Test 24

I. Complete the sentences below with phrasal verbs from the box. Put the verbs in the CORRECT
FORMS. There are TWO VERBS in the box that you don't need to use.

brush up cut down put forward come across cater for

get over pass by take off turn out take on

1. When I was looking for a book in the library, I __________ a fascinating study of population
changes.
2. Sales of the new car have _________ in the last two months.
3. Green's are the latest supermarket chain to announce that they're __________ on plastic packaging.
4. Carole decided to __________ on her Spanish before she went to Mexico for her holiday.
5. It took me ages to __________ my cold and I was off work all week.
6. Ling Mee wants to __________ a suggestion about improving the sports facilities in the college.
7. One good thing about the art school is that it has courses which _________ all ages.
8. Jane __________ a lot of extra work last year, and she ended up working most weekends.
II. For questions 1-8, read the text below and decide which answer (A, B, C, or D) best fits each gap.
When audience members save the day
At a recent performance of the opera La Bohème, the singer playing the main male role began to
experience problems with his voice and was unable to carry on. Fortunately, an audience member, Charles
Castronovo, offered to stand in, and the evening's performance was (1) _____.
In fact, 'audience member' doesn't quite (2) _____ justice to Castronovo. He is a tenor of some (3)
_____. Castronovo sang from the side of the stage, while the normal singer acted. After the final act,
Castronovo joined the cast on stage and received loud (4) _____ from the audience. In fact, the occasion
was so emotional that many tears were (5) _____ in the audience.
Such a turn of (6) _____ is rare, but in 2004, the baritone Ian Vayne attended a production of the
opera Carmen and ended up (7) _____ the role of Escamillo after the original singer suddenly fell ill in Act
1. More recently, a concert in London was saved by the last-minute substitution of Milly Forrest, the venue's
cloakroom attendant. Milly was also, as it (8) _____, a trained soprano singer.
1. A. preserved B. rescued C. maintained D. secured
2. A. give B. put C. do D. make
3. A. renown B. position C. mark D. reputation
4. A. consent B. regard C. honour D. applause
5. A. dropped B. shed C. cast D. spilt
6. A. events B. matters C. incidents D. affairs
7. A. filling out B. bringing about C. taking over D. covering up
8. A. goes B. occurs C. appears D. happens
IV. For questions 9-16, read the text below and think of the word which best fits each gap. Use ONLY
ONE WORD in each gap.
A nurse on the night shift
I've been a nurse for almost 30 years and I've pretty much seen everything. (9) _____ you may be part of the
happiest time of someone's life on one day, the next day you're helping patients through very tough
experiences. Ups and downs are normal, (10) _____ is shift work. In a unit (11) _____ ours, we alternate
between day and night shifts. There tend to (12) _____ fewer managers and office staff around at night, but
my job stays the same.

