Reading exercises 41 passages

Reading Comprehension Exercises for Graduates 2017(41 Passages)Reading Comprehension Exercise OnePassage OneI don‘t know how I became a writer, but I think it was because of a certain force in me that I had to write and that finally burst through and found a channel. My people were of the working class people. My father, a stone-cuter, was a man with a great respect and veneration for literature. He had a tremendous memory, and he loved poetry, and the poetry that he loved best was naturally of the rhetorical kind that such a man would like. Nevertheless it was good poetry, Hamlet‘s Soliloquy, ―Macbeth‖, Mark Anton‘s ―Funeral Oration‖, Grey‘s ―Elegy‖, and all the rest of it. I heard it all as a child; I memorized and learned it all.He sent me to college to the state university. The desire to write, which had been strong during all my days in high school, grew stronger still. I was editor of the college newspaper, the college magazine, etc., and in my best year or two I was a member of a course in play writing which had just been established there. I wrote several little one-act plays, still thinking I would become a lawyer or a newspaper man, never daring to believe I could seriously become a writer. Then I went to Harvard, wrote some more plays there, became obsessed with the idea that I had to be a playwright, left Harvard, had my plays rejected, and finally in the autumn of 1926, how, why, or in what manner I have never exactly been able to determine, but probably because the force in me that had to write at length sought out its channel, I began to write my first book in London. I was living all alone at that time. I had two rooms --- a bedroom and a sitting room --- in a little square in Chelsea in which all the houses had that familiar, smoked brick and cream --- yellow --- plaster look.1. The author‘s attitude toward his father is one of ______.A. suspicionB. gratitudeC. contemptD. Regret2. The author‘s father _______.A. gave him conscious supportB. was a blue-collar workerC. was well-educatedD. taught him to write as a child3. The author _______.A. had always been successful in his writing careerB. went to Harvard to learn to write playsC. worked as a newspaper man before becoming a writerD. began to think of becoming a writer at Harvard4. The author believes that he became a writer chiefly owing to _____.A. his special talentB. his father‘s support and encouragementC. a hidden urge within himD. his study at Harvard5. The author really started on his way to become a writer _______.A. after he entered collegeB. when he was in high schoolC. when he was studying at HarvardD. when he lived LondonPassage TwoThe estimates of the number of home-schooled children vary widely. The US Department of Education estimates there are 250000 to 350000 home schooled children in the country. Home-school advocates put the number much higher --- at about a million.Many public school advocates take a harsh attitude toward home schoolers, perceiving their actions as the ultimate slap in the face for public education and a damaging move for the children. Home schoolers harbor few kind words for public schools, charging shortcomings that range from lack of religious perspective in the curriculum to a herdlike approach to teaching children.Yet, as public school officials realize they stand little to gain by remaining hostile to the home-school population; and as home schoolers realize they can reap benefits from public schools, these hard lines seem to be softening a bit. Public schools and home schoolers have moved closer to tolerance and, in some cases, even cooperation.Says John Marshall, an education official, ―We are becom ing relatively tolerant of home schoolers.‖ The idea is, ―Let‘s give the kinds access to public school so they‘ll see it‘s not as terrible as they‘ve been told, and they‘ll want to come back.‖Perhaps, but don‘t count on it, say home-school advocates. Home schoolers oppose the system because they have strong convictions that their approach to education --- whether fueled by religious enthusiasm or the individual child‘s interests and natural pace --- is best.―The bulk of home schoolers just want to be left alone,‖ says Enge Cannon, associate director of the National Center for Home Education. She says home schoolers choose that path for a variety of reasons, but religion plays a role 85 percent of the time.Professor Van Galen breaks home schoolers into two groups. Some home schoolers want their children to learn not only traditional subject matter but also ―strict religious doctrine and a conservative political and social perspective. Not incidentally, they also want their children to learn --- both intellectually and emotionally--- that the family is the most important institution in society.‖Other home schoolers contend ―not so much that the school teach heresy, but that schools teach whatever they teach inappropriately,‖ Van Galen writes. ―These parents are highly independent and strive to ‗take responsibility‘ for their own lives within a society that they define as bureaucratic and inefficient.