Read the text below and decide which answer (A, B, C or D) best fits each gap. There is an example at the beginning (0). 

 

WATER

You’re thirsty and you (0) …GET… yourself a glass of water. Do you ever (1) ………… how old that water really is? The glass of water that you’re (2) ………… to drink may have fallen from the sky as rain only last week.

However, water itself has been around pretty much as (3) ………… as the earth has! In fact, (4) ………… oceans, seas and rivers cover 70% of the earth, there is a (5) ………… supply of water, which keeps on moving round the earth. This is (6) ………… of what’s known as the water cycle. The sun heats up water and it turns into clouds, which are (7) ………… from water vapour. When the clouds become (8) ………… , the water falls back onto the earth as rain.

Of course, clean water is absolutely essential for good health. The amount of safe drinking water has gone up around the world, but (9) ………… one billion people still lack easy (10) ………… to clean water.

Look at the sentences below about John Chapman, an Englishman who lived in the 15^th century.

Read the text to decide if each sentence is correct or incorrect.

If it is correct, mark A.

If it is incorrect, mark B.

 

John Chapman

 

The atmosphere in the market place in Norwich in 1440 was probably not very different from how it is today – noisy, crowded, colourful and exciting. It was here that John Chapman used to come each week from his home in Swaffham, 50 kilometres away, to try to sell his copper pots and pans.

 

After one particularly tiring day, he loaded his unsold pots and pans onto the back of his horse as usual and walked slowly home. He had a meal and went to bed, complaining bitterly to his wife about their lack of money. However, that night John had a dream that would change the rest of his life.

 

In this dream a man told John that if he stood on London Bridge he would hear something that would make him rich. The dream was so real that John couldn’t get it out of his mind, and finally he decided to make the journey, even though his wife was against the idea.

 

After a week’s preparation, John set off for London with just his dog for company. When he arrived at London Bridge he stopped and watched all the men and women who went past. Many of them talked to him, but he heard nothing that would make him rich.

 

On the third day, however, an old man asked him why he was standing there. John told him it was because of a dream. The old man replied, ‘I recently dreamed that I went to the home of John Chapman, in Swaffham, and dug under a tree at the back of his house, where I found a buried pot of gold! But I am not foolish enough to believe in dreams.’

 

Unable to believe his luck, John said goodbye and returned to Swaffham. As soon as he got home, he fetched a spade and started digging. His wife looked on in amazement, unable to understand what he was doing. But sure enough, he uncovered a box. Opening it with nervous hands he found that it was full of money. The couple were delighted, but also curious about some words on the lid, which were in a language they didn’t recognise. Keen to find out their meaning, John put the box in his window and soon two young men knocked on the door and translated them for him: Beneath me lies another one much richer. So John dug deeper and this time found a huge pot full of gold and jewels!

 

That is how John Chapman became rich. He spent the money wisely and paid for several public buildings to be built. And his memory lives on in Swaffham today, on the painted sign at the entrance to the town!

Look at the sentences below about two climbers called Gertrude Benham and Charles Fay.

Read the text to decide if each sentence is correct or incorrect.

If it is correct, mark A.

If it is incorrect, mark B.

 

Climbing mountains

 

Gertrude Benham was born in England in 1867. She had made 130 climbs in the European Alps before going to the Canadian Rocky Mountains in 1904, where she spent the summer climbing. In 1904, the paths of Gertrude Benham and Charles Fay briefly crosses. He had spent several successful summers climbing in the Rocky Mountains. In fact he was so successful that the Geographical Board of Canada asked him to select a mountain to take his name. He chose one known as Heejee and was determined to be the first to reach the top. But Gertrude Benham had the same idea.

 

On 19 July 1904, Gertrude and her guide, Christian Kaufmann, reached the top of a mountain which they thought was Heejee. Upon their return, however, they were told that that particular mountain was called something else. They decided to try again the next day but, unknown to Gertrude, Charles Fay and his guide Hans Kaufmann, Christian’s brother, were planning to climb Heejee that day as well.

