Answer Keys

Part 1

D – priority. This is the only word that collocates with ‘higher’ here and fits in context.
D – low-cost. The paragraph mentions the benefits of cycling. ‘Shortcut’ is not an adjective here and ‘high-speed’ shouldn’t be mentioned, as the sentence that comes next mentions safety.
B – proportion. The overall share of people using bicycles in comparison with cars.
A – recreational. The word relates to doing something pleasant in your free time. Other words do not fix this context.
D – Local. People living in the area that is going to implement the new cycling strategy.
B – ensure. To make sure, to make certain.
A – contact. ‘To be in contact’ is to maintain communication between two sides. ‘To be in touch’ shouldn’t be used here as it refers to a more personal side of communication, while here they are talking about official correspondence.
A – copy. A copy of the same document. It’s neither a book nor a letter, but a set of rules they intend to implement.
Part 2
for/during. Both prepositions are acceptable here – both point at a period of time.
few. ‘So there are no crowds’ indicates that we should use a word with the meaning of low numbers. ‘Little’ is only used with uncountable and therefore shouldn’t be put here next to ‘people’, which is countable.
from. ‘A change from something’
its/the. Both the determiner ‘its’ and the definite article ‘the’ have the same meaning in this context – to indicate that the people and the buildings we talk about belong to that place.
during/on. Again, both words are acceptable as they have the same meaning of attributing some action to a period in time.
who/that. Remember that we usually use ‘who’ to refer to people, even though ‘that’ is acceptable.
him. The pronoun here is used to refer to Jack.
together. ‘Be somewhere together’.
Part 3
managerial/management. The adjective ‘managerial’ is rather tricky to spell, pay attention to it. Both options can be used here.
bearable. ‘Was only just bearable’ means ‘almost unbearable, almost intolerable’.
temptation. A temptation is something you want to do very much, usually something you know you shouldn’t do.
absolutely. An adverb is required here.
conference. The only difficulty here is to understand the link between the relatively unknown word ‘to confer’ (to exchange ideas) and the well-known ‘conference’.
arrival. A noun should be used here. Make sure to spell it with two ‘r’.
receptionist. A person’s occupation should be used here.
intentions. An intention is something you plan to do or make.
Part 4
isn’t used to getting. ‘Not used to doing something’ means not in the habit of doing it.
wish you had come. Note that we have to use Past Perfect tense here with the ‘I wish’ construction.
didn’t succeed in entering. ‘Succeed in doing something’ is used here in the negative as in the original sentence the burglars failed to get into the house.
must have/get my hair cut. Do not use the word ‘haircut’ as it would mean changing the original phrasing and possibly getting only one point out of two.
wondered why he hadn’t. Reported speech is used here, which means changing Past Simple to Past Perfect according to the ‘one step back’ rule of tenses in reported speech.
is believed to be. A passive construction is used here, as suggested by the keyword ‘believed’.
Part 5
A. Paragraph One: “He pushed his bowl aside, took up his hunk of bread in one delicate hand and his cheese in the other, and leaned across the table…” – these words suggest that they are eating, which normally wouldn’t take place at school or in an office. Neither cafeteria nor party are mentioned, however judging by the variety of food (a hunk of bread and cheese) this doesn’t look like a party.
C. Paragraph Three: “… then continued speaking, with a sort of pedant’s passion. His thin dark face had become animated, his eyes had lost their mocking expression and grown almost dreamy.” It clearly points at Syme’s enthusiasm for his work. A is not mentioned – he eats quickly because he is hungry; B is not mentioned. D is wrong – he has to shout to “overcome the noise”, not because he likes to.
B. Paragraph Four: “Of course the great wastage is in the verbs and adjectives…”.
D. Paragraph Five: “A sort of vapid eagerness flitted across Winston’s face at the mention of Big Brother.” ‘Vapid eagerness’ here suggests that people should be happy and enthusiastic, or at least pretend to be, at the mention of Big Brother’s name. Same could be said about his attitude to Newspeak, which is confirmed in the next sentence by Syme: “You haven’t a real appreciation of Newspeak, Winston…”.
B. Last paragraph, first sentence: “Don’t you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought?”. The language is oversimplified, hence it is easier to learn, so Answer D doesn’t fit. Answer A doesn’t give the full picture. Answer C is wrong, it is used for a different purpose.
C. Last sentence of the last paragraph: “Has it ever occurred to you, Winston, that by the year 2050, at the very latest, not a single human being will be alive who could understand such a conversation as we are having now?”. The current language will get simplified to a point where thinking is going to be impossible.
Part 6
F. The last sentence of Paragraph One helps us choose the right answer – Auckland is mentioned, which has a great and clear view of Rangitoto, and in Sentence F they go back to the topic, asking a rhetorical question of Aucklanders’ familiarity with it.
A. It is mentioned that it was different, in fact it did not exist up until a certain period in time.
E. A scene is set – the author is describing the way the emerging volcanoes might have looked in the past, during the Maori period. The word ‘homes’ helps us to contrast the sentence with Sentence E, that starts with ‘Outside…’.
D. Boats are mentioned in the previous sentence. Sentence D starts with “Paddling hard…”. To paddle is to use a piece of wood that is wide at one end that is used to move and steer a small boat.
G. The sentence that follows the gap mentions footprints of people, indicating that some people did come back after the eruption had started.
C. “The impressions” are the footsteps that were left in the surface of volcanic ash.
Part 7
A. Perhaps the answer is to make the best of the present and stop hankering after the past.
E. I would never have ended the relationship with the love of my life.
A. I’d persuade my dad to stop smoking, so that he wouldn’t die so young.
D. If you want to travel somewhere that is still unique today, without the time machine, see Asia but steer clear of package tours. And hurry; do it now before it all becomes McDonaldised.
A. On the other hand, in the present, I have two wonderful grown-up children and two precious grandchildren.
B. I have studied a lot of history and whilst I would be interested in certain eras there would be difficulties.
B. … exciting, but too many petticoats to wear, never mind about corsets.
D. Imagine coming home after a long voyage, and telling the people in the pub all about your travels!
E. I’d register 250 of the best internet domains possible, so by now I’d be a billionaire without having done a thing.
C. And if you went back in time with all that futuristic equipment on and, for example, the alarm clock on your watch went off, you would be denounced as a devil; tortured, quartered and drawn, and then burnt at the stake!

