B2 computer test practice exercises PDF

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Practice Exercises For the Computer Test try per risk

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20 SALT CONSUMPTION AND HEALTH Health experts believe that many people are consuming 1)____________ too much salt, and that this is a health 2)____________. There are 3)_____________ of studies which show that increased salt consumption raises blood pressure and can cause 4)______________ problems, and the recommendation is that we should 5)_____________ be consuming less salt. Even if we do not add any salt to our food 6)___________ the table we 7)______________ be consuming a lot of salt without realizing. The 8)___________ recommended amount is 6 grams, but many people are consuming 9)_____________ as much as this and the 10)_____________ daily consumption in the UK is over 9 grams 11)___________ day. Bread, biscuits, ketchup and ready-made 12)______________ all contain a lot of salt, so each 13)______________ we eat a 14)____________ of bread, for example, we are adding to our daily 15)_____________. So what is the solution? We all need to be more 16)____________ of how much salt we are consuming, and 17)_____________ to limit our intake. Governments are encouraging food manufacturers to cut 18)______________ on the amount of salt they put into food and every food product should 19)______________ clearly on the 20)_____________ how much salt it contains.

THREE EXTRAORDINARY MEN

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9 Colum____ left Spain in August 1492 with three ____ps, to try and find a sea ___sage to India by ___ling west instead of ____st. When his ships ___nally reached ____nd on 12th October, he thought he was there, but the ships had ____ually arrived in America inst____.

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Cap____ Robert Scott ____ted to be the ____nner in the _____ce to reach the South Pole. He and his ____panions finally arrived ____re on 1st January 1912 after a terrible ____rney ____cross the ice, but found a Norwegian flag already there. Unfortunately for Scott, Roald Amundsen had got there 14th December, 18 days ____lier.

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Leonardo Da Vinci ____nted his ____mous “last ____pper” between 1495 and 1498, but the painting started to deterior____ _____in 50 years. The most common explanat____ for this used to be that Leonardo had used the ____ong kind of paint, but experts have always disagreed about this, and many ____lieve that the damp in the wall is the ____use of the dam_____. Between 1978 and 1999, ___perts restored the painting and it is now once again ___en to the public.

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EARTHQUAKES When an earthquake ____curs, part of the Earth’s ____face moves. In fact, it moves all the time. The tectonic plat_____, which make up the surface, press against each ____her very slowly. Over thous_____ of years, this move______ creates great _____ress. In some places where the ____yers of rock are we_____, this eventually causes a sud_____ movement - an earthquake. Thousands of earthquakes _____ppen every day, but most are small and _____use no damage. A lar_____ earthquake _____akes the buildings to the ground, or cau_____ a tsunami wa_____. The ____ffects are usually very ________ious.

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PORTUGAL’S “BIG” EARTHQUAKE _____ere earthquakes _____re common in _____thern Europe and on 1st November 1755 a _____erful earthquake h_____ the city of Lisbon in Portugal. Between 60,000 and 100,000 people _____ed. After ten that morning, an earthquake tsunami _____uck the city, and there was also a _____re, which caused nearly to_____ destruction. People as far a_____ as Finland fe____ the sho_____, and the tsunami _____ched Barbados in the West Indies. _____ologists now believe that the _____ength of the earthquake was as high as 9 on the Richter ______le. This is the sa_____ stre_____ as the Indian Ocean earthquake of 26th December 2004.

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INCREDIBLE BUT TRUE On 26th December 2004, Tilly Smith, a 10-year-old British schoolgirl, a) ________________ on the beach with her family. They b) __________________ Christmas in Thailand. Suddenly Tilly c) _______________ that something was wrong. She could see that the water d) _______________ and waves e) _________________ up the beach. The beach f) ________________ smaller and smaller. She g) _________________ that there had been an earthquake in Sumatra that morning, but she suddenly h) __________________ a geography lesson she i) _______________ at school just two weeks before. So she j)_________________ her mother what she k)__________________ about earthquakes and giant waves. Luckily for the Smith family, Tilly’s teacher, Andrew Kearney l) __________________ the class about earthquakes and m) _________________ them a video of a tsunami in Hawaii. Tilly n) _______________ screaming at her parents to get off the beach. They o) _________________ Tilly back to their hotel, which was not too close to the shore, and p) _________________ the alarm. One of the staff, who was Japanese, q) _________________ the word tsunami, and r) __________________ everyone to leave the beach. From their room on the third floor, the Smiths s) ________________ the terrible effects of the tsunami on the area. Thanks to Tilly, everybody from that beach t) __________________ that terrible day.

