LISTENING:

/
MULTIPLE CHOICE:
1.Ellis plays the part of the young lover …………….by his mistress.
a. spurned b. denied c. disclaimed d. renounced
2. The Prime Minister has………….the controversial statement he made about nuclear arms.
a. retracted b. pulled out c. extracted d. renounced
3. The headmaster at my last school was a ……..disciplinarian and made sure we toed the line.
a. serious b. strict c. stern d. severe
4.The exercise routine works in………with the diet.
a. tandem b. league c. hand d. cooperation
5. We are on…………for a significant increase in production this year.
a. form b. track c. line d. target
6. Martin just love to ……………his teeth into a really challenging crosswords.
a. grind b. put c. get d. sink
7. Jenny was so unhappy as she was under the …………………of her husband.
a. finger b. skin c. nose d. thumb
8. Rosie the kitten ………….playfully around with a ball.
a. slunk b. strutted c. slithered d. scampered
9. Due to inflation, my savings …………gradually to practically nothing.
a. shrank b. reduced c. dwindled d. diminished
10. The audience were in……….as they watched the latest Aykebourne comedy.
a. stitches b. pleats c. tears d. shreds
11. Don’t mention work to Ray, as it’s a sore …………with him at the moment.
a. finger b. point c. place d. thumb
12. It’s hard to get back into the …………..of things after a long holiday.
a. pace b. way c. swing d. rhythm
13. The trouble with socialising with colleagues si that they usually end up talking ………….
a. sense b. shop c. back d. rot
14. Take your mobile phone with you just to be on the ………….side.
a. sunny b. secure c. straight d. safe
15. Noise parties are really not my……………….
a. idea b. scene c. liking d. preference
16.Politicians of all …………..wish to get sleaze off the agenda so that they can discuss the real issues.
a.hues b. categaries c. spectatrums d. varieties
17. It takes time to get a financial system up and …………..after the introduction of a new currency.
a. walking b. running c. proceeding d. going
18. Victoria went to great…………to complete a high quality presentation.
a. pains b. torment c. efforts d. diffciulty
19. The economic situation makes many people unwilling to take the ………and open their own businesses.
a. initiative b. bull c. plunge d. opportunity
20.We’ll keep you……….of nay further changes in the examination specifications.
a. noticed b. anounced c. mailed d. posted
21.The ………………….of horns arising from the long line of cars behind him did nothing to help the motorist
get his car started again.
a. din b. thud c. blare d. hum
22. It’s a long time since London was …………….in one of its infamous peasouper fogs.
a. enveloped b. enclosed c. encircled d. invaded
23. Grain is commonly used as …………….for animals.
a. commodity b. fodder c. implements d. fumigation
24. The cruel man was …………his dog with a wooden stick.
a. lashing b. coaxing c. cultivating d. irrigating
25. He needed a cool head, a ……….heart and nerves of steel.
a. spout b. vicious c. stout d. prone
26.It’s traditional that you ……over the price of things in the market.
a. haggle b. discuss c. negotiate d. quarrel
27. The speech saying that drug users should be shot was clearly ……….., but it contained a serious point.
a. stupid b. mistaken c. unreasonable d. facetious
28. He will spend twenty years in prison for his involvement in………….activities.
a. illicit b. prudent c. genial d. witty
29. The …………child displayed a total lack of respect for his parents.
a. wistful b. impudent c. superfluous d. earnest
30. They hope to …….the success of other software companies.
a. emulate b. deplore c. yearn d. budge
31. Our lacking of money is a(n)…………towards finishing the project.
a. token b. subsistence c. blandishment d. stumbling block
32. The pigeons were sitting on the …………..of the building.
a. lurk b. ledge c. lark d. lunatic
33. We …………through the attic looking for old photographs.
a. rummaged b. exploited c. waded d. marched
34. His ………….to overeat is obvious because he is so overweight.
a. trait b. knack c. inclination d. propensity
35. He is so ……..I’ve never seen him get nervous under pressure.
a. phoenix b. emotional c. temperamental d. phlegmatic
36. Chris really ………during his first few weeks on the job sinc e his boss did not provide any instructions or
assistance.
a. floundered b. initiated c. persevered d. surrendered
37. The lawyer spoke with ……….., saying that the product was not dangerous, nor was it safe.
a. equivocation b. hesitation c. trembling d. equivalence
38. Failing to tell the entire truth is ……..to lying.
a. tatamount b. testimony c. obstacle d. contradict
39. She has faced many …………in her personal life, from the loss of her job to a divorce.
a. vicinity b. victuals c. vexations c. vicisstitudes
40. The parents had to ……….their children for their poor behaviour.
a. laud b. castigate c. appease d. supervise

