TEST OF ENGLISH

Part I Listening Comprehension

This section of the test lasts approximately 40 minutes and consists of three sections:
Section A: Conversations
Section B: A Radio Report
Section C: Passages
In Section A, you will hear the conversations ONLY ONCE. After each conversation,
you are required to answer a number of different questions. For each question you
will be given 7 seconds to answer.
In Section B, you will need to take notes in the question booklet while you listen. The
extract will be played TWICE. Each time after the extract is played, there will be a
2-minute pause for you to fill in the blanks with the information from the extract.

When these two sections are over, you will be given 3 minutes to transfer your
answers to the ANSWER BOOKLET. Only answers in the ANSWER BOOKLET will be
marked.
In Section C, you will also need to take notes in the question booklet while you listen.
You will hear three passages ONLY ONCE. After each passage, you are required to
finish a task which is different from others. You will be given 3 minutes to finish each
of the tasks and you must write your answers directly in the ANSWER BOOKLET.
There is no extra time for you to transfer these answers.

Section A Conversations
In this section you will hear three short conversations. At the end of each conversation,
some questions will be asked about what was said. The conversations will be read
only ONCE. After each conversation is played, you must read the questions and the
four choices marked A, B, C and D carefully and decide which is the best answer. You
will be given 7 seconds to answer each question.

Conversation One
M: What’s your son Neil going to do when he leaves school?
W: Until a few months ago he was going to go to university, but he’s changed his
mind. Now he reckons he’s going to make it in the pop world.
M: And how do you parents feel about that?
W: We think he’s making an enormous mistake.
M: But surely he can go back to his studies if his music career fails.
W: That’s true, but once he gets a taste of freedom, he’ll find it more difficult to go
back to college. I just think it’s such a waste—in three years’ time, he’ll have got
his degree and he’ll still be young enough to try out the music business. At least if
it doesn’t work out he’ll have a qualification behind him.
M: Have you discussed this with him?
W: Of course, but he’s made up his mind. We’re just hoping that he’ll get it out of his
system and then come to his sense and go back to his studies. When I left school I
didn’t go on to university, and I’ve regretted it ever since. I just don’t want him to
make the same mistake as I did.
M: Will you support him while he’s trying to be a pop singer?
W: You mean financially? No. He won’t be living at home, and we can’t afford to pay
for him to live in London, so it’s up to him to make it work.
Questions 1-3 are based on the conversation you have just heard. Choose the one you
consider to be the correct answer from the four possible answers.

Conversation Two
W: What are you studying in your history class this term, Andy?
M: We’re studying ancient civilizations. As a matter of fact, I have to write an essay
about the Aztecs.
W: Oh, that sounds interesting. They lived in Central America, didn’t they?
M: Yes, where Mexico is today...you know, Wendy, they had huge cities with temples,
markets and irrigation systems.
W: I see…I’m sure people were really skilled then.
M: Definitely. They built some amazing buildings and people have found really
beautiful sculptures.
W: So, tell me about their everyday life? I mean, for example, did children go to
school?
M: Well, boys went to school at about the age of 10 to receive general education and
to learn the art of war. It was every boy’s dream to become a great soldier.
W: And what about girls?
M: Only some girls went to school. Most of them learned how to take care of the
household, like cooking food and making clothes. They learned everything from
their mothers of course.
W: That was so unfair! I mean, girls deserved an education, too.
M: Well, things were different then.
W: So who was in charge? Did they have a king?
M: Of course! They were a big empire.
W: So what happened to the Aztecs in the end?
M: Well, the Spanish arrived in Central America in the early 1500s and they soon
conquered most of the empire.
Questions 4-6 are based on the conversation you have just heard. Choose the one you
consider to be the correct answer from the four possible answers.

Conversation Three
W: I think the best thing you learn from literature is you learn someone else’s
perspective.
M: Yeah, and I think it’s more than that. When you read, you become another person
and you can see what it would be like to be in that situation. You know, it’s a way
to try out being different people.
W: Right! Or if you read a book about someone from a different country, then you
learn all about their culture and how they think about things. And what else? I
guess you learn different writing styles. I mean, it’s not something that you really
look for, but you pick it up along the way.
M: Yeah, sometimes I’m reading a poem, and I think, wow, I like that! I want to try
that. It helps you with your own writing.
W: Oh definitely. And you can also be inspired by characters in literature. Even
though they’re not real people, some characters are so well developed that you
must want to have them as your friend.
M: Yeah. I also think that reading, to a certain degree, trains your mind to imagine.
And I think because you have to do that, you get more involved in it, in general. I
think that reading in most cases keeps you more mentally active than a movie does.
You learn to imagine from a book, not a movie.
Questions 7-10 are based on the conversation you have just heard. Choose the one
you consider to be the correct answer from the four possible answers.

