English test and exercises 1

Part 1 Part 1 Talking Shop When business people get together they often just talk about work This is called “talking shop” Write in the missing pairs of words in the empty spaces (underlined) below in[.]

Part 1

Talking Shop: When business people get together they often just talk about work This is called “talking shop”

Write in the missing pairs of words in the empty spaces (underlined) below

in+distributor out+product up+plant down+factory with+supplier to+office for+contract off+workers of+job under+takeover

1 A I understand you’re _ talks with a local _in Naples

B Yeah, that’s right In fact’ we’ve already reached an agreement

2 A They say GM is laying _5,000 in the UK

B Is that right? Well, I knew they were downsizing

3 A Someone told me Sony are a new _in December

B Yes, I heard that too Some kind of multi-media entertainment system

4 A I hear you’re thinking leaving your at Hewlett- Packard

B Well, yes Just between us, I’m moving to Cisco Systems

5 A I understand you’re been transferred head _in Stockholm

B Well, it’s not official yet, but yes, I’m going just after Christmas

6 A They say there’re _ threat from a hostile _bid

B Really? It’s the first I’ve heard of it

7 A Someone told me they’re doing a deal _ a in Tel Aviv

B Well that makes sense They do most of their business there

8 A I hear you’re bidding a new _ in Singapore

B Yeah, we are The negotiations are going quite well, in fact

9 A Someone told me they are closing _ the Liverpool

B It doesn’t surprise me From what I’ve heard, they’re trying to centralise

production

10 A I hear GEC are setting a new _ in Warsaw

B Warsaw? I thought it was Prague

Complete the following humorous article using the comparative and superlative

expressions in the box

a-g

a lot more - by far the lowest - world’s highest - little safer - much better - compared with - even worse

h-n

half as many - 10% longer - one of the best - as famous as - twice as likely - significantly happier - a little more

HOW TO LIVE FOREVER: 8 Golden rules

Rule 1 Don’t live in Iceland With long dark winters, sub-zero temperatures and active volcanos, it has the (a) _ suicide rate Move to Palm Beach, Florida, where you have a (b) _ chance of living to be over a 100 – like the rest of the residents

Rule 2 Don’t go to Johannesburg It’s the murder capital of the world Statistically, it’s (c) _ dangerous than Sao Paolo or New York Milan’s a (d) _ but try not to breathe The pollution’s (e) _ than in Mexico City

Rule 3 Don’t get sick in Equatorial Guinea There’s only one doctor to every 70,000 patients, and no anesthetic If you have to be ill, be ill in Kuwait It has (f) death rate in the world Only 3.1 people per thousand die annually, (g) 11.2 in UK

Rule 4 If you’re a man, think of becoming a woman On average, women live (h) than men If you’re a woman, stay single Crime figures show woman are (i) _to be killed by their partner than anybody else

Rule 5 Smoke one cigarette a day It won’t do you much harm and, according to some doctors, it’s (j) _ ways of avoiding senility in old age

Rule 6 Drink red wine - in moderation (k) red wine drinkers suffer from heart conditions as white wine and beer drinkers Drinking all three is not an option Rule 7 Become a “chocoholic” Chocolate isn’t good for you, but it releases chemicals

in the brain that make you (l) _ And it’s a medical fact that happiness prolongs life

Rule 8 Die young and famous – like Elvis and John Lennon People will still believe you are alive Even if you can’t be (m) _ Marilyn Monroe, you can be (n) _ careful than they were No sex, no drugs, no rock ‘n’ roll You won’t actually live longer It will just seem like it!

Part 3

Telephoning

You are going to Berlin on business in a couple of weeks You know your partner did some business there a while ago Write down the full questions you would use (using the prompts below) when telephoning your partner to ask him/her

information about his/her trip.

- Which airline / fly with?

- Where / stay?

- Ask about the food.

- Ask about the people.

- What / do / evening?

- Language problems?

- Meetings/ o.k.?

- Present or gift?

Use the pairs of words in the box to complete the sentences.

disturbed + hold expecting + pick up real + unplug possible + answer busy + ring important + switch on

1 If I’m , I’ll just let the phone

2 If I don’t want to be , I tell my secretary to all my calls

3 If , I try to the phone before the fourth ring

4 If I’m a call from the boss, I _the phone immediately

5 If I’m in the middle of something , I the answerphone

6 If I’m having a _ crisis, I _the damn thing!

Complete sentences 6–12 using a word from the first box and then a word from the second box Use two words more than once.

speak go put get hold

call to through over back up on

6 I’m sorry, it’s a bad line Can you _ _ please?

7 Can you _ _ a moment while I check?

8 I’d like to _ _ Mr Karsli, please

9 His line’s free now I’ll _ you _

10 I’m not with you Could you _ _ that again?

11 Could you ask him to _ me _ when he gets in? I have to speak to him

today

12 Leave your message after the tone and I’ll _ _ to you

Part 5

Underline the best alternatives (in italics) in the following conversation.

13 A: Hi Gill I haven’t seen you for a long time What do you do? / How are you? / How are you being?

14 B: Fine And you? / Well / How do you do?

A: Actually I’m a bit nervous I’m going for an interview at Infonet next week You had an interview with them, didn’t you?

