English Reading Practice Test Level B1 - Test No. 13

Read the passage and answer these following questions. Manatees and dugongs are members of the mammalian order Sirenia. Completely aquatic, sirenians inhabit the tropical Coastal and certain adjacent waters of the West Indies, northern South America, Southern North America (Florida), western Africa, and Southern Asia to northern Australia. Sirenians live in Coastal waters, large rivers, estuaries, lagoons, and connected lakes. Today there exist four species of Sirenia: One dugong and three manatees. Although similar in appearance to seals and walruses, sirenians are more closely related to elephants. The skin of the sirenian is finely wrinkled and greyish-brown in color. The tail is wide and flat—shaped like a paddle with the exception of the dugong, which has a dolphin-like tail. Sirenians have inspired many a legend about mermaids. The chunky body and homely facial features of a sirenian do not bring to mind the image of a beautiful woman, but the mammal’s graceful movements combined with a sailor’s faulty Vision might give rise to some unusual stories.

Read the passage and answer these following questions. Black Literature The first black literature in America was not written but was preserved in an oral tradition, in a rich body of folklore, songs and stories, many from African origins. There are humorous tales, Biblical stories, animal stories, and stories of natural phenomena, of good and bad people, and of the wise and foolish. Many reflect how African-Americans viewed themselves and their lives. The lyrics of blues, spirituals, and work songs speak of suffering and hope, joy and pain, loved ones, and religious faith, and are an integral part of the early literature of black people in America.​ The earliest existing written black literature was Lucy Terry’s poem “Bars Fight,” written in 1746. Other 18th-century black poets include Jupiter Hammon and George Moses Horton. The first African- American to publish a book in America was Phillis Wheatley. Black poetry also flourished in the 19th century, during which the writings of almost 40 poets were printed, the most notable of whom was Paul Laurence Dunbar, the first black American to achieve national acclaim for his work. Dunbar published eight volumes of poetry and eight novels and collections of stories. More than three dozen novels were written by blacks between 1853 and 1899, but autobiography dominated African-American literature in the 19th century, as it had in the 18th. In the 20th century, however, fiction has presided, with Charles w. Chestnutt, America’s first black man of letters, successfully bridging the two centuries. He began publishing short fiction in the mid-1880s, wrote two books that appeared in 1899, and had three books published between 1900 and 1905. He was a pioneer of the “new literature” of the early 1900s, which aimed to persuade readers of the worth and equality of African-Americans.​​

Read the passage and answer these following questions. There are three main types of sedimentary rocks, which are classified according to the origin and size of their particles. One type, called evaporates, is formed from chemically derived sediments. For example, an inland sea might evaporate and leave a deposit of rock salt. The second type is derived entirely from organic material. Since it is a fossil in its own right, it is called fossiliferous rock. Fossiliferous rocks, such as limestones and chalks, are formed from calcium-based skeletons of tiny organisms deposited on the seabed. Some limestones are fossilized corals; others, known as tufa, are derived from mosses and other plants that grow beside hot springs. Carbon-based rocks, such as coal and jet, are the remains of plant material laid down in huge quantities. The remains of sponges and microscopic diatoms constitute rocks such as chert and flint. The third type of sedimentary rock is classic. It is formed from eroded particles of other rocks and is graded according to the size of these particles. Fine shales are perhaps the most significant sedimentary rocks covering the earth. The sedimentary rocks most likely to contain fossils are those that were laid down in places where there was abundant life and where deposition was rapid enough to bury the organisms before their bodies were broken up and decomposed. The sandy bottoms of shallow, calm seas, river deltas, lagoons, and deserts are the most likely places to give rise to fossils. The finer the sediment, the finer the detail recorded in them. Details such as the fur of those reptilian flyers, the pterosaurs, are only visible because they were fossilized in exceptionally fine limestone.