The HESI Reading Comprehension test consists of 47 multiple choice questions which must be completed within 60 minutes. In this section, healthcare-related passages are provided, followed by questions that will test your comprehension of these passages.
Questions may ask you to identify the main idea, recognize the author’s purpose, define words in context, or make logical inferences. Our free HESI Reading test will help you practice these skills.
HESI Reading Practice Test
The HESI A2 Reading Comprehension Test covers identifying main ideas, supporting details, purpose, and tone, as well as topics like facts.
The Importance of Care in Healthcare
There is a way to help patients with their healing process that has nothing to do with medication, rehabilitation therapy, or knowledge of treating their specific illness. Nurses, doctors, and other healthcare professionals can greatly contribute to the wellness of their patients simply by developing a strong relationship characterized by compassion and optimism.
Research has found that the relationship a patient has with a healthcare provider has a real impact on the patient’s outcomes. Strong relationships have been shown to help mental illness recovery, while compassionate nursing has been connected to fewer pressure ulcers and falls in hospital patients. Nurses have arguably the biggest role in creating an emotionally comforting environment for a patient due to the extensive time they spend together, and it is possible that a nurse’s attitude and care have the biggest impact on any healthcare provider.
Sometimes, the actions of a nurse or doctor are not the biggest factor for a patient’s view on their health, but rather the perception of a doctor or nurse by the patient. A physician’s perceived seriousness about treating a patient has been shown to improve symptoms, and when doctors seem to be optimistic about a health outcome, patients report less pain and a quicker recovery.
It should be noted that the discussion of positive impacts from healthcare professionals does not touch on the impact of abuse and unethical behavior in medical settings, which, of course, can have profound and frightening impacts on the health and safety of patients. There are many ways that caregivers can impact recovery, including worsening outcomes, which is, unfortunately, a reality for many patients around the world.
A patient’s mental health and view of their own ailment will impact their recovery, and they can draw their energy and outlook from the professional opinions and attitudes around them. To help a patient help themselves, a nurse, doctor, or any healthcare professional needs to go beyond simply providing appropriate care and maintaining bioethical integrity; they need to prioritize building a relationship with a patient founded on genuine caring and compassion.
Question 1. What is the main idea of the passage?
A. It is a nurse’s responsibility to expedite patient healing through proper bedside manners.
B. A good doctor pretends to be optimistic about a patient’s situation no matter the severity of the condition.
C. Healthcare professionals have the ability to further help patients by building strong relationships and modeling positive attitudes.✅
D. A patient’s healing is dependent upon the demeanor of the healthcare workers around them.
Question 2. What is the meaning of the word bioethical in the final paragraph?
A. Relating to the ethical implications in medicine.✅
B. Describing the biological impacts of ethics.
C. Being upright in morals when participating in healthcare and medicine.
D. Knowing the ethical restraints of one’s position in the field of medicine.
Question 3. What is the author’s primary purpose in writing the passage?
A. To entertain readers with little-known facts about health and healing.
B. To inform readers of the impacts healthcare workers can have on patients.✅
C. To persuade patients to model the positive attitudes of their caretakers.
D. To ask doctors and nurses whether or not they are doing everything they can to help their patients heal.
Question 4. Which of the following is not a detail from the passage?
A. What a patient believes a doctor or nurse thinks about their condition can impact their own beliefs.
B. Negative attitudes and physical and mental abuse can have negative impacts on a patient’s condition.
C. A nurse’s attitude can have physical ramifications in a patient.
D. Emotional connection is more helpful to patients than the overall optimism of medical staff.✅
Question 5. What statement is supported by the passage?
A. Patients recover quicker when they know their doctor outside of a healthcare setting.
B. Patients take a longer time to recover if their healthcare providers don’t appear to be hopeful.✅
C. It is the nurse’s responsibility to ensure an efficient healing process by remaining courteous and optimistic.
D. A patient can experience less pain depending on a doctor’s attitude towards them, but not a doctor’s attitude towards treating an illness.
Question 6. Which of the following is not a way the author mentions that healthcare professionals can help a patient heal?
