• Exam: FCE-O
• Course: READING and USE OF ENGLISH
• Part 7, Exam 2

Instructions

You are given a piece of text which is divided into sections, and a set of questions.

For each question choose the section which holds the correct answer.

The pass mark for this exercise is 60% or over and you need to be able to do this exercise in the exam in about 10 minutes.

Driving Confessions 1

(A) Mario would consider himself to be self taught, as far as driving was concerned, because Q. 9) he had never had any help from his father, even though he passed his test at eighteen. What's more, once he had his license, Q. 6) his father refused to allow him to use the family car. That was no problem because he used to quietly take the keys and sneak round to the car park at the back, where his father left the car at night, because the car was hardly ever used at that time. He used to go and see his girlfriend or just drive around and then come back and leave the car in exactly the same place, until one night when he got back to find there were no parking spaces left. He had no choice but to go and tell his dad the truth. He was quite good about it, but Q. 10) he stopped his allowance for four weeks.

(B) Joan Q. 2) bought a car after passing his test, which held some very fond memories for him. Before he got his license, Q. 3) he used to practise on his girlfriend's father's car down on the beach. One night, he and his girlfriend had been having such a lot of fun that Q. 13) they had not noticed that the tide was coming in until it was too late. They had no choice but to leave the car there and sheepishly go home by bus to tell her father. When the three of them came back, they found the car nearly covered in water. Her father wasn't very pleased at all at the time, but later agreed to sell the car to Joan.

(C) Linda Q. 7) taught her mother to drive. One day, with her mother driving, they had been going along a very narrow road with cars parked on both sides. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a young girl, on her bicycle, appeared in front of their car and came towards them. Her mother slammed the brakes on, but the girl crashed into them, landed on the car and then rolled off. They both jumped out of the car to see if she was OK and she stood up and said she was fine, just a little shaken. Her mother offered to give her some money for the repair of the bike, and then an old lady came along. When she saw what had happened, Q. 1) she began shouting at Linda's mother, saying she must have been driving too fast, and that it was a bad example to set her young daughter. Q. 5) Linda had to explain that her poor mother, who was very upset, was still learning to drive.

(D) Maria Q. 11) used to have lessons with her father. Every Sunday he would pick her up and take her for a drive along the streets of their hometown with a lecture on how to drive, explaining everything he was doing and why. Eventually it was her turn to have a go, and Q. 15) her father was so nervous that he panicked before she'd even started up the engine. He used to shout at the slightest mistake, and when the lesson was finally over, he'd come home and have a large glass of whisky to calm down. According to Maria, this is the best way to spoil a good relationship, and Q. 12) her advice is to always have lessons from a qualified instructor, and never let a friend or family member try to teach you.

(E) Robert took his test six times and failed six times. He didn't start learning until he was twenty one, but he was a terrible driver. Q. 8) After paying for classes and failing for the sixth time, he was too embarrassed to tell anyone, so he pretended he had passed. His family were delighted and Q. 14) his mother went out and bought him a car the next day. Q. 4) He didn't know what to do so he just got in and drove. He continued to drive illegally for three months until he could take his test again, secretly, and finally passed. Fortunately he was never stopped by the police.

Questions