IOE entrance English · Chapter 4

Comprehension

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33 questions in 1 syllabus topic · 10 are 2-mark questions.

4.1 Reading passages

33 questions

Read the passage, then answer the questions below

Language, as they say, is the lens through which human beings perceive the world. If so, English is perhaps the most distorting lens through which to see animals. It has perpetuated a cross-eyed view of birds, beasts, fish and fowl. The very word ‘animal’ connotes the brutish and the sensual. Animal instinct implies baseness and vulgarity. The language transfers negative human traits to animals, making the former appear as characteristics of the latter. Thus, the chicken is cowardly, frightened, faint-hearted; the goat lustful and foolish; the bear rough and ill-bred. Butterflies are flighty, seals slippery and foxes notorious for craftiness and cunning. Much the worst are the reptiles particularly the snake, creeping, base, malignant, abject, ungrateful and treacherous. Always the snake in the grass. Each species carries its denigration forever embedded in its English name giving the language as many unpleasant adjectives as it could possibly want. To be bull-headed is to be impetuous and obstinate; the cattish woman is spiteful and backbiting. An elephant’s walk is ungainly, bird-brains are to be ridiculed and the herd mentality draws only contempt. You can be as blind as a bat, and batty if you are crazy as well.

1. In the English language, the animals are

IOE model question 2080

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Look at the adjectives the passage lists.

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Answer: B. used for unpleasant comparisons

The passage says English ‘transfers negative human traits to animals’ and gives the language ‘as many unpleasant adjectives as it could possibly want’.

Read the passage, then answer the questions below

For a long time it was widely believed that only children could learn a new language well, and that adults who tried were largely wasting their effort. Recent studies paint a more hopeful picture. Adults, it turns out, often learn the grammar and vocabulary of a new language faster than children in the early months, because they can use reading, reasoning and memory techniques that young children have not yet developed. Where children usually do better is in pronunciation. A person who begins a language before about the age of twelve is far more likely to end up sounding like a native speaker. Researchers also point out that the conditions of learning matter as much as age. A child who moves to a new country hears the language for many hours every day, plays with neighbours, and is rarely embarrassed by mistakes. An adult in an evening class may hear the language for three hours a week and then return to a home and workplace where it is never used. When adults are given similar exposure, for example by living and working abroad, the gap between them and children narrows considerably. None of this means that learning is effortless at any age. But the old idea that the door closes at puberty now looks too simple. For most people the more useful question is not 'Am I too old?' but 'How much will I actually use it?'

2. Which statement best expresses the main idea of the passage?

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Look at how the passage opens and how it ends.

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Answer: A. Age matters less in language learning than once believed; the amount of exposure and use is also important.

The passage challenges the belief that only children learn well and ends by saying the key question is how much the language will be used.

3. According to the passage, in which area do children usually do better than adults?

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Find the sentence beginning 'Where children usually do better…'.

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Answer: D. pronunciation

The passage says, 'Where children usually do better is in pronunciation.' Adults are said to learn grammar and vocabulary faster at first.

4. Which conclusion is best supported by the passage?

2 marks

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Focus on what the passage says about 'conditions of learning'.

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Answer: D. An adult who lives and works in the new language will probably progress faster than one who only attends a weekly class.

The second paragraph says that when adults get similar exposure, e.g. by living and working abroad, the gap narrows; exposure drives progress.

5. In the passage, the word 'narrows' (paragraph 2) is closest in meaning to:

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What happens to a gap that narrows?

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Answer: D. becomes smaller

The 'gap' between adults and children 'narrows', i.e. the difference becomes smaller when adults get similar exposure.

Read the passage, then answer the questions below

When Sarita's father fell ill, the small bicycle repair stall at the edge of the bazaar seemed certain to close. She was fourteen, and most customers assumed that a girl in a school uniform could do little more than pump air into tyres. For the first few weeks they were right to be doubtful. Sarita knew the names of the tools but not the patience they required. A chain she had tightened slipped off on the steep road to the temple, and the angry owner pushed his bicycle all the way back to complain. That evening she sat beside her father's bed with the chain in her lap. He did not take it from her. Instead he asked her to describe, link by link, what she had done. Halfway through her explanation she stopped, because she had found the mistake herself. By the end of the monsoon, the stall was busier than it had been in years. Students came because Sarita charged them less, and older men came, at first, out of curiosity. They stayed because her repairs lasted. When her father was finally strong enough to return, he found a notebook on the shelf in which every job had been recorded: the date, the fault and the price. He had never kept such a record himself. He read it slowly, then placed it back exactly where it had been.

6. Why did Sarita's father ask her to describe what she had done instead of repairing the chain himself?

2 marks

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Look at the result of her explanation.

