Practice Reading Section

This is the Practice Reading Section. Here is a list with pictures to help you locate the stories in the Reading Section and Answer Section. 

Saturday with Grandpa ........ Click here 

How They Grow ................... Click here Directions: It should take about 20–30 minutes to read the passages in this book and answer the 6 questions in the Answer Section. Read each passage, then refer back to it as needed when answering the questions in the Answer Section.

Read the story "Saturday with Grandpa" and then answer Numbers 1 through 3 in the Answer Section. 

      aturday is our day to clean, but Grandpa turns work into fun.

We like to sing when we dust. We like to dance when we mop. We clean the car together. We do the wash together. We both wear our caps.

When we are done, we hurry to the store. We shop for food. Grandpa lets me pick the fruits that I like best. We carry the food home. Grandpa tells stories while we walk.

At night, our work is done. Friends come over. We cook dinner. We sing and dance.

Saturday is our day to clean, but Grandpa turns work into fun!

Now proceed to the Answer Section below.

Read the story "How They Grow" and then answer Numbers 4 through 6 in the Answer Section. 

      ow does a butterfly grow? It starts out as a tiny egg. It becomes a caterpillar. It eats lots of leaves. It grows and grows. Then it goes inside a cocoon. At last, it comes out. It’s a butterfly!

How does a frog grow? It starts out as a tiny egg in the water. The egg grows into a tadpole. It keeps changing. It eats tiny plants. It grows and grows. At last, it hops out of the pond. It’s a frog!

How does a flower grow? It starts out as a seed. Sun and rain help the seed grow. Roots grow into the ground. The plant grows and grows. At last, a bud opens. It’s a flower!

Now you know how they grow!

Now proceed to the Answer Section below.

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Practice Reading Test Answer Section 

This is your Practice Reading Answer Section. The questions in this section are based on the stories in your practice Reading Section (above). You may go back to the Reading Section to help you answer the questions.

Now answer Numbers 1 through 3. Base your answers on the story "Saturday with Grandpa."

What happens in "Saturday with Grandpa"?

 

 A boy and his grandpa eat hot dogs.

 A boy and his grandpa clean together.

 A boy and his grandpa ride in a car.

 A boy and his grandpa go to the beach. 

What do the boy and his grandpa both wear while they clean?

 

 mops

 aprons

 caps

 scarves 

 Read this sentence from the story.

 

When we are done, we hurry to the store. What does hurry mean? 

 walk

 skip

 hop

 rush 

  Proceed to the next reading: "How They Grow"

Practice Reading Test Answer Section 

This is your Practice Reading Test Answer Section. The questions in this section are based on the story or article in your practice Reading Section (above). You may go back to the Reading Section to help you answer the questions.

Now answer Numbers 4 through 6. Base your answers on the story "How They Grow."

What do you think the butterfly will do next?

 fly away

 turn into a frog

 

 sing a song

 swim in the water

Where does a tadpole live?

 

   in a tree

 under a rock

 in the sky

 in the water

 Read this sentence from the story.

 

At last, it hops out of the pond. What does hops mean? 

 runs

 jumps

 falls

 swims 

This is the end of the Practice Test.You may go back and check or finish questions you did not answer.

Check your time so you stop or finish when the time is up. When you are done click on the submit button. You will be able to print

your answers.

 Name:       

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Researches suggest that there are creatures that do not know what light means at the bottom of the sea. They don't have either eyes or ears; they can only feel. There is no day or night for them. There are no winters, no summers, no sun, no moon, and no stars. It is as if a child spent its life in darkness in bed, with nothing to see or hear. How different our own life is! Sight shows us the ground beneath our feet and the heavens above us - the sun, moon, and stars, shooting stars, lightning, and the sunset. It shows us day and night. We are able to hear voices, the sound of the sea, and music. We feel, we taste, we smell. How fortunate we are!

