UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES PRE-COURSE TEST

AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES READING 1

FACULTY OF ENGLISH TIME: 45 MINUTES

Name: Student ID: Group:

Part 1: Questions 1 – 10 (2.0 points)

Read the following passage and blacken the letter A, B, C or D on your answer sheet to
indicate the option that best fits each of the numbered blanks from 1 to 10.

WHY DO PEOPLE LAUGH?

Babies start laughing very soon after they’re born. Deaf and (1) ______ people can laugh even
though they’ve never seen or heard anyone laughing. Laughing seems to be a part of human
nature, but what’s it for?
Many people think that we laugh (2) ______ we see or hear something funny, but most of the
time this isn’t true. In one study, a professor of psychology and his students listened in and (3)
______ notes on hundreds of conversations in public places. They heard about 1,200 laughs,
but only 10-20 percent came after a(n) (4) ______ or something funny. The other 80-90 percent
followed normal, everyday expressions like “I’ll see you later” or, “It was nice to meet you”.
No one really knows why we laugh, but one idea is that the most important reason for laughing
is to make (5) ______ people feel good. When you laugh, the people around you often start
laughing too. Soon, (6) ______ whole group is cheerful and relaxed. Laughter can stop
negative feelings and help people to feel closer to each other. It may be that thousands of years
ago, before people could speak, laughter helped them to form groups and (7) ______.
It also seems that laughter can be good for your health. Laughing a hundred times uses the
same energy as riding (8) ______ an exercise bike for fifteen minutes. The writer Norman
Cousins, (9) ______ suffers from back pain, wrote that watching (10) ______ programmes on
TV helped him to feel better. He said that ten minutes of laughter gave him two hours of pain-
free sleep.

1. A. exhausted B. depressed C. blind D. mute

2. A. so B. as C. and D. yet
3. A. made B. did C. got D. gave
4. A. joke B. exchange C. debate D. argument
5. A. some B. other C. the other D. a few
6. A. Ø B. a C. an D. the
7. A. hang around B. work together C. take over D. pull off
8. A. in B. by C. at D. on
9. A. who B. whom C. which D. that
10. A. sports B. news C. comedy D. documentary
Page 1 of 4
Part 2: Questions 11 – 18 (4.0 points)
Read the following passage to decide if each of the following statements is True or False. If it
is True, blacken T on your answer sheet. If it is False, blacken F on your answer sheet.

GRAFFITI AND STREET ART

Painting and writing on walls, or Graffiti, is nothing new. In prehistoric times, people in Africa
and Europe painted pictures of animals and people in caves. In the Roman town of Pompeii in
Italy, archaeologists found a lot of graffiti written in Latin, including political and romantic
messages, and even some magic spells!

In the 1970s, young people in New York used pens to write their names, or ‘tags’, on walls
around the city. One of the first ‘taggers’ was Demetrius whose tag was TAKI 183. TAKI was
his nickname, and 183 was the number of the street where he lived. At first, he wrote his tag on
walls in his neighbourhood. Then he started writing it in subway stations on the way to school.
Other teenagers saw Demetrius’s tag and started writing their own tags on walls, buses and
subway trains all over New York: Barbara 62, Joe 182 ...

Then, some teenagers stopped using pens and started using aerosol paints. Their tags were
bigger and more colourful. Aerosol paint graffiti became very popular in the 1970s and 1980s
and appeared on trains, buses and walls around the world. In the 1990s and 2000s, a lot of
graffiti artists started to make pictures too. Some artists were interested in politics and tried to
make people think about social problems and discrimination with their pictures. Other artists
wanted to make cities more beautiful. In South America, street artists started painting in poor
areas. They brought colour and beauty to grey, city walls.

Is graffiti art or vandalism? In many countries, it is a crime to paint on walls and street artists
can have problems with the police. In other countries, street art is allowed in certain places. For
example, in Taiwan, there are ‘graffiti zones’ where artists are free to paint and write on walls.
In São Paulo in Brazil, the city council allows some graffiti artists to paint on the city’s subway
trains.

