v  Practice Test two

Section 1

You will
have 10 seconds to read each question and the corresponding options. Then
listen to the recording. After the recording you will have 10 seconds to choose
the correct option. Put a cross (X) in the box next to the correct answer, as
in the example.

Example: What is the man describing?

a)  an art gallery          b)  a sculpture park     c)
a museum

1.   What type of announcement is this?

a)  a security warning  b)
luggage information c)  safety
advice

2. What is the woman worried
about?

a)  how her children are getting on in their
school work

b)  whether her children will manage in a
new environment

c)  her children's progress in learning a
foreign language

3. The man's family
……………………..

a) didn't really enjoy their holiday.

b)  couldn't go on holiday together.

c)  found a holiday to suit everyone.

4. Which statement about
admission charges is true?

a)   You may have to pay to see certain
special exhibitions.

b)  Special exhibitions are cheaper than
permanent ones.

c)   Admission charges vary according to the
time of year.

5. The woman finds her
feelings about "home" …………..

a) comforting.            b)  strange.                  c)  amusing.

6.
Why has the man decided to stop travelling by air?

a)   for mainly financial reasons

b)   to help protect the environment

c)  because it is not really necessary

7.
This is an announcement for
…………………….

a)   rail passengers.      b)  air travelers.                       c)  airline staff.

8.
What does the man say about communicating while travelling?

a)   The price has gone down.

b)  There are more possibilities.

c)  It used to be very easy to do.

9.
The man doesn't recommend deciding anything important
……………

a) because you will find it too tiring.

b)  while you are still missing home.

c)  until your feelings settle down.

10.
Air travel is currently being affected by
…………………

a)   a strike.                 b)  traffic problems.                c)  the weather.

Section 2

You will hear a recording about people who retire to another country.
Listen to the whole recording once. Then you will hear the recording again with
pauses for you to write down what you hear. Make sure you spell the words
correctly

11. ______________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________

Section 3

You will hear part of an interview about travel insurance. First read the
notes below then listen and complete the notes with information from the
interview.

Example: Having an emergency when
abroad is surprisingly expensive.

12.
Many people suppose they are insured by the company that provides their
……………………..

13.
You can often get a better deal if you …………. and find
your own insurer.

14. While abroad, you have to do what you can to prevent
…………………….

15.
Carrying money in a back pocket encourages
………………………………

16.
Website address:
…………………………………………………………….

You will hear some recorded information from a taxi service that meets
people arriving at San Diego airport. First read the notes below then listen
and complete the notes with information from the message.

Example: Message for people who have pre-booked
a taxi.

17. The driver may need to call your
……………………………………..

18. Pick up bags from the ……………. and leave
through opposite door.

19.
The shuttle van will be parked on other side of …………….………..

20.  Meeting passengers at the
main gates is not allowed by ……….……

21. Helpline number:
…………………………………………………….

Section 4

Read each text
and put a cross (X) by the missing word or phrase, as in the example.

Example: We apologize for any disruption to normal museum services while we are in
the process of ……….…………
the old entrance hall.

a)
refreshing                b)  renovating              c)  replacing

22.
It is not a good idea to put too much trust in official opening times.

……….…………
they say, you may find the cathedral locked.

a)   However               b)  Whatever               c)  Whenever

23. THE
SITE FOR OZ INFO

This
is the place to find really helpful information about living in Australia.
You’ll find plenty of other sites with pictures of beautiful scenery and
wildlife, but almost nothing on
……….…………

a)   everyday life                    b)  the natural world    c) historical details

24.
Hotels in this area are certainly close to all the sights and nightlife, but
the obvious downside to this is that they aren't exactly
……….…………

a)   popular                 b)  plentiful                 c)  peaceful

25. Although
it is true that taxis are not always easy to find, the city's
……….………… system is efficient,
reliable and cheap.

a)   tourist information            b)  internal travel                    c)  public transport

26. You
may arrive in your adopted country determined to become just like a native, but
you will quickly realise that expecting to lose your
……….………… and adopt a new one like
putting on a new set of clothes is unrealistic.

a)   whole education    b)  common lifestyle   c)  original
culture

TEST TIP: Imagine where you would see these texts in
everyday life. For example, does it come from a magazine, a website, a label?
This could help you choose the correct answer.

Section 5

Read the passage and answer the questions below. Put a cross (X) in the
box next to the correct answer.

