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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 39Book 2 · Section 1 · 39 / 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 39

READING TEXT

The life span of an elephant that dies from natural causes is about sixty-five
years. Of course, an elephant can perish from a number of “unnatural causes”;
e.g., it can be killed by hunters, most probably for the valuable ivory in its tusks;
it can die from diseases that spread throughout an elephant herd; or it can die
from drought or from the lack of food that almost certainly accompanies the
inadequate supply of water.
If, however, an elephant survives these disasters, it falls prey to old age in its
mid-sixties. Around this age, the cause of death is attributed to the loss of the
final set of molars. When this last set of teeth is gone, the elephant dies from
malnutrition because it is unable to obtain adequate nourishment. In old age,
elephants tend to search out a final home where there is shade for comfort from
the sun and soft vegetation for cushioning; the bones of many old elephants
have been found in such places.

QUESTION 1

The word perish in line 2 could be best replaced by

a)fall inb)shootc)died)get rich

QUESTION 2

The hunters kill the elephant most probably for

a)its enormous sizeb)its huge weightc)valuable ivory in its tusksd)its big trunk

QUESTION 3

The elephant dies from

a)drowningb)lack of foodc)adequate supply of waterd)overabundance of animals m

QUESTION 4

The word survives in line 7 may best be replaced by

a)rises tob)takes upc)deniesd)lives through

QUESTION 5

Around mid-sixties the elephant's death is NOT caused by

a)old-age characteristicsb)variety of food tc)loss of final set of teethd)inadequate nourishment

QUESTION 6

The word malnutrition. in line 10 is used to describe someone who

a)is in good healthb)has an illnessc)suffers from poor eatingd)over exercises

QUESTION 7

The expression “a final home” means

a)a place to dieb)a comfortable housec)a place for saled)the only remaining place

QUESTION 8

In old age elephants search out “a final home” in a place

a)with a picturesque viewb)with poor vegetationc)with diminished lightd)unprotected from the sun

QUESTION 9

The text most likely discusses

a)the natural causes of the elephant's deathb)“unnatural causes” of the elephant's deathc)the life of the elephantd)the elephant's diseases

QUESTION 10

The most appropriate title for the text is

a)The final home for the elephantb)The elephant's survivalc)Causes of the elephant's diseased)The life span of the elephant