Part 1
Read the following text and for questions 1-6 choose the correct answers:
Meet the Amazing Watkins Family
The sons are composers and prize-winning musicians, while Dad makes the instruments.
Matthew Rye reports.
Musical families aren’t rare, but one that includes composers, performers, and an instrument maker is unusual.
When South Wales schoolteachers John and Hetty Watkins needed a cello for their ten-year-old son Paul, they baulked at the cost. “Dealers were too expensive,” John says. “So I wondered if I could make one.” He discovered the Welsh School of Instrument Making nearby and attended evening classes for three years.
After crafting violins and violas, John made his first cello. “It turned out really well,” says Paul, now 28. “He made me another later, which I used until recently.” John has since retired from teaching to make violins full-time. He makes up to a dozen violins a year. Selling one to renowned American player Jaime Laredo was “the icing on the cake.”
Both Paul and his younger brother, Huw, were encouraged to play music from an early age. Paul started with piano. “As soon as I could climb up and bang the keys, that’s what I did,” he recalls. But the cello soon called to him. “My folks wanted me to play violin to complete Dad’s string trio, but I didn’t take to it. I admired the cellist in Dad’s group—he seemed so cool. He offered me lessons, and that’s how it began.”
Huw, now 22, took a different path. “My parents were supportive but not pushy,” he says. “Rather than feeling threatened by Paul’s success, I found it inspiring.” Huw is starting to make his mark as a pianist and composer.
John’s cello has played a significant role in Paul’s career. With it, Paul won the BBC Young Musician of the Year competition and became principal cellist of the BBC Symphony Orchestra at just 20. He held the position until last year, still playing his father’s instrument. Recently, Paul acquired a 304-year-old Francesco Rugeri cello on loan from the Royal Academy of Music.
“Dad hasn’t said much about me moving on,” Paul says. “But when he compared the two, he admitted the Rugeri is quite nice! His cello lacks the projection for large halls, but it’ll improve with age—like the Rugeri one, which is already 304 years old.”
Paul’s upcoming performance of Elgar’s Cello Concerto will be broadcast on television, though Paul won’t be able to watch it—he’ll be performing at the Cheltenham Festival the same night. Meanwhile, Huw’s String Quartet will have a premiere at London’s Wigmore Hall.
John and Hetty will have their hands full keeping up with their sons’ achievements. “It’s a busy time,” John says, “but we couldn’t be prouder.”
Why did John Watkins decide to make a cello?
A. He wanted to encourage his son Paul to take up the instrument.
B. He was keen to do a course at the nearby school.
C. He felt that dealers were giving him false information.
D. He wanted to avoid having to pay for one.
What do we learn in the third paragraph about the instruments John has made?
A. He considers the one used by Jaime Laredo to be the best.
B. He is particularly pleased about what happened to one of them.
C. His violins have turned out to be better than his cellos.
D. It took him longer to learn how to make cellos than violins.
Paul first became interested in playing the cello because
A. he admired someone his father played music with.
B. he wanted to play in his father’s group.
C. he was not very good at playing the piano.
D. he did not want to do what his parents wanted.
What do we learn about Huw's musical development?
A. His parents’ attitude has played little part in it.
B. It was slow because he lacked determination.
C. His brother’s achievements gave him an aim.
D. He wanted it to be different from his brother’s.
What does Paul say about the Rugeri cello?
A. His father’s reaction to it worried him.
B. The cello his father made may become as good as it.
C. It has qualities that he had not expected.
D. He was not keen to tell his father that he was using it.
What will require some effort from John and Hetty Watkins?
A. preventing their sons from taking on too much work
B. being aware of everything their sons are involved in
C. reminding their sons what they have arranged to do
D. advising their sons on what they should do next
Part 2
Six sentences have been removed from the article. Choose from the sentences A-G the one which fits each gap. There is one extra sentence which you do not need to use.
The Kingfisher
Wildlife photographer Charlie James is an expert on the kingfisher: a beautiful blue-green bird that lives near streams and rivers, feeding on fish.
Old trees overhang the stream, half shading shallow water. Soft greens, mud browns, and the many different yellows of sunlight are the main colours, as soft as the sounds of water in the breeze. The bird cuts like a laser through the scene, straight and fast, a slice of light and motion so striking you almost feel it. It has gone in a split second, but a trace of the image lingers, its power out of proportion to its size.
Charlie James fell in love with kingfishers at an early age. After all, it is the stuff of legend. Greek myth makes the kingfisher a moon goddess who turned into a bird. Another tale tells how the kingfisher flew so high that its upper body took on the blue of the sky, while its underparts were scorched by the sun.
There is some scientific truth in that story. For despite the many different blues that appear in their coats, kingfishers have no blue pigment at all in their feathers. Rather, the structure of their upper feathers scatters light and strongly reflects blue.
