Professional Documents
Culture Documents
PRACTICE TEST
PART 1: LISTENING
I. You will hear an interview with a famous scientist, Marcus Goran. For questions 1-5, choose the
answer (A, B, C or D) which fits best according to what you hear.
1. Marcus says that in order to make ground-breaking discoveries, scientists need _____.
A. to set themselves ambitious targets B. to find satisfaction in the process itself
C. to keep minor achievements in perspective D. to accept that few will share their passions
2. Marcus implies that high-quality science occurs when scientists _____.
A. have confidence in their predictions
B. are able to avoid potential disasters
C. face challenges in the hope of making significant advances
D. go through with what they have already planned
3. Marcus uses the metaphor of the painter to show that _____.
A. science is a cumulative process. B. science is only partially creative.
C. science requires a critical audience. D. science requires both skill and vision.
4. Why does Marcus liken ground-breaking science to rock-climbing?
A. Each involves working without much support. B. A great deal is expected of participants in both.
C. Both require a high level of specialised training. D. Each involves a comparable set of procedures.
5. What does Marcus feel about rules in science?
A. Most of them remain to be discovered. B. Some have been formulated prematurely.
C. Too much emphasis is placed on them. D. Some are too complicated to be useful.
II. For question 6 – 10, listen to part of a radio discussion about iris recognition system and decide
whether following statements are True (T) or False (F).
6. Jim says that the idea behind iris recognition systems (IRS) was thought of many years ago.
7. Jim believes that iris recognition machines will be adopted on a large scale chiefly because they can be
depended on.
8. Iris recognition machines were used at a school to improve efficiency at a school canteen.
9. Jim feels that people who objects to iris recognition machines regard them as a threat to personal freedom.
10. According to Jim, reduced expenses will convince government to adopt iris recognition system.
III. For question 11 – 20, listen to a piece of President Barack Obama’s speech on fixing US
immigration system and fill in the missing information. Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS taken
from the recording for each answer in the spaces provided.
11. The policy President Obama takes is not only lawful but what every single
___________________________ president and ______________________ president take for the past half
century.
12. The President wants to work with both parties to pass a more __________________________________.
13. However, the President wants to prevent disagreement over a single issue from becoming
________________________________ on other issues.
14. Ancestors in the past had to put in _____________________________ to become an American citizen.
15. The past has proved that immigrants are _____________________________ for the US economy and
society.
16. Importantly enough, all should have this debate without ____________________________ each other’s
character.
17. The President questions if anyone wants to see the US as a nation that
_________________________________ of a system where many labourers are deprived of legal rights.
18. Obama asks if the US education is to educate the world’s _____________________________________ in
universities just to send them home to create businesses in countries that compete against the US.
19. There is a call for a __________________________________________________ debate that focuses on
hopes, not fears.
20. The President expresses concern for the __________________________________ of children whose
mothers might be taken away just because they don’t have right papers.
PART 2: LEXICO AND GRAMMAR
I. Choose the word or phrase (A, B, C or D) that best completes each sentence.
1. You can buy goods on the Internet with a credit card, but there is a danger of ............. if someone else
obtains the number.
II. Find 10 mistakes (including spelling, grammar, punctuation, vocabulary) in the following paragraph.
A former nurse who admitted killing more than 30 patients with lethal drug overdoses has been jailed for
life by a court in northern Germany. The man, identified as Niels was convicted of two counts of murder
and attempted murder. He told the court last week he had acted on impulsy and apologized to the victims'
relatives.
The deaths took place at the Delmenhorst clinic, where he worked in an intensive care between 2003 and
2005.The former nurse was accused of injecting patients up by a medication that should only be used under
strict supervision of doctors because it can be triggered fatal cardiovascular reactions. At an initial trial
in 2008, he was convicted of attempted murder and given a seven and a half year term.
It was not until police began investigating the high amount of deaths while he was at the clinic that the
scale of his crimes became clear. However, there are suspicions that the number of his victims is far much
higher. The police investigation involves in at least 200 deaths, including at other clinics where he worked,
at Oldenburg and Wilhelmshaven.
IV. Fill in each blank in the following sentences with the most suitable form of the word in brackets.
1. Research has proved that certain types of meditation can decrease key stress symptoms such as anxiety and
…………….. (IRRITATE).
2. Patients are said to have more stamina, a happier ………….(DISPOSE) and even enjoy better relationships.
3. Mitchell, a former history teacher, shot to fame three years ago thanks to the television ………….
(ADAPT) of his fourth novel.
4. This month it presented its Golden Trident awards, the underwater …..........(EQUAL) of the Nobel prizes.
5. In prehistoric Egypt, four-wheel vehicles are scattering …………..(FACT) at thousands of unexcavated
sites.
