Reading Comprehension Test 1
Passage 1
One-room schools are part of the heritage of the United States,
and the mention of them makes people feel a vague longing for
“the way things were.” One-room schools are an endangered
species, however. For more than a hundred years, one-room
schools have been systematically shut down and their students
sent away to centralized schools. As recently as 1930 there were
149,000 one-room schools in the United States. By 1970 there
were 1,800. Today, of the nearly 800 remaining one-room schools,
more than 350 are in Nebraska. The rest are scattered through a
few other states that have on their road maps wide-open spaces
between towns.
Now that there are hardly any left, educators are beginning to
think that maybe there is something yet to be learned from oneroom schools, something that served the pioneers that might serve
as well today. Progressive educators have come up with
progressive-sounding names like “peer-group teaching” and
“multi-age grouping” for educational procedures that occur
naturally in the one-room school. In a one-room school the
children teach each other because the teacher is busy part of the
time teaching someone else. A fourth grader can work at a fifth-
grade level in math and a third-grade level in English without the
stigma associated with being left back or the pressures of being
skipped ahead. A youngster with a learning disability can find his
or her own level without being separated from the other pupils. In
larger urban and suburban schools today, this is called
“mainstreaming.” A few hours in a small school that has only one
classroom and it becomes clear why so many parents feel that one
of the advantages of living in Nebraska is that their children have
to go to a one-room school.
1. Which of the following is the main topic of this passage?
A. One-room schools in Nebraska.
B. Education in one-room schools.
C. The tradition of one-room schools.
D. One-room schools in the United States.
2. It can be inferred from this passage that
A. one-room schools are private schools.
B. education in one-room schools is traditional.
C. most one-room schools in the U.S. today are in Nebraska.
D. most one-room schools in the U.S. today are located in
outlying regions.
3. Which of the following is NOT characteristic of one-room
schools according to the passage?
A. Mainstreaming.
B. Multi-age grouping.
C. Peer-group teaching.
D. The humiliation of being left back.
4. Which of the following is NOT true about one-room schools
according to the passage?
A. One-room schools have gone extinct in the U.S. now.
B. Students are free to choose the level they want to work at.
C. Nebraska is the state which has the most one-room schools in
the U.S.
D. One-room schools have something that served the pioneers
that might serve as well today.
5. The author’s attitude towards one-room schools is
A. regretful.
B. objective.
C. pessimistic.
D. encouraging.
Passage 2
The Stone Age was a period of history which began in
approximately 2 million B.C. and lasted until 3000 B.C. Its name
was derived from the stone tools and weapons that modern
scientists found. This period was divided into the Paleolithic,
Mesolithic, and Neolithic Ages. During the first period, (2 million
to 8000 B.C.) the fist hatchet and use of fire for heating and
cooking were developed. As a result of the Ice Age, which
evolved about 1 million years into the Paleolithic Age, people
were forced to seek shelter in caves, wear clothing, and develop
new tools.
During the Mesolithic Age (8000 to 6000 B.C.) people made
crude pottery and the first fish hooks, took dogs hunting, and
developed a bow and arrow, which was used until the fourteenth
century A.D.
The Neolithic Age (6000 to 3000 B.C.) saw humankind
domesticating sheep, goats, pigs, and cattle, being less nomadic
than in the previous eras, establishing permanent settlements, and
creating governments.
6. What does the passage mainly discuss?
A. The Neolithic Age.
B. The Paleolithic Age.
C. The Mesolithic Age.
D. The development of the Stone Age.
7. Which of the following can be inferred from the passage?
A. The Ice Age precedes the Paleolithic Age.
B. The Paleolithic Age was colder than the Mesolithic Age.
C. In the Neolithic Age people were not so nomadic as they were
in the previous eras.
D. The Paleolithic Age lasted longer than the Mesolithic Age and
the Neolithic Age combined.
8. The word “evolved” in the first paragraph could best be
replaced by which of the following?
A. lasted
B. stayed
C. continued
D. developed
9. Which of the following statements best describes the
organization of the passage?
A. Logical.
B. Inferential.
C. Descriptive.
D. Chronological.
10. The author would most probably agree with which of the
following statements?
A. In the Ice Age there were no human beings at all.
B. In the Stone Age humankind lived a less nomadic life.
C. The bow and arrow was not used in the Neolithic Age.
D.
