COMPREHENSION TEST
                SOME IMPORTANT WORDS                                                 PASSAGE II
 (1) suspiciously (Adv.) : in a way that shows you think      We all know that Eskimos have 50 different words for
     somebody has done something wrong, illegal/          ‘snow’. Or is it 500 ? Anyway, an awful lot. It is one of
     dishonest                                            those interesting little facts that says something about the
                                                          amazing ingenuity of humans. Whereas we see snow, the
 (2) dreadful (Adj.) : very bad/unpleasant
                                                          Eskimos perceive an endlessly varying realm of white tex-
 (3) flushing (V.) : to become red in the face because
                                                          tures and possibilities. Except that is not true. Talk to the
     you are embarrassed/ashamed
                                                          average Eskimo and you’ll find he has about the same
631. The writer had plenty of time to spare because       number of words for snow as we do. I discovered this
     (1) he had arrived three days before                 when I took a sledge-dog team through the Russian Arctic
                                                          and asked the locals. And it gets worse: the Eskimo-Inuit
     (2) he had arrived an hour earlier
                                                          do not live in igloos. They do not even rub their noses
     (3) he had to collect his luggage
                                                          together! Hearing this I began wondering what other myths
     (4) he needed to buy magazines
                                                          surround the world’s far flung places.
632. The writer needed the receipt
                                                              Shelters made out of snow are indeed constructed and
     (1) to claim his suitcase                            fashioned from snowy bricks, just as we like to imagine.
     (2) to pay at the luggage office                     Except the Eskimo-Inuit rarely lived in them for long peri-
     (3) to prove that he had paid at the luggage office  ods and disappointingly, the elders that I met had never
     (4) to prove that he had bought the suitcase         heard of them. In truth, these are coastal people who tra-
633. The writer felt foolish because                      ditionally foraged for driftwood, whalebones, stones and
     (1) he could not find his receipt                    turf to construct their camps, saving snow-houses for hunt-
     (2) he hadn’t really lost his receipt at all         ing excursions or migrations.
     (3) he had to fill in a form                             Chameleons also attract numerous myths. While many
     (4) the assistant eyed him suspiciously              of them change colour, this is often less to do with camou-
634. There weren’t ______ people waiting at the luggage   flage and more to do with their mood and temperature. A
     office.                                              chameleon might, if too cold, turn a darker shade to ab-
     (1) very much              (2) a great deal of       sorb more heat. Or it might turn a lighter colour to reflect
     (3) lots of                (4) very many             the sun and so cool down. Moreover, chameleons often
635. wrote them down means                                change colour as a signalling device -some such as the
     (1) copied them            (2) signed them           panther chameleon, transform into a vivid orange to scare
                                                          off predators, while others flash bright colours to attract a
     (3) made a note of them        (4)        pointed at
                                                          mate. The brighter the colour a mate is able to display,
     them
                                                          the more dominant. Thus the act of standing out can be
636. The writer found the receipt
                                                          more important than that of blending in.
     (1) on the high shelf near the cases
     (2) among the contents of his suitcase                                 SOME IMPORTANT WORDS
     (3) nestled with the money in his wallet                (1) ingenuity (N.) : the ability to invent things/solve
     (4) trapped between the photographs in his wallet           problems in clever, new ways
637. The writer took out his wallet the first time to        (2) perceive (V.) : see
     (1) buy some magazines                                  (3) realm (N.) : an area
     (2) look for the receipt                                (4) foraged (V.) : to search for something
     (3) fill out the form given by the assistant            (5) driftwood (N.) : wood that the sea carries up onto
     (4) pay the assistant                                       land, or that floats on the water
638. The assistant asked the writer to make a list of the    (6) turf (N.) : short grass and the surface layer of soil
     contents to                                                 that is held together by its roots
     (1) ascertain his ownership of the case                 (7) camouflage (N.) : the way in which an animal’s
     (2) test his memory                                         colour/shape matches its surroundings and makes
     (3) charge him extra money                                  it difficult to see
     (4) embarrass the writer                                (8) predators (N.) : an animal that kills and eats other
639. I explained the situation sorrowfully to the as-            animals
     sistant means                                           (9) stand out (Phr.V.) : to be easily seen
     (1) the writer found the situation tragic             (10) blend in (Phr. V.) : to match well with something
     (2) he explained the situation to the assistant who
     was very sorrowful                                   641. The author was surprised by the fact that
     (3) with great distress the writer explained his un-      (1) Eskimos have 500 words for ‘snow’
     fortunate situation to the assistant                      (2) the ingenuity of humans
     (4) the assistant found the situation tragic              (3) the Eskimo-Inuit do not live in igloos
640. In this passage situation means                           (4) the Eskimo-Inuit rub their noses together
     (1) place                  (2) event                 642. The author discovered that
     (3) condition              (4) position                   (1) igloos are not fashioned from snowy bricks
                                                      SEE–967