Tuyển tập Reading Practice Tests for NEC 1

Tuyển tập Reading Practice Tests for NEC 1 dành cho ôn luyện các Kỳ thi học sinh giỏi THPT dành cho các bạn học sinh, sinh viên tham khảo, ôn tập, chuẩn bị cho kì thi. Mời các bạn cùng đón xem nhé !

246 123 lượt tải Tải xuống

Chia sẻ Báo cáo tài liệu

Ha nam Light pollution

After hours of driving south in the pitch-black darkness of the Nevada desert, a dome of hazy gold

suddenly appears on the horizon. Soon, a road sign confirms the obvious: Las Vegas 30 miles.

Looking skyward, you notice that the Big Dipper is harder to find than it was an hour ago.

Light pollution – the artificial light that illuminates more than its intended target area – has become a

problem of increasing concern across the country over the past 15 years. In the suburbs, where over-

lit shopping mall parking lots are the norm, only 200 of the Milky Way’s 2,500 stars are visible on a

clear night. Even fewer can be seen from large cities. In almost every town, big and small, street lights

beam just as much light up and out as they do down, illuminating much more than just the street.

Almost 50 per cent of the light emanating from street lamps misses its intended target, and billboards,

shopping centers, private homes and skyscrapers are similarly over-illuminated.

America has become so bright that in a satellite image of the United States at night, the outline of the

country is visible from its lights alone. The major cities are all there, in bright clusters: New York,

Boston, Miami, Houston, Los Angeles, Seattle, Chicago – and, of course, Las Vegas. Mark Adams,

superintendent of the McDonald Observatory in west Texas, says that the very fact that city lights are

visible from on high is proof of their wastefulness. “When you’re up in an airplane, all that light you see

on the ground from the city is wasted. It’s going up into the night sky. That’s why you can see it.”

But don’t we need all those lights to ensure our safety? The answer from light engineers, light

pollution control advocates and astronomers is an emphasis “no”. Elizabeth Alvarez of the

International Dark Sky Association says that overly bright security lights can actually force neighbors

to close the shutters, which means that if any criminal activity does occur on the street, no one will

see it. And the old assumption thatbright lights deter crime appears to have been a false one: a new

Department of Justice report concludes that there is no relationship between the level of lighting and

the level of crime in an area. And contrary to popular belief, more crimes occur in broad daylight than

at night.

For drivers, light can actually create safety hazard. Glaring lights can temporarily blind drivers,

increasing the likelihood of an accident. To help prevent such accidents, some cities and states

prohibit the use of lights that impair night-time vision. For instance, New Hampshire law forbids the

use of “any lightalong a highway so positioned as to blind or dazzle the vision of travellers on the

adjacent highway”.

Badly designed lighting can pose a threat to wildlife as well as people. Newly hatched turtles in Florida

move toward beach lights instead of the more muted silver shimmer of the ocean. Migrating birds,

confused by lights on skyscrapers, broadcast towers and lighthouses, are injured, sometimes fatally,

after colliding with high, lighted structures. And light pollution harms air quality as well: Because most

of the country’s power plants are still powered by fossil fuels, more light means more air pollution.

So what can be done? Tucson, Arizona is taking back the night. The city has one of the best lighting

regulations in the country, and, not coincidentally, the highest concentration of observatories in the

world. Kitt Peak National Optical Astronomy Observatory has telescopes aimed skyward around the

city’s perimeter, and its cadre of astronomers needs a dark sky to work with.

For a while, that darkness was threatened. “We were totally losing the night sky,” Jim Singleton of

Tucson’s Lighting Committee told Tulsa, Oklahoma’s KOTV last March. Now after replacing inefficient

mercury lighting with low-sodium lights that block light from “trespassing” into unwanted areas like

bedroomwindows, and by doing away with some unnecessary light altogether, the city is softly

glowing rather than brightly beaming. The same thing is happening in a handful of otherstates,

including Texas, which just passed a light pollution bill last summer. “Astronomers can get what they

need at the same time that citizens get what they need: safety, security, and good visibility at night,”

says McDonald Observatory’s Mark Adams, who provided testimony at the hearings for the bill.

And in the long run, everyone benefits from reduced energy costs. Wasted energy from inefficient

lighting costs us between $1 and $2 billion a year, according to IDA. The city of San Diego, which

installed new, high-efficiency street lights after passing a light pollution law in 1985, now saves about

$3 million a year in energy costs.

Legislation isn’t the only answer to light pollution problems. Brian Greer, Central Ohio representative

for the Ohio Light Pollution Advisory Council, says that education is just as important, if not more so.

“There are some special situations where regulation is the only fix,” he says. “But the vast majority of

bad lighting is simply the result of not knowing any better.” Simple actions like replacing old bulbs and

fixtures with more efficient and better-designed ones can make a big difference in preserving the night

sky.

For questions 56-60, choose the correct headings for paragraphs A-F. Paragraph A has been

done as an example. There are extra headings that you do not need to use. Write your answers

in the corresponding space provided.

List of headings Your answers:

i Why lights are needed 0. Paragraph A ix

ii Lighting discourages law breakers 56. Paragraph B ___________

iii The environmental dangers 57. Paragraph C ___________

iv People at risk from bright lights 58. Paragraph D ___________

v Illuminating space 59. Paragraph E ___________

vi A problem lights do not solve 60. Paragraph F ___________

vii Seen from above

viii More light than is necessary

ix Approaching the city

For questions 61-64, complete the following statements with NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS

taken from the passage. Write your answers in the corresponding numbered boxes provided.

61. According to a recent survey, well-lit streets do not _______ or make neighbourhoods safer to live

in.

62. Inefficient lighting increases _______ because most electricity is produced from coal, gas or oil.

63. Efficient lights _______ from going into areas where it is not needed.

64. In dealing with light pollution, _______is at least as important as passing new laws.

Your answers:

61. 62. 63. 64.

For questions 65-68, decide whether the following statements are True (T), False (F) or Not

Given (NG). Write your answers in the corresponding numbered boxes provided.

65. One group of scientists find their observations are made more difficult by bright lights.

66. It is expensive to reduce light pollution.

67. Many countries are now making light pollution illegal.

68. Old types of light often cause more pollution than more modern ones.

Your answers:

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 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

boxes provided.

The Singing Bullfinch

Although the bullfinch’s song is dull, it can learn to whistle complex tunes.

Ted Birkhead explores the hidden talent of one of our brainiest birds.

The bullfinch is an ornithological treasure. Not

only is the male one of Europe’s most colorful

birds but it also ranks among our best

songsters, though you would never realize that

while listening to one of these shy creatures

singing in the garden or hedgerow.

69.

Teaching a bird to sing another song or a

popular tune exploits the fact that under normal

circumstances birds learn their song by listening

to their father. Prevent them from doing this and

allow them to hear only the song of another

species, or a human whistle, and that is what

they will learn. Once they have learned this

song, it is fairly well fixed for life.

70.

But it wasn’t simply that people liked to hear a

recital by a bullfinch – the quality of the sound

and the perfection with which the birds

performed were both outstanding. Best of all

was the finches’ affection towards their owners.

71.

Whistling or piping bullfinches, as they were

known, were incredibly fashionable and good

singers fetched high prices. One dealer in the

1880s was offering birds that sang three tunes

‘extra fine’ for the equivalent of £3,000 at today’s

prices. Once the foresters themselves learnt to

whistle the British national anthem and some

English folk tunes, they began exporting their

birds to Britain. Whistling bullfinches became a

status symbol for the rich and famous: Queen

Victoria had one and so did Lizzie Siddal, the

Victorian equivalent of a supermodel.

72.

However, the bird that had been considered a

failure sang enough for him to realize that there

was something extraordinary going on. He

acquired some more bullfinches and, within a

year, under the supervision of Konrad Lorenz

(the Austrian zoologist who famously discovered

imprinting in goslings), he started a scientific

investigation of how these birds managed to

become such adept songsters.

73.

During his research, Nicolai determined that the

reason why bullfinches could achieve perfection

was that they were highly motivated to learn

their tunes. They would listen intently to their

tutor (himself) and practice relentlessly when

they were alone. Like a child memorizing a

nursery rhyme or poem, every time they made a

mistake, they would go back to the beginning

and start again until they got it right. Moreover,

the birds seemed to know what constituted a

tune because those individuals that could sing

two or three melodies never muddled them up

or ran into one another, and always started

each at the beginning.

74.

Another correction that the birds made came to

light when Nicolai compared the tunes whistled

by a forester with those performed by his

finches. He noticed that the man’s whistle was

often a little breathy and sometimes a bit

irregular. Remarkably, the birds filtered out the

breathiness and made a better job of the timing.

On top of all this, their tune had a wonderful,

flute-like quality, quite distinct from that of their

instructor.

75.

One of his bullfinches lived in a cage in the hall.

Whenever he put on his coat to go out, the bird

– like a pet dog – knew exactly what was

happening and instantly picked up some seed,

keeping it in its throat pouch ready for its

owner’s return. When Nicolai arrived home, the

bird would call and as Nicolai approached the

cage it would attempt to feed him as it would its

mate in the wild. Nicolai accepted the food

between his thumb and forefinger.

The missing paragraphs:

Unlike the foresters, who regarded the

extraordinary ability of bullfinches to learn

songs as nothing more than an opportunity

to make money, Nicolai saw much more in

his birds. Over and above the male’s

gorgeous plumage and the quality of their

whistling, he found the incredibly

affectionate bond bullfinches form with their

owners terribly appealing.

All of the foresters were men and their

young bullfinches imprinted on them –

essentially with a view to treating them as

mates in later life. When sold, the birds

usually transferred their emotional

attachment to the buyer, though,

interestingly, some found it difficult to make

the switch to a female one.

Since the 1500s, bird keepers have known

that the bullfinch has the most extraordinary

propensity to mimic any tune whistled to it.

Bullfinches are not alone in this; from the

Middle Ages onwards, there was a trend to

train cage birds such as canaries to whistle

particular ditties. The difference was that

the bullfinch did it so much better than any

other species.

From the 1500s onwards, bullfinches were

regarded as a menace due to their

fondness for apple, pear and plum blossom.

As fruit growing expanded in England and

Wales during the following centuries, a

bounty was paid for bullfinches. The

slaughter continued well into the 1970s.

While nearly all other birds were legally

protected, fruit growers were permitted to

cull bullfinches with impunity.

In the late 1700s, foresters in the

Vogelsburg region of central Germany

turned this into a commercial enterprise.

