What is the passage about? Read it in ONE minute and choose one of the options.

a L r r w rl
b U l l lv r y r w rl
c T y l l l

Read the passage again to find the o ds f om the box in exe cise 3 as quick as ou can

Which of the t o acti ities ou ha e just done p actised scanning? Which p actised skimming?

AM ZING HO ES
Most people live in a house or a at. Wen th go on holiday they stay in a hotel or a
guest house. But some places where you can live or stay are a bit diferent.

8 One un sual place to live is a houseboat Amsterdam in Holland is famous for

its ho seboats - there are a out 2,500 of them. They have everything that a
normal house has: a living room edroom, kitchen bathroom and even
sometimes a terrace on the roof They are cheaper than houses and people
who live on house oats enjoy being close to nature Some ho seboats can
be moved to other parts of the river while others are permanently n
one place

4 In Tokyo Japan there is a see through ho se It is like a normal Japanese

house but a l he walls are made of glass There is plenty of daylight but no
privacy Architect Sou Fujimoto designed it for a couple to make their home
He based his ideas on early man living n trees It wouldn't s it everyone ut
the co ple who live there love the feeli g of being surrounded by the natural
world

( All around the world people live in homes made from shipping containers
Some use only one container while others are made from several containers
joined together One house in Chile was b ilt from 12 containers They are
cheap to buy and eco fr endly They can also be placed in the garden or drive
as g est rooms studies or utility rooms

In Germany you can stay in a one metre sq are house the smallest house in
the world called the House NA Van Bo Le Mentzel a refugee rom aos built
it to draw attention to the world ho sing shortage It is a wooden struct re
on wheels and weighs 40 kg t has a locking door and a window You can t rn
it onto its side when yo want to lie down Franz from M nich spent the night
in one recently st to see what it was like He fo nd it a it ncomfortable!

9 For an n s al holiday you can stay in an igloo a house made of ice These
can e fo nd in several co ntries including Sweden orway and Finland
They are ilt new every winter Jenny and Callum visitors from Australia
told s, We slept in an igloo last night It s so cold here minus degrees
centigrade We sed reindeer skins to keep warm

O Another couple Shaun and Rachel from Manchester, enjoyed a recent

o treehouse in S ssex, England They said It was right up in the
trees and had everything we needed even wifi It had a small kitchen and we
did o r own cooking t was the perfect place to get away from o r busy lives

26
I UNDERSTANDING PARAPHRASE

@ In the Reading paper, it is very important to be able to

understand paraphrase (when the same idea s given
using diferent words). The words used in the questions
won't be exactly the same as the ones in the passage

Match these words and phrases from the text (1-6) with their paraphrases (a-f).
1 houseboats not being watched by others
2 permanently not feeling pleasant
3 privacy homes on the water
4 surrounded by the natural world Nordic countries
5 uncomfortable forever always
6 Sweden, Norway and Finland having nature all around

Choose the best paraphrase for these sentences from the text.
1 The treehouse had everything we needed
A We needed some more things for our stay in the treehouse.
B The treehouse was very well equipped
C We need everything for the treehouse
2 Some houseboats can be moved to other parts of the river
A Not all houseboats are permanently fixed in one place
B Only some parts of the river have houseboats
C You can move to a houseboat in another part of the river
3 One house in hile as built from 2 containers
A There are 2 houses in hile made from containers
B 2 containers were used to make one house
C You need 2 containers to ma e a house in hile
 SENTENCE COMPLETION ]

In this task type you will have to complete a se te ce with up to three words (or two
words a d/or a mber) taken from the passage. The i structions will tell you how ma y
words you are allowed to use
Look at this example: Houseboat occupants l ke livi g ______
his is a paraphrase of the followi g se te ce from the passage
People who l e on houseboats enjoy being close to nature.
Beca se you have to se words from the passage in your answer, the answer is close to
nature

Follow the steps in the box opposite and complete t e sentences.

Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS rom the passage or each answer @ How to do sentence
completion questions
1 w w v u v , u w u '
• Underline key words from the
· sente ce (houseboat occupants,
2 f u _ k f i the above examp e)
u v w • Sca the ext for the key words
3 P w y v f y k or words that mean something
u f -------- similar (p ople who l e on
housebo ts has a similar
4 P w v w u f y u
mea ing to houseboat

I
oc upan )
GRAMMAR FOCUS: PAST SIMPLE AND PRESENT SIMPLE • Readthe se tences nearthe
key word caref lly - l e l n
f Answer these q estions abo t the Amazing homes passage means the same as en o be n .
• Find the words that seem to fit
1 u ? the sentence
a • Check that the meani g of the
b sentence matches the meani g
As part of yo r first quick of the text
c look at the passage ide tify • Check t e grammar of the
2 u : whether it is written mai ly completed sente ce
a u ? i the past prese t or • Check if t e word(s) shou d be
future and if the te se si gular r plural
b w y u ?
cha ges. his may help you • Check that you have sed the
c y ? u dersta d the passage correct number of words
d k u u u ?

[ Choose the co rect erb present simple o past simple

1 li e/ li ed f
2 I UK u ha e J had
3 I 0 0 y mo e/ mo ed u
4 w y u u y spends spent y
5 I pre ers/ pre erred y

Co ete the sentences with the correct orm o t e erb in brac ets
1 w (share) f w u
2 L y (li e) w
3 I (sta ) m k I y
\ e w
5 I 0 4w (mo e) u w u