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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 28Book 3 · Section 1 · 28 / 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 28

READING TEXT

a
The handkerchief, a simple article of clothing, has its roots in Ancient Rome.
Outstanding people used to tie a piece of cloth on their shoulders and wrists. It was
perfumed, had a pleasant odour and was called “orarium', meaning “towel' in
Latin. They used to wipe their hands and faces with it.
The handkerchief became popular in the period of Renaissance: first in Italy,
later in Germany and Spain. It was thte inseparable article of clothing of
fashionable men and women. It was made of fine, delicate, transparent fabric,
nicely embroidered. It hung on the belts or was kept in the sleeves.
Originally handkerchiefs had different shapes: from oval to triangular. Square
handkerchiefs appeared due to the French Queen Maria Antoinette. Soon they
became popular and spread all over Europe.
In the 18
wth
century handkerchiefs were used for their primary purpose — as a
means of hygiene. This can be explained by the following fact: it became
customary among the courtiers and noblemen to smell tobacco. It made them
sneeze and they used their handkerchiefs to wipe their noses. Since then
handkerchiefs have been made for two purposes: as a decorative accessory and
a means of hygiene for everyday necessities.

QUESTION 1

According to Paragraph 1, lines 1—4,

a)the first handkerchiefs were used to wipe shoulders and wristsb)outstanding people used to perfume their shoulders and wristsc)handkerchiefs first appeared in ancient Romed)outstanding people used to tie their hands

QUESTION 2

The word odour in line 3 is NOT synonymous to

a)colourb)fragrancec)aromad)scent

QUESTION 3

The word inseparable in line 6 may best be replaced by

a)indivisibleb)invisiblec)unnecessaryd)irrelevant

QUESTION 4

According to Paragraph 2, lines 5—8, the handkerchief

a)was popular with both men and womenb)was used by stylish men onlyc)became popular first in Germanyd)usually hung from the sleeves

QUESTION 5

In the period of Renaissance the handkerchief

a)was tied on wristsb)was ornamented with needleworktc)was kept in the beltsd)was used by poor, ordinary people

QUESTION 6

According to the text, M.aria Antoinette

a)introduced different shapes of handkerchiefsb)was the first to use handkerchiefs as a means of hygienec)introduced a new shape of handkerchiefsd)introduced oval and triangular handkerchiefs

QUESTION 7

The word primary in line 12 is NOT synonymous to

a)principalb)mainc)majord)minor

QUESTION 8

The range of forms of the first handkerchiefs is discussed in

a)Paragraph 1 (lines 1—4)b)Paragraph 2 (lines 5—8)c)Paragraph 3 (lines 9—11)d)Paragraph 4 (lines 12—17)

QUESTION 9

We learn from the text that handkerchiefs initially

a)were exclusively ovalb)were only triangularc)were squared)had various shapes

QUESTION 10

According to the text, the handkerchief was originally used

a)as a decorative accessoryb)as a means of hygienec)by noblemen to differ from ordinary peopled)by ordinary people to look elegant