Reading Comprehension Test 13

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Human Development

When early humans hunted and gathered food, they were not in control of their environment. They could only interact with their surroundings as lower organisms did. When humans learned to make fire, however, they became capable of altering their environment. To provide themselves with fuel they stripped bark from trees, causing the trees to die. Clearings were burned in forests to increase the growth of grass and to provide a greater grazing area for the wild animals that humans fed upon. This development led to farming and the domestication of animals. Fire also provided the means for cooking plants which had previously been inedible. Only when the process of meeting the basic need for food reached a certain level of sophistication was it possible for humans to follow other pursuits such as the founding of cities.

1. This passage is mainly concerned with ----.

A) the evolution of farming techniques
B) the role of hunting as a source of food
C) how the discovery of fire changed the development of mankind
D) basic food-gathering techniques of early humans
E) how people supplied themselves with food prior to the discovery of how
        to make fire

2. One can infer from the passage that the discovery of how to make fire ----.

A) improved the hunting skills of early humans
B) caused early humans to interact with their surroundings as lower
        organisms did
C) taught early humans how to live with lower organisms
D) increased alimentary options for early humans
E) made easier for early humans to gather food

3. As we understand from the passage, early humans ----.

A) didn't eat plants before they learned how to control fire
B) used fire as a tool to alter their surroundings
C) gained better control of their environment when they learned to live
        with lower organisms
D) started to maintain their food supply by hunting and gathering food
        when they started cooking with fire
E) were the prey of many predators

Correctness =
Answer Key:

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