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The Shark on the Motorway
7th grade reading
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The Shark on the Motorway
During a storm last spring, a photo exploded across social media. It showed a large shark swimming beside cars on a flooded motorway. Within hours it had been shared more than 80,000 times, often with captions such as "Stay indoors — sharks in the streets!"
Fourteen-year-old Amira Haddad saw the photo in her family group chat. Something felt wrong. "The shark looked too sharp compared with the blurry water," she said. "So I decided to check."
First, Amira ran a reverse image search. She found the same shark in a wildlife photo published years earlier, on a website about ocean animals. Next, she checked two local news sites. Neither mentioned sharks; both reported flooding and road closures. Finally, she found an article from a fact-checking organisation explaining that the image had been edited and had appeared during several different storms in different countries.
Amira posted the fact-check in the group chat. "My uncle had already shared the photo," she laughed. "He was embarrassed, but he thanked me."
Fact-checkers say edited images spread fastest when they are shocking and arrive during real emergencies, when people are anxious and want to warn others. Their advice is simple: pause before you share, look for the original source, and check whether reliable outlets are reporting the same thing.
Question 1
Read "The Shark on the Motorway". What was the first step Amira took to check the photo?
- A. a reverse image search
- B. visiting the motorway
- C. asking a teacher
- D. calling her uncle
Question 2
Read "The Shark on the Motorway". Which detail best shows the photo had been edited?
- A. the same shark appeared in a wildlife photo published years earlier
- B. it was shared more than 80,000 times
- C. the water was blurry
- D. her uncle shared it
Question 3
Read "The Shark on the Motorway". How is paragraph 3 mainly organised?
- A. as a comparison of two sharks
- B. as a list of opinions
- C. as a problem with no solution
- D. as a sequence of steps (first, next, finally)
Question 4
Read "The Shark on the Motorway". Why do edited images spread fastest during real emergencies, according to the article?
- A. Phones work better in storms.
- B. People are anxious and want to warn others, so they share without checking.
- C. Fact-checkers are on holiday.
- D. News sites stop working.
Question 5
Read "The Shark on the Motorway". Which headline best fits this article?
- A. Teen uses simple checks to expose viral storm photo
- B. Uncle bans phones in family chat
- C. Sharks invade city during storm
- D. Social media to close after storm
Question 6
Read "The Shark on the Motorway". What is the writer's main purpose in the final paragraph?
- A. to describe sharks
- B. to give readers practical advice for checking images
- C. to make readers afraid of storms
- D. to criticise Amira's uncle
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