Unit 2 Test

Vocabulary
1 Complete the text with the words in the box. There are three extra words which you do not need to use.
There is an example at the beginning (0).
character fast-moving gripping heading key original plot romantic
setting summit theme thought-provoking thriller track

Everest is a beautifully filmed (0)  thriller which tells the true story of an attempt by a group of
inexperienced climbers to reach the (1)  of the world’s highest mountain. Its (2)  is, of course,
spectacular – partly filmed on the mountain itself in Nepal, some of the aerial shots of steep cliffs and snow-filled
canyons are amazing. This sense of realism, however, doesn’t extend to the people in the film. The main (3)   ,
a well-meaning tour company operator called Rob Hall, is a stereotype, as are all the many mountaineers in the film.
At times, it was hard to keep (4)  of who was who.
The film’s based on a true story, but the overall (5)  is very thin and dull – we know
what’s going to happen from one scene to the next. I must admit though that the scenes in the mountains are really
(6)   . I carried on watching because they were so exciting. The (7)  moment in the film, when
the climbers (8)  up the mountain realize that a blizzard is about to reach them, is powerful. In the end
though, the film’s neither (9)  – there have been many other better films of this kind – nor
(10)  – it didn’t make me think very much at all!

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2 Read the text below and decide which answer (A, B, C or D) best fits each gap. There is an example
at the beginning (0).
Storytelling
Storytelling is an ancient tradition. Good storytellers know how to (0)  their audience by (1)  emotions.
They know how to make their stories so (2)  that people cry, or so (3)  that people believe them to be true.
They know how to (4)  a story to life. I once witnessed an ancient storyteller in a remote mountain village.
He (5)  the villagers entertained for hours with magical tales. His great strength was the way he impersonated each
(6)  in his stories with different voices. One moment, he was an evil money-lender, (7)  under his breath in an
angry voice you could not hear. The next, he was a young lover, speaking of her lost romance with a sad and painful
(8)   . Many of his stories were really (9)  – so scary they made the hair on your neck stand on end. I loved listening
to him – mind you, his stories went on so long, you really had to (10)  an eye on the time.

0 A tell B engage C connect D share

1 A sharing B reaching C convincing D bringing
2 A gripping B shaking C fast-moving D touching
3 A convincing B believing C provoking D moving
4 A keep B hang C bring D take
5 A went B kept C stood D took
6 A theme B plot C character D background
7 A muttering B signing C moaning D screaming
8 A hurry B moan C mumble D sigh
9 A anxious B creepy C fast-moving D original
10 A make B get C keep D move

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 Grammar
3 Complete the text with the correct narrative tense form of the verbs in brackets. There is an example at the beginning (0).
Hans Christian Andersen (0)  died  (die) in 1875, at the age of seventy. By then, he (1)   (write)
numerous plays, poems and novels. However, today, he’s remembered, not for the works he (2)   (produce)
for an adult audience, but for his children’s fairy tales.
Although he started writing young, Anderson (3)   (not find) success until the early 1830s. It was then
that, while he (4)   (travel) through Switzerland and Italy, he (5)   (complete) his first novel,
The Improvisatore, to instant acclaim in Denmark.
Real lasting fame, however, (6)   (not arrive) until 1845 when a London magazine (7)   (publish)
English language versions of the various volumes of fairy stories he (8)   (write) since 1835. At last,
Anderson (9)   (become) a success and from then on he (10)   (devote) himself to producing
fairy tales, including such timeless classics as The Snow Queen, The Ugly Duckling and Thumbelina.

