English Base

Test 020

Reading Practice: The Lost Property Office

Reading Text

On the second shelf of the lost property office at the station, forty umbrellas stand in a row, each with a paper tag. One has a handle shaped like a duck's head. Mrs. Petrova, who has worked here for nineteen years, says that umbrellas are the most forgotten objects in the building: most are never collected.

Behind the umbrellas there are shelves of bags, and above them a glass case for the things that nobody can name. Last month a man brought in a wooden box that made a soft clicking sound when it was shaken, and nobody has opened it yet. Beside the box lie a single ice skate, a broken watch and a notebook filled with numbers.

Finding an owner is slower than people expect. Every object receives a number and a short description, which is entered into a computer system that all the stations in the region share. If a passenger reports a missing rucksack, the clerks compare the report with the list of found items. If every owner came back, the shelves would be empty within a week.

One Tuesday a student came in while Mrs. Petrova was sorting the morning post. She described a red rucksack with a broken zip. She had left it on the night train, and she was almost certain that it was gone for ever. Mrs. Petrova found the bag and asked her to name the objects inside. The student mentioned a blue bottle and two textbooks, and every answer matched. When the bag was handed back, she laughed: she had come expecting bad news.

Mrs. Petrova keeps a private list of the strangest finds. Her favourite entry is a pair of shoes that were left on a platform with a note: if you find these, please keep them.

Comprehension Test

Question 1. What is true about the umbrellas on the shelf?

✗ IncorrectThe text says nothing about the staff owning them; these are objects that passengers have left behind.

✓ CorrectThe first sentence says the umbrellas stand "each with a paper tag".

✗ IncorrectOnly one umbrella has such a handle: "One has a handle shaped like a duck's head."

✗ IncorrectOnly the paper tags are described: the text gives no dates at all and never says that the forty umbrellas arrived together.

Question 2. How long has Mrs. Petrova worked in the office?

✗ IncorrectNo such period is given for her; the text says she has worked there for nineteen years.

✗ IncorrectNothing in the text dates her work from a rebuilding of the station; the only period it gives is her nineteen years in the office.

✓ CorrectMrs. Petrova is described as the woman "who has worked here for nineteen years".

✗ IncorrectForty is the number of umbrellas on the shelf, not the length of her service.

Question 3. What does Mrs. Petrova say about most umbrellas?

✓ CorrectShe calls umbrellas the most forgotten objects because "most are never collected".

✗ IncorrectThe opposite is true: most umbrellas stay in the office because nobody comes for them.

✗ IncorrectSelling lost objects is not described; the office keeps them on the shelf.

✗ IncorrectThe office keeps what nobody collects, and the text says that "most are never collected", so the umbrellas stay on the shelf far longer than a day.

Question 4. What makes the wooden box unusual?

✗ IncorrectThe text mentions its sound, not its weight.

✗ IncorrectNo writing is mentioned on the box, and it has not even been opened.

✗ IncorrectA man brought the box in; the case is where nameless things are displayed, not where it came from.

✓ CorrectThe box "made a soft clicking sound when it was shaken", and nobody has opened it since.

Question 5. What do we know about the notebook?

✓ CorrectThe last sentence of the paragraph describes "a notebook filled with numbers".

✗ IncorrectThe broken object in the list is a watch, not the notebook.

✗ IncorrectThe notebook is simply lying beside the box; the text does not link it to that man.

✗ IncorrectOnly the shoes are said to have been left on a platform.

Question 6. What does the text suggest by saying that finding an owner is slower than people expect?

✗ IncorrectNo delay of that kind is described; the work begins as soon as an object is registered.

✓ CorrectThe comparison with what people "expect" implies that the search takes longer than passengers imagine.

✗ IncorrectOwners are found often enough for the office to describe the process in detail.

✗ IncorrectThe text shows the opposite: a phone call can settle a case.

Question 7. What happens to every object that arrives at the office?

✗ IncorrectPhotographs are never mentioned; the objects are registered in writing.

✗ IncorrectThe case is only for objects that nobody can name, not for all of them.

✓ Correct"Every object receives a number and a short description," which is then entered into the system.

✗ IncorrectObjects stay on the shelves; only the information about them is shared with other stations.

Question 8. Where is the information about the found objects stored?

✗ IncorrectShe keeps a list of the strangest finds, but the descriptions themselves go into a computer system.

✗ IncorrectNo board is mentioned; the information is entered electronically.

✗ IncorrectThe newspaper is not part of the office's method at all.

✓ CorrectEach description "is entered into a computer system that all the stations in the region share".

Question 9. What do the clerks do when a passenger reports a missing rucksack?

✓ CorrectThe conditional sentence describes exactly this: "the clerks compare the report with the list of found items".

✗ IncorrectNo such wait appears in the story: in the student's case the bag was found during the same visit, because the clerks check the list as soon as a loss is reported.

✗ IncorrectOnly stations in the region share the system, and the checking is done through it rather than by calling everyone.

✗ IncorrectDescriptions are written when objects are found, not when a passenger reports a loss.

Question 10. What was Mrs. Petrova doing when the student arrived?

✗ IncorrectUmbrellas are only stored here; repairs are not part of the office's work in the text.

✗ IncorrectNo train driver appears in this scene or anywhere in the text.

✓ CorrectThe student came in "while Mrs. Petrova was sorting the morning post".

✗ IncorrectThe case is mentioned earlier as a display, and no cleaning takes place in this scene.

Question 11. What did the student's rucksack look like?

✗ IncorrectThe colour and the pockets do not match the description in the text.

✓ CorrectShe "described a red rucksack with a broken zip".

✗ IncorrectThe broken part was the zip, and the bag was red, not grey.

✗ IncorrectBlue is the colour of the bottle inside the bag, not of the bag itself.

Question 12. Why was the student almost certain that the bag was gone for ever?

✓ CorrectThe text links her fear to the fact that "she had left it on the night train".

✗ IncorrectThe text never discusses a name on the bag; it stresses where she lost it.

✗ IncorrectNo journey abroad is mentioned; she travelled by night train and came to the office herself.

✗ IncorrectWhere the bag was bought has nothing to do with her worry in the story.

Question 13. How did Mrs. Petrova check that the bag belonged to the student?

✗ IncorrectNo photograph is used; Mrs. Petrova simply brought the bag from the shelf.

✗ IncorrectThe check is done with the student herself, not with a colleague.

✗ IncorrectNo label is read in this scene; the test is about the contents.

✓ CorrectMrs. Petrova "asked her to name the objects inside", and every answer matched.

Question 14. Why did the student laugh when the bag was handed back?

✗ IncorrectShe remembered the contents perfectly well and listed them without hesitation.

✗ IncorrectNothing is said about the weight of the bag at any point.

✓ CorrectThe sentence explains her reaction: "she had come expecting bad news".

✗ IncorrectThere is no joke in the scene, and her laugh follows the return of the bag.

Question 15. What did the note left with the pair of shoes ask?

✗ IncorrectThe shoes are already in the office, so this request would make no sense.

✓ CorrectThe note is quoted word for word: "if you find these, please keep them".

✗ IncorrectNo phone number or day appears in the note; that belongs to other lost-property cases.

✗ IncorrectThe owner clearly did not want the shoes back, so the note says nothing about a ticket desk.
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