October 31 - November 6, 2005

Stanford team clinches top spot in robot desert race
You can check the correct answers immediately when you are doing the exercise. The correct answer and your score will appear in message box after you click a choice of each question. All of the correct answers will show at the end of the page. Make sure you've read the story 1 and vocabulary explanations first.

1. Where was the race held?
A. on a lake
B. in the desert
C. in a war zone
D. around the Pentagon

2. Why was the race held?
A. to make roads safer
B. to develop cars that might help during war
C. to help with the shortage of good drivers
D. to reduce the number of traffic police required

3. How many races like this one have ever been organised?
A. none
B. one
C. two
D. six

4. How many vehicles did NOT manage to finish the course?

A. 1

B. 17
C. 18
D. 23

5. Why did the race take longer than originally expected?
A. too many vehicles broke down along the way
B. to allow a slow-moving robotic vehicle to finish
C. to rescue all the drivers lost in the desert
D. in order to let participants from other countries join the race


Synonyms: Which of the following words or phrases replace the ones from the passage best?
6. breakthrough
A. defeat
B. setback
C. revolution
D. destruction

7. extend
  A. stop
B. delay
C. restart
D. lengthen

8. spur
A. pay
B. end
C. hinder
D. stimulate

9. inaugural
A. first
B. ill-fated
C. deserted
D. abandoned

10. various
A. difficult
B. different
C. predestined
D. predetermined

 

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