Reading

Comprehension
Exercises
Let’s Answer This!
Directions: Read each item
carefully and choose the letter of
the best answer.
Write your answer in a ¼ sheet
of paper.
Passage 1: THE HEART
Inside the chest is a strong muscle called
the heart, which is often compared to a
pump. The heart circulates blood
throughout the body. This circulation of
blood is absolutely vital. Through vessels,
blood carries oxygen and nutrients to every
organ and cell of the body, and carries waste
away. Without oxygen, the brain cannot
survive for more that ten minutes.
 The heart has two sides. On the left side,
blood flows into the heart, carrying oxygen
from the lungs. The heart pumps the
oxygen-rich blood through the arteries and
smaller capillaries to the body; and the body
uses the oxygen in the blood. On the right
side, blood flows from the body (via the
veins) into the heart. The heart pumps the
oxygen-poor blood to the lungs. Both sides
of the heart work together simultaneously.
 The heart pumps involuntarily
at a steady pace. The actual
number of beats per minute, or
pulse, is one way the health of
the heart can be assessed.
Doctors use this figure as a basic
measurement of the heart’s
strength.
1. You can tell the vital in
the first paragraph means
_____.
a. unnecessary for life
b. essential for life
c. lifeless
d. lifelong
2. What is the best meaning of
the word pulse?
a.a steady heartbeat
b.a measurement of the heart’s
strength
c.a raid pace
d.the number of heartbeats per
minute
3. Arteries, capillaries, and
veins can be described as
____.
a.blood vessels
b.little pumps
c.tubes for liquid
d.tiny organs
4. In the last paragraph, which
phrase gives a clue to the
meaning of assessed?
a. pumps involuntary
b. actual number of beats
c. at a steady pace
d. measurement of the heart’s
strength
Passage 2: TALE
OF THE FORTY-SEVEN RONIN
During the Edo period, a court official,
Kira, insulted Lord Asano, who was visiting
Edo Castle. Enraged, Lord Asano took out his
sword and attacked Kira. Now, the display of
swords in the castle was illegal. Because
Asano dishonored the shogun by breaking
this law, Asano was ordered to commit
sepukku, a ritual that meant he had to take
his own life.
 When Asano died, his band of
Samurai followers became ronin, or
“masterless samurai.” Forty-seven of this
ronin swore to revenge their master’s
death by slaying Kira. They plotted their
revenge for almost two years. Finally,
they raided Kira’s mansion and killed
him. As a result, they too were ordered
to commit seppuku.
 The ronin were buried to
Sengakuji Temple in Edo
(modern-day Tokyo), near the
grave of Lord Asano. To this day,
many tourists visit this site. The
tale of the forty-seven ronin is
still told as a classic example of
Japanese loyalty.
 There are no longer any
masterless samurai in Japan. The
word ronin still exists, but with a
whole new meaning. Today,
students who don’t pass their
university entrance exams on their
first attempt are called ronin. The
“masterless samurai” have become
the “school-less students.”
5. Who insulted Lord Asano?
a.the ronin
b.the samurai
c.the court official
d.the castle guard
6. Which detail would best fit in the
passage?
a.During the early years of the Edo period,
new forms of art were produced.
b.Japan is made up of four main islands.
c.The shogun had supreme rule and was to
be respected.
d.U.S. Commodore Matthew Perry arrived in
Japan in 1853.
7. The forty-seven ronin were
buried _____.
a.at Edo Castle
b.at Sengakuji Temple
c.near Kira’s grave
d.near Asano’s home
8. Which detail helps explain the main
idea of the last paragraph?
a.The “masterless samurai” have become
the “school-less students.”
b.As a result, they too were ordered to
commit seppuku.
c.They plotted their revenge for almost
two years.
d.To this day, many tourists visit this site.
Passage 3: WAVES OF SOUND
Everyday life is full of
sounds often taken for granted
as part of our world. Have you
ever considered how sound is
created?
 Sound is a type of energy. It is
produced when an object vibrates,
causing the air around the object
also to vibrate. These vibrations
travel as sound waves through the
air. Sound waves are not visible to
the eye but if you could perceive
them, you would see spirals moving
outward from the object like the
rings of a metal coil.
 When you ring a bell, the clapper
strikes the metal of the bell and the
metal vibrates. The vibrating metal
causes the air around the bell to
vibrate as well. These vibrations
travel as sound waves in all
directions through the air. When the
sound waves reach your ears, you
hear the ring of the bell.
 Although sound waves are
not visible, a device called an
oscillator can measure sound.
After the oscillator measures
the sounds, the sound waves
are depicted on a graph.
The shape of the waves indicates
certain qualities of sound. If the
waves are close together, the
sound is high-pitched --- like the
ring of the bell. If the waves are
far apart, the sound is low-pitched
--- like the drone of a foghorn.
9. What causes the metal of a
bell to vibrate?
a.the ringing of the bell
b.the clapper striking the bell
c.the movement of the sound
waves
d.the pitch of the sound
10. What is the immediate result of
the vibrations of the bell?
a.The sound waves become visible.
b.The bell become a metal coil.
c.The air around the bell vibrates.
d.The sound waves are produced.
11. When sound waves reach
your ears,
a. the sound waves stop
traveling
b. the sound waves bounce off
c. you hear the sound
d. you cannot detect anything
12. If the graph of sound waves
shows waves that are far apart,
then the sound is ____.
a. a bell
b. a foghorn
c. low-pitched
d. high-pitched
Passage 4: PYGMALION’S ONLY LOVE
According to Roman myth,
Pygmalion was a talented young
sculptor whose only devotion was his
art. He vowed to the gods that he
would never fall in love with nor
marry any woman. Ironically,
Pygmalion set himself the task of
creating the perfect statue of a
woman.
 Working day and night,
Pygmalion crafted his statue
from the smoothest of stone.
When finished, he had
sculpted the finest figure of a
woman yet made.
But Pygmalion wasn’t satisfied
with his work. So, he labored at
the statue until, at last, he felt
that he had achieved perfection.
Indeed, the exquisite figure
appeared to be flesh and blood
rather than stone.
 Now, Pygmalion had devoted
so much of himself to the statue
of the woman that he had, much
to his dismay, fallen in love with
her. He was wise to the fact that
she was not real, and at first it
didn’t matter to him.
Pygmalion courted her
anyway. He held her hand and
kissed her, but her touch was
hard and her lips were cold.
Eventually, Pygmalion
despaired. The statue could
never return his love.
Pygmalion begged Venus, the
goddess of love, to help him.
Pygmalion thought if he fell in
love with a beautiful young
woman, he might be able to
forget his creation. Venus took
pity on poor Pygmalion and
granted him more than he had
asked for.
The next time Pygmalion
gazed on the statue, she
seemed even more lifelike to
him. He grasped her hand, and
it was warm. He touched her
wrist and felt a strong pulse
beating there. She was alive!
 Overjoyed, Pygmalion
embraced her, calling his only
true love Galatea. Galatea
whispered in his ear that she
loved him too. With Venus’s
blessing, Pygmalion and Galatea
soon married and spent many
happy years together.
13. The phrase working day
and night is an example of
a.Hyperbole
b.An Idiom
c.A Simile
d.Personification
14. In paragraph 3, the phrase
was wise to means
a. was doubtful of
b. was fully aware of
c. was somewhat uncertain of
d. was unwilling to admit
15. What does flesh and
blood refer to?
a.A living, human body
b.A statue of a human figure
c.A healthy body
d.A drawing of a human
figure
16. From the phrase took pity on,
readers can tell that
a.Venus thought highly of Pygmalion.
b.Venus was upset by Pygmalion’s
devotion.
c.Venus acted kindly toward Pygmalion.
d.Venus felt sorry for Pygmalion.
 THE GREAT PYRAMIDS OF GIZA
Passage 5:

It has been long an accepted fact

that the great pyramids at Giza were
built by as many as 100,000
enslaved people. Recent
experiments and archeological
findings, however, are casting doubt
on these once-firm belief.
 An international team of
experts recently constructed a
small model pyramid using the
same basic technology available
to the ancients. They quarried
the stone blocks, transported
them to the site, and set the
stones in place.
Based on the number of
workers it took to build the
model, they figured out that
only 5,000 workers could have
constructed the core structure
of the pyramid.
This figure doesn’t include the
estimated 15,000 workers who
performed the difficult finish
work. Still, the number is much
lower than the traditional
estimated of 100,000 workers.
 Egyptologist recently studied
hieroglyphic inscriptions inside
the pyramids. These inscriptions
describe the various kinds of
workers, their titles, and how they
were organized. The workers
were artisans, inspectors, and
directors.
Workers were organized into crews with
names like endurance, perfection,
strength, and friends of Khufu (the
Pharaoh). Moreover, crews competed
with one another in the construction of
sections of a pyramid. The winning crew
inscribed their name in one of the stones.
None of these findings points to slavery.
17. There is enough information in the
article to conclude that ____.
a. Recent evidence indicates that 100,000
enslaved people built the pyramids.
b. Recent evidence indicates about 20,000
workers willingly built the pyramids.
c. There is no good evidence about the
number of workers available.
d. The new evidence about the number of
workers is absolutely accurate.
18. From the article, you can figure out
that
a.Little has been learned about the
pyramids
b.There is little more that could be
learned by studying the pyramids
c.There is still disagreement about how
the pyramids were built
d.There is no dispute about how the
pyramids were built
19. Readers of this article can conclude
that
a. the ancients had advanced technology
that is unavailable today
b. women and children participated in the
construction of the pyramid
c. the model pyramid was smaller that
the actual pyramid
d. construction of the core structure took
longer that the finish work
20. The building of the
pyramid was probably
a.Flawed
b.Haphazard
c.Unorganized
d.Structured