READTHEORY Passage and Questions Reading Comprehension Assessment Directions: Read the passage. Then answer the questions below. Name Date Sports Drinks: Better Than Water? You are playing basketball with your friends. You are hot. You are sweaty. You are thirsty. You do not want to get dehydrated should you get a bottle of water or grab a sports drink instead? When you sweat heavily, your body loses electrolytes and water. The most important electrolytes are potassium and sodium these substances keep your body s cells working properly. Most sports drinks contain water, electrolytes, sugar, artificial flavors, and artificial colors. Commercials for sports drinks claim that their products will replenish the electrolytes lost during exercise. However, eating a normal diet that contains healthy amounts of sodium and potassium will maintain the electrolyte balance in your body. Furthermore, the body naturally controls its production of sweat in order to ensure that you do not lose too many electrolytes when you are exercising. In fact, unless you are exercising very intensely for more than 60 minutes, you do not need to use a sports drink to replace lost electrolytes. Moreover, the sodium in some sports drinks can be harmful to people who have high blood pressure or are on a low-sodium diet. Most people believe that sports drinks are healthy beverages after all, if athletes drink them, they must be good for you. On the contrary, sports drinks are filled with artificial ingredients and sugar. One 20-ounce bottle of an average sports drink contains 34 grams of sugar and 130 calories. Some sports drinks commercials allege that this sugar will help to boost your energy during a workout. Technically, this claim is true; however, although you may get a burst of energy from the sugar, the extra calories from the sports drink could actually make you gain weight instead of helping you get in shape. In fact, research has shown that teenagers who regularly drink sports drinks are much more likely to be overweight than their peers. One study presented at the 2012 Obesity Society s annual scientific meeting revealed that teenagers gained an average of 3.5 pounds every two years just by consuming a bottle of sports drink every day. The best beverage for you to drink before, during, or after a workout is water. Water has no sugar, no salt, no calories, and no artificial flavors or colors. Water will rehydrate your body and quench your thirst better than any other drink. Unless you are a serious athlete who regularly exercises for more than 60 minutes at a time, sports drinks ultimately do more harm than good. 1) As used in paragraph 3, what is the best synonym for allege? A. lie B. forget C. deny D. argue 2) According to the passage, electrolytes are I. ingredients in most sports drinks II. naturally present in water III. not actually necessary for your body
READTHEORY Questions A. I only B. I and II only C. II and III only D. I, II, and III 3) The author uses the information from the study presented at the 2012 Obesity Society s annual scientific meeting to strengthen his or her claim that A. sports drinks are useful for athletes who participate in intense workouts that last longer than 60 minutes B. the sugar in sports drinks make them a poor choice for people who are trying to get in shape C. because sports drinks contain sugar, they give you a temporary energy boost D. since athletes drink sports drinks, many people think that they are healthy 4) The passage makes each of the following claims about sports drinks EXCEPT A. the sodium in sports drinks may be dangerous for some people B. even athletes who participate in intense workouts should not drink sports drinks C. sports drinks can cause people to gain weight D. most people do not need the extra electrolytes in sports drinks 5) According to the author, water is better than sports drinks because it A. is much cheaper than sports drinks B. provides electrolytes that sports drinks do not contain C. rehydrates you and does not contain any potentially harmful ingredients D. is the best choice for athletes who have intense workouts that last longer than 60 minutes 6) Based on the information in the passage, explain in your own words when it is best to drink water and when it is best to drink sports drinks.
READTHEORY Questions 7) Did you already know the information presented in the passage about the best time to drink sports drinks? Did you think they were always healthier or more beneficial than water? How did you reach the conclusions you held before reading this passage? Explain. 8) Many people think sports drinks are healthier than water because of the claims made in advertisements for sports drinks. Can you think of other advertisements that make misleading, confusing, or false claims? What do these commercials claim, and how are the claims different from reality?
