READING PRACTICE TEST 1

SECTION 1 Questions 1-14

You are advised to spend 20 minutes on Questions 1-14. First, read the text and answer Questions 1-9.

Newtown Council
Dear Householder,
Recycling in your area

Are you doing all you can to recycle your rubbish? It only takes a minute to recycle and help reduce domestic waste as well
as the costs of waste management. Here are some ideas to get you started.
Town Clerk
A NEVER THROW AWAY VEGETABLE MATTER: START A COMPOST BIN IN YOUR GARDEN OR ON YOUR
BALCONY. YOU'LL BE AMAZED HOW MUCH
THIS CAN REDUCE THE BULK OF YOUR RUBBISH AND IT'S GREAT FOR THE
GARDEN TOO.
B DON'T THROW USED CONTAINERS IN THE RUBBISH. GET INTO THE HABIT OF SORTING THEM INTO
RECYCLING CATEGORIES: GLASS, ALUMINIUM,
PLASTIC AND PAPER,
С GLASS CONTAINERS CAN BE PLACED IN THE BOTTLE BANKS AT SUPERMARKET CAR PARKS
THROUGHOUT THE CITY. LOOK FOR THE BIG GREEN BINS. ALTERNATIVELY LEAVE YOUR BOTTLES
OUT FOR COLLECTION ON MONDAY MORNING.
D ALUMINIUM CANS CAN EARN YOU CASH SO DON'T JUST THROW THEM AWAY - SAVE THEM AND SAVE
MONEY. RING YOUR COUNCIL TO FIND OUT WHEN THEY COLLECT.
E PAPER IS EASILY RECYCLED. WEEKLY COLLECTIONS ARE COMMON IN MOST AREAS. MAKE SURE
YOU PLACE RECYCLABLE PAPER IN THE BLACK BINS PROVIDED. ASK AT THE COUNCIL OFFICES IF
YOU DON'T ALREADY HAVE A BIN. BUT REMEMBER, WAXED PAPER IS NOT ACCEPTED.
F MOST PLASTIC BOTTLES AND CONTAINERS CAN BE RECYCLED. LOOK ON THE BOTTOM OF THE
CONTAINER FOR THE IDENTIFICATION CODE,

MORE RECYCLING TIPS

The Council now includes vinyl bottles in their kerbside collection scheme. Here are some facts about vinyl.
• Vinyl (or PVC) is one of the three most commonly used plastics.
• About 80 per cent of the 180,000 tonnes of vinyl currently used in this country each year goes into long-life
applications such as pipe and cable. About 10% is used in short-life products such as bottles and film wrap
• Clear vinyl bottles are used for liquids such as fruit juice, mineral water and cooking oil. Coloured vinyl is used for
products such as detergents and cosmetics.
• The identification code for vinyl is 13

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Questions 10-14
Look at the text about the Museum. There are five paragraphs A-Е. From the list of headings below choose
the most suitable heading for each paragraph. Write the appropriate numbers (i-vii). There are more
headings than paragraphs so you will not use them all. You may use any of the headings more than once

Join the Australian Museum Society and start enjoying the benefits
A As a Society member you can visit the Museum - considered to be one of the finest natural history museums in the
world absolutely free. A brilliant resource for adults and children, this museum offers you the opportunity to extend
you understanding of our environment and cultural heritage through our superb collection of books and documents
as well as the permanent and changing displays.
B The Society presents a diverse and interesting programme of Lectures - Seminars - Films - Social Events. You’ll be
invited to previews of all Museum exhibitions and have the chance to see exhibitions not usually open to the general
public.
C Included in your membership is the award-winning magazine 'Nature Australia' which retails for $33 but comes to
you as an exclusive membership privilege at no additional
D Be part of the growth and development of the museum supporting its work in preserving our environment and
heritage for generations to come. The Museum takes pride in the educational role it can play in helping young
Australians to care for the environment.
E Embark on adventures! The Museum organises exciting and informative field trips to remote places led by scientists
and specialists renowned in their fields. Previous trips have included destinations such as the Antarctic and Easter
Island.
List of Headings
i Family events
ii Free gift
iii Looking after the future
iv Travel opportunities
v World class collection of fossils
vi Private viewings
vii International reputation
10 Paragraph A 12 Paragraph С 14 Paragraph E
11 Paragraph В 13 Paragraph D

SECTION 2 Questions 15-26

You are advised to spend 20 minutes on Questions 15-26.

