PRACTICE TEST

LISTENING
SECTION 3 Questions 11-20

Questions 11-16

Choose the correct letter, A, B or C

11. When did James Brown start collecting vacuum cleaners??

A. at 4 years old

B. at 8 years old

C. at 30 years old

12. James can listen to a vacuum cleaner and identify

A. which company made it

B. what problem it might have

C. the age of the battery life

13. Before the 1950s, vacuum cleaners cost

A. the same price of an average car

B. almost a whole year’s salary

C. about three months’ wages

14. Why did James make a trip to the USA a few years ago?

A. to win an award in Texas

B. to visit the Kirby Facto ry

C. to meet some vacu u m collectors

15. On what day is the vacuum cleaner museum open late?

A Tuesday to Saturday

B Monday

C. Thursday
Questions 16-20

Which Characteristics does each of the following companies have?

Choose FIVE answers from the box and write the correct letter from A-G next to

questions 26-30

Characteristics

A. not available in shops

B. specially designed to be easy to move

C. as large as a horse

D. used two different sources of power

E. designed by a businessman

F. named after a person other than the inventor

G. associated with a style of building

Companies

16. Puffing Billy

17. Hoover------------

18. Electrolux ModelV -----------

19. Electrolux Triple X ------------

20. Kirby------------
SECTION 4 Questions 31-40

Write NO MORE THAN ONE WORD for each answer.

Course on the Sense of Smell

of the odor.

