, NELTAS - ECAT GRADE 7
Read the PASSAGE and answer questions 1 to 10.
Everybody knows that dinosaurs once roamed the earth. But how do we know that fact? Dinosaurs lived many
millions of years ago and there were no photos taken of them. Yet scientists do have proof of dinosaurs, thanks to
fossils.
A fossil is what is left of an animal or a plant a long time after it dies. Fossils
are the buried parts of living things that have been preserved from a
different geological time period. You can think of fossils as the ancestors of
today’s animals and plants. To be considered a fossil, the remains must be at
least 10,000 years old.
Usually when an animal or plant dies, it decomposes. That means it rots away
to nothing over time. But sometimes, an animal gets buried at the bottom of
an ocean in layers of sand or mud called sediment. Over many years, the
animal’s skeleton gets crushed by more layers of sediment. Eventually, the
sediment hardens into rock over the bones, which decay. When that
happens, minerals slowly replace the bones and make a cast of the skeleton
in the same shape as the original. Millions of years later, the rock surrounding the skeleton surfaces after an
earthquake or after erosion from wind and rain. The fossil is then just waiting to be found, perhaps by someone like
you digging it up from the ground!
There are some other, more unusual ways for fossils to form. Scientists have discovered skeletons of animals that
died instantly when a volcano erupted, their bones preserved in the ash. Small bugs or insects caught in tree sap can
become fossils when the sap hardens into a golden material called amber. And animals trapped in sticky natural
asphalt or tar can turn into fossils.
Huge dinosaur skeletons are probably the most famous kinds of fossils. But fossils are not always huge. The tiniest
dinosaur fossil was found in China. Microraptor was only about a foot long, which is about the size of a box of cereal.
Even tinier are the smallest fossils ever discovered, blue-green algae that lived on some rocks in Africa more than
three billion years ago. Blue-green algae are also the very oldest fossils ever found.
Fossils give us a wonderful window into our past. Today the science of studying fossils is alive. Paleontology (pay-lee-
un-tall’-uh-gee) is the study of the history of life on earth, using fossils as the evidence. So, if you love dinosaurs and
you want to know more about what happened on earth thousands or millions of years ago, maybe someday you can
make your living by digging up fossils!
1. Which of the following statements is true about fossils?
A. The oldest fossils on record date back to the time of the first humans living in North America.
B. Only large animals, like dinosaurs, are capable of becoming fossilized.
C. It is becoming harder and harder for scientists to find fossils, so paleontology is a dying profession.
D. You are likely to find a fossil after it has been brought to the surface by wind or rain erosion, or even a
natural disaster.
2. What would be a suitable title for the passage?
A. Paleontology: A study of fossils B. The Prehistoric Dinosaurs
C. The Prehistoric Age D. Fossils: Clues to the past
3. ‘Maintained in its original condition’ is the meaning of which word from the passage?
A. evidence B. erosion C. preserved D. sediment
4. Which of these words mean ‘framework of bones’ when unscrambled?
A. LENOTSKE B. SONIORE C. STDSIARE D. SILFOS
(NELTAS – ECAT) English Competency Analytical Test Page 2 of 7
Read the PASSAGE and answer questions 1 to 10.
Everybody knows that dinosaurs once roamed the earth. But how do we know that fact? Dinosaurs lived many
millions of years ago and there were no photos taken of them. Yet scientists do have proof of dinosaurs, thanks to
fossils.
A fossil is what is left of an animal or a plant a long time after it dies. Fossils
are the buried parts of living things that have been preserved from a
different geological time period. You can think of fossils as the ancestors of
today’s animals and plants. To be considered a fossil, the remains must be at
least 10,000 years old.
Usually when an animal or plant dies, it decomposes. That means it rots away
to nothing over time. But sometimes, an animal gets buried at the bottom of
an ocean in layers of sand or mud called sediment. Over many years, the
animal’s skeleton gets crushed by more layers of sediment. Eventually, the
sediment hardens into rock over the bones, which decay. When that
happens, minerals slowly replace the bones and make a cast of the skeleton
in the same shape as the original. Millions of years later, the rock surrounding the skeleton surfaces after an
earthquake or after erosion from wind and rain. The fossil is then just waiting to be found, perhaps by someone like
you digging it up from the ground!
There are some other, more unusual ways for fossils to form. Scientists have discovered skeletons of animals that
died instantly when a volcano erupted, their bones preserved in the ash. Small bugs or insects caught in tree sap can
become fossils when the sap hardens into a golden material called amber. And animals trapped in sticky natural
asphalt or tar can turn into fossils.
Huge dinosaur skeletons are probably the most famous kinds of fossils. But fossils are not always huge. The tiniest
dinosaur fossil was found in China. Microraptor was only about a foot long, which is about the size of a box of cereal.
Even tinier are the smallest fossils ever discovered, blue-green algae that lived on some rocks in Africa more than
three billion years ago. Blue-green algae are also the very oldest fossils ever found.
Fossils give us a wonderful window into our past. Today the science of studying fossils is alive. Paleontology (pay-lee-
un-tall’-uh-gee) is the study of the history of life on earth, using fossils as the evidence. So, if you love dinosaurs and
you want to know more about what happened on earth thousands or millions of years ago, maybe someday you can
make your living by digging up fossils!
1. Which of the following statements is true about fossils?
A. The oldest fossils on record date back to the time of the first humans living in North America.
B. Only large animals, like dinosaurs, are capable of becoming fossilized.
C. It is becoming harder and harder for scientists to find fossils, so paleontology is a dying profession.
D. You are likely to find a fossil after it has been brought to the surface by wind or rain erosion, or even a
natural disaster.
2. What would be a suitable title for the passage?
A. Paleontology: A study of fossils B. The Prehistoric Dinosaurs
C. The Prehistoric Age D. Fossils: Clues to the past
3. ‘Maintained in its original condition’ is the meaning of which word from the passage?
A. evidence B. erosion C. preserved D. sediment
4. Which of these words mean ‘framework of bones’ when unscrambled?
A. LENOTSKE B. SONIORE C. STDSIARE D. SILFOS
(NELTAS – ECAT) English Competency Analytical Test Page 2 of 7
