UNIT 9: Skills Test A

Dictation 1 Laura says that as a child she

You are going to listen to a recording about the A loved it when her parents joined in her games.
opening night of a play. Listen to the whole
recording once. Then you will hear the recording B understood little about what college was.
again with pauses for you to write down what you
C had a strong idea of what she wanted to be.
hear. Make sure you spell the words correctly.

                                         

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Listening
You are going to listen to an interview with a girl
called Laura about her experiences as a young
performer.

Task 1

For questions 1–7, choose the answer (A, B or C)

which fits best according to what you hear.

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2 What does Laura say about her piano playing?

A It is becoming less important to her. 7 When working as a film extra, Laura

B It is not currently at a high level. A knew in advance what roles she was playing.

C It is something she has lost her commitment for. B had to start work later than the adults.

C saw some famous actors.

3 What does Laura say about her singing?

A She was successful in a competition. 8 Laura can be seen in the film

B She hopes to perform in an outdoor festival. A playing a member of a crowd.

C She listens to a lot of music in order to improve. B helping out with a race.

C looking after a horse.

4 What do we learn about Laura’s acting ability?

A She finds it hard to play several different roles. Task 2

B She has improved over time. For questions 8–10, choose the answer (A, B or C)
which fits best according to what you heard in
C She recognises what she’s capable of. Task 1.

5 What does Laura say about her dancing? 9 From the whole interview, we can see Laura as

A She realises she needs to practise more. A a very busy person with lots of different interests.

B She’s unlikely to choose it on the course. B someone who’s excellent at whatever she tries.

C She wishes she’d done more when she was C a lucky girl who knows the right people.
younger.

10 From the whole interview, Laura seems to be

6 How did Laura contact the film company she worked
for? A very unsure about what she wants to do for a career.

A at her school B very honest about her own strong and weak points.

B by phone C very aware of what people think about her.

C on the internet ___/20

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Reading
Task 1

You are going to read an article about what four people say about different creative arts events they have
attended. For questions 11–17, choose from the people A–D. The people may be chosen more than once.

Which person/people:

11 mentions the different special interest of their mother?      

12 had a family member who was at the event in a professional role?      

13 suggests that too many people wanted to look at one exhibition?      

14 mentions a difficulty that was easily solved?      

15 says their reason for going was to help them personally?      

16 mentions the pleasant feeling among fans of the event?      

17 only went to one part of a much larger event?      

18 mentions some souvenirs of the family’s visit?      

19 mentions wanting to go to the event venue in the future?      

20 spent time listening to people talking about their hobby?      

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Task 2

Read the article again and answer the questions in your own words.

21 Why did Rajesh’s brother get actors to sign the T-shirt he’d bought?

22 What future developments does Rajesh say people were talking about?

23 Of all the photographs on display, which one did Alice like best?

24 What surprised Samara about the course for dancers?

25 In what ways had Will been involved in previous festivals?

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Total: ___/50

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Creative arts events
A Rajesh
I went to a comic convention with my mother and
brother, who are mad keen fans of Superman and also
of movies like Star Wars. My own interest was more to
see and experience the atmosphere at one of these
conventions, which everyone who attends them says is
just the greatest thing. I spent several tiring days
walking slowly round the crowded venue, and what I
really found annoying was the amount of time I had to
spend queuing … for example, to see a display of bits
of real scenery from movies. I did recognise some
famous actors from science fiction movies, and
managed to get some autographs. My brother bought a
Star Wars T-shirt and eventually found four different
actors from the movie to sign it. I realised that this
would make it a collector’s item in years to come, and
would therefore be quite valuable! The conversation
topics were all about things like the latest news on
which comic books might be turned into movies.
B Alice
My parents had bought me a really nice camera for my
birthday, and took me to a nature photography event
so that I could learn how to operate it well. I really
enjoyed looking at all the photographs on display, and
in most cases the amateur photographers who’d taken
them were standing by, ready to explain to anybody
what special techniques or equipment they’d used to
achieve the effect in the photographs. The commitment
of these guys is just incredible, considering they’re
unpaid. The action photos of animals were amazing,
and my personal favourite was one of a young horse
jumping into the air just for the joy of it! The thing I
probably learnt most about, though, was how to take
pictures of birds taking off and landing. This was a big
learning experience for me. My mum is more into
photos of plants and flowers, but Dad and I share the
same interest in the animal side of wildlife. There were
also some more formal talks by a couple of
professional photographers. I tried one of these, but it
was all a bit too technical for me, rather above my
level.
C Samara
My older sister is an excellent singer and dancer and
wants to go to a college of performing arts. She was
invited to an open day, and my mum and dad and I
went along as well. She did have an interview at one
point, which obviously the rest of us couldn’t attend,
but apart from that we were able to take part in
everything and have a really good look round the
college. My impression was that she would be really
happy there; in fact I would quite like to be a student
there myself one day! We went to lectures about the
different courses you can do, and I hadn’t realised just
what a big range of these there are, and also how
flexible they are. We watched various displays and
performances by the students, and one thing that really
opened all our eyes to the reality of training for
performing arts was the amount of hard, physical
exercise the dance students had to do in their first
lesson of the day.
D Will
Every summer there’s a two-week arts festival in my
town. Because my mum and dad both work in the arts,
we’ve always got involved in it in various ways. One
year my dad did a jewellery workshop there. I’ve also
been a volunteer doing little jobs such as handing out
paper maps of the venue and showing cars where to
park. This year I went to just one of the days, and that
was to see my older sister perform in the music
festival. She was brilliant and did some folk music
songs, accompanying herself on the guitar. There was
just one problem, when her microphone stopped
working, but the technicians soon put it right. Also the
announcer got her name slightly wrong, which didn’t
please my dad! She was pleased with how it went, and
quite a few people were dancing in front of the stage
where she was singing, so they obviously enjoyed her
songs.
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