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For questions 1-8, read the text below and decide which answer (A,B,C or D) best fits each gap.
In 1979, hours after having run the New York Marathon, the former Olympic champion Chris Brasher wrote an article for The Observer newspaper which began: “To believe this story you must believe that the human race is one joyous, happy family, working together, laughing together, (1), ………… the impossible. Last Sunday, in one of the most trouble-stricken cities in the world, 11,532 men and women from 40 countries in the world, assisted by over a million black, white and yellow people, laughed, cheered and suffered during the greatest folk festival the world has seen.” Enchanted with the sight of people coming together for such an occasion, he concluded by questioning “… whether London could (2), ………….. such a festival?”
Within months the London Marathon was born, with Brasher making trips to America to study the race organisation and finance of big city marathons such as New York and Boston, the oldest in the world. He (3), ………… a contract with Gillette worth £50,000, established the organisation’s charitable (4), ……….., and (5), ………….. down six main aims for the event, which he not only hoped would echo the scenes he had witnessed in New York, but also put Britain firmly on the (6), …………. as a country capable of organising major events.
His vision was realised on March 29th 1981, with the (7),…………… London Marathon (8), ………….. to be an instant success. More than 20,000 people applied to run: 7,747 were accepted and 6,255 crossed the finish line on Constitution Hill as cheering crowds lined the route.
For questions 1-8, read the text below and decide which answer (A,B,C or D) best fits each gap.
In 1979, hours after having run the New York Marathon, the former Olympic champion Chris Brasher wrote an article for The Observer newspaper which began: “To believe this story you must believe that the human race is one joyous, happy family, working together, laughing together, (1), ………… the impossible. Last Sunday, in one of the most trouble-stricken cities in the world, 11,532 men and women from 40 countries in the world, assisted by over a million black, white and yellow people, laughed, cheered and suffered during the greatest folk festival the world has seen.” Enchanted with the sight of people coming together for such an occasion, he concluded by questioning “… whether London could (2), ………….. such a festival?”
Within months the London Marathon was born, with Brasher making trips to America to study the race organisation and finance of big city marathons such as New York and Boston, the oldest in the world. He (3), ………… a contract with Gillette worth £50,000, established the organisation’s charitable (4), ……….., and (5), ………….. down six main aims for the event, which he not only hoped would echo the scenes he had witnessed in New York, but also put Britain firmly on the (6), …………. as a country capable of organising major events.
His vision was realised on March 29th 1981, with the (7),…………… London Marathon (8), ………….. to be an instant success. More than 20,000 people applied to run: 7,747 were accepted and 6,255 crossed the finish line on Constitution Hill as cheering crowds lined the route.
For questions 1-8, read the text below and decide which answer (A,B,C or D) best fits each gap.
In 1979, hours after having run the New York Marathon, the former Olympic champion Chris Brasher wrote an article for The Observer newspaper which began: “To believe this story you must believe that the human race is one joyous, happy family, working together, laughing together, (1), ………… the impossible. Last Sunday, in one of the most trouble-stricken cities in the world, 11,532 men and women from 40 countries in the world, assisted by over a million black, white and yellow people, laughed, cheered and suffered during the greatest folk festival the world has seen.” Enchanted with the sight of people coming together for such an occasion, he concluded by questioning “… whether London could (2), ………….. such a festival?”
Within months the London Marathon was born, with Brasher making trips to America to study the race organisation and finance of big city marathons such as New York and Boston, the oldest in the world. He (3), ………… a contract with Gillette worth £50,000, established the organisation’s charitable (4), ……….., and (5), ………….. down six main aims for the event, which he not only hoped would echo the scenes he had witnessed in New York, but also put Britain firmly on the (6), …………. as a country capable of organising major events.
His vision was realised on March 29th 1981, with the (7),…………… London Marathon (8), ………….. to be an instant success. More than 20,000 people applied to run: 7,747 were accepted and 6,255 crossed the finish line on Constitution Hill as cheering crowds lined the route.
For questions 1-8, read the text below and decide which answer (A,B,C or D) best fits each gap.
In 1979, hours after having run the New York Marathon, the former Olympic champion Chris Brasher wrote an article for The Observer newspaper which began: “To believe this story you must believe that the human race is one joyous, happy family, working together, laughing together, (1), ………… the impossible. Last Sunday, in one of the most trouble-stricken cities in the world, 11,532 men and women from 40 countries in the world, assisted by over a million black, white and yellow people, laughed, cheered and suffered during the greatest folk festival the world has seen.” Enchanted with the sight of people coming together for such an occasion, he concluded by questioning “… whether London could (2), ………….. such a festival?”
Within months the London Marathon was born, with Brasher making trips to America to study the race organisation and finance of big city marathons such as New York and Boston, the oldest in the world. He (3), ………… a contract with Gillette worth £50,000, established the organisation’s charitable (4), ……….., and (5), ………….. down six main aims for the event, which he not only hoped would echo the scenes he had witnessed in New York, but also put Britain firmly on the (6), …………. as a country capable of organising major events.
His vision was realised on March 29th 1981, with the (7),…………… London Marathon (8), ………….. to be an instant success. More than 20,000 people applied to run: 7,747 were accepted and 6,255 crossed the finish line on Constitution Hill as cheering crowds lined the route.
For questions 1-8, read the text below and decide which answer (A,B,C or D) best fits each gap.
In 1979, hours after having run the New York Marathon, the former Olympic champion Chris Brasher wrote an article for The Observer newspaper which began: “To believe this story you must believe that the human race is one joyous, happy family, working together, laughing together, (1), ………… the impossible. Last Sunday, in one of the most trouble-stricken cities in the world, 11,532 men and women from 40 countries in the world, assisted by over a million black, white and yellow people, laughed, cheered and suffered during the greatest folk festival the world has seen.” Enchanted with the sight of people coming together for such an occasion, he concluded by questioning “… whether London could (2), ………….. such a festival?”
Within months the London Marathon was born, with Brasher making trips to America to study the race organisation and finance of big city marathons such as New York and Boston, the oldest in the world. He (3), ………… a contract with Gillette worth £50,000, established the organisation’s charitable (4), ……….., and (5), ………….. down six main aims for the event, which he not only hoped would echo the scenes he had witnessed in New York, but also put Britain firmly on the (6), …………. as a country capable of organising major events.
