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Name________________ Date________________ • Reading Comprehension Assessment Directions: Read the passage. Then answer the questions below.
Flossing for a Healthier Heart
It isn’t healthy to have food caught between your teeth for long periods of time. This is because food attracts germs, germs produce acid, and acid hurts your teeth and gums. Flossing helps to remove the food that gets stuck between your teeth. This explains why flossing helps to keep your mouth healthy, but some doctors say that flossing can be also good for your heart. It may seem strange that something you do for your teeth can have any effect on your heart. Doctors have come up with a few ideas about how flossing works to keep your heart healthy. One idea is that the germs that hurt your teeth can leave the mouth and travel into your blood. Germs that get into the blood can then attack your heart. Another idea is based on the fact that when there are too many germs in your mouth, the body tries to fight against these germs. For some reason, the way the body fights these mouth germs may end up weakening the heart over time. Not every doctor agrees about these ideas. Some doctors think that the link between good flossing habits and good heart health is only a coincidence. A coincidence is the occurrence of two or more events at one time apparently by mere chance. The incidence of these events is completely random, as they do not admit of any reliable cause and effect relationship between them. For example, every time I wash my car, it rains. This does not mean that when I wash my car, I somehow change the weather. This is only a coincidence. Likewise, some doctors think that people who have bad flossing habits just happen to also have heart problems, and people who have good flossing habits just happen to have healthy hearts. The theory that flossing your teeth helps to keep your heart healthy might not be correct. Nonetheless, every doctor agrees that flossing is a great way to keep your teeth healthy. So even if flossing does not help your heart, it is sure to help your teeth. This is enough of a reason for everyone to floss their teeth every day.
1) According to the passage, flossing helps to keep your mouth healthy by preventing
A. germs from producing acid
B. food from entering your body C. germs from entering into your blood D. acid from contacting your teeth and gums
2) Based on information in paragraph 2, it can be understood that germs in the mouth may harm your heart by
I. getting into the blood that flows to the heart
II. forcing the body to fight against too many of them III. causing food to get stuck in the arteries
A. I only B. I and II only C. II and III only D. I, II, and III
3) In paragraph 2, the author explains how having too many germs in your mouth may end up weakening the heart over time. Using the passage as a guide, it can be understood that with respect to the actual way in which this occurs, doctors are
A. reluctant to hypothesize B. confident in their estimations C. extremely knowledgeable D. uncertain but speculative
4) In paragraph 3 the author writes, "Not every doctor agrees about these ideas." The author's purpose in writing this sentence is to
A. provide an example B. introduce a new topic C. change a previous statement D. clarify an earlier assertion
5) In paragraph 3, we learn that "Some doctors think that the link between good flossing habits and good heart health is only a coincidence." As used in the paragraph 3, which of the following choices presents the most accurate example of a coincidence?
A. Jim wakes up with a sore throat. He eats a piece of bacon for breakfast. By noon, he feels much better. Jim decides that the bacon has cured his sore throat. B. Laura remembers to brush her teeth every day, but she only remembers to floss once a week. She writes a note to herself, reminding herself to floss and sticks it to her bathroom mirror. C. Mario is not very good at baseball. He practices playing every day. After a several months of practice, he is a much better baseball player. D. Jai has a bad heart. Her doctor tells her to eat more vegetables and less junk food. After nearly a year of doing this, the doctor tells Jai that her heart is doing much better.
6) Based on its use in the final paragraph, it can be understood that theory belongs to which of the following word groups?
A. query, question, interrogation
B. assertion, declaration, affirmation C. hypothesis, supposition, belief D. idea, thought, notion
7) Which of the following statements best summarizes the main idea of the final paragraph?
A. Because doctors do not agree that flossing will help your heart, it is useless to floss. B. It is a fact that flossing can help your heart as well as your teeth. C. Even if flossing is only good for your teeth, you should still do it every day. D. There is no good reason to believe that flossing will help your heart, but it is still a good idea to do it every day.
8) Do you floss? Why or why not? Will the passage above change your flossing habits at all? Why or why not?
