English Language Worksheet – Class IV
Topic: Comprehension Practice - Nonfiction
Name: ______________________ Date: ______________
Recycling
Have you ever thought about the fact that most of what you own will one day be thrown out?
Think about your clothes, the TV, and the stove. They will tear or break down. Or you may just
want to get new, better things. But where do things go when you throw them out?
The bad news is that most of it goes to a landfill. A landfill is a big hole in the ground. It may have
a concrete or plastic liner. This liner keeps chemicals from seeping into the groundwater around
the landfill. Trash trucks filled with all the things that people throw out go to the landfill. They
dump their loads into the hole. Bulldozers cover everything with soil, but there is a better way.
Since we are running out of landfill space, more people are doing it.
The better way is recycling. Recycling lets many things be used again. Give away an old TV or
stove. They can be fixed so that someone else can use them. Clothes can be sent to people who
need them. Most glass, paper, plastic, and metal is recyclable. When people recycle these
things, it helps the environment. It saves space in landfills. (Paper takes up more space in
landfills than any other thing!) And instead of wasting these materials, they get used again.
Some people have recycle bins. They put their paper, metal, glass, and plastic into the bin. A
special truck takes these things to a processing center. Other people must drive to a recycling
center and drop off their things.
What happens at the recycling center? Paper is shredded and then mixed with water and wood
pulp to make new paper. Glass, metal, and plastics are melted down. Then they are poured into
molds to form new things. Glass jars are melted down and they become brand new glass jars.
Recycling lets things be used over and over.
1. Which of the following cannot be recycled?
a. dirty paper b. dirty banana
c. plastic bag d. soda can
2. What happens to things when you throw them away?
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
3. Why do you think it is ‘bad news’ that landfills are used for trash?
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
4. Explain how a landfill does not get flooded with ground water.
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
5. What is meant by ‘recycling’? How do you think it helps the environment?
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
6. Choose two examples of recycling from the passage and write two of your own below.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
7. What are ‘recycling bins’?
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
8. What happens to trash after it is put into ‘recycling bins’?
Paper
Glass
9. Why has the writer repeated the last line of the passage?
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
10 Pick out two sentences from the passage that have coordinating conjunctions.
Underline the main clauses and circle the conjunction in each.
a. __________________________________________________________________________
b. __________________________________________________________________________
11. Write a phrase or a synonym for the words in bold as they are used in the passage:
a. seeping:_______________________________
b. dump: ________________________________
12. How is recycling a good deed?
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
