CAE 5 Test 4 
Part 1 
I'd been teaching art for about ten years when I went on holiday to Greece. While I was there I became really interested in the art of making mosaics and decided to include this in the courses I run. Many people assume that the Romans invented mosaic, but it was the Greeks who were the true craftsmen. And they, in turn, probably picked it up from the Sumerians. But it was the Romans who brought mosaics to Britain. And, apart from the introduction of nylon backing to hold the tiles together, the techniques themselves haven't changed much over 5,000 years. It's the designs which have undergone a really radical change. In the recent past, modern mosaics have been restricted to the walls of public libraries and the odd swimming pool, and, by and large, it looked as if the true art of the mosaic could well disappear. Fortunately, that has not happened. 
    People often ask me why I prefer to spend hours teaching my students to stick tiny squares onto tiles when I could be doing something else. And it's certainly the case that the process demands both time and motivation on occasions. It can even give you a really bad headache! But, in fact, there's something very therapeutic about it. I think it has something to do with breaking things up and then reconstructing them. 
    For every course I teach, we have jars and jars of brightly-coloured glass, odd bits of china, broken plates and dishes, and most people just can't wait to start sticking them onto larger stretches of concrete. For the beginners, we produce mosaic packs, which contain all the essentials you need and explain clearly how to go about things. Each course includes a weekend workshop, which is attended by the majority of the students and it's actually a wonderful way of relaxing. The skill's really within everyone's scope, especially if you have an eye for colour - and a certain dexterity. It helps if you enjoy working with your hands - and, of course, have patience. I'm often asked if I do puzzles, and it's not such a silly question as it sounds because it's a very good comparison of skills. Some people do get a bit scared, faced with all that choice, but that's why the mosaic packs are so popular. But I try to teach people to be inventive as well. 
    If you look around yourself, there's plenty of evidence that the art is enjoying a revival. Not only do you see mosaic ashtrays, and soapdishes, but you can actually now find them decorating underground station walls. Now, I'm not suggesting that you start pulling your own home to pieces and replacing everything with mosaics, although I find myself looking at chests of drawers and thinking, 'Hmm just a border, perhaps!' Still, my reply to my over anxious students is, 'All right, I know it takes hours, but, after all, it's a labour of love, and you have something which will give pleasure for a long time afterwards.' Now if you're interested in trying out the effect in your own home … 
Part 2 
Now, if you're thinking of how you're going to spend your summer holidays and are fed up with just lying in the sun, maybe you should consider an educational holiday. 
    Universities, colleges and schools in Britain are now offering a wide range of courses in various 
subjects and lasting anything from a fortnight to three months. The two-week courses are intensive courses, with each day consisting of teaching, visits to relevant places of interest and private study sessions. If you don't fancy studying alone in your room, you'll be pleased to hear that all the centres have libraries which are open until late. Students don't need to look for somewhere to stay during the course, because on intensive courses, accommodation is offered on campus, which is a considerable advantage. 
    The only problem is that these fully-residential courses can cost as much as £400 a week, so some students might be put off for financial reasons. Some colleges and universities have grouped together to form the 'Summer Academy'. These courses are all residential and make strong use of the universities' surroundings, with many visits to places of historical and geographical interest in the surrounding area. The 'Summer Academy' courses are mostly taken for pleasure but a limited number now offer recognised qualifications which a student can use towards a university degree or diploma, if they decide they want to continue studying. Courses awarding these types of qualification are proving extremely popular. For some people, going on a course may change their lives. I spoke to one student who had studied creative writing at Edinburgh University. He had been a company director but felt disillusioned with his career. Originally he took the course for pleasure but found he enjoyed it so much that he left his job and decided to try and make a go of it as a writer. He believes that the summer school was instrumental in giving him the confidence to do this. 
    As well as giving people the chance to try something new, summer schools can also help existing students with their degrees and can even shorten the time they need to spend at college. This will suit students anxious to complete their courses and get working as quickly as possible. According to a student I spoke to, another advantage of summer school is that it attracts a far wider range of students than normal degree courses do and this variety adds interest to the course. 
