Reading (45 minutes)

Outdoor Activity Centres

A. Bennachie Park is an area of great natural beauty and very popular with photographers and artists. There is a sculpture trail through the forest, and a famous waterfall, and both of these can be reached on foot or by mountain bike. You can hire bikes from the Visitor Centre.

B. Wilder Forest has a huge web of paths for walkers, runners and mountain bikers, and you can also do horse riding (booking required). There are beginners' sessions available in drawing nature with painter, John Small, and a new event that starts after dark will introduce you to the stars.

C. Strathmoor Forest Park is very popular both with people who want to enjoy relaxed walking and with birdwatchers who come to see rare birds found only in Strathmoor. There's a small café, and several picnic sites for those who prefer to bring their own food.

D. Thornielee Park is a wonderful place for a family day out with fantastic hilly walks, two large lakes, and many picnic sites where you can enjoy the views. It's popular with animal lovers and has daily bird-photography drop-in sessions with our expert, Sarah Wallis.

E. At Glengarry Forest, there is a new storytelling event for children, called ‘Deep in the Forest’.'Then there are many regular activities and events, including the ever- popular horse riding and night-time cycling with torches.'The food at the Visitor Centre cafe is excellent and won a prize last year.

F. If you love nature, Innerleithen Forest is for you! There are several rare kinds of animals and birds, and a daily talk on them from an expert at the Visitor Centre. You can also get cosy in the café, which serves cake and warm drinks. Many people bring mountain bikes or you can hire them and go around the forest trails.

G. Boden Forest is excellent for walking and running, and there's also a 10-metre cliff face with climbing classes for beginners. A regular birdsong event takes place, including birdwatching from inside a special hut. Very popular for lunch is the food stall, serving mushrooms grown there and fish from Boden.

H. Kiroughtree Park has everything from a visitor centre — where you can pick up a free guide full of in(ormation about the plants and animals there — to a wonderful lake, where you can have a go at sailing. Short landscape photography sessions are also available.

Write the right LETTER in the empty spaces.

Part 3

Questions 11-15

For each question, choose the correct answer

Rock the Planet

Music journalist Nick Hitman meets young actors from this popular musical show.

Rock the Planet, a musical show where actors also have to be really good musicians," opened in London last year, after five years in the USA, where it was voted ‘Best Musical’ four times! But doing the show with an all-British cast of actors was challenging. The UK puts more limits on how many performances young actors can do weekly — in the USA, they're allowed to do more shows. Because of this, twice as many actors were required here. Luckily, the director found plenty of talented UK-based actors, and they've just won their first ‘Best Musical’ award. Although the theatre in London is bigger than the US venue, it's been full every night, with everyone wanting to hear the songs that first became popular in America.

I met 11-year-old Jamie, one of the show’s actors. ‘It's brilliant that I get paid to play, he said, ‘especially a beautiful and expensive Gibson guitar.’ He told me how busy the young actors are. ‘We have normal school lessons each day at the theatre. While the teacher's great, I miss my old school mates.’ And what do they think of the show? ‘Well, my whole class came! The theatre does special deals on tickets for schools. They absolutely loved it and that made me feel really confident. My parents come when they can, but it's expensive for them,’ he explained.

When I said I also play guitar, Jamie found a spare one and invited me to play along with him and the other young actors. We played Days, a song I wasn't familiar with. Jamie took me through it and I was very pleased with myself when I finally got it right. I was impressed by Jamie's ability and wished I had similar skills. I was just trying to keep up and was glad the show's director wasn't there to hear my mistakes!

While the young actors were already musicians, with some playing several instruments, none had played in a band before. Fortunately, they've found it pretty easy. Jamie admitted that the hard part was appearing natural when they first performed together. They were concentrating so much that they forgot to smile!

The show's on in London for another year, and is well worth seeing.

Part 4

Questions 16-20

Five sentences have been removed from the text below. For each question, choose the correct answer.

There are three extra sentences which you do not need to use.

A day in the life of an astronaut

Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti talks about daily life on the International Space Station (ISS).

For the last few months, my home has been the International Space Station, orbiting 400 km above the surface of the earth, at 25,000 km per hour. We took off in a Russian Soyuz spaceship from Kazakhstan, and the flight to the Space Station took six hours. (16)............... I felt incredibly excited.

There are two Americans, three Russians, and me. (17)................ Fortunately, we all get on well. The day starts for everyone at 7 a.m. There's no gravity up here, so every morning I float through the cabin to attend our daily planning conference, or DPC.  (18)................. It usually lasts a few minutes. After it's finished, we speak to space centres around the world, including Houston (USA), Munich (Germany) and Tsukuba (Japan).

Then we have breakfast: oatmeal, eggs and coffee. In the past, astronauts had to suck food out of tubes. Nowadays, astronauts' food is served in special individual boxes with covers. (19)............ Life has become much easier for astronauts over the years.

Our dinner is at around 7.30 p.m. My meals were prepared by an Italian chef on Earth before I left, and they're delicious. However, I do exchange a lot of food with my three colleagues from Russia.

(20)................ Their lentil and vegetable soup is also really good. Of course I miss fresh food, but a cargo spaceship comes once a month with fresh fruit. When I get back down to Earth, I know I'll miss this place.

Part 5

Questions 21-26

For each question, choose the correct answer.

The world's largest school

City Montessori School in Lucknow, India, is the world's largest school. Nearly 50,000 pupils (21)................... classes there every day, and the school (22).................. nearly 4,000 staff, including teachers, cleaners, and electricians. The students learn traditional subjects such as geography and maths, and also discuss topics like world peace.

Dr Jagdish Gandhi set (23).................. the school in 1959. It was hard work, and at first, he had to (24)..................... people to send their children to the school. But now, students come to him from all over the city.

At such a large school, pupils have to work hard to get (25)................... by the teachers. One pupil says: "‘If you're chosen for a school team, you can certainly feel (26)...................... of that". Another pupil explains what he likes best: ‘Being at the world's largest school means you can make lots of friends.’

Part 6

Questions 27—32

For each question, write the correct answer.

Write one word for each gap.

A wildlife boat tour

When I was on holiday with my parents, we went on a wildlife tour. The trip involved sailing round some islands off the coast, not too far (27).............. our hotel. Some other guests had been on the tour, and recommended it to my parents, who immediately decided we should go.

In the morning our guide, Jake, picked us (28)................ in his boat and off we went. Jake knew lots about the wildlife on the islands and we saw everything we were hoping to, apart from one bird, called a harrier, which didn't appear. But that didn,’t matter (29)................ we saw many other amazing birds.

My parents especially liked the fact that(30)................. were very few people on the our. Jake had time to answer all our questions, so we felt we learnt  (31)................ than we'd expected. And we agreed this wildlife experience was  (32)..................of the best we'd ever had.