ECAT English Chapter 8 Comprehension Online Test MCQs With Answers

First introduced in 1927, The Hardy Boys Mystery Stories are a series of books about the adventures of brothers Frank and Joe Hardy, teenaged detectives who solve one baffling mystery after another. The Hardy Boys were so popular among young boys that in 1930 a similar series was created for girls featuring a sixteen-year-old detective named Nancy Drew. The cover of each volume of The Hardy Boys states that he author of the series is Franklin W. Dixon; the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories are supposedly written by Carolyn Keene. Over the years, though, many fans of both series have been surprised to find out that Franklin W. Dixon and Carolyn Keene are not real people. If Franklin W. Dixon and Carolyn Keene never existed, then who wrote The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew mysteries?

The Hardy Boys and the Nancy Drew books were written through a process called ghostwriting. A ghostwriter writes a book according to a specific formula. While ghostwriters are paid for writing the books, their authorship is not acknowledged, and their names do not appear on the published books. Ghostwriters can write books for children or adults, the content of which is unspecific. Sometimes they work on book series with a lot of individual titles, such as The Hardy Boys and the Nancy Drew series.

The initial idea for both The Hardy Boys and the Nancy Drew series was developed by a man named Edward Stratemeyer, who owned a publishing company that specialized in children’s book.

Stratemeyer noticed the increasing popularity of mysteries among adult, and surmised that children would enjoy reading mysteries about younger detectives with whom they could identify. Stratemeyer first developed each book with an outline describing the plot and setting. Once he completed the outline, Stratemeyer then hired a ghostwriter to convert it into a book of slightly over 200 pages. After the ghostwriter had written a draft of a book, he or she would send it back to Stratemeyer, who would make a list of corrections and mail it back to the ghostwriter. The ghostwriter would revise the book according to Stratemeyer’s instructions and then return it to him. Once Stratemeyer approved the book, it was ready for publication.

Because each series ran for so many years, Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys both had a number of different ghostwriters producing books; however, the first ghostwrites for each series proved to be the most influential. The initial ghostwriter for The Hardy Boys was a Canadian journalist named Leslie McFarlane. A few years later, Mildred A. Wirt, a young writer from lowa, began writing the Nancy Drew books. Although they were using prepared outlines as guides, both McFarlane and Wirt developed the characters themselves. The personalities of Frank and Joe Hardy and Nancy arose directly from McFarlane’s and wirt’s imaginations. For example, Mildred Wirt had been a star college athelete and gave Nancy similar athletic abilities. The ghostwriters were also responsible for numerous plot and setting details. Leslie McFarlane used elements of his small C fictional hometown.

Although The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew books were very popular with children, not everyone approved of them. Critics thought their plots were unrealistic and even far-fetched, since most teenagers did not experience the adventures Frank and Joe Hardy or Nancy Drew did. The way the books were written also attracted criticism. Many teachers and librarians objected to the ghostwriting process, claiming it was designed to produce books quickly rather than create quality literature. Some libraries – including the New York Public Library – even refused to include the books in their children’s collections. Ironically, this decision actually helped sales of his books, because children simply purchased them when they were unavailable in local libraries.

Regardless of the debates about their literary merit, each series of books has exerted an undeniable influence on American and even global culture. Most Americans have never heard of Edward Stratemeyer, Leslie McFarlane, or Mildred wirt, but people throughout the world are familiar with Nancy Drew and Frank and Joe Hardy.

According to the passage, a ghostwriter is someone who

I writes about mysterious or strange events

II does not receive credit as the author

III bases his or her books on predetermined guidelines

Q.6 A great deal of discussion continues as to the real extent of global environmental degradation and its implications What few people challenge however is that the renewable natural resources of developing countries are today subject to stresses of unprecedented magnitude these pressures are brought about in part by increased population and the quest for an ever expanding food supply Because the health nutrition and general well-being of the poor majority are directly dependent on the integrity and productivity of their natural resources the capability of governments to manage them effectively over the long term becomes of paramount importance Developing countries are becoming more aware of the ways in which present and future economic development must build upon a sound and sustainable natural resource base some are looking at our long tradition in environmental protection and are receptive to US assistance which recognizes the uniqueness of the social and ecological systems in these tropical countries Developing countries recognize the need to improve their capability to analyze issues and their own natural resource management in February 1981,for example AID funded a national Academy of Sciences panel to advise Nepal on their severe natural resource degradation problems Some countries such as Senegal India Indonesia and Thailand are now including conservation concerns in their economic development planning process.Because so many government of developing nations have recognized the importance of these issues the need today is not merely one of raising additional consciousness but for carefully designed and sharply focused activities aimed at management regimes that are essential to the achievement of sustained development 

