CAE Reading and Use of English Part 8
You are going to read an article about the design of new stations on the London Underground railway system. For questions 47-56, choose from the sections of the article (A-D). The sections may be chosen more than once.
In which section of the article are the following mentioned?
47 the previously unattractive nature of the locations of most of the stations
48 a comparison Paoletti made to illustrate his approach to the JLE project
49 the immediate and massive effect that one of the stations had on its surroundings
50 a description that Paoletti considered not to be wholly accurate
51 a fundamental question concerning the function of station in underground systems
52 an explanation Paoletti gave for why certain comments about the new buildings were incorrect
53 Paoletti’s desire to unite elements that had previously been seen as wholly different from each other
54 personal qualities that enabled Paoletti to tackle the JLE project successfully
55 parts of a station architects were not responsible for in the past
56 Paoletti’s opinion of those previously responsible for designing stations
Roland Paoletti
An architect who revolutionized the lives of London’s commuters
A
Roland Paoletti was the driving force behind the dramatic, award-winning stations on the ?3 billion Jubilee Line Extension (JLE) to the London Underground system, the most ambitious building programme on the Tube for many decades. An irascible Anglo-Italian, Paoletti possessed the persuasiveness and tenacity to take on the vested political interests at play in the planning of the 10-mile Jubilee Line Extension to ensure good design and innovation. Historically, architects employed on Tube projects had been restricted to ‘fitting out’ the designs of railway and civil engineers with few or no aesthetic concerns, and whom Paoletti dismissed as visionless ‘trench-diggers’. The Jubilee line would be unique in that for the first time the architects would be responsible for designing entire underground stations.
В
As the commissioning architect in overall charge, Paoletti’s approach was to let light flood down into the stations along the line. The project’s centrepiece was the extraordinary huge new station at Canary Wharf, designed by Norman Foster and Partners to handle up to 40,000 passengers an hour at peak times. ‘Everybody keeps saying that it’s like a cathedral,’ complained Paoletti. ‘They’re wrong. It actually is a cathedral.’ Explaining his approach to designing underground stations, Paoletti likened the Jubilee line to architectural free-form jazz, the stations responding to their different contexts as dramatic variations on a theme. Instead of uniformity, Paoletti envisaged variety achieved in the beauty of raw materials like concrete, and the architectural power of simple, large spaces for robust and practical stations.
C
He procured the most talented individual architects he could find to design 11 new stations along the line, creating a unique variety of architectural statement pieces – notably different but all beautiful – in what had been a largely desolate stretch off urban east London. ‘For the price of an underground ticket,’ he promised, ‘you will see some of the greatest contributions to engineering and architecture worldwide.’ Paoletti’s sweeping vision did not disappoint. With their swagger and individualism, the stations have been widely acclaimed as a tour de force in public transport architecture.
D
In pressing for a seamless marriage between architecture and engineering, Paoletti was concerned to make the stations pleasing to the eye, and the daily grind of commuters using them as uplifting an experience as possible. The result was generally reckoned to be the finest set of stations since the classic designs for the Piccadilly line by Charles Holden In the 1930s. In Holden’s day, design stopped at the top of the escalators leading down to the platforms, a symptom of the Tube’s tradition of treating architecture and engineering as separate disciplines. From the start Paoletti promised ‘a symbiosis of architecture and engineering’ throughout. This is particularly evident at Westminster station, where Michael Hopkins solved structural difficulties by designing fantastic supporting structures redolent of science-fiction – what Paoletti called ‘engineering that expresses itself as architecture … in which people can delight’.
E
He wanted the designs of the JLE stations to have a uniformity of voice, or, as he put it, ‘a philosophical uniformity’. Paoletti contrasted the drama of MacCormac Jamieson Prichard’s design for Southwark station with the vast glass drum of Ron Herron’s Canada Water station, intended as a response to the area’s bleakness, ‘a big, splendid beacon that has transformed the area from a wasteland almost overnight’. To critics who complained about the expense of these grand designs, Paoletti pointed out that the same cut-and-cover, box-station design that allowed his architects a free hand with their various structures also saved London Underground millions in tunnelling costs. ‘In any case,’ he noted, ‘you have to decide at the beginning whether you’re going to see an underground station as a kind of vehicular underpass that happens to have people in it, or whether it’s a building; a building with some other kind of job to do, like making people comfortable.
