CPE MID-COURSE EXAM PRACTICE

USE OF ENGLISH

Part 1
For questions 1 – 8, read the text below and decide which answer (A, B, C or D) best fits each gap.
There is an example at the beginning (0).

ADVENTURE TRAVEL

Wilfred Thesinger, the (0) ……... explorer once said, ‘We live our lives second-hand’. Sadly, his

words are true for far too many of us, as we (1) …….... in front of the television, (2) …….... in ‘reality’

television, living our adventures through the words and pictures of others. But it does not have to be

that way – there are more opportunities than ever for taking a break from our increasingly sanitised

lives and exploring not only some exotic (3) …….... of the globe, but also our own abilities and

ambitions. The kind of first-hand experience whose loss Thesinger laments is still available for

anyone willing to forsake the beaten (4) …….... , and put their mind to (5) …….... into the less

explored regions of this (6) …….... planet.

The (7) …….... in travel in recent years has been towards what is known as adventure travel. But

adventure doesn’t have to involve physical exertion; be it haggling over a souvenir in Peru, or getting

lost in the labyrinthine passages of a Moroccan souk, it all (8) …….... .

0 A descriptive B imaginary C fabled D legendary

1 A droop B slump C Sag D plunge

2 A captivated B gripped C engrossed D riveted

3 A corner B edge C angle D pocket

4 A path B road C track D course

dropping
5 A turning out B taking off C making out D off

6 A wide B diverse C mixed D different

7 A trend B direction C custom D inclination

8 A fits B belongs C counts D holds

ANSWERS 0 D 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Part 2

For questions 9 – 16, read the text below and think of the word which best fits each space. Use only
one word in each space. Write your answers IN CAPITAL LETTERS. There is an example at the
beginning (0).

MOBILE COMMUNICATION

For many people, mobile email is a habit they couldn’t give up even (0) ……… they wanted to. And
(9) …….... should they want to? (10) …..….. all, the ability to send and receive emails from a mobile
device means they can stay in touch with colleagues, friends and family, whether they’re standing in
a queue at the supermarket, downing a quick cup of coffee in (11) …….... meetings or killing
(12) ……..... before a flight.

It’s fair to say that access to email while (13) …….... the move has done much to whet appetites for
other kinds of collaborative tools. What’s (14) ……...., there’s a whole new way of working that has
opened up in recent years and, (15) …..….. a result, there’s a general expectation that efficiency
and productivity don’t necessarily take (16) …….... within the four walls of an organisation’s physical
offices.

ANSWERS

0 I F

9 13

10 14

11 15

12 16
Part 3
For questions 17-24, read the text below. Use the word given in capitals at the end of some of the lines to
form a word that fits in the gap in the same line. Write your answers IN CAPITAL LETTERS in the boxes at
the bottom. There is an example at the beginning (0).

POWER NAPS

Power napping is an (0) ………. strategy. It involves taking an intense EFFECT

sleep which dramatically improves (17) …….… , making it especially useful for ALERT

those with a demanding schedule such as mothers of babies or travelling

business (18) …….… . However, the conditions must be right and practice is EXECUTE

required to (19) …….… the effects. MAXIMUM

To prevent (20) …….… on awakening, power naps should last about 25 ORIENTATE

minutes. Falling asleep so quickly takes practice, but is in fact a habit which is

(21) …….… easy to acquire. Initially, it is more important to relax for a while COMPARE

than actually fall asleep, and power-napping is not a good idea if you find it

difficult to wake up at the (22) …….… time. DESIGN

Finally, power-napping should not be confused with the kind of dozing that can

(23) …….… a sensation of overwhelming sleepiness during the day, which COMPANY

simply represents the (24) …….… experienced in the attempt to compensate DESPAIR

for a poor sleep routine.

ANSWERS

0 E F F E C T I V E

17 21

18 22

19 23

20 24
Part 4
For questions 25 – 30, complete the second sentence so that it has a similar meaning to the first
sentence, using the word given. Do not change the word given. You must use between three and
eight words, including the word given. Here is an example (0).

