-
Thông tin
-
Quiz
Reading practice tests for NEC 1
Reading practice tests for NEC 1 cho sinh viên tham khảo, ôn tập, chuẩn bị cho kì thi. Đồng thời nâng cao trình độ Tiếng Anh của bạn! Mời cac bạn đón chờ xem .
Môn: Chủ đề: Lexico and Grammar - Từ vựng ngữ pháp 246 tài liệu
Trường: Tài liệu dành cho học sinh chuyên Anh 762 tài liệu
Thông tin:
Tác giả:
Preview text:
Exercise 1.
THE SOCIAL MEDIA PRODUCT PLACEMENT JUGGERNAUT
Social media is the air that celebrities breathe. No other platforms can keep them so relevant in
the cut-throat business of fame. But beyond satisfying their need to connect with the public,
social media is also helping to fill bank accounts. To maintain their fabulous lifestyle, celebrities
can turn to social media where the world of Instagram and influencer marketing awaits. And what a lucrative world it is. 69.
So what do we know about specific rates for social media posts? Mid-level reality TV stars can earn
anywhere from $1,000 to $20,000 for a brand sponsored Instagram post. This can go as high as $50,000
for a TV sitcom star. That's a lot of money, but relatively low compared to the current crop of It-girl
model who can command up to $300,000 for a single Instagram post, or an A-list actor who can receive up to $500,000. 70.
Although celebrity endorsements have been around for as long as advertising itself, their foray into
social media is new territory. Traditional print and TV advertising is replete with famous faces pushing
products we doubt they use or consume, but there is an understanding that we accept the falsehood
because we know the game, we know they've been paid. The pseudo-ads posted as selfies on Instagram
or Twitter, however, usual y contain no clear indication that money has changed hands, despite the fact
that, in many cases, it's legal y required to do so. 71.
Beginning enthusiastical y with "OMG", the original post was liked online by hundreds of thousands of
followers. There was no doubt that she had actual y used the medication, as it had been prescribed by
her doctor. But had she included the mandatory information, it would have given the very distinct, and
true, impression that it was a promotion. Ever mindful of her public image, she was aware this may not
go down wel with her followers. For her sins, she was forced to remove her gushing reviews from
Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, and repost with a huge risk of disclaimer. 72.
Celebrities love social media because it helps them to build some semblance of authenticity and social
intimacy with fans. First they create an image of openness and honesty with their online followers and
then they exploit it in their sponsored posts. One star, for example, recently confided that her "secret"
to staying trim was a certain weight loss tea. A photo of her looking slim and healthy, holding a cup of
the miraculous fat-melting infusion was there for al to see. No mention was made of frequent, grueling
sessions with a wel -paid personal trainer. A clearly sponsored post — though honest — would have dismantled her credibility. 73.
As advertising professionals wil tel you, that is exactly the goal of any ad — to sel an idea or a desirable
lifestyle, and it doesn't even have to be true or attainable. The personality vouching for the product isn't
even required to actual y use it. Al that needs to happen is for consumers to want some glamour and
coolness to rub off on them. That is how advertising works. But this sneaky new form of celebrity
endorsement, with its camouflaged product promotions requires consumers to completely suspend
belief in order to place their trust in someone with an agenda. 74.
As such, the language has to be just right, peppered with the kinds of casual terms friends use with each
other. Celebrities 'swear by' a new skincare product, are 'in love with' a new coconut water, 'can't live
without' a new protein shake. The more cynical among us might question the true author of these
snappy captions — is it the paid influencer or has the brand's marketing department come up with the
text and tailored it to the target audience? Because the audience is what it's al about. Keeping it is
important, but first it has to be found. 75.
So far, it's been a very successful strategy, and as long as a supply of famous faces are willing to
accept cash for comments, the use of social media as a unique advertising tool won't be going away any time soon. Missing Paragraphs:
A. Make no mistake — they are raking in it. Even those who are no longer as famous as they
once were can be offered tantalizing amount by companies to promote products on the main
personal social media platforms —Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. The uber — famous with
the largest followings are making money hand over fist, and the amounts are staggering.
B. Besides failing to list the downsides of the product, the celebrity fell foul of the law by not
being explicit about the fact that she was paid to make the post. There are rules about this sort of
thing, too. Celebrities receiving payment to promote a product on their platforms are required to
tag the post #ad or #sponsored — something to indicate that a monetary transaction has taken
place in return for their endorsement. So what's preventing them from adding those few letters?
C. The beauty of influencer marketing for brands is that they don't have to build their target
audience from scratch — something which is costly and time-consuming as it involves extensive
market research. Once the influencer has been chosen, it is just a matter of getting the followers
to support the brand, talk about it themselves to others, and buy the products.
D. For that kind of money, celebrities are happy to plug a product hard. Juice cleaners, meal
replacement regimes, weight-loss teas, waist shapers, teeth whitening kits — they comprise a
range of categories that are perfectly suited to the highly narcissistic nature of the medium that is
social media, requiring nothing more than a love of selfies and a complete lack of shame. The
questionable efficacy of the products is no deterrent to the blatant money-grab.
E. But what makes people susceptible to such influence? When asked, consumers said they
trusted celebrities over brands. The problem with branded marketing content is that it is biased;
influencer marketing, on the other hand, does not come across as an overt marketing attempt.
Instead, it looks like a recommendation from a trusted friend.
F. Advertisers have a major responsibility to inform celebrities, bloggers and anyone else they're
paying to push a product that appropriate disclosures need to be made. Advertising should be
identifiable as advertising so that consumers know when they're hearing a marketing pitch versus an independent viewpoint.
G. Advertising is powerful and its manipulation runs deep when consumers are gullible to such
marketing ploys. The endorsements — casually slipped in between a candid photo with a
beloved pet and a carefree snap with a close friend, for example — make unwitting followers
feel that this product is simply a part of the celebrity's daily life, and that they should make it a
part of theirs too. They want it, and at that point, they're hooked.
