ECL TEST 1

Reading Comprehension (Part 1)

Read the following text and complete it with the fragments of sentences given below. The first
one has been done for you as an example. There are two extra fragments that you do not need to
use.
Angkor
Angkor is the scene of one of the greatest vanishing acts of all time. The Khmer kingdom lasted
from the ninth to the 15" centuries, and 0.__________. As many as 750,000 people lived in
Angkor, its capital, 1.__________, making it the most extensive urban complex of the preindustrial world. By the late 16 th century, when Portuguese missionaries came upon the lotus5shaped towers of Angkor Wat the most elaborate of the city's temples and the world's largest
religious monument - the awe flourishing capital of the empire was in ruins.
Scholars have come up with a long list of suspected causes, 2.__________. Its mostly
guesswork: roughly 1,300 inscriptions survive on the temple, but the people of Angkor left not a
single word explaining their kingdom's collapse.
Recent excavations, not of the temples but of the infrastructure that made the vast city possible,
3.__________. Angkor, it appears, was doomed by the very creativity that transformed a
collection of minor fiefdoms into an empire. The civilization learned how to tame Southeast
Asia's seasonal rains, then faded as its control of water, the most vital of resources, slipped
away.
An interesting first-hand account brings the city to life at its zenith. Zhou Daguan, a Chinese
diplomat, spent nearly a year in the capital at the end of the 13th century. He 4. __________. He
described a frightening practice, abandoned not long before his visit, that involved collecting
human organs from living donors as a tonic for courage. Religious festivals featured fireworks
and boar fighting. The greatest spectacles occurred when the king appeared among his subjects.
Royal processions included elephants and horses decorated with gold, and hundreds of palace
women decorated with flowers.
Angkor's daily rhythms also come to life in sculptures that have survived centuries of decay and,
more recently, war. Temple facades depict everyday scenes - two men playing a board game, for
instance, and a woman giving birth under a shaded pavilion - and pay homage to the spiritual
world inhabited by creatures such as apsaras, 5.__________ The pictures also reveal trouble in
paradise. Mixed with visions of earthly harmony and enlightenment are scenes of war. In one
picture, 6.__________ . The scene is immortalized in stone, of course, because the Khmer were
successful in battle.
Although Angkor won that war, the city was tom by rivalry, 7.___________, Khmer kings had
several wives, which made the line of succession difficult to follow and resulted in constant
intrigue as princes fought for power. "For centuries, it was like the Wars of the Roses. The
Khmer state was often unstable," says Roland Fletcher, 8. __________.

Some scholars believe that Angkor died the way it lived: 9.__________.
The records of Ayutthaya state that warriors from that kingdom "took" Angkor in 1431. No
doubt the prosperous Khmer city 10.__________ : inscriptions boast that its temple towers were
clad in gold, as Zhou's breathless account confirms. To harmonise tales of Angkor's wealth with
the ruins encountered by Western travellers. French historians a century ago concluded that
Ayutthaya sacked Angkor.

A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M

at its height dominated a wide swath of Southeast Asia, from Myanmar (Burma) in
the west to Vietnam in the east
which heightened its vulnerability to attacks from Champa to the east and the kingdom of
Ayutthaya to the west
by the sword
which sprawled across an area the size of New York Citys five boroughs
an archaeologist at the University of Sydney and co-director of a research effort called
the Greater Angkor Project
including invaders, a religious change of heart, and a shift to maritime trade that
condemned an inland city
heavenly dancers who served as messengers between humans and the gods
which meant they were a martial nation
would have been a rich prize
lived modestly as a guest of a middle-class family who ate rice using coconut-husk
spoons and drank wine made from honey, leaves or rice
and archaeologists have found good examples for that
spear-bearing warriors from the neighbouring kingdom of Champa are packed stem to
stern in a boat crossing the Tonle Sap
are converging on a new answer

Reading Comprehension (Part 2)

