English Comprehension

*Read the given passages carefully and answer the given questions:
#1. A material is what something is made of. There are 5 basic materials. Most
things are made with these materials. Some things are made of metal. Some
things are made of glass. Some things are made of wood. Some things are made
of cloth. And some things are made of plastic. There are some other materials.
But they are not used as much as these 5 materials.
Lets talk about metal first. Metal is very heavy. And it is very hard and strong. It
usually feels cool if you touch it. We use metal to make lots of things. We use it
for forks and knives. We use it for keys. We use it for cars. We use it for these
things because it is very strong.
Next, lets talk about glass. Glass is very smooth. It feels cool to touch. It is not
as heavy as metal. It is hard. But it is not strong. It breaks very easily! Then why
do we use it? We use it because it is clear! You can see through glass! Thats
why we use it for windows. Thats also why we use it for glasses.
Now, lets talk about wood. Wood is lighter than metal and glass. It is not as
strong as metal. But it is much stronger than glass. We use wood to make lots of
things. Things made from wood are usually light and hard and strong. Chairs and
tables are made from wood. Pencils are made from wood.
Now lets talk about cloth. Cloth is very light. It is much lighter than wood. And it
is very soft. We use cloth to make lots of things. For example, it is used to make
clothing. And it is used to make blankets.
Last, lets talk about plastic. Plastic is also very light. But it is different from cloth.
Sometimes it is soft. And sometimes it is hard. Plastic can be used to make thin
plastic bags. These are light, soft, and strong. But plastic can also be used to
make bicycle helmets. These are light, hard, and strong. A helmet and a bag
seem different. But they are both made from plastic.
1) Which sentence from the passage best describes the main idea?
A. "We use cloth to make lots of things."
B. "Metal is very heavy."
C. "There are 5 basic materials."
D. "A helmet and a bag seem different."
2) According to the passage, which of these things is a material?
A. chairs
B. clothing
C. windows

D. wood
3) According to the passage, how does glass feel?
A. smooth and cool
B. warm and soft
C. light and hard
D. sharp and heavy
4) In paragraph 4, the passage says, Wood is lighter than metal and glass.
What is the main purpose
of this sentence?
A. to explain something
B. to recommend something
C. to compare something
D. to demonstrate something
5) Which material would you use if you wanted to make something that was
strong and very light?
A. plastic
B. wood
C. metal
D. glass
6) In this passage, the author talks about
A. hard things first, then soft things
B. heavy things first, then light things
C. strong things first, then weak things
D. cool things first, then warm things

#2. It is breakfast time. You have been looking forward to eating a nice ripe
banana ever since you woke up. Just when you reach for the delicious piece of
fruit on your counter, you see something that makes you much less hungry: a
swarm of fruit flies!
Fruit flies are tiny insects that are attracted to ripe or rotting fruits and
vegetables. The flies not only eat the fruit,they also lay their eggs there. A single

fruit fly can lay up to 500 eggs on the surface of a piece of fruit. Within eight
days, the fruit flies that hatch from these eggs are full adults that can then lay
their own eggs. As you can see, what might start out as a small fruit fly problem
can become very large very quickly.
Although there is a chance fruit flies can carry germs on to your food, this is not
very likely. Fruit
flies are annoying, but they probably will not hurt you. Because they are such a
nuisance, however, most people want to get rid of these pesky bugs as quickly
as possible. Some people use pesticide sprays on the fruit flies. Although this will
kill the flies, it will also spread harmful poison all over your kitchen. Luckily, there
is also a completely safe way for you to get rid of fruit flies in your house.The
first step is for you to remove all fruits or vegetables from your counter. Store
these items in the refrigerator or in sealed containers. Clean up any spilled juice
or bits of food that might be on the floor. Take out the trash and empty the
recycling bin. Wash any dirty dishes that are in your sink. Doing all of these
things will stop new fruit flies from finding food or places to lay their eggs.
Next, make a trap to catch all of the remaining fruit flies in your house. First, fill a
small bowl with a few tablespoons of vinegar. Then, put a piece of very ripe or
rotting fruit into the vinegar. Cover the bowl very tightly with a sheet of plastic
wrap and poke a few very small holes in the wrap with a fork. If all goes
according to plan, the flies will enter the trap through the holes but will be
unable to fly back out. This trap will catch all of the remaining fruit flies. You can
either kill these flies or release them outdoors.
Fruit flies can be a pest, but they do not have to make you crazy. With a little
effort, you can get existing flies out of your house and prevent new ones from
taking over your kitchen.