H. Disclosure with regards to medication is one of these instances. An American celebrity got
into hot water with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for promoting a medication without
providing information about possible side effects. The FDA, which is responsible for protecting
public health through the regulation and supervision of a range of products including dietary
supplements, prescription and over-the-counter medications, took a very dim view of this. Exercise 2:
The Rise of Silicon Valley
On January 11, 1971, an article was published in the trade newspaper Electronic News about the
companies involved in the semiconductor and computer industries in Santa Clara Val ey at the southern
end of San Francisco Bay Area in California, USA. The article was entitled 'Silicon Val ey USA', a reference
to the fact that silicon is the most important substance used in commercial semiconductors and their
applications. The name stuck, and in light of the commercial success of the companies there, 'Silicon
Val ey' is now used as a metonym for the high-tech sector. 119.
One such new business was the one founded by two graduates of the nearby Stanford University cal ed
Bil Hewlett and David Packard. In 1938 the pair had $538, and along with Dave's wife Lucile, decided to
rent a property at 367 Addison Avenue, Palo Alto. For $45 a month they got a ground floor apartment
for Dave and Lucile, a garden shed where Bil slept, and a garage from which to run the business, a
garage which has more recently been dubbed 'The birthplace of Silicon Val ey'. 120.
As time passed, the 200A was improved and developed, resulting in the 200B. Eight of these improved
oscil ators were bought by The Walt Disney Company, for use in testing and certifying the Fantasound
surround-sound systems instal ed in cinemas for the 1940 movie Fantasia. Success was beginning to come. 121.
Although they are often considered to be the symbolic founders of Silicon Val ey, they did not deal in
semiconductor devices until the 1960s. From then onwards, the semiconductor devices they made were
mostly intended for internal use, for such products as measuring instruments and calculators. Today,
however, Hewlett-Packard is the largest manufacturer of personal computers in the world. 122.
Terman also had a more direct influence through his role at Stanford University. The University had been
established in 1891 in the north-western part of the Santa Clara Val ey, and from the start, its leaders
aimed to support the local region. The result was that the University played an important part in
establishing and developing local businesses, and indeed its alumni went on to found some major
companies, not just Hewlett-Packard, but such household names as Yahoo! and Google. 123.
Terman's proposal was taken up by Stanford University, and in 1951 Stanford Industrial Park was
created. The first tenant in the Park was Varian Associates, founded by Stanford alumni in the 1930s to
make components for military radars. Hewlett-Packard moved in two years later. The Park stil flourishes
to this day, although it is now known as Stanford Research Park. Current tenants include Eastman Kodak,
General Electric and Lockheed Corporation. 124.
The 1950s were also a time of great development in electronics technology. Most importantly, the
development of the transistor continued. Research scientist Wil iam Shockley moved to the Santa Clara
Val ey region in 1956, when he formed Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory. There his research team
started constructing semiconductors from silicon, rather than germanium, as did most other
researchers. The silicon transistors proved to perform much better, and started to be used in radios and the early computers. 125.
Since the 1970s, however, the most important developments pioneered in Silicon Valley have
been in software and Internet services rather than hardware. So even though Hewlett-Packard
remains the largest producers of computers in the world, the future of Silicon Valley might well lie elsewhere.
A. Throughout their early years, Hewlett and Packard were mentored by one of their university
professors, Frederick Terman. Terman was Stanford University's dean of engineering and
provost during the 1940s and 1950s, and had a positive influence on many of the successful
companies in Silicon Valley. Indeed, his influence was such that he has been dubbed 'the father
of Silicon Valley'. Terman encouraged his students to form their own companies and personally
invested in many of them, and in this way nurtured many highly successful companies, including
not just Hewlett-Packard, but others such as Varian Associates and Litton Industries.
B. Hewlett-Packard was arguably the first company to offer a mass-produced personal
computer, namely the 9100A. For marketing reasons, however, the 9100A was sold as a 'desktop
calculator'. It simply did not resemble what was then considered a 'computer', namely the large
machines being sold by IBM. The 9100A fitted comfortably on a desk, and possessed a small
screen and a keyboard. In fact, it was more like an oversized and over-expensive precursor of a
pocket calculator than a modern PC, since its keyboard lacked letter keys.
C. Following the end of the Second World War in 1945, universities in the United States were
experiencing enormous enrolment demands from the returning military personnel. Terman
proposed launching a scheme which would kill two birds with one stone. The idea was to lease
out land owned by Stanford University to high-technology companies for their offices. This
scheme would firstly finance the University's growth requirements and thereby facilitate a larger
student intake, and secondly provide local employment opportunities for graduating students.
D. The beginnings of Silicon Valley can be traced back to the early twentieth century. At that
time, Santa Clara Valley was known for its orchards which flourished in California's balmy
climate. There were nevertheless a number of experimenters and innovators in such fields as
radio, television and military electronics, and several people were trying to take advantage of any
business opportunities that might arise.
E. It was also in Silicon Valley that other revolutionary electronic components were developed.
The silicon-based integrated circuit, the microprocessor and the microcomputer were all invented
by companies there, as well as such electronic devices as the mouse and the ink-jet printer.
Indeed, Silicon Valley has been the world's most important site of electronic innovation over the past 50 years.
F. In those early years, Hewlett-Packard was a company without a focused direction. They made
a whole range of electronic products, with diverse customers in industry and agriculture. In the
1940s, their principal products were test equipment, including such devices as voltmeters,
oscilloscopes and thermometers. They aimed to provide better quality products than their
competitors, and made a big effort to make their products more sensitive and accurate than their rivals.
G. Another bond between the University and the local high-technology businesses was
established in 1954, with the creation of the Honors Cooperative Program. This programme
allowed employees of the businesses to pursue part-time graduate degrees at the University
whilst continuing to work full-time in their jobs. In this way, key workers in the electronics
industry were able to hone their skills and knowledge, creating the foundation for the
development of Silicon Valley.
H. Of the many products Hewlett and Packard worked on, the first financially successful one
was a precision audio oscillator, a device for testing sound equipment. This product, the 200A,
featured the innovative use of a small light bulb as a temperature-dependent resistor in a critical
section of the circuit, which allowed them to sell it for $54.40, only a quarter of the price of their
competitors' audio oscillators. Exercise 3.
