The Closely Observed Book of Exam Preparation

Part Five: Multiple Choice Reading

Painter, Interrupted – Mary Cassatt and Illness

The year is 1868, and the twenty-two year-old Cassatt is the only American who exhibits with
Mary Cassatt has had her first picture, The the Impressionists, and she is one of only a
Mandolin Player, accepted by the famous Paris handful of women then to be involved. In 1878
Salon. The painting is in the realist style and is she paints Little Girl in a Blue Armchair. The
reminiscent of Rembrandt’s 1659 Self-Portrait. close cropping of the viewpoint suggests a
The background is lit as if there was a candle tendency towards the then-popular Japanese art
behind the sitting mandolin player, a young girl of Hiroshige and Hokusai. The colours are bold,
dressed in the colours of France: a white blouse the brushstrokes rapid and unresolved in the way
half-hidden by a red sash and a deep blue skirt. of the Impressionists, lending a sympathetic
The girl looks past the viewer, out of the canvas, humanity to the girl. She has not posed: Cassatt
the light catching her brown pupils and giving has captured her with her artist’s eye in a
her an intelligent, thoughtful expression. Cassatt fleeting moment, like a photographer later
has painted the eyes and the delicate nose and might.
the pursed lips so well that one at first does not
notice that the mandolin player has the fingers of By this time her parents and sister, Lydia, have
her left hand lined up one next to the other; she moved to Paris to live with her. Shortly after
is not playing a chord on the small guitar-like their arrival, though, both her mother and Lydia
instrument, if she is playing anything at all. become ill. It falls to Mary to care for her ailing
family members, and this she does, sacrificing
The painting is one that shows promise, but it is her art. She disappears at a crucial moment in
line 21 not for this style that Mary Cassatt will become her career, unable to turn to the nursing
famous. Her father does not support her artistic institutions and palliative care-givers we might
ambitions, despite the success she has already take for granted in the modern world. Though
achieved. She has proved that she has talent, but Cassatt mère recovers, in 1882 Lydia succumbs
her father is too conservative to listen. It is only to Bright’s disease, the term given at the time to
when she is commissioned by the Archbishop of chronic or acute nephritis.
Pittsburgh to travel to Italy to make copies of
two paintings by Correggio that hope returns to Mary Cassatt comes out of the tragedy
her life. transformed. Before the death of her sister she
has painted that which caught her eye; after
Soon she has returned to Paris and is a fixture in 1882 she paints with obsession the same scene
the Salon. Year after year her paintings appear again and again: mothers and their children.
there, though she is tiring of the Academy style.
Her own style is developing rapidly, moving
away from the realism she has previously
adhered to and towards the new Impressionist
look.

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 The Closely Observed Book of Exam Preparation

1. What do we learn about Cassatt’s painting style in the first paragraph?

A. She copied masters like Rembrandt.
B. Her style bears some similarity to Rembrandt’s.
C. Cassatt was a slave to realism.
D. Rembrandt’s paintings are better than Cassatt’s.
2. What does ‘this’ refer to in line 21?
A. The style that Cassatt used in her next commissioned artwork.
B. Paintings of young girls.
C. Paintings on the theme of music.
D. The style that Cassatt used in her first painting to be accepted by the Salon.
3. What point is the writer making in the second paragraph about Cassatt’s
father?
A. Parental love has its limits.
B. Cassatt was unique in lacking the support of her father.
C. It was common for women artists to lack the support of parental figures.
D. Cassatt’s father would have been more supportive if she’d been more successful.
4. What is the writer suggesting in the fourth paragraph by connecting Cassatt’s
art to that of a photographer?
A. Mary Cassatt would have been a better photographer than a painter.
B. Photographers didn’t have the patience to be great artists.
C. The skills Cassatt employed are similar to those needed of photographers.
D. Photographers were influenced by Japanese painters.
5. What is the writer’s opinion about medical care in the fifth paragraph?
A. Medical care is something we don’t really think about nowadays.
B. Doctors used to be less competent than they are now.
C. Not enough was known about pain relief in Cassatt’s time.
D. The government didn’t offer enough medical assistance in the past.
6. What do we understand by the end of the text?
A. Tragic events can be the catalyst for artistic creativity.
B. It’s better to shrug off life’s disappointments than to be ruled by them.
C. Mary Cassatt would have been a better painter if she’d been less attached to her
family.
D. Medical research is more important than art.

51 Christopher Walker @ www.closelyobserved.com

 The Closely Observed Book of Exam Preparation

Part Six: Cross-Text Multiple Matching: C1 Advanced Only

Four Reviews of the ‘Applied Linguistics’ MOOC

A. Anna Askew

What is language? How do we communicate with each other? Are humans alone in having evolved speech, or
are other animals capable of the same? In this fascinating MOOC presented in association with three universities
from around the globe, we learn the answers to these questions, and more besides. For anybody considering
delving further into the topic, perhaps as a Master’s student, this is an essential first step, made all the more so
by the fact that the course is free – unless you want to validate your studies and earn a certificate. However,
some universities will see your possession of a certificate from this MOOC as a handy extra qualification that
will assist in your application. If I had one complaint to make about the MOOC, it would only be that at times
the presentation was a touch dry – the lecturers are all care academics, and they appear not to have made the
transition from the lecture hall to the online world of YouTube et al with any success.

B. Brittany Berliner

MOOCs are great, aren’t they? And no, I’m not talking about the sound cows make when they’re talking with
their mouth full. MOOC stands for ‘Massive Open Online Course’, and the idea is that you can enrol yourself –
for free – on one of the many public courses offered by universities around the world. I did so myself quite
recently, and learnt a huge amount that I can apply to my work as a teacher. The MOOC was on ‘Applied
Linguistics’ – a subject that can seem dull to outsiders, and probably appeared to be for anyone looking over my
shoulder as I completed my studies on a laptop at the café, though it wasn’t for entertainment that I had
registered in the first place. I do regret having paid so much for the certificate option, as I seriously doubt I’ll
ever make use of it in the future, but I learnt so many technical terms with which to impress my colleagues at
school that I know I’ll be referring back to my copious notes for a long time to come.

C. Carlton Carringsworth

I am a strong believer in the value of open education, and I have been exploring and extolling the virtues of
MOOCs since the first appeared roughly a decade ago. Times have certainly changed – back then, only a
handful of people studied together, but now you might easily find there are a thousand students in any given
cohort. But MOOCs are, like the one I studied most recently, still available for free, and you can’t argue with
that, no matter how crowded the discussion forums become. Unfortunately, though, the picture isn’t entirely
rosy. Take my last course, ‘Applied Linguistics’. While the topic is certainly a fascinating one, the course made
only a very superficial examination and left much to be desired, concentrating too much, I thought, on the
history of linguistics and ignoring the majority of the discoveries made in the field in the last ten years. And for
that reason this MOOC will be of only limited use for students curious about the field – they might come away
knowing something, but it might be far removed from current trends in linguistics.

D. Dexter Denver

A month ago I couldn’t have told you whether sign language counted as a real language or not. I didn’t even
know there were local variants, different sign languages that you had to learn like any other as you moved from
country to country. Through the use of serious presentations, always with that academic tone I’ve come to love
and respect, the ‘Applied Linguistics’ MOOC is an eye-opening experience for people like me who were, really,
the sum of their preconceptions and half-baked ideas. I’ll definitely see the world differently now, that’s for sure
– and I’m eager for more on this topic, though I hope that the next MOOC I find about language and linguistics
lasts longer than a month, and really goes to town on the topic.

60 Christopher Walker @ www.closelyobserved.com

 The Closely Observed Book of Exam Preparation

Part Six: Gapped Text (C1 Advanced Part Seven)

Lopé, Gabon
“Will there be gorillas to see, or perhaps some elephants?”
We’d already asked the preliminary questions, and now we wanted specific details. The first guide
turned to his junior partner, the one who only spoke French. The question was relayed; the mumbled
reply seemed entirely negative.
“Yes, yes, it is no problem. You come with us and we show you gorillas, elephants, whatever you
please. Of course, there are no guarantees, but we can look.”
I noticed he was sweating. I was sweating too. We were footsteps away from the rainforest in Lopé
National Park. 1 Oddly, the landscape around us on the other side put me more in mind of
Yorkshire, with rolling green hills decorated by the occasional solitary tree.
One of our group was growing increasingly disgruntled and spoke querulously to the guide. “I speak
French,” he said. “Your man there just said we won’t see a thing. He said it’s been weeks since any
gorillas were spotted.”
2 “You’re asking a lot of money,” the Dane said. “Is it worth it?”
3 I couldn’t afford the expedition and had only been watching because the guides themselves
interested me. I grabbed my camera and a book and went into the village to explore, striking out on
my own.
4 What did the men do when they wanted to shave? I asked around in the shops, my question
eliciting no more than a shrug. I continued onward, idly toying with the idea of climbing Camel Hill
with its cresting peaks. 5 I needed to find shelter, shadows to lurk in while my body attempted
its latest recovery from the climate.
I approached a building with circular windows, not knowing what it was even when I got there. The
sign said Lopé Station but there were no trains; after three months on the road, ambling down the
armpit edge of Africa all the way from Ghana, I’d seen tracks but no engines or carriages.
6 The clock on the platform was stuck at a quarter to eight, a flag flapped negligently in the
lacklustre wind.
Solitude greeted me there in the station. I sat on a splintering wooden bench and thought again and
again: what am I doing here?

