Art. Reading. Use of English

1)   [A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H]The Science Museum is the most visited science and technology museum in Europe. There are over 15,000 objects on display, including world-famous objects such as the Apollo 10 command capsule and Stephenson’s Rocket. Our interactive galleries bring to life first scientific principles and contemporary science debates. You can experience what it’s like to fly with the Red Arrows or blast off into space on an Apollo space mission in our stunning 3D and 4D simulators or watch a film on a screen taller than four double-decker buses in the IMAX 3D Cinema. The museum doesn’t charge visitors for admission.

2)   [A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H]The Natural History Museum boasts a collection of the biggest, tallest and rarest animals in the world. See a life-sized blue whale, a 40-million-year-old spider, and the beautiful Central Hall. Other highlights include dinosaur fossils and this summer’s blockbuster exhibitions Whales: Beneath the surface and Wildlife Photographer of the Year. The Museum offers a wide-ranging programme of temporary exhibitions all year round which inspire a love of the natural world and educate on the power of nature.

3)   [A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H]The Design Museum is the world’s leading museum which offers inspiring insights into the world of design with exhibitions on fashion, architecture, furniture, graphic, product, transport and digital design. Alongside its cutting-edge programme of exhibitions, the museum also hosts a variety of talks and family activities. The museum has opened in its spectacular new building on High Street Kensington. No prior booking required.

4)   [A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H]Based in the heart of Covent Garden, the London Transport Museum explores the powerful link between transport and the growth of modern London, its culture and society since 1800. Highlights include the iconic red London bus, the world’s first Underground steam train – a train carriage dating back to the 1890s. Young people and adults can enjoy the interactive galleries which include stepping aboard real buses and trains and having a go on a tube driving simulator. Here you can buy a perfect gift or iconic London souvenir, or relax in our cafe bar overlooking Covent Garden Piazza.

5)   [A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H]The Museum of London, which has just had a £20 million redevelopment, is the world’s largest urban museum. Step inside the museum for an unforgettable journey through the capital’s turbulent past. Discover prehistoric London, see how the city changed under Romans and Saxons, wonder at medieval London and examine the stormy years when London was ruined by civil wars, plague and fire. Then visit the Galleries of Modern London where you can walk the streets of Victorian London, take a stroll in recreated pleasure gardens and admire the magnificent Lord Mayor’s Coach.

6)   [A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H]The British Museum is one of the greatest museums in the world! Founded in 1753, the British Museum’s remarkable collection spans over two million years of human history. Enjoy a unique comparison of the treasures of world cultures under one roof, centred around the magnificent Great Court. World-famous objects such as the Rosetta Stone, Parthenon sculptures, and Egyptian mummies are visited by up to six million people per year. For groups of 10 or more reservation is necessary.

Which museum __________?

A offers group discounts

B has shopping facilities

C provides a double-decker tour

D requires booking in advance

E has no entrance fee

F has recently been restored

G changes exhibits throughout the year

H has moved to another location

Thomas Gainsborough

Gainsborough was, with Reynolds (his main rival), the leading portrait painter in England in the later 18th century. The feathery brushwork of his mature work and rich sense of colour contribute to the enduring popularity of his portraits. Unlike Reynolds. he avoids references ti Italian Renaissance art or the antique and shows his sitters in fashionable contemporary dress.

He was a foundation member of the Royal Academy, though he later quarrelled with it over the hanging of his pictures. He became a favourite painter of George III and his family.

He was born at Sudbury, Suffolk, the son of a wool manufacturer. He trained in London and set up in practice in Ipswich about 1752. In 1759 he moved to Bath, a fashionable spa, attracting many clients for his portraits. He settled in London in 1774. His private inclination was for landscape and rustic scenes, and his amusing letters record his impatience with his clients' demand for portrait.

It is stated in the text that Gainsborough and Reynolds were   [A, B, C, D]

A friends

B companions

C opponents

D helpers

We can infer from the text that ...   [A, B, C, D]

A Gainsborough's works resembled much of Reynold's pictures

B were quite different from Reynold's style of work

C showed the same people as Reynold's pictures

D Gainsborough preferred Italian Renaissance art

Gainsborough was   [A, B, C, D]... of the Royal Academy.

A a chief constituent

B an adviser

C a portraitist

D a producer

Gainsborough was born in the family of ...   [A, B, C, D]

A George III

B a craftsman

C Reynolds

D an artist

Gainsborough tended to ...   [A, B, C, D]

A depicting scenes of the countryside

B drawing war battles

C writing love letters

D inducing his clients

Mysterious 15th Century Manuscript

Dated to the 15th century, the Voynich manuscript is a hand-written text in an unknown script, (1)   [A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H]_____ . Since its discovery in the 19th century, many historians and cryptographers, including code breakers during the Second World War, have attempted to work out its meaning but (2)   [A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H]_____ .

Now, computer scientists at the University of Alberta have applied artificial intelligence to the manuscript, with their first goal to establish its language of origin. They used the text from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 380 languages to “train” their system and then ran their algorithms, which determined (3)   [A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H]_____ .

Professor Kondrak, who led the research, and his graduate student Bradley Hauer were able to decipher a relatively high number of words using Hebrew as their reference language. “It turned out that over 80 per cent of the words were in a Hebrew dictionary, but we didn't know (4)   [A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H]_____ , said Professor Kondrak.

The scientists then used Google Translate (5)   [A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H]_____ , Which read: “She made recommendations to the priest, man of the house and me and people.” “It’s a kind of strange sentence to start a manuscript but it definitely makes sense,’ said Professor Kondrak.

The results of this work were published in the journal Transactions of the Association of Computational Linguistics. While fully comprehending the text will require collaboration with historians of ancient Hebrew, Professor Kondrak has great faith in the ability of computers (6)   [A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H]_____ and said he is looking forward to applying his techniques to other ancient scripts.

A that the computers decoded other mysterious texts

B accompanied by pictures of plants and astronomical observations

C if these words made sense together

D none have been successful

E that the most likely language for the document was Hebrew

F to help understand human languages

G they make considerable progress in their work

H to convert the first line into English