Title VSTEP-Reading test 3.docx ✅

Code 3 - Page 1 of READING PAPER 3 Time permitted: 60 minutes Number of questions: 40 _______________________________________________________________________ Directions:In this section you will read FOUR different passages. Each one is followed by 10 questions about it. For questions 1-40, you are to choose the best answer A, B, C or D, to each question. Then, on your answer sheet, find the number of the question and fill in the space that corresponds to the letter of the answer you have chosen. Answer all questions following a passage on the basis of what is stated or implied in that passage. You have 60 minutes to answer all the questions, including the time to transfer your answers to the answer sheet. PASSAGE 1 – Questions 1-10 Today Singapore is a world centre for trade, shipping and tourism, but two hundred years ago, Singapore was just a deserted island off the coast of Malaya with only a few fishermen living there. Stamford Raffles was an Englishman who helped to make Singapore. Raffles, the son of an English sea captain, was born in Jamaica in 1781. Because his parents were poor, he left school when he was 14 and started work in a trading company in London. The trading company was called the British East India Company. It was an important and powerful company that sent ships all over the world. As well as trading, the company officials sometimes became rulers of the countries they traded with. Raffles did his work well and soon began to get higher positions in the company. He was often sent to other countries and he became very interested in foreign places. He became the ruler of Java and in 1817 he wrote a book called History of Java. In 1819, Raffles went to rule the island of Singapore. At that time, Singapore was covered with forest and there were only a few poor fishermen living there. Some of them were pirates and when a ship came near the island, they went out to it in small boats. They attacked the ships, stole things from them and sometimes killed the sailors. The waters around Singapore were dangerous and ships were afraid to come near the island.