FLSS/practice_tests/G11

PRACTICE TEST 9
Time allowed: 90mins

Full name: …………………………… Class:………

I. Choose the word whose underlined part is pronounced differently from that of the others
in each line.
1. A. detention B. dilemma C. secretarial D. meritocracy
2. A. insecure B. opportunity C. usable D. university
3. A. attractive B. barrister C. academic D. album
4. A. confidant B. conservative C. promote D. personal
5. A. medium B. menial C. reveal D. retail
II. Choose the word whose stress pattern is different from the others in each line.
6. A. interview B. applicant C. advantage D. imbecile
7. A. experience B. maturely C. reclusion D. destitute
8. A. embarrass B. painstaking C. assistant D. bilingual
9. A. predominantly B. irrelevancy C. terminology D. vocabulary
10. A. ordinary B. euphemism C. immediately D. dedicated
III. Choose the word which best fits each gap in the following sentences.
11. These figures show a _____ in the number of unemployed people in England and Wales.
A. reduction B. lessening C. loss D. lowering
12. Two _____ were sacked, because they were always turning up late.
A. applicants B. applications C. employers D. employees
13. People who take on a second job inevitably _____ themselves to greater stress.
A. offer B. field C. subject D. place
14. Students sometimes support themselves by _____ of evening jobs.
A. ways B. methods C. efforts D. means
15. _____ of all the staff, I would like to wish you a happy retirement.
A. Instead B. On behalf C. In place D. On account
16. Automation in factories has made many _____ workers redundant.
A. manual B. hand C. fabrication D. manufacturing
17. She tried to _____ Tom’s importance to the company in order to gain a promotion for herself.
A. reduce B. diminish C. dwindle D. shrink
18. Could you be more specific about what is _____ in this particular job?
A. enclosed B. involved C. presented D. concentrated
19. For some jobless people, joining the _____ queue is humiliating experience.
A. benefit B. grant C. dole D. ration
20. There weren’t any _____ in the factory for bilingual secretaries.
A. situations B. offers C. spaces D. vacancies
21. Luckily, he realized that he had forgotten his passport in time to return to the hotel and collect
it; otherwise, we _____ the hovercraft.
A. must not have caught B. needn’t have caught
C. hadn’t been caught D. couldn’t have caught
22. Medicines and chemical cleaning liquids _____ out of children’s reach.
A. need to keep B. must have kept C. should be kept D. have kept
23. Advertising is very old. Examples of advertising _____ as far back as ancient Greece, where
criers shouted out messages about their client’s wares to the public.
A. have found B. would be found C. can be found D. might be found
24. Because the waiter didn’t _____ what I ordered, he brought me a mutton steak instead of the
chicken wings that I’d want.
A. call on B. stay up C. take down D. check in
25. A cheaper guitar won’t be much good to you _____ you are hoping to play professionally later on.
A. until B. if C. whether D. as if
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26. Through the dense fog in the harbor, the captain and crew were barely able to _____ the lights
on the dock.
A. look up B. make out C. called away D. left out
27. As Japan has a large population _____ little level land, its cities are extremely crowded.
A. so B. but C. thus D. due to
28. _____ many college graduates in India are unemployed, companies across the country
complain of a lack of skilled people.
A. As to B. In spite of C. While D. Meanwhile
29. I know that your situation seems very bad at the moment, but your problems will soon _____.
A. take after B. blow over C. hang out D. live down
30. We will get their order _____ another company quotes them a lower price, which I doubt will happen.
A. because B. as if C. unless D. supposed that
IV. Give the correct form of the words in brackets.

CULTURE CLASHES

One (31. CHARACTER) of the modern world is that people increasingly 31. _____________
find themselves living side by side with people from other cultures. While in the
past people with different cultures were able to live quite (32. SEPARATE), high 32. _____________
mobility and freedom of movement mean that we are more likely today to be
confronted with people whose way of life is (33. FAMILIAR) to us. In such 33. _____________
circumstances, (34. RACE) is a real danger. 34. _____________
People feel a tremendous (35. LOYAL) to their own culture, and are often 35. _____________
unwilling to develop an (36. APPRECIATE) of the positive aspects of other 36. _____________
cultures. They may feel that another culture presents a threat to their own (37. 37. _____________
INHERIT), one that could even lead to the (38. APPEAR) of certain aspects of 38. _____________
their way of life. Often, however, this threat is more a matter of (39. PERCEIVE) 39. _____________
than reality and different groups live in (40. RELATE) harmony in many parts of 40. _____________
the world.

