Read the following article from a website.
Kelsmere’s library board will decide in November whether three of its six branches should stay open until nine o’clock on weeknights. Right now, every branch closes at six, even during exam season. The board has received more than five hundred emails about the idea since September. Card-swipe records show that student visits are highest in the hour before closing, and staff often have to ask teenagers to pack up in the middle of their homework. The trial would cost about ninety thousand dollars a year.
Adele Hawthorne, who manages the busiest branch, says she has pushed for the change for two years. “Every evening at ten to six, I watch kids close their laptops in the middle of a sentence,” Hawthorne said. “If we stay open, they could finish the work they started. It is the cheapest way I know to help them. A tutor costs a family forty dollars an hour. A desk here costs them nothing,” she added.
Mikael Ilves, a finance analyst for the city, says the costs are bigger than they look. “Three more hours with the lights on is not free,” Ilves said. “You pay for heating, cleaning and staff, and the older branches lose a lot of heat through their windows.” He wants to test the idea at one branch first and publish the cost per visit before it spreads. Precious Jibowu, a youth outreach worker, sees the issue differently. “Many newcomer families I work with live in small apartments. There is no quiet corner for a teenager to study,” she said. “For them, a library desk at night is as basic as a bus shelter,” Jibowu added.
Tariq Hosseini, a Grade 11 student, says he would use the extra hours every week. “At home I share a room with two brothers, and one of them is always on a video call,” Hosseini said. “The library is the only place where I can think straight. I would be there four nights a week if the doors stayed open,” he added.
Using the drop-down menu (▾), choose the best option according to the information given on the website.
This article would most likely appear in 2..
Paragraph four mainly presents 3..
Mikael Ilves’s position would likely be supported by 4..
Precious Jibowu would likely say that later hours 5..
The following is a comment by a visitor to the website page. Complete the comment by choosing the best option to fill in each blank.
AI explanationShows the answer. Tap to open.
Correct Answer: a proposal to keep some libraries open later
Why this is correct: The board will decide whether some branches should stay open into the evening. Every speaker gives a view on this idea.
Passage Reference: Kelsmere’s library board will decide in November whether ... Right now, every branch closes at six, even during exam season.
Tips: Go through Hawthorne, Ilves, Jibowu and Hosseini, asking each time if the option fits. If the reporter could have written the article without that option, it is not the topic.
Why the other options are wrong:
- a plan to build a new library branch: Nobody in the article talks about building anything.
- a program that gives students free laptops: Laptops are mentioned only in Hawthorne’s picture of students leaving.
- a plan to close the oldest branches: Ilves mentions older branches, but nobody wants to close them.
Correct Answer: a local paper for readers in the town
Passage Reference: Kelsmere’s library board will decide in November
Why this is correct: The article reports a decision by Kelsmere’s own library board. It quotes local staff, a city analyst, an outreach worker and a student.
Tips: Look at the reporter’s own sentences and ask what kind of report they make. Keep the place that would print these sentences without any changes.
Why the other options are wrong:
- a magazine for people who design libraries: Nobody talks about how libraries are built or designed. The article is about opening hours.
- a guide that helps students study at home: The article does not give study advice. It reports views on a library decision.
- a national report on city budgets: Only Kelsmere’s costs come up, in Ilves’s part. The article does not compare cities across the country.
Correct Answer: a student’s reasons for wanting the change
Passage Reference: Tariq Hosseini, a Grade 11 student, says he would use the extra hours every week.
Why this is correct: Paragraph four belongs to Hosseini, a Grade 11 student. He explains why he wants the library open later and how often he would go.
Tips: Read “Paragraph four” again and decide what it does for the article. Then compare each choice with those lines and nothing else.
Why the other options are wrong:
- a manager’s picture of students packing up: Hawthorne describes students packing up in paragraph two. Paragraph four is a student speaking for himself.
- an analyst’s doubts about the costs: Ilves raises his doubts about costs in paragraph three.
- the details of the board’s decision: The board’s decision is explained in paragraph one.
Correct Answer: heating bills from the older branches
Passage Reference: Three more hours with the lights on is not free ... the older branches lose a lot of heat through their windows
Why this is correct: Ilves says the extra hours cost more than they look, and the older branches lose a lot of heat. High heating bills would back up his case.
Tips: Read every sentence Ilves says and the line about what he wants. Decide if each option would make his case stronger, or if it fits someone else’s case.
Why the other options are wrong:
- card-swipe records of busy evening hours: Busy evening records support the case for later hours, which Hawthorne makes. They do not show costs.
- families who have no quiet place at home: Families without a quiet place support Jibowu’s view, not Ilves’s point about costs.
- the high price of private lessons: The cost of a tutor comes from Hawthorne. She uses it to argue for later hours.
Correct Answer: would meet a basic need for some families
Passage Reference: Many newcomer families I work with live in small apartments. ... For them, a library desk at night is as basic as a bus shelter
Why this is correct: Jibowu says many newcomer families live in small apartments with no quiet corner. For them, she says, a library desk at night is as basic as a bus shelter.
Tips: Read every quote from Jibowu and test each option against it. Drop any idea that another speaker gives, or that nobody gives.
Why the other options are wrong:
- should be tried at a single branch first: Testing at one branch first is what Ilves wants. Jibowu does not ask for a trial.
- would cost less than private lessons: Hawthorne compares a desk with the cost of a tutor. Jibowu does not talk about prices.
- would mostly help students with big homes: Jibowu says the reverse. She is speaking about families in small apartments.
Correct Answer: three
Passage Reference: three of its six branches should stay open
Why this is correct: The board wants three of its six branches to stay open later.
Tips: The comment already gives the total number of branches. Find how many would change their hours.
Why the other options are wrong:
- two: Two is not the number in the plan.
- four: Four is not the number in the plan.
- five: Five hundred is the number of emails, not the number of branches.
Correct Answer: nine o’clock
Passage Reference: stay open until nine o’clock on weeknights
Why this is correct: Under the plan, the branches would stay open until nine o’clock on weeknights.
Tips: Two times for the doors appear in the article, the old one and the new one. Choose the time from the plan.
Why the other options are wrong:
- eight o’clock: Eight o’clock is not in the article.
- ten o’clock: Ten o’clock is not in the article.
- eleven o’clock: Eleven o’clock is not in the article.
Correct Answer: forty dollars
Passage Reference: A tutor costs a family forty dollars an hour.
Why this is correct: Hawthorne says a tutor costs a family forty dollars an hour.
Tips: The commenter is repeating the branch manager’s comparison. Find the hourly price she gives.
Why the other options are wrong:
- thirty dollars: Thirty dollars is not in the article.
- fifty dollars: Fifty dollars is not in the article.
- twenty dollars: Twenty dollars is not in the article.
Correct Answer: ninety thousand dollars
Passage Reference: The trial would cost about ninety thousand dollars a year.
Why this is correct: The trial would cost about ninety thousand dollars a year.
Tips: The comment wants the yearly price of the trial. Read the zeros in the figure carefully.
Why the other options are wrong:
- seventy thousand dollars: Seventy thousand dollars is not in the article.
- eighty thousand dollars: Eighty thousand dollars is not in the article.
- one hundred thousand dollars: The article gives a smaller amount.
Correct Answer: two brothers
Passage Reference: At home I share a room with two brothers
Why this is correct: Hosseini says that at home he shares a room with two brothers.
Tips: The commenter means the Grade 11 student. Find who he says he shares his room with.
Why the other options are wrong:
- an older sister: A sister is not mentioned in the article.
- a cousin: A cousin is not mentioned in the article.
- his grandparents: Grandparents are not mentioned in the article.
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