CAE Reading and Use of English 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).

Are You Happy Where You Work?

Finding a job you love is the first step to being happy at work, but 0 having the right workplace environment is equally important. Creativity, hard work and bright ideas come 9 _________ positive, happy working environments in 10 _________ people are allowed the freedom to think, develop and express themselves. It’s important for everyone to have 11 _________ own clearly-defined work space, even if the workplace adopts an ‘open plan’ style, as so many offices now 12 _________. Relaxation areas where people meet to chat and discuss ideas during office hours are regarded 13 _________ particularly beneficial.

Adding plants to the working environment can also 14 _________ offices to life, since they increase oxygen levels, purify the air and can create a calming and more productive environment. Finally, the lighting 15 _________ be right, because it can have a huge effect on people’s moods. If offices are too harshly lit, 16 _________ can result in anger and headaches and lead to a lack of concentration.

CAE Reading and Use of English Part 3

For questions 17-24, read the text below. Use the word given in capitals to form a word that fits in the gap in the same line. There is an example at the beginning (0).

Camels in the Arctic?

Camels are well-known for their 0 ability to survive the heat of the desert; however, scientists have unearthed the fossilised remains of a giant camel that 17 __________ the forests of the High Arctic more than three million years ago. The ancient beast was almost three metres in 18 __________ , about a third bigger than its modern 19 __________ , the Arabian camel. Remains of the animal were found on Ellesmere Island, the most northerly and 20 __________ island of the Canadian Arctic archipelago.

21 __________ from previous expeditions have shown that the camel’s ancestors 22__________ in North America 45 million years ago, but this is the first evidence of camels so far north. According to Mike Buckley, a researcher who studied the latest remains, this ancestor of modern camels may already have developed some of the 23__________ that helped it survive in harsh climates – the hump for fat 24__________ for instance, the large flat feet ideal for either snow or sand, and the big eyes that perhaps helped when long, dark winters made visibility poor.

0. ABLE
17. HABIT
18. HIGH
19. DESCEND
20. MOUNTAIN
21. FIND
22. ORIGIN
23. ADAPT
24. STORE

CAE Reading and Use of English 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 three and six words, including the word given. Here is an example:

0 James would only speak to the head of department alone.

ON
James insisted on speaking to the head of department alone.

25 Your books will be despatched on receipt of your order provided they are in stock.
SOON
We will despatch your books ___________________ the order provided they are in stock.

26 Because the gym increased its fees last month, I am no longer a member.
UP
If the gym ___________________ its fees last month, I would still be a member.

27 The driver said that we were delayed because an earlier train had broken down.
CAUSED
According to the driver, our ___________________ breakdown of an earlier train.

28 It was Sarah’s ideas that enabled us to put on a successful fashion show.
FOR
If ___________________ ideas, we wouldn’t have been able to put on a successful fashion show.

29 Leo was the only person in the street who didn’t come to my farewell party.
EXCEPTION
Everyone in the street ___________________ to my farewell party.

30 The concert should have started about three hours ago.
DUE
The concert ___________________ about three hours ago.

CAE Reading and Use of English Part 5

You are going to read an article about the future of newspapers. For questions 31-36 choose the answer (A, B, C or D) which you think fits best according to the text.

The Future of Newspapers

Anybody who says they can reliably forecast the future of newspapers is either a liar or a fool. Look at the raw figures, and newspapers seem doomed. Since 2000, the circulation of most UK national dailies has fallen by between a third and a half. The authoritative Pew Research Centre in the USA reports that newspapers are now the main source of news for only 26 percent of US citizens as against 45 percent in 2001. There is no shortage of prophets who confidently predict that the last printed newspaper will be safely buried within 15 years at most.

Yet one of the few reliable facts of history is that old media have a habit of surviving. An over-exuberant New York journalist announced in 1835 that books and theatre ‘have had their day’ and the daily newspaper would become ‘the greatest organ of social life’. Theatre duly withstood not only the newspaper, but also cinema and then television. Radio has flourished in the TV age; cinema, in turn, has held its own against videos and DVDs. Even vinyl records have made a comeback, with online sales up 745 percent since 2008.

Newspapers themselves were once new media, although it took several centuries before they became the dominant medium for news. This was not solely because producing up-to-date news for a large readership over a wide area became practicable and economic only in the mid-19th century, with the steam press, the railway and the telegraph. Equally important was the emergence of the idea that everything around us is in constant movement and we need to be updated on its condition at regular intervals – a concept quite alien in medieval times and probably also to most people in the early modern era. Now, we expect change. To our medieval ancestors, however, the only realities were the passing of the seasons, punctuated by catastrophes such as famine, flood or disease that they had no reliable means of anticipating. Life, as the writer Alain de Botton puts it, was ‘ineluctably cyclical’ and ‘the most important truths were recurring’.

