Reading Comprehension #10 - Intermediate

Tom trekked to Everest Base Camp to raise money for charity. Read his competition-winning article and match the headings to the correct paragraph.

Trying not to look down! An adventure in memory of my grandfather 0   a I’ve always been afraid of heights. Even climbing up a ladder to change a light bulb or paint the ceiling makes me feel quite sick, so imagine everyone’s surprise when I announced that I would be trekking to Everest Base Camp which is over 5,000 metres above sea level. Well, it’s all about overcoming your fears and challenging yourself, isn’t it? 1   ___ I’ve wanted to raise money for charity for a long time and when I saw an advertisement in the paper I jumped at the chance and I’d signed up. Of course as soon as I’d made my decision, I started to panic. What was I thinking? I’d never be able to get fit enough. I wouldn’t be able to cope. 2   ___ What kept me going, however, was the thought that I was doing this for my grandfather who was such a great influence on me as a child. I miss him every day and I felt that this would be the best way to commemorate his life as he was a great adventurer and used to tell me stories of his travels around the world. He’d always wanted to see the great mountain but had never managed to get there. 3   ___ Training was hard but I was determined to carry on. I went to the gym several times a week and went jogging after work. Not only that, I also had to raise money for the charity. I sent out letters to everyone I knew and I asked my colleagues to sponsor me. I held coffee mornings and even went to the local schools to give talks. 4   ___ And finally departure day arrived and soon we were standing in Lukla, at the foot of the mountain, ready to start our trek. Although I was physically fit, nothing could have prepared me for the mental challenge. I had to face my fear of heights every single moment. Crossing rope bridges hundreds of feet above raging rivers made my stomach turn but I carried on and thought of how proud my grandfather would have been. 5   ___ I would say that all the climbers went through some personal highs and lows but I’m proud to say that I achieved everything I set out to do. I raised money for those who’ve had a difficult start in life and I’ve done something that no-one believed I could do. In fact, I felt so good when I came back that I started to look for new challenges and am now thinking of running in next year’s London Marathon. Watch this space...

 

Match the headings to the correct paragraph.

a Motivation.

b A sense of achievement.

c Fundraising.

d Second thoughts

e Overcoming obstacles

f Inspiration

 

 

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Reading Comprehension #9 - Intermediate

Complete the article with the sentences below. There is one extra sentence.

The best job in the world? Choosing a career is surely one of the most important decisions we’ll ever have to make. (0) ___a___ With one click on a website we can apply for jobs on the other side of the world in the hope of making our dreams come true. (1) _______ . The job was for six months and involved living on Hamilton Island on the Great Barrier Reef and looking after the environment there. Not only was there a very good salary but the perks included a beachside mansion boasting magnificent ocean views as well as a private swimming pool. Not surprisingly there were thousands of applicants from all over the world. After a few months, the candidates were down to the final 16 and these lucky few were flown over to the Island for the final selection process. (2) _______ . Ben, a bungee-jumping, scuba-diving charity fundraiser could hardly believe his luck when he heard that he had beaten over 34,000 other candidates to win this dream job. (3) _______ . Paradise was, however, not quite the dream he had anticipated. Instead of relaxing in the sun, Ben had very little time for any relaxation as he found himself working seven days a week and up to 19 hours a day. He had a demanding schedule involving promotional events, press conferences and administration and by the end of his contract, he had visited 90 exotic locations, made 47 video diaries and given more than 250 media interviews including a chat with Oprah Winfrey. (4) _______ . As part of his job he posted more than 75,000 words in 60 separate blogs, uploaded more than 2,000 photos and tweeted more than 730 times. Although some might argue that the blogs didn’t reveal much personal information, his bosses at Tourism Queensland were so pleased with his work that they offered him a new 18-month contract to promote their state worldwide. (5) _______ . In the end this competition, part reality TV show, generated more than $110 million dollars in free publicity.

 

Match the sentences so they best fit to the correct gaps.

a Today, thanks to the Internet, the world is a much smaller place.

b Six months on a tropical island with little more to do than lazing in the sun, snorkelling and writing a weekly blog about life in paradise

c Perhaps this really was the best job in the world after all.

d And this is just what happened to 34-year-old Ben Southall who replied to an advertisement put on the web by Tourism Queensland in Australia.

e He soon realised that this job wasn’t going to be as easy as he had originally thought.

f And as if that wasn’t enough, he also had to meet local politicians, tourists and travel industry representatives.

g They had to prepare an online video, demonstrate their swimming and snorkelling skills and show how they would sell Queensland to the world.

 

 

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Reading Comprehension #8 - Intermediate

Read this email and choose the correct answer.

