Reading Comprehension Questions

Which of the following would be the best alternative title for this selection?

a. A Rotten Boss

b. Greedy Garage Owners

c. Letting Off Steam without Getting Bumed

d. The Evils of Big Business

Which sentence best expresses the main idea of the selection?

a. Car repairs are too expensive.

b. The "little guy" doesn't have a chance.

c. There are several ways to get frustration and anger off your chest.

d. Rooney gets frustration and anger off his chest by writing letters in his mind.

The author feels that his boss

a. loses money for the company.

b. doesn't know how to treat people.

c. never recognizes employees' loyalty.

d. eats too often in the company cafeteria.

According to Rooney,

a. he will leave his bank.

b. his bank statement is difficult to read.

c. customers no longer have to stand in line at his bank.

d. his bank statement comes at a different time each month.

We can conclude that the author feels many companies

a. need bigger parking lots.

b. are considerate to customers.

c. don't have enough business.

d. communicate poorly to customers.

Текст 7

The Sample Text:

The joke now arriving on . . .

From Mr J. К. С Henderson

Sir: You report ('Playing with trains', 9 January) that the Prime Min­ister believes that Britain's railways enjoyed a 'golden age' between the two world wars.

He is too young to remember that this period also included the golden age of the music hall and two of the favourite jokes of the period were the one about the library that kept the railway timeta­bles in the fiction section, and the one about the man who tried to commit suicide by lying across the tracks on the Southern Railway -and died of starvation.

Yours faithfully,

J. К. С HENDERSON

Fetcham Surrey

14 January

The Independent 17 January 1992

Write a summary of the letter in 3 sentences only.

Write a letter to a local newspaper to complain about standards of a public service.

What is the best summary of the letter?

1. Because the PM is too young he cannot remember what the railways were like between the two world wars. So he shouldn’t claim they were a 'golden age'.

2. The PM thinks the railways were excellent between the two world wars. He is wrong. They were so bad they were a joke.

3. the PM cannot remember the music halls between the two world wars because he is too young. He shouldn’t therefore talk about the railways at that time.

Текст 8

Letters

Look at the personal letters. Can you tell how old the writers were?

Which is the funniest?

Choose one letter, written by someone you would have liked to meet. Then think of the questions you would want to put to that person.

Dear All,

I tried phoning but you were out and I haven't had the opportu­nity since.

Here is the long awaited photo of Paul. Jon's just brought it back from Paris. He's just done another of his trips with Bobby.

I'm not sure I'll be able to come, a lot of things have to be sorted out.

Paul's cold was over the next day. Tough boy.

I hope you all got home in one piece.

Naturally our phone is still not working, a man did come but it was to take my complaint in!

Will write longer soon, Paul is waking up.

It was lovely to see you and we'll see you more probably in Toulouse?

Big kiss,

Nanny, and ikk ikk from PAUL, a hello hello from JON.

Dear Alan,

Thank you very much for writing me such a nice letter.

I'll be going to Sydney around April 10th, and spending 4 weeks there. It's likely that Clive James will make a contribution to my 'falling towards Australia'.

I hope everything goes well with you.

My best wishes to Viva and Josh.

3 Reports Of My Death. . .

My attention has been drawn to a report in your magazine of my death outside Turnmills night club in 1991 ('This Gun's for Hire', 30 January).

I am pleased to say that, as with Mark Twain on an earlier occa­sion, the report of my death was an exaggeration.

I am alive and well and living in London.

FRANCIS FRASER

London N1

Our reference to Mr Fraser's demise was due to an editorial misunderstand­ing. We apologise for any embarrassment he may have suffered.

The Independent,

20 February 1993

More of the Same

From Mr Ron Beattie

Sir: Terry McCarthy's article on faux pas in Japan (4 January) recalled a similar incident in a restaurant during a business trip there. I knew no Japanese and was dining alone in Tokyo. I chose by pointing to a variety of dishes from the menu. In due course my meal arrived, and it was delicious. So good in fact, that I returned the next night and ordered the same. This time the dishes seemed altogether different.

I will never know what I had that first night, or more proba­bly, whose order I had been given by mistake.

Yours sincerely,

RON BEATTIE

Manchester

4 January

The Independent, 8 January 1993

Текст 9

Dear Sir,

I was surprised to read your recent editorial on the question of student's part-time jobs. You appear to be making a los of generalisations on the basis of just one unfortunate incident (I assure you that not all young people who deliver newspapers are as foolish and dishonest as the two youths mentioned in your article).

The first point I would like to make is that there are many jobs teenagers can do which gave them useful experience of the working world. They are brought into contact with a variety of people, often older, and are given experience of expressing themselves clearly and coherently. I am thinking here of jobs such as travel guides and shop assistants.

Another argument for schoolchildren and college students having holiday or weekend jobs is that many parents need the financial assistance. If we take, for example, a family in which the father is unemployed or perhaps a single-parent family on a low income, it seems logical and fair that a son or daughter should try to bring money into the household.

One further thing I want to say is that a lot of jobs fot the young can be fun for the people who do them and also useful to the community. Youngsters who help in schools, hospitals and with the elderly often derive a great deal of pleasure and satisfaction as well as contributing something valuable to local society.

In conclusion, I would add that when I was a girl, my father said my teens were a time for books, hobbies and academic studies. Thinking back, I feel I would have learnt much more -about myself, other people and life in general- if he had allowed me to do a limited amount of real work. Certainly, when she is old enough, I shall encourage my own daughter to do so, rather than waste her time with soap operas, computer games and discotheques, like so many people today.

Yours faithfully,

Margaret Williams (Mrs)

QUESTIONS

Answer according to the text:

a) Give two advantages of working while still at school.

b) Give two cases in which financial assistance would be helpful.