ASSORTED TEST 15 A. LISTENING (50 points)
Part 1. You will hear an interview with a woman called Tansy Burton, who runs a company which
makes beauty products. For questions 16 to 20, choose the answer (A, B, C or D) which fits best
according to what you hear. Write your answers in the corresponding numbered spaces provided below.
1. To what does Tansy attribute her success as a business person? A. It was a family tradition.
B. It reflects her early training.
C. It grew out of desire to please people.
D. It’s something which came naturally to her.
2. What was Tansy’s main role in setting up the production company? A. drawing up a business plan
B. attracting sufficient investment
C. responding to customer preferences
D. establishing administrative systems
3. According to Tansy, her fragrances are successful because they __________ A. are elegantly packaged.
B. appeal to a wide range of people.
C. suggest an expensive lifestyle.
D. reflect changes in consumer taste.
4. Increasingly, Tansy see people’s choice of fragrance as a reflection of the wearer’s ______
A. social standing. B. taste in other products. C. emotional state. D. financial situation.
5. In the future, Tansy expects to see __________
A. a wider use of fragrances in society.
B. fewer companies involved in producing fragrances.
C. single product fulfilling a range of functions.
D. increasing profitability for producers of fragrances.
Part 2. Listen to an interview about the behavior of animals and birds in relation to the weather.
Decide whether these following statements are True (T) or False (F).
6. Sue has little faith in the accuracy of sayings about the weather.
7. Peter says that nowadays people are less interested in sayings than in previous times.
8. Peter says that low-flying birds suffer badly in storms.
9. According to Peter, insects have difficulty in sensing changes in the atmosphere.
10. Sue concludes that the rain goose’s behavior is surprising.
Part 3. Listen to a talk on a special type of tourism and answer the following questions in the form of
notes (DO NOT USE MORE THAN 5 WORDS). SLUM TOURISM
11. Name one of the three cities taken as examples of popular slum tourism sites.
__________________________________________________________
12. What is one of the motivation for tourists to go on slum tours?
__________________________________________________________
13. What destination that Marcello Armstrong took tourist to in Rio?
__________________________________________________________
14. Name one thing that slum tourists often do while stopping during their trip.
__________________________________________________________
15. What do “poorism” help people from develop countries understand?
__________________________________________________________
Part 4. You are going to listen to a piece of news on South China Sea. For questions from 16 to 25,
fill in each blank with no more than four words from the recording. Write your answers in the
corresponding numbered spaces provided below.
A man-made island, Fiery Cross didn’t exist two years ago, yet there’s now 10,000 foot air strip, an
(16)________________________, a missile defense system, and about 200 troops there. Six others have also been built.
Since 2014, huge Chinese ships collected around remote reefs in the Spratly Islands, rapidly
(17)_______________________ up onto the reef. They were building islands.
This body of water is not only rich in natural resources, but 30% of the
(18)_________________________also flows through here to the booming population centers and
economic markets of Southeast Asia as well.
Now 5 countries have laid their claims on this water, most basing their claim on the UN Law of Seas,
which says a country’s territorial waters extend 200 miles off their shore, an area called the
(19)_________________________ or EEZ. 1
Countries have exclusive rights to all the resources and trade in their EEZ. It’s their
(20)_________________________. Any area that isn’t in an EEZ is regarded as international waters
meaning every country shares it.
Every country in the South China Sea region uses this 200-miles EEZ threshold to determine its claims,
except China which argued they have a historical claim to the South China Sea dating back to
(21)_______________________ in the 15th century.
Following World War II, China claimed the South China Sea by drawing this imprecise line on the map
that (22)_______________________ of the South China Sea, which it named the nine-dash-line.
The Spratly Islands is a (23)_________________________ cluster of islands currently claimed by
China, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Malaysia.
It’s hard to (24)_________________________ on an uninhabited piles of sand, so countries have built
buildings and even stuck several people there.
China believes all the Spratly Island belongs to them. (25)________________________ on these new
artificial islands show China’s great ambition to rule the region.
