Author: theieltsbridge

Disorders: An Overview

Autistic Spectrum Disorder

Children with Autistic Spectrum Disorder have difficulty understanding what other people are saying, need help to play with other children, enjoy routines and find unfamiliar situations difficult. People with Autistic Spectrum Disorder can be good at creative activities like art, music and poetry. They can concentrate on one thing for a long time no they can become very good at something that they like doing.

ADHD – Attention Deficit

Hyperactivity Disorder

People with ADHD have three types of problems. Overactive behaviour (hyperactivity), impulsive behaviour and difficulty pitying attention. Children with ADHD are not just very active but have a wide range of problem behaviours which can make them very difficult to care for and control. Those who have ADHD often find it difficult to fit in at school. They may also have problems getting on with other children. Some children have significant problems with concentration and attention, but are not necessarily overactive or impulsive. These children are sometimes described as having Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) rather than ADHD. ADD can easily be missed because the child is quiet and dreamy rather than disruptive. ADHD is not related to intelligence. Children with all levels of ability can have ADHD.

Stress

Stress can be defined as the way you feel when you’re under abnormal pressure. All sorts of situations can cause stress. The most common, however, involve work, money matters and relationships with partners, children or other family members. Stress may be caused either by major upheavals and life events such as divorce, unemployment, moving house and bereavement, or by a series of minor irritations such as feeling undervalued at work or dealing with difficult children.

Some stress can be positive and research has suggested that a moderate level of stress makes us perform better. It also makes us more alert and can help us in challenging situations such as job interviews or public speaking. Stressful situations can also be exhilarating and some people actually thrive on the excitement that comes with dangerous sports or other ‘high-risk’ activities.

Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is a diagnosis given to some people who have severely disrupted beliefs and experiences. During an episode of schizophrenia, a person’s experience and interpretation of the outside world is disrupted – they may lose touch with reality, see or hear things that are not there and act in unusual ways in response to these ‘hallucinations’. An episode of schizophrenia can last for several weeks and can be very frightening. The causes are unknown but episodes of schizophrenia appear to be associated with changes in some brain chemicals. Stressful experiences and some recreational drugs tire sometimes thought to trigger an episode.

Depression

Depression describes a range of moods, from the low spirits that we all experience, to a severe problem that interferes with everyday life. The latter type, sometimes referred to as “clinical depression”, is defined its “a persistent exaggeration of the everyday feelings that accompany sadness”. If you have severe depression you may experience low mood, loss of interest and pleasure as well as feelings of worthlessness and guilt. You may also experience tearfulness, poor concentration, reduced energy, reduced or increased appetite, changes in weight, sleep problems and anxiety. You may even feel that life is not worth living, and plan or attempt suicide.
Obsessive Compulsive

Disorder in Adults

Imagine you are getting up in the morning. You know you will need to go to the bathroom, but the thought of accidentally touching the doorknob is frightening. There may be dangerous bacteria on it. Of course you cleaned the entire bathroom yesterday, including the usual series of spraying disinfectant, washing and rinsing. As usual it took a couple of hours to do it the right way. Even then you weren’t sure whether you had missed an area, so you had to re-wash the floor. Naturally the doorknob was sprayed and rubbed three times with a bactericidal spray. Now the thought that you could have missed a spot on the door knob makes you very nervous.

This description might give you some sense of the tormented and anxious world that people with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) live in. It is a world filled with dangers from outside and from within. Often elaborate rituals and thoughts are used to ward off feared events, but no amount of mental or physical activity seems adequate, so doubt and anxiety are often present.

People who do not have OCD may perform behaviours in a ritualistic way, repeating, checking, or washing things out of habit or concern. Generally this is done without much, if any, worry. What distinguishes OCD as a psychiatric disorder is that the experience of obsessions, and the performance of rituals, reaches such an intensity or frequency that it causes significant psychological distress and interferes in a significant way with psycho-social functioning. The guideline of at least one hour spent on symptoms per day is often used as a measure of ‘significant interference’. However, among patients who try to avoid situations that bring on anxiety and compulsions, the actual symptoms may not consume an hour. Yet their situations would dearly constitute interfering with functioning. Consider, for instance, a welfare mother who throws out more than $100 of groceries a week because of contamination fears. Although this behaviour has a major effect on her functioning, it might not consume one hour per day.

Patients with OCD describe their experience as having thoughts (obsessions) that they associate with some danger. The sufferer generally recognises that it is his or her own thoughts, rather than something imposed by someone else (as in some paranoid schizophrenic patients). However, the disturbing thoughts cannot be dismissed, and simply nag at the sufferer. Something must then be done to relieve the danger and mitigate the fear. This leads to actions and thoughts that are intended to neutralise the danger. These are the compulsions. Because these behaviours seem to give the otherwise ‘helplessly anxious’ person something to combat the danger, they are temporarily reassuring. However, since the ‘danger’ is typically irrational or imaginary, it simply returns, thereby triggering another cycle of the briefly reassuring compulsions. From the standpoint of classic conditioning, this pattern of painful obsession followed by temporarily reassuring compulsion eventually produces an intensely ingrained habit. It is rare to see obsessions without compulsions.

The two most common obsessions are fears of contamination and fear of harming oneself or others, while the two most common compulsions are checking and cleaning.

Questions 1-5
Look at the statements (Questions 1 – 5) and the list of disorders (A – G) below. Match each statement with the correct disorder A – G.

NB There are more disorders than descriptions, so you will not use them all.

1 can be positive in small doses but is generally associated with pressure
2 feeling that there is danger constantly present
3 has experiences that may or may not be part of the ‘real’ world
4 active to the point of losing concentration and becoming disruptive
5 good at art but not at communicating

Types of Disorders
A Stress
B Autistic Spectrum Disorder
C Attention Deficit Disorder
D Schizophrenia
E Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
F Depression
G Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

Questions 6-9
Complete the table below. Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer.

Disorder	Personality trait exhibited by sufferer
Autism Spectrum Disorder	may excel in activities of a (6)……………..nature
Attention Deficit Disorder	may appear (7)…………………..
Schizophrenia	may respond to experiencing episodes of the disease by behaving in very (8)……………….
Depression	my experience feelings of futility that lead to thoughts of (9)……………….
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder	may frequently experience feelings of doubt and anxiety

Questions 10-13
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.

10. Which disorder could cause visible physical changes?
A Autistic Spectrum Disorder
B Stress
C Schizophrenia
D Depression

11. Episodes of which disorder may last for a limited period of time?
A ADHD
B Autistic Spectrum Disorder
C schizophrenia
D depression

12. Which disorder can be triggered by the death of a loved one?
A Autistic Spectrum Disorder
B ADHD
C Stress
D OCD

13. What characterises sufferers of OCD?
A the fear of going outside
B the performance of rituals
C the desire to hurt others
D the feeling that they are helpless to ease their distress

The Developing World

A THE DEVELOPING WORLD – the economically underdeveloped countries of Asia. Africa. Oceania and Latin America – is considered as an entity with common characteristics, such as poverty, high birth rates, and economic dependence on the advanced countries. Until recently, the developing world was known as ‘the third world’. The French demographer Alfred Sauvy coined the expression (in French) in 1952 by analogy with the ‘third estate’ – the commoners of France before and during the French Revolution – as opposed to priests and nobles, comprising the First and second estates respectively. ‘Like the third estate’, wrote Sauvy, ‘the third world is nothing, and it wants to be something’. The term therefore implies that the third world is exploited, much as the third estate was exploited and that, like the third estate, its destiny is a revolutionary one. It conveys as well a second idea, also discussed by Sauvy – that of nonalignment, for the developing world belongs neither to the industrialised capitalist world nor to the industrialised former communist bloc. The expression ‘third world’ was used at the 1955 conference of Afro-Asian countries held in Bandung. Indonesia. In 1956 a group of social scientists associated with Sauvy’s National Institute of Demographic Studies, in Paris, published a book called ‘Le Tiers-Monde’. Three years later, the French economist Francois Perroux launched a new journal, on problems of underdevelopment, with the same title. By the end of the 1950s the term was frequently employed in the French media to refer to the underdeveloped countries of Asia. Africa, Oceania and Latin America. Present day politicians and social commentators, however, now use the term ‘developing world’ in a politically correct effort to dispel the negative connotations of ‘third world’.

B Countries in the developing world have a number of common traits: distorted and highly dependent economies devoted to producing primary products for the developed world; traditional, rural social structures; high population growth and widespread poverty. Nevertheless, the developing world is sharply differentiated, for it includes countries on various levels of economic development. And despite the poverty of the countryside and the urban shanty towns, the ruling elites of most third world countries are wealthy.

C This combination of conditions in Asia, Africa, Oceania and Latin America is linked to the absorption of the developing world into the international capitalist economy, by way of conquest or indirect domination. The main economic consequence of Western domination was the creation, for the first time in history, of a world market. By setting up sub-economies linked to the West throughout the developing world, and by introducing other modern institutions, industrial capitalism disrupted traditional economies and, indeed, societies. This disruption led to underdevelopment.

D Because the economies of underdeveloped countries have been geared to the needs of industrialised countries, they often comprise only a few modem economic activities, such as mining or the cultivation of plantation crops. Control over these activities has often remained in the hands of large foreign firms. The prices of developing world products are usually determined by large buyers in the economically dominant countries of the West, and trade with the West provides almost all the developing world’s income. Throughout the colonial period, outright exploitation severely limited the accumulation of capital within the foreign dominated countries. Even after decolonisation (in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s), the economies of the developing world grew slowly, or not at all, owing largely to the deterioration of the ‘terms of trade’ – the relationship between the cost of the goods a nation must import from abroad and its income from the exports it sends to foreign countries. Terms of trade are said to deteriorate when the cost of imports rises faster than income from exports. Since buyers in the industrialised countries determined the prices of most products involved in international trade, the worsening position of the developing world was scarcely surprising. Only the oil-producing countries – after 1973 – succeeded in escaping the effects of Western domination of the world economy.

E No study of the developing world could hope to assess its future prospects without taking into account population growth. While the mortality rate from poverty-related diseases continues to cause international concern, the birth rate continues to rise at unprecedented levels. This population explosion in the developing world will surely prevent any substantial improvements in living standards, as well as threaten people in stagnant economies with worsening poverty and starvation levels.

Questions 14–18
Reading Passage 2 has five paragraphs, A – E. Choose the most suitable heading for each paragraph from the list of headings below.

List of Headings
i The great divide between rich and poor.
ii The status and destiny of the developing’ world follows a European precedent.
iii Economic progress in the developing world slowed down In political unrest.
iv More people, less food.
v Western countries refuse to acknowledge their history of colonisation.
vi Open trade is the main reason these countries become impoverished.
vii Rivalry in the developing world between capitalist and former communist bloc countries.
viii Prices and conditions set by outsiders

14 Paragraph A
15 Paragraph B
16 Paragraph C
17 Paragraph D
18 Paragraph E

Questions 19-22
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 2?

In spaces 19-22 below, write

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

19 Agriculture still plays a role in the economy of developing countries.
20 The population of the developing world increases at such a fast rate because they constantly need to renew the labour force.
21 Countries that spend more on imports than they can from exports can experience problems.
22 Like the developing world, oil-rich countries are also victims of dominance by Western powers.

Questions 23–26
Complete each sentence with the correct ending A – F below.

Write the correct letter A – F in spaces 23 – 26 below.

23 Countries in the developing world
24 The term ‘the third world’ implies
25 One factor that is prevalent in the developing world is
26 One consequence of the terms of trade was

A economic dependence on developed countries.
B that decolonisation took a long time to achieve.
C dictate the needs of industrialised countries.
D share common characteristics.
E that many economies stagnated.
F a society that wants something it does not have.

Biometrics

A The term “biometrics’ is derived from the Greek words bio (life) and metric (to measure). It refers to technologies for measuring and analysing a person’s physiological or behavioural characteristics, such as fingerprints, irises, voice patterns, facial patterns and hand measurements, for identification and verification purposes. One of the earliest known examples of biometrics in practice was a form of fingerprinting used in China in the 14th century. Chinese merchants stamped children’s palm prints and footprints on paper with ink to distinguish the young children from one another. This method of biometrics is still being practised today.

B Until the late 1800s, identification largely relied upon ‘photographic memory.’ In the 1890s, an anthropologist and police desk clerk in Paris named Alphonse Bertillon sought to fix the problem of identifying convicted criminals and turned biometrics into a distinct field of study. He developed a method of multiple body measurements which was named after him – Bertillonage. Bertillon based his system on the claim that measurement of adult bones does not change after the age of 20. He also introduced a cataloguing system, which enabled the filing and checking of records quite quickly. His system was used by police authorities throughout the world, until 1903, when two identical measurements were obtained for two different persons at Fort Leavenworth prison. The prison switched to fingerprinting the following day and the rest of the world soon followed abandoning Bertillonage forever. After the failure of Bertillonage, the police started using fingerprinting, which was developed by Richard Edward Henry of Scotland Yard, essentially reverting to the same methods used by the Chinese for years.

C In the past three decades biometrics has moved from a single method (fingerprinting) to more than ten different methods. Hundreds of companies are involved with this development and continue to improve their methods as the technology available to them advances. As the industry grows, however, so does the public concern over privacy issues. Laws and regulations continue to be drafted and standards are beginning to be developed. While no other biometric has yet reached the wide range of use of fingerprinting, some are beginning to be used in both legal and business areas.

D Identification and verification have long been in practice by presenting a personal document, such as a licence, ID card or a passport. It may also require personal information such as passwords or PINs. For security reasons, often two, or all three, of these systems are combined but as times progress, we are in constant need for more secure and accurate measures. Authentication by biometric verification is becoming increasingly common in corporate and public security systems, consumer electronics and point of-sale applications. In addition to security, the driving force behind biometric verification has been convenience. Already, many European countries are introducing a biometric passport which will carry a paper-thin computer chip to store the facial image and at least one additional biometric identifier. This will help to counter fraudulent efforts to obtain duplicate passports and will verify the identity of the holder against the document.

E Identification and verification are mainly used today in the fight against crime with the methods of fingerprint and DNA analysis. It is also used in security for granting access rights by voice pattern recognition. Additionally, it is used for personal comfort by identifying a person and changing personal settings accordingly, as in setting car seats by facial recognition. Starting in early 2000, the use of biometrics in schools has become widespread, particularly in the UK and USA. A number of justifications are given for such practices, including combatting truancy, and replacing library cards or meal cards with fingerprinting systems. Opponents of school biometrics have raised privacy concerns against the creation of databases that would progressively include the entire population.

F Biometric devices consist of a reader or scanning device, software that converts the gathered information into digital form, and a database that stores the biometric data for comparison with previous records. When converting the biometric input, the software identifies specific points of data as match points. The match points are processed using an algorithm into a value that can be compared with biometric data in the database. There are two types of biometrics: behavioural and physical. Behavioural biometrics are generally used for verification while physical biometrics can be used for either identification or verification.

G Iris-pattern and retina-pattern authentication methods are already employed in some bank automatic teller machines. Voice waveform recognition, a method of verification that has been used for many years with tape recordings in telephone wiretaps, is now being used for access to proprietary databanks in research facilities. Facial-recognition technology has been used by law enforcement to pick out individuals in large crowds with considerable reliability. Hand geometry is being used in industry to provide physical access to buildings. Earlobe geometry has been used to disprove the identity of individuals who claim to be someone they are not (identity theft). Signature comparison is not as reliable, all by itself, as other biometric verification methods but offers an extra layer of verification when used in conjunction with one or more other methods. No matter what biometric methodology is used, the identification verification process remains the same. A record of a person’s unique characteristic is captured and kept in a database. Later on, when identification verification is required, a new record is captured and compared with the previous record in the database. If the data in the new record matches that in the database record, the person’s identity is confirmed.

H As technology advances, and time goes on, more and more private companies and public utilities will use biometrics for safe, accurate identification. However, these advances will raise many concerns throughout society, where many may not be educated on the methods. Some believe this technology can cause physical harm to an individual using it, or that instruments used are unsanitary. For example, there are concerns that retina scanners might not always be clean. There are also concerns as to whether our personal information taken through biometric methods can be misused, tampered with, or sold, eg. by criminals stealing, rearranging or copying the biometric data Also, the data obtained using biometrics can be used in unauthorised ways without the individual’s consent. Much still remains to be seen in the effectiveness of biometric verification before we can identify it as the safest system for identification.

Questions 27-31
Reading Passage 3 has eight paragraphs, A – H. Which paragraph contains the following information?

27 possible health hazards associated with the use of biometrics
28 convicted criminals were not the first to be identified by the use of biometrics
29 the application of mathematics in assessing biometric data
30 despite its limitations, biometries has become a commercial field of activity
31 some biometric methods are useful only in conjunction with others

Questions 32-34
Complete the sentences below. Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.

Members of the public are becoming increasingly worried about the (32)……………………………that may accompany the use of biometrics.

Biometries can be used to improve the (33)………………………………of drivers and passengers.

Regardless of the technology used, it has one common purpose: to find somebody’s (34)………………………….and store it on computer.

Questions 35-40
Compute the summary with the list of words A – L below. Write the correct letter A – L in spaces 35 – 40 below.

BIOMETRICS
As long ago as the 14th century, the Chinese made use of biometrics in order to tell young children apart, but it was only in the 1890s when it was first used by the authorities as a means of (35)……………………… in criminal cases. The system developed by the Frenchman Bertillon – that of measuring adult bones – was flawed, however, and so police adopted (36)………………………….. as a more reliable way of identifying suspects. Governments, companies and even schools employ biometric technology to ensure, for example, that people do not enter a country illegally, gain access to certain buildings, or assume someone else’s (37)………………………………..Apart from security, another important (38)……………………………….behind biometric verification has been (39)……………………………..The use of biometrics, however, has its critics, who say that the data collected could be used for different purposes without our (40)……………………………………

A identification
B security
C convenience
D scanning
E fingerprinting
F identity
G violation
H measuring
I justification
J approval
K factor
L apprehension

What is it that draws us to these creatures?

