Short Advanced Reading Comprehension Test 35 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.)

A subject in which there has been a lot of interest recently is the acquisition of language. 'Normal' children, that is, those who have not had a particularly rich environment, usually begin talking after the first year of their life. By eighteen months, they have a vocabulary of about half a dozen words, and at two years, a vocabulary of more than a hundred words. The traditional view has been that during the first year of life, babies are not mature enough to learn languages. Talking, however, is only the outer manifestation of the development of language long before a baby first utters a meaningful word a baby can be observed responding to the language of others.

As explained in the passage, the way in which a language is acquired _____.

In accordance with the passage, one can define "talking" as _____.

The passage tells us that we now have _____.

Economic dynamics have resolutely shifted from the national economy to the world economy. From now on, any country - and also any business, especially a large one - that wants to prosper will have to accept that it is the world economy that leads and that domestic economic policies will succeed only if they strengthen, or at least, do not impair the country's international competitive position. This may be the most important aspect. It surely is the most striking feature of the changed world economy.

The writer says that one significant development in the economy has been _____.

It is clear from the passage that, for a country to achieve economic prosperity, it _____.

The passage is about _____.

In Britain, the Queen is a constitutional monarch. In law, she is the head of the executive, an integral part of the legislature, head of the judiciary, commander-in-chief of the armed forces and temporal head of the Church of England. Actually, the Queen's role is purely formal: she reigns, but she does not rule. In all important respects, she acts only on the advice of her ministers. However, she still plays an important role symbolically as the Head of State and the Head of the Commonwealth.

The passage is mainly about ______.

It is clear from the passage that the Queen's power _____.

It is pointed out in the passage that on all serious issues, the Queen ______.

The 1970s were a period of marked economic recession in the West. The effects were widespread; even the publishing sector was badly hit. Inflation went on pushing up the costs of paper and printing, increasing the price of books generally and reducing the amount of money available for the publication of new and experimental work. There was a growing sense, in the world of literature no less than in other spheres of production, that this crisis must involve changes that would be neither simple nor temporary.

It is stressed in the passage that as a result of the economic recession experienced in the West in the 1970s, both publishers and writers ______.

The writer implies that, due to growing inflation, publishers ______.

In accordance with the passage, the recession in the 1970s in the West ______.

Generally, educational processes involve not only learning but teaching as well. There is, however, no logical connection in this case. Education can go on without any teaching. We can say it was a "real education" for someone to take a boat out on his own, implying that he learnt something desirable without anybody having been there to teach him the lesson. There are many forms of learning that go on without teaching, and 'educative' learning does not mean that the learning must take place in a teaching situation. It may be argued that most things are learnt more rapidly and more reliably in a classroom situation. But even so, learning is not dependent upon teaching.

As is emphasized in the passage, it is generally assumed that _____.

The writer states that true education _____.

The writer confesses that a teacher may often make the process of learning _____.

In many African and Latin American countries, the rate of population growth appears to be constant or even rising. However, in Asia, there are signs that the growth rate has peaked and is now declining. These different experiences may reflect differences in government policies. In 1980, a quarter of less developed countries had no official family planning programme. The success stories involve India, where, in 1980, 23 per cent of married women used contraceptives, and the birth rate fell from 4.4 to 3.6 per cent per annum between 1960 and 1980. These successful cases show what can be done. However, private incentives and attitudes still favour large families in many poor societies. Therefore, simply providing facilities for family planning may not be enough.

It is implied in the passage that, as regards population growth, _____.

In accordance with the passage, one reason why family planning in many less developed countries has failed is that _____.

We can infer from the passage that the success of a family planning policy _____.

National income per head is an indicator of the standard of living. However, this measure is necessarily a rough one. For instance, it cannot take into account new and better products such as television, man-made fibres, faster flight, long-playing records, or the lowly plastic bucket. Nor does it indicate changes in the distribution of income between the rich and the poor, or in the length of the working week. Data on national income per head may also conceal important changes in the ‘quality of life’, for example, in our physical environment. This is affected by such things as traffic congestion, noise, water, and air pollution.

It is stressed in the passage that the standard of living in a country _____.

It is clear from the passage that in assessing the standard of living in a country, _____.

The passage is mainly about _____.

Benjamin Britten (1913-76) did as much as anyone to establish English music on the forefront of the international stage. Much of his music seems to have an immediate appeal to large audiences, and definitely, his many stage works earned him quite exceptional prestige both at home and abroad. Peter Grimes (1945), Billy Budd (1951), Gloriana (1953), and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1960) all show his mastery of stage technique, and the first two are also moving human documents. On a smaller scale, he has achieved as much with his chamber operas such as The Rape of Lucretia (1946), Albert Herring (1947), and The Turn of the Screw (1954). His operatic output was crowned by Death in Venice (1973). If he had written nothing else, these dramatic works would have marked him out as a composer of outstanding imaginative gifts.

The writer implies that the reputation of English music abroad _____.

The writer thinks that, Britten's works Peter Grimes and Billy Budd in particular _____.

It is inferred from the passage that Britten's works _____.