His vision was realised on March 29th 1981, with the (7),…………… London Marathon (8), ………….. to be an instant success. More than 20,000 people applied to run: 7,747 were accepted and 6,255 crossed the finish line on Constitution Hill as cheering crowds lined the route.
For questions 1-8, read the text below and decide which answer (A,B,C or D) best fits each gap.
In 1979, hours after having run the New York Marathon, the former Olympic champion Chris Brasher wrote an article for The Observer newspaper which began: “To believe this story you must believe that the human race is one joyous, happy family, working together, laughing together, (1), ………… the impossible. Last Sunday, in one of the most trouble-stricken cities in the world, 11,532 men and women from 40 countries in the world, assisted by over a million black, white and yellow people, laughed, cheered and suffered during the greatest folk festival the world has seen.” Enchanted with the sight of people coming together for such an occasion, he concluded by questioning “… whether London could (2), ………….. such a festival?”
Within months the London Marathon was born, with Brasher making trips to America to study the race organisation and finance of big city marathons such as New York and Boston, the oldest in the world. He (3), ………… a contract with Gillette worth £50,000, established the organisation’s charitable (4), ……….., and (5), ………….. down six main aims for the event, which he not only hoped would echo the scenes he had witnessed in New York, but also put Britain firmly on the (6), …………. as a country capable of organising major events.
His vision was realised on March 29th 1981, with the (7),…………… London Marathon (8), ………….. to be an instant success. More than 20,000 people applied to run: 7,747 were accepted and 6,255 crossed the finish line on Constitution Hill as cheering crowds lined the route.
For questions 1-8, read the text below and decide which answer (A,B,C or D) best fits each gap.
In 1979, hours after having run the New York Marathon, the former Olympic champion Chris Brasher wrote an article for The Observer newspaper which began: “To believe this story you must believe that the human race is one joyous, happy family, working together, laughing together, (1), ………… the impossible. Last Sunday, in one of the most trouble-stricken cities in the world, 11,532 men and women from 40 countries in the world, assisted by over a million black, white and yellow people, laughed, cheered and suffered during the greatest folk festival the world has seen.” Enchanted with the sight of people coming together for such an occasion, he concluded by questioning “… whether London could (2), ………….. such a festival?”
Within months the London Marathon was born, with Brasher making trips to America to study the race organisation and finance of big city marathons such as New York and Boston, the oldest in the world. He (3), ………… a contract with Gillette worth £50,000, established the organisation’s charitable (4), ……….., and (5), ………….. down six main aims for the event, which he not only hoped would echo the scenes he had witnessed in New York, but also put Britain firmly on the (6), …………. as a country capable of organising major events.
His vision was realised on March 29th 1981, with the (7),…………… London Marathon (8), ………….. to be an instant success. More than 20,000 people applied to run: 7,747 were accepted and 6,255 crossed the finish line on Constitution Hill as cheering crowds lined the route.
For questions 1-8, read the text below and decide which answer (A,B,C or D) best fits each gap.
In 1979, hours after having run the New York Marathon, the former Olympic champion Chris Brasher wrote an article for The Observer newspaper which began: “To believe this story you must believe that the human race is one joyous, happy family, working together, laughing together, (1), ………… the impossible. Last Sunday, in one of the most trouble-stricken cities in the world, 11,532 men and women from 40 countries in the world, assisted by over a million black, white and yellow people, laughed, cheered and suffered during the greatest folk festival the world has seen.” Enchanted with the sight of people coming together for such an occasion, he concluded by questioning “… whether London could (2), ………….. such a festival?”
Within months the London Marathon was born, with Brasher making trips to America to study the race organisation and finance of big city marathons such as New York and Boston, the oldest in the world. He (3), ………… a contract with Gillette worth £50,000, established the organisation’s charitable (4), ……….., and (5), ………….. down six main aims for the event, which he not only hoped would echo the scenes he had witnessed in New York, but also put Britain firmly on the (6), …………. as a country capable of organising major events.
His vision was realised on March 29th 1981, with the (7),…………… London Marathon (8), ………….. to be an instant success. More than 20,000 people applied to run: 7,747 were accepted and 6,255 crossed the finish line on Constitution Hill as cheering crowds lined the route.
For questions 9-16, read the text below and think of the word which best fits each gap.
Use only one word in each gap.
Karaoke is fast becoming the nation’s Number One party pastime. Public humiliation has (9) been so fashionable. It’s 1 a.m. at an exclusive location in the heart of London. A major pop singer has taken the stage but rather than sing her latest hit, she treats the crowd to a Michael Jackson song. What was (10) the party habit of go teenagers is now favoured by London’s coolest crowd and everyone is having a (11) . So why are so many of themselves our young celebrities queueing up to make fools of (12) in clubs and bars across the country? Maybe it’s because belting out a naff pop song to a public audience shows that even though you may be a celebrity, you don’t (13) yourself too seriously. And if you are a big movie star, that’s a good message to at get across. Nobody gets away without being laughed (14) on a karaoke evening, no matter how famous they are. (15) all, that’s the whole point of the exercise. But for the musical experts among you, a word of warning: this isn’t about proving to the world that you know all the lyrics to a serious song. It’s about expressing your inner performer. Don’t bother (16) up at a karaoke night if you aren’t prepared to sing; you’ve got to put in the effort and prove that you are one of the ‘in-crowd’. Break a leg!
For questions 17-24, read the text below. Use the word given in capitals at the end of some of the lines to form a word that fits in the gap in the same line.
If you have a spare afternoon why not take the kids to visit the remearkable Rosslyn Chapel? like Moldavia or Transylvania. In fact, it is just outside Edinburgh. The chapel and the neighbouring village of Rosslyn are both quite stunning; in fact, the whole area although most of the design of the chapel is Gothic, the aisles are similar to architecture
found in Babylon or Egypt. The chapel’s 15th-century builder, St Clair Prince of Orkney, This must surely be one of Britain’s most (17) ORDINARY
buildings. If you were shown location
pictures of it without any clues to its (18) LOCATE , you might guess it to be somewhere is generally very (19) PICTURE. Nearly the entire surface of the chapel’s stonework idiosyncratic is carved with flowers or stars and another (20) IDIOSYNCRACY
feature of the chapel is that believed that he was (21) ESSENTIAL buying his way into heaven by creating perfectionism such an exquisite chapel. He was famous for his (22) PERFECT
but this in itself created problems. Because everything had to be exactly as he dreamed it should be
it was (23) REAL
of him to expect the work to be finished in his lifetime. The chapel is now considered to be a local treasure and a charitable trust was set up in 1996 to oversee and fund its (24) GO restoration.
