EXERCISE

08 READING COMPREHENSION

TEXT

1 Like most other hobbies, stamp collecting can be exhilarating, time-consuming and, for the uninitiated,
overwhelming. Consider this - it is estimated that in the last 100 years alone, close to one billion different
stamps have been issued by governments all around the world. Not only that, but some of these stamps
are as rare, and as expensive, as Renaissance paintings. The most famous is probably the upside-down
airplane stamp, valued at almost 1 million dollars. Also the result of a printing mistake is the world’s
most expensive stamp, the Treskilling Yellow, so called because it was originally worth three shillings
when issued in Sweden in 1855, and because it was supposed to be printed in green, this being the
only known sample in yellow. This stamp was recently sold at auction for 1.7 million pounds, making it
the single most expensive item by weight in the world. Of course, amateur philatelists would do well to
concentrate on a sub-section of the wonderful world that is philately, such as collecting every stamp
issued by a certain government in a year, or collecting every stamp of a particular design, etc. Any other
approach to this hobby is a surefire recipe for frustration and perhaps for ruin.

EXCERCISE

2 1. This article mainly 1. a) tells hobbyists how to get into stamp

collecting,
b) warns of the expenses involved,
c) describes the history of stamps,
d) describes the sale of the most expensive
stamp in the world.
2. The most famous stamp is also the most 2. True X False
expensive.
3. Which of the following adjectives is/are NOT 3. a) stressful,
used to describe stamp collecting? b) time-consuming,
c) wonderful,
d) uninitiated..
4. The author uses the figure of one billion to 4. a) exciting,
prove that stamp collecting can be b) boring,
c) time-consuming,
d) overwhelming.
5. Both of the stamps mentioned have printing 5. X True False
mistakes.
6. How many pieces of advice does the article 6. a) 1,
give to focus the efforts of a new philatelist? b) 2,
c) 3,
d) 4.
7. The article implies that 7. a) only stamps with printing mistakes are
valuable,
b) stamp collecting is an expensive hobby,
c) if you buy a cheap stamp now it could be
worth millions in the 22nd century,
d) a disorganized approach to stamp collecting
will result in disappointment.
8. The sale of the world’s most expensive stamp 8. True X False
was arranged through a private dealer.
9. The world’s most expensive stamp was 9. X True False
originally supposed to be green.

8 · COMPRENSIÓN ESCRITA · NIVEL INTERMEDIO