B. VOCABULARY AND GRAMMAR (30 points)
Part 1: Choose the best answer to each of the following questions. (10 points)
1. Derek had no experience of white-water canoeing, so it was extremely_________of him to try and shoot the rapids. A. hazardous B. intrepid C. perilous D. foolhardy
2. Peregrine Thorpe_________the rewards of his hard work when he was given the chair of classics. A. got
B. obtained C. reaped D. collected
3. I can’t understand Juan’s Spanish, because he speaks a regional_________ A. dialect
B. jargon C. accent D. slang
4. When the lift finally started moving, we were all packed inside like_________ A. fish
B. anchovies C. sardines D. dates
5. The police accused the bank employee of_________, after financial irregularities were uncovered in his department’s accounts. A. fraud
B. hoodwink C. swindle D. cheating
6. The news of the attack left us completely _________. A. stirred B. stunned C. moved D. upset
7. -“They say that your wife tends to pry into other people private’s matters.”
- “ I don’t care. It’s no skin off my _______” A. palm B. skull C. cheek D. nose
8. Take the doctor’s advice into consideration. He’s in ________ earnest about the epidemic. A. mortally B. fatally C. gravely D. deadly
9. Every room in the hotel was characterized by shabby furniture and ________ lighting. A. morose B. negative C. glum D. sullen
10. It’s important to keep your _____ about you when you are walking through the African bush. A. wits B. heads C. brains D. minds
Part 2: Complete the following sentences with the correct prepositions or particles. (5 points)
1. She doesn’t eat crisps or chocolate; she’s _________health food. A. into B. in C. up for D. under
2. Housing in some cities is so expensive that some people cannot even afford to put________ the two
months’ deposit that is required. A. away B. down C. out D. about
3. Several members of the public stepped _________________ with information pertaining to the incident. A. back B. forward C. backward D. onto
4. We haven’t met ______________a month of Sundays and I can hardly remember what he looks like. A. in B. off C. out D. up
5. As the day wore _________, I began to feel more and more uncomfortable in their company. A. with B. on C. out D. at
Part 3: Write the correct form of each bracketed word in the following sentences. (10 points)
Many years ago, a young man was traveling one night through a forest (1.inhabit) inhabited by Duergars,
an evil race of fairies, who liked nothing better than to lure (2. suspect) unsuspecting to their death. 2
As he was making his way down the narrow path, he looked at the (3. tower) towering pine trees. Black (4.
thunder) thunderclouds heavy with rain were racing across the sky, and he knew that he would soon have
to find shelter. Presently he saw the glow of a fire on the hillside and left the path to clamber up the steep
slope that led to the (5. enter) entrance of the cave.
He stood at the entrance and looked in. It was a vast, empty cavern whose sides rose up to a (6. vault)
vaulted ceiling. On the ground in the centre a space had been cleared and a warm fire was throwing (7.
flicker) flickering shadows across the floor. He went cautiously towards the fire and sat down.
As his eyes slowly grew used to the dim light, the (8. menace) menacious face of a Duergar begun to (9.
emergence) emerge The creature was sitting (10. motion) motionless on the opposite side of the fire; it
stared at him through its slanting green eyes but said nothing. C. READING (60pts)
Part 1: Choose the words that best complete the sentences in the text. (10 points) The Return of El Nino
Aside from the seasons, El Nino and its twin, La Nina, are the two largest single causes of variability
in the world's climate from year to year. Both are dictated by (1) in water temperature in the tropical
Pacific basin between Australia and South America. (2) after the Spanish words for "Christ child" and
"the girl" because of their (3) _______to Christmas, they lead to dramatic shifts in the entire system of
oceanic and atmospheric factors from air pressure to currents.
A significant rise in sea temperature leads to an El Nino event whereas a fall in temperature leads to
La Nina. The cause of the phenomenon is not fully understood but in an El Nino "event" the pool of
warm surface water is forced eastwards by the loss of the westerly trade winds. The sea water
evaporates, (4) _______ in drenching rains over South America, as well as western parts of the United
States, such as California. The effects can (5) _______ for anything from a few weeks to 8 months,
causing extreme weather as far (6) _______ as India and East Africa. The correlation with global
warming is as (7) _______unclear. Archaeological evidence shows El Ninos and La Ninas have been (8)
_______ for 15,000 years. But scientists are investigating whether climate change is leading to an
increase in their intensity or duration.
