You are going to read an article about the making of an unusual television commercial.

Six sentences have been

removed from the article. Choose from the sentences A-G the one which fits each gap. There is one extra sentence
which you do not need to use.

A. Then the falling dominoes head out of the room into the streets, causing progressively larger objects to
tumble.
B. These were all chosen to suit the town and fit in with the peoples way of life.
C. Getting there involved driving along 48 kilometres of dirt roads and crossing twelve rivers.
D. Iruya is situated 3000 metres above sea level and the film crew was not used to working in such conditions.
E. The prop department did construct a small version on site, but most of the work was done in a studio in
London.
F. Added to this was the total of one hundred and thirty 'actors' who were recruited from a five neighbouring
towns.
G. Not so with the famous Irish drink company Guinness.

The Making of 'Tipping Point'

Many of the most expensive commercials ever made are those in which an A-list celebrity flashes a beautiful smile at
the cameras. ________________________________________________________. Their recent television
advertisement, the most expensive in British history, cost ten million pounds, and it features, not the rich and famous,
but villagers from the mountains of Argentina.

The advertisement features a game of dominoes. It begins in a darkened room where several thousand ordinary
dominoes are set up on a specially-designed table. ______________________________________. Dominoes knock
over books, which in turn knock bigger household objects such as suitcases, tyres, pots of paint, oil drums and even
cars. The final piece in the chain reaction is a huge tower of books. These flutter open to reveal a structure in the shape
of a pint of Guinness.

The location chosen for the commercial was Iruya, a village high up in the mountains of north-west Argentina.
__________________________________________________________________________. The journey there could
take up to ten hours. Asked why this remote destination was chosen for the shoot, the director said that even though it
was the most difficult location they could have picked, it was perfect.

For one month, the village, population thousand, increased in size by almost thirty percent. One hundred and forty
crew members descended on the village. These included the world record holders in domino toppling, Weijers Domino
productions from the Netherlands. ____________________________
___________________________________________________.

Creating this film was no easy task. Preparations for filming took well over a month. Twenty six truckloads of objects
were brought in. ___________________________________________________. They included 10,000 books, 400
tyres, 75 mirrors, 50 fridges, 45 wardrobes and 6 cars. Setting the objects up took skill and patience. They needed to
be arranged so they would fall over easily, and this involved balancing them on stones. Some of the sequences had to
be reshot 15 times and 24 hours of footage was captured. However, the sequence in which six cars fell over was
successfully shot in just one take.

Filming in this location was not without its difficulties. Firstly, being so isolated, it was hard to obtain resources at
short notice. The second problem was the high altitude. ____________________________
__________________________________________. It was also hard working with the villagers who had no
experience of film-making. Finally, setting and resetting the props caused a good deal of frustration.

Director Nicolai Fuglsig said about the project : Despite all the challenges, the cast was fantastic and it was a really
amazing experience. Whether or not the effort put into the advert pays off is another matter entirely.
Read the text about some English villages. Then look at the sentences at the bottom of the page and decide if each
sentence is True or False.

Explore the Villages around Hartbridge

Many visitors come to Hartbridge to see the wonderful art galleries and museums, the beautiful buildings and the
fantastic parks. Few people go outside the city, and so they miss out on experiencing the scenery and the fascinating
history of this beautiful area. This brochure will tell you what you can see if you take a short bus ride out of the city.

Camberwell
The historic village of Camberwell was once the home of the wealthy Hugo family. They lived in a huge country
house, Camberwell Court, and owned all the land in the area. The family sold their house in the 1940s, and it is now
open to the public. You can spend a whole day walking around the house and gardens. There is a small exhibition
about the family, a childrens play area, a gift shop and a restaurant. But the village of Camberwell is also worth a
visit. There are some beautiful cottages with well kept gardens, and there is a small church which dates back to the
eleventh century. To get to Camberwell, take Bus 46 from the Bus station. Buses leave every two hours.

Hidcot
Hidcot is an attractive village situated on the River Owell. Wildlife lovers should visit the Nature Park to the south of
the village, where there are large numbers of rare birds and flowers. However, you will probably see plenty of wildlife
from the bridge in the village centre! In Hidcot, you can take a two-hour river cruise - a great way to see the
countryside and learn about the local wildlife from a guide. If you prefer to explore the river by yourself, its well
worth walking one and a half miles along the river to the pub The Boat which cannot be reached by road. Here, you
can hire small boats and explore the river at your leisure. To get to Hidcot, take Bus 7A to Reeford. Hidcot is half way
between Hartbridge and Reeford.

Tatterbridge
The beautiful village of Tatterbridge was home to the childrens writer Jane Potter, whose stories of Benjamin Bear are
loved by adults and children around the world. Jane Potters home is now a museum and tea shop, and is well worth a
visit just for its wonderful gardens. It also has a gift shop where you can buy souvenirs and books. Tatterbridge has a
number of interesting shops including an excellent cake shop, and Wendys Giftshop where you can find lots of
unusual gifts made by hand by local artists. Lovers of Jane Potters books should also walk to the Green Valley woods,
which have not changed since Jane Potter wrote her stories there one hundred years ago.
To get to Tatterbridge, take Bus 4 from outside the cinema. It takes about 40 minutes to get there.

