English Reading Exercises for A2 – A painless operation

1. Complete the table.

Accidents and injuries
Noun / Phrase Verb
1 blood ………………………..
2 a ……………………….. burn yourself
……………………….. your
3 a cut
finger
4 a ……………………….. sprain your ankle
………………………..
5 an injury
yourself
6 a ………………………..
break your arm
arm

2. Complete the sentences with the words below.

bruise fell over hurt hurts pain slipped
1 I’ve got a big black ……………………….. where I banged my arm.
2 I’ve got a ……………………….. in my shoulder.
3 My finger ………………………..
4 Joe ……………………….. himself when he was playing football.
5 My mum ……………………….. on the ice and ………………………..

3. Read the text. Are the sentences true (T) or false (F)?
1 Lenkei took about half an hour to hypnotise himself.
2 Lenkei didn’t speak during the operation.
3 All the operations were successful.
It didn’t hurt!
[1]
In 2008, Alex Lenkei had a problem with the bone in his arm and he needed a serious
operation. Normally, with an operation like that, the doctor gives the patient an
anaesthetic so that he or she doesn’t feel any pain. But Lenkei refused the anaesthetic.
Instead, he hypnotised himself and simply told himself that he could not feel any pain.
That took about thirty seconds. Then the operation started. According to Mr Lenkei,
pain signals do not reach his brain when he is hypnotised.
[2]
The doctor, David Llewellyn-Clerk, was a bit worried. He had to take some bone from
Lenkei’s arm. He watched Lenkei carefully during the operation, as he wasn’t sure that
Lenkei could feel no pain. ‘I didn’t think Mr Lenkei could hear us,’ said Dr Llewellyn-
Clerk, ‘but half way through the operation, he said “How’s it going?”’ That’s when the
doctor realised that Lenkei was not in pain. The operation lasted 83 minutes.
[3]
Mr Lenkei started hypnotising people when he was sixteen and is now an expert. It
wasn’t his first operation without anaesthetic. In 1996, a friend hypnotised him before a
thirty-minute operation on his stomach. Both operations were successful, so Lenkei had
a third operation without anaesthetic in 2013,
Reading Strategy
When you do a matching task, follow these steps:
1 Read the text to get a general idea of the meaning. Do not worry if you do not
understand every word.
2 Read the task and all the options carefully.
3 Read the paragraphs of the text carefully one by one and match them to the correct
option.
4 Check that the extra options do not match any of the paragraphs.

4. Read the Reading Strategy. Then match the questions below with paragraphs 1-3 of
the text. There is one extra question.
In which paragraph does the writer tell us …
A when the first operation happened?
B why Lenkei needed an operation on his arm?
C what Lenkei did just before the operation on his arm?
D on what part of his body the third operation was?
E when Doctor Llewellyn-Check realised that Lenkei was not in pain?
F when Lenkei first hypnotised someone?
G what happens to pain signals in his body while he is hypnotised?
H when Lenkei had his second operation?
I how long the operation on his arm took?
J what the doctor did to Lenkei’s arm during the operation?
Extra exercises
Strategy
Read the text all the way through first so that you get a good general understanding
before you try to answer the questions.

1. Read the Strategy. Then read the text in exercise 2. Choose the best summary (a-c).
a The text describes what teenagers believe makes them happy.
b The text gives tips for teenagers about different ways to be happy.
c The text gives some information about how young people feel.