“This inhuman place makes human monsters,” wrote Stephen King in his novel The Shining. Many academics agree that monsters lurk in the deepest recesses, they prowl through our ancestral minds appearing in the half-light, under the bed – or at the bottom of the sea.

“They don’t really exist, but they play a huge role in our mindscapes, in our dreams, stories, nightmares, myths and so on,” says Matthias Classen, assistant professor of literature and media at Aarhus University in Denmark, who studies monsters in literature. “Monsters say something about human psychology, not the world.”

One Norse legend talks of the Kraken, a deep sea creature that was the curse of fishermen. If sailors found a place with many fish, most likely it was the monster that was driving them to the surface. If it saw the ship it would pluck the hapless sailors from the boat and drag them to a watery grave.

This terrifying legend occupied the mind and pen of the poet Alfred Lord Tennyson too. In his short 1830 poem The Kraken he wrote: “Below the thunders of the upper deep, / Far far beneath in the abysmal sea, / His ancient, dreamless, uninvaded sleep / The Kraken sleepeth.”

The deeper we travel into the ocean, the deeper we delve into our own psyche. And when we can go no further – there lurks the Kraken.

Most likely the Kraken is based on a real creature – the giant squid. The huge mollusc takes pride of place as the personification of the terrors of the deep sea. Sailors would have encountered it at the surface, dying, and probably thrashing about. It would have made a weird sight, “about the most alien thing you can imagine,” says Edith Widder, CEO at the Ocean Research and Conservation Association.

“It has eight lashing arms and two slashing tentacles growing straight out of its head and it’s got serrated suckers that can latch on to the slimiest of prey and it’s got a parrot beak that can rip flesh. It’s got an eye the size of your head, it’s got a jet propulsion system and three hearts that pump blue blood.”

The giant squid continued to dominate stories of sea monsters with the famous 1870 novel, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, by Jules Verne. Verne’s submarine fantasy is a classic story of puny man against a gigantic squid.

The monster needed no embellishment – this creature was scary enough, and Verne incorporated as much fact as possible into the story, says Emily Alder from Edinburgh Napier University. “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and another contemporaneous book, Victor Hugo’s Toilers of the Sea, both tried to represent the giant squid as they might have been actual zoological animals, much more taking the squid as a biological creature than a mythical creature.” It was a given that the squid was vicious and would readily attack humans given the chance.

That myth wasn’t busted until 2012, when Edith Widder and her colleagues were the first people to successfully film giant squid under water and see first-hand the true character of the monster of the deep. They realised previous attempts to film squid had failed because the bright lights and noisy thrusters on submersibles had frightened them away.

By quietening down the engines and using bioluminescence to attract it, they managed to see this most extraordinary animal in its natural habitat. It serenely glided into view, its body rippled with metallic colours of bronze and silver. Its huge, intelligent eye watched the submarine warily as it delicately picked at the bait with its beak. It was balletic and mesmeric. It could not have been further from the gnashing, human-destroying creature of myth and literature. In reality this is a gentle giant that is easily scared and pecks at its food.

Another giant squid lies peacefully in the Natural History Museum in London, in the Spirit Room, where it is preserved in a huge glass case. In 2004 it was caught in a fishing net off the Falkland Islands and died at the surface. The crew immediately froze its body and it was sent to be preserved in the museum by the Curator of Molluscs, Jon Ablett. It is called Archie, an affectionate short version of its Latin name Architeuthis dux. It is the longest preserved specimen of a giant squid in the world.

“It really has brought science to life for many people,” says Ablett. “Sometimes I feel a bit overshadowed by Archie, most of my work is on slugs and snails but unfortunately most people don’t want to talk about that!”

And so today we can watch Archie’s graceful relative on film and stare Archie herself (she is a female) eye-to-eye in a museum. But have we finally slain the monster of the deep? Now we know there is nothing to be afraid of, can the Kraken finally be laid to rest? Probably not says Classen. “We humans are afraid of the strangest things. They don’t need to be realistic. There’s no indication that enlightenment and scientific progress has banished the monsters from the shadows of our imaginations. We will continue to be afraid of very strange things, including probably sea monsters.”

Indeed we are. The Kraken made a fearsome appearance in the blockbuster series Pirates of the Caribbean. It forced Captain Jack Sparrow to face his demons in a terrifying face-to-face encounter. Pirates needed the monstrous Kraken, nothing else would do. Or, as the German film director Werner Herzog put it, “What would an ocean be without a monster lurking in the dark? It would be like sleep without dreams.”

Questions 1-7
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1?

TRUE                          if the statement is true
FALSE                        if the statement is false
NOT GIVEN             if the information is not given in the passage

1 Matthias Classen is unsure about the possibility of monster’s existence.
2 Kraken is probably based on an imaginary animal.
3 Previous attempts on filming the squid had failed due to the fact that the creature was scared.
4 Giant squid was caught alive in 2004 and brought to the museum.
5 Jon Ablett admits that he likes Archie.
6 According to Classen, people can be scared both by imaginary and real monsters.
7 Werner Herzog suggests that Kraken is essential to the ocean.

Questions 8-12
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.

8. Who wrote a novel about a giant squid?
A Emily Alder
B Stephen King
C Alfred Lord Tennyson
D Jules Verne

9. What, of the featuring body parts, mollusc DOESN’T have?
A two tentacles
B serrated suckers
C beak
D smooth suckers

10. Which of the following applies to the bookish Kraken?
A notorious
B scary
C weird
D harmless

11. Where can we see a giant squid?
A at the museum
B at a seaside
C on TV
D in supermarkets

12. The main purpose of the text is to:
A help us to understand more about both mythical and biological creatures of the deep
B illustrate the difference between Kraken and squid
C shed the light on the mythical creatures of the ocean
D compare Kraken to its real relative

Questions 13-16
Complete the sentences below. Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer.

Write your answers in boxes 13–16 on your answer sheet.

According to the Victor Hugo’s novel, the squid would (13)………………………….if he had such opportunity.

The real squid appeared to be (14)……………………………..

Archie must be the (15)……………………………….of its kind on Earth.

We are able to encounter the Kraken’s (16)……………………………….in a movie franchise.

How did science fiction writer HG Wells predict its invention three decades before the first detonations?

A Imagine you’re the greatest fantasy writer of your age. One day you dream up the idea of a bomb of infinite power. You call it the “atomic bomb”. HG Wells first imagined a uranium-based hand grenade that “would continue to explode indefinitely” in his 1914 novel The World Set Free. He even thought it would be dropped from planes. What he couldn’t predict was how a strange conjunction of his friends and acquaintances – notably Winston Churchill, who’d read all Wells’s novels twice, and the physicist Leo Szilard – would turn the idea from fantasy to reality, leaving them deeply tormented by the scale of destructive power that it unleashed.

B The story of the atom bomb starts in the Edwardian age, when scientists such as Ernest Rutherford were grappling with a new way of conceiving the physical world. The idea was that solid elements might be made up of tiny particles in atoms. “When it became apparent that the Rutherford atom had a dense nucleus, there was a sense that it was like a coiled spring,” says Andrew Nahum, curator of the Science Museum’s Churchill’s Scientists exhibition. Wells was fascinated with the new discoveries. He had a track record of predicting technological innovations. Winston Churchill credited Wells for coming up with the idea of using aeroplanes and tanks in combat ahead of World War One.

C The two men met and discussed ideas over the decades, especially as Churchill, a highly popular writer himself, spent the interwar years out of political power, contemplating the rising instability of Europe. Churchill grasped the danger of technology running ahead of human maturity, penning a 1924 article in the Pall Mall Gazette called “Shall we all commit suicide?”. In the article, Churchill wrote: “Might a bomb no bigger than an orange be found to possess a secret power to destroy a whole block of buildings – nay to concentrate the force of a thousand tons of cordite and blast a township at a stroke?” This idea of the orange-sized bomb is credited by Graham Farmelo, author of Churchill’s Bomb, directly to the imagery of The World Set Free.

D By 1932 British scientists had succeeded in splitting the atom for the first time by artificial means, although some believed it couldn’t produce huge amounts of energy. But the same year the Hungarian emigre physicist Leo Szilard read The World Set Free. Szilard believed that the splitting of the atom could produce vast energy. He later wrote that Wells showed him “what the liberation of atomic energy on a large scale would mean”. Szilard suddenly came up with the answer in September 1933 – the chain reaction – while watching the traffic lights turn green in Russell Square in London. He wrote: “It suddenly occurred to me that if we could find an element which is split by neutrons and which would emit two neutrons when it absorbed one neutron, such an element, if assembled in sufficiently large mass, could sustain a nuclear chain reaction.”

E In that eureka moment, Szilard also felt great fear – of how a bustling city like London and all its inhabitants could be destroyed in an instant as he reflected in his memoir published in 1968:
“Knowing what it would mean – and I knew because I had read HG Wells – I did not want this patent to become public.” The Nazis were on the rise and Szilard was deeply anxious about who else might be working on the chain reaction theory and an atomic Bomb. Wells’s novel Things To Come, turned into a 1936 film, The Shape of Things to Come, accurately predicted aerial bombardment and an imminent devastating world war. In 1939 Szilard drafted the letter Albert Einstein sent to President Roosevelt warning America that Germany was stockpiling uranium. The Manhattan Project was born.

F Szilard and several British scientists worked on it with the US military’s massive financial backing. Britons and Americans worked alongside each other in “silos” – each team unaware of how their work fitted together. They ended up moving on from the original enriched uranium “gun” method, which had been conceived in Britain, to create a plutonium implosion weapon instead. Szilard campaigned for a demonstration bomb test in front of the Japanese ambassador to give them a chance to surrender. He was horrified that it was instead dropped on a city. In 1945 Churchill was beaten in the general election and in another shock, the US government passed the 1946 McMahon Act, shutting Britain out of access to the atomic technology it had helped create. William Penney, one of the returning Los Alamos physicists, led the team charged by Prime Minister Clement Atlee with somehow putting together their individual pieces of the puzzle to create a British bomb on a fraction of the American budget.

G “It was a huge intellectual feat,” Andrew Nahum observes. “Essentially they reworked the calculations that they’d been doing in Los Alamos. They had the services of Klaus Fuchs, who [later] turned out to be an atom spy passing information to the Soviet Union, but he also had a phenomenal memory.” Another British physicist, Patrick Blackett, who discussed the Bomb after the war with a German scientist in captivity, observed that there were no real secrets. According to Nahum he said: “It’s a bit like making an omelette. Not everyone can make a good one. “When Churchill was re-elected in 1951 he “found an almost complete weapon ready to test and was puzzled and fascinated by how Atlee had buried the costs in the budget”, says Nahum. “He was very conflicted about whether to go ahead with the test and wrote about whether we should have ‘the art and not the article’. Meaning should it be enough to have the capability… [rather] than to have a dangerous weapon in the armoury.”

H Churchill was convinced to go ahead with the test, but the much more powerful hydrogen bomb developed three years later worried him greatly. HG Wells died in 1946. He had been working on a film sequel to The Shape of Things To Come that was to include his concerns about the now-realised atomic bomb he’d first imagined. But it was never made. Towards the end of his life, says Nahum, Wells’s friendship with Churchill “cooled a little”. “Wells considered Churchill as an enlightened but tarnished member of the ruling classes.” And Churchill had little time for Wells’ increasingly fanciful socialist utopian ideas.

I Wells believed technocrats and scientists would ultimately run a peaceful new world order like in The Shape of Things To Come, even if global war destroyed the world as we knew it first. Churchill, a former soldier, believed in the lessons of history and saw diplomacy as the only way to keep mankind from self-destruction in the atomic age. Wells’ scientist acquaintance Leo Szilard stayed in America and campaigned for civilian control of atomic energy, equally pessimistic about Wells’ idea of a bold new scientist-led world order. If anything Szilard was tormented by the power he had helped unleash. In 1950, he predicted a cobalt bomb that would destroy all life on the planet. In Britain, the legacy of the Bomb was a remarkable period of elite scientific innovation as the many scientists who had worked on weaponry or radar returned to their civilian labs. They gave us the first commercial jet airliner, the Comet, near-supersonic aircraft and rockets, highly engineered computers, and the Jodrell Bank giant moveable radio telescope.

J The latter had nearly ended the career of its champion, physicist Bernard Lovell, with its huge costs, until the 1957 launch of Sputnik, when it emerged that Jodrell Bank had the only device in the West that could track it. Nahum says Lovell reflected that “during the war the question was never what will something cost. The question was only can you do it and how soon can we have it? And that was the spirit he took into his peacetime science.” Austerity and the tiny size of the British market, compared with America, were to scupper those dreams. But though the Bomb created a new terror, for a few years at least, Britain saw a vision of a benign atomic future, too and believed it could be the shape of things to come.

Questions 17-25
Reading Passage 2 has ten paragraphs, A–J. Which paragraph contains the following information?

17 Scientific success
18 Worsening relations
19 The dawn of the new project
20 Churchill’s confusion
21 Different perspectives
22 Horrifying prediction
23 Leaving Britain behind the project
24 Long-term discussion
25 New idea

Questions 26-27
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.

26. How can you describe the relations between Churchill and Wells throughout the years?

A passionate → friendly → adverse
B curious → friendly
C respectful → friendly → inhospitable
D friendly → respectful → hostile

27. What is the type of this text?
A science-fiction story
B article from the magazine
C historical text
D Wells autobiography

The growth of intelligence

No one doubts that intelligence develops as children grow older. Yet the concept of intelligence has proved both quite difficult to define in unambiguous terms and unexpectedly controversial in some respects. Although, at one level, there seem to be almost as many definitions of intelligence as people who have tried to define it, there is broad agreement on two key features. That is, intelligence involves the capacity not only to learn from experience but also to adapt to one’s environment. However, we cannot leave the concept there. Before turning to what is known about the development of intelligence, it is necessary to consider whether we are considering the growth of one or many skills. That question has been tackled in rather different ways by psychometricians and by developmentalists.

The former group has examined the issue by determining how children’s abilities on a wide range of tasks intercorrelate, or go together. Statistical techniques have been used to find out whether the patterns are best explained by one broad underlying capacity, general intelligence, or by a set of multiple, relatively separate, special skills in domains such as verbal and visuospatial ability. While it cannot be claimed that everyone agrees on what the results mean, most people now accept that for practical purposes it is reasonable to suppose that both are involved. In brief, the evidence in favour of some kind of general intellectual capacity is that people who are superior (or inferior) on one type of task tend also to be superior (or inferior) on others. Moreover, general measures of intelligence tend to have considerable powers to predict a person’s performance on a wide range of tasks requiring special skills. Nevertheless, it is plain that it is not at all uncommon for individuals to be very good at some sorts of task and yet quite poor at some others.

Furthermore the influences that affect verbal skills are not quite the same as those that affect other skills.

This approach to investigating intelligence is based on the nature of the task involved, but studies of age-related changes show that this is not the only, or necessarily the most important, approach. For instance, some decades ago, Horn and Cattell argued for a differentiation between what they termed ‘fluid’ and ‘crystallised’ intelligence. Fluid abilities are best assessed by tests that require mental manipulation of abstract symbols. Crystallised abilities, by contrast, reflect knowledge of the environment in which we live and past experience of similar tasks; they may be assessed by tests of comprehension and information.

It seems that fluid abilities peak in early adult life, whereas crystallised abilities increase up to advanced old age.

Developmental studies also show that the interconnections between different skills vary with age. Thus in the first year of life an interest in perceptual patterns is a major contributor to cognitive abilities, whereas verbal abilities are more important later on. These findings seemed to suggest a substantial lack of continuity between infancy and middle childhood. However, it is important to realise that the apparent discontinuity will vary according to which of the cognitive skills were assessed in infancy. It has been found that tests of coping with novelty do predict later intelligence. These findings reinforce the view that young children’s intellectual performance needs to be assessed from their interest in and curiosity about the environment, and the extent to which this is applied to new situations, as well as by standardised intelligence testing.

These psychometric approaches have focused on children’s increase in cognitive skills as they grow older. Piaget brought about a revolution in the approach to cognitive development through his arguments (backed up by observations) that the focus should be on the thinking processes involved rather than on levels of cognitive achievement. These ideas of Piaget gave rise to an immense body of research and it would be true to say that subsequent thinking has been heavily dependent on his genius in opening up new ways of thinking about cognitive development. Nevertheless, most of his concepts have had to be so radically revised, or rejected, that his theory no longer provides an appropriate basis for thinking about cognitive development. To appreciate why that is so, we need to focus on some rather different elements of Piaget’s theorising.

The first element, which has stood the test of time, is his view that the child is an active agent of learning and of the importance of this activity in cognitive development. Numerous studies have shown how infants actively scan their environment; how they prefer patterned to non-patterned objects, how they choose novel over familiar stimuli, and how they explore their environment as if to see how it works. Children’s questions and comments vividly illustrate the ways in which they are constantly constructing schemes of what they know and trying out their ideas of how to fit new knowledge into those schemes or deciding that the schemes need modification. Moreover, a variety of studies have shown that active experiences have a greater effect on learning than comparable passive experiences. However, a second element concerns the notion that development proceeds through a series of separate stages that have to be gone through step-by-step, in a set order, each of which is characterised by a particular cognitive structure. That has turned out to be a rather misleading way of thinking about cognitive development, although it is not wholly wrong.

Questions 28-31
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.

28. Most researchers accept that one feature of intelligence is the ability to
A change our behaviour according to our situation.
B react to others’ behaviour patterns.
C experiment with environmental features.
D cope with unexpected setbacks.

29. What have psychometricians used statistics for?
A to find out if cooperative tasks are a useful tool in measuring certain skills
B to explore whether several abilities are involved in the development of intelligence
C to demonstrate that mathematical models can predict test results for different skills
D to discover whether common sense is fundamental to developing children’s abilities

30. Why are Horn and Cattell mentioned?
A They disagreed about the interpretation of different intelligence tests.
B Their research concerned both linguistic and mathematical abilities.
C They were the first to prove that intelligence can be measured by testing a range of special skills.
D Their work was an example of research into how people’s cognitive skills vary with age.

31. What was innovative about Piaget’s research?
A He refused to accept that children developed according to a set pattern.
B He emphasised the way children thought more than how well they did in tests.
C He used visually appealing materials instead of traditional intelligence tests.
D He studied children of all ages and levels of intelligence.

Questions 32-37
Do the following statements agree with the views of the writer in Reading Passage 3?

In boxes 32-37 on your answer sheet, write

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

32 A surprising number of academics have come to the same conclusion about what the term intelligence means.
33 A general test of intelligence is unlikely to indicate the level of performance in every type of task.
34 The elderly perform less well on comprehension tests than young adults.
35 We must take into account which skills are tested when comparing intelligence at different ages.
36 Piaget’s work influenced theoretical studies more than practical research.
37 Piaget’s emphasis on active learning has been discredited by later researchers.

Questions 38-40
Complete the summary using the list of words, A-l, below.

Write the correct letter, A-l, in boxes 38-40 on your answer sheet.

A adult
B practical
C verbal
D spatial
E inquisitive
F uncertain
G academic
H plentiful
I unfamiliar

Researchers investigating the development of intelligence have shown that (38)…………………………. skills become more significant with age. One good predictor of (39)…………………………intelligence is the degree to which small children are (40)…………………………….about their surroundings and how much interest they show on finding themselves in an unfamiliar setting.

The Development of Travel under the Ocean

For millennia, humans have been intrigued by what lies beneath the sea and although submarine travel was attempted from time to time, it did not become commonplace until the middle of last century. Several clever and innovative people had experimented with designs for submersible boats before then, but there was much loss of life and little success.

There had long been use of a primitive diving bell for explorative purposes, but it was as a war machine that the submarine came into its own. The first development in the history of American submarines was a small submersible with a hand-cranked screw-like oar and a crew of one. It was built before the American Revolutionary War (1775—1783) but was adapted for use against the British during this war. Although its pilot twice failed to fasten explosive devices to British ships before losing control of his vessel, he escaped harm.

In 1800, an American inventor, Robert Fulton, designed an underwater machine that he called the Nautilus. This version brought in features that can still be found in some modern submarines, notably adjustable diving planes for better underwater manoeuvring, dual systems of propulsion, and a compressed air system that allowed it to stay down for about four hours without surfacing.

Development of submersible vessels lagged a long way behind the continued progress in the design of surface ships until the American Civil War (1861-1865) when both sides tried out various designs. One of those, called the Hunley — named after its financier rather than its inventor, sank twice during training missions with 11 crew members losing their lives including Hunley himself. Notwithstanding these failures, it was commissioned again in 1864 to attack a ship in Charleston Harbor. A torpedo was used to strike and scuttle the ship – a first in naval history, but the submarine never reappeared, and once again the whole crew perished. Its potential had been recognised, but there still remained the challenge of operating safely under the water.

The US Navy could appreciate the strategic benefits of having submarines in its fleet and held a competition to encourage design and construction of these underwater craft. The inventor, John Holland, won the competition and it was his sixth prototype, the Holland, that the navy bought and added to its fleet in 1900. This submarine was quite different from previous designs. It was propelled by a gasoline engine that turned a propeller while the vessel was on the surface. When it submerged, the engine ran a generator to charge batteries to operate an electric motor. The improved propulsion methods were, unfortunately, highly dangerous. Not only is gasoline flammable and unstable, using it in the restricted environment of a submarine posed quite a hazard for the crewmen. There was another problem, too: the batteries were not only heavy, cumbersome and inefficient, but they were also extremely volatile.

During the same period as Holland’s efforts were being trialled, a German scientist by the name of Rudolf Diesel created an engine which used a fuel less explosive than gasoline and which could consequently be stored safely. Another advantage was that there was no necessity for an electric spark to ignite the fuel. These safety improvements combined with better fuel economy allowed Diesel engines to power a submarine for longer on the surface; however, batteries were still needed to supply energy for underwater operation.

Although diesel-powered submarines were successful and used by the US Navy for almost 50 years, the search for a single power source carried on. It wasn’t long before the concept of nuclear power was realised in Germany and taken up by an American physicist, Ross Gunn, who could envisage its potential in submersibles. A research team was put together to adapt the concept of nuclear power for use in submarines. In effect, modem nuclear submarines have on board a small nuclear power plant which produces a great amount of energy. This is used to heat water and create steam which drives a huge turbine which turns the propeller.

There have been many adaptations and technological improvements made to submarines over the years, but the shape is basically the same. Obviously, it is a totally enclosed craft, cigar-shaped with narrowed ends. The outer hull is the largest part of the boat and forms the body. The inner hull is designed to resist the considerable water pressure and insulates the crew from the cold. This is where the crew works, eats and sleeps. It also contains the engine room and the apparatus that makes clean air and clean water. Between the hulls are the ballast tanks for controlling buoyancy. There is a tall fin-shaped sail that comes up out of the hull. Inside the sail is the conning tower and extending from this, to the fore, there is a periscope (through which the captain can see the sea and sky when the submarine is near the surface of the water). Sonar is used for navigation deep below the surface. The other projection from the conning tower is the radio antenna.

Underwater, there are two controls for steering the submarine. The rudder (like a tail fin) controls side-to-side movement, and diving planes influence rise and descent. There are two sets of diving planes: the forward sail planes and the stem planes, which are located at the back with the rudder and propeller.

Advancing technology will undoubtedly result in different shapes and modes of operation, and it is quite possible that, in the future, submarines will be manned by robots or computer technology that communicates information to land bases via satellite.

Questions 1-6
Answer the questions below. Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the text for each answer.

1. What kind of underwater device was used to investigate the ocean before submersible boats were invented?

2. What was the crewman of the first American-built submarine trying to do before his mission failed?

3. What gave the Nautilus the ability to remain submerged for a long time?

4. When was a submarine first used successfully to sink an enemy boat?

5. What new type of propulsion did the Holland use on top of the water?

6. For what reason was Diesel’s fuel considered safer than Holland’s?

Questions 7—13
Label the diagram below. Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the text for each answer.

Vitamins – To supplement or not?

Mineral, vitamin, and antioxidant health supplements make up a multi-billion-dollar industry in the United States alone, but do they really work? Evidence suggests supplementation is clearly indicated in special circumstances, but can actually be harmful in others. For the general population, however, supplements have negligible or no impact on the prevention of common cancers, cardiovascular diseases, cognitive decline, mortality, or any other major indicators of health. In pursuit of a longer, happier and healthier life, there are certainly better investments for most people than a tube of vitamin supplements.

Particular sub-groups of the population can gain a proven benefit from supplementation. Folic acid has long been indicated as a prenatal supplement due to its assistance in foetal cell division and corresponding ability to prevent neural tube birth defects. Since Canada and the United States decided to require white flour to be fortified with folic acid, spinal birth defects have plummeted by 75%, and rates of neuroblastoma (a ravaging form of infant cancer) are now 50% lower. In countries without such fortification, or for women on low-carbohydrate diets, a prenatal multivitamin could make the crucial difference. The United States Department of Health and Human Services has concluded that the elderly may also benefit from extra vitamin D; calcium can help prevent bone fractures; and zinc and antioxidants can maintain vision while deflecting macular degeneration in people who would otherwise be likely to develop this affliction.

There is mounting evidence, however, for many people to steer clear of multivitamins. The National Institutes of Health has noted a “disturbing evidence of risk” in tobacco users: beta-carotene, a common ingredient in multivitamins, was found over a six-year study to significantly contribute to higher lung cancer and mortality rates in smokers. Meanwhile, excessive vitamin A (a supplement often taken to boost the immune system) has been proven to increase women’s risk of a hip fracture, and vitamin E, thought to improve cardiovascular health, was contraindicated in a study that demonstrated higher rates of congestive heart failure among such vitamin users. Antioxidant supplementation has no purpose nor does it achieve anything, according to the Food and Nutrition Board of the National Academy of Sciences, and the Medical Letter Group has gone further in suggesting they may interfere with treatment and promote some cancers. Antioxidants are generally regarded as counteracting the destructive effect of free radicals in the body, but according to the Medical Letter’s theory, free radicals may also serve the purpose of sending a powerful signal to the body’s immune system to fix the damage. By taking supplements, we risk undermining that message and upsetting the balance of antioxidants and free radicals in the body. The supplements counteract the free radicals, the immune system is not placed on alert, and the disease could sneak through the gates.

One problem with supplementation by tablet is the poor record on digestibility. These tablets are often stocked with metal-based minerals that are essentially miniature rocks, and our bodies are unable to digest them. Even the vitamin elements of these pills that are theoretically digestible are often unable to be effectively extracted by our bodies when they arrive in such a condensed form. In Salt Lake City, for example, over 150 gallons of vitamin and mineral pills are retrieved from the sewer filters each month. According to the physician’s desk reference, only about 10% – 20% of multivitamins are absorbed by the body. The National Advisory Board is even more damning, suggesting that every 100mg of tablet corresponds to about 8.3mg of blood concentration, although noting that this can still potentially perform a helpful role in some cases. In effect, for every $100 you spend on vitamin supplements, over $90 of that is quite literally flushed down the toilet.

A final argument against multivitamins is the notion that they can lead people – consciously or not – to the conclusion that supplementation fills in the gaps of an unhealthy diet and mops up afterwards, leaving their bodies none the wiser that instead of preparing a breakfast of fresh fruit and muesli, they popped a tiny capsule with coffee and a chocolate bar. In a seven-year study, however, the Heart Protection study did not find any positive outcome whatsoever from multivitamins and concluded that while vitamins in the diet are important, multivitamin tablets are safe but completely useless. There is evidently no shortcut around the task of buying, preparing, and consuming fresh fruit and vegetables every day. Boosting, supplementing, and fortifying products alter people’s very perception of what healthy food is; instead of heading for the fresh produce aisle in the supermarket, they are likely to seek out sugary, processed foods with a handful of extra B vitamins as a healthy choice. We cannot supplement our way out of a bad diet.

Questions 14-16
Choose, the correct letter, A. B, C, or D.

14. The writer does not recommend multivitamin supplementation for____
A pregnant women.
B young children.
C anyone prone to eye problems.
D old people.

15. According to the writer, vitamin E has been shown to____
A lead to heart problems.
B be good for heart health.
C support the immune system.
D have no effect.

16. The Medical letter Group believes antioxidant supplementation___
A is ineffective in attacking free radicals.
B alerts the immune system to the presence of free radicals.
C attacks both free radicals and the immune system.
D prevents the immune system from responding to free radicals.

Questions 17-21
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 2?

In boxes 17-21 on your answer sheet, write

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

17 Some multivitamin tablets have indigestible ingredients.
18 Some individual vitamins are better absorbed than others in a tablet form.
19 Our bodies cannot distinguish food-based from supplement-based vitamins.
20 Multivitamins can lead to poorer overall eating habits in a person’s life.
21 People typically know that fortified processed foods are not good for them.

Questions 22-26
Classify the following groups of people according to whether they believe

Write the correct letter A, B or C, in boxes 22-26 on your answer sheet.

A the supplementation may have a positive effect
B the supplementation may have a negative effect
C supplementation has no effect

22 The United States Department of Health and Human Services
23 The National Institutes of Health
24 The Food and Nutrition Board of the National Academy of Sciences
25 The National Advisory Board
26 The Heart Protection Group

The Birth of Suburbia

A. There is no single pivotal moment that could be separated out from any other as the conception of the suburban lifestyle; from the early 1800s, various types of suburban development have sprung up and evolved in their own localised ways, from the streetcar suburbs of New York to the dormitory towns outside of London. It is William Levitt, however, who is generally regarded as the father of modem suburbia. During World War II, Levitt served in the United States Navy where he developed expertise in the mass construction of military housing, a process that he streamlined using uniform and interchangeable parts. In 1947, the budding developer used this utilitarian knowledge to begin work with his father and architect brother constructing a planned community on Long Island, New York. With an emphasis on speed, efficiency, and cost-effective production, the Levitts were soon able to produce over 30 units a day.

B. William Levitt correctly predicted the demand for affordable, private, quiet, and comfortable homes from returning GIs after World War II and with the baby boom starting to kick in. All the original lots sold out in a matter of days, and by 1951, nearly 18,000 homes in the area had been constructed by the Levitt fit Sons Company. Levittown quickly became the prototype of mass- produced housing, spurring the construction of similar projects in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and even Puerto Rico, followed by a new industry, and soon a new way of life and a new ideal for the American family.

C. One of the major criticisms of suburbia is that it can lead to isolation and social dislocation. With properties spread out over great swathes of land, sealed off from one another by bushes, fences and trees, the emphasis of suburban life is placed squarely on privacy rather than community. In the densely populated urban settlements that predated suburbs (and that are still the predominant way of life for some people), activities such as childcare and household chores as well as sources of emotional and moral support were widely socialised. This insured that any one family would be able to draw on a pool of social resources from their neighbours, building cohabitants and family on nearby streets. Suburbia breaks these networks down into individual and nuclear family units resulting in an increase in anti-social behaviour even amongst the wealthy. Teens from wealthy suburban families, for example, are more likely to smoke, drink alcohol, and use drugs than their poorer urban peers, and are also more likely to experience depression and anxiety.

D. Another major problem with the suburban lifestyle is its damaging ecological impact. The comparison of leafy, quiet, and low-density suburbs with life in the concrete towers of sooty, congested urban conurbations is actually quite misleading; as it turns out, if you want to be kind to the natural environment, the key is to stay away from it. Suburbia fails the environmental friendliness test on a number of counts. Firstly, due to their low population density, suburbs consume natural land at a much higher rate than high-density row housing or apartment buildings. Secondly, they encourage the use of personal motor vehicles, often at a rate of one per family member, at the expense of public transport. It is also much less efficient to provide electricity and water to individual suburban houses instead of individual units in an apartment building. In his comparison of urban and suburban pollution, Edward L. Glaeser concluded that we need to “build more sky towers – especially in California”. Virtually everywhere, he found cities to be cleaner than suburbs. And the difference in carbon dioxide emissions between high-density cities and their suburbs (for example, in New York) was the highest. Urban residents of New York can claim on average to produce nearly 15,000 pounds of carbon dioxide less than their suburban peers.

E. Another negative aspect of suburban life is its stifling conformity and monotony of social experience. It was not just the nuts and bolts and the concrete foundations of suburban houses that got replicated street upon street, block upon block, and suburb upon suburb; it was everything from the shops and cultural life to people’s hopes, dreams, and aspirations. Suburbia gave birth to the “strip mall”, a retail establishment that is typically composed of a collection of national or global chain stores, all stocked with a centrally dictated, homogenous array of products. The isolation and lack of interaction in suburbs has also encouraged the popularity of television, a passively receptive medium for the viewer that, in the early days at least, offered an extremely limited scope of cultural exposure compared with the wealth of experiences available in the inner city. Meanwhile, much of the inner-city “public sphere” has been lost with suburban flight. The public sphere is the area of social life in which people come together to freely discuss and identify social problems. In the city, this has traditionally occurred around newsstands, in coffee houses, salons, theatres, meeting halls, and so on. Suburbia has not found a way to replace this special type of social experience, however. Social meeting points in the suburbs tend to be based exclusively around specific interests such as sports or cultural clubs, with no broad forms of daily social interaction.

F. These points do not suggest the idea of suburbia itself is flawed, but that it has not been executed in a way that takes into account the full spectrum of human needs and desires. This likely reflects the hasty, thrown-together nature of early suburban development. With the baby boom rippling across Western countries and demand for family-friendly housing skyrocketing, developers and city planners were unable to develop sophisticated models. Now, however, we should take time to consider what has gone wrong and how we can reconfigure the suburb. How can we imbue suburban life with the lost sphere of public discussion and debate? How can people maintain their sought after privacy without sacrificing a sense of community? How can we use new technologies to make suburbs environmentally friendly? These are questions for which the developers of tomorrow will have to find answers, lest the dream of suburbia become the nightmare of disturbia.

Questions 27-31
Reading Passage 3 has six paragraphs, A-F. Which paragraph contains the following information?

27 A reason to construct taller buildings
28 Where people might discuss issues of societal concern in urban locations
29 The founder of what is broadly understood as contemporary ‘suburbs’
30 Examples of problems suffered by the youth that suburban lifestyle can make worse
31 A model for suburban development in the latter half of the 20th century

Questions 32-38
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 3?

In boxes 32-38 on your answer sheet, write

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

32 A good principle for ecological preservation is to avoid human interference.
33 In some countries, suburbs are more environmentally friendly than in the USA.
34 Suburban development fosters the use of both public and private forms of transport
35 People cannot relate to each other in suburbs because their lives are too different.
36 There is not much variety amongst the goods at a strip mall.
37 Television has not tended to offer the same diversity as urban cultural outlets.
38 There are numerous of ways of communication and interaction between people living in the suburbs.

Questions 39-40
Choose TWO letters, A-E.

Write your answers in boxes 39-40 on your answer sheet.

Which TWO of the following does the author conclude?

A The very concept of a healthy suburban lifestyle is problematic.
B The speed of suburban growth has contributed to its imperfections.
C By thinking about human and ecological needs, suburbs can become better places to live.
D Developers will have to think about ways of living that do not require suburbs.

E Suburbs have their downsides, but they are the best way for parents to raise children.

Nushu – A Secret Language

A. It is sometimes said that men and women communicate in different languages. For hundreds of years in the Jiangyong County of Hunan Province, China, this was quite literally the case. Sometime between 400 and 1,000 years ago, women defied the patriarchal norms of the time that forbade them to read or write and conceived of Nu shu — literally, ‘ women’s language ’ — a secretive script and language of their own. Through building informal networks of ‘sworn sisters’ who committed themselves to teaching the language only to other women, and by using it artistically in ways that could be passed off as artwork (such as writing characters on a decorative fan), Nushu was able to grow and spread without attracting too much suspicion.

B. Nushu has many orthographical distinctions from the standard Chinese script. Whereas standard Chinese has large, bold strokes that look as if they might have been shaped with a thick permanent marker pen, Nushu characters are thin, slanted and have a slightly ‘scratchy’ appearance that bears more similarity to calligraphy. Whereas standard Chinese is logographic, with characters that represent words and meanings, Nushu is completely phonetic — each character represents a sound; the meaning must be acquired from the context of what is being said. Users of Nushu developed coded meanings for various words and phrases, but it is likely that only a tiny fraction of these will ever be known. Many secrets of Nushu have gone to the grave.

C. Nushu was developed as a way to allow women to communicate with one another in confidence. To some extent, this demand came from a desire for privacy, and Nushu allowed women a forum for personal written communication in a society that was dominated by a male-orientated social culture. There was also a practical element to the rise of Nushu, however: until the mid 20th century, women were rarely encouraged to become literate in the standard Chinese script. Nushu provided a practical and easy-to-learn alternative. Women who were separated from their families and friends by marriage could, therefore, send ‘letters’ to each other. Unlike traditional correspondence, however, Nushu characters were painted or embroidered onto everyday items like fans, pillowcases, and handkerchiefs and embodied in ‘artwork’ in order to avoid making men suspicious.

D. After the Chinese Revolution, more women were encouraged to become literate in the standard Chinese script, and much of the need for a special form of women’s communication was dampened. When the Red Guard discovered the script in the 1960s, they thought it to be a code used for espionage. Upon learning that it was a secret women’s language, they were suspicious and fearful. Numerous letters, weavings, embroideries, and other artefacts were destroyed, and women were forbidden to practise Nushu customs. As a consequence, the generational chains of linguistic transmission were broken up, and the language ceased being passed down through sworn sisters. There is no longer anyone alive who has learnt Nushu in this traditional manner; Yang Huanyi, the last proficient user of the language, died on September 20, 2004, in her late 90s.

E. In recent years, however, popular and scholarly interest in Nushu has blossomed. The Ford Foundation granted US$209,000 to build a Nushu Museum that houses artefacts such as audio recordings, manuscripts, and articles, some of which date back over 100 years. The investment from Hong Kong SAR is also being used to build infrastructure at potential tourist sites in Hunan, and some schools in the area have begun instruction in the language. Incidentally, the use of Nushu is also a theme in Lisa See’s historical novel. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, which has since been adapted for film.

Questions 1-5
Reading Passage 1 has five sections, A-E. Choose the correct heading for each section from the list of headings below.

1 Section A
2 Section B
3 Section C
4 Section D
5 Section E

List of headings
i Financial costs
ii Decline and disuse
iii Birth and development
iv Political uses of Nushu
v The social role of Nushu
vi Last of the Nushu speakers
vii Characteristics of written Nushu
viii Revival and contemporary interest

Questions 6-7
Choose TWO letters, A-E. Write your answers in boxes 6-7 on your answer sheet.

Why was there a need for Nushu? Which TWO reasons are given in the text?

A It provided new artistic opportunities for female artisans.
B It was a way for uneducated women to read and write.
C Not enough women were taking an interest in literature.
D It was a way for women to correspond without men knowing.
E It helped women believe in themselves and their abilities.

Questions 8-13
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1? In boxes 8-13 on your answer sheet, write

TRUE                               if the statement is true
FALSE                             if the statement is false
NOT GIVEN                  if the information is not given in the passage

8 The post-Revolution government did not want women to read or write in any language.
9 At first, the Red Guard thought Nushu might be a tool for spies.
10 Women could be punished with the death penalty for using Nushu.
11 The customary way of learning Nushu has died out
12 There is a lot of money to be made out of public interest in Nushu.
13 Nushu is now being openly taught.

Venus Flytrap

A. From indigenous myths to John Wyndham’s Day of the Triffids and the off-Broadway musical Little Shop of Horrors, the idea of cerebral, carnivorous flora has spooked audiences and readers for centuries. While shrubs and shoots have yet to uproot themselves or show any interest in human beings, however, for some of earth’s smaller inhabitants – arachnids and insects – the risk of being trapped and ingested by a plant can be a threat to their daily existence. Easily, the most famous of these predators is the Venus Flytrap, one of only two types of ‘snap traps’ in the world. Though rarely found growing wild, the Flytrap has captured popular imagination and can be purchased in florists and plant retailers around the world.

B. Part of the Venus Flytrap’s mysterious aura begins with the tide itself. While it is fairly clear that the second half of the epithet has been given for its insect-trapping ability, the origin of ‘Venus’ is somewhat more ambiguous. According to the International Carnivorous Plant Society, the plant was first studied in the 17th and 18th centuries, when puritanical mores ruled Western societies and obsession was rife with forbidden human impulses and urges, women were often portrayed in these times as seductresses and temptresses, and botanists are believed to have seen a parallel between the behaviour of the plant in luring and devouring insects and the imagined behaviour of women in luring and ‘trapping’ witless men. The plant was thus named after the pagan goddess of love and money – Venus.

C. The Venus Flytrap is a small plant with six to seven leaves growing out of a bulb-like stem. At the end of each leaf is a trap, which is an opened pod with cilia around the edges like stiff eyelashes. The pod is lined with anthocyanin pigments and sweet-smelling sap to attract flies and other insects. When they fly in, trigger hairs inside the pod sense the intruder’s movement, and the pod snaps shut. The trigger mechanism is so sophisticated that the plant can differentiate between living creatures and non-edible debris by requiring two trigger hairs to be touched within twenty seconds of each other, or one hair to be touched in quick succession. The plant has no nervous system, and researchers can only hypothesise as to how the rapid shutting movement works. This uncertainty adds to the Venus Flytrap’s allure.

D. The pod shuts quickly but does not seal entirely at first; scientists have found that tins mechanism allows miniscule insects to escape, as they will not be a source of useful nourishment for the plant. If the creature is large enough, however, the plant’s flaps will eventually meet to form an airtight compress, and at this point, the digestive process begins. A Venus Flytrap’s digestive system is remarkably similar to how a human stomach works. For somewhere between five and twelve days, the trap secretes acidic digestive juices that dissolve the soft tissue and cell membranes of the insect. These juices also kill any bacteria that have entered with the food, ensuring the plant maintains its hygiene so that it does not begin to rot. Enzymes in the acid help with the digestion of DNA, amino acids, and cell molecules so that every fleshy part of the animal can be consumed. Once the plant has reabsorbed the digestive fluid – this time with the added nourishment, the trap reopens and the exoskeleton blows away in the wind.

E. Although transplanted to other locations around the world, the Venus Flytrap is only found natively in an area around Wilmington, North Carolina in the United States. It thrives in bogs, marshes, and wetlands and grows in wet sand and peaty soils. Because these environments are so depleted in nitrogen, they asphyxiate other flora, but the Flytrap overcomes this nutritional poverty by sourcing protein from its insect prey. One of the plant’s curious features is resilience to flame. It is speculated that the Flytrap evolved this to endure through periodic blazes and to act as a means of survival that its competition lacks.

F. While the Venus Flytrap will not become extinct any time soon (an estimated 3-6 million plants are presently in cultivation), its natural existence is uncertain. In the last survey, only 35,800 Flytraps were found remaining in the wild, and some prominent conservationists have suggested the plant be given the status of ‘vulnerable’. Since this research is considerably dated, having taken place in 1992, the present number is considerably lower. The draining and destruction of natural wetlands where the Flytrap lives is considered to be the biggest threat to its existence, as well as people removing the plants from their natural habitat. Punitive measures have been introduced to prevent people from doing this. Ironically, while cultural depictions of perennial killers may persist, the bigger threat is not what meat-eating plants might do to us but what we may do to them.

Questions 14-19
Reading Passage 2 has six paragraphs, A-F. Which paragraph contains the following information?

Write the correct letter, A-F, in boxes 14-19 on your answer sheet.

14 An overview of how the Flytrap eats its prey
15 A comparison between human and plant behaviour
16 A measure designed to preserve Flytraps in their native environment
17 An example of a cultural and artistic portrayal of meat-eating plants
18 A characteristic of the Venus Flytrap that is exceptional in the botanical world
19 A reference to an aspect of the Venus Flytrap’s biology that is not fully understood

Questions 20-22
Complete the sentences below with words taken from Reading Passage 2. Use NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS for each answer.

If they are too small to provide (20)…………………………………., the closing pod allows insects to get out.

Only the (21)………………………………is left after the Flytrap has finished digesting an insect.

Many plants cannot survive in bogs and wetlands owing to the lack of (22)……………………………

Questions 23-26
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 2? In boxes 23—26 on your answer sheet write

TRUE                             if the statement is true
FALSE                           if the statement is false
NOT GIVEN                if the information is not given in the passage

23 The Venus Flytrap can withstand some exposure to fire.
24 Many botanists would like the Venus Flytrap to be officially recognised as an endangered plant species.
25 Only 35,800 Venus Flytraps now survive in their natural habitats.
26 Human interference is a major factor in the decline of wild Venus Flytraps.

Growth Model

Shortly after World War II, ‘development’ as we now understand it was set in motion. Western governments and donors poured money into new agencies that set about trying to stimulate the economies of underdeveloped countries. Because of this emphasis, it is now widely regarded as the Growth Model. Although we might expect poverty reduction to be the central objective, planners at this stage were primarily concerned with industrial development. It was hoped that the benefits of this would trickle down to poor people through raising incomes and providing employment opportunities, thereby indirectly lifting them above the ascribed poverty threshold of a dollar a day. The weaknesses of these assumptions were revealed, however, when poverty rates and economic growth were found to rise simultaneously in many countries.

During the 1970s, a new trend took over – trickle-up development. Instead of focusing on macro-economic policy and large-scale industrial projects, planners shifted attention to the core living requirements of individuals and communities. This became known as the Basic Needs Approach to development. It was hoped that through the provision of services such as community sanitation and literacy programmes, poverty could be eliminated from below. Economic growth was desirable but superfluous – Basic Needs redefined poverty from involving a lack of money to lacking the capability to attain full human potential. The trouble with Basic Needs programmes, however, was their expensive, resource-intensive nature that entailed continuous management and funding

Since the 1980s, development planners have moved towards the Sustainable Livelihoods Approach, which emphasises good livelihoods (materially and socially) that, most importantly, are independent and sustainable. ‘Sustainable’ in this sense means that people are able to recover from the shocks and stresses of daily life, absolving agencies of the need to persistently monitor their lives. This approach emphasises a view of poverty that comes not from the rich but from the impoverished themselves, who are considered to be most suitably positioned to determine the poverty indicators that contribute to the multiple facets of their own deprivation. Although the Sustainable Livelihoods Approach has been criticised for lacking an environmental platform strong enough to respond to climate change, and for disassociating aspects of power and societal status from being a contestable part of development, it is currently the preferred model for development projects.

Though there is some linearity to the trajectory of development practice, with paradigms shifting in and out of fashion, vigorous scholarly debate persists around all approaches. The Growth Model, for example, is still defended by many theorists, particularly economists. Those who believe in the Growth Model insist that nothing trumps economic development as a tool for poverty alleviation for the developing countries (although there is often less enthusiasm for its applicability to the postindustrial West). Many countries that have focused explicitly on growth have managed to make considerable inroads into reducing poverty, even in the absence of a development programme; Japan and Germany followed this route after World War II, as has China from the 1970s. On the other hand, some countries with massive inflows of funding for aid-based ‘development projects’ – particularly those in sub-Saharan Africa – have struggled to progress with meeting poverty reduction targets.

There is a good reason to be sceptical about the Growth Model, however, as is evidenced by the numerous societies that have partly imploded as a consequence of prioritising economic growth above the work of human development. The experiences of many eastern European countries with health and employment crises in the early 1990s are particularly traumatic examples of this. ‘The Growth Model also suffers from an undemocratic, and ‘technocratic’, if not autocratic, method underdeveloped countries frequently make policy decisions based on consultation with Western economists and institutions on how to generate growth. This dissolves the autonomy of communities to make their own decisions about what matters to them, and what kind of society they would like to build. The move to the Sustainable livelihoods Approach is a positive move in tills regard, because by operating on a principle that decisions should be made by those who are affected by them, it introduces a role for localised decision-making.

It will be difficult, if not impossible, for any country in the near future to ignore economic growth as a development indicator while continuing to meet development targets. It is important, however, that we move away from seeing this type of growth as the prime objective for development. Development is ultimately about people, and human development must be placed at the forefront; economic growth is simply one tool out of many that can help us along the way. We also need to recognise that foreign advisers, whatever qualifications and knowledge they may possess, can sometimes be a hindrance; local autonomy must be respected for real development to occur. The Growth Model may have failed, but this does not render economic growth irrelevant. The Sustainable Livelihoods Approach offers helpful and realistic alternatives. But it is folly to commit ourselves to a strictly defined, systematic programme – less constrictive mindsets will help us break the development fashion cycle.

Questions 27-33
Complete the table below. Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.

Growth model	Basic needs approach	Sustainable livelihoods approach
(27)………………was the main goal	typified by small scale aid such as health and (28)……………. projects	tries to encourage ways of living that are most self sufficient
Poverty described as living on less than a dollar a day	poverty seen as an inability to reach (29)……………	poor people identify their own (30)…………….
It was discovered that poverty could increase in step with (31)……………………	projects costly and (32)……………… requiring ongoing involvement	the problem of (33)…………………not adequately addressed; ignores issues of social dominance and authority

Questions 34-38
Do the following statements agree with the claims of the writer in Reading Passage 3?

In boxes 34-38 on your answer sheet, write

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

34 The most favoured method of development is the Sustainable Livelihoods Approach.
35 While institutions often follow development trends, academic disputes are more timeless.
36 The Growth Model is more popular with Third World scholars than Western scholars.
37 It is not possible to reduce poverty without an explicit development policy.
38 The Growth Model takes some authority away from local forms of organisation.

Questions 39-40
Choose TWO letters, A—E.

Which TWO of the following statements form part of the author’s conclusion?

A Economic growth is the primary development goal, but there are other factors to consider.
B It is preferable not to think about development in rigid, structured terms.
C Development projects are likely to fail in the absence of highly educated experts.
D The Sustainable Livelihoods Approach is more effective than the Growth Model.
E Economic growth should only be considered as a means for development, not an end point.

Bioluminescence

A. In the pitch-black waters of the ocean’s aphotic zone – depths from 1,000m to the sea floor – Rood eyesight does not count for very much on its own. Caves, in addition, frequently present a similar problem: the complete absence of natural light at any time of the day. This has not stopped some organisms from turning these inhospitable environments into their homes, and in the process many have created their own forms of light by developing one of the stunning visual marvels of the biological universe – bioluminescence.

B. Many people will encounter bioluminescence at some point in their life, typically in some form of glowworm, which is found on most continents. North and South America are home to the “firefly”, a glowing beetle which is known as a glow-worm during its larvae stage. Flightless glowing beetles and worms are also found in Europe, Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. Less common flies, centipedes, molluscs, and snails have bioluminescent qualities as well, as do some mushrooms. The most dramatic examples of bioluminescence. However, are found deep below the ocean’s surface, where no sunlight can penetrate at all. Here, anglerfish, cookie-cutter sharks, flashlight fish, lantern fish, gulper eels, viperfish, and many other species have developed bioluminescence in unique and creative ways to facilitate their lives.

C. The natural uses of bioluminescence vary widely, and organisms have learnt to be very creative with its use. Fireflies employ bioluminescence primarily for reproductive means – their flashing patterns advertise a firefly’s readiness to breed. Some fish use it as a handy spotlight to help them locate prey. Others use it as a lure; the anglerfish, for example, dangles a luminescent flare that draws in gullible, smaller fishes which get snapped up by the anglerfish in an automated reflex. Sometimes, bioluminescence is used to resist predators. Vampire squids eject a thick cloud of glowing liquid from the tip of its arms when threatened, which can be disorientating. Other species use a single, bright flash to temporarily blind their attacker, with an effect similar to that of an oncoming car which has not dipped its headlights.

D. Humans have captured and utilized bioluminescence by developing, over the last decade, a technology known as Bioluminescence Imaging (BLI). BU involves the extraction of a DNA protein from a bioluminescent organism, and then the integration of this protein into a laboratory animal through trans- geneticism. Researchers have been able to use luminized pathogens and cancer cell lines to track the respective spread of infections and cancers. Through BLI, cancers and infections can be observed without intervening in a way that affects their independent development. In other words, while an ultra-sensitive camera and bioluminescent proteins add a visual element, they do not disrupt or mutate the natural processes. As a result, when testing drugs and treatments, researchers are permitted a single perspective of a therapy’s progression.

E. Once scientists learn how to engineer bioluminescence and keep it stable in large quantities, a number of other human uses for it will become available. Glowing trees have been proposed as replacements for electric lighting along busy roads, for example, which would reduce our dependence on non-renewable energy sources. The same technology used in Christmas trees for the family home would also eliminate the fire danger from electrical fairy lights. It may also be possible for crops and plants to luminesce when they require watering, and for meat and dairy products to “tell us” when they have become contaminated by bacteria. In a similar way, forensic investigators could detect bacterial species on corpses through bioluminescence. Finally, there is the element of pure novelty. Children’s toys and stickers are often made with glow-in-the dark qualities, and a biological form would allow rabbits, mice, fish, and other pets to glow as well.

Questions 1-5
Reading Passage 1 has five sections, A-E. Choose the correct headings for sections A-E from the list of headings below.

List of Headings
i Mushrooms that glow in the dark
ii Bright creatures on land and in the sea
iii Evolution’s solution
iv Cave-dwelling organisms
v Future opportunities in biological engineering
vi Nature’s gift to medicine
vii Bioluminescence in humans
viii Purposes of bioluminescence in the wild
ix Luminescent pets

1 Section A
2 Section B
3 Section C
4 Section D
5 Section E

Questions 6-9
Choose FOUR letters. A—G. Write the correct letters in boxes 6-9 on your answer sheet.

Which FOUR uses are listed for bioluminescence in nature?

A ways of attracting food
B tracing the spread of diseases
C mating signals
D growing trees for street lighting
E drug trials
F defensive tactics
G a torch to identify food

Questions 10-13
Complete the sentences below. Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.

The luminescent fluid that a vampire squid emits has a (10)…………………………….effect on its predator.

In order to use bioluminescence in a trans-genetic environment, (11)…………………………….must first be removed from a bioluminescent creature.

One advantage of BLI is that it could allow researchers to see how a treatment is working without altering or disturbing (12)………………………………….

In the future, (13)……………………………..may be able to use bioluminescence to identify evidence on dead bodies.

CHANGES IN MALE BODY IMAGE

A. The pressures on women to look slender, youthful, and attractive have been extensively documented, but changing expectations for women’s bodies have varied widely. From voluptuous and curvy in the days of Marilyn Monroe to slender and androgynous when Twiggy hit the London scene in the mid-1960s, and then on to the towering Amazonian models of the 1980s and the “heroin chic” and size-zero obsession of today, it is not just clothes that go in and out of fashion for women. The prevailing notion of the perfect body for men, however, has remained remarkably static: broad shoulders, a big chest and arms, and rippling, visible abdominal muscles and powerful legs have long been the staple ingredients of a desirable male physique.

B. A growing body of evidence suggests this is changing, however. Rootsteins, a mannequin design company in Britain, has released its newest male model – the homme nouveau – with a cinched-in 27-inch waist. “To put that into perspective,” says one female fashion reporter, “I had a 27-inch waist when I was thirteen _ and I was really skinny.” The company suggests that the homme nouveau “redresses the prevailing ‘beefcake’ figure by carving out a far more streamlined, sinuous silhouette to match the edgier attitude of a new generation”.

C. Elsewhere in the fashion industry, the label American Apparel is releasing a line of trousers in sizes no larger than a 30-inch waist, which squeezes out most of the younger male market who have an average waistline over five inches larger. Slender young men are naturally starting to dominate the catwalks and magazine pages as well: “No one wanted the big guys,” model David Gandy has said, describing how his muscled physique was losing him jobs. “It was all the skinny, androgynous look. People would look at me very, very strangely when I went to castings.”

D. Achieving such a physique can be unattainable for those without the natural genetic make-up. “I don’t know that anyone would consider my body archetypal or as an exemplar to work towards,” notes model Davo McConville. “You couldn’t aim for this; it’s defined by a vacuum of flesh, by what it’s not.” Nevertheless, statistics suggest it is not just an obsession of models, celebrities, and the media – more and more ordinary men are prepared to go to great lengths for a slender body. One indication is the growing number of men who are discovering surgical reconstruction. Male breast-reduction has become especially popular, in 2009, the year-on-year growth rate for this procedure rose to 44 per cent in the United Kingdom. Liposuction also remains popular in the market for male body reconstructive surgery, with 35,000 such procedures being performed on men every year.

E. Additionally, more men now have eating disorders than ever before. These are characterized by normal eating habits, typically either the consumption of insufficient or excessive amounts of food. Eating disorders are detrimental to the physical and mental condition of people who suffer from them, and the desire to achieve unrealistic physiques has been implicated as a cause. In 1990, only 10% of people suffering from anorexia or bulimia were believed to be male, but this figure has climbed steadily to around one quarter today. Around two in five binge eaters are men. Women still make up the majority of those afflicted by eating disorders, but the perception of it being a “girly” problem has contributed to men being less likely to pursue treatment. In 2008, male eating disorders were thrust into the spotlight when former British Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott, admitted to habitually gorging on junk food and then inducing himself to vomit while in office. “I never admitted to this out of the shame and embarrassment,” he said. “I found it difficult as a man like me to admit that I suffered from bulimia.”

F. In some respects, the slim male silhouette seems to be complementing, rather than displacing, the G. I. Joe physique. Men’s Health, one of the only titles to weather the floundering magazine market with sales increasing to a quarter of a million per issue, has a staple diet of bulky men on the cover who entice readers with the promise of big, powerful muscles. Advertising executives and fashion editors suggest that in times of recession and political uncertainty, the more robust male body image once again becomes desirable. Academic research supports this claim, indicating that more “feminine” features are desirable for men in comfortable and secure societies, while “masculine” physical traits are more attractive where survival comes back to the individual. A University of Aberdeen study, conducted using 4,500 women from over 30 countries, found a pronounced correlation between levels of public healthcare and the amount of effeminacy women preferred in their men. In Sweden, the country considered to have the best healthcare, 68 per cent of women preferred the men who were shown with feminine facial features. In Brazil, the country with the worst healthcare in the study, only 45 per cent of women were so inclined. “The results suggest that as healthcare improves, more masculine men fall out of favour,” the researchers concluded.

G. Ultimately, columnist Polly Vernon has written, we are left with two polarized ideals of masculine beauty. One is the sleek, slender silhouette that exudes cutting-edge style and a wealthy, comfortable lifestyle. The other is the “strong, muscular, austerity-resistant” form that suggests a man can look after himself with his own bare hands. These ideals co-exist by pulling men in different directions and encouraging them to believe they must always be chasing physical perfection, while simultaneously destabilizing any firm notions of what physical perfection requires.

H. As a result, attaining the ideal body becomes an ever more futile and time-consuming task. Vernon concludes that this means less time for the more important things in life, and both sexes should resist the compulsive obsession with beauty.

Questions 14-20
Reading Passage 2 has eight paragraphs, A-H. Which paragraph contains the following information?
NB You may use any letter more than once.

14 an opinion on whether body image changes have positive or negative effects
15 a historical comparison of gendered body images
16 a humiliating confession of overeating by a public figure
17 a cosmetic operation that has become increasingly popular
18 a health condition afflicting increasing numbers of men
19 the effect of changing body ideals on a male model
20 an explanation of how living standards affect the desirability of male physiques

Questions 21-26
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 2?

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

21 A thin body is achievable for men regardless of their genes.
22 Male liposuction is more popular than male breast-reduction.
23 Rating disorders harm the mind and body.
24 Women seek help for eating disorders more often than men.
25 Men’s Health has suffered from a downturn in magazine sales.
26 As public healthcare improves, men become more feminine.

EATS, SHOOTS AND LEAVES A Book Review

The title of Fats, Shoots and Leaves refers to a famously misplaced comma in a wildlife manual that ended up suggesting a panda rather violently “eats, shoots and leaves” instead of eating shoots and leaves. The author of this book, journalist Lynne Truss, is something akin to a militant linguist, dedicating this “zero tolerance” manifesto on grammar to the striking Bolshevik printers of St. Petersburg who, in demanding the same remuneration for punctuation as they received for letters, ended up setting in motion the first Russian Revolution.

Some of the book involves humorous attacks on erroneous punctuation. There is the confused Shakespearian thespian who inadvertently turns a frantic plea: “Go, get him surgeons!” into the cheerful encouragement of “Go get him, surgeons!” Street and shop signs have a ubiquitous presence. A bakery declares “FRESH DONUT’S SOLD HERE” and a florist curiously announces that “Pansy’s here!” (Is she?). The shameless title of a Hollywood film Two Weeks Notice is reeled in for criticism – “Would they similarly call it One Weeks Notice?’’, Truss enquires – and sometimes, as in the case of signs promoting “ANTIQUE’S” and “Potatoe’s” – one questions whether we are bearing witness to new depths of grammar ignorance, or a postmodern caricature of atrocious punctuation.

Eats, Shoots and Leaves is not just a piece of comedy and ridicule, however, and Truss has plenty to offer on the question of proper grammar usage. If you have ever wondered whether it is acceptable to simply use an “em dash”1 in place of a comma – the verdict from Truss is that you can. “The dash is less formal than the semicolon, which makes it more attractive,” she suggests. “It enhances conversational tone; and … it is capable of quite subtle effects.” The author concludes, with characteristic wry condescension, that the em dash’s popularity largely rests on people knowing it is almost impossible to use incorrectly. Truss is a personal champion of the semicolon, a historically contentious punctuation mark elsewhere maligned by novelist Kurt Vonnegut Jr., as a “transvestite hermaphrodite representing absolutely nothing”. Coming to the semicolon’s defence, Truss suggests that while it can certainly be Overused, she refers to the dying words of one 20th century writer: “I should have used fewer semicolons, the semicolon can perform the role of a kind of Special Policeman in the event of comma fights.”

Truss has come under criticism on two broad points. The first argument criticises the legitimacy of her authority as a punctuation autocrat. Louis Menand, writing in the New Yorker, details Eats, Shoots and Leaves’ numerous grammatical and punctuation sins: a comma-free non-restrictive clause; a superfluous ellipsis; a misplaced apostrophe; a misused parenthesis; two misused semicolons; an erroneous hyphen in the word “abuzz”, and so on. In fact, as Menand notes, half the semicolons in the Truss book are spuriously deployed because they stem from the author’s open flouting of the rule that semicolons must only connect two independent clauses. “Why would a person not just vague about the rules but disinclined to follow them bother to produce a guide to punctuation?” Menand inquires. Ultimately, he holds Truss accused of producing a book that pleases those who “just need to vent” and concludes that Eats, Shoots and Leaves is actually a tirade against the decline of language and print that disguises itself, thinly and poorly, as some kind of a style manual.

Linguist David Chrystal has criticised what he describes as a “linguistic purism” coursing through Truss’ book. Linguistic purism is the notion that one variety of language is somehow more pure than others, with this sense of purity often based on an idealised historical point in the language’s development, but sometimes simply in reference to an abstract ideal. In The Fight for English: How Language Pundits Ate, Shot and Left, Chrystal – a former colleague of Truss – condemns the no-holds-barred approach to punctuation and grammar. “Zero tolerance does not allow for flexibility,” he argues. “It is prescriptivism taken to extremes. It suggests that language is in a state where all the rules are established with 100 per cent certainty. The suggestion is false. We do not know what all the rules of punctuation are. And no rule of punctuation is followed by all of the people all of the time.”

Other detractors of Truss’ “prescriptivism” are careful to disassociate needless purism from robust and sensible criticism, an oppositional stance they call descriptivism. “Don’t ever imagine,” Geoffrey K. Pullum on the Language Log emphasises, “that I think all honest attempts at using English are just as good as any others. Bad writing needs to be fixed. But let’s make sure we fix the right things.” In other words, we do not require a dogmatic approach to clean up misused language. Charles Gaulke concurs, noting that his opposition to “prescriptivism” does not require contending with the existence of standards themselves, but questioning whether our standards should determine what works, or whether what works should determine our standards.

Ultimately, it is unlikely the purists and pedagogues will ever make absolute peace with those who see language as a fluid, creative process within which everyone has a role to play. Both sides can learn to live in a sort of contentious harmony, however. Creativity typically involves extending, adapting and critiquing the status quo, and revising and reviving old traditions while constructing new ones. Rules must exist in order for this process to take place, if only for them to be broken. On the flip side, rules have an important role to play in guiding our language into forms that can be accessed by people across all manner of differences, so it is vital to acknowledge the extent to which they can be democratic, rather than merely autocratic in function. Nevertheless, all the regulations in the world cannot stem the natural spring of language, which bursts through rivets and snakes around the dams that linguistic authorities may try to put in place. We should celebrate rather than curse these inevitable tensions.

Questions 27-32
Look as the following statements (Questions 27-32) and the list of people below. Match each statement with the correct person A-E. NB You may use any letter more than once.

27 Mistakes should be corrected on the basis of common sense.
28 No one has legitimacy as an ultimate authority on punctuation use.
29 Eats, Shoots and Leaves is not the type of book it claims to be.
30 The idea that some forms of language can be better than others is wrong.
31 The semicolon has no real purpose.
32 We can ask whether rules are helpful without undermining the need for rules.

List of people
A Kurt Vonnegut Jr
B Louis Menand
C David Chrystal
D Geoffrey K. Pullum
E Charles Gaulke

Questions 33-37
Complete the summary below. Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer.

Eats, Shoots and Leaves is a book on punctuation by journalist Lynne Truss, who could be described as a (33)………………………..She dedicates the book to the Bolshevik printers who started the (34)…………………………..by protesting for better pay conditions. The book is partly a humorous criticism of incorrect punctuation. Some of the examples are so bad it is possible that they are actually a (35)……………………………….Truss also guides the reader on correct punctuation usage. She likes them dash because it is not as (36)……………………….as the semicolon, for example, but remains a (37)………………………………of the latter due to its ability to discipline areas of text that are crowded with commas.

Questions 38-40
Choose THREE letters, A—G. Write the correct letters in boxes 38-40 on your answer sheet.

Which THREE of the following statements form part of the author’s conclusion?

A Rules prevent the creation of new things.
B A centralised point of control can effectively guide the flow of language.
C Both the descriptivists and prescriptivists have important roles to play in language evolution.
D Disputes over matters of language rules need not be condemned.
E Prescriptivists and descriptivists are both wrong.
F Rules help everyone use language and do not merely prescribe usage.
G An essential part of creativity is the rejection of that which has come before.

“Freebie” Marketing

A. In the late 1890s, while travelling as an itinerant salesperson for the Crown Cork and Seal Company, King C.Gillette observed how his corked bottle caps were discarded immediately after opening. Nevertheless, his company turned a healthy profit and there was immense business value. Gillette soon came to realise, in a product that was used only a few times. Gillette had his own personal breakthrough while struggling with a straight-bladed razor – a slow, fiddly, and potentially dangerous instrument that required sharpening on a regular basis. A simple, disposable blade that could be thrown away when it dulled would meet a real need and generate strong profits, he correctly reasoned. After founding the American Safety Razor Company in 1901, his sales leapt from 168 blades in 1,903 to 123,648 blades only a year later.

B. What King C. Gillette pioneered is far more than a convenient and affordable way for men to shave, however, it is the business practice now known as “freebie marketing” that has inspired many more companies over the years. Gillette’s approach was contrary to the received wisdom of his era, which held that a single, durable, high-quality and relatively expensive consumer item with a high profit margin was the best foundation for a business. Freebie marketing involves two sets of items: a master product that is purchased once, and a consumable product that is frequently disposed of and repurchased on an ongoing basis. In this instance, the master product is often sold with little to no profit margin and is sometimes oven dispensed at a loss. As the consumables are purchased over months and years, however, this can yield a much greater overall profit.

C. Freebie marketing only works if the producer of the master item is also able to maintain control over the creation and distribution of the consumables. If this does not happen, then cheaper versions of the consumable items may be produced, leaving the original company without a source of profit. The video game company Atari, for example, initially sold its Atari 2600 consoles at cost price while relying on game sales for profit. Several programmers left Atari, however, and began a new company called Activision which produced cheaper games of a similar quality. Suddenly, Atari was left with no way to make money. Lawsuits to block Activision failed, and Atari survived only by adding licensing measures to its subsequent 5200 and 7800 consoles.

D. In other instances, consumers sometimes find that uses for a master product circumvent the need to purchase consumables. This phenomenon is well known to have afflicted the producers of CueCat barcode readers. These were given away free through Wired magazine with the intention that they would be used by customers to scan barcodes next to advertisements in the publication and thus generate new revenue flows. Users discovered, however, that the machines could be easily modified and used for other purposes, such as building a personal database of book and CD collections. As no licensing agreement was ever reached between Wired and its magazine subscribers, CueCat were powerless to intervene, and after company liquidation, the barcode readers soon became available in quantities over 500.000 for as little as US$0.30 each.

E. Not all forms of freebie marketing are legal. One notable example of this is the use of freebie marketing to “push” habit-forming goods in areas where there is otherwise no market. For illegal substances, this is already restricted on the basis of the product’s illegality, but the use of freebie marketing to promote legal goods such as tobacco, alcohol, and pharmaceuticals is also outlawed because the short-term gain to a small number of commercial outlets is not deemed worth the social cost of widespread substance abuse.

F. Another practice that is prohibited under antitrust laws Is a form of freebie marketing known as “tying”. This is when a seller makes the sale of one good conditional on the acquisition of a second good. In these instances, the first good is typically important and highly desirable, while the second is inferior and undesirable. A music distributor who has the rights to an album that it is in high demand, for example, might only allow stores to purchase copies of this album if they also buy unpopular stock that does not sell very easily. Because this typically relies on the manipulation of a natural monopoly on the part of the distributor, such practices are widely understood to constitute anti-competitive behaviour.

Questions 1-6
Reading Passage 1 has six sections A-F. Choose the correct headings for sections A-F from the list of headings below.

List of headings
i No giveaways for addictive products
ii Sales of razor blades increase astronomically
iii Monopoly of consumables is vital for success
iv Video gaming – a risky business
v A novel method of dual marketing ruled out
vi Freebie marketing restricted to legal goods
vii Buyer ingenuity may lead to bankruptcy
viii A marketing innovation
ix A product innovation
x More money to be made from high – quality products

1 Section A
2 Section B
3 Section C
4 Section D
5 Section E
6 Section F

Questions 7-9
Complete the sentences below. Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the text for each answer.

The new tactic of freebie marketing ran against the (7)…………………………..of Gillette’s time.

Occasionally, people who buy a master product find ways of using it that get around the necessity of buying more (8)…………………………………

Wired never had a (9)…………………………….with its customers about the use of the barcode readers.

Questions 10-13
Complete the summary below. Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the text for each answer.

Freebie marketing is not permitted by law for either illegal or legal (10)…………………………….products. This type of promotion of goods such as tobacco and alcohol is not considered worth the (11)………………………….and has consequently been outlawed. “Tying” is also prohibited. This is when the sale of an attractive product is (12)…………………………on the purchase of another. It tends to occur when the seller takes advantage of a natural monopoly and is generally considered to be (13)………………………

Tacoma Narrows Bridge – Disaster Strikes

When the Tacoma Narrows Bridge opened for traffic on 1 July 1940, it was celebrated as a major engineering achievement. Even before construction was completed, however, flaws in the design were apparent; workers sucked on lemon slices to avoid motion sickness as the structure swayed in the relatively mild winds. Engineers tried three different revisions during construction to address the vibration problem. Initially, tie-down cables were anchored to fifty-tonne bulkheads on the river banks. These were ineffective, as the cables soon detached. Then, a pair of inclined cable locks was introduced to connect die main cables to the bridge deck at mid-span. These stayed throughout the bridge’s lifespan, but did nothing to reduce vibration. A further measure – the installation of hydraulic dampers between the towers and the floor system – was nullified because die dampers were compromised when the bridge was sandblasted before painting.

