Strange landings

PAPER 1. READING

Part 1. You are going to read a brief summary of the book " Black Beauty". Choose the most suitable heading from the list (A–H) for each part (1–6) of the article. There is one extra heading which you do not need to use. There is an example at the beginning (0).

A A cruel and greedy owner

B Unable to trust

C Time to take it easy

D A gentle teacher

E In the wrong hands

F Hard but satisfying work

G Life as a cart horse

H A fatal accident

BLACK BEAUTY

THE LIFE OF A HORSE IN NINETEENTH CENTURY ENGLAND

Anna Sewell (1820–1878) wrote only one novel during her lifetime, a book describing the life of a beautiful, black horse, Black Beauty. Sewell was very concerned about animals and used the book to write about the terrible treatment of horses in England at the time. The book is written from the point of view of the horse, which helps us to understand the influence that good and bad treatment had on the horses in the story. Black Beauty had a great effect on the treatment of animals and changed the way that people thought about horses.

0 D

Black Beauty spent his early years in a picturesque, green field with his mother and some other young colts. When it was time for him to be trained to serve men, he was gently and patiently broken in by his master. He learned to wear a saddle and bridle, and carry a human quietly on his back.

1. ______

Black Beauty learnt about the way horses can suffer because of men very early in life. He witnessed a hunting expedition in which a horse was pushed too hard and fast by an inexperienced and overconfident rider. The consequences were tragic. The rider took a fall that killed him and the fine horse broke his leg and was then shot.

2. ______

At his next home, one of the horses with whom he shared a stable, had the reputation of being wild and aggressive. This horse, Ginger, said this was because she had been treated very badly at a young age. Ginger was taken away from her mother, not long after birth, and was trained to work, in a very rough manner, by men who did not care for horses. Although her new master and his employees were very kind, she could not help being suspicious of men.

3. ______

Black Beauty's kind owner was forced to move abroad for the sake of his wife's health. This marked the beginning of a string of owners with different personalities. Some were well-intentioned but allowed their grooms full control of their animals. Unfortunately, in Black Beauty's case, this often proved to be harmful. He was often either neglected or misused.

4. ______

Fortunately, after some time Black Beauty was bought by Jem Barker, a kind cab owner. There, he was treated very well. Although being a cab horse was very hard work, Black Beauty always did his best because he enjoyed pleasing his master. Black Beauty was very well cared for. He was given good food to eat, a warm stable to sleep in and lots of kind words. Black Beauty learned many things from his new owner, such as the advantages of not being greedy and of being fair and kind to all creatures. Black Beauty spent a couple of very happy year there.

5. ______

This pleasant life came to a sudden end when Jerry was forced to sell his horses. After several other owners, Black Beauty was sold to Nicholas Skinner. He had to work every day with no rest, insufficient food and poor accommodation. Although he was still a cab horse, it was a different world. Black Beauty's various drivers would swear at him and whip him. Eventually, Black Beauty became very ill from all this hard work and bad treatment. His owner wanted to have him killed when he couldno longer do the job. Luckily, a vet convinced Skinner to allow Black Beauty to rest and recover, and then sell him, so that hewould make a bigger profit. The owner agreed to have the horse's life spared, but only for the sake of money.

6. ______

After spending years on London's streets, Black Beauty's next home was a pleasant farm, with a caring master. After nursing him back to good health, the farmer decided that Black Beauty needed to be in a place more appropriate than a farm. He soldBlack Beauty to two kind young sisters, who lived on a pleasant country estate with a large, green meadow. Here the weary but content horse finally found the rest and peace of mind that he so desired and deserved.

Part 2. Seven sentenceshave been removed from the text. You have to choose from the sentences A-H the one which best fits each gap (1-7).

A They looked at each other and he pointed at their different clothes, his

thick jacket, her T-shirt and shorts.

B Most were moving towards the road, but some were wandering about in

seemingly random directions.

C But Julian shook his head, knowing that this was not the explanation.

D He could not see where it was coming from.

E She turned, and seemed to realise the situation for the first time as she

saw the other people.

F He was standing on a road – a flat, black surface with the familiar white lines down the middle.

G It reached almost to his shoulders and left seeds sticking to his clothes.

H But there was nothing – only a seemingly endless field of grass, tall,

yellowing and waving gently in the warm breeze.

STRANGE LANDINGS

The force of his landing made Julian gasp. He lay stunned and disoriented for a long moment, then rose unsteadily to his feet. ‘This is not at all right’, he thought. There was no sign of college, the whole part of North London that he had just been in. In fact, there was no feature he could recognise at all in the landscape before him. Even its shape was wrong.

He remained perfectly still for a moment, gazing around. His surroundings seemed strange, almost dreamlike. Then he turned in a slow circle, trying to catch a glimpse of anything familiar. 1. ____ In the distance ahead of him, the land rose up steeply towards something that made a straight horizontal line. A road, perhaps? He decided that, dream or not, there was no point in staying where he was. He would walk to the top of the hill.

He picked up the bag of books he had dropped when he hit the ground and started to make his way through the tall grass. 2. ____ Halfway up, he paused to take his jacket off. In London it had been winter, but here it felt like May or June. He looked behind him. Here and there were other lone figures moving about, leaving trails of flattened grass like his own behind them as they walked. 'What's happening? ' Julian wondered. 'It looks as if we all just dropped out of somewhere. But never mind right now. Just get up the hill, and take it from there.'

He finally reached the top of the slope, and pulling himself up the last few feet, found that he had been right. 3. ____ It stretched straight before him, leading as far as he could see into the distance. There was no sign of any traffic.

He looked back again at the other people scatteredthrough the meadow. 4. ____ Then just ahead of him, a girl climbed onto the roadway, wearing shorts and a sleeveless T-shirt. She smiled at him and said: 'Excuse me, but are you from around here? I was wondering if you would direct me…’ Her words trailed off as he shook his head.

'Sorry. I came from out there, too.' He pointed at the field behind her. 5. ____ 'Where did they all come from? ' she murmuredsoftly. Julian realised that she had an American accent. He shrugged. 'No idea. I know as much as you. I was just coming out of a lecture. I tripped over something and landed here.'

'I was out jogging. I slipped and fell.'

6. ____ 'Where exactly were you? ' he asked.

'In Irvine. Just outside Los Angeles, ' she said. 'I was in London. It was snowing.' 'In August? '

'No. January. You were in August? ' He thought about this. 'What year? ' '1999. You? ' '2010.'

She stared at him, then looked away. 'It must be a dream, ' she said. 'Maybe I hit my head when I fell. I expect I'll wake up in a minute with a splitting headache.' 7. ____ He didn't know how or why they were here, but the reality was starting to sink in.

Part 3. You will read an extract from an article on J.R.R. Tolkien’s ‘The Lord of the Rings’. Choose the answer (A, B, C or D) which you think best fits according to the text.