 

Both groups set out on 20 July but Charles Fay and Hans Kaufmann found the snow conditions difficult and had to turn back. Gertrude and Christian were successful. Charles Fay was annoyed and later wrote a letter, ‘Hans Kaufmann led me, against my wishes, up Consolation Valley instead of taking my advice to go round Moraine Lake, while Christian led Miss Benham straight to the top of the mountain.’

 

Some people said that the Kaufmann brothers had wanted Gertrude to get to the top first and Hans had therefore taken Charles Fay on a route which took more time. Although this is a good story, no documents exist to prove this actually happened and it was never thought that Gertrude had any knowledge of it.

 

Disappointed, Charles Fay asked if he could choose a different mountain to take his name and chose Mount Shappee, but then found out that Gertrude and Christian had climbed that one as well. At this point Charles Fay agreed to have his name attached to Heejee, as he had originally wanted. He finally climbed to its top on 5 August 1904. Half a century later, his grandson climbed the north-eastern side of the mountain, by then known as Mount Fay. No other climber had ever managed to do this.

 

Gertrude Benham then travelled to New Zealand and Japan to do more climbing before going home to England, spending time in Australia and India on the way. Charles Fay made many more successful climbs. The first hut built in the Canadian Rockies to shelter climbers was called the Fay Hult. It was built in 1927 but unfortunately was destroyed in a forest fire in 2003.

Look at the sentences below about a music day for young people.

Read the text to decide if each sentence is correct or incorrect.

If it is correct, mark A.

If it is incorrect, mark B.

Young People’s Music Day

 

Dear Young Musicians,

Thank you for agreeing to take part in our Music Day. Here are some notes for your information.

 

The day

The whole idea of the day is for music students from secondary schools around the area to meet other players and receive expert teaching from our guests, six professional players. In the evening, you will perform the pieces you have worked on during the day at a concert which your friends and family can attend. The concert will include a range of music from you, followed by one piece from each of our guests.

 

Getting there

A map is included for the concert hall. Your school coaches will drop you at the main building. Please note that there is no return coach journey.

 

The programme

After you have registered at the reception, go to the main hall. First there will be a short performance by our professional musicians who are joining us for the day. After this you will go into your classes to practise on your own instruments for the evening concert. There will also be a chance to experiment with a different instrument from the one you normally play, and see if you enjoy playing something more unusual – we have several instruments to choose from!

 

What to bring

Bring a piece of music that you can play well. Part of the day will include a ‘masterclass’ in which you might have the opportunity, if there is enough time, to play a piece of your choosing and be given a short lesson by one of the professional players.

 

What to buy

There will be opportunities to buy sheet music or books during the day, so you may want to have money for these. If you wish to buy something, you could reserve it and then arrange to pick it up and pay when your parents arrive to watch the concert. This service will be available until 7 pm.

 

Going home

The first part of the day will finish at 5 pm, when parents can collect students. For those remaining in the hall until the evening concert at 7 pm, there will be DVDs for you to watch, although you should also bring something to do while you are waiting. A change of clothes is required for the evening – black trousers or skirt and white top – so unless you are going home at 5 pm, you will need to have this with you at the start of the day.

 

Evening concert

If for whatever reason you cannot attend the evening concert, you must inform us as soon as possible, as we need to know numbers in order to prepare the stage.

 

We look forward to seeing you at the Young People’s Music Day.

 

Look at the sentences below about a man who got lost in the Rocky Mountains.

Read the text to decide if each sentence is correct or incorrect.

If it is correct, mark A.

If it is incorrect, mark B.

Lost in the Rocky Mountains

 

Fifty- four- year- old scientist Bob Rigsby was lost for five days in Canada’s Rocky Mountains, and was only rescued after a mobile phone call to his wife, Shirley, over 8,000 km away in England.