Part 3 
    Interviewer: And today our subject for discussion is audio books. We have two guests in the studio -- Martin Jones, who owns an audio bookshop, and Sally White whose job is to abridge -- or shorten -- books for the audio market. Now, I was amazed to find out just how popular it has become to listen to books on tape. What do you think is the reason for this, Sally? 
    Sally: Well, people are often very short of time. If you commute each day and have to spend, say, an hour in the car... then you can listen to part of a tape... and then go on where you left off. And many people like to listen to audio books while doing monotonous household chores, like being read to as kids. 
    Interviewer: Yes, and in fact these audio books have also become popular among children. I often listen to them with mine. I suppose the fear here is that children will become lazy... I mean it's much easier to listen to a story than read it yourself. 
    Sally: Yes, of course it is, but I'm not sure this will necessarily put children off reading. I don't know... but the great thing is that they can listen to books which are far too difficult for them to read. It may mean, of course, that busy parents are tempted to put on a tape rather than take the tie to read to their kids. But then, I'm sure many would actually prefer to listen to professionals rather than tired mums and dads...
    Interviewer: What do you think, Martin? 
    Martin: Well, I'd like to tell you about a lady who came into this shop just last week... and she was telling us about these family driving holidays to France, which used to be a disaster with the kids in the back making a row, not being able to understand French radio. And she swore she would never take them to France again. The she discovered audio books and suddenly the journeys there are a joy. 
    Interviewer: Now I hear that audio books are even more popular in the States... 
    Martin: Yes, it's certainly a huge, huge market in the States although I don't think audio books started there. Maybe it's because there's a tradition here in the UK from radio of spoken words an acceptable medium, whereas in America, of course, it's a different story. In the main, Americans don't seem to get as much drama or stories on the radio, so they're going out and getting audio books. And the principal attraction is that they need something to listen to because of the time they spend on the road -- places are so much farther apart. An audio book passes the time... 
    Interviewer: And what are the reasons for sometimes asking the author to do the reading rather than employing a professional? 
    Sally: It depends. Obviously the author is the one who's closest to the book and they may have a particular interpretation of the book that they are anxious to portray. Most authors will have already done public readings of their books anyway as part of their promotional activities at the time of publication, so they've probably read parts of it already. Otherwise, professional actors are used. We're very lucky in Britain to have such a wealth of actors who can bring the story alive completely. 
    Interviewer: Now, Sally, your job is to abridge books especially for the audio market. I suspect a lot of people would say that you shouldn't mess about with what an author has written. 
    Sally: No, I don't agree. Most of the abridgments these days are really extremely good. Abridgers interpret the story in the way they believe the author has written it. But the point about abridgments is that one's adapting it to create a new version of the story so it will inevitably be different to the original. Now, obviously some books are easier to abridge than others... 
    Interviewer: Yes. I'd imagine a thousand-page volume by Charles Dickens must be a bit of a nightmare... 
    Sally: Well, what we do is to trim the excess off so it's more to do with the way they write. Beryl Bainbridge, for instance, writes so beautifully and sparsely that it's harder to cut into her than Charles Dickens with any kind of book. 
    Martin: We shouldn't forget that many books are not abridged before being taped. I would say that these have now grown to account for about twenty per cent of the audio market. So, yes, some people do prefer to listen to the whole book. We've got Anna Karenina that has just come on the market. It's on twenty-four tapes -- so, you can imagine how long it is! 
    Interviewer: Twenty-four tapes? How long is a tape? 
    Martin: Well, each tape is about ninety minutes and the whole set comes to ninety pounds. Though it's a lot of money, we're talking about a lifetime's listening, which is really something, isn't it? 
    Interviewer: Well, we are nearly out of time …but very briefly then, why not, in that case, why not write things specifically for audio … something that's never been a written book? You could argue it's a new art form, so why not have new people writing just for audio? 
    Sally: Well, you could and the BBC commissions specific work for radio all the time. It probably wouldn't succeed because the audio market isn't large enough to finance its own original writing at the moment. Anyway, I don't think people are unhappy about that…it's the old favourites, rather than the newer titles, that have proved the most popular in audio form. 
