English Base

Test 015

Reading Practice: A Walk on the Coast Path

Reading Text

The wind started before we had even left the car park. It pulled at our jackets while we checked our boots. My sister Lena had printed a paper map the night before, because she does not trust her phone on this coast, where the signal disappears behind every hill. I laughed at her map. Two hours later I stopped laughing.

We had walked about four miles when the weather changed. The sun, which had been warm since the morning, went behind a low grey cloud, and a thin rain began to fall. We put on the coats that we had carried all morning. The path is marked with small yellow arrows. Below us the sea turned the colour of old metal.

At the halfway point the path dropped into a small fishing village. We had planned to eat our sandwiches on a bench, but the rain had made it wet, so we went into a pub near the harbour instead. The soup was hot, and while we were eating, the owner, who has walked this path many times, told us that the second half was harder.

We left the pub with six miles still to go. My legs had begun to complain. Lena kept the map open in her hand. "If we miss the next turning," she said, "we will walk three extra miles." At the second farm the sign has fallen down, and we checked the map twice. If I did this walk again, I would start earlier.

The last hill was the hardest. We climbed slowly and stopped twice to breathe, and then the whole bay opened below us. I have seen that view in photographs, but photographs do not show the wind. We stood there without speaking. Then we walked down to the car park, twelve miles lighter in the legs and heavier in the boots.

Comprehension Test

Question 1. Why had Lena printed a paper map?

✗ IncorrectThe text says nothing about a friend, and the map stayed in Lena's hand all day.

✓ CorrectThe writer explains that "she does not trust her phone on this coast, where the signal disappears behind every hill".

✗ IncorrectHer phone is mentioned as something she does not trust here, not as something she forgot.

✗ IncorrectNo shop or tourist office appears in the story; Lena printed the map herself the night before.

Question 2. What does the writer mean by "Two hours later I stopped laughing"?

✗ IncorrectThe weather made the walk harder, not funnier, and nobody laughs later in the text.

✗ IncorrectThe map was never lost; by the second half Lena was still holding it open in her hand.

✗ IncorrectThey went on to the village and walked twelve miles in total, so they did not turn back.

✓ CorrectThe joke turns into respect: later the map is checked twice at a farm where the sign "has fallen down".

Question 3. What happened after they had walked about four miles?

✓ CorrectThe text says: "We had walked about four miles when the weather changed… and a thin rain began to fall."

✗ IncorrectThe village came at the halfway point, which is later than the change in the weather.

✗ IncorrectThe path is described as clearly marked with small yellow arrows, so the route was not lost.

✗ IncorrectThey met the pub owner much later, inside the pub in the village, not on the open path.

Question 4. What did they do when the air became colder and the rain started?

✗ IncorrectThey kept walking and only reached the car park at the very end of the twelve miles.

✗ IncorrectNothing was bought on the walk; the coats they used had been with them since the morning.

✓ CorrectThe text states: "We put on the coats that we had carried all morning."

✗ IncorrectThere is no tree and no wait in the text: the rain simply continued while they walked on.

Question 5. What does the writer describe as having "the colour of old metal"?

✗ IncorrectThe path is only described through its yellow arrows, not through its colour.

✓ CorrectThe sentence is "Below us the sea turned the colour of old metal", so the grey sea is meant.

✗ IncorrectThe cloud is simply called "low grey"; it is the sea that is compared to metal.

✗ IncorrectThe pub appears in the next paragraph and no colour is given for its roof.

Question 6. Why did they go into the pub instead of eating on a bench?

✗ IncorrectThey met the owner only after they were already inside; that was not their reason for going in.

✗ IncorrectNo shop is mentioned in the village at all, open or closed.

✗ IncorrectThe sandwiches were still planned for lunch at the village, so they had not been eaten.

✓ CorrectThe cause is explicit: "the rain had made it wet, so we went into a pub near the harbour instead".

Question 7. What did the pub owner tell the two walkers?

✓ CorrectHe "told us that the second half was harder", which matches what they found later.

✗ IncorrectOpening hours are never discussed; the owner speaks only about the path ahead.

✗ IncorrectThe harbour is simply where the pub stands; the owner says nothing about building work.

✗ IncorrectNobody predicts the weather in the story; the walkers simply carry on in the rain.

Question 8. What does the phrase "who has walked this path many times" tell us about the owner?

✗ IncorrectHe is described as the owner of the pub, not as a guide, and he gives advice only in passing.

✗ Incorrect"Many times" means repeated experience, not a single walk long ago.

✓ CorrectThe relative clause explains why his warning about the harder second half can be trusted.

✗ IncorrectHe owns the pub, and the text never says anything about who owns the land.

Question 9. What did Lena mean by "If we miss the next turning, we will walk three extra miles"?

✗ IncorrectShe trusted the map enough to keep it open in her hand and check it at the farm.

✓ CorrectShe is warning about a consequence: one missed turn costs three miles on tired legs.

✗ IncorrectShe suggests nothing about resting; the only stop before the last hill was the pub.

✗ IncorrectRepairs are never mentioned; the only damaged thing on the route is a fallen sign.

Question 10. Which of these happened first?

✓ CorrectThis opens the fourth paragraph, before the fallen sign and before the last hill.

✗ IncorrectThe farm comes after they left the pub and had walked on for some distance.

✗ IncorrectThe last hill comes in the final paragraph, after the farm and the map check.

✗ IncorrectThe bay appears only at the top of that last hill, so it is the latest of these events.

Question 11. What does "If I did this walk again, I would start earlier" suggest about the writer?

✗ IncorrectTwelve miles is a long day out, and the writer's legs are tired, not disappointed.

✗ Incorrect"If I did this walk again" leaves the door open; she imagines doing it a second time.

✗ IncorrectThe map helped, but this sentence is about the time they set off, not about the map.

✓ CorrectThe unreal condition shows a lesson learned: with an earlier start, tired legs would not be such a problem.

Question 12. How did the two walkers get up the last hill?

✗ IncorrectThe opposite is true: "We climbed slowly and stopped twice to breathe."

✗ IncorrectThey stopped twice on the way up, so the climb was not continuous.

✓ CorrectThe text says exactly this, which fits legs that "had begun to complain".

✗ IncorrectNo short cut appears; they stayed on the marked path with its yellow arrows.

Question 13. According to the writer, what do photographs of the view fail to show?

✓ CorrectShe writes: "photographs do not show the wind", the element that runs through the whole day.

✗ IncorrectColour is exactly what a photograph can capture, so this is not her point.

✗ IncorrectA harbour is easy to photograph; the text makes no such claim about it.

✗ IncorrectHeight would appear in a photo of the bay; the missing thing is what cannot be seen.

Question 14. What does "heavier in the boots" suggest at the end of the walk?

✗ IncorrectThe phrase is a description of the walking, not a literal load they collected.

✓ CorrectIt contrasts with "lighter in the legs": the legs feel empty, the boots heavy with rainwater.

✗ IncorrectNo boots were bought; the boots were checked at the car park in the morning.

✗ IncorrectThe text mentions tired legs and counting miles, never boots that did not fit.

Question 15. What is the writer's overall feeling about the day?

✗ IncorrectShe imagines doing it again with an earlier start, which is not regret.

✗ IncorrectThe story is full of interest: changing weather, the village, the view that silences them.

✗ IncorrectThe soup is mentioned in one short sentence, and the ending focuses on the view and tired legs.

✓ CorrectThe final paragraph admits the effort, yet they stand in silence admiring the bay: tired but satisfied.
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