Đề thi thử CEFR C1 số 2: CEFR C1 Mock Test 2

Use of English (45 phút)

Part 1: Multiple-choice cloze

Read the text below and decide which answer best fits each gap.

Letting nature take over

Rewilding, the idea of restoring natural processes to land that has long been managed by humans, has (1) ____ considerable momentum in recent years. Rather than planting trees in neat rows or controlling every aspect of a landscape, rewilders aim to step back and let nature (2) ____ its course, sometimes reintroducing animals that once lived in the area to help the process along.

The results can be striking. On one former farm, where cattle and crops were removed and the land was left largely to its own (3) ____, rare birds and insects returned within a decade. Supporters argue that such projects are far more cost-effective than conventional conservation, which often (4) ____ heavily on constant intervention.

Not everyone is enthusiastic, however. Farmers in particular have (5) ____ concerns about the reintroduction of predators, fearing for their livestock. Others object that land which could be used to grow food is being taken out of production at a time when food security is a (6) ____ issue.

Advocates insist that the two aims need not be (7) ____ exclusive. Rewilding, they say, can take place on land of little agricultural value, and can even benefit nearby farms by improving soil and water quality. Whether such arguments will (8) ____ over the sceptics remains to be seen.

1. Gap 1: has ____ considerable momentum
   • gained
   • earned
   • caught
   • won
2. Gap 2: let nature ____ its course
   • make
   • hold
   • keep
   • take
3. Gap 3: the land was left largely to its own ____
   • resources
   • devices
   • means
   • methods
4. Gap 4: conventional conservation, which often ____ heavily on constant intervention
   • counts
   • insists
   • relies
   • trusts
5. Gap 5: Farmers in particular have ____ concerns
   • spoken
   • voiced
   • told
   • sounded
6. Gap 6: food security is a ____ issue
   • forcing
   • pushing
   • pressing
   • squeezing
7. Gap 7: the two aims need not be ____ exclusive
   • equally
   • jointly
   • reciprocally
   • mutually
8. Gap 8: Whether such arguments will ____ over the sceptics
   • win
   • beat
   • gain
   • earn

Part 2: Open cloze

Read the text below and think of the word which best fits each gap. Use only ONE word in each gap.

A revolution in your pocket

It is hard to imagine now, but there was a time when buying a new book was a luxury (9) ____ few ordinary readers could afford. New novels and works of history were printed in expensive hardback editions, and anyone (10) ____ could not afford them had to rely on libraries or wait years for cheaper versions to appear.

That changed in the 1930s, when a number of publishers began to experiment with low-cost paperbacks. The idea was not new in (11) ____, but what made these editions different was their quality. Rather (12) ____ printing cheap thrillers, they offered well-known literary works at a price most people could afford, and sold them not only in bookshops but in railway stations and department stores.

Many in the book trade predicted that the venture would fail, (13) ____ that if it succeeded, it would destroy the market for hardbacks. Neither fear proved justified. The paperbacks sold in enormous numbers, and far (14) ____ harming the industry, they created a whole new generation of readers. (15) ____ the end of the decade, paperbacks had become a familiar sight on trains and buses. Few inventions have done (16) ____ to make literature available to everyone.

1. Gap 9: a luxury ____ few ordinary readers could afford
2. Gap 10: anyone ____ could not afford them
3. Gap 11: The idea was not new in ____
4. Gap 12: Rather ____ printing cheap thrillers
5. Gap 13: predicted that the venture would fail, ____ that if it succeeded, it would destroy the market
6. Gap 14: far ____ harming the industry
7. Gap 15: ____ the end of the decade
8. Gap 16: Few inventions have done ____ to make literature available

Part 3: Word formation

Read the text below. Use the word given in capitals to form a word that fits the gap.

Working in the gig economy

Over the past decade, the number of people earning a living through short-term, app-based work has risen (17) ____ (DRAMA). For many, the main attraction is (18) ____ (FLEXIBLE): drivers and couriers can, in theory, choose when and how much they work.

Critics, however, argue that this freedom comes at a price. Gig workers are usually classified as self-employed, which means they are not (19) ____ (TITLE) to sick pay or holiday pay. Their (20) ____ (EARN) can vary greatly from week to week, making it difficult to plan ahead, and some describe a constant sense of (21) ____ (SECURE), never knowing whether there will be enough work.