Read the following text and then decide whether the statements given below are true, false or
not mentioned in the text. The first one has been done for you as an example. N.B. This task is
meant to serve as practice, but this kind of task cannot be found in the real exam.
Family Ties
The biologist lain Douglas-Hamilton is walking up on an elephant, a young female, enormous
and shy. Her name, as she's known to him and his colleagues, is Anne. She stands half-concealed
among trees on the top of a hill in remote northern Kenya, browsing quietly with several
members of her family. Around her neck hangs a stout Sather collar along which sits an
electronic transmitter. That transmitter has allowed Douglas-Hamilton, flying in by Cessna, now
walking here on foot through the tall grass, b find her. Anne gobbles some more leaves. She's
oblivious to him, or maybe just not interested.
Elephants can be dangerous animals. They are excitable, complex, and sometimes violently
defensive. Douglas-Hamilton is a world-famous expert who has studied them for 40 years.
He wants a clear look at the collar. He has heard reports that it may be too tight - that she has
grown into it since having been tranquilizer-darted, fitted, and thus appointed as a source of
research data. Ordinarily, Douglas-Hamilton does his elephant-watching more carefully, from
the safety of his Land Cruiser, but no vehicle can drive this terrain, and Anne's comfort and
health are at issue. The collar should hang loose. He wants to be sure that Anne's isn't snugged
up to her throat. But at present, she's showing him only her elephantine butt. So he creeps closer.
Three other men lag back. One is David Daballen, a bright young Samburu protg of DouglasHamilton's, who often accompanies the boss on missions like this. The second man is a local
guide holding a Winchester.308 rifle. The third is me. As we watch Douglas-Hamilton, we
notice another female elephant, a big one, probably the group's matriarch, sidling around craftily
on his right flank. We duck low to escape matriarch's view. We freeze. As this female comes on,
suspicious and challenging, Douglas-Hamilton seems unconcerned with her, but Daballen
begins to look nervous. Hz is calculating (he'll tell me later) how fast an elephant might be able
to charge across such a rocky slope.
Then the big female commits herself to a sequence of gestures suggesting nonchalance: She
pisses torrentially and she turns away. Anne herself swings out of the brush. She steps toward
Douglas-Hamilton. The gap between them is 50 feet. For a few seconds the young female graces
him with a frontal view of her large forehead, her flappy ears her pretty tusks, as though posing
for beauty shots in the glow of a flash. She gives him a profile. He raises his camera and takes
several photos. Then she too turns and walks away. Through his lens, he has seen that the collar
hangs just as it should. The alarm was a false one. Anne is in no danger-or anyway, no danger of
chafing or choking.
As we withdraw, circling back toward our vehicle, I think: So that's how it's done. Show a little
caution, a little respect, get the information you need, back off. And everybody is happy. After

four decades Douglas-Hamilton knows this species about as well as anyone in Africa. He has a
keen sense, well earned by field study and sharpened by love, of the individuality of the animals.
Statement

0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
1
0

Hamiltons colleague is called Anne.

Elephants are usually with their family.
Electronic transmitters can be used to detect the whereabouts of
animals.
Information gained with the help of transmitters can be used by
science.
The author of the article and his mates are frightened of Anne.
Hamilton is always accompanied by others interested in his tours.
Elephants can charge at people unexpectedly fast.
Hamilton wanted to take photos of Anne to use as beauty shots.
The size of the collar has endangered Anne's life.
Hamilton is one of the most outstanding elephant experts in the
world.
Hamilton's sense far elephants is due to his time spent wth
elephants and his affection for them.

True

False

Not in
the
text

Writing (Part 1)
A survey has been conducted about the shopping habits of the population in your country. The
survey contains information about the popularity of small shops and supermarkets, online
shopping and shopping at the sales. Write a letter to a foreign friend of yours and

inform him/her about the findings of the survey;

compare the findings with your own shopping habits;
outline trends that are likely to take place in the field of shopping (e-shopping);
ask your friend to give information about shopping habits of people in his/her country.

Write your letter in 200 words.

Begin your letter in the following way.

Dear Joe,
I have read a survey........................................................................................................

Writing (Part 2)
Describe a person that has had a great impact on your life. In your essay focus on the following
areas

the reason why you have chosen this person;

your relationship with this person;
description of his/her personality;
shared experiences with a special regard to one memorable event.

Write your essay in 200 words.

Begin your letter in the following way.
There is one person who..