Reading Comprehension Exercises for Grade 4

Read the passage carefully. Then answer the questions that follow.

Uncontacted Peoples

Today, we live in a technological world. We travel in cars, planes, trains and ships. We live in many different kinds of accommodation. We use many household implements to help us prepare food and to clean our houses. We have advanced systems of communication. Every day we read of new advances, but it took a long time to reach this point of human development. Have you ever thought about what life was like for our earliest ancestors?

Early stone-age people lived in natural caves on mountain slopes. They ate parts of plants that grew close by and had only stone axes for chopping. The men hunted wild animals using wooden spears tipped with bone or a hard, sharp stone called flint. When struck with another hard rock, flint would break into sharp pieces, which were knives and spearheads. Clothes were made by sewing the skins of animals together with strips of hide, using 'needles’ made of fine bone.

When food became hard to find, the people moved to another cave to be near other plants and animals. These moves were seasonal, as the animals they hunted migrated according to the weather and hunters needed to follow them. Stone-age people later discovered that fire could be made by striking two pieces of flint against each other and using the sparks produced to light dry straw or wood.

In the very early days, people lived and hunted in groups. Each group, called a tribe, was led by a chief. The division of labour was very simple. Men were hunters. Women looked after the children, gathered food, cooked meals and made clothing. When they moved from cave to cave, women usually carried the smallest children and the few household items that the family possessed. Men carried their weapons and kept an eye out for danger.

The work of archaeologists has shown us that stone-age people made discoveries and advances. Firstly, they began to grow crops instead of just gathering food. Land was cleared for farming, by burning or chopping down the natural vegetation. Because of this, new stone tools such as saws and farming implements were invented. People made canoes by hollowing out tree trunks, thus making fishing easier. Herbal medicines were discovered and used by special medicine men or women, and pottery was fashioned from clay.

Progress came more quickly once tribes began to trade and share information. To improve communication with others, roads were constructed. Different building methods were also invented. In warmer areas, people built houses with mud bricks. In cooler areas. they used timber. Some societies also constructed buildings, which housed several families under each roof. Protective walls were raised around villages to keep out wild animals and hostile tribes.

However, in modern times, despite the incredible technological advances of the 18th and 19th centuries, some isolated native groups, such as the Australian Aborigines, remained in a stone-age culture until Europeans arrived in greater numbers and settled in the country. You may be surprised to know that even in this century, there are still tribes that do not have any contact with the rest of the world. ‘Uncontacted peoples’ are indigenous peoples living without regular contact with neighbouring communities. They are referred to as ‘indigenous peoples in voluntary isolation’. According to official estimates in recent times, there are between 100 and 200 uncontacted peoples which together make up around 10,000 individuals in total around the world. Most of them live in South America, particularly northern Brazil.

Ever wondered how we know about these tribes that do not have any contact with the outside world? We know about their existence mainly from aerial footage and accidental contacts with neighbouring indigenous communities.

Read each statement and write “T” for true statements or “F” for false statements.

• Woman in the tribe sewed hides using cotton thread and bone needles to make clothing.
• Our early ancestors were called stone-age people.
• Humans first made fire by striking pieces of flint together and lighting dry straws with the sparks produced.
• Roads were built to make it easier to communicate with other tribes.
• Men were responsible for taking care of the smallest children and cooking in the stone age.
• The stone-age people move to other caves from time to time because the area around their caves became littered with bones.
• There are many ‘uncontacted peoples’ in Brazil.

Answer key

1. T
2. T
3. T
4. T
5. F
6. F
7. T