FCE Exercise

FCE EXERCISE 1 I. Choose the answers you think fit best according to the text. BRITISH MANAGEMENT According to an article in Management Today, the British manager still stops work for tea. The French managing director of Novotel, the hotel group, tells what happened at his first management meeting when he took over its English operation in 1991: "The meeting was in the afternoon, and it got to about 3.30 and everyone started looking at their watches. I didn't know what was going on. I turned to my secretary, who was English, and she said that they probably wanted to break for tea. I couldn't understand it. In France we just carry on until we have finished. Now we always break for tea." I am not sure how many English managers now break for tea. Not that many, I imagine. Twenty years ago it was commonplace. I will never forget a Canadian sales director, pink with fury, telling me at that time how he had been offered tea and biscuits at three in the afternoon in Northampton: "I come three thousand miles, and take three taxis and a damn steam engine into the sticks, and I wanna do business, and this guy gives me a `nice cup of China tea and a biccy'. What IS he?" Mind you, this was the same man who in Rome told his Italian agent that the Colosseum would make a nice parking lot. It is not so much the cup of tea as the pint of bitter that managers from outside Britain find a bar to efficiency. In the article, a German manager tells how when he first took over a job in Britain, he discovered that at lunchtime and especially on Fridays, the majority of his management team left for the pub. He says: "I stopped that right away. Now they are not allowed off the premises. It didn't make me very popular at the time but it is not good for efficiency. There is no way we would do that in Germany. No way." According to European managers the British are still too concerned with class and status. A German says: "People say that the class system is a hindrance to progress and then two weeks later you overhear them discussing a colleague and saying, `Well, he is not very well-spoken, is he?'" And another says: "The class gaps translate into big gulfs in the pay league, too. In Germany, I might earn three times more than my secretary. Here it is five times." Some criticisms are rather like those levelled at Japanese management. For example, talking about status, a Dutch manager says: "A director is God here. They respect him and think that he is right even when he is wrong. It's quite difficult to have an open conversation. People will not say `I disagree'." Too great an interest in money is also criticised. A Dutch manager says: "My first impression on coming to Britain was that profit seemed to be the most important thing." And a Frenchman points out the difference between the UK and France: "In France there is no pressure on the bottom line." The French manager also points out a difference in educational standards: "In France all the secretaries, or personal assistants as we call them, would have degrees. You wouldn't

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FCE Exercise
consider recruiting one without a degree. So, that means you can delegate much more to the secretaries in France. In the UK you cannot do that so much." 1. In the middle of the afternoon A. everyone checked their watches. B. hinted that it was teatime. 2. In the past A. managers usually had a teabreak. B. offered visitors China tea. 3. The Canadian A. was impressed by the Englishman's good manners. B. had travelled a long way. C. liked to do business. D. considered his time was being wasted. 4. Why did the Canadian say the Colosseum would make a nice parking lot? A. He had nowhere to park. B. He was joking. C. He was worried about Rome's traffic problems. D. He was envious of Italy's glorious past. 5. The German didn't like his managers going to the pub because A. he was against drink. B. they got drunk. C. it made them inefficient. D. he believed playing sports would be better for them. 6. To stop them going to the pub, the managers A. were ordered to stay in the office. B. were given free lunches in the office. A. sexism. A. are tactful. B. like tea. A. is better paid. B. has more status. and chosen more than once. SEASIDE RESORTS Which seaside resort would you go to if you 01. liked seeing a lot of people 02. had breathing problems 03. were interested in architecture B. education. C. played team games in the lunch-hour. D. had meetings at lunchtime. C. class. C. avoid disagreement. D. have a superiority complex. C. is better spoken. D. can take more responsibility. D. elocution. C. wasted a lot of time drinking tea. D. drank a lot of tea. C. took a break. D. noticed it was 3.30.

7. In Britain, managers are paid much more than their secretaries because of 8. English and Japanese managers are similar in that they

