Reading Comprehension - Articles 1-5

Reading Comprehension 1

Abdominal pain in children may be a symptom of emotional disturbance, especially where it appears in conjunction with phobias or sleep disorders such as nightmares or sleep-walking. It may also be linked to eating habits: a study carried out in the USA found that children with pain tended to be more fussy about what and how much they ate, and to have over-anxious parents who spent a considerable time trying to persuade them to eat. Although abdominal pain had previously been linked to excessive milk-drinking, this research found that children with pain drank rather less milk than those in the control group.

1. There is no clear cause for abdominal pain in children
2. Abdominal pain in children may be psychosomatic in nature
3. Drinking milk may help to prevent abdominal pain in children
4. Children who have problems sleeping are more likely to suffer from abdominal pain

Reading Comprehension 2

When Christianity was first established by law, a corrupt form of Latin had become the common language of all the western parts of Europe. The service of the Church accordingly, and the translation of the Bible which was read in churches, were both in that corrupted Latin which was the common language of the country. After the fall of the Roman Empire, Latin gradually ceased to be the language of any part of Europe. However, although Latin was no longer understood anywhere by the great body of the people, Church services still continued to be performed in that language. Two different languages were thus established in Europe: a language of the priests and a language of the people.

1. After the fall of the Roman Empire, people who had previously spoken Latin returned to their original languages
2. Latin continued to be used in church services because of the continuing influence of Rome.
3. Priests spoke a different language from the common people.
4. Prior to the fall of the Roman Empire, Latin had been established by law as the language of the Church in western Europe.

Reading Comprehension 3

To help stimulate their child’s interest in education, wise parents should become involved starting from the child’s first day of school. The child’s drawings should be praised and subsequent help given with homework. This should create an enjoyable habit of seeking knowledge for knowledge’s sake, rather than a chore to be finished before the child may watch television or go out to play. Close communication between teachers and parents is also beneficial to the child as possible problems on both sides can be discussed and resolved to the child’s advantage.

1. Wise parents should praise the child’s drawings.
2. Teachers and parents should avoid talking to each other.
3. All children watch television.
4. All children should go to play school.

Reading Comprehension 4

Despite the fact that sixty per cent of Britain’s married women have their own careers, fiction and television writers still refer to wives in such terms as “her indoors” or portray them as downtrodden slaves at the kitchen sink, surrounded by hordes of grubby kids. By comparison, television adverts show sparkling clean kitchens with housewives surrounded by 2.3 freshly scrubbed children in a germ-free environment. Neither of these two descriptions portray the reality of working married women in today’s society: it is thought that until women themselves hold the top posts in the television industry, these views will remain unchanged.

1. Sixty per cent of Britain’s married women have their own careers.
2. Television writers never refer to wives as “her indoors.”
3. Women hold all the top posts in the television industry.
4. The National Statistics show that most couples have 2.3 children.

Reading Comprehension 5

The telephone is the executive’s most used tool. A survey has shown that, in Britain, executives make around thirty-nine business calls a day in the south, and approximately thirty-one per day in the north. However, fifty-three per cent of the executives surveyed also complained of wasting a lot of time on the ‘phone through waiting for calls, returning calls, or simply not getting through. International telephones are working on a computerised system which should help to eliminate some of the problems, but one should not expect this change within the next decade.

1. According to the survey, executives living and working in the north make around thirty-nine business calls a day.
2. The telephone will always be the executive’s most used tool.
3. Over half of the executives in the survey said that they waste a lot of time on the telephone.
4. Telephones are often misused.