READING COMPREHENSION TEST 1

READING PASSAGE 1
Read the passage carefully and circle the correct answer (A,B,C, or D). Questions 1-
10 refer to the following passage.

Drought, severe heat and water shortages are disrupting schools,

killing animals and ravaging rice crops in Southeast Asia. Thailand, Laos
and Cambodia have recorded temperatures up to 44.6oC (112.4oF), beating
all time national highs, according to data from the Weather Underground,
a commercial weather service. Singapore too, has seen abnormally high
temperatures, while in Malaysia, lakes have dried up and vegetable output
has withered.

In Cambodia, schoolchildren have vastly diminished water

supplies. “It’s very difficult to get water for the latrines,” says Srey Norn,
a 13-year-old girl from Tboung Khmum Province. “Because some wells
have dried up… and I have many friends who don’t come to school
because it’s too hot.”

Hen Seha, Srey Norn’s teacher, is concerned. “I have seen an

increase in absenteeism of 30 or 40%” he says. “I want to install a fan but
our school doesn’t have any electricity.”

When there are no toilets, explained Iman Morooka, Chief of

Communication at UNICEF Cambodia, “Children either go in the bush …
or would return home, particularly girls, and may not return back to the
school afterwards.”

In Kampong Chhnang Province, a water source for schoolchildren

has become stagnant and disease – ridden. “Even if they filter this water
before drinking it they will get diarrhea and fever” says Hun Heng,
director of the local school support committee. “And if they use it for
bathing their skin will get irritated with red spots and dryness.”

The Cambodian government has responded by reducing school

hours during the hottest period of the day but teachers say there have been
no extra funds to buy water.

Meanwhile, the Mekong River – Southeast Asia’s longest – has

fallen to record lows. The Vietnamese government has reported that the
river is at its lowest level since 1926. When levels are this low, water from
the South China Sea intrudes inland causing a salinization of the soil.
Vietnamese media have reported “major crop losses in the region.”
 Thailand, one of the world’s top rice producer, is also expecting
poor yields because of the heat and the fact that rainfall last year was less
than half of what could be expected, according to an analysis by the
Economic Intelligence Centre.

If Vietnam and Thailand both fail to produce enough rice then local
importers like the Philippines and Indonesia will suffer shortages and
increased prices. The Philippines imported 1.9 million tons of rice last
year, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture report, with Vietnam
and Thailand accounting for 53% and 5%, respectively. And the
Indonesian government said last year that they expected to import one
million tons of rice from Vietnam and more from Thailand.

1. Where are Thailand, Laos and Cambodia?

A. Central Asia
B. Southeast Asia
C. North Asia
D. West Asia
2. Which of the following words does the word “diminished” in paragraph 2 have
closest meaning to?
A. declined
B. expanded
C. amplified
D. flattered
3. Why can’t Hen Seha install a fan?
A. Because he doesn’t have enough money.
B. Because the school think it wastes money.
C. Because there is no electricity in the region.
D. Because it is not very hot in his school.
4. Where would children go if there are no toilets at school?
A. to the bush
B. to the river
C. to their houses
D. to either the bush or their houses
5. According to Hun Heng - director of the local school support committee, school
children tend to get __________ though the water was filtered.
A. sick
B. irritated
C. diarrhea and fever
D. red spots and dryness
6. What do teachers in Cambodia want?
A. They want to install fans in classroom.
B. They want the government invest money to buy water.
C. They want the government to reduce school hours.
D. They want to stay at home during the hottest period of the day.
7. Which of the following words does the word “intrudes” in paragraph 7 have closest
meaning to?
 A. interferes
B. leaves
C. erases
D. withdraws
8. The rainfall last year in Thailand was ________ of what could be expected.
A. more than half
B. approximately half
C. lower than half
D. far less than half
9. What can be inferred about the Philippines?
A. It imports rice from Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia.
B. It will import 1.9 million tons of rice by the end of this year.
C. It expects to import more rice from Thailand.
D. It cannot import enough rice from Vietnam and Thailand this year.
10. What is the writer’s purpose?
A. To give information about the water shortage in Southeast Asia.
B. To mention negative effects of the heat and water shortage.
C. To warn readers about the lowest level of the Mekong River.
D. To warn that the Philippines will cannot import enough rice.

