TEST 12

SECTION A: LEXICO – GRAMMAR (40 points)

I. Select the best option for each sentence. Write your answers in the boxes for answers.
1. You can exercise your ______ to cancel the contract immediately, but you wouldn't receive any
money at that point.
A. duty B. obligation C. right D. possibility
2. I have never seen ______ before.
A. so good a film B. such good a film C. such good film D. so good film
3. The game was ______ over by the time we arrived.
A. nothing but B. none but C. everything but D. all but
4. He opened the account with a(n) ______ to running up a healthy overdraft.
A. aim B. view C. purpose D. plan
5. The ______ I don’t understand is why Emily doesn’t accept the offer.
A. cause B. item C. object D. thing
6. Dancing, for most tribes, is a common way of ______ God for good crops and fortune.
A. praying B. demanding C. requesting D. asking
7. Our town has a real problem with youth crime, ______ do many other British towns.
A. so B. nor C. as D. like
8. Anderson’s ______ as head of the sale department came as a great surprise to us.
A. choice B. selection C. option D. vote
9. Because of the delay, we didn’t ______ our destination on time.
A. arrive B. land C. get D. reach
10. Bright children who are ______ on the uptake may get bored easily if they are not stimulated
enough at school.
A. quick B. fast C. swift D. rapid

Answers
1.C 2.D 3. 4.B 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

II. Complete each sentence with ONE suitable particle. Write your answers in the boxes for answers.
1. John’s mother asks him to clean __________ his room every Sunday.
2. You can't just sit __________ and wait for job offers to come to you. You have to do something.
3. We talked the boss __________ buying new computers by saying we could work faster with them.
4. Could you please drop me __________ at the railway station?
5. I want you to know that you can turn __________ me for help any time.

Answers
1.up 2.around 3.into 4.off 5.

III. Complete each sentence with ONE suitable preposition. Write your answers in the boxes for answers.
1. It is said that engineering and science graduates are now __________ great demand.
2. We have to hurry and finish the project soon or we will fall __________ schedule.
3. Susan wishes she would make her way __________ sail from island to island some day.
4. The girl behind the bar was completely __________ ease, chatting with her customers as she mixed
their drinks.
5. __________no account must you tell them what happened.

Answers
1.in 2.behind 3.to 4.at 5.On

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IV. There are TEN mistakes in the passage below. Read the passage carefully, UNDERLINE THE
MISTAKES and WRITE YOUR CORRECTIONS on the CORRESPONDING LINES in the box for answers.
There is an example.

Ranulph Fiennes is a man which isn't afraid of pushing himself to the Example: which  who
limits. He's famous for visiting both the North and South Poles by land ……………………………..
between 1979 and 1982 and crossing the Antarctic by foot in 1993. ……………………………..

In 2000 he attempted to reach the North Pole on his own at an age of ……………………………..
55. On that trip, there was too much food and equipments for a single ……………………………..
sledge to transport, so he took two. This meant to walk one mile ……………………………..
forward with the first sledge, then going back for the second one so ……………………………..
every mile gained involved travelling three on the ground. To do such ……………………………..
a trip with one sledge is dangerous enough, but it is more worse with ……………………………..
two. Having parked the first sledge, you then have to set off to fetch ……………………………..
the second one but if conditions get worse, how hard you try to find ……………………………..
it, you may never see it again. Fiennes didn't ever lose his sledges in ……………………………..
the snow but at one point during the journey, they fell through weak ……………………………..
ice and he forced to pull them out by hand. He would have kept going ……………………………..
and he got frostbite in his fingers which made it impossible for him to ……………………………..
carry on. ……………………………..

The experiences Fiennes had that time discouraged him from making ……………………………..
another attempt but he was not ready to stop pushing himself to the ………………………………
limits. Since then he carried out the extraordinary feat of completing ……………………………..
seven marathons in seven days in seven continents and in 2005 ……………………………..
succeeded in reaching 8,690m in an attempt to climb Everest. ……………………………..

V. Use the word given in bold to form a word that fits in each space. Write your answers in the boxes for
answers.
HOSPITABLE CAREER OPPORTUNITIES
Travel and tourism provide more jobs than any other industry, accounting for 255 million jobs
(1.world)_______. Given the high levels of youth (2. employ)________ in large parts of the developed
world and a severe (3.short)_______ of jobs in developing countries, you might think the industry
should have no difficulty filling those vacancies. But the hospitality sector has to contend with negative
(4.perceive)________ among (5. prospect)______ employees of low wages, unsociable hours and a
lack of career opportunities. These (6. assume)_______ are false, according to Suzy Jackson of
Hospitality Guild, which was set up in 2011 to improve (7. recruit)______. She makes the points that
there are many career (8. open)_____ for young people in the industry at entry level, and that they can
rise through the ranks to become chief executive or (9. manage)_______ director. This may only
happen in (10. except)______ circumstances but because the hospitality industry takes so many young
people with minimal formal qualifications, it devotes time and money to training. This makes it a very
good choice for young people considering a long-term career.

