Reading Comprehension Test 2hrc

1st Year English Reading Comprehension Read the following article and answer the questions. ‘Here, have one of mine.’ OK. So here are the facts. There’s an Englishman called B J Cunningham who has been smoking since he was eleven. He’s a chain smoker who’s in love with smoking. He smokes between two and three packets a day, and already, at the age of 30, has a weak chest. He was in hospital for six days when his lungs collapsed. ‘It was at that point that I did actually give up cigarettes for six months.’ But then he returned to his true love. He wears black leather cowboy clothes and has a fondness for classic Harley-Davidson motorbikes, which he has been riding for the past fifteen years. (1)‘__________,’ he says coolly. So far, not a very remarkable life. But then, B J Cunningham (no one actually knows what the initials B J stand for) had an idea one night in a bar in LA. ‘Let’s market a cigarette called Death,’ he said to a business partner. ‘Why?’ said the partner. ‘It’s obvious,’ he explains to me. ‘When you take a packet of cigarettes out of your top pocket and put it on the bar in front of you, you’re making a statement about yourself, exactly as you do with the clothes you wear, the music you like, and the newspaper you read. You’re saying, (2)“__________.”’ ‘So, if you take out a packet of Benson and Hedges, you’re saying, “I’m classy – gold packet – part of high society.” If you take out a packet of Marlboro, you’re saying, “I’m an outdoor type, I like wearing a cowboy hat and riding horses…”’ ‘Now, if you produce a packet of Death cigarettes,’ he continues, producing a packet of Death cigarettes to illustrate his point, ‘what you’re saying is…’ He looks at me to make sure that I’m going to write down what you’re saying about yourself if you smoke Death cigarettes. But do I need to? We all know what Death cigarettes are about. B J Cunningham has been telling us about them ever since he started his Enlightened Tobacco Company (ETC) some years ago. Everyone has now got the joke, thank you very much. We’ve seen the black packets with their death’s head on the front and the white packets which are called Death Lights; and we’ve heard about the coffin-shaped vending machines in pubs and clubs. However, for anyone who has managed to avoid B J’s publicity, here goes. Death cigarettes are for the smoker who wants to say, ‘Yes, I’m killing myself, but at least I know it, and I smoke a brand which doesn’t try to hide the fact.’ ‘Death cigarettes,’ concludes B J, ‘say, (3)“__________!” B J Cunningham, now on his ninth cigarette of the interview, says he wants to expose the hypocrisy behind the tobacco industry. Governments can’t afford to ban smoking because they receive huge amounts of money in tax. Tobacco companies try to improve their image by sponsoring sports events such as motor racing, rugby, football, cricket, and tennis, at vast expense. ‘What everybody wants to forget is that smoking kills. That’s why I’m here, to remind people that smoking and death are linked.’ The ETC hoped to win a good share of the UK market. ‘Cigarettes in Britain are a £12 billion industry in which four companies control 95% of the market. The question is: How do we get a share?’ He knows the question but he can’t afford the answer. The ETC can’t afford to like the big companies. It has been losing about £1 million a year. Personally, I have a very different opinion as to why so few people choose to smoke a brand of cigarettes called Death. B J Cunningham has misunderstood human psychology. Of course smokers know that their habit is probably going to kill them, but they prefer not to think about it. The only people who are going to smoke his cigarettes are people like himself. When I offered one to a friend recently, his reaction was, (4)‘__________.’ And this is what Death cigarettes are all about. It’s a joke that was funny, but isn’t funny any more. But B J is still obsessed by fags. ‘Do you know the main reason I love my job?’ he says. ‘It’s because it gives me a chance to attack the anti-smoking killjoys! Those puritans who try to control our lives. I’ve met many people who don’t smoke, but who tell me that if smoking were made illegal, they would fight it. You just can’t have laws which control every aspect of the way people live.’ I finally started to warm to this character B J Cunningham. It was the end of the interview, and the number of fag ends in the ashtray had increased to fifteen. Perhaps he had something important to say after all. Not just, ‘Hey, everybody! Look at me! I’m weird, and I’m killing myself!’

Write all answers on the blank answer-sheet provided, and not on this question-sheet. In order to earn maximum points, you should give answers which are both complete and to the point; and you should use your own words wherever possible.

1.

The following expressions have been removed from the text. On your answer sheet, indicate where you think they should go by linking the letters to the numbers. a) You must be joking b) I’ve had about ten of them c) These cigarettes are a part of me d) Don’t you dare tell me to stop

2.

Why, according to B J Cunningham, do people choose to smoke a particular brand of cigarettes?

3.

“Everyone has now got the joke, thank you very much.” What does the author mean?

4.

If a person smokes Death cigarettes, what statement are they making, according to Cunningham?

5.

“B J Cunningham… wants to expose the hypocrisy behind the tobacco industry.” Explain.

6.

Why, in the author’s opinion, do so few people smoke Death cigarettes?

7.

What does Cunningham like most about his work?

Writing “Tobacco should be made illegal, just like any other dangerous drug.” Do you agree? Your answer should be 80–100 words in length.

Sample Answers

1. 1-b, 2-c, 3-d, 4-a. 2. According to Cunningham, people choose to smoke a particular brand of cigarettes in order to say something about who they are. So, for example, if a person smokes Benson and Hedges, they are saying that they are sophisticated; or if they smoke Marlboro, they are saying that they are outdoor, adventurous types. 3. Although everyone knows that smoking is harmful, this is never emphasised by tobacco companies, naturally. Cunningham’s company, by contrast, does not hide the fact that smoking can damage one’s health. In fact, it highlights the danger by putting an image of a skull on the front of the cigarette packets, and selling them in vending machines shaped like coffins. This is done for ironical effect, which is the joke the author is referring to. When he says “everyone has now got the joke…” he means that it is not funny anymore. 4. Cunningham maintains that if a person smokes Death cigarettes, they are saying that they are perfectly aware that they are harming themselves, and do not need to be reminded. 5. He is referring to the fact that, although it is common knowledge that smoking is bad for people’s health, governments will not ban smoking because they receive so much money in taxes from tobacco sales. Furthermore, tobacco companies try to appear as if they are actually promoting health by sponsoring sports events. 6. The author believes that the reason so few people smoke Death cigarettes is that they prefer not to be reminded that smoking is bad for them, even though they know it perfectly well. 7. The thing that B J Cunningham loves most about his work is that it gives him the opportunity to attack those who wish to make smoking illegal: he is very much against people who would like to control every aspect of other people’s lives.