Answer Keys
PART 1
1 C — even. ‘Even’ here is an intensifier, showing that singing Neanderthals are unusual or even paradoxical.
2 B — resulted. ‘Resulted from’ is the best collocation here.
3 D — occupied. Resided and dwelt would need ‘in’ preposition. Filled implies that they were very numerous, which isn’t stated in the text. Occupied is more neutral.
4 B — assumed. ‘To assume’ means to take for granted and without any actual proof. As the context suggest, previous beliefs about Neanderthal’s voices had no scientific ground.
5 D — form. Another set expression. The other possible option is approach to communication, albeit with a different preposition so it can’t be used here.
6 A — coincides. ‘To coincide with’ means ‘to take place at the same time, simultaneously’. Co-operate is the only other verb that can be followed by ‘with’, but the text speaks of no cooperation.
7 A — differed. Again, the only verb that collocates with ‘from’ preposition here. ‘Markedly’ here means ‘noticeable, distinguishable, easy to see’.
8 C — build. Build refers to physical strength here. It is the word that is commonly used when referring to physical features of an object.
PART 2
9 to. Designed to do something.
10 in/into. ‘To pop in/into’ means to visit the place briefly, for a short time.
11 so. ‘So that’ = fora particular reason.
12 well. ‘As well as’ = in addition to. ‘We went shopping to buy some groceries as well as today’s newspaper’.
13 get. ‘To get someone hooked on something’ = to involve someone in something, to allure someone to do something, usually addictive (like reading, sports, substances).
14 for. We normally use ‘for’ preposition with ordinal numbers (first, second, third and so on).
15 a. Indefinite article is used here because we are not talking about any particular selection of books and it is mentioned for the first time in this text. See articles page for more information.
16 with. We cannot use ‘and’ here because there is no ‘is’ before ‘being’ in the last sentence. Therefore ‘with’ is the only option that fits.
PART 3
17 originally. Originally means ‘in the first place’. The context demands an adverb to be used here.
18 sight.‘ At first sight’ means ‘from the start, at first’.
19 untrained. It is suggested by contest that we should use negative prefix ‘un-‘. The second part of the sentence makes it clear.
20 workout. A workout is any exercise aimed at developing your body. Don’t forget that you can’t leave the word unchanged, even though ‘work’ would fit grammatically.
21 necessarily. An adverb is needed here. Pay attention to spelling, it is easy to make a mistake and not get a point for this answer.
22 maximise. A verb is needed. AmE spelling is ‘maximize’, it won’t be regarded as a mistake if you spell it that way, but BrE spelling is preferable.
23 strengthening. Preposition ‘for’ before the word says that we need to use gerund form. Another difficult word to spell, pay attention here.
24 entirety. Entirety means ‘whole, all of’.
PART 4
25 come up with a solution. ‘To come up with’ means to produce or find something, in this case a solution (way of solving something).
26 be wondering why it has been. Present Perfect is used here because we have preposition ‘since’.
27 me of not telling the truth. Note that you have to use negative particle because the word ‘truth’ has to be used.
28 without giving enough thought. ‘To give a thought to something’ means to think something over, to consider it for some time.
29 there has been a decrease in. Note that decrease here should be used as a noun rather than as verb.
30 however bad his behaviour OR however badly(-)behaved he. ‘However bad/badly’ means ‘no matter how bad/badly’.
PART 5
31 A. Answer B is incorrect —the process is well-understood and is described in detail in the second paragraph. It is the cause of the process that isn’t clear. Answer C is not mentioned. Answer D is wrong because how long the debate was isn’t stated in the first two paragraphs. ‘For decades’ in sentence four refers to the information given in textbooks, not debates.
32 B. By‘the opposite purposes’ the authors compare Hamilton’s earlier study about birds who use their bright feathers to attract females. Trees on the other hand use colourful leaves to discourage insects from choosing it. Answers A and C are not mentioned. There is nothing about increased survival rate of trees mentioned in answer D.
33 A. Most part of paragraph 3 is about how bright leaves allow trees to protect themselves from harmful insects. Colourful leaves act a warning sign to insects. Answer B isn’t mentioned — there is nothing said about reduction in numbers of certain insects. Proximity of insects mentioned in Answer C isn’t stated. No other defence mechanisms are talked about, so answer D is wrong as well.
