What is the passage mainly about?

A woman learns by failing first, and her roof garden becomes a shared place (The first summer fails, the second summer works, and by the end the roof draws the neighbors. Both parts together are the point.)

Why did the plants die the first summer?

The wind was strong and the dark pots became too hot. (The text names two causes: wind that was too strong and black tar that turned the dark pots into ovens.)

What does the line about nobody planning it suggest about the evening gatherings?

The gatherings grew on their own, without being intended. (Ines wanted a garden, not a meeting place. The short sentence tells you the company was an unplanned result.)

In six flights, a flight is

a set of stairs between two floors (She carries water up from her apartment to the roof, so the flights are stairs between floors.)

The Rooftop Garden: Level 2 Reading Comprehension Questions

For eleven years Ines lived on the top floor and never went up to the roof. Then the building manager handed her a key and said the roof was hers if she wanted it.

The first summer, everything died. The wind was too strong, and the black tar floor turned the dark pots into ovens. Ines carried water up six flights and watched the tomato leaves curl.

The second summer she built a low wall of bricks and set the pots behind it. She used pale buckets instead of dark ones. Beans climbed a net. Mint spread until she had to pull it out by the handful.

Now the neighbors come up in the evening with folding chairs. Nobody planned this. They talk about the heat and the price of onions while the city turns orange below them. Ines says little. She waters, and she listens.

Comprehension questions