Reading Comprehension Questions and Answers

Answer: D

Statements (1) and (2) are both true, so the answer is 'Both (1) and (2)'.

(1) He filled Dorothy's basket with nuts, which the passage calls 'very kind and thoughtful', so he is kind-hearted. (2) He covered Dorothy with dry leaves, which 'kept her snug and warm' while she slept.

(3) is not supported: the Lion went off by himself to find supper and the passage says nothing of the scarecrow keeping him away from Dorothy.

Answer: B

A soldier is jealous about his honour because he is very sensitive about it.

Here 'jealous in honour' does not mean envious. It means watchful and touchy about one's honour, so that the soldier is 'sudden and quick in quarrel' when he feels it is questioned.

Option (1) takes 'jealous' in its everyday sense of envy of an enemy, which the line does not say. Option (3) borrows 'bearded like a pard' (a leopard) from the line before, but that describes his appearance, not why he is jealous of honour. Option (4) describes seeking 'the bubble-reputation', which is a different point.

Answer: B

The figure of speech is a Metaphor.

The line continues the comparison of the world to a stage and people to actors. 'Exits and entrances' are the actors' movements off and on stage, standing for death and birth; life is described directly as a play, without 'like' or 'as', which makes it a metaphor.

A simile would say life is like a play, personification would give human qualities to something non-human, and hyperbole is deliberate exaggeration.

Answer: D

Both statements are right, so the answer is 'both (1) and (2)'.

The school-boy is described as 'creeping like snail / Unwilling to school', so he is reluctant to go to school. He also has a 'shining morning face', so in the morning he looks bright and fresh, which the key reads as looking beautiful.

Nothing is said about liking teachers, so option (3) is out. Since both (1) and (2) hold, the single options (1) and (2) are incomplete.

Answer: A

All men and women perform various roles in life.

The speech says 'All the world is a stage, / And all the men and women merely players', and 'one man in his time plays many parts'. People are compared to actors, each playing many roles through the seven ages of life.

'Players' means actors here, not sportspeople, so indoor games such as chess and cards and outdoor games such as football and cricket are traps of the word. Fighting wars is the role of only one of the seven ages, the soldier.

Answer: B

The lover's sigh is compared to a furnace because he feels emotionally charged.

A furnace is intensely hot, and the comparison shows the burning passion and strong feeling of the lover, whose sighs come out as hot and heavy as air from a furnace.

The lover is not described as quick to anger, so (1) is wrong. A furnace does not suggest warmth offered to his beloved, so (3) is wrong. He does make a ballad, but the ballad is 'woeful' and 'made to his mistress' eyebrow', and it is not the reason for the furnace comparison, so (4) is wrong.

Answer: B

The figure of speech in the first line is a metaphor.

'All the world is a stage' states that the world is a stage, without 'like' or 'as'. One thing is called another, which is the mark of a metaphor.

A simile would say the world is 'like' a stage, personification would give human qualities to a non-human thing, and hyperbole is deliberate exaggeration. None of these fits the line.

Answer: C

Statements (a) and (c) are right and (b) is wrong, which is option (3).

(a) is right: the passage says her clothes 'seemed to have been thrown on her', so she was not properly dressed. (c) is right: Mr. Carr was 'a bit embarrassed by her lack of terror and her simplicity' and hardly knew what to say, which shows he did not expect calm and dignity.

(b) is wrong: the passage opens by saying she did not look as Alfred thought she would look; she smiled and her eyes never wavered, so she did not look like the mother of a guilty person. Any option that accepts (b) is therefore out, leaving only the one that takes (a) and (c) together.

Answer: D

Alfred was surprised.

The passage begins by saying that she did not look as Alfred thought she would look. He expected a frightened, distressed mother, and instead she smiled and spoke with calm dignity. The last paragraph says he 'couldn't understand his mother's quiet composure', because at home she would have been in a rage. That is surprise at the unexpected.

'Shocked' and 'scared' suggest fear or distress, which the passage does not describe for Alfred at this point, and 'pleased' is not suggested anywhere: he could not understand her behaviour, which is different from welcoming it.

Answer: C

Both (a) and (b) are right.

(a) Mr. Carr says plainly, 'I am going to get a cop. That's what I ought to do.' He intended to have Alfred arrested.

(b) Mrs. Higgins asks him to listen to her before doing anything, and says that 'a little good advice is the best thing for a boy' at a certain stage of his life. She is asking that Alfred be given a chance to mend his ways instead of being arrested.

As both statements are supported by the passage, the options that reject either of them are wrong.