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Parte SecondaEnglish Lab

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Parte Seconda: English Lab

› Reading Comprehension

• B1 1. A loyal FriendRead the text below about the Chow Chow breed of dog. Choose the correct answer (A,B,C, or D) for questions 1-5. Only one answer is correct. The first one (0) has been done for you.

The Chow Chow is an ancient breed of dog. It has its origins in northern China, where its name means “puffy-lion dog”. Indeed, it is one of the few ancient dog breeds still in existence in the world today.Historical evidence indicates that as a distinct type of dog it has been in existence for about 3000 years. In fact, it can be seen as the traditional stone guardians in front of ancient Buddhist temples.Apart from guard duties, real or symbolic, the Chow Chow, thanks to its strength and courage, was also a dog for hunting and even war. More disturbingly still for western sensibilities, it was also an appreciated source of food. One of the Chinese words for food is indeed the word ‘chow’.The psychological traits of Chow Chows are quite particular. They are tremendously loyal to their master, but only if they admire him or her. Generally, they are disinterested in people they do not know, appearing to be rather aloof and superior. They are very calm and self confident and so remain unworried by trivial matters that might excite a lesser dog.Many famous people have had one as a pet, from Queen Victory to Elvis Presley.

Test

1Reading Comprehension

›› B1 1. A loyal Friend Multiple Choice›› B1 2. Puppy Law T F Justification

›› B2 3. All Hallow’s Eve (part 1) Short Answer Questions›› B2 4. Women Writers Multiple Matching (Gap Fill)›› B2 5. The Beautiful Game Multiple Matching (Text)

Listening›› B1 1. Gone to the Dogs Short Answer Questions›› B1 2. An Old Head T F NG

›› B2 3. Cross Bow Deaths T F NG›› B2 4. Restaurant Problems Multiple Matching (Summaries)›› B2 5. World’s Greatest Game Short Answer Questions

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Test

10. The Chow Chow has origins:

A. X in southern China

B. X in northern Japan

C. XX in northern China

D. X in western China

1. The Chow:

A. X does not exist anymore

B. X exists only in northern China

C. XX is rare in being such an old breed of dog

D. X is one of many ancient dogs still in existence

2. Historical proof indicates that the:

A. X dog is from northern China

B. X dog was originally a puffy lion

C. X dog has been around since 1000 B.C.

D. XX this kind of dog has been around since 3000 B.C.

3. The dog has been used for:

A. XX war, hunting guard duty, and food

B. X war, hunting, guard duty and religious ceremony

C. X symbolic purposes

D. X real purposes

4. The Chinese:

A. XX have the same word for dog and food

B. X have the same word for dog and westerners

C. X are less sensitive than westerners

D. X don’t eat dogs out of sensitivity towards the animal

5. Chow Chows don’t give attention:

A. X to small dogs

B. X to their owners

C. X to people they admire

D. XX to people whom they are unfamiliar with

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Parte Seconda: English Lab

• B1. 2. Puppy Law

Read text about newspaper article about a new UK law to protect puppies and kittens.Decide whether the statements (1-5) are True (T) or False (F), then write the first four words of the sentence which supports your decision in the space provided.The first one (0) has been done for you.

