End-of-Year Test Units 7 – 12

Name: __________________________________
Date: ___________________

Reading
A Read the article about the history of plastic bags and their effects on the environment.

Ban the bag?

Once upon a time, if you went to the market, you would have to take 4
a basket with you to bring your groceries back home. That basket
would probably have been made from reed, willow or raffia, and The problem with oxo biodegradable plastic bags is that although
you’d almost certainly use it until it finally fell apart, years after it they do biodegrade, thanks to the addition of small concentrations of
had been made. If you went out shopping for clothes or shoes, you additives such as metal salts, they need to be left out in the open,
would probably bring back your new purchases wrapped in paper or exposed to heat or light, in order to decompose. If they are buried
cloth, in a cardboard box or even in a cloth bag. And if you were very under landfill, they will stay as they are. The results have not been as
rich, you would have had everything delivered to your house. promising as hoped. Studies of one particular brand have shown that
cold weather and rain virtually stop the process, making it less useful
Things changed in the middle of the nineteenth century with the in the UK, where winters are long and rainfall is high.
invention of the paper bag, which was later developed with handles to
make it easier to carry. And once supermarket shopping took off after 5
World War II, the paper bag became ubiquitous, especially in the
Envigreen’s carrier bags look exactly like plastic bags, but there the
United States once people began to drive to the shops.
difference ends. They are made from various natural ingredients
1 including tapioca, potatoes, corn, vegetable oil and bananas. What
they don’t include is any of the ingredients that make plastics, like
Then, in the 1960s, Sten Gustaf Thulin, a Swedish engineer working polyethylene or other petrochemical derivatives. The resulting bags
for a plastics company in his native country, invented the plastic bag are easily destroyed – you can burn them safely, you can dissolve
as we know it today. It seemed like a brilliant solution: plastic bags them in boiling water and you can even eat them with no ill effects.
were much cheaper to produce, used almost four times less energy This means that they will not harm an animal if it accidentally eats
and 20 times less water to manufacture, were stronger, could be one.
reused, and out-performed paper bags in every way. Except in one
crucial respect: they are almost indestructible. Long after they’ve lost The bags are available in Qatar and Abu Dhabi, and Envigreen will
their usefulness, they persist in the environment, doing the terrible start selling them in India in the near future. It is also receiving orders
damage we can see in our world today. from international companies around the world. Ashwath’s dream is
to create a global brand and to begin to address the massive problem
2 of plastic waste in India, where 15,000 tonnes of plastic are generated
daily and only 9,000 tonnes collected. The rest is polluting cities,
They ruin the countryside, blowing all over fields and forests, then,
countryside, rivers and oceans.
once ripped to shreds by wind and rain, they end up in waterways, or
block drainage pipes and increase the danger of floods. They destroy 6
wildlife not only on land but in our oceans too. Turtles, for example,
mistake the bags for their favourite food; jellyfish. In India, cows eat Nevertheless, it would be rash to tar all plastics with the same brush.
them by mistake while scavenging for food in rubbish tips. Once We mustn’t forget that plastics have improved our lives immeasurably
ingested, the bags can end up blocking breathing passages and the with products such as disposable syringes, protective gloves and
stomach, eventually causing death. Thousands of animals die because artificial limbs, to name just a few. Equally, the use of plastics instead
of plastic bags every year and some species are even being brought to of metals has had many advantages: plastic doesn’t corrode, it is lighter
the brink of extinction. than metal, which can translate into energy savings when it comes to
transportation, and it is cheaper too. It is clear that we can’t do without
3 plastic, but we can and must do without plastic bags.
Instead of a ban, other countries, including the UK, have introduced a
fee for plastic bags. So when you go to the supermarket in the UK, for
example, and you’ve forgotten to

take a bag with you, you have to buy a thin plastic bag for 5p, or a
‘bag for life’, which is a thicker, more durable plastic bag, for 10p or
15p. This dramatically reduced the use of plastic bags by up to 85 per
cent in the UK in its first year.

