FIRST CERTIFICATE IN ENGLISH

Reading and Use of English

Pretesting

Time 1 hour 15 minutes

INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATES
Do not open this question paper until you are told to do so.
Write your name, centre number and candidate number on your answer sheet if they are
not already there.
Read the instructions for each part of the paper carefully.
Answer all the questions.
Read the instructions on the answer sheet.
Write your answers on the answer sheet. Use a pencil.
You must complete the answer sheet within the time limit.
At the end of the test, hand in both this question paper and your answer sheet.

INFORMATION FOR CANDIDATES

Questions 1 — 24 carry one mark.

Questions 25 — 30 carry two marks.
Questions 31 — 42 carry two marks.
Questions 43 — 52 carry one mark.
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Part 1

For questions 1 — 8, read the text below and decide which answer (A, B, C or D) best fits each gap.
There is an example at the beginning (0).
Mark your answers on the separate answer sheet. Example:

0 A right B just C completely D quite

Student journalism

So you want to work for a newspaper? Well, university could be (0) ......... the place for you to get

started — there are more than 250 university and college publications in Britain. Student journalism is

the most popular activity in British universities (1) ....... sport, so competition can be fierce. But the

good news is that it is not (2) ...... that you will have previous experience — just present yourself at

the college paper's office and start to (3) ........ yourself useful. The important thing is that you are

keen to learn and able to work as (4) ...... of a team.

In the first weeks of every academic year, editors receive a (5) ........ number of offers of help from

students, but they invariably find the number of volunteers (6) ...... after a while. The way to impress

the editor is to keep turning (7) ....... for work, to be enthusiastic and to produce good articles. You

are (8) ......... to make mistakes, but you should learn a lot as you move along.
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1 A after B beyond C under D apart

2 A considered B expected C reckoned D insisted

3 A get B give C make D act

4 A member B piece C player D part

5 A vast B heavy C broad D giant

6 A shortens B subtracts C cuts D decreases

7 A off B on C up D round

8 A bound B doubtless C positive D definite

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Part 2

For questions 9 — 16, read the text below and think of the word which best fits each gap. Use only
one word in each gap. There is an example at the beginning (0).
Write your answers IN CAPITAL LETTERS on the separate answer sheet.
Example: 0 - BE

Salt

There can (0)............ no doubt that salt is a vital ingredient in our daily food. We need salt (9) ................

that our nerves and muscles can function properly. A certain amount of salt (10) ................... the diet is

clearly desirable, although there is evidence that most of us consume far (11).................... much salt, which

is harmful to our health.

These days we are all encouraged to limit (12) .................. amount of salt that we consume, cutting down

both on salty types of food and on the salt we add to (13)............................. own cooking. However, it is

often surprisingly difficult to know which foods contain a lot of salt — the taste is not always (14) .....................

reliable indication. Certain foods such as eggs, to (15) ……………we tend to add salt, actually have

quite a high natural salt content. Similarly, a slice of white bread — a supposedly healthy food item — may

actually contain the (16) …………… amount of salt as a packet of potato crisps — a product that tastes

extremely salty!
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Part 3

For questions 17 — 24, read the text below. Use the word given in capitals at the end of some of the
lines to form a word that fits in the gap in the same line. There is an example at the beginning (0).
Write your answers IN CAPITAL LETTERS on the separate answer sheet.

Introduction to a mail-order catalogue

To select products for (0) INCLUSION in our catalogue, we collect INCLUDE

information from a wide (17) ….…. of sources. We consult people who have VARY

recognised technical expertise and study reports that appear in relevant publications.

We then ask an independent panel of testers for their (18) …………. JUDGE

However, we realise that it is not enough to take account simply of the

opinions of experts and so we make a point of also asking ordinary

(19) ............ what they think. CONSUME

As soon as this process is complete. we (20)………… analyse all the CARE

information on thousands of products so that we can identify the ones which, it

is our (21) ............., qualify as being the best of their type in terms of design. BELIEVE

function, (22) ........... and value for money. PERFORM

We are therefore confident that our catalogue contains totally (23) ……………… RELY

information and that it features only (24) ………….. products that we feel you will EXCEPT

want to order.

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Part 4

For questions 25 — 30, 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 two and
five words, including the word given. Here is an example (0).

