Training Courses for National Team 2021-2022, Tran Van Trung, MA – Ha Tinh High School for Gifted Students
ASSORTED PRACTICE TEST NO 5 (Time: 120 minutes) NAME:
………………………………………. SCORE: ………. /100 I. LISTENING (50 points)
Part 1. For questions 1-5, listen to a talk about ethical concerns with artificial intelligence and decide whether
these statements are True (T), False (F) or Not Given (NG). Write your answers in the corresponding
numbered gaps provided.
1. People tend to be oblivious to the moral issues associated with artificial intelligence in the research stage. ________
2. Video tracking can be deployed to speed up recovery from injuries. ________
3. A handful of giants have become the dominant overlords in the realm of artificial intelligence. ________
4. Artificial intelligence is intended to harm human society as it does not share human values. ________
5. Machines are vulnerable to biases from the data introduced by their human makers. ________
Part 2. For questions 6-10, listen to a report on possible signs of life discovered on Venus and answer the
questions. Write NO MORE THAN FOUR WORDS taken from the recording for each answer in the
corresponding numbered gaps provided.
6. Where were the radio telescopes located?
____________________________________________________
7. How was the reaction of the first woman towards the discovery?
____________________________________________________
8. What have been launched to Venus several times?
____________________________________________________
9. How are the climatic conditions in the area between 50 and 60 km above the Venus’s surface described?
____________________________________________________
10. What is exemplified as a physical characteristic that helps microbes adapt to rigorous conditions?
____________________________________________________
Part 3. For questions 11-15, listen to an interview with someone who consulted a 'life coach' to improve her life
and choose the answer (A, B, C or D) which fits best according to what you hear. Write your answers in the
corresponding numbered gaps provided.
11. Brigid says that she consulted a life coach because ________.
A she had read a great deal about them.
B both her work and home life were getting worse.
C other efforts to improve her life had failed.
D the changes she wanted to make were only small ones.
12. What did Brigid's coach tell her about money?
A It would be very easy for Brigid to get a lot of it.
B Brigid's attitude towards it was uncharacteristic of her.
C Brigid placed too much emphasis on it in her life.
D Few people have the right attitude towards it.
13. What does Brigid say about her reaction to her coach's advice on money?
A She felt silly repeating the words her coach gave her.
B She tried to hide the fact that she found it ridiculous.
C She felt a lot better as a result of following it.
D She found it difficult to understand at first.
14. What does Brigid say happened during the other sessions?
A She was told that most people's problems had the same cause.
B Her powers of concentration improved.
C Some things she was told to do proved harder than others.
D She began to wonder why her problems had arisen in the first place.
15. What has Brigid concluded?
A The benefits of coaching do not compensate for the effort required.
B She was too unselfish before she had coaching.
C She came to expect too much of her coach.
D It is best to limit the number of coaching sessions you have.
Part 4. For questions 16-25, listen to a talk about pandemic diseases and supply the blanks with the missing
information. Write NO MORE THAN FOUR WORDS taken from the recording for each answer in the space provided.
TOP 5 DEADLIEST PANDEMIC DISEASES 1. Smallpox
• first emerged around 400BC
• caused 16.______________________ all over the body
• the only disease declared to be 17.______________________ 2. Bubonic Plague
• also known as the 18.______________________
• caused by a bacterium spread by 19.______________________
• 20.______________________, called buboes, occurred in the body 3. The Spanish Flu
• began and ended in a 21.______________________
• filled the lungs of patients with 22.______________________ 4. Malaria
• categorized as a blood disease
• caused by 23.______________________
• Anopheles mosquitoes would 24.______________________ infected blood and pass it on to the next person they bite 5. HIV/AIDS
• often sexually transmitted
• HIV 25.______________________ the immune system
II. LEXICO-GRAMMAR (20 points)
Part 1. For questions 26-41, choose the correct answer A, B, C or D to each of the following questions and
write your answers in the corresponding numbered gaps provided.