A law banning puppy and kitten farming, which campaigners hope will end the practice by some unscrupulous breeders of keeping animals constantly pregnant and often in dirty and cramped conditions, is to be laid by the government.The change, expected to come into force in April 2020, will mean young cats and dogs can no longer be sold by a pet shop or commercial dealer unless they have bred them.The unethical practice of puppy and kitten farming is said to lead to the animals being taken from their mothers after only a few weeks, which puts them at risk of disease and behavioural issues.The legislation is being named after a Cavalier King Charles spaniel called Lucy, who died in 2016 after being forced to repeatedly give birth in terrible conditions on a Welsh puppy farm.The environment secretary, Michael Gove, said he wanted to ensure no other animal suffers the same fate. He said the law would put an end to the early separation of puppies and kittens from their mothers.“I would like to thank the tireless campaigners and animal lovers who have helped to bring about this positive change,” Gove said. “This is all part of our plan to make this country the best place in the world for the protection and care of animals.”Marc Abraham, the founder of Pup Aid, which campaigned for the law change, said: “‘Lucy’s law’ is named after one of the sweetest, bravest dogs I’ve ever known, and is a fitting tribute to all the victims of the cruel third-party puppy trade, both past and present.”The decision to ban commercial third-party sales was announced in December and follows years of campaigning. More than 95% of responses to the government’s public consultation expressed support for a ban.The legislation will come into force on 6 April 2020, which the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said would give the pet industry and consumers time to prepare for the change.

* article adapted from The Guardian newspaper

T F First four words

0. A new law to protect puppies and kittens comes into effect immediately.

X XX The change, expected to

1. The law is against scrupulous animal breeders.

X XX A law banning puppy

2. The new law is named after a king. X XX The legislation is being

3. Currently some animals are taken away from their mothers too early.

XX X The unethical practice of

4. The government minister gave credit to others for this law.

XX X I would like to

5. Less than 5% of people consulted by the government were against the new law.

XX X More than 95% of

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Test

1

• B2. 3. All hallow’s eve (Part 1)

Read the short story by Elsie Lindsay, then answer the questions (1-10) using a maximum of 4 words.Write your answers in the spaces provided.The first one (0) has been done for you.

Once upon a time, a merchant was travelling in the Northern Country looking for goods to buy and sell. On this particular day, he had set out to find a village where the finest woollen cloth was woven. The morning was bright and the merchant was in a cheerful mood as he rode through the beautiful countryside. Having made excellent progress, he decided to take refreshment at a wayside inn. The

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Parte Seconda: English Lab

innkeeper was interested in this stranger and curious to know to where he was travelling. When the merchant named the village of the cloth-weavers, the innkeeper looked worried and warned him that this was an unlucky day to make such a journey. He tried to persuade the merchant to stay the night at the inn and continue his journey the next morning. The merchant thanked him, but was determined to go on his journey as planned. He had no belief in superstitions.Though the sun was still shining, it was lower in the sky. He urged his horse to make good speed and for miles they galloped on. Even so, the sun was sinking rapidly behind the hills and there was still no sign of his destination. Moorland stretched into the far distance with no village in sight. He was beginning to regret dismissing the offer of hospitality, he wrapped his cloak more tightly around his body and spurred on his faithful horse.When the sun had sunk behind the western hills, a full harvest moon rose to take the sun’s place and cast a silvery light over the lonely landscape. The merchant had no time to admire this magical scene and continued to gallop through the night, but the unchanging scenery of the vast expanse of moorland made him begin to doubt that he was making any progress; he seemed to be galloping in the same spot as if in a dream. Suddenly, the moon disappeared behind a cloud; a thin mist drifted from the ground and he was forced to slow down until his horse was moving at just a walking pace.

Gradually, he became aware of the acrid smell of smoke; there must be a cottage somewhere nearby and his spirits rose but to no avail. A red glow coloured the darkness, dancing and flickering; was the moorland on fire? Suddenly the moon reappeared and illuminated the landscape. The merchant was transfixed by the scene which confronted him; against a background of leaping flames and billowing smoke were hundreds of warriors; the moorland was filled with their shrieks, yells and agonising groans and the clash of metal against metal rang out as swords stuck in deadly combat; from nowhere, a warrior charged past roaring a blood-curling war cry; the merchant’s horse, nostrils flaring, reared in terror, and threw his master onto the rocky ground.

