READING 11

1. Ken's son is ___ .

a. older than Keith's sons
b. older than his daughters
c. one year older than his daughters
d. younger than his daughters
2. How often does Ken socialise with Rich?
a. sometimes more than once a week
b. sometimes less than once a week
c. only once a week
d. about twice a week
3. What is the it Ken refers to when he writes 'it is so different'?
a. raising a boy
 b. raising a girl
c. raising children
d. raising an orphan
4. What do you think Ken means when he says that Dima and he 'really hit it off'?
a. They argued a lot.
b. They got on really well.
c. They met often.
d. They hated each other
5. What do you think Ken is referring to when he says that they are 'doing something
positive'?
a. studying about the environment
b. supporting global warming
c. facing danger
d. protecting the environment
6. Ken invites Keith to do what, if he wants to?
a. stay at their house
b. visit Cornwall
c. meet his wife
d. explore new places

READING 12

Should I take a gap year?

For many British students, deciding whether to take a year out to work or travel, or whether
to go straight to university from school instead can be a tough decision. On the one hand, a
gap year is useful for students who can’t decide which course they want to do at university.
Not only does it give them more time to consider their options, but the experience can help
them to see things in different ways. It’s also a chance to make some money and save up for
the university years ahead. On the other hand, it seems a waste of time and money to some
to delay their studies when they could be learning the skills required to get the career of
their dreams.
These days, the decision about whether to take a gap year or not is complicated by the fact
that getting, and paying for, a place at university is not as easy as it once was. In Britain,
tuition fees are higher than ever before, and the competition for places at university has
never been tougher. A lot of students believe that they have to start university sooner rather
than later as the costs can only go up. As a direct result of all this, for a majority of students,
having a year out does not seem as practical or sensible an option as it once was and, as a
result, numbers of gap-year students are falling.

In the UK, there are travel companies which specialise in organising student gap-year trips,
many of which, to my mind, have considerably improved the gap-year experience for young
people over the years. These companies have started offering ‘mini-gap’ trips, which last
only three or four months, thus taking advantage of that short window between leaving
school in June and starting university in October. They are also offering year-long gap trips
which are more vocational than in the past, as well as more courses to train young people to
learn a skill.

A recent survey tried to discover how supportive of the gap-year experience future
employers might be, and found that young people who had spent a year doing voluntary
work or learning a new skill had a clear advantage when it came to job seeking after
university. This was because they had done something to make their job applications stand
out. Although there can be no career advantage in just travelling around the world and
hanging out on beaches, choosing to spend time working with disadvantaged kids in the
developing world, or on work placements in offices and factories closer to home, will help
young people get a job in the future.

Read the text. Choose the correct answers.

1 According to the text, what sort of student might find taking a gap year useful?

A A student who feels the need to have money in the bank before going to university.

B A student with a clear idea about what subject to study or what job to get.

C A student who isn’t sure about whether to go to university or not.

D A student who needs further skills or qualifications to get a university place.

2 Which of the following factors is currently influencing whether students take a gap
year or not?

A The high cost of renting a place to stay when studying at university.

B A fear that studying at university may become even more expensive in the future.

C The fact that current courses of study are becoming increasingly difficult.

D A concern that there aren’t as many good universities as there used to be.

3 Which of the following is expressed as an opinion rather than a fact by the writer?

A The need for travel companies to change the way they provide gap-year travel.

B The way many travel companies have begun to concentrate on mostly providing
gap-year trips.
C The need for young people to take advantage of the opportunities offered by travel
companies.

D The way a number of travel companies have helped students get more out of their
gap years.

4 In what way have travel companies recently changed the sort of gap-year trips they
offer?

A They no longer offer just one-year-long trips.

B Now all the trips they offer last fewer than six months.

C Their trips now all involve work experience.

D Their gap-year trips now start in June, not October.

5 What did the recent survey show?

A Employers weren’t particularly interested in whether young people took a gap year
or not.

B Employers were more likely to give jobs to gap-year students who worked abroad
rather than in their own country.

C Employers favoured students who had taken a gap year and didn’t mind how they
spent it.

D Employers preferred students who had been on a gap year to learn or work to
students who went straight to university.

