Read the following passage:

Born to parents, owning a small estate in Nottinghamshire in England, Capt. Lemuel Gulliver had a sincere longing for making long voyages to distant lands. Initially, he got the job of a surgeon on a ship called Swallow and was able to go on short voyages. Later, he served on two ships in the same capacity for six years and observed the manners and behavioral patterns of the people of different nations very keenly and minutely. He even learnt their languages quite fast.

One of his assignments was on a ship named Antelop that sailed from Bristol on May 4, 1699 to the South Sea. Everything seemed good and exciting in the beginning. All of them were in high spirits till the ship, caught up in a violent storm, started drifting in a wrong direction and went out of control of the crew. Twelve of its members died because of hard work and exhaustion, while others grew too weak to withstand the ordeal. On the 5th of November, the seamen observed a huge rock, running towards them, and in spite of their best efforts, forced by a violent, strong wind, their ship drove directly upon it.

Based on your reading, complete the following statements:

1. Gulliver always wished to ___________________________________________________________________________.
2. Gulliver’s first trip was on a ship named _______________________ where he worked as a _____________________.
3. He went to different countries and learnt ______________________ and ______________________________ of people and their ___________________________ too.
4. Antelop went out of control when it was __________________________________ and it began to _____________________________________________.
5. The ship was forcefully driven towards a huge rock because of _____________________________________ and the seamen couldn’t do anything as they were _______________________ and ___________________________.
6. Pick words from the passage which mean the same as:

• strong desire (para 1)-
• closely and accurately (para 1)-
• sailing randomly (para 2)-
• difficult experience (para 2)-

Click here to download and print: Reading Comprehension (Beginners)-2

Answers:

1. make long voyages to distant lands
2. Swallow; surgeon
3. manners; behavioral patterns; languages
4. caught in a violent storm; drift in a wrong direction
5. a violent strong wind; weak; tired
6. longing; minutely; drifting; ordeal