University of Jordan English Proficiency Test (JU-EPT) · Reading Comprehension and Vocabulary
Academic Reading Comprehension
63 practice questions, each with the answer and an explanation.
Practise Academic Reading Comprehension now
Random questions from this topic, one at a time. You see the answer and the explanation straight after each one.
All 63 questions
- Read the excerpt: 'The Nabataeans transformed the arid desert landscape around Petra through ingenious hydrological engineering. By chiseling cisterns into sheer sandstone cliffs, constructing terraco…
- Read the excerpt: 'While early solar photovoltaic installations suffered significant efficiency degradation in extreme desert ambient temperatures, modern bifacial monocrystalline modules maintain hig…
- Read the excerpt: 'The Dead Sea, situated in the Jordan Rift Valley, possesses a salinity exceeding 34 percent, roughly ten times saltier than the global ocean. This hypersaline environment creates ex…
- Read the excerpt: 'In historical linguistics, the Safaitic and Hismaic inscriptions etched into the basalt desert rocks of the Black Desert (Harra) provide crucial epigraphic testimony to early Arabia…
- Read the excerpt: 'The circular Roman Forum of Jerash (Gerasa) is uniquely framed by an asymmetrical colonnade of ionic pillars that harmoniously connects the Cardo Maximus with the elevated Temple of…
- Read the excerpt: 'Although olive tree cultivation in Jordan dates back over six millennia, contemporary agronomists are integrating micro-drip fertigation with satellite thermal imagery. This enables…
- Read the excerpt: 'The restoration of the Azraq Wetland Reserve exemplifies sustainable community-based conservation. In the late twentieth century, excessive groundwater extraction for municipal use…
- Read the excerpt: 'The discovery of the Neolithic statues of 'Ain Ghazal in 1983 dramatically revised anthropological understanding of prehistoric art in the Near East. Dating to approximately 7200 BC…
- Read the excerpt: 'The Jordan Valley National Conveyor Project (Aqaba-Amman Water Desalination and Conveyance Project) aims to pump 300 million cubic meters of desalinated seawater annually from the R…
- Read the excerpt: 'The Hashemite architecture of Amman is characterized by extensive use of local white limestone (Hajar Ma'ani and Hajar Ruwaished), giving the city its iconic sobriquet, the 'White C…
- Read the excerpt: 'Dana Biosphere Reserve encompasses four distinct biogeographical zones—Mediterranean, Irano-Turanian, Saharo-Arabian, and Sudanian penetration—within a dramatic elevation span from…
- Read the excerpt: 'In classical antiquity, the King's Highway served as a vital arterial conduit linking Egypt with Damascus across the Transjordanian plateau. Later reinforced by Emperor Trajan as th…
- Read the excerpt: 'The Dead Sea is a terminal endorheic basin, meaning that it has no natural outflow river; water leaves the lake solely through evaporation under the scorching desert sun. Consequent…
- Read the excerpt: 'The Arab Potash Company (APC) operates extensive solar evaporation ponds on the southern shores of the Dead Sea to harvest carnallite, an ore rich in potassium chloride. Through fra…
- Read the excerpt: 'The 1928 Organic Law served as Transjordan's first constitutional document following the formal recognition of the Emirate by the British government. Although it established a Legis…
- Read the excerpt: 'Petra's Al-Khazneh (The Treasury) was not a bank or monetary repository as popular bedouin folklore suggested, but an elaborate monumental royal tomb carved directly into the sheer…
- Read the excerpt: 'In 1968, the Battle of Karameh marked a critical turning point in modern Jordanian military history. Units of the Jordan Armed Forces (Arab Army), supported by Palestinian fedayeen…
- Read the excerpt: 'Umm Qais (ancient Gadara) commands an awe-inspiring panoramic vista overlooking three nations: the Sea of Galilee (Lake Tiberias) to the west, the Golan Heights to the north, and th…
- Read the excerpt: 'Jordan's renewable energy sector has expanded dramatically since the passage of the 2012 Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Law. By offering long-term power purchase agreements…
- Read the excerpt: 'The Baptism Site of Jesus Christ (Bethany beyond the Jordan, known locally as Al-Maghtas) is situated on the eastern bank of the Jordan River, nine kilometers north of the Dead Sea.…
