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CPE Sample Test 1 - by Cambridge
CPE Sample Test 1 - by Cambridge
INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATES
Do not open this question paper until you are told to do so.
Write your name, centre number and candidate number on your answer sheets if they
are not already there.
Read the instructions for each part of the paper carefully.
Answer all the questions.
Read the instructions on the answer sheets.
Write your answers on the answer sheets. Use a pencil.
You must complete the answer sheets within the time limit.
At the end of the test, hand in both this question paper and your answer sheets.
* 500/2429/2
Part 1
For questions 1 – 8, read the text below and decide which answer (A, B, C or D) best fits each gap.
Mark your answers on the separate answer sheet.
A B C D
0
ADVENTURE TRAVEL
Wilfred Thesinger, the (0) D explorer once said, ‘We live our lives second-hand’. Sadly, his words
are true for far too many of us, as we (1) …….... in front of the television, (2) …….... in ‘reality’
television, living our adventures through the words and pictures of others. But it does not have to be
that way – there are more opportunities than ever for taking a break from our increasingly sanitised
lives and exploring not only some exotic (3) …….... of the globe, but also our own abilities and
ambitions. The kind of first-hand experience whose loss Thesinger laments is still available for anyone
willing to forsake the beaten (4) …….... , and put their mind to (5) …….... into the less explored
The (7) …….... in travel in recent years has been towards what is known as adventure travel. But
adventure doesn’t have to involve physical exertion; be it haggling over a souvenir in Peru, or getting
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4
Part 2
For questions 9 – 16, read the text below and think of the word which best fits each space. Use only
one word in each space. There is an example at the beginning (0). Write your answers IN CAPITAL
LETTERS on the separate answer sheet.
Example: 0 I F
MOBILE COMMUNICATION
For many people, mobile email is a habit they couldn’t give up even (0) IF they wanted to. And
(9) …….... should they want to? (10) …..….. all, the ability to send and receive emails from a mobile
device means they can stay in touch with colleagues, friends and family, whether they’re standing in a
queue at the supermarket, downing a quick cup of coffee in (11) …….... meetings or killing
It’s fair to say that access to email while (13) …….... the move has done much to whet appetites for
other kinds of collaborative tools. What’s (14) …….... , there’s a whole new way of working that has
opened up in recent years and, (15) …..….. a result, there’s a general expectation that efficiency and
productivity don’t necessarily take (16) …….... within the four walls of an organisation’s physical
offices.
5
Part 3
For questions 17 – 24, read the text below. Use the word given in capitals at the end of some of the
lines to form a word that fits in the space in the same line. There is an example at the beginning (0).
Write your answers IN CAPITAL LETTERS on the separate answer sheet.
Example: 0 E F F E C T I V E
_________________________________________________________________________________
POWER NAPS
sleep which dramatically improves (17) …….… , making it especially useful for ALERT
business (18) …….… . However, the conditions must be right and practice is EXECUTE
To prevent (20) …….… on awakening, power naps should last about 25 ORIENTATE
minutes. Falling asleep so quickly takes practice, but is in fact a habit which is
(21) …….… easy to acquire. Initially, it is more important to relax for a while COMPARE
than actually fall asleep, and power-napping is not a good idea if you find it
Finally, power-napping should not be confused with the kind of dozing that can
(23) …….… a sensation of overwhelming sleepiness during the day, which COMPANY
simply represents the (24) …….… experienced in the attempt to compensate DESPAIR
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6
Part 4
For questions 25 – 30, complete the second sentence so that it has a similar meaning to the first
sentence, using the word given. Do not change the word given. You must use between
three and eight words, including the word given. Here is an example (0).
Example:
objection
telling
demand
how
came
whatsoever
30 When he was at his most successful, the President had enormous influence.
height
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8
Part 5
You are going to read an extract from a novel. For questions 31 – 36, choose the answer
(A, B, C or D) which you think fits best according to the text. Mark your answers on the separate
answer sheet.
