Passage Dictation

Passage 1

Sometimes / it is better not to know / the language of a country / that you are visiting /

than it is to know just a little of it. / The reason is this: / the natives of your host

country / will often rush to help you / if you seem / completely lost and helpless. / But

they will usually misunderstand / your small attempts to speak their language. / They will

think / you know a lot more than you do. / For example, / I once asked three people / in

careful memorized phrasebook Spanish / how to get to the bus station in Mexico City. / In

reply, each of them / pours out a flood of complicated Spanish. / The result was / that I

didn't understand a word / and wandered round for an hour / before I found the station. /

By then / I had missed the bus.

(133 words)

Passage 2

Not everyone in the world / requires the same amount of living space. / The amount of

space / a person needs around him / is a cultural difference, / not an economic one. /

Knowing your own psychological space needs / is important / because they strongly affect

your choices, / including, / for example, the number of bedrooms in the home.

The space in the home / also shows a lot / about psychological space needs. / Some

families gather closer to each other / and the size of their house / has nothing to do with

it. / Others have separate little corners / where family members go to be alone.

Although it is true / that psychological space needs / are not decided by economic

reasons, / they sometimes have to be changed a little / because of economic pressures. / It

is almost impossible, / however, / to completely change / your psychological space needs.

(135 words)

Passage 3

Planning is a very important activity in our lives. / It can give pleasure and even

excitement, / but cause quite severe headaches. / The more significant / the task ahead, /

the more careful / the planning required. / Getting to school or to work on time / is a

task / requiring little or no planning. / It is almost a routine. / A month's touring holiday

abroad, / or better still, getting married, / is a different matter altogether. / If the

holiday involves / a church wedding, with 50 guests, / a reception, / a honeymoon in

Italy, / and returning to a new home, / this requires even more planning to make sure /

that is successful. / Planning is our way / of trying to ensure success / and of avoiding

costly failures / we cannot afford. / It is equally essential to mankind as a whole, / to

nations, / to families / and to each individual; / the scale may vary, / but the degree of

importance

does

not.

(146

words)

Passage 4

A curious thing happened to Williams / during the snow and ice of last winter. / One

evening he slipped / and fell on the icy pavement / somewhere between the village and his

home. / He was so badly shaken / that he stayed in bed for three days; / and not until he

got up and dressed again / did he discover / that he had lost his wallet / containing over

fifty pounds. / The house was turned upside down in the search, / but the wallet was not

found. / However, two days later -- / that was five days after the fall -- / the dog

dropped the wallet into William's hand. / Very muddy, stained and wet through, / the