Reading Comprehension Questions and Answers

Answer: B

The structure is Introduction, Description, Illustration.

The passage opens by introducing tourism as the largest industry, then describes its benefits and problems, and ends with illustrations such as the damage to wildlife parks and the Taj Mahal. The key follows this reading.

The other structures, with 'generalisation' or 'summary', do not match the order of the passage.

This answer follows the key. The passage opens with a general statement that tourism is the world's largest industry, goes on to describe its effects, and then gives illustrations such as the Taj Mahal and wildlife parks. So the structure is an introduction, description and illustration.

Answer: C

The title is Advantages and Disadvantages of Tourism.

The passage describes the benefits of tourism, such as employment and income, and then its harmful effects on the environment and culture.

The other titles cover only one part of the passage or topics it does not discuss.

A good title covers the whole passage. The first half describes the benefits of tourism, such as peace, understanding and national income, and the second half describes the harm, such as damage to the environment and to local culture. The title that covers both is 'Advantages and Disadvantages of Tourism'.

Answer: C

The contribution is on the economic front.

The passage says that its contribution is felt most clearly on the economic front, as it boosts national income and generates employment. The option reads 'economical front', a misprint for economic.

The social, cultural and political fronts are not named as the major contribution.

The sentence in the passage is 'The contribution to tourism can be nowhere felt more clearly than on the economic front'. The passage goes on to say that tourism boosts national income and generates employment, so the economic front is the major contribution.

Answer: B

The meaning of disruption is disturbance.

Disruption means a disturbance or interruption of normal conditions. In the passage tourism can cause social, cultural or environmental disruption.

Clearance, acceptance and relevance do not mean this.

The passage uses the word in 'social, cultural or environmental disruption', meaning an upset of the normal order. 'Disturbance' is a synonym. 'Clearance' means removal, 'acceptance' means approval and 'relevance' means connection, and none of these means an upset.

Answer: C

The statement that is not true is 'Tourism industry employs nearly 100 billion people around the globe.'

The passage says tourism employs some 100 million people, not billion. The other statements agree with it: overuse of environmental wealth disturbs the ecological balance, overcrowding causes health hazards and tourism enhances knowledge and experience.

So only the billion claim is false.

The passage says that tourism 'employs some 100 million people around the globe'. The option changes this to 100 billion, a number far larger than the world's population, so it must be false. The other three statements are taken directly from the passage.

Answer: B

The most suitable title is 'The story of the Magpie's Nest'. The passage tells how the magpie began to teach all the birds to build nests, how each bird left after learning only a part, and how the magpie got angry with the turtle-dove and gave up teaching. This is why different birds build their nests in different ways.

'The temper of the Turtle-dove' and 'The Sparrow and the Turtle-dove' name only a part of the story, since the main character is the magpie. 'Why birds build their nests' is too general, because the passage is about how they build them differently. The second option is the best title.

Answer: B

Of the birds in the options, the owl left the nest-building class first. In the passage the thrush leaves after the mud pancake, and the next to go is the owl, after the twigs are placed around the mud. The sparrow leaves after the edges are turned up, and the turtle-dove is left last, still sitting there saying her silly cry.

The thrush is not among the options, so the owl is the first of the four listed to leave. The turtle-dove and the sparrow left later, and the magpie was the teacher and did not leave until the end. The second option is the answer.

Answer: D

The statement that cannot be inferred is that she is an attractive bird. The passage says nothing about how the magpie looks. It tells only what she did and how she behaved.

The other statements can be inferred: she was patient, because she went on trying to teach all the birds and explained the work step by step; she was hard-working, because she built the best nest and spent a long time on it; and she was angry, because the passage says she got angry and then even angrier with the turtle-dove. The fourth option is the answer.

Answer: C

The tone of the passage is light-hearted. It is a simple, playful tale about birds in which the turtle-dove's silly cry 'take two' is repeated and the magpie's answer 'one's enough' makes the humour clear, and the ending explains in a gentle way why birds build different nests.

'Caustic' would be bitter and sharp, 'pessimistic' would be gloomy, and neither of these suits the story. 'Humorous' is close in meaning, but the whole passage reads as light and gentle, which is the word the key gives. The third option is the answer.

Answer: A

The word 'concentrated' is the one that does NOT mean 'turned' in 'Magpie turned the edges of the pancake up into a bowl shape'. Here turned means bent or curved the edges upwards, so that they changed their shape.

'Altered' (changed), 'curved' and 'twisted' (bent) all come close to this meaning. 'Concentrated' means focused attention or made a mixture stronger, and it does not fit the action of bending the edges of mud. So the first option is the answer, because the question asks for the one that is NOT a meaning.