English Exercises > readings exercises

Downloadable worksheets: READING Comprehension -Two articles: E-mails - a sign of progress or of laziness? / Text messaging :-) OR :-(? Level: intermediate Age: 12-17 Downloads: 4768   "Bullying... WHY ME?!!" Reading/ Writing Worksheet for Intermediate students Level: intermediate Age: 11-17 Downloads: 4018   "Television - Benefits and Side Effects": a 90-minute-lesson with the focus on Reading + Writing skills for Intermediate Students Level: intermediate Age: 12-17 Downloads: 3951   "Shopping - Do you like it or hate it?" ( a 90-minute class) - Reading comprehension + writing for Intermediate or Upper elementary students Level: intermediate Age: 11-17 Downloads: 3147   100 READING GAMES - POSTER + Timesavers + Hippo Report + Suggestions + BW + tons of LINKS - ((11_PAGES)) - A1-C2 level Level: elementary Age: 6-17 Downloads: 2928   "Me and My family" - Reading comprehension for Upper elementary and Lower Intermediate students Level: elementary Age: 10-12 Downloads: 3174

TOEFL ITP/PBT Reading 11 Read the text and answer the questions.   PASSAGE ONE (Questions 1-2)  Conflict within an organization is not always viewed as undesirable. In fact, various managers have widely divergent ideas on the value that conflict can have.    According to the traditional view of conflict, conflict is harmful to an organization. Managers with this traditional view of conflict see it as their role in an organization to rid the organization of any possible sources of conflict.    The interactionist view of conflict, on the other hand, holds that conflict can serve an important function in an organization by reducing complacency among workers and causing positive changes to occur. Managers who hold an interactionist view of conflict may actually take steps to stimulate conflict within the organization.   1. How is the information in the passage organized?  The origin of ideas about conflict is presented.  Contrasting views of conflict are presented.  Two theorists discuss the strengths and weaknesses of their views on conflict.  Examples of conflict within organizations are presented.   2. Click on the paragraph that supports the view that organizational conflict can be beneficial.     PASSAGE TWO (Questions 3-4)  IQ or intelligence quotient, is defined as the ratio of a person's mental age to chronological age, with the ratio multiplied by 100 to remove the decimal. Chronological age is easily determined; mental age is generally measured by some kind of standard test and is not so simple to define.  In theory, a standardized IQ test is set up to measure an individual's ability to perform intellectual operations such as reasoning and problem solving. These intellectual operations are considered to represent intelligence.  In practice, it has been impossible to arrive at consensus as to which types of intellectual operations demonstrate intelligence. Furthermore, it has been impossible to devise a test without cultural bias, which is to say that any IQ tests so far proposed have been shown to reflect the culture of the test makers. Test takers from that culture would, it follows, score higher on such a test than test takers from a different culture with equal intelligence.   3. What type of information is included in the first paragraph?   An argument  A definition  An opinion  A theory   4. Click on the paragraph that describes the application of IQin the real world.   PASSAGE THREE (Questions 5-6)  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 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.   5. How is the information in the passage organized?  Two unusual characteristics of the Great Salt Lake are discussed.  Contrasting theories about the Great Salt Lake's salt levels are presented.  The process by which the Great Salt Lake gets its salt is outlined.  The reasons for the variations in the Great Salt Lake's size are given.   6. Click on the paragraph that explains where the Great Salt Lake gets its salt.