Reading Comprehension Questions and Answers

Answer: A

It means learning from the lowest to the highest in hierarchy.

To learn a trade 'from the bottom up' is to start at the lowest level of an occupation or organisation and work upwards, learning every stage of the work on the way. It suggests patience and thorough, practical knowledge of the job.

Trading places with others means swapping positions. Learning from colleagues or across departments describes where knowledge comes from, not starting at the bottom and rising, so those options miss the idiom.

Answer: A

Four boys had missed school: four.

Glen is the first, and the passage says that three other faces broke into a smile when they heard him, and that all were heading for the canal and not for school. Glen with the three others makes four.

Three counts only the other boys and leaves out Glen, who is the leader of the pack. Five and two are not given anywhere in the passage.

Answer: D

The key gives that their hearts grew braver because they could no longer see the school building.

The passage says that the cold imposing white building became smaller and smaller, and that their little hearts grew braver by the minute. As the school shrank behind them their fear of it shrank too, and the passage makes this link by putting the two sentences side by side. The text says the building grew smaller, not that it was out of sight, so this reading is an approximation, but it is the option closest to the passage.

The passage does not say they were afraid of their teachers finding them, and 'they knew exactly where they were headed' describes their plan, not the growth of courage. Their excitement is true, but the passage does not give it as the reason for the courage.

Answer: B

The boys should have been at school.

The passage says that they were clearly not heading towards where they should be, and names it: school. Glen has his schoolbag on his back, and they cut class to go to the canal.

The canal is where they went, so it cannot be where they should have been. Nothing says they should have been at home or playing with friends.

Answer: A

The order is C, A, B, D.

The passage tells that Glen, the leader, hoisted himself over the railings (C) and climbed down the huge monsoon drain (A). Then, in a fraction of a second, the other boys joined him (B), and after that came the thrill of catching the small fish (D).

Any order that puts A before C reverses climbing the railings and going down the drain, and any order that puts D before B has the fishing begin before the friends arrive.

Answer: C

The underlined words are a verb and an adjective.

Spied is the past tense of the verb 'spy', meaning caught sight of; it is the main verb of the sentence, telling what Glen did. Murky describes the noun 'water', meaning dark and muddy, so it is an adjective.

Options calling 'spied' an adverb or 'murky' a noun misread their roles: an adverb modifies a verb, adjective or adverb, and a noun names a thing, whereas here 'water' is the noun that 'murky' describes.

Answer: A

B and C are correct and A is incorrect: option 1.

A is incorrect: the camps are held in Canada and the USA, and young people come to them from across the world, but the camps are not organised all across the world. B is correct: the passage gives the age as from 12 to 17. C is correct: the young people learn leadership skills.

Options 2 and 3 call C incorrect or A correct, and option 4 calls all three correct, so none matches the passage.

Answer: B

Young people come to improve themselves and the world around them.

The first paragraph says that the camps help to create confident young people who wish to improve not only themselves, but the world around them.

Friendships are a by-product, as the passage says that campers frequently make them. Leadership is one aim, but 'only' makes option 4 too narrow, since they also discuss issues and help in the community. Nothing suggests they come to while away time.

Answer: C

To get warmed up, the young people take part in some outdoor games.

The passage says that camp members start their day with outdoor games to get them warmed up for the busy day ahead.

Getting up at 7 a.m. and eating breakfast come before the games and are not the warm-up, and the workshops come after the games, in the morning.

Answer: B

The pair that cannot be selected in the afternoon is yoga and public speaking.

The afternoon activities to choose from are dancing, yoga, basketball and song writing. Public speaking is a morning workshop, so a pair that includes it is not available in the afternoon.

Each of the other three pairs is made of afternoon activities from that list.