FCE Reading & Use of English Test 6

Explanations

Part 1

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1 pump The heart pumps blood around the body. This is the correct collocation.

pull We don't say the heart pulls blood.

drag means to pull with difficulty; it’s too strong and negative here.

force suggests a struggle or difficulty, which is not the idea we want.

2 gain The correct collocation is to gain weight when someone becomes heavier.

make does not collocate here. Make weight is used in sports like boxing but has a different meaning.

increase is grammatically okay but not natural. Sounds too scientific.

put needs on after it to make sense here. Put by itself is wrong.

3 reduce To reduce calories means to eat fewer of them, which is perfect here.

shrink is used for physical size (e.g., clothes shrink in the wash).

take doesn’t fit with calories. We say take calories in, not just take.

remove is too strong. You can't remove calories from your body directly.

4 principle is a basic rule or idea. Here it means the main idea behind how diets work.

way is too general. Doesn’t explain the reason behind diets.

method is a specific way to do something, not a basic rule.

kind means type, which doesn’t fit the meaning here.

5 Unfortunately This sentence gives a negative result, so the adverb Unfortunately fits perfectly here.

Similarly means in the same way; not logical here.

Though is possible in some structures but not at the beginning like this.

Although is used to show contrast and it needs a second clause to complete it: e.g., Although people lose weight, they often gain it again so it doesn’t fit here.

6 key The key to doing something is the most important part so this is the best choice for this context.

secret is possible, but more informal or mysterious.

way could work, but key is stronger and fits better.

idea is too vague and doesn’t give the sense of something important.

7 actually means really or in fact. You should eat less than you really need.

preferably means ideally, but doesn’t fit the sentence meaning.

consistently means all the time, which is not logical here.

eventually means in the end, which is unrelated.

8 make The fixed expression is make a difference, meaning it can have a big impact.

Have, do and give a difference are incorrect collocations.  

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Part 2

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9 or This is part of a fixed expression: one … or another which means some type or other of something. We say one way or another or one reason or another for example.

10 were This is the passive voice in the past simple. People were asked (they didn't ask, someone asked them). The passive voice is used here because the person doing the asking is not important. Are would make it present tense, but the survey happened in the past.

11 of We say a fraction/percentage + of when talking about part of a group: half of the people, 70% of the students, two-thirds of those for example.

12 who is a relative pronoun that adds extra information about a person. This is a non-defining relative clause, separated by commas. That cannot be used in non-defining relative clauses (i.e. after a comma) like this.

13 what is used to ask or talk about the kind or type of something. The expression What kind of…? refers to a general type or category.

14 to is part of the fixed expression to someone’s surprise which means that something happened that was unexpected. Other similar common expressions are:

to my amazement, to our disappointment, to her relief.

15 a We use the structure regard someone as + adjective/noun to express how we view someone or something.

16 it This is a formal, impersonal expression used to give an opinion based on evidence. It is often used in academic writing and newspapers. Other similar expressions include: it seems that, it looks like.

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Part 3

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17 threatened Noun to verb (past participle) transformation. The auxiliary have before the gap means we need to use a past participle as part of the present perfect tense.

18 willing Noun to adjective transformation. To be willing to do something means to be ready/happy to do it.

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19 apparently Adjective to adverb transformation. We need an adverb to describe how the animals have discovered them. Apparently is used when something seems true but we’re not 100% sure (based on evidence, like rubbish all over the place).

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20 contents Verb to plural noun transformation. The bin held multiple items so a plural noun meaning things inside a container is needed here.

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21 possibility Adjective to noun transformation. We need a noun after a distinct. A distinct possibility is a common expression meaning a strong chance.

22 unexpected Verb to adjective transformation. The phrase not unexpected is a double negative meaning it is expected. This softens the idea and adds an ironic or thoughtful tone.

23 housing Noun to uncountable abstract noun transformation. Housing is a general term that means all buildings where people live. It refers to the development or supply of homes, often used in urban planning.

24 restrictions Verb to plural noun transformation. The phrase a large number of needs a plural countable noun. A restriction is a law or rule that limits what you can do.

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Part 4

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25 not as expensive as Negative comparison with as … as. We are comparing two things (the actual price vs. expected price) in a negative way.  The structure not as + adjective + as means less than expected. The word expensive comes from the context of price and as we are using a negative verb, the opposite adjective needs to be used in the new sentence.