A. Develop a strong and healthy bond or relationship
B. Remain optimistic about a patient’s situation
C. Prevent negative news from reaching a patient✅
D. Take a patient, their condition, and their path to healing seriously
Question 7. A healthcare worker’s demeanor cannot help a patient’s _____.
A. Recovery time
B. Symptoms
C. Pain
D. Morals✅
Racism in Medicine
America’s past continues to negatively influence its present in every realm, including medicine. The historical discrimination and egregious racism by doctors and scientists have led to a distrust of the medical establishment by minorities, leading to worse health outcomes for black and brown people. No action taken by the scientific community has been as detrimental to the relationship between minorities and medical treatment than the Tuskegee study.
The Tuskegee study was a 40-year experiment on rural black Alabamian men with syphilis, in which the researchers did not inform the study participants of their disease, nor did they provide treatment. As a result, many “subjects” died, and the wives and children of some participants also contracted the disease—of course, without intervention or treatment either. Despite the clear breach of ethics, the study wasn’t ended until 1972 when whistleblowers discovered the injustices that were occurring. Documentation by the Tuskegee researchers is riddled with racist ideology and horrific comments about the lives of black men that have shaken America for decades afterwards. By 1980, the study had single-handedly reduced the life expectancy of black men over 45 in America.
Now, surveys and studies indicate that black patients have less trust for medical professionals than white patients, report fewer positive experiences with the medical industry, and are more likely to believe conspiracy theories about medicine. There is a living memory of the Tuskegee study and its subsequent exposure to the public; physicians continually report patients directly referencing Tuskegee as a reason for concern, whether they have been directly impacted by the event or simply have knowledge of it.
The study alone, however, is not the only way that America has failed minorities in the healthcare industry. Racist ideologies that black bodies handle pain differently or experience it less than white bodies linger, leading to reduced or denied treatment of minority patients, including some cases in which black patients do not get pain medication for ailments or procedures in which a white patient would receive medicine.
Things are further complicated when dealing with the intersectionality of race, class, and gender; a patient’s sex, socioeconomic status, and city or county can all compound upon the already concerning impacts of discrimination in healthcare. Despite the good that medical advancements and healthcare professionals have done for our country and the world, medicine has failed black and brown people significantly in a way that has largely been ignored. America cannot erase its past or hide its mistakes, just as it cannot pretend those deplorable problems don’t have lasting impacts on the health and lives of its citizens.
Question 8. What is the main idea of the passage?
A. Racist perspectives and events, most notably the Tuskegee study, have negatively impacted the health and wellness of people of color in America.✅
B. The Tuskegee study was an unethical medical event that took advantage of black people and lowered the life expectancy of black men over 45.
C. The Tuskegee study is the reason that there is racism in medicine today.
D. The negative impacts of historical and modern examples of racism have a profound impact on the health of all Americans.
Question 9. Which of the following details is not included in the passage?
A. Some medical professionals believe that black people and white people don’t feel the same amount of pain.
B. The families of subjects in the Tuskegee study were also impacted by researcher negligence.
C. The Tuskegee study was able to continue for four decades before it was shut down.
D. The life expectancy of black women in the South has decreased.✅
Question 10. What is the meaning of detrimental in the first paragraph?
A. Innocuous
B. Harmful✅
C. Long-lasting
D. Scary
Question 11. Which of the following is the best summary for the passage?
A. The Tuskegee study led to many participants dying, non-participants contracting syphilis, and the life expectancy of black American men decreasing. The study ended in 1972 after forty years of experimentation. The devastating effects of the study linger today.
B. Past and present racism in medicine has fed a distrust of healthcare in black and brown Americans. The Tuskegee study is one of the largest and most flagrant examples of this, resulting in decades of lost trust from black people and severe harm to the lives of black individuals. The impact of the Tuskegee study and other racist beliefs still impact doctors and patients.✅
C. Racism is historically a big issue in healthcare. Beliefs about the way black individuals handle pain, encounter disease, and live their lives have impacted the health of people of color in America. Other factors, such as socioeconomic status and gender, further impact the ability of American citizens to get proper healthcare.