‖1. According to the passage, home schoolers are _____.A. those who engage private teachers to provide additional education for their children.B. those who educate their children at home instead of sending them to schoolC. those who advocate combining public education with home schoolingD. those who don‘t go to school but are educated at home by their parent s2. Public schools are softening their position on home schooling because ______.A. there isn‘t much they can do to change the present situationB. they want to show their tolerance for different teaching systemsC. home schooling provides a new variety of education for childrenD. public schools have so many problems that they can‘t offer proper education for allChildren3. Home-school advocates are of the opinion that _____.A. things in public schools are not so bad as has often been saidB. their tolerance of public education will attract more kids to public schoolsC. home schooling is superior and, therefore, they will not easily give inD. their increased cooperation with public school will bring about the improvement ofpublic education4. Mo st home schoolers‘ opposition to public education stems from their ______.A. respect for the interests of individualsB. worry about the inefficiency of public schoolsC. concern with the cost involvedD. devotion to religion5. According to Van Galen some home schoolers believe that _____.A. public schools take up a herdlike approach to teaching childrenB. teachers in public school are not as responsible as they should beC. public schools cannot provide an education that is good enough for their childrenD. public schools are the source of bureaucracy and inefficiency in modern societyPassage ThreeOne of the most important social developments that helped to make possible a shift in thinking about the role of public education was the effect of the baby boom of the 1950s and 1960s on the schools. In the 1920s, but especially in the Depression conditions of the 1930s, the United States experienced a declining birth rate --- every thousand women aged fifteen to forty-four gave birth to about 118 live children in 1920, 89.2 in 1930, 75.8 in 1936, and 80 in 1940. With the growing prosperity brought on by the Second World War and the economic boom that followed it, young people married and established households earlier and began to raise larger families than had theirpredecessors during the Depression. Birth rates rose to 102 per thousand in 1946, 106.2 in 1950, and 118 in 1955. Although economics was probably the most important determinant, it is not the only explanation for the baby boom. The increased value placed on the idea of the family also helps to explain this rise in birth rates. The baby boomers began streaming into the first grade by the mid-1940s and became a flood by 1950. The public school system suddenly found itself overtaxed. While the number of schoolchildren rose because of wartime and postwar conditions, these same conditions made the schools even less prepared to cope with the flood. The wartime economy meant that few new schools were built between 1940 and 1945. Moreover, during the war and in the boom times that followed, large numbers of teachers left their profession for better-paying jobs elsewhere in the economy.Therefore, in the 1950s and 1960s, the baby boom hit an antiquated and inadequate school system. Consequently, the "custodial rhetoric" of the 1930s and early 1940s no longer made sense; that is, keeping youths aged sixteen and older out of the labor market by keeping them in school could no longer be a high priority for an institution unable to find space and staff to teach younger children aged five to sixteen. With the baby boom, the focus of educators and of laymen interested in education inevitably turned toward the lower grades and back to basic academic skills and discipline. The system no longer had much interest in offering nontraditional, new, and extra services to older youths.1. What does the passage mainly discuss?A. The teaching profession during the baby boom.B. Birth rates in the United States in the 1930s and 1940s.C. The impact of the baby boom on public education.D. The role of the family in the 1950s and 1960s.2. The public schools of the 1950s and 1960s faced all of the following problems EXCEPTA. a declining number of students.B. old-fashioned facilities.C. a shortage of teachers.D. an inadequate number of school buildings.3. According to the passage, why did teachers leave the teaching profession after the outbreak of the war?A. The needed to be retrained.B. They were dissatisfied with the curriculum.C. Other jobs provided higher salaries.D. Teaching positions were scarce.4. The word "overtaxed" in line 12 is closest in meaning toA. well preparedB. plentifully suppliedC. heavily burdenedD. charged too much5. Which of the following best characterizes the organization of the passage?A. The second paragraph presents the effect of circumstances described in the first paragraph.B. The second paragraph provides a fictional account to illustrate a problem presented in the firstparagraph.C. The second paragraph argues against a point made in the first paragraph.D. The second paragraph introduces a problem not mentioned in the first paragraph.Passage FourSome years ago, the theory was popular that after the age of about 40, the average researcher began losing his creativity. The chance of his making a major discovery was believed to drop off sharply. Hence, there really wasn't much point in encouraging a man of 45 or 50 to do research.In recent years, however, this theory has fallen into wide disrepute. Companies find that many researchers continue to be highly productive throughout their careers. There is every reason to allow these men to continue their pioneering work.Many men can be of greatest service to a company by staying round in the laboratory. A single outstanding discovery may have a far greater impact on the company's profit picture five years hence than the activities of even the most capable administrator. It is simply, good sense and good economics -- to allow qualified researchers to continue their work. Granting these men maximum freedom to explore their scientific ideas is also evidently good sense.Companies are also convinced that the traditional standards in establishing salaries are not completely valid. In former years, the amount of a man's salary was determined primarily by the size of his annual budget. On this basis, the researcher -- however brilliant -- who had perhaps one assistant and never spent much money made an extremely poor showing. Companies now realize that the two very important criteria that must also be considered are a man's actual contributions to the company and his