Companies maintain that their platforms provide valuable opportunities, particularly for people who might otherwise struggle to find (22) ____ (EMPLOY). Several courts have nevertheless ruled that the relationship between platform and worker is closer to traditional employment than the companies' public (23) ____ (STATE) suggest. The debate is likely to (24) ____ (INTENSE) as more sectors adopt the same model.

1. Gap 17: has risen ____ (DRAMA)
2. Gap 18: the main attraction is ____ (FLEXIBLE)
3. Gap 19: they are not ____ to sick pay (TITLE)
4. Gap 20: Their ____ can vary greatly (EARN)
5. Gap 21: a constant sense of ____ (SECURE)
6. Gap 22: struggle to find ____ (EMPLOY)
7. Gap 23: than the companies' public ____ suggest (STATE)
8. Gap 24: The debate is likely to ____ (INTENSE)

Part 4: Key word transformations

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. Use between THREE and SIX words, including the word given.

1. They postponed the concert because the singer was ill. Key word: PUT The concert ____ because the singer was ill.
2. It's possible that he didn't receive my message. Key word: MIGHT He ____ my message.
3. I had never seen such a beautiful sunset before. Key word: TIME It was the ____ seen such a beautiful sunset.
4. Nobody expected her to win the prize. Key word: SURPRISE Much ____ won the prize.
5. I only realised how much I had missed her when she came back. Key word: UNTIL It was not ____ realised how much I had missed her.
6. The manager said that we absolutely had to finish the report by Friday. Key word: INSISTED The manager ____ the report by Friday.

Reading (55 phút)

Part 1: Four days a week

Read the article. For each question, choose the answer which you think fits best according to the text.

When the directors of Halden and Pryce, a mid-sized engineering consultancy, announced that staff would be moving to a four-day week with no reduction in pay, the reaction in the office was not quite what they had expected. 'Half the people thought it was a joke,' recalls operations director Sunita Varma, 'and the other half assumed there had to be a catch. Nobody, as far as I could tell, simply believed it.'

There was, in a sense, a catch, although not the one staff feared. The arrangement was explicitly a trial, to last six months, and it came with a condition: the firm's output would be measured throughout, and if productivity fell significantly, the old system would return. 'We were very clear that this wasn't a reward,' Varma says. 'It was an experiment, and we wanted everyone to understand that whether it continued depended on them.'

What followed was, by most accounts, a period of intense and occasionally uncomfortable reorganisation. Meetings, which had previously filled large parts of many people's weeks, were cut back drastically; a rule was introduced that none could last more than thirty minutes without a written justification. Staff were encouraged to block out periods of uninterrupted work during which colleagues were not to contact them except in emergencies. Some of the changes were proposed by managers, but many came from employees themselves, who had, it turned out, long had views about which parts of their working week were wasted.

By the end of the six months, the results were, on paper at least, impressive. Output had held steady, and in some departments it had risen. Sickness absence fell by nearly a third. In an anonymous survey, the vast majority of staff reported lower stress and better sleep. The firm made the arrangement permanent.

And yet the picture is not entirely straightforward. Several employees interviewed for this article described the new working week as more intense than the old one. 'We do the same amount of work in four days that we used to do in five,' says one engineer, who asked not to be named. 'That's great when you get to Friday. But Monday to Thursday, there's no slack at all. You can't have a quiet half hour chatting to someone by the coffee machine, because you know you'll pay for it later.' Others mentioned that the informal conversations which once helped new staff to settle in had become rarer.

Varma acknowledges these concerns. 'The risk is that you squeeze out everything that isn't directly productive, and some of those things matter enormously,' she says. 'Mentoring, for instance, or just people getting to know each other. We've had to make deliberate space for that, which feels a bit artificial, but it's better than losing it altogether.'

Economists who study such trials are cautious about drawing broad conclusions. Halden and Pryce, they point out, is a knowledge-based business in which much of the work is done at a desk and can be reorganised relatively easily. A hospital, a factory or a shop, where someone has to be physically present for a fixed number of hours, would face entirely different challenges. There is also the question of whether the early gains last, or whether they reflect the initial enthusiasm of staff eager to prove that the experiment could work.

