eurekami
10th grade reading comprehension
10th grade (Year 11 in England) · 16 questions · Common Core: RL.9-10.4, RL.11-12.4, RL.9-10.5, RI.9-10.5 · England: GCSE English Language Paper 1 Q2, GCSE English Language Paper 2 Q3, GCSE English Language Paper 1 Q3
Name
Date
Score/ 16
Question 1
Her words were a slap across the silence. What is the effect of the metaphor?
- A. It shows she was whispering.
- B. It shows the room was noisy.
- C. It shows her words were sudden, shocking and hurtful.
- D. It suggests she was being kind.
The Gardener's Ledger
My father kept two books. The first was the ledger in which he recorded every coin that passed through the shop: the price of flour, the cost of the new awning, the debts that customers swore they would settle by Friday. He wrote in it every evening, in a small, upright hand, and he never let anyone else touch it.
The second book I did not discover until after he died. It was a cheap school exercise book, its cover soft with handling, hidden at the back of the shed behind the seed trays. Inside, in the same upright hand, he had recorded something quite different: the date the first snowdrop appeared each year; the night a fox had dug up the tulips; the morning, in 1987, when "M. laughed at the robin on the spade and said it was the bravest bird in England." M. was my mother. I had never heard my father mention her laugh.
For forty years, it seemed, he had been keeping accounts of another kind – of small, unprofitable things that added up to a life. The shop ledger balanced to the penny. The garden book did not balance at all. There were gaps of months, sometimes years. In 1993, the year my mother died, there is only one entry: "Rain."
I used to think my father was a man who cared only for what could be counted. I sat in that cold shed until the light went, reading his small, careful sentences, and understood that I had been reading the wrong book.
Question 2
Read "The Gardener's Ledger". What does the narrator mean by "keeping accounts of another kind"?
- A. hiding money from the family
- B. recording things that mattered emotionally rather than financially
- C. counting the plants for sale
- D. running a second shop
Harbour at Dawn (GCSE-style extract)
The harbour did not so much wake as surrender to the morning. Fog lay over the water like a damp grey blanket that someone had forgotten to fold, and the fishing boats nodded at their moorings, half-asleep, their ropes creaking in complaint.
Old Tomas was already there. He was always there. He sat on an upturned crate at the end of the quay, mending a net with fingers that had long ago stopped feeling the cold. His knife flashed, paused, flashed again. Every so often he lifted his head and sniffed the air, as if the sea had written him a letter only he could read.
Behind him, the town stirred reluctantly. A shutter rattled up. A dog barked twice and thought better of it. Somewhere a kettle began its thin, rising whistle. The smell of bread drifted from the bakery on Water Lane and mixed with the older, deeper smells of salt, diesel and fish.
Then the sun arrived. It did not rise so much as break through – one bright blade splitting the fog, then another, until the whole harbour was suddenly ablaze. The water turned from slate to copper. Gulls exploded upward from the harbour wall, screaming. The boats seemed to sit up straighter.
Tomas did not look up. He tied off the last knot, tested it with a sharp tug, and laid the net across his knees like a sleeping cat. Only then did he raise his eyes to the brightening sea, and for a moment, just a moment, his face softened into something very close to a smile.
Question 3
Read "Harbour at Dawn (GCSE-style extract)". Which phrase best shows the dramatic change brought by the sun?
- A. "his knife flashed, paused, flashed again."
- B. "A shutter rattled up."
- C. "The water turned from slate to copper."
- D. "Old Tomas was already there."
The Flood
The river had been rising for three days, but in the village nobody spoke of it. People hung out washing, argued about football and queued at the bakery as if the brown water swelling beneath the bridge were simply another neighbour, loud but harmless.
Nadia noticed. From her bedroom window she watched the river swallow the lowest step of the old jetty, then the second, then the third. At night she lay awake listening to it muttering against the stones, a low, endless grumble that seemed to grow hungrier by the hour.
On the fourth morning, the sky was the colour of a bruise. Rain did not fall so much as hang in the air, soaking everything it touched. Nadia's grandmother, who had lived in the village for seventy years, stood at the door, sniffing the wind like an old dog. "Pack a bag," she said quietly. "Now."
They were halfway up the hill when they heard it.
A roar. A crack. Then silence, which was worse.
Below them, the bridge had gone. Where it had stood, the river surged on, carrying fence posts, garden chairs and a single red umbrella, spinning slowly, like a flower.
Question 4
Read "The Flood". What is the effect of the sentence forms in paragraph 5 ('A roar. A crack. Then silence, which was worse.')?
