Narrative Comprehension passage - Jamb English Language Past Questions and Answers

Question 66:

• JAMB 1984

Read each passage carefully and answer the questions that follow it.
It was summer, early afternoon. Jim ran into the station. The 4.30 train was about to leave. As he ran along the platform he saw a girl just ahead of him. She was young-about his age. He followed her into a carriage and set down opposite her. She took out a magazine and was reading it. He took out a book and pretended to do the same. After a minute he looked up and smiled at her. She didn’t smile back but gave him an encouraging look. Both returned to their reading but this time she was pretending too.
He found her attractive and wanted to see her again. But how to arrange it? .......... He had an idea. He took an old envelope out of his pocket and wrote the following wrote the following words: ‘Hello! My number is 123-4567 and my name is Jim. I would very much like to see you again. Ring me at nine.
The train arrived at the terminal. Without looking at the girl, he handed her the envelope or rather threw it at her and jumped off the train.
When he got home he made himself a cup of coffee and wondered ...perhaps she was one those naturally friendly people who smile at everybody. He was listening to the radio when the telephone rang........it was only Umaru. Nine o’clock arrived, then 9.30- and no telephone call from the girl. Feeling miserable he went to bed early.
It was a foggy morning. ‘Hello, is that Jim? This is Joan. You......it was two minutes past nine


On the train Jim was

A. Reading a book
B. Staring at the girl
C. Pretending to read
D. Looking through a magazine
E. Reading a newspaper

Question 67:

• JAMB 1984

Read each passage carefully and answer the questions that follow it.
It was summer, early afternoon. Jim ran into the station. The 4.30 train was about to leave. As he ran along the platform he saw a girl just ahead of him. She was young-about his age. He followed her into a carriage and set down opposite her. She took out a magazine and was reading it. He took out a book and pretended to do the same. After a minute he looked up and smiled at her. She didn’t smile back but gave him an encouraging look. Both returned to their reading but this time she was pretending too.
He found her attractive and wanted to see her again. But how to arrange it? .......... He had an idea. He took an old envelope out of his pocket and wrote the following wrote the following words: ‘Hello! My number is 123-4567 and my name is Jim. I would very much like to see you again. Ring me at nine.
The train arrived at the terminal. Without looking at the girl, he handed her the envelope or rather threw it at her and jumped off the train.
When he got home he made himself a cup of coffee and wondered ...perhaps she was one those naturally friendly people who smile at everybody. He was listening to the radio when the telephone rang........it was only Umaru. Nine o’clock arrived, then 9.30- and no telephone call from the girl. Feeling miserable he went to bed early.
It was a foggy morning. ‘Hello, is that Jim? This is Joan. You......it was two minutes past nine


He wanted to see the girl again because

A. It was summer
B. She was attractive
C. He wanted to read her magazine
D. She smiled at him
E. They had agreed to meet

Question 68:

• JAMB 1984

Read each passage carefully and answer the questions that follow it.
It was summer, early afternoon. Jim ran into the station. The 4.30 train was about to leave. As he ran along the platform he saw a girl just ahead of him. She was young-about his age. He followed her into a carriage and set down opposite her. She took out a magazine and was reading it. He took out a book and pretended to do the same. After a minute he looked up and smiled at her. She didn’t smile back but gave him an encouraging look. Both returned to their reading but this time she was pretending too.
He found her attractive and wanted to see her again. But how to arrange it? .......... He had an idea. He took an old envelope out of his pocket and wrote the following wrote the following words: ‘Hello! My number is 123-4567 and my name is Jim. I would very much like to see you again. Ring me at nine.
The train arrived at the terminal. Without looking at the girl, he handed her the envelope or rather threw it at her and jumped off the train.
When he got home he made himself a cup of coffee and wondered ...perhaps she was one those naturally friendly people who smile at everybody. He was listening to the radio when the telephone rang........it was only Umaru. Nine o’clock arrived, then 9.30- and no telephone call from the girl. Feeling miserable he went to bed early.
It was a foggy morning. ‘Hello, is that Jim? This is Joan. You......it was two minutes past nine


He hoped to arrange a date with her by

A. Writing a letter to her
B. Ringing her up
C. Waiting at the station
D. Handing in a short note in a hurry
E. Sending a telegram

Question 69:

• JAMB 1984

Read each passage carefully and answer the questions that follow it.
It was summer, early afternoon. Jim ran into the station. The 4.30 train was about to leave. As he ran along the platform he saw a girl just ahead of him. She was young-about his age. He followed her into a carriage and set down opposite her. She took out a magazine and was reading it. He took out a book and pretended to do the same. After a minute he looked up and smiled at her. She didn’t smile back but gave him an encouraging look. Both returned to their reading but this time she was pretending too.
He found her attractive and wanted to see her again. But how to arrange it? .......... He had an idea. He took an old envelope out of his pocket and wrote the following wrote the following words: ‘Hello! My number is 123-4567 and my name is Jim. I would very much like to see you again. Ring me at nine.
The train arrived at the terminal. Without looking at the girl, he handed her the envelope or rather threw it at her and jumped off the train.
When he got home he made himself a cup of coffee and wondered ...perhaps she was one those naturally friendly people who smile at everybody. He was listening to the radio when the telephone rang........it was only Umaru. Nine o’clock arrived, then 9.30- and no telephone call from the girl. Feeling miserable he went to bed early.
It was a foggy morning. ‘Hello, is that Jim? This is Joan. You......it was two minutes past nine


That evening he had a telephone call from

A. His colleague, Umaru
B. The girl he met on the train
C. The railway authorities
D. Nobody at all
E. Joan

Question 70:

• JAMB 1984

A British electronics manufacturer has built a factory in which quartz crystals can be grown in 3 weeks. The natural growth of quartz takes 3 million years, and very often the crystals are not sufficiently pure to satisfy the precise needs of science. However, the manufactured crystals are exceptionally pure, and this is important because quartz, in transistors is used in an astonishing number of devices where constant accuracy is required: radio and television transmitters and receivers, space satellites and computers are familiar examples. In order to make artificial quartz, very small pieces of the natural crystal imported from Brazil are placed in long, narrow, steel cylinders. A high pressure and a high temperature are maintained within the cylinders for 3 weeks, and at the end of this the small fragments have grown to the required weight of one pound. The quartz is then ready to be made into the tiny transistors that have replaced the much larger thermionic valves.


Artificial quartz as compared with natural is

A. Superior
B. Inferior
C. Just the same
D. Varied
E. Limited in use