Title VSTEP-Reading test 8.docx ✅

Code 8 - Page 1 of 14 READING PAPER 8 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 Since the dawn of time, people have found ways to communicate with one another. Smoke signals and tribal drums were some of the earliest forms of communication. Letters, carried by birds or by humans on foot or on horseback, made it possible for people to communicate larger amounts of information between two places. The telegram and telephone set the stage for more modern means of communication. With the invention of the cellular phone, communication itself has become mobile. For you, a cell phone is probably just a device that you and your friends use to keep in touch with family and friends, take pictures, play games, or send text message. The definition of a cell phone is more specific: it is a hand- held wireless communication device that sends and receives signals by way of small special areas called cells. Walkie - talkies, telephones and cell phones are duplex communication devices: They make it possible for two people to talk to each other. Cell phones and walkie- talkies are different from regular phones because they can be used in many different locations. A walkie- talkie is sometimes called a half- duplex communication device because only one person can talk at a time. A cell phone is a full- duplex device because it uses both frequencies at the same time. A walkie-talkie has only one channel. A cell phone has more than a thousand channels. A walkie- talkie can transmit and receive signals across a distance of about a mile.
Code 8 - Page 2 of 14 A cell phone can transmit and receive signals over hundreds of miles. In 1973, an electronic company called Motorola hired Martin Cooper to work on wireless communication. Motorola and Bell Laboratories ( now AT& T) were in a race to invent the first portable communication device. Martin Cooper won the race and became the inventor of the cell phone. On April 3, 1973, Cooper made the first cell phone call to his opponent at AT& T while walking down the streets of New York city. People on the sidewalks gazed at Cooper in amazement. Cooper's phone was called A Motorola Dyna- Tac. It weighed a whopping 2.5 pounds (as compared to today's cell phones that weigh as little as 3 or 4 ounces). After the invention of his cell phone, Cooper began thinking of ways to make the cell phone available to the general public. After a decade, Motorola introduced the first cell phone for commercial use. The early cell phone and its service were both expensive. The cell phone itself cost about $3,500. In 1977, AT & T constructed a cell phone system and tried it out in Chicago with over 2,000 customers. In 1981, a second cellular phone system was started in the Washington, D.C and Baltimore area. It took nearly 37 years for cell phones to become available for general public use. Today, there are more than sixty million cell phone customers with cell phones producing over thirty billion dollars per years. 1.What is the main idea of the passage? A. The increasing number of people using cell phone B. The difference between cell phones and telephones C. The history of a cell phone D. How Cooper competed with AT& T 2.According to the passage, which the following wasamong theearliest forms of communication? A. Drums B. Firework C. Letters D. Phones 3.What is NOT TRUE about a walkie- talkie? A. It has one channel. B. It was first designed in 1973. C. It can be used within a distance of a mile.
Code 8 - Page 3 of 14 D. Only one person can talk at a time. 4.The word"duplex" in the passage most probably means_______. A. allowing two-way communication B. havingat most two channels C. being able to transmit signals within two miles D. being produced by two companies 5. What makes cell phones and walkie- talkies different from regular phones? A. They allow two people to talk to each other at the same time. B. They are both half- duplex communication device. C. They can be used in many different locations. D. They both cost a lot of money. 6. The word “portable”in paragraph 3 is closest in meaning to_______. A. mobile B. modern C. compact D. fashionable 7.To whom did Cooper make his first cell phone call? A. His assistant B. His family C.His boss D.His competitor 8.How did people on the street feel when Cooper made the call? A. surprised B. angry C. frightened D. embarrassed 9.When did Motorola introduce the first cell phones for commercial use? A. in 1973 B. in 1977 C. in 1981 D. in 1983 10.The phrase "tried it out" refers to_______.
Code 8 - Page 4 of 14 A. made effort to sell the cell-phone B. reported on AT& T C. tested the cell-phone system D. introduced the cell-phone system PASSAGE 2 - Questions 11 – 20 Civilization Between 4000 and 3000 B.C.,significant technological developments began to transform the Neolithic towns. The invention of writing enabled records to be kept, and the use of metals marked a new level of human control over the environment and its resources. Already before 4000 B.C.,craftspeople had discovered that metal-bearing rocks could be heated to liquefy metals, which could then be cast in molds to produce tools and weapons that were more useful than stone instruments. Although copper was the first metal to be utilized in producing tools, after 4000 B.C.craftspeople in western Asia discovered that a combination of copper and tin produced bronze, a much harder and more durable metal than copper. Its widespread use has led historians to speak of a Bronze Age from around 3000 to 1200 B.C.,when bronze was increasingly replaced by iron. At first, Neolithic settlements were hardly more than villages. But as their inhabitants mastered the art of farming, they gradually began to give birth to more complex human societies. As wealth increased, such societies began to develop armies and to build walled cities. By the beginning of the Bronze Age, the concentration of larger numbers of people in the river valleys of Mesopotamia and Egypt was leading to a whole new pattern for human life. As we have seen, early human beings formed small groups that developed a simple culture that enabled them to survive. As human societies grew and developed greater complexity, a new form of human existence-called civilization-came into being. A civilization is a complex culture in which large numbersof human beings share a number of common elements. Historians have identified a number of basic characteristics of civilization, most of which are ; evident in the Mesopotamian and Egyptian civilizations.These include (1) an urban revolution; (2) a distinct religious structure; the gods were deemed crucial to the