Exam practice

Yes, I do. Traveling takes me away from my daily routine, and it shows me new places, food and ways of life. I come back with stories to tell and often with a new way of seeing my own home.

My favorite is Pokhara. It has Phewa Lake, with the snow peaks of the Annapurna range reflected in it, boats to row, caves to explore, and hills to climb for the sunrise. It is calm and clean, and there is something for everyone, from boating to paragliding.

a. nestled (lay snugly) b. riot c. murals d. enormous (very big; some answer keys give grisly, horrible to see, which is also in the text, but enormous suits a spider better) e. privilege f. vestige (not the smallest sign) g. hoax h. colonized

The red-brick houses, the smiling faces of the people, and the roaming cattle among the busy traffic.

The city’s walls are covered with colorful murals of symbols, people, animals and creative images for more than a mile, and local and international artists are setting up street art projects in Nepal.

Patan Durbar Square and Pashupatinath Temple.

According to the writer, Nepalis see death as an everyday experience, a natural part of life: families cremate their dead in the open by the Bagmati and don’t mind visitors watching.

First, people bring their dead there for open-air cremation on the Bagmati River, which felt calm rather than grisly. Second, it is where you meet genuine sadhus in yellow and orange robes, with ash, long hair and beards.

It offers close views of wildlife (one-horned rhinos, deer, wild boars, monkeys and many birds) and many jungle activities: jeep safaris, canoeing, jungle walks, cycling around the village and boat rides on the lake.

Physically active travelers who want to see wild species in an undisturbed place.

Any two: enjoy the view of the Annapurna range from Phewa Lake; walk up to the World Peace Pagoda; go paragliding; go trekking; watch the sunrise from Sarangkot.

Sarangkot is known as the best place to watch the sunrise over the Annapurna Himalaya.

She was so sad that she almost cried, and she would love to come back at once, “in a heartbeat”.

I would choose Chitwan. I have seen mountains and lakes in photos all my life, but I have never seen a rhinoceros in the wild. In Chitwan I could ride a canoe on the river, walk in the jungle with a guide and watch birds I can’t see at home. I would also like to visit a Tharu village and learn how people have lived beside the forest for generations. It would be an adventure and a lesson about nature at the same time.

In electrician, musician and beautician, the c before -ian is said /ʃ/ (e-lec-TRI-shun), although the c in elec- is still /k/.

• a.Amit: I really enjoy watching cricket. Kiran: So do I. I never miss a Nepal match. Rashik: But I don’t. I find it too slow; I prefer football.
• b.Riya: I want to be a teacher. Maya: So do I. I love explaining things to younger children. Jiya: But I don’t. I’d like to be a nurse.
• c.Prem: I’m really interested in drawing maps. Sita: So am I. I drew our village for a school project. Hari: But I’m not. I can’t even draw a straight line!

• a.don’t you (a tag: you live → don’t you?)
• b.But I live with my parents (Puja is different)
• c.So does my uncle (teaches → does: he is a teacher too)
• d.I don’t have such an opportunity (her father has no time to help her study)
• e.Neither does my mother (hardly teaches is negative, so neither)

a. do they? b. isn’t he? c. haven’t they? d. wasn’t it? e. had you? f. did he? g. can she? h. did you? i. do I? j. would you? k. will it? l. aren’t I? m. don’t you? n. haven’t I? o. did it?
In a, need is a main verb (don’t need to), so the tag uses do. In m, have to is also a main verb: don’t you? In f–j, never, rarely, hardly, barely, scarcely make the statement negative.

Expand the short forms first: this’ll = this will, we’d = we would, weather’s = weather is, she’s been = she has been.

a. won’t it? b. could I? c. do you? d. would we? e. isn’t it? f. will you? g. do they? h. don’t you? i. could you? j. will you? k. hasn’t she? l. wasn’t he? m. can’t you? n. will you? o. shall we? p. will you? q. did it?
In j and n (orders), will you? makes the order a little softer; with Shut up it can sound angry, so a kinder request is better. In p, Let us chat is said to someone who could stop us (“allow us to chat”), so will you?; if it means the same as Let’s chat (a suggestion), the tag is shall we?

