READING COMPREHENSION
Hunted
PASSAGE 1: CAT
A cat is a precision instrument – a
perfectly engineered hunting machine, designed
for stealth, capture and self- defense. It has
padded feet the make no sound and muscles of
enormous power and bulk for the size.
Its bones are attached at energy-efficient
angles that create a system of springs and levers
perfect for bounding, leaping and climbing. Its
claws are sharper than those of any other mammal
and can be withdrawn under sheath like pads
where they escape injury and wear.
No teeth are better suited for hunting
than those of the cat – great canines for tearing
and scissor-like premolars for shearing off bits of
flesh small enough to swallow.
In the cat’s eye, the colored fibers of the
iris respond immediately to light changed to
permit exactness of vision in all light conditions. In
the darkness of the night the iris contracts to
widen the pupil and admit any trace of available
light. In the binding light of midday, the iris
expands and the pupil shuts down to a thin vertical
slit.
Except in white cats with blue eyed, a
cat’s hearing is extremely acute. Each ear has
twenty-seven muscles that allow the cat to rotate
the ear in all direction to collect sound. The cat’s
reaction to sudden movement or noise is so swift
that it can usually escape threatening danger – and
the little quarry passes unharmed.
1. We can conclude from the selection that the
cat is an animal which can ______
a. Do a lot of tricks
b. Be domesticated
c. Be very dangerous
d. Survive on its own
2. The sentence “ the cat is a precision
instrument is a _________
a. Hyperbole
b. Simile
c. Metaphor
d. Irony
3. The selection is mainly about
___________
a. How the cat differs from a dog
b. The cat as a hunting machine
c. How the cat is like a mammal
d. The cat as a house pet
4. The word “quarry” as used in the last
paragraph means_________
a. Target
b.
c. Hunter
d. Victim
5. Cats have acute hearing except the white cat
with blue eyes which do not
a. Hear well
b. See well
c. Hunt well
d. Eat well.
PASSAGE 2: WORK
Let me do my work from day to day,
In the field or forest, at the desk or loom,
In roaring market-place or tranquil room;
Let me but find it in my heart to say,
When vagrant wishes beckon me astray,
“This is my work; my blessing, not my doom;
“Of all who live, I am the one by whom
“This work can be best be done in the right way.”
Then shall see it not too great, nor small,
To suit my spirit and to prove my powers;
Then shall I cheerful greet laboring hours,
And cheerful turn, when the long shadows fall
At eventide, to play and love the rest,
Because I know for me my work is best.
1. From the lines” in the field or forest, at the desk or
loom” what do you mean be the word loom?
a. A flowering plant
b. Small table
c. A mushroom
d. Machine for weaving
2. According to the article, we can say that work is
something that can be?
a. Useful to everyone
b. Proud of
c. Motivation
d. Inspiring
3. What can be implied to this poem?
a. Work is important in everyday living
b. Whatever task we set to do, we must do it
the best we can
c. No small things when you work hard for it
d. Working day by day is very important
PASSAGE 3: LIGHT/ SOCIAL CHANGES
In the light of social changes, we come to the
question: What qualities should distinguish the
educated Filipino today? I venture to suggest that
the educated Filipino should first be distinguished
by the power to do.
The oriental in reflective thinking he is
philosopher. The occidental is a doer; he manages
things, men and affairs. The Filipino of today needs
more of this power to translate reflection into
action. I believe that we are coming more to this
power to translate reflection into action.
 We are coming more likely to the
conviction that no Filipino has the right to be
considered educated unless he is prepared to take
an active and useful part in the work, life, and
progress of our country as well as in the process of
the world.
1. What is meant by this line? “ the oriental is a
philosopher:
a. Oriental people have the blood of great
philosophers
b. Oriental people are contemplative
c. They have the tendency to become
philosophers
d. They think like great Solomon
2. What value is implied in the same passage
above?
a. Justice
b. Active involvement
c. Courage
d. Hyperactivity
3. As used in the selection, what does word
“conviction “mean?
a. Intellectual guess
b. Strong belief
c. Verdict
d. Allegiance
4. What is the best paraphrase of the last
paragraph in the passage?
a. A truly educated Filipino participates
actively in the work and progress of the
country and the world as a whole.
b. Participation in the work and progress of
our country is sought by every Filipino
c. The country’s progress and advancement
depend primarily on educated Filipino
d. To be considered educated, one has to be
globally competitive and willing to take
risks
5. What trait is found in the most Orientals but
needs to be deepened in Filipino?
a. Action oriented
b. Reflective thinker
c. Patience
d. Good in managing
PASSAGE 4: PALAWAN
Unique to Palawan is its mega diversity.
