READING COMPREHENSION

PASSAGE A (KNEE)

The knee is the largest joint in the body and in one of the most complicated. At the same time, the knee joint
swings like a hinge and lifts like a liver. It flexes to absorb shock as we walk or run and to protect our other bones
from jarring or grinding. Without the knee, humans could not stand up, walk, climb or kick.
Every day, every knee receives a routine workout. But the runners and other athletes in high-impact sports, the
knee receives a serious pounding. Overuse can lead to serious injury. In fact, one out of every four sports injuries
involves the knee “Runners knee” is the most common injury from overuse. Peoples with runner’s knee complain of
dull, aching, pain under or around their kneecaps. The pain seems to worsen when they descend stairs or run down
hills. To protect their knees, athletes should look at their shoes. Exercise shoes must fit and wear well in order to
minimize risk to the knee.
If an athlete wishes to increase the time or intensity of his workout, this must be done slowly in a step-by-step
fashion. Athletes should work to strengthen their quadriceps, the large muscle group on the front of the thigh, in many
runners the quadriceps are not as strong as the hamstrings. This uneven strengthen the quadriceps muscles. Many
serious runners switch of between cycling and running as they train.

1. The selection emphasizes the values of _____.

A. Healthy habits
B. Mental sharpness
C. Physical fitness
D. Spiritual growth

2. According to the selection, the knee joints lifts like a lever and swings like a _____.
A. Bat
B. Runner
C. Hinge
D. Cycle

3. The word “jarring” bones means _______.

A. Aching bones
B. Bending of bones
C. Attack on the bones
D. Strong shaking of bones

4. The selection communicates the theme of _____.

A. The importance of the knee
B. The function of the human bones
C. How to protect leg muscles
D. Sport injuries during workout

5. What type of text is this selection?

A. Literacy
B. Journalistic
C. Scientific
D. Academic
 PASSAGE B (POVERTY)
Studies have consistently pointed to at least three major immediate factors that push children to stay or live on the
streets. These are the poverty of the family, family relationship factors (physical or sexual abuse) and peer influence.
Poverty and peer influence when compounded with problems and stresses in the family life such as family break-up,
child abuses and neglect, domestic violence by step-parents, underemployed parents, etc. altogether create under
pressure on the child to leave home and find solace, protection, and support from the peers on the street, eventually
becoming susceptible to their influence and lifestyle.
In Metro Manila, population growth, urbanization and migration have increased through the years. Children are
often forced try circumstances to help their family eke out of living or tend for themselves on the streets. Most of
them are children of poor parents who migrated from rural areas in the hope of finding better job opportunities in the
city, but whose lack of education rendered them ill-equipped to struggle for survival in the urban jungle and are thus
curtained to a life of object poverty.
For the street children, life on the streets is a constant struggle the overcome the various negative
comments that threaten to overtake them and destroy their hopes for survival. They work under the heat of the sun or
in the dark of the night from six to 10 hours seven days a week, often in a ---- of “occupation” each ----- a
legitimate ---- way to survive.

6. To “eke of living” means _____.

A. To earn income
B. To live with other
C. To stay in the street
D. To work in the street

7. Based on the selection, what values seem to be missing in the families of street children?
A. Loyalty
B. Honesty
C. Kindness
D. Solidarity

8. What is the most important factor that will equip rural people to survive in the city?
A. Money
B. Education
C. Kindness
D. Home

9. This selection is simple about____.

A. Providing homes for the poor
B. Helping street children get an education
C. Factors why children live in the streets
D. How to lessen pressure on the family

10. Based on the text, we can conclude that street children are_____.
A. independent
B. malnourished
C. helpless person
D. victims of poverty
PASSAGE C (ROSETTA STONE)
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.

11. 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.

12.In which country was the Rosetta Stone found?

a. Egypt b. Greece
c. France d. Alexandra

13.What word would best describe ancient Egyptians based on the selection?
a. dedicated b. resourceful
c. wise d. gifted

14.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.

15.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.

