OXFORD BOOKWORMS COMPREHENSION TEST

Stage 4
Disaster!

1 What do these words mean? Match a d travelled around the world to talk about the
number from A with a letter from B. Bhopal disaster? …………………
e was a teacher who went into space?
A
…………………
1 ___ earthquake
2 ___ hurricane 20 marks
3 ___ volcano
4 ___ victim 4 When did it happen? Match a number
from A with a letter from B.
5 ___ flood
A
B 1 The Chernobyl reactor exploded in …
a a big mountain with a hole in the top; gas, 2 The plague came to Eyam village in …
fire and hot rocks sometimes come out of it 3 The Columbia space shuttle exploded in …
b a person who is hurt or killed in a disaster or 4 Vesuvius erupted in …
accident 5 A terrible earthquake hit Kobe in …
c a sudden strong shaking of the earth’s
B
surface
a 2003.
d when a lot of water covers land that is
b 1995.
usually dry
c 1665.
e a storm with very strong winds
d 1986.
20 marks e AD 79.
20 marks
2 Where did it happen? Match a number
from A with a letter from B.
5 Are these sentences true (T) or false (F)?
A
a ___ Pompeii and Herculaneum were
1 The worst earthquake disaster of the
destroyed on the same day.
twentieth century was in …
b ___ The Kobe earthquake happened in
2 The Asian tsunami started near …
January when the weather was very
3 Hurricane Katrina caused floods in …
cold.
4 A deadly gas killed many people in …
c ___ The Asian tsunami was caused by a
5 The Exxon Valdez caused an oil spill in …
huge earthquake under the ocean.
d ___ The city of New Orleans is just above
B
sea level.
a Sumatra.
e ___ When the Great Fire of London started,
b Alaska.
King Charles I immediately left the city.
c Bhopal.
f ___ All the passengers on the Titanic were
d Tangshan.
very rich.
e New Orleans.
g ___ An American company owned the
20 marks factory in Bhopal.
h ___ After the Challenger disaster, the
3 Which of these people …? Sunil Kumar American government stopped their
Verna, Christa McAuliffe, Pliny the space programme.
Younger, Tilly Smith, Christopher Wren. i ___ The Chernobyl disaster started when
a wrote about the Vesuvius disaster? some scientists did an experiment.
………………… j ___ The HIV / Aids tragedy is worse than
b warned people about the signs of the the Black Death of the 1340s.
tsunami? ………………… 20 marks
c planned a new cathedral after the Great Fire
of London? ………………… Total marks

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OXFORD BOOKWORMS COMPREHENSION TEST ANSWERS
Stage 4
Disaster!

1
1 c
2 e
3 a
4 b
5 d

2
1 d
2 a
3 e
4 c
5 b

3
1 Pliny the Younger
2 Tilly Smith
3 Christopher Wren
4 Sunil Kumar Verna
5 Christa McAuliffe

4
1 d
2 c
3 a
4 e
5 b

5
a F
b T
c T
d F
e F
f F
g T
h F
i T
j T

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OXFORD BOOKWORMS MULTIPLE CHOICE TEST
Stage 4
Disaster!

PLACES 8 The world heard about the Chernobyl

disaster from the country of _____.
Choose the best answer. a Germany
1 The volcano Vesuvius is south-east of the b Denmark
city of _____. c Sweden
a Turin d Norway
b Milan
9 Eyam is a _____ in the north of England.
c Rome
a small village
d Naples
b large town
2 In 1995, there was a terrible earthquake in c big city
the Japanese city of _____. d long river
a Kobe
10 HIV/Aids is a serious problem in the part of
b Kyoto
Africa which is _____ of the Sahara.
c Tokyo
a north
d Nagoya
b south
3 The Asian tsunami started 160 kilometres c east
west of the island of _____. d west
a Borneo
20 marks
b Madagascar
c Sumatra
d Sri Lanka PEOPLE

4 People in the city of New Orleans live _____ Choose the best answer.
below sea level. 11 _____ wrote a detailed diary about the
a one metre eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79.
b two metres a Pliny the Elder
c ten metres b Pliny the Younger
d twenty metres c Virgil
5 The Great Fire of London started in a shop d Homer
which sold _____. 12 In the tsunami an Indonesian man called
a cheese Erwin helped to save _____ from a river.
b meat a a young girl
c fish b a young boy
d bread c an old woman
6 The Titanic was sailing towards _____. d an old man
a New York 13 Tilly Smith knew the signs of the tsunami
b New Orleans because she had learned about it _____.
c Miami a from a friend
d Southampton b at home
7 Bhopal is in the middle of _____. c at school
a Indonesia d at university
b India 14 For many days _____ led the fight to stop
c Sri Lanka the Great Fire of London.
d Bangladesh a Thomas Farynor
b Samuel Pepys
c Sir Thomas Bludworth
d King Charles

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OXFORD BOOKWORMS MULTIPLE CHOICE TEST
Stage 4
Disaster!

