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Tuyển tập bài luyện tập phần Reading ôn thi HSG Quốc gia THPT phần 1
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III. READING (50 POINTS)
Part 1. For questions 46-55, fill each of the following numbered blanks with ONE suitable word and
write your answers in the corresponding numbered boxes provided.
One of the strongest influences on teenagers today is that of their peers. What their friends think, how they
dress and how they act in class and out of it (46)_______ the behaviour of nearly every teenager. In their
(47)_______ not to be different, some children go so (48)_______ as to hide their intelligence and ability in
case they are made fun of. Generally, teenagers do not want to stand out from the (49)_______. They want
to fit in, to be accepted. In psychological terms the importance of peer pressure can not be overemphasized.
There is a lot of evidence that it has great (50)_______ on all aspects of their lives, from the clothes they
wear, the music they listen to and their (51)_______ to studies, to their ambitions in life, their relationships
and their (52)_______ of self-worth. However, as adolescents grow up into young adults, individuality
becomes more acceptable and in their (53)_______ for their personal style, the teenager and young adult
will begin to experiment and be more willing to (54)_______ the risk of rejection by the group. Concern
about intellectual ability and achieving good exam results can dominate as the atmosphere of competition
develops and worries about the future (55)_______ any fears of appearing too brainy.
Part 2. For questions 56-68, read the following passage and do the tasks that follow. THINK HAPPY
It’s no joke: even scientists at the Royal Society are now taking the search for the source of happiness very seriously.
A. What would Sir Isaac Newton have made of it? There he was, painted in oils, gazing down at one of the
strangest meetings that the Royal Society, Britain’s most august scientific body, has ever held. If Newton
had flashed a huge grin, it would have been completely appropriate, for beneath him last week a two- day
conference was unfolding on a booming new field of science: investigating what makes people happy.
Distinguished professors strode up to the podium, including one eminent neurologist armed with videos of
women giggling at comedy films; another was a social scientist brandishing statistics on national
cheerfulness. Hundreds of other researchers sat scribbling notes on how to produce more smiles.
B. The decision by the Royal Society to pick ‘the science of wellbeing’ from hundreds of applications for
conferences on other topics is no laughing matter. It means that the investigation of what makes people
happy is being taken very seriously indeed. ‘Many philosophies and religions have studied this subject, but
scientifically it has been ignored,’ said Dr Nick Baylis, a Cambridge University psychologist and one of the
conference organisers. ‘For the Royal Society to give us its countenance is vital, because that states that
what we are doing deserves to be acknowledged and Investigated by the best scientific minds.’
C. At first sight, the mission of Baylis – and the growing number of other scientists working on happiness
research – appears fanciful. They want to deploy scientifically rigorous methods to determine why some
people are lastingly happy while others tend to misery. Then they envisage spreading the secret of happiness
across the globe and, in short, increasing the sum of human happiness. ‘If someone is happy, they are more
popular and also healthier, they live longer and are more productive at work. So it is very much worth having’ he says.
D. Baylis, the only ‘positive psychology’ lecturer in Britain, knows that the aims of happiness research
might sound woolly, so he is at pains to distance himself from the brigades of non- academic self-help gurus.
He refers to ‘life satisfaction’ and ‘wellbeing’ and emphasises that his work, and that of others at the
conference, is grounded in solid research. So what have the scientists discovered – has a theory of happiness been defined yet?
E. According to Professor Martin Sellgman, probably the world’s leading figure in this field, happiness
could be but a train ride – and a couple of questionnaires – away. It was Seligman, a psychologist from
Pennsylvania University, who kick-started the happiness science movement with a speech he made as
President of the American Psychological Association (APA). Why, asked Seligman, shocking delegates at
an APA conference, does science only investigate suffering? Why not look into what steps increase
happiness, even for those who are not depressed, rather than simply seek to assuage pain? For a less well-
known scientist, the speech could have spelt the end of a career, but instead Seligman landedfunding of
almost £18m to follow his hunch. He has been in regular contact with hundreds of other researchers and
practising psychologists around the world, all the while conducting polls and devising strategies for increasing happiness.
F. His findings have led him to believe that there are three main types of happiness. First, there is ‘the
pleasant life’ – the kind of happiness we usually gain from sensual pleasures such as eating and drinking or
watching a good film. Seligman blames Hollywood and the advertising industry for encouraging the rest of
us, wrongly as he sees it, to believe that lasting happiness is to be found that way. Second, ị there is ‘the
good life’, which comes from enjoying something we are good or talented at. The key to this, Seligman
believes, lies in identifying our strengths and then taking part in an activity that uses them. Third, there is
‘the meaningful life’. The most lasting happiness, Seligman says, comes from finding something you believe
in and then putting your strengths at its service. People who are good at communicating with others might
thus find long-lasting happiness through becoming involved in politics or voluntary work, while a rock star
wanting to save the world might find it in organising a charity concert.
G. Achieving ‘the good life’ and ‘the meaningful life’ is the secret of lasting happiness, Seligman says. For
anybody unsure of how to proceed, he has an intriguing idea. To embark on the road to happiness, he
suggests that you need a pen, some paper and, depending on your location, a railway ticket. First, identify a
person to whom you feel a deep debt of gratitude but have never thanked properly. Next, write a 300-word
essay outlining how important the help was and how much you appreciate it. Then tell them you need to
visit, without saying what for, turn up at their house and read them the essay. The result: tears, hugs and
deeper, longer-lasting happiness, apparently, than would come from any amount of champagne.
H. Sceptics may insist that science will always remain a clumsy way of investigating and propagating
happiness and say that such things are better handled by artists, writers and musicians – if they can be
handled at all. And not everybody at the conference was positive about the emerging science. Lewis
Wolpert, professor of biology as applied to medicine at University College London, who has written a
bestseller about his battle with depression, said: ‘If you were really totally happy, I’d be very suspicious. I
think you wouldn’t do anything, you’d just sort of sit there in a treacle of happiness. There’s a whole world
out there, and unless you have a bit of discomfort, you’ll never actually do anything.’
Questions 56-59: There are eight paragraphs marked A-H in the passage. In which paragraph is the
following mentioned? Write your answers in the corresponding numbered box provided.
56. a view that complete happiness may not be a desirable goal
57. a reference to the potential wider outcomes of conducting research into happiness
58. an implication of the fact that the conference was held at all
59. a statement concerning the possible outcome of expressing a certain view in public
Questions 60-62: Complete the sentences below with words taken from the passage. Use NO MORE
THAN THREE WORDS for each answer. Write your answers in the corresponding numbered box provided.
60. At the conference, research into happiness was referred to as the _______.
61. Baylis and others intend to use _______ to find out what makes people happy or unhappy.
62. Baylis says he should not be categorised among the _______ who do not have academic credentials.
Questions 63-68: Complete the sentences below using words from the box. Write your answers in the
corresponding numbered box provided.
Seligman’s categories of happiness Seligman’s first type of happiness involves the enjoyment of pleasures
such as (63)_______. He believes that people should not be under the (64)_______ that such things lead to
happiness that is not just temporary. His second type is related to (65)_______. Identification of this should
lead to (66)_______ and the result is ‘the good life’. His third type involves having a strong (67)_______
and doing something about it for the benefit of others. This, according to
Seligman, leads to happiness that has some (68)_______. confidence entertainment incentive leadership thrill perseverance illusion effort ability theory celebration participation ego permanence leadership encouragement exaggeration concept conviction support
Part 3. In the passage below, seven paragraphs have been removed. For questions 69-75, read the
passage and choose from the paragraphs A-H the one which fits each gap. There is ONE extra
paragraph which you do not need to use. Write your answers in the corresponding numbered box provided.
STEP THIS WAY FOR AN ALTERNATIVE ECONOMY
I remember the day I met an idealistic pilgrim
Mark Boyle, or Saoirse as he preferred to be called, had set out to walk 12,000 kilometres from his home in
the UK to Gandhi’s birthplace in India. His mission was to prove that his dream of living in a money-free
community really did have legs. I met him in Brighton soon after the start of his epic journey. Obviously, I’d
no sooner caught sight of him approaching than I’d started peering downwards, because he’s obligingly
stuck out a sandal-clad foot to give me a closer look. The “boys”, as he called them on his blog, had become famous in their own right. 69.
There was indeed plenty more in the world to worry about yet something about this man – his gentleness, his
over-active conscience, his poor feet – brought out all my maternal instincts. Saoirse, then twenty-eight, still
had another two and a half years of walking ahead of him, carrying no money and very few possessions
along a hair-raising route through Europe and central Asia, to his ultimate destination in India. 70.
It had all begun, it transpired, when Saoirse (Gaelic for "freedom" and pronounced "sear-shuh") was
studying business and economics at Galway University. "One day I watched the film Gandhi, and it just
changed the whole course of my life. I took the next day off lectures to start reading about him, and after
that I just couldn't read enough, it made me see the whole world in a different way." 71.
The idea behind the website grew out of that seemingly simple proposition. You signed up and listed all the
available skills and abilities and tools you had, and donated them to others. In return you might make use of
other people's skills. For example, people borrow power tools, have haircuts or get help with their vegetable plots. 72.
I asked anxiously about his planning for the journey, and he said that he was leaving it all in the hands of
fate. So far, he had been in places where his friends and fellow Freeconomists could help him, so mainly he
had had arrangements for places to sleep and eat. Otherwise, he had tried to talk to people, to explain what
he was doing and hope that they would give him a hand. His T-shirt said, in big letters, "Community Pilgrim". 73.
His itinerary was certainly challenging - and he did not even have a single visa lined up. "They don't give
visas more than about three months in advance in a lot of countries," he said, "so I thought I would just go
for it." But I had my doubts whether some of the countries involved would let a westerner - even a gentle
hippy such as Saoirse – just stroll in. 74.
Once I had suppressed my concerns for his welfare, I found myself thinking that, actually, it is only our
cynical, secular age that finds the notion of a pilgrimage odd. The idea of spiritual voyages seems to be built
into every religion and, for most believers, Saoirse's faith - that he would be looked after, that everything
would turn out OK, that what he was doing was a good thing to do for humanity – would not be odd at all.
Most cultures accept the idea of a good person, a saint or a prophet. 75.
After nearly an hour's talking, Saoirse was starting to look tired: but made one final attempt to explain.
"Look, if I've got £100 in the bank and somebody in India dies because they needed some money, then, in a
way, the responsibility of that person's death is on me. That's very extreme, I know, but I've got more than I
need and that person needed it. And if you know that, then you've either got to do something about it, or you
have to wake up every morning and look at yourself in the mirror." His eyes were now red-rimmed, I think
with emotion and exhaustion. We said our goodbyes. And I could not help noticing that he was limping. Those poor, poor feet. The missing paragraphs:
A. After two weeks of solid walking from his starting point in Bristol at a rate of around 25 miles a day, his
discomfort was readily apparent, despite the sensible footwear. "It's all right," he said. "I've got blisters, but
bombs are falling in some places."
B. For Saoirse, both pilgrimage and this enterprise were only the first steps. His long-term vision was to
nurture a money-free community where people would live and work and care for each other. Perhaps that
was why when I met him that day, he struck me as an idealist who was going to come unstuck somewhere along the way.
C. Was there a back-up plan if any failed to materialise ? He said he didn’t really have one because that
would be "contrary to the spirit of the thing". Was he prepared to be lonely, scared, threatened? He said he
had spent the previous few months trying to work through the fear, but that he "just had to do it".
D. His mentor’s exhoration to "be the change you want to see in the world" had particular meaning for him.
Then, a few years later, he was sitting with a couple of friends talking about world problems - sweatshops,
war and famine etc – when it struck him that the root of those things was the fear and insecurity and greed
that manifests itself in our quest for money. He wondered what would happen if you just got rid of it?"
E. Indeed, his faith in human kindness, rather worryingly, seemed to know no bounds. I convinced myself,
however, that ordinary folk he’d meet along the way would mostly see that he was sincere, if a little
eccentric, and would respond to that.
F. I wondered if his mother at least shared some of these anxieties. All I learnt though was that she was,
like his father, thoroughly supportive and was following his progress keenly through the website.
G. Pehaps it is, in fact, only in the contemporary western world, the world of the selfish gene, that extreme
altruism is, according to Richard Dawkins at least, "a misfiring”. Because from all I ‘d heard, there it was
before me on a pavement in Brighton. I felt I still hadn’t got to the bottom of what drove Saoirse on, however.
H. He was undertaking that extraordinary pilgrimage to promote the idea of "freeconomy", a web-based
money-free community. What’s more, he’d be relying just on the kindness and generosity of strangers and
contacts that he’d made through the site. I pressed him for deeper reasons.
Part 4. For questions 76-85, read an extract from an article on anthropology and choose the answer A,
B, C or D that fits best according to the text. Write your answers in the corrresponding numbered boxes provided.
1) Anthropology distinguishes itself from the other social sciences by its greater emphasis on fieldwork as
the source of new knowledge. The aim of such studies is to develop as intimate an understanding as possible
of the phenomena investigated. Although the length of field studies varies from a few weeks to years, it is
generally agreed that anthropologists should stay in the field long enough for their presence to be considered
‘natural’ by the permanent residents.
2) Realistically, however, anthropologists may never reach this status. Their foreign mannerisms make them
appear clownish, and so they are treated with curiosity and amusement. If they speak the local language at
all, they do so with a strange accent and flawed grammar. They ask tactless questions and inadvertently
break rules regarding how things are usually done. Arguably this could be an interesting starting point for
research, though it is rarely exploited. Otherwise, anthropologists take on the role of the ‘superior expert’, in
which case they are treated with deference and respect, only coming into contact with the most high-ranking
members of the society. Anthropologists with this role may never witness the gamut of practices which take
place in all levels of the society.
3) No matter which role one takes on, anthropologists generally find fieldwork extremely demanding.
Anthropological texts may read like an exciting journey of exploration, but rarely is this so. Long periods of
time spent in the field are generally characterised by boredom, illness and frustration. Anthropologists in the
field encounter unfamiliar climates, strange food and low standards of hygiene. It is often particularly trying
for researchers with middle-class, European backgrounds to adapt to societies where being alone is
considered pitiful. It takes a dedicated individual to conduct research which is not in some way influenced by these personal discomforts.
4) Nonetheless, fieldwork requires the researcher to spend as much time as possible in local life. A range of
research methodologies can be utilised to extract information. (1) These can be classified as emic or etic. (2)
While emic descriptions are considered more desirable nowadays, they are difficult to attain, even if the
researcher does his utmost to reproduce the facts from the natives’ point of view. (3) More often than not,
aspects of the researcher’s own culture, perspective and literary style seep into the narrative. Moreover,
research generally involves translations from one language to another and from speech into writing. In doing
this, the meaning of utterances is changed. (4) The only truly emic descriptions can be those given by the
natives themselves in their own vernacular.
5) The least invasive type of research methodology is observation. Here, the researcher studies the group and
records findings without intruding too much on their privacy. This is not to say, however, that the presence
of the researcher will have minimal impact on the findings. An example was Richard Borshay Lee, who, in
studying local groups in the Kalahari refused to provide the people with food so as not to taint his research,
leading to an inevitable hostility towards the researcher which would not otherwise have been present.
6) A variant on the observation technique, participant observation requires that the anthropologist not only
observes the culture, but participates in it too. It allows for deeper immersion into the culture studied, hence
a deeper understanding of it. By developing a deeper rapport with the people of the culture, it is hoped they
will open up and divulge more about their culture and way of life than can simply be observed. Participant
observation is still an imperfect methodology, however, since populations may adjust their behavior around
the researcher, knowing that they are the subject of research.
7) The participatory approach was conceived in an attempt to produce as emic a perspective as possible. The
process involves not just the gathering of information from local people, but involves them in the
interpretation of the findings. That is, rather than the researcher getting actively involved in the processes
within the local community, the process is turned on its head. The local community is actively involved in the research process.
76. The main premise of the text is :
A. the steps to be followed when undertaking anthropological fieldwork.
B. a history of anthropological fieldwork methodology.
C. the effects that an anthropological fieldwork has on local communities.
D. the problems with conducting anthropological fieldwork.
77. The main reason for anthropological researchers remaining in a community for an extended period of time is that:
A. they can gather as much information as possible.
B. they can try out a range of different research methodologies.
C. they want local people to behave naturally around them.
D. they need time to become accustomed to the conditions.
78. What does the passage say about researchers who are considered a ‘clown’ by locals?
A. They do culturally unacceptable things without realising it.
B. They do not gain respect among high-ranking members of the community.
C. They cannot conduct any research of value.
D. They do not study the language and culture of the region before their arrival.
79. What does ‘gamut’ mean? A. idea or impression B. prohibition or taboo C. range or extent D. secret or mystery
80. The writer believes that the most difficult aspect of fieldwork for educated westerners is A. the lack of companionship. B. poor sanitary conditions.
C. failure to meet expectations. D. never being left alone.
81. In paragraph 3, it is implied that:
A. the fieldworker’s emotions and mood prejudice the research.
B. the longer a researcher spends in the field, the more depressed he gets.
C. middle-class Europeans find field research more difficult than researchers from other backgrounds.
D. anthropological texts tend to exaggerate the difficult conditions that researchers experience.
82. Where in paragraph 4 does this sentence belong?
A native’s point of view of his own lifestyle is emic, while the analytical perspective of the outsider is etic. A. (1) B. (2) C. (3) D. (4)
83. Why is the example of Richard Borshay Lee given in paragraph 5?
A. to demonstrate that observation is an ineffective method of gathering data.
B. to highlight why it is important that researchers minimize their impact on a community.
C. to show the dangers of researchers trying to lessen their impact on a community
D. to show how a researcher’s choice of methodology can influence the validity of his findings.
84. How does participant observation differ vary from straightforward observation?
A. It requires the researcher to become actively involved in the daily lives of those being studied.
B. It allows the subjects of the research a greater degree of privacy.
C. It eradicates the problem of research subjects altering their behaviour towards researchers.
D. It takes longer to perform this type of research effectively.
85. Which of the following is NOT true of the participatory approach?
A. It attempts to reduce etic accounts of a culture to a minimum.
B. It does not require a researcher to be present.
C. It aims to involve the subjects in both information gathering and analysis.
D. It is the reverse of the participant observation technique.
Part 5. The passage below consists of four paragraphs marked A, B, C and D. For questions 86-95, read
the passage and do the task that follows. Write your answers in the corrresponding numbered boxes provided.
CHEER UP: LIFE ONLY GETS BETTER
Human’s capacity for solving problems has been improving out lot for 10,000 years, says Matt Ridley
A The human race has expanded in 10,000 years from less than 10 million people to around 7 billion. Some
live in even worse conditions than those in the Stone Age. But the vast majority are much better fed and
sheltered, and much more likely to live to old age than their ancestors have ever been. It is likely that by
2110 humanity will be much better off than it is today and so will the ecology of our planet. This view,
which I shall call rational optimism, may not be fashionable but it is compelling. This belief holds that the
world will pull out of its economic and ecological crises because of the way that markets i goods, services
and ideas allow human beings to exchange and specialise for the betterment of all. But a constant drumbeat
of pessimism usually drowns out this sort of talk. Indeed, if you dare to say the world is going to go on being
better, you are considered embarassingly mad.
B Let me make a square concession at the start: the pessimists are right when they say that if the world
continues as it is, it will end in disaster. If agriculture continues to depend on irrigation and water stocks are
depleted, then starvation will ensue. Notice the word “if”. The world will not continue as it is. It is my
proposition that the human race has become a collective problem – solving machine which solves problems
by changing its ways. It does so through invention driven often by the marker: scarcity drives up price and
that in turn encourages the development of alternatives and efficiencies. History confirms this. When whales
grew scarce, for example, petroleum was used instead as a source of oil. The pessimists’ mistake is
extrapolating: in other words, assuming that the future is just a bigger version of the past. In 1943 IBM’s
founder Thomas Watson said there was a world market for just five computers – his remarks were true
enough at the time, when computers weighed a ton and cost a fortune.
C Many of today’s extreme environmentalists insist that the world has reached a ‘turning point’ – quite
unaware that their predecessors have been making the same claim for 200 years. They also maintain the only
sustainable solution is to retreat – to halt economic growth and enter progressive economic recession. This
means not just that increasing your company’s sales would be a crime, but that the failure to shrink them
would be too. But all this takes no account of the magical thing called the collective human brain. There was
a time in human history when big-brained people began to exchange things with each other, to become
better off as a resut. Making and using tools saved time – and the state of being ‘better off’ is, at the end of
the day, simply time saved. Forget dollars of gold. The true measure of something’s worth is indeed the
hours it takes to acquire it. The more humans diversified as consumers and specified as producers, and the
more they exchanged goods and services, the better off they became. And the good news is there is no
inevitable end to this process.
D I am aware that an enormous bubble of debt has burst around the world, with all that entails. But is this
the end of growth? Hardly. So long as somebody allocates sufficient capital to innovation, then the credit
crunch will not prevent the relentless upward march of human living standards. Even the Great Depression
of the 1930s, although an appalling hardship for many, was just a dip in the slope of economic progress. All
sorts of new products and industries were born during the depression: by 1937, 40% of Dupont’s sales came
from products that had barely existed before 1929, such as enamels and cellulose film. Growth will resume –
unless it is stifled by the wrong policies. Somebody, somewhere, is still tweaking a piece of software, testing
a new material, of transferring a gene that will enable new varieties of rice to be grown in African soils. The
latter means some Africans will soon be growing and and selling more food, so they will have more money
to spend. Some of them may then buy mobile phones from a western company. As a consequence of higher
sales, an employee of that western company may get a pay rise, which she may spend on a pair of jeans
made from cotton woven in an African factory. And so on. Forget wars, famines and poems, This is
history’s greatest theme: the metastasis of exchange and specialisation.
In which section does the writer Your answers:
exemplify how short-term gloom tends to lift? 86.
mention a doom-laden prophecy that is obvious? 87.
express his hope that progress is not hindered by abominable decisions? 88.
acknowledge trying to find common ground with his potential adversaries? 89.
identify unequivocally how money needs to be invested? 90.
suggest that his views are considered controversial? 91.
indicate an absurd scenario resulting from an opposing view to his own? 92.
mention the deplorable consequences of taking a positive stance? 93.
define prosperity in life in an original approach? 94.
give an example of well-intentioned ongoing research? 95. III. READING (50 POINTS)
Part 1. For questions 46-55, fill each of the following numbered blanks with ONE suitable word and
write your answers in the corresponding numbered boxes provided.
Few inventions have had more scorn and praise (46)________ upon them at the same time than television.
And few have done so much to unite the world (47)________ one vast audience for news, sport, information
and entertainment. Television must be rated (48)________ printing as one of the most significant inventions
of all time in the field of communications. In just a few decades it has (49)________ virtually every home in
the developed world and an ever-increasing proportion of homes in developing countries. It took over half a
century from the first suggestion that television might be (50)________ before the first flickering
(51)_______ were produced in laboratories in Britain and America. In 1926 John Logie Baird’s genius for
publicity brought television to the (52)________ of a British audience. It has since reached such
(53)________ of success and (54)________ on such a pivotal function that it is difficult to imagine a world
(55)________ of this groundbreaking invention.
Part 2. For questions 56-68, read the following passage and do the tasks that follow. READING WARS
A. In many developed countries literacy skirts are under siege. This is true even in societies where access
to primary education is universal and governments invest heavily in education. New Zealand, for example,
was leading the world in literacy rates in 1970, but tumbled to thirteenth place in 2001 and then again to
twenty-fourth just a few years tater. Test scores in the USA also slumped ten percent during the 1990s
despite the country riding an economic boom for much of the decade. In some cases these statistics reverse
trends that were in motion for over a century and a half. The steady, gradual expansion of literacy across
social groups and classes was one of the greatest successes of the period of industrialization that began in the mid-1850s.
B. This reversal of fortunes has lead to widespread contention over the pedagogy of teaching literacy.
What was once a dry and technical affair—the esoteric business of linguists and policy analysts—rapidly
escalated into a series of skirmishes that were played out in high-visibility forums: Newspapers ran special
features, columns and letters-to-the-editor on the literacy crisis; politicians successfully ran their national
campaigns on improving reading test scores; and parents had their say by joining Parent Teacher
Associations (PTAs) and lobby groups.
C. The arguments around reading pooled into two different classroom methodologies: constructivism and
behaviorism. The constructivist methodology grew from a holistic conception of knowledge creation that
understood reading and writing to be innate, humanistic and interpretative practices that suffered when they
were spliced and formalized within rigid doctrines, strict rules and universal skill-sets. Constructivists
associate words with meanings; each word might be thought of as a Chinese ideogram. Students are
encouraged to learn individual words and skip over and guess words they do not understand, or learn to
interpret those words by situating them within the lexical infrastructure of the sentence and the story's wider
narrative. These practices materialize as learning processes centered on guided group reading and
independent reading of high-quantity, culturally diverse literature or textual composition that emphasises
pupils conveying their own thoughts and feelings for real purposes such as letters to pen pals or journal entries.
D．Behaviorism sees the pedagogial process in a less dialectical fashion—words are initially taught not
lexically, as vehicles to convey meaning, but rather sub-lexically, as a combination of features that can be
separated and learnt in a schematic process. The behaviorist approach does not focus on words at all in the
early stages of learning. Rather, it is centered on a universally applicable method of teaching students to
isolate graphemes and phonemes with the intention that students will eventually learn to synthesize these
individual parts and make sense of spoken words textually. In this way, individual components are not
equated with the strokes of a brush on a Chinese ideogram, but rather as the focal pieces of interpretation—
as in, for example, learning to read musical notations or Morse Code. Because of its emphasis on universal
rules, behaviorism is much more conducive to formal examination and the consolidation of results across
regions and countries. The ability to master language is considered to rest in the acquisition of a set of skills
that exist independently of individuals. Classroom learning is therefore based upon the transmission of
knowledge from tutor to student, rather than seen as an internalized process that erupts within the students themselves.
E. So who comes out on top? It is not easy to say. Champions of behaviorism have claimed victory
because constructivist learning took over in the late 1980s, just before test scores on literacy began sinking
across the West. Constructivists, however, can make the valid claim that the behaviorist approach has a
heavy methodological bias towards testing and examination, and that test results do not represent the ability
of individuals to use and interpret language freely and creatively. Furthermore, different socio-economic
groups respond in different ways to each method. Those from wealthier families tend to do well regardless
of the method, but thrive on the constructivist approach implemented in the 1990s. Children from poorer
families, however, are better served by behaviorism. These outcomes have ramped up levels of socio-
economic based educational disparities in educational systems that have pushed the constructivist method.
F. It is unlikely that either constructivism or behaviorism will be permanently sidelined from curricula in
the near future. Most teachers find it easier to incorporate aspects of each approach. Constructivism may
ultimately hold the trump card because of its proven success with pupils who come from families where they
are introduced to reading and writing in various forms from a young age—this process of 'living and
learning' and immersing oneself in language is a sound principle. In a world rife with social inequities,
households with illiterate parents and a scarcity of funding for education, however, the behaviorist approach
may have the upper hand in teaching children to access the basic skills of literacy quickly and efficiently,
even if some linguistic creativity is crushed in the process.
Questions 56-62: There are six paragraphs marked A-F in the passage. In which paragraph is the
following mentioned? Write your answers in the corresponding numbered box provided.
56. A reason why constructivism might increase inequalities in society
57. Ways in which people debated the merits of different ways of teaching reading
58. A comparison between forms of communication that build meaning from isolated parts
59. Reasons why a method that is theoretically superior might not always work effectively in practice
60. An explanation of why measuring the success of different reading methods is difficult
61. An example of an activity that teachers might use to develop writing skills
62. Evidence of a national decline in reading standards Your answers 56. 57. 58. 59. 60. 61. 62.
Questions 63-65: Which THREE of the following are features of constructivism? Choose THREE letters,
A-G. Write your answers in the corresponding numbered box provided.
