Reading Skill exercise

You would be greatly amused to read the story of the highly coveted FIFA football trophy. Here is a passage on it. Read the passage and supply answers to the questions that follow:

 It weights a little more than 5kg and it measures 36.5cm diameter.
 Containing two layers of malachite which is a precious mineral.
 Two human figures holding up the earth are depicted on this
 Holy Grail of football –the FIFA World Cup trophy.


It is a Cup every nation on the world map would love to lay its hands on.

The World cup football tournament owes its creation to the zeal of two French administrators Jules Rimet and Henri Delaunay. It is little wonder then that a French sculptor – Abel Lafleur – was asked to craft the trophy to be awarded to the winners of the inaugural World Cup in 1930. Lafleur christened his baby Victory because the winged Greek goddess of victory, Nike, inspired his design. Victory, with a weight of 3.5 kg and height of 35cm, was made of solid gold on a blue base of lapis lazuli. It comprised an octagonal cup, supported by a winged figure representing Nike. The trophy was named after the FIFA president Jules Rimet in honour of the Frenchman’s service to the game. According to FIFA’s World Cup rules, a team winning the tournament three times would gain ownership of the trophy. Brazil did so in
1970 to take home the Jules Rimet trophy.

The Jules Rimet trophy was stolen from an exhibition at Westminster Central Hall in London four months before the 1966 World Cup. Miraculously, the trophy was found wrapped in a newspaper inside a garden seven days later. It was not Scotland Yard that traced the coveted trophy. A mongrel named Pickles found the ultimate football prize while on a morning walk with its owner! Brazil reacted furiously to the theft, saying “it was a sacrilege that would never have been committed in Brazil where even its thieves loved football too much”. But Brazil had egg on its face 17 years later when the Jules Rimet trophy was stolen from the National Football Federation Office in Rio de Janiero.

Answer the following:

1. The Holy Grail of football refers to ______.
(a) Malachite    (b) the FIFA trophy     (c)    18 gold carrots   (d)  the picture of two human beings

2. The phrase ‘lay is hands on’ means _____.
(a) To steal       (b) to grab   (c)  to secure    (d)  to give away

3. Victory owes its name to _____.
(a) Lapis lazuli   (b) Jules Rimet  (c) the Greek goddess Nike  (d)  a Greek bird

4. Jules Rimet was an eminent personality ______
(a)  In the political arena    (b)   in cine field   (c) in diamond trade   (d) in the patronage of holding up the earthfootball

5. Pickles is the name of ___
(a) An officer form Scotland yard  (b) a dog on a morning walk  (C)  the sculptor of the trophy (d) the captain of the Brazilian team