Professional Documents
Culture Documents
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I. LISTENING (50 points)
Part 1: You will hear an interview with Maria Stefanovich, co-founder of a creativity group which organises
workshops for executives. For questions 1-5, choose the answer (A, B, C or D) which fits best according to what you
hear.
1. Corporations appreciate mask-making workshops because
A. no one wants negative faces at the office.
B. unhappy employees won’t come to work.
C. they realise how their employees see them.
D. their employees change their approach.
2. Companies are turning to creative workshops because they have acknowledged that
A. unproductive employees are a financial burden.
B. the traditional work environment has its limitations.
C. there is an increase in absenteeism.
D. employees are working too hard without enjoying it.
3. The employees at the firm ‘Play’
A. change positions frequently to lessen boredom.
B. have business cards indicating their jobs.
C. dress up like comic book characters.
D. do not have stereotyped ideas about their jobs.
4. The companies that show most interest in creative workshops are surprising because
A. they usually have creative employees to begin with.
B. their employees are the ones who have to present regularly.
C. there are many other exciting workshops they would prefer.
D. their employees should be used to being funny.
5. Maria mentions the traditional companies that have held workshops in order to
A. boast about the clients her company has helped.
B. show that they have a narrow list of clients.
C. downplay the serious reputations of the firms.
D. point out the diversity of those trying different approaches.
Your answers:
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Part 2: You will hear part of a lecture about the artist Franz Marc.
Write:
Yes if the statement agrees with the information in the passage
No if the statement contradicts the information in the passage
6. A few years ago in London, some paintings by Franz Marc were sold at record prices
7. Almost all of Marc’s paintings feature a purple and blue horse standing in a landscape of primary colours
8. In The Fate of the Animals Marc seems to offer a warning of the impending Great War.
9. The art group The Blue Rider were aiming to capture the purity of style often found in paintings by children.
10. Marc’s life ended tragically in the war in 1960 when he was killed by a grenade in France.
Your answers:
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6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
Part 3: You will hear an radio talk about ley line. Answer the following questions, write NO MORE THAN
FIVE WORDS for each answer.
11. Which part of many ley lines is the location of the Glastonbury Tor?
__________________________________________________
12. What did ancient peoples mark by building structures along them?
__________________________________________________
13. What is believed to be an indication of the Earth’s geomagnetic energy by Ruth?
__________________________________________________
14. Why may ancient peoples have been drawn to ley lines?
Because they were __________________________________________________
15. What are ancient civilizations claimed to have made when erecting monuments in order to represent the
position of certain groups of stars?
__________________________________________________
Part 4: For questions 16-25, listen to a piece of news from the BBC and fill in the missing information. Write
NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS taken from the recording for each answer in the spaces provided.
Recently in the Great Pyramids, a 100-feet long space, which is called a (16) ______________________, has been
discovered lately. According to the “Nature”, this is a significant discovery to the archaeology because since the
1800s, there has been no other significant discovery like this (17) ________________________ . However,
whether this can help to unravel the ancient mysteries is (18) ________________________. There is no proof that
a/an (19) _______________________ or burial chamber can be found from this space. There may be more others
like this in the pyramid and this discovery is expected to help the researchers find out how it was built. To identify
this space, not allowed to (20) ________________________ or use cameras, they had to take use of some
appliances to track (21) ________________________ inside the structure. That’s not the only way the modern
technology is helping archaeologists.
Adam Low, an archaeologist, admitted to being a man with (22) _________________________ the tomb of a
Pharaoh, Seti I. It can be learnt from the tomb how ancient people have different thoughts, different values and (23)
_______________________. He can read the way they thought through the (24) ________________________ on
the walls. With the help of technology, a dialogue crossing time can be built and become one of the most exciting
moment. “the Hall of Beauties” is, in fact, only a (25) __________________________ built in a museum in
Switzerland.
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comprehension tests every two years. At eight, reading tests were administered to identify those who were
dyslexic. More than 90 percent diagnosed as dyslexic could have been singled out at birth.
This research is still in its (55) ________ but may result in a future in which dyslexia no longer causes life
long distress.
Part 3. Read the following passage and choose the best answer (A, B, C or D) according to the text. Write
your answers in the corresponding numbered boxes.
Orientation and Navigation
To South Americans, robins are birds that fly north every spring. To North Americans, the robins simply vacation
in the south each winter. Furthermore, they fly to very specific places in South America and will often come back
to the same trees in North American yards the following spring. The question is not why they would leave the cold
of winter so much as how they find their way around. The question perplexed people for years, until, in the 1950s,
a German scientist named Gustavo Kramer provided some answers and. in the process, raised new questions.
