Exam Preparation

Task 1

Reading

Read the texts below. Match choices (A-H) to (1-5). There are three choices you do not need to use.

1. Our Summer Centre offers English language training and excursion programmes for young people aged 8 to 17 who are looking to learn, have fun and experience UK culture in safe, supervised environments. We accept group bookings through existing and new agents and bookings from individuals and parents.

2. Dear Mrs Knight,

Thank you for all your hard work this year. Britt loves school and it's easy to see why. We hear all about the dynamic way you deliver lessons and encourage participation and are pleased that our daughter is learning so much.

Enjoy the rest of the school year. You're doing a fantastic job!

3. Please, 

DO NOT LITTER 

Thank You

4. Dear client,

We would like to inform you that the Circuit City store can deliver your new tablet tomorrow or you can take it from the shop today. 

Please contact us at 97224517.

5. Kathy,

Just to let you know that I managed to get 2 tickets for the Rainman concert at the London Palladium Theatre on Friday. It starts at 8.30, so shall we meet outside the theatre at about 8.15? 

We could have a bite afterwards if you like.

See you soon,

Dan

Task 2

Read the text below. For questions (6-10) choose the correct answer (A, B, C, or D).

A large portion of scientific research remains forever off the public attention. Only some of the studies deliver results that are important for the scientific community and make their way to textbooks. Then there are those studies that represent «achievements that cannot or should not be reproduced». Every year the Annals of Improbable Research highlights this last group with the Ig Nobel Prize.

The Ig Nobel Prize is a parody of the Nobel Prizes and is given out in late September or early October each year for ten unusual or trivial achievements in scientific research. The Ig Nobel Prizes honour achievements that make people laugh, and then think. The prizes are intended to celebrate the originality, honour the imagination and raise people's interest in science, medicine, and technology.

The prizes are presented to the winners by actual Nobel laureates. One person, Sir Andre Geim, actually won both an Ig Nobel Prize (in 2000) and a real Nobel Prize (in 2010). He won the Ig Nobel Prize for an experiment where he and another scientist successfully levitated a frog using magnets. During the ceremony, each Ig Nobel Prize winner is given 60 seconds to explain their research.

If they go over the time, a little girl, «Miss Sweetie Poo», will walk up to them and yell «Please stop: I'm bored» continually until the speaker stops. It was also once traditional for audience members to throw paper airplanes at the stage while the ceremony was taking place, but that practice has died out in recent years due to safety concerns.

Some examples of work that resulted in people winning the Ig Nobel Prizes include: 

Veterinary Medicine: For the discovery that cows who are given names produce more milk than cows that don't have names.

Economics: For the invention of Clocky, an alarm clock on wheels that motors itself away off the dresser and onto the floor – and hides, forcing you to get out of bed, find it, and turn it off. 

Linguistics: To a group that conclusively demonstrated that rats occasionally are unable to distinguish between Japanese and Dutch recordings played backwards.

Medicine: For research on how listening to country music affects suicide rates.

Astrophysics: For a paper illustrating that black holes fulfill all the technical requirements to be the location of biblical Hell.

Ornithology: To a group that researched why woodpeckers don't get headaches.

The Ig Nobels may be silly, but that's the point: not all science has to be serious and earth-changing. Ridiculous things exist right alongside the significant, but that doesn't make the universe's ridiculousness less meaningful. To paraphrase the Ig Nobel's motto, just because something makes someone laugh, it doesn't mean it won't also make them stop and consider the amazing things that exist in the world.

6. The Ig Nobel Prize is…

7. Sir Andre Geim…

8. What does not happen during the ceremony?

9. It was discovered that…

10. What conclusion does the writer come to?

Task 3

Read the texts below. Match choices (A-H) to (11-16). There are two choices you do not need to use. 

Malware is a type of computer code that includes viruses, worms, and Trojans horses that are potential threats to computer systems today. Let's look at some of them.

11_____ Worms are designed to replicate themselves quickly to spread to other computers, often through a computer network. Most worms are only designed to spread as quickly as possible, so they do not usually try to change the computer systems they pass through. However, worms can create a threat to the security, deleting files or even sending files via email. This is a common method for spam senders to spread junk email quickly, as the more computers are infected, the faster the spam mail will spread.

This malware…

12____ Trojan Horses, or Trojans for short, are different from worms because they don't replicate themselves. Rather, Trojans are designed to trick you into downloading them to cause data loss and sometimes total-system harm. Just as in the ancient Greek story of the wooden horse that was to deceive the soldiers of Troy, Trojans present themselves as useful, interesting or routine programs to trick you into installing them on your computer.

This malware…

13____ Spyware is designed to gather information about you without your knowledge. This information can be sent to another party without your consent, and it can even be used to take control over a computer. Spyware is capable of collecting any type of data, including your Internet history and banking information. Some forms of spyware can even install additional software or change your Internet settings, which can be a mere annoyance, or a problem that can take days to fix.