Answers
1. worldwide 2. employment 3. 4. 5.
6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

SECTION B: READING (30 points)

I. Read the text below and decide which answer (A, B, C or D) best fits each space. Write your answers in
the boxes for answers.
HOW WE READ
Why did you decide to read this, and will you keep reading to the end? Do you expect to
understand every single part of it and will you remember anything about it in a fortnight’s (1)______?
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Common sense (2)______ that the answers to these questions depend on “readability” - whether the
(3)______ matter is interesting, the argument clear and the (4)______ attractive. But psychologists are
discovering that to determine why people read - and often don't read - technical information, they have to
examine not so much the writing as the reader.

Even the most technically confident people often ignore instructions for the video or home computer
in favour of hands-on experience. And people frequently (5)______ little notice of consumer information,
whether on nutritional labels or in the small print of contracts. Psychologists researching reading
(6)______ to assume that both beginners and (7)______ readers read everything put in front of them
from start to finish. There are (8)______ among them about the (9)______ of eyes, memory and brain
during the process. Some believe that fluent readers take in every letter or word they see; others
(10)______ that readers rely on memory or context to carry them from one phrase to another. But they
have always assumed that the reading process is the same: reading starts, comprehension occurs, then
reading stops.

1. A. term B. period C. time D. gap

2. A. suggests B. transmits C. advises D. informs
3. A. text B. topic C. content D. subject
4. A. pattern B. formation C. layout D. foundation
5. A. get B. pay C. take D. make
6. A. tend B. undertake C. lead D. consent
7. A. valid B. sufficient C. considerable D. competent
8. A. objections B. arguments C. contests D. separations
9. A. concern B. role C. share D. relation
10. A. insist B. direct C. urge D. press

Answers
1.C 2.A 3.D 4.C 5.C 6.A 7.D 8.B 9.B 10.A

II. Read the following passage and complete it by filling each blank with ONE suitable word. Write your
answers in the boxes for answers.
THE MYSTERY OF THE SPHINX
One of the world's most studied ancient monuments is the Sphinx, which is located close
(1)_________ the Great Pyramid, 16 kilometres from Cairo in Egypt. Carved in ancient times out of a
single piece of limestone over 60 metres long and 20 metres high, it (2)________ hundreds of tons. This
extraordinary monument (3)_________ solely of the head of a man and the body of a crouching lion, a
combination which suggests strength and wisdom. Over the years, the face has sustained damage. The
smile, which some people describe (4) _________ mysterious, is in fact the result of erosion rather than
design, and the nose, which has long since been broken away, was probably the unfortunate victim of
invading soldiers' target practice. At one time, there (5)_________a serpent on its forehead and a royal
beard, a fragment of (6)_________ exists in a museum.

But who built this monument which, unlike most of the others guarding significant places, is not part
of a pair but stands (7)________? Most Egyptologists agree that it was built by Pharaoh Khafre 5,000
years ago. However, some recent commentators have speculated that it belonged to a much older
civilization, which disappeared in a legendary flood that is supposed to (8)________ destroyed everything
in the world over 7,000 years ago. They have tried to demonstrate that the weathering of the Sphinx was
caused by water rather than wind and sand, and one has even suggested that it might have been built on
a more ancient site about 12,500 years ago. (9)________ its origins, there is no doubt that to the
Egyptians, the Sphinx represents the (10)_________ essence of their country's magnificent culture.

Answers
1. to 2. weighs 3.consists 4.as 5.was
6. which 7. alone 8. have 9. Whatever 10. very

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III. You are going to read an article in which three families express their opinion on what robs children of
their happiest years. Choose from the families (A, B or C). The families may be chosen more than once.
Write your answers (A, B or C) in the boxes for answers.

Which section mentions the following? Answers

1. the importance of practising new skills if you want to improve 1. A

2. the benefits to children of having a computer 2. C
3. the practical difficulties of getting children to after-school activities 3. C
4. children feeling under pressure to succeed 4. B
5. the dangers of children being expected to do something they don't want to 5. A
6. the worry of letting children be independent 6. C
7. playing music for pleasure 7. B
8. the difficulty of being a “one parent family” 8. C
9. parents' fear of technology 9. C
10. competitive parents 10. B

OUR LOST CHILDHOOD?

