FCE Practice tests for the EFL Exams

Read this text and the paragraphs opposite. Decide where the paragraphs go in the text, and put the correct number next to each. e.g. (X) . You do not need two of the paragraphs opposite.

Alexandria

(A) Alexandria is a seaport in northern Egypt, where the delta of the river Nile meets the Mediterranean. The modern city is mainly on a peninsula and includes Pharos, where the famous lighthouse stood in ancient times. The part of the city on the peninsula today is a characteristically Egyptian town.

(B) The city was founded in 332 BC by Alexander the Great, who planned it as one of the finest ports of the ancient world. His city was large and magnificent. In Alexandria the different peoples of the ancient Mediterranean lived together.

(C) After the defeat of Cleopatra, queen of Egypt, the city came under the rule of Rome. Its position made it the centre of commerce between East and West, and fleets of grain ships sailed from Alexandria to Italy year after year.

(D) Later the decline of the city almost became ruin, when the Muslims captured it twice in a hundred years. The city deteriorated further after the opening of the sea route around the Cape of Africa to India.

(E) At the end of the eighteenth century, Alexandria was captured and held by Napoleon. The French occupation lasted from 1798 to 1801, when the British destroyed the French fleet in the battle of the Nile.

(F) In the last hundred years, Alexandria has been Egypt's gateway to the outside world. The strong European feel of much of the city has combined with the native Egyptian culture to produce a unique atmosphere, wonderfully captured by the writer Lawrence Durrell in his Alexandrian Quintet.

1. Gradually, however, the city lost its prosperity. A Jewish revolt let to the removal of the Jewish population and the destruction of a large portion of the city. The Roman emperor Caracalla ordered a massacre of the male inhabitants of the entire city for plotting rebellion.

2. In fact, the city has long had an association with books, and the famous lost library of Alexandria was one of the great monuments of the ancient world. Today the city is working to build another library, which they hope will be as great.

3. The burning of the Great Library of Alexandria, with its priceless manuscripts, is regarded as one of the great acts of vandalism in history.

4. Until this time, the businessman of the city had made much of their money be arranging for goods to be brought across the Sinai peninsula and then shipped on to Europe from Alexandria.

5. The more European area is on the mainland. Alexandria is a commercial centre and there are many warehouses for cotton, grain, sugar, and wool. The population is between three and four million

6. Here, the Jews came into contact with Greek learning, which profoundly influenced the later religious thought of the world. Under the Ptolemies, the rulers of Egypt after Alexander, the city became the scientific centre of the ancient world.

7. The city of Cairo was smaller than Alexandria for most of its existence, but it was chosen as capital partly because of its more central location.

8. But for a few years teams of scientists and engineers came to examine the pyramids and other ancient works. Many Egyptian antiquities came through Alexandria to Europe, where that continent acquired a fascination with Egyptology which has continued ever since.