Directions
Read this article. Then answer questions 1 through 7.

Excerpt from Coral Reef: A City That Never Sleeps
by Mary M. Cerullo

By late afernoon, the daytime fishes become less interested in feeding and start to move closer to their evening retreats. Perhaps they grow nervous as their day vision becomes less efficient at dusk. The smallest fishes start the rush hour to return to their shelters for the night.

5         The bright colors of the diurnal 1 fishes fade fast in the twilight. Some fishes can actually adjust color cells in their skin to alter their flashy daytime look to dull, darker night shades. The gathering gloom just makes others appear darker. The best defense is to disappear entirely inside the coral reef because now the fishes’ dark outlines are silhouetted against the setting sun to predators below.

10        Parrotfishes leave their feeding grounds in single file to seek out their individual hiding places in the reef. Some parrotfishes secrete a sticky cocoon from beneath their scales to seal their scent from hungry moray eels. If any creature tries to penetrate the mucus bubble, the parrotfish wakes up and bolts from its “bedroom.” Some species of wrasses 2 also make cocoons for the night. Others bury themselves in the sand.

15         Because fishes don’t have eyelids to close, it’s impossible to tell whether or not most fishes are really sleeping. Parrotfishes do seem to go into a trancelike state at night. If they are disturbed from their rest, they act dazed and confused, like humans wakened out of a sound sleep.

20        A triggerfish locks itself inside a coral cave with a tall spine on its back fin. One spine folds down over the first spine like a door latch to hold it in place. Only the triggerfish can release its trigger spine, so a moray eel can’t pull it from its retreat.

1 diurnal: active during the daytime
2 wrasses: marine fish of tropical and temperate seas having thick lips, strong teeth, and usually a bright coloration; many are used as food

Shadow Patrols

25        Many carnivores, such as jacks, snappers, sharks, barracuda, and groupers, take advantage of the weariness and confusion of transition time on the reef. Their eyes, sensitive to dim light, are better equipped for this time of day than those of the diurnal fishes. Though twilight predators are not very good at distinguishing colors, they can detect shape, outlines, and movement well. The daytime fishes flowing back to the reef offer a constant stream of shape and movement.

30        Many predators that have been quietly waiting in the background all day become more active at dusk and dawn. The crepuscular 3 hunters have ingenious 4 ways of picking off their prey. A grouper leaves its den beneath a coral overhang to vacuum up prey with its cavernous mouth. By thrusting out its lower jaw, its mouth becomes big enough to swallow almost any prey. It has been rumored that giant groupers (which may weigh up to 1,000 pounds) have been known to swallow divers whole! Then, the stories go, they spit them out again because they don’t like the taste of their wetsuits.

35        Streamlined jacks hunt in packs like jackals. They surround a school of fish, separate several from their companions, and bring them down after a high-speed chase. A lionfish may use its winglike side fins to sweep fish into a corner of the reef where they can’t escape. Other times, it lies motionless and gulps fish that come too close.

40       Although sharks visit the coral reef at dawn and dusk, they have such an effective array of sensory devices that they can zero in on prey at any time. Their excellent sense of smell has earned sharks the nickname of “swimming noses.” Sharks’ lateral lines are especially sensitive to the low-frequency vibrations given off by struggling fishes. Their most impressive sense is located inside sensory pores on the snout. This sense detects the faint electric pulses generated by the beating hearts of their victims. Vision is probably their weakest sense, yet
45       many sharks have catlike eyes with mirror cells to reflect and concentrate dim light. Some sharks’ eyes are so sensitive that they can hunt by starlight on a moonless evening.

50      Dusk, that time between twilight and full darkness, is the spawning time for many diurnal fishes. As one scientist explains, “It gives their eggs and sperm a twelve-hour head start to escape the hungry mouths on the reef.” Many daytime fishes move into deeper water, rise to the surface, or spawn during outgoing tides to let ocean currents carry their eggs and sperm to less populated areas far from the reef.

3 crepuscular: active in the twilight
4 ingenious: clever

Ghost Town

55        About ten minutes after sunset, an eerie quiet descends on the reef. Swaying sea fans provide the only visible movement, like tumbleweeds blowing through a ghost town in a Western movie. The coral passages are silent, deserted, and vaguely menacing. The daytme fishes have retreated to their shelters. Many large predators have headed off with the setting sun into the deeper waters beyond the reef. Others-some groupers, snappers, and reef sharks-remain hidden in the shadows where they can ambush any lone stragglers.

