Jimmy and Eric were huddled by the tire swing. "Why did Scott have to take the kickball? He knows we play kickball at recess." Jimmy whined. "Maybe we could just do something else." Eric suggested. "No, I'm going to get back our kickball," countered Jimmy. Scott was bouncing the kickball against the wall by himself when Jimmy approached him. "Give us back our kickball, Scott!" Jimmy shouted. Scott looked up and down at Jimmy and then continued bouncing the ball against the wall. Jimmy ran up to Scott and tried to snatch the ball as it passed from the wall back to Scott, but he was too slow. He missed and fell onto the gravel and cried out, "Ow! See what you did, Scott!" By now Eric had joined the other two boys and he made a suggestion: "Hey, Scott, maybe we could all play together." Scott looked at him skeptically, but Eric's warm expression convinced him of his sincerity. "Ok," Scott muttered as he helped Jimmy back to his feet and asked, "What do you want to play?" The boys agreed on kickball and used the remaining recess time to play. Jimmy and Eric agreed that it was a lot more fun to play with three people and Scott became a regular addition to their recess activities.

(20 points) passage: this year will be a record-breaking year for storms 1it looks like 2012 will be a year for the record books. thunderstorms, hurricanes, and tornadoes have increased across the country. the storms' high winds and heavy rains are making history. early tornado and hurricane seasons 2in march, not usually a busy month for tornadoes, the south and midwest had a large number of twisters. warm weather made conditions ripe for the creation of tornadoes. on some days, twisters dropped from the sky by the dozen. 3hurricane season also came early. two tropical storms hit the southeast in may. two more strong storms followed in june. severe thunderstorms 4many states that have escaped tornadoes and hurricanes have had severe thunderstorms. these giant storms dumped several inches of rain and caused flooding across the northeast and midwest. 5the end of hurricane season is months away, and this year's storm count and rainfall amounts could leave 2011 in the dust. forecasters say the wet, windy weather might stick around until fall. labor day parade rained out 6there is no joy in green town, where the annual labor day parade was called off because of heavy rain. the town's mayor says the parade hasn't been rained out in fifty years. 7a strong band of thunderstorms hit green town on sunday. more than two inches of rain fell each hour. by monday morning, main street looked more like a creek than a parade route. mayor nora bell said she had to call off the parade. "the heavy rains have created a serious safety issue in green town," she said. 8the loss of the labor day parade is green town's second disappointment this summer. in may, the memorial day parade was also called off because of rain. "this must be one of the wettest summers in history," mayor bell said. 9according to the national weather service, mayor bell is right. this summer will break rainfall records in green town and across the country. question: who would obtain the most useful information from the passage? a) someone planning a holiday picnic. b) someone interested in documenting annual meteorological patterns. c) an advocate for the green town labor day parade. d) someone who wishes to do research on the alleged truth of the "global warming" phenomenon.