Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Style Rookie
I By now, most people in the fashion industry recognise Tavi Gevinson, a fourteen-year-old girl from
Chicago who has been writing a fashion blog called Style Rookie since she was eleven. Today, Tavi
is an influential figure in the world of fashion. She is invited to attend the top fashion shows in the
world and often appears in popular fashion magazines.
II Tavi’s interest in fashion began when she was nine years old. She began by pasting cuttings from
fashion magazines into black notebooks, and later moved on to blogging. In her blog, she wrote
about her thoughts on fashion and posted comments about clothes that appeared in fashion
magazines and in fashion shows. She also posted photographs of her own original outfits.
III Amazingly, her blog quickly became very popular. It also began to generate a lot of interest from the
press and from the fashion designers that she wrote about. At first, many people in the fashion
industry believed that the blog was fake because they felt that such a young girl could not have
written such a sophisticated and professional fashion blog. However, they soon realised that
although Tavi was young and inexperienced, she had a remarkable eye when it came to fashion.
IV Tavi’s parents had no idea about their daughter’s blog until she was asked to appear in an article in
the New York Times. Since Tavi was still under the age of 16, she had to ask her parents’ permission
before she could agree. Although they were a little surprised to discover how famous their daughter
was, they did not stand in her way. Since then, Tavi’s parents have continued to support their
daughter’s passion and her father has even accompanied her to many fashion shows.
V Tavi continues to take on new projects. She recently signed a contract with a popular London-based
clothing company that intends to produce and sell a T-shirt that she will design. She also has plans to
launch a new fashion magazine. It would appear that Tavi Gevinson will continue to dominate the
fashion industry for quite some time.
1 Decide if the following sentences are true (T) or false (F). Find evidence in the text to justify
your answers. (4 x 4 = 16 points)
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3. Tavi has never been to a fashion show.
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Optional Reading Read the text and answer the questions that follow.
Tornado Tourism
I An increasing number of travellers from all over the world are trading in their beach holidays for
storm-chasing tours. Many of these tours take place in Tornado Alley, an area in the Midwest of the
United States which is famous for its tornadoes. They are led by meteorologists and experienced
storm chasers and allow participants to follow tornadoes, in the hope that they will actually get to
see one up close.
II Storm-chasing tours last from a few days to a few weeks. Participants travel in vehicles equipped
with the latest high-tech equipment, such as mobile Internet and satellite connections. Tour guides
use this equipment to help them head in the right direction. They are trying to get to a place that will
allow participants to witness the storm without being in danger.
III Although participants in storm-chasing tours say that the experience can be exhilarating, they warn
that it can also be exhausting. “Tornado tourists”, as storm chasers are called, can sometimes drive
up to 600 miles on any given day. They live out of a suitcase and have no idea where they are going
to sleep on any particular night. What’s more, since all storm chasers are heading for the same area,
they often have to fight over the limited number of available hotel rooms. It is not unusual for them
to have to share a room or even a bed with fellow chasers!
IV Participants in storm-chasing tours must expect to be frustrated. They can spend days driving around
before they actually get to see anything. In addition, while they are likely to witness severe weather
conditions on their trip, the chances of actually seeing a tornado are quite slim.
V For people who join storm-chasing tours, a single storm-chasing experience is often not sufficient. In
fact, storm-chasing tour operators note that much of their business comes from repeat customers, and
that a significant number of people who participate in a storm-chasing tour come back. It appears
that storm chasing is addictive.
3 Decide if the following sentences are true (T) or false (F). Find evidence in the text to justify
your answers. (3 x 3 = 9 points)
1. Tour guides aim to take tornado chasers to dangerous places.
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2. People who participate in storm-chasing tours have mixed feelings about the tours.
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3. People who participate in storm-chasing tours are told in advance where they will
be staying.
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Optional Reading Read the text and answer the questions that follow.
The One Who Lived
I On 24th December, 1971, LANSA flight 508 was struck by lightning over the Peruvian rainforest.
Of the 93 passengers and crew on board the flight, only 17-year-old Juliane Koepke survived.
II Juliane Koepke was a German secondary school student studying in Lima. She and her mother,
Maria, were travelling to Pucallpa in Peru to join Juliane’s father, Hans, for Christmas. Twenty-five
minutes into the flight, the plane flew into heavy clouds and started shaking. Moments later, the
plane was hit by a bolt of lightning and broke into pieces in midair. Juliane was thrown out of the
plane, still strapped to her seat. She landed two miles down in the dense trees of the jungle.
III Miraculously, Juliane suffered relatively minor injuries. Her collar bone was broken, her eye was
swollen shut and she had large cuts on her arms and legs. When she woke up, she found herself
stranded in the rainforest, alone, still sitting in her plane seat.
