Skin: The Bag You Live In

Reading Comprehension

1. What is the purpose of the analogy of the can of Coke? (RI.3)

2. Which statement best expresses the central idea of the passage? (RI.2)

3. “Mammals are warm blooded.” What does this mean? (RI.1)

4. Skin is “The last word in all-purpose suits.” As it is used in the passage, what is the meaning of this analogy? (RI.4)

5. Why does humidity make you feel hotter? (RI.1)

6. What is the dermis? (RI.4)

7. When blood circulation to the skin is increased, a reader could predict that . . . (RI.1)

8. What is a synonym of vast? (RI.4)

The first creatures on earth were sea creatures. They were protected from the sun’s rays by a blanket of ocean. Under water they remained cool and moist. The seas they swam were rich in nutrients and minerals. The skin that separated them from their outside world was rather simple, since their insides were very much like their outsides.

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Since the earliest days, our environment and our skins have changed considerably. Inside your body, cells live bathed in a fluid environment much like the ancient seas. Outside your body’s skin is air, a gaseous space, full of drying winds and radiation from the sun, a dangerous environment for a creature who is sixty percent water.

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Your skin’s main job is to serve as a watertight container, preventing your internal sea from drying up. Skin also keeps things out. Skin provides protection from bacteria, dirt, and the sun’s rays. Skin is an important part of your body’s climate control system. Sweating, goose bumps, and simple heat loss from the skin all help keep your internal temperature comfortable.

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Skin is also a sensor; thousands of nerve endings in the skin keep you informed. Mammals, warm-blooded creatures, are very fussy about their internal temperatures, and with good reason. A few degrees can mean the difference between life and death. A very important job for the bag you live in is to make sure the contents are kept at a comfortable temperature.

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Skin does this two ways: by radiation and by evaporation. When your internal temperature rises, your brain signals your blood to step up circulation to the skin. In this way, the body’s internal heat is carried by the blood to the surface, where it is lost by radiation. Meanwhile, the sweat glands spring into action, and perspiration is released through the pores.

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This liquid evaporates on your skin, and you cool off. When your temperature drops, your brain signals that heat must now be saved. Less blood circulates to the skin, and sweating stops. Suppose you had a hot can of Coke. If you leave it alone, it will cool down. That’s radiation. If you’re in a hurry for it to cool, you could cover it with a damp cloth.

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That’s evaporation. On a humid day the air is full of water and unwilling to accept more. The perspiration on your skin stays on your skin rather than evaporating into the air. Eighty percent humidity means the air contains eighty percent of the water it can hold. At this humidity your cooling system has slowed down and is operating at about twenty percent efficiency.

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No wonder you’re sticky and warm! Skin is made up of layers, rather like a birthday cake. The under layer is called the dermis. It is alive and contains blood vessels, glands, nerve cells, and hair roots. The layer on top is the epidermis, the skin’s outer limits. This layer is made up of layers of dead cells.

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Skin cells are constantly growing and being pushed to the surface. There they die and form the dead outer layer. The dead outer cells are rubbed off in little bits. In this way your skin reconstructs itself every few weeks. If your skin is punctured with a round instrument like a nail, it leaves a hole. However, it doesn’t leave a round hole.

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It leaves a slit. Surgeons have made maps of these slit patterns, or cleavage lines. They generally follow the crease marks on the skin and are about the same for most bodies. Skin that is cut along a cleavage line rather than across has a much less likely chance of leaving a scar. Your skin lies between you and the outside world.

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It is in a position to tell you a lot about what is going on out there. It does so with a vast network of nerve endings that sit just under your tough outer hide. Touch is no simple sense. You are able to feel warm, squishy, furry, hard, slimy, freezing cold, greasy, hot, etc. Your skin is equipped with sensors for heat, cold, pressure, and pain.

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Sensations are often combinations of two or more kinds of information. Getting kissed is a combination of pleasure and heat. Getting kicked is a combination of pressure and pain. Your skin is a suit with many surfaces. It is damp, dry, thick, thin, hairy, and smooth. It is pleated to give you room to move. It’s the last word in all-purpose suits.

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1. What is the purpose of the analogy of the can of Coke? (RI.3)

1. What is the purpose of the analogy of the can of Coke? (RI.3)A. to provide an example of evaporationB. to show that the author understands something

besides scienceC. to make the writing more vivid and more interesting

to readersD. to compare the ways a human body and nonliving

object heat and cool

2. Which statement best expresses the central idea of the passage? (RI.2)

2. Which statement best expresses the central idea of the passage? (RI.2)A. Skin is an important part of the body’s climate control

system, keeping its internal temperature comfortable.

B. The skin has many purposes that are vital to our health.

C. Since earliest days, our environment and our skins have changed considerably.

D. The skin reconstructs itself every few weeks.

3. “Mammals are warm blooded.” What does this mean? (RI.1)

3. “Mammals are warm blooded.” What does this mean? (RI.1)A. They are creatures capable of feeling emotions.B. Their blood is naturally warm and temperatures

remain constant.C. They have internal temperature control.D. The 60 percent of water in the blood keeps

mammals warm.

4. Skin is “The last word in all-purpose suits.” As it is used in the passage, what is the meaning of this analogy? (RI.4)

4. Skin is “The last word in all-purpose suits.” As it is used in the passage, what is the meaning of this analogy? (RI.4)A. Skin has many functions.B. Skin has many textures.C. Skin adapts to changes in external stimuli.D. Skin can change in response to environmental

factors.

5. Why does humidity make you feel hotter? (RI.1)

5. Why does humidity make you feel hotter? (RI.1)A. Sweat evaporates very quickly when it’s humid.B. Sweat evaporates very slowly when it’s humid.C. Sweat radiates quickly when it’s humid.D. Sweat radiates slowly when it’s humid.

6. What is the dermis? (RI.4)

A. the layer of skin that contains layers of dead skinB. the layer of skin with slit patterns or cleavage linesC. the layer of skin with constantly growing cellsD. the layer of skin with cells regularly shed by the

body

6. What is the dermis? (RI.4)

7. When blood circulation to the skin is increased, a reader could predict that . . . (RI.1)

7. When blood circulation to the skin is increased, a reader could predict that . . . (RI.1)A. The body heats up.B. The blood in the body stops moving.C. The body cools down.D. The body’s internal temperature increases.

8. What is a synonym of vast? (RI.4)

8. What is a synonym of vast? (RI.4)“It does so with a vast network of nerve endings that sit just under your tough outside hide.”A.smallB.extensiveC.complexD.warm