For now, though, there is little appetite at the firm for going back. 'Ask anyone here whether they'd give up their Fridays,' Varma says, 'and you'll get a very short answer.'

1. How did staff first react to the announcement?
   • with disbelief
   • with anger
   • with enthusiasm
   • with indifference
2. Why does Varma stress that the four-day week 'wasn't a reward'?
   • to explain why salaries would be reduced
   • to make staff aware that its future depended on results
   • to reassure staff that it was permanent
   • to suggest that it had been forced on the company by its staff
3. What does the writer say about the changes made during the trial?
   • Most of them were unpopular with managers.
   • They were mainly concerned with technology.
   • Many of them were suggested by employees.
   • They were introduced only after the trial ended.
4. The engineer quoted in the fifth paragraph suggests that the new system
   • has reduced the amount of work he does
   • has made Fridays more stressful
   • has improved relationships with colleagues
   • leaves no room for relaxing during the working day
5. What problem does Varma admit has arisen?
   • Some staff have been working on Fridays.
   • New employees have been leaving the company.
   • Activities that are not directly productive are at risk.
   • Productivity has fallen noticeably in some of the departments.
6. Why are economists cautious about the results?
   • The company's type of work may not be typical.
   • The company's figures were incomplete.
   • The survey was not anonymous.
   • Staff were paid extra during the trial.
7. What does Varma's final comment suggest?
   • The company may abandon the arrangement.
   • Staff are firmly in favour of keeping the arrangement.
   • Staff are unwilling to discuss the trial.
   • Some staff would secretly prefer to return to working five days.

Part 2: The fermenter

Read the article. Five sentences have been removed from the article. Choose the sentence which fits each gap. There is one extra sentence which you do not need to use.

In a converted railway arch on the edge of the city, Mateo Lindgren keeps more than two hundred glass jars on shelves that reach almost to the ceiling. Inside them, cabbage, plums, barley and dozens of other ingredients are slowly being transformed by the bacteria and yeasts that live on them. (8) ____ To Mateo, it is the most exciting thing happening in any kitchen.

Fermentation is one of the oldest methods of preserving food, and versions of it exist in almost every culinary tradition, from Korean kimchi to German sauerkraut. For most of human history, it was less a matter of taste than of survival, a way of making the harvest last through the winter. (9) ____ But in the past fifteen years or so, a new generation of chefs has rediscovered it, drawn not by necessity but by the extraordinary flavours it produces.

Mateo came to it almost by accident. Working as a junior cook in a busy restaurant, he was given the job of dealing with the vast quantities of vegetables left over at the end of each week. Throwing them away seemed a waste, so he began experimenting with salting and pickling them. (10) ____ 'I had no idea what I was doing,' he admits. 'I just kept notes on everything, and gradually I started to understand what worked.'

That habit of careful record-keeping has stayed with him. Each jar is labelled with its contents, the date it was started and the temperature of the room, and Mateo tastes every one at regular intervals, noting how the flavour changes. (11) ____ A ferment that is delicious after three weeks may be inedible after six, and the difference between the two is often a matter of a degree or two of temperature.

Fermentation also requires a certain tolerance of uncertainty, which Mateo believes many professional cooks find difficult. 'Chefs are trained to control everything,' he says. 'Here, you set up the conditions and then you have to let the microbes do their work. You're more like a gardener than an engineer.' (12) ____

His restaurant, which opened two years ago, now has a waiting list of several months. Mateo, however, seems more interested in teaching than in fame. Every Sunday he runs a workshop for home cooks, and he insists that anyone can learn. 'People are scared of it because they think it's dangerous,' he says. 'In fact, if you follow a few simple rules, it's one of the safest ways of preparing food there is.'

