Name: ______Period: ______

93. Cats’ Communication

1One day I looked out the kitchen window and saw a cat was on my porch eating out of Susie’s food dish. I had seen the blue jays do this before but never a cat.

2I walked out to say something to her, but she ran. I was pretty sure she was a female because she was tri-colored, and someone had told me that tri-colored cats were female.

3During the next few days, I noticed her living in the old doghouse in the driveway next door. I said something to my neighbor about his new cat and discovered she wasn’t his.

4Suddenly, I realized that someone had either dumped her, or she was lost. I didn’t see her for a while, but one day I heard meowing and noticed a shadow from the upstairs porch and the voice of my youngest son talking to the cat. To my horror, I discovered this seventeen-year-old was feeding her. “Yep!” I said to myself, “you now own a cat!”

5The kid who fed the cat promptly went away to college and left me with the cat he had named Sophie. What in the world am I going to do with a cat? I thought.

6Now, I awake every morning to my new cat’s meow. We could set our clock by her plea for breakfast. “Meow, meow, meow,” her sound fills the still morning air. Do you think all your cat says is “Meow?” Think again.

7Facial expressions can be a mirror for your cat’s moods. A happy cat will sit with its face relaxed, its ears upright, and its eyes almost closed. If you stroke the cat, its eyes may even get narrower and the corners of its mouth turn slightly upward. Humans call this upward turn of the mouth a smile. Did you ever think your cat smiled at you?

8When your cat walks toward you with its tail held high, it might be saying hello. If it is at mealtime, it may be saying, “Are you ever going to feed me?” When you stroke a cat, it lofts its tail in pleasure. A swishing tail is a sign of a playful cat. A tail that lashes fiercely from side to side is a warning that your cat is not happy. Be sure to watch your cat’s tail. It is talking to you.

9Cats’ sounds have a broad range of both tone and meanings. The purr is usually a sign of greeting or great happiness. However, cats that are ill often purr. Some cats are more vocal than others. Their “meow” is used to coax, demand, complain, or show surprise. If you listen to your cat’s meow, you will learn what it means.

10A cat’s ears are used in communication. Just watch those ears, and you’ll know your cat’s mood. An alert, confident cat will sit facing you with ears erect. If you seem threatening, it will swivel its ears to the side. Be careful, it is deciding whether to attack you or not. If the cat is uncertain but decides not to fight, it will flatten its ears tightly against its head.

11Do you want your cat to communicate with you? If you do, watch its face, its tail, and its ears along with the sound of its meow.

1. By writing this article from the author’s point of view, the author helps the reader

understand—

a. what she has learned about cats’ funny habits.

b. what she has learned about a cats’ way of talking.

c. animals have different ways of using their bodies to communicate.

d. what she has learned about how to feed her cat.

2. In paragraph 4, why did the author say, “To my horror…?”

a. She was afraid the cat would fall from the porch.

b. She didn’t want to own a cat and if you feed one, you do.

c. She couldn’t understand a cat’s language.

d. She felt angry that someone had dumped the cat.

3. What is the main purpose of paragraph 5?

a. It explains how the narrator learned to understand cat talk.

b. It explains how the narrator ended up with a cat.

c. It explains who owned the cat in the past.

d. It explains what the narrator plans to do with the cat.

4. Paragraph 8 is important because it shows that—

a. a cats’ purr is a sign of greeting.

b. facial expressions show if a cat is relaxed or not

c. a cats’ ears show a cats mood.

d. a tail held high says hello or feed me.

5. The author of this passage gives you reason to believe that you can learn how cats

communicate by—

a. figuring out the age of the cat you are studying.

b. studying what is left after the cat dies.

c. studying cats’ expressions, movements, and sounds.

d. by comparing dogs’ movements to a cats’.

6. In paragraph 9, which word helps the reader know what vocal means?

a. sound

b. demand

c. complain

d. coax

7. What is the main idea of paragraph 10?

a. An alert confident cat will sit facing you.

b. If you listen to your cat’s meow, you will learn what each sound means.

c. A cat’s sounds have a broad range of both tone and meanings.

d. A cat’s ears are used in communication.

Holditch 2008-2009

Which animals are the smartest? Are horses smarter than dogs, and are dogs smarter than cats? Are monkeys smarter than all three? Scientists have long wondered how to measure an animal’s intelligence. Read the article to see why determining animal intelligence is so difficult. Use information from the article to answer the questions that follow.

