English Language Proficiency Test for the Bulgarian Armed Forces Reading Section
READING TEXTS
DINING OUT ADS
1. ARTHUR’S BISTRO
At Arthur’s you can enjoy a complete seven course, price-fixed dinner amid romantic old-
world elegance in the historic setting of Union Station. Flavorful light options for lunch and
dinner including home-made favorites. Open daily from 12 noon to 10 p.m.
2. THE BISTRO CAFÉ
The Bistro Café serves cocktails only and welcomes you for breakfast, lunch or an evening
meal. Open for breakfast daily 6 to 10 a.m. Lunch weekdays, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Dinner
nightly, 5 to 10 p.m. Here television is easy to enjoy in cozy captain’s chairs.
3. BRENTWOOD COURTYARD
The place offers a breakfast buffet, lunch buffet and sandwich menu in a relaxed
atmosphere that’s perfect for business meetings. Open for breakfast weekdays, 6:30 a.m.
to 10 a.m. Lunch daily, 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
ANCHORAGE
Anchorage is a city in the south-central U.S. state of Alaska. It is northeast of the Alaska
Peninsula, Kodiak Island, and Cook Inlet, north of the Kenai Peninsula, northwest of
Prince William Sound and Alaska Panhandle, and south of Mount McKinley. Anchorage
has a sub-arctic climate. The daytime summer temperatures are from 13ºC to 26ºC;
daytime winter temperatures are between -15ºC and -1ºC. Summers are typically mild but
it rains very often. July low and high temperatures are 11ºC /19ºC. The hottest day was
June 25, 1953, with a temperature of 33ºC.
Anchorage is a major port, receiving 95% of all trade goods entering Alaska. It is also a
railroad connection point. The Alaska’s Center for Performing Arts in Anchorage can
accommodate 3,000 people. In 2000, 245,000 people visited 678 public performances.
RHODES ISLAND
Rhodes is a Greek island about 18 kilometres southwest of Turkey with a population of
117,007, of which 53,709 live in the capital city of the island, called the City of Rhodes.
The island of Rhodes is 79 km long and 38 km wide, with a total area of approximately
1,400 square kilometres. The city of Rhodes is located in the northern part of the island,
which is also the site of Rhodes ancient and modern commercial ports. The main air
gateway called Diagoras International Airport is situated 14 km away from the City of
Paradisi.
For ages Rhodes’ popularity worldwide has come from the Colossus of Rhodes. People
know it as one of the Seven Wonders of the World. The Old Town of the City of Rhodes is
also a place of interest. Now it is declared a World Heritage Site. Today Rhodes is a major
international tourist destination. The island is also called Rodi in Italian and Rodos in
Turkish.
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English Language Proficiency Test for the Bulgarian Armed Forces Reading Section
GETTING AROUND MADRID
Barajas Airport is the only international airport in Madrid. From Barajas Airport you can get
into the centre of the city by metro, bus, taxi, or you can rent a car. The cheapest and also
fastest way is to use the metro. The Metro system in Madrid is 171 km long, with 11
different lines and 122 stations. A single ticket costs €1.15, a 10-pass ticket costs €5.35,
and a monthly pass €34.55. The metro is open everyday of the week from 6.00 a.m. till
midnight. Because of the heavy traffic in Madrid the metro network is normally the fastest
way to get from one point of Madrid to another. The bus network in Madrid covers an area
much bigger than the metro network and is the only one open all night. The ticket system
works like in the metro and the same ticket can be used for both types of transportation.
Taxis are not very cheap and will cost you around €20-40.
US NAVY SHIP
The US Navy Ship Comfort began a four-month deployment to 12 countries in Central and
South America and the Caribbean. The converted oil-tanker commissioned to serve the
medical needs of the Navy is a part of US President’s initiative on Advancing the Cause of
Social Justice in the Western Hemisphere.
While Venezuela may refuse to accept the ship for its spy potential, the Republic of
Trinidad and Tobago is sure to approve of its visit.
