TEST "Reading. 2nd term" (Wider World 2)

Read the text and decide if sentences are True or False, or if the text Doesn’t say.

THE HIGHEST CITY IN THE WORLD

The city of El Alto (a Spanish word meaning ‘the high place’) is the world’s highest city at 4,150m above sea level. It is Bolivia’s second biggest city, after Santa Cruz de la Sierra, and has a population of around one million. The South American country also has the world’s highest capital city, La Paz.

Strangely, the city of El Alto didn’t even exist until 1903, when the railway passing from Lake Titicaca to La Paz arrived. It has very few historical buildings, unlike the nearby La Paz, which started life 400 years earlier.

The first school opened in 1939, mainly for the children of railway workers who lived there. The city grew enormously in the 1950s when it became connected to the water pipes that came under the ground from La Paz. Until then, water had to be brought to El Alto in lorries.

The majority of people in El Alto are not of Spanish origin, but are Aymara people, who lived in Bolivia before Europeans arrived. The city’s traffic police officers, are largely Aymara women dressed in traditional brightly-coloured skirts and shirts, which seems an unusual sight to most outsiders.

The climate there is cool. Even in summer, the maximum daytime temperature is only 17C in the warmest month, November. In winter, it’s about 7C in the coldest month, but it’s much drier than the warmer summers, the driest month being June.

For a long time, El Alto was a residential area housing the workers from La Paz, with little industry of its own, but this has changed over the last 20 years or so. The city now even has a special day when they celebrate the date when politicians decided that El Alto should have its own city council (March 6th 1985) and when El Alto became an independent city.

1. El Alto is in one of the highest regions of Spain.             [True, False, Doesn't say]

2. El Alto is in the south of the country.             [True, False, Doesn't say]

3. Bolivia’s capital city is smaller than El Alto.             [True, False, Doesn't say]

4. El Alto is a modern city.             [True, False, Doesn't say]

5. The city grew quickly as soon as schools started opening.             [True, False, Doesn't say]

6. Most people who live in El Alto came from Spain.             [True, False, Doesn't say]

7. Most police officers in El Alto work for the traffic police.             [True, False, Doesn't say]

8. The traffic police in El Alto have unusual uniforms.             [True, False, Doesn't say]

9. It rains most in El Alto in November.             [True, False, Doesn't say]

10. The coldest month is June.             [True, False, Doesn't say]

11. El Alto now has some industry.             [True, False, Doesn't say]

12. The city got its own government 20 years ago.             [True, False, Doesn't say]

Read a text about The Edinburgh festival and fill in each gap with ONE word.

A really popular summer festival in the UK

One of the most popular summer festivals in the UK is the Edinburgh Festival. It isn’t actually one festival; eight festivals are held in the city simultaneously, including the Art Festival, the Book Festival, the International Festival, the Fringe and the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo.

The Edinburgh Festival has happened in August every year since 1947, except for 2020. The idea for a festival came from Rudolf Bing, an Austrian who loved and sponsored the arts. Bing was the general manager of the famous Opera House at Glyndebourne in the South of England. He wanted to organise an international festival of music and opera to help fund the Opera House. Different cities were considered, including Oxford, but finally, Edinburgh, which already had a long history of festivals, was chosen.

Two important events took place during the first International Festival. Firstly, a week-long film festival was organised by the Edinburgh Film Guild. Secondly, eight theatre groups arrived uninvited. They were not allowed to perform in the International Festival, so they set up their shows in other venues in the city. That became the ‘Edinburgh Festival Fringe’.

The Fringe Festival is now the largest of the festivals. In 2018, it featured more than 55,000 performances of 3,548 different shows in 317 venues. There are circus, music, dance, comedy, theatre performances and much more. Comedy is the most common performance: over a third of the shows are comedy.

A popular event of the Military Festival is the Tattoo. It takes place at the castle each night. Military musicians from across the world perform, and there is a great light and fireworks display. Another popular event is its grand finale: a classical music concert in Princes Street Gardens, when fireworks shoot into the sky, in time to the music.

Attending the festival is a great experience, but planning ahead is a good idea. Hundreds of thousands of people attend each year, so you’ll need to book accommodation and tickets for popular shows in advance. But don’t plan too much! You’ll find out about great, little-known shows and performers while you are there, and you’ll be disappointed if you are too busy to attend.

1. The Edinburgh Festival is not a single festival; there are in fact       festivals.

2. The first Edinburgh               Festival was organised by Rudolf Bing.

3. Edinburgh was probably chosen because of its              of festivals.

4. The      festival was organised to take place at the same time as Bing's first festival.

5. The Edinburgh Festival        started in 1947 but was unplanned.

6. The largest festival in August is the        Festival.

7. There are more        performances at the Fringe than other performances.

8. The        is a famous event of the Military Festival.

9. The last performance at the festival is a                         with fireworks.

10. The writer advises visitors to buy tickets for               before the festival.

Read a letter about accommodation. Choose the correct option.

Accommodation

To: Ellie Crest

Subject: Surfing Holiday

Hi Ellie,

I’m so pleased you can come surfing in August! Paul, Rose and Kevin are coming too, so there will be five of us. We’ve decided to return to New Sands for a couple of days, because the surf board hire is so cheap there.

I’m starting to think about accommodation. We won’t camp again after last year! I hated staying in a tent in all that rain!

Kevin wants to hire a caravan. There are some nice ones with 3 bedrooms, showers and cooking facilities. The problem is, none of the caravan parks take short bookings in the summer. The minimum stay is a week. It’s a shame because there are several nice parks near the beach.

There’s a hostel for young people in New Sands. It’s the cheapest option after camping, and there’s a big kitchen and dining room where we can cook. The problem is, accommodation is in dormitories and I don’t really want to sleep with people I don't know.

There are a few guest houses in New Sands. Some have triple rooms, so we only need to book two rooms. We’ll have to book soon if we choose that option, because many guest houses are already full. The hotels in New Sands are too expensive, although I’d love to stay at the Sunrise Pavilion with its large pool!

The final option is to rent a cottage. I found one. It has three bedrooms – a double, a single and a twin, so two of us would have to share a bed! There’s a big kitchen diner with a microwave, washing machine and dishwasher. The living room has a TV and DVD player. There’s just one bathroom, but there’s a separate WC. There’s a nice garden too. The problem is, it’s 5 miles from the beach.

Let me know which option you prefer.

Cheers,

Natalie

1. The friends want to stay in New Sands for                    [a week, a week and a half, less than one week]

2. Last year the friends stayed in a              [tent, caravan, youth hostel]

3. Last year the friends had problems with                   [the weather, the transport, their surf boards]

4. The problem with the caravan park is that                                        [all the caravans are fully booked, there are not enough beds for everyone, caravans are available for one week]

5. Natalie doesn’t want to stay in the youth hostel because                                         [it’s too expensive, she can’t cook her own meals, she doesn’t want to live with strangers]

6. The guest houses                                   [are fully booked, still have some free rooms, don’t have rooms for three people]

7. The Sunrise Pavilion                               [costs too much, has no rooms available, does not have a swimming-pool]

8. The cottage that Natalie found                                       [doesn’t have a toilet, has one room with two beds, doesn’t have a room with only one bed]

9. In the cottage the                                          [bathroom is outside, shower and the WC are in the same room, cooking and dining areas are in one room]

10. The problem with the cottage is its          [size, price, location]