 

Bob, a British wildlife expert, had been in Vancouver, Canada, giving a talk at a conference on the environment. When it was over, he travelled to the Rocky Mountains and checked into The Maple Leaf hotel. He then set off on a short walk to look at the local plant and animal life. After a couple of hours, he realised he had taken a wrong turning on the mountain path, but was sure he could easily get back to the hotel. Even when night fell, he remained confident.

 

But, after walking for several hours the next day, it became clear to Bob that he was in trouble. ‘I had my mobile phone with me, but the battery was almost dead. I thought I could probably make just one call but I didn’t know the number of my hotel and I didn’t want to worry my family unless I really had to.’ Bob carried on walking for three more days. He knew which wild plants he could safely eat and he had little trouble finding them. When he was thirsty he drank from streams.

 

On the fourth day, he reached a forest that he knew he had walked through the previous day. His heart sank. He realised it was hopeless and decided to call his family in England. ‘He was quite calm when he spoke to me on the phone,’ says Shirley. ‘He appeared to be in control of the situation, in spite of everything. He’d been lost a few times before, but never for so many days – that’s why this time was different.’ She immediately contacted The Maple Leaf hotel, after a quick call to the Canadian embassy in London to get its phone number. ‘We’re always anxious if our guests are away for a long time,’ says Greg McCaffrey, the hotel’s owner. ‘But that week several of our English visitors had gone to the city for a few days to watch the hockey games, and we thought Mr Rigsby had gone too.’ As soon as Shirley phoned, hotel staff called the rescue service, who sent out a search party for the scientist. They found him in a cave some hours later, very tired, but, apart from some cuts and scratches, quite unhurt.

 

‘I’ve learnt my lesson,’ says Bob. ‘I admit I was stupid to set off like that without a guide. I never want an experience like that again!’

Look at the sentences below about two wildlife filmmakers.

Read the text to decide if each sentence is correct or incorrect.

If it is correct, mark A.

If it is incorrect, mark B.

Wildlife Filmmakers

 

Richard and Sonia Muller make documentaries about wildlife, particularly dangerous animals, like the big cats found in Africa. Film-making for them is a way to bring the message of the importance of understanding wildlife to international audiences, with their last film, Staying Alive, exploring relationships between lions and other wildlife in one special project run by a wildlife organization that was providing information about the falling numbers of big cats, especially lions, they immediately agreed to take part.

 

Richard grew up near a wildlife park and as a child was keen on filming what he saw. The couple were introduced at university in Cape Town, and quickly realized how much they had in common. They were both curious about the natural world and Sonia soon discovered a similar talent for filmmaking. As a child in South Africa Sonia often ran off alone to explore the wild areas surrounding her home, despite her parents’ fears.

 

When asked what they found hardest about their work, Sonia and Richard have the same answer – leaving an area and finishing a project. Sonia adds that the hours required can be hard, and things like the heat, dust, and bugs make it very tiring. The excitement of her work comes from not knowing what will happen, perhaps even discovering something new for science, while Richard takes most interest in spending time with individual animals, getting to know their character.

You are going to read extract from a newspaper article about wildlife in New Zealand. Choose the answer (A, B C or D) which you think fits best according to the text.

Swimming with dolphins

Jonathan Lorie reports

 

As darkness fell on the olive trees, I had nothing particular to do, so I sat on my own in my tree house and listened to the Pacific waves roll in, without a care in the world. My muscles ached slightly from swimming with 400 dolphins beyond that surf, but I was looking forward to dinner in a nearby restaurant, then an evening in my room. My iPod was playing jazz but I was listening to the sounds of deer calling to one another outside. Was this, I wondered, the world’s finest place to get close to the wild?

I was in the small town of Kaikoura, in New Zealand. ‘It’s the best place in the world for swimming with dolphins,’ explained Kate Baxter, the receptionist who welcomed me to Hapuku Lodge. She showed me up the slightly loose stairs to my tree house. ‘And seeing whales,’ she added. ‘But mind you read the weather forecast at breakfast.’ She smiled. ‘If the sea’s rough, you might need a Kaikoura Cracker. It’s the only seasickness pill that works.’

