Short Reading Passages With Multiple Choice Questions
Passage 1 - Opera
Opera refers to a dramatic art course, originating in Europe, in which the emotional content is conveyed to the audition equally much through music, both vocal and instrumental, every bit it is through the lyrics. By dissimilarity, in musical theater an actor's dramatic performance is main, and the music plays a lesser function. The drama in opera is presented using the primary elements of theater such every bit scenery, costumes, and acting. However, the words of the opera, or libretto, are sung rather than spoken. The singers are accompanied past a musical ensemble ranging from a modest instrumental ensemble to a full symphonic orchestra.
A) has developed nether the influence of musical theater
B) is a drama sung with the accompaniment of an orchestra
C) is not a high-upkeep production
D) is often performed in Europe
E) is the most complex of all the performing arts
A) people are captivated more than by opera than musical theater
B) drama in opera is more important than the music
C) orchestras in operas can vary considerably in size
D) musical theater relies above all on music
Eastward) there is argument over whether the music is important or the words in
opera
A) acting and costumes are secondary to music in musical theater
B) many people find musical theater more captivating than opera
C) music in musical theater is non every bit important every bit it is in opera
D) an opera requires a huge orchestra as well equally a big choir
E) opera doesn't have any properties in common with musical theater
Passage 2 - Dolphins
Dolphins are regarded every bit the friendliest creatures in the sea and stories of them helping drowning sailors have been common since Roman times. The more we learn near dolphins, the more nosotros realize that their guild is more circuitous than people previously imagined. They look later on other dolphins when they are sick, intendance for pregnant mothers and protect the weakest in the community, as we do. Some scientists have suggested that dolphins accept a linguistic communication merely information technology is much more than probable that they communicate with each other without needing words. Could any of these mammals be more intelligent than man? Certainly the most common argument in favor of man's superiority over them that we can kill them more easily than they can kill the states is the least satisfactory. On the reverse, the more than we discover well-nigh these remarkable creatures, the less we appear superior when we destroy them.
A) don't want to be with us as much every bit nosotros want to be with them
B) are proven to be less intelligent than once thought
C) have a reputation for beingness friendly to humans
D) are the about powerful creatures that live in the oceans
East) are capable of learning a language and communicating with humans
A) ways that they are improve adapted to their environment than nosotros are
B) shows that dolphins have a very sophisticated class of communication
C) proves that dolphins are non the most intelligent species at sea
D) does not hateful that we are superior to them
E) proves that Dolphins have linguistic skills far beyond what we
previously idea
A) dolphins are quite abundant in some areas of the earth
B) communication is the nearly fascinating attribute of the dolphins
C) dolphins have skills that no other living creatures have such every bit the
ability to retrieve
D) it is not usual for dolphins to communicate with each other
East) dolphins have some social traits that are similar to those of humans
Passage 3 - Unsinkable Ship
Naval architects never claim that a ship is unsinkable, but the sinking of the passenger-and-car ferry Estonia in the Baltic surely should have never have happened. It was well designed and carefully maintained. It carried the proper number of lifeboats. Information technology had been thoroughly inspected the day of its fatal voyage. Yet hours later, the Estonia rolled over and sank in a cold, stormy night. It went down so apace that most of those on board, caught in their dark, flooding cabins, had no chance to save themselves: Of those who managed to scramble overboard, only 139 survived. The rest died of hypothermia before the rescuers could pluck them from the cold sea. The final death cost amounted to 912 souls. However, there were an unpleasant number of questions nearly why the Estonia sank and why so many survivors were men in the prime of life, while nigh of the dead were women, children and the elderly.
A) the lifesaving equipment did not piece of work well and lifeboats could not be
lowered
B) design faults and incompetent crew contributed to the sinking of the
Estonia ferry
C) 139 people managed to exit the vessel just died in freezing water
D) naval architects claimed that the Estonia was unsinkable
E) most victims were trapped inside the gunkhole equally they were in their cabins
A) helped one some other to overcome the tragedy that had affected them
all
B) were mostly young men only women, children and the elderly stood piffling
hazard
C) helped save hundreds of lives
D) are still suffering from severe mail service-traumatic stress disorder
E) told the investigators nothing nearly the accident
A) there were merely 139 passengers on board
B) few of the passengers were asleep
C) in that location were enough lifeboats for the number of people on lath
D) faster reaction by the crew could have increased the Republic of estonia's
chances of survival
E) all the passengers had already moved out into the open decks
Passage 4 - Erosion in America
Erosion of America's farmland by air current and water has been a problem since settlers kickoff put the prairies and grasslands under the turn in the nineteenth century. By the 1930s, more than 282 1000000 acres of farmland were damaged past erosion. After twoscore years of conservation efforts, soil erosion has accelerated due to new demands placed on the state by heavy crop production. In the years alee, soil erosion and the pollution bug it causes are likely to replace petroleum scarcity as the nation's nearly critical natural resource problem.
A) causes humans to place new demands on the land
B) is worse than it was in the nineteenth century
C) happens and so slowly that it is hardly noticed
D) is the most disquisitional problem that the nation faces
East) is worse in areas which have a lot of petroleum production
A) has damaged 282 million acres e'er since settlers first put the prairies
and grasslands under the turn
B) has been so astringent that it has forced people to carelessness their
settlements
C) occurs only in areas with no vegetation
D) can become a more serious problem in the future
E) was on the decline earlier 1930s
A) petroleum is causing heavy soil erosion and pollution bug
B) heavy crop product is necessary to meet the demands and to
prevent a disaster
C) soil erosion has been hastened due to the overuse of farming lands
D) water is undoubtedly the largest cause of erosion
E) in that location are many ways to reduce erosion
Source: https://www.grammarbank.com/short-reading-comprehension-passages.html