Exercise 2 1 Tomadoes occur throughout the world, but for reasons that scientists are not fully able to discern, the great majority occur in the United States. Approxima tely 700 tornadoes a year occur within the United States, and this comprise ; three-quarters of the worldwide total. Most of the U.S. Litle tornadoes take place in the Midwest and in the southern states 5 that border the Gulf of Mexico. In general a tornado cuts a path of a few hundred yards and lasts less than an hour; an average tornado might propel itself at a speed of 15 or 20 miles per hour and therefore cover a distance of 20 or so miles.Tomadoes, however, can be much worse than average. The most devastating tomado on record occurred on March 18,1925, in the states of 10 Missouri,Illinois, and Indiana The path of this tornado was more than 200 miles long and a mile wide. Traveling at an average speed of 60 miles per hour, the winds at the center of the storm swirled around at considerably more than 200 miles per hour.A total of 689 people died, and countless more were injured at the hands of this killer storm. 1. The word "discern'in line 2 is closest in meaning to which of the following? (A)Present (B) Understand (C)Cause (D) Misrepresent 2. The word "propel"' in line 6 could best be replaced by (A)move (C)destroy (D)inhibit 3. Which of the following is closest in meaning to the word "devastating"in line 9? (A) Described (A) Described (D)Determined 4. The word "swirled" in line 13 is closest in meaning to (A) decreased (B) rose (C) settled 1 The life span of ar elephant that dies from natural causes is about sixty-five years. Of course, an elephant can perish from a number of "unnatural causes"; eg , it can be killed by hunters, most probably for the valuable ivory in its tusks; it can die from diseases that spread throughout an Line elephant herd; or it can die from drought or from the lack of 5 If, however, an elephant survives these disasters, it falls prey to old age in its mid- sixties. Around this age,the cause of death is attributed to the loss of the final set of 10 molars. When this last set of teeth is gone, the elephant dies from malnutrition because it home where there is shade for comfort from the sun and soft vegetation for cushioning; the bones of many old elephants have been found in such places. 5. The word "unnatural" in line 2 is (A)wild (B)violent (C) domesticated (D) abnormal 6. In line 8."malnutrition" is used to closest in meaning to describe someone who (A) is in good health (B) has an illness (C) suffers from poor eating (D) experiences dental problems 1 bulk of his career,he worked as a reporter for newspapers in South Bend, Boston, St. Louis, Ring Lardner himself was born into a wealthy , educated, and cultured family For the and Chicago. However, it is for his short stories oflower middle-class Americans that Ring Lardner is perhaps best known In these stories, Lardner vividly creates the language and 5 the ambiance of this lower class, often using the misspelled words , grammatical errors, and incorrect diction that typified the language of the lower middle class. 7. The word "vividly" in line 4 is closest in meaning to (A)in a cultured way (B) in a correct way (C) in a lifelike was (D) in a brief way 8. The word "misspelled in line 5 is closest in meaning to (C) incorrectly written 9. The word "diction" in line 6 is closest in meaning to (A) writing (C) form (B) sentence structure (D) speech Checks and balances are an important concept in the formation of the U.S.svster