Good luck is as important as working hard to achieve success. Do you agree or disagree with the statement?

Directions: You will now read a short passage and then listen to a conversation on the same topic. You will then be asked a question about the passages. After you hear the question, you will have 30 seconds to prepare your response and 60 seconds to speak. Read a student letter in the university newspaper. You will have 45 seconds to read the letter. You may begin reading now.

Campus Fitness Center to Close

The campus fitness center will permanently close at the end of this semester. This decision was made by the university administration in coordination with representatives of the student’s association. Unfortunately, the building currently housing the center is very old and the university can no longer afford the cost of maintaining it or providing heat and air conditioning as required. Furthermore, the popularity of the center has declined since the university formed partnerships with several private fitness centers in the city. These partnerships mean that all full and part time students can access five privately owned gyms across the city at no cost.

The man expresses his opinion of the university’s plan. State his opinion and the reasons he gives for holding that opinion.

Directions: You will now read a short passage and then listen to a lecture on the same topic. You will then be asked a question about the passages. After you hear the question, you will have 30 seconds to prepare your response and 60 seconds to speak. Now read a passage from a business textbook. You have 45 seconds to read the passage below. You may begin reading now.

Pictographs

Pictographs are very simple pictures that represent a word or idea. This artwork is the earliest known form of writing, with archaeological discoveries of pictographs dating back to 3000 BC in Mesopotamia and Egypt. Scholars believe that pictographs developed independently in many different parts of the world, including the Middle East, China, and Mesoamerica. Because early pictographs were meant to resemble physical objects, they tended to represent nouns that referred to concrete things, but as pictographs in the ancient world became visually simpler and more abstract, they stopped representing actual objects. Instead, they began to represent abstract concepts and phonetic sounds. In time, pictographs became the basis for modern writing systems.

Using examples from the talk, explain how pictographs changed to become modern writing.

You will now listen to part of a lecture. You will then be asked a question about it. After you hear the question, you will have 20 seconds to prepare your response and 60 seconds to speak.

Now answer the question

Using the example of the cuckoo bird from the lecture, explain two ways in which egg mimicry is beneficial for birds.