CELPIP Reading Part 1 Practice Test: Berry Picking Job

Dear Angela,

Your letter caught up with me on Friday, three days late and slightly rained on, which is the postal service out here in one image. Yes, come, and come faster than you usually decide anything. Reine can still take one more picker for the last stretch, but she needs a name by Monday the fifteenth. Your bunk would be the one beside mine, and I would like to keep it empty until Reine hears from you.

I found this job on a card pinned to the wall of a bus-station cafe, and the interview was two questions long: when could I start, and could I lift a full bag. Nobody asked for a resume then and nobody has asked since. The pay is $17.20 an hour, which sounds thin until you notice that the bunk, the propane and three meals a day cost me nothing, so almost the whole cheque survives the week.

Picking is finer work than I expected: you cup each pear and lift until the stem parts on its own, then set it in a padded bag instead of dropping it. Speed only arrives once the movement has gone gentle, which took me longer to learn than it will take you. My shoulders took nine days to stop complaining, so bring the ibuprofen and the good gloves rather than the pretty ones.

You should know what you are giving up before you say anything to Reine. There is no signal in the valley, one office computer kept for emergencies, and mail that reaches us on Tuesdays and Fridays only. I left my laptop at Priya's in Vancouver and have not missed it once, but you have that design client, so think honestly about whether three weeks of silence would cost you work.

The evenings are the part I cannot really sell you on paper: two welders, a couple of students and a retired pharmacist cooking together and arguing about everything except fruit. Do not put your answer in the post. A letter from you would land here the day after Reine has given the bunk to somebody else. Telephone the farm office between six and seven, when Reine is at her desk and will not mind being interrupted.

Warmly,

Janine

Dear Janine,

I telephoned at ten past six; Reine has my name, so the bunk is spoken for. My last letter turned up 7. Choose…torn at the cornerunopenedlate and rained ona week early, which I will take up with the man. I have spent the week practising with a sack of potatoes, so I can 8. Choose…lift a full bagstart on Mondayname three pear varietiescarry the ladder without any of the noises you make. Your evening crowd sounds like the best of it: two welders, some students and 9. Choose…a bus drivertwo more weldersReine herselfa retired pharmacist make a jury I would enjoy. About the post: by your own reckoning a letter from me would land 10. Choose…the same afternoona day too latewell before Reine decidestwice in one week. There is a catch: the design client has the last week of the month, so I leave three days early. One thing I will not be packing is 11. Choose…my good bootsmy complaintsa resumeyour laptop. See you before the fruit does.

Warmly,

Angela