solve it 15

Read the passage and answer the questions :-

Alex awoke under a pile of his own dirty clothes. As always, the process was slow. According to Alex’s mother, Alex was “just not a morning person.” According to his father, it just took him a little while to “start up his engine,” like their car did during the wintertime.

Alex could smell eggs and cheese being transformed into omelets downstairs. He let the smell carry him out of bed and down to the table, where his father plopped down a huge plate of food, just for him.
This new diet, one packed with protein, was supposed to help Alex do better in school. Because for as long as he could remember, Alex had been like the kind of car that ran and ran and never stopped, once it was finally warmed up ‐‐ especially after a big bowl of sugary cereal. Which was a problem when it came to school. Alex hated school. He felt imprisoned at a desk for eight hours a day, fighting the unbearable urge to burst into action and buzz around the room. Alex felt much like he did
when he was driving with his Uncle Nate. Uncle Nate had a bright‐yellow V8 convertible and liked to tear around town in it with his favorite nephew. Whenever they pulled up next to another car at a red light, Uncle Nate would make the engine roar in order to make Alex laugh. “RRRRrrrrRRRR!” growled the engine, as if it hated being kept in place when all it wanted to do was just go. “RRRRrrrrrRRRR!” Alex would sometimes growl to himself when he felt restless, imagining himself as a little car with a big engine, parked at a stoplight.

“RRRRrrrrRRRR!” he growled now to himself at the breakfast table, imagining his engine filling up with good fuel and beginning to warm up. Though it startled his parents sometimes, they didn’t mind him sitting there and growling. Because before, he didn’t just stay parked in his seat like he was now. Before he started trying to sit still more often, he would just go, like his uncle’s car did when the light
finally turned green. He would race off to school so fast that he’d leave his homework behind, or race home from school so fast that he forgot to take his books. He’d even race around during the middle of school assemblies or tests. And usually, he’d run into someone else along the way. Sometimes, he would knock something over, like a building made of blocks that his classmates had created in the corner.
“Not again, Alex!” someone would always yell.
Lately, Alex had been realizing that that his unstoppable engine was also making life harder for him, not just other people.
For example, his teachers had begun to seat him away from other students, in the front of the room, where he couldn’t goof off. Playmates he’d had since preschool had begun to avoid him. His parents understood how hard it was for him to control his engine. Yet they were beginning to worry about what would happen to him later in life. Could he handle high school?
Get into college? Have a job one day?
Finally, Alex’s teacher, Ms. Jackson, had invited his parents to a “behavior conference” where they talked about how hard it was for Alex to stay parked. They all agreed that something needed to change. They needed to think of some ideas to help Alex. First, Alex suggested that maybe they send him to a country with no schools, so he wouldn’t have to sit down so much. His parents smiled, but said that this idea probably would not work.
Then, Alex’s parents looked online. They saw articles that said that it might help him to eat less sugar. Sugar made him “bounce off the walls,” according to his parents, so they switched his breakfast to eggs.
Next, his teacher got him a squishy ball to hold in class. She had seen some other teachers use this with their students. She said that sometimes, having something to play with or doodle on could actually help some kids stay focused. After that, they met with the school counselor, whose job it was to think of good ideas to help kids who were having problems in school. The counselor suggested that Alex be given two sets of books, one for home and one for school. If his engine revved up after school and he took off without them, he wouldn’t fail to do his homework.
Finally, his parents took Alex to see a doctor. Dr. Kagan said she had met a lot of kids like Alex before. She wasn’t surprised to hear that he was having trouble staying put. It was just the way he was wired, she said. Kids like him were just born with a brain and a body that were all engine and no brakes, and it took time for them to learn to slow down. In fact, said the doctor, some scientists even thought that you could rewire your insides to act differently if you practiced good habits over and over on the outside, like a mechanic working on his own car to make it run better.
Dr. Kagan also told him that if he was really having big problems, she could give him some special medicine to help them put on the brakes. Alex had never known this was possible. However, she said, he would have to take a test to be sure that he needed the medicine. And because his parents, his teacher and his counselor were all trying such good ideas with him, they needed to give him time to see if he could make it work. As they left the doctor’s office, Dr. Kagan gave him one last piece of advice.
“Remember, driving isn’t just about getting to where you’re going as fast as you can,” said the doctor. “It’s also a good time to notice the scenery, listen to music, and talk to your friends. If you aren’t going slowly enough to do that, you’re going to miss the best things in life.” Over the next few weeks, Alex practiced slowing himself down. Instead of saying
“RRRrrrrRRRRR!” all the time, he thought about the sound of brakes, slowing down the speed of a bicycle or a car (“Skreek!”). As he continued to put on his imaginary brakes, rather than getting up each period to knock over blocks, he was also noticing that other people’s actions were changing too.
Teachers spoke more softly to him, because they could see he was listening. Girls let him stand next to them in line, because they weren’t afraid he’d knock them over like the blocks. His mom didn’t yell at him so much, because he wasn’t losing his homework each day. Maybe there’s still hope for me, Alex thought, shoveling the rest of his fuel‐‐er, eggs‐‐ into his mouth. Maybe school will feel fun for me one day.
Alex still had his doubts, but he slipped on his backpack anyway, and headed for the bus, trailing crumpled up homework papers behind him in his wake, and growling “RRrrrrrRRRRrrrr!” all the way down the street.



1. What is Alex’s new, protein-packed diet supposed to do?

A give Alex more energy to work
B help Alex do better in school
C help Alex remember his books
D help Alex to build muscles

2. What main problem does Alex face?

A He has trouble sitting still.
B He has trouble reading.
C He has trouble making friends.
D He has trouble eating sugar.

3. Alex’s behavior causes problems for the people around him. What evidence from the passage supports this conclusion?

A Sometimes Alex races off to school and leaves his homework at home.
B Sometimes Alex races home from school and forgets his books.
C Alex’s teachers sit him in front of the class so he can’t goof off.
D When Alex races around school, he usually runs into people.

4. Why does Alex have trouble sitting still at school?

A because he eats too many sugary foods
B because that is just how his brain is wired
C because he likes to misbehave and cause trouble
D because he is not as smart as other students

5. What is this passage mostly about?

A Alex is hyper when he eats sugary cereal, so now he eats eggs.
B Alex meets with his teacher and his parents to discuss his behavior.
C Alex has trouble sitting still, but is making some progress.
D Alex likes driving with his Uncle Nate in his V8 convertible.