60       The quiet period lasts only about 15 to 20 minutes. Then, as abruptly as if a film director had shouted “Cut!” nocturnal creatures burst onto the set and the scene changes to night maneuvers.

1. According to the article, why do some parrotfishes make a cocoon?

A. to attract other fishes to their hiding place
B. to show other fishes they are asleep
C. to create a safe place for their eggs
D. to hide themselves from predators

2. Why are some diurnal fishes harder to see in the evening than in the daytime?

A. The movement on the reef blurs their shapes.
B. Their predators can only detect outlines.
C. The light casts shadows that hide them.
D. Their skin color changes to blend in.

3. What statement best summarizes the information in lines 1 through 9?

A. Daytime fish who live in the coral reef generally stop feeding at dusk.
B. Fish have the natural ability to become less visible at night in the coral reef.
C. Predatory fish hide in the coral reef so they can feed on the diurnal fish.
D. Fish in the coral reef have remarkably better vision during the day.

4. Which sentence from the article best explains why some fishes may be dangerous to humans?

A. “Though twilight predators are not very good at distinguishing colors, they can detect shape, outlines, and movement well.” (lines 25 and 26)
B. “Many predators that have been quietly waiting in the background all day become more active at dusk and dawn.” (lines 28 and 29/
C. “The crepuscular hunters have ingenious ways of picking off their prey.” (lines 29 and 30)
D. “By thrusting out its lower jaw, its mouth becomes big enough to swallow almost any prey.” (lines 31 and 32)

5. What does the phrase “zero in on” in line 40 mean?

A. to locate
B. to look
C. to threaten
D. to smell

6. The author develops a central idea about how fishes adapt to their environments by focusing mostly on the

A. light in the water
B. depth of the reef
C. currents in the water
D. shape of the reef

7. Which detail is most important to include in a summary of the article?

A. “Because fishes don’t have eyelids to close, it’s impossible to tell whether or not most fishes are really sleeping.” (line 15 and 16)
B. “Many predators that have been quietly waiting in the background all day become more active at dusk and dawn.” (lines 28 and 29)
C. “It has been rumored that giant groupers (which may weigh up to 1,000 pounds) have been known to swallow divers whole!” (lines 32 and 33)
D. “Many daytime fishes move into deeper water, rise to the surface, or spawn during outgoing tides…” (lines 49 and 50)

Directions: Read this article. Then answer questions 8 through 14.

Birth of the Cool
by Katy Kelly

In the 1930s, nothing said sophistication like aspic. 1 Up-to-the-minute modern hostesses engaged in a frenzy of savory jelled-salad making, all thanks to the newly perfected electric refrigerator.

5        Such gracious living had been a long time coming. Until the mid-1800s, Americans kept food from spoiling by storing it in streams, cellars, snow, and ice. It was a system that worked better in the cool seasons. In the heat, bacteria bloomed so rapidly that killer food poisoning was referred to as “summer complaint.”

10      The icebox extended shelf and human life. In common use by 1838, the wooden cabinet lined with zinc or tin and insulated with sawdust, cork, or seaweed held ice above solution. Sometimes the water would overflow the damp box. A 1929 Collier’s magazine article noted: “Slime accumulates [in the drainpipes] constantly and should be removed with a long-handled circular brush. If your overflow pipe connects with an outside drain, be sure there is a trap to prevent poisonous gases and odors from flowing up it and
15      contaminating foods in the box.” Plus, says Pearl Buchbinder, 95, the icebox “was a good hiding place for mice.”

Cold comfort

To stock the box, city people bought ice, and country dwellers harvested it. In Robinhood, Maine, where Faith Reyher Jackson, 86, grew up, ice cutting was an all-town, all-day event, done at a neighbor’s pond in the dead of winter. “They used saws and these
20      big tongs to pull it out,” she says. Then it was hauled from home to home on a horse-drawn cart, packed in sawdust, and put in the family’s icehouse, where, she says, it lasted for months. City people depended on a delivery from the iceman. “Kids would chase him down the street, and he’d chip off a piece of ice and give it to them,” says B.J. Smith, 84, who was reared in Lima, Ohio. Customers used a card in their window to
25       place orders. The iceman, with a burlap or leather pad protecting his shoulder, would hoist a block weighing up to 100 pounds. When commercial icehouses opened in the early 1800s, they were considered a business with a future. But by the end of the century, pond ice was polluted. That, and unusually hot summers in 1889 and 1890, pushed ahead the advent of refrigerators.

