READING: PRACTICE QUESTIONS

Signs & Regulations:

Tips for Reading Signs and Regulations:
1> 员工通道，游客止步
​
1. The purpose of the sign is to
(A) post the penalty of using a facility.
(B) stop people from using a facility.
(C) allow access for visitors.
(D) provide instruction for people with disabilities.
​
2. The sign’s message is directed most likely to
(A) drivers.
(B) employees.
(C) tourists.
(D) pedestrians.

Highlight for Answers: 
B C
Reading signs and regulations is a skill required for AP exam takers. The signs are normally short and simple, but the vocabulary may be difficult especially if you are not familiar with the structures used. Regulations are normally more detailed; this makes it harder to find the sentences related to the questions and answer choices.

Therefore, the focus when reading signs should be in understanding the vocabulary. When reading regulations focus on scanning or skimming for key words.Frequently used structures for signs typically include the following words:
  • To stop people from an action: 莫、禁、免、止
  • To give the penalty of an action: 罚、惩
  • To remind people of an action : 请、小心、注意
  • To inform people of a regulation: 遵守、规则、守则、禁止, etc.

Advertisements and Brochures:

本文化中心今年继续举办“中国梦”暑期夏令营活动，16岁以上、身体健康、有无中文学习经验的中学生(含毕业生)均可申请参加。

夏令营时间：7月3日至 7月31日

夏令营地点：云南大学

夏令营活动内容：

汉语强化半月班：7月5日至20日

中国文化之旅：7月21日至30日

观看少数民族歌舞表演，品尝各地风味小吃，领略少数民族风土人情，并组织
学生参加北京、西安、上海等地的“八日游”活动。

申请时间： 5月31日截止

有意者请本人亲自到报名处索取申请表格，填好后交到报名处。本中心将于6月
中旬统一申请签证，具体时间另行通知。
名额有限，欲报从速。

Highlight for Answers:
​ D C C A B
3. What is not required to participate in this summer camp?
(A) Being 16 years old and above
(B) Being a student
(C) Being healthy
(D) Having experience in Chinese learning.

4. How long does the summer camp last?
(A) Two weeks
(B) Three weeks
(C) Four weeks
(D) Five weeks

5. According to the brochure, what activity is not included in the summer camp?
(A) Cultural performances by minority peoples
(B) Traveling in other cities for 8 days
(C) Learning Chinese calligraphy
(D) Tasting different types of food

6. What method is specified for requesting an application to register?
(A) In person
(B) E-mail
(C) Fax
(D) Regular mail
​
7. Priority will be given to applicants who
(A) are members of minorities.
(B) apply before the end of May.
(C) are high school students.
(D) have a valid passport.

Tips for Reading Advertisements and Brochures:

Just like a regulation can be an elaborated version of a sign, a brochure is often an elaborated version of the advertisement. Spending a couple of hours practicing reading the classified advertisements in the newspaper can help you succeed in this type of reading selection. The topics could be anything: a training center recruiting students, a person seeking a job, somebody renting his or her place, and so on. Consider the following:
  • Who (posted the notice)?
  • to Whom? 
  • for What?
  • on what conditions?

Email Messages:

各位同学：

因连日下雨，原定于十一日下午举行的游览大罗山森林公园活动暂时取消，内容更改为参观南区科技博览会。我们照计划租车前往，请自带雨具，并于十二点半之前到达科学实验楼的停车场等大巴。晚餐和餐后ＫＴＶ娱乐照常进行，时间、地点不变。

​祝大家玩得开心

8. What happened to the original plan?
(A) It was cancelled due to the rain.
(B) It was postponed due to the rain.
(C) It was cancelled due to another activity.
(D) It was postponed due to another activity.

9. The plan is to go there by
(A) a rented car.
(B) a rented bike.
(C) a rented boat.
(D) a rented bus.
​10. Where will they meet?
(A) At the Da Luo Mountain Forest Park
(B) At the science and technology exhibition
(C) At the parking lot of the science and lab building
(D) Not mentioned in the e-mail

​Highlight for Answers:
 A D C

Tips for Reading Email Messages:

​This type of message is often seen in a letter, an e-mail, or an announcement. The key information covered includes what was originally planned, the reason causing the change, and what the change will be. Keep this structure in mind, and you will easily locate the answers for the questions.

