Short Reading Comprehensions

My name is Simon Parkinson and I am a surgeon at James Cook University hospital. Last week, I had the late evening duty and it must have been about two in the morning when I returned home. I was extremely exhausted and needed to go to bed. As I was walking towards the front door, I realised I had forgotten my keys in my other jacket. I tried to wake my wife up by ringing the doorbell, but she was fast asleep, so in a moment of desperation I got a ladder from the shed in the garden, put it against the wall, and began climbing towards the bedroom window. I was almost there when a sarcastic voice below said, 'I don't think the windows should be cleaned at this time of the night.' I looked down and nearly fell off the ladder when to my surprise I saw a policeman. I immediately regretted answering in the way that I did, but I said, 'I enjoy cleaning windows at night.' 'So do I,' answered the policeman in the same tone. 'Excuse me for interrupting you. I hate to interrupt a man while he is busy working, but would you mind coming down to go along with me to the police  station?' 'Well, I would prefer to stay here,' I said. 'You see, I have forgotten my key.' ,Your what?' he said. 'My key,' I shouted. Luckily, the fuss woke my wife up who opened the window just as the policeman had started to climb the ladder to arrest me!

Are these sentences true or false?

1. Mr Parkinson is a doctor.

2. It was very early in the morning.

3. He forgot his keys in the house.

4. Mrs Parkinson was out shopping.

5. Nobody opened the door.

6. Mr Parkinson climbed a tree.

7. A policeman appeared in his garden.

8. He told Simon to clean the window.

9. Simon told the officer he lost his keys.

10. Did the policeman believe him?

11. Who woke up and opened the window.

12. How do you think this story ended?

It was announced in an article in the newspapers yesterday that public bus drivers have decided to go on strike next week. The strike is expected to commence in the early hours of Monday. The article didn’t mention how long it would last, but  the bus drivers have confirmed that the strike will continue until a general agreement is reached about pay and working conditions. It is believed that the strike will last for at least a week. Private taxi companies were very pleased with this announcement as this would mean the public would have to depend on them to get around, which meant an increase in profits during this time. On the other hand, private car owners offered free rides to people on their way to work. This is a good gesture because it will relieve pressure on the trains to some extent. Meanwhile, a number of enthusiastic university students have volunteered to drive the abandoned buses while the strike lasts. All the students are qualified drivers, but before they drive any of the buses, they will have to pass a special test. The students are going to take the test in two days time. Even with this help, people are going to find it difficult to get to work and back. But so far, the public has expressed its gratitude to the students in emails to the Press. Only one or two elderly people have objected the idea with the notion that these students have no experience and will drive the buses recklessly!!

Answer these questions in full sentences after reading the passage above:

1. How was the news spread?

2. What was happening at the beginning of the week?

3. Why was this taking place?

4. Who would be affected?

5. Who welcomed the news? Why?

6. What did car owners offer?

7. Who were volunteering?

8. What were they going to do?

9. What did they have to take before?

10. Where the people happy?

11. What did they send?

12. Do you think it was a good idea? Try to justify your answers.

OUR LOVELY HOUSE

Lots of things are happening today, because we have visitors! Read the sentences and decide if they are true or false. Correct the false sentences.

1) You can see six rooms of the house. ___

2) The kitchen is on the middle floor ___

3) There are four balconies.___

4) The cat is in the kitchen. ___

5) We haven’t got a chimney. ___

6) There is a lamp beside the red bed. ___

7) There are no plants in the kitchen ___

8) There isn’t a TV ___

9) There are three windows in the roof ___

10) There is a blue blind at the kitchen window ___

Which room is it happening in?

A) Dad is hanging a picture on the wall Room 4

B) A cat is jumping off a chair. ___

C) Mum is putting a cake in the oven ___

D) Uncle Jim is wearing his pyjamas and he is walking into the bathroom. He is yawning. ___

E) Uncle Tom is putting things into a small suitcase. ___

weather

My friend, Keith, has lived in Dubai for many years before deciding to return to England. He had often discussed of retiring in England and had planned to buy a house in the country. A few weeks after arriving back home he bought a beautiful cottage in the outskirts of Birmingham. Almost immediately, he began to grumble about the weather, for even though it was still summer, it rained continually and it was often bitterly cold. After so many years of sunshine, Keith was disappointed. He acted as if he had never lived in England before. In the end, it was all too much for him. He had hardly had time to settle down when he sold the cottage and left the country. The dream he had had for so many years ended there. Keith had thought of everything except the weather.

Answer these questions in full sentences after reading the story above:

1. Where was Keith living?

2. Where has returned to?

3. What did he buy?

4. Where is the accommodation?

5. What did he complain about?

6. Was it summer time?

7. How was the weather?

8. Could he get used to the weather?

9. What did he do?

10. Where do you think he went?

GENERATION GAP

Old people are always saying that the young are not what they were. The same comment is made from generation to generation and is always true. It has never been truer than it is today.

These days grown-ups describe children as “difficult”, “rude”, “wild” and “irresponsible”. Only some people say that they will grow up to make our country a better place.

