Reading Inventory Practice - 800s

I stared at him as he pulled a newspaper out of the machine and straightened up. He turned suddenly, and I looked away so he wouldn't catch me staring. But he was paying no attention to me. He was looking past me, down the track at a train that was puffing into the station. He walked quickly toward the boarding area, and Claud and I followed right behind him.

We were _____ .

At first, she thought she was mistaken. How could that passenger be sitting in the first-class dining salon? But as she continued to look, she knew there was no mistaking those finely chiseled cheekbones. He was still in need of a haircut, and although he had changed into a dinner jacket, he was wearing it over a white turtleneck sweater, the only man in the entire room dressed so informally. He probably didn't know any better.

The man was _____ .

Mushrooms are a favorite wild food in Russia. In the spring and fall, people take a holiday to go mushroom picking in the countryside. The strong, earthy smell of the mushrooms fills the train when they ride home.

People enjoy this _____ .

Inside it was pitch black. He fumbled for the light switch, found it, and keeping one hand firmly on it, reached down and lifted the suitcase and shopping bag into the room. He let the door close noiselessly.

He had entered _____ .

Garnet saw a small object, half-buried in the sand, and glittering. She knelt down and dug it out with her finger. It was a silver thimble! How in the world had that ever found its way into the river? She dropped the old shoe, bits of polished glass, and a half dozen clamshells she had collected and ran breathlessly to show Jay.

Garnet was _____ .

In 1854, England joined in the Crimean War against Russia. There were not enough hospital beds or doctors for the sick and injured English soldiers. There were no candles, bandages, or nurses. On October 15, 1854, the Secretary At War asked Florence Nightingale to select a group of nurses and take them to the Crimea. Within one week, she was on her way.

Florence was _____ .

The word centipede comes from the Latin roots centum, which means "hundred," and ped, meaning "foot." Centipedes have one pair of legs attached to each section of their body. Certain centipedes more than live up to their name. Some have as many as 170 pairs of legs.

Centipedes have _____ legs.

Bo wanted to play several sports. But his three older brothers told Bo he was foolish. "They said I wouldn't succeed in three sports, that I should stick with one," Bo says. "I told them I was going to do it, that it was none of their business what I did."

Bo's brothers _____ him.

Fridays are always a challenge for me. I dart out of ballet class and hope my dad is right on time to pick me up. (He usually is.) Then I have to work very hard not to fidget if we're not going fast enough. The reason I'm in such a rush is that I have to be at my BSC meeting by five-thirty. Sharp!

I don't like to be _____ .

Juan was full of curiosity about the swallows. He watched them build their small mud houses against the beams of the roof. The female sat quietly on her eggs while the male sang his little twittering song to her. In the evening Juan saw them huddled close together, asleep.

Juan _____ the swallows.