English test and exercises 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+distributor out+product up+plant down+factory
for+contract off+workers of+job under+takeover

with+supplier to+office

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.

Part 2
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?


Part 4

Use the pairs of words in the box to complete the sentences.
disturbed + hold
expecting + pick up
ring
important + switch on

real + unplug

possible + answer

busy +

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
call

go

put

get

hold 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


Part 6
Reading
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 NYLON, 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 firstname 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?


3. List the main city developments that follow on from your answers to questions one and
two.

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

Cover letter page