Taking young bullfinches from their nests

before their eyes were open, the men hand-

reared the birds,

keeping them in small groups and whistling

folk tunes to them every day. After several

months of training, the majority of the young

males acquired their artificial song, yet the

females rarely did so. Most of these captive

male bullfinches perfected a single tune, but

some managed to learn two. A truly

exceptional individual could whistle three

refrains.

One thing that made the bullfinch stand out

from all other cage birds was that its natural

song is almost non-existent. A canary can

be taught to sing like a nightingale, but

since canaries have a fairly remarkable

song themselves, that isn’t so odd. The

bullfinch’s voice, on the other hand, is limp

and about as enticing as the sound a

squeaky wheelbarrow makes. Yet with

appropriate training, one can flawlessly

whistle tunes like The Bluebells of Scotland

or Thou Art So Like a Flower.

Whistling bullfinches remained popular well

into the mid-20

century, especially in

Germany. A chance encounter in 1947

resulted in a detailed scientific study of their

astounding abilities. Jurgen Nicolai, a young

German, had just returned home when a

bullfinch in a pet shop window caught his

eyes. Having kept canaries as a boy, he

was intrigued by the bird, which turned out

to be a forester’s reject and hence was

almost without value. Smitten, Nicolai

bought it.

Nicolai also noticed that the foresters,

perhaps through impatience, often whistled

one tune after another with no break, but

the birds deliberately added a space

between tunes. The birds also transposed

the tune a semitone so if the trainer whistled

in G, the bullfinches always repeated the

whistled in G sharp. The reason for this

remains mystery.

Your answers:

69. 70. 71. 72. 73. 74. 75.

Part 4. For questions 76-85, read the article on the disappearance of a marine species and

choose the answer A, B, C or D which you think fits best according to the text. Write your

answers in the corresponding numbered boxes provided.

The Disappearing Menhaden

Most people have never heard of it, and they certainly have not eaten it in its original form, but

menhaden is the most important fish in the ocean. However, it is disappearing at an alarming rate.

The east coast of the United States once teemed with immense schools, some as many as a mile

across, but the devastation of the menhaden sticks over the last sixty years has led to severe

dislocations in the ocean’s ecosystems. The decline of the menhaden has had particularly disastrous

effects on fish species that feed on it, on bird species that use it as a food source, and on how clean

the oceans are.

Menhaden are a small fish belonging to the haddock family, and they are not very palatable to

humans, having a foul, oily taste and consisting of many bones. Commercial fishing of menhaden

since the end of World War II has primarily been for the production of feed for livestock, with ground-

up fish used to make meal for chicken, pigs and cows. Companies use spotter planes to find large

schools and direct fishing boats to the location. Catches have declined almost forty percent since the

1960s and show no sign of leveling off or increasing. Unlike other species that are protected by the

government quotas, menhaden are not, most likely because they are not a species consumed directly

by humans. This is unfortunate since the loss of the menhaden spells an eco-disaster of epic

proportions.

Of principle importance are the many species of fish and other animals that feed on menhaden.

They are the main diet for bluefish and striped bass, and both species have shown a serious decline

in numbers. The striped bass was once the prized catch of the Chesapeake Bay area, but the

specimens brought in by rod and reel now are weak sisters compared to the past.Not only do they

lack the bulk of their ancestors, but they are also dying at alarming rates. Fish are not the only

predators of menhaden, as birds also depend on them as a source of nourishment. Large colonies of

osprey all along the eastern seaboard have disappeared in recent years, with the numbers of nests

and birds reduced by fifty percent in some areas over the last ten years. There are similar statistics for

loons in Chesapeake Bay.

The greatest threat from the loss of the menhaden is that the oceans have lost one of their great

natural filterers. Menhaden swim in massive schools with their mouths open, allowing water to flow

through their gills, which serve to absorb oxygen and grab plankton and other detritus from the water.

They act like gigantic vacuum cleaners for the ocean. The cleaner water allows sunlight to penetrate

to greater depths, which stimulates plant life that harbors other fish and shellfish and produces oxygen

for the water. With the decline of the menhaden, this process is in serious jeopardy. Chemical run-off

from farms, lawns, and houses ends up in the oceans, increasing the nitrogen and phosphorous

levels in the water. Algae grow in greater numbers in these conditions, block the sunlight, and deplete

oxygen of the water. Entire coastal areas are lifeless, with the algae’s killing the fish. Menhaden had

reduced the levels of these chemicals, but now that there are fewer menhaden, the algae have taken

over.

The large companies thatprocess menhaden disagree with the findings of environmental scientists.

Since there is no accurate way to count the amount of menhaden in the oceans, they claim that the

fewer menhaden are a result of a cyclical event and that the stocks will grow again in time. Yet, much

of the menhaden catch consists of smaller fish, often less than one year old. These fish have not had

a chance to mature long enough to become reproductive, and thus the commercial fishing companies

are destroying future menhaden stocks in order to make a profit at the moment. The largest

companies have had to lay off many employees, and many of their vessels sit idle at the wharf. In the

long run, the menhaden will probably rebound once their numbers have reached the point where

catching them is no longer profitable. Hopefully, laws will soon be in place to protect them from their

greatest predator, mankind.

76. According to the passage, the Atlantic Ocean menhaden are ______.

A. quite well-known to most people in the United States

B. eaten only by other fish and not at all by humans

C. not in any immediate danger of disappearing from the ocean

D. eaten by birds and other fish as a part of their diets

77. The word “palatable” in the passage is closest in meaning to ______.

A. partial B. edible C. disgusting D. stable

78. According to the passage, all of the following are reasons for the decline of the menhaden stocks

EXCEPT: ______

A. There is a lack of laws providing government protection.

B. Improved fishing technology has helped catch more fish.

C. People desire directly to consume them as a food fish.

D. Farmers have a strong dependence on fish-fed livestock.

79. It can be inferred from the passage that humans consume menhaden ______.

A. as a result of eating livestock raised on menhaden meal

B. directly from the oceans in their original form

C. only in the eastern coastal areas of the United States

D. for the healthy benefits from eating its oily flesh

80. Which of the following sentences best expresses the meaning of the underlined sentence in

Paragraph 3?

A. There are prizes given for the best striped bass caught by sport fishermen in Chesapeake Bay.

B. The striped bass caught by sport fishermen in Chesapeake Bay are not as large as those caught

in the past.

C. The Chesapeake Bay area is prized for the striped bass that can be caught by fishermen there.

D. In the past the Chesapeake Bay striped bass fishery was more valuable than it is nowadays.

81. According to the passage, the main influence on the oceans as a result of declining menhaden

numbers is ______.

A. an increase in the number of lifeless areas

B. an overbalance of plankton near the coast

C. the decline of fish stocks that feed on menhaden

D. increased human dumping of chemicals in the ocean

82. Which of the following square brackets [A], [B], [C], or [D] best indicates where in the paragraph

the sentence “In addition, the algae sink to the ocean floor and prevent shellfish and oxygen-

producing plants from growing.” can be inserted?

[A] With the decline of the menhaden, this process is in serious jeopardy. [B] Chemical run-off from

farms, lawns, and houses ends up in the oceans, increasing the nitrogen and phosphorous levels in

the water. [C]Algae grow in greater numbers in these conditions, block the sunlight, and deplete

oxygen of the water.[D]

A. [A] B. [B] C. [C] D. [D]

83. The word “their” in the passage refers to ______.

A. commercial fishing companies B. menhaden stocks

C. largest companies D. many employees

84. According to the passage, large commercial fishing companies argue that the shrinking menhaden

stocks are the result of ______.

A. a normal cycle that will end some time in the near future

B. environmental factors that are totally beyond their control

C. fishing technology that has developed in recent years

D. a lack of oxygen in the ocean as a result of too much algae

85. Why does the author mention the fact that commercial fishing companies are catching smaller and

younger fish?

A. To show that menhaden stocks are not safe for the future

B. To prove that the declining menhaden stocks are not an illusion

C. To counter their disagreements with the environmental scientists

D. To explain why they have had to lay off employees and leave boats idle

Your answers:

76. 77. 78. 79. 80.

81. 82. 83. 84. 85.

Part 5. For questions 86-95, read the extract from a review of a book on philosophy and

choose from the sections (A-E). The sections may be chosen more than once. Write your

answers in the corresponding numbered spaces provided.

Switch on your brain

A book seeks to explain how minds work through the maze of consciousness ~ Eric Banks

Intuition pumps and other tools for thinking by Daniel C. Dennett

A You don’t have to conduct a thought experiment to see why some philosophers want to write

for an audience cheerfully indifferent to the ways of the seminar room and the strictures of the

referred journal. Beyond the fame and fortune, perhaps more important is the sense that if

one’s work is worth doing at all, it ought to reach the widest possible audience. Some, I

imagine, also relish the bonus frisson of mixing it up in the rowdy rough-and-tumble of the

public arena. If you’re like Daniel C. Dennett – one of whose many mantras is Gore Vidal’s “It

is not enough to succeed. Others must fail.” – what’s the point of felling the philosopher’s tree

if there’s no one to hear it? Since the publication of his book Consciousness Explained in

1991, Dennett has gladly risen to the challenge, merrily taking on all comers, in works that

play to a packed house most philosophers could never dream of.

For Dennett, the experience of communicating to a broad readership his brawny materialist

agenda has an ancillary and less obvious boon. Specialists, he writes, tend to under-explain to

one another the very terms of their discussions. These experts benefit from translating their

respective position down, as it were, so that they might be presented to ‘curious non-experts’,

as Dennett puts in in Intuition Pumps and Other Tools for Thinking. They will be forced to think

anew and paradoxically think harder. The notion that a ‘position’ might get fine-tuned just as

neatly in the imagined company of a well-intentioned fast learner as it would among scholarly

peers is ingrained in Dennett’s go-go style of doing philosophy and its winner-take-all stakes.

As set out in Intuition Pumps, his narrative approach, plain-talk prose and gotcha argument

stoppers will prove as roundly appealing to some as it will seem pandering to others.

