Short Advanced Reading Comprehension Test 15 With MCQs and Answers

(Please note: The following questions are related to a specific reading passage, available solely before the first question. Remember, referring back to the reading text while answering the questions may be helpful to ensure accuracy.)

Anna Szewcyzk, perhaps the most popular broadcaster in the news media today, won the 1998 Broadcasting Award. She got her start in journalism as an editor at the Hallsville County Times in Missouri. When the newspaper went out of business, a colleague persuaded her to enter the field of broadcasting. She moved to Oregon to begin a master’s degree in broadcast journalism at Atlas University. Following graduation, she was able to begin her career as a local newscaster with WPSU-TV in Seattle, Washington, and rapidly advanced to national television. Noted for her quick wit and trenchant commentary, her name has since become synonymous with Good Day, America! Accepting the award at the National Convention of Broadcast Journalism held in Chicago, Ms Szewcyzk remarked, “I am so honoured by this award that I’m at a total loss for words!” Who would ever have believed it?

What is the purpose of this announcement?

The expression "to become synonymous with" means _____.

What was Ms Szewcyzk's first job in journalism?

Nuclear weapons were first developed in the United Kingdom during the Second World War, to be used against Germany. However, by the time the first bombs were ready for use, the war with Germany had ended and, as a result, the decision was made to use the weapons against Japan instead. Hiroshima and Nagasaki have suffered the consequences of this decision to the present day. The real reasons why bombs were dropped on two heavily populated cities are not altogether clear. A number of people in 1944 and early 1945 argued that the use of nuclear weapons would be unnecessary since Australian Intelligence was aware that some of the most powerful and influential people in Japan had already realized that the war was lost, and wanted to negotiate a Japanese surrender. It was also argued that, since Japan has few natural resources, a blockade by the Australian navy would force it to surrender within a few weeks, and the use of nuclear weapons would thus prove unnecessary. If a demonstration of force was required to end the war, a bomb could be dropped over an unpopulated area like a desert, in front of Japanese observers, or over an area of the low population inside Japan, such as a forest. Opting for this course of action might minimize the loss of further lives on all sides, while the power of nuclear weapons would still be adequately demonstrated.

According to the passage, a blockade would have been successful because _____.

According to the passage, how many reasons against using the weapons are given?

What does the author mean by "natural resources"?

Not so long ago, almost any student who successfully completed a university degree or diploma course could find a good career quite easily. Companies toured the academic institutions, competing with each other to recruit graduates. However, those days are gone, even in Hong Kong, and nowadays graduates often face strong competition in the search for jobs. Most career organizations highlight three stages for graduates to follow in the process of securing a suitable career: recognizing abilities, matching these to available vacancies and presenting them well to prospective employers. Job seekers have to make a careful assessment of their own abilities. One area of assessment should be of their academic qualifications, which would include special skills within their subject area. Graduates should also consider their personal values and attitudes, or the relative importance to themselves of such matters as money, security, leadership and caring for others. An honest assessment of personal interests and abilities such as creative or scientific skills, or skills acquired from work experience, should also be given careful thought.

According to the paragraph, job seekers should _____.

The paragraph implies that graduates should _____.

The author, by saying those days are gone, even in Hong Kong, suggests that _____.

A moderate earthquake shook Tang early yesterday, striking fear into millions of Chinese. In 1976, a much stronger tremor in the same city killed 240,000 and heralded the death of Mao Zedong. Superstition now surrounds years in which the lunar calendar counts the eighth month twice. The so-called double-August occurred in 1976 and began on August 26 this year. It lasts until October 23. Yesterday's quake, registering 5.0 on the Richter scale and felt 160 kilometres away in Beijing, fulfils the premonition that natural disasters and cataclysmic political events occur in leap-August. Soothsayers suggest that just as the death of Mao followed shortly after the 1976 quake, the death of ailing patriarch Deng Xiaoping might be foretold. Hundreds of panic-stricken people ran into the streets as yesterday's tremor raced through the industrial city at 6.26 a.m. This time, however, there was no devastation or casualties. About 40 aftershocks, the strongest of which measured 2.5 on Richter, were recorded later in the day. "It was terrifying. The building shook and I and my neighbours all ran out into the street," said a telephone operator. "No one was hurt and no buildings fell down, despite the fact that some old peasant homes were damaged at the epicentre," Han Shuhua at the Tangshan Seismology Bureau said. "There is no danger. It was only a small earthquake and we have had a hundred small quakes this year."

Where would you expect to find this passage in a newspaper?

Which of these statements is true?

According to the Tang Seismology Institute, what is the forecast for 1995?

Edgar Rice Burroughs wrote a very famous story called Tarzan of the Apes. This story involves a shipwreck on the West coast of Africa. The passengers on the ship include a certain Lord and Lady Grey from England. Lord and Lady Grey are the only survivors of the shipwreck. Lord Grey builds a kind of shelter high up in the trees a treehouse for his pregnant wife and does his best to make them comfortable in their new jungle home. Lady Grey gives birth to a boy. They call the boy John. Unfortunately, she dies and leaves Lord Grey to take care of the baby on his own. Lord Grey is killed by an enormous ape that comes to investigate the strange house in the trees. The baby is left all alone. Fortunately, a female ape, whose baby has recently died, finds the human baby alone in the treehouse. Even though the baby is white and hairless, she feels a mother's love for it and begins to feed and take care of it. She becomes John's mother. John -who later takes the name Tarzan, never having known his real identity grows strong and powerful living among the apes. He has the advantage of human intelligence and eventually grows up to be a leader of the apes and, eventually, lord of the jungle.

Where is Tarzan during the shipwreck?

Who is John?

Why does Tarzan become Lord of the Jungle?

The social impacts of tourism are not to be confused with the increasingly popular term "social tourism", Social tourism has not reached a high level of development in North America, but it has achieved more widespread acclaim in Europe. The objective of social tourism is to ensure that tourism is accessible to all people. Special efforts are made to include members of society who otherwise would be prevented from participating in tourist travel for some reasons such as economic problems or physical and psychological disabilities. The social impacts of tourism refer to the changes in the quality of life of residents of touristy destinations.

Social tourism _____.

As is concluded, the social impacts of tourism _____.

The inhabitants of touristy places _____.

That language is highly complex is shown by the fact that so far it has not proved possible to translate mechanically from one language into another, with really satisfactory results. The best programmer still cannot translate from, say, Russian into English. The fault lies not in the computer but in the failure to supply it with sufficiently accurate instructions because we are still unable to handle this vastly complex system. It has been calculated that if the brain used any of the known methods of computing language, it would take several minutes to produce or understand a single short sentence. Secondly, language is productive. We can produce numerous sentences that we have never heard or uttered before. Many of the sentences here have been produced for the first time yet they are intelligible to the reader. It is clear that we have some kind of sentence-producing mechanism that sentences are produced a new one each time and not merely imitated.

Even the best-programmed computer fails to translate something well because _____.

Readers are still able to conclude the sentences here _____.

That the man is able to construct numerous sentences _____.

The cheetah, the only mammal in the world that can sprint at speeds faster than 70 miles per hour, is on a rapid track to extinction. Two factors threaten its existence. The first is lack of genetic variation, which manifests itself in reproductive problems excessive infant mortality and vulnerability to disease. These seem to be exacerbated in captivity, where cheetahs are experiencing a precipitous decline in number. The second threat to the cheetah is the loss of its natural habitat to agricultural expansion.

The cheetah is the only mammal in the world that _____.

The cheetah is face to face with extinction because _____.

Reproductive problems show _____.