creative potential.In today's era of scientific manpower shortage, companies have more reason than ever to encourage scientists to do the work for which they are most qualified. They also have greater reason than ever to provide within the laboratory the environment in which the creative processes of research can be carried out most effectively.1. Some years ago, a company would employ a researcher _______.A. who was creativeB. who was under the age of 45 or 50C. who began to be creative after the ago 45 or 50D. both A and B2. According to the author, a productive researcher _______.A. is more valuable chan the most capable administratorB. is as good as the most capable adminstratorC. should be paid more as he becomes olderD. will become less creative when he gets older3. A company now pays a researcher according to ________.A. his creative potentialB. his contributions to the companyC. how many inventions he madeD. both A and B4. Formerly, the size of a researcher's salary was mainly determined by _______.A. how creative he wasB. how much he spent annuallyC. how long he stayed in the company.D. how many assistants he had5. Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage _______.A. There are more researchers now so that companies can choose the most creative.B. A researcher has more assistants than a researcher did some years ago.C. There are fewer researchers now, so companies should value the most qualified all the more.D. Most researchers will lose their creative power after leaving their laboratoriePassage FiveIn such a changing complex society formerly simple solutions to informational needs become complicated. Many of life's problems which were solved by asking family members, friends or colleagues are beyond the capability of the extended family to resolve. Where to turn for expert information and how to determine which expert advice to accept are questions facing many people today.In addition to this, there is the growing mobility of people since Word War II. As families move away from their stable community, their friends of many years, their extended family relationships, the informal flow of information is cut off, and with it the confidence that information will be available when needed and will be trustworthy and reliable. The almost unconscious flow of information about the simplest aspects of living can be consciously learned.Adding to societal changes today is an enormous stockpile of information. Individual now has more information available than any generation, and the task of finding that one piece of information relevant to his or her specific problem is complicated, time-consuming and sometimes even overwhelming.Coupled with the growing quantity of information is the development of technologies which enable the storage and delivery of more information with greater speed to more locations than has ever been possible before. Computer technology makes it possible to store vast amounts of data in machine-readable files, and to program computers to locate specific information. Telecommunications developments enable the sending of messages via television, radio, and very shortly, electronic mail to bombard people with multitudes of messages. Satellites have extended the power of communications to report events at the instant of occurrence. Expertise can be shared world wide through teleconferencing, and problems in dispute can be settled without the participants leaving their homes and or jobs to travel to a distant conference site. Technology has facilitated thesharing of information and the storage and delivery of information, thus making more information available to more people.In this world of change and complexity, the need for information is of greatest importance. Those people who have accurate, reliable up to date information to solve the day-to-day problems, the critical problems of their business, social and family life, will survive and succeed. "Knowledge is power" may be the truest saying and access to information may be the most critical requirement of all people.1. The word "it"(Line 3 . Para. 2) most probably refers to ________.A. the lack of stable communitiesB. the breakdown of informal information channelsC. the increased mobility of familiesD. the growing number of people moving from place to place2. The main problem people may encounter today arise from the fact that ______.A. they have to learn new things consciously.B. they lack the confidence of securing reliable and trustworthy information.C. they have difficulty obtaining the needed information readilyD. they can hardly carry out casual communications with an extended family3. From the passage we can infer that ______.A. electronic mail will soon play a dominant role in transmitting messagesB. it will become more difficult for people to keep secrets in an information eraC. people will spend less time holding meetings or conferencesD. events will be reported on the spot mainly through satellites4. We can learn from the last paragraph that _______.A. it is necessary to obtain as much knowledge as possibleB. people should make the best use of the information accessibleC. we should realize the importance of 3ccumLllating informationD. it is of vital importance to acquire needed information efficientlyKey to Reading Comprehension Exercise OnePassage One 1-5 BBDCAPassage Two 1-5 BACDCPassage Three 1-5 CACCAPassage Four 1-5 DADBCPassage Five 1-4 BCADReading Comprehension Exercise TwoPassage OneA subject which seems to have been insufficiently studied by doctors and psychologists is the influence of geography and climate on the psychological and physical health of mankind. There seems no doubt that the general character of the landscape, the relative length of day and night, and the climate must all play a big part in determining what kind of people we are.It is true that a few studies have been made. Where all the inhabitants of a particular area enjoy