This malware…

14____ Ransomware infects your computer with the aim to restrict access to your computer system, perhaps preventing you from surfing the Internet or accessing the hard drive, and then demanding a payment to the malware creators. Some of the trickiest ransomware designers have acquired millions of dollars from unsuspecting users.

This malware…

15____ Rootkits are secret types of malware that tries to gain administrator access on your computer and then hide itself so you don't know it is in your system. This type of malware is generally difficult to detect and remove.

Malware is not limited to these five examples, fortunately, antivirus software is designed to combat these threats by preventing the programs from entering your system.

This malware…

16____ Bots are the type of software designed to automatically do certain tasks. Although some bots are created for relatively harmless purposes, bots can be also used for placing advertisements on websites, DDoS attacks, or malware distribution.

This malware…

Task 4

Read the text below. Choose from (A-H) the one which best fits each space (17-22). There are two choices you do not need to use. 

Travelling by plane can be emotional, either you are leaving loved ones behind or travelling (17)____. KLM Royal Dutch Airlines understands how hard it is to be away from the ones you love, so it started inviting people to leave a handwritten message (18)____.

Having said their goodbyes at the departure gate, passengers on a recent KLM flight were amazed to board the plane and find that on their headrests there were messages from their loved ones. The airline had secretly asked friends and family to write and draw pictures for the passengers in felt-tip pen, and just before the flight, a flight attendant (19)____. KLM filmed the passengers' happiness at finding their personalized headrests on board. There was a particularly touching one from the grandparents of a young woman; they drew a picture of an orange alongside their message because they peeled an orange (20)____. «She loves that», the grandpa explained. There were lots of others saying «I'll miss you» with pictures of hearts, good luck wishes (21)____.

This is the latest in a series of initiatives that show KLM understands travelling is an emotional journey (22)____. For example, thanks to the airline's previous service initiative friends and families of passengers send gifts and personal notes which the crew surprises them with during the flight.

In fact, KLM's experience shows that even though we live in an age of the Internet, tablets, and smartphones, there will always be something touching about a sincere, handwritten message.

Gap 17:

Gap 18.

Gap 19.

Gap 20.

Gap 21.

Gap 22.

Use of English

Task 5

Read the text below. For questions (23-32) choose the correct answer (A, B, C or D). 

This is a short story about how hard work is rewarded.

There was an old man living in his village. He had four sons and they were very lazy. The old man felt sick and was counting his (23)____ days in bed. He worried a lot about his sons' future as the young men hesitated a lot to work. The sons believed that luck would favour them.

The old man's health got (24)____ every day and he decided to talk to his sons about their future. (25)____, his sons did not listen to him. The old man played a trick to let their sons realize the importance of work. 

One day, the old man called all his sons and let them (26)____ near him in his bed. He said he had a treasure box with gold coins for them and wanted them to share the treasure equally and lead a happy, prosperous life. The young men were very happy and asked (27)____ his father had placed the treasure. The old man said: «I cannot exactly remember the place where I have hidden the treasure from the (28)____. However, the treasure box is buried in our land. I'm really not sure about the place where I have hidden the treasure box.»

Even though the lazy young sons were happy, they were (29)____ that the old man forgot the place where the treasure was hidden. A few days later, the old man died. The sons decided to dig the land to find the treasure box. 

They worked very hard and dug their land. They could not find any treasure box in the land. They decided to dig a spot in their land that remained a bit different from the rest of the area. The sons believed that the treasure was buried there. They dug the specific spot so deep, but got (30)____ but water. 

A passerby who noticed the dug land and water flowing from a spot talked to the sons about agriculture. They planted fruit and vegetables on (31)____ land. The land became very fertile with abundant water, within a few weeks the land became a beautiful garden with vegetables and fruit. The young sons sold the vegetables at a good price and earned a big (32)____ of money.

Then they realized that it was the hard work that was mentioned as a treasure box» by their father. They defeated their laziness, worked hard, earned much money and lived happily.

23.

24.

25.

26.

27.

28.

29.

30.

31.

32.

Task 6

Read the texts below. For questions (33-37) choose the correct answer (A, B, C or D). 

As Chinese scientists (33)____ recently discovered, eating too (34)____ fat may be bad for your health.

Two hundred young, healthy people (35)____ took part in the 6-month experiment were supposed (36)____ either a low, moderate or high-fat food. Those in the high-fat diet group saw negative changes in the way they (37)____.

33.

34.

35.

36.

37.

Task 7

Read the texts below. For questions (38-42) choose the correct answer (A, B, C or D). 

WHAT ARE DONGLES?

Dongles (38)____ by millions of people on their daily basis. They are also known (39)____ USB dongles. Dongles are used by plugging into a USB port of a device (40)____ as PC, laptop, or even a television or Blu-ray player. Dongles come in different variations; what their functions are and how to use them often depends (41)____ the dongle type and on the manufacturer's software. The (42)____ common dongles are memory or Wi-Fi dongles.

38.

39.

40.

41.

42.