English Reading Comprehension

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question that follows.

An American university rowing team came under attack by giant flying fish. The Asian Carp, (name of the fish) probably got scared and started to jump out of the water. The group had to stop rowing and wait until the frenzy ended. Someone filmed the incident on camera and it went viral on the Internet. They wanted to raise money from the video to help them pay for their trip to the National Rowing Championship. The fish could jump up to 10 feet (3 metres) in the air and it had injured a number of boaters in the past. The boys, however, were lucky.

The rowing team was frightened because the fish

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question that follows.

An American university rowing team came under attack by giant flying fish. The Asian Carp, (name of the fish) probably got scared and started to jump out of the water. The group had to stop rowing and wait until the frenzy ended. Someone filmed the incident on camera and it went viral on the Internet. They wanted to raise money from the video to help them pay for their trip to the National Rowing Championship. The fish could jump up to 10 feet (3 metres) in the air and it had injured a number of boaters in the past. The boys, however, were lucky.

Why do they want to raise money from the video?

The Lost Lake looks like a body of __________ in winters.

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question that follows.

Lost Lake that lies in Oregon's Mount Hood National Forest is a mysterious natural wonder. During winters, it resembles any other large body of fresh water. However, as drier weather kicks in, the water disappears, transforming the 85 acre 'lake' into a beautiful meadow. It turns out that there is a logical answer to this magical phenomenon - a tube or tunnel created by an ancient lava flow that drains out the water.
Jude McHugh, a spokeswoman for the Willamette National Forest in Oregon, says that the lakebed starts to fill during the rainy season in the fall. As the lava tube measures just six-feet in diameter, it is unable to drain the water fast enough. As a result, the lake, which is 167 ft at its deepest, manages to remain full, despite the fact that some water is always seeping out. This continues through spring as the snow from the surrounding mountains melts. But once the steady flow of water stops, the constant drainage causes the lake to "disappear".

At its deepest, the lake is

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question that follows.

Lost Lake that lies in Oregon's Mount Hood National Forest is a mysterious natural wonder. During winters, it resembles any other large body of fresh water. However, as drier weather kicks in, the water disappears, transforming the 85 acre 'lake' into a beautiful meadow. It turns out that there is a logical answer to this magical phenomenon - a tube or tunnel created by an ancient lava flow that drains out the water.
Jude McHugh, a spokeswoman for the Willamette National Forest in Oregon, says that the lakebed starts to fill during the rainy season in the fall. As the lava tube measures just six-feet in diameter, it is unable to drain the water fast enough. As a result, the lake, which is 167 ft at its deepest, manages to remain full, despite the fact that some water is always seeping out. This continues through spring as the snow from the surrounding mountains melts. But once the steady flow of water stops, the constant drainage causes the lake to "disappear".

The ancient lava flow has created a tunnel that ________ the lake.

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question that follows.

Lost Lake that lies in Oregon's Mount Hood National Forest is a mysterious natural wonder. During winters, it resembles any other large body of fresh water. However, as drier weather kicks in, the water disappears, transforming the 85 acre 'lake' into a beautiful meadow. It turns out that there is a logical answer to this magical phenomenon - a tube or tunnel created by an ancient lava flow that drains out the water.
Jude McHugh, a spokeswoman for the Willamette National Forest in Oregon, says that the lakebed starts to fill during the rainy season in the fall. As the lava tube measures just six-feet in diameter, it is unable to drain the water fast enough. As a result, the lake, which is 167 ft at its deepest, manages to remain full, despite the fact that some water is always seeping out. This continues through spring as the snow from the surrounding mountains melts. But once the steady flow of water stops, the constant drainage causes the lake to "disappear".