Kramer initiated important new kinds of research regarding how animals orient and navigate. Orientation is simply
facing in the right direction; navigation involves finding ones way from point A to point B.
Early in his research, Kramer found that caged migratory birds became very restless at about the time they would
normally have begun migration in the wild. Furthermore, he noticed that as they fluttered around in the cage, they
often launched themselves in the direction of their normal migratory route. He then set up experiments with caged
starlings and found that their orientation was, in fact, in the proper migratory direction except when the sky was
overcast, at which times there was no clear direction to their restless movements. Kramer surmised, therefore, that
they were orienting according to the position of the Sun. To test this idea, he blocked their view of the Sun and
used mirrors to change its apparent position. He found that under these circumstances, the birds oriented with
respect to the new "Sun." They seemed to be using the Sun as a compass to determine direction. At the time, this
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idea seemed preposterous. How could a bird navigate by the Sun when some of us lose our way with road maps?
Obviously, more testing was in order.
So, in another set of experiments, Kramer put identical food boxes around the cage, with food in only one of the
boxes. The boxes were stationary, and the one containing food was always at the same point of the compass.
However, its position with respect to the surroundings could be changed by revolving either the inner cage
containing the birds or the outer walls, which served as the background. As long as the birds could see the Sun, no
matter how their surroundings were altered, they went directly to the correct food box. Whether the box appeared
in front of the right wall or the left wall, they showed no signs of confusion. On overcast days, however, the birds
were disoriented and had trouble locating their food box.
In experimenting with artificial suns, Kramer made another interesting discovery. If the artificial Sun remained
stationary, the birds would shift their direction with respect to it at a rate of about 15 degrees per hour, the Sun's
rate of movement across the sky. Apparently, the birds were assuming that the "Sun" they saw was moving at that
rate. When the real Sun was visible, however, the birds maintained a constant direction as it moved across the sky.
In other words, they were able to compensate for the Sun's movement. This meant that some sort of biological
clock was operating-and a very precise clock at that.
What about birds that migrate at night? Perhaps they navigate by the night sky. To test the idea, caged night-
migrating birds were placed on the floor of a planetarium during their migratory period. A planetarium is
essentially a theater with a domelike ceiling onto which a night sky can be projected for any night of the year.
When the planetarium sky matched the sky outside, the birds fluttered in the direction of their normal migration.
But when the dome was rotated, the birds changed their direction to match the artificial sky. The results clearly
indicated that the birds were orienting according to the stars.
There is accumulating evidence indicating that birds navigate by using a wide variety of environmental cues.
Other areas under investigation include magnetism, landmarks, coastlines, sonar, and even smells. The studies are
complicated by the fact that the data are sometimes contradictory and the mechanisms apparently change from time
to time. Furthermore, one sensory ability may back up another.
66. Which of the following can be inferred about bird migration from paragraph 1?
A. Birds will take the most direct migratory route to their new habitat.
B. The purpose of migration is to join with larger groups of birds.
C. Bird migration generally involves moving back and forth between north and south.
D. The destination of birds' migration can change from year to year.
67. The word ‘perplexed’ in the passage is closest in meaning to _____.
A. defeated B. interested C. puzzled D. occupied
68. Which of the sentences below best expresses the essential information in the underlined sentence in the
passage? Incorrect choices change the meaning in important ways or leave out essential information.
A. Experiments revealed that caged starlings displayed a lack of directional sense and restless movements.
B. Experiments revealed that caged starlings were unable to orient themselves in the direction of their normal migratory route.
C. Experiments revealed that the restless movement of caged starlings had no clear direction.
D. Experiments revealed that caged starlings' orientation was accurate unless the weather was overcast.
69. The word ‘preposterous’ in the passage is closest in meaning to _____.
A. unbelievable B. inadequate C. limited D. creative
70. According to paragraph 3, why did Kramer use mirrors to change the apparent position of the Sun?
A. To test the effect of light on the birds' restlessness
B. To test whether birds were using the Sun to navigate
C. To simulate the shifting of light the birds would encounter along their regular migratory route
D. To cause the birds to migrate at a different time than they would in the wild
71. According to paragraph 3, when do caged starlings become restless?
A. When the weather is overcast
B. When they are unable to identify their normal migratory route
C. When their normal time for migration arrives
D. When mirrors are used to change the apparent position of the Sun
72. Which of the following can be inferred from paragraph 4 about Kramer’s reason for filling one food box and
leaving the rest empty?
A. He believed the birds would eat food from only one box.
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B. He wanted to see whether the Sun alone controlled the birds' ability to navigate toward the box with food.
