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Full End-Of-Course Test: Advanced Expert
Full End-Of-Course Test: Advanced Expert
Advanced Expert
Full End-of-course Test
ANSWER ALL THE QUESTIONS
VOCABULARY AND GRAMMAR
1 For questions 1–25, read the text below and decide which answer (A, B, C or D) best fits each gap.
BACK TO SCHOOL
These days in the Western world, studying at a higher educational establishment is part and (1) _____ of life and
what is expected. Attitudes to education have (2) _____ and, as a consequence, more and more people now
undertake a (3) _____ degree in order to gain an edge in the job market. In my own case, I decided to make a
(4) _____ change to my life and return to education in my thirties. My own experiences of (5) _____ education
as a youngster hadn’t exactly helped (6) _____ in me a sense of purpose, I have to admit, and I did (7) _____ no
work at all in the last few years of school. This is something I have been (8) _____ to admit until recently.
However, feeling (9) _____ and disillusioned by low-paid, long working days, I decided to take the (10) _____
and enrolled for an access course in maths and science before continuing on to an undergraduate science degree.
Although I initially felt rather (11) _____ by my new surroundings and (12) _____ by the level of knowledge I
felt we were expected to have, I then realised that in the first year we were largely going (13) _____ old ground
and that it wasn’t exactly (14) _____ science. It was a really (15) _____change to be in such a positive learning
environment and very soon I (16) _____ my hair down and began to enjoy the challenges I faced. In fact I got
really (17) _____ on my studies. I developed a great work (18) _____ and gained confidence as I realised I
could (19) _____ the workload, which had at first (20) _____ me. As for my (21) _____ , well, although I had to
begin with felt I had little in (22) _____ with them as they were so much younger than me, I soon discovered
that when I (23) _____ conversations with them, they were easy to relate to. As the course progressed, I became
increasingly (24) _____ by the (25) _____ of career paths that I could pursue after graduation. You’ll never
believe what I’m doing now!
25
When you first try bungee-jumping you may have to overcome your instinct not to jump.
of your survival, (2) _______________ off an automated fear reaction where your body TRIGGER
freezes. I will admit that on my first attempt it was something of an (3) _______________ SETTLE
experience to be standing on a tiny platform hanging precariously off the side of a massive
bridge. Being a bit nervous, I tried (4) _______________ on the trees in front, rather than FOCUS
the river below. That’s what they had told me to do before purposefully and
(5) _______________ pushing me off the little piece of solidness I was reluctant to leave. APOLOGISE
An (6) _______________ bit of advice I had been given before jumping was to not close VALUE
my eyes as it would make me feel completely (7) _______________ . So I didn’t. When ORIENTATE
it came to the actual jump, I was immediately struck by the (8) _______________ of the INTENSE
gravitational pull as I plummeted towards the water. Not being one to do anything
(9) _______________ , I let out an enormous yell which echoed around me, releasing HALF-HEARTED
a rush of adrenalin. Naturally, I wanted another go the moment the jump was over!
SHOULD
HAVE
MINORITY
EACH
IF
WOULD
7 I’m not very happy that you didn’t call to cancel your booking.
LET
You might ___________________________ that you were going to cancel your booking.
MIND
I ___________________________ promoted.
HAVE
10 If the company went bankrupt, many people would lose their jobs.
WERE
11 The best thing about joining a sports club is the social life it offers.
LIKE
HIGH
13 She was unaware that they were watching her every move.
KNOW
CIRCUMSTANCES
AS
GET
PROSPECT
OBLIGATION
18
LISTENING
4 Listen to three different extracts. For questions 1–6, choose the answer (A, B or C) that fits best
according to what you hear. There are two questions for each extract.
You hear part of an interview with Hector Ramirez, a campaigner for the rights of cyclists.
Extract 1:
Extract 2:
A law-abiding citizens
B military personnel
C community-orientated people
Extract 3:
B They have promoted the discussion of global issues with the UN.
READING
5 Read the article about the International Space Station. For questions 1–12, match the endings (A–L) to
their beginnings, based on information given in the text.
1 On occasions, it’s possible to … _____
11 Day and night are simulated through the use of shutters … _____
12 Whilst exhilarating in the short term, staying on the space station for months on end … _____
G … spot the space station as it orbits 220 miles above the Earth.
The first crew entered the International Space Station in 2000. What is it like to be aboard a big tin can
travelling at 17,500 mph?
Few people will have noticed a small bright light that appears low in the night sky from time to time before
vanishing into the darkness. However, for a handful of people, that dot on the horizon is a place called home.
What looks like a wandering star is sunlight reflecting off the International Space Station, 220 miles above
Earth.
