Reading Comprehension

What would have happened if Happy would have moved?

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

One morning when I went down to the paddocks to feed the horses, I saw Happy, our fat black Welsh pony, standing near the fence by herself. At 19 years old, she’s the matriarch and usually stays close to the younger ones. When I threw down the hay she didn’t move, which was out of character as she’s usually the first to eat. However, I didn’t think too much of it. A couple of hours later when I went back to check the water in the troughs, she was in exactly the same spot. At 4pm when I went down to feed the horses, Happy still hadn’t moved so I walked across the paddock to see if she was OK.
As I got closer, I noticed that the two top railings of the fence were missing and there was a big gap where it had been kicked down by the over - exuberant stallion in the neighbouring paddock. He could have got through the gap and caused a lot of damage to the younger horses, chasing them or even killing them. Happy had stood all day guarding the gap so that he couldn’t get in.
She didn’t move away until I’d fixed the fence and she was confident the other horses were safe. Then she came to the gate and neighed for her dinner. It’s awful to think what could’ve happened if she wasn’t there to watch the fence.

What is the author trying to show by using the word 'moped' in the passage?

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

I’ve grown fond of my two fish. They swim to the side of the tank every morning to watch me put on the jug for breakfast, begging silently to be fed. The big silver fantail goldfish does somersaults, as if putting on a show for his meal. He is a beautiful iridescent white that shines with every colour of the rainbow as he darts around. His friend is a golden, sleeker model, with smaller fins and tail – built for speed.
Once, while cleaning their tank, I scooped them into a clean tank while I rinsed their home and replaced the weeds. The next day I noticed my beautiful fantail was sick. He moped at the bottom of the tank with none of his usual antics to get my attention. His little friend didn’t seem to mind – he ate all the food flakes while the fantail watched. A short while later, the sleeker goldfish began to nip the fantail on the fins, forcing him to move. At first I thought this was aggression towards a sicker fish, but I soon realised he was helping his buddy keep moving, to oxygenate his blood and help him heal. He’s a physiotherapist, I thought.

What do we understand from this short passage?

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

While hiking in Carnarvon Gorge in Queensland, my family and I noticed a small group of birds diving in and out of the branches of a gum tree. They were chirping very loudly and obviously in distress. We could see a nest in the branches with baby birds inside and a very large goanna walking up the tree trunk, having eyed what he wanted for lunch. The small birds were desperate to chase the goanna away but had little hope because of their size. As we were contemplating what to do, a kookaburra flew down and thumped the goanna very solidly in his side, knocking him off the tree trunk. The small birds quickly settled down to care for their young.

How is risk viewed by the society?

Directions: Read the passage and answer the following question.

Inovation, or at least talking about innovation, is all the rage these days, especially when it comes to addressing great social problems. But in order to innovate, you have to risk something. As in risk of losing something. Usually money. Possibly reputation. As much as people like to spout the latest literature about bringing risk-reward principles to social problems, when you actually come to them with a proposition that has high rewards and some measure of risk, their first response is, “Well, I like the idea, but it’s risky.”

The fact that it’s risky is not a problem. The fact that people think risk is a problem, or a flaw, is the problem. Risk is an essential attribute of introducing an innovation to the world. It’s not a flaw.
In the humanitarian sector, risk is viewed not only as a fl aw, but as unethical, immoral, sinful — criminal even. The entrepreneur seeking to fund a new idea that bears risk is looked upon as suspect, a shyster, an outlier living on the wrong side of principle, character, and propriety. Don’t associate with him or her, lest your own character be called into question.
These entrepreneurs are the recipients of countless hypersterile rejection letters and e-mails that say, “Thank you for reaching out to us but your idea is not a good fit for us,” or, “We are in the midst of a strategic planning process and thus cannot consider your proposal at this time.”

“We are in the midst of a strategic planning process and thus cannot consider your proposal at this time.”…what does this statement signify?

Directions: Read the passage and answer the following question.

