Reading PTE

Reading : fill in blanks

For much of history and in many cultures, (1)enlisting professional teachers was an option available only to a small elite. Thus, until (2) relatively recently, the vast majority of people were educated by parents, especially during early childhood. The earliest (3)compulsory education in the West began in the late 17th century and early 18th century in some German States. Invigilating ridiculous

enlisting compulsory relatively inextricably

intimate

Facebook is the largest social network on the web in terms of traffic. Primarily (1) focused on students, Facebook has been gaining market share (2) constantly and more significantly a supportive user base nowadays. Since their launch in 2004, they have been able to obtain over 20 million users in the U.S. alone and (3) expand worldwide to other Englishspeaking countries, with more to follow in the future. Reinforced web focused reluctantly constantly decline

deliberately

expand

Insects do not have (1) vision as sharp as that of mammals or birds. The insect compound eye is more familiar to movement and so it cannot (2) precisely position distant objects. So, insects tend to take a rather unsteady flight path to navigate to a particular object. For example, in order to locate the caterpillar, the wasp needs to balance the odour signals (3) received by its two antennae. Wings received precisely

absorption

vision

sacrificed

accompanied

Giant pandas are black-and-white Chinese bears that are on the verge of (1) extinction . These large, cuddly-looking mammals have a big head, a heavy body, rounded ears, and a short tail. Most bears' eyes have round pupils. The (2) exception is the giant panda, whose pupils are vertical slits, like cats' eyes, these unusual eyes (3) inspired the Chinese to call the panda the "giant cat bear." . indication

Inspired exception extinction dimension speculation predicted

Reading and writing: blanks

C. S. Lewis, or Jack Lewis, as he preferred to be called, was born in Belfast, Ireland (now Northern Ireland) on November 29, 1898. He was the second son of Albert Lewis, a lawyer, and Flora Hamilton Lewis. His older brother, Warren Hamilton Lewis, who was known as Warnie, had been born three years ago in 1895. Lewis's early childhood was relatively happy and carefree. In those days Northern Ireland was not yet plagued by bitter civil strife, and the Lewises were comfortably off. The family home, called Little Lea, was a large, gabled house with dark, narrow passages and an overgrown garden, which Warnie and Jack played in and explored together. There was also a library that was crammed with books - two of Jack's favorites were Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson and The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett. This somewhat idyllic boyhood came to an end for Lewis when his mother became ill and died of cancer in 1908. Barely a month after her death the two boys were sent away from home to go to boarding school in England. Lewis hated the school, with its strict rules and hard, unsympathetic headmaster, and he missed Belfast terribly. Fortunately for him, the school closed in 1910, and he was able to return to Ireland.

After a year, however, he was sent back to England to study. This time, the experience proved to be mostly positive. As a teenager, Lewis learned to love poetry, especially the works of Virgil and Homer. He also developed an interest in modern languages, mastering French, German, and Italian.

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Earlier/previously/subsequently Bothered pested doubted Watched/instigated/inspired Careless/desensitized/deliberative Essence/understanding/suffering

The roots of our modern scientific tradition can be traced back to the Babylonians who began to predict weather from cloud formations and, more particularly, the Ancient Greeks. As is the case in so many other fields, Aristotle is considered to have founded the modern science of meteorology when he correctly identified the hydrologic cycle in 350 BC. This cycle, which describes the continuous movement of water on, above and below the surface of the Earth, is fundamental to much of modern weather forecasting. However, Aristotle himself and his follower and pupil Theophrastus largely failed to make the connection between the water cycle and weather forecasting and their science was scarcely more reliable than the aboriginal rain dance. Indeed, the word “meteorology” literally means the study of heavenly bodies and the Greeks attempted to explain weather conditions through heavenly signs such as colours of the sky, rings and halos. The influence of Aristotle on weather forecasting lasted for almost 2000 years and was only gradually eroded by a combination of a series of scientific discoveries and advances in communication technology. One important step forward was made in 1654 when Fernando de Medici set up the first weather observation network with meteorological stations in eleven separate European cities. When this data was centrally collected in Florence, it became possible to analyse weather patterns on a grander scale than ever before by allowing maps to be produced that showed atmospheric conditions over a large area of the Earth’s surface. The invention of the telegraph in 1837 allowed such observations to be collected more quickly and from a wider region than ever before and as a consequence meteorologists were able to identify the global nature of weather patterns. 1. Know

predict

studied

2. astrology

biology

meteorology

3. teacher

friend

student

anticipate physics follower

4.