C. He thought that if all the boxes contained food, this would distract the birds from following their migratory route.
D. He needed to test whether the birds preferred having the food at any particular point of the compass.
73. According to paragraph 5, how did the birds fly when the real Sun was visible?
A. They kept the direction of their flight constant.
B. They changed the direction of their flight at a rate of 15 degrees per hour.
C. They kept flying toward the Sun.
D. They flew in the same direction as the birds that were seeing the artificial Sun.
74. The experiment described in paragraph 5 caused Kramer to conclude that birds possess a biological clock because _____.
A. when birds navigate they are able to compensate for the changing position of the Sun in the sky
B. birds innate bearings keep them oriented in a direction that is within 15 degrees of the Suns direction
C. birds' migration is triggered by natural environmental cues, such as the position of the Sun
D. birds shift their direction at a rate of 15 degrees per hour whether the Sun is visible or not
75. According to paragraph 6, how did the birds navigate in the planetarium's nighttime environment?
A. By waiting for the dome to stop rotating
B. By their position on the planetarium floor
C. By orienting themselves to the stars in the artificial night sky
D. By navigating randomly until they found the correct orientation
66. 67. 68. 69. 70.
71. 72. 73. 74. 75.
Questions 81-85
Do the statements below agree with the information in Reading Passage?
Write:
Yes if the statement agrees with the information in the passage
No if the statement contradicts the information in the passage
Not Given if there is no information about the statement in the passage
Example: Until the late 1950s the Whig interpretation of English history was the one that was widely accepted.
Answer: Yes.
81. According to Namier, political divisions in the mid18th century were not related to party labels.
82. According to Namier, something happened between 1714 and 1760 to affect party ideology.
83. George I was not liked by everyone.
84. The Independent Whigs were all landowners with large estates.
85. Neither the Independent Whigs, nor the Tories trusted the mercantile classes.
81. 82. 83. 84. 85.
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Part 5. Read the extract from a review of a book about the English langage For questions 1-10. choose from
the sections A-E. The sections maybe chosen more than once.
In which section are the following mentioned?
86. the view that the global influence of a language is nothing new
87. a return to the global use of not one but many languages
88. explanations as to what motivates people to learn another language
89. the view that a language is often spoken in places other than its country of origin
90. an appreciation of a unique and controversial take on the role of the English language
91. a query about the extent to which people are attached to their own first language
92. an optimistic view about the long-term future of the English language
93. the hostility felt by those forced to learn another language
94. a derogatory comment about the English language
95. a shared view about the ultimate demise of English in the future
The Last Lingua Franca by Nicholas Ostler
Deborah Cameron predicts an uncertain future for English
A. The Emperor Charles V is supposed to have remarked in the 16th century that he spoke Latin with God, Italian
with musicians, Spanish with his troops, German with lackeys, French with ladies and English with his horse.
In most books about English, the joke would be turned on Charles, used to preface the observation that the
language he dismissed as uncultivated is now a colossus bestriding the world. Nicholas Ostler, however, quotes
it to make the point that no language's triumph is permanent and unassailable. Like empires (and often with
them), languages rise and fall, and English, Ostler contends, will be no exception.
B. English is the first truly global lingua franca, if by 'global' we mean 'used on every inhabited continent’. But in
the smaller and less densely interconnected world of the past, many other languages had similar functions and
enjoyed comparable prestige, is Modern lingua francas include French, German, Latin, Portuguese, Russian
and Spanish. Yet these once-mighty languages are now largely confined to those territories where their modern
forms are spoken natively. Though at the height of their power some acquired - and have kept - large numbers
of native speakers outside their original homelands (as with Spanish and Portuguese in South America), few
retain their old status.
C. To understand why the mighty fall, Ostler suggests we must look to the factors that enabled them to rise: most
commonly these are conquest, commerce and conversion. Conquered or subordinated peoples learn (or are
obliged to learn) the languages of their overlords; traders acquire the languages that give them access to
markets; converts adopt the languages of their new religion. But these ways of recruiting speakers are not
conducive to permanent attachment. The learned language is not valued for its own sake, but only for the
benefits that are seen to flow from it, and only for as long as those benefits outweigh the costs. When new
conquerors arrive, their subjects switch to new lingua francas. Old empires break up and their lingua francas
are abandoned, while the spread of a new religion may advance a language or conversely weaken it. And
always there is the resentment generated by dependence on a language which has to be learned, and therefore
favours elites over those without access to schooling. Prestigious lingua francas are socially divisive, and
therefore unstable.