IDIOMS:
Match the phrases in italics with the idioms expressing a synonymous meaning.

1.Excellent as the project may be, it is bound to be dismissed because of the lack of support from the local
government. A be given the axe
2. I was advised to delete the files containing irrelevant data, so I should not get confused while doing my job.
G lose one's bearings
3. For the sake of the country, the leaders of the opposing parties should meet for a discussion to end the
disagreement C clear the air
4. Ecologists have been warning that the air, soil and water pollution causes destruction ofmore and more
natural habitats. O wreak havoc with

5. Why don't you forget about your former disagreements instead of turning your heads away from each
other? F let bygones be bygones
6. It's a common practice in political campaigning that candidates try to damage their rivals' reputation
through unfair statements. M sling mud
7. You'll be taking a serious risk if you invest so much money in this business. B be skating on thin ice

8. Although we expected him to be firm and inflexible about our proposal, he put his signature on the deal
without a word. L sign on the dotted line
 9. Mr Wilkes is a shrewd and skilful politician. He knows well how to behave in a way that attracts people's
attention and wins their support. I play to the gallery

10. Becky is involved in a number of projects that she hopes will bring her fame and fortune. Now, she is
playing in a TV series and recording a CD. E have many irons in the fire
11. Don't pay attention to what Norman says. He knows nothing about marketing strategies and that's why he
is saying those silly things. N talk through one's hat
12. Adam went on making his cynical remarks just because he wanted to make me angry. But I didn't react
the way he expected me to, which in turn made him mad. K rise to the bait
13. Susan was very disappointed when she didn't succeed in achieving the expected result of her research. H
make the grade
14. With Nigel's second solution to the problem we did find ourselves unable to choose between any of them.
D fall between two stools
15. The main sponsor's unexpected withdrawal has recently put an end to the plans of introduction of the
Brazilian players in our team. J pull the plug on