Make a short plan: one line for each clue. Then write a paragraph for the trip’s start, one or two for what you did and saw, and one for what it taught you.

Three Days in Bandipur
Last winter, during our Poush holiday, my two cousins and I visited Bandipur, an old hill town in Tanahun. We had read about it in a magazine, so we saved our pocket money for two months and booked a homestay on the phone. Our purpose was simple: to see a town where the old Newar way of life still goes on.
We took a bus from Kathmandu and changed to a jeep at the bottom of the hill. The road climbed through forest, and suddenly we were in a quiet street of tall brick houses with carved wooden windows.
On the first evening we watched the sun set over the valley below. Early the next morning, before breakfast, we walked to a viewpoint and saw the Himalaya stretched out along the northern sky, turning gold one peak at a time. In the afternoon we explored a dark, cool cave with a local guide, who told us stories that his grandfather had told him.
What I remember most, though, is the people. Our host, an old woman who had lived there all her life, cooked us dal bhat on a wood fire and taught us to make sel roti. She laughed at our clumsy hands.
I learned that you don’t have to travel far to discover something new. A small town only a few hours from home showed me how a community can keep its old ways and still welcome visitors.

The first shows winter (snow on the ground) and the second spring (fresh green leaves).

In the winter picture the land is white and bare, and the bird looks still and cold. In the spring picture the trees are green and full of leaves, and the bird looks lively, as if it is about to sing. One is cold and dull; the other is warm, bright and full of life.

a. showers b. bills c. maids d. betumble e. nestlings f. shuns g. duns h. throb i. rivulets

They learn to fly: they leave the nest and take to the air.

The little brown nightingale sings its best song (“bills his best”).

They come out dressed in light summer dresses of sprig-muslin, thin cotton printed with little sprays of flowers.

They dream of traveling to the south and west of England, to the warm, sunny holiday places by the sea.

The beech trees drip with rain, their leaves turn brown and dull (browns and duns), and their branches toss and bend in the wind.

The rooks go home in families to their nests in the trees. They go to shelter from the cold, wet weather as the day ends; they are not leaving for another country.

He enjoys the spring. It is the weather the cuckoo likes, “and so do I”: light showers, young birds flying, the nightingale singing and people outdoors, happy and dreaming of holidays. The winter is the weather the shepherd shuns, “and so do I”: wet, gloomy and cold, a time when everyone goes indoors.

a. Thomas Hardy b. chestnut c. young girls d. south and west e. sunny f. severity g. beeches h. hang i. rooks

I would like to travel in autumn, in Ashwin and Kartik, after the monsoon. The rain has washed the dust out of the air, so the sky is clear and the mountains can be seen from far away. The roads are drier and safer than in the monsoon, the weather is neither too hot nor too cold, and it is the season of Dashain and Tihar, when the villages are full of swings, kites and family gatherings.

• a.Yes, I do. Every trip shows me something new.
• b.I usually travel by road, by bus or by motorbike with my father, because it is cheaper and most places I go have no airport. I have flown only once, to Biratnagar.

B = 1, A = 3, C = 6.

• Talk 1 (B): the flight was overbooked, so the airline asked for volunteers to take a later flight; she agreed, and the airline gave her 300 dollars.
• Talk 3 (A): the family drove a long way with GPS and stopped at a busy rest stop halfway for a cold drink and to stretch their legs.
• Talk 6 (C): he started reading a book on the train, fell asleep, and woke up ten minutes after his stop.

The other talks have no picture: talk 2, a terrible full flight between a snoring man and a messy child; talk 4, a hot drive whose air conditioning broke; talk 5, a relaxing train ride reading and doing Sudoku puzzles. Talk 5 is also a train, but that traveler stayed awake the whole way; in picture C his eyes are closed.