MERGING ART&SCIENCE: A FALSE PREMISE
The current vogue is for believing that art and science should be brought together. This obsession
for showing that art - particularly the visual arts - is similar to science in content and the creative
processes is bemusing. I detect in it an element of social snobbery - artists are envious of
scientists and scientists want to be thought of as artists. 69.
If Watson and Crick had not got the structure of DNA we know that Franklin and Klug would
soon have had it. Indeed simultaneous discovery is a common feature of science. If one could
rerun the history of science and start again it would have a different history but the end results
would be the same: water would be H2O and genes would code for proteins but the names would be different. 70.
Whatever the feelings of the scientist these are absent from the final understanding of a process.
while art is a personal creation and contains the personal views of the artist. And since science is
a communal process a scientist has to be very aware of what is known about the problem being
investigated. There are strict criteria about lack of contradiction and, of course, correspondence
with reality. Science makes progress, we build on the work of our current and earlier colleagues.
To talk about progress in art makes no sense, there is change but not progress. 71.
Thus, I cannot understand what is being referred to when there is reference to critical thinking in
art. In what sense can a painting be right or wrong? Anyone can have views about a painting and
engage in art discussions. Non-scientists can thrill to scientific ideas but to make meaningful
comments about them, and I exclude their application to technology, one actually has to have
detailed knowledge; science needs a much greater, and quite different, intellectual effort. 72.
It is very rare for referees to recommend acceptance without changes. This can be a complex
procedure but in general authors are grateful for the careful reading and criticism of their paper.
Even so we reject about half of all papers we receive. Paintings, however, are neither revised nor can be shown to be wrong. 73.
The idea of creativity makes scientists want to be thought of as artists and vice versa and there
may well be something similar in all human creativity, but that it is particularly similar in
scientists and artists is without foundation. The similarity between art and science is even less
than that between billiards and rugby, both of which at least use a ball. 74.
It seems just poetic licence to suggest that this picture did much to convince European scientists
that the great mystery of life might be explained in terms of electrochemical forces. (Although it
may be that Jan Vermeer did indeed discover that more compelling illusions can be achieved
through a kind of optical illusion that makes special use of the perceptual system inside our
brains, rather than through the details that reach our eyes). 75.
Art does not explain, but it broadens our experience in ways that are not clearly understood. I
value it in its own terms, but it has nothing to do with understanding how the world works. To
pretend that it does is to trivialise science and do nothing for art. We should stop pretending that
the two disciplines are similar, and instead rejoice in the very different ways that they enrich our culture..
The missing paragraphs:
A. What are the criteria used by the director of a gallery and his or her advisers when selecting
for exhibition? Is he or she like the editor of a science journal? No, for there is nothing in art like
the peer review so fundamental to science; there are no art critics, just art writers. As the editor
of a scientific journal, it is extremely rare that my personal view determines whether or not a
paper gets published. My role is to choose a good editorial board and to know to whom the
papers to be reviewed should be sent.
B. Bringing visual artists and scientists together merely makes them feel elevated: it is not a
scientific experience. Although it must be said that science has had a strong influence on certain
artists - in the efforts to imitate nature and thus to develop perspective or in the area of new
technologies - art has contributed virtually nothing to science.
C. Then of the hundreds of thousands of papers published each year, few have a lifetime of
more than a few years. Most disappear with little if any trace. The original papers, with very rare
exceptions, like those of Einstein, are never part of scientific culture and they are not for sale.
Science, unlike art, is not entertainment.
D. What intrigued me at the opening was how the exhibits were chosen. There is less of a
problem with well established artists such as Lucian Freud, Francis Bacon or Matisse. It is the
very modern works that present the problem.
E. How different from this are all the arts. No Shakespeare - no Hamlet; no Picasso - no
Guernica. Moreover a work of art is capable of many interpretations and has moral content.
There is but one correct scientific explanation for any set of observations and reliable scientific
understanding has no moral or ethical content; that is to say that the scientist does not allow his
own reactions to come into play.
F. The Oxford University art historian Martin Kemp takes a very different view from mine
here. He claims that during the 'Scientific Revolution' some artists were able to play an active
role in the dialogue between seeing and knowing. He gives the fiery emissions of Joseph
Wright's volcanoes painted in the late eighteenth century as an example. Wright's painting of
Vesuvius erupting may be dramatic but it owes nothing to geology.
G. Art is not constrained by reality. It cannot be shown to be wrong. And of all the arts,
painting is the one least related to science as it does not deal with complex ideas or explanations,
is the easiest to appreciate, and the response is often an emotional one. Ideas in the visual arts
come from art critics and historians, not the works themselves.
H. Science is about understanding how the world works, there being only one right description
of any observed phenomenon. Unlike the arts it is a collective endeavour in which the individual
is ultimately irrelevant - geniuses merely speed up discovery. Exercise 4:
Read the article and for questions 1-5, choose the answer (A, B, C or D)
which you think fits best according to the text.
We travel, initially, to lose ourselves; and we travel, next, to find ourselves. We
travel to open our hearts and eyes and learn more about the world than our
newspapers will accommodate. We travel to bring what little we can, in our
ignorance and knowledge, to those parts of the globe whose riches are
differently dispersed. And we travel, in essence, to become young fools again -
to slow time down and get taken in, and lose ourselves. Travel is a wondrous
thing that guides us toward a better balance of wisdom and compassion - of
seeing the world clearly, and yet feeling it truly. For seeing without feeling can
be uncaring; while feeling without seeing can be blind. Yet for me the first great
joy of travelling is simply the luxury of leaving all my beliefs and certainties at
home, and seeing everything I thought I knew in a different light, and from a crooked angle.
The sovereign freedom of travelling comes from the fact that it whirls you
around and turns you upside down, and stands everything you took for granted
on its head. If a diploma can famously be a passport (to a journey through hard
realism), then a passport can be a diploma (for a crash course in cultural
relativism). And the first lesson we learn on the road, whether we like it or not,
is how provisional and provincial are the things we imagine to be universal.
