Direction: Read the following passage carefully and choose the best answer to each question out of the four alternatives.
PASSAGE
Chameleons can make their skin colour change, but not because they decide to. The colour changes to help the chameleon avoid its enemies. It is a form of camouflage, a disguise that lets it blend in with its surroundings. The
SEE–994
COMPREHENSION TEST
change is actually determined by environmental factors, such as light and temperature. Bright sunlight causes the skin to darken. On cool nights, the colour fades to a creamy colour. The colour also changes when chameleons are excited, angry or afraid. The colour change is rapid and increases when the chameleon is handled, injured, or approached by another chameleon. There are many types of chameleons. Almost half of them are found on the African island of Madagascar. The others mostly occur in the Sahara Desert, with few in Western Asia and Southern Europe. Chameleons live in trees, where they usually eat insects. Very large chameleons may even use their sticky tongues to catch birds.
SOME IMPORTANT WORDS
(1) camouflage (N.) : the way in which an animal’s colour/shape matches its surroundings and makes it difficult to see

Direction: Read the following passage carefully and choose the best answer to each question out of the four alternatives.
PASSAGE
In the history of Britain, the period from 1837 to 1901 is known as the Victorian Age. The period saw the long and prosperous reign of Queen Victoria in England. Charles Dickens was the most popular novelist of this period. He became famous for his depiction of the life of the working class, intricate plots and sense of humour. However, it was the vast galaxy of unusual characters created by him that made him more popular than any of his contemporaries. Drawn from everyday life and the world around him, these characters were such that readers could relate to them. Beginning with The Pickwick Papers in 1836, Dickens wrote numerous novels, each uniquely filled with believable personalities and vivid physical descriptions. According to Dickens’ friend and biographer, John Forster, Dickens made “characters real existences, not by describing them but letting them describe themselves.”
SOME IMPORTANT WORDS
(1) depiction (N.) : the act of describing something in words, or giving an impression of something in words or a picture
(2) intricate (Adj.) : having a lot of different parts and small details that fit together
(3) contemporaries (N.) : belonging to the same period of time