Part of Dennett’s role in Intuition Pumps is to serve as a kind of design engineer. With the

concept of ‘intuition pump’, he repurposes the thought experiment – a form of argumentation

of ancient and venerable purpose in philosophy (and in other disciplines, especially physics) –

in order to transform its somewhat neutral-sounding disposition into a power tool, one that

addresses a basic question: Is it designed well enough to get the job done? First renamed

‘intuition pumps’ in The Mind’s I, the hybrid work Dennett coproduced with Douglas Hofstadter,

these narrative devices can condense a complex set of propositions and suppositions into an

imaginable story that summarizes or illustrates a position. Hence their extreme popularity in

the history of philosophy, from Plato’s cave to Parfit’s amoeba. They can be positive or critical,

launching a new idea or yanking the rug from under someone else’s pet position. Either way,

such thought experiments are designed to jolt the reader’s sense of intuition.

But what is the difference between a good intuition pump and a flawed one? Searle’s Chinese

Room, famously objected to by Dennett, has spawned scores of counter-thought experiments,

replicating itself in many variations; by the mid-90s, Steve Pinker commented that it had

become the source of at least a hundred papers. It has allowed articulations of positions from

a vast number of academic fields, from proponents of Al to linguists, and generated

commentary on semantics, consciousness and evolution. Sounds like a pretty fecund tool for

thinking to me! But for the budding philosophy student reading Intuition Pumps, Dennett

reserves the right to select the hammer and pick the gauge of nail. But what good is it to

present this book as a collection of helpful ‘tools for thinking’ when it turns out the only

successful tools just happen to run on precisely the same voltage as Dennett’s own particular

theories and propositions?

Intuition Pumps is valuable in providing an overview of a body of recent work in the philosophy

of mind, but it also suffers from Dennett’s penchant for cleverness which causes it to become

tiresome and tacky. He returns to a long-ago verbal conflict with Stepan Jay Gould to discuss

rhetorical sleights of hand, and even coins a new word to describe the tendency to advance

straw-man arguments and false dichotomies –‘Goulding’. How is that a better ‘thinking tool’?

He mocks philosopher Ned Block and condescendingly takes the opportunity to chide Thomas

Nagel for not consulting ‘the experts’ on evolutionary biology. All this sour score-settling with

Dennett’s philosophical peers is definitely less witty than I imagine he takes it to be. But in the

spirit of Dennett’s tactic, I’d offer one historical vignette that characterizes his frequent

summoning of an army of scientists at his back, and call that future-perfect feint a Ledru-

Rollin. That would be in honor of the hectoring French propagandist of 1848 who famously

bellowed, ‘There go my people. I must follow them, for I am their leader!’

Hai duong The Do-gooders

The people who changed the morals of English society.

In the last decades of the 18th century, the losers seriously outnumbered the winners. Those

who were fortunate enough to occupy the upper levels of society, celebrated their good

fortune by living a hedonistic life of gambling, parties and alcohol. It was their moral right,

they felt, to exploit the weak and the poor. Few of them thought their lives should change,

even fewer believed it could.

1. _____________

But the decisive turning point for moral reform was the French revolution. John Bowlder, a

popular moralist of the time, blamed the destruction of French society on a moral crisis.

Edmund Burke, a Whig statesman agreed. 'When your fountain is choked up and polluted,' he

wrote, 'the stream will not run long or clear.' If the English society did not reform, ruin

would surely follow.

2. _____________

Englishmen were deeply afraid that the immorality of France would invade England. Taking

advantage of this, Burke was able to gain considerable support by insisting that the French

did not have the moral qualifications to be a civilised nation. He pronounced 'Better this

island should be sunk to the bottom of the sea that than... it should not be a country of

religion and morals.'

3. _____________

Sobering though these messages were, the aristocracy of the time was open to such reforms,

not least due to fear. France's attempt to destroy their nobility did much to encourage the

upper classes to examine and re-evaluate their own behaviour. Added to this was the arrival

of French noble émigrés to British shores. As these people were dependent on the charity of

the British aristocracy, it became paramount to amend morals and suppress all vices in order

to uphold the state.

4. _____________

Whether the vices of the rich and titled stopped or were merely cloaked is open to question.

But it is clear that by the turn of the century, a more circumspect society had emerged. Styles

of dress became more moderate, and the former adornments of swords, buckles and

powdered hair were no longer seen. There was a profusion of moral didactic literature

available. Public hangings ceased and riots became much rarer.

5. _____________

One such person was Thomas Wackley who in 1823 founded a medical journal called 'the

Lancet'. At this time, Medicine was still a profession reserved for the rich, and access to

knowledge was impossible for the common man. The Lancet shone a bright light on the

questionable practices undertaken in medicine and particularly in surgery, and finally led to

improved standards of care.

6. _____________

How though did changes at the top affect the people at the bottom of the societal hierarchy?

Not all reformers concerned themselves which changes at the authoritative and governmental

levels. Others concentrated on improving the lives and morals of the poor. In the midst of the

industrial revolution, the poorest in society were in dire straits. Many lived in slums and

sanitation was poor. No-one wanted the responsibility of improvement.

7. _____________

Could local authorities impose such measures today? Probably not. Even so, the legacy of the

moral reform of the late 1800s and 1900s lives on today. Because of it, the British have come

to expect a system which is competent, fair to all and free from corruption. Nowadays

everyone has a right to a home, access to education, and protection at work and in hospital.

This is all down to the men and women who did not just observe society's ills from a

distance, but who dared to take steps to change it.

Paragraphs

A. But a moral makeover was on the horizon, and one of the first people to promote it was

William Wilberforce, better known for his efforts in abolishing the slave trade. Writing to a

friend, Lord Muncaster, he stated that 'the universal corruption and profligacy of the

times...taking its rise amongst the rich and luxurious has now ... spread its destructive poison

through the whole body of the people.'

B. But one woman, Octavia Hill, was willing to step up to the mark. Hill, despite serious

opposition by the men who still dominated English society, succeeded in opening a number

of housing facilities for the poor. But, recognising the weaknesses of a charity-dependent

culture, Hill enforced high moral standards, strict measures in hygiene and cleanliness upon

her tenants, and, in order to promote a culture of industry, made them work for any financial

handouts.

C. At first, moralists did not look for some tangible end to moral behaviour. They concerned

themselves with the spiritual salvation of the rich and titled members of society, believing

that the moral tone set by the higher ranks would influence the lower orders. For example,

Samuel Parr, preaching at London's St Paul's Cathedral, said 'If the rich man...abandons

himself to sloth and all the vices which sloth generates, he corrupts by his example. He

permits...his immediate attendants to be, like him, idle and profligate.'

D. In time, the fervour for improved morals strayed beyond personal behaviour and towards a

new governance. People called for a tightening of existing laws which had formerly been

enforced only laxly. Gambling, duelling, swearing, prostitution, pornography and adultery

laws were more strictly upheld to the extent that several fashionable ladies were fined fifty

pounds each for gambling in a private residence.

E. So far, however, circumspection in the upper classes had done little to improve the lives of

those in the lower classes. But that was to change. Against a backdrop of the moral high

ground, faults in the system started to stand out. One by one, people started to question the

morality of those in authority.

F. The attitudes of the upper classes became increasingly critical during the latter part of the

eighteenth century. In 1768, the Lord of the Treasury was perfectly at ease to introduce his

mistress to the Queen, but a generation later, such behaviour would have been unacceptable.

Such attitudes are also seen in the diaries of Samuel Pepys, who, in 1793 rambles without

criticism about his peer's many mistresses. A few years later, his tone had become infinitely

more critical.

G. Similar developments occurred in the Civil Service. Civil servants were generally

employed as a result of nepotism or acquaintance, and more often than not took advantage of

their power to provide for themselves at the expense of the public. Charles Trevelyan, an

official at the London Treasury, realised the weaknesses in the system and proposed that all

civil servants were employed as a result of entrance examinations, thus creating a system

which was politically independent and consisted of people who were genuinely able to do the

job.

H. These prophecies roused a little agitation when first published in 1790,but it was the

events in 1792-93, which shocked England into action. Over in France, insurrection had led

to war and massacre. The King and Queen had been tried and executed. France was now

regarded as completely immoral and uncivilized, a country where vice and irreligion reigned.

Part 3. Read an extract from an article on anthropology and choose the answer A, B, C

or D that fits best according to the text. (8 points)

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.

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.

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.

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. These can be classified as emic or etic. A native’s point of view of his own

lifestyle is emic, while the analytical perspective of the outsider is etic. 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. 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. The

only truly emic descriptions can be those given by the natives themselves in their own

vernacular.

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.

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.

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.

1. 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

2. 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.

3. What does ‘gamut’ mean?

A. idea or impression B. prohibition or taboo

C. range or extent D. secret or mystery

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. 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 4. Reading the passage and answer the questions that follow. (13 points)

The reading passage has seven paragraphs, A—G. Choose the correct heading for paragraphs

B—G from the list of headings below.

List of Headings

i. The biological clock

ii. Why dying is beneficial

iii. The ageing process of men and women

iv. Prolonging your life

v. Limitations of life span

vi. Modes of development of different species

vii. A stable lifespan despite improvements

viii. Energy consumption

ix. Fundamental differences in ageing of objects and organisms

x. Repair of genetic material

Example Answer

Paragraph A v

1. Paragraph B

2. Paragraph C

3. Paragraph D

4. Paragraph E

5. Paragraph F

6. Paragraph G

HOW DOES THE BIOLOGICAL CLOCK TICK?

A. Our life span is restricted. Everyone accepts this as 'biologically' obvious. 'Nothing lives

forever!' However, in this statement, we think of artificially produced, technical objects,

products which are subjected to natural wear and tear during use. This leads to the result that

at some time or other the object stops working and is unusable ('death' in the biological

sense). But are the wear and tear and loss of function of technical objects and the death of

living organisms really similar or comparable.

B. Our 'dead' products are 'static', closed systems. It is always the basic material which

constitutes the object and which, in the natural course of things, is worn down and becomes

'older'. Age, in this case, must occur according to the laws of physical chemistry and of

thermodynamics. Although the same law holds for a living organism, the result of this law is

not inexorable in the same way. At least as long as a biological system has the ability to

renew itself it could actually become older without ageing; an organism is an open, dynamic

system through which new material continuously flows. Destruction of old material and

formation of new material are thus in permanent dynamic equilibrium. The material of which

the organism is formed changes continuously. Thus our bodies continuously exchange old

substance for new, just like a spring which more or less maintains its form and movement,

but in which the water molecules are always different.

C. Thus ageing and death should not be seen as inevitable, particularly as the organism

possesses many mechanisms for repair. It is not, in principle, necessary for a biological

system to age and die. Nevertheless, a restricted life span, ageing, and then death are basic

characteristics of life. The reason for this is easy to recognise: in nature, the existent

organisms either adapt or are regularly replaced by new types. Because of changes in the

genetic material (mutations), these have new characteristics and in the course of their

individual lives, they are tested for optimal or better adaptation to the environmental

conditions. Immortality would disturb this system — it needs room for new and better life.

