Genealogy, or researching your family tree, is a hobby that can rapidly develop into an obsession. Before you start looking for your own ancestors, read this advice from genealogist Maria McLeod.

The first question to ask yourself is why you want to research your family tree. Genealogy is not about discovering that you are the heir to the throne of an unknown country. It's about finding out more about yourself. For most people the important question is 'why am I like I am?' You might not look like other members of your immediate family and you want to know where your green eyes or curly hair come from. You may be curious about why you have such a quick temper or are utterly hopeless at mathematics. You may even be suffering from a medical condition and want to know if something in your genetic makeup has caused it.

Another common motive for researching your family tree is that you plan to visit the place that your ancestors came from and you secretly hope that you will find some long lost cousins with whom you can share your memories. There can be few more exciting things that meeting a distant cousin who is living on the other side of the globe and finding that she looks just like your younger sister. But you should also bear in mind that they may not necessarily want to have anything to do with you. Sometimes there are skeletons in the cupboard that you and your branch of the family are unaware of, but which are still fresh in the minds of your more distant relatives.

This brings up an important aspect of this kind of research that some people do not anticipate. Of course you want to find out about yourself and what makes you 'you', but you may not be so keen on discovering some unpleasant facts about your relatives. Your ancestors were human beings too and there is no reason to expect them to have led blameless lives. It is all part of your own history, after all, and if you are going to do the research, you should accept this fact and understand that you cannot change it.

Once you are clear about your motives, you need to take a moment to think about just how many ancestors you might have and how far back you intend to go. You have, no doubt, thought about your parents' parents and your parents' parents' parents; you may even know quite a bit about them. But go back ten generations and the picture becomes much more complicated. To begin with, many more people are involved. You can work it out for yourself. You may be descended from no fewer than 1024 people through ten generations and that means there are a lot of different individuals to trace and stories to check. This can mean that you spend hours going through official records, either in person at the records office or on the Internet. Are you prepared for such a huge task?

 

1. What is Maria McLeod's first piece of advice to people researching their family tree?

A. 'Don't expect to find out that you are a member of a royal family.'

B. 'Be prepared to find out disturbing things about yourself.'

C. 'Don't expect to like your relatives in other parts of the world.'

D. 'You may find you have serious health problems you didn't know about.'

2. Why might some relatives be reluctant to meet you?

A. You bring back memories for them.

B. You remind them of their younger relatives.

C. They think they might have to tell you family secrets.

D. They suspect you of having wrong motives.

3. You might have to accept that your ancestors

A. did not want to be found. C. were rather unpleasant.

B. were not like you at all. D. did some things that were wrong.

4. What does Maria McLeod assume that the reader has already done?

A. Found out about their family ten generations ago.

B. Considered the three previous generations.

C. Decided how far back in time they want to go.

D. Asked their parents about their grandparents and great grandparents.

5. What does the underlined word it in paragraph 4 refer to?

A. How far back you should go in your research

B. How many people you are descended from

C. Why doing genealogical research is so complicated

D. When the tenth generations were alive

6. Why might you think twice about researching your family tree?

A. You already know about your grand-grandparents. C. You don't have time to do it.

B. Going back ten generations is too far. D. You have a lot of relatives.

7. What is the best title to the article?

A. Uncovering family secrets: do you dare?

B. The science of genealogy: new developments

C. A step-by-step guide to researching your family tree

D. Research your family past

Part II

You are going to read an extract from a novel. Six paragraphs have been removed from the extract. Choose from the paragraphs A-G the one which fits each gap (1-6). There is one extra paragraph which you do not need to use.

Chance encounter

I ease behind a slender tree trunk, then hold an opened palm toward my dog Keta. In our silent language it means 'lie down and stay'. She obeys. A few minutes later the deer steps into plain sight, and leans down to graze, nuzzling back and forth amid the lush grass. So exquisite is she that it takes a supreme act of self-control to keep myself from jumping up and shouting aloud.

[1] ____ I turn to look into Keta's eyes. Firmly now, I point to a low spot behind the little hillock where we stand. She folds back her ears and walks away, stopping several times to face me, sad-eyed and pleading, but obedient. When I give the signal, she lies down. I start toward the deer, always closely watching to be sure she's busy feeding, so the sound of her picking and chewing will mask the unavoidable crunch of my boot steps.

[2] ___ Perhaps it's because I haven't brought a rifle, not even for protection against stumbling into a bear. I've come here to hunt only with my eyes, and to marvel at this graceful creature. I wonder if hawks and herons, wolves and killer whales are ever astounded by the loveliness, grace and perfection of their prey.

[3] ____ I turn from her gaze and view the landscape it encompasses: the green tangle at her feet; the forest that shelters her from rain, wind and snow: the dense thickets that shade and conceal her; nearby shore, where kelp left by winter storms sustains her through the lean months; and tundra heights where she finds seclusion in the long summer days.