READING PASSAGE 2
Read the passage carefully and circle the correct answer (A,B,C, or D). Questions 11-
20 refer to the following passage.

Floods are second only to fire as the most common of all natural disasters.
They occur almost everywhere in the world, resulting in widespread damage and even
death. Consequently, scientists have long tried to perfect their ability to predict floods.
So far, the best that scientists can do is to recognize the potential for flooding in
certain conditions. There are at least a number of conditions, from deep snow on the
ground to human error, that cause flooding.
The first cause of flooding is deep snow on the ground. When deep snow melts,
it creates a large amount of water. Although deep snow alone rarely causes floods,
when it occurs together with heavy rain and sudden warmer weather, it can lead to
serious flooding. If there is a fast snow melt on top of frozen or very wet ground,
flooding is more likely to occur than when the ground is not frozen. Frozen ground or
ground that is very wet and already saturated with water cannot absorb the additional
water created by the melting snow. Melting snow also contributes to high water levels
in rivers and streams. Whenever rivers are already at their full capacity of water,
heavy rains will result in the rivers overflowing and flooding the surrounding land.
 Secondly, rivers that are covered in ice can also lead to flooding. When ice begins
to melt, the surface of the ice cracks and breaks into large pieces. These pieces of ice
move and float down the river. They can form a dam in the river, causing the water
behind the dam to rise and flood the land upstream. If the dam breaks suddenly, then the
large amount of water held behind the dam can flood the areas downstream too.
Broken ice dams are not the only dam problems that can cause flooding. Those
carelessly constructed by humans can also result in floods. When a large human-made
dam breaks or fails to hold the water collected behind it, the results can be
devastating. Dams contain such huge amounts of water behind them that when sudden
breaks occur, the destructive force of the water is like a great tidal wave. Unleashed
dam waters can travel tens of kilometres, cover the ground in metres of mud and
debris, and drown and crush every thing and creature in their path.
Although scientists cannot always predict exactly when floods will occur, they
do know a great deal about when floods are likely, or probably, going to occur. Deep
snow, ice-covered rivers, and weak dams are all strong conditions for potential
flooding. Hopefully, this knowledge of why floods happen can help us reduce the
damage they cause.
11. What is the most common natural disaster?
A. flood B. fire C. tidal wave D. rain
12. What does the word “they” in paragraph 2 refer to?
A. floods B. disasters C. scientists D. conditions
13. Which of the following best describes how deep snow causes flooding?
A. melting snow that creates a large amount of water causes flooding.
B. freezing water causes flooding.
C. melting snow combining with considerable amount of rain and sudden increase in
temperature leads to flooding.
D. snow that melts in wet weather causes flooding.
14. Why does saturated ground contribute to flooding problems?
A. the ground cannot absorb more water
B. the ground is too hard, so the water runs off
C. the ground forms a kind of dam
D. it remains frozen
15. How can a frozen river cause a flood?
A. The ice in the river melts too quickly and causes a flood.
B. The ice in the river cracks causing the water to overflow.
C. The ice in the river cracks into pieces that eventually create a dam causing the
water to overflow.
D. The water behind the ice dam collects and when the dam breaks, it causes flooding
upstream.
16. Why does the writer mention “tidal wave” in paragraph 4?
A. to compare the force of a broken human – made dam
B. to introduce another natural disaster
C. to emphasize the effects of natural disasters
D. to criticize dam designers
17. How far can dam water travel when it is unleashed from a broken dam?
A. less than 10 kilometres
B. tens of kilometres
C. thousands of kilometres
D. tens of thousands of kilometres downstream
18. The word “devastating” in paragraph 4 has the closest meaning to
A. fabulous B. uncountable C. priceless D. disastrous
19. Which of the following is NOT MENTIONED as a cause for flood in the
reading passages?
A. melting snow
B. ice covered rivers
C. broken dams
D. poorly built roads
20. What can be inferred from the last paragraph?
A. Scientists know very little about floods.
B. Potential flooding cannot be predicted.
C. Consequences of flooding can be reduced if its causes are identified.
D. There are only three conditions for potential flooding.