For a long time, only many ethnic communities
that thrive in these islands and a few other daring
settlers who wanted to live in unpolluted
surroundings know Palawan’s bountiful resources,
abundant wildlife and extraordinary natural
beauty. The island province first attracted foreign
attention in the 1970’s when it became a United
Nations Vietnamese Refugee center.
At this time, a disturbance in Kenya also
saw the transport of endangered animals from its
savannas to the plains Calauit Island. However, it
was only a sea accident in 1979 that eventually led
to the opening of Palawan into major tourist
attraction.
According to a story, a tuna line disabled
d dive boat’s propeller in the middle of the night
forcing it to drop anchor in an inlet. The following
morning, the divers woke up with amazing scenery
of skyscraping dark cliff.
1. When the Palawan did attracted foreign
attention?
a. A disturbance in Kenya also saw the
transport of endangered animals
b. Divers woke up with amazing scenery of
skyscraping cliff
c. It became a united nations Vietnamese
refugee center
d. A tuna line disabled a dive boats propeller
in the middle of the night
2. What does the word “diversity” in the
sentence mean?
a. Variety
b. Equality
c. Similarity
d. Distinction
3. Which could be an appropriate title of the
selection?
a. A Palawan and it’s settlers
b. Palawan and it’s extraordinary natural
beauty
c. El Nido in 1970’s
d. The discovery of El Nido
4. It can be concluded from the selection that
_____________
a. El Nido is a tourist spot
b. El Nido is a popular place
c. El Nido was discovered by diver
d. El Nido has its amazing natural beauty
PASSAGE 4: PASTA
A world without pasta seems inconceivable.
Macaroni and cheese loving children across the US would
howl in protest; Italy might suffer a heart attack; social
unrest could explode in china where noodles are the main
staple. But if humans want to keep eating pasta, we will
have to take much more aggressive action against global
warming. Pasta is made from wheat, and a large growing
body of scientific studies and real world observations
suggest what wheat will be hit especially hard as
temperatures rise and storms and drought intensity in the
years ahead. Three grains wheat, corn and rice account for
most of the food that humans consume. All these are
already suffering from climate change, but wheat stands to
fare the worst in the years ahead, for it is the grain most
vulnerable to high temperatures. That spells trouble not
only for pasta but also for bread, the most food of all.
International agricultural research centers and the private
sector have woken up to the fact that higher temperatures
are most almost inevitable and they have very little in their
genetic toolbox to deal with them.
1. The meaning of inconceivable in the first sentence
of the passage must be ____
Ans: not imaginable
2. The passage emphasizes an alarming future
scenario because ____
Ans: three significant grains, especially wheat may
be lost to humans.
3. This passage entitled Pasta Crisis points out with
urgency that
Ans: more aggressive action against global
warming is needed
4. Another way of expressing the idea in the
sentence “ it is the grain most vulnerable to high
temperature” it is grain ___
Ans: most affected under intense heat
5. The idea in the passage is develop using ____
Ans: exposition
PASSAGE 6: YOUTH
Youth is not a time of life; it is a state of mind; it is
not a matter of rosy cheeks; red lips and supple knees; it is
a matter of the will, a quality of the imagination, a vigor of
the imagination, a vigor emotions; it is the freshness of the
deep springs of life.
Youth means a temperamental predominance of
the appetite, for adventure over the love of ease. This often
exists in a man 60 more than a boy of 20. Nobody grows old
merely by a number of years. We grow old by deserting our
deals. Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up
enthusiasm wrinkles the soul, worry, fear, self-distrust
bows the heart and turns the spirit. Back to dust. Whether
60 or 16, there is in every human being’s heart the lure of
wonder, the unfailing childlike appetite of what’s next and
joy of the game of living. In the center of your heart and my
heart there is a wireless station: so long as it receives
messages of beauty, hope, cheer, courage and power from
men and from the infinite, so long are you young. When the
aerials are, down and your spirit is covered with snows of
cynicism and the ice of pessimism, then you are grow old,
even at 29, but as long as your aerials are up to catch waves
of optimism, there is hope you may die young at 80.
1. The most appropriate title for this selection is?
A. On growing old
B. On being young
C. Young and old
D. You can be young
2. How would you describe the author as the he
describes the young generation?
a. Assertive
b. Inquisitive
c. Informative
d. Provocative
3. According to the selection, which of the following
is not a characteristic of youth?
a. Rosy cheeks
b. Imaginative
c. Adventurous
d. Timidity
4. According to the author, one has grown old if
a. He has lost the desire to improve himself
b. He indulges in hazardous himself
c. He has reached the age of 70
d. His child have set up their own families
5. The selection tells us that youth is based on one’s
a. Physical appearance
b. Status in life
c. Charm and glamour
d. View about life
PASSAGE 7: DRUG ADDICTION
The literature on drug addiction has grown at a
rate that defies anyone to keep abreast of the literature,
and apparently in inverse proportion to our understanding
of the subject. Addiction, or dependence, as it is more
fashionable to call it, excites controversy and speculation
yet true understanding of the phenomenon remains
elusive.
