Questões de prática de leitura para o 7º ano, com respostas

Em inglêsThe Honeybee Colony
A honeybee colony can hold fifty thousand insects, yet it runs without a leader giving orders. Instead, the colony depends on communication. When a forager finds a rich patch of flowers, she returns to the hive and performs a waggle dance. The angle of the dance shows the direction of the flowers relative to the sun, and the length of the waggle shows the distance.

Bees also matter far beyond the hive. As foragers move from blossom to blossom, pollen sticks to their bodies and is carried to other flowers, allowing plants to produce seeds and fruit. Farmers in many countries rent hives each spring so that crops such as almonds, apples and blueberries are pollinated.

Unfortunately, colonies face growing threats. Parasitic mites weaken adult bees, some pesticides disturb their navigation, and the loss of wildflower meadows leaves them with less food. Beekeepers and scientists are testing treatments for mites and encouraging farmers to leave strips of wildflowers along their fields.

Em inglêsLights Along the Coast
For centuries, lighthouses stood on rocky coasts to warn sailors of danger. The earliest were simple fires on hilltops, but by the 1700s, towers carried oil lamps and mirrors that could be seen many miles out to sea. A ship's crew that spotted a particular flashing pattern knew exactly which stretch of coast it was approaching.

A major improvement came in the 1820s, when a French physicist designed a lens built from rings of glass prisms. This lens gathered light that once scattered in every direction and bent it into one powerful beam. A lamp that burned a few ounces of oil could now be seen from twenty miles away.

Lighthouses also shaped coastal life. Keepers and their families lived at remote stations, trimming wicks, polishing lenses and recording the weather. Their daily logs became valuable records for later scientists. Today, satellite navigation has made most lighthouses unnecessary for ships, and nearly all are automated, but many have been preserved as museums.

Em inglêsThe Public Library
The first public libraries in the United States were not free. In the 1700s, groups of neighbors paid dues to share a collection of books, since few families could afford many of their own. By the 1850s, some cities began using tax money to open libraries that anyone could enter without paying, based on the belief that a democracy needs informed citizens.

Libraries soon became more than book collections. Many offered evening classes in English, reading rooms with newspapers from other cities, and meeting halls for local clubs. For a newcomer to a town, the library was often the first place to find a job notice or ask for help filling out a form.

Today, libraries continue to adapt. Most lend e-books and audiobooks, and many provide computers, internet access and quiet workspaces. Although the formats keep changing, the central purpose has stayed the same: to give everyone, not only those who can pay, a way to learn.

Em inglêsThe Story of Salt
Long before refrigerators, salt was the main way to keep food from spoiling. Packing meat or fish in salt draws out moisture, and without moisture, the bacteria that cause rot cannot grow. A sailor on a long voyage or a family facing winter depended on salted food to survive.

Because it was so valuable, salt also shaped trade and power. Caravans carried salt across the Sahara to be exchanged for gold, and cities that controlled salt mines or marshes grew rich. Some governments taxed salt, and in ancient Rome, soldiers were sometimes paid partly in salt, which some historians believe is one origin of the word salary.

The human body needs a small amount of salt to function, but modern diets often contain too much of it. Doctors link high salt intake to high blood pressure, and health agencies now encourage people to read food labels. The substance that once protected people from hunger now requires careful limits.

Em inglêsHow Volcanic Islands Form
Volcanic islands begin on the sea floor. When magma rises through a crack in the crust, it erupts as lava, cools in the water and builds a cone that grows layer by layer. After thousands of eruptions, the cone may finally rise above the surface. The Hawaiian Islands formed this way, and new land is still being added on the largest island today.

Once an island cools, it can become unusually rich in life. Volcanic rock slowly breaks down into mineral-filled soil, which is ideal for farming. Birds drop seeds from other lands, and ocean currents carry coconuts and driftwood, so plants gradually take hold. Some islands develop species found nowhere else on Earth.

Living near a volcano, however, carries risk. Eruptions can bury villages in ash, and earthquakes often come before them. Today, scientists place instruments on volcano slopes to measure gas and ground movement, giving nearby communities time to prepare.

Em inglêsThe Printing Press
Before the 1450s, every book in Europe was copied by hand, a process that could take a scribe many months. A single volume could cost a skilled worker many months of pay, so only churches, universities and wealthy families owned them. When Johannes Gutenberg introduced a press with movable metal type, a workshop could produce hundreds of identical pages in the time a scribe copied one.

Books became cheaper, and literacy spread. Merchants kept written records, farmers bought almanacs, and ordinary readers gained access to ideas once limited to scholars. By 1500, presses in more than two hundred European cities had printed millions of books.

Printing also helped standardize languages. Printers chose one spelling and one style of grammar for each book, and readers across a region began to follow the same rules. Dialects once spoken differently from town to town slowly shifted toward a shared written form.