Name: ______________________________________

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Class: ______________________________

Progress test 2

Section 1: Vocabulary
1

Read the text. Use the word given in capitals at the end of some of the lines to form
a word that fits in the gap in the same line.
Although the subject of history has gained in (1) ____________ over the past

POPULAR

few years, many people believe that history is a waste of time and have an
(2) ____________ to reading or thinking about it, believing that it is better to

AVERSE

concentrate on the present rather than the past. However, there are those who
believe that (3) ____________ to the exciting world of the past should start at

EXPOSE

a very early age. Unfortunately, maybe we are somewhat (4) ____________ if

GUIDE

we believe the premise that by studying history, we may be able to avoid the
mistakes of the past in our own age. It is obvious that man has learned very
little about living together from his past. Furthermore, in some cases,
deliberate (5) ____________ of past actions are used to justify modern warfare.

INTERPRET

Scientific discoveries which have accumulated over the past millennia no

doubt lead to a more comfortable lifestyle for many people today but there
are still frontier disputes and (6) ____________ . Its important to remember

CONFRONT

that much of history has been written by those that have conquered others and
history is a record of their (7) ____________ instead of an objective view of

ACHIEVE

their exploits and the era in which they lived. Nevertheless, this should not
deter people from studying the past because for every negative and
(8) ____________ event there may have been, there are also many more

FAVOUR

positive ones which show how amazing the human race can be. For me, it
is (9) ____________ that some schools may no longer be teaching the subject

THINK

in the future.
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Section 2: Grammar
2

Complete the text. Use only one word for each gap.
As Rory watched his life slipping past him, he realised that it was high (1) ____________ he
actually did something worthwhile, so he decided to climb Mount Kilimanjaro and raise money for
the local childrens hospice. However, halfway through the climb, he wished he (2) ____________
spent more time getting fit before he set out on the climb. He realised that he (3) ____________
have climbed a few more steep hills back in England but he had just been too lazy. Furthermore, he
hadnt done enough research on it, otherwise he would have known (4) ____________ difficult it
was going to be. He had heard about lots of ordinary people who had done it for charity and
thought it could not be as hard (5) ____________ the leaflets made out.
But the reality was nothing (6) ____________ he had thought it would be it was a great
(7) ____________ tougher than he expected. Having said that, he was not going to give up. The
rest of his group were moving farther away from him as he tried to catch his breath, and
(8) ____________ of the organisers was sent back to find out what was wrong. Rory pulled
himself together, had one last gulp from the water bottle and strode towards the man walking
towards him. He (9) ____________ rather die than fail to reach the summit and raise the money
for the hospice.
/9

Section 3: Listening
3

02 Listen to an interview with Diana McLeod about happiness at work. Complete

the sentences.

In the survey various _______________ were ranked according to how interesting people
felt they were.

Apparently, teachers said they enjoyed being able to employ their _______________ .

If there is _______________ , its almost impossible to enjoy your work.

The _______________ of bullying in smaller companies is not as high as in bigger ones.

When you work for yourself, it can be difficult to separate the work and leisure
_______________ .

Being responsible for ones own _______________ is likely to make people happy.

In the long run, _______________ can be reduced by financial incentives.

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Section 4: Reading
4

Read the text below. For questions 19, choose from the sections (AF). The sections
may be chosen more than once.
In which section of the article does the writer mention

statistics regarding how well or badly products have done?

_____

an awareness of the detrimental effect of failed products on individuals? _____

something which seems to be an impossibility?

_____

a refusal to face and accept weaknesses?

_____

a mans obsession with every product launched?

_____

what producers could have done for themselves?

_____

a dismissal of historic events?

_____

the temporary nature of material objects?

_____

the irony of the museums origins?

_____
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The Museum of Failed Products

A
In an unremarkable business park outside the city of
Ann Arbor in Michigan stands a poignant memorial
to humanitys shattered dreams. It doesnt look like
that from the outside, though. Even when you get
inside, it takes a few moments for your eyes to
adjust to what youre seeing. It appears to be a vast
and haphazardly organised supermarket; along
every aisle, grey metal shelves are crammed with
thousands of packages of food and household
products. There is something unusually
cacophonous about the displays and soon enough
you work out the reason: unlike in a real
supermarket, there is only one of each item.

starting in the 1960s, he began purchasing and

preserving a sample of every new item he could
find. Soon, the collection outgrew his office in
upstate New York and he was forced to move into a
converted granary to accommodate it. Later, GfK
bought him out, moving the whole lot to Michigan.
What McMath hadnt taken into account was the
three-word truth that was to prove the making of his
career: most products fail. According to some
estimates, the failure rate is as high as ninety
percent. Simply by collecting new products
indiscriminately, McMath had ensured that his
hoard would come to consist overwhelmingly of
unsuccessful ones.