WORD FORMS:
1.We have a system of open justice in this country that we believe to be one of the (mark)…
hallmarks…………of a democratic society.
2.I was not high up enough in the (intelligence)…… intelligentsia ………..to be invited to such exalted
meetings.
3.He writes about an astonishing range of subjects using a remarkable (sort) assortment…..of sources.
4. Few people are (credit)…credulous …enough to believe such nonsense.
5. Over the past two decades, evidence supporting a (continue)…Continuum …between oral and written
language impairments has continued to mount.
6. I have used my interviews with parents as a (point)…case-in-point ………..to a professional judgement.
7. We should have sat down and addressed the issues (head)…head-on…………….
8. His anger (disappear)……dissipated……………as the situation became clear.
9. It’s a very amusing play with a(n) (roar)…Uproarious ……final act.
10. There is great (mystery)……mystique ……surrounding the life of a movie star.
11.I know he’s (good)……well-meaning……………., but I wish he would leave us alone.
12. The grant was a real (god)………………, especially considering the theatre we are going to be shut down next month.
13. Emanual Lasker once said that , given 100 hours with a (novelty)…novice…..player, he could turn him into an expert.
14. Her (strategy) stratagem…..for dealing with he husband’s infidelities was to ignore them.
15. So (while)…firstwhile……….voluntary donors might as well cease to donate.
CLOZE TEXT:
Passage 1:
I like maps. Topographical maps, nautical maps, road maps, street maps; they fascinate me. Whether I
am travelling across country by car or sailing across the Channel to Le Havre, I (1)cherish/appreciate…
the excitement involved in planning the journey, and the map plays a fundamental part in that. Pouring
over the broadsheet of a road map, for instance, scrutinising the web of coloured threads (2)…depicting
………intertwining roads that sprawl across the page, I delight in the heated discussions that ensue
regarding the pros and cons of the various routes we have at our disposal by (3)…which….. to reach our
destination, and my mind starts drifting towards the open road, forming my own mental image of (4)…
how….the journey will unfold.
For maps do that to us. They open the door to a (5)……myriad/plethora…….of possibilities
connected with travel. By presenting us with those possibilities, they not only arouse our imagination,
but also give us the (6)…confidence…to explore further afield than the bottom of our garden. They
show us the way to make contact with other places and learn about the world beyond our (7)…
immediate…surroundings. And although their practical usefulness is (8)…sadly…ephemeral as they
quickly fall victim to the new demands of an ever changing landscape, they remain precious as historical
artefacts, (9)……bearing………witness to the appearance of the landscape during a particular period in
time, helping us to maintain a connection with roads and places of the (10)………past….
Passage 2:
Far off in the South Atlantic, 2500 kilometres from the nearest landmass, Africa, a war is being (1)…waged…
on a lonely spot called Gough Island. One side has suffered heavy (2)…casualites….: over 1000 dead this year,
63 alone on one particularly bloody night. The (3) outcome…of this interspecies warfare is a foregone
conclusion. Battered they may be, (4)…but…..the mice remain unbowed.
Out in its isolation, Gough is home to animals found (5)…nowhere.else. The mice, however, arrived quite
recently on sailing ships looking for seals to kill. They now over-run the island, the base camp and the food
store of the other (6)…newly..arrived species: the currently ten intrepid scientists and meteorologists who live
there for year-long stretches. The humans face long evenings, with limited scope for (7)……entertainment
……. In some ways, here is a microcosm of human attitudes towards new alien species. It's a grudge match.
Whether by choice or chance, when humans have gone to new places, other species new to those lands have
always (8)……came/journeyed…with them. Australia's dingoes were brought in by its aborigines for hunting.
Polynesians sailed from island to island with pigs, yams and around 30 different plants. Later, whether as (9)…
stow-away… on ships, planes and trains, or deliberately carried for utility, vanity or idiocy, newly arrived
species have delighted and intrigued. (10)…Only……….recently has humankind realised the harm its species-
spreading habits might be doing; and, nowadays, gone on, often, to forget the benefits.

MISTAKE CORRECTION:
Passage 1:
(6 mistakes)

The Ig Nobel Prizes

Roller-coaster rides relieve asthma. Beards are a health hazard. Promoting workers at random creates

more efficient companies. These are all among the 'improbable' scientific discoveries to have won

spoof Nobel Prizes this year. The Ig Nobels, designed to honour achievements that firstly-First make

people laugh and then make them think, are presented in the run-up to the real awards. They are given

out at a Harvard University ceremony by the magazine Annals of Improbable Research. Marc Abrahams, the

magazine's editor, said that scientific research was getting stranger. 'For the/X good and its opposite,

humanity is producing more and stronger candidates every year,' he said. 'We like to think that the Ig

Nobels make the Nobels shine even more brightly

This year the Medicine Prize went to Dutch scientists who discovered (THAT) the 'positive emotional
stress' associated with riding on a big dipper reduced feelings of shortness of breath among asthma
sufferers. Tests on 25 students with asthma were/X found that they suffered fewer breathing problems
while on a big dipper. American researchers were awarded the Public Health Prize for finding that
bearded scientists posed a risk to their families because bacteria used in the laboratory remained in their
facial hair even after being washed/WASHING. Italian physicists won the Management Prize after
proving mathematically that randomly promoting employees actually made a company run more
efficiently. They found that, contrary to popular opinion, members of 'a hierarchical organisation climb
the hierarchy until they reach the level of maximum incompetence .' The best way to avoid this was to
promote the best and the worst employees, the model showed.
Passage 2: (5 mistakes)
Grandmother's helicopter record attempt

THE Last time Jennifer Murray attempted a world helicopter record, she crashed on the ice sheets of Antarctica
in a tangle of crushed metal. She was seriously injured and lay waiting in piercing cold for a rescue that took
hours to arrive. Now she's having another go.