When the merchant regained consciousness he was staring at a huge pile of stones towering above him; the corpses of the slain lay around about him. He too lay on the ground helpless, he feared that he would die on this battlefield and prayed to be given courage to accept his fate. He became aware of the ghostly figure of a woman materialising from the gloom; she seemed to drift from corpse to corpse searching for something. When she reached the merchant she knelt down and he felt her icy-cold fingers brush his face; she gazed intently into his eyes and then with a sigh of sorrow she made the shape of the cross over his face; rising to her feet, she floated into the mist and disappeared.

*Part 2 is a listening exercise in Test 5

0. What did the merchant want to do in the Northern Country?

buy and sell goods

1. What did he want from the village? The finest wollen cloth

2. How was the weather in the morning? bright

3. What did the inn keeper what to know? where he was travelling

4. What was it an unlucky day to do? make such a journey

5. What didn’t the merchant believe in? superstitions

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Test

1

6. What did the merchant begin to re-gret?

dismissing the hospitality

7. What did the merchant begin to doubt? he was making progress

8. What scene stunned the Merchant? hundreds of warriors

9. What did the merchant’s horse do in fright?

reared in terror

10. What touched the merchant’s face? finger of a ghost/woman

• B2. 4. Women Writers

Read the newspaper article about woman writers. Parts of the text have been removed. Choose the correct part (A-J) for each gap (1-7). There are two extra parts that you should not use.The first one (0) has been done for you.

Do men learn from women? Often. Do they admit it publicly? 0. ……….… Let’s stick to literature. No matter how hard I try, I can’t think of many male writers who have said 1. …………………….to the work of a woman writer. Among Italians only one comes to mind, Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, the author of The Leopard, who wrote that 2. …………………… I could list quite a few great male writers who 3. …………………., or attribute to them a capacity only to write banal, trifling stories – of marriage, children, love affairs; cheap romances and sentimental novels.Recently, things have been changing, 4. …………..… For example, when some renowned male writer says in private, or in public, that we women writers are good, I would like to ask: are we as good as you, better than you, or good only within the context of books written by women? That is, have we broken out of the literary women’s space we are confined to (and not only by the market)? Or have we overturned literature in general and its values?5. ……………, if you are a male writer who reads me and finds me good, are you paying me a generous compliment of the sort paid to a female student who has learned her lesson well? Or are you willing to admit that, today, you can learn from writing by women as much as we women have learned – and are learning, reading over the centuries – from writing by men?Here, in my opinion, things get complicated. Plenty of cultivated men are willing to praise us for our capacity to stir the emotions (and what does a woman do well, traditionally, if not stir the emotions and make the hours pass pleasantly?). But these men keep for themselves the literature that revolutionises, that ventures into minefields, that digs into political confrontation or addresses heroic struggles with power. The courage to go through the world fighting with words and deeds, street by street, remains in many people’s imagination 6. ……………….… Women, meanwhile, are still assigned to the balcony, from where they may contemplate life passing by and describe it in tremulous words.7. ……………, in every part of the world, in every field, do so with lucidity, with a pitiless gaze, with courage, with no concession to sentimentality. A widespread female intelligence that produces writing of a high literary quality has become manifest. But the cliche dies hard: we are emotional; we please. Men make great literature and teach fearlessly, through their words and deeds, how all the evil in the world should yield to good.

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Parte Seconda: English Lab

A. In other words

B. he had benefited from reading Virginia Woolf

C. was very close to his mother

D. but not very much

E. the province of male intellectuals

F. Many women who write

G. Rarely, even today

H. either belittle their female colleagues

I. didn’t suffer fools gladly

J. that they were in any way indebted

0. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

G J B H D A E F

• B2. 5. The Beautiful Game

Read the text about 4 famous footballers. Match questions (1-15), with footballers (A - D).The footballers can be chosen more than once.More than one football may be chosen for the answer.The first one (0) has been done for you.

