READING AND LISTENING PRACTICES 2
LISTENING
Listen to three short extracts. Choose the answer (A, B or C) which fits best according to what you hear.
Extract 1. You hear a brother and sister talking about their first gymnastics club meeting.
1. What do they agree on about the training session?
A It made poor use of the facilities.
B It seemed worth the money they paid.
C It appeared to be taught by good instructors.
2. What is the girl doing?
A suggesting an alternative course of action
B explaining how the boy can improve
C praising the boy’s ability
Extract 2. You hear a teacher advising a student to take part in a school play.
3. What does the teacher say about being in the play?
A It will help the girl with her studies.
B It will allow her to develop a useful skill.
C It will provide an opportunity to show her talent.
4. How does the girl feel about applying for a role in the play?
A She is keen to give the experience a go.
B She is convinced that the competition will be tough.
C She is sorry that she has left it late to practise the role.
Extract 3. You hear two friends reviewing a book.
5. What is the girl doing?
A identifying her favourite character
B explaining why the book is important
C describing a particularly strong aspect of the storyline
6. What do they agree about the book?
A It was easy to follow.
B It had a moral message.
C It should be read in school.
Listening part 2
Extract 1
You hear two friends discussing women in sport.
1 In the woman’s opinion, the media ….
A should give female athletes more publicity.
B shows female athletes in a positive way
C gives the impression that male athletes are stronger than female.
2 What point is the man making about money?
A Female athletes should earn higher prize money.
B Female athletes are respected less because of the money they receive.
C Female athletes have problems getting the right training.
Extract 2
You hear two friends discussing taking up running.
3 Why was the woman’s first experience of running a bad one?
A She went running with a health problem.
B She got the wrong advice.
C She didn’t think things through carefully enough.
4 The man is happy that he joined the running club because …
A it started him on a career in sport.
B it helped him set achievable targets.
C it suits his lifestyle.
Extract 3
You hear two friends discussing a demonstration.
5 The woman and man agree that …
A Online petitions get good outcomes.
B The sports centre should be saved.
C people only go to the sports centre to do sports.
6 At the end, the man mentions a personal experience to …
A give an example of a similar building project.
B show how petitions can succeed.
C support the woman’s opinion of petitions.
READING COMPREHENSION
TEXT 1
Political leaders in the days before the internet and 24-hour cable news were not subjected to the intense media
scrutiny that their modern counterparts face. It was possible to rise to power and stay in office despite having
skeletons in the closet that would now see one disgraced in a scandal. One of the best examples of keeping damaging
secrets from the public was Canadian Prime Minister, Lyon Mackenzie King, (almost always referred to as Mackenzie
King).
Mackenzie King was born in 1874 with the proverbial silver spoon. He accumulated five university degrees, including
a PhD from Harvard in economics, a subject he went on to teach at that institute. In addition to being a professor and
an economist, King was a lawyer and a journalist. He was also a civil servant and was appointed as Canada's first
Minister of Labour. He was elected to Parliament as a Liberal and would go on to become Canada’s, and the
Commonwealth's longest-serving prime minister, serving for nearly 22 years.
Mackenzie King cut his political teeth as a labour negotiator. He was successful in part because he mastered the art of
conciliation. Conciliation, along with half measures, would become his trademark. "Do nothing by halves that can be
done by quarters,” one detractor wrote of him. And so, King sought the middle ground in order to keep the country’s
many factions together. He would go out of his way to avoid debate and was fond of saying "Parliament will decide,"
when pressed for an answer. He was pudgy, plodding, wooden and cold, and his speeches were slumber-inducing.
Unloved, but practical and astute, he has been called Canada's greatest prime minister. He created old age pensions,
unemployment insurance, and family allowance, and he left the country in much better shape than when he
inherited it.
Mackenzie King died in 1950, thus passing into the mildly-interesting annals of Canadian history. Then, during the
seventies, his diaries (all 30,000 pages of them) were published, and millions of Canadian jaws dropped. It turns out
that King, that monotonous embodiment of Presbyterian morals, was a dedicated occultist who communicated with
the dead, including his mother (who he revered), former President Roosevelt, Leonardo da Vinci, and his dogs. And
he did this almost every evening for the last 25 years of his life.
King used a Ouija board and owned a crystal ball. He read tea leaves. He employed mediums and consulted a psychic.
He visited palmists. He was a numerologist, always sensitive to what the numbers 7 and 17 were attempting to reveal
to him. He thought that when he looked at the clock and found both hands in alignment, someone from the other
side must have been watching over him. King was careful not to reveal any of his "psychical research" to the public,
his departed mother having warned him that people wouldn't understand.
(Adapted from a passage in "A Sort of Homecoming - In Search of Canada' by Troy Parfitt)
Do the following statements agree with the information given in the reading passage?
