Reading Passages

Factual Passage

Example:
Read the following passage carefully:

High-tech Dentistry
Welcome to the brave new world of high-tech dentistry. Here, teeth stained by coffee, tea and tobacco are bleached considerably white in a single sitting, and crowned and laminated in a single visit. Infected gum tissue can be vaporized bloodlessly in a few minutes with lasers.

Even though restorative dentistry dates back to ancient civilizations, it is, in a sense, a new art and one that is increasingly in demand. Indeed, restorative dentistry has become a multi-billion-dollar industry. More and more people are clamouring for dentistry that not only ensures good oral health, but also helps attract admiring glances and raises self-esteem.

If you need a restoration - either an inlay that replaces part of a tooth or a crown that covers it entirely, some dentists offer a space-age ticket called Cerec. This laser scanner outlines and preserves the genetic design of your tooth with precision. It calculates the tooth's exact size and shape, creates a three-dimensional computer image and sends it to a milling unit where, in minutes diamond burrs transform a tiny block of ceramic that is coloured to match the enamel of your other tooth into a natural looking crown.
-------Readers Digest

On the basis of your reading the above passage, answer the following questions as briefly as possible:

1. Name two things that can be done in a very short time in high-tech dentistry.

Suggested answer:
The two things are:

• Teeth can be polished in a single sitting.
  
  
• They can be crowned and laminated in a single visit.
  
  

2. How does restorative dentistry help in raising self-esteem?

Suggested answer:

One can overcome all the problems of poor oral health and have sparkling teeth. One is not ashamed but proud to smile.

3. Why is Cerec called a space-age ticket?

Suggested answer:

It is a high-tech gadget, which preserves the genetic design of a person's tooth with great precision and can almost instantly transform a small block of ceramic into a crown.

A.1.2 Find one word or phrase which means:

a. a continuous demand

b. to respect and approve

c. returning something to its mineral state

d. related to heredity

e. with exactness

Suggested answer:

a. a continuous demand - clamour

b. to respect and approve - admire

c. returning something to its mineral state - restore

d. related to heredity - genetic

f. with exactness - precision

Literary Passage

Example:

Read the following passage carefully:

Inside the caravan, I stood on a chair and lit the oil lamp in the ceiling. I had some weekend homework to do and this was as good a time as any to do it. I laid my books on the table and sat down. But I found it impossible to keep my mind on my work.

The clock showed half past seven. This was the twilight time. He would be there now. I pictured him in his old navy blue sweater and peaked cap, walking soft-footed up the track towards the wood. He told me he wore the sweater because navy-blue hardly showed up in the dark, black was even better, he said. The peaked cap was important too, he explained, because the peak casts a shadow over one's face. Just about now he would be wriggling through the hedge and entering the wood. Inside the wood, I could see him treading carefully over the leafy ground, stopping, listening, going on again and all the time searching and searching for the keeper who would be standing somewhere, as still as a post, behind a big tree with a gun under his arm. Keepers hardly move at all when they are in a wood watching for poachers, he had told me. They stand dead still right up against the trunk of a tree and its not easy to spot a motionless man in that position at twilight.

I closed my books. It was no good trying to work. I decided to go to bed instead. I left the lamp burning. Soon I fell asleep.

When I opened my eyes again, the oil-lamp was still glowing and the clock on the wall showed ten minutes past two.

I was out of my bunk and looked into the bunk above mine. It was empty. He promised he would be home by ten thirty at the latest and he never broke promises.

At that moment, a frightful sense of doom came over me. Something really had happened to him this time. I felt quite certain of it.

Danny, the Champion of the World - Roald Dahl.

On the basis of your reading the above passage, answer the following:

1. Who do you think is the narrator?

Suggested answer:

The narrator seems to be a young boy.

2. Pick out a sentence from paragraph -1 that indicates his smallness.

Suggested answer:

I stood on a chair and lit the oil lamp in the ceiling.

3. Where was the young boy living?

Suggested answer:

He was living in a caravan.

4. Did the narrator share a close relationship with 'he'? How can you tell?

Suggested answer:

Yes, the narrator was fond of 'he'. He thinks about the person constantly, wondering what his next action could be. The whole tone in which he describes him is affectionate.

5. Who do you think 'he' is?

Suggested answer:

'He' could be the boy's father or an adult male with whom the boy shared a close relationship.

6. Where was 'he'?

Suggested answer:

'He' was in a dark wood.

7. Was 'he' trying to evade the keepers? How can you tell?

Suggested answer:

'He' was moving softly and stealthily through the wood. He was dressed to camouflage himself from the keepers. In addition, he seemed to be aware of the keepers' movements in the woods.

8. What do you think 'he' was trying to do in the woods?

Suggested answer:

Perhaps 'he' was a wildlife photographer who wanted to take some candid shots or maybe, he was a poacher, in pursuit of birds and animals.

9. From the paragraph - 2, pick out words or phrases that suggest motion.

Suggested answer:

Words or phrases that suggest motion are: Walking soft-footed, wriggling through, entering, treading carefully, stopping and going on.

Discursive Passage

Example:

Read the following passage carefully:

Playing to Western Tunes

Where do you think revealing raiment's, weird slang and our youths' dismaying attitudes come from? Very obviously they are the results of attempts to emulate the western world.

Probe into the subject, delve into its various effects - you will be shocked at how rapidly Western culture is corroding our culture - exclusively ours, exclusively to be proud of, to rust. These spicy sauces of Western culture surely flatter the palate, but in course of time won't they canker it too?

Western countries do have desirable elements worth copying. But are we taking in those positive elements? No, we seem to be merely diving into the external glitter of the West.

The root of all this misfortune lies in the soil nourished by the word 'modern'. What does 'modern' mean to us? Do we become modern by wearing outrageous clothes that make us look like aliens? Does modernism set in by profuse use of western slang?

Life for today's youth means rocketing in BMWs or piercing flesh, late night parties, and black nail enamel and red mane. That is what a good percent of our younger generation have become, as a result of the obsessive aping of the glittering West.
--- Femina (December 2000)

I. On the basis of your reading the above passage, answer the following:

1. Fill in the spaces to make a summary of the passage:

.

The writer feels that the younger _________ is _________ by Western culture. She strongly feels that the emphasis on _________ culture is weaning them away from our own _________. She feels that the clothes and the language of our youth are _________. This is largely because our youth are unable to distinguish clearly between the _________ and negative aspects of Western culture. She thinks that wearing clothes that make you look like _________ does not in any way make a person _________. The youth are so engrossed with the _________ features of modernity that they forget that it comes from _________ oneself

Suggested answer:

The writer feels that the younger generation is carried away by western culture. She strongly feels that the emphasis on western culture is weaning them away from our own culture. She feels that the clothes and the language of our youth are outrageous. This is largely because our youth are unable to distinguish clearly between the positive and negative aspects of western culture. She thinks that wearing clothes that make you look like aliens does not in any way make a person modern. The youth are so engrossed with the external features of modernity that they forget that it comes from within oneself.

II. Answer the following briefly:

1. Find a word in paragraph -1, which means clothes.

Suggested answer:

The word, which means clothes, is 'raiments'.

2. Which word in paragraph -1 means 'a kind of language'?

Suggested answer:

The word is 'slang'.

3. Find the word in paragraph -1, which means, 'cause sores'.

Suggested answer:

The word is 'canker'.

4. Which word in paragraph - 3 means 'in keeping with the times'?

Suggested answer:

The word is modern.

5. Pick out two things that the writer identifies with modern youth.

Suggested answer:

'Black nail enamel and red mane' (hair) are both departures from tradition.