16.What literary technique was used by the writer in developing the passage?
a. Detailed analysis
b. Comparison and contrast of ideas
c. Narrative chronological order of events
d. Repetition of important points for emphasis

17. 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.
PASSAGE D
1. One reason that so many people fail is that they lack confidence in themselves. If you think of yourself as being
unworthy of great achievement, you will never achieve greatness. If, on the other hand, you know yourself and understand
what your abilities are, and if then you are determined to accomplish and gain confidence in yourself.
2. One of the surest ways to accomplish this is for you to associate with persons who have really achieved greatness.
It is impossible, however, for most people to come frequently into the actual presence of the great. The next best thing,
perhaps, is for you to spend part of your time in reading about great achievers. Biography is a powerful stimulant to
action.
3. But these processes will not work unless you rid yourself of a sense of inferiority and determined to do the best
that you possibly can. One of the great philosophers expressed the idea in a single sentence when he said that each
individual should hitch his wagon to a star.

18. What is the main idea of the selection?

a. Self-confidence is hard to achieve
b. Many people suffer from an inferiority complex
c. Knowing oneself leads to great achievement in life
d. Self-confidence is the key factor in achieving success in life
19. Which paragraph/s gives/give specific suggestions on how to develop confidence in oneself?
a. Paragraph 1 b. Paragraph 2
c. Paragraph 1 and 3 d. Paragraph 2 and 3

20. What word is synonymous or closest in meaning to the word “hitch” as used in the last sentence of the selection?
a. drive b. fasten
c. detach d. remove

21. Successful people are different from those who are not because they
a. Work hard at having faith in their abilities.
b. Persevere to achieve greatness.
c. Hesitate to take risk by themselves.
d. Disregard the opinions of others.

22. What does the saying “Each individual should hitch his wagon to a star” mean?
a. One should try to fulfill all his ambitions in life.
b. A person should emulate his ideal person.
c. A person should aim as high as he could reach.
d. One should wish upon a star to make his dreams come true.

23. What literary technique was used by the writer in presenting his ideas?
a. Narration c. Comparing ideas
b. Detailed analysis d. Giving suggestions

24. According to the author, what is one of the surest ways to achieve self-confidence?
a. Read lots of informative books
b. Deal with people who have achieved greatness
c. Be-friend people who are self-sufficient
d. Develop a strong and independent personality

25. Based on the selection, what conclusion may be drawn?

a. Confidence in oneself is crucial in achieving success
b. Associating with well-known individuals is enough to propel one to succeed
c. Reading the biographies of great people is essential for one to become successful
d. Confidence in the ability of others is needed to boost one’s chances of succeeding
PASSAGE E
1. Asia’s new generation of kids has more than just youth in common. Whether in Manila, Hongkong, Kuala
Lumpur, Singapore, Jakarta or Tokyo, whether rich or poor, urban or rural, delinquent or not, Asia’s youngsters share
many things. They go to schools, sing-along bars, fast food outlets, rock concert and rallies. They are dressed in wild
costumes of screaming colors or black, leather jackets, outsize t-shirts and candy-colored sneakers.
2. In Manila, they are particularly called “bagets”. Their pursuits, though seemingly inane are innocent – singing-
along with the gang at the malls, sharing cheeseburgers and sodas or cruising the commercial center of Cubao and
Makati.
3. In Bangkok, they will wander about the Siam Shopping Center, in Singapore, in the shopping complexes of
Orchard Road. They are kids of Asia’s great cities, avant-garde, rebellious, modernized. They are exposed to imported
television that usher in international values.
4. In Hongkong, the kids have been described as precocious, world-wise, and materialistic, governed less by
teachers and parents than by the omnipresent television. Peer group influence is great. Their trademarks are smoking,
foul language, bizarre and attention-getting appearance, and rude mannerisms.
5. In Japan, they look like different race to the old generation. There is rising drug abuse, sexual freedom, crime
and homosexuality among the youth. There’s less respect given to parents and to the aged.

26. The passage is about Asia’s

a. lost generation
b. delinquent youth
c. urbanized society
d. new generation of youth

27. It can be inferred from the passage that Asia’s youth

a. have senseless pursuits
b. share many common goals
c. have been influenced by western culture
d. have varied dreams and ambitions

28. What is worth observing and good about the youth beneath the modern image and westernized lifestyle?
a. The youth are still the easy-go-lucky type.
b. Many of them still believe in traditional values.
c. They share a common character as influenced by the media.
d. The values of the new generation have been modified by modernization.