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Answer: C. He wanted her to discover the mistake on her own.

He 'did not take it from her' but asked her to explain step by step, and she 'found the mistake herself' — the method was meant to let her learn.

7. According to the passage, why did students come to Sarita's stall?

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Two groups of customers are mentioned with two different reasons.

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Answer: D. She charged them less.

The passage states, 'Students came because Sarita charged them less.' Curiosity is given as the reason for the older men.

8. The father's action of placing the notebook 'back exactly where it had been' most likely suggests that he:

2 marks

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Consider what he had never done himself, and how he reacts.

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Answer: C. approved of the way Sarita had been running the stall.

He read it slowly and left it untouched, a quiet sign of respect for a practice he had never had himself; nothing suggests anger or closing the stall.

9. Which is the most suitable title for the passage?

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A good title covers the whole story, not one detail.

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Answer: D. Learning the Trade

The story centres on Sarita growing from an unskilled beginner into a trusted mechanic; the other titles name minor details.

Read the passage, then answer the questions below

Many growing cities measure their progress by the width of their roads. New flyovers and wider highways are opened with ceremonies, while footpaths are treated as whatever space is left over. Yet in almost every city a large share of daily trips are made on foot, at least in part. Even a person who travels by bus begins and ends the journey as a pedestrian. Planners who study walking have found that people will walk surprisingly long distances if the route is pleasant and safe. Shade from trees, continuous pavements without sudden drops, and safe crossing points at regular intervals all matter more than the distance itself. On the other hand, a short walk beside fast traffic, with no pavement and fumes in the air, feels long and dangerous, and people avoid it whenever they can afford a vehicle. This has consequences beyond comfort. When walking becomes unpleasant, more short trips are made by motorbike or car, adding to congestion and pollution, which in turn makes walking even less attractive. The cycle can also run in the opposite direction. Cities that have widened pavements and narrowed some streets have often seen local shops gain customers, because people on foot stop, look and buy in a way that passing drivers do not. A road network that ignores the pedestrian is therefore not simply unkind; it is inefficient.

10. What is the main purpose of the passage?

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Read the last sentence carefully.

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Answer: A. To argue that city planning should give more importance to pedestrians.

The passage criticises road-centred planning and concludes that ignoring pedestrians is inefficient — an argument for valuing walking.

11. According to the passage, which factor matters MORE than distance in deciding whether people walk?

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See the second paragraph.

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Answer: A. safe crossing points at regular intervals

Shade, continuous pavements and safe crossing points are said to 'matter more than the distance itself'.

12. "The cycle can also run in the opposite direction" means that:

2 marks

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First identify the cycle described in the previous sentence.

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Answer: B. better walking conditions can lead to more walking and less traffic, which further improves walking.

The 'cycle' described is unpleasant walking → more vehicles → worse walking. In reverse, improvements encourage walking, which helps local shops and reduces traffic.

13. The tone of the passage is best described as:

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Is the writer trying to amuse, remember, or convince?

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Answer: A. persuasive

The writer presents evidence and reaches a firm conclusion ('it is inefficient') to convince the reader — a persuasive tone.

Read the passage, then answer the questions below

In the hills of Nepal, paper has been made for centuries from the inner bark of the lokta shrub. The method is simple to describe but slow to master. The bark is soaked, boiled with wood ash, beaten into a soft pulp and spread over a cloth-covered frame floating in water. When the frame is lifted and left in the sun, a sheet of tough, slightly uneven paper remains. Because the shrub regrows after it is cut, careful harvesting does not destroy the plants, and the paper resists insects and damp far better than ordinary machine-made sheets. For these reasons it was once used for government records and religious texts. During the twentieth century cheap imported paper almost ended the craft. Young people left the villages, and the knowledge of the older papermakers seemed likely to disappear with them. What saved it was, in part, a change in what buyers wanted. Tourists and overseas shops began to value objects that were handmade and could be traced to a particular place. Notebooks, lampshades and greeting cards of lokta paper are now sold far from the hills where they are produced. Some craftspeople worry that the new demand brings its own risks: pressure to harvest too quickly, or to add chemical dyes that shorten the life of the paper. The future of the craft may depend on whether its makers can grow without forgetting why the paper was valued in the first place.

14. Why, according to the passage, was lokta paper once used for government records?

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Find the sentence beginning 'For these reasons…'.

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Answer: D. It resists insects and damp better than ordinary paper.

The passage says the paper 'resists insects and damp far better than ordinary machine-made sheets. For these reasons it was once used for government records'. It is described as slow to make and slightly uneven.

15. What nearly brought the lokta papermaking craft to an end?

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Distinguish the past threat from the present worries.

