Reading Comprehension #5 - Upper-Intermediate

Read the article and complete the gaps (1–5) with the sentences (A–E).

You only get one chance 0   One thing in common   Look on the Internet and you will find thousands of websites dedicated to extreme sports, from mountain boarding to barefoot waterskiing, sky surfing to white-water kayaking. Although these sports are all very different, they do all have one thing in common and that is a high level of inherent danger. 1   ___________________________ Whether on land, water, or in the air, these sports involve speed, height, a high level of physical exertion and spectacular stunts. One of the most extreme of these extreme sports is base jumping.  BASE stands for Buildings, Aerials, Spans (bridges) and Earth, so basically anything that is tall enough to allow someone to jump off. There are people risking life and limb all over the world and they been doing so since the 1990s when the sport really started to take off. 2   ___________________________ Dan ‘the Man’ Witchalls is Britain’s premier base jumper, a veteran with ten years’ experience. He is a roofer by profession, an appropriate line of work for someone addicted to heights. ‘I can’t drive past a new building or crane without thinking, maybe, maybe …’ he says. His business card shows him in his trademark jade-and-white jumpsuit, leaping from the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur. It reads: ‘Extreme Roofing’. 3   ___________________________ While for many sportsmen, base jumping is like an act of personal rebellion, to Witchalls it is not.  He claims that he does it because it’s fun. At his house there are two places dedicated to base: a room filled with photographs of his most impressive jumps with every building named and dated, and the room where he keeps his equipment. 4   ___________________________ The room full of photos, while highlighting Witchalls’ triumphs, also serves as a sad reminder of just how dangerous this sport can be. There are six orders of service from the funerals of jumpers he has known, including Angus ‘Gus’ Hutchison-Brown, a popular British jumper who died in Switzerland in 2009.  Over 150 people have died over the years and the list of near-fatal injuries is quite horrific yet the sport goes on with people always looking for greater challenges. 5   ___________________________ So, how do you go about becoming an officially-recognised base jumper? You can apply for an official number when you’ve carried out all four genres of jumps successfully (building, aerial, span and earth). At the moment about 1,400 base numbers have been allocated, but none to women. I wonder if this means anything?!

 

Complete the gaps (1–5) using these sentences (A–F).

One thing in common

A The signs of success.

B The derivation of BASE.

C The cost in human terms.

D Qualifications needed..

E A well-known expert?.

 

 

 

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Reading Comprehension #4 - Upper-Intermediate

Read the article and complete the gaps (1–5) with the sentences (A–E).

Think carefully before you choose. The world of work has changed so much over the past couple of decades that it can often be quite challenging to decide which career path to follow. (0) Some people are very lucky and have a vocation. They know exactly what they want to do and have always done so. For others, however, the choices can be far harder to make. When you consider that you might well be spending fifty years in the workplace, as the retirement age rises, you will realise just how important it is to spend some time thinking about what it is you really want to do. Of course, we are not all lucky enough to have the ‘perfect’ job. How many people do you know who can honestly say they wake up every morning excited about the day ahead with all its demands and challenges? (1) _________________________ It’s more a case of ‘well it’s almost the weekend’. Most people would say that they just ‘fell’ into the line of work they’re doing. They knew someone who knew someone or they just happened to be in the right place at the right time. After that, there’s a natural progression. (2) ______________________ Increasingly, however, in this age of technology, people are choosing to work from home rather than going out to work. (3) ________________________________ It is an environment which needs to function, the only difference being that there you are likely to be working on your own, which in itself can be problematic if isolation does not suit your temperament. (4) _________________________________ You need to have a clear division between home as a place to relax and home as a place to work, ideally with a separate office so that you can shut the door at the end of the working day. This existence is not for everyone and is something that should be considered very carefully.  It is hard to predict how working patterns will change over the next twenty years as unemployment levels rise, but I imagine that the workplace as we know it will disappear as more and more people find new ways to work. (5) __________________________________ Only time will tell.

 

Complete the gaps (1–5) using these sentences (A–F). There is one extra sentence.

Some people are very lucky and have a vocation.

A One job leads to another and you acquire various skills along the way..

B Working from home means you have to be very disciplined and focused.

C Perhaps there will be a return to smaller communities becoming more self-sufficient.

D I for one, can’t think of anyone.

E And home is a ‘workplace’ in much the same way as the traditional workplace.

 

 

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Reading Comprehension #3 - Upper-Intermediate

Read the posting on a web forum and answer the questions.

School days are the happiest days of your lives St Anthony’s School is celebrating its centenary this year so we are inviting all of our former students to write in with memories of their time with us. We look forward to hearing what you have to say. Philip I vividly remember my first day at school. I walked through the main doors and felt so small.  I’d been at a village school before starting at St Anthony’s so it was quite a shock to the system. Everyone seemed so much older than me and everyone seemed to know what they were doing and where they were going. Whenever I start something new, I’m reminded of that awful sinking feeling. I don’t suppose it’ll ever go away.  Marianne My favourite subject was English because I really liked our teacher. She was so passionate about literature so we all just got caught up in her enthusiasm. At the start of every lesson she would read us a short extract from whatever it was that she was reading at the time. She also encouraged us to write for ourselves and I can honestly say that I wouldn’t be a teacher myself if it hadn’t been for her influence and encouragement. Luke To be honest, I don’t have happy memories of my time at the school. I was a very introverted child and had always found it hard to make friends. Everyone seemed so sporty and competitive and I just didn’t fit in. Looking back, I wish I’d told my parents how unhappy I was instead of staying put. The one saving grace, as far as I’m concerned, was the library. Whenever we had a break I just went there and studied. Graham I’m not really academic so I don’t see the point of learning all about physics and history and all that kind of stuff. From my point of view it would have been far better if we’d done a few vocational subjects something that’s actually useful if you want to go out and get a job. I dropped out when I was 16 and got myself an apprenticeship with a local building company. I don’t think the teachers were particularly interested in anyone who didn’t want to go to university but I still see some of my classmates from time to time. Kate One of my best memories is our trip to Berlin. We’d been studying German for four years. There were fifteen of us so it was a good number. A couple of parents came along as well and we all stayed in a small hostel in the city centre. It was so good to be able to practise what we’d spent so long learning in the classroom. And amazingly people actually understood us!