It was a precarious period for her where her own fortunes were concerned. She had to rely on freelance work for six
months after the quality weekly magazine folded. The regular salary cheque had always seemed derisively small, but
now it was like lost riches. Doggedly, she wrote letters and telephoned and peppered editors with unsolicited articles
and suggestions. Sometimes she struck lucky and got a commission. She wrote a profile of a woman politician who
appreciated her fair-minded approach and tipped her off about a local government row in a complacent cathedral
town. Lucy went there, investigated, talked to people and wrote a piece exposing a rich cauldron of corruption which
was snapped up by a national daily newspaper. This in turn led to a commission to investigate the controversial siting
of a theme park in the north of England. Her article was noticed by the features editor in search of something sharp
and bracing on the heritage industry in general. She was getting a name for abrasive comment, for spotting an issue
and homing in upon it. Anxiously, she scoured the press for hints of impending issues. In this trade, she saw, you
needed not so much to be abreast of things as ahead of them, lying in wait for circumstance, ready to pounce.
But an article sold every week or two did not pay the bills. She began to contemplate, bleakly, a return to the
treadmill of proofreading and copy-editing. And then one day she walked into the offices of the national daily which
had taken her cauldron of corruption piece and whose features editor had since looked kindly upon her. Having
handed over a speculative piece on the latest educational theories she’d written, she fell into conversation with an
acquaintance and learned that one of the paper’s regular columnists had fallen foul of the editor and departed in a
cloud of dust. The column, traditionally addressed to matters of the moment and written so as to provoke attention
and controversy, was untethered, so to speak. Lucy made the necessary phone call before her nerve went.
She was asked to submit a piece as a trial run which they published. ‘Great,’ they said. ‘We’ll let you know,’ they
said. ‘Soon,’ they assured her, ‘really very soon.’ She chewed her nails for a fortnight; a seasoned hack was given a
trial run after her; she read his contribution which, she saw with absolute clarity, was succinct, incisive and original.
Or just possibly anodyne, banal and plodding.
And then, the phone call came. She’d have a weekly column with her own by-line and her photograph, postage-stamp
size, next to it. There’d be a salary cheque, and perhaps fame and success to follow that. Thinking more
pragmatically, she realised that the job presented her with not only a wonderful opportunity but also the inevitable
pressure of keeping up with the twists and turns of events to which she must supply a perceptive commentary.
‘A start,’ she said to her mother, Maureen, and Bruce, her step-father. ‘It’s a start anyway, but they could fire me at
any moment.’
‘Just let them try,’ said Maureen belligerently. ‘I think you’re better with your hair a bit shorter. Or maybe that’s not
a very flattering picture. I think you’re very clever. You did some lovely essays at school. I wonder if I’ve still got
any of them somewhere.’
Later, when she was alone, Lucy thought that her appointment had probably been a piece of good fortune. She
refused to allow the word luck. She was young yet, and this was something of a plum. She must have got the job on
her merits, she told herself, along with whatever assistance there may have been from the inadequacies of others
considered for the appointment, or the failure of further rivals to apply. What she was never to know was that in fact
the editor had been on the verge of offering the column to the seasoned hack – had been about to pick up the phone –
when the colleague he most disliked had walked into his office and spoken with satisfaction of the prospect of closer
association with this old crony of his. The editor listened with some indignation, first at the assumption that this
would be his decision, and then at the notion of these two ganging up under his nose. As soon as the colleague was
out of the room he reached for the phone. And rang Lucy.
And so it began, that time during which she was so feverishly hitched to the affairs of public life that in retrospect it
was to seem as though she hurtled from day to day with the onward rush of the news, denied any of the lethargy of
individual existence.
9
31 After losing her job, how did Lucy feel about the salary she used to earn?
33 What made Lucy decide to apply for a job on the national daily?
35 On reflection, how did Lucy account for the fact that she got the job?
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10
Part 6
You are going to read an extract from an article. Seven paragraphs have been removed from the
extract. Choose from the paragraphs A – H the one which fits each gap (37 – 43). There is one extra
paragraph which you do not need to use. Mark your answers on the separate answer sheet.
When Spanish sailors landed in the Canary Islands authorities erected eight modest fog-collecting
in the 15th century, they were amazed to discover an devices on three of Lanzarote’s mountains.
aboriginal population with extensive agriculture
which they had somehow managed to sustain with 40
virtually no rainfall. Legend has it that the Guanche
people derived all their water from a single large This summer, having declared the initial experiment
tree, which stripped moisture out of passing fogs a success, the island council plans to install eight
and dripped enough water from its leaves to support much larger devices which will discharge water into
a thousand people. However true the story may be, a pumped drip irrigation network designed to keep
there is no doubt that the only thing stopping the the saplings watered. Riebold hopes that this will
Canaries from resembling the Sahara desert, just 70 form the pilot phase of a full-scale reforestation of
kilometres to the east, is the moisture-rich fog that the mountains of northern Lanzarote.
drifts in from the Atlantic Ocean.