READING 13

The teenage polar explorer

You may not have heard of Parker Liautaud, but back in 2013 he was big news. Having
announced that, at the age of nineteen, he was planning to break the record for skiing
across Antarctica, the world’s media were keen to get to meet the ambitious adventurer.
What follows is just one of the many news stories written at the time.

Have you any idea where you’ll be waking up on Christmas morning? Well, if everything goes
to plan, teenager Parker Liautaud will be spending the day at the South Pole. For now,
though, the nineteen-year-old Californian is in London, completing his preparations and
seeking publicity for his adventure. I set out to meet him in the tent he had pitched in a glass
box full of snow not far from London’s famous Tower Bridge. Inside the climate-controlled
box, the temperature was well below freezing, and passing Londoners were all keen to climb
inside to get a selfie with Parker. I was happier to chat out in the milder air of a September
afternoon in the capital. Parker turned out to be not just a well-connected adventurer from
a wealthy background, but a young man determined to raise the issue of climate change to a
broader audience. While crossing the Antarctic ice from the continent’s coast to its pole,
Parker and his co-explorer Doug Stoop will be carrying out vital scientific experiments to
investigate the impact of global warming.
Despite his youthful appearance, Parker is an experienced polar explorer. He grew up with
an interest in the icy wastes and, even in his early teens, had a passion for protecting these
last great wildernesses. That’s why he took advantage of the fact that his family was rich to
finance trips to the Arctic and Antarctic. He wanted to see what was happening for himself,
and to publicise the problems for the world to see. He went on his first polar expedition at
the age of fourteen and attempted, unsuccessfully, to walk across the Arctic to the North
Pole at fifteen. By the age of eighteen, he had reached the North Pole on three occasions. As
we finished our conversation, and he made his way back to the glass box, I wished him all
the best. With luck, by the end of the year, he will have achieved his latest dream.

So, in the end, what happened to Parker’s exhibition to the South Pole? Well, following a
560-kilometre trek on skis from the edge of Antarctica, the young man and his co-explorer
Stoop reached their goal. It was the fastest human-powered trek from the coast to the South
Pole, and Parker became the youngest man to ski to the Pole.

Read the text. Choose the correct answers.

1 In the introductory paragraph, the writer says that in 2013 …

A media interest in Parker’s story was not as big as it is now.

B a lot of journalists around the world showed an interest in Parker.

C the media were awaiting the announcement of Parker’s next record attempt.

D there was just as much excitement about Parker’s trip as there is today.

2 In the second paragraph, the writer says that when he met Parker, …

A all his plans had already been finalised.

B he was trying to increase general awareness of his trek.

C he was hard to find among all his admirers.

D the adventurer had only just arrived in London.

3 In the second paragraph, the writer says that …

A he had to interview Parker inside a specially-erected glass box in central London.

B he was surprised by how much interest Londoners were showing in Parker.

C he decided to have his photo taken with Parker in or near his tent.

D the general public wished to meet Parker Liautaud.

4 In the third paragraph, it is revealed that …

A Parker had been to the Antarctic a number of times before the age of fourteen.

B Parker has only recently developed a concern for polar ecology.

C Parker’s motivation for going to the poles wasn’t only about having an adventure.

D Parker struggled to finance the early polar trips he made.

5 In the final paragraph, we find out that …

A the trek to the Pole was further than Parker and Stoop had expected.

B it took longer to reach their final destination than Parker and Stoop had planned.

C the expedition broke at least two polar travel records.

D nobody younger than either Stoop or Parker had completed the trek.
READING 14

1.How did Sally feel when she first arrived?

A She was hungry and cold.

B She missed her family.

C She was angry with the camp leaders.

D She wanted the evening to end early.

2.The next morning, Sally

A put up a tent.

B saw something amazing.

C rode a horse for the first time.

D cooked breakfast on a campfire.

3.What types of activities did Sally do at the camp?

A sports and cooking

B drama and art

C art and sports

D drama and cooking

4.What happened after she came home from the camp?

A Ingrid visited her.

B Her parents went into hospital.

C She made something for her parents.

D She emailed Ingrid photos of the camp.

5.Overall, how does Sally feel about Camp Lomond?

A It was too tiring.

B It was a very good experience.

C She didn’t like sleeping in a tent.

D It helped her to become a friendlier person.