Review Test 3

Listening

Questions 1–5
Choose the correct letter, A, B or C.

1 Ben believes that the main reason for Pinelands traffic problems is
A a lack of action on the part of the local council.
B the inadequate public transport network.
C the ever-increasing population of the city.
2 Professor Kane says the river presents a problem because
A it is difficult to build roads near it.
B travel times are increased because of it.
C the main business area is not near it.
3 What do Professor Kane and Ben say about the north side of the river?
A Parking there is less affordable.
B It is less accessible by car.
C People find it more costly to live there.
4 Ben explains that the Millennium Bridge
A has eased the traffic in a certain part of the city.
B has encouraged people to use their vehicles less.
C has become the most visually attractive bridge in the city.
5 Professor Kane and Ben conclude that having a tunnel under the river would
A decrease the number of people driving in the city centre.
B connect the west side of the city to the centre.
C allow more industry to be developed in the city.

Questions 6–10
Which of the speakers, A, B or C, makes the following statements about toll roads?
Write the correct letter, A, B or C, next to questions 6–10.

Statements about toll roads

6 The public may accept that toll roads are an appropriate solution.
7 The public deserve to know how the money from toll fees is spent.
8 Toll roads may be beneficial for the environment.
9 Toll roads are a good way of making road users pay for use of the road.

10 Toll roads may lead to traffic congestion.

A Ben only
B Professor Kane only
C both Ben and Professor Kane

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Review Test 3
Reading
Artificial Intelligence
Artificial Intelligence could either lead to global mass unemployment or create new jobs
that we cannot yet imagine.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) takes many different forms,
and permeates all aspects of our lives today. We
now have a variety of technologies where intelligent
machines, powered by revolutionary advances in
micro-technology and superfast connectivity, are firmly
changing the way we live and work. Beyond driverless
cars and very smart computers that can beat chess
champions, there are numerous mundane applications
of AI which are enabled by simple sensors connected
to smartphone SIM cards.
A select cluster of 60 business leaders recently
attended the two-day Tata Communications CEO
Summit with the theme ‘Artificial Intelligence meets
emotional intelligence’. At the conference, which
both educated and provoked guests, Zurich-based
Gerd Leonhard of The Futures Agency warned that
Artificial Intelligence would soon destroy millions of
human jobs. According to Leonhard, within five years
most companies will have armies of very cheap, very
powerful, versatile machines, connected to a smart
cloud, and they will be able to accomplish many routine
processes. Some 25 years from now robots, through
cognitive computing and using vast amounts of data
from humans, will do all that kind of work.
While the conference addressed concerns, it also
flagged up potential opportunities. ‘AI is no longer the
stuff of science fiction’ Vinod Kumar, chief executive
of Tata Communications, said in his opening speech.
‘As leaders, we are duty bound to understand it as
best we can. We must share our ideas as to how to
enable it to fulfil its potential while guarding against the
social and economic disruption it may bring.’ Kumar
further elaborated that the only way big issues could be
tackled was by bringing a diverse audience together
and working together to develop robust solutions which
would have long-lasting benefits for everyone. A key
question, therefore, is whether AI will indeed make a
significant number of the human workforce obsolete.
Martin Ford has long argued that innovations in robotics,
automation and AI will lead to mass unemployment in the
future due to machines being able to do work traditionally
carried out by humans. In his book, The Lights In The
Tunnel: Automation, Acelerating Technology and the
Economy of the Future, first published in 2009, Ford
suggested the balance had swung further away from
humans than originally predicted.
Ford explained, ‘I wrote that self-driving cars might
happen one day, and within six months of that book
being published we already had such a vehicle on the
road. It’s possible that taxi drivers and truck drivers
will soon be out of work.’ He added that machine
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learning meant that robots weren’t only taking on roles
that traditionally relied on muscle power and were
beginning to make decisions and solve problems
autonomously. ‘We are inevitably headed to a mass-
unemployment scenario,’ he warned. ‘Robots aren’t
only taking on roles that traditionally relied on muscle
power, they’re beginning to make decisions and solve
problems autonomously.’ While this was unthinkable a
few years ago, Mr Ford says that many people have had
to change their perceptions and that academics and
governments are alarmed. Ford also pointed out that
machines are going to encroach on the basic capability
of a lot of average people and chew up the fabric of
society, meaning that we will get to the point when there
simply are not enough jobs to go around, and other
tasks could be deskilled so they become low-wage.
‘We could get a downward spiral where businesses
can’t find enough customers, cut prices, cut even more
workers, and the next thing you know, without adequate
consumer demand, you risk deflation,’ Ford explained.
With permanent unemployment, Ford predicts that
governments will come round to the notion of a
‘universal basic income’ for employees.
This scenario is, however, all a little gloomy for Ken
Goldberg, professor of engineering and director of
the people and robots initiative at University College
Berkeley. He believes that the future promises a world
where humans and intelligent machines work together,
to create things.
Goldberg believes that Ford is falling into a trap that
many people are falling into, and that he is grossly
exaggerating the potential of AI. ‘Many of the public, and
even experts in the industry, have come to expect that
we will see exponential advances in technology, but the
fact is we’ve seen unfulfilled predictions about AI and
robotics for the past 50 years. Fears of technology go
back to Prometheus and the Greeks, and go up through
Frankenstein and the Terminator. There have been many
advances, yet we have to put them in context.’
Goldberg pointed to driverless cars as an example.
‘There’s a huge gap between assisting a driver – which
is where we are now – and replacing a driver, and I’m
willing to bet we will not see that happen in the next 20
years. We might not think it, but we do not live in the
most technologically advanced time in history.’
Professor Goldberg, who prefers to use the word
‘multiplicity’ when it comes to describing how humans
will interact with robots, believes our philosophy should
be to enhance humans, not replace them, and that the
combination of humans and machines is going to make
major advances in the next couple of decades.
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Review Test 3