We travel, then, in part just to shake up our complacencies by seeing all the
moral and political urgencies, the life-and-death dilemmas, that we seldom have
to face at home. Travel is the best way we have of rescuing the humanity of
places, and saving them from abstraction and ideology. And in the process, we
also get saved from abstraction ourselves, and come to see how much we can
bring to the places we visit, and how much we can become a kind of carrier
pigeon transporting back and forth what every culture needs. For in closed or
impoverished places, like Pagan or Lhasa or Havana, we are the eyes and ears of
the people we meet, their only contact with the world outside. One of the
challenges of travel, therefore, is learning how to import – and export – dreams with tenderness.
By now, all of us have heard the old Marcel Proust line about how the real
voyage of discovery consists not in seeing new places but in seeing with new
eyes. Yet one of the subtler beauties of travel is that it enables you to bring new
eyes to the people you encounter. Thus, even as holidays help you appreciate
your own home more - not least by seeing it through a distant admirer's eyes –
they help you bring newly appreciative – distant – eyes to the places you visit.
For many of us travel is a quest not just for the unknown, but the unknowing; I,
at least, travel in search of an innocent eye that can return me to a more innocent
self. I tend to believe more abroad than I do at home and I tend to be more
easily excited abroad, and even kinder.
In that spirit, it's vitally important to remember that all travel is a two-way
transaction, a point intrinsic to travel that we all too easily forget. For what we
often ignore when we go abroad is that we are objects of scrutiny as much as the
people we scrutinise, and we are being consumed by the cultures we consume.
At the very least, we are objects of speculation (and even desire) who can seem
as exotic to the people around us as they do to us.
Travel, at heart, is a kind of life-changing ritual. A desperate way for our
modern secular selves to latch onto some sense of spirituality that enriches us as
people. A chance to share something meaningful with others while keeping our
minds mobile and awake. As Harvard philosopher George Santayana wrote,
“There is wisdom in turning as often as possible from the familiar to the
unfamiliar; it keeps the mind nimble; it kills prejudice, and it fosters
humour.” Travel, in the end, is a heightened state of awareness, in which we are
receptive, undimmed by familiarity and ready to be transformed. That is why
the best trips, like the best adventures, never really end.
1 The author claims that the main pleasure of travelling is
A being able to let go of everything and experience new perspectives.
B contributing to the lives of people in less developed countries than your own.
C experiencing the thrill of throwing oneself into the moment.
D understanding our place in the world in a global context.
2 In the third paragraph, what does the author say is an important responsibility of a traveller?
A They must preserve the memory and goodness of the place they visit.
B They should help promote the hopes and aspirations of those they meet.
C They have to respect the social and cultural conditions of where they are.
D They need to appreciate their unique status as a link to the wider world.
3 Why does the author mention Marcel Proust?
A to expand further on his ideas
B to provide a perfect example
C to contrast it with other people’s opinions
D to criticise his view on the topic
4 In paragraph five , the author believes that travel is
A an unequal enterprise that favours only the traveller.
B a reciprocal exchange that fascinates hosts as much as visitors.
C a risk to locals who the tourism industry exploits.
D a sector where issues are overlooked and conveniently ignored.
5 The reference to ritual serves to illustrate
A the need to follow traditions while travelling.
B the power of religion in other parts of the world.
C the way that people use travel to fill a void in their lives.
D the degree of superstition practiced by travellers.
6 Which best serves as the title for the passage? A The Search for Wonder
B Being a Responsible Traveller
C How to Make a Wonderous Trip D Mission of a Carrier Exercise 5 .
Do You Have True Friendships?
Think of your friends from the ones you spend considerable time with to those you just chat
with on social media. How many of them are really your friends? How many just offer
artificial closeness? How can you tell the difference?
In his ethical masterpiece The Nicomachean Ethics, the eminent philosopher Aristotle turns his
brilliant mind to the problem of what true friendship actually is. Aristotle views the good life as
requiring not only virtue, an internal good that you are largely responsible for, but also external
goods which facilitate virtue and are enjoyable in themselves. Such things include being well-off
financially, educated, reasonably healthy, having decent luck and having good friends. The
question of what a friend is therefore holds great importance for him.
As with all of Aristotle’s virtues friendship, or ‘philia’, as he calls it, is the midway point
between two vices. A lack of it leads to the vice of egoism and a detached coldness, while the
person who is too friendly with everyone is also vicious in their own way. Aristotle would agree
that ‘The friend to all is a friend to none’. To be a self-actualised person, in the Aristotelian
sense, you need to master the art of genuine friendship.
He defines three sorts of friendship. The friendship of utility is the first. These friendships are
those of the materialist, based on what the two people involved can do for one another, and often
have little to do with the other individual as a person at all. Such friendships as this include
offering hospitality or gifts for purely selfish motivations. These friendships lack sincerity and
can end rapidly, as soon as any possible use for the other person is gone.
The second is the friendship of pleasure. These are the friendships where you choose to
associate with someone based on enjoyment of a shared activity and the pursuit of fleeting
pleasures and emotions. The guy who you go to a football game with but would never be able to
tolerate seeing anywhere else is this kind of friend. Aristotle declares it to be an immature
friendship of the young. This is, again, an often short-lived friendship as people’s interests may
vary, causing them to suddenly lose a connection. In both of these friendships the other person is
not being valued ‘in themselves’ but as a means to an end: pleasure in one and some useful thing
in the other. While these are listed as ‘lesser’ friendships due to the motive, Aristotle is open to
the idea of the final, and greatest, form of friendship finding its genesis in these categories.
The final category is true friendship. These are the people you bond with and like for
themselves, the people who push you to be a better person. The motivation is that you care for
the person themselves and therefore the relationship is much more stable than the previous two
categories. These friendships are few and far between because people who make the cut are
hard to find. Aristotle laments the rarity of such friendships, but notes they are possible between
two virtuous people with empathy who can invest the energy and time needed to create such a bond.
