PART 1: You are going to read an article about new technology and students. For questions 1-6, choose the answer (A, B, C or D) which you think fits best according to the text. Student life and technology Last Saturday, as my grandfather drove me and my sister home from a dinner to celebrate his birthday, he got frustrated at not being able to remember the name of the singer of a song he'd just heard on the radio. Without a second thought, | grabbed my smartphone, searched for the song and found the name, Bob Dylan. For me and my friends, this is a completely natural course of action, but it totaly astonished my grandfather, who didn't understand how | had checked the information so quickly. My sister and | laughed and explained, but afterwards, it made me think about how much | depend on technology ‘The list of the ways | use technology is endless: writing, planning, socialising, communicating and shopping, to name a few. When | reflected on its impact on my education, | saw that, for my fellow students and I, technology has been significant in many ways. Returning to the story of my grandfather and the smartphone, he had asked me more about how I used it and about university life. He said he thought we had an easy life compared to previous generations. My sister caught my eye and we exchanged a smile, But whereas she was thinking our ‘grandfather was just being a typical 65-yearold, | could see his point. Not only are we lucky enough to have the same educational benefits as those of previous generations, we have so many more as well. We still have walk-in libraries available to us, and | can see why some students choose to find and use resources in these distraction-free locations. However, the only option for studying used to be sitting in these libraries with as many books from your reading list as you could find, yet now a single search for your chosen study topic online can immediately provide access to a huge range of resources. At universities, interaction between students and university staff is another area that has changed considerably with developments in technology. We can have face-to-face time with our tutors when we need it, and also communicate using our electronic gadgets from the comfort of our homes, or on the bus. The most popular means of doing this is via instant messaging or social media — email is often considered too slow, and it has become unacceptable for messages to be unanswered for any length of time. While this puts an extra strain on the university's academic support team, who usually have to answer the queries as they come in, we students are greatly benefited. Its important that we remember to appreciate how much the advances in technology have given us. Electronic devices such as tablets, smartphones, and laptops are now standard equipment in most classrooms and lecture halls, and why shouldn't they be? The replacement of textbooks with tablets allows students the luxury of having Up-to-date, interactive and even personalised leaming materials, with the added benefit of them not costing the earth ‘When we compare the student life of the past and that of the present day, it is tempting to focus on the obvious differences when it comes to technology. In actual fact, students are doing what they've always done: embracing the resources available and adapting them in ways which allow them to work more efficiently and to live more enjoyably. The pace of change in technology continuously gathers speed, so we have to value each innovation as happens (Student Life ¥ ) OSUS UI OSRU ONL OSK EOC eEOREeCUCoWoCoCeoDenU OPM YEWOR Seg 2s onsen neon beens see een een once eee ee ene sneee nee nenoneeeeenEAnAeeee POP FOE Ae POA eee Peo eo A Aen noe OAC eee Pee eM eA eAO A AeAeeeAeERee a1. What does the writer illustrate by describing the incident in the car? The older generation's frustration at people's dependence on technology How unaware young people are of some effects of technology ‘The difference in attitudes to technology between two generations How technology helps different generations communicate What did the writer think of her grandfather's comment, mentioned in the second paragraph? It showed how out-of-date he was. Ithad an element of truth in it It was an annoying thing to say. Itmade her feel sorry for him. What does the writer say about getting study resources from libraries? ‘She considers libraries more preferable places for study than home, ‘She cannot understand why anyone chooses to go to a library now. ‘She appreciates the fact that people can stil study in libraries if they want to, She thinks libraries are limited by the quantity of resources they can store. What disadvantage of new technology does the writer mention in the third paragraph? Those who can afford the best gadgets gain an unfair advantage. ‘Sometimes slow intemet connections make communication difficut. Aheavier workload is created for teaching staff at the university. Students cannot escape from dealing with university issues. What is the purpose of the question ‘Why shouldn't they be?’ in the fourth paragraph? To express an opinion To introduce some problems To make a criticism com> HFT70F7F FTO TF HYDOBD>FNOO DD To indicate uncertainty 6. What is the writer's conclusion about students today in the final paragraph? ‘A They have such different lives to previous generations that it's unwise to compare them, B They deal better with change than previous generations did. C They take advantage of new resources more quickly than previous generations did, D They are behaving in a similar way to previous generations of students. Ut c= (2 Seg 2s onsen neon beens see een een once eee ee ene sneee nee nenoneeeeenEAnAeeee POP FOE AN e POAC ee Peo eo A Ae noe OAC e ee Pee eM eA eOA OMe AeeeAeeRe sctnssascscsacueseccssnscemuosccsteswsnccseMULIVENOOUSHERIS50 00S SOS SE oO eee ee SE PART 2: You sr gong ta ead an arta about how a dasart marathon runner ound 4 AYES ‘pet dog. Choose from the sentences A-G the one which fits each gap. \¢ hy Ses The desert runner and the dog The story of how a homeless dog became an intemet star and found a home in the UK begins in China, in the Gobi Desert, during an ultramarathon in which competitors cross 250 kilometres of desert in seven days. The dog ‘adopted’ Australian marathon runner Dion Leonard when it chose to join the racers on the second day. Leonard's affection for the dog grew as it ran hour after hour with him in the harsh desert conditions, and by the last stage of the race, they could not be separated. He named her Gobi, after the desert He claims she helped him do so well in the race. In fact, Gobi set the pace for Leonard, and the two days she didn’t run with him, his times were not as fast as when she did. He added that she sometimes beat him too — but when Gobi ran too quickly she would stop and wait for him to catch up, and then they would continue together. Dion Leonard's affection for the dog was so strong that he decided he would take her back to Scotland, where he currently lives, This included setting up a crowdfunding campaign (raising many small amounts of ‘money from a large number of people) on the internet to cover the costs of medical and fitness checks for Gobi land for her to be flown to Scotland. However, the drama of the story increased when Gobi disappeared just before she was due to travel to Beijing. She had escaped by dashing outside through an open door in Urumgi, the Chinese city where some of the ultramarathon race team were caring for her. After hearing this news, Leonard took a flight back to China as soon as he could, and began to search for Gobi. He knew there was litle chance of finding Gobi on his own, so he set up a media and social media campaign, and put posters up all over the city. Soon, groups of local volunteers were helping him hunt for Gobi all across ‘Urumai, looking in parks and dog shelters, and asking all the people they came across whether they'd seen the dog. Leonard became quite well-known after he was interviewed by local television, and people often stopped him in the street to wish him luck and give him encouragement. Leonard didn't give in, and eventually the call that he'd been waiting for came: a man and his son had seen a ‘small dog while walking their dog in a local park. Leonard was doubtful - the man had sent pictures, but they were a bit too dark to be able to identify the dog as Gobi. When he walked into the room where they agreed to meet the man with the dog he'd found, Leonard was not feeling at all hopeful that it was Gobi, But as soon as the dog saw him, she rushed towards him and jumped up, barking excitedly. He's deeply grateful to the residents of Urumgi, as he would never have found her if they hadn't helped him in his search, ‘A He soon found that the process for achieving this was. E Leonard managed to win second place in the difficult and expensive, so he retumed home and started race, despite having to cary Gobi across rivers making arrangements from there and giving her food and water from the supplies he hi B They had taken her home and thought she could be "410 cary Gobi. F Furthermore, he feared the dog could easily have run a long way out into the surrounding € Itwas as if the two had never been apart, and Leonard says he feltjust ike he had when they were racing together. Cuntnsice G Leonard even launched a live blog to keep D She had to be monitored there for three months before ye Ksieated | ‘end upaodate wih his she was allowed to travel out of China, ouusaucacauedeuauscssvausasuosccatcobvescsaDULILENALOHEGIS Dog ese. Be once nee beens ee een seen once eens ee nene snes neers ee eEAnAeneePART 3: You are going to read an article in which four people describe going to see an unusual annual event. For questions 1-10 choose from the people (A-D). The people may be chosen more than once. The world’s strangest annual events Four travellers talk about experiencing a very unusual event held annually around the world. NG ASadie Grossman Last year, | was one of 30,000 people who took part in La Tomatina, an annual festival held in Buftol, Spain, during which townspeople and visitors fill the streets and take part in a tomato fight. 've neither laughed so hard Nor feared for my life as much as | did on that day. Trucks of tomatoes were dumped in the streets, and | soon found myself picking up handfuls of squashed fruit and throwing them at whoever happened to be closest. Most people participating were considerate, but a few were not. | was thankful that I'd left my phone back at the hotel and worn clothes | didn't mind getting ruined. | did wish I'd invested in a pair of goggles though, as being hit in the eye by a tomato meant | couldn't see out of it very well for a couple of days. It was definitely an experience 1 never forget, but one | have no desire to repeat! B Joe Haythorpe | went with fiends to the mud festival held in Boryeong, South Korea because several of them had been before, loved it and wanted to go again. The two-week event is centred on an area of Boryeong beach set up with water slides and pools to play in while covered in huge quantities of the mineral-rich mud that's taken from the shore near the city. I's great fun for the entire family as well as groups of friends. Apart from playing in the mud, we also attended some great concerts and shopped for mud-based skin creams, Although i's only been going since 1998, it already attracts milions of Koreans and Western tourists annually. But it you're considering going, book your accommodation early as room rates triple closer to the event. Allin al, this festival was by far the most fun ‘one I've ever been to © Char Traynor Cheese Rolling on Cooper's Hil in Gloucestershire, England is the ideal activity for fans of extreme sports whether as spectators or as participants, and is definitely one of the craziest traditions I've ever witnessed. | watched in amazement as madly courageous men and women threw themselves down a steep hill, tumbling head over heels, hile chasing a large round cheese. The cheese always gets to the bottom of the hil first, ut for each race there is a prize (a cheese worth a lot of money) for the first person to do so. Thankfully, that day everyone survived without seriously hurting themselves. The event is free, but because of the large crowds, | struggled to find a place from which | could actually see much of the action or use my camera. There were also four uphill races, but they were a lot less exciting D Louisa Darke During the Monkey Buffet Festival in Lopbur, Thailand, cakes, fruit and vegetables are piled up on tables in the streets for 3000 local monkeys to enjoy. The festival was established to boost tourism in the area, and it’s worked: huge crowds now travel there from all over the world, many dressed in monkey costumes. There is traditional music, dance and sculpture, all wth a monkey theme, and the monkeys themselves roam free. They have no fear of people, and we were warned that they might try to grab our phones, hats or even jewellery and run off with them. I'm glad to say they didn't, but at one point a young monkey jumped up onto my shoulder, making me very uncomfortable. We were given slicks to protect ourselves from the boldest monkeys, but | didn't want to use one. | was glad when the monkey climbed down. However, it was very entertaining to watch the animals from a distance, happily playing and eating, sctnssascscsscuesesccsascemeosccsseeuvenceseMULIVENOOUSHEIS Seg 2s onsen neon beens see een een once eee ee ene sneee nee nenoneeeeenEAnAeeee POP FOE AN e POAC ee Peo eo A Ae noe OAC e ee Pee eM eA eOA OMe AeeeAeeReS090 8 SPSS 8 OS 2 Which person mentions 1. the possibility of people at the event having their belongings stolen? 2. regretting being without an item of protective equipment? 3. the bravery of the people who took part? 4. a.warning about organising a trip to the event? 5. an injury caused during the event? 6. how hard it was to get a good position to view the event? 7. products that were available to buy during the event? 8. experiencing two strongly contrasting emotions? 9. people with a particular interest who would like the event? 10. the reason why the event originally began? 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