This is the basic problem of evolution.

D. Every organism has a life span which is highly characteristic. There are striking

differences in life span between different species, but within one species the parameter is

relatively constant. For example, the average duration of human life has hardly changed in

thousands of years. Although more and more people attain an advanced age as a result of

developments in medical care and better nutrition, the characteristic upper limit for most

remains 80 years. A further argument against the simple wear and tear theory is the

observation that the time within which organisms age lies between a few days (even a few

hours for unicellular organisms) and several thousand years, as with mammoth trees.

E. If a life span is a genetically determined biological characteristic, it is logically necessary

to propose the existence of an internal clock, which in some way measures and controls the

ageing process and which finally determines death as the last step in a fixed programme. Like

the life span, the metabolic rate has for different organisms a fixed mathematical relationship

to the body mass. In comparison to the life span this relationship is 'inverted': the larger the

organism the lower its metabolic rate. Again this relationship is valid not only for birds, but

also, similarly on average within the systematic unit, for all other organisms (plants, animals,

unicellular organisms).

F. Animals which behave 'frugally' with energy become particularly old, for example,

crocodiles and tortoises. Parrots and birds of prey are often held chained up. Thus they are

not able to 'experience life' and so they attain a high life pan in captivity. Animals which save

energy by hibernation or lethargy (e.g. bats or hedgehogs) live much longer than those which

are always active. The metabolic rate of mice can be reduced by a very low consumption of

food (hunger diet). They then may live twice as long as their well-fed comrades. Women

become distinctly (about 10 per cent) older than men. If you examine the metabolic rates of

the two sexes you establish that the higher male metabolic rate roughly accounts for the lower

male life span. That means that they live life 'energetically' — more intensively, but not for as

long.

G. It follows from the above that sparing use of energy reserves should tend to extend life.

Extreme high-performance sports may lead to optimal cardiovascular performance, but they

quite certainly do not prolong life. Relaxation lowers metabolic rate, as does adequate sleep

and in general an equable and balanced personality. Each of us can develop his or her own

'energy saving programme' with a little self-observation, critical self-control and, above all,

logical consistency. Experience will show that to live in this way not only increases the

lifespan but is also very healthy. This final aspect should not be forgotten.

Questions 7-10. Complete the notes below. Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS

from the passage for each answer.

• Objects age in accordance with principles of (7) ________________ and of

(8)_________________

• Through mutations, organisms can (9) ______________________ better to the

environment

• (10) ______________________ would pose a serious problem for the theory of

evolution

Questions 11-13: Do the following statements agree with the views of the writer in the

reading passage?

YES if the statement agrees with the views of the writer

NO if the statement contradicts the views of the writer

NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this

11. The wear and tear theory applies to both artificial objects and biological systems.

12. In principle, it is possible for a biological system to become older without ageing.

13. Within seven years, about 90 per cent of a human body is replaced as new.

Part 5. Read the text and do the task that follows. (10 points)

AN ARTICLE ON TWO BOOKS

Section A: Both Purple Hibiscus and Once Were Warriors are post-colonial novels, in the

sense that they were written, and deal with subjects of the position of independence as

opposed to the colonial state of being in both a universalising sense and a personal one.

Purple Hibiscus was published in 2004 and is set in Nigeria, the author Cinamanada Ngozi

Adichie’s homeland. Once Were Warriors was written by a Maori New Zealander, Alan

Duff, in 1990 and has since met with international acclaim through the silver screen. But,

what has contributed to making this is another lengthy tale. Both books sit happily on the

shelf labelled “postcolonial literature,” but such careless sweeps of the categorising tongue

are exactly what such authors are attempting to avoid. Their works don’t reinforce the

boundaries, leaving readers feeling warm and cosy. Colonialism, precolonialism and a whole

set of other blunt “isms” can be argued as being explored by these authors.

Section B That remnants of colonialism and pre-colonialism are present in each text indicates

the boundaries between pre-colonial and colonial states of being are not as established, in a

postcolonial existence, as the frame of the words denote. What are the implications of

depicting, potential pre-colonial situations within the colonial tongue? Both Once Were

Warriors and Purple Hibiscus, potentially present colonial and pre-colonial notions of history

or histories, but from different post-colonial positions. With Nigeria having been a colony of

occupation, as opposed to the settler colony of New Zealand, relations between the coloniser

and the colonised differ greatly between the two cultural entities. With the coloniser,

potentially, obscuring and abstracting the area between pre-colonial and postcolonial

existences, any pre-colonial notions must always be partly located within a colonial

perspective. Nonetheless, the precolonial uttered in the colonial tongue renders that colonial

tongue as being somewhat altered in the process. The colonial tongue both makes and

unmakes itself by using the same tools for different ends. The dragging of heels back and

forth over the hot coals of second-hand languages renders the happy branding of

“postcolonial” of those who dare to make the colonial tongue their own seem like an

unrefined broad-brushes attempt to depict the hairline cracks in a china doll.

Section C Both texts deal with the uncertainties of the formation and reformation of

identities. Working with, yet at the same time questioning and unsettling, the bildungsroman

format, Once Were Warriors and Purple Hibiscus present identities snaking through notions

of pre-colonial identities alongside colonial and postcolonial ones. The certainty of the very

survival of Kambili and Beth in Once Were Warriors seems, to an extent, to be staked on pre-

colonial notions of identity formation. The chief at Beth’s funeral articulates this in sorrow

for the young girls death; ‘we are what we are only because of our past […] we should never

forget our past or our future is lost’. The death of Grace directly influences Beth to address

her situation and that of the individuals in Pine Block. Although Grace’s death is linked to the

rape, Beth, who is unaware of this, questions her involvement in the death of her daughter.

‘Could I have prevented it?’ echoes out from every movement Beth makes after this. Why

does the young girl have to die? Is it to highlight injustices in the Maori community, to make

the community, to an extent, stand up and demand to be heard?

Section D Indeed, it is death that stalks the corridors of these two novels. It is the death of

Eugene, the ‘colonial product’ in Purple Hibiscus alongside the death of Papa-Nnukwu the

‘pre-colonial product’ that lead to questions of where to turn in terms of identity formation.

The colonial figure is dead; he doesn’t present ways of being to his children that seem

acceptable to them; he is too violent, too dominating for their generation. But, as well,

PapaNnukwu, who is adored by his grandchildren, seems like an inadequate role model to

wholly guide the younger generation into futures that are still in the making.

Section E By introducing Purple Hibiscus with the sentence ‘Things fall apart’, Adichie is

immediately paying homage to Chinua Achebe’s same-named novel published in the mid-

twentieth century, which depicted a hamlet in Africa on the eve of nineteenth-century

colonialism. Everyday lives and everyday disputes fill page after page. The reader is with the

hamlet when its inhabitants are devastated. We are invited to sit in another seat. To see how it

might have felt to be utterly subjugated by foreigners. The beauty of comparing the two

Nigerian novels is in their dealings with Christianity. Indeed, in Things Fall Apart, church

missionaries come to the hamlet to ‘save them from hell and damnation’ and Okonkwo, the

head of the hamlet, is immediately distrustful. He is closed to change as is the Catholic

‘colonial product’ of Eugene in Purple Hibiscus. The stubbornness each character shows, but

towards different ends, demonstrates the meaninglessness of assertions of power for the sake

of assertions of power.

In which section are the following mentioned?

1. The feeling of being responsible for a death

2. The problem of putting literature into categories

3. Another novel refered to in the novel

4. Using language in different ways

5. Characters who don’t easily accept change

6. The refusal to embrace the way of life of either of two elders

7. Different types of colonies

8. One of the novels being made into a film

9. Death playing a role to help a community

10. The difficulty in defining the subgenre of certain publications

D. WRITING (60 points)

Part 1. Write a short summary of 80-90 words of the following paragraph. (15 points)

Traffic congestion in Britain could be eased if it weren't for the nation's addiction to the

absurd cult of the lone driver. But let's face it, sharing cars is something the British just don't

do. Next Monday morning the streets will be overflowing with cars once again, most with

spare seats front and back, and there will be few lifts on offer for those friends or colleagues

who have no choice but to trudge through fumes or jostle in bus queues.

Many drivers, it seems, echo the view of one former transport minister who observed, albeit

light-heartedly, that with cars “you have your own company, your own temperature control

and your own choice of music —and you don't have to put up with dreadful human beings

sitting alongside you.” Many a true word, it seems, is said in jest. Indeed, sharing would

threaten the very independence that makes the car such an attractive option in the first place.

Offer a colleague a regular lift and you're locked into a routine as oppressive as any other,

with all individual flexibility lost. So, what's in it for the driver?

But even in a motor-obsessed city such as Los Angeles, drivers have been won over by the

idea of car-sharing. It is attractive because cars with more than one occupant are allowed

access to fast-moving priority lanes. So desirable are these amid the six lanes of jam-packed

traffic that, in the early days, Californian students charged motorists several dollars a time to

pick them up.

TÂY NINH V2

Alfred Nobel

The man behind the Nobel Prize

A. Since 1901, the Nobel Prize has been honoring men and women from all corners of

the globe for outstanding achievements in physics, chemistry, medicine, literature, and

for work in peace. The foundations for the prize were laid in 1895 when Alfred Nobel

wrote his last will, leaving much of his wealth to the establishment of the Nobel Prize.

B. Alfred Nobel was born in Stockholm on October 21, 1833. His father Immanuel

Nobel was an engineer and inventor who built bridges and buildings in Stockholm. In

connection with his construction work Immanuel Nobel also experimented with

different techniques for blasting rocks. Successful in his industrial and business

ventures, Immanuel Nobel was able, in 1842, to bring his family to St. Petersburg.

There, his sons were given a first class education by private teachers. The training

included natural sciences, languages and literature. By the age of 17 Alfred Nobel was

fluent in Swedish, Russian, French, English and German. His primary interests were

in English literature and poetry as well as in chemistry and physics. Alfred’s father,

who wanted his sons to join his enterprise as engineers, disliked Alfred’s interest in

poetry and found his son rather introverted.