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B Now Complete the Exam Task.
Exam Task
You are going to read a magazine article about the history of plastic bags and their effects on the environment.
Six paragraphs have been removed from the article. Choose from the paragraphs A – G the one which fits each
gap (1 – 6). There is one extra paragraph which you do not need to use.
A Fortunately, the problem is being addressed as governments and the public become more aware of just how damaging the
plastic bag can be. Many countries have followed the example of Bangladesh, which was the first country in the world to
ban thinner plastic bags, which had been found to aggravate flooding by blocking drainage systems, thus causing untold
devastation.
B There is no doubt that plastic in all its forms is extremely challenging when it comes to its disposal. Plastic bags in
particular, which are so easily substituted with other types of bags, should become a shameful memory, and one which our
grandchildren will find hard to understand.
C Despite this threat to the environment, by the 1980s, shops and supermarkets all over the world were using plastic instead of
paper bags. The general public had little idea of the damage that was being done by this seemingly harmless and useful little
bag. We now know plastic bags can cause devastation on a previously unimagined scale; not only by creating litter
everywhere, but by endangering wildlife as well.
D The oxo biodegradable plastic bag is being used widely in many countries around the world. However, the capacity of the
bags to biodegrade depends on too many conditions to make it a practical choice. They won’t biodegrade in wet or cold
weather, or if buried under a pile of rubbish. As a result, they are not seen as a truly practical solution to the problem.
E Now, however, there has been a development which has the potential to finally solve the problem for good.
It is the brainchild of 24-year-old Bengalurean Ashwath Hegde, whose company, Envigreen, has started manufacturing
carrier bags that are 100 per cent biodegradable: they are just as strong as ordinary plastic bags, but completely harmless to
the environment.
F However, there were considerable environmental costs in the production of paper bags, not least the mass felling of trees
and the amount of energy and water needed to produce the bags. They were easily broken and few people were likely to
recycle them.
G Another proposed solution, with mixed results, has been the introduction of the oxo biodegradable plastic bag, which, it is
claimed, biodegrades much faster than ordinary plastic bags, which can take decades, if not hundreds of years, to degrade
completely.

(___ / 12 marks)

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Reading
A Read the article about advertising in the United States
during WWII.

Digging Up Ads From WWII By Becky Little

In the May 1944 issue of National Geographic, an advertisement
shows a US military officer in a dark war room, using a Bell &
Howell Filmo projector, instructing troops on ‘How to STOP a Tank’.
In February 1942, the US government wanted to encourage
‘There aren't any Filmo Cameras and Projectors for personal movie Americans to ration commodities, donate goods, and buy war bonds.
making just now,’ the ad copy reads, ‘but our postwar products will To market the idea of nationwide sacrifice to the public, the US
be well worth waiting for.’ established the War Advertising Council.

After Japanese planes attacked Pearl Harbor, on December 7, 1941, ‘The industry was, as you might imagine, super happy,’ says Stole.
the United States entered World War II and quickly launched a ‘Here you have a period when you have very little to sell; you're
federal rationing programme to support its troops. Government- worrying about your brand name, but you're also trying to appear
enforced rationing meant that Americans could buy only limited patriotic at a time when the public might look at anything you did as
supplies of common products like shoes, cars, and certain processed self-promoting. So the Advertising Council managed to orchestrate
foods. all these campaigns that the government wanted.’

1 3
But that didn't stop major companies from advertising their wares. On Another reason companies participated was to improve their public
the contrary, firms like Bell Telephone System and General Motors image after the Great Depression.
published newspaper and magazine ads for many wartime products
and services that Americans couldn't buy or use. ‘During the 1930s, business was viewed in a very bad light,’ says
Lawrence Glickman, a history professor at Cornell University. ‘And
2 during WWII, business took this opportunity to once again be seen as
the patriotic engine of the American economy, rather than the greedy
The ads also portrayed the companies’ involvement in the war effort
capitalists who caused the Great Depression, which is how they were
as a patriotic – rather than a profit-driven – act.
often viewed during that time.’
This period of marketing, which began just two months after the
Selling a Postwar Dream
US entered WWII, was part of an unprecedented collaboration
Yet another reason companies ran ads for goods and services that the
between advertisers and the US government.
public couldn't buy or use, was to be well positioned at war’s end,
Finding Common Cause when an Allied victory was expected to usher in a new era of
prosperity.
‘The tire crisis is still acute, of course, and you must conserve the
tires you have’, read a General Tire advertisement in May 1944. 4
In 1944, Minneapolis Honeywell Temperature Controls hoped
The ad featured a US military officer leaning on a white picket fence,
National Geographic readers would buy a booklet called Heating and
gazing longingly at a young woman (who is presumably waiting for
Air Conditioning the Postwar Home, which explained, ‘how your
him on the home front). The ad didn't encourage readers to buy the
present heating system, after the war, can furnish a uniform and
company's tires, but it did advise them to ‘BUY MORE WAR
continuous supply of heat’.
BONDS’.
5
‘WWII involved a mobilisation and cooperation between government
and major corporations on an unprecedented level,’ says Daniel As for a Bell Telephone ad that said the company had temporarily
Horowitz, an emeritus professor of American studies at Smith stopped making telephones for civilian use, Glickman says, ‘Why
College. It also promoted the, ‘sense, widespread in the population, would a phone company advertise themselves when they weren't able
that this was a good war; that sacrifice was important; that we were to put phones in individual homes? Well, they're doing it because
all in this together’. they want Americans to think well of them and because they're
anticipating a time when people will rely on big businesses again.
Companies wanted the war to be seen not just as a victory for the
United States and freedom, but also for free enterprise’.
Adapted from: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/12/141207-world-war-
advertising-consumption-anniversary-people-photography-culture/

