READING COMPREHENSION – 6

When the world was young, the opportunity for inventing new words must have been unlimited. Even then, however, the inventor’s task was less than half accomplished when he had emitted the new sound. Before he could regard his task as complete, he must induce his neighbours to use the sound as he had used it. Here we may draw on modern experience. The child playing in the sand invents a word for the pebbles that fill his hand. The new words is “pocos”. Does society adopt this word because it has been duly invented? Not at all. Society has an expression of its own for the designation of pebbles. So the child’s word “pocos” lingers for a time in the tolerant memory of the immediate family and then passes into oblivion.

1) The chief function of the paragraph is —.a) to enumerate details
b) to tell a story
c) to explain
d) to contrast
e) to compare

One application of the use of radioactive materials of particular interest to westerners is the use of radio cobalt to measure the depth of the snowpack in the Sierra Nevadas. For some years a group of co-operating agencies has taken measurements of snow depths throughout the range in order to determine the amount of run-off that will swell the rivers of the lowlands in spring and summer. This requires laborious excursions on snowshoes and skis by snow surveyors. The radio cobalt installation now being tested at the Sierra Nevada Snow Laboratory may eliminate most of this drudgery. A tube of radio cobalt is placed at ground level and its radiations are picked up by a detector directly above it. As snow accumulates, the strength of the signal varies with the quantity of water stored in the pack. Theoretically, a network of these installations would make it possible to keep track of the snow from one central station.
2) The main function of the paragraph is —.a) to arrive at a definition
b) to argue a controversial point
c) to recount in correct time order
d) to explain
e) to defend a presumably harmful material
 
3) Choose the best topic.
a) Peacetime Uses of Radioactive Materials.
b) Measuring the Snowpack with Radio Cobalt.
c) Radio Cobalt Uses.
d) The Sierra Nevada Snow Laboratory.
e) New Experiments in Nevada Mountains.

KEY TO COMPREHENSION – 6
1. C 2. d 3. C

Read More: http://kambingputihblog.blogspot.com/