Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
COMPREHENSION AND
PRECIS PIECES
(4)
Code (222)
By
Dr. Ghada Abdel Kader &
Dr. Sherine El Shoura
2010/2011
PAGE
Introduction 3
1 Aeroplanes 7
2 The Best Age to be. 11
3 The Hero 15
4 A Day in London 18
5 Escape 22
6 Beware of the Bull . 26
7 An Ideal Holiday 30
8 National Heroes 34
9 Trees 38
10 Radar 41
II The Underground in London 45
12 Taxation 49
13 Ships 53
14 Sports and Games 57
15 The Value of Education 61
16 Travelling Cheaply 64
17 The Value of Fear 68
18 Women's Rights 72
19 A Wet Afternoon. 75
20 Beginnings of Government in Europe 79
21 A Quiet Holiday 84
22 Freedom 88
AEROPLANES
QUESTIONS
I. In the piece, five words are printed in italic. They are listed
below and opposite each are three words or phrases. Only one
of these gives the correct meaning as the word is used in the
piece. Choose this word and write it down.
How often one hears children wishing they were grown up, and
old people wishing they were young again. Each age has its
pleasures and its pains, and the happiest person is the one who
enjoys what each age gives him without wasting his time in
useless regrets.
Old age ago always been thought of as the worst age to .be; but
It IS not necessary for the old to be unhappy. With old age
should come wisdom and the ability to help others with advice
wisely given. The old can have the Joy of seeing their children
making progress in life; they can watch their grandchildren
growing up around them; and, perhaps best of all, they can, if
their life has been a useful one, feel the happiness of having
come through the battle of life* safely and of having reached a
time when they can he back and rest, leaving others to continue
the fight.
QUESTIONS
THE HERO
"Fire! Fire I" What terrible words to hear when one wakes up in
a strange house in the middle of the night! It was a large, old,
wooden house-the sort that burns . beautifully-and my room
was on the top floor. I jumped out of bed, * opened the door
and stepped out into the passage. It was full of thick smoke.
QUESTIONS
I. The following words and phrases are printed above in italic.
Give for each of them another word or phrase of similar
meaning to that used in the passage.
beautifully, protect, gave way, got through, gathered,
recognizing.
This morning the sun was shining, and I decided to begin seeing
the sights of London. So I asked the manager of my hotel what I
should see first, and he advised me to go to the Tower of
London in the morning and to Westminster in the afternoon.
QUESTIONS
Our boat floated on, between walls of forest* too thick to allow
us a view of the land we were passing through, though we knew
from the map that our river must from time to time be passing
through chains of hills which crossed the jungle plains.
Nowhere did we find a place where we could have landed:
where the jungle did not actually spread right down into the
river, banks of soft mud prevented us going ashore. In any case,
what would we have gained by landing? The country was full
of snakes and other dangerous creatures, and the jungle so thick
that one would be able to advance only slowly, cutting one's
way with knives the whole way. So we stayed in the boat,
hoping that when we reached the sea, a friendly fisherman
would pick us up* and take us to civilization.
QUESTIONS
I. The following words are printed above in italic. Give for each
of them another word or phrase of similar meaning to that used
in the passage.
chains, landing, experience, frequent, escaped, risk.
Soon we had left behind the smoky air of the city and had
reached the country station where our walk was to begin. We
were lucky, because the sun was shining and there was a gentle
breeze to make it just right for walking.*
We were half way across the field but it didn't take us long to
reach the gate again. We jumped over, very much out of breath,
and looked back to see the bull quietly examining a bag of food.
"That was a clever trick of mine, wasn't it?" said my friend: "I
dropped the food on purpose to draw away the bull's attention:'
QUESTIONS
AN IDEAL HOLIDAY
But what I like even more about a sea voyage is the chance to
meet new and interesting people from many countries. What
other kind of holiday gives us such a chance? Freed from all the
duties* of life at home, we can talk, play games, swim, drink
and dance with our new friends. They can tell us about their
own countries, their daily lives and amusements, their hopes
and their fears. And in return we can tell them all about
ourselves.
