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English Language Proficiency Test for the Bulgarian Armed Forces

Reading Section

TEXTS

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Crisis Management Exercise (CMX 02)

The 19 NATO nations conducted their annual Crisis Management Exercise (CMX 02) from 31
January to 6 February 2002. CMX 02 was sponsored by the Secretary General of NATO and was
jointly scheduled by the two strategic commanders, Supreme Allied Commander Europe
(SACEUR) and Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic (SACLANT).
The exercise was designed to practise crisis management procedures, including civil-military
cooperation. The scenario of this command post exercise was hypothetical. No actual troops were
deployed.
Participants in CMX 02 included civil and military staffs in national capitals, at NATO
Headquarters, in both strategic commands, and appropriate subordinate headquarters.

1
Signs

0. TWO TABLETS 1. LINE UP HERE


THREE TIMES A DAY FOR SIGHTSEEING BUS

2. PEDESTRIANS 3. SALE STARTS


USE OTHER TOMORROW
SIDE OF THE ROAD

5. ATTENTION
4. FREE CAR PARK REPAIR WORK
Mon-Sat (10am-6pm) IN PROGRESS
Sundays (11am-5pm)
Bank Holidays-closed

6. WARNING
MIND THE STEP

NASA Delays Launch of Endeavour

Cape Canaveral, Fla – NASA was forced to delay Monday’s planned launch of space shuttle
Endeavour until the end of November due to a puzzling oxygen leak.
NASA called off the 11-day flight Sunday night, and apologized to the seven shuttle crew
members.
The oxygen leak is believed to be in the midbody of Endeavour. It is in one of two systems that
feed oxygen during launch and landing.
Launch controllers had just begun fueling when they detected the leak. Launch director announced
the leak could be due to a loose seal. It was a stunning discovery since both oxygen lines had
passed a triple inspection and no flaw had been found. It was only the electrical wiring that was
removed and new wiring was promptly fitted in.
The leak was the latest in a series of problems that have plagued all NASA's shuttles this year
keeping them on the ground for the whole summer.
Endeavour was poised to carry up a fresh three-man crew to replace the current space station
occupants, who have been on board since mid June. The shuttle was also to carry a $390 million
girder for the orbiting complex.
Mission Control immediately informed the space station residents about the second delay of
Endevour’s launch. Their mission was initially prolonged because of the grounding of the shuttle
fleet. Sunday was the crew’s 158th day in orbit.

2
Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

Ten speakers talked about WMD at a conference. Here is a summary of what they said.

A. Dr Tu shared his experience in the sarin F. Tim Tinker focused on how television,
gas attacks in 1994. The scientist was called in radio stations and the press could help in
for help by the Tokyo police since he had done minimizing stress. He identified the
work on the chemical composition of sarin. He importance of getting the right message
gave Japanese police the proof they needed to across as vital in building public
link the attacks with the presence of sarin. confidence.

B. Major Smith noted nobody had a G. Dr. Smith underlined the role of
'template' for fighting WMD and military clinicians. He dwelt on a method of
experience in clean-up techniques was not progressive medical intervention to treat
adequate in this case. He noted that a special individuals following the use of WMD.
force needed to be created to deal with the
situation more efficiently. H. Ron Herring shared his experience
concerning individual safety in WMD
C. Ron Ruper stressed the importance of attacks. He stated the importance of
clean-up operations following the anthrax training, along with the selection and
attacks since Senators had to go back to stockpiling of gas masks, overgarment,
Capitol Hill to prosecute the war on terrorism. overboots and gloves.
Before re-occupancy was approved, a
committee of independent experts ensured I. Greg Noah pointed out that terrorists
offices were free from anthrax spores. using biological warfare can inflict
enormous psychological and economic
D. Don Kugler focused on other hardship, and incite political unrest by
consequences of anthrax attacks. He noted that merely attacking small populations in
the resulting tons of scrap was a major multiple sites over a long period of time.
problem as only one plant accepted the job of
smelting the rusting cabinets taken out of J. John Eldridge noted that although
contaminated buildings. anthrax is not spread from person to person,
once symptoms occur, 80% of its victims
E. Jo Tald gave an account of the die from hemorrhaging in the lungs and
government preparedness for dealing with from meningitis. He appealed for lessons to
WMD attacks. The Auditing Office had be learnt from the bitter experiences
reviewed all types of alert activities and witnessed so far from the use of WMD.
various contingency exercises.

3
The Firefighters' Pay Dispute

A. In preparation, the army has already wheeled out its 800 antiquated green goddess fire tenders;
their service, however, would not be on the same level as the 3,000 red engines usually on duty. The
local authorities admit that, "lives and property will be at risk" if the strikes go ahead.

B. The only way for local authorities to afford a huge pay rise would be if the government gives them
extra money. They are already under severe pressure, as they have recently implemented an inflation
busting deal for their own core staff.

C. Although the FBU, local authorities and government attempted negotiating the most recent bid
that the local authorities put on the table, the deal fell through, because ministers refused to consider the
details of the offer quickly enough to avert industrial action. They said the Treasury would not provide
more money.

D. They want a 40% pay increase. Leaders of the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) believe that pay in the
service has fallen behind that in the rest of the economy. They say that their members are doing an
increasingly highly skilled job and deserve a salary to match.

E. An eight-day stoppage by the FBU's 50,000 members will begin less than two weeks after the
initial 48-hour strike, during which seven people died due to fire-related causes. Some stations on the
London Underground were closed because of safety concerns. The unions threaten to refuse to work if
their members felt at risk.

F. Besides putting 16% on the table, they have also conceded to shake up the pay formula, linking
future fire service increases to rises in average earnings instead of those given to manual workers. Such
changes would by now have added Ј100 a week to firefighters' wages had they been implemented in
1977-78.

Introduction of the Euro

Kuala Lumpur - London's position as the dominant international financial centre in Europe has
remained unchallenged despite the advent of the euro, a Bank of England director claims today.
In a speech to academics and businessmen in Malaysia, John Townend, the Bank's director for
Europe, states: "One of the reasons London has continued to thrive is because of its openness, and the
level playing field and balanced regulation we provide for financial institutions of every nationality
and foreign investors."
Citing the takeover of the London futures exchange by the Paris-based Euronext as an example of the
City's approach, he adds: "Like Wimbledon, we provide the venue, but foreign players often win the
tournament."
He claims part of the successful introduction of the European single currency has been down to the
City's leading role in the structural development of the euro markets.
However, Mr. Townend remains cautious on the potential benefits or otherwise of Britain's
membership. He talks of certain improvements of financial markets and the removal of nominal
exchange rate uncertainty, and yet warns of the risks of joining a one-size-fits-all monetary policy,
when European markets remain unreformed and inflexible.
Brushing aside calls this weekend for the Bank to talk down the pound and intervene in the markets,
he says: "If the sterling exchange rate were to be artificially lowered, this would be bound to put
strong upward pressure on inflation and carry implications for UK monetary policy."

4
CAN THE NEWS MEDIA BE TRUSTED?

Trust, but verify. It’s an old saying which carries more than a little wisdom, and it has been
characteristic of the relationship between the news media and the military. In World War II, combat
correspondents were accepted by the armed forces as comrades fighting for the same cause. (0) ……..

Even today, some members of the news media endorse censorship as a way to preserve security.
With access, the argument goes, even if the story or parts of it are censored in the heat of battle, the
full account can be published at some point. (1) ……………………………………………….………

On the other hand, many top military officers have become convinced that censorship – or security
review, which is the preferred military term - may no longer be possible or even desirable. This is
due to the advent of modern sophisticated devices. (2) ………………………………………...………

This means that both the military and the media must agree on when a story can be filed from the
battlefield or the combat zone. They have done it countless times in the past. (3) ……………………

On the battlefield, the question of trust is easier to answer. Reporters have to be willing to operate
under a set of rules. What has to be negotiated are rules for getting the media and the military to
understand how to make trust work as smoothly as possible for each other. (4) ……..…………..……

Not many top defense leaders, civilian and military, believe that, as a general rule, the news media
can be trusted in a pre-invasion situation. Widely shared is the view that the reporters could not be
trusted in any situation in which secrecy is essential. (5) ………………………………...…………….

The press today is so much larger. There are just so many different media organs today, some of
which have higher ethics than others. But the truth is, that the media relationship with government
today is such that you couldn’t trust the networks. (6) …………………………….….………….……

A. This task, on both sides, is always easier when reporters and military personnel have developed a
relationship of trust prior to combat.

B. They are too big, and too competitive and there are too many.

C. Yet, no story, even from great luminaries, ever moved from the battlefield without first being
reviewed by a military censor.

D. With the advance of new technology, such as satellite telephones, most leaders on both sides
have become aware that battlefield censorship is no longer practical.

E. There is nothing like a crisis that brings out a whole bunch of people who never covered
anything before.

F. This is mainly because they are not considered to have the sensitivity about what is secret and
what isn’t.

G. Only if you play by these rules, you will get your story out.

H. If access is denied, the story can never be told.

This is the end of the Reading Section

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