Reading Comprehension
Most British telephone cards are just plain green, but card collecting is becoming a popular hobby in
Britain and collectors even have their own magazine, International Telephone Cards. One reason for
their interest is that cards from around the world come in a wide variety of different and often very
attractive designs. There are 100,000 different cards in Japan alone, and there you can put your own
design onto a blank card simply by using a photograph or a business card.
The first telephone cards, produced in 1976, were Italian. Five years later the first British card
appeared, and now you can buy cards in more than a hundred countries. People usually start collecting
cards because they are small and light and you do not need much space for them. It is also a cheap hobby
for beginners, although for some people it becomes a serious business. In Paris, for example, there is a
market where you can only buy telephone cards, and some French cards cost up to ? 4,000. The first
Japanese card has a value of about ? 28,000. Most people only see cards with prices like these in their
collectors' magazine.
1. The first card for public telephones was _____.
A. British
B. Italian
C. French
D. Japanese
2. Why do people usually begin to collect cards? Because _____.
A. they don't take up much space
B. they have special and attractive designs
C. it's a popular hobby
D. they have a great value
3. Which statement is not true?
A. A lot of British people collect telephone cards.
B. Some cards cost a lot of money.
C. It's easy to keep your cards at home.
D. You need a lot of money when you start collecting cards.
4. What is the best title for the passage?
A. The design of calling cards.
B. The value of calling cards.
C. The market of calling cards.
D. The collecting of calling cards.
