eng7-R2· Reading· ~15 min

Reading: Talented People

Read articles and profiles about talented and amazing people.

In this topic, you will read short texts about talented people — a young painter, a famous footballer, and a school talent show. Each text is followed by questions that test your understanding. Look for the main idea (what the text is mostly about), find specific details (names, numbers, facts), and try to guess the meaning of new words from the sentences around them.

Key terms

main idea — What the whole text is mostly about — the most important point the writer wants you to know.
detail — A small piece of information in the text, such as a name, a number, a place, or a date.
inference — A conclusion you reach by thinking about what the text says, even though it is not directly stated.
vocabulary in context — Figuring out the meaning of a word by looking at the other words and sentences around it.
skim — To read a text quickly to get the general idea without focusing on every word.
scan — To move your eyes quickly over a text to find a specific piece of information, like a name or number.
Question Types and What They Test
Question typeWhat it asksHow to answer
Main ideaWhat is the text mostly about?Read the title and the first and last sentences. Ask yourself: what is the main topic?
DetailA specific fact from the textFind the key word in the question, then scan the text for that word or idea.
ReferenceWhat a pronoun (he, she, it, they) points toLook at the sentences just before the pronoun. What person or thing was just named?
VocabularyWhat a word means in the textRead the full sentence. The words before and after give you hints.

Four common question types in reading comprehension and how to approach each one.

✎Finding the Main Idea — Worked Example
  1. 1Passage: Ali is twelve years old. He loves football. He plays football every day after school with his friends. He wants to be a professional player one day.
  2. 2Step 1: Skim: Read the text quickly. You see the words 'Ali', 'twelve', 'football', 'plays every day', 'professional player'.
  3. 3Step 2: Ask the question: What is the text mainly about? Ask yourself: who is the text about? (Ali.) What does he do? (He plays football.) What is his dream? (To be a professional player.)
  4. 4Step 3: Check choices: If the choices are A) Ali's school day, B) Ali's love of football, C) Ali's family, D) Ali's favourite food — the correct answer is B, because the whole text talks about Ali and football.
🚫Common mistake

Do not choose an answer just because a word from the question appears in the text. The whole idea must match.

💡Note

When you see a pronoun like 'he', 'she', 'it', or 'they', always look back at the previous sentence to find who or what it refers to.

⚠️Caution

Do not use your own knowledge about the topic — answer only from what the text says. Even if you know a fact is true in real life, it is wrong if the text does not say it.

Rules

  1. 1Read the questions before you read the passage so you know what to look for.
  2. 2Skim the text first to get the main idea — do not stop at every new word.
  3. 3When a question asks about a detail, scan the text to find that specific fact.
  4. 4For vocabulary questions, read the whole sentence with the unknown word — the words around it give you clues.
  5. 5Check your answer by finding the part of the text that supports it.
  6. 6If you are not sure, cross out the choices that are clearly wrong first.

Practice

4 easy · 4 medium · 4 hard

10 random questions per test

EasyMediumHardMixed