A．Students learn best by working on their own.
B．People are naturally inclined to develop language abilities.
C．It is vital that a disciplined and regulated approach is used.
D．It is important that students understand every word they encounter.
E．Language is best learnt as a single, organic process.
F．Everyone learns to read and write in a similar manner.
G．Context can provide helpful cues to understanding words.
Questions 66-68: Which THREE of the following are features of behaviorism? Choose THREE letters,
A-G. Write your answers in the corresponding numbered box provided.
A．The whole of a word is less important than its parts.
B．There is not a common set of conventions.
C．Students learn best by working on their own.
D．Meaning is created by connecting word fragments.
E．Linguistic capacities are built into people.
F．Students learn by receiving information from teachers.
G．It is difficult to judge how well students are doing collectively.
Part 3. In the passage below, seven paragraphs have been removed. For questions 69-75, read the
passage and choose from the paragraphs A-H the one which fits each gap. There is ONE extra
paragraph which you do not need to use. Write your answers in the corresponding numbered box provided.
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.
Part 4. For questions 76-85, read an extract from an article on the design of green building and choose
the answer A, B, C or D that fits best according to the text. Write your answers in the corrresponding
numbered boxes provided.
1) There has, in recent years, been an outpouring of information about the impact of buildings on the natural
environment; Information which explains and promotes green and sustainable construction design, strives to
convince others of its efficacy and warns of the dangers of ignoring the issue. Seldom do these documents
offer any advice to practitioners, such as those designing mechanical and electrical systems for a building,
on how to utilise this knowledge on a practical level.
2) While the terms green and sustainable are often considered synonymous, in that they both symbolise
nature, green does not encompass all that is meant by sustainability, which can be defined as minimizing the
negative impacts of human activities on the natural environment, in particular those which have long-term
and irreversible effects. Some elements of green design may be sustainable too, for example those which
reduce energy usage and pollution, while others, such as ensuring internal air quality, may be considered
green despite having no influence on the ecological balance.
3) Although there are a good many advocates of ‘green’ construction in the architectural industry, able to
cite ample reasons why buildings should be designed in a sustainable way, not to mention a plethora of
architectural firms with experience in green design, this is not enough to make green construction come into
being. The driving force behind whether a building is constructed with minimal environmental impact lies
with the owner of the building; that is, the person financing the project. If the owner considers green design
unimportant, or of secondary importance, then more than likely, it will not be factored into the design.
4) The commissioning process plays a key role in ensuring the owner gets the building he wants, in terms of
design, costs and risk. At the predesign stage, the owner’s objectives, criteria and the type of design
envisaged are discussed and documented. This gives a design team a solid foundation on which they can
build their ideas, and also provides a specific benchmark against which individual elements, such as costs,
design and environmental impact can be judged.
5) Owners who skip the commissioning process, or fail to take ‘green’ issues into account when doing so,
often come a cropper once their building is up and running. Materials and equipment are installed as
planned, and, at first glance, appear to fulfil their purpose adequately. However, in time, the owner realises
that operational and maintenance costs are higher than necessary, and that the occupants are dissatisfied with
the results. These factors in turn lead to higher ownership costs as well as increased environmental impact.
6) In some cases, an owner may be aware of the latest trends in sustainable building design. He may have
done research into it himself, or he may have been informed of the merits of green design through early
discussion with professionals. However, firms should not take it as read that someone commissioning a
building already has a preconceived idea of how green he intends the structure to be. Indeed, this initial
interaction between owner and firm is the ideal time for a designer to outline and promote the ways that
green design can meet the client’s objectives, thus turning a project originally not destined for green design into a potential candidate.
7) Typically, when considering whether or not to adopt a green approach, an owner will ask about additional
costs, return for investment and to what extent green design should be the limiting factor governing
decisions in the design process. (1) Many of these costs are incurred by the increased cooperation between
the various stakeholders, such as the owner, the design professionals, contractors and end-users. (2)
However, in green design, they must be involved from the outset, since green design demands interaction
between these disciplines. (3) This increased coordination clearly requires additional expenditure. (4) A
client may initially balk at these added fees, and may require further convincing of the benefits if he is to
proceed. It is up to the project team to gauge the extent to which a client wants to get involved in a green
design project and provide a commensurate service.
8) Of course, there may be financial advantage for the client in choosing a greener design. Case studies cite
examples of green/sustainable designs which have demonstrated lower costs for long-term operation,
ownership and even construction. Tax credits and rebates are usually available on a regional basis for
projects with sustainable design or low emissions, among others.
76. The writer’s main purpose is to:
A. explain to professionals how they can influence clients to choose greener designs.
B. explain the importance of green building design in reducing long-term damage to the environment
C. explain to owners commissioning a building why ignoring green issues is costly and dangerous.
D. explain to professionals why it is important to follow the correct procedures when a building is commissioned.
77. The examples of green and sustainable designs given in paragraph 2 show that:
A. designs must be sustainable in order for them to be described as green.
B. for the purposes of this paper, the terms green and sustainable have the same meaning.
C. some sustainable designs are green, while others are not.
D. some designs are termed green, even though they are not sustainable.
78. According to paragraph 3, the reason for the lack of green buildings being designed is that:
A. few firms have any experience in design and constructing buildings to a green design.
B. construction companies are unaware of the benefits of green and sustainable designs.
C. firms do not get to decide whether a building is to be constructed sustainably.
D. firms tend to convince clients that other factors are more important than sustainability.
79. In paragraph 4, what does the word ‘benchmark’ mean? A. standard B. target C. process D. comparision
80. Which of the following is NOT true about the commissioning process?
A. It is conducted before the building is designed.
B. It is a stage that all clients go through when constructing a building.
C. It is a step in the design procedure in which the client’s goals are identified.
D. It provides the firm with a measure of how well they did their job.
81. In paragraph 5, what does the phrase ‘come a cropper’ mean? A. experience misfortune B. change one’s mind C. notice the benefits D. make a selection
82. In paragraph 6, the writer implies that:
A. most clients enter the commissioning process with a clear idea of whether or not they want a green building.
B. designers are usually less concerned about green design than the clients are.
C. the commissioning process offers a perfect opportunity to bring up the subject of green design.
D. firms should avoid working with clients who reject green designs in their buildings.
83. Where in paragraph 7 does this sentence belong?
In a typical project, landscape architects and mechanical, electrical and plumbing engineers do not become
involved until a much later stage. A. (1) B. (2) C. (3) D. (4)
84. In paragraph 7, what does ‘balk at’ mean? A. display shock towards B. agree to pay C. question the reason for D. understand the need for
85. Green buildings are most likely to incur more expense than conventional buildings due to:
A. higher taxes incurred on sustainable buildings.
B. higher long-term operational costs.
C. the higher cost of green construction materials.
D. increased coordination between construction teams. Your answers 76. 77. 78. 79. 80. 81. 82. 83. 84. 85.
Part 5. The passage below consists of four paragraphs marked A, B, C and D. For questions 86-95, read
the passage and do the task that follows. Write your answers in the corrresponding numbered boxes provided. IT’S NOT FAIR
Do animals share our sense of unfairness over displays of greed?
A How often have you seen rich people take to the streets, shouting that they're earning too much?
Protesters are typically blue-collar workers yelling that the minimum wage has to go up, or that their jobs
shouldn't go overseas. Concern about fairness is always asymmetrical, stronger in the poor than the rich.
And the underlying emotions aren't as lofty as the ideal itself. Children become thoroughy indignant at the
slightest discrepancy in the size of their slice of pizza compared to their sibling's. Their shouts of "That's not
fair!" never transcend their own desires. We're all for fair play so long as it helps us. There's even an old
story about this, in which the owner of a vineyard rounded up labourers at different times of the day. Early
in the morning, he went out to find labourers, offering each 1 denarius. But he offered the same to those
hired later in the day. The workers hired first thing in the morning expected to get more since they had
worked through the heat of the day, yet the owner didn't feel he owed them any more than he had originally promised.
B That this sense of unfairness may turn out to be quite ancient in evolutionary terms as well became clear
when graduate student Sarah Brosnan and I discovered it in monkeys. When testing pairs of capuchin
monkeys, we noticed how much they disliked seeing their partner get a better deal. We would offer a pebble
to one of the pair and then hold out a hand so that the monkey could give it back in exchange for a cucumber
slice. Alternating between them, both monkeys would happily barter 25 times in a row. The atmosphere
turned sour, however, as soon as we introduced inequity. One monkey would still receive cucumber, while
its partner now enjoyed grapes, a favourite food with monkeys. While that monkey had no problem, the one
still working for cucumber would lose interest. Worse, seeing its partner with juicy grapes, this monkey
would get agitated, hurl the pebbles out of the test chamber, sometimes even those measly cucumber slices.
A food normally devoured with gusto had become distasteful.
C There is a similarity here with the way we reject an unfair share of money. Where do these reactions
come from? They probably evolved in the service of cooperation. Caring about what others get may seem
petty and irrational, but in the long run it keeps one from being taken advantage of. Had we merely
mentioned emotions, such as "resentment" or "envy," our findings might have gone unnoticed. Now we
drew the interest of philosophers, anthropologists and economists, who almost choked on the monkey
comparison. As it happened, our study came out at the very time that there was a public outcry about the
multimillion dollar pay packages that are occasionally given out on Wall Street and elsewhere.
Commentators couldn't resist contrasting human society with our monkeys, suggesting that we could learn a thing or two from them.
D Our monkeys have not reached the point at which their sense of fairness stretches beyond egocentric
interests - for example, the one who gets the grape never levels the outcome by giving it to the other - but in
cooperative human societies, such as those in which men hunt large game, anthropologists have found great
sensitivity to equal distribution. Sometimes, successful hunters aren't even allowed to carve up their own kill
to prevent them from favouring their family. These cultures are keenly aware of the risk that inequity poses
to the social fabric of their society. Apes, as opposed to monkeys, may have an inkling of this connection.
High-ranking male chimpanzees, for example, sometimes break up fights over food without taking any for
themselves. During tests, a female received large amounts of milk and raisins, but noticed her friends
watching her from a short distance. After a while, she refused all rewards. Looking at the experimenter, she
kept gesturing to the others, until they were given a share of the goodies. She was doing the smart thing.
Apes think ahead, and if she had eaten her fill right in front of the rest, there might have been repercussions
when she rejoined them later in the day.
In which section does the writer mention Your answers:
A robust response to news of the writer’s research? 86.
One animal harbouring resentment towards another? 87.
An animal thinking of the consequences of their actions? 88.
Any unfairness provoking a strong and egocentric reaction? 89.
The animal behaviour shown not going as far as equivalent human 90. behaviour?
A sense of injustice from people having to cope with adverse conditions? 91.
A justification for the irrational sense of unfairness? 92.
An animal’s feeling of injustice leading to preposterous behaviour? 93.
Unfairness among humans being perceived by those who are less well-off? 94.
Examples of both humans and animals behaving with fairness? 95. III. READING
Part 1. For questions 46-55, fill each of the following numbered blanks with ONE suitable word and
write your answers in the corresponding numbered boxes provided.
Today many people find that the pressure they have at work makes their jobs untenable as they have to put
their families totally in the (46)________. So working from home, being more at the (47)________ of your
family rather than your current boss, has great appeal to many as they (48)________ up their own businesses
from bedrooms or garages. But don’t just think about it. Now is the time to start, so (49)________ while the
iron’s hot. Providing you are disciplined in what you do, and embrace the (50)________ of working mostly
alone and without the team spirit (51)________ by working alongside others, then what’s stopping you?
You gain far more (52)________ as you can choose the working hours that suit you. You will still have to
meet deadlines, but they are ones that you or customers have (53)________. And if you are at a
(54)________ end during quiet times, you can go out and do things you couldn’t do before. But don’t get
(55)________ away with the idea of making millions. You’ll need to be determined and work hard to
succeed, but it’ll pay off in the end.
Part 2. For questions 56-68, read the following passage and do the tasks that follow. WHAT IS PERSONALITY?
A. We are all familiar with the idea that different people have different personalities, but what does this
actually mean? It implies that different people behave in different ways, but it must be more than that. After
all, different people find themselves in different circumstances, and much of their behaviour follows from
this fact. However, our common experience reveals that different people respond in quite remarkably
different ways even when faced with roughly the same circumstances. Alan might be happy to live alone in
a quiet and orderly cottage, go out once a week, and stay in the same job for thirty years, whilst Beth likes
nothing better than exotic travel and being surrounded by vivacious friends and loud music.
B. In cases like these, we feel that it cannot be just the situation which is producing the differences in
behaviour. Something about the way the person is ‘wired up’ seems to be at work, determining how they
react to situations, and, more than that, the kind of situations they get themselves into in the first place. This
is why personality seems to become stronger as we get older; when we are young, our situation reflects
external factors such as the social and family environment we were born into. As we grow older, we are
more and more affected by the consequences of our own choices (doing jobs that we were drawn to,
surrounded by people like us whom we have sought out). Thus, personality differences that might have been
very slight at birth become dramatic in later adulthood.
C. Personality, then, seems to be the set of enduring and stable dispositions that characterise a person.
These dispositions come partly from the expression of inherent features of the nervous system, and partly
from learning. Researchers sometimes distinguish between temperament, which refers exclusively to
characteristics that are inborn or directly caused by biological factors, and personality, which also includes
social and cultural learning. Nervousness,for example, might be a factor of temperament, but religious piety is an aspect of personality.
D. The discovery that temperamental differences are real is one of the major findings of contemporary
psychology. It could easily have been the case that there were no intrinsic differences between people in
temperament, so that given the same learning history, the same dilemmas, they would all respond in much
the same way. Yet we now know that this is not the case.
E. Personality measures turn out to be good predictors of your health, how happy you typically are – even
your taste in paintings. Personality is a much better predictor of these things than social class or age. The
origin of these differences is in part innate. That is to say, when people are adopted at birth and brought up
by new families, their personalities are more similar to those of their blood relatives than to the ones they grew up with.
F. Personality differences tend to manifest themselves through the quick, gut-feeling, intuitive and
emotional systems of the human mind. The slower, rational, deliberate systems show less variation in output
from person to person. Deliberate rational strategies can be used to over-ride intuitive patterns of response,
and this is how people wishing to change their personalities or feelings have to go about it. As human
beings, we have the unique ability to look in at our personality from the outside and decide what we want to do with it.
G. So what are the major ways personalities can differ? The dominant approach is to think of the space of
possible personalities as being defined by a number of dimensions. Each person can be given a location in
the space by their scores on all the different dimensions. Virtually all theories agree on two of the main
dimensions, neuroticism (or negative emotionality) and extroversion (or positive emotionality). However,
they differ on how many additional ones they recognise. Among the most influential proposals are openness,
conscientiousness and agreeableness. In the next section I shall examine these five dimensions.
Questions 56-62: There are seven paragraphs marked A-G in the passage. Choose the correct heading for
each paragraph from the list below. Write your answers in the corresponding numbered box provided. List of Headings I A degree of control Ii
Where research has been carried out into the effects of family on personality Iii
Categorising personality features according to their origin Iv
A variety of reactions in similar situations V
A link between personality and aspects of our lives that aren’t chosen Vi
A possible theory that cannot be true Vii Measuring personality Vii
Potentially harmful effects of emotions i Ix
How our lives can reinforce our personalities X
Differences between men’s and women’s personalities 56. Paragraph A 57. Paragraph B 58. Paragraph C 59. Paragraph D 60. Paragraph E 61. Paragraph F 62. Paragraph G
Questions 63-68: Do the following statements reflect the claims of the writer? Write your answers in the
corresponding numbered box provided. Write YES
if the statement reflects the claims of the writer NO
if the statement reflects the claims of the writer
NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
63. Alan and Berth illustrate contrasting behaviour in similar situations.
64. As we grow older, we become more able to analyse our personalities.
65. Nervousness is an example of a learned characteristic.
66. The discovery of differences in temperament has changed the course of psychological research.
67. Adopted children provide evidence that we inherit more of our personality than we acquire.
68. The rational behaviour of different people shows greater similarity than their emotional behaviour.
Part 3. In the passage below, seven paragraphs have been removed. For questions 69-75, read the
passage and choose from the paragraphs A-H the one which fits each gap. There is ONE extra
paragraph which you do not need to use.
VALUES FOR A GODLESS AGE
When the Berlin Wall came tumbling down in 1989 so did the plaster cast which had kept the idea of human
rights in limbo. It was now free to evolve in response to the changing conditions of the late twentieth century. 69.
Of course, in one sense, the quest for universal human rights standards after the Second World War was an
early attempt to communicate across national boundaries, albeit a rather faltering endeavour, with its claims
to universality challenged both in terms of authorship and content. More recently, a loosening of the reins of
the human rights dialogue has ushered in wider debate.. 70.
Perhaps the best known of these is Amnesty International, established in 1961. Before Amnesty, there were
very few organizations like it, yet now there are thousands operating all over the world. Whether
campaigning for the protection of the environment or third-world debt relief, any such organization is
engaged in the debate about fundamental human rights. And it is no longer just a soft sideshow. 71.
The fact that strangers from different countries can communicate with each other through the worldwide
web is having a similar effect in dealing a blow to misinformation. During one recent major human rights
trial over sixty websites sprang up to cover the proceedings, while sales of the government-controlled
newspaper in that country plummeted. 72.
The effect of increased responsibility at this highest level has been to continually extend the consideration of
who is legally liable, directly or indirectly, under international human rights law. In part, this is an
acknowledgement that even individuals need to be held responsible for flagrant breaches of others' rights,
whether these are preventing protesters from peacefully demonstrating or abusing the rights of children. 73.
It has been noted that paradoxically, in such circumstances, it may be in the interests of human rights
organizations to seek to reinforce the legitimacy and authority of the state, within a regulated global framework. 74.
Part of the new trend in human rights thinking is therefore to include powerful private bodies within its
remit. The International commission of Jurists has recently explored ways in which international human
rights standards could be directly applied to transnational corporations. 75.
Whatever the way ahead, the lessons of the past must be learnt. Any world view or set of values which is
presented as self-evident is ultimately doomed to failure. The case for human rights always needs to be made
and remade. In a world where globalization too often seems like a modernized version of old-fashioned
cultural imperialism, it is important to query the claim that human rights are universally accepted. The missing paragraphs:
A. This is, after all, a uniquely propitious time, as the values and language of human rights are becoming
familiar to more and more people, who judge the merits or otherwise of political and economic decisions
increasingly in human rights terms. Arguments seem fresh and appealing in many quarters where once they sounded weak and stale.
B. On a global scale, it is not strong states that are the problem here but weak ones, as they fail to protect
their citizens from private power -whether it is paramilitaries committing murder and torture or transnational
corporations spreading contamination and pollution.
C. The problem is that the growth of globalization makes the protection of nation states a pointless goal in
certain circumstances. Transnational corporations with multiple subsidiaries operating in a number of
countries simultaneously wield significant economic and political power and it is often extremely difficult
for the state - both home and host governments - to exercise effective legal control over them.
D. If the proliferation of pressure groups has raised the profile of the human rights debate, satellite
television has reinforced much of the content of their campaigns. The fact that from our armchairs we can all
see live what is happening to others around the world has had an enormous impact on the way the struggle
for human rights is viewed. It would not be remotely believable to plead ignorance nowadays, for 24-hour
news coverage from the world's hotspots reaches us all.
E. The results of its investigations were published in 1999 in a unique pamphlet on Globalization, Human
Rights and the Rule of Law. The issue to be faced is whether to treat these and other corporations as 'large
para-state entities to be held accountable under the same sort of regime as states', or whether to look for
different approaches to accountability 'that are promulgated by consumer groups and the corporations themselves'.
F. No longer the preserve of representatives of nation states meeting under the auspices of the United
Nations, a developing conversation is taking place on a global scale and involving a growing cast of people -
for an increasing range of pressure groups now frame their aspirations in human rights terms.
G. One of the most significant of these is what has come to be called 'globalization', the collapsing of
national boundaries in economic, political and cultural life. From the expanding role of the world's financial
markets and the spread of transnational corporations to the revolution in communications and information
technology, more and more areas of people's lives are affected by regional, international or transnational
developments, whether they are aware of this or not.
H. Not only must states not infringe rights, and enforce those rights which fall within their direct sphere
(like providing a criminal justice system or holding fair elections), but they also have 'positive obligations' to
uphold rights enshrined in human rights treaties, even when it is private parties which have violated them.
Part 4. For questions 76-85, read an extract from an article on Charles Darwin's Theory of Evolution
and choose the answer A, B, C or D that fits best according to the text.
[1] Charles Darwin's Theory of Evolution is known as one of the most important and controversial scientific
theories ever published. Darwin was an English scientist in the 19th century best known for his book “On
the Origin of Species.” In his book, Darwin postulated different species shared characteristics of common
ancestors, that they branched off from common ancestors as they evolved, and that new traits and
characteristics were a result of natural selection. The theory is based on the assumptions that life
developed from non-life and progressed and evolved in an indirect manner. Therefore, the Theory of
Evolution, while controversial, has shaped and influenced the modern scientific world's thinking on the
development of life itself. Darwin was born February 12, 1809 in England. Although initially entering into
medicine, Darwin chose to pursue his interest in natural science and embarked on a five-year journey aboard
the H.M.S. Beagle, a British sloop belonging to the Royal Navy. Because of his experience aboard the
Beagle, he laid the foundation for his Theory of Evolution while also establishing himself within the
scientific community. Specifically, Darwin's keen observation of the fossils and wildlife he saw during his
time on the Beagle served as the basis for the cornerstone of his theory: natural selection.
[2] Natural selection contributes to the basis of Darwin's Theory of Evolution. One of the core tenets of
Darwin's theory is that more offspring are always produced for a species than can possibly survive. Yet, no
two offspring are perfectly alike. As a result, through random mutation and genetic drift, over time offspring
develop new traits and characteristics. Over time beneficial traits and characteristics that promote survival
will be kept in the gene pool while those that harm survival will be selected against. Therefore, this natural
selection ensures that a species gradually improves itself over an extended duration of time. On the other
hand, as a species continues to 'improve' itself, it branches out to create entirely new species that are no
longer capable of reproducing together.
[3] Through natural selection, organisms could branch off of each other and evolve to the point where they
no longer belong to the same species. Consequently, simple organisms evolve into more complex and
different organisms as species break away from one another. Natural selection parallels selective breeding
employed by humans on domesticated animals for centuries. Namely, horse breeders will ensure that horses
with particular characteristics, such as speed and endurance, are allowed to produce offspring while horses
that do not share those above-average traits will not. Therefore, over several generations, the new offspring
will already be pre-disposed towards being excellent racing horses.
[4] Darwin's theory is that 'selective breeding' occurs in nature as 'natural selection' is the engine behind
evolution. Thus, the theory provides an excellent basis for understanding how organisms change over time.
Nevertheless, it is just a theory and elusively difficult to prove. One of the major holes in Darwin's theory
revolves around “irreducibly complex systems.” An irreducibly complex system is known as a system where
many different parts must all operate together. As a result, in the absence of one, the system as a whole
collapses. Consequently, as modern technology improves, science can identify these “irreducibly complex
systems” even at microscopic levels. These complex systems, if so inter-reliant, would be resistant to
Darwin's supposition of how evolution occurs. As Darwin himself admitted, “To suppose that the eye with
all its inimitable contrivance for adjusting the focus for different distances, for admitting different amounts
of light, and for the correction of spherical and chromatic aberration, could have been formed by natural
selection, seems, I free confess, absurd in the highest degree".
[5] In conclusion, “On the Origin of Species” is known as one of the most consequential books ever
published. Darwin's Theory of Evolution remains, to this day, a lightning rod for controversy. The theory
can be observed repeatedly, but never proven, and there are a plethora of instances that cast doubt on the
processes of natural selection and evolution. Darwin's conclusions were a result of keen observation and
training as a naturalist. Despite the controversy that swirls around his theory, Darwin remains one of the
most influential scientists and naturalists ever born due to his Theory of Evolution.
76. The word 'postulated' in paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to: A. disagreed B. proved C. opposed D. hypothesized
77. Which sentence is most similar to the following sentence from paragraph 1?
The theory is based on the assumptions that life developed from non-life and progressed and evolved in an indirect manner.
A. The Theory of Evolution is founded on evidence that non-organic compounds are the basis of life, developed in an unguided way.
B. Based on certain assumptions, we can prove that evolution occurs in all living and non-living entities. C.
According to Darwin, if we assume that life at its origin was created from nonorganic compounds and
developed in an unguided manner, his theory holds true.
D. Due to the controversy, it is hard to make assumptions about the Theory of Evolution.
78. According to paragraph 2, what are the causes for species developing new traits and characteristics? A. medicine and longevity B. survival and selection C. mutation and genetic drift D. tenets and theory
79. According to paragraph 3, what is natural selection most comparable to as a process? A. branching trees B. selective breeding
C. irreducibly complex systems D. the human eye
80. What is the purpose of paragraph 3 in the passage?
A. To show the simple-to-complex nature of natural selection in context
B. To create doubt as to the validity of the theory
C. To contrast with the ideas presented in paragraph 2
D. To segue into the main point presented in paragraph 4
81. The word 'contrivance' in paragraph 4 is closest in meaning to: A. organization B. retention C. absurdity D. systems
82. All of the following are mentioned in paragraph 4 as a viewpoint to state that natural selection is difficult to prove EXCEPT
A. The belief that the complexity of the human eye could have been formed by natural selection seems highly unlikely
B. The presence of irreducibly complex system contradicts how evolution occurs
C. Modern technology has been used to prove that irreducibly complex systems exists
D. Selective breeding is the major hole in the theory of natural selection.
83. Examine the four █ in the selection below and indicate at which block the following sentence could be inserted into the passage:
The five-year voyage proved to be a major turning point in his life.
█ [A] Darwin was born February 12, 1809 in England. █ [B] Although initially entering into medicine,
Darwin chose to pursue his interest in natural science and embarked on a five-year journey aboard the
H.M.S. Beagle, a British sloop belonging to the Royal Navy █ [C] Because of his experience aboard the
Beagle, he laid the foundation for his Theory of Evolution while also establishing himself within the scientific community. █ [D] A. [A] B. [B] C. [C] D. [D]
84. In paragraph 4, what was the author's purpose of including a quote that the belief that the complexity of
the human eye could have been formed by natural selection seems highly unlikely?
A. To provide evidence that irreducibly complex systems exists
B. To prove that the natural selection contradicts the basis of Darwin's Theory of Evolution
C. To support that the natural selection contributes to the basis of Darwin's Theory of Evolution
D. To support the claim that natural selection is just a theory and difficult to prove
85. These sentences express the most important ideas in the passage EXCEPT
A. Natural selection explains how species change gradually over time.
B. The Theory of Evolution describes how species 'branch out' from a common ancestor.
C. Creationists strongly object to the premise of the Theory of Evolution
D. Both Darwin and “On the Origin of Species” are among the most influential things to happen to naturalist science.
Part 5. The passage below consists of six paragraphs marked A, B, C, D, E and F. For questions 86-95,
read the passage and do the task that follows. Write your answers in the corrresponding numbered boxes provided.
Critics give their personal opinions of films they have seen recently
A Blues Brothers 2000
Eighteen years after the original Blues Brothers movie, director John Landis and his co-writer Dan Ackroyd
have decided to revive the franchise. Unfortunately, the thrill has gone, although the music is as brash and
energetic as ever and Elwood’s stunt driving continues to astound.
Sequences such as the huge, ghostly skeletons of cowboys galloping across the night during the Blues
Brothers’ spirited rendition of ‘Riders in the Sky (A Cowboy Legend)’ look stunning in themselves, but have no bearing on the story.