A. George Best

Born in Northern Ireland, George Best became the greatest footballer the United Kingdom has ever produced. Like a genie realised from a bottle, he brought a sense of magic to the game. Fast and brave, but above all an amazing dribbler, he used to give defenders, in the words of a teammate, ‘twisted blood’.Discovered at a young age, he was recommend to Manchester United’s legendary manager Sir Mat Busby with a telegram stating: “Boss, I think I’ve found you a genius.” Particularly handsome, with dark, flowing hair, and deep-set, blue eyes, Best quickly became a superstar of the swinging 60s. Girls flocked to matches to scream their adoration, while men lionised him.But the meteoritic success hid a problem, Best had become addicted to womanising, gambling, and alcohol. And it was alcohol that would eventually take his life at the age of just 59. A tragic end to one who had burned so brightly, to one who had had the world at his feet.

B. Diego Armando Maradona

Maradona’s two goal performance in the 1986 World Cup quarter final against England encapsulated everything that was unique about this urchin from the slums of Buenos Aires. A player with street cunning encoded into his DNA, but also one blessed from above.

43

Test

1In the first goal Maradona jumped for a high ball with the English goalkeeper. At the last fraction of a second, he raised his fist above his head, and artfully nudged the ball over the out stretched arms of the keeper. The ball bounced innocently into the net and into world infamy. Mischievously, Maradona dubbed his illegal touch, the ‘hand of God’.Shortly after, something truly divine took place. Maradona received a simple pass in his own half, and then proceeded to waltz through the entire England team. With all the white shirted players running desperately behind in his wake, Maradona finally slide the ball beyond the helpless keeper. It remains to this day the greatest individual goal ever scored on the world stage. Never before had two such goals coexisted on the same football pitch.This was the genius of Maradona: a devil and an angel in one.

C. Pelé

Edson Arantes do Nascimento, or Pelé as he is better known, is considered by many the greatest footballer of all time. The only player ever to win three World Cups, scorer of an incredible 1281 goals in 1363 games for his Brazilian team Santos, the player who coined the phrase: “the beautiful game” and for whom it should have been coined, Pelé was the perfect player.Above all he played the game with an extraordinary intelligence and vision that set him apart from all others. Former Real Madrid star Ferenc Puskás once remarked: “The greatest player in history was Di Stéfano. I refuse to classify Pelé as a player. He was above that.” Another was asked how do you spell Pelé, he replied: “Simple, G.O.D.”.

D. Johan Cruyff

The former Dutch international Johan Neeskens once remarked on the career of Johan Cruyff: “If you look at the greatest players in history, most of them couldn’t coach. If you look at the greatest coaches in history, most of them were not great players. Johan Cruyff did both – and in such an exhilarating style.” A man of great intellect, he played and subsequently coached the game according to a philosophy, what has become known as “Total Football”: a way of playing where every movement is coordinated, where possession of the ball is paramount, where intelligence, and technique rule.His career was glittered with silverware, three time Ballon d’Or winner, three time European Cup winner with Ajax. He even has a certain move named in his honour, the famous “Cruyff Turn”. When defeating Juventus in the European Cup final of 1973, according to one witness “Cruyff inspired one of the greatest 20-minute spells of football ever seen”, and in the 1974 World Cup he was named player of the tournament.

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Parte Seconda: English Lab

Which footballer(S):

A B C D

0. came from South America X XX XX X

1. was also a successful coach? X X X XX

2. greatest quality was his ability to defeat his markers?

XX X X X

3. scored two of the world’s most famous goals in the same match?

X XX X X

4. died young? XX X X X

5. won three World Cups? X X XX X

6. has a football move named after him? X X X XX

7. was particularly attractive to woman? XX X X X

8. defeated an Italian team in a European Cup Fi-nal?

X X X XX

9. was part of a new way of playing football? X X X XX

10. was strong in every aspect of the game? X X XX X

11. played in the World Cup Finals? X XX XX XX

12. is not classified as a footballer by a famous contemporary?

