Examen de diagnóstico de Lenguaje (RLA)

MEMORANDUM

To: All Riverside Community Health Center Staff
From: Denise Alvarez, Facilities Manager
Date: April 7
Subject: Parking lot repaving

(1) Starting Monday, April 21, a paving crew will resurface the east parking lot. The work is expected to take four days, weather permitting. During that time, the east lot will be closed to all vehicles, including delivery trucks.

(2) We know that parking is already tight, so we have arranged several options. Staff members may park in the church lot on Elm Street, which is about two blocks away. A shuttle van will run between the church lot and our front entrance every fifteen minutes from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. The schedule for the shuttle runs are posted on the break-room bulletin board and on the staff website.

(3) The repaving will not effect patient appointments. Patients will continue to use the west lot, which has 40 spaces and four accessible spots near the main door. To keep those spaces open for patients, we ask all employees, including managers and part-time staff, to use the church lot or the shuttle during the project.

(4) Last spring, the same crew repaired the north lot ahead of schedule, and the results have held up well through the winter. We expect a similar outcome this time. The new surface will have brighter lines, better drainage, and two additional accessible parking spaces.

(5) If you have a question about your shift, a special parking need, or a delivery that cannot be moved, please contact Marcus Bell or I before Friday, April 18. Marcus can be reached at extension 214, and I can be reached at extension 230. We will do our best to find a solution for everyone.

(6) Thank you for your patience. A few days of inconvenience will give us a safer, cleaner lot for years to come.

Greenfield Parks and Recreation Department

Dear Parents and Guardians,

(1) The Greenfield Parks and Recreation Department is pleased to announce that registration for Summer Day Camp is now open. Camp will run for eight weeks, from late June through mid-August. Each week has a different theme, such as Space Explorers, Ocean Life, and Inventors' Workshop.

(2) The program is open to children ages 6 to 12, and all of the counselor's have completed first aid and CPR training. Each group of ten campers is led by two counselors. Campers will swim at the city pool twice a week, take nature walks, and work on art and science projects.

(3) Camp is held at the Westbrook Community Center, located at the corner of Lake Street and Ninth avenue. Drop-off begins at 7:30 a.m., and pickup ends at 5:30 p.m. Children must be signed in and out by a parent, a guardian, or another adult listed on the registration form.

(4) Families should pack: a water bottle, sunscreen, a hat, and a swimsuit on pool days. Lunch and two snacks are provided each day at no extra cost. If your child has a food allergy, please describe it on the health form so that our kitchen staff can plan safe meals.

(5) The weekly fee is $95 for Greenfield residents and $120 for nonresidents. Financial assistance is available for families who qualify. To apply, complete the assistance section of the registration packet and return it to the front desk with proof of income.

(6) Space is limited, so we encourage you to register early. You can register online, by phone, or in person at the community center. If you have questions, please call our office at 555-0193. We look forward to a safe, fun, and memorable summer!

Sincerely,
Janelle Brooks
Youth Programs Coordinator

Harbor City Food Bank — Volunteer Orientation

(1) Thank you for signing up to volunteer with Harbor City Food Bank! Every week, our volunteers sort, pack, and deliver food to more than 3,000 families across the county. Before your first shift, you will attend a short orientation session at our warehouse on Pier Road.

(2) Orientation lasts about an hour, it covers safety rules, the sorting process, and the location of emergency exits. Sessions are held every Saturday at 9:00 a.m. and every Wednesday at 6:00 p.m. You do not need to register for a specific session. Simply arrive about ten minutes early and check in at the volunteer desk.

(3) Please dress for physical work. Wear closed-toe shoes and comfortable clothing that you do not mind getting dusty. From November through March, bring a warm jacket. Because the warehouse is unheated in winter. Gloves, hairnets, and safety vests will be provided. Please leave valuables at home, since lockers are not available.

(4) After completing orientation, a shift schedule will be emailed to you. You may choose morning, afternoon, or evening shifts, and you can change your schedule at any time through our online volunteer portal. Most shifts last three hours, and groups of up to ten people can volunteer together.

(5) Volunteers must be at least 14 years old. Volunteers who are 14 to 17 must have a permission form signed by a parent or guardian, and they must work alongside an adult volunteer. Court-ordered community service hours are welcome; please bring your paperwork to orientation so that our staff can sign it.

(6) We look forward to meeting you. Your time and energy make a real difference for neighbors who need help putting food on the table. If you have questions before your orientation, call our volunteer office at 555-0148 or send an email to the address on our website.

(1) On a hot July afternoon, the difference between a street with trees and a street without them can be felt through the soles of your shoes. Researchers who measure surface temperatures have found that shaded sidewalks and pavement can be many degrees cooler than the same surfaces in full sun. That simple fact is one reason a growing number of cities now treat trees not as decoration but as basic equipment, in the same category as storm drains and streetlights.