C. In order to widen Alfred’s horizons his father sent him abroad for further training

in chemical engineering. During a two year period Alfred Nobel visited Sweden,

Germany, France and the United States. In Paris, the city he came to like best, he

worked in the private laboratory of Professor T. J. Pelouze, a famous chemist. There

he met the young Italian chemist Ascanio Sobrero who, three years earlier, had

invented nitroglycerine, a highly explosive liquid. But it was considered too

dangerous to be of any practical use. Although its explosive power greatly exceeded

that of gunpowder, the liquid would explode in a very unpredictable manner if

subjected to heat and pressure. Alfred Nobel became very interested in nitroglycerine

and how it could be put to practical use in construction work. He also realized that the

safety problems had to be solved and a method had to be developed for the controlled

detonation of nitroglycerine.

D. After his return to Sweden in 1863, Alfred Nobel concentrated on developing

nitroglycerin as an explosive. Several explosions, including one (1864) in which his

brother Kmil and several other persons were killed, convinced the authorities that

nitroglycerine production was exceedingly dangerous. They forbade further

experimentation with nitroglycerine within the Stockholm city limits and Alfred

Nobel had to move his experimentation to a barge anchored on Lake Malaren. Alfred

was not discouraged and in 1864 he was able to start mass production of

nitroglycerine. To make the handling of nitroglycerine safer Alfred

Nobel experimented with different additives. He soon found that mixing

nitroglycerine with kieselguhr would turn the liquid into a paste which could be

shaped into rods of a size and form suitable for insertion into drilling holes. In 1867 he

patented this material under the name of dynamite. To be able to detonate the

dynamite rods he also invented a detonator (blasting cap) which could be ignited by

lighting a fuse. These inventions were made at the same time as the pneumatic drill

came into general use. Together these inventions drastically reduced the cost of

blasting rock, drilling tunnels, building canals and many other forms of construction

work.

E. The market for dynamite and detonating caps grew very rapidly and Alfred Nobel

also proved himself to be a very skillful entrepreneur and businessman. Over the years

he founded factories and laboratories in some 90 different places in more than 20

countries. Although he lived in Paris much of his life he was constantly traveling.

When he was not traveling or engaging in business activities Nobel himself worked

intensively in his various laboratories, first in Stockholm and later in other places. He

focused on the development of explosives technology as well as other chemical

inventions including such materials as synthetic rubber and leather, artificial silk, etc.

By the time of his death in 1896 he had 355 patents.

F. Intensive work and travel did not leave much time for a private life. At the age of

43 he was feeling like an old man. At this time he advertised in a newspaper

“wealthy, highly-educated elder gentleman seeks lady of mature age, versed in

languages, as secretary and supervisor of household.” The most qualified applicant

turned out to be an Austrian woman, Countess Bertha Kinsky. After working a very

short time for Nobel she decided to return to Austria to marry Count Arthur von

Suttner. In spite of this Alfred Nobel and Bertha von Suttner remained friends and

kept writing letters to each other for decades. Over the years Bertha von Suttner

became increasingly critical of the arms race. She wrote a famous book, Lay Down

Your Arms and became a prominent figure in the peace movement. No doubt this

influenced Alfred Nobel when he wrote his final will which was to include a Prize for

persons or organizations who promoted peace. Several years after the death of Alfred

Nobel, the Norwegian Storting (Parliament) decided to award the 1905 Nobel Peace

Prize to Bertha von Suttner.

G. Alfred Nobel died in San Remo, Italy, on December 10, 1896. When his will was

opened it came as a surprise that his fortune was to be used for Prizes in Physics,

Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature and Peace. The executors of his

will were two young engineers, Ragnar Sohlman and Rudolf Lilljequist. They set

about forming the Nobel Foundation as an organization to take care of the financial

assets left by Nobel for this purpose and to coordinate the work of the Prize-

Awarding Institutions. This was not without its difficulties since the will was

contested by relatives and questioned by authorities in various countries.

H. Alfred Nobel’s greatness lay in his ability to combine the penetrating mind of the

scientist and inventor with the forward-looking dynamism of the industrialist.

Nobel was very interested in social and peace-related issues and held what

were considered radical views in his era. He had a great interest in literature and

wrote his own poetry and dramatic works. The Nobel Prizes became an extension and

a fulfillment of his lifetime interests.

For questions 56-61, decide whether the following statements are True (T), False

(F) or Not Given (NG). Write your answers in the corresponding numbered

boxes provided.

56. The first Nobel Prize was awarded in 1895.

57. Nobel’s father wanted his son to have better education than what he had had.

58. Nobel was an unsuccessful businessman.

59. Bertha von Suttner was selected by Nobel himself for the first peace prize.

60. The Nobel Foundation was established after the death of Nobel

61. Nobel’s social involvement was uncommon in the 1800’s.

Your answers:

56. 57. 58. 59. 60. 61.

For questions 62-66, complete the summary with NO MORE THAN TWO

WORDS taken from the passage. Write your answers in the corresponding

numbered boxes provided.

Having accumulated a great fortune in his business, Nobel’s father determined to give

his son the best education and sent him abroad to be trained in (62) _________.

During Nobel’s study in Paris, he worked in a private laboratory, where he came

in contact with a young scientist (engineer) (63) _________ and his invention

nitroglycerine, a more powerful explosive than (64) _________.

Benefits in construction works:

Nobel became really interested in this new explosive and experimented on it. But

nitroglycerine was too dangerous and was banned for experiments within the city of

Stockholm. So Nobel had to move his experiments to a lake. To make nitroglycerine

easily usable, Nobel invented dynamite along with (65) _________ while in the

meantime pneumatic drill became popular, all of which dramatically lowered the (66)

_________ of construction works.

Your answers:

62. 63. 64. 65. 66.

Part 3: In the passage below, seven paragraphs have been removed. For

questions 67-73, read the passage and choose from 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 boxes provided.

As the pilot announced that we would shortly be touching down in Manchester, half of

the passengers began gathering up their books and magazines, and the other half

began turning off tablets and laptops as they’d been requested to do. I, however,

continued to gaze through the window at the tiny fields bordered by hedges, the

assortment of shapes and colours reminding me of a patchwork quilt.

Despite the familiarity of the landscape, I was still impressed by the various shades of

green on display and the regular arrangement of fields. It was then that I realised, it

had been more than a decade since I’d left England to live in Greece. I was only now

returning to my homeland and, after living abroad for so long, I was seeing it through

the eyes of a foreigner.

The politeness instilled into the English was in evidence again as we drove away from

the airport in the early morning traffic. No drivers could be seen gesticulating wildly

at each other, no horns sounded impatiently as an elderly gentleman ambled across the

pedestrian crossing, no motorbikes weaved precariously in and out of the lines of

vehicles. It goes without saying that everybody seemed to be carefully sticking to the

speed limit.

I grinned, as I remembered my mother’s constant battle against the elements in order

to get the washing dry. She would laboriously peg it out one minute in sunshine and

blustery winds, only to hastily run out and bring it in again because of a sudden

downpour the next.

Evidence that my dad wasn’t alone in this habit was obvious as we wound our way

through the maze of narrow streets. Tiny squares of grass were bordered by lovingly-

maintained flower beds, proudly bearing a profusion of plants in a riot of colour.

Garden gnomes peeked out from behind ornamental wells, and ceramic hedgehogs

and owls were strategically dotted around.

Some houses still had milk bottles on their doorstep while the residents stole an extra

few minutes’ sleep. The doors of other houses opened to reveal early birds in their

dressing gowns bending down to pick up the glass bottles that are delivered

religiously each day.

And, of course, the British would want fresh milk delivered every morning; milk

being an essential component of the ritual of tea drinking. Whereas other nationalities

take their tea black, with lemon or honey, for example, the typical Englishman will

want milk and sugar in his cup of tea. More surprising still, is the frequency with

which he will indulge in this practice, that is to say, every couple of hours or so. Tea,

for the British, is omnipresent and a cure-all. If someone suffers a shock, hot, sweet

tea is prescribed; an interval during working hours is a tea break, and a social visit to

someone’s home is incomplete without a ‘cuppa’.

There on the doorstep were my parents: my father just collecting the newspaper and

my mother with the milk. Their faces lit up as they realised I had arrived.

“Here she is, at last!” said my dad, “Welcome home, love.”

“Hello, darling, you look exhausted after your flight,” said Mum. “Let’s go in and

have a nice cup of tea. You’ll soon be as right as rain.”

The missing paragraphs:

A. The compact two-storey residences nestling within these boundaries of shrubs were

obviously cared for just as devotedly. Windows gleamed from recent polishing, the

paintwork on doors and window ledges was free of blemishes and hanging baskets

stuffed with colourful blossoms swung from porch corners.

B. As the taxi turned the corner and the house I grew up in came into view, my heart

skipped a beat. My head flooded with childhood memories of learning to ride a bike

on the driveway, and doing handstands on the lawn. Though as a teenager the wet

weather was the bane of my life, my earlier childhood seemed to be bursting with

nothing but sunny days packed with fun and activity.

C. Of course I knew these outward appearances could be deceiving. Underneath these

calm, courteous English exteriors, people were just as likely to be angry and mean-

spirited as anywhere else on the planet. They were just experts at hiding it behind

seemingly inane conversations about the weather. I was reminded about how they got

away with this tactic, as on our short journey we experienced everything from brilliant

sunshine to gentle drizzle to thunderous rain. With such frequent and unexpected

variations, the subject is inexhaustible.

D. The taxi driver waited patiently as I counted out the unfamiliar money. I’d

forgotten what pounds looked like, having used only euros for the past decade. He

took my heavy suitcases out of the boot of the car and I wished there had been

somebody there to help me with my luggage on the next part of my journey.

E. Waiting to go through passport control was the first culture shock. Nobody voiced

any complaints about the length of the queue, nobody dug me in the ribs or rammed

their suitcase into my calves. Everyone stood there patiently, having murmured

conversations, until it was their turn to hand over their documents to the smiling,

welcoming official.

F. Another similar custom still remaining in Britain is the delivery of newspapers. To

a city dweller like me, who has a selection of shops selling both newspapers and milk

within a five-minute walk of her home, having such goods brought to your doorstep

first thing in the morning seemed like an old-fashioned and yet somehow luxurious

tradition.

G. The weather is one factor partly responsible for another British fascination, namely

gardening, since the abundance of rainfall helps plants to flourish. Another

recollection came back to me. This time it was my father, nipping out to tend his roses

or do some weeding whenever the sun came out in defiance of the heavy grey clouds

hanging low in the sky.