41
37
If the initial results scale up, a new cloud forest
Sometime in the last century, the last of the trees could restore the island to its former glory. The
on high ground were cut down and the land began to Lanzarote government has targeted an area of about
dry out. This meant that across much of the 20 square kilometres in the north of the island,
north of the island, agriculture went into decline. though Riebold believes that the potential area for
Now David Riebold, a forestry scientist-turned- reforestation using fog collectors could stretch to 50
schoolteacher who owns a home on the island, has a square kilometres.
plan to reverse the trend. He wants to use artificial
fog harvesting to bring back the cloud forest, in 42
what promises to be the largest reforestation project
ever attempted using the technology. But the knock-on effects of reviving the forests go
beyond restoring the wildlife. Eventually, the forests
38 should capture enough moisture to help recharge the
area’s underground aquifers, many of which have
For years Riebold watched these failed efforts by remained empty since the forests disappeared. If
local foresters. Then he read about a successful this happens, wells down in the valleys could also
research project in Chile which harvested the fogs refill, reducing the island’s growing dependence on
that regularly rolled in from the Atacama desert. desalination, especially during the summer tourist
Nets erected on a ridge facing the ocean provided season.
enough water for a small town. Realising that
Lanzarote’s climate was very similar to Chile’s, 43
Riebold began to wonder whether fog harvesting
could be used to keep the saplings alive. Whether or not fog harvesting will prompt a large-
scale return to agriculture on the island remains to
39 be seen, but the lessons learned from harvesting fog
on the island’s hilltops may be adapted for people
On paper, fog harvesting looked like a solution to living not far away, and with a greater need to see
the island’s reforestation problems, but convincing their landscape green and watered. If Lanzarote can
the authorities to give it a try wasn’t easy. For many catch moisture from the air and convert it to forests
years Riebold tried and failed to convince anyone to and farmland, then perhaps its famine-prone
back his idea. It took the arrival of a new mayor to neighbours in West Africa could do the same.
finally get his scheme approved. ‘Proyecto David’,
as the locals call it, got under way, and the town
11
A This more ambitious scheme could be E Marciano Acuna, the local town councillor in
managed in one of two ways, he says. Either charge of the environment, says he hopes the
the hilltops could be covered with nets to grow trees will trigger a more widespread greening
new forests all at the same time, or this could of northern Lanzarote and have an impact on
be done in stages with a smaller number of the whole ecology of the region. Once the trees
nets being moved around to reforest each area are back, the quality of the soil will improve,
in turn. After perhaps two years of water from and a long-lost forest ecosystem will have a
the fog collectors, saplings would be tall chance to return, providing habitat for species
enough to collect the fog water themselves. long since confined to other islands in the
Canaries.
B The results look promising. A litre a day
should be enough to support one seedling, and F Even in the hottest months, clouds form over
Riebold has found that on some sites, a square the mountains of northern Lanzarote. As the
metre of net catches an average of two litres of trade winds blow over the island the mountains
water each day. One site averaged five litres a force moisture-rich vapour into droplets. The
day even at the hottest time of year. surface of the mountain is too hot for this to
happen at ground level, so the fog rarely
C Centuries ago, the island’s inhabitants carved touches the ground. ‘That’s why the saplings
tunnels up the mountainside and into died,’ says Riebold. ‘They never got tall
underground aquifers. These drained into enough to touch the fog and capture the
collecting areas lower down. Once the island’s moisture on their leaves.’
main source of water, they could be brought
back to life by reinstating the cloud forest. G Farmers would certainly benefit, as water
in Lanzarote has become very expensive,
D In times gone by, all seven of the islands had and there are tight restrictions on the irrigation
rich cloud forests that trapped moisture from of farmland. This has made agriculture
the trade winds and quenched an otherwise dry increasingly difficult and, combined with the
region. More recently, though, much of the rise of tourism as a source of revenue, has
islands’ forest has been lost – removed for turned it into a weekend occupation at best for
firewood, construction and to make way for many residents.
farmland. Most of the islands still have some
degree of forest cover, but one, Lanzarote, is H The bare hills in this region have been of
all but bare. increasing concern to the island’s authorities.
