CELPIP Reading Practice Test 53

Dear Tom,

I have a few questions about my trip, and I'm hoping you can help. My cousin Nadine is getting married in Montreal on October 11, and my manager has approved 2 weeks of unpaid leave for me! That is more time off than I have had in years. My aunt has offered me her spare room for the days around the wedding, so that part is sorted. Once the leave was approved, I moved my return flight to the end of the following week, which leaves me 5 free days in between. I'd like to visit Quebec City and some of the pretty river towns before coming back to Montreal for my flight home, and since I was only ten the last time I was in Quebec, I'm really excited.

You did your master's in Quebec City, and you visit your sister Claire in Montreal every holiday, so you know both ends of this trip far better than I do. Could you suggest a place to stay in Quebec City for a night that's comfortable and not too expensive? I'd also like to know whether I should buy the train tickets now or wait until I get there. When I checked the website on Sunday, there were only a few discounted seats left on that line for the week I want, although I have no idea whether that is normal for October.

Then there's the rental car. Some of the villages I want to see get only one bus a day, and a car would get me there whenever I liked. Still, renting with insurance costs a lot, and Northway Rentals charges $150 extra if I leave the car in a different city. Parking inside the old walls sounds like a headache too, so I'm leaning towards the train. If the 5 days become 4, though, I don't know which part to give up: Quebec City, the river towns, or extra time in Montreal.

Let me know what you think whenever you get a chance. I finally painted the kitchen last weekend and the smell still hasn't gone away, so I'll be glad to get out of here for a while! Say hi to Claire for me.

Ruth

Dear Ruth,

Two weeks off is fantastic, though I'm 7. Choose…delighted to hearsorry to hearrelievedproud that it's unpaid. For your night in Quebec City, try Maison Laurier, a small guesthouse just outside the old walls. It's 8. Choose…cheap but comfortablethe priciest place in townfar from comfortableclosed in October, and the owner makes a great breakfast. You were 9. Choose…worrying for nothingright to be concernedgiven the wrong informationa little too relaxed about the train seats, since the cheap ones always sell out in the fall, so buy your tickets now. I think you're 10. Choose…quite rightmaking a mistakea little too carefulbrave to take the train, as the drop-off fee alone would cost more than your ticket and parking in the old town is a nightmare. If the trip does get cut to four days, I would give up 11. Choose…a day of the weddingthe river townsthe extra time in Montrealyour night in Quebec City, because you'll already have a few days at your aunt's. I've just started a new job at the college, so things are busy here, but I'll be at Claire's that week. Let's have dinner!

All the best,

Tom

Hi Maya!

You were right that the tea place is worth the detour, but their menu is a proper maze. We're all skint until Friday, and the cheapest thing on there, 12. Choose…Berry Hibiscus CoolerGolden Turmeric LattePeach Oolong BlissSpiced Chai Supreme, can sit in the middle of the table. I'd rather not order something nobody touches.

Only one calls itself an everyday favourite, so 13. Choose…Spiced Chai SupremePeach Oolong BlissJasmine Pearl GreenBerry Hibiscus Cooler is the easy call, and the turmeric one would have worked if the three milks printed under it included 14. Choose…whole milksoy milkoat milkalmond milk. That's two down and too many to go.

I'd have gone for the chai, but there's 15. Choose…cinnamongingercardamomturmeric, right before the clove I skip. Whatever's left goes on 16. Choose…Peach Oolong BlissJasmine Pearl GreenGolden Turmeric LatteSpiced Chai Supreme, the other one at the top of their price range. Also, the parking meter outside eats coins and gives absolutely nothing back. You should just bring a card!

Cheers,

Olivia

Paragraph A

Honey begins as nectar, a dilute sugar solution produced by flowers; a foraging worker draws it into a honey stomach separate from the digestive stomach used for the bee's own nourishment. Enzymes begin changing complex sugars while the forager returns to the colony. The bee transfers the liquid to house bees, which may pass it among themselves and expose it repeatedly to air. Flower species influence the nectar's sugar balance and aromatic compounds, so colonies using identical equipment can produce honey with different colour and flavour. Weather also affects which plants secrete nectar and whether bees can fly, making harvest volume and character partly agricultural rather than solely a result of hive management. That boundary is important to the larger account.