9. In comparison with the British secretary, a French secretary

II. Choose the correct answer from the text. The answers may be in any order,

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FCE Exercise
04. wanted to go fishing 05. were interested in fish 06. were interested in rocks 07. liked drinking British beer 08. preferred a warm climate 09. wanted to go sailing 10. were interested in English poetry 11. had an interest in the history of warfare A. Bournemouth Bournemouth is well-known as a healthy and attractive and modern resort, surrounded by gardens and pine forests, which is popular all year round. It stands on two small hills in the sheltered valley of the Bourne river, the banks of which are laid out as public gardens. There are excellent and extensive sandy beaches for bathing, and a long line of picturesque cliffs. Among interesting things to see, there is the town art gallery and museum, and the East Cliff rock garden attracts geologists for it contains a large collection of British geological specimens. The town has literary connections, with Thomas Hardy and R. L. Stevenson, and Mary, the second wife of the poet, Shelley, is buried in St Peter's churchyard. Pleasant walks may be taken along the coast in both directions. B. Brighton Brighton is a popular place, with a pebble beach and some sand at low tide. It lies on the slope of a hill, in the middle of a broad and shallow bay. The chief attractions of the place are its clear and bracing air, the fine expanse of sea bordered by white chalk-cliffs, and the crowds of visitors. There are a large number of old and interesting buildings in the town, in particular the Royal Pavilion, built in an Oriental style by the famous architect, John Nash, for the Prince Regent. There is an interesting aquarium near the Palace Pier. On the landward side of the town, the South Downs provide many interesting walks and viewpoints. In the summer, there is horseracing at the town race course, immortalized in Graham Greene's novel, Brighton Rock. Brighton is well-known for its numerous public houses. C. Torquay This is a well-known resort and spa on Tor Bay, Devon, with excellent bathing from a sand and pebble beach. It has a reputation for being a warm and well-sheltered place, and there is sub-tropical vegetation, palm-trees and the like, growing in the public gardens. On account of the mild climate, it is a popular place for people with delicate chests and pulmonary problems. The place dates back to pre-historical times, and there are numerous archaeological remains. Visitors enjoy picturesque cliff walks, but the town is best seen from a boat in the bay. In fact, Torquay is an important yachting station and an annual regatta is held there in August or September.

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FCE Exercise
D. Scarborough Situated on the Yorkshire coast, Scarborough is build around two bays, separated by a headland on which are the ruins of a twelfth-century castle. The castle makes a fine viewpoint, especially at sunrise. The new town to the north is rather formal, and some find it dull; the narrow streets of the old town to the south become very crowded. The North Bay has gardens and a promenade, protected by a sea-wall. Anne Bronte is buried in Scarborough churchyard. It is a good place for the active and vigorous, for the town makes a good centre for the North York Moor national park, and there is opportunity for sea fishing. E. Hastings The name of the town is remembered because of the Battle of Hastings, 1066, in which the French defeated the English and took over the country. Near Hastings is Battle Abbey, one of the most interesting historical monuments in Britain, founded by William the Conqueror after his victory over the English, led by Harold. The Abbey stands on the exact spot where the English king fell. There are many old buildings, including the remains of a Norman castle, open to the public. The sea front is striking, being about three miles long, and having a fine esplanade. The beach is pebble with sand at low tide. The town is active only in summer, and along the sea-front are row upon row of bed and breakfast hotels. There are cliffs to the east, providing walks to the well-known beauty spots of Fairlight and Ecclesbourne Glens. III. Choose the sentences which best fit the gaps. 1....................................... Bill Gates, the head of Microsoft, the creator of Basic, MSDOS, Windows and Flight Simulator, is the richest man in America. If you lived to be 70, you would have to make $100 million dollars every year of your life in order to come up with what Gates is currently worth. 2..................................... Gates himself draws a salary around $300,000, about a tenth of that claimed by America's best-paid company heads. He is a one-man band: he works 15-hour days and loses his temper easily. He is addicted to competition, and to winning. He enjoys poker and fast cars. 3............................................ 4............................................. By the time he was 16, he had already set up a company, and was making money from computing. Maths was his strong subject, important because it shares with programming the same ways of thinking. Gates was paid to debug the local mainframe, and he also offered a data-processing service to local authorities. When the first PC appeared on the cover of Popular Computer in January 1975, Gates, then 19, phoned the manufacturer. He claimed he had a version of Basic for the 8080 microprocessor and was ready to do business. Working night and day, Gates and a friend

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FCE Exercise
squeezed the language into 4K with enough space left over to run a programme. 5............................................ The coding certainly required a high level of ingenuity. Things were done so quickly that a bootstrap loader had to be written on the flight to deliver the completed tape. 6............................................... Gates never forgot how his Basic was immediately pirated by computer companies all over the world. He became a very sharp businessman indeed, unwilling to give anyone a free ride. A typical example of the Gates technique can be demonstrated by his relationship with IBM. IBM split with Microsoft and produced its own version of OS/2 to compete with Windows. 7.............................................. When OS/2 had to be Windows-compatible to stand a chance of survival, Microsoft released Windows 3.1 and made other changes so that IBM's product was compatible only with last year's model. 8............................................. They wear T-shirts and anoraks, eat pizzas and read scifi, but they know more than the difference between ROM and RAM, and they shall inherit the earth. A. It was a task so difficult that many claimed it was impossible. B. Above all, he is a technical whizkid. C. It's a hard life competing against the new technicians. D. By a miracle, the tape worked when it was loaded. E. IBM is a company whose management was tied to old technology. F. Of course, that wealth is largely the result of Microsoft's astronomical share price. G. Gates started early. H. But Microsoft makes money on every copy of OS/2 that IBM sells. I. How do you become a billionaire? IV.Complete each space with the most appropriate word. A SIGN OF THE TIMES Wedding photographers are now asking (01).............................. payment (02).............................. advance because so many marriages are breaking (03).............................. in the first few weeks, often (04).............................. the honeymoon. One photographer had to sue the bride for his money after the couple split (05).............................. on their honeymoon. His photographs were submitted (06).............................. the court who said they were (07).............................. sufficient standard, and she (08).............................. to pay for this souvenir of her "happiest day". (09)............................. another case, the bride's mother saw the photographs and (10)............................ enlargements and albums. The photographer said; "I called (11)............................ to say they were ready, and the bride's mother said, 'Don't bring those bloody photographs round (12)............................ - he's left (13)............................ .'" Couples are now (14).............................. to pay a "divorce deposit" (15)............................ the photographer. V. To fill the spaces, use a word formed with the words in the list below.

