I.S.P. "Dr. Joaqun V.

Gonzlez"
Departamento de Ingls
Curso de Consolidacin
Docente a cargo: Lic. Daniela Fiorina
Name: .

Reading Comprehension Exercise # 221

Below the passage, you will find a number of questions or unfinished statements about the
passage, each with four suggested answers or ways of finishing. You must choose the
one which you think fits best. Give one answer only to each question. Show your choice
by circling a letter. Read the passage right through before choosing your answers.
On Tuesday I drove out to see my boat. I had firm ideas about what a boat should be. One of the river
books which Id pored during the summer had been Henry Thoreaus A Week on the Concord and Merrimack
Rivers. Thoreau had made his inland voyage in a green an blue dory, a creature of two elements, related by
one half of its structure to some swift and shapely fish, and by the other to some strong and graceful bird. I
had been tempted to send this lovely specification on an airmail postcard to Crystal Marine.
The boatyard lay far out of town, away from the river, a hundred boats were tipped up on trailers, identifiable
only by their numbers. Mine was WS 1368 DD. It was just a mustard-coloured shell of aluminium. Bluntbacked, broad in the bream, this bare piece of riveted metal did not look like a craft in which one might float at
all easily into a dream. It was related to neither fish nor bird, but to some new efficient brand of non-stick
saucepan.
Herb Heichert, the joint owner of the yard, stood by while I walked in a slow circle round this unalluring
object, trying to think of something polite to say about it.
Now we got to fix you up with the right rig for the river he said. He leaned on the transom. The boat
boomed like a dull gong. Mr. Heichert pointed at the blank metallic space.
All those hulls they come in the same, and every one she goes out different. You got to build it round the
customer, right? No ones the same. Everybodys different. Thats America. Thats the American way. Were
in the customization business here. You take a plain old hull and you build a guys whole identity into it. Look,
Ill show you
He led me to his showroom. Boats hung on ropes from the ceiling, stood on trailers and were rooted by their
keels to the sides of the walls. My mind boggled at the identities of the guys for whom they had been
customized. One was carpeted from bow to stern in blood-red synthetic fur, another in the kind of artificial
grass which undertakers spread over fresh graves.
When a fella gets a boat he gets real sore if he sees some other fella riding round the lake in a boat just like
the one hes got himself. Round here, everyones an individualist..

1. From this passage, we can guess that dory is a kind of

A.
B.
C.
D.

plane.
reptile.
boat.
carriage.

2.
The author compares his boat to a non-stick saucepan in order to
emphasise its
A.
B.
C.
D.

colour.
shape.
size.
ordinariness.

3. What is Mr. Heicherts attitude towards his boats?

A.
B.
C.
D.

Pride.
Embarrassment.
Carelessness.
Amazement.

4. Which phrase draws attention to the American language?

A.
B.
C.
D.

Thats the American Way.

The guys for whom they had been customized.
Blood-red synthetic fur.
Everyones an individualist.

5. The words in the last paragraph are spoken by

A.
B.
C.
D.

Mr. Heichert in order to emphasise his point.

Mr. Heichert to make sure the author buys a boat.
the author to make sure he gets a suitable boat.
the author to make fun of Mr. Heichert.