1.

Use of English

Read the text below. Some words are missing from the text. Choose the correct answer
from the options (A, B, C or D) for each gap (1-15) in the text. An example (0) has been
given for you.

Planet Mars - Can Humans Live There in the Future?

Is the Earth overpopulated? Not enough land to  (0)______(transplant, cultivate, grow,

breed) and live on? Mars could be the answer - 140 million square kilometres
available  (1) Válasz   free.

There could be an interesting land deal coming our way: 140 million square kilometres of
dry ground on Mars at present (2) Válasz  unoccupied. There are no
previous owners to make trouble, and the selling price per hectare is exactly zero.

(3) Válasz , there are a few difficulties. On a midsummer day, the

temperature seldom rises above 10°C - woolly jumper weather. On a winter night,
though, you would have to (4) Válasz  a very chilly -120C.

And there's the small (5) Válasz  of breathing: pressure at ground level is

less than one per cent of what you are used to - and 97 per cent of that is carbon
dioxide, without any oxygen. Water could be another problem: there isn't any, (6) Válasz
 at first sight.

Finally, you'd have to get there. The distance (7) Válasz : sometimes it

shrinks to a mere 60 million kilometres, but the bad news is that with (8) Válasz
 technology, you'd have to take the long way. Thus the journey would take
almost a year - one way. But we are talking about a whole planet: the planet Mars. With
the land area almost equal to the Earth's, it has to be worth (9) Válasz  
the effort.

Is it really? In his book The Snow of Olympus Arthur C Clarke, the visionary sci-fi writer
and physicist, says it is. His book is a richly illustrated (10) Válasz  into the
future of Mars in which the planet is terraformed  to make it suitable for human use. First
1

we have to warm the planet, he says, by causing global warming that environmentalists
fear on Earth. By doing (11) Válasz , water trapped in Martian icecaps will
melt. Consequently, the surface of Mars will be suitable for microbes 2 to live there and
they will emit oxygen, making the atmosphere suitable for the first plants. Plants will be
followed by animals and, (12) Válasz , humans. In a couple of centuries
life may flourish on Mars, Clarke claims.

But can we really transform a planet? We have certainly managed to transform our own -
though sometimes (13) Válasz  the worst. We may well need to develop new
terraforming techniques, but these can save us from making serious mistakes while still
here on Earth. As renowned scientist Carl Sagan once put it: "Human history (14) Válasz
 that once we can do something, we (15) Válasz  to go
ahead and do it - if not now, then soon.” And 140 million square kilometres are waiting.

 to make it look like Earth, to make it suitable for life to prosper
1

 primitive micro-organisms, very small living things that can only be seen if you use a
2

microscope

2. Reading 1

Read the text below and then read the gapped summary that follows. Your task is to fill the
gaps (1-8) according to what the text says with one word per line. Short forms like “isn't” or
“don't” count as two words.  For further acceptable answers please see the word
document called "A feladatsorok megoldókulcsai".

Full text:

Suspended Coffee Movement

It doesn't sound as attractive as a cappuccino, white or latte, but a new coffee product
called the caffé sospeso (the Italian words mean: suspended coffee) has seen great
success in the coffee market and throughout the world.

A suspended coffee is a cup of coffee paid in advance as an anonymous act of charity.

The origin of the movement can be traced back to the beginning of the 20 th century, in
the working-class cafés of Naples, where someone who had had some good luck would
order a sospeso, paying the price of two coffees or more but receiving and consuming
only one. A very poor or a homeless person enquiring later whether there was
a sospeso to get would then be served a coffee for free. Coffee shops in other countries
have adopted the idea of a suspended coffee to increase sales. According to Facebook
pages, some cafés in America have expanded the scope of services and people can order
not only a suspended coffee, but also a sandwich, a whole meal or some biscuits.
The concept is based on good faith by both shops and customers - anyone can enter and
ask for a suspended coffee and they are unlikely to be asked about the financial
background, but it is hoped that only the most needy will make use of it.

A suspended coffee Facebook page, which started at the end of January, has nearly
30,000 likes and just this past week cafes in Ireland, Germany, Romania, and the United
States posted on the page that they are eager to jump on board. Some of these countries
have created their own suspended coffee Facebook pages and the movement is on
Twitter too. The limitless nature of the Internet has allowed the initiative to go global in
days. Media reported this week that there’s even a coffee shop in China that just started
serving suspended coffees and guess where the owner found out about the idea? That’s
right, the answer is Facebook.

