SECTION 3

READING COMPREHENSION
Time – 55 minutes
(including the reading of the directions)
Now set your clock for 55 minutes.

This section is designed to measure your ability to read and understand short passages similar in topic and style to those
that student are likely to encounter in North American universities and colleges. This section contains reading passages
and questions about the passages.

Directions: In this section you will read several passages. Each one is followed by number of questions about it. You are
to choose the one best answer, (A), (B), (C), or (D), to each question. Then, on your answer sheet, find the number of the
question and fill in the space that corresponds to the letter of the answer you have chosen.

Answer all questions about the information in a passage on the basis of what is stated or implied in that passage.

Read the following passage:

John Quincy Adams, who served as the sixth president of the United Stated from 1825 to 1829, is today
recognized for his masterful statesmanship and diplomacy. He dedicated his life to public service, both in the
presidency and in the various other political offices that he held. Throughout his political career he demonstrated
Line
his unswerving belief in freedom of speech. The antislavery cause, and the right of Americans to be free from
(5)
European and Asian domination.

Example Ι
Sample Answer
To what did John Quincy Adams devote his life? A

(A) Improving his personal life B

(B) Serving the public C

(C) Increasing his fortune
(D) Working on his private business. D

According to the passage, John Quincy Adams “dedicated his life to public service”. Therefore, you should choose
answer (B).
Example ΙΙ
Sample Answer
In line 4, the word “unswerving” is closest in meaning to
A

(A) Moveable B
(B) Insignificant
C
(C) Unchanging
(D) Diplomatic D

The passage states that John Quincy Adams demonstrated his unswerving belief “throughout his career” This implies
that the belief did not change. Therefore, you should choose answer (C)
Questions 1-9

Mother Teresa was born in Albania in 1910, and died in 1997. Her real name is
Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu. She became famous worldwide for starting the
Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta, India. She began this work in 1950 and for over
forty years, she looked after the poor, sick, orphaned and dying. She won the
Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 for her humanitarian work.
Agnes developed an interest in helping the less fortunate at a very young age. She
was fascinated by stories of people who dedicated their life to help others. So
decided to become a nun when she was 12. She joined the Sisters of Loreto as a
missionary when she was 18. She initially went to Ireland, to learn English.
She arrived in India in 1929 and became a nun two years later. The poverty and
suffering she saw around her in Calcutta deeply disturbed her. A famine in 1943
killed thousands and worsened the situation. In 1946 she received a call from God.
“I was to leave the convent and help the poor while living among them. It was an
order,” she said.
She was an international symbol of charity, visiting many countries to help poor
children. At the time of her death, her organization was operating in 123 countries.
After she died, the Pope started the process that might one day make her a saint.
An international survey ranked her as the “most admired person of the 20 th
century.”

1.- What kind of test is this?

a) Story
b) Biography
c) New
d) Poem

2.- What is the text about?

a) Mother’s Teresa charity.

b) Mother’s Teresa achievements.
c) Mother’s Teresa life.
d) Mother’s Teresa prizes.

3.- According to the passage, Mother Teresa

lived with poor people
a) She wanted to be with people.
b) She became famous.
c) She felt sad.
d) She obeyed an order.
4.- Why did she decided to help people?

a) She was forced.

b) She didn’t have a house.
c) She knew about other people´s stories
d) She liked it.

5.- When did she became a nun?

a) When she was 12

b) When she was young
c) In 1929
d) In 1931

6.-What does ‘famine’ mean?

a) Big disease
b) Pandemic
c) No food
d) war

7.-Why did she become famous?

a) Her charity
b) She helped people.
c) She established a congregation.
d) She felt poor people.

8.- you change word ‘suffering’ for

a) pain
b) refuse
c) reconciled
d) embrace

9.- The expression ‘she received a call’ means

a) She had a call phone.

b) Someone called her.
c) She had a divine call.
d) She heard something strange.
Questions 10-19

The history of graffiti

The first drawings on walls appeared in caves thousands of years ago. Later the
Ancient Romans and Greeks wrote their names and protest poems on buildings.
Modern graffiti seems to have appeared in Philadelphia in the early 1960s, and by
the late sixties it had reached New York. The new art form really took off in the
1970s, when people began writing their names, or ‘tags’, on buildings all over the
city. In the mid-seventies it was sometimes hard to see out of a subway car
window, because the trains were completely covered in spray paintings known as
‘masterpieces’.

In the early days, the ‘taggers’ were part of street gangs who were concerned with
marking their territory. They worked in groups called ‘crews’, and called what they
did ‘writing’ – the term ‘graffiti’ was first used by The New York Times and the
novelist Norman Mailer. Art galleries in New York began buying graffiti in the early
seventies. But at the same time that it began to be regarded as an art form, John
Lindsay, the then mayor of New York, declared the first war on graffiti. By the
1980s it became much harder to write on subway trains without being caught, and
instead many of the more established graffiti artists began using roofs of buildings
or canvases.

The debate over whether graffiti is art or vandalism is still going on. Peter Vallone,
a New York city councilor, thinks that graffiti done with permission can be art, but if
it is on someone else’s property it becomes a crime. ‘I have a message for the
graffiti vandals out there,’ he said recently. ‘Your freedom of expression ends
where my property begins.’ On the other hand, Felix, a member of the Berlin-based
group Reclaim Your City, says that artists are reclaiming cities for the public from
advertisers, and that graffiti represents freedom and makes cities more vibrant.

For decades graffiti has been a springboard to international fame for a few. Jean-
Michel Basquiat began spraying on the street in the 1970s before becoming a
respected artist in the ’80s. The Frenchman Blek le Rat and the British artist
Banksy have achieved international fame by producing complex works with
stencils, often making political or humorous points. Works by Banksy have been
sold for over £100,000. Graffiti is now sometimes big business.

