Reading practice: SQA Intermediate 1

The Louvre
(a)
Visiting the Louvre is a special experience, but you need to know where to start. The
first think to recognise is that it’s huge and you can’t hope to see everything in a day
– so don’t try. You get a handy map of the museum with your entrance ticket and it
highlights the main attractions, such as the Mona Lisa.

You can’t visit the Louvre and not see the Mona Lisa, but my tip would be to see it
first – though you might have to run to avoid the crowds! When you’ve done that, use
the plan to look for the galleries that sound most interesting to you, and spend the
morning visiting them, when you have plenty of energy. Then have some lunch at
one of the reasonably priced cafés, and spend the afternoon relaxing and finding
surprises without looking at your map. The beauty of any museum or gallery is
personal discovery.

On a practical note, there are toilets located on all floors, and several shops selling
really good books, guides, postcards and souvenirs. Photography, surprisingly, is
permitted.

You can borrow an audio guide for a fee, which is useful and worth the money. You
have to leave a credit card or passport or similar as security. There are several stalls
offering audio guides, so you need to remember which one you got it from, as you
must return it to the same one to get your credit card or passport back. The Louvre is
organized into ‘wings’ with names, and the audio guides are at the entrance to each
wing.
(b)
Finally, the easiest way to enter the Louvre is via the Metro entrance, rather than
from the street, as the queues are shorter.

Text taken from New English File Workbook, page 53.

 Reading practice: SQA Intermediate 1

Answer the questions in no more than three words.

1. Who is this written for? _______________________

2. What useful thing do you get at the entrance? _______________________

Complete each gap with a maximum of three words.

The text advises us to see (3) ______________________ at the start of your visit..
Before lunch you should visit the galleries that you think will be (4)
_________________________. You are allowed to (5) _______________________
in the museum. It is a good idea to pay a fee to use (6) _______________________.

Complete these headings for (a) and (b) in the text.

7. a. Good ___________________ for the visitor.

b. The best _______________________________ the museum.

Text taken from New English File Workbook, page 53.

 Reading practice: SQA Intermediate 1

Answers:

1. Tourists / visitors
2. a handy map
3. the Mona Lisa
4. most interesting
5. take photographs
6. an audio guide
7. a) advice
b) way to enter

Text taken from New English File Workbook, page 53.