[4] _____ I know immediately that Keta must have forgotten her instructions or chosen to ignore them. Sure enough, she's on the move: she's zigzagging excitedly, weaving herself through streamers of scent, still trying to spot the deer beyond the pine The deer breaks into a stylized mechanical stiff heading up the slope toward a scatter of trees a» underbrush. There's nothing to lose, so I imitate the soft, sheeplike bleat of a young deer.

[5] _____ The call keeps her from dashing off but can't ea: her alarm. She moves slowly and silently. She looks at us repeatedly, but seems less trusting of her eyes than of the telling evidence a different sense w give her. I know exactly what she's trying to do and vainly wish for a way to change it.

[6] ____ For a brief moment I had felt that we were more alike than different, and that I had known an understood her. But in the vast quiet she leaves behind, I am quite overwhelmed by the sense of distance between our two worlds.

 

A. But now, looking back at the deer, I find that something has gone awry. She's standing in a rigid pose: head raised, ears wide, body tense. What could have frightened her, since I haven't moved, haven't given a hint of my presence? Then I realise she isn't looking at me at all, but past me, and I hear a shuffle in the grass.

B. But like Keta, I hold a tenuous grip on myself, standing still in the warm breeze, holding my binoculars to my eyes. The deer is unaware of us, contentedly plucking at the undergrowth. Her eyes move this way and that as she feeds, revealing the white crescents at their edges.

C. Keta's behaviour telegraphs the scent's increasing strength: she moves forward, catches herself and looks back, like someone pacing at a line she's been warned not to cross. She probes her nose into the breeze, occasionally reaching to the side for a stronger ribbon of scent.

D. As if in answer to my question, she lifts her elegant head and looks toward me. I stare back through my binoculars. Her globed eyes stand out from her face so she can look forward along her snout. The morning sky reflects on their dark surface the way clouds shimmer on still water.

E. She stops immediately... then turns and steps deliberately back toward us, as if I were pulling a line attached to her neck. She's caught by an insuppressible curiosity, yet I can almost feel the quavering intensity of her fear.

F. She lifts her snout into the air, and picks up our scent. With utmost dignity she raises one foreleg and slowly turns aside. Then she bounds to the crest of the slope, springs over a fallen log, and vanishes into the forest, as if on a cloud of her own breath.

G. I know myself as a predator. And considering how I've stalked this animal — slipped through the boundaries of her solitude, hidden my shape, and used the wind to conceal my footsteps - I wonder that I can feel so innocent.

Part III

You are going to read an article in which four young people say how they deal with the everyday stress in their lives. For questions 1-15, choose from the people (A-D). The people may be chosen more than once. When more than one answer is required, these may be given in any order.

Which person

regularly does a job without getting paid?
no longer agrees to do things they don't want to do?
tries to see the funny side of things that are worrying them?
accepts that they sometimes make mistakes?
is disappointed they can't see a particular kind of entertainment?
prefers to do unpleasant jobs as soon as possible?
is not doing as well in their studies as they would like?
now enjoys doing something which they used to dislike?
likes to tell friends about their problems?
goes to bed quite early nowadays?
sometimes breaks their own rules about eating when they are not alone?
finds that acting makes them feel better?
likes to think back to times when they felt less stressed?
believes in putting off certain tasks?

Beating stress

A. School student Ester Montoya knows she has to improve her marks in her main subjects. She's trying hard, but it's not easy and sometimes she feels she's doing too much work. 'I have to get away from it now and then,' she says, 'so recently I've joined a local youth theatre group. It really helps because it takes my mind off everything, it's a kind of escape from reality. Also I'm meeting other people of my own age and I'm hoping to make some friends there. Apart from that I suppose there's TV, but there's not a lot on. I've read that laughing can be very relaxing, but I'm afraid none of the comedy series they're showing right now is worth watching. Something I've been meaning to try, though, is work helping others, perhaps old people. A friend of mine does it, and she says it really makes a difference -both to them and to her.'

 

B. For seventeen-year-old Steve Ellison, life is particularly busy right now. He's revising for some important exams but he still manages to find time for his favourite free-time activities, which include long-distance running. 'It's funny,' he says, 'I only took to it recently when I found it helped me wind down, because at school I never looked forward to those cross-country runs we had to do every Monday morning. Yet nowadays I run a lot at weekends, and I do some voluntary work with local kids at the sports centre.' As well as doing plenty of exercise, he also tries to maintain a healthy diet. 'I've told myself I must always eat a variety of healthy food, with lots of fruit and green vegetables, though if I'm out with my mates I may give in to temptation and have a burger and chips. I never drink coffee, though, because it makes you talk and act nervously, and it keeps you awake at night, too, which is bad for your stress level.'