lasted

5. condition

survived consequence

lived resultant

held effect

Trinity College was 1) founded by Sir Thomas Pope in 1555. A devout catholic with no surviving children, Thomas Pope saw the Foundation of an Oxford college as a means of 2) ensuring that he and his family would always be remembered in the prayers and masses of its members. He came from a family of small 3) landowners in Oxfordshire, trained as a lawyer, and rose rapidly to prominence 4) under Henry VIII. As Treasurer of the Court of Augmentations he handled the estates of the monasteries 5)dissolved at the Reformation, and amassed a considerable personal 6)fortune. Pope was a discreet and trusted privy counsellor of Mary Tudor, and it was from Mary and Philip that he 7) received Letters Patent and royal approval for his new foundation. Pope died in 1559. Although his religious 8)ideals were never fully realised Elizabeth I had succeeded her sister and England 9) returned to the Protestant faith - nonetheless the memory of his name, like his college, has endured the fluctuating fortunes of over 400 years. His wife, Lady Elizabeth Pope, was a particularly influential 10) figure in Trinity's early years. Pope's foundation was for a President, twelve Fellows and twelve scholars, all supported by the income from his 11) generous endowment of lands, and for up to twenty undergraduates. The Fellows, all men, were required to take Holy Orders and remain unmarried. The College Statutes set out rules for a simple monastic life of religious observance and study. The Garden was an informal grove of trees, mainly elms, amongst which the members of the College could 12)walk and meditate.

1 2 3

a) founded

a) securing

a) owners 4

5

7

b) landowners

a) with

9

11

a) ideals

b) wealth

a) outline

a) prowl

b) walk

d) withered

d) money

c) belief

c) returned

b) generosity

d) mistresses

c) crumbled

b) received

b) symbol

d) verifying

d) because

b) rich

b) examples b) repeated

a) generous 12

c) under

b) conferred

a) rejoined 10

c) freeholders

b) on

a) fortune

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a) inherited 8

c) begin

b) ensuring

a) dissolved 6

b) set

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c) promenade

d) teeming d) yomp

ANSWERS 1) a) founded 2) b) ensuring 3) b) landowners 4) c) under 5) a) dissolved 6) a) fortune 7) b) received 8) a) ideals 9) c) returned 10) d) figure 11) a) generous 12) b) walk

The Pitcairn Islands are

in the South Pacific Ocean, about halfway 1)_________

Peru and New Zealand. The larger island of Pitcairn was 2) ____________

in 1767 by the British and settled in 1790 by the mutineers from the English 3) _____________

ship 'Bounty' and their Tahitian companions. Pitcairn was the

Pacific 4) _____________

island to become a British colony (in 1838) and today

the last vestige of 5) _____________

the British empire in the South Pacific. The population of about 50 are the

of the Bounty mutineers and their Tahitian wives. English is the official 6) _____________

language, but many islanders communicate in Pitcairnese (a pidgin language comprising of elements of 18th century English and a Tahitian dialect). The

of this tiny island exist on fishing, subsistence farming, handicrafts, 7) ______________

and postage stamps. The fertile soil of the valleys produces a wide

of 8) _____________

fruits and vegetables, including citrus, sugarcane, watermelons, bananas, yams, and beans. Bartering is an part of the economy. The major sources of revenue are the sale 9) ________________

of postage stamps to collectors and the sale of handicrafts to passing

. It has 10) _______

no port or

harbour; and supplies must be transported by rowed 11) ______________

longboat from larger ships stationed

. 12) ______________

1

a) located

2 3

a) middle

a) uncovered 4

7 8

10

b) premiere

c) beginning

b) remnant

b) tenants

11 12

a) crucial a) cars

d) close

c) created

a) different 9

c) centre

c) spare

b) descendants

a) dwellers

d) settled

b) discovered

a) remains

a) ancestors

c) stationed

b) between

a) opening

5 6

b) sited

b) important

b) planes

a) natural a) offshore

b) pure

c) heir

c) types

d) successor

c) motor-boats

b) inshore

d) public

d) diversity

c) major

c) native

d) first

d) residue

c) inhabitants

b) variety

d) invented

d) vital d) ships

d) creation

c) shore

d) coast

How has weather forecasting evolved in the past 20 years? There have been a number of influences and perhaps the most visible is the use of satellite technology. It is almost impossible to watch a forecast on television nowadays without seeing a satellite picture showing where the areas of high pressure and low pressure are and how the weather is likely to develop. Indeed, a whole new industry of “nowcasting” has developed, telling us what the weather is like now and what we could expect to see if we could be bothered to look out of the window. A less evident, but equally relevant, innovation has been the application of the comparatively new science of mathematical modelling to weather forecasting. This involves using the massive computational powers of supercomputers to process all the different variables so as to provide some likely forecasts of what will happen next with the weather. Even here, however, the science is by no means complete and the weather experts still need to choose between different possible forecasts. How do they do that? Experience and judgment – not perhaps that different from the ancient Babylonians who decided if it was going to rain by looking at the shape of the cloud. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

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