34 D. ‘It was a first stab to see what was out there’ means that he didn’t aim to gain any conclusive information on the subject. ‘Stab’ is a colloquial term for ‘attempt, try’. Answer B is wrong — Archetti’s mathematical model confirmed the initial theory, which was its only aim. There is no regret mentioned in the text as answer C claims. Answer D is wrong because Archetti and Hamilton had a collaboration — they initiated the project together.
35 C. Last sentence of paragraph five states that the purpose of leaves’ colour changing mechanism is to act as a sunscreen (to protect the tree or foliage from ultraviolet rays). Answer A is wrong as the critics do not express this idea — they only give example of certain trees that do not fit the paradigm suggested by Hamilton. Answer B is incorrect because the example with insects doesn’t describe their behaviour, but rather their period of activity. Answer D shouldn’t be chosen because no certain insects are named.
36 A. Brown and Archetti bring up an important question — if the sunscreen theory is correct, why not all the trees have bright leaves? In turn, Dr. Hoch says that this question is not a ‘huge concern’. Answer B isn’t correct — it is said that the subject is worth investigating, but nothing is mentioned about the possible success of that research. Answers C and D aren’t mentioned.
PART 6
37 A. Both speakers A and C are worried about companies that rely on freelance workers — as they outsource their projects to freelancers, their in-house employees become less useful as they are unfamiliar with these projects. Speaker A—last sentence, Speaker C — sentence two.
38 A. Other speaker are optimistic about growing number of freelance workers. Speaker A though believes that more freelancers drive the prices of their own services down, as some can be willing to take a job for less money to have any work at all.
39 C. Last sentence of Speaker B paragraph says that employed workers see freelance as ‘easy life’. Speaker C concurs, saying that non-freelancers ‘envy’ self-employed people.
40 D. Speakers A, B and C hold it that a successful freelancer is one who works hard and consistently. Speaker D believes that freelancer’s chances of success are largely based on chance (last but one sentence).
PART 7
41 F. The author looks back at the years of working as a test pilot. He also mentions the unique opportunity of becoming an astronaut that he pointed out in the first paragraph.
42 E. ‘The situation changed’ refers to the extremely rare opportunities of joining a space flight — the topic of the previous sentence. The final part of paragraph E mentions a ‘test process’ that is then described in more detail in the following paragraph.
43 D. This paragraph is about variety of candidates and how having certain skills and qualities may help you to be chosen for this position. The following paragraph continues this topic.
44 G. The previous paragraph mentions how getting ill in space is a difficult situation to deal with. This paragraph mentions the only possible solution to such scenario, used as a last resort measure.
45 A. ‘It was also good …’ expands on the idea of remaining candidates. The selection was coming to an end, and the author was happy to learn that more than half of the group consisted of his fellow countrymen.
46 C. Last part of the previous paragraph states that there wasn’t much time left for the author to be contacted. This paragraph mentions the telephone call and how the author was excited to get the news of him being chosen for the programme.
PART 8
47 C. ‘what had been a largely desolate stretch’ — desolate here means ‘gloomy, depressing’. Past Perfect tense implies that it is no longer so, the design has changed for the better.
48 B. Middle of the paragraph starts with ‘Explaining his approach to designing …’, Paoletti compares his style to one of ‘free-form jazz’.
49 E. Second sentence of that paragraph how the design has radically transformed the appearance of the station.
50 B. Paoletti complains how the station he designed is compared to a cathedral, and he jokingly complains that it is a cathedral, not something that looks like one.
51 E. Last sentence of this paragraph contains Paoletti’s thoughts on the function of the underground stations.
52 E. Middle of the same paragraph gives Paoletti’s comments on the criticism and how he managed to ‘save millions in tunnelling costs’.
53 D. Very beginning of the paragraph: ‘seamless marriage of architecture and engineering’— two different elements that Paoletti attempts to unite seamlessly(without any visible transition between one and the other).
54 A. Second sentence claims that Paoletti ‘possessed the persuasiveness and tenacity’ to accomplish this project. ‘Tenacity’ means persistence and willpower.
55 D. Third sentence mentions: ‘design stopped at the top of the escalators leading down to the platforms…’. This was as far as architects were allowed to go with their ideas.
56 A. One but last sentence contains the architect’s opinion on his predecessors:‘whom Paoletti dismissed as visionless ‘trench-diggers’’
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