Hi Laura Hope all’s well with you and the family. I’ve been meaning to write to you for ages but a lot’s been going on and I wanted to wait until I was more settled before I sent you this email. You probably heard from Tina that things weren’t going too well at work. I didn’t get the promotion I’d applied for after my boss left and the person who got the job was a nightmare. I don’t think anyone liked her and she certainly made my life very difficult. I found I was working incredibly long hours and taking work home because I didn’t want her to criticise me. Of course that meant that I wasn’t paying enough attention to Mike and the children. Jack has just started at secondary school and he’s at that difficult age where he wants more independence but he’s still just a kid. You know what it’s like! Hannah has been great though and I’m very grateful that she has been so patient – it can’t have been easy for her either. After a few months I decided to take the plunge and quit. I went into the office and told my boss that I wanted to leave and as soon as I’d spoken the words I felt so relieved. I walked out of the office a new woman. Of course a few days later I started to wonder whether I’d made the right decision so I made an appointment to see a life coach who was really great. In just two hours she managed to give me a new sense of focus. We made lots of lists and now I have a plan for the way forward and have never been happier. I get up every day now with a feeling of excitement instead of panic and I spend my time doing what I love – cooking. Who would have thought that I’d be able to make money doing something as simple and as enjoyable as preparing food for children’s birthday parties? It’s taken time to get to where I am now but if I hadn’t hated my job so much I wouldn’t have had the courage to quit and start a new path. I only wish I’d done it sooner but, as they say, better late than never. I hope you’ll come and visit soon. You can help me with some new ideas for birthday cakes. Love to everyone Jen xx

 

Choose the correct answer.

0 Jen hasn’t written for a while because.

a she has moved house.

b a lot of things have changed.

c she’s been too busy.

1 After her boss left,

a Jen was turned down for promotion.

b Jen got on well with her new boss.

c Jen worked from home.

2.

a Hannah has been behaving badly.

b Jack is a responsible teenager.

c Hannah has been understanding.

3.

a Jen immediately regretted resigning.

b Jen felt much better after resigning.

c Jen wished she hadn’t resigned.

4.

a Jen wrote down a lot of ideas for the future.

b Jen found a new job two hours later.

c Jen spent a few days planning her future.

5.

a Jen panics about the future now.

b Jen looks forward to the future.

c Jen regrets leaving her job.

 

 

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Reading Comprehension #7 - Intermediate

Read the article and answer the questions. Dayton High School is celebrating its centenary this year. In this article, former students share their memories of their school years.

‘I just remember being completely terrified on my first day at Dayton High’ recalls former Head Girl, Julia Franks. ‘Everyone was so grown up and all the classrooms seemed so big but the teachers were all very kind and patient so we soon settled down and I look back over my years there with great affection.’ Leonie Brand, however, doesn’t share these warm memories. ‘From the moment I stepped through the door into my new classroom, I felt uncomfortable. It was a steep learning curve for me because my parents had educated me at home until I was 11. I don’t think I ever really fitted in so my parents decided to take me away after a term when they realised things weren’t improving.’ For academic children like Cora Dyson, the school was perfect. ‘The more homework, the better! That’s what I thought in those days. I was like a sponge and wanted to learn everything. No doubt everyone thought I was the teacher’s pet and maybe I was but I didn’t care.’ ‘I don’t really remember that much about school except that we had to learn loads of poems by heart. Our English teacher was a great fan of 19th century literature and poetry so she would make us learn endless poems and then recite them in front of the class. I hated it because I could never remember all the words and she would invariably get annoyed with me,’ said Joe Sexton. Clare Howard used to envy the girls who made everything look so easy. ‘I remember one girl in particular, Stella, who passed all her exams with flying colours. How did she do it I would ask myself. She had everything. She was pretty, popular, funny and intelligent while I had to study so hard to do well.’ ‘It’s funny but when I was at school I was really bad at French grammar though I found it quite easy to pick up the slang when we went on a school trip to Paris,’ remembers Lucy Freeman. ‘I think it had something to do with the fact that our French teacher wasn’t very interesting so we didn’t pay attention in class.'

 

Answer the following questions.

0   Who didn’t find exams easy?	Clare Howard
a) Who was probably the favourite of her teachers?	_____
b) Who has a bad memory?	_____
c) Who found it hard to settle down?	_____
d) Who found it easier to learn outside the classroom?	_____
e) Who remembers her teachers as good people?	_____

 

 

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Reading Comprehension #6 - Intermediate

Read Sarah’s blog. Are the statements true (T), false (F) or not given (NG)?

Day 12: Lake Baikal, Siberia Well, here I am in Listvyanka on the shores of Lake Baikal, the deepest and biggest freshwater lake in the world and I must say it’s absolutely freezing! I arrived yesterday afternoon after a couple of days in Irkutsk, my first stop on this Trans-Siberian adventure. The journey so far has been amazing. I left Moscow on Saturday and didn’t see anyone apart from the train guard who very kindly came into my compartment every evening to make up the bed. You might think that the time would drag being alone but this wasn’t the case. It went really quickly as I spent my time reading, dreaming and looking out of the window at the endlessly barren vistas. The snowy expanses are so dramatic at night when the full moon shines from cloudless skies so it isn’t totally dark, even in the middle of nowhere. The hotel I’m staying in now is huge and I get the feeling that I’m the only guest which is quite spooky in a way. On the first night I had supper in the restaurant and was served by three different waiters who all stood around my table looking at me. I suppose they were all desperate to do something but I couldn’t really relax and enjoy the food. After a good night’s sleep, I got up early this morning and put all my warmest clothes on as I decided to go for a walk along the shore. The water is beginning to freeze and the ice is moving out into the lake. People say that in the old days they used to lay railway tracks over the ice so that trains could cross the lake. Can you imagine how thick the ice must have been? I don’t suppose they’d do that nowadays and if they did, I don’t think I’d want to take a ride. It is so quiet and unspoilt here at this time of year though I’m sure it’s a different story in the summer when tourists arrive to go hiking, fishing and sailing. I prefer to travel when there are few other people around as it’s more atmospheric and you can get a better sense of what life is like for the people who live in these places. I’m here for another day and then back on the train to Ulan-Bator, capital of Mongolia. It’ll be so different from Siberia but probably just as cold! I don’t really know what to expect but I’ve got time to read my guidebook before I get there. Hopefully I’ll be able to find an Internet café so I can write the next instalment of my Trans-Siberian adventure.