15 On the night of the Titanic disaster Captain 22 The first Tangshan earthquake
Smith _____. measured _____ on the Richter scale.
a went to a dinner party a 2.8
b read in the library b 4.8
c played the piano c 6.2
d looked for icebergs d 8.2
16 Sunil Kumar Verma travelled all over the 23 After Hurricane Katrina _____ per cent of
world to give talks about the _____. New Orleans was under water.
a Asian tsunami a sixty
b Chernobyl disaster b seventy
c Bhopal disaster c eighty
d Exxon Valdez disaster d ninety
17 Christa McAuliffe was chosen from 24 The ship the Carpathia saved _____ people
11,000 _____ to go into space. after the Titanic disaster.
a doctors a 268
b teachers b 705
c scientists c 1,550
d astronauts d 2,202
18 Captain Jeff Hazelwood of the Exxon Valdez 25 On the morning after the Bhopal disaster,
had a history of _____ problems. 20,000 people went to the _____.
a money a hospital
b health b train station
c eating c chemical factory
d drinking d airport
19 After Chernobyl, Hanna Kozlova took 26 In January 2003, the space shuttle
her _____Viktor to France for an operation. Columbia took off on its _____ flight.
a father a first
b grandfather b second
c son c tenth
d brother d twenty-eighth
20 In 1665, George Vicars died from the plague 27 The Exxon Valdez was the worst _____
after he was bitten by a _____. disaster in American history.
a flea a human
b rat b environmental
c dog c nuclear
d horse d fire
20 marks 28 At the Chernobyl reactor, the radiation rose
to 30,000 roentgen in one _____.
FACTS a minute
b hour
Choose the best answer. c day
21 In AD 79, _____ people lived in Pompeii. d week
a 200 29 In 1666, _____ of the population of England
b 2,000 died of the plague.
c 20,000 a one quarter
d 200,000 b one third
c half
d three-quarters

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OXFORD BOOKWORMS MULTIPLE CHOICE TEST
Stage 4
Disaster!

30 In 2007, _____ million people around the 37 a very large piece of ice in the sea
world were living with HIV. a ocean
a four b island
b fourteen c iceberg
c twenty-four d oil spill
d forty
38 a very sad event or situation which often
20 marks involves death
a celebration
VOCABULARY b tragedy
c experiment
Choose the best answer. d operation
31 the grey powder that remains after a fire 39 a very small insect that can jump; it bites
a earth animals and people
b ash a flea
c mud b frog
d sand c rat
32 when a lot of water covers land that is d bird
usually dry 40 a big mountain with a hole in the top where
a flood fire and gas sometimes come out
b earthquake a reactor
c eruption b power station
d plague c hill
33 very large d volcano
a hard 20 marks
b heavy
c high
EVENTS
d huge
34 a deep hole in the ground from which people Choose the best answer.
get water 41 After the second eruption of Vesuvius,
a beach Herculaneum was covered by _____.
b river a water
c well b hot fire and gases
d port c hot ash and mud
d big stones and trees
35 to save somebody from danger
a protect 42 In Qinglong, government workers
b rescue organised _____ and saved 200,000 people
c suffer from the earthquake.
d panic a buses
b cars
36 to go down under the water; a ship does this
c hospitals
when it has a hole in the side
d tents
a sink
b fall 43 After the 1995 Japanese earthquake _____
c drop spread quickly everywhere.
d spread a fire
b water
c disease
d gas

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OXFORD BOOKWORMS MULTIPLE CHOICE TEST
Stage 4
Disaster!

44 When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans 50 World HIV / Aids Day is celebrated every
many people moved to the _____. year on 1 _____.
a university a September
b station b October
c Superdome c November
d airport d December
45 After the Great Fire, the city of London 20 marks
was _____.
a darker and more dangerous Total marks
b cleaner and healthier
c smaller and poorer
d bigger and richer
46 The Titanic was found under the sea
in _____ by Dr Robert Ballard.
a 1945
b 1965
c 1985
d 2005
47 The deadly gas escaped from the Bhopal
factory _____.
a at lunchtime
b in the afternoon
c in the early evening
d at night
48 The bodies of the Challenger crew were
found in _____.
a the Atlantic Ocean
b the Pacific Ocean
c Florida
d Texas
49 The Exxon Valdez had a hole in its side
because it hit _____.
a an iceberg
b some rocks
c an island
d another ship

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OXFORD BOOKWORMS MULTIPLE CHOICE TEST ANSWERS
Stage 4
Disaster!

