These eight questions use two original passages. Try each one before you open the answer, then use the last section to decide which lesson to revisit.
This set belongs to the SPM Arabic guide. If you would like a teacher to review your answers, the one-hour trial class (from RM50) is a taught lesson on the Arabic you choose.
Passage A
يعيشُ سعيدٌ في بيتٍ قريبٍ من البحرِ. يذهبُ كلَّ صباحٍ إلى الشاطئِ مع جدِّهِ. يجمعانِ الأصدافَ الجميلةَ، ثم يضعانها في علبةٍ كبيرةٍ. يحبُّ سعيدٌ هذه العادةَ لأنها تجمعُهُ بجدِّه.
(Saeed lives in a house near the sea. Every morning he goes to the beach with his grandfather. They collect beautiful shells, then put them in a big box. Saeed likes this habit because it brings him together with his grandfather.)
Question 1. What is the main idea?
Answer
Saeed enjoys a morning habit of collecting shells with his grandfather. The last sentence gathers the passage. Collecting shells and living near the sea are supporting details.
Question 2. Who does the pronoun in يضعانها refer to, and what does ـها refer to?
Answer
The dual ending ـان in يضعان refers to Saeed and his grandfather. The pronoun ـها refers to الأصداف (the shells), which is a non-human plural and is referred to with a feminine singular pronoun.
Question 3. What does الأصداف probably mean?
Answer
Shells. The clues are the beach, the collecting, the word “beautiful” and the box where they are kept.
Question 4. Why does Saeed like this habit? Give your answer and the evidence.
Answer
Because it brings him together with his grandfather. The evidence is لأنها تجمعُهُ بجدِّه.
Passage B
قررتْ ريما أن تزرعَ شجرةً في حديقةِ المدرسةِ. أحضرتْ معها ماءً وأدواتٍ صغيرةً. حفرَتْ حفرةً عميقةً ثم وضعتْ فيها الشتلةَ. بعد أسبوعٍ رأتْ أولَ ورقةٍ خضراءَ، فابتسمتْ.
(Rima decided to plant a tree in the school garden. She brought water and small tools. She dug a deep hole and then put the seedling in it. After a week she saw the first green leaf, and she smiled.)
Question 5. What is the best title for the passage: “Rima’s gardening tools”, “Rima plants a tree”, or “A week at school”?
Answer
“Rima plants a tree.” It covers the decision, the digging, the planting and the leaf. The other two cover only a detail or something not stated.
Question 6. What does الشتلة probably mean?
Answer
A seedling. Rima puts it into a hole, and later a leaf appears. So it is a small young plant.
Question 7. Why did Rima smile? Give the evidence.
Answer
She saw the first green leaf, so the tree was growing. The evidence is رأتْ أولَ ورقةٍ خضراءَ.
Question 8. What was the order of actions? Put in order: dug a hole, brought water and tools, saw a leaf.
Answer
Brought water and tools, dug a hole, saw a leaf. The order comes from أحضرت, then حفرت, then رأت after a week.
If you got these wrong
For questions 1 and 5, review identifying the main idea. For question 2, return to pronoun reference.
For questions 3 and 6, read inferring a word meaning from context. For questions 4, 7 and 8, use supporting an answer with Arabic evidence.
To work on the gaps with a teacher, see online one-to-one Arabic tuition.