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B

Now complete the Exam Task.

Exam Task
You are going to read an article about advertising during WWII. Five paragraphs have been removed from the article. Choose
from paragraphs A – F the one which fits each gap (1 – 5). There is one extra paragraph which
you do not need to use.

A Participation in the War Advertising Council was voluntary, and companies didn't receive direct compensation
for it. But many joined up when they saw what a good deal it was. Corporations could deduct portions of their
ad costs from their taxable incomes, for instance, which meant that the government might pay up to 80 per cent
of companies’ advertising bills; regardless of whether they had anything to sell.
B Not only were the Filmo cameras extremely expensive, but they were unavailable to the general public and would remain so until
the end of the war in 1945.
C For many Americans, it was hard to imagine a thriving postwar economy after a decade-long depression and several years of
obligatory wartime rationing. This gave companies even more reason to assure consumers that a booming postwar economy was
just over the horizon.
D Why advertise something you couldn't sell? According to Inger Stole, a communications professor at the University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign, companies advertised these products to, ‘keep their brand names in the public consciousness. They knew
that once the war was over, it was very, very important that the public shouldn’t forget the brand names’.
E The booklet promised to teach readers—after they'd cashed in their war bonds to buy Minneapolis Honeywell's
product, of course—how to maintain their, ‘bedrooms at 20 °C, living rooms at 22 °C, built-in garage at 10 °C,’ and
so on.
F What it also meant was that some products, like Filmo cameras and projectors, were completely removed from
the civilian economy.
Adapted from http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/12/141207-world-war-advertising-consumption-anniversary-people-photography-culture/

(___ / 10 marks)

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Vocabulary and Use your English
A Complete the Exam Task.
Exam Task
For questions 1 – 12, read the text below and think of the word which best fits each gap. Use only one word in
each gap.
Left Behind
When I left home to go to university last year, I knew my mum (1) ________ find it hard, but I never thought it would be my
brother (2) ________ would end up missing me most. In (3) ________ we should have realised just how difficult it would be
for him to be like an only child all of a sudden. My sister had left the (4) ________ year, but it never occurred to us that my
brother would be so upset (5) ________ my leaving. It wasn’t just the fact that
I wasn’t there to hang (6) ________ with him, play video games and watch the football, it was also the fact that
(7) ________ been used to noise, music and chatter, it was now so quiet when he got home from school. The house felt cold
and empty and the silence was conspicuous now that my sister and I were no longer there to make a racket. And (8) ________
with my parents being at work full-time now, he felt as if there was no longer a family there at all. Added to that, when my
mum and dad got home in the evenings, my brother complained of all parental focus (9) ________ now on him alone. He had
my parents’ undivided attention, which meant they were suddenly (10) ________ stricter and more involved in his school work
and in his social life. Family dynamics had certainly changed. It finally dawned (11) ________ us that he was actually feeling
quite low. Luckily, however, my brother began to find having the house to (12) ________ quite liberating, not least when he
got a girlfriend and me and my sister weren’t there to tease him about it!

(___ / 12 marks)

B Complete the Exam Task.