Blues fans will doubtless relish the wealth of musical talent on display (it’s a far richer array than the first
film’s). Over time Blues Brothers 2000 will probably attain the same massive cult status as its predecessor,
but only the most indulgent of audiences is likely to be happy with this sequel.
B Journey to the Beginning of the World
This is not Manoel de Oliveira’s final film – the tireless 90-year-old director has since made a follow-up.
However, it was the last appearance of Marcello Mastroianni, playing a film director called Manoel, to all
appearances a representation of Oliveira himself.
Oliveira is arguably the most marginal of Europe’s major directors, especially for British audiences – his
only previous release here (and then only just) was 1993’s Abraham Valley.
However, on the festival circuit Oliveira is revered, as much for his longevity as for his varied and highly
eccentric output. The film’s opening section offers us something dauntingly simple, shot with audacious
economy – a series of close-ups of people talking in the back of a car. It promises a sort of film symposium
in the guise of a road movie: after all, on most road trips, there’s little to do but talk and watch the scenery.
At times, Oliveira simply has his camera gaze out of the car’s rear window as the road recedes. C City of Angels
Although it is not without flaws, City of Angels stands out from the dreary succession of recent Hollywood
remakes of European movies. This is partly due to Dana Stevens’ screenplay and Brad Silberling’s direction,
which grab hold of the theme of director Wim Wenders’ 1987 film Wings of Desire and head off very much
in their own direction with it. Most of all, however, City of Angels pleases because it is quite simply so
surprising for a mainstream Hollywood movie. Designer Shay Cunliffe hits the tone precisely, with the
angels in baggy suits and long black duster coats, which are especially effective when they gather in some of
their preferred meeting places – the beach at dawn and dusk, in the city library during the day – invisible to all but each other (and us).
There is nothing in Silberling’s previous career – which comprises directing episodes of LA Law and NYPD
Blue for television, followed by the kids’ film Casper – to prepare one for the confidence with which he
handles a film in which tone is all. City of Angels is the sort of one-off we should surely welcome. D Dad Savage
Strikingly shot in the bleak flatlands of Norfolk, Dad Savage is a British thriller that manages to conjure up a
whole new cinematic landscape, and populates it without falling back on the stereotypes of bent policeman
and East End gangsters. Making her feature debut, television director Betsan Morris Evans shows that she
can put the wide Super 35 frame to impressive use as well. In the claustrophobic scenes in the cellar (to
which the film keeps returning in between flashbacks), she charts the characters’ changing allegiances
through the way she arranges them across the screen. Above ground, meanwhile, the wide screen captures
the yawning emptiness of the East Anglian marshes, and hints at the corresponding emptiness of the
backwater life Vic, Bob and H are trying to escape from by turning to crime.
If anything, the structure is a bit too intricate: the transitions in and out of flashback are jolting, and it’s not
always clear whose point of view we’re flashing back from. E Mojo
Adapted from Jez Butterworth’s acclaimed stage play, Mojo occupies the same strange netherworld as last
year’s little-seen The SlabBoys, directed by John Byrne. Both were directed by their original writers; and
both were brought to the big screen through television funding, which underlines their ultimate smallscreen
destiny. Where Mojo has the edge on Slab Boys, however, is in the sheer quality of its performances, which
consistently hold the audience’s attention even as the narrative shambles distractingly.
The fact that Mojo’s chances of making much impact among cinema-goers are remote shouldn’t dampen
Butterworth’s obvious enthusiasm. On this evidence, he has enough talent to suggest triumphs ahead,
although one wonders whether the screen or the theatre will prove more enticing for his trade. F The Wedding Singer
The Wedding Singer is the third collaboration between the comedian Adam Sandler and writer Tim Herlihy,
and as you might expect from the men behind Billy Madison and Happy Gilmore, it’s not a particularly
clever comedy. The 1985 setting, of no importance to the plot, is the pretext for some cheap retro humour.
But somehow, for all its simple-mindedness, this turns out to be a very winning romantic comedy. A
pleasant surprise is Sandler’s singing. Playing opposite him is Drew Barrymore, who has managed to
become a celebrity without ever having a lead role in a decent movie. As Julia in this film, however, she
does wonders with an unremarkable part.
For which of the films does the reviewer state the following? Your answers:
One of the actors gets the most out of an uninspiring role. 86.
It is a follow-up to an earlier film. 87.
It is not likely to be a commercial success. 88.
The public has already had a chance to see it in a different medium. 89.
There are some impressive scenes which are of no significance to the 90. narrative.
It is more successful than other films of its kind. 91.
One of the characters in the film is likened to the director. 92.
There is no justification for setting the film in the past. 93.
The lives of the characters are mirrored in the scenery. 94.
It has an unusual setting for a film of this kind. 95.
III. READING (50 POINTS)
Part 1. For questions 46-55, fill each of the following numbered blanks with ONE suitable word and
write your answers in the corresponding numbered boxes provided.
Many artefacts (46)________ enduring cultural significance from the last century were made from plastic. It
was always confidently assumed that this rather mundane (47)________was virtually indestructible.
(48)________ that some of these artefacts have become museum pieces, we have discovered that this
(49)________ was sadly mistaken.
The degradation of plastics is worrying both scientists and historians, who are (50)________ against time to
save our plastic heritage before it crumbles into dust. Our love affair with plastics stems in large
(51)________from the fact that they can be (52)________ into just about any shape imginable. When it
comes to longevity, however, they have a serious (53)________: their chemical structure breaks down when
they are exposed to air and sunlight.
Many now argue that we must consider the cultural legacy we will be (54)________ future generations.
Without urgent intervention many arterfacts will be lost forever. But developing effective conservation
strategies is difficult because what (55)________ to preserve one type of plastic can have a catastrophic
effect on the lifespan of another.
Part 2. For questions 56-68, read the following passage and do the tasks that follow. THE BIRTH OF SUBURBIA
A. There is no single pivotal moment that could be separated out from any other as the conception of the
suburban lifestyle; from the early 1800s, various types of suburban development have sprung up and
evolved in their own localised ways, from the streetcar suburbs of New York to the dormitory towns outside
of London. It is William Levitt, however, who is generally regarded as the father of modern suburbia.
During World War II, Levitt served in the United States Navy where he developed expertise in the mass
construction of military housing, a process that he streamlined using uniform and interchangeable parts. In
1947, the budding developer used this utilitarian knowledge to begin work with his father and architect
brother constructing a planned community on Long Island, New York. With an emphasis on speed,
efficiency, and cost-effective production, the Levitts were soon able to produce over 30 units a day.
B. William Levitt correctly predicted the demand for affordable, private, quiet, and comfortable homes
from returning Gls after World War II and with the baby boom starting to kick in. All the original lots sold
out in a matter of days, and by 1951, nearly 18,000 homes in the area had been constructed by the Levitt &
Sons Company. Levittown quickly became the prototype of mass-produced housing, spurring the
construction of similar projects in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and even Puerto Rico, followed by a new
industry, and soon a new way of life and a new ideal for the American family.
C. One of the major criticisms of suburbia is that it can lead to isolation and social dislocation. With
properties spread out over great swathes of land, sealed off from one another by bushes, fences and trees, the
emphasis of suburban life is placed squarely on privacy rather than community. In the densely populated
urban settlements that predated suburbs (and that are still the foremost way of life for some people),
activities such as childcare and household chores as well as sources of emotional and moral support were
widely socialised. This insured that any one family would be able to draw on a pool of social resources from
their neighbours, building cohabitants and family on nearby streets. Suburbia breaks these networks down
into individual and nuclear family units resulting in an increase in anti-social behaviour even amongst the
wealthy. Teens from wealthy suburban families, for example, are more likely to smoke, drink alcohol, and
use drugs than their poorer urban peers, and are also more likely to experience depression and anxiety.
D. Another major problem with the suburban lifestyle is its damaging ecological impact. The comparison of
leafy, quiet, and low-density suburbs with life in the concrete towers of sooty, congested urban conurbations
is actually quite misleading; as it turns out, if you want to be kind to the natural environment, the key is to
stay away from it. Suburbia fails the environmental friendliness test on a number of counts. Firstly, due to
their low population density, suburbs consume natural land at a much higher rate than high-density row
housing or apartment buildings. Secondly, they encourage the use of personal motor vehicles, often at a rate
of one per family member, at the expense of public transport. It is also much less efficient to provide
electricity and water to individual suburban houses instead of individual units in an apartment building. In
his comparison of urban and suburban pollution, Edward L. Glaeser concluded that we need to “build more
sky towers – especially in California”. Virtually everywhere, he found cities to be cleaner than suburbs. And
the difference in carbon dioxide emissions between high-density cities and their suburbs (for example, in
New York) was the highest. Urban residents of New York can claim on average to produce nearly 15,000
pounds of carbon dioxide less than their suburban peers.
E. Another negative aspect of suburban life is its stifling conformity and monotony of social experience. It
was not just the nuts and bolts and the concrete foundations of suburban houses that got replicated street
upon street, block upon block, and suburb upon suburb; it was everything from the shops and cultural life to
people’s hopes, dreams, and aspirations. Suburbia gave birth to the “strip mall”, a retail establishment that is
typically composed of a collection of national or global chain stores, all stocked with a centrally dictated,
homogenous array of products. The isolation and lack of interaction in suburbs has also encouraged the
popularity of television, a passively receptive medium for the viewer that, in the early days at least, offered
an extremely limited scope of cultural exposure compared with the wealth of experiences available in the
inner city. Meanwhile, much of the inner-city “public sphere” has been lost with suburban flight. The public
sphere is the area of social life in which people come together to freely discuss and identify social problems.
In the city, this has traditionally occurred around newsstands, in coffee houses, salons, theatres, meeting
halls, and so on. Suburbia has not found a way to replace this special type of social experience, however.
Social meeting points in the suburbs tend to be based exclusively around specific interests such as sports or
cultural clubs, with no broad forms of daily social interaction.
F. These points do not suggest the idea of suburbia itself is flawed, but that it has not been executed in a
way that takes into account the full spectrum of human needs and desires. This likely reflects the hasty,
thrown-together nature of early suburban development. With the baby boom rippling across Western
countries and demand for family-friendly housing skyrocketing, developers and city planners were unable to
develop sophisticated models. Now, however, we should take time to consider what has gone wrong and
how we can reconfigure the suburb. How can we imbue suburban life with the lost sphere of public
discussion and debate? How can people maintain their sought-after privacy without sacrificing a sense of
community? How can we use new technologies to make suburbs environmentally friendly? These are
questions for which the developers of tomorrow will have to find answers in case the dream of suburbia
becomes the nightmare of disturbia.
Questions 56-60: There are six paragraphs marked A-F in the passage. In which paragraph is the
following mentioned? Write your answers in the corresponding numbered box provided.
56. A motive in constructing taller buildings
57. Where people might discuss issues of societal concern in urban locations
58. The founder of what is broadly understood as contemporary ‘suburbs’
59. Examples of problems suffered by the youth that suburban lifestyle can make worse
60. A model for suburban development in the latter half of the 20th century
Questions 61-66: Do the following statements reflect the claims of the writer? Write your answers in the
corresponding numbered box provided. Write YES
if the statement reflects the claims of the writer NO
if the statement reflects the claims of the writer
NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
61. A good principle for ecological preservation is to avoid human interference.
62. In some countries, suburbs are more environmentally friendly than in the USA.
63. Suburban development fosters the use of both public and private forms of transport.
64. People cannot relate to each other in suburbs because their lives are too different.
65. There is not much variety amongst the goods at a strip mall.
66. Television has not tended to offer the same diversity as urban cultural outlets.
Questions 67-68: Which TWO of the following does the author conclude? Choose TWO letters A-E.
Write your answers in the corresponding numbered box provided.
A. The very concept of a healthy suburban lifestyle is problematic.
B. The speed of suburban growth has contributed to its imperfections.
C. By thinking about human and ecological needs, suburbs can become better places to live.
D. Developers will have to think about ways of living that do not require suburbs.
E. Suburbs have their downsides, but they are the best way for parents to raise children.
Part 3. In the passage below, seven paragraphs have been removed. For questions 69-75, read the
passage and choose from the paragraphs A-H the one which fits each gap. There is ONE extra
paragraph which you do not need to use. Write your answers in the corresponding numbered box provided.
Happy as your genes allow
The true key to happiness, says researcher David Lykken, lies in our genes. To many of us, this notion might
seem absurd. Humans seem to be on an emotional roller coaster, the ups and downs of which often appear to
be determined by fate. We feel good when we win an award or make a new friend; bad when we have to
face one of life‘s inevitable setbacks. 69.
Lykken‘s interest in happiness was sparked by his earliest research into its possible determinants. Scientists
have tried for years to identify a link between contentment and marital status, socioeconomic position,
professional success and other factors. Yet they invariably come up empty handed. “I was intrigued by the
way that things like beauty, wealth and status never seemed to make much difference,” says Lykken, a semi-
retired professor at the university of Minnesota. 70.
As part of the comprehensive research on the siblings, Lykken had asked his subjects a range of questions
about how happy they felt. He decided to revisit those studies to see if he could establish a ge netic
connection. The results, says Lykken, were surprising. He found a very high correlation between happiness
and genes as revealed by the similarities in the twins‘ responses to questions, irrespective of whether they
had been raised together or apart. 71.
Nine years on, therefore, he decided to ask the same subjects the same questions. The evidence Lykken
found suggested that their contentment was 90 per cent genetic. Both twins‘ previous responses and those
made almost a decade later enabled the answers of the other twin to be predicted with a high level of
accuracy. Lykken‘s first reaction was to label the pursuit of happiness as a futile exercise. 72.
In his own life, Lykken concentrates on completing small tasks that give him a great deal of satisfaction. “I
have just spent the morning writing, which is something I like and that I am pretty good at”, he says. “This
afternoon, I‘ll bake some loaves of bread, because I need that for my morning toast. I just discovered that
American Psychological Association wants to give me an award, and that makes me feel good, but maybe
not as good as that daily baking.” 73.
The demeanour of those we live with is another vital factor. Teenagers with happy parents tend to be happy
themselves. It is not until they leave home that they find their own set point. Likewise, a husband or wife‘s
inner contentment has a large bearing on that of their spouse. Marrying an upbeat person is probably the best mood enhancer around. 74.
In the science fiction work Brave New World, for example, people who took “happy pills” were incapable of
seeing life as it truly was. Fans of Woody Allen, the perpetually depressed actor and film maker, will
remember the scene in the film Annie Hall in which he asks a strolling couple why they are so happy.
“Because we are so shallow and mindless,” they reply. 75.
Lykken is skeptical. “Even if you can speak their language, they might not have the same psychological
vocabulary for expressing how they feel at any given moment,” he says. Lykken refuses to believe that there
is any correlation between the state of the society‘s technical or intellectual development and personal
happiness. In fact, he argues that good humour is probably favoured by evolution. “The gloomiest probably
don‘t do very well in the romance stakes,” he theories. “So, as a human race, we‘re probably getting slightly happier over time.” The missing paragraphs:
A. “Then I began to ask myself whether those findings may have been influenced by how people were
feeling on a certain day – if they had just cut themselves, for example, or had trouble finding a parking space,” he says.
B. Lykken also advocates control of anger as another regular way of boosting happiness questions. “People
would rather feel anger than feel scared,” he says. “When we are angry we feel strong, but in the long run, I
believe it‘s more harmful to happiness than anything else.”
C. The surest way to do this, Lykken believes, is to lose sight of our purpose in life. We describe the case
of a Californian firefighter - the patient of a friend – who recently retired from the service and quickly
became depressed. His mood picked up when he discovered that many windows in the neighbourhood
needed to have things fixed round the house.
D. Some philosophers question whether humans should actually be seeking such happiness including
arrangements in the first place. Joy is sometimes associated with ignorance, they argue, causing happy
people to “see the world through rose-tinted glasses”.
E. According to Lykken, however, each person possesses a “happiness set point” – the level of contentment
to which we return after the impact of such specific events is absorbed. While humans teeter wildly around
that point during their lives, experiencing moments of extreme elation or depression, in the long run they
gravitate back to their pre-set happiness level.
F. “I said at the time that trying to be happier might be the same as trying to be taller,” he recalls, but he no
longer views his research in that light. While the individual‘s sense of well-being might be 90 per cent
predetermined, people still have substantial leeway to control their emotions. Lykken believes humans can –
and should – aim to achieve happiness slightly above their pre-set level.
G. In the late 1990s, the psychologist realized that he might be able to shed some further light on the
subject. “That was a happy moment,” he jokes. Over a long period of time, Lykken had been following the
progress of 300 pairs of identical twins. Identical twins help scientists differentiate between the effects of the
environment and heredity. Because twins‘ genetic make-up is the same, small differences between them
argue in favour of heredity. Large divergences point to the environment as the greater determining factor.
H. Some people would rule out even this possibility, insisting that happiness is inconsistent with modern
times. Contemporary lives are so stressful, they say, that joy becomes elusive. Primitive tribes are better off.
We should feel nostalgic for “simpler” times when we felt content with so much less.
Part 4. For questions 76-85, read an extract from an article on the craft of perfumery and choose the
answer A, B, C or D that fits best according to the text. Write your answers in the corrresponding numbered boxes provided.
1. The craft of perfumery has an ancient and global heritage. The art flourished in Ancient Rome, where the
emperors were said to bathe in scent. After the fall of Rome, much of the knowledge was lost, but survived
in Islamic civilizations in the Middle Ages. Arab and Persian pharmacists developed essential oils from the
aromatic plants of the Indian peninsula. They developed the processes of distillation and suspension in
alcohol, which allowed for smaller amounts of raw materials to be used than in the ancient process, by
which flower petals were soaked in warm oil. This knowledge was carried back to European monasteries during the Crusades.
2. At first, the use of fragrances was primarily associated with healing. Aromatic alcoholic waters were
ingested as well as used externally. Fragrances were used to purify the air, both for spiritual and health
purposes. During the Black Death, the bubonic plague was thought to have resulted from a bad odour
which could be averted by inhaling pleasant fragrances such as cinnamon. The Black Death led to an
aversion to using water for washing, and so perfume was commonly used as a cleaning agent.
3. Later on, the craft of perfume re-entered Europe, and was centred in Venice, chiefly because it was an
important trade route and a centre for glass-making. Having such materials at hand was essential for the
distillation process. In the late seventeenth century, trade soared in France, when Louis XIV brought in
policies of protectionism and patronage which stimulated the purchase of luxury goods. Here, perfumery
was the preserve of glove-makers. The link arose since the tanning of leather required putrid substances.
Consequently, the gloves were scented before they were sold and worn. A glove and perfume makers’ guild
had existed here since 1190. Entering it required 7 years of formal training under a master perfumer.
4. The trade in perfume flourished during the reign of Louis XV, as the master glove-and-perfume makers,
particularly those trading in Paris, received patronage from the royal court, where it is said that a different
perfume was used each week. The perfumers diversified into other cosmetics including soaps, powders,
white face paints and hair dyes. They were not the sole sellers of beauty products. Mercers, spicers, vinegar-
makers and wig-makers were all cashing in on the popularity of perfumed products. Even simple
shopkeepers were coming up with their own concoctions to sell.
5. During the eighteenth century, more modern, capitalist perfume industry began to emerge, particularly in
Britain where there was a flourishing consumer society. In France, the revolution initially disrupted the
perfume trade due to its association with aristocracy, however, it regained momentum later as a wider range
of markets were sought both in the domestic and overseas markets. The guild system was abolished in 1791,
allowing new high-end perfumery shops to open in Paris.
6. Perfume became less associated with health in 1810 with a Napoleonic ordinance which required
perfumers to declare the ingredients of all products for internal consumption. Unwilling to divulge their
secrets, traders concentrated on products for external use. Napoleon affected the industry in other ways too.
With French ports blockaded by the British during the Napoleonic wars, the London perfumers were able to
dominate the markets for some time.
7. One of the significant changes in the nineteenth century was the idea of branding. Until then, trademarks
had had little significance in the perfumery where goods were consumed locally, although they had a long
history in other industries. One of the pioneers in this field was Rimmel who was nationalized as a British
citizen in 1857. He took advantage of the spread of railroads to reach customers in wider markets. To do
this, he built a brand which conveyed prestige and quality, and were worth paying a premium for. He
recognised the role of design in enhancing the value of his products, hiring a French lithographer to create
the labels for his perfume bottles.
8. Luxury fragrances were strongly associated with the affluent and prestigious cities of London and Paris.
Perfumers elsewhere tended to supply cheaper products and knock-offs of the London and Paris brands. The
United States perfume industry, which developed around the docks in New York where French oils were
being imported, began in this way. Many American firms were founded by immigrants, such as William
Colgate, who arrived in 1806. At this time, Colgate was chiefly known as a perfumery. Its Cashmere
Bouquet brand had 625 perfume varieties in the early 20th century.
76. The purpose of the text is to
A. compare the perfumes from different countries.
B. describe the history of perfume making.
C. describe the problems faced by perfumers.
D. explain the different uses of perfume over time.
77. Which of the following is NOT true about perfume making in Islamic countries?
A. They created perfume by soaking flower petals in oil.
B. They dominated perfume making after the fall of the Roman Empire.
C. They took raw materials for their perfumes from India.
D. They created a technique which required fewer plant materials.
78. Why does the writer include this sentence in paragraph 2?
During the Black Death, the bubonic plague was thought to have resulted from a bad odour which
could be averted by inhaling pleasant fragrances such as cinnamon.
A. To explain why washing was not popular during the Black Death.
B. To show how improper use of perfume caused widespread disease.
C. To illustrate how perfumes used to be ingested to treat disease.
D. To give an example of how fragrances were used for health purposes.
79. Why did the perfume industry develop in Paris?
A. Because it was an important trade route.
B. Because of the rise in the glove-making industry.
C. Because of the introduction of new trade laws.
D. Because of a new fashion in scented gloves.
80. What does “putrid” mean (paragraph 3)? A. Bad-smelling B. Rare C. Prestigious D. Numerous
81. Which of the following people most influenced the decline of perfumes as medicine? A. Louis XIV B. Louis XV C. Rimmel D. Napoleon
82. In paragraph 4, it is implied that
A. master glove and perfume makers created a new perfume each week.
B. the Royal Court only bought perfume from masters.
C. mercers, spicers and other traders began to call themselves masters.
D. cosmetics were still only popular within the Royal Courts.
83. How did the French Revolution affect the Parisian perfume industry?
A. The industry declined then rose again.
B. The industry collapsed and took a long time to recover.
C. The industry was greatly boosted.
D. The industry lost most of its overseas customers.
84. Which of the following is NOT true of Rimmel?
A. He was one of the first people to utilise trademarks.
B. He created attractive packaging for his products.
C. His products were more expensive than other brands.
D. He transported his goods to potential customers by train.
85. What is implied about the New York perfume industry?
A. It was the fastest-growing perfume industry in the world at that time.
B. It was primarily developed by immigrants arriving from France.
C. It copied luxury fragrances and sold them cheaply.
D. There was a wider range of fragrances available here than elsewhere.
Part 5. The passage below consists of six paragraphs marked A-F. For questions 86-95, read the passage
and do the task that follows. Write your answers in the corrresponding numbered boxes provided.
John McCarthy – Computer Pioneer
A John McCarthy was often described as the father of “artificial intelligence” (AI), a branch of computer
science founded on the notion that human intelligence can be simulated by machines. McCarthy, who coined
the term in 1956, defined it as “the science and engineering of making intelligent machines” and created the
Lisp computer language to help researchers in the AI field. He maintained that there were aspects of the
human mind that could be described precisely enough to be replicated: “The speeds and memory capacities
of present computers may be insufficient to simulate many of the higher functions of the human brain,” he
wrote in 1955, “but the major obstacle is not lack of machine capacity but our inability to write programs
taking full advantage of what we have.”
B McCarthy went on to create AI laboratories at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and later at
Stanford University where he became the laboratory’s director in 1965. During the 1960s he developed the
concept of computer time-sharing, which allows several people to use a single, central, computer at the same
time . If this approach were adopted, he claimed in 1961, “computing may some day be organised as a
public utility”. The concept of time-sharing made possible the development so-called “cloud computing”
(the delivery of computing as a service rather than a product). Meanwhile, his Lisp programming language,
which he invented in 1958, underpinned the development of voice recognition technology.
C McCarthy’s laboratory at Stanford developed systems that mimic human skills - such as vision, hearing
and the movement of limbs — as well as early versions of a self-driving car. He also worked on an early
chess-playing program, but came to believe that computer chess was a distraction, observing in 1997 that it
had developed “much as genetics might have if the geneticists had concentrated their efforts starting in 1910
on breeding racing Drosophila. We would have some science, but mainly we would have very fast fruit flies.”.
D The concept of AI inspired numerous books and sci-fi films, notably Stanley Kubrick’s dystopian 2001:
A Space Odyssey (1968). In the real world, however, the technology made slow progress, and McCarthy
later admitted that there was some way to go before it would be possible to develop computer programs as
intelligent as humans. Meanwhile he applied himself to addressing theoretical issues about the nature of
human and robotic decision-making and the ethics of creating artificial beings. He also wrote a sci-fi story,
The Robot and the Baby, to “illustrate my opinions about what household robots should be like”. The robot
in the story decides to simulate love for a human baby.
E McCarthy taught himself mathematics as a teenager by studying textbooks at the California Institute of
Technology. When he arrived at the institute to study the subject aged 16, he was assigned to a graduate
course. In 1948 a symposium at Caltech on “Cerebral Mechanisms in Behaviour”, that included papers on
automata and the brain and intelligence, sparked his interest in developing machines that can think like
people. McCarthy received a doctorate in Mathematics from Princeton University in 1951 and was
immediately appointed to a chair in the subject. It was at Princeton that he proposed the programming
language Lisp as a way to process more sophisticated mathematical concepts than Fortran, which had been
the dominant programming medium until then. McCarthy joined the Stanford faculty in 1962 after short
appointments at Princeton, Dartmouth and MIT, remaining there until his official retirement in 2000.
F During the 1970s he presented a paper on buying and selling by computer, prophesying what has become
known as e-commerce. He also invited a local computer hobby group, the Homebrew Computer Club, to
meet at the Stanford laboratory. Its members included Steve Jobs and Steven Wozniak, who would go on to
found Apple. However, his own interest in developing time-sharing systems led him to underestimate the
potential of personal computers. When the first PCs emerged in the 1970s he dismissed them as “toys”.
McCarthy continued to work as an emeritus professor at Stanford after his official retirement, and at the time
of his death was working on a new computer language called Elephant. McCarthy won the Turing Award
from the Association for Computing Machinery in 1972, the Kyoto Prize in 1988 and the National Medal of
Science in 1990. Despite his disappointment with AI, McCarthy remained confident of the power of
mathematics: “He who refuses to do arithmetic is doomed to talk nonsense,” he wrote in 1995.
In which section are the following mentioned? Your answers:
the speed at which McCarthy made progress in his career 86.
an opinion McCarthy had which proved to be mistaken 87.
McCarthy’s belief that one of his ideas could have a widespread function 88.
McCarthy’s attention to the moral aspects of an area of research 89.
what inspired McCarthy to go into a certain area of research 90.
McCarthy’s view of what was the cause of a certain problem 91.
McCarthy’s attempt to introduce a rival to something commonly used 92.
McCarthy’s continuing belief in the importance of a certain field 93.
a prevailing notion about the stature of McCarthy 94.
McCarthy’s criticism of an area of research he had been involved in 95.
III. READING (50 POINTS)
Part 1. For questions 46-55, fill each of the following numbered blanks with ONE suitable word and
write your answers in the corresponding numbered boxes provided.