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4 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 two and four words, including the word given. Here
is an example (0).
0 In these parts, people know Billy Hughes by his nickname ‘Whizzer’.
AS
In these parts, Billy Hughes is known as ‘Whizzer’ – that’s his nickname.
1 Our drama teacher showed a thought-provoking film in class.
WAS
A thought-provoking film by our drama teacher in class.
2 The thieves flew to Cuba before the police reached the airport.
HAD
By the time the police reached the airport, the thieves Cuba.
3 The police refused to name any of the victims.
COULD
The police said none of the victims  .
4 For centuries, storytellers have told their wonderful stories.
BEEN
Wonderful stories storytellers for centuries.
5 Sally left her handbag on the bus on the way home.
SHE
When she got home, Sally realized her handbag on the bus.
6 The academy will give the actor an award for his work.
BE
The actor an award for his work by the academy.
7 How much are they paying you to appear in this commercial?
PAID
How much to appear in this commercial?
8 The teacher promised to correct our exams by Friday.
WOULD
The teacher said our exams by Friday.
9 You have to see the documentary to believe it.
TO
The documentary to be believed.
10 Richard was waving through the window moments before the train crashed.
HAD
Just before the train crashed, Richard through the window.

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 Reading
A Quiet Passion reviewed
A Quiet Passion is Terence Davies’s biopic of the
nineteenth-century American poet Emily Dickinson,
author of 1,800 (incredibly wonderful) poems, of which
only 10 were published in her lifetime. Who was this
woman? She’s fixed in our minds as a recluse who would
only talk from behind her bedroom door, but was she
always a recluse? Is it the truth of her that matters, or the
truth of her poetry? Can the two become one?
As a general rule poets do not make the best film
characters. Poets are not crime-fighters who are part spider
or dress like bats. What a poet does is inward-looking –
they sit, and think, and write. By its very nature, a poet’s
life is uncinematic. Furthermore, films about poets tend to
ignore the poetry, in favour of simplifying a character so
that they are, for example, an angry or a miserable loner.
So, how well does Davies do? He brings the story to life in
a fairly straightforward way. It is chronological, but told
in a series of disconnected scenes, and it doesn’t simply
go from birth to death like an old-fashioned biography. It
opens with Emily, played by talented young actress Emma
Bell, as a teenager. She’s being told off in school for breaking
school rules. Time passes, and the film’s character grows
into adulthood. Cynthia Nixon, well-known for her role in
long-running TV series Sex and the City, is terrific as the adult
Emily. Indeed, at times you feel that she has become the poet.
Emily lives in Amherst, Massachusetts, with her family,
and they are her world because she has no other world. In
the mid-nineteeth century, or so the film informs us, the
lives of women were so controlled that their days were
unbelievably dull. You feel it in the film. Clocks tick as
5 You are going to read a review of the film A Quiet Passion. For questions 1–10, choose the answer (A, B, C or D)
which you think fits best according to the text. There is an example at the beginning (0).
0 In the opening sentence of the review, we learn that
Emily Dickinson
A didn’t want her poems published in her lifetime.
B couldn’t get any poems published while she lived.
C had only a fraction of her works published
when alive.
D had to spend her own money to get published.
1 In the first paragraph, the reviewer says she wants
to find out
A why the director chose to make a film about
Emily Dickinson.
B whether our view of Emily Dickinson is accurate.
C why we no longer remember Emily Dickinson for
her poetry.
D how Emily Dickinson’s poetry influenced her life.
2 The reviewer says that poets are poor film
characters because
A their lives lack the action of more typical film
characters.
B they tend to have negative characteristics such as
anger.
C it is difficult to ignore the poetry and focus on
their personality.
D it is important to represent them in a precise way.
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women stare into space. They sew. They play hymns at the
piano. And that was it, pretty much, for a Saturday night.
The first hour of the film is pure period drama, with
beautiful dresses, and horse carriages, and sunlight
coming in through windows. Emily is vivacious, sociable
and very opinionated. With a script by Davies, she is also
sharp and funny, perhaps too much so. Was everything
she said brilliant? However, you can also sense her spirit
being crushed. She must ask her father for permission
to write. She suffers disappointments in friendship and
romance, and her love for a married man, who does not
show any interest in return, marks the beginning of her
decline into bitterness, despair and isolation. The second
hour moves as slowly and as disconnectedly as the first,
but is more deeply moving.
From his first autobiographical films through to his
later adaptations of great novels, Davies has always
made highly personal films, and this is a very personal
interpretation of Dickinson’s life. A number of facts have
been changed. Perhaps, because he is more interested in
exploring Emily’s feelings than her writing, this says more
about Davies than Dickinson. And where is the poetry?
We see Emily writing at a desk, and placing her poems
into little books, but we don’t find out much about how
she came to write them.
Still, as far as films about poets go, this succeeds more than
most, particularly with Cynthia Nixon’s terrific central
performance. However, what it most made me want to do
is get out my copy of Emily’s poems. The poetry is where
it’s at.
3 What do we learn about A Quiet Passion in the third
paragraph?
A It contains flashbacks from Emily’s adult life back
to her childhood.
B It is old-fashioned because it sets out events in
order.
C It shows both scenes from Emily’s youth and her
adult life.
D It begins when Emily is born and shows her life
until her death.
4 What’s the reviewer’s attitude towards the actresses
in the third paragraph?
A She is critical of one of them.
B She compares their performances.
C She dislikes both their performances.
D She compliments one of them more.
5 The reviewer says that Cynthia Nixon’s
performance is
A very thought-provoking.
B totally convincing.
C extremely touching.
D not entirely accurate.
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 6 What do we learn about the film in the fourth
paragraph?
A It becomes dull when it shows Emily’s daily life.
B It depicts some women’s daily life in the
nineteenth century.
C It tries to capture the lives of most nineteenth-
century women.
D It misrepresents Emily’s daily life.
7 What is the review critical of in the fifth paragraph?
A The way the film shows the contradictions of the
main character.
B The settings, costumes and style of the film’s
‘period drama’ feel.
C The slow-moving nature of the later part of
the film.
D Aspects of the film’s dialogue which may not
be true.
8 In the film, Emily becomes increasingly isolated after
A she is rejected by someone she has feelings for.
B her father fails to show support for her ambition.
C her spirit is crushed by people in her family.
D she finds it difficult to write under pressure.
9 According to the reviewer, why is A Quiet Passion
typical of Davies’s work?
A It reveals things about the interests and views of
Davies himself.
B It adapts a major novel, which is something he
often likes to do.
C It changes facts in the story and isn’t always true
to life.
D It shows a greater interest in the writer’s genius
than in her emotions.
10 What does ‘where it’s at’ mean in the last line of the
review?
A The poetry makes A Quiet Passion a good film.
B Emily’s poems are what really matter.
C We can see the real Emily Dickinson in her poetry.
D Films about poets are becoming more popular.
___ / 10