But creating internet publicity is not as simple as having a Facebook page and those
driving this movement know that, and this is why they also posted a personal heart-
warming story about suspended coffee. It’s about two friends who are sitting in a
coffeehouse. Some people come in and purchase a coffee for themselves along with an
order for a suspended coffee. The two friends are confused by the suspended coffee
orders until eventually a man wearing shabby clothes enters the shop and asks the server
if there are any suspended coffees. The two men could see that, thanks to some
strangers who were generous and wanted to do something good, the man (and others
too) is able to sit and have a hot drink. This short story is accompanied by a photo of an
older man sitting in a café carefully holding a coffee cup to his mouth. It definitely
captures your attention and pulls you into reading the story.

The Facebook page has designed Suspended Coffee Supporter logos which shops can
display on their doors to publicize that they participate in the movement.
The coffee giant Starbucks has become the first chain in the UK to join the suspended
coffee movement. The vice-president of Starbucks said the company wanted to play its
part in contributing to an initiative that gets help straight to those who want and need it
the most. The Starbucks decision to adopt the scheme could now see it followed by
chains such as Costa, Segafredo, McCafé and Mojo Café.

Second text – gapped summary:

According to the article, a new movement called suspended coffee has (1) Válasz
 in the coffee business, but what exactly is it? The suspended coffee movement
is a century-old practice, in which an individual pays for two or more coffee orders but
cafés suspend the delivery of the pre-paid drinks. Later, a less fortunate person might
take advantage of the hot drink at no (2) Válasz . The article mentions that some
cafes in America have (3) Válasz  the idea to cover not just suspended coffee but
suspended cookies or suspended food. The concept is based on the sincere intention of
everyone involved, as people do not have to (4) Válasz  that they are needy enough
to claim for a suspended coffee. Many cafés expressed interest in getting their
cafés (5) Válasz  in the movement. A heart-warming story posted on Facebook
lets people in need know that a hot coffee will always be available due to good deeds
done by strangers and their (6) Válasz . The movement has gained popularity
around the world and having Suspended Coffee Supporter logo can be a good (7) Válasz
 for the participating cafés. The article mentions at the end that there are a
lot of (8) Válasz  of suspended coffees among coffeehouse chains like
Starbucks.

3. Reading 2

Read the text below. After the text you will find six questions or unfinished statements
about the text, each with three suggested answers or ways of finishing. You must choose
the one which you think fits best according to the text.

Was the Bard3 a Woman?