Inovation, or at least talking about innovation, is all the rage these days, especially when it comes to addressing great social problems. But in order to innovate, you have to risk something. As in risk of losing something. Usually money. Possibly reputation. As much as people like to spout the latest literature about bringing risk-reward principles to social problems, when you actually come to them with a proposition that has high rewards and some measure of risk, their first response is, “Well, I like the idea, but it’s risky.”

The fact that it’s risky is not a problem. The fact that people think risk is a problem, or a flaw, is the problem. Risk is an essential attribute of introducing an innovation to the world. It’s not a flaw.
In the humanitarian sector, risk is viewed not only as a fl aw, but as unethical, immoral, sinful — criminal even. The entrepreneur seeking to fund a new idea that bears risk is looked upon as suspect, a shyster, an outlier living on the wrong side of principle, character, and propriety. Don’t associate with him or her, lest your own character be called into question.
These entrepreneurs are the recipients of countless hypersterile rejection letters and e-mails that say, “Thank you for reaching out to us but your idea is not a good fit for us,” or, “We are in the midst of a strategic planning process and thus cannot consider your proposal at this time.”

What was Jude’s profession before she met Michel?

Directions: Read the passage and answer the following question.

Part of the mutual attraction when Jude Smith and Michel Fanton met in 1981 was the interest each had in gardening and self-sufficiency. “Jude was intelligent and very warm but also practical and keen to make a difference,” recalls Michel. “I instantly felt she was a soul mate.”
“I noticed Michel because he seemed like a forest spirit,” Jude says. “He had panpipes with him, which he played during breaks. He was wise, knowledgeable and energetic.”
Although the two were drawn to one another, there were hurdles to overcome: Michel had left his job in the delivery arm of a publishing house, while Jude was scheduled to return to her high-school job in Adelaide, teaching social sciences and English.
Although they were making a home on a 600-hectare property on the edge of rain forest near Lismore, New South Wales, Michel found he was going to have to dig deeper to completely win over Jude’s heart. “She demanded only authentic French cooking,” he recalls. For Michel, this meant growing his own essential ingredients from scratch.
“To make her a summer ratatouille niçoise, I went on a search for seeds for a special meaty tomato that cooks well; a capsicum that is both red and green; round, flavour some courgettes de Nice; and a strong purple garlic. It was pure love that made me do that!”
“Watching Michel go to all that effort to source the plants and tend them deepened our growing bond,” says Jude. “When I finally tasted the food, it was incredibly rich and had a fullness and depth of flavour that made it more satisfying and also more filling.”
For months, the couple rose every day at 5am to establish a half-hectare garden, as well as work on an orchard of fruit and nut trees. Soon, their turmeric, ginger, 130 varieties of tomato, mandarins, macadamias, pecans and custard apples were thriving, along with spices such as cinnamon. But no matter how attentive they were, their cucumbers, rock melons and pumpkins continued to succumb to mildew in the hot, wet climate.
“We don’t believe in using pesticide, and we didn’t want to give up on growing those cucurbits, because we love their taste, so we found a gardener, Joe Connolly, who showed us the way forward,” says Michel.

What was the final suggestion given to Brian by a psychologist?

Directions: Read the passage and answer the following question.

In 1999, Brian and Nerida Egan had to surrender their Darling Downs property in Queensland. They had run a mixed cattle farm for 12 years, but it hadn’t rained a drop for the last three and they couldn’t afford to continue. The couple walked away with nothing but their cattle dog, Stumpy. “It was soul-destroying to lose everything,” says Brian. “There was this ‘beast’ inside me that had taken over my life. I had no hope and just could not see any future.” At the age of 55, Brian had twice attempted to take his own life and was with severe clinical depression and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), as a result of disturbing experiences he witnessed while on naval service in Indonesia in his early 20s. Depression is one of the most significant human costs of the drought, with research showing higher suicide rates in rural communities, especially among men, due to social isolation and difficulty accessing help. The stigma of mental illness left Brian with only his mother, Hilda, and Nerida to rely on. He recalls running and hiding in the wardrobe when people came to the front door. “I was just so ashamed of what I had become, I did not want anyone to see me.”
Brian was sent to Greenslopes Private Hospital in Brisbane, where he would end up being admitted five times over the next two years. “I was catatonic. I couldn’t eat. I couldn’t talk or write. I didn’t know who I was, or who anyone else was.”
The doctors tried many different types of medication and treatment on Brian, but with limited benefits. Finally it was suggested to Brian by a psychologist that maybe the best thing for him to do was to go out and find someone worse off, and help them.

