Advanced Reading 1

Aptis Advanced – READING
PART 1 Read four comments which people posted on the newspaper website and match
each sentence with the correct name.
 I’m almost 24 and saving incredibly hard to travel round the world! I’ d hate to
reach my 30s and then look back at my 20s and say ‘ I wish I’d travelled
more when I had the time’ - Liam, London
 I don’t regret anything. There’s nothing that I wish was different about my
life. Everything I’ ve done, however stupid it seems now, seemed like the right
thing at the time… Of course I ‘ ve made mistakes, but I don’t regret
anything. And yes, that includes saving money, bad boyfriends, all the usual
things! I see them as pure mistakes – something to learn from, something
which makes me the person I am today! I never think ‘ I wish I ‘ d stayed on at
university … I wish I ‘ d married my ex… If I had done these things, then I
wouldn’t be who I am today.
– Carla, Bristol
 Regrets? I try not to think about them. What’s the point? It’s no use crying over
spilt milk. But I have a few. Not buying the house I was renting for half the price
I eventually paid for it, and smoking. I really wish I hadn’t wasted all that
money on cigarettes. What a fool. Still, I managed to give it up, which I’ m
proud of. –Norah, Oxford
 I wish there was a song called ‘Je regrette tout’. It means ‘I regret everything’
in French. That would be my philosophy of life! – Mary, Norwich
Who says…?
1. He/She doesn’t mind spending money
2. He/She has a motto
3. He/she is proud of himself/herself
4. He/she wishes to visit other places
5. He/she made big mistakes in the past

PART 2 - HEADINGS
Read the text about Sonja Henie, then match each heading to the correct paragraph. Write the letter of the
correct heading in the box after the paragraph number. There is only one correct option for each gap.
Paragraph headings: A) Disputed achievements B) Questionable behaviour C) Work hard, play hard D)
Teething troubles E) Multiple sporting skills F) Outside the skating rink G) Questionable financial
practices H) Unparalleled achievements
1 Sonja Henie was born in Kristiania, current Oslo. Her father had been a one-time World Cycling
Champion and the Henie children were encouraged to take up a variety of sports at a young age. Henie
initially showed talent at skiing, and then followed her older brother Leif to take up figure skating. As a
girl, Henie was also a nationally ranked tennis player and a skilled swimmer and equestrienne. Once Henie
began serious training as a figure skater, her formal schooling ended. She was educated by tutors, and her
father hired the best experts in the world, including the famous Russian ballerina Tamara Karsavina, to
transform his daughter into a sporting celebrity.
2 Henie won her first major competition, the senior Norwegian championships, at the age of 10. She then
placed eighth in a field of eight at the 1924 Winter Olympics, at the age of eleven. During the 1924
program, she skated over to the side of the rink several times to ask her coach for directions. But by the
next Olympiad, she needed no such assistance.
3 Henie won the first of an unprecedented ten consecutive World Figure Skating Championships in 1927
at the age of fourteen. The results of 1927 World Championships, where Henie won in a 3-2 decision (or 7
vs. 8 ordinal points) over the defending Olympic and World Champion Herma Szabo of Austria, were
controversial, as all three of five judges that placed Henie first were Norwegian while Szabo received first-
place ordinals from an Austrian and a German judge.
4 Henie went on to win the first of her three Olympic gold medals the following year. She defended her
Olympic titles in 1932 and in 1936, and her World titles annually until 1936. She also won six consecutive
European championships from 1931 to 1936. Henie's unprecedented three Olympic gold medals haven't
been matched by any ladies single skater since; neither are her achievements as ten-time consecutive
World Champion.
5 Towards the end of her career, she began to be strongly challenged by younger skaters. However, she
held off these competitors and went on to win her third Olympic title at the 1936 Winter Olympics, albeit
in very controversial circumstances with Cecilia Colledge finishing a very close second. Indeed, after the
school figures section at the 1936 Olympic competition, Colledge and Henie were virtually neck and neck
with Colledge trailing by just a few points. The closeness of the competition infuriated Henie, who, when
the result for that section was posted on a wall in the competitors' lounge, swiped the piece of paper and
tore it into little pieces. The draw for the free skating then came under suspicion after Henie landed the
plum position of skating last, while Colledge had to perform second of the 26 competitors, which was
clearly in Henie’s favor.
6 In addition to traveling to train and compete, she was much in demand as a performer at figure skating
exhibitions in both Europe and North America. Henie became so popular with the public that police had
to be called out for crowd control on her appearances in various disparate cities such as Prague and New
York City. It was an open secret that, in spite of the strict amateurism requirements of the time, her father
demanded "expense money" for his daughter's skating appearances. Both of Henie's parents had given up
their own pursuits in Norway in order to accompany Sonja on her travels and act as her managers.

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Aptis Advanced – READING

1. He/She doesn’t mind spending money

2. He/She has a motto

3. He/she is proud of himself/herself

4. He/she wishes to visit other places

5. He/she made big mistakes in the past

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