FCE Reading and Use of English Practice Test 9 Printable - EngExam.info

FCE Reading and Use of English Practice Test 9 Printable

Answer Keys

Part 1

    1. D – conscious. To be conscious of something is to be aware of it, to realise and understand what you do.
    2. B – typically. Normally, usually or habitually.
    3. A – consists. The only verb here that forms a strong collocation with the ‘of’ preposition.
    4. D – entire. Whole, all day.
    5. C – associated. Associated with here means ‘connected with, related to’; ‘accompanied with’ shouldn’t be used because the meaning would change to ‘joined by’.
    6. A – update. This is the only noun that takes the preposition ‘on’.
    7. B – distract. To distract is to take somebody’s attention from something.
    8. C – obtain. You can obtain information, buy you can’t capture, import or seize it.

      Part 2

    9. on. ‘on Earth’ – on the surface of our planet.
    10. as. ‘As a result’ is used in the meaning ‘because, due to’.
    11. them/these/those. Any of the determiners can be used with virtually no change to the meaning of the sentence.
    12. to. ‘lead to something/to doing something’ – to cause something, to make something happen.
    13. spite. ‘In spite’ is spelled in two words and followed by the ‘of’ preposition. Not to be confused with ‘despite’ which is one word and takes no prepositions: ‘In spite of his success he was never truly happy’; ‘Despite the poor weather, we still enjoyed the weekend’
    14. in. ‘In particular’ here has the meaning ‘especially, specifically’.
    15. all. ‘From all over the world’ – from everywhere, from all parts of the planet.
    16. account. ‘On account of something’ – due to, because of something.

      Part 3

    17. products. Plural form of the noun is required here, as suggested by the context.
    18. increasingly. To do something in a certain manner – an adverb is required here, formed by adding ‘-ly’ ending to the word.
    19. consumers. ‘Children’ is plural here and, so should be ‘consumers’ – people who consume a product.
    20. loyalty. ‘Loyalty to something’ (in this case, certain commercial product) means choosing that particular brand in favour of all others because you’ve used it and liked it in the past.
    21. manufacturers. Another plural form of the word suggested by the determiner ‘many’.
    22. profitable. A common adverb+adjective combination, the adjective formed by adding the ‘-able’ suffix.
    23. disagreement. The context of the last paragraph suggests using the word in the negative, so we form a noun by adding a negative prefix ‘dis-‘ and an ending ‘-ment’.
    24. unhealthy. Another negative word, this time an adjective, formed by adding a negative prefix ‘un-‘.

      Part 4

    25. any trees were left/still standing. Inversion is used here, making the sentence a bit more difficult to get right. ‘Hardly any’ is the paraphrase of ‘very few’.
    26. how high that building. Even though we’re using reported speech, ‘that’ isn’t changed as there is nothing to change it to.
    27. much difference between. A comparison between two things is made, using the construction ‘there is (not) much difference between’.
    28. say (that) he was sorry. ‘That’ is optional here and can be left out.
    29. find (so) attractive about. ‘Attractive’ should be used with ‘about’ and not ‘in’, a common mistake.
    30. to succeed in winning. ‘To succeed in doing something’.

      Part 5

    31. C. The first few sentences of the text give us the idea of how uncomfortable she was with her current choice of clothing. Answer A is not mentioned in the text. Answer B is wrong, as the opposite is meant – she didn’t sleep much at home or on the plane. The opposite of Answer D is said – she expected to have a ‘lie-in’ the following day – to stay in her bed longer than usual.
    32. D. ‘To sum things up; the important thing is’
    33. C. Paragraph Three, bottom half: ‘But Gerome insisted she go in Bernie’s place’. Gerome, her boss, wanted Alex to go instead of Bernie, who had had a stroke.
    34. A. She was ‘jobless and penniless’, so she decided to go to London. Answers B and C are not mentioned. The opposite of answer D is stated -journalist ‘wasn’t her first choice’.
    35. D. Paragraph Five, in the middle: ‘Seeing him lying there unconscious, so still and frail, was a shock to Alex’. Answers A and B are not mentioned in the text. Answer C is false – Bernie couldn’t have said anything.
    36. B. Last paragraph, in the middle: ‘… Alex loved the pastel feel of the city…’ The opposite of Answer A can be found in the text – she found the city more exciting than her ex-boyfriend. Answer C is not mentioned. Answer D is wrong as the hotel Bernie had booked was ‘predictably modest’ – not luxurious at all.

      Part 6

    37. F. The previous sentence mentions Niklas’s attitude to ice, and then further explanation is given in Sentence F on how the Swedes perceive danger, how they take take risks and their approach to it.
    38. B. The author is referring to his first careful attempt at skating on natural ice – cautious at first, but then filled with joy as he tries it with the rest of the group.
    39. G. Ice skating surfaces vary in quality, and both Sentence G and the next one talk about it.
    40. A. The reason for their ‘unscheduled’ (not planned) trip was to find the perfect ice, suitable for skating.
    41. E. The speed and ease of skating mentioned previously allow to travel incredible distances over time – like the one mentioned in Sentence E.
    42. D. The ‘sharp noise’ mentioned in the previous sentence refers to the ice cracking slowly – the event mentioned in Sentence D.