What was the major challenge that they faced in their farm?

Directions: Read the passage and answer the following question.

Part of the mutual attraction when Jude Smith and Michel Fanton met in 1981 was the interest each had in gardening and self-sufficiency. “Jude was intelligent and very warm but also practical and keen to make a difference,” recalls Michel. “I instantly felt she was a soul mate.”
“I noticed Michel because he seemed like a forest spirit,” Jude says. “He had panpipes with him, which he played during breaks. He was wise, knowledgeable and energetic.”
Although the two were drawn to one another, there were hurdles to overcome: Michel had left his job in the delivery arm of a publishing house, while Jude was scheduled to return to her high-school job in Adelaide, teaching social sciences and English.
Although they were making a home on a 600-hectare property on the edge of rain forest near Lismore, New South Wales, Michel found he was going to have to dig deeper to completely win over Jude’s heart. “She demanded only authentic French cooking,” he recalls. For Michel, this meant growing his own essential ingredients from scratch.
“To make her a summer ratatouille niçoise, I went on a search for seeds for a special meaty tomato that cooks well; a capsicum that is both red and green; round, flavour some courgettes de Nice; and a strong purple garlic. It was pure love that made me do that!”
“Watching Michel go to all that effort to source the plants and tend them deepened our growing bond,” says Jude. “When I finally tasted the food, it was incredibly rich and had a fullness and depth of flavour that made it more satisfying and also more filling.”
For months, the couple rose every day at 5am to establish a half-hectare garden, as well as work on an orchard of fruit and nut trees. Soon, their turmeric, ginger, 130 varieties of tomato, mandarins, macadamias, pecans and custard apples were thriving, along with spices such as cinnamon. But no matter how attentive they were, their cucumbers, rock melons and pumpkins continued to succumb to mildew in the hot, wet climate.
“We don’t believe in using pesticide, and we didn’t want to give up on growing those cucurbits, because we love their taste, so we found a gardener, Joe Connolly, who showed us the way forward,” says Michel.

Hearing capacity may start fading as early as

Directions: Read the passage and answer the following question.

You’re bound to experience some perfectly normal changes as you get older. The trick is to come to terms with the things you simply can’t control and take charge of the things you know you can. Here’s a summary of what’s ahead.
Not so bright eyes? The first indication that you are getting older may be how far away from your eyes you have to hold the newspaper. If you hold it at arm’s length and your eyes tire easily, then you probably have presbyopia (‘old eye’). The lenses in your eyes are less flexible and can’t shift as easily from distant to near sight.
After the age of 40 you also have a higher risk of getting glaucoma, a build-up of pressure in the front of the eyes that can cause damage to the optic nerve and may produce blind spots or loss of peripheral vision. You may also develop cataracts that cloud your lenses and restrict your vision. Early detection is important for both problems.
What was that? Hearing losses actually begin in your twenties. High-frequency sounds start to fade first, then by the age of about 65, you may start to miss low-frequency sounds before hearing loss becomes noticeable. Not everyone becomes hard of hearing, but more than a third of people over the age of 65 have significant problems. Changes in the inner ear can also affect your balance, so you have to be more careful to prevent falls.

Blinding of the vision due to pressure build up is medically knows as?

Directions: Read the passage and answer the following question.

