Grade: 7 International

Focus: Reading Comprehension

Record-breaking fires are ripping through the Amazon — an ecosystem on which the whole
world depends.
Why is the Amazon burning?
An unprecedented number of fires have raged throughout Brazil in 2019, intensifying in
August. There have been more than 80,000 fires so far this year, the most ever recorded by
the country’s National Institute for Space Research (INPE). It’s a nearly 80 percent jump
compared to the number of fires the country experienced over the same time period in
2018. More than half of those fires are taking place in the Amazon.
Experts say deforestation and a practice called slash-and-burn are to blame for most of the
flames. People cut down patches of forest, allow the area to dry out, and then set the
remains ablaze to make room for agriculture or other development. They might also set
fires to replenish the soil and encourage the growth of pastures for cattle. Brazil is the
world’s top exporter of beef, according to the US Department of Agriculture.
Why is this a big deal?

Everyone on the planet benefits from the health of the Amazon. As its trees take in carbon
dioxide and release oxygen, the Amazon plays a huge role in pulling planet-warming
greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere. Without it, climate change speeds up. But as the
world’s largest rainforest is eaten away by logging, mining, and agribusiness, it may not be
able to provide the same amount.

Scientists warn that the rainforest could reach a tipping point, turning into something more
like a savanna when it can no longer sustain itself as a rainforest. That would mean it’s not
able to soak up nearly as much carbon as it does now. And if the Amazon as we know it
dies, it wouldn’t go quietly. As the trees and plants perish, they would release billions of
tons of carbon that has been stored for decades — making it nearly impossible to escape a
climate catastrophe.
How are the fires being fought?
After weeks of international and internal pressure, the president deployed the military to
help battle the fires on August 24, sending 44,000 troops to six states. The following day
warplanes were dousing flames.

1. Choose an appropriate title for the passage. Tick (√ ) one box.

Fires Around the world

Amazon on Fire
 The importance of the Amazon

2. List the two major reasons for the fires in the Amazon rainforest.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

3. What are the effects of the Amazon rainforest dying in the future?
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
4. “An unprecedented number of fires have raged throughout Brazil in 2019”

Explain in your own words what the underlined phrase means.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

5. What does the “INPE” stand for?

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

6. Give one word from the text that means:

a. increasing: ……………………………………………………………
b. disaster: ………………………………………………………………

7. “The world’s largest rainforest is eaten away by logging, mining, and agribusiness”

a. What is the figurative language used in the sentence?

Tick ( √ ) one box.

metaphor

personification

8. How many soldiers were sent to fight the fires?

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

9. What is the pronoun reference for the following pronouns?

  Paragraph 2, line 3, “They” ……………………………………
 Paragraph 4, line 4 , “they” …………………………………..

10. Which statements are false? Tick (√ ) three boxes.

a. All the fires are taking place in the Amazon.

b. There have been more than 80,000 fires so far.

c. Without the Amazon, climate change speeds up.

d. Trees take in oxygen and release carbon dioxide.

e. The king deployed the military to help battle the fires.