The weather pattern is already having early and intense effects and El Nino could bring extreme
rainfall to parts of east Africa which were last year (9) _______ by a cycle of drought and floods. It's
difficult to (10) _______ what will happen to the weather in the British Isles, but it will probably add
to the likelihood of record-breaking temperatures in the UK. 1. A. shifts B. drops C. alternatives D. downfall 2. A. Elected B. Called C. Nominated D. Named 3. A. proximity B. neighborhood C. attachment D. bond 4. A. producing B. resulting C. stemming D. refreshing 5. A. persist B. keep C. conserve D. assert 6. A. ahead B. afield C. along D. alongside 7. A. still B. yet C. present D. now 8. A. dawning B. obtaining C. occurring D. securing 9. A. hit B. shoved C. punctured D. punched 10. A. predict B. imply C. entail D. point
Part 2: Read the following passage. Fill each blank with ONE suitable word. Write your answers in the
numbered blanks provided below the passage. (15 points)
It is often said that the British talk about the weather more than any (1) other people in the world; some
extremists claim that they talk about nothing else. But in fact, even in countries with (2) much less
changeable climates than Britain’s, the weather is an endless, if not varied, source of conversational folder.
This seems only natural when you (3) consider that the weather is one of the few things we all have in (4)
usual. It affects our senses, and even our moods, so directly and, at times, so intensely that it is only natural
we should talk about it. After several days (5)or even weeks of dark, gloomy weather, a bright day tends to
bring about the best in everyone; people recognize the relief (6) in others’ expressions which they feel inside
themselves, and (7) find it hard to resist commenting on a change which is having such an evident (8) cause
on everyone. “Nice day, isn’t it?” is much more than simply a comment on the state of the weather; it is a
comment on the human state (9) itself , an acknowledgement that the tenability of our place in the universe
(10) depends on the existence of a community of human feeling. 3
Part 3: Read the following passage and choose the best answer to each question.(10 points)
There is one kind of pain for which nobody has yet found a cure – the pain that comes from the
ending of a relationship. The relationship could be a marriage, a love affair or a deep friendship, in fact, any
strong emotional tie between people. Such a relationship may come to an abrupt but premeditated end or it
may simply fade away slowly as people and circumstances change. You may be the one to “break it off”,
with a short note or a brief phone call. Or you may be on the receiving end, like the soldier who dreads
getting a “Dear John” letter from a girlfriend who has got tired of waiting. But however it ended and
whoever decided to end it, the pain is equally hard to bear. It is a sort of death, and it requires the same
period of mourning, the same time for grief.
Although there is no cure for grief, we cannot help looking for one, to ease the pain and to make us
forget our tears. We seek refuge in other relationships, we keep ourselves busy with work, we try to immerse
ourselves in our hobbies. Perhaps we start to drink more than we should to drown our sorrows or we follow
the conventional advice and join a club or society. But these things only relieve the symptoms of the illness,
they cannot cure for it. Moreover, we are always in a hurry to get rid of our grief. It is as if we were ashamed
of it. We feel that we should be able to “pull ourselves together”. We try to convince ourselves, as we bite
on the pillow, that we are much too old to be crying. Some people bury their grief deep inside themselves, so
that nobody will guess what they are going through. Others seek relief by pouring their hearts out to their
friends, or to anyone else who can offer a sympathetic shoulder to cry on. But after a while, even our friends
start to show their impatience, and suggest with their reproachful glances that it is about time we stopped
crying. They, too, are in a hurry for the thing to be over.
