MCAT English (Reading Comprehension) for Medical College Aptitude Test Preparation (Part IX)
Medical College Entry Test (MCAT) Online Preparation from Topic "Reading Comprehension" (03 Passages and 10 Questions)
Passage #1
During the Colonial period in American history, communication and trade were mostly conducted by ocean-going vessels sailing along the eastern seaboard. As farms and great estates developed inland, the rivers of the East became the main transportation routes for people and goods. The settlement of the West brought the Mississippi River system into the national transportation network, and eventually the steamboat made the Mississippi the foremost inland carrier of all. With the introduction of the steamboat to Mississippi waters by Robert Fulton in1811, transportation time and costs were greatly reduced. As technological improvements increased the speed at which boats could travel, particularly upstream, from one river port to another, operators were able to make a profit and greatly reduce rates at the same time. The steamboat also raised the volume of goods exchanged between the South and the rapidly-growing West Produce grown in the western states was transported quickly down to the levees of new Orleans for shipment overseas or for distribution by coastal vessels to the rest of the South and South west and even to the East. Most of the commodities from abroad were funneled into this booming port for shipment inland.
Passage #2
What makes it rain? Rain falls from clouds for the same reason anything falls to Earth. The Earth's gravity pulls it. But every cloud IS made of water droplets or ice crystals. Why doesn’t rain or snow fall constantly from all clouds? The droplets or Ice crystals in clouds are exceedingly small. The effect of gravity on them is minute. Air currents move and lift droplets so that the net downward displacement is zero, even though the droplets are in constantly moving.
Passage #3
A fully grown koala weighs about9 kilograms and its body is at most about 62 centimeters long. Its fur is thick and woolly, its limbs are long, and its toes are strongly clawed. On each front foot the two innermost digits can be opposed to the others like two thumbs, as can t-he innermost digits on each rear foot. It is this articulation, or moveable joint, that makes the koala a good climber. On the ground, to which it normally descends only to move from one tree to another, the koala goes on all four limbs. Most of the time it is in a tree intermittently sleeping and foraging among the leaves by day and at night.
No comments:
Post a Comment