Free printable Hunter practice test for Grade 6

Reading Comprehension

Circle the letter of the best answer. About 14 minutes.

1. The Cottage on the Hill

   Long ago, in the hill country of Phrygia, a rich village lay in a green valley, and on a hill above it stood the smallest cottage for miles around. Its roof was thatched with reeds, and its walls were patched with mud. In it lived an old woman named Baucis and her husband, Philemon. They had married young, grown old together and stayed poor together, and because they had never pretended to be anything but poor, their poverty had never weighed on them.

   One evening, as the sun was setting, two travelers came walking up the valley road. Their cloaks were gray with dust, and their sandals were worn thin. One was tall and bearded; the other was younger and quick-eyed, and he carried a walking staff. No one in the valley could have guessed that they were Zeus, the king of the gods, and his son Hermes, the messenger. They had disguised themselves as mortals to learn how the people of that country treated strangers.

   The travelers knocked at the first house in the village. The door opened a crack and then slammed shut. At the second house, the owner set his dogs on them. At door after door they asked for a place to rest, and at door after door they were turned away. The villagers, it seemed, had plenty of everything except kindness.

   At last the strangers climbed the hill to the little cottage. Before they could knock, Philemon opened the door. "Come in, come in," he said. "You look as though you have walked a long way."

   Baucis was already kneeling at the hearth, blowing on the coals and feeding them dry leaves and bark until a small flame rose. She set a pot of water to heat and pulled a bench close to the fire, covering it with a rough cloth, the best they owned. Philemon went out to the garden and cut a cabbage. Then, from the rafters, he took down a piece of smoked pork that they had been saving for months, cut a generous slice and dropped it into the pot.

   While supper cooked, the old couple filled a wooden basin with warm water so that their guests could bathe their tired feet. Baucis noticed that one leg of the table was shorter than the others, so she slipped a broken piece of pottery beneath it until the table stood level. Then she rubbed the tabletop with fresh mint leaves so that it smelled sweet.

   The meal was a meager one: olives, pickled cherries, radishes, a little cheese, eggs roasted in the ashes and the cabbage stew. The wine was young and sour, and it was served in cups carved from beech wood. But the old couple offered every dish with such cheerful faces that the plain food seemed like a feast.

   Partway through the meal, Baucis noticed something strange. Each time Philemon poured wine for the guests, the jug filled itself again to the brim. However much he poured, it never emptied.

   The old couple looked at each other, and their faces went pale. Trembling, they raised their hands in prayer and begged their guests to forgive them for such a poor meal.

   Then Philemon remembered the goose. They owned a single goose, which guarded the cottage like a watchdog, and he decided that it must be cooked for guests so honored. The two old people chased the bird around the yard, but they were slow and stiff, and the goose was quick. At last it ran honking straight to the strangers and hid behind their knees.

   "Do not kill it," said the tall traveler, and now his voice rolled like distant thunder. "We are gods. Your neighbors will be punished for their cruelty, but you two will be spared. Leave your house and follow us up the mountain."

   Leaning on their sticks, the old couple climbed behind the gods until they were nearly at the top. When they turned to look back, the whole valley had sunk beneath a marsh. Every house in the village was gone. Only their own cottage remained, and as they watched, it changed. Its wooden posts became marble columns, its reed roof turned to gold and its dirt floor became polished stone. The cottage had become a temple.

   "Ask for anything," said Zeus, "and it will be yours."

   Baucis and Philemon whispered together for a moment. Then Philemon spoke. "Let us be priests and care for your temple for as long as we live," he said. "And since we have shared every year together, let us leave this world at the same moment, so that neither of us must bury the other."

   Their wish was granted. They cared for the temple for many years. One day, when they were very old, Baucis saw leaves sprouting from Philemon's shoulders, and Philemon saw the same thing happening to her. As bark crept over them, they called farewell to each other in the same breath. Philemon became an oak and Baucis a linden, growing side by side from the same ground, their branches twined together.

   1.

   Which theme does the myth develop?

   1. AGuests should never accept food from people who have little.
   2. BThe gods reward anyone who prays to them often enough.
   3. CTrue generosity means sharing freely from what little you have.
   4. DA small house is safer than a large one in times of danger.
2. 2.

   In the myth, what does "meager" mean in "The meal was a meager one"?

   1. Asecret and hidden
   2. Bsmall and plain
   3. Cquick and noisy
   4. Dcold and stale
3. 3.

   The narrator says that because the couple never pretended to be anything but poor, "their poverty had never weighed on them." What does this figurative language mean?

   1. AThey were too poor to own anything heavy enough to carry.
   2. BThey had never told any of their neighbors that they were poor.
   3. CBeing poor had never made them feel burdened or unhappy.
   4. DTheir poverty had made them strong enough to lift heavy loads.
4. 4.

   Why do the old couple turn pale when the wine jug keeps refilling itself?

   1. AThey suspect that the wine has gone bad and will make the guests ill.
   2. BThey realize their guests must be gods and fear they have offered too little.
   3. CThey worry that the jug is cracked and will soon spill wine on the floor.
   4. DThey think the guests are playing a trick to steal their wine.
5. 5.

   Why does the myth describe the travelers being turned away at door after door before they reach the cottage?

