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Part I. Sentences
Listen to the following sentences and choose the statement or the picture which has the same or almost the same meaning as the sentence you hear. Each sentence will be read once.
1. Scientists say that air pollution causes the world’s average air temperature to rise.
2. No hotel in this town can match this one for service.
3. It’s very kind of you to write to me and tell me about your beautiful city.
4. I’ve been having interviews all year but I still don’t have a job.
5. My mind wasn’t on what he was saying, so I’m afraid I missed half of it.
6. There is no need for us to discuss the problem again since it has already been settled.
7. To my joy, my children soon adapted to life in the city after we moved there.
8. As I explained on the phone, your request will be considered at the next meeting.
9. Peter couldn’t understand what had been decided because too many people were talking at once.
10. I tried to take that medicine you gave me but I couldn’t swallow it.
Part II. Dialogues
A) Listen to the following mini-dialogues and choose the best answer to each question. Each dialogue and question will be read twice.
11. M: I’m going to the Christmas party Saturday night.
W: I’m invited too. Would you be able to pick me up? My car’s been in the repairshop for a few days.
M: Sure. I can pick you up at around seven.
Question: What is the man going to do?
12. W: The ski season starts next weekend. Would you like to go to the mountains?
M: Next weekend I’ll be at my brother’s in Florida. What about the following weekend?
W: That sounds fine. I’ll give you a call and arrange things.
Question: Why can’t the man go skiing next weekend?
13. M: I have two tickets to a concert tonight. Why don’t we go together?
W: That sounds great. What time does it start?
M: It starts at eight o’clock. Let’s meet at around seven downstairs. How’s that?
Question: What is the man doing?
14. M: I think there are some people sitting in our seats.
W: Well, why don’t you check our seat numbers again and see. We might have to ask them to move.
M: They are in our seats. I’ll get the flight attendant.
Question: Where are the speakers?
15. W: I tried the new French restaurant on Quail Street last Friday.
M: Was it any good?
W: The food was excellent, but it was rather highly priced. It also took quite some time to be served.
Question: What does the woman say about the restaurant?
B) Listen to the following dialogue between Mary and Tom, and choose the best answer to each question. The dialogue will be read twice.
Mary: Shopping’s hard work, Tom, isn’t it?
Tom: True. I’m glad it’s over.
Mary: Do you want to go home now?
Tom: Yes, I think I’ll take the things we bought home.
Mary: Okay. I’ll go to the office. I’ve got lots to do. I’ll come home later, straight from the office.
Tom: Okay. I’d better hurry. My brother’s waiting at the house to help carry the television in.
Mary: Good. I hope he’ll still be there when I get home—I haven’t seen your brother for ages. No, wait,
I forgot to tell you. I’ll be late home tonight. I’ve got a meeting at 5 o’clock.
Tom: When do you think it will end?
Mary: I’m not sure. Still, I should be home by eight. If I think I’ll be later than 8 o’clock I’ll call you.
Tom: Okay. It’s nice now that your office is in City Square. You don’t have to travel very far at all.
Mary: I certainly appreciate it! Taxi drivers always know where City Square is, too. By the way, are you going to watch People are Funny on TV tonight?
Tom: What did you say? What TV show? Oh, People are Funny? Of course I am. I’ll tell you what happened when you get home. I need something to laugh at—I’m going to the new office at Newtown tomorrow, and I’m not looking forward to it.
Mary: I’d better go now. Take care. I’ll see you later. Bye bye.
Part III. Passages
Listen to the following two passages and choose the best answer to each question. Each passage will be read twice.
Passage A
W: I was brought up in a very ordinary but very happy home with one elder sister, my mother and my father. The great love of my life since I was a small girl was writing, which my family thought was surprising because they didn’t consider themselves educated people. I wasn’t surprised though because my parents were great readers, which is my idea of being educated. Anyway, I trained to be a nurse but whenever I had free time I wrote poems and short stories. I even once wrote a novel called The Pleasure Principle, but I didn’t feel comfortable writing longer pieces and I soon went back to my poetry.
Then the strangest thing happened. I had had my twenty-first birthday just a few days before and I was feeling very much that I wanted to change things in my life. I’d been nursing a very old woman for several months in a private ward. She told me that although she had lots of relatives, no one came to visit her. Anyway, when she died she left me a large sum of money, nearly three-quarters of a million pounds!
All of a sudden, I was a very rich woman. Well, the first thing I decided was that I wouldn’t waste the money. It soon became obvious to me that as much as I loved nursing, I loved writing more and that’s how I got started. I went to America and did a degree in creative writing. I had a wonderful time and learned a great deal, not from the lecturers necessarily but mainly from other hopeful writers on the course. All this was a decade ago and I’ve now had several volumes of poetry published. I now want to do something to help other young poets so I’m thinking of setting up a small publishing company which I’ll call Grace Park Books after the wonderful old lady who helped me fulfil my life’s ambition!
Passage B
M: Here we are today at the unique Saxon Bridge Rainforest Centre located near Liverpool. This is perhaps the last place you’d expect to find a tropical rainforest! Saxon Bridge was started in 1982 —so it’s well-established now—by Dr Jane Brown who wanted to educate the British public about the problem of the world’s most complex environment.
She’s created a whole forest in five glass houses. She started with just one thousand species but the forest now has ten times that number.
Although the main base is plant life, the Centre also has a representation of birds and small mammals including twenty species of small monkeys. The Centre aims to expand its wildlife to include fish. However, it should be emphasised that this is not a zoo. The real scientific focus is on the preservation of endangered plants. The animals are there because of the role they play in completing the forest system.
If you’re interested in visiting Saxon Bridge, you should note its special opening times. Because it’s mainly an educational institution, certain days of the week are reserved especially for school parties and scientists; they are Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Saturdays, Sundays and Tuesdays are for the general public. Admission is free for school parties, children under three and wheelchair users. All others pay three pounds.
Saxon Bridge is very easy to find from the motorway because there are plenty of large green signposts with the Centre’s symbol—the banana tree—clearly visible.
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