(2) Trees cool a city in two ways. First, their leaves block sunlight before it can heat roads, roofs and parking lots. Second, trees release water vapor through their leaves, a process called transpiration. As that water evaporates, it carries heat away from the surrounding air, much as sweat cools a person's skin.

(3) The benefits do not stop at temperature. Tree roots and the soil around them soak up rainwater, which slows the flow into storm drains during heavy storms. Leaves trap some dust and other particles from the air. And several studies have linked tree-lined streets with higher home values and with residents who report feeling less stressed.

(4) Yet the shade is not shared equally. In many American cities, neighborhoods with lower incomes have noticeably fewer trees than wealthier areas nearby. Some of this gap goes back decades, to choices about where to build highways, factories and parks. Because these same neighborhoods often have more pavement and fewer air-conditioned homes, residents can face greater danger during heat waves.

(5) Planting trees is not a quick fix. A young tree may need ten years or more before it casts meaningful shade, and it needs regular watering while its roots grow. Trees planted without a care plan often die within a few years. For that reason, city foresters increasingly say that the real measure of a program is not how many trees are planted, but how many are still alive and growing a decade later.

(6) The cities making the most progress tend to combine three things: careful mapping to find the streets with the least shade, long-term funding for watering and pruning, and partnerships with residents who help care for the trees on their blocks. Done well, a tree program becomes a gift that grows more valuable every year.

(1) For almost eight years, the closest full-service grocery store to the Linden Park neighborhood was a forty-minute bus ride away. The neighborhood's only supermarket had closed after its parent company went out of business, and no other chain moved in. Residents without cars did most of their shopping at two corner stores, where fresh fruit and vegetables were scarce and prices were high.

(2) The turning point came in the spring of 2019, when a group of parents at Linden Park Elementary noticed how many students arrived at school hungry. The parents surveyed families and found that more than half of them traveled outside the neighborhood for groceries at least once a week. They brought the survey results to a city council meeting and asked a simple question: what would it take to bring fresh food back?

(3) The council did not have money for a new supermarket, but one council member suggested a smaller first step. The city owned a vacant lot on Linden Avenue where the old supermarket's parking lot had been. If the parents could organize vendors, the city would let them use the lot for a weekly farmers market at no charge.

(4) The first market, in June 2019, had only four vendors and a borrowed tent. Attendance was low, partly because many residents relied on food assistance benefits and the vendors could not accept them. That problem shaped the organizers' next move. They applied for help from a regional nonprofit, which provided a card reader that allowed the market to accept benefit cards. Within two months, the number of shoppers nearly tripled.

(5) Growing crowds attracted more vendors, and more vendors attracted still more shoppers. By the end of the second summer, the market had twenty-two stalls. Its success also caught the attention of a small grocery cooperative from a nearby city that had been looking for a second location. The cooperative's leaders pointed to the market's sales records as proof that Linden Park residents would support a store.

(6) The cooperative opened a full-service grocery store on Linden Avenue in 2022, across the street from the lot where the market began. The farmers market still runs every Saturday from June through October. Many residents say the two now work together: the market brings people to the avenue, and the store keeps fresh food available the rest of the week.

(1) At five in the morning, the bakery on Grant Street was still asleep, and it was Lena's job to wake it. She flipped the switch by the door, and the long fluorescent lights stuttered on one by one, as if they too needed a minute to remember where they were.

(2) The ovens came next. They were old and enormous, black iron giants that grumbled for twenty minutes before they were ready to work. While they warmed, Lena tied on her apron and pulled the dough from the walk-in cooler. It had been rising slowly all night, and it sighed when she pressed her thumb into it.

(3) Lena had not planned to be a baker. Two years earlier she had been laid off from the paper mill, along with half the town, and for months the days had stretched out in front of her like an empty highway. Then Mrs. Okafor, who owned the bakery, put a handwritten sign in the window: Help wanted. Early hours. Will train.

(4) The first weeks were humbling. Lena's loaves came out lopsided and pale. Her rolls were small, hard stones that Mrs. Okafor tapped on the counter without a word. But the older woman was patient. "Bread does not like to be rushed," she said. "Neither do bakers."

(5) Now Lena's hands knew the work. She shaped the loaves quickly, tucking the edges under with a turn of her wrists, and lined them up on the trays like soldiers waiting for orders. When the ovens finally reached temperature, she slid the trays in and closed the heavy doors.

(6) Then came her favorite part: the wait. Outside, the sky was still the color of a bruise, purple fading to gray at the edges. Inside, the smell of baking bread began to fill every corner of the room, warm and golden, wrapping itself around her shoulders like a blanket.

(7) By the time the first customer knocked at six-thirty—Mr. Petrakis, who always bought two rolls and complained about the weather—the shelves were full. Lena unlocked the door and let the cold in with him. "Morning," he grumbled, stamping snow from his boots.