H. From above, the little square houses looked like matchboxes sitting in

handkerchief-sized gardens, and a smile played on my lips as I remembered myself as

a teenager mowing the lush green lawn in order to squeeze some extra pocket money

out of my dad.

Your answers:

67. 68. 69. 70. 71. 72. 73.

Part 4: For questions 74-80, read an extract from a book about the history of the

US and choose the answer A, B, C or D which you think fits best according to the

text. Write your answers in the corresponding numbered boxes provided.

Progressive in the US

The United States had reached a point, in the closing years of the 19

century, when

radical improvements in its political, social and economic arrangements were so

plainly necessary that they were actually attempted, and therefore may be called

inevitable. Women and men, young and middle-aged, rich, poor and in-between,

West, South and North, all acknowledged the necessity and had some hand in shaping

the improvements. It was an epoch very much to the American taste, for it seemed a

proof that faith in progress, and particularly in the potential for progress in America,

was justified. The word ‘progressive’ had long been a favorite in common speech;

now it became attached to a political party, a movement, an era. It remains a curiously

empty word, but historians will never be able to do without it. And after all due

reservations have been made, it would be churlish to deny that the United States did in

many respects move forward during this period, did begin to tackle a good many

serious problems intelligently. It is a moderately encouraging story.

Big business made itself felt at every stage in the progressive story, and not by any

means as a purely reactionary force. All the same, it would be a mistake to suppose

that business, however profoundly it had shaped and now colored the day-to-day

operations of American life, was the key to progressivism. Nor could the industrial

working class, however active, muster the power necessary to dominate the epoch.

That privilege belonged to the new middle class.

This class had emerged as, numerically, the chief beneficiary of the great

transformation of American society. America’s rapid development under the impact of

industrialism and urbanization implied an equally rapidly developing need for

professional services. The need for a new order was generally felt, and implied the

recruitment and training of new men, and new women, to administer it. Society was

now rich enough to pay for their services. Hence in the last decades of the 19

century

there was a mushroom growth among the professions. Doctors and lawyers, of course;

but also engineers, dentists, professors, journalists, social workers, architects. This

was the age of the expert; he was given a free hand, such as he has seldom enjoyed

since. Each new technical marvel – the telephone, the phonograph, the motor-car, the

aeroplane – increased the faith that there was a sound technical answer to every

problem, even to the problem of government. When a devastating hurricane and flood

wrecked the port of Galveston, Texas, in 1901, the local businessmen proclaimed the

regular authorities incompetent to handle the task of reconstruction and handed the

city’s government over to a commission of experts – a pattern that was to be widely

followed in the next few years.

This may stand very well for what was happening generally. The new class, conscious

of its power and numbers, was anxious to get hold of American society and remake it

according to plan. All round were problems that needed solving – crime, disease, bad

housing, political corruption – and the new class thought it knew what to do about

them. Just as the experts themselves had taken advantage of a society open to the rise

of the talented, so they wanted their disadvantaged fellow-citizens to rise also. And

this democratic individualistic ideology made it seem perfectly legitimate to bid for

political power, that is, for votes: to go down into that arena was simply to carry out

one’s civic duty. Motives did not need to be examined too closely, since they were

self-evidently virtuous. What was new, and important at least to the experts, was the

tool-kit they brought to their tasks: their improved spanners, so to speak. The new

middle class set out to apply their spanners to such various contraptions as the state

and city machines of the old political parties, and the new urban wastelands.

Behind the zeal of these technocrats lay an older tradition, betrayed in the world they

used to describe the philanthropic centres they established in the slums, ‘settlements’:

to them the cities were wildernesses, the inhabitants alien savages and the new settlers

were bringers both of superior techniques and superior ideas, like the settlers of old. It

is thus possible to see in the very approach of these progressives certain limitations, a

certain inexperience, which were likely to impede their quest. They were mostly of

old American stock, brought up on the old pieties, which their new expertise only

veneered. The progressives were too conservative in their instincts, too parochial in

their outlook, ever to propose, let alone carry out, fundamental changes in the

American system.

Still, it cannot be denied that the progressives were an impressive generation, as

intelligent, high-minded, energetic and good-hearted as any in American history. If

their achievements were limited and flawed, they were real; they greatly assisted the

adaptation of America to the requirements of modern government; and they laid the

foundations, intellectual, personal, ideological – even organizational – of that

liberalism which was to become one of the chief creative forces in American politics

and society. This is not small praise.

74. What does the writer say about the word ‘progressive’ in the first paragraph?

A. It should only be used with regard to this period in the US.

B. No other word has been generally adopted to describe this period in the US.

C. It was sometimes used inappropriately during this period in the US.

D. No other word could have united diverse people during this period in the US.

75. What does the writer say about big business during this period?

A. It ensured that the industrial working class was lacking in power.

B. It paid too little attention to the importance of the new middle class.

C. It was beginning to have too great an impact on everyday life in the US.

D. It played a significant part in the development of progressivism.

76. The writer says that the ‘mushroom growth’ among the professions

A. was expected to be only a short-term phenomenon.

B. resulted from a desire among professionals for greater freedom.

C. was a natural consequence of other changes at the time.

D. resulted from fears among Americans about changes in their society.

77. The writer uses events in Galveston to illustrate

A. the high regard in which specialists were held during that period.

B. problems which had never been dealt with satisfactorily before.

C. the speed at which solutions were found during that period.

D. disagreements caused by the desire for technical solutions.

78. The writer says that when members of the new class tried to get political power,

A. they sometimes underestimated the social problems of the time.

B. people made assumptions about their reasons for doing so.

C. they tended to overestimate the potential of their fellow citizens.

D. people had realistic expectations of what they could achieve.

79. According to the writer, the use of the word ‘settlements’ reveals

A. the insincerity of some of the progressives concerning social problems.

B. the misunderstandings behind some of the progressives’ beliefs.

C. the confusion that surrounded the progressives’ approach to problems.

D. the similarities between the progressives and previous generations.

80. The writer’s general view of the progressives is that

A. they did not achieve as much as is widely supposed.

B. their ideas were more radical than they believed.

C. their impact was not enormous but it was lasting.

D. they have not been given the credit they deserve.

Your answers:

74. 75. 76. 77. 78. 79. 80.

Part 5: You are going to read an article about call-centre workers who give

advice to people over the phone. For questions 81-95, choose from the people (A-

D). The call-center workers may be chosen more than once. Write your answers

in the corresponding numbered boxes provided.

Which of the call-centre workers say that she …

81. advises people on the legal background to a problem?

82. enjoys the variety of things which people call about?

83. finds the equipment that she works with reassuring?

84. used to find it hard to work with only a spoken description of people’s

problems?

85. gets back to certain callers within a given period of time?

86. can arrange for an expert to visit callers at home?

87. has identified a regular pattern in calls on certain subjects?

88. helps people to solve unexpected problems at night?

89. was sorry not to be in direct touch with the people she had the skills to help?

90. finds some people have unrealistic expectations of the service she can provide?

91. sometimes has to convince people that their problems will be taken seriously?

92. sometimes has to correct information obtained elsewhere?

93. gets the same people calling back more than once?

94. was initially apprehensive about the type of problems people would call with?

95. looks forward to the challenge of unexpected individual enquiries?

A. Claire Lippold, 23, works for the Bat Conservation Trust

I did a degree in biology, and studied bats as part of my thesis. When I saw the

ad for this job, I thought it would be perfect for me. We get about ten thousand

calls a year, many from people worried that if they have bats in their loft they

can’t have any building work done. They need the right advice, because the law

protests bats. We’re contracted by an organization called Natural England to

arrange a service whereby anybody with bats on their property can have a

specialist volunteer come out and give information and advice about the

creatures they’re living with. Generally, once they have the information,

they’re happy. It’s the sign of a really green environment if you have bats. In

the summer, we get calls when bats have flown uninvited into people’s houses

after dark. We advise turning the lights out, shutting the door, leaving the

window open and allowing the bat to find its own way out. One of the most

common myths we have to explode is that bats always turn left when they leave

roofs. Apparently that was printed in a magazine recently, so we got a clutch of

calls about it. We also get people calling and humming the entire Batman

theme tune down the phone. The jokes are pretty predictable, I’m afraid.

B. Anthea McNufty, 26, works for NHS Direct, the phone-in helpline

operated by the National Health Service

Having worked in nurse training for a while, I found I missed the patient

contact I’d enjoyed doing nursing itself. When I saw this job, I thought of it as

a way of getting some of that contact back – without the cleaning up! I

remember the dread of what the calls might be about on my first day, but they

give you so much training before you’re let loose that you can handle it. It was

a bit difficult not having the physical clues I’d have been able to pick up on the

wards. But you very quickly get used to working with the computer, it makes

you feel safe. Occasionally, there are problems with the system but you’re

never left with a blank screen, and because we’re a national service there’s

always somebody else who can take a call. The most common calls are about

coughs and colds, things people can manage on their own, but I need to look

out for anything that will indicate that they might need to go and see a doctor.

People can be too embarrassed to go to a hospital with what seem like minor

ailments, and we do have to reassure them that if they do have to go in, people

aren’t going to laugh at them.

C. Agnes Thomson, 60, works for a major broadcasting company

Yesterday, I got lots of calls relating to weekly programs, though there was

quite a contrast: the radio show for the blind, ‘In Touch’, and ‘Watchdog’ on

TV. The ‘In Touch’ callers had heard of some new equipment and wanted

further details. ‘Watchdog’ is a consumer program and people generally call

me because they have a problem with a product from a company we’ve

covered on the show. We have regular callers, some very nice and some not so

nice, and you get to know them. Quite often people phone to complain

spontaneously, and when we call them again within ten days with a response,

which we promise to do in some cases, they’ve forgotten what made them

cross. Television programs probably generate more calls, particularly medical

programs or programs about children. People have a sense that we’re a general

repository of knowledge and wisdom – which we’re not! There’ll have been a

show that has covered most things at one time or another so I can always look

things up. As a result, I have a lot of what you might call useless knowledge.

D. Caroline Hickman, 34, works for a company with a wide range of

household products

I really get a lot out of the work. We have such a wide range of products – from

beauty and haircare through to nappies and household cleaners – that no two

calls are ever the same. With laundry products, for example, we get lots of

specific queries – people want to know what to use with certain types of

material. We can’t always go into details of all the settings of different brands

of machine, though. We also get a lot of calls about skincare from people who

want to know about specific ingredients in our products. You also get

fascinating insight into the country’s lifestyles. For instance, we tend to get lots

of calls about cleaning products on a Monday, presumably because people buy

them over the weekend, then, towards Friday we’ll get haircare and beauty

because they’re planning a night out. I also long for one-off problems I can

really get my teeth into – the ones that come out of blue. We once had a call

from a woman who’d seen a wedding dress on one of our TV adverts and

wanted one identical to it for her own big day. We found that it was still at the

television studio and was available for her to borrow – which she did. It just

goes to show that it’s always worth asking!