Journalism as a full-time trade from which you could hope to make a living hardly existed before the 19th century. Even then, there was no obvious reason why most people needed news on a regular basis, whether daily or weekly. In some respects, regularity of newspaper publication and rigidity of format was, and remains, a burden. Online news readers can dip in and out according to how they perceive the urgency of events. Increasingly sophisticated search engines and algorithms allow us to personalise the news to our own priorities and interests. When important stories break, internet news providers can post minute-by-minute updates. Error, misconception and foolish speculation can be corrected or modified almost instantly. There are no space restrictions to prevent narrative or analysis, and documents or events cited in news stories can often be accessed in full. All this is a world away from the straitjacket of newspaper publication. Yet few if any providers seem alive to the new medium’s capacity for spreading understanding and enlightenment.

Instead, the anxiety is always to be first with the news, to maximise reader comments, to create heat, sound and fury and thus add to the sense of confusion. In the medieval world, what news there was was usually exchanged amid the babble of the marketplace or the tavern, where truth competed with rumour, mishearing and misunderstanding. In some respects, it is to that world that we seem to be returning. Newspapers have never been very good – or not as good as they ought to be – at telling us how the world works. Perhaps they now face extinction. Or perhaps, as the internet merely adds to what de Botton describes as our sense that we live in ‘an unimprovable and fundamentally chaotic universe’, they will discover that they and they alone can guide us to wisdom and understanding.

31 In the first paragraph, the writer is presenting
his interpretation of a current trend.
evidence that supports a widespread view.
his prediction on the future of print journalism.
reasons for the decline in newspaper readership.

32 What point is the writer making in the second paragraph?
Existing media are not necessarily replaced by new ones.
The best media technologies tend to be the most long-lasting.
Public enthusiasm for new types of media is often unpredictable.
It is inevitable that most media technologies will have a limited life.

33 Which phrase in the second paragraph has the same meaning as ‘held its own against generation’?
‘had their day’
‘withstood’
‘flourished’
‘made a comeback’

34 In the third paragraph, the writer stresses the significance of
a shift in people’s attitudes towards the outside world.
certain key 19th-century advances in mechanisation.
the challenges of news distribution in the pre-industrial era.
the competition between newspapers and more established media.

35 What does the writer suggest is the main advantage of online news sites?
the flexibility of the medium
the accuracy of the reporting
the ease of access for their users
the breadth of their potential readership

36 What does the writer suggest about newspapers in the final paragraph?
They still have an important role to play.
They can no longer compete with the internet.
They will have to change to keep up with the digital age.
They will retain a level of popularity among certain types of readers.

CAE Reading and Use of English Part 6

You are going to read extracts from four articles in which museum directors give their views on museums. For questions 37-40, choose from the reviews A-D. The reviews may be chosen more than once.

Museums

A
Statistics show that museums are going from strength to strength in terms of visitor numbers, which is an encouraging sign in our computer-obsessed society. Online access increasingly rules how we approach information today, and museums have to engage with this to stay relevant. That said, a picture on a screen cannot replace material engagement with an object. Unfortunately, many people still have rather outdated ideas of what museums are like, including believing that they are high-brow institutions aimed at some international elite, which is clearly no longer the case, particularly with the smaller ones. With effort, a museum can be the heart of a community, preserving the stories which are important to those who live nearby, and I know of many such museums all over the country which are thriving.

B
It is interesting that people who do not think twice about visiting a museum when on holiday very rarely set foot in one the rest of the time, but this is nothing to do with a failure to accommodate a wide range of people – museums definitely do that nowadays. I think it is more that, when we are entrenched in our daily routine, museums are not high on our list of priorities. Breaking out of that routine gives you the opportunity to do different things, among them things like visiting museums. Part of the appeal of museums, of course, is the chance to view objects from around the world and get a taste of another culture. Although there are rigorous export controls stopping objects of national significance being sold abroad, thanks to the internet museums can co-operate to arrange reciprocal loans for special exhibitions.

C
Museums are clearly keen to capitalise on the possibilities offered by the internet, and it is a valuable tool for extending access. Exhibitions can remain on view on our website indefinitely after a physical show has been dismantled, and people have the opportunity to examine fascinating artefacts and works of art from all corners of the globe in much greater detail than they can in the gallery. The only downside of the increasing expectation of online access that I can see, is that provincial museums lose out to the large nationals, as their more limited resources mean they cannot hope to compete. I am convinced that this is what is behind their falling visitor numbers. Having said that, on a national level, more people feel that museums are relevant to everyone, rather than just a select few, and this has clearly made a difference.

