Time allowed 01:15

Reading • Part 1
You are going to read three extracts which are all concerned in some way with the weather. For
questions 1–6, choose the answer (A, B, C or D) which you think fits best according to the text.

Polar weather
Every morning on a polar expedition it’s the same: minus 48°C, but the wind chill drags
it down to minus 70°C. We check each other’s faces for the whiteness that indicates
the beginning of frostbite, your reward for a moment’s inattention.

Bizarrely, people on polar expeditions don’t wear that many clothes, just a normal
thermal layer and an inexpensive jacket that wouldn’t be out of place on a walk in the
English countryside. In a sense, we can’t afford to. Trekking across ice and pulling a
heavy sledge works the body hard. If you sweat into your clothes, they can freeze,
leading to hypothermia. So, we keep ourselves on the right side of chilly.

However, the cold isn’t bad weather; it’s just weather and a constant we prepare for.
It’s on warmer days, when the threat of frostbite or hypothermia has receded and the
weather closes in, that it gets really dangerous. This is when storms blow up and you
can find yourself in the middle of a white-out. There is no up or down; a lump of ice
could be one metre or one hundred metres away. There is no way to tell. Gradient is
only determined by the ache in your legs. Sometimes a white-out can descend in
seconds. A few years ago, a white-out left me straining to find a path between chasms
in a crevasse field, as ice caked the sides of my face. Each step could have been my
last. Terrifying as it sounds, it is the challenge of this weather, the worst the planet has
to offer, that draws us to these places.

1 What does the writer advise about people on polar expeditions?

A They should focus on trying to conserve their energy.

B They may get injured through too much physical exertion.

C They need to monitor the costs of the trip.

D They are in danger from getting too warm.

2 The writer says that the main danger of polar storms is that people

A are unable to see where they are going.

B find that the cold becomes unbearable.

C can’t move in the strong winds.

D are tempted to take unnecessary risks.

Storm Tours
This coming spring, Storm Tours will lead five tours into Tornado Alley, US, in search of
nature’s most extreme and spectacular weather. Tornado Alley, where more tornadoes
occur than anywhere else on earth, stretches from Texas northward to the Dakotas.

The Storm Tours team comprises Storm Tours President Mark Jennings, well known
for his high-quality motion picture storm footage; Will Plant, a respected climatologist;
and Dr Craig Belloc, one of the top tornado scientists in the world. No other storm
chase tour company brings this calibre of scientists and storm chasers together to
interact with novice enthusiasts.

‘Our mission is to introduce both the science and romance of storm chasing to people
wanting a better understanding of our unique pursuit,’ says Mark Jennings. ‘The
essence of storm chasing has never been captured accurately by Hollywood. Our
discipline is far more multi-dimensional than what they have shown. There are the
hours of forecasting we conduct each day, the logistics, the safe practices, and the
special characteristics of each storm we intercept. The only way to experience it is to
do it at first-hand. While we can’t guarantee that guests will actually witness a tornado,
we can guarantee them the opportunity to live the life of a storm chaser for a few days,
criss-crossing the beautiful Great Plains on 14-hour, 1,000 kilometre drives, which in
itself is a once-in-a-lifetime adventure for many.’

Tours will depart from Oklahoma City with fees from $1,950 per person.

3 What is unique about this company’s tours?

A Guests learn how complex storm chasing can be.

B Guests work closely alongside the very best experts.

C Guests see how reality is different from the movies.

D Guests carry out research on weather conditions.

4 The advertisement promises that people joining the tour will

A film the places that they visit.

B experience dangerous situations.

C travel long distances.

D observe tornadoes at close range.

The weather abroad

‘What will the weather be like?’ people invariably ask me when I’m about to travel
abroad, and for half a century I have replied: ‘To hell with the weather.’
The state of the weather is immaterial if your job, like mine, involves trying to gauge the
essential character of a country, a city, or even a collection of individuals. Rain or
shine, hot or cold, baking in high summer or shivering in blizzard, a place is a place is a
place. Those of us who travel professionally don’t often want to laze about on a beach
– and if we do, it might well make for better literature if it rained all day.