1. Which sentence fits gap 8?
   • Many of the early results were inedible, but a few were remarkable.
   • It is a process that can take anything from a few days to several years.
   • With the arrival of refrigeration, much of that knowledge began to disappear from ordinary homes.
   • This is essential, because a ferment rarely stands still.
   • Some of the chefs who have worked with him have found this adjustment surprisingly hard.
   • He has since given up cooking in restaurants altogether, and now sells his ferments only to a handful of local shops.
2. Which sentence fits gap 9?
   • Many of the early results were inedible, but a few were remarkable.
   • It is a process that can take anything from a few days to several years.
   • With the arrival of refrigeration, much of that knowledge began to disappear from ordinary homes.
   • This is essential, because a ferment rarely stands still.
   • Some of the chefs who have worked with him have found this adjustment surprisingly hard.
   • He has since given up cooking in restaurants altogether, and now sells his ferments only to a handful of local shops.
3. Which sentence fits gap 10?
   • Many of the early results were inedible, but a few were remarkable.
   • It is a process that can take anything from a few days to several years.
   • With the arrival of refrigeration, much of that knowledge began to disappear from ordinary homes.
   • This is essential, because a ferment rarely stands still.
   • Some of the chefs who have worked with him have found this adjustment surprisingly hard.
   • He has since given up cooking in restaurants altogether, and now sells his ferments only to a handful of local shops.
4. Which sentence fits gap 11?
   • Many of the early results were inedible, but a few were remarkable.
   • It is a process that can take anything from a few days to several years.
   • With the arrival of refrigeration, much of that knowledge began to disappear from ordinary homes.
   • This is essential, because a ferment rarely stands still.
   • Some of the chefs who have worked with him have found this adjustment surprisingly hard.
   • He has since given up cooking in restaurants altogether, and now sells his ferments only to a handful of local shops.
5. Which sentence fits gap 12?
   • Many of the early results were inedible, but a few were remarkable.
   • It is a process that can take anything from a few days to several years.
   • With the arrival of refrigeration, much of that knowledge began to disappear from ordinary homes.
   • This is essential, because a ferment rarely stands still.
   • Some of the chefs who have worked with him have found this adjustment surprisingly hard.
   • He has since given up cooking in restaurants altogether, and now sells his ferments only to a handful of local shops.

Part 3: Starting again

Read about five people who changed career in midlife. For each question, choose the correct person. Each person may be chosen more than once.

A. Rachel, from lawyer to primary teacher After twelve years as a lawyer, I retrained as a primary school teacher. People assume the two jobs have nothing in common, but I was surprised by how much of what I learned in law has carried over. Being able to explain a complicated situation simply, and to stay calm when someone is shouting at you, are skills I use every day with nine-year-olds and their parents. I don't regret the move for a moment, though I'd be lying if I said I didn't sometimes miss the intellectual challenge of a difficult case, and the experience of being treated as an expert by other adults.

B. Kenji, from banker to furniture maker I'd been in banking for fifteen years when a close friend of mine, the same age as me, had a heart attack. He recovered, but it made me ask what I was doing with my life. Within six months I'd handed in my notice and enrolled on a furniture-making course. I now earn roughly a quarter of what I used to, and we've had to sell the house and move somewhere much smaller. It's been worth it, but I wouldn't pretend that kind of change is possible for everyone.

C. Fatima, from nurse to software developer I was forty-four when I started learning to code, and I almost didn't. Every course I looked at seemed to be full of twenty-two-year-olds, and I genuinely wondered whether my brain could still absorb something so new at my age. The intensive course I eventually took was far tougher than I'd imagined. There were weeks when I was studying until two in the morning and still felt I was falling behind. But I got through it, and I now work for a small company that makes booking systems for gyms.

D. Luis, from journalist to firefighter It was my wife who first suggested it. I'd always talked about wanting a job that was more physical and less about sitting at a screen, and one evening she put the application form in front of me and told me to stop talking and start doing. My colleagues at the newspaper thought I'd gone completely mad, and one or two of them told me so in quite unkind terms. The fitness tests were demanding at thirty-nine, but I'd been preparing for months, so they went better than I'd feared.

E. Ingrid, from marketing manager to midwife I didn't leave marketing overnight. For three years I worked part-time while I studied, first one day a week, then two, then three, until finally I was ready to leave altogether. It was exhausting, but it meant I could be sure before I left a job I knew well. If I have one regret, it's that I waited so long. I'd known for at least a decade that marketing wasn't for me, and I spent those years telling myself I couldn't afford to change.