Kaikoura has two great claims to fame. One is Hapuku Lodge – the luxury tree houses between the mountains and the sea. Its restaurant serves superb food and its management is keen to be green in every respect. It has been called the world’s most romantic location for a honeymoon. (line 25) The other lies just off
the coast. Below those huge waves is the Kaikoura Trench – a Grand Canyon of the ocean, 60 kilometres long and 1,200 metres deep, whose rich food chain attracts 14 species of dolphin and whale. Nowhere else in the world has such deep water a kilometre from shore.

Next morning, I’m ready for the sea. Following instructions, I search the breakfast room for that weather forecast. It’s a handwritten note that says: ‘Rough seas warning.’ Should I be worried by this, and go easy on the early-morning eating? But I don’t need much persuading by Stefan, the smartly dressed waiter, to try the Lodge’s full breakfast dish of the day: fried duck and potatoes with egg. It is wonderful.

Unlike my stomach when I hit the water an hour
later, determined to catch the best experience this coastline has to offer: a swim among dolphins. They’re everywhere. Our speedboat is surrounded by hundreds – jumping, diving and splashing in circles around us in a display of playfulness and trust. I sit there dressed in rubber, madly adjusting my mask. ‘You have too many smile lines,’ warns the instructor from Dolphin Encounter. ‘They’ll let the water in.’ Then I jump into the white water behind the boat.  

There’s a shock of cold water and the sensation of being in the middle of the ocean, even though we’re within sight of the mountains, not half a mile from shore. But out here the open water stretches all the way to Antarctica, and wide-winged, ocean-going birds fly just above the waves. It rises and falls like a vast creature breathing, the boat appearing and disappearing with each wave. Luckily, I have taken a Cracker.

Then I look down. Below me, far into the depths, are the shadow-like figures of dark dolphins. They move quickly through soft green light. I float face down, looking into their world. We make three dives like this – the maximum the instructor allows. ‘We don’t want to disturb them,’ he says. But it is enough. On the third, a single dolphin of my own length appears beside me. It stays close. I see its head turning towards me, looking into my face, and then I hear its voice. Nothing had prepared me for this.

You are going to read part of an autobiography in which a gardener talks about this childhood and his love of plants and the countryside. Choose the answer (A, B C or D) which you think fits best according to the text.

Green fingers

It never occurred to me when I was little that gardens were anything less than glamorous places. Grandad’s garden was on the bank of a river and sloped gently down towards the water. You couldn’t reach the river but you could hear the sound of the water and the birds that sang in the trees above. I imagined that all gardens were like this – a place of escape, peace and solitude. Grandad’s plot was nothing out of the ordinary when it came to features. He had nothing as grand as a greenhouse, unlike some of his neighbours. Not that they had proper ‘bought’ greenhouses. Theirs were made from old window frames. Patches of plastic would be tacked in place where a carelessly wielded spade had smashed a pane of glass.

            At home, his son, my father, could be quiet and withdrawn. I wouldn’t want to make him sound humourless. He wasn’t. Silly things would amuse him. He had phrases that he liked to use, ‘It’s immaterial to me’ being one of them. ‘I don’t mind’ would have done just as well but he liked the word ‘immaterial’. I realise that, deep down, he was probably disappointed that he hadn’t made more of his life. He left school without qualifications and became apprenticed to a plumber. Plumbing was not something he was passionate about. It was just what he did. He was never particularly ambitious, though there was a moment when he and Mum thought of emigrating to Canada, but it came to nothing. (line 14) Where he came into his own was around the house. He had an ‘eye for the job’. Be it bookshelves or a cupboard – what he could achieve was astonishing.