26. Do not mention work to Ray, as it is a sore ____________ with him at the moment. A. finger B. point C. place D. thumb
27. Distress calls were pouring in, thick and ____________, from all over the area A. thin B. quick C. fast D. skin
28. She wouldn’t have heard anything. She is ____________. A. stone-deaf B. rock-deaf C. post-deaf D. bat-deaf
29. During winter the shelters are full of people of no fixed ____________. A. residence B. abode C. home D. domicile
30. Harry was offered a scholarship to study in Japan and he ____________ the opportunity with both hands. A. grasped B. grabbed C. held D. passed
31. I thought I had made it ____________ that I didn’t wish to discuss this matter. A. distinct B. plain C. frank D. straight
32. The kids are ____________ in the steam-filled room, and the girl seems grateful for adult conversation. A. impinging on B. larking about C. ploughing ahead D. floating out
33. I slept badly last night and am feeling particularly ____________ this morning. A. slow-witted B. far-reaching C. off-hand D. top-heavy
34. My first meal was days later because, as ever, the migraine ____________ after the anaesthetic. A. caved in B. chipped in C. gave in D. kicked in
35. Some people can just ____________ a cold, but my colds seem to linger for weeks A. shrug off B. cough up C. pull through D. stamp out
36. It’s a good idea to ____________ people before taking them into your confidence A. tumble to B. root out C. bank on D. size up
37. Nick's mom has turned her home into a halfway house for ____________ relatives and stray dogs. A. tumble-down B. downcast C. run-down D. down-and-out
38. Here I sit ____________ - no food, no money, no anything A. high and dry B. thick and thin C. huff and puff D. wear and tear
39. The money was taken out of the bank in small amounts so as not to ____________ suspicion. A. awake B. arouse C. instigate D. incite
40. Because he was an ____________ criminal, he was sentenced to life imprisonment. A. illegible B. impenetrable C. impermeable D. incorrigible
41. She was a ____________Catholic and, so far as I am aware, morally unassailable. A. firm B. devout C. staunch D. strict
Part 2. For questions 42-46, write the correct form of each bracketed word in the numbered space provided.
42. The New Year 2020’s ___________
star-studded ___ show involves almost every famous face of the country. (star)
43. Companies can be punished for making ______________ unsubstantiated
claims about their products. (substance) 44. We can _____________ corroborate
__ our timescale of the circulation by looking at the changes in density surface of the
salinity minimum. (robust) 45. It was a misery __________ memoir
_____ of a woman escaped from North Korea to which everyone expressed their
sorrow and sympathy. (memory) 46. They were ____________
acculturated __ in the tradition of 'public service' from their contact with older regimes. (culture) III. READING (50 points)
Part 1. For questions 47-56, fill each of the following numbered blanks with ONE suitable word and write your
answers in the corresponding numbered gaps provided.
Recent studies point out that more students are cheating - and that many are cheating not just to survive,
but to thrive. What have you observed about cheating at your school? If there seems to be (47) _________ evidence ____ of it, why do you think that is?
Large-scale cheating has been uncovered over the last year at some of the nation’s most competitive schools, (48) _______ like
______ Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan, the Air Force Academy and, most recently, Harvard. (49) ___________ Studies
__ of student behavior and attitudes show that a majority of students violate standards
of academic integrity (50) _____ to
________ some degree, and that high achievers are just as likely to do it as (51) _________ others
____. Moreover, there is evidence that the (52) _____________ problem
has worsened over the last few decades. Experts say the (53) _________ reasons
____ are relatively simple: Cheating has become easier and more widely
tolerated, and both schools and parents have (54) ______
failed_______ to give students strong, repetitive messages about what is (55) ________ allowed _____ and what is prohibited.
“There have always been struggling students who cheat to survive,” said Donald L. McCabe, a professor
at the Rutgers University Business School, and a leading researcher (56) _______ on ______ cheating, but more and
more, there are students at the top who cheat to thrive.”
Part 2. For questions 57-69, read the following passage and do the tasks that follow. HOW CONSUMERS DECIDE ơ
Professor John Maule from the University of Leeds describes new research into the way that consumers choose a product.
“Understanding Consumers”
Consumers are creatures of habit: they buy the same products time and time again, and such is their familiarity
with big brands, and the colors and logos that represent them, that they can register a brand they like with barely
any conscious thought process. The packaging of consumer products is therefore a crucial vehicle for delivering
the brand and the product into our shopping baskets.
Having said this, understanding how consumers make decisions, and the crucial role of packaging in this (57)
process, has been a neglected area of research so far. This is surprising given that organizations invest huge
amounts of money in developing packaging that they believe is effective - especially at the retail level. Our Centre
for Decision Research at Leeds University's Business School, in collaboration with Faraday Packaging, is now
undertaking work in this area. It has already led to some important findings that challenge the ways in which
organizations think about consumer choice.