So I honestly have not cared what the weather’s going to be like when I get there. I do
see, though, that it is a different matter for the people who live in the places I so
heedlessly portray, as it is for me in my own country. I live in Wales, one of the wettest
places in Europe, and although I genuinely enjoy a decent mountain downpour,
nowadays the long, grey, damp months, when we are all longing for spring, do
occasionally make me think of emigration.

I shall never really leave my country, of course, but it is undeniable that climate change
is making those grey, damp months seem ever longer, blurring the passage of the
seasons, messing up the biology. It may well change the character of places and
peoples too, in which case we had better all watch out.

5 This text was written by a

A tour guide.

B psychologist.

C painter.

D travel writer.

6 What is the writer’s opinion of the weather abroad?

A The writer’s professional life is complicated by it.

B The writer pays more attention to the weather at home.

C The writer prefers it when it’s wet.

D The writer is not concerned about changing weather patterns.

Reading • Part 2
You are going to read an extract from a magazine article. Six paragraphs have been removed
from the article. Choose from the paragraphs A–G the one which fits each gap (7–12). There is
one extra paragraph which you do not need to use. Type the appropriate letter (A–G) in the
box.
Wildlife photographer
James Owen talks to one of the world’s great wildlife photographers.

You’re Frans Lanting, the world’s leading wildlife photographer, so naturally you want
to get pictures of something that has never been seen before, say the annual gathering
of hundreds of rare parrots deep in the Amazon rainforest. You haul a canoe, supplies,
camera gear and a large steel structure over the Andes mountains. Then you paddle
up the Tambopata River in the Manu National Park, Peru, before erecting the steel
tower, which you climb to get to where the birds live in the tree canopy. That’s thirty
metres up, and you have a fear of heights.

And to make matters worse, things are no easier on the jungle floor. Fungus grows on
your equipment, aggressive ants eat through your tent, and silica gel, which you use to
dehumidify your cameras, gets so wet that you need to cook it over a fire to dry it out.
Then unfriendly-looking, armed local people turn up demanding food. How do you
cope?

‘But,’ he goes on, flashing a shy smile, ‘the biggest risks are having to trust the people
you work with. Someone comes to pick you up in a small, single-engine plane in the
middle of nowhere. The plane doesn’t look too good and you have your doubts about
the pilot. But what can you do? Ask to see his licence? No. You just go.’

On one such journey, he went straight from one job in tropical Madagascar to another
in the remote Atlantic islands of South Georgia and suddenly went down with malaria.
Only the nearby presence of a British Army medical base averted a potentially lethal
situation.

10

More remarkable still is the impression that Lanting’s images, many of which are close-
ups, are, in fact, attempts to portray animals as individuals, as distinct in their
characters as you and I. As he puts it, ‘Not all lions are the same. As individuals, as
mates, as members of a society, they’re all very different.’

11

‘I went on holiday to America and took along my mother’s little snapshot camera,’ he
recalls. ‘I was terribly disappointed. It’s hard to squeeze much into a snapshot frame.’
Bored by sitting in an office reading reports, he taught himself photography and in the
early 1980s moved to the US and a new life.

12

But how can it compete with television and the Internet? ‘Well, they’re obviously
important,’ he acknowledges. ‘But I think that a well-executed photograph that has
visual appeal and content still has the ability to affect people in a way that a fluid
medium such as television can’t do. Only a single image can define a situation.’

A It is that can-do attitude that has made the Dutch-born Lanting his generation’s

greatest photographer of the natural world. Certainly he is the one most in demand by

international wildlife magazines and for shooting advertisements for the likes of Kodak.

His travels have taken him from the South Pacific to the north of Scotland, and from

Central Africa to Antarctica, sometimes in the same week.