1 aspic: a jelly made of fish or meat stock that is used to make a mold

30       In 1911, General Electric presented a machine that compressed chemical gases to cool air. By 1920, there were some 200 different refrigerator models on the market. Even the New Yorker raved: “A little water is put in some mysterious place: A few minutes pass, a magic door opens, and a tray of small ice cubes appears before your startled eyes.” But such marvels were not for everybody or, in fact, almost anybody. Most machines were
35        powered by motors so large they were housed in separate rooms. That inconvenience was trumped by cost. One 1922 refrigerator ran $714 (the equivalent of $7,856 today). A competing invention, the Crosley Icyball, required putting part of the machine over a kerosene burner every 24 to 36 hours. But the indudtry’s biggest problem was the coolants that, on occasion, leaked and killed people.

40       It wasn’t until 1930 when Frigidaire began cooling with chlorofluorocarbons, that people began upgrading to refrigerators. Small, with big fans on top, the appliance changed the way America ate. Manufacturers provided books with menus for a lifestyle that included ice tongs, bridge parties, and recipes showing off all that a refrigerator could do for a single meal. (In 1929, Kelvinator suggested a raspberry cup, molded lamb, celery curls, and Kelvinator fruitcake with whipped cream.) Pre-fridge, “frozen desserts and frozen salads were nonexistent or just for wealthy people,” says Sylvia Lovegren, author of Fashionable Food: Seven Decades of Food Fads. “All of a sudden, the middle class could have things that seemed high class a few years before.” And what could be more high class than frozen cheese salad or an icy frappe 2 made of condensed tomato soup?

50        By 1937, more than 2 million Americans owned refrigerators. By mid-’50s, over 80 percent of the country had made the switch. Today, while the mechanics have remained much the same, the refrigerator has gotten ever fancier. Freon, the chlorofluorocarbon that changed the future, has been replaced with coolants that don’t eat through the ozone layer. Hydrators, automatic defrost systems, and icemakers have lured customers, but it is hard
55         to imagine any upgrade that could dazzle as much as the early promise of no ice-and no mice.

2 frappe: an iced or chilled drink

8. How does the author support the claim that “gracious living had been a long time coming” (line 4)?

A. by describing the excitement caused by new improvements in refrigerators
B. by describing the menus recommended by refrigerator manufacturers
C. by tracing the development of various methods for keeping food cool
D. by explaining the relationship between temperature and food safety

9. Read this sentence about pond ice from lines 20 through 22.

Then it was hauled from home to home on a horse-drawn cart, packed in sawdust, and put in the family’s icehouse, where, she says, it lasted for months.

Based on the information in lines 8 through 10, which was most likely the reason for packing pond ice in sawdust?

A. to keep the ice from chipping
B. to prevent the ice from melting
C. to keep the ice from becoming slimy
D. to prevent the ice from becoming polluted

10. What is the meaning of the word “hoist” in line 26?

A. lift
B. sell
C. carve
D. locate

11. According to the article, what improvements were made to resolve a safety issue in the older refrigerators?

A. lining the cabinets with zinc
B. attaching an overflow pipe
C. using sawdust as insulation
D. changing the type of coolant

12. Which quotation from the article best supports the conclusion that advances in refrigeration improved life for the average person?

A. “To stock the box, city people bought ice, and country dwellers harvested it.” (line 17)
B. “When commercial icehouses opened in the early 1800s, they were considered a business with a future.” (lines 26 and 27)
C. “All of a sudden, the middle class could have things that seemed high class a few years before.” (lines 47 and 48)
D. “Today, while the mechanics have remained much the same, the refrigerator has gotten ever fancier.” (lines 51 and 52)

13. How do lines 50 through 53 develop a central idea of the article?

A. by showing that some people considered refrigerators unnecessary
B. by explaining that refrigerators have improved very little over the years
C. by comparing refrigerators sold in the past with refrigerators sold today
D. by showing that refrigerators gained widespread acceptance over time

14. Which detail would be most important to include in a summary of the article?

A. Refrigeration was essential for making jelled salads.
B. “Summer complaint” was another name for food poisoning.
C. Modern refrigerators include icemakers and defrost systems.
D. Refrigerators gained popularity after they became small and affordable.

Directions
Read this story. Then answer questions 29 through 35.

Excerpt From The Great Whale of Kansas
by Richard W. Jennings

Breaking Ground

My story begins where a sadder story might end – with the digging of a hole.