IMPROVE YOUR SKILLS AT THE COMPUTER CENTRE

Two courses are available – come in and see us now!
TYPING COURSE
The university offers an annual keyboard skills course for all new students during orientation week. The
course is designed to teach touch typing to people at the beginner's level, though experienced typists wishing to
improve their skills may also benefit from the program. The course is computer based and draws on the latest findings
in applied psychology to help you learn at your own pace. The method encourages the use of all ten fingers for
maximum speed and accuracy and focuses on the need to establish good typing habits from the start.
The typing course is three courses in one. It teaches the alphabetic/numeric keyboard in eight structured
lessons. Then the speed and accuracy lessons build your speed to whatever goals you choose. Finally the program
teaches the numeric keypad in three simple lessons, particularly useful for spreadsheet work and entering statistical
data. Participants each work at their own computer and are free to undertake the course in whatever order they
choose. A qualified teacher who is thoroughly familiar with the program will be available at all times to explain the
method and assist with any personal learning difficulties.
HOW TO ENROL
Typing courses are held at the Computer Centre in the Wilson Building. Tuition is free but there is a nominal
charge for the accompanying book which you will need to purchase. Intensive courses begin every morning during
orientation week at 9.00 am Monday to Friday. To qualify for a place, you must show your student card when you enrol.
Places arе limited, so get in early!
ADVANCED WORD PROCESSING SKILLS COURSE
Monday evenings from 5.00-7.00 pm

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 Gain an understanding of the concepts and skills of word processing. Learn how to create and edit a
document, recall documents from disk and other important skills. Familiarity with a PC computer keyboard
and a mouse is essential, plus an ability to touch type. To enrol please complete a form and leave it at the
Reception Desk. Classes are free but there is a nominal charge for the use of paper and disks.

Questions 15-16
Choose the appropriate letters A-D.
15 The typing course is aimed at
A people with no experience. С experienced typists.
В a mixed level group. D computing students.
16 The typing course
A takes three full days. С is divided into three parts.
B consists of three lessons. D requires at least three hours.

Questions 17-20
In boxes 17-20 on your answer sheet write
TRUE if the statement is true
FALSE if the statement is false
NOT GIVEN if no information is given about this
Example Answer
Using a computer to learn has made typing much easier. NOT GIVEN
17 The typing course is available every year.
18 Touch typing is an essential skill for university.
19 The Advanced Word Processing course takes place once a week,
20 There are no costs involved in doing either of the courses.

Questions 21-26
Look at the information about activities on the University Open Day. Which place would you visit for the following
reasons? Write the appropriate letter A-H. You may use any letter more than once.
EXAMPLE ANSWER
You are interested in finding out about sporting facilities. G
21 You may be interested in living in on campus.
22 You want to buy something to remind you of your visit today.
23 You want to listen to some music during the day.
24 You are interested in the history of the settlement of Australia.
25 You want to attend a course to improve your reading speed.
26 You want to have a hot meal at lunch time.

UNIVERSITY COLLEGE
UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OPEN DAY
In addition to the mini lectures and talks taking place across campus on Saturday, there are a number of other ways to
find out about university life.

A Fielder Library will be open from 9.00 to 5.00. This library is one of the largest libraries in Australia and is proud
of its outstanding collection of specialist books and learning resources. The Library's Rare Books Collection
features an exhibition on Australian Explorers of the 18th and 1 9th Centuries.
B Guided tours of the Language Centre and Computer Laboratories will be running during the day. You are
welcome to try out the excellent technical facilities of the Language Centre. Tours leave at 1 1.00, 1.00 and 3.00
from the reception area at the main entrance. Find out about Study Skills programs and free English classes.
C The university has three museums. The Nuttall Museum situated near the Quad, with its collection of classical
archaeological exhibits and ancient pottery, the University Art Gallery and the McCaulay Museum of Natural
History are open all day.
D Residential college life is fun and rewarding and the best way to make friends in your first year at
university. Tours of the colleges run throughout the day. Ask at the Colleges Information Booth
for tour times and the cost of living in.
E The University Union's Contact Information Desk and campus store in the Hart Building wiil be open from 9.00.
T-shirts, diaries, bags and university souvenirs will be on sale. Sandwiches and drinks are also available.

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F Interactive displays and exhibits by Chemistry, Mathematics, Biology, Physics and Psychology
departments will be held throughout the day in the Chemistry building. Come in and talk to us about
our courses and your areas of interest.
G The new University College Sports and Aquatic Centre includes an Olympic pool, tennis courts, fitness centre,
sports hall, squash courts and sports bar. Tours of the Sports Centre depart from the Information Booth in the
centre of the Quad at 10.15, 1 2.15 and 2.15.
H A variety of hot and cold food will be available throughout the day in the Hart Building. The University Jazz
Society will perform in the bar from 10.30 and a debate will be held in the main hall from 1.00 to 2.00.

SECTION 3 Questions 27-40

You are advised to spend about 20 minutes on Questions 27-40.
Read the following text and answer Questions 27-40.

300-year-old secrets of Stradivarius

Stradivarius violins can cost £2 million. Does their sound match their price? Julian Brown asks what a 17th century
craftsman knew that modern instrument makers are only just discovering.
Antonio Stradivari was born in 1б44, into a respected family of craftsmen in Cremona, a northern Italian town
that was already tamed far afield for its violins. Stradivari was apprenticed to the instrument maker Nicolo Amati at
around the age of 12 and by the time he died, aged 93, he had made around a thousand violins and at least 300 other
stringed instruments, including cellos, lutes and guitars. A productive life, certainly, and a reasonably well-rewarded
one: he sold most of his output for the equivalent of around £4 each, and appeared well satisfied with the moderate,
middle-class income and lifestyle his craft brought him and his family. Stradivari could never have dreamt that, 250
years after his death, his violins are auctioned and reach prices anywhere from £200,000 to several million.
What makes a Stradivarius violin so valuable? That's a question that continues to intrigue musicians,
scientists and the public to this day. For decades, scientists and violin makers have tried to establish the Stradivarius's
"secrets".
During his career, Stradivari made certain subtle changes in the proportions of the violin, gradually increasing
the instrument's power. While his early work followed the traditions of his teacher Amati, by the close of the 17th century
the Stradivarius had become flatter and broader and the bridge began to look much as it does today.
But violin makers have long copied the proportions of Stradivarius's instruments without achieving the same
results. So the secret must lie elsewhere. But where? In the deep, lustrous auburn-red varnish, according to one
theory. But there's a problem. Strads have withstood nearly 300 years of wear and tear. Not surprisingly, the rich
varnish on many of them has taken a battering and, in some cases, most of it has been worn away. Yet these
instruments still sound magnificent.
In the 1980s a US researcher came up with a new theory: the secret lay in the wood. Stradivari used wood -
maple and spruce - that was delivered to Cremona by being floated along the Italian canals; perhaps the contact with
water had changed its character. The idea was initially supported by electron microscope pictures of the violin's
surface: Strad wood was found to be riddled with tiny, open pores, while those of modern instruments were tightly
closed.
But later research suggested that whether the pores showed as open or closed under examination was not
dependent on the violin at all, but rather on how the wood sample had been cut and prepared before it was examined
under microscopy.
Electron microscopy, however, may yet provide the answer. Recent research in Cambridge has found a layer
beneath the Strad's famed varnish. Under the electron microscope it appears like a seam of marzipan sandwiched
between the cake of wood and the icing-like varnish. Claire Barlow and Jim Woodhouse, who work in Cambridge
University's Engineering Department, were able to obtain a few small samples of wood taken from Strads and other old
instruments that were undergoing restoration. They subjected the middle layer to spectroscopic x-ray analysis to find
out what it contained. The results varied from sample to sample, but they all contained a range of minerals including
aluminium, silicon, phosphorous and calcium.
This turns out to be consistent with another idea put forward in the 1980s. For some time experts had been
arguing over whether the craftsmen of Cremona had used some kind of wood sealant before applyingvarnish to the
instruments they were making.
John Chipura, an American geologist and violin enthusiast, published a letter in the magazine The Strad
suggesting that this sealant may well have been a layer of Roman cement. Readily available, the cement was made
from local materials including volcanic ash, whose mineral constituents are very similar to those revealed by Barlow
and Woodhouse's spectroscopic analysis.

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 Even so, Barlow is reluctant to draw any firm conclusions about the purpose of the layer. "It's
tempting to think that it might have been applied as a sealant, or to provide a smooth surface on which you
could varnish easily. But these layers are much thicker than you'd need to do either of those things. They
were put on for some purpose that we still don't really understand."
Barlow's collaborator, Jim Woodhouse, has spent many years studying the acoustics of violins and he was
interested to find out what effect the mineral layer would have on the sound quality of the instruments.
"Virtually any treatment of the wood, such as a preservative or varnish, will change the vibrational properties
of the violin and therefore its sound," he explains. "We have taken flat plates of spruce and varnished them with various
combinations of finishes, but the differences in the vibrational properties we found were really rather subtle. So there
may be an effect, but it's not immediately obvious."
Undoubtedly Stradivari was a supreme craftsman, but the secret of his genius may not lie in one aspect of his
craftsmanship but in a combination of factors, "To make a violin you've got to do a great many things right and in
harmony with one another." Says Woodhouse. "If there is a secret to the Stradivarius sound, it is in achieving a perfect
balance."

Questions 27-33
Complete the summary of the reading passage below. Choose your answers from the box at the bottom of the page.
NB There are more words than spaces so you will not use them all. You may use any of the words more than once.

The Stradivarius Violin

Example Answer
Stradivari made his first violins in the traditional... (0). . of his teacher, Nicolo Amati. style
Later models had different ... (27)... , becoming flatter and broaden and people believed this accounted for their special
sound. But subsequent (28) ... of the Stradivarius failed to demonstrate this. Another theory was that the ... (29)... had a
special effect on the instrument. However, many Stradivarius violins have lost this and yet still retain their special
musical qualities. An American researcher claimed that the method of ... (30) ... had resulted in a change in the ...(31).,.
of the wood and this theory was supported at first/ then later rejected. The most up-to-date research is investigating a
... (32) ... of material that has been found within the violin which may affect the ...(33)….. of the Stradivarius.

List of Words: colour, varnish, style, sample, composition, sound, wood, music, transportation, proportions,
layer, instruments, construction, violins, copies, vibrations

Questions 34-36
The diagram below shows a cross section of a Stradivarius violin. Complete the labels on the diagram by selecting NO
MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the Reading Passage to fill each numbered space.

Wood is ….(35)……

….(34)……
Extra layer containing a
variety of …(36)…
Questions 37-40
Using NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS answer the following questions.
37 How much did Stradivari receive for each violin he made?
38 What natural material did John Chipura suggest was used in making the Stradivarius violin?
39 What quality of the layers makes Claire Barlow doubt their function as a sealant?
40 According to Jim Woodhouse, what might be the key to Stradivari's genius?

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