Despite numerous attempts in the past decade,
all replanting schemes have so far been
unsuccessful. With limited water supplies on
the island, the newly planted trees dried out
and died, leaving the hilltops littered with
hundreds of dead saplings.
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12
Part 7
You are going to read an extract from a book on photography. For questions 44 – 53, choose from the
sections (A – E). The sections may be chosen more than once.
the possibility that photography can directly influence events in the world 44 ……..
the possibility that the photographic image has become redundant 45 ……..
a commonly held view about the relationship between what is visible and how it is 47 ……..
interpreted
the possibility that the techniques employed in photography today have taken the 49 ……..
medium back to where it started
the ability of photography to provide images that will exist for a long time 50 ……..
the view that photography was the greatest achievement in the history of visual 53 ……..
images
13
Photography
A historical background
Writing D27*/02
∗
SAMPLE TEST 1
INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATES
Do not open this question paper until you are told to do so.
Write your name, centre number and candidate number on your answer sheet if they are
not already there.
Read the instructions for each part of the paper carefully.
Answer the Part 1 question and one question from Part 2.
Write your answers on the answer sheet.
Write clearly in pen, not pencil. You may make alterations, but make sure your work is easy
to read.
You must complete the answer sheet within the time limit.
At the end of the test, hand in both this question paper and your answer sheet.
* 500/2429/2
© UCLES 2015 Cambridge English Level 3 Certificate in ESOL International
1
Part 1
Write an essay summarising and evaluating the key points from both texts. Use your own words
throughout as far as possible, and include your own ideas in your answers.
Once upon a time outdoor advertising was straightforward. Posters were stuck up
on anything from a bus shelter to a motorway hoarding. Many people considered
this kind of advertising to be fairly dull, a harmless blot on the landscape and
chose to ignore it. These people now regard digital advertising as a form of
unwanted, creeping commercialisation: it attracts a buzz simply because it is new.
They feel that any advertising which targets children or vulnerable adults is a
dubious practice at the best of times, and digital advertising is, moreover, wasteful,
damaging to the environment and completely unnecessary.
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2
Part 2
Write an answer to one of the questions 2 – 5 in this part. Write your answer in 280 – 320
words in an appropriate style on pages 7 and 8. Put the question number in the box at the top
of page 7.
2 A travel magazine has asked readers to send in articles on their favourite public building, a
town hall or a museum, for example. You decide to write an article in which you describe
your favourite public building, explain why it is your favourite building and assess its
significance for the wider community.
3 You belong to an English-language reading group which recently read a book in cartoon
format. You have agreed to write a review of the book for the group’s website. In your
review you should give your opinion of the cartoon format used for the book and say
whether you think cartoons are a good way of telling a story, in general.
4 A popular English-language magazine has invited readers to send in letters sharing their
recent experience of making an important decision. You decide to send in a letter in which
you briefly describe the situation and explain the reasons why you took an important
decision, and assess what the consequences of that decision might be in the future.
Write your letter. You do not need to write any postal addresses.
5 Write an answer to one of the following two questions based on one of the titles below.
Write 5(a) or 5(b) at the beginning of your answer.
You belong to a book club which has asked its members to write reports on the
theme of trust in a novel of their choice. You decide to write a report recommending
The Cryptographer, describing the part trust plays in the development of the story
and assessing how important trust is to at least two characters in the novel.
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4
Listening D27*/03
SAMPLE TEST 1
INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATES
Do not open this question paper until you are told to do so.
Write your name, centre number and candidate number on your answer sheet if they are
not already there.
Listen to the instructions for each part of the paper carefully.
Answer all the questions.
While you are listening, write your answers on the question paper.
You will have 5 minutes at the end of the test to copy your answers onto the separate answer
sheet. Use a pencil.
At the end of the test, hand in both this question paper and your answer sheet.
* 500/2429/2
© UCLES 2015 Cambridge English Level 3 Certificate in ESOL International
1
Part 1
Extract One
You hear a man talking about a new project being launched in a group of small Atlantic islands.
Extract Two
You hear part of an interview with an art critic, in which an exhibition featuring the latest work of
photographer Tim Fitzgerald is discussed.