Example:

0 A very friendly taxi driver drove us into town.

DRIVEN

W e … … . … a v e r y f r i e n d l y t a x i d r i v e r .

The gap can be filled by the words 'were driven into town by', so you write:

Example: 0 W ER E D R IV E N IN T O T O W N BY
Write only the missing words IN CAPITAL LETTERS on the separate answer sheet.

25 John doesn't usually go to work at the weekend.

UNUSUAL

It .......................................................... go to work at the weekend.

26 On being informed about the delay to the flight, I phoned my office immediately.

SOON

I phoned my office as .......................................................... been informed about the

delay to the flight.

27 Valerie asked me how much I had paid for my flight to Sydney.

COST

Valerie wanted to .......................................................... my flight to Sydney.

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28 It took James six weeks to drive across the Sahara desert.

SPENT

James.............................................................. across the Sahara desert.

29 'We haven't seen any sun for ages,' complained Emily.

TIME

`It's been a............................................................. had any sun,' complained Emily.

30 It was difficult for Pieter to follow the instructions he was given.

DIFFICULTY

Pieter …………………………………………………………….. the instructions he was given.


Part 5
You are going to read an article about two sisters who do stunts — things that are too dangerous for
the actors to do — in films. For questions 31 — 36, choose the answer (A, B, C or D) which you think
fits best according to the text.
Mark your answers on the separate answer sheet
Hollywood stunt sisters
For sisters Debbie and Donna Evans, crashing cars and getting blown up are all in a day's work.
In the car park of a baseball stadium in Los
Angeles, Debbie Evans, a petite mother of
three, begins a typical day on the job, roaring
along at 70 kilometers per hour on a Triumph
TT600 motorbike — while standing on the seat.
'There are two types of people,' she says
during a break, 'those that fear motivates and
those that it paralyses.' You can believe it:
Debbie and younger sister, Donna, two of the
most famous stuntwomen in the world,
definitely belong to the former category.
If you want evidence, just hang around Debbie for
an hour or so on the set of Torque, a street-racing
film that features her high-adrenaline stunt-
driving. On one practice run, the Triumph suddenly
jumps forward, throwing her over the handlebars.
Spectators gasp as she shoulder-rolls across the
tarmac, and then jumps back to her feet
unharmed. A paramedic rushes over, performs a
quick check, then clears her for another run.
Thanks to the increasing popularity of action
movies, stunt performers are constantly in
demand and have an ever-higher profile. They
now even have their own version of the
Oscars, called the World Stunt Awards, or
Tauruses, a glossy awards ceremony attended by
stars.
Today, with more than 150 films between them, the
Evans sisters are both proud recipients of a Taurus.
Although men still outnumber women three to one
in the stunt profession, the women are quickly
gaining status — thanks in part to Debbie's
8
.
particular attitude. Once, for instance, she
managed to flip a speeding Porsche six meters
into the air — inside a tunnel. 'They wanted me
to touch the top,' she says. 'I did it, but I had this
adrenaline pumping through my body for a couple
of days. My body was going, "Let me rest!" '
Stress isn't the only drawback of the job.
Debbie has broken an ankle and a wrist, all in
the name of action. Donna has broken her
nose and a foot. Given those kinds of hazards, life-
insurance premiums are incredibly high for stunt
performers. The Evans sisters don't bother with
a policy. Instead, they aim to avoid injury by
staying in top physical shape and through
constant practice. They also avoid certain
stunts, particularly high falls. 'Things sometimes
do go wrong,' says Donna.
A diligent stuntperson can make $65,000 a year
for their trouble. And big one-time fees can be
negotiated for especially difficult stunts — a 'car
turnover', for instance, can bring in as much as
$4,000. The perks aren't bad either. including
coming into contact with the celebrities for
whom they double. Donna was thrilled when
Sandra Bullock presented her with her Taurus,
acknowledging her work in Bullock's films Speed
and Miss Congeniality with a gracious speech.
Not every actor is so generous though, and a
few refuse even to acknowledge their action
doubles. 'Some like to say they do all their own
stunts, when they don't even want to do their own
running,' says Donna.
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31 What do we learn about Debbie in the first paragraph?

A Her attitude to fear changed when she became a stuntwoman .