D. Discrimination is the biggest problem in the healthcare industry. People of color in America have boundaries between them and proper healthcare. The Tuskegee study is an example of healthcare professionals holding racist beliefs about how black men experience pain. The healthcare system needs to change to accommodate all people equally.
Question 12. What should the reader conclude about the Tuskegee Study?
A. It is directly linked to the distrust black Americans have of the medical establishment✅
B. It is the sole reason people of color in America do not trust the healthcare industry
C. It was unethical, but justified at the time due to ignorance and misinformation
D. It was the first outwardly racist medical study in the country
Question 13. Which of the following statements is an opinion?
A. The Tuskegee study lowered the life expectancy of black American men.
B. The Tuskegee study has lasting impacts on the country and its citizens.
C. The Tuskegee study is the worst thing that the modern medical establishment has done.✅
D. The researchers of the Tuskegee study are responsible for the death of American citizens.
Question 14. According to the passage, what eventually ended the Tuskegee study?
A. The deaths of multiple subjects
B. Outsiders that informed the public of the researchers’ wrongdoing✅
C. The study concluded on its own after gathering 40 years of data
D. Syphilis was spreading beyond the subjects of the study, and the researchers could no longer contain it
Question 15. Which of the following statements would the author of the passage most likely agree with?
A. The Tuskegee study was a long time ago, so people of color have no reason to continue distrusting the medical establishment.
B. Healthcare workers today should be held responsible for historical racism in medicine.
C. It is not safe for a black or brown person to seek any medical treatment in America.
D. Unethical studies impact more than just the subjects and families directly involved with them.✅
Vaccines
People think all vaccines inject a dead form of the virus into patients, or otherwise that vaccines “give you” the virus they’re meant to prevent. In reality, there are many types of vaccines that have all been proven to be effective despite their different methods—and you’ve likely had a few of them.
The first main type of vaccine is the live-attenuated vaccine. This method uses a live but weakened form of the germ and is typically used for measles, chickenpox, and yellow fever vaccines, among others. These vaccines may present challenges to those who are immune compromised but often cause no problems for patients in good health.
The next common vaccine is an inactivated vaccine. As the name implies, this vaccine uses a killed version of the germ, like in the flu and polio shots. With some inactivated vaccines, the immunity isn’t as strong, and patients require several doses (“booster shots”) over time to ensure complete protection.
Toxoid vaccines use a toxin that the disease-causing germ produces. Diphtheria and tetanus vaccines are toxoids, and don’t result in patients being immune to the germ; rather, the vaccines cause immunity to the specific parts of the germ that cause disease.
The final category of common vaccines comes in many different forms: subunit, recombinant, polysaccharide, and conjugate. All of these vaccines use protein, sugar, capsid, or some small piece of the germ to provide immunity. Hepatitis B, whooping cough, and pneumococcal vaccines all fit into this category.
Of course, new paths to vaccination are still being worked on every day. One of the more recent innovations is the mRNA vaccine, which employs a different strategy of teaching our cells to make a certain protein that will protect against a virus.
Vaccinations are not one and the same; scientists are consistently coming up with different ways to protect people from illnesses that can cause severe harm. Vaccines are developed in many different ways, but all are meant to help our bodies stay healthy and protected.
Question 16. What is the main idea of the passage?
A. New vaccination methods are constantly being developed.
B. There are many different types of vaccines that prevent many diseases.✅
C. The most common vaccines are inactivated and live-attenuated vaccines.
D. Vaccines are not meant to be feared; there is plenty of scientific evidence for their effectiveness.
Question 17. What is the writer’s primary purpose in writing the passage?
A. To persuade the reader to get all types of offered vaccines
B. To entertain the reader with scientific information
C. To educate the reader on the latest scientific innovations in disease prevention
D. To inform the reader of the types of vaccines that exist✅
Question 18. Which statement is not a detail from the passage?
A. mRNA vaccines use sugar produced in our cells to independently fight off a virus✅
B. Tetanus shots are often toxoid vaccines
C. Live-attenuated vaccines do inject the live virus into a patient, but the virus is in a weakened state
D. Inactivated vaccines sometimes come in the form of booster shots to ensure lasting immunity
Question 19. What is the meaning of the word inactivated?
