Reading Comprehension Texts

Passage 1

Bacteria are extremely small living things. While we measure our own
sizes in inches or centimeters, bacterial size is measured in microns. One
micron is a thousandth of a millimeter a pinhead is about a millimeter across.
Rod shaped bacteria are usually from two to tour microns long, while
rounded ones are generally one micron in diameter Thus if you enlarged a
founded bacterium a thousand times, it would be just about the size of a
pinhead. An adult human magnified by the same amount would be over a
mile(1.6 kilometers) tall.

Even with an ordinary microscope, you must look closely to see

bacteria. Using a magnification of 100 times, one finds that bacteria are barely
visible as tiny rods or dots One cannot make out anything of their structure.
Using special stains, one can see that some bacteria have attached to them
wavy - looking "hairs" called flagella. Others have only one flagellum. The
flagella rotate, pushing the bacteria though the water. Many bacteria lack
flagella and cannot move about by their own power while others can glide
along over surfaces by some little understood mechanism.

From the bacterial point of view, the world is a very different place
from what it is to humans To a bacterium water is as thick as molasses is to
us. Bacteria are so small that they are influenced by the movements of the
chemical molecules around them. Bacteria under the microscope, even those
with no flagella, often bounce about in the water. This is because they collide
with the water molecules and are pushed this way and that. Molecules move
so rapidly that within a tenth of a second the molecules around a bacterium
have all been replaced by new ones even bacteria without flagella are thus
constantly exposed to a changing environment.

1. Which of the following is the main topic of the passage?

(A) The characteristics of bacteria (B) How bacteria reproduce
(C) The various functions of bacteria (A) How bacteria contribute to disease

2. Bacteria are measured in

 (A) inches (B) centimeters (C) microns (D) millimeters

3. Which of the following is the smallest?

(A) A pinhead (B) A rounded bacterium
(C) A microscope (D) A rod-shaped bacterium

4. According to the passage, someone who examines bacteria using only a microscope
that magnifies 100 times would see
(A) tiny dots (B) small "hairs"
(C) large rods (D) detailed structures

5. The relationship between a bacterium and its flagella is most nearly analogous to
which of the following?
(A) A rider jumping on a horse's back (B) A ball being hit by a bat
(C) A boat powered by a motor (D) A door closed by a gust of wind

6. In line 16, the author compares water to molasses, in order to introduce which of the
following topics?
(A) The bacterial content of different liquids
(B) What happens when bacteria are added to molasses
(C) The molecular structures of different chemicals
(D) How difficult it is for bacteria to move through water

Passage 2
 One of the most popular literary figures in American literature is a
woman who spent almost half of her long life in China, a country on a
continent thousands of miles from the United States. In her lifetime she
earned this country's most highly acclaimed literary award: the Pulitzer
Prize, and also the most prestigious form of literary recognition in the world,
the Nobel Prize for Literature. Pearl S. Buck was almost a household word
throughout much of her lifetime because of her prolific literary output, which
consisted of some eighty - five published works, including several dozen
novels, six collections of short stories, fourteen books for children, and more
than a dozen works of nonfiction. When she was eighty years old, some
twenty - five volumes were awaiting publication. Many of those books were
set in China, the land in which she spent so much of her life. Her books and
her life served as a bridge between the cultures of the East and the West. As
the product of those two cultures she became as the described herself,
"mentally bifocal." Her unique background made her into an unusually
interesting and versatile human being. As we examine the life of Pearl Buck,
we cannot help but be aware that we are in fact meeting three separate
people: a wife and mother, an internationally famous writer and a
humanitarian and philanthropist. One cannot really get to know Pearl Buck
without learning about each of the three. Though honored in her lifetime
with the William Dean Howell Medal of the American Academy of Arts and
Letters in addition to the Nobel and Pulitzer prizes. Pearl Buck as a total
human being, not only a famous author. is a captivating subject of study.

