Do you know the moon? At night you can see it shining brightly in the sky.

The
moon is one of the objects in space. Because people are curious about the things,
they study the space and the things in it. The science that studies these things is called
astronomy. Astronomy deals with objects such as the sun, the moon, and even stars
and other objects outside the solar system. It studies thousands of millions of stars
that form the galaxies. Our galaxy is one of the thousands of million galaxies that make
up the universe. Astronomy is the oldest science. A person who is expert in
astronomy is called an astronomer.
Ancient people discovered many important uses of astronomy. The position
of the rising and setting sun was to mark out the season of the year. Astronomy was
used to calculate accurate time to mark the length of the year and to draw up the
first calendars. Travelers in the desert and seafarers used the sun by the day and
the stars by the night to find their way.

1. What is the best title of the passage?

A. The sky
B. The moon
C. Astronomy
D. The space objects
E. The solar system

2. People study the space because ____ .

A. they are astronomers
B. they study astronomy
C. they want to know the solar system
D. they are desert travelers and seafarers
E. they are eager to know about many things in it

3. What is the main idea of the second paragraph?

A. The discoveries
B. The position of the stars
C. The season of the year
D. The function of astronomy
E. The function of the sun for the desert travelers
4. It studies the thousands of millions of stars that the galaxies (paragraph 1).
The word it refers to ____ .
A. astronomy
B. solar system
C. the science
D. the moon
E. the space

5. Which of the following statement is correct?

A. Only the moon exists in the sky.
B. The position of the sun does not have the effects to the season.
C. Astronomy studies the solar system and the function of the sun
D. Astronomy, the oldest and useful science, has discovered many important
things.
E. The position of the sun and the moon was useful for the desert travelers.
 People say that life in the twentieth century needs preparation. Realizing this,
today more and more parents send their children to school. They want to give their
children educate schooling to prepare them for their future career. The increasing
number of children who want to attend schools has made the government as well as
private institutions build up new schools and educate more teachers.
In the meantime, the government also keeps trying to improve the education
system. It has come to the realization that what the children need to learn is more
important than what they should learn. They need to learn something that will make
them succeed in finding the right career in the future. They need to learn the
knowledge that will be useful in their real life.
Starting in 1994, the government has put forward the 9 years compulsory
education. The statement says that the Indonesian children must at least attend the
9 years primary education, consisting of the six years Primary School and 3 years
Junior Secondary School. This gives a good opportunity to all children in this
country to get at least the certificate of Junior Secondary School. Not only the well-
to-do families but also those of low standard economy can send their children to
school because they are free from paying the donation of education development to
go to those two levels of school. Both well-to-do families and those who are not so
fortunate can send their children to schools because the government has
subsidized the nine-year program.

6. The nine-year compulsory education program is meant to give the children an

opportunity to ….
A. stop going to school after nine-year education
B. get a job after nine-year of their education
C. enjoy nine years primary school
D. attend schools at the age of nine
E. go at least to Junior High School

7. The main idea of paragraph two is ____ .

A. The government efforts of improving education system
B. The children need to learn the new knowledge
C. The education system is more important that what schools be learnt
D. The knowledge will be useful in their real life
E. The children need something to prepare their careers

8. The government and private institutions have established more schools because
____ .
A. they are competing with one another
B. there are more children who want to go to school
C. establishing more schools does not spend much money
D. school business gives them a lot of money
E. they want to educate more teachers

9. This gives good opportunity to all children in the country to get … (paragraph 2).
The synonym of the underlined word is ____ .
A. chance
B. spare time
C. preparation
D. information
E. time schedule