A Clearly it wasn’t. I wandered away. D The guides were eager to take us further in to
explore.

B The heat was overwhelming and E It seemed that the same thing was true here,
made the decision for me. the trains notable by their absence.

C My scraggly beard was irking me in F The capital was five days’ journey away over
the heat, but nowhere sold blades or difficult terrain.
foam.
G “He doesn’t know about it.” The guide looked
around nervously. He mentioned a fee and
waited for our response.

70 Christopher Walker @ www.closelyobserved.com

 The Closely Observed Book of Exam Preparation

Part Seven: Multiple Matching (C1 Advanced Part Eight)

You are going to read four travel reports from young people who travelled to different
countries. For questions 1 to 10, choose from the sections A to D. The sections can be used
for more than one answer.

Which writer …
experienced difficulties navigating the public
1
transport system?
was impressed by the way the citizens of a place were
2
able to deal with a difficulty in their lives?
complains that travelling to the country is too
3
expensive?

was initially put off by what they saw? 4

was unable to do everything they wanted because of

5
health problems?

approached the destination with a mistaken belief? 6

isn’t confident that others will agree with their

7
assessment?

felt concern for their personal safety? 8

is keen to increase their knowledge of the

9
destination’s language?

suggests that the destination was as good as expected? 10

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 The Closely Observed Book of Exam Preparation

A – Ian in Italy

I’d say that Italy warrants the hype. It really is that fantastic. If we start by looking at the food, the
most difficult aspect for me was choosing between pizza and pasta, and I’ll be honest with you I did
gorge myself once or twice when I found a deal that offered buy-one-get-one-free. But what can you
do? It’s not as if I’ll be returning every single year, as I simply cannot afford the airfare. I’ve already
recommended that my friends go to see Rome for themselves if they get the chance, but we’ll have to
see if they go along with that – they’re pretty stuck in their ways and prefer to go to the Algarve
where they think English is more widely spoken.

B – Brigitte in Bolivia

The first thing that really struck me was how difficult it was to breathe so high up. I guess I assumed
wrongly that being up past four thousand metres wouldn’t affect me in the way that it did, but I’m
glad I got to see La Paz. It’s incredible to think that there are people who live in a city that’s as high
up as any of the mountains, and I really respect the locals for how they go about their lives as if it
didn’t matter. The only slight problem for me sadly was that I got to see so little of everything. I
didn’t even get to ride on the cable car that links the city with one of the suburbs up on high. I came
down with a bout of altitude sickness two days into the trip, and although the medicine I was given
helped me get over it, by the time I was back on my feet the group was already preparing to leave.

C – Joshua in Japan

You’ve not had real sushi until you go to Japan. That’s what I reckon, anyway, though I’m sure that
there are those who will disagree with so sweeping a statement. Of all the different varieties, it was
something called sashimi that I really fell in love with. There’s nothing better than a slice of fresh
salmon served with nothing else but maybe a spot of spicy wasabi. As for Tokyo – the neon city is
pretty much everything it’s cracked up to be but I do wish the signs in the underground system were
easier to understand. I got on one train and before I knew it I was somewhere out in the suburbs,
completely lost. I’d love to return one day, maybe to see Osaka or Nagano where they had the Winter
Olympics a while back, but before I do I reckon I ought to invest in a phrase book!

D – Georgina in Georgia

I was expecting to be disappointed, and to be honest my first impressions were not great. The airport
was a pretty dismal box out in the country, and I arrived at night so I didn’t even get to see the
landscape at all. But when we were driving into Tbilisi I completely changed my mind about the
place. It was dreamily romantic, and simply got more so come the morning and my first look around.
The old town is full of crumbling buildings, the balconies practically collapsing onto the street – I was
too cautious to dare walk directly underneath them! – but the main thoroughfare, which has been
likened to the Champs Elysees, was magnificent.

77 Christopher Walker @ www.closelyobserved.com