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SECTION TEST - GENERAL TRAINING READING
(Time: 60 minutes)
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Passage 1
HAVING A LOVELY TIME? A chance to relax and leave your worries behind? For some, holidays are nothing but trouble as the results of one survey showed When you think about it, it's amazing that anyone gets away with a carefree holiday. It seems there is limitless potential for things to go wrong, from flight delays and lost luggage to poor accommodation. A recent questionnaire showed that a third of people who replied had a complaint about their holiday last year. And when these unhappy holiday-makers discussed the problem with their tour company nearly half said it involved time and effort on their part to resolve things. When asked exactly what the reasons were for their dissatisfaction top of the list was flight delays and 20 per cent of holiday-makers to Europe said they had to wait up to an hour. More worrying is the fact that almost a third of holiday-makers who had complained said it was about the apartment or hotel room they had been allocated. There is an enormous variety of holiday accommodation and we recommend that consumers look for places that have been inspected by the Tourist Boards; this way they can have the confidence that they will get the type of accommodation they are looking for. It seems that tour companies now offer more honest accurate brochures though. Eight-five per cent of holiday-makers who responded to our questionnaire said the description offered by the company matched the place they visited and the facilities provided. This is good news for the industry and for holiday-makers. A holiday is a major purchase - yet it's one we can't try before we pay. All we have to go on is the brochure and it's a credit to tour operators that they now contain more detail. OUR ADVICE DO be realistic. No one should be palmed off with a poor standard of service, food or accommodation even if you paid a rock- bottom price for a last- minute break. However, be reasonable - you won't get a room with the best view in town if you've paid a budget price. DO complain to the right person. Moaning to the waiter about a week's worth of appalling food, then writing an indignant letter when you get back home won't have the same impact as airing your grievances at the time. DO get evidence for a serious problem such as having a building site instead of the promised swimming pool below your window. Take a photo to back up your case. DON'T write and complain for the sake of it. Letters can be powerful as long as they're about something you have a good reason to complain about. DON'T lose your temper. Easier said than done, but you're more likely to get results if you state your case firmly explain why you think there's a problem then suggest a reasonable solution. Look at the article about holidays and at the statements below. Choose: TRUE if the statement is true FALSE if the statement is false NOT GIVEN if the information is not given in the passage
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1. Solving problems can be hard work for the holiday-maker.
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Explain:
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2. The most common problem for holiday-makers is crowded airports.
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Explain:
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3. Overall, holiday accommodation poses few problems.
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4. Tour companies provide a satisfactory level of information to holiday-makers.
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5. A low-cost holiday should still offer some high-quality services.
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6. Hotel staff can advise you on who you should complain to.
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Explain:
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7. Photographs may help to support an argument about a holiday problem.
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Explain:
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8. If you are not good at writing letters, find someone to help you.
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Explain:
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HIRING A CAR ONLINE Online car hire promises to be cheap, quick and convenient. But is it? Neil McDougall revs up his mouse A Autos.com Just click on the reservations button, fill in your home country, destination and dates, pick a car and you're into the booking form without any fuss and with all the charges, fixed and optional, laid out. There's also a detailed rental guide explaining your contract. B Cash.com.uk One to consider if you’re going to the States, although, after I'd worked through half the booking process, it returned an error message without telling me which element of the procedure needed adjusting. I got there in the end. There is an Inspirational section with detailed directions for some of the great drives of America. C Expeed.org.uk Book a flight with Expeed and when you continue on to the car-hire section, the software already knows where you are going and when. However, you seem to be restricted to cities with airports for your car hire, and additional taxes are presented in travel- agent speak. D Cutprice.com Is currently offering an aggressive lowest rates guarantee, an extra discount for former Holtravel clients and a package of free gifts to sweeten the deal. It also commits to no insurance excess on any of their rentals anywhere. E Hot.org Straightforward to navigate, with plenty of information on rental requirements and rules of operation. There are photographs of the types of vehicles available, leaving no doubt what a 'premium' or 'compact' car is. It took me just seconds to start reserving a car but then the whole thing ground to a halt and refused all attempts to access the reservation system. F Cars.net Another site offering discounts for booking online, but also special late deals (for example £35 off a Renault Megane in Majorca last week). Prices are fully inclusive of insurance and there is a reassuringly large small-print section. G Cover.org A three-step process to rent cars in 70 countries. Very flash and slick, so much so that people with older computers may have trouble getting this information. Limited selection of online tourist attractions (but that's more than most give you). Graphically complex but impressive booking system. H Cheapandcheerful.net.uk Avoids unnecessary embellishments online but the booking procedure is as good as it gets. Enter how many miles you expect to drive and tick your insurance, driver and child-seat choices and they will all be included in the final price. You must contact the location directly if you need a car within 3 days. And to hire a car abroad, there's a dull email form to fill in and they'll get back to you. Now read the information and answer questions. Match the car-hire websites to the statements. NB Some of the websites may be chosen more than once.