V. Read the text below and look carefully at each line. If a line is correct, put a tick (√) in the
space by the number. If a line has a word which should not be there, underline the word
and write it in the space.
A HOLIDAY JOB
So you want to earn some extra money during the summer holidays?
I can tell you one job that I’d certainly will avoid if I were you. Last year, I 41. ____________
have heard that an easy way to make some extra cash was to go on fruit 42. ____________
picking. You don’t need any special skills and you spend all day outside in 43. ____________
the sunshine. I wish I had known what I was letting it myself in for. 44. ____________
Basically, you have to fill up baskets with strawberries which are then 45. ____________
weighed and then you get paid according to how much you have and 46. ____________
picked. Of course, they don’t pay you anything for the ones what you eat, 47. ____________
but after a few days in the fields, I never been wanted to see another 48. ____________
strawberry again in my life! My hands were permanently red and sticky and 49. ____________
my back ached from so much all bending down. And what’s more, where 50. ____________
there’s fruit, there’s bound to be wasps. I spent a fortune on both insect 51. ____________
repellent and still got stung twice! The best way to make it fun is if only a 52. ____________
crowd of mates do it together, but the farmers are not always so keen on 53. ____________
this because they think as you’re going to fool around and not get on with 54. ____________
the work. Given that it was so much boring, they were right! 55. ____________
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VI. Read the following text and choose the best answer for each question.
At the beginning of the nineteenth century, the American educational system was
desperately in need of reform. Private schools existed, but only for the very rich. There were very
few public schools because of the strong sentiment that children who would grow up to be laborers
should not ‘waste’ their time on education but should instead prepare themselves for their life’s
work. It was in the face of this public sentiment that educational reformers set about their task.
Horace Mann, probably the most famous of the reformers, felt that there was no excuse in a
republic for any citizen to be uneducated. As Superintendent of Education in the state of
Massachusetts from 1837 to 1848, he initiated various changes, which were soon matched in other
school districts around the country. He extended the school year from five to six months and
improved the quality of teachers by instituting teacher education and raising teacher salaries.
Although these changes did not bring about a sudden improvement in the educational system, they
at least increased public awareness as to the need for a further strengthening of the system.
56. The best title for the passage could be _____.
A. The Beginnings of Reform in American Education
B. Nineteenth - the Century of Reform
C. A Fight for Change
D. American Education in the Beginning of the 19th Century
57. The passage implied that to go to a private school, a student needed _____.
A. a high level of intelligence B. a strong educational background
C. a lot of money D. good grades
58. The word ‘desperately’ in the passage mostly means _____.
A. obviously B. urgently C. completely D. partly
59. The author of the passage puts the word ‘waste’ in quotation marks because he _____.
A. does not want students to waste their time on education
B. is quoting someone else who said that education was a waste of time
C. thinks that education is not really a waste of time
D. wants to emphasize how much time is wasted on education
60. According to the passage, Horace Mann wanted a better educational system for Americans
because _____.
A. Massachusetts residents needed something to do with their spare time
B. education at the time was so cheap
C. all citizens should be educated in a republic
D. people had nothing else to do except go to school
61. The word ‘reformers’ in the passage mostly means _____.
A. people who try to change things for the better
B. people who believe that education is wasted
C. people who really enjoy teaching
D. people who work for the government
62. The word ‘citizen’ in the passage mostly means _____.
A. a person who lives in a particular city
B. a person who works in a particular place
C. a person who works, especially one who does a particular kind of work
D. a person who has the legal right to belong to a particular country
63. From 1837 to 1848, Horace Mann _____.
A. raised money for the educational development in Massachusetts
B. managed education in the state of Massachusetts
C. funded many projects to improve the educational system for Americans
D. worked as a headmaster in a school in the state of Massachusetts
64. According to the passage, which sentence is NOT TRUE?
A. Horace Mann suggested schools prepare children for their life’s work.
B. Horace Mann was a famous US educational reformer.
C. Horace Mann brought about changes in many schools in the United States.
D. Horace Mann began raising teachers’ salaries.
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65. According to the passage, which of the following is a change that Horace Mann instituted?
A. Increased pay for students
B. The matching of other districts’ policies
C. Better teacher training
D. The five-month school year
VII. Choose the best word or phrase to fill in each blank in the following passage.
PROACTIVE JOB HUNTING
Once upon a time, people left school or university, joined a company and stayed with it until
they retired. The concept of a job for life is now long (66) _____, and nowadays many employees
find it hard to stay loyal to their companies for even a relatively short (67) _____ of time. According
to a recent survey, this is particularly (68) _____ in London, where more than half of those asked