D. English in the global age is often portrayed as an exceptional case. Writers who take this view point out that
English differs from previous lingua francas in two important ways; first, it has no serious competition, and
second, although it was originally spread by conquest, commerce and missionaries, its influence no longer
depends on coercion. Because of this, the argument runs, it will not suffer the fate of its predecessors. But
Ostler thinks this argument underplays both the social costs of maintaining a lingua franca (it is not true that
English is universally loved) and the deep, enduring loyalty people have to their native so tongues. For
millennia we have been willing to compromise our linguistic loyalties in exchange for various rewards; but if
the rewards could be had without the compromise, we would gladly lay our burden down. Ostler believes that
we will soon be able to do that. English, he 65 suggests, will be the last lingua franca. As Anglo-American
hegemony withers, the influence of English will decline; but what succeeds it will not be any other single
language. Rather we will see a technologically-enabled return to a state of Babel. Thanks to advances in
computer translation, 'everyone will speak and write in whatever language they choose, and the world will
understand'.
E. Here it might be objected that Ostler's argument depends on an unrealistic techno-optimism, and puts too much
emphasis on the supposed primeval bond between speakers and their mother tongues, which some would say is
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largely an invention of 19th-century European nationalism. But even if he is wrong to predict the return of
Babel, I do not think he is wrong to argue that English's position as the premier medium of global exchange
will not be maintained for ever. In the future, as in the past, linguistic landscapes can be expected to change in
line with so political and economic realities. The Last Lingua Franca is not the easiest of reads: Ostler does not
have the popularizer's gift for uncluttered storytelling, and is apt to pile up details without much regard for
what the non-specialist either needs to know or is capable of retaining. What he does offer, however, is a
much- 85 needed challenge to conventional wisdom: informative, thought- provoking and refreshingly free
from anglocentric cliches.
From The Guardian Review section
86. 87. 88. 89. 90.
91. 92. 93. 94. 95.
IV. WRITING (60 points)
Part 1: Write a summary of about 140 words (15 points)
Summarize the following passage about measures to reduce stress in about 140 words.
For many years, stress was considered an imaginary complaint that lazy employees would use as an excuse
for skipping work. Now, stress has finally made its way into medical books and into company accounts too. More
and more firms are realizing the effect that stress-related illnesses are having on their bottom line.
The causes of stress are manifold. Just getting to work on time may be a major cause. At the workplace,
stress can be caused by not having enough to do, not facing sufficient challenges or simply being in a job that does
not suit the person. At the other end of the scale is overwork and job insecurity. There may also be ergonomic
reasons for stress such as cramped working conditions, a faulty chair, a desk at the wrong height, a smoky office or
defective air-conditioning.
Stress manifests itself in many ways. The most common symptoms are headaches, backaches, shortness of
breath, skin disorders, heart palpitations, gastric problems and sleeping disorders. There is also poor concentration,
poor memory and loss of self-confidence. Other major health problems such as depression, repetitive strain injury
and heart problems may follow these symptoms.
All these symptoms give rise to inefficient work practices, increased medical leave and consequently loss
of productivity. Companies are finally beginning to take notice and are starting to invest in their employees' health
as a natural cost of doing business.
Companies are taking the necessary measures to overcome stress-related problems with the hope that there
will be heightened efficiency at the workplace and lower absenteeism. But at the end of the day it is up to the
individual.
The art of stress management is not something that can be picked up overnight. It is something that an
individual has to perfect and improve on throughout his lifetime. The key is 'healthy body, healthy mind'.
Diet should be kept in check with smoking and drinking under control. Consider investing in a home gym, which
can be set up at a reasonable cost consisting of basic equipment such as an exercise bench, a pair of dumb-bells and
an exercise bike.
Massage is another tried and tested form of physical relaxation, guaranteed to reduce both mental and
physical stress levels. The two most popular forms of massages are the Japanese and Swedish massages. A
Japanese Shiatsu massage focuses on specific points of the body where energy is blocked, while the Swedish
massage involves stroking with oils to stimulate blood circulation. A massage does not take long and it is not
expensive. The different types of massages and aromatherapy techniques have different effects with some for
relaxation and some for stimulation; all guaranteed to make you feel invigorated or enlivened after a hard day.
Another way of reducing stress is the century-old and hugely popular practice of yoga. A beginner taking up yoga
may find the posture and breathing exercises beneficial. But yoga goes way beyond that as it deals with the inner
organism (the mind, the respiratory and digestive organs) - inner harmony first - and when the inner organism is
working properly, then physical fitness can be achieved.
In stress management, the most important thing is to recognize the symptoms of stress early and to act before they
become something serious.
Your summary
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The pie chart shows the amount of money that a children's charity located in the USA spent and received in
one year.
Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main features and make comparisons where relevant.
You should write at least 150 words.
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Youngsters now admire and imitate media and sports personalities even though they do not always set a
good example. Do you think that this is a positive or negative development?
Your essay should be about 300 to 350 words.
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The end
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