- Read the excerpt: 'Wadi Rum, celebrated as the 'Valley of the Moon', features a protected desert landscape characterized by towering monolithic sandstone massifs, narrow ravines, natural rock arches…
- Read the excerpt: 'The Disi Aquifer is a fossil subterranean sandstone reservoir situated beneath southern Jordan and extending into northwestern Saudi Arabia. Because this groundwater was sequestered…
- Read the excerpt: 'The Jordanian Dinar (JOD) has maintained an official fixed peg to the United States Dollar at a rate of approximately 1 JOD to 1.41 USD (or 0.709 JOD per USD) since 1995. Managed by…
- Read the excerpt: 'Jordanian women have achieved notable parity in higher education enrollment, comprising over 55 percent of undergraduate students in national universities and excelling in STEM fiel…
- Read the excerpt: 'The Hashemite Kingdom's strategic location at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe has historically made it a sanctuary for displaced populations fleeing regional conflicts, f…
- Read the excerpt: 'Constructed under the Umayyad caliphs in the early eighth century, the desert castle of Qasr Amra in eastern Jordan is known for its remarkable secular frescoes. Depicting mythologi…
- Read the excerpt: 'Between 2000 and 2020 the reservoir's surface area shrank by a third, yet the water authority reported that deliveries to households remained constant. Officials attributed the appa…
- Read the excerpt: 'Critics argue that the proposed levy will fall hardest on rural households, which spend a larger share of income on fuel. Supporters reply that the revenue will fund rural bus route…
- Read the excerpt: 'Although the novelist is often described as a realist, her late work abandons chronological narrative and relies on fragmented memories. Scholars who insist on the realist label the…
- Read the excerpt: 'The survey found that 70 percent of commuters supported the new tram line, but only 40 percent of those polled lived within a kilometre of its route. The authors caution that the su…
- Read the excerpt:
Petra, in southern Jordan, was the capital of the Nabataean kingdom. The Nabataeans grew rich by controlling trade routes that carried spices and incense across the desert. They car… - Read the excerpt:
Many people believe that a good memory means remembering everything, but psychologists describe memory as a process of selecting and rebuilding. When we recall an event, the brain r… - Read the excerpt:
Wadi Rum is a valley of red sand and towering sandstone cliffs in southern Jordan. For thousands of years it has been used by desert travellers, and its rock walls carry carvings le… - Read the excerpt:
Wadi Rum is a valley of red sand and towering sandstone cliffs in southern Jordan. For thousands of years it has been used by desert travellers, and its rock walls carry carvings le… - Read the excerpt:
Honeybees live in colonies of thousands. A single queen lays the eggs, while worker bees collect nectar, make honey and care for the young. When a worker finds a good source of flow… - Read the excerpt:
The Dead Sea lies on the border between Jordan and Israel and is the lowest land point on Earth. Its water is so salty that swimmers float easily and almost no fish can live in it.… - Read the excerpt:
Many people believe that a good memory means remembering everything, but psychologists describe memory as a process of selecting and rebuilding. When we recall an event, the brain r… - Read the excerpt:
Honeybees live in colonies of thousands. A single queen lays the eggs, while worker bees collect nectar, make honey and care for the young. When a worker finds a good source of flow… - Read the excerpt:
Honeybees live in colonies of thousands. A single queen lays the eggs, while worker bees collect nectar, make honey and care for the young. When a worker finds a good source of flow… - Read the excerpt:
Petra, in southern Jordan, was the capital of the Nabataean kingdom. The Nabataeans grew rich by controlling trade routes that carried spices and incense across the desert. They car… - Read the excerpt:
Wadi Rum is a valley of red sand and towering sandstone cliffs in southern Jordan. For thousands of years it has been used by desert travellers, and its rock walls carry carvings le… - Read the excerpt:
Aqaba is Jordan's only seaport, on the Red Sea. Ships unload goods there that are then carried by road to Amman and beyond. The coral reefs just offshore draw divers, so the city mu… - Read the excerpt:
The Dead Sea lies on the border between Jordan and Israel and is the lowest land point on Earth. Its water is so salty that swimmers float easily and almost no fish can live in it.… - Read the excerpt:
Petra, in southern Jordan, was the capital of the Nabataean kingdom. The Nabataeans grew rich by controlling trade routes that carried spices and incense across the desert. They car… - Read the excerpt:
Aqaba is Jordan's only seaport, on the Red Sea. Ships unload goods there that are then carried by road to Amman and beyond. The coral reefs just offshore draw divers, so the city mu… - Read the excerpt:
The Dead Sea lies on the border between Jordan and Israel and is the lowest land point on Earth. Its water is so salty that swimmers float easily and almost no fish can live in it.… - Read the excerpt:
Many people believe that a good memory means remembering everything, but psychologists describe memory as a process of selecting and rebuilding. When we recall an event, the brain r… - Read the excerpt:
Aqaba is Jordan's only seaport, on the Red Sea. Ships unload goods there that are then carried by road to Amman and beyond. The coral reefs just offshore draw divers, so the city mu… - Read the excerpt:
In 1884, builders clearing the ruins of an old church in Madaba found a large floor mosaic. It turned out to be a map of the Holy Land, made in the sixth century from more than two… - Read the excerpt:
In 1884, builders clearing the ruins of an old church in Madaba found a large floor mosaic. It turned out to be a map of the Holy Land, made in the sixth century from more than two… - Read the excerpt:
In 1884, builders clearing the ruins of an old church in Madaba found a large floor mosaic. It turned out to be a map of the Holy Land, made in the sixth century from more than two… - Read the excerpt:
The Arabian oryx, a white antelope with long straight horns, had been hunted to extinction in the wild by the early 1970s. A few animals survived in zoos, and from these a breeding… - Read the excerpt:
The Arabian oryx, a white antelope with long straight horns, had been hunted to extinction in the wild by the early 1970s. A few animals survived in zoos, and from these a breeding… - Read the excerpt:
The Arabian oryx, a white antelope with long straight horns, had been hunted to extinction in the wild by the early 1970s. A few animals survived in zoos, and from these a breeding… - Read the excerpt:
Cities are often several degrees warmer than the countryside around them, because concrete and asphalt absorb heat during the day and release it at night. One response is the green… - Read the excerpt:
Cities are often several degrees warmer than the countryside around them, because concrete and asphalt absorb heat during the day and release it at night. One response is the green… - Read the excerpt:
Cities are often several degrees warmer than the countryside around them, because concrete and asphalt absorb heat during the day and release it at night. One response is the green… - Read the excerpt:
For many years parents were warned that raising a child with two languages would confuse the child and slow down learning. More recent research has not supported this fear. Bilingua… - Read the excerpt:
For many years parents were warned that raising a child with two languages would confuse the child and slow down learning. More recent research has not supported this fear. Bilingua… - Read the excerpt:
For many years parents were warned that raising a child with two languages would confuse the child and slow down learning. More recent research has not supported this fear. Bilingua… - Read the excerpt:
Desert locusts are usually solitary insects that live quietly in dry areas. After heavy rains, however, plants grow quickly and the locusts multiply. When they become crowded, their… - Read the excerpt:
Desert locusts are usually solitary insects that live quietly in dry areas. After heavy rains, however, plants grow quickly and the locusts multiply. When they become crowded, their… - Read the excerpt:
Desert locusts are usually solitary insects that live quietly in dry areas. After heavy rains, however, plants grow quickly and the locusts multiply. When they become crowded, their…
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