It was my eleventh birthday, and, as is the case with all my birthday celebrations, it was also Groundhog Day, an occasion that honors a creature with whom I have more than a holiday in common. The groundhog, or woodchuck, is a solitary animal who spends
5        much of his time either digging a hole or basking in the sunshine by the hole he has dug.

That’s me.

I believe there is nothing, absolutely nothing, half so much worth doing as simply digging a hole. A hole is an achievement. A great hole is a great achievement.

I was going to dig a great hole.

10      My parents had given me a pond-building kit for my birthday. They ordered it from a catalog filled with color photographs of water gardens on great European estates.

“It’s a complete pond in a single, compact box,” they explained, using the exact words printed in the catalog. “It has everything you need.” And except for the tools, rocks, plants, fish, accessories, electrical power to the site, and the hole itself, it did. What I found in the
15      box was a small underwater pump, a coil of plastic tubing, and a sheet of thick, black plastic as big as my patio. There was also an instructional videotape in two languages.

Never have I enjoyed a movie so much.

I watched that video over and over again, waiting for the weather to warm up enough to break ground. Every night before going to sleep, I’d put it on and listen to the soothing
20     voice of the narrator describes the “calm, tranquility, and serenity of a private water garden.” In English, and again in French, he spoke of “dreaming dreams” and “soothing the soul.” Step by fascinating step, he explained how to create “an escape, a hidden world all your own.”

I couldn’t wait to get started.

25      Hour after hour, I assembled and disassembled the pump. I spread the liner across the living room carpet and walked around the edges, imagining that the plastic was water. Using colored pencils and graph paper from school, I drew page after page of miniature ponds with microscopic waterfalls.

When winter at last retreated, I took spray paint to the brittle brown grass of my
30      backyard, a flat, vacant half-acre that sweeps like a savanna to the scrub like a grove of spiked, gnarled hedgeapple trees just this side of Brewster Higley Memorial Park. Like a vandal or graffiti artist, I drew overlapping kidney shapes and ovals in intensse neon colors until I’d outlined my pond exactly the way I wanted it to be.

From a nearby construction site, I gathered stone for the pond’s edge, scores of
35      limestone blocks, their uniformity demonstrating the maximum weight an eager boy can carry.

Finally, one morning it was time to dig.

I approached the task like a starving man at a banquet. This was the day I had trained for! Armed with a brand-new forged-steel shovel – a birthday gift from my aunt Nan – I
40      ripped into the earth with tireless fury, flinging dirt right and left.

As the sun rose in the sky, perspiration fell from my face. The hole grew like a living thing.

By noon, I had created a depression in the earth that looked like the point of impact of a meteorite. The bowl-shaped hole was roughly four feet in diameter, with gently
45       sloping sides nearly two feet deep.

At this rate, I figured, I’ll be basking in tranquility in no time at all.

But don’t count your water gardens until the hole is dug. Few things happen the way you think they will.

A sudden thunderstorm interrupted my work. Boiling across the flat Kansas prairie, it
50       sneaked up on me, announcing its arrival with a deafening crash.

            Kaboom!

I knew better than to stay outside with a metal object in my hand when there was lightning in the air. I quickly abandoned the job site.

From the safety of my house, I watched the darkened skies release their pent-up power
55       directly over my backyard. My heart quickened as sheets of rain overflowed the hole, turning my modest work in progress into a scale model of what I hoped it would become – the loveliest body of water in all of Melville.

Melville, Kansas.

If America were a dart board and your dart landed on Melville, you’d be the winner,
60        hands down. That’s because Melville is smack dab in the middle of the United States, exactly halfway between the great Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, a place with no coastline, no beach, and no blue ocean views.

It wasn’t always like this. In prehistoric times, the spot where Melville sits was submerged beneath a vast inland sea. But over the course of a couple of hundred million
65         years or so, things have a way of changing. Today, luckless Melville is as dry as a bone – the most landlocked city in America.

Clearly, it’s a place that could use a few improvements.

The largest body of water in modern Melville is a man-made pond in Higley Park, the state-owned recreation area that borders my backyard. Rectangular in shape, and held
70        within its banks by enormous, quarried limestone rocks, Higley Pond was dug by bulldozers more than fifty years ago as part of a Kansas flood-control plan.

My pond, as I imagined it, although not as big as Higley Pond, would be far more attractive than that aging, government-designed lagoon.