It is not easy to explain why we adopt this attitude to emotional pain, when we would never expect
anyone to overcome physical pain simply by an effort of will power. Part of the answer must lie in the
nature of grief itself. When the love affair dies, you cannot believe that you will ever find another person to
replace the one who has gone so completely out of your life. Even after many, many months, when you
think that you have begun to learn to live without your lost love, something-a familiar place, a snatch of
music, a whiff of perfume- will suddenly bring the bitter – sweet memories flooding back. You choke back
the tears and the desperate, almost angry, feeling that you are no better now than the day the affair ended.
And yet, grief is like an illness that must run its course. Memories do fade eventually, a healing skin
does start to grow over the wound, the intervals between sudden glimpses of the love you have lost do get
longer. Bit by bit, life resumes the normal flow. Such is the complexity of human nature that we can even
start to feel guilty as these things start to happen, as if it were an insult to our lost love that we can begin to forget at all.
The important thing to admit about grief, then, is that it will take its time. By trying to convince
ourselves that it ought to be over sooner, we create an additional tension which can only make things worse.
People who have gone through the agony of a broken relationship – and there are few who have not- agree
that time is the “greater healer”. How much time is needed will vary from person to person, but psychiatrists
have “a rule of thumb”: grief will last as long as the original relationship lasted. The sad thing is that, when
the breakdown occurs, we can only stumble over the stories beneath our feet. It is dark ahead, and you will
feel painfully many times before we begin to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
1. Psychiatrists tell you that grief will last as long as the original relationship. This calculation is _________
A. based on a deep understanding of human nature
B. generally true but with many exceptions
C. the result of scientific research
D. no more than a hopeful guess
2. Relationships often come to an end because _________
A. people do not realize the pain they can cause
B. very few people really know how to love
C. the feeling of the people were not very deep
D. people do not always stay the same
3. You tell your friends about your unhappiness because _________
A. you want them to feel sorry for you
B. you hope it will make you feel better
C. you want them to hear the story from you
D. you feel sure that they have had similar experiences
4. If you seek advice on what to do about a broken relationship, you will probably be told to _________
A. keep busy at work B. find someone else C. pull yourself together (use your will power) D. join a club.
5. When your friends get tired of listening to you they will _________
A. tell you to pull yourself together
B. try to avoid your company
C. show by their expressions that they have had enough
D. help you to get over your grief
6. Often we are ashamed when we cry because _________ 4
A. only children and babies cry
B. we are worried about what others will think of us
C. we do not expect our unhappiness to last so long D. we think it is a childish thing to do
7. Memories continue to upset you, and this makes you feel that you _________
A. will never get over your grief B. have no will power C. are utterly alone
D. have made no progress at all
8. If we try to recover too quickly from grief, we shall make ourselves _________ A. nervous B. tense C. ill D. unpopular
9. We are upset by reminders of our lost love because they come so _________ A. unexpectedly B. rapidly C. frequently D. rarely
10. One way to get over a broken relationship is to _________
A. try to forget the other person
B. write a “Dear John” letter
C. make a brief phone call
D. form new relationships
Part 4: Read the following passage and do the tasks that follows .(10 points)
You are going to read an article about student accommodation in which four college students talk about the
place they live. Choose from the people (A-D). The people may be chosen more than once. There is an example at the beginning (0). Which student says?
0. My accommodation seems quite expensive. A
1. I have plenty of storage space. B
2. My college doesn’t provide accommodation. B
3. My room is maintained to a high standard. A
4. I have washing facilities in my room. C
5. I would like to have more independence. D
6. I had to buy some extra electrical equipment. A
7. I would like to have more private space. D
8. It’s easy to keep in touch with people here. A
9. My room is not very well-furnished. C
10. This is the only place where I can afford to live. D A. Matthew Wren
I live in what’s called a hall of residence where I get full board as well as a room. It’s not exactly what you
call cheap, though, I pay £87 per week for my single room and three meals a day. This also includes the use
of a washing machine and ironing board. But I can’t complain because my room has just been re-carpeted,
the furniture’s new and the cleaner comes in daily. The main drawback is sharing the bathroom with nine
other students and we don’t have any kitchen facilities. The first thing I did when I arrived was buy myself a
mini-fridge, so I could have cool drinks whenever I wanted. But, we’re on the university network, so I have
access to the Internet and free e-mail from my room, and we get room phones so I can ring friends around the campus for nothing. B. Kerry Dunnock
The city where I study is appalling for cheap accommodation, and the college has nothing of its own to offer
you, but I was lucky, I found a room in a nice little terraced house with central heating which I share with
three other girls. I have a yearly contract with a private landlady and I pay £220 a month for my study
bedroom. This is not bad as it also has a large walk-in wardrobe where I put all my stuff. I share the
bathroom, kitchen and a small living room with the other girls, and we split all the bills between us. We tried
to make a rota for the washing up, cleaning and putting out the rubbish, but it’s not always strictly followed.
