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SECTION 01 · Reading: separate texts

Reading

Choose a text number. Its questions will appear on its own page.

40 texts

Text 32Book 2 · Section 1 · 32 / 40

How to solve: ReadingA text with several questions: main idea, details, word meaning and inference.

What it tests

Careful reading: finding the main idea, locating details, understanding a word from its context and drawing conclusions the text supports.

In the exam: part I, 10 tasks.

Step by step

Read the questions first, so you know what to look for.
Skim the whole text once for its topic and the author's purpose.
For each question find the exact place in the text (line numbers help) and read the sentence before and after it.
Choose the option that says the same thing in other words — not the one that copies the most words.
For “main idea” questions pick the option that covers the whole text, not one paragraph.

Watch out for

An option that is true in real life but not stated in the text.
An option that repeats words from the text but changes the meaning (“always” instead of “often”, wrong date or person).
A detail that is correct but too narrow for a “main idea” question.

Example

Text: “It took 800 men seven years to build the bridge.” — The bridge was built in: a) one year b) seven years c) 800 days

b) The text says “seven years”; 800 is the number of men, not days.

Text 32

READING TEXT

The locations of stars in the sky relative to one another do not appear to the
naked eye to change, and as a result stars are often considered to be fixed in
position. Many unaware stargazers falsely assume that each star has its own
permanent home in the nighttime sky. In reality, though, stars are always
moving, but because of the tremendous distances between stars themselves and
from stars to Earth, the changes are barely perceptible here. An example of
a rather fast-moving star demonstrates why this misconception prevails; it
takes approximately 200 years for a relatively rapid star like Bernard's star to
move a distance in the skies equal to the diameter. of the earth's moon. When the
apparently negligible movement of the stars is contrasted with the movement of
the planets, the stars are seemingly unmoving.

QUESTION 1

Which of the following is the best tittle for this text?

a)What the Eye Can See in the Skyb)Bernard's Starc)Planetary Movementd)The Ever moving Stars

QUESTION 2

The expression “naked eye' in line 2 refers to

a)a telescopeb)a scientific method for observing starsc)unassisted visiond)a camera with a powerful lens

QUESTION 3

According to the text, the distances between the stars and Earth are

a)barely perceptibleb)hugec)fixedd)moderate

QUESTION 4

The word perceptible in line 6 is closest in meaning to

a)noticeableb)persuasivec)conceivabled)astonishing

QUESTION 5

The word misconception in line 7 is closest in meaning to

a)ideab)proven factc)erroneous beliefd)theory

QUESTION 6

The text states that in 200 years Bernard's star can move

a)around Earth's moonb)next to Earth's moonc)a distance equal to the distance from Earth to the Moond)a distance seemingly equal to the diameter of. the Moon

QUESTION 7

The text implies that from Earth it appears that the planets

a)are fixed in the skyb)move more slowly than the starsc)show approximately the same amount of movement as the starsd)travel through the sky considerably more rapidly than the stars

QUESTION 8

The word negligible in line 9 could best be replaced by

a)negativeb)insignificantc)rapidd)distant

QUESTION 9

Which of the following is NOT true according to the text?

a)Stars do not appear to the eye to moveb)The large distances between stars and the earth tend to magnify movement to the eyec)Bernard's star moves quickly in comparison with other starsd)Although stars move, they seem to be fixed

QUESTION 10

The text does NOT discuss

a)the movement of the planetsb)Bernard's starc)the distance from Earth to the Moond)the constant movement of stars