The old, print-friendly test

CAE Reading and Use of English Part 1

For questions 1-8, read the text below and decide which answer (А, В, C or D) best fits each gap. There is an example at the beginning (0).

I wish I’d known that before

I’ve always tried to be a supportive friend, 0 keeping my own counsel on my true opinions. I’ve lied to 1 rescuesaverecoverretain a friend’s face and gone to parties with people I couldn’t stand 2 instead ofin place ofin preference torather than upset them. But now I’m older I have realised that being permanently sympathetic is not the way to hold on to your integrity and well-being. Armed with this understanding, I planned to 3 beginembarkcommenceengage on a policy of being totally honest at all times. I came across research that 4 backedsupportedheldtook me up, claiming that often people don’t actually want the truth and that being honest reduces the stress that inevitably accompanies 5 sayingspeakingrecountingtelling so-called white lies. So I decided to 6 gomovegotpush ahead. Some people hated me, others were angry, but my real friends valued my honesty. 7 AlthoughObviouslyConverselyAt last , I was aware of the damage bluntness can do but I’ve learned that true friendship survives on sincerity and a few 8 househomebasefoundation truths won’t ruin it. I wish I’d known that before!

For this task: Answers with explanations :: Vocabulary

The old, print-friendly test

CAE Reading and Use of English Part 1

For questions 1-8, read the text below and decide which answer (А, В, C or D) best fits each gap. There is an example at the beginning (0).

To Sell or not to Sell?

You may think selling your house is easy but everyone wants to get the 0 best deal. Unfortunately, the housing market is 1 liablesubjectacceptablepart to highs and lows, which could prevent your 2 succeedingwinningachievingmanaging the price you want. However, displaying your house at its best could persuade 3 developingunrealisedpotentialcapable buyers it’s worth paying more for than a similar one nearby. Here are some simple steps you can take that might 4 clinchfixverifystick a sale.

De-clutter and throw away or store superfluous stuff. It may have sentimental value for you but to a buyer it’s junk. Tidy shelves and work surfaces. 5 ButDespiteHoweverAlthough most buyers will renovate a house as soon as they move in, it is worth 6 doinggettingmakingworking up the place by painting, replacing worn carpets and so on. The look you want is neat but lived in — comfortable and cosy but suggesting that there is still 7 spaceroomplacecapacity for a purchaser to put their own 8 ideabrandcharacterstamp on the house. It’s your home and you love it but the trick is to make others love it, too!

For this task: Answers with explanations :: Vocabulary

The old, print-friendly test

CAE Reading and Use of English Part 1

For questions 1-8, read the text below and decide which answer (А, В, C or D) best fits each gap. There is an example at the beginning (0).

So Who Needs People?

People have always seen themselves as social animals, with living together as the norm, but increasing numbers are 0 settling down as singles. Why is this happening?

It’s often presented as indicating the undesirable 1 damagebreakagesplinterfragmentation of society but, actually, the reality is more interesting and less worrying. One reason more people 2 pickoptselectdecide for the single life is they can 3 affordpayspendprovide it but since we are able to do many things that we decide not to do, this financial answer is just one part of the explanation. Another is the communications and technological revolution, which allows people to 4 get through withput up withtake part inkeep out of social events when they’re living alone. But a key 5 contingencyfactorenquiryquestion seems to be that today, young people define living alone in a positive way, as a 6 markbrandlabelsymptom of success. They see it as a way to 7 contributemakeinvestsupply time in developing themselves personally and professionally. This means that the whole social framework is being transformed, changing not only how we understand ourselves and our relationships, but also the way we build places to live, and 8 exposeoutlineuncoverpromote economic growth.

For this task: Answers with explanations :: Vocabulary

The old, print-friendly test

CAE Reading and Use of English Part 1

For questions 1-8, read the text below and decide which answer (А, В, C or D) best fits each gap. There is an example at the beginning (0).

Exceptionally talented or just over-confident?

According to a study on what lies at the heart of success, it seems that the key is not what might be expected, 0 in other words talent, hard work or a good education, but instead it’s total, unadulterated confidence. Confident people tend not to be 1 put backput offput underput across by their own shortcomings and often have 2 biggerwidergreaterlarger than life personalities. This means they make themselves more visible in the workplace, pushing themselves forward at every opportunity and so 3 beingmakingreachinggetting, promotion over those who may well be more competent but appear on the 4 topheadsurfacefront to be less talented.Confident people are often admired and their opinions valued; 5 consequentlysowhileas, they are able to influence decisions made within a group. This could have implications for the recruitment procedures of many companies, as a typical job interview often involves a group task which unfairly 6 supportsfavoursshowsdemonstrates the over-confident. Such a display of confidence may carry too much 7 considerationpowerforceweight with interviewers, and better, quieter candidates may be 8 movedsentturnedpassed down, leading to a less efficient workforce.

For this task: Answers with explanations :: Vocabulary

The old, print-friendly test

CAE Reading and Use of English Part 1

For questions 1-8, read the text below and decide which answer (А, В, C or D) best fits each gap. There is an example at the beginning (0).