Where does chocolate come from? Believe it or not, it grows on trees. Not as a sweet chocolate candy bar wrapped in foil, but as a cocoa bean. These cocoa beans grow on a cacao tree, which is found in tropical areas such as Central and South America. The fruit of these are called pods, and they are long and hard. Inside the pods is a soft, white pulp that surrounds the thirty or so seeds. These seeds are what we call cocoa beans. They are very hard and bitter to the taste.To make chocolate, people start by carefully taking the beans out of the pods, still covered in the white pulp,and leaving them in a bucket. The bucket is often covered with banana leaves and left for anywhere form a few days to a few weeks. This process is called fermenting. Then he beans are left to dry in the sun. Fermenting and drying the beans makes them less bitter. Then the beans are shipped to a factory to be turned into chocolate.At the factory, beans are roasted in ovens to bring out their flavor. After roasting, the outer covering of the bean is removed. The inner bean is then crushed to form a paste known as chocolate liquor.From this paste,people can either make cocoa powder or the chocolate we buy in stores. To make cocoa powder,the paste is crushed and pressed repeatedly to remove the fat, leaving behind only a dry, ground powder. To make chocolate, people need to add other ingredients to the paste such as milk, sugar, and cocoa butter. They then mix and heat the concoction several times to create a substance we would recognize as chocolate. It may even have fruit, nuts, or candy added to it before it is molded into a shape.Considering all that must happen t turn a bitter cocoa bean into a chocolate bar,a dollar seems like a small price to pay for such a delicious sweet treat.

The public distribution system, which provides food at low prices, is a subject of vital concern. There is a growing realization that thought Pakistan has enough food to feed its masses three square meals a day, the monster of starvation and food insecurity continues to haunt the poor in our country.

Increasing the purchasing power of the poor through providing productive employment leading to rising income, and thus good standard of living is the ultimate objective of public policy. However, till then, there is a need to provide assured supply of food through a restructured more efficient and decentralized public distribution system (PDS).

Although the PDS is extensive – it is one of the largest such systems in the world – it has yet to reach the rural poor and the far off places. It remains an urban phenomenon, with the majority of the rural poor still out of its reach due to lack of economic and physical access. The poorest in the cities and the migrants are left out, for they generally do not possess ration cards. The allocation of PDS supplies in big cities is larger than in rural areas. In view of such deficiencies in the system, the PDS urgently needs to be streamlined. In addition, considering the large food grains production combined with food subsidy on one hand and the continuing slow starvation and dismal poverty of the rural population on the other, there is a strong case for making PDS target group oriented.

The growing salaried class is provided job security, regular income, and percent insulation against inflation. These gains of development have not percolated down to the vast majority of our working population. If one compares only dearness allowance to the employees in public and private sector and looks at its growth in the past few years, the rising food subsidy is insignificant to the point of inequity. The food subsidy is a kind of D.A. to the poor, the self-employed and those in the unorganized sector of the economy. However, what is most unfortunate is that out of the large budget of the so – called food subsidy, the major part of it is administrative cost and wastages. A small portion of the above budget goes to the real consumer and an even lesser portion to the poor who are in real need.

It is true that subsidies should not become a permanent feature except for the destitute, disabled widows and the old. It is also true that subsidies often create a psychology of dependence and hence is habit – forming, killing the general initiative of the people. By making PDS target group oriented, not only the poorest and neediest would be reached without additional cost, but it will actually cut overall costs incurred on large cities and for better off localities. When the food and food subsidy are limited the rural and urban poor should have the priority in the PDS supplies. The PDS should be closely linked with programs of employment generation and nutrition improvement.

Which of the following is true of public distribution system?