A. Disabled✅
B. Harmless
C. Weakened
D. Unstable
Question 20. According to the passage, how does a patient become immune to measles after receiving a measles vaccine?
A. The body takes in the killed form of the vaccine to learn an immune response to the live vaccine
B. The immune system learns to fight off the germ that causes measles
C. The body takes the live virus from the vaccine to stimulate an immune response✅
D. The body’s cells learn to make a specific protein that fights off the virus without ever having to encounter it
Question 21. Choose the best summary of the passage.
A. Live-attenuated vaccines use a weakened form of a virus to provide immunity. inactivated vaccines use a dead form of a virus to provide immunity. Toxoids use a toxin from the virus to provide immunity. mRNA vaccines teach our cells to make a protein that provides immunity. Other forms of vaccines utilize a specific part of the germ to provide immunity.
B. All vaccinations are different. Everyone has had many different types of vaccines. They work in different ways but all provide the same result.
C. Although we have many types of working vaccines already, many are still in development to increase effectiveness for future generations. Vaccines like mRNA vaccinations take a different approach than traditional vaccines, like toxoids, and produce better results.
D. There are many different types of vaccinations, which provide immunity in different ways: by injecting a weakened virus, injecting a dead virus, introducing a toxin produced by a germ, introducing specific parts of a germ, or introducing a substance that teaches our cells to produce a necessary protein. Many of these methods are used in common vaccines across the world, and more are still being developed.✅
Question 22. What is the meaning of the word attenuated?
A. Reduced in vitality✅
B. Attended properly
C. Dismantled
D. Enhanced through experimentation
Sir Alexander Fleming
With a Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine to prove it, Sir Alexander Fleming was one of the most influential scientists of his time—and many consider him to be one of the most important in all of history. Fleming’s discovery of penicillin is perhaps his most notable achievement, with lasting impacts we still see today.
The child of a Scottish farmer, Sir Fleming followed in his brother’s footsteps to pursue medicine as a career. Fleming joined the Royal Army Medical Corps during World War I where he discovered—and further proved through experimentation—that the antiseptics being used were often worsening the injuries they were trying to treat. Unfortunately, his discovery was ineffectual, as physicians continued to use antiseptics for the duration of the war despite dismal results. Fleming’s discoveries thankfully did not remain unnoticed for the duration of his career.
The renowned bacteriologist went on to discover the first antimicrobial protein from human’s innate immunity. This enzyme, lysozyme, was discovered by Fleming in his snot. The enzyme can be found in tears, saliva, and nasal discharge, and as Fleming pursued this 1921 discovery, he turned to his colleagues for tears—paying them threepence for each successful cry.
The most important discovery of Fleming’s work finally came in 1928. After leaving culture plates on a bench while he went on holiday, Fleming returned to see something within them that he called “funny.” This accidental discovery turned out to be revolutionary, and the world’s first broadly effective antibiotic, penicillin, was found. It was initially rejected by the medical community, with no colleagues in the profession believing him or giving penicillin any discussion despite Fleming’s active work curing patients. It took until the 1940s for his achievement to get the attention it deserved, and he earned a Nobel Prize for his work. In his Nobel lecture, Fleming made sure to mention that Penicillin was not the first antibiotic he discovered.
Question 23. What is the meaning of innate in the third paragraph?
A. Enduring
B. Intrinsic✅
C. Biological
D. Adventitious
Question 24. _____ is a naturally produced protein that catalyzes bodily reactions to inhibit or destroy microorganisms.
A. Innate immunity
B. Penicillin
C. Lysozyme✅
D. Antiseptic
Question 25. What is the main idea of the passage?
A. Alexander Fleming’s discovery of lysozyme eventually led to one of the most important discoveries in medical history.
B. Alexander Fleming was an incredibly important scientist in the field of medicine for his discovery of key antibiotics and; most importantly, his discovery of penicillin.✅
C. Alexander Fleming’s work often went unappreciated despite the groundbreaking changes he made to modern medicine.
D. Alexander Fleming was a Nobel Prize winner who started his work in the Royal Army Medical Corps and became one of the most influential scientists of all time.