4 The art critic says that Fitzgerald’s pictures in the current show
Extract Three
You hear a woman talking on the radio about her favourite piece of music.
5 How does the speaker say she feels when listening to her favourite piece of music?
A engrossed
B nostalgic
C inspired
6 The speaker believes that critics of her favourite music are wrong to
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3
Part 2
You will hear a nutritionist talking about the production and uses of mastic, a spice that is found in the
Mediterranean area.
For questions 7 – 15, complete the sentences with a word or short phrase.
_________________________________________________________________________________
Mastic is collected from a tree which looks like a smaller form of the 7
tree.
Some people believe that mastic can help in the treatment of health problems, especially some
15 conditions.
4
Part 3
You will hear a discussion in which two marine biologists, Gina Kelso and Thomas Lundman, talk
about an award-winning television film they made about wildlife in Antarctica.
For questions 16 – 20, choose the answer (A, B, C or D) which fits best according to what you hear.
________________________________________________________________________________
18 How did Thomas feel when he was asked to produce the programmes about Antarctica?
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Part 4
You will hear five short extracts in which different people are talking about taking a gap year – the time which some young people take off from
their studies to gain other experience.
For questions 21 – 25, choose from the list (A – H) what each For questions 26 – 30, choose from the list (A – H) which benefit of
speaker did during their gap year. having a gap year each speaker mentions.
You will hear the recording twice. While you listen, you must complete both tasks.
5
Speaker 2 22 Speaker 2 27
D did voluntary work D improved linguistic skills
Speaker 3 23 Speaker 3 28
E taught a sport E dealing with disappointment
Candidates ……………………………………………………………………………..
Interlocutor Now, in this part of the test you’re going to do something together. Here are
some pictures of people in different situations.
First, I’d like you to look at pictures * and * and talk together about how
common these situations are in your country.
You have about a minute for this, so don’t worry if I interrupt you.
(2 minutes for groups of three)
Candidates
1 minute …………………………………………………………………………….…
(2 minutes for groups
of three)
Interlocutor Thank you. Now look at all the pictures.
Talk together about the different issues related to working in the food industry
that these pictures show. Then decide which issue might stimulate most
interest.
You have about three minutes to talk about this. (4 minutes for groups of three)
Candidates
3 minutes …………………………………………………………………………….…
(4 minutes for groups
of three)
Interlocutor Thank you. (Can I have the booklet, please?) Retrieve Part 2 booklet.
Certificate of Proficiency in English
Speaking Test
Interlocutor Now, in this part of the test you’re each going to talk on your own for about two minutes.
You need to listen while your partner is speaking because you’ll be asked to comment
afterwards.
So (Candidate A), I’m going to give you a card with a question written on it and I’d like you
A to tell us what you think. There are also some ideas on the card for you to use if you
like.
All right? Here is your card.
Place Part 3 booklet, open at Task 1(a), in front of Candidate A.
Please let (Candidate B) see your card. Remember (Candidate A), you have about two
minutes to talk before we join in.
[Allow up to 10 seconds before saying, if necessary: Would you like to begin now?]
Candidate A ……………………………………………………………………………….
2 minutes
Interlocutor Thank you.
Candidates ……………………………………………………………………………….
1 minute
Interlocutor Thank you. (Can I have the booklet, please?) Retrieve Part 3 booklet.
Task 1(a)
• in education
• at work
• at different ages
1 Decisions (cont.)
Interlocutor Now (Candidate B), it’s your turn to be given a question. Here is your card.
Place Part 3 booklet, open at Task 1(b), in front of Candidate B.
Please let (Candidate A) see your card. Remember (Candidate B), you have about two
B minutes to tell us what you think, and there are some ideas on the card for you to use if
you like. All right?
[Allow up to 10 seconds before saying, if necessary: Would you like to begin now?]
Candidate B ……………………………………………………………………………….
2 minutes
Interlocutor Thank you.
• If you had to depend on only one of the media for information, which would you
choose? ….. (Why?)
• To what extent do you believe what you read or hear?
• What kind of decisions need to be made before TV programmes are broadcast to
children?
Invite Candidate B to join in by selecting
one of the following prompts:
• What do you think?
• Do you agree?
• How about you?
Candidates ……………………………………………………………………………….
