General Training Reading 2025-11 Test 1

A. Krishnan I'm studying Spanish, because it's important to learn foreign languages - and I'm very pleased when I can watch a video in class and understand it. Mr Peckham really pushes us and offers us extra assignments to help us improve. That's good for me, because otherwise I'd be quite lazy. B. Lucy History is my favourite subject, and it's fascinating to see how what we learn about the past is relevant to what's going on in the world now. It's made me understand much more about politics, for instance. My plan is to study history at university, and maybe go into the diplomatic service, so I can apply my knowledge of history. C. Mark Thursdays are my favourite days, because that's when we have computing. It's the highlight of the week for me — I love learning how to program. I began when I was about eight, so when I started doing it at school, I didn't think I'd have any problem with it, but I was quite wrong! When I leave school, I'm going into my family's retail business, so sadly, I can't see myself becoming a programmer. D. Violeta My parents both work in leisure and tourism, and they've always talked about their work a lot at home. I find it fascinating. I'm studying it at school, and the teacher is very knowledgeable, though I think we spend too much time listening to her: I'd like to meet more people working in the sector, and learn from their experience. E. Walid I've always been keen on art, so I chose it as an optional subject, though I was afraid the lessons might be a bit dull. I needn't have worried, though - our teacher gets us to do lots of fun things, so there's no risk of getting bored. At the end of the year, the class puts on an exhibition for the school, and I'm looking forward to showing some of my work to other people.

The community center is offering adult summer classes again this year. The schedule includes classes in basic computer skills, martial art, painting and drawing, and dance. Registration There are two ways for register to classes: 1. Go to our website: www.cc.org/classes/winterschedule, click on "Class Description" to see a full listing of the classes that are available this winter. Decide which class or classes you are interested in. Then click on "Register now" and a registration form will appear. Complete the form and calculate the amount of money you owe. This will include the cost of your classes plus a $15 registration fee. Any materials fees will be payable to the instructor on the first day of class. In addition, if your address is outside of the city, you will pay a nonresident fee of $25 per class. Fill in your credit card information and click "Send Now". You will receive registration confirmation by e-mail. 2. If you do not have access to a computer, you can call the community center at 872-555-5068 to request a class catalog and registration form. Select your classes from the catalog, complete the form, and return it by mail with your check or credit card information. Withdrawal policy Full refund minus the $25 registration fee, will be given for any withdrawals made up to one week before the class begins; withdrawals made before the start of the second class will receive a 50 percent refund, minus the registration fee. No refunds will be made after the start of the second class. Classes offered by the Community Center are for adults only. You must be eighteen years of age or older to participate. Classes for children and teens are offered through the City Department of Recreation.

The average person comes down with three colds a year, each lasting for about nine days. There is still no cure but the following advice may help. Take time off work, because your body will fight off the cold virus better if it is well rested. However, if you have to work, avoid close contact with your co-workers as the virus is contagious. Wash your hands frequently or use an alcohol-based disinfectant gel. Non-sedating allergy medications, which you can buy from a chemist, can decrease drowsiness and also alleviate the problems of a runny nose, watery eyes and blocked sinuses. As soon as you feel a cold coming on, boost your fluid intake. Water or juice is ideal but hot herbal teas with lemon will help thin mucus and expel it from the body. A warm gargle with salt water will relieve a scratchy throat by reducing inflammation and clearing mucus and irritants. It also flushes out bacteria and viruses so it can be used as a preventative measure as well. The warm moisture generated by a hot shower or bath will soothe and clear nasal passages. Inhaling steam over a bowl of hot water relieves congested sinuses, too. For a tickly cough, the latest research suggests that honey, either straight from the jar or dissolved in a hot drink, works as well if not better than costly lozenges and sprays. A good diet is essential for a quick recovery, so start the day with a healthy breakfast including vitamin C in the form of fresh fruit or berries. For lunch, chicken soup is good, but be sure to add chunks of lean chicken meat, for protein helps build immune cells. Not only is this the perfect comfort food but it has been proven to be medicinally beneficial. For dinner, a spicy curry makes a good decongestant and some ingredients (ginger, garlic, chilli) are recognised as being anti-viral and anti-bacterial. A little light exercise is beneficial, as this will enhance your emotional wellbeing, but don't attempt anything too strenuous. Finally, to recharge your body and regain your strength, you need a full eight hours' sleep.

The first time your boss suggests that you formally present something to your department or a client, your reaction may be to panic. But remember that being asked to present is a compliment. Someone believes that you have valuable information to share with the group, and wants to listen to your ideas. You need to decide exactly what you will say during the allotted time. Condense your topic into one sentence. What do you want your audience to remember or learn from your talk? This is your 'big idea'! Remember that you are dealing with the short attention spans of individuals who tend to have many things on their minds. Think of three main points you want to make to support your overall topic. Develop a story to demonstrate each of those concepts. This could be something that happened to you or someone you know, or something you read in a newspaper or magazine. We have all heard the saying A picture is worth a thousand words. Think about how your presentation can be more interesting to watch. Props are a wonderful way to make your talk come alive. You could do something as simple as holding up a toy phone receiver when talking about customer service or putting on a hat to signal a different part of your talk. Think of a dynamic and unusual way to start your presentation. This might involve telling anecdotes that relate to your topic. Never begin with, Thank you for inviting me here to talk with you today! You will put your audience to sleep right away. Start off enthusiastically so they will listen with curiosity and interest. After your energetic introduction, identify yourself briefly and thank the audience for taking the time to listen to you. Plan your ending, and finish in a memorable way. Your listeners remember best what they hear at the beginning and end of a speech, so conclude with a game in which they can participate, or tell a humorous story and your audience will leave laughing. Don't try to memorise your talk or read it word-for-word. It will sound stilted and boring, instead, practise your dynamic introduction and conclusion until you can deliver them effortlessly. If you do this you'll feel a burst of confidence that will help you sail through the whole of the speech.

Newspapers are classically published daily or weekly. News magazines are also weekly, but they have a magazine format. General-interest newspapers typically publish news articles and feature articles on national and international news as well as local news. The news comprises political events and personalities, business and finance, crime, weather, and natural disasters; health and medicine, science, and computers and technology; sports; and entertainment, society, food and cooking, clothing and home fashion, and the arts. Typically, the paper is alienated into segments for each of those major groupings (labelled A, B, C, and so on, with pagination prefixes for each page numbers A1-A20, B1-B20, C1-C20, and so on). Most traditional papers also feature an editorial page covering editorials written by an editor (or by the paper's editorial board) and stating an opinion on a public issue, opinion articles called "op-eds" written by guest writers (which are typically in the same section as the editorial), and columns that express the personal opinions of columnists, usually offering analysis and synthesis that tries to contextualise the raw data of the news into information telling the reader "what it all means" and persuading them to concur. Papers also comprise articles which have no by-line; these articles are written by staff writers. A diverse variety of material has been published in newspapers. Besides the above-mentioned news, information and opinions, they comprise weather forecasts; criticism and analyses of the arts (including literature, film, television, theatre, fine arts, and architecture) and other services such as restaurants; obituaries, birth notices and graduation announcements; entertainment features such as crosswords, horoscopes, editorial cartoons, gag cartoons, and comic strips; advice columns, food, and other columns; and radio and television listings (program schedules). As of 2017, newspapers may also offer information about new movies and TV shows available on streaming services such as Netflix. Newspapers have classified ad sections where people and businesses can buy small advertisements to sell goods or services; as of 2013, an enormous upsurge in Internet websites for selling goods, such as Craigslist and eBay have led to pointedly less classified sales for newspapers. Most newspapers are businesses, and they pay their expenditures with a combination of subscription revenue, newsstand sales, and advertising income (other businesses or individuals pay to place advertisements in the papers, including display ads, classified ads, and their online equivalents). Some newspapers are government-run or at least government-funded; their dependence on advertising revenue and on profitability is less critical to their existence. The editorial independence of a newspaper is always subject to the interests of someone, whether owners, advertisers, or a government. Some newspapers with high editorial independence, high journalism quality, and large circulation are viewed as newspapers of record. Many newspapers, besides employing journalists on their own payrolls, also contribute to news agencies (wire services), which service journalists to find, accumulate, and report the news, then sell the copy to newspapers. This is a way for papers to share their coverage of reporting from around the world. According to Circa 2005 figures, the number of newspaper titles in the world was 6,580 daily newspaper titles selling 395 million copies a day (in the U.S., 1,450 titles selling 55 million copies). In the mid-2000s to early 2010s global decline of newspapers because of free web-based alternatives, has aided source a waning of advertising revenue and circulation, and there was an absolute drop in the numbers. Global annual revenue topped $100 billion in 2005-7, then jumped during the worldwide financial crisis of 2008-9. Profits in 2016 fell to only $53 billion, affecting every major publisher as free access online income fell far short of the goal. The waning in advertising revenues affected both the print advertising revenue as well as all other means: print advertising revenue has greatly weakened, and the prices of online advertising have fallen to nearly one-sixth of print advertising rates. Besides apart from advertising, the internet (especially the web) has also changed the business models of the newspaper industry becoming both publishing and advertising (sharing information with others) and, more precisely, publishers of news, blogs, and reporting. The growth of news aggregators, which bundle related content from many online newspapers, affects the drift of web traffic. Growing paywalls of online newspapers has arisen among those effects. The eldest newspaper still published is the Ordinari Post Tijdender, which was established in Stockholm in 1645.