B1 Preliminary (PET) Practice Paper 40

alice: I'm thinking of organising a clothing swap with friends. Have you been to one before? george: Yes, I went to one last year, and it was a lot of fun. How does yours need to work? alice: I'd like everyone to bring items they no longer wear, in good condition, and swap them for free. george: That sounds simple enough. Where are you planning to hold it? alice: I was thinking of using the community hall, since it has enough space to lay everything out. george: Good idea. Will you organise the clothes by size or by type, like shirts and trousers? alice: I think by type would be easier for people to look through quickly. george: That makes sense. Should people bring a specific number of items, or is there no limit? alice: I'll probably suggest bringing around five to ten items, just so the event stays balanced.

Concerned about the environmental impact of fast fashion, Beatriz decided to challenge herself to buy no new clothing for an entire year, relying instead exclusively on secondhand shops, clothing swaps with friends, and mending items she already owned. She admits the first few months proved considerably more difficult than she initially anticipated, particularly finding secondhand items that fitted properly or matched her personal style preferences. Rather than abandoning the challenge during these frustrating early months, Beatriz gradually developed practical strategies, including learning basic sewing skills to alter secondhand finds herself and organising a regular clothing swap event with friends and colleagues, which expanded her available options considerably beyond what she could find alone in secondhand shops. Unexpectedly, Beatriz found that the constraints of her challenge actually improved her overall sense of personal style, since she was forced to think more creatively about combining and adapting existing items rather than simply purchasing something new whenever she wanted a different look. She also calculated that she saved a substantial amount of money over the year, despite occasionally spending more time searching for secondhand items than she would have spent shopping conventionally. Having successfully completed her year-long challenge, Beatriz has decided to continue buying secondhand clothing indefinitely, though she has relaxed her rule slightly to allow occasional new purchases of specific items, such as underwear, that she considers impractical to buy secondhand. She now regularly encourages friends considering similar challenges to start gradually rather than attempting a complete change immediately, since her own early struggles nearly caused her to abandon the challenge entirely within the first month.

Sustainable fashion choices ___1___ growing attention as consumers become more aware of the environmental costs of constantly buying new clothing. When my sister ___2___ to stop buying new clothes for six months, she expected the challenge to be relatively straightforward. Instead, she ___3___ that finding secondhand items in her size took considerably more time and patience than she had anticipated. A friend eventually ___4___ her to a clothing swap event, where people exchange items they no longer want. My sister ___5___ several items she genuinely loved at that first swap, which encouraged her to continue the challenge. She also ___6___ some basic mending skills from an online video, allowing her to repair damaged clothes herself. By the end of six months, my sister ___7___ that she had saved a significant amount of money compared to her usual spending. She now ___8___ that everyone should try reducing new clothing purchases, even if only for a short trial period at first.