1) In reading this passage, we learn that fruit flies

I. die immediately after they lay their eggs
II. can grow into adults after only 8 days
III. are mostly harmless
A. I only
B. I and II only
C. II and III only
D. I, II, and III
2) As used in paragraph 3, a nuisance is something that
A. bothers you

B. can be dangerous
C. grows fast
D. is very small
3) According to the passage, why should you not use pesticide spray to kill fruit
flies?
A. most sprays do not actually kill all of the fruit flies
B. buying sprays can get expensive if you need to use a lot of them
C. the sprays take too much time to work
D. it can be dangerous to use them in your kitchen
4) Based on the information in the penultimate (next-to-last) paragraph, we can
understand that the
author thinks that
A. some people do not mind having fruit flies in their house
B. some people do not like killing insects
C. fruit flies do not like vinegar
D. making a fruit fly trap can be difficult

#3. Dolphins are regarded as the friendliest creatures in the sea and stories of them
helping drowning sailors have been common since Roman times. The more we learn
about dolphins, the more we realize that their society is more complex than people
previously imagined. They look after other dolphins when they are ill, care for pregnant
mothers and protect the weakest in the community, as we do. Some scientists have
suggested that dolphins have a language but it is much more probable that they
communicate with each other without needing words. Could any of these mammals be
more intelligent than man? Certainly the most common argument in favor of man's
superiority over them that we can kill them more easily than they can kill us is the least
satisfactory. On the contrary, the more we discover about these remarkable creatures,
the less we appear superior when we destroy them.

4. It is clear from the passage that dolphins ----.

A) don't want to be with us as much as we want to be with them
B) are proven to be less intelligent than once thought
C) have a reputation for being friendly to humans

D) are the most powerful creatures that live in the oceans

E) are capable of learning a language and communicating with humans

5. The fact that the writer of the passage thinks that we can kill dolphins more
easily than they can kill us ----.
A) means that they are better adapted to their environment than we are
B) shows that dolphins have a very sophisticated form of communication
C) proves that dolphins are not the most intelligent species at sea
D) does not mean that we are superior to them
E) proves that Dolphins have linguistic skills far beyond what we
previously thought

6. One can infer from the reading that ----.

A) dolphins are quite abundant in some areas of the world

B) communication is the most fascinating aspect of the dolphins

C) dolphins have skills that no other living creatures have such as the

ability to think
D) it is not usual for dolphins to communicate with each other

E) dolphins have some social traits that are similar to those of humans

#4. Naval architects never claim that a ship is unsinkable, but the sinking of the
passenger-and-car ferry Estonia in the Baltic surely should have never have happened. It
was well designed and carefully maintained. It carried the proper number of lifeboats. It
had been thoroughly inspected the day of its fatal voyage. Yet hours later, the Estonia
rolled over and sank in a cold, stormy night. It went down so quickly that most of those

on board, caught in their dark, flooding cabins, had no chance to save themselves: Of
those who managed to scramble overboard, only 139 survived. The rest died of
hypothermia before the rescuers could pluck them from the cold sea. The final death toll
amounted to 912 souls. However, there were an unpleasant number of questions about
why the Estonia sank and why so many survivors were men in the prime of life, while
most of the dead were women, children and the elderly.

7. One can understand from the reading that ----.

A) the lifesaving equipment did not work well and lifeboats could not be
lowered
B) design faults and incompetent crew contributed to the sinking of the
Estonia ferry
C) 139 people managed to leave the vessel but died in freezing water
D) naval architects claimed that the Estonia was unsinkable
E) most victims were trapped inside the boat as they were in their cabins

8. It is clear from the passage that the survivors of the accident ----.
A) helped one another to overcome the tragedy that had affected them
all
B) were mostly young men but women, children and the elderly stood little
chance
C) helped save hundreds of lives
D) are still suffering from severe post-traumatic stress disorder
E) told the investigators nothing about the accident

9. According to the passage, when the Estonia sank, ----.

A) there were only 139 passengers on board

B) few of the passengers were asleep

C) there were enough lifeboats for the number of people on board

D) faster reaction by the crew could have increased the Estonia's

chances of survival
E) all the passengers had already moved out into the open decks

#5.