The research has focused on two fundamental types of thinking. On the one hand, there's 'heuristic processing',
which involves very shallow thought and is based on very simple rules: 1) buy what you recognize, 2) choose
what you did last time, or 3) choose what a trusted source suggests. This requires comparatively little effort, and (58)
involves looking at - and thinking about - only a small amount of the product information and packaging. One can
do this with little or no conscious thought.
On the other hand, 'systematic processing' involves much deeper levels of thought. When people choose goods
in this way, they engage in quite detailed analytical thinking - taking account of the product information, including (61)
its price, its perceived quality and so on. This form of thinking, which is both analytical and conscious, involves
much more mental effort. (59)
The role of packaging is likely to be very different for each of these types of decision making. Under heuristic
processing, for example, consumers may simply need to be able to distinguish the pack from those of competitors
since they are choosing on the basis of what they usually do. Under these circumstances, the simple perceptual
features of the pack may be critical - so that we can quickly discriminate what we choose from the other products (62)
on offer. Under systematic processing, however, product-related information may be more important, so the pack
has to provide this in an easily identifiable form.
“Comparing Competition”
Consumers will want to be able to compare the product with its competitors, so that they can determine which
option is better for them. A crucial role of packaging in this situation is to communicate the characteristics of the
product, highlighting its advantages over possible competitors. (67)
So, when are people likely to use a particular type of thinking? First, we know that people are cognitive misers;
in other words they are economical with their thinking because it requires some effort from them. Essentially,
people only engage in effort-demanding systematic processing when the situation justifies it, for example when
they are not tired or distracted and when the purchase is important to them. (68)
Second, people have an upper limit to the amount of information they can absorb. If we present too much,
therefore, they will become confused. This, in turn, is likely to lead them to disentangle and choose something else.
Third, people often lack the knowledge or experience needed, so will not be able to deal with things they do not
already understand, such as the ingredients of food products, for example. (69)
And fourth, people vary in the extent to which they enjoy thinking. Our research has differentiated between
people with a high need for thinking - who routinely engage in analytical thinking - and those low in the need for
cognition, who prefer to use very simple forms of thinking.
“Effectiveness Varies”
This work has an important impact on packaging in that what makes packaging effective is likely to vary
according to the type of processing strategy that consumers use when choosing between products. You need to
understand how consumers are selecting your products if you are to develop packaging that is relevant.
Furthermore, testing the effectiveness of your packaging can be ineffective if the methods you are employing (63)
concern one form of thinking (e.g. a focus group involving analytical thinking) but your consumers are purchasing
in the other mode (i.e. the heuristic, shallow form of thinking).
For the packaging industry, it is important that retailers identify their key goals. Sustaining a consumer's
commitment to a product may involve packaging that is distinctive at the heuristic level (if the consumers can
recognize the product they will buy it) but without encouraging consumers to engage in systematic processing
(prompting deeper level thinking that would include making comparisons with other products).
Conversely, getting consumers to change brands may involve developing packaging that includes information (64)
that does stimulate systematic processing and thus encourages consumers to challenge their usual choice of
product. Our work is investigating these issues, and the implications they have for developing effective packaging.
Questions 57-62: Do the following statements agree with the information given in the Reading Passage
“Understanding Consumers”? Write TRUE, FALSE or NOT GIVEN in the numbered gaps.
TRUE if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this
57. Little research has been done on the link between packaging and consumers choosing a product. ______ T __
58. A person who buys what another person recommends is using heuristic thinking. ______ T __
59. Heuristic processing requires more energy than systematic processing. ______ F __
60. The concept of heuristic processing was thought up by Dr Maule's team. ______ NG __
61. A consumer who considers how much a product costs is using systematic processing. ______ T __
62. For heuristic processing, packaging must be similar to other products. ______ F __
Questions 63-77: Choose the correct answer A, B, C or D for the two questions related to the Reading Passage
“Effectiveness Varies”. Write your answers in the numbered gaps.
63. When trying to determine how effective packaging is, testing can be made 'ineffective' if ______
A. you rely upon a very narrow focus group.
B. your consumers use only heuristic thinking.
C. the chosen consumers use only shallow thinking.
D. your tests do not match the consumers' thinking type.
64. If a retailer wants consumers to change brands their packaging needs to be ______ A. informative. B. distinctive. C. familiar. D. colorful.