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Answer: B. cheap imported paper

'During the twentieth century cheap imported paper almost ended the craft.' Over-harvesting and dyes are present-day worries, not the past threat.

16. In the passage, objects that 'could be traced to a particular place' are objects that:

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Think of 'tracing' the origin of something.

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Answer: C. could be identified as coming from a specific place

To 'trace' something to a place here means to follow it back to its origin, i.e. to know where it was made.

17. What concern does the writer express in the final paragraph?

2 marks

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Link the worries in paragraph 3 to the qualities listed in paragraph 1.

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Answer: C. Growing demand might lower the quality and sustainability that made the paper valuable.

Rapid harvesting and chemical dyes would undermine sustainability and durability — exactly 'why the paper was valued in the first place'.

Read the passage, then answer the questions below

A micro-hydropower plant uses the energy of falling water to generate electricity on a small scale, usually less than 100 kilowatts. Unlike a large dam, it often needs no reservoir at all. Part of a stream is diverted into a channel that runs gently along the hillside, keeping almost the same height while the stream itself drops steeply beside it. At a suitable point the water enters a pipe called a penstock and falls to a turbine in a powerhouse below. The power available depends on two quantities: the flow, or volume of water passing each second, and the head, the vertical height through which the water falls. Doubling either one roughly doubles the output. Because such schemes take only a portion of the stream and return it a short distance downstream, their effect on the river is modest. They are particularly suited to remote mountain villages, where extending the national grid over ridges and valleys would cost far more than the community could ever repay. Electricity from a local plant can power lights, mills and small workshops. The technology is not without difficulties. In the dry season stream flow may fall sharply, reducing output just when it is most needed. Sediment carried by monsoon floods can wear down turbine blades, and many plants have failed not because of engineering faults but because no one in the village was trained to maintain them. Successful projects therefore treat local management as seriously as the machinery.

18. According to the passage, the power available from a micro-hydro plant depends on:

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Look for 'two quantities'.

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Answer: B. the flow of water and the head

'The power available depends on two quantities: the flow … and the head.' Micro-hydro often has no reservoir.

19. Based on the passage, if a site's head were halved while the flow were doubled, the power output would be roughly:

2 marks

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Doubling either quantity doubles the output; combine the two effects.

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Answer: C. unchanged

Power is proportional to both flow and head. Halving head gives ½, doubling flow gives ×2, so the output is about ½ × 2 = 1 times the original.

20. In the passage, a 'penstock' is:

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The passage defines the term directly.

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Answer: D. a pipe that carries water down to the turbine

'The water enters a pipe called a penstock and falls to a turbine in a powerhouse below.'

21. According to the passage, many micro-hydro plants have failed mainly because:

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Read the 'not because … but because' sentence.

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Answer: B. no one in the village was trained to maintain them

The passage says plants failed 'not because of engineering faults but because no one in the village was trained to maintain them'.

Read the passage, then answer the questions below

A modern processor can carry out billions of operations every second, but fetching data from main memory takes far longer than a single operation. If the processor had to wait for main memory every time it needed a number, most of its speed would be wasted. The solution used in almost every computer is the cache: a small, very fast memory placed close to the processor that keeps copies of recently used data. Caching works because programs are predictable in a particular way. Data that has just been used is likely to be used again soon, and data stored next to it is likely to be needed shortly afterwards. These two tendencies are known as temporal and spatial locality. When the processor requests a value, the cache is checked first. If the value is there, called a hit, it is returned almost immediately. If it is not, called a miss, the value is fetched from main memory together with its neighbours, and an older entry in the cache is discarded to make room. The same idea appears far beyond the processor. Web browsers store copies of images from pages you have visited, so that returning to a site is faster. However, a cache brings a new problem: its copy may become out of date when the original changes. Deciding when to throw away or refresh stored copies is one of the trickier parts of designing any caching system.

22. What is the main idea of the passage?

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Which statement covers all three paragraphs?

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Answer: B. A cache speeds up computing by keeping copies of likely-needed data in a small, fast memory.

The passage explains why caches are needed (slow main memory), how they work (locality, hits and misses), and where else the idea is used.

23. According to the passage, 'spatial locality' refers to the tendency that:

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'Spatial' relates to space or position.

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Answer: B. data stored next to recently used data is likely to be needed soon

The two tendencies are listed in order: reuse of the same data (temporal) and use of neighbouring data (spatial).

24. According to the passage, what happens on a cache 'miss'?

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Contrast the description of a hit with that of a miss.

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Answer: D. The value and its neighbours are fetched from main memory, and an older entry is removed.

On a miss 'the value is fetched from main memory together with its neighbours, and an older entry in the cache is discarded to make room.'

25. Which situation best illustrates the problem mentioned in the last paragraph?

2 marks

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Find the sentence starting 'However, a cache brings a new problem'.