The authors propose all of the following as possibly contributing to the “missing matter” in spiral galaxies Except

Directions: Read the passage and answer the following question:

            After evidence was obtained in the 1920s that the universe is expanding, it became reasonable to ask: will the universe continue to expand indefinitely, or is there enough mass in it for the mutual attraction of its constituents to bring this expansion to a halt? It can be calculated that the critical density of matter needed to break the expansion and “close” the universe, is equivalent to three hydrogen atoms per cubic metre. But the density of the observable universe-luminous matter in the form of galaxies-comes to only a fraction of this. If the expansion of the universe is to stop, there must be enough invisible matter in the universe to exceed the luminous matter in density by a factor of roughly 70.
            Our contribution to the search for this “missing matter” has been to study the rotational velocity of galaxies at various distances from their centre of rotation. It has been known for some time that outside the bright nucleus of typical spiral galaxy luminosity falls off rapidly with distance from the centre. If luminosity is a true indicator of mass, most of the mass would be concentrated toward the centre. Outside the nucleus the rotational velocity would decrease geometrically with the distance from the centre, in conformity with Kepler’s law. Instead we have found that the rotational velocity in spiral galaxies either remains constant with increasing distance from the centre or increases slightly. This unexpected result indicates that the falloff in luminous mass with distance from the centre is balanced by an increase in nonluminous mass.
            Our findings suggest that as much as 90 percent of the mass of the universe is not radiating at any wavelength with enough intensity to be detected on the Earth. Such dark matter could be in the form of extremely dim stars of low mass of large planets like Jupiter, or of black holes, either small of massive. While it has not yet been determined whether this mass is sufficient to “close” the universe, some physicists consider it significant that estimates are converging on the critical value.

The passage suggests that the results of the authors' study have changed their idea about which of the following characteristics of spiral galaxies ? I. The relative luminosity of different regions II. The different rotational velocity of different regions III. The relative distribution of matter in different regions

Directions: Read the passage and answer the following question:

            After evidence was obtained in the 1920s that the universe is expanding, it became reasonable to ask: will the universe continue to expand indefinitely, or is there enough mass in it for the mutual attraction of its constituents to bring this expansion to a halt? It can be calculated that the critical density of matter needed to break the expansion and “close” the universe, is equivalent to three hydrogen atoms per cubic metre. But the density of the observable universe-luminous matter in the form of galaxies-comes to only a fraction of this. If the expansion of the universe is to stop, there must be enough invisible matter in the universe to exceed the luminous matter in density by a factor of roughly 70.
            Our contribution to the search for this “missing matter” has been to study the rotational velocity of galaxies at various distances from their centre of rotation. It has been known for some time that outside the bright nucleus of typical spiral galaxy luminosity falls off rapidly with distance from the centre. If luminosity is a true indicator of mass, most of the mass would be concentrated toward the centre. Outside the nucleus the rotational velocity would decrease geometrically with the distance from the centre, in conformity with Kepler’s law. Instead we have found that the rotational velocity in spiral galaxies either remains constant with increasing distance from the centre or increases slightly. This unexpected result indicates that the falloff in luminous mass with distance from the centre is balanced by an increase in nonluminous mass.
            Our findings suggest that as much as 90 percent of the mass of the universe is not radiating at any wavelength with enough intensity to be detected on the Earth. Such dark matter could be in the form of extremely dim stars of low mass of large planets like Jupiter, or of black holes, either small of massive. While it has not yet been determined whether this mass is sufficient to “close” the universe, some physicists consider it significant that estimates are converging on the critical value.

Directions: Read the following story and answer the question that follows.

Once upon a time, there was a boy whose name was Jack and he lived with his mother. They were very poor and the old woman earned her living by spinning. Jack would do nothing, but bask in the sun during the day and sit by the fire place in the evening. So, they called him Lazy Jack. His mother at last told him, that if he did not begin to work for his porridge, she would turn him out.

Jack’s mother earned money by

Directions: Read the following story and answer the question that follows.

