Passage The Year without a Summer
The Year without a Summer
The eruption of the Philippine volcano Mount Pinatubo in June 1991 sent a huge cloud of gas and dust encircling the globe. The dust and ash from Mount Pinatubo was blamed for a two-year decrease in global temperature, changes in weather patterns, and damage to the ozone layer. The situation brings to mind a time now remembered as “The Year without a Summer,” a meteorological event that occurred 175 years earlier. At that time, harsh weather conditions plagued much of eastern North America and, to a lesser extent, northern Europe.
April 1816 brought typical spring weather to upstate New York and New England; trees budded, and farmers prepared to plow and plant. In May, however, the expected warm temperatures failed to arrive. Most people remained optimistic, waiting for the summer that was “just around the corner.” They waited in vain. During the first week of June, ten inches of snow fell on New England. Throughout the month, temperatures rarely rose above the 30s. Many farmers replanted crops several times, only to see them stunted or destroyed by sleet, hail, and icy winds. July and August brought little improvement. During most days the temperature stayed in the 40s. Farmers’ diaries document the farmers’ daily struggles with near-freezing temperatures, failing crops, and dying farm animals. The few crops that managed to survive were killed by frost in mid-September. Winter came early in New England and was unusually severe. Even the South was affected; on July 4, the high temperature for Savannah, Georgia, was only 46 degrees Fahrenheit!
Some religious leaders warned their congregations that the unusual weather meant that the end of the world was drawing near. Other leaders attributed the cool weather to unusual sunspot activity. The proliferation of the newly invented lightning rod was also blamed as some people believed that lightning rods had interrupted the natural temperature balance of Earth, causing the cooler temperatures.
It was not until October that the first plausible explanation for “The Year without a Summer” was suggested. Friedrich Bessel, a German astronomer, reported seeing thick clouds of dust in the upper atmosphere. He theorized that these dust particles screened portions of Earth from the warming rays of the sun. It was discovered that in April 1815, Mount Tambora, an Indonesian volcano, had erupted with such force that it had sent an estimated 100 cubic miles of fine dust into the atmosphere. Witnesses to the eruption reported that the sky remained dark for two days. The dust then rose high into the stratosphere, where it encircled the world for several years to come.
Skeptics in 1816 doubted that a faraway volcano could steal their summer. However, most present-day researchers believe Bessel’s explanation to be generally correct, demonstrating the global nature of weather. The dust in the atmosphere eventually settled, and the spring of 1817 was back to normal.
Question
What is the most likely reason farmers persisted in replanting their crops?
- AThey believed that the cold weather could not continue all summer long.
- BThey thought that crops would be able to survive even though the weather remained cold.
- CThey believed that the improved weather conditions of July would last.
- DThey thought the June snowfalls would provide needed moisture.
Show the answer
Correct answer: A
The answer is (A)
The question asks for the sentence that provides the best reason for the farmers replanting their crops. Paragraph 2 states that “farmers prepared to plow and plant” because they “expected warm temperatures” and were “optimistic.” This suggests that the farmers kept replanting their crops because they expected the weather to return to normal, which is reflected in Option A.
Option B is incorrect because the cold weather and the snow actually worsened growing conditions (paragraph 2).
Option C is incorrect because, while “July and August brought little improvement” (paragraph 2), it is throughout the month of June that farmers replanted crops.
Option D is incorrect because, while the farmers kept replanting their crops with the expectation of normal weather to return, the passage does not state that was because the farmers thought the snow would provide moisture.
Question analysis
This inference question asks why New England farmers kept replanting their crops during the cold summer of 1816. The reason is never stated outright, so students must infer it from paragraph 2's month-by-month account while keeping track of when the replanting took place.
- NYS standards
- 7R1 textual evidence and inferences
- Grade level
- Grade 7 reading and task
- Compared with grade 7
- At grade 7 Inferring a group's motive from nearby clues is routine grade 7 work. The clue sits a few sentences before the replanting, and only the order of the months needs care, so the demand is typical.
- Estimated difficulty
- Straightforward: two steps or one careful reading.
- Thinking it demands
- Depth of knowledge 2, skills and concepts · mainly understand
- What makes it hard
- Reading between the lines moderate
- Much to keep track of minor
- A very close wrong answer minor
- Evidence
- Answered from one paragraph or stanza
- Reading level
- Passage: about grade 9, 469 words; question and choices: about grade 6, 59 words.
- Students, last 30 days
- Not enough answers yet to show (it takes 10).
Why it is hard, traps and wrong answers (shows the answer)
Why it is hard
The clue to the farmers' motive sits a few sentences before their replanting, in the optimism of people waiting for a summer that never came. Students who answer from farming sense rather than the passage reach for crops that tolerate cold or snow that waters fields. Keeping the months in order also matters, since the July and August sentence says conditions barely improved.
Reading between the lines moderate Working it out
The reason is never stated beside the replanting; it comes two sentences earlier, where people “remained optimistic, waiting for the summer that was ‘just around the corner.’” (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)
Much to keep track of minor Working it out
Paragraph 2 runs month by month, April buds, May's missing warmth, June snow, a cold July and August, September frost, and students must place the replanting in that sequence. (Sweller, 1988; Carpenter, Just & Shell, 1990)
A very close wrong answer minor Choosing the answer
A and C both say the farmers counted on warm weather coming; C differs in one detail, an improvement in July, which the passage denies with “July and August brought little improvement.” (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)
Strategy: Read paragraph 2 in order, noting what people expected each month and when the replanting happened; the best reason fits both.
Traps
- Reads too much in: A reasonable-sounding conclusion that goes further than the text allows.
- Twists what the text says: Uses the text's topic and ideas but changes what it says: who did it, how much, when, or why.
- Outside knowledge: A choice is plausible in the real world but not supported by this text.
The wrong answers, classified
B Reads too much in (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994)
Assumes the farmers trusted new plantings to survive the cold, a guess the passage never supports; it says people waited for warmth that never came.
C Twists what the text says (King et al., 2004)
Misreads “July and August brought little improvement” as an improvement, and moves the reason for June's replanting to a later month.
D Outside knowledge (King et al., 2004; Recht & Leslie, 1988)
Applies real farming sense that snow brings moisture, but nothing in the passage links the June snowfall to the farmers' decisions.
Working it out, step by step
Figure out what the question asks
This is an inference question. An inference is a smart guess based on clues. The passage doesn’t say outright why the farmers kept replanting. You must figure it out.
Find the clues in paragraph 2
Paragraph 2 goes month by month. In May, “the expected warm temperatures failed to arrive.” Still, people “remained optimistic.” They were waiting for a summer that seemed “just around the corner.”
Then snow fell in June. That month, “Many farmers replanted crops several times.”
Work out what the clues mean
Optimistic means hopeful that things will turn out well. “Just around the corner” means coming very soon. So people expected warm weather any day.
That explains the replanting. Farmers kept planting again because they believed the cold had to end soon. Summer, they thought, was on its way.
Check each choice
- A fits. They believed the cold could not last all summer.
- B The passage shows crops dying in the cold, not farmers trusting them to survive it.
- C The replanting was in June. And “July and August brought little improvement.”
- D The passage never says the farmers wanted the snow for water.
Choose the answer
The farmers kept replanting because they expected the cold to end soon. So the answer is A.
Why this answer and not the closest wrong one
C is the closest trap. Like A, it says farmers expected warm weather. But C says July got better and they trusted that. The passage says “July and August brought little improvement,” and the replanting was in June. A fits the hopeful waiting the passage describes.
More questions like this
The original DOE question
The passage “The Year without a Summer” as printed (page 76)
