FCE TEST B.pdf

FCE TEST B

Reading • Part 1

Question 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Time allowed 01:00

You are going to read an article about sleeping. For questions 1–8 , choose the answer ( A , B , C or D ) which you think

fits best according to the text.

Sleep examined

1 There are some things I take my time with – jogging, for instance. I put on my shorts and trainers and set off at a

steady trot, but women with prams walk past me up the hills, and men with dogs stroll past me down them. There are

some things I don’t: talking, making four packed lunches every morning, using my credit card (I’ve more than once

had it questioned because I’ve used it so speedily in different places). But above all, I go to sleep quickly – like a light

turned off, like a duster wiping a blackboard, erasing all consciousness.

2 I remember being tired as a child and fighting it. I never wanted to go to sleep – it seemed such a waste of time.

More than that, there was a stage in my life when it became frightening, like a small death each night, a time of

darkness and unknowing, when I was blotted out, and then who was I? So I hated sleep, I couldn’t understand adults

who went to sleep well before midnight and then liked to lie in the next morning, and stumbled downstairs, slow-

moving and puffy-eyed, like underwater creatures.

3 I remember being tired as an adolescent, and that was completely different. Sleep became delicious; lying in bed

during weekend mornings, preferably after a late night, was like lying in a warm bath. Slipping in and out of shallow

slumber; hearing sounds downstairs of ordinary life going on (the coffee machine, the lawnmower, the car engine)

and just turning contentedly over to find a softer spot in the pillow before drifting off again. My eldest daughter is like

that now – she pads downstairs on a Sunday morning, like a cat in her pyjamas, in time for lunch, soft-edged and

dark-eyed after many hours of sleep.

4 As a student, I was an insomniac, full of energetic tiredness, coffee and the occasional extended sleep to keep me

going, and it seemed easy to stay up all night. You could always catch up later. It was even rather addictive, doing

without sleep, being tired and having that light-headed wakefulness. You just mustn’t stop, had to keep going, mustn’t

close your tired eyes. Life was about moving forward, being active, doing as much as possible each hour.

5 Then came motherhood. No one had told me what being tired really was, although every mother goes through it,

so tired that I was seeing the world through a film of exhaustion. Tiredness like sadness: crying at small things,

irritation, falling asleep at dinner parties (that terrible feeling when you can’t, just can’t, keep your eyelids from falling),

falling asleep while you sing your baby to sleep, falling asleep in your chair, at your computer, on the way to work;

falling asleep mid-sentence. But falling asleep lightly, in the shallows of sleep so that you wake at the slightest sound

from the child. One child, two children, three children, four. I used to look at them in their buggies, sleeping tucked up

in a rug as they were pushed along the road, and wish I was a baby too, and somebody was wrapping me up so I

could close my eyes and snuggle up in my own warmth. Heaven is an unbroken night.

6 I’m kind of through all that now, but tiredness is still in the bones. I can’t sleep it off. I open a book and find my

head dropping. I sit down in front of the TV and I’m asleep. I wake up in the morning and think: no no no, I’m not

ready. I remember when I was that child and I’d wake up in the morning, bursting with energy, jumping out of bed. I

want that back, that sense of total wakefulness running through my veins, which I can only achieve now by drinking

three large cups of thick black coffee.

7 I sometimes try to fight sleep. There isn’t enough time for everything. There are so many little jobs I want to do. But

where as a child I used to win , now I lose . Sleep triumphs. It crashes down on top of me like a breaking wave, and I

give in pathetically easily and drown in it.

1 Which of these does the writer do quickly?

A run downhill

B spend money

C eat her meals

D clean the house

2 As a child, the writer found it strange that older people

A always went to bed so late at night.

B did not tell the truth about how long they slept.

C wanted to remain in bed so long.

D looked so tired when they went to bed.

3 When she became a teenager,

A she found that she never felt very sleepy.

B she liked to have a bath before she went to sleep.

C she enjoyed waking and then sleeping again.

D she couldn’t sleep when people were making a noise.

4 She says that when she was a student,

A she never slept for any length of time.

