Sports Reading 1

Rapid Reading Warm-Up (30 Seconds)

Directions: The exercise below has 25 problems that will help you read faster. You will have only 30 seconds to finish. You will probably not finish all 25 problems, but you are to work as quickly as you can. Be careful not to make any error, so read rapidly but carefully. In this exercise, there are six words: one word to the left of the line and five to the right. Read the word on the left and then find it among the five words to the right. Once you have found it, circle it.

Example

raft

rift

rate

raft

rote

reef

1.      great

grate

grit

great

grunt

grotto

2.      play

ploy

ply

plane

pray

play

3.      time

tune

tame

time

tone

train

4.      both

bath

booth

both

bathe

breath

5.      lead

led

lade

load

lead

lend

6.      tough

tough

trough

trout

tout

trash

7.      donor

diner

dinner

donor

dander

dime

8.      choke

chalk

chink

choker

chin

choke

9.      lived

lever

liver

loved

lived

live

10.  drank

drink

drunk

rank

drank

crank

11.  injury

injure

jury

unjust

injury

usury

12.  dream

dram

dream

drone

dame

dander

13.  death

dearth

dean

death

doth

drought

14.  forget

forgo

forget

forgone

forth

further

15.  gave

gave

glove

give

giver

given

16.  part

pert

port

dart

pith

part

17.  people

paper

poor

people

pare

apparel

18.  ages

aged

agent

sages

ages

pages

19.  many

money

mane

manor

any

many

20.  perhaps

perchance

perhaps

per

pairs

pores

21.  wins

winds

ways

wise

wins

waist

22.  priority

prior

parity

pair

priority

prawn

23.  avoid

evade

void

avid

aver

avoid

24.  deny

denial

dent

deny

dainty

dine

25.  strong

strongly

stronger

stranger

strongest

strong

 

First Reading (3 Minutes for Preview – 3½ Minutes for Reading)

Directions: Starting with the first sentence of the passage, read as quickly as you can for three and a half minutes. Circle the last word you read when your teacher tells you to stop reading.

Second Reading (3½ Minutes)

Directions: Starting with the first sentence of the passage, read as quickly as you can for three and a half minutes. Circle the last word you read when your teacher tells you to stop reading.

Third Reading (3½ Minutes)

Directions: Starting with the first sentence of the passage, read as quickly as you can for three and a half minutes. Circle the last word you read when your teacher tells you to stop reading.

Fourth Reading (3½ Minutes)

Directions: Starting with the first sentence of the passage, read as quickly as you can for three and a half minutes. Circle the last word you read when your teacher tells you to stop reading.

Line

No

Word

Count

 

 

 

 

5

 

 

 

 

10

 

 

 

 

15

 

 

 

 

20

 

 

 

 

 

25

Mickey Mantle was one of the greatest baseball players of all time. He played for the New York Yankees in their years of glory. From the time Mantle began to play in 1951 to his last year in 1968, baseball was the most popular game in the United States. For many people, Mantle symbolized the hope, prosperity, and confidence of America at that time.

Mantle was a fast and powerful player, a “switch-hitter” who could bat both right-handed and left-handed. He won game after game, one World Series championship after anther, for his team. He was a wonderful athlete, but this alone cannot explain America’s fascination with him.

Perhaps it was because he was a handsome, red-haired country boy, the son of a poor miner from Oklahoma. His career, from the lead mines of the West to the heights of success and fame, was a fairy-tale version of the American dream. Or perhaps it was because America always loves a “natural”: a person who wins without seeming to try, whose talent appears to come from an inner grace. That was Mickey Mantle.

But like many celebrities, Mickey Mantle had a private life that was full of problems. He played without complaint despite constant pain from injuries. He lived to fulfill his father’s dreams and drank to forget his father’s early death. Alcohol was part of his friendships, his family life, his retirement distractions.

It was alcoholism that finally destroyed his body. It gave him cirrhosis of the liver and accelerated the advance of liver cancer. Even when Mickey Mantle had turned away from his old life and warned young people not to follow his example, the destructive process could not be stopped. Despite a liver transplant operation that had all those who loved and admired him hoping for a recovery, Mickey Mantle died of cancer at the age of 63.

By Mickey Mantle (from Sports Illustrated)

 

 

 

55

 

 

 

99

 

 

 

149

 

 

 

196

 

 

 

 

246

 

 

 

 

310

Reading Comprehension (6 Minutes)

Directions:  Circle the letter next to the statement that best answers the following questions.

1.       On line 4, “symbolized” means _____.

a.       involved

b.       represented

c.       caused

2.       On line 8, “wonderful” means _____.

a.       pleasant

b.       beyond belief

c.       great

3.       On line 9, “this” refers to _____.

a.       athlete

b.       being a wonderful athlete

c.       winning one World Series after another

4.       On line 16, “private” means _____.

a.       personal

b.       privileged

c.       secret

5.       On line 22, “accelerated” means _____.

a.       delayed

b.       sped up

c.       caused

6.       The main idea of paragraph 2 is _____.

a.       Mantle was a superb athlete

b.       Mantle was behind his team’s repeated wins

c.       Mantle was a fascinating player

7.       Based on the last sentence in paragraph 2, paragraph 3 will discuss why _____.

a.       Mantle’s popularity was due to his extraordinary athletic ability as a ballplayer

b.       Mantle’s popularity was due to his ability to win many World Series championships

c.       Mantle’s popularity was due to more than his extraordinary athletic ability

8.       The main idea of paragraph 4 is _____.

a.       Mantle abused alcohol in his private life

b.       Mantle’s suffered from constant pain

c.       Mantle’s private life was full of problems

9.       The main idea of paragraph 5 is _____.

a.       Mantle had a liver transplant because of cirrhosis of the liver

b.       Mantle died as a result of alcoholism

c.       Mantle died of cancer at 63

10.   A good title for this reading would be _____.

a.       Mickey Mantle: The Celebrity and the Private Man

b.       Mickey Mantle: The Greatest Baseball Player of All Time

c.        Mickey Mantle: A Man Destroyed by Cancer