Life, ADVANCED, Mid-term Test 1

100 points

Vocabulary
1 Complete the second sentence so that it has a similar meaning to the first sentence, using the word
given. Do not change the word given. You must use between three and six words, including the word
given. Here is an example (0).
0 Just keep doing the work you have.
GET
Just __get on with___ the work you have.
1 It wasn’t easy to understand what I was supposed to do in my new job.
FEET
It wasn’t easy to ____________ in my new job.
2 I really damaged my opportunities when I criticized the boss in an email.
SHOT
I really ____________ when I criticized the boss in an email.
3 I’m always saying the wrong thing – yesterday I told my girlfriend’s mum she looked good considering
how old she was!
PUTTING
I’m always ____________ – yesterday I told my girlfriend’s mum she looked good considering how old
she was!
4 I’m busy now, but I’ll find time to write the essay later.
ROUND
I’m busy now, but I’ll ____________ the essay later.
5 My dad was a professional pianist – I intend to have a similar career. I’m going to be a musician too.
FOOTSTEPS
My dad was a professional pianist – I intend to ____________ . I’m going to be a musician too.
6 Don’t ask me to dance! I’m hopeless at dancing!
TWO
Don’t ask me to dance! I’ve ____________ .
7 How did you avoid punishment when you kicked the football through the principal’s window?
AWAY
How did you ____________ kicking the football through the principal’s window?
8 I know learning to skydive is crazy, but I want to do it because if I don’t, I’ll keep thinking that I want to
do it!
SYSTEM
I know learning to skydive is crazy, but I want to get it ____________ .
9 I don’t have much work to do – just little jobs.
ENDS
I don’t have much work to do – just ____________ .
10 Jenny always does things correctly.
BOOK
Jenny always does things ____________ .
(10 points)
2 Vocabulary

Use the word given in CAPITAL LETTERS at the end of each sentence to form a word that fits in the gap
in the same sentence. Here is an example (0).
0 Being a nurse is an important __occupation__ . OCCUPY
1 At work, Susie is very ____________ – she works through each part of the project step by step.
METHOD
2 What’s your job? What do you do for a ____________ ? LIVE
3 My ____________ was to photograph the explorers as they climbed the mountain – it wasn’t an easy
task. ASSIGN
4 You should always follow the correct ____________ when dealing with dangerous substances.
PROCEED
5 Dan is an ____________ student – he loves learning about new things and does lots of research.
ENTHUSE

6 If you don’t have all the tools, be ____________ and improvise with what you have. RESOURCE
7 It’s a ____________ machine. It never breaks down. RELY
8 Erring on the side of ____________ is better than cutting corners. CAUTIOUS
9 Being ____________ on her work, Kim managed to finish the project before the deadline. FOCUS
10 All our staff are hard-working and ____________ . They value your custom. CONSCIENCE

(10 points)
Grammar
3 Complete the text using the correct perfect or passive form of the verbs in brackets. There is an
example at the beginning (0).
The thatcher
Paul Stewart (0) __has been working__ (work) as a thatcher for the last five years. He is happy in the job.
He used to (1) ____________ (employ) by a major accountancy firm in the city. That job seems a long
time ago now. Back then, he (2) ____________ (earn) a lot of money, but he (3) ____________ (not feel)
any job satisfaction. He doesn’t regret giving up the high salary to learn a new skill. He is thankful for (4)
____________ (give) the opportunity to find an occupation he enjoys. He (5) ____________ (love)
thatching ever since he climbed up on his first roof.
In case you don’t know, thatching is a traditional craft which (6) ____________ (carry) out in small
villages across England since ancient times. Reeds from rivers are used as a roofing material to create
beautiful and well-insulated roofs. However, it isn’t an easy thing to do. The reeds need (7)
____________ (select) carefully and can’t be used until they (8) ____________ (dry) out.
The skill of the thatcher is something you don’t master overnight. Paul (9) ____________ (learn) his craft
for over two years before he thatched his first roof and says it was one of his biggest accomplishments!
By the end of the year, he (10) ____________ (complete) his hundredth thatched roof. ‘We’re planning
a little celebration to mark the occasion,’ he says.
(10 points)