Section B A Radio Report

Before listening to the radio report, you have 30 seconds to look at the ten questions
below.
In this section, you will hear a radio report on Australia’s bushfire emergency. As you
listen, complete the notes for each of the questions 11 to 20, using up to three words
or a number plus a word from the recording. The recording will be played TWICE.
Each time after the report is played, you will have two minutes to fill in the blanks
with the information from the report.
Australian state declares bushfire emergency - BBC News
With at least eight people known to have died since Monday alone and thousands
continuing to shelter in evacuation centers the terrifying scale of Australia’s bushfire
disaster is beginning to emerge. A mass exodus from southern New South Wales is
underway with long lines of cars clogging highways leading right back to Sydney and
Canberra. Fire officials have told holidaymakers to urgently leave a long stretch of
coastline before more ferocious fires are expected to sweep in over the weekend. The
fire itself is colossal. Flames have been reported to have reached 70 metres high but
these pictures from Monday show huge blazes in the state of Victoria. The plume of
smoke generated by the inferno covers five and a half million square kilometers.
That’s the size of Europe. That thick black cloud is now drifting towards New Zealand
and its pristine snowy mountains and glaciers. Let’s take you live to Phil Mercer, who
joins us now live from Sidney. We’re not even at the peak of the bushfire season, Phil.
Phil Mercer: Well, what makes this crisis unprecedented is that this fire season has
started much earlier than normal and these fires are more widespread than normal and
they are burning with an intensity that few Australians have ever seen, so this is really
the challenge facing Australia’s authorities, the federal government, state
governments and also the fire services in many Australian states: how do they cope
with infernos on this scale and what’s happened in southern New South Wales or
what happened on New Year’s Eve really came at the worst possible time. This is a
very popular tourist destination. Many families, residents, retirees and other people
would have been down on the coastline enjoying Christmas and New Year’s
festivities, and that’s why the evacuation is so chaotic and complicated. There are so
many people in the fire zone. Some don’t want to leave; others are trying to leave but
can’t because of various road closures. Adding to this sense of unease and
unpredictability is the fact that there are shortages of food, fuel and water, and
also Internet and phone services have gone down, so that’s adding to this great
sense of unease as thousands of people continue to pour out of that region.
Ok, Phil in Sidney with the latest. Thank you very much indeed.

You will now have 3 minutes to transfer your answers to the ANSWER BOOKLET.
You must transfer all of your answers to the ANSWER BOOKLET.
Only answers in the ANSWER BOOKLET will be marked.

Section C Passages

In this section, you will hear 3 passages. Take notes in the question booklet while you
listen. The passages will be played ONLY ONCE. After each passage is played, you
are required to finish a task. You must write your answers directly in the ANSWER
BOOKLET. There is no extra time for you to transfer these answers.
You will be given 3 minutes to finish each of the tasks as required.
You must write all of your answers in the ANSWER BOOKLET.
Only answers in the ANSWER BOOKLET will be marked.

21. Passage One

If you like to shop online and have ever left an item in a shopping cart for a few days,
you might have seen an alert when you returned to your cart showing a price drop —
or increase. That’s dynamic pricing at work. Many online retailers shift their prices as
they monitor competitors’ pricing and customers’ demand. Some even use what they
know about your shopping habits and location to set the prices. It’s almost a game that
retailers play. But it’s a game you can play, too.
Let items sit in your shopping cart. If you’re not in a rush, log in and put that item into
your shopping cart. Revisit the cart a few days later. You may see a lower price. Be
aware, though, that prices may also rise.
You can also use a different postal code. A Wall Street Journal report found that some
online retailers charged differently based on postal code. Type in a friend’s or
relative’s area code, or get someone in another postal code to shop for you.
RETELL what you have heard IN YOUR OWN WORDS.

22. Passage Two

NOTE DOWN THE KEY POINTS of the passage.
Character building can be developed if we give our children the right experiences in the
right environment through the right education. Here’s what we should be helping our
children with every day.
Be honest with yourself and towards others. Avoid deceit, cheating or stealing. Build up
a reputation among others as a person who can be trusted.
Treat those around you with the respect you would expect from them. Learn to tolerate
differences between yourself and others. If someone gets angry with you, deal with it
peacefully and try to think what has made the person angry in the first place.
Develop a sense of responsibility, first of all to yourself and your values, then to others.
Do what you choose and truly want to do, keep trying and always do your best. In the
meantime, think before you act and consider the consequences of your actions.
Don’t play the blame game. It’s sometimes nobody’s fault. Be kind and show you care
for others. Be grateful when you need to be, forgive others willingly.

23. Passage Three

WRITE A SUMMARY of the passage.
In the late 1890s, many Americans used bicycles for transportation. But the bicycle
was largely forgotten when almost everyone could own a car. Children, however,
continued to ride bicycles for transportation and fun. And in the 1960s many
Americans started riding bicycles to stay healthy. They learned that bicycle riding was
a good way to exercise the heart, legs and back. College students at large universities
found the bicycle the best way to travel between widely separated classrooms. The
sport of cycling became more popular in the United States after 1980. That was when
American companies began to support bicycle teams and races. As a result, more
cycling events were shown on television. More young people became interested in
bicycle racing. Since then, American Greg LeMond won the World Cycling
Championship. And in 1986, he did what no other American had ever done. He won
the Tour de France — the most famous bicycle race in the world. The same year
witnessed cyclist Andy Hampsten becoming the first American to win the Giro
d’Italia, or Tour of Italy. He and Greg LeMond, like the 1984 Olympic winners, made
the United States a power in international cycling. But most of the 100 million
Americans who have bicycles do not ride in races. They ride them as low-cost
transportation, or to stay healthy, or to just have fun.
You will now have two minutes to check your answers.
That is the end of the listening test. Please move on to the written exam.