English reading passages (for dtm test takers)

14. The main reason why written Chinese has
changed so little over the years is that ....
A) it has no relationship to the spoken words
B) the Chinese start learning to write at an early age
C) the Chinese all have much the same ideas
D) China has always been a large country in Asia
15. According to the passage, calligraphy ... .
A) was mainly founded in China in the 16th century
B) is considered as important as painting in China
C) contains 1,000 different symbols in Chinese
D) is considered easier than painting by the Chinese
16. All of the following statements are TRUE, EXCEPT ....
A) China has had literature in one writing for a long time
B) Symbols represent things or ideas in the Chinese language
C) Symbols and letters are used in the Chinese language
D) Basic reading requires more than a thousand symbols


Read the text and answer the questions according to it.
Polo is an unusual sport. It uses a ball and a mallet, the stick which is used to hit the ball. It also requires caps to protect the player’s heads, gloves for their hands and boots to protect their legs. The players hit the ball into a goal to score. The game of polo suddenly becomes very exciting when you discover the final piece of “equipment “ the players need: a horse. It is played entirely on horseback. The game of polo was developed in Persia around 2,000 years ago, but the British made modern polo world-famous. The British came in contact with the sport, in the Indian city of Silchar 150 years ago. There, the oldest existing polo club, the Calcutta Club, was founded by the British in 1862. A polo club opened in England just ten years later, and British soon began to travel and show others this great “ new” sport. Only after then polo quickly spread around the world. Twenty years later, clubs as far away as in Argentina and Australia were founded.


17. What is the main idea of the passage?
A) How polo developed in Persia
B) People who play the game of polo
C) Games which the British love
D) The origin of the game of polo