Reading Comprehension Test 63

Directions For Questions

[passage-header]Read the passage and answer the question that follows. [/passage-header]

One day we were becalmed among a group of small islands, most of which appeared to be uninhabited. As soon as we were in want of fresh water, the captain sent the boat ashore to bring off a cask or two. But we were mistaken in thinking there were no natives, for barely had we drawn near to the shore when a band of savages rushed out of the bush and assembled on the beach, brandishing their clubs and spears in a threatening manner.

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Directions For Questions

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Read the passage and accordingly, fill in the blank:

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One day an army group won a land battle against the enemy. The commander feared that the enemy's powerful air force might bomb his camp that night in revenge. So he ordered all lights to be put out at 7:00 PM. At midnight, the commander went round inspecting the camp. Seeing a light in a tent, he entered it. His son, an officer under him, was writing a letter. The son explained that he was writing to his mother about his brave deeds in battle. The commander told his son to add to his letter that by the time his mother received the letter he would have been shot dead for indiscipline.

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Directions For Questions

[passage-header]Read the following passage and answer the question that follows:
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The heat-wave deepened during the following few days while Jack and I lazed about in the house and yards, wearing ragged shirts and discarded garments, because the more presentable ones were being packed by Mother. She was obviously not strong enough to cycle down to Hampshire, where Father and Jack had been one weekend, to see and rent a cottage in Ropley, near Alresford. From this prospective journey, Jack had returned with half a dozen photographs taken with a plate-camera which he had made for himself, the aperture being a pinhole. This was only one of his many ingenious artifacts. I had studied the pictures, which included a church that leaned backward, in the hope of finding that perpetually teasing certainty which we look for when about to take some adventurous step into the unknown. But Ropley remained unreal.

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Directions For Questions

[passage-header]Read the passage and answer the question that follows:
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One day a tea contractor, Mr. Sharma was working on an estate with his wife and daughter. He noticed a light movement on the edge of the jungle, so he stopped to watch for a moment. To his astonishment, a large tigress appeared and came towards Mr. Sharma. The tea contractor was a very brave man. He told his wife and daughter to run towards a nearby road, while he stepped to fight the tigress with a knife.

The tigress sprang at Mr. Sharma and knocked him down, but he managed to wound it with his knife. As a result, the tigress and Mr. Sharma knocked each other unconscious. Luckily for Mr. Sharma, a friend heard the noise of the fight and came to investigate. He found Mr. Sharma and carried him to the road. Then he stopped a car and sent the injured man to a hospital, where he eventually recovered.
The tigress disappeared for a few days but was later hunted down and shot by a Game Ranger. The Game Ranger discovered that the tigress had injured her paw in a wire trap and had been unable to hunt wild animals in its normal manner.

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Read the passage and answer the questions that follow.

Some people think that Silence is golden. Words they must use, but they have no love for them. Speech is to them a danger, a device for entangling men. They feel that all may be understood so long as nothing is said; that only in silence can one reach out to the mind and the heart be known. In the exchange of words their personalities do not expand but contract; they see the lovely procession of thought and feeling turn into a dusty and disorderly crowd of words and phrases. They see the talkers with mingled fear and contempt, stripping themselves in public, like exhibitionists. The talkers cannot understand the silent; nor can the silent explain their attitude, except in speech. This illuminates the weakness of their belief, that they must convince us of the uselessness of speech by means of speech.

Directions For Questions

[passage-header]Read the following passage and answer the question that follows:
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Directions For Questions

[passage-header]Read the following passage and answer the question that follows:
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Directions For Questions

[passage-header]Read the passage and answer the question that follow.
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Nelson Mandela was appointed national volunteer-in-chief of the Defence Campaign; his deputy was Maulvi Cachalia, whose father had been one of the bravest resisters alongside Gandhi in 1907. Mandela toured the Cape, Natal and the Transvaal, visiting houses in the townships, explaining the plans, sometimes talking through the night. His task was to inspire people with confidence in their ability to overcome oppression through a direct non-violent challenge to the government. As always, there were the problems of being black in small towns, no hotels or taxis for Africans, nor were there telephone lines in township homes. This meant walking miles to the location and knocking on a likely looking door. Sometimes they were welcomed by an enthusiastic stranger; sometimes rebuffed by the cautious.

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