While Aristotle encourages us to seek the ‘pure’ friendship, he doesn’t necessarily think you
are a bad person for having friends of the previous two sorts. We all have them after all. The real
problem is when you fail to grasp that they are of the lower kind and make no effort to find
better relationships. Aristotle was explicit in his opinion; while friendships of virtue are rare and
might take time to form, they offer formidable benefits and greater resilience over time. In a
world of hyper-connectivity and ever increasing social interactions, the question of what
friendship really is has never been more pertinent. The guidance of Aristotle, with his views of
differing relationships and the potential for improvement, is much needed in our modern world.
1 According to the passage, which of these elements is important to virtue?
A understanding the difference between right and wrong
B possessing a natural decency which comes from the heart
C continuing a strict moral code that has been passed on to you
D being receptive to positive influences around you
2 In paragraph 2, the writer suggests that
A those who attempt to please everyone ultimately satisfy nobody.
B universal kindness bears rewards for all parties involved.
C the desire to be popular motivates people to make unrealistic promises.
D in friendships sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind.
3 Which word in paragraph 4 conveys the idea of how long a friendship might last? A fleeting B lesser C short-lived D immature
4 The phrase ‘make the cut’ in paragraph 5 is used to imply that virtuous friends A have high standards.
B are quite rare to find.
C are inflexible in their beliefs.
D don’t easily accept others.
5 What does they refer to in paragraph 6?
A pure forms of friendships
B friendships from the first two categories
C friendships of pleasure
D friendships of utility Exercise 6.
Think about it. Your brain is always ‘on.’ It takes care of your thoughts and movements, your
breathing and heartbeat, your senses - it works hard 24/7, even while you’re asleep. This means
your brain requires a constant supply of fuel. That ‘fuel’ comes from the foods you eat - and
what’s in that fuel makes all the difference. Put simply, what you eat directly affects the structure
and function of your brain and, ultimately, your mood.
Like an expensive car, your brain functions best when it gets only premium fuel. Eating high-
quality foods that contain lots of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants nourishes the brain and
protects it from oxidative stress - the ‘waste’ (also known as free radicals) produced when the
body uses oxygen, which can damage cells. Unfortunately, just like an expensive car, your brain
can be damaged if you ingest anything other than premium fuel. If substances from ‘low-
premium’ fuel (such as what you get from processed or refined foods) get to the brain, it has
little ability to get rid of them. Diets high in refined sugars, for example, are harmful to the brain.
In addition to worsening your body’s regulation of insulin, they also promote inflammation and
oxidative stress. Multiple studies have found a correlation between a diet high in refined sugars
and impaired brain function - and even a worsening of symptoms of mood disorders, such as depression.
It makes sense. If your brain is deprived of good-quality nutrition, or if free radicals or damaging
inflammatory cells are circulating within the brain’s enclosed space, further contributing to brain
tissue injury, consequences are to be expected. What’s interesting is that for many years, the
medical field did not fully acknowledge the connection between mood and food. Today,
relatively new to academia, the burgeoning field of nutritional psychiatry is finding there are
correlations between what you eat, how you feel and ultimately how you behave.
So how does the food you eat affect how you feel? Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that helps
regulate sleep and appetite, mediate moods and inhibit pain. Since about 95% of your serotonin
is produced in your gastrointestinal tract, and your gastrointestinal tract is lined with a hundred
million nerve cells, or neurons, it makes sense that the inner workings of your digestive system
don’t just help you digest food but also guide your emotions. What’s more, the function of these
neurons - and the production of neurotransmitters like serotonin - is influenced by the billions of
‘good’ bacteria that make up your intestinal microbiome. These bacteria play an essential role in your health.
Evidence has shown that when people take probiotics (supplements containing the good
bacteria), their anxiety levels, perception of stress and mental outlook improve, compared with
people who did not take probiotics. Academics who have compared ‘traditional’ diets, like the
Mediterranean diet, to modern ‘Western’ diets have observed that the risk of depression is 25%
to 35% lower in those who eat a traditional diet. Scientists account for this difference because
these traditional diets tend to be high in vegetables, fruits, unprocessed grains and fish and
seafood, and to contain only modest amounts of lean meats and dairy.
This may sound implausible, but the notion that good bacteria in the gut not only influence
digestion and body processes but also mental well-being, is gaining traction amongst academics.
The results so far have been quite amazing, so go ahead and give a ‘clean’ diet a try. You might
just be surprised at how good it makes you feel!
1 According to the text, the human brain
A drastically reduces its work load and functionality during deep sleep.
B requires less sustenance than other more active organs like the heart.
C is directly influenced by the quality of nutrition that the body receives.
D is the only organ that functions at full capacity twenty-four hours a day.
2 The text states that free radicals
A cause inflammation in the brain.
B are created by poor nutrition.
C use high levels of oxygen.
D are harmful to the brain.
3 Research about the impact of our diet focuses on
A the relationship between processed foods and mental health.
B the potential harm of overusing vitamin and mineral supplements.
C the impact harmful bacteria in our food has on our mood and behaviour.
D the deterioration of the body's natural ability to control insulin levels.
4 Burgeoning in paragraph three can best be replaced by A blooming. B surging. C developing. D budding.
5 The intestinal microbiome
A consists of beneficial bacteria that are vital for the body.
B controls the production of neurotransmitters.
C breaks down and absorbs nutrients from food.
D inhibits the performance of neurons.
6 In the text it is stated that traditional diets
A can incorporate modern alternatives with little detrimental effect.
B tend to lead to an increased consumption of high quality dairy products.
C can reduce propensity for depression and sadness.
D usually improve the ability to handle stress.
7 According to the text, the idea that probiotics can boost mental processes is
A increasingly accepted. B widely criticised. C warmly welcomed.
D surprisingly misunderstood.
8 The text suggests that an improved diet
A could have unexpected impacts on your mood.
B will give a boost to your stamina and energy.
C dramatically affects the rate of digestion.
D should be focused solely around probiotic supplements.
