QUESTION 1. READ THE TEXT AND ANSWER THE QUESTIONS BELOW. (5 POINTS)
TEXT A
It all started in 2019, when Bjartmar Leósson started to see a rise in bike theft in Reykjavík. Rather than
accepting that once a bicycle was stolen it had disappeared forever, the bus driver and self-confessed “bike
nerd” decided to start tracking them down and returning them to their rightful owners. The first time he
had a bike stolen, he says, he felt “like somebody had just punched me in the stomach”. But he also
remembers thinking that it was not an unsolvable mystery. “I thought to myself: OK, your bike is out there
somewhere, it’s a needle in a haystack… but this haystack is not that big, this is Reykjavík. And I decided: I
am going to find my bike.”
Four years and, he estimates, hundreds of salvaged bikes later, the 44-year-old has developed a reputation
in the Icelandic capital among cyclists and potential bike thieves. Known as the Reykjavík “bike whisperer”,
people across his home city turn to him for help to find their missing bicycles, tools and even cars. Often,
he says, bike thieves hand over bikes without being asked and some former bike thieves have started to
help him. Now when somebody loses their bike it can take as little as 48 hours to track it down on his
Facebook page, which gets updated every few hours with missing and found items and has more than
14,500 members. “It’s not only me,” he says. “Many times, someone sees a bike hidden in a bush, takes a
picture and then someone else comments ‘hey, that’s my bike’. So, everyone’s looking out.”
While cycling is on the rise in the city, he says, bike theft can put people off using bikes in place of public
transport because they are afraid to leave them out locked up – and can stop them cycling entirely. “Some
people have switched from car to bike, and when a bike gets stolen and the police seem to do nothing
about it, then they go just back to their cars.”
1.1. Indicate whether the following statements are true or false (T/F) according to the text. Copy that
part (and ONLY that part) of the text which justifies your answer. (1.5 points)
a. Nothing could be done if your bike was stolen.
b. Stolen bikes were not easy to find.
c. Few bikes have been rescued.
d. The thieves’ behaviour has changed lately.
e. Hardly anybody pays attention to this.
f. Stealing bikes can make people change the way they move.
1.2. For each of these words find a word or phrase in Text A with the same meaning. (1 point)
a. instead of; b. declared;
c. recovered;
d. search for it; e. increasing.
1.3. Write a new sentence that has the same meaning as the given one. You must use the word or
expression in brackets. (2 points)
a. “I won’t go to the dentist”, said Sara. (refused)
b. When I play tennis, I feel happy. (makes)
c. I should have arrived on time. (if only)
d. The hairdresser cut Sue’s hair yesterday. (had)
e. First he filled in the form, and then he posted it. (after)
1.4. Pronunciation. (0.5 points)
a. In which word is the plural ending pronounced the same as in “boxes”? clocks, pages, mugs, shoes.
b. In which word is the ending "-ed" pronounced the same as in “smiled”? talked, needed, touched, remembered.
c. In which word is the letter "u" pronounced the same as in “cut”? pull, push, huge, hug.
d. In which two words are the underlined vowels pronounced differently from the vowels in “year”? fear, appear,
earth, idea, volunteers, wear, near, weird.

QUESTION 2. READ THE TEXT AND ANSWER THE QUESTIONS BELOW. (5 POINTS)
TEXT B
In some factories, all the work is done in the dark. There is no heating or air conditioning because no
machine has ever complained about the cold. Robots complete the entire production process, predicting a
future of automation. “The factory of the future will have only two employees, a person and a dog,” stated
the American writer Warren Bennis, a pioneer in the field of business leadership, in his book On Becoming
a Leader (1989). “The person will be there to feed the dog. The dog will be there to keep the person from
touching the equipment.”
For decades, various theorists have anticipated the end of work, but never before have these predictions
been so close to becoming reality, at least in some sectors. In 1930, John Maynard Keynes predicted that,
by 2030, the 40-hour workweek would be reduced to 15 hours as a result of technological progress. Jeremy
Rifkin, in his book The End of Work, published in 1995, described a future where automation would lead to
a marked decrease in the demand for labour, causing high unemployment rates. In November, Elon Musk,
during a conversation with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, predicted a scenario in which artificial
intelligence could take over all tasks: “You can have a job if you want to have a job for personal satisfaction,”
said the Tesla founder. “But AI will be able to do everything.”
It remains to be seen whether these predictions will come true. All economic revolutions have entailed
major reconfigurations of labour, but they have always created more jobs than they destroyed. Whether
automation is temporary or permanent, the question nevertheless remains: What would millions of human
beings pushed out of the labour market do with their time?
2.1. Indicate whether the following statements are true or false (T/F) according to the text. Copy that
part (and ONLY that part) of the text which justifies your answer. (1.5 points)
a. Machines behave like humans.
b. According to W. Bennis’s metaphor, people will be less important in the production process than they are now.
c. Old predictions might become true.
d. According to a 20th-century economist, the reasons why people would work in the future could be affected by
technology.
e. According to Elon Musk, AI will make work unnecessary.
f. All that people say about AI will happen.
2.2. For each of these words find a word or phrase in Text B with the same meaning. (1 point)
a. finish;
b. affirmed;
c. clear, remarkable;
d. bringing about;
e. forced outwards.
2.3. Write a composition answering this question: (2.5 points)
What causes environmental pollution? Can you think of any possible solutions for this problem? (Approximately 120
words)

QUESTION 3. ANSWER THE QUESTIONS BELOW. (5 POINTS)
3.1. Write a new sentence that has the same meaning as the given one. You must use the word or
expression in brackets. (2 points)
a. There are fewer teachers in my school than there were last year. (many)
b. If you work hard now, you won’t have to do so much later. (harder)
c. Computers are much cheaper than they were a few years ago. (used)
d. Why haven't they told people about the accident? (been)
e. Although she was very busy, my mother cooked a great meal for us. (despite)
3.2. Pronunciation. (0.5 points)
a. In which word are the letters "ea" pronounced the same as in “bear”? lead, meal, pear, fear.
b. Which of the following words has the same vowel sound as the vowel in “church”? cute, bench, third, park.
c. Write a homophone (a word that sounds the same as another one but is spelled differently) for each of these
words: “wood”, “weather”.
d. In which word is the plural ending “-es” pronounced as in “stages”? grapes, brushes, tiles, wolves.
3.3. Write a composition answering this question: (2.5 points)
Do you think there could be a connection between AI and unemployment in the future? (Approximately 120 words)