1 minute
Interlocutor Thank you. (Can I have the booklet, please?) Retrieve Part 3 booklet.
Task 1(b)
• spending habits
• current affairs
• entertainment
Interlocutor Now, to finish the test, we’re going to talk about ‘decisions’ in general.
Address a selection of the following questions to both candidates:
• Nowadays, there are so many products to choose from that it’s impossible to
choose. To what extent do you agree?
up to 4 minutes
• Who should decide how taxes are spent, government ministers or local people?
….. (Why?)
• Why do jobs that involve taking difficult decisions appeal to some people?
• What difficult decisions do you think scientists will face in the future?
• What is the best way of deciding how a criminal is punished?
• How easy is it to repair a wrong decision?
Interlocutor Thank you. That is the end of the test.
1
D
C
Cambridge Certificate of Proficiency in English Listening Test.
SAMPLE TEST.
— ÄÄÄ —
There will now be a pause. Please ask any questions now, because you must not speak
during the test.
PAUSE 5 SECONDS
PAUSE 5 SECONDS
You will hear three different extracts. For questions 1 – 6, choose the answer (A, B or C)
which fits best according to what you hear. There are two questions for each extract.
Extract One.
PAUSE 15 SECONDS
— ÄÄÄ —
Strolling along a deserted beach, I saw a bottle dusted with sand and found a message
curled inside. An exciting moment! But messages in bottles are not new here. The earliest
dates back to eighteen sixty when ships used them to keep those on land informed of their
progress. None too reliable when your ship is sinking!
But the local museum is launching a project using bottled messages, not just to promote the
whereabouts of the islands and attract tourism. Islanders are being invited to include maps
and information about the islands themselves. Bottles have been collected from local
beaches and are, though not in the traditional sense, being recycled. Primarily and more
ambitiously, the project is set to identify tidal movements. Not by science or satellite
systems, but by hurling these bottles back into the sea!
The hope is that people will reply to these messages through the more traditional postal
system. Islanders will gain pen pals and new visitors, and the final whereabouts of the
bottles will enable scientists to track their paths.
And all this from bottles discarded on a beach!
PAUSE 5 SECONDS
— ÄÄÄ —
PAUSE 2 SECONDS
PAUSE 15 SECONDS
Presenter:
Last year, Tim Fitzgerald exhibited photographs of his family, but in the current exhibition,
which he shares with two other visual artists, he focuses solely on landscapes. What’s your
impression of them?
Critic:
I’m not sure he has what it takes to move beyond his family. Last year’s images of his
nearest and dearest were very moving, weren’t they – there was a wonderful close-up of his
sister’s face, almost like an abstract. But these landscapes… they’re not impressive or
particularly articulate.
Presenter:
I know he invokes the influence of several famous painters. You didn’t find any of that in his
landscapes?
Critic:
No. I think he has produced a couple of strong images, but there’s no sign of them in the
current show and I'm at a loss to know why. It’s a very random choice. And also, four small
photos in a large gallery feel very sparse. You can see it was an attempt to draw you in, but
for me it backfired. You need more impact to raise the curtain on the exhibition – it’s not as if
it’s the last room, it’s the first, and you move on to other artists’ works…
PAUSE 5 SECONDS
— ÄÄÄ —
PAUSE 2 SECONDS
Extract Three.
PAUSE 15 SECONDS
— ÄÄÄ —
One of my own thoughts about this piece is the idea that you’re letting yourself go,
abandoning yourself. For me, that’s certainly what happens to me. When you’re really
immersed in it, you’re no longer self-conscious, you’re absolutely the recipient of the sound.
For me it’s not even as if it conjures up a specific event. At one point, I was playing it all the
time – in supermarket queues, walking into work – having that sound in my ears gave me a
world and a space that was very different. My family got pretty fed up. Certainly my
husband winces at my corny tastes. I don’t know if corny’s the right word, but a colleague
once said to me she would have expected something less banal. I find that rather sad. OK,
so it’s a piece that obviously works for many other people too, but that doesn’t mean to say it
should be denigrated, just because you don’t have to have great sophistication in music to
appreciate it.
PAUSE 5 SECONDS
— ÄÄÄ —
PAUSE 5 SECONDS
You will hear a nutritionist talking about the production and uses of mastic, a spice that is
found in the Mediterranean area. For questions 7 – 15, complete the sentences with a word
or short phrase.
