You final exam will include the following:

• Questions on the ten “Health and Psychology” readings in the textbook • One set of inference questions based on a short reading (181) words • One news article (about 500 words) with

- vocabulary meaning from context questions - one paragraph: summarization - one paragraph: opinion and reasons

Inference

Use the exercises in the textbook (pages 138 to 144) to practice making inferences.

On the following pages are three articles you can use to help you prepare for the exam.

• Are there words you don’t know? Try to figure out or guess their meaning from context.

• Try summarizing the articles in single, well-constructed paragraphs.

• Form an opinion on the article. In one well-constructed paragraph, state your opinion and offer reasons that support your opinion.

Example opinions:

Pandas are valuable resources and we need to do all we can to protect them.

Saving the pandas from extinction is not important. Resources should be spent on helping people, not animals.

The earth cannot sustain the current rates of population growth. Population growth must be stopped worldwide.

Science will find a way to sustain the planet. Countries like Japan need to increase their populations.

Companies all over the world need to stop making and using plastic straws now.

Eliminating plastic straws will make little difference. Attention should be placed elsewhere for bigger environmental benefits.

Endangered Species: The giant panda By Gale, Cengage Learning, adapted by Newsela staffText Level 505/10/2018

The giant panda is recognized by people around the world. The panda also has become a symbol in the fight to save endangered species from extinction. The animal shares some characteristics with both bears and raccoons. Tests show it is more closely related to the bear. So, scientists classify it as a member of the bear family. An average giant panda is 4 to 6 feet tall and weighs between 165 and 350 pounds. Its little tail measures 5 inches in length. The animal's thick, woolly coat is mostly white. Its legs, shoulders, ears and eye patches are black.

Bamboo stalks and roots make up 95 percent of the giant panda's diet. One of its wrist bones is enlarged and lengthened. The animal uses it like a thumb when grasping bamboo. The giant panda also has strong jaws and teeth to crush bamboo. The rest of its diet is made up of grass, insects, rodents and fish. The giant panda eats 20 to 40 pounds of food each day! It spends 10 to 16 hours just eating.

Giant pandas are usually alone and territorial. They have a home area of 1.5 to 2.5 square miles. They mark the area with their own scent. Males and females mate between March and May. After 125 to 150 days, the female giant panda gives birth to one or two cubs. Panda cubs are very weak at birth, weighing only 3 to 5 ounces. If two cubs are born, usually just one survives. It stays with its mother for up to a year. The average lifespan of a giant panda in the wild is 15 years.

Habitat And Population

Giant pandas in the wild are very rare. They live only in the mountains of central China. The pandas like to live in dense bamboo and coniferous forests. These areas usually are at elevations of 5,000 to 10,000 feet. Biologists estimate that about 1,800 giant pandas existed in the wild in 2014. That was an important increase since the late 1970s when the estimate was 1,000 pandas. There are only 49 pandas in 18 zoos outside of China.

History And Conservation

The giant panda has lived in China for thousands of years. It was once common throughout the country. Over the last 2,000 years, it has disappeared from many provinces. In 1869, Frenchman Armand David became the first European to describe the giant panda. The species was not well known in the west until a captive panda was brought to the United States in the 1930s. As a gesture of goodwill, the Chinese government presented U.S. President Richard Nixon with a pair of giant pandas in 1972. Ling-Ling and Hsing-Hsing became famous and lived at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., until their deaths in the 1990s.

Loss of habitat is the main danger to giant pandas. Bamboo grows slowly, so the pandas need a large range to gather food. China's population continues to grow and grow. In 2015, more than 1.3 billion people lived in China. More Chinese cities for people mean less land for giant pandas.

Another threat to the giant panda is illegal hunting. The animal is protected by international treaties. Also, the Chinese government puts people convicted of hunting pandas in prison for life. Still, the animal is hunted for its fur. The furs are then sold in southeast Asian markets for high prices.

The Chinese government has taken steps to save the giant pandas. They set aside 50 panda preserves to protect almost 45 percent of the animals' natural habitat. Giant pandas are often difficult to breed in zoos. In 1963, the first giant panda born in a zoo was in Beijing, China. Fewer than 10 have been born in zoos outside of China. Births in zoos are on the rise worldwide. In the future, China hopes to release captive-born pandas into the wild.

With 250 babies born each minute, how many people can the Earth sustain? By Lucy Lamble, The Guardian, adapted by Newsela staff 05/08/2018 Text Level 5

How Many People Are There In The World?

We don't know for sure because all numbers are estimates. Scientists believe there were about a billion people in 1800, 2 billion in 1927 and 5 billion in 1987. There are just over 7.5 billion people in the world today.

About 130 million people are born every year. Scientists think there will be about 11 billion people in the world by 2100.

Where Is The Population Rising Fastest – And Slowest?

Broadly speaking, the fastest population growth is taking place in Africa and Asia. By 2050, there will be more Nigerians than Americans. By 2100, as many as 1 out of 3 people will be African.