You’re bound to experience some perfectly normal changes as you get older. The trick is to come to terms with the things you simply can’t control and take charge of the things you know you can. Here’s a summary of what’s ahead.
Not so bright eyes? The first indication that you are getting older may be how far away from your eyes you have to hold the newspaper. If you hold it at arm’s length and your eyes tire easily, then you probably have presbyopia (‘old eye’). The lenses in your eyes are less flexible and can’t shift as easily from distant to near sight.
After the age of 40 you also have a higher risk of getting glaucoma, a build-up of pressure in the front of the eyes that can cause damage to the optic nerve and may produce blind spots or loss of peripheral vision. You may also develop cataracts that cloud your lenses and restrict your vision. Early detection is important for both problems.
What was that? Hearing losses actually begin in your twenties. High-frequency sounds start to fade first, then by the age of about 65, you may start to miss low-frequency sounds before hearing loss becomes noticeable. Not everyone becomes hard of hearing, but more than a third of people over the age of 65 have significant problems. Changes in the inner ear can also affect your balance, so you have to be more careful to prevent falls.

According to the passage, what is the greatest attribute needed for making an innovation?

Directions: Read the passage and answer the following question.

Inovation, or at least talking about innovation, is all the rage these days, especially when it comes to addressing great social problems. But in order to innovate, you have to risk something. As in risk of losing something. Usually money. Possibly reputation. As much as people like to spout the latest literature about bringing risk-reward principles to social problems, when you actually come to them with a proposition that has high rewards and some measure of risk, their first response is, “Well, I like the idea, but it’s risky.”

The fact that it’s risky is not a problem. The fact that people think risk is a problem, or a flaw, is the problem. Risk is an essential attribute of introducing an innovation to the world. It’s not a flaw.
In the humanitarian sector, risk is viewed not only as a fl aw, but as unethical, immoral, sinful — criminal even. The entrepreneur seeking to fund a new idea that bears risk is looked upon as suspect, a shyster, an outlier living on the wrong side of principle, character, and propriety. Don’t associate with him or her, lest your own character be called into question.
These entrepreneurs are the recipients of countless hypersterile rejection letters and e-mails that say, “Thank you for reaching out to us but your idea is not a good fit for us,” or, “We are in the midst of a strategic planning process and thus cannot consider your proposal at this time.”

Why according to research are suicide rates higher in rural communities?

Directions: Read the passage and answer the following question.

In 1999, Brian and Nerida Egan had to surrender their Darling Downs property in Queensland. They had run a mixed cattle farm for 12 years, but it hadn’t rained a drop for the last three and they couldn’t afford to continue. The couple walked away with nothing but their cattle dog, Stumpy. “It was soul-destroying to lose everything,” says Brian. “There was this ‘beast’ inside me that had taken over my life. I had no hope and just could not see any future.” At the age of 55, Brian had twice attempted to take his own life and was with severe clinical depression and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), as a result of disturbing experiences he witnessed while on naval service in Indonesia in his early 20s. Depression is one of the most significant human costs of the drought, with research showing higher suicide rates in rural communities, especially among men, due to social isolation and difficulty accessing help. The stigma of mental illness left Brian with only his mother, Hilda, and Nerida to rely on. He recalls running and hiding in the wardrobe when people came to the front door. “I was just so ashamed of what I had become, I did not want anyone to see me.”
Brian was sent to Greenslopes Private Hospital in Brisbane, where he would end up being admitted five times over the next two years. “I was catatonic. I couldn’t eat. I couldn’t talk or write. I didn’t know who I was, or who anyone else was.”
The doctors tried many different types of medication and treatment on Brian, but with limited benefits. Finally it was suggested to Brian by a psychologist that maybe the best thing for him to do was to go out and find someone worse off, and help them.

Hypermetropia is which of the following eye problems?

Directions: Read the passage and answer the following question.