Paragraph B

Fresh nectar contains too much water for long storage. House bees spread small quantities across the walls of wax cells, increasing surface area, and fan their wings to move humid air out of the hive. As evaporation proceeds, the liquid thickens and becomes less hospitable to yeasts and other microorganisms. Bees usually seal a sufficiently concentrated cell with wax, but a cap is a colony response rather than a laboratory measurement of every cell's moisture. If beekeepers remove frames too early, the extracted honey may ferment after packaging. A sweet taste or normal colour cannot reveal the excess water, so producers often confirm moisture with a refractometer. This framing connects the immediate facts without erasing the distinctions among them.

Paragraph C

Beekeepers remove mature frames and uncap the wax seals before placing combs in a centrifugal extractor. Rotation throws honey from the cells while leaving much of the comb intact. Returned comb saves the colony from rebuilding all of the wax, a task that would consume time and food energy. Extracted honey is strained to remove wax fragments and may be allowed to settle so air bubbles rise. Gentle warming can make dense honey easier to filter and bottle, but excessive heat may drive off volatile aromas or speed chemical changes. Extraction therefore separates honey from reusable structure; it does not determine which flowers supplied the nectar. Viewed together, the evidence connects immediate observations with the broader pattern they collectively produce.

Paragraph D

Honey naturally forms crystals when glucose molecules organize around small particles. The rate depends on sugar composition, temperature, and seed crystals, so crystallization is not evidence that honey is spoiled or artificial. Creamed honey is produced by controlling this process to create many fine crystals and a smooth texture. Honey can absorb moisture from humid air after extraction, which may raise fermentation risk if containers are poorly sealed. Heating can dissolve crystals temporarily, but the underlying sugar balance remains and crystals may return. Proper packaging protects the moisture level achieved by the bees and preserves flavour; it cannot make all floral varieties behave identically in storage. This synthesis links the separate points while preserving the conditions that qualify each one.

Paragraph E

Not given in any of the above paragraphs.

A provincial growth assessment published in June concluded that Kingston must accommodate thousands more dwellings within the decade. Councillors will vote in November on an amendment to the zoning bylaw permitting buildings of 6 to 12 storeys along transit corridors now restricted to detached houses. The corridors carry the city's most frequent bus routes, and the amendment would apply to properties within 200 metres of a stop. Public submissions closed in September, and the planning department has recommended approval in a report running to several dozen pages.

Erin Delaney, the planner who drafted the amendment, has managed the city's residential intensification file for several years and is direct about the alternatives. "We can build upward along the bus routes, or we can pave the farmland past Westbrook," Delaney said. "There isn't a third option in this file." She points to a comparable rezoning in Guelph that produced thousands of apartments without a corresponding deterioration in traffic.

Gordon Pike, a retired municipal engineer, has lived in Kingscourt for decades and chairs a neighbourhood association that meets monthly at the community centre. "Nobody here disputes that Kingston needs housing. I've said so at three meetings," Pike said. "What I dispute is the scale." The sewer mains beneath his street have not been enlarged in decades, and much of the neighbourhood has signed a petition requesting a capacity study before any approval.

Rachel Boudreau, of the Kingston Housing Affordability Coalition, which assists tenants with applications for rent supplements, wants the additional storeys and a condition attached to them. She is asking councillors to require that 15% of apartments in any new mid-rise be offered below market, an arrangement that operates in several Ontario municipalities. "A tower of luxury rentals is still a tower the people I represent can't afford," Boudreau said. The coalition's written submission was filed in August, and Boudreau addressed the committee in person. The planning department has commissioned the capacity study and referred the affordability condition to a separate review. That review reports in the new year, and the vote on permitted heights proceeds in November.

I rent on one of those corridors and I would be glad of a building I could actually get into. The part of Ms. Boudreau's case that persuaded me is that a tower on its own is 34. Choose…useless to tenantscheaper than a houseagainst policymuch too tall. Mr. Pike is not the obstacle he is made out to be either, since what he has actually asked for is. Mr. Pike is not the obstacle he is made out to be either, since what he has actually asked for is 35. Choose…a lower building heighta study before approvalbylaw rejectionplanner meeting. The department gave him that, which I did not expect. What worries me is the timing, because his study and her condition both land. The department gave him that, which I did not expect. What worries me is the timing, because his study and her condition both land 36. Choose…before the November voteafter the votebefore the same committeewith the assessment. Ms. Delaney is probably right that the alternative is. Ms. Delaney is probably right that the alternative is 37. Choose…more towersfewer homespavementresubmission, and on balance I would rather have the buildings. I would just rather have them, and on balance I would rather have the buildings. I would just rather have them 38. Choose…much closermuch soonerbrick-builtaffordable as well.