High notes of the singing Neanderthals

Neanderthals have been misunderstood. The early humanoids traditionally 0 CHARACTERIZED as ape-like brutes were deeply emotional beings with high-pitched voices. They may 1 furtherjustevenso have sung to each other. This new image has 2 revealedresultedconcludedhappened from two studies of the vocal apparatus and anatomy of the creatures that 3 resideddweltfilledoccupied, Europe between 200,000 and 35,000 years ago.

The research shows that Neanderthal voices might well have produced loud, womanly and highly melodic sounds – not the roars and grunts previously 4 judgedassumedconsideredtaken by most researchers. Stephen Mithen, Professor of Archaeology and author of one of the studies, said: ‘What is emerging is a picture of an intelligent and emotionally complex creature whose most likely 5 sortpracticeapproachform of communication would have been part language and part song.’

Mithen’s work 6 coincidesoccursrelatesco-operates with the first detailed study of a reconstructed Neanderthal skeleton. Anthropologists brought together bones and casts from several sites to re-create the creature. The creature that emerges would have 7 differeddistinguishedcomparedcontrasted markedly from humans, Neanderthals seem to have had an extremely powerful 8 assemblyformationbuildscheme and no waist.

For this task: Answers with explanations :: Vocabulary

The old, print-friendly test

CAE Reading and Use of English Part 1

For questions 1-8, read the text below and decide which answer (А, В, C or D) best fits each gap. There is an example at the beginning (0).

Thomas Cook

Thomas Cook could be 0 SAID to have invented the global tourist industry. He was born in England in 1808 and became a cabinetmaker. Then he 1 dawnedstruckhitcrossed on the idea of using the newly-invented railways for pleasure trips and by the summer of 1845, he was organising commercial trips. The first was to Liverpool and featured a 60-page handbook for the journey, the 2 pioneerforerunnerpriorforetaste of the modern holiday brochure.

The Paris Exhibition of 1855 3 livenedinitiatedlaunchedinspired him to create his first great tour, taking in France, Belgium and Germany. This also included a remarkable 4 breakthroughleapstepheadway — Cook’s first cruise, an extraordinary journey along the Rhine. The expertise he had gained from this 5 kepttookstoodmade him in good stead when it came to organising a fantastic journey along the Nile in 1869. Few civilians had so much as set foot in Egypt, let 6 apartasidealoneaway travelled along this waterway through history and the remains of a vanished civilisation 7 flowinggoingrunningpassing back thousands of years. Then, in 1872, Cook organised the first conducted world tour and the 8 scenearealandworld of travel has not been the same since.

For this task: Answers with explanations :: Vocabulary

The old, print-friendly test

CAE Reading and Use of English Part 1

For questions 1-8, read the text below and decide which answer (А, В, C or D) best fits each gap. There is an example at the beginning (0).

Female pilot Mary Heath was the 0 original Queen of the Skies, one of the best-known women in the world during the 1 goldensweetbrightshiny age of aviation. She was the first woman in Britain to gain a commercial pilot’s licence, the first to 2 putholdtakemake a parachute jump and the first British women’s javelin champion. She scandalised 1920s’ British society by marrying three times (at the 3 crestheightfullnesstop, of her fame she wed politician Sir James Heath – her second husband, 45 years her senior).

In 1928, aged 31, she became the first pilot to fly an open-cockpit plane, solo, from South Africa to Egypt, 4 coveringstretchingcrossingranging 9,000 miles in three months. It was a triumph. Lady Heath was 5 exclaimeddeclaredhailedquoted as the nation’s sweetheart and called ‘Lady Icarus’ by the press. However, her life was 6 cutleftstoppedbrought tragically short. Only a year later, she 7 undertooksufferedreceivedunderwent a horrific accident at the National Air Show in Ohio in the USA, when her plane crashed through the roof of a building. Her health was never the 8 likeequalbettersame again, and she died in May 1939.

For this task: Answers with explanations :: Vocabulary

The old, print-friendly test

CAE Reading and Use of English Part 1

For questions 1-8, read the text below and decide which answer (А, В, C or D) best fits each gap. There is an example at the beginning (0).

Our obsession with recording every detail of our happiest moments could be 0 damaging our ability to remember them, according to new research.

Dr Linda Henkel, from Fairfield University, Connecticut, described this as the ‘photo-taking impairment effect’. She said, ‘People often whip out their cameras almost mindlessly to 1 seizegraspcapturesnatch a moment, to the point that they are missing what is happening 2 quiterightmerelybarely in front of them.’ When people rely on technology to remember for them — 3 countingsettlingassumingswearing, on the camera to record the event and thus not needing to 4 engageapplyattenddedicate to it fully themselves — it can have a negative 5 resultaspectextentimpact on how well they remember their experiences.

In Dr Henkel’s experiment, a group of university students were 6 steeredrunledconveyed on a tour of a museum and asked to either photograph or try to remember objects on display. The next day each student’s memory was tested. The results showed that people were less 7 accuratefaithfulexactfactual in recognising the objects they had photographed 8 measuredcomparedmatchedconfronted with those they had only looked at.

For this task: Answers with explanations :: Vocabulary