Reading Demo Aptis Advanced

Part 1: Four people were interviewed for an article. Read the four opinions. Then, match the opinions to the statements.

TRAVEL BOOKS

A) The Beach by Alex Garland 

Alex Garland’s tale of a group of work-shy travellers who independently discover an island paradise in Thailand inspired a generation of gap year students to head to the Far East. Garland acidly investigates what such people would do if they found their idea of Paradise – keep it to themselves, whatever the cost. What purports to be a likeable, broad-minded community turns out to be cliquish, mistrustful and selfish. Garland displays nerve in slaughtering the characters that are likely to closely resemble his main readership.

B) Notes From a Small Island by Bill Bryson 

An unabashed Anglophile, Bryson spent 20 years in Britain before deciding to repatriate to his native Iowa. Notes from a Small Island depicts his farewell journey across «the green and kindly island» with humour and nostalgia. Although readers from all nations will enjoy it, only the British themselves will experience the full gamut of emotions that this book has to offer; at times, cringing as Bryson deftly points out their most ridiculous foibles, while at others feeling immense pride at its rich and varied culture. 

C) Arabian Sands by Wilfred Thesiger 

Thesiger’s account of a precarious journey through the Arabian deserts met with considerable acclaim ever since its publication in 1956. The book covers five years that the author spent in and around the Empty Quarter, half a million square miles of cruel desert. Before Thesiger, no other traveller had dared to cross this empty wasteland, except for the Bedu who inhabited it. Thesiger lived as one of the tribe, describing their unimaginable hardships as if they were mere inconveniences. His experiences are unique, and will remain so now that the world he described, which had been unchanged for millennia, has been invaded by oil companies. 

D) A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush by Eric Newby 

Newby humorously describes the trials and tribulations encountered, that Eric Newby and his climbing partner Hugh Carless as they attempt, and fail, to scale one of Afghanistan’s most challenging peaks. However, neither Newby nor his friend have any experience in climbing; moreover the area they are visiting is basically uncharted and potentially violent territory. Their expedition is so ill-thought-out that at times it reads like a farce. At one point they encounter the explorer Wilfred Thesiger as they are blowing up their air-beds. ‘You must be a couple of pansies,’ comments the experienced adventurer. Although Newby provides enough description of the landscape to give the reader a sense of being there, it does not overshadow the exploration of human character which is the overriding theme of the book. 

Which Book…

Part 2: Match the Headings

For paragraphs 1 to 6 match the best heading. There is one extra heading. 

A) A daily grind

B) Workplace fulfills a fundamental need

C) High likelihood of less willpower to work

D)Boost the confidence of the worker

E) Less distraction and higher commitment

F) A tough combination

G) Homeworking is on the ball

Working from Home

Part 3: Read the text. Choose the word that fits in the gap.

Vesuvius

Vesuvius eruption baked some people to death—and turned one brain to glass.

Cerebral tissues in archaeological discoveries are extremely rare. Even when 1 ____________, they are often unpreserved, having turned 2 ____________a soapy mixture of compounds like glycerol and fatty acids. They decided to take a closer look at one particular victim, found in the 1960s inside the Collegium Augustalium, a building 3 ____________to the cult of Emperor Augustus, who ruled Rome from 63 B.C. to A.D. 14.

Unexpectedly, a glassy substance was found inside the cracked skull, which was surprising because the eruption itself produced no glassy volcanic material. The skull’s glass 4 ____________proteins and fatty acids common in the brain, as well as fatty acids typically found in the oily secretions of human hair. No plant or animal sources of these substances were located nearby.

It’s amazing and terrifying at the same time to think that such intense heat can turn your brain into glass.

The glassy shards are likely the remains of the victim’s brain—and the first example of its kind ever found in any ancient or modern context.