Cooking your own food is much cheaper than eating at college, and I like it because I have what I want when I want it. C. Becky Martin 5
I live in a college-owned self-catering block. There’s not much luxury, but I get value for money. For my
£38 per week rent, I get a reasonably-sized room with an old wardrobe, a tiny desk, one shelf, a rather
stained carpet and a sink. When I first moved in, I probably spent more on decoration than I did on food. My
only real complaint, though, was that I had to buy a new pillow because the one I was provided with felt like
a plastic bag full of old towels. I share the kitchen and bathroom with six other girls. One of them has a TV
in her room, but she is a bit possessive about it. The fridge is not huge, so you’re always trying to squeeze
your food into the last remaining inch of space. I twice set off the fire alarm by burning my dinner, so tended
to give up on cooking after that. We eat a lot of take-aways. In the next block there’s a games room where
we hang out which has things like table football and satellite TV if you need a break from studying. D. Karl Yorat
I made the big mistake of going to a college fairly near my home. It isn’t so much the course that I don’t
like, but the fact that I’m stuck at my parents’ house so I don’t feel in touch with what’s going on at campus.
In some ways I’m lucky because I’m not paying out all the money for food and rent that other people have
to find, and I have someone to do my washing, but I don’t have the same amount of freedom or privacy as
the people who’re living away from home. I even have to share a room with my younger brother. When I
told my parents I wanted to move out and go into college accommodation, they said they’d stop supporting
me financially. So, in the end, I had to give up the idea, that hasn’t made any of us very happy.
Part 5: Read the text and do the tasks that follows . (15 points)
Party Labels in Mid-Eighteenth Century England
A. Until the late 1950s the Whig interpretation of English history in the eighteenth century prevailed. This
was successfully challenged by Lewis Namier, who proposed, based on an analysis of the voting records
of MPs from the 1760 intake following the accession to the throne of George III that the accepted
Whig/Tory division of politics did not hold. He believed that the political life of the period could be
explained without these party labels, and that it was more accurate to characterise political division in
terms of the Court versus Country.
B. An attempt was then made to use the same methodology to determine whether the same held for early
eighteenth century politics. To Namier’s chagrin this proved that at the end of Queen Anne’s reign in
1714 voting in parliament was certainly based on party interest, and that Toryism and Whiggism were
distinct and opposed political philosophies. Clearly, something momentous had occurred between 1714
and 1760 to apparently wipe out party ideology. The Namierite explanation is that the end of the Stuart
dynasty on the death of Queen Anne and the beginning of the Hanoverian with the accession of George I
radically altered the political climate.
C. The accession of George I to the throne in 1715 was not universally popular. He was German, spoke little
English, and was only accepted because he promised to maintain the Anglican religion. Furthermore, for
those Tory members of government under Anne, he was nemesis, for his enthronement finally broke the
hereditary principle central to Tory philosophy, confirming the right of parliament to depose or select a
monarch. Moreover, he was aware that leading Tories had been in constant communication with the
Stuart court in exile, hoping to return the banished King James II. As a result, all Tories were expelled
from government, some being forced to escape to France to avoid execution for treason.