1. Which person has accepted a much lower income?
   • A (Rachel)
   • B (Kenji)
   • C (Fatima)
   • D (Luis)
   • E (Ingrid)
2. Which person doubted whether they could learn something new at their age?
   • A (Rachel)
   • B (Kenji)
   • C (Fatima)
   • D (Luis)
   • E (Ingrid)
3. Which person found that skills from their old job were useful in the new one?
   • A (Rachel)
   • B (Kenji)
   • C (Fatima)
   • D (Luis)
   • E (Ingrid)
4. Which person was pushed into acting by a family member?
   • A (Rachel)
   • B (Kenji)
   • C (Fatima)
   • D (Luis)
   • E (Ingrid)
5. Which person made the change in stages?
   • A (Rachel)
   • B (Kenji)
   • C (Fatima)
   • D (Luis)
   • E (Ingrid)
6. Which person wishes they had changed career sooner?
   • A (Rachel)
   • B (Kenji)
   • C (Fatima)
   • D (Luis)
   • E (Ingrid)
7. Which person found the training more difficult than expected?
   • A (Rachel)
   • B (Kenji)
   • C (Fatima)
   • D (Luis)
   • E (Ingrid)
8. Which person was prompted to change by something that happened to someone else?
   • A (Rachel)
   • B (Kenji)
   • C (Fatima)
   • D (Luis)
   • E (Ingrid)
9. Which person misses certain aspects of their previous job?
   • A (Rachel)
   • B (Kenji)
   • C (Fatima)
   • D (Luis)
   • E (Ingrid)
10. Which person faced a hostile reaction from colleagues?
    • A (Rachel)
    • B (Kenji)
    • C (Fatima)
    • D (Luis)
    • E (Ingrid)

Part 4: The photograph and the memory

Read the essay. For each question, choose the answer which you think fits best according to the text.

A few years ago, I came across a box of photographs in my parents' attic, most of them taken during my childhood. Among them was a picture of me, aged about six, standing on a beach beside a sandcastle that seemed, from my expression, to be the proudest achievement of my life. I remembered the day vividly, or thought I did: the wind, the cold water, my father helping me dig the moat. It was only when my mother looked over my shoulder that I discovered I had not been there at all. The photograph showed my cousin, who at that age looked remarkably like me, and the holiday had taken place the year before I was born.

The episode, embarrassing as it was, set me thinking about the strange relationship between photographs and memory. We tend to assume that photographs preserve the past, that they act as a kind of external storage, holding on to moments that our unreliable minds might otherwise lose. And in a narrow sense, they do. But there is growing evidence that they also shape and sometimes distort what we remember, in ways we are rarely aware of.

Psychologists have long known that memory is not a recording but a reconstruction. Each time we recall an event, we rebuild it from fragments, filling in gaps with what seems plausible. A photograph offers an unusually vivid set of fragments, and it is easy for these to be absorbed into the memory itself, so that we come to 'remember' details we only ever saw in the picture. In some experiments, researchers have even succeeded in persuading people that they took part in events that never happened, simply by showing them altered photographs.

There is a further, subtler effect. Studies suggest that people who photograph an experience sometimes remember it less well than those who simply watch, as if the act of taking the picture allows the mind to hand over responsibility for remembering. The camera, in effect, becomes a substitute for attention. This seems to apply particularly when people photograph indiscriminately, recording everything in front of them rather than choosing what matters.

None of this is an argument for giving up photography. I treasure the pictures in that box, including, perhaps especially, the one of my cousin. But it does suggest that we might think differently about what photographs are for. They are less a faithful record of the past than an invitation to remember, and like all invitations, they can be accepted in ways that are generous, inventive or simply mistaken.

It also suggests a case for taking fewer pictures. In an age when the average phone contains thousands of images, most of which will never be looked at again, the photograph has lost much of its former weight. When my grandparents had a portrait taken, it was an occasion; there might be a dozen photographs of them in their entire lives, each one looked at many times. Our own images are so numerous that they are almost weightless, and it is not clear that they help us to remember anything at all.

Perhaps the best approach is the one my mother, without intending to, demonstrated in the attic. Photographs are most valuable not when we look at them alone, but when we look at them with other people who can tell us what they show, correct our mistakes and add what the camera missed. The memory that results may not be perfectly accurate. But it will at least be shared, and that may be the most a memory can hope to be.