Listening Writing
6 [114] You will hear Janice tell a story. For questions 7 You have seen this announcement in an English-
1–10, complete the sentences with a word or short language magazine.
phrase. There is an example at the beginning (0).
Stories wanted
0 At the time of the story, Janice was
nineteen years old  . We need stories for our English-language magazine.
Your story must include one of these sentences:
1 Janice took Tommy to a  .
➞ As I looked out of the window, an old acquaintance
2 Tommy’s mother is Janice’s  .
was walking up the path.
3 Janice says she to help Tommy’s
➞ I knew that I had seen her somewhere before.
mother.
4 Tommy refused to get on the  . ➞ That was the moment I realized I was in the wrong place.
5 Janice didn’t realize Tommy wasn’t with her until
she was  . Write your story (180–200 words). Make sure you:
6 When Janice reached she couldn’t start the story at a dramatic point.
see Tommy. use correct past tenses to describe events.
7 After losing Tommy, Janice was feeling really use some descriptive verbs and adverbs.
 .
8 Concerned about Tommy, Janice dropped both bags ___ / 10
of  .
9 Janice asked a lady selling to help Speaking
her.
8 Choose one of the topics below and prepare a short
10 When she saw Tommy, he was accompanied by story to tell your teacher.
 .
a time when you were responsible for someone and
something went wrong
___ / 10
a time when you missed a train or a plane or an
important appointment
a time when you had to act to solve a crisis

___ / 10

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