Exam insight 5

Listening
1Match the question number of the sentences in exercise 2 to the gaps A–D. 

  • Aa type of person / people2 and 6

  • Ba place1, 3 and 4

  • Can amount of money7

  • Da possession5


2EXAM TASK Play the recording and listen to Tara talking about her bike ride from Ireland to Croatia. Complete sentences 1–7 with information from the text. Write only one word or number in each gap. 

  • 1Tara spent time in hospital when she was a child.

  • 2She stayed with different families during her journey.

  • 3She didn't always cycle 100 km per day because she had to cross some mountains.

  • 4She rode her bike in seven different countries.

  • 5Someone stole her passport in France.

  • 6Some climbers helped her when she was lost in Switzerland.

  • 7She donated more than £3,500 to Guy's Hospital in London.

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Audio script

Tara Hello, my name’s Tara Kelly, and I want to talk to you today about my journey by bike from Ireland to Croatia! This time last year, I couldn’t even ride a bike! I had a lot of health problems when I was a child and I stayed in hospital for a long time. Now I’m really healthy and fit, but I wanted to raise money for Guy’s Hospital in London, where I spent so much time as a child. So I decided to cycle from Dublin in Ireland to Dubrovnik in Croatia.
I set up a website, and I got some amazing offers of help from people along the route. I stayed with a different family each night, and they gave me a good meal and a safe place to sleep. I usually cycled about a hundred kilometres in one day. But some days I cycled a lot less, because there are some very big mountains to go over in Switzerland and Italy.
I started my journey in Dublin, Ireland and took the boat over to Liverpool. Then I cycled down to the south of England and took another boat across to France. I went through France, Switzerland, Italy, Slovenia and finally along the coast of Croatia. There were some very scary moments in my journey. Someone stole my passport in France, so that delayed me for several days. I nearly crashed into a car in Italy and then in Switzerland I got completely lost in the mountains. That was probably my scariest experience. Fortunately I met a group of climbers, and they helped me to get back onto the right road.
The final part of the journey was the most difficult. I was tired, and I missed my home and my friends and family. But it was also the best part of the journey because the scenery was so beautiful.
When I got home, I went to London – by plane this time, not by bike – and I visited Guy’s Hospital. I was proud to give them over £3,500. It’s been an incredible year and I’ve met some wonderful people, but most importantly, I’ve raised money for a really good cause.

Reading
3EXAM TASK Read the text quickly. Which text is about: 

  • aa place for dead people3

  • ba very old city2

  • ca place which has got trees and plants all around it1

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Reading
4EXAM TASK Read the text and choose the correct answers. 

  • 1What can visitors see in Angkor Wat?

    Lots of temples that are important for Buddhists and Hindus.

  • 2Why does the writer mention Paris?

    Paris is smaller than Angkor Wat.

  • 3It was difficult to build Machu Picchu because the main material for the buildings was at the bottom of the mountains.

  • 4You can see Tutankhamun's body in the Valley of the Kings.

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Use of English
5EXAM TASK Read the text about Kira Salak. Complete gaps 1–8 with the missing words. Use one word in each gap. 

Kira Salak is a novelist, a travel writer and an adventurer. She 1has visited some of the world's 2most dangerous places, including Madagascar, Borneo, Rwanda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Book Magazine described her as '3the craziest woman adventurer of our day.' And the New York Times said, 'She's a real life

Lara Croft.'

Kira was born 4in Chicago, USA, in 1971. She loved sport 5at school, and when she was a teenager she wanted to train as an Olympic athlete. But she was also very interested in writing and finally she decided to give 

6up

 

her Olympic training and to focus on travel writing.

When Kira was twenty-four 7years old, she became the first woman to travel across Papua New Guinea, and later she wrote a book about her experience. In 2005 she cycled over 1,200 kilometres across Alaska to the Arctic Ocean

and in 2006 she travelled 966 kilometres by kayak down the Niger River to Timbuktu.

She's also written a novel, won several journalism awards, and when she isn't travelling, she enjoys taekwondo, camping and mountain climbing.

What are her plans for the future? 'I want 8to ride a horse across Mongolia,' she says.

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