Reading Comprehension Questions and Answers

Answer: D

The function that is not expressed in the passage is keeping knights' best horses.

The passage names four functions: bases for offensive attacks and defence in military operations, offices from which the lord administered his fiefdom, important social centres in medieval England, and symbols of power. Options A, B and C restate these, in the same words as the passage.

Horses and knights are never mentioned, so option D is the one that is not a function as expressed in the passage, whatever may be true of castles in general.

Answer: B

Paragraph 2 explains why castles were first built in England and the military purposes they served.

The paragraph opens with the Norman invaders of 1066, says William the Conqueror fortified key positions to secure the land he had taken, and then says castles were bases for offensive attacks and also served defensive roles. That is the reason for the first castles plus their military uses, which is option B.

Option A is too narrow, because the paragraph is about what castles did, not how William took control. Nothing is said about Norman lords being scared or retreating (C). The full list of purposes, including administration and social life, comes in paragraph 3, so D is wrong for paragraph 2.

Answer: A

The key gives it takes a lot more time and energy to build a stone castle.

The passage says only that the first castles were made of earth and timber and were later replaced by stone, which strengthened them. It gives no reason for the first choice of material, so the question has to be answered by inference. Of the four options, only A is a plausible practical reason that the passage does not contradict: a Norman army securing newly taken land needs quick fortifications, and wood and earth take less time and labour than stone.

Option B and C describe what people did or did not realise, which the passage does not say, and D is about looks, which is not mentioned. The passage does say wooden castles were highly susceptible to fire, but that is given as their weakness, not as a thing people failed to see.

Answer: C

Wooden castles were converted to stone castles as stone castles offer better defense.

The passage says wooden castles were highly susceptible to attacks by fire and that they were 'gradually replaced by stone, which greatly increased the strength of these fortifications'. The change was made for stronger defence.

The passage says nothing about how long wooden castles take to build, about comfort, or about temperature in summer, so options A, B and D are not supported by it.

Answer: D

Gunpowder was the nemesis of castles because cannons could knock down stone walls, so castles offered little protection.

The last paragraph says that in the 15th century artillery became powerful enough to break through stone walls, which greatly undermined the military role of castles. A castle that cannot withstand bombardment no longer protects those inside, which is option D.

Option A turns the point round: hiding in castles became useless, not unnecessary because of guns alone. Option B says artillery forts became stylish, which the passage does not say; they replaced castles because they did the military job. Option C, shooting defenders, is not in the passage, which speaks of artillery breaking walls.

Answer: C

The best title is A Short History of Castles: The Rise and Fall of Castles in England.

The passage tells how castles began with the Normans in 1066, what they were used for, how wood gave way to stone, and how gunpowder ended their role. It therefore covers their rise and decline in England.

Option A covers only the first stage, option B only the defence of castles, which is a small part of the passage, and option D, about fancy living and palaces, is a theme the passage never touches.

Answer: D

The activities are both (a) playing video games and (b) watching TV.

The second paragraph says: 'Once back home, they sit glued to the idiot box for several hours or keep playing computer games.' The idiot box is television and computer games are video games, so (a) and (b) take up the children's time at home.

Walking and swimming, (c), appear only in the writer's advice ('a regular swim and walk down to the swimming pool'), not as what children do. So the options that include (c), or only one of (a) and (b), are wrong.

Answer: B

The keenness of girls to stay slim makes them fail to take essential nourishment because of dieting.

The passage says: 'Girls, usually keen to remain slim, keep dieting unnecessarily and deprive their bodies of vital nourishment.'

The inclination to fast food is said about children in general, as part of the diet that is deficient in nutrients, not about girls who diet. Undeveloped muscles and not going for walks and swims are never linked to dieting by the passage.

Answer: C

The author finds that convenience foods lack vital nutrients.

The passage says of fast foods, fried foods, chocolates and the like: 'These foods may be delicious and, therefore, tempting, but they are highly deficient in vital nutrients.' The fault is the missing nutrients.

'Delicious and tempting' is conceded as a quality of the foods, not a fault. Being readily available is not discussed, and helping muscle development is the reverse of the advice that children eat nutrient-rich food so that their muscles develop.

Answer: B

The underlined word 'highly' is an Adverb.

In 'They are highly deficient in vital nutrients', 'highly' modifies the adjective 'deficient', telling to what degree the foods are deficient. Words that modify verbs, adjectives or other adverbs are adverbs; 'highly' here is an adverb of degree, like 'very' or 'extremely'.

It is not an adjective, since it does not qualify a noun ('high' would be the adjective). It names nothing, so it is not a noun, and it shows no action or state, so it is not a verb.