A SUICIDE BOMBER
A suicide bomber detonated himself along a Kabul road as a convoy carrying Western
workers passed by Thursday morning, killing one of the workers and an Afghan woman,
according to an Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman. Five foreign workers and three local
civilians were wounded in the attack. The nationality of the workers was not immediately
known.
The target of the blast was a NATO facility in the Pagrami district of Kabul, but the bomber
"did a poor job and innocent people paid the price" the spokesman said.
THE ADDER
The adder is generally found in parts of North Africa and central Asia. In Britain, it is the
only poisonous snake. It usually hides and is hard to be seen, that is why its distribution is
not as well documented as that of other animal groups. This makes its conservation
challenging. It usually moves extremely fast on warm days. An adder would sooner get out
of the way than bite humans. Even if it does bite, the poison is unlikely to be life
threatening. There are gaps in our knowledge of this species distribution because no one
has carried out a reliable survey.
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English Language Proficiency Test for the Bulgarian Armed Forces Reading Section
NEWS REPORTS
Report 1
The former sheriff of Sumner County was sentenced to 18 months in prison for his role in a
scheme to channel taxpayer money to his brother through a construction contract. Jerry
Vandercook, 70, and his brother, Gary Vandercook, tried to cheat the county out of
$48,000 in a scheme to build a maintenance garage for the sheriff’s department, according
to the accusations. Jerry Vandercook was given two years’ probation period.
Report 2
Officials at the State Historical Museum are asking Iowans for photos of presidential
candidates from 1972 onwards for a project to open this fall. The $1 million project, called
Caucus Iowa, will be an information and media center on the state’s political meetings. It
will serve as a training headquarters for the media and a forum where candidates can host
events for their election campaigns.
NO ROMANCE FOR LOVESICK ALBATROSS
The lonely bird, named Albert, first arrived in Scotland after being blown off course in the
South Atlantic. For the past four decades he has been engaged in unsuccessful attempts
to court females on several remote islands, but experts said Albert had no prospect of
finding a bride so far from home.
Albert was first seen flying over the Firth of Forth 1 just days before Celtic won the
European Cup in 1967. The people who first caught sight of him were members of a
scientific team. The giant bird was observed desperately trying to mate with two-foot high
birds.
Although he has had no luck with love, the fact the bird has been flying around the
northern hemisphere since the 1960s has probably kept him alive. Albert is at least 47
years old. The average Black-browed albatross lives for up to seventy years and Albert
can well surpass that.
Although they are the most widespread and common albatross, the black-browed
albatross species is on the endangered list primarily due to fishing. The birds follow fishing
boats and get caught on hooks when trying to steal an easy meal.
Experts said Albert faced the prospect of remaining a bachelor for his natural lifespan as
he had no chance of finding female company along the Scottish coasts, so far from his
natural home in southern Argentina and the Falkland Islands. This species generally breed
around the Cape Horn area, on the southern tip of South America and the Falkland
Islands.
SHORT REPORTS
1
the estuary of Scotland's River Forth, where it flows into the North Sea
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English Language Proficiency Test for the Bulgarian Armed Forces Reading Section
Report 1
Federal authorities have ordered a Texas company involved in a bus crash that killed 17
people to stop functioning, saying it poses an "imminent hazard." Authorities say that the
company owner, Angel De La Torre, is still running his unsafe fleet of buses under a new
name, Iguana, after they ordered Angel Tours to cease operation in June.
Report 2
A carbon fiber that could be woven into super-strong body armor for the military and law
enforcement agencies has been developed. The lightweight fiber is made up of millions of
tiny carbon nanotubes. The new material could also find applications in the area of hi-tech
‘smart’ clothing and flexible solar panels generating electricity.
Report 3
Thousands of people have brought Peru's busy tourist capital, Cuzco, to a near standstill
in a demonstration against future development near Inca monuments. They claim that the
proposed law would facilitate private hotels building near some of Peru's most famous
ancient sites. Residents marched in opposition to the law, which they say will harm the
city's heritage.
Report 4
NewScientist.com reported handheld metal detectors prove inadequate for detecting
buried landmines. First, they can miss deeply buried mines. Second, plastic mines,
specifically devised to elude metal detectors, go unnoticed. Metal detectors work only over
short ranges and can be used by minesweepers inside a mine field which puts them at
risk.