exceptionally good or bad health, scientists have identified contributory factors such as the presence or absence of substances like iodine, fluoride, calcium, or iron in the water supply, or perhaps types of land that provide breeding places for pests like mosquitoes or rats.Moreover, we can all generalize about types of people we have met. Those living in countries with long dark winters are apt to be less talkative and less vivacious(活泼的) than inhabitants of countries where the climate is more equable(稳定的). And where the olive and the orange grow: the inhabitants are cheerful, talkative, and spontaneous.But these commonplace generalizations are inadequate: the influence of climate and geography should be studied in depth. Do all mountain dwellers live to a ripe old age? Does the drinking of wine, rather than beer, result in a sunny and open temperament? Is the strength and height of one of the Kenyan tribes due to their habitual drinking of the blood of cows?We are not yet sure of the answers to such questions, but let us hope that something of benefit to mankind may eventually result from such studies.1. ________ might serve as a suitable title for this selection.A. The Importance of Geographical EnvironmentB. The Influence of Geographical Environment on ManC. Generalization of Types of PeopleD. Geographical Environment, a Mysterious Subject2. Using context clues we may infer that "iodine, fluoride and calcium" are ________.A. substances which act positively or negatively on man‘s healthB. harmful substance in the water supplyC. substances which help provide breeding places for pestsD. substances contributory to good health3. We may infer from the third paragraph that geography and climate play an important role in determining the inhabitants‘ ________.A. health conditionB. personalityC. life-spanD. all of the above4. According to the author, research into the influence of geography and climate should ________.A. focus on some unknown aspectsB. be pursued on a larger scaleC. be carried out within a larger scopeD. go much deeper5. The author hopes that studies on the influence of geographical environment will enable us to ________.A. generalize better about types of peopleB. find better water suppliesC. gain an insight into its influence on mankindD. live to a ripe old agePassage TwoResearchers have recently found a connection between diseases and stressful situations. To test this theory, psychologists are trying to find a link between the brain and the immune system.The immune system in our bodies fights the bacteria and viruses which cause disease. Therefore, whether or not we are likely to get various diseases depends on how well our immune system works. Biologists used to think that the immune system was a separate, independent part of our bodies. Recently, however, they have found that our brain can affect our immune system. This discovery indicates that there may be a connection between emotional factors, such as stress or depression, and illness.Although many doctors in the past suspected a connection between emotional factor and disease, they had no proof. Scientists have only recently discovered how the brain and the immune system function. Before this, no one could see a link between them. As a result, medical science never seriously considered the idea that psychological factors could cause disease.Several recent studies showed a connection between stress and illness. For example, researchers went to an American military school to study the students. They found that the sick students there had a lot of academic pressure and wanted to achieve, but they were not very good students. In a similar study, researchers studied a group of student nurses and found that the nurses who developed cold sores were the ones who described themselves as generally unhappy people.In addition to these results, which support their theory, researchers are also looking for proof that stress can damage the immune system. Researchers studied recently bereaved people, i. e. people whose loved ones have just died, because they are more likely to become ill or die. By examining the immune system of discovery, they examined some white blood cells which are an important part of the immune system. They were not functioning properly. The fact that they were not working correctly indicates that severe psychological stress, such as a loved one's death, may damage an important part of our immune system.There is still no positive proof of a connection between the immune system and psychological factors. Researchers also say that the results of the studies on bereaved people could have a different explanation. For example, bereaved people often sleep and eat less than normal, or may drink alcohol or take medication. These factors can also affect the immune system. More research is needed to clearly establish the connection between the immune system and psychological factors.1. The study on the military school students indicated that _______.A. life in the school was very stressfulB. disease could be caused by psychological factorsC. the good students were likely to fa11 illD. stress often made students unhappy2. The immune system _______.A. used to be unconnected with the brainB. causes a lot of stress to peopleC. can be affected by emotional factorsD. functions independently3. In the past, many doctors _______.A. never thought of any possible link between stress and illnessB. hardly considered emotional factors when dealing with a patientC. discovered that the brain and the immune system functioned independentlyD. found that diseases were caused by psychological factors4. The study of recently bereaved people shows that _______.A. stress is directly linked with illnessB. bereaved people should control their motions properlyC. white blood cells are an important part of the immune systemD. damage can be done to the immune system by too much stress5. Which of