26 should have told me Modal verb + perfect infinitive (past obligation). The original sentence expresses a regret or a missed opportunity in the past. The structure should have + past participle conveys the idea that you were expected to do it, but you didn’t.

27 came across the photographs The phrasal verb come across means to find sth.by chance. The context suggests it was accidental, not planned. That matches the meaning of come across. This phrasal verb is often used when you find something unexpectedly.

28 were painted by The original sentence is in active voice. The word given by suggests a passive transformation is needed so this is passive voice in past simple to match the tense of the original sentence.

29 asked him not to stay This is a reported speech transformation. In this case it’s a request so we need to use the structure asked + object + to/not to + verb. Since it’s a negative request not needs to precede the to-infinitive: not to stay. It’s worth remembering other key changes in reported speech such as pronouns as needed (e.g. you becomes him)

30 do not feel like going The structure feel like + gerund is used to show we want to do something. The original sentence expresses a lack of desire, so the expression don’t feel like fits perfectly. Go out becomes going out after feel like. In this way, we keep the meaning of preference against going out.

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Part 5

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31 C to realise how much she has got used to living in London

In the first paragraph, she says I catch myself thinking: how extraordinary that it is me doing this! Then she explains this surprise: the town mouse I have become is being seen by the country mouse I used to be. She’s amazed that she’s now so comfortable living in the city, something her past self wouldn't have imagined.

A is wrong as she’s not surprised about driving through back streets; that’s just the trigger for her reflection.

B is wrong too since the surprise is not about the length of time she’s lived there.

D is incorrect because she doesn’t say she prefers the country. In fact, she says: given a new start, I would again become a town mouse.

32 A moving

This description is gentle, poetic, and emotional: the haunting sound of their wing beats gave way to silence as they glided down for splashdown. Haunting + silence creates a calm and emotional tone; it moves the writer, and she wants us to feel that too.

B is incorrect since there’s no fear described.

C is also wrong as actually the passage moves from sound to silence.

D is not right either because nothing is unsettling here; it's peaceful and reflective.

33 C the reason for the landowner’s action

...but this time it was done to help preserve the wildlife here... It is evidence of change...

It doesn’t refer to the lake itself or the landowner; it refers to the act of creating the lake to help wildlife. That action is what shows that times are changing in the countryside.

A is not correct as it’s too narrow; the lake is the result, not the point.

B is also wrong since ownership isn’t the issue.

D is also incorrect as the text doesn't focus on that as the main idea.

34 A that country people no longer reject them

Second-homers, together with commuters, have come to be accepted as a vital part of the country scene. That clearly shows acceptance, which is what option A says.

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B is wrong since it’s the locals who do the work like gardening, not the outsiders.

C is not right as there is no mention that the workers come from the city.

D is also wrong as it doesn't say how long they’ve been there; time isn’t the focus.

35 B is not as boring as people in cities think it is

The boring country life that people from cities talk about is a thing of the past – or perhaps it was always mainly in their minds. This clearly suggests the writer disagrees with the stereotype that the countryside is boring.

A is not right as it partially depends on location, but that’s not the main message here.

C is wrong too because neighbours clearly do matter a lot: social life involves them.

D is incorrect since it’s more exciting than people think, not less.

36 D Life there is very different to country life

This is very unlike living in a London street for 50 years and only knowing the names of four other residents. I do enjoy my life... but whenever I go to Norfolk, I end up feeling that the lives of country mice are more admirable than my own.

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She’s not unhappy in London, but she clearly sees a contrast and admires the countryside more.

A is not correct because she has adjusted to London life, as seen earlier in question 31.

B is also wrong as she doesn’t say she regrets the move; she’d make the same choice again.

C is incorrect since one friend in 50 years seems unusual, but the focus is on comparison, not judgement.

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Part 6

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37 The reason we can use our hands for so many things is their extraordinary anatomy. F The thumb alone is controlled by nine separate muscles. Some are connected to bones within the hand, while others snake their way to the arm. The wrist is a floating group of bones and ligaments threaded with blood vessels and nerves. The nerves send branches into each fingertip. The hand can generate fine forces or huge ones. A watchmaker can use his hands to set springs in place under a microscope. A sportsman can use the same anatomy to throw a ball at over 100 kilometres an hour.