65. The word “heuristic” in the passage is closest in meaning to _______.
A. learning to discover things by oneself
B. practicing to make products by oneself
C. getting to master theoretic matter by oneself
D. analyzing to make decisions by oneself
66. The word “disentangle” in the passage is closest in meaning to _______. A. ameliorate B. disengage C. disappoint D. disencumber
Questions 67-69: Complete the summary for the Reading Passage “Comparing Competition”. Write NO MORE
THAN TWO WORDS for each gap. Write your answers in the numbered gaps.
“Comparing competition”
For consumers who want to compare products it is important that your packaging stresses the (67) ____________
advantages _____ of your product. We know that people only use systematic processing if the (68) _________________ situation
makes it necessary or desirable. We also know that too much information could make
consumers choose another product. Furthermore, consumers may not fully understand details such as the (69) _________________ ingredients
of a product. While some people like using systematic processing, others like to think in a simple way.
Part 3: You are going to read an extract from a novel. Seven paragraphs have been removed from the extract.
Choose from the paragraphs A-H the one which fits each gap (70-76). There is one extra paragraph which you
do not need to use. Write your answer in the numbered box. AGAINST THE GRAIN
The fate of the rainforests is in our hands. Experts in tropical timber have concluded that developing countries lack
either the will or the wherewithal to stop the onslaught which sees an area of rainforest the size of England destroyed each year. 70.
But as I discovered in a building project at my own home, putting conservation principles into practice is far from
easy. For the past five months, my family has been enduring the misery that comes with the construction of a
kitchen extension. When all the work is finished we will have a stylish modern space built with minimal
environmental impact. The lightweight construction has highly-insulated walls and glazing which passes the eco-
test; but it fails with the timber. 71.
The top timber certificate comes from the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), which claims to ensure that the
timber has been cut in a way that protects the environment and safeguards the conditions of workers. I clicked on
their website and searched for patio doors. No mention of them. I phoned the main office and was referred back to
the website. I phoned listed FSC timber merchants at random. There are very few of them. One told me that he
could not inform me about FSC timber without knowing the joinery specification. The joiner said he could not
specify sizes without knowing the qualities of the timber. 72.
I made an instant decision to put my faith in another FSC merchant, who assured me that some nice South
American wood was being delivered that should fit the bill. But my brother warned that this particular timber was
so oily that any paint applied to it would simply peel off. 73.
I chose softwood doors which would, I assumed, be made from Scandinavian timber. A month later a set of
honey-colored doors arrived. They seemed very hard for a softwood. The technical chap from the supplier
explained that they used the term 'softwood' to mean wood that wasn't the red color people associated with hardwoods. 74.
As I sat in my new extension pondering my wasted effort, I stared at the walls and realized that I had ignored a far
greater problem - the ply panels which line the walls and ceiling are made from tropical hardwood. They are not
certified either and probably come from trees illegally cut. 75.
The department is trying to persuade a government body to take part in a pilot project with FSC timber, but it
cannot find a volunteer. Government green procurement guidelines are said by consultants to be lax and open to
abuse. Big refurbishments are under way at the Ministry of Defence, but these appear to have specified European
wood - a policy which avoids controversy but does nothing for the sort of sustainable tropical forestry that the
development department has been anxious to promote. 76.
Environmentalists say that councils will have to move more quickly on the issue if they are to reflect the concerns
of their voters that action should be taken to preserve the rainforests - before it is too late.
The winter chill was setting in and our sneezing three-year-old had begun to ask about the sheet of plastic
hanging where the kitchen door should be. I abandoned the idea of certified hardwood and picked up a
A catalogue from a worldwide joinery supplier. The company's environmental statement promises that care is
taken of the environment wherever possible.
Time was ticking on the building schedule. Another timber merchant from the list told me he had stopped
B selling FSC timber because no one would buy it, even though he had priced it at the same level as regular
timber. Builders did not recognize the types of wood in the yard, and architects had not specified it.
The tiny impact on rainforests of my kitchen extension is being replicated millions of times over across the
developed world. The government says it is taking a lead in insisting that public buildings use wood from
C sustainable sources, but research by the environment department has failed to find any evidence that the policy is being carried out.
The living room had posed fewer problems when, four years ago, we decided to redecorate it and replace the
D door that leads out into the side garden. It was easy to find wood in a shade which was in keeping with the rest
of the house and the color scheme we chose for the walls turned out to be a very wise choice.
