Reading Comprehension Questions and Answers

Answer: D

The journey makes us realize that much of the world remains to be explored.

The passage's first sentence says so directly: the journey to the deepest point on the Earth makes us realize how much of the world still remains to be explored.

The passage never calls the trip difficult or the officers courageous, and it says nothing about drawing a map of the ocean, so the other three options add ideas the passage does not state.

Answer: A

A bathyscaphe is a small steel ball.

The second sentence says the two men went down inside a small steel ball called a 'bathyscaphe'. The petrol tank sat above the ball and is not the bathyscaphe itself.

A mothership, a small boat and a raft are never mentioned in the passage; the men travelled inside the ball, not on or beside any boat.

Answer: B

The officers went down to find out life at the bottom of the sea.

The passage says they went down to find out if there are any ocean currents or signs of life, which is the purpose in option B.

Digging out dead sea creatures and hunting sea creatures are not stated purposes. Measuring the depth is not given as a reason either; the seven miles are mentioned only as how far down they went.

Answer: C

The petrol was emptied slowly to make the bathyscaphe heavy.

The passage says the tank of petrol was slowly emptied into the water to make the bathyscaphe heavy enough to complete its journey. As the petrol left, the craft became heavier and sank.

The petrol is not described as fuel for the ball, as protection from fire or as a way of holding the ball in place, so options A, B and D go beyond the passage.

Answer: D

The purpose of the journey was exploration.

The opening sentence ties the journey to how much of the world still remains to be explored, and the men went down to look for ocean currents and signs of life. That is exploration.

Adventure for fun, aqua-sports and a pleasure trip all describe a trip taken for enjoyment, which the passage never suggests; it presents the descent as a scientific voyage.

Answer: C

The statement means that a good book can be included among the best of friends of mankind.

'May be among the best of friends' says a good book belongs in the group of the best friends. The passage goes on to say that a book is patient and cheerful, and does not desert us in adversity, so it is a friend of that kind.

Option A claims no friend can be better, which is stronger than 'among the best'. Option B compares books with good men, which the passage does not do. Option D is about what friends read, which is not what the sentence says.

Answer: D

The passage says a man's choice of books generally reveals his temperament and character.

The opening line says a man is known by the book he reads as well as by the company he keeps, and that there is a companionship of books as well as of men. As a man is judged by his companions, he is judged by the books he keeps company with: the books he chooses show what kind of person he is.

Being a scholar, being influenced in thinking and gaining knowledge may all be true of readers, but the passage does not give them as the reason for knowing a man by his books.

Answer: D

The answer is that they call him either a baby or an impertinent fellow, and resent any talk at all from him.

The passage says that if the boy talks with a childish lisp he is called a baby, and if he answers in a grown-up way he is called impertinent. It then adds: 'In fact, any talk at all from him is resented.' So the full reaction has all three parts.

Options A, B and C each give only one part of it, so each is incomplete; only D combines the two names with the resentment the passage reports.

Answer: C

The two lapses named are the changes in voice and face: the voice grows hoarse, breaks and quavers, and the face grows suddenly angular and unsightly.

The passage says it is easy to excuse the shortcomings of early childhood 'but it is hard to tolerate even unavoidable lapses in a boy of fourteen', and the lines just before list the bodily changes of that age: he outgrows his clothes, his voice breaks and his face turns angular. These are the unavoidable ones, since the boy cannot help them.

Option A is wrong because the lisp belongs to the childish talk that earns him the name baby, not to the lapses of fourteen. Option B describes his emotional state, craving love and feeling like a stray dog, which the passage does not call a lapse. Option D, 'neither ornamental nor useful', is the writer's general verdict on the age.

Answer: D

A boy of fourteen craves recognition and love.

The second paragraph says that at this age, in his heart of hearts, a young lad 'most craves for recognition and love', and becomes the devoted slave of anyone who shows him consideration.

Option A names only recognition. Option C, love and indulgence, is not what he craves: the passage says nobody dares love him openly because that would be regarded as undue indulgence. Option B, the height of bliss, is what he feels on receiving kind looks, not what he craves.