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Advanced Skills Test 1A

Reading
1 Read the text. Answer the questions with the letter of the paragraph.

April Fool – the joke’s on you!

The first of April is April Fool’s Day, a day on which people in some parts of the world
traditionally play tricks on each other. Here are five of the best April Fool’s jokes ever played
by the media.
A On 1 April 1957, the BBC broadcast a three-minute documentary about a family’s
bumper spaghetti harvest on a farm in Ticino, Switzerland. It featured women carefully picking
the strands of spaghetti from trees and laying them in the sun to dry. At the time, spaghetti
wasn’t a widely-eaten food in the UK, so few people were aware how it was actually produced.
After the report, many viewers contacted the BBC to find out where they could purchase a
spaghetti tree and how it should be cared for.
B On 1 April 1962, there was a programme on Swedish TV that revealed how to manually
convert a black-and-white TV set to colour. A technical expert explained to viewers that they
needed to cover the screen with some nylon tights. The theory was that the material would
cause the light to bend in such a way that the image would appear to be in colour. The expert
added, helpfully, that the viewers might have to hold their heads at the right angle to see the
colour picture.
C On 1 April 1967, renowned astronomer Patrick Moore announced on BBC Radio 2 that
an unusual arrangement of the planets was going to cause a momentary change in Earth’s
gravity. Because of this phenomenon, known as the ‘Jovian-Plutonian gravitational effect’,
listeners would experience weightlessness if they jumped in the air at exactly 9.47 a.m.
Thousands called in to say they had felt the change in gravity on jumping and one woman
even claimed that she had floated around the room.
D On 1 April 1998, Burger King launched a campaign for its ‘Left-handed Whopper’, a
‘Whopper’ being the fast food restaurant’s most popular hamburger. The newspaper USA
Today published a full-page ad claiming that the contents of the burger had been rotated 180º
to suit the chain’s 1.4 million left-handed fans. Following the announcement, many customers
began requesting a left-handed – or a right-handed – burger from the staff. That is, until they
realized the campaign was a hoax.
E On 1 April 2010, British tabloid, The Sun claimed that it had achieved an ‘ink-redible
printing breakthrough’ allowing it to create the world’s first flavoured page. On page
seventeen, readers were invited to lick a white square carrying the words ‘Lick here’ in the
same way as the guests in Tim Burton’s movie Charlie and the Chocolate Factory licked the
wallpaper. In this case, the flavour of the page was not revealed, but readers were asked to
mail The Sun with their ‘test taste results’, which, of course, many of them did.

In which paragraph does the writer mention a trick that played on

1 people’s trust in a well-known figure? ___
2 people’s lack of world knowledge? ___
3 people’s memory of a scene from fiction? ___
4 people’s limited experience of technology? ___
5 people’s lack of common sense? ___

Mark: ___ / 10

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Listening
2 22 Listen to a radio programme about old English words used in set phrases today. Choose the
correct answers.
1 The verb wend in the phrase wend your way was used in Old English
A instead of go.
B with a different meaning to go.
C as well as go.
2 Deserts in the phrase get your just deserts means
A sweet foods eaten at the end of a meal.
B something unpleasant you deserve.
C a place criminals were sent in the past.
3 The meaning of ride roughshod over someone is
A to hurt someone’s feelings.
B to physically hurt someone.
C to hurt someone unintentionally.
4 The word fro in the set phrase to and fro is used in today
A one set phrase.
B several set phrases.
C many set phrases.
5 The word lurch in the set phrase leave someone in the lurch was originally the French name for
A a competitive sport.
B a form of free-time entertainment.
C a serious punishment.

Mark: ___ / 10

Use of English
3 Complete the text. Use one word only for each gap.
We all know that sharks can be rather dangerous, but can you imagine 1__________attacked by one? Unfortunately, this
is a risk you have to 2__________if you want to be a competitive surfer, 3__________three-time world champion Mick
Fanning will tell you. Fanning, who is Australian, had the bad luck to 4__________the attention of not one, but two sharks
during a major competition in July 2015. The occasion was the final of the J-Bay Open, held at Jeffrey’s Bay on the
south-east coast of South Africa, an area said to be teeming 5__________sharks, if some reports are to be believed. One
of the sharks swam towards Mick and knocked him off his surf board, but instead of trying to swim away, the quick-thinking
surfer 6__________up to the animal and punched it on the back. In response to this resistance, the bewildered shark gave
7
__________going after the surfer and left. Marine biologist Daniel Bucher said that, judging by the size of its fin and tail,
the shark 8__________have been between three and four metres long. This 9__________have been quite small for a
Great White Shark, which explains why the animal was cautious and did not put up a fight. After the attack, Mick was
picked up in no time by a rescue team on jet skis, who also collected the other surfer in the water, Julian Wilson, another
Australian. 10__________the end, the competition was called off because the two sharks had not left the area.

Mark: ___ / 10

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Writing
4 You have been asked to describe the first time you spent a night at home without your parents for
your school magazine. Write your description (200–250 words) and include the information below:
 how old you were and if anyone else was with you
 what happened and how you felt
 what other memories you have and how the occasion ended
 what happened afterwards and how you feel about it now

Mark: ___ / 10

Write a review (200–250 words) of a music video you have seen. Include the information below:
 background information about the video
 a brief summary of what happens in the video
 the video’s strengths and weaknesses
 your overall verdict on the video and a recommendation

Mark: ___ / 10

5 Write an article (200–250 words) for a student website describing a place you know which has radically
changed. Think about the points below:

architecture eating out nightlife shopping

Mark: ___ / 10

Write an essay (200–250 words) to answer the question: ‘How might artificial intelligence be of benefit
to the human race?’

Mark: ___ / 10

Total: ___ / 50

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