Your Buddy, the Bat
Word
Analysis SOL 7.4
by Lester E. Englade
1 Are you among the many people who find bats a bit on the creepy
side? Horror movies certainly have encouraged us to associate bats with
blood-sucking vampires. For some of us, the fictional connection between bats
and vampires causes a strong negative reaction. If we can get past our fears,
however, and take a realistic look at bats, we can begin to find out how
beneficial these fascinating creatures really are.
2 Most bats, nature’s only flying mammals, are nocturnal; they
sleep during daylight hours and hunt for food by night. You can rest easy: Out
of about 900 species of bats in the world, only a very few drink blood. (These
“vampire bats” prefer the warmer climates of southern Mexico, Central America,
and northern South America.) What delicacies inspire North American bats to
venture into the darkness? Insects. Nearly all bats prefer them over any other
food. In terms of ecological balance and the food chain (which in most of North
America includes millions of mosquitoes and other pesky insects), bug-eating
bats are our buddies, indeed.
3 Although bats perform other services, such as pollinating
certain desert flowers, their primary value to us is the number of insects they
consume. A single bat cruising over a backyard can eat 600 mosquitoes in an
hour. One colony of bats can devour an estimated 250 tons of mosquitoes every
night!
______________________________________________________
Reading Buckle Down 8th (2nd Edition), 1995, p. 16.
1.
Which
words have suffixes that mean the plural
of something?
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A bats
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B nocturnal
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C climates
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D mammals
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2.
Which word in paragraph #1 has a suffix that means characterized by (adj.)?
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F encouraged
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G connection
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H creepy
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J vampires
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3.
Which
word is a synonym for nocturnal in paragraph #2?
A early
B day
C morning
D night
4.
Which resources would be most
helpful in finding more information about vampire bats?
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F science magazine
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G
atlas
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H encyclopedia
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J thesaurus
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5.
Which
word in paragraph #2 contains a root that means born?
A nocturnal
B nature
C ecological
D delicacies
6.
Which
word in paragraph #3 has a negative connotation?
F consume
G pollinate
H devour
J cruise
7.
Which
words would not be used to describe fictional in paragraph #1?
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A factual
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B
truthful
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C unrealistic
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D realistic
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