READING PASSAGE 3
Read the passage carefully and circle the correct answer (A,B,C, or D). Questions 21-
30 refer to the following passage.
 Musical Talents
Among all the abilities with which an individual may be endowed, musical talent
appears earliest in life. Very young children can exhibit musical precocity for
different reasons. Some develop exceptional skill as a result of a well – designed
instructional regime, such as the Suzuki method for the violin. Some have the good
fortune to be born into a musical family in a household filled with music. In a number
of interesting cases, musical talent is part of an otherwise disabling condition such as
autism or mental retardation. A musically gifted child has an inborn talent; however,
the extent to which the talent is expressed publicly will depend upon the environment
in which the child lives.
Musically gifted children master at an early age the principal elements of music,
including pitch and rhythm. Pitch – or melody – is more central in certain cultures, for
example, in Eastern societies that make use of tiny quarter – tone intervals. Rhythm,
sounds produced at certain auditory frequencies and grouped according to a prescribed
system, is emphasized in sub – Saharan Africa, where the rhythm ratios can be very
complex.
All children have some aptitude for making music. During infancy, normal
children sing as well as babble, and they can produce individual sounds and sound
patterns. However, individual differences begin to emerge in young children as they
learn to sing. Some children can match large segments of a song by the age of two or
three. Many others can only approximate pitch at this age and may still have
difficulty in producing accurate melodies by the age of five or six. However, by the
time they reach school age, most reasonably accurate imitation of the songs
commonly heard in their environment.
The early appearance of superior musical ability in some children provides
evidence that musical talent may be a separate and unique form of intelligence. There
are numerous tales of young artists who have a remarkable “ear” or extraordinary
memory for music and a natural understanding of musical structure. In many of these
cases, the child is average in every other way but displays an exceptional ability in
music. Even the most gifted child, however, takes about ten years to achieve the levels
of performance or composition that would constitute mastery of the musical sphere.
 Every generation in music history has had its famous prodigies – individuals
with exceptional musical powers that emerge at a young age. In the eighteenth
century, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart began composing and performing at the age of
six. As a child, Mozart could play the piano like an adult. He has perfect pitch, and at
age nine he was also a master of the art of modulation – transitions from one key to
another – which became one of the hallmarks of his style. By the age of eleven, he had
composed three symphonies and 30 other major works. Mozard’s well – developed
talent was preserved into adulthood.
21. The word “precocity” in paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to __________
A. strong interest
B. good luck
C. advanced skill
D. personal style
22. Which sentence below best expresses the essential information in the
highlighted sentence in paragraph 1?
A. Children may be born with superior musical ability, but their environment will
determine how this ability is developed.
B. Every child is naturally gifted, and it is the the responsibility of the public schools
to recognize and develop these talent.
C. Children with exceptional musical talent will look for the best way to express
themselves through music – making.
D. Some musically talented children live in an environment surrounded by music,
while others have little exposure to music.
23. What is pitch?
A. rhythm
B. a principal element of music
C. tone
D. frequency
24. According to paragraph 2, how are principal elements of music emphasized in
Sub – Saharan Africa?
A. Melody is the most important element.
B. Rhythm with complicated ratios is emphasized.
C. Rhythm is not significant.
D. These elements are totally ignored.
25. According to the passage, when does musical talent usually begin to appear?
A. When infants start to babble and produce sound patterns
B. Between the ages of two and four months
C. When children learn to sing at two or three years old.
D. Between ten years old and adolescence.
26. What does the word “others” in paragraph 3 refer to?
A. children
B. differences
C. segments
D. melodies
27. According to the passage, which of the following suggests that musical talent is
separate form of intelligence?
A. Exceptional musical ability in an otherwise average child.
B. Recognition of the emotional power of music.
C. The ability of all babies to acquire core elements of music.
D. Differences between learning music and learning language.
28. Why does the author discuss Mozart in Paragraph 5?
A. To compare past and present views of musical talent
B. To give an example of a well – known musical prodigy
C. To list musical accomplishment of the eighteenth century
D. To describe the development of individual musical skill
29. In music, the change from one key to another is known as
A. rhythm
B. prodigy
C. perfect pitch
D. modulation
30. What can be inferred from the passage about exceptional musical ability?
A. It occurs more frequently in some cultures than in others.
B. It is evidence of a superior level of intelligence in other areas.
C. It has been documented and studied but is little understood.
D. It is the result of natural talent and a supportive environment.