PART 1 (EXAM 1) - READING - FCE CAMBRIDGE FIRST CERTIFICATE PRACTICE TEST/EXERCISE

Instructions

You are going to read a piece of text.

For questions 1 – 10, choose the correct answer which you think fits best according to the text.

An explanation for the correct answers is given by clicking the SEE CORRECT ANSWERS button.

The pass mark for this exam is 70%.

In the exam you need to be able to do this part in 10 minutes or less.

TEXT

The alphabet most widely used today is called the Western alphabet, and it originated from the Phoenician alphabet, which itself was based on Egyptian hieroglyphics. Q. 4) the Phoenicians, famous as sailors, were people who Q. 3) established colonies all over the Mediterranean, including Carthage in Africa and Gades in Spain. They had close contact with the Greeks, who adopted their language. The Greeks gave some letters different names and although they kept the same shapes for the letters, Q. 6) they turned some sideways. Q. 5) The phoenician alphabet was based on sounds, and the letters were represented by little pictures which represented sounds. The Phoenician A was aleph, which means "bull", and it was made from a little picture of a bull's head. The letter B was beth which meant "house", and showed the round-roofed buildings. Q. 9) These became alpha and Beta for the greeks, which put together gives alphabeta, or alphabet. Q. 7) The Romans used this alphabet as the basis for the latin alphabet, albeit Q. 8) with some changes and quite a few additions, and the spread of the Roman empire introduced the alphabet to all corners of the planet. Many modern languages have deep connections to latin, so it is very normal for the modern or western alphabet to also be based on the latin alphabet. Seen in this context, Q. 10) Westerners use an alphabet that goes back thousands of years to the ancient Phoenicians.

Instructions

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Questions