For questions 25-30, complete the second sentence so that it has a similar meaning to the first sentence, using the word given. Do not change the word given. You must use between three and six words, including the word given.
Alan is a much better pianist than Jenny. NOWHERE
Jenny is (26) the piano as Alan is.
Only the timely arrival of the police prevented the fight from escalating. BEEN
Had it (27) of the police, the fight would have escalated.
I didn’t get the impression that he was at all upset. STRIKE
He (28) at all upset.
I don’t care which days you work next week. CONSEQUENCE
It (29) me which days you work next week.
One day she is going to lose her temper with him. MATTER
It is (30) she loses her temper with him.
You are going to read an article about girls and their attitude to sport. For questions 31-36, choose the answer (A, B, C or D) which you think fits best according to the text.
My 10-year-old daughter’s face was screwed up with determination recently, when she won a gold medal in a long-distance run against 100 others in her age group. She is just as enthusiastic about swimming, gymnastics, athletics and football, and I try hard not to be insulted when people ask, after one or other of her sporting triumphs, ‘Where on earth does she get it from?’ As I am not particularly overweight nor have an appalling posture I’m not quite sure why it is obvious that I have never been in the slightest bit athletic.
Going round a girls’ secondary school with my daughter a few weeks ago I was reminded just how dire school sport was for me. Little seems to have changed in the past 25 years – girls in the same old, ill-fitting Airtex tops, horrible kilt-like games skirts and scratchy nylon socks. On our visit, a group of girls hung about the edges of the hockey pitch trying to hide their mottled, freezing legs while the more hearty ones whacked each other with hockey sticks. It all came back to me; the horrible cheesy smell of the changing rooms and the muddy winter horrors of traditional girls’ team games, such as lacrosse, netball and hockey and, worst of all, the cross-country run through the suburban streets of Hendon. What a sight 60 of us must have made thundering down the pavements in our tiny, flapping skirts and mortadella sausage thighs.
Small wonder, then, that a study released last month about young people’s behaviour in relation to health found that although many girls wanted to be fit and improve their appearance they were too embarrassed to exercise. Helen Haste, a professor of psychology at Bath University and the author of the report, based her research on 687 interviews with 11- to 21-year olds. The most active youngsters did team sports and at least one other form of exercise, but Professor Haste says that fewer than half exercised once a week: 49 percent of girls said they did not feel comfortable exercising in front of other people, while 34 percent didn’t like the way they looked in exercise clothes.
Haste says, ‘The study shows that appearance is important to both sexes, but in particular to girls under 16. We need to take this seriously. Girls feel selfconscious exercising in front of people, while boys don’t feel this so much. There seems to be a real
tension between teenagers wanting to be fitter to look good and worries about how they look when they are actually exercising,’ says Haste. Appearance therefore, is both a driving force to exercise and a reason why girls don’t actually want to do it. ‘It is a real waste of an opportunity to have fun and get fit if school sports are making girls feel so ill at ease,’ Haste adds. ‘We need to think about ways of exercising within the school curriculum which make sure that girls feel comfortable.’
When I asked a group of 14-year-old girls at a mixed comprehensive school what they thought of the games on offer at their school, some were fairly enthusiastic. Cathy Dale is good at football, and enjoys its competitive spirit, but thinks it is hard to get sports teachers to give girls the training they need. ‘They tend to concentrate on the boys’ team even though I think that some of the girls are better than the boys. I think that they expect us to give up pretty soon, so there just isn’t the interest. I’m not sure if it’s the teachers’ fault or the girls’ fault.’
At the girls’ school where we found the unenthusiastic hockey players, the headmistress gave a speech to the parents after the tour of the school and the school grounds. She was unapologetic about the lack of sporting facilities on offer: the message was that as the school was doing well academically it didn’t really matter that the girls didn’t get much of a chance to succeed at sport. My daughter sneered and whispered that she would never go to a school that didn’t take sport seriously, and could we please leave right away? So now the search is on for a secondary school that will nurture her sporty side, although I’m not sure that one exists in my London neighbourhood.
(31) How does the writer feel about the way people react to her daughter’s successes?
You are going to read an article about girls and their attitude to sport. For questions 31-36, choose the answer (A, B, C or D) which you think fits best according to the text.
My 10-year-old daughter’s face was screwed up with determination recently, when she won a gold medal in a long-distance run against 100 others in her age group. She is just as enthusiastic about swimming, gymnastics, athletics and football, and I try hard not to be insulted when people ask, after one or other of her sporting triumphs, ‘Where on earth does she get it from?’ As I am not particularly overweight nor have an appalling posture I’m not quite sure why it is obvious that I have never been in the slightest bit athletic.
Going round a girls’ secondary school with my daughter a few weeks ago I was reminded just how dire school sport was for me. Little seems to have changed in the past 25 years – girls in the same old, ill-fitting Airtex tops, horrible kilt-like games skirts and scratchy nylon socks. On our visit, a group of girls hung about the edges of the hockey pitch trying to hide their mottled, freezing legs while the more hearty ones whacked each other with hockey sticks. It all came back to me; the horrible cheesy smell of the changing rooms and the muddy winter horrors of traditional girls’ team games, such as lacrosse, netball and hockey and, worst of all, the cross-country run through the suburban streets of Hendon. What a sight 60 of us must have made thundering down the pavements in our tiny, flapping skirts and mortadella sausage thighs.
Small wonder, then, that a study released last month about young people’s behaviour in relation to health found that although many girls wanted to be fit and improve their appearance they were too embarrassed to exercise. Helen Haste, a professor of psychology at Bath University and the author of the report, based her research on 687 interviews with 11- to 21-year olds. The most active youngsters did team sports and at least one other form of exercise, but Professor Haste says that fewer than half exercised once a week: 49 percent of girls said they did not feel comfortable exercising in front of other people, while 34 percent didn’t like the way they looked in exercise clothes.
