11th form Test 8

You will hear people talking in eight different situations. For questions 1-8, choose the best answer.

1 You hear two people talking. What is their relationship?               [colleagues, acquaintances, close friends]

2 You hear this man talking about his daughter’s boyfriend. What does the man think?                                          [He's looking forward to this engagement., His daughter should find someone better., He's not sure if they will get married.]

3 You hear this message from a friend on your answerphone. What does she ask you to do?                               [buy an extra ticket, put someone up for the night, accompany her to a play]

4 You hear two people talking about an exam. How does the woman feel?         [annoyed, nervous, jealous]

5 You hear a girl describing her twin brother. In what way are they different?                     [He’s more sociable., He’s more polite., He’s more helpful.]

6 You hear two people talking about their neighbour. What do they think about him?                [He's lonely., He’s selfish., He’s arrogant.]

7 You hear two young people talking on a bus. What did their friend not do?                             [invite someone to a party, get permission for a party, arrange music for a party]

8 You hear a man talking about a childhood friend. What does he think? His friend                                          [wasted her opportunities., had problems with schoolwork., had problems making friends with people.]

Read the extract from the autobiography. Choose the correct answer to the questions.

DON'T WORRY IN SILENCE!

When we are young, sometimes the hardest thing about feelings is actually sharing them with others, though, I realise now, it is certainly worth making the effort to do so. Sharing with others helps us to share the load, as it were.

It was not until much later, looking back over my childhood, that I realised that the first step in sharing was to identify what feelings I actually had! Making a list of them seemed to help.Was I happy or was I sad? Was it an emotion experienced only at that particular time or did I tend to feel like that all the time?

My problem was that I had not realised that some fears are quite acceptable and even helpful at times, while others can actually get in the way of enjoying everyday things such as learning, playing with a friend or experiencing for the first time the change from Primary to Secondary level.This is when I really should have had a chat with my parents instead of holding it all inside, as they would have been able to lessen my anxiety about moving up.

There were times when my anxiety would also be accompanied by a headache, a stomachache or dizziness. My grandmother used to tell me that there is a certain part of the brain that controls that fight or flight feeling. Not that I had any idea what she was talking about as I must have been only about knee-high at the time!

I recall a small group of us feeling uncomfortable at the idea of meeting new teachers or moving up to the ‘big’ school. That kind of discomfort at such an age is natural when faced with something new. Better late than never, I realised that being shy is not such a bad thing. Nobody actually sets out to be like that, it just happens naturally. I understood quite quickly that the key to shyness is just to be yourself. No matter the age, it’s healthy to get things off your chest! In fact, I quickly found that some of my friends had the same feelings and became quite happy to share their secrets. Sometimes, just inviting a shy child to join in a game a couple of times helped them to get over their feelings of shyness.

There were other times when I felt sad about leaving Primary school, but then again, it was one of the many normal emotions or moods we have all experienced during that period of change. Unhappiness was the emotion I felt when I had to say goodbye to certain dear friends. It made me feel like crying, though even crying made me feel better as tears slowly washed away the negative emotions. When the sadness started to disappear, it felt as if a heavy weight had been lifted from my shoulders.

I now realise at the tender age of twenty-eight that, even though, there might sometimes seem to be no reason to look on the bright side of life, for every bad there is a good. Also, having friends who think optimistically can help you get on your feet again and move forward onto a more positive path.

What do youngsters find most difficult to do?

Read the extract from the autobiography. Choose the correct answer to the questions.

DON'T WORRY IN SILENCE!

When we are young, sometimes the hardest thing about feelings is actually sharing them with others, though, I realise now, it is certainly worth making the effort to do so. Sharing with others helps us to share the load, as it were.

It was not until much later, looking back over my childhood, that I realised that the first step in sharing was to identify what feelings I actually had! Making a list of them seemed to help.Was I happy or was I sad? Was it an emotion experienced only at that particular time or did I tend to feel like that all the time?

My problem was that I had not realised that some fears are quite acceptable and even helpful at times, while others can actually get in the way of enjoying everyday things such as learning, playing with a friend or experiencing for the first time the change from Primary to Secondary level.This is when I really should have had a chat with my parents instead of holding it all inside, as they would have been able to lessen my anxiety about moving up.

There were times when my anxiety would also be accompanied by a headache, a stomachache or dizziness. My grandmother used to tell me that there is a certain part of the brain that controls that fight or flight feeling. Not that I had any idea what she was talking about as I must have been only about knee-high at the time!

I recall a small group of us feeling uncomfortable at the idea of meeting new teachers or moving up to the ‘big’ school. That kind of discomfort at such an age is natural when faced with something new. Better late than never, I realised that being shy is not such a bad thing. Nobody actually sets out to be like that, it just happens naturally. I understood quite quickly that the key to shyness is just to be yourself. No matter the age, it’s healthy to get things off your chest! In fact, I quickly found that some of my friends had the same feelings and became quite happy to share their secrets. Sometimes, just inviting a shy child to join in a game a couple of times helped them to get over their feelings of shyness.

There were other times when I felt sad about leaving Primary school, but then again, it was one of the many normal emotions or moods we have all experienced during that period of change. Unhappiness was the emotion I felt when I had to say goodbye to certain dear friends. It made me feel like crying, though even crying made me feel better as tears slowly washed away the negative emotions. When the sadness started to disappear, it felt as if a heavy weight had been lifted from my shoulders.

I now realise at the tender age of twenty-eight that, even though, there might sometimes seem to be no reason to look on the bright side of life, for every bad there is a good. Also, having friends who think optimistically can help you get on your feet again and move forward onto a more positive path.

What was the writer's first move towards sharing her feelings?