Your answers:

81. 82. 83. 84. 85.

86. 87. 88. 89. 90.

91. 92. 93. 94. 95.

LAO CAI

INDIVIDUALISM OR SOCIETY

The human trait known as individualism can be understood in two distinct ways. The first implies

an individual’s aspiration to self-reliance or independence, and the need to exist as individual

human beings. The second, by contrast, is understood as a social theory which prioritizes

freedom of action by individuals over the authority of an all-powerful state. As far as the second

conception is concerned, individualism as a discrete construct of Western thought really came to

the fore with the onset of capitalism in the late seventeenth century. The two most influential

English political philosophers of that period - and since — Hobbes and Locke, outlined ideal

models of government of a distinctly individualist hue. In their view, the state’s function was to

protect a citizen’s individual liberties and interfere with any citizen’s actions only when those

actions violated another individual’s right to act freely. For both, society is nothing more than an

agglomeration of individuals; it has no reality independent of the individuals that make it up.

In practice, in the context of late twentieth and early twenty-first century developed societies,

the term ‘individualism’ is generally congruent with a world view whose adherents wage a

metaphorical low-level war against what they perceive to be the incessant and incremental

growth in the power of the state. True individualists would undoubtedly arẹue that society’s

attempts to regulate the individualist’s two most closely guarded spheres of personal liberty -

economic and civil - will always represent individualism’s most keenly fought over battlegrounds.

This strongly individualistic view of the role of society is often referred to as ‘libertarianism’.

An intriguing characteristic of those professing to be libertarians is that they can happily

disagree, equally vehemently, with a government policy on, say, education, from either a

distinctly ‘left’ or a distinctly ‘right’, libertarian perspective. Indeed, commentators and opinion

formers in the mass media readily admit that one of the most fascinating aspects of these

manifestations of modern individualism of either kind is just how frequently both claim to be the

authentic standard bearers of libertarianism. Thus anarchists arguing for their particular vision of

libertarianism would never be seen dead breaking bread with right wing neo-liberal libertarians -

or vice versa.

In the 1980s，champions of ‘deregulation’ announced their mission to ‘set the people free’ from

the suffocating yoke of ‘big ‘government’ or the ‘stranglehold of regulation’. So it was that in

Britain enterprises once state-owned were privatized and public utilities such as telecoms, gas,

electricity ， and water were rapidly sold off. Moreover, unified transport systems took on

multiple identities when the networks of trains and buses, most of which had previously been

owned by the state, were put up for sale and then snapped up by a host of individual private

companies.

It is fair to say that notwithstanding the social and political manifestations of individualism, which

are still pillars of orthodoxy in many developed western countries - such as the USA and Britain

一 probably the most striking evidence of the enduring strength of individualism, and just how

deeply this view of society has permeated all fields and forms of the contemporary arts, is the

celebrity culture that surrounds us nowadays. Being famous, or better, being famous for just

being famous, has become almost an article of faith for wannabes everywhere. The seemingly

insatiable public appetite for reality TV and tabloid newspapers, in addition to the all-pervasive

celebrity photo journalism that fills a plethora of ubiquitous glossy magazines, are living

testimony to Andy Warhol’s dictum that anyone ‘can be famous for fifteen minutes’ these days.

But the cult of celebrity alone does not convey the enduring power of individualism. Pause to

reflect for a moment, and try to think of one truly great film, play, or popular song that could

ever have achieved such universal acclaim without an individual voice at its narrative core.

Surely, this is why Frank Sinatra timelessly strikes a chord with the individualist in all of us when

he sings ‘I did it my way’.

Do the following statements agree with the views of the writer in the Reading

Passage?

YES ifthe statement agrees with the views of the writer.

NO ifthe statement contradicts the views of the writer.

NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this.

56. There are two discrete interpretations of the term individualism

57. The rise of individualism caused disquiet among governments in Europe.

58. The prominence of individualism as a concept coincided with the rise of capitalism.

59. Hobbes and Locke had little impact in the late 1700s.

60. Hobbes and Locke's ideas about the state were not pro-individualist.

61. Individual liberties must be preserved because they guarantee protection against the state.

56. 57. 58. 59. 60. 61.

Answer the questions below using NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage

for each answer.

62. According to individualists, which two areas of personal freedom must be protected from

state regulation? _____________________________

63. What name is given to the view that society should not limit individuals' rights to do as they

wish?

64. Before the 1980s, who owned most of the transport networks in Britain?

65. According to the writer, what is the clearest evidence of the continuing importance of

individualism in society? _____________________________

66. According to the writer, what feature must a film or song have to make it popular?

______________________________

Choose the correct answer for the following questions.

67. What strange trait does the writer mention about individualists?

A. They can hold completely opposite political positions.

B. They do not often disagree with government policy.

C. Their opinions are shaped by the mass media.

D. They have different views on the role of the government in education.

68. Which of the following statements best summarizes the writer's view of

individualism?

A. Individualism has become less important since its conception in the late seventeenth century.

B. The adherents of individualism disagree over how much the government should regulate

personal liberty.

C. The strength of individualism is reflected in many aspects of contemporary politics and

culture.

D. Individualism is the cause of most conflicts in society today.

62. 63. 64. 65.

66. 67. 68.

Part 3: You are going to read a newspaper article about great explorations. Seven

paragraphs have been removed from the extract. Choose from the paragraphs A-H

the one which fits each gap (69-75). There is one extra paragraph which you do not

need to use.

GREAT EXPLORATIONS

When I left that nautical shop in Ushuaia, Argentina with just a few postcards, I had no idea how

much I would regret it later. I couldn't imagine the real need for a human being to have a

nautical chart of Cape Horn, the southernmost point on the whole planet. Mainly since this would

only become a reality after three intense days of navigating the waters that changed the history

of the world and viewing the same landscapes that Charles Darwin and Ferdinand Magellan saw.

69. ________

There was nothing ordinary about that chart. The pen scratches showed the exact route that the

vessel had taken in the first stretch of the course, which went from the capital of the archipelago

to Cape Horn in Drake Passage where fearsome waters must be overcome to reach the

Antarctic. There were over ten nationalities occupying the sixty-four cabins on the boat, which,

with its siblings, exclusively covers the extreme south of Patagonia. They’ve known as expedition

cruises and feature lectures on fauna and flora and documentaries on Shackleton's expedition to

Antarctica.

70. ________

'Ninety dollars,’ said the Frenchman. He was on his honeymoon and his reason for wanting to

buy the map was a strong one. His bride, who had always dreamed of spending her post-nuptial

days in Madagascar, wasn't able to hold him back since she was napping in the cabin.

71. ________

The first expedition to reach Cape Horn in 1616 was composed of two ships and eighty-seven

men. It left from Holland in 1615 with the mission of finding a passage from the Atlantic to the

Pacific that could serve as an alternative to the Strait of Magellan, discovered in 1520 and

monopolized by the East India Company.

72. ________

The island where we disembarked on that morning didn't seem like the kind of place where no

less than 500 shipwrecks took place. It was cold and windy but the sun provided a more

hospitable atmosphere. On one of its extremities there was a monument; on the other, a

lighthouse which is home to traffic controller Patricio Ubal, his wife and their children.

73. ________

A seasick Charles Darwin did not disembark at Cape Horn. It was 1832 and the young,

inexperienced British naturalist had joined the second expedition of Captain Robert Fitzroy on his

frigate, the Beagle, in exchange for financial help from his father. On board were also three

natives of Tierra del Fuego whom Fitzroy had taken to England on his last voyage. The most

famous of these was Yamana Jeremy Button.

74. ________

The glaciers there remain in the same place, however, exactly as Darwin saw them. The deep

blue of the millennial ice is as impressive as the ferocious noise coming from the huge chunks

that break off that living mass. It is an unforgettable spectacle.

75. ________

The auction had come to an end, but our voyage had not. The next morning, hours before the

boat docked in Punta Arenas, we visited the Magellanic penguins on Isla Magdalena. This was

the moment Sao Paulo native Lidia Senatore had been waiting for. Coincidentally, the nautical

chart auctioned off had been purchased by her for $150. Luckily for Francois, Valentine never

heard about that.

MISSING PARAGRAPHS

A. Ushuaia is an unusual place. Half an hour from the city center, the Cerro Castor ski station is

the southernmost in the world and runs until the end of October, when all the others in South

America have already closed and the European stations haven’t even opened.

B. ‘Going once, going twice..." In a fit of obsession, Francois raises his hand, ‘sold to the

gentleman for $250.’ Afterwards Valentine snorts: ‘How can you pay $250 for a piece of paper?

C. All the people gathered that night in one of the lounges of the Chilean boat

Mare Australis

had been through this experience and now, on the last night of our journey, were staring at the

auctioneer with a genuine greed for that tube with the paper inside. I couldn’t help myself. I

started off the bidding.

D. These are fascinating people. The coldness with which his mother received her son two years

after his disappearance provoked reports of amazement from Darwin，who witnessed this at Isla

Navarino, where we disembarked that afternoon. But, instead of the people who used to live

there, we only came across the tracks of beavers.

E. ‘How much is the chart of such an historic voyage worth?’ chanted the auctioneer in order to

raise the bidding, which had already passed $200. I’d stopped at 150 but the Frenchman and the

table of Americans showed no signs of giving up.

F. ‘Cape Horn was a dream for me. You can’t go any further. It’s difficult and dangerous to get

there and I wanted to share this with her,’ lawyer Francois Marty told me later. He only told his

new wife Valentine that they were going to South America. ‘Pack a bag for every season,

everything from a bikini to ski clothes,’ he advised her.

G. This is just a temporary position - it lasts less than a year - but a solitary one. It means

having to pass the entire time isolated from the world, without seeing civilization and not even

being visited by it during the winter months.

H. More common for visitors are the itineraries which peruse the Patagonian canals further

north. Other ships cover an even wider course but they don’t pass by Cape Horn. And it was this

mythical little island that had attracted those who were in that room.

Your answers:

69. 70. 71. 72. 73. 74. 75.