1. What did the writer discover about the photograph he found in the attic?
   • It had been taken by his cousin.
   • It showed a holiday he had forgotten.
   • It had been damaged over the years.
   • It showed an event he could not have remembered.
2. What does the writer say about the common assumption that photographs preserve the past?
   • It is completely mistaken.
   • It is supported by recent evidence.
   • It applies only to old photographs.
   • It is true only in a limited sense.
3. According to the third paragraph, photographs can affect memory because
   • details from them can become part of what we think we remember
   • they are often altered, without our knowledge, by the people who take them
   • they are usually taken from a misleading angle
   • they make us less interested in the past
4. What is suggested about people who photograph experiences?
   • They choose carefully what to photograph.
   • They may pay less attention to what is happening.
   • They usually remember events more accurately.
   • They look at their pictures more often.
5. What does the writer mean by calling photographs 'an invitation to remember'?
   • They should be shared with as many other people as possible.
   • They are more reliable than written records.
   • They prompt memories but do not guarantee their accuracy.
   • They are mostly taken at social occasions.
6. Why does the writer mention his grandparents?
   • to suggest that portraits are more accurate than other photographs
   • to contrast the value once given to photographs with the present
   • to show that older people remember more
   • to explain where the photographs in the attic came from
7. What does the writer mean by saying that modern images are 'almost weightless'?
   • They have lost much of their significance.
   • They are of poor technical quality.
   • They take up very little storage space.
   • They are easy to share with others.
8. What does the writer conclude about the best way to use photographs?
   • They should be kept in a safe place.
   • They are best looked at alone and in silence.
   • They are most valuable when viewed with other people.
   • They should be checked carefully against other records for accuracy.

Listening (40 phút)

Part 1: Farming on a volcano

You will hear a soil scientist talking to visitors on an island. Complete the sentences. Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER for each answer.

Phần nghe phát trong phòng thi.

1. The dark colour of the ground comes from volcanic ____.
2. The last major eruption happened about ____ ago.
3. Volcanic ash is rich in ____ that plants need.
4. Rainfall on the island is very low in ____.
5. The stone walls on the hillsides protect crops from the ____.
6. Restaurants on the mainland increasingly want the island's ____.
7. Many vines are planted in shallow ____ dug into the ash.
8. Instruments on the volcano record tiny ____ in the ground.
9. The average age of farmers on Varossa is now over ____.
10. So far, ____ people have joined the new training programme.

Part 2: Setting crosswords

You will hear an interview with a man who writes crosswords for newspapers. For each question, choose the answer which fits best according to what you hear.

Phần nghe phát trong phòng thi.

1. How did Alastair start setting crosswords?
   • An editor invited him to contribute.
   • He won a crossword competition.
   • A friend who worked for a local newspaper suggested that he should try.
   • He sent in a puzzle, believing he could do better than their setter.
2. What was the editor's response to his first puzzle?
   • It needed to be made easier.
   • It was too easy.
   • It contained mistakes.
   • It was too long.
3. According to Alastair, the skill in writing a cryptic clue lies in
   • making the definition as obscure as possible so that solvers struggle
   • hiding which part is the definition and which is the wordplay
   • choosing unusual answers
   • using as many words as possible
4. What does Alastair consider a sign that a clue has failed?
   • The solver finds the answer too quickly.
   • The clue has been rewritten many times.
   • The solver cannot see how the answer was reached.
   • The solver needs a dictionary.
5. How does Alastair feel about complaints from solvers?
   • He accepts that they are sometimes justified.
   • He finds them upsetting and ignores them.
   • He thinks most of them are unfair.
   • He replies to every one personally.
6. What is Alastair's attitude to technology?
   • It now writes many of his clues.
   • It has made crosswords too easy.
   • It helps with some tasks but cannot replace human creativity.
   • It has spoiled the pleasure of crosswords by making answers easy to find.
7. Why won't Alastair name his favourite clue?
   • He cannot remember which one it is.
   • He fears people would say it was not very clever.
   • He has promised his editor not to.
   • He thinks all his clues are equally good.

