Q: It has been used for thousands of years for both fuel and as a construction material. It is an organic material, a natural composite of cellulose fibers (which are strong in tension) embedded in a matrix of lignin which resists compression. Wood is sometimes defined as only the secondary xylem in the stems of trees, or it is defined more broadly to include the same type of tissue elsewhere such as in the roots of trees or shrubs.[citation needed] In a living tree it performs a support function, enabling woody plants to grow large or to stand up by themselves. It also conveys water and nutrients between the leaves, other growing tissues, and the roots. Wood may also refer to other plant materials with comparable properties, and to material engineered from wood, or wood chips or fiber.

The Earth contains about 434 billion cubic meters of growing stock forest, 47% of which is commercial. As an abundant, carbon-neutral renewable resource, woody materials have been of intense interest as a source of renewable energy. In 1991, approximately 3.5 cubic kilometers of wood were harvested. Dominant uses were for furniture and building construction.

Answer the following questions:
1. How much wood was harvested in 1991?
2. Why?
3. How many meters of forest are there on our planet?
4. How much of that is available commercially?
5. Can this be renewed?
6. Is it rare?
7. How long has it been used in construction?
8. What is it's other main use?
9. What is it a composite of?
10. Are they weak?
A: 1. 3.5 cubic kilometers
2. furniture and building construction.
3. 434 billion cubic meters
4. 47%
5. yes
6. no
7. thousands of years
8. fuel
9. cellulose fibers
10. no
Q: On a sunny day in July, Sylvia left the front gate open. From the spot where Rex was napping in the grassy yard, he had listened to the sound of the gate sliding open, and waited for it to snap shut. It didn't. The click of Sylvia's shoes faded into the distance, and yet the snap of the shutting gate didn't come. Finally, Rex pushed himself up on one paw so he could look towards the front of the yard, where the gate moved in the breeze. Rex moved slowly towards the gate at first, but as he neared the sidewalk he shot through the opening, his shiny black fur twinkling in the sun as he sped down the street. Rex ran from block to block through the neighborhood, with no leash to pull him back. When all four legs started to burn from running, Rex slowed down and started sniffing the grass around him. His stomach growled and he hoped he'd find some food in the grass. All he found was sidewalk chalk, a few little black ants, and flowers that made him sneeze. The sun was going down, and Rex thought about Sylvia coming home to rub his ears and fill his food bowl. He looked up and down the sidewalk for his home. Nothing. Rex was lost. He stood completely still and raised his ears as high as they would go. He sat and listened, and listened and sat. Just as the sun passed over the mountains in the distance, Rex heard, from very far away, the soft "click click click" of Sylvia walking towards the house. Rex ran home.

Answer the following questions:
1. what did rex hear?
2. what sound did that make?
3. was it loud?
4. what month was it?
5. how was the weather/
6. what did sylvia do on that day?
7. what didn't rex hear?
8. where was he?
9. doing what?
10. what color was he?
11. did rex immediately leave?
12. was his fur matted?
13. where did he run?
14. what wasn't he wearing that he usually did?
15. what did he do when he finished running?
16. what was he feeling then?
17. was he able to get anything to eat?
18. did rex know where his home was?
19. how did he know where it was?
20. where did the sun set behind?
A: 1. Sylvia walking towards the house
2. click click click
3. no
4. July
5. sunny
6. left the front gate open
7. the gate closing
8. the yard
9. napping
10. black
11. no
12. no
13. the neighborhood
14. a leash
15. slowed down and started sniffing the grass
16. hungry
17. no
18. no
19. he heard sylvia walking home
20. the mountains
Q: Reggie Hilaire was a rookie cop on September 11, 2001. He worked at ground zero for 11 days beside his colleagues -- many of them, including Hilaire, not wearing a mask. He was later assigned to a landfill in Staten Island, where debris from the World Trade Center was dumped.

For about 60 days between 2001 and 2002, the New York police officer was surrounded by dust.

In 2005, Hilaire was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. He underwent surgery and radiation. Just months later his doctor told him he also had multiple myeloma, a blood cancer that multiplies the body's plasma cells to dangerous levels.

It's a cancer that usually strikes much later in life. Hilaire was 34.

More than 1,100 people who worked or lived near the World Trade Center on 9/11 have been diagnosed with cancer, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

A few months ago Hilaire received a letter from the CDC's National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, officially offering him medical insurance under the World Trade Center Health Program. About 1,140 people have been certified to receive cancer treatment under the WTC Health Program, a representative told CNN.

These are the first numbers released since the program was expanded a year ago.

In September 2012, federal health authorities added 58 types of cancer to the list of covered illnesses for people who were exposed to toxins at the site of the World Trade Center in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.

Dr. John Howard, administrator of the WTC Health Program, had said the year before that cancer treatments would not be covered by the compensation fund. At the time, he said there was inadequate "published scientific and medical findings" to link 9/11 exposures to cancer.

Answer the following questions:
1. What was HIlaire's occupation?
2. Where did he work?
3. Did he wear a mask?
4. Where did he work after ground zero?
5. How many days?
6. What was all around him?
A:
1. rookie cop
2. worked at ground zero for 11 days
3. no
4. a landfill in Staten Island
5. 60 days between 2001 and 2002
6. dust