Question

Reading Comprehension.

Read three texts and choose the best possible answer from four possible answers (a, b, c or
d) in each task.
Text 1.
The largest lake in the western United States is the Great Salt Lake, an inland saltwater lake in northwestern
Utah, just outside the state capital of Salt Lake City. Rivers and streams feed into the Great Salt Lake, but none
drain out of it; this has a major influence on both the salt content and the size of the lake.
Although the Great Salt Lake is fed by freshwater streams, it is actually saltier than the oceans of the world.
The salt comes from the more than two million tons of minerals that flow into the lake each year from the rivers
and creeks that feed it. Sodium and chloride — the components of salt — comprise the large majority of the
lake's mineral content.
The Great Salt Lake can vary tremendously from its normal size of 1,700 square miles, depending on long-
term weather conditions. During periods of heavy rains, the size of the lake can swell tremendously from the
huge amounts of water flowing into the Salt Lake from its feeder rivers and streams; in 1980 the lake even
reached a size of 2,400 square miles. During periods of dry weather, the size of the lake decreases, sometimes
drastically, due to evaporation.
Task 1: Questions (choose the correct letter a, b, c or d):
1. The passage is telling about...
a) the location of the lake;
b) the formation of the lake;
c) the reasons for saltiness;
d) the size of the lake.
2. The word "drain" means:
a) walk;
b) stop;
c) flow;
d) cross.

3. According to the passage, the size of the lake depends on ...
a) one reason;
b) two reasons;
c) three reasons;
d) four reasons.

4. The lake is salty because ...
a) salty rivers flow into it;
b) its bottom is made of salt;
c) salt is not carried out of the lake;
d) it is a part of an ocean.

Answer 1

d (the size of the lake)
c (flow)
b (two reasons)
c (salt is not carried out of the lake)