Reading Worksheet

Critical reading is a demanding process. To read critically, you must slow down your reading and, with pencil in hand, perform specific operations on the text. Mark up the text with your reactions, conclusions, and questions. When you read, become an active participant.

This paragraph best supports the statement that:

There are no effective boundaries when it comes to pollutants. Studies have shown that toxic insecticides that have been banned in many countries are riding the wind from countries where they remain legal. Compounds such as DDT and toxaphene have been found in remote places like the Yukon and other Arctic regions.

This paragraph best supports the statement that:

The Fourth Amendment to the Constitution protects citizens against unreasonable searches and seizures. No search of a person’s home or personal effects may be conducted without a written search warrant issued on probable cause. This means that a neutral judge must approve the factual basis justifying a search before it can be conducted.

This paragraph best supports the statement that the police cannot search a person’s home or private papers unless they have:

During colonial times in America, juries were encouraged to ask questions of the parties in the courtroom. The jurors were, in fact, expected to investigate the facts of the case themselves. If jurors conducted an investigation today, we would throw out the case.

This paragraph best supports the statement that:

Mathematics allows us to expand our consciousness. Mathematics tells us about economic trends, patterns of disease, and the growth of populations. Math is good at exposing the truth, but it can also perpetuate misunderstandings and untruths. Figures have the power to mislead people.

This paragraph best supports the statement that:

Human technology developed from the first stone tools about two and a half million years ago. At the beginning, the rate of development was slow. Hundreds of thousands of years passed without much change. Today, new technologies are reported daily on television and in newspapers.

This paragraph best supports the statement that:

Walk into any supermarket or pharmacy and you will find several shelves of products designed to protect adults and children from the sun. Additionally, a host of public health campaigns have been created, including National Skin Cancer Awareness Month, that warn us about the sun’s damaging UV rays and provide guidelines about protecting ourselves. While warnings about the sun’s dangers are frequent, a recent survey found that fewer than half of all adults adequately protect themselves from the sun.

This paragraph best supports the statement that:

Yoga has become a very popular type of exercise, but it may not be for everyone. Before you sign yourself up for a yoga class, you need to examine what it is you want from your fitness routine. If you’re looking for a high-energy, fast paced-aerobic workout, a yoga class might not be your best choice.

This paragraph best supports the statement that:

Close-up images of Mars by the Mariner 9 probe indicated networks of valleys that looked like the stream beds on Earth. These images also implied that Mars ones had an atmosphere that was thick enough to trap the sun’s heat. If this were true, something happened to Mars billions of years ago that stripped away the planet’s atmosphere.

This paragraph best supports the statement that:

Forest fires feed on decades-long accumulations of debris and leap from the tops of young trees into the branches of mature trees. Fires that jump from treetop to treetop can be devastating. In old-growth forests, however, the shade of mature trees keeps thickets of small trees from sprouting and the lower branches of mature trees are too high to catch the flames.

This paragraph best supports the statement that:

Originating in the 1920s, the Pyramid scheme is one of the oldest con games going. Honest people are often pulled in, thinking the scheme is a legitimate investment enterprise. The first customer to “fall for” the Pyramid scheme will actually make big money and will therefore persuade friends and relatives to join also. The chain then continues with the con artist who originated the scheme pocketing, rather than investing, the money. Finally, the pyramid collapses, but by that time, the scam artist will usually have moved out of town, leaving no forwarding address.

This paragraph best supports the statement that:

I know that our rules prohibit members from bringing more than one guest at a time to the club, but I think there should be an exception to the rule on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. Members should be allowed to bring multiple guests on those days, since the majority of members use the club facilities on the other four days of the week.

The rules restricting the number of guests a member can bring to the club probably are intended to: