FCE Reading and Use of English Test 24

Part 1
For questions 1-8, read the text below and decide which answer (А, В, C or D) best fits each gap. There is an
example at the beginning (0).
Example:

A quantity В piece C unit D part

Going on a diet
A calorie is a 0_____ for measuring the amount of energy food will produce. The average person needs about 1,800
calories per day to stay healthy. Without energy, the heart cannot 1_____ blood through blood vessels and the
organs cannot function.
You 2_____ weight because you consume more calories a day than your body requires. The only way to lose
weight is to 3_____ the number of calories you consume. This is the basic 4_____ behind most diets.
5_____, diets don't work for most people. It's not that they don't lose weight: they do, but when they go off the diet,
the kilos creep back. The 6_____ to losing weight and maintaining weight loss is a sensible diet and exercise plan.
You need to work out how to eat fewer calories than you 7_____ consume. You should also exercise daily so you
can use up calories. Burning 250 or 500 calories per day can 8_____ a big difference.

1 A pump B pull C drag D force

2 A make B increase C gain D put
3 A shrink B take C remove D reduce
4 A way B principle C method D kind
5 A Similarly B Though C Unfortunately D Although
6 A key B secret C way D idea
7 A preferably B actually C consistently D eventually
8 A have B do C make D give

Part 2
For questions 9-16, read the text below and think of the word which best fits each gap. Use only one word in each
gap. There is an example at the beginning (0). In the exam, write your answers IN CAPITAL LETTERS on tho
separate answer sheet.
Example: MANY

I'm not superstitious, honestly!

How 0 _____ people could truly say they are not superstitious? A recent survey shows that almost 90% of people
believe in one sort of superstition 9 _____ another and say that it influences their lives.

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FCE Reading and Use of English Test 24

One of the questions people 10 _____ asked is whether they saw themselves as lucky or unlucky. Their answers
turned out to be the most interesting aspect of this survey. Nearly two-thirds 11 _____ those taking part said they
believed that people were naturally lucky or unlucky.
Professor Morgan Howard, 12 _____ analysed the results of the survey, was fascinated by this finding, so he went
a step further and asked these people 13 _____ kind of superstitions they believed in. 14 _____ his surprise, he
discovered that almost all the people who regarded themselves 15 _____ lucky believed in positive superstitions.
They did things to promote their good luck, such as crossing their fingers. 16 _____ would appear that people
make their own luck by their attitude to life.

Part 3
For questions 17-24, read the text below. Use the word given in capitals at the end of some of the lines to form a
word that fits in the gap in the same line. There is an example at the beginning (0).
In the exam, write your answers IN CAPITAL LETTERS on the separate answer sheet.
Example: RECENTLY

Wild animals
Wild animals have 0 _____ made an appearance in the back gardens of American 0.RECENT
suburbs. They have caused havoc and have 17 _____ domestic pets. 17.THREAT
18.WILL
Mountain lions that wander into suburbs are now quite 18 _____ to attack humans, 19.APPARENT
which is worrying, while bears and wolves have 19 _____ discovered rubbish bins. If 20.CONTAIN
you find the 20 _____ of your bin scattered all over the garden one morning, there is a 21.POSSIBLE
distinct 21 _____ that a bear has been feasting there during the night. 22.EXPECT
23.HOUSE
Nobody should be particularly surprised by this development, which was predicted by 24.RESTRICT
experts years ago, and it's not 22 _____ under the circumstances. One cause is the
massive expansion of 23 _____ into areas that were wild and uninhabited not long ago.
In addition, over the past few decades a large number of 24 _____ have been placed on
hunting certain animals, allowing their populations to grow. It looks as if humans will
simply have to get used to their new neighbours.

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FCE Reading and Use of English Test 24

Part 4
For questions 25-30, complete the second sentence so that it has a similar meaning to the first sentence, using the
word given. Do not change the word given. You must use between two and five words, including the word given.
Here is an example (0).
Example:
0. I'll be very happy when I go on holiday.
FORWARD
I'm _______________ on holiday.
Example: 0. LOOKING FORWARD TO GOING
25. The phone was cheaper than I expected.
AS
The phone was _______________ I expected.
26. Why didn't you tell me I was wrong?
TOLD
You _______________ I was wrong.
27. She found the photographs when she was cleaning her room.
CAME
She _______________ when she was cleaning her room.
28. How many portraits did Picasso paint?
BY
How many portraits _______________ Picasso?
29. 'Please don't stay out late,' his mother said.
ASKED
His mother _______________ out late.
30. I'd rather not go out this afternoon.
FEEL
I _______________ out this afternoon.

Part 5
You are going to read an article about life in the countryside. For questions 31-36, choose the answer (А, В, C or
D) which you think fits best according to the text.

How I came to envy the country mice

I have been living in London for more than 60 years, but still, when I'm driving and take some clever back-street
short cut, I catch myself thinking: how extraordinary that it is me doing this! For a moment the town mouse I have
become is being seen by the country mouse I used to be. And although, given a new start, I would again become a
town mouse, when I visit relations in the country, I envy them.

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FCE Reading and Use of English Test 24

Recently, I stood beside a freshwater lake in Norfolk, made by diverting a small river, near where my brother lives.
As he was identifying some of the birds we could see, in came seven swans. They circled, then the haunting sound
of their wing beats gave way to silence as they glided down for splashdown.
It is not a 'picturesque' part of the coast, but it has a definite character of line and light and colour. 'You do live in a
lovely place,' I said to my brother, and he answered, 'Yes, I do.' There are probably few days when he does not
pause to recognise its loveliness as he works with his boats - he teaches sailing - or goes about his many other
occupations.
The lake's creator is a local landowner, continuing a tradition whereby the nature of our countryside has been
determined by those who own the land. Formerly, landowners would almost certainly have made such changes for
their own benefit, but this time it was done to help preserve the wildlife here, which is available for any visitor to
see, providing they do nothing to disturb the birds. It is evidence of change: country life is changing fast.
One of the biggest changes I have witnessed is that second-homers, together with commuters, have come to be
accepted as a vital part of the country scene. And the men and women who service their cars, dig their gardens, lay
their carpets and do all the other things they need are vital to modern country life. It is quite likely that the children
of today's workers may be moving into the same kind of jobs as the second-homers and the retired. Both the
children of a country woman I know are at university, and she herself, now that they have left home, is working
towards a university degree.
Much depends, of course, on the part of the countryside you are living in and on personality - your own and that of
your neighbours. In my brother's Norfolk village, social life seems dizzying to a Londoner. In addition to dropping
in on neighbours, people throw and attend parties far more often than we do. My brother's wife Mary and her
friends are always going into Norwich for a concert or to King's Lynn for an exhibition. The boring country life
that people from cities talk about is a thing of the past - or perhaps it was always mainly in their minds.
This is very unlike living in a London street for 50 years and only knowing the names of four other residents. In
these 50 years I have made only one real friend among them. I do enjoy my life, and Mary says that she sometimes
envies it (the grass on the other side of the fence ...); but whenever I go to Norfolk, I end up feeling that the lives of
country mice are more admirable than my own.
31. It is sometimes a source of surprise to the writer
A to find herself driving through back streets.
B that she has been in the city for so long.
C to realise how much she has got used to living in London.
D that she lives in the city when she prefers the country.
32. The atmosphere created by the writer when she describes the swans is
A moving.
B frightening.
C deafening.
D disturbing.

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FCE Reading and Use of English Test 24

33. What does underlined 'It' in last sentence of paragraph 4 refer to?
A the lake
B the fact that the lake belongs to a landowner here
C the reason for the landowner's action
D the fact that wildlife now needs to be preserved
34. What is suggested about outsiders who now live in the country?
A that country people no longer reject them
B that they often do work like servicing cars and digging gardens
C that the men and women who work for them are from the city
D that many of them have been in the countryside for a long time
35. Social life in the country
A depends completely on where you live.
B is not as boring as people in cities think it is.
C is not affected by your neighbours.
D is always less exciting than life in the city.
36. What do we learn about the writer's attitude to London in the final paragraph?
A She can't adjust to living in London.
B She has regretted moving to London.
C The people in her street are unusually unfriendly.
D Life there is very different to country life.

Part 6
You are going to read an article about the evolution of hands. Six sentences have been removed from the article.
Choose from the sentences A-G the one which fits each gap (37-42). There is one extra sentence which you do not
need to use.

Our amazing hands

The hand is where the mind meets the world. We use our hands to build fires, to steer airplanes, to write. The
human brain, with its open-ended creativity, may be the thing that makes our species unique. But without hands, all
the grand ideas we think up would come to nothing.
The reason we can use our hands for so many things is their extraordinary anatomy. 37 __. Some are connected to
bones within the hand, while others snake their way to the arm. The wrist is a floating group of bones and
ligaments threaded with blood vessels and nerves. The nerves send branches into each fingertip. The hand can
generate fine forces or huge ones. A watchmaker can use his hands to set springs in place under a microscope. A
sportsman can use the same anatomy to throw a ball at over 100 kilometres an hour.
Other species have hands too. 38 __. In other cases we have to look closer. A bat's wings may look like sheets of
skin. But underneath, a bat has the same five fingers as a human, as well as a wrist connected to the same cluster of
wrist bones connected to the same long bones of the arm.