In a significant step towards helping the department do this, the Royal Institute for British Architects has
committed itself to taking forest conservation seriously. But, even so, the hoardings that clad building sites are
E often ignored in the architects' and planners' specifications and come from unsustainable forests. Local
authorities are also major buyers of timber, but a survey last week showed that only 27% of councils have a policy on sustainable wood.
My attention was focused on finding a set of patio doors that did not involve any rainforest destruction. My
builder brother told me that, ideally, the doors should be made out of hardwood which would not twist or
F swell. Local oak is out of my price-range, so I resolved to buy doors made from wood certified as being from a sustainably-managed forest.
The doors transpire to be wawa, a hardwood from Ghana. They are not independently certified. A spokesman
G for the company said that although some of their products contain certified timber, supplies are too erratic to
commit their entire manufacturing process to certified wood.
The only hope, say conservationists, lies with the purchasing power of the rich countries in the north. If we
H insist on timber that is sustainably harvested it will put pressure on the loggers to ply their trade with greater
care. Western governments must act much more swiftly. So must local government and business
Part 4. For questions 77-86, read an extract from a journal and choose the answer A, B, C or D that fits best
according to the text. Write your answers in the corresponding numbered gaps provided.
Travel journalist Richard Madden reports on his first trip with a camera crew
It was books that first captured my imagination about faraway places. TV travelogues always seemed the
poor relation to the classic written accounts, although of course the pictures were rather better. And then there was
the issue of authenticity. All those pretentious theatrical types dying of thirst in the desert, as if we didn't realize
there was a camera crew on hand to cater for their every need. These days programme-makers know that the
audience is more sophisticated and the presence of the camera is acknowledged. But can a journey with filming
equipment ever be anything other than a cleverly constructed fiction? (77)
I recently got the chance to find out, when I was asked to present two one-hour programmes for an
adventure travel series. The project was the brainchild of the production company Trans-Atlantic Films, which
wanted the series presented by writers and adventurers, as well as TV professionals. My sole qualification was as a
journalist specializing in 'adventure' travel. However, I was thought to have 'on-screen' potential. (78)
The first programme was filmed in Costa Rica. Within 24 hours of my arrival, I realized that this was
going to be very different from my usual ‘one man and his laptop’ expeditions. For a start, there were five of us –
director, cameraman, sound recordist, producer and presenter. And then there was the small matter of £100,000
worth of equipment. I soon realized that the director, Peter Macpherson, was a vastly experienced adventure film-
maker. In his case, the term ‘adventure’ meant precisely that ‘Made a film with X,’ he would say (normally a
famous mountaineer or skier), before describing a death-defying sequence at the top of a glacier in Alaska or
hang-gliding off the Angel Falls in Venezuela. Invariably, these reminiscences would end with the words: ‘Had a
great deal of respect for X. Dead now, sadly...’
Part of the brief for the series was to put the presenter in unusual situations and see how he or she coped.
One such sequence was the night we spent in the rainforest canopy near the Rincón de la Vieja National Park in
Guanacaste province. I don’t have a head for heights and would make a poor rock-climber, so my distress is real
enough as the camera catches me dangling on a rope some 30 meters up, well short of the canopy platform.
Ironically, it was the presence of the camera, looking down on me from above, that gave me the impetus (82)
for the final push to the top. By this time, I’d learnt how ‘sequences’ were cut together and realized that one last
effort was required. I had to struggle to stay coherent while the camera swooped within a few millimeters of my
face for my reaction. In the end, it was a magical experience, heightened all the more by the sounds of the forest –
a family of howler monkeys in a nearby tree, amplified through the sound recordist’s headphones.
Learning how to establish a rapport with the camera is vital and it took me a while to think of it as a friend
rather than a judge and jury. The most intimidating moments were when Peter strolled up to me, saying that the
light would only be right for another 10 minutes, and that he needed a ‘link’ from one sequence to another. The
brief was simple. It needed to be 30 seconds long, sum up my feelings, be informative, well-structured and, most
important of all, riveting to watch. ‘Ready to go in about five minutes?’ he would say breezily.
I soon discovered that the effect of the camera on what was going on around us was far less intrusive than
I had imagined. After a first flurry of curiosity, people usually lost interest and let us get on with our job. We were (86)
also flexible enough to be spontaneous. Our trip coincided with an 80 per cent solar eclipse, a rare event anywhere
in the world. We were in a village called Santa Elena and captured the whole event on camera. The carnival
atmosphere was infectious and made a welcome addition to our shooting schedule.