Who...

...felt unappreciated by the teachers?	Graham
a)...was lonely at school?	_____
b)...was able to put theory into practice?	_____
c)...is still affected by memories of school?	_____
d)...was inspired to into the teaching profession?	_____
e)...wanted to study practical subjects?	_____

 

 

 

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Reading Comprehension #2 - Upper-Intermediate

Read the email. Are the statements true (T), false (F) or not given (NG)?

Hi Anna How are things? I hope you managed to get yourself a decent last-minute flight. I know how tired you must be after the house move, and a break somewhere out of the way is probably just what you need. I can’t believe that I was at home this time last week and now I’m on the other side of the world. It’s been an amazing few days. Well, you of all people know how it is when you travel. I must say I’ve forgotten how many times I’ve had emails from you from some internet café or other! And now it’s my turn. To be honest, I was a bit nervous at first as I found the idea of travelling on my own quite daunting but once I’d checked in and gone through security to the departure lounge I could feel the excitement rising. It was a long flight but, would you believe, I got an upgrade so ended up travelling in business class! How the other half lives. Beginner’s luck I guess. There was plenty of room so I even managed to sleep for a while. We landed in Seattle in the early evening and I felt quite overwhelmed by all the signs and security. You wouldn’t think we all spoke the same language, but finally I was through, picked up my luggage and took the airport shuttle to my hotel. I’d taken your advice and booked accommodation for the first night. It was fine – clean and functional. I didn’t really sleep very much at all due to jetlag and the usual noises you get in hotels so I got up early and headed into town. There’s something about cities that are built by the sea. Do you think it’s the sense of space perhaps? You just feel you can breathe more easily. Anyway, I took the bus down town to the waterfront and spent the whole day breathing in all the sights and sounds of the bustling market. In fact, it was quite exhausting – sensory overload.  And by the end of the day I was looking forward to the next stage of the journey especially as it had started drizzling and was quite chilly. Surprisingly, given I’m a Brit, I didn’t have an umbrella with me! Day Two and the ferry over to Orcas Island.  had to take a bus to the ferry port and then it was a couple of hours on the ferry. Orcas is one of the few San Juan Islands that is inhabited. I’d heard about these islands from a friend of mine and had decided to head out there and do some island-hopping away from the bustle of the big city. Since getting off the mainland, I haven’t made any firm plans at all, so will take each day as it comes and will write to you again when I have internet connection – it’s quite difficult here to find places with decent reception. Take care and write back soon. Love, Sam xx

 

Are the statements true (T), false (F) or not given (NG)?

Ann has travelled a lot.	T
a) Sam hasn't travelled alone before.	_____
b) He found a hotel when he landed in Seattle.	_____
c) Seattle is surrounded by water.	_____
d) It poured with rain on the first day.	_____
e) It's not easy to send emails.	_____

 

 

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Reading Comprehension #1 - Upper-Intermediate

Read the article and complete the gaps (1–5) with the sentences (A–F).

We recently asked our readers to tell us about their experiences growing up, whether as one of several siblings or as only children. (0) We were inundated with entries and will be publishing a selection over the next couple of weeks.Thank you all for sharing your childhood memories with us.  Only is lonely – or is it? bySally MacFarlane I was brought up as an only child, the daughter of two intellectual, emotionally absent parents who believed that children should be seen and not heard. On the surface perhaps not the best start in life, but there were many advantages to this rather isolated upbringing. (1) ___________________________________ They were both successful writers who worked long hours and then often had to travel abroad to attend conferences and give talks. As a consequence I was left in the capable hands of an endless stream of nannies.  Once I started going to primary school, however, the focus of my world changed and I found that I enjoyed being challenged, learning new things every day. (2) ___________________________________ If I could show them the progress I was making, we had some point of contact. They weren’t really interested in my social development, more my academic skills. At first I was shy and introverted, although I think I probably came across as rather arrogant. It’s just that I was not accustomed to spending so many hours every day in the company of others and I’d grown to depend on myself for my own entertainment.  I spent hours creating stories for all my imaginary friends to star in. (3) ___________________________________ How could you be lonely when you had all this? Most of my friends had brothers and sisters and I could see that they sometimes felt sorry that I was often alone. I, on the other hand, felt sorry for them in a way as they had to compete with one another for attention and possessions. (4) ___________________________________ The years passed and I continued to do well at school. I passed all my exams and went on to university and strangely enough followed in my parents’ footsteps. (5) ___________________________________ It is now, as an adult with children of my own, I look back and wish I’d had brothers and sisters.

 

Complete the gaps (1–5) using these sentences (A–F). There is one extra sentence.

A   I quickly realised too that this was the way to engage my parents.

B   I at least did not have to do that.

C   There is, however, one big difference and that is my family life.

D   Even when my parents were around, they weren’t – if you know what I mean.

E   I had a room full of books as well and could happily spend all weekend in other worlds.

F   I don’t think I really appreciated what I had at the time.

 

 

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