A language is a system of communication used within a particular social group. Inevitably, the emotions
created by group loyalty get in the (46)________ of objective judgements. When we think we are making
such a judgement, we are often merely making a statement about our prejudices. It is highly instructive to
examine these occasionally. I myself have very powerful prejudices about what I call Americanisms. I see
(47)________whenever I read a certain popular woman columnist in a certain popular daily paper. I wait
with a (48)________ of fascinated horror for her to use the locution "I guess", as in "I guess he really loves
you after all" or "I guess you'd better get yourself a new boyfriend". I see in this form the essence of
Americanism, a (49)________ to the British Way of Life. But this is obviously nonsense, and I know it. I
know, that "I guess" is at least as old as Chauser, (50)________ British English, something sent over in the
"Mayflower". But, like most of us, I do not really like submitting to reason; I much prefer (51)________
prejudice. And so I stoutly condemn "I guess" as an American importation and its use by a British writer as
a betrayal of the traditions of my national group.
Such condemnation can seem virtuous, because patriotism - which means loyalty to the national group - is a
noble (52)________. While virtue burns in the mind, adrenaline courses round the body and makes us feel
good. Reason never has this exhilarating (53)________ effect. And so patriotic euphoria justifies our
contempt of foreign languages and makes us unwilling to learn them properly. Chinese is still regarded in
the West as a huge joke - despite what T.S. Eliot calls its "greatly intellectual dignity" - and radio comedians
can even raise a snigger by speaking mock-Chinese. Russian is, of course, nothing more than a deep vodka-
rich rumble bristling (54)________ "vich" and "ski". As for German - that is an ugly language, aggressively
guttural. We rarely admit that it seems ugly because of the painful wars, that it is all a (55)________ of association.
Part 2. For questions 56-68, read the following passage and do the tasks that follow. FUN FOR THE MASSES
A. Are you better off than you used to be? Even after six years of sustained economic growth, Americans
worry about that question. Economists who plumb government income statistics agree that Americans’
incomes, as measured in inflation-adjusted dollars, have risen more slowly in the past two decades than in
earlier times, and that some workers’ real incomes have actually fallen. They also agree that by almost any
measure, income is distributed less equally than it used to be. Neither of those claims, however, sheds much
light on whether living standards are rising or falling. This is because ‘living standard’ is a highly
amorphous concept. Measuring how much people earn is relatively easy, at least compared with measuring how well they live.
B. A recent paper by Dora Costa, an economist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, looks at the
living-standards debate from an unusual direction. Rather than worrying about cash incomes, Ms Costa
investigates Americans’ recreational habits over the past century. She finds that people of all income levels
have steadily increased the amount of time and money they devote to having fun. The distribution of dollar
incomes may have become more skewed in recent years, but leisure is more evenly spread than ever.
C. Ms Costa bases her research on consumption surveys dating back as far as 1888. The industrial workers
surveyed in that year spent, on average, three-quarters of their incomes on food, shelter and clothing. Less
than 2% of the average family’s income was spent on leisure but that average hid large disparities. The share
of a family’s budget that was spent on having fun rose sharply with its income: the lowest-income families
in this working-class sample spent barely 1% of their budgets on recreation, while higher earners spent more
than 3%. Only the latter group could afford such extravagances as theatre and concert performances, which
were relatively much more expensive than they are today.
D. Since those days, leisure has steadily become less of a luxury. By 1991, the average household needed to
devote only 38% of its income to the basic necessities, and was able to spend 6% on recreation. Moreover,
Ms Costa finds that the share of the family budget spent on leisure now rises much less sharply with income
than it used to. At the beginning of this century a family’s recreational spending tended to rise by 20% for
every 10% rise in income. By 1972-73, a 10% income gain led to roughly a 15% rise in recreational
spending, and the increase fell to only 13% in 1991. What this implies is that Americans of all income levels
are now able to spend much more of their money on having fun.
E. One obvious cause is that real income overall has risen. If Americans in general are richer, their
consumption of entertainment goods is less likely to be affected by changes in their income. But Ms Costa
reckons that rising incomes are responsible for, at most, half of the changing structure of leisure spending.
Much of the rest may be due to the fact that poorer Americans have more time off than they used to. In
earlier years, low-wage workers faced extremely long hours and enjoyed few days off. But since the 1940s,
the less skilled (and lower paid) have worked ever-fewer hours, giving them more time to enjoy leisure pursuits.
F. Conveniently, Americans have had an increasing number of recreational possibilities to choose from.
Public investment in sports complexes, parks and golf courses has made leisure cheaper and more
accessible. So too has technological innovation. Where listening to music used to imply paying for concert
tickets or owning a piano, the invention of the radio made music accessible to everyone and virtually free.
Compact discs, videos and other paraphernalia have widened the choice even further.
G. At a time when many economists are pointing accusing fingers at technology for causing a widening
inequality in the wages of skilled and unskilled workers, Ms Costa’s research gives it a much more
egalitarian face. High earners have always been able to afford amusement. By lowering the price of
entertainment, technology has improved the standard of living of those in the lower end of the income
distribution. The implication of her results is that once recreation is taken into account, the differences in
Americans’ living standards may not have widened so much after all.
H. These findings are not water-tight. Ms Costa’s results depend heavily upon what exactly is classed as a
recreational expenditure. Reading is an example. This was the most popular leisure activity for working men
in 1888, accounting for one-quarter of all recreational spending. In 1991, reading took only 16% of the
entertainment dollar. But the American Department of Labour’s expenditure surveys do not distinguish
between the purchase of a mathematics tome and that of a best-selling novel. Both are classified as
recreational expenses. If more money is being spent on textbooks and professional books now than in earlier
years, this could make ‘recreational’ spending appear stronger than it really is.
I. Although Ms Costa tries to address this problem by showing that her results still hold even when tricky
categories, such as books, are removed from the sample, the difficulty is not entirely eliminated.
Nonetheless, her broad conclusion seems fair. Recreation is more available to all and less dependent on
income. On this measure at least, inequality of living standards has fallen.
Questions 56-63: There are nine paragraphs marked A-I in the passage. Choose the correct heading for
each paragraph from the list below. Write your answers (i-xi) in the corresponding numbered box provided. List of Headings i
Wide differences in leisure activities according to income ii
Possible inconsistencies in Ms Costa’s data iii
More personal income and time influence leisure activities iv
Investigating the lifestyle problem from a new angle v
Increased incomes fail to benefit everyone vi
A controversial development offers cheaper leisure activities vii
Technology heightens differences in living standards
viii The gap between income and leisure spending closes ix
Two factors have led to a broader range of options for all x
Have people’s lifestyles improved? xi
High earners spend less on leisure 56. Paragraph A 57. Paragraph B 58. Paragraph C 59. Paragraph D 60. Paragraph E 61. Paragraph F 62. Paragraph G 63. Paragraph H
Questions 64-68: Complete each of the following statements using words from the box. Write your
answers (A-I) in the corresponding numbered boxprovided.
64. It is easier to determine ________ than living standards.
65. A decrease in ________ during the 20th century led to a bigger investment in leisure.
66. According to Ms Costa, how much Americans spend on leisure has been directly affected by salaries and ________.
67. The writer notes both positive and negative influences of ________. A recreational activities B the family budget C holiday time D government expenditure E computer technology F income levels G non-luxury spending H professional reading I high-income earners
68. According to the writer, the way Ms Costa
Part 3. In the passage below, seven paragraphs have been removed. For questions 69-75, read
the passage and choose from the paragraphs A-H the one which fits each gap. There is ONE
extra paragraph which you do not need to use. Write your answers in the corresponding numbered box provided. Born to be together
"It was just so unfair. Being criticised for being the same, when we shared the same genetic
make-up and the same upbringing." You can still hear the bitterness in the voice of Amrit Kaur
Singh, an artist, many years after she was ridiculed at university for producing work that was
virtually indistinguishable from that of her identical twin, Rabindra. 69.
Nowadays, at the age of 35, the Singh twins make a point of being the same. They dress alike,
often work together on the same paintings, and collect joint awards for their internationally
acclaimed work. They are inseparable, living together in an extended Indian family near
Liverpool, professional twins par excellence. Their art creates a delightful dual world that straddles two cultures. 70.
This is the challenge facing every twin, and every parent of twins: how to find a natural identity
and independence in a society that is both fascinated and repelled by the idea of replica human
beings. Should individuals with a common gene pool be steered along divergent paths, or should
they be encouraged to accept, even celebrate, their sameness? 71.
Liz has fought to treat her boys as individuals, fighting off attempts by others to lump them
together as "the twins". They dress differently and sleep in different rooms. On their birthday,
they will have two cakes and separate parties with different guests. When young, they attended
playgroup on separate days. At school, Liz requested different classes. 72.
Her philosophy is not shared by Gina Prince. Her six-year-old twins, Amy and Karina, have
spent their childhood in matching outfits. They ride around on identical bikes. Presents must
always be the same. They sleep in bunks, top to toe in the same one. When school decided to
separate them, the twins were unhappy and so was their mother. 73.
But treating the girls alike has brought problems as well as benefits. "I do enjoy the attention
when I take them out dressed the same. I also prevent jealousy by always being fair. However, I
worry that they won't grow up to lead their own lives. I want them to be more independent, but
often they still want to be the same. It's very difficult. They are twins after all. Who am I to force them apart?" 74.
But according to Gina Siddons, mother of 16-year-old twins and manager of the Twins and
Multiple Birth Association , problems often crop up when parents treat twins as a "unit"."The
answer is to separate them early," she says. "Send them to playgroup on different days, put them
in different classes at school. If you dress them the same, it gives other people the message that
they are a unit. And there is nothing more disappointing for a child than opening exactly the
same present as his or her twin." 75.
It is difficult, however, to feel sad about the Singh twins. The world of their paintings is bright,
humorous, intelligent and warm. They are successful. They seem happy. They are doing what
they want to do. If the fact that they are doing it together is a problem, then it is our problem, and not theirs The missing paragraphs:
A. "People are not sure how to deal with twins. There is a weirdness about the idea that makes
people treat them like freaks," says Liz Traynor, mother of identical seven-year-old twins, John
and Angus. "I didn't want any of that for my two. I hated it. I wanted them to be like any other child."
B. "You must treat your twins as individuals and make special time for each twin separately. Be
relaxed about about their shared interests, but don’t let them gang up on you. If you have
problems, join a twin club for information and support, " she says, "But what I really cannot
approve of is giving joint birthday cakes or presents.”
C. "They were quite upset. They are very close. I wanted them to have their own beds, but they
always end up in the same one. My mum bought them different coats, but Amy just wanted
Karina's. I buy them the same all the time just to save arguments," she says..
D. The twins themselves appear frequently in their own work, always dressed the same, often in
mirrored poses, occasionally with one twin standing apart, perhaps with a camcorder to
emphasise her detachment. The same but different, together but apart. It is a fascinating theme,
one that has brought them professional recognition and an annoying, but commercially useful,
media obsession with their twin status. It is, as they both admit, "a double-edged sword".
E. As for Amrit and Rabindra, Gina says: "It is very common for twins to follow the same
career path, even when they are comfortable with their own individuality. The Singh twins'
experience just shows how we have failed to educate the public on the subject of twins. People
think they are copying each other when they are just the same by nature. They end up being
forced to make a statement about it. It's sad."
F. "I admit I was paranoid about it when they were little," Liz confesses. "They are extremely
alike, even losing teeth at the same times, and many people can't tell them apart, but because of
our efforts, they have emerged as individuals, with different personalities, different interests and different friends.
G. They exchange glances, two tiny and beautiful mirror images, dressed in traditional Sikh
costumes that are duplicated down to the last elaborate detail. They both remember the sneering
words of the examiners: "Haven't you ever tried to be different?" "As if," Amrit says
contemptuously, "we had ever actually tried to be the same."
H. Barney Allcock, father of two-year-old twins Alec and Max, agrees. His wife Jane founded
their local twin club. "You've got to treat twins exactly the same, otherwise they fight," says
Barney. "We dress ours differently because I for one can't tell them apart, but everything else
they get is the same. They are rarely split up; they get on well, so what's the point? The more
obstacles you put in their way, the more they will break them down. They were born together,
and you can't take that closeness away from them.".
Part 4. For questions 76-85, read an extract from an article and choose the answer A, B, C or
D that fits best according to the text. Write your answers in the corrresponding numbered boxes provided.
It is often helpful when thinking about biological processes to consider some apparently similar
yet better understood non-biological process. In the case of visual perception an obvious choice
would be colour photography. Since in many respects eyes resemble cameras, and percepts
photographs, is it not reasonable to assume that perception is a sort of photographic process
whereby samples of the external world become spontaneously and accurately reproduced
somewhere inside our heads? Unfortunately, the answer must be no. The best that can be said of
the photographic analogy is that it points up what perception is not. Beyond this it is superficial
and misleading. Four simple experiments should make the matter plain.
In the first a person is asked to match a pair of black and white discs, which are rotating at such a
speed as to make them appear uniformly grey. One disc is standing in shadow, the other in bright
illumination. By adjusting the ratio of black to white in one of the discs the subject tries to make
it look the same as the other. The results show him to be remarkably accurate, for it seems he has
made the proportion of black to white in the brightly illuminated disc almost identical with that
in the disc which stood in shadow. But there is nothing photographic about his perception, for
when the matched discs, still spinning, are photographed, the resulting print shows them to be
quite dissimilar in appearance. The disc in shadow is obviously very much darker than the other
one. What has happened? Both the camera and the person were accurate, but their criteria
differed. One might say that the camera recorded things as they look, and the person things as
they are. But the situation is manifestly more complex than this, for the person also recorded
things as they look. He did better than the camera because he made them look as they really are.
He was not misled by the differences in illumination. He showed perceptual constancy. By
reason of an extremely rapid, wholly unconscious piece of computation he received a more
accurate record of the external world than could the camera.
In the second experiment a person is asked to match with a colour card the colours of two
pictures in dim illumination. One is of a leaf, the other of a donkey. Both are coloured an equal
shade of green. In making his match he chooses a much stronger green for the leaf than for the
donkey. The leaf evidently looks greener than the donkey. The percipient makes a perceptual
world compatible with his own experience. It hardly needs saying that cameras lack this versatility.
In the third experiment hungry, thirsty and satiated people are asked to equalize the brightness
of pictures depicting food, water and other objects unrelated to hunger or thirst. When the
intensities at which they set the pictures are measured it is found that hungry people see pictures
relating to food as brighter than the rest (i.e. to equalize the pictures they make the food ones less
intense), and thirsty people do likewise with “drink” pictures. For the satiated group no
differences are obtained between the different objects. In other words, perception serves to
satisfy needs, not to enrich subjective experience. Unlike a photograph the percept is determined
by more than just the stimulus.
The fourth experiment is of a rather different kind. With ears plugged, their eyes beneath
translucent goggles and their bodies either encased in cotton wool, or floating naked in water at
body temperature, people are deprived for considerable periods of external stimulation.
Contrary to what one might expect, however, such circumstances result not in a lack of
perceptual experience but rather a surprising change in what is perceived. The subjects in such an
experiment begin to see, feel and hear things which bear no more relationship to the immediate
external world than does a dream in someone who is asleep. These people are not asleep yet their
hallucinations, or so-called “autistic” perceptions, may be as vivid, if not more so, than any normal percept.
76. In the first paragraph, the author suggests that
A. colour photography is a biological process.
B. vision is rather like colour photography.
C. vision is a sort of photographic process.
D. vision and colour photography are very different.
77. What does the word “it”, underlined in the first paragraph, refer to? . A. perception B. the photographic process
C. the comparison with photography D. the answer
78. In the first experiment, it is proved that a person
A. makes mistakes of perception and is less accurate than a camera.
B. can see more clearly than a camera.
C. is more sensitive to changes in light than a camera.
D. sees colours as they are in spite of changes in the light.
79. What does the word “that”, underlined in the second paragraph, refer to?
A. the proportion of black to white
B. the brightly illuminated disc C. the other disc D. the grey colour
80. The second experiment shows that
A. people see colours according to their ideas of how things should look.
B. colours look different in a dim light.
C. cameras work less efficiently in a dim light.
D. colours are less intense in larger objects.
81. What does the word “Satiated”, underlined in the fourth paragraph, means? A. tired B. bored C. not hungry or thirsty D. nervous
82. What does “to equalize the brightness", underlined in the fourth paragraph, mean?
A. to arrange the pictures so that the equally bright ones are together
B. to change the lighting so that the pictures look equally bright C. to describe the brightness
D. to move the pictures nearer or further away
83. The third experiment proves that
A. we see things differently according to our interest in them.
B. pictures of food and drink are especially interesting to everybody.
C. cameras are not good at equalising brightness.
D. satiated people see less clearly than hungry or thirsty people.
84. The expression “contrary to what one might expect” occurs the fifth paragraph. What might one expect?
A. that the subjects would go to sleep.
B. that they would feel uncomfortable and disturbed.
C. that they would see, hear and feel nothing.
D. that they would see, hear and feel strange things.
85. The fourth experiment proves
A. that people deprived of sense stimulation go mad.
B. that people deprived of sense stimulation dream.
C. that people deprived of sense stimulation experience unreal things.
D. that people deprived of sense stimulation lack perceptual experience.
Part 5. For questions 86-95, read a text about technology and travel and choose from the
sections (A-E). Write your answers in the corrresponding numbered boxes provided.
Has technology robbed travel of its riches? A Jan Morrris
I began travelling professionally just after the end of the Second World War, and I travelled
mostly in Europe, where famous old cities lay ravaged. Travelling in this disordered region was
not easy. Currencies were hard to come by, visas were necessary almost everywhere, food was
often scarce, trains were grimy and unreliable and air travel was reserved largely for privileged
officialdom. I’m sorry to have to say it, because those times were cruel indeed for many
Europeans, but I greatly enjoyed my travelling then. The comfort and safety of modern transport
means that while travel is a lot less fraught than it used to be, it has lost some of its allure for me.
Partly, I am almost ashamed to admit, this is because now everybody else does it too! Travelling
abroad is nothing unusual, and even if we haven't actually been to the forests of Borneo or the
Amazon jungles, have certainly experienced them via television or the internet. B Pico Iyer
The world is just as interesting – as unexpected, as unvisited, as diverse – as it ever was, even
though the nature of its sights and our experience of them have sometimes changed. I once spent
two weeks living in and around Los Angeles airport – that hub of modern travel and, although it
wasn't a peaceful holiday, it offered as curious and rich a glimpse into a new century of crossing
cultures as I could imagine. Places are like people for me and, as with people, the wise, rich,
deeply rooted places never seem to change too much, even though they might lose some hair or
develop wrinkles... Though the tides of history keep washing against a Havana or a Beirut, for
instance, their natural spiritedness or resilience or sense of style never seems greatly diminished.
My motto as a traveller has always been that old chestnut from the writings of Marcel Proust:
"The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new sights, but in seeing with new eyes". C Benedict Allen
Now, the world is open to us all. Grab your camera or pen and hike! So these couldn't be better
times for the average person – we may all share in the privilege. Is it exploration? Well, if it's not
advancing knowledge, no. Those who today flog to the Poles are not explorers, they are simply
athletes. Yet, exploration isn't entirely about assembling proven fact. Dr David Livingstone made
many discoveries in Africa but his biggest role was actually as communicator, giving the
nineteenth-century Europeans a picture of the continent. Take Ed Stafford's recent walk along the
length of the Amazon. Not a greatly significant journey in itself, with 2,000 miles of it along
what is essentially a shipping lane. Yet the journey was saved from irrelevance and self-
indulgence because along the way he documented the Amazon for his time, which is our time. D Vicky Baker
Personally, I relish the fact that we can now forge new contacts all around the world at the click
of a button and a quick email can result in the type of welcome usually reserved for a long lost
friend. I also relish the fact that we are less likely to lose touch with those whose paths we cross
on the road that we get to explore places we wouldn’t have stumbled across had we left it all to
chance. Does all this detract from the experience? I hardly think so. There is nothing to stop you
following a random tip you saw on an obscure blog and ending up who knows where. Sure, it's a
far cry from what came before, but one day these will be a generation's "good old days" too. And
if you have the time and the money to go off into the back of beyond without so much as a
guidebook let alone a smartphone, if haphazard wandering is your thing, those days aren't over either. E Rolf Potts
Many of the older travellers I met when I first started vangabonding fifteen years ago – some of
them veterans of the 1970s hippy trail across Asia – argued that my travel experiences were
tainted by luxuries such as email and credit cards. These days I am myself tempted to look at
younger travellers and suggest that smartphones and micro-blogging are compromising their
road experiences. Any technology that makes travel easier is going to connect aspects of the
travel experience to the comforts and habits one might seek back home – and can make travel
feel less like travel. There are times when a far-flung post office encounter or directions
scribbled onto a scrap of paper can lead a person into the kind of experiences that make travel so
surprising and worthwhile. That means 21st-century travellers must be aware of when their
gadgets are enhancing new experiences, and when those gadgets are getting in the way Which writer Your answers:
suggests that places retain their essential identity despite the passage of time? 86 .
refers to a tendency for each generation of travellers to look down on the 87 next? .
expresses a personal feeling of nostalgia for some of the hardships in the 88 past? .
feels that travel can still be spontaneous and unpredictable in the age of the 89 internet? .
explains how even seemingly pointless journeys can have a worthwhile 90 outcome? .
questions the use of a term in relation to one type of traveller? 91 .
reveals a slight sense of guilt in an attitude towards the modern traveller? 92 .
offers a word of caution for those who want to get the most out of a trip? 93 . 94
mentions valuable insights gained from observing other travellers? .
insists that modern travellers can do without modern technology if they so 95 desire? .
III. READING (50 POINTS)
Part 1. For questions 46-55, fill each of the following numbered blanks with ONE suitable
word and write your answers in the corresponding numbered boxes provided.
June 8th is World Oceans Day – an idea instituted by the United Nations to celebrate and protect
our natural heritage. Just as our own central nervous 46)______ controls every part of our body,
so the oceans control every part of our planet. They regulate climate, weather and ecosystems.
Unfortunately, human activities have led to pollution and the destruction of marine habitats.
Another result of human 47)______ in the natural environment is climate change with its
accompanying extreme weather 48)______. A rise in greenhouse gas emissions has led to an
increase in global temperatures and as a consequence sea levels have risen. Plastic pollution is also a big issue.
In 2016, as 49)______ of World Oceans Day, thousands of people took part in ‘the better bag
challenge’ and promised to use reusable bags instead of plastic ones. 80 per cent of plastic
rubbish 50)______ on land ends up in the sea, usually washed there via 51)______ – where
rivers empty into the sea. You may have seen such debris washed up onto your local beach at
low 52)______. Most plastic bags are made of polyethene – a 53)______ compound which is not
biodegradable. Plastic bags break down into tiny visible 54)______, which are ingested by fish
and marine mammals. ‘The better bag challenge’ aims to halt this devastating process and give new 55)______ to our oceans.
Part 2. For questions 56-68, read the following passage and do the tasks that follow. The Mystery of Sleep
Sleep takes up precious time and leaves us vulnerable, so why do we do it?
A. The question of why we sleep has been on people’s minds at least since the time of Aristotle,
who believed that the warming and cooling of the body as a result of digestion caused sleep.
Though we know this is incorrect today, other early theories have held up better. The possibility
of a ‘sleep toxin’ – a substance that built up during the day, causing drowsiness, and was
subsequently relieved by sleep – was put forward by Henri Pieron in the early 1900s, and this
concept is not unlike some contemporary ideas about sleep that researchers are pursuing today. It
was not until 1953 that Nathaniel Kleitman and his colleagues identified two different kinds of
sleep; REM and non-REM sleep. Many say that this breakthrough paved the way for modern
sleep research. But since then, despite the great deal of effort that has been made to better
understand sleep, it is still largely a mysterious phenomenon.
B. Among living things, sleep is practically universal. Even jellyfish, which have no brains,
experience something called sleep pressure – the need to rest longer after being kept awake. Tiny
worms, with only a few neurons, spend time in a sleep-like state and die more quickly when
exposed to stress if this state is prevented. Sharks and dolphins, which must keep moving at all
times in order to breathe, have the ability to sleep with one hemisphere of the brain at a time.
Yet, when an animal sleeps, it cannot protect itself from danger, it cannot eat or reproduce. Sleep
is high-risk and costly, so why is it such a universal phenomenon? Clearly, it must be important.
C. One theory about the reason for sleep is that it arose simply as a way to save energy. If there
were times when it was difficult or hazardous for an animal to move around, then it might make
sense for them to simply enter a sleep state when all of their physical systems slow down. That
way, they would require less food, and could hide away from danger. The observation that
animals with few natural predators, lions, for example, sleep up to 15 hours a day, while small
prey animals seldom sleep more than 5 hours a day, seems to contradict this, however. In
addition, the objection has been raised that sleep only lowers the metabolism by 10-15 per cent,
so not much energy is, in fact, saved. According to Serge Daan, a researcher who studied arctic
ground squirrels, something else must be taking place. He found that the ground squirrels would
periodically come out of their suspended-animation-like state of hibernation in order to sleep.
For these animals, sleep was actually energetically expensive, so it must serve some other essential purpose.
D. It is well established that the act of sleeping is important for essential brain functions such as
memory and learning. A rapidly increasing body of cognitive research suggests that sleep allows
us to consolidate and process information that has been acquired during the day. Sleep scientist
Matthew Walker used MRI scans to visualise activity in the brains of people who were learning a
series of finger movements. One group was allowed to sleep and the other was not. He found
differences in the areas of the brain that were activated when they recalled the movements; the
group that had slept showed less activity in the brain, and better recollection of the task. In other
words, the way the memory was stored had become more efficient. Walker believes that this
could explain why toddlers, who are constantly learning new motor skills, require so much more
sleep than adults. Furthermore, Ted Abel, while assistant professor at the University of
Pennsylvania, found that mice deprived of sleep for the first five hours after learning did not
remember their physical surroundings, while their memory of facts and events was not affected.
This result allowed him to specify that sleep regulates memory in a specific part of the brain, the
hippocampus, which is responsible for memories related to spatial and contextual information.
But despite numerous studies, there are still more questions than answers on the role of sleep in memory and learning.
E. Another theory about the role of sleep is that it is essential for cleanup and repair in the brain
and body. Support for this theory is provided by research that shows periods of REM sleep
increase following periods of sleep deprivation and strenuous physical activity. During sleep, the
body also increases its rate of cell division and protein synthesis, further suggesting that repair
and restoration occurs during sleeping periods. Recently, new evidence supporting the repair and
restoration theory has been uncovered. Research has shown that the cellular structure of the brain
is altered during sleep, and more space forms between cells. This allows fluid to move between
the cells and flush out toxic waste products. It is believed that these toxins increase in the central
nervous system during waking times, and the restorative function of sleep is a consequence of their removal.
F. It may seem that all of this new evidence is not making the question of why we sleep any
clearer; indeed, the evidence seems to point to different explanations. In this context, it seems
important to remember that there may not be one correct answer, but instead it could be a
combination. While the idea that sleep is a method of energy conservation seems to be falling out
of favour, it seems more and more likely that benefits for memory and learning, the cleanup of
the brain and the repair of the body can all be attributed to a good night’s sleep
Questions 56-61: There are six paragraphs marked A-F in the passage. In which paragraph is
the following mentioned? Write your answers in the corresponding numbered box provided.
56. how researchers can see what is happening inside the brain
57. how many reasons for sleep there might realistically be
58. an example of lack of sleep being deadly
59. a particular discovery that was essential for how we view sleep today
60. how sleep might have arisen from threatening conditions
61. how the brain physically changes during sleep
Questions 62-64: Look at the following statement and the list of researchers below. Match
each statement with the correct researcher, A-E. Write your answers in the corresponding numbered box provided. A Henri Pieron B Nathaniel Kleitman C Serge Daan D Matthew Walker E Ted Abel 62
Sleep is essential for the recollection only of certain types of memory. 63
The fact that sleep requirements vary with age alludes to its role. 64
A chemical that promotes sleep accumulates throughout the day.