77. One thing the writer used to dislike about travel programmes on TV was_______.
A. the repetitive nature of many of them.
B. the dull images that they frequently contained.
C. their lack of respect for the intelligence of the viewers.
D. their tendency to copy the style of famous written accounts.
78. What reason is given for the writer becoming involved in making TV travel programmes?
A. Other people’s belief that he might be suited to appearing on them.
B. His own desire to discover whether it was possible to make good ones.
C. His own belief that it was natural for him to move from journalism to TV.
D. A shortage of writers and adventurers willing to take part in them.
79. Shortly after arriving in Costa Rica, the writer became aware that_______.
A. the director had a reputation that was undeserved.
B. he would probably dislike working as part of a team rather than alone.
C. he would probably get on well with the director personally.
D. his role in the filming would be likely to involve real danger.
80. The writer uses the sequence filmed in the National Park as an example of _______.
A. something he had been worried about before any filming started.
B. the sort of challenge that presenters were intended to face in the series.
C. something he was expected to be unable to deal with.
D. the technical difficulties involved in making films in certain places.
81. The word “impetus” in the passage is closest in meaning to _______. A. stimulus B. hope C. disappointment D. argument
82. What does the writer say about the last part of the sequence in the National Park?
A. It taught him a lot about the technical aspects of film-making.
B. He was encouraged to complete it when he looked up at the camera.
C. It changed his whole attitude towards doing dangerous things.
D. He was unable to say anything that made sense at this time.
83. The word “intimidating” in the passage is closest in meaning to ______. A. satisfying B. thrilling C. thriving D. frightening
84. In paragraph 6 the writer says that he found it particularly difficult to_______.
A. understand what was required of him for a 'link'.
B. change ‘hing’ he was going to do at very short notice.
C. accept certain advice given to him about presenting a film.
D. meet certain demands the director made on him.
85. The word “intrusive” in the passage is closest in meaning to ______. A. annoying B. disappointing C. hilarious D. unanimous
86. What does the writer use the experience in Santa Elena as an example of?
A. Something they filmed although they had not planned to.
B. The friendly way in which they were treated by the local people.
C. Something they did purely for their own enjoyment.
D. The kind of thing that viewers like to see in travel films.
Part 5. For questions 87-96, read the text, identify which section A–D each of the following is mentioned. Write
ONE letter A–D in the corresponding numbered space provided. Each letter may be used more than once. KEEP MOVING Paragraph A
In 2006, James Levine, a scientist based at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, conducted a very strange
experiment. He wanted to measure something which goes by the cumbersome title of Non-Exercise Activity
Thermogenesis or NEAT. Essentially, this examines how people move about during an average day- not when
they're exercising, but when they're making no special effort to keep fit. The big question was just how to do the (89)
measuring - and here Levine hit upon a radical plan. He decided to put his volunteers into specially sensored
underwear. This would measure their every waking and sleeping moment. Levine, incidentally, is no stranger to
weird experiments. Aged 10, he'd placed 15 pond snails in a glass tank and tracked their movements every hour (95)
across a piece of wax paper. Twelve months and 200 wax paper trials later, he came to the same conclusion that he
reached 23 years later in his sensored underwear experiment. All creatures have a biological imperative to move -
arid movement, perhaps more than anything else, is good for us. Paragraph B
By the same token, lack of movement is very bad indeed. The NEAT experiment revealed that lean people
burn around 350 more calories a day just by fidgeting, pacing about, or walking to the coffee machine. As for the
non-lean ones, they just sat there, getting ever more bloated and unfit. Sitting down, Levine concluded, is not just (96)
bad for people - it's a killer. This may seem a bit drastic, but Levine isn't the only scientist who reckons that being
sedentary offers an accelerated route to an early grave. However, the vast majority of us move about less and less.
