145] READING COMPREHENSION [GCSE PREVIOUS EXAMS-EGYPT 1984]

GCSE PREVIOUS EXAMS-EGYPT 1984

                                         ARAB REPUBLIC OF EGYPT

Ministry of Education.

General Secondary Education Certificate Examination, 1984

First Foreign Language English

First Paper-For Science and Arts Candidates

Time Allowed: 2 Hours

Comprehension

7. Read the following passage (text), and then answer the questions:
Have you ever noticed how busy the roads in Cairo are especially in the rush hours? Every year more and more cars are using them. These cars do a lot of harm. Not only do they disrupt the traffic but they also cause pollution.
Almost every family has a car. Some families have more than one car. No wonder you see so many traffic jams all over the city. Perhaps the worst jams are at the city centre. These long lines of cars crawling into Cairo waste time and money. Every day precious time is wasted while you are waiting impatiently at the traffic lights.
At last when you reach your destination, you have every right to feel a kind of relief, but soon you face new troubles. There is no place to park your car. In Cairo it is very hard to parking spaces. It is a problem that causes us trouble by day and anxiety by night. To solve this problem more car-parks should be built just outside the city centre. Then the drivers can leave their cars and catch a bus to their offices. Another solution is to build multiple-storey garages.
Wide, smooth, straight roads must be built now in place of the old, narrow roads. These roads must not pass through the city centre, but by-pass it. They must not be crossed by other roads. This can be achieved by flyover bridges. It is heartwarming to see such roads being built now. Carts and cycles/should not be allowed on roads. Let us hope that in the near future when people rush to work and then back home the roads will be as orderly as ever and traffic will flow without lot of hindrance.
Questions:
1.   What two problems do cars cause?
2.   How do traffic jams affect us? Mention 2 points.
3.   When are traffic jams usually at their worst?
4.   In one sentence, write down the main idea in the third paragraph.