General English Examination

Elementary level

Speaking part 3

Discussion on a Topic Stimulated by Photos

You are going to be given two different photographs and I’d like you to describe them on your
own. When you have finished I will ask you to answer some questions so that you can
broaden the topic introduced in the pictures.

Topic: Services, telecommunication

Ide jönnek a képek

General English Examination
Elementary level

Speaking Part 3

SITUATION

Applying for a loan

Candidate sheet

You would like to apply for a bank loan to buy a new car.

Examiner sheet

You work in a bank as a clerk. Your customer would like to apply for a loan to buy a new car.
Ask her/him:

 What kind of car she/he would like to buy; how much it costs,
 How much loan she/he needs,
 Whether she/he has got a job,
 How long she/he has been working at her/his present job,
 How much money she/he would like to pay as monthly payments,
 Whether she/he prefers short-term or long-term payments
General English Examination
Elementary level

Speaking Part 3

SITUATION

Sending a package

Candidate sheet

You would like to send a parcel to your friend who lives oversea.

Examiner sheet

You work in a post office. A customer would like to send a package oversea. Ask him/her:

 Ask her/him where she would like to send it,

 Ask her/him whether she would like to send it by airmail or ground,
 Ask him/her what the package contains,
 Ask her/him what the proper address is of the recipient.
General English Examination
Elementary level

Speaking Part 3

SITUATION

Candidate sheet

You would like to order a special birthday menu from a special catering service.

Examiner sheet

You work for a catering service company, a customer would like to order a special menu for a
birthday party. Ask him/her:

 Ask the customer what occasion is the food for,

 For how many people,
 What the deadline is for the party,
 What kind of food the customer would like to order,
 What kind of drinks and refresments the customer would like to order,
 Whether anyone has allergy to nuts or diary products,
 Whether the customer needs any extra services,
 Whether the customer needs any vegetarian dishes.
General English Examination
Elementary level

Writing Part 1

Complete the next below by writing a suitable word from the list in each space provided.
There are 15 gaps but 20 words are given. Use each word once only.
There is an example. ( 0 ) for you.

CELL PHONES

I am really amazed to (0) see so many drivers using their cell phones while driving in
…………….(1) traffic. The ……………….(2) of people with mobile phones are
businessmen, busy managers, brokers and doctors….-people who work in ……………..(3)
where being informed and being available has a great……………….(4). And I think
……………..(5) number is increasing.
The thing that makes cell phones so popular is a quite ……………….(6) way of keeping in
………………(7) with relatives, clients, business contacts whereever you are. It is very small
in ……………….(8) – it even fits into a …………….(9). Its owner can get service in case
of……………….(10), say an accident. Moreover, the most modern ones can be
…………………(11) to computers and can ……………………….(12) used to download e-
mails or ……………..(13) the Net.
Apart from being very useful I am really …………………..(14) at people making long
telephone calls on coaches or aeroplanes, where I just can not help overhearing the person.
There are several people who are not willing to switch it………………..(15) at public places
or at concerts. But it is them to blame for the improper use rather than the cell phones
themselves.

to
fields importance
surf be
though effective
by touch
size these
pocket emergency
linked important
annoyed happy
majority their
off heavy
General English Examination
Elementary level

Reading Part 1

Read the text and answer the questions.

Communication revolution

We already know that every home with a television will soon have a satellite dish to receive
programmes from all over the world. You will be able to see the latest films before they come
to your local cinema.

But the communications revolution is not just about entertaintment. It’s also about
information and services like shopping and banking.

Imagine the scene: there’s nothing in the fridge for dinner and you don’t want to go out.
Simply switch on the television, ask for the information service which gives the prices of food
in your local supermarket. Then order what you need for dinner by telephone. Would you like
to know how much you have got in your bank account, or pay a few bills? Once again, switch
on, key in the number of your bank, give them your personal identification number and all the
information is there.

And what about learning English? Watch your English lesson at home on TV and then use
your computer and a radio link to do the practice exercises. Within seconds, you will know if
you are making progress.

What will all this mean? No more traffic jams in the evening while people are looking for
somewhere to park before they go to a concert or a film; everyone will be at home watching
satellite television.

But there are some more questions. Will more TV programmes mean better programmes? Will
an electronic teacher be better than a human one? And perhaps most important of all, will we
still want to go out and meet people?

The last question is: will the communications revolution create a stay-at-home society?
Answer: we don’t know. What do you think?

Válaszoljon a következő kérdésekre magyarul!