For more than 150 years, literary detectives have questioned whether William
Shakespeare - a man with grammar school education, at best – could possibly have
written some of the greatest works in the English language. Even Mark Rylance, director
of the Globe Theatre in London, tends to agree with them. But if Shakespeare didn’t write
the plays, who did? Dozens of authors have been proposed, the majority of whom are
male. But American scholar Robert Taylor argues that the Bard was a woman – Mary
Sidney Herbert, the Countess of Pembroke.
Sidney (as her biographers call her) is a logical suspect. Sister of the Elizabethan poet Sir
Philip Sidney, she was a poet herself and one of the best-educated women in England,
along with Queen Elizabeth I. Perhaps not surprisingly, her name has already come up
before as a possible co-author of Shakespeare’s plays, although never until now as the
person who might have written the plays. Literary experts are unlikely to be convinced.
“The fact that there are so many names of writers is proof that none of them is the
author,” says Stanley Wells from Cambridge University. That has not discouraged Taylor.
“One detective specializing in crimes told me, ’In order to find out who wrote the plays
you’re using the same reasoning that we use to track down murderers. In other words,
you try to find out why this person wrote the plays and why he or she didn’t want to be
known. If you asked for my help, I’d say you don’t need it’,” he says.
In short, Mary Sidney had the motive, the means and the opportunity to write the plays.
At her home, she supported a literary circle whose mission was to create better and
better works in English literature – a strong motive. Sidney biographer Margaret Hannay
has called her salon ”a starting point for a literary revolution” and Sidney herself “the first
major female literary figure in England”. With her vast library, education and foreign
language skills, Sidney also had the talent to create the works. And with her extensive
connections in the literary world, she had the opportunity to recommend the plays to
theatre companies. It might seem unimportant, but the first eight Shakespeare plays were
published anonymously “and three of them,” says Taylor, “provocatively note on the first
page that they were produced and put on stage by Pembroke’s Men, the acting company
that Mary Sidney and her husband sponsored.”
“My assumption would answer a number of questions,” argues Taylor. It would explain
why Shakespeare wrote love sonnets to a younger man (possibly Sidney’s lover, Matthew
Lister?). And it would explain eulogies4 by contemporary literary figures to the “sweet
Swan of Avon”, as Sidney had an estate on the River Avon – and her personal symbol was
the swan. Even her dates match with Shakespeare’s – which is more than one can say of
most of the other candidates. Edward de Vere, widely regarded as the leading candidate,
died twelve years before Shakespeare, requiring a revised chronology of the plays.
Sidney’s dates are more straightforward. She was born 3 years before Shakespeare and
died 5 years after. When she suffered a series of personal losses, the plays turned dark.
“It all fits,” says Taylor. “Whatever the other scholars may say, I will not give up.” Case
closed? Not yet. Taylor’s argument is interesting, but “his evidence is not enough,” says
Margaret Hannay. “Real proof would require things like letters from contemporaries
praising ‘Mary Sidney’s Hamlet’.” Until that evidence turns up, scholars will stand by the
man from Stratford. But that won’t stop mystery lovers from trying to dethrone him. The
debate could prove as immortal as the works of the Bard – whoever he or she really was.

1. Mary Sidney Herbert, the Countess of Pembroke ...

a. was thought to have helped Shakespeare in creating his works.
b. was the only person in her family with literary talent.
c. has been considered to be the real Bard many times during the last 150 years.

Correct answer: Válasz

2. How did Robert Taylor try to prove that Mary Sidney is the No. 1 suspect?
a. He asked a detective to assist him.
b. He used a method similar to that of the police.
c. He proved that all the other theories trying to find the real Bard had some flaws.

Correct answer: Válasz

3. Which is TRUE according to the article?

a. Mary Sidney Herbert used her wealth to improve English literature.
b. Pembroke’s Men were not allowed to put on stage plays by anonymous writers.
c. Mary Sidney Herbert’s biographers disagree whether she was well-educated or not.

Correct answer: Válasz
4. What do we learn about three early Shakespeare plays?
a. They were not signed by the playwright.
b. They were dedicated to Mary Sidney and her husband.
c. Neither a. nor b. is true.

Correct answer: Válasz

5. Which of the following support Robert Taylor’s idea?

a. Mary Sidney was isolated from the theatrical world of her age.
b. When Mary Sidney had a tragic period in her life the plays reflected this.
c. Edward de Vere died much earlier than Mary Sidney.

Correct answer: Válasz

6. The writer of the article ...

a. suggests that we might never learn who wrote the Shakespeare plays.
b. does not state clearly whether he/she believes in Robert Taylor’s theory or not.
c. Both a. and b. are true.

Correct answer: Válasz

 the Bard = William Shakespeare

3

 eulogy = a speech or piece of writing that praises someone very much

4

4. Writing 1 – Essay

Write an argumentative essay of 190-210 words based on the statement in italics below.
You will have to include all the content points in your essay. Write 2 or 3 ideas to support
each content point. You may use a dictionary.

Please DO NOT write more than 210 words.

The Internet should be censored.

  children should not have access to content that is not meant for them or might
pose a potential danger to them
 internet is the ultimate tool of free speech and it promotes democracy
 your opinion

5. Writing 2 – Informal E-mail

Write an informal e-mail to your English friend. You have to include all the content
points that are given below. Write 2 or 3 ideas to support each content point. Write 190-
210 words. You may use a dictionary.

Please DO NOT write more than 210 words.

You are a Hungarian person and you are writing about a new initiative according to
which all primary schools must be air-conditioned by 2025.

Write about

 why you think it would be advantageous for pupils to study in air conditioned
classrooms
 why some parents and teachers are against the initiative
 what else the government could/should spend the money on instead of installing
air conditioners in classrooms