A2 KET Test #26 - Reading & Writing

Maya, 14

Last month, my family and I went to a famous old city by train. It rained every day, so we couldn't spend much time outside, but we visited some amazing castles and museums. We stayed in a nice apartment instead of a hotel, and my parents cooked dinner every evening. I loved trying some fantastic local cakes when we went to a market. Before leaving, I got a beautiful postcard because I wanted to surprise my best friend.

Tom, 13

During the summer break, my family flew to a beautiful island for our holiday. Our hotel was right next to the beach, so I spent hours swimming in the sea with my little brother. The weather was really hot and sunny all week, which was perfect. We didn't cook at all because we ate a lot of wonderful fresh fish at the local restaurants. I also bought a really cool blue T-shirt to remember the fantastic trip.

Sofia, 15

For our winter holiday, we drove to the mountains in my dad's car because we had a lot of luggage. It was very cold, and there was a lot of snow, which was exactly what we needed for skiing! We rented a small wooden house and made a fire every night. The only bad thing was the busy café near us, where the meals they served were really horrible. I didn't buy any presents because everything was too expensive.

My New Hobby

Chloe, 14

When my family moved from a busy city to a quiet town, I felt very unhappy. In the city, I spent every weekend going to the cinema or shopping with my friends. In my new town, there wasn't a large shopping centre, and our new house didn't have a good internet connection for online games. I was extremely bored.

Everything changed when I found an old, broken bicycle in my uncle's garage. I wanted to ride it to the park, but the wheels wouldn't move. I decided to repair it myself. I went to the local library to use their computers and watched lots of videos about fixing bikes.

After two weeks, the bike looked new again. I enjoyed the work so much that I started fixing bikes for my new school friends. I didn't ask them to pay me. Instead, they bought me some tools or gave me old bike parts that they didn't need.

Last month, the owner of a bike shop in town saw me repairing a wheel. He was surprised because I was so good at it. He offered to teach me how to fix different kinds of modern bikes. It's much better than trying to understand everything from internet videos!

Now, I have lots of friends and I am never bored. What about my future? I don't think I want to work in an office. I love working with my hands. I think it would be amazing to have my own bike repair shop one day!

Learning to do high jumps on a skateboard can be very difficult. Before 1978, skaters had to hold the board with their hands to jump. Then, a clever teenager named Alan Gelfand 19.1inventeddesigneddiscovered an exciting new way to fly into the air. He pushed down hard on the back of the skateboard with his foot. The board jumped up with him without using his hands!

People called this move the "Ollie", and it became the most popular jump in the sport. If a beginner wants to 19.2becomegrowturn a great skater, they must learn this jump first. Without the Ollie, it is impossible to 19.3checktesttry other difficult moves. Young people often spend a lot of 19.4spaceroomtime in skateparks practising this every afternoon. Although jumping high is hard, these skaters almost never 19.5giveputkeep up. Alan’s special invention really 19.6passedmovedchanged the sport of skateboarding.