Question 26. Which of the following details is not in the passage?
A. Fleming’s brother also worked in healthcare.
B. Lysozyme can be found in spit.
C. Fleming used penicillin on his own patients after he discovered it.
D. The discovery of penicillin was due to years of culturing lysozyme.✅
Question 27. Which of the following statements is implied by the author?
A. Fleming did not get the attention he deserved for most of his life.✅
B. Fleming was the most successful bacteriologist of all time.
C. Fleming’s humble origins make his professional achievements even more impressive.
D. Penicillin is the most important discovery Fleming made.
Question 28. What is the author’s purpose in writing the passage?
A. To encourage readers to appreciate the work of Alexander Fleming
B. To entertain readers with the interesting life and career of a scientist
C. To inform readers of Alexander Fleming’s contributions to medicine✅
D. To persuade readers to treat Fleming with the respect he deserves
Cancer
One of the biggest health concerns in the modern day is cancer. More than one million people are estimated to be diagnosed with cancer each year in the United States, and it is the second leading cause of death in the country. But where does this devastating disease come from?
Cancer isn’t a foreign object in the body—rather, it is our own cells experiencing problems. A cell may become abnormal, continue living after it should have died, or form when it was not needed. As the cell continues to divide and produce more abnormal cells, they form tumors, which can spread into surrounding tissues or even new areas of the body.
As many people know, cancer is a genetic disease; it cannot be “caught”, but instead abnormal cell growth is caused internally by a change in one’s genes. The genetic change may be hereditary, come from exposure to substances like tobacco smoke, or come from exposure to ultraviolet rays. An impact of the cell’s normal growth controls, misshapen proteins that cannot repair cellular damage, or increased production of a protein that causes growth can all come from a genetic abnormality and lead to cancer. Further, unlike normal cells, these cells can continually divide by ignoring signals to begin apoptosis, compounding the amount of disruption caused to the body.
Medical professionals recommend avoiding risk factors, although no factor is a guarantee for cancer—we don’t yet know why some people get cancer, and why others don’t. Nonetheless, it’s important to apply sunscreen and avoid unnecessary sun exposure, stop tobacco use, and evaluate the materials and foods you bring into your home based on scientific evidence of connections to cancer (for example, an old house may have cancer-causing asbestos in its walls, which should be checked for and promptly removed). Although cancer cannot be predicted, mitigating exposure to risk factors is a great way to remain healthy and reduce the likelihood of being impacted by the disease.
Question 29. Which statement is not a detail from the passage?
A. Misshapen proteins are an abnormality in cells that can cause cancer.
B. Someone may get cancer because of their parents or ancestors passing it on
C. The ability of cancer cells to avoid programmed cell death is a way that cancer can spread uncontrollably
D. Cancer can enter the body through inhalation of something (E.g., tobacco smoke)✅
Question 30. What is the author’s purpose?
A. To inform readers of what cancer is and how it impacts the body✅
B. To educate readers on the ways to prevent cancer
C. To warn readers about the effects of cancer
D. To persuade readers to be more knowledgeable on serious health conditions
Question 31. What is the meaning of the word mitigating in the last paragraph?
A. Exacerbating
B. Reducing✅
C. Compounding
D. Distracting
Question 32. According to the passage, what is the cause of a tumor?
A. A cluster of abnormal genes
B. Exposure to unsafe substances or ultraviolet radiation
C. The uncontrollable division of irregular cells✅
D. It is still unknown by medical professionals
Question 33. Identify the overall tone of the passage.
A. Argumentative
B. Informative✅
C. Sympathetic
D. Curious
Question 34. Which statement is implied by the author?
A. Someone can experience excess exposure to ultraviolet rays and not get cancer.✅
B. Doctors and scientists have not done enough to protect people from cancer.
C. Cancer can be prevented through further genetic research.
D. There is an overarching cause of genetic abnormalities that we have not discovered yet.
The Electromagnetic Spectrum
The electromagnetic spectrum encompasses all the different frequencies of electromagnetic radiation. Electromagnetic radiation is energy emitted in waves of varying lengths, which determine the frequency of radiation. Low frequencies correspond with long wavelengths and high frequencies correspond with short wavelengths.
