Flash-Flood Risk Lingers Across the Southwest After Rachel’s Remnants Swamped Nevada

Study the questions and tasks

Work through the material below, or start the interactive practice above to complete an attempt. Try the exercises before opening any answer or transcript sections, then use them to review your work.

Practice level

C2. Try this level if you can follow the instructions and understand most of the language; choose an earlier level if you need more support.

Question formats

Single choice

How to approach this practice

Read the passage for its main idea, then return to the relevant sentence or paragraph for each question. Base answers on the passage.

1. Question 1 · Single choice

   Choose one answer.

   What is the article’s central point?

   Return to the passage, recording or visual
   1. Rachel is expected to regain its original organization across Nevada.
   2. Flood danger may continue despite the weakening weather system.
   3. The Southwest has experienced uniform flooding across all communities.
   4. The National Weather Service has withdrawn its earlier warnings.
   Check answers and explanations

   Answer

   Flood danger may continue despite the weakening weather system.

   The article explains why flooding remains hazardous after Rachel’s remnants have weakened.

   The situation illustrates why flood risk can outlast the weather system that first triggered it.

2. Question 2 · Single choice

   Choose one answer.

   What does “that lingering moisture” refer to?

   Return to the passage, recording or visual
   1. Moisture trapped beneath developed areas
   2. Water accumulated in overwhelmed drainage systems
   3. Moisture carried by Rachel’s remnants
   4. Rainfall produced only by later isolated storms
   Check answers and explanations

   Answer

   Moisture carried by Rachel’s remnants

   The phrase points back to moisture carried by Rachel’s remnants.

   Such remnants can still carry substantial moisture and contribute to further showers or thunderstorms, even though the storm no longer retains its earlier organization.

3. Question 3 · Single choice

   Choose one answer.

   Why does the article distinguish a flood watch from ongoing flooding?

   Return to the passage, recording or visual
   1. To explain the watch’s predictive rather than universal meaning
   2. To show that flood watches apply only to rural regions
   3. To establish that rainfall has ended throughout Nevada
   4. To argue that warnings are less serious than watches
   Check answers and explanations

   Answer

   To explain the watch’s predictive rather than universal meaning

   The distinction clarifies that watches signal favorable conditions, not universal active flooding.

   A flood watch generally means that conditions are favorable for flooding, not that flooding is occurring everywhere within the affected area.

4. Question 4 · Single choice

   Choose one answer.

   What relationship does the article establish between prior flooding and later showers?

   Return to the passage, recording or visual
   1. Prior flooding prevents later storms from forming.
   2. Later showers can intensify recovery difficulties after flooding.
   3. Flooded areas become safer when drainage is overwhelmed.
   4. Recovery eliminates the effects of subsequent precipitation.
   Check answers and explanations

   Answer

   Later showers can intensify recovery difficulties after flooding.

   Earlier flooding makes subsequent precipitation more capable of worsening conditions.

   Once flooding has occurred, later showers may complicate recovery and keep vulnerable areas under pressure.

5. Question 5 · Single choice

   Choose one answer.

   What contrast characterizes isolated thunderstorms?

   Return to the passage, recording or visual
   1. They are severe everywhere but predictable locally.
   2. They affect only sparsely populated regions.
   3. They can create sharply different nearby conditions.
   4. They occur only after the main rainfall has ended.
   Check answers and explanations

   Answer

   They can create sharply different nearby conditions.

   Their effects can vary markedly across short distances.

   Residents and travelers in areas covered by the watches will need to remain alert as the weather develops, since isolated storms can produce sharply different conditions over relatively short distances.

6. Question 6 · Single choice

   Choose one answer.

   Why does the article mention both developed and sparsely populated landscapes?

   Return to the passage, recording or visual
   1. To compare the region’s varied settings and likely impacts
   2. To identify where Rachel originally formed
   3. To prove that rural areas face no flood danger
   4. To recommend relocating residents away from cities
   Check answers and explanations

   Answer

   To compare the region’s varied settings and likely impacts

   The variation underscores why flood effects differ considerably across the Southwest.

   The precise effects can vary considerably across the Southwest, whose landscapes include both developed areas and broad, sparsely populated regions.

7. Question 7 · Single choice

   Choose one answer.

   Which sequence best represents the article’s account?

   Return to the passage, recording or visual
   1. Recovery, storm formation, flood watch, rainfall cessation
   2. Severe flooding, lingering remnants, possible further precipitation, continued vigilance
   3. Thunderstorm prediction, evacuation, storm strengthening, regional recovery
   4. Drainage failure, storm dissipation, warning withdrawal, renewed rainfall
   Check answers and explanations

   Answer

   Severe flooding, lingering remnants, possible further precipitation, continued vigilance

   The article moves from earlier flooding to lingering moisture and continuing risk.

   Flood danger continues to hang over parts of the Southwest after the remnants of tropical storm Rachel caused severe flooding in Nevada over the weekend.

8. Question 8 · Single choice

   Choose one answer.

   What can be inferred about the article’s stance toward the latest watches?

   Return to the passage, recording or visual
   1. They are portrayed as precautionary and justified.
   2. They are depicted as unnecessarily broad and alarmist.
   3. They are treated as evidence that flooding has ended.
   4. They are criticized for ignoring isolated communities.
   Check answers and explanations

   Answer

   They are portrayed as precautionary and justified.

   The wording presents the watches as prudent responses to an ongoing, uncertain hazard.

   The National Weather Service’s latest watches and warnings therefore emphasize the possibility that the hazard may persist.

What to review next

Find the words that support each answer. For a mistake, compare the question with the evidence and identify the detail or inference you missed.

A focused practice result shows how you did on these tasks. Use several activities across skills to decide what to study next; one practice score does not certify an overall CEFR level.

Before you practise: a worked example

Look for evidence in the text. Separate what the writer says from what you already know about the topic.

The library normally closes at six, but on Fridays it stays open until eight. When does it close on Friday?

The answer is eight. But introduces an exception to the normal closing time, so the first time mentioned is not the answer.

This teaching example is separate from the scored questions. After your test, compare any mistakes with the explanation and revisit the topic before trying again.