4 Complete the sentences with the correct form of the verbs in brackets. Use a passive form whenever
possible. Here is an example (0).
0 Despite __being told__ (tell) the news, Stephen refused to believe it.
1 Although he ____________ (fail) the previous course, Eddie was determined to enrol on the next one.
2 Over the last decade, students at the institute ____________ (know) to cheat in exams on a systematic
basis. This must stop.
3 If they continue to behave in this way, they might ____________ (ask) to leave.
4 You can’t ____________ (blame) the weather for your failure to complete the course. It was sunny all
day.
5 Not ____________ (invite) to the wedding really upset Samantha.
6 I ____________ (not accept) on the course until I had paid the fee.
7 The national stadium ____________ (rebuild) right now, so international matches will take place
elsewhere.
8 Anyone who ____________ (not give) a form yet should contact Emily at the admissions desk.
9 All sections need ____________ (fill) in before you can leave.
10 It’s not easy ____________ (tell) you aren’t good enough.
(10 points)
Reading
5 You are going to read an article about how learning an instrument affects the brain. For questions 1–
10, choose from the sections (A–G). The sections may be chosen more than once. There is an example
at the beginning (0).
Your ageing brain will be in better shape if you’re taking music lessons
A
Are music lessons the way to get smarter? That’s what a lot of parents (and experts) believe: studying an
instrument gives children an advantage in the development of their intellect and their ability to
understand and recognize things. This may, however, turn out not to be the case at all. Two new
randomized trials have found no evidence for the belief. The IQs of pre-schoolers who had attended
several weeks of music classes as part of these studies did not differ significantly from the IQs of those
who had not.
B
But that does not mean that the advantages of learning to play music are limited to expressing yourself,
impressing friends, or just having fun. A growing number of studies show that music lessons in childhood
can do something perhaps more valuable for the brain than childhood gains: they could provide benefits
in the long run, as we age, in the form of an added defence against memory loss and the diminished
ability to distinguish consonants and spoken words. Not only that, you may well get those benefits even
if you haven’t tickled the ivories, strummed the guitar, or unpacked your instrument from its case in
years. There may even be advantages if you decide to pick up an instrument for the very first time in
midlife or beyond.
C
The reason is that musical training can have a profound and lasting impact on the brain, creating
additional neural connections in childhood that can last a lifetime and thus help compensate for our
failing powers of memory and thinking later in life. Those many hours spent learning and practising
specific types of coordination (each finger on each hand doing something different, and for wind and
brass instruments, also using your mouth and breathing), along with the music-reading and listening
skills that go into playing an instrument in youth, are all factors contributing to the brain boost that
shows up later in life.
D
Remarkably, scientists can even map the impact of musical training on the brain. In a 2003 study,
Harvard neurologist Gottfried Schlaug found that the brains of adult professional musicians had a larger
volume of grey matter (the regions of the brain involved in mental processes such as seeing and hearing,
memory, emotions, speech, decision making, and self-control) than those of nonmusicians. Schlaug and
colleagues also found that after fifteen months of musical training in early childhood, structural brain
changes associated with improvements in our movement and hearing begin to appear. Such findings
speak to the brain’s plasticity – its ability to change or adapt in response to experience, environment, or
behaviour. It also shows the power of musical training to enhance and build connections within the
brain.
E
‘What’s unique about playing an instrument is that it requires a wide array of brain regions and cognitive
functions to work together simultaneously, in both right and left hemispheres of the brain,’ says Alison
Balbag, a professional harpist who began musical training at the age of five, holds a doctorate in music,
and is currently earning her Ph.D. in gerontology (with a special focus on the impact of music on health
throughout the life span) at the University of Southern California. ‘Playing music may be an efficient way
to stimulate the brain,’ she says.
F
More research is showing that the longer somebody has played an instrument, the better it might be. In
a study on the subject, published in 2011, 70 healthy adults between the ages of 60 and 83 were divided
into three groups: musicians who had been studying an instrument for at least ten years, those who had
been playing for between one and nine years, and a control group who had never learned an instrument
or how to read music. The group who had studied for at least ten years scored the highest in such areas
as memory, naming objects, and taking in and adapting new information. By contrast, those with no
musical training performed least well, and those who had played between one and nine years were in
the middle. In other words, the more they had trained and played, the more benefit the participants had
gained. But, interestingly, they didn’t lose all of the benefits even when they hadn’t played music in
decades.
G
It’s not too late to gain benefits even if you didn’t take up an instrument until later in life. Jennifer
Bugos, an assistant professor of music education at the University of South Florida, Tampa, studied the
impact of individual piano instruction on adults between the ages of 60 and 85. After six months, those
who had received piano lessons showed greater gains in memory, verbal fluency and other cognitive
functions, compared with those who had not received lessons.
In which section does the writer
0 describe the qualifications of one person she quotes from? _____E______
1 express some surprise at what research into music learning has discovered? ____________
2 describe how experiments or tests of some kind have dismissed a common expectation?
____________
3 quote the view that music training affects different parts of the brain? ____________
4 mention how the brains of elderly people responded to learning an instrument for the first time?
____________
5 say that learning an instrument is good whether or not you give up, and whether or not you do it in
youth or old age? ____________
6 provide examples of what people actually learn to do physically when they learn music?
____________
7 mention that the hearing of young people soon improves if they play an instrument? ____________
8 compare how one set of adults did better in specific controlled tests of their responses than another?
____________
9 say that a skill we develop when young helps us more in old age than in youth? ____________
10 say that children’s performance at school is not necessarily aided by learning an instrument?
____________
(10 points)
Listening
6 [Track 97] You will hear people talking in five different situations. For questions 1–10, choose the
best answer (A, B or C). There is an example at the beginning (0).
Amanda and Joe are talking about a play they’ve seen.
0 How did Amanda first react to the play?
A She thought it was disappointing at first.
B She thought it was exciting throughout.
C She thought it was different to what she had anticipated.
1 What does Joe say about Sally Mercer’s take on Shakespeare’s play?
A It was similar to previous plays she had directed.
B It was better than previous plays of hers he’d seen.
C He found it more difficult to follow than usual.
2 What do Amanda and Joe agree on?
A They are both long-term fans of Sally Mercer.
B They are both glad they saw the play.
C They were moved by aspects of Mercer’s adaptation.
Two friends are talking about the Olympic Games.
3 What do they agree about?
A The Olympic Games were more interesting to watch in the past.
B It is worth watching at least some of the Olympic Games on TV.
C The Olympic Games provide a real sense of global unity.