B Local people are important to Lanting’s work (‘they’re one of my favourite animals’),

and he never takes on a project without involving them, wherever he may be. ‘They’re

indispensable to understanding the local perspective,’ he says. It is such sympathy that

distinguishes his photographs from our holiday snapshots.

C The man himself is as distinct, wary and intelligent as any of the animals he has

photographed. He seems so obviously an outdoors type that it comes as a surprise to

find that he trained as a town planner. Amazingly, he did not pick up a camera until he

was in his early twenties.

D You spend twelve hours a day up there, for the next month, in a space the size of an

office desk. You try to remain motionless in your tiny shelter to avoid scaring the birds.

It is intensely humid, and bees drink sweat from your skin, making it difficult to focus a

lens without being stung. Eight wooden planks under your feet are the only thing

between you and a fatal fall.

E ‘I never envisaged that I could make a career out of it,’ he says, ‘but we’ve

witnessed a tremendous increase in concern for the natural world. Photography plays a

significant role in shaping those perceptions.’

F The risks, however, are worth it. Lanting’s photos include serpentine jungle rivers,

chameleons caught asleep, a seed falling to earth and almost the world’s last woolly

rhinoceros. His photographs are unlike any others: astonishingly lush, vibrant, almost

lyrical images. His work make us feel that we are sharing some great natural secret.

G ‘Oh, they’re OK,’ Frans says in his calm way. ‘You give them what you can of

course. No, what’s really scary is sitting on the platform as a thunderstorm approaches

and you realize you’re on a steel structure higher than the trees around you. You’re a

lightning rod. That’s not nice.’

Reading • Part 3
You are going to read a newspaper article. For questions 13–19, choose the answer (A, B, C or
D) which you think fits best according to the text

The Art Of Translation

Literary critic and former translator Martin Johnson talks about the problems faced by translators.
1 When translating a work, you often find yourself looking for metaphors and other
ways of making the translation more powerful, as if translation can’t quite be
entertaining enough in itself. Even four hundred years ago, the men who translated
religious texts into the common language of the people relied heavily on metaphor.
Translation it is that ‘openeth the window’ and ‘letteth in the light’. Nowadays translation
also fulfils what seems, for the translator, to be a basic need, which is concerned not so
much with a desire to speak metaphorically or to impart knowledge to readers who
would otherwise remain uninformed, but far more with discovering the mysteries of a
different world.

2 Some practitioners of the art have talked in terms of ‘transplanting’ – taking

something living from one soil and setting it in another. Others have compared it to a
musical performance, with the translator as conductor, adding colour and insight to the
existing score. But it is still a three-way transaction involving the ghost of the distant
author, the disturbing presence of the foreign text, and the phantom of the reader, all
three pulling the translator in different directions.

3 The translator Antonia Bond has plumped for a different image: the translator as
tightrope walker. She has battled for years against what she calls ‘a catastrophic lack
of curiosity’ to make foreign titles accessible to the English without compromising on
quality. And when you read her translations, you can sense her cool nerve, her skill
and courage during what is sometimes a precarious balancing act that could go wrong
at any moment. Bond spins an illusion, the illusion being that the reader is reading the
real thing – that is to say, the author’s original work, not some weary imitation of it. She
admits that some authors would prefer her to adhere more strictly to their original text,
but Antonia achieves the ideal: that the translated work, while still remaining true to the
author’s concerns and the spirit of the writing, takes on a life of its own.

4 If literary translation is, then, some sort of miracle, it is one we have been slow to
recognize. In the 17th and 18th centuries, it was quite normal for translations to be
anonymous; and well into the 20th century, work was often unattributed, the name of
the translator often being hidden among the preliminary pages, a tiny intimation tucked
away alongside the printer and binder. And when it comes to reviews of books in
translation, the name of the translator does not automatically appear alongside the
author’s. Is this neglect? Or indifference? Translators are often diffident by nature, used
to being in the background, but it is high time they demanded our respect. True, in
many cases, they have colluded in their own invisibility. Translators, however skilful,
know they must never overwhelm or compete with the author and that the author’s
whole identity is bound up with the way they place words on the page, but they should
also be aware, that without their efforts many would not hear the author’s voice at all.