PLACES EVENTS
1 d 41 c
2 a 42 d
3 c 43 a
4 b 44 c
5 d 45 b
6 a 46 c
7 b 47 d
8 c 48 a
9 a 49 b
10 b 50 d

PEOPLE
11 b
12 a
13 c
14 d
15 a
16 c
17 b
18 d
19 c
20 a

FACTS
21 c
22 d
23 c
24 b
25 a
26 d
27 b
28 b
29 a
30 d

VOCABULARY
31 b
32 a
33 d
34 c
35 b
36 a
37 c
38 b
39 a
40 d

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OXFORD BOOKWORMS BOOK ACTIVITY ANSWERS
Stage 4
Disaster!

BEFORE READING Chapter 1.2

For these activities, encourage students to 1 b; 2 c; 3 a; 4 c; 5 a; 6 c; 7 b.
exchange ideas, and to speculate and to
guess. Do not tell them the answers that Chapters 1.3 and 1.4
are factual; they will find out the answers The Asian tsunami was caused by an
as they read. earthquake 30 kilometres under the Indian
Ocean on the morning of 26 December 2004.
Activity 1 There was a delay of several hours before
Encourage students to speculate and to make high waves began to hit the coasts of
guesses. Indonesia, Thailand, and many other
earthquake A sudden violent shaking of the earth’s countries. Hundreds of thousands of people
surface lost their lives.
eruption When burning rocks, hot liquid and Hurricane Katrina started over the sea in the Gulf
smoke come out of a volcano of Mexico on 23 August 2005. It hit the coast
explosion When something bursts suddenly with a of the USA a few days later and damaged
very loud noise three of the levees which protect the city of
flood When a lot of water covers something that is New Orleans. 80 per cent of the city became
usually dry flooded and nearly 500,000 people lost their
oil spill When oil accidentally goes out of a ship or homes.
large container
plague A disease that causes death and spreads
Chapter 2.1
quickly
tsunami A very large wave that goes over the land 1 It started in a bread shop near the River Thames
and destroys things on Monday 2 September 1666.
2 Because the houses were made of wood and built
Activity 2 close together. There was also a strong wind.
Open answers. 3 Samuel Pepys.
4 He worked with his men and pulled down some
Activity 3 houses so the fire could not spread.
1 F The eruption of Vesuvius destroyed the towns 5 There were no more rats. The new houses were
of Pompeii and Herculaneum. also safer, cleaner and healthier.
2T
3 F In 1995 there was an earthquake in the Chapter 2.2
Japanese city of Kobe.
1 The Titanic sailed from Southampton in 1912.
4 F The explosion at the Chernobyl power station
2 The ship received seven radio messages about
was in 1986.
the ice.
5T
3 On 14 April the look-out boy saw a big iceberg.
4 The iceberg made a hole that was ninety metres
WHILE READING long.
5 There were enough lifeboats for half the
Chapter 1.1
passengers.
1 Vesuvius is near the city of Naples. 6 Many children never saw their fathers again.
2 The eruptions happened in August AD 79. 7 Three famous millionaires died in the disaster.
3 Pompeii was a rich town of 20,000 people.
4 Herculaneum was quickly covered by hot ash and
rock. Chapter 2.3
5 Pliny the Younger wrote a diary about the 1+e In 1984, workers at the Union Carbide factory
disaster. in Bhopal began to repair boxes that
6 Pompeii and Herculaneum tell us a lot about contained methyl isocyanate gas.
Roman life 2,000 years ago.

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OXFORD BOOKWORMS BOOK ACTIVITY ANSWERS
Stage 4
Disaster!

