Assessment–LL Nonfiction, pages 4-9 November 2014

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“The Beast of Loch Ness” Quiz Directions: Read “The Beast of Loch Ness” and “Why We Believe.” Then answer the questions below.

1. Which of the following statements best expresses 4. Lauren Tarshis writes that some mythical beasts a central idea of the article? are “as fantastic as Norbert, Hagrid’s pet dragon A The Komodo dragon was once thought to be a in the Harry Potter series.” What is another way creature of myth. of saying fantastic in that sentence? B The legend of Loch Ness may have been a ploy A excellent C imaginative to attract tourists. B impressive D wonderful C Some still believe that the Loch Ness monster is real despite a lack of credible evidence. 5. What is the purpose of the photos and caption at D The Loch Ness monster lives. the top of page 8? A to show pictures of the real Nessie 2. Which line from the article best supports your B to explain what cryptozoology is answer to question 1? C to support the claim that evidence of Nessie’s A “The human imagination is powerful.” existence is either fake or inconclusive B “Though Rines never did find incontrovertible D to demonstrate how modern science has proof of Nessie’s existence, he believed until contributed to belief in Nessie’s existence his death, in 2009, that a major discovery was waiting in the murky waters of Loch Ness.” 6. “Why We Believe” suggests all of the following C “What would the creature eat?” EXCEPT that D “They called this creature the Kraken.” A people believe in monsters like Nessie because they want there to be magic and mystery in our 3. What is the purpose of the section “Fantastic world. Creatures”? B modern science has replaced the need for A to describe the problems that human fictional stories to explain our world. imagination and storytelling can cause C monsters like Nessie and Bigfoot most likely do B to develop the idea that some mythical not exist. creatures were inspired by animals that actually D people who believe in monsters do so because exist, or that existed at one time they like to be scared. C to show that cryptozoology is a sham D to explain that the Loch Ness monster isn’t real

Constructed-Response Questions Directions: Write your answers to the questions below on the back of this paper or type them up on a computer. 7. What is Lauren Tarshis’s attitude toward 8. Kristin Lewis writes that, although we’ve already cryptozoology? Explain your answer using details explained most of our world, “something in us from the text. still yearns for magic and mystery.” Which details from “The Beast of Loch Ness” support this idea?

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