Modern economies does not differentiate between renewable and nonrenewable materials, as its method is to measures everything by means of a money
price. Thus, taking various alternatives fuels, like coal, oil, wood or water power: the
only difference between them recognised by modern economics is relative cost per
equivalent unit. The cheapest is automatically the one to be preferred, as to do
otherwise would be irrational and 'uneconomic'. From a Buddhist point of view of
course this will not do, the essential difference between non-renewable fuels like
coal and oil on the one hand and renewable fuels like wood and water power on the
other cannot be simply overlooked. Non-renewable goods must be used only if they
are indespensible, and then only with the greatest care and the highest concern for
conservation. To use them carelessly or extravagantly is an act of violence, and
while complete non-violence may not be possible on earth, it is nonetheless the duty
of man to aim at deal of non-violence in all he does.
1.
Which of the following statements may be assumed to be false from the information in the
passage?
1. The writer finds the attitude of modern economists towards natural resources to be
uneconomic.
2. Buddhist economists are in different to the cost of fuels
3. To use oil on non-essentials is contrary to the Buddhist economic philosophy
4. To fell a tree is an act of violence not permitted by Buddhist economists

Of the above statements

A.

1 and 2 are false

B.

1, 2 and 4 are false

C.

3 and 4 are false

D.

All 1, 2, 3, and 4 are false

2. According to the passage, Buddhist economists are not in favour of

A.

measuring everything in terms of money

B.

using non-renewable sources

C.

economic development

D.

applying non-violence to every sphere of life

3. In this passage the author is trying to

A.

differentiate between renewable and non-renewable materials

B.

show that the modern economist is only concerned with costs

C.

underline the need for conserving natural resources

D.

different between two economic philosophies

4. Fill in the blanks with the appropriate pair of phrases:

The passage suggests that while a modern economist, considers it uneconomic to use ......
form of fuel, a Buddhist economist considers it uneconomic to use ...... form a fuel
A.

a cheap, a renewable

B.

an irrational, an essential

C.

an expensive, an non-renewable

D.

a rational, an unessential

5. The Buddhist economist's attitude implies that fuels like coal and oil must be used only if
A.

there is a plentiful supply

B.

wood and water can be dispensed with

C.

the relative cost of each is than of wood and water

D.

there is no alternative fuel available

#6. In 1996, groundwork laid by the organisation paved the way for new

laws giving tribal communities who previously had limited rights to

resources on communal lands the ability to form conservancies and selfmanage their wildlife.
We wanted to show them that they could benefit financially from keeping
these animals alive, in particular from wildlife tourism, said Mr. Kasaona,
who would spend years canvassing the countryside, explaining the model

village by village. Try convincing people who were made these same
promises years ago by a colonial regime and then robbed of their land, he
said. At first, no one trusted us.
In the years since, the plan has been a resounding and rare success
story for African wildlife. Seventy-nine conservancies now cover a full 20
per cent of Namibia. Populations of desert lions, desert elephants and black
rhinos, all threatened with extinction in the early 1990s, have increased
several times over, while poaching has plummeted. (One rhino was poached
in Namibia last year, compared with 668 in neighbouring South Africa.)
Meanwhile, conservancies throughout the country have teamed up with
international tourism operators, giving ordinary travellers unprecedented
access to both animals and local culture.
But an increase in wildlife and tourists has brought a new and
unexpected set of challenges. Were having some problems with our own
success, said Mr. Kasaona, who grew up herding goats in Kaokoland and
whose family members still live a pastoral life there. As we say, lions and
cattle arent always best friends.
Nearly half of all Namibias conservancies, and many of the countrys most
ambitious community tourism projects, are in the northern Kunene region
(which includes Kaokoland), an expanse of dry mountains and valleys the
size of Greece but with fewer than 90,000 inhabitants. Against a harsh
backdrop, conservancies have logged one of their greatest successes, the
return of the endangered black rhino.
I. The passage tries to indicate that,
a) Wildlife can be best conserved if enough profit is shared with local
people from the proceeds of tourism profits
b) forming local conservancies and giving them managerial powers through
laws has boosted the wildlife tourism

c) giving local people rights to access resources in their regions and

showing them the importance of preserving wildlife has succeeded in
bringing win win situation for wildlife and people
d) All the three statement are correct
II. But an increase in wildlife and tourists has brought
a new and unexpected set of challenges. What does the
statement imply?
a) That the local people are unable to manage the new found wealth
effectively
b) That increase in the wildlife and tourist number has affected their
privacy
c) That their cattle are now vulnerable to preying by wild animals whose
number has increased many times
d) That local people are scared about their lives as increase in lion numbers
has threatened their lives

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