SECTION 1 – Questions 1-13

Read the text below and answer Questions 1-9.

Sunset Tours

BOOKINGS

A deposit of $150 each is payable on booking and the balance is payable 30 days prior to tour departure. Feel free to contact us for further information:

Office Hours: 8 am-4 pm Monday-Friday

Phone 5500 0881     Fax 5501 0881    Email: [email protected]

CONDITIONS

The cost is subject to a minimum of 25 passengers travelling and we reserve the right to cancel if this number is not reached. Should the tour be cancelled, you are entitled to a full refund.

NB: The itinerary is given as a guide only and is subject to alteration if weather conditions are unfavourable or in any other unforeseen circumstances.

LUGGAGE

Each passenger is entitled to bring a cabin bag and one item of checked luggage no heavier than 20  kg  as  per industry requirements. Couples travelling together are requested to use individual suitcases. Your suitcase should be of a size and weight you yourself can manage as tour leaders may not be readily  available  to  handle  your luggage.

CANCELLATION & REFUNDS

It is obligatory that you have a travel insurance policy to cover sudden illness or accident. Even so an administration fee is retained for notice of more than 30 days prior to departure but, should cancellation occur through unforeseen circumstances not covered by travel insurance, 10% of the fare is retained for 15- 30 days’ notice, 20% for 4- 14 days and 50% Is held for less than 4 days’ notice. There will be no refund for notice of one day or on the day of departure.

RESPONSIBILITY

Although every endeavour is made by Sunset Tours to ensure your holiday goes according to plan, we act purely as an agent for the various accommodation and other services   provided.

Sunset Tours shall not be liable for any accident, injury, delay, irregularity, loss or damage caused by or arising out of the provision of or failure to provide any such service.

 

Questions 1-9

Do the following statements agree with the information given in the passage?

In boxes 1-9 on your answer sheet, write

TRUE               if the statement agrees with the information

FALSE              if the statement contradicts the information

NOTGIVEN     if there is no information on this


1. The full cost of the tour must be paid at the time the booking is made.
2. If there are not enough bookings, the tour will not go ahead.
3. If travel plans are disrupted because of unexpected problems, tourists can get their money back.
4. There is no weight limit on the traveller’s cabin luggage.
5. The tour leader is not allowed to help passengers with their baggage.
6. Tourists must insure against sickness and injury.
7. An insured traveller who cancels due to illness more than a month before departure gets a full refund.
8. Sunset Tours only give a partial refund to passengers who cancel the day before the tour leaves.
9. Sunset Tours are not responsible for the state of hotel rooms.

 

Read the passage below and answer Questions 10-13.

5ZBG

Easy Listening

Broadcasting Association

26/7/11

You Are Invited…

Dear Listener

We wish to express our sincere thanks for your support during our last successful fund-raising endeavour. Your annual donation makes it possible for us to improve the station in every way for your interest and pleasure.

We would like to extend to you an invitation to join us at the station on Wednesday, 16th August at 3.00 pm  for  afternoon tea and to discuss station programming. Your input will be a great help to us. It  will enable us   to continue programming to suit your requirements. Together we will be  discussing  future ideas for  SZBG and whether  frequent news broadcasts  should be included in our agenda. There has also been a  proposal  to make the mainstay of our programming a talkback  format. Any changes to  programming  would have to  be finalised by  September 1st.

We hope you can join us and we look forward to sharing time with you. If you are able to join us, please be kind enough to phone, and let us know. If you are unable to attend on this day, please phone and we will arrange  a  suitable date for you.

Yours sincerely

do/iia1 &,£

Tobias Rank

Programming Coordinator

 

RSVP by 5/8/11

 

Questions 10-13

Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D. Write your answers in boxes 10-13 on your answer sheet.

10. 5ZBG primarily
A) relays news broadcasts.
B) focuses on talkback shows.
C) plays listeners’ requests.
D) plays soothing music.

11. The listener is being thanked for
A) listening to 5ZBG.
B) giving money to the station.
C) attending afternoon tea.
D) providing his input.

12. The listener is being invited to an event where he will
A) participate in a programme.
B) raise money.
C) have refreshments.
D) talk about improvements.

13. The listener should reply to the letter by
A) August 5th.
B) July26th.
C) August 16th.
D) September 1st.

SECTION2 – Questions 14-28

Read the text below and answer Questions 14-22.

Employees and Contractors

An employee is someone who performs work under a contract of employment. Identifying who is, or is not, an employee has become an increasingly disputed area, with a number of different factors to be considered. Non – employees may be ‘ independent contractors’ or ‘sub- contractors’ and are employed under a contract for services or even as agents representing a client business. The legal consequences of being an independent contractor are significantly different to those for employees. Only an ’employee ‘ can be covered by an award1 or make a workplace agreement. However, some cleaners, outworkers and some drivers of public passenger vehicles who might ordinarily be considered independent contractors are deemed to be employees under the Fair Work Act.

