SSAT Middle Level Reading Comprehension Practice Test 5

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The summer holidays! Those magic words! The mere mention of them used to send shivers of joy rippling over my skin. All my summer holidays, from when I was four years old to when I was seventeen (1920 to 1932), were idyllic. This, I am certain, was because we always went to the same idyllic place, and that place was Norway.

Except for my ancient half-sister and my not-quite-so-ancient half-brother, the rest of us were all pure Norwegian by blood. We all spoke Norwegian and all our relations lived over there. So in a way, going to Norway every summer was like going home.

Even the journey was an event. Do not forget that there were no commercial aeroplanes in those times, so it took us four whole days to complete the trip out and another four days to get home again.

1. The author's goal in writing was to express

  • A. his affection for Norway
  • B. his dislike of his half-sister and half-brother
  • C. dismay at the drudgery of the journey
  • D. how different life was back then
  • E. his realization that the trip was so long

2. The author uses the word "idyllic" in the first paragraph to mean

  • A. scary
  • B. pleasant
  • C. religious
  • D. cold
  • E. boring

3. The author uses the analogy that "going to Norway every summer was like going home" to illustrate

  • A. how much he dreaded the journey
  • B. how frequently they went to Norway
  • C. why his half-sister and half-brother were going along
  • D. how long they stayed in Norway
  • E. how happy and comfortable he was there

4. The author mentions the length of the trip in order to

  • A. make the reader sympathetic to his plight
  • B. make the reader understand why the trip was an adventure
  • C. help the reader visualize the boredom that he faced
  • D. give the reader some sympathy for the half-sister and half-brother
  • E. help the reader visualize Norway