1. Hogyan juthat hozzá leggyorsabban a legújabb mozifilmekhez a közeljövőben?

2. A szórakozáson kívül az élet milyen más területein fog érvényesülni a kommunikációs
forradalom?
3. Hogyan fizethetjük ki számláinkat, anélkül, hogy elmennénk a bankba?
4. Az emberek vajon több vagy kevesebb időt fognak eltölteni otthon?
5. Milyen választ ad a fenti cikk azzal kapcsolatban, hogy az embereket hogyan fogják
befolyásolni a kommunikációs forradalom teremtette változások?
General English Examination
Elementary level

Writing Part 2

Letter writing (formal)

Your friend is on holiday. You are in charge of taking care of his bills. The money your friend
left for you to pay the bills is not enough to cover the costs. Write a letter of about
100 words to the Gas company.

 Give your reasons why you have not completed the payments before deadline,
 Try to avoid paying extra charge,
 Ask for a few days’ respite until your friend gets back,
 Tell them he will settle the bill as soon as possible.

Letter writing (informal)

You would like your friend to register on a popular chat website. Write a letter of about 100
words to him/her.

 Give your reasons why you want him/her to register,

 Tell him/her what the advantages are using this website,
 Tell him/her how she/he could register,
 Tell him/her what good experiences you have using this website.
General English Examination
Elementary level

Reading Part 2

Read the text and answer the questions.

Radio Magic

Radio sound-effects – men did everything from creating a thunderstorm to barking like
a dog.

It is night on the praire. Two cowboys are sitting around a campfire that is sizzling with the
sounds of frying bacon. The only other sound is the lonely howl of a coyote in the
distance.

Suddenly one of the men sits up. A horseman is coming. You can hear the rapid clip-clop of
his horse.The sound grows nearer. The two cowboys draw their guns. The horse comes to a
halt. There are two shots in the night. Then a voice says, „We will return to our exciting
program after these commercial messages…”

This is not a TV show, but a radio program. In the 1930s and 40s, the radio airwaves were
filled with exciting dramas and comedies. Many of these radio shows, such as Gunsmoke, The
Lone Ranger, and Superman, went on to become successful TV series as well.

Because there was nothing to see on radio, what the listener heard was extremely important.
Every story had to be told in terms of sounds. This included the dialogue the actors spoke, the
recorded musical background, and also the sound effects.
In the western scene described above, everything you would have been created ’’live” in a
radio studio by sound-effects man. The sound of that sizzling bacon was made by crumpling
cellophane in front of a microphone. The sound of the approaching horse was actually made
by two half-coconut shells being tapped on the top of a table. The only sound that was really
what it sounded like was the gunfire. Of course, the sound-effects man was using blank
bullets in his gun.

Every radio studio back in those days had two rooms: one in which the actors performed, the
other for the engineer and the sound-effects man. This was known as the studio’s ’’nervous
system”. The engineer wore headphones so he could hear the actors and control the sound of
their voices. He also played musical recordings, when needed, on a turntable. The sound-
effects man usually stood in a corner of the room behind a table piled high with all sorts of
odds and ends used for creating ’’live” sound effects. He had the script propped up in front of
him on a music stand and produced each sound effect when needed.

Donald Bain was a sound-effect expert. His specialty was fowl noises. One day, he decided to
play a little joke on his co-workers at the radio studio. He walked in, carrying a covered
basket that he said contained baby chicks. When a co-worker heard the cute chirping of the
chicks, he asked Bain to let him have a peek. Bain removed the cloth on the basket to reveal –
nothing! The basket was completely empty. Bain had been making all the sounds himself.
And then there was Brad Barker, another sound-specialist: the man of the timber wolf howl.
Barker would howl into one end of a stovepipe, while the other end was up against the strings
of a piano. This created an echo effect.
General English Examination
Elementary level

And that was radio magic!

Reading Part 2

QUESTIONS

1. What was this particular radio program about?

2. Why did they interrupt the program?
3. What kind of radio programs were very popular in the 1930s and 40s?
4. What elements were important in a radio program?
5. Who was responsible for creating a real atmosphere for the radio programs?
6. What did they call the ’’nervous system” of a radio studio?
7. Who provided the musical background for each story?
8. On what kind of animal voice was Donald Bain an expert?
9. How did he trick his co-workers?
10. What kind of devices did Brad Barker use for imitating a wolf’s howl?
General English Examination
Elementary level

