139] READING COMPREHENSION [GCSE PREVIOUS EXAMS-EGYPT 1980]

GCSE Previous Exams-Egypt 1980's

                                     ARAB REPUBLIC OF EGYPT

Ministry of Education

General Secondary Education Certificate Examination, 1980

Science and Mathematics Sections

First Foreign Language English

For Third Year and Three Year Candidates

Second Paper                      Time Allowed: 2 Hours

Comprehension

1. Read the following passage and then choose the right answers from those given below. Write down the correct answers only:

   Usually a person who keeps putting his hand on one of his pockets as if to make sure that something valuable is still there, attracts a thief's attention. A friend of once had an amusing experience on a bus. He very rarely travels by bus because he has been driving his own car for many years. But it so happened that his car broke down near his home. He was going to Omar Effendi to buy a colour television after having taken out of the bank six hundred pounds that would cover the price of the set. He put the money in an envelope in one of his pockets and got on a bus. He met an old Friend on the bus and had a conversation with him. Unconsciously, every now and then be put his hand on his pocket to make sure that the envelope was still there. But suddenly he felt it had gone. He looked at the faces of the people around him but could not know which one was the thief. He did not lose his nerve and with a smile said to his friend, ‘A foolish thief has taken from my pocket an envelope which is full of newspaper cuttings about a subject I am going to write an article about for my paper. I think the fool thought it was full of money.’ Everybody heard what he said and a looked angrily at him. My friend looked down and saw his envelope under the feet of the passengers. He picked it up. As he was anxious to count the money in it, he left the bus at the next stop. He was happy to find all the six hundred pounds still in the envelope.
Questions:
1.   A passenger touches one of his own pockets every now and then…….
A.  to feel the contents of that pocket.
B.  to attract a thief's attention.
C.  to pretend there was something in it.
2.   My friend……………….
A.  always travels by car.
B.  very rarely travels by car.
C.  usually travels by car.
3.   My friend was taking a bus………
A.  from the bank to Omar Effendi
B.  from Omar Effendi to the bank.
C.  from home to Omar
4.   The colour television my friend was going to buy would cost…….
A.  over six hundred pounds.
B.  a little under six hundred pounds.
C.  not less than six hundred pounds.
5.   My friend attracted the thief's attention when he………
A.  had a conversation with a friend
B.  looked at the faces of the people around him.
C.  often put his hand on his pocket.
6.   My friend pretended he was………………
A.  a car driver.
B.  a journalist.
C.  a book writer.
7.   My friend…………………..
A.  knew the thief at once.
B.  knew the thief by a clever trick.
C.  did not know the thief at all.
8.   The thief threw the envelope on the bus floor because……………….
A.  it contained six hundred pounds.
B.  it contained pieces of newspaper.
C. he was tricked into believing that there was no money in it. 
9.   My friend got off the bus at the next stop…………..
A.  to count the money.
B.  because he was happy.
C.  because he arrived at Omar Effendi's.
10. 'He did not lose his nerve' means…………………..
A.  he became nervous.
B.  he could think clearly.

     C. he was angry.