BShe has no fear when travelling at speed on a motorbike.

C She has a low opinion of people who feel fear.
DFear is something she uses to her advantage .

32 In the second paragraph, what does the writer suggest about the incident he witnesses?

A It may well have been Debbie's own fault.

BIt illustrates that Debbie sometimes takes more risks than necessary.
C It appeared at first to be more serious than it really was.
DIt shows how unusual it is for a stunt to go wrong.

33 The writer gives the stunt Debbie did in a tunnel as an example of

A a particularly dangerous kind of stunt.

Ba stunt that few performers could do.
C the increasing success of female stunt performers.
Dthe unreasonable demands made on female stunt performers.

34 What does the writer suggest about the possibility of injuries?

A Insurance companies probably exaggerate it.

BLittle can be done to reduce it.
C The sisters think they have a sensible attitude towards it.
DIt is something that few stunt performers worry about.

35 What is meant by 'perks' in line 56?

A outside activities
B additional benefits
C famous people
D happy experiences

36 What do we learn about actors in the sixth paragraph?

A They rarely get on well with stunt performers.

BThey are not very good at even simple stunts.
C Some of them are happy to praise stunt performers.
DNot many of them understand much about stunt work.

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Part 6

You are going to read a newspaper article about two men called Rob and Rick, who got into trouble
when they were on a trip in the jungle. Seven sentences have been removed from the article.
Choose from the sentences A — H the one which fits each gap (37 — 42). There is one extra sentence
which you do not need to use.
Mark your answers on the separate answer sheet.

Danger in the jungle

Rob Dunn remembers the time he and his friend Rick were
attacked by monkeys in the jungles of South America.
My friend Rick and I get into trouble — not In my experience, monkeys are smaller than
trouble with the police or anything like that. No, they look. 40 He nodded in agreement.
we get into the kind of trouble where afterwards However, even though they were at a distance,
you think: 'Well, that was dangerous.' I have
found myself in the middle of a river with Rick,
thinking, 'We're not going to make it across'; on
a ledge with Rick, thinking, 'We're not going to
make it down'; and in the middle of the Amazon
jungle with Rick, losing a confrontation with a
group of monkeys.

We were near a research station somewhere

along the Tiputini River in Ecuador. 37
When this disappeared into the distance, we
followed a different one, then an animal path,
then finally — and fatefully — the calls of a group
of monkeys.

We were in open forest with large trees all

around us. It was an ancient tropical forest. Just
above us were the monkeys we had heard,
which now were looking back down at us.
38 I don't think they necessarily felt the
same way at all, though.

Suddenly, one of the large males in the trees

above us grabbed a branch, shook it, roared
and grinned at us. 39 However, because
we were together we immediately knew what we
had to do. We had to shake a branch back at
him.
these dark brown animals looked enormous. We
discussed the risks associated with annoying a
large group of monkeys, and decided that they
were afraid of the ground, that they were a long
way up, and that we were fast runners. So we
each grabbed a branch and shook it for all we
were worth.
What we had forgotten was the advantage that
monkeys have enjoyed over humans since we
stopped climbing trees properly: gravity. As we
shook our branches, the large male shook his
branch, then more monkeys joined in. 41
Pleased, Rick and I looked at each other — we
were interacting with wild monkeys!
42 Rick pointed and laughed heartlessly
when it happened, then looked up just in time to
see the same thing about to happen to him.
Soon hundreds of branches and pieces of fruit
were falling. We were no longer shaking our
branches. The monkeys, though, were still
shaking theirs. Spear-shaped things, tree-
shaped things and other huge things were
whistling past us and lodging themselves in the
earth. We ran.
My wife reckons the moral of this story is that
Rick and I should never go outside together —
advice we have generally tended to ignore.
The branch-throwing incident did,
however, have a lasting effect on us. Rick
became a dentist and, although I'm a
biologist, I don't work anywhere near
monkeys. And we both still look up when we
hear the rattle of branches.
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A It was a relief to us to have come across E Had I been alone, I would have just sat and
them at last. watched.

B Then a branch hit me hard, which hurt. F Against the advice of others, we had headed
off-trail, pursuing a strange sound.

C I yelled this comforting thought to Rick. G They gathered in a loose circle above us and
continued to shake branches.