The secret to making it through the night is sleeping well between shifts. There's (13) _____ worse than
being exhausted, but needing to be awake and alert at three in the morning. You can't falter, because you're
responsible (14) _____ the lives of women and their babies. I'm generally a good sleeper, (15) ____ it be at
night or during the day, but if something goes wrong at work, it can be difficult. (16) _____ long you've
done the job, certain things can upset you. The good thing is that babies are generally very robust.
V. For questions 17-24, read the text below. Use the word given in capitals in parentheses to form a
word that fits in the gap.
The wild animals we love most
Representations of wild animals, such as elephants, tigers and pandas, are everywhere in movies, books and
toy stores. But research suggests that this (17, POPULAR) ______ may have a problematic effect on public
(18, PERCEIVE) ______ of how much at risk these animals are in nature. In a survey carried out by French
ecologists, people were asked which animals they considered most (19, CHARISMA) ______. The top ten
were: lions, elephants, giraffes, leopards, pandas, cheetahs, polar bears, wolves and gorillas. (20, IRONY)
______, the biggest fans of these animals knew very little about their (21, SURVIVE) ______ prospects -
the sad truth being that many of them face possible (22, EXTINCT) _____ in the coming decades.
The researchers suggest that the widespread presence of these animals in popular culture makes people think
their populations in the wild are strong, and this may lead to (23, COMPLACENT) ______. One of the
researchers has said that ‘companies using giraffes, cheetahs or polar bears for marketing may be
contributing (24, INTENTION) ______ to the false idea that animal populations in the wild are secure and
not in need of conservation.'
VI. 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 six words, including the word given.
25. Lily has very little chance of getting into the final of the competition this year. HIGHLY
It's _____________ into the final of the competition this year.
26. I think everyone knows that Ian has decided to retire at the end of this year. MADE
I think it's common ___________ his mind to retire at the end of this year.
27. I always found the way George spoke on the phone annoying, but I don't any more. USED
The way George spoke on the phone ____________ nerves, but I don't mind it now.
28. Ten minutes before the end of the game, Silvia realised that she didn't have any energy left at all. RUN
Silvia realised that ______________ ten minutes before the end of the game.
29. We expected Ed to arrive home by 9 o'clock, but he didn't get there till 10. SUPPOSED
Ed ______________ arrived home by 9 o'clock, but he didn't get there till 10.
30. We must consider several important things before we can decide whether or not to build a new road.
ACCOUNT
Several important things have ______________ before we can decide whether or not to build a new road.
VII. You are going to read an article about yoga. For questions 47-56, choose from the sections (A-D).
The sections may be chosen more than once.
In which section does the writer
47. _____ express unease about the inward-looking nature of yoga?
48. _____ describe being surprised by certain behaviour?
49. _____ refer to a sense of envy?
50. _____ mention suppressing concerns about the commercial exploitation of yoga?
51. _____ provide an explanation for giving up yoga?
52. _____ mention accepting her own perceived limitations?
53. _____ acknowledge the benefits that yoga brought her?
54. _____ indicate an aspect of yoga that can be seen as humorous?
55. _____ mention being proved wrong?
56. _____ offer an explanation for yoga's growing appeal?
The rise of yoga
Yoga has become a big business in certain parts of the world. Australian journalist Maggie Curran
reports on her own experiences of the ancient discipline.
A. A decade ago, I was commissioned to interview an up-and-coming yoga entrepreneur whose particular
brand of yoga involved 26 poses in a humid, heated room with mirrors and carpets. When I visited the man's
studio and caught the stench and the robotic instructions from a mic'd-up teacher, I thought: 'This will never
take off.' I had been doing a relatively gentle form of yoga for several years, but had never managed to get
beyond beginners’ level. I had come to assume that was all I was capable of, but somehow had never
stopped completely. Halfway through the interview, the yoga businessman looked at me and said: “You're
overweight. You should join my classes. It would transform your life.' 'What?' was all I could splutter in
response to this breach in interview etiquette. For years after that interview, I would walk past that man's
expanding chain of studios and think: 'How could someone like that become so successful?' At the same
time, I wondered if he'd had a point – was it possible to completely change your body shape by doing his
yoga? And should this even be an aspiration?
B. These days, yoga has morphed from being an exercise you might do once a week in a gym to a way of
life, and a physical and spiritual ideal to aspire to. About 40 million people are estimated to practise yoga in
the US and the global yoga market is worth over $80bn. It's not just the studios; yoga mats and clothing
have become must-have items in certain places. In my area of Sydney, upmarket yogis have colonised the
high street. Most people seem to have stopped wearing proper clothes. Unless you are around the bus stops
in time for the morning commute, you see people dressed almost exclusively in exercise gear – yoga pants,
vest top and hoodies, flip-flops in the summer, trainers in winter. Rich targets for satirists, these devotees'
cycle around the neighbourhood, with rolled-up yoga mats on their backs, in search of organic fruit and
vegetables. Ludicrous as they are in some ways, though, it would be dishonest not to disclose that I once
secretly yearned to be one of them and to have what they had.
C. In many respects, yoga is the perfect pastime for our age – the meditative elements give us the
opportunity to find peace and stillness in a time of increasingly hectic and crowded information, the
instructional bits give us moral lessons, while the stretchy, bendy, sweaty physical stuff is a great way of
countering hours a day spent hunched over a computer. Early last year, putting to the back of my mind any
qualms I had about the ethics of how a 5,000-year-old spiritual discipline has been turned into a profit-
making machine, I left my old class and joined an intensive programme to become ‘a modern yogi’. This
meant attending classes six times a week, meditating daily, keeping a journal and taking part in weekly
meetings that are part tutorial on mindfulness and part group therapy. I stuck with it and found things started
to shift. My body felt looser, more pliable. Physically it was tough, and it took a month to really get my
fitness level moving, but gradually I was able to keep up with the most athletic classes and my skin and hair
seemed to glow.
D. I then started thinking about what I was doing – about the nature of yoga and how so many people pour
energy into their bodies when perhaps they should be trying to pour energy into the people and politics
around them. Self-care is great – but what if there's no energy left to care about anyone else? I wrote in my
journal, I went to the Monday night tutorials, I meditated, I drank juices, I did all the right things to become
a modern yogi. I was on the way to joining the ranks of the chilled-out people I saw every day around me. I
was almost there before I started wondering - is this really what I wanted to be? The answer was, of course,
no. I kept at it for about two months before the narcissism of the whole enterprise got to me. There were
other things, it turned out, that I had to do.
VIII. The passage below contains 5 mistakes. Underline the mistakes and write their correct forms in
the numbered boxes. (0) has been done as an example.
A few parts of Australia is dry since water leaks rapidly through sandy soils and into the stone underneath.
In pieces of Australia this water which leaks through the sandy soil gathers underground to shape
underground lakes. It is possible to pump water from these subterranean lakes to the surface, tap it, and then
use it on a variety of purposes above ground. In fact, more than half of the Earth's surface is covered by
extensive underground water resources of Australia's land area, but the majority of the water is too salty to
drink or use for crop irrigation. Moreover, most inland ranchers true do depend on this water for watering
their animals and, where possible, less significantly for water system. Underground water can stream
extremely huge distances and can save in underground supplies for quite a while. Water from these
underground supplies air pockets to the surface as springs in certain pieces of the nation, and these
uncommon wellsprings of super durable water were fundamental to early pilgrims of inland Australia, and
to different trailblazers last 100 years, which utilized the springs for survival. In any case, in many spots
levels have fallen definitely through consistent use throughout the long term.
Your answers:
0. is 1. 2.
→ are → →

3. 4. 5.
→ → →

Writing: (250 words)

Some believe that those who are not talented in language learning should not be required to learn a foreign
language. Do you think schools should require students to learn a foreign language?

.......................................................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................................................
....................................................................................................................................................................... .....
..................................................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................................................