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FCE Reading and Use of English Test 24

In exploring how hands have evolved, researchers over the past 150 years have dug up fossils on every continent.
They've compared the anatomy of hands in living animals. They've studied the genes that build hands. It appears
that our hands began to evolve at least 380 million years ago from fins - not the flat, ridged fins of a goldfish but
the muscular, stout fins of extinct relatives of today's lungfish. Inside these were a few chunky bones corresponding
to the bones in our arms. 39 __. The digits later emerged and became separate, allowing the animals to grip
underwater vegetation as they clambered through it.
40 __. Some species had seven fingers. Others had eight. But by the time vertebrates were walking around on dry
land 340 million years ago, the hand had been scaled back to only five fingers. It has retained that number of
fingers ever since - for reasons scientists don't yet know.
Nevertheless, there are still many different types of hands in living species, from dolphin flippers to eagle wings to
the hanging hooks of sloths. 41 __. They can also see that despite the outward differences, all hands start out in
much the same way. There is a network of many genes that builds a hand, and all hands are built by variations on
that same network. It takes only subtle changes in these genes to make fingers longer or to turn nails into claws.
The discovery of the molecular toolbox for hand building has given scientists a deeper understanding of evolution.
42 __. It may just be a little more of one protein here, a little less of another there. In the past, scientists could
recognise only the outward signs that hands had evolved from a common ancestor. Today scientists are uncovering
the inward signs as well.
A Over time, smaller ones developed that would eventually become wrists and fingers.
B Although a vulture's wing and a lion's paw may appear to have nothing in common, the difference between them
may come down to tiny variations.
C They also use them for a number of different purposes.
D No one would doubt that the five fingers at the end of an orangutan's arm are part of anything else.
E By studying these, scientists are beginning to understand the molecular changes that led to such dramatic
variations.
F The thumb alone is controlled by nine separate muscles.
G Early hands were more exotic than any hand today.

Part 7
You are going to read an article about the activities organised by four schools for Environmental Awareness Day.
For questions 43-52, choose from the school (A-D). The options may be chosen more than once.
Which school ...
43. became better known after Environmental Awareness Day? __
44. provided online information about the environment? __
45. asked a specialist to give a talk? __
46. raised money to help an organisation? __
47. organised a trip to study animals by the sea? __
48. is following changes in general weather conditions? __
49. carried out a project about endangered animals and plants? __
50. arranged a talk on pollution and local architecture? __

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FCE Reading and Use of English Test 24

51. decided to protect a local historical site? __

52. is located in the centre of the city? __

Environmental Awareness Day

A Plumpton High School
This school decided to arrange a variety of activities, some aimed at achieving a better understanding of
environmental problems, and others designed to be of practical help. For instance, the school magazine brought out
a special edition on the subject, full of articles and stories where pupils expressed their feelings about the threats
facing our environment. In another attempt to find out for themselves how serious these threats really are, the
pupils decided to study the problem of pollution by making a survey, run by the science department, into air
pollution in the local shopping centre. The school also held a sponsored walk and handed over nearly £1000 to the
World Wide Fund for Nature. Pupils prepared a campaign to ban cars from the city centre and reduce traffic
congestion. They gained a lot of publicity for the school by cycling through the city and handing out brochures
about the benefits of cycling and walking.
В Cresswell College
The staff and students at Cresswell College held a meeting and discussed a number of suggestions. The most
popular suggestion turned out to be the most practical one; it was decided that the local environment should be
brightened up. Teams were sent out to plant flowers and young trees on areas of land in the neighbourhood. Senior
students monitored the progress of species threatened with extinction and prepared a report on their findings. It was
hoped that this would help publicise the problem. A leading expert on wild birds was invited to come and give a
talk about the dangers faced by these creatures. He explained the importance of the food chain and asked people to
support local wildlife reserves.
C Grayner Institute
This school had already been involved in some projects connected with the environment, though naturally efforts
were increased for Environmental Awareness Day. For the last two years the school had been studying the effects
of variations in climatic patterns around the world and how these can affect wildlife. A film about those
magnificent marine mammals, whales, which was shown to the whole school as part of Environmental Awareness
Day, was received with great enthusiasm by pupils. Meredith Summers was invited to talk about how pollution can
destroy buildings in the region. Following that, pupils decided to launch a campaign for the restoration of the
medieval square in the city centre and asked local authorities to support them financially.
D Halliwell Academy
The pupils at this inner-city secondary school felt that the best way to mark Environmental Awareness Day would
be to help people in the area understand how important the environment is to them. One suggestion that was
greeted with enthusiasm was to measure the levels of noise in Stanley Road, a busy local shopping street. The
information was then placed on a website that the school had started. In order to give them a chance to see for
themselves the problems facing some local species, the school took pupils to the coastal marshes of Easton. Many
pupils reported afterwards that they had never realised how terrible the effects of pollution could be on coastal
wildlife.

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