Write
TRUE if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this in the passage
1. Mackenzie King came from a privileged background.
2. He taught economics at Harvard University.
3. Mackenzie King was known for his stubbornness and extreme political views.
4. Mackenzie was not liked by his people and did nothing for their welfare.
5. His diaries were published when he was in his seventies.
6. He communicated with dead political leaders to get their advice on handling problems.
7. He regarded seeing the hands of a clock together as an auspicious sign.
TEXT 2
How I lost my passion for art films
It was a regular Thursday evening and I was surfing through the never-ending stream of animal photos, as all sixteen-
year-olds do. Suddenly, an advert popped up on my screen. It was for a limited release indie art film. Everything
about it said, ‘I am for culturally educated people! Only smart people should even consider buying a ticket for me.’
This was not for the commercial movie goer. Oh no, it was for people with a very sophisticated taste in films. It was as
if the director and producers had asked themselves, ‘What would Josh want in a film?’ We were meant to find each
other that day, and I had to get to it.
It just happened that I’d got my monthly allowance the day before. Even if most of it would be gone on that one
ticket, the thought of skipping snacks for the rest of the month didn’t put me off. There were a few tickets still
available for the press review at an indie cinema just two towns away, and I’d only need to take three different buses
to get there. It just got better! I was due to catch up with some culturally-snobby friends the following week. When
they heard that I’d already seen it, they’d be forced to say, ‘Dude, respect!’ and never be able to intimidate me with
their knowledge of culture again. So, I was off.
The day came. The last of my three bus drivers gave me a shout and pointed to a small coffee shop that looked like it
went back to the 1960s. At least I don’t think it had been painted since then. Apparently, the cinema part was in the
basement below. After my journey I needed some refreshment, but not a bucket of popcorn and a fluorescent-
coloured ice slurpy in a plastic cup. Keeping up the appearance of being cool was essential, and I wanted to enjoy
every moment of my independent existence. I bought a large cup of black coffee – no milk or sugar, this was proper
grown-up stuff – and made my way inside. Expecting to find only a few seats left, I was surprised to see that was not
the case. Perhaps there was a pre-film press meeting going on in a private room above.
The film started. Now I was no stranger to films about a future filled with despair. I’d streamed all four Hunger
Games films back-to-back one dull and rainy Sunday. The film had a winning storyline – a post-nuclear explosion that
creates an emotionally troubled generation. And the poster even had a cool man in a woolly jumper on the front,
with a sad but tough looking girl, both dressed very similarly to the few others in the seats around me by his side. I
wasn’t sure if it was the double shot of caffeine from my yukky bitter coffee that was beginning to kick in and give me
the shakes or the sheer awfulness of the script, which took the top slot in my list of objections to the film complaints.
But this film was dreadful. It wasn’t just the worst post-apocalyptic indie film ever made; it was the worst movie ever.
Sitting in that cinema, it finally clicked. I liked mainstream action movies and the truth was out. I would never be the
kind of guy who could go and watch six hours of weird acting with subtitles and a lot of dramatic face-to-camera
shots. I wanted to like cool movies to make myself acceptable to the rest of the world, but that wasn’t really me and
nobody else cared. My passion was for movies with big-name celebrities. It didn’t really matter who, and the bigger
the CGI budget the better. In fact, they could spend all their money on that and not even bother paying artists, like
actors or writers, as far as I was concerned.
That film made me finally admit to myself who I was. I was not turning into the man I thought, but someone very
regular and predictable instead. And I was a two-hour bus ride away from home. But at least I was officially over my
passion for art films and back where I belonged. There was only one thing to do. My mum was working in the next
town, so I called her – after all, there was no one around me to complain. I begged her to come and pick me up. It
was urgent, I lied. I had to make it sound necessary, didn’t I? ‘Sure,’ she said, sounding quite pleased to hear from
me. ‘We could pick up pizza and blue slurpy on the way home, if you want?’ And finally, I was truly where I belonged.
1. In the first paragraph Josh emphasises
A how dull he believes modern film culture is.
B how suitable the film was for him.
C how hard it can be to find a good film.
D how keen he was to go out that night.
2. Josh felt it was worth making the journey to see the film because
A he wanted to improve his reputation.
B he believed the ticket price was value for money.
C he thought the bus was fairly convenient.
D he knew he could meet others there.
3. Josh ordered the coffee because he wanted to
A warm himself up.
B walk through a café.
C stay awake during the film.
D fit in with others around him.
4. What did Josh dislike most about the film?
A It was too depressing for his taste.
B It was spoilt by others in the audience.
C It was too poorly written to appeal to him.
D It was less interesting than the marketing suggested.
5. During this experience, Josh came to the conclusion that
A he liked particular film stars more than others.
B it was important to be more selective of indie films.
C he preferred films dubbed in his own language.
D it was pointless trying to influence how others perceive him.
6. How did Josh feel about his brief passion for indie movies?
A He was left feeling disappointed in the decisions he had taken.
B He felt relieved that he could still return to childhood comforts.
C He was distracted from real concerns about his future.
D He regretted spending time on the interest.
