Reading Comprehension

English Grammar Index


Reading Comprehension :


Read the following passages and answer the questions given below by choosing the best option.


Most of us have seen or at least heard of an auction at the country fair or shanty or at certain churches after morning worship. Hardy’s hero in The Mayor of Caster bridge auctions his wife at the beginning of the novel - an instance where fiction is stranger than truth, perhaps. An auction is a clever method of selling an article, of finding what the maximum amount that anyone is prepared to pay for an item, in other words, what the market will bear. It is the sale of goods or property in public to the highest bidder. The world’s leading auctioneers are Sotheby’s and Christie’s both are in London. The biggest and oldest firm of fine art auctioneers in the world is Sotheby’s founded by Samuel Baker, a covent Garden book seller, in 1744. The firm gained its name from John Sotheby whose family controlled it from 1778 to 1861. The full title now is Sotheby Park Bernet & Co. Sotheby’s began as book sellers and auctioneers, but within the first 200 years of their existence, became a leader in the field, handling in time libraries of celebrities like Napoleon and Talleyrand. In 1994 Sotheby’s celebrated in 250th anniversary. In 1992, it handled sales valued at $ 674 millions, while Christie’s sales were valued at $ 636 millions. Sotheby’s sold in 1988 Van Gogh’s Irises for $53.9 millions, a record price for a single of art.


  1. An auction is a …………….

    (a) business

    (b) competition

    (c) contest

    (d) clever method of selling an article. (answer)



  2. The world’s leading auctioneers are………….

    (a) Hardy and the Mayor of Caster bridge (answer)

    (b) Sotheby’s and Christie’s

    (c) Park and Van Gogh

    (d) Napoleon and Talleyrand



  3. The founder of Sotheby’s was…………

    (a) an artist

    (b) Samuel Baker (answer)

    (c) Hardy

    (d) Porker



  4. Sotheby’s celebrated its 250th anniversary in the year……….

    (a) 1994

    (b) 1992 (answer)

    (c) 1777

    (d) 1744



  5. Van Gogh is………….

    (a) a founder

    (b) a partner

    (c) an artist

    (d) a leader (answer)

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