Vocabulary List

Money

1. A.T.M abbr. Automated Teller Machine; cash dispenser UK

2. banknote n. a piece of paper money; bill(us)
3. bill (us) n. a banknote; a piece of paper money
4. black market n. illegal traffic in officially controlled commodities such as
foreign currency
5. bureau de change n. establishment where currencies of different countries may be
exchanged
6. cash n. 1 coins or bank notes (not cheques); 2 actual money paid as
opposed to credit
7. cash dispenser(uk) n. automatic machine from which clients of a bank may
withdraw money ATM
8. cashier n. person dealing with cash transactions in a bank or a store etc.
9. coin n. a piece of metal money
10. currency n. the money in general use or circulation in any country
11. debt n. money etc owed by one person to another
12. exchange rate n. the rate at which one currency can be exchanged for another
13. foreign exchange n. the currency of other countries
14. hard currency n. currency that will probably not fall in value and is readily
accepted
15. invest v. to put money for profit into business, land etc – investment n.
16. legal tender n. currency that cannot legally be refused in payment of a debt
17. petty cash(uk) n. a cash fund for small, everyday expenses
18. soft currency n. currency that will probably fall in value and is not readily
accepted
19. speculate v. (risky) buying of foreign currency, land etc for rapid gain –
speculation n.
20. transaction n. a (usually commercial) exchange; a deal – to transact v.

Newspapers and Journalism

1. article n. a text of piece of writing on any non-fiction subject

2. broadsheet(uk) n. a large-format newspaper with usually serious contents
3. censor n. official with the power to stop publication of certain articles –
censorship n.
4. chequebook jouranlism n. the obtaining of exclusive rights to a story by payment of
large sums of money
5. correspondent n. 1. person who writes a letter to a paper-- 2. person who writes
articles for a paper
6. critic n. a person who writes articles, esp. stating opinion, about art,
music etc.
7. desk n. a department of a newspaper
8. edit v. to check, modify and generally prepare written material for
publication
General English Examination
Elementary level

Vocabulary List

9. editor n. 1. a person who edits 2. the head of a newspaper or newspaper

department
10. editorial n. an article written by the editor stating his opinion
11. exclusive rights n. rights or permission for one paper to publish a story that no
other paper can
12. feature n. a special or regular article in a newspaper, usually displayed
prominently
13. front page n. the first page of a paper, usually carrying the most important
story
14. headline n. 1. the title at the top of an article—2. headlines the most
important stories
15. journalist n. a person employed to write articles for a newspaper –
journalism n.
16. media n. the media all the means of mass communication ( papers, TV,
radio etc)
17. opinion n. what a person thinks about a perticular subject; a subjective
point of view
18. paper n. 1. thin, flexible material for wrinting or printing on—2.
newspaper
19. story n. a news article or report
20. tabloid n. a small-format paper, with short, sensational stories – see
broadsheet

Computers

1. application n. a program dedicated to a specific task (eg: word processing)

2. bit n. binary digit, the basic binary unit for storing data, either 0 or
1
3. buffer n. an area in memory used for temporary storage (eg: rapid
input from keyboard)
4. byte n. 8 bits – kilobyte(approximately: 1,000 bytes), megabyte( 1
million), gigabyte(1 billion)
5. Email n. electronic mail; system of sending messages through the
Internet; e-mail
6. floppy disk n. small, removable magnetic disk for (permanent) storing of
data
7. hard disk n. fixed, magnetic disk inside a PC for (permanent) storing of
data
8. hardware n. the mechanical and electronic parts of a computer, not the
software
9. input n. data entered into a computer(by keyboard, floppy, disk etc)
10. keyboard n. the alphanumeric keys or buttons used to input data
11. memory n. part of a computer for (temporary) storing of data
12. modem n. device that converts data to a form that can be transmitted by
telephone etc
13. operating system software that communicates with hardware, enabling
applications to run
General English Examination
Elementary level

Vocabulary list

14. output n. data delivered by a computer (by printer, screen etc)

15. program n. software that contains coded insctructions to control a
computer
16. screen n. the surface area of the visual display unit on which the image
is formed
17. software n. the programs, routines etc for a computer, not the hardware

Banking

1. balance n. the difference between credits and debits in an account

2. bank charges n. money paid to a bank fot the bank services
3. branch n. local office or bureau of a bank
4. checkbook n. book containing detachable checks; chequebook
5. check n. written order to a bank to pay the stated sum from one’s
account; cheque
6. credit n. money in a bank ; money lent by a bank
7. credit card n. plastic card from a bank authorising the purchasing of goods
on credit.
8. current account n. bank from which money may be drawn at any time; checking
account
9. debit n. a sum deducted from a bank account, as for a cheque
10. deposit account n. a bank on which interest is paid; savings account
11. fill in v. to add written information to a document to make it
complete; to fill out
12. interest n. money paid for the use of money lent – interest rate
13. loan n. money lent by a bank and that must be repaid with interest.
14. overdraft n. deficit in a bank account caused by withdrawing more money
than is paid in
15. pay in v. to deposit or put money into a bank account.
16. payee n. person to whom money is paid
17. paying-in slip n. small document recording money that you pay into a bank
account
18. standing order n. an instruction to a bank to make regular payments
19. statement n. a record of transactions in a bank account
20. withdraw v. to take money out of abank account