It’s small wonder that some wildlife photographers get so enthusiastic about them. Couple the colours with the fact that kingfishers, though shy of direct human approach, can be easy to watch from a hideout, and you have a recipe for a lifelong passion.
Charlie James’s first hideout was an old blanket which he put over his head while he waited near a kingfisher’s favourite spot. But it took another four years, he reckons, before he got his first decent picture. In the meantime, the European kingfisher had begun to dominate his life. He spent all the time he could by a kingfisher-rich woodland stream.
The trouble was, school cut the time available to be with the birds. So he missed lessons, becoming what he describes as an “academic failure.”
At 16, he was hired as an advisor for a nature magazine. Work as an assistant to the editor followed, then a gradual move to life as a freelance wildlife film cameraman. What he’d really like to do now is make the ultimate kingfisher film. “I’m attracted to the simple approach. I like to photograph parts of kingfisher wings...”
The sentence trails off to nothing. He’s thinking of those colours of the bird he’s spent more than half his life getting close to, yet which still excites interest. But, as Charlie knows, there’s so much more to his relationship with the kingfisher than his work can ever show.
A. This is why a kingfisher may appear to change from bright blue to rich emerald green with only a slight change in the angle at which light falls on it.
B. But his interest in this, the world’s most widespread kingfisher and the only member of its cosmopolitan family to breed in Europe, was getting noticed.
C. A sure sign of his depth of feeling for this little bird is his inability to identify just what it is that draws him to it.
D. The movement sends a highly visible signal to rivals, both males and females, as it defends its stretch of water against neighbours.
E. The bird came back within minutes and sat only a metre away.
F. The photographs succeed in communicating something of his feelings.
G. “No speech, just beautiful images which say it all,” he says.
Part 2
You are going to read a magazine article in which various people talk about their jobs. Choose from the people (A–D). The people may be chosen more than once.
Which person says their job involves:
large amounts of paperwork?
training high-level staff in their area of work?
taking measures to protect public safety?
accepting certain financial limitations?
doing considerable background research?
introducing problems that require solutions?
balancing supply and demand?
producing advertising literature?
organising trips designed to increase people's awareness?
constant updating of their own materials?
corresponding with the public?
My Line of Work
A Lisa – Exhibition Programmes Organiser, Science Museum
I’m responsible for putting temporary exhibitions together. This includes planning and designing the exhibition and promoting it. I have to read up about the subject of the exhibition beforehand and then talk to important people in the area so that I can establish the main themes and aims of the exhibition, and plan what objects and pictures should be displayed. I have to make sure the public can understand the thinking behind the exhibition, which means planning interactive displays, workshops, and theatre. I also have to bring in engineers and electricians to make sure the final display is not dangerous to visitors. Before the exhibition opens, I help design and write the brochures and leaflets that we’ll use to tell people about it.
B Janet – Teacher of London Taxi Drivers
The first thing I do when I get here at 7:30 a.m. is check the accounts. Then I see what new maps and documents need to be produced in order to learn the ‘runs’ or routes necessary to pass the London taxi-driver test. By midday, about 50 students are in school, working out how to make the journeys. They work out the most direct route, using the correct one-way streets, and right- and left-hand turns. I get involved when there’s a difference of opinion—like whether you can do a right turn at a particular junction. When they’re close to the test, I’ll give them a simple route, and no matter what way they say they’ll go, I’ll tell them they have to use another route because the road is closed. The next student will have to find a third route, and again I’ll come up with a reason why they can’t go that way. It’s just to make them think.
C Sarah – Marine Conservationist
I live by the coast and work from home. This involves responding to telephone enquiries, producing educational resources, and setting up training courses. Occasionally, I go into our main office, but generally, I am on the coast. I also work with schools and study centres and run courses for coastal managers and those involved in making decisions about the fate of the seas. I do things like take them out to sea in a boat in an attempt to make them think more about the life underneath them. This often changes their views, as it’s very different from making decisions using a computer screen. I am extremely lucky because conservation is my hobby, so the job has many highs for me. The downside of the job is that I work for a charity, so there is a constant need for more money. This means I’m always looking for more resources, and I’m not able to achieve everything I want.
D Chris – Map and Atlas Publisher
My work is pretty varied. I have to make sure that the publishing programme matches market requirements and ensure that we keep stocks of 300 or so of the books that we publish. We have very high standards of information and content. We receive many letters from readers on issues such as the representation of international boundaries, and these in particular require a careful response. I discuss future projects and current sales with co-publishers. I work as part of an enthusiastic group, which makes the job that much more enjoyable. The negative side, as with many jobs, is that there is far too much administration to deal with, which leaves less time to work on the more interesting tasks such as product development and design.