Test UNIT 1

Reading 1.

For questions 1 – 8, read the text below and decide which answer (A, B, C or D) best fits each gap.
There is an example at the beginning (0).
Example:
0 A deposits B piles C stores D stocks

New uses for salt mines

Geological (0) …….. of salt were formed millions of years ago, when what is now land, lay under the
sea. It is hard to believe that salt is now such a cheap (1) …….. , because centuries ago it was the
commercial (2) …….. of today’s oil. The men who mined salt became wealthy and, although the work
was (3) …….. and frequently dangerous, a job in a salt mine was highly (4) …….. .
Nowadays, the specific microclimates in disused mines have been (5) …….. for the treatment of
respiratory illnesses such as asthma, and the silent, dark surroundings in a mine are considered
(6) …….. in encouraging patients to relax.
In addition, some disused mines have been (7) …….. to different commercial enterprises, although
keeping up-to-date with the technology of mining is essential to (8) …….. visitors’ safety. Some of the
largest underground chambers even host concerts, conferences and business meetings.

1 A provision B utility C material D commodity

2 A match B similarity C parallel D equivalent
3 A critical B demanding C extreme D straining
4 A regarded B admired C approved D honoured
5 A exploited B extracted C exposed D extended
6 A profitable B agreeable C beneficial D popular
7 A put down B turned over C made out D set about
8 A enable B retain C ensure D support

Reading 2.
You are going to read an article by a psychologist about laughter. For questions 1 – 10, choose fromthe
sections (A – D). The sections may be chosen more than once.

Which section
comments on which person laughs within a verbal exchange?

uses a comparison with other physical functions to support an idea?

2

gives reasons why understanding laughter supplies very useful insights?

3

refers to someone who understood the self-perpetuating nature of laughter?

4

cites a study that involved watching people without their knowledge?

5

describes laughter having a detrimental effect?

6

criticises other research for failing to consider a key function of laughter?

7

explains that laughing does not usually take precedence over speaking?
8

describes people observing themselves?

9

encourages checking that a proposition is correct?

10

Why do people laugh?

Psychologist Robert Provine writes about why and when we laugh.

A
In 1962, what began as an isolated fit of laughter in a group of schoolgirls in Tanzania rapidly rose to
epidemic proportions. Contagious laughter spread from one individual to the next and between
communities. Fluctuating in intensity, the laughter epidemic lasted for around two and a half years and
during this time at least 14 schools were closed and about 1,000 people afflicted. Laughter epidemics,
big and small, are universal. Laughter yoga, an innovation of Madan Kataria of Mumbai, taps into
contagiouslaughter for his Laughter Yoga clubs. Members gather in public places to engage in laughter
exercises to energise the body and improve health. Kataria realised that only laughter is needed to
stimulate laughter – no jokes are necessary. When we hear laughter, we become beasts of the herd,
mindlessly laughing in turn, producing a behavioural chain reaction that sweeps through our group.
B
Laughter is a rich source of information about complex social relationships, if you know where to
look.
Learning to ‘read’ laughter is particularly valuable because laughter is involuntary and hard to fake,
providing uncensored, honest accounts of what people really think about each other. It is a decidedly
social signal. The social context of laughter was established by 72 student volunteers in my classes,
who recorded their own laughter, its time of occurrence and social circumstance in small notebooks
(laugh logbooks) during a one-week period. The sociality of laughter was striking. My logbook
keepers laughed about 30 times more when they were around others than when they were alone –
laughter almost disappeared among solitary subjects.
C
Further clues about the social context of laughter came from the surreptitious observation of 1,200
instances of conversational laughter among anonymous people in public places. My colleagues and I
noted the gender of the speaker and audience (listener), whether the speaker or the audience laughed,
and what was said immediately before laughter occurred. Contrary to expectation, most conversational
laughter was not a response to jokes or humorous stories. Fewer than 20% of pre-laugh comments
were remotely jokelike or humorous. Most laughter followed banal remarks such as ‘Are you sure?’
and ‘It was nice meeting you too.’ Mutual playfulness, in-group feeling and positive emotional tone –
not comedy – mark the social settings of most naturally occurring laughter. Another counterintuitive
discovery was that the average speaker laughs about 46% more often than the audience. This contrasts
with the scenario in stand-up comedy – a type of comedy performance in which a non-laughing
speaker presents jokes to a laughing audience. Comedy performance in general proves an inadequate
model for everyday conversational laughter. Analyses that focus only on audience behaviour (a
common approach) are obviously limited because they neglect the social nature of the laughing
relationship.
D
Amazingly, we somehow navigate society, laughing at just the right times, while not consciously
knowing what we are doing. In our sample of 1,200 laughter episodes, the speaker and the audience
seldom interrupted the phrase structure of speech with a ha-ha. Thus, a speaker may say ‘You are
wearing that? Ha-ha,’ but rarely ‘You are wearing… ha-ha… that?’ The occurrence of laughter during
pauses, at the end of phrases, and before and after statements and questions suggests that a
neurologically based process governs the placement of laughter. Speech is dominant over laughter
because it has priority access to the single vocalisation channel, and laughter does not violate the
integrity of phrase structure. Laughter in speech is similar to punctuation in written communication. If
punctuation of speech by laughter seems unlikely, consider that breathing and coughing also punctuate
speech. Better yet, why not test my theory of punctuation by examining the placement of laughter in
conversation around you, focusing on the placement of ha-ha laughs. It's a good thing that these
competing actions are neurologically orchestrated. How complicated would our lives be if we had to
plan when to breathe, talk and laugh.