IV Yet she did not give up. She realised that if she found a stream and followed it, it would lead to a
bigger river. Once she managed to reach a river, she knew she was more likely to find civilisation
and help.
V The day after the crash, she found a stream and started to wade through it. She trekked for nine days,
through streams filled with crocodiles and piranhas. Finally, she came to a river where she found a
small hut. Starved and exhausted, she collapsed at the door. The next day, she was found by a group
of Peruvian lumberjacks and was taken to a hospital in the next town. There, she was reunited with
her father.
VI After her recovery, Juliane returned to Germany, where she continued her studies. She went on to
become a zoologist.
VII Juliane has never forgotten her terrible ordeal. The events that took place in 1971 continue to haunt
her, especially when she is confronted by plane crashes or similar tragedies in the news. Yet she has
succeeded in leading a happy and productive life. This perhaps is her greatest achievement.
3 Decide if the following sentences are true (T) or false (F). Find evidence in the text to justify
your answers. (3 x 3 = 9 points)
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2. When Juliane woke up, she found herself lying on the ground.
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Optional Reading Read the text and answer the questions that follow.
Virtual Romance
I Mark and Jenna met and fell madly in love. After a short and intense romance, the couple married. It
seemed like the perfect love story, except that Jenna and Mark don’t exist. They are avatars, online
characters that exist in Second Life, a popular Internet fantasy world. “Jenna” is actually 40-year-old
Mary Emmett, a single mother from Newcastle in England. In reality, “Mark” was created by Steven
Jackson, a 35-year-old teacher from Liverpool.
II Second Life is an online fantasy world. Its residents live in a parallel world which is just like real
life, only much better. It’s a world where people become whoever they wish to be. In Second Life,
they can have the kind of experiences that they would never have in real life. Some, like Jenna and
Mark, fall in love.
III As the avatars’ relationship develops, their creators spend hours online controlling everything they
do. In fact, people become so involved in their avatars’ romance that they often begin to neglect their
real-life commitments and relationships.
IV In some cases, the real people behind the avatars arrange to meet in real life and find that their
feelings for one another are just as strong as they are in the online world. Often these online
relationships do not transfer into the real world; when the people behind the avatars actually meet,
they usually find that they have very little in common.
V However, despite the fact that a relatively small number of people actually find a romantic partner in
online games, people continue to look for love online. Psychologists claim that people enjoy the
control they have in these relationships. They like the fact that they can reveal what they want about
themselves. Furthermore, they suggest, it is very easy to get close to someone online as people may
feel more comfortable telling their secrets to a virtual person than to a real one.
VI More than 15 million people around the world are involved in online fantasy games and more are
joining every day. But if people are really interested in finding love, perhaps they should switch off
their computers and begin living in the real world.
3 Decide if the following sentences are true (T) or false (F). Find evidence in the text to justify
your answers. (3 x 3 = 9 points)
1. Avatars control their creator’s actions.
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2. Online fantasy games can have a negative effect on real life.
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3. Many people find real love in an online game.
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Optional Reading Read the text and answer the questions that follow.
Online Advertising
I Susan Mathews was looking for a new bag, so she went online and began looking at the bags that
were on offer. She found one that she quite liked and put it in her shopping basket. Then the phone
rang. She abandoned her online search and forgot all about the handbag – at least for a few hours.
Imagine her surprise when she visited an online blog later that day and was greeted by an advert for
the very same handbag that she had looked at earlier.
II Susan’s experience is an example of “personalised retargeting”. This is an advertising technique
which sends Internet users adverts for specific products that they have recently viewed. It is
becoming increasingly common as a growing number of companies are beginning to make use of
this method of online advertising.
III Defenders of the new technique claim that there is nothing new about personalised retargeting. After
all, they say, companies have been tracking people online for years. The companies use this
information to determine which products an individual is more likely to buy.
IV However, there are many Internet users who are disturbed by this latest advance in online
advertising. They dislike being tracked from site to site as they browse the Web. As a result, they are
demanding that tighter controls and regulations be imposed on the digital advertising industry to
protect their privacy.
V The future of personalised retargeting techniques is still uncertain. Some advertising professionals
feel that it may not be wise for companies to adopt this advertising technique. They believe that
companies should not draw potential customers’ attention to the fact that companies have detailed
information about them. According to the experts, while it is important to encourage consumers to
purchase products they have viewed online, this has to be done without making them feel that they
are being watched.
2 Decide if the following sentences are true (T) or false (F). Find evidence in the text to justify
your answers. (2 x 3 = 6 points)
1. Companies have been using personalised retargeting techniques for years.
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2. Personalised retargeting techniques are here to stay.
