PART 1 TEST 1 PAPER 1 (READING) CERTIFICATE IN ADVANCED ENGLISH 1

 

CERTIFICATE IN ADVANCED ENGLISH 1 TEST 1 PAPER 1 (READING)

PART 1 You are going to read three extracts which are all concerned in some way with providing a service. For questions 1–6 , choose the answer ( A , B, C or D ) which you think fits best according to the text. Mark your answers  on the separate answer sheet. Fish who work for a living Cleaner wrasses are small marine fish that feed on the parasites living on the bodies of larger fish. Each cleaner owns a ‘station’ on a reef where clientele come to get their mouths and teeth cleaned. Client fish come in two varieties: residents and roamers. Residents belong to species with small territories; they have no choice but to go to their local cleaner. Roamers, on the other hand, either hold large territories or travel widely, which means that they have several cleaning stations to choose from. The cleaner wrasses sometimes ‘cheat’. This occurs when the fish takes a bite out of its client, feeding on healthy mucus. This makes the client jolt and swim  away. Roamers are more likely to change stations if a cleaner has ignored them for too long or cheated them. Cleaners seem to know this: if a roamer and a resident arrive at the same time, the cleaner almost always services the roamer first. Residents can be kept waiting. The only category of fish that cleaners never cheat are predators, who possess a radical counterstrategy, which is to swallow the cleaner. With predators, cleaner fish wisely adopt an unconditionally cooperative strategy.   1 Which of the following statements about the cleaner wrasses is true? A They regard ‘roamer’ fish as important clients. B They take great care not to hurt any of their clients. C They are too frightened to feed from the mouths of certain clients. D They are in a strong position as they can move to find clients elsewhere. 2 The writer uses business terms in the text to A illustrate how fish negotiate rewards. B show how bigger fish can dominate smaller ones. C exemplify cooperation in the animal world. D describe the way fish take over a rival’s territory.   Extract from a novel The Giordano painting ‘I was up in town yesterday,’ I tell Tony easily, turning back from my long study of the sky outside the window as if I’d simply been wondering whether the matter was worth mentioning, ‘and someone I was talking to thinks he knows someone who might possibly be interested.’ Tony frowns. ‘Not a dealer?’ he queries suspiciously. ‘No, no – a collector. Said to be keen on seventeenth-century art. Especially the paintings of Giordano. Very keen.’ ‘Money all right?’ Tony asks. ‘Money, as I understand it, is far from being a problem.’ So, it’s all happening. The words are coming. And it’s not at all a bad start, it seems to me. I’m impressed with myself. I’ve given him a good spoonful of jam to sweeten the tiny pill that’s arriving next. ‘Something of a mystery man, though, I gather,’ I say solemnly. ‘Keeps a low profile. Won’t show his face in public.’ Tony looks at me thoughtfully. And sees right through me. All my boldness vanishes at once. I’ve been caught cheating my neighbours! I feel the panic rise. ‘You mean he wouldn’t want to come down here to look at it?’ ‘I don’t know,’ I flounder hopelessly. ‘Perhaps . . . possibly . . .’ ‘Take it up to town,’ he says decisively. ‘Get your chum to show it to him.’ I’m too occupied in breathing again to be able to reply. He misconstrues my silence. ‘Bit of a bore for you,’ he says.   3 When he brings up the subject of the Giordano painting, the narrator wants to give Tony the impression of being A cautious. B resigned. C mysterious. D casual. 4 What is the narrator referring to when he uses the expression ‘tiny pill’ in line 12? A his shortage of precise details about the collector B his lack of certainty about the value of the painting C his concerns about the collector’s interest in the painting D his doubts about the collector’s ability to pay for the painting   The invention of banking The invention of banking preceded that of coinage. Banking originated something like 4,000 years ago in Ancient Mesopotamia, in present-day Iraq, where the royal palaces and temples provided secure places for the safe- keeping of grain and other commodities. Receipts came to be used for transfers not only to the original depositors but also to third parties. Eventually private houses in Mesopotamia also got involved in these banking operations, and laws regulating them were included in the code of Hammurabi, the legal code developed not long afterwards. In Ancient Egypt too, the centralisation of harvests in state warehouses led to the development of a system of banking. Written orders for the withdrawal of separate lots of grain by owners whose crops had been deposited there for safety and convenience, or which had been compulsorily deposited to the credit of the king, soon became used as a more general method of payment of debts to other people, including tax gatherers, priests and traders. Even after the introduction of coinage, these Egyptian grain banks served to reduce the need for precious metals, which tended to be reserved for foreign purchases, particularly in connection with military activities.   5 In both Mesopotamia and Egypt the banking systems A were initially limited to transactions involving depositors. B were created to provide income for the king. C required a large staff to administer them. D grew out of the provision of storage facilities for food. 6 What does the writer suggest about banking? A It can take place without the existence of coins. B It is likely to begin when people are in debt. C It normally requires precious metals. D It was started to provide the state with an income.

ANSWER KEY