A2 English Practice: Reading and Listening Test

Tim has a special school backpack. It is bright blue with shiny yellow stars on it. He received it on his tenth birthday from his uncle. When Tim walks to school, the backpack always feels very light, even when it is full of heavy books. One afternoon, Tim opened it and found a small, glowing green key that was not there before. He took it out, and suddenly, his favorite toy robot started to dance on his desk! Tim laughed and realized his backpack had real magic inside.

Lily and her older brother, Sam, built a beautiful treehouse in the giant oak tree behind their garden. They used strong wooden boards and painted the small door bright red. Inside, they put a little table, two comfortable chairs, and an old map they found in the attic. They love spending their weekends there, reading adventure comic books and looking through their grandfather’s old binoculars. Yesterday afternoon, they saw a rare golden bird sitting on a branch right next to their secret window.

Dolphins are not fish; they are highly intelligent mammals that live in oceans around the world. They cannot breathe underwater like fish because they do not have gills. Instead, they breathe air through a small hole on top of their heads called a blowhole. Dolphins are famous for their friendly behavior and live in social groups called pods. They talk to each other using unique clicks and loud whistles. Scientists believe each dolphin has a special whistle that works just like a human name!

A volcano is an amazing mountain that opens downward into a pool of hot, melted rock beneath the surface of the Earth. When too much pressure builds up inside, an eruption happens. Gases, ash, and rocks shoot high into the sky. This super-hot liquid rock is called magma when it is still underground. However, as soon as it breaks through the Earth’s crust and flows outside, its name changes to lava. There are more than 1,500 active volcanoes on Earth, and many of them are hidden deep under the ocean.

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