Short Advanced Reading Comprehension Test 25 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.)

The submarine crew for the mission had been carefully chosen. Research studies showed that staying in confining cells for an extended period of time was a severe hazard to human emotions. Claustrophobia, boredom and tensions which arise from working with other men in small areas, for months at a time, were constant problems. Learning from the observations of prison psychologists, Soviet naval training instructors counselled every submariner in particular to avoid close personal relationships with other submariners. Instead, they were supposed to follow survival instincts and do what was known among convicts as serving 'soft' time – developing just superficial friendships so as to maintain control of their emotions at all times.

The major idea of the passage is _____.

It is stated in the passage that _____.

The Soviet naval instructors gave each crewman careful counselling since _____.

The United States is not only considered as the main world power but also as a superpower in every respect, responsible for the liberty and security of most of the world. This responsibility is tied to a host of bilateral and multilateral treaties and defence connections that stretch all over the world. Millions of people and many nations look to the power and leadership of this country for their security. This military strength which so many have come to depend on consists of forces equipped with the most advanced weaponry systems available and manned by over four million men and women in the active and reserve forces. Great amounts of the sources of the country are committed to the military forces even though it is opposed by antiwar groups.

The author is of the opinion that _____.

All the following statements are true apart from that _____.

Multilateral treaties are _____.

Research on the casualties which result from earthquakes indicates that the majority of deaths are caused by collapsing pillars, walls, bridges or other constructions. Despite the existence of technology necessary to design quake-resistant buildings, there are no laws to force builders to use it. For instance, some buildings must be constructed with special consideration. In such disasters fire stations, hospitals, and police stations are expected to remain undamaged even if many other buildings collapse not only because there are many people in them but also for the simple reason that anyone hurt in any building is to be helped by those working in them. In an earthquake in Erzurum in 1992, there would have been more survivors if those injured had not had to be carried a long distance for medical assistance. In another quake occurring in San Francisco in 1906, most of the damage was caused by the fires. Further examples can be given that point out the significance of earthquake preparedness.

The biggest problem which causes most deaths and casualties during earthquakes is _____.

In spite of the existence of technology to design endurable buildings to survive quakes intact, _____.

Hospital and police stations _____.

Authentic people recognise the direction in which their lives are meant to go. When Alberto Dominic, the great missionary doctor, was a boy, a friend proposed that they go into the hills and kill birds. Alberto was reluctant but afraid of being laughed at, he went along. They arrived at a tree in which a flock of birds was singing; the boys put stones in their catapults. Then the church bell began to ring, mingling music with the birdsong. For Alberto, it was a voice from heaven. He shooed the birds away and went home, disregarding what his friends thought about him. From that day on, reverence for life was more important to him than the fear of being laughed at. His priorities were clear.

Alberto accepted his friend's suggestion of going into the hills, _____.

The music from the church bell mingled with the birdsong, _____.

This story emphasizes _____.

Although writing a research paper is a difficult assignment, many students make it more difficult than it needs to be because of inefficient working habits. Very often they postpone work on the paper until it is too late to do a respectable job of it. Often they invite avoidable difficulty by failure to find out at the beginning of their study whether sufficient material is available in the library. Instead of developing a general notion of the topic before tackling it in detail, they begin with the first convenient book and plunge into fine points before they see the topic as a whole. They take more notes than are necessary because they begin to take notes before they have decided what kind of information they need, and because they do not pick out the tactual information in a paragraph but quote the paragraph in its entirety.

Researchers' untimely engagement in fine details of their topic _____.

What renders writing a research paper more difficult is _____.

_____ is among inefficient students' working habits.

While I jacked the fore-end of the car up and cleared away the snow from under it, Daniel built a fire about a foot in front of the radiator to keep the car and us from freezing to death and to furnish light for the operation. The wheel correction was surprisingly easy; we were ready to leave again in a few minutes. Then we discovered that it would be more difficult to get out of the lane than it had been to get in. Because of the density of the timber, there was no way of turning around without serious risk of getting stuck, and the whirling snow made the visibility poor everywhere except directly within the beams of the headlights. Daniel therefore very carefully directed my backing; yet in spite of this, I bumped several small pines which retaliated by dumping their burden of snow on top of the car. The Plymouth was little more than a snowdrift on wheels by the time we reached the highway.

The author's friend made a fire just in front of the car not only to prevent the car and them from freezing _____.

_____, it proved harder to drive out of the lane than it had been to drive in.

The snow-laden trees that the writer hit _____.

It is assumed that each spot on the skin has a specialised sensory ending that produces sensations of cold, heat, pain, or touch. An examination of a bit of skin under a high-powered microscope indicates that the matter is not so simple. The deep layers of the skin contain a large number of sensory fibres of various dimensions. Each fibre branches like a tree and its branches interweave with the branches of many neighbouring fibres. At the end of each branch is a sensory receptor characteristic of that particular fibre. These receptors range in complexity from highly organised structures of considerable size to "bare"; undifferentiated fibrils with no more than a tiny knob at the tip. The intermingling of the fibre branches and the great number of different endings at any one skin spot suggest how difficult it would be to stimulate one ending or one fibre selectively. An ordinary stimulus, whether a pinprick, a light touch or pressure, invariably activates a large number of different sensory fibres. The evidence is inescapable that the sensations we describe as "touch" and "pain" must be derived from the concurrent activation of many different sensory fibres of various sizes and distributions.

An examination of a tiny spot of the skin with a microscope of strong magnifying power shows _____.

It is almost impossible to stimulate a single fibre separately _____.

It is understood from the passage that _____.

The impact of alcohol on the nation's health and welfare is almost incalculable. According to the latest figures, alcohol causes or is associated with 200,000 deaths every year. These include deaths from alcohol-related diseases (such as cirrhosis of the liver, cancers of the mouth and larynx, chronic brain injury), traumatic events (including automobile crashes), and thousands of other injuries. Many of these deaths and injuries occur among the young. Alcohol-impaired driving is the leading cause of death and injury among those under 25 years of age (in 1984 an average of 9 teenagers were killed and more than 400 injured each day in alcohol-related car crashes). Alcohol contributes to falls in the home, house fires, and drowning. People who drink habitually are more likely to smoke and hence doze off and start fires with unextinguished cigarettes. Half of the pedestrians killed on the streets are under the influence. Nor are the highways and the home the only places where trouble occurs. Lost work time due to drinking on the job and/or recovering from hangovers costs an estimated $7.9 million annually.

The country is badly influenced by alcohol _____.

Drunk driving is the most responsible for the huge number of deaths and injuries, _____.

The economic damage of alcoholism is enhanced _____.