PAUSE 45 SECONDS
— ÄÄÄ —
I want to talk to you today about a spice which is not very well known outside its home
territory, and that is mastic. Mastic is a resinous substance which comes from a tree of the
pistachio nut family and it is one of Europe’s oldest spices. In fact, in its heyday it was
considered so precious that armies quite literally fought over the islands where it was grown
so that their masters would have the right to control its cultivation and sale.
Let’s take a look first at how mastic is produced. The mastic tree itself resembles an olive to
the untrained eye but is not quite as large. In a process which is rather similar to the
collection of rubber, growers cut the bark of the tree so that the tree then has to exude a
sticky sap or resin to heal the wound, and this sap is mastic. The sap needs to harden in
order to be of any use and strangely this only happens in the Mediterranean area. Efforts
have been made in the past to transplant and cultivate the tree in other parts of the world, but
so far without success.
The resin is then removed from the tree and, because it’s so precious, people even pick up
the dirt under the tree and ensure that every last tiny bit of mastic is harvested. The growers
try to pick out any grit which might have become embedded in the mastic gum. They just
use simple pins to do this; unusually for nowadays, there are no mechanical aids or gadgets
to speed up the process. Everything is still done in the traditional, labour-intensive way, by
hand. If you examine a small piece of mastic it will look like a white crystal, similar to sea
salt. Poets have even mentioned mastic in their work, alluding to it rather romantically as
‘silver tears’, suggesting again how much it’s valued.
Having harvested and cleaned the crystals, the growers often take the mastic from their
trees, except for a small amount which they keep for their personal use, to a local co-
operative, which contacts various commercial buyers and negotiates a decent price for the
growers.
Now, what is mastic actually used for? In fact, its use can be traced back thousands of
years. Archaeologists have found small lumps of mastic with the imprint of juvenile human
teeth, suggesting that the earliest use of mastic was as a chewing gum for young people,
something which still occurs today.
Nowadays it’s also used as a flavouring in sweet things like biscuits and to great effect in ice
cream. Its value here is that it also provides a stickier texture, which means that it takes
longer to soften, a useful quality in the hot Mediterranean summers. Mastic can also be used
to flavour liquids. For example, in some rural areas, small fires are lit and a few grains of
PAUSE 10 SECONDS
— ÄÄÄ —
REPEAT PART 2
PAUSE 5 SECONDS
PAUSE 5 SECONDS
You will hear a discussion in which two marine biologists, Gina Kelso and Thomas Lundman,
talk about an award-winning television film they made about wildlife in Antarctica. For
questions 16 – 20, choose the answer (A, B, C or D) which fits best according to what you
hear.
PAUSE 60 SECONDS
— ÄÄÄ —
Int.:
Today, we’re talking to marine biologists Gina Kelso and Thomas Lundman, who you will
recently have seen in their award-winning TV series about Antarctica. So, Thomas, what’s it
like to suddenly become a household name?
Thomas:
Well, we’re being interviewed for all sorts of publications and programmes since our
television series about the wildlife in Antarctica won a major award. I’m often asked if I’ve
always been interested in marine wildlife, and I find that hard to answer. What about you,
Gina?
Gina:
That’s an easy one for me, Thomas. I grew up on African shores, where my father worked
for an international company. I could swim by the age of four, snorkel at five. I guess I was
destined for marine biology because I’ve always been as happy in the water as on land. I
remember a particular evening when I was about eleven. It was dusk and I was snorkelling,
and I came across hundreds of stingrays entwined together. It was extraordinary; another
world, and that was the moment that decided me. Although I later went to school in the
middle of England, I’d lie awake at night dreaming of the ocean. Fortunately, I got in to
university to do zoology and went on to do research in marine biology.
Thomas:
— ÄÄÄ —
REPEAT PART 3
PAUSE 5 SECONDS
PAUSE 5 SECONDS
Part 4 consists of two tasks. You will hear five short extracts in which different people are
talking about taking a gap year – the time which some young people take off from their
studies to gain other experience. Look at Task 1. For questions 21 – 25, choose from the
list (A – H) what each speaker did during their gap year. Now look at Task 2. For questions
26 – 30, choose from the list (A – H) which benefit of having a gap year each speaker
mentions. While you listen you must complete both tasks.
