Reading Test

Read the text and match the correct heading (A-F) with each paragraph (1-4). There are two extra headings that you do not need to use.

1. _

The history of marine travel is rich in mystery. There are many stories about ships which did not reach their destinations or disappeared and have never been found. Some have even been discovered floating about with nobody on board. The mystery of the Mary Celeste is no exception here. She appeared in 1872 with no crew on board in perfect weather conditions and she has inspired many stories.

2. _

The Mary Celeste was a large American cargo ship. It left New York on 5th November 1872 with a cargo of industrial alcohol, and was sailing to the Italian port of Genoa. A month later, it was seen on the Atlantic Ocean by the sailors of another ship, the Dei Gratia. After careful observation of the ship’s strange movement, Captain David Moorhouse of the Dei Gratia sent a few men out in a boat to investigate. It appeared that the crew members had left the ship in a great hurry, leaving behind them all their possessions and many valuable items. Why?

3. _

There have been many theories that try to explain the mystery. One appeared in January 1884, when a story entitled ‘The J. Habakuk Jephson Statement’ was published in a London magazine. Jephson claimed he’d been a crew member on the Mary Celeste. He talked about a rebellion of black sailors who threw all the white men out into the sea and left the ship in a lifeboat. However, it was simply a story written by the famous author Arthur Conan Doyle.

4. _

Another, much more probable explanation for the Mary Celeste mystery focuses on the dangerous cargo the ship was transporting. It was not unusual for this kind of cargo to cause fires or explosions on board the ships. It is believed that the crew might have smelt strong alcohol fumes, and left the ship in panic, because they were worried about an explosion. However, despite the large number of these theories, the case of the Mary Celeste still remains one of the greatest maritime mysteries.

Read the following text. Three sentences have been removed from the text. Choose from the sentences the one which fits each gap to obtain a logical and grammatically correct text. There are two extra sentences that you do not need to use.

KNOWLEDGE IS POWER

In the past, knowledge was only available to certain groups of people: either those in power or scholars. It sometimes took months or even years for news or ideas to spread around. 1. _ The global village, as some like to view today’s world, values information and knowledge more than ever before. The development of the Internet has made information even more important.

Now, you can’t really say that you couldn’t find all the information you needed. The Internet allows instant access to any kind of data. Statistics show that although the use of online resources is still the domain of the young, more and more older people are beginning to enjoy the opportunities that the Internet offers. 2. _ Indeed, most people, when asked about where they look for any information they might need, point to the Internet as the most obvious source.