 

True (T), false (F) or not given (NG)?

0   Sarah has been on the train for 12 days.	F
a) There were no passengers in Sarah’s train compartment.	_____
b) Sarah didn’t see any trees on the journey.	_____
c) Sarah was the only guest staying at the hotel.	_____
d) It’s possible to cross the lake by train.	_____
e) Sarah has a laptop with her.	_____

 

 

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Reading Comprehension #5 - Intermediate

Read this restaurant review and choose a word from the box which best describes the content of each paragraph.

atmosphere

location

menu

prices

recommendation

service

 

One of the things I enjoy most about travelling is that I get the chance to visit restaurants all over the world. I have been very fortunate over the years as I have tried all kinds of regional delicacies and specialities. 0   location Earlier this year my wife and I spent a few days on the Black Sea coast in Bulgaria. One of the highlights of our trip was an evening at a traditional restaurant which had wonderful views over the sea. The restaurant itself was right in the centre of the old part of the town and you could only get to it on foot. 1   _______ As soon as we arrived, we were welcomed by a charming waiter, Georgi, who showed us to a table in the window and immediately offered us a welcome drink. Although the menu was in English as well as Bulgarian, we asked for some recommendations as we didn’t recognise any of the dishes. Georgi kindly explained what the specialities of the restaurant were so we took his advice and ordered a good variety. 2   _______ The food was excellent. We had a selection of starters or ‘meze’ including a yoghurt and cucumber salad, salami, vine leaves stuffed with rice and meat and a dip made of aubergine and mayonnaise, all served with freshly baked bread. We both had grilled fish and salad for the main course and this was followed by ‘baklava’, a deliciously sweet dessert made of nuts, pastry and syrup. 3   ______ The restaurant filled up quite quickly after we arrived. There was a band playing traditional music for most of the evening. This wasn’t to everyone’s taste but it was certainly very lively and colourful. 4   ______ When the bill came I was pleasantly surprised. I had expected to pay more considering the popularity of the restaurant and its situation. I suppose you might have to pay more during the summer when there are lots of tourists but it was a very good deal for us. 5   ______ For anyone interested in experiencing the true taste of Bulgaria, I think this would be an ideal place to go. I would, however, suggest eating early if you don’t like loud music during your meal.

 

 

 

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Reading Comprehension #4 - Intermediate

Read these money saving ideas on a web forum and answer the questions.

Luke I’m a student so I really can’t afford to waste money. I have a part-time job during term time and then work full-time during the holidays. Even then it’s hard but if you shop around, you really can find some good bargains. I always go shopping at the end of the day when a lot of food is reduced because it has reached its sell-by date. It’s amazing how much you can save that way. Marek I’ve just moved to the UK. When I arrived I didn’t have any furniture but someone told me about the ‘freecycle’ scheme and I’ve managed to get almost everything I need without spending any money. Basically, if you have something you don’t want any more, you advertise it on the freecycle website and then anyone who wants it must agree to come and collect it. No-one makes any money so it really is a good exchange. Akiko I love shopping but I also enjoy buying things that are good value for money so I always wait until the sales are on. In some shops you can get as much as 70% off if you go at the right time. I probably don’t save any money in the end though as I usually buy more things because I’m so pleased to have got a bargain! Stella We live way out in the country so I don’t often manage to get to the shops and to be honest, I don’t really have the time but if I do need something, I check out the price comparison websites and of course eBay. At first I was a little nervous about shopping on-line but now I’m hooked. Jon A lot of people these days seem to buy clothes, wear them a couple of times and then give them to charity shops so that’s where I do my shopping. You can get some really good stuff and you know that your money is helping other people so it’s a win-win situation in my opinion. Paul I must admit I don’t think too much about how or where I shop but the one thing I try to do is save money on electricity and gas in the house. In the winter when it’s really cold, instead of turning up the temperature I put on another sweater and I close the doors. I encourage the children to turn off the lights when they leave the room and we don’t leave the TV or computer on standby as that uses up unnecessary energy.

Who recommends...

...shopping in the evening for cheap food?	Luke
a)...waiting until prices come down?	_____
b)...buying second-hand clothes?	_____
c)...using less energy?	_____
d)...getting free items on the Internet?	_____
e)...doing research before buying?	_____

 

 

 

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