Reading passages

39 -We learn from the passage that Horace" job as a bureaucrat ---- . 
A) occupied him too much to write poetry 
B) prepared him for higher ranks in his later life 
C) was not a high -ranking one 
D) proved that he was not a coward 
E) was not actually less dangerous than being a soldier 
The Hindenburg was the last in a series of airships designed to carry passengers and cargo over 
long distances. It could carry fifty passengers in twenty -five luxury cabins with all the comforts 
of a first class hotel. Cruising at 125 km per hour, it could cross the Atlantic in half the time of 
the great luxury ocean liners, which it had been built to compete with. But in 1937, the 
Hindenburg came to an unfortunate end in New Jersey just as it was about to land. In spite of 
extensive safety precautions, the highly flammable hydrogen with which it was filled burst into 
flames. Remarkably though, sixty -two of the ninety -seven people on board were able to escape. 
40 -It is clear from the passage that ---- .
A) the Hindenburg was one of the most successful airships of all times 
B) the Hindenburg had a component containing hydrogen 
C) in speed and size, the Hindenburg was much like a luxury ocean liner 
D) the Hindenburg exploded as it was taking off from New Jersey 
B) none of the passengers survived the disaster 
41 -The passage tells us that ---- . 
A) only the very rich could afford to travel on airships like the Hindenburg 
B) the luxury ocean liners could cross the Atlantic twice the time that an airship co C) the 
number of passengers an airship could carry was almost half that of a luxury ocean liner
D) life aboard the great airships was cramped and uncomfortable 
E) an ocean liner was slower, but much more luxurious than an airship 
42 -It is stated in the passage that ---- . 
A) the Hindenburg was one of the first great airships 
B) there were sixty -two people on board at the time of the disaster 
C) ocean liners filled with hydrogen often ended up with explosions 
D) after the Hindenburg disaster, there were no more airships of the same type 
E) the great airships had a passenger capacity of from twenty -five to fifty passengers 
Mountaineering as a sport has developed since about 1857, when the Alpine Club was founded in 
London. Earlier, climbers did not climb for pleasure but for some scientific or monetary motive, 
Dr Paccard of Chamonix was the first to scale Mont Blanc, in 1786, to show that man could live 
above the snow -line, but it was the lectures of Albert Smith, who climbed the peak in 1851, that 
kindled British interest. In 1854, Wills climbed the Wetterhorn and eleven years later, Whymper 
made his famous ascent of the Matterhorn. By 1880, all the major peaks of the Alps had been 
scaled, and so climbers went further afield to the Andes and the Himalayas.