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FCE Reading & Use of English Test 2
Official test from Practice Tests Plus, Pearson, 2015

Part 1
For questions 1-8, read the text below and decide which answer (A, B, C or D) best fits each gap. There is an example at the beginning (0).
Example
0 A NUMBER   B amount   C quantity   D crowd​

Where to go whale watching

When asked to list the things they would most like to experience in life, a surprising 0                                  of people mention seeing whales in their natural habitat. It’s an ambition that can be
1                                              surprisingly easily. It is 2                                              that the seas around Iceland are home to over five thousand orca whales. But their behaviour, and therefore your chances of seeing them, varies 3                                             to the season.

In summer, the whales have a 4                                             to hang out near the coast and can be seen swimming up fjords and inlets. During the winter months, however, the animals are generally to be found 5                                                out at sea. 6                                              season you choose for your trip, whale-watching trips are very easy to organise, and there’s a chance you’ll get to see other whale species too.

Besides Iceland, another option is to 7                                             for northern Norway between October and January. Orcas arrive here at this time of year in 8                                             of large shoals of herring, which form an important part of their diet.
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number

Part 2
For questions 9-16, read the text below and think of the word which best fits each gap. Use only one word in each gap. There is an example at the beginning (0).
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The Mini-Monet

Kieron Williamson is a very successful landscape painter. His paintings, 0                                         mostly depict the peaceful countryside around his home village in eastern England, sell very well. Perhaps this shouldn’t 9                                             as that much of a surprise. It’s a beautiful part of the world, and landscape paintings are always popular.

The strange thing about Kieron, however, 10                                                that he is only seven years old. At a recent exhibition of his work, all the paintings were sold in half an hour, some for £100,000 each. Kieron now has fans all over the world, and has gained the nickname the ‘Mini-Monet’.

What’s even 11                                             surprising is that Kieron doesn’t come from an artistic family, and only started painting two years 12                                             . He first got inspiration
13                                             some boats he saw on holiday at the seaside. Kieron asked his parents if they 14                                               buy him a sketch pad and pencils 15                                             that he could draw them. Only when they saw 16                                             well he drew did they realise that he was talented.
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which

Part 3
For questions 17-24, read the text below. Use the word given in capitals to form a word that fits in the gap next to it. There is an example at the beginning (0).
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Don't catch cold

According to recent 0                                       , (SEARCH) at least some of the advice about health that was passed down to our grandparents by previous generations may actually contain some
 17                                             . (TRUE)

A good example is the 18                                             (RELATION) between feeling cold and catching a cold. My grandmother was convinced that being outside when the temperature is low, or simply dressing in 19                                             (SUIT) clothes for the cold weather, was a sure way of catching a cold.

Now, as we know, colds are caused by viruses. Therefore, in the 20                                             (ABSENT) of a virus, you cannot catch a cold – no matter how low the temperature or how
21                                             (APPROPRIATE)  your clothing.

But 22                                             (SCIENCE) now think that we may have viruses in our bodies already, which are just waiting for the chance to turn into a cold. In cold weather, for example, blood vessels in the nose get smaller to stop heat escaping. 23                                              , (FORTUNATE) also allows the cold virus to attack the nose or throat more 24                                             . (EASY) So, perhaps Granny was right!
 

research

Part 4
For questions 25-30, complete the second sentence so that it has a similar meaning to the first sentence, using the word given. DO NOT CHANGE THE WORD GIVEN. You must use between TWO and FIVE words, including the word given.

25 Tania hasn’t played volleyball for three years.
SINCE
It                                                                                        Tania last played volleyball.

26 The only thing Carl forgot to buy was a new battery for his watch.
EVERYTHING
Carl remembered to                                                                                        a new battery for his watch.

27 John was angry because Claire arrived late.
TIME
If Claire                                                                                        John would not have been angry.

28 I don’t usually wear a hat and so it feels strange.
USED
I am                                                                                         a hat and so it feels strange.

29 Rob said to Jennifer: ‘You broke the strap on my new camera.’
ACCUSED
Rob                                                                                        the strap on his new camera.

30 Mark can’t wait to use his new computer-games console.
FORWARD
Mark is                                                                                         his new computer games console.
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Part 5
You are going to read an extract from a novel. For questions 31-36 choose the answer (A, B, C or D) which you think fits best according to the text.

A whole year had gone by since Tyler and I’d hung out together and I’d grown used to people reporting bad things about him. Mostly I just sighed. I’d accepted the fact that he was no longer the lad I once knew. He’d chosen the wrong kind of people to hang around with and had got into trouble. I knew these things only too well. Still, the news that he was in hospital shook me all the same. It was Beth’s brother who told me.

‘Wait for me outside Whitechapel station, Ashe,’ Beth had said. She was late and I kept looking at my mobile to check the time.

