B: READING
Time permitted: 60 minutes
Number of questions: 40
Directions: In this section you will read FOUR different passages. Each one is followed by 10 questions about it. For questions 1-40, you are to choose the best answer A, B, C or D, to each question. Then, on your answer sheet, find the number of the question and fill in the space that corresponds to the letter of the answer you have chosen. Answer all questions following a passage on the basis of what is stated or implied in that passage. You have 60 minutes to answer all the questions, including the time to transfer your answers to the answer sheet.
PASSAGE 1 – Questions 1-10
TV REVIEW
Lucy Chang tells you what's new (and not so new!) on your screens this summer.
I always look forward to this time of year, and I'm always disappointed! It's the time of year when the TV channels tell us their plans for the summer and every year I tell myself that it might be different. It never is. Take SuperTV, for example. This channel, on our screens for five years now, broadcasts a depressing mix of game shows and music videos. So what do we find in the new schedule? I'm The One, a game show with holidays as prizes, and VJ-TV, yet another music video programme with brainless presenters. They're also planning to repeat the dreadful chat show Star Quality, which is about as entertaining as watching grass grow. Why can't they come up with new ideas?
Channel 9 does a little better. Now that Train Driver has finished, they've decided to replace it with Staff Room, a reality show that follows teachers around all day. It should be the hit of the summer, giving us an idea of what really goes on when the lesson is over. Who doesn't want to see and hear what teachers say about their students at the end of the school day? Great stuff! Together with Life in Aylesford Street, the soap opera that everyone's talking about, it looks like Channel 9 could be the channel to watch this summer.
Over on BTV1, Max Read is back with Joke-a-Cola, the comedy show. The first series was slightly amusing, the second hilarious. Let's wait and see what the third series is like. Comedy is difficult to get right, but it ought to be great. I wish I could say the same about the sitcom, Oh! Those Kids! It's enough to look at the expressions on the faces of the cast! It's obvious they know it's rubbish and the script is just so badly written! Oh! Those writers!
The programme makers must think we'll watch anything. That's just not true. People might have hundreds of channels on their TV or might live near a cinema with a dozen screens. There is so much choice of entertainment these days - TV, the cinema, the theatre, even the internet that they have to work hard to keep their audience. What they should be doing is making new, exciting programmes. Where are the programmes that make people think they must stay in to watch them?
We have to ask ourselves what entertainment is. We have to think about what people do with their leisure time. Television has been popular for about 50-60 years but it might not be popular forever. More people are going to the cinema and theatre than ever before. More people are surfing the internet or playing computer games than ever before. If Oh! Those Kids! is all that the TV can offer, why should we watch it? With one or two exceptions, this summer's programmes will make more people turn off than turn on.
At this time of year
- A. the TV channels change all their programmes.
- B. the writer disappoints the TV channels with her reviews.
- C. the writer hopes for something that never happens.
- D. the writer's favourite programmes often disappear.
- A. exciting
- B. informative
- C. strange
- D. disappointing
- A. SuperTV
- B. the TV channels
- C. the presenters of VJ-TV
- D. TV viewers
- A. be successful.
- B. shock students.
- C. be worse than Train Driver.
- D. be on instead of Life in Aylesford Street.
- A. students
- B. teachers
- C. travelers
- D. Channel 9's audience
- A. amusing
- B. informative
- C. strange
- D. up-to-date
- A. more difficult to understand.
- B. more popular with viewers.
- C. funnier than before.
- D. more like a sitcom.
- A. people watch more television.
- B. people move to areas with more facilities.
- C. programme makers have to tell lies.
- D. programmes have to be more exciting.
- A. will never be as popular as the theatre is.
- B. should show more programmes about hobbies.
- C. could lose its popularity in the future.
- D. ought to provide more than just entertainment.
- A. SuperTV
- B. Channel 9
- C. BTV1
- D. All of them
PASSAGE 2 - Questions 11-20
The reluctant hero
The most endearing thing about Aaron Green - and there are many - is his refusal to accept how famous he's about to become. 'I can walk down the street and not be hassled, which is really nice. I kind of hope that continues and I'm sure it will,' he says earnestly. He seems genuinely to believe that the job won't change his life. 'There's nothing fascinating about my life, and there's absolutely no reason why that should start happening.' You can only wish him well.
How lovely if this turned out to be true, but the chances are it won't, and he must know this. Aaron has been cast as the hero in the latest fantasy blockbuster that will hit our screens next year. The first photo of him in his costume was released last week to Internet frenzy.
After an award nomination for his last film, Aaron is having the biggest year of his life, but it hasn't gone to his head. 'It's nice if your work is praised, but it's all very new to me, this,' he says. 'I really like working in this profession and exploring its possibilities. Who knows what the future holds? We could dream about what might happen next, but there's not much point. I'm just enjoying my job and want to do well in it in the future, but that's kind of it, really. No big hassles.'
Of all the characters in his last film, which is based on a true story about a group of university students who start an influential blog, Aaron's character is the one who emerges as most likeable. But he insists that the plot is not as straightforward as it might appear. 'What's wonderful about this film is that everyone feels they are the good guy. I don't think anyone in the cast felt they were playing the villain. It was just a group of human beings that had different opinions.'
It's a typically thoughtful answer from the 27-year-old, who seems to be a bit of a worrier and prefers to avoid watching himself on screen. Doubtless he doesn't care for interviews either, but he is so open and engaging that you wouldn't know it. He felt 'a heightened sense of responsibility' playing a real-life person in his last film, but had no contact with the person concerned. These people are living and breathing somewhere - of course that has a great effect on the care with which you approach your work. I kept wondering if he'd come and see the film, if he'd recognize himself in my performance or be angered by it.'
His performance has a vulnerability about it that is almost painful to watch. Does he seek out those parts or do directors see that quality in him? 'I don't know, I think it's probably a bit of both. I certainly have that unwillingness to lose naivety; to lose that childlike way of looking at the world. I find it a very real and profound theme in my life and, talking to other people my age, I think it's universal.'
According to the text, what does Aaron think about his job?
- A. It helps him become famous.
- B. It can't make his life change
- C. It's a boring job.
- D. It brings him many opportunities.
- A. modern
- B. ordinary
- C. frightening
- D. interesting
- A. has a sensible attitude towards fame.
- B. seems confident that he can deal with fame.
- C. seems unaware that he's about to become famous.
- D. has unrealistic ideas about what it's like to be famous.
- A. at the end of this year
- B. next year
- C. in the next 2 years
- D. in the next 5 years
- A. doesn't think much about his achievements.
- B. is used to receiving so much praise.
- C. is doubtful whether he will win an award.
- D. would like to receive great attention.
- A. There are clear heroes in it.
- B. The plot is not as simple as it may appear.
- C. He knows why people liked his character best.
- D. There were often disagreements between the actors.
- A. He avoids watching his own films.
- B. He doesn't like giving interviews.
- C. He feels responsible for the character he plays.
- D. He thinks carefully before answering a question.
- A. curious
- B. fantastic
- C. confused
- D. highly responsible
- A. He was disappointed that he never met that person.
- B. He was sure that person wouldn't want to see the film.
- C. He was concerned that the person might feel angry.
- D. He was pleased that the person approved of the fact he was playing it.
- A. the fame
- B. the professionalism
- C. the appearance
- D. the unwillingness to lose naivety
