Professional Documents
Culture Documents
A. MULTIPLE CHOICE
I: VOCABULARY
Choose a word or a phrase that best completes each sentence.
1. There is large effort _____ to rebuild arts education in the New York City public schools.
A. under way = in progress; being done or carried out B. in the way C. out of way D. over the way
2. After living together for six years, Janet and Matt have finally decided to _____.
A. feel the pinch B. pull a few strings C. tie the knot = get married D. be up and about
+ feel the pinch=to have problems with money because you are earning less than before
+ pull the strings = be in control of an organization, often secretly
+ up and about=feeling well enough to get out of bed and move around
3. The party was already _____ by the time we arrived. Everyone was singing and dancing.
A. in full swing = at highest level B. up in the air C. over the moon D. under a cloud
+ up in the air=if a matter is up in the air, it is uncertain, often bc other matters have to be
decided first
+ be over the moon (about/with)=be very pleased
+ be under the cloud=to not be trusted or popular bc ppl think you have done sth bad
7. We may win, we may lose – it’s just the luck of the _____.
A. chance B. draw C. odds D. fate
+ be the luck of the draw=to be the result of chance and sth that you have no control over
9. The renewed interest in Elizabethan times is evident in a _____ of new Hollywood films set during that
period.
A. spate B. hypocrisy C. transience D. demise
+transience = the quality of being transient (=temporary)
+spate=a larger number of events than usual, especially unpleasant ones, happening at
about the same time
+hypocrisy=a situation in which someone pretends to believe something that they do not
really believe, or that is the opposite of what they do or say at another time
+demise=the end of something that was previously considered to be powerful, such as a
business, industry, or system / the death of sb
IV: READING
A. PASSAGE 1
Read the following passage carefully and choose the best answers to the questions
The composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s remarkable musical talent was apparent even before most
children can sing a simple nursery rhyme. Wolfgang’s older sister Maria Anna (who the family called
Nannerl) was learning the clavier, an early keyboard instrument, when her three-year-old brother took an
interest in playing. As Nannerl later recalled, Wolfgang “often spent much time at the clavier picking out
thirds, which he was always striking, and his pleasure showed that it sounded good.” Their father
Leopold, an assistant concertmaster at the Salzburg Court, recognized his children’s unique gifts and
soon devoted himself to their musical education.
Born in Salzburg, Austria, on January 27, 1756, Wolfgang had composed his first original work by age
five. Leopold planned to take Nannerl and Wolfgang on tour to play before the European courts. Their
first venture was to nearby Munich where the children played for Maximillian III Joseph, elector of
Bavaria. Leopold soon set his sights on the capital of the Hapsburg Empire, Vienna. On their way to
Vienna, the family stopped in Linz, where Wolfgang gave his first public concert. By this time, Wolfgang
was not only a virtuoso harpsichord player, but he had also mastered the violin. The audience at Linz
was stunned by the six-year-old, and word of his genius soon traveled to Vienna. In a much anticipated
concert, the Mozart children appeared at the Schonbrunn Palace on October 13, 1762. They utterly
charmed the emperor and empress.
Following this success, Leopold was inundated with invitations for the children to play, for a fee.
Leopold seized the opportunity and booked as many concerts as possible at courts throughout Europe. A
concert could last three hours, and the children played at least two per day. Today, Leopold might be
considered the worst kind of stage parent, but at the time, it was uncommon for prodigies to make
extensive concert courts. Even so, it was an exhausting schedule for a child who was just past the age of
needing an afternoon nap.