NATIONAL HEROES
Many heroes are remembered only for their famous deeds and
those which are not heroic have been forgotten. But the story
most often told about Alfred is certainly not heroic. He was
escaping after one of the early battles against the Danes in
I. The following words are printed above in italic. Give for each
of them another word or phrase of similar meaning to that used
in the passage.
deeds, defeat, preferred, escaping, notice, recognise.
TREES
Two thousand years ago a rich and powerful country cut down
its trees to build warships, with which to gain itself an empire.
It gained the empire but, without its trees, its soil became hard
and poor. When the empire fell to pieces, the home country
found itself faced by floods and starvation. *
This does not only mean that the Villagers' sons and grandsons
have fewer trees. The results are even more serious: for where
there are trees their roots break the soil up-allowing the rain to
sink in-and also bind the soil, thus preventing its being washed
away easily; but where there are no trees, the rain falls on hard
ground and flows away on the surface, causing floods and
carrying away with it the rich top-soil, in which crops grow so
well. When all the top-soil is gone, nothing remains but
worthless desert.*
(About 310 words.)
QUESTIONS
I. Choose SIX of the following words and give for each another
word or phrase of similar meaning to that used in the piece:
products gain disappear
realized poor serious
services importance worthless
RADAR
Radar is not too difficult a thing for the ordinary man in the
street to understand. All of us have heard echoes: we speak in a
large hall or before a wall of rock, and our voices come back to
us, echoed by the hard substance which they hit, just as light is
reflected by a mirror, or a ball is thrown back by the wall it has
hit. Scientists know the speed at which sound travels, so they
can measure the distance of a wall of rock by making a loud
sound and seeing how long it takes to reach the wall and return
to the place from which it started. For example, at the same
Now, it has been known for many years that wireless waves
travel at very great speed: it takes them less than four seconds
to go from the earth to the moon and back. But the difficult
thing is to measure the time they take to go a certain distance. If
they take less than two seconds to reach the moon, you can
imagine that you would not be able to measure (with a watch or
a clock) how long they take to go from a ship to the shore, or
from an aeroplane to a mountain near it. Radar was made
possible by the use of a thing called a "cathode-ray tube" which
QUESTIONS
I. Give brief answers to the following questions using ONE
COMPLETE sentence for each. Use your own words as far as
possible, but your answer must be based only on the
information in the piece.
(a) If we are travelling in a plane, what does the writer say
makes us much happier?
(b) What examples of different kinds of echoes does the writer
give?
3. (ADV.) How can radar make "travel and trade between the
nations easier and safer", as the author says it does?
TAXATION
Probably this last kind of indirect tax, together with a direct tax
on incomes which is low for the poor and high for the rich, is
the best arrangement.
(About 370 words.)
QUESTIONS
SHIPS
But ships are not, of course, made chiefly for pleasure: their
biggest use is in carrying goods from country to country. If
ships did not exist, the British Government would be quite
unable* to feed the people in the British Isles. Aeroplanes are
much too expensive, and there are not enough of them to feed
even a small country like England. Trains cannot cross seas,
and even if they could, the amount of goods they can carry
QUESTIONS
QUESTIONS
I. Choose SIX of the following words and give for each .of
them another word of similar meaning to that in the context.
education suitable shameful
fit fashionable housework
realize perfect scorn
TRAVELLING CHEAPLY
The express train was waiting for us when we left the Cross-
Channel steamer. After climbing up into my carriage and
finding my reserved seat, I had the usual heated argument with
the porter and then settled down to wait* for the train to start,
while passengers from the ship continued to stream past. I leant
out of the window and watched the fatter people struggling to
climb up -the steps into the train. I could never understand why
they did not build a platform high enough to enable people to
step straight into the train, as they do in England. instead of
making them climb about four feet.
QUESTIONS
4. Make clear, using not more than 60 words, how the writer
travelled cheaply.
Fear and its companion pain are two of the most useful things
that men and animals possess, if they are properly used. If fire
did not hurt when it burnt, children would play with it until
their hands were burnt away.* Similarly, if pain existed but fear
did not, a child would burn itself again and again, because fear
would not warn it to keep away from the fire that had burnt it
before. A really fearless soldier-and some do exist-is not a good
soldier, because he is soon killed; and a dead soldier is of no
use to his army. Fear and pain are therefore two guards without
which men and animals might soon die out.