The spring rains that had diverted me from my mission eventually ended, and the sun
75         returned. With my nose pressed against the breakfat room windows, I found myself gazing not at the sparkling natural beauty of an elegant water garden, but at a waterlogged trap of sticky mud.

Reality.

I hate how it keeps getting in the way of my dreams.

29. Read these sentences from lines 13 and 14.

“It has everything you need.” And except for the tools, rocks, plants, fish, accessories, electrical power to the site, and the hole itself, it did.

Why does the author most likely include this description of the pond-building kit?

A. to maintain a humorous tone
B. to introduce the main conflict
C. to express the narrator’s disappointment
D. to demonstrate the parents’ support of their son

30. Read this sentence from line 38.

I approached the task like a starving man at a banquet.

What is the main purpose of the comparison in this sentence?

A. to describe the narrator’s lack of attention to detail
B. to emphasize the depth of the narrator’s enthusiasm
C. to show that the narrator feels weak from excitement
D. to show that the narrator is overcome by the job at hand

31. Read line 46

At this rate, I figured, I’ll be basking in tranquility in no time at all.

What meaning does the phrase “basking in tranquility” convey to the reader?

A. The narrator expects positive recognition around town for his efforts.
B. The narrator believes the vision of peaceful relaxation shown in the video.
C. The narrator is unaccustomed to such difficult work and will soon need a rest.
D. The narrator is comparing himself to a groundhog that is sitting in the sunshine.

32. Which lines best reveal an overall theme of the story?

A. lines 25 through 28
B. lines 38 through 40
C. lines 47 and 48
D. lines 63 and 64

33. In lines 63 through 73, how does the narrator’s description of the location and history of Melville, Kansas, contribute to the plot?

A. It demonstrates that the new pond is better than other ponds.
B. It reveals the foolishness of the narrator’s attempt to create a new pond.
C. It emphasizes the importance of the new pond to the narrator.
D. It explains the town’s need for a new pond.

34. Which lines from the story reveal a change in the narrator’s point of view?

A. lines 49 through 53
B. lines 54 through 57
C. lines 59 through 62
D. lines 74 through 77

35. How does the narrator’s reaction to his pond first filling with water differ from his outlook at the end of the story?

A. He is excited at first but then becomes disappointed.
B. He is worried at first but then feels satisfied.
C. He is scared at first and later becomes angry.
D. He is happy at first and later feels proud.

Book 2
Directions
Read this article. Then answer questions 36 through 42.

Excerpt from Fire: Friend or Foe
by Dorothy Hinshaw Patent

Managers of some public lands now understand the importance of fire in the cycles of nature.              When a lightning fire poses no danger to people or buildings, some public agencies now let it burn. Many forests that have been allowed to burn for decades contain dangerous amounts of fuel. A lightning strike in such a forest could lead to a big,
5           hot, dangerous fire. Suppressing fire in other environments, such as grasslands, has also led to undesirable changes. The best answer to these problems appears to be to fight fire with fire. Land managers use prescribed fire, carefully planned burns that bring about desirable changes.

Wildfires usually occur in the summer or early fall, when grasslands and forests are
10         dry. But prescribed burning is more likely to be planned for less extreme conditions so the fires can be better controlled. For example, grassland burning at Aransas National Wildlife Refuge in Texas is done during the cool winter months. Prescribed burns in Montana forests are usually carried out during the spring.

The problems caused by fire suppression are huge. About 40 million acres of forests
15         across the country are at risk for dangerous fires because natural fires have not been allowed to burn for so many years.

The goals of prescribed burning are clear. A prescribed fire should burn away heavy undergrowth of brush to remove potential fuel for a wildfire. When a fire has plenty of fuel, it burns hotter and travels faster, covering more territory in less time and getting out of
20         control more easily. With a moderate amount of fuel, a wildfire is less likely to burn hot enough to kill adult trees or to overrun an entire forest.

When the brush and deadwood on the forest floor burn, they release nutrients that can nourish the trees, grasses, and other forest plants. The less cluttered forest floor, with its fresh growth, provides fine habitat for wildlife such as elk and deer.

25          The increase in food for wildlife brought about by burning can also be dramatic. When shrubs are allowed to grow without fire, more and more energy goes into maintaining the old wood, and less goes into new growth. When the old wood burns, the shrub puts out many new, succulent shoots that provide food for deer and elk. In an acre of northern shrubland deprived of fire for twenty years, only thirty to forty-five pounds
30           of food for wildlife is produced yearly. After a fire, that same acre will produce at least four hundred to six hundred pounds of food in a year.