​Another type of e-mail or letter is to explain something or ask someone to explain something. The topics are usually related to a student’s school life or social life, such as the college application, the summer holiday, study issues, and so on. A solid foundation in the vocabulary of these topics is crucial in your exam preparation.

News Articles:

培养二十一世纪人才

近期，新浪网主持的教育论坛掀起了一场关于二十一世纪人才技能的讨论，学生的学习及思考技能，信息技术运用技能和独立生活的技能成为最热门的话题。传统的学习方法侧重于知识的培养，很多高分学生习惯了死记硬背，连起码的提问能力都没有，更缺乏大胆创新的能力。同时，虽然信息技术日新月异，不少教师和教育机构却常常以考试成绩为目的进行教育，不能或不愿尝试新的科技。

​21世纪的人才竞争更生活化、社会化、合作化，独立生活能力和社会实践能力也是教育界不可忽视的重点和方向。许多发言者认为，现代的中学生不但要养成批判性思考的习惯，学习运用各种新技术，同时还应该增加自己跨国度跨文化的交流机会以及发展与各种不同背景的人相互协调、共同进步的合作能力。实现这一理想最大的困难仍然是观念的变化。只有更多的人参与了解二十一世0纪人才技能的重要性行动起来，我们的中学生才会有真正的未来。

​11. Which of the following is mentioned as the primary source for the information in
the article?
(A) A survey of high school students
(B) A web forum
(C) An interview with administrators
(D) A research report
​12. According to the article, what is not valued as an important skill of the twenty-first
century?
(A) Critical thinking
(B) Applying technology
(C) Social skills
(D) Good memory

13. Which of the following best describes the primary purpose of the author?
(A) To complain about skill training in education in the twenty-first century
(B) To promote technology reform
(C) To support skill training in education in the twenty-first century
(D) To describe the life of high school students
​
14. The greatest obstacle to cultivating students with good skills is expected to be
(A) a lack of money.
(B) undeveloped technology.
(C) cultural diversity.
(D) the concept itself.

Highlight for Answers:
 B D C D

Tips for Reading News Articles:

Both the words “news” and “article” indicate that this is a selection that will be difficult to read in detail. The vocabulary is more complicated, the sentences are long, and the grammatical structures are more formal. The good news is that this kind of article is clearly structured and the questions normally only test your understanding of the structure.

​You should try scanning and skimming to spot the subject, verb, and object to get the main idea of the sentences. Here are some tips to help understand complicated sentences. You can get used to using these tips in an hour and you can also collect your own tips. More practice with longer sentences is provided in the skill-building exercises below.

 Short Stories:

我们今天要讲的是一个神话故事。相传在上古时代，有一片美丽的大地，花草树木、鸟兽虫鱼在一起快乐地生活了很久。后来出现了一位人首蛇身的女神，她的名字叫女娲。

有一天她来到水边，看着水面上自己的倒影，突然发现整个世界只有她自己一个人，实在是太孤单了。所以她决定按照自己的样子创造人类。女娲心灵手巧，用泥土捏成了一个个的小人，还给他们配上了两条腿。她用嘴一吹，泥土就变成了一个个活生生的人，这就是我们人类的起源。

一天夜里，不知道什么原因，宇宙发生了巨大的变动，天空忽然塌下了一大块，露出一个黑漆漆的大洞，天火把山林都烧着了。大地也被震裂，出现了一道道裂缝，洪水从裂缝中涌出来，吞没了田野。野兽四处出没，凶狠的黑龙也冒出来害人，成千上万的人不断死去。

​女娲看到自己创造的人类生活在水深火热之中，焦急万分。她先用五彩石补天，花了九天九夜把天上的大洞补好，然后又从东海找来一只巨龟，把它的四只脚砍下来，立在大地的四个角上，终于把天空撑了起来。

​紧接着，女娲又填平了大地的裂缝，堵住了洪水，杀死了黑龙，赶走了野兽，这样人们才再次过上了幸福的生活。人们对女娲充满感激，都尊敬地称她“女娲娘娘”。

15. The story begins with a description of
(A) the earth.
(B) trees.
(C) the goddess Nu Wa.
(D) animals.
16. Why did Nu Wa create human beings?
(A) She wanted two legs.
(B) She liked human beings.
(C) She felt lonely.
(D) She went to the river.

