Reading Comprehension- Key 002

TEST 2
Question 1 - 8
It is commonly believed in the United States that school is where people go to get an
education. Nevertheless, it has been said that today children interrupt their education
to go to school. The distinction between schooling and education implied by this remark
Lineis important.
(5)Education is much more open-ended and all-inclusive than schooling. Education
knows no bounds. It can take place anywhere, whether in the shower or on the job,
whether in a kitchen or on a tractor. It includes both the formal learning that takes place
in schools and the whole universe of informal learning. The agents of education can
range from a revered grandparent to the people debating politics on the radio, from a
(10)child to a distinguished scientist. Whereasschooling has a certain predictability,
education quite often produces surprises. A chance conversation with a stranger may
lead a person to discover how little is known of other religions. People are engaged in
education from infancy on. Education, then, isa very broad, inclusive term. It is a
lifelong process, a process that starts long before the start of school, and one that
(15)should be an integral part of one`s entire life.
Schooling, on the other hand, is a specific, formalized process, whose general
pattern varies little from one setting to the next. Throughout a country, children arrive
at school at approximately the same time, take assigned seats, are taught by an adult,
use similar textbooks, do homework, take exams, and so on. The slices of reality that
(20)are to be learned, whether they are the alphabet or an understanding of the workings of
government, have usually been limited by the boundaries of the subject
being taught.
For example, high school students know thatthey are not likely to find out in their
classes the truth about political problems intheir communities or what the newest
filmmakers are experimenting with. There are definite conditions surrounding the
(25)formalized process of schooling.
1. What does the author probably mean by using the expression “children interrupt
their education to go to school” (lines 2-3) ?
(A) Going to several different schools is educationally beneficial.
(B) School vacations interrupt the continuity of the school year.
(C) Summer school makes the school year too long.
(D) All of life is an education.
2. The word “bounds”in line 6 is closest in meaning to
(A) rules
(B) experience
(C) limits
(D) exceptions
3. The word “chance” in line 11 is closest in meaning to
(A) unplanned
(B) unusual
(C) lengthy
(D) lively
4. The word “an integral” in line 15 is closest in meaning to
(A) an equitable
(B) a profitable
(C) a pleasant
(D) an essential
5. The word “they” in line 20 refers to
(A) slices of reality
(B) similar textbooks
(C) boundaries
(D) seats
6. The phrase “For example,” line 22, introduces a sentence that gives
examples of
(A) similar textbooks
(B) the results of schooling
(C) the workings of a government
(D) the boundaries of classroom subjects
7. The passage supports which of the followng conclusions?
(A) Without formal education, people would remain ignorant.
(B) Education systems need to be radically reformed.
(C) Going to school is only part of how people become educated.
(D) Education involves many years of professional training.
8. The passage is organized by
(A) listing and discussing several educational problems
(B) contrasting the meanings of two related words
(C) narrating a story about excellent teachers
(D) giving examples of different kinds of schools
Question 9-17
The hard, rigid plates that form the outermost portion of the Earth are about 100
kilometers thick. These plates include both the Earth`s crust and the upper mantle.
The rocks of the crust are composed mostly of minerals with light elements, like
Linealuminum and sodium, while the mantle contains some heavier elements, like iron and
(5)magnesium. Together, the crust and upper mantle that form the surface plates are called
the lithosphere. This rigid layer floats on the denser material of the lower mantle the
way a wooden raft floats on a pond. The plates are supported by a weak, plastic layer
of the lower mantle called the asthenosphere. Also like a raft on a pond, the
lithospheric plates are carriedalong by slow currents in this more fluid layer beneath
(10)them.
With an understanding ofplate tectonics, geologists haveput together a new history
for the Earth`s surface. About 200 million years ago