Cheerful PineNo. 01

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Three questions from this paper

Pulled straight from this paper, options and all. The correct answers appear in the review screen after you sit it.

1. Q1

   Which writer states plainly that this was the most terrified they have ever been?

   1. AExtract A
   2. BExtract B
   3. CExtract C
   4. DExtract D
2. Q2

   For thousands of years, sailors have feared the darkness of the open sea. A single hidden rock or sandbank could tear open a wooden hull and send a ship to the bottom within minutes. For the families waiting at home, a storm at sea could mean they never saw their fathers and brothers again. ____ (23) The earliest solution was simple: people lit bonfires on hilltops near dangerous shores.

   The most famous lighthouse of the ancient world stood on the island of Pharos, near the Egyptian city of Alexandria. Built more than two thousand years ago, it towered over the harbour like a giant stone finger. A fire burned at its top every night, and polished metal mirrors threw the light far out to sea. ____ (24) Yet even this wonder could not last forever. A series of earthquakes shook the tower, and after many centuries it crumbled into the sea.

   For hundreds of years after the fall of Rome, few new lighthouses were built, and many of the old ones fell into ruin. ____ (25) These busy new routes demanded better guidance than a smoky bonfire could give.

   The greatest change came in the early nineteenth century, when a French scientist named Augustin Fresnel designed a new kind of lens. ____ (26) Instead, a lighthouse fitted with a Fresnel lens could be seen from more than thirty kilometres away. Its rings of glass gathered the scattered rays and bent them into a single powerful beam. Fishermen and merchants alike blessed the bright new light that reached them far out on the water.

   For over a century, every lighthouse needed a keeper who lived beside the light. The keeper's job was lonely but vital: he had to trim the wicks, polish the lenses, and wind the clockwork that turned the lamp. ____ (27) If the light failed even for a moment, ships might be dashed against the rocks.

   Today, almost every lighthouse in the world works on its own. ____ (28) Even so, these towers still stand watch along dangerous coasts, flashing their patient warning to any ship that passes in the night.

   Which sentence best fits gap 26?

   1. AElectric lamps and computers have replaced the keepers, who have now retired from their lonely posts.
   2. BEarlier lights had wasted most of their glow, scattering it uselessly into the sky.
   3. CSailors could see its glow from many kilometres away, and travellers counted it among the wonders of the world.
   4. DBecause of this danger, coastal peoples searched for a way to warn ships away from the shallows.
   5. ESome old lighthouses have now been turned into small museums or unusual holiday cottages.
   6. FAbove all, he could never let the flame go out, no matter how fierce the storm.
   7. GSlowly, though, sea trade recovered, and ships crowded the coasts of Europe once more.
3. Q3

   Which writer, once helped through their own nervousness, would like to be there for a shy young relative facing the same ordeal?

   1. AExtract A
   2. BExtract B
   3. CExtract C
   4. DExtract D