    Interviewer: Well, thank you both very much … and now… 
Part 4 
Speaker One
In common with most of my colleagues on the track, I'm training in the morning most of the time, as well as throughout the day. And sometimes we have to compete in the morning too, as early as seven or eight in some places in the world. And people say to me, 'And you really eat before that?' But, if you think about it, you absolutely can't perform to the best of your abilities without fueling your body -- or your mind for that matter. So, the message for kids who've got their sights set on gold is, 'Don't skip your breakfast before you train.'
Speaker Two 
I have to admit that I was one of those awful people who used to tell others to do something that I didn't do myself. It wasn't until I was invited to present a report on a conference in the USA, and I was sceptical before that too that I came back a convert. There's good research to show that people are healthier if they eat breakfast, and everything I heard was quite convincing and I've gone on to use quite a lot of it in my column -- you know, I read up the research and did a few pieces on it myself, which were quite well received, even by the professionals. 
Speaker Three
Well, I read that the latest thinking is that whatever you eat in the morning, your metabolic rate goes up slightly, so the rate you burn calories goes up too. Even if you sit about a lot like me, if you've had a good breakfast, you still won't necessarily put on weight. Sounds crazy. But just think; if you don't eat first thing, you get a rumbly tummy about mid-morning, and what happens next? Well, what I do is rush out to the vending machine after I've pulled into the next station and grab something quick, which is usually chocolate or crisps -- you know, something full of fat and sugar! So I suppose those newspaper articles are right really, aren't they? 
Speaker Four
I'll be absolutely honest wit you -- I usually wake up and don't feel particularly hungry, especially when you've got an early start. And you can't be absolutely sure where the next meal is coming from -- I mean it could be breakfast, lunch or dinner, depending on where you next stopover is and what time it is there. And during all that time you might have served all manner of meals too, so you have to think ahead and I generally make sure I have something breakfast-like before each shift, even if it's not morning, and then I don't get hunger pangs in the cabin. 
Speaker Five
I think that if you're someone who 'skips' breakfast, for want of a better term, you don't know what you're missing until you try. And I think that it's especially important to try and get this message across to parents. I can tell which ones in my group have missed breakfast: they lack energy and they're the ones who get all the colds and that, honestly. But it's got to fit in with the whole family's normal ways of life too. It's no good making great resolutions and breaking them two days later because you can't get up in time or it's going to make you late for work.

backing
援助、後援、支援、支持
〔集合的に〕支持者、後援者
〔本などの〕裏張り、裏打ち、裏当て
square
四角い（形の）物
jar
～を瓶に保存する、瓶詰めにする
（広口）瓶、かめ
広口瓶1杯分
〈英〉ビール1杯
stretch
伸びる［伸ばす］こと、伸び
伸びる程度［範囲］、伸縮性
〔一続きの〕時間、期間
dexterity
器用さ、抜け目なさ、機敏さ、巧妙さ
【レベル】10、【発音】dekstérəti、【＠】デクステリテー
ashtray
灰皿、アッシュトレイ
chest of drawers
引き出しのある収納スペース、整理だんす
leave off
〔仕事・話などを〕やめる、中止する
・Where did I leave off? : どこまで話したっけ？（＝Where did I stop?）
leave off
〔仕事・話などを〕やめる、中止する
・Where did I leave off? : どこまで話したっけ？（＝Where did I stop?）
cut into
～に切り込む
～に割り込む、～に干渉する◆【同】interrupt
〔薬品などが〕～を腐食させる
on the track
〔話が〕本題から外れずに、脱線せずに
〔犯人などを〕追跡して、追跡中で
convert 
転向者、改宗者
do the actual piece
実際に上演する
sit about
〈英〉＝ sit around
sit around
座ってボーッとする、ダラダラと［ブラブラして・無為に時を］過ごす
・All he does anymore is sit around and watch TV. : もはや彼がすることといえば、ダラダラとテレビを見ることぐらいです。
・We can't just sit around and do nothing about it. : その件については、私たちは何もせずにのんびり構えているわけにはいきません。
rumbly
ゴロゴロと音を立てる
tummy
〈幼児語〉おなか、ポンポン
pull into the station
〔列車が〕駅に入る
pull into a gas station
〔車で〕給油所［ガソリンスタンド］に寄る
hunger pang
飢え［飢餓］の苦しみ、空腹にたまりかねる［耐えかねる］こと、胃が痛くなるほどおなかが空くこと