D
I would love to think that people come through the door of institutions such as mine because they want to open their minds to new things, but, while that may be true of a few, I know that the majority are visitors to the city who are including one or two museums in their itinerary in order to add variety. Having said that, I really hope that they leave with a wish to come back, or to try other museums. I also think there is still a long way to go in terms of winning over visitors from less privileged backgrounds. In this age of fast changing, user-friendly digital technology, many people feel intimidated by the rather dry, academic way in which many still display their exhibits. We are now working a great deal more with overseas museums, and, in addition to allowing us to constantly change the items we have on display, we have found that this encourages museums, and even governments, to engage in dialogue.

Which museum director …

37 has a different opinion from C on the value of using digital media to present exhibits?
38 shares B’s view on the further benefit of museums exhibiting objects from other countries?
39 has a different opinion from A about the success of local museums?
40 has a different opinion from the others about how well museums cater for all levels of society?

CAE Reading and Use of English Part 7

You are going to read a magazine article about ways of reusing escaped heat. Six paragraphs have been removed from the article. Choose from the paragraphs A – G the one which fits each gap (41-46). There is one extra paragraph which you do not need to use.

City of Heat

Escaped heat costs us money and affects our climate. Chelsea Wald reports on a grand plan to capture it and put it to good use.

Deep in the tunnels of London’s underground railway, as in many around the world, it’s so hot it can feel very uncomfortable. And yet in the basement of a building only a few metres away from the station a boiler is firing to heat water for someone’s shower.

41 ____________

Recapturing it wouldn’t just benefit our wallets. It would reverse some of the damaging effects on the climate. The good news is that several cities have found a way to hunt down their surplus heat in some unexpected places. These cities are building systems that deliver heat in much the same way that suppliers handle electricity and water. Could they point the way to the next energy revolution?

42 ____________

It was also estimated that given the right technologies, we could reclaim nearly half of that energy, although that’s easier said than done. ‘We often talk about the quantity of waste heat’, says David MacKay, chief scientific adviser to the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change, ‘but not the quality’. Most of what we think of as ‘waste heat’ isn’t actually all that hot; about sixty percent is below 230°C. While that may sound pretty hot, it is too cold to turn a turbine to generate electricity.

43 ____________

There, buildings tap into the system to warm their water supplies or air for central heating. Many countries are encouraging such cogeneration, as it is called. A US initiative, for example, might save the country $10 billion per year. And cogeneration allows power plants to bump up their efficiencies from thirty percent to almost ninety percent.

44 ____________

As it happens, there is an existing technology that can siphon energy from such temperatures, although applying it on a large scale to capture waste heat is as yet unachievable. Ground source heat pumps have been helping homeowners save on heating bills since the 1940s, when US inventor Robert Webber realised he could invert the refrigeration process to extract heat from the ground.

45 ____________

The mechanism for this is simple. A network of pipes makes a circuit between the inside of the
dwelling and a coil buried underground. These pipes contain a mix of water and fluid refrigerant. As the fluid mixture travels through the pipes buried underground, it absorbs the heat from the 10°C soil.

46 ____________

This system is powerful enough to efficiently provide heat even in places as cold as Norway and Alaska. It is also cheap. Scientists around the world are now working on the idea that the way ahead is to develop city-wide grids using source-heat pumps to recycle waste on a grander scale, from sources such as subways and sewers.

A But that’s not all it can do. Reverse the process and it can cool a home in summer. If the ground is cold enough, it simply absorbs the heat from inside the building instead of from the ground.

B It’s an attractive proposition. A report in 2008 found that the energy lost as heat each year by US industry equalled the annual energy use of five million citizens. Power generation is a major culprit; the heat lost from that sector alone dwarfs the total energy use of Japan. The situation in other industrialised countries is similar.

C Yet even this is just a drop in the ocean compared with the heat lost from our homes, offices, road vehicles and trains. However, waste heat from these myriad sources is much harder to harness than the waste heat from single, concentrated sources like power plants. What’s more, it’s barely warm enough to merit its name. Reclaiming that would be an altogether more difficult proposition.

D A more successful way of using the heat is to move the heat directly to where it is needed. A number of power plants now do exactly that. They capture some or all of their waste heat and send it – as steam or hot water – through a network of pipes to nearby cities.

E The system takes advantage of the fact that in temperate regions – regardless of surface temperature – a few metres underground, the soil always remains lukewarm and stable. These pumps can tap into that consistent temperature to heat a house in the winter.

F While this is not what you might consider hot, it nonetheless causes the liquid to evaporate into a gas. When this gas circulates back into the building, it is fed through a compressor, which vastly intensifies the heat. That heat can then be used by a heat exchanger to warm up hot water or air ducts.

G Rather than stewing in that excess heat, what if we could make it work for us? Throughout our energy system – from electricity generation in power plants to powering a car – more than fifty percent of the energy we use leaks into the surroundings.