General Training Reading 2025-07 Test 1

A Purple Rainbow: The Truth Having actors playing popular rock band Purple Rainbow seemed like a bad idea, but in fact they're impressive musicians themselves. Their fans in the film were actual fans of the group and transferred their enthusiasm to the actors very convincingly. I assumed there would be plenty of music, linked by weak dialogue, but I was wrong. And the support that band members gave to lead singer Jerry Cosgrove when tragedy entered his life had me close to tears, giving me a new appreciation of the band. B Home Fires I expected a standard, rather dull, story about domestic life, like the director's last two films. Instead, Home Fires had me on the edge of my seat with excitement. It's certainly worth a second viewing. Having said that, although it is apparently a film intended for all ages, many children would find the long discussions of relationship issues boring, and they contributed little or nothing to the film. C The Jeffersons One of the most popular films of the past half century is Mary and Tom, and a remake of it seems unnecessary. Nevertheless, The Jeffersons has some delightful elements, particularly the acting of Yvonne Richards. She really brought the character she played to life, but sadly, neither she nor the other actors could make the script sound natural. D Space Challenge 5 This film makes an important ethical point about treating other people with respect, but that is likely to be missed by many teenagers, the target audience, as it assumes familiarity with the world as it was 20 years ago. With change happening so fast these days, many of the references will leave them confused. E Uplands Uplands could have been a delightful film: it has a charming story, witty dialogue, and is visually breathtaking. But the two lead actors are at their best in thrillers, not films like this one. James Petherick, who plays the hero, fails to gain the sympathy of the audience, who should be moved by the ups and downs in his life.

Business Basics Gain foundationl knowledge for employment in an accounts position with bookkeeping and business basics through to an intermediate level; suitable for anyone requiring knowledge from the ground up. Code B/ED011 16th or 24th April 9am–4pm cost $420 Bookkeeping This course will provide students with a comprehensive understanding of bookkeeping and a great deal of hands-on experience. Code B/ED020 19th April 9am–2.30pm (one session only so advance bookings essential) cost $250 New Enterprise Module Understand company structures, tax rates, deductions, employer obligations, profit and loss statements, GST and budgeting for tax. Code B/ED030 15th or 27th May 6pm–9pm cost $105 Social Networking — the Latest Marketing Tool This broad overview gives you the opportunity to analyse what web technologies are available and how they can benefit your organisation. Code B/ED033 1st or 8th or 15th June 6pm–9pm cost $95 Communication Learn to speak to large groups of people. Gain the public-speaking experience that will empower you with better communication skills and confidence. Code B/ED401 12th, 13th or 14th July 6pm–9pm cost $90

Employees are made redundant when a company has to reduce the workforce because a job or jobs are no longer needed. It has nothing to do with the employees' ability to do their jobs. However, dealing with redundancy can be difficult. Here are some tips on how to cope. First of all, don't panic. It's common for people to either rush into a flurry of activity or be frozen by the shock of being suddenly made redundant. The best course of action is to keep calm and draw up a list of all of the things you need to arrange in the months ahead. It's important to find out what your rights are. Obtain a copy of the in-house redundancy policy if there is one and check out your contract for exit terms. Try to maintain good relations wherever possible with your employer, even if you are angry about the manner of your exit. You will still need a reasonable reference when the time comes to move on, and it may be that your boss can make useful introductions or offer you consultancy work. Help from a professional outplacement company can make a huge difference to your job search success and reduce the amount of time taken to find your next role. You can purchase this yourself, but there are advantages to having it arranged via your company. Don't rush into applying for any or every job that comes up. Take stock of what you have to offer, what you want to do, and carry out in-depth research to find out what employers are actually looking for. Talk to people in your target industry for career advice and information. This information will be invaluable in helping you identify potential employers. Assess whether there are any gaps in experience or qualifications that could be a barrier to getting another job and address them. Enrol on some of those courses you have always been too busy to go on: not only will this enhance your skills, it also shows your commitment to continuous professional development. Redundancy enables you to move your career forward in line with your own personal agenda. Although it can be traumatic, many people find that redundancy is actually the incentive they need to take their career in the direction they actually want to go. So think about what you really want, and go for it.

Dealing with redundancy Initial steps Start by considering what needs to be done and make a 15 __________ to work through. Dealing with the company Avoid letting the management see you are annoyed because: • you want to receive a positive 16 __________ from them for a future post. • you might get some 17 __________ projects from them in the future. Moving on Find an organisation that specialises in 18 __________ to help you look for another job. Invest time in doing serious 19 __________ concerning the current requirements in your sector. Consider if your work and training records contain 20 __________ that might prevent you finding work. Conclusion Look on redundancy as a useful 21 __________ to advance, rather than the end of your career.