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Answer: A. A browser shows an old version of a news page after the website has been updated.

The problem is that a cached copy may become out of date when the original changes — exactly what happens when an old page is shown after an update. Faster second visits are the benefit, not the problem.

Read the passage, then answer the questions below

Every bridge must carry its own weight and the weight of whatever crosses it down to the ground. Engineers describe the ways in which this happens in terms of two kinds of force: compression, which squeezes a material, and tension, which stretches it. Stone and concrete are strong in compression but crack easily when pulled, whereas steel cable is extremely strong in tension but simply bends if it is pushed. An arch bridge makes use of compression. The load on the deck pushes outward and downward along the curve of the arch to the supports at each end, called abutments, which must be firm enough not to spread apart. This is why stone arches built centuries ago are still standing: every stone is being pressed against its neighbours. A suspension bridge works the other way round. The deck hangs from vertical cables attached to main cables, which pass over tall towers and are fixed into massive anchorages on each bank. The main cables are in tension, while the towers are compressed. Because steel cable is so strong for its weight, suspension bridges can cross wider gaps than any other type. The many pedestrian suspension bridges across rivers in Nepal follow the same principle on a smaller scale. The weakness of the suspension design is its flexibility. Wind and moving loads can make the deck sway or twist, and engineers must stiffen it carefully to prevent dangerous oscillations.

26. According to the passage, in a suspension bridge:

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Cables pull; towers are pushed down.

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Answer: A. the main cables are in tension and the towers are in compression

'The main cables are in tension, while the towers are compressed.'

27. Why does the passage suggest that stone is well suited to building arches?

2 marks

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Combine paragraph 1 (material strengths) with paragraph 2 (how an arch works).

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Answer: B. Stone is strong in compression, and an arch keeps its material in compression.

Stone is strong in compression but weak when pulled; an arch carries loads by pressing each stone against its neighbours, so it uses stone's strength.

28. In the passage, 'abutments' are:

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The term is explained in the same sentence.

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Answer: C. the supports at each end of an arch

The passage defines them as 'the supports at each end, called abutments'.

29. According to the passage, the main weakness of suspension bridges is that they:

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See the final paragraph.

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Answer: A. are flexible and can sway or twist in wind

'The weakness of the suspension design is its flexibility. Wind and moving loads can make the deck sway or twist.' They actually cross the widest gaps.

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As temperatures in the Himalaya rise, many glaciers are retreating, and the meltwater often collects behind the loose ridges of rock and soil that the glaciers left behind. These ridges, called moraines, were never shaped by nature to hold back water. As a glacial lake grows, the pressure on its moraine dam increases. A sudden trigger, such as an avalanche of ice falling into the lake, an earthquake, or simply water seeping through the dam, can cause it to fail. The result is a glacial lake outburst flood, in which millions of cubic metres of water rush down the valley within hours, carrying boulders and destroying bridges, fields and houses far downstream. Scientists monitor these lakes using satellite images, which show how quickly each one is expanding. Lakes that are both large and growing fast, with settlements or hydropower plants below them, are given the highest priority. In a few cases, engineers have lowered the water level by cutting an outlet channel or by siphoning water out, reducing the volume that could be released. Such projects are expensive and difficult to carry out at altitudes above 4,500 metres. For this reason many communities also rely on early warning systems: sensors near the lake that detect a sudden rise in water level and send an alarm to villages below, giving people time to move to higher ground. Reducing the risk, therefore, combines engineering, observation and preparation rather than depending on any one of them.

30. What is the passage mainly about?

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Choose the option that covers both the problem and the response.

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Answer: D. How warming creates dangerous glacial lakes and how their flood risk is managed.

The passage explains the formation and failure of moraine-dammed lakes and then the monitoring, engineering and warning measures used against outburst floods.

31. According to the passage, why are moraine dams likely to fail?

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Look at how the passage describes moraines.

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Answer: D. They are loose ridges of rock and soil not naturally shaped to hold back water.

Moraines are 'loose ridges of rock and soil' that 'were never shaped by nature to hold back water'.

32. Based on the passage, which lake would scientists most likely treat as the highest priority?

2 marks

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Check each option against all the conditions listed in paragraph 2.

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Answer: B. A large lake growing quickly, with a village and a hydropower plant downstream.

Priority goes to lakes 'both large and growing fast, with settlements or hydropower plants below them'. Only the first option meets all three conditions.

33. Which of the following would be the best title for this passage on glacial lakes?

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A title should capture the passage as a whole.

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Answer: C. Living Below Melting Ice: Managing Glacial Lake Risk

The passage is about the hazard of glacial lake outburst floods and the combined measures used to reduce it; the other titles are too narrow or off-topic.