Last week a group of teachers, authors and psychologists said video games and “pushy parents” were
robbing children of their happiest years. But is that true? Here we speak to three very different families .

A. THE THOMASES
Do our children like to chill out in front of the TV or computer or with Nintendo games? Absolutely, if
they are allowed to because they are just like all modern children all over the world. But there has to be a
balance. Parents need to invest time so that they can give their children the chance to try out as many
different things as they can afford to. It's important that they don't push them into activities, though, just
because they themselves wanted to be a footballer or a ballet dancer. That’s damaging.
Both our boys play football, for a club and the school, so they train a couple of times a week and
play at the weekend. Charlie also plays basketball and the drums. William learns the electric guitar and
Laura sings and plays the guitar and does kickboxing classes. They also go to trampolining lessons. But
we make it clear to them that if they want to do well at something they need to work hard and keep doing
it over and over again until they get better at it. There's only one evening when someone is not out, and
that's Friday. It's spent eating pizzas and deciding on the logistics of how we are going to get each child to
their different classes over the weekend.

B. THE LUCKHURSTS
The best thing you can give your children is time. Proper time. Not a few snatched minutes here and
there while you rush them off to ballet or violin lessons, but time spent playing with them, talking and
listening to them. I encourage my kids to play the piano, but only to amuse themselves. They don't have a
PlayStation but they watch a little TV.
These days children are packed off to all sorts of lessons at an ever younger age. They are expected
to achieve more and more younger and younger, and are made to feel a failure if they don't reach the
targets, I think the rivalry between parents at school is particularly sad - as if anyone cares whose child
learns to ride a bike first, or learns to read before anyone else.
Childhood is the only time in your life when you can play and not have the worries that adults have.
So why are we trying to rush it?

C. THE MCGRATHS
We lived in Spain until three years ago and the children were constantly on the go there. You see
more people doing things together as a family like going to the park and whenever they're not with their
parents, children tend to be outside playing with each other.
Here in Britain, games consoles and the Internet have taken over from this. If my son had his way,
he'd be on his Wii the minute he got home from school. For Natalie it's Internet chat-rooms. She loves
them, and actually they're a good way for her to keep in touch with her friends in Spain, and keep up her
Spanish at the same time.
I worry they're not playing out enough, but since I separated from my husband it's not easy to keep

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them constantly entertained and sometimes I'm happy for them to go on the computer because it gives
me a break.
I'd like to send them to classes, but I can't afford it. The boys play football together on the field, and
Natalie does cheerleading and goes to a youth club. I'd like her to go swimming but the nearest pool is a
bus ride and a walk away, and I feel uneasy about letting her go off on her own.
I know we tend to complain that children don't play in the garden and go out on their bikes the way
we did, but I doubt I'd have been riding bikes if we'd had the Internet. They are all computer literate and
it's going to be fundamental to their lives, whereas maybe as adults we're scared of the world they're
growing up in because we don't really understand it.

SECTION C: WRITING (20 points)

Complete each of the following sentences in such a way that it is closest in meaning to the one printed
before it. Use the word given. Do not alter the word given in any way.
1. They were able to creep away unobserved because it was very dark. OWING
They were able to creep away unobserved owing to the fact it was very dark.
2. Despite improving his performance, Smith still isn’t among the top runners. LED
The improvement in Smith's performance has not led him to being among the top runners.
3. There is a strong possibility that the manager will choose Antonio to play on Saturday. WELL
Antonio may well be chosen by the manager to play on Saturday.
4. We are sure that the government's new policy will successfully reduce unemployment. BOUND
We think that the government's new policy is bound to be successful in reducing
unemployment.
5. Some people tend to do better in a pressurised working environment. CONSTANT
Some people work better when they are under constant pressure at work.
6. I gave up the job at the hotel because there were too few challenges. ENOUGH
I gave up the job at the hotel because it wasn’t challenging enough for me.
7. There isn't as much space in this new office as there was in the old one. THAN
This new office is ………………………………..………………………….. the old one.
8. Ted is a loyal employee, but he refuses to do something illegally when he is asked to. LINE
Ted is a loyal employee, but he ………………………………..…………………………..something illegally when
he is asked to.
9. He died, having nothing of his own. NAME
He died with nothing to his name .
10. She has extensive knowledge of Ancient Egypt. VERY
She is very knowledgeable about Ancient Egypt.