10.- Why was the seventies an important decade in the history of graffiti?

a) That was when modern graffiti first appeared.

 b) That was when modern graffiti first became really popular.
c) That was when graffiti first reached New York.

11.- What is a 'masterpiece' in graffiti?

a) A really high-quality piece of graffiti.

b) A work of graffiti showing the artist's name.
c) A full piece of graffiti, like those seen on subway trains.

12.- What was the main motivation for the first taggers?

a) Showing which streets belonged to which gangs.

b) Creating a strong visual identity for their 'crew'.
c) Sending coded messages to other gangs.

13.- Who coined the phrase 'graffiti'?

a) New York gangs who had a lot of Italian immigrant members.

b) A newspaper and an author.
c) The man who was the mayor of New York in the late seventies.

14.- How did things change after the first war on graffiti?

a) It was considered a more serious crime.

b) Graffiti artists had to find different places to paint.
c) New York looked a lot cleaner.

15.- What does New York city councilor Peter Vallone say about graffiti?

a) Graffiti can be good for cities as long as it is tasteful and conveys positive
messages.
b) Graffiti can be beautiful if it is done by a skilled artist.
c) Graffiti is a crime if the artist does not have permission.

16.- What do the Berlin-based group Reclaim Your City say about graffiti?

a) Involving young people in graffiti stops them getting involved with serious
crime.
b) Graffiti helps the public to own the streets and take control away from
advertisers.
 c) Graffiti actually increases the value of property by making the area more
attractive.

17.- What is the author's final point?

a) Graffiti has now become mainstream and can make artists a lot of money.
b) Graffiti is not a good way to become a respected artist.
c) Some of the most popular graffiti artists end up being exploited by the art
world.

18.- People who graffiti their names are called

a) Taggers
b) Crews
c) Vandal
d) Springboard

19.- A piece of plastic, cardboard or other material with a design cut into it to
reproduce that pattern is called a
a) Canvas
b) Crews
c) Stencil
d) Spray pints
Questions 20-28

Video games are good for you!

For years video games have been criticised for making people more antisocial,
overweight or depressed. But now researchers are finding that games can actually
change us for the better and improve both our body and mind.

Games can help to develop physical skills. Pre-school children who played
interactive games such as the ones available on Wii have been shown to have
improved motor skills, for example they can kick, catch and throw a ball better than
children who don’t play video games. A study of surgeons who do microsurgery in
Boston found that those who played video games were 27 per cent faster and
made 37 per cent fewer errors than those who didn't. Vision is also improved,
particularly telling the difference between shades of grey. This is useful for driving
at night, piloting a plane or reading X-rays.

Games also benefit a variety of brain functions, including decision-making. People

who play action-based games make decisions 25 per cent faster than others and
are no less accurate, according to one study. It was also found that the best
gamers can make choices and act on them up to six times a second, four times
faster than most people. In another study by researchers from the University of
Rochester in New York, experienced gamers were shown to be able to pay
attention to more than six things at once without getting confused, compared with
the four that most people can normally keep in mind. Additionally, video games can
also reduce gender differences. Scientists have found that women who play games
are better able to mentally manipulate 3D objects.

There is also evidence that gaming can help with psychological problems. At the
University of Auckland in New Zealand, researchers asked 94 young people
diagnosed with depression to play a 3D fantasy game called SPARX and in many
cases, the game reduced symptoms of depression more than conventional
treatment. Another research team at Oxford University found that playing Tetris
shortly after exposure to something very upsetting – in the experiment, a film of
traumatic scenes of injury and death was used – can actually prevent people
having disturbing flashbacks.

The effects are not always so positive, however. Indiana University researchers
carried out brain scans on young men and found evidence that violent games can
alter brain function after as little as a week of play, affecting regions in the brain
associated with emotional control and causing more aggressive behaviour in the
player. But Daphne Bavelier, one of the most experienced researchers in the field,
says that the violent action games that often worry parents most may actually have
the strongest beneficial effect on the brain. In the future, we may see many
treatments for physical and neurological problems which incorporate the playing of
video games.

20.- Only relatively recently have people started to realize ___.

a) the harmful effects of video games

b) the beneficial effects of video games
c) how much we don't know about video games' effects
d) how much video games affect the people that play them

21.- Very young children show improved ___ after playing video games.

a) muscle control and co-ordination

b) social interaction
c) decision-making
d) ability to differentiate between different colours

22.- Playing video games helps doctors ___.

a) do operations and read X-rays

b) make decisions under pressure
c) operate complex equipment
d) tend to more than one patient at a time

23.- Video gamers' decision-making speed is significantly improved by ___.

a) years of gaming experience

b) long periods of game playing
c) playing video games in short bursts
d) certain types of video game

24.- Women who play video games demonstrate ___.

a) faster reaction speeds

b) reduced stress levels
c) better spatial awareness
 d) better multitasking ability

25.- In one research study, the video game Tetris helped people to ___.

a) improve their concentration

b) overcome depression
c) forget disturbing experiences
d) make decisions faster

26.- Research shows that violent video games ___.

a) have no negative effects on players

b) only affect players' brains after extended hours of play
c) may have positive and negative effects on the brain
d) only affect players' brains in beneficial ways

27.- In the future, computer games may be used for ___.

a) treating a variety of medical problems

b) training doctors to deal with emotional pressure
c) helping parents to deal with difficult teenagers
d) treating prisoners with a history of violent behaviour

28.- Their research showed that violent video games affect emotional control and
may cause more aggressive

a) field
b) errors
c) shades
d) behaviour