9 Which best serves as the title for the passage?
A How Processed Foods Damage Human Brain
B Nutritional Psychiatry C Mental Well-being
D The Role of Good Bacteria Exercise 7. SUPER HUMANS
Sit down with an anthropologist to talk about the nature of humans, and you are likely to hear
this pearl of wisdom: 'Well, you have to remember that 99 percent of human history was spent
on the open savanna in small bands of hunter-gatherers.' It's a classic scientific cliché, and it's
true. Indeed, those millions of ancestral years produced many of our hallmark traits — upright
walking and big brains, for instance. Of course, those useful evolutionary innovations come at a
price: aching backs from our bipedal stance and existential despair from our large, self-
contemplative cerebral cortex.
Compounding the challenges of those trade-offs, the world we have invented is dramatically
different from the one to which our bodies and minds are adapted. Have your dinner delivered to
you instead of chasing it down on foot; log in to Facebook to interact with your nearest and
dearest instead of spending most of the day with them. But this is where the utility of the
anthropologist's cliche for explaining the human condition ends.
The reason for this mismatch between the setting we evolved to live in and the situations we
encounter in our modern era derives from another defining characteristic of our kind, arguably
the most important one: our impulse to push beyond the limitations evolution imposed on us by
developing tools to make us faster, smarter and longer-lived. Science is one such tool — an
invention that requires us to break out of our Stone Age seeing-is-believing mindset so that we
can clearly see the next hurdle we have to overcome, be it a pandemic flu or climate change. You
could call it the ultimate expression of humanity's singular drive to aspire to be better than we are.
To understand how natural selection moulded us into the unique primates we have become, let us
return to the ancestral savanna. There the sun was hotter and nutritious plant foods were scarcer.
In response, our predecessors lost their hair and their molars dwindled as they abandoned a tough
vegetarian diet for one focused in part on meat from grassland grazers. Meanwhile, the selective
demands of food scarcities sculpted our distant forebears into having a body that was extremely
thrifty and good at storing calories. Now, having inherited that same metabolism, we hunt and
gather burgers as diabetes becomes a worldwide scourge. Or consider how our immune systems
evolved in a world where one hardly ever encountered someone carrying a novel pathogen.
Today, if you sneeze near someone in an airport, your rhinovirus could be set free 12 time zones away by the next day.
As regards behavior, our abilities abound. We can follow extraordinarily complex scenarios of
social interaction and figure out if a social contract has been violated. And we are peerless when
it comes to facial recognition: we even have an area of the cortex in the fusiform gyrus that specializes in this activity.
The selective advantages of evolving a highly social brain are obvious. It paved the way for us to
finetune our capabilities for reading one another's mental states, to excel at social manipulation
and to deceive and attract mates and supporters. Among Americans, the extent of social
intelligence in youth is a better predictor of adult success in the occupational world than are
academic scores. Indeed, when it comes to social intelligence in primates, humans reign
supreme. The social brain hypothesis of primate evolution is built on the fact that across primate
species the percentage of the brain devoted to the neocortex correlates with the average size of
the social group of that species. This correlation is more dramatic in humans than in any other primate species.
The fact that we have created this world proves a point — namely, that it is in our nature to be
unconstrained by our nature. Science is one of the strangest, newest domains where we challenge
our hominid limits. It also tests our sense of what is the norm, what counts as better than well
and it challenges our sense of who we are. Thanks to science, human life expectancy keeps
extending, our average height increases, our intelligence test scores improve and we eventually
break every world record. But when it comes to humans becoming, on average, smarter, taller
and better at athletics, there is a problem: Who cares about the average? As individuals, we want
to be better than other individuals. Our brain is invidious, comparative and more interested in
contrasts, a state that begins with sensory systems that do not normally tell us about the quality
of a stimulus but instead about the quality relative to the stimuli around it.
1. According to the writer, the anthropological cliché to explain the nature of mankind
A. needs some slight modifications B. requires little analysis
C. should be considered paradoxical D. is limited in scope
2. Humankind will only be able to use science to progress if
A. ethical considerations are ignored
B. we discard an outdated approach to acquiring knowledge
C. our drive to eliminate barriers continues
D. the philosophy we adopt can be widely understood
3. Our ancient ancestors lived in a world where
A. the necessity to hunt for food led to good health
B. it was vitally important to have a balanced diet
C. isolation allowed them to develop immunity from disease
D. their restricted movement protected them from illness
4. The word peerless (Para.5, Line 2) in the passage is closest in meaning to A. friendless B. unsurpassed C. uncompetitive D. flawless
5. Having a highly social brain
A. allows us to create groups with more members
B. prevents us from being misunderstood
C. causes us to be more devious
D. helps us to read other people's minds 6. The way we tend to think
A. forces us to overlook our shortcomings
B. has enhanced our understanding of sense perception
C. distorts our perception of the notion of average
D. makes us less likely to be concerned with absolutes
7. The word invidious (Para.7, Line 3 from bottom) in the passage mostly means A. prejudiced B. preordained C. unfathomable D. attitudinal
8. Which of the following square brackets [A], [B], [C], or [D] best indicates where in the
paragraph the sentence "We are no strangers to going out of bounds." can be inserted?
[A] The fact that we have created this world proves a point — namely, that it is in our nature to
be unconstrained by our nature. [B] Science is one of the strangest, newest domains where we
challenge our hominid limits. It also tests our sense of what is the norm, what counts as better
than well and it challenges our sense of who we are. [C] Thanks to science, human life
expectancy keeps extending, our average height increases, our intelligence test scores improve
and we eventually break every world record. [D] But when it comes to humans becoming, on
average smarter, taller and better at athletics, there is a problem: Who cares about the average?
