English Base

Test 016

Reading Practice: Working from Home

Reading Text

When I started working from home, the first thing I noticed was the silence. At nine in the morning the flat was completely still, and nobody was talking in the corridor. For eight years I had travelled to an office, and suddenly my commute was eleven steps from the kitchen to the spare room.

The spare room had been used for boxes and an old bicycle. I painted the wall, moved a table under the window and put a lamp beside it. A desk near the window is a small luxury, because daylight keeps me awake better than coffee. The first week I worked at the kitchen table, which was a mistake: the fridge was too close and every break lasted too long.

My favourite change is the morning walk. Instead of sitting in a bus, I walk around the park for twenty minutes before I open my laptop. If I skip the walk, my head feels slow all morning. The walk does not replace the old journey, but it gives the day a clear beginning.

Video calls were strange at first. In the office I could see when a colleague was busy, and on a screen everyone looks available. We have learned to write a short message before calling, and meetings are now planned more carefully than they were before. If a call could be an email, it would usually become an email.

The hardest part has been the border between work and rest. At home the laptop is always near, so I close it at six and put it in a drawer. This small habit works. What has surprised me most is that I sleep better and talk to my neighbours more, which I did not expect at all.

Comprehension Test

Question 1. What did the writer notice first when he began working from home?

✗ IncorrectThe text says that nobody was talking in the corridor, so there was no repair work there. The point of the sentence is the absence of noise.

✓ CorrectThe writer says: "the first thing I noticed was the silence" and adds that "the flat was completely still".

✗ IncorrectNo delivery is mentioned anywhere in the text. The writer already had a laptop and simply opened it after his walk.

✗ IncorrectThere is no clock in the first paragraph at all. The only detail about sound is that the flat was still.

Question 2. How long had the writer travelled to an office before he started working from home?

✗ IncorrectThe text gives a different figure: "For eight years I had travelled to an office".

✗ IncorrectFive years is not mentioned; the writer worked in an office for eight years.

✗ IncorrectThe number ten does not appear in the text. The exact period is eight years.

✓ CorrectThe writer says directly: "For eight years I had travelled to an office".

Question 3. What was the spare room used for before the writer changed it?

✓ CorrectThe second paragraph starts with: "The spare room had been used for boxes and an old bicycle."

✗ IncorrectGuests are never mentioned. The room held boxes and a bicycle, not furniture for visitors.

✗ IncorrectThe text does not mention children. It lists boxes and an old bicycle as the things stored there.

✗ IncorrectBooks and shelves are not mentioned in this part of the text. The room was a storage place.

Question 4. Why is the desk near the window important for the writer?

✗ IncorrectThe park appears later, but the writer never says he looks at it from his desk. His reason is the light.

✗ IncorrectThe fridge is a problem at the kitchen table, not at the desk. The window is chosen for daylight.

✓ CorrectThe writer explains: "daylight keeps me awake better than coffee".

✗ IncorrectThe size of the room is not discussed in the text. The desk is placed there for light, not for space.

Question 5. What does the writer mean by "a small luxury"?

✗ IncorrectThe text mentions no price or saving. The word here describes comfort, not cost.

✓ CorrectThe desk is not essential for work, but a place near the window makes the day nicer, which is why he calls it "a small luxury".

✗ IncorrectThe desk belongs to the spare room at home. The office is only mentioned as a place he used to travel to.

✗ IncorrectNo presents from colleagues appear in the text. The writer prepared the room himself.

Question 6. Why was working at the kitchen table a mistake?

✗ IncorrectThe size of the table is not mentioned. The problem was the nearness of the fridge and long breaks.

✗ IncorrectDarkness is not a problem there; daylight is the reason he later moved to the window.

✗ IncorrectThe writer says nothing about his back or the chair. His explanation is about food and breaks.

✓ CorrectThe writer gives exactly this reason: "the fridge was too close and every break lasted too long".