1. A good title for this passage would be _____.
A. Classical Music in the Eighteenth Century: An Overview.
B. Stage parents: A historical Perspective.
C. Mozart: The Early Life of a Musical Prodigy.
D. Mozart: The Short Career of a Musical Genius.
2. According to the passage, Wolfgang became interested in music because _____.
A. His father thought it would be profitable.
B. He had a natural talent.
C. He saw his sister learning to play an instrument.
D. He came from a musical family.
3. The word virtuoso in paragraph 2 mostly means _________.
A. avid B. skilled C. young D. famous
4. What was the consequence of Wolfgang’s first public appearance?
A. He charmed the emperor and empress of Hapsburg.
B. Word of Wolfgang’s genius spread to the capital.
C. Leopold set his sights on Vienna.
D. Invitations for the miracle children to play poured in.
5. The word anticipated in paragraph 2 can be best replaced by _________.
A. awaited B. crowded C. foreseen D. interesting
6. Each of the following statements about Wolfgang Mozart is directly supported by the passage
except
A. Mozart’s father, Leopold, was instrumental in shaping his career.
B. Maria Anna was a talented musician in her own right.
C. Wolfgang’s childhood was devoted to his musical career.
D. Wolfgang preferred the clavier to other instruments.
7. The word inundated in paragraph 3 is synonymous with _________.
A. overexcited B. spoiled C. reluctant D. overwhelmed
8. The word prodigies in paragraph 3 is closest in meaning to _________.
A. children B. professors C. geniuses D. musicians
9. According to the passage, during Wolfgang’s early years, child prodigies were _____.
A. few and far between.
B. accustomed to extensive concert tours.
C. expected to spend at least six hours per day practicing their music.
D. expected to play for courts throughout Europe.
10. Based on information found in the passage, Mozart can be best described as _____.
A. a child prodigy.
B. a workaholic.
C. the greatest composer of the eighteenth century.
D. a victim of his father’s ambition.
B. PASSAGE 2
Read this magazine article and choose the correct answers to the questions that follow.
My life as a human speed bump
Giving up a car has not been quite the liberating experience that George Monbiot had hoped.
Seventeen years after giving up my car, I still feel like a second-class citizen. I am trying to do the right
thing, but the United Kingdom just isn’t run for people like me. Take our bus services. My home city,
Oxford, has invested massively in a park-and-ride scheme: buses shuttle people into the center from car
parks on the periphery. At first I thought this was a great idea. Now, having stood for what must amount
to weeks at bus stops, watching the full double deckers go by every couple of minutes without stopping,
I realize it’s not just the roads which have been monopolised by drivers, but also the public transport
system.
Or take the bike lane. Most consist of lines painted on the road where it is wide and safe, which
disappear as soon as it becomes narrow and dangerous. One of them, in Oxford, has been gravelled,
which shows that the people who designed them have never ridden a bicycle. When we asked for a bike
lane on one of the city’s busiest streets, the council chose instead to narrow the street and widen the
pavements, in the hope that the bicycle would slow down the cars. The cyclists, perversely reluctant to
become human speed bumps, started travelling down the pavement.
Now there is almost nowhere reserved for people like me. Out of political cowardice, councils and the
police have given up enforcing the law. Preventing people from parking on the pavement would mean
cutting the number of parking places, as the streets are otherwise too narrow. Though they cannot
complete a sentence without using the words “sustainable development”, this action seems impossible for
our councilors to contemplate. In one part of Oxford they have solved the problem by painting parking
places on the pavement. Since my daughter was born, and I have started pushing the pram, I have been
forced to walk in the middle of the road. In one respect this makes sense: the pavements are so badly
maintained that she will only sleep when she’s being pushed down the smooth grey carpet laid out for
the cars.
My problem is that by seeking to reduce my impact on the planet, I joined a political minority that is
diminishing every year. As car ownership increases, its only remaining members are a handful of
eccentrics like me, the very poor and those not competent to drive. None of these groups wield political
power. Our demands are counter-aspirational, and therefore of little interest to either politicians or the
media.
Now, to my horror, I find I am beginning to question even the environmental impact of my 17 years of
abstinence. It is true that my own carbon emissions have been suppressed. It is also true that if
everyone did the same thing the total saving would be enormous. The problem is that, in the absence of
regulation, traffic expands to fill the available space. By refusing to own a car I have merely opened up
road space for other people, who tend to drive more fuel-hungry models that I would have chosen. We
can do little to reduce our impacts on the environment if the government won’t support us.
There are some compensations, however. About three or four times a year I hire a car. When I stop at
motorway service stations, I am struck by the staggering levels of obesity: it appears to be far more
prevalent there than on trains or coaches. People who take public transport must at least walk to the
bus stop. The cyclists among us keep fit without even noticing.
Being without a car in Oxford has forced me to embed myself in my home town. It throws me into
contact with far more people than I would otherwise meet. There are a couple of routes which make
cycling a real pleasure: the towpath along the Thames, for example, takes me most of the way to the
station. But overall, as far as self-interest is concerned, I would struggle to claim that giving up my car
was a wholly positive decision.