Example:

0 Do you mind if I watch you while you paint?

objection

0 Do you .....have any objection to my watching..... you while you paint?

________________________________________________________________________________

25 It’s impossible to predict how long it will take to do this job.

telling

There is ……………………………………………… will take.

26 Not many people buy that particular product these days.

demand

There ……………………………………………… that particular product these days.

27 For me, his skill as a negotiator was most impressive.

how

I was most ……………………………………………… negotiator he was.

28 Nobody expected Natalia to resign.

came

Natalia’s ……………………………………………… everyone.

29 The area was completely devoid of vegetation.

whatsoever

There ……………………………………………… the area.

30 When he was at his most successful, the President had enormous influence.

height

At ………………………………………………, the President had enormous influence.

READING
Part 1
You are going to read an extract from a novel. For questions 31 – 36, choose the answer (A, B, C or
D) which you think fits best according to the text. Mark your answers on the separate answer sheet.

Lucy gets a new job on a newspaper

It was a precarious period for her where her own fortunes were concerned. She had to rely on freelance work for six
months after the quality weekly magazine folded. The regular salary cheque had always seemed derisively small, but
now it was like lost riches. Doggedly, she wrote letters and telephoned and peppered editors with unsolicited articles
and suggestions. Sometimes she struck lucky and got a commission. She wrote a profile of a woman politician who
appreciated her fair-minded approach and tipped her off about a local government row in a complacent cathedral
town. Lucy went there, investigated, talked to people and wrote a piece exposing a rich cauldron of corruption which
was snapped up by a national daily newspaper. This in turn led to a commission to investigate the controversial siting
of a theme park in the north of England. Her article was noticed by the features editor in search of something sharp
and bracing on the heritage industry in general. She was getting a name for abrasive comment, for spotting an issue
and homing in upon it. Anxiously, she scoured the press for hints of impending issues. In this trade, she saw, you
needed not so much to be abreast of things as ahead of them, lying in wait for circumstance, ready to pounce.
But an article sold every week or two did not pay the bills. She began to contemplate, bleakly, a return to the
treadmill of proofreading and copy-editing. And then one day she walked into the offices of the national daily which
had taken her cauldron of corruption piece and whose features editor had since looked kindly upon her. Having
handed over a speculative piece on the latest educational theories she’d written, she fell into conversation with an
acquaintance and learned that one of the paper’s regular columnists had fallen foul of the editor and departed in a
cloud of dust. The column, traditionally addressed to matters of the moment and written so as to provoke attention
and controversy, was untethered, so to speak. Lucy made the necessary phone call before her nerve went.
She was asked to submit a piece as a trial run which they published. ‘Great,’ they said. ‘We’ll let you know,’ they
said. ‘Soon,’ they assured her, ‘really very soon.’ She chewed her nails for a fortnight; a seasoned hack was given a
trial run after her; she read his contribution which, she saw with absolute clarity, was succinct, incisive and original.
Or just possibly anodyne, banal and plodding.
And then, the phone call came. She’d have a weekly column with her own by-line and her photograph, postage-stamp
size, next to it. There’d be a salary cheque, and perhaps fame and success to follow that. Thinking more
pragmatically, she realised that the job presented her with not only a wonderful opportunity but also the inevitable
pressure of keeping up with the twists and turns of events to which she must supply a perceptive commentary.
‘A start,’ she said to her mother, Maureen, and Bruce, her step-father. ‘It’s a start anyway, but they could fire me at
any moment.’
‘Just let them try,’ said Maureen belligerently. ‘I think you’re better with your hair a bit shorter. Or maybe that’s not
a very flattering picture. I think you’re very clever. You did some lovely essays at school. I wonder if I’ve still got
any of them somewhere.’
Later, when she was alone, Lucy thought that her appointment had probably been a piece of good fortune. She
refused to allow the word luck. She was young yet, and this was something of a plum. She must have got the job on
her merits, she told herself, along with whatever assistance there may have been from the inadequacies of others
considered for the appointment, or the failure of further rivals to apply. What she was never to know was that in fact
the editor had been on the verge of offering the column to the seasoned hack – had been about to pick up the phone –
when the colleague he most disliked had walked into his office and spoken with satisfaction of the prospect of closer
association with this old crony of his. The editor listened with some indignation, first at the assumption that this
would be his decision, and then at the notion of these two ganging up under his nose. As soon as the colleague was
out of the room he reached for the phone. And rang Lucy.
And so it began, that time during which she was so feverishly hitched to the affairs of public life that in retrospect it
was to seem as though she hurtled from day to day with the onward rush of the news, denied any of the lethargy of
individual existence.
1 After losing her job, how did Lucy feel about the salary she used to earn?

