Summary writing Directions: Read the three passages and…

1. Create a title for each passage related to the main idea.
2. Accurately summarize the text.
3. Your summary must describe all key ideas from the text.
4. Do not include opinions or personal info in your summary.
5. Highlight or underline key ideas in each passage over here.

Passage 1:
How do you say “Holy cow” in French? The fastest thing in France may just be the fastest
ground transportation in the world. The TGV (Train à Grande Vitesse: French for very high
speed) is France’s national high-speed rail service. On April 3 rd , 2007, a TGV test train set a
record for the fastest wheeled train, reaching 357.2 miles per hour. In mid 2011, TGV trains
operated at the highest speed in passenger train service in the world, regularly reaching 200
miles per hour. But what you may find most shocking is that TGV trains run on electric power
not petrol. Now if you’ll excuse me; I have a record to catch.

Passage 2:
Giddy-up, cowboys and girls! In the Southwest during the early half of the 1800s, cows were
only worth 2 or 3 dollars apiece. They roamed wild, grazed off of the open range, and were
abundant. Midway through the century though, railroads were built and the nation was
connected. People in the Southwest could suddenly ship cows in freight trains to the Northeast.
The Yankees there had a growing taste for beef and were willing to pay for it. Out of the blue,
the same cows that were once worth a couple of bucks were now worth between twenty and
forty dollars each. The only problem was that they had to get these cows to the train station. A
new profession emerged from this. It became pretty lucrative to wrangle up a drove of cattle and
herd them to the nearest train town. Of course it was dangerous too. Cowboys were threatened
at every turn. They faced cattle rustlers, stampedes and extreme weather. But they kept
pushing those steers to the train station. By the turn of the century, barbed wire killed the open
range. Some may say the cowboy, too, was killed by barbed wire. Maybe, but it was the train
that birthed them.

Passage 3:
Electric trolley cars or trams were once the chief mode of public transportation in the United
States. Though they required tracks and electric cables to run, these trolley cars were clean and
comfortable. In 1922, auto manufacturer General Motors created a special unit to replace
electric trolleys with cars, trucks, and buses. Over the next decade, they lobbied for laws and
regulations that made operating trams more difficult and less profitable. In 1936 General Motors
created several front companies to purchase and dismantle the trolley car system. They
received big investments from Firestone Tire, Standard Oil of California, Phillips Petroleum, and
others in the automotive industry. Some people suspect that these parties wanted to replace
trolley cars with buses to make public transportation less desirable. This would then increase
automobile sales. The decline of the tram system in North America could be blamed on many
things—labor strikes, the Great Depression, regulations that were unfavorable to operators. Yet,
perhaps the primary cause was having a group of powerful men from rival sectors of the auto
industry working together to ensure its destruction. Fill it up, please.