The Quiet Cart
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
Joon's maintenance cart announced him before he reached any door. One wheel clicked, the metal trays rattled, and a loose latch chimed at every floor seam. During the day, no one minded. On the guesthouse night shift, each sound seemed to travel through the sleeping building.
The replacement cart would not arrive for a month. Joon first wrapped a towel around the trays, but it slipped and caught the drawer. He then remembered the felt circles his aunt placed beneath chair legs in her upstairs apartment. From a scrap box, he cut narrow felt washers for the tray brackets and a thicker pad for the latch. The rattle faded, yet the wheel still clicked.
At breakfast, the cook lent him a wooden skewer to use as a fixed guide. Joon lifted the cart, held the skewer beside the rim, and spun the wheel. The changing gap showed that the wheel sat crooked. A careful adjustment centered its axle. That evening, the cart crossed the lobby with only a soft roll.
The manager praised Joon for fixing the cart before its replacement arrived. Joon pointed toward the kitchen and shared the credit. His aunt's chair pads had inspired the felt, and the cook's guide had exposed the crooked wheel. The cart rolled softly because he had carried two familiar ideas into a new problem.
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
What is the main idea of the story?
The answer is A: Joon quiets a noisy cart by adapting practical ideas learned from people around him.
Joon adapts his aunt's felt pads and the cook's fixed guide, combining familiar ideas to solve the cart's different noises.
-
Question 2 of 4
Why does Joon point toward the kitchen when the manager praises him?
The answer is B: He recognizes that the cook's simple guide helped him find the wheel problem.
The cook supplied the fixed guide that exposed the crooked wheel, so Joon shares credit for a repair built from several people's ideas.
-
Question 3 of 4
What is a “latch” as used in the story?
The answer is C: A fastener that keeps something closed
The latch is a loose cart part that receives a felt pad; in context, it is the fastener that holds a drawer or section closed.
-
Question 4 of 4
What does Joon make from felt found in the scrap box?
The answer is D: Washers for the brackets and a pad for the latch
The second paragraph states that Joon cuts narrow felt washers for the tray brackets and a thicker pad for the latch.
Score: none answered yet.