The Rainforest

 1     The rainforest is green and growing and lively. In the rainforest it is warm all year long, and there is lots of rain, often over 100 inches of rain per year. Since sunshine and rain are two of the things that plants need to grow, you can see why the rain forest is home to many, many plants. In fact, more than half of the world's different species of plants live in the rainforest.
 
 2     The major plants in a tropical rainforest are trees. There are more types of trees in the rainforest than there are anywhere else. Rainforest trees have tall straight trunks and smooth bark. The taller ones have a canopy of leaves up to 100 feet above the forest floor. The lower ones have a canopy of leaves about 60 feet above the ground.
 
3     Another type of rainforest plant is the epiphyte. Epiphytes are plants that grow on trees instead of on the ground. Orchids, bromeliads, and ferns are rainforest epiphytes. Bromeliads are interesting plants that have leaves that form a holding tank for water. These leaf tanks can hold from less than a pint to more that 10 gallons of water. These little tanks of water are home to whole communities of small creatures including bacteria, mosquitoes, tadpoles, and other animals. There are also tiny epiphytes that live on a leaf including mosses, liverworts, and lichens.
 
4     Vines are also important rain forest plants. Lianas are woody, climbing vines. They start as a ground plant and grow up the trees to the canopy. There are around 2,500 species of rainforest vines. The pitcher plant is a climbing plant that traps bugs in its pitcher for dinner.
 
5     There are large tropical rainforests in South America, Africa, and Asia. At one time rainforests covered 14 % of the Earth's surface, but now the area has been reduced to only 6%. This is because large areas of rainforest have been cleared to build farms and ranches, and because other large areas have been cleared as trees were harvested. This is the same thing that happened to most of our North American forests many years ago.



Answer the following:
 

1.   This article is mainly about
  a  Brazil nuts
  b  Rainforest trees
  c  Rainforest plants
  d  The South American rainforest
 
2.   A plant that is helping to cure leukemia is
  a  Rosy periwinkle
  b  Bromeliad
  c  Pitcher plant
  d  Brazil nut
 
3.   The Amazon rainforest produces one-fifth of the world's
  a  Oxygen
  b  Nitrogen
  c  Hydrogen
  d  Potassium
 
4.   The leaves of tall rainforest trees make up the
  a  Canopy
  b  Trunk
  c  Epiphyte
  d  Forest floor
 
5.   Today, rainforest covers about _____ of the Earth's surface.
  a  6%
  b  14%
  c  200%
  d  1%
 
6.   Epiphytes are
  a  Pitcher plants
  b  Plants that need little water
  c  Plants that grow on tree trunks
  d  Vines
 
7.   Since it is warm and rainy in the rainforests, we can tell that the rainforests are probably located in which part of the world?
  a  Equator
  b  Great Plains
  c  Arctic
  d  Europe
 
8.   Today we use _____ types of fruit and vegetable from the rainforest than the Rainforest Indians used in the past.
  a  About the same
  b  Can't tell from the article
  c  Less
  d  More