Report 5
Cher was left shaken after a man was arrested for harassing her at a night club. Security
guards ejected Calvin for repeatedly trying to make contact with his idol, but he was so
determined that he came back. When officers arrived, Calvin, aged thirty-six, requested a
sobriety test for himself, which he failed.
READERS’ OPINIONS
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English Language Proficiency Test for the Bulgarian Armed Forces Reading Section
Reader 1
Contrary to popular belief, Saudi Arabia and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting
Countries (OPEC) are not responsible for America's energy crisis. The vast increase in oil
demand from China and India notwithstanding, far-left environmentalists, judicial activists
and Democrat-dominated government are the obstructionists.
Indeed, if it were not for the self-righteous delusionists and nature's la-la-landers
preventing the development of domestic energy resources from protected areas (which
few can even visit) for decades, we would not be in this mess. Renewable energy
resources simply cannot produce the energy to sustain us in the foreseeable future. Corn
ethanol is an unsustainable and costly failure. We must tap our own coal and oil resources
and build refineries and nuclear power plants without delay.
Reader 2
I am dismayed by Steve Chawkins' assertion that homelessness and poverty are a choice.
No one – except perhaps the mentally ill or the wandering pseudo-hippie bohemians the
author chose to feature as representative of the homeless auto dwellers – is really happy
with a "permanent berth on the asphalt." It is an anomaly to find any feasting on an
"expensive raw-food diet" and wearing "all natural clothing." Chawkins puts the blame for
homelessness all on the individual, "bad luck, bad choices, booze, drugs or mental
illness," without a reproachful word for the economic system that actually creates the
problem.
Reader 3
How convenient. Just as President Bush is poised to leave office, his administration comes
out and publicly supports the consensus in the scientific community that global climate
change has been predominantly caused by human activity and that it will bring wide-scale
devastation to North America.
Admitting the reality of a profound and urgent problem just as the crucial window of action
is about to end is only one of the many nationally detrimental traits of the Bush
administration. It might as well have just come out and said, "We're letting the next guy
take care of it." It all seems disturbingly similar to Bush's strategy on Iraq, the economy
and the budget.
Nero fiddled while Rome burned; now Bush dances while America runs out of options.
SECRET WEAPON
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English Language Proficiency Test for the Bulgarian Armed Forces Reading Section
After graduating from high school in 1993, Arik Czerniak entered a secretive Israeli military
program called Talpiot. The country's most selective institution accepts 50 students a year
and trains them in physics, computers, and other sciences. Its mission is to create
innovative, tech-savvy leaders capable of transforming Israel's military. Upon graduating
from the nine-year program, Mr. Czerniak took a different route—he helped launch
Metacafe Inc., an online company that lets users post short videos. Now the 32-year old
Mr. Czerniak spends most of his time in the Israeli company's new offices in Palo Alto,
California.
Three decades after Talpiot was founded to modernize the Israeli army, the program has
created an unforeseen byproduct—a legion of entrepreneurs that has helped turn Israel
into a technology juggernaut. With fewer than seven million inhabitants, Israel has more
companies listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange than any other country except the U.S.
Israeli companies pioneered instant messaging and Internet phoning.
But the results have prompted concern about whether government resources should go
toward minting tech millionaires. In its goal of creating a new generation of military leaders,
critics say, the program has fallen short. Graduates and Talpiot officials say fewer than a
dozen Talpions in recent memory have gone on to attain senior ranks in the Israel Defense
Forces (IDF).
Some early supporters of the program are now asking whether the military, rather than a
university, is the best way to nourish some of the country's brightest minds—something
they say a small country surrounded by enemies can ill afford to waste. They also
acknowledge that the booming tech sector Talpiot helped create, with its big paychecks,
could work against the program's goal of retaining graduates in the military. The questions
arise as Israel's military leadership comes under broader scrutiny for last summer's
stalemate against Hezbollah in Lebanon.
"The successful high-tech industry is a problem for the military," says Zohar Zisapel, 58,
considered a father of Israel's technology industry. "It provides opportunities for Talpions
the military cannot match," he says.