Questions 65-66: Choose TWO letters, A-E. Which TWO theories does the writer question the
validity of? Write your answers in the corresponding numbered box provided.
A Sleep pressure is proof of the necessity of sleep.
B Animals’ sleeping habits are related to their place on the food chain.
C Sleep is related to changes in body temperature.
D Sleep prevents the unnecessary burning of calories.
E There are different types of sleep with different functions.
Questions 67-68: Choose TWO letters, A-E. Which TWO points does the writer mention in
support of the importance of sleep for memory? Write your answers in the corresponding numbered box provided.
A During sleep, unimportant memories are removed.
B Sleep makes recollection more effortless.
C Sleep results in more activity throughout the brain.
D The function of a specific brain region is affected by sleep.
E Sleep duration modifies learning
Part 3. In the passage below, seven paragraphs have been removed. For questions 69-75, read
the passage and choose from the paragraphs A-H the one which fits each gap. There is ONE
extra paragraph which you do not need to use. Write your answers in the corresponding numbered box provided. Living in a Dream World
Daydreaming can help solve problems, trigger creativity, and inspire great works of art and
science. By Josie Glazier.
Most people spend between 30 and 47 per cent of their waking hours spacing out, drifting off,
lost in thought, wool-gathering or building castles in the air. Yale University emeritus
psychology professor Jerome L. Singer defines daydreaming as shifting attention “away from
some primary physical or mental task toward an unfolding sequence of private responses” or,
more simply, “watching your own mental videos.” He also divides daydreaming styles into two
main categories: “positive-constructive,” which includes upbeat and imaginative thoughts, and
“dysphoric,” which encompasses visions of failure or punishment. 69.
Such humdrum concerns figured prominently in one study that rigorously measured how much
time we spend mind wandering in daily life. In a 2009 study, Kane and his colleague Jennifer
McVay asked 72 students to carry Palm Pilots that beeped at random intervals eight times a day
for a week. The subjects then recorded their thoughts at that moment on a questionnaire. The
study found that about 30 per cent of the beeps coincided with thoughts unrelated to the task at
hand and that mind wandering increased with stress, boredom or sleepiness or in chaotic
environments and decreased with enjoyable tasks. That may be because enjoyable activities tend to grab our attention. 70.
We may not even be aware that we are daydreaming. We have all had the experience of
“reading” a book yet absorbing nothing—moving our eyes over the words on a page as our
attention wanders and the text turns into gibberish. “When this happens, people lack what I call
‘meta-awareness,’ consciousness of what is currently going on in their mind,” he says. But
aimless rambling can be productive as they can allow us to stumble on ideas and associations
that we may never find if we intentionally seek them. 71.
So, why should daydreaming aid creativity? It may be in part because when the brain is floating
in unfocused mental space it serves a specific purpose. It allows us to engage in one task and at
the same time trigger reminders of other, concurrent goals so that we do not lose sight of them.
There is also the belief that we can boost the creative process by increasing the amount of
daydreaming we do or replaying variants of the millions of events we store in our brains. 72.
The mind's freedom to wander during a deliberate tuning out could also explain the flash of
insight that may coincide with taking a break from an unsolved problem. A study conducted at
the University of Lancaster in England into this possibility found that if we allow our minds to
ramble during a moderately challenging task, we can access ideas that are not easily available to
our conscious minds. Our ability to do so is now known to depend on the normal functioning of a
dedicated daydreaming network deep in our brain. 73.
It was not until 2007, however, that cognitive psychologist Malia Fox Mason, discovered that the
default network — which lights up when people switch from an attention-demanding activity to
drifting reveries with no specific goals, becomes more active when mind wandering is more
likely. She also discovered that people who daydream more in everyday life show greater
activity in the default network while performing monotonous tasks. 74.
The conclusion reached in this ground-breaking study was that the more complex the mind
wandering episode is, the more of the mind it is going to consume. This inevitably leads to the
problem of determining the point at which creative daydreaming crosses the boundary into the
realms of compulsive fantasising. Although there is often a fine dividing line between the two,
one question that can help resolve the dilemma relates to whether the benefits gained from
daydreaming outweigh the cost to the daydreamer’s reputation and performance. 75.
On the other hand, there are psychologists who feel that the boundary is not so easily defined.
They argue that mind wandering is not inherently good or bad as it depends to a great extent on
context. When, for example, daydreaming occurs during an activity that requires little
concentration, it is unlikely to be costly. If, however, it causes someone to suffer severe injury or
worse by say, walking into traffic, then the line has been crossed.
A Although these two findings were significant, mind wandering itself was not measured during
the scans. As a result, it could not be determined exactly when the participants in her study were
“on task” and when they were daydreaming. In 2009 Smallwood, Schooler and Kalina Christoff
of the University of British Columbia published the first study to directly link mind wandering
with increased activity in the default network. Scans on the participants in their study revealed
activity in the default network was strongest when subjects were unaware they had lost focus.
B However, intense focus on our problems may not always lead to immediate solutions. Instead
allowing the mind to float freely can enable us to access unconscious ideas hovering underneath
the surface — a process that can lead to creative insight, according to psychologist Jonathan W.
Schooler of the University of California, Santa Barbara
C Yet to enhance creativity, it is important to pay attention to daydreams. Schooler calls this
“tuning out” or deliberate “off-task thinking.”, terms that refer to the ability of an individual to
have more than just the mind-wandering process. Those who are most creative also need to have
meta-awareness to realise when a creative idea has popped into their mind.
D On the other hand, those who ruminate obsessively—rehashing past events, repetitively
analyzing their causes and consequences, or worrying about all the ways things could go wrong
in the future - are well aware that their thoughts are their own, but they have intense difficulty
turning them off. The late Yale psychologist Susan Nolen-Hoeksema does not believe that
rumination is a form of daydreaming, but she has found that in obsessive ruminators, the same
default network as the one that is activated during daydreaming switches on.
E Other scientists distinguish between mundane musings and extravagant fantasies. Michael
Kane, a cognitive psychologist at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, considers
“mind wandering” to be “any thoughts that are unrelated to one's task at hand.” In his view, mind
wandering is a broad category that may include everything from pondering ingredients for a
dinner recipe to saving the planet from alien invasion. Most of the time when people fall into
mind wandering, they are thinking about everyday concerns, such as recent encounters and items on their to-do list.
F According to Schooler, there are two steps you need to take to make the distinction. First,
notice whether you are deriving any useful insights from your fantasies. Second, it is important
to take stock of the content of your daydreams. To distinguish between beneficial and
pathological imaginings, he adds, “Ask yourself if this is something useful, helpful, valuable,
pleasant, or am I just rehashing the same old perseverative thoughts over and over again?” And if
daydreaming feels out of control, then even if it is pleasant it is probably not useful or valuable.
G Artists and scientists are well acquainted with such playful fantasizing. Filmmaker Tim
Burton daydreamed his way to Hollywood success, spending his childhood holed up in his
bedroom, creating posters for an imaginary horror film series. Orhan Pamuk, the Turkish novelist
who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2006, imagined “another world,” to which he retreated
as a child, Albert Einstein pictured himself running along a light wave—a reverie that led to his theory of special relativity.
H Like Facebook for the brain, the default network is a bustling web of memories and streaming
movies, starring ourselves. “When we daydream, we're at the center of the universe,” says
neurologist Marcus Raichle of Washington University in St. Louis, who first described the
network in 2001. It consists of three main regions that help us imagine ourselves and the
thoughts and feelings of others, draw personal memories from the brain and access episodic memories.
Part 4. For questions 76-85, read an extract from an article on language and choose the
answer A, B, C or D that fits best according to the text. Write your answers in the
corresponding numbered boxes provided.
Language diversity has always been part of the national demographic landscape of the United
States. At the time of the first census in 1790, about 25% of the population spoke languages
other than English (Lepore, 2002). Thus, there was a diverse pool of native speakers of other
languages at the time of the founding of the republic. Today, nationwide, school districts have
reported more than 400 languages spoken by language-minority students classified as limited
English proficient (LEP) students (Kindler, 2002). Between 1991 and 2002, total K-12 student
enrollment rose only 12%, whereas LEP student enrollment increased 95% during this same time
period (National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition, 2002b). This rapid increase
and changing demographics has intensified the long debate over the best way to educate language-minority students.
Historically, many groups attempted to maintain their native languages even as they learned
English, and for a time, some were able to do so with relatively little resistance until a wave of
xenophobia swept the country during World War 1 (Kloss, 1977/1998). Other groups, Africans,
and Native Americans encountered repressive politics much earlier. During the 1960s, a more
tolerant policy climate emerged. However, for the past two decades there has been a steady
undertow of resistance to bilingualism and bilingual education. This article provides historical
background and analyzes contemporary trends in language-minority education within the context
of the recent national push for accountability, which typically takes the form of high-stakes testing.
The origins of persistent themes regarding the popular antagonisms toward bilingual education
and the prescribed panaceas of "English immersion" and high-stakes testing in English need to
be scrutinized. As background to the contemporary context, we briefly discuss the history of
language politics in the United States and the ideological underpinnings of the dominant
monolingual English ideology. We analyze the recent attacks on bilingual education for what this
attack represents for educational policy within a multilingual society such as the United States.
We emphasize multilingualism because most discussions of language policy are framed as if
monolingualism were part of our heritage from which we are now drifting. Framing the language
policy issues in this way masks both the historical and contemporary reality and positions non-
English language diversity as an abnormality that must be cured. Contrary to the steady flow of
disinformation, we begin with the premise that even as English has historically been the
dominant language in the United States since the colonial era, language diversity has always
been a fact of life. Thus, efforts to deny that reality represent a "malady of mind" (Blaut, 1993)
that has resulted in either restrictionist or repressive language policies for minorities.
As more states ponder imposing restrictions on languages of instruction other than English-as
California, Arizona, and Massachusetts have recently done-it is useful to highlight several
questions related to the history of language politics and language planning in the United States.
Educational language planning is frequently portrayed as an attempt to solve the language
problems of the minority. Nevertheless, the historical record indicates that schools have
generally failed to meet the needs of language-minority students (Deschenes, Cuban, & Tyack,
2001) and that the endeavour to plan language behaviour by forcing a rapid shift to English has
often been a source of language problems that has resulted in the denial of language rights and
hindered linguistic access to educational, social, economic, and political benefits even as the
promoters of English immersion claim the opposite.
The dominance of English was established under the British during the colonial period, not by
official decree but through language status achievement, that is, through "the legitimization of a
government's decisions regarding acceptable language for those who are to carry out the
political, economic, and social affairs of the political process" (Heath, 1976, p.51). English
achieved dominance as a result of the political and socioeconomic trade between England and
colonial administrators, colonists, and traders. Other languages coexisted with English in the
colonies with notable exceptions. Enslaved Africans were prohibited from using their native
tongues for fear that it would facilitate resistance or rebellion. From the 1740s forward, southern
colonies simultaneously institutionalized "compulsory ignorance" laws that prohibited those
enslaved from acquiring English literacy for similar reasons. These restrictive slave codes were
carried forward as the former southern colonies became states of the newly United States and
remained in force until the end of the Civil War in 1865 (Weinberg, 1977/1995). Thus, the very
first formal language policies were restrictive with the explicit purpose of promoting social control.
76. What is the primary purpose of including the statistic from the 1790 census in the introductory paragraph?
A) To explain how colonizing the US eradicated language diversity
B) To show concrete evidence that language diversity in the US is not a new phenomenon
C) To note that before that time, there was no measure of language diversity in the US
D) To demonstrate that census data can be inaccurate
77. The article compares two sets of statistics from the years 1991-2002, increases in K-12
enrollment and increases in LEP students, to highlight.
A) That the two numbers, while often cited in research, are insignificant
B) That while many people with school-age children immigrated to the US during this time, an
equal amount left the country as well
C) That language diversity had no impact on US student enrollment during this time
D) That while the total amount of students enrolled in US schools may have grown slowly, the
amount of those students who were LEP increased dramatically
78. According to the second paragraph, many groups maintained their native languages
without resistance into the 20th-century EXCEPT__________.
A) Native Americans and African Americans
B) Irish Americans and African Americans
C) Mexican Americans and Native Americans
D) Native Americans and Dutch Americans
79. Why is the word "undertow" emphasized in the second paragraph?
A) To explain how certain groups continued to carry their native languages with them despite the
opposition from those against language diversity
B) To show the secretive and sneaky nature of those opposed to language diversity
C) To call attention to the ebb and flow of language resistance during the 20th century,
experiencing periods of both rest and extremism
D) To explain that, while many groups tried to maintain their native languages, many gave in to
social and political pressure to use only English
80. What is the best way to describe the function of the third paragraph in this excerpt?.
A) The paragraph provides its primary thesis as well an outline of the article's main points
B) The paragraph is an unnecessary and irrelevant inclusion
C) The paragraph serves to reveal the conclusions of the article before detailing the data
D) The paragraph firmly establishes the article's stance against language diversity
81. What is the best summary of why the phrase "multilingualism" is emphasized in the third paragraph?
A) Language repression stems from the US's unwillingness to recognize the languages of its foreign allies
B) Because language is constantly changing and often goes through multiple phases over time
C) The authors firmly believe that speaking more than one language gives students a substantial benefit in higher education.
D) Language policy discussions often assume that the US has a monolinguistic history, which is
untrue and poses language diversity as threatening
82. Phrases such as "prescribed panaceas" and "malady of the mind" are used in the third paragraph to__________.
A) Defend the point that the US must standardize its language education or there will be severe results
B) Point out that language is as much a physical process as an intellectual one
C) Illustrate how certain opponents of language diversity equate multilingual education with a kind of national disease
D) Demonstrate how the stress of learning multiple languages can make students ill
83. According to the fourth paragraph, all of the following are potential negatives of rapid
English immersion EXCEPT__________.
A) It can lead to a denial of language rights for particular groups
B) Students become more familiar with conversational expressions and dialect
C) It can prevent access to certain benefits that are always available to fluent speakers
D) It can promote feelings of alienation among groups that are already in a minority status
84. The best alternate definition of "language status achievement" is __________.
A) When enough scholarly work has been produced in a language, it is officially recognized
B) Those who are in power socially and economically determine the status of a language
C) Languages fall into a hierarchy depending upon the numbers of populations that speak them
D) The position of a language in which no others may coexist with it
85. From the context of the final paragraph, what does "compulsory ignorance" mean?
A) Populations at the time were required only to obtain a certain low level of education
B) Slave populations were compelled to only speak in their native languages and not learn English
C) That slaves were forcibly prevented from developing their native language skills out of fear that they would gain power
D) Slave owners would not punish slaves who did not wish to learn and speak only English Your answers 76. 77. 78. 79. 80. 81. 82. 83. 84. 85.
Part 5. The passage below consists of five sections marked A-E. For questions 86-95, read the
passage and do the task that follows. Write your answers in the corresponding numbered boxes provided. The Machine Age
A As the pace of technological development advances at ever greater speeds, society has had to
come to terms with some exceedingly rapid changes. This has led to some deep collective soul
searching about the effects of technology on ordinary lives. The question being as to whether the
sudden adoption of the virtual world of cyberspace is having a profound effect on human
isolation. Do people talk any more? Or is communication now mainly through the various
electronic media that so many people use? Many lament the rise of these media within society
and wonder how far this virtual life will go. Will we reach the stage where we can actually
transpose our brains into an avatar and live our lives vicariously in cyberspace? This could
finally be the route to immortality that has long been a subtle human desire, the ability to cheat death once and for all.
B But just how real the fears about the role of technology in our lives are, is a complex question
to answer. And there is some evidence that we are simply worrying about the wrong thing.
Research does not support the idea that the increased connectivity afforded people by the internet
has led to greater social isolation. In fact, it appears to have had the opposite effect, in that the
people who are the most connected on social networks tend to have greater social interaction and
are more engaged in public life than those who do not use them. The ease of use and
convenience of new technologies have induced people to adapt to them and to do so at great
speed. It is this speed of change that has alarmed some people. It’s a phenomenon that could
simply be described as ‘The Shock of the New’ and it’s one that has greeted all major societal
changes throughout history and it could, reasonably, be regarded as nothing more alarming than
a process by which change comes to be accepted.
C So, are there any valid fears with regard to this sudden rise in technological breakthroughs?
One possibly legitimate fear is that the machines may, in the not so distant future, attain greater
intelligence than humans. As technology becomes more sophisticated, we come closer to the
reality of an artificial intelligence that exceeds our own. The danger of this is that with so much
of our future lives likely to be very deeply interconnected with machines, they will, in a real
sense, control our behaviour even if it is only in very subtle, unobtrusive ways. There is also
something to be said for the idea that even now machines have extensive control in the
developed world. Were they to be suddenly switched off, entire sectors of our society would
simply collapse. There would be no access to banking, shopping, transport or communication.
D In the end, we need to ask ourselves, as a society, whether this interconnectedness with
technology is something we should embrace or resist. And the truth of the matter is that it is
almost impossible to envisage an ideology that would seek to reverse the march of technology.
Technology is now an inherent part of our society and culture, and so interwoven into every
aspect of our lives that to remove it would essentially mean the collapse of our civilisation as it
currently exists. No one would have thought it credible that suddenly, in the 19th century, the
brakes should have been put on the industrial revolution and Europe and North America should
have returned to a rural farming existence. The same argument stands for the technology of today.
E So, in essence, we have no real choice but to embrace technology and its inexorable rise
within society. To try to do otherwise is counterproductive to our own good as a species as well
as an exercise in futility. That the machines will gain in intelligence in the near future is
inevitable, but there are ways to safeguard our systems from nefarious control, as long as we
remember that all systems need to have built-in checks and balances, whether that be the systems
within, or external to, the machines in our lives. Humanity is, without doubt, now set firmly on a
path which is dominated by the integral coexistence of man and machine.
In which section are the followings mentioned? Your answers:
a refutation of a popular assumption about the way people socialise 86. nowadays
the possibility of living forever in the form of an avatar 87.
an explanation for anxiety about the advancing intelligence of machines 88.
the idea that face-to-face contact is diminishing rapidly 89.
why concern about intelligent machines may be justified 90.
the possibility of human existence becoming an entirely virtual experience 91.
the need to ensure that all structures within society have measures to 92.
prevent them from becoming corrupt
the inevitability of the development of the intellectual capability of 93. machines
an example from the past used to illustrate the ridiculousness of a current 94. idea
the parts of society already entirely dependent on machine input 95.
III. READING (50 POINTS)
Part 1. For questions 46-55, fill each of the following numbered blanks with ONE suitable
word and write your answers in the corresponding numbered boxes provided.
There are techniques that exist which can improve memory, the most popular of which must be
mnemonics, or ways to 46.______ information into a form that aids retention in the brain. Those
who have difficulty memorising facts, for example, can 47.______ the information by using a
memorable phrase. A famous example is “Richard of York gave battle in vain”, 48.______ each
word replaces a colour of the rainbow starting with the same colour. Mnemonics 49.______
because our brains find it easier to retain information that is surprising, personal or humorous,
than that 50.______ is abstract and impersonal. Association also plays an important part in
helping us recall information. This technique involves creating something memorable to
51.______ the information you want. For instance, by 52.______ a picture or word in your
language to a word in the foreign language that you are trying to learn, the visual or verbal
53.______ can help you remember the word. Recollection of facts is obviously easier if you
know your particular learning style so that you can 54.______ your clues. As anyone who has
had to create a password knows, easily-remembered information is information that is personally
meaningful. The best passwords are those that have a 55.______ significance for their users, but
whose meaning would baffle anyone else. There are lots of tricks to try; the most important thing is to remember to use them.
Part 2. For questions 56-68, read the following passage and do the tasks that follow.
Where is Air Travel Going?
New innovations are expanding our concept of flight
Between 2006 and 2016, the number of airline passengers worldwide went up by around a billion
and a half, to nearly four billion. Given the environmental impact of air travel, it is imperative
that the industry develop aircraft that produce less noise and fewer carbon emissions than those
of the past. Fortunately, we have a number of new technologies and new, lightweight building materials at our disposal.
Electricity could be key to the future of air travel. Just as electric, driverless cars are set to
revolutionise personal transport, battery-powered automated flying machines could soon replace
traditional taxis. A number of companies worldwide are working on them, convinced that they
will take off both literally and metaphorically. One of the things that make the concept of 'sky
taxis' suitable for dense urban environments is the ability to start and end journeys vertically, with no runway required.
A number of inventors have also shown that it is possible to build flying machines for personal
use on both the roads and in the air, proving that motor pioneer Henry Ford was right when he
predicted the appearance of flying cars back in 1940. The problem is that these vehicles have
very complicated designs, are very expensive and are subject to very strict regulations about
where they can be used; they cannot land just anywhere. They are likely to remain something of
a wealthy person’s toy for some time yet.
However, some passenger planes on scheduled routes could soon be electric, as long as we find
ways of making batteries lighter and more efficient. The most advanced electric aeroplanes today
do not carry passengers and have a maximum range of around 100 km, but at least one company
is hoping to introduce a commercial, battery-powered electric aircraft within a decade. Its plan is
for a nine-seat aeroplane with a range of around 500 km.
Since electric aeroplanes need to fly more slowly and at lower altitudes than those with jet
engines, it seems unlikely they will ever be used for long-distance journeys. A mix of fuel and
battery power is certainly possible, however. In fact, this is a very sensible arrangement, as
aeroplanes are required to fly with 45 minutes of reserve power available at all times in case an emergency arises.
In the near future, even the passengers themselves could generate at least some of the power an
aircraft needs to fly. Seats that have the ability to turn body heat into electrical energy are under
development. If you feel uncomfortable about the idea of becoming a human battery, the seats
might also have plenty of features to help you relax. It has been suggested that aeroplane seats –
which are notoriously lacking in comfort – could one day change shape to match an individual
body. Massage or acupuncture treatments could even be built in. Such luxuries would be
provided to passengers who are willing to pay the top fares, anyway.
Other design innovations seem to be aimed at helping people who find flying unpleasant or
frightening. If you wish you were somewhere else every time you board an aircraft, how would
you like to use a virtual-reality helmet to transport yourself to a different environment? There is a
good chance that ‘sensory headsets’ will be fitted to the headrests of aeroplane seats before long.
A more outlandish virtual-reality idea is to make the plane walls seem invisible. By covering
them with special materials that give off light, airlines will be able to show passengers images of
the sky outside the plane. Of course, that is not everyone’s idea of a relaxing experience – so
some people might be very grateful for the sensory headset option!
For those who do enjoy flying, however, a new kind of holiday that puts the plane at the centre
of the experience has already become available – but it does not come cheap. You can fly around
the world in a luxury Boeing 777 aircraft, spending time in ten of the world’s most exciting
cities, for around $160,000. The ‘air cruise’, as the name suggests, is an attempt to recreate in the
air the experience of travelling by sea for pleasure. The aeroplane has lounge seating, beds, fine
dining, a bar and even butlers, and is used exclusively for air cruises lasting between two weeks and a month.
Clearly, standard aircraft are not likely to become so luxurious, but ordinary flyers can at least
expect to get more room for themselves. That is because the shape of commercial aircraft is
expected to change quite fundamentally in the future, as today’s designs are not ideal for fuel
efficiency and smooth movement. Future aircraft will likely be more triangular in shape, with
larger wings that blend into the middle of the plane rather than sticking out from it. These
aeroplanes will be less noisy and they will have more interior space, but there will also be fewer
windows. Indeed, if you think about how much cars have changed since their early days, it is
hard to believe that the basic design of aircraft has stayed the same for as long as it has. Questions 56-63
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1? For questions 56-63, choose:
TRUE if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this
Write your answers in the corresponding numbered box provided. 56
The popularity of air travel is threatening the environment. 57
Electric power is unlikely to be used in the flight industry. 58
Sky taxis are viewed by some as an opportunity for profit. 59
Sky taxis are not a good idea for crowded, big city locations. 60
Henry Ford designed a prototype flying car. 61
It is illegal to land a flying car on a roadway. 62
There are still technical limitations which electric planes must overcome. 63
In the next decade, electric planes are expected to almost double their range. Questions 64-68
Choose the correct letter A, B, C or D. Write your answers in the corresponding numbered box provided.
64 What is the writer doing in the fifth paragraph?
A describing why electric planes are not widely used
B pointing out the advantages of battery power
C discussing future applications of battery technology
D warning of potential risks associated with electric planes
65 What are we told about innovations in seats in the sixth paragraph?
A They will benefit the airlines more than the passengers.
B They will each make flying a more relaxing experience.
C They will do little to ease the discomfort of current seats.
D They are unlikely to be made available to everyone.
66 Future virtual reality innovations could affect anxious passengers
A minimally, as there will be little change. B in several different ways.
C by obscuring the flight experience completely.
D because the thrills of flight are emphasised. 67 An air cruise seeks to make
A round-the-world travel attainable for those with little time.
B luxury travel accessible to people from all walks of life.
C the destination more important than the journey.
D air travel emulate a more traditional holiday experience.
68 What is the main point that the writer makes about change in aircraft in the final paragraph? A It is long overdue. B It will be mostly cosmetic.
C It will be at the expense of comfort.
D It is unlikely to actually take place.
Part 3. In the passage below, seven paragraphs have been removed. For questions 69-75, read
the passage and choose from the paragraphs A-H the one which fits each gap. There is ONE
extra paragraph which you do not need to use. Write your answers in the corresponding numbered box provided. SUMMER
The small, bright lawn stretched away smoothly to the big, bright sea. The turf was hemmed with
an edge of scarlet geranium and coleus, and cast-iron vases painted in a chocolate colour,
standing at intervals along the winding path that led to the sea, looped their garlands of petunia
and ivy geranium above the neatly raked gravel. 69.
A number of ladies in summer dresses and gentlemen in grey frock-coats and tall hats stood on
the lawn or sat upon the benches. Every now and then, a slender girl in starched muslin would
step from the tent, bow in hand, and speed her shaft at one of the targets, while the spectators
interrupted their talk to watch the result. 70.
The Newbury Archery Club always held its August meeting at the Beauforts'. The sport, which
had hitherto known no rival but croquet, was beginning to be discarded in favour of lawn-tennis.
However, the latter game was still considered too rough and inelegant for social occasions, and
as an opportunity to show off pretty dresses and graceful attitudes, the bow and arrow held their own. 71.
In New York, during the previous winter, after he and May had settled down in the new,
greenish-yellow house with the bow-window and the Pompeian vestibule, he had dropped back
with relief into the old routine of the office. The renewal of his daily activities had served as a link with his former self. 72.
At the Century, he had found Winsett again, and at the Knickerbocker, the fashionable young
men of his own set. And what with hours dedicated to the law and those given to dining out or
entertaining friends at home, with an occasional evening at the opera or the theatre, the life he
was living had still seemed a fairly real and inevitable sort of business. 73.
But the Wellands always went to Newport, where they owned one of the square boxes on the
cliffs, and their son-in-law could adduce no good reason why he and May should not join them
there. As Mrs. Welland rather tartly pointed out, it was hardly worthwhile for May to have worn
herself out trying on summer clothes in Paris, if she was not to be allowed to wear them; and this
argument was of a kind to which Archer had as yet found no answer. 74.
It was not May's fault, poor dear. If, now and then, during their travels, they had fallen slightly
out of step, harmony had been restored by their return to conditions she was used to. He had
always foreseen that she would not disappoint him; and he had been right. No, the time and place
had been perfect for his marriage. 75.
He could not say that he had been mistaken in his choice, for she fulfilled all that he had
expected. It was undoubtedly gratifying to be the husband of one of the handsomest and most
popular young married women in New York, especially when she was also one of the sweetest-
tempered and most reasonable of wives; and Archer had not been insensible to such advantages.
