142] READING COMPREHENSION [GCSE PREVIOUS EXAMS-EGYPT 1982]

GCSE PREVIOUS EXAMS-EGYPT 1982

                                         ARAB REPUBLIC OF EGYPT

Ministry of Education

General Secondary Education Certificate Examination, 1982

First Foreign Language–English

First Paper-For Science and Arts Candidates

Time Allowed: 2 Hours

4. Read the following passage (text), and then answer the questions:
As watching a television programme will not need more effort on the part of the viewer than pressing a button and doing some adjustments to the set, television viewing has become the most popular form or entertainment. People who can see the best of the old and new films on the small screen, will not take the trouble of going to the cinema unless they prefer to spend an evening out of home for a change. Unfortunately, however, with some people, television, as a pastime, has taken the place of reading or practising useful hobbies. It is said that, due to television, modern youths have limited general knowledge, for most of their spare time is taken by television watching.
Questions:
1.   What does a viewer need to do to watch a television programme?
2.   Why do most people not go to the cinema nowadays?
3.   What, in the writer's opinion, are the bad effects of television on youths?
4.   What are the pastime activities the writer mentions in the passage? (Use your own words as far as possible in answering this question.)