IBC ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEST

SECTION 1:Language Skills- Structure (Time- 10 minutes)

Choose the best option and mark (a) ,(b), (c), or (d) as in the example 0.
0 Tommy was one
(a) of the happy child of his class
(b) of the happiest child in the class
(c) of the happiest children in the class X
(d) child who was the happiest of all the class

USE THE ANSWER SHEET.

QUESTIONS 1-10
1. They worked really hard and dug
every singlemetre of theirs fathers land.
(a) block
(b) square
(c) cube
(d) pure

6. They had never left their pond before

and to them it was a very big.
(a) adventure
(b) adventurer
(c) advent
(d) adventurous

2. That's what people are always ..........

(a) say
(b) said
(c) saying
(d) telling

7. One long hot summer I turned .........

waiting as my method of getting cash.
(a) into
(b) to
(c) over
(d) with

3.

There's no fool like an ......... fool.

(a) aged
(b) ancient
(c) elderly
(d) old

4. There were so many members of the

political party who had .........
the leader that he resigned.
(a) insisted
(b) invited
(c) apposed
(d) opposed
5.

Apparently she had completely forgotten

that she'd already eaten breakfast that

8. I really can't tell what's ..........

(a) going on
(b) taking off
(c) going by
(d) taking in
9. That doesnt prove anything. Actually
I heard the sound of the glass..
in the night
(a) creaking
(b) crackling

(c) breaking
(d) broken
10. You can ......... on me, have no
fear about that!

day. I turned ......... to hide my smile.

(a) support

(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)

(b) rely
(c) hang
(d) hold

back
around
up
aside

SECTION 2: Reading Comprehension(Time - 15 minutes)

Read the passage and mark the best answer.

Global warming could cause drought and possibly famine in China, the source of much of Hong
Kong's food, by 2050, a new report predicts. Hong Kong could also be at risk from flooding as sea
levels rose. The report recommends building sea-walls around low-lying areas such as the new
port and airport reclamations. Published by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), the report,
which includes work by members of the Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences, uses the
most recent projections on climate change to point to a gloomy outlook for China.
By 2050 about 30 to 40 per cent of the country will experience changes in the type of vegetation it
supports, with tropical and sub-tropical forest conditions shifting northward and hot desert
conditions rising in the west where currently the desert is temperate. Crop-growing areas will
expand but any benefit is expected to be negated by increased evaporation of moisture, making it
too dry to grow crops such as rice. The growing season also is expected to alter, becoming shorter
in southern and central China, the mainland's breadbasket. The rapid changes make it unlikely that
plants could adapt.
"China will produce smaller crops. In the central and northern areas, and the southern part, there
will be decreased production because of water limitations," Dr. Rik Leemans, one of the authors of
the report, said during a brief visit to the territory yesterday. Famine could result because of the
demands of feeding the population - particularly if it grows - and the diminished productivity of
the land. "It looks very difficult for the world as a whole" he said.
Global warming is caused by the burning of large amounts of fossil fuels, such as coal and oil,
which release gases that trap heat in the atmosphere. World temperatures already have increased
this century by about 0.6 degrees Celsius and are projected to rise by between 1.6 degrees and 3.8
degrees by 2100.
Dr. Leemans said China's reliance on coal-fired power for its industrial growth did not bode well
for the world climate. "I think the political and economic powers in China are much greater than
the environmental powers, and (greenhouse gas emissions) could accelerate," Dr. Leemans said.
"China is not taking the problem seriously yet, although it is trying to incorporate this kind of
research to see what is going to happen."
1. Overall, what sort of picture is painted of the future effects of global warming?
(a)disastrous
(b)potentially disastrous
(c)relatively optimistic
(d)on balance things are going to be satisfactory
2. What is this passage?

(a)a report
(b)a preview of a report
(c)an article describing a response to a report
(d)an article previewing a report
3. Mr David Melville suggests that in future more food could be imported into Hong Kong. He
thinks these measures could be:

(a)efficient

(b)sufficient
(c)insufficient
(d)inefficient
4. The main point of paragraph 3 is to describe:

(a)effects of changes in the climate of China on food production

(b)future changes in the climate of China
(c)effects of changes in the climate of China on the growing season
(d)projected future changes in the climate of China
5. How would you describe the Dr. Leeman's attitude towards China:

(a)mainly favourable
(b)critical
(c)supportive in theory
(d)admiring
6. In paragraph 1 'gloomy' is closest in meaning to:

(a)healthy
(b)gradually deteriorating
(c)declining
(d)pessimistic
7. In paragraph 1 'gloomy' is closest in meaning to:

(a)healthy
(b)gradually deteriorating
(c)declining
(d)pessimistic
8. In paragraph 3 'reliance' is closest in meaning to which of the following:

(a)stress
(b)emphasis
(c)dependence
(d)referendum
9. Why does the writer add the information in brackets in paragraph 5?

(a)because the quote is from a second language user whose command of English is not perfect
(b)because, although they are not part of the original quote, the additional information given is
necessary to understand the statement
(c)because the writer is quoting from another source
(d)because the writer wants to emphasize the meaning of these words
10. In paragraph 1 'alter' is closest in meaning to:
(a)cause
(b)alternate
(c)change
(d)receed

SECTION 3: Language Skills Summarising

(Time - 20 minutes):
Read the story carefully. Summarise the facts in Macedonian.
USE THE ANSWER SHEET.

Charlie is a teacher and his wife, Maria is an artist. One of the main differences between the two is
that Charlie has no imagination well perhaps a little whereas Maria has the most vivid imagination
you could think of.
Now imagination is an essential quality if youre an artist but sometimes it can lead to
problems. Take the night before last, for example. It was a fine summer night and you could see
the moon and the stars quite clearly, it was shortly before the longest day of the year. Charlie was
sitting in a deckchair enjoying the warm summer air when he felt something touch his shoulder; it
was Marias hand and he could tell immediately she was a little worried about something. He had
noticed this sensation a hundred times before. He asked her what the matter was and she replied
that there was a strange thing on the jacket that was hanging in the bedroom. Now you must
remember that they had both lived in the West Indies and had seen a lot of strange creatures in
their house before. But now they were living in England and so Charlie just laughed and said he
would have a look at the thing.
He left the garden and made his way to the bedroom. He could see a jacket hanging in the
bedroom and went up to it to have a closer look at thething. The moment he touched it, the thing
sprang into life. Now Charlie experiences fear like the rest of us but when this creatures
opened its wings, he jumped out of his skin and ran screaming from the room like a small child
doing about 100 miles an hour.