You’re bound to experience some perfectly normal changes as you get older. The trick is to come to terms with the things you simply can’t control and take charge of the things you know you can. Here’s a summary of what’s ahead.
Not so bright eyes? The first indication that you are getting older may be how far away from your eyes you have to hold the newspaper. If you hold it at arm’s length and your eyes tire easily, then you probably have presbyopia (‘old eye’). The lenses in your eyes are less flexible and can’t shift as easily from distant to near sight.
After the age of 40 you also have a higher risk of getting glaucoma, a build-up of pressure in the front of the eyes that can cause damage to the optic nerve and may produce blind spots or loss of peripheral vision. You may also develop cataracts that cloud your lenses and restrict your vision. Early detection is important for both problems.
What was that? Hearing losses actually begin in your twenties. High-frequency sounds start to fade first, then by the age of about 65, you may start to miss low-frequency sounds before hearing loss becomes noticeable. Not everyone becomes hard of hearing, but more than a third of people over the age of 65 have significant problems. Changes in the inner ear can also affect your balance, so you have to be more careful to prevent falls.

What special efforts did Michel make for Jude?

Directions: Read the passage and answer the following question.

Part of the mutual attraction when Jude Smith and Michel Fanton met in 1981 was the interest each had in gardening and self-sufficiency. “Jude was intelligent and very warm but also practical and keen to make a difference,” recalls Michel. “I instantly felt she was a soul mate.”
“I noticed Michel because he seemed like a forest spirit,” Jude says. “He had panpipes with him, which he played during breaks. He was wise, knowledgeable and energetic.”
Although the two were drawn to one another, there were hurdles to overcome: Michel had left his job in the delivery arm of a publishing house, while Jude was scheduled to return to her high-school job in Adelaide, teaching social sciences and English.
Although they were making a home on a 600-hectare property on the edge of rain forest near Lismore, New South Wales, Michel found he was going to have to dig deeper to completely win over Jude’s heart. “She demanded only authentic French cooking,” he recalls. For Michel, this meant growing his own essential ingredients from scratch.
“To make her a summer ratatouille niçoise, I went on a search for seeds for a special meaty tomato that cooks well; a capsicum that is both red and green; round, flavour some courgettes de Nice; and a strong purple garlic. It was pure love that made me do that!”
“Watching Michel go to all that effort to source the plants and tend them deepened our growing bond,” says Jude. “When I finally tasted the food, it was incredibly rich and had a fullness and depth of flavour that made it more satisfying and also more filling.”
For months, the couple rose every day at 5am to establish a half-hectare garden, as well as work on an orchard of fruit and nut trees. Soon, their turmeric, ginger, 130 varieties of tomato, mandarins, macadamias, pecans and custard apples were thriving, along with spices such as cinnamon. But no matter how attentive they were, their cucumbers, rock melons and pumpkins continued to succumb to mildew in the hot, wet climate.
“We don’t believe in using pesticide, and we didn’t want to give up on growing those cucurbits, because we love their taste, so we found a gardener, Joe Connolly, who showed us the way forward,” says Michel.

What was the couple left with after their cattle farm was sold off?

Directions: Read the passage and answer the following question.

In 1999, Brian and Nerida Egan had to surrender their Darling Downs property in Queensland. They had run a mixed cattle farm for 12 years, but it hadn’t rained a drop for the last three and they couldn’t afford to continue. The couple walked away with nothing but their cattle dog, Stumpy. “It was soul-destroying to lose everything,” says Brian. “There was this ‘beast’ inside me that had taken over my life. I had no hope and just could not see any future.” At the age of 55, Brian had twice attempted to take his own life and was with severe clinical depression and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), as a result of disturbing experiences he witnessed while on naval service in Indonesia in his early 20s. Depression is one of the most significant human costs of the drought, with research showing higher suicide rates in rural communities, especially among men, due to social isolation and difficulty accessing help. The stigma of mental illness left Brian with only his mother, Hilda, and Nerida to rely on. He recalls running and hiding in the wardrobe when people came to the front door. “I was just so ashamed of what I had become, I did not want anyone to see me.”
Brian was sent to Greenslopes Private Hospital in Brisbane, where he would end up being admitted five times over the next two years. “I was catatonic. I couldn’t eat. I couldn’t talk or write. I didn’t know who I was, or who anyone else was.”
The doctors tried many different types of medication and treatment on Brian, but with limited benefits. Finally it was suggested to Brian by a psychologist that maybe the best thing for him to do was to go out and find someone worse off, and help them.