Practical English Reading Comprehension

PRACTICAL ENGLISH

READING COMPREHENSION

 

Soal – soal reading comprehension sangat mendominasi pada Ujian Naisonal 2008. Dalam menyelesaikan soal – soal reading comprehension, para siswa sering merasa grogi, takut dan juga malas sebelum memulai mengerjakannya dikarenakan akan terbentur oleh penguasaan vocabulary yang sedikit sedangkan biasanya teks yang ada sangat panjang. sehingga tidak dapat berkonsentrasi akibatnya banyak membuat kesalahan yang merugikan diri sendiri. Untuk menghindari hal tersebut, perlu diperhatikan langkah – langkah sebagai berikut:

1.        Teks yang panjang tidak perlu dibaca semua, tetapi pahami saja inti dari bacaan tersebut melalui judul atau kalimat pertama pada paragraph pertama.

2.       Setelah itu pahami pertanyaan – pertanyaannya (tidak termasuk alternatif jawabannya) sebelum membaca wacana. Tentukan kata / kalimat  kunci / informasi – informasi penting yang ditanyakan pada setiap pertanyaan

3.       Yakin  bahwa semua jawaban atas pertanyaan –pertanyaan tersebut terdapat dalam text.

4.       Bacalah kalimat per kalimat dalam teks dengan tidak perlu memahami / mengartikan setiap kata namun hanya menghubungkannya dengan kata kunci / informasi penting yang ada dalam pertanyaan. Beri tanda akan informasi –informasi yang berhubungan dengan pertanyaan (yang telah dibaca terlebih dahulu) dengan cara menggarisbawahi informasi tersebut dan kalau perlu diberi nomor sesuai dengan nomor soal.

5.       Tidak merasa panik apabila terdapat kata – kata sulit yang belum diketahuhi makananya, teruskan membaca text dan tebak makna kata sulit tersebut.

6.       Perhatikan bila dalam text mendapati kata ganti (pronoun) karena kata – kata ini pasti memberikan penjelasan pada kelimat sebelumnya.

Example :    Nowadays, people become busier and busier. Sometimes they have to do some important businesses in many towns at the same day.

                  Kata ganti they pada kalimat diatas menggantikan/refers to kata people.

Note: Pertanyaan – pertanyaan yang sering di tanyakan pada soal – soal reading comprehension:

Ø       - What is the main idea of the text/paragraph one/two …?.(apa ide/pokok pikiran utama pada     text/paragraph?)

      - The text is about? (text tersebut membicarakan tentang)

v      Ide/pokok pikiran utama dalam text kemungkinan besar terdapat pada kalimat pertama pada setiap paragraph.

Ø       “it/they/he (kata ganti)” in the line/paragraph…. Refers to   …(“it/they/he (kata ganti)” pada baris/paragraph …  menggantikan apa/siapa)

v      Jawabannya kemungkinan besar adalah yang posisinya sebagai “Subjek” pada kalimat sebelumnya

Ø       Pertanyaan – pertanyaan yang berhubungan dengan penguasaan vocabulary, seperti:

- Synonym (persamaan kata)

- Antonym/opposite (lawan kata)

- The underlined/italic word mean? (kata yang bergasrisbawah/dicetak miring berarti?)

v      Kalau tidak mengetahui arti dari vocabulary yang dimaksud, kamu akan merasa kesulitan dalam mencari jawaban, tapi cobalah menebak arti kata sulit tersebut sesuai dengan kenteks kalimat yang ada pada bacaan.

Ø       Which of the following statements is NOT TRUE according to the text? (manakah pernyataan – pernyataan berikut yang tidak sesuai dengan isi text)

v      Yang pertama kali dilakukan dalam menjawab pertanyaan seperti di atas dengan cara memahami pernyataan – pernyataan yang terdapat dalam pilihan ganda terlebih dahulu kemudian baca text kembali.

Ø       What is the purpose of the text? (Tujuan dibuatnya teks)

v      Teks narrative (dongeng/cerita khayalan) -> to entertain the reader (untuk menghibur pembaca)

v      Teks recount (menceritakan peristiwa lampau) -> to retell the story (menceritakan kembali pengalaman pribadi / kejadian di masa lalu)

v      Teks descriptive (deskripsi) -> describing a particular and special thing (mendeskripsikan / menggambarkan sesuatu secara khusus)

v      Teks report (laporan) -> Describing something in general (mendeskripsikan / menggambarkan sesuatu secara umum / luas)

v      Teks procedure -> To inform something, explain how to use / make something (menjelaskan tata cara menggunakan / membuat suatu hal)

Questions:

1.        No. 11,12,13 and 14/UN/2005

Read the following text and answer questions 11 to 14.