1. What is the author's main purpose in the passage?

(A) To offer a criticism of the works of Pearl Buck.
(B) To illustrate Pearl Buck's views on Chinese literature
(C) To indicate the background and diverse interests of Pearl Buck
(D) To discuss Pearl Buck's influence on the cultures of the East and the West

2. According to the passage, Pearl Buck is known as a writer of all of the following
EXCEPT
(A) novels (B) children's books (C) poetry (D) short stories
3. Which of the following is NOT mentioned by the author as an award received by
Pearl Buck?
(A) The Nobel Prize (B) The Newberry Medal
 (C) The William Dean Howell medal (D) The Pulitzer prize

4. According to the passage, Pearl Buck was an unusual figure in American literature in
that she
(A) wrote extensively about a very different culture
(B) published half of her books abroad
(C) won more awards than any other woman of her time
(D) achieved her first success very late in life

5. According to the passage, Pearl Buck described herself as "mentally bifocal" to

suggest that she was
(A) capable of resolving the differences between two distinct linguistic systems
(B) keenly aware of how the past could influence the future
(C) capable of producing literary works of interest to both adults and children
(D) equally familiar with two different cultural environments

6. The author's attitude toward Pearl Buck could best be described as

(A) indifferent (B) admiring (C) sympathetic (D) tolerant

Passage 3
 When we accept the evidence of our unaided eyes and describe the Sun
as a yellow star, we have summed up the most important single fact about it-
at this moment in time.

It appears probable, however, that sunlight will be the color we know

for only a negligibly small part of the Sun's history. Stars, like individuals,
age and change. As we look out into space, We see around us stars at all
stages of evolution. There are faint blood-red dwarfs so cool that their surface
temperature is a mere 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit, there are searing ghosts
blazing at 100, 000 degrees Fahrenheit and almost too hot to be seen, for the
great part of their radiation is in the invisible ultraviolet range. Obviously,
the "daylight" produced by any star depends on its temperature; today(and
for ages to come) our Sun is at about 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit, and this
means that most of the Sun's light is concentrated in the yellow band of the
spectrum, falling slowly in intensity toward both the longer and shorter light
waves.
That yellow "hump" will shift as the Sun evolves, and the light of day will
change accordingly. It is natural to assume that as the Sun grows older, and
uses up its hydrogen fuel-which it is now doing at the spanking rate of half a
billion tons a second- it will become steadily colder and redder.

1. What is the passage mainly about?

(A) Faint dwarf stars (B) The evolutionary cycle of the Sun
(C) The Sun's fuel problem (D) The dangers of invisible radiation

2. What does the author say is especially important about the Sun at the present time?
(A) It appears yellow (B) It always remains the same
(C) It has a short history (D) It is too cold

3. Why are very hot stars referred to as "ghosts"?

(A) They are short- lived. (B) They are
mysterious.
 (C) They are frightening. (D) They are
nearly invisible.

4. According to the passage as the Sun continues to age, it is likely to become what
color?
(A) Yellow (B) Violet (C) Red (D) White

5. In line 15, to which of the following does "it" refer?

(A) yellow "hump" (B) day (C) Sun (D) hydrogen fuel

Passage 4
 If by "suburb" is meant an urban margin that grows more rapidly than
its already developed interior, the process of suburbanization began during
the emergence of the industrial city in the second quarter of the nineteenth
century. Before that period the city was a small highly compact cluster in
which people moved about on foot and goods were conveyed by horse and
cart. But the early factories built in the 1830's and 1840's were located along
waterways and near railheads at the edges of cities, and housing was needed
for the thousands of people drawn by the prospect of employment. In time,
the factories were surrounded by proliferating mill towns of apartments and
row houses that abutted the older, main cities. As a defense against this
encroachment and to enlarge their tax bases, the cities appropriated their
industrial neighbors. In 1854, for example, the city of Philadelphia annexed
most of Philadelphia County. Similar municipal maneuvers took place in
Chicago and in New York Indeed, most great cities of the United States
achieved such status only by incorporating the communities along their
borders.

With the acceleration of industrial growth came acute urban crowding

and accompanying social stress conditions that began to approach disastrous
proportions when, in 1888, the first commercially successful electric traction
line was developed. Within a few years the horse - drawn trolleys were
retired and electric streetcar networks crisscrossed and connected every
major urban area, fostering a wave of suburbanization that transformed the
compact industrial city into a dispersed metropolis. This first phase of mass -
scale suburbanization was reinforced by the simultaneous emergence of the
urban Middle class whose desires for homeownership In neighborhoods far
from the aging inner city were satisfied by the developers of single-family
housing tracts.