clients to buy the property quickly

to go to clubs
READING PASSAGE 2
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14-26 which are based on Reading
Passage 2 below.
Forest management in Pennsylvania, USA
How managing low-quality wood (also known as low-use wood) for bioenergy can
encourage sustainable forest management
A
A tree’s ‘value’ depends on several factors including its species, size, form, condition,
quality, function, and accessibility, and depends on the management goals for a given
forest. The same tree can be valued very differently by each person who looks at it. A
large, straight black cherry tree has high value as timber to be cut into logs or made into
furniture, but for a landowner more interested in wildlife habitat, the real value of that
stem (or trunk) may be the food it provides to animals. Likewise, if the tree suffers from
black knot disease, its value for timber decreases, but to a woodworker interested in
making bowls, it brings an opportunity for a unique and beautiful piece of art.
B
In the past, Pennsylvania landowners were solely interested in the value of their trees
as high-quality timber. The norm was to remove the stems of highest quality and leave
behind poorly formed trees that were not as well suited to the site where they grew. This
practice, called ‘high-grading’, has left a legacy of ‘low-use wood’ in the forests. Some
people even call these ‘junk trees’, and they are abundant in Pennsylvania. These trees
have lower economic value for traditional timber markets, compete for growth with
higher-value trees, shade out desirable regeneration and decrease the health of a stand
leaving it more vulnerable to poor weather and disease. Management that specifically
targets low-use wood can help landowners manage these forest health issues, and
wood energy markets help promote this.
C
Wood energy markets can accept less expensive wood material of lower quality than
would be suitable for traditional timber markets. Most wood used for energy in
Pennsylvania is used to produce heat or electricity through combustion. Many schools
and hospitals use wood boiler systems to heat and power their facilities, many homes
are primarily heated with wood, and some coal plants incorporate wood into their coal
streams to produce electricity. Wood can also be gasified for electrical generation and
can even be made into liquid fuels like ethanol and gasoline for lorries and cars. All
these products are made primarily from low-use wood. Several tree- and plant-cutting
approaches, which could greatly improve the long-term quality of a forest, focus strongly
or solely on the use of wood for those markets.
D
One such approach is called a Timber Stand Improvement (TSI) Cut. In a TSI Cut,
really poor-quality tree and plant material is cut down to allow more space, light, and
other resources to the highest-valued stems that remain. Removing invasive plants
might be another primary goal of a TSI Cut. The stems that are left behind might then
grow in size and develop more foliage and larger crowns or tops that produce more
coverage for wildlife; they have a better chance to regenerate in a less crowded
environment. TSI Cuts can be tailored to one farmer’s specific management goals for
his or her land.
E
Another approach that might yield a high amount of low-use wood is a Salvage Cut.
With the many pests and pathogens visiting forests including hemlock wooly adelgid,
Asian longhomed beetle, emerald ash borer, and gypsy moth, to name just a few, it is
important to remember that those working in the forests can help ease these issues
through cutting procedures. These types of cut reduce the number of sick trees and
seek to manage the future spread of a pest problem. They leave vigorous trees that
have stayed healthy enough to survive the outbreak.
F
A Shelterwood Cut, which only takes place in a mature forest that has already been
thinned several times, involves removing all the mature trees when other seedlings
have become established. This then allows the forester to decide which tree species are
regenerated. It leaves a young forest where all trees are at a similar point in their
growth. It can also be used to develop a two-tier forest so that there are two harvests
and the money that comes in is spread out over a decade or more.
G
Thinnings and dense and dead wood removal for fire prevention also center on the
production of low-use wood. However, it is important to remember that some retention
of what many would classify as low-use wood is very important. The tops of trees that
have been cut down should be left on the site so that their nutrients cycle back into the
soil. In addition, trees with many cavities are extremely important habitats for insect
predators like woodpeckers, bats and small mammals. They help control problem
insects and increase the health and resilience of the forest. It is also important to
remember that not all small trees are low-use. For example, many species like hawthorn
provide food for wildlife. Finally, rare species of trees in a forest should also stay behind
as they add to its structural diversity.
—–
*Stand – An area covered with trees that have common features (e.g. size)
Questions 14-18
Reading Passage 2 has seven paragraphs, A-G.
Which paragraph contains the following information?
Write the correct letter, A-G, in boxes 14-18 on your answer sheet.
NB You may use any letter more than once.
14 bad outcomes for a forest when people focus only on its financial reward
15 reference to the aspects of any tree that contribute to its worth
16 mention of the potential use of wood to help run vehicles
17 examples of insects that attack trees
18 an alternative name for trees that produce low-use wood
Questions 19-21
Look at the following purposes (Questions 18-21) and the list of timber cuts below.
Match each purpose with the correct timber cut, A, B or C.
Write the correct letter, A, B or C, in boxes 19-21 on your answer sheet.
NB You may use any letter more than once.
19 to remove trees that are diseased
20 to generate income across a number of years
21 to create a forest whose trees are close in age
List of Timber Cuts
A a TSI Cut
B a Salvage Cut
C a Shelterwood Cut
Questions 22-26
Complete the sentences below.
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 22-26 on your answer sheet.
22 Some dead wood is removed to avoid the possibility of ………………. .
23 The ………………. from the tops of cut trees can help improve soil quality.
24 Some damaged trees should be left, as their ………………. provide habitats for a
range of creatures.
25 Some trees that are small, such as ………………., are a source of food for animals
and insects.
26 Any trees that are ………………. should be left to grow, as they add to the variety
of species in the forest.
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READING PASSAGE 3
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 27-40 which are based on Reading
Passage 3 below.
Conquering Earth’s space junk problem
Satellites, rocket shards and collision debris are creating major traffic risks in orbit
around the planet. Researchers are working to reduce these threats
A
Last year, commercial companies, military and civil departments and amateurs sent
more than 400 satellites into orbit, over four times the yearly average in the previous
decade. Numbers could rise even more sharply if leading space companies follow
through on plans to deploy hundreds to thousands of large constellations of satellites to
space in the next few years.
All that traffic can lead to disaster. Ten years ago, a US commercial Iridium satellite
smashed into an inactive Russian communications satellite called Cosmos-2251,
creating thousands of new pieces of space shrapnel that now threaten other satellites in
low Earth orbit – the zone stretching up to 2,000 kilometres in altitude. Altogether, there
are roughly 20,000 human-made objects in orbit, from working satellites to small rocket
pieces. And satellite operators can’t steer away from every potential crash, because
each move consumes time and fuel that could otherwise be used for the spacecraft’s
main job.
B
Concern about space junk goes back to the beginning of the satellite era, but the
number of objects in orbit is rising so rapidly that researchers are investigating new
ways of attacking the problem. Several teams are trying to improve methods for
assessing what is in orbit, so that satellite operators can work more efficiently in ever-
more-crowded space. Some researchers are now starting to compile a massive data set
that includes the best possible information on where everything is in orbit. Others are
developing taxonomies of space – working on measuring properties such as the shape
and size of an object, so that satellite operators know how much to worry about what’s
coming their way.
The alternative, many say, is unthinkable. Just a few uncontrolled space crashes could
generate enough debris to set off a runaway cascade of fragments, rendering near-
Earth space unusable. ‘If we go on like this, we will reach a point of no return,’ says
Carolin Frueh, an astrodynamical researcher at Purdue University in West Lafayette,
Indiana.
C
Even as our ability to monitor space objects increases, so too does the total number of
items in orbit. That means companies, governments and other players in space are
collaborating in new ways to avoid a shared threat. International groups such as the
Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee have developed guidelines on
space sustainability. Those include inactivating satellites at the end of their useful life by
venting pressurised materials or leftover fuel that might lead to explosions. The
intergovernmental groups also advise lowering satellites deep enough into the
atmosphere that they will burn up or disintegrate within 25 years. But so far, only about
half of all missions have abided by this 25-year goal, says Holger Krag, head of the
European Space Agency’s space-debris office in Darmstadt, Germany. Operators of the
planned large constellations of satellites say they will be responsible stewards in their
enterprises in space, but Krag worries that problems could increase, despite their best
intentions. ‘What happens to those that fail or go bankrupt?’ he asks. They are probably
not going to spend money to remove their satellites from space.’
D
In theory, given the vastness of space, satellite operators should have plenty of room for
all these missions to fly safely without ever nearing another object. So some scientists
are tackling the problem of space junk by trying to find out where all the debris is to a
high degree of precision. That would alleviate the need for many of the unnecessary
manoeuvres that are carried out to avoid potential collisions. ‘If you knew precisely
where everything was, you would almost never have a problem,’ says Marlon Sorge, a
space-debris specialist at the Aerospace Corporation in El Segundo, California.
E
The field is called space traffic management, because it’s similar to managing traffic on
the roads or in the air. Think about a busy day at an airport, says Moriba Jah, an
astrodynamicist at the University of Texas at Austin: planes line up in the sky, landing
and taking off close to one another in a carefully choreographed routine. Air-traffic
controllers know the location of the planes down to one metre in accuracy. The same
can’t be said for space debris. Not all objects in orbit are known, and even those
included in databases are not tracked consistently.
F
An additional problem is that there is no authoritative catalogue that accurately lists the
orbits of all known space debris. Jah illustrates this with a web-based database that he
has developed. It draws on several sources, such as catalogues maintained by the US
and Russian governments, to visualise where objects are in space. When he types in an
identifier for a particular space object, the database draws a purple line to designate its
orbit. Only this doesn’t quite work for a number of objects, such as a Russian rocket
body designated in the database as object number 32280. When Jah enters that
number, the database draws two purple lines: the US and Russian sources contain two
completely different orbits for the same object. Jah says that it is almost impossible to
tell which is correct, unless a third source of information made it possible to cross-
correlate.
Jah describes himself as a space environmentalist: ‘I want to make space a place that is
safe to operate, that is free and useful for generations to come.’ Until that happens, he
argues, the space community will continue devolving into a tragedy in which all
spaceflight operators are polluting a common resource.
Questions 27-31
Reading Passage 3 has six sections, A-F.
Which section contains the following information?
Write the correct letter, A-F, in boxes 27-31 on your answer sheet.
27 a reference to the cooperation that takes place to try and minimise risk
28 an explanation of a person’s aims
29 a description of a major collision that occurred in space
30 a comparison between tracking objects in space and the efficiency of a
transportation system
31 a reference to efforts to classify space junk
Questions 32-35
Complete the summary below.
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 32-35 on your answer sheet.
The Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee
The committee gives advice on how the 32……………… of space can be achieved. The
committee advises that when satellites are no longer active, any
unused 33……………… or pressurised material that could cause 34………………
should be removed.
Although operators of large satellite constellations accept that they have obligations as
stewards of space, Holger Krag points out that the operators that
become 35……………… are unlikely to prioritise removing their satellites from space.
Questions 36-40
Look at the following statements (Questions 36-40) and the list of people below.
Match each statement with the correct person, A, B, C or D.
Write the correct letter, A, B, C or D, in boxes 36-40 on your answer sheet.
NB You may use any letter more than once.
36 Knowing the exact location of space junk would help prevent any possible danger.
37 Space should be available to everyone and should be preserved for the future.
38 A recommendation regarding satellites is widely ignored.
39 There is conflicting information about where some satellites are in space.
40 There is a risk we will not be able to undo the damage that occurs in space.
List of People
A Carolin Frueh
B Holger Krag
C Marlon Sorge
D Moriba Jah