Q.4 Educational planning should aim at meeting the educational needs of the entire population of all age groups while the traditional structure of education as a three layer hierarchy from the primary stage to the university represents the core we should not overlook the periphery which is equally important Under modern conditions workers need to rewind or renew their enthusiasm or strike out in a new direction or improve their skills as much any university professor the retired and the aged have their needs as well Educational planning in their words should take care of the needs of everyone.Our structures of education have been built up on the assumption that there is a terminal point to education This basic defect has become all the more harmful today.A UNESCO report entitled Learning to be prepared by Edgar Faure and others in 1973 asserts that the education of children must prepare the future should consist of modules with different kinds of functions serving a diversity of constituent And performance not the period of study should be the basis for credentials the writing is already on the wall In view of the fact that the significance of a commitment of lifelong learning and lifetime education is being discussed only in recent years even in educationally advanced countries the possibility of the idea becoming an integral part of the idea becoming an integral part of educational thinking seems to be a far cry For to move in that direction means such more than some simple rearrangement of the present organization of education but a good beginning can be made by developing open university programs for older learners of different categories and introducing extension services in the conventional colleges and schools also these institutions should learn to cooperate with the numerous community municipal recreational programs health services etc

Paul’s wife knows Paul loves to read cookbooks. She decides to get him one for his birthday. Paul tells her he will try to make a new recipe for three days in a row. On Monday, Paul makes blueberry pancakes for breakfast. He gets the blueberries from the farmers’ market. On Tuesday, Paul makes beef soup for dinner. He puts in cubes of beef, carrots, and onions. The recipe calls for cream, but Paul does not cream. He uses water instead. On Wednesday, Paul makes a tomato salad with cucumbers and onions. He picks the cucumbers and tomatoes from his garden. He likes this dish best. It was also the easiest for him to make.

What does Paul use instead of cream?

In the early 1920's, settlers came to Alaska looking for gold. They traveled by boat to the coastal towns of Seward and Knik, and from there by land into the gold fields. The trail they used to travel inland is known today as the lditarod Trail, one of the National Historic Trails designated by the congress of the United States. The Iditarod Trail quickly became a major thoroughfare in Alaska, as the mail and supplies were carried across this trail. People also used it to get from place to place, including the priests, ministers, and judges who had to travel between villages down this trail was via god sled.

Once the gold rush ended, many gold-seekers went back to where they had come from, and suddenly there was much less travel on the lditarod Trail. The introduction of the airplane in the late 1920's meant dog teams were mode of transportation, of course airplane carrying the mail and supplies, there was less need for land travel in general. The final blow to the use of the dog teams was the appearance of snowmoniles.

By the mid 1960's most Alasknas didn't even know the lditarod Trail existed, or that dos teens had played a crucial role in Alaska's early settlements. Dorothy G.Page, a self-made historian, recognized how few people knew about the former use of sled dogs as working animals and about the Iditarod Trail's role in Alaska's colorful history. To she came up with the idea to have a god sled race over the Iditarod Trail. She presented her idea to an enthusiastic musher, as dog sled drivers are known, named Joe Redington, Sr. Soon the pages and the Redintons were working together to promote the idea of the Iditarod race.

Many people worked to make the first Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race a reality in 1967. The Aurora Dog Mushers Club, along with men from the Adult Camp in Sutton, helped clear years of overgrowth from the first nine miles of the Iditarod Trail. To raise interest in the race, a $25,000 purse was offered, with Joe Redington donating one acre of his land to help raise the funds. The short race, approximately 27 miles long, was put on a second time in 1969.

After these first two successful races, the goal was to lengthen the race a little further to the ghost town of Iditarod by 1973. However in 1972, the U.S. Army reopened the trail as a winter exercise, and so in 1973, the decision was made to take the race all the way to the city of Nome-over 1,000 miles. There were who believed it could bot be done and that it wad crazy to send a bunch out into vast, uninhabited Alaskan wilderness. But the race went! 22 mushers finished that year, and to date over 400 people have completed it.

As used in paragraph 2, which is the best definition for ‘mode’

When you imagine the desert, you probably think of a very hot place covered with sand.Although this is a good description for many deserts. Earth's I with ice:Antarctica. In order for an area to be considered a desert, it must receive very little rainfall. More specifically, it must receive an average of less than ten inches of precipitation - which can be rain, sleet, hail , or snow - on the ground every year. Antarctica, the coldest place on earth, has an average temperature that usually falls below the freezing point. And because cold air holds less moisture than warm air, the air in Antarctica does not hold much moisture at all. This is evident in the low precipitation statistics recorded for Antarctica. For example , the central part of Antarctica receives an average of less than 2 inches of snow every year. The coastline of Antarctica receive a little bit more-between seven and eight inches a year. Because Antarctica gets so little precipitation every year, it is considered a desert. When precipitation falls in hot deserts, it quickly evaporates back into the atmosphere. the air over Antarctica is too cold to hold water vapor, so there is very little evaporation. Due to this low rate of evaporation, most of the snow that falls to the ground remains there permanently, eventually building up into thick ice sheets. Any snow that does not freeze into ice sheets becomes caught up in the strong winds that constantly blow over Antarctica. These snow-filled winds can make it look as if it is snowing. Even though snowfall is very rare there, blizzards are actually very common on Antarctica.