Dress standards at our restaurants are extremely important whichever area you work in. The following information will help ensure that you have a professional appearance every day as you carry out your foodservice duties. Palvin's Restaurant chain provides new kitchen staff with their uniforms and you are advised to come to work with a note of your chest, waist and hip measurements to assist in this process. On your first day, you'll be issued with two pairs of trousers, two aprons, two jackets and two hats. Once you're happy that you have the correct size, please take the garments home and add a name tag to each one. Put these inside the garments so that they cannot be seen. Kitchen work can be messy, and it is up to you to make sure that your uniform is kept clean, but you will receive a laundry allowance to help you do this. Towels are available at work, but it's a good idea to bring your own too in case you need it. You can keep this and any other personal items safe in the lockers that are available for use while you're on duty. It's advisable to bring your own small padlock for these. Uniforms should not be worn outside work. You should wear your normal clothes to and from work but make sure they're respectable. For example, hoodies and other similar tops are not acceptable in the kitchens; if it's cold, wear a jacket. When you arrive at work, you can use the changing facilities located next to the lockers to put on your uniform. You can wear your own shoes in the kitchens as long as they're sturdy and enclosed. We strongly recommend rubber soles so that they do not slip on the floor. If you incur any injuries that require crutches while you're working for the company, you cannot then take on any tasks that involve standing up. However, if such a situation should occur, we will make every effort to place you in an appropriate area where you can sit down to work so you will not need to take time off. Employees who have smaller injuries, such as hand cuts, need to check with their manager whether they can come to work: you may have to take time off to avoid infection.

A. A rare textile made from the silk of more than a million wild spiders has gone on display at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. To produce the golden cloth, 70 people spent four years collecting golden orb spiders from telephone poles in Madagascar, while another dozen workers carefully extracted about 24 meters of thread from each of the arachnids. The resulting 11-foot by 4-foot textile is the only large piece of cloth made from natural spider silk existing in the world today. B. Spider silk is very elastic and strong compared with steel or Kevlar, said textile expert Simon Peers, who led the project. Kevlar is a lightweight synthetic fabric which is often compared to nylon. It is very tough and durable and used in bullet-proof vests. Spider silk is resistant to wear, tear, and heat and has absolutely no melting point. But the tensile strength of spider silk is even greater than Kevlar's and maintains elasticity, a strand of high-grade steel. Most importantly, spider silk is extremely lightweight: a strand of spider silk long enough to circle the Earth would weigh less than 500 grams (18 oz). It is also especially ductile, able to stretch up to 140 percent of its length without breaking, and can hold its strength below -40 c. This gives it a very high toughness, which equals that of commercial fibers. C. Researchers have long been intrigued by the unique properties of spider silk. Unfortunately, spider silk is extremely hard to mass produce. Unlike silkworms, which are easy to raise in captivity, spiders have a habit of chomping off each other's heads when housed together. According to Peers, there's scientific research going on all over the world right now trying to replicate the tensile properties of spider silk to apply it to all sorts of areas in medicine and industries, but no one has yet succeeded in replicating 100 percent of the properties of natural spider silk. D. Peers came up with the idea of weaving spider silk after learning about the French missionary Jacob Paul Camboué, who worked with spiders in Madagascar during the 1890s and 1900s. Camboué built a small, hand-driven machine to extract silk from up to 24 spiders at once, without harming them. The spiders were temporarily restrained, their silk extracted, and then let go. Peers managed to build a replica of this 24-spider silk-spinning machine. It was used at the turn of the century, said Nicholas Godley, who cycled the project with Peers. As an experiment, the pair collected and restrained about 80 spiders. When we stuck them in the machine and started turning it, a lot of them started to spin beautiful gold-colored silk straight onto our machine, Godley said. E. But to make even the tiniest significant size, the silk experts had to drastically scale their plan. Fourteen thousand spiders yield about an ounce of silk, Godley said, and the textile weighs about 2.8 pounds. The numbers are overwhelming. To achieve their goal, Godley and Peers began hiring dozens of spider handlers to collect wild arachnids and carefully harness them to the silk extractors. When they needed people who were willing to work with spiders, Godley said, because by the end of the project, the team had spent more than 1 million spider lifetimes. In return, they produced a beautiful yet absolutely impractical cloth, passion provided by love and obsession. Once the spiders had been silked, they were released back into the wild, said Godley. Godley said it takes them about a week to regenerate their silk. We can go back and get more from the same spiders, he said. It's like the gift that never stops giving. F. Of course, spending four years to produce a single textile of spider silk isn't very practical for scientists trying to study the properties of spider silk, or companies that want to manufacture the fabric for use as a biomedical product, or an alternative to Kevlar armor. Several groups have tried inserting spider genes into bacteria or even cows and goats to produce silk, but so far, the attempts have been only moderately successful. Part of the reason it's so hard to generate spider silk in the lab is that it starts out as a liquid protein that's produced by a special gland in the spider's abdomen. Using their spinneret, spiders apply force to rearrange the protein's molecular structure and transform it into solid silk. When we talk about a spider spinning silk, we're talking about how the spider applies forces to produce a transformation from liquid to solid, said spider silk expert Todd Blackledge of the University of Akron, Ohio, US, who was not involved in creating the textile. Scientists simply can't replicate the efficiency with which a spider produces silk. Every year we're getting closer and closer to being able to mass-produce it, but we're not there yet. For now, it seems we'll have to be content with one incredibly beautiful cloth, graciously provided by more than a million spiders.

List of Headings i. Experimenting with an old idea ii. Life cycle of Madagascar spiders iii. Advances in the textile industry iv. Resources needed to meet the project's demands v. The physical properties of spider silk vi. A scientific analysis of spider silk vii. A unique work of art viii. Importance of the silk textile market ix. Difficulties of raising spiders in captivity

Some researchers have tried to grow silk by introducing genetic material into 38 __________ and some animals. But these experiments have been somewhat disappointing. It is difficult to make spider silk in a lab setting because the silk comes from a liquid protein made in a 39 __________ inside the spider's body. When a spider spins silk, it causes a 40 __________ that turns this liquid into solid silk. Scientists cannot replicate this yet.