The Finch and the Rain Cups
Written by Studio AM.
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A finch planned to nest in the lowest fork of an orchard tree. A snail warned that streamwater sometimes reached it. Instead of arguing, he placed three matching leaf cups nearby to measure the rain.
After a shower, one cup filled quickly while the others stayed shallow. The finch took this as proof that her nest would flood. Yet that cup sat beneath a dripping branch. The snail moved all three cups into the open and measured again. This time their levels matched, revealing the first setup's crooked answer.
But the cups measured rainfall, not flood height. To check the nest site, they looked for old mud marks on the trunk. One mark lay above the low fork. The finch chose a higher branch, and the next hard rain passed below her nest. She thanked the snail for checking both the test and what it could tell them.
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Questions
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Question 1 of 4
What is the main idea of the fable?
The answer is A: Good decisions require checking both a test and what its results can show.
The animals correct an uneven rainfall test, then use flood marks to check the nest's safety. They do not mistake rainfall measurements for flood height.
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Question 2 of 4
Why does the finch finally choose a higher fork?
The answer is B: Old mud marks show that streamwater has reached above the low fork.
The mud mark lies above the low fork, giving evidence of earlier flooding. The passage explicitly says the cups measure rainfall, not flood height.
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Question 3 of 4
What does “crooked” mean in the phrase “a crooked answer”?
The answer is C: Misleading because the test was unfair
The cup under the dripping branch reports more water than the cups in the open, so its answer is distorted and misleading.
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Question 4 of 4
What caused the first cup to fill unusually quickly?
The answer is D: It was sitting below a dripping branch.
The passage directly contrasts that cup with the other two and notes that it sat beneath a dripping branch.
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