Shortly after opening, the bridge quickly acquired the fond nickname of “Galloping Gertie” because of the way it would roll in either side-to-side or lengthways movements – known in physics terms as the longitudinal and transverse modes of vibration respectively. These movements did not compromise the core integrity of the structure, but did make the crossing a somewhat white-knuckle affair. Many driven reported seeing cars ahead disappear from sight several times as they sank into troughs from transverse vibrations (imagine the ripple across a packed stadium during a Mexican wave). The experience of a longitudinal wave is closely analogous, but more accurately associated with the waves one would encounter in the ocean. On a suspension bridge though, these waves arc a unique experience – some daredevils were happy to pay the 75c toll just for the thrill.

Four months later, however, a never-before-seen type of vibration began afflicting the bridge in what were still fairly gentle winds (about 40 kmph). Rather than the simple “wave” morion that characterizes longitudinal and transverse vibration, the left side of the bridge would rise while the right side fell, but the centre line of the road would remain completely level. This was proved when two men walked along the centre of the bridge completely unaffected by the rocking motions around them. Visually, the bridge’s movements seemed to be more like a butterfly flapping its wings than a simple rolling motion. Engineers now understand this to be the torsional mode of vibration, and it is extremely hard to detect. In aeroplane design, for example, even minute shifts of die aircraft’s mass distribution and an alteration in one component can affect a component with which it has no logical connection. In its milder forms, this can cause a light buzzing noise, similar to that which a wasp or a bumble bee makes, but when allowed to develop unchecked, it can eventually cause the total destruction of an aeroplane.

The torsional mode of vibration is die consequence of a set of actions known as aerostatic flutter. This involves several different elements of a structure oscillating from the effect of wind, with each cycle of fluttering building more energy into the bridge’s movements and neutralizing any structural damping effects. Because the wind pumps in more energy than the structure can dissipate, and the oscillations feed off each other to become progressively stronger, the aerostatic flutter and torsional vibrations were all but assured to destroy the Tacoma Bridge on the morning of 7 November. At 11:00 a.m., the fluttering had increased to such amplitude that the suspender cables were placed under excessive strain. When these budded, the weight of the deck transferred to the adjacent cables which in turn were unable to support the weight. These cables buckled, leaving nothing to stop the central deck breaking off into the Tacoma River.

It was at around 10:15 a.m. on 7 November that torsional vibration began afflicting the bridge. This made driving treacherous, and newspaper editor Leonard Coatsworth’s car was jammed against the curb in the centre of the bridge as he attempted to cross. Coatsworth tried to rescue his daughter’s cocker spaniel from the back seat but was unsuccessful, and fearing for his life, crawled and staggered to safety on his own. At this point, an engineering professor named Beit Farquhatson proceeded onto the bridge in an attempt to save the frightened animal. Farqulunoii had been video-recording from the bonks of die river and had just returned from purchasing more rolls of film. As an avowed dog lover, he felt obliged to attempt a rescue. Unfortunately, the professor too was bitten and retreated empty handed, walking off just moments before the cables snapped and the giant concrete mass of the central deck caved inwards and disappeared into the river.

Questions 14-16
Complete the notes below. Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.

Engineers used various techniques while building the bridge to reduce wobble:
• they attached (14)…………………………… to heavy blocks on the shoreline
• they fastened main cables to the middle of the (15)…………………………….
• (16)……………………………….were placed between the tallest parts of the structure and the deck.

Questions 17-19
Complete the table below. Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.

Mode of vibration	Description
(17)…………………….	moving repeatedly to the left and right
(18)…………………	up and down motion; like a wave
Torsional	resembling motions of a (19)……………………

Questions 20-24
Complete the summary below. Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.

(20)……………………………..is a series of actions leading to torsional oscillation. Various components move back and forth from the force of the (21)……………………………..Eventually, the structure absorbs more (22)…………………………than it is able to disperse and the (23)………………………………..increase gradually in intensity until the structure collapses under the (24)……………………………

Questions 25-26
Choose TWO letters. A—E.

Which TWO of the following were on the bridge at the time of the collapse?

A filming equipment
B a small dog
C Leonard Coatsworth’s daughter
D a vehicle
E Professor Farquharson

Ebonics

Ebonics – also known by a host of other names such as African American Venacular English, Black English, Black Vernacular, and so on — is an African-American language that has its roots in the trans-Atlantic slave trade, as African captives devised the means to communicate with each other and with their captors. In the South of the United States, these Pan-African languages co-mingled with Standard English and the Southern dialect. Many uniquely African American components have arisen over the last two centuries, and all of these influences have forged what is now known as Ebonics.

In 1996, debates around the nature of “Ebonics’’ in the United States came to a head. That year, the Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) in California enacted Resolution 597-003, which officially recognized that African-American students “as part of their culture and history as African people possess and utilize a language”. Alternatively referred to as Ebonics (literally “black sounds”), African Communication Behaviours, and African Language Systems, this language was declared to be “genetically-based” rather than a dialect of Standard English.

Within the profession of language research and pedagogy, a strong consensus formed behind the OUSD’s decision to recognise Ebonics. Linguistics professor John Rickford noted that Ebonics was not simply characterised by erroneous grammar and a large slang vocabulary, but that underlying this language was a structured form and process of grammar and phonology that made English learning for Ebonics speakers far more complex a task than simply dropping bad habits. English teachers, Rickford counselled, must therefore accept and embrace these complexities.

The Linguistic Society of America (LSA) concurred with Rickford, adding that whether or not Ebonics should be defined as a dialect or a language does not matter in terms of its “validity”. While linguists studying Ebonics typically restrain from prescribing edicts in favour of tracking changes in form and style, the LSA did point to the fact that speakers of Sweden and Norwegian can typically understand each other while conversing in different “languages”, whereas Mandarin and Cantonese speakers cannot understand each other’s “dialects” to conclude that spatial and social tensions, rather than strict linguistic criteria, were the crucial factors in defining these terms.

For many others, however, the OUSD’s decision was tantamount to endorsing lazy, vulgar, and “broken” English — the equivalent, perhaps, of acknowledging “txt-speak” or Internet slang as a valid form of expression. Recognizing and fostering the use of informal, culturally-specific spoken language, say those detractors, traps users in a kind of linguistic ghetto in which they can interact with other disenfranchised and excluded citizens, but cannot engage within the public sphere in a meaningful way. Because of the dominance of Standard English in the United States, Ebonics-only speakers are essentially unable to go to university and work in high-valued professions, and they are unlikely to be electable to any kind of public office (even in areas with a high density of black residents, those who lose their Ebonics-tinged speech patterns tend to be more trusted).

Psychology professor Ladonna Lewis Rush has noted, however, that the OUSD’s resolution did not promote Ebonics instruction as an alternative to Standard English in an either-or approach but was intended to provide a better springboard for black achievement in English education. The systematic devaluation of Ebonics in American society parallels. Rush has argued, the devaluation of African-Americans in general While a demeaning attitude can lead to social exclusion, teachers are suggested to think infusively and encourage Ebonics speakers to use and celebrate their way of speaking while understanding that the language of the workplace, and of academics, is Standard English. Nobel Prize-winning journalist Toni Morrison has also found a reciprocal, mutually enriching use for both Ebonics and Standard English. “There are certain ideas and ways of thinking I cannot say without recourse to my Ebonics, language … I know the Standard English. I want to use it to restore the other language, the lingua franca.”

In the media, the Ebonics controversy has mostly been portrayed as a revival of black-versus-white confrontation — this time over linguistic differences — but journalist Joan Walsh thinks there are bask elements inherent in the dispute that people do not want to openly discuss. She considers that there is increasing resentment by black parents and teachers who see enormous amounts of federal and state support going into Asian and Latino bilingual programmes. As immigration continues to increase, a greater proportion of the school budget is going into these programmes. The question has to be raised: why should immigrant children get English-language assistance as well as reinforcement of their own language and culture while native-born African-Americans get no such resources? Walsh maintains inner-city black children are more isolated than in the past and have less social interaction with those fluent in Standard English. For this reason, they need help by trained teachers to translate the native tongue they hear at home into the English of the classroom.

Ebonics should be treated as a black contribution to culture in the way that jazz and rock-and-roll has been welcomed — the new vocabulary and imagery has added to the American language rather than devalued it. In Walsh’s eyes, there has always been “white mistrust of how black people handle their business” but “in the public realm, white disdain yields block intransigence more reliably than ‘P comes before e’”.

Questions 27-30
Complete the summary below. Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the text for each answer.

Ebonics originated from the (27)…………………………..The prisoners found a way to talk to other enslaved Africans as well as to (28)……………………………….In southern USA, several African languages mixed with English and the local (29)………………………………Over time, many distinctive (30)…………………………have been added to produce the Ebonics language of today.

Questions 31-37
Complete each sentence with the correct ending, A-K below. Write the correct letter, A-K, in boxes 31 —37 on your answer sheet.

31 In 1996, the Oakland Unified School District passed a measure
32 According to John Rickford, it is a good idea when teaching Standard English
33 Linguists studying Black speech patterns are only able
34 The LSA nilcd that definitions of “dialect” and “language” are generally a way
35 Critics of vernacular alternatives to Standard English tend
36 Ladonna Lewis Rush argues that it is important for educators
37 Toni Morrison finds it necessary

A to use Ebonies in order to express specific concepts
B to recognise the genetic differences between African-American students and others
C to acknowledge the systematic differences that Ebonics speakers must learn to overcome
D to consider Ebonics as lazy English rather than a unique form of expression
E to admit Ebonics users to university to gain more knowledge
F to make a statement about particular geo-societal relationships
G to compare Scandinavian languages and Chinese dialects
H to declare Ebonics an independent language, not a variation on English
I to honour positive aspects of Ebonies, while emphasising the necessity of Standard English for formal use
J to approve the language of text messaging as a legitimate mode of communication
K to describe how Ebonics has developed without dictating rules for proper usage

Questions 38-40
Choose THREE letters A-G. Write the correct letters in boxes 38-40 on your answer sheet.

Which THREE statements below represent the views of Joan Walsh?

A Linguistic issues are impeding black academic success rather than social issues.
B Ebonics deserves to be considered as nothing less than a gift to American society.
C Children of non-English-speaking immigrants should be denied access to limited educational resources.
D Ebonics is a debate that reflects rising multi-minority tensions and frustration over funding issues.
E Ebonics is just another hostile encounter between black and white opponents.
F Many urban African-American children do not have the same exposure to accepted norms of English that they used to.
G Blacks need more flexibility in their dealings with the white public.

A Disaster Of Titanic Proportions

At 11:39 p.m. on the evening of Sunday, 14 April 1912, lookouts Frederick Fleet and Reginald Lee on the forward mast of the Titanic sighted an eerie, black mass coming into view directly in front of the ship. Fleet picked up the phone to the helm, waited for Sixth Officer Moody to answer, and yelled “Iceberg, right ahead!” The greatest disaster in maritime history was about to be set in motion.

Thirty-seven seconds later, despite the efforts of officers in the bridge and engine room to steer around the iceberg, the Titanic struck a piece of submerged ice, bursting rivets in the ship’s hull and flooding the first five watertight compartments. The ship’s designer, Thomas Andrews, carried out a visual inspection of the ship’s damage and informed Captain Smith at midnight that the ship would sink in less than two hours. By 1 2:30 a.m., the lifeboats were being filled with women and children, after Smith had given the command for them to be uncovered and swung out 15 minutes earlier. The first lifeboat was successfully lowered 15 minutes later, with only 28 of its 65 seats occupied. By 1:15 a.m., the waterline was beginning to reach the Titanic’s name on the ship’s bow, and over the next hour, every lifeboat would be released as officers struggled to maintain order amongst the growing panic on board.

The dosing moments of the Titanic’s sinking began shortly after 2 a.m., as the last lifeboat was lowered and the ship’s propellers lifted out of the water, leaving the 1,500 passengers still on board to surge towards the stern. At 2:17 a.m., Harold Bride and Jack Philips tapped out their last wireless message after being relieved of duty as the ship’s wireless operators, and the ship’s band stopped playing. Less than a minute later, occupants of the lifeboats witnessed the ship’s lights flash once, then go black, and a huge roar signalled the Titanic’s contents plunging towards the bow, causing the front half of the ship to break off and go under. The Titanic’s stem bobbed up momentarily, and at 2:20 a.m., the ship finally disappeared beneath the frigid waters.

What or who was responsible for the scale of this catastrophe? Explanations abound, some that focus on very small details. Due to a last-minute change in the ship’s officer line-up, iceberg lookouts Frederick Fleet and Reginald Lee were making do without a pair of binoculars that an officer transferred off the ship in Southampton had left in a cupboard onboard, unbeknownst to any of the ship’s crew. Fleet, who survived the sinking, insisted at a subsequent inquiry that he could have identified the iceberg in time to avert disaster if he had been in possession of the binoculars.

Less than an hour before the Titanic struck the iceberg, wireless operator Cyril Evans on the California, located just 20 miles to the north, tried to contact operator Jack Philips on the Titanic to warn him of pack ice in the area. “Shut up, shut up, you’re jamming my signal,” Philips replied. “I’m busy.” The Titanic’s wireless system had broken down for several hours earlier that day, and Philips was clearing a backlog of personal messages that passengers had requested to be sent to family and friends in the USA. Nevertheless, Captain Smith had maintained the ship’s speed of 22 knots despite multiple earlier warnings of ice ahead. It has been suggested that Smith was under pressure to make headlines by arriving early in New York, but maritime historians such as Richard Howell have countered this perception, noting that Smith was simply following common procedure at the time, and not behaving recklessly.

One of the strongest explanations for the severe loss of life has been the fact that the Titanic did not carry enough lifeboats for everyone on board. Maritime regulations at the time tied lifeboat capacity to the ship size, not to the number of passengers on board. This meant that the Titanic, with room for 1,178 of its 2,222 passengers, actually surpassed the Board of Trade’s requirement that it carry lifeboats for 1,060 of its passengers. Nevertheless, with lifeboats being lowered less than half full in many cases, and only 71 2 passengers surviving despite a two-and-a-half-hour window of opportunity, more lifeboats would not have guaranteed more survivors in the absence of better training and preparation. Many passengers were confused about where to go after the order to launch lifeboats was given; a lifeboat drill scheduled for earlier on the same day that the Titanic struck the iceberg was cancelled by Captain Smith in order to allow passengers to attend church.

Questions 1-6
Complete the table below. Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the text for each answer. Write your answers in boxes 1—6 on your answer sheet.

Time	Person	Position	Action
11.39 pm	(1)………………..	(2)……………….	reported sighting of iceberg
(3)……………….	Andrews	ship’s designer	reported how long the Titanic could stay afloat
12.15 am	Smith	captain	ordered (4)……………………to be released
2.17 am	Bride &Philips	(5)………………..	relayed final (6)…………………

Questions 7-13
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1? In boxes 7—13 on your answer sheet, write

TRUE                         if the statement is true
FALSE                       if the statement is false
NOT GIVEN           if the information is not given in the passage

7 The binoculars for the men on watch had been left in a crew locker in Southampton.
8 The missing binoculars were the major factor leading to the collision with the iceberg.
9 Philips missed notification about the ice from Evans because the Titanic’s wireless system was not functioning at the time.
10 Captain Smith knew there was ice in the area.
11 Howell believed the captain’s failure to reduce speed was an irresponsible action.
12 The Titanic was able to seat more passengers in lifeboats than the Board of Trade required.
13 A lifeboat drill would have saved more lives.

Three – Dimensional Films

A. In the theatre of the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, on the evening of 27 September 1922, a new form of film-making made its commercial debut: 3-D. The film. The Power of Love, was then shown in New York City to exhibitors and press, but was subsequently not picked up for distribution and is now believed to be lost. The following three decades were a period of quiet experimentation for 3-D pioneers, as they adapted to new technologies and steadily improved the viewing experience. In 1952, the “golden era” of 3-D is considered to have begun with the release of Bwana Devil, and over the next several years, audiences met with a string of films that used the technology. Over the following decades, it waxed and waned within film- making circles, peaking in the 1970s and again in the 1990s when IMAX gained traction, but it is only in the last few years that 3-D appears to have firmly entered mainstream production.

B. Released worldwide in December 2009, die fantasy film Avatar quickly became the highest-grossing film ever made, knocking Titanic from the top slot. Avatar, set in 2154 on a planet in a distant solar system, went on to become the only film to have earned US$2 billion worldwide, and is now approaching the $3 billion mark. The main reason for its runaway popularity appears to be its visual splendour; though most critics praised the film, it was mostly on account of its ground-breaking special effects. Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times praised Avatar’s “powerful” visual accomplishments, but suggested the dialogue was “flat” and the characterizations “obvious”. A film analyst at Exhibitor Relations has agreed, noting that Avatarhas cemented die use of 3-D as a production and promotional tool for blockbuster films, rather than as a mere niche or novelty experiment. “This is why all these 3-D venues were built,” he said. “This is the one. The behemoth… The holy grail of 3-D has finally arrived.”

C. Those who embrace 3-D. note that it spices up a trip to the cinema by adding a more active “embodied” layer of experience instead of the viewer passively receiving die film through eyes and cars only. A blogger on Animation Ideas writes, “…when 3~D is done well, like in the flying scenes in Up, How to Train Your Dragon, and Avatar, there is an added feeling of vertigo. If you have any fear of heights, the 3-D really adds to this element…” Kevin Carr argues that the backlash against 3-D is similar to that which occurred against CGI several years ago, and points out that CGI is now widely regarded as part of the film-maker’s artistic toolkit. He also notes that new technology is frequently seen to be a “gimmick” in its early days, pointing out that many commentators slapped the first “talkie” films of the early 1920s with this same label.

D. But not everyone greets the rise of 3~D with open arms. Some ophthalmologists point out that 3-D can have unsettling physical effects for many viewers. Dr. Michael Rosenberg, a professor at Northwestern University, has pointed out that many people go through life with minor eye disturbances – a slight muscular imbalance, for example – that does not interrupt day-to-day activities. In the experience of a 3-D movie, however, this problem can be exacerbated through the viewer trying to concentrate on unusual visual phenomena. Dr. Deborah Friedman, from the University of Rochester Medical Center, notes that the perception of depth conjured through three dimensions docs not complement die angles from which we take in the world. Eyestrains, headaches and nausea are, therefore, a problem for around 15% of a 3-D film audience.