AShe had been foolish to give it up.

BIt had given her a sense of security.
CShe should have appreciated it more.
DIt represented a fair return for her work.

2 Lucy thinks the secret of success as a freelance journalist is to

Akeep yourself informed about current affairs.

Badopt a controversial style of writing.
Cidentify future newsworthy situations.
Dmake as many contacts as possible.

3 What made Lucy decide to apply for a job on the national daily?

AShe had a friend who worked there.

BShe had impressed the features editor.
CShe had gained a reputation for effective reporting.
DShe had discovered some information about a vacancy.

4 It is suggested that Lucy’s mother Maureen

Ais forgetful and absent-minded.

Bunderstands little about Lucy’s job.
Chas good critical judgement about writing.
Dexpects Lucy will have trouble with the editor.

5 On reflection, how did Lucy account for the fact that she got the job?

AShe hoped it was because she deserved it.

BShe was unable to understand how it happened.
CShe thought her age had given her an advantage.
DShe knew she was better than the many applicants.

6 The impression given of the editor is that he is

Aanxious to please his colleagues.

Bunable to make up his mind.
Cprone to act on impulse.
Dquick to take offence.
Part 2
You are going to read an extract from an article. Seven paragraphs have been removed from the
extract. Choose from the paragraphs A – H the one which fits each gap (7 – 13). There is one extra
paragraph which you do not need to use.

The fog catcher’s forest

A bare, dusty island where the rain never falls could soon be covered with trees. Fred Pearce reports.

