testy_do_FCE.pdf

Test A

Reading FCE Paper 1

Part 1 Multiple matching

You are going to read an magazine article about a local trading system. Choose the most suitable heading

from the list A–I for each part ( 1–7 ) of the article. There is one extra heading which you do not need to use.

There is an example at the beginning ( 0 ).

A Escape the routine

D Old and young

G Help with the kids

H Learn about yourself

B A growing trend

E Who needs money?

C Back to nature

F Save the world

Anything and everything

LETS do it!

0 E

In Totnes, they use ‘acorns’, in Manchester ‘bobbins’

and in Cambridge ‘cams’. What on earth are these

you may ask? These are all currency units used in

the Local Exchange Trading Systems (LETS), a

scheme that avoids the need to pay cash for goods

and service, working instead on a bartering

exchange system.

0 E

One of the most popular things on offer as part of

the scheme is fresh fruit and vegetables – especially

if it’s organic. But there all sorts of skills and goods

that people can offer. One member renovates old

computers and another member has a selection of

ballgowns for hire – not really an everyday service,

but she was surprised at the demand.

If you’ve never heard of LETS (Local Exchange

Trading Systems) you might wonder what the fuss

is all about. With more than 400 schemes in the

UK, it’s obvious that more and more people are

catching on to the idea. And if you are tired of

seeing your cash disappear in taxes, here’s a way of

keeping your cash and exchanging your skills

instead.

Occasionally the members set up a gardening or

decorating gang, where a group gets together and

tackles a bigger job in someone’s garden or home.

There are a lot of gardeners with years of

experience. This becomes a social event too and you

can hear the laughter from one of these gangs a

long way off. Even children become involved in the

scheme – car-washing is a particular favourite.

Sean Kelly, who edits his local LETS newsletter,

lives in a village in Bedfordshire. He works

part-time for the BBC as a vision engineer. He and

his wife, who works part-time at the Open

University, moved to the village from London eight

years ago. They wanted ‘to spend time doing what

we wanted to do,’ explains Steve, and LETS ﬁts very

well into that plan.

Probably around a third of the members come to

the scheme through green or social beliefs. Some

may be members of organizations such as

Greenpeace or Friends of the Earth. They are

attracted to LETS by the fact that many goods get

recycled. One LETS group was started by a single

mother on a council estate who saw the beneﬁts for

those on lower incomes.

They joined the LETS scheme when it began after

attending a public meeting advertised in a local

newspaper. When, 18 months ago, their ﬁrst son

arrived, the LETS scheme became a godsend. Not

only have they acquired everything necessary for a

baby, they have found the idea of baby-sitting

helpful too. ‘We’ve made more friends locally

through LETS than anything else’.

But the most important thing, if you do decide to

join, is to get involved. Don’t just sit around waiting

for it to happen; you need to be active. Go to

meetings and social events, get to know people, and

soon you could be swapping skills you did not know

you had!

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Test A

Part 2 Multiple choice

You are going to read an extract from an article about receptionists. For questions 8–14 , choose the answer

A , B , C or D you think ﬁts best according to the text.

Smile please

While you are reading this I would like you to

smile. And why am I asking you to force a

smile while you are in the ofﬁce or on the

train, or while pouring out your cornﬂakes?

Because I would like you to understand what

it is like to be a receptionist. I would like you

to have some idea of how it feels to smile

continually for most of the day.

But beneath this happy exterior, the life of the

receptionist is supposedly a miserable affair. It is

like a famous actress hiding her tragedy behind a

glittering showbiz persona. For receptionists are

bored, isolated and, to be honest, want a little

respect. Or so says a survey conducted by

recruitment consultants Maine-Tucker. A third of

surveyed receptionists complained that they were

bored with their job. One hesitates to point out that

being bored in your job is rather par for the course.

It is like going to school and hating the double

maths lessons even if you are the maths teacher.

That said, of course, the receptionist has the

responsibility of not looking bored at all. All yawns

must be hidden. The receptionist simply does not

have the luxury of being able to put her head in her

hands, and swear loudly in the middle of the

afternoon.

One ﬁfth claimed that they felt cut off from the rest

of the company, especially those working in larger

organizations. All they get is a touch of the hat and

a brief hello as the rest of the company walks past

ﬁrst thing in the morning and the last thing at

night. There is no chatting about last night’s

excitement.

But being a receptionist is not merely about

answering telephones and calling up to the fourth

ﬂoor to say ‘Mr Jones, Mr Garfunkel is in

reception’. It is often about dealing with customers

or clients who are upset, or annoyed, or downright

livid. The receptionist might have to listen to a

visitor’s dissatisfaction with the company as a

whole, or about having to wait to speak to

somebody in the ﬁrm, or even that he missed his

train to work this morning and had to pay for a

cab. Some customers may be violent or threatening.

Indeed the Maine-Tucker report found that 28% of

those surveyed wanted to be treated with more

respect by both staff and visitors.

At a time when the role of secretary is viewed as

increasingly important, where a business can not

work without someone who understands the

technology and all the detail of running the ofﬁce,

receptionists are feeling particularly overlooked.

The potential for promotion from a secretarial

position is ever more likely. But for a receptionist to

go quickly up the career ladder is a much more

difﬁcult task.