6. Being considered the degree of variation of life. ………………..(DIVERSE) is a measure of the variety
of organisms present in different ecosystems. This can refer to genetic variation, ecosystem variation,
or species variation.
7. In my opinion, this book is nothing more than …………………(INTELLECT) rubbish.
8. There is little hope that Maurice’s behavior will ever improve. It will probably remain
so……………..(CORRECT) till he grows up.
9. They have narrowed the many ……………..(APPLY) down to three.
10. The company claims that the closing date for ………….(RECEIVE) of applications are September 25th.
V. Fill in each blank in the following paragraph with the most suitable form of the word in brackets.
EXTRACT FROM A BOOK ABOUT MEETING
We are ………………….…….. (1. SURE) by the experts that we are, as a species, designed for face-to-face
communication. But does that really mean having every meeting in person? Ask the bleary-eyed sales team
this question as they struggle ………………..….... (2. LABOUR) through their weekly teambuilding session and
that answer is unlikely to be in the………………..……. (3. AFFIRM). Unless you work for a very small
business or have an…………………….. (4. EXCEPT) high boredom threshold, you doubtless spend more time
sitting in meetings than you want to. Of course, you could always follow business Norman’s example. He
liked to express……………………….(5. SOLID) with customers queuing at the………………..…….(6. CHECK) by
holding management meetings standing up. Is email a realistic…………………..….(7. ALTER)? It’s clearly a
powerful tool for disseminating information, but as a meeting substitute it’s seriously flawed. Words alone
can cause trouble. We’re all full of ………………………….(8. SECURE) that can be unintentionally triggered by
others and people are capable of reading anything they like into an email. There is also
a…………………………….(9. TEND) for email to be used by people who wish to avoid ‘real’ encounters because
they don’t want to be …………………….……..(10. FRONT) with any awkwardness.
PART 3: READING
I. Read the text below and decide which answer (A, B, C or D) best fits each gap.
“SCRAMJET” – THE FUTURE OF FLIGHT TECHNOLOGY
A new (1)………….. on high-speed flight has (2)…………….with a jet aircraft smashing all records by reaching
seven times the (3)……………..of sound – fast enough to get from London to Sydney in two hours. The global
race to create world’s first “scramjet” was won by the United States recently, with NASA
(4)………………….the moment with the Wright brothers’ achievements of a century ago. The (5)…………..flight
– in which the jet reached 5,000 mph – lasted eleven seconds and ended with a (6)…………of the X-43A into
the Pacific Ocean, never to be seen again.
“To put this into (7)…............., a little over 100 years ago a couple of guys from Ohio flew for 120ft in the
first controlled powered flight. Today we did something similar in the same (8)…………….of time. “Lawrence
Huebner, NASA’s lead propulsion engineer, said, “but our vehicle under air-breathing power went over 15
miles.” The significance of the (9)………….is underlined by the margin between the X-43A and the world’s
(10)…………… fastest jet, Lockheed’s Blackbird. That two man reconnaissance aircraft, painted black to avoid
radar detection, (11) ……………….the United States for 25 years until the Cold War (12)……………..in 1990. Its
fastest speed was 2,193 mph. The X-43A is unmanned but NASA predicted that the inaugural flight would
inspire business, industry and the military to (13)………………..in its “hypersonic” revolutionary propulsion
system.
A scramjet would (14)………………….. an aircraft which had already reached supersonic speeds. The US
military is considering using the technology to create a warplane that could bomb targets anywhere on the
globe in a (15) …………..of hours.
1 A. make B. take C. do D. have
2 A. instigated B. dawned C. switched D. flown
3 A. pace B. ratio C. scale D. speed
4 A. researching B. revealing C. comparing D. including
5 A. period B. ancient C. historic D. contemporary
6 A. checkout B. check-up C. check-in D. check indicator
7 A. perspective B. operation C. reality D. opinion
8 A. number B. deal C. track D. amount
9 A. breakthrough B. breakout C. breakdown D. breakneck
10 A. premature B. belated C. prime D. previous
11 A. worked at B. lived on C. served D. devoted
12 A. frosted B. froze C. thawed D. liquidized
13 A. devote B. enclose C. invest D. consist
14 A. boost B. promote C. amplify D. diminish
15 A. problem B. matter C. amount D. number
II. Read the text below and think of the word that best fits each gap.
Public opinion polls show that crime is (1)………….. as one of the most serious problems of many societies.
Yet, penetrating studies have revealed that the (2)………………of violent crime is overestimated. Our peculiar
awareness and fear is largely brought (3)…………… by the great attention, it is devoted in the mass media and
also because of violent crime being a popular (4) ………….for television series and films.