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1. It is possible to see what the cars look like.
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Explain:
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2. Assistance is provided with some holiday routes.
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3. You will get cheaper car hire if you have used the company before.
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4. Attempts made by the writer to book a car were unsuccessful.
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Explain:
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5. You can only hire a car in certain locations.
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Explain:
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6. The site is suited to people with up-to-date hardware.
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Passage 2
STUDY NOTES SERIES Chapter Seven ESSAY WRITING A Essays, whether written as part of a secondary school programme or further education course, are designed to test your thinking, writing and study skills. Creative essays offer you the freedom to demonstrate your abilities to communicate effectively. Analytical essays, on the other hand, will require you to show that you have researched the topic and drawn on the work of others to come to your conclusion. B The amount of time and effort you devote to writing an essay will depend on how it fits into the overall scheme of assessment and should be in direct proportion to the percentage of marks allotted. If the essay constitutes part of your coursework, the time and effort required will depend on what marks, if any, are going towards your overall mark and grade. C However interesting and well prepared your essay may be, if it does not address the question, you will not receive a good mark. It is therefore essential that you examine the question and understand what is required. A list of key words which may appear in an essay question is provided in Appendix 4. Be sure you know what is being asked for and then consider what information is relevant and what is not. D Use a variety of relevant background texts, refer to your lecture notes and heed any advice given by your lecturer. When you collect material, always ask yourself what questions need to be answered and then take good notes in your own words. Begin notes on each source on a new page and do not forget to record details of the author, title of the book and date of publication. Remember that copying words from another writer's work without acknowledging the source constitutes the serious crime of plagiarism.
E Once you have collected your source material you should then sketch out a plan. Begin by writing three or four sentences, which provide a summary of the essay. You can amend or add to the plan as you proceed and it provides a useful scaffold for your essay. It also ensures that you cover all the main themes and that your essay focuses on the question. Ideally you should plan to examine the question from all sides, presenting various views before reaching a conclusion based on the evidence. F The introduction to the essay should explain to the reader how you are going to tackle the question and provide an outline of what will follow. Then move on to the main body of the essay. Refer to your notes and develop two or three logical arguments. Begin each paragraph with a topic sentence, which clearly states the subject to be discussed, and then use the remainder of the paragraph to fill out this opening sentence. A good essay should finish rather than simply stop. That is to say, the conclusion should provide a statement of your final position, summing up the arguments that your opinions are based upon. G It is important to keep the essay relevant and to provide some examples, quotations, illustrations, diagrams or maps wherever appropriate. However, it is equally important to avoid the temptation to pad your essay with unwanted information: this wastes your time and undermines the relevant parts of the essay. In coursework and assessment essays not written under examination conditions, do not forget to acknowledge your sources in a bibliography. From the list of headings below choose the most suitable heading for each paragraph A-G.
School of Design COURSE GUIDELINES 2.1 Assignments Coursework assignments will involve the production of an artefact (something shaped by human beings rather than by nature) OR an investigation of some kind followed by a report. This is to demonstrate the relevance of your study to society today. If you opt to produce an artefact, (e.g. a working model or piece of machinery) you will also be expected to provide some written explanation of how and why you produced it. You need to follow these steps: • Find out precisely what is expected of you. Talk to your tutor and refer to the syllabus document. • Be aware of what skills and abilities you must demonstrate. • Always plan a project thoroughly before you begin it but be realistic about how much time you can seriously devote to it. Choosing a topic Remember that this course is essentially concerned with the achievement of desired ends. So first identify a real-life problem, then consider it in detail, specify a precise need and then define your design task. As you plan, wherever possible, consider using new materials, techniques and technology such as computer-aided design (CAD). There is nothing wrong with talking to knowledgeable people about your project; in fact, this shows initiative. However, the project is yours so you must do the work yourself. You will need a fairly flexible plan because sometimes resources, apparatus and consumables may not be available when you need them. It is a good idea to work backwards when planning so you know you will meet your final deadline. Finally, when you plan the various stages of your project give due regard to safety and costs. Look at the Course Guidelines for students on how to approach a design project. Complete the sentences below using NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each answer.