QUESTIONS
I. Choose SIX of the following words or phrases and give for
each of them another word or phrase of similar meaning to that
in the context.
WOMEN'S RIGHTS
But women can do one thing that men cannot: they can produce
children. Because they, and not men, do this, they usually love
their children more, and are better able to look after them, since
they are more patient and understanding with small children.
For this reason, many women are happier if they can stay at
home and look after their house and family than if they go out
and do the same work as men do. It is their own choice, and not
the result of being less clever than men.
(About 350 words.)
QUESTIONS
I. Choose SIX of the following words or phrases and give for
each of them another word or phrase of similar meaning to that
A WET AFTERNOON
"No," said Mary, "I suppose we shan't. Let's stay at home and
stick some photographs in our book, shall we?"
"Do you really want to?" said John rather doubt. fully. "I
thought you said you didn't like doing it because it was so
messy."
"Oh,' replied Mary, "I'll just watch you sticking them in."
"Oh, no, you won't," said John. "You've done that to me before.
You'll have to do your share, my girl I " "All right. Then what
about playing cards? You're keen enough on doing that with
your friends at the club."
"Well, it's not much fun teaching someone to play cards. The
whole point of playing cards is the chance of winning."
"But if I did win when I was playing against you, I would only
win my own money I "
Mary laughed. Then she said. "All right, I think we'll just have
to go to the cinema. There's a good film on at the Grand, isn't
there?"
"Oh, yes," said Mary. "I keep on getting them mixed up. The
Grand's the one down by the river, isn't it?"
QUESTIONS
I. (a) What had John and Mary planned to do earlier?
(b) Why didn't Mary like sticking photographs in a book?
(c) Why does Mary say that John would be sure to win at
cards?
About 4000 years ago, the Greeks began to move across from
their' home in the mountains of Asia towards the Western
Mediterranean Sea. At this time they were wandering
shepherds, living in groups of families called tribes. They had
no real government: such a thing was unnecessary because
there was no public business, there were no taxes, and nobody
owned any land, since the tribe moved from place to place the
whole time looking for grass for its sheep and goats. There were
also no law cases and no lawyers, and men were controlled by a
few customs, such as the one that said that if one man killed
another, one of the dead man's relations had to find and kill the
killer.
Each of these cities had its own laws and its own army. The rich
landowners, who alone could buy good armour and weapons,
loved war and robbed the poor and weak. The head of the
government was the king, who was one of the rich. In his work
he was helped by a council, or group, of other rich men. The
king and his council used to sit in the market-place all day,
hearing all those who came to them to complain against anyone,
and doing all the public business of the city. These public, daily
meetings were the beginnings of real government in Europe,
even though they were often neither very honest, nor very
effective, nor very just.
(About 575 words.)
QUESTIONS
I. Choose SIX of the following words and give for each ?f them
another word or phrase of similar meaning to that III the
context.
2. Write down the following words and then give for each a
word or phrase of opposite meaning to that used in the passage.
wandering
public
whole
loved
A QUIET HOLIDAY
It was the hottest part of the year, and also the busiest in the
office. The school was closed for the holidays, and the children
could not find enough to do,* so that they were had-tempered
and disobedient. As for the servants, they seemed even more
stupid than usual.
There was a shower in the house, but no way of heating it; and
the water felt very, very cold. The children's cries as they were
being washed brought a crowd of village children to our gate.*
We ate sandwiches and drank lemonade for supper: we were
too tired to cook. Then we went straight to bed. My wife and I
didn't even wash: we do not like cold water.
QUESTIONS
3 (a) What did the writer and his family plan to do for their
holiday?
4. Describe what the writer did on the first two days of his
holiday. Make sure that you do not miss out anything
mentioned in the piece.
FREEDOM
QUESTIONS
I. Choose SIX of the following words or phrases and give for
each of them another word or phrase of similar meanning to
that in the context.
A LUCKY ESCAPE
While the driver stayed with the car, I stopped a passing Army
truck and went to the next village to telephone to the nearest
Army garage and work-shop. They said that they were very
busy because of the big battle that was going on: hundreds of
damaged cars and trucks and guns were coming in for repair.