Haste says, ‘The study shows that appearance is important to both sexes, but in particular to girls under 16. We need to take this seriously. Girls feel selfconscious exercising in front of people, while boys don’t feel this so much. There seems to be a real
tension between teenagers wanting to be fitter to look good and worries about how they look when they are actually exercising,’ says Haste. Appearance therefore, is both a driving force to exercise and a reason why girls don’t actually want to do it. ‘It is a real waste of an opportunity to have fun and get fit if school sports are making girls feel so ill at ease,’ Haste adds. ‘We need to think about ways of exercising within the school curriculum which make sure that girls feel comfortable.’
When I asked a group of 14-year-old girls at a mixed comprehensive school what they thought of the games on offer at their school, some were fairly enthusiastic. Cathy Dale is good at football, and enjoys its competitive spirit, but thinks it is hard to get sports teachers to give girls the training they need. ‘They tend to concentrate on the boys’ team even though I think that some of the girls are better than the boys. I think that they expect us to give up pretty soon, so there just isn’t the interest. I’m not sure if it’s the teachers’ fault or the girls’ fault.’
At the girls’ school where we found the unenthusiastic hockey players, the headmistress gave a speech to the parents after the tour of the school and the school grounds. She was unapologetic about the lack of sporting facilities on offer: the message was that as the school was doing well academically it didn’t really matter that the girls didn’t get much of a chance to succeed at sport. My daughter sneered and whispered that she would never go to a school that didn’t take sport seriously, and could we please leave right away? So now the search is on for a secondary school that will nurture her sporty side, although I’m not sure that one exists in my London neighbourhood.
(32) How did the visit to the girls’ school make the writer feel?
You are going to read an article about girls and their attitude to sport. For questions 31-36, choose the answer (A, B, C or D) which you think fits best according to the text.
My 10-year-old daughter’s face was screwed up with determination recently, when she won a gold medal in a long-distance run against 100 others in her age group. She is just as enthusiastic about swimming, gymnastics, athletics and football, and I try hard not to be insulted when people ask, after one or other of her sporting triumphs, ‘Where on earth does she get it from?’ As I am not particularly overweight nor have an appalling posture I’m not quite sure why it is obvious that I have never been in the slightest bit athletic.
Going round a girls’ secondary school with my daughter a few weeks ago I was reminded just how dire school sport was for me. Little seems to have changed in the past 25 years – girls in the same old, ill-fitting Airtex tops, horrible kilt-like games skirts and scratchy nylon socks. On our visit, a group of girls hung about the edges of the hockey pitch trying to hide their mottled, freezing legs while the more hearty ones whacked each other with hockey sticks. It all came back to me; the horrible cheesy smell of the changing rooms and the muddy winter horrors of traditional girls’ team games, such as lacrosse, netball and hockey and, worst of all, the cross-country run through the suburban streets of Hendon. What a sight 60 of us must have made thundering down the pavements in our tiny, flapping skirts and mortadella sausage thighs.
Small wonder, then, that a study released last month about young people’s behaviour in relation to health found that although many girls wanted to be fit and improve their appearance they were too embarrassed to exercise. Helen Haste, a professor of psychology at Bath University and the author of the report, based her research on 687 interviews with 11- to 21-year olds. The most active youngsters did team sports and at least one other form of exercise, but Professor Haste says that fewer than half exercised once a week: 49 percent of girls said they did not feel comfortable exercising in front of other people, while 34 percent didn’t like the way they looked in exercise clothes.
Haste says, ‘The study shows that appearance is important to both sexes, but in particular to girls under 16. We need to take this seriously. Girls feel selfconscious exercising in front of people, while boys don’t feel this so much. There seems to be a real
tension between teenagers wanting to be fitter to look good and worries about how they look when they are actually exercising,’ says Haste. Appearance therefore, is both a driving force to exercise and a reason why girls don’t actually want to do it. ‘It is a real waste of an opportunity to have fun and get fit if school sports are making girls feel so ill at ease,’ Haste adds. ‘We need to think about ways of exercising within the school curriculum which make sure that girls feel comfortable.’
When I asked a group of 14-year-old girls at a mixed comprehensive school what they thought of the games on offer at their school, some were fairly enthusiastic. Cathy Dale is good at football, and enjoys its competitive spirit, but thinks it is hard to get sports teachers to give girls the training they need. ‘They tend to concentrate on the boys’ team even though I think that some of the girls are better than the boys. I think that they expect us to give up pretty soon, so there just isn’t the interest. I’m not sure if it’s the teachers’ fault or the girls’ fault.’
At the girls’ school where we found the unenthusiastic hockey players, the headmistress gave a speech to the parents after the tour of the school and the school grounds. She was unapologetic about the lack of sporting facilities on offer: the message was that as the school was doing well academically it didn’t really matter that the girls didn’t get much of a chance to succeed at sport. My daughter sneered and whispered that she would never go to a school that didn’t take sport seriously, and could we please leave right away? So now the search is on for a secondary school that will nurture her sporty side, although I’m not sure that one exists in my London neighbourhood.
(33) According to Helen Haste,
You are going to read an article about girls and their attitude to sport. For questions 31-36, choose the answer (A, B, C or D) which you think fits best according to the text.
My 10-year-old daughter’s face was screwed up with determination recently, when she won a gold medal in a long-distance run against 100 others in her age group. She is just as enthusiastic about swimming, gymnastics, athletics and football, and I try hard not to be insulted when people ask, after one or other of her sporting triumphs, ‘Where on earth does she get it from?’ As I am not particularly overweight nor have an appalling posture I’m not quite sure why it is obvious that I have never been in the slightest bit athletic.
Going round a girls’ secondary school with my daughter a few weeks ago I was reminded just how dire school sport was for me. Little seems to have changed in the past 25 years – girls in the same old, ill-fitting Airtex tops, horrible kilt-like games skirts and scratchy nylon socks. On our visit, a group of girls hung about the edges of the hockey pitch trying to hide their mottled, freezing legs while the more hearty ones whacked each other with hockey sticks. It all came back to me; the horrible cheesy smell of the changing rooms and the muddy winter horrors of traditional girls’ team games, such as lacrosse, netball and hockey and, worst of all, the cross-country run through the suburban streets of Hendon. What a sight 60 of us must have made thundering down the pavements in our tiny, flapping skirts and mortadella sausage thighs.