Part 4: For question 76-85, read an article on desert formation and choose the

answer A, B, C or D which you think fits best according to the text. Write your

answers in the corresponding numbered boxes provided.

DESERT FORMATION

The deserts，which already occupy approximately a fourth of the Earth's land surface, have in

recent decades been increasing at an alarming pace. The expansion of desertlike conditions into

areas where they did not previously exist is called desertification. It has been estimated that an

additional one-fourth of the Earth’s land surface is threatened by this process.

Desertification is accomplished primarily through the loss of stabilizing natural vegetation and the

subsequent accelerated erosion of the soil by wind and water. In some cases the loose soil is

blown completely away, leaving a stony surface. In other cases, the finer particles may be

removed, while the sand-sized particles are accumulated to form mobile hills or ridges of sand.

Even in the areas that retain a soil cover, the reduction of vegetation typically results in the loss

of the soil’s ability to absorb substantial quantities of water. The impact of raindrops on the loose

soil tends to transfer fine clay particles into the tiniest soil spaces, sealing them and producing a

surface that allows very little water penetration. Water absorption is greatly reduced,

consequently runoff is increased, resulting in accelerated erosion rates. The gradual drying of the

soil caused by its diminished ability to absorb water results in the further loss of vegetation ，so

that a cycle of progressive surface deterioration is established.

In some regions, the increase in desert areas is occurring largely as the result of a trend toward

drier climatic conditions. Continued gradual global warming has produced an increase in aridity

for some areas over the past few thousand years. The process may be accelerated in sub-

sequent decades if global warming resulting from air pollution seriously increases.

There is little doubt, however, that desertification in most areas results primarily from human

activities rather than natural processes. The semiarid lands bordering the deserts exist in a deli-

cate ecological balance and are limited in their potential to adjust to increased environmental

pressures. Expanding populations are subjecting the land to increasing pressures to provide

them with food and fuel. In wet periods, the 丨 and may be able to respond to these stresses.

During the dry periods that are common phenomena along the desert margins, though, the

pressure on the land is often far in excess of its diminished capacity, and desertification results.

Four specific activities have been identified as major contributors to the desertification

processes: overcultivation, overgrazing, firewood gathering ， and overirrigation. The cultivation

of crops has expanded into progressively drier regions as population densities have grown.

These regions are especially likely to have periods of severe dryness, so that crop failures are

common. Since the raising of most crops requires the prior removal of the natural vegetation,

crop failures leave extensive tracts of land devoid of a plant cover and susceptible to wind and

water erosion.

[A] The raising of livestock is a major economic activity in semiarid lands, where grasses are

generally the dominant type of natural vegetation. [B] The consequences of an excessive

number of livestock grazing in an area are the reduction of the vegetation cover and the

trampling and pulverization of the soil. [C] This is usually followed by the drying of the soil and

accelerated erosion. [D].

Firewood is the chief fuel used for cooking and heating in many countries. The increased pres-

sures of expanding populations have led to the removal of woody plants so that many cities and

towns are surrounded by large areas completely lacking in trees and shrubs. The increasing use

of dried animal waste as a substitute fuel has also hurt the soil because this valuable soil

conditioner and source of plant nutrients is no longer being returned to the land.

The final major human cause of desertification is soil salinization resulting from overirrigation.

Excess water from irrigation sinks down into the water table. If no drainage system exists, the

water

table rises，bringing dissolved salts to the surface. The water evaporates and the salts are left

behind, creating a white crustal layer that prevents air and water from reaching the underlying

soil.

The extreme seriousness of desertification results from the vast areas of land and the

tremendous numbers of people affected, as well as from the great difficulty of

reversing or even slowing the process. Once the soil has been removed by erosion, only the

passage of centuries or millennia will enable new soil to form. In areas where considerable soil

still remains, though, a rigorously enforced program of land protection and cover-crop planting

may make it possible to reverse the present deterioration of the surface.

Question 76: According to paragraph 3 ，the loss of natural vegetation has which of

the following consequences for soil?

A. Increased stony content B. Reduced water absorption

C. Increased numbers of spaces in the soil D. Reduced water runoff

Question 77: The word delicate in the passage is closest in meaning to

______________.

A. fragile B. predictable C. complex D. valuable

Question 78: According to paragraph 5 ，in dry periods, border areas have difficulty

________.

A. adjusting to stresses created by settlement B. retaining their fertility after

desertification

C. providing water for irrigating crops D. attracting populations in search of food

and fuel

Question 79: According to paragraph 6 ， which of the following is often associated

with raising crops?

A. Lack of proper irrigation techniques B. Failure to plant crops suited to the

particular area

C. Removal of the original vegetation D. Excessive use of dried animal waste

Question 80: The phrase devoid of in the passage is closest in meaning to

A. consisting of B. hidden by C. except for D. lacking in

Question 81: According to paragraph 9, the grounds absorption of excess water is a

factor in desertification because it can ______________

A. interfere with the irrigation of land B. limit the evaporation of water

C. require more absorption of air by the soil D. bring salts to the surface

Question 82: All of the following are mentioned in the passage as contributing to

desertification EXCEPT ________

A. soil erosion B. global warming

C. insufficient irrigation D. the raising of livestock

Question 83: Which of the sentences below best expresses the essential information

in the highlighted sentence in the passage? Incorrect answer choices change the

meaning in important ways or leave out essential information.

A. Desertification is a significant problem because it is so hard to reverse and affects large areas

of land and great numbers of people.

B. Slowing down the process of desertification is difficult because of population growth that has

spread over large areas of land.

C. The spread of deserts is considered a very serious problem that can be solved only if large

numbers of people in various countries are involved in the effort.

D. Desertification is extremely hard to reverse unless the population is reduced in the vast areas

affected.

Question 84: It can be inferred from the passage that the author most likely believes

which of the following about the future of desertification?

A. Governments will act quickly to control further desertification.

B. The factors influencing desertification occur in cycles and will change in the future.

C. Desertification will continue to increase.

D. Desertification win soon occur in all areas of the world.

Question 85: Look at the four squares [ ] that indicate where the following sentence■

can be added to the passage.

This economic reliance on livestock in certain regions makes large tracts of land sus-

ceptible to overgrazing.

Where would the sentence best fit?

A. [A] B. [B] C. [C] D. [D]

Your answer

76. 77. 78. 79. 80.

81. 82. 83. 84. 85.

Part 5: You are going to read about the experiences and opinions of five educators on

online courses and learning. For questions 86-95, choose from the sections (A-E).

The sections may be chosen more than once.

ONLINE STUDIES

Educators have known for 30 years that students perform better when given one-on-one

tutoring and mastery learning – working on a subject until it is mastered, not just until a test is

schedules. Success also requires motivation, whether from an inner drive or from parents,

mentors or peers. For years my colleagues and I have given artificial-intelligence courses: we

lectured, assigned homework and gave everyone the same exam at the same time. Each

semester just 5 to 10 percent of students regularly engaged in deep discussion; the rest were

more passive. We felt there had to be a better way, so we created a free online course, which

was completed by only 23,000 participants of an initial ‘intake’ of 100,000. Our second scheme

was more successful as we made learning happen actively. This helped us increase motivation

and keep attention from wavering, both of which led to a much lower dropout rate. For our

class, teachers analysed the data generated by student participation, but an artificial-intelligence

system could perform this function and then make recommendations for what a student could

try next to improve.

Today students in most classroom sit, listen and take notes while a professor lectures. Despite

there being 20 to 300 students in the room, there is little or no human interaction. Exam often

offer the first opportunity to get real information on how well the students digested the

knowledge. If the exam identifies a lack of understanding of a basic concept, the class still

moves on to a more advanced concept. Virtual tools are providing an opportunity to rethink this

methodology. If a lecture is removed from class rime and we have on-demand adaptive

exercises and diagnostics, we can enter the realm of ‘blended learning’. In the blended learning

reality, the professor’s role is moved up the value chain. Rather than spending the bulk of the

time lecturing, writing exams and grading them, the can interact with their students. Rather than

enforcing a sit-and-listen passivity, teacher will mentor and challenge their students to take

control of their rate of learning – the most valuable skill of all.

Digital technologies have the potential to transform Indian higher education. A new model built

around massive open online courses (MOOCs) that are developed locally and combined with

those provided by too universities abroad could deliver higher education on a scale and at a

quality not possible before. India has experimented with online classes before, but their impact

has been marginal. A decade ago, the country began using the Internet to distribute video and

Web-based courses under a government-funded initiative, the National Program on Technology

Enhanced Learning. Developers created over 900 courses, focused mainly on science and

engineering with about 40 hours of instruction each. With limited interactivity and uneven

quality, these courses failed to attract a large body of students. Now, though, MOOCs have given

Indian academics a better sense of how a lecture could be restructured into short, self-contained

segments with high interactivity to engage students more effectively. This appears to be a step

in the right direction, but what is really needed is the right model to use MOOCs in an Indian

context. With a decade of experience in this space and a vibrant technology ecosystem, India

will most likely find its way very soon.

The rapid evolution of digital resources like video, interactive multimedia and new modes of

assessment challenges us to reimage what we can and should do when we are face-to-face with

our students. As I develop online courses on cellular metabolism, for instance, I hypothesize that

the blend of animation and appropriate embedded assessments will communicate the intricacies

of electron transfer more effectively than that portion of my traditional lecture. After rebalancing

class assignments to include both reading and online materials, while maintaining the same

overall workload, I nonetheless gain time with my students in the classroom to discuss and

critically analyze the metabolic consequences of experimentally disrupting electron transfer.

Underlying this progress is the awareness that experimentation is the key and that we do not yet

know how best to harness the enormous positive potential of the online revolution for on-

campus learning. This is why every course or module should have associated research

component where student progress is measured.

Technology is transforming education for the worse and one of its dubious uses is to grade

essays. Major testing companies are using software to score written test answers as machines

can work faster than teachers. However, they cannot evaluate the imaginative use of language.

Thus, students will learn to write according to the formula that the machine responds to best at

the expense of accuracy, creativity and imagination. Worse, the teacher will abandon the

important job of reading what the students write and will be less informed about how they think.

That is a loss for the quality of education. A more worrisome use of technology is the

accumulation and storage of personal, confidential data on a cloud. Who needs all this personal

information and why is it being shared? Advocates say that the goal is believe that the

information will be given or sold to vendors, who will use it to market products to children and

their parents.

In which section are the following mentioned?

Ha nam

Light pollution