Page 40 - index

2024 ‫מועד קיץ‬ - 39 - ‫ פרק ראשון‬- ‫אנגלית‬

Reading Comprehension

This part consists of two passages, each followed by several related questions. For each
question, choose the most appropriate answer based on the text.

Text I (Questions 13-17)

(1) Almost a century after his death, a new book by French author Jules Verne, Paris in
the 20th Century, was published. The manuscript of this hitherto unknown novel was
completed in 1863 but then locked away in a safe. It was discovered in 1989 by Verne's
great-grandson and appeared in English translation only in 1996. This 19th-century

(5) vision of the future describes life among skyscrapers of glass and steel, high-speed
trains, gasoline-powered automobiles, calculators, fax machines, and a global
communications network. Verne's remarkable ability to foresee technological advances
and to describe them – even before their invention – is demonstrated in this novel, as in
many of the works that made him famous, including Twenty Thousand Leagues Under

(10) the Sea and From the Earth to the Moon.

However, this work counters the popular perception of Verne as an enthusiastic
advocate of scientific progress. In fact, Paris in the 20th Century is a tragedy. It
portrays the life of an idealistic young man who struggles unsuccessfully to find
happiness in the fiercely materialistic world of the late 20th century. Verne's novel is

(15) a grim and troubling commentary on the high social costs of technological progress.

Another common misconception about Verne is that he wrote about the wonders
of technology because he was himself a scientist or an engineer. In truth, Verne was
neither. The wealth of technical and scientific detail in Verne's fiction reflects his desire
to depict – as persuasively as possible – the extraordinary power, as well as the

(20) far-reaching danger, of science and technology. Though he found science fascinating,
he had no illusions that it was inherently virtuous.

Questions

13. The main purpose of the first paragraph is to -

(1) compare Paris in the 20th Century to other novels by Jules Verne
(2) explain why Paris in the 20th Century was not published until 1989
(3) argue that Paris in the 20th Century is Jules Verne's greatest work
(4) discuss the publication and content of Paris in the 20th Century

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