FCE Test 2
FCE Test 2
FCE Test 2
PAPER 1: READING
Part 1
You are going to read an article about an inventor. For questions 1-8, choose the answer (A, B, C or D) which you
think fits best according to the text.
Part 2
You are going to read a magazine article about a hotel with a difference. Seven sentences have been removed from the
article. Choose from the sentences A-H the one which fits each gap (9-15). There is one extra sentence which you do
not need to use.
If you’re looking for a completely different “getaway”, and more elaborate. Sculptors are invited to carve
you should visit the world’s only hotel built entirely of works of art in ice for display in the hotel art gallery.
ice. Located 125 kilometres north of the Arctic Circle at 12 in the spring, the ice hotel melts and flows back into
And
Jukkasjarvi, deep in the heart of Swedish Lapland, the the river, completing a natural ecological cycle without
IceHotel is an unlikely success story. polluting the environment, yet providing much-needed
employment in this remote area.
In a frozen landscape, far from civilisation, the hotel
stands in one of Europe’s last great wildernesses – As for leisure, adventurous outdoor types will find
a vast, glittering expanse of crystal clear lakes, ice a host of activities available, from snowmobiling
and snow, towering mountains, glaciers, waterfalls and 13
to dogsledding and skiing. For the romantic
extensive green forests. My first view of the place left guest, there’s no better place to propose than under the
9
me speechless. But the hotel bore no magnificent Northern Lights in the deep blue skies over
resemblance whatsoever to a small dome of ice with a the Arctic Circle. The marriage ceremony can be held in
door you crawl through. It was enormous! Later, I learned the hotel’s Ice Chapel – a white wedding of course!
that it occupies 3,500 square metres of floor space.
The management has thought of everything – your future
So what is it that attracts over 20,000 visitors and 3,000 offspring can even be baptized in the very same chapel.
guests a year to this hotel? The answer lies in the concept. 14 name you give the child must contain the letters is –
The
10 appeals to the curious among us, and those with a
This the Swedish word for ice. Christopher? Isak? Do you get
sense of adventure, who want to know what it’s like to the idea?
spend the night in this pristine wilderness surrounded by
So if you’re considering a visit, don’t pack your bathing
ice.
15
costume or your Gucci loafers. At night,
I arrived in the high season, mid-January, having booked your block of ice bed awaits, but as long as you do some
well in advance via the Net. Open only from December to exercises to warm up before jumping into your sleeping
April, there are no off-season specials or cheap weekends bag, you should sleep soundly, despite the chilling -3 to
in the spring. 11 -8 degrees inside the hotel.
Built on the banks of the Torne river, construction Snug under reindeer skins for insulation, I found it eerily
begins when the water freezes in mid-October. Since quiet at night. And as I tried to sleep, I heard a sound I’d
the hotel is rebuilt every year, the architects can never heard before – but I wasn’t afraid – it was just my
indulge their fantasies. Their designs become more own heart beating!
A By then, the hotel starts to melt and is E The exhibitions have become quite a tourist
demolished. attraction.
B There is one restriction, however, which F It has all the trademarks of an ordinary hotel:
has become a tradition in the hotel. lobby, reception rooms, bar and bedrooms,
but the amazing fact is that everything is
made of ice.
C Sleeping bags on the floor are not exactly
my idea of a hotel bed.
G When you think of accommodation made of
ice, the image of an igloo springs to mind.
D But, being more laid-back myself, I settled
for vodka in the Absolut Icebar and – yes
you’ve guessed it – it was served in a glass H You’re far better off with thermal underwear
made of ice. and hiking boots.
Part 3
You are going to read a magazine article about specially trained dogs. For questions 16-30, choose from the dogs
(A-D). The dogs may be chosen more than once.
Which dog(s)
Working Dogs
Mark Bancroft spent a year in the United States meeting dog owners
whose animals have been trained to be useful to human beings.
A “Without Suzie, my Labrador, at my side, I’d C Kip, a German shepherd, belongs to a unit
never be able to go out alone,” New York resident that searches for survivors of disasters who have
Marie de Vries told me. Marie is blind, and Suzie been buried alive under tons of rubble. His unit
acts as her eyes, leading Marie along crowded is rushed to the scene as quickly as possible to
streets and threading through the traffic on busy search for trapped victims who may be seriously
roads. She accompanies Marie on shopping injured or dehydrated. Often risking their own
sprees and goes into restaurants too; even lives, the dogs sniff out survivors, so that a
though there is a law against dogs, exceptions rescue team can pinpoint their location. Dogs are
are made for guide dogs. Passersby have to be an indispensable asset in these situations, since
discouraged from petting Suzie, since nothing using heavy equipment to remove debris would
must be allowed to divert her attention from the endanger the people buried underneath. When
road. Before becoming a guide dog, Suzie he is not on a mission, Kip lives with Peter, his
underwent months of intensive training, part of handler, and spends 15-20 hours a week keeping
it with her future owner. Now she is one of the fit and improving his efficiency. Besides barking
family and plays in the back garden when she when he smells a survivor, Kip has been trained
isn’t working. And she always licks Marie’s to walk carefully over unstable ground and crawl
hand to show her pleasure when Marie praises into small places. He has even learned to tolerate
her for a job well done. loud noise and to remain calm when being lowered
by rope from a helicopter. Kip has helped to find
B people under collapsed buildings in the UK and as
Andy, a golden retriever, is one half of a far away from home as Turkey and Taiwan.
specially trained FBI team that searches for
illegal drugs. Andy lives with special agent Ted,
who devoted months to training him and teaching D Looking at Tucker, it’s hard to believe that he
him what to search for. “Even now,” Ted told could pose a danger to black bears or mountain
me, “I’m constantly hiding drugs in all kinds of lions. Medium-sized and black-and-white like a
strange places, to keep Andy on his toes.” Andy panda, Tucker is one of a team of Karelian Bear
must also be exercised daily as it’s important Dogs. “Karelian dogs are of Finnish descent,”
that he stay in good shape. Working at airports, handler Ben Sommer explains. “They’re hunters
sea ports, bus stations and border crossings, by nature, so they don’t need extensive training.”
Andy is able to identify six different drugs Tucker and the other Karelian dogs are being used
using his keen sense of smell. Sometimes he as part of a local wildlife protection programme
and Ted go to schools to demonstrate their to deter wild bears from approaching residential
work. Andy loves the contact with children, but areas and campsites.
above all, he enjoys a playful tug of war with his
Karelian dogs move in quickly, nip the bear and
master when Ted wants to show his
retreat. The loud bark of this breed affects the
appreciation for Andy’s successes. In fact,
bear like no other variety of dog can. By scaring
Andy’s inherent playfulness is an important
the bears away, the dogs help reintroduce their
factor in his line of work. Trainers are careful to
natural fear of humans, preventing the need to kill
choose breeds with a strong play drive which
or relocate them.
makes them enthusiastic about jumping on
furniture and searching inside suitcases in order to
retrieve an object.
Part 1
You must answer this question. Write your answer in 120-150 words in an appropriate style.
1 You recently entered a competition in an international magazine. You have received this letter from the
magazine’s public relations manager, Mr Thompson. Read his letter and the notes you have made. Then
write a letter to Mr Thompson, using all your notes.
To help us plan your weekend, we will need to know which capital Say which
city you would like to visit. We would also appreciate knowing more and why
Give details about your hobbies, interests and activities you enjoy doing.
Yes, but …
Yours sincerely,
Sam Thompson
Write your letter. Do not write any postal addresses. You must use grammatically correct sentences with
accurate spelling and punctuation in a style appropriate for the situation.
Part 2
Write an answer to one of the questions 2-4 in this part. Write your answer in 120-180 words in an appropriate style.
2 You recently saw this notice on the wall of the school library.
3 You have decided to enter a short-story competition. The competition rules state that the story must begin with
the words:
We felt so excited as the train pulled into the station.
Write your story.
Part 1
For questions 1-12, read the text below and decide which answer (A, B, C or D) best fits each gap. There is an example
at the beginning (0).
Example:
0 A B C D
Lie Detectors
The thought of having to pass a polygraph (or lie detector) test makes even innocent people break (0) ..... in a nervous
sweat. Of course, people can always refuse to (1) ..... it, but there is really nothing to fear, unless they are lying. The
polygraph machine is simply a useful tool that is used in police (2) ..... to check the facts given by a suspect, an informant
or a witness at the (3) ..... of a crime.
The polygraph is (4) ..... on a scientific principle that a person’s body will respond in a (5) ..... way when he or she is
(6) ..... a lie. A polygraph test is carried out in stages. First of all, the person being tested is asked simple questions, which
are (7) ..... unrelated to the crime. For example, a 20-year-old may be asked: “Are you 20 years old?” When the individual
answers, his or her (8) ..... rate, perspiration and breathing patterns are recorded on the machine. Then they are (9) .....
with his or her physical responses when answering another set of questions that are (10) ..... to the crime.
The polygraph test is not 100% reliable; (11) ..... it comes very close. Anyone trying to cheat will almost
(12) ..... be caught.
Part 2
For questions 13-24, read the text below and think of the word which best fits each gap. Use only one word in each
gap. There is an example at the beginning (0).
Example: 0 I N
Brightly coloured checked skirts seem to be (0) ........................... fashion this year. Today, we associate these checked
patterns, called tartans, (13) ........................... Scotland. However, tartans probably originated in Ireland and were
brought to Scotland by an ancient Irish people, the Celts, (14) ............................ settled there.
In Scotland, men have been wearing clothing with a tartan pattern (15) ........................... hundreds of years. The tartan
cloth (16) ........................... initially worn as a long shirt, but Scottish men began using the cloth to make skirts or
kilts.
Every Scottish clan or family group has (17) ........................... own traditional tartan. In (18) ........................... past,
the colours in the cloth varied depending on the area of Scotland the clan occupied. This is ( 19) ........................... the
colours came from dyes that were made from local soils and plants. The number of colours in the cloth showed a
person’s rank. The (20) ........................... colours you had, the higher your rank. For instance, a poor farmer’s tartan
contained only two colours, while an important chief of a clan wore a kilt with (21) ........................... least seven.
(22) ........................... to tradition, kilts were only worn by men, and you could not wear a tartan ( 23) ...........................
you were descended from a clan. Fortunately, (24) ........................... are some tartans that don’t belong to any clan and,
Part 3
For questions 25-34, read the text below. Use the word given in capitals at the end of some of the lines to form a
word that fits in the gap in the same line. There is an example at the beginning (0).
Example: 0 P A R T I C U L A R L Y
Fighting Flu
For the most part, (26) ........................... spend a few miserable SUFFER
days in bed with a high temperature and (27) ........................... limbs ACHE
and then they recover. That is (28) ........................... the case for USUAL
For the elderly, or weak, flu is a more serious matter. Even a mild flu
attack can have (29) ........................... consequences. Despite all the DANGER
have yet to find a complete cure for influenza. However, they have
and the elderly – the flu vaccination. This gives quite good
monitors viruses which can cause flu. Each year, they produce a new
vaccine to deal with the (34) ........................... strains of the virus, which LATE
keeps mutating in order to defend itself from newer forms of the vaccine.
Part 4
For questions 35-42, 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 two and five words, including the word given. Here is
an example (0).
Example:
0 Sue was the one person who finished the test.
FROM
No one ....................................................................................................................................... finished the test.
The gap can be filled by the words ‘apart from Sue’ so you write:
Example: 0 A P A R T F R O M S U E
40 They sold the house for more than they paid for it.
PROFIT
They ........................................................................................................................................................ the house.
Part 1
You will hear people talking in eight different situations. For questions 1-8, choose the best answer (A, B or C).
1 You hear someone talking to her friend. 5 You switch on the radio and hear this advertisement.
What is she going to do? What is being advertised?
A interview an actor A bath products
B appear on a chat show 1
B a health club 5
C go to a film premiere C a holiday
2 You hear a man talking to a friend. 6 You hear part of a radio play.
What kind of job is he looking for? Where is the couple?
A temporary A in a shop
B full-time 2
B at home 6
C part-time C at a campsite
3 You overhear a woman talking to her friend. 7 You overhear an office worker speaking on the
Why is she upset with her husband? telephone.
A He went to a sporting event. Who is he speaking to?
B He paid a lot for tickets. 3 A his employer
C He didn’t get a ticket for her. B a travel agent 7
C a customer
4 You hear this traffic announcement on the radio.
Why will drivers have problems travelling north? 8 You overhear a woman talking about a wedding.
A It’s market day. How did she feel on the day?
B The road is being repaired. 4 A upset
C The road is closed this morning. B anxious 8
C excited
Part 2
You will hear a radio interview with a man who wants to travel around the world in a balloon. For questions 9-18,
complete the sentences.
BALLOONING
Part 3
You will hear five different people talking about their clothes. For questions 19-23, choose from the list (A-F) what
each speaker says. Use the letters only once. There is one extra letter which you do not need to use.
Part 4
You will hear an interview with Tricia Brown, a food and restaurant critic. For questions 24-30, choose the best answer
24 (A, B or C).