Small wonder, then, that a study released last month about young people’s behaviour in relation to health found that although many girls wanted to be fit and improve their appearance they were too embarrassed to exercise. Helen Haste, a professor of psychology at Bath University and the author of the report, based her research on 687 interviews with 11- to 21-year olds. The most active youngsters did team sports and at least one other form of exercise, but Professor Haste says that fewer than half exercised once a week: 49 percent of girls said they did not feel comfortable exercising in front of other people, while 34 percent didn’t like the way they looked in exercise clothes.
Haste says, ‘The study shows that appearance is important to both sexes, but in particular to girls under 16. We need to take this seriously. Girls feel selfconscious exercising in front of people, while boys don’t feel this so much. There seems to be a real
tension between teenagers wanting to be fitter to look good and worries about how they look when they are actually exercising,’ says Haste. Appearance therefore, is both a driving force to exercise and a reason why girls don’t actually want to do it. ‘It is a real waste of an opportunity to have fun and get fit if school sports are making girls feel so ill at ease,’ Haste adds. ‘We need to think about ways of exercising within the school curriculum which make sure that girls feel comfortable.’
When I asked a group of 14-year-old girls at a mixed comprehensive school what they thought of the games on offer at their school, some were fairly enthusiastic. Cathy Dale is good at football, and enjoys its competitive spirit, but thinks it is hard to get sports teachers to give girls the training they need. ‘They tend to concentrate on the boys’ team even though I think that some of the girls are better than the boys. I think that they expect us to give up pretty soon, so there just isn’t the interest. I’m not sure if it’s the teachers’ fault or the girls’ fault.’
At the girls’ school where we found the unenthusiastic hockey players, the headmistress gave a speech to the parents after the tour of the school and the school grounds. She was unapologetic about the lack of sporting facilities on offer: the message was that as the school was doing well academically it didn’t really matter that the girls didn’t get much of a chance to succeed at sport. My daughter sneered and whispered that she would never go to a school that didn’t take sport seriously, and could we please leave right away? So now the search is on for a secondary school that will nurture her sporty side, although I’m not sure that one exists in my London neighbourhood.
(34) Haste comes to the conclusion that
You are going to read an article about girls and their attitude to sport. For questions 31-36, choose the answer (A, B, C or D) which you think fits best according to the text.
My 10-year-old daughter’s face was screwed up with determination recently, when she won a gold medal in a long-distance run against 100 others in her age group. She is just as enthusiastic about swimming, gymnastics, athletics and football, and I try hard not to be insulted when people ask, after one or other of her sporting triumphs, ‘Where on earth does she get it from?’ As I am not particularly overweight nor have an appalling posture I’m not quite sure why it is obvious that I have never been in the slightest bit athletic.
Going round a girls’ secondary school with my daughter a few weeks ago I was reminded just how dire school sport was for me. Little seems to have changed in the past 25 years – girls in the same old, ill-fitting Airtex tops, horrible kilt-like games skirts and scratchy nylon socks. On our visit, a group of girls hung about the edges of the hockey pitch trying to hide their mottled, freezing legs while the more hearty ones whacked each other with hockey sticks. It all came back to me; the horrible cheesy smell of the changing rooms and the muddy winter horrors of traditional girls’ team games, such as lacrosse, netball and hockey and, worst of all, the cross-country run through the suburban streets of Hendon. What a sight 60 of us must have made thundering down the pavements in our tiny, flapping skirts and mortadella sausage thighs.
Small wonder, then, that a study released last month about young people’s behaviour in relation to health found that although many girls wanted to be fit and improve their appearance they were too embarrassed to exercise. Helen Haste, a professor of psychology at Bath University and the author of the report, based her research on 687 interviews with 11- to 21-year olds. The most active youngsters did team sports and at least one other form of exercise, but Professor Haste says that fewer than half exercised once a week: 49 percent of girls said they did not feel comfortable exercising in front of other people, while 34 percent didn’t like the way they looked in exercise clothes.
Haste says, ‘The study shows that appearance is important to both sexes, but in particular to girls under 16. We need to take this seriously. Girls feel selfconscious exercising in front of people, while boys don’t feel this so much. There seems to be a real
tension between teenagers wanting to be fitter to look good and worries about how they look when they are actually exercising,’ says Haste. Appearance therefore, is both a driving force to exercise and a reason why girls don’t actually want to do it. ‘It is a real waste of an opportunity to have fun and get fit if school sports are making girls feel so ill at ease,’ Haste adds. ‘We need to think about ways of exercising within the school curriculum which make sure that girls feel comfortable.’
When I asked a group of 14-year-old girls at a mixed comprehensive school what they thought of the games on offer at their school, some were fairly enthusiastic. Cathy Dale is good at football, and enjoys its competitive spirit, but thinks it is hard to get sports teachers to give girls the training they need. ‘They tend to concentrate on the boys’ team even though I think that some of the girls are better than the boys. I think that they expect us to give up pretty soon, so there just isn’t the interest. I’m not sure if it’s the teachers’ fault or the girls’ fault.’
At the girls’ school where we found the unenthusiastic hockey players, the headmistress gave a speech to the parents after the tour of the school and the school grounds. She was unapologetic about the lack of sporting facilities on offer: the message was that as the school was doing well academically it didn’t really matter that the girls didn’t get much of a chance to succeed at sport. My daughter sneered and whispered that she would never go to a school that didn’t take sport seriously, and could we please leave right away? So now the search is on for a secondary school that will nurture her sporty side, although I’m not sure that one exists in my London neighbourhood.
(35) The headmistress of the school that the writer visited
You are going to read an article about girls and their attitude to sport. For questions 31-36, choose the answer (A, B, C or D) which you think fits best according to the text.
My 10-year-old daughter’s face was screwed up with determination recently, when she won a gold medal in a long-distance run against 100 others in her age group. She is just as enthusiastic about swimming, gymnastics, athletics and football, and I try hard not to be insulted when people ask, after one or other of her sporting triumphs, ‘Where on earth does she get it from?’ As I am not particularly overweight nor have an appalling posture I’m not quite sure why it is obvious that I have never been in the slightest bit athletic.