E. Film critic Roger Ebert warns that 3-D is detrimental to good film-making. Firstly, he argues, the technology is simply unnecessary; 2~D movies are “already” 3-D, as far as our minds are concerned. Adding die extra dimension with technology, instead of letting our minds do the work, can actually be counter- purposeful and make the overall effect seem clumsy and contrived. Ebert also points out dial the special glasses dim the effect by soaking up light from the screen, making 3-D films a slightly duller experience than they might otherwise be. Finally, Ebeit suggests that 3-D encourages film-makers to undercut drama and narrative in favour of simply piling on more gimmicks and special effects.“ Hollywood is racing headlong toward the kiddie market,” he says, pointing to Disney’s announcement that it will no longer make traditional films in favour of animation, franchises, and superheroes.

F. Whether or not 3-D becomes a powerful force for the film-maker’s vision and the film-going experience, or goes down in history as an over-hyped, expensive novelty, the technology certainly shows no signs of fading in the popularity stakes at the moment. Clash of the Titans, Alice in Wonderland, and How to Train Your Dragon have all recently benefited at the box office due to the added sales that 3-D provides, and with Avatar’s record set to last some time as a totem of 3-D’s commercial possibilities, studios are not prepared to back down.

Questions 14-19
Reading Passage 2 has six sections, A-F. Choose the correct headings for sections A-F from the list of headings below. Write the correct number i-x in boxes 14-19 on your answer sheet

14 Section A
15 Section B
16 Section C
17 Section D
18 Section E
19 Section F

List of Headings
i Construction of special cinemas for 3-D
ii Good returns forecast for immediate future
iii The greatest 3-D film of all time
iv End of traditional movies for children
v Early developments
vi New technology diminishes the art
vii The golden age of movies
viii In defence of 3-D
ix 3-D is here to stay
x Undesirable visual effects

Questions 20-26
Look at the following statements (Questions 20—26) and the list of people below. Match each statement with the correct person, A-G. Write the correct letter, A-G, in boxes 20-26 on your answer sheet. NB. You may use any letter more than once.

20 3-D conflicts with our mental construct of our surroundings.
21 3-D encourages an over-emphasis on quick visual thrills.
22 Effective use of 3-D technology may increase our sensation of elevation.
23 3-D viewing can worsen an existing visual disorder.
24 Avatar is the most powerful example of 3-D yet to arrive in cinemas.
25 Avatar’s strength is found in its visual splendour, not in aspects of story.
26 People already have the mental capacity to see ordinary movies in three dimensions.

List of people
A Kenneth Turan
B Exhibition Relations’ analyst
C Animation Ideas’ blogger
D Kevin Carr
E Dr. Michael Rosenberg
F Dr. Deborah Friedman
G Roger Elbert

Does Water Have Memory?

The practice of homoeopathy was first developed by the German physician Samuel Hahnemann. During research in the 1790s, Hahnemann began experimenting with quinine, an alkaloid derived from cinchona bark that was well known at the time to have a positive effect on fever. Hahnemann started dosing himself with quinine while in a state of good health and reported in his journals that his extremities went cold, he experienced palpitations, an “infinite anxiety”, a trembling and weakening of the limbs, reddening cheeks and thirst. “In short,” he concluded, “all the symptoms of relapsing fever presented themselves successively…” Hahnemann’s main observation was that things which create problems for healthy people cure those problems in sick people, and this became his first principle of homoeopathy: simila similibus (with help from the same). While diverging from the principle of apothecary practice at the time, which was contraria contrariis (with help from the opposite), the efficacy of simila similibus was reaffirmed by subsequent developments in the field of vaccinations.

Hahnemann’s second principle was minimal dosing – treatments should be taken in the most diluted form at which they remain effective. It has negated any possible toxic effects of simila similibus.

In 1988, the French immunologist Jacques Benveniste took minimal dosing to new extremes when he published a paper in the prestigious scientific journal Nature in which he suggested that very high dilutions of the anti-lgE antibody could affect human basophil granulocytes, the least common of the granulocytes that make up about 0.01% to 0.3% of white blood cells. The point of controversy, however, was that the water in Benveniste’s test had been so diluted that any molecular evidence of the antibodies no longer existed. Water molecules, the researcher concluded, had a biologically active component that a journalist later termed “water memory”. A number of efforts from scientists in Britain, France and the Netherlands to duplicate Benveniste’s research were unsuccessful, however, and to this day, no peer-reviewed study under broadly accepted conditions has been able to confirm the validity of “water memory”.

The third principle of homoeopathy is “the single remedy”. Exponents of this principle believe that it would be too difficult, if not impossible, to ascertain the potential effects of multiple homoeopathic remedies delivered simultaneously. If it did work, they suggest, one could not know quite why it worked, turning homoeopathy into an ambiguous guessing game. If it did not work, neither patient nor practitioner would know whether the ingredients were all ineffective, or whether they were only ineffective in combination with one another. Combination remedies are gaining in popularity, but classical homoeopaths who rely on the single remedy approach warn these are not more potent, nor do they provide more treatment options. The availability of combination remedies, these homoeopaths suggest, has been led by consumers wanting more options, not from homoeopathic research indicating their efficacy.

Homoeopathy is an extremely contentious form of medicine, with strong assertions coming from both critics and supporters of the practice. “Homoeopathy: There’s nothing in it” announces the tag line to 10:23, a major British anti-homoeopathy campaign. At 10:23 am on 30 January 2010, over 400 supporters of the 10:23 stood outside Boots pharmacies and swallowed an entire bottle of homoeopathic pills in an attempt to raise awareness about the fact that these remedies are made of sugar and water, with no active components. This, defenders of homoeopathy say, is entirely the point. Homoeopathic products do not rely on ingredients that become toxic at high doses, because the water retains the “memory” that allows the original treatment to function.

Critics also point out the fact that homoeopathic preparations have no systematic design to them, making it hard to monitor whether or not a particular treatment has been efficacious. Homoeopaths embrace this uncertainty. While results may be less certain, they argue, the non-toxic nature of homoeopathy means that practitioner and patient can experiment until they find something that works without concern for side effects. Traditional medicine, they argue, assaults the body with a cocktail of drugs that only tackles the symptoms of disease, while homoeopathy has its sights aimed on the causes. Homoeopaths suggest this approach leads to kinder, gentler, more effective treatment.

Finally, critics allege that when homoeopathy has produced good results, these are exceedingly dependent on the placebo effect, and cannot justify the resources, time and expense that the homoeopathic tradition absorbs. The placebo effect is a term that describes beneficial outcomes from a treatment that can be attributed to the patient’s expectations concerning the treatment rather than from the treatment itself. Basically, the patient “thinks” himself into feeling better. Defenders suggest that homoeopathy can go beyond this psychological level. They point to the successful results of homoeopathy on patients who are unconscious at the time of treatment, as well as on animals.

Questions 27-32
Complete each sentence with the correct ending, A-K, below. Write the correct letter, A-K, in boxes 27-32 on your answer sheet.

27 In the late 18th century, Hahnemann discovered that quinine was able to
28 The effectiveness of vaccinations also helps to
29 Benveniste argued in the journal Nature that water molecules possess the ability to
30 Attempts to verify Benveniste’s findings were unable to
31 The purpose of the single remedy is to
32 Classical homoeopaths suggest combination remedies have been created to

A avoid the unpredictable outcome of combining many remedies at once
B explain the success of 18th century apothecary, medicine.
C produce fever-like symptoms in a healthy person.
D keep antibody molecules active in parts as low as 0.01%.
E support the notion of simila simibus.
F offer more remedial choice.
G produce a less effective dose.
H recreate the original results.
I retain qualities of an antibody to which they were previously exposed.
J satisfy the demand of hovers.
K treat effectively someone with a fever.

Questions 33-40
Complete the table below. Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the text for each answer.

Arguments against homeopathy	Arguments for homeopathy
Has no (33)…………………ingredients	does not become (34)………………when taken in large qauntities
Lack of a (35)………………makes success or failure of treatments difficult to (36)…………………	remedies can be trialed with no risk of (37)……………….treatments
Too much reliance on the (39)……………….	tackles causes and not just (38)………………..
Works psychologically but not physically	proven to work on people who are (40)…………….

Reading Passage One

The way in which information is taught can vary greatly across cultures and time periods. Entering a British primary school classroom from the early 1900s, for example, one gains a sense of austerity, discipline, and a rigid way of teaching. Desks are typically seated apart from one another, with straight-backed wooden chairs that face directly to the teacher and the chalkboard. In the present day, British classrooms look very different. Desks are often grouped together so that students face each other rather than the teacher, and a large floor area is typically set aside for the class to come together for group discussion and learning.

Traditionally, it was felt that teachers should be in firm control of the learning process, and that the teacher’s task was to prepare and present material for students to understand. Within this approach, the relationship students have with their teachers is not considered important, nor is the relationship students have with each other in the classroom. A student’s participation in class is likely to be minimal, aside from asking questions directed at the teacher, or responding to questions that the teacher has directed at the student. This style encourages students to develop respect for positions of power as a source of control and discipline. It is frequently described as the “formal authority” model of teaching.

A less rigid form of teacher-centred education is the “demonstrator” model. This maintains the formal authority model’s notion of the teacher as a “flashlight” who illuminates the material for his or her class to learn, but emphasises a more individualized approach to form. The demonstrator acts as both a role model and a guide, demonstrating skills and processes and then helping students develop and apply these independently. Instructors who are drawn to the demonstrator style are generally confident that their own way of performing a task represents a good base model, but they are sensitive to differing learning styles and expect to provide students with help on an individual basis.

Many education researchers argue for student-centred learning instead, and suggest that the learning process is more successful when students are in control. Within the student-centred paradigm, the “delegator” style is popular. The delegator teacher maintains general authority, but they delegate much of the responsibility for learning to the class as a way for students to become independent thinkers who take pride in their own work. Students are often encouraged to work on their own or in groups, and if the delegator style is implemented successfully, they will build not only a working knowledge of course specific topics, but also self-discipline and the ability to co-ordinate group work and interpersonal roles.

Another style that emphasises student-centred education is the “facilitator” mode of learning. Here, while a set of specific curriculum demands is already in place, students are encouraged to take the initiative for creating ways to meet these learning requirements together. The teacher typically designs activities that encourage active learning, group collaboration, and problem solving, and students are encouraged to process and apply the course content in creative and original ways. Whereas the delegator style emphasises content and the responsibility students can have for generating and directing their own knowledge base, the facilitator style emphasises form and the fluid and diverse possibilities that are available in the process of learning.

Until the 1960s, formal authority was common in almost all Western schools and universities. As a professor would enter a university lecture theatre, a student would be expected to rush up, take his bag to the desk, and pull out the chair for the professor to sit down on. This style has become outmoded over time. Now at university, students and professors typically have more relaxed, collegiate relationships, address each other on a first name basis, and acknowledge that students have much to contribute in class. Teacher-centred education has a lingering appeal in the form of the demonstrator style, however, which remains useful in subjects where skills must be demonstrated to an external standard and the learning process remains fixed in the earlier years of education. A student of mathematics, sewing or metalwork will likely be familiar with the demonstrator style. At the highest levels of education, however, the demonstrator approach must be abandoned in all fields as students are required to produce innovative work that makes unique contributions to knowledge. Thesis and doctoral students lead their own research in facilitation with supervisors.

The delegator style is valuable when the course is likely to lead students to careers that require group projects. Often, someone who has a high level of expertise in a particular field does not make for the best employee because they have not learnt to apply their abilities in a co-ordinated manner. The delegator style confronts this problem by recognizing that interpersonal communication is not just a means to learning but an important skill set in itself. The facilitator model is probably the most creative model, and is, therefore, not suited to subjects where the practical component necessitates a careful and highly disciplined manner, such as training to be a medical practitioner. It may, however, suit more experimental and theoretical fields ranging from English, music, and the social sciences to science and medical research that takes place in research labs. In these areas, “mistakes” in form are important and valuable aspects of the learning and development process.

Overall, a clear evolution has taken place in the West from a rigid, dogmatic, and teacher- dominated way of learning to a flexible, creative, and student-centred approach. Nevertheless, different subjects, ages, and skill levels suit different styles of teaching, and it is unlikely that there will ever be one recommended approach for everyone.

Questions 1-8
Look at the following statements (Questions 1-8) and the styles of teaching below. Match each statement with the correct teaching style, A -D. Write the correct letter, A-D, in boxes 1-8 on your answer sheet. NB You may use any letter more than once.

1. The emphasis is on students directing the learning process.
2. The teacher shows the class how to do something, then students try it on their own.
3. Student-teacher interaction and student-student interaction is limited.
4. The emphasis is on the process of solving problems together.
5. Students are expected to adjust to the teacher’s way of presenting information.
6. The teacher designs group activities that encourage constructive interaction.
7. Time is set aside for one-on-one instruction between teacher and student.
8. Group and individual work is encouraged independently of the teacher.

List of teaching styles
A Formal authority
B Demonstrator
C Delegator
D Facilitator

Questions 9-12
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1? In boxes 9-12 on your answer sheet, write

TRUE                     if the statement is true
FALSE                   if the statement is false
NOT GIVEN        if the information is not given in the passage

9 The formal authority model remains popular in educational institutions of the West
10 The demonstrator model is never used at tertiary level.
11 Graduates of delegator style teaching are good communicators.
12 The facilitator style is not appropriate in the field of medicine.

Question 13
Choose the correct letter. A, B, C or D.

13 What is the best title for Reading Passage 1?
A Teaching styles and their application
B Teaching: then and now
C When students become teachers
D Why student-centred learning is best

The Flavour Industry

A. Read through the nutritional information on the food in your freezer, refrigerator or kitchen pantry, and you are likely to find a simple, innocuous-looking ingredient recurring on a number of products: “natural flavour”. The story of what natural flavour is, how it got into your food, and where it came from is the result of more complex processes than you might imagine.

B. During the 1980s, health watchdogs and nutritionists began turning their attention to cholesterol, a waxy steroid metabolite that we mainly consume from animal-sourced products such as cheese, egg yolks, beef, poultry, shrimp, and pork. Nutritionists blamed cholesterol for contributing to the growing rates of obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and several cancers in Western societies. As extensive recognition of the matter grew amongst the common people, McDonalds stopped cooking their french fries in a mixture of cottonseed oil and beef tallow, and in 1990, the restaurant chain began using 100% vegetable oil instead.

C. This substantially lowered the amount of cholesterol in McDonalds’ fries, but it created a new dilemma The beef tallow and cottonseed oil mixture gave the French fries high cholesterol content, but it also gifted them with a rich aroma and “mouth-feel” that even James Beard, an American food critic, admitted he enjoyed. Pure vegetable oil is bland in comparison. Looking at the current ingredients’ list of McDonalds’ French fries, however, it is easy to see how they overcame this predicament Aside from a few preservatives, there are essentially three main ingredients: potato, soybean oil, and the mysterious component of “natural flavour”.

D. Natural flavour also entered our diet through the rise in processed foods, which now make up over 90% (and growing) of the American diet, as well as representing a burgeoning industry in developing countries such as China and India. Processed foods are essentially any foods that have been boxed, bagged, canned or packaged, and have a list of ingredients on the label. Sometimes, the processing involves adding a little sodium or sugar, and a few preservatives. Often, however, it is coloured, bleached, stabilized, emulsified, dehydrated, odour-concealed, and sweetened. This process typically saps any original flavour out of the product, and so, of course, flavour must be added back in as well.

E. Often this is “natural flavour”, but while the term may bring to mind images of fresh barley, hand-ground spices, and dried herbs being traded in a bustling street market, most of these natural sources are, in fact, engineered to culinary perfection in a set of factories and plants off the New Jersey Turnpike outside of New York. Here, firms such as International Flavors & Fragrances, Harmen & Keimer, Flavor Dynamics, Frutarom and Elan Chemical isolate and manufacture the tastes that are incorporated in much of what we eat and drink. The sweet, summery burst of naturally squeezed orange juice, the wood-smoked aroma in barbeque sauces, and the creamy, buttery, fresh taste in many dairy products do not come from sundrenched meadows or backyard grills but are formed in the labs and test tubes of these flavour industry giants.

F. The scientists – dubbed “flavourists” who create the potent chemicals that set our olfactory senses to overdrive use a mix of techniques that have been refined over many years. Part of it is dense, intricate chemistry: spectrometers, gas chromatographs, and headspace-vapour analysers can break down components of a flavour in amounts as minute as one part per billion. Not to be outdone, however, the human nose can isolate aromas down to three parts per trillion. Flavourists, therefore, consider their work as much an art as a science, and flavourism requires a nose “trained” with a delicate and poetic sense of balance.

G. Should we be wary of the industrialisation of natural flavour? On its own, the trend may not present any clear reason for alarm. Nutritionists widely agree that the real assault on health in the last few decades stems from an “unholy trinity” of sugar, fat, and sodium in processed foods. Natural flavour on its own is not a health risk. It does play a role, however, in helping these processed foods to taste fresh and nutritious, even when they are not. So, while the natural flavour industry should not be considered the culprit, we might think of it as a willing accomplice.

Questions 14-21
Reading Passage 2 has seven paragraphs, A-G. Which paragraph contains the following information?
Write the correct letter. A-G, in boxes 14-21 on your answer sheet. NB You may use any letter more than once.

14 examples of companies that create natural flavours
15 an instance of a multinational franchise responding to public pressure
16 a statement on the health effects of natural flavours
17 an instance where a solution turns into a problem
18 a place in the home where one may encounter the term “natural flavour”
19 details about die transformation that takes place in processed grocery items
20 a comparison of personal and technological abilities in flavour detection
21 examples of diet-related health conditions

Questions 22-25
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 2? In boxes 22-25 on your answer sheet, write

TRUE                     if the statement is true
FALSE                   if the statement is false
NOT GIVEN          if the information is not given in the passage

22 On their own, vegetable oils do not have a strong flavour.
23 Soybean oil is lower in cholesterol than cottonseed oil.
24 Processed foods are becoming more popular in some Asian countries.
25 All food processing maintains the natural flavours of the products.