the following is NOT true according co the passage?A. Unhappiness may cause disease.B. Drinking alcohol may cause damage to the immune system.C. Too much sorrow is harmful to the immune system.D. Psychological stress leads naturally to the damage of the immune system.Passage ThreeLearning disabilities are very common. They affect perhaps 10 percent of all children. Fourtimes as many boys as girls have learning disabilities.Since about 1970, new research has helped brain scientists understand these problems better. Scientists now know there are many different kinds of learning disabilities and that they are caused by many different things. There is no longer any question that all learning disabilities result from differences in the way the brain is organized.You cannot look at a child and tell if he or she has a learning disability. There is no outward sign of the disorder. So some researchers began looking at the brain itself to learn what might be wrong.In one study, researchers examined the brain of a learning-disabled person, who had died in an accident. They found two unusual things. One involved cells in the left side of the brain, which control language. These cells normally are white. In the learning disabled person, however, these cells were gray. The researchers also found that many of the nerve cells were not in a line the way they should have been. The nerve cells were mixed together.The study was carried out under the guidance of Norman Geschwind, an early expert on learning disabilities. Doctor Geschwind proposed that learning disabilities resulted mainly from problems in the left side of the brain. He believed this side of the brain failed to develop normally. Probably, he said, nerve cells there did not connect as they should. So the brain was like an electrical device in which the wires were crossed.Other researchers did not examine brain tissue. Instead, they measured the brain's electrical activity and made a map of the electrical signals.Frank Duffy experimented with this technique at Children's Hospital Medical Center in Boston. Doctor Duffy found large differences in the brain activity of normal children and those with reading problems. The differences appeared throughout the brain. Doctor Duffy said his research is evidence that reading disabilities involve damage to a wide area of the brain, not just the left side.1. Scientists found that the brain cells of a learning-disabled person differ from those of a normal person in ________.A. structure and functionB. color and functionC. size and arrangementD. color and arrangement.2. Which of the following is NOT mentioned in the passage?A. Learning disabilities may result from the unknown area of the brain.B. Learning disabilities may result from damage to a wide area of the brain.C. Learning disabilities may result from abnormal organization of brain cells.D. Learning disabilities may result from problems in the left side of the brain.3. All of the following statements are true EXCEPT that ________.A. many factors account for learning disorderB. a learning disabled person shows no outward signsC. reading disabilities are a common problem that affects 10 percent of the populationD. the brain activity of learning disabled children is different from that of normal children4. Doctor Duffy believed that ________.A. he found the exact cause of learning disabilitiesB. the problem of learning disabilities was not limited to the left side of the brainC. the problem of learning disabilities resulted from the left side of the brainD. the problem of learning disabilities did not lie in the left side of the brain5. According to the passage we can conclude that further researches should be made ________.A. to investigate possible influences on brain development and organizationB. to study, how children learn to read and write, and use numbersC. to help learning disabled children to develop their intelligenceD. to explore how the left side of the brain functions in language learningPassage FourMore surprising, perhaps, than the current difficulties of traditional marriage is the fact that marriage itself is alive and thriving. As Skolnick notes, Americans are a marrying people: relative to Europeans, more of us marry and we marry at a younger age. Moreover, after a decline in the early 1970s, the rate of marriage in the United States is now increasing. Even the divorce rate needs to be taken in this pro-marriage context: some 80 percent of divorced individuals remarry. Thus, marriage remains, by far, the preferred way of life for the vast majority of people in our society.What has changed more than marriage is the nuclear family. Twenty-five years ago, the typical American family consisted of a husband, a wife, and two or three children. Now, there are many marriages in which couples have decided not to have any children. And there are many marriages where at least some of the children are from the wife‘s previous marriage, or the husband‘s, or both. Sometimes these children spend all of their time with one parent from the former marriage; sometimes they are shared between the two former spouses.Thus, one can find every type of family arrangement. There are marriages without children; marriages with children from only the parent marr iage; marriages with ―full-time‖ children from both the present and former marriages; marriages with ―full-time‖ children from the present marriage and ―part-time‖ children from former marriages. There are stepfathers, stepmothers, half –brothers, and half-sisters. It is not all that unusual for a child to have four parents and eight grandparents! These are enormous changes from the traditional nuclear family. But even so, even in the midst of all this, there remains one constant: most Americans spend most of their adults lives married.1. By calling American marrying people the author means that ______________.A. Americans are more traditional than Europeans。