​17. What did Nu Wa use to make human beings?
(A) Plants
(B) Mud
(C) Animals
(D) Air

18. Which of the following was not mentioned in the description of disaster?
(A) The wild beasts attacked people.
(B) The flood took the fields.
(C) The people were dying.
(D) The black dragon hurt Nu Wa.

19. Which of the following lasted for nine days and nine nights?
(A) The creation of human beings
(B) The fire caused by the broken sky
(C) The time spent to repair the sky
(D) Nu Wa’s life time
​
20. Why did Nu Wa find a turtle from the east sea?
(A) To hold the sky from the earth
(B) To kill the black dragon
(C) To stop the flood
(D) To repair the sky

Highlight for Answers: 
​A C B D C A

 Tips for Reading Short Stories:

The actual exam is likely to include a legend, a fairy tale, and/or a story that is famous in Chinese culture. This kind of passage is long and probably contains a lot of vocabulary you are not familiar with. However, the sentence structures in these kinds of stories are relatively simple and easy to understand, since it is a narration instead of an essay or an article.

The questions will test your understanding of what happens in the story. Therefore, knowing some of these types of stories ahead of time will improve your performance in answering the questions, even if the version in the exam is a little different from what you know.

Here is a list of famous stories (click for the whole story) in Chinese culture that you should Google and get to know. Feel free to search the English version by typing their Pinyin. To be honest, cultural knowledge is probably more important than actually being able to read the language in this case.

Sentence Grammar: Reading Guide

  • General:
  • Conjunctions:
    • 和: If you see “和 (and),” there are two or more than two things listed.
    • Synonyms:  与、及、并、且、或 (or)
  • Particles:
    • 的: If you want to find the subject or object in a long sentence, look for the vocabulary after “的 (’s).” If the subject or object is very long, the last several characters contain the actual subject or object of the sentence.
    • 了、于、着、到、为: The word before any of these characters: 了(past tense, similar to –ed)、于 (at, after the verb)、 or 着（著） (present tense, similar to –ing) is most likely a verb.
    • 地: The word after “地 (used as a particle)”mostly likely is a verb.
    • 得: The word before “得 (used as a particle)”is normally a verb.
  • Modal Verbs:
    • 要、肯、敢、必须、应该、愿意、能、可以、会 always go before the verb.

Clause Practice 1:

 近期，新浪网主持的教育论坛掀起了一场关于二十一世纪人才技能的讨论。

Clause Practice 2:

学生的学习及思考技能，信息技术运用技能和独立生活的技能成为最热门的话题。

Long Sentence Practice 1:

          近日，随着各地持续高温天气，许多人都出现了各种各样的“上火”症状。记者采访了中医药大学康复科的金教授。他指出，上火是人体阴阳失衡，体内热毒渗出的表现。所以大家首先要保持情绪良好，睡眠充足，不要过份劳累；其次要注意饮食，多吃清火的蔬菜水果；同时，如果出现不适反應，应该及时就医，根据医生的诊断用药。

Long Sentence Practice 2:

             我国人口的男女比例严重失调，据2011年人口普查统计，大陆人口中男性占51.27%，而女性则占48.73%。但是，在各高校招生中，这个比例却反了过来，大学的新生中女生比男生多。为改变这种现象，一些高校在录取时设置了性别比例，导致了分数线“女高男低”的奇怪现象。例如，海南省考试局2012年公布的提前批院校面试最低分数线就对男女有不同的要求。特别是报考国际关系学院，女生需要715分才能达到提档线，而男生只要668分，差距竟有47分之多！