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Free Iowa Assessments (ITBS) DiagnosticReading

Read the passage, then answer the question. The Voyage of the Kon-Tiki In 1947, a Norwegian explorer named Thor Heyerdahl set out to test an idea that most scientists thought was impossible. He believed that people from South America could have sailed across the Pacific Ocean to the islands of Polynesia long ago. To show that such a trip could be done, Heyerdahl and five crew members built a raft the old-fashioned way. They lashed together logs of balsa wood with ropes, added a small cabin woven from bamboo, and raised a square sail. They used no nails, wires, or modern materials in the raft's main structure. They named it Kon-Tiki. The raft left the coast of Peru and drifted west with the winds and ocean currents. The crew caught fish, collected rainwater, and weathered storms. Flying fish sometimes landed on the deck overnight, and the crew fried them for breakfast. After 101 days and about 4,300 miles, the Kon-Tiki crashed onto a reef in Polynesia. Everyone survived. The voyage proved that the journey was possible. It did not prove that it had actually happened. Today, studies of language and DNA suggest that Polynesians came mostly from the west, from Asia. But some evidence hints at contact with South America, and scientists continue to study the question. What happened at the end of the voyage?

AThe raft crashed onto a reef in Polynesia and the crew survivedBThe raft returned to PeruCThe raft sank in a stormDThe crew was rescued by a ship

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