Question 7. What does the writer do instead of sitting in a bus in the morning?

✓ CorrectHe writes: "Instead of sitting in a bus, I walk around the park for twenty minutes before I open my laptop."

✗ IncorrectAn old bicycle stood in the spare room before it was cleared, but the writer does not ride it to work.

✗ IncorrectReading the news is not part of his morning. His new routine is a walk before the laptop is opened.

✗ IncorrectCalls are discussed later in the text as something to be planned, not as a morning habit.

Question 8. What happens if the writer skips his morning walk?

✗ IncorrectThe text describes a result for his head, not for his working hours.

✗ IncorrectForgetting meetings is never mentioned. The writer says what happens to his head instead.

✓ CorrectThe sentence is: "If I skip the walk, my head feels slow all morning."

✗ IncorrectCoffee appears in the second paragraph as a comparison with daylight, not as a result of skipping the walk.

Question 9. What does the writer think is the main value of the morning walk?

✗ IncorrectMoney is not part of this paragraph. The writer talks about how the day begins, not about costs.

✓ CorrectThe writer says the walk "does not replace the old journey, but it gives the day a clear beginning".

✗ IncorrectThe text says the opposite: the walk "does not replace the old journey".

✗ IncorrectColleagues appear only in the part about video calls. The walk is taken alone in the park.

Question 10. Why were video calls strange for the writer at first?

✗ IncorrectTechnical problems are not mentioned. The difficulty was about seeing whether people were busy.

✗ IncorrectNobody refuses to answer in the text. The team simply had to learn how to plan calls.

✗ IncorrectThe time of the calls is never given in the text. The writer's point is about the screen.

✓ CorrectIn the office he "could see when a colleague was busy", but "on a screen everyone looks available".

Question 11. What have the writer and his colleagues learned to do before a call?

✗ IncorrectNo manager or calendar appears in the text. The message goes directly to the colleague.

✗ IncorrectReports are not mentioned. The text says a "short message", not a long document.

✓ CorrectThe writer says: "We have learned to write a short message before calling".

✗ IncorrectThe text gives no rule about waiting until the evening. The change is a short message before the call.

Question 12. What does the writer do with his laptop at six o'clock?

✓ CorrectThe last paragraph says: "I close it at six and put it in a drawer".

✗ IncorrectThe internet is not mentioned here. He deals with the laptop itself, not with the connection.

✗ IncorrectThat was the first week's mistake, and the writer has changed it. Now the laptop goes into a drawer.

✗ IncorrectNeighbours are mentioned only as people he now talks to more often. He does not give them his laptop.

Question 13. Why does the writer put the laptop away in the evening?

✗ IncorrectFear of theft is not in the text. The drawer is a way to end the working day, not a hiding place.

✓ CorrectThe paragraph is about "the border between work and rest", and hiding the laptop is how the writer keeps that border clear.

✗ IncorrectPapers are not mentioned. The drawer is empty enough to take the laptop every evening.

✗ IncorrectThe neighbours have no requests in the text. They simply talk to him more often now.

Question 14. What has surprised the writer most?

✗ IncorrectThe writer never discusses his income. His surprise is about sleep and his neighbours.

✗ IncorrectThe old bicycle is only an object stored in the spare room. No new bicycle is bought in the text.

✓ CorrectThe writer says: "What has surprised me most is that I sleep better and talk to my neighbours more".

✗ IncorrectColleagues appear only on video calls. Nobody visits the flat in the text.

Question 15. What is the writer's overall opinion of working from home?

✗ IncorrectThe writer never says that his work has become worse. He talks about habits, sleep and people around him.

✗ IncorrectThe writer uses a small spare room and calls his desk a small luxury. He gives no rule about the size of a home.

✗ IncorrectCalls are only one small part of the story. The writer also values the walk, the quiet and the evening border.

✓ CorrectThe writer names a real difficulty ("the hardest part") and still ends with pleasant surprises, so the overall view is positive but careful.
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