- A. they explain the science of floods
- B. they slow the pace to relax the reader
- C. the fragments make the disaster sudden and shocking
- D. they give a long description of the bridge
Question 5
What is the rhyme scheme of this stanza? My sister laughs At every joke Even the ones That no one spoke
- A. AABB
- B. ABAC
- C. ABCB
- D. ABAB
Question 6
Is the proposed answer correct? A story is told in the first person, present tense: "I open the door. Something moves." What is the main effect? → humour: it makes events funny
- A. yes, it is correct
- B. no, it is not correct
Question 7
Read the question and choose. "Silence. Then footsteps." What kind of sentence form is used and why?
- A. a long complex sentence, to explain
- B. a compound sentence, to join ideas
- C. fragments, to focus sharply on single moments
- D. a question, to involve the reader
The Four-Day Week: Promise and Pitfalls
In recent years, a growing number of companies have experimented with a four-day working week, in which employees work about 80 per cent of their usual hours for 100 per cent of their pay, on the condition that they maintain their output. Supporters argue that the model could transform working life. Critics warn that its benefits may be exaggerated.
The most widely reported trials have produced striking results. In one large study involving several dozen organisations, most companies chose to continue the four-day week after the trial ended. Employees reported less stress, better sleep and fewer days off sick, while company revenue remained broadly stable. For businesses struggling to recruit, the promise of an extra day off can be a powerful attraction.
Yet these findings come with important caveats. Companies that volunteer for such trials may already be enthusiastic about flexible working and well suited to it. Their success may not be representative of all workplaces. Moreover, many of the participating organisations were offices or creative businesses, where output is relatively easy to reorganise. In hospitals, schools or factories, where staff must be present to deliver a service, reducing hours without hiring more people may simply be impossible.
There are also questions about what happens in the long term. Early enthusiasm can fade, and the pressure to fit five days of work into four may eventually lead to longer, more intense working days, cancelling out the benefits to wellbeing.
None of this means the idea should be dismissed. It does suggest that the four-day week is less a universal solution than a tool that may suit some sectors far better than others. The challenge for policymakers is to learn from the trials without assuming that what worked for a marketing agency will work for an emergency ward.
Question 8
Read "The Four-Day Week: Promise and Pitfalls". Which finding from the trials is reported in paragraph 2?
- A. Employees reported more stress.
- B. Revenue doubled.
- C. All hospitals adopted the model.
- D. Most companies chose to keep the four-day week.
Question 9
A historian argues that the canal transformed the town's economy. A: The canal was 12 miles long. B: Construction began in a rainy spring. C: Within ten years of its opening, the number of mills in the town tripled. D: The canal was later used for leisure boating. Which finding would most directly support the argument?
- A. A
- B. B
- C. C
- D. D
Beavers Come Home
Four hundred years after they were hunted to extinction in Britain, beavers are back. Small populations now live wild in parts of Scotland and England, and several other European countries have reintroduced them too.
Ecologists describe beavers as "ecosystem engineers". By building dams, they create ponds and wetlands that slow the flow of water, trap sediment and provide homes for insects, amphibians and birds. In one Devon study, the amount of water flowing downstream during heavy rain was noticeably lower below beaver dams than above them, suggesting that dams can help reduce flooding.
Not everyone is delighted. Some farmers report flooded fields and felled trees, and they worry about the cost. Their concerns are real, and schemes in some areas now compensate landowners or move beavers whose dams cause serious damage.
Supporters argue that the benefits outweigh the costs. Wetlands created by beavers can store water during droughts, improve water quality and attract visitors. Yet researchers caution that results vary from river to river, and long-term data are still limited.
What is clear is that the return of beavers forces us to ask a broader question: how much room are we willing to make for wild animals in a crowded country?
Question 10
Read "Beavers Come Home". Which detail best supports the idea that beaver dams may reduce flooding?
- A. beavers were hunted to extinction
- B. farmers report felled trees
- C. wetlands attract visitors
- D. less water flowed downstream during heavy rain below the dams than above them
Question 11
Is the proposed answer correct? "How would you feel if your home disappeared overnight?" What does the question do? → it makes readers imagine the situation personally
- A. yes, it is correct
- B. no, it is not correct
Question 12
An article opens with the story of one family who lost their home in a flood, then broadens to national flood statistics, and ends with proposed solutions. Why might the writer begin with one family's story?
- A. to avoid giving any facts
- B. to confuse the reader
- C. to engage the reader emotionally before presenting wider facts
- D. to show floods are rare
Cooling the City (with data)
On hot summer afternoons, the centres of large cities can be several degrees warmer than the surrounding countryside. This "urban heat island" effect occurs because dark surfaces such as asphalt and roofing absorb sunlight and release it slowly as heat, while buildings trap warm air and reduce the cooling effect of wind. A lack of vegetation makes the problem worse: trees and plants cool the air by providing shade and releasing water vapour.