      Part 7

    43. C. The author mentions missing the football pitch (football field). ‘It’s a pity’ he says.
    44. E. Unemployment would’ve been higher if it wasn’t for the tourism and the jobs it creates.
    45. D. First two sentences talk about ‘really ugly houses’ that should not have been built and how the local residents should have protested.
    46. C. Fishing used to be the main source of income and a strong industry, now replaced by luxurious yachts of the rich.
    47. A. The effect on the environment is mentioned, how there used to be vast areas of woods, now turned into concrete – roads and pavements.
    48. B. Last sentence talks about how it can be beneficial to learn from other cultures, using food and ways of living as the examples.
    49. C. Last sentence of C mentions tourists doing things they would never have thought about doing in their hometowns and how law enforcement has to get involved.
    50. A. First sentence talks about the money attracted by the tourist industry and the improvement of the local infrastructure it brought about.
    51. E. The profits go to the companies that are based in other countries – the tour operators and the big hotel chains.
    52. D. According to the author, the measures taken to make the tourism more eco-friendly are not enough and only make people feel better about themselves.

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

Essential (adj) – extremely important, integral. Exercising is an essential part of daily routine. At least it should be.
Apparently (adv) – judging by the facts or something you have heard of, but you are not sure of it yourself. Apparently Canada is the second biggest country but I’ve never bothered to look this up!
Application (n) – (here) a mobile program or software such as Instagram or Chrome. There are many applications on my phone that I never use and I don’t even know how I got them to begin with.

Part 2

Remote (adj) – located far away from something, usually far from populated areas. We lived in a remote village away from the loud urban centres.
Diverse (adj) – offering variety. The shop has diverse wares you can buy – from phones and laptops to books and magazines.
Nature reserves – areas of wild land where all species are protected by the government. No development is allowed in such areas.

Part 3

Advertising (n) – promoting a product or a service to make it better known and thus make it more likely for others to buy. Advertising was probably the quickest growing industry of the twentieth century.
Argue (v) – to have an opinion and to try and defend it by providing arguments. Some doctors argue that too much exercising can prevent youngsters from developing naturally.
Encourage (v) – to promote, to welcome some activity. Students are encouraged to attend additional classes, but they are not required to by law.

Part 5

Fawn (adj) – a grey-brown colour.
Lie-in (n) – to have a lie-in is to keep lying in bed awake for a while. Having slept for only three hours I treated myself to having a 15 minute lie-in even though I couldn’t risk falling back asleep.
Tense (adj)  – stressful and nervous. The meeting was going to be rather tense – after all nobody expected chief editor to resign like that – out of the blue with no prior warnings.
Off-course (adj) – not as planned, chaotic.
Rigid (adj) – stiff because of being shocked or afraid, uneasy.
Boil down to something (phr) – this is how it is, this is what the problem or the situation is. The crisis at school boils down to the fact that one of the teachers had romantic relationships with one of their students, and the dean believes this has ruined everbody’s reputation.
Go over something (phr v) – to review something, to give something another look or read to make sure there are no mistakes or inaccuracies.
Stroke (n) – a medical condition when the brain doesn’t get enough blood flow. Has serious, usually permanent negative health consequences.
Torture (n) – (used figuratively here) something extremely unpleasant, causing discomfort. Having to do homework every day was a real torture to him.
Sustain (v) – to maintain, to support something. Family budget had to be sustained by my salary and the odd weekend jobs I would take.
Enthralled (adj) – extremely interested, fascinated to a point when you ignore everything else.
Withered (adj) – dry, old, lacking life in it. Withered vegetation of a house that hadn’t been looked after for some time.
Peter out (phr v) – to end gradually rather than at once.

Part 6

Reassuring (adj) – providing or encouraging confidence. Doctor’s words sounded quite reassuring when he said that 80% of patients recover within the first month of treatment.
Clue (n) – a hint, a detail that provides information indirectly.
Overlying (adj) – lying in multiple layers on top of one another.
Thaw (n) – a period of unusually warm weather during winter that leads to snow and ice melting to water.
Seek out (phr v)  – to search for something, especially something not easy to find.
Clarity (n) – the quality of being clear, easy to see through.
Tentative (adj) – careful, without certainty, one of the first ones. Mary’s tentative attempts at public speaking weren’t particularly successful but eventually she got a hang of it.
Unscheduled (adj) – unplanned, spontaneous.

Part 7

Oppose (v) – to be against something or to protest it. Local activists oppose the council’s idea to turn a local park into a new shopping centre.
Blame (v) – to say that somebody is responsible for a mistake, a crime or any other wrongdoing. Natalie blamed her parents for her career failures – she believed it all had to do with her useless degree.
Football pitch (n) – special place used to play football, also known as football field.
Harbour (n) – a place next to a river or the sea where ships are services, loaded and unloaded. The local harbour was a pretty nice place to hang out with your friends back in the day.
Take off (phr v)  – (here) to become popular, successful or to get in demand. It took years of hard work to finally see our family business take off.
Cater for (phr v)  – to care for, provide service for, or to give special attention to an individual or a group of people.
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