B she sometimes remained awake until morning.

C she frequently felt too tired to do anything.

D she often used to eat very little food.

5 How did the writer feel when she saw her four young children asleep?

A envious

B miserable

C relieved

D sympathetic

6 How does she feel in the mornings nowadays?

A She wishes she could go to bed earlier at night.

B She wishes she had woken up much earlier.

C She wishes she didn’t drink so much coffee.

D She wishes she felt as she did in her childhood.

7 The writer uses the phrase drown in it to show that

A she is overcome by a desire to sleep.

B she manages to stay awake for a long time.

C she sometimes falls asleep at work.

D she often finds it difficult to wake up.

8 What is the author’s main purpose in this text?

A to explain why she has never really enjoyed sleeping

B to show how she has gradually slept less as she has got older

C to describe her changing attitudes to sleep during her life

D to criticize attitudes towards sleep in present-day society

Feedback

1 A

She says that men with dogs stroll past [her] down them ( them refers to hills ).

1 B

She says the third of the things she doesn’t [take her time with] is using her credit card , adding that more than once

she has used her credit card speedily in different places . (paragraph 1)

1 C

She mentions making … lunches every morning but not eating them.

1 D

The reference to a duster wiping a blackboard is a simile describing how quickly she goes to sleep, not a real action.

2 A

She says they went to sleep well before midnight , and gives no indication of finding that strange.

2 B

The verb lie in means staying longer in bed in the morning, not being untruthful.

2 C

What she couldn’t understand was why adults went to sleep well before midnight and then liked to lie in the next

morning. (paragraph 2)

2 D

She says that adults were slow-moving and puffy-eyed in the morning, but does not comment on how they looked

when they went to bed.

3 A

She says she remembers being tired as an adolescent and sleep became delicious.

3 B

She compares lying in bed during weekend mornings with lying in a warm bath , but does not talk literally about having

a bath.

3 C

She says she was slipping in and out of shallow slumber and turning contentedly over to find a softer spot in the

pillow. (paragraph 3)

3 D

She mentions sounds ... of ordinary life such as the coffee machine , but does not say these prevented her from

sleeping.

4 A

She had the occasional extended sleep.

4 B

She says that as a student ... it seemed easy to stay up all night. (paragraph 4)

4 C

She refers to being full of energetic tiredness , and being active, doing as much as possible each hour.

4 D

Although she was full of … coffee there is no suggestion that this was instead of eating.

5 A

She says she used to look at them ... sleeping and wish [she] was a baby too. (paragraph 5)

5 B

She mentions crying at small things , but as a response to tiredness like sadness , not to seeing her children sleeping.

5 C

She may have been relieved they were all sleeping soundly, but does not actually say this.

5 D

She sees children as lucky to be able to sleep so well, and therefore not in need of any sympathy.

6 A

She does not mention the time she goes to bed.

6 B

She wake[s] up in the morning and think[s]: no no no, I’m not ready.

6 C

She refers to wakefulness as something she can only achieve by drinking three large cups of thick black coffee , but

she does not say that this is something she would rather not do.

6 D

She remembers when she was that child ... bursting with energy, jumping out of bed, and says she wants that sense

of total wakefulness , back. (paragraph 6)

7 A

Here, it refers back to a breaking wave , used as a metaphor for sleep , she give[s] in to it . (paragraph 7)

7 B

She says I sometimes try to fight sleep , but now I lose , and Sleep triumphs .

7 C

She refers to little jobs that she wants to do, but does not specify that she is at work. Earlier in the passage

(paragraph 5) she mentions falling asleep at your computer , but not in the context of drowning in sleep.

7 D

The problem she has is with avoiding falling asleep, not with waking up.

8 A

She found sleep delicious when she was an adolescent. (paragraph 3)

8 B

She sleeps a lot these days. (paragraph 7)

8 C

She takes the reader through the five main stages of her life (paragraphs 2–6), and her feelings about sleep at each

of them.

8 D

She is talking about her own attitude to sleep at different times in her life, not that of society in general. (paragraphs

1–7)

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