WEEK #4READING COMPREHENSION- A SURPRISE VISIT
A SURPRISE VISIT
From ReadWorks.org
Karina woke up with the sun blasting through her shades. She
groggily rolled over and looked at her clock, which read 6:30 a.m. She yawned
and crawled out of bed, sticky and sweaty from the humid night. After lazily getting
into her bathing suit and grabbing a ripe banana, she swung her backpack on her
back and left the quiet house.
The walk to the beach took her half an hour, but it passed by
quickly. Tropical birds kept her company, chirping hello from the lush green
trees, while neighbors stretching on their front porches waved as Karina passed
by. However, once she left her neighborhood and reached the entrance to the
tourist resort, the atmosphere completely changed. She began to hear the faint
clinking of silverware as the servers set up for breakfast. Early risers from
the hotel strolled along the beach, taking pictures of the unforgettable
sunrise. The resort was full all year, as Bali is a famous tourist
destination—one island of many in the country of Indonesia, in Southeast Asia.
Indonesia is located just below the Philippines and above Australia.
Many tourists come to Bali to surf, as the Indian Ocean provides
the perfect waves for the sport. But Karina lived near Lovina Beach, famous for
its dolphins. As she walked along the resort’s beach, she smiled to people she
passed by. Just as the sun was rising above the horizon, she reached a small
shack located to the right of the resort, where visitors could come and sign up
for water sports, such as surfing or parasailing, where one dangles from a
flying parachute connected to a boat as it drives over the water.
Karina dropped off her things, then ran back to the beach to her
lifeguard chair. She climbed up and took her position for the day, where she
would watch the resort’s guests frolic in the water and look out for any
potential danger. Some days she would grow bored, watching the same people do
the same things over and over again. The job was quite repetitive, but she
received steady pay, something that allowed her to continue living on the
beautiful island.
The sun climbed in the sky, and the temperature rapidly
increased. Just as Karina turned on a small portable fan to cool herself,
someone began yelling in the water. Karina immediately jumped off her chair and
ran toward the shore. She soon realized the person was yelling “shark.” Her
stomach dropped. She had never experienced a shark sighting before but knew
that she should get everyone out of the water. Even though people were already
swimming and running toward the sand, she began to pull people out of the water
and assisted young children who couldn’t move quickly enough. All the while she
kept her eyes on the blue waves but didn’t see any sign of a shark.
Once everyone was safely ashore, she grabbed her binoculars from
her lifeguard’s chair and peered out over the water. Finally, she spotted a
black dot moving around in the waves nearby. She giggled and breathed a sigh of
relief. To everyone’s shock, she entered the water, slowly getting closer and
closer to the dot. She stopped once she was a few feet away from the animal and
waited. The black dot moved closer and closer to Karina, and she sank in the
water to reach its level. All of a sudden, the animal lifted its snout and made
a funny noise.
“It’s a dolphin!” one kid yelled from the beach. Karina gave the
gentle animal a pat and swam back to the shore. She had plenty of experience
with dolphins, as she was training to become a marine biologist. “It’s okay,
everyone; she’s just a curious one,” she explained. “Please don’t approach
her—but it’s all right to continue to swim.” Everyone laughed and ran back into
the ocean.
Karina climbed onto her chair and looked out through her
binoculars at the dolphin. This day was certainly not boring. In her mind, she
thanked the animal for making a visit and hoped she had returned back to her
family safely.
QUESTIONS-
each worth .3 X 10= 3 points
1. What is Karina’s job?
2. What is the setting of this story? Be specific.
3. How does Karina feel about her job at the beginning of the
story? What evidence makes you think this?
4. What is the weather like? How do you know this?
5.
6. What emotion is the author trying to convey when he says that
Karina’s stomach “dropped”?
7. What does Karina discover about the black dot?
8. Why is Karina so comfortable approaching the black dot?
9. What one warning does Karina give everyone when she allows
them to go back into the water?
10. Why do you think the author titled this story “A Surprise
Visit”?