(88) As labor-intensive jobs disappear, we live in an increasingly sedentary world, spending our working lives stuck in
a chair and ever larger amounts of our leisure time too. We know that exercise is good for us and that sitting down (92)
all day isn't - we just choose to ignore it. Paragraph C
Soon after the end of the Second World War, a British health researcher called Jerry Morris set up a study
to examine why record numbers of people were dying of heart attacks. The first results Morris got were from
London busmen. Immediately, he saw that there was a striking difference: drivers were twice as likely to suffer a (90)
heart attack as conductors. To begin with, this didn't make sense. After all, they were much the same age, ate
much the same food and so on. There was only one key difference. Whereas the drivers spent their days behind the
wheel, conductors spent theirs running up and down the stairs. Morris thought he might be onto something, but it (87)
was still too early to say: he had to wait for other data to arrive. Then came the figures for postal workers. These
were strikingly similar to the bus drivers: the postmen who delivered the mail by bike and on foot had markedly
fewer heart attacks than the ones who served behind counters. His paper, 'Coronary Heart-disease and Physical
Activity Of Work', was published in 1953 - and greeted with hoots of derision by his peers. But Morris, as people
slowly began to concede, was onto something. (91) Paragraph D
Two hundred years ago, people may have led much less sedentary lives, but they still had an inkling that
sitting down wasn't doing them any good. No one seems to know exactly when the standing desk was invented,
but by the mid-19th century, they were a regular fixture in the offices and homes of the rich. But if people could
get used to working standing up, could they go one step further? One evening in 2007, Levine was in his office
thinking about the relationship between exercise and fitness when he had an idea. Instead of people nipping off to
the gym and then coming back to slump at their desks, maybe they could exercise at the same time as working.
Sliding a hospital tray on top of a treadmill, Levine set it to a modest 2mph. To his surprise, he found he could (94)
work perfectly easily while he was walking along. He could type, make phone calls and do almost everything that
he normally did sitting down. Yet after an hour, he'd burned off more than 100 calories. It was, as he admits, an
eccentric invention. 'There was a notion floating about that I had completely flipped.' But television stations began
(93) doing news reports, and all at once people didn’t think he was so nutty after all. Soon, the treadmill desk, or
Walkstation as it was called, had gone into commercial production.
In which section are the following mentioned? Your answers:
a cautious reaction to some information 87. C
the reason for the decrease in the amount of movement made by people 88. B
the solution to a problem in carrying out some research 89. A
information from which it was initially hard to draw a conclusion 90. C
a gradual acceptance of the connection between movement and health 91. C
something widely acknowledged but not acted upon 92. B
proof that not everyone regarded an idea as ridiculous 93. D
a finding that pleased the person who made it 94. D
a history of taking an unusual approach to research 95. A
a view that could be regarded as too extreme 96. B IV. WRITING (60 points)
Part 1: Read the following extract and use your own words to summarize it. Your summary should be about 120 words long. (15 points)
Scientists have identified two ways in which species disappear. The first is through ordinary or background
extinctions, where species that fail to adapt are slowly replaced by more adaptable life forms. The second is when
large number of species go to the wall in relatively short periods of biological time. There have been five such
extinctions, each provoked by cataclysmic evolutionary events caused by some geological eruption, climate shift,
or space junk slamming into the earth. Scientists now believe that another mass extinction of species is currently
under way – and this time human fingerprints are on the trigger. How are we doing it? Simply by demanding more
and more space for ourselves. In our assault on the ecosystems around us we have used a number of tools, from
spear and gun to bulldozer and chainsaw. Certain especially rich ecosystems have proved the most vulnerable. In
Hawaii more than half of the native birds are now gone - some 50 species. Such carnage took place all across the
island communities of the Pacific and Indian Oceans. While many were hunted to extinction, others simply
succumbed to the 'introduced predators' that humans brought with them: the cat, the dog, the pig and the rat. Today
the tempo of extinction is picking up speed. Hunting is no longer the major culprit, although rare birds and animals
continue to be butchered for their skin, feathers, tusks and internal organs, or taken as cage pets. Today the main
threat comes from the destruction of the habitat that wild plants, animals and insects need to survive. The draining
and damming of wetland and river courses threatens the aquatic food chain and our own seafood industry.
Overfishing and the destruction of fragile coral reefs destroy ocean biodiversity. Deforestation is taking a
staggering toll particularly in the tropics where the most global biodiversity is at stake. The shrinking rainforest
cover of the Congo and Amazon river-basins and such places as Borneo and Madagascar, has a wealth of species
per hectare existing nowhere else. As those precious hectares are drowned or turned into arid pasture and cropland,
such species disappear forever.
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Part 2: Graph description (15 points)
The graph below shows different sources of air pollutants in the UK from 1990 to 2005. Summarize the
information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.
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