Nowadays, street art is more popular with the public. In some cities, there are street art
festivals. In Bristol in the UK, there is a street art festival in August every year. Artists paint all
the buildings in a street. Lots of people come to watch the artists and take photos. Street art can
be seen in galleries too. There have been exhibitions of street art in galleries in Paris, London
and Los Angeles.

Most street artists are young people who paint in their home city or neighbourhood. Many of
them use the Internet to communicate and share photos of their pictures with other street artists
around the world. Some street artists have become famous and their pictures can be seen in
galleries or on city walls around the world. Although we don’t know what will happen to street
art in the future, we can be sure that it is here to stay!

Page 2 of 4
11 Graffiti of prehistoric creatures was found on the walls of Pompeii. T F

12 The tag-writing trend in New York had nothing to do with Demetrius. T F

13 The 20th century saw aerosol paint graffiti growing a lot in popularity. T F

14 Some graffiti artists used their works to raise awareness of social issues. T F

15 Today, attitudes towards graffiti still vary from one country to another. T F

16 Graffiti artists in São Paulo can paint their works anywhere in the city. T F

17 Street art is displayed only at festivals in major cities around the world. T F

18 Technology is of no use in helping street artists rise to international fame. T F

Part 3: Questions 19 – 26 (4.0 points)

Read the following passage and blacken the letter A, B, or C on your answer sheet to indicate
the best answer to each of the following questions from 19 to 26.

DESERT DELIVERY
These days, it is easy for most of us to get a hold of the latest books or magazines. We can go
to bookstores, order them through the Internet, or borrow them from the local library. Now,
imagine having to walk miles and miles through a hot sandy desert just to borrow a book! This
is the reality for people living in the villages of the Carissa region of Kenya in East Africa.
In 1996, the librarian Wycliffe Oluoch used to spend each day waiting for people to come to
borrow some of the 24,000 books in his library in Carissa. The library had no shortage of
books, but people weren’t coming to read them. It was too much effort to walk through the
desert just to borrow books. Oluoch racked his brain for ways to entice people into the library.
After a lot of thought, he hit upon a great idea. If people wouldn’t come to the library, then he
would have to take the library to them. Oluoch strapped boxes of books onto the backs of
camels, and created the Mobile Camel Library.
Starting with three camels in 1996, but more recently expanding the service to six camels, the
Mobile Camel Library serves over one million people. Twice a month, the camel library can be
seen carrying books all around the Carissa region. These hard-working animals need little
water and can carry up to 500 pounds of books across the sands. A librarian, a library assistant,
a herdsman, and a lookout all travel with the camels. The lookout helps protect the books from
thieves.
The children of Carissa love the camel library and appreciate Oluoch’s effort. Eleven-year-old
Mohamud Mohamed reads his library books carefully and always returns them on time. He
knows the Carissa library punishes people for losing books, just like any other library.
However, the punishment is very harsh compared to that of other libraries. If a village loses a
book, the camel library stops visiting.
Page 3 of 4
19. What is the main idea of the passage?
A. A Mobile Camel Library was invented.
B. Libraries need lookouts because of thieves.
C. Wycliffe Oluoch is a hard-working librarian.
20. The library in Carissa was seldom visited because ______.
A. inhabitants didn’t like waiting
B. locals didn’t manage to walk there
C. residents didn’t enjoy reading books
21. The word them in paragraph 2 refers to ______.
A. people B. ways C. books
22. All of the following travel with the Mobile Camel Library EXCEPT those who ______.
A. watch for dangers B. look after the camels C. borrow the books
23. Camels are chosen to carry books around the region probably because ______.
A. they can carry books twice a month
B. they are loved by the children of Carissa
C. they are strong and don’t need much water
24. Which of the following is NOT true about Mohamud Mohamed?
A. He is very careful when reading books.
B. He never returns the borrowed books late.
C. He was once punished by the Carissa library.
25. The word harsh in paragraph 4 is closest in meaning to ______.
A. strict B. fair C. light
26. It can be inferred from the passage that ______.
A. camels are likely to be used to carry books in other regions of the world
B. the Mobile Camel Library ends up being a wasted effort from a librarian
C. not everyone in the world has easy access to the latest books or magazines

Page 4 of 4