READTHEORY Answers and Explanations 1) D Question Type: Vocabulary allege (verb): to claim, argue, assert, or contend that something is true. In paragraph 3, the author writes: Some sports drinks commercials allege that this sugar will help to boost your energy during a workout. We can use context clues hints from known words or phrases around the unknown word or phrase to help us figure out what the word allege most nearly means. As the author mentions in paragraph 2, commercials for sports drinks claim that their products will replenish the electrolytes lost during exercise. In paragraph 3, the author adds that these commercials also allege that the sugar in sports drinks can help increase your energy levels during workouts. The author admits that technically, this claim is true, but points out that the extra calories from the sugar might make you gain weight instead of helping you get in shape. The word claim can help you understand that sports drinks commercials are making an argument about their product. The commercials argue that their product is healthy; the author disagrees with this argument. Based on this information, we can see that to allege something is to claim or argue that it is true. Therefore (D) is correct. Based on the above information, we can see that to allege something is to claim or argue that it is true. Lying is not necessarily the same as claiming that something is true. For example, I can allege (claim; argue) that my dog Fuzzy was the first president of the United States. This is a claim. It is also, of course, a lie. However, I can also allege that George Washington was the first president of the United States. This is a claim, but it is also a true fact; therefore, it is not a lie. In the passage, the author states that sports drinks commercials allege that the sugar in their products can give you an energy boost. The author then says that technically, this claim is true. The sports drinks commercials are alleging something; this does not mean that they are lying. Lying and alleging are not the same thing. Therefore (A) is incorrect. Based on the above information, we can see that to allege something is to claim or argue that it is true. To forget is not to claim that something is true. Therefore (B) is incorrect. Based on the above information, we can see that to allege something is to claim or argue that it is true. To deny is not to claim that something is true; in fact, denying something is the opposite of saying that it is true. Therefore (C) is incorrect. 2) A Question Type: Global In paragraph 2, the author says that most sports drinks contain water, electrolytes, sugar, artificial flavors, and artificial color. Based on this information, we can see that electrolytes are ingredients in most sports drinks. This supports option (I). In the final paragraph, the author explains why water is better for you than sports drinks. The author says that water will rehydrate your body and quench your thirst better than any other drink. Although the author says that water is better for you than sports drinks, he or she never states that there are electrolytes naturally present in water. This eliminates option (II). In paragraph 2, the author explains that electrolytes are substances that keep your body s cells working properly. Your body does, in fact, need electrolytes in order to work properly. Although the passage does state that you likely do not need to take in the extra electrolytes found in sports drinks, your body does need electrolytes. This eliminates option (III). Therefore (A) is correct. 3) B Question Type: Inference In paragraph 3, the author states that most people believe that sports drinks are healthy beverages after all, if athletes drink them, they must be good for you. On the contrary, sports drinks are filled with artificial ingredients and sugar. One 20-ounce bottle of an average non-diet sports drink contains 34 grams of sugar and 130 calories. Later in the paragraph, the author writes: One study presented at the 2012 Obesity Society s annual scientific meeting revealed that teenagers gained an average of 3.5 pounds every two years just by consuming a bottle of sports drink every day. According to the author, sports drinks are not healthy beverages for most people. Because sports drinks contain so much sugar, they may actually cause you to gain weight. In the final sentence of paragraph 3, the author provides some evidence to back up his/her claim. The author cites (refers to) a study presented at the 2012 Obesity Society s annual scientific meeting. According to this study, teenagers who drank one sports drink every day gained an average of 3.5 every two years. This evidence suggests that sports drinks can cause you to gain weight; it thus strengthens the author s claim that sugary sports drinks are a poor choice for people who are trying to get in shape. Therefore (B) is correct. Although the author does say that sports drinks may be useful for athletes who participate in intense workouts that last longer than 60 minutes, the evidence from the Obesity Society meeting suggests that sports drinks can cause people to gain weight. These ideas are not related. Therefore (A) is incorrect. Although the author does admit that the sugar in sports drinks can give you a temporary energy boost, the evidence from the Obesity Society meeting suggests that the sugar in sports drinks can cause people to gain weight. It does not discuss the fact that sugar can boost your energy. Therefore (C) is incorrect. Although the author does claim that people believe that sports drinks are healthy because athletes drink them, the evidence from the Obesity Society meeting suggests that sports drinks can cause people to gain weight. These ideas are not related. Therefore (D) is incorrect. 4) B Question Type: Global The author never states that even athletes who participate in intense workouts should not drink sports drinks. In fact, in paragraph 2, the author writes that the only people who need to replace lost electrolytes are those who [exercise] very intensely for more than 60 minutes. In the final paragraph, the author says that unless you are a serious athlete who regularly exercises for more than 60 minutes at a time, sports drinks ultimately do more harm than good. Therefore, athletes who participate in intense workouts are the only people who should drink sports drinks. Since we are looking for the exception, (B) is correct. In paragraph 2, the author writes that the sodium in some sports drinks can be harmful to people who have high blood pressure or are on a low-sodium diet. In other words, the sodium in sports drinks can be dangerous for some people. Since we are looking for the exception, (A) is incorrect. In paragraph 3, the author argues that the calories from the sugar in sports drinks could actually make you gain weight instead of helping you get in shape. Here, the author suggests that sports drinks might cause you to gain weight. Since we are looking for the exception, (C) is incorrect. In paragraph 2, the author states that you lose electrolytes when you sweat. The author then explains that electrolytes are necessary for your body to function properly, but adds that eating a normal diet that contains healthy amounts of sodium and potassium will maintain the electrolyte balance in your body. Furthermore, the body naturally controls its production of sweat in order to ensure that you do not lose too many electrolytes when you are exercising. In fact, unless you are exercising very
READTHEORY Answers and Explanations intensely for more than 60 minutes, you do not need to use a sports drink to replace lost electrolytes. In other words, most people do not need to consume extra electrolytes by drinking sports drinks. Since we are looking for the exception, (D) is incorrect. 5) C Question Type: Detail To answer this detail question correctly, we need to find where the author discusses the benefits of water in the passage. A good way to do this is to scan the topic sentence of each paragraph, since this sentence will likely tell us what information can be found in the rest of that paragraph. The topic sentence of the final paragraph reads: The best beverage for you to drink before, during, or after a workout is water. This lets us know that the detail we are looking for is in the final paragraph. Later in the paragraph, the author explains that water has no sugar, no salt, no calories, and no artificial flavors or colors. Water will rehydrate your body and quench your thirst better than any other drink. Water rehydrates you and does not contain any potentially harmful ingredients, like sugar, salt, or calories. Therefore (C) is correct. The passage does not provide information to support choices (A), (B), or (D). Therefore they are incorrect.