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E X A M I N AT I O N S , C E RT I F I C AT E S & D I P L O M A S

FCE
F I R S T C E R T I F I C AT E I N E N G L I S H

PA P E R 4 S A M P L E PA P E R S

English as a
Foreign Language
2

Part 1

You will hear people talking in eight different situations. For Questions 1-8, choose the best answer,
A, B or C.

1 You hear part of an interview on the radio.

Who is being interviewed?

A a musician

B an actress 1

C a painter

2 A man speaks to you in the street.

What does he want you to do?

A try something out

B comment on something 2

C buy something

3 At the airport you hear this couple talking.

How is the man feeling?

A angry

B suspicious 3

C anxious

4 You are listening to a radio phone-in.

Why has Annie phoned in?

A to criticise teenagers

B to complain about school 4

C to discuss a family problem

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5 You hear this advertisement on the radio.

What is emphasised about the product?

A It is up to date.

B It is cheap. 5

C It is reliable.

6 A woman is making a phone call.

Where is she phoning?

A a tourist information office

B a college 6

C a doctor’s surgery

7 While visiting a college, you hear this man talking.

What feature of the city is he talking about?

A trade

B history 7

C financial institutions

8 A young woman is talking on the phone to a music teacher.

What does the woman want to do?

A arrange a lesson

B cancel a lesson 8

C complain about a lesson

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Part 2

You will hear an interview with Frank Duncan, a famous film director, who is talking about his early life
and work. For Questions 9-18, complete the sentences.

An important part of Frank’s life is 9

There was a 10 close to his home.

David and he enjoyed going to 11

David and he tried to become 12

Frank’s family was involved in the 13 business.

His grandfather invented a 14

His grandfather advised him to start a 15 business.

At 17, he was rich enough to 16

He started to write stories for 17

At BBC television he trained as 18

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Part 3

You will hear five people giving their views on large and small shops. For Questions 19-23, choose
which of the subjects in the list A-F they are talking about. Use the letters only once. There is one
extra letter which you do not need to use.

A the attitude of the staff

Speaker 1 19

B the general level of prices

Speaker 2 20

C the range of goods

Speaker 3 21

D the quality of the products

Speaker 4 22

E convenient shopping

Speaker 5 23

F an experiment that failed

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Part 4

You will hear an interview with a fisherman. For Questions 24-30, decide which of the choices A, B or
C is the best answer.

24 Peter became a fisherman because

A he was good at sea-fishing as a youngster.

B he wanted to do what his father did. 24

C he was keen to do any job at sea.

25 What does he say about his training?

A The time spent in the classroom was boring.

B Most of it involved doing the job. 25

C He found it harder than he had expected.

26 What does he say has been a problem for him?

A studying electronics

B finding reliable colleagues 26

C dealing with the boat breaking down

27 What does Peter particularly like about being a fisherman?

A the physical activity it involves

B how unpredictable it is 27

C the freedom to choose when he works

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28 What does he say about the money that he earns?

A He makes sure that he saves some of it.

B He dislikes the system of payment. 28

C He finds it difficult to live on.

29 What does he say about his social life?

A He wishes he had more time for it.

B He can seldom afford to have one. 29

C It does not interfere with his work.

30 Which of the following best describes Peter’s attitude to his


job?

A He thinks he isn’t capable of doing another job.


30
B He regards it as more than just a job.

C He feels that his income from it should be higher.