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had walked had _________________ had _________________ had _________________ had _________________ had _________________ had _________________ had _________________ suddenly had _________________ had _________________ had _________________ had _________________ had _________________ had _________________ had _________________ had _________________ had _________________ had _________________ had _________________ had _________________

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was walking were _______________ was ________________ was ________________ were _______________ was ________________ was not _____________ was suddenly _________ ____________________ was _________________ was _________________ was _________________ was _________________ was _________________ were ________________ were ________________ was _________________ was _________________ were ________________ was ________________

1) Tell your partner this story from memory. 2) Make a list of 20 words from the three texts about earthquakes and tsunamis that you wish to make part of your “active” vocabulary and try and learn them.

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British versus Amercian English Mill……… of words have been written in an attempt to …….pare the two languages, point……… out how they differ but are still recognis………. the “same” language. Clear……., no-one should ……..criminate against the American species, just because it is the young…….. partner. Some people have like……… the differ……… to that between a horse and a mule, but that does not go very far to……… differentiating between the two languages. They are rather two breeds of horse that have diverg……….. very slightly over the years. Some points of British English grammar ………..trast quite sharply with American English, but the fact ……….mains that accent var…….. as much with……… each country as between the two.

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Quality and Char…….. (1) The Sicil……..(2) are a proud people. When it comes to wines they have good rea……. (3) to be. Their (4)……..fect climate, with 2,500 hours of glori…….. (5) Mediterranean sunshine each year, and the widely varied topogra…….. (6) of their (7)……..tile land, from the slopes of Mt Etna to the coast…….. (8) reaches of Marsala, play a uni…….. (9) part in the crea…….. (10) of many (11) ……..cellent wines. The Sicilians are al…….. (12) highly resource…….. (13) and (14) ……..dustrious. By a prudent (15) ……..bination of traditional standards, (16) ……..dern viticultural practices and (17) ……..vanced production technology they have developed fine wines noted for their (18) ……..sistent quality, subt…….. (19) charisma and (20) ……..standing value. Strict quality control, using the late…….. (21) cold fermentation processes, ensures the optimum retention of flav…….. (22) and fresh…….. (23). White wines are typically crisp, fruity and dry; red wines are hearty and distinctly mascu…….. (24) .

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Fury on the 22 You can imagine how frustrat…….. Tracy Lewis (24) of Linton felt after a seventy-five-minute wait for the ……..layed number 22 bus last Monday morning. Her frustration turned to ang…….., however, when she offered the driver a ten-pound note for her three-pound fa…….. to the city centre. “Sorry,” he said, “I’m not allowed to give chan…….. .” The new ru…….. , which came into ……..rce last week, means that passengers will have to have the correct money or buy a ticket before board…….. the bus. “I was fur…….. ,” said Tracy, “no…….. of the other passengers had any change because they’d all been caught out in the same way. The bus company should have let us know about this in ……..vance.” Tracy, in ……..peration, eventual…….. gave the bus driver the ten-pound note, even though she got no change. “I can’t afford to do this every day,” she commented, “but I have to go to work.” The local bus company has now ……..pologized for not giving d…….. notice of the new ……..licy but a spokesman said: “It’s only like a vending machine - you just have to make su…….. you have the right money ……..fore you leave home. It should make it much eas…….. for buses to run on ti…….. , if the drivers don’t have to worry about giving change.”

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There are ninety ………sic spelling rules in English and eighty-four of these have ……...ceptions! For some sou……., there are no clear rules at all and identi…….. sounds can be spelt in ……..veral different ways. For example, the sound /i:/ can be spelt as in: seem, team, the……, sardine, prot……, thief, people, he, key, ski, debr…….., quay. The Spell…… Society in Britain thinks that the English spelling …….tem should be simplif…... . They say, for example, that we should spell the sound /i:/ simply as ‘ee’, e.g. ………eple, and save learners a lot of time and eff……. . Until then, however, it’s just a question of lo……. of learning and …….ting!

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BIRD BRAINS When the male Adele penguin is looking for a _____te, he takes his pick from a colo______ of more than a million. Having ma______ his choice, he needs to ______press the female bird he has selected. In order to do this, he finds a ________ table stone, rolls it over to the female and ____pes that she will accept his gi_____. If he’s in luck, the two birds will stand next to each other, breast to breast, sing ____udly and make a lot of no_____ with their flippers flap______. If the male fails to impress with his sto____, he will have to be a bit less _____osy next time. With so many other males ______so rolling stones around the place, he may find that stones are in short supply. When that ______ppens, the only thing to do is find a small_____ male penguin and steal his stones.

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ONE-TRIP LIVING The ………… duct that most people throw out ……ter using only once is packag…… . This was not always true. The potter…… or metal container used in Ro…….. times and in most …..ral areas of the world today is a ……..manent and valu…… household item. Unless a container is accident……. broken, it lasts a lifetime, despite the many journeys from ho……. to market, farm or …..ter-well and back. The growth of large cities and modern ……thods of food production changes all that. Because the food must be shipped from place to place while it is produced, and because of the increased varie……… of foods available and the convenien……. of pre-cooked meals, it is impossible for the customer to collect many foods in his own container. It costs a great deal to provide a new contain…… each time we buy milk, wine, beer and other drinks. Yet for a number of rea…….. the trend ……..wards one-trip bottles for all these …..tems is in full swing. The case of the ……ishing returnable soft drinks bottle shows how much these containers add to the rising tide of …….ste.

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Eccentric Required Long and …..ful consideration is not always the best policy for choosing a house. Some places are so out of the ….inary that only a fla…. of inspiration will do. After ….ssing through iron gates in the wild remote Flow Country of Caithness, in northeast Scotland, you must negotiate a 14-mile ….vate drive before reaching the 48-room edifice of Lochdhu Lodge, built in the 1890’s by Sir Tollemache Sinclair. The red-stone man….. is being advertised as “probably the remotest property in mainland Europe”. The ….rest shops are a 45-minute …..ive each way. The house is far from mains water or electri…. and ….lies on its own generators. The ….rent owners are selling the house for £325,000, the price of a small Cotswold cott….. Once ….bling, it is now in good sha…., and the …..tents (including a snooker table) are available by negotia….. .

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My Encounter with Mother Teresa We sat in the …..port till Mother Teresa came in. I felt hot, tired and a bit …..vous. I wanted to kiss her when I met her but she didn’t let me. She told me about her work in Ethi…. . She and her sisters took care of si…. people and home….. children. I wanted to help them and told her about my ….sic. Then I said “I’ll give a …..cert in India for you.” “No, Go…. will give us what we need.” She turned to one of the important people near…. . “I saw two big old ….aces in the city,” she said. “Will you give me them for my homeless children?” “I’m not sure about the palaces but we can find a house for you.” “Two houses” said Mother Teresa. “Two houses.”, was the re…. . I ….stood that Mother Teresa could ask for ….thing and she would get it. She was all good…. . She wanted nothing for ….self. Then she took my hand and said “I can do something you can’t do and you can do something I can’t do but we ….th have to do it.

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likely sixty-minute every 2 0 The BBC World Service on 1)___________ claims a regular worldwide 2)___________ of about twenty-five million for its English language programmes. It is 3)__________ directly by the British Foreign Office, 4)__________ any attempt to control the content of programmes is vigorously fought 5)___________. It is broadcast 6)___________ the world and nobody who 7)__________ access to a radio with short wave need be without it. The 8)__________ listener today is under thirty, male, 9)___________ to be relatively well educated, for whom English is probably a second or even third language. 10)___________ women tune in, which is 11)___________ there is no women’s programme 12)__________ in its twenty-four hour service. The biggest and most important of the news programmes is News hour, a 13)__________ survey of world news which goes out 14)___________ night at 10 pm British time. This slot cannot 15)__________ everyone but it is the optimum time to catch those listeners having breakfast in Hong Kong or settling down for the night in West Africa. It can 16)___________ recommended to anyone who wants to understand the world, not 17)__________ Britain. At any 18)__________, that is its 19)____________ and certainly by comparison, the British 20)___________ news programmes seem trivial and parochial.

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FLYING LESSONS One of the most 1)_________________ birdmen was 62-year-old French nobleman, the Marquis de Bacqueville, 2)_____________ , in 1742, prepared to fly 3)____________ the River Seine in Paris with paddles 4)_______________ to his arms and legs. At the last moment, he had second 5)____________ about his invention and asked a servant to try it 6)____________ first. The servant, sensing that refusal 7)______________ mean unemployment, diplomatically pointed out that a valet 8)___________ not possibly precede his master. The Marquis did not know 9)_______________ to reply and, with a big crowd waiting 10)______________, realized he had no choice. He would have to do it himself. He jumped out of a window on the 11)_____________ floor of his house and began flapping his paddles 12)______________. He fell to the ground like a 13)____________, narrowly 14)_____________ the pavement, but landing in...