Going round a girls’ secondary school with my daughter a few weeks ago I was reminded just how dire school sport was for me. Little seems to have changed in the past 25 years – girls in the same old, ill-fitting Airtex tops, horrible kilt-like games skirts and scratchy nylon socks. On our visit, a group of girls hung about the edges of the hockey pitch trying to hide their mottled, freezing legs while the more hearty ones whacked each other with hockey sticks. It all came back to me; the horrible cheesy smell of the changing rooms and the muddy winter horrors of traditional girls’ team games, such as lacrosse, netball and hockey and, worst of all, the cross-country run through the suburban streets of Hendon. What a sight 60 of us must have made thundering down the pavements in our tiny, flapping skirts and mortadella sausage thighs.
Small wonder, then, that a study released last month about young people’s behaviour in relation to health found that although many girls wanted to be fit and improve their appearance they were too embarrassed to exercise. Helen Haste, a professor of psychology at Bath University and the author of the report, based her research on 687 interviews with 11- to 21-year olds. The most active youngsters did team sports and at least one other form of exercise, but Professor Haste says that fewer than half exercised once a week: 49 percent of girls said they did not feel comfortable exercising in front of other people, while 34 percent didn’t like the way they looked in exercise clothes.
Haste says, ‘The study shows that appearance is important to both sexes, but in particular to girls under 16. We need to take this seriously. Girls feel selfconscious exercising in front of people, while boys don’t feel this so much. There seems to be a real
tension between teenagers wanting to be fitter to look good and worries about how they look when they are actually exercising,’ says Haste. Appearance therefore, is both a driving force to exercise and a reason why girls don’t actually want to do it. ‘It is a real waste of an opportunity to have fun and get fit if school sports are making girls feel so ill at ease,’ Haste adds. ‘We need to think about ways of exercising within the school curriculum which make sure that girls feel comfortable.’
When I asked a group of 14-year-old girls at a mixed comprehensive school what they thought of the games on offer at their school, some were fairly enthusiastic. Cathy Dale is good at football, and enjoys its competitive spirit, but thinks it is hard to get sports teachers to give girls the training they need. ‘They tend to concentrate on the boys’ team even though I think that some of the girls are better than the boys. I think that they expect us to give up pretty soon, so there just isn’t the interest. I’m not sure if it’s the teachers’ fault or the girls’ fault.’
At the girls’ school where we found the unenthusiastic hockey players, the headmistress gave a speech to the parents after the tour of the school and the school grounds. She was unapologetic about the lack of sporting facilities on offer: the message was that as the school was doing well academically it didn’t really matter that the girls didn’t get much of a chance to succeed at sport. My daughter sneered and whispered that she would never go to a school that didn’t take sport seriously, and could we please leave right away? So now the search is on for a secondary school that will nurture her sporty side, although I’m not sure that one exists in my London neighbourhood.
(36) The writer’s daughter
You are going to read four reviews of a theatre performance.
For questions 37-40, choose from reviews A-D. The reviews may be chosen more than once.
37. commends the performance of Jude Law but finds the rest of the cast lacking?
You are going to read four reviews of a theatre performance.
For questions 37-40, choose from reviews A-D. The reviews may be chosen more than once.
38. disagrees with the other three reviewers, by finding no flaws in the production?
You are going to read four reviews of a theatre performance.
For questions 37-40, choose from reviews A-D. The reviews may be chosen more than once.
39. like reviewer A, believes Law’s Hamlet is not as good as Tennant’s?
You are going to read four reviews of a theatre performance.
For questions 37-40, choose from reviews A-D. The reviews may be chosen more than once.
40. like reviewer B, suggests that Law has the edge on Hamlet?
You are going to read an extract from a magazine article. Choose from the paragraphs A-G the one which fits each gap (41-46). There is one extra paragraph which you do not need to use.
A. What’s intriguing is that unlike Monet’s garden, Jarman’s is, arguably, his greatest artistic creation. But then, unlike Giverney, Dungeness remains absolute- ly uncommercialised. Long may it remain that way! My enduring memory of Giverney is not of its lily ponds but of its electric, revolving toilet seats. Apparently they’re popular with Japanese coach parties.
B. Which makes perfect sense, when you come to think of it. For aren’t gardens, for most of us, an escape from the rational world of work – somewhere for children to play, or for us to play at being children again? The British idea of gardens has an engaging innocence to it.
C. The other extreme can be seen in the works of Sir Stanley Spencer. Full of intricate detail, almost like an illustration. Spencer would painstakingly include deli- cate brickwork and single petals. He must have been a man of order, discipline and precision. You can’t imag- ine him living in a messy house with an untidy garden.
D. Given our well-known obsession with gardens and gardening, what’s curious is how few, rather than how many depictions of gardens there are in British art. You could, of course, say the same for some of our other national pastimes: how many iconic images of fishing can you think of or DIY and home improvements?
E. The curator of the gallery has a strong opinion about this show. He believes that this important work needs to be seen by a wide audience and that it has the power to transform the work of the next genera- tion of British artists. He refuses to give in to the political pressures that have been put on him.
F. More recently, Ivon Hitchens and Reynolds Stone created semi-wild woodland gardens in Sussex and Dorset, while Patrick Heron made brilliant use of strong colours in both his paintings and his Cornish garden. In Scotland, Ian Hamilton Finlay has updated the garden at Little Sparta, juxtaposing texts and land- scape in witty and often ironic ways.
G. There are some favourite paintings – John Singer Sargeant’s Carnation, Lily, Rose and David Inshaw’s The Badminton Game – to be sure. However, I don’t think anyone would claim either as masterpieces of European art. So the question is, why would a gallery of great prestige such as the Tate have a show that is apparently so low key? Where is the razzmatazz?
Anyone who’s been to Monet’s garden at Giverney, or Derek Jarman’s garden at Dungeness, knows that artists make good gardeners. But do gardens make good art? That is the question Tate Britain poses in its summer exhibition, Art of the Garden.
41.
Perhaps it’s because gardening – like fishing and DIY – is generally a private pursuit. It’s not so much some- thing you tend to do with other people. It’s a contemplative activity that induces a state of relaxation, calm and general wellbeing. So, the Tate show may be the first exhibition to examine the relationship between gar- dens and British art, but where are the major artworks?
42.
Instead, Art of the Garden quietly opens a door into the private world of the British garden – in fact, the Secret Garden would have made just as good a title for the show. What’s striking about these images is how little our attitudes towards the garden have changed in the last 200 years – from Samuel Palmer’s A Shoreham Garden of 1829 to David Rayson’s Night Garden of 2003, what we see is a quiet, dreamlike place.