Vocabulary

The vocabulary below is meant to help you with the more difficult words. If the word isn’t on the list then you are either supposed to know it or it is too specific to be worth learning and you don’t have to know it to answer the question. Symbols in brackets mean part of speech(see bottom of the list). Sentences in italics give examples of usage for some more complex words and phrases.
And remember — you are not given a vocabulary list(or a dictionary) at your real exam.

Part 1

Intend (v) — to plan to do something. I intended to call her first thing in the morning, but I forgot to.
Utility (n) – having use or application, useful. Pay attention that the noun ‘utility’ is used to modify another noun, like an adjective normally would.
In conjunction with – in cooperation, collaboration, together with.
Seafront (n) – the part of a town or a city that is right next to a river or other large body of water with a road or walking paths along it.
Implement (v) – to bring something to life, usually a plan or a strategy. The new changes will be implemented in a gradual way so that people could get used to them easier.
Leaflet (n) – a sheet of paper that briefly summarises some proposition, idea or as a form of advertising and distributed free of charge.

Part 2

Make notes – to write down something useful or interesting for further use or reference.
Afford (v) – to have enough money for something that you could comfortably spend it on. I’m afraid we cannot afford to go to France this Summer – while we do have the money, we could find better use for it.

Part 3

Temper (n) – way of behaviour. Bad temper means anger or impatience.
Chaotic (adj) – not in order, messy, disorganised. The event was quite chaotic and I was just hoping it would be over soon.
Hindrance (n) – something that slows you down or stands in the way of you achieving something.

Part 4

What a pity – an expression that expresses regret, means you are sorry that something happened.
Burglar (n) – a criminal that breaks into your house in order to steal something.
Reception (n) – (here) a ceremony hosted to celebrate some event, a wedding in this case.

Part 5

Get on (phr v) – to progress, to continue doing something. The repairs of his cars are getting on slowly but steadily.
Brighten up (phr v) – to get excited, to get in a better mood. Having heard the news about our trip to Brighton she really brightened up.
Scores (n) – (here) great numbers, lots. Scores of children were running around the schoolyard, occasionally bumping into one another.
Notion (n) – a concept or an idea of something.
Vapid (adj) – not interesting or exciting, boring. Used to express criticism. In this context, the protagonist is supposed to feel excited at the mention of BB’s name, but he is not. He tried to simulate enthusiasm without much success.
Flit (v) – to happen and then disappear quickly.
Vagueness (adj – the state of being vague – unclear, too general, without addressing the point.
Subsidiary (adj) – secondary, in command or under control of something else.

Part 6

Menacing (adj) – dangerous and frightening.
Shred (v) – to cut and tear into pieces with great force.
Amid (prep) – in the middle of or among. I knew nobody amid all these people, I really felt like a stranger at this party.
Treacherous (adj) – unreliable, not worthy of your trust.
Rubble (n) – pieces and fragments of stones or dirt.
Tortuous (adj) – with many turns and twists. The path that led to the temple was long and tortuous.
Scrubby (adj) – dry and rough.
Yelping (n) – another word for barking – the sound that dogs make.
Pungent (adj) – smell that is so strong it makes it unpleasant. I was not used to the pungent local market, the smell almost made my eyes watery.
Shoals (n) – a collective general noun for groups of fish.
Puddle (n) – a small body of water usually formed on the ground after rain.
Foolhardy (adj) – without fear or understanding of how dangerous something can be, used negatively.
Lure (v) – to make somebody do something by tricking them i.e. not telling the truth. The mouse was lured into a trap by a piece of cheese placed on the doorstep.

Part 7

Contemporary (adj) – relating to the current time period. Contemporary literature is said to be less inspired than the works of the classics.
Put off (phr. v) – to be displeased or not attracted by something.
Hanker after smth – to desire something strongly. He spent his fifties hankering after women half his age, what a disgrace!
Denounce smb as smth (v) – to announce publicly that somebody is evil or wrong.
Incentive (n) – a reason or stimulus to do something. Teachers who choose to work at rural schools are usually given financial incentives.
Steer clear of – stay away from, do not get close to something. Can be used both figuratively and literally.

n — noun; v — verb; phr v — phrasal verb; adj — adjective; adv — adverb

Click to download this FCE Reading and Use of English worksheet in PDF