CEFR TEST C1

Studying black bears After years studying North America’s black bears in the (0) …….. way, wildlife biologist Luke Robertson felt no closer to understanding the creatures. He realized that he had to (1)...................A.....................their trust. Abandoning scientific detachment, he took the daring step of forming relationships with the animals, bringing them food to gain their acceptance. The (2).....................this has given him into their behavior has allowed him to dispel certain myths about bears. (3) …….. to popular belief, he contends that bears do not (4) …….. as much for fruit as previously supposed. He also (5) …….. claims that they are ferocious. He says that people should not be (6)..............by behavior such as swatting paws on the ground, as this is a defensive, rather than an aggressive, act. However, Robertson is no sentimentalist. After devoting years of his life to the bears, he is under no (7) …….. about their feelings for him. It is clear that their interest in him does not (8).....D...beyond the food he brings.

Part 4 For questions 25 – 30, 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 three and six words, including the word given. Here is an example (0). Example: James would only speak to the head of the department alone. ON James to the head of a department alone. The gap can be filled with the words ‘insisted on speaking’, so you write Example:0 INSISTED ON SPEAKING Write only the missing words IN CAPITAL LETTERS on the separate answer sheet. ______________________________________________________________________________ 25 My brother now earns far less than he did when he was younger. NEARLY My brother..........................................much now as he did when he was younger. 26 They are demolishing the old bus station and replacing it with a new one. PULLED The old bus station is..................................................................with a new one. 27 The number of students now at university has reached an all-time high, apparently. THE The number of students now at university is.................................been, apparently 28 I’m disappointed with the Fishers’ new album when I compare it to their previous one. COMPARISON I think the Fishers’ new album is..................................................their previous one. 29 Anna got the job even though she didn’t have much experience in public relations. SPITE Anna got the job.....................................................of experience in public relations. 30 ‘I must warn you how dangerous it is to cycle at night without any lights,’ said the police officer to Max. DANGERS Max received a...........................at night without any lights from the police officer.

You are going to read the introduction to a book about the history of colour. For questions 31 – 36, choose the answer (A, B, C or D) which you think fits best according to the text. Mark your answers on the separate answer sheet. Introduction to a book about the history of c This book examines how the ever-changing role of color in society has been reflected in manuscripts, stained glass, clothing, painting, and popular culture. Colour is a natural phenomenon, of course, but it is also a complex cultural construct that resists generalization and, indeed, the analysis itself. No doubt this is why serious works devoted to color are rare, and rarer still are those that aim to study it in historical context. Many authors search for the universal or archetypal truths they imagine reside in color, but for the historian, such truths do not exist. Colour is first and foremost a social phenomenon. There is no transcultural truth to color perception, despite what many books based on poorly grasped neurobiology or – even worse – on pseudo esoteric pop psychology would have us believe. Such books, unfortunately, clutter the bibliography on the subject and even do it harm. The silence of historians on the subject of color, or more particularly their difficulty in conceiving color as a subject separate from other historical phenomena, is the result of three different sets of problems. The first concerns documentation and preservation. We see the colors transmitted to us by the past as time has altered them and not as they were original. Moreover, we see them under light conditions that often are entirely different from those known by past societies. And finally, over the decades we have developed the habit of looking at objects from the past in black-and-white photographs and, despite the current diffusion of color photography, our ways of thinking about and reacting to these objects seem to have remained more or less black and white. The second set of problems concerns methodology. As soon as the historian seeks to study color, he must grapple with a host of factors all at once: physics, chemistry, materials, and techniques of production, as well as iconography, ideology, and the symbolic meanings that colors convey. How to make sense of all of these elements? How can one establish an analytical model facilitating the study of images and colored objects? No researcher, no method, has yet been able to resolve these problems, because, among the numerous facts pertaining to color, a researcher tends to select those facts that support his study and to conveniently forget those that contradict it. This is clearly a poor way to conduct research. And it is made worse by the temptation to apply to the objects and images of given historical period information found in texts of that period. The proper method – at least in the first phase of analysis – is to proceed as do palaeontologists (who must study cave paintings without the aid of texts): by extrapolating from the images and the objects themselves a logic and a system based on various concrete factors such as the rate of occurrence of particular objects and motifs, their distribution and disposition. In short, one undertakes the internal structural analysis with which any study of an image or colored object should begin. The third set of problems is philosophical: it is wrong to project our own conceptions and definitions of color onto the images, objects, and monuments of past centuries. Our judgments and values are not those of previous societies (and no doubt they will change again in the future). For the writer-historian looking at the definitions and taxonomy of color, the danger of anachronism is very real. For example, the spectrum with its natural order of colors was unknown before the seventeenth century, while the notion of primary and secondary colors did not become common until the nineteenth century. These are not eternal notions but stages in the ever-changing history of knowledge. I have reflected on such issues at greater length in my previous work, so while the present book does address certain of them, for the most part it is devoted to other topics. Nor is it concerned only with the history of color in images and artworks – in any case, that area still has many gaps to be filled. Rather, the aim of this book is to examine all kinds of objects in order to consider the different facets of the history of color and to show how far beyond the artistic sphere this history reaches. The history of painting is one thing; that of color is another, much larger, question. Most studies devoted to the history of color err in considering only the pictorial, artistic or scientific realms. But the lessons to be learned from colour and its real interest lie elsewhere.

Scottish Wildcat On my living-room wall, I have a painting of a wildcat by John Holmes of which I am extremely fond. It depicts a snarling, spitting animal, teeth bared and back arched: a tautly coiled spring ready to unleash some unknown fury. 41 __________________ However, the physical differences are tangible. The wildcat is a much larger animal, weighing in some cases up to seven kilos, the same as a typical male fox. The coat pattern is superficially similar to a domestic tabby cat but it is all stripes and no spots. The tail is thicker and blunter, with three to five black rings. The animal has an altogether heavier look. The Scottish wildcat was originally distinguished as a separate subspecies in 1912, but it is now generally recognized that there is little difference between the Scottish and other European populations. According to an excellent report on the wildcat printed in 1991, the animals originally occurred in a variety of habitats throughout Europe. 42 ________________ It was during the nineteenth century, with the establishment of many estates used by landowners for hunting, that the wildcat became a nuisance and its rapid decline really began; 198 wildcats were killed in three years in the area of Glengarry, for example. However, things were later to improve for the species. 43 ________________ The future is by no means secure, though, and recent evidence suggests that the wildcat is particularly vulnerable to local eradication, especially in the remoter parts of northern and western Scotland. This is a cause for real concern, given that the animals in these areas have less contact with domestic cats and are therefore purer. 44. _____________ Part of the problem stems from the fact that the accepted physical description of the species originates from the selective nature of the examination process by the British Natural History Museum at the start of the century, and this has been used as the type-definition for the animal ever since. Animals that did not conform to that large blunt-tailed ‘tabby’ description were discarded as not being wildcats. In other words, an artificial collection of specimens was built up, exhibiting the features considered typical of the wildcat. The current research aims to resolve this potential problem. It is attempting to find out whether there are any physical features which characterize the so-called wild-living cats. 45. _____________ But what of his lifestyle? Wildcat kittens are usually born in May/June in a secluded den, secreted in a gap amongst boulders. Another favorite location is in the roots of a tree. 46 __________ Rabbits are a favorite prey, and some of the best areas to see wildcats are at rabbit warrens close to the forest and moorland edge. Mice, small birds, and even insects also form a large part of the diet, and the animal may occasionally take young deer. The wildcat is one of the Scottish Highlands’ most exciting animals. Catch a glimpse of one and the memory will linger forever.

Starting out on your career Are you a graduate trying to plan out the best career path for yourself? We’ve asked five careers Consultant A A university degree is no guarantee of a job, and job hunting in itself requires a whole set of skills. If you find you are not getting past the first interview, ask yourself what is happening. Is it a failure to communicate or are there some skills you lack? Once you see patterns emerging it will help you decide whether the gaps you have identified can be filled relatively easily. If you cannot work out what the mismatch is, get back to the selection panel with more probing questions, and find out what you need to do to bring yourself up to the level of qualification that would make you more attractive to them: but be careful to make this sound like a genuine request rather than a challenge or complaint. Consultant B Do not be too dispirited if you are turned down for a job, but think about the reasons the employers give. They often say it is because others are ‘better qualified’, but they use the term loosely. Those who made the second interview might have been studying the same subject as you and be of similar ability level, but they had something which made them a closer match to the selector’s ideal. That could be experience gained through projects or vacation work, or it might be that they were better at communicating what they could offer. Do not take the comments at face value: think back to the interviews that generated them and make a list of where you think the shortfall in your performance lies. With this sort of analytical approach you will eventually get your foot in the door. Consultant C Deciding how long you should stay in your first job is a tough call. Stay too long and future employers may question your drive and ambition. Of course, it depends on where you are aiming. There can be advantages in moving sideways rather than up if you want to gain consultants to give some tips on how to go about it. real depth of knowledge. If you are a graduate, spending five or six years in the same job is not too long provided that you take full advantage of the experience. However, do not use this as an excuse for apathy. Graduates sometimes fail to take ownership of their careers and take the initiative. It is up to you to make the most of what’s available within a company and to monitor your progress in case you need to move on. This applies particularly if you are still not sure where your career path lies. Consultant D It is helpful to think through what kind of experience you need to get your dream job and it is not a problem to move around to a certain extent. But in the early stages of your career you need a definite strategy for reaching your goal, so think about that carefully before deciding to move on from your first job. You must cultivate patience to master any role. There is no guarantee that you will get adequate training, and research has shown that if you do not receive proper help in a new role, it can take 18 months to master it. Consultant E A prospective employer does not want to see that you have changed jobs every six months with no thread running between them. You need to be able to demonstrate the quality of your experience to a future employer, and too many moves too quickly can be a bad thing. In any company, it takes three to six months for a new employee to get up to speed with the structure and the culture of the company. From the company’s perspective, they will not receive any return on the investment in your salary until you have been there for 18 months. This is when they begin to get the most value from you – you are still fired up and enthusiastic. If you leave after six months it has not been a good investment – and may make other employers wary