A May herself could not understand his obscure reluctance to fall in with so reasonable and
pleasant a way of spending the summer. She reminded him that he had always liked Newport in
his bachelor days, and as this was indisputable, he could only profess that he was sure he was
going to like it better than ever now that they were to be there together. But as he stood on the
Beaufort verandah and looked out on the brightly peopled lawn, it came home to him with a
shiver that he was not going to like it at all.
B In addition, there had been the pleasurable excitement of choosing a showy grey horse for
May's brougham (the Wellands had given the carriage). Then, there was the abiding occupation
and interest of arranging his new library, which, in spite of family doubts and disapproval, had
been carried out as he had dreamed, with a dark-embossed paper, an Eastlake book-case and
“sincere” armchairs and tables.
C The next morning Archer scoured the town in vain for more yellow roses. In consequence of
this search, he arrived late at the office, perceived that his doing so made no difference whatever
to any one, and was filled with sudden exasperation at the elaborate futility of his life. Why
should he not be, at that moment, on the sands of St. Augustine with May Welland?
D Newland Archer, standing on the verandah of the Beaufort house, looked curiously down upon
this scene. On each side of the shiny painted steps, was a large, blue china flowerpot on a bright
yellow china stand. A spiky, green plant filled each pot, and below the verandah ran a wide
border of blue hydrangeas edged with more red geraniums. Behind him, the French windows of
the drawing rooms through which he had passed gave glimpses, between swaying lace curtains,
of glassy parquet floors islanded with chintz pouffes, dwarf armchairs, and velvet tables covered with trifles of silver.
E Archer looked down with wonder at the familiar spectacle. It surprised him that life should be
going on in the old way when his own reactions to it had so completely changed. It was Newport
that had first brought home to him the extent of the change.
F Archer had married (as most young men did) because he had met a perfectly charming girl at
the moment when a series of rather aimless sentimental adventures were ending in premature
disgust; and she had represented peace, stability, comradeship, and the steadying sense of an inescapable duty.
G Half-way between the edge of the cliff and the square wooden house (which was also
chocolate-coloured, but with the tin roof of the verandah striped in yellow and brown to
represent an awning), two large targets had been placed against a background of shrubbery. On
the other side of the lawn, facing the targets, was pitched a real tent, with benches and garden- seats about it.
H Newport, on the other hand, represented the escape from duty into an atmosphere of
unmitigated holiday-making. Archer had tried to persuade May to spend the summer on a remote
island off the coast of Maine (called, appropriately enough, Mount Desert) where a few hardy
Bostonians and Philadelphians were camping in native cottages, and whence came reports of
enchanting scenery and a wild, almost trapper-like existence amid woods and waters.
Part 4. For questions 76-85, read an extract from an article on a model and choose the
answer A, B, C or D that fits best according to the text. Write your answers in the
corresponding numbered boxes provided.
ISLAND BIOGEOGRAPHY MODEL
Since the 1960s, scientists have been studying the composition and stability of island
communities. Specifically, they have been interested in what it takes to maintain life in these
isolated areas. As a result, they developed the island biogeography model, a model that not only
provides information on island populations, but also provides insights into conservation.
The island biogeography model theorizes that the number of different species on an
island will maintain equilibrium, or a state of balance, amid the fluid changes of immigration
and extinction. In other words, the number of species on an island remains constant. In an
experiment in the US state of Florida, islands of mangrove trees were found to house many
different species of arthropods. Scientists documented the numbers and types of species. They
then sprayed insect poison over the islands, destroying all of the arthropods there. They observed
the islands over the next year, as species of arthropods from the area surrounding the mangrove
islands moved onto the island and repopulated it. Within a year, the number of species of
arthropods was almost identical to what it had been before spraying the poison. However, the
scientists soon discovered that the individual species were not identical to the ones that had been
there before. So, while the number of species was the same, the diversity of species was quite
different. This study proves that although the species number remains constant, the types of species do not.
The island biogeography model can also apply in places that are not technically islands.
In fact, the islands used in this research were man-made, isolated areas that had been created to
meet an ever-increasing demand for land and natural resources. These islands form when humans
clear out vast amounts of vegetation for arable land and living space. Their actions cut off small
areas of land and forest from larger communities, such as when loggers separate a small parcel of
forest area from the larger forest. Hence, these isolated pockets become "islands," or areas
separated from their larger communities.
By reducing areas of land into islands, humans have a significant impact on wildlife. The
island biogeography model states that the larger the island, the higher the rate of extinction. ■ A)
This is due in part to a larger number of species coming to the island to colonize it. As new
species immigrate, there begins a competition for resources on the island. ■ B) Since there is a
fixed amount of resources on any given island, some species will not survive in the struggle. ■
C) On a smaller island, the rate of extinction would be lower, and so would the corresponding
immigration of new species. ■ D) The more isolated these small islands are, the fewer species
they are able to sustain. Certain species of birds and animals may only be found on these islands.
If they lose the competition for resources, they will be gone forever. For example, the Bogor
Botanical Garden in Indonesia was created fifty years ago, leaving an isolated woodland area
where lush forest had once been. Twenty of the sixty-two original species of exotic birds have
disappeared completely, and four species are severely endangered.
The model scientists developed has provided beneficial information regarding the
conservation of these areas that are threatened by man's need for resources. While the demand
for land and natural resources will continue, many feel that with planning and a concerted effort,
life in these precious island ecosystems can be preserved to some degree. One solution suggests
that a natural corridor be sustained between the isolated communities. For example, scientists in
the Netherlands are looking at the possibility of leaving paths of trees and shrubs between these
islands. They feel it will aid in maintaining the diversity of species there. The island
biogeography model has inspired biologists to begin researching conservation methods. Such
methods include the establishment of nature reserves and programs to help plan the use of land in
a way that would protect the natural habitat as much as possible.
It is a harsh reality that much of the life on these islands cannot be sustained. Some
species will inevitably become extinct. The island biogeography model first started as a way to
explain life in the communities of these isolated ecosystems, but has developed into a catalyst
that has sparked heavier conservation efforts on behalf of these endangered habitats. The model
has served as a tool that has opened the eyes of many who hope to conserve as much tropical forest life as possible.
76. The word fluid in the passage is closest in meaning to _______. A. unpredictable B. unstable C. changing D. graceful
77. Why does the author discuss the mangrove tree islands in Florida?
A. To demonstrate the equilibrium hypothesis
B. To contrast man-made and natural islands
C. To explain the origin of the island biogeography model
D. To confirm the research regarding immigration
78. According to paragraph 4, why is the extinction rate higher on larger islands?
A. Larger islands house a larger number of predators.
B. The rate of immigration is higher on larger islands.
C. Newer species take over all the resources.
D. They house a number of older species.
79. Which of the following is NOT true about the repopulation of islands?
A Nature tends to keep the islands in equilibrium.
B. Immigration balances species extinction.
C. The number of species usually remains constant.
D. The diversity of the species stays the same.
80. The word sustain in paragraph 4 is closest in meaning to _______.
A. cultivate B. encounter C. feed D. support
81. The word they in paragraph 4 refers to _______. A. species B. resources C. birds D. island places
82. Which of the following can be inferred from paragraph 4?
A. Man's destruction of nature must come to a halt to preserve island life.
B. Endangered species will be saved when humans stop creating isolated islands.
C. Species will maintain equilibrium if these islands are left untouched.
D. Most island extinctions are caused by human's need for resources.
83. The word catalyst in the passage is closest in meaning to _______. A. means B. process C. awareness D. legislation
84. Look at the four squares [■] that indicate where the following sentence could be added to the passage.
However, while many of the island's older inhabitants may lose out to newer species, the
number of species on the island will stay the same.
Where would the sentence best fit? A. First square B. Second square C. Third square D. Fourth square
85. All of the following are correct about the island biogeography model EXCEPT _______
A. The model provided essential information regarding conservation.
B. The equilibrium hypothesis was proved true on an island of arthropods.
C. Scientists discovered ways to control the number of species becoming extinct.
D. The research mainly studied islands created by man's need for resources.
Part 5. The passage below consists of five paragraphs marked A-E. For questions 86-95, read
the passage and do the task that follows. Write your answers in the corresponding numbered boxes provided.
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 Your answers:
new proposals require an appropriate level of scrutiny? 86 .
academic subjects have benefits beyond their syllabuses? 87 .
business is investing in an unknown quantity in the pursuit of an uncertain goal? 88 .
responsibility for service provision needs to be correctly allocated? 89 .
educators need to make sure that they don’t lose sight of an important point? 90 .
the issues discussed are a recurring theme that is yet to be agreed upon? 91 .
beliefs about the key topics of a study were alluded to in the heading of a publication? 92 .
industry is better suited to cover some issues than educational institutions? 93 . 94
original thinking is key in finding solutions to future challenges? . 95
while obligations vary, they are still present for both parties? .
III. READING (50 POINTS)
Part 1. For questions 46-55, fill each of the following numbered blanks with ONE suitable
word and write your answers in the corresponding numbered boxes provided.
We’ve all been there and come back with a T-shirt bearing a slogan about it – The Failed
Holiday. The kids are bored 46.______, you can’t find a decent restaurant for love nor
47.______, the cafes are all full and you are fed up. Tempers 48.______ and you are left
wondering why you went away in the first place – hardly a good way to spend precious holiday
time. But there is a way of escaping the stresses of being away from home. Staying in an all-
inclusive hotel 49.______ you don’t have to plan meals, activities or night life, as everything is
catered for, leaving you to 50.______ back, relax and enjoy your holiday. Most importantly, all-
inclusive holidays 51.______ at all-inclusive prices, so you pay for everything before you go
away. And don’t think you’ll be 52.______ to one or two resorts. These days, holiday companies
offer all-inclusive deals in every main resort around the Mediterranean, as well as more exotic
locations such as the Caribbean or the Maldives. If you think this is the sort of holiday you are
after, there are a few things to keep in 53.______. Firstly, remember that you’ll be spending most
of your time in the hotel, so make sure you choose one which has the facilities you require. If
you’ re travelling as a family 54.______, many hotels offer excellent children’s facilities such as
kid’s clubs, playgrounds and crèches. For older children, there are a number of hotels offering
supervised activities for teens while others offer 55.______ sport facilities including team games,
water sports and gym facilities.
Part 2. For questions 56-68, read the following passage and do the tasks that follow. THE SWIFFER
For a fascinating tale about creativity, look at a cleaning product called the Swiffer and how it
came about, urges writer Jonah Lehrer. In the story of the Swiffer, he argues, we have the key
elements in producing breakthrough ideas: frustration, moments of insight and sheer hard work.
The story starts with a multinational company which had invented products for keeping homes
spotless, and couldn't come up with better ways to clean floors, so it hired designers to watch
how people cleaned. Frustrated after hundreds of hours of observation, they one day noticed a
woman do with a paper towel what people do all the time: wipe something up and throw it away.
An idea popped into lead designer Harry West's head: the solution to their problem was a floor
mop with a disposable cleaning surface. Mountains of prototypes and years of teamwork later,
they unveiled the Swiffer, which quickly became a commercial success.
Lehrer, the author of Imagine, a new book that seeks to explain how creativity works, says this
study of the imagination started from a desire to understand what happens in the brain at the
moment of sudden insight. 'But the book definitely spiralled out of control,' Lehrer says. 'When
you talk to creative people, they'll tell you about the 'eureka' moment, but when you press them
they also talk about the hard work that comes afterwards, so I realised I needed to write about
that, too. And then I realised I couldn't just look at creativity from the perspective of the brain,
because it's also about the culture and context, about the group and the team and the way we collaborate.'
When it comes to the mysterious process by which inspiration comes into your head as if from
nowhere, Lehrer says modern neuroscience has produced a 'first draft' explanation of what is
happening in the brain. He writes of how burnt-out American singer Bob Dylan decided to walk
away from his musical career in 1965 and escape to a cabin in the woods, only to be overcome
by a desire to write. Apparently 'Like a Rolling Stone' suddenly flowed from his pen. 'It's like a
ghost is writing a song,' Dylan has reportedly said. 'It gives you the song and it goes away.' But
it's no ghost, according to Lehrer.
Instead, the right hemisphere of the brain is assembling connections between past influences and
making something entirely new. Neuroscientists have roughly charted this process by mapping
the brains of people doing word puzzles solved by making sense of remotely connecting
information. For instance, subjects are given three words - such as 'age', 'mile' and 'sand' - and
asked to come up with a single word that can precede or follow each of them to form a
compound word. (It happens to be 'stone'.) Using brain-imaging equipment, researchers
discovered that when people get the answer in an apparent flash of insight, a small fold of tissue
called the anterior superior temporal gyrus suddenly lights up just beforehand. This stays silent
when the word puzzle is solved through careful analysis. Lehrer says that this area of the brain
lights up only after we've hit the wall on a problem. Then the brain starts hunting through the
'filing cabinets of the right hemisphere' to make the connections that produce the right answer.
Studies have demonstrated it's possible to predict a moment of insight up to eight seconds before
it arrives. The predictive signal is a steady rhythm of alpha waves emanating from the brain's
right hemisphere, which are closely associated with relaxing activities. 'When our minds are at
ease-when those alpha waves are rippling through the brain - we're more likely to direct the
spotlight of attention towards that stream of remote associations emanating from the right
hemisphere,' Lehrer writes. 'In contrast, when we are diligently focused, our attention tends to be
towards the details of the problems we are trying to solve.' In other words, then we are less likely
to make those vital associations. So, heading out for a walk or lying down are important phases
of the creative process, and smart companies know this. Some now have a policy of encouraging
staff to take time out during the day and spend time on things that at first glance are unproductive
(like playing a PC game), but day-dreaming has been shown to be positively correlated with
problem-solving. However, to be more imaginative, says Lehrer, it's also crucial to collaborate
with people from a wide range of backgrounds because if colleagues are too socially intimate, creativity is stifled.
Creativity, it seems, thrives on serendipity. American entrepreneur Steve Jobs believed so.
Lehrer describes how at Pixar Animation, Jobs designed the entire workplace to maximise the
chance of strangers bumping into each other, striking up conversations and learning from one
another. He also points to a study of 766 business graduates who had gone on to own their own
companies. Those with the greatest diversity of acquaintances enjoyed far more success. Lehrer
says he has taken all this on board, and despite his inherent shyness, when he's sitting next to
strangers on a plane or at a conference, forces himself to initiate conversations. As for
predictions that the rise of the Internet would make the need for shared working space obsolete,
Lehrer says research shows the opposite has occurred; when people meet face-to-face, the level
of creativity increases. This is why the kind of place we live in is so important to innovation.
According to theoretical physicist Geoffrey West, when corporate institutions get bigger, they
often become less receptive to change. Cities, however, allow our ingenuity to grow by pulling
huge numbers of different people together, who then exchange ideas. Working from the comfort
of our homes may be convenient, therefore, but it seems we need the company of others to
achieve our finest 'eureka' moments. Questions 56-63
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage? For questions 56-63, choose:
TRUE if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this
Write your answers in the corresponding numbered box provided. 56
It did not take long for the Swiffer to develop once the idea for it was conceived. 57
When Jonah Lehrer began writing his book, he had not intended to focus on creativity. 58
Lehrer was driven by his own experience of the ‘eureka’ moment. 59
Lehrer refers to the singer Bob Dylan in order to propose particular approaches to regaining lost creativity. 60
Neuroscientists discovered from the word puzzle experiment that one part of the brain
only becomes active when a connection is made suddenly. 61
Scientists know a moment of insight is coming because there is greater activity in the right side of the brain. 62
Some companies require their employees to stop working so they can increase the
possibility of finding answers. 63
A team will function more successfully when people are not too familiar with one another.
For questions 64-68, complete the notes below. Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the
passage for each answer. Write your answers in the corresponding numbered box provided.
HOW OTHER PEOPLE INFLUENCE OUR CREATIVITY
Steve Jobs: made changes to the 64.__________ to encourage interaction at Pixar.
Lehrer: company owners must have a wide range of 65.__________ to do well.
it’s important to start 66.__________ with new people
the 67.__________ has not replaced the need for physical contact.
Geoffrey West: living in 68.__________ encourages creativity.
Part 3. In the passage below, seven paragraphs have been removed. For questions 69-75, read
the passage and choose from the paragraphs A-H the one which fits each gap. There is ONE
extra paragraph which you do not need to use. Write your answers in the corresponding numbered box provided.
YOU CAN TEACH AN OLD DOG NEW TRICKS
Dr Patricia Fitzgerald witnesses the results of an amazing new scheme that brought prisoners and animals new hope.
August 9, 2014, was one of the most memorable days of my life. On that day I entered a
maximum-security prison in Lancaster, California, to witness an extraordinary event connecting
the lives of some of its inmates with a pack of rescued shelter dogs. Just a few months ago, five
lucky dogs – Shelby, Oreo, Rendell, Chuey and Eddie – beat the odds and were pulled from a
shelter in Los Angeles and entered this prison for a chance at a better life. 69.
The group has saved the lives of over 2,000 dogs since their inception in 2003, placing them in
loving ‘forever’ homes. Education and outreach has always been part of their mission statement,
so when officials from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation approached
Karma with this unique opportunity, it seemed like a perfect match. 70.
For instance, Jack explained that, ‘It’s a pleasure to simply observe dogs and to be observed by
them. Caring for them is an opportunity and a privilege to openly display caring and compassion,
and at times let my inner child out when playing with the dogs; being mindful of the overall goal
of training for adoption. I know that the best of me that I give will be the ensured success of the
dog. It feels good to nurture and care! I have no inhibitions about availing myself to any aspect
of caring for the dogs ... If I’ve learned nothing else in my life, it’s tolerance, patience, and
caring for myself and others.’ 71.
After these were reviewed, fourteen inmates were then selected to train five shelter dogs who
stayed at the prison this summer for a 12-week programme. From the very beginning, the
programme struck a chord with everyone involved. 72.
During the programme, professional dog trainer Mark Tipton would drive out to the prison
several times a week to instruct the inmates on how to train their assigned dogs for ‘Canine Good
Citizen’ certification, a designation that increases the chance that a dog will be successfully
adopted. The culmination of all this hard work was the graduation of the first class of Paws for
Life, which I had the pleasure to attend on August 9th. 73.
Four of the dogs in the programme had already been adopted into loving homes. And the inmates
had gained experience and skills that renewed their own lives as much as their training renewed
the dogs’ lives during those 12 weeks. Although the programme was limited to 14 inmates, it
was clear there has been a ripple effect through the prison. ‘The calming effect of the staff, the
interaction between the staff and inmates is amazing. Before it was yes sir, no sir – now it’s more
cordial ... it’s two human beings having a conversation. The hearts are totally open,’ explained
the warden of the prison, John Soto. 74.
Every inmate that I spoke with expressed how deeply this programme had touched their hearts,
and shared sincere gratitude for the support of Warden Soto and Captain Wood, often referring to
them as ‘awesome’ and ‘amazing’. Although there were certainly bittersweet moments as the
inmates prepared to say goodbye to the dogs they had loved and cared for, they were overjoyed
that they could positively contribute to society and even meet the people whose lives were now
going to be enriched by their new canine companion. 75.
Witnessing this event had an enormous impact on me, and I am deeply grateful for the
opportunity. A couple of weeks have passed and my mind still lingers on the occasion. I am
thrilled programmes like this exist to allow people – and dogs – to have a second chance at life.
A In another essay Christopher tells us that, ‘I know some people in society may think that we as
prisoners don’t have anything good left in ourselves or have redeeming qualities, or should be
allowed any goodness in our lives; however contrary to that thinking I know in my heart this to be the opposite.’
B This remarkable situation came about as a result of Paws for Life, a programme, started by the
charity Karma Rescue, that matches rescued dogs with inmates who train them to boost their
odds of adoption. What’s even more unusual about it is that it’s the first programme in California
to take place at a high-security prison with inmates serving life sentences.
C Captain Crystal Wood also noticed a huge change in the inmates in a relatively short time after
the dogs entered the prison. ‘A lot of times in this setting it’s so depressing and you don’t show
emotion... and when you have a creature that gives you unconditional love and licks you and
doesn’t care – you see men who’ve been in prison for 20 and 30 years break down and cry just
for the compassion and the humanity. It’s just generally made the yard a calmer place.’
D What made this ceremony so powerful was the pervasive sense that it changed all the
participants so profoundly. Everybody involved – the volunteers, the prison warden and staff, the
inmates, the dogs, and everyone in their vicinity – was transformed by it.
E Through the scheme inmates eligible for Paws for Life applied for the limited slots by
participating in interviews and writing essays, often laden with extraordinary reflections on their
lives. Some of the excerpts are remarkable, as is the frankness of the writers.
F Indeed, at the end of the ceremony, the inmates spent quite a bit of time with the families,
giving them pointers. Observing the inmates bond with the families and beam with pride over the
dogs was an incredibly moving experience.
G Karma Rescue’s founder Rande Levine was amazed at the impact, ‘Men who had not seen an
animal in decades were openly emotional at the sight of the beautiful creatures before them. Just
petting our dogs brought many to happy tears. It was a moment I will never, ever forget.’
H Families stated how grateful they would be to receive a dog via Paws for Life. Everyone
agreed that adopting an animal that has gone through such excellent training really made their
decision to take a dog into their home easier.
Part 4. For questions 76-85, read an extract from an article on an invention and choose the
answer A, B, C or D that fits best according to the text. Write your answers in the
corresponding numbered boxes provided.
In orbit high above Earth, a multi-billion-dollar formation of communications satellites stands
ready to instantly connect pilots, seamen and navigators of all kinds to every available aid when
they find themselves in an emergency. But what if the communication computers on board these
ships and aircraft started acting up or even broke down? The world could go silent, and leave
travellers groping around for directions. Not to worry. There is a backup plan, using technology
that was invented in 1835. It's Morse code, the language of dots and dashes that has survived
the assault of higher technology for a century and a half.
Named after its inventor, Samuel F B Morse, the code is a series of combinations of short and
long tones (dots and dashes) representing letters of the alphabet that can be transmitted manually
by a key operator. A telegrapher combines the dots and dashes to form letters and words. It is a
seemingly tedious procedure, but skilled operators can transmit and receive faster than most
secretaries can type. The fastest Morse transmission ever recorded is an amazing 84 words per
minute, sent by an operator named T L McElroy in 1951.
Morse telegraphy may seem like a quaint anachronism, with its brass sounder and key operated
by the world's most basic tool, the human finger. However, it is sometimes vital to worldwide
communications. When the Mexico City earthquake occurred in 1985 and all the power went off,
calls for help were transmitted in Morse by an amateur radio operator. "We see the Morse code
as a dying art, but we refuse to let it die completely," says Major General Leo M Childs, the US
Army's Chief Signal Officer. "Newer is not always better. Even though it is old and slow, Morse
is still the most reliable in difficult conditions. "
Every merchant vessel bearing the US flag must carry a radio officer who can both transmit and
receive Morse code. Under US law, the officer must spend eight hours at sea every day
monitoring the radio for Morse distress signals. Should you ever find yourself adrift at sea in a
lifeboat launch from a sink passenger cruise ship, it will be equipped with a single
communications device: a Morse transmitter that automatically signals a distress call, but is also
equipped with a keyboard in case you happen to know Morse code. Perhaps the best-known bit
of Morse code is the call for help - SOS. In the code, these letters form a distinctive pattern (dot
dot dot, dash dash dash, dot dot dot) easily recognised in an emergency.
The enduring use of Morse telegraphy is the legacy of a burst of industrialisation in 19th-Century
America, when the railway and telegraph developed side by side. Most of those railway
telegraph lines were used well into the mid-20th century, well after radio, television and
computers became commonplace. Until 1985, the Milwaukee Road had a Morse telegraph line
between Milwaukee and La Crosse that was routinely used to relay orders to train crews. This
Milwaukee operation was shut down quietly in the late Eighties. In many other countries,
however, Morse railway is still used.
The military services continue to be the most serious users of Morse telegraphy. While billion-
dollar satellites and sophisticated ground networks are good in theory, such communication
systems can break down on the battlefield. As a matter of prudence, the Army keeps a functional
Morse capability. Morse code signals require much less power to transmit broadcasting than
voice messages. In addition, even an unclear Morse signal can be interpreted, whereas a distorted
voice transmission is virtually useless. The Army annually trains about 2,800 men and women in
Morse code for a variety of signal jobs in infantry, artillery, intelligence and even Special Forces.
A Morse transmission will get through when all else fails, and especially in military conflicts,
"he who communicates first, no matter how primitively, will come out on top," says Major General Childs.
In that case, retired railway telegraph operators will Probably take over the world. Each evening,
the amateur radio waves come alive with the Morse transmissions of the retired operators known
among themselves as 'old heads'. "I get on the air and use the code every night to chat to other
old heads," says Craig Becker, the retired Milwaukee telegraph operator who received the
railway's final telegraph message in 1985. "There are a lot of telegraphers around. Every night
you hear them pecking. "Experienced Operators say the Morse code is not so much a clatter of
sounds as a language, because operators do not hear dots and dashes. "You can sit back and hear a conversation," says Becker.
When Morse inaugurated the telegraph service in 1844, he wired from Baltimore to Washington
the now-famed message: "What hath God wrought!" Ever since, the death of Morse code has
been regularly predicted. However, although the surface has receded from public view, experts
say that they cannot envision an end to its use any time soon. "I can carry a very small Morse key
in my pocket and transmit around the world," says Burke Stinson, a public relations man for
American Telephone & Telegraph Co. "I do not think you will ever see Morse code die. It is
going to be difficult to find another method that is as flexible and reliable. "
76. The reason the writer mentions the possibility of satellite–based communication systems failing is to
A. underline the importance of a reliable alternative.
B. suggest that satellite communications are unreliable.
C. emphasise the drawbacks of satellite communications.
D. compare Morse to communication satellites.
77. The process of communicating using Morse code
A. involves more than transmitting tones.
B. is tedious even for experienced users.
C. is not as laborious as people think.
D. is simple enough for anyone who can type.
78. In the third paragraph, the writer implies that the use of Morse code is
A. old-fashioned, but attracts many enthusiasts.
B. only useful to the armed forces and some hobbyists.
C. being revived by amateur radio operators.
D. often the only way to communicate during a crisis.
79. In the fifth paragraph, the writer
A. implies that Morse telegraphy developed faster than the railway.
B. implies that Morse has survived for so long because of the railway.
C. suggests that the railway developed because of Morse telegraphy.
D. explains why Morse telegraphy eventually became redundant. 80. The American military
A. needs simple communication methods
B. has recently neglected its Morse capability.
C. allows its forces some Morse equipment.
D. offers training for recognising distorted Morse.
81. The first message to be transmitted in Morse code
A. symbolised the code’s flexibility.
B. was used for commercial purposes.
C. took a long time to reach its destination.
D. was sent by Samuel Morse himself.
82. What does the writer mean by saying that Morse code “has survived the assault of higher
technology for a century and a half” in the first paragraph?
A. Even though in the last 150 years newer and more sophisticated ways of doing things have
been invented, Morse is still used.
B. As modern communication systems have progressed rapidly, it is surprising that Morse
telegraphy could survive for 150 years.
C. Thanks to the backup plan, Morse telegraphy has survived for 150 years in the face of technology.
D. Morse code could not have survived for 150 years without the support of modern technology.
83. What does the word “It” in paragraph 2 refer to? A. a series of combinations
B. sending a message in Morse code
C. representing letters of the alphabet
D. the transmission sent by McElroy
84. The phrase “quaint anachronism” in paragraph 3 refers to _______. A. unimportant thing B. monotonous cycle C. old-fashioned tool D. irrelevant invention
85. Which is the best title for the passage?
A. Morse Code – a Revolutionary Invention B. Dots and Dashes Still Alive
C. The Comeback of a Forgotten Name
D. The Applications of Morse Telegraphy
Part 5. The passage below consists of five sections marked A-E. For questions 86-95, read the
passage and do the task that follows. Write your answers in the corresponding numbered boxes provided. Napoleon Bonaparte
What characteristics marked out one of history’s greatest military geniuses?