D. The failure of the subsequent Jacobite rebellion of 1715, where certain Tory magnates tried to replace
George with his cousin James, a Stuart, albeit a Catholic, was used by the Whig administration to identify
the word “Tory” with treason. This was compounded by the Septennial Act of 1716, limiting elections to
once every seven years, which further entrenched the Whig’s power base at the heart of government
focussed around the crown. With the eradication of one of the fundamental tenets of their philosophy,
alongside the systematic replacement of all Tory positions by Whig counterparts, Tory opposition was
effectively annihilated. There was, however, a grouping of Whigs in parliament who were not part of the government.
E. The MPs now generally referred to as the “Independent Whigs” inherently distrusted the power of the
administration, dominated as it was by those called “Court Whigs”. The Independent Whig was almost
invariably a country gentleman, and thus resisted the growth in power of those whose wealth was being
made on the embryonic stock market. For them the permanency of land meant patriotism, a direct interest
in one’s nation, whilst shares, easily transferable, could not be trusted. They saw their role as a check on
the administration, a permanent guard against political corruption, the last line of defence of the mixed
constitution of monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy. The reaction against the growing mercantile class
was shared by the Tories, also generally landed country gentlemen. It is thus Namier’s contention, and 6
that of those who follow his work, that by the 1730s the Tories and the Independent Whigs had fused to
form a Country opposition to the Court administration, thus explaining why voting records in 1760 do not follow standard party lines.
F. It must be recognised that this view is not universally espoused. Revisionist historians such as Linda
Colley dispute that the Tory party was destroyed during this period, and assert the continuation of the
Tories as a discrete and persistent group in opposition, allied to the Independent Whigs but separate.
Colley’s thesis is persuasive, as it is clear that some, at least, regarded themselves as Tories rather than
Whigs. She is not so successful in proving the persistence either of party organisation beyond family
connection, or of ideology, beyond tradition. Furthermore, while the terms “Tory” and “Whig” were used
frequently in the political press, it was a device of the administration rather than the opposition. As Harris
notes in his analysis of the “Patriot” press of the 1740s, there is hardly any discernible difference between
Tory and Whig opposition pamphlets, both preferring to describe themselves as the “Country Interest”, and attacking “the Court”. Questions 1- 5
Reading Passage has 6 paragraphs (A-F). Choose the most suitable heading for each paragraph from the List of headings below.
One of the headings has been done for you as an example.
NB. There are more headings than paragraphs, so you will not use all of them. 1. Paragraph A i 2. Paragraph B vi 3. Paragraph C v 4. Paragraph D vii 5. Paragraph E ix
Example: Paragraph F Answer: iii List of headings i.
Maintaining the Anglican religion ii. iii.
The consequences of George I’s accession iv. The Tory landowners v.
Political divisions in the early 1700s vi. vii.
The Tory opposition effectively destroyed viii.
The fusion of the Independent Whigs and the Tory landowners ix.
The Whig interpretation of history Questions 6-10
Do the statements below agree with the information in Reading Passage? Write: Yes
if the statement agrees with the information in the passage No
if the statement contradicts the information in the passage
Not Given if there is no information about the statement in the passage
Example: Until the late 1950s the Whig interpretation of English history was the one that was widely accepted. Answer: Yes. 6.
According to Namier, political divisions in the mid18th century were not related to party labels. true 7.
According to Namier, something happened between 1714 and 1760 to affect party ideology. Not given 8.
George I was not liked by everyone. true 9.
The Independent Whigs were all landowners with large estates. false 10.
Neither the Independent Whigs, nor the Tories trusted the mercantile classes. true
(IELTS Reading Strategies) D. WRITING
Part 1. Graph description. (15 points)
Below is the data showing a short description on the birthrates of some countries. Give your
comments to enliven your support. nd 7 a s u o h T U O H T s d n a s u o h t r e P s e t a r h t r i B nd a s u o h T U O H T s d n
Comparison on birthrates in some countries per thousands a s u o 30 h t r 25 e P s e t a 20 r h t r i B 15 10 5 0 Year
1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 Birthrates in Sweden Birthrates in Australia Birthrates in China Birthrates in VietNam
Part 3: Write an essay of about 350 words to express your opinion on the following issue.
“Nowadays, young people admire sports stars though they often do not set a good example. Do you
think this is a positive or negative development?” 8