I. Reading. I. Read the text given below

I. Read the text given below. For questions (1–6), choose the answer (A, B, C or D) which you think fits best according to the text.

H. G. Wells was born in 1866 in Bromley. He claimed to have a very ordinary brain, but in fact he predicted air attacks and atomic bombs long before they exist­ed. He took no pleasure in being right though. Instead it just added to his growing feeling of pessimism. His last book was Mind at the End of its Tether, a work full of despair. In his final year he spent his time painting a mural in his home which showed the process of evolution, ending with the figure of Man. Beneath this figure he wrote “Time to Go”.

Wells’ parents were, at various times, shopkeepers and servants. Wells was destined to become a shop assistant, but after suffering an accident as a child he was forced to spend a long time in bed. This period of inactivity gave him a love of reading which de­veloped his imagination. After leaving school he first worked in a curtain shop, then trained as a teacher and biologist, but after this decided to write books for a living. At the age of 27, working by candlelight in a room in Kent (his landlady complained he used too many candles), he wrote the book that made his name, The Time Machine. It is the story of an unnamed time traveller who meets strange people in the future and witnesses the end of the world. It was a great success with Victorian readers.

Wells went on to produce “scientific romances” and short stories which were serialised in publications like the Strand Magazine. Many science fiction themes – aliens coming to earth, planetary disasters and so on – were dealt with in these early stories. Wells’ ability to create such original work was amazing. He turned everyday events into incredible fantasies: a conversation about colonialism became The War of the Worlds and a walk round London was turned into The Invisible Man. Some of the predictions made in his books included the use of aeroplanes and tanks in war, the rise of the middle class, the liber­ation of women and the need for a world state.

1. What made Wells become dis­pleased in later life?

 A having an ordinary brain

 B making wrong predictions

 C being right about the future

 D being a pessimist

2. What type of work was Wells originally destined to do?

 A administration

 B writing

 C cleaning

 D sales

3. What helped his imagination to grow?

 A reading

 B listening to his parents

 C making predictions

 D writing books

4. Wells’ first book

 A was based on his own experience.

 B was written in London.

 C did not interest readers.

 D gained him popularity.

5. What sort of stories did Wells write at first?

 A romantic

 B futuristic

 C war

 D mystery

6. Wells’ “incredible fantasies” were developed from.....

 A alien invasions of earth.

 B exploring planets.

 C ordinary incidents.

 D scientific predictions.