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FCE Exercise
SQUASHED DOG STORIES Newspapers have a (01)................... for what the French call "squashed dog" stories. In England, they are "goldfish emerging from bathroom tap" stories. Such stories run under the "Man Bites Dog" (02)................... . From France comes the story of an (03)................... savage attack on an old man near Calais carried out by a swarm of bees. The scenario might have pleased Hitchcock. The victim was (04)................... himself in his garden at the time. The firemen were called but were driven back into their van by the (05)................... of the insects. After 45 minutes someone arrived with (06)................... clothing and (07)................... . By then the man sitting in the deck chair was dead, covered in hundreds of stings, most of them on his eyelids. The French liked the story from London about grafting a pig's kidneys on to a human patient. They went for the animal rights angle. They like the idea of putting a (08)................... ring round the hospital to repel people who are intent on rescuing the pig from (09)................... . From London, too, came the story of the brown paper parcel in London's main parcel sorting office, a parcel which moved. Packages do not normally move very quickly through the post office at the best of times, but this one was definitely frisky. A lady customs officer was summoned to X-ray the package. The X-ray revealed a (10)................... reptile called a gila monster wrapped in a sock. The subsequent police trail led to a salesman in Hampshire whose back bedroom was filled with rattlesnakes, lethal lizards, snapping turtles and a python, most of which he had sent himself through the post. 01. fond 02. head 03. except 04. sun 05. fierce 06. protect 07. insect 08. secure 09. member 10. poison VI. From the words listed below, choose the ones which best fit the space. OLYMPIC SCANDAL Scandal has haunted the Olympic Games in modern times. At the very first Games, an Englishman called Flack (01)............................ off briskly in front of the (02)............................ in the marathon. He was (03)............................ by his butler on a bicycle.. When they neared Athens, he (04)............................ the butler back to (05)............................ who was behind him. The butler went back about a mile but found nobody. He rode back to Flack and said, "There's nobody. You can win this thing on your head." Then soon after, (06)............................ ran one Greek, then another, and another, and another. They were full of running. Perhaps Flack took a long (07)............................ round?

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FCE Exercise
At the next Marathon, in 1900, in Paris, the winner was a Frenchman who worked as a baker's roundsman. It was (08)............................ suspected that he was able to take numerous short (09)............................ because of his experience delivering bread in the area. Four years later, the Games were held in St Louis, in the USA. This (10)............................ suspicions were proved, and the scandal great. The American runner who finished first in the marathon was discovered to have accepted a (11)............................ from a car. He was disqualified. It is not so much the scandals and disputes of recent years that have (12)............................ the Games. It is their sheer (13)............................ , their excessive cost, their indulgence of national pride. One very sensible suggestion is that future Games should be restricted to individual (14)............................ in which one person clearly wins. All team games would go, and no one would feel any loss at the disappearance of Olympic soccer, a pale (15)............................ of the more professional game. 01. A. paced 02. A. group 03. A. served 04. A. sent 05. A. view 06. A. up 07. A. path 08. A. heavily 09. A. ways 10. A. time 11. A. lift 12. A. threatened 13. A. grossness 14. A. happenings 15. A. weakness B. shadow C. image D. effigy B. made B. participants B. serviced B. fetched B. scan B. round B. road B. seriously B. cuts B. occasion B. help B. attacked B. enormity B. events C. ambled C. crowd C. accompanied C. brought C. look C. by C. way C. strongly C. routes C. event C. ride C. discouraged C. obesity C. circumstances D. set D. field D. allied D. requested D. see D. to D. distance D. greatly D. sets D. meeting D. push D. loomed over D. largesse D. fields

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VII. Complete the second sentence, using between two and five words, including the word given. Do not change that word in any way. 01. The dog is wagging its tail because it is trying to be friendly. friends The dog is wagging its tail because it wants ............................ you. 02. It is a good habit to save in case of hard times. aside It is a good habit to ............................ a rainy day. 03. My mother-in-law has invited us to share her house. moving We ............................ my mother-in-law. 04. His lack of interest surprised me. surprising I ............................ that he showed so little interest. 05. I am sorry that I cannot come to the party. miss I am sorry ............................ the party. 06. It is pointless to carry samovars to Samarkand. point There ............................ samovars to Samarkand. 07. The path was so narrow they had to walk one behind the other along it. single The path was so narrow they had to walk ............................ along it. 08. Small children are full of mischief. sorts Small children get ............................ tricks. 09. "Can you help me?" the old lady asked. could The old lady asked ............................ help her. 10. When he was much older, he understood. until It ............................ much older that he understood.

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