Short Advanced Reading Comprehension Test 34 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.)

Many art museums and galleries and many individuals in the art world faced financial problems in 1975 as the effects of the world recession deepened. On the surface, things seemed to continue as before, with important exhibitions in major museums attracting large crowds. But smaller galleries, and the artists whose work was shown by their resourceful proprietors, fared less well, and over the longer term, it is the work of young artists that determines the course of art for the future.

The point made in the passage is that the recession in the 1970s _____.

One can infer from the passage that if a generation of young artists is lost, _____.

According to the passage, the people in the art world who were most strongly affected by the recession _____.

Computers should never have acquired the exalted status they now have. Fascinating and invaluable as they are, even the most advanced have less brain power than a three-year-old. They do, however, score on single-mindedness. The three-year-old uses his brain not only to think but also to do tasks like seeing, hearing and running about, which need rapid and sophisticated electro-mechanical interactions - we too run on electricity. But the computer just sits there and sends spacecraft to the moon or reorganizes the world banking system, which is very much easier. That's why man's dream of robot servants is still a long way off.

The main point made in the passage is that the human brain _____.

It is explained in the passage that the efficiency of the computer _____.

The author feels that the computers _____.

The dramatic growth of the world's population in the twentieth century has been on a scale without parallel in human society. Most of this growth has occurred since 1950 and is known as the "population explosion". Between 1950 and 1980, the world population increased from 2.5 to over 4 billion and by the end of the century, this figure will have risen to at least 6 billion. Growth of this size cannot continue indefinitely. Recent forecasts suggest that the total population will level out at between 10 and 15 billion in the mid-twenty-first century. Already there are encouraging signs that the rate of increase in many less-developed countries is beginning to slow down.

According to the passage, at no period in human history has there been _____.

It is pointed out in the passage that the increase in the world population _____.

It has been forecast that by the middle of the next century, _____.

Many substances, whether man-made or natural, can cause harm to man or the environment. Some of these reach the environment in waste streams; however, emission limits and environmental quality standards can, in some instances, reduce the amounts released. However, some other substances cannot be controlled in this way because they are released, not in industrial waste streams, but through the use of disposal of products that contain them. In many cases, these substances pose little or no threat if the product containing them is used and disposed of properly. The right way to deal with them is usually through controls over their supply, use and disposal.

According to the passage, the threat of certain substances to the environment _____.

The author points out that the danger posed to man by many substances _____.

The passage is concerned with the question of _____.

In one century of strenuous research, a huge amount of source material about Michelangelo has been collected, reviewed, and edited, including letters, poems, contracts, receipts, and biographies. Biographical and artistic data have been checked and rechecked, sometimes corroborating and sometimes correcting our previous ideas, and an abundance of new facts has been revealed. Long-lost works have been rediscovered, and every single known piece has been studied in its formal, iconographic, genetic, and functional aspects. The artist’s character, his daily habits, his working methods, his personal attitudes, and his artistic and political opinions have been traced, as well as the peculiarities of the people with whom he had contact. Thus, the modern history of art has formed an image of Michelangelo that is much nearer to the truth than those presented by his first biographers.

We learn from the passage that over the past hundred years, _____.

It is clear from the passage that the source material concerning Michelangelo _____.

In accordance with the passage, the new data about Michelangelo _____.

The fact that the brain is divided into a left and a right half is not a new discovery. Once the skull is removed, the division is clear to the naked eye, and it is a common feature of brains throughout the animal kingdom. What is interesting about this division in humans is that each half seems to have developed specialized functions, with the left side appearing to be better at some tasks, and the right side better at others. The most obvious difference in functioning is that the left side of the brain receives sensations from and controls the right side of the body, and vice versa. The reasons for this are still unclear. Despite a number of interesting theories, there is no obvious advantage in such a crossover.

As the writer stresses, it has long been known that _____.

We can learn from the text that, in man, each half of the brain _____.

The passage is mainly about _____.

For years, the theory of higher education in the United States operated something like this: men went to university to get rich, and women went to university to marry rich men. It was a wonderful little setup, nearly mathematical in its precision. To disturb it would have been to rock an American institution. During the 60s, though, this theory lost much of its popularity. As the nation began to recognize the folly of relegating women to a secondary role, women soon joined men in what once were male-only pursuits. This rebellious decade pushed women toward independence, showed them their potential, and compelled them to take charge of their lives. Many women took this opportunity. Since then, feminine autonomy has been the rule, not the exception, at least among university women.

In accordance with the passage, the view had long been held in the States that _____.

The writer emphasizes that, from the 1960s onwards, women in America _____.

It is clear from the passage that most American women today _____.

The collection of foreign intelligence, which is the pursuit of a special kind of information, is an obligatory service for any government with even the most elementary international associations. Nations must devise a strategy to provide for both their security and well-being. History teaches us that this responsibility cannot be met without knowledge of the political, economic, and military capabilities and intentions of other nations. Indeed, advanced knowledge of these matters, or its absence, could well settle the fate of a great nation, especially in an era when a single nation or consortium of nations is capable of smashing another society in a single stroke, or of controlling it under the threat of a poised catastrophe. The well-being of any great nation will depend on decisions taken by others, which must be foreseen, correctly analyzed, and countered.

As is obvious from the passage, a nation for its own well-being even survival _____.

The writer stresses that, in our time, it is _____.

According to the passage, foreign intelligence is regarded as _____.