Practice T/F/NTG Reading Passage 1 Performer Houdini: Are The Following Statements True, False, or Not Given in The Text?
Practice T/F/NTG Reading Passage 1 Performer Houdini: Are The Following Statements True, False, or Not Given in The Text?
Practice T/F/NTG Reading Passage 1 Performer Houdini: Are The Following Statements True, False, or Not Given in The Text?
T/F/NTG
Reading passage 1
Performer Houdini
Harry Houdini (1874 to 1926) was a Hungarian-American illusionist and stunt performer,
noted for his sensational escape acts. He first attracted attention as “Harry Handcuff
Houdini” on a tour of Europe, where he challenged police forces to keep him locked up.
Soon he extended his repertoire to include chains, ropes slung from skyscrapers,
straitjackets under water, and having to hold his breath inside a sealed milk can.
Are the following statements true, false, or not given in the text?
1
Reading passgage 2:
Humans have always speculated about what society may or should look like in the
future and there is a long and honourable tradition of writers who have described their
vision of the world in a future age. One possible division of these books is into utopias
which paint a picture of an ideal society and dystopias in which the world is a much less
desirable and often frightening place. Perhaps the most famous utopia remains Plato’s
Republic, written around two and half thousand years ago, which is also partly a political
manifesto proposing a form of government where philosophers kings rule in the
interests of the many. In its day, this most undemocratic proposal was less controversial
than it would be today, as there was a strong body of opinion in Athens that democracy
was not a model form of government. While many today may find Plato’s vision
unpleasant, his intention was otherwise and the book has the optimistic goal of showing
how the ills of society could be cured. This optimism stands in stark contrast to George
Orwell’s dystopian nightmare 1984. That book too presents a version of what society
may look like in the future, but it has a quite different purpose: the aim of the book is to
serve as a warning. The reader is meant to be shocked and horrified by the world of
deception and tyranny it portrays, a world where the state authorities, in the form of Big
Brother, have absolute control of every aspect of individuals’ lives and where truth is
lost.
Are the following statements true, false, or not given in the text?
2
Reading passage 3:
Cycling
What’s the furthest you have ever cycled? Perhaps you cycle to school or to work, or
maybe at most a short cycling trip with friends? How would you feel about spending
months on the road travelling solo from the UK to China, by bike?
For British cyclist Pete Jones, camping rough and cycling long distances through
inhospitable terrain are second nature. Mr Jones is currently undertaking a mammoth
trip across the Eurasiancontinent from Britain to China. Pete Jones is no stranger to
China. But he says many people there are puzzled by his passion for cycling, asking
why he would choose to cycle when he can afford a car. Indeed, while there are an
estimated 400 million bicycles in China, where it has long been the preferred form of
transport, rapid economic growth has fuelled an explosive expansion in car ownership.
Edward Genochio, another British cyclist who completed a 41,000km trip to China and
back, said one of his aims was to “promote cycling as a safe, sustainable and
environmentally benign means of getting about”. In the UK, the last few years have
seen a rise in the number of people choosing two wheels over four, with some
estimates saying the number of people cycling to work has almost doubled in the last
five years.
Politicians also see cycling as a way to boost their eco-credentials, with people such as
London mayor Boris Johnson often riding to work under his own steam. But we may
have to wait some time before we see him emulating Pete Jones in attempting to cycle
all the way to China!
Are the following statements true, false, or not given in the text?
(B
3
Reading passgage 4:
The Mona Lisa
Mona Lisa, also known as La Gioconda, is the wife of Francesco del Giocondo.
This painting is painted as oil on wood. The original painting size is 77 x 53 cm
(30 x 20 7/8 in) and is owned by the Government of France and is on the wall in
the Louvre in Paris, France.
This figure of a woman, dressed in the Florentine fashion of her day and seated
in a visionary, mountainous landscape, is a remarkable instance of Leonardo’s
sfumato technique of soft, heavily shaded modelling. The Mona Lisa’s enigmatic
expression, which seems both alluring and aloof, has given the portrait universal
fame.
The Mona Lisa’s famous smile represents the sitter in the same way that the
juniper branches represent Ginevra Benci and the ermine represents Cecilia
Gallerani in their portraits, in Washington and Krakow respectively. It is a visual
representation of the idea of happiness suggested by the word “gioconda” in
Italian. Leonardo made this notion of happiness the central motif of the portrait: it
is this notion which makes the work such an ideal. The nature of the landscape
also plays a role. The middle distance, on the same level as the sitter’s chest, is
in warm colours. Men live in this space: there are a winding road and a bridge.
This space represents the transition between the space of the sitter and the far
distance, where the landscape becomes a wild and uninhabited space of rocks
and water which stretches to the horizon, which Leonardo has cleverly drawn at
the level of the sitter’s eyes.
Questions
Decide if the following statements are True (T), False (F), or Not Given (NG):