CAE PRACTICE TEST 1b

Reading: Multiple Matching

1. Read the article about the explorer Ranulph Ficnnes quickly. In the article, is he mainly A. giving advice to inexperienced explorers? B. talking about the nature of exploration? C. promoting adventure travel to young people? 2. For questions 1-15, answer by choosing from the sections of the article (A-G). Some of the choices may be required more than once. In which section are the following mentioned? the suggestion that Fiennes still seems enthusiastic about exploration 1 ___ an aspect of Fiennes's character that has been unfairly highlighted 2 ___ a negative effect of the growing interest in adventure travel 3 ___ a reason Fiennes gives for exploration becoming more appealing to amateurs 4 ___ a misconception regarding the knowledge previous explorers had 5 ___ Fiennes's fascination with a field in which he is fairly inexperienced 6 ___ Fiennes's opinion that someone who is reasonably fit could reach the South Pole 7 ___ the belief that explorers have too much respect for their own field 8 ___ the view that only professional explorers were capable of reaching distant destinations 9 ___ the instinctive human desire to explore new places 10 ___ the suggestion that more care is taken on difficult routes 11 ___ Fiennes's primary motivation for being an explorer 12 ___ the importance given by explorers to achieving something before anyone else 13 ___ Fiennes being held in high regard by other adventurers 14 ___ Fiennes's suggestion that people find increasingly unusual ways to achieve recognition 15 ___

Vocabulary
Verb and noun collocations Complete each of the gaps with one of the words from the box. out with in to into 1. Their solar panel business ran __________ problems after a succession of wet summers in the mid-1990s. 2. Last year's police campaign to reduce the number of accidents on motorways met ________ limited success. 3. Union leaders have not ruled ____________ the possibility of taking strike action. 4. Her attempt to cycle across the Sahara ended ____________ failure yesterday, when she fell off her bike and broke her leg. 5. Taking on the Cup holders was no easy task, but they rose ____________ the challenge and drew 1-1. Adjective and noun collocations 1. One of the items of vocabulary in each group is not normally used with the word in capitals. Cross out the item which does not fit. There is an example at the beginning (0). 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 distinct fair potential burning hard huge continued heated major heavy inside recurrent daunting high overnight dismal lifelong outlying remote realistic resounding exciting personal roaring inevitable greatest remarkable strong slim trivial fresh poor terrible urgent secret sporting POSSIBILITY CHANCE PROBLEM CHALLENGE MOTIVATION SUCCESS FAILURE AMBITION ACHIEVEMENT

2. Complete each space with an appropriate adjective from exercise 1. There is an example at the beginning (0). 0. I can't understand why he applied for the job; there wasn't even a remote possibility that he'd get it. 1. Recent corruption scandals mean that the party now stands only a ____________ chance of victory in the forthcoming elections. 2. During his adolescence, serious illness was a ________ problem, and always seemed to strike at exam time. 3. The situation does pose a rather ____________ challenge, but we will not be put off. 4. His consistently low marks seem to be both the result and the cause of____________ motivation. 5. The book brought her great wealth and worldwide fame, but this was no ____________ success; her previous two novels had been bestsellers in her own country. 6. It was a night of ____________ failure for British athletes, whose recent successes had given cause for great optimism. 7. As I've always said, it's been a ___________ ambition of mine to play Hamlet, and now at last I can fulfil it. 8. Undoubtedly, the greatest ____________ achievement of the year was Alek Schmidt's record-breaking marathon run of two hours and four minutes. Word formation Complete each gap with an appropriate noun form of the word in capitals at the end of the sentence. There is an example at the beginning (0). 0. Many people at the club are questioning the wisdom of signing the 16-year-old goalkeeper. WISE 1. Excessive ____________ to direct sunlight should of course be avoided. EXPOSE 2. Councillors have once again rejected ____________ for a new multi-storey car park. PROPOSE 3. Management criticized the unions for their stubborn attitude and ____________ in the wage negotiations. FLEXIBLE 3