(8) "Morning," Lena answered, and she meant it. A year ago, mornings had been something to get through. Now they were something she built, one loaf at a time.

(1) On a July afternoon in many American cities, the temperature on one block can be ten degrees higher than the temperature a mile away. Scientists call this the urban heat island effect. It is not just uncomfortable. Extreme heat sends thousands of people to emergency rooms each summer, and it is especially dangerous for older adults, outdoor workers, and people who cannot afford air conditioning.

(2) The causes are mostly built into the city itself. Dark asphalt and rooftops absorb sunlight during the day and release that heat slowly at night, so neighborhoods never fully cool off. Cars, air conditioners, and factories add even more heat. Meanwhile, blocks with few trees lose the natural cooling that shade and leaves provide. As a result, the hottest neighborhoods are often the ones with the most pavement and the least green space.

(3) Consider the experience of Marisol Vega, a home health aide in the fictional city of Eastport. She walks between her clients' apartments all day. "By noon, the sidewalk feels like a stove," she says. On her route, there is almost no shade for six blocks. She now carries two bottles of water and plans her visits so that she is indoors during the hottest hours.

(4) Cities have begun to fight back with several strategies. The first is planting trees. A mature street tree can shade a sidewalk and cool the air around it as water evaporates from its leaves. A second strategy is "cool roofs," which are painted white or coated with reflective material so they bounce sunlight away instead of absorbing it. A third is replacing some asphalt with lighter pavement or with grass and plants.

(5) None of these solutions is instant. A young tree may need fifteen years to grow a wide canopy, and it needs watering and care in its first few summers. Cool roofs cost money, although they can lower a building's cooling bills. For these reasons, some planners argue that cities should start with the blocks that are hottest and have the most vulnerable residents.

(6) The heat island problem took decades of building to create, and it will take years to undo. But each shaded sidewalk and each reflective roof makes a measurable difference for the people who live and work below.

An opinion column by a retired librarian in the fictional town of Millbrook

(1) For most of my thirty years as a librarian in Millbrook, I collected late fines without thinking twice. A dime a day seemed like a small price for keeping books moving. I was wrong. The Millbrook Public Library Board will vote next month on whether to eliminate overdue fines, and I urge every board member to vote yes.

(2) Fines do not do what we hoped they would do. Several libraries that have dropped fines report that most books still come back, and some report that more come back, because patrons who were embarrassed by a large balance return to the library once the debt is gone. When our own branch held a one-month "fine-free amnesty" in 2022, more than 1,100 overdue items were returned, some of them years late.

(3) Fines also fall hardest on the people who need the library most. A family with a few dollars to spare pays a fine and moves on. A family living paycheck to paycheck may stop coming altogether. In Millbrook, a balance of just $10 blocks a card from checking out materials. I have watched children leave the desk empty-handed because of a fine their parents could not pay. No library mission statement says "for those who can afford it."

(4) Some board members worry that without fines, patrons will keep books forever and the library will lose needed income. These concerns are understandable, and I shared them once. But fines brought in less than one percent of last year's library budget, and staff spent many hours collecting and tracking them, hours that could go to story times and job-search help. Under the proposal, patrons who never return an item would still be billed for its replacement cost. Responsibility would remain; only the penalty for lateness would disappear.

(5) A library's job is to put books in people's hands, not to keep them out. Ending late fines is a small change that would welcome back hundreds of our neighbors. Board members, please vote yes.

(1) When the Riverside Community Garden opened in 2021 on a former parking lot behind the public library, organizers worried that no one would sign up. They had 40 raised-bed plots, each about the size of a parking space, and they rented them to local households for $25 a season.

(2) Those worries did not last. Every plot was claimed in the first month, and by the end of the season, a dozen households were on a waiting list. The garden added 8 plots in 2022 by using a strip of lawn next to the building. In 2023, the city allowed the garden to take over the rest of the old lot, bringing the total to 60 plots. That is as many as the site can hold.

(3) Gardeners say the benefits go beyond fresh tomatoes. Many plot holders live in apartments with no yard. Retirees mentor first-time growers, and a local elementary school uses two plots for science lessons. Last season, gardeners donated more than 900 pounds of produce to the food pantry down the street.

(4) The garden's volunteer board is now considering two proposals. The first would lease a vacant lot on Elm Street, about half a mile away, which could hold roughly 30 new plots. The second would limit each household to two seasons in a row so that people on the waiting list get a turn. Some longtime gardeners oppose the second idea. "It takes three years to really learn your soil," one said at a recent meeting.

(5) The graph below shows how many plots were in use and how many households were waiting for a plot at the end of each season.

Graph data: 2021, 40 plots in use and 12 households waiting; 2022, 48 and 25; 2023, 60 and 41; 2024, 60 and 58; 2025, 60 and 73.