It's precisely the same challenge: circling the globe in a tiny helicopter via both North and South Poles - a feat
of skill and endurance has never achieved before. Yet here's the truly shocking thing - Murray is a 66-year-old
grandmother. So why is she revisiting an attempt that almost killed her last time? 'It's unfinished business,' she
explains. 'We've ghosts to lie to rest.'

She holds several flying records of her own. She was the first woman to co-pilot a helicopter around the globe
and the first to do it solo. But these were both latitudinal flights. The big one, the truly daunting challenge, is to
circle the Earth via the Poles, experiencing the coldest and the hottest landscapes in the process. Attempting the
feat with co-pilot Colin Bodill in 2003, Murray crashed in a blizzard on Antarctica in temperatures of -40
degrees. Enough adventure for an entire lifetime perhaps. But the same pair is-ARE about to try to finish the
job.

It's a trip that underlines the enduring nature of the challenge but also the sheer joy of helicopters. It was
certainly the idea of release that drew Murray to them at the age of 54. 'It gave me a whole new perspective on
life,' she says. 'Life was two-dimensional before and then became three-dimensional. You are a bird, you can
soar, you have the freedom of the sky and it's intoxicating.' But what propelled her to world record attempts?
'I'm some one who loves a challenge, who loves to go off the beaten track. In some ways you could say it's
insecurity. I have always wanted to excel at something.'

LEXICAL TEXT:
 1.B 2.D 3.C 4.B 5.D 6.B

13.B 14.B 15.D 16.A 17.D 18.C

7.D 8.A 9.D 10.A 11.C 12.A

READING COMPREHENSION:
The assertion that mathematics has been a major force in the moulding of modern culture appears to many
people incredible or, at best, a rank exaggeration. This disbelief results from a very common but erroneous
conception of what mathematics really is. Influenced by what was taught in school, the average person regards
mathematics as a series of techniques of use only to the scientist, the engineer and perhaps the financier. The
reaction to such teaching is distaste for the subject and a decision to ignore it. When challenged on this decision,
a well-read person can obtain the support of authorities. No less a personage than Schopenhauer, the
philosopher, described mathematics as the lowest activity of the spirit, as Is shown by the fact that it can be
performed by a machine. Despite such authoritative judgements, the layman’s decision to ignore mathematics is
wrong. The subject is not a series of techniques. These are indeed the least important asp ect. The techniques are
mathematics stripped of motivation, reasoning, beauty and significance.

Let us consider the twentieth-century view of the subject. Primarily, mathematics is a method of inquiry known
as postulational thinking. The method consists in carefully formulating definitions of the concepts to be
discussed and in explicitly stating the assumptions that are the basis for reasoning. From these definitions and
assumptions, conclusions are deduced by the application of the most rigorous logic man is capable of using.
Mathematics is also a field of creative endeavour. In divining what can be proved, as well as in constructing
methods of proof, mathematicians employ a high order of Intuition and imagination. Kepler and Newton, for
example, were men of wonderful imaginative powers, which enabled them not only to break away from age-
long and rigid tradition but also to set up new and revolutionary concepts.

If mathematics is indeed a creative activity, what driving force causes men to pursue it? The most obvious
motive has been to answer questions arising directly out of social needs. Commercial and financial transactions,
navigation and calendar-reckoning involve problems that can best be resolved by mathematics. Another basic
use of mathematics has been to provide a rational organisation of natural phenomena. The concepts, methods,
and conclusions of mathematics are the substratum of the physical sciences. The success of these fields has been
dependent on the extent to which they have entered into partnership with mathematics. Mathematics has
brought life to the dry bones of disconnected facts and has bound various series of detached observations into
bodies of science

1.What happens when ordinary people are told that mathematics has played a major role in modern culture?

A They express a dislike of the subject. B They claim the statement is false.
C They are reluctant to accept this. D They dismiss mathematics as a series of
techniques.

2.Why is Schopenhauer’s assertion unacceptable?

A It runs contrary to common experience. B His analysis of mathematics is too narrow.

C It overestimates the power of machines. D Logic is required in solving problems.

3.Which of the following is characteristic of postulational thinking?

