Comprehension [ 29 ] Upper Intermediate & Advanced

29 - ] Comprehension

Upper Intermediate & Advanced

Read the following passage , then answer the questions below : 

               I was dirty , smelly , hungry and somewhere beneath all that , suntanned . It was the end of an Inter-Rail holiday . My body couldn’t take any more punishment . My mind couldn’t deal with any more foreign timetables , currencies or languages .

                ‘Never again ,’ I said , as I stepped into home ground . I said exactly the same thing the following year . And the next . All I had to do was buy one train ticket and , because I was under twenty-five years old , I could spend a whole month going anywhere I wanted in Europe . Ordinary beds are never the same once you’ve learnt to sleep in the corridor of a train , the rhythm rocking you into a deep sleep .

                Carrying all your possessions on your back in a rucksack makes you have a very basic approach to travel , and encourages incredible wastefulness that can lead to burning socks that have become too anti-social , and getting rid of books , when finished . On the other hand , this way of looking at life is entirely in the spirit of Inter-Rail , for common sense and reasoning can be thrown out of the window along with the paperback book and the socks . All it takes to achieve this carefree attitude is one of those tickets in your hand .

                Any system that enables young people to travel through countries at a rate of more than one a day must be pretty special . On that first trip , my friends and I were at first unaware of the possibilities of this type of train ticket , thinking it was just an inexpensive way of getting to and from our chosen camp-site in southern France . But the idea of non-stop travel proved too tempting , for there was always just one more country over the border , always that little bit further to go . And what did the extra miles cost us ? Nothing .

                     We were not completely uninterested in culture . But this was a first holiday without parents , as it was for most other Inter-Railers , and in organizing our own timetable we left out everything except the most immediately available sights . This was the chance to escape the guided tour , an opportunity to do something different . I took great pride in the fact that , in many places , all I could be bothered to see was the view from the station . We were just there to get by , and to have a good time doing so . In this we were no different from most of the other Inter-Railers with whom we shared corridor floors , food and water , money and music .

                     The excitement of travel comes from the sudden reality of somewhere that was previously just a name . It is as if the city in which you arrive never actually existed until the train pulls in at the station and you are able to see it with your own tired eyes for the first time .

                     Only by actually seeing Europe , by watching the changing landscapes and seeing the differences in attitudes and lifestyles , can you really have an accurate picture of the continent in your mind . Everybody knows what is there , but it is meaningless until you view it yourself . This is what makes other people’s holiday photos so boring .

                       While the train trip won’t allow you to discover anything new in the world sense , it is a valuable personal experience . Europe is a big place , and Inter-Rail gives people the best opportunity to recognize this ….. though in our case it didn’t happen immediately .

1 . At the end his first trip , the writer said ‘Never again’ because

( A ) he felt ill .

( B ) he dislikes trains .

( C ) he was tired from the journey .

( D ) he had lost money .

2 . What does the writer mean by ‘this way of looking at life’ in paragraph three ?

( A ) worrying about your clothes

( B ) throwing unwanted things away

( C ) behaving in an anti-social way

( D ) looking after your possessions

3 . Why did the writer originally buy an Inter-Rail ticket ?

( A ) to go on a tour of Europe

( B ) to meet other young people

( C ) to see a lot of famous places

( D ) to get to one place cheaply

4 . What the writer liked about traveling without his parents was that

( A ) he could see more interesting places .

( B ) he could spend more time sightseeing .

( C ) he could stay away from home longer .

( D ) be could make his own decisions .

5 . On his first trip , the writer found that the other young Inter-Railers were

( A ) unselfish .

( B ) irresponsible .

( C ) badly organized .

( D ) concerned about money .

6. What does the underlined word ‘it’ refer to ?

( A ) a name

( B ) the city

( C ) the train

( D ) the station

7. According to the writer , other people’s holiday photos can be boring if

( A ) they are badly taken .

( B ) they are similar to your own .

( C ) you haven’t visited the same place .

( D ) you could have done better yourself .