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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 27Book 3 · Section 1 · 27 / 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 27

READING TEXT

Hippocrates, the father of medicine, believed that personality and physical
appearance go together. Even in our times, researchers have tried to prove that a
person's character is somehow connected with the way they look.
Psychologists often divide people into two types: those that are short and fat and
those who are tall and thin. People in the first group tend to be shorter than average
and as they grow older they get fatter. Although, in general, these people tend to be
cheerful extroverts, their mood may rapidly change and they become either
depressed or inward-looking. Criminals often fall into this group and many dictators
have also been of the short, stocky type, for example. Nero, Napoleon and Mussolini.
Tall, thin people usually have smallish heads, long noses and bony faces. As far
as their personality is concerned, they tend to be both shy and bad-tempered. They
often suffer from stress and avoid physical activity, though if they do take part in
sports, they are generally very good.

QUESTION 1

According to Hippocrates's theory,

a)a person's appearance has nothing to do with his characterb)a person's appearance harmonizes with his characterc)extroverts avoid physical activityd)mental abilities are connected with physical appearance

QUESTION 2

Modern researchers

a)disagree with Hippocrates categoricallyb)find no connection between character and appearancec)have tried to confirm Hippocrates's theoryd)neglect Hippocrates's theory completely

QUESTION 3

According to Paragraph 2, lines 4—9, short and fat people

a)are generally extrovertsb)are never cheerfulc)get thinner when they grow olderd)are always depressed

QUESTION 4

The word cheerful in line 7 is NOT synonymous to

a)joyfulb)jollyc)merryd)miserable

QUESTION 5

We may think that tall, thin people

a)are physically strong and activeb)are unlikely to be shy and ill-temperedc)are never shy and irritabled)are inclined to be timid

QUESTION 6

The word rapidly in line 7 is synonymous to

a)simplyb)steadily tc)slowlyd)quickly

QUESTION 7

According to Paragraph. 2, lines 4—9,

a)people win the first group may have sudden changes of moodb)most criminals fall into the second groupc)extroverts may become cheerful abruptlyd)extroverts may change gradually into introverts

QUESTION 8

The sentence “they often suffer from stress” means that they

a)are afraid of stressb)often avoid stressc)often undergo stressd)keep away from stress

QUESTION 9

According to the text, a lot of dictators were

a)tall and thinb)tall and broad-shoulderedc)short and stoutd)short and slim

QUESTION 10

The text is mainly about

a)psychologists and researchersb)appearances and charactersc)Nero, Napoleon and Mussolinid)criminals and dictators