PAUSE 45 SECONDS
— ÄÄÄ —
Speaker One
PAUSE 2 SECONDS
I knew I’d be short of money if I didn’t work before going to university, so I decided not to jet
around the globe, and found a job in the nearest town instead. I had to live in because of
early shifts, and only realised on about day two it meant I couldn’t keep up my tennis –
which was a blow, because I was a very keen player. But I got over it in the end, which just
goes to show nothing’s that important. Anyway, I was having too much fun with the rest of
the staff to fret about it – I wonder if they’re all still there? The worst part of the job was
when guests complained, which they frequently did!
PAUSE 3 SECONDS
Speaker Two
PAUSE 2 SECONDS
Well, I took a gap year because I thought I hadn’t seen enough of the world. I considered
doing an overland trek across the Sahara, or helping out somewhere as a volunteer. Then I
found a remote village in Kenya where they needed my skills – they’re all football-mad there
– and a Nairobi businessman agreed to pay me a living wage. I settled in OK, although I
never got the hang of the language, and that year gave me some serious thinking time. I
realised I didn’t want to complete my course back home, even though I’d already spent
quite a lot of money and time on it. It’s all good experience anyway.
Speaker Three
PAUSE 2 SECONDS
The whole thing was a disaster from start to finish. I’d had a sort of feeling it might turn out
badly. We didn’t have the right training or equipment, and because there was no office
back-up, we couldn’t get news forwarded to our families. And the leader – well, I wonder
how experienced he really was. He couldn’t speak the porters’ language at all. You could
say our pioneering spirit was crushed by the time we got back to base camp! On the other
hand, we did bond as a group, and I see a couple of them regularly and have done ever
since that time. So perhaps it wasn’t all bad.
PAUSE 3 SECONDS
Speaker Four
PAUSE 2 SECONDS
I know some agencies will organise your gap year and sort out, say, working for a charity,
but I’d much rather do what I did – just go off on the spur of the moment and see where you
end up. It was absolutely brilliant, even though it took all the money I’d saved up for it – the
fare and the hotels and eating in restaurants were to blame for that. At least I know I can
cope on my own now and that’s a new thing for me. Sadly, I haven’t managed to keep up
with the people I met in all those different cultures – I’m not surprised though – that’s life.
PAUSE 3 SECONDS
Speaker Five
PAUSE 2 SECONDS
I was told to stick to the script whether it was in French, German or Spanish. People don’t
even ask many questions – it got quite boring after a while, because I felt there wasn’t any
real communication between me and them. And if it’s raining, you get wet just hopping on
and off the coach. I didn’t have high hopes before I started, although it certainly was a good
way of earning some much-needed cash, and there were some nice people at head office,
but in the end I did wonder if I couldn’t have found something a bit more inspiring. How
often do people get a year off in their lifetime?
PAUSE 10 SECONDS
— ÄÄÄ —
REPEAT PART 4
PAUSE 5 SECONDS
There will now be a pause of five minutes for you to copy your answers onto the separate
answer sheet. Be sure to follow the numbering of all the questions. I shall remind you when
there is one minute left, so that you are sure to finish in time.
PAUSE 1 MINUTE
That is the end of the test. Please stop now. Your supervisor will now collect all the question
papers and answer sheets.
Part 1 Part 3
1 B 17 alertness
2 C 18 executives
3 A 19 maximise / maximize
4 C 20 disorientation
5 B 21 comparatively
6 B 22 designated
7 A 23 accompany
8 C 24 desperation
Part 2 Part 4
15 as
16 place
Part 5 Part 6 Part 7
31 C 37 D 44 D
32 C 38 H 45 E
33 D 39 F 46 C
34 B 40 B 47 B
35 A 41 A 48 A
36 C 42 E 49 E
43 G 50 B
51 D
52 A
53 C
Paper 4: Listening Test
SAMPLE TEST
Part 1
1 C 2 B 3 A 4 B 5 A 6 C
Part 2
7 olive
8 harden
9 (simple) pins
10 (silver) tears
11 (local) co-operative OR
(local) cooperative OR
(local) co-op
13 ice(-)cream
14 (clay) pots
15 stomach
Part 3
16 B 17 A 18 B 19 D 20 D
Part 4
21 F 22 E 23 H 24 B 25 G
26 E 27 H 28 A 29 C 30 B