Formal letter of complaint model

Use of English part 2 and listening part 3

UOE Part 2

Weather in Antarctica

The most extreme weather conditions experienced in Antarctica are associated (0) ..... blizzards. These are simply strong winds with falling snow (13) ....., more commonly, snow that is picked up and pushed along the ground by the wind. Blizzards may last for days at (14) ..... time, and in some cases it can be almost impossible for people to see. It is not unusual (15) ..... objects only about a metre or (16) ..... away to become unrecognisable. Scientists doing research in the area (17) ..... then confined to their tents or caravans. We think of blizzards (18) ..... extremely cold, while in fact temperatures in the Antarctic are usually higher than normal (19) ..... a blizzard. Major blizzards of several days in length occur more frequently in some locations than in others. (20) ..... may be eight or ten such blizzards in any particular place (21) ..... an annual basis. They often cause considerable damage, so that any scientific buildings or equipment constructed in this region must be specially made to give as (22) ..... protection as possible.

If the weather is fine, visibility in Antarctica is usually excellent because of the clear air and the absence of dust and smoke. (23) ..... this means is that people often greatly underestimate the distance of objects and features of the landscape. Also, very large features (24) ..... as mountains may appear to be above the horizon, or even upside (25) ..... These ‘mirages’, (26) ..... are just tricks played by the eyes in certain conditions, have led to explorers in the Antarctic making many errors (27)  ….. judgment.

Listening Part 3

You will hear an interview in which two journalists called Jenny Langdon and Peter Sharples are talking about their work. For questions 15 – 20, choose the answer (A, B, C or D) which fits best according to what you hear.

15 What does Jenny say about the story which made her name?

A She’d been on the lookout for just such a lucky break.

B She resented colleagues trying to take the credit for it.

C She wasn’t actually responsible for the finished article.

D She asked for a more prestigious job on the strength of it.

16 What does Jenny suggest about the editor she worked for on her first national daily newspaper?

A He respected her for standing up to him.

B He tended to blame her for things unfairly.

C He wasn’t as unreasonable as everyone says.

D He taught her the value of constructive criticism.

17 When Jenny got her own daily column on the newspaper, she felt

A satisfied that the good work she’d done elsewhere had been recognised.

B relieved that it was only likely to be a short-term appointment.

C determined to prove exactly what she was capable of.

D unsure of her ability to make a success of it.

18 Peter thinks he got a job on Carp Magazine thanks to

A his academic achievements at college.

B his practical knowledge of everyday journalism.

C his familiarity with the interests of its main target audience.

D his understanding of how best to present himself at interview.

19 Peter and Jenny agree that courses in journalism

A need to be supplemented by first-hand experience.

B are attractive because they lead to paid employment.

C are of little value compared to working on a student newspaper.

D provide an opportunity for writers to address contentious issues.

20 When asked about their novels, Peter and Jenny reveal

A an ambition to gain recognition for their craft.

B a desire to develop careers outside journalism.

C a need to prove how versatile they are as writers.

D a wish to keep their journalism fresh and appealing

Proposal question and model answer

TASK

Your college currently doesn't provide enough support for students planning to spend time studying in another country. You see this notice in the library.

The college is planning to introduce a special course for students planning to spend time studying in another country. The college principal invites students to send a proposal outlining any problems students may face whe studying abroad and suggesting ways in which the course could address these problems. A decision can then be made about what to include on the course.

Write your proposal in 220-260 words in an appropriate style.

Introduction

This proposal is intended to outline common issues students have when studying abroad, and suggest ways that a course could help them to deal with these. The final section makes recommendations about what should be included in the course curriculum.

Problems when studying abroad

Interviews were conducted with 20 students who have recently completed a student exchange programme. The majority of students were of the opinion that overcoming the language barrier in their new country was the biggest challenge and nearly half also said that they experienced culture shock. Other problems cited included unrealistic expectations, loneliness and packing the wrong things - particularly being unprepared for a different climate.

Ways a course could address these

A course could prepare students for culture shock by raising awareness of the phenomenon and describing cultural differences that students may encounter in their host country. To aid participants with language, a course could include some useful phrases for the first days after arrival, in addition to some resources for language learning. The course could also include a discussion about combating isolation and adjusting expectations.

Recommendations

I would like to make the following recommendations:

• Invite students who have previously studied abroad to share aspects of the culture they found surprising and give advice on what to take.
• Provide a list of useful phrases, together with suggestions of useful resources for language learning such as websites, blogs or e-books.
• Facilitate a discussion about engaging with people to avoid loneliness and isolation.

If these recommendations are implemented, young people are bound to feel more prepared for their experience.

Answers to Reading Part 5 (homework)

31 C
32 A
33 C
34 D
35 D
36 C

Essay writing

Visit this web page and download the work sheet

https://freeenglishlessonplans.com/2015/04/16/cae-writing-part-1-a-formal-essay/

Reading for homework

Reading Part 5

You are going to read the introduction to a book about the history of colour. For questions 31 – 36, choose the answer (A, B, C or D) which you think fits best according to the text.

