Well... you have gone through the boring, instructional part of reading comprehension. Now you deserve few more interesting texts. Well... they are more interesting to me, anyway. If you'd like to read about any particular problem in the reading comprehension section please send me an e-mail

Jezeli chcecie przeczytac pozostale teksty idzcie dalej do:

 

TEXT 1

I decided to become a millionaire. I wanted to know all that I could about rich people. Since I was poor at that time I did not care much about people who inherited their money. I was determined to be rich starting from a scratch and I was certain it was possible even though the odds seemed to be against me. My 9 to 5, dead-end job was paying barely enough for the everyday living. I had a wife and two small kids to take care of and not much education. Still, I knew I would succeed.

In my quest for wealth first I decided to analyze the self-made millionaires. What was that separated them from others? Sam Walton, founder of the best-prospering retail store chain Wal-mart, Bill Gates of Microsoft, the richest man in the US at that moment, Wally Amos, a poor black man from Harlem, who became rich selling chocolate chip cookies, Bill Cosby, Madonna... They all kept working even after they were so rich that they could do whatever they pleased for the rest of their lives. Still, they kept working... There had to be another reason for work than money. And then I knew. They all loved what they were doing. Money just was a side effect of their labor of love. Why should they ever stop doing it? Working hard was not working to them at all - it was fun. And it was profitable. Hmm... what was that that I loved doing... Sleeping. But who would pay for that?

Then I thought more about those people. I realized that they all were positive, happy people probably long before they were wealthy. I looked around me. Most people seemed to be pessimistic and gloomy. They had a negative attitude about themselves and about their future. They would extinguish any idea of getting rich with multiple excuses. To change their lives they were either too old or too young, not enough educated or educated in the wrong field, without driver's license or with too many dependants, too tired or too busy... They convinced themselves that they could do absolutely nothing with their own lives and they just knew they would always be miserable. Successful people on the other hand fed their minds with positive thoughts and affirmations. They always felt wonderful, their days were always great and their plans were always promising. Since "great" seemed to be the favorite word of the rich I decided that it would be mine too.

 

1. What is this passage mainly about
  1. a get rich -quick scheme
  2. positive affirmation
  3. characteristics of self-made millionaires
  4. having fun while working

 

2. The phrase "quest for" in line 7 can best be replaced by

A. search for

B. odyssey

C. adventures with

D.dreams about

 

3. According to the passage Sam Walton and Bill Gates kept working despite their wealth because
  1. they were greedy
  2. they did not know what to do in their spare time
  3. they would have become poor again if they had stopped working
  4. they loved what they were doing

 

4. The word "miserable" in line 26 most closely means

A. poor

B. unhappy

C. hungry

D. gloomy

 

5. By pronoun "they " in the second sentence from the end the author describes

A. positive people

B. negative people

C. poor people

D. pessimistic people

 

6. The author decide that the word most often used by the successful people is

A. great

B. wonderful

C. promising

D.positive

Now, you may check the answers to this text .

 

 

The questions above resemble those at TOEFL (TOEFL has other kinds of them too, like inserting sentences into the passage etc but for now I want you to focus mostly on vocabulary. Since now (and for a while) I will not post questions like that: Frankly it is very boring to do so, not to mention time-consuming, and it is unnecessary at this time. It is much more important that you understand what you are reading. But beware: I found the actual passages at TOEFL exceptionally boring.

 Do you understand phrases from this text, such as:

to start from scratch

dead-end job

in quest for

side effect

labor of love

on the other hand

to feed one's mind

I hope you do understand them - or will soon (e-mail me with any questions)

How about a joke (actually it is a true-life story (courtesy of my friend Elisabeth):

 

Text 2
On a recent weekend in Atlantic City, a woman won a bucketful of quarters at a slot machine. She took a break from the slots for dinner with her husband in the hotel dining room, but first she would stash the quarters in her room. "I'll be right back and we'll go to eat," she told her husband as she carried the coin-laden bucket to the elevator.

As she was about to enter the elevator she noticed two men already
aboard; both were black. One of them was big... very big... an intimidating
figure. The woman froze. Her first thought was: These two are going to rob me.
Her next thought was: Don't be a bigot, they look like perfectly nice
gentlemen, even if one of them is awfully big and black. But racial stereotypes are
powerful, and fear immobilized her.

She stood and stared at the two men. She felt anxious, flustered,
ashamed. She hoped they didn't read her mind but knew they surely did; her
hesitation about joining them on the elevator was all too obvious. Her face burned.
She couldn't just stand there, so with a mighty effort of will she picked up
one foot and stepped forward and followed with the other foot and was on the elevator. Avoiding eye contact, she turned around stiffly and faced the
elevator doors as they closed. A second passed, and then another second, and then another. The elevator didn't move. Panic consumed her. My
God, she thought, I'm trapped and about to be robbed!

Her heart plummeted. Perspiration poured from every pore. Then one of
the men said, "Hit the floor." Instinct told her: Do what they tell you.
The bucket of quarters flew upwards as she threw out her arms and collapsed
on the elevator carpet. A shower of coins rained down on her. Take my money
and spare me, she prayed.

More seconds passed. She heard one of the men say politely, "Ma'am, if you'll just tell us what floor you're going to, we'll push the button." The one who said it had a little trouble getting the words out. He was trying mightily to hold in a belly laugh. She lifted her head and looked up at the two men. They reached down to help her up. Confused, she struggled to her feet.

"When I told my man here to hit the floor," one of the men, the average
sized one, told her, "I meant that he should hit the elevator button for our
floor. I didn't mean for you to hit the floor, ma'am. He spoke genially. He
bit his lip. It was obvious he was having a hard time not laughing.

She thought: My God, what a spectacle I've made of myself. She was too
humiliated to speak. She wanted to blurt out an apology, but words
failed her. How do you apologize to two perfectly respectable gentlemen for
behaving as though they were robbing you? She didn't know.

The three of them gathered up the strewn quarters and refilled her bucket.
When the elevator arrived at her floor they insisted on walking her to her
room. She seemed a little unsteady on her feet, and they were afraid she might
not make it down the corridor. At her door they bid her good evening. As
she slipped into her room she could hear them laughing while they walked back
to the elevator. The woman pulled herself together and went downstairs for dinner with her husband.

The next morning flowers were delivered to her room: a dozen roses.
Attached to each rose was a crisp one hundred dollar bill. A card said:
"Thanks for the best laugh we've had in years." It was signed,

Eddie Murphy and Bodyguard.

 

Hope you liked it. I underlined the phrases that look interesting enough ... to memorize. Believe me, it is not such a bad idea (and since now I will be underlying phrases instead of asking you multiple choice questions).

Oops... I almost forgot. I owe you some answers. Here you are...

    1. C
    2. A
    3. D
    4. B
    5. A
    6. A

 

Now you may:

go up to the top of this page

go to the directory

go to the links

or (better yet)go to our Bulletin Board (called "GUESTBOOK" to mislead the enemies)

 

 

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