4 According to the man, what is the best thing about this year’s Olympic Games?
A They take place in a similar time zone.
B His nation is expected to do well.
C He has time off work to watch them.
Wesley is talking to a friend about his job as a tour guide.
5 Why did Wesley become a tour guide?
A He’d always wanted to travel to the Middle East.
B He was seeking useful experience for his chosen career.
C Someone from a travel company asked him to work for him.
6 What is the main reason Wesley gives for not enjoying life as a tour guide?
A He didn’t like the workload he had to take on.
B He didn’t like the day-to-day predictability of the job.
C He didn’t like the attitudes of the tourists.
Susie is talking to a friend about a creative writing course she attended.
7 What does Susie say she has got out of doing the course?
A It has helped her start writing a novel for the first time.
B It has encouraged her to think more creatively.
C It has improved her ability to be self-critical.
8 What does Susie say new writers should do to improve their ability to write?
A Avoid writing only from personal experience.
B Be sure to review their work.
C Be self-critical in their approach to their writing.
Two friends are talking about their personalities.
9 How would the man describe himself?
A someone who’ll do almost anything to get on
B someone who works harder than most people
C someone who is, for the most part, ambitious
10 What does the man advise the woman to do at work?
A put in more effort
B be more selfish
C have more new ideas
(10 points)
Writing
7 Read the task below.
1 How important is it to protect old or historic buildings? Should history stand in the way of progress?
2 Ordinary residents are being priced out of living in the centre of major cities like London and Paris.
What are the reasons for this? What should be done to help ordinary people afford to live in such cities?
Write an opinion essay (200–250 words) on one of the topics. Make sure you:
• analyse the question and set out your starting point.
• give your opinion and present the arguments supporting it.
• deal with opposing arguments.
• make your conclusion.
(20 points)

Speaking
8 Read the task below and give your presentation in class.
Prepare a four-minute description of one of the following in the city you live in or a city you know well:
a public work of art a recently-built building a historic building a place you often visit
In your presentation, include:
• a description of what this structure/place looks like.
• what effect it has on your feelings, thoughts, etc.
• any other interesting information.
(20 points)