This tissue-turned-glass had to have been 5 ____________by vitrification, a process wherein a material heats until it liquifies and then very rapidly cools into glass rather than an ordinary solid. Charred wood nearby suggests that the temperatures in the building potentially reached 968 degrees Fahrenheit. This was seemingly hot enough to ignite body fat, vaporize soft tissues, and melt brain tissue. The brain matter was then suddenly quenched, but what 6 ____________that to happen currently remains a mystery.

“It’s amazing and terrifying at the same time to think that such intense heat can turn your brain into glass,” says Miguel Vilar, a biological anthropologist at the National Geographic Society, who was not involved with the work.

But the vitrification process here is not 7 ____________ fully fleshed out, and because it isn’t clear why the fate of this victim’s brain is (at present) unique among the volcano’s victims, it cannot be said for sure that this is truly vitrified brain matter.

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Part 4: Read the two texts. Choose the appropriate phrase or word that fits in the gap.

Driverless cars

Driverless cars: the main players

While the driverless car industry has become 1. ________ with the likes of Google and Tesla, the field is rapidly expanding.

Google began its self-driving car project back in 2009, and was the first company to put a fully driverless car on a public road in Austin, Texas back in October 2015. Tesla boss Elon Musk is confident that all future cars will be self-driving, and that steering wheels in vehicles will become a thing of the past. Apple has admitted it’s working on its own autonomous system under the codename Project Titan, 2. ________  it’s unknown if it’s planning to make its own car or just the software. The traditional car industry has also been quick to embrace the sea change towards self-driving cars. Automakers Ford, BMW, Volvo, Fiat and Volkswagen are all also working on their own autonomous vehicles, in partnership with software firms including Intel, Mobileye, Bosch and Nvidia. The development of driverless cars is one of the few technological areas the government is 3. ________ backing. The technology was granted a shout out in this year’s Queen’s Speech along with billions of pounds in investment. Actually, the Transport Secretary Chris Grayling declared driverless cars will be on the UK’s roads by 2021. Mr Grayling hailed the potential benefits for the elderly, disabled and general public and described the arrival of the autonomous era as “tremendously exciting.”

Drivers doubt the future of autonomous cars

The potential benefits are manifest, according to the evangelists. Self-driving electric vehicles could greatly 4. ________ congestion, pollution, fuel consumption, road rage and, significantly, road deaths. There are, on average, 1,700 deaths or serious injuries on UK roads each year and human error is a factor in up to 94 percent of accidents, studies have concluded. The adoption of electric autonomous vehicles could also save the lives of the 5,000 people who die each year from road pollution. And new vehicles could also help save us money. The average car costs motorists around £3,400 each year in fuel, maintenance, insurance and road tax costs. An automated road network, granting the public access to on-demand driverless vehicles to get them from A to B could lower that cost to just £350 a year, a report from management consultancy firm Vendigital found.

However, there are still significant obstacles in the road, with a 5. ________ public proving one of the hardest to navigate. The public seems divided over the issue of safety. While there is an acceptance that automated systems eradicate human error from driving, people are still generally distrustful of a machine’s ability to react to unplanned events, such as a pedestrian stepping out in front of the car or accidents involving other vehicles. The UK’s roads are also woefully under-prepared for the driverless revolution. Autonomous cars rely on 4G signals to communicate with one another, and coverage across much of the country is patchy, particularly along our motorways. New networks and infrastructure will need to be built. Not to mention that the potential impact on jobs is 6. ________. Around 688,000 people work in car rental, maintenance, repair and cleaning, road construction and taxi and bus services across the UK, contributing approximately £72bn to the economy each year. Automation will inevitably create some new jobs, but many more are likely to be lost. Similarly, insurance and liability will pose a major headache in the autonomous future. To ensure that the product is put on the market it should outperform at least several times human driving, the industry and lawmakers will need to implement a robust testing mechanism.

1. a) synonymous / b) related / c) similar

2. a) therefore / b) hence / c) though

3. a) reluctantly / b) enthusiastically / c) relentlessly backing.

4. a) decrease / b) reduce / c) stop

5. a) dubious / b) unreliable / c) clear

6. a) predictable/ b) floundering / c) staggering

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