Final Test (New English File_intermediate)

Thomson Reuters is one of the world’s biggest suppliers of news and financial information. Formerly known as Reuters Group PLC, it has a worldwide network of 2,000 journalists and provides news stories, photographs, and video to newspapers, television, and internet sites. Although it is most commonly known as a press agency, in fact, Reuters makes most of its profits through giving financial information such as currency rates and stock prices to bankers and investors all over the world. The history of Reuters goes hand in hand with improvements in communication technology. Reuters was established by Paul Julius von Reuter. Originally a bookseller in Germany, he set up a service using carrier pigeons to fly stock prices between Aachen in Germany, where the German telegraph line ended, and Brussels in Belgium, where the Belgian telegraph line began. In 1851, London had an important place in the global telegraphic network and due to this, Reuter moved to an office near the London stock exchange. From there, he could supply investors in London and Paris with stock prices over the new Dover–Calais telegraph line. The service grew to include news items, and by the late 1850s, he had offices throughout Europe. As overland and undersea cables were laid, Reuter’s business grew and began to operate in the Far East in 1872 and South America in 1874. Reuter was the first to publish some groundbreaking news items, for example, it was the first in Europe to announce President Lincoln’s death in 1865. Reuter retired in 1872 and the company changed its name to Reuters Ltd. In 1923, Reuters began to use teleprinters to distribute news to London newspapers and to supply news to Europe. Reuters was restructured in 1941 in order to maintain its independence as a press agency. At the same time, in the face of competition from American agencies after World War Two, Reuters increased its financial information services. In 1964, Reuters introduced Stockmaster, which transmitted stock information from around the world onto computer screens. In 1973, the launch of the Reuters monitor created an electronic marketplace for foreign currency by displaying currency rates in real time. Reuters expanded this to include news and other financial information. This was followed by the Reuters monitor dealing service in 1981, which allowed foreign currency traders to trade directly from their own computer. In the 1990s, Reuters continued to develop information systems including multimedia and online services. It bought a number of companies, including a television company which was called Reuters Television. Reuters Television provides news, sports, business, and entertainment via satellite to broadcasters in more than 90 countries. Today’s Reuters is still based on its ‘trust principles’, which state that news and information from the company must be independent and objective. Reuters’ journalists have to provide accurate and clear descriptions of events so that individuals, organizations, and governments can make their own decisions based on facts. Reuters merged with Thomson’s financial information division in 2007 and, as a result, its new name is Thomson Reuters. It remains a leader in what has become a multi-billion-dollar industry.

You are going to hear a radio programme about a competition called the World Memory Championships. Listen and number the information in the order you hear it.

Listen again and answer the questions.

1. Complete the sentences. Use the verbs in brackets.   Example: Are you __going__ (you / go) on holiday this year?

Read the text and choose the answer (A, B, C, or D) which you think fits best according to the text.

Listen to the track.

2. Complete the sentences.  Example: That’s the house where my father was born.

3. Choose the correct word or phrase. Example: There’s no / not enough time to get the project finished today.

4. Choose the odd one out. Example:  composer    teacher    employee    violinist

5. Write the noun. Example:  organize  You write: organization

6. Write the prepositions. Example:  What are you going  to  do next weekend?

7. Complete the sentences with the correct word. Example:  I _________ a lot of money a few years ago from my grandfather. inherited     earned     invested

8. Complete the sentences with one word. Example:  My sister and I   get  on well with each other.

9. Choose 'True' if the following words are stressed correctly and 'False' if they are stressed in the wrong way. The stress is marked in bold.

‘Where’s Lynne?’ ‘She [Blank] (go) to Cuba. She’ll be back next week.

Mike [Blank](work) in his study. Shall I call him for you?

If I had the chance to live abroad, I [Blank] (go).

I’m sorry. I think I [Blank] (break) your camera when I dropped it!

I would have said ‘hello’ if I [Blank] (see) you!

I [Blank] (have) lunch every day with Clare in the canteen – I really enjoy talking to her.

‘Didn’t you hear the phone ring?’ ‘No, sorry. I [Blank] (listen) to music.’

She told me she [Blank] (want) to meet me the next day.

Between 1984 and 1986 Patricia Cornwell [Blank] (write) three novels.

I [Blank] (eat) less chocolate at the moment because I am on a diet.

We can’t go to that restaurant again! I [Blank] (go) there twice last week.