Introduction to a book about the history of colour

This book examines how the ever-changing role of colour in society has been reflected in manuscripts, stained glass, clothing, painting and popular culture. Colour is a natural phenomenon, of course, but it is also a complex cultural construct that resists generalization and, indeed, analysis itself. No doubt this is why serious works devoted to colour are rare, and rarer still are those that aim to study it in historical context. Many authors search for the universal or archetypal truths they imagine reside in colour, but for the historian, such truths do not exist. Colour is first and foremost a social phenomenon. There is no transcultural truth to colour perception, despite what many books based on poorly grasped neurobiology or – even worse – on pseudoesoteric pop psychology would have us believe. Such books unfortunately clutter the bibliography on the subject, and even do it harm. The silence of historians on the subject of colour, or more particularly their difficulty in conceiving colour as a

subject separate from other historical phenomena, is the result of three different sets of problems. The first concerns documentation and preservation. We see the colours transmitted to us by the past as time has altered them and not as they were originally. Moreover, we see them under light conditions that often are entirely different from those known by past societies. And finally, over the decades we have developed the habit of looking at objects from the past in black-and-white photographs and, despite the current diffusion of colour photography, our ways of thinking about and reacting to these objects seem to have remained more or less black and white.

The second set of problems concerns methodology. As soon as the historian seeks to study colour, he must grapple with a host of factors all at once: physics, chemistry, materials, and techniques of production, as well as iconography, ideology, and the symbolic meanings that colours convey. How to make sense of all of these elements? How can one establish an analytical model facilitating the study of images and coloured objects? No researcher, no method, has yet been able to resolve these problems, because among the numerous facts pertaining to colour, a researcher tends to select those facts that support his study and to conveniently forget those that contradict it. This is clearly a poor way to conduct research. And it is made worse by the temptation to apply to the objects and images of a given historical period information found in texts of that period. The

proper method – at least in the first phase of analysis – is to proceed as do palaeontologists (who must study cave paintings without the aid of texts): by extrapolating from the images and the objects themselves a logic and a system based on various concrete factors such as the rate of occurrence of particular objects and motifs, their distribution and disposition. In short, one undertakes the internal structural analysis with which any study of an image or coloured object should begin. The third set of problems is philosophical: it is wrong to project our own conceptions and definitions of colour onto the images, objects and monuments of past centuries. Our judgements and values are not those of previous societies (and no doubt they will change again in the future). For the writer-historian looking at the definitions and taxonomy of colour, the danger of anachronism is very real. For example, the spectrum with its natural order of colours was unknown before the seventeenth century, while the notion of primary and secondary colours did not become common until the nineteenth century. These are not eternal notions but stages in the ever-changing history of knowledge. I have reflected on such issues at greater length in my previous work, so while the present book does address certain of them, for the most part it is devoted to other topics. Nor is it concerned only with the history of colour in images and artworks – in any case that area still has many gaps to be filled. Rather, the aim of this book is to examine all kinds of objects in order to consider the different facets of the history of colour and to show how far

beyond the artistic sphere this history reaches. The history of painting is one thing; that of colour is another, much larger, question. Most studies devoted to the history of colour err in considering only the pictorial, artistic or scientific realms. But the lessons to be learned from colour and its real interest lie elsewhere.

31 What problem regarding colour does the writer explain in the first paragraph?

A Our view of colour is strongly affected by changing fashion.

B Analysis is complicated by the bewildering number of natural colours.

C Colours can have different associations in different parts of the world.

D Certain popular books have dismissed colour as insignificant.

32 What is the first reason the writer gives for the lack of academic work on the history of colour?

A There are problems of reliability associated with the artefacts available.

B Historians have seen colour as being outside their field of expertise.

C Colour has been rather looked down upon as a fit subject for academic study.

D Very little documentation exists for historians to use.

33 The writer suggests that the priority when conducting historical research on colour is to

A ignore the interpretations of other modern day historians.

B focus one’s interest as far back as the prehistoric era.

C find some way of organising the mass of available data.

D relate pictures to information from other sources.

34 In the fourth paragraph, the writer says that the historian writing about colour should be careful

A not to analyse in an old-fashioned way.

B when making basic distinctions between key ideas.

C not to make unwise predictions.

D when using certain terms and concepts.

35 In the fifth paragraph, the writer says there needs to be further research done on

A the history of colour in relation to objects in the world around us.

B the concerns he has raised in an earlier publication.

C the many ways in which artists have used colour over the years.

D the relationship between artistic works and the history of colour.

36 An idea recurring in the text is that people who have studied colour have

A failed to keep up with scientific developments.

B not understood its global significance.

C found it difficult to be fully objective.

D been muddled about their basic aims.

Use of English Part 1

Use of English Part 1

After years studying North America's black bears in the (0) ........ way wildlife biologist Luke Robertson felt no closer to understanding the creatures. He realised that he had to (1) ........ their trust. Abandoning scientific detachment, he took the daring step of forming relationships with the animals, bringing them food to gain their acceptance.

The (2) ........ this has given him into their behaviour has allowed him to dispel certain myths about bears. (3) ........ to popular belief, he contends that bears do not (4) ........ as much for fruit as previously supposed. He also (5) ........ that they are ferocious. He says that people should not be (6) ........ by behaviour such as swatting paws on the ground as this is a defensive rather than an aggresive act.

However, Robertson is no sentimentalist. After devoting years of his life to bears, he is under no(7) ........ about their feelings for him. It is clear that their interest in him does not (8) ........ beyond the food he brings.

1 A catch B win C achieve D receive

2 A perception B awareness C insight D vision

3 A Opposite B Opposed C Contrary D Contradictory

4 A care B bother C desire D hope

5 A concludes B disputes C reasons D argues

6 A misguided B misled C misdirected D misinformed

7 A error B doubt C illusion D impression

8 A expand B spread C widen D extend