Gold used in jewelry is mixed with harder metals to add strength and durability. The metals added can also be used to change gold's color, giving it a for the natural yellow tone of pure gold. Mixtures like these, of less costly metals with more valuable ones, are called alloys. Copper and silver are the most common metals mixed with gold to make yellow gold jewelry. White gold is usually made with an alloy of gold and nickel.The measure of is called gold's purity is called a karat. The higher the karat rating, the higher the amount of pure gold. 24 karat is pure gold,18 karat is 75% pure gold, 14 karat is 58.5% pure gold,and 9 karat is 37.5% pure gold. All other things being equal, the higher the percentage of pure gold used in the alloy, the more valuable and expensive the jewelry will be.Gold jewelry pieces are usually stamped with a marking to identify the karat amount. White gold that is 24K is too soft for jewelry, 18K,14K and 9K gold are all appropriate for jewelry, and they all make pieces that look great and wear beautifully.

Philadelphia is a city known for many things. It is where the Declaration of independence was signed in 1776, and it was also the first capital of the United States. But one fact about Philadelphia is not so well-known: it is home to nearly 3,000 murals painted on the sides of homes and buildings around the city. In fact, it is said that Philadelphia has more murals than any other city in the world, with the exception of Rome. How did this come to be?

More than 20 years ago, a New Jersey artist named Jane Golden started a program pairing troubled youth with artists to paint murals on a few buildings around the city. Form this small project, something magical happened. The young people involved helped to create magnificent pieces of art, but there were other, perhaps more important benefits. The young people learned to collaborate and get along with many different kinds of people during the various steps required to paint and design a mural. They learned to be responsible, because they needed to follow a schedule to make sure the murals were completed. They also learned to take pride in their community. It is hard for any resident to see the spectacular designs and not feel proud to be a part of Philadelphia.

Take a walk around some of the poorest neighborhoods I Philadelphia, neighborhoods full of broken windows and littered front steps, and you will find beautiful works of art on the sides and fronts of buildings. Of course they murals are not just in poor neighborhoods, but more affluent ones as well. Special buses take tourists to different parts of the city to see the various murals, which range from huge portraits of historical heroes, to cityscapes, to scenes depicting the diverse ethnic groups that call Philadelphia home.

As a result of its success, the mural program created by Jane Golden has now become the nation’s largest public art program and a model for to troubled youth.

In order to make this passage more engaging to readers, the author could have included

I a brief history of Philadelphia

II picture of some of the murals

III an interview with a program muralist

When her grandmother’s health began to deteriorate in the fall of 1994, Mary would make the drive from Washington, DC to Winchester every few days.

She hated highway driving, finding it ugly and monotonous. She preferred to take meandering back roads to her grandmother’s hospital. When she drove through the rocky town of Harpers Ferry, the beauty of the rough waters churning at the intersection of the Shenandoah and Potomac rivers always captivated her.

Toward the end of her journey, Mary had to get on highway 81. It was here that she discovered a surprising bit of beauty during one of her trips. Along the median of the highway, there was a long stretch of wildflowers. They were thin and delicate and purple, and swayed in the wind as if whispering poems to each other.

The first time she saw the flowers, Mary was seized by an uncontrollable urge to pull over on the highway and yank a bunch from the soil. She carried them into her grandmother’s room when she arrived at the hospital and placed them in a water pitcher by her bed. For a moment her grandmother seemed more lucid than usual. She thanked Mary for the flowers, commented on their beauty and asked where she had gotten them. Mary was overjoyed by the ability of the flowers to wake something up inside her ailing grandmother.

Afterwards, Mary began carrying scissors in the car during her trips to visit her grandmother. She would quickly glide onto the shoulder, jump out of the car, and clip a bunch of flowers. Each time Mary placed the flowers in the pitcher, her grandmother’s eyes would light up and they would have a splendid conversation.

One morning in late October, Mary got a call that her grandmother had taken a turn for the worse. Mary was in such a hurry to get to her grandmother that she sped past her flower spot. She decided to turn around head several miles back, and cut a bunch. Mary arrived at the hospital to find her grandmother very weak and unresponsive. She placed flowers in the pitcher and sat down. She felt a squeeze on her fingers. It was the last conversation they had.

“She hated highway driving, finding it ugly and monotonous.”

Which of the following is the best way to rewrite the above sentence, while keeping its original meaning?