B
The storehouse, operated by a company called GfK
Custom Research North America, has acquired a
nickname: the Museum of Failed Products. This is
consumer capitalisms graveyard or, to put it less
grandly, its almost certainly the only place on the
planet where youll find A Touch of Yogurt
shampoo alongside the equally unpopular For Oily
Hair Only. The museum is home to discontinued
brands of caffeinated beer and self-heating soup
cans that had a regrettable tendency to explode in
customers faces.

E
By far the most striking thing about the museum,
though, is that it should exist as a viable, profitmaking business in the first place. You might have
assumed that any consumer product manufacturer
worthy of the name would have its own such
collection a carefully stewarded resource to help it
avoid making errors its rivals had already made. Yet
the executives who arrive every week at Sherrys
door are evidence of how rarely this happens.
Product developers are so focused on their next
hoped-for success, so unwilling to invest time or
energy thinking about their industrys past failures
that they only belatedly realise how much they need
to access GfKs collection. Most surprising of all is
that many of the designers who have found their
way to the museum have come there to examine
or been surprised to discover products that their
own companies had created, then abandoned.

C
There is a Japanese term, mono no aware, that
translates roughly as the pathos of things. It
captures a kind of bittersweet melancholy at lifes
impermanence that additional beauty imparted to
cherry blossoms, for their fleeting nature. Its only
stretching the concept slightly to suggest that this is
how the museums manager, an understatedly
stylish GfK employee named Carol Sherry, feels
about the cartons of Morning Banana Juice in her
care or about Fortune Snookies, a short-lived line of
fortune cookies for dogs. Every failure, the way she
sees it, embodies its own sad story on the part of
designers, marketers and salespeople. It is never far
from her mind that real people had their mortgages,
their car payments and their family holidays riding
on the success of products such as A Touch of
Yogurt.
D
The Museum of Failed Products was itself a kind of
accident, albeit a happier one. Its creator, a now
retired marketing man named Robert McMath,
merely intended to accumulate a reference library
of consumer products, not failures per se. And so,
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F
It isnt hard to imagine how one downside of the
positive-thinking culture, an aversion to confronting
failure, might have been responsible for the very
existence of many of the products lining its shelves.
Each one must have made it through a series of
meetings at which nobody realised that the product
was doomed. Perhaps nobody wanted to
contemplate the prospect of failure; perhaps
someone did but didnt want to bring it up for
discussion. By the time the truth became obvious,
the original developers would have moved to other
products or other firms. Little energy would have
been invested in discovering what went wrong.
Everyone involved would have conspired, perhaps
without realising what theyre doing, never to speak
of it again. Failure is everywhere. Its just that most
of the time wed rather avoid confronting that fact.

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Section 5: Writing
5

Complete the essay. Use only one word for each gap.
It is true that keeping fit will benefit a persons health in many ways. It has
(1) ____________ clear in recent years, that a large number of people are doing less and
less exercise and this is now causing many serious illnesses, putting a strain on doctors
and hospitals. However, some experts believe that too much exercise can do just as much
damage.
(2) ____________ it is true that moderate exercise such as walking can be very beneficial
to a persons health, it is only one factor which keeps us healthy. Diet is also extremely
important and I (3) ____________ argue that it is probably even more important than
exercise, although the ideal is for both of these factors to work together. It
(4) ____________ to me that many people are unwilling to put in the effort required to
become fitter.
I know from my (5) ____________ , however, that too much exercise can also cause
problems, so people are urged to take moderate exercise and eat moderately healthily
rather than embarking on extreme diets and training. I have heard of too many instances
where otherwise ultra-fit people have had heart attacks or dropped down dead.
In my (6) ____________ , governments need to find ways of motivating people to take
responsibility for their own health. (7) ____________ all, people need to realise that eating
healthy food does not have to cost a fortune, nor is it difficult to prepare healthy meals
themselves. (8) ____________ I see it, people need to be better educated about their health.

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Section 6: Speaking
6

Talk to your teacher about your views. You should:

explain how difficult you think it is for people to achieve their dreams and why.

describe what you would change about the modern world if you could change one thing.

say if you believe money can buy people happiness and give reasons.

outline what you think the role of the government should be in preserving cultural heritage.

Your teacher will mark your presentation using the score card below. The teacher circles 1
mark if a student includes the area and 2 marks for communicating it accurately and
effectively. There is a maximum of 8 marks.
The student:
explained how difficult it is for people to achieve their dreams and why.

described what they would change about the modern world.

said if they believe money can buy happiness and gave reasons.

talked about the governments role in preserving cultural heritage.

2
/8
TOTAL:

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