The process by which bricks are manufactured for the building industry can be outlined in seven

consecutive steps. First the raw material, clay, which was just below the surface of soil in certain clay-
rich areas has to be dug up by a digger.
Then the lumps of clay are placed on a metal grid in order to break up the big chunks of clay into much
smaller areas, which fall through the metal grid onto a roller, whose motion further segregates the bits
of clay. Sand and water are added to make a homogenous mixture, which is then either formed in
moulds or cut into brick-shaped pieces by means of a wire cutter.
Those fresh bricks are then kept in a drying oven for at least ! and a maximum of !" hours, several
do#ens if not hundreds of bricks at a time. The dried bricks are then transferred to a so-called kiln,
another type of high temperature oven. First they are kept at a moderate temperature of $$ -%&$$
. This process is followed by cooling down the finished bricks for !" to ' hours in a cooling
chamber.
(nce the bricks have cooled down and have become hard, they get packaged and delivered to their
final destination, be it a building site or storage.
)%* words+
The diagram below shows the water cycle, which is the continuous
movement of water on, above and below the surface of the Earth.
The picture illustrates the way in which water passes from ocean to air to land during the
natural process known as the water cycle.
Three main stages are shown on the diagram. (cean water evaporates, falls as rain, and
eventually runs back into the oceans again.
,eginning at the evaporation stage, we can see that "$- of water vapour in the air
comes from the oceans. .eat from the sun causes water to evaporate, and water vapour
condenses to form clouds. /t the second stage, labelled 0precipitation1 on the diagram,
water falls as rain or snow.
/t the third stage in the cycle, rainwater may take various paths. Some of it may fall into
lakes or return to the oceans via 0surface runoff1. (therwise, rainwater may filter through
the ground, reaching the impervious layer of the earth. Salt water intrusion is shown to
take place just before groundwater passes into the oceans to complete the cycle.
(156 words, band 9)
The diagrams below show some principles of house design for cool and for warm climates.
Introduction: paraphrase the question.
Summary: describe the main differences the desi!n of the roof and windows, and the
use of insu"ation.
#etai"s: compare the roof desi!n and use of insu"ation.
#etai"s: compare the window desi!n and how windows are used durin! the day and at
ni!ht.
$he dia!rams show how house desi!ns differ accordin! to c"imate. $he most noticeab"e
difference between houses desi!ned for coo" and warm c"imates is in the shape of the roof.
$he desi!ns a"so differ with re!ard to the windows and the use of insu"ation. %e can see
that the coo" c"imate house has a hi!han!"ed roof, which a""ows sun"i!ht to enter throu!h
the window. &y contrast, the roof of the warm c"imate house has a pea' in the midd"e and
roof o(erhan!s to shade the windows. Insu"ation and therma" bui"din! materia"s are used
in coo" c"imates to reduce heat "oss, whereas insu"ation and ref"ecti(e materia"s are used
to 'eep the heat out in warm c"imates. )ina""y, the coo" c"imate house has one window
which faces the direction of the sun, whi"e the warm c"imate house has windows on two
sides which are shaded from the sun. &y openin! the two windows at ni!ht, the house
desi!ned for warm c"imates can be (enti"ated. (16* words, band 9)
This diagram shows the different stages in the process of making a purchase with a credit card. 2e
can see from it that there are five different parties involved in such a transaction and there are seven
different steps until the merchant receives payment.
The first step is that the customer offers to pay for the goods by credit card. /t that point, the merchant
has to re3uest for the payment to be authorised by the credit card organisation, which must also
re3uest authorisation in turn from the consumer1s bank. (nce that authorisation has been received,
the merchant can then release the goods to the customer.
The merchant, however, does not receive the money for the transaction until it has paid a fee to the
credit card organisation. /fter that has been paid, the consumer1s issuing bank will transfer the money
for the transaction to the merchant1s own bank, which will then credit the merchant1s bank account with
the amount of the purchase less the credit card fee.