(5)…………….all crimes, murder makes the headlines and there is little (6)…………..that homicides still
continue to be a nagging question in a (7)……………of countries in the world. The various causes of severe
crime are being constantly debated and innumerable reasons for it are being (8)………… out. They are, for
instance, unemployment, drug (9)……………., inadequate police enforcement, ineffective courts, racial
discrimination, television and the general decline in social (10)…………
III. Read the following text and choose the best answers.
One of the most influential literary figures of the twentieth century was American author Gertude Stein. Her
literary style and vision was often a radical departure from traditional methods, which relied on a more
linear plotline. Instead, Stein focused on language itself by employing methods of repetition and
spontaneity in an attempt to mirror human consciousness. But, Stein’s influence did not stop with her
writing. As an example expatriate in Paris, she was responsible for bringing some of the greatest minds in
art and literature together at her apartment, Slaon 27. The Spanish painter Pablo Picasso and American
writer Ernest Hemingway were two frequent visitors. Indeed, Stein was the one who coined the phrase
“Lost Generation” to denote up-and-coming American writers living in Paris at the time mainly due to their
disillusionment with arts as a whole back home. While Gertrude Stein may not be the most recognizable
figure in literature, her personal and literary influence on artists was invaluable.
Stein began living in Paris in 1903. Eventually, her flat, Salom 27, became a centre of intellectual exchange
for writers and artists. Before long, she became an integral part of the artistic and literary scene in the city
and befriended numerous important figures, such as Picasso and Matisse. They would meet there weekly,
where they could expound on new theories of art, philosophy, literature, politics, and social issues in the
stimulating, productive environment provided by Stien. Without Stein’s Salon 27, it is quite possible that
many of the artists and writers of the day never would have crossed paths, and the individual disciplines
would not have become as diverse or fully developed as they eventually did. These interations also became
a major influence on Stein’s own literary style.
Stein became enamored with Picasso’ cubist style, and as a result, many of his earliest works adorned the
walls of her apartment. But they were not simply decorative. Cubism attempts to reduce the subject from its
natural form into an abstract, geometrical shape capable of numerous angles of perception. In a similar
fashion, Stein attempted to interpret cubism through literature and writing. Like cubist painters, Stein wrote
in a style that took into consideration every possible different levels, not just a single, flat surface. Bu,
unlike the cubists who relied on formal structure such as grammar and syntax and focused on what she
called “automatic” language, which was spontaneous and repetitive and relied more on the spoken word.
In many ways, Stein’s style was a reaction against- nineteenth century authors’ tendency to place order and
structure above all other consideration. Stein revolutionized the style of the twentieth century by
undermining traditional, expected methods that came before the modern era. Stein focused on the process
of writing, not its ultimate result. She also believed that all parts of a sentence were equally important. For
example, to her, an article was an important as a noun, and a conjunction was as vital as a verb. In essencem
every part of a sentence was related. She learned this from painters, who believed every brushstroke on a
canvass contributed to the whole and could not be left out. Furthermore, the act of perception, whether it is
art or literature, was crucial, not the ultimate outcome because to Stein, consciousness never ceases. It is
continuous, so it became her task to try to embody the movement of consciousness in her work through
techniques such as the repetition of words or spontaneity rather than depicting events or a plotline in a
linear fashion.
In many ways, Stein’s writing mirrors the chaotic, detached atmosphere of post-World War I, yet it also
marks the moment when literature began to leave the nineteenth century behind in favor of a more
modernist style of imagination and innovation. It is also a clear precursor of stream of consciousness, which
dominated writing styles during the rest of the twentieth century in America. For instance, Hemingway’s
style in many of his early novels is clearly influenced by Stein. While Stein was able to capitalize on artistic
renditions of life and translate them into literature, other artists benefited from her willingness to reject the
accepted traditions and create her own.
List of Headings
Complete the notes of the history of hypnosis using NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the
passage.
References to hypnotism can be found both in the Talmud and (6) _____________. Even when
Mesmer’s (7) _________________ were not used, successful results occurred without them. Briad
identified hypnosis as a natural (8) ____________________, rather than magical or mystical. Early
psychological studies showed the difference between sleep and hypnosis. Successful hypnosis
requires the subject’s active (9) _____________________. Consequently subjects can speak or
move around and are (10) ______________ of their surroundings.
Use the words given in brackets and make any necessary additions to complete a new sentence in such
way that it is as similar as possible in meaning to the original sentence. DO NOT change the form of the
given words.
1. I’ve become extremely good at missing the rush hour over the last few weeks. (fine)
=> I’ve got missing rush hour _________________________ over the last few weeks.
2. I’d prefer to come out on top in the end, though! (laugh)
=> I’d rather _________________________ in the end, though!
3. My new job is much more satisfying than any job I’ve ever had. (away)
=> My new job is __________________________ one I’ve ever had.
4. The severity of the punishment bore no relation to the seriousness of the crime. (proportion)
…………………………………………………………………………………………………….