Cumulative Skills Test Units 1–10 Test B

Name: ___________________________________________

Everyday English
1 Complete the sentences with the missing phrase. Use the words in the box. There are five
phrases you do not need.
no matter by far high time a distinct possibility if only no wonder assumed to
used to dare say plump for
1 The quality of entries in this year’s competition is so high that it’s hard to say which submission
the judges will ______________.
2 There has been no regular water supply to the refugee camp for months. The children living
there have now got ______________ walking miles each day to fetch water from a stream.
3 Although ______________ the best preserved of all the ancient sites, the temple receives few
visitors because of its isolated location.
4 ______________ which sports pundit you ask, you’ll get the same response: this year’s World
Cup is wide open, and any one of five or six nations could win it.
5 Late applications are ______________ be from students with less interest in the project,
however there could be many reasons why they applied at the last minute.
Mark: ___ / 5

Listening
2  Listen to two scientists, David Lerner and Frances Horner, discussing X-rays. Decide
whether points 1–5 are made by Lerner (L), Horner (H) or both speakers (B).
1 Prior to the use of X-rays, doctors had to operate on patients in order to see inside the human
body. ___
2 Roentgen had not intended to look for X-rays but rather came across his great discovery by
chance. ___
3 Roentgen was typical of the scientists of his period in that he was committed to conducting
experiments. ___
4 Roentgen was to come up with a name for his discovery based on his knowledge of scientific
terminology. ___
5 Having finished his research into X-rays, it didn’t take Roentgen long to move on to something of
greater interest to him. ___

Mark: ___ / 10

1
Reading
Soylent
A
It might seem an extreme step to give up eating meals in order to save time, but this is how a new
food substitute is being promoted. Soylent is a drink made by adding oil and water to a specially
prepared powder that the manufacturers claim contains all the nutrients the human body needs. It’s
described as creamy and faintly sweet-tasting, and enthusiasts who have given up regular meals to
live on the fluid say it’s quite satisfying. With a month’s supply costing around £40, it’s cheaper than
ordinary food and if it becomes widely popular will be even cheaper in future. Invented by a 24-year-
old American software engineer, Soylent is being promoted as a solution to what many people like to
think is the bane of their lives – a perpetual shortage of time.
B
The name of the new food has a curious history. In Soylent Green, an unsettling science-fiction film
that appeared in 1973, the Soylent in question was a green biscuit supposedly made from plants
found in the sea. The film is set in a heavily overpopulated world in which much of humankind lives
by consuming the biscuit. The film’s story line tells how a New York City Police Department
detective investigating a suspicious death eventually discovers that the biscuit on which the world’s
population lives is in fact made from human remains. The film ends with the detective, by now a
broken-down figure, exclaiming, ‘Soylent Green is people!’
C
Human numbers have greatly increased over the past 40 years – from just under four billion when the
film was made to well over seven billion now. At the same time, concern about overpopulation,
which was widespread when the film was made, has become distinctly unfashionable. Nowadays
many would view as heresy the idea that there could be too many human beings on the planet, and
I’ve not come across any mention of overpopulation in the publicity surrounding the Soylent that’s
being marketed today. The new meal replacement isn’t being presented as a remedy for world hunger
or an overcrowded planet. It’s an affliction of the well-fed that the liquid food is meant to cure.
D
Some of those who’ve experimented with the meal-free lifestyle say it saves them at least an hour
every day, effectively adding another day to the week. Yet it’s far from clear that free time is what
consumers of Soylent truly want. If you’re struggling to make ends meet, juggling the demands of
family and several part-time jobs, you might well dream of having an extra day in the week. But I
doubt whether many who are in this position would consider giving up meals in order to work even
harder than they already do, and in any case they aren’t the people to whom the food replacement is
being marketed. It’s those that are reasonably well off, and yet think of themselves as being
chronically pressured, that are being targeted.
E
No doubt there will be some who take up the meal-free life in order to enjoy the unoccupied space it
creates in their lives. Less busy than before, they can use the extra hours to read, meet friends and
stroll calmly through their days. But this, I suspect, will be a small minority. For most, Soylent will
be a way of squeezing ever more distractions into their lives. We’re reluctant to admit the fact, but
for many of us being short of time isn’t such a heavy burden. It’s having time on our hands that we
dread. That’s why a product like Soylent has such a bright future. When we give up meals for quick
sips of liquid fuel, we think it’s time we’re saving. What we’re really doing is saving ourselves from
too much thought.
2
3 Read the article. Are the sentences true (T), false (F) or not given (NG)?
1 So far, the writer has been unable to establish whether drinking Soylent can adequately meet
people’s needs. ___
2 The new food product differs from its fictional predecessor in terms of both its form and
ingredients. ___
3 The writer maintains that there is a link between the fears expressed in the film Soylent Green
and the name of the new food product. ___
4 In the writer’s opinion, the new food product is likely to appeal to the affluent just as much as the
less well-off. ___
5 It is likely that Soylent will make eating a less social activity and more something we do by
ourselves. ___

Mark: ___ / 5

4 Read the article about a new food product and answer the questions. There is one question
that does not have an answer.
In which paragraph A–E does the writer mention …
1 a fictional food that was to lend its name to the new sweet-tasting drink in the article? ___
2 at least one group of people who are unlikely to purchase the new food product? ___
3 that most people will probably not buy Soylent in order to slow down their pace of life? ___
4 how some have responded to the new food product after trying it? ___
5 how people have changed their view of something over time? ___
6 how the new food product made its first appearance in its current form decades ago? ___

Mark: ___ / 5

3
Writing
5 Choose ONE of the following tasks.
A

Write a discursive essay on the topic below.

‘Girls and boys should be allowed to play on the same sports teams.’ Discuss.
B
Write a review of a show you recently saw at the theatre.
C
Write a short story with an unexpected ending. Include the closing line below.

‘The box was no longer where it had been left.’

Mark: ___ / 15
TOTAL MARKS: ___ / 40

4
Challenge!
6 Complete the text with one word in each gap.
The fate of mothers in Disney movies
1
___________ is assumed by many that classic Disney films are warm, cosy and family friendly.
2
___________ spent much of my career as a film critic however, I would contend that Disney treats
mothers with considerable cruelty. In the film Dumbo, the hero, a baby elephant, is separated from
his caged mother, and their 3___________ don’t cross again until the end of the film. In Bambi, the
mother’s fate is worse still, and no one who has seen the film can forget the scene in 4___________
the beautiful deer is shot dead. And poor Cinderella, deprived of her real mother, who is more than
likely dead, is forced to be at the 5___________ and call of an evil stepmother who makes her work
6
___________ if she was a servant. 7___________ the siblings of the orphaned Cinderella do while
she lives in poverty is splash out on expensive dresses and live a life of luxury. Of course, one of the
attractions of the films appears to be that the young heroes and heroines have to survive without their
mothers. That is probably why, no matter how much I 8___________ my brains, I simply cannot
think of a children’s film made by Disney in which they play a significant part.