4. The government is concerned at the number of unfilled ____________ in the nursing profession. VACANT 5. There is a strong feeling within the company that greater ____________ should be placed on staff development. EMPHASIZE 6. Failure to meet legal safety ____________ has led to the temporary closure of the fairground. REQUIRE 7. She chose to live in Brighton because of its mild climate and ____________ to London. CLOSE 8. There is a chronic ____________ of housing in our cities. SHORT 9. The complete____________ of this answer shows that the candidate did not read the question carefully. RELEVANT 10 He achieved ____________ for failing a drugs test after winning an Olympic final. NOTORIOUS

Use of English
Multiple choice cloze For questions 1-12, read the text below and then decide which answer (A, B, C or D) best fits each .gap. There is an example at the beginning (0). On top of the world In May 1998, just two years after breaking his back in a parachuting accident whilst (0) ___ in the army, Bear Grylls became the youngest Briton to (1) ___ the summit of Mount Everest and return (2) ___. He was just 23 years old. As his back recovered and he regained his (3) ___. Bear decided to leave the army in order to pursue his lifelong ambition to conquer the highest (4) ___ in the world. A friend of his was organising an expedition to Everest and Bear asked to (5) ___. After a year spent preparing for the climb and (6) ___ sponsorship money, he and his companions moved out to the Himalayas to (7) ___ up the challenge. In (8) ___ Bear spent over 10 weeks on the mountain's south-east face. This (9) ___ a whole week at Camp Two simply waiting for the right conditions to make his attempt on the summit. When he finally made it to the top, he sat for 20 minutes, just gazing in wonder at the (10) ___ before him. The hardest part was still to come though. Every year the number of climbers killed on Everest increases, with most deaths occurring on the descent. It is (11) ___ surprising then, that Bear should feel a (12) ___ sense of relief when he eventually got back to base camp. Three British climbers under 25 have tried to conquer Everest; Bear is the only one to survive. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 A. assisting A. achieve A. live A. power A. crest A. join A. rising A. take A. summary A. contained A. eyesight A. strongly A. great B. obeying B. reach B. lively B. force B. crown B. unite B. raising B. rise B. short B. included B. outlook B. equally B. large C. ordering C. get C. living C. vigour C. peak C. attach C. arising C. face C. total C. comprised C. vision C. rarely C. wide D.serving D. attain D. alive D. strength D. tip D. link D. arousing D. put D. conclusion D. consisted D. view D. hardly D. full

Useful language
Complete each of the expressions with a word from the box. ability class gift head match none peak standard 1. As a jazz musician, Charlie Parker was in a ____________ of his own. 2. Iain M Banks stands ____________ and shoulders above other science-fiction writers of his generation 3. When she was at her ____________ she won 17 consecutive races on the international circuit. 4 She is unrivalled in her ____________ to portray downtrodden characters who struggle to overcome their difficulties. 5. Borg was more than a ____________ for Vilas and the Swede won in straight sets. 6 Early on in his career he showed a ____________ for writing short stories. 7 As a football player Maradona was second to ____________. 8 Her acting is always of the highest ____________.

KEY
Reading 1/B 2/ 1G 2E 3B 4C 5D 6G 7 B 8 D 9 A 10 B 11C 12 E 13 F 14 A 15 F Vocabulary Verb and noun collocations 1 into 2 with 3 out 4 in 5 to Adjective and noun collocations 1/ 1 inside 2 resounding 3 burning 4 hard 5 terrible 6 urgent 7 heated 8 outlying 2/ 1 slim 2 recurrent 3 daunting 4 poor 5 overnight 6 dismal 7 lifelong 8 sporting Word formation 1 exposure 2 proposals 3 inflexibility 4 vacancies 5 emphasis 6 requirements 7 closeness 8 shortage 9 irrelevance 10 notoriety Multiple choice cloze 1B 2D 3D 4C 5A 6B 7 A 8 C 9 B 10 D 11 D 12 A Useful language 1 class 2 head 3 peak 4 ability 5 match 6 gift 7 none 8 standard