A Napoleon Bonaparte stirs the emotions. Some find him heroic and regard his opponents as
reactionary and unimaginative. Others think him mad with ambition and responsible for many of
the sins of his era. Between these extremes there are those who find some aspects of the man
admirable and others regrettable. Of course, Bonaparte was anything but pure, anything but
modest, anything but democratic, and anything but a peacemaker. But in the end, who else that
sat on a throne in Europe could claim to be? Should he be assailed for sins that were so sadly
common? What is it about Napoleon Bonaparte that makes him the object of such unique
criticism? Is it because he holds a special place in our imaginations, a place that we hope would
be an example of our better selves? Was his genius, good fortune, and opportunity enough to
condemn him - not so much for what he did, but what he failed to do? In the end is our greatest
disappointment in Bonaparte simply that he was merely human?
B Napoleon was a military genius in the strategic and tactical handling of armies and although
he provided no large scale reforms of armies (or, indeed, their equipment and techniques), he
excelled at the refinement of an art that already existed. One of the most important factors of
Napoleon's personality and its effect on his abilities as a military commander was his genius to
inspire others. He believed in the maxim that ‘spirit and drive is to the physical as three is to
one’. It was through his system of awards (an appealing to soldiers’ ‘soul in order to electrify the
man’) that Napoleon was so successful in obtaining unquestionable obedience, loyalty and
devotion from his rank and file.
C The name Napoleon Bonaparte is surrounded by so vast an array of myth and legend that it is
quite difficult to separate fact from fiction. It is said that Napoleon displayed outstanding
leadership qualities while still at school. But this is undoubtedly the product of the school of
Napoleonic mythology that was systematically promoted for political reasons in 19th century
France, since it hardly squares with the general picture of the taciturn child with an inferiority
complex that has come down to us. Napoleon
was, in truth, a reserved child, resentful of his peers. On the other hand, he excelled at maths – a
qualification that determined his specialisation as an artillery officer. This was a stroke of luck
(one of many that Napoleon benefited from) inasmuch as the artillery was the most prestigious
branch of the army under the old regime. But the biggest stroke of fortune Napoleon had was to
be born when he was – in the age of the French Revolution. The Revolution turned the whole
world upside down and presented an ambitious young man (Napoleon was always ambitious – a
consequence of his resentment at his inferior status) with new and vast opportunities.
D No man previously ever concentrated authority to such a point, nor showed mental abilities at
all comparable to Napoleon’s: an extraordinary power of work; prodigious memory for detail
and fine judgment in their selection; a luminous decision-making capacity and a simple and rapid
conception - all placed at the disposal of a sovereign will. And no head of state gave expression
more imperiously than this Corsican to the popular passions of the French of that day:
abhorrence for the emigrant nobility, fear of the ancient régime, dislike of foreigners, hatred of
England, an appetite for conquest evoked by revolutionary propaganda, and the love of glory.
E Psychological studies of ‘great men and women’ frequently serve as a fig leaf to disguise the
absence of an understanding of broad socio-historical processes. The study of history is replaced
by trivial personal observations. Instead of science, we have gossip. A careful study of the
character and background of Napoleon Bonaparte can furnish us with many useful insights into
his behaviour. But we are left with a small amount of useful information that can help us to attain
a deeper understanding of Bonaparte. Men and women make their own history, but they do not
make it freely, in the sense that the scope and results of their actions are strictly limited by the
given socio-economic context that is prepared independently of their will.
In which section are the followings mentioned? Your answers:
the idea that an individual’s actions cannot be separated from their historical context 86.
the view that the writing of history is sometimes agenda-driven 87.
the characteristics that made Napoleon an exceptional leader 88.
the fact that Napoleon was eminently aware of the impact of morale on modern warfare 89.
the fact that Napoleon is as divisive a character as he is famous 90.
the uncertainty as to whether detractors of Napoleon simply lament the fact he had the 91.
vices and virtues of the common man
the view that Napoleon was no great revolutionary of warfare itself 92.
the notion that we are all a product of the time we live in 93.
the fact that Napoleon’s views reflected those of his countrymen 94.
the event that made Napoleon’s ascent possible 95.
III. READING (50 POINTS)
Part 1. For questions 46-55, fill each of the following numbered blanks with ONE suitable
word and write your answers in the corresponding numbered boxes provided.
Imagine you are walking to school listening to music on your MP3 player. All of a sudden, it
stops working and you 46. _______that the batteries have run out. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if
you could simply 47. ______the batteries wherever you are? This might be possible in a few
years’ 48._____as scientists are now working on a bag that makes electricity. They say that all
someone needs to do is put the bag their back and start walking. The 49.______ of the body
makes electricity in a special part of the bag. This new 50._____ sounds like a brilliant idea,
doesn’t it? Scientists developed the “electric backpack” in order to help soldiers, who often carry
around with them torches, radios and other equipment. All these things 51._______ on batteries
and at the moment, the soldiers 52._____ on these batteries to 53._______ the power this
equipment needs. With the “electric backpack”, the soldiers won’t need to 54.______ extra
batteries around with them. Rescue workers and mountain climbers will also find the bag
55._______, as will students who don’t want their MP3 players to run out by chance on their way to school.
Part 2. For questions 56-68, read the following passage and do the tasks that follow.
The Science of Imagination
Are creative people's brains different from other people's? Professor John Stein explains what
creativity looks like from a neuroscientific perspective.
How do you quantify creativity? Is it different from intelligence? Among academics, there is no
agreement about what intelligence is, yet IQ measures of aptitude in memory, logic and
comprehension seem to capture something useful about the brain's processing ability that is a
good predictor of both academic and other types of achievement. The speed of this explains why
different intelligence subtests, such as verbal and nonverbal reasoning, correlate with each other
fairly well. Thus “g”, the general intelligence factor believed by Charles Spearman in the 1920s
to underlie all other intellectual attributes, is most likely explained by the speed and effective
exchange of data between the front and back, and left and right hemispheres of an individual's brain.
The efficiency of this interchange, which is mediated by synchronisation of the rhythms of the
brain, is a product of both genetic and environmental aspects. Temporal processing seems to be
even more heritable than intelligence itself but environmental factors play just as important a role
in intelligence. For example, the specialised neurons which mediate the synchronising rhythms
are especially vulnerable to dietary deficiencies, particularly during childhood. General
improvement in diet is one explanation for the "Flynn effect": the increase in the average IQ in
all developed countries by 30 points over the past century.
It is widely agreed that intelligence tests only capture verbal and spatial reasoning and other 'left-
hemisphere’ traits, such as linear and 'convergent' thinking. In order to include other attributes,
such as emotional, holistic, lateral and imaginative thinking, generally deemed to be
characteristic of right-hemisphere processing, Spearman used a factor "s". This assumed
difference is, however, misleading as in reality both hemispheres work collectively in dealing
with any one task. Whilst differing kinds of thinking do involve activity in diverging parts of the
brain, they do not do so in the clearly compartmentalised way envisaged by early phrenologists.
Even simple thought processes tend to involve several parts of the brain and the intricate nature
of the systems involved in creative thought range widely over both hemispheres. Creative people
are those who have the ability to think unexpected new thoughts and produce innovative
concepts. They are highly likely to be the fortunate ones and to have both inherited and
developed methods which enable their brains' two hemispheres to work optimally together.
Where highly creative people are concerned, four different stages in their pattern of work can be
discerned. For which preparation, namely immersion in the problem, can take many years. Often,
preparation involves deliberately instigating crazy ideas so as to provide the raw material for the
mind to then work on. This is why creative people tend to be highly impulsive and possess a
more easily activated right prefrontal cortex: the part of the brain involved in divergent open-
ended thinking. Incubation, when a problem is deliberately set aside to allow for imaginings and
ideas to interweave subconsciously, with luck will naturally lead to the third stage, whereby
insight and illumination will burst forth in your mind with wonderful clarity, In the case of
Mendeleev, sleep gave rise to his imagination, logically ordering all the chemical elements into
what we now refer to as the periodic table. The fourth and final stage, that of recording ideas on
paper, requires the left hemisphere's strengths. Mozart said 'It rarely differs on paper from what it
was in my imagination." Others are not so lucky; Einstein spent huge amounts of time attempting
to capture in symbolic form the visuo-spatial intuitions that had come to him in a flash.
We can all profit from our perception of the creative process by consciously facilitating each of
these stages: deliberately giving our imagination free rein, brain-storming, allowing lateral
thinking by free association and then sleeping on the new ideas or changing task completely. It is
surprising how often ideas will arrange themselves into coherent plans and how a flash of insight
will make clear how to convey the information so others can understand it. A widely believed
urban myth claims only 10% of our brain is generally in use and suggests that if we used more,
we could all aspire to be a Leonardo da Vincy. However, Nature would not allow us to expend
20% of all the energy generated by the body on the brain (which is 2% of our body weight) if
90% of it is likely to be wasted. But this conjecture has a grain of truth: if we could learn - as we
can through practice - to optimise the connections between the different parts of our brains to
increase its efficiency, we can only speculate how much more creativity would be released.
Meanwhile, ensuring that our educational systems foster rather than stifle creativity is vital.
Modern education quite properly stresses the importance of developing reasoning, verbal and
literacy skills, which are of supreme importance in this technological age. However, the non-
verbal, holistic, emotional right hemisphere is necessary if we are to generate any new concepts
or innovative ideas, as will be required if we are to cope with the rapid pace of change in the 21st
century. It has been found that creative people are quite often deficient in logical, literate left-
brain skills, but superior in holistic, visuo-spatial right-brain ones. A disproportionate number of
creative artists, engineers and architects fall into this category. The implication of this is that we
must create space for arts, fantasy and imagination - our future may well depend on it. Questions 56-63
Do the following statements agree with the information given in the passage? For questions 56-63, choose:
TRUE if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this
Write your answers in the corresponding numbered box provided. 56
A typical indication of a high IQ is the speed at which someone can handle information. 57
The proven link between better food intake and higher intelligence demonstrates that genetic
factors are not the proper consideration. 58
The complexity involved in the creative process involves different parts of the brain
interacting together perfectly. 59
It is often the case that the process experienced by creative people leads to a form of mental illness. 60
Creative people unfailingly struggle to transfer ideas from the brain to the written word. 61
The urban myth that the writer mentions is scientifically improbable. 62
Students whose right and left-brain thinking is imbalanced fail to achieve academic success. 63
It is essential for the modern age that creativity is nurtured at school. Questions 64-68
Complete the summary, using the list of words, A-O, below. Write the correct letter, A-O in the
corresponding numbered box provided. The Creative Process
Visualising the brain as a division into 'rational' and 'emotional' halves is now recognised as a(n)
64. ________ interpretation. It turns out that more than two parts are at work in the creative
brain, and that we develop creative ideas by a more 65. ________ process. The creative process
can be divided into four stages. In the first stage, your brain is gathering information, which is
quite time-consuming. In the second stage, you let your mind 66. ________ and stretch ideas. In
the third stage, you make connections between ideas. In the fourth stage, you 67. ________ these
ideas by critical thinking so that they can persuasively reach their audience. By studying how to
become more creative we learn that it is important to be 68. ________ in the way you approach ideas. A. reinforce B. methodical C. complicated D. E. polish unsubstantiated F. neutral G. reel H. wander I. organised J. independent K. develop L. risky M. race N. over-simplistic O. boggle
Part 3. In the passage below, seven paragraphs have been removed. For questions 69-75, read
the passage and choose from the paragraphs A-H the one which fits each gap. There is ONE
extra paragraph which you do not need to use. Write your answers in the corresponding numbered box provided. Spellbound
All eyes are on the shaman: arms outstretched, head back, her face hidden behind a mask. She
wears a long, tapering cap, and clutches a short wand in each hand. There are tassels at her hips
and elbows, and these jump as she begins to move. The crowd around her watches, spellbound,
as she embarks upon her journey to the spirit world. 69.
The suggestion that this rock art may be the oldest known depiction of a shamanistic ritual comes
from a group of researchers led by Per Michaelsen, a geologist at James Cook University in
Queensland. They argue that these ancient paintings may represent not only early religious
practices but perhaps also a cultural heritage common to all humans. Such daring new theories
do not go down well with the rock art establishment. But regardless of which ideas prevail, the
controversy is certain to attract attention to an astonishing record of a vanished people. 70.
Michaelsen estimates that there may be as many as 100,000 Bradshaw 'galleries' tucked under
rock overhangs along the region's major river systems. Many of the paintings have never been
studied. But observations made by other researchers over the past few decades reveal several
distinct artistic styles. Researchers recognise at least four major periods which they can place in
chronological order by looking at patterns of weathering and instances where one style is superimposed upon another. 71.
The subjects' dress changes over time, as does the style of the paintings themselves. The next
oldest figures are notable for the sashes around their midriffs. These sash figures still have
armbands, but not the prominent tassels. 72.
There are also so-called elegant action figures of people running and hunting, which are difficult
to date because none is superimposed on a painting from another period. However, the abstract
style suggests that they were created some time after the tassel and sash figures. 73.
In 1997, a group led by Richard Roberts, now at the University of Melbourne, used a technique
known as luminescence dating to assign a minimum age of 17,000 years to one of the younger
paintings. The second study, also published in 1997, used radiocarbon dating and came up with a
much younger estimate: about 4,000 years. Its author, Alan Watchman, believes the Bradshaw
culture might date back from between 5,000 and 6,000 years, but rejects the idea that it could be 17,000 years old or more. 74.
Either way, the Bradshaw people were not the original inhabitants of the Kimberley. Their
paintings have little in common with the crudely rendered animals of the region's oldest art.
Archaeological evidence suggests the first settlers of the Kimberley arrived at least 40,000 years
ago. They would have found a region of open tropical forest and woodlands where they seem to
have flourished for 10,000 years. Then things began to change. 75.
Intriguingly, one of the Bradshaw paintings shows a boat with upswept prow and stern, and
multiple paddlers. It raises the possibility that the artists were originally a seafaring people. The
idea that the Bradshaw people came from Indonesia or further afield has a long pedigree in
Australian anthropology, but there is no hard evidence to support it.
A Both researchers stand by their results. Roberts suspects that Watchman's radiocarbon samples
might have been contaminated by traces of younger carbon. Watchman thinks that the painting
dated by Roberts was, in fact, pre-Bradshaw. Despite their differences of opinion, the two are
currently working together and expect to present new results before the end of the year.
B The Bradshaws, as the paintings are collectively known, were first noted by Europeans in 1891
and take their name from Joseph Bradshaw, the rancher who described them. They are found in a
region known as the Kimberley, a remote place even by Australian standards. It is a rugged
sandstone landscape of plunging canyons and treacherous swamps.
C Younger than the sash and tasselled figures, the clothes-peg figures are much more highly
stylised. The older paintings tend to show profiles, but these are frontal portraits. Gone is the
anatomical detail, and many figures assume aggressive stances and carry multi-barbed spears and spear throwers.
D The Ice Age brought cooler temperatures, strong winds and lower rainfall to northern
Australia. The sea level dropped, and at times, during the glacial maximum, it was up to 140
metres below its present level. The coastline was as much as 400 kilometres further to the north-
west. Australia was connected by land to New Guinea and separated from Southeast Asia by just
a narrow channel. Could the Bradshaw culture have arrived in Australia at this time?
E The others are sceptical. Grahame Walsh, author of the most comprehensive book on the
Bradshaws to date, is critical of the newcomers' lack of experience. He says that there are many
people beginning to enter the Kimberley rock art scene and set themselves up as experts. He has
so far found nothing that indicates shamanism and warns that one has to be extremely cautious in
attempting to link such prehistoric art with comparatively modern art in distant countries.
F All these paintings provide a wealth of detail about the material culture of the Bradshaw
people. Yet, despite this, nobody knows when the Bradshaw culture developed or where it came
from. Only two groups have attempted to date the paintings directly, and their results are widely different.
G The oldest and largest paintings, which are up to 1.7 metres tall, are known as the tasselled
figures. They are the most realistic of the images and show figures in static poses in what appears
to be ceremonial dress. The figures are characterised by tassels attached to the upper arms, elbows, hips and knees.
H That is one possible interpretation of a scene recorded thousands of years ago on a remote
rocky outcrop in north-west Australia. The painting is part of a vast collection that opens a
window on an ancient, hunter-gatherer society that may date back to the last ice age. Despite the
quality and extent of this record, much about the paintings remains a mystery. Who were the
artists? When were the paintings done - and what do they mean?
Part 4. For questions 76-85, read an extract from an article and choose the answer A, B, C or
D that fits best according to the text. Write your answers in the corresponding numbered boxes provided. Green Iceberg
Icebergs are massive blocks of ice, irregular in shape; they float with only about 12 per cent of
their mass above the sea surface. They are formed by glaciers—large rivers of ice that begin
inland in the snows of Greenland, Antarctica, and Alaska—and move slowly toward the sea. The
forward movement, the melting at the base of the glacier where it meets the ocean, and waves
and tidal action cause blocks of ice to break off and float out to sea.
Icebergs are ordinarily blue to white, although they sometimes appear dark or opaque because
they carry gravel and bits of rock. They may change colour with changing light conditions and
cloud cover, glowing pink or gold in the morning or evening light, but this colour change is
generally related to the low angle of the Sun above the horizon. However, travellers to Antarctica
have repeatedly reported seeing green icebergs in the Weddell Sea and, more commonly, close to
the Amery Ice Shelf in East Antarctica.
One explanation for green icebergs attributes their colour to an optical illusion when blue
ice is illuminated by a near-horizon red Sun, but green icebergs stand out among white and
blue icebergs under a great variety of light conditions. Another suggestion is that the colour
might be related to ice with high levels of metallic compounds, including copper and iron.
Recent expeditions have taken ice samples from green icebergs and ice cores—vertical,
cylindrical ice samples reaching down to great depths—from the glacial ice shelves along the
Antarctic continent. Analyses of these cores and samples provide a different solution to the problem.
The ice shelf cores, with a total length of 215 meters (705 feet), were long enough to penetrate
through glacial ice—which is formed from the compaction of snow and contains air bubbles—
and to continue into the clear, bubble-free ice formed from seawater that freezes onto the bottom
of the glacial ice. The properties of this clear sea ice were very similar to the ice from the green
iceberg. The scientists concluded that green icebergs form when a two-layer block of shelf ice
breaks away and capsizes (turns upside down), exposing the bubble-free shelf ice that was formed from seawater.
A green iceberg that stranded just west of the Amery Ice Shelf showed two distinct layers:
bubbly blue-white ice and bubble-free green ice separated by a onemeter-long ice layer
containing sediments. The green ice portion was textured by seawater erosion. Where cracks
were present, the colour was light green because of light scattering; where no cracks were
present, the colour was dark green. No air bubbles were present in the green ice, suggesting that
the ice was not formed from the compression of snow but instead from the freezing of seawater.
Large concentrations of single-celled organisms with green pigments (colouring substances)
occur along the edges of the ice shelves in this region, and the seawater is rich in their
decomposing organic material. The green iceberg did not contain large amounts of particles from
these organisms, but the ice had accumulated dissolved organic matter from the seawater. It
appears that unlike salt, dissolved organic substances are not excluded from the ice in the
freezing process. Analysis shows that the dissolved organic material absorbs enough blue
wavelengths from solar light to make the ice appear green.
Chemical evidence shows that platelets (minute flat portions) of ice form in the water and then
accrete and stick to the bottom of the ice shelf to form a slush (partially melted snow). The slush
is compacted by an unknown mechanism, and solid, bubble-free ice is formed from water high in
soluble organic substances. When an iceberg separates from the ice shelf and capsizes, the green ice is exposed.
The Amery Ice Shelf appears to be uniquely suited to the production of green icebergs. Once
detached from the ice shelf, these bergs drift in the currents and wind systems surrounding
Antarctica and can be found scattered among Antarctica’s less colourful icebergs.
76. According to paragraph 1, all of the following are true of icebergs EXCEPT:
A. They do not have a regular shape.
B. They are formed where glaciers meet the ocean.
C. Most of their mass is above the sea surface.
D. Waves and tides cause them to break off glaciers.
77. According to paragraph 2, what causes icebergs to sometimes appear dark or opaque? A. A heavy cloud cover
B. The presence of gravel or bits of rock
C. The low angle of the Sun above the horizon
D. The presence of large cracks in their surface
78. Which of the sentences below best expresses the essential information in the
the bolded sentence in paragraph 3?
A. One explanation notes that green icebergs stand out among other icebergs under a great
variety of light conditions, but this is attributed to an optical illusion.
B. One explanation for the colour of green icebergs attributes their colour to an optical illusion
that occurs when the light from a near-horizon red Sun shines on a blue iceberg.
C. One explanation for green icebergs attributes their colour to a great variety of light conditions,
but green icebergs stand out best among other icebergs when illuminated by a near-horizon red Sun.
D. One explanation attributes the colour of green icebergs to an optical illusion under special
light conditions, but green icebergs appear distinct from other icebergs under a great variety of light conditions.
79. According to paragraph 4, how is glacial ice formed? A. By the compaction of snow
B. By the freezing of seawater on the bottom of ice shelves
C. By breaking away from the ice shelf
D. By the capsizing of a two-layer block of shelf ice
80. Ice shelf cores helped scientists explain the formation of green icebergs by showing that
A. the ice at the bottom of green icebergs is bubble-free ice formed from frozen seawater
B. bubble-free ice is found at the top of the ice shelf
C. glacial ice is lighter and floats better than sea ice
D. the clear sea ice at the bottom of the ice shelf is similar to ice from a green iceberg
81. Why does the author mention that “The green ice portion was textured by seawater erosion”?
A. To explain why cracks in the iceberg appeared light green instead of dark green
B. To suggest that green ice is more easily eroded by seawater than white ice is
C. To support the idea that the green ice had been the bottom layer before capsizing
D. To explain how the air bubbles had been removed from the green ice
82. Which of the following is NOT explained in the passage?
A. Why blocks of ice break off where glaciers meet the ocean
B. Why blocks of shelf ice sometimes capsize after breaking off
C. Why green icebergs are commonly produced in some parts of Antarctica
D. Why green icebergs contain large amounts of dissolved organic pigments
83. The passage supports which of the following statements about the Amery Ice Shelf?
A. The Amery Ice Shelf produces only green icebergs.
B. The Amery Ice Shelf produces green icebergs because its ice contains high levels of metallic
compounds such as copper and iron.
C. The Amery Ice Shelf produces green icebergs because the seawater is rich in a particular kind of soluble organic material.
D. No green icebergs are found far from the Amery Ice Shelf.
84. Scientists have differed as to whether icebergs appear green as a result of light
conditions or because of something in the ice itself.
Where would the sentence best fit?
A. Icebergs are ordinarily blue to white, although they sometimes appear dark or opaque because
they carry gravel and bits of rock. They may change colour with changing light conditions and
cloud cover, glowing pink or gold in the morning or evening light, but this colour change is
generally related to the low angle of the Sun above the horizon. Scientists have differed as to
whether icebergs appear green as a result of light conditions or because of something in the
ice itself. However, travellers to Antarctica have repeatedly reported seeing green icebergs in the
Weddell Sea and, more commonly, close to the Amery Ice Shelf in East Antarctica.
One explanation for green icebergs attributes their colour to an optical illusion when blue ice is
illuminated by a near-horizon red Sun, but green icebergs stand out among white and blue
icebergs under a great variety of light conditions. Another suggestion is that the colour might be
related to ice with high levels of metallic compounds, including copper and iron. Recent
expeditions have taken ice samples from green icebergs and ice cores—vertical, cylindrical ice
samples reaching down to great depths—from the glacial ice shelves along the Antarctic
continent. Analyses of these cores and samples provide a different solution to the problem.
B. Icebergs are ordinarily blue to white, although they sometimes appear dark or opaque because
they carry gravel and bits of rock. They may change colour with changing light conditions and
cloud cover, glowing pink or gold in the morning or evening light, but this colour change is
generally related to the low angle of the Sun above the horizon. However, travellers to Antarctica
have repeatedly reported seeing green icebergs in the Weddell Sea and, more commonly, close to
the Amery Ice Shelf in East Antarctica.
Scientists have differed as to whether icebergs appear green as a result of light conditions
or because of something in the ice itself. One explanation for green icebergs attributes their
colour to an optical illusion when blue ice is illuminated by a near-horizon red Sun, but green
icebergs stand out among white and blue icebergs under a great variety of light conditions.
Another suggestion is that the colour might be related to ice with high levels of metallic
compounds, including copper and iron. Recent expeditions have taken ice samples from green
icebergs and ice cores—vertical, cylindrical ice samples reaching down to great depths—from
the glacial ice shelves along the Antarctic continent. Analyses of these cores and samples
provide a different solution to the problem.
C. Icebergs are ordinarily blue to white, although they sometimes appear dark or opaque because
they carry gravel and bits of rock. They may change colour with changing light conditions and
cloud cover, glowing pink or gold in the morning or evening light, but this colour change is
generally related to the low angle of the Sun above the horizon. However, travellers to Antarctica
have repeatedly reported seeing green icebergs in the Weddell Sea and, more commonly, close to
the Amery Ice Shelf in East Antarctica.
One explanation for green icebergs attributes their colour to an optical illusion when blue ice is
illuminated by a near-horizon red Sun, but green icebergs stand out among white and blue
icebergs under a great variety of light conditions. Scientists have differed as to whether
icebergs appear green as a result of light conditions or because of something in the ice
itself. Another suggestion is that the colour might be related to ice with high levels of metallic
compounds, including copper and iron. Recent expeditions have taken ice samples from green
icebergs and ice cores—vertical, cylindrical ice samples reaching down to great depths—from
the glacial ice shelves along the Antarctic continent. Analyses of these cores and samples
provide a different solution to the problem.
D. Icebergs are ordinarily blue to white, although they sometimes appear dark or opaque because
they carry gravel and bits of rock. They may change colour with changing light conditions and
cloud cover, glowing pink or gold in the morning or evening light, but this colour change is
generally related to the low angle of the Sun above the horizon. However, travellers to Antarctica
have repeatedly reported seeing green icebergs in the Weddell Sea and, more commonly, close to
the Amery Ice Shelf in East Antarctica.
One explanation for green icebergs attributes their colour to an optical illusion when blue ice is
illuminated by a near-horizon red Sun, but green icebergs stand out among white and blue
icebergs under a great variety of light conditions. Another suggestion is that the colour might be
related to ice with high levels of metallic compounds, including copper and iron. Scientists have
differed as to whether icebergs appear green as a result of light conditions or because of
something in the ice itself. Recent expeditions have taken ice samples from green icebergs and
ice cores—vertical, cylindrical ice samples reaching down to great depths—from the glacial ice
shelves along the Antarctic continent. Analyses of these cores and samples provide a different solution to the problem.
85. Several logical suggestions have been offered to explain why some icebergs appear green EXCEPT
A. Ice cores were used to determine that green icebergs were formed from the compaction of metallic
compounds, including copper and iron.
B. Green icebergs form when a two-layer block of ice breaks away from a glacier and capsizes,
exposing the bottom sea ice to view.
C. Ice cores and samples revealed that both ice shelves and green icebergs contain a layer of
bubbly glacial ice and a layer of bubble-free sea ice.
D. In a green iceberg, the sea ice contains large concentrations of organic matter from the seawater.
Part 5. The passage below consists of four sections marked A, B, C and D. For questions 86-
95, read the passage and do the task that follows. Write your answers in the corresponding
numbered boxes provided. A Monosodium Glutamate
Good food is one of life’s pleasures and even 1,200 years ago, oriental cooks knew that food
tasted better when prepared with a soup stock made from a type of seaweed. But it was only in
1908 that Japanese scientists identified the ingredient responsible for enhancing flavour.