 

            My parents moved house only once in their entire married life. But my mother made up for this lack of daring when it came to furniture. You would just get used to the shape of one chair when another appeared, but the most dramatic change of all was the arrival of a piano. I always wanted to like it but it did its best to intimidate me. The only thing I did like about it were two brass candlesticks that jutted out from the front. ‘They’re too posh’, my mother said and they disappeared one day while I was at school. There was never any mention of mine being allowed to play it. Instead lessons were booked for my sister. When I asked my mother in later life why I wasn’t given the opportunity, her reply was brief: ‘You’d never have practised’.

 

            Of the three options, moors, woods or river – the river was the one that usually got my vote. On a stretch of the river I was allowed to disappear with my imagination into another world. With a fishing net over my shoulder I could set off in sandals that were last year’s model, with the fronts cut out to accommodate toes that were now right to the end. I’d walk along the river bank looking for a suitable spot where I could take off the painful sandals and leave them with my picnic while I ventured out, tentatively, peering through the water for any fish that I could scoop up with the net and take home. After the first disastrous attempts to keep them alive in the back yard, they were tipped back into the water.

 

            I wanted to leave school as soon as possible but seemed an unlikely prospect until one day my father announced, ‘They’ve got a vacancy for an apprentice gardener in the Parks Department. I thought you might be interested.’ In one brief moment Dad had gone against his better judgement. He might still have preferred it if I became a carpenter. But I like to feel that somewhere inside him was a feeling that things might just turn out for the best. If I stuck at it. Maybe I’m deceiving myself, but I prefer to believe that in his heart, although he hated gardening himself, he’d watched me doing it for long enough and noticed my unfailing passion for all things that grew and flowered and fruited.

You are going to read an article about an island off the west coast of Scotland. Choose the answer (A, B C or D) which you think fits best according to the text.

The Isle of Muck

Jim Richardson visits the Scottish island of Muck

 

Lawrence MacEwen crouches down on his Scottish island, the Isle of Much. And so do I. An Atlantic gale threatens to lift and blow us both out like October leaves, over the steep cliff at our feet and across the bay 120m below, dropping us in the surrounding ocean. Then MacEwen’s sheepdog, Tie, creeps up and his blond, bearded owner strokes him with gentle hands. The howling wind, rage as it might, can’t make this man uncomfortable here, on his island, where he looks – and is – perfectly at home.

 

MacEwen is giving me a visual tour of his neighbourhood. Nodding to the north, he yells, ‘That island is Eigg. The one to the west of it is the Isle of Rum. It gets twice as much rain as we do.’ I watch heavy clouds dump rain on its huge mountains. ‘Just beyond Rum is the island of Soay.’ ‘I have sheep to move,’ MacEwen abruptly announces when rain drifts towards us. We start down the slopes. As we stride along, he brings me up to speed on island details: Volcanic Muck is 3 km long and half as wide; its geese eat vast amounts of grass; and the MacEwens have been living here for 3,000 years.

 

Herding the sheep interrupts the flow of information. Tie, the sheepdog, is circling a flock of sheep – and not doing it well. ‘Away to me, Tie. Away to me’, meaning the dog should circle to the right. He doesn’t; he goes straight up the middle of the flock, creating confusion. ‘Tie.’ MacEwen’s voice drips disappointment. ‘That will never do.’ The dog looks ashamed.

 

The Isle of Muck is largely a MacEwen enterprise. Lawrance runs the fam with his wife, Jenny; son Colin, newly married, manages the island cottages; and daughter Mary runs the island hotel, Port Mor, with her husband, Toby. Mary and Toby love the fact that their two boys can wander the island on their own and sail dinghies on summer days. ‘They go out of the door and come back only when they’re hungry.’ But island life has its compromises. For one, electricity is only available part if the time. My first evening, I wait anxiously for the lights to turn on. The next morning I find Mary setting out breakfast by torchlight. But I cope with it – along with no mobile phone service. ‘There is mobile reception on the hill,’ Mary tells me. ‘Most visitors try for a couple of days, then just put the phone in the drawer,’ So do I too.

