Skill focus: Negative fact questions
Exercise 1: Read and choose the correct question.
Many American children spend part of their summer at summer camps. Some of these camps
are day camps, but many are places where children stay overnight for one week or more. At some
camps, the campers sleep in tents. At others, the campers sleep in cabins. Some camps are all boys
or all girls, while some are co-ed. Some summer camps have themes. Children can attend a week of
horseback riding, drama, or sports camp. The most common summer camps, however, are general
camps on a lake.
Americans believe that sending their children to summer camp will help them gain
independence and make friends. At camp, they learn to swim, sail, canoe, and snorkel in the water.

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They also learn many sports and learn about surviving in nature. Some camps create organized events
such as a color war. During a color war, the camp is divided into different colors. These different
colored teams compete against each other in various events. It’s usually very exciting for the campers
and the staff.
Children that have gone to camp repeatedly say that it was one of the best experiences of
their lives. Even though some campers get homesick, they usually go to camp for more than one
summer. Many return year after year and keep their camp friends for a very long time.
Question 1. What is the passage mostly about?
(A) Sleeping in tents and cabins
(B) Making friends at American camps
(C) Overcoming homesickness at camp
(D) Summer camps in America
Question 2. According to the passage, which of the following is NOT true of American summer
camps?
(A) They never have horseback riding.
(B) They have many different activities.
(C) They are good experiences for children.
(D) They can be attended for a week or more.
Question 3. The author mentions all of the following EXCEPT _____
(A) camps organizing color wars
(B) children learning water activities
(C) staff members teaching about hiking
(D) campers staying in tents and cabins
Exercise 2: Read and choose the correct question.
The piano is one of the most popular instruments in the world. The modern piano was invented by
Bartolomeo Cristofori. Cristofori worked as the keeper of instruments for Ferdinando de’Medici, the
Prince of Tuscany. It is unclear when he created the first piano, but the oldest Cristofori pianos that
exist today are from the 1720s.
Cristofori knew a lot about the clavichord and the harpsichord before he made the piano. The
clavichord and the harpsichord were good instruments but were flawed. The clavichord was not loud
enough to be used with an orchestra, while the harpsichord could not play very expressive notes.
Cristofori invented the piano to have an instrument that was both loud and expressive. Cristofori’s
piano became famous because of a respected writer named Scipione Maffei. Maffei wrote an article
about the piano with a diagram of it. Most people that would become piano builders found out about
the piano from this article.
Interestingly, Johann Sebastian Bach did not like the piano when he first heard it. He thought the
high notes were not loud enough. Eventually, he came to like it. Wolfgang Mozart was one of the first

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musicians to use the piano. He composed much of his music on it. Still, the pianos in Mozart’s time
were different than they are now. Today, the piano is one of the most well-known instruments
in the world. It is used in orchestras, musicals, and in many other popular forms of music.
Question 1. What is the best title for this passage?
(A) Mozart on the Piano
(B) The Piano’s Beginning
(C) Cristofori’s First Piano
(D) Pianos in the World Today
Question 2. The author mentions all of the following EXCEPT _____
(A) the piano’s loud and expressive sound
(B) Bach’s opinion of the first piano he heard
(C) Cristofori’s knowledge of the harpsichord
(D) Scipione Maffei’s friendship with Cristofori
Question 3. According to the passage, which of the following is NOT true of Cristofori?
(A) He was Greek.
(B) He invented the piano.
(C) He worked for the Prince of Tuscany.
(D) He was known as the keeper of instruments.
Skill focus: Reference questions
Exercise 1: Read and choose the correct question.
In the final decades of the nineteenth century, the guiding principles for the applied arts
were sensi1ve handcra6ing, simplicity, and respect for indigenous designs. These were promoted
in books, magazines, newspapers, and art schools of the period. The philosophy encouraged the
development of an ar1s1c seCng for home life and a substan1al role for women in fostering that
environment. More women began to study drawing, pain1ng and the crea1on of art objects
poEery, jewelry, and tex1les and to exhibit their works more o6en in public. In cul1va1ng the

home, women also began to associate more with one another, founding art socie1es and social-
reform clubs that empowered them. Many of the great art museums can trace their origins to that

period and those women.
Question 1. The word These in the passage refers to _____
A. final decades
B. guiding principles
C. applied arts
D. indigenous designs
Question 2. The word them in the passage refers to _____
A. works
B. women

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C. societies
D. clubs
Exercise 2: Read and choose the correct question.
The great tulip grower E.H.Krelage of Holland changed forever the way we look at tulips in
our gardens. At the world trade fair in Paris in 1889, he introduced his new Darwin tulips, which
were planted in brilliant bands of color under the Eiffel Tower and alongside the Seine. In that one
brilliant marke1ng ploy, Krelage changed the tulip from a flower that was carefully and individually
displayed to one that was planted in mass beddings of beau1ful color.
Gardeners all over the world fell in love with Krelage's tulips, which were tall, strong, and
weatherproof. In New York, the public parks of the Bronx blazed with red tulips, as did Golden Gate
Park in San Francisco and the St. Louis Botanic Garden. Although the wildly differing clima1c zones
of North America did not always suit them, tulips have proved to be forgiving plants and have thus
remained garden favorites.
Question 1: The word one in paragraph 1 refers to _____
A. ploy
B. tulip
C. flower
D. color
Question 2: The word them in paragraph 2 refers to _____
A. gardeners
B. parks
C. tulips
D. favourites