Comprehension [ 30 ] Upper Intermediate & Advanced

30 - ] Comprehension

 Upper Intermediate & Advanced 

 Read this extract from a short story , then answer the questions below :

               In the lumberyard by the lake , where trees from the woods were turned into boards for construction work , there was an old brick building two floors high , and all around the outside wall were heaped great piles of soft sawdust . There were many of these golden mountains of dust covering that part of the yard right down to the blue lake . That afternoon , bored with

having nothing else to do , all the fellows followed Michael up the ladder to the roof of the old building and they sat with their legs hanging over the edge looking out across the lake. Suddenly Michael said ,‘I dare you to jump down,’ and without thinking about it , he pushed himself off the roof and fell on the sawdust where he lay rolling around and laughing . ‘I dare you all !’ he shouted . ‘You’re all cowards ,’ he said , encouraging them to follow him . Still laughing , he watched them looking down from the roof , white-faced and hesitant , and then one by one they jumped and got up grinning with relief .

                 In the hot afternoon sunlight they all lay on the sawdust pile telling jokes till at last one of the fellows said , ‘Come on up on the old roof again and jump down .’ There wasn’t much enthusiasm among them , but they all went up to the roof again and began to jump off in a determined , desperate way till only Michael was left and the others were all down below grinning up at him calling , ‘Come on , Mike . What’s the matter with you ?’ Michael wanted to jump down there and be with them , but he remained on the edge of the roof , wetting his lips , with a silly grin on his face , wondering why it had not seemed such a long drop the first time . For a while they thought he was only fooling them , but then they saw him clenching his fists tight . He was trying to count to ten and then jump , and when that failed , he tried to take a long breath and close his eyes . In a while the fellows began to laugh at him ; they were tired of waiting and it was getting on to the dinnertime . ‘Come on , you’re a coward , do you think we’re going to sit here all night ?’ they began to shout , and when he did not move they began to get up and walk away , still shouting . ‘Who did this in the first place ? What’s the matter with you all ?’ he called .

                But for a long time he remained on the edge of the roof , staring unhappily and steadily at the ground . He remained all alone for nearly an hour while the sun like a great orange ball getting bigger and bigger , rolled slowly over the grey line beyond the lake . His clothes were wet from nervous sweating . At last he closed his eyes , slipped off the roof , fell heavily on the pile of sawdust and lay there a long time . There were no sounds in the yard , the workmen had gone home . As he lay there he wondered why he had been unable to jump ; and then he got up slowly and walked home feeling deeply ashamed and wanting to avoid everybody .

              He was so late for dinner that his stepmother said to him coldly , ‘You’re big enough by this time surely to be able to get home in time for dinner . But if you won’t come home , you’d better try staying in tonight . ‘She was a well-built woman with a fair , soft skin and a little touch of grey in her hair and an eternally patient smile on her face . She was speaking now with a controlled severity , but Michael , with his dark face gloomy and miserable , hardly heard her ; he was still seeing the row of grinning faces down below on the sawdust pile and hearing them laugh at him .  

1 . Why did the boys first climb on the building ?

( A ) to test their courage

( B ) to pass the time

( C ) to keep out of the way of the workmen

( D ) to get a better view of the woods

2 . When the boys jumped after Michael , they

( A ) were grateful to him for the idea .

( B ) wanted to do it again immediately

( C )  felt pleased at what they had done .

( D ) found the jump harder than expected .

3 . Why didn’t Michael make the second jump immediately ?

( A ) The ground seemed further away .

( B ) He thought his friends had been foolish .

( C ) He was trying to trick his friends .

( D ) He wanted something to drink .

4 . How did Michael’s friends react when he didn’t jump ?

( A ) They left immediately .

( B ) They were not surprised .

( C ) They remembered how they had felt themselves .

( D ) They thought he was joking .

5 . When Michael finally jumped the second time , he

( A ) was proud of himself .

( B ) improved on his first jump .

( C ) could not understand what had stopped him .

( D ) was not so angry with his friends .

6 . When his stepmother criticized his behavior , Michael

( A ) wished he had come home earlier .

( B ) was thinking about something else .

( C ) had not expected her to behave like this .

( D ) was glad she was a patient woman .

7 . What is the writer trying to do in this text ?

( A ) describe a difficult experience in Michael’s life

( B ) show how children can work together

( C ) show the dangers of life in the countryside

( D ) describe Michael’s fear of his family