Snow Day
Written by Studio AM.
Your result
- Words per minute
- Score
- Pace
Words per minute mean something only with the score beside them. They describe this passage on this read. With fewer than 3 right, try the next slower pace.
Choose a pace and select Start. The passage is paced and timed, then the questions check what you understood. How pace mode works
Reading time 0:00
The school called at six in the morning: closed, on account of snow. From under his blankets Tomas heard his father groan in the next room, already dialing work to say he could not come in, his voice tight with the particular irritation of a plan gone wrong. A whole day rearranged, the father muttered, just like that. Tomas pulled the covers higher and went back to sleep.
But by nine, when the worst of the storm had passed and the street lay buried and silent, Tomas wandered downstairs and found the kitchen empty. Through the frosted window he saw his father outside in boots and an old coat, building a lopsided fort in the front yard, snow stuck to his eyebrows and a grin on his face. "I haven't done this in thirty years," his father admitted, patting another crooked wall into place. Tomas pulled on his own boots and knelt beside him without a word.
They worked together until their fingers ached and their cheeks burned red, saying very little, and somewhere in the quiet of it Tomas understood something. The inconvenience his father had grumbled about at six that morning had, by nine, quietly turned into the best part of the entire week.
The passage is hidden while you answer. It comes back with your result.
Questions
Choose an answer. The explanation appears after you answer.
-
Question 1 of 4
How does the father's attitude change over the course of the day?
The answer is B: From annoyed at the disruption to enjoying it
He groans about missing work at six, but by nine he is grinning while he builds a fort. The closing thought about the best part of the week is Tomas's understanding, not something his father says.
-
Question 2 of 4
What does the passage mainly suggest?
The answer is B: An unwelcome interruption can become a gift
The closed school first reads as an inconvenience but becomes a cherished shared moment.
-
Question 3 of 4
Here, 'lopsided' means
The answer is B: uneven or tilted to one side
A 'lopsided' fort is built unevenly, leaning to one side, fitting the playful, imperfect effort.
-
Question 4 of 4
What did Tomas see his father doing when he looked through the frosted window?
The answer is D: Building a snow fort in the front yard
Through the window Tomas saw his father "building a lopsided fort in the front yard, snow stuck to his eyebrows and a grin on his face."
Score: none answered yet.