In fact the area is fraught with speculation and
acrimonious debate. Definition of terms such as ‘drug’
, ‘addiction’, and abuse is obviously less controversial than
attempts to explain the nature of drug dependence, yet
even the terminology is imprecise and overlain with
subjective connotations. At its most basic, a drug, as
defined by the world health organization, is simply any
substance which when taken into the living organism may
modify one or more of its functions. This kind of definition
is too wide to be of any use in a discussion of dependence;
it covers everything from insulin to aspirin, penicillin to
alcohol.
1. The author implies that he thinks the term
‘dependence’ in the context of drugs
a. Is more accurate the older term “addiction”
b. Has not always been preferred term
c. Is a currently under used term
d. Is an Avant grade aberration
2. We can infer from the first sentence that _____
a. Not all that has been written on the subject
of addiction has added to our understanding
b. No one can have read all the literature on any
drug
 c. The more that is published the more we are
likely to understand
d. The rate of growth should be higher if we are
to understand the subject
PASSAGE 8: THE IMAGINATIVE POWER OF DRAMA
The art generally depends on ridiculous, but the
theater is most ridiculous of all imagine, asking us to
pretend that we are Bangkok after the fall of Saigon and
that tea is a Vietnamese bar girl who kill herself because
she believes that suicide is the only solution to her
problems.
More than that engaged asking us to believe that
all other characters in the play talk to each other by singing.
The theater is a lily that inexplicably asset from a single
weedy falsities, yet it is precisely from the tension produced
by absurdity that theater is able to create each poetry,
power enhancement, and truth.
1. What is the best title of the selection?
Ans: The imaginative power of drama
2. Based from the excerpt, the author believes that
all the statements are true, EXCEPT?
Ans: theater teaches us that suicide is the only
solution to the problem
3. The word “ABSURDITY” means?
Ans: foolishness
4. Which of the following can be conducted about
theatre from the selection?
Ans: it is able to create poetry, power
enhancement and truth
5. The author’s attitude towards unreal situations in
the drama is one of:
Ans: worry
6. The word “inexplicably” means
Ans: cannot be explain
7. The phrase “jungle of weedy falsities” contains:
Ans: metaphor
PASSAGE 9: INTRODUCTION TO POETRY
I ask them to make a poem,
And hold it up to the light
Like a color slide.
Or press an ear against its hive.
I say drop a mouse into a poem,
And watch his probe his way out,
Or walk inside the poem’s room,
And feel the wall for a light switch.
I want them to waterski
Across the surface of the poem
Waving at the author’s name on the shore.
But all they want to do is tie the poem
To the chair with rope
And torture a confession out of it.
They begin beating it with a hose
1. What does the stanza 3, 4, and 5 shown?
Ans: image
2. Who are them and they refer to?
Ans: students of poetry
3. Hold them up to light like a color slide press an ear
against its hive
Ans: senses
4. What does the author trying to convey out the
passage?
Ans: enjoy and realized
PASSAGE 10: HOMER( ILIAD AND ODYSSEY)
The views and beliefs of societies are often
portrayed in the literature, art, and cinema of a certain era.
Tha Illiad and Odyssey give scholars and historians an idea
how the Ancient Greek lived their everyday lives. The Iliad
and Odyssey are two classic stories told by homer. Within
these stories the roles of the gods are very important to the
story line and how the characters throughout.
In Iliad, more gods are involved with the
characters whereas in the Odyssey there are only two
major gods that affect two majors’ characters. The roles of
the gods in Iliad are through different stances of immortal
versus immortal and moral versus immortal. The roles of
the god in the Odyssey are through major gods and they
affect the plot as Poseidon versus Odysseus and Athena
versus Telemachus.
Iliad was a tragedy illustrating the despair and useless
suffering associated with war.
Homer’s odyssey wan an epic tale of long suffering
resolving in triumph. Though there were a great many
differences between the two works, there was an
underlying theme of the love which ran through both. Not
just the physical manifestation of infatuation, but the kind
of love that makes one willing to die for another.