The Crisye concert was great. It was held last Sunday in Jakarta Convention Center, Senayan Jakarta. The concert was accompanied by an orchestra lead by Erwin Gutawa. It was a wonderful orchestra and Erwin conducted excellently. Besides Chrisye, there were some other singers, such as Sophia Latjuba, Ari Lasso, and A Rafiq. They did very amazing performances and sang beautifully. The audience was satisfied with the concert.

11. The singer in the concert sang very   …

a.       satisfyingly                                                c. proudly

b.       b. beautifully                                  d. happily

12. What is the main idea of the text above?

a.       The Chrisye concert was last Sunday

b.       The concert was in the Convention Hall

c.       The orchestra was wonderful

d.       The Chrisye concert was great

13.  How many singers were there in the concert?

      a.    Two           b. Three                       c.   Four                        d.   Five

14.  “Erwin conducted excellently”

      What is the synonym of the underlined word above?

      a.   Dominated   b. Directed                   c.   Included                 d.   Concluded

 

2.       No. 22, 23, 24 dan 25/UN/2006

Read the letter bellow to answer question 22 to 25.

January 2th, 2005 Hi, Ria. I am in Sydney now. It is a fantastic city. I haven’t started work yet so I am a tourist. I want to see everything that Sydney offers. The transport system here is great, cheap and fast. I have only been here for a few days and I have seen the Opera House. It is just amazing and guided tour was terrific. Manly beach is glorious with lots of clean, golden sand and has good waves to play in. I stayed there for hours. The ferries on Sydney Harbour are the real treat and I thought, “what a great way to go to work everyday”. Tomorrow I am going to see the Olympic Stadium, and the next day I am going to climb up the Sydney Harbor Bridge. That will surely be exiting. Love, Andy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

22.             What is the text about?

      a. Andy’s work in Sydney                                  c. The Olympic Stadium

      b. Travelling in Sydney                                     d. Transport system on Sydney

23. What will Andy do at the end of this tour?

      a. Visit the Opera House                                    c. Start to work in Sydney

      b. See the Olympic Stadium                               d. Climb up the Harbour Bridge in Sydney

24. Based on the text, which statements is NOT True?

a. Sydney is really amazing place                     

b. Andy really loves his tour in Sydney

c. The travelling to Sydney was very exiting

d. It’s discouraging to work everyday in Sydney

25. “Manly Beach is glorious with lots of clean, golden sand and good waves to play in.” (Line 5 and 6)

      The underlined word means   …

      a. beautiful                   b. clean                                    c. good                         d. nice

 

 

 

 

 

 

3.       No. 31, 32 dan 33/UN/2007

EPE BANANA   Ingredients: 1 bunch of “kapok” bananas (not too ripe) 1 liter of water 2 kg brown sugar 50 gr white sugar 10 gr vanilla essence Preparation: ·    Peel the bananas, then roast the over charcoal until somewhat soft and brown. ·    Flatten with a special wooden clamp or, if you don’t own one, use a large flat wooden spoon to flatten the bananas on a cutting board. ·    Sauce: Boil the water with the brown sugar, white sugar and vanilla essence until it dissolves into thick syrup, then pour over the bananas. For 10 portions

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

31. What does the last thing we do in making Epe bananas?

      a. Peel a bund of bananas                                 c. Roast the bananas

      b. Flatten the bananas                                       d. Make sauce of Epe banana.

32. Who much white sugar do we need to make Epe banana?

      a. 10 grams                                                       c. 1 kilogram

      b. 50 grams                                                       d. 2 kilograms

33. “Flatten them with a special wooden clamp”

      The underlined word means …

      a. fry                                                                c. cook

      b. cook                                                             d. steam

 

4.       No. 10, 11, 12 dan 12/UN/2008/A

Vanessa Mae Vanakorn Nicholson is a musician.   She is only nineteen years old, but she is a world-famous violinist. When she plays classical violin concertos on her electric violin, the world listens.   Vanessa Mae is Thai-Chinese. Her mother is Chinese and her mother father is Thai. She is from Singapore, but she now lives in London with her mother and her English step father. She’s got cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents in Thailand, Singapore, China and England. (Adapted from Snapshot, Starter page 46)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10. What is the text about?

      a. a violinist                                          c. a pianist

      b. a musician                                         d. an artist

11. Vanessa plays violin …

      a. badly                                                            c. classically

      b. carefully                                          d. wonderfully

12. From the text we know that people …

      a. in the world are interested in all violinist

      b. Like to listen to Vanessa’s playing violin

      c. are eager to play violin with Vanessa

      d. play the violin well in concert

13. “…, but she now lives in London with her mother and her English step father.” (Paragraph 3)

      The word “stepfather” means a male who’s married to …

      a. one’s aunt                                          c. one’s mother

      b. one’s sister                                       d. one’s daughter