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PAPER 4 TEST B TAPESCRIPT quickly to new innovations can hope to
succeed. With the Phalanx 342, we’ve left
the competition behind yet again. The cost?
Part 1 Well, the Phalanx 342 is great value for
1 Interviewer: How did you start your career, er, how did money. And quality? That comes with a firm
you get noticed? guarantee. So if you want to be ahead of the
Woman: After college, I entered as many rest, get the Phalanx 342 now! Phone
competitions as possible. Obviously you get more 5463423 for a free information pack.
work if you win prizes and people get to
know your work. And it’s good disci- 6 Woman ...right, so let me just check what you’ve told
pline, learning pieces set for the competi- me - the next course in First Aid For All starts
tions. on September 7 and there’s no problem
Interviewer: That led to your lucky break, didn’t it? about short-stay foreign residents registering
Woman: Yes, a performer I much admire was for the course, and details of fees are in the
one of the judges in the competition. prospectus ...
Interviewer: John Hill?
Woman: Right, and he asked me to do an album with 7 Lecturer ... so our survey will look at all the important
him, after hearing me play. It was a hit. developments of the city. We’ll be starting
2 with its foundation as a trading post some
I’m sorry to bother you but could I just have two thousand years ago, we’ll consider its
a moment of your time? I’m working for a decline in the Middle Ages, then we’ll be
well-known manufacturer and we’re trying to coming right up to date when we consider
find out what people think of our products, its role today as one of the world’s major
how often they buy them and whether they tourist and financial centres.
like the changes that we’re thinking of
making. First of all, I’d like to show you one 8 Woman ...sorry about this, but I just can’t seem to
or two new products that we are planning to make any headway with the piece - and
introduce and ask you whether you will buy having to miss last week’s lesson didn’t help.
them when they are on the market. I won’t Anyway, is Thursday at 6.30 any good for
keep you for long, I assure you. you? That’ll give me a chance to do some
3 practice and ...
Man: I’m sure we’ve forgotten something. Every
time we go away we forget something.
Part 2
Where are the tickets?
Woman: They’re in my handbag. I also have Interviewer: Was it always your ambition to be a director,
our travellers cheques, our Frank, or did you really want to write, at the
hotel reservations and our car hire documents. beginning?
Man: Are you sure? What about our passports? Do Film Director: I kept a journal at that time, when I was
you have our passports? Do check, you can’t fifteen, sixteen and have done so, on and off,
be too careful! ever since. And I find that a very important
Woman: They’re in my bag too. part of my life really, which is writing,
4 composing my thoughts and putting things
... Annie, I just wanted to perhaps reassure down on paper.
you - to say that I think you’re getting what Interviewer: But didn’t you live near one of the top film
many people would recognise as being a studios as a boy?
quite common reaction from a teenager Film Director: Yes, but I didn’t go to work there when I left
round about the age of fifteen, sixteen, when faced school.
with the problem of changing schools Interviewer: Why not? Wouldn’t they have you?
mid-year. Your daughter - it’s quite natural Film Director: Well, my best friend, David, and I both
that she should be going through, now, this wanted to, because going to the cinema was
mix of emotions - feeling lost, not able to what we both liked doing and there were
cope with everything. But believe me, Annie, it will people living around there who were
pass. Now what you could do to help working at the studios. So, we both applied
is to ... to be messenger boys. Anyway, he got the
5 job, but they turned me down.
You can pay more if you like but you’ll never Interviewer: What did you lack, I wonder?
buy a better computer than the Phalanx 342. In the Film Director: I don’t know, probably I didn’t look bright
fast-moving world of computer enough but, I never dreamed then of being
a director, for me at fifteen, being a unpleasant, the shop was crowded and they
messenger boy was the highest thing I didn’t have enough staff. Half the time the
thought I could aspire to. things you were looking for were not on the
Interviewer: So you had to think again. shelf, they’d sold out. In the end, everyone
Film Director: Yes. I set up a laundry business instead. got fed up with it and thought, ‘Well, if they
Interviewer: Why laundry? can reduce the prices at weekends, perhaps
Film Director: Well, it was in the family, you might say. My we’re being overcharged during the week’.
grandfather inherited a laundry in London
and he went on to invent a washing machine Female: I come here because it’s well laid out, you
for it. So when I left school and wanted to make can pick and choose as you want, and it’s
some money, I went to my grandfather and got a nice big car park. I come in and
he said, ‘The big thing, you know, is dry wander round to get ideas about interior
cleaning’, and he showed David, who’d soon design or things I might do that I wouldn’t
given up being a messenger boy, and otherwise have thought of. There’s no hassle
myself how to do it. So we started up a dry here, if you want something in particular,
cleaning business and made a bit of money at it, there’s a map and all the aisles are labelled
enough, in fact, for me to be able to, sort and there’s never a queue at the checkout.
of, give up work at the age of seventeen.
Interviewer: To do what? To write? Male: In this shop, they have a policy of everyday
Film Director: That’s right. To write stories for women’s low pricing which is a strategy of reducing