Last Dashain, my family took the night bus to my grandparents’ village in Baglung. At about two in the morning the bus stopped: a landslide had covered the road ahead. Nobody could go forward or back. At first everyone grumbled, but then the passengers started to share what they had: my mother handed out sel roti, someone had a flask of tea, and a man with a madal began to play. By the time the bulldozer cleared the road at dawn, we were all singing. We reached the village six hours late, but that night is the part of the trip I remember best.

• a.wouldn’t I? (I’d rather = I would rather)
• b.isn’t it? (everything → it)
• c.shall I? (shan’t = shall not, negative)
• d.will he? (the tag goes with he’ll come, and I don’t think makes it negative)
• e.shall we? (Let’s not still takes shall we)
• f.isn’t it? (all, meaning everything, → it)
• g.isn’t there?
• h.was it? (nothing is negative; → it)
• i.didn’t it? (sped, past, no helper → did)
• j.hasn’t he? (he’s got = he has got)
• k.will you? (an order)
• l.does he? (seldom is negative)
• m.won’t they? (everyone → they)
• n.did they? (none is negative; people → they)
• o.isn’t it?
• p.isn’t he? (the tag goes with he’s busy)

Plan the brochure under the six headings in the task. Write in the present tense and talk to the reader (you); use bullet points, not long paragraphs.

DISCOVER BHAKTAPUR DURBAR SQUARE
The City of Devotees: a living museum of Newar art

Where it is
In the heart of Bhaktapur, east of Kathmandu, in the Kathmandu Valley.

How to get there

• By bus or microbus from Ratnapark or Koteshwor to Bhaktapur bus park, then a 10-minute walk.
• By taxi from Kathmandu, about an hour, depending on traffic.

What to see

• Nyatapola, the tallest temple in Nepal, five roofs high, built in 1702, with pairs of stone guardians on its steps: wrestlers, elephants, lions, griffins and two goddesses.
• The 55-Window Palace and the Golden Gate, the gilded entrance to the courtyard of the Taleju temple.
• Pottery Square, where potters shape clay on wheels and dry pots in the sun.
• Juju dhau, Bhaktapur’s famous curd, served in clay bowls.

Entry

• Visitors from abroad buy a ticket at the entrance; keep it for the length of your visit.
• Please dress modestly in the temples, and don’t climb the monuments.

Contact
Bhaktapur Municipality, Tourist Service Center, Durbar Square, Bhaktapur.
Come for a day, remember it for a lifetime!

• a.She has finished her homework, hasn’t she?
• b.He had better leave now, hadn’t he?
• c.They are from Ilam, aren’t they?
• d.You would like some tea, wouldn’t you?

• a.False (she visited Patan Durbar Square)
• b.True
• c.False (she found it calm, not grisly)
• d.True
• e.True

a. have they? b. shall we? c. do you? d. aren’t I? e. weren’t there? f. will you? g. can she? h. didn’t it?

• a.So do I.
• b.Neither does my sister.
• c.So can Anil.
• d.But I have.
• e.So did we.

• a.In Mugu district, Karnali Province.
• b.Almost 3,000 meters.
• c.Because the journey is long: the nearest airport is at Talcha, and the last part is on foot.
• d.Because heavy snow blocks the way from December to March.
• e.In a few simple lodges, or in tents.

(A practice passage written for this page.)

Title; when, with whom and why you went; the journey; two or three vivid moments at the place (what you saw, heard, tasted); one person you met; what you learned. Past tense, first person.

Title: A Morning at Changu Narayan

Opening: a Saturday in Mangsir, with my grandfather, who wanted to offer prayers; we took a bus to Bhaktapur and walked up the hill.

At the temple: one of the oldest Hindu temples in Nepal, with carved roof struts and old stone statues, among them Garuda kneeling before the temple; beside it, a stone pillar with Nepal’s oldest known inscription, from King Manadeva’s time (464 CE); the smell of incense and the sound of bells.

A person: a woodcarver in the village below, showing how a strut is carved.

Ending: I learned how much of our history stands on one small hilltop, and that my grandfather knew every story.