A thinking in an inspirational manner B breaking away from established traditions

C being explicit about the basis of reasoning D establishing what proofs are acceptable

4. What has been the dominant urge in the study of mathematics?

A the need to tackle practical difficulties B the pursuit of abstract truths

C the search for an explanation of physical reality D the desire to be creative

Second passage

It seems to me unlikely that any important portraits will ever be painted again. Portraits, that is to say, in the
sense of portraiture as we now understand it. I can imagine multi-medium memento-sets devoted to the
character of particular individuals. But these will have nothing to do with the works now hanging in portrait
galleries.

The beginning of the decline of the painted portrait coincided roughly speaking with the rise of photography.
The photographer had taken the place of the portrait painter. Photography was more accurate, quicker and far
cheaper; it offered the opportunity of portraiture to the whole of society whereas previously such an opportunity
had been the privilege of a very small elite. To counter the logic of the argument, painters and their patrons
invented a number of mysterious, metaphysical qualities with which to prove that what the painted portrait
offered was incomparable. Only man, not a machine, could interpret the soul of a sitter. An artist dealt with the
sitter’s destiny; the camera with mere light and shade. An artist judged; a photographer recorded.

All this is doubly untrue. First, it denies the interpretative role of the photographer, which is considerable.
Secondly, it claims for painted portraits a psychological insight which ninety-nine per cent of them totally lack.
If one is considering portraiture as a genre, it is no good thinking of a few extraordinary pictures, but rather of
the endless portraits of the local nobility and dignitaries in countless provincial museums and town halls. The
comparatively few portraits that reveal true psychological insight suggest personal, obsessional interests on the
part of the artist which simply cannot be accommodated within the professional role of the portrait painter. Ask
yourself the following hypothetical question: suppose that there is somebody in the second half of the
nineteenth century in whom you are interested but of whose face you have never seen a picture. Would you
rather find a painting or a photograph of this person?

Until the invention of photography, the painted portrait was the principal means of recording and presenting the
likeness of a person. Photography took over this role from painting and at the same time raised our standards for

dging how much an informative likeness should include. This is not to say that photographs are in all ways
superior to painted portraits. They are more informative, more psychologically revealing, and in general more
accurate. But they are less tensely unified. A photographic portrait is likely to be less persuasive. For example,
if the intention of the portrait painter is to flatter or idealise, he will be able to do so far more convincingly with
a painting than with a photograph. From this we gain an insight into the actual function of portrait painting in its
heyday: to underwrite and idealise a chosen social role of the sitter. It was not to present him as an ‘individual’,
but rather as an individual monarch, bishop, landowner, merchant and so on. Each role had its accepted qualities
and its accepted limit of discrepancy. The role was emphasised by pose, gesture, clothes and background. The
satisfaction of having one’s portrait painted was the satisfaction of being personally recognised and confirmed
in one’s position. It had nothing to do with the modern lonely desire to be recognised ‘for what one really is'.

1.According to the writer, one consequence of the invention of photography was that

A barriers between social classes were broken down.

B sitters began to resent the time spent having a portrait painted.

C there was a loss of social status for the portrait painter.

D people’s likenesses could now be recorded regardless of social class.

2.At the time when photography was becoming popular, it was claimed that painted portraits

A were more appropriate for conveying the sitter’s social position.

B conveyed a truthful perception of the sitter’s character.

C indicated the sitter’s desire to display affluence.

D demonstrated the superior skill of the painter.

3.In the writer’s opinion, portraits found in provincial museums and town halls

A show clearly what a portrait was meant to do.

B demonstrate the wide range of portraiture available.

C indicate the skills a portrait painter had to employ.

D justify the portrait painter’s prestige.

4.The author acknowledges that, compared to painted portraits, photographic images are less

A representative of the sitter’s appearance B artistic.

C able to influence the viewer’s reaction. D dramatic.

5.The writer believes that in its heyday the real purpose of the painted portrait was to

A demonstrate the personal qualities of the sitter. B illustrate the sitter’s status.

C convey psychological truths about the sitter. D highlight the sitter’s physical features.
27.D

28.H

29.A

30.E

31.C

31.G

33.f

34.D

35.B

36.A

37.C

38.A

39.B

40.C