Practice Passage
#1: The Cousins*
Sally and Maria are cousins, so they are alike in some ways, but they are very different in other ways. Sally is tall and has brown
eyes. Maria also has brown eyes, but she is short. The girls both live in beautiful states. Sally lives in Maine where it is cold. On the other hand, Maria
lives in Florida where it is hot.
It snows a lot in Maine. In contrast, it is usually sunny and
warm in Florida. Both girls like to play outside, and they like to have a friend
with them. Sally plays in the snow, building snowmen. Unlike Sally, Maria plays in
the sand at the beach. She builds sand castles. It turns out that Florida and Maine are alike
because you can play outside in either one.
Sally and Maria are both good swimmers and are both on swim
teams. The contrast here comes in the pools they swim in. The pools in Florida are outside. On the
other hand, the pools in Maine are inside, so Sally swims in an indoor pool and
Maria swims in an outdoor pool. In the summer, Sally and Maria can both swim in the
ocean since both states are on the coast. Sally and Maria have much in common, but there is much that is different about their lives.
