Paragraph Completion Advanced Level Test – Quiz (Online Exercise With Answers) 2

Shopping malls have produced a revolution in United States shopping and living habits in just 45 years. Before 1950, there were no malls, but now almost every city or region has at least one. In fact, shopping malls have become a part of daily life. Many people even think of them as social centers. In a way, malls have taken the place of Main Street. Shops and services which were once spread over several city blocks are now in one place at the mall. _____. Busy householders can save time by doing their shopping at the mall. And people young and old, with time on their hands, often say, "Let's go to the mall!"

In 1585, Sir Walter Raleigh tried to start the first English settlement in North America. _____. Many settlers became sick and others died of hunger or in battles with the Native Americans. When another ship came from England a few years later, the newcomers found that ail the settlers were dead.

Anthropologists used to believe that romantic love was invented by Europeans in the Middle Ages. By romantic love, they mean an intense attraction and longing to be with the loved person. _____. Others thought that it may have existed in some other cultures but only among the rich and privileged. Now, however, most anthropologists agree that romantic love has probably always existed among humans.

_____. There are a number of reasons for this fear. One reason is that the patient cannot see what the dentist is doing. Another reason is that the patient, who is lying back, may feel very helpless. Social factors may also increase a person's fear. People may be influenced by the general belief that dentists are scary.

Are you sometimes a little tired and sleepy in the early afternoon? If so, you are not the only one. Many people feel this way after lunch. They may think that eating lunch is the cause of their sleepiness. Or, in summer, they may think it is the heat. ______. At that time, about eight hours after you wake up, your body temperature goes down. This is what makes you slow down and feel sleepy.

The use of electric automobiles in the future will help reduce air pollution. This was the conclusion of a recent study by experts of a large area in the northeastern United States. The area is highly urban and includes the cities of New York and Boston. At present, the air quality is poor. However, the use of electric cars could improve the situation. By the year 2015, there will be about 3,3 million electric cars on the road in the Northeast. _____.

_____. Dishes of uncooked fish, called sushi or sashimi, are prepared at most Japanese restaurants. Japanese cooks use many kinds of fish or shellfish for their dishes. Whatever kind of fish they use, however, it must always be very fresh. To prove that the fish is fresh, some restaurants will even serve fish that is still alive

Where there are people, there are almost always mice or rats. This is true in all parts of the world. These animals can be a real problem. They eat or damage supplies of food. _____. Finally, they can carry many types of diseases to humans and other animals. Therefore, you should keep your home free of mice and rats.

On a narrow avenue in New York City's “Little Italy” section in the early 1970s, hundreds of men, women, and children stood in long lines, wearing traditional Italian parade costumes- Many carried musical instruments which were stuffed behind ropes, with an occasional police officer present to keep them from running. _____. Director Francis Ford Coppola was filming a scene for The Godfather.

There are several ways to locate and record important information as you read. Underlining the material on a page is quickest, but taking notes makes you reorganize the reading material into an easily understood form. Outlining helps you record the structure of the ideas in your reading. Summarizing helps you to grasp the meaning of what you read most fully and to restate that meaning in a concise way _____.

Today, farmers in most of the industrialized countries grow cash crops. This means that they usually grow large amounts of only a few crops; such as soya, wheat, or corn. They sell these crops and use the money to buy what they need for their families and their farms. _____. Most farmers used to grow lots of different kinds of crops. They sometimes sold some of the crops when there was extra.

_____. In the United States, it is the most expensive health problem in the workplace. In all, it costs people up to $ 60 billion in medical expenses and lost working time. Back pain is bad for business as well. It is the cause of 40% of all lost workdays. That means a total of about 93 million sick days a year in the United States. Doctors now believe that exercise is the best treatment for back pain. For this reason, some companies have started special exercise programs for employees.

The tendency to help others begins quite early. Many children become sensitive to other people's emotional states at a very young age. As they grow older, children's efforts at helping become more elaborate. Their helping behaviours often follow the examples set by those around them and are usually supported and encouraged by the norms communicated through the child's reference groups. In our culture, these norms result in praise and other rewards for helpfulness and scolding for selfishness. _____.