29. When the author said that Asian youth are avant-garde, it means that they
a. are behind the times
b. have old-fashioned thoughts
c. are promiscuous and stubborn
d. practice new and experimental ideas

30. What conclusion can be drawn out of the passage?

a. Peers are just companions, they don’t influence others.
b. Print and broadcast media have a great influence on the youth.
c. Discipline at home has nothing to do with the character of the youth today.
d. Character is hereditary, the environment has nothing to do with what was become of the youth today.

31. If the youth are exposed to too much western television they will likely
a. Develop foreign values and forget traditional ones.
b. Become complacent and indifferent.
c. Become aggressive and violent.
d. Develop an independent mind.

32. What literary technique was used by the author in writing the selection?
a. Comparing b. Describing
c. Making profile d. Narrating events
PASSAGE F
1. The complacent Filipino majority may not have been awakened yet to the reality of a ravaged environment;
nonetheless, the evidence must be overemphasized. Automotive vehicles for one, reportedly contribute 94.6 million
tons of waste released into the air each year, a commuter can only imagine how polluted the air that gets into his
respiratory system is.
2. Pollution experts are inclined to single out man as the culprit of his own destruction. Man, rightly referred to as
a “messy animal,” has helped being about untold environmental decay.
3. Imperiled by the pollution of air, water and land are not only human lives. The marine species as well as the
flora and fauna are just adversely affected. Mass suicides of fishes and whales have been witnessed along Australian
and American shorelines.
4. The mushrooming of factories and plants along river banks have been largely responsible for the pollution of
the different bodies of water, indiscriminate disposal of industrial waste makes festering sinks of the rivers. Too much
dumping of industrial waste renders to water stagnant. Many of the rivers that used to flow along industrial banks can
use some dredging. And yet what good will dredging of a river do if in no time at all it will serve again as dumping
basin? The initiative has to come from the factory owners.
5. A great number of scientists like or think that new technology can be called upon to check the impending
pollution disaster, others are of the opinion that fewer births and less gadgetry may yet provide the answer to the
devastating dilemma. It cannot be denied, however, that man’s wasteful ways call for some measure of discipline.
6. Man’s brutality toward his environment will only lead to his unmarking. It is ironical, indeed, that he who was
created to have dominion over every living creature on earth should one day be overpowered by an environment he has
helped to pollute. The catastrophe can hopefully still be averted.

33. What does the selection generally urge man to realize?

a. The threat of environmental pollution to each country
b. The necessity of taking immediate steps to solve the pollution problem
c. The scope of the problem of environmental pollution
d. The steps to take in checking the impending pollution disaster

34. The phrase “mushrooming of factories” are used in the fourth paragraph of the selection refers to factories which
are
a. built b. destroyed
c. maintained d. abandoned

35. In what part of the passage can you read of the ways we can prevent pollution?
a. First paragraph b. Fourth paragraph
c. Fifth paragraph d. Last paragraph

36. Who is referred to in the phrase “a messy animal” in the second paragraph of the passage?
a. Fishes and whales b. Flora and fauna
c. Scientist d. Man

37. What is implied in the last paragraph of the passage?

a. Man failed to realize the seriousness of the pollution problem.
b. Pollution, if unchecked, can bring about the destruction of man.
c. Man does not deserve to be the master of His creation.
d. There is no need to be alarmed of the pollution problem.

38. What would be the likely outcome if we continue polluting our environment?
a. Man will be destroyed by an environment he had polluted.
b. Less births and less gadgetry will save the world from catastrophe .
c. Technology can help check the problem on environmental pollution.
d. Man’s wasteful ways will contribute more to the pollution of the environment.

39. Which of the following statements show a cause and effect relationship?
a. Man’s wasteful ways are a perennial problem.
b. Man’s brutality toward his destruction.
c. The marine species and the flora and fauna are adversely affected.
d. Mass suicide of fishes and whales have been seen along coastlines.