At the other end of the scale, population growth has stalled in parts of Europe, Japan and Russia. In some areas, it has even begun to decline.

Are These Numbers Sustainable?

This is a difficult question to answer. Some experts believe the population of the world is already way past ideal levels. However, critics argue that population levels are not everything. How much resources humans use, like oil and coal, is just as important, they say.

Some believe the whole argument about overpopulation is problematic. That's because it often points the finger at poorer parts of the world with high population growth and ignores the fact that richer countries use more resources.

What Influences Fertility?

The fertility rate is the number of children born for every woman in a population. Things that affect it include women's rights to decide how many children they want, education and health care. The global average fertility rate is just below 2.5 children per woman today.

In the past, fertility rates of 4.5 to 7 children per woman were common. High mortality rates kept population growth low. As health improved, the population growth rate began to soar. It only flattened out as the fertility rate eventually declined.

If Birthrates Have Fallen So Far, Why Is The Population Still Rising Fast?

Of course, fertility rates are just half the story. Today, people are living far longer than they did in the past. About 55 million people die every year, which is less than half the number who are born.

The number of children who die before they turn 5 years old has fallen to an all-time low. At the same time, life expectancy is much higher. In more than 100 countries, the average person is expected to live past age 70.

So What Is The Demographic Dividend?

Countries that do succeed in reducing fertility rates can experience a big benefit. It is called a demographic dividend. This is where there are more people in the workforce than children to support.

A decline in fertility means the younger population is no longer growing as fast. As a result, the number of workers per child increases. That should lead to a period of rapid economic growth. In the 1970s, that's exactly what happened in South Korea and Taiwan. Now, countries such as China and India are benefiting from a demographic dividend.

Isn't It Problematic That Western Populations Are Declining?

Another global shift that's happening is aging populations. This year, the number of people worldwide who are over 60 years old will rise above 1 billion for the first time. By 2050, it is forecast to be 2 billion. The question is, who will pay for what they need as they grow older?

Falling birth rates mean fewer young people. As a result, there are not as many workers to pay for the healthcare and other needs of older people.

If countries plan for the shift they can see gains. For example, Japan helped its aging population by introducing a new healthcare system. Older people had fewer health problems, extending worker productivity.

What Next?

Family planning groups provide services to help women control their fertility. To appeal to both liberals and conservatives, they are learning new ways to promote themselves. One is to show that family planning is not just good for public health. It is also good for the amount of money a country has.

Where women have control over their fertility, there are gains to be had for everyone.

McDonald's to test plastic-straw alternatives in U.S. later this year By Zlati Meyer, USA Today, adapted by Newsela staff06/26/2018 Text Level 6

Under pressure by environmentalists, McDonald's made an announcement on June 15. The fast-food restaurant will start testing alternatives to plastic straws at select locations in the U.S. later this year. The burger giant also announced that it will adopt more eco-friendly paper straws across all its 1,361 restaurants in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It is a region where the company started testing the alternative to plastic straws earlier this year. The regional rollout begins in September.

The problem with plastic straws is that they can only be used once. They end up in landfills, where they stay for awhile because they do not easily break down. And, they aren't really necessary for most people when it comes to gulping a soft drink.

Millions Upon Millions Of Straws

The activist group SumOfUs estimates that every day, McDonald's alone dispenses millions of plastic straws that customers soon discard. The straws end up littering beaches or clogging waterways. They also fill trash dumps. "McDonald's is committed to using our scale for good and working to find sustainable solutions for plastic straws globally," Francesca DeBiase said in a statement. She is the company's executive vice president for global supply chain and sustainability. "We hope this work will support industry-wide change."

The Chicago-based fast-food chain said it has been dabbling in disposable-straw alternatives in Belgium, too. Later this year, it will also begin trying them in other countries. They will test them in France, Sweden and Norway. And in Malaysia, McDonald's will try a new approach to dispensing straws. They will be giving them out only if a customer requests one. McDonald's move is a "significant contribution to help our natural environment," said Michael Gove in a statement. He is the secretary of state for environment, food and rural affairs in the United Kingdom. "We want more companies to say no to unnecessary single-use plastics."

Other Single-Use Plastics On Chopping Block

McDonald's isn't the only major straw user to start tossing them aside. Royal Caribbean has promised to nix them by the end of this year. Other cruise companies like Hurtigruten and Peregrine Adventures have also made similar pledges. Alaska Airlines is getting rid of plastic drink stirrers starting next month. The food service company Bon Appétit Management has 1,000-plus locations in 33 states. Their stores range from the Art Institute of Chicago to the University of Portland. They will stop using plastic straws and stirrers by September 2019.

Straws are coming under attack not only in corporate boardrooms, but also in government. Both California and New York City are considering banning them. Eric Goldstein is a senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council. He said the announcement from as big a company as McDonald's reflects the growing tide of concern about single-use plastics worldwide. "The drive to eliminate plastic straws is a good step and it's symbolic — and symbols are important," he said. "You could say it should've been done earlier, but it's certainly better late than never.”