READING 1 OF 23 focus words
Tracing the water
Read for meaning first. Select a highlighted word if you want a closer look.
On the cut face of a stem, the red stain marked the xylem that had carried dyed water upward. The gardener set the sample beside a map of the xeric hillside where the plant had grown.
A trickle from a cracked pipe kept a small patch of that hill green. The rest stayed dry through most of the summer.
Before you move on
Look away from the passage. Can you explain each focus word in your own words?
Original fictional passages for vocabulary practice.