Direction: In the following questions you have a brief passage with five questions. Read the passage carefully and choose the best answer to each question out of the four alternatives
PASSAGE
The Baxter house is located at the end of the street. This house sits farther back from the curb than the other houses. It is almost difficult to see from the road without peering behind the deformed oak tree that has obscured it for years. Even so, the Baxter house stands out from the other houses on the street. It is tall and white. However, this white is no longer pristinely white, but a dingy greyish cream colour. Long vines hang from the tattered roof. The Baxter house is two storeys tall and has a large yard in the back that has never been mowed. The other houses on the street are a mere one storey and have been painted a variety of colours. The newer, single storey properties all appear to have been built around the same time; the yards mostly being of the same size, and the houses appearing to be clones of one another. Aside from the Baxter house at the end, this street is a perfect slice of middle America. The inhabitants of the other houses wonder who lives in the ancient, dilapidated house at the end of the street.
SOME IMPORTANT WORDS
(1) curb (N.) : the edge of the raised path at the side of a road, usually made of long pieces of stone
(2) peering (V.) : looking closely/carefully at something, especially when you cannot see it clearly
(3) obscured (V.) : to make it difficult to see, hear/ understand something
(4) stand out (Phr. V.) : to be easily seen ; to be noticeable
(5) pristinely (Adv.) : fresh and clean, as if new
(6) dingy (Adj.) : dark and dirty
(7) mowed (V.) : to cut grass, etc. using a machine/tool with a special blade/blades
(8) clones (N.) : a person/thing that seems to be an exact copy of another
(9) aside from (Prep.) : apart from
(10) dilapidated (Adj.) : old and in very bad condition