VCE Reading Comprehension

For the little boy, a lolly was tangible, whereas a promise was not.

The word tangible in this sentence means:

• basic

• untouchable

• actual

• edible

• none of these

Please read the following sentence.

Once Jane lifted her pen and made a start, writing the essay became easy.

If we change the start of the sentence to:

Writing the essay became easy........

What will the ending be?

• after starting.

• after lifting her pen.

• once Jane lifted her pen and made a start.

• once she lifted her pen and made a start.

• None of these.

The boy’s incorrigible behaviour puzzled his sister.

The word incorrigible in this sentence means:

• appalling

• reformed

• incurable

• frustrated

• none of these

Genealogy is fun. Just as a piece of furniture or a picture takes on much more interest if you know its history, so does an individual become more real once the ancestral elements that shaped him are known. An in-depth family history is a tapestry of all those to whom we owe our existence.

Which statement best conveys the theme of this paragraph?

• Finding out about our ancestors is more interesting than researching the history of objects.

• Genealogy is a study of people and their belongings in the past.

• Genealogy is a study of family history.

• Genealogical research can bring meaning and life to a family’s history.

• Most genealogies are a waste of effort.

Choose the option which will best replace the underlined words in the sentence to make it correct.

She done it to quick, so it came out looking rough.

• done it too quickly

• did it too quick

• did it too quickly

• did it to quickly

• none of these

Read the following paragraph to answer the next two questions (Questions 6&7).

Tailgating another vehicle is unsafe and illegal. Many rear-end collisions are caused by drivers following too close to the vehicle in front of them. The rules state that a driver must keep sufficient distance from the vehicle in front in order to stop safely and avoid a collision. Drivers should allow a minimum two seconds’ gap between their vehicle and the one ahead. At sixty kilometres an hour, this equates to thirty-three metres; at a hundred it equates to fifty-five metres. More distance is needed to safely stop in rain or poor visibility.

Tailgating another vehicle is unsafe because:

• all rear end collisions are caused by drivers following too close to the vehicle in front.

• it may not allow sufficient time and space to stop and avoid a collision.

• it is against the road rules.

• it is a reckless practice.

• None of these.

More distance is needed to safely stop in rain or poor visibility.’ We can infer from this that:

• people drive faster in rain and poor visibility.

• the writer is merely calculating on the safe side.

• braking is more hazardous in rain and poor visibility.

• the road rules state that this must be so.

• All of these.

Read the following paragraphs to answer the next two questions (Questions 8&9).

There is a place forty kilometres north-east of Portland, Victoria, which makes for an unusual visit. It is Lake Condah. Here are to be found remains of aboriginal settlements: the circular stone bases of several hundred huts, rock-lined water channels, and stone tools chipped from rock not normally found in the area. One of the attractions of Lake Condah long ago was its fish and the most startling evidence of aboriginal technology and engineering to be found there are the systems built to trap fish.

Water courses had been constructed by redirecting streams, building stone sides and even scraping out new channels. At strategic spots, they piled rocks across the water courses to create weirs and build funnels to channel eels and fish into conical baskets. This is an eel-fishing technique which has hardly changed to the present day. Beside some of the larger traps, there are the outlines of rectangular, stone-lined ponds, probably to hold fish and keep them fresh.

On the bluffs overlooking the lake, stone circles are all that remain of ancient dwellings. Not all of the stones were quarried locally. The huts vary in size, but all have gaps for doorways located on the lee side, away from the prevailing wind. One theory is that the stone walls were only waist to shoulder high, with the top roofed by branches and possibly packed with mud.

The site presents a picture of a semi-settled people quite different from the stereotype of nomadic hunter-gatherers of the desert.

The word ‘stereotype’, as used in the above passage, means:

• distant culture.

• opposite picture.

• electronic print version.

• standard view.

• None of these.

Lake Condah is seen as unusual, mainly because:

• it is so close to a main town.

• there are remains of buildings still to be seen.

• it reveals a society that was at least partly settled and had building and engineering skills.

• there is evidence that some of the building stone was imported.

• it shows the lake dwellers were totally reliant on fish for a food source.

The sentence below does not have any punctuation.

Choose the option with the correct punctuation.

one of these days said mary youll get into trouble

• One of these days, said Mary, you’ll get into trouble.

• “One of these days,” said Mary “you’ll get into trouble”

• “One of these days,” said Mary. “You’ll get into trouble.”

• “One of these days,” said Mary, “you’ll get into trouble.”

• “One of these days,” said Mary, “youll get into trouble.”