Reading Comprehension Test

Submitted by: Nakin Srihakorth

Line 1
Cotton was used for clothing in present-day Peru and Mexico perhaps as
Line 5 long as 5,000 years ago. Also, it was grown, spun, and woven in ancient India,
China, Egypt, and Pakistan, around 3000 B.C.
Cotton is not native to Western Europe. Around A.D. 800, Arabic traders
Line likely introduced cotton to Spaniards. By the fourteenth century,
Line 15
10
Mediterranean farmers were cultivating the cotton plant and shipping the fiber to
the Netherlands for spinning and weaving. British innovations in the late 1700s
include water-powered spinning machinery, a monumental improvement over
hand-spinning. An American named Samuel Slater, who worked with British
machinery, memorized the plans for a machine spinner and returned to Rhode
Island to set up Slater Mill, the first American textile mill to utilize machine
spinners. This mill represents the beginning of the U.S. Industrial Revolution,
built on the mechanism of the cotton industry.
Two developments spurred the cultivation of American cotton: cotton
Line 20 spinners and the cotton gin. The cotton gin, developed by Eli Whitney in 1793,
easily removed tenacious cotton seeds. Southern plantation owners began
planting cotton as a result of these innovations, using enslaved labor for
harvesting the cotton. Vigorous cotton cultivation in the South using enslaved
labor is considered one reason for friction between North and South that led to
the Civil War.

Source: http://www.madehow.com/Volume-6/Cotton.html
Question
1. The word monumental in line 8 is closest in meaning to
A) huge
B) line
C) small
D) cotton

2. The word tenacious in line 16 is closest in meaning to

A) kind
B) fast
C) loose
D) tight

3. The word it in line 2 refers to

A) Slater Mill
B) British machinery
C) cotton
D) Rhode Island

4. What part of American began to plant cotton?

A) Northern American
B) Eastern American
C) Southern American
D) Westen American

5. According to the passage, when did the Mediterranean farmers ship the fiber
to the Netherlands?
A) 1700s
B) 14th century
C) 3000 B.C.
D) 1793

6. According to the passage, who developed the cotton gin?

A) Arabic traders
B) Eli Whitney
 C) British
D) U.S. Industrial Revolution

7. What country did the Arabic traders offer cotton?

A) India
B) China
C) Spain
D) Egypt

8. When was the country's grown, spun, and woven?

A) 1700s
B) 14th century
C) 3000 B.C.
D) 1793

4. What is the first paragraph about?

A) When cotton was used
B) How to grow cotton
C) Where to find cotton
D) What type of cotton

10.What does the passage mainly discuss about?

A) The cotton seed
B) Cotton world
C) History of cotton
D) Where cottons from?

Line 1
Leonardo da Vinci was born on April 15, 1452, in a farmhouse nestled
amid the undulating hills of Tuscany outside the village of Anchiano in present-
day Italy. Born out of wedlock to respected Florentine notary Ser Piero and a
young peasant woman named Caterina, he was raised by his father and his
 stepmothers. At the age of five, he moved to his fathers family estate in nearby
Line 5 Vinci, the Tuscan town from which the surname associated with Leonardo
derives, and lived with his uncle and grandparents.
Young Leonardo received little formal education beyond basic reading,
10
Line 15 writing and mathematics instruction, but his artistic talents were evident from an
early age. Around the age of fourteen, da Vinci began a lengthy apprenticeship
with the noted artist Andrea del Verrocchio in Florence. He learned a wide
breadth of technical skills including metalworking, leather arts, carpentry,
drawing, painting and sculpting. His earliest known dated worka pen-and-ink
drawing of a landscape in the Arno valleywas sketched in 1473.
At the age of twenty, da Vinci qualified for membership as a master artist in
Line 25
20 Florences Guild of Saint Luke and established his own workshop. However, he
continued to collaborate with his teacher for an additional five years. It is thought
that Verrocchio completed his Baptism of Christ around 1475 with the help of
his student, who painted part of the background and the young angel holding the
robe of Jesus. According to Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors and
Architects, written around 1550 by artist Giorgio Vasari, Verrocchio was so
humbled by the superior talent of his pupil that he never picked up a paintbrush
again. Most scholars, however, dismiss Vasaris account as apocryphal.
Florentine court records show that in 1476 da Vinci and four other young
men were charged with sodomy, a crime punishable by exile or even death.
Although da Vinci was acquitted, his whereabouts went entirely undocumented
for the following two years.

Source: http://www.biography.com/people/leonardo-da-vinci-40396#humble-
beginnings

11. The word apprenticeship in line 10 is closest in meaning to

A) teacher
B) learner
C) school
D) worker
12.The word pupil in line 22 is closest in meaning to
A) teacher
B) artist
C) student
D) master

13. The word his in line 9 refers to

A) Giorgio Vasari
B) Young Leonardo
C) Verrocchio
D) Caterina

14. When were the Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors and Architects
books written?
A) 1550
B) 1476
C) 1475
D) 1452

15. At what age did da Vinci qualify for membership as a master?

A) 14
B) 20
C) 21
D) 5

16. What happened when da Vinci was 5 year old?

A) He got really good with painting.
B) He went to a competition and won.
C) He got really good with drawing.
D) He moved to his father family.

17. What was his first work that has been recognized?
A) Arno valley
B) The Last Supper
C) Mona Lisa
D) Baptism of Christ
18. At what age did da Vinci begin to practice with Andrea del Verrocchio?
A) 14
B) 20
C) 21
D) 5

19. What is the main idea of the passage?

A) Famous inventions.
B) His hometown
C) Materials that he used to do art work
D) Biography of da Vinci.

20.What is the main idea of the first paragraph?

A) Information about artworks
B) Information about inventions
C) The place that he born
D) The family of da Vinci