IV

19.04.2015.

KEY
Section I - Reading comprehension
1- D

2- C

3- B

4- C

5- A

6- D

7- C

8- A

Section II - Listening comprehension

1- C

2- B

3- C

4- A

5- D

6- D

7- B

Section III - Grammar and Vocabulary Test

I Circle the letter in front of the most suitable answer (A, B, C or D).

1-D

2-B

3-A

4-A

5-B

6-B

7-C

8-C

9-D

10-A
(

max. 10 points)
II Complete the text by filling in the blanks with the correct form of the
words given in the box. Use each word only once. Two words are extra.

(1)had seemed
(2) scarcely
(3) had been enchanted
(4)
scullery
(5) looking for
(6) stalks
(7) marks (8) rubbed some off
(9) had swollen
(10) had sat up
The
words
extra:
shipwreck,
pebble
(max. 10 points)
III Replace the underlined words with the correct form of a phrasal verb
from the box. Two of them are extra.

1. 'll/will/shall level with you

2. whipped through the last three chapters.
3. cotton on.
4. 've/have just thrown it together.
The phrasal verbs extra: rustle up, clam up
(max. 4 points)
IV Finish the following sentences so that the meaning remains the same:

1. The sheer expense/cost/price of the idea/it (was/what) put me

off it/the idea.
2. I'd rather you didn't ask her to the party.
3. We had to content ourselves with a cheaper car than the one
we wanted.
(max. 3 points)
V For each of the sentences below, write a new one as similar as possible
in meaning to the original one, using the word given (in bold) which must
not be altered in any way:

1. I took it for granted that they'd be interested in the

performance.
2. The meeting didn't come up/live up to our expectations.
1

3. Is the city centre within walking distance of this hotel?

(max. 3 points)

Section I - Reading comprehension
1- D

2- C

3- B

4- C

5- A

6- D

7- C

8- A

Section II - Listening comprehension

1- B

2- C

3- B

4- D

5- A

6- B

7- C

Section III - Grammar and Vocabulary Test

I Circle the letter in front of the most suitable answer (A, B, C or D).

1-B

2-C

3-D

4-B

5-B

6-A

7-C

8-A

9-B

10-C
(

max. 10 points)
II Complete the text by filling in the blanks with the correct form of the
words given in the box. Use each word only once. Two words are extra.

(1) threshing
(2) gusts
(3) wondered
(4) marvellously (5)
had heaped
(6) in drifts
(7) tossing
(8) hidden
(9) believed
(10) had
gone
The
words
extra:
fence,
scrape
(max. 10 points)
III Replace the underlined words with the correct form of a phrasal verb
from the box. Two of them are extra.

1. ramps down
2. snuggled down
3. bombed out
4. have been ratcheted up
The phrasal verbs extra: chew over, gobble up
4 points)

(max.

IV Finish the following sentences so that the meaning remains the same:

1. She whiled away the time (by) looking through some

magazines.
2. I'd sooner he hadn't said all those embarrassing things about
her.
(max. 2 points)
V For each of the sentences below, write a new one as similar as possible
in meaning to the original one, using the word given (in bold) which must
not be altered in any way:

1. Jim's done next to nothing today.

2. This is a subject that Frank and I don't see eye to eye on. /
Frank and I don't see eye to eye on this subject.
(max. 2 points)
2

VI Fill each of the blanks with a suitable word or phrase.

1. for the most

2. extent / degree to
(max. 2
points)
Reading comprehension:
max. 8 / min. 6 points
Listening comprehension:
max. 7 / min. 5 points
Grammar and Vocabulary:
max. 30 / min. 25 points
Total (written test): max. 45 / min. 36 points
Speaking:
Overall total:

max. 20 / min. 15 points

max. 65 / min. 51 points

IV
19.04.2015.

