Part 2. Choose the correct heading for paragraphs A, B and D-G from the list of headings below.

Write the correct number, i-ix, in boxes 27-32 on your answer sheet.

List of Headings

I Robots working together

ii Preparing LGVs for take-over
iii Looking ahead
iv The LGVs’ main functions
v Split location for newspaper production
vi Newspapers superseded by technology
vii Getting the newspaper to the printing
centre
viii Controlling the robots
ix Beware of robots!

Example
Paragraph C ix

ROBOTS AT WORK
A
The newspaper production process has come a long way from the old days when the paper was written,
edited, typeset and ultimately printed in one building with the journalists working on the upper floors and the
printing presses going on the ground floor. These days the editor, sub-editors and journalists who put the
paper together are likely to find themselves in a totally different building or maybe even in a different
city. This is the situation which now prevails in Sydney. The daily paper is compiled at the editorial
headquarters, known as the pre-press centre, in the heart of the city, but printed far away in the suburbs at
the printing centre. Here human beings are in the minority as much of the work is done by automated
machines controlled by computers.

B
Once the finished newspaper has been created for the next morning’s edition, all the pages are transmitted
electronically from the pre-press centre to the printing centre. The system of transmission is an update on the
sophisticated page facsimile system already in use on many other newspapers. An image-setter at the printing
centre delivers the pages as film. Each page takes less than a minute to produce, although for colour pages
four versions, once each for black, cyan, magenta and yellow are sent. The pages are then processed into
photographic negatives and the film is used to produce aluminium printing plates ready for the presses.

C
A procession of automated vehicles is busy at the new printing centre where the Sydney Morning Herald is
printed each day. With lights flashing and warning horns honking, the robots (to give them their correct
name, the LGVs or laser guided vehicles) look for all the world like enthusiastic machines from a science
fiction movie, as they follow their own random paths around the plant busily getting on with their jobs.
Automation of this kind is now standard in all modern newspaper plants. The robots can detect unauthorised
personnel and alert security staff immediately if they find an “intruder”; not surprisingly, tall tales are already
being told about the machines starting to take on personalities of their own.

1
D
The robots’ principal job, however, is to shift the newsprint (the printing paper) that arrives at the plant in
huge reels and emerges at the other end sometime later as newspapers. Once the size of the day’s paper and
the publishing order are determined at head office, the information is punched into the computer and the
LGVs are programmed to go about their work. The LGVs collect the appropriate size paper reels and take
them where they have to go. When the press needs another reel, its computer alerts the LGV system. The
Sydney LGVs moves busily around the press room fulfilling their two keys’ functions - to collect reels of
newsprint either from the reel stripping stations, or from the racked supplies in the newsprint storage area.
At the stripping station the tough wrapping that helps to protect a reel of paper from rough handling is
removed. Any damaged paper is peeled off and the reel is then weighed.
E
Then one of the four paster robots moves in. Specifically designed for the job, it trims the paper neatly and
prepares the reel for the press. If required the reel can be loaded directly onto the press; if not needed
immediately, an LGV takes it to the storage area. When the press computer calls for a reel, an LGV takes it to
the reel loading area of the presses. It lifts the reel into the loading position and places it
in the correct spot with complete accuracy. As each reel is used up, the press drops the heavy cardboard
core into a waste bin. When the bin is full, another LGV collects it and deposits the cores into a shredder for
recycling.
F
The LGVs move at walking speed. Should anyone step in front of one or get too close, sensors stop the vehicle
until the path is clear. The company has chosen a laser-guide function system for the vehicles because, as the
project development manager says “The beauty of it is that if you want to change the routes, you can work out
a new route on your computer and lay it down for them to follow”. When an LGV’s batteries run low, it will take
itself off line and go to the nearest battery maintenance point for replacement batteries. And all this is achieved
with absolute minimum human input and a much-reduced risk of injury to people working in the printing
centres.
G
The question newspaper workers must now ask, however is, “how long will it be before the robots are writing the
newspapers as well as running the printing centre, churning out the latest edition every morning and distributing
the papers to sales outlets?”

2
Part 3

3
Part 4

Understanding the Value of Volunteer Involvement

Volunteers can be an important resource of many asset. investmen.nonprofit organizations. The

ability.skill.point to meet the mission, goals and objectives of nonprofit organizations often depends upon the
effectiveness of volunteer involvement in direct work.object.service delivery or indirect program support.
Volunteer involvement utilizes financial and non–financial resources of an organization. Given the challenges
associated with.for.to coordinating and managing volunteers, nonprofit organizations should evaluate
volunteer program initiatives. Utilizing a net benefits framework, this study evaluated volunteer programs in 4-
H to understand.know.have the value of direct and indirect volunteer involvement. Findings
say.search.showed county 4-H programs that utilized volunteers to provide direct service to clientele as–well–
as volunteers in indirect program support roles had nearly 50% higher.taller.bigger total benefits compared to
programs that only used direct service volunteers. Additionally, results indicated challenges associated with
coordinating and managing volunteers did not increase.boost.involve for programs that involve both direct
and indirect volunteers compared to those that only utilized direct service volunteers. Finally, this research
.send.provided.give evidence that net benefits accrued at a higher rate for nonprofits that utilize both direct
and indirect service volunteers compared to those involving only direct service volunteers.

THE EFFECTS OF VOLUNTEERING

To most people, a “volunteer” is someone who,that,wich contributes time to helping others with no
expectation of pay or other material benefit to herself. However, this does not mean that volunteer work is of
no consequence for the volunteer. Indeed, it is widely.highly.uply believed that helping others is as beneficial
for the donor as it is for the recipient. “Research studies show that most people do in fact hold the belief that
helping others is a good way to gain fulfillment for yourself.”1 In this article, we review some of the research
on the self.supposed.idea benefits of volunteering and describe briefly some of the results of our own work in
this area. We first examine the contribution volunteering is thought to make to a society’s social capital, its
supply of the generalized trust.confident.believe and norms of reciprocity that make democratic politics
possible. Are volunteers more civic minded and more likely to take an active role in political life? Next, we
check.test.
examine the possible link between.within.middle volunteering and “leading the good life.” Are volunteers less
likely to engage in anti-social behavior? We then consider the contribution volunteering might make to both
physical and mental health. Is there any evidence to suggest that volunteering can make people
healthier.wealthier.sunnier or contribute positive feelings of well-being? Finally, we examine the contribution
volunteering makes to occupational achievement. Is there any empirical evidence to support the
notion.feeling.delivery that volunteering is either a direct path to good jobs or indirectly provides the
selfconfidence and skills needed to secure good jobs or to do well in the jobs we have?

4
5
 Reading

PART 1.

6
Which section mentions the following?

11. some unexpected information concerning a particular musician

12. a description of the methodology used to generate data
13. the researcher's hope that future research will be carried out into the same materials
14. how some of the material in a planned book will be structured
15. a wish to assist performers
16. the use of source material not previously known
17. exploration of the business context in which performances were given in a particular period
18. the influence that artists had on one another
19. how discoveries in the field of music relate to ones in an academic discipline other than music
20. the use of materials that have previously been studied from a different perspective

7
Part 2 Choose the correct heading for paragraphs

Sonja Henie
1 Sonja Henie was born in Kristiania, current Oslo. Her father had been a one-time World Cycling
Champion and the Henie children were encouraged to take up a variety of sports at a young age. Henie initially
showed talent at skiing, and then followed her older brother Leif to take up figure skating. As a girl, Henie was
also a nationally ranked tennis player and a skilled swimmer and equestrienne. Once Henie began serious
training as a figure skater, her formal schooling ended. She was educated by tutors, and her father hired the
best experts in the world, including the famous Russian ballerina Tamara Karsavina, to transform his daughter
into a sporting celebrity.

2 Henie won her first major competition, the senior Norwegian championships, at the age of 10. She
then placed eighth in a field of eight at the 1924 Winter Olympics, at the age of eleven. During the 1924
program, she skated over to the side of the rink several times to ask her coach for directions. But by the next
Olympiad, she needed no such assistance.

3 Henie won the first of an unprecedented ten consecutive World Figure Skating Championships in 1927
at the age of fourteen. The results of 1927 World Championships, where Henie won in a 3-2 decision (or 7 vs. 8
ordinal points) over the defending Olympic and World Champion Herma Szabo of Austria, were controversial,
as all three of five judges that placed Henie first were Norwegian while Szabo received first-place ordinals from
an Austrian and a German judge.

4 Henie went on to win the first of her three Olympic gold medals the following year. She defended her
Olympic titles in 1932 and in 1936, and her World titles annually until 1936. She also won six consecutive
European championships from 1931 to 1936. Henie’s unprecedented three Olympic gold medals haven’t been
matched by any ladies single skater since; neither are her achievements as ten-time consecutive World
Champion.

5. Towards the end of her career, she began to be strongly challenged by younger skaters. However, she held
off these competitors and went on to win her third Olympic title at the 1936 Winter Olympics, albeit in
very controversial circumstances with Cecilia College finishing a very close second. Indeed, after the school
figures section at the 1936 Olympic competition, College and Henie were virtually neck and neck with
Colledge trailing by just a few points. The closeness of the competition infuriated Henie, who, when the
result for that section was posted on a wall in the competitors’ lounge, swiped the piece of paper and tore
it into little pieces. The draw for the free skating then came under suspicion after Henie landed the plum
position of skating last, while Colledge had to perform second of the 26 competitors, which was clearly in
Henie’s favor.

6. In addition to traveling to train and compete, she was much in demand as a performer at figure skating
exhibitions in both Europe and North America. Henie became so popular with the public that police had to
be called out for crowd control on her appearances in various disparate cities such as Prague and New
York City. It was an open secret that, in spite of the strict amateurism requirements of the time, her father
demanded “expense money” for his daughter’s skating appearances. Both of Henie’s parents had given up
their own pursuits in Norway in order to accompany Sonja on her travels and act as her managers.

8
Paragraph headings:

A) Disputed achievements
B) Questionable behaviour
C) Work hard, play hard
D) Teething troubles
E) Multiple sporting skills
F) Outside the skating rink
G) Questionable financial practices
H) Unparalleled achievements

PART 3 This is a short text of around 300 words with missing gaps. You must choose the right word or
phrase
from the drop-down to complete the
gap.

Food Corporations Turn to Chefs in a Quest for Healthy Flavour

ST. HELENA, Calif. — The chicken legs, wings, thighs, smoked for two hours, then soaked in buttermilk spiked
with Crystal hot sauce and dredged in flour, turned a perfect golden brown, full of the promise of succulence
and crunch, under the stern watch of Chef H. Alexander Talbot.

But not one, alas, went into, went back, went on a salivating mouth as soon as it left the bubbling rice bran oil.
Rather, it was rushed under a glass “udder” bristling with slender filaments and tended by technicians, who
would soon analyse it at a PepsiCo lab in Illinois for the magic that gave, had, did it such flavour and crispiness.

Other creations, destined for the same lab, went into Styrofoam containers, bins, litters bedded on dry ice,
part of a continuing effort to find new ways to improve the nutritional quality of the giant food company’s
products without losing recognizable flavours.

“The challenge having us, facing us, coping us and other big food companies today is not easy: to have a great
tasting product without as much salt, fat and sugar,” said Greg Yep, senior vice president for long-term research
and development at PepsiCo. “Chefs have ways of tricking the taste buds that we can use in our products.”

Prodded by, for, about consumers, regulators and politicians, major food companies as, such as, like PepsiCo
are under extraordinary pressure to do, to make, to take healthier foods. Kellogg has cut as much as 30
percent of the sugar in children’s cereals like Apple Jacks and Froot Loops, removed salt from others and
increased fibre. Taco Bell last month announced a new Power Protein menu that will include items with less fat
and calories, and other companies are rushing to get their products in shape.

“We’re not only thinking about making great-tasting foods but about the nutrition guidelines we need to give
on, send on, deliver on,” said Greg Creed, chief executive of Taco Bell, referring to the company’s pledge to
bring one-third of the meal options in its restaurants into compliance with the federal dietary guidelines by
2020. “This is a huge change in mind-set.”

While snack sales like those in PepsiCo’s Frito Lay division are still increasing and show no signs of slowing, it
and some of the country’s other major companies have worked to reduce, decrease, take the amount of sugar,

9
fat and salt in, on, at products aimed at children. The efforts are part of a voluntary system that they hope will
keep regulators and lawmakers at bay as well as address growing consumer knowledge of what is in food.

PART 4 Here you have two short texts on the same topic. You need to fill in the blank with the
appropriate
phrase.
Homo floresiensis

Remains of one of the most early human species, Homo floresiensis (nicknamed ‘Hobbit’),
have so far only been found on the Island of Flores, Indonesia. The fossils of H. floresiensis date to between
about 100,000 and 60,000 years ago, and stone tools this species date to between about
190,000 and 50,000 years old. H. floresiensis individuals stood approximately 3 feet 6 inches tall, had tiny
brains,
for their small size, shrugged-forward shoulders, no chins, receding foreheads, and relatively large feet due to
their Despite their small body and brain size, H. floresiensis made and used stone tools,
hunted small elephants and large rodents, coped with predators such as giant Komodo dragons, and may have
used fire. The diminutive stature and small brain of H. floresiensis from island dwarfism—an
evolutionary process that results from long-term isolation on a small island with limited food resources and a
predators. Pygmy elephants on Flores, now extinct, showed the same adaptation. The smallest known species
of Homo and Stegodon elephant found on the island of Flores, Indonesia. However, some
scientists are now considering the possibility that the ancestors of H. floresiensis may have been small when
they first reached Flores.

large teeth lack of

are both

made by short legs.

recently discovered may have resulted

What else do we know about Homo floresiensis?

When researchers first unearthed H. floresiensis, they also uncovered stone tools and animal remains in the
same sediment layers of the Liang Bua cave. The tools were simple and Oldowan-like, resembling the earliest
and most primitive types of tools in the fossil record. The animal remains included those of Komodo dragons,
rats, bat and Stegodon (an extinct, pigmy elephant) juveniles. The Stegodon remains showed evidence of cut
marks, suggesting H. floresiensis butchered the animals, while charred bones and fire-cracked rocks suggest
the hobbits harnessed fire, according to the 2005 Nature paper. Inside the Liang Bua cave, scientists
several bird fossils, including wing and from what appears to have been a stork nearly 6 feet tall (1.8
meters), according to a 2010 study in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. The marabou stork
(Leptoptilos robustus), which lived sometime between 20,000 and 50,000 years ago, would’ve fed on fishes,
lizards, other birds … and possibly even juvenile hobbits, though no direct evidence for that sort
of feasting, researchers say. Research has also focused on the question of whether or not the hobbits
modern humans, who likely would have on Indonesian islands like Flores about 50,000 years ago,
scientists say. Previous work had suggested the hobbits occupied the cave between about 12,000 and 95,000
years ago, providing a wide overlap between the hobbits and their bigger-bodied relatives. In more recent
research, published online March 30, 2016, in the journal Nature, scientists that the hobbits
vanished from the island earlier than those previous dates. By exposing new layers of the Liang Bua cave and
analyzing the sediment and fossils within it, the scientists concluded Homo floresiensis was alive and kicking in
10
the cave between 190,000 and 50,000 years ago. Even if the two did live alongside each other, it would not
have been for long, the researchers said.
leg bones
there is found evidence later found
lived alongside shown up

PART 1.

11
 How an army of volunteers could help win the fight for the NHS

The change, shift, chance that Jeff has experienced in his life as a result of volunteering is something many of
the 30,000 involved with, who, that our Volunteering Matters charity have also seen. They do all kinds of
volunteering in their community, from befriending elderly and, for, the isolated people or supporting families
where children are at risk, to giving, having, doing someone a lift to a hospital appointment.

There is now broad agreement about, for, there the positive contribution volunteering can have for people’s
health and wellbeing. Recently, for instance, I was cheered to hear , talk, say delegates at a recent public
health conference recognise how volunteering can improve health and wellbeing, including that of people with
conditions like dementia. Volunteering helps reduce, decline, decrease loneliness, now recognised as a serious
health risk, and is one of the community-led approaches that can help improve mental health, state, feel.

Access to opportunities

Volunteers don’t just need, have, do access to opportunities, they also need continued support if they are to
gain the most from their experience, and that, too, should focus on their individual needs.

Local health and social care leaders are starting to recognise, say, promise the power of volunteering and the
importance of diversifying the pool of volunteers. Health Education England, for instance, has a volunteering
strategy, on which, where, how it consulted in 2017. But support for volunteers can’t be left to the voluntary
and community sector. It requires partnerships with local councils and the NHS, with everyone working, doing,
having together on a strategy for local volunteering.

We believe this could break down, through, though some of the existing barriers to volunteering – and give
everyone, anyone, everything a chance to transform their own lives and those of others.

PART 1
12
13
14
PART 2
The man who invented the weather forecast in the 1860s faced
skepticism and even mockery. But science was on his side, writes
Peter Moore.

TITTLE:
One hundred and fifty years ago Admiral Robert FitzRoy, the celebrated sailor and
founder of the Met Office, took his own life. One newspaper reported the news of his
death as a "sudden and shocking catastrophe". Today FitzRoy is chiefly remembered as
Charles Darwin's taciturn captain on HMS Beagle, during the famous circumnavigation in the 1830s. But in his
lifetime FitzRoy found celebrity not from his time at sea but from his pioneering daily weather predictions,
which he called by a new name of his own invention - "forecasts". There was no such thing as a weather
forecast in 1854 when FitzRoy established what would later be called the Met Office. Instead, the
Meteorological Department of the Board of Trade was founded as a chart depot, intended to reduce sailing
times with better wind charts.

TITTLE:
With no forecasts, fishermen, farmers and others who worked in the open had to rely on weather wisdom -
the appearance of clouds or the behaviour of animals - to tell them what was coming. This was an odd scenario
- that a bull in a farmer's field, a frog in a jar or a swallow in a hedge-row could detect a coming storm before a
man of science in his laboratory was an affront to Victorian notions of rational progress. Yet the early 19th
Century had seen several important theoretical advances. Among them was an understanding of how storms
functioned, with winds whirling in an anticlockwise direction around a point of low pressure.
TITTLE:
Weather charts, another innovation, made it easier to visualize the atmosphere in motion.
One influential theory argued that storms occurred along unstable fault lines between hot and cold air
masses, just as we know earthquakes today happen on the boundaries of tectonic plates. But despite this,
the belief persisted among many that weather was completely chaotic. When one MP suggested in the
Commons in 1854 that recent advances in scientific theory might soon allow them to know the weather in
London "twenty-four hours beforehand", the House roared with laughter.
TITTLE:
But FitzRoy was troubled by the massive loss of life at sea around the coasts of Victorian
Britain. Between 1855 and 1860, 7,402 ships were wrecked off the coasts with a total of
7,201 lost lives. FitzRoy believed that with forewarning, many of these could have been
saved. After the disastrous sinking of the Royal Charter gold ship off Anglesey in 1859 he
was given the authority to start issuing storm warnings. FitzRoy was able to do this using
the electric telegraph, a bewildering new technology that, the Daily News observed, "far
outstrips the swiftest tempest in celerity". With the telegraph network expanding quickly, FitzRoy was able to
start gathering real-time weather data from the coasts at his London office. If he thought a storm was
imminent, he could telegraph a port where a drum was raised in the harbour. It was, he said, "a race to warn
the outpost before the gale reaches them".

TITLE OPTIONS:
a) Warning through transmission system
b) The birth of the new department
c) Mockery to innovation
d) Early weather prediction
e) The weather was unpredictable

15
PART 3
Happy 50th birthday, Singapore

NEXT month Singapore 1. be throwing the biggest party in its short history, to mark the 50th
anniversary of its independence. The tiny island-state has every reason to 2. . In 1965, when it
was expelled from a federation with Malaysia, its very survival seemed uncertain. Now it is one 3.
the world’s richest countries, admired for its clean government, orderliness and efficiency. It combines low
taxes with good public services, and regularly leads global rankings of the ease of doing 4. . Yet it
also faces problems, such as a rapidly ageing population that is insufficiently creative and startlingly reluctant
to have babies. To 5. them, it will need fresh thinking.

Singapore’s success came despite long odds. This month an interviewer reminded the prime minister, Lee Hsien
Loong, that his father, Singapore’s founding leader, Lee Kuan Yew, had once called the notion of an
independent Singapore “a political, economic and geographic absurdity”. It had no resources—not even
enough water—no hinterland and a population made 6. combustible mix of Chinese (about
threequarters), Malays and Indians. It had parted brass rags with a neighbour five times more populous
(Malaysia) and faced a campaign of “confrontation” from one 50 times bigger (Indonesia).

Singapore’s leaders still feel vulnerable, and this 7. explains many of the country’s oddities: the
secrecy that enshrouds its national finances, the requirement that all men serve two years in the armed forces,
the government’s dogged support for manufacturing and its tight restrictions on speech and assembly. 8.
Singapore is far more secure than its rulers imagine. Relations with Indonesia and Malaysia are excellent.
Singapore’s territorial integrity is not under threat.

So nothing can justify the way the state curtails its citizens’ freedom. A combination of a 9. , strict
electoral rules and the frequent resort to defamation laws has stunted the growth of a credible opposition.
Granted, even without one, government has 10. clean, nimble, pragmatic and imaginative in its
policymaking. For this, much of the credit goes to Lee Kuan Yew, who set high standards that have outlasted
him (he died in March). But Singapore 11. assume that the leaders of the ruling People’s Action Party
(PAP), the only political party in the rich world never to have been out of power, will always be wise. In the
long run the country needs12. institutional checks and its voters need a real choice.

cannot Business remained

celebrate fact
address
of

Will up of a stronger Yet tame press

16
PART 4 Here you have two short texts on the same topic. You need to fill in the blank with the
appropriate
phrase.
Homo floresiensis

Remains of one of the most early , Homo floresiensis (nicknamed

‘Hobbit’), have so far only been found on the Island of Flores, Indonesia. The fossils of H. floresiensis date to
between about 100,000 and 60,000 years ago, and stone tools this species date to between
about 190,000 and 50,000 years old. H. floresiensis individuals stood approximately 3 feet 6 inches tall, had
tiny brains, for their small size, shrugged-forward shoulders, no chins, receding foreheads, and
relatively large feet due to their Despite their small body and brain size, H. floresiensis made
and used stone tools, hunted small elephants and large rodents, coped with predators such as giant Komodo
dragons, and may have used fire. The diminutive and small brain of H. floresiensis
from island dwarfism—an evolutionary process that results from long-term isolation on a small island with
limited food resources and a predator. Pygmy elephants on Flores, now extinct, showed the same
adaptation. The smallest known species of Homo and Stegodon elephant found on the
island of Flores, Indonesia. However, some scientists are now considering the possibility that the ancestors of
H.
floresiensis may have been small when they first reached Flores.

large teeth
lack of are both stature

made by
short legs. human species

recently discovered may have resulted

What else do we know about Homo floresiensis?

When researchers first unearthed H. floresiensis, they also uncovered stone tools and animal remains in the
same sediment layers of the Liang Bua cave. The tools were simple and Oldowan-like, resembling the earliest
and types of tools in the fossil record. The animal remains included those of Komodo dragons,
rats, bat and Stegodon (an extinct, pigmy elephant) juveniles. The Stegodon remains showed evidence of cut
marks, suggesting H. floresiensis the animals, while charred bones and fire-cracked rocks suggest
the hobbits harnessed fire, according to the 2005 Nature paper. Inside the Liang Bua cave, scientists
several bird fossils, including wing and from what appears to have been a stork nearly 6 feet tall (1.8
meters), according to a 2010 study in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. The marabou stork
(Leptoptilos robustus), which lived sometime between 20,000 and 50,000 years ago, would’ve fed on fishes,
lizards, other birds … and possibly even juvenile hobbits, though no direct evidence for that sort
of feasting, researchers say. Research has also focused on the question of whether or not the hobbits
modern humans, who likely would have on Indonesian islands like Flores about 50,000 years ago,
scientists say. Previous work had suggested the hobbits occupied the cave between about 12,000 and 95,000
years ago, providing a wide overlap between the hobbits and their bigger-bodied relatives. In more recent
research, published online March 30, 2016, in the journal Nature, scientists that the hobbits
17
vanished from the island earlier than those previous dates. By exposing new layers of the Liang Bua cave and
analyzing the sediment and fossils within it, the concluded Homo floresiensis was alive and
kicking in the cave between 190,000 and 50,000 years ago. Even if the two did live alongside each other, it
would not have been for long, the researchers said.
leg bones butchered most primitive
there is found evidence scientists later found
lived alongside shown up

PART 1
18
19
20
PART 2

HEADING 1
The role of governments in environmental management is difficult but inescapable. Sometimes, the state tries
to manage the resources it owns, and does so badly. Often, however, governments act in an even more
harmful way. They actually subsidise the exploitation and consumption of natural resources. A whole range of
policies, from farm-price support to protection for coal-mining, do environmental damage and (often) make no
economic sense. Scrapping them offers a two-fold bonus: a cleaner environment and a more efficient
economy. Growth and environmentalism can actually go hand in hand, if politicians have the courage to
confront the vested interest that subsidies create.
HEADING 2
No activity affects more of the earth's surface than farming. It shapes a third of the planet's land area, not
counting Antarctica, and the proportion is rising. World food output per head has risen by 4 per cent between
the 1970s and 1980s mainly as a result of increases in yields from land already in cultivation, but also because
more land has been brought under the plough. Higher yields have been achieved by increased irrigation, better
crop breeding, and a doubling in the use of pesticides and chemical fertilisers in the 1970s and 1980s.
HEADING 3
All these activities may have damaging environmental impacts. For example, land clearing for agriculture is the
largest single cause of deforestation; chemical fertilisers and pesticides may contaminate water supplies; more
intensive farming and the abandonment of fallow periods tend to exacerbate soil erosion; and the spread of
monoculture and use of high-yielding varieties of crops have been accompanied by the disappearance of old
varieties of food plants which might have provided some insurance against pests or diseases in future. Soil
erosion threatens the productivity of land in both rich and poor countries. The United States, where the most
careful measurements have been done, discovered in 1982 that about one-fifth of its farmland was losing
topsoil at a rate likely to diminish the soil's productivity. The country subsequently embarked upon a program
to convert 11 per cent of its cropped land to meadow or forest. Topsoil in India and China is vanishing much
faster than in America. HEADING 4
Government policies have frequently compounded the environmental damage that farming can cause. In the
rich countries, subsidies for growing crops and price supports for farm output drive up the price of land. The
annual value of these subsidies is immense: about $250 billion, or more than all World Bank lending in the
1980s. To increase the output of crops per acre, a farmer's easiest option is to use more of the most readily
available inputs: fertilisers and pesticides. Fertiliser use doubled in Denmark in the period 1960-1985 and
increased in The Netherlands by 150 per cent. The quantity of pesticides applied has risen too: by 69 per cent
in 1975-1984 in Denmark, for example, with a rise of 115 per cent in the frequency of application in the three
years from 1981.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s some efforts were made to reduce farm subsidies. The most dramatic
example was that of New Zealand, which scrapped most farm support in 1984. A study of the environmental
effects, conducted in 1993, found that the end of fertiliser subsidies had been followed by a fall in fertiliser use
a fall compounded by the decline in world commodity prices, which cut farm incomes). The removal of
subsidies also stopped land-clearing and over-stocking, which in the past had been the principal causes of
erosion. Farms began to diversify. The one kind of subsidy whose removal appeared to have been bad for the
21
environment was the subsidy to manage soil erosion. In less enlightened countries, and in the European Union,
the trend has been to reduce rather than eliminate subsidies, and to introduce new payments to encourage
farmers to treat their land in environmentally friendlier ways, or to leave it fallow. It may sound strange but
such payments need to be higher than the existing incentives for farmers to grow food crops. Farmers,
however, dislike being paid to do nothing. In several countries they have become interested in the possibility
of using fuel produced from crop residues either as a replacement for petrol (as ethanol) or as fuel for power
stations (as biomass). Such fuels produce far less carbon dioxide than coal or oil, and absorb carbon dioxide as
they grow. They are therefore less likely to contribute to the greenhouse effect. But they are rarely
competitive with fossil fuels unless subsidised - and growing them does no less environmental harm than other
crops.
HEADING 5
In poor countries, governments aggravate other sorts of damage. Subsidies for pesticides and artificial
fertilisers encourage farmers to use greater quantities than are needed to get the highest economic crop yield.
A study by the International Rice Research Institute of pesticide use by farmers in South East Asia found that,
with persistent varieties of rice, even moderate applications of pesticide frequently cost farmers more than
they saved. Such waste puts farmers on a chemical treadmill: bugs and weeds become resistant to poisons, so
next year's poisons must be more lethal. One cost is to human health. Every year some 10,000 people die from
pesticide poisoning, almost all of them in the developing countries, and another 400,000 become seriously ill.
As for artificial fertilisers, their use world-wide increased by 40 per cent per unit of farmed land between the
mid-1970s and late 1980s, mostly in the developing countries. Overuse of fertilisers may cause farmers to stop
rotating crops or leaving their land fallow. That, in turn, may make soil erosion worse.
HEADING 6
A result of the Uruguay Round of world trade negotiations is likely to be a reduction of 36 per cent in the
average levels of farm subsidies paid by the rich countries in 1986-1990. Some of the world's food production
will move from Western Europe to regions where subsidies are lower or non-existent, such as the former
communist countries and parts of the developing world. Some environmentalists worry about this outcome. It
will undoubtedly mean more pressure to convert natural habitat into farmland. But it will also have many
desirable environmental effects. The intensity of farming in the rich world should decline, and the use of
chemical inputs will diminish. Crops are more likely to be grown in the environments to which they are
naturally suited. And more farmers in poor countries will have the money and the incentive to manage their
land in ways that are sustainable in the long run. That is important. To feed an increasingly hungry world,
farmers need every incentive to use their soil and water effectively and efficiently.

PART 3
Happy 50th birthday, Singapore
22
NEXT month Singapore 1. be throwing the biggest party in its short history, to mark the 50th
anniversary of its independence. The tiny island-state has every reason to 2. . In 1965, when it
was expelled from a federation with Malaysia, its very survival seemed uncertain. Now it is one 3.
the world’s richest countries, admired for its clean government, orderliness and efficiency. It combines low
taxes with good public services, and regularly leads global rankings of the ease of doing 4. . Yet
it also faces problems, such as a rapidly ageing population that is insufficiently creative and startlingly reluctant
to have babies. To 5. them, it will need fresh thinking.

Singapore’s success came 6. long odds. This month an interviewer reminded the prime minister,
Lee Hsien Loong, that his father, Singapore’s founding leader, Lee Kuan Yew, had once called the notion of an
independent Singapore “a political, economic and geographic absurdity”. It had no resources—not even
enough water—no hinterland and a population made 7. combustible mix of Chinese (about
threequarters), Malays and Indians. It had parted brass rags with a neighbour five times more populous
(Malaysia) and faced a campaign of “confrontation” from one 50 times bigger (Indonesia).

Singapore’s leaders still feel vulnerable, and this 8. explains many of the country’s oddities: the
secrecy that enshrouds its national finances, the requirement that all men serve two years in the armed forces,
the government’s dogged support for manufacturing and its tight restrictions on speech and assembly. 9.
Singapore is far more secure than its rulers imagine. Relations with Indonesia and Malaysia are excellent.
Singapore’s territorial integrity is not under threat.

So nothing can justify the way the state curtails its citizens’ freedom. A combination of a 10. , strict
electoral rules and the frequent resort to defamation laws has stunted the growth of a credible opposition.
Granted, even without one, government has 11. clean, nimble, pragmatic and imaginative in its
policymaking. For this, much of the credit goes to Lee Kuan Yew, who set high standards that have outlasted
him (he died in March). But Singapore 12. assume that the leaders of the ruling People’s Action Party
(PAP), the only 13. party in the rich world never to have been out of power, will always be wise. In
the long run the country needs 14. institutional checks and its voters need a real choice.

cannot Business remained

celebrate despite
fact address
political of

Will up of a stronger Yet tame press

PART 4 Here you have two short texts on the same topic. You need to fill in the blank with the
appropriate
phrase.
23
 Homo floresiensis

Remains of one of the most early , Homo floresiensis (nicknamed

‘Hobbit’), have so far only been found on the Island of Flores, Indonesia. The fossils of H. floresiensis date to
between about 100,000 and 60,000 years ago, and stone tools this species date to between
about 190,000 and 50,000 years old. H. floresiensis individuals stood approximately 3 feet 6 inches tall, had
tiny brains, for their small size, shrugged-forward shoulders, no chins, receding foreheads,
and
relatively large feet due to their Despite their small body and brain size, H. floresiensis made
and used stone tools, hunted small elephants and large rodents, coped with predators such as giant Komodo
dragons, and may have used fire. The diminutive and small brain of H. floresiensis
from island dwarfism—an evolutionary process that results from long-term isolation on a small island
limited food resources and a predators. Pygmy elephants on Flores, now extinct, showed the
same adaptation. The smallest known species of Homo and Stegodon elephant found on
the island of Flores, Indonesia. However, some scientists are now considering the possibility that the ancestors
of H. floresiensis may have been small when they first reached Flores.

large teeth lack

of with are both stature

made by
short legs. human species

recently discovered may have resulted

What else do we know about Homo floresiensis?

When researchers first unearthed H. floresiensis, they uncovered stone tools and animal remains in
the same sediment layers of the Liang Bua cave. The tools were simple and Oldowan-like, resembling
earliest and types of tools in the fossil record. The animal remains included those of Komodo
dragons, rats, bat and Stegodon (an extinct, pigmy elephant) juveniles. The Stegodon remains showed
evidence of cut marks, suggesting H. floresiensis the animals, while charred bones and fire-
cracked rocks suggest the hobbits harnessed fire, according to the 2005 Nature paper. Inside the Liang Bua
cave, scientists several bird fossils, including wing and from what appears to have been a
stork nearly 6 feet tall (1.8 meters), according to a 2010 study in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.
The marabou stork (Leptoptilos robustus), which lived sometime between 20,000 and 50,000 years ago,
would’ve fed on fishes, lizards, other birds … and possibly even juvenile hobbits, though no direct
evidence for that sort of feasting, researchers say. Research has also focused on the question of whether or
not the hobbits modern humans, who likely would have on Indonesian islands like
Flores about 50,000 years ago, scientists say. Previous work had suggested the hobbits occupied the cave
between about 12,000 and 95,000 years ago, providing a wide overlap between the hobbits and their bigger-
bodied relatives. In more recent research, published online March 30, 2016, in the journal Nature, scientists
that the hobbits vanished from the island earlier than those previous dates. By exposing new layers of the
Liang Bua cave and analyzing the sediment and fossils within it, the concluded Homo floresiensis
was alive and kicking in the cave between 190,000 and 50,000 years ago. Even if the two did live alongside
each other, it would not have been for long, the researchers said.

leg bones butchered most primitive

there is found evidence scientists
also
24
later found the
lived alongside shown up

25
PART 1. You are going to read an article containing reviews of crime novels. For questions 20 – 34, choose
from
the reviews (A – F). The reviews may be chosen more than
once.

Mark your answers on the separate answer sheet.

In which review are the following mentioned?

1. a book successfully adapted for another medium

2. characters whose ideal world seems totally secure
3. a gripping book which introduces an impressive main character
4. a character whose intuition is challenged
5. the disturbing similarity between reality and fiction within a novel
6. an original and provocative line in storytelling
7. the main character having a personal connection which brings disturbing revelations
8. the completion of an outstanding series of works
9. the interweaving of current lives and previous acts of wickedness
10. a deliberately misleading use of the written word
11. a rather unexpected choice of central character
12. an abundant amount of inconclusive information about a case
13. a character seeing through complexity in an attempt to avert disaster
14. a novel which displays the talent of a new author
15. the characters’ involvement in a crime inevitably leading to a painful conclusion

CHILLING READS TO LOOK OUT FOR

A Zouache may not be the obvious heroine for a crime novel, but November sees her debut in Fidelis
Morgan’s wonderful Restoration thriller Unnatural Fire. From debtor to private eye, this Countess is an
aristocrat, fleeing for her life through the streets of 17th-century London. Featuring a colourful cast of misfits
and brilliantly researched period detail, Unnatural Fire has a base in the mysterious science of alchemy, and
will appeal to adherents of both crime and historical fiction.

B Minette Walters is one of the most acclaimed writers in British crime fiction whose books like The
Sculptress have made successful transitions to our TV screens. Preoccupied with developing strong plots and
characterisation rather than with crime itself, she has created some disturbing and innovative psychological
narratives. The Shape of Snakes is set in the winter of 1978. Once again Walters uses her narrative skills to lead
the reader astray (there is a clever use of correspondence between characters), before resolving the mystery
in her latest intricately plotted bestseller which is full of suspense. Once again, she shows why she is such a
star of British crime fiction.

C Elizabeth Woodcraft’s feisty barrister heroine in Good Bad Woman, Frankie, is a diehard Motown
music fan. As the title suggests, despite her job on the right side of the law, she ends up on the wrong side –
arrested for murder. No favourite of the police – who are happy to see her go down – in order to prove her
innocence she must solve the case, one that involves an old friend and some uncomfortable truths a bit too
close to home. Good Bad Woman is an enthralling, fast-paced contemporary thriller that presents a great new
heroine to the genre.

D Black Dog is Stephen Booth’s hugely accomplished debut, now published in paperback. It follows the
mysterious disappearance of teenager Laura Vernon in the Peak District. Ben Cooper, a young Detective
26
Constable, has known the villagers all his life, but his instinctive feelings about the case are called into question
by the arrival of Diane Fry, a ruthlessly ambitious detective from another division. As the investigation twists
and turns, Ben and Diane discover that to understand the present, they must also understand the past – and,
in a world where none of the suspects is entirely innocent, misery and suffering can be the only outcome.

E Andrew Roth’s deservedly celebrated Roth Trilogy has drawn to a close with the paperback publication
of the third book, The Office, set in a 1950s cathedral city. Janet Byfield has everything that Wendy Appleyard
lacks: she’s beautiful, she has a handsome husband, and an adorable little daughter, Rosie. At first it seems to
Wendy as though nothing can touch the Byfields’ perfect existence, but old sins gradually come back to haunt
the present, and new sins are bred in their place. The shadows seep through the neighbourhood and only
Wendy, the outsider looking in, is able to glimpse the truth. But can she grasp its twisted logic in time to
prevent a tragedy whose roots lie buried deep in the past?

F And finally, Reginald Hill has a brilliant new Dalziel and Pascoe novel, Dialogues, released in the spring.
The uncanny resemblance between stories entered for a local newspaper competition and the circumstances
of two sudden disappearances attracts the attention of Mid-Yorkshire Police. Superintendent Andy Dalziel
realises they may have a dangerous criminal on their hands – one the media are soon calling the Wordman.
There are enough clues around to weave a tapestry, but it’s not clear who’s playing with whom. Is it the
Wordman versus the police, or the criminal versus his victims? And just how far will the games go?

PART 2 READING COMPREHENSION: MATCHING

A. Newspapers have been around for a long time

B. Balancing subjective and objective

C. How are they distributed?

D. Exactly as it used to be

E. Newspapers and the competition

F. Newspapers are more than just news

G. The golden age of newspapers

H. Advertisements

I. The printing processes

How do newspapers work?

0 _A_
It may seem normal to you to get the daily newspaper in your mailbox. Newspapers are one of the earliest
forms of mass communication. However, with the emergence of the Internet things are changing.

1 ___
The Internet has undoubtedly caused many newspaper offices to fear that they will soon be a thing of the past
but the Internet is not the first form of media that seems to rival newspapers – television was actually the first.
27
But neither of these has the portability and mobility of a newspaper. Newspapers are the only form of media
that still gets the news to the public but can be taken out of a bag on the subway, or held while standing in line
at the grocery store.

2 ___
Although newspapers came before television, radio, or even telegraphs, they have the same typical format
today as they did when the first one was published. Newspapers follow easy-to-read formats. This means that
you can find a newspaper from 1775 and still read it the same way you would read a newspaper today.

3 ___
It was shortly after the Civil War that newspapers truly had their glory days in America. This was a time when
the public were starving for knowledge about what was happening and when political activity was high. Not
only were there many, many newspapers created and distributed during this time but it’s also the time in
history when newspapers were a very lucrative business.

4 ___
Of course, the essence of newspapers is to print news, but the news division isn’t the only part of a newspaper
otherwise you would only have news stories from front to back. Open up any paper and you’ll find classifieds,
editorial pages, advertisements, letters to the editor, leisure pages with crosswords and much more.

5 ___
Since editorial pages are opinion, the editors must be very careful in making sure that the line is not crossed
between opinion and fact. Once this is done, the newspaper loses all credibility. The objective is to raise issues
and awareness, not to simply make things up or cloud the issue so much with opinion that it becomes lost.

6 ___
Without them no newspaper could survive as they are the ones that bring in direct money. Very often they
make up as much as 60% of the newspapers. Display ads, classified ads, and inserts are the most common
forms in today’s newspapers.

7 ___
The reporters, the editors, and all the other divisions of a newspaper contribute to the making of a
newspaper’s content but how is it physically made? In the 14th century they were made by ‘hot type’
machines, where the print was etched into the paper, whereas the presses that are used to print and assemble
newspapers today are massive machines that use streaming sheets of paper. And even though the process
inside a web press is extensive and complicated, the process all happens extremely quickly and one of today’s
presses can create 70,000 copies of one newspaper in an hour.

8 ___
Most people are familiar with what newspaper carriers do, as this is often many people’s first job. These
carriers buy large quantities of the newspaper and sell them to individual customers. These customers will
then pay on a weekly, biweekly, or monthly basis, for receiving the daily newspaper delivered to them every
day.

28
PART 3.

Theresa May: My Brexit plan is not dead

The prime minister is 1. gathering.seeing.meeting EC president Jean-Claude Juncker and will try to convince EU
leaders to back her approach 2. when.whom.where she addresses them later. But expectations 4. of.in.at a
breakthrough are low, with 3. speeches.questions.talks deadlocked over the Irish border issue. Jeremy Corbyn
5. said.told.asked the government was "too weak and too divided" to come up with a solution to solve the
problem. The two party 6. leaders.bosses.managers clashed over Brexit at Prime Minister's Questions, with the
prime minister rejecting the Labour leader's claim that her planned long-term relationship with the EU, known
as the Chequers plan, was "dead". Amid speculation the post-Brexit 7.transition.transaction.change period
could be extended, she said she wanted the UK's new relationship with the EU to be ready by 1 January 2021,
when the transition is currently due to end. Both sides say they want to reach a deal, 8. but.although.besides
preparations are taking place for what happens if they cannot agree by the time the UK leaves the EU on 29
March.

PART 2. Match the paragraphs (1-10) with the right headings (A-M). There are two extra headings! Number 0
29
is
an
example.

A. Capture immediate attention

B. Don't get creative
C. Rise above the competition
D. Keep to the point
E. Don't duplicate applications
F. Don't list everything
G. Use a confident tone and positive language
H. Don't include a photo
I. Don't talk in clichés
J. Don’t tailor your CV
K. Concentrate on the quality not quantity of your achievements
L. Check, check and check again
M. Don't expand the truth

The Dos and Don’ts of Writing an Effective CV

Paragraph 0: __G__
Use optimistic words to start each sentence, such as initiated, improved, introduced, developed, negotiated,
established, created, pioneered, delivered, increased, reduced, saved etc. This also helps to ensure that you’re
substantiating your skills with hard evidence.

Paragraph 1: _____
Don’t hold anything back but make sure that your achievements are fantastic and not just that you are a
fantastic communicator! Typically, a CV should have 10 achievements on it that cover the main successes in
your career to get the reader’s attention.

Paragraph 2: _____
Make sure you include other skills that could set you apart from other candidates, such as languages and IT
skills.

Paragraph 3: _____
Go through your CV thoroughly for correct spelling and grammar – spotting errors is a quick and easy way of
weeding out weaker candidates when faced with a mountain of CVs to read. Don’t just rely on your computer's
spellchecker but get someone else to proof it – you may have spelt a word correctly but used it in the wrong
place.

Paragraph 4: _____
Prioritise the content of your CV and detail the most relevant information first. Start with a hard-hitting
personal profile that avoids clichés such as ‘hard-working, team player with excellent communication skills’.
Make sure that all your career history is punchy and to the point with qualified and quantified successes.

Paragraph 5: _____

30
www.ces-formacion.com

It is simply not true that the bigger the lies you put on your CV then the better the job you will get. Most
employers are not fooled by creative embellishments and if you do manage to get a job based on this you
could be let go of pretty quickly which won’t look good on your CV.

Paragraph 6: _____
An employer really doesn’t need or want to know all the one-day training courses you have ever been on.
Keep information relevant and to the point.

Paragraph 7: _____
No matter how attractive you make yourself look, it will not improve your chances. This tends to be popular in
other European countries but isn’t favoured by the majority of UK businesses.

Paragraph 8: _____
Don’t use elaborate fonts and colours to make your CV stand out. The more gimmicky you make your CV using
different shapes and pictures, the more off-putting it will be to an employer.

Paragraph 9: _____
Phrases such as ‘I am a highly motivated individual who works well on my own or in a team, with exceptional
communication skills and the ability to work under pressure to produce results under tight deadlines’ are dull
and the employer has heard them all before. Make yourself stand out with carefully worded phrasing that is
factual and captures the employer’s attention.

Paragraph 10: _____

Some recruiters have systems that handle multiple applications from the same person, but for those that
don’t, remember it is most off-putting to receive five CVs from the same person and for the same job
application.
www.ces-formacion.com

Task One: Paragraph Headings (10 minutes) – Questions 1-6

Paragraph Headings

A. REDUCE YOUR STRESS LEVELS

B. EDUCATE YOURSELF ON PHYSICAL PROBLEMS
C. CHANGE YOUR LIFESTYLE
D. REWARD YOURSELF
E. ACKNOWLEDGE YOUR DEPENDENCE (Example)
F. GET MEDICAL ASSISTANCE
G. ESTABLISH A SUPPORT SYSTEM
H. KNOW YOUR WEAK POINTS
I. FIND STRONG MOTIVATION55

Seven Steps to Quitting Smoking

EXAMPLE: E
You must be able to explain why you smoke. Is it to be able to deal with anxiety and stress? Is it to fit in with
your spouse or co-workers? It may be hard for you to admit your addiction to cigarettes, but you can’t change
what you don’t make known to yourself and others. If you’re in denial, you’ll never get where you need to be.

1: ___
To be successful in your efforts to quit, you must be ready for the withdrawal period. The symptoms include
headaches, tiredness and even dizziness, and they can last up to a month. This is the most difficult part of the
process. So before you start, read and find out all you can about the medical consequences of quitting.
Knowledge is power.

2: ___
There are some times when you’re more likely to smoke than others. Recognise those times, and do
something to protect yourself. You needn’t be strong and powerful all day long every day. Just do something
to distract yourself when you’re most likely to smoke. For example, if you usually smoke during work breaks,
use that time for a short walk instead.

3: ___
Everyone knows, intellectually, that smoking is bad for your health. But what you need most is a good reason
to quit. It might be money, or your children, or your health. But whatever your incentive, it must be powerful
enough to keep you going through the physical and mental symptoms of withdrawal.

4: ___
“It’s not willpower, it’s programming,” says expert Dr. John Mays. To eliminate your smoking habit, you will
have to alter other habits and routines as well. This will probably mean transforming your day-today existence.
32
www.ces-formacion.com

For example, you may have to revise what you do for fun, and whom you spend time with, at least
temporarily.

5: ___
You can’t quit smoking alone. While it’s true that a doctor’s advice may be helpful, what you really need is a
community that will embrace your decision to be healthier. Get your family and friends involved in your
efforts to kick your habit. You’ll need their encouragement, and they’ll need to get tough with you and tell you
the truth when you’re feeling weak.

6: ___
Overcoming an addiction is difficult, but it can be done. Yet you have to find ways to motivate yourself. When
you make progress, give yourself credit, or even a gift. For each small step on the road to success, make sure
you treat yourself well. Quitting smoking is difficult, but it isn’t a punishment.

Task Two: Scan Reading (10 minutes) – Questions 7-13

You are planning a holiday abroad and looking for a good hotel to stay at. You have read some reviews visitors
have written about four different hotels and made notes for yourself.

• Read the texts and decide if the information is in text A, B, C or D.

• Place a X in the appropriate box on your Answer Sheet.

Example:
People next door were too loud.
The correct answer is: A.

Information to Find
7. Quality was higher than expected by the guests.
8. The person serving breakfast was horrible.
9. An employee recommended the guests a friendly place to eat.
10. There were no regrets expressed by the employees.
11. Guests had a meal on the top of the building.
12. The hotel is perfectly located.
13. People have expressed similar opinions about this situation.

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www.ces-formacion.com

Text A - Hotel Diamond

I stayed in the hotel for four nights and I can say it is simply the worst hotel I have ever stayed in. The
noise from the road, the corridor and the adjoining rooms was awful. The room was incredibly small
with no ventilation except for a window at the end of the room that opened to reveal the living areas of
the apartments in the next building five meters away. This was really disturbing because they in turn
looked into you going in and out of the bathroom. Now the shower. Well, that is simply a joke in itself.
Sometimes I had to have it running for ten minutes before some lukewarm water eventually flowed
through. The comments you have read in other reviews about the shower and the floor flooding and the
toilet seat getting drenched when the shower is on are all correct and not exaggerated.

Text B - Hotel Park

In general it was a quaint, comfortable hotel. Both our room and bathroom were large and very quiet at
night. The breakfast was a high quality buffet of fruit, cereal, cold cuts, juices, and rolls. However, we
have never seen as unpleasant a person as the woman who brings you your coffee. She would sneer at
you and roll her eyes. The cleaning people would unlock the door to our room without knocking first and
seemed annoyed that we were there. We did enjoy an area on the roof with tables and chairs, where
we were able to have picnic lunches and get some sunshine. In general, however, we felt that the price
for the accommodation was way too high for the services provided. We felt that everything in this city
was overpriced.

Text C - Hotel Palace

We spent one night here and were very impressed by the overall quality. It felt like a more expensive
hotel. High ceilings and elegant interior with a classical decor, but very "new" feeling - and obviously
well maintained and kept perfectly clean. (The large glass doors were polished in the morning.) Our
room for a family of four had a great balcony and a good quality bathroom. The public terrace is
certainly a bonus, if you are staying long enough to use it. Breakfast was excellent with a large choice of
cereals, fruit, cheese, salami, bread, croissants, etc., with cappuccino brought to your table. The staff at
reception were more than helpful, professional and courteous and told us about a very nice family run
restaurant a few doors away where we had a great meal. The only complaint is that the hotel is far from
the city centre, and the railway station is a bit further than we anticipated, but public transport is
reliable and the quality of the hotel is worth the little extra effort.

Text D - Hotel Sunshine

When we arrived at the front desk we were ignored by the receptionist whilst he completed some kind
of paperwork and continued answering the phone. We were eventually noticed by the porter who
directed us to our room, whilst keeping hold of our passports, until they could get around to processing
them. We had a real problem with the air conditioning, which did not work and the fan was turned on to
face the air conditioner. After much complaining we were eventually offered another room. This was a
twin room and much smaller than our first room, but the relief from the heat was worth it. We did not
receive any apology from the staff or any reduction in the price. The next morning the reception staff
were much friendlier and more helpful than the previous evening, and the breakfast was a high point of
our stay. The hotel is right in the centre and it is very convenient for sightseeing in the city. The
underground station is just a five-minute walk and the area is safe at night.

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