43.
I guess it’s not surprising that painters should make fine gardens: colour and composition after all, are at the heart of both painting and gardening. Monet may be the most famous example, but his garden at Giverney was created so long ago that what we see today may bear only a vague relation to the original – gardens being, oddly, far more ephemeral than a paint- ing of the most fleeting atmospheric effect.
44.
But the current artistic icon of contemporary gardening is surely the late Derek Jarman, whose tiny garden on the vast pebble beach of Dungeness in Kent has become a modern place of pilgrimage. Jarman’s garden is an inspiring example of how to create a sense of mystery and magic in apparently unpromising surroundings – in this case a bleak shingle bank dominated by a nuclear power station.
45.
But tourist attractions aside, it’s the more personal, intimate images of gardens that say so much about the artist. Some painters focus on a section of their garden, maybe a splash of colour in one particular cor- ner. Or the way a single flower can fill a whole canvas making a strong statement about form, colour or detail. Or perhaps a more impressionistic interpretation may be used where shape and form are loose and sketchy but different hues blend for an overall impact.
46.
But it is precisely this kind of inference about an artist’s character that is so interesting in a piece of art. Art is after all, a vehicle of communication between two human beings and this too can be said about a garden. A garden is indeed a reflection of the people who own it and that is why ‘garden art’ is such a telling and yet natural phenomenon.
You are going to read some reviews of art events. For questions 47 – 56, choose from the articles (A-E). The articles may be chosen more than once.
47. Institutions could suffer because of a thoughtless act.
48. Many different styles offered by artists in Europe.
49. A substantial amount of time needed to complete one piece of work.
50. Land and sea treated very differently.
51. Paintings about other paintings.
52. Man’s negative impact on the environment.
53. Finding ways to pay off debts.
54. A primitive style of interior decoration.
55. Showing how something is set up for public viewing.
56. Fantasy images based on a real environment.
A. Ben Cook and Phil Whiting
Landscape, such a dominant theme in Cornwall, has the chalk and cheese treatment from two artists showing in Penzance this month. At Cornwall Contemporary Gallery Ben Cook uses abstract vocabulary to make almost entirely conceptual references. His use of found objects and time spent surf- ing drew him to look at the processes involved in surfboard manufacture. Based on these, his constructions and paintings combine areas of high resist, high speed, water deflecting sheen with those tempered by wax to produce mottled, opaque, non-slip surfaces that smack of stone and solidity. Phil Whiting is a painter. His vigorous use of materials – acrylics in thick impasto inks, charcoal applied with a brush, knife and ‘whatever’ – recalls a terrain smarting from the brute force of man’s misuse of it. This is not the celebrated, picturesque Cornwall we so often see but its dirty, rain-soaked underbelly, a landscape left bereft by voracious mining and haphazard industrial development.
B. Shanti Panchal
It is almost thirty years since Shanti Panchal first came from India to study art in London, where he has lived ever since. This retrospective at Chelmsford Museum elucidates his distinctive, radical watercolourist’s achievement. Growing up in a Gujarati village, he decorated local houses with images of birds and animals. As a Bombay art student, cave paintings and images from Jain temples inspired him, and as a student in Europe, he was drawn to medieval icons. It is erroneous to say that his work is characterised by poignant nostalgia for India. The paintings are not nostalgic. Rather they evoke with subtle clarity what it is like to be exiled and dispossessed while at the same time rooted inalienably in nature and the cosmos. Every watercolour is multi-layered, giving a similar surface to Buddhist cave paintings. It can take days in order to face what is going to happen in a piece. Each picture takes weeks and sometimes months. Recent pictures include portraits and even a homage to Frida Kahlo, a painter that Shanti respects immensely.
C. Iwan Gwyn Parry
Iwan Gwyn Parry’s first solo exhibition at Martin Tinney Gallery in Cardiff is a significant event. Until now the artist has shown mostly in North Wales. Now there is an opportunity to experience, further south, a coherent and powerful assemblage of his latest work. It is clear the show will be something special. For these remarkable landscapes and seascapes appear to have emerged from deep within his psyche and are a highly imaginative response to a coastal terrain familiar to the artist. There is a strong sense of mysticism, the painting suffused with ethereal vapours and incandescent light; there are restless swathes of deep orange and yellow. The seascapes are haunting and elemen- tal while the landscapes are more reflective studies in grey, black and white. His oil The Irish Sea, for example is on an awesome scale, its seething waters of churning paint intensely lit by a low sun. Definitely a show not to be missed.
D.Art auctions Of the top three Modern British sales last month, it was Christie’s who kicked off the proceedings, but not without controversy. Bury district council, in their wisdom, auctioned a major painting by L.S. Lowry so as to cover a £10 million shortfall in their finances. The £1.2 million hammer price, less expenses, will not make all that much difference but the issue has raised the wrath of the Museums Association, who in future, could block lottery and National Arts Collection Fund resources in all aspects of museum and gallery devel- opment. Bury may well live to regret their foolhardy action as current and future donators will also not be encouraged to gift works of art which could be sold on a whim. Bonhams followed ten days later with a good but not exceptional sale of which a solid 70% was sold and totalled £2.3 million.
It was then Sotheby’s turn to shine which they succeeded in doing, with 80% of lots sold and an impressive total of £7.7 million, though some way behind their arch rival. Records were broken for works by Sir Winston Churchill, former British Prime Minister.
E. Andrew Grassie
Andrew Grassie’s exhibition at Maureen Paley Gallery is aptly entitled ‘Installation’, since it provides a look backstage at the rituals involved in hanging an exhibition before it official- ly opens to the public. To achieve this, Grassie devised and followed a pre-determined strategy, namely: “Install a series of paintings at the gallery depicting last year’s previous exhibitions during their installation. Each painting should hang at the very spot from which the image was taken, enabling the viewer to compare views of the space.” The result is five jewel-like paintings, each one painstakingly copied from a mid-installation photograph taken by Grassie before the opening of the previous year’s shows. The paintings are exe- cuted with such detail that it is difficult at times to uncover the illusion that these are photographs rather than paintings.
