Reading comprehension

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Reading Comprehension

Time limit: 60 minutes

Directions: In this section of the test, you will read FOUR different passages, each followed by 9-11

questions about it. For questions 1-40, you are to choose the best answer A, B, C or D, to each

question. Then, on your answer sheet, find the number of the question and fill in the space that

corresponds to the letter of the answer you have chosen. Answer all questions following a passage on

the basis of what is stated or implied in that passage.

You have 60 minutes to answer all the questions, including the time to transfer your answers to the

answer sheet.

Example

Read the following passage:

Like mammals, birds claim their own territories. A bird’s territory may be small or large. Some

birds claim only their nest and the area right around it, while others claim far larger territories that

include their feeding areas. Gulls, penguins, and other waterfowl nest in huge colonies, but even in the

biggest colonies, each male and his mate have small territories of their own immediately around their

nests.

Male birds defend their territory chiefly against other males of the same species. In some cases, a

warning call or threatening pose may be all the defense needed, but in other cases, intruders may refuse

to leave peacefully.

0. What is the main topic of this passage?

(A) Birds that live in colonies

(B) Birds’ mating habits

(C) The behavior of birds

(D) Territoriality in birds

The passage mainly concerns the territories of birds, so the correct answer is option (D) Territoriality

in birds.

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Questions 1-11

To date, Canada has produced only one classic children’s tale to rank with Alice’s Adventures in

Wonderland and the works of Mark Twain; this was Lucy Maud Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables.

Lucy Maud Montgomery was born in Clinton, Prince Edward Island. Her mother died soon after her

birth, and when her father went to Saskatchewan to assume a business position, she moved in with her

grandparents in Cavendish, Prince Edward Island. There she went to school, and later qualified to be a

teacher.

Montgomery wrote the Anne books while living in Cavendish and helping her grandmother at the

post office. The first of the books, Anne of Green Gables, was published in 1908, and in the next three

years she wrote two sequels. Like Montgomery, the heroine of the book is taken in by an elderly

couple who live in the fictional town of Avonlea, and Montgomery incorporated many events from her

life in Cavendish into the Anne books.

In 1911, Montgomery married Ewan MacDonald, and the couple soon moved to Ontario, where

she wrote many other books. However, it was her first efforts that secured her prominence, and the

Anne books are still all around the world. Her novels have helped create a warm picture of Prince

Edward Island’s special character. Several movies, a television series, and today visitors scour the

island for locations described in the book.

1. The main purpose of this passage is to

(A) introduce Montgomery and her Anne books.

(B) contrast Canadian children’s literature with that of other countries.

(C) provide a brief introduction to Prince Edward Island.

(D) show the similarities between Montgomery’s life and that of her fictional character Anne.

2. The word “this” in line 2 refers to

(A) Canada

(B) the work of Mark Twain

(C) Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

(D) a Canadian children’s classic

3. According to the passage, Montgomery was raised primarily

(A) in an orphanage

(B) by her grandparents

(C) by her mother

(D) by her father

(line)

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