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Unseen Passage for Class 6 with Questions

Reading comprehension lesson 21: Science and environment passages · Set 63 · 12 questions
TalentJR

Reading tip (Cause and effect): Find the topic of the passage in the first sentence. Look for cause-and-effect words: because, so, as a result. Work out new science words from the sentence that explains them.

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  1. 1.The Sun gives us a huge amount of energy every day. Solar panels can turn sunlight into electricity. They are made of special cells that work when light falls on them. Many homes in India now have solar panels on their roofs. Some villages use solar lamps after dark. Solar energy does not make smoke, so it keeps the air clean. Unlike coal, it will never run out. However, panels make less power on cloudy days.

    True or false: Solar energy will run out one day.
    (a) True (b) False
  2. 2.Every living thing needs food for energy. Plants make their own food using sunlight. A grasshopper eats grass. A frog eats the grasshopper. A snake eats the frog, and an eagle eats the snake. This link of who eats whom is called a food chain. Every food chain begins with a green plant. If one link disappears, the whole chain is affected.

    True or false: Plants make their own food using sunlight.
    (a) True (b) False
  3. 3.Plastic is cheap, light and strong. But most plastic does not rot away like leaves or fruit peels. A plastic bag may stay in the soil for hundreds of years. Plastic thrown on the road often blocks drains during the monsoon. Cows and other animals sometimes swallow plastic with food scraps. In the sea, turtles can mistake floating bags for jellyfish. We can help by carrying cloth bags and saying no to straws. Sorting dry and wet waste at home also helps.

    What can turtles mistake floating bags for?
    (a) fish eggs (b) seaweed (c) jellyfish (d) rocks
  4. 4.Mangroves are trees that grow in salty water along the coast. Their roots stick out of the mud like knobbly fingers. These roots help the trees breathe in wet, airless soil. Mangrove forests protect the coast from strong waves and storms. They also give shelter to fish, crabs and birds. The Sundarbans, shared by India and Bangladesh, is the largest mangrove forest in the world. It is home to the Royal Bengal tiger. Cutting mangroves leaves the coast open to damage.

    Which big cat lives in the Sundarbans?
    (a) Cheetah (b) Royal Bengal tiger (c) Asiatic lion (d) Snow leopard
  5. 5.A volcano is an opening in the Earth’s crust. Deep under the ground, rocks are so hot that they melt. This melted rock is called magma. When pressure builds up, magma pushes its way to the surface. Once it comes out, it is called lava. Lava can be hotter than 1,000 degrees Celsius. When it cools, it hardens into new rock. India’s only active volcano is on Barren Island in the Andaman Sea.

    What is magma called once it comes out?
    (a) steam (b) magma (c) lava (d) crust
  6. 6.The Earth spins like a top on an imaginary line called its axis. One full spin takes about twenty-four hours. As the Earth spins, one half faces the Sun and has day. The other half faces away and has night. The Earth also moves around the Sun. One trip around the Sun takes about 365 days, which is one year. The tilt of the Earth’s axis gives us seasons. So spinning gives us day and night, while the tilt and the yearly trip give us seasons.

    What causes day and night?
    (a) The Sun switching off (b) Clouds covering Sun (c) The Moon moving (d) The Earth spinning
  7. 7.Lightning is a giant spark of electricity in the sky. It happens when electric charges build up inside storm clouds. A flash of lightning heats the air around it very quickly. The hot air expands with a loud bang, which we hear as thunder. Light travels much faster than sound. That is why we see the flash before we hear the thunder. During a thunderstorm, stay indoors and away from tall trees. Standing under a tree is not safe, as lightning often strikes tall objects.

    Where should you stay during a thunderstorm?
    (a) Under a tree (b) Indoors (c) On a rooftop (d) In an open field
  8. 8.Bees visit flowers to collect sweet nectar. While they feed, yellow dust called pollen sticks to their hairy bodies. When a bee flies to the next flower, some pollen rubs off. This carrying of pollen is called pollination. Pollination helps plants make fruits and seeds. Mangoes, apples and many vegetables depend on it. Without bees, farmers would harvest far less food. So bees are tiny helpers of every farm.

    What would happen without bees?
    (a) Flowers grow bigger (b) More rain would fall (c) Farms become quieter (d) Farmers get less food
  9. 9.A volcano is an opening in the Earth’s crust. Deep under the ground, rocks are so hot that they melt. This melted rock is called magma. When pressure builds up, magma pushes its way to the surface. Once it comes out, it is called lava. Lava can be hotter than 1,000 degrees Celsius. When it cools, it hardens into new rock. India’s only active volcano is on Barren Island in the Andaman Sea.

    What happens to lava when it cools?
    (a) It turns into gas (b) It melts again (c) It hardens into rock (d) It becomes water
  10. 10.The Sun gives us a huge amount of energy every day. Solar panels can turn sunlight into electricity. They are made of special cells that work when light falls on them. Many homes in India now have solar panels on their roofs. Some villages use solar lamps after dark. Solar energy does not make smoke, so it keeps the air clean. Unlike coal, it will never run out. However, panels make less power on cloudy days.

    What do solar panels turn sunlight into?
    (a) coal (b) smoke (c) water (d) electricity
  11. 11.The Earth spins like a top on an imaginary line called its axis. One full spin takes about twenty-four hours. As the Earth spins, one half faces the Sun and has day. The other half faces away and has night. The Earth also moves around the Sun. One trip around the Sun takes about 365 days, which is one year. The tilt of the Earth’s axis gives us seasons. So spinning gives us day and night, while the tilt and the yearly trip give us seasons.

    How long does one trip around the Sun take?
    (a) About 30 days (b) About 365 days (c) About 100 days (d) About 24 hours
  12. 12.The Sun heats water in seas, rivers and lakes. The water turns into an invisible gas called water vapour. This change is called evaporation. High in the sky, the vapour cools and turns into tiny drops of water. These drops join together to form clouds. When the drops become too heavy, they fall as rain. This is called precipitation. Rainwater flows back into rivers and seas, and the cycle begins again.

    What is the change of water into water vapour called?
    (a) melting (b) freezing (c) evaporation (d) precipitation

Answer key

  1. False
  2. True
  3. jellyfish
  4. Royal Bengal tiger
  5. lava
  6. The Earth spinning
  7. Indoors
  8. Farmers get less food
  9. It hardens into rock
  10. electricity
  11. About 365 days
  12. evaporation

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