As individuals, we want to be better than other individuals. Our brain is invidious, comparative
and more interested in contrasts, a state that begins with sensory systems that do not normally
tell us about the quality of a stimulus but instead about the quality relative to the stimuli around it. A. [A] B. [B] C. [C] D. [D]
9. It can be inferred from the passage that
A. there are no limits to human capabilities
B. we will be able to adapt to harsh environments
C. humankind's evolutionary path will not be smooth
D. our knowledge of the past is crucial to our future
10. Which of the following is the main idea of the passage?
A. Social intelligence enables Americans to be both academically and professionally successful.
B. Science helps prolong human life and improve human intelligence to break all world records.
C. Our evolutionary limits can be exceeded and that's what sets us apart from other species.
D. A highly evolved social brain paved the way for humans to be able to read and distort others' thinking. Exercise 8:
Facilities that Facilitate
Four young professionals give their views on the exciting new frontiers of working life. A Scott
They say it’s a brave new world; well in my experience, with all the new
initiatives that have presented themselves throughout my career, that’s certainly
the case. Technology is coming on by leaps and bounds and some of the things
that are happening in my office are unbelievable! We’ve all heard of ‘hot
desking’ - taking turns sharing a desk with others. Well, in my office all desks
quite literally are ‘hot’ desks! My firm installed infrared heat sensors that detect
when someone is sitting at the spaces. This data is then collated and analysed to
produce reports about how the areas are being used and can be best allocated to
workers. This system is interconnected with an app that sends reminders or
notifications about usage. So, for example, if I leave the desk for longer than an
hour, the app asks me if I’d like to offer it to a colleague! Innovations like this
not only make business sense, they also allow workers new levels of freedom to
maximise their efficiency and reassess how they use their working environment. B Mary
People tend to throw words like ‘flexitime’ and ‘working from home’ around as
if they are huge luxuries. However, for millennials such as myself, these notions
are not revolutionary; rather they’ve become the norm. For me personally I
expect more than just that, or the tired cliché of having a bean bag or a snooker
table in the corner of the office. With new methods like working in the cloud
and the freedom that wireless connectivity brings, people are starting to realise
that we don’t even need physical offices at all anymore. Desks, cubicles and
even a permanent building really have become antiquated relics of a bygone era.
With cloud computing I can store, share and deliver all my work online via a
tablet or smartphone. Then, with the touch of a finger, I can scroll through jobs
and liaise with clients and recruiters on a freelance basis anywhere or anyplace
in the world; as a result I can let my hair down, be productive, effective and, most of all, happy! C Paul
I know that some people might scoff at my generation with thinly veiled
disdain, but we have to acknowledge and accept that the world is changing and
so too are our working needs. Expecting more from a work environment isn’t
about some ungrateful millennial sense of entitlement. It’s about empowerment,
and not just for young people but for everyone. I’m glad that my office doesn’t
have cubicles and instead features open collaborative environments, sofas and
cafés. It’s great that if I want to discuss something I can just grab a colleague, sit
on a soft carpet and brainstorm with them. My company realises that offices
need to have a diverse array of these facilities in order to create environments
that people actually want to be in. Interaction and communicative exchange are
vital in the modern world, and the work spaces at my firm facilitate that and
reflect the aspirations of our employees. D Jessica
As with all other aspects of our contemporary lives, the concept of the office is
rapidly becoming a fantastic synergy between physical and digital elements.
With the blistering pace of technological advancements in recent years, both
workers and employers have a myriad of choices, and unfettered scope to
innovate. In my office however, the focus is now on well-being more than
anything else and how to attain that. Ambient mood lighting linked to external
sensors, sleep pods, massage therapy and even green spaces and rooftop gardens
are all part of the equation and all feature in my workplace. This blend of
cutting-edge tech with traditional forms of rest is really boosting our worker
contentment and satisfaction. I love having the opportunity to work on my
netbook while sipping a latte and gazing out at panoramic views of the city
skyline. You see, in my company the emphasis is on developing pride in the
workplace and boosting staff retention. After all, with such exquisite facilities,
why would anyone want to work from home anyway?
For questions 1-10, choose from the people (A-D).
Which person gives each of these opinions about office environments? 1
The benefits of mobile working at different locations are overstated. 2
The correct setup can be conducive to cooperation. 3
They represent an outdated way of working. 4
Perceptions about the needs of modern employees are unjustly condescending. 5
Classic approaches and new methods both play an important role in well-being. 6
New advancements allow workers to share resources in exciting new ways. 7
Modernisation offers benefits in terms of both efficiency and satisfaction. 8
Understanding workers’ needs is essential to creating a positive office habitat. 9
New approaches can give office jargon an incredible new meaning.
10 Fashionable gimmicks are not enough anymore.
Exercise 9. You are going to read four extracts related to labour-saving devices. For
questions 86-95, choose from the sections (A-D). The sections may be chosen more than once.
86 how widespread it was to employ others to do menial domestic duties
87 how ancient societies dealt with a problem affecting their appearance
88 the economic effects of two major conflicts
89 details of the harsh effects of a domestic task
90 feelings aroused by the ease enjoyed by others who are more affluent
91 how a workman created something to simplify their job
92 the possible fatal results of employing a particular device
93 the conditions that created the mass production of domestic devices
94 the importance of the weight of a device
95 the need for an inventor to find an investor A Men with Ideas
In 1907 James Murray Spangler built a machine for cleaning carpets. The device grew out of his
own need, for he was employed as a janitor in a department store and used a broom and carpet
sweeper in his daily work. Spangler was apparently familiar with the then new idea of using
suction to remove dust and dirt from carpets. It occurred to him that carpets could be more easily
cleaned with the sweeping action used in the carpet sweeper.
Using tin and wood as materials and a pillow case for a dust bag, he combined the two ideas in a
single machine and although it was a crude and clumsy device, it worked. Spangler lacked the
capital, manufacturing capacity and merchandising experience to market his new machine, so he
contacted a boyhood friend, William H. Hoover, to try to interest him in the project. Hoover
perceived the possibilities of the new device, and a company was formed in 1908 to begin the
manufacture of the machine. Three years later, the company started trading under the name of
‘Hoover’, which remains even today a household word for vacuum cleaners.