2. Read the text again. Circle the correct answer: True (T), False (F) or Doesn’t
say (DS).
Happiness is … ? Your survey says …
So you’re between the ages of thirteen and eighteen. What makes you happy? There
have been lots of surveys about teenagers and happiness and they all come to different
conclusions. Some surveys say that most young people are happiest when they spend
time with their family. Others say it’s when they’re with friends. Some teenagers think
that getting good marks at school and passing exams makes them happy and others feel
that it’s having a boyfriend or girlfriend that improves their lives. The problem is that
there isn’t just one thing that makes everyone happy. Happiness is something different
for each of us, and what made us happy last week might not make us happy next week!
However, there are some things that can help improve our mood when we’re feeling
unhappy. Experts believe that exercise can make you a happier person – but how?
Exercise releases chemicals in your brain that are related to a feeling of pleasure. Many
people who exercise say that the more exercise they do, the more they want to do. Now
we know why! In addition to this, exercise is also good for our physical health. So, if
we know that we’re doing something healthy, that should make us even happier!
There’s another surprising idea to help make us happier. Although you might think that
eating chocolate is bad for you, it seems that it is good to eat chocolate when we’re
feeling sad. According to some research, experts say that eating chocolate can make us
feel happy. Of course it isn’t healthy to eat too much, but chocolate releases chemicals
in the same way that exercise does – and for some people it’s easier and quicker than
running several kilometres or working out in the gym!
It’s also important to remember that we can’t all be happy all the time. There are times
in our lives when things are going well and we feel good. But we can also we happy for
brief moments and we should value these as well. For example, perhaps you’re sitting
on a beach watching the sun on the water, with friends around you, and you feel happy.
Remember that moment! Or maybe your dog does something silly that makes you
laugh. Remember it! And when you feel sad, go for a run or eat some chocolate – you’ll
soon cheer up!
1 The surveys show that teenagers and parents have different ideas about
happiness. T F DS
2 The things that make us happy never change. T F DS
3 The surveys show that teenagers who do exercise are happier. T F DS
4 When we feel depressed it’s good to do something active. T F DS
5 Exercise and eating chocolate can produce similar results. T F DS
6 It’s important to value even short moments of happiness. T F DS

English Reading Exercises for A2 – Survival story

1. Complete the sentences with the correct form of the verbs below.
approach head land reach spin take off
1 A snow storm was ………………………., so we went inside.
2 The plane ………………………. from London at 9 a.m. yesterday and
………………………. in Paris an hour later.
3 It was very late when we ………………………. Oxford.
4 The plane was ………………………. towards Australia when it disappeared.
5 The helicopter began to ………………………. out of control.

2. Read the text, ignoring the gaps. Answer the questions.

1 What kind of natural disaster did Diana and Pete experience?
………………………………………………..
2 Where were they when they realised there was a problem?
………………………………………………..
3 Where was Monica?
………………………………………………..
4 In which room did Monica and Diana hide?
………………………………………………..
5 Where did Pete hide?
………………………………………………..
6 How many people died in the disaster?
………………………………………………..
LUCKY ESCAPE
One Monday afternoon in May 2013, Diana Palmore was at home with her husband,
Pete, when they heard loud sirens 1……………….. a tornado was approaching the
town. Diana’s daughter Monica was at the local school and Diana decided to go
and 2……………….. before the tornado reached the town. She ran as fast as she could
to the school. In her classroom, Monica and her classmates were sitting under their
desks, 3……………….. on their heads. Diana ran in and took Monica. But the tornado
was much closer now and it was too dangerous 4……………….. . So they hid in a
bathroom. When the tornado hit, it ripped the roof from the school. Monica and Diana
looked up and saw cars and trees 5……………….. above the school. ‘It was very scary.
The whole school was shaking,’ said Monica.
When the storm passed, Monica and her mum 6……………….., but it was in ruins.
They couldn’t find Pete. But they could hear him shouting for help. Then they saw his
hand and 7……………….. – in a cupboard under the stairs. He couldn’t breathe, so
they had to get him out quickly. Moments after they pulled him out, the whole house
collapsed. The family survived a terrifying experience with only small injuries. But
other people in the town 8……………….. as the Palmores. Twenty-four people died in
the tornado.
Reading Strategy
To help you decide which phrases fit which gaps, think about the grammar of each
sentence. For example, is first word in the gap a verb? Or is a different kind of word
needed?

3. Read the Reading Strategy. Then match the phrases (A-I) with gaps 1-8 in the text.
Check that each phrase fits the grammar of the sentence. There is one extra phrase.
A spinning around in the air
B bring her home
C ran back to their house
D which warned them that
E were not as lucky
F without looking back
G holding their maths books
H realised where he was
I to leave the school
 English Reading Exercises for A2 – Inventions that save lives
1. Complete the sentences with nouns formed from the verbs and adjectives below in
brackets.
1 The Hubble telescope can measure the ………………………. (move) of distant
galaxies.
2 The city centre was destroyed in the war. The ………………………. (reconstruct)
took many years.
3 Hard disk recorders allow us to make ………………………. (record) of TV
programmes.
4 Many men hope doctors will invent a cure for ………………………. (bald).
5 The aeroplane is a wonderful ………………………. (invent).
6 That’s a lovely flower ………………………. (arrange).
7 Beethoven suffered from ………………………. (deaf) during the last 25 years of
his life.
8 Before the ………………………. (discover) of American in 1492, many people
thought the Earth was flat.