Once upon a time, there was a boy whose name was Jack and he lived with his mother. They were very poor and the old woman earned her living by spinning. Jack would do nothing, but bask in the sun during the day and sit by the fire place in the evening. So, they called him Lazy Jack. His mother at last told him, that if he did not begin to work for his porridge, she would turn him out.

What did Jack's mother advise him?

Directions: Read the following paragraph and answer the question that follows.

It was the driest summer on record and all the crops were destroyed. Every farmer in the region suffered losses. Desperate to change his fortune, Manohar decided to try his luck with poultry farming. Manohar did not know much about chickens, but he thought selling eggs would be a great source of food, and hopefully he would earn money for himself and his family. If he was successful at it!

What new business Manohar decided to undertake to earn his livelihood?

Directions: Read the following story and answer the question that follows.

Once upon a time, there was a boy whose name was Jack and he lived with his mother. They were very poor and the old woman earned her living by spinning. Jack would do nothing, but bask in the sun during the day and sit by the fire place in the evening. So, they called him Lazy Jack. His mother at last told him, that if he did not begin to work for his porridge, she would turn him out.

Jack was known as Lazy Jack as he was

Why was the pencil thrown away?

Directions: Read the passage and answer the question that follows.

There was once a pencil. It was a lovely, long, shiny, yellow pencil. It wanted to be a writer. It sat on the store shelf praying to be a writer.
Finally, it was bought by a writer. Oh, bliss! The writer took him home, sat at his desk and took out his writing pad. He sharpened the pencil. For the first time, the pencil was being sharpened. It hurt, but that was the price of art.
Moments passed; an eternity... he tapped him on his nose and teeth. He drummed the desk and dented him. “Ouch,” said the pencil.
That’s when the writer first bit him. Then he banged it on the desk again, and broke its lead. Then, the writer rubbed the lead sideways on paper until it was shiny and pointed like a needle.
All day the pencil was sharpened, bitten and chewed. Finally, it was supper time and the pencil was worn down to a mere stub. The writer sighed and tossed it into the trash.
The pencil was not unpleased. Being a writer is not all it is made out to be.

Why was the pencil feeling hurt?

Directions: Read the passage and answer the question that follows.

There was once a pencil. It was a lovely, long, shiny, yellow pencil. It wanted to be a writer. It sat on the store shelf praying to be a writer.
Finally, it was bought by a writer. Oh, bliss! The writer took him home, sat at his desk and took out his writing pad. He sharpened the pencil. For the first time, the pencil was being sharpened. It hurt, but that was the price of art.
Moments passed; an eternity... he tapped him on his nose and teeth. He drummed the desk and dented him. “Ouch,” said the pencil.
That’s when the writer first bit him. Then he banged it on the desk again, and broke its lead. Then, the writer rubbed the lead sideways on paper until it was shiny and pointed like a needle.
All day the pencil was sharpened, bitten and chewed. Finally, it was supper time and the pencil was worn down to a mere stub. The writer sighed and tossed it into the trash.
The pencil was not unpleased. Being a writer is not all it is made out to be.

Why was the pencil not feeling bad when it was thrown in the garbage?

Directions: Read the passage and answer the question that follows.

There was once a pencil. It was a lovely, long, shiny, yellow pencil. It wanted to be a writer. It sat on the store shelf praying to be a writer.
Finally, it was bought by a writer. Oh, bliss! The writer took him home, sat at his desk and took out his writing pad. He sharpened the pencil. For the first time, the pencil was being sharpened. It hurt, but that was the price of art.
Moments passed; an eternity... he tapped him on his nose and teeth. He drummed the desk and dented him. “Ouch,” said the pencil.
That’s when the writer first bit him. Then he banged it on the desk again, and broke its lead. Then, the writer rubbed the lead sideways on paper until it was shiny and pointed like a needle.
All day the pencil was sharpened, bitten and chewed. Finally, it was supper time and the pencil was worn down to a mere stub. The writer sighed and tossed it into the trash.
The pencil was not unpleased. Being a writer is not all it is made out to be.