How do land managers decide where to burn? Hundreds of thousands of acres of public lands are possible candidates. In recent years, more and more people have moved into the countryside, often right on the borders of National Forest lands. Such
35           areas are at the top of the list for prescribed burns so that the fire hazard to people and homes is reduced.

In 1997, the U.S. Forest Service decided to burn more than 52,000 acres in its Northern Region (Montana and parts of Idaho, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming)> Five million acres of northern forests evolved over the ages with fire and were
40           burned by lightning fires about every twenty years. Such forests consisted mostly of ponderosa pines, with some larch and Douglas fir. The frequent, natural fires burned low to the ground, killing the underbrush and young firs, which produced an open forest.

More than eighty years of fire suppression has changed these forests dramatically. Now they are overcrowded with Douglas fir and prone to superhot fires that can kill older trees
45            and sterilize the soil, making regrowth take years longer. Such hot, intense fires are also more dangerous to firefighters.

Unfortunately, many of the forests have gone so long without the fire that even prescribed burning would be dangerous. Some logging or thinning of the trees would need to be done before they can be safely burned.

50            Native Americans once helped maintain healthy grasslands with their fires. Now managers of wildlands are doing the same thing in many parts of the country. An example is the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge south of Tucson, Arizona. This refuge represents the las remnant of Sonoran savanna grasslands in the United States. Cattle once roamed across the refuge, feeding on the grasses and changing the
55            ecosystem drastically.

Now, cattle have been barred, and the refuge is burned to get rid of weeds and shrubs like mesquite. The endangered masked bobwhite quail is being reintroduced, and habitat is being created for birds that stop there on their long migrations.

Not everyone is happy with prescribed burning. Cattle ranchers would like to return
60           their herds to the Buenos Aires refuge and many critics complain about the cost of reintroducing quail.

Prescribed fire in forests also has its opponents. Some believe logging can solve the problem of crowded forests, while others fear that fires will escape into populated areas. But the problem of lands damaged by leaving out fire, a major player in the natural
65            system, will not go away. One way or another, fire will take part. A controlled burn costs money and can cause some air pollution. But fighting a wildfire is many more times as expensive and can bring long periods of smoky conditions. Controlled burns are good “preventative medicine” and can help fire return to its role of maintaining and renewing ecosystems.

36. Which words from lines 1 through 8 best help the reader understand the meaning of “suppressing” (line 5)

A. “now understand the importance of fire”
B. “a lightning fire poses no danger”
C. “have not been allowed to burn”
D. “carefully planned burns”

37. Read this sentence from lines 6 and 7.

The best answer to these problems appears to be to fight fire with fire.

Which evidence from the article best supports this claim?

A. “But prescribed burning is more likely to be planned for less extreme conditions so the fires can be better controlled.” (lines 10 and 11)
B. “A prescribed fire should burn away heavy undergrowth of brush to remove potential fuel for wildfire.” (lines 17 and 18)
C. “When the brush and deadwood on the forest floor burn, they release nutrients that can nourish the trees, grasses, and other forest plants.” (lines 22 and 23)
D. “In recent years, more and more people have moved into the countryside, often right on the borders of National Forest lands.” (lines 33 and 34)

38. How do fires benefit wildlife?

A. Fires help remove older trees that crowd forests.
B. The possibility of fire limits where cattle are allowed to graze.
C. The possibility of fire limits how close people can live in forests.
D. Fires help create conditions that cause more food to become available.

39. What is the meaning of “prone” (line 44) as used in the article?

A. likely
B. useful
C. starting
D. existing

40. What have managers of public lands learned from Native Americans?

A. how fire helps maintain grassland areas
B. the importance of protecting natural habitats
C. how planned fires can be used to prevent large fires
D. the role of cattle management in protecting grassland areas

41. Which sentence best expresses the central idea of the article?

A. “Managers of some public lands now understand the importance of fire in the cycles of nature.” (lines 1 and 2)
B. “How do land managers decide where to burn?” (line 32)
C. “Unfortunately, many of the forests have gone so long without fire that even prescribed burning would be dangerous.” (lines 47 and 48)
D. “Not everyone is happy with prescribed burning.” (line 59)

42. How do lines 59 through 69 contribute to the discussion of prescribed burns?

A. by describing how attitudes have changed with time
B. by showing that the benefits outweigh the costs
C. by providing that conflicting opinions are wrong
D. by exposing the self-interest of opponents