2+b On 2 December the deadly gas escaped 4 A huge, thick wall was built around reactor 4.
and it started to move silently through the 6 Many children whose parents helped to
sleeping city. clean up after the disaster died young.
3+a In the early hours of the morning, hundreds
Chapter 3.1
of people died in their sleep.
1T
4+g By seven o’clock the next morning 20,000
2 F The plague killed one fifth of the
people had arrived at the hospital in
population of London.
Bhopal.
3 F George Vicars received a parcel of cotton
5+f When the Union Carbide chief flew to Bhopal, material from London.
he was immediately arrested but he was 4T
then allowed to go free. 5 F People left food near the well high above the
6+c In 1989, the Union Carbide company agreed village.
to pay the Indian government 470 million 6T
dollars. 7 F The plague didn’t spread to other villages.
7+d Sunil Kumar Verma travelled around the
world to tell the true story of the tragedy. Chapter 3.2
Chapters 2.4 and 2.5 HIV / Aids is a disease of the blood which can
be spread by sexual contact. At first when
1 How many. . . ? Seven on each space shuttle.
people get HIV they often seem normal
2 What. . .? She was going to give two lessons by
and healthy, but over time they can go on
television.
to develop the deadly disease of Aids.
3 How many. . .? Nine.
HIV/ Aids is a very serious problem in
4 What . . .? It was unusually cold.
Africa south of the Sahara. Sufferers are
5 How much. . .? 20 million dollars.
often too sick to work and find it difficult to
6 What. . .? They did scientific experiments.
get food for their families.
7 Why. . . ? The wing had been damaged on
take-off, and when Columbia approached
the Earth again, hot gases came inside
and it exploded.
8 Who. . . ? Third Officer Gregory Cousins.
9 How much . . . ? 50 million litres.
10 Why. . . ? Because the special boat that was
needed for emergencies had been damaged
by a storm.
11 What. . . ? ‘The day the water died’.

Chapter 2.6
Correct order: 5, 1, 8, 3, 7, 2, 4, 6
5 Scientists did an experiment at Chernobyl
power station.
1 The temperature of reactor number 4 began
to rise quickly.
8 There were sudden explosions and a big fire.
3 A team of firemen came to fight the fire with
water.
7 The world heard about the terrible accident
from Sweden.
2 Gorbachev told the people of the USSR
about the disaster.

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OXFORD BOOKWORMS BOOK ACTIVITY ANSWERS
Stage 4
Disaster!

AFTER READING tent – Tangshan earthquake, in Qinglong many

people were saved because they slept in
Activity 1 tents
t e x p e r i m e n t
Activity 2
e f r a t s n c t h i
n l e w a a u h t a c Edith Brown story in correct order: 2, 6, 12, 16,
t i s i n k c e e s e 10, 8, 3, 14
r g n i k s l m d t b
On 10 April 1912, Edith Brown and her
c h e e e a e i d r e
a t e b r e a c t o r parents, Thomas and Elizabeth, left
n u z t w r r a e n g England on the Titanic because they
c a e r e u a l l a m wanted to start a new life in the United
e c r e w p i v e u u States. When the Titanic suddenly hit an
r a d i a t i o n t d
iceberg on the night of 14 April, Thomas
immediately ran to his family and told
The words across are: experiment, rats, sink, them to put on warm clothes.
reactor crew, radiation.
Edith and Elizabeth found seats in the lifeboat
The words down are: tent, cancer, flight, but sadly there weren’t enough places for
sneeze, tanker, erupt, nuclear, chemical, everybody. Poor Thomas died in the water
astronaut, iceberg, mud. along with many other people so Edith
1 The sentence is: ‘The water is dead, but we never saw her father again.
are alive.’ It was said by Chief Walter
Meganack, the head of a village near Tilly Smith story in correct order: 7, 13, 1, 15, 4,
Prince William Sound in Alaska. 11, 5, 9
2 Oil from the Exxon Valdez had found its way In December 2004, ten-year-old Tilly Smith
onto nearly 1,700 kilometres of the and her family went on holiday to Thailand
Alaskan coast. It had killed millions of fish, where they stayed in a hotel on the coast.
sea birds, and sea animals which many of Tilly was on the beach one day when she
the Alaskan people depended on. Chief saw the sea was moving back very quickly
Meganack said this to give his people from the land. She had learned all about
hope for the future. the signs of a tsunami at school so she
The words are associated with the following immediately warned her family and other
disaster stories: tourists about the danger. Tilly returned to
cancer – Chernobyl Thailand a year later and she spoke there
chemical – Bhopal, Chernobyl to thousands of people about kindness
crew – Chernobyl, the Titanic, Challenger and bravery.
erupt – Vesuvius Activity 3
experiment – Chernobyl, Challenger
Headlines refer to:
flight – Challenger, Columbia
Chernobyl disaster
iceberg – the Titanic
Bhopal chemical disaster
mud – Vesuvius, Asian tsunami, Hurricane
Katrina Tangshan earthquake
nuclear – Chernobyl Sinking of the Titanic
radiation – Chernobyl Challenger disaster
rats – the Great Fire of London, the Plague New Orleans floods
reactor – Chernobyl HIV/Aids
sink – the Titanic Activity 4
sneeze – the Plague Open answers.
tanker – Exxon Valdez
Activity 5

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OXFORD BOOKWORMS BOOK ACTIVITY ANSWERS
Stage 4
Disaster!

Open answers. Encourage students to share

their views and opinions.

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