General Reading 8.1

READING PASSAGE 1

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based on Reading Passage 1 below.

Section 1 (Questions 1 - 5)

Creamy Carbonara Pasta and Sauce Mix

Pasta in a classic Italian sauce

PASTA AND SAUCE MIX

Directions for Cooking on Stove:

In a medium saucepan, bring 1 ½ cup (125 ml) milk, 1 1/4 cups (310 ml) water and 1 tablespoon margarine or butter to the boil. [Crack IELTS with Rob] Add contents of the packet, stir until boiling and simmer uncovered for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. The sauce will thicken on standing.

Microwave directions:

Place 1 ½ cup (125 ml) of milk, 1 ¼ cups (310 ml) of hot water and 1 tablespoon margarine or butter in a microwave-safe bowl or casserole. Add contents of the packet, stir well and cook uncovered on HIGH for 10 minutes, stirring 2-3 times.

Section 2 (Questions 6 - 8)

Recipe Suggestion

Chicken Carbonara

1 tablespoon margarine or butter [omit for microwave]

250 gms boneless chicken, cut in thin strips

1 ½ cups (125 ml) of milk

1 ¼ cups (310 ml) water [hot for microwave]

1 packet creamy carbonara pasta and sauce

1 cup sliced mushrooms

1 cup snow peas

Melt margarine and fry chicken until golden brown. Add milk and water and bring to a boil. [Crack IELTS with Rob] Add pasta and sauce and mushrooms and simmer gently, uncovered, for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add snow peas for the last minute.

Microwave directions:

Place chicken into a microwave-safe bowl, cover and cook on HIGH for 2 minutes. [Crack IELTS with Rob] Add milk, water, pasta, sauce and mushrooms and cook uncovered on HIGH for 10-12 minutes. Stir 2-3 times. Add snow peas for the last minute.

SERVES 2-3

Section 3 (Questions 9 - 13)

Find Your Old School Friends

- Find Your Old School Friends is a simple to use website that allows you to find out what your old school friends are doing now.

- We have more than 40,000 secondary and Primary schools, Colleges and Universities on our database. [Crack IELTS with Rob] More than 8 million people have registered and this number is growing at over 15,000 a day.

- To start finding your old friends, you need to complete our registration process. Firstly we need your first name and surname (when you were at school), your current surname ( if it has changed), your nickname at school ( optional) and most importantly, the year you left school.

- We also need your email address so we can send you a confirmation email when you register. [Crack IELTS with Rob] If you do not receive this then please check that you entered your email address correctly. Please choose a password, and write some notes about yourself, such as what you have done since leaving school and what you are doing now. ( This section is optional, but is very interesting for both you and your friends, when you find each other on the site)

- Once you’ve registered, you are able to start looking for your old friends, and see what they’ve been doing since you left school. [Crack IELTS with Rob] This service is absolutely free. However, if you wish to contact a friend, there is a small charge to cover administration costs, so click on the contact button and enter your credit card details. Then write your message in the space provided and click ‘send’. Your friend will receive the email, from the Find Your Old School Friend address, so if you want your friend to reply, don’t forget to include your email address in your message!

- If you’d like us to send you our monthly newsletter, our ‘feedback’ emails containing funny memories and success stories from the site or notifications when someone registers to your school, just check the box below.

Enjoy Finding Your Old School Friends

Questions 1 - 5

Answer the questions below.

Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER from Section 1 for each question.

Write your correct answers in boxes 1-5 on your answer sheet.

1. Which country does this recipe come from?
ITALY
2. If you are cooking this meal on a stove, what do you put your ingredients?
IN A SAUCEPAN
3. If you are cooking this meal on a stove, how many ingredients do you boil first?
3
4. When you cook this meal in a microwave oven, how many ingredients do you mix in the bowl or casserole before cooking?
4
5. If you are using a microwave oven, what you should not put a lid on before cooking?
BOWL

Questions 6 - 8

Complete the sentences below.

Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER from Section 2 for each question.

Write your correct answers in boxes 6-8 on your answer sheet.

6. If you cook this recipe using a microwave oven, you should leave out the .
MARGARINE
7. It takes to cook the snow peas.
1 MINUTE
8. This recipe will make enough food for people.
2-3

Questions 9 - 13

Complete the flow chart showing the stages in registering on the Find Your Old School Friends site.

Choose ONE WORD ONLY from Section 3 for each answer.

Write your correct answers in boxes 9-13 on your answer sheet.

Find Your Old School Friends

Stage 1: Enter your full name – Did you have a (9) at school (optional)
NICKNAME
Stage 2: In which (10) did you leave?
YEAR
Stage 3: What is your email address? – Enter a/an (11)
PASSWORD
Stage 4: Write some biographical (12)
NOTES
Stage 5: After registration, receive a confirmation (13)
EMAIL