1. Which of the following is the best title for the passage?

(A) The growth of Philadelphia (B) The Origin of the Suburb
(C) The Development of City Transportation (D) The Rise of the
Urban Middle Class
2. The author mentions that areas bordering the cities have grown during periods of
(A) industrialization (B) inflation
(C) revitalization (D) unionization
3. In line 10 the word "encroachment" refers to which of the following?
(A) The smell of the factories (B) The growth of mill towns
(C) The development of waterways (D) The loss of jobs

4. Which of the following was NOT mentioned in the passage as a factor in nineteenth-
century suburbanization?
(A) Cheaper housing (B) Urban crowding
(C) The advent of an urban middle class (D) The invention of the electric
streetcar

5. It can be inferred from the passage that after 1890 most people traveled around cities
by
(A) automobile (B) cart
(C) horse-draw trolley (D) electric
streetcar

6. Where in the passage does the author describe the cities as they were prior to
suburbanization.
(A) Lines 3-5 (B) Lines 5-9
(C) Lines 12- 13 (D) Lines 15-18

Passage 5

The first English attempts to colonize North America were controlled

by individuals rather than companies. Sir Humphrey Gilbert was the first
 Englishman to send colonists to the New World. His initial expedition, which
sailed in 1578 with a patent granted by Queen Elizabeth was defeated by the
Spanish. A second attempt ended in disaster in 1583, when Gilbert and his
ship were lost in a storm. In the following year, Gilbert's half brother, Sir
Water Raleigh, having obtained a renewal of the patent, sponsored an
expedition that explored the coast of the region that he named "Virginia."
Under Raleigh's direction efforts were then made to establish a colony on
Roanoke island in 1585 an6 1587. The survivors of the first settlement on
Roanoke returned to England in 1586, but the second group of colonists
disappeared without leaving a trace. The failure of the Gilbert and Raleigh
ventures made it clear that the tasks they had undertaken were too big for
any one colonizer. Within a short time the trading company had supplanted
the individual promoter of colonization.

1. Which of the following would be the most appropriate title for the passage?
(A) The Regulation of Trading Companies
(B) British - Spanish Rivalry in the New World
(C) Early Attempts at Colonizing North America
(D) Royal Patents Issued in the 16th Century

2. The passage states which of the following about the first English people to be
involved in establishing colonies in North America?
(A) They were requested to do so by Queen Elizabeth.
(B) They were members of large trading companies.
(C) They were immediately successful.
(D) They were acting on their own.

3. According to the passage, which of the following statements about Sir Humphrey
Gilbert is true?
(A) He never settled in North America.
(B) His trading company was given a patent by the queen.
(C) He fought the Spanish twice.
(D) He died in 1587.
4. When did Sir Walter Raleigh's initial expedition set out for North America?
(A) 1577 (B) 1579 (C) 1582 (D) 1584

5. Which of the following can be inferred from the passage about members of the first
Roanoke settlement?
(A) They explored the entire coastal region. (B) Some did not
survive.
(C) They named the area "Virginia". (D) Most were not experienced sailors.

6. According to the passage, the first English settlement on Roanoke Island was
established in
(A) 1578 (B) 1583 (C) 1585 (D) 1587

7. According to the passage, which of; the following statements about the second
settlement on Roanoke Island is true?
(A) Its settlers all gave up and returned to England.
(B) It lasted for several years.
(C) The fate of its inhabitants is unknown.
(D) It was conquered by the Spanish.

Passage 6

In 1781 twelve families trooped north from Mexico to California. On a

stream along the desert's edge they built a settlement called Los Angeles. For
many years it was a market town where nearby farmers and ranchers met to
trade.
 Then in 1876 a railroad linked Los Angeles to San Francisco and,
through San Francisco to the rest of the country. The next year farmers sent
their first trainload of oranges east. By a new railroad provided a direct route
between Los Angeles and Chicago.

Then in the 1890 's oil was discovered in the city. As derricks went up,
workers built many highways and pipe lines. Digging began on a harbor that
would make Los Angeles not only an ocean port but also a fishing center.
The harbor was completed in 1914. That year the Panama Canal opened.
Suddenly Los Angeles was the busiest port on the Pacific Coast.