Part 3: A tourist tax

You will hear a discussion between a city councillor, Miriam, and a hotel owner, Tom, about a proposed tourist tax. For each question, choose the answer which fits best according to what you hear.

Phần nghe phát trong phòng thi.

1. What is Tom's main objection to the proposal?
   • The money would be spent on the wrong things.
   • Visitors should not have to contribute at all.
   • The charge is too high for most visitors.
   • Visitors who stay only for the day would not pay.
2. How does Miriam respond to Tom's objection?
   • She promises that cruise ships will start being charged next year.
   • She rejects it as unfair.
   • She admits it is valid but says it is hard to deal with.
   • She says day visitors already pay enough.
3. What does Tom's comment about 'five years' suggest?
   • He is sceptical about the council's progress.
   • He believes the port is to blame.
   • He has taken part in the talks himself.
   • He thinks the talks should be given more time.
4. What evidence does Miriam use against Tom's concern about competitiveness?
   • Hotels in nearby resorts are more expensive.
   • Visitors have said they would happily pay.
   • Most families do not stay a full week.
   • Visitor numbers in other cities have not fallen.
5. Why does Tom think his city may be different?
   • It is more famous than nearby resorts.
   • Low cost is one of its main attractions.
   • It has fewer hotels than other cities.
   • Its visitors mostly stay for long periods.
6. What does Tom say about the exemption for children?
   • It will be impossible to enforce.
   • It is unfair to adult visitors.
   • It will reduce the income too much.
   • It goes some way towards meeting his concerns.
7. What do both speakers agree on by the end?
   • The charge should be lowered further to protect small family hotels.
   • There must be a reliable way to show how the money is spent.
   • Cruise ship passengers should pay more.
   • The general budget needs more money.

Part 4: Writing subtitles

You will hear an interview with a woman who writes subtitles for films. For each question, choose the answer which fits best according to what you hear.

Phần nghe phát trong phòng thi.

1. According to Sofia, the main challenge of subtitling is
   • fitting the dialogue into very limited space and time
   • finding the right words in the other language
   • understanding the actors' accents
   • working with film directors
2. What does Sofia try hardest to keep in her subtitles?
   • the exact grammar and word order of the original dialogue
   • every word the actors say
   • features of speech that show what characters are like
   • hesitations and repetitions
3. What does Sofia do when a joke cannot be translated?
   • She explains the joke in a note.
   • She adds a different joke elsewhere.
   • She leaves the line without a subtitle.
   • She makes sure the line at least makes sense.
4. What is Sofia's view of correcting machine translations?
   • It is often slower than translating from the beginning.
   • It produces better results than translation done entirely by humans.
   • It has made her work much more efficient.
   • It is suitable only for comedy.
5. What does Sofia say about bilingual viewers?
   • They are usually satisfied with her work.
   • They rarely watch subtitled films.
   • They forget who the subtitles are really for.
   • They should be employed by companies to check subtitles.
6. What does Sofia find most satisfying about her work?
   • a film winning an award
   • the audience not noticing the subtitles
   • meeting the film's director
   • viewers praising her subtitles

Writing (70 phút)

Part 1: Essay

You must answer this question. Write your answer in 220 to 260 words in an appropriate style.

1. Your class has watched a documentary about traffic congestion in large cities. You have made the notes below. Ways of reducing traffic congestion: - charging drivers to enter the city centre - improving public transport - encouraging people to work from home Some opinions expressed in the documentary: 'Charges hit the people who can least afford them.' 'People will leave their cars at home only if the alternative is genuinely better.' 'Not every job can be done from a kitchen table.' Write an essay discussing TWO of the methods in your notes. You should explain which method would be more effective, giving reasons in support of your answer. You may, if you wish, make use of the opinions expressed in the documentary, but you should use your own words as far as possible.

   Tối thiểu 220 từ.

Part 2: Report

Write your answer in 220 to 260 words in an appropriate style.

1. This year your college ran a language exchange programme with a college in another country. The college board has asked you to write a report evaluating the programme. In your report you should: - describe briefly what the programme involved - assess its main strengths and weaknesses - recommend whether it should continue and, if so, how it could be improved.

   Tối thiểu 220 từ.