Question 26
Choose the correct letter. A, B.C, or D.

26 The writer of Reading Passage 2 concludes that natural flavours …………………..
A are the major cause of dietary health problems.
B are unhealthy, but not as bad as sugar, fat, and sodium.
C have health benefits that other ingredients tend to cancel out.
D help make unhealthy foods taste better.

Britain needs strong TV industry

Comedy writer Armando Iannucci has called for an industry-wide defence of the BBC and British programme-makers. “The Thick of It” creator made his remarks in the annual MacTaggart Lecture at the Edinburgh TV Festival.

“It’s more important than ever that we have more strong, popular channels… that act as beacons, drawing audiences to the best content,” he said. Speaking earlier, Culture Secretary John Whittingdale rejected suggestions that he wanted to dismantle the BBC.

‘Champion supporters’

Iannucci co-wrote “I’m Alan Partridge”, wrote the movie “In the Loop” and created and wrote the hit “HBO” and “Sky Atlantic show Veep”. He delivered the 40th annual MacTaggart Lecture, which has previously been given by Oscar winner Kevin Spacey, former BBC director general Greg Dyke, Jeremy Paxman and Rupert Murdoch. Iannucci said: “Faced with a global audience, British television needs its champion supporters.”

He continued his praise for British programming by saying the global success of American TV shows had come about because they were emulating British television. “The best US shows are modelling themselves on what used to make British TV so world-beating,” he said. “US prime-time schedules are now littered with those quirky formats from the UK – the “Who Do You Think You Are”‘s and the variants on “Strictly Come Dancing” – as well as the single-camera non-audience sitcom, which we brought into the mainstream first. We have changed international viewing for the better.”

With the renewal of the BBC’s royal charter approaching, Iannucci also praised the corporation. He said: “If public service broadcasting – one of the best things we’ve ever done creatively as a country – if it was a car industry, our ministers would be out championing it overseas, trying to win contracts, boasting of the British jobs that would bring.” In July, the government issued a green paper setting out issues that will be explored during negotiations over the future of the BBC, including the broadcaster’s size, its funding and governance.

Primarily Mr Whittingdale wanted to appoint a panel of five people, but finally he invited two more people to advise on the channer renewal, namely former Channel 4 boss Dawn Airey and journalism professor Stewart Purvis, a former editor-in-chief of ITN. Iannucci bemoaned the lack of “creatives” involved in the discussions.

“When the media, communications and information industries make up nearly 8% our GDP, larger than the car and oil and gas industries put together, we need to be heard, as those industries are heard. But when I see the panel of experts who’ve been asked by the culture secretary to take a root and branch look at the BBC, I don’t see anyone who is a part of that cast and crew list. I see executives, media owners, industry gurus, all talented people – but not a single person who’s made a classic and enduring television show.”

‘Don’t be modest’

Iannucci suggested one way of easing the strain on the licence fee was “by pushing ourselves more commercially abroad”.

“Use the BBC’s name, one of the most recognised brands in the world,” he said. “And use the reputation of British television across all networks, to capitalise financially oversees. Be more aggressive in selling our shows, through advertising, through proper international subscription channels, freeing up BBC Worldwide to be fully commercial, whatever it takes.

“Frankly, don’t be icky and modest about making money, let’s monetise the bezeesus Mary and Joseph out of our programmes abroad so that money can come back, take some pressure off the licence fee at home and be invested in even more ambitious quality shows, that can only add to our value.”

Mr Whittingdale, who was interviewed by ITV News’ Alastair Stewart at the festival, said he wanted an open debate about whether the corporation should do everything it has done in the past. He said he had a slight sense that people who rushed to defend the BBC were “trying to have an argument that’s never been started”.

“Whatever my view is, I don’t determine what programmes the BBC should show,” he added. “That’s the job of the BBC.” Mr Whittingdale said any speculation that the Conservative Party had always wanted to change the BBC due to issues such as its editorial line was “absolute nonsense”.

Questions 27-31
Do the following statements agree with the information in the IELTS reading text? In boxes 27–31 on your answer sheet, write

TRUE                        if the statement is true
FALSE                      if the statement is false
NOT GIVEN           if the information is not given in the passage

27 Armando Iannucci expressed a need of having more popular channels.
28 John Whittingdale wanted to dismantle the BBC.
29 Iannucci delivered the 30th annual MacTaggart Lecture.
30 Ianucci believes that British television has contributed to the success of American TV-shows.
31 There have been negotiations over the future of the BBC in July.

Questions 32–35
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.

32 Ianucci praised everything EXCEPT
A US shows
B British shows
C Corporation
D British programming

33 To advise on the charter renewal Mr Whittingdale appointed a panel of
A five people
B two people
C seven people
D four people

34 Who of these people was NOT invited to the discussion concerning BBC renewal?
A Armando Iannucci
B Dawn Airey
C John Whittingdale
D Stewart Purvis

35 There panel of experts lacks:
A media owners
B people who make enduring TV-shows
C gurus of Television industry
D top executives

Questions 36–40
Complete the summary below. Write NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.

Easing the strain on the licence fees

Iannucci recommended increasing BBC’s profit by pushing ourselves more (36)………………………………He suggests being more aggressive in selling British shows, through advertising and proper international (37)…………………………… Also, he invokes producers to stop being (38)………………………………and modest about making money and invest into even (39)…………………………………….quality shows. However, Mr Whittingdale denied any (40)………………………………that the Conservative Party had always wanted to change the BBC because of its editorial line.

Foot pedal irrigation

A Until now, governments and development agencies have tried to tackle the problem through large-scale projects: gigantic dams, sprawling, irrigation canals and vast new fields of high-yield crops introduced during the Green Revolution, the famous campaign to increase grain harvests in developing nations. Traditional irrigation, however, has degraded the soil in many areas, and the reservoirs behind dams can quickly fill up with silt, reducing their storage capacity and depriving downstream farmers of fertile sediments. Furthermore, although the Green Revolution has greatly expanded worldwide farm production since 1950, poverty stubbornly persists in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Continued improvements in the productivity of large farms may play the main role in boosting food supply, but local efforts to provide cheap, individual irrigation systems to small farms may offer a better way to lift people out of poverty.

B The Green Revolution was designed to increase the overall food supply, not to raise the incomes of the rural poor, so it should be no surprise that it did not eradicate poverty or hunger. India, for example, has been self-sufficient in food for 15 years, and its granaries are full, but more than 200 million Indians – one fifth of the country’s population – are malnourished because they cannot afford the food they need and because the country’s safety nets are deficient. In 2000, 189 nations committed to the Millennium Development Goals, which called for cutting world poverty in half by 2015. With business as usual, however, we have little hope of achieving most of the Millennium goals, no matter how much money rich countries contribute to poor ones.

C The supply-driven strategies of the Green Revolution, however, may not help subsistence farmers, who must play to their strengths to compete in the global marketplace. The average size of a family farm is less than four acres in India, 1.8 acres in Bangladesh and about half an acre in China. Combines and other modern farming tools are too expensive to be used on such small areas. An Indian farmer selling surplus wheat grown on his one-acre plot could not possibly compete with the highly efficient and subsidized Canadian wheat farms that typically stretch over thousands of acres. Instead subsistence farmers should exploit the fact that their labor costs are the lowest in the world, giving them a comparative advantage in growing and selling high-value, intensely farmed crops.

D Paul Polak saw firsthand the need for a small-scale strategy in 1981 when he met Abdul Rahman, a farmer in the Noakhali district of Bangladesh. From his three quarter-acre plots of rain-fed rice fields, Abdul could grow only 700 kilograms of rice each year – 300 kilograms less than what he needed to feed his family. During the three months before the October rice harvest came in, Abdul and his wife had to watch silently while their three children survived on one meal a day or less. As Polak walked with him through the scattered fields he had inherited from his father, Polak asked what he needed to move out of poverty. “Control of water for my crops,” he said, “at a price I can afford.”

E Soon Polak learned about a simple device that could help Abdul achieve his goal: the treadle pump. Developed in the late 1970s by Norwegian engineer Gunnar Barnes, the pump is operated by a person walking in place on a pair of treadles and two handle arms made of bamboo. Properly adjusted and maintained, it can be operated several hours a day without tiring the users. Each treadle pump has two cylinders which are made of engineering plastic. The diameter of a cylinder is 100.5mm and the height is 280mm. The pump is capable of working up to a maximum depth of 7 meters. Operation beyond 7 meters is not recommended to preserve the integrity of the rubber components. The pump mechanism has piston and foot valve assemblies. The treadle action creates alternate strokes in the two pistons that lift the water in pulses.

F The human-powered pump can irrigate half an acre of vegetables and costs only $25 (including the expense of drilling a tube well down to the groundwater). Abdul heard about the treadle pump from a cousin and was one of the first farmers in Bangladesh to buy one. He borrowed the $25 from an uncle and easily repaid the loan four months later. During the five-month dry season, when Bangladeshis typically farm very little, Abdul used the treadle pump to grow a quarter-acre of chili peppers, tomatoes, cabbage and eggplants. He also improved the yield of one of his rice plots by irrigating it. His family ate some of the vegetables and sold the rest at the village market, earning a net profit of $100. With his new income, Abdul was able to buy rice for his family to eat, keep his two sons in school until they were 16 and set aside a little money for his daughter’s dowry. When Polak visited him again in 1984, he had doubled the size of his vegetable plot and replaced the thatched roof on his house with corrugated tin. His family was raising a calf and some chickens. He told me that the treadle pump was a gift from God.

G Bangladesh is particularly well suited for the treadle pump because a huge reservoir of groundwater lies just a few meters below the farmers’ feet. In the early 1980s IDE initiated a campaign to market the pump, encouraging 75 small private-sector companies to manufacture the devices and several thousand village dealers and tube-well drillers to sell and install them. Over the next 12 years one and a half million farm families purchased treadle pumps, which increased the farmers’ net income by a total of $150 million a year. The cost of IDE’s market-creation activities was only $12 million, leveraged by the investment of $37.5 million from the farmers themselves. In contrast, the expense of building a conventional dam and canal system to irrigate an equivalent area of farmland would be in the range of $2,000 per acre, or $1.5 billion.

Questions 1 – 6
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage?

TRUE                           if the statement agrees with the view of the writer
FALSE                         if the statement contradicts the view of the writer
NOT GIVEN              if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this

1 It is more effective to resolve poverty or food problem in large scale rather than in small scale.
2 Construction of gigantic dams costs more time in developing countries.
3 Green revolution foiled to increase global crop production from the mid of 20th century.
4 Agricultural production in Bangladesh declined in last decade.
5 Farmer Abdul Rahman knew how to increase production himself.
6 Small pump spread into big project in Bangladesh in the past decade.

Questions 7 – 10
Filling the blanks in diagram of treadle pump’s each parts. Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER from the passage for each answer.

Questions 11 – 13
Answer the questions below. Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER from the passage for each answer.

11 How large area can a treadle pump irrigate the field at a low level of expense?
12 What is Abdul’s new roof made of?
13 How much did Bangladesh farmers invest by IDE’s stimulation?

Learning By Examples

A Learning theory is rooted in the work of Ivan Pavlov, the famous scientist who discover and documented the principles governing how animals (humans included) learn in the 1900s. Two basic kinds of learning or conditioning occur, one of which is famously known as the classical condition. Classical conditioning happens when an animal learns to associate a neutral stimulus (signal) with a stimulus that has intrinsic meaning based on how closely in time the two stimuli are presented. The classic example of classical conditioning is a dog’s ability to associate the sound of a bell (something that originally has no meaning to the dog) with the presentation of food (something that has a lot of meaning for the dog) a few moments later. Dogs are able to learn the association between bell and food, and will salivate immediately after hearing the bell once this connection has been made. Years of learning research have led to the creation of a highly precise learning theory that can be used to understand and predict how and under what circumstances most any animal will learn, including human beings, and eventually help people figure out how to change their behaviors.

B Role models are a popular notion for guiding child development, but in recent years very interesting research has been done on learning by example in other animals. If the subject of animal learning is taught very much in terms of classical or operant conditioning, it places too much emphasis on how we allow animals to learn and not enough on how they are equipped to learn. To teach a course of mine I have been dipping profitably into a very interesting and accessible compilation of papers on social learning in mammals, including chimps and human children, edited by Heyes and Galef.

C The research reported in one paper started with a school field trip to Israel to a pine forest where many pine cones were discovered, stripped to the central core. So the investigation started with no weighty theoretical intent, but was directed at finding out what was eating the nutritious pine seeds and how they managed to get them out of the cones. The culprit proved to be the versatile and athletic black rat (Rattus) and the technique was to bite each cone scale off at its base, in sequence from base to tip following the spiral growth pattern of the cone.

D Urban black rats were found to lack the skill and were unable to learn it even if housed with experiences cone strippers. However, infants of urban mothers cross fostered to stripper mothers acquired the skill, whereas infants of stripper mothers fostered by an urban mother could not. Clearly the skill had to be learned from the mother. Further elegant experiments showed that naive adults could develop the skill if they were provided with cones from which the first complete spiral of scales had been removed, rather like our new photocopier which you can word out how to use once someone has shown you how to switch it on. In case of rats, the youngsters take cones away from the mother when she is still feeding on them, allowing them to acquire the complete stripping skill.

E A good example of adaptive bearing we might conclude, but let’s see the economies. This was determined by measuring oxygen uptake of a rat stripping a cone in a metabolic chamber to calculate energetic cost and comparing it with the benefit of the pine seeds measured by calorimeter. The cost proved to be less than 10% of the energetic value of the cone. An acceptable profit margin.

F A paper in 1996 Animal Behavior by Bednekoff and Balda provides a different view of the adaptiveness of social learning. It concerns the seed catching behavior of Clark’s nutcracker (Nucifraga Columbiana) and the Mexican jay (Aphelocoma ultramarine). The former is a specialist, catching 30,000 or so seeds in scattered locations that it will recover over the months of winter, the Mexican jay will also cache food but is much less dependent upon this than the nutcracker. The two species also differ in their social structure, the nutcracker being rather solitary while the jay forages in social groups.

G The experiment is to discover not just whether a bird can remember where it hid a seed but also if it can remember where it saw another bird hide a seed. The design is slightly comical with a cacher bird wandering about a room with lots of holes in the floor hiding food in some of the holes, while watched by an observer bird perched in a cage. Two days later cachers and observers are tested for their discovery rate against an estimated random performance. In the role of cacher, not only nutcracker but also the less specialized jay performed above chance; more surprisingly, however, jay observers were as successful as jay cachers whereas nutcracker observers did no better than chance. It seems that, whereas the nutcracker is highly adapted at remembering where it hid its own seeds, the social living Mexican jay is more adept at remembering, and so exploiting, the caches of others.

Questions 14 – 17
Reading Passage has seven paragraphs, A – G. Which paragraph contains the following information?

14 a comparison between rats learning and human learning
15 a reference to the earliest study in animal learning
16 the discovery of who stripped the pine cone
17 a description of a cost-effectiveness experiment

Questions 18 – 21
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage?

TRUE                          if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE                        if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN             if there is no information on this

18 The field trip to Israel was to investigate how black rats learn to strip pine cones.
19 The pine cones were stripped from bottom to top by black rats.
20 It can be learned from other relevant experiences to use a photocopier.
21 Stripping the pine cones is an instinct of the black rats.

Questions 22 – 26
Complete the summary below using words from the box.

While the Nutcracker is more able to cache see, the Jay relies (22)……………………on caching food and is thus less specialized in this ability, but more (23)……………………. To study their behavior of caching and finding their caches, an experiment was designed and carried out to test these two birds for their ability to remember where they hid the seeds.

In the experiment, the cacher bird hid seeds in the ground while the other (24)……………………. As a result, the Nutcracker and the Mexican Jay showed different performance in the role of (25)…………………… at finding the seeds—the observing (26)…………………… didn’t do as well as its counterpart.

A less                       B more                  C solitary                  D social                     E cacher

F observer             G remembered      H watched                I Jay                        J nutcracker

Eco-Resort Management

A Ecotourism is often regarded as a form of nature-based tourism and has become an important alternative source of tourists. In addition to providing the traditional resort-leisure product, it has been argued that ecotourism resort management should have a particular focus on best-practice environmental management, an educational and interpretive component, and direct and indirect contributions to the conservation of the natural and cultural environment (Ayala, 1996).

B Couran Cove Island Resort is a large integrated ecotourism-based resort located south of Brisbane on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. As the world’s population becomes increasingly urbanised, the demand for tourist attractions which are environmentally friendly, serene and offer amenities of a unique nature, has grown rapidly. Couran Cove Resort, which is one such tourist attractions, is located on South Stradbroke Island, occupying approximately 150 hectares of the island. South Stradbroke Island is separated from the mainland by the Broadwater, a stretch of sea 3 kilometers wide. More than a century ago, there was only one Stradbroke Island, and there were at least four aboriginal tribes living and hunting on the island. Regrettably, most of the original island dwellers were eventually killed by diseases such as tuberculosis, smallpox and influenza by the end of the 19th The second ship wreak on the island in 1894, and the subsequent destruction of the ship (the Cambus Wallace) because it contained dynamite, caused a large crater in the sandhills on Stradbroke Island. Eventually, the ocean broke through the weakened land form and Stradbroke became two islands. Couran Cove Island Resort is built on one of the world’s few naturally-occurring sand lands, which is home to a wide range of plant communities and one of the largest remaining remnants of the rare livistona rainforest left on the Gold Coast. Many mangrove and rainforest areas, and Malaleuca Wetlands on South Stradbroke Island (and in Queensland), have been cleared, drained or filled for residential, industrial, agricultural or urban development in the first half of the 20th century. Farmer and graziers finally abandoned South Stradbroke Island in 1939 because the vegetation and the soil conditions there were not suitable for agricultural activities.

SUSTAINABLE PRACTICES OF COURAN COVE RESORT

Being located on an offshore island, the resort is only accessible by means of water transportation. The resort provides hourly ferry service from the marina on the mainland to and from the island. Within the resort, transport modes include walking trails, bicycle tracks and the beach