When Spanish sailors landed in the Canary Islands authorities erected eight modest fog- collecting
th
in the 15 century, they were amazed to discover an devices on three of Lanzarote’s mountains.
aboriginal population with extensive agriculture
which they had somehow managed to sustain with 10
virtually no rainfall. Legend has it that the Guanche
people derived all their water from a single large This summer, having declared the initial experiment
tree, which stripped moisture out of passing fogs a success, the island council plans to install eight
and dripped enough water from its leaves to support much larger devices which will discharge water into
a thousand people. However true the story may be, a pumped drip irrigation network designed to keep
there is no doubt that the only thing stopping the the saplings watered. Riebold hopes that this will
Canaries from resembling the Sahara desert, just 70 form the pilot phase of a full-scale reforestation of
kilometres to the east, is the moisture-rich fog that the mountains of northern Lanzarote.
drifts in from the Atlantic Ocean.
11
7
If the initial results scale up, a new cloud forest
Sometime in the last century, the last of the trees on could restore the island to its former glory. The
high ground were cut down and the land began to Lanzarote government has targeted an area of about
dry out. This meant that across much of the north of 20 square kilometres in the north of the island,
the island, agriculture went into decline. Now David though Riebold believes that the potential area for
Riebold, a forestry scientist-turned-schoolteacher reforestation using fog collectors could stretch to 50
who owns a home on the island, has a plan to square kilometres.
reverse the trend. He wants to use artificial fog
harvesting to bring back the cloud forest, in what 12
promises to be the largest reforestation project ever
attempted using the technology. But the knock-on effects of reviving the forests go
beyond restoring the wildlife. Eventually, the forests
8 should capture enough moisture to help recharge the
area’s underground aquifers, many of which have
For years Riebold watched these failed efforts by remained empty since the forests disappeared. If this
local foresters. Then he read about a successful happens, wells down in the valleys could also refill,
research project in Chile which harvested the fogs reducing the island’s growing dependence on
that regularly rolled in from the Atacama desert. desalination, especially during the summer tourist
Nets erected on a ridge facing the ocean provided season.
enough water for a small town. Realising that
Lanzarote’s climate was very similar to Chile’s, 13
Riebold began to wonder whether fog harvesting
could be used to keep the saplings alive. Whether or not fog harvesting will prompt a large-
scale return to agriculture on the island remains to
9 be seen, but the lessons learned from harvesting fog
on the island’s hilltops may be adapted for people
On paper, fog harvesting looked like a solution to living not far away, and with a greater need to see
the island’s reforestation problems, but convincing their landscape green and watered. If Lanzarote can
the authorities to give it a try wasn’t easy. For many catch moisture from the air and convert it to forests
years Riebold tried and failed to convince anyone to and farmland, then perhaps its famine -prone
back his idea. It took the arrival of a new mayor to neighbours in West Africa could do the same.
finally get his scheme approved. ‘Proyecto David’,
as the locals call it, got under way, and the town
A This more ambitious scheme could be managed E Marciano Acuna, the local town councillor in
in one of two ways, he says. Either the hilltops charge of the environment, says he hopes the
could be covered with nets to grow new forests trees will trigger a more widespread greening
all at the same time, or this could be done in of northern Lanzarote and have an impact on
stages with a smaller number of nets being the whole ecology of the region. Once the trees
moved around to reforest each area in turn. are back, the quality of the soil will improve,
After perhaps two years of water from the fog and a long-lost forest ecosystem will have a
collectors, saplings would be tall enough to chance to return, providing habitat for species
collect the fog water themselves. long since confined to other islands in the
Canaries.
B The results look promising. A litre a day
should be enough to support one seedling, and F Even in the hottest months, clouds form over
Riebold has found that on some sites, a square the mountains of northern Lanzarote. As the
metre of net catches an average of two litres of trade winds blow over the island the mountains
water each day. One site averaged five litres a force moisture-rich vapour into droplets. The
day even at the hottest time of year. surface of the mountain is too hot for this to
happen at ground level, so the fog rarely
C Centuries ago, the island’s inhabitants carved touches the ground. ‘That’s why the saplings
tunnels up the mountainside and into died,’ says Riebold. ‘They never got tall
underground aquifers. These drained into enough to touch the fog and capture the
collecting areas lower down. Once the island’s moisture on their leaves.’
main source of water, they could be brought
back to life by reinstating the cloud forest. G Farmers would certainly benefit, as water in
Lanzarote has become very expensive, and
D In times gone by, all seven of the islands had there are tight restrictions on the irrigation of
rich cloud forests that trapped moisture from farmland. This has made agriculture
the trade winds and quenched an otherwise dry increasingly difficult and, combined with the
region. More recently, though, much of the rise of tourism as a source of revenue, has
islands’ forest has been lost – removed for turned it into a weekend occupation at best for
firewood, construction and to make way for many residents.
farmland. Most of the islands still have some
degree of forest cover, but one, Lanzarote, is H The bare hills in this region have been of
all but bare. increasing concern to the island’s authorities.
Despite numerous attempts in the past decade,
all replanting schemes have so far been
unsuccessful. With limited water supplies on
the island, the newly planted trees dried out
and died, leaving the hilltops littered with
hundreds of dead saplings.
Part 3
You are going to read an extract from a book on photography. For questions 14 – 23, choose from the
sections (A – E). The sections may be chosen more than once.

In which section are the following mentioned?

the possibility that photography can directly influence events in the world 14 ……..

the possibility that the photographic image has become redundant 15 ……..

images being interpreted in a similar way by different societies 16 ……..

a commonly held view about the relationship between what is visible and how it is 17 ……..
interpreted

the contrasts of scale that can be represented in photography 18 ……..

the possibility that the techniques employed in photography today have taken the 19 ……..
medium back to where it started

the ability of photography to provide images that will exist for a long time 20 ……..

uncertainty as to whether the main purpose of photography is to inform or to 21 ……..

entertain

the potential of photography to epitomise the human condition 22 ……..

the view that photography was the greatest achievement in the history of visual 23 ……..
images
Photography - A historical background