Today the city is the main industrial center in the West. It produces
goods not only for other West Coast communities but also for those in other
parts of the country. It leads the nation in making air planes and equipment
for exploring outer space. Many motion pictures and television programs are
filmed in Los Angeles. The city is also the business center for states in the
West Improvements in transportation are the main reason for Los Angeles'
growth

1. According to the passage what was the main commercial activity of Los Angeles
during the years directly following its settlement?
(A) Fruit growing (B) Oil drilling
(C) Fishing (D) Trading

2. According to the passage in which year were oranges first shipped from Los Angeles
to the East Coast by train?
(A) 1781 (B) 1876 (C) 1877 (D) 1890

3. San Francisco is mentioned in the passage for which of the following reasons?
(A) The settlers who founded Los Angles came from San Francisco.
(B) San Francisco linked Los Angeles with the rest of the country
(C) San Francisco was a market town where farmers came to trade.
(D) Oil was discovered in San Francisco in the 1890's.

4. Where in the passage does the author state the principal cause of the expansion of Los
Angeles?
 (A) Line 5 (B) Line 7 (C) Line 11 (D) Lines 15-16

Passage 7

The oldest living things on Earth are trees. Some of California's

sequoias have for four thousand years looked down on the changes in the
landscape and the comings and goings of humans. They sprouted from tiny
seeds about the time the Egyptian pyramids were being built. Today these
giant patriarchs seem as remote and inaccessible as the rocks and mountain
cliffs on which they grow, like cathedral columns holding up the sky. It is
 hard to imagine them playing any part in the lives of mere humans or being
in any way affected by the creatures that pass at their feet.

Lesser trees, however, have played an intimate role in the lives of

people since they first appeared on Earth. Trees fed the fires that warmed
humans: they provided shelter, food and medicine and even clothing. They
also shaped people's spiritual horizons. Trees expressed the grandeur and
mystery of life, as they moved through the cycle of seasons, from life to death
and back to life again. Trees were the largest living things around humans
and they knew that some trees had been standing on the same spot in their
parent's and grandparents' time, and would continue to stand long after they
were gone. No wonder these trees became symbols of strength, fruitfulness,
and everlasting life.

1. What is the main idea of the passage?

(A) Trees grow to great heights.
(B) Trees have been important to people throughout history.
(C) Trees make humans seem superior
(D) Trees that grow in California are very old.

2. Which of the following is NOT mentioned in the passage as a way in which people
have used trees?
(A) For furniture (B) For fuel (C) For housing (D) For
nourishment

3. In line 4, the phrase "giant patriarchs" could best be replaced by which of the
following?
(A) tiny seeds (B) important leaders
(C) towering trees (D) Egyptian pyramids

4. In line 11, the word "they" refers to which of the following?

(A) Trees (B) Grandeur and mystery
(C) Seasons (D) People's spiritual horizons

5. The author implies that, compared with sequoias, other trees have
 (A) been in existence longer (B) adapted more readily to their
environments
(C) been affected more by animals (D) had a closer relationship with
people

6. Where in the passage does the author make a comparison between trees and parts of
a building?
(A) Line 1 (B) Lines 4-5 (C) Lines 9-11 (D) Lines 12-14

Passage 8

Stars have been significant features in the design of many United States
coins and their number has varied from one to forty-eight stars. Most of the
coins issued from about 1799 to the early years of the twentieth century bore
thirteen stars representing the thirteen original colonies.

Curiously enough, the first American silver coins, issued in, 1794, had
fifteen stars because by that time Vermont and Kentucky had joined the
Union. At that time it was apparently the intention of mint officials to add a
star for each new state. Following the admission of Tennessee in 1796, for
 example, some varieties of half dimes, dimes, and half-dollars were
produced with sixteen stars.

As more states were admitted to the Union, however, it quickly became

apparent that this scheme would not prove practical and the coins from 1798
on were issued with only thirteen stars-one for each of the original colonies.
Due to an error at the mint, one variety of the 1828 half cent was issued with
only twelve stars. There is also a variety of the large cent with only 12 stars,
but this is the result of a die break and is not a true error.

