Page 63 - SpringBoard_CloseReading_Workshop_Grade7_Flipbook

Close Reading of informational Texts in social studies/history (continued)
edifice: a large and impressive building
plateau: a large flat area that is higher than the areas surrounding it surmounted: placed on top
vessel: a hollow container for holding liquids
coagulation: the process of clotting and thickening into a solid
sarcophagus: an ancient stone coffin
ACTIvITy 1
Guided Practice
You will read the texts in this activity at least three times, focusing on a different purpose for each reading.
First Reading: First Impressions
Read the following passages silently. Your focus for this first reading is on understanding the meaning of the passages. As you read, practice diffusing the words you may not know by replacing unfamiliar words with synonyms or definitions for the underlined words. Use the definitions and synonyms in the margins to help your understanding.
From The Fihrist by Ibn al-Nadim
1 These monuments—that is, the pyramids—have a length of 480 cubits and a
width that is also 480 cubits. The edifice recedes as it rises from the base and at the summit the dimensions are only 40 cubits; this was done intentionally and by design. In the middle of the plateau a beautiful chamber was built, inside of which a sort of mausoleum was set up. At the top of the tomb are two magnificent, perfectly dressed blocks, surmounted by two stone statues representing a man and a woman facing each other. The man holds in his hand a stone tablet covered with writing and the woman a mirror and a gold tablet decorated with wonderful carvings. Between the two pedestals is a stone vessel sealed with a gold lid; lifting the lid, one perceives a sort of odourless dried resin in which has been placed a gold box enclosing a quantity of blood, which, upon exposure to the air, shows the coagulation peculiar to blood, then dries up. The tombs are sealed with stone lids that, when withdrawn, reveal, in one of the tombs, a man lying on his back, perfectly preserved and dried; his flesh, as well as his hair, is still visible. In the neighbouring sarcophagus is the body of a woman in the same position and the same condition as the man.
2 The pavement is pierced by a man sized passage that plunges like a tunnel; its vault is made of stone, and one finds there portraits and seated or standing statues, and a quantity of other things, the meaning of which is not known.
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SpringBoard® English Language Arts Grade 7
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