Questions 1–5
Complete the notes below.
Use ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.

Artificial Intelligence
Current
– AI has a huge impact on our daily lives
– AI exists in various forms exist due to innovations in micro-technology
and faster 1 speeds
– many applications of AI facilitated by basic 2 linked to mobile
phones

Future
– could lead to 3 on a large scale as machines will replace people
– 4 will accept the idea of a minimum salary for workers
– likely to be significant 5 in the partnership between people and
machines in next 20 years

Questions 6–10
Look at the following statements (questions 6–10) and the list of people below.
Match each statement with the correct person, A–D.
Write the correct letter, A–D, next to questions 6–10.

6 Artificial intelligence may fundamentally lead to ecomomic problems if

companies cannot sell their products.
7 In the near future, the majority of businesses will use fast computers to do a
high number of standard tasks.
8 The revolutionary nature of artificial intelligence may have been over-
estimated.
9 The secret to successfully embracing artificial intelligence is collaboration.

10 The increasingly advanced capabilities of robots are giving cause for

concern.     

List of people
A Gerd Leonhard
B Vinod Kumar
C Martin Ford
D Ken Goldberg

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Review Test 3

Writing

You should spend about 20 minutes on this task.

The pie charts below show the average household expenditures in

Norway and Spain in the year 2015.
Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features
and make comparisons where relevant.

Write at least 150 words.

Average household expenditure in Norway and Spain in 2015

Norway Spain
4% 9%
12%
28%
34%
23%

25%

16%
10%
15%
10% 14%

rent energy transport food health care education

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 Review Test 3

Speaking

Part 1 Introduction and interview

[This part of the test begins with the examiner introducing himself or herself and
checking the candidate’s identification. It then continues as an interview.]
• How often do you use computers?
• What kind of thing do you use computers for?
• Do you think computers make life easier?
• How would your life be different without computers?

Part 2 Individual long turn

Candidate Task Card

Describe a building in your town you know well.

You should say:
what the building is
approximately when it was constructed
why you know this building well
and explain what you like/don’t like about the building.

You will have to talk about the topic for 1 to 2 minutes.

You have one minute to think about what you’re going to say.
You can make some notes to help you if you wish.

Part 3 Two-way discussion

• What social problems are there in your country?
• What is the difference between a major crime and a minor crime?
• Do you think all criminals should go to prison? Why/Why not?
• What should governments do to reduce the amount of crime?

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