The rights and obligations of employees are very different to those who are self-employed. To distinguish between employees and independent contractors, the courts take into account a number of ‘ factors to determine what the real nature of a particular work relationship is. These factors may include: Control over work-generally an employee works as directed by the employer whereas a contractor has a ‘ greater say in how the work is to be done.

Payment-employees are usually paid on the basis of an hourly rate or a salary. Contractors are more often paid for a required outcome, with less regard for time.

Work injury-contractors are responsible to insure themselves against injury but employees are not.
Risk-employees generally do not bear in a direct way the risk of financial loss incurred by the business for which they work. Contractors have a chance of profit, and also the risk of loss.

Sub-contracting-an employee cannot assign or delegate the work to others whereas a contractor is typically permitted to do so.

Tools and equipment-contractors may supply special equipment or tools to do the job.
Income tax and superannuation-employers usually pay these for their employees whereas contractors make ‘ their own arrangements.

Questions 14-22
Classify the following as

  • A. contractors
  • B. employees
  • C. employers

Write the correct letter A, B or C in boxes 14-22 on your answer sheet.
You may use any letter more than once.

People who
14. work for wages or salary rather than profit
15. pay tax on behalf of others
16. have less responsibility for the way in which a job is carried out
17. do not provide their own work gear
18. pay by the hour
19. do not have the freedom to pay other people to do their job for them
20. do not benefit from belonging to a trade union
21. are paid for the end result rather than hours recorded
22. are required to sign an employment contract

 

Read the passage below and answer Questions 23-28.

Paid parental Leave

If you are a working parent expecting a child after July 31st, the information below about Paid Parental Leave concerns you.

From 1st August, the first national Paid Parental Leave scheme will start. It’s a new entitlement for working parents, funded by the government.

Taking time away from work for a new baby is a common part of working life. Paid Parental Leave is designed to help parents spend time with a new baby and also to help employers retain skilled staff.

Eligible working parents of children born or adopted on or after 1st August may get 18 weeks government-funded pay at the National Minimum Wage to help them care for a new baby.
Full-time, part-time, casual, seasonal, contract and self-employed workers may be eligible. You must have worked at least 330 hours (just over one day a week) for 10 of the 13 months before your new baby arrives. You can have up to an 8 week unpaid break between two working days and still be eligible. You can earn up to $100,000 a year (individual salary) and still be eligible.

Usually the mother must apply for Paid Parental Leave. If you are eligible, you can transfer some or all of the pay to your partner (he needs to be eligible too). The scheme gives families more options to balance work and family.

You can claim up to three months in advance, and your pay can start any time you choose from when your child is born or adopted. It will be paid in one continuous period from the start date and must all be taken with the first year after the birth or adoption. You are encouraged to apply early.

Eligible parents can receive Parental Leave pay at the same time, before or after other employer-provided paid leave or entitlements. The existing minimum entitlement to 12 months unpaid parental leave for long-term employees is unchanged.

From 1st August, employers must provide Government-funded Parental Leave pay through their usual pay cycle to eligible employees who have been with their business for at least 12 months. Other eligible parents will be paid through the Family Assistance Office.

For further information visit the website or call the appropriate number below: www.ppl.govt.com
Parents 01800 4321
Employers 01800 1211

Questions 23 and 24
Choose TWO letters, A-E.
Write your answers in boxes 23 and 24 on your answer sheet.
Eligibility for Paid Parental Leave requires employees to have worked a certain number of hours in the months preceding the arrival of a baby. Of those, who is entitled to Paid Parental Leave?

A. New parents only
B. Working mothers only
C. A couple who adopts a child
D. A father earning less than $100,000
E. All parents who work for the government

Questions 25-28
Do the following statements agree with the information given in the passage on the previous page?
In boxes 25-28 on your answer sheet, write
TRUE     if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE   if the statement contradicts the information
NOTGIVEN   if there is no information on this

25. Employees can start getting Paid Parental Leave up to 3 months before the child is born.
26. Employees cannot receive the benefit once the child reaches the age of 12 months.
27. Employees who do not make a claim early may miss out on Paid Parental Leave.
28. Employees can take advantage of both state-paid and employer-paid parental leave at the same time.

SECTION3 – Questions 29-40

Read the text below and answer Questions 29-40.

WHY DO CLOCKS GO CLOCKWISE?

The simple answer is that clocks always go clockwise! If the clock’s hands moved in the opposite direction (to what we are used to), it would still be called ‘clockwise’, of course! But, seriously, why do the hands move from left to right at the top? Generally, the answer given is that clocks were invented in the northern hemisphere where the sun rises in the east, travels round to the south, and sets to the west. The shadow on a typical domestic sundial in olden times would move from left to right. So, the answer is completely logical. Or is it?