From down here there is little more to see, but close up the speck takes on a more complex form: a shiny hulk of
interconnecting tubes, metal frames and giant wing-like panels. As roomy as a five-bedroomed house, these are
the most extreme living quarters ever built.
Only a couple of hundred people have first-hand knowledge of life on the largest orbiting spacecraft ever built
and only a fraction have stayed more than six months. The longer the stint, the closer these veterans come to
perfecting the art of life in freefall. The footage of floating astronauts chasing food through the air makes it
seem as if the space station is free from the pull of gravity.
In fact, nothing could be further from the truth. The orbiting outpost is forever falling to Earth and would crash-
land were it not moving so fast as to maintain a gentle curve around the planet. In orbit, things are weightless
simply because they are all falling at the same speed.
Getting to the space station takes two days, flying at more than 30 times the altitude of a cruising jumbo jet and
at a breakneck 17,500 mph. The shuttle approaches from below and performs a graceful backwards roll as it
approaches. The docking procedure is as slow and cautious as you might expect, given the price tags on the
spacecraft (£1.1bn for a shuttle and around £64bn for the space station). Once they are locked together it takes
half an hour or so to equalise the pressure and finally open the hatches that separate the crews.
PHOTOCOPIABLE © 2014 Pearson Education Ltd. 8
‘You see these pale faces on the other side and they’re always excited to see you,’ says astronaut Piers Sellers.
The space station has a permanent crew of six so a new arrival is a cause for celebration.
That said, even the most welcome visitors can cause chaos if they are inexperienced. There is a subtle art to
moving around without crashing into anything (or anyone) or knocking computers, equipment and other objects
off the walls, which they are attached to with Velcro pads. One shuttle pilot confesses to leaving a trail of
laptops behind him the first time he tried to fly from one room to another. ‘You are like a bull in a china shop at
first,’ he said.
In time, people can perfect the skill and glide down the length of the station, straight as an arrow, without
touching anything except with their fingertips. People sit next to each other in mid-air, tapping at computers,
with only a toe hooked under a wall strap to anchor themselves.
In such close quarters, personal hygiene is a must but the weightless environment makes washing difficult.
Living in such conditions also does strange things to the body. Body fluids move up to the head, leaving
astronauts with thin, weak-looking legs and swollen faces, which has the happy side-effect of erasing wrinkles
and making space station crews look years younger, if only temporarily.
On the downside, many astronauts lose their sense of smell and taste. ‘All our meals taste like cardboard,’ says
one astronaut. With no gravity exerting itself on the body, both bones and muscles begin to waste and, on long
stays, crews try to spend at least two hours a day exercising.
It takes the space station one and a half hours to fly around the planet, making for 16 complete laps every day.
As a result, although the visual effect is spectacular, the continual assault of daylight and darkness would play
havoc with astronauts’ body clocks. To avoid this, a shutters-down schedule is imposed by mission controllers.
Each of the crew has a cupboard-like cabin where they can hook a bag to the wall and snuggle down into it.
Unsurprisingly, this arrangement can take some getting used to. Just as you are nodding off, you can feel as
though you’ve fallen off a building.
‘Short visits to the space station are hectic but easier to cope with psychologically than longer ones. If you are
there for a week or two you are basically on a high the whole time,’ says a Belgian astronaut. ‘It’s not the same
when you are there for six months. You need to manage your mood and motivation. What you really miss is the
contact with your family and friends.’
12
My wife and I have just returned from one of your highly acclaimed capital breaks in Vienna 21–29 July and are
extremely disappointed with this recent experience.
To begin with, the acommodation was not at all what we had been lead to expect from the information given in
your brochure. You advertise that all rooms are in a four-star hotel with airconditioning and en-suite bathrooms
but instead we were finding ourselves booked into a three-star that lacked all of the promised facilities.
Regarding for the staff they were noticeably absent for duration of our stay. Rarely was our calls to reception
answered and only once, when seeking assistence at reception, were we finding it manned. Added to this,
housekeeping staff were virtually non-existent and our bed was only made once while we were there.
Even more dissappointing was the fact the english-speaking tour guide promised in your brochure have, we
discovered, recently left and no replacement had been appointed. Given our limited knowlege of german and it
being our first time in Vienna we felt completely at a loss when trying to find our way around the city sights. I
would like to remind you that we did paid a higher premium to cover the cost of the guided tours and,
consequently, expect this to be reimbursed.
To sum up, we are highly disatisfied with the holiday provided by your company and are feeling that your
brochure gave misleading description of what includes. As you could appreciate, our holiday experiences does
not in any way live up to the promises made in your customary guarantee. I would therefore be grateful if you
will give this matter your prompt attention and get back to me in due course.
Yours faithfully,
30
Total: 100