Practice English Reading Exercises for A2 – Technology, Coding & AI Apps

Exercises:   12345

Reading 1

For each question, choose the correct answer.

A Smart App for School

Fifteen-year-old Leo loves computers. At school, he often had to type a lot of information from books for his history and science projects. This took a huge amount of time. He was tired of this and wanted to find an easier way to do his homework.

One evening, Leo decided to make a computer program to help himself. He wanted to build an app that could read a photo of a book and turn it into text on his screen. He watched programming videos online every weekend. The work wasn’t easy, and he made many mistakes, but he didn’t stop trying.

After two months, the app was finally ready. Leo used his mobile phone to take a picture of his biology book. He put the photo into his new app, and the words quickly appeared on his laptop perfectly! He showed the app to his best friend, Sam. Sam immediately asked to use it for his own school projects.

Now, Leo’s app is very popular in his class. His teachers even think it is a brilliant idea because students spend more time learning and less time typing. Next year, Leo hopes to share his app with students at other schools. He wants to design more useful software when he goes to university.

1   Why did Leo decide to make the app?

     (A) He enjoyed typing a lot of information from books.

     (B) He wanted to complete his school work more quickly.

     (C) He needed to do his history and science projects.

2   How did Leo learn to build his app?

     (A) He studied using the internet on Saturdays and Sundays.

     (B) He made a computer program in one evening.

     (C) He read a photo of a book on his screen.

3   What happened when Leo tested his new app?

     (A) His best friend Sam helped him with his school projects.

     (B) It worked successfully and his friend wanted to try it.

     (C) He used his mobile phone to read his biology book.

4   What do Leo’s teachers think about his app?

     (A) They hope to share his app with students at other schools.

     (B) They believe it is good because pupils can focus on their studies.

     (C) They want to spend more time learning and less time typing.

5   What is the best title for the article?

     (A) A smart solution for schoolwork

     (B) The boy who loves typing

     (C) How to build a computer program

Reading 2

For each question, choose the correct answer.

The Teenager Who Gave Computers a Voice

Seventeen-year-old Daniel has always loved computer science. While his classmates spent their weekends playing sports, Daniel preferred sitting in his room and typing complicated codes on his laptop. He was particularly interested in how computers could learn to talk like humans. After reading about it online, he decided to try and build his own voice synthesis tool.

The project was very challenging for him. He had to find a way to make the computer read text and turn it into clear, natural-sounding speech. At first, the computer sounded like a robot from an old science-fiction movie. Daniel’s friends laughed when they heard it, but he didn’t feel discouraged. He continued to study different programs and worked on the sounds for many weeks.

After two months of hard work, Daniel made a big discovery. He realized that the computer needed to hear thousands of real human voices to understand how people say words correctly. He started recording his own voice for many hours, saying the same phrases over and over again. It was tiring, but soon the quality of the sounds began to get much better.

Today, Daniel’s tool is finished, and it can read any book aloud very smoothly. He is very proud of what he has achieved. He wants to share his tool for free, so people who have trouble reading can use it. Next year, he hopes to start a university course to learn even more about artificial intelligence.

1   What did Daniel do differently from his friends?

     (A) He spent his free time at school working on sports.

     (B) He chose to focus on programming instead of playing games.

     (C) He researched how computers work for his sports class.

2   What was the result of Daniel’s early attempts to build the tool?

     (A) The machine was able to speak in a very human way.

     (B) It created sounds that his friends found very funny.

     (C) He gave up the project because the computer sounded like a movie.

3   What was the secret to improving the voice?

     (A) The computer needed to listen to a large amount of human speech.

     (B) Daniel had to say different phrases every single day.

     (C) He needed to record his voice for a much shorter time.

4   Why did Daniel finish his tool?

     (A) To sell it to people who have trouble reading books.

     (B) To be able to start a university course next month.

     (C) To offer help to those who find reading difficult.

5   What is the best title for the article?

     (A) The student who taught a computer to speak

     (B) Why students prefer coding over playing sports

     (C) How to make a movie using a robot voice

Reading 3

For each question, choose the correct answer.

The Teenager Building Digital Worlds for Kids

Fifteen-year-old Leo has an exciting hobby. Most teenagers spend hours after school playing video games, but Leo prefers creating them. He spends his weekends designing basic mobile apps specially for small children, and he really loves doing it.

Leo’s journey began last winter. He watched a short documentary about a famous app developer and felt inspired. He immediately downloaded some free software on his laptop. At first, it was quite difficult to understand how everything worked. However, after reading some books, he slowly built his first game, which was about a little green frog catching flies.

When the game was ready, Leo needed someone to test it. He gave his mobile phone to his six-year-old sister, Mia. She played the frog game for a long time and laughed a lot. Seeing her have so much fun made Leo feel incredibly proud. He knew then that he wanted to make more things for kids.

Currently, Leo is working on a new project. He is designing a simple maths game to help children learn numbers. He doesn’t make any money from his hobby yet, but he doesn’t mind. When he finishes high school, he hopes to go to university and learn how to be a professional programmer.

1   What does Leo like doing in his free time?

     (A) He spends hours after school playing video games.

     (B) He builds computer programs instead of just playing them.

     (C) He designs mobile apps specially for teenagers.

2   What happened when Leo started his hobby?

     (A) He got his computer software without paying for it.

     (B) He watched a famous app developer build a game.

     (C) He immediately built his first game about a frog.

3   How did Leo feel about the testing phase?

     (A) He was very happy that his relative liked his project.

     (B) He played the frog game for a long time and laughed a lot.

     (C) His six-year-old sister decided to make more things for kids.

4   What do we learn about Leo’s current situation?

     (A) He earns money from his simple maths game.

     (B) He is already working as a professional programmer.

     (C) He isn’t getting any cash from his activity right now.

5   What is the best title for the article?

     (A) The teenager who makes games for little children

     (B) How to be a professional programmer at university

     (C) The best free video games for teenagers to play

Exercises:   12345