magazines, and eventually this led to plays the prices on the core range of goods all the
and film scripts and all that. And then as a time and they stick to that. So it’s not true
result of these, BBC television invited me to that small shops are more expensive. Most of
come and take part in some youth them these days belong to a federation
programmes they were doing, and that’s how which is able to buy good makes in large quan-
it all started really. tities and pass on the saving to its mem-
Interviewer: So it was at the BBC that you learnt your bers, who pass it on to us, the cus-
craft? tomers.
Film Director: Yes, I began as a sort of trainee film editor
and I learnt editing. Part 4
Interviewer: And was it good training for someone going Presenter: In today’s programme in our series about
on to become a film director? people’s jobs, we discover what it’s like to
Film Director: Excellent. The laundry didn’t do any harm be a fisherman in Britain. Peter Dodds has
either though. been a fisherman for four years and he’s with
me now. Peter, welcome. Tell me, what led
Part 3 you to a career in fishing?
Male: I’ve been everywhere, you know, like all the Peter: Well, I started sea-fishing, angling, when I
major superstores around and I just can’t get was quite young, and with my Dad being a
these double press hinges anywhere, you boat builder, I’ve always had a connection
know, and I’ve come here, just a small shop with the sea and wanted to make a living
and he’s got ‘em on the shelf. I mean, they which involved the sea as well ... and there’s
do have to squeeze a lot into a small place, really only one thing you can do and that’s fish-
but they do have a tremendous amount of ing. It’s worlds apart from anything else I
different lines in this small space. know.
Presenter: Did you have to take any kind of course?
Female: In a small shop like this it’s very friendly and Peter: Yes, first of all I did my three weeks’ initial
I’ve had things from here, like a doormat, training where I did fire fighting, sea
that I’ve hesitated whether it would fit or not, survival, first aid and then emergency aid.
and I take it home, I don’t have to pay for it, and Then twenty five weeks in a classroom and
they say, ‘Try it, if it doesn’t fit bring it back’ the next two years was on a sea-going basis,
and that’s what I do. You know, you don’t have to where I went out and worked at sea and was
spend a lot of time looking for things, you can assessed on the work I did.
just ask, or point in my case, and they get it Presenter: What would you say it takes to be a
for you. fisherman?
Peter: The first requirement for someone to go
Male: Two years ago, one of the large stores fishing, they’ve got to want to go fishing, it’s
launched discount weekends, offering 20% a way of life, it isn’t just a job. There are so
off everything. These weekends were very many facets to it, um, you have to find out
where and when to find your fish, you have
to have some engineering experience if you
have breakdowns, er, knowledge of
electronics, I really had a struggle with that
one, ropes and knots, there’s an awful lot to
cover. And you also have to get on with your
companions, you have to rely on your mates
- if you’ve got to be worried about them not
doing what they should do, you could be in
serious trouble.
Presenter: Do you enjoy the work?
Peter: Well, every day’s different, you never stop
learning. You know, you get an awful lot of
respect for the sea. There’s not another job
like it at all. I mean, you could be sitting in
an office, tapping away on a computer,
doing the same thing day in day out. With
fishing, you go... I mean... every day the
weather’s different, the catch is different, the
fishing’s different, you earn different money.
You’ve got more of an incentive to go
because you can say, well, ‘if I don’t go, I
don’t earn any money.
Presenter: So does fishing give you a good living?
Peter: One week you might not earn a great deal
and then a couple of weeks later you might
earn four times as much, so what you’ve got
to do is set yourself a certain amount of
money to live on and, if you can, put some
aside in the bank for when the weather’s
going to be bad. Then, when the fishing
does die, you can say ‘I can have three
months off’ and you can afford to do it. You get
paid a share rather than a basic weekly
wage, so if the boat doesn’t go to sea, that will
mean you don’t earn much at all, but you
have to find money to pay the bills anyway.
Presenter: Does your job allow you to have much of a
social life? I mean, I imagine you have to get
up very early most days.
Peter: I have to fit my social life in around the sea
really, because I have to go to sea when the
weather’s right. When the weather’s bad,
then if I’ve got money I can go out and enjoy
myself and I can wake up in the morning and if
there’s a storm I’ll be quite happy about it. It can
be difficult to motivate yourself in the
wintertime to get out there, but in the end, it’s
money in the pocket, and you’ve got bills to pay.
Presenter: So, any regrets about making fishing your
career?
Peter: You know, fishing is my life. I can’t really see
myself doing anything else. Driving a bus or
working in an office, it would drive me mad.
Presenter: Thanks, Peter, for giving us an insight into
what it’s like to be a fisherman.
PAPER 4 TEST B ANSWER KEY

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4

1 A 9 writing/composing (my) thoughts/putting 19 C 24 C


things (down) on paper
2 B 20 A 25 B
10 (top/famous) film studio
3 C 21 F 26 A
11 (the) cinema
4 C 22 E 27 B
12 messenger boys
5 A 23 B 28 A
13 laundry
6 B 29 C
14 washing machine
7 B 30 B
15 (dry(-)) cleaning
8 A
16 give up work/stop work(ing)

17 women(‘s) magazines

18 (a/an) (film) editor

Each question is given one mark. The total score is adjusted to give a mark out of 40.

PAPER 4 LISTENING ANSWER SHEET

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