 

Everything on Muck seems delightfully improbable. The boat today brings over the post – and three musicians, who hop off carrying instruments. Their concert in the island’s tearoom proves a smash hit, with the islanders present tapping their boots in time to the music. That night, sitting by a glowing fire as it rains outside, Lawrence MacEwen tells me how he met his wife, Jenny. ‘Her father saw a small farm on the isle of Soay advertised in the newspaper, and bought it without even looking at it. He’d never been to Scotland. Jenny was sent to manage it.’ Did Jenny know anything about running a farm? She had good typing skills.’

 

I go to bed with rain and awake to more rain. But I eat well, virtually every bit of food coming from the tiny island. Mary sends me down to fisherman Sandy Mathers for fresh fish. I carry it back through the village and deliver it to Mary at the kitchen door. By 7 pm, our fish is on the table, delicious beyond reckoning. Also beyond reckoning: my ferry ride the following morning to my next island. Over the preceding two months, many of the scheduled ferries had been cancelled because of high seas. If my ferry didn’t come, I’d be stuck on Muck for two more days. (line 75) Which, now, phone or no phone, was what I secretly longed for.

You are going to read a magazine article about a famous pianist and the young student who became his pupil. For questions 31-36, choose the answer (A, B, C or D) which you think fits best according to the text.

A musician and his pupil

Paul Williams interviews the famous pianist Alfred Brendel

Over six decades the pianist Alfred Brendel gradually built up and maintained a dominant position in the world of classical music. He was an intellectual, sometimes austere, figure who explored and recorded the mainstream European works for the piano. He wrote and played a great deal, but taught very little. Those who knew him best glimpsed a playful side to his character, but that was seldom on display in his concerts. It was a disciplined, never-ending cycle of study, travel and performance.

 

And then, four or five years ago, a young boy, Kit Armstrong, appeared backstage at one of Brendel’s concerts and asked for lessons. Initially, Brendel didn’t take the suggestion very seriously. He had very few pupils and he saw no reason to start now. He quotes from another famous pianist: ‘You don’t employ a mountain guide to teach a child to walk.’ But there was something that struck him about the young boy – then about 14. He listened to him play. Brendel explained, ‘He played remarkably well and by heart. Then he brought me a CD of a little recital he had given where he played so beautifully that I thought to myself, “I have to make time for him.” It was a performance that really led you from the first to the last note. It’s very rare to find any musician with this kind of overview and the necessary subtlety.’

 

As Brendel is bowing out of the public eye, so Kit is nudging his way into it – restrained by Brendel, ever nervous about the young man burning out early. Kit, now 19, is a restless, impatient presence away from the lessons – always learning new languages; taking himself off to study maths, writing computer code or playing tennis. All under the watchful eye of his ever-present mother. On top of all this he composes. ‘This was very important,’ Brendel says. ‘If you want to learn to read music properly it is helped by the fact that you try to write something yourself. Then I noticed that Kit had a phenomenal memory and that he was a phenomenal sight reader. But more than this is his ability to listen to his own playing, his sensitivity to sound and his ability to listen to me when I try to explain something. He not only usually understands what I mean, but he can do it. And when I tell him one thing in a piece, he will do it everywhere in the piece where it comes in later.’

 

(line 50) Brendel catches himself and looks at me severely. ‘Now I don’t want to rise any expectations. I’m very cross if some newspapers try to do this. There was one article which named him as the future great pianist of the 21^st century, I mean, really, it’s the worst thing. One doesn’t say that in a newspaper. And it has done a great deal of harm. As usual, with gifted young players, he can play certain things amazingly well, while others need more time and experience. It would be harmful if a critic was there expecting the greatest perfection.’

 

It is touching to see the mellowness of Brendel in his post-performing years. He explains ‘When I was very young, I didn’t have the urge to be famous in five years’ time, but I had the idea I would like to have done certain thing by the age of 50. And when I was 50, I thought that I had done most of those things, but there was still some leeway for more, so I went on. Although I do not have the physical power to play now, in my head, there are always things going on, all sorts of pieces that I’ve never played. I don’t play now but it’s a very nice new career.’