It is in smaller companies, especially in start-ups,

that receptionists feel their role is more valued. In

such organizations everyone, whatever their job,

gets to contribute to a project. In this way,

receptionists may get the chance to show that they

have skills beyond the front desk, and are eligible

for promotion. Now that is a reason for smiling.

The receptionist is often viewed as the face of a

company. She or he is more than likely the ﬁrst

person visitors will meet when they enter the

building. Therefore the receptionist has to look

smartly turned out. There can’t be any spilled food

on your blouse or spinach stuck between your

teeth. Some large ﬁrms even give their receptionists

a clothing allowance to ensure that they always

look presentable. Most importantly, the receptionist

has to appear approachable. It is the absolute

opposite of the snobbish reception you get in

designer clothing stores. This is where the smiling

comes in. A genuine open-lipped smile suggests

warmth and openness.

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It is photocopiable, but all copies must be complete pages.

Test A

8 Where is the article taken from?

A a business survey

B a fashion magazine

C a daily newspaper

D a career guidance leaﬂet

9 According to the survey which is not true of receptionists?

A They sometimes feel undervalued.

B They sometimes feel isolated.

C They sometimes feel bored.

D They sometimes feel tired.

10 The writer suggests that

A all jobs are sometimes boring.

B only maths is a boring subject.

C being a receptionist is very boring.

D receptionists always look bored.

11 Some receptionists are given a clothing allowance because

A they need to tip their hat to the staff.

B they buy clothes in designer stores.

C it’s easy to spill food on their clothes.

D they need to make a good ﬁrst impression.

12 The phrase ‘downright livid’ means

A lively.

B very angry.

C they feel they are right.

D extremely violent.

13 The writer says that secretaries

A know a little about technology.

B have better career prospects than receptionists.

C often look down on receptionists.

D have similar problems to receptionists.

14 Receptionists are happier in smaller companies because

A they get the chance to start up new projects.

B they have more opportunities to smile.

C they don’t have to sit at the front desk.

D they are more involved in decision making.

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It is photocopiable, but all copies must be complete pages.

Test A

Part 3 Gapped text

You are going to read a newspaper article about a Spanish design student in London. Eight sentences have

been removed from the article. Choose from the sentences A–I the one which ﬁts each gap ( 15–21 ). There is

one extra sentence which you do not need to use. There is an example at the beginning ( 0 ).

Designer living

It is hard to tell whether Héctor Serrano is very

serious or just has a dry sense of humour. When

you enter his ﬂat you are greeted in two languages.

‘Hallo,’ he says in a thick Spanish accent, as he

opens the front door in his green glasses, brown

woolly jumper, and orange leather slippers. 0 F

Serrano has other designs on display such as his

new but unﬁnished ‘top secret’ design on his

wardrobe clothes rail. 18 It is made from

strips of plastic stuffed into a clear nylon net, which

hangs from the ceiling. There’s a drinking bottle

based on the traditional Spanish botijos . It looks

like a plastic bottle but is made in white pottery

and has a spout and handle. ‘It can be used as a

drinking bottle’ says Serrano, raising it to his lips,

‘or as a jug’. He bends over and pours the water

into a glass.

0 F

Serrano graduated from the RCA’s Product Design

MA course that year. While he was still there he

won the £16,000 Peugeot Design Award, beating his

tutor Roberto Feo. 15 It is difﬁcult to get

into the house because the hall is cluttered with

their bikes and there are piles of books and papers

everywhere. 16 The walls are all brightly

coloured, paper bags are used as lampshades and

unusual self-built furniture ﬁlls every room.

Serrano has only been in London two years.

19 Someone had told him design was nice

and easy, and he was fed up with studying physics,

maths and literature. 20 Unsurprisingly,

though, poor Serrano misses the Spanish sun and

paella. Otherwise, he’s very happy. The only thing

that upsets him are those open-backed buses in

London. ‘It might be a tradition but they are very,

very dangerous’. 21

Serrano’s workshop is in his bedroom. 17

‘They are Mr Potatohead’s glasses’, I am informed.

Was it Mr Potatohead, then that gave him the idea

for his succesful design, a soft, squeezable lamp

that won him the Peugeot award? ‘No’ he replies,

picking up and squeezing a red stress ball.

‘This was’.

* RCA stands for the Royal College of Art

A On the bench, there’s a tiny pair of glasses similar to Serrano’s own.

B He arrived here from Valencia with good reports of the RCA from a friend.

C He still lives with two RCA student friends in a rented house in Queen’s Park.

D In the corner, there is a strange looking hanging lamp.

E It is not clear if he is being serious or not.

F ‘Bonjour’ reads the doormat.

G It’s obvious that this is the ﬂat of design students.

H He wanted to study something more creative.

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This design won him the Peugeot award.

Test A

Part 4 Multiple matching

You are going to read a newspaper article, in which journalists have chosen one important book from their

childhood. For questions 22–35 , choose from the books ( A–F ). The books may be chosen more than once.

When more than one answer is required, these may be given in any order. There is an example at the

beginning ( 0 ).

Which of the books

has main characters from different social backgrounds?

0 F

has a battle between good and evil?

has a girl who is unpleasant?

has real animals?

has children who argue?

gave the reader self-belief?

is funny and sad?

helped inﬂuence the reader to become an artist?

are historical novels?

has boys and girls as the main characters?

has a girl who changes character?

has a semi-visible person?

was published once a year?

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It is photocopiable, but all copies must be complete pages.

0 F

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