PASSAGE G
Much of what goes by the name of pleasure is simply an effort to destroy consciousness. If one started by asking, what
is man? What are his needs? How can he best express himself? One would discover that merely having the power to
avoid work and live one’s life from birth to death in electric light and to the tune of tinned music is not a reason for
doing so. Man needs warmth, society, leisure, comfort and security: he also needs solitude, creative work and the
sense of wonder. If he recognized this he could use the products of science and industrialism eclectically, applying
always the same test: does this make me more human or less human? He would then learn that the highest happiness
does not lie in relaxing, resting, playing poker, drinking and making love simultaneously.
Adapted from an essay by George Orwell
40. The author implies that the answers to the questions in sentence two would reveal that human beings ____.
a. are less human when they seek pleasure*
b. need to evaluate their purpose in life
c. are being alienated from their true nature by technology
d. have needs beyond physical comforts

41. The author would apparently agree that playing poker is _____.
a. often an effort to avoid thinking
b. something that gives true pleasure
c. an example of man’s need for society *
d. something that man must learn to avoid

PASSAGE H
Examine the recently laid egg of some common animal, such salamander or newt. It is a minute spheroid - an
apparently structure less sac, enclosing a fluid, holding granules in suspension. But let a moderate supply of warmth
reach its watery cradle, and the plastic matter undergoes changes so rapid, yet so steady and purposeful in their
succession, that one can only compare them to those operated by a skilled modeler upon a formless lump of clay. As
with an invisible trowel, the mass is divided and subdivided into smaller and smaller portions. And, then, it is as if a
delicate finger traced out the line to be occupied by the spinal column, and molded the contour of the body; pinching
up the head at one end, the tail at the other, and fashioning flank and limb into due proportions, in so artistic a way,
that, after watching the process hour by hour, one is almost involuntarily possessed by the notion, that some more
subtle aid to vision than a microscope, would show the hidden artist, with his plan before him, striving with skillful
manipulation to perfect his work.
Adapted from an essay by T H Huxley

42. The author makes his main point with the aid of _______.
a. logical paradox
b. complex rationalization*
c. scientific deductions
d. observations on the connection between art and science

43. In the context of the final sentence the word “subtle” most nearly means _____.
a. not obvious
b. indirect
c. discriminating
d. surreptitious *

PASSAGES I and J
PASSAGE I
There are not many places that I find it more agreeable to revisit when in an idle mood, than some places to which
I have never been. For, my acquaintance with those spots is of such long standing, and has ripened into an
intimacy of so affectionate a nature, that I take a particular interesting assuring myself that they are unchanged. I
never was in Robinson Crusoe’s Island, yet I frequently return there. I was never in the robbers’ cave, where Gil
Blas lived, but I often go back there and find the trap-door just as heaven to raise as it used to be. I was never in
Don Quixote’s study, where he read his books of chivalry until he rose and hacked at imaginary giants, yet you
couldn’t move a book in it without my knowledge. So with Damascus, and Lilliput, and the Nile, and Abyssinia,
and the North Pole and many hundreds of places — I was never at them, yet it is an affair of my life to keep them
intact, and I am always going back to them.
PASSAGE J
The books one reads in childhood create in one’s mind a sort of false map of the world, a series of fabulous
countries into which one can retreat at odd moments throughout the rest of life, and which in some cases can even
survive a visit to the real countries which they are supposed to represent. The pampas, the Amazon, the coral
islands of the Pacific, Russia, land of birch-tree and samovar, Transylvania with its boyars and vampires, the
China of Guy Boothby, the Paris of du Maurier—one could continue the list for a long time. But one other
imaginary country that I acquired early in life was called America. If I pause on the word “America”, and
deliberately put aside the existing reality, I can call up my childhood vision of it.
Adapted from: The Uncommercial Traveller, C Dickens (1860)

44. The first sentence of Passage 3 contains an element of

a. paradox
b. legend
c. melancholy
d. self-deprecation*
45. By calling America an “imaginary country” the author of passage two implies that ___.
a. America has been the subject of numerous works for children
b. his current vision of that country is not related to reality
c. America has stimulated his imagination
d. his childhood vision of that country owed nothing to actual conditions*

46. Both passages make the point that _____.

a. books read early in life can be revisited in the imagination many years later *
b. imaginary travel is better than real journeys
c. children’s books are largely fiction
d. the effects of childhood impressions are inescapable

47. Both passages list a series of places, but differ in that the author of passage three ___.
a. has been more influenced by his list of locations
b. never expects to visit any of them in real life, whereas the writer of passage two thinks it at least possible that he
might
c. is less specific in compiling his list*
d. wishes to preserve his locations in his mind forever, whereas the author of passage two wishes to modify all his
visions in the light of reality.
WORK
Let me but do my work day to day,
In field or forest, at the desk of the loom,
In roaring market-place or tranquil room;
Let me but find it in my heart to say,
When vagrant wishes beckon me astray,
“This is my work; my blessing, not my doom;
“Of all who live, I am the one by whom
“This work can best be done in the right way.”

