activity of text interpretation, aimed at students in the fifth year of elementary school, about a seed vault. Ever heard of him? No? Then read the text! Then answer the various interpretative questions proposed!
You can download this text comprehension activity in editable Word template, ready to print to PDF and also the activity with answers.
Download this reading comprehension exercise at:
SCHOOL: DATE:
PROF: CLASS:
NAME:
Read:
In frigid Norway sits the Svalbard International Seed Bank, also known as the “doomsday vault” or “ark”. Noah's Day of Seeds", for saving seeds of plant species from all over the world, especially plants that serve as food. Like any self-respecting vault, the site is a structure equipped with armored steel doors, motion detectors and cameras. It is hidden in a tunnel 120 meters long, excavated in icy rocks, 70 meters deep, where the temperature is 18 degrees centigrade… Negatives!
At this depth, the seeds are protected against radiation and the characteristics contained in their DNA are kept intact. All this security apparatus also keeps the vault safe from floods, nuclear explosions, earthquakes […]
What if there's no power? Good question! The local soil, known among researchers as permafrost, which in Portuguese means “permanently cold", does not allow the temperature to increase much inside the safe, reaching a maximum of three degrees centigrade negatives. This temperature is enough to preserve the seeds – for up to 200 years! – capable of germinating when thawed.
So, in the icy mountains of the remote island of Svalbard, Norway, the world's main plant sources are protected, as the vault is capable of storing millions of seed samples of all species cultivated by the human being. human. When the maximum capacity is reached, it will be sealed and hibernate in the ice like a polar bear.
The seed vault has the function of being a guaranteed pantry for humanity. After all, in the future, in the event of accidents, wars or natural catastrophes that make survival on Earth difficult due to lack of food, people will be able to access these seeds and cultivate them.
Brazilian beans and rice, for example, are guaranteed. These seeds, among others from our land, were sent to Norway by the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa). It's the Brazilian part of the vegetable vault!
Everton Cristo de Almeida. Magazine “Science Today for Children”. Edition 249.
Available in:. (With cut).
Question 1 – The excerpt “[…] the site is a structure equipped with armored steel doors, motion detectors and cameras.” It is:
( ) a narration.
( ) a description.
( ) an argument.
Question 2 – In the passage "He it is hidden in a tunnel 120 meters long, excavated in icy rocks […]”, the highlighted term refers to:
Question 3 – In “At this depth, seeds are protected against radiation It is the characteristics contained in its DNA are kept intact.”, the underlined word indicates:
( ) sum.
( ) opposition.
( ) alternation.
Question 4 – Identify in the text the function of the seed vault, located in Norway:
Question 5 – In the segment “[…] the main plant sources in the world are protected, then the vault is capable of storing millions of seed samples […]”, the underlined term:
( ) has the same meaning as “but”.
( ) has the same meaning as “because”.
( ) has the same meaning as “for that”.
Question 6 – Underline below the part that expresses a comparison:
“Once the maximum capacity is reached, it will be sealed and hibernate in the ice like a polar bear.”
Question 7 – The exclamation point, used after “It's the Brazilian part in the vegetal vault!”, expresses the feeling in relation to the fact:
( ) relief.
( ) surprise.
( ) animation.
By Denyse Lage Fonseca
Graduated in Letters and specialist in distance education.