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3. The reviewer thinks that it isn’t important that the film might be boring for adults.
3 Complete the sentences. (2 x 3 = 6 points)
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Optional Reading Read the text and answer the questions that follow.
Moving On
I In an attempt to deal with the growing problem of homelessness in New York City, the municipality
has come up with a novel idea. They are trying to help people leave the city, by paying for one-way
tickets out. Now, when families arrive at the homeless shelter in the Bronx looking for beds, they are
asked if they have any friends or relatives who might be willing to help. If they can find a person
anywhere in the country or even the world who will agree to take them in, the city will pay for them
to get there.
II Since 2007, when the programme was launched, almost 550 families have been put on planes, trains
and buses to destinations all over the United States and the world. While the cost of a family’s
tickets can amount to thousands of dollars, city officials claim that it is still cheaper to move these
people than it is to support them in city shelters.
III The programme has met with a lot of criticism. Detractors claim that the city is simply creating the
illusion that it is dealing with the problem. They say that in reality, all it is doing is passing the
problem on to another city. Although social workers do check that the offers of assistance from
relatives are genuine before they approve the relocation, they have no way of knowing whether a
family has a real chance of succeeding in the long term. In many cases, the offer of a place to stay is
a temporary one and the relocated family may soon find itself homeless again.
IV Although the programme may be helpful for some individuals, there can be no doubt that it fails to
address the underlying problems that brought the families to the shelter in the first place. If the New
York municipality is really committed to dealing with the problem of homelessness, it must work to
provide more affordable housing options in the city. Sending the homeless away is simply not a real
solution!
3 Decide if the following sentences are true (T) or false (F). Find evidence in the text to justify
your answers. (3 x 3 = 9 points)
1. All the people that arrive at homeless shelters in New York are sent to live with friends
or relatives.
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2. It costs the New York municipality a lot of money to relocate homeless families.
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3. The New York municipality has no idea if the families they relocate really have
somewhere
to go.
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Optional Reading Read the text and answer the questions that follow.
Refugees United
I Every year, millions of people around the world are forced to flee their country as a result of natural
disasters, persecution or war. During their escape, many families are torn apart. In many cases,
family members end up in different parts of the world. For these people, locating their lost family
members can be an extremely difficult task.
II In 2005, two Danish brothers, David and Christopher Mikkelsen, launched Refugees United, a social
networking site dedicated to helping refugees find their families. Refugees United allows refugees
direct access to one another, without having to involve anybody else. It gives them the opportunity
to take control of their own situation and to help themselves. What is more, the new search engine
makes searching for lost family members a relatively simple process. Refugees wishing to use the
search engine don’t have to fill in difficult forms. They also experience no language barriers,
because the site has been translated into 23 different languages.
III Importantly, Refugees United caters to people who wish to remain anonymous. Some refugees who
are fleeing persecution may not want to reveal their full name and their location because they are
afraid for their safety. Refugees United allows these people to register online using nicknames or
descriptions of scars which are known only to close family members and friends. By using these
kinds of personal markers to identify themselves, refugees ensure that they will only be found by
people who know them well.
IV Refugees United faces many challenges. Since a refugee will only be able to locate a lost family
member if the person he is looking for is already registered on the site, the Mikkelsen brothers are
working hard to attract more members. They hope to generate awareness about the site by
encouraging organisations already working with refugees to spread the word about the network.
They are also sending posters advertising the site to remote locations around the world.
V Will the new networking site succeed in ending the pain and uncertainty experienced by so many
refugees around the world? Only time will tell …
2 Decide if the following sentences are true (T) or false (F). Find evidence in the text to justify
your answers. (3 x 3 = 9 points)
1. YFU doesn’t make money from the exchange programmes that it runs.
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2. YFU is only involved in the initial stages of the exchange.
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3. Host families do not benefit from hosting an exchange student.
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Optional Reading Read the text and answer the questions that follow.
Dondé’s Faux Art
I Daniele Dondé is often called the “King of Copies”. That is because he paints copies of paintings by
famous artists. The originals of these paintings hang in the world’s most famous art museums and
are extremely valuable. Dondé’s copies are obviously much less valuable than the originals, yet
many people claim that they are just as good. In fact, it is often difficult to see the difference
between Dondé’s copies and the original paintings.
II Dondé is responsible for a new trend in the art world known as faux art. It aims to make great
masterpieces available to people at prices that they can afford. Unlike forgery, faux art is not created
in order to deceive people. Copy masters like Dondé do not attempt to fool people into thinking that
the copies are the original paintings. Instead they make it very clear that their paintings are “legal
fakes”.