Mr. Czerniak suggests the military could retain Talpions by managing their careers more
carefully. He considered working on a multimillion-dollar flight-radar project, but a superior
made him a flight instructor instead. The military "didn't always step back and look at the
big picture," he says. The IDF claims it places a priority on using Talpions to their full
potential.
LIES AND PROPAGANDA
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English Language Proficiency Test for the Bulgarian Armed Forces Reading Section
All governments engage in self-promotion and propaganda to influence public opinion and
achieve a measure of thought control - overtly so in authoritarian regimes, and more subtly
in democracies.
What distinguishes the Bush administration from other democratic governments is the
aggressiveness with which it engaged in propaganda, and the contempt with which it
treated the people's democratic right to know the truth. The Bush administration also co-
opted the influential corporate media in its campaign of deception. Newspapers such as
the Washington Post acted as a cheerleader for the war.
The deception campaign was multi-faceted. Documents revealed and interviews with the
New York Times confirmed that the Bush administration launched a major secretive
propaganda war. The “military analysts” program was put in place prior to the invasion of
Iraq. Internal Pentagon documents repeatedly refer to the military analysts as 'message
force multipliers' or 'surrogates' who could be counted on to deliver to millions of
Americans administration 'themes and messages' “in the form of their own opinions”.
Recently released Pentagon documents also show that the Pentagon set up, in late 2001,
a secret organisation called The Office of Strategic Influence to conduct "covert
disinformation and deception operations - planting false news items in the media and
hiding their origins".
Following 9/11, according to a study conducted by the Center for Public Integrity,
President Bush and seven top officials waged a carefully orchestrated campaign of
misinformation about the threat posed by Iraq. According to the study, President Bush,
made 232 false statements about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, and another 28
false statements about Iraq's links to Al Qaida”.
The analysis reveals a carefully orchestrated propaganda campaign in which the Pentagon
recruited some 75 retired military officers who were then given the floor by the major
television networks. These "analysts" effectively delivered the Bush administration's
message to the American public without disclosing the source of their pro-war “opinions”.
The deception campaign was approved at the top by then defence secretary Donald
Rumsfeld who personally met with the 'analysts'. They were given access to classified
information and to senior military leaders with substantial influence over contracting and
budget decisions. Most of the 'analysts', the Times found, had ties with military contractors
with vested interest in the war.
In 2002, to overcome the American public's resistance to the impending war against Iraq,
columnists were paid to write favourably about the administration. Federal agencies
"distributed to local TV stations hundreds of fake news segments with fawning accounts of
administration accomplishments". After the invasion of Iraq, Rumsfeld was pleased with
the result. On April 12, 2003, he drafted a memorandum to an aide. "Let's think about
having some of the folks who did such a good job as talking heads in after this thing is
over," he wrote.
Rumsfeld and the Bush administration had good reasons to be pleased with the result of
their multi-faceted deception campaign. Even in 2005 a majority of Bush supporters
believed that weapons of mass destruction had been found in Iraq.
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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Extract 1
As a British citizen, I'm embarrassed at the breathtaking double standards being
demonstrated by our government. Why should Russia hand over suspects in criminal
cases when we refuse to act in a similar fashion? We are giving safe harbour in the UK to
Akmed Zakayev, one of the most wanted men in Russia who they wish to put on trial for
alleged complicity in terrorist atrocities. To describe the Russian expulsion of British
diplomats as 'completely unjustified' simply reeks of arrogance. I fear the judgement and
attitudes of our current government have been undermined and compromised by the too
close relationship to the US fostered by Blair.
Extract 2
Do the super-rich have a duty to share? I believe that nobody, whatever their wealth, has a
duty to share. Society should not be dependent upon philanthropic donations from the rich.
Inequality breeds divide, which has only been reinforced on a massive scale since
Thatcher, who promoted the individual and free market which Labour continued. Let’s
begin by stopping the tax breaks, taxing them appropriately, collecting it thoroughly and
prosecuting them otherwise for the £85 billion of annually unpaid corporation taxes!
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