English Olympiad

Reading Comprehension Test for 11^th Form Students

You are going to read a brochure for tourists. Six sentences have been removed from the brochure. Choose from the sentences A-G the one which fits in each gap 1-6. There is one extra sentence you do not need to use.

Jorvik – Lost Viking Capital

A thousand years ago York was one of the largest, richest and most famous cities in the whole of Britain. A monk at that time described it as packed with a huge population, rich merchandise, and traders “from all parts, especially Danes.” 1_____ It owed its prosperity to the hard work and commercial enterprise of Viking settlers from Scandinavia who had captured it in AD 866 and almost totally rebuilt it.

Viking Jorvik has now completely disappeared. 2______ In some parts of modern York, however, near the rivers Ouse and Foss, which run through the centre of the city, archaeologists have found that remains of Jorvik do still survive. They are buried deep below the streets and buildings of the 20th century city. Here the damp soils have preserved the timber buildings. 3 _____ All the debris and rubbish left by the people of Jorvik in and around their homes is still there, awaiting discovery.

Between 1976 and 1981 archaeologists from the York Archaeological Trust excavated a part of this lost and all-but-forgotten city. The dig took place in Coppergate, before the city’s new Coppergate Centre was built. 4______ The remains were so well preserved – even down to boots and shoes, pins and needles, plants and insects – that every aspect of life at the time could be reconstructed.

York Archaeological Trust decided to try to tell the story of Jorvik as it was a thousand years ago. To do so it built the Jorvik Viking Centre in the huge hole created by the dig.

5 ______ A further two were preserved just as the archaeological team discovered them, the ancient timbers set out as they were found in the late 1970s, deep below the new shopping centre, where they have lain for centuries.

In the Jorvik Viking Centre people from the 20th century journey back in time to the 10th century. The journey is done in time-cars, which silently glide back through the years, past some of the thirty or so generations of York’s people who have walked the pavements of Coppergate, until time stops, on a late October day in 948. 6______ The neighbourhood is full of the sights and sounds and smells of 10th century Jorvik. Townspeople are there, buying and selling, working and playing.

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A  For a while, modern time-travellers explore Coppergate and a little alley, Lundgate, which runs off it.

B  Four rows of buildings were found, running back from Coppergate itself, almost exactly in the same positions as their modern successors.

C  Jorvik has become York’s favourite tourist attraction.

D  Most of the city’s buildings were made of wood, and have long since been demolished, or have                             burnt down or rotted away.

E  People in the 10th century called it Jorvik, and knew it as the capital of the North of England, and one of Europe’s greatest trading ports.

F  Two of the rows of buildings were reconstructed as we think they were.

G  Whole streets of houses, shops, workshops and warehouses are to be found, often still standing shoulder high.

Did you find English Olympiad Year 11 Reading Test 3 difficult? Did you find the text interesting and informative?