Read the following text and answer the questions below.

 

Kombat Kate

James Stanton meets ‘Kombat Kate’ Waters, who trains theatre actors in how to ‘fight’ on stage.

There must be few occasions when it would be really rude to refuse an invitation to head-butt someone you’ve just met! But I’m in one of those right now. I’m in a rehearsal room in a theatre with a group of actors, facing up to stage fighting director Kate Waters. I’ve already dragged her around the room and slapped her on the arm. Now she wants me to head-butt her. But fear not, this is all strictly pretend!

‘Imagine there’s a tin can on my shoulder,’ she says. ‘Now try to knock it off.’ I lower my head as instructed, then lift it sharply, aiming for the imaginary can, hoping desperately that I don’t miscalculate the angle and end up doing damage to her face. To my amazement, I get it right. ‘That was good,’ says Waters. ‘Now maybe try it again without smiling.’

Waters, known in the industry as Kombat Kate, is showing me how actors fight each other without getting hurt, and that includes sword-fighting. (She inspires fierce devotion: when I tweet that I’m meeting Waters, one actress friend responds: ‘She’s amazing. She taught me how to be a secret service agent in two days.’)

Perhaps the most famous play Kate has worked on recently was called Noises Off. She taught the cast how to fall down stairs without breaking any bones. One of the fight scenes is fairly close, Kate tells me, to the one we’re trying out now. ‘I’ve just slowed it down a bit,’ she says tactfully, before inviting me to throw her against the wall. I obey, making sure I let go of her quickly, so she can control her own movement. Push your opponent too hard, and they will hit the wall for real. I watch her hit the wall before falling to the ground.
She’s fine, of course. ‘That’s my party trick,’ she says with a grin. ‘Works every time.’

 

Once the lesson is over Kate tells me how she became one of only two women on the official register of stage fight directors. Already a keen martial arts expert from childhood, Kate did drama at university, and one module of her course introduced her to stage combat. When she made enquiries about the possibility of teaching it as a career, she was told (line 22) about the register and the qualifications she’d need to be accepted onto it. It was no small order: as well as a certificate in advanced stage combat, she would need a black belt in karate and proficiency in fencing, a sport she’d never tried before.

But she rose to the challenge and taught the subject for several years at a drama college before going freelance and becoming a fight advisor for the theatrical world. The play she’s working on is Shakespeare’s Richard III. This involves a famous sword fight. With no instructions left by the great playwright other than –
Enter Richard and Richmond: they fight, Richard dies – the style and sequence of the fight is down to Kate and the actors.

‘I try to get as much information as possible about what a fight would have been like in a particular period,’ Kate explains. ‘But because what I’m eventually doing is telling a dramatic story, not all of it is useful. The scene has to be exciting and do something for the audience.’ (Line 30)

Ultimately, of course, a stage fight is all smoke and mirrors. In our lesson, Kate shows me how an actor will stand with his or her back to the audience ahead of a choreographed slap or punch. When the slap comes it makes contact not with skin but with air: the actor whacks his chest or leg to make the sound of the slap.

 
In the rehearsal room, I can’t resist asking Kate how she thinks she would fare in a real fight. Would she give her attacker a hard time? She laughs, ‘Oh, I’d be awful,’ she says. ‘I only know how to fake it.’ I can’t help thinking, however, that she’s just being rather modest.

Read the following text and answer the questions below.

Water-skiing barefoot

by Dan Thomas

Have you ever been barefoot water-skiing? It’s just like normal water-skiing, being pulled along behind a boat at 40 mph – but without any skis! It sounds scary but it’s amazing! My cousin used to take me water-skiing, and that’s where I first learnt to stand up and balance. But I moved on to barefooting when I did it for a laugh with some mates. And I loved it!

Barefoot water-skiing is one of the most popular watersports there is – to watch, anyway! When someone jumps really high and then lands, it’s awesome. And you don’t need expensive stuff like boards, although a wetsuit’s a good idea. But catching your toes on things in the lake can hurt. I guess you can’t help getting water up your nose when you start learning, too, as you have to lie almost flat in the water before you pull yourself up – but it’s OK.

Now I’m experienced, I’ve learnt not to attempt new moves in rough water as it never goes well. Instead, I make sure I limit myself to skiing directly behind the boat, where the water’s calmer. I ask the boat drivers to warn me about big waves coming, although they can’t always see them.

Finding time to practise regularly is hard as I’m still at school – but then it’s not as if I’m into winning prizes and stuff. But if I want to learn a new move, I need to repeat it over and over, and that’s not easy in winter when it’s cold. Lots of skiers say they’ll continue during cold weather, but not many do. So I’m often the only one out on the lake!

 

Read the following text and answer the questions below.

Starting at a new school
By Anna Gray, age 11

 

I’ve just finished my first week at a new school and I’d like to tell you about it. Like other children in my country, I went to primary school until I was eleven and then I had to go to a different school for older children. I loved my primary school but I was excited to move to a new school.

It was very strange on our first day. There were some kids from my primary school there, but most of the children in my year group were from different schools. But I soon started talking to the girl who was sitting beside me in maths. She lives near me so we walked home together. We’re best friends now.

 

When I saw our timetable there were lots of subjects, some were quite new to me! Lessons are harder now. They’re longer and the subjects are more difficult, but the teachers help us a lot.

 

At primary school we had all our lessons in one classroom. Now each subject is taught in a different room. It was difficult to find the classrooms at first because the school is so big. But the teachers gave us each a map of the school, so it’s getting easier now.

 

The worst thing is that I have lots more homework to do now. Some of it is fun but I need to get better at remembering when I have to give different pieces of work to the teachers!

For each question, choose the correct answer.

 

WILLIAM PERKIN

William Perkin was born in London in 1838. As a child he had many hobbies, including model making and photography. But it was the (1) ………… of chemistry that really interested him. At the age of 15, he went to college to study it.

While he was there, he was (2) ………… to make a medicine from coal. This didn’t go well, but when he was working on the problem, he found a cheap (3) ………… to make the colour purple.

At that (4) ………… it was very expensive to make clothes in different colours. William knew he could make a business out of his new colour. Helped by his father and brother, William (5) ………… his own factory to make the colour. It sold well, and soon purple clothes (6) ………… very popular in England and the rest of the world.

Read the text below and for each question, choose the corret answer. 

WIVENHOE HOTEL

 

Wivenhoe is a beautiful hotel in the countryside, with many rooms and an excellent restaurant.
However, there is a big (1) ………… between Wivenhoe and other hotels. Firstly, Wivenhoe is part
of a university, and secondly, its staff are all teenagers.
In fact, Wivenhoe is a hotel school for young people who are (2) ………… to get jobs in the hotel
or restaurant (3) ………… . The students learn by helping staff in a real hotel, while their teachers
(4) ………… them carefully. They do everything, from making beds and cleaning bathrooms to
preparing menus and (5) ………… the telephone.
Some British people may think that a hotel run by students is a rather strange idea, but many
visitors say that Wivenhoe is the best hotel they have ever (6) ………… at.

Read the sentences below.
Choose the best word (A, B or C) for each space.

Read the sentences below.
Choose the best word (A, B or C) for each space.

Read the sentences below.
Choose the best word (A, B or C) for each space.

Read the sentences below.
Choose the best word (A, B or C) for each space.

Read the sentences below.
Choose the best word (A, B or C) for each space.