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Information and IdeasMediumMain idea correcting a label

Information and Ideas practice question

'Cold-blooded' is a misleading label for reptiles. Their blood is not cold; it is whatever temperature their surroundings are. A lizard basking on a hot rock may have blood warmer than a person's. The accurate word is 'ectothermic': the animal's heat comes from outside its body.

Which choice best states the main idea of the text?

  1. A. Reptiles are not so much cold as dependent on outside heat, which the usual label obscures.Correct
  2. B. Reptiles always have colder blood than mammals.
  3. C. Lizards prefer cold rocks to hot ones.
  4. D. 'Ectothermic' is simply a scientific word for 'cold'.

Answer: A. Reptiles are not so much cold as dependent on outside heat, which the usual label obscures.

The label is called misleading, the real situation described, and the better word given — choice A.

Why the other answers are wrong

B. Reptiles always have colder blood than mammals.
The basking lizard may be WARMER than a person.
C. Lizards prefer cold rocks to hot ones.
The lizard in the text basks on a hot rock.
D. 'Ectothermic' is simply a scientific word for 'cold'.
'Ectothermic' means heat comes from outside, not that the animal is cold.

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