same time, the Earth revolves or spins around itself over the course of 24 hours, which explains why there is day and night. One half of the Earth is always facing the Sun and the other half is facing away from it. As a result, there are different time zones dividing the globe. Moving suddenly from one time zone into the other, as when flying for example from Asia to North America, causes jetlag. People feel tired, they wake up suddenly during the night and cannot go back to sleep. It takes time to get used to a new time zone.
Another thing to consider is the slight tilting of the Earth towards the sun. The Earth does not stand straight but leans a little to one side. Therefore, when it revolves around the Sun, the middle part of the Earth is always closer to the Sun and gets more heat. This part is called the equator, and above it lathes tropics. Countries at the tropics get the same amount of daylight all the time. The sun always rises at 6 am and sets at 6 pm. In contrast, the tips of the Earth or the Poles get hardly any light at all because they are so far away from the sun.
There are two main seasons at the Poles. There are 6 months of summer, when the sun is always shining, even at night, and there are 6 months of winter, when there is constant darkness.
In between the tropics and the Poles lies the temperate zone, where there are 4 seasons. The sun rises and sets at different times throughout the year. In the spring and summer, it gets light earlier; in the fall and winter it gets dark earlier. People who live in temperate zones take advantage of that fact to get more daylight. At the beginning of spring, countries in Europe and North America re-adjust their clocks. They change the time on their clocks and watches by moving them an hour ahead. As a result, the sun does not set around 7 or 8 pm as usual, but an hour later. This measure is called Daylight Savings Time (DST) and lasts until the beginning of fall, when people move their clocks back one hour to Standard or regular Time.
It is thought that Benjamin Franklin first suggested the introduction of Daylight Savings Time in the 18th century. But, the first serious proposal came in 1907 from William Willet. Yet his idea was shelved by the British government, who refused it because they thought it was unnecessary. Daylight Savings Time was first put into practice by the German government in 1916 in order to save energy during the First World War. Shortly after, the United Kingdom followed suit, with the United States doing the same in 1918.
The law was very unpopular since people had to wake up earlier and many experienced a feeling like jetlag. But the 1970s energy crisis forced the US to make Daylight Savings Time the law. Studies have shown that the introduction of Daylight Savings Time in the spring saved the US 10,000 barrels of oil per day between 1974-1975. It also prevented 2,000 traffic injuries and 50 traffic-related deaths, saving the country $28 million.
Currently, Americans switch to Daylight Savings Time on the first Sunday in April and move back to Standard Time on the last Sunday in October. But as of 2007, the time re-adjustment happened even earlier, in March and November.

What is stated about Benjamin Franklin's role in Daylight Savings Time?

• A. Benjamin Franklin invented Daylight Savings Time.
• B. Benjamin Franklin proposed the concept of Daylight Savings Time.
• C. Benjamin Franklin opposed Daylight Savings Time.
• D. Benjamin Franklin had no connection to Daylight Savings Time.

EATING:
Consumption of food is a universal necessity. Different cultures have developed different methods to accomplish the task. It is interesting to discover these differences and learn new ways to do things.
European cultures developed cutlery (knives, forks, and spoons) to enable people to efficiently eat their food. Correct use of this tools changes with the times- what was polite in 1800 may not be considered proper manners today.
China developed the chopstick as an efficient tool for eating. Mastery of the use of chopsticks can be difficult for the person not raised in the culture. The attempts of a novice to use chopsticks can be very amusing to the watcher, but frustrating for the hungry diner.
Space travel has created new challenges for consuming food. Squeeze bottles and other unique packaging have enabled space travelers to get their needed nutrition. Chopsticks and forks do not work well in space.

What conclusion can be drawn from the article on Eating?

• A. The author thinks chopsticks are funny.
• B. Space flight is fun and exciting.
• C. The author enjoys trying new food.
• D. Diversity is interesting to learn about.

BICYCLES:
Today, bicycles are so common that it's hard to believe they haven't always been around. But two hundred years ago, bicycles didn't even exist, and the first bicycle, invented in Germany in 1818, was nothing like our bicycles today. It was made of wood and didn't even have pedals. Since then, however, numerous innovations and improvements in design have made the bicycle one of the most popular means of recreation and transportation around the world.
In 1839,Kirkpatrick Macmillan, a Scottish blacksmith, dramatically improved upon the original bicycle design. Macmillan's machine had tires with iron rims to keep them from getting worn down. He also used foot-operated cranks like pedals,so his bicycle could be ridden at a quick pace. It didn't look much like a modern bicycle, though, because its back wheel was substantially larger than its front wheel.
In 1861, the French Michaux brothers took the evolution of the bicycle a step further by inventing an improved crank mechanism. Ten years later, James Starley, an English inventor, revolutionized bicycle design. He made the front wheel many times larger than the back wheel, put a gear on the pedals to make the bicycle more efficient, and lightened the wheels by using wire spokes. Although this bicycle was much lighter and less tiring to ride, it was still clumsy, extremely top heavy, and ridden mostly for entertainment.
It wasn't until 1874 that the first truly modern bicycle appeared on the scene. (14) Invented by another Englishman, H.J. Lawson, the "safety bicycle" would look familiar to today's cyclists. This bicycle had equal-sized wheels, which made it less prone to toppling over. Lawson also attached a chain to the pedals to drive the rear wheel. With these improvements, the bicycle became extremely popular and useful for transportation. Today they are built, used, and enjoyed all over the world.