Grammar
1. Join the sentences with expressions in brackets.

Example:
They graduated. They got married. (as soon as)
They got married as soon as they had graduated.

They entered the restaurant. They were served. (after)

....................................................................................................................................................................
I didn't use my credit card. I lost it. (because)
....................................................................................................................................................................
They didn't tell me. Easyjet cancelled the flight. (that)
....................................................................................................................................................................
I couldn't go out. I broke my leg. (because)
....................................................................................................................................................................
He took up a job. He left school. (as soon as)
....................................................................................................................................................................
Susan fell in love with Jack. She told her parents. (after)
....................................................................................................................................................................
I was in Paris for a week. I met Ann there. (when)
....................................................................................................................................................................
Jim called Jane from his office. He came back home. (before)
....................................................................................................................................................................
Maria finished the meal. And I arrived. (by the time)
....................................................................................................................................................................
Messi scored the goal. The fans went wild. (as soon as)
....................................................................................................................................................................

2. Choose the correct words.

1 I didn’t understand / hadn’t understood what was happening because I didn’t listen / hadn’t been
listening.
2 I didn’t pay / hadn’t been paying attention in class so I got / had got all the answers wrong in the test
today.
3 She left / had left by the time we arrived / had arrived.
4 She was / had been upset when we arrived because I forgot / had forgotten to tell her we’d be late.
5 He waited / had been waiting for three years when she finally said / had said she would marry him.

3. Complete the sentences using the correct form of the verbs in brackets.

1 By the time he was 29 he (write) ten books.

2 I (enter) competitions for years before I won.
3 She never (read) a play by Shakespeare until she went to university.
4 I (think) of what to write when suddenly I had a great idea for a story.
5 Before I was fifteen I not (enjoy) reading.
6 It was New Year’s Day and it (snow) for about twelve hours.

4. Make questions to complete the dialogues. Use the verbs in the box.

start reach cover read clean turn paint do change update

1. What time ............. you ..................................... the windows?

By 5 o'clock, I hope.

2. When ............ Samantha ................................................... the book?

She'll give it back to you in two weeks' time, she promissed.
3. How many projects ............... you ................................................... when you finish this one?
is only my second project.

4. When .............. Susan ............................................... the portrait?

Before the end of the day, I would say.

5. ............ you ................................................. the oil before we collect our car?

Yes, I will. I'll have done it by one o'clock.

............ the show ................................................ if we come in two hours?

6. I'm afraid it will start in an hour.

7. ............ Angie ................................................ her CV by the time she goes to the interview?
She's already done it.

8. When ............ you ........................................................... all the topics?

When I finish my lectures.

9. ............ we .................................................. the top of the mountain before the sun sets?
Don't worry. It's just two hours' walk.

10. ............ my hair ............................................ grey in a ten years' time?

Who knows?