In a recent study, researchers measured the average afternoon surface temperature in July across four neighbourhoods of one city, alongside the percentage of each area covered by trees. Their results are summarised below.
Neighbourhood | Tree cover (%) | Average July afternoon surface temperature (°C)
Northgate | 8 | 41
Riverside | 15 | 38
Elm Park | 27 | 34
Hillcrest | 35 | 32
The researchers caution that tree cover is not the only factor: Riverside, for instance, is next to a large river, which may have cooled it independently. Nevertheless, they conclude that expanding urban tree cover is a promising strategy for reducing extreme heat, particularly in neighbourhoods where many residents lack air conditioning.
Question 13
Read "Cooling the City (with data)". Why do the researchers mention the river near Riverside?
- A. to show that rivers cause heat islands
- B. to explain why Riverside has no trees
- C. to argue that trees are useless
- D. to acknowledge another factor that could affect the temperature
Question 14
Is the proposed answer correct? Scientists studying the Arctic fox noticed something odd: one fox had walked more than 3,500 kilometres in 76 days, from Norway to Canada. What is the main purpose of the specific figures? → to make the fox's journey vivid and impressive
- A. yes, it is correct
- B. no, it is not correct
Harbour at Dawn (GCSE-style extract)
The harbour did not so much wake as surrender to the morning. Fog lay over the water like a damp grey blanket that someone had forgotten to fold, and the fishing boats nodded at their moorings, half-asleep, their ropes creaking in complaint.
Old Tomas was already there. He was always there. He sat on an upturned crate at the end of the quay, mending a net with fingers that had long ago stopped feeling the cold. His knife flashed, paused, flashed again. Every so often he lifted his head and sniffed the air, as if the sea had written him a letter only he could read.
Behind him, the town stirred reluctantly. A shutter rattled up. A dog barked twice and thought better of it. Somewhere a kettle began its thin, rising whistle. The smell of bread drifted from the bakery on Water Lane and mixed with the older, deeper smells of salt, diesel and fish.
Then the sun arrived. It did not rise so much as break through – one bright blade splitting the fog, then another, until the whole harbour was suddenly ablaze. The water turned from slate to copper. Gulls exploded upward from the harbour wall, screaming. The boats seemed to sit up straighter.
Tomas did not look up. He tied off the last knot, tested it with a sharp tug, and laid the net across his knees like a sleeping cat. Only then did he raise his eyes to the brightening sea, and for a moment, just a moment, his face softened into something very close to a smile.
Question 15
Read "Harbour at Dawn (GCSE-style extract)". In paragraph 3, the dog "barked twice and thought better of it". What is the effect?
- A. It creates fear and panic.
- B. It suggests the town is noisy and lively.
- C. It adds gentle humour and reinforces the sleepy, reluctant mood.
- D. It shows the dog is dangerous.
The Quiet Infrastructure
When we speak of infrastructure, we tend to picture concrete and steel: bridges, railways, power lines. We rarely think of the public library. Yet libraries are a form of infrastructure as essential, in their way, as any road – and, because their work is quiet, they are easier to neglect.
Consider what a library actually provides. It offers free access not only to books but to the internet, to printers, to warm and safe space, to help with forms and applications, to activities for toddlers and to company for the isolated elderly. For a student without a quiet room at home, it is a study hall. For a job-seeker without a computer, it is an office. For a newly arrived family, it may be the first public institution that welcomes them without asking anything in return.
Critics argue that, in an age of smartphones, these functions are obsolete. Information is everywhere; why fund buildings full of paper? But the argument confuses access to information with access to opportunity. A phone cannot print a CV, provide a warm room on a winter afternoon or offer the patient guidance of a librarian who can tell a reliable source from a persuasive fake. Moreover, millions of people still lack reliable internet at home. To assume that everyone is connected is to design policy for the comfortable and forget the rest.
None of this means libraries should stand still. The best have already transformed themselves into community hubs, hosting coding clubs, repair cafés and citizenship classes. But transformation requires investment, and investment requires us to recognise libraries for what they are: not a nostalgic luxury, but part of the foundation on which a fair society is built.
A bridge that collapses makes headlines. A library that closes rarely does. Its users simply scatter, each a little more alone than before. That silence is precisely why we should pay attention.
Question 16
Read "The Quiet Infrastructure". What is the effect of the contrast between a bridge collapse and a library closure in the final paragraph?
- A. It argues that the media should ignore bridges.
- B. It suggests bridges should be built inside libraries.
- C. It highlights how the loss of libraries goes unnoticed despite real harm.
- D. It shows libraries are more dangerous than bridges.
Write your answers right on the page. · Free from eurekami.com