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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 30Book 3 · Section 1 · 30 / 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 30

READING TEXT

What is “American” food? The answer is that it is part Italian, part British, part
German, part Mexican, part Chinese...When people from other countries came to
live in the US, they brought different cooking traditions. Over the years, some
foreign dishes changed a bit. Doughnuts were originally from Holland. In 1847, a
young American boy told his mother that her doughnuts were never cooked in the
middle. He cut out the centres, his mother cooked them, and they were very delicious!
Maybe the US is most famous for “fast foods”. The first fast food restaurants
served hamburgers, but now they serve other kinds of food, too. Inside there is
often a “salad bar”, where you can help yourself to as much salad as you want.
Americans eat a lot, and when they go to a restaurant, they don't expect to be
hungry afterwards. Most restaurants will put a lot of food on your plate. But if you
can't finish it all, don't worry: they will give you a “doggy bag” and you can put
the remains of your food in it and take it home.
Most Americans now have a light breakfast instead of the traditional eggs,
bacon, toast, orange juice and coffee. But on weekends, there is more time, and a
large late breakfast or early lunch (brunch) is often eaten with family or friends.

QUESTION 1

According to Paragraph 1, lines 1—6,

a)some foreign dishes changed greatly over the yearsb)“American” food is the mixture of five cuisinesc)“American” food is the mixture of various cuisinesd)Americans changed the cooking traditions of other peoples

QUESTION 2

According to the text, doughnuts

a)are cooked only in Hollandb)were first cooked by an American boy, in 1847c)are small cakes never cooked in the middled)are small cakes with cut-out centres

QUESTION 3

According to Paragraph 2, lines 7—9, c

a)the first fast food restaurants served hamburgers, but now they don't serve them any more tb)fast food restaurants serve only hamburgersc)the first fast food restaurants served hamburgers, later they included something else in their menud)the first fast food restaurants served hamburgers, as well as other kinds of food

QUESTION 4

The word originally in line 4 is NOT synonymous to

a)firstlyb)finallyc)primarilyd)initially

QUESTION 5

Which of the statements is NOT true, according to the text?

a)Americans are fond of eatingb)Most American restaurants serve a lot of foodc)Now most Americans have traditional bacon and eggs for breakfastd)Nowadays most Americans have a light breakfast

QUESTION 6

It can be inferred from Paragraph 3, lines 10—13, that Americans

a)don't like the food served in the restaurantsb)eat very little in the restaurantsc)don't like to waste moneyd)order few dishes in the restaurants

QUESTION 7

In a “doggy bag”

a)Americans take the remnants of the food homeb)Americans keep the remains of the food at homec)the restaurants keep the remains of the foodd)the leftovers of the food are always kept for the dogs

QUESTION 8

The word delicious in line 6 is synonymous to

a)overcookedb)undercookedc)tastelessd)tasty

QUESTION 9

In American restaurants people

a)are never upset if they can't eat up what they've orderedb)often remain hungry and dissatisfiedc)worry when they are given a “doggy bag”d)have to eat all the food on their plates

QUESTION 10

According to the text, o.n weekends most Americans

a)don't have enough time to go to the restaurantsb)enjoy having a meal with family or friendsc)have a light breakfast with family or friendsd)have little time to spend with their relatives