For much of history, the visible light spectrum was all that was known of electromagnetic radiation, but the visible spectrum is only a very small portion of the whole picture. Visible light occurs at a wavelength of about 400-700 nanometers, a nanometer being one billionth of a meter. Each color we see is just a different frequency along the visible sub-spectrum, with purples and blues operating at higher frequencies and oranges and reds operating at lower frequencies.
The rest of the electromagnetic spectrum is expansive, ranging from gamma rays with a wavelength of just one picometer (or one trillionth of a meter) to radio waves with a wavelength of 100,000 kilometers. In between these extremes are X-rays, ultraviolet light, visible light, infrared radiation, and microwaves.
Radiation is typically thought of as something dangerous to human health, but really, it’s just energy being transferred in waves or particles through space or some medium. You likely use microwaves to heat your food and radio waves to listen to music without knowing they are all forms of the same radiation that allows you to see everything around you in different colors. In fact, if the black and yellow trefoil symbol came to mind when you first read the word “radiation,” you are only thinking of the shortest wavelengths on the electromagnetic spectrum—gamma rays, x-rays, and higher ultraviolet—which cover ionizing radiation. This radiation has enough energy to detach electrons from atoms or molecules, which is used for nuclear reactions and can be harmful in certain amounts to humans.
The world around you is defined by the electromagnetic spectrum. Wavelengths can be smaller than an atomic nucleus or as long as the universe itself, and the discovery and understanding of the wide range of electromagnetic radiation have given us the conveniences, advancements, and even devastations of society today.
Question 35. Which statement best represents the main idea of the text?
A. The electromagnetic spectrum is the range of all frequencies of energy that impact how we experience the world.✅
B. Not all forms of radiation are dangerous.
C. Visible light is the most important form of energy on the electromagnetic spectrum.
D. The discovery of electromagnetic radiation led to the ability of humans to use nuclear power.
Question 36. Which of the following is not a detail from the passage?
A. Radio waves have the longest wavelength on the electromagnetic spectrum.
B. Gamma rays are produced from radioactive decay, giving them the ability to ionize atoms and cause biological harm to humans.✅
C. Gamma rays have a higher frequency than visible light.
D. Radiation is the emission of energy, not a form of energy that is dangerous to humans
Question 37. According to the passage, the dangerous forms of electromagnetic radiation have:
A. The ability to remove protons and neutrons from the atomic nucleus
B. Very short wavelengths in comparison to other forms of radiation✅
C. Wavelengths upwards of 100,000 kilometers
D. A lower frequency than visible light
Question 38. What is the author’s purpose?
A. To persuade readers to not be afraid of radiation
B. To educate readers on the ways they use electromagnetic radiation
C. To inform readers what the electromagnetic spectrum is and the differences between the forms of energy on it✅
D. To argue for the general population to know about the electromagnetic spectrum
Question 39. What is the meaning of medium as used in the fourth paragraph?
A. Of an average size
B. A median of two pieces of data
C. A specific amount of space
D. A substance that is a means of transmission✅
Question 40. What determines the color of light we see around us?
A. The wavelength of the visible light✅
B. The amount of radiation in the visible light
C. The ionization of the molecules producing visible light
D. The color of light has nothing to do with electromagnetic radiation
Question 41. Which statement is supported by the passage?
A. Visible light is just one form of energy; the rods and cones of our eyes determine what color we perceive it to be
B. X-rays are not actually dangerous to humans and thus are used in healthcare settings
C. Since visible light has a shorter wavelength than radio waves, it has a higher frequency✅
D. Detaching electrons from molecules causes a nuclear explosion
Question 42. Which of the following is the best summary of the passage?
A. Many people have a misconception of what radiation is. It is simply the transmission of energy as waves or particles through space or some medium. The different forms of electromagnetic radiation are placed on the electromagnetic spectrum based on their frequency.