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Some are connected... after the gap refers back to the nine muscles in sentence F. Sentence F introduces the idea of anatomical complexity, which is expanded on after the gap. There is tense consistency as everything is in present simple, describing facts.

38 Other species have hands too. D No one would doubt that the five fingers at the end of an orangutan’s arm are part of anything else. In other cases we have to look closer. A bat’s wings may look like sheets of skin. But underneath, a bat has the same five fingers as a human, as well as a wrist connected to the same cluster of wrist bones connected to the same long bones of the arm.

There is a clear contrast between No one would doubt (easy to see) and In other cases, we have to look closer (harder to notice). five fingers matches the idea of human-like hands.

39 In exploring how hands have evolved, researchers over the past 150 years have dug up fossils on every continent. They’ve compared the anatomy of hands in living animals. They’ve studied the genes that build hands. It appears that our hands began to evolve at least 380 million years ago from fins - not the flat, ridged fins of a goldfish but the muscular, stout fins of extinct relatives of today’s lungfish. Inside these were a few chunky bones corresponding to the bones in our arms. A Over time, smaller ones developed that would eventually become wrists and fingers. The digits later emerged and became separate, allowing the animals to grip underwater vegetation as they clambered through it.

There is logical progression: the sentence before mentions big bones, sentence A smaller ones and the following sentence mentions digits. The word eventually matches the future development leading to later emerged in the next sentence.

40 G Early hands were more exotic than any hand today. Some species had seven fingers. Others had eight. But by the time vertebrates were walking around on dry land 340 million years ago, the hand had been scaled back to only five fingers. It has retained that number of fingers ever since - for reasons scientists don’t yet know.

Sentence G introduces a new paragraph with a general idea. The sentence after the gap gives specific examples (seven fingers, eight) to support the idea of exotic hands.

41 Nevertheless, there are still many different types of hands in living species, from dolphin flippers to eagle wings to the hanging hooks of sloths. E By studying these, scientists are beginning to understand the molecular changes that led to such dramatic variations. They can also see that despite the outward differences, all hands start out in much the same way. There is a network of many genes that builds a hand, and all hands are built by variations on that same network. It takes only subtle changes in these genes to make fingers longer or to turn nails into claws.

these in sentence A refers to the different types of hands in modern species (from dolphin flippers to sloth hooks). They in the  sentence after the gap clearly refers to scientists, linking smoothly to By studying these...

42 The discovery of the molecular toolbox for hand building has given scientists a deeper understanding of evolution. B Although a vulture’s wing and a lion’s paw may appear to have nothing in common, the difference between them may come down to tiny variations. It may just be a little more of one protein here, a little less of another there. In the past, scientists could recognise only the outward signs that hands had evolved from a common ancestor. Today scientists are uncovering the inward signs as well.

Good contrast between may appear to have nothing in common and they’re similar underneath. The difference between them may come down to tiny variations introduces the next idea of a little more of one protein… in the sentence after the gap.

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Part 7

43 A They gained a lot of publicity for the school by cycling through the city and handing out brochures…

Gained a lot of publicity means became better known.

44 D The information was then placed on a website that the school had started.

Placed on a website means that the information was made available online.

45 B A leading expert on wild birds was invited to come and give a talk…

A leading expert is the same as a specialist.

46 A ...held a sponsored walk and handed over nearly £1000 to the World Wide Fund for Nature.

sponsored walk and handed over money refer to fundraising.

47 D ...the school took pupils to the coastal marshes of Easton… effects of pollution… on coastal wildlife.

Coastal marshes are by the sea, and they studied wildlife.

48 C ...studying the effects of variations in climatic patterns around the world...

Variations in climatic patterns is similar to weather conditions.

49 B Senior students monitored the progress of species threatened with extinction…

Species threatened with extinction is the same as endangered animals/plants.

50 C Meredith Summers was invited to talk about how pollution can destroy buildings in the region.

Pollution and destroy buildings matches pollution and architecture in the question.

51 C ...launch a campaign for the restoration of the medieval square…

Restoration of the medieval square is similar to protecting a historical site.

52 D The pupils at this inner-city secondary school...

Inner-city means it’s located in the centre.​