Reading Test B2 High

Instructions

Stephen Hawking
Stephen Hawking was an English scientist, cosmologist, teacher and author. He is best known for discovering how the universe was formed and predicting what might happen to it in the future.
 
A Star Is Born
Born on 8th January 1942 in Oxford, England, Stephen William Hawking was born exactly 300 years after the death of the famous astronomer Galileo – a fact that Stephen was very proud of. He was born during the Second World War, which was a very dangerous time for London, so his parents, Frank Hawking and Isobel Walker, moved from their home in Highgate, London to Oxford to ensure Stephen’s safety.

His parents went on to have three more children: two girls named Philippa and Mary and an adopted boy named Edward. They were a family who placed a high value on education and his parents studied at the University of Oxford; his father studied medicine and became a medical researcher while his mother studied philosophy and politics.

Childhood
Stephen’s fascination with science, particularly space, began at an early age, when he would enjoy spending time with his mother; lying together on the grass in the garden to watch the stars.
When Stephen was a child of eight, the family moved to St Albans in Hertfordshire, a town about 20 miles north of London. At school, Stephen was often referred to as ‘Einstein’ by his classmates. After taking the eleven-plus exam a year early, Stephen attended St Albans School. He remained here throughout his secondary education, making close friends with whom he enjoyed playing board games and making model aeroplanes and boats. With the help of his maths teacher, Dikran Tahta, Stephen and his friends built a computer from clock parts, an old telephone switchboard and various other recycled objects.

University
Inspired by Mr Tahta, Stephen wanted to study maths at university, despite his father advising him to study medicine. Stephen compromised and chose to study physics and chemistry at the same college that his father had attended. He took the entry exams a year early, meaning that he was only 17 years old when he started university.

Stephen became a lively, witty and popular member of his class, interested in classical music and science fiction. He also joined the college boat club, where he became cox for a rowing crew – he was said to be a daredevil because of the risks he took in the boat!
Following the completion of his first degree, Stephen was still passionate about space, so attended Cambridge University where he studied cosmology and made some incredible discoveries.
It was at Cambridge that Stephen first developed problems with his health. He became very clumsy, regularly falling or dropping things. His speech became slurred and hard to understand.
Doctors diagnosed Stephen with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, or ALS, and he was given just two years to live. However, his disease progressed more slowly than doctors had imagined, meaning he was able to return to his studies, marry his first wife, Jane Wilde, and start a family. In later years, his ALS meant that he used a wheelchair and communicated using voice synthesis technology.

12

You are going to read an article about Anne Frank. Six sentences have been removed from the article. Choose from the sentences below the one which fits each gap (1–6). There is one extra sentence which you do not need to use.

Extraordinary Lives – Anne Frank
Most of us enjoy a childhood filled with fun and friends and school. Imagine a childhood interrupted by hatred and fear. Imagine having to spend your teenage years hidden behind a moveable bookcase, 1 _______________________________________________________________________ Imagine that discovery leading to you being shot and killed, simply because your family was Jewish. This was the childhood of Annelies Marie Frank, known throughout the world as Anne Frank.
Annelies, or Anne to everyone who knew her, was born in Frankfurt, Germany in 1929. She was the second of two daughters born to Edith and Otto Frank. 

2______________________________________________________________________________________________  even though the shadow of Nazi Germany was never far away. The Franks were a liberal Jewish family and did not observe their religion generally, 3 __________________________________________________________________________________________  . By the time Anne was four years old, the Nazis had taken control in Germany and Otto Frank had decided to move his family to Amsterdam, in the nearby Netherlands, for their safety.
Otto Frank continued to develop his businesses and was soon running two successful companies in Amsterdam, including one called Opekta. 4 ________________________________________________________________________________________________. In 1940, the German army invaded the Netherlands and Anne and her family began living under the Nazi regime. The list of rules and regulations by which Jews were meant to live seemed endless. Anne and Margot, her sister, could no longer attend a school alongside Aryan children and so had to attend a segregated Jewish school. 5 _______________________________________________________________________________________________  .
By 1941, all Jewish citizens of Germany lost their citizenship and Anne and her family were therefore effectively stateless. 6 __________________________________________________________________________  , but immigration policies were becoming stricter because of an influx of European refugees trying to escape the Nazis in Germany. The Franks were unsuccessful in their attempts to flee and, by 1942, the situation became desperate.

Stephen Hawking

A Star Is Born

Childhood

University

Stephen Hawking was born during the Second World War.

Stephen’s parents both studied medicine at the University of Oxford.

Stephen moved to St Albans when he was eight years old.

Stephen and his friends built a computer using recycled materials.

Stephen’s father supported his decision to study mathematics at university.

Stephen became known for his lively personality and love of science fiction.

ALS caused Stephen to stop his studies immediately after diagnosis

Stephen began his university studies at the same age his father had.

Extraordinary Lives – Anne Frank