1. What is the main topic of the passage?

(A) The teaching of astronomy in state universities
(B) Stars on American coins
(C) Colonial stamps and coins
(D) The star as national symbol of the United States

2. The word "their" in line 1 refers to

(A) stars (B) features (C) coins (D) colonies

3. The word "bore" in line 3 is closest in meaning to which of the following?

(A) Carried (B) Drilled (C) Cost (D) Symbolized

4. The expression “Curiously enough” is used in line 5 because the author finds it
strange that
(A) silver coins with fifteen stars appeared before coins with thirteen
(B) Vermont and Kentucky joined the Union in 1794
(C) no silver coins were issue until 1794
(D) Tennessee was the first state to use half dimes

5. Which of the following can be inferred about the order in which Kentucky,
Tennessee, and Vermont joined the Union?
(A) Vermont and Kentucky joined at the same time.
(A) Kentucky joined before Tennessee and Vermont.
(C) Tennessee joined after Vermont and Kentucky.
(D) Vermont joined after Tennessee and Kentucky.
6. Which of the following is NOT mentioned as the denomination of an American coin?
(A) Half cent (B) Half nickel (C) Half dime (D) Half- dollar

7. Why was a coin produced in 1828 with only twelve stars?

(A) There were twelve states at the time. (B) There was a change in design
policy.
(C) Tennessee had left the Union. (D) The mint made a mistake.

Passage 9
What makes it rain? Rain falls from clouds for the same reason anything falls
to Earth. The Earth's gravity pulls it. But every cloud is made of water
droplets or ice crystals. Why doesn't rain or snow fall constantly from all
clouds? The droplets or ice crystals in clouds are exceedingly small. The
effect of gravity on them is minute. Air currents move and lift droplets so
that the net downward displacement is zero, even though the droplets are in
constant motion.

Droplets and ice crystals behave somewhat like dust in the air made
visible in a shaft of sunlight. To the casual observer, dust seems to act in a
totally random fashion, moving about chaotically without fixed direction.
But in fact dust particles are much larger than water droplets and they finally
fall. The cloud droplet of average size is only 1/2500 inch in diameter. It is so
 small that it would take sixteen hours to fall half a mile in perfectly still air,
and it does not fall out of moving air at alt. Only when the droplet grows to a
diameter of 1/125 inch or larger can it fall from the cloud. The average
raindrop contains a million times as much water as a tiny cloud droplet. The
growth of a cloud droplet to a size large enough to fall out is the cause of rain
and other forms of precipitation. This important growth process is called
"coalescence."

1. What is the main topic of the passage?

(A) The mechanics of rain (B) The climate of North America
(C) How gravity affects agriculture (D) Types of clouds

2. The word "minute" in line 4 is closest in meaning to which of the following?

(A) Second (B) Tiny (C) Slow (D) Predictable

3. Why don' t all ice crystals in clouds immediately fall to earth?

(A) They are balanced by the pressure of rain droplets.
(B) The effect of gravity at high altitude is random.
(C) They are kept aloft by air currents.
(D) The heat from the sun' S rays melts them.
4. The word 'motion" in line 6 is closest in meaning to which of the following?
(A) Wind (B) Descent (C) Movement (D) Humidity

5. What can be inferred about drops of water larger than 1/125 inch in diameter?
(A) They never occur.
(B) They are not affected by the force of gravity.
(C) In still air they would fall to earth.
(D) In moving air they fall at a speed of thirty-two miles per hour.

6. In this passage, what does the term "coalescence" refer to?

(A) The gathering of small clouds to form larger clouds
(B) The growth of droplets
(C) The fall of raindrops and other precipitation
(D) The movement of dust particles in the sunlight
7. What is the diameter of the average cloud droplet?
(A) 1/16 inch (B) 1/125 inch
(C) 1/2500 inch (D) One million of an inch

Passage 10

Telecommuting – substituting the computer for the trip to the job – has
been hailed as a solution to all kinds of problems related to office work. For
workers it promises freedom from the office, less time wasted in traffic, and
help with child - care conflicts. For management, telecommuting helps keep
high performers on board, minimizes tardiness and absenteeism by
eliminating commutes, allows periods of solitude for high –concentration
task, and provides scheduling flexibility. In some areas, such as Southern
California and Seattle, Washington, local governments are encouraging
companies to start telecommuting programs in order to reduce rush - hour
congestion and improve air quality. But these benefits do not come easily.
Making a telecommuting program work requires careful planning and an
understanding of the differences between telecommuting realities and
popular images.
 Many workers are seduced by rosy illusions of life as a telecommuter.
A computer programmer from New York City moves to the tranquil
Adirondack Mountains and stays in contact with her office via computer. A
manager comes in to his Office three days 8 week and works at home the
other two. An accountant stays home to care for child; she hooks up her
telephone modem connections and does office work between calls to the
doctor.

