IXL | Read about famous places | 4th grade language arts

Read the text about the Great Blue

Hole.

Off the coast of the Central American country of Belize, there is a giant dark-blue circle in the ocean. Its dark color is due to a four-hundred-foot-deep hole in the ocean floor below it. The hole is actually an underwater cave. Because of its enormous size and color, this spot has been named the Great Blue Hole.

Scientists have found the Great Blue Hole to be an unusual place. Inside the hole are large stalactites. Stalactites are long, pointed rocks that hang from the ceilings and walls of caves. They form when water drips from the ceiling over a long period of time. Stalactites cannot form underwater, because water cannot drip in the ocean. So, scientists know that the underwater cave was once on dry land. Over time, the cave became submerged as sea levels rose. Another unusual finding is a layer of poisonous gas deep within the hole. This layer of gas cuts out all sunlight. And there is no evidence of sea life below this gas.

Divers have explored the Great Blue Hole for many years, and explorers mapped the area in the 1990s. But no one traveled to the bottom until 2018, when a team of scientists took pictures of the entire hole. With the help of a special underwater craft and sonar technology, they were able to move through the cave and create a 3D map of the inside of the cave.

Before 2018, no one had reached the bottom of the Great Blue Hole. Based on clues in the text, what is the most likely reason why?

Divers were not allowed in the protected site.

It was too hard and dangerous to get to.

The Great Blue Hole was not discovered until 2018.

No one knew how deep the hole was.

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Learn with an example

question

Read the text about the city of Nara,

Japan.

Some people call the small city of Nara the cradle, or birthplace, of Japan. It has some of Japan's oldest buildings and was the country's first capital. Visitors often start by seeing the colossal Todai-ji temple. It is one of the largest wooden buildings in the world. It holds a huge statue of the Buddha, who started the Buddhist religion. One of the building's giant pillars has a hole at its base. The hole is said to be the same size as a nostril in the Buddha statue's nose. Children and small adults can crawl through it for luck.

Kasuga Taisha shrine is another important place in Nara. The shrine, or holy place, has buildings with white walls and bright red pillars. As on many old Japanese buildings, the wooden roofs are curved, flipping up at the edges. Thousands of stone lanterns stand along the outdoor pathways, and metal lanterns hang from the buildings. During festivals in February and August, all the lanterns glow at once.

There is one sight in Nara more famous than the shrines and temples. Over one thousand wild deer live in the city. Many of them wander in Nara Park alongside the visitors. The animals are quite tame. They are friendly and will often bow their heads when visitors bow to them. They are also used to being fed. Visitors can buy special deer crackers in the park. When visitors offer the crackers, the deer come running!

Based on clues in the text, what kinds of places are many of Nara's old buildings?

They are places for animals.

They are unimportant places.

They are religious places.

They are schools for children.

key idea

Informational texts include many facts, examples, and details. Authors don't always directly state how these things connect to each other. So, you may need to make guesses, or

inferences,

to understand how the ideas from the text fit together. Inferences can help you understand the whole text and draw conclusions about the information. Be sure to base your inferences on details found in the text as well as things you already know.

solution

The text states that one of Nara's old buildings is a temple holding a huge statue of the

Buddha.

The text also talks about other old buildings at a shrine, or holy

place.

You probably know that holy places like temples and shrines are places where people go for religious reasons.

So, you can guess that many of Nara's old buildings are religious places.

Looking for more? Try this:

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Work it out

Not feeling ready yet? These can help:

GG.3Use context to identify the meaning of a word

B.3Draw inferences from a text

V.2Read about famous places

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