Intermediate Skills Test 1B

Reading
1 Read paragraphs 1–5 and choose the best headings A–F from the list. There is one extra heading.

Fashion trends of the future

1 It can be extremely frustrating when the battery of your smartphone runs out and you’re
miles away from home – and your charger. However, clothes manufacturers are currently
working on designs with soft solar panels, which collect energy from the sun. The clothes will
allow the wearer to charge their phone once he or she has been outside in the sun for a while.
2 Thanks to the growing number of cars in our city centres, the air isn’t getting any better.
Enter the personal air purifier. The user wears it on the arm like a watch or a bracelet, and
turns it on when the pollution gets bad. The device takes in and cleans the polluted air and
lets it back out into the atmosphere to be used again.
3 Smartphones with GPS are great, but difficult to use if you’re riding a bike. Now there’s a
helmet that makes finding your way around a lot easier. The helmet has a built-in system that
uses lights on the left or right to show the rider where to turn. The user enters the address of
their destination into the device, and then he or she is away.
4 If you’re looking for something original to wear, then you needn’t look further than the
designs of Ying Gao. These are dresses that use the latest technology to detect when
someone is looking at them. When this happens, tiny motors make parts of the garments
move in patterns. Some of them also light up in the dark.
5 Runners will be able to avoid injury in the future by wearing a kind of smart sock. The
sock is attached to a band around the ankle that detects how the wearer’s foot is moving.
Sensors in the sock communicate data to the band which sends on the information to an app.
If the user is in danger of hurting his or her foot, he or she will receive a warning.

A Don’t look now ___

B Breathe easy ___
C Sounds that carry ___
D Point me in the right direction ___
E Keeping on your toes ___
F Hidden energy ___

Mark: ___/10

Listening
2 12 Listen to a radio programme about people with incredible memories. Are the sentences true
or false?
1 Stephen Wiltshire visits a city two or three times before he draws it. ___
2 Stephen’s cityscapes are pictures of cities from the air. ___
3 Stephen only draws the shapes of buildings, not the details. ___

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 4 Stephen doesn’t often forget the things he sees. ___
5 Some of Stephen’s drawings take more than 24 hours to complete. ___

Mark: ___/10

Use of English
3 Complete the text with the correct words A, B or C.
1 2 th
I’ve got a ___ dress that reminds me a lot of my grandmother. She ___ her 100 birthday when I wore the dress to my
3
cousin’s wedding. I’ll always remember ___ next to my grandmother during the ceremony, which was very, very long. She
4
soon got bored and started telling me jokes. I tried ___ myself, but the jokes were very funny and in the end I couldn’t help
5 6 7
___ . My aunt and uncle were very angry ___ me for laughing during the ceremony, but my grandmother ___ them to
8
relax and enjoy themselves. Then she went on ___ a very amusing speech for my cousin and his new wife at the lunch
9
we had after the ceremony. All the guests ___ when she sat down after the speech. My grandmother lived to be 103 and
10
I ___ of her every time I wear my green dress. She was a wonderful woman with a great sense of humour, and weddings
just aren’t the same without her.
1 A cotton smart green B green cotton smart C smart green cotton
2 A had just celebrated B was just celebrating C just celebrated
3 A sit B sitting C to sit
4 A control B controlling C to control
5 A laugh B laughing C to laugh
6 A about B with C of
7 A told B was telling C had told
8 A give B to give C giving

9 A laughed B had laughed C were laughing

10 A think B ’m thinking C thinks

Mark: ___/10

Writing
4 You have received an email from an exchange student who is coming to stay at your house for a week.
Write a reply (120–150 words) to him / her. Include the information below.
• how you felt about receiving the email
• what your house is like
• what electronic devices you use
• a question about his / her travel arrangements

Mark: ___/10

5 Write a narrative (220–250 words) about the worst day of your life. Include the information below.
• where you were, when and who with
• how you had prepared for the day
• what happened on the day
• how you felt at the end of the day

Mark: ___/10

Total: ___/50

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