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SECTION 01 · Reading: separate texts

Reading

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

35 texts

Text 26Book 3 · Section 1 · 26 / 35

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 26

READING TEXT

Many modern scientists use computers. With these, they have found that
astronomers as far back as 1800 BC had ways of predicting seasons and eclipses.
For several centuries no one paid much attention to a grouping of stones, in
England, called Stonehenge. These gigantic stones are about thirteen feet tall and
weigh several tons. Scientists started studying the position of the stones which are
placed in a circle ninety-seven feet in diameter with other stones set inside. They
felt there must be some reason why the stones were arranged in just this way.
Since the sun fell on some of the stones, it seemed logical that they had something
to do with the sun. They thought they were perhaps even related to sun worship.
In 1963, Gerald Hawkins, using an electronic computer, was able to tell the
time for the sunrises and sunsets in about 1500 BC. This is important because
Stonehenge is thought to date back to at least that time, and there is a relationship
between the lines from the rising and setting sun of that time and the placement of
the stones.
Today some think that Stonehenge might have been an astronomical observatory.
It is amazing that with the use of these stones, the astronomers of the past were
probably quite accurate. They may have created a calendar with seasons and even
predicted eclipses of the sun and the moon. It is fascinating to think thousands of
years ago people could do many of the sophisticated things done by computers
today.

QUESTION 1

According to Paragraph 2, lines 3—9, .

a)Stonehenge consists of several light stonesb)Stonehenge is built of ninety-seven stonesc)scientists found no reason why the stones were placed in a circled)there must be some explanation to the arrangement of those stones

QUESTION 2

The word gigantic in line 4 is NOT synonymous to

a)tinyb)hugec)enormousd)colossal

QUESTION 3

According to the text, the astronomers of the past

a)created calendars with seasonsb)built astronomical observatoriesc)could probably make careful calculationsd)used computers to make predictions

QUESTION 4

According to the text, thousands of years ago people

a)could do none of the sophisticated things done todayb)were able to do a lot of complicated calculationsc)could do nothing essential without computersd)were not interested in astronomy

QUESTION 5

According to Paragraph 2, lines 3—9,

a)nowadays Stonehenge is related to sun worshipb)the position of the stones had nothing to do with the sunc)the arrangement of the stones seems illogicald)Stonehenge was taken little notice of for rather a long time

QUESTION 6

Using an electronic computer, Gerald Hawkins

a)studied Stonehenge in 1963b)made some astronomical calculationsc)made discoveries in about 1500 BCd)studied the placement of the stones

QUESTION 7

The word accurate in line 17 may best be replaced by

a)cleanb)tidy tc)precised)wrong

QUESTION 8

The word predict in line 18 is NOT synonymous to

a)foreseewb)forecastc)foregod)foretell

QUESTION 9

According to the text, Stonehenge

a)is an up-to-date astronomical observatoryb)is a famous monument to sun worshipc)was probably an astronomical observatoryd)was a world-famous astronomical observatory

QUESTION 10

The text is mainly about

a)the mystery of Stonehengeb)computersc)Gerald Hawkinsd)Astrology