E. Story
Alexia Goethe has selected fourteen artists, including six res- ident in the UK and four from Leipzig, for her show ‘Story’. She seeks to demonstrate that whatever technique is used – painting, text, video, photograph or concept – and regardless of style, the artist is telling a story. The tales being told made me come away feeling a sense of recovery. Tales of politics, war, social unrest, personal tragedy, to name just a few, are depicted here. Jin Meng who now resides in Europe, produces exquisitely framed views from the present onto China’s past. Political statues, glimpsed from a deserted bedroom, evoke the vast changes sweeping his birthplace. Jean Tinguely’s kinetic assemblages illustrate how the mechanical is subverted into the amusing and the desirable. This is an eclectic mix of treasures that can’t fail to shock, amuse and move.
You must answer this question. Write your answer in 220-260 words in an appropriate style.
1. You have listened to a radio programme about which days should shops remain open in the European Union. You have made the notes below:
Which days should shops be open in the European Union?
Some opinions expressed during the talk:
“Allowing shops to be open seven days a week might be better for consumers, but at what price for workers.”
“I am convinced that all citizens of the European Union should benefit from a work-free Sunday.”
“Let shop owners and workers decide for themselves.”
Write an essay discussing two of the points in your notes. You should explain which option is the best for consumers, shop owners and workers, giving reasons in support of your answer.
You may, if you wish, make use of the opinions expressed in the talk, but you should use your own words as far as possible.
This response will be reviewed and graded after submission.
Write an answer to one of the questions 2-4 in this part. Write your answer in 220-260 words in an appropriate style.
2. A friend of yours has written a letter to you telling you that they have started to suffer from asthma. You know that they started to smoke a few months ago and you are worried that they will become addicted. They are very enthusiastic about athletics and would like to win a scholarship to study sport technology at university.
Write to your friend and tell them that you think that smoking could be the cause of their health problems and how it might affect their future. Suggest ways in which they might get help in giving up smoking.
Write your letter. You do not need to include postal addresses.
3.You work for an advertising agency and a new junior management position has opened in your department. Your boss has asked you to make a proposal on what skills and qualities the ideal candidate should have. Read the ad below and make your own suggestions about the candidate’s skills, giving reasons for your opinion.
TV Reviews Wanted
Junior Management position in Advertising Agency
Candidate should be able to work in a team structure
Write your proposal
4. You are looking through your favourite technology magazine and see the following ad:
Become a Technology Writer
Submit reviews on your favourite gadgets and high-tech devices like the new iPod or iPhone to our web forum. We are looking for new voices with fresh perspectives on the latest tech advances!
You just got a new smart phone that you are not very happy with. Write a review discussing the problems with the user experience, slow speed and other aspects that have left you disappointed.
Write your review.
This response will be reviewed and graded after submission.
You will hear three different extracts. For questions 1-6, choose the answer (A, B or C) which fits best according to what you hear. There are two questions for each extract.
You will hear two people talking about a lost Leonardo Da Vinci painting.
1 The interviewer implies that Seracini is
A fashion-conscious.
B conceited.
C modest.
2 Seracini believes that Vasari
A would have been jealous of Da Vinci.
B wouldn’t have wanted to destroy Da Vinci’s work.
C saw Da Vinci as a rival.
You will hear two people talking about the new Sylvester Stallone film.
3 What does the man think about the new Stallone film?
A It makes a refreshing change from his usual style.
B It doesn’t break any new ground.
C He’s offended by the violence.
4 What does the woman like about the film?
A the music
B the story
C the car chases
You will hear two people talking about sailing.
5 The woman thinks that yacht owners are
A obstinate.
B timid.
C courageous.
6 The man believes that
A sailing tends to be an exclusive hobby.
B sailing is an overrated pastime.
C only the strongest of swimmers should attempt to sail.
You will hear a radio report about an art exhibition. For questions 7-4, complete the sentences.
7 are depicted in portraits of the 18th and 19th centuries.
The exhibition at the Royal Academy is called 8
The new subject matter for portraits 9 included Mary Anne Stevens is the 10
Both Louis XVl and Marie Antoinette were 11
In the portrait of George Washington, he is holding 12 Within just one year great 13 can be seen by comparing the portraits of two women.
The scientist, James Hutton is depicted standing next to
14
You will hear an interview with a yoga teacher. For questions 15-20, choose the answer (A, B, C or D), which fits best according to what you hear.
15 The interviewer
A tried yoga once but found it impossible to do.
B is finding yoga hard to do but is improving with practice.
D has quite a good understanding of yoga.
16 According to Sarah,
B you need to be highly intelligent to practise yoga well.
C you need to empty your mind completely when practising yoga.
D meditation is like being hypnotised.
17 Which of the following does Sarah not say is necessary in order to practise yoga?
A an empty stomach
B comfortable, flexible clothing
D a place where you won’t be disturbed
18 The interviewer seems concerned about
A people paying a lot of money for public classes with unqualified teachers.
B people getting stuck because the teacher is not supervising the class properly.
C people buying too many yoga guides.
19 Sarah recommends that
A you take strenuous exercise to help you sleep at night.
C you push your body to its limits even if it hurts at times.
D you do no more than 15 minutes of yoga each day.
20 Sarah sums up by saying that
A you need to learn more about your own character before attempting to do yoga.
B yoga can solve any problem you have in life.
C yoga is better than conventional medicine.
D in order to fulfill your potential you need to have a positive outlook.
You will hear five short extracts in which people are talking about extreme sports. While you listen you must complete both tasks.
For questions 21-25, choose from the list A-H the person who is speaking.
21 Speaker 1
22 Speaker 2
23 Speaker 3
24 Speaker 4
25 Speaker 5
A a chef
B a teacher
C a police officer
D a taxi driver
E a shop assistant
F a postal worker
G a doctor
H a pilot
For questions 26-30, choose from the list A-H what each speaker is expressing / talking about.
26 Speaker 1
27 Speaker 2
28 Speaker 3
29 Speaker 4
30 Speaker 5
A the opportunity to experience a different reality
B the significant risk of fatality associated with a particular activity
C the need to understand the natural qualities of your equipment
D the necessity to give up an unhealthy habit
E the importance of choosing the right specialisation quickly
F the importance of posture to doing a particular activity
G the tendency for all beginners to get badly injured
H the abundance of choices that exist for what to go up next