What does Macmillan's invention of the bicycle signify?

• A. He made important changes in bicycle design.
• B. He invented the first bicycle with pedals.
• C. He developed the modern chain drive.
• D. He improved the safety of bicycles.

EATING:
Consumption of food is a universal necessity. Different cultures have developed different methods to accomplish the task. It is interesting to discover these differences and learn new ways to do things.
European cultures developed cutlery (knives, forks, and spoons) to enable people to efficiently eat their food. Correct use of this tools changes with the times- what was polite in 1800 may not be considered proper manners today.
China developed the chopstick as an efficient tool for eating. Mastery of the use of chopsticks can be difficult for the person not raised in the culture. The attempts of a novice to use chopsticks can be very amusing to the watcher, but frustrating for the hungry diner.
Space travel has created new challenges for consuming food. Squeeze bottles and other unique packaging have enabled space travelers to get their needed nutrition. Chopsticks and forks do not work well in space.

What is the best definition of 'efficient' as used in the third paragraph?

• A. Slow but steady.
• B. Productive without waste.
• C. Wasteful and careless.
• D. Quick but sloppy.

AMAZON RAINFOREST:
About 6% of the earth is covered by rainforests. The largest rainforest in the world is the Amazon Basin, which stretches over 2.3 million square miles in nine different South American countries. This area is double the length of all the other remaining rainforests in the world. Brazil contains 60%of the Amazonian rainforest, since it lies at the mouth of the river Amazon. This river is the second largest in the world and contains more than one-fifth of the world's fresh water.
The Amazon rainforest is a type of wet broadleaf forest. The weather there is very humid and warm as it rains quite a bit. Because of the high rainfall, the forest is very rich and green. The tree leaves are pointed and narrow so that the raindrops can easily drop off wet plants. This tropical rainforest has more living species than the entire European continent. There are over 400 types of insects living in one single rain forest tree for a total of 2.5 million species. One square kilometer of rainforest may contain over 75,000 types of trees and approximately 438,000 different kinds of plants, which comes to a total of 90,000 tons of greenery overall. The Amazon rainforest is home to 2,000 birds
and mammals, with one in every five birds in the world living there.
Local farmers have lived off this rich and diverse land for thousands of years. They have been able to find food and water here without destroying the land. The Kayapo people of Brazil farm in an environmentally-friendly way. Instead of chemicals, they use burned wood to enrich the soil, and plant banana trees, which attract wasps. These wasps then feed on leafcutter ants and get rid of these harmful insects. The rainforest also offers a lot of tropical fruits, such as bananas and coconuts, as food. Cinnamon is made from the bark of a rainforest tree. Amazonian Indians use the fruit and stem of the Buruti plant as a drink, to make bread and to build houses. Many other plants are used as medicine. But the Amazon rainforest is in very big danger of disappearing. 9,169 square miles of forest have been cut down in 2003 in Brazil alone. An area of the size of a football field is burned down basically every minute, which means that the rain forest may be gone by the year 2030.The dangers related to this type of activity are obvious. Trees take in poisonous carbon dioxide from the air and give off oxygen. There is more oxygen and less carbon dioxide around a rainforest. When trees are cut down, however, the amount of carbon dioxide increases, and the air gets warmer. This leads to global warming, which is extremely harmful to the environment.
It is estimated that the burning of Brazilian rainforests alone produces 200 million metric tons of carbon dioxide a year. Another danger connected with destroying the rainforest is the disappearance of plants and animals. When trees are cut down, plants and animals have no more food left and slowly die out. Killing wild animals is illegal in Brazil, but there is plenty of stealing going on. 38 million animals are stolen and sold illegally each year. The most hunted animals are birds, especially parrots, followed by snakes and the jaguar.

What fact is stated about the Amazon Rainforest in the passage?

• A. The Amazon Rainforest is shrinking rapidly.
• B. The Amazon Rainforest is home to diverse species.
• C. The Amazon Rainforest is unaffected by human activity.
• D. The Amazon Rainforest contains few animals.