X X XX X

13. is known by a different name from his birth one? X X XX X

14. justified an illegal goal invoking God? X XX X X

15. coined the phrase: “the beautiful game” X X XX X

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Test

1

› Listening

• B1. 1. Gone to the Dogs

Listen to a story about a court case.

First you will have 1 minute to study the task below, then you will hear the recording twice.While listening, answer the questions (1-8) using a maximum of 4 words.Write your answers in the spaces provided.The first one (0) has been done for you.After the second listening, you will have 1 minute to check your answers.

0. What does Chinmay Naik study? He studies journalism

1. Who did he sue? Melbourne’s Monash University

2. What material did not pass the test? His video report

3. What did the judge tell him to do? to move on

4. What mark was the video initially given? 12/100

5. What was the final mark? 21/100

6. What featured in the video? Footage of park, interviews

7. According to the university the video failed to meet what?

the minimum criteria

8. How much has the court case cost the student? $ 8000

• B1. 2 An Old Head

Listen to a radio news report about an unusual find in Siberia.

First you will have 1minute to study the task below, then you will hear the recording twice. While listening answer True (T), False (F) or Not Given (NG) to the questions (1-5).Write your answers in the space provided.The first one (0) has been done for you.After the second listening, you will have 1 minute to check your answers

(Siberian Times)

3

4

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Parte Seconda: English Lab

T F NG

0. The wolf’s head was discovered in Siberia. XX X X

1. Only the head of the wolf was found. XX X X

2. Scientists believe the head is 14 000 years old. X XX X

3. Due to its age the head is NOT in excellent condition. X XX X

4. From photos of the animal it is clearly bigger than modern wolves.

XX X X

5. Local authorities in Siberia want to put the animal on display.

X X XX

• B2. 3. Cross Bow Deaths

Listen to a news report on a radio programme about strange deaths in a hotel in Germany.

First you will have 1 minute to study the task below, then you will hear the recording twice.While listening answer True (T) , False (F ) or Not Given (N G) to the questions (1-7).Write your answers in the spaces provided.The first one (0) has been done for you.After the second listening, you will have 1 minute to check your answers.

T F NG

0. This is a story from Germany. XX X X

1. A total of 5 people have been found dead in a hotel. X XX X

2. The man was older than the two women. XX X X

3. They had all been killed by another person. X X XX

4. The deaths are being link to another two deaths. XX X X

5. The guests had been very loud in the hotel. X XX X

6. The guests had ordered breakfast. X XX X

7. The guests were described as being very normal. X XX X

5

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Test

1

• B2. 4. Restaurant Problems

Listen to five different people talking about problems they had with restaurants.

First you will have 1 minute to study the task below, then you will hear the recording twice.While listening, match the speaker with problems (A-I).The first one (0) has been done for you.After the second listening, you will have 1 minute to check your answers.

speaker 5 0. got into an argument with a customer

speaker 1 A. found the restaurant rather fake

speaker 3 B. had originally wanted to go somewhere chic

speaker 4 C. was shocked by the price of the meal

speaker 5 D. had a linguistic misunderstanding with a customer

speaker 3 E. had a pizza

speaker 2 F. had a romantic evening ruined by a noisy guest

speaker 1 G. used to live in a foreign country

speaker 5 H. left his restaurant job after a short period of time

speaker 2 I. Argued during the meal

6

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Parte Seconda: English Lab

• B2. 5. The World’s Greatest Game

Listen to the article about the history of football.

First you will have 1 minute to study the task below, then you will hear the recording twice.While listening, answer the questions (1-5) using a maximum of 4 words.Write your answers in the spaces provided.The first one (0) has been done for you.After the second listening, you will have 1 minute to check your answers.

0. How many countries is football I played in? More than 140 countries

1. Why did a football player die in 1280? he was stabbed

2. When was the Football Association formed? 1863

3. Which teams played in the first ever inter-national match?

England and Scotland

4. How did the first ever international football match end?

a draw

5. What does the game do for humanity glob-ally?

emotionally unites us

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