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READING COMPREHENSION PART 3 ANSWERS
Directions: In this test you will read several
passages. Answer all the questions that follow by
encircling the correct answer.
Passage C
In the year 1799, an officer of the French Army was
stationed in a small fortress on the Rosetta River, a
mouth of the Nile, near Alexander, Egypt. He was
interested in the ruins of the ancient Egyptian
civilization, and had seen the sphinx and the
pyramids, those mysterious structures that were
erected by men of another era.
One day, as a trench was being dug, he found a
piece of black slate on which letters had been
carved. He had studied Greek in school, and knew
this was an inscription written in that language.
There were two more lines carved into the stone:
one on the Egyptian characters he had seen on the
ruins , the other in completely unfamiliar
characters.
The officer realized the importance of such a find,
and relinquished it to scholars who had been
puzzling over Egyptian inscriptions.
In 1802, a french professor by the name of
Champollion began studying the stone in an
attempt to decipher the two unknown sets of
characters using the Greek letters as a key. He
worked with the stone for over twenty years, and in
1823, announced that he had discovered the
meaning of the fourteen signs, and in doing so, had
unlocked the secret of ancient Egyptian writing.
Some 5000 years after an unknown person had
made those three inscriptions, the Rosetta Stone
became a key, unlocking the written records of
Egypt and sharing the history of that civilization
with the rest of the world.
QUESTIONS:
16. What is the main idea of the selection?
a. French scholars worked hard in studying ancient
history.
b. Ancient Egyptians wrote and preserved their
history in stones.
c. The discovery of the Rosetta Stone led to a better
understanding of the history of    Egypt.
d. A French Army officer studied the Rosetta Stone
and the inscriptions carved into it.
In which country was the Rosetta Stone found?
a. Egypt                       b. Greece                   c.
France                  d. Alexandra
17. What word would best describe ancient
Egyptians based on the selection?
a. dedicated                b. resourceful           c.
wise                     d. gifted
What might have happened if the Rosetta Stone
were not found?
a. Egyptian civilization would have flourished.
b. Ancient Egypt would have not reached the peak
of its glory.
c. Ancient Egyptians would have not known of their
cultural heritage.
d. Egyptian civilization would have not been fully
understood by the modern world.
18. What does the lone sentence in the third
paragraph mean?
a. The owner of the Rosetta Stone tried to sell it to
scholars.
b. The Egyptians scholars were puzzled by the
inscriptions found in the Rosetta Stone.
c. The founder of the Rosetta Stone knew of its value
and turned it over to the proper authorities.
d. The officer did not think the Rosetta Stone had
much value and therefore gave it away.
19. What literary technique was used by the writer
in developing the passage?
a. Detailed analysis                             c. Narrative
chronological order of events
b. Comparison and contrast of ideas
d. Repetition of important points for emphasis
20. What conclusion may be drawn from the
passage?
a. Egypt has a rich civilization dating back to the
earliest times.
b. Egypt has a mysterious culture which remained
unknown.
c. Egypt was an ancient country with no significant
history.
d. Egypt’s civilization benefited only those in
ancient times.