A Over the past one and a half centuries, camera was regarded as a machine that could
photography has been used to record all aspects provide a fixed image. And this image was
of human life and activity. During this relatively considered to be a very close approximation to
short history, the medium has expanded its that which we actually see.
capabilities in the recording of time and space, Because of the camera’s perceived realism in its
thus allowing human vision to be able to view ability to replicate visual perception, it was
the fleeting moment or to visualise both the vast assumed that all peoples would ‘naturally’ be
and the minuscule. It has brought us images able to understand photographs. This gave rise
from remote areas of the world, distant parts of to the question of whether photography
the solar system, as well as the social constituted a ‘universal language’. For example,
complexities and crises of modern life. Indeed, a photograph of the heavens, whether it showed
the photographic medium has provided one of the sun and moon or the constellations, would
the most important and influential means of immediately be understood in any part of the
capturing the essence of our being alive. world. In the face of the rapid increase in global
Nonetheless, the recording of events by means communications, we do need at least to ask to
of the visual image has a much longer history. what extent the photographic image can
The earliest creations of pictorial recording go as penetrate through cultural differences in
far back as the Upper Palaeolithic period of understanding.
about 35,000 years ago and, although we cannot
be sure of the exact purposes of the early cave D There are other questions that arise
paintings, pictorial images seem to be concerning the role of photography in society
inextricably linked to human culture as we that have aimed to determine whether the
understand it. camera operates as a mute, passive recorder of
what is happening or whether it possesses the
B Throughout the history of visual voice and power to instigate social change. We
representation, questions have been raised may further speculate whether the camera
concerning the supposed accuracy (or otherwise) provides images that have a truly educational
of visual images, as well as their status in function or if it operates primarily as a source of
society. Ideas and debates concerning how we amusement. In provoking such issues, the
see the world and the status of its pictorial photographic debate reflects polarised
representations have been central political, arguments that traditionally have characterised
philosophical and psychological issues from the much intellectual thought.
time of Ancient Greece to the present-day
technical revolution of the new media E The last 170 years have witnessed an ever-
communications. Vision and representation have increasing influence of the visual image,
pursued interdependent trajectories, counter- culminating in the global primacy of television.
influencing each other throughout history. The For photography, the new prospects and
popular notion that ‘seeing is believing’ had uncertainties posed by digital storage and
always afforded special status to the visual manipulation, and the transmission of images via
image. So when the technology was invented, in the internet present new challenges. It has even
the form of photography, the social and cultural been suggested that we now inhabit the ‘post-
impact was immense. Not only did it hold out photographic era’ – where technological and
the promise of providing a record of vision, but cultural change have devalued photography to
it had the capacity to make such representation such an extent that events have taken us beyond
enduring. the photograph’s use and value as a medium of
communication. Furthermore, perhaps we
C In the mid- nineteenth century, the invention should be asking if the advent of digital imagery
of photography appeared to offer the promise of means that photography, initially born from
‘automatically’ providing an accurate visual painting, has turned full circle and has now
record. It was seen not only as the culmination returned to emulating painting – its progenitor.
of visual representation but, quite simply, the

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CPE MID-COURSE EXAM PRACTICE - USE OF ENGLISH - ANSWERS

Part 1
1B 2C 3A 4C 5B 6B 7A 8C

Part 2
9 WHY 13 ON
10 AFTER 14 MORE
11 BETWEEN 15 AS
12 TIME 16 PLACE

Part 3
17 ALERTNESS 21 COMPARATIVELY
18 EXECUTIVES 22 DESIGNATED
19 MAXIMISE/MAXIMIZE 23 ACCOMPANY
20 DISORIENTATION 24 DESPERATION

Part 4 IMPORTANT: TAKE OFF 1 MARK FOR EACH PART WHICH IS WRONG
25 no (way / chance of) telling | how long this/the job/work
26 is | (very) little demand for OR is not/isn't | a lot of/much (of a) demand for
27 impressed to see/by/with/at | (just) how skilled/skilful/skillful a
28 resignation / resigning / decision to resign came | as a (total/complete) surprise / shock to
29 was no / was not any vegetation | whatsoever in OR was nothing | whatsoever growing in
30 the height of | his success

READING – ANSWERS
Part 1
1C 2C 3D 4B 5A 6C

Part 2
7D 8H 9F 10 B 11 A 12 E 13 G

Part 3
14 D 15 E 16 C 17 B 18 A 19 E 20 B 21 D 22 A 23 C

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