The odd thing was that I’d been thinking about Tyler since the previous afternoon. I’d seen him while walking home from college. He’d got out of a car about ten metres in front of me. It had taken me only a second to recognise who it was and I’d darted into the doorway of a closed shop to avoid coming face to face with him.

When eventually I’d peeked out, he was standing on the pavement speaking on the phone. He had a long coat on over jeans and boots. His hair was cropped and his face was pale. He wasn’t wearing his glasses and his free hand was cutting the air as if he was making points while talking. He was looking round but his attention was on the call. Suddenly, he brought it to an abrupt end and slipped the mobile into a pocket. He walked a couple of steps and then, to my dismay, he spotted me. He smiled and headed in my direction. I kept my face towards the glass window and studied one of the posters that had been stuck there. ‘Ashe!’ he’d called.

‘Oh, hi!’

‘What are you up to?’ he said, glancing at the poster on the shop window. I stumbled out some words about looking for a gig to go to. I’d no idea what my hair looked like or if I’d got a spot on my chin or if he’d noticed me earlier watching him from the shop doorway. ‘Fancy a coffee?’ he said.

‘I’ve got to be somewhere,’ I said, stepping out of the shop doorway and making off.

‘See you, Ashe,’ he’d called after me.

After about twenty metres, I looked round and saw that he was in exactly the same position, staring at me. He raised his hand in a tiny wave and I turned and went on. I didn’t look back again.

I’d thought about him on and off during the previous evening. Now, while waiting for Beth, I thought about him again. I wondered what he was doing. I pictured the funny brown glasses he’d worn to read with and wondered if he still read books by George Orwell. Perhaps I should have gone for that coffee, I might not get another chance to find out what he was really up to these days.

Beth was very late. A couple of cars started hooting and there were some raised voices from a group of pedestrians who were ignoring the red man and crossing the road. I looked through the shoppers to see if I could see Beth’s cheery face but there was no sign. I took my mobile out of my pocket again and stared at the screen, but again drew a blank. I wondered what to do. I was stamping my feet with the cold. Something must have happened. Beth wouldn’t just leave me standing in the freezing cold for no reason. Tyler came into my mind again. That’s when I saw her brother walking towards me. 
                        ​

31 In the first paragraph, Ashe is surprised to discover that Tyler
32 How did Ashe feel when she’d first seen Tyler the previous day?
33 The word ‘it’ (in bold, fourth paragraph) refers to
34 When Tyler finally noticed her, Ashe felt
35 After meeting Tyler the previous day, Ashe had felt
36 The phrase ‘drew a blank’ (last paragraph) suggests that

Part 6

You are going to read an article about an amateur archaeologist. Six sentences have been removed from the article. Choose from the sentences A–G the one which fits each gap (37-42). There is one extra sentence which you do not need to use.

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​

Treasure in the mud. Ian Smith likes to spend his free time looking for ancient objects.

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Ian heads down to the River Thames at low tide with his electronic metal-detector and a spade. Working around fast and sometimes dangerous tides, he hunts for ancient everyday objects from cups and coins to buttons and badges. Anyone can have a go, as long as they have permission. There are currently about 300 licensed mudlarks in Britain. But Ian, who is an antique dealer by profession, is not an ordinary one. After thirty years, there’s barely a patch of wet mud on any tidal river in the UK that he doesn’t know.


‘You’re not likely to find a chest of gold on a foreshore and the spectacular stuff in museums is there because it is extremely rare,’ Ian tells me when I meet him under London’s Tower Bridge shortly after breakfast. Here it’s more likely to be the everyday possessions of ordinary families.

 

It’s mostly rubbish – literally, from a time when unwanted things were simply thrown into the river.

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Mudlarking involves working with a metal detector, but also using your eyes – studying the surface, picking it over and knowing what you’re looking at when you see it. Mudlarking, says Ian, is an activity that tends to attract solitary characters.

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‘But,’ he adds, ‘it’s also very tranquil. You may be in the middle of the city but the lapping of the water takes you away from the hustle.’

​

We quickly make our first find, the sole from a sixteenth-century shoe. Then, much to my dismay, Ian casually tosses aside our find: ‘You get to see a lot of those over the years,’ he says.

 

That piece of shoe leather, for example, is a give-away that the patch of mud around it is likely to have been eroded by the tides to the sixteenth-century layer. Several oyster shells – an expensive shellfish now, but common workman’s food then – support the theory.

Conscious that the tide is against us, we dig a little deeper. An item is often better preserved in the mud that it would be if exposed to the air.

 

‘While mudlarking is ultimately about the love of history, it is also a race to capture and record what we can before it’s gone,’ says Ian. ‘The water erodes layers, and property developments push further and further out into the river.’

Sifting the mud in his surgeon’s gloves, Ian picks up what the untrained eye would see as a lump of stone.

