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IESOL C1

Part 1 READING Total: 5 marks

Read the following text, then read the five statements. Some of these statements are true according to the
text, some of them are false. Write T for True or F for False in the box next to each statement.

In the simple example of a college graduation ceremony, the liminal
phase can actually be extended to include the period of time between
when the last assignment was finished (and graduation was assured)

all the way through reception of the diploma. That no man's land rep-
resents the limbo associated with liminality. The stress of accomplishing
tasks for college has been lifted. Yet, the individual has not transitioned
to a new stage in life (psychologically or physically). The result is a unique
perspective on what has come before, and what may come next.

When Western cultures use mistletoe, the plant is placed in a threshold (the "limen"), at the time

of the winter solstice. The act that occurs under the mistletoe (the kiss) breaks the boundaries
between two people. Because what happens under the mistletoe is occurring in ritual time/space,
the people kissing are not breaking taboos imposed under normal circumstances by their marriages
to (or relationships with) other people. When a marriage proposal is initiated, there is a liminal
stage between the question and the answer during which the social arrangements of both parties
involved are subject to transformation and inversion; a sort of "life stage limbo" so to speak, in that
the affirmation or denial can result in multiple and diverse outcomes.

Twilight serves as a liminal time, between day and night. The name of the television fiction series

The Twilight Zone makes reference to this, describing it as "the middle ground between light and
shadow, between science and superstition" in one variant of the original series' opening. The name
is from an actual zone observable from space in the place where daylight or shadow advances or
retreats about the Earth. Noon and, more often, midnight can be considered liminal, the first tran-
sitioning between morning and afternoon, the latter between days.

1. Liminality is a word used to describe certain stages in life. T

2. Liminality is a transitional period. T

3. People kissing is representative of liminality. T

4. Rejection of a marriage proposal can lead to depression. F

5. The television show The Twilight Zone coined the term "liminality". F

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