Practice Test 2.doc

FC Practice Test 2       name:_________________            score:_______ %

Use of English

PART 1

For questions 1-12, read the text and decide which answer (A, B, C or D) best fits each gap. There is an example at the beginning (0). Mark your answers on the separate answer sheet.

Example:

0               A normal                            B pure                                          C natural                            D physical

The mystery of the vanishing bees

Most people are probably aware that honey, the (0)… sweetener that man has been using for thousands of years, is (1)… by bees; but perhaps fewer of us realise just how important these (2)… creatures are to farmers.

Bees pollinate fruit and vegetable crops; it has been said that every third mouthful we eat depends (3)… a bee having pollinated one or more of the ingredients, but now farmers in the United States are (4)… a major problem. American bees are dying - and nobody knows why.

Making sure crops are (5)… pollinated has become big (6)… in the United States. Beekeepers load their hives onto huge lorries and transport them (7)… the country to pollinate the farmers' crops. When the bees finish their work in one state and return to their hives, they are taken on to another state.

The problem became apparent when the bees (8)… to return to their hives, with some beekeepers losing more than 70 per cent of their insects. It soon became clear that the bees were flying off and dying in huge (9)… .

Now the race is on to find the cause and, hopefully, the solution. (10)…, some beekeepers are importing bees from other countries in the hope that they will be (11)… to whatever it is that is killing their American cousins. Only time will (12)… .

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).

Write your answers IN CAPITAL LETTERS in the answer boxes provided.

Example: 0 by

Swallowed by the sea?

The 'Lost City of Atlantis' was first described (0)……………. Plato, the famous Greek philosopher, over 2,000 years ago. His story paints a picture of an ancient civilisation whose hunger for power over others led to (13) …………….. final downfall. According to Plato, after a failed attempt to invade Athens, 'the island of Atlantis was swallowed up by the sea and vanished' in only one day.

Ever (14)…………….. this legendary account was given, philosophers and scientists have taken (15)…………….. in many debates and discussions about (16)……………. the city was real or not. Some say that Plato was merely trying to warn people about the dangers of political greed, (17)……………. others believe the island really existed.

One American classical scholar, Daniel Dombrowski, claims that Plato wanted to show (18)…………… happened when man attempted to create an 'ideal state'. However, some people have (19)…………….. forward the idea that Atlantis could (20)……………. been one of the islands we know today as Crete, Santorini, Malta (21)………….. Cyprus. And in their book 'When The Sky Fell', Rand and Rose Flem-Ath suggest that the lost nation could still exist today under the thick snow of Antarctica. Could a once sun-drenched paradise now (22)………….. a frozen tomb?

(23)……………. theory we choose to believe, the myth of Atlantis seems set to remain a subject of debate for quite (24)…………….. time to come!

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).

Write your answers IN CAPITAL LETTERS in the answer boxes provided.

Example:  0 impression

British Food

Many people are under the (0)              that British food is                            IMPRESS

awful. It is said to be (25)              and cooked badly, so the                            TASTE

idea that Britain has some of the best restaurants in the world is

usually met with roars of (26)              . However, perhaps                            LAUGH

this is a little (27)              .                                                                                    FAIR

There have been some wonderful (28)               in recent                            IMPROVE

years. There are now many (29)              restaurants serving                            EXCEL

high quality dishes that have been very (30)              ...