2. Read the texts and match two of the inventions with the photos (A-B).

1 Hippo-Roller, photo …………..

Many women and children in Africa spend between three and nine hours a day carrying
water to their homes. They use 20-litre plastic buckets, which they carry on their heads.
The buckets are very heave and often cause back and neck injuries. So engineers Pettie
Petzer and Johan Jonker designed a ‘rolling wheel’ which can carry ninety litres of
water and is much easier to move. 33,000 ‘Hippo-Rollers’ have been made and
delivered to remote villages in Africa. The results are good: women have more time to
look after their families, the children have more time at school, and there are fewer
injuries.
2 LifeStraw, photo …………..
There are 780 million people in the world who don’t have clean safe drinking water.
This fact led the Swiss company Vestergaard to invent a special kind of straw that
allows people to drink dirty water without getting ill. The LifeStraw is a long thin tube
that cleans the water as it passes through into somebody’s mouth. LifeStraw is very
light and can clean up to 1,000 litres of water before you need to replace it. LifeStraw
was used to help people after the Haiti earthquake, and floods in Pakistan and Thailand.
3 AidPod, photo …………..
When Simon Berry was travelling in Zambia, he noticed that he could buy Coca-Cola
in the remotest villages. But in these same villages the people had no medicines and,
because of that, one in five children were dying before their fifth birthday. He had an
idea. ‘Why don’t they bring medicines when they deliver the Coca-Cola?’ So he
invented the AidPod, a triangular packet of medicines that fits between the bottles in a
crate of Coca-Cola. Berry has experimented with a number of designs for his AidPod
and is testing his ideas in Zambia. If his plan works, he hopes to do the same thing in
other African countries, and save thousands of lives.
Reading Strategy
Sometimes, true / false tasks include a third option: the text does not say. Choose the
third option if the text does not contain enough information to clearly say if the
sentence is true of false. Do not use your own knowledge (or guesswork) to fill any
information gaps!

3. Read the Reading Strategy. Then decide if the sentences below are true (T), false (F)
or ‘does not say’ (DNS).
1 Carrying water on your head can cause neck injuries.
T F DNS
2 With the Hippo-Roller people can carry more water than with a normal bucket.
T F DNS
3 The LifeStraw is made from natural materials.
T F DNS
4 The LifeStraw never stops working.
T F DNS
5 The Coca-Cola company worked with Simon Berry to design the AidPod.
T F DNS
6 The AidPod is used successfully in many different countries.
T F DNS
Extra exercises
Strategy
When you are answering questions about specific information, remember that you
will always find the information in a specific part of the text. It helps to underline the
parts of the text that give you the information so that you can check your answers at
the end.
1. Read the Strategy. Then read the first main paragraph of the text and the first
question. Choose the correct option and underline the part of the text where you find the
answer. Why are the other options wrong?