 

C. First-year university student Amelie Lefevre believes that the best way to beat stress is to organise your life more sensibly. 'My life used to be pretty chaotic, there always seemed to be so much to do, often jobs that other people should have been doing. So what I eventually learned to do was to say no, politely, to extra work. That helped, as did making a list of priorities for each day, with some things scheduled for today, others for tomorrow and some that could be postponed for longer. I also make rules for myself about meal times, and the amount of sleep I need. There was a time when I was staying up until all hours, but I was exhausted the next day so I don't do that any more. I think I manage my time quite well now, but nobody's perfect and occasionally I still oversleep and turn up late for lectures!'

 

D. Student Ndali Traore likes to get up early so he has a relaxed start to the day. I hate leaving jobs till the last minute, and I always try to do those I like least first,' he says. 'These days I always listen to music while I'm working,' he adds, 'whereas a couple of years ago I found it annoying - it always seemed to spoil my concentration.' When he has some free time, he goes to the cinema, or out with friends. 'If something's bothering me,' he says, T often find that just talking to them about it helps. Particularly if you can make a joke about it, because it always seems a lot less serious when you do that.' If he's on his own, he has a special way of dealing with stress: T try to relive occasions when I was really relaxed, such as spending the day by a beautiful lake in the sunshine. That often works,' he says.

 

USE OF ENGLISH

Part I

Read the text below and decide which answer (А, В, С or D) best fits each gap. There is an example at the beginning.

The Orient Express

In 1867, a wealthy Belgian called Georges Nagelmackers took a long (0) … across the United States in one of George Pullman's transcontinental trains with their rubber shock absorbers and luxurious compartments. Before the 1860s, train carriages were little more than boxes on wheels, in which passengers were (1)... jolted around. The revolutionary Pullman sleepers meant that Americans could now travel from one side of their vast country to the other in (2) …. comfort.

Realising how (3) … it would be to be able to travel across Europe in similar (4) …., Nagelmackers spent the next decade (5) …. with the authorities to allow his own specially designed sleeper trains to cross European (6) ….

It was not until 1919 that Nagelmackers' dream of a fast, first-class service from Paris in the west to Constantinople in the east finally became (7) …. The Orient Express, as this train is called, immediately (8) …. the imagination of the public and became the subject of (9) … tales and legends. Not just the fictional James Bond in From Russia with Love, but many real-life spies are known to have (10) …. out secret assignments on the train, and a (11) … element in the plot of Agatha Christie's novel Murder on the Orient Express is based on an actual incident from 1929.

For half a century, the train flourished. As passenger flights gradually replaced rail travel, (12) …, the Orient Express became increasingly uncompetitive and only a few carriages remain today.

0. A. passage	B. voyage	C. expedition	D. trip
1. A. painfully	B. harmfully	C. wrongfully	D. hurtfully
2. A. high	B. entire	C. total	D. major
3. A. fair	B. advantageous	C. accessible	D. suitable
4. A. custom	B. method	C. style	D. form
5. A. discussing	B. dealing	C. contracting	D. negotiating
6. A. borders	B. limits	C. lines	D. margins
7. A. practice	B. reality	C. truth	D. certainty
8. A. took	B. kept	C. pulled	D. caught
9. A. immeasurable	B. countless	C. immense	D. infinite
10. A. held	B. brought	C. carried	D. sent
11. A. compulsory	B. crucial	C. primary	D. necessary
12. A. nonetheless	B. however	C. moreover	D. additionally

PART II

For questions 1-15, read the text below and think of the word which best fits each gap. Use only one word in each gap. There is an example at the beginning (0).

In pursuit of excellence

In the early 1990s, the psychologist К Anders Ericsson and two colleagues conducted some research into the relationship (0) between talent and hard work at Berlin's elite Academy of Music. The curious thing (1) … they couldn't find any musicians who could excel without any effort, or who could get to the top without practising as much as all (2) … peers. Also, they were unable to find any people who worked harder than everyone else and yet just didn't have exactly (3) … it takes to break into the top ranks. So their research would certainly seem to indicate that once someone makes (4) … into a top music school, the thing that distinguishes one performer from (5) … is how hard he or she works. That's it. What's more, with the musicians right (6) … the very top, it's not just a case of their (7) … worked harder, they have) worked much, much harder.

This idea (8) … excellence requiring a minimum level of practice, arises time (9) …time in studies of expertise in various fields. In fact, researchers have come (10) … an agreement on what they believe to be the number of hours of practice required (11) … true expertise: 10,000. In their research, they have yet to come across (12) … who has accomplished world-class expertise in less time. It seems that people need (13) … amount of time in order for them to take (14) … everything they need to know to achieve genuine mastery. This is true even with individuals we think of (15) …geniuses.

Part III

For questions 1-10, read the text below. Use the word given in capitals at the end of some of the lines to form a word that fits in the gap in the same line. There is an example at the beginning (0).