We are often told of the
benefits that tourism brings, to the point where its positive influence has
become an assumption. Perhaps the most common belief is that tourism brings
wealth to local people.The reality, though, is more often quite the opposite:
tourism makes a small number of people in the host country extremely rich,
while the poor majority lose their land, their resources and identity,
receiving little, if anything, in return.

The loss of land and resources is easy to see.
Hotels, resorts and safari parks spread relentlessly across previously
untouched natural areas. Water is diverted from meeting local needs to
providing tourist luxuries like hotel showers and golf courses. The loss of identity
is harder to measure, but is perhaps best summed up by the words of an African
tribesman who said: "We are no longer what we are; we are becoming what we
seem."

Tourists are hungry for the exotic, for worlds that
are different from their own, but at the same time most of them are not keen to
experience the realities of that difference. So they usually view it from
behind barriers: coach windows, hotel doors or camera lenses. Hunger for the
exotic can never be satisfied in a tourist context - as soon as you touch it,
it disappears. Whether tourists like it or not, the local culture and tradition
they observe will have altered itself to fit in with the expectations of those
who pay for it.

Travel, the old saying says, broadens the mind.
Yet, as the masses of tourists spread across the world, treating countries and
their inhabitants like a huge theme park, even this idea is debatable. Tourists
are, as one writer put it "the aristocracy of the New World Order",
protected from reality everywhere they go, treated with outward respect, their
motives almost never questioned. At best, the opinion they arrive at will be an
uninformed idea that "the natives are really friendly and welcoming".
If they are occasionally surprised by reality, it will usually be a negative
experience, and they will return home surer than ever that "foreigners
can't be trusted."

27. What does the article say about the advantages
of tourism?

a)   They are often not even questioned.

b)  They
are mostly to do with money.

c)  They
have a positive influence.

28. What does the writer say about poor people?

a)   They are in the majority in most countries.

b)  They
don't usually benefit much from tourism.

c)  They
become rich from tourism in a few cases.

29. Why does the writer use the words of the
African tribesman?

a)   To explain what is meant by loss of identity.

b)  To
summarise the main point of the text.

c)  To
show how he feels about local people.

30. According to the article, how do most tourists
relate to the countries they visit?

a)   They are usually disappointed by the reality of what they see.

b)  They
fail to get a true impression of how people there live.

c)  They
find experiences that are different from their normal life.

31. What common belief about travel has been
repeated for a long time?

a)    it is turning many
countries into theme parks.

b)  It
will increase continuously in the future.

c)  It
makes people more open to different ideas.

32. In the writer's opinion, what reaction applies
to most tourists?

a)   They are not really changed by their experiences.

b)  They
rarely question their motives for travelling.

c)  They
tend to have negative experiences abroad.

TEST
TIP: You may sometimes find a particular text more difficult to understand. If
so, don't panic and give up. Try to get an idea of the general meaning first
and then answer the questions.

Section 6

Read the
webpage extract below and answer the questions.

It's often the little things that make you
homesick. After I had been in Australia about six months, it suddenly struck me
that I no longer bumped into that old man from the next street any more, who
had known the children since they were babies. When the children won a school
competition, they couldn't phone their grandad to tell them the news because it
was the middle of the night there.

One day the children brought home some raffle
tickets to sell to raise money for the school. Homesickness struck again when
we realised we didn't know anyone to sell them to. In the end, we bought all of
them ourselves!

TEST TIP: When answering questions like this, try to
give a full answer but don't include unnecessary information. Your answer
doesn't have to be written as a sentence - often a word or phrase is enough.
For example, a full sentence answer in Question 35, would be "They bought
all the tickets because they didn't know anyone to tell them to." In fact,
four words answer the question well enough. Which four? For Question 39, on the
other hand, a full answer in a sentence is best (although a four-word phrase
would be accepted in the test).

Example: How long had the writer
been away from home?

33. Who did the writer realise she missed?

………………………………………………………………………….

34. Why couldn't the children phone their
grandfather immediately?

…………………………………………………………………………

35. What was the purpose of the raffle tickets?

…………………………………………………………………………

36. Why did they buy all the raffle tickets?

…………………………………………………………………………..

Section 6 (Continued)

Read the extract from a tourist guide below and answer
the questions.

Bilbao's Guggenheim Museum, featuring permanent and
visiting exhibits of works by Spanish and international artists, became a
tourist attraction almost as soon as it opened in 1997, but it wasn't so much
the contents people came to see as the building itself. It's easy to see why.
Designed by Canadian-American architect Frank Gehry, it is one of the world's
most spectacular buildings.