   1. AIt explains how the travelers lost their way in the dark valley.
   2. BIt proves that the travelers were really looking for the temple.
   3. CIt sets up a contrast that makes the couple's welcome stand out.
   4. DIt explains why the travelers' sandals had worn so thin.
6. 6.

   The narrator tells readers who the travelers really are before they knock at any door. How does this shape the story?

   1. AReaders are kept guessing until the end about who the travelers are.
   2. BReaders know what the villagers and the couple do not, so each choice to help or refuse carries extra weight.
   3. CReaders learn that the villagers knew all along that the guests were gods.
   4. DReaders see the whole story through the eyes of the goose.
7. 7.

   Why does the valley sink beneath a marsh?

   1. AThe goose leads the gods to a hidden spring in the hills.
   2. BThe gods punish the villagers for refusing to help strangers in need.
   3. CThe old couple pray for the village to be flooded.
   4. DHeavy rain falls while the old couple climb the mountain.

8. Our School Roofs Should Be White

   An essay by Maya Castellanos, Grade 7, published in the Lakeview Middle School student newspaper

   On the third floor of Lakeview Middle School, in Room 312, there is a thermometer on the wall by the door. On the first Monday of last June, at two o'clock in the afternoon, it read 88 degrees Fahrenheit. We were taking a math test. I remember the number because I spent more time staring at the thermometer than at question seven.

   Room 312 is not unusual. Every top-floor room in our building gets hot in June and September, and the reason is right above our heads. Our roof, like the roofs of all four schools in the Lakeview School District, is covered in black tar and gravel. I believe the district should cover those roofs with a white reflective coating, starting with ours, before next summer.

   The science is simple. Dark surfaces absorb most of the sunlight that hits them and turn it into heat, which is why a black car seat burns your legs in July. Light surfaces reflect much of that sunlight away. According to government energy researchers, a dark roof in summer sun can reach more than 150 degrees Fahrenheit, while a white reflective roof under the same sun can stay dozens of degrees cooler. And all that heat on a dark roof does not stay on the roof. It soaks down into the rooms below.

   I wanted to see this for myself, so I asked our science teacher, Mr. Okonkwo, for help. On a sunny afternoon in May, he used an infrared thermometer, which measures temperature from a distance, to check two surfaces from a third-floor window: our black roof and the white roof of the equipment shed beside it. The black roof measured 141 degrees. The shed roof measured 97. Both had been sitting in the same sunshine all day.

   A cooler roof would mean cooler classrooms, and cooler classrooms matter. It is hard to think clearly when you are sweating through your shirt. Cooler rooms would also mean the air conditioners in the library and the main office would not have to work as hard, which would lower the district's electric bills.

   Some people will say the district cannot afford this. That is a fair concern, and I won't pretend that coatings are free. At last month's school board meeting, the district's facilities director estimated that coating our roof would cost about $38,000. That is a lot of money. But the same director said that our roof is due for repairs in two years anyway, and that a coating can be added during that work for much less than it would cost as a separate job. A reflective coating also shields the roof from the sun, which can help it last longer. So the real question is not whether we can afford to coat the roof. It is whether we can afford to pay for the repairs and skip the part that helps us.

   Others worry that a white roof will make the building colder in winter. It is true that a white roof reflects some winter sunlight that a black roof would absorb. But in winter the sun is lower in the sky and the days are shorter, so there is much less sunlight to lose. Researchers have found that in places with hot summers, the summer savings are usually larger than the winter cost. Lakeview has hot summers. Ask anyone in Room 312.

   A white roof would also look much nicer from the hill behind the school, where the soccer fields are. Right now, all you can see from up there is a big black rectangle.

   Other places have already decided that this is worth doing. New York City, for example, has run a program for years that coats rooftops white to keep buildings cooler. Lakeview would not be trying something untested. We would be catching up.

   So here is what I am asking. When the school board meets next month to plan the roof repairs, please include a white reflective coating in the plan. Start with Lakeview Middle School, measure the results and share them. If the third floor is cooler next June, coat the other three schools. If it is not, the district will have lost very little and learned something.

   And if anyone on the board doubts how hot it gets up there, I would be glad to save you a seat in Room 312 next June. Bring a water bottle.

   8.

   How does Maya respond to the concern that the coating costs too much?

   1. AShe ignores the cost and describes the view from the soccer fields.
   2. BShe admits the cost is real, then shows that adding it during planned repairs would cost less.
   3. CShe suggests that students raise the money with a bake sale.
   4. DShe claims the facilities director's estimate is far too high.
9. 9.

   Maya writes that the heat on a dark roof "soaks down into the rooms below." What does the word "soaks" suggest?

   1. AThe heat makes the classrooms wet whenever it rains.
   2. BThe heat stays trapped in the gravel on top of the roof.
   3. CThe heat escapes quickly into the sky above the roof.
   4. DThe heat seeps slowly and steadily through the building, the way water fills a sponge.
10. 10.

    What does Maya suggest by writing "Ask anyone in Room 312"?

    1. ARoom 312 is the only room in the school that is ever too hot.
    2. BThe students in Room 312 have already voted in favor of white roofs.
    3. CThe researchers she cites once visited Room 312 to take measurements.
    4. DStudents' own experience shows that Lakeview's summers are hot enough to matter.