If we go back to early clocks, because of their sheer size and cost, there was generally only one turret clock in a town, usually placed high on a tower for all to see and frequently accompanied by a bell that could be heard when the clock face was not visible. If we go back in time to before mechanical clocks, even if people had a sundial at home, they needed a large public sundial that could be read from a distance when they were out. Sundials were therefore placed high on a wall in the town. This is where the explanation above about clockwise movement no longer rings true: for sundials on vertical walls have to have their hours arranged in an anti-clockwise progression. As vertical sundials would have been the predecessors of clock towers, one wonders why a right to left movement didn’t become the standard. An old vertical sundial can still be seen in Queen’s College, Cambridge, England. Not only does it go ‘anticlockwise’ but strangely (for us) the number ‘I’ is at the bottom rather than the top.

Surely the hands on clocks have always moved in the same direction, though? Surprisingly, the answer is no. There is a clock painted in fresco in a Cathedral in Florence that is peculiar in several ways. We are used to clocks with twelve hours on the dial but this one has twenty-four and the twenty-fourth hour does not signify midnight but the hour of sunset (a system that survived until the eighteenth century apparently); furthermore, the layout of the numbers has ‘I ‘ at the bottom, although of course XII is at the top, and it goes anticlockwise! This clock is not unique, however.

There were other clocks around in the 15th and 16th centuries with Roman numerals going anti­ clockwise. Some of them had a hand that went around once in 24 hours, others went around once every twelve hours, and still others went around four times in 24 hours with the digits I to VI painted on the clock face. Then again, some went around once in 12 hours but the digits were marked I to VI and then I to VI again. Some of the ‘once every 24 hours’ ones were marked I to XII and I to XII again. There were probably even more variations than this. To find out why all clocks go clockwise and are numbered I to XII (or 1 to 12) today, we have to consider the phenomenon described in 1890 in Principles of Economics by Alfred Marshall.

Early clocks were massive and extremely heavy (not to mention very expensive) devices and technology over the centuries has reduced these to small timepieces that can sit on a little shelf, be carried (often in a waistcoat pocket), or worn on the wrist. When it comes to new technologies, there are often many designs in competition with one another. Occasionally, one design is obviously pre-eminent and the others soon become obsolete. In the case of the clocks, there would not seem to be one design that is outstandingly more advantageous than the others. That is where Marshall’s theory comes in: ‘whatever firm [design or technology] gets a good start’ eventually wins. We can assume, therefore, that one type of clock face-although it may not have had any technological advantage over the others-was somewhat more common; and, once one technology secures a larger share of the market, there are economies of scale. It becomes more cost-efficient to produce thereby giving it even greater advantage over its rivals. In this way, one technology can completely eclipse the others.

Why do clocks go clockwise? Pure chance is probably the answer. Clockwise may have been more widespread and got off to a good start. After the invention of the first mechanical clock, for a century and a half, there was no consistency in the direction, the position of the numbers on the dial, or even the number of µours shown. All this changed with the mass production of clocks and watches as domestic items. For nearly five hundred years now, they have been consistent-a clockwise dial with twelve hours and two rotations in a 24-hour period.

 

Questions 29-34

Do the following statements agree with the information given in the text?

In boxes 29-34 on your answer sheet, write

TRUE                 if the statement agrees with the information

FALSE              if the statement contradicts the information

NOT GIVEN      if there is no information on this

29. ‘Clockwise’ has always described the left-to-right movement of a clock’s hands.
30. The shadow on a domestic sundial in the southern hemisphere moves from right to left.
31. Before the invention of mechanical clocks, people used sundials to tell the time.
32. The shadow on a vertical sundial moves in a different direction from the domestic equivalent.
33. The sundial at Queen’s College and the clock in the Florentine Cathedral move in the same direction.
34. On the old 24-hour clocks, number XII (12) stood for midday and XXIV (24) denoted midnight.

 

Questions 35-40

Complete the summary below using words from the box below. Write your answers in boxes 35-40 on your answer sheet.

Improvement in technology has seen clocks. develop from large, 35 _________ mechanisms to very small gadgets. When new technologies arise, designs compete with one another. Sometimes, because one design is so 36 ________, it will replace all the others. However, it is not always the best design that wins. There is a theory that asserts the most 37 _________ design wins even if it has no obvious advantage over the others. Once this design starts being 38 _________ , its position in the market is 39 __________ That is why there seems to be no 40 _________ explanation for some of the accepted designs that are commonplace today.

 

assured                    economic              mass-produced

consistent                exclusive                obsolete

costly                         logical                    outstanding

domestic                  massive                  popular

1 FALSE
2 TRUE
3 NOTGTVEN
4 NOTGWEN
S FALSE
6 TRUE
7 FALSE
8 FALSE
9 TRUE
10 D
12 C
13 A
14 B
15 C
16 B
17 B
18 C
19 B
20 A
21 A
22 B
23-24 C D (in either order)
25 FALSE
26 TRUE
27 NOT GIVEN
28 TRUE
29 FALSE
30 NOTGIVEN
31 TRUE
32 TRUE
33 TRUE
34 FALSE
35 costly
36 outstanding
37 popular
38 mass-produced
39 assured
40 logical