Reading Exercices Examen First Certificate

You are going to read a magazine article about a man who rebuilds old aeroplanes. Choose from the list A-l the most suitable heading for each part (1-7) of the article. There is one extra heading which you do not need to use. There is an example at the beginning (0).

A Building up the skills -
B Business considerations
C A chance connection
D A suitable arrangement
E Overcoming the delays
F Something from nothing
G A source of satisfaction
H An unexpected opportunity
I A timely failure

The Plane Restorer
We talked to a man who has turned a hobby into a business...

0 Bob Wadesmill, 58, has spent the past seven years at a small airfield in the east of England, living out his childhood dream of working with aeroplanes. Having qualified as a pilot in the 1960s, he began restoring antique Stearman biplanes after his crop-spraying business went bankrupt. Had it not been for that misfortune, he might never have found his true vocation, but now he is hooked.		4 'I learned my trade the hard way -through trial and error - and with time I have become increasingly efficient. The fabric work is the hardest to learn - the rest is like building one of the plastic models of 1940s aeroplanes like the ones children make, but on a bigger scale.
1 'I have always loved old aeroplanes,' Bob explains. 'It all started by accident when I bought an old Stearman bi-plane to repair and sell on as a hobby. After that, I kept going out of passion, but eventually that passion turned into a business. If I'd planned to set up a restoring business, I couldn't have hit upon a better plane. The Stearmans are American planes originally built in the 1940s but, unlike their European equivalents, the spare parts are still readily available, so they are a restorer's dream.		5 'The plane is covered in fabric, and the preparation is quite fiddly. The wing covering is stitched on and made into a bag that is then heat-shrunk onto the wooden wing and strengthened with cellulose. Fabric work is fulfilling because, once you've got that in place, you can start to imagine the thing flying. That is wonderful because the best part of the job is flying the finished planes.
2 'Four of us work at this airfield. We have a large hangar and it's also handy in that there are grass runways which are ideal for vintage aircraft. So we can restore, house and fly the planes on one site.		6 'On one of my first jobs, I was working with an elderly man who had learned to fly in Stearmans. We bought an old Stearman and, as well as the remaining working parts, we got a pile of old documents related to its history. Quite unexpectedly, we came across a letter that showed it had been used at the airbase where he had learned to fly as a teenager.
3 'We have completed nine planes and are now working on three more. When they arrive, they are usually what I call "basket cases" - a pile of parts unrecognisable as an aeroplane. We build them up from scratch, replacing the worn parts and engines. For about £70,000 you basically get a new Stearman.		7 'You have to be a bit of a romantic to be involved in this job because it's not the way to make your fortune. I'm often lucky to cover my costs, but that's not why I do it.

Remember to add new words to your vocabulary lists!

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El presente material es de utilidad para la preparación de FCE. El material online es una pequeña parte de un completo Curso de FIRST CERTIFICATE disponible en CD Rom y para su Descarga Online. Si deseas conocer si tu nivel actual es adecuado para preparar el examen, puedes realizar también una prueba de nivel.

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