B. The electromagnetic spectrum is the range of different frequencies of electromagnetic radiation. The different wavelengths determine the type of energy produced, including visible light, harmful ionizing radiation, and types of radiation we use in our daily lives, like microwaves and radio waves.✅
C. Ionizing radiation is the only dangerous type of radiation on the electromagnetic spectrum. Visible light is a different frequency than ionizing radiation, and the wavelengths within the visible light sub-spectrum determine the color of light we see. For a long time, visible light was the only known part of the spectrum.
D. The wavelengths of visible light are between 400 and 700 nanometers. All forms of ionizing radiation, which can be harmful to humans, are at shorter wavelengths. Microwaves and radio waves are longer wavelengths.
Question 43. What is the meaning of encompasses in the first paragraph?
A. Directs
B. Describes
C. Includes✅
D. Precludes
Environmental Degradation and Human Health
Throughout the 20th and 21st centuries, concern for the environment has risen to international prevalence. Although some experts focus on the loss of biodiversity, the mass extinction of many species, and the impacts of global warming in decades to come, perhaps the world would be more concerned about the severity of environmental degradation if they knew it was impacting everyone’s health today.
According to research by the world health organization, 13.7 million deaths per year are linked to the environment. Cancer, stroke, and infection and disease (many impacting the respiratory system) have all been connected to the destruction of the biosphere. Air pollution is the clearest example of how the environment impacts our health. People in New York City have a 25% increased risk of dying from lung disease, while those living in Los Angeles have a staggering 43% increase as compared to the rest of the country. Allergens are also shown to increase from global warming alongside air pollution, snowballing cases of asthma, allergies, chronic bronchitis, and other ailments.
Climate change is a source of a lot of concern. Increasing global temperatures have been connected to more frequent and more intense natural disasters such as hurricanes and forest fires, which, of course, cause devastation and can claim many lives. Climate change can also impact the food we eat. Global warming impacts the ability of crops to survive and grow in the areas they were typically produced due to rising temperatures and changes in precipitation. Issues in soil salinity and moisture resulting from land degradation also decrease crop output.
Further, contamination of surface and groundwater impacts the water municipalities use for drinking and recreation. Water pollution through toxic waste, microplastics, and infectious agents can hurt the wildlife in the area and cause illness, sometimes severe, in citizens.
Environmental degradation may impact some communities more than others. Environmental racism is the concept that minorities and citizens of developing countries are disproportionately impacted by environmental issues due to the deliberate actions of white individuals. There have been many cited examples of toxic waste being disposed of near historically black communities in the united states, leading to poorer air quality, exposure to harmful chemicals, and polluted resources. Global examples include the mass export of electronic waste to China for cheaper dismantling under lax standards, releasing toxic pollutants to underpaid workers, and endangering their health.
Despite the overall unenthused response by many world leaders to the urgency of global warming, our destruction of the biosphere is not just creating problems for another generation or killing species that the public does not even know about; as we speak, our own actions are harming and killing our species, too.
Question 44. What is the meaning of the word prevalence in the first paragraph?
A. Persuasiveness
B. Preposterousness
C. Pervasiveness✅
D. Ponderous
Question 45. What is the overall tone of the author’s writing?
A. Objective but serious✅
B. Interested but playful
C. Inquisitive but ambivalent
D. Annoyed but passive
Question 46. What is the main idea of the passage?
A. Environmental racism is hurting the biosphere and endangering the lives of minorities.
B. Air pollution is one of the leading causes of environment-related deaths and should get more attention from world leaders.
C. Air pollution, water pollution, and other forms of environmental degradation are responsible for 13.7 million deaths per year.
D. Hurting the environment negatively impacts the health and well-being of humans.✅
Question 47. What is the meaning of deliberate in the fifth paragraph?
A. Indefinite
B. Calculated✅
C. Possible
D. Probable
Question 48. Which of the following statements would the author agree with?
A. Mass extinction is the biggest problem of global warming, and should be considered by governing bodies
B. World leaders that care about people’s lives will care about the environment✅
C. Environmental racism is a product of global warming
D. Everyone that lives in polluted cities should move to rural areas
Question 49. Illegal dumping of waste by the U.S. on Native American lands is an example of ____.
A. Biodiversity loss
B. Environment-related deaths
C. Contamination of groundwater
D. Environmental racism✅