Then shall I see it not too great, nor small,

To suit my spirit and to prove my powers;
The shall I cheerful turn, when the long shadows fall
At eventide, to play and love and rest,
Because I know for me my work is best.

Answers:
1. B- whatever task we set to do, we must do it the best we can
2. (Meaning of “loom”) D- machine for weaving
3. B- pride in hardwork
4. (.. passage is develop using) D- poetry
5. (Work is something that we can be ____)
B- Proud of
MCLEAN-MRI
A funny thing happened when researchers at Mclean hospital in Massachusetts were studying the brain
chemistry of a bipolar people, using an MRI machine with a unique electromagnetic pulse sequence; the
patients moods lifted lasting for hours or even days. Sceptical the doctors put another 30 bipolar adults
through the Magnetic Resonance imaging (MRI) and 77 percent had significant mood boost. They are not
sure why it works but there is possible link: Nerves ------------------------.

What is the main idea of the article?

A. Different ways to lift depression of bipolar adults
B. Using MRI to lift dep. Of bipolar adults
C. Efforts of doctors at Mclean Hospital to help bipolar
D. Reaction to electrical pulse to magnetic fields

In the article, the line “funny thing happened” means ___________.

A. A hilarious thing took place
B. An absurd thing happened
C. An unusual thing occurred
D. A mysterious things cause about

According to the article, depression among bipolar adults can be remedied by:
A. Changing their brain chemistry
B. Putting them through and MRI machine.
C. Boosting the patient’s mood.
D. Making the patient laugh

What did the doctors Maclean Hospital do to confirm the results of their observation?
A. They studied the cause of depression in patients.
B. They also used the MRI machine on non-bipolar adults.
C. They exposed brain electrical pulses to electromagnetic fields.
D. They put more bipolar adults through the MRI machine.

RICHARD CORY by Edwin Arlington Robinson

Whenever Richard Cory went down town,
We people on the pavement looked at him;
He was a gentleman from sole to crown,
Clean favoured, and imperially slim.

And he was quietly arrayed,

And he was always human when he talked;
But still he fluttered pulses when he said,
“Good morning” and he glittered when he waked.

And he was rich- yes, richer than a king –

And admirably schooled in every grace:
In fine, we thought that he was everything
To make us wish that we were in his place

So on we worked, and waited for the light,

And went without the meat, and cursed the breed;
And Richard Cory, one calm summer night,
Went home and put a bullet through his head.
What lesson in life can be best derived from the poem?
A. Happiness is always a choice
B. Life offers us many opportunities
C. Death is like a thief that comes in most unexpected time.
D. One can be wealthy but still feel unfulfilled with his/her life

What is the mood of the of the selection

A. Ironic

What do you think was the main reason or Richard Cory for shooting himself?
B. He got tired of living of solitude

Theme/mood – Irony
Commit Suicide – Solitude – the state or situation of being alone.

PASSAGE ABOUT SUN

1. What is the main idea of the selection?

A. Solar energy
B. Radiant energy
C. kinetic energy
D. Absorptive energy

2. What does the phrase “the sun is our life source” mean?
A. The energy of the sun is alive
B. The beginning of life is sun
C. The life of all living things comes from the sun
D. The radiance of the sun is beautiful

3. Foe mankind, the sun is the source of _____.

A. Carbon compounds
B. Electricity
C. Atmosphere
D. All heat

4. The largest part of the radiant energy directed towards the earth is) ____.
A. Turned into fuel
B. Harnessed for electric power
C. Stored by the current season plant
D. Absorbed by the earth’s atmosphere

5. All useful energy on the surface of the earth comes from the ____.
A. Sun directly
B. Suns activity
C. Radiation of the sun
D. Energy stored by the sun

6. The author presented the selection about the sun by _____.

A. Enumerating details
B. Giving examples
C. Describing
D. Narrating
7. “Let us get to the bottom” in the first paragraph means____.
A. Search for a reasons
B. Discover the basic facts or cause
C. Define the meaning
D. Move under the ground