D The second tree held much larger monkeys.

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Part 7

You are going to read a newspaper article about the variety of fish and chips on offer in Britain today.
For questions 43 — 52, choose from the sections (A — D). The sections may be chosen more than
once.

Mark your answers on the separate answer sheet.

h and chips? 43

gredient in a fish and chip meal? 44

eing borrowed from elsewhere? 45

ing irresistible? 46

nd chips being sold in certain places? 47

doesn't lose his fish and chip meal? 48

been caught a short time beforehand? 49

about eating fish and chips? 50

gredients for cooking fish and chips? 51

o consume too much of their own food? 52

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Fish and Chips
Stuart Jeffries tries fish and chips in various eating places.
A Times are changing for Britain's most famous
dish. Regarded in the past as cheap, greasy
and unhealthy, fish and chips are now
moving up-market. Sure, you can still buy
them in a tr ad itio na l tak ea wa y sho p,
b ut to da y' s successful outlets emphasise
sustainability and freshness — and charge for
it. Typifying that change is The Jellyfish in
London. It's actually more like a restaurant.
It takes reservations. It has a website. No
longer do they take feeble-looking pieces of
cod from freezers. Instead, they serve a
whole range of seafood. Owner Mark Lindon
says he would dearly love to take cod off the
menu altogether. 'It's been so overfished. At
the moment we sell only line-caught cod
from sustainable sources in the English
Channel. I really want to change things so
people can go for other fish like haddock
instead.'
B Munching on my salad starter in The Jellyfish, I
reflect on my adventure into Britain's fish and
chips: in the interests of journalism, I am
going to eat them for three days in a row in
different restaurants. I don't know if I'm up to
the task. The prospect makes me instantly
nervous. Lindon says, 'I got the idea for
The Jellyfish when I was travelling in
Australia. In Sydney they have simple fish
bars with the catch of the day spread out on
ice — all fresh. I knew this would work over
here.' So he brought the Australian chip-
shop model to south London, and now
business is booming. What's more, Lindon is
hoping to make money from fat used for
frying by converting it into biodiesel. 'It's ever
such a simple process and then we can sell it
on as fuel for vehicles or domestic heating.' I
finish the meal and get, with difficulty, to my
feet. Who can eat such a solid lunch and
expect to do anything afterwards?
C Next stop, the northern coastal town of Whitby,
where every other shop seems to sell fish and
chips. The list the tourist information office
provide me with is, they admit, unreliable. `They
open and close all the time,' Nick Mann,
young fish fryer of the year, tells me. I have
lunch — haddock and chips from
Mann's Quayside restaurant — on a bench
overlooking Whitby harbour. It's served in a
surprisingly posh box. I'm outnumbered by
tough-looking sea birds, all looking to pinch
my food as soon as my back is turned. I
discover that Mann comes from a fish and chip
dynasty. 'I've been frying for my dad since the
age of 13,' he says. 'I went away to do a
degree in geography, but I realised that this is
what I wanted to do.' I ask him about selling
cod. We did briefly stop it and try herring
instead as an experiment. But it didn't work. It's
psychological. You have to give people what
they want.' I return to my hotel room to do some
writing. Around 7pm, the attractive smell of the
town's chip pans waft through my
open windows. For a brief moment I
think of scampering downstairs for
another portion. Thankfully, I don't.
D Day three: I'm off on the final leg to Brian
Larter's fish restaurant in Leeds. But I'm losing
enthusiasm. Both Lindon and Mann told me they
only manage two portions of fish and chips a
week — and one of those will be an oily fish
such as herring. At Larter's I meet customer
Albert Stokes, 95, who, for the past 25
years, has eaten haddock and chips from
Larter's nearly every day. He's convinced
this diet has contributed to his longevity.
'It's good solid simple food. Never done me
any wrong.' Indeed, the Sea Fish Industry
Authority points out that fish and chips have a
third fewer calories than other popular
takeaways. My menu includes a whole giant
cod and large chips. Apparently, if I eat this
monster, I will be presented with a signed
certificate. Instead, I order a small
portion. I clear my plate, but the food is as
ordinary as the restaurant itself. I suddenly
realise I want to go home and never see
anything fried again.