1. The writer’s view of the Oxford park-and-ride scheme is that _____.
A. the large volume of cars prevents it from operating effectively
B. it has been an unqualified success
C. it has suffered from insufficient investment
D. it has become too popular
2. The writer thinks that cyclists started travelling down the pavement in one of Oxford’s busiest
streets because _____.
A. the council put speed bumps in the street
B. the pavement is very wide
C. there is no bike lane in this street
D. in the bike lane cyclists are too close to cars
3. The word “gravelled” in paragraph 2 is best replaced with ___.
A. covered with small stones B. made narrow
C. in bad maintenance D. in bad condition
4. In what way does the writer believe that Oxford city council has shown “political cowardice”?
A. It is reluctant to prevent cars parking on pedestrian areas.
B. It doesn’t want cyclists on the city’s roads.
C. It has narrowed some roads to discourage cyclists from using them.
D. It has a policy of sustainable development.
5. According to the writer, the “political minority” that he is part of _____.
A. is becoming poorer
B. has little political influence
C. consists of people who can’t drive
D. includes people who act in a strange way
6. The word “abstinence” in paragraph 5 is closest in meaning to ______.
A. indulgence B. self-restraint C. conservation D. fighting
7. In paragraph 5 the writer suggests that the effect of his actions has been to _____.
A. discourage the government from giving support
B. lower maintenance standards for pavements
C. create more room on the road for other cars
D. encourage others to drive bigger cars
8. The word “prevalent” in paragraph 6 is best replaced by _____.
A. accepted B. common C. habitual D. localized
9. The writer’s observations at the motorway service stations suggest to him that _____.
A. car drivers are more overweight than public transport users
B. people who own cars are thinner than people who hire them
C. people who use public transport don’t get enough exercise
D. cyclists ride bikes in order to keep fit
10. According to the writer, being without a car in Oxford _____.
A. has been a completely positive experience
B. has increased the number of people he knows
C. has forced him to stay at home more
D. has been a complete mistake
B. WRITTEN QUESTIONS
It is not surprising that actors want to be pop stars, (0) and vice versa. (1) ______ that is deep in a part
of our brain that most of us manage to keep (2) ______ control, we all want to be pop stars and actors.
Sadly, there's nothing about the former profession that automatically qualifies you for the other, (3)
______, of course, for the fact that famous actors and singers are already surrounded by people who
never say no to them. On the whole, pop stars tend to fare better on screen than their opposite numbers
(4) ______ on CD. Let's face it: not being able to act is (5) ______ big drawback in Hollywood, whereas
not being able to play or sing still tends to count (6) ______ you in the recording studio.
Some stars do display a genuine proficiency in both disciplines, and a few even maintain successful
careers in both fields, but this just (7) ______ a bad example for all the others. For every success, there
are two dozen failures. And most of them have no idea (8) ______ terrible they are.
Just as power tends to corrupt, so celebrity tends to destroy the ability to gauge whether or not you're
making a fool of (9) ______.
But perhaps we shouldn't criticize celebrities for trying to expand their horizons in this way. (10) ______
there is one good thing about actors trying to sing and singers trying to act, it is that it keeps them all
too busy to write books.
B. TEST 2
A new television programme in America – Blind Hate – plans to show couples spitting up! The
programme is already advertising in the papers for (1) ______ “contestants”. The makers of the
programme have come up with a plan to tempt one partner into being unfaithful to the other – with
them being chatted up by an attractive “stranger” – so that the second partner then has a good (2)
______ for being able to get rid of the first one! All of this will take place under the observation of a
secret camera, (3) ______ both the partners subsequently being invited into a television studio where
the film will be shown to a studio audience. Only one partner will know what the show is really (4)
______ about, with the unfaithful one suddenly (5) ______ confronted with their own infidelity. The
show boasts that it will have special counsellors on (6) ______ to help deal with the split and its
psychological impact. However, it has already (7) ______ in for severe criticism from religious and other
bodies who claim that it is potentially very dangerous as well as in very bad (8) ______. The Church in
particular says that it damages the value of marriage and is highly immoral. Many psychologists too have
condemned it (9) ______ some of their colleagues taking part in the spectacle. Whether the show
actually finally gets (10) ______ go ahead remains to be seen, but its makers are optimistic that it will be
a great success!
THE END