Reading Practice Test 3 [B2]

Cats of all kinds are present in the legends, religion, mythology, and history of (9) different cultures. Cave paintings created by early humans display different types of wild cats (10) are now extinct, or no longer around. Many of these great beasts saw humans as food, but were hunted by humans in return. Cats similar (11) the ones kept as pets today started showing up in artwork thousands of years ago. For example, the ancient Egyptians believed cats were the sacred, or special, animal of a goddess named Bast. They believed that Bast often appeared as a cat, so many ancient Egyptians respected and honoured cats and kittens. (12) , other cultures feared cats or thought that they brought illnesses and bad luck. Today, with millions kept as pets in homes around the world, cats have become important members of many families. No one knows for sure when or (13) cats became very popular household pets. It’s possible that people noticed how cats hunted mice and rats, (14) they set food and milk out to keep the cats near their homes. This helped to prevent (15) many of these rodents (16) coming into homes and eating people’s food or spreading sickness.

Traditionally, Australia was (17) (fame) for producing wheat and wool, but times have changed in (18) (recently) years, with many farmers (19) (elect) to be more diverse in their crop and livestock range. It is now quite common to see farms with more exotic fruit and vegetables. Farmers are (20) (like) to sell their produce locally nowadays, but rather to the factories in the cities. As a result, farms are now large-scale (21) (produce) where thousands of tonnes of crops are cultivated.

Another aspect that is different nowadays is (22) (irrigate) . In the past, farmers would just flood the fields but now it is common to see sprinkler (23) (systematic) everywhere. This means that more water is conserved, which has been helpful with the drought that has severely impacted the (24) (major) of the farms in the southern states of the country.

25. Joan was in favour of visiting the museum.

IDEA

Joan thought it would be to the museum.

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26. Arthur has the talent to become a concert pianist.

THAT

Arthur is so could become a concert pianist.

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27. ‘Do you know when the match starts, Sally?’ asked Mary.

IF

Mary asked Sally time the match started.

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28. I knocked for ages at Ruth’s door but I got no reply.

LONG

I knocking at Ruth’s door but I got no reply.

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29. Everyone says that the band is planning to go on a world tour next year.

SAID

The band planning to go on a world tour next year.

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30. I’d prefer not to cancel the meeting.

CALL

I’d rather the meeting.

The Making of “Tipping Point”

Many of the most expensive commercials ever made are those in which an A-list celebrity flashes a beautiful smile at the cameras. Not so with the famous Irish drink company Guinness. Their recent television advertisement, the most expensive in British history, cost ten million pounds, and it features, not the rich and famous, but villagers from the mountains of Argentina.

The advertisement features a game of dominoes. It begins in a darkened room where several thousand ordinary dominoes are set up on a specially-designed table. (37) Dominoes knock over books, which in turn knock bigger household objects such as suitcases, tyres, pots of paint, oil drums and even cars. The final piece in the chain reaction is a huge tower of books. These flutter open to reveal a structure in the shape of a pint of Guinness.

The location chosen for the commercial was Iruya, a village high up in the mountains of north-west Argentina. (38) The journey there could take up to ten hours. Asked why this remote destination was chosen for the shoot, the director said that even though it was the most difficult location they could have picked, it was perfect.

For one month, the village, population thousand, increased in size by almost thirty percent. One hundred and forty crew members descended on the village. These included the world record holders in domino toppling, Weijers Domino productions from the Netherlands. (39)

Creating this film was no easy task. Preparations for filming took well over a month. Twenty six truckloads of objects were brought in. (40) They included 10,000 books, 400 tyres, 75 mirrors, 50 fridges, 45 wardrobes and 6 cars. Setting the objects up took skill and patience. They needed to be arranged so they would fall over easily, and this involved balancing them on stones. Some of the sequences had to be reshot 15 times and 24 hours of footage was captured. However, the sequence in which six cars fell over was successfully shot in just one take.

Filming in this location was not without its difficulties. Firstly, being so isolated, it was hard to obtain resources at short notice. The second problem was the high altitude. (41) It was also hard working with the villagers who had no experience of film-making. Finally, setting and resetting the props caused a good deal of frustration.

These days when CGI is all the rage, it was surprising that so little of the work was done using computer effects. The only sequence that used computer graphics was the one in which the tower of books fluttered open to reveal a pint of Guinness. (42) Even so, this was no simple matter. They had to ensure that all the books in the tower had a different appearance.

Director Nicolai Fuglsig said about the project : ‘Despite all the challenges, the cast was fantastic and it was a really amazing experience.’ Whether or not the effort put into the advert pays off is another matter entirely.

43. Which cat physically marks its territory?

44. Which cat cannot live in un-managed wild areas?

45. Which cat used to live over a large percentage of the planet?

46. Which cat is very good at silent, unseen hunting?

47.  Which cat is an extremely good climber?

48. Which cat is not the stereotypical independent lone creature?

49. Which cat has a healthy population?

50. Which cat is well regarded in most cultures?

51. Which cat can sometimes be seen in city areas?

52. Which cat looks very similar to another big cat?