5 Over the past few months, as part of judging duties for a literary prize, I have read
some ninety novels in translation. Encouraging, then, that publishers are no longer
steering clear of works in translation. And while publishers do now ensure that every
translator is accredited somewhere, the names can still be hard to find. Perhaps they
want to maintain Antonia Bond’s illusion that the book comes to us fresh and first-hand.
They know that readers prefer works by the original authors, and may not want to be
reminded that anyone else is involved. On the whole, the general public doesn’t know
what to make of translation. It is slightly mystical, and those who practise it are a little
bit suspect .

6 And when reviewers praise a literary translation, they call it ‘smooth’ or

‘unobtrusive’, often criticizing passages within the translation that sound ‘foreign’. It is
an odd idea this, judging the translation of a book that started life in another country in
another tongue according to its foreignness. ‘The author is well served by his translator’
is another familiar comment, intended to be kind, but actually exasperating for
translators when they know that the reviewer is actually unable to look at the work in its
original form. ‘Faithful’ is another misleading word. Faithful to what exactly? There is an
element of paradox in the work of a translator – sometimes you have to take liberties,
precisely in order to be faithful to the original work. Author Jorge Luis Borges criticized
his translator, telling him that his job was to translate not what he said, but what he
intended to say.

7 For me, looking at a translation is like looking at a tapestry from the wrong side: you
can see the basic shapes but they are so filled with threads that you cannot fathom
their original qualities. But this does not give us a reason not to read books in
translation. For even the wrong side of the tapestry, with all its tangled and dangling
threads, though it may be imperfect, is nevertheless worth seeing.

13 The basic need referred to by the writer is the need to

A be informed by others

B understand other cultures.

C exchange experiences with others.

D escape from everyday concerns.

14 The writer compares translation to a musical performance to show that a translator

A needs to interpret the original work.

B should aim to entertain the reader.

C must remain faithful to the intention of the author.

D can experience difficulty in pleasing different people.

15 What does the writer say about the translator Antonia Bond?

A She is critical of some authors.

B She writes in a lively style.

C She takes risks with her translations.

D She follows the structure of the author’s original work.

16 In the writer’s opinion, translators

A are not given the credit they deserve.

 B have often wanted to remain anonymous.

C are sometimes more skilled than the original author.

D should not expect acknowledgement for their achievements.

17 What does the writer say about publishers?

A They do as much as they can to support translators.

B They tend to employ only a few trusted translators.

C They are unsure about the merit of books in translation.

D They are influenced by the attitude of their readers.

18 The writer believes that reviewers of books in translation

A are too critical of translators.

B forget that the book is not in the original language.

C fail to understand what makes a good translation.

D are not in a position to judge the merits of the translation.

19 The writer refers to a tapestry to make the point that a translation

A is a work of art in its own right.

B cannot convey the original work precisely.

C can be more detailed than the original work.

D will never be as accomplished as the original work.

Reading • Part 4
You are going to read advertisements offering ‘gap year’ activities, time away from studies
between school and higher education. For questions 20–34, choose from the advertisements
(A–F). The advertisements may be chosen more than once. Type the appropriate letter (A–F) in
the box

A YEAR OUT
A The Opus Drama Centre
The Opus Drama Centre offers you the chance to spend a year in the UK having a truly
motivating experience before university. We offer you the opportunity to use the skills
you have to train and perform with young people here in the UK. In exchange for your
commitment, we will provide accommodation and full board at the centre. We also
undertake to cover all expenses involved in getting here. We are unable to offer
payment in terms of a salary, though students who show particular flair may be offered
paid work later. Once here, you will become part of a diverse, multicultural and highly
professional performing arts company. These opportunities would suit gap-year
students who are looking for work and life experience, to gain insight into the British
way of life and develop their English language skills.