Exam Task
Complete the text with the correct form of the words in capitals.
Consumerisms
INDUSTRY
We often think of consumerism as a new phenomenon brought about by (1) _______________. We bemoan
the good old days when people were happy with their lot and didn’t always crave new things, fashionable
clothes and new furnishings for their house. But conspicuous consumption is much older than we might
imagine. The Chinese poet Lin Sumen wrote in 1808 about the super-rich flaunting their wealth, about YEARN
women (2) _______________ for the latest fashion, hoping to achieve (3) _______________ at last, SOPHISTICATE
despite the fact that with sleeves almost half a metre wide, they (4) _______________ must look quite (5) D
_______________. He bemoaned the fact that people spent fortunes doing up their houses to impress others SURE
or they insisted on keeping the latest exotic pet; in this case, a rat! He could have been writing about any RIDICULE
developed country today.
But is consumerism such a bad thing? However (6) _______________ it might sound, the truth is we can’t
really survive without it. Our economy depends (7) _______________ on consumer spending, perpetuated SIMPLE
by our never-ending need for the new. Unless we are in the service sector, or doctors, teachers or lawyers, we ENTIRE
are most likely to be involved in one way or another with consumerism. There is no doubt that our houses are
stuffed with an (8) _______________ of things we don’t need and don’t want any more, things we’ve
hardly ever used, clothes never worn, gadgets (9) _______________ once a better one comes along. It is a ABUNDANT
very strong-minded person who isn’t seduced at some point or another by some useless but (10)
_______________ new contraption or item of clothing. And so, despite the (11) _______________ effects DISCARD
of overwork, people work harder and harder to afford all the tat they don’t need. And although consumerism ALLURE
is the bedrock of our economy it is also (12) _______________ in much of our downfall. We are DETRIMENT
overburdened with huge debts which we won’t be able to pay back, all for the sake of stuff we never really
needed. As Scottish thinker James Stuart wrote in 1770, ‘men are forced to labour now because they are INSTRUMENT
slaves to their own wants’.
(___ / 12 marks)

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C Complete the Exam Task.
Exam Task
For questions 1 – 12, read the text and decide which answer (A, B, C or D) best fits each gap.
What Makes an Outstanding School?
You may think that’s easy to answer: surely a good school is one which (1) _____________ good exam results. After all, it is these
results which will (2) _____________ students to get into good universities. However, schools are about much more than exams.
They are about education for all, from the most academic to the least. A good school has three (3) _____________ ingredients:
good (4) _____________ from the head, dedicated teachers with high
(5) _____________ for all students, and students who want to be there and are willing to (6) _____________ rules and respect one
another. It isn’t easy to (7) _____________ around a failing school, but research has shown that a strong and (8) _____________
leader is often the key to success. A good head or principal of a school will (9) _____________ teachers and students alike, will not
tolerate bullying or bad behaviour and will (10) _____________ the respect of all. He or she will make sure teachers are
encouraged and assisted in their work, and that they receive the training they need to do their job (11) _____________; once this is
in place, teachers are happier and more fulfilled and students (12) _____________ the benefits. Some will go on to get brilliant
academic results, others may not do so well in their exams, but provided they have reached their potential and they have passed
with acceptable grades, the school will not have failed them.

1 A conveys B delivers C brings D gives

2 A allow B accept C admit D enable
3 A critical B acute C crucial D burning
4 A leadership B control C running D executive
5 A expectations B ideals C opportunities D potentials
6 A accept B understand C grasp D follow
7 A go B turn C direct D transform
8 A inspirational B moving C promising D uplifting
9 A drive B provoke C motivate D arouse
10 A control B order C command D direct
11 A actually B effectively C accurately D convincingly
12 A earn B obtain C realise D reap
(___ / 12 marks)

D Complete the Exam Task.

Exam Task
For questions 1 – 6, 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 three and eight words, including the word given.
1 After their holiday they scarcely had any money to buy a ticket to go home.
VIRTUALLY
After their holiday ______________________________________________ to buy a ticket to go home.
2 He said he wasn’t very good at tennis, but he beat the whole team!
CLAIMED
He ______________________________________________ be very good at tennis, but he beat the whole te am!
3 They said Mary had broken the vase in the living room.
ACCUSED
They ______________________________________________ the vase in the living room.
4 ‘You’ll be reimbursed soon,’ said Anthony to his colleagues.
ASSURED
Anthony ______________________________________________ soon.
5 We delivered the gifts to children who were refugees of war.
WHOM
The ______________________________________________ were refugees of war.
6 We are willing but unable to help you because we simply haven’t got the funds.
MUCH
______________________________________________, we can’t because we simply haven’t got the funds.
(___ / 12 marks)
Copyright © National Geographic Learning. Close-up C2
Permission granted to photocopy for classroom use. End-of-Year Test
Copyright © National Geographic Learning. Close-up C2
Permission granted to photocopy for classroom use. End-of-Year Test