III Dondé was first attracted to the idea of faux art after he decided to sell a collection of his family
paintings. To his dismay, many of the paintings turned out to be forgeries. He decided to discover
who had deceived his family. Surprisingly, when Dondé finally found the forger, Sergio Uggi, he
didn’t hand him over to the police. Instead, he offered Uggi the chance to work for him. Dondé
wanted Uggi to stop creating fakes for dishonest gallery owners who were trying to cheat collectors.
Dondé encouraged Uggi to copy valuable masterpieces in order to make them accessible to the
general public. Uggi agreed and became the first legal artist in Dondé’s faux art movement.
IV Today, Dondé works with over 20 copy masters. He displays their work in exhibitions in major
cities all over the world. The paintings are appreciated by art lovers and collectors alike.
V Dondé began the faux art movement in an attempt to put an end to the kind of injustice that had been
done to his family. He wanted to stop artists from providing dishonest art dealers with high quality
fakes that could be used to deceive people. He could not have imagined that faux art would turn out
to be one of the biggest and most popular art movements in the world.
Reading Read the text and answer the questions that follow.
Turn the Music Down!
I According to a recent study, the number of teenagers with hearing loss has jumped 33 per cent since
1994. Many researchers claim that this widespread hearing loss amongst teenagers has been caused
by their constant exposure to music played through headphones. Whereas in the past, teenagers used
to listen to music at high volumes from stereo systems, today’s teenagers generally listen to music
from their iPods and MP3 players via headphones. Although this means that they no longer disturb
the people around them with their music, it also means that the high volumes are being directed
straight into their ears.
II In theory, people who listen to music through headphones can enjoy their music in peace and don’t
have to hear any other outside noise at the same time. Yet in practice, headphones don’t always work
so well and listeners often find that they can still hear some of the noise they wanted to cancel out.
As a result, they tend to gradually increase the volume in an attempt to get rid of the unwanted
background noise. This is what causes permanent damage to their hearing.
III Experts advise that anyone who wants to protect their hearing should begin by simply turning down
the volume. In addition, they recommend buying some good-quality headphones. These headphones
produce a clear sound which makes it less necessary for listeners to increase the volume in order to
remove interference from the outside world.
IV Yet hearing loss may not be the most serious consequence of headphone use. Some people claim that
many more road accidents are caused as a result of cyclists or pedestrians listening to music through
headphones. They argue that an awareness of your surroundings is extremely important in terms of
road safety and that headphone use dramatically reduces this awareness. It is true that thanks to
headphones, people can listen to music any time and everywhere. Yet headphone use may ultimately
result not only in impaired hearing, but also in an increased number of road accidents. Perhaps the
price is too high to pay.
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3. Some headphones are less damaging than others.
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Optional Reading Read the text and answer the questions that follow.
Green Games
I The popularity of the social networking site Facebook continues to grow. As a result, people have
begun to recognise the fact that it is a powerful tool that can be used to encourage people to make
changes that could benefit the environment.
II Recently, a new Facebook game called eMission was introduced onto the site. The game places
players in a coastal environment where they have to build and maintain a virtual habitat, filled with
animals. Players gain points and progress through the game by completing challenges.
III Yet eMission is different from other existing computer games that deal with environmental issues. In
eMission, players do not simply have to try and protect the world’s resources and climate in a virtual
world. In eMission, players must take action in the real world before they are able to advance to
higher levels of the game.
IV In fact, the biggest rewards in the game are given to players who complete environmentally-friendly
actions in their everyday lives. In order to be successful in the game, players must switch to energy
efficient bulbs, have shorter showers and plant real trees. These off-line actions must then be proved
before the player can continue the game. Players can submit photographs as proof that they have
indeed completed an environmentally-friendly action. Alternatively, a player’s Facebook friends can
confirm the player’s claims.
V While an increasing number of people around the world are becoming more environmentally aware,
many of them believe that there is very little that they can really do to help reduce the damage to our
environment. They feel that the issue of climate change can only be tackled through government
intervention and that the problem is too complex for ordinary people to deal with alone. That is
where eMission comes in. By encouraging people to take real action in the real world, the creators of
the new game are striving to make environmental issues more personal. They are hoping to get
individuals to think about climate change and to show them that they have the power to make a
difference.
Optional Reading Read the text and answer the questions that follow.
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2 1. a girl as young as Tavi could have written such a sophisticated and professional fashion
blog
2. interested in her blog
3. often accompanies her
3 c
4 1. influential 3. has accompanied
2. generate 4. launch
4 1. dense 3. reunited
2. alone 4. haunt
3 1. using e-mail
2. learn how to shop online
4 1. increasing 3. tremendously
2. challenging 4. motivate