That ingredient is known today by its scientific name, monosodium glutamate. It is often referred
to as MSG and it is an amino acid found in virtually all foods. The bound form is linked to other
amino acids in proteins and is manufactured in the human body. The free form of glutamate in
foods enhances food flavours. Tomatoes, cheese and mushrooms are just some free glutamate
rich foods. Free glutamate content increases during ripening, bringing out a fuller taste in many
foods and is made as a flavour enhancer by a fermentation process similar to that used for making soy sauce and vinegar.
People have long known about the four basic tastes - sweet, sour, salty and bitter. But now a fifth
basic taste called umami has been recognised. This is imparted to foods by glutamate and is
responsible for the savoury taste of many foods, such as tomatoes and cheese.
B Organic Food & Business!
Organic farmers pride themselves on fostering sustainable agriculture, but it remains to be seen if
the industry’s rapid growth is in fact sustainable. One challenge facing the industry is to bring
the price of organic products more in line with those of conventional products. The price of
organic ingredients is improving but demand still outpaces supply. However, supply issues are
overshadowed by the fact that the organic foods sector continues to grow faster than the food
industry as a whole, fundamentally due to the natural alliance between organic crops and
processed foods. Firstly, organic foods earmarked for processing do not have to be as
cosmetically perfect as their fresh counterparts. In addition, freezing or tinning reduces many of
the shelf-life problems associated with fresh produce. It was only a question of time before
mainstream food companies woke up to these synergies.
The pioneers of the organic food industry view the growing presence of major food companies in
their markets as a mixed blessing. Many smaller companies fear that the ideals of organic
agriculture will be compromised. Others think major food companies will help persuade
consumers to buy organic products through the power of their branding. C Chilli
Capsicums, commonly known as chillis, come in all dimensions and colours from the tiny,
pointed, extremely hot, bird’s eye chilli, to the large, mild, fleshy peppers like the Anaheim.
Indigenous to Central and South America and the West Indies, they were cultivated long before
the Spanish conquest, which was the eventual cause of their introduction to Europe. Chillis along
with tomatoes, avocados, vanilla and chocolate changed the flavours of the known world. Today,
there are around 400 different varieties of chillis grown. They are easy to cultivate and are one of
the world’s most widely distributed crops, available for sale at most food outlets.
In 1902, a method was developed for measuring the strength of a given variety of capsicum,
ranking it on a predetermined scale. This originally meant tasting the peppers, but nowadays it
can be done more accurately with the help of computers to rate the peppers in units to indicate
parts per million of capsaicin. This potent chemical not only causes the fiery sensation, but also
triggers the brain to produce endorphins, natural painkillers that promote a sense of well-being. D Writing about Cooking
Two cookery writers are often credited with the present revival of interest in food and cooking.
Elizabeth David discovered her taste for good food when she lived with a French family for two
years. After returning to England she learnt to cook so that she could reproduce some of the food
that she had come to appreciate in France. Her first book appeared when rationing was still in
force after the war and most of the ingredients she had so lovingly described were not available.
At the time her book was read rather than used, and it created a yearning for good ingredients
and for a way of life that saw more in food than mere sustenance. Her later books confirmed her
position as the most inspirational and influential cookery writer in the English language. She
shared with Jane Grigson an absorbing interest in the literature of cookery.
Jane Grigson was brought up in the north-east of England, where there is a strong tradition of
good eating, but it was not until she began to spend time in France that she became really
interested in food. She was renowned for her fine writing on food and cookery, often catching
the imagination with a deftly chosen fragment of history or poetry, but never failing to explain
the ‘why’ as well as the ‘how’ of cookery.
In which section are the following mentioned? Your answers:
a group of foods that changed the way an area of the world cooked 86 .
a period of time when access to food was restricted 87 .
a comparison of the process of producing a substance with that used for some other 88 foods, too .
the global popularity of a particular food 89 .
an interest in discovering more about unfamiliar types of food 90 .
the discrepancy between the amount of a type of food produced and the demand for it 91 .
a substance that reinforces the savoury aspect of food 92 .
a way of determining the strength of a foodstuff 93 . 94
using literary forms to talk about food dishes .
worries about the ethical future of a food industry 95 .
III. READING (50 POINTS)
Part 1. For questions 46-55, fill each of the following numbered blanks with ONE suitable
word and write your answers in the corresponding numbered boxes provided.
Mother Nature’s wildest children have, over millions of years, 46 _______ some extraordinary
abilities. Now mankind is applying some of these to solve problems that have 47 _______
scientists for years. Tony Brennan was working on ways to stop naval ships gathering sea algae
and barnacles when he got an unexpected 48 _______ from one of the deadliest species known to
man – sharks. Sharks have a unique 49 _______ that means sea algae or barnacles can’t get a 50
_______ on their skin. That’s because their skin consists of a series of teeth-like scales that allow
them to 51 _______ through the ocean depths without collecting material that might slow them
down. Tony wondered whether shark skin couldn’t 52 _______ other organisms like the kind of
bacteria that causes over 100,000 hospital infections in the USA every year. It turns out that
Tony was right and his research led one company, called appropriately enough, Sharklet, to
produce a coating that 53 _______ light switches, door handles and other frequently used
surfaces in hospitals germ-free. 54 _______ self-satisfied mankind might feel about its invention
and level of technological competence, it should never forget that Mother Nature is a first-class
inventor in her own 55 _______.
Part 2. For questions 56-68, read the following passage and do the tasks that follow.
Examining the Placebo Effect
The fact that taking a fake drug can powerfully improve some people's health - the so-called
placebo effect - was long considered an embarrassment to the serious practice of
pharmacology, but now things have changed.
Several years ago. Merck, a global pharmaceutical company, was falling behind its rivals in
sales. To make matters worse, patents on five blockbuster drugs were about to expire, which
would allow cheaper generic products to flood the market. In interviews with the press. Edward
Scolnick. Merck's Research Director presented his plan to restore the firm to pre-eminence. Key
to his strategy was expanding the company’s reach into the antidepressant, market, where Merck
had trailed behind, while competitors like Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline had created some of the
best-selling drugs in the world. "To remain dominant in the future.” he told one media company,
"we need to dominate the central nervous system."
His plan hinged on the success of an experimental anti-depressant codenamed MK-869. Still, in
clinical trials, it was a new kind of medication that exploited brain chemistry in innovative ways
to promote feelings of well-being. The drug tested extremely well early on, with minimal side
effects. Behind the scenes, however, MK-869 was starting to unravel. True, many test subjects
treated with the medication felt their hopelessness and anxiety lift. But so did nearly the same
number who took a placebo, a look-alike pill made of milk sugar or another inert substance given
to groups of volunteers in subsequent clinical trials to gauge the effectiveness of the real drug by
comparison. Ultimately, Merck's venture into the anti-depressant market failed. In the jargon of
the industry, the trials crossed the "futility boundary".
MK-869 has not been the only much-awaited medical breakthrough to be undone in recent years
by the placebo effect. And it's not only trials of new drugs that are crossing the futility boundary.
Some products that have been on the market for decades are faltering in more recent follow-up
tests It's not that the old medications are getting weaker, drug developers say. It's as if the
placebo effect is somehow getting stronger. The fact that an increasing number of medications
are unable to beat sugar pills has thrown the industry into crisis. The stakes could hardly be
higher. To win FDA approval, a new medication must beat placebo in at least two authenticated
trials. In today’s economy, the fate of a well-established company can hang on the outcome of a handful of tests.
Why are fake pills suddenly overwhelming promising new drugs and established medicines
alike? The reasons are only just beginning to be understood. A network of independent
researchers is doggedly uncovering the inner workings and potential applications of the placebo
effect A psychiatrist. William Potter, who knew that some patients really do seem to get healthier
for reasons that have more to do with a doctor's empathy than with the contents of a pill, was
baffled by the fact that drugs he had been prescribing for years seemed to be struggling to prove
their effectiveness Thinking that a crucial factor may have been overlooked, Potter combed
through his company’s database of published and unpublished trials—including those that had
been kept secret because of high placebo response. His team aggregated the findings from
decades of anti-depressant trials, looking for patterns and trying to see what was changing over
time. What they found challenged some of the industry’s basic assumptions about its drug-
vetting process. Assumption number one was that if a trial were managed correctly, a medication
would perform as well or badly in a Phoenix hospital as in a Bangalore clinic. Potter discovered,
however, that geographic location alone could determine the outcome. By the late 1990s, for
example, the anti-anxiety drug Diazepam was still beating placebo in France and Belgium. But
when the drug was tested in the U.S, it was likely to fail. Conversely, a similar drug, Prozac,
performed better in America than it did in western Europe and South Africa. It was an unsettling
prospect FDA approval could hinge on where the company chose to conduct a trial. Mistaken
assumption number two was that the standard tests used to gauge volunteers' improvement in
trials yielded consistent results. Potter and his colleagues discovered that ratings by trial
observers varied significantly from one testing site to another. It was like finding out that the
judges in a tight race each had a different idea about the placement of the finish line.
After some coercion by Potter and others, the National Institute of Health (NIH) focused on the
issue in 2000, hosting a three-day conference in Washington, and this conference launched a new
wave of placebo research in academic laboratories in the U.S. and Italy that would make
significant progress toward solving the mystery of what was happening in clinical trials.
In one study last year. Harvard Medical School researcher Ted Kaptchuk devised a clever
strategy for testing his volunteers’ response to varying levels of therapeutic ritual. The study
focused on a common but painful medical condition that costs more than $40 billion a year
worldwide to treat. First, the volunteers were placed randomly in one of three groups. One group
was simply put on a waiting list; researchers know that some patients get better just because they
sign up for a trial. Another group received placebo treatment from a clinician who declined to
engage in small talk. Volunteers in the third group got the same fake treatment from a clinician
who asked them questions about symptoms, outlined the causes of the illness, and displayed
optimism about their condition.
Not surprisingly, the health of those in the third group improved most. In fact, just by
participating in the trial, volunteers in this high-interaction group got as much relief as did people
taking the two leading prescription drugs for the condition. And the benefits of their “bogus”
treatment persisted for weeks afterwards, contrary to the belief—widespread in the
pharmaceutical industry- that the placebo response is short-lived.
Studies like this open the door to hybrid treatment strategies that exploit the placebo effect to
make real drugs safer and more effective. As Potter says, “To really do the best for your patients,
you want the best placebo response plus the best drug response' , adapted from Wired Magazine. Questions 56-63
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage? For questions 56-63, choose:
TRUE if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this
Write your answers in the corresponding numbered box provided. 56
Merck’s experience with MK-869 was unique. 57
These days, a small number of unsuccessful test results can ruin a well-established drugs company. 58
William Potter’s research included trial results from a range of drugs companies. 59
Some medical conditions are more easily treated by a placebo than others. 60
The FDA preferred drugs to be tested in different countries. 61
Those conducting a placebo trial need to know the subjects’ disorder well. 62
The effects of a placebo can last longer than previously thought 63
Kaptchuk’s research highlights the fact that combined drug and placebo treatments should be avoided Your answers 56. 57. 58. 59. 60. 61. 62. 63.
For questions 64-68, Complete the summary, using the list of words, A-O, below. Write the
correct letter, A-O in the corresponding numbered box provided
As a result of concerns about increasing 64 _______ in the drugs industry, the pharmaceutical
company Merck decided to increase its 65 _______ in the anti-depressant market. The
development of the drug MK-869 was seen as the way forward. Initially, MK-869 had some 66
______, but later trials revealed a different picture. Although key 67 _______ could be treated
with the drug, a sugar pill was proving equally effective. In the end, the 68 _______ indicated
that it was pointless continuing with the development of the drug. A. doubt B. activity C. prices D. symptoms E. patients F. risk G. success H. test subjects I. cheating J. tests K. diseases L. clinicians M. exaggeration N. figures O. competition Your answers 64. 65. 66. 67. 68.
Part 3. In the passage below, seven paragraphs have been removed. For questions 69-75, read
the passage and choose from the paragraphs A-H the one which fits each gap. There is ONE
extra paragraph which you do not need to use. Write your answers in the corresponding numbered box provided.
Is There A Limit To Our Intelligence?
Increasing IQ scores suggests that future generations will make us seem like dimwits by Tom Govern
Almost thirty years ago James R. Flynn, a researcher at the University of Otago in New Zealand,
discovered a phenomenon that social scientists still struggle to explain: IQ scores have been
increasing steadily since the beginning of the 20th century. Nearly 30 years of follow-up studies
have confirmed the statistical reality of the global uptick, now known as the Flynn effect. And scores are still climbing. 69.
The Flynn effect means that children will, on average, score just under 10 points higher on IQ
tests than their parents did. By the end of this century our descendants will have nearly a 30-
point advantage over us if the Flynn effect continues. But can it continue or is there some natural
limit to the Flynn effect and to human intelligence? 70.
Most of the IQ gains come from just two subtests devoted to abstract reasoning. One deals with
“similarities” and poses questions such as “How are an apple and an orange alike?” A low-
scoring answer would be “They’re both edible.” A higher-scoring response would be “They’re
both fruit,” an answer that transcends simple physical qualities. The other subtest consists of a
series of geometric patterns that are related in some abstract way, and the test taker must
correctly identify the relation among the patterns. 71.
“If you don’t classify abstractions, if you’re not used to using logic, you can’t really master the
modern world,” Flynn says. “Alexander Luria, a Soviet psychologist, did some wonderful
interviews with peasants in rural Russia in the 1920s. He would say to them, ‘Where there is
always snow, bears are always white. There is always snow at the North Pole. What colour are
the bears there?’ They would say they had never seen anything but brown bears. They didn’t
think of a hypothetical question as meaningful.” 72.
A naive interpretation of the Flynn effect quickly leads to some strange conclusions.
Extrapolating the effect back in time, for example, would suggest that the average person in
Great Britain in 1900 would have had an IQ of around 70 by 1990 standards. “That would mean
that the average Brit was borderline mentally retarded and wouldn’t have been able to follow the
rules of cricket,” says David Hambrick, a cognitive psychologist at Michigan State University.
“And of course, that’s absurd.” 73.
So, what will the future bring? Will IQ scores keep going up? One thing we can be sure of is that
the world around us will continue to change, largely because of our own actions. 74.
Therefore, our minds and culture are locked in a similar feedback loop. We are creating a world
where information takes forms and moves with speeds unimaginable just a few decades ago.
Every gain in technology demands minds capable of accommodating the change, and the
changed mind reshapes the world even more. The Flynn effect is unlikely to end during this
century, presaging a future world where you and I would be considered woefully premodern and literal. 75.
Perhaps we should not be so surprised by the existence of something like the Flynn effect. Its
absence would be more startling; it would mean we were no longer responding to the world we
are creating. If we are lucky, perhaps we will keep building a world that will make us smarter
and smarter—one where our descendants will contemplate our simplicity.
A The villagers were not stupid. Their world just required different skills. “I think the most
fascinating aspect of this isn’t that we do so much better on IQ tests,” Flynn says. “It’s the new
light it sheds on what I call the history of the mind in the 20th century.”
B Of course, our minds are changing in ways other than those which can be measured by IQ
tests. “People are getting faster.” Hambrick says. “Previously, it had been thought that 200
milliseconds is about the fastest that people can respond. But if you ask people who have done
this sort of research, they’re having to discard more trials. We text, we play video games, we do
a lot more things that require really fast responses.
C Almost as soon as researchers recognized the Flynn effect, they saw that the ascending IQ
scores were the result almost entirely of improved performances on specific parts of the most
widely used intelligence tests. It would seem more natural to expect improvements in crystallized
intelligence—the kind of knowledge picked up in school. This is not happening, though. The
scores in the sections that measure skills in arithmetic and vocabulary levels have remained largely constant over time.
D A paradox of the Flynn effect is that these tools were designed to be completely nonverbal and
culture-free measurements of what psychologists call fluid intelligence—an innate capacity to
solve unfamiliar problems. Yet the Flynn effect clearly shows that something in the environment
is having a marked influence on the supposedly culture-free components of intelligence in
populations worldwide. Detailed studies of generational differences in performance on
intelligence tests suspect that our enhanced ability to think abstractly may be linked to a new
flexibility in the way we perceive objects in the world.
E Flynn likes to use a technological analogy to describe the long-term interaction between mind
and culture. “The speeds of automobiles in 1900 were absurdly slow because the roads were so
lousy,” he says. “You would have shaken yourself to pieces.” But roads and cars co-evolved.
When roads improved, cars did, too, and improved roads prompted engineers to design even faster cars.
F “To my amazement, in the 21st century the increase is still continuing,” says Flynn, whose
most recent book on the subject—Are We Getting Smarter?— was published in 2012. “The
latest data show the gains in America holding at the old rate of three-tenths of a point a year.”
G Consequently, we may not be more intelligent than our forebears, but there is no doubt our
minds have changed. Flynn believes the change began with the industrial revolution, which
engendered mass education, smaller families, and a society in which technical and managerial
jobs replaced agricultural ones. Education, in turn, became the driver for still more innovation
and social change, setting up an ongoing positive feedback loop between our minds and a
technology-based culture that does not seem likely to end any time soon.
H Formal education, though, cannot entirely explain what is going on. Some researchers had
assumed that most of the IQ increases seen over the 20th century might have been driven by
gains at the left end of the intelligence bell curve among those with the lowest scores, an
outcome that would likely be a consequence of better educational opportunities. However, a
close examination of 20 years of data revealed that the scores of the top 5 per cent of students
were going up in perfect lockstep with the Flynn effect.
Part 4. For questions 76-85, 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 boxes provided. Rising Sea Levels
Perhaps the most pervasive climatic effect of global warming is rapid escalation of ice melt.
Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa, portions of the South American Andes, and the Himalayas will
very likely lose most of their glacial ice within the next two decades, affecting local water
resources. Glacial ice continues its retreat in Alaska. NASA scientists determined that
Greenland's ice sheet is thinning by about 1 m per year. The additional meltwater, especially
from continental ice masses and glaciers, is adding to a rise in sea level worldwide. Satellite
remote sensing is monitoring global sea level, sea ice, and continental ice. Worldwide
measurements confirm that sea level rose during the last century.
Surrounding the margins of Antarctica, and constituting about 11% of its surface area, are
numerous ice shelves, especially where sheltering inlets or bays exist. Covering many thousands
of square kilometres, these ice shelves extend over the sea while still attached to continental ice.
The loss of these ice shelves does not significantly raise sea level, for they already displace
seawater. The concern is for the possible surge of grounded continental ice that the ice shelves hold back from the sea.
Although ice shelves constantly break up to produce icebergs, some large sections have recently
broken free. In 1998 an iceberg (150 km by 35 km) broke off the Ronne Ice Shelf, southeast of
the Antarctic Peninsula. In March 2000 an iceberg tagged B-15 broke off the Ross Ice Shelf
(some 900 longitude west of the Antarctic Peninsula), measuring 300 km by 40 km. Since 1993,
six ice shelves have disintegrated in Antarctica. About 8000 km of ice shelf are gone, changing
maps, freeing up islands to circumnavigation, and creating thousands of icebergs. The Larsen Ice
Shelf, along the east coast of the Antarctic Peninsula, has been retreating slowly for years.
Larsen-A suddenly disintegrated in 1995. In only 35 days in early 2002, Larsen-B collapsed into
icebergs. This ice loss is likely a result of the 2.5°C temperature increase in the region in the last
50 years. In response to the increasing warmth, the Antarctic Peninsula is sporting new
vegetation growth, previously not seen there.
A loss of polar ice mass, augmented by melting of alpine and mountain glaciers (which
experienced more than a 30% decrease in overall ice mass during the last century) will affect
sea-level rise. The IPCC assessment states that "between one-third to one-half of the existing
mountain glacier mass could disappear over the next hundred years." Also, "there is conclusive
evidence for a worldwide recession of mountain glaciers ... This is among the clearest and best
evidence for a change in energy balance at the Earth's surface since the end of the 19th century."
[A.] Sea-level rise must be expressed as a range of values that are under constant reassessment.
[B.] The 2001 IPCC forecast for global mean sea-level rise this century, given regional
variations, is from 0.11-0.88 m. [C.] The median value of 0.48 m is two to four times the rate of
previous increase. These increases would continue beyond 2100 even if greenhouse gas
concentrations are stabilized. [D.]
The Scripps Institute of Oceanography in La Jolla, California, has kept ocean temperature
records since 1916. Significant temperature increases are being recorded to depths of more than
300 m as ocean temperature records are set. Even the warming of the ocean itself will contribute
about 25% of sealevel rise, simply because of thermal expansion of the water. In addition, any
change in ocean temperature has a profound effect on weather and, indirectly, on agriculture and
soil moisture. In fact, the ocean system appears to have delayed some surface global
warming during the past century through absorption of excess atmospheric neat.
A quick survey of world coastlines shows that even a moderate rise could bring changes of
unparalleled proportions. At stake are the river deltas, lowland coastal farming valleys, and low-
lying mainland areas, all contending with high water, high tides, and higher storm surges.
Particularly tragic social and economic consequences will affect small island states - being able
to adjust within their present country boundaries, disruption of biological systems, loss of
biodiversity, reduction in water resources, among the impacts. There could be both internal and
international migration of affected human populations, spread over decades, as people move
away from coastal flooding from the sea-level rise.
76. There is more new plant life in Antarctica recently because ______.
A. the mountain glaciers have melted
B. the land masses have split into islands
C. the icebergs have broken into smaller pieces
D. the temperature has risen by a few degrees
77. It may be inferred from this passage that icebergs are formed ______.
A. by a drop in ocean temperatures
B. when an ice shelf breaks free
C. from intensely cold islands D. if mountain glaciers melt
78. The word ‘there’ in paragraph 3 refers to ______.
A. polar ice mass in the last 50 years B. the temperature increase C. new vegetation growth D. in the Antarctic Peninsula
79. The author explains the loss of polar and glacial ice by ______.
A. stating an educated opinion
B. referring to data in a study
C. comparing sea levels worldwide D. presenting his research
80. The word ‘conclusive’ in paragraph 4 is closest in meaning to ______. A. definite B. independent C. unique D. valuable
81. Why does the author mention the Scripps Institute of Oceanography?
A. The location near the coast endangers the Scripps facility.
B. Research at Scripps indicates that the ocean is getting warmer.
C. One-quarter of the rising sea levels has been recorded at Scripps.
D. Records at Scripps have been kept for nearly one hundred years.
82. Which of the sentences below best expresses the information in the bolded statement in the passage?
A. Global warming on the surface of the planet may have been retarded during the last
hundred years because heat in the atmosphere was absorbed by the oceans.
B. Global warming on the surface of the ocean was greater than it was on the rest of the
planet during the past century because of heat in the atmosphere.
C. Too much heat in the atmosphere has caused global warming on the surface of the
planet for the past hundred years in spite of the moderation caused by the oceans.
D. There is less heat being absorbed by the oceans now than there was a hundred years
ago before the atmosphere began to experience global warming.
83. Why will people move away from the coastlines in the future?
A. It will be too warm for them to live there.
B. The coastlines will have too much vegetation.
C. Flooding will destroy the coastal areas.
D. No agricultural crops will be grown on the coasts.
84. Which of the following statements most accurately reflects the author's opinion about rising sea levels?
A. Sea levels would rise without global warming.
B. Rising sea levels can be reversed.
C. The results of rising sea levels will be serious.
D. Sea levels are rising because of new glaciers.
85. Look at the four squares [.] that show where the following sentence could be inserted in the passage.
During the last century, sea level rose 10-20 cm; a rate 10 times higher than
the average rate during the last 3000 years
Where could the sentence best be added? A. [A.] B. [B.] C. [C.] D. [D.]
Part 5. The passage below consists of five sections marked A-E. For questions 86-95, read the
passage and do the task that follows. Write your answers in the corresponding numbered boxes provided.
Unleashing Your Inner Genius
Creative people reveal how they find inspiration A. Sally Jones, playwright
I'm a very aural person; as soon as I hear a lyric or phrase, I'm transported to a particular time
and place. When I was writing my play Body Parts, I listened to Love Her Madly by the
American rock band The Doors, which seemed to suggest a lot about the characters' relationship
with each other. A line from one of their songs even made it into the play's plotline. I'm also very
fidgety and seem to work best when my hands are occupied with something other than what I'm
thinking about. During rehearsals, for example, I find myself drawing little pictures or symbols
that are somehow connected to the play. Then I'll look back at my doodles, and random snatches
of dialogue for another play will occur to me. Another thing I do is to go to the forest near my
house to think through a character or situation. It works every time.
B. Rachael Carter, ballet dancer
Ideas sit inside me for a while, before they emerge. When I'm preparing for a particular
character, I keep looking for ideas about her wherever I can – in film, theatre, music, and in
watching other ballet companies. When I first danced the French ballet Giselle, I found the
Danish director Lars von Trier's film Dancer in the Dark incredibly inspiring. It was so dark, and
it felt just like a modern-day version of the ballet – it brought the part alive for me. I believe that
to be truly inspired, you must learn to trust your instinct. In my profession, I feel that you
shouldn’t over-rehearse a part, or you'll find you get bored with it. Of course, hard work is
important, but a good, technically correct performance without instinct will never be magical. C. Sarah Kent, musician
For me, the image of the tortured artist is a myth – you don't need to be miserable to write songs.
In fact, if I am feeling down, the last thing I want to do is write; although it's important
sometimes just to sit down and get on with it, however you're feeling. Your creativity is like a
tap: if you don't use it, it gets clogged up.
One of the most difficult things about writing music is the sheer number of distractions. When
you're writing, you have to be very disciplined, to the point of being impolite: turn off your
phone and avoid seeing other people. Another thing you have yo deal with is that small voice
that tells us we're rubbish. We need to know how to silence it. I try to avoid listening to records
bu other musicians while I’m writing something – comparing myself to others often makes me think, “Why do I bother?”.
D. Margaret McCall, singer-songwriter
I definitely don't have rules – I'm pretty disorganised. In fact, I often have to guilt-trip myself
into sitting down to write. It is so easy to let your life get filled up with other stuff – going to the
bank, looking after the baby. These things do come through in my songwriting, though. Most of
my songs are defined by a sense of loneliness, of isolation, that I get from spending a lot of time
on my own. When I first moved to New York, I used to go to concerts every night. Now that I'm
a songwriter myself, I find watching other musicians can be frustrating – I want to be the one up
there performing. But every so often I see someone who inspires me to try something different. I
go home thinking: "I should really try something like that." E. Judith Keane, artist
I ‘ve learned not to wait for a good idea to come to me. It’s best to start by realising an average
idea – remember, no one has to see it. If I hadn't made the works I'm ashamed of, the ones I'm
proud of probably wouldn't exist. Also remember that hard work isn't always productive. I think
of the brain as a field lying fallow; keep harvesting and the crops won't mature. Not restricting
yourself to your own medium is also important. It is just as possible to be inspired by a film-
maker, fashion designer, writer or friend as by another artist. Cross-pollination makes for an
interesting outcome. Finally, don't be afraid to scrap all your hard work and planning and do it
differently at the last minute. Which person Your answers:
says that creative people need periods of mental inactivity? 86 .
says a commonly held belief about creativity is mistaken? 87 .
encourages creative people to make spontaneous decisions where necessary? 88 .
says that finding inspiration is a gradual process? 89 .
says creative people need to contain their sense of insecurity? 90 .
mentions making direct use of part of someone else’s work? 91 .
mentions the need to persevere regardless of one’s mood? 92 .
says some of the themes in her work reflect the situation she finds herself in? 93 . 94
finds value in creating what she regards as substandard pieces of work? . 95
discusses the benefits of limiting the preparation time for a piece of work? .