The first step in reading for specific information is to look for the main idea. ____. In a longer work, you add up the main ideas of the various paragraphs in order to figure out the main idea of the whole selection. But the main idea does not give you all the information you need. Facts and details may appear within the paragraphs you read and help develop the main ideas of the paragraphs.

To read well, you need a strong vocabulary. To build a strong vocabulary, you need to read well. These sentences are a paradox. _____. Together, they state the challenge facing anyone trying to improve reading skills. In order to read confidently, you have to know many words. Yet the best way to expand your knowledge of words is to read often. As you improve your skills in one, you improve your skills in the other.

16. The amount of time people spend researching, checking prices, visiting stores and seeking advice from friends tends to rise in proportion to the value of the product they're thinking of buying._____ . So why are some people now walking into car showrooms and ordering a vehicle without even asking for a test drive? Or turning up at an electrical store and pointing out the washing machine they want without seeking advices from a sales assistant? Welcome to a new style öf shopping shaped by the Internet.

The sheer number of vehicles on the roads of Western countries hugely lessened the appeal of driving. _____. Meanwhile, the country's road network has expanded by nowhere near as much. With increased traffic density has come tougher speed regulations. Motorists with what was described jauntily in the 1960 s as a “brisk” driving style are increasingly feeling the heavy hand of the law closing over their driving licences.

Dogs acting as guides for the blind are now a familiar sight in most cities. _____. In 1982 an innovative programme was established to provide deaf adults with dogs to alert them to sounds in the home such as the doorbell, alarm clock, telephone or smoke alarm. Instead of barking, they use a paw to gain attention and then lead the deaf person to the sound source.

Running out of exotic places to visit or more extreme thrills for an even bigger adrenaline rush? _____. When it arrives, space tourism will offer the ultimate in bragging rights. If things go as planned, flights into suborbital space ought to be more or less routine within three years—at least for those ready to stump up the $200,000 fare. But despite the price, the jostling to be front of the queue has already begun.

_____. Programme selection becomes easier, with a menu of channel options displayed on the screen—like the index of track titles on a CD. Digital systems in general are also more robust than their analogue equivalents. For instance, a CD or DVD player can make an old scratched disc—even one with holes drilled through it—work as well as a pristine one. A DTV receiver can do similar tricks—by ignoring, say, signals that arrive late at the antenna after reflection from tall buildings. On an analogue set, such reflections create “ghost” images on the screen. A DTV receiver also ignores the kind of random interference that causes “snow” on an analogue screen.

Today, there are many options for travel. The poor travel by bus or, rather, they used to is one of them. If you don't mind arriving in Peoria, Illinois, in the middle of the night at some crime-ridden downtown terminal, there is no cheaper way of criss-crossing America. Nowadays, the poor travel is by air. Low-cost airlines are great for those on a tight budget. But in Europe and Asia, the premium way to travel today is by train. _____.

_____. In fact we still find lightning thrilling and fascinating. It is now also an important area of research for scientists who are trying to uncover its secrets and are looking for ways to predict storms and protects people against lightning strikes.

Over the past 3500 years, different civilisations and cultures across the world have created at least 700 different forms of writing. To our eyes, most of these scripts look quite distinct, and people who can read only one script cannot understand another. _____. Nearly all of them originated from just four sources; the ancient scripts of Egypt, Mesopotamia, China and Mexico.

Greed, desire, anguish and devotion all played a part in the development of the tulip from a wildflower of central Asia and the Caucasus to the worldwide phenomenon it is today. When merchants first brought it to the flower markets of Europe, it caused a sensation. Thousands of intensely competitive tulip growers’ societies opened in England in the nineteenth century. _____. Holland was another setting for perhaps the most mysterious of the events. What might be called “Tulipmania engulfed the country and has puzzled historians and economists ever since

Two epic poems are attributed to Homer, the Iliad and Odyssey. Ranked among the great works of Western literature, these two poems together constitute the prototype for all subsequent Western epic poetry. Scholars tried to analyse the two works by various tests, usually to show that they were strung together from older narrative poems. _____.