1. We can infer the selection that birth of homer is-
Ans: birth of homer is inconsistent
2. The epic story
Ans: still remains a great piece in ancient Greece
3. Iliad and Odyssey is a story of all about
Ans: about long epic struggles of heroes
4. Epic means
Ans:story of heroism
5. Iliad and Odyssey uses
Ans: artistry and intelligence
PASSAGE 11: INVENTION OF CAMERA
Invention enhance people’s lives. Inventions are
improvements of previous discoveries. With technology,
inventions are easier to complete. One such invention is the
camera. The invention of camera gave way to the first
underwater camera in 1856. It was placed in a tightly sealed
container. However, when the contraption was
underwater, the container broke before many pictures
were taken. It was only in the 1980’s that the camera was
made which is able to go deep underwater without being
damaged. Less than twenty years later, technology allowed
underwater cameras to take photographs in color and to go c. Kindness
even deeper into the water. With better technology, an d. Solidarity
invention will never stay stagnant. 3. What is the most important factor that will equip
1. What can we infer from the selection? rural people to survive in the city?
Ans: man is constantly in search of new invention a. Money
2. What is the main idea expressed in the selection? b. Education
Ans: to seek comfort is man’s goal in life c. Kindness
3. What can we conclude about inventions in the d. Home
selection? 4. The selection is simple about?
Ans: improve people’s lives a. Providing homes for the poor
4. What figure of speech is used in the last line if the b. Helping street children get an education
selection? c. Factors why children lives in the street
Ans: personification d. How to lessen pressure on the family
5. What is the value presented in the selection? 5. Based on the text, we can conclude that street
Ans: ingenuity children are____
6. Which of the following invention in the passage Ans: victims of poverty
that were invented in 1907
Ans: camera WRITTEN EXPRESSIONS:
PASSAGE 11: POVERTY 1. A. Public pools have consistently
Studies have consistently pointed to at least three B. demonstrated the public willingness
major immediate factors that push children to stay or to C. economic growth
live on the streets. These are the poverty of family, family D. for environment protection
relationship (physical or sexual abuse) and peer influence. 2. A. remembering a person’s name
Poverty and peer influence when compounded with B. required us to retrieve first
problems and stresses in the family such as family break up, C. our useful memory of the person and then
child abuses and neglect, domestic violence by D. our memory
step0parents, underemployed parents, etc. altogether 3. A. outside of written records
create under pressure on the child to leave home and find B. evidences of Philistines existence
solace, protection, and support from the peers on the C. have survived
street, eventually becoming susceptible to their influence D. in pottery relics
and lifestyle. 4. A. in many cities around the world
In metro Manila, population growth, urbanize and B. the number of homeless people
migration have increased through the years. Children are C. have become
often forced try circumstances to help their family eke out D. a big problem
of living or tend for themselves on the streets. Most of 5. A. the man
them are children of poor parents who migrated from rural B. gives antidote so powerful
areas in the hope of finding better job opportunities in the C. that any poison was made harmless
city, but whose lack of education rendered them I;;- D. after taking it
equipped to struggle for survival in the urban jungle and are 6. A. finance statement
thus curtained to a life of object poverty. For the street B. are formal reports
children, life on the street is constant struggle to overcome C. prepared
the various negative comments that threaten to overtake D. by accountants
them and destroy their hopes for survival. They work under 7. A. the tale that was
the heat of the sun or in the dark of the night from 1-6 B. told in a low and mystery voice
hours, seven days a week to survive. C. kept us on the
1. To “eke of living” means D. edge of seats
a. To earn income 8. A. the gleaning Network,
b. To live with other B. an organizer in the United Kingdom
c. To stay in the street C. is trying to reduce waste
d. To work in the street D. and solve farming problem
2. Based on the selection, what values seem to be 9. A. In 1964,
missing in the families of street children? B. the African countries of Tanganyaki and
a. Loyalty Zanziban
b. Honestly C. has united to from
 D. a single country, now called Tanzania
10. A. As a mode of expository writing
B. the narrated writing offers writers
C. a chance to think and write
D. about themselves
11. A. the obligations of the accountant to the client
B. rested upon the agreed scope
C. of the engagement which
D. in effect represents a contractual agreement
12. A. many medication are safe and effective when
taken alone
B. and ineffective or counterproductive
C. when taken in combination
D. when something else
13. A. to lessen many expenses
B. the newlywed decided
C. to rent a small apartment
D. in the old building
14. A. the expensive antiquity silver mirror
B. was formerly owned by my only surviving aunt
C. who in turn gave it to me during
D. my 18th birthday celebration
15. A. most important thing in the world
B. has been accomplished be people
C. who have kept on when there
D. seemed to be no hope
16. A. Wallowin disappointment
B. over something
C. you did
D. is not productive
17. A. you are not always in control
B. of what goes in your mind
C. because only you can determine
D. what stays there
18. A. team led by the government agency concerned
B. say that chemicals from the factory
C. had contaminated sediments in the bay
D. and entered the food chain
19. A. money is not natural reward of love
B. that is why we called a man mercenary
C. if he marries a woman
D. for the sake of her money
20. A. any government
B. should implement certain policies
C. which would cater to the economic, political,
moral
D. and the social needs of the nation
21. A. thinking like a winner means not always having
to defeat someone else
B. but it means that one is being able to learn
from a situation
C. which would be of great help
D. to rise above that failure and to be able to reach
one’s goal