Domesticating
animals
and
settlements was preferable to nomady.
establishing
permanent
Passage 3
Hot boning is an energy saving technique for the meat
processing industry. It has received considerable attention in
recent years when increased pressure for energy conservation has
accentuated the need for more efficient methods of processing the
bovine carcass. Cooling of an entire carcass requires a
considerable amount of refrigerated space, since bone and
trimmable fat are cooled along with the muscle. It is also
necessary to space the carcasses adequately in the refrigerated
room for better air movement and prevention of microbial
contamination, thus adding to the volume requirements for
carcass chillers.
Conventional handling of meat involves holding the beef sides
in the cooler for 24 to 36 hours before boning. Chilling in the
traditional fashion is also associated with a loss of carcass weight
ranging from 2% to 4% due to evaporation of moisture from the
meat tissue.
Early excision, or hot boning, of muscle prerigor followed by
vacuum packaging has several potential advantages. By removing
only the edible muscle and fat prerigor, refrigeration space and
costs are minimized, boning labor is decreased and storage yields
increased. Because hot boning often results in toughening of meat,
a more recent approach, hot boning following electrical
stimulation, has been used to reduce the necessary time of rigor
mortis. Some researchers have found this method beneficial in
maintaining tender meat, while others have found that the meat
also becomes tough after electrical stimulation.
11. What is the author’s main purpose in writing the passage?
A. To analyze the advantages and disadvantages of hot boning.
B. To criticize the traditional way of processing meat as energy
wasting.
C. To compare and contrast hot boning and traditional processing
of meat.
D. To advocate hot boning as an energy saving technique for the
meat processing industry.
12. All of the following are mentioned EXCEPT that
A. the traditional way of processing meat consumes a lot of
energy.
B. traditional processing of meat requires a lot of refrigerated
space.
C. the traditional way of processing meat consumes a lot of time
and labor.
D. the traditional way of processing meat results in a loss of
carcass weight.
13. All of the following are true about hot boning EXCEPT that
A. hot boning saves a lot of labor.
B. hot boning saves a lot of energy.
C. hot boning saves a lot of refrigeration space.
D. electrical stimulation can totally solve the problem of meat
toughening.
14. The word “trimmable” in the first paragraph is closest in
meaning to which of the following?
A. that can be removed
B. that can be arranged
C. that can be controlled
D. that can be put in order
15. Which of the following best expresses the author’s attitude
towards hot boning?
A. Impartial.
B. Indifferent.
C. Cautiously optimistic.
D. Enthusiastically favorable.
Passage 4
Lichens are a unique group of complex, flowerless plants
growing on rocks and trees. There are thousands of kinds of
lichens, which come in a wide variety of colors. They are
composed of algae and fungi which unite to satisfy the needs of
the lichens.
The autotrophic green algae produce all their own food
through a process called photosynthesis and provide the lichen
with nutritional elements. On the other hand, the heterotrophic
fungus, which depends on other elements to provide its food, not
only absorbs and stores water for the plant, but also helps protect
it. This union by which two dissimilar organisms live together is
called “symbiosis.”
This sharing enables lichens to resist the most adverse
environmental conditions found on earth. They can be found in
some very unlikely places such as the polar ice caps as well as in
tropical zones, in dry areas as well as in wet ones, on mountain
peaks and along coastal areas.
The lichen’s strong resistance to its hostile environment and
its ability to live in harmony with such environments is one
example that humanity should consider in trying to solve its own
problems.
16. Which of the following is the main topic of this passage?
A. Lichens and humanity.
B. Lichens and symbiosis.
C. Lichens and the environment.
D. Lichens and the way they exist.
17. The word “symbiosis” in the second paragraph is closest in
meaning to which of the following?
A. living together
B. helping each other
C. mutual relationship
D. biological relationship
18. Which of the following is NOT mentioned in the passage?
A. Lichens are mainly made up of algae and fungi.
B. The heterotrophic fungus must depend on other organisms for
food but in turn they also benefit from this dependence.
C. There are two kinds of lichens, one of which can produce and
provide nutrients for themselves and the other of which must
depend on other plants for food.
D. According to the author humanity should be inspired from the
fact that lichens can adapt themselves to the most unfavorable
environmental conditions for existence.
19. Which of the following can be inferred from the passage?
A. Lichens can exist in some other planets.
B. Lichens are the lowest plants on the earth.
C. Lichens can survive the earthquake as well as the tsunami.
D. Lichens can exist in the Antarctic as well as in the Sahara
desert.
20. The word “heterotrophic” in the second paragraph probably
means
A. storing water for other plants
B. absorbing nutrients from trees
C. acquiring nutrients from any other elements
D. deriving nourishment from organic substances