Moordale
This old industrial village is the highest village in the area. Here in the hills, coal was found in the late eighteenth
century, and people came here in great numbers to take it out of the ground and transport it to the nearby towns. Many
industries grew up in the area, including a paper factory and a cotton factory. The industries all closed down in the
nineteenth century, and since then Moordale has gone back to being a quiet farming village. However, if you walk
from the village centre up the steep hill to the north, you can still see the paths where horses used to carry the coal.
There is a four mile walk around the village which has some amazing views, but walkers are must be careful as the
path is steep in places and they could slip. To get to Moordale, take Bus 7A to Reeford, and then take the number 38
bus to Moordale.

1 It is unusual for visitors to visit the villages near Hartbridge.

2 The Hugo family allows people to visit their current home.
3 The leaflet advises visitors not to spend all day at Camberwell Court.
4 You can hire small boats from the bridge in Hidcot.
5 You can take the bus directly to The Boat pub near Hidcot.
6 The leaflet says that the gardens are the best part of Jane Potters home.
7 Jane Potter wrote her books in the Green Valley woods.
8 You can visit the paper factory and the cotton factory in Moordale.
9 You will see horses on farms as you walk around Moordale.
10 You can get to all four villages directly from Hartbridge.

Madagascar When to go

Madagascar has two seasons, a warm, wet season from November to April, and a cooler dry season between May and
October. However, different parts of the country have very different weather.

The east coast is hotter and wetter, with up to 4000mm of rainfall per year. In the rainy season, there are strong winds,
and these can cause a lot of damage. Avoid visiting eastern Madagascar between January and March because the
weather can make road travel very difficult. The dry season is cooler and more pleasant.

The high, central part of the country is much drier and cooler. About 1,400 mm of rain falls in the rainy season, with
some thunderstorms, but the summer is usually sunny and dry, but it can be cold, especially in the mornings, with
freezing showers, and it may snow in mountain areas above 2,400m, and even stay there for several days.

The west coast is the driest part of the island. Here, the winter months are pleasant with little rain, cooler temperatures
and blue skies. The summers can be extremely hot, especially in the southwest. This part of the country is semi-
desert, and only gets around 300mm of rain per year.

1 Madagascar has four seasons: spring, summer, autumn and winter.

2 There is more rain in January than in June.
3 The wet season is colder than the dry season.
4 It hardly ever rains in central Madagascar.
5 The wettest part of the island is the east.
6 January-March is a good time to visit eastern Madagascar.
7 The centre of Madagascar is the coldest part.
8 Snow sometimes falls in Madagascar.
9 The west coast has the best weather in December.
10 The north-east is hotter than the south-east.

Read the passages and answer the questions!

Different Colours can affect us in many different ways; thats according to Verity Allen. In her new series Colour me
Healthy, Verity looks at the ways that colours can influence how hard we work and the choices we make. They can
even change our emotions and even influence how healthy we are.

Have you ever noticed how people always use the same colours for the same things? says Verity. Our toothpaste is
always white or blue or maybe red. Its never green. Why not? For some reason we think that blue and white is
clean, while we think of green products as being a bit disgusting. Its the same for businesses. We respect a company
which writes its name in blue or black, but we dont respect one that uses pink or orange. People who design new
products can use these ideas to influence what we buy.

During this four-part series, Verity studies eight different colours, two colours in each programme. She meets people
who work in all aspects of the colour industry, from people who design food packets, to people who name the colours
of lipsticks. Some of the people she meets clearly have very little scientific knowledge to support their ideas, such as
the American Colour Doctor who believes that serious diseases can be cured by the use of coloured lights. However,
she also interviews real scientists who are studying the effects of green and red lights on mice, with some surprising
results.
Overall, its an interesting show, and anyone who watches it will probably find out something new. But because
Verity is goes out of her way to be polite to everyone she meets on the series, its up to the viewers to make their own
decisions about how much they should believe.

1. What is the writer doing in this text?

2. According to Verity, why is a knowledge of colour important?
3. Who does the writer respect least?
4. Which of the following would make a good title for the text?

Horton

At first glance, there is little in Horton to attract people. The other nearby towns have much more to offer: Bradfield
has its river and historic buildings, while Newtown has shops and entertainment. The buildings of Horton look dirty
and unloved. For shops, there is a small supermarket, a few bargain shops, a bakery which, strangely, does not sell
bread and a florist which has one stand of sad-looking flowers. Even so, Horton has several advantages over its
neighbouring towns.

Firstly, it has a country park. Four thousand years ago, this was an important fort. There are no historic remains here
now, but there are wonderful views over the countryside. On sunny weekends you can often see kids out with their
parents, kicking balls or flying kites.

There arent many job opportunities in Horton, and the roads to nearby cities arent really fast, but there are excellent
rail links. You can be in London in an hour and a half, and other cities are less than an hour away. That means that
parents can earn a good salary and still get home in time to spend the evenings with their families. Houses in Horton
arent pretty, but theyre functional and cheap. The streets are quiet and safe, and there are plenty of parks and
playgrounds. It has a library, three primary schools and a secondary school, St. Marks. Its not as academically
brilliant as other schools in the area, but it is friendly and offers a wide range of subjects and activities to children of
all abilities and backgrounds. The town also has a swimming and a sports centre, and the community halls hold
regular clubs and events for people of all ages.

1. What is the writers main purpose?

2. What part of Horton does the writer find disappointing?
3. What type of people is Horton most suitable for?
4. What advantages does Horton bring to workers?
5. Describe Holton using three adjectives!