said that they constantly (69) _____ one eye on other job opportunities, (70) _____ they are fairly
happy in their existing jobs. A high number of London workers say that they are always on the (71)
_____, although they are content and motivated in their current position.
Job seekers find that the internet (72) _____ them with a quick and easy way to find out
what’s available, and 53 per cent said that they had applied for a job or registered with an
employment agency in the past 12 months. This proactive (73) _____ means that people can look
for a perfect job match with the minimum of effort. But while this is good for job hunters, the growing
lack of company loyalty could (74) _____ up being a big problem for employers. Perhaps
surprisingly, the (75) _____ factor attracting job seekers was not more money, but challenging and
interesting work.
66. A. gone B. over C. done D. finished
67. A. stage B. point C. section D. period
68. A. right B. true C. actual D. real
69. A. hold B. put C. keep D. place
70. A. just as B. as well C. so that D. even if
71. A. lookout B. search C. watch D. pursuit
72. A. serves B. delivers C. provides D. fulfils
73. A. manner B. approach C. style D. custom
74. A. come B. end C. lead D. run
75. A. biggest B. widest C. largest D. highest
VIII. Fill in each numbered blank with one suitable word to complete the following passage.
Dear Sir,
I would like to (76) ____________________ a complaint about an article that appeared in your
newspaper last week. In the article, entitled ‘Why they are (77) ____________________ of work’,
the writer suggested that the unemployed were responsible (78) ____________________ their own
situation. If the writer had (79) ____________________ their job properly and made a little effort to
speak to local unemployed people, they might have realised that this is not the (80)
____________________.
Let me begin (81) ____________________ saying that most unemployed people want to work.
They apply (82) ____________________ jobs and (83) ____________________ a great deal of
effort into changing their situation.
The truth is that local businesses are simply not taking (84) ____________________ new staff. The
government is to (85) ____________________ for the way in which economic growth has slowed
down, making life difficult for many businesses.
I look forward to reading a more balanced article in the future.
Yours faithfully,
Rebecca Winterson
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IX. Rewrite the following sentences so that they have the same meaning as the original ones.
86. I strongly advise you to tell her you’re sorry. APOLOGIZE
@ I think you’d .................................................................................................................. her.
87. It is likely that my friends haven’t received my letter yet. UNLIKELY
@ My friends .......................................................................................................my letter yet.
88. He seemed to be worried about something. IMPRESSION
@ I ............................................................................................................ was worrying him.
89. I’ve never seen anyone play so skillfully before. MUCH
@ I’ve never seen anyone ........................................................................................... before.
90. What caused him to change his mind? REASON
@ What was .............................................................................................................. of mind?
91. When should we collect the books we ordered last week? SUPPOSED
@ When .......................................................................... up the books we ordered last week.
92. “It is important that you don’t tell anyone else what I’ve told you,” she said to him. REPEAT
@ She urged ................................................................... anyone else what she had told him.
93. I was surprised to discover that the hotel was a long way from the city center. TURNED
@ To ......................................................... that the hotel was a long way from the city center.
94. She would like a job that will allow her to travel abroad a lot. GIVE
@ She would like a job that will ................................................................. travel abroad a lot.
95. You took it without paying for it, didn’t you?” the shopkeeper said to her. ACCUSED
@ The shopkeeper .................................................................................. without paying for it.
X. Choose the sentence that is closest in meaning to each of the questions from 96 to 100
96. “Isn’t it an interesting film?”
A. It is not an interesting film, is it?
B. Is it an interesting film?
C. It is not an interesting film.
D. It is an interesting film.
97. I wondered if my English teacher is from Australia.
A. I am sure my teacher from Australia speaks English.
B. I wondered my Australia teacher is English.
C. I wondered if my teacher’s English is Australian English.
D. I am not sure whether my English teacher is Australian.
98. It is undeniable that the internet plays a vital role in our life nowadays.
A. Our life without the internet is deniable.
B. The internet’s vital role is denied in our modern life.
C. That the internet is important to modern life is obvious.
D. The internet is hardly undeniable in our life.
99. Although they are twins, they are not identical.
A. They look alike but they are not twins.
B. They are not alike because they are not twins.
C. The twins do not have the same identity.
D. They are twins but they don’t look exactly the same.
100. By the time we arrived at the airport, the shuttle bus had left.
A. We got to the airport just in time.
B. The shuttle bus left at the time we got to the airport.
C. The shuttle bus had left before we got to the airport.
D. We got to the airport before the shuttle bus ran.

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