B ‘State of the Art’
Until the 1920s, domestic servants were common in Europe and any easing of their lot was
frowned on. It was not until after the First World War, which drained economies and temporarily
obstructed affluent society, that domestic life in Europe started to change. Women were
emancipated, domestic labour less easily available and items previously reserved only for the
wealthy were now available to all. In America, however, things had been different; the rapidly
expanding western frontier had meant hard work and long hours. Combined with high wages and
a labour shortage, this had presented a particularly receptive market for mass produced labour
saving devices of all kinds. When the Second World War came, it crippled Europe but left the
American economy relatively unscathed, with the result that America took the lead in the
production and marketing of household appliances. By the latter part of the century though, the
rest of the world had caught up. C Wrinkles and Creases
For centuries, ironing garments and household linen to free them of wrinkles and creases has
been an everpresent chore, and still is even in today’s societies where ironed garments continue to be a desired standard.
In the past before ironing boards, irons and ironing machines, the Chinese stretched their
garments across bamboo poles as a way of smoothing their garments free of wrinkles. The
Greeks folded their garments in chests devised with weights. The Romans used wooden mallets
in order to beat garments into smoothness and later invented the first press to serve that purpose.
Other devices were undoubtedly used, all of which certainly employed weight or friction as a
method of reducing the wrinkles found in fabrics after washing.
In the Middle Ages, it was discovered that cloth pressed while being steamed would hold the
shape into which it was moulded. Numerous devices were invented by which heat and pressure
could be applied to moistened garments. Iron was the heaviest material available at that time and
was a good conductor of heat. Hence the name we still use today.
By the end of the eleventh century, it was recognised that if the irons could be heated from the
inside then the labour involved in heating the iron would be reduced. A much later model was
heated by gas, and eventually around the 1900s, an iron was developed using an electric current. D Washing Day
I remember when I was young how laborious washing days were for my mother. In those days
we had no running water, and even the simplest handwashing used staggering amounts of time
and labour. She used to fill buckets from a communal pump in the village square and haul them
back to the house to be heated in a tub over a gas stove. My mother spent what seemed like an
eternity on rubbing, wringing and lifting water-laden clothes into a second tub to be rinsed.
Large articles like sheets, table cloths and my father’s heavy work clothes played havoc with her
arms and wrists, and the whole process exposed them to the caustic soap then used.
How my mother would envy those neighbours who were lucky enough to have running water
and electricity, not to mention the privileged few who owned what was then known as a clothes
washer. She consoled herself with something she’d read somewhere, that this type of washer was
a death trap. She might have been right, too; the motor which rotated the tub in the machines was
completely unprotected, so water often dripped into it, causing short circuits and jolting shocks.
Apart from possibly electrocuting the user, it very often left the clothes in shreds. Exercise 10.
LIFTING HIGHER EDUCATION TO LOFTIER HEIGHTS?
Academic John Brennan asks whether universities should leave on-the-job training to employers.
A There is a lot of emphasis nowadays placed on the need for universities and business groups to
get graduates “work ready” through vocational workplace training. This is to be welcomed but it
is also to be questioned – about what it should mean in practice and how it should be applied.
The concept is nothing new. I remember some years back being at a meeting about higher
education and employment, attended by a number of employer representatives. I recall one
employer remarking that of the many thousands of graduates that he had hired what he really
wanted and expected was for each of them to have changed the nature of the job by the time they had left the role.
B Rather than being concerned with how recruits would fit into existing organisational
arrangements and master existing ways of doing things, here was an employer who expected
graduates to change existing arrangements and ways of working. Who, rather than focusing on
whether graduates had the right kinds of skills and competencies, acknowledged that he didn’t
know what skills and competencies his workers would need in a few years’ time. The very point
of hiring graduates was that he hoped to get people who would themselves be able to work out
what was required and be capable of delivering it and a bold new future.
C Of course, starting any job requires some work-specific knowledge and capability and when
recruiting staff, graduate or non-graduate, employers have a responsibility to provide suitable
induction and training. The responsibilities of higher education are different. They are about
preparing for work in the long term, in different jobs and, quite possibly, in different sectors.
This is preparation for work in a different world, for work that is going to require learning over a
lifetime, not just the first few weeks of that first job after graduation. Current initiatives set out a
perfectly reasonable set of objectives for the ways in which higher education can help prepare
students for their working lives. But much will depend on the interpretation and on recognising
who – higher education or employer – is best equipped to contribute what.
D In the rush to focus on “vocational training to improve graduate employability” academics
need to remember that all higher education is vocational in the sense that it can help shape a
graduate’s capacity to succeed in the workplace. In this way higher education is about life skills,
not just job skills. Many years ago, Harold Silver and I wrote a book entitled A Liberal
Vocationalism. It was based on a project we had just completed on the aims of degree courses in
vocational areas such as accountancy, business and engineering. The book’s title intentionally
conveyed the message that even vocational degree courses were about more than training for a
job. There were assumptions about criticality, transferability of skills, creating and adapting to
change and, above all, an academic credibility.
E Degree courses in subjects such as history and sociology are preparations for employment as
much as vocational degrees such as business and engineering. But the job details will not be
known at the time of study. Indeed, they may not be known until several years later. Thus, the
relevance of higher education to later working life for many graduates will lie in the realm of
generic and transferable skills rather than specific competencies needed for a first job after
graduation. The latter competences are not unimportant but the graduate’s employer is generally
much better equipped than a university to ensure that the graduate acquires them. Work
experience alongside or as part of study can also help a lot. Higher education is for the long term.
Universities, employers and students should realise that.
In which paragraph is it stated that
86 new proposals require an appropriate level of scrutiny?
87 academic subjects have benefits beyond their syllabuses?
88 business is investing in an unknown quantity in the pursuit of an uncertain goal?
89 responsibility for service provision needs to be correctly allocated?
90 educators need to make sure that they don’t lose sight of an important point?
91 the issues discussed are a recurring theme that is yet to be agreed upon?
92 beliefs about the key topics of a study were alluded to in the heading of a publication?
93 industry is better suited to cover some issues than educational institutions?
94 original thinking is key in finding solutions to future challenges?
95 while obligations vary, they are still present for both parties?