94. Are Dogs Dumb?

by Karen Hopkin

1 Chimps can use sign language to talk to their trainers. Monkeys can learn to count. A crow can figure out how to use a stick to get at that hard-to-reach grub. Chickens can learn to play checkers. Even worms can be taught to run mazes. So which animal is the smartest? You’re probably thinking that chimps are smarter than chickens. And that crows are smarter than worms. And that you’re smarter than all of them.

2 But where do those rankings come from? Okay, you probably are smarter than the average worm. But why do we assume that bigger beasts are smarter than smaller ones? Or those furry critters are brainier than slithering wrigglers that are coated in slime?

3 And how come we think dogs are so smart? Sure, a dog might be clever enough to fetch his leash when he wants to go out. But the same mutt might also bark at the vacuum cleaner and spend a whole hour chasing his own tail. Is Rover really any brighter than a hamster, a chicken, or that kid who’s always eating Play-Doh? How can you measure an animal’s brain power?

4 The hardest part is coming up with the right test. A dog can’t sit down with a No. 2 pencil and take a multiple choice exam. So the test has to be something the dog can learn to do: select a block by nudging it with a nose or a paw, for example. The test also has to be something the dog wants to do: a dog might stare at that block all day without budging—until she figures out that there’s a treat hidden underneath.

5 Norton Milgram and his co-workers at the University of Toronto at Scarborough use treats to give dogs a Canine IQ test. The dog is presented with a tray with a blue block on it; underneath the block is a treat. The animal moves the block and gets the treat. So far, so good. Now the test gets tricky. The dog is presented with the same tray, but this time it has both a blue block and a yellow coffee can lid (or white bowl or black square of cloth) on it; the

treat is now under the yellow lid (or white bowl, etc.). The test: how long does it take for the dog to learn that the treat is always under the new item on the tray? The smarter the dog, the quicker she’ll find the treat.

6 That seems simple enough, but things become more complicated when you try to compare different kinds of animals. on this test. Dogs may have to try hundreds of times before they select the yellow lid nine out of ten times. Monkeys learn much more quickly to find the hidden treat. Does that mean monkeys are smarter than dogs?

7 Not necessarily. The test was originally designed for monkeys, and it gives them an unfair advantage: by nature monkeys are curious and like to check out new things. Dogs, on the other hand, tend to be wary aboutapproaching new things. As Stephen Budiansky reports in his book TheTruth about Dogs, one pooch was so scared of the yellow lid that he hadto be excused from the study.

8 If the test is made more dog-friendly, on the other hand, canines do justfine. Instead of introducing a yellow lid, the treat is put under another blueblock on the opposite side of the tray. Dogs learn as quickly as any monkeythat the treat is always on the side opposite the first block they saw.

9 Even if you could find a test that was perfectly fair to all animals, in a way it’s silly to ask whether one kind of animal is smarter than another. All animals have the ability to learn things that are important to them. Otherwise they wouldn’t survive. A chicken doesn’t need to be a chess champion to figure out where to get food or how to run from a predator. So a chicken is as smart as it needs to be to earn a living as a chicken.

10 If you still believe that dogs are much smarter than chickens, it’s probably because dogs are good at learning the things we want them to learn: fetching the newspaper, for example. Try to convince a chicken to do that! The truth is, most dog tricks take advantage of dogs’ built-in behavior patterns—things that dogs are born knowing how to do or learn easily. Chasing and retrieving are leftover hunting behaviors. For a dog, fetching the paper or a tennis ball is not a reflection of intelligence. It’s basically a demonstration that dogs will be dogs.

11 Canines may not be the deepest thinkers in the world. But perhaps that’s for the best. The life of a dog—sitting alone all day, waiting for everyone to come home—can be pretty boring. Super-smart animals would probably get totally stressed out, says Serpell. Look at it this way: if dogs were any smarter, they probably wouldn’t choose to hang around with us.

From MUSE magazine, November/December 2002, Vol. 6, No. 9, © 2002 by Karen Hopkin.

  1. What is themainidea of this article?
  1. Scientists have proven that monkeys are smarter than dogs because monkeys can

count.

b. University of Toronto research group discovered how to accurately measure animal

intelligence.

c. Dogs are smarter than other animals because dogs think more like humans.

d. Animals have different levels of intelligence that can be measured only with the right

tests.