Section II
LISTENING COMPREHENSION
My mother used to go to the South of France in order to paint.
Her style had deepened into something altogether richer than before,
a sternly unaffected impressionism. The strength of her pictures was
also, to my mind, their limitation, which is another way of saying she
had personality. Everything she painted had behind it a very acute
temperament, both serene and warm. More heart and instinct than
thought had gone into her work. To paint what she saw was enough
for her. What she felt would inevitably follow.
She strode across the paintable landscape, an old straw hat on
her head, sniffing out the best angles and compositions, while Frieda
and I followed like native porters in a movie, carrying canvases and
easels and boxes of paint. It was a curious way of spending vacations,
since there was nothing I could do but paint as well, although for me
to paint what I saw was never satisfying. I could not bring myself to
aim for a mere faithful reproduction, nor did any work without
comment, without an edge, interest me for long. Once I remember the
astonishment of both my mother and Frieda when, at the end of a
smouldering day in the hills behind the village, I showed them my
painting, the subject of which was a post-Christmas sale at a large
department store in London.
This event became the pretext for a family joke, which was
brought out on every and any occasion, and I hope I laughed with a
good grace every time I heard it. The fact was that I did not consider
it much of a pastime for a boy away from school to be sitting before a
landscape nature had put together with great competence, and to
seek to reproduce it on a small piece of paper. In case it be thought
3

that a note of self-pity has crept into this account of my apparent

boredom, I must say that the intention was never to complain about
my fate, but merely to explain the form of my protest. A Christmas
sale in a department store should have been enough to convince
anybody that I had no ambitions to be a landscape painter, but, no, it
was taken, told and retold as evidence of youthful spirits in someone
who would no doubt settle later on, and I, social animal that I was,
laughed with the others and gave credence to the myth.

IV
19.04.2015.

Section II
LISTENING COMPREHENSION
ENCHANTED WATER

The steps lead to the imposing Doric colonnade which

supports the square dedicated to Greek theatre. When it rains heavily
on the Park Gell, the water pours impetuously down the steep banks
and paths and the square fills up with puddles. Before long the
colonnade beneath would not be able to take the weight. However,
contrary to expectations, given that the square is not cambered at all,
the water does not lie there or overflow the sides demolishing the
undulating bench. Thanks to one of Gauds ingenious ideas, the
water filters through a bed of stones and sand which does not let the
earth through and collects in the top of the columns to be led
downwards through tubes inside the columns and flow into an
enormous cistern. It is evident that the three spaces, the Theatre
square, the colonnade and the cistern, are interrelated or linked by
the rain, by water. And the same is true of the sculptures on the steps
- the tripod, the salamander and snake - threaded together by the
waterfall. In twice times 3 paces, the water unites the sky and the
earth with a chain of secret links rich in symbolic meaning and art.
The cistern was the first of these features to be built at the
second stage of construction from 1906 to 1908. Its great capacity
gave the community a degree of self-sufficiency, as if this were to be
a city under siege as indeed the enclosing wall suggests. In fact,
however, the water was not for drinking but for watering (irrigation)
and other needs. The cistern occupies the right half of the hall
4

enclosed by the colonnade, and the way down to it, not open to the
public, is via a trap-door in the floor and a steep little ladder. Below,
there are pillars of different heights, between two and three metres,
some upright and others on a shapeless base, supporting rough stone
domes one has an incredible cubist figure at its root - leaving broad
aisles as in a pagan temple. The pilasters have taken on a greenish
gold hues which is as unexpected as a jewel in a well, and the capitals
are black. The piles of stones at the feet of some of the pilasters like
those heaped on top of the Gell and Gaud houses in the Park, are
representative of Hermes-Mercury in the most primitive version.
Whether he was creating public spaces or hidden areas like
cistern where almost no one would go, Gaud showed the same
artistic zeal. The effect is even more impressive when one sees these
green waters silent and still by the light of a lantern.
(extract from "Park Gell, Gaud's Utopia", by Josep M. Carandell, Pere Vivas)