They advised me to leave my car with the driver and continue
my journey in another one.
"Oh," said the voice at the other end, "haven't you heard? The
repair-shop put a new back-axle in, and your driver was on his
way to join you when one of the front wheels came off. Was he
killed? Of course he was. It was on a straight piece of road, and
he was driving at 50 miles an hour at least. You had a lucky
escape, two weeks ago."
(About 410 words.)
First of all, one must be sure that the work is in fact equal. Two
people may be working side by side in a factory and doing the
same work, but one may be doing it twice as fast as the other;
or one may be making no mistakes, while the other is making a
lot. In some kinds of work, one can solve the problem of speed
if one pays by the amount of work done and not by the hour:
work paid for in this way is called piece-work. But it is not
always possible to do this, so it is sometimes useful to pay
workers at different rates, which take differences in skill into
account. This usually means that the younger and therefore less
experienced worker gets less than the older and more
experienced one, which seems reasonable enough.
This, of course, is quite true; but you do find some men workers
who are unmarried and have no one to support, and some
women workers who are widows and have children to support.
Other women workers, though they have no children, may have
old or sick parents and young brothers and sisters who cannot
yet work.
QUESTIONS
AMUSEMENTS
During the past hundred years, the railway, the motor-car, the
gramophone, the radio, the cinema, and now television, have
produced very great changes in the amusements with which
people fill their free time.
A hundred years ago, people were in the habit of* making their
own amusements. Both sexes read and wrote far more than their
descendants do now: very long books, in several parts, were the
fashion, '* and many 'people, especially ladies, kept diaries, in
which they wrote long descriptions of their doings and feelings.
Ladies did a lot of needlework, or went for long walks, and
gentlemen went riding or shooting.
The art of conversation and the habit of reading and writing are
dying; people are becoming more and more lookers and
listeners, and less and less doers and talkers. This can only
harm the individual: it is better to do something not very well
QUESTIONS
MY HOBBY
QUESTIONS
I. The following words and phrases are printed above in italic.
Give for each of them another word or phrase of similar
meaning to that used in the passage.
MEMORY
If you do not use your arms or your legs for some time,* they
become weak; when you start using them again, they slowly
become strong again. Everybody knows this, and nobody would
think of questioning this fact. Yet there are many people who
do not seem to know that the memory works in the same way.
When someone says that he has a good memory, he really
means that he keeps his memory in practice by exercising it
regularly, either consciously or unconsciously. When someone
else says that his memory is poor, he really means that he does
not give it enough opportunity to become strong. The position
is exactly the same as that of two people, one of whom
exercises his arms and legs by playing tennis, while the other
sits in a chair or a motor car all day.
Have you ever noticed that people who cannot read or write
usually have better memories than those who can? Why is this?
Of course, because those who cannot read or write have to
remember things: they cannot write them down in a little
notebook. They have to remember dates, times and prices,
names, songs and stories; so their memory is the whole time
being exercised.
QUESTIONS
PUBLIC SPIRIT
I. Choose SIX of the following words and phrases and give for
each of them another word or phrase of similar meaning to that
in the context.
peculiar neglected hurt
rare realize unjustly
unconscious in the long run take on
Watch a good teacher, and you will see that he does not sit
motionless before his class: he stands the whole time he is
teaching; he walks about, using his arms, hands and fingers to
help him in his explanations, and his face to express feelings.
Listen to him, and you will hear the loudness, the quality and
the musical note of his voice always changing according to
what he is talking about.
The fact that a good teacher has some of the gifts of a good
actor does not mean that he will indeed be able to act well on
the stage; for there are very important differences between the
teacher's work and the actor's. The actor has to speak words
I have known many teachers who were fine actors in class but
were unable to take part in a stage-play because their brains
would not keep discipline: they could not keep strictly to what
another had written.
(About 350 words.)
QUESTIONS
I. The following words are printed above in italic. Give for each
of them another word or phrase of similar meaning to that used
in the passage.
MONEY
QUESTIONS
I. Choose SIX of the following words or phrases and give for
each of them another word or phrase of similar meaning to that
used in the passage.
store up means buying power
generally recognized look for ruining
relative serious wisdom