These are powerful images, but they are a limited reflection of reality.
Telecommuting workers soon learn that it is almost impossible to concentrate
on work and care for a young child at the same time. Before a certain age,
young children cannot recognize. much less respect, the necessary
boundaries between work and family. Additional child support is necessary
if the parent is to get any work done.

Management, too, must separate the myth from the reality. Although
the media has paid a great deal of attention to telecommuting. in most cases
it is the employee's situation, not the availability of technology, that
precipitates a telecommuting arrangement.

That is partly why, despite the widespread press coverage, the number
of companies with work-at-home programs or policy guidelines remains
small.

1. What is the main subject of the passage.

(A) Business management policies
(B) Driving to work
(C) Extending the workplace by means of commuters
(D) Commuters for child - care purposes

2. Which of the following is NOT mentioned as a problem for office employees9.

(A) Being restricted to the office (B) Incurring expenses for lunches and
clothing
(C) Taking care of sick children (D) Driving in heavy traffic
3. Which of the following is NOT mentioned as a problem for employers that is
potentially solved by telecommuting?
(A) Employees' lateness for work
(B) Employees' absence from work
(C) Employees' need for time alone to work intensively
(D) Employee's' conflicts with second jobs

4. Which of the following does the author mention as a possible disadvantage of

telecommuting?
(A) Small children cannot understand the boundaries of work and play.
(B) Computer technology is not advanced enough to accommodate the needs of
every situation.
(C) Electrical malfunctions can destroy a project.
(D) The worker often does not have all the needed resources at home.

5. Which of the following is an example of telecommuting as described in the passage?

(A) A scientist in a laboratory developing plans for a space station
(B) A technical writer sending via computer documents created at home
(C) A computer technician repairing an office computer network
(D) A teacher directing computer-assisted learning in a private school
Passage 11

Scientists estimate that about 35,000 other objects, too small to detect
with radar but detectable with powerful Earth-based telescopes, are also
circling the Earth at an altitude of 200 to 700 miles. This debris poses little
danger to us on the Earth, but since it is traveling at average relative speeds
of six miles per second, it can severely damage expensive equipment in a
collision. This threat was dramatized by a cavity one-eighth of an inch in
diameter created in a window of a United States space shuttle in 1983. The
pit was determined to have been caused by a collision with a speck of paint
traveling at a speed of about two to four miles per second. The window had
to be replaced.

As more and more nations put satellites into space, the risk of collision
can only increase. Measures are already being taken to control the growth of
orbital debris. The United States has always required its astronauts to bag
their wastes and return them to .Earth. The United States Air Force has
 agreed to conduct low-altitude rather than high-altitude tests of objects it
puts into space so debris from tests will reenter the Earth's atmosphere and
burn up. Extra shielding will also reduce the risk of damage. For example,
2,000 pounds of additional shielding is being considered for each of six
space-station crew modules. Further, the European Space Agency, an
international consortium is also looking into preventive measures.

1. Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?
(A) The Problem of Space Debris
(B) The Space Shuttle of 1983
(C) The Work of the European Space Agency
(D) A Collision in Space

2. It can be inferred from the passage that debris was harmful to one of the space
shuttles because the debris was
(A) large (B) moving very fast
(C) radioactive (D) burning uncontrollably

3. What effect did orbital debris have on one of the space shuttles?
(A) It removed some of the paint (B) It damaged one of the windows
(C) It caused a loss of altitude (D) It led to a collision with a space
station

4. The word “them" in line 11 refers to which of the following?

(A) Astronauts (B) Wastes (C) Tests (D) Crew modules

5. Which of the following questions is NOT answered by the information in the

passage?
(A) How can small objects orbiting the Earth be seen?
(B) What is being done to prevent orbital debris from increasing?
(C) Why is the risk of damage to space equipment likely to increase?
(D) When did the United States Air Force begin making tests in space?

6. Where in the passage does the writer mention a method of protecting space vehicles
against damage by space debris?
(A) Lines 1-3 (B) Lines 6-8 (C) Line 9 (D) Lines 13-15