B Outreach Gap
One of the most popular options during a gap year is to travel abroad to teach English
and earn some money while gaining new experiences. Outreach offers this opportunity
to anyone with an advanced level of English. We will ask you to sit a short online test to
confirm your level of English. Don’t worry if you have never taught before; we provide
an intensive short one-month course, which will help to give you the confidence and
knowledge to stand in front of a class and teach with ease. In addition to teaching
English abroad, there are many other teaching placements available, such as football,
rugby, maths and art. These placements are perfect for those who have qualifications
in another field of study, or for those who are not necessarily interested in seeking
employment as a teacher in the future.

C Community Volunteers
If you hanker after the fulfilment of teaching or caring for children, or the excitement of
learning a new language, running a sports club or organizing a drama group, we’ve got
just the project for you. Whatever your interests, we provide a year of training and
structured voluntary work experience to boost your CV and make you stand out from
the crowd when it comes to job seeking. We also have a huge range of projects to
choose from if you want to coach and play sports. Or, if you’re creative and prefer
drama, music or dance, we’ve got excellent projects to offer you. And it doesn’t matter
what your field of study is, no formal qualifications are required nor is an ability to
speak the language of the country you’re visiting. All you need is a spirit of adventure
and a sense of humour!

D Go Independent
Since 1990, we have specialized in unique, small group outdoor adventure travel for
students looking for a break from their studies in order to get away from it all. We strive
to show you the real world by taking you off the beaten track to the heart of the
destination of your choice, and to meet the locals who call it home. If you have a lust
for life and a curiosity for culture, we invite you to immerse yourself in our addictive
world of adventure travel! Once out there many of our students choose to combine
work with travel in order to help to meet the costs of their adventure. For many, a year
is just not long enough and that’s why there’s no time limit on the adventure we offer!

E The Student Link

The Student Link places well-motivated students in industry for a gap year before they
embark on their degree. The students are matched with different companies
internationally on the basis of their chosen degree subjects, usually engineering,
science, computing and business studies. The Student Link has been successfully
placing students since 1987 and offers students an invaluable experience. The benefits
to students include:

• accommodation and living allowance (travel at students’ own expense)

• a certificate (Level 3) in management and personal development
• support and training during the year to ensure that everything runs smoothly
• enhanced academic qualifications
F Stay Away
What better way to immerse yourself in a foreign community during your gap year, than
by learning a language abroad? We specialize in language courses in Europe and
Latin America offering courses in Spanish, Italian and French. You can study at just
one of our centres, or divide your language course between several centres in the
country of your choice. We guarantee to find homes for all our students with local
families who are checked by our staff for their suitability. Minimum length of course: 8
weeks. Cost: eight-week block for just £1,200 including food, excluding flights.

20 Which advertisement

implies that students will be more employable after a gap year with them?

21 Which advertisement

suggests that the experience might lead to better results in their future studies?

22 Which advertisement

provides training for students in preparation for their gap year?

23 Which advertisement

says that students will not be making their trip alone?

24 Which advertisement

says that jobs are available to a limited number of students at the end of their gap

year?

25 Which advertisement

allocates students according to what they will be studying?

26 Which advertisement

maintains that students do not need to know the local language?

27 Which advertisement

says that students can spend longer than a year with them?

28 Which advertisement

offers students free food and accommodation?

29 Which advertisement

will provide students with a formal qualification at the end of their placement?

30 Which advertisement

says that the company will meet travel costs?

31 Which advertisement

finds accommodation for students in the community?

32 Which advertisement

pays students for the work they do?

33 Which advertisement

says that students can spend their time in more than one location?

34 Which advertisement

carries out their own assessment of a student’s suitability?