For kids from 8 to 14 a new term “tweens” has recently been coined. They are no longer children nor yet teenagers, just between – tweens. They are said to be a generation in a fearful hurry to grow up. Instead of plying with Barbies and Legos they are interested in the vagaries of love on TV serials. Girls wear provocative make-up. At this very age kids start pairing off. Tweens have got an insatiable desire for the latest in everything – from jeans with labels so that everyone will know that they’ve got the latest staff – to CDs. Kids at their age desperately need to belong and that’s why everything comes down to appearance. They think that having the right “stuff” is the quickest way to acceptance. To parents and teachers they can be a nightmare, aping the hairstyles, clothes and make-up of celebrities twice their age. Experts say that the rush to grow up is due to the mass media. Being raised by single- parent families as well as watching TV, which sucks up most of their free time, can also accelerate the desire of children for being independent and creates behaviour problems.

But the most painful part of childhood is the period when they begin to emerge from it: adolescence or the awkward age. There is a complete lack of self-confidence during this time. Adolescents are overconscious of their appearance and the impression they make on others. They feel shy, awkward and clumsy. Feelings are intense and hearts – easily broken. Teenagers experience moments of tremendous elation and black despair. And besides friends are becoming more and more important these years. At schools there are cliques who decide what is “cool”. Adolescents may rebel violently against parental authority, but this causes them great unhappiness. And they are not always helped to get through a confusion of life in a steady, productive way. But even teenagers with sympathetic and supportive parents can fall in with  bad company.

Most children don’t belong to any clubs and they just start roaming the street after school out of sheer boredom. A lot of them become addicted to drugs and/or alcohol because their life is hollow and they don’t think of life-long goals. They have nothing to fill the emptiness of their souls with. They demand to have all that they see, and regard it as their right to be entertained every waking moment.

And besides our society is becoming more and more stratified. There has appeared a class of rich people and a class of poor people (to be more exact – people leaving below the poverty line). Children of well-off parents consider themselves “the smart set” or “gilded youth”. Their parents give them every material benefit, pocket money any time they ask. A lot of these children have their own brand-new cars and personal computers. It goes without saying that it causes jealousy and the desire to possess the same things on the part of children whose parents are poor and cannot afford it. Such feelings can push teenagers to committing a crime and it leads to a wide spread of juvenile delinquency.

Nowadays children start using computers very early. Tweens and teens are so fascinated by them that they spend hours and hours at their personal computers or a computer clubs. The electronic universe replaces their contacts with friends and dominates their life completely. Obsession with computers brings about a mechanical, disillusioned mentality and inhibits their emotional development.

The heads of youngsters are also being filled with violent pictures they have seen on TV. Children are very naïve and impressionable. And no wonder that they are so aggressive and arrogant in real life. They are thrown into such a harsh world, especially if they live in a city.

 These days a lot of parents think that they should be lenient with their children, they should let them find out about life for themselves, they should leave children to develop their own idea of right and wrong. But it’s a grave mistake. Parents should try to protect their children from possible bad influences and give them clear guidance about right and wrong.

There is no way to predict how today’s children will turn out. Keeping faith in kids is necessary. They are not bad. They are optimistic. They expect to have a better life than their parents’. And grown-ups – if they are prepared to admit it – could learn a thing or two from their children. One of the biggest lessons they could learn is that enjoyment is not “sinful”. Enjoyment is a principle you could apply to all aspects of life. It is not wrong to enjoy your work and enjoy your leisure, to shed restricting inhibitions. It is surely not wrong to live in the present rather than in the past or future. This emphasis on the present is only to be expected because the young have grown up under the constant threat of World War III, which means complete annihilation. This is their “glorious” heritage. Can we be surprised that they question the wisdom and sanity of their elders?

1. Answer the questions.

1.     What comment is usually made about the younger generation?

2.     What epithets do grown-ups use speaking about children?

3.     Does anyone believe that children will make our country a better place to live in?

4.     What term has been coined recently?

5.     Are tweens interested in playing with dolls and toys?

6.     What things do they want to have and why?

7.     Why is the awkward age the most painful part of childhood?

8.     Do teenagers obey their parents?

9.     Teenagers with sympathetic and supportive parents never get in bad company, do they?

10.                        Why do teenagers become addicted to drugs and alcohol?

11.                        What do teens regard as their right?

12.                        What society do we live in?

13.                        Are there any people who live below the poverty line in this country?

14.                        Who belongs to the smart set or gilded youth?

15.                        What can push children from poor families to commit a crime?

16.                        When do children start using computers nowadays?

17.                        What does preoccupation with computers bring about?

18.                        Children are easily influenced by violence on TV, aren’t they?

19.                        How do they behave in real life?

20.                        What do many parents think about upbringing nowadays?

21.                        Are they right?

22.                        What should parents do?

23.                        Is it possible to predict what people today’s children grow up?

24.                        What sort of life do children expect to have?

25.                        What could grown-ups learn from their children?

26.                        Why do young people prefer to live in the present?

27.                        What does World War III mean?

     28. Do young peole have a right to question the wisdom and sanity of their elders?