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safe
two/2
a real-life problem
a written explanation/ an explanation
the syllabus document
work plan backwards
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Passage 3
Phases of the Moon Traveling a distance of approximately 382,400 kilometers, the moon takes just over twenty-nine days to complete its orbit around the Earth. During this lunar cycle, many different phases of the moon are visible from Earth, even though the moon itself never changes shape. The cyclic period of the moon is determined by the extent to which the sun illuminates the moon on the side that is facing Earth. Just like Earth, the moon is sphere shaped, and thus always half illuminated by the sun. However, because the moon and the Earth are in synchronous rotation, we can see only the near side of the moon. The side we do not see is called the far side, or the dark side, a term that is often misunderstood. The dark side refers to the mysteriousness of this unseen side, not the amount of light it receives. Both the near and the far sides of the moon receive approximately the same amount of sunlight. Though we see a slightly different moon from Earth each day, its repetitive cycle is both predictable and functional. There are eight phases of the moon, each with a unique name that signifies how much of the moon is visible from Earth. In the early phases, the moon is said to be waxing, or gradually getting larger. The first phase is called new moon. In this phase, the moon is lined up between the Earth and the sun. The illuminated side of the moon is facing the sun, not the Earth, so from Earth, there appears to be no moon at all. As the moon begins to move slowly eastward away from the sun, it becomes slightly more visible. After new moon, the waxing crescent phase begins. During this phase, the moon appears to be less than half illuminated. First quarter occurs when one-half of the moon is visible. It is called first quarter, not because of its size, but because it represents the end of the first quarter of the moon’s cycle. The next phase is called waxing gibbous and represents a moon that is larger than half a sphere, but not quite a whole. This phase is followed by full moon, which occurs when the moon's illuminated side is directly facing Earth. As the moon begins to get smaller again, it is said to be waning. The phases in the second half of the cycle appear the same as the first, except that the opposite half of the near side of the moon is illuminated, thus the moon appears to be shrinking rather than growing. Waning gibbous is followed by last quarter, when one-half of the moon is visible, and finally waning crescent. In the Northern Hemisphere, when the moon is waxing, the light of the moon increases from right to left. The opposite occurs in the Southern Hemisphere. Like the sun, the moon is an accurate tool for measuring time. A complete cycle of the moon is called a lunation. A full cycle of the moon typically lasts just under one calendar month, therefore, the phase of the moon that starts a month usually repeats just before the month is through. When two full moons occur in one calendar month the second one is called a blue moon. This phenomenon occurs about once every 2.7 years. Within one cycle, the moon’s “age” is calculated from the last day of the new moon. For example, the moon is approximately fifteen days old during the full moon phase. The moon can also be used to calculate the time of day. Just like the sun, the moon rises and sets each day and is visible on the Earth’s horizon. At new moon, the moon and sun rise and set at almost the same time. As the moon begins to wax, or move farther in its orbit, it rises approximately one hour later each day. By full moon, the moon rises at about the same time the sun sets and sets when the sun rises. Therefore, the moon is out in the daytime as often as it is at night even though it is not always as easy to see in the daylight. The Islamic calendar is based on the phases of the moon. The beginning of each new month in the Islamic calendar begins when the waxing crescent first appears in the night sky. The primary phases of the moon, which include new moon, first quarter, full moon, and last quarter are published in almanacs for each month. The phases can also be found on many calendars in the Western world. Despite the world’s fascination with the moon, its phases are not entirely unique. The planets Venus and Mercury have similar phases; however, unlike the moon, these planets can never be on the opposite side of the Earth from the sun. To see the equivalent of the “full moon” phase of these planets, we would need to have the capacity to see through the sun.
Choose the correct answer.
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1. It takes the moon approximately twenty-nine days to
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2. The dark side of the moon
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Do the following statements agree with the information given in the passage? YES if the statement agrees with the information NO if the statement contradicts the information NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this
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1. A lunation takes a little more than one month to complete.
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2. The term blue moon refers to the color of the moon at certain times of the year.
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3. It takes about fifteen days for the moon to move from new moon to full moon.
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4. At certain times of the month, the moon rises at the same time as the sun.
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5. There are twelve months on the Islamic calendar.
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6. Some planets have phases similar to the moon′s phases.
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7. The moons of Venus and Mercury are visible from Earth.
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Label the diagram below. Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the reading passage for each answer. The Primary Phases of the Moon
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new moon
first quarter
full moon
last quarter
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| No. | Date | Right Score | Total Score |
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PARTNERS |
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NEWS |
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