  1. After reading this article, it can be concluded that—
  1. People are smarter than all animals.
  2. All animals can learn what they need to know to survive.
  3. If the right test was created, no one would be able to tell which animal was the smartest.
  4. Trying to figure out animal intelligence is not intelligent.
  1. Paragraph 7 is important to the discussion about dogs and monkeys because it suggests that--

a. Monkeys learn quickly, but dogs learn slowly.

b. Monkeys are willing to take tests, but dogs dislike taking them.

c. Monkeys investigate new things, but dogs shy away from them.

d. Monkeys do not like working with humans, but dogs do.

  1. Read the following sentence.

What is the author telling the reader with this sentence from paragraph 9?

  1. Chickens are purchased all the time.
  2. Chickens are smart enough to survive.
  3. Chickens know how to perform.
  4. Chickens need to be taught.
  1. According to the article, what makes humans think that dogs are smart?

a. Dogs do things that humans want them to do.

b. Dogs perform well on tests designed for humans.

c. Dogs are able to communicate with humans.

d. Dogs wait patiently for humans to come home.

6. The author’s purpose in writing this article was to explain that--

a. Bigger animals are smarter than smaller animals.

b. Animals cannot learn to do anything they are not born knowing how to do.

c. The smartest animals make the best pets.

d. Most animals are as smart as they need to be.

7. Read the following phrase.

What does the author want the reader to know from this phrase in paragraph 6?

a. Monkeys have learned to clean floors.

b. Monkeys are neater than dogs.

c. Monkeys perform better than dogs.

d. Monkeys like to compete with dogs.

Sixth grade 2011-2012

95. The Walk My Notes

1Susie, my poodle, stays in the utility room all day while I’m at school. She has a basket in there and takes her daytime nap. When I come home, she likes to get out of those cramped quarters and go for a nice walk. This seems like a good idea to me as exercise outside makes me feel great also.

2The afternoon began as all my afternoons began. I had no reason to believe that anything would be different this day. I came home from school and found Susie waiting for her walk. I got out the leash and hooked it to her collar and off we went for our walk. Instead of walking to the park on Millwright Parkway, we headed to the park by Grisham Middle School. There was no particular reason why we chose to walk this new way; we just started out that way.

3Susie was happily trotting along, while I daydreamed. It was not until I heard a hiss that I realized that Susie and I were in trouble.

4Before us stood the largest, meanest cat I had ever seen. This monstrous cat must have weighed thirty pounds. There was a malicious look coming from the cat that scared even me. Its tail was lashing fiercely from side to side, and its ears were swiveled to the side. The hiss continued to communicate, “I’m angry!”

5Now Susie is no coward, but I could see the fright in her eyes as she cautiously backed away from the cat’s territory. With all the dignity she could muster, Susie stopped walking, turned about, and began dragging me home.

6That tense situation past, I began to relax, but not Susie. She seemed agitated, and she kept trotting ahead of me as fast as she could. Suddenly, I realized that the mammoth cat was following us. Although we were a half block from the cat’s territory, it was right behind us.

7I gulped and walked faster. I was sure that if that monster attacked, it would be the end of Susie and me. At the end of the block, the cat was still at our heels.

8In desperation, Susie and I broke into a run. We ran and ran, until we were safe on our own front porch. We had escaped the wrath of the biggest, meanest cat in the neighborhood. We no longer had to worry about being eaten on the spot. I learned that not all cats are safe or friendly and to stay out of that cat’s territory!

9 There are times now when Susie and I walk that she puts on the brakes and pulls back. I wonder if that awful cat or some other animal has marked the territory. Susie absolutely will not go on. I could probably drag her or carry her past the marked spot but simply stop and go home.

1. What words are used to foreshadow in this narrative?

a. Susie likes to go for a nice walk.

b. The afternoon began as all my afternoons began.

c. I had no reason to believe that anything would be different this day.

d. I gulped and walked faster.

2. What is the problem in this narrative?

a. Susie always has to walk.

b. A monstrous cat chased Susie and the narrator.

c. Susie was dragging the narrator home.

d. Susie will not walk in the monster cat’s territory.


3. Read the following diagram, which shows information from both passages.

Which of these facts belongs in the blank in the diagram?

a. low purring

b. sitting and facing us with ears erect

c. ears swiveled to the side

d. ears flattened against its head

4. What word could best be used to describe the narrator?

a. bold

b. unconcerned

c. energetic

d. alarmed

5. Read the dictionary entry below for the word quarters: