Test 33 MechwWarrior 2 Game review by Steve Polak s 3057 and, yep, mankind is embroiled in a ic feudal power struggle in which sts has just lost 3 with the mainstream governmental A clan of oute ave is in ruins, the people are solution? Why, it's off to war again of office blocks that rain plutonium hich is indebt d ing | y V's Transformers, is an immer combat-simulation game, with strategic depth rumbling metallic stomping sounds and 15 offensive craft from which to choose. Watch a fleet of BattleMech robots trash the 31st-century landscape. Plastic robots were never this much fun AMECHWARRIOR 2 The fleet of BattleMech Act 1, $99 Grade: lActivision, $ B+] Grade: A robots trashes the 31st-century landscape 5. The language of the review is intended to convey the reviewer's A knowledge of game production B understanding of war tactics. C enthusiasm for the game. D skill with words. A ‘simulation game’ is one A. that is set in the future. B designed to be mastered quickly. € made to resemble the real thing. D_ similar to an earlier version of the game. 2. An ‘offensive craft’ is one that A. defends B carries plutonium. € goes on the attack D is used to destroy people. 6. The word ‘tra A dump. B_ remove. C discard. D destroy means to 3. MechWarrior 2 is a game whose appeal depends upon A. solving a mystery B death and destruction € helping rid the world of oppressors D knowledge of the TV show Transformers From the tone of the review it would seem that the reviewer prefers to play with plastic robots, was disappointed with the game. was irritated by the noise. found the game absorbing paou> Tests @ 41Test 34 The Starfish Club STARFISH PUBLICATIONS is dedicated to helping young writers learn all the written communication skills they'll need {or their futures. Starfish has developed a unique integrated rogram of magazines, books, audio-visual materials and Personal guidance specifically designed to inspire each young writer to be the best they can be—motivated by the Opportunity to be professionally published. The Starfish Club is a club for young people who A want to write neatly. B have trouble communicating C are interested in magazines D_ would like to become published writers. The Starfish Magazine is published every A fortnight. C three months. B four weeks, D four months. In the text the word ‘feedback’ means A information on the quality of a person's writing efforts. B looking back over work to see improvements. € a skill that must be practised many times, D_ encouragement for trying hard YOUNG WRITER'S NEWS Issue 2 HOW YOU COULD GET PUBLISHED Become a Subscriber Member of The Starfish Young Writers Club, Lear al the writing skils you'll need for your future withthe grea auartery magazing, ‘The Starfish Generation Send your best writing to Starish to be considered for publication, Receive helpful feedback and encouragement to make your writing the best t can be. Keep pracising and you could receive an offer to get published! - To get published a young author should A_ join The Starfish Club. B attend writing clas subscribe to “The Starfish Generation magazine, D__ practise the skills they learn through the Starfish programs. ° 5. Animportant motivation for young authors is A the personal guidance provided by the Starfish Club. B the possibility of getting published C watching audio-visual material D__ learning writing skills. 6, Starfish Publications’ basic concern is A publishing magazines. B__ reading work written at schools C producing audio-visual materials. D_ helping young writers become authors. Excel Years 5-6 Selective Schools and Scholarship Reading Tests ® 42Test 35 Beaufort Wind Scale Vanes move in wind. Wind felt on face, leaves rustle. A flag would be extended, leaves and twigs move, ‘Small branches move, loose paper blows around. Whole trees move. Some inconvenience in walking. Twigs break off trees. Difficulty in walking Some damage to property. Trees uprooted. Widespread damage to property Devastation. The Beaufort Wind Scale is 4 A a useful guide for people who own property. B a standard way of describing wind conditions. € an explanation of how wind does so much damage. D an indication of what people should do a in windy conditions. ich series of words is used to describe is from the least to the most powerful? gentle, light, fresh light, calm, gentle light, strong, moderate moderate, fresh, strong 7 ashing on the line was blowing about ‘grass stems gently bending, the wind C 3 wind. D 4wind, Tests @ 43 Small trees begin to sway. Crested wavelets form on lakes, ete. Large tree branches move. Whistling in telephone wires. Slight damage could occur to property. Small trees bend over. | Description of Conditions Force | Wind Type Smoke rises vertically. 0 [Calm Wind direction shown by drift of smoke but not by vanes. 1 Light air 2 | Light breeze 3 |Gentle breeze 4 | Moderate breeze Fresh breeze | High wind Fresh gale 9 | Strong gale 10 |Whole gale | | Storm. 12__| Hurricane 5 6 |Strong breeze 8 If pets have difficulty playing outdoors and may be hurt by small falling branches, the wind could be described as a A fresh breeze. B strong breeze. C high wind, D_ fresh gale. This picture could best illustrate the wind when it was A agentle breeze. B alight breeze C light air D calm. On a calm day a hot-air balloon would A. not rise. B rise quickly Crise straight up. D drift away.Test 36 Bar Codes All the packets you buy ina supermarket carry a bar code. This code is scanned by laser light and the brand and product names are given to the customer, with the price. The people ning the store can keep a continuous check ‘ow many packets of each product and of each size are on the shelves. Special Supermarket checkouts are needed to read code @ code is a mixture of bar and space width is printed onto the package and cannot be written by hand A bar code showing fh ralian Product Number (APN) symbol, made up of vertical stripes ous: e peace and spaces. 1. Bar codes consist of A 13 equally spaced bars. B 13 numerals matching 13 even bars. € a misture of bars and space widths. D a mixture of equally spaced, varying width bars. 2. It is not possible to A have bar codes for all supermarket packets. B_ make bar codes using more than one zero. € purchase goods using foreign bar codes, D draw your own bar codes, 3, Bar codes are important to supermarket managers because they give control over pricing, make full use of laser scanners, provide information on product sales. allow managers to give more attention to shoppers’ inquir pou> The Australian Product Number, which you | see in supermarkets, consists of 13 digits (numbers) For example: 9300663271733 means | 93 = country code—Australia is 93; New Zealand is 94. 00663 = manufacturer's code—all products | from this maker have this code number. | 2173 = product number and size—tells what the product is, and the size of the article. 3 = check digit—from the addition Previous digits. This checks that the c of some to make sure de has been read correctly. 4. Supermarkets wishing to introduce Bar Codes must A keep a continuous check on goods on the shelves. B install special checkout equipment C employ specialist checkout staff D_ put bar codes on all packets 5. The laser scanning of bar codes can provide the shopper with A product name and price. B total cost of purchases. C information on specials D__no waiting at checkouts 6. ‘The adjacent bar code informs the supermarket manager that the SaVTSOrErseR A product has no APN symbol B goods came from New Zealand C product was produced in Australia D__ particular item is almost out of stock. Excel Years 5-6 Selective Schools and Scholarship Reading Tests @ 44NIctSj acy Graph Reading This is a graph of a vehicle’s fuel consumption during a typical day. | The above graph shows A how much petrol was needed to fill the tank. B_ which trip used the most petrol. the speed the car was going how far the car travelled. driver purchased petrol at 8am. trip that used the least fuel was between 7 am and 8 am. am and 9 am. of petrol. of petrol. of petrol. of petrol. Tests @ 45) The vehicle began the day with some petrol in its tank. At the end of the day the car had A. the same amount of petrol in its tank. B alittle more petrol in its tank C less petrol in its tank. D_ half a tank of petrol At 1 pm there were A 40 litres of petrol in the tank B 30 litres of petrol in the tank. C 35 litres of petrol in the tank D_ 25 litres of petrol in the tank Between 7 am and 6 pm the car was A never stationary B stationary only at 9 am. C stationary over half the time. D_ stationary five times during the day ‘The word ‘typical’ (in the heading) means A work, B busy. € normal D_ exceptionalThesaurus ‘This is a small section of a thesaurus. label n. 1. tag, ticket, sticker, docket, sip, stamp, seal. 2. characterisation, description, sketch, stereotype, definition, specification, classification, summation, epitome, — v. Classify, designate, characterise, class, name, describe, call, ag, define, identify brand, ticket, stereotype. labile adj. CHANGEABLE | labour n. work, toil, drudgery, effort, travail, pai | ab n. LABORATORY. exertion, grind, sweat, industry, diligence, task. — v. work, toil, drudge, plod, slave, strain, strive, travail, sweat, struggle ant. n. idleness, inaction, ease, inactivit indolence. v. idle, loaf, laze, shirk, rest laboratory 7. workshop, lab, workroom, atelier. sloth A ‘thesaurus’ is a book that ‘A. explains word meanings. B serves as a simple encyclopaedia c D lists in order common, everyday wort helps people find words with similar meanings. Choose the best word to replace the bold word in this sentence. Our rose bushes were a labyrinth of twisted branches. A. puzzle C meander B_ tangle D_ intricacy 3. The entry ‘lab’ has just one word following it because A afull list can be found under ‘laboratory’. B_ it is not a common abbreviation. C there is only one similar word. D_ ithas a very specific meaning, 4. Choose the best word to replace the bold word in this sentence. ‘Mr Jones is a labourer who works hard and Jong on the building site A worker toiler B_ helper D coolie Excel Years 6-6 Selective Schools and Scholarship Reading Tests @ 46 laboured adj. strained, painstaking, labourious, forced claborate, overwrought, studied, overdone, stif, awkward, ponderous. ant, effortless, facile, easy, offhand, simple, relaxed, labourer rt. worker, blue-collar worker, toiler, prole, proletarian, wage earner, workman, hand, drudge, coolie, helper, peon, day labourer. labourious adj. toilsome, arduous, burdensome, difficult, onerous, laboured, strenuous, hard, wearisome, tiresome. irksome, herculean. ant. easy, light, simple, paltry, facile, dainty. labyrinth n. maze, intricacy, tangle, coil, entanglement, ‘puzzle, perplexity, confusion, convolution, meander, mare's nest lace n. openwork, mesh, lacework, network, fancywork, braid, embroidery. 5. The entry ‘label’ can mean ‘tag’. How many other words are close to the same meaning? At B 6 ii D 28 6. Under the entry ‘laboured’ is the abbreviation ‘ant! These six words are all words ¥ A unusual meanings. B_ opposite meanings. € double meanings. D_ simple meanings. 7. If {needed a word with a similar meaning '° ‘labile’ | would A have only one choice. B need to get a dictionary. C make an intelligent gue: D_ check the entry for ‘changeable’ 8. The entry most likely to follow ‘lace’ IS A lacerated. Bladder. C labarum. D_ lacing.Avalanche id then it happened. 1 of the avalanche, had houses blown away by ithe middle of the night. Just below the top of the blast, walls swept away, shutters and Kiihelihorn a great mass of snow broke loose window frames ripped off and smashed. In an Bicrash like an explosion. Slowly it began to. __instant gaping black holes had been gashed in if itseemed to hesitate but only for alittle. A the white village and a white shroud of snow Bwseconds later the avalanche hurtled down, its spread over its heart, just where Mr Growing wider and wider, the force of air. Baumgarten’s office, the baker’s shop and in before it blasting the village even before Surtnelli's cafe stood clustered round the thundering mass leapt upon the snow- | Pump. The shattering blow that made ed houses and sheds like a wild beast everything that could split, burst, crack or smash fly to pieces with terrific force, was followed by a minute or two of sinister silence. Then voices began to call. A woman screamed, one or two children cried, men’s voices sounded harshly near at hand or further away. The alarm bells began to ring—a menacing sound above the stricken village. But it could not be Altschwank ringing the bell. His house lay buried @ far shorter time than anyone could Believed. One moment the village was and sound and fast asleep. The next, a hhole was torn in it. Part of it was still 0 deep in snow and wrapped in silence that an onlooker would never Ssed the terrible thing that had d. But part of it, even beyond the path 4 5. The avalanche resulted in the village being A. totally swept away. B covered by a light snowfall C partly destroyed by the wind D_ completely buried under a mountain of for the passage would be pees in the Mountains. d Village. 6. A ‘stricken’ village would be one that was A sleeping. ——C_ struck down. B threatened. D__ not prepared 7. Immediately before the village was struck A_ village alarm bells began ringing B it was blasted by strong winds. C people started screaming. D_ snow was falling struck the ‘The people who were crying out were the ones who were lost in the snow storm who had been woken by the commotion. Whose houses had been devastated by wind. whose houses were covered by the avalanche. com>9. The silence was described as ‘sinister’ because A all sound in the village had been smothered. = B people were waiting for a secong disaster. people were trapped in their houses, D_ it created a false sense of tranquility. Test 40 Limericks | | 1. There was a young lady from Gloucester Who married a farmer named Foucester. Next day she said: ‘Now, will milk this nice a bull—and |t toucester! But the cow w 2. There was a young mother in Surrey Chopped off her child's head in a flurry: She replaced it with speed, | Then found that she'd | Stuck iton back-to-front in her hurry 3. A rather bad poet named Heinz Never could think of last lines. Though he used all his brain | | fear ‘twas in vain {er-um-di-di-dum-di-di-duml. 4, Ahandyman once used to boast: Repairing is what | like most Now his cooker can play Lively music all day, And the radio burns all the toast. 1. Limericks depend for their appeal on being A. strange. € charming B amusing D_ outrageous, 2. In limerick number 3 the last line doesn’t thyme because A. there are few sensible words that rhyme with Heinz. B the writer could not think of a rhyme. C it shows that Heinz was a bad poet. D_ it is meant to confuse the reader. 3. Areasonable alternative last line for limerick number 3 would be A. He was always late for the train B And this made him very glum, © And now he writes names on signs D__ He bought two bottles of wine. 4, In limerick number 1 the word ‘touceste means to hurry away. has no purpose at all, is most likely a misprint 4 a trick spelling for ‘tossed her’ to look like Gloucester, your Violent acts are often important in limericks. The most violent of the four is A number 1 C number 3. B number 2. D_ number 4. The limerick with least action is A number 1 ic B number 2. D number 3. number 4. A good description of the handyman in limerick number 4 would be A uncontrollable.C _ persistent. B_ incompetent. D muddled. The word ‘flurry’ in limerick number 2 means to do something with A much panting and puffing. B a sudden burst of action. hassle and confusion. Dan outbreak of anger. Generally limericks are composed of five lines ending with A two sets of rhyming words. B five words all rhyming. C three pairs of rhyming words. D_ every second line rhyming Excel Years 5-6 Selective Schools and Scholarship Reading Tests # 48