Reading Compreh...

[passage-header]Answer the following question according to the text.[/passage-header]   On the day of my first piano recital, I became more and more nervous. To help me calm down, my piano teacher told me to place several cabbages in the room where I practiced. I was so eager to get over my nerves that I was willing to try anything. For the next few hours, I played to an audience of cabbages. When the time of the recital finally arrived, I was still terribly nervous. My hands felt like ice. When I finally walked across the stage, I looked out into the dark audience. I could not see anyone! All those people out there could just as easily have been cabbages. As I sat down to play, my hands relaxed. Before I knew it, I had played all my pieces without a mistake. For the first time, the cabbage heads applauded.

[passage-header]Answer the following question according to the text.
[/passage-header]  Elizabeth parked the car and then went into the busy station to meet Jane who was going to spend the weekend with her. Elizabeth's friends often came for the weekend, but there was something a little different about Jane's visit. She and Jane hadn't seen each other for 15 years. While at the university, they had shared a flat together for 2 years but then each had married and Jane and her husband had lived abroad a great deal. Elizabeth began to ask herself. "Will we even be able to recognize each other after all these years?" Right then she saw Jane walking towards her and smiling straight at her with the old unforgettable smile quite unchanged.

[passage-header]Answer the following question according to the text.[/passage-header]  Most people were not impressed when in 1913, the Daily Mail newspaper offered 10,000 pounds to the first pilot to fly across the Atlantic in under 72 hours. The majority of scientists, even said it could not be done. Certainly the problems involved were many and far ranging. Obviously the design of the aeroplane was of great importance, but so too were the skill and courage of the pilot and the navigator; weather conditions also had to be taken into consideration. A very few enthusiasts thought it might be possible ten years later. They were wrong. A pilot received the prize just six years later.

[passage-header]Answer the following question according to the text.[/passage-header]  There was silence. Neither Mr. Mayne nor Mr. Bridge spoke. Mr. Mayne looked across at Mr. Bridge and waited. Both wanted the other to speak. Neither spoke. It was as if each felt that whoever spoke first would lose. Presently they rose together and together said: "Well I must be going." Then they nodded slightly to each other and did indeed go. So they agreed to separate, but on both sides there was regret, for each was deeply convinced that they could have formed a business partnership that would have given them fame and wealth.

[passage-header]Answer the following question according to the text.[/passage-header]   The famous Tower of London was built as a fortress by William the Conqueror. Early in the Middle Ages the kings used it as a palace; later on it was turned into a prison, but only distinguished prisoners, including statesmen and princes, were held there. Today the Tower is a national museum, where, among other things, the jewelry of the English kings and queens is on display.

[passage-header]Answer the following question according to the text.[/passage-header]   The famous Tower of London was built as a fortress by William the Conqueror. Early in the Middle Ages the kings used it as a palace; later on it was turned into a prison, but only distinguished prisoners, including statesmen and princes, were held there. Today the Tower is a national museum, where, among other things, the jewelry of the English kings and queens is on display.

[passage-header]Answer the following question according to the text.[/passage-header]   On the day of my first piano recital, I became more and more nervous. To help me calm down, my piano teacher told me to place several cabbages in the room where I practiced. I was so eager to get over my nerves that I was willing to try anything. For the next few hours, I played to an audience of cabbages. When the time of the recital finally arrived, I was still terribly nervous. My hands felt like ice. When I finally walked across the stage, I looked out into the dark audience. I could not see anyone! All those people out there could just as easily have been cabbages. As I sat down to play, my hands relaxed. Before I knew it, I had played all my pieces without a mistake. For the first time, the cabbage heads applauded.

[passage-header]Answer the following question according to the text.[/passage-header]A new discovery of a dinosaur fossil in Antarctica has confirmed the idea that dinosaurs lived not only in the Northern Hemisphere but in the Southern Hemisphere as well. Up until this discovery, scientists had found dinosaur remains in every continent except Antarctica. This new discovery now confirms the idea that dinosaurs were distributed worldwide. If the dinosaur fossil is shown to be related to other dinosaurs of the same period in South America, it will also support the idea that South America and Antarctica were once linked together.

[passage-header]Answer the following question according to the text.[/passage-header]  There are about 980 flying mammals referred to as bats. They are the only real flying mammals on Earth. Most bats feed on a diet of insects. Some feed on flowers and fruits, but the most interesting are the vampire bats of the Americas, which suck the blood of large birds and other mammals. Unfortunately, these vampire bats are capable of transmitting rabies and are for this reason considered dangerous. The other types of bats are of no danger to man and are even considered helpers of nature by way of their diet which helps control the insect population in various areas of the world. Although the misunderstood bat has represented fear and terror in the west, it is seen as a sign of good luck and long life in the east.

[passage-header]Answer the following question according to the text.[/passage-header]  Occasionally during the night one can see meteors. They resemble streaks of light and for this reason are called falling stars. As meteors travel through space they sometimes fall into the Earth's gravitational pull and the friction between these rocks and the atmosphere causes most of them to burn up before they reach the surface of the Earth. At times, however, very big pieces of meteors fall to Earth and although they are burned up to a large extent, some pieces do reach the surface.
These are then called meteorites. The largest meteorite to have been founded is the Hoba meteorite. It was found in Nambia and weighs 60 tons.