Reflecting Bilbao's status as a port, it is
intended to resemble a ship, while its reflective panels give the impression of
fish scales. The curves on the building were designed to appear random. Seen
from the river, it is certainly spectacular, yet at street level it is quite
modest and does not dominate its traditional surroundings. Also, remarkably, it
was completed on time and budget, which is rare for buildings of this scale.

Example: What two types of exhibition does the Guggenheim Museum house?

permanent and visiting

37. What aspect of the museum attracts visitors?

…………………………………………………………………………..

38. What is the building meant to look like?

…………………………………………………………………………..

39. How does the text describe the view of the
building from the land?

………………………………………………………………………….

40. What makes the museum unusual, compared to
other large buildings?

…………………………………………………………………………..

Section 7

Read the news
story below and complete the notes. Write no more than three words from the
article in each gap.

The
directors of 2,000 museums and galleries across the UK are asking the
government for an extra £115 million per year to maintain some services
and extend others. They claim that museums generate £3 billion for the
economy and employ 40,000 people. Recent surveys have shown that members of the
public make 100 million visits to museums every year, which is a greater number
than the total attendance at all of the country's live sports events.

A document produced by the museums states that
recent years have seen a fall in their income and that museums have dropped
down the government's list of priorities since the decision to abolish
admission fees. One director said: "While we agree with the government's
aim of making museum entry free for all, it has to be recognised that the money
has to come from somewhere."

Almost half of the total extra funding would go to
around 30 national

museums, including world famous attractions like
London's Tate Gallery and the Natural History Museum. Local museums, it is
claimed, need another £35 million, plus £15 million forth coordination
of joint projects between local and national institutions. The final £15
million would go on the purchase of new objects for collections.

According to the directors, the largest part of the
extra money would be taken up by basic maintenance work like repairing leaky
roofs. Without this work, they say, national museums in particular may not be
able to sustain current levels of service and access.

It is unlikely, however, that the museums will
receive all of the money they say they require. This is because there is a
feeling in government circles that in the current economic situation, essential
public services like schools and hospitals are more deserving and should be
given a higher priority than cultural life.

Example: Amount of extra annual
funding claimed by museums: £115 million

41. Number of jobs in the museums and galleries
sector: …………………………

42. It is claimed that more people go to museums
than to …………………

43. Museums in the UK no longer charge for ………………………………

44. National museums sometimes work with local
museums on …………………

45. Most of the money is needed for …………………………………………

46. Museums say the extra money is essential to
keep up their standards of ……

47. Some people in government believe museums are
less important than ………

Section 8

Use information from Section 7 to help you write your
answer.

You have read the news story about museum funding. Write
a letter to the newspaper giving your reaction. Write about 90-120 words.

In your letter you should say:

·
whether you think museums and galleries are
important

·
whether entry to museums should be free

·
how museums compare with other government
spending priorities

Section 9

Choose one of the topics below and write your answer in 150-200 words.

a)
Living abroad

You
have been asked to contribute to an information leaflet for people coming to
live in your country for a year or more. Write your
contribution, including information about:

·
daily life in towns and cities

·
culture
and entertainment

·
climate

b) Tourism

Write
an essay in answer to the following question: Are the economic advantages of
mass tourism outweighed by the impact it has on communities?

Section 10

In
this section you will speak on your own for about 1 minute. Listen to what your
teacher asks. Your teacher will ask one of the main questions below and use the
follow-up questions if necessary.

Main prompt 1

• In what ways does the weather affect
people?

Follow-up prompts

•    How
does the weather affect your mood?

•    What
would you describe as normal weather in the country where you live?

•    What
kind of conditions do you regard as "bad weather"?

•    What
other problems can bad weather cause?

Main prompt 2

• What kind of food do you enjoy?

Follow-up prompts

•    Can
you describe your favourite meal?

•    What
is a typical diet in the country where you live?

•    Do
you think the food you eat is mostly healthy? Why/why not?

•    Why
do you think fast food is so popular nowadays?

Main prompt 3

• How important is technology in your life?

Follow-up prompts

•    What
would life be like without computers?

•    How
important are mobile phones in people's lives nowadays?

•    Can
you think of any disadvantages of technology?

•    What
do you think has been the most useful invention of the last fifty years?

Main prompt 4

• What are the advantages and disadvantages
of living in another country?

Follow-up prompts

•    Would
you like to live in another country?

•    What
would you miss most if you lived abroad?

•    Why
do some people move to other countries?

•    If
you could choose one place to live, where would it be? Why?