 

Next, what looks to be a bit of grit reveals itself to be a tiny silver penny bearing the image of Queen Elizabeth I. As Ian says, ‘You also have the pure excitement of seeing something that’s been buried for centuries. It’s still amazing to me that this stuff is there.’

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Part 7
You are going to read an article about fathers and sons. For questions 43-52, choose from the fathers (A-D). The fathers may be chosen more than once.

What's the best advice your father ever gave you? We asked four successful young men.

A Tony: Racing driver
‘Drive it like you stole it and keep it on the black stuff!’ I was quite nervous when I first started racing, but those were my dad’s jokey words of wisdom and they made me feel better at the time. In the beginning, I had quite a few spins on the circuits – the very first one was particularly scary because the car left the track, but he never said it was my fault. I used to drive a Porsche 924 and pretty much every single race something would break, but Dad would just say: ‘Don’t worry about the car, we can always fix it.’ I didn’t like people behind me when I went round corners, but Dad was always telling me not to take any notice, to focus on what I was doing. I’ve got a long way to go, but Dad ’s really good – he’s hardly the most polite person to have around if things don’t go well, but he’s my role model.

Ð’ David: Record producer
Because Dad and I have always been close, there was no one moment when he imparted some big philosophical piece of advice. I think his greatest gift has been his general unwavering belief in me. Since I was about fourteen, he’s given me the opportunity to input ideas and have my say about the bands we work with or the equipment we use, which is amazing. When you’re part of a family business, it can sometimes feel as if you have to be there, but my brother and I have done other things, and we’re back with Dad again because we want to be. He left the decision to us. Dad’s also been good at giving career advice because he’s done it and he’s got the experience. He’s given me that drive and ambition to succeed.

C Andy: Buyer for a department store
I was probably Dad’s most unruly son. He tried to teach me a lot of things – how much I’ve taken on board is another matter. But I don’t think I’m such a disappointment to him! He’s a very cool dad, but he’s quite traditional in some ways. He’s always said that if you want to succeed, then get on with it. If you’re going to do something, do it right away or at least write it down so you don’t forget! I’m proud of my dad and how hard he worked for us to have a lovely childhood and good lifestyle. Dad also taught me valuable skills like how to change the oil in my car, how to play tennis and ski – although the last time he saw me doing that he said he feared for his life!

D Simon: Rugby player
He had this catchphrase: ‘Under-prepare, and you prepare to fail.’ I heard it time and again. A typical teenager when things went wrong, I was always trying to blame everything and everyone but myself. He used his catchphrase and explained that if you don’t put sufficient effort in, you’ll never get anything out of whatever it is you’re doing. That’s stayed with me ever since, even now when I’m playing professionally. He’s always given a fair amount of advice. He made me realise that if you just stick at something, no matter how hard things get, then your time will come. It’s the hardest thing to hear when things aren’t going well. At the beginning of the season, I wasn’t getting picked for many matches. Then when the chance came to play, I really took it.

Which person's father
 

43 always had faith in his son’s abilities?
44 encouraged his son not to give up in the face of disappointment?
45 gave his son advice in a light-hearted way?
46 made his son realise the need to try harder?
47 may not have succeeded in passing on certain ideas to his son?
48 never blamed his son for mistakes that he made?
49 put no pressure on his son to follow in his footsteps?
50 reassured his son when equipment let him down?
51 showed his son how to perform practical tasks?
52 was willing to listen to his son’s suggestions?

Heading 1

Part 1​

1. examples

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2. deep

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3. such as

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4. rival

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5. reach

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6. details

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7. regarded

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8. causing

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Part 2

​9. where

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10. to

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11. with

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12. out

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13. what

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14. Though/Although/While

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15. get

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16. make/have​

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Part 3

17. satisfaction

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18. successful

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19. discover

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20. solution

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21. improvement

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22. scientists

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23. performance

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24. uncertain

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Part 4

25. speak English as well as

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26. are not supposed to cycle/aren't supposed to cycle

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27. apologised for not letting

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28. were not able to go/were not able to get/weren't able to get/weren't able to go

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29. came as a disappointment

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30. to pay so much

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Part 5 

​31. lives up to her stylish reputation

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32. she's cooked something for her guest

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33. she wasn't old enough to appreciate it fully

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34. had always had ambitions to be a singer

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35. falling off a ladder in her bedroom

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36. she has responded to positive feedback from her customers

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Part 6

37. All that hard work certainly paid off and the competition itself brought out the best in Lucy

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38. That's because in order to reach that target, she had to totally rethink her lifestyle

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39. Having access to this space-age training kit was certainly an advantage

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40. That's why I've always regarded it as a thinking girl's sport really

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41. Nobody complained about women taking part in those events when it was introduced

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42. If the sport was more in the public eye, then fewer people would make that mistake

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Part 7

43. C

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44. A

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45. B

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46. D

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47. A

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48. A

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49. C

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50. B

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51. D

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52. C​​

wrong

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