2. Now read the whole text. Choose the correct answers (A-D).
Mark Harris is a research scientist at Rothera Research Station, on Adelaide Island in
the Antarctic. We asked Mark what were the best and the worst things about living in
the Antarctic.
‘The best thing about being here is the wonderful view,’ Mark said. ‘On my first day, I
was unlucky because I was ill and had to spend a few days in bed. The station’s doctor
thought I’d eaten something bad at home, or in the station canteen, but I didn’t even go
to the canteen. I think it was the meal I had on the journey across – it didn’t taste right
to me. And so I was pretty miserable at the beginning. But then I lay in bed during those
first days and watched icebergs drifting past my window. It was amazing! In summer, I
like to be outside as much as possible. One of my jobs is to fly around with other
scientists in a helicopter making observations and checking on experiments. We fly
over the most fantastic places. Our pilots are really skilled. They can land anywhere –
even on glaciers!’
‘I try not to think about the bad things, but there are some, of course. I like the food –
it’s actually really good – but we don’t have fresh fruit and vegetables. I often think
about the countryside: the green grass, the trees, and the flowers. I always look forward
to seeing it again. But Rothera is great because there’s always someone to talk to if
you’re feeling unhappy, and someone will always help you with a difficult task. But at
the same time people understand when you want to be alone.’
‘There’s always plenty to do as well. You might think that living in the middle of so
much snow is boring, but it isn’t at all. On good days I like to ski and snowboard, and
watch the wildlife. I play badminton and table tennis at the station, and some nights I go
to the gym, so fitness isn’t a problem. We have video nights and games nights, and we
even have cookery and woodwork lessons. I’ve actually learned some great new skills
since I’ve been here. I’ve also had two holidays, camping. Of course, I’d like to have
may friends and family with me, and I always think about that, but that can’t happen for
a while. I have to be patient. All in all, being at Rothera is a great experience.’
1 Mark thinks he ate something bad …
A a few days after he arrived at the station.
B during his trip to the station.
C before he left home.
D on the day he arrived at the station.
2 During the summer months, Mark …
A files a small plane.
B travels across the island.
C works alone.
D spends his time inside the station.
3 Mark sometimes feels bad because he …
A dislikes the meals at the station.
B never has time alone.
C misses the countryside.
D finds the work difficult.
4 Mark would like to …
A see his family more often.
B have a holiday on the island.
C learn some new skills.
D have more opportunity to get fit.
5 The purpose of the article is to …
A advertise jobs for scientists in the Antarctic.
B make people aware of the problems in the Antarctic.
C explain how to become a scientist in the Antarctic.
D describe everyday life for a scientist in the Antarctic.
 English Reading Exercises for A2 – Disaster alert!
1. Complete the sentences with the correct form of the verbs below.
cause do express get have make provide take part in
use
1 I often …………………………… online games like Minecraft with my friends.
2 Video games can …………………………… many benefits, such as improving
memory and creativity.
3 The scientists …………………………… a lot of research on the topic and
published the results yesterday.
4 I prefer to …………………………… a smartphone rather than a computer.
5 Video games can sometimes …………………………… a positive effect on
teenagers.
6 The amount of violence in video games can …………………………… concern for
a lot of parents.
7 Newspapers sometimes claim that video games are bad for children, and parents
often …………………………… the same opinion.
8 Playing computer games in groups can help you to work together with other people
and to …………………………… decisions more quickly.
9 Do you think playing computer games helps you to ……………………………
better grades?

2. Read the text and answer the questions.

1 What does Jenny do? ……………………………
2 Which country did she visit? ……………………………
3 What kind of natural disaster did Jenny experience in 2011?
……………………………
STAYING SAFE
When you ask more people about the benefits of apps on their smartphone, they say
they use them to play games, surf the net, keep in touch with people and organise social
events. But Jenny Harlow, a scientist from London, has got an app that does something
much more important: it warns her when she is in danger. The app is called Safety Tips
and it gives users real-time earthquake and tsunami warnings. The Japan Tourist
Agency had the idea for the app after the 2011 earthquake in Japan, when many foreign
tourists in the country were confused about what was happening and what they should
do. Jenny was on a business trip to Japan when the earthquake struck. ‘Although there
are a lot of earthquakes in Japan, it was the first time I experienced one. All the
warnings and information on the internet, radio and TV were in Japanese, and I couldn’t
understand. It was really confusing and I didn’t know what to do.’ She had to rely on
Japanese colleagues to help her.
The Safety Tips app sends an alert to users when a major earthquake happens, and also
tells them if a tsunami is likely to arrive at the coast. The app gives lots of tips about
what to do, where to go and how to stay safe, as well as a list of useful Japanese phrases
such as ‘Is this an earthquake?’ and ‘Is it safe here?’ Importantly, all the information is
in English, and there are plans to add other languages. The Japan Tourist Agency plans
to advertise the app at airports and tourist information centres in Japan. In order to get
the app, people visit a website and download it. ‘I’m coming to Japan again next year
and I will definitely watch out for alerts from the app,’ says Jenny.