1. Judging from the passage, we can say that this story is mainly about ............ .

a) life of sea creatures at the bottom of the sea

b) how changes in the seasons are perceived by the deep-sea creatures

c) how wonderful our lives were and will be

d) the differences among creatures of the earth and those of the sea

e) the superiority of human beings over some creatures in terms of senses

 

2. We discover that the sea creatures in the story ................ .

a) have the same senses that we do

b) have no sense of hearing as well as sight

c) hear the sounds of the ocean

d) live in darkness because no light reaches to the bottom

e) do not hear the sound of sea as they are accustomed to it

 

3. In the passage a child in darkness is likened to ................ .

a) someone who lives where there are no seasons

b) an animal without the sense of touch

c) a sea creature with no seeing or hearing ability

d) a deaf child unaffected by the environment

e) a perfect sleeper, for there is no sound around to hear 

My Own ResourcesPractice

Intermediate

Reading Comprehension Texts

 

I Heard a Little Voice

 I was working with a young man who was in his early 30s and fairly close to death. His parents had come from out of town and were spending as much time as possible with him at the hospital. They had been with him for many hours and finally took a break to go out for dinner. While they were out, their son died. The parents were devastated, the man=s mother in particular; not only had her son died, but he had died during her absence. She was obviously distressed and frequently rested her head on her son=s chest and cried.

As I was standing with her, I distinctly heard a little voice in my head say, Suggest that she get up on the bed and hold him. My mind whizzed. How could I make such a suggestion? What if someone saw? What would people think? I tried to ignore the voice, hoping it would go away. Not so. Seconds later, the voice said in a louder, more insistent tone, She needs to get up on the bed and hold him!

AWould you like to get up on the bed and hold him?@ I heard myself ask. She all but leapt onto it. I remained with her while she held her son, stroked his face, talked with him and sang to him. These moments with this mother and her son were some of the most exquisite moments of my life. I felt blessed that I was able to be with her while she said good-bye to her child.

        Anne Walton

 

QUESTIONS

 

1. Vocabulary. Find in the text words or expressions that mean the following:

Near:

Wept:

Caress:

Really sad and upset:

 

2. Answer the following questions according to the text:

a. How old was the boy?

b. When did the boy die?

c. Why did the writer know the boy?

d. Why did the writer think that holding the dead body would be inconvenient?

 

3. Composition. What is your opinion about the story? Would you do the same if you were in this situation.

 

MMLLDC

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1

SIMPLIFY YOUR LIFE

Years ago, a cigarette commercial asked if you were smoking more, but enjoying it less.

That describes the way many of us live today. We are doing more, but enjoying it less.

And when that doesn’t work, we compound the problem. In our frantic search for satisfaction, we try stuffing still

more into our days, never realizing that we are taking the wrong approach.

The truth is simple; so simple it is hard to believe. Satisfaction lies with less, not with more.

Yet, we pursue the myth that this thing, or that activity, will somehow provide the satisfaction we so

desperately seek.

Arthur Lindman, in his devastating book, “The Harried Leisure Class,” described the futility of pursuing

more. His research focused on what people did with their leisure time. He found that as income rose, people bought

more things to occupy their leisure time. But, ironically, the more things they bought, the less they valued any one

of them. Carried to an extreme, he predicted massive boredom in the midst of tremendous variety. That was more

than twenty years ago, and his prediction seems more accurate every year.

Lindman of course, is not the first to discover this. The writer of Ecclesiastes expressed the same thought

thousands of years ago. It is better, he wrote, to have less, but enjoy it more.

If you would like to enjoy life more, I challenge you to experiment with me. How could you simplify your

life? What could you drop? What could you do without? What could you stop pursuing? What few things could

you concentrate on?

The more I learn, the more I realize that fullness of life does not depend on things. The more I give up, the

more I seem to gain. But words will never convince you. You must try it for yourself.

Copyright 1990 Dr. Merrill Douglass/Time Management Corporation

QUESTIONS

1. Answer the following questions using your own words. (2 points)

a. When do people normally start buying more things?

b. Why do people buy more and more according to the text?

2. Are the following statements true or false? (1 point)

a. The idea of having a lot and enjoying it little can be found in one of the books of the Bible.

b. We try to find satisfaction by selling all the things at home that we do not need anymore.

3. Find a word or phrase in the text which, in context, is similar in meaning to: (1 point)

a. Done or arranged in a hurry and a state of excitement or confusion.

b. That has a great effect.

4. Choose a, b or c in each question below. Only one choice is correct. (2 points)

1. Arthur Lindman wrote

a. a novel.

b. The Harried Leisure Class. MMLLDC

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http://www.miguelmllop.com/

2

c. Ecclesiastes.

2. Lindman wrote his book

a. ten years ago.

b. twenty years ago.

c. more than twenty years ago.

3. We can make our life happier if we

a. get rid of useless things.

b. buy more things.

c. sell things we do not need.

4. Simplifying our life is

a. nonsense.

b. our duty.

c. a good piece of advice.

5. Composition (100-150 words). Do you lead a simple life or do you need many hobbies to

be happy?

1

NAME: COURSE:

Mum who dumped a tot is jailed

A CAREER mum dumped her baby on a stranger's doorstep to stop his dad

bringing him up.

The householder heard the 12-week-old boy crying in his pushchair on a cold

winter's night.

And yesterday the mum began six months in jail for her heartless act.

The judge at Newport crown court told her: "You are a selfish woman who acted

out of spite.

"You did nothing to alert the occupants. They might not have found him."

The court heard that the woman, 30, from Preston, dumped her son 200 miles away

at Newport, South Wales.

She had found that she was pregnant after splitting with the dad. The first he knew

of the baby was when he was told by an adoption agency.

It is his second child with the mum of three.

The woman, who admitted cruelty, was said to have had depression.

QUESTIONS

1. Answer the following questions using your own words. (2 points)

a. Was the woman sent to jail? Why?

b. When did the father find out about the baby?

2. Are the following statements true or false? (1 point)

a. The woman in the story has two children.

b. The woman lives 200 miles away from Preston.

3. Find a word or phrase in the text which, in context, is similar in meaning to: (1

point)

Abandoned: Egotist: 2

4. Choose a, b or c in each question below. Only one choice is correct. (2 points)

1. The boy was

a. one month old.

b. two months old.

c. three months old.

2. The woman left the boy at

a. a friend’s house.

b. her mother’s house.

c. an unknown person’s house.

3. The woman is in her

a. twenties.

b. thirties.

c. forties.

4. The boy was left in

a. Preston

b. Newport.

c. South Wales.

5. Composition (100-150 words) Give your opinion about that woman’s action. (4

points)

1

NAME: COURSE:

As one approaches some crossroads, one comes to a sign which says that drivers have

to stop when they come to the main road ahead. At other crossroads, drivers have to go slow,

but they do not actually have to stop (unless, of course, there is something coming along the

main road); and at still others, they do not have either to stop or to go slow, because they are

themselves on the main road.

Mr. Williams, who was always a very careful driver, was driving home from work one

evening when he came to a crossroads. It had a “Slow” sign, so he slowed down when he

came to the main road, looked both ways to see that nothing was coming, and then drove

across without stopping completely.

At once he heard a police whistle, so he pulled in to the side of the road and stopped. A

policeman walked over to him with a notebook and pencil in his hand and said, “You didn’t

stop at the crossing.”

“But the sign there doesn’t say “Stop”,” answered Mr Williams. “It just says “Slow”,

and I did go slow.”

The policeman looked around him, and a look of surprise came over his face. Then he

put his notebook and pencil away, scratched his head and said, “Well, I’ll be blowed” I am in

the wrong street!”

QUESTIONS

1. Answer the following questions using your own words but taking into account the

information in the text. (2 points)

a. When do you have to stop when you reach a crossroads?

b. What happens when you are on the main road?

2. Ate the following statements True or False? Identify the part of the text that supports

your answer by copying the exact passage. (1.5 points)

a. Stop signs can be found at every crossroads:

b. Mr Williams was a distracted driver:

c. Mr. Williams stopped completely before crossing the main road: 2

3. Find a synonym for each of the four words from the six options. (1 point)

CROSSROADS AHEAD SLOW DOWN WHISTLE NOTEBOOK SCRATCH

a. Reduce speed: b: In front:

c: Rub your skin with your nails: d: Place where two roads meet:

4. Choose a, b, or c in each question below. Only one choice is correct. (1.5 points)

1. At a crossroads, you reduce your car’s speed when

a. there is s stop sign.

b. there is a slow sign.

c. you are on the main road.

2. When Mr Williams heard the police whistle

a. he sped up and disappeared.

b. he stopped the car at one side of the road.

c. he ignored the whistle and went on driving.

3. The police stopped Mr Williams because

a. there was a stop sign that Mr Williams ignored.

b. the police was not sure whether Mr Williams had a driving licence.

c. the police thought that he was a t a different crossroads with a stop sign on it.

5. Composition (130-150 words): Will you get a driving licence when you turn eighteen? (4

points)