B: That’s right

A: How did it go?

15 B: It was OK The interview take / taken / took about two hours.

16 A: Two hours! That’s long / longer/ the longest than any interview I’ve had

before

17 B: The trickyest / trickiest / most tricky question was what I thought

my main weakness is

18 A: Did they had offered / offered / offer you the job?

19 B: No But the salary weren’t / wasn’t / didn’t was very good anyway

The reading below describes interviews and research into people’s working lives Sentences 20–25 are what some of the people who were interviewed said Match the sentences with paragraphs A, B, C or D from the reading Write the letters on the lines.

20 ‘I’m not as busy as I was when I first started.’ _

21 ‘I like it when colleagues call me at work –sometimes it’s about work but

sometimes it’s just to chat.’ _

22 ‘I wish I could see my family more.’ _

23 ‘My phone seems to ring every five minutes I constantly have to stop what I’m

doing.’ _

24 ‘I work much harder now than I did when I first started thirty years ago.’ _

25 ‘It’s because I travel for my job Sometimes I Ieave the house at four in the

morning.’ _

A When Dr Rosemary Stewart asked 160 British managers to keep a diary of their activities for a month, she discovered the average manager had only nine 30-minute periods without interruption Those she interviewed complained that ‘there is just no time

to think’ and that ‘it’s one damn thing after another’

B Canadian professor Dr Henry Mintzberg found that half the tasks managers perform take only nine minutes or less Only 10% last more than an hour Typically, executives work very fast on several things at once, and welcome any interruption to their schedule to stop and take a break

C According to a survey published in Wired magazine, US executives work 25%

longer hours than they did in the 1970s Market researchers at Kellogg’s discovered that 13% of them eat breakfast in the car The most shocking study shows that the average American father spends just six minutes a day talking to his kids

D In a recent interview for a profile of global business leaders, famous workaholic Bill Gates revealed that he can at last afford to slow down ‘There are days that I work 14 hours,’ he admits, ‘but most days I don’t work more than 12 hours On weekends I rarely work more than 8 hours.’

Part 7

Please read the following Answer the questions that follow

THE NY-LON LIFE

Ron Kastner is a classic New Yorker: first off the plane, first out of the airport Carrying

a small single bag, he walks straight through customs and immigration He doesn’t look like he spent six hours in the air(business class will do that to you) He owns an

apartment in the East Village in Manhattan, but tonight, London is home.: a flat in Belgravia, London’s wealthiest neighborhood Kastner is a resident of a place called NY-LON, a single city inconveniently separated by an ocean He flies between the two cities five times a month David Eastman lives there too A Londoner who is a VIP at

Agency.com in New York, he travels the JFK-Heathrow route so often he’s on a first-name basis with the the Virgin Atlantic business class cabin crew

As different as New York and London are, a growing number of people are living, working and playing in the two cities as if they are one The cities are drawn together by

a shared language and culture, but mostly by money – more of which flows through Wall Street and the City each day than all the rest of the world’s financial centers combined The boom in

financial services attracted advertising agencies, accounting firms and management consultancies to both cities Then came hotel and restaurant businesses, architecture and design, real estate and construction, air travel, tourism and other service industries

Trevor Beattle, the London-based creative director of ad agency TBWA says ‘New York and London are both so trendy and so modern now in terms of fashion, art, photography, music.’ We dream about each other’s cities,’ says Joel Kissin, a New Zealander who after

25 years in London bought a penthouse on new york’s Fifth avenue ‘If you’re in New York your dream is London, and if you’re in London your dream is New York

1 What is the predominant reason for NY and London getting closer together?

2 The other reasons, apart from the one mentioned in question one?

4 What two words are used to describe both cities?

5 Where does Ron Kastner live?

6 What phrase is used to show that R Kastner is well known to the flight personnel?

7 What are the three types of living accommodation mentioned in the article?

Part 8

Cover letter

Please select one of the following below, and write an application/cover letter

Take special care of the format, making sure to include the following:

 Your name/address

 Date

 Person/Address who is the receiver

 Salutation

 Why you are writing…Who you are…Marketing yourself

 Closure

 Overall: Sentence structure, grammar, coherence.

Marks for this exercise will be determined by the examiner on the basis if the letter would guarantee a further interview

1 Administrative Assistant Fast-paced Wood Dale office seeks aspiring

undergraduate with strong computer skills Proficient in MS Word & Excel, PowerPoint a plus Must be detail oriented, able to handle multiple tasks, and possess strong

communication skills Excellent benefits, salary, and work environment

Send letter/resume to Lisa Dingdong, Personnel Manager, Wood Dale Inc., 24 Getalife Avenue, 32TW1 Nowhere, Ireland

2 Accounting Assistant Established leader in the vacation ownership industry has

immediate opening in its Dublin corp accounting dept for an Accounting Assistant Responsibilities include: bank reconciliation, preparation of deposits, AP, and cash receips posting Join our fast-growing company and enjoy our great benefits package Flex work hours, medical, dental insurance

Letter/resume to Joe Bloggs, Personnel Manager, SunandOwn Co., 12 Makeabuck Rd., Dublin 4, Ireland

Cover letter page