Reading Strategy
When you do a multiple-choice task, decide whether each question is about the whole
text or a specific part. If it is about a specific part, find the relevant sentences in the
text and underline them.

3. Read the Reading Strategy. Then read the text again and choose the correct answers.
1 According to the text, most people
a don’t value apps very highly.
b don’t know what the main benefits of apps are.
c use apps mainly for fun and social situations.
d think apps are useless in dangerous situations.
2 The main purpose of the Safety Tips app is to
a prevent an earthquake like the one in 2011.
b warn people who are visiting Japan about earthquakes.
c warn Japanese people about earthquakes.
d warn business people about earthquakes.
3 Jenny had problems
a because no one told her what to do after an earthquake.
b because she couldn’t understand the advice on Japanese media.
c because there was no information for tourists about what to do in an earthquake.
d because her Japanese colleagues didn’t know what to do.
4 At the moment, the app
a is available in a number of languages.
b is available at airports and tourist information centres.
c warns about earthquakes but not about tsunamis.
d is in English, with Japanese phrases.
Extra exercises
Strategy
When you have completed the task, read the text again carefully and make sure you
have made the right choices about where to put the missing sentences.
1. Read the Strategy. Then read the text below. The two sentences in bold are both in
the wrong place. Where should they be?
Extract from Gulliver’s Travels
When I left college, I continued my studies and became a doctor. I was born in
Nottinghamshire and was the third of five sons. My father was not a rich man, but he
was able to send me to Cambridge University, where I studied for three years. But I
always wanted to travel, and so I made several voyages as a ship’s doctor. When I
married my wife Mary, however, I planned to stay at home for a while. I decided to go
to sea again, and this time I joined a ship sailing to the islands in the South Pacific
Ocean. But after a few years I discovered I was not earning enough money from my
patients. We started our journey from Bristol on May 4th, 1699.
2. Read the text below. Match sentences A-H with gaps 1-7. There is one extra
sentence.
Extract from Gulliver’s Travels
We sailed across the Atlantic, round the coast of Africa and into the Indian Ocean.
But before we could reach the Pacific, a violent storm hit us and drove us to the
north-west of Tasmania. 1……………………… Some of the sailors and I managed
to get a boat into the water, and we rowed away to look for land. But when we
were too tired to row any more, a great wave hit our small boat, and we all feel
into the sea. 2………………………
The wind and waves pushed me along as I struggled to keep my head above
water. 3……………………… Luckily, just then my feet touched the ground. I walked
out of the sea and on to a beach, where there was no sign of any people or houses. I was
so exhausted that I lay down and went to sleep.
When I woke up next morning, and tried to get up, I could not move. I was lying on my
back and my whole body, my arms and legs were strongly fastened to the
ground. 4……………………… The sun began to grow hot, and I was very
uncomfortable. Soon I felt something alive moving along my leg and up my body to my
face, and when I looked down, I saw a very small human being, only fifteen centimetres
tall. He had a bow and arrow in his hands, and there were forty more of these little men
following him. 5……………………… They all jumped back, very frightened, and
some hurt themselves by falling off my body. Meanwhile, I was struggling to unfasten
myself, but just as I managed to pull my left arm free of the ropes, I felt a hundred
arrows land on my free hand, and more arrows on my face and body. This was very
painful, and made me cry aloud. I lay quietly, to see what would happen next.
6……………………… An official climbed up there so speak to me. Although I could
not understand his language, I understood that they would be friendly towards me – if I
did not try to harm them. By now I was extremely hungry, so I used sign language to
beg the official for food. He seemed to understand me, because immediately ladders
were put against my sides and little men climbed up with baskets of food and
drink. 7……………………… In just one mouthful I ate three of their meat dishes and
three of their loaves of bread.
A I do not know what happened to my companions, but I suppose they were all
drowned.
B When they saw I was no longer struggling, they quickly built a platform next to my
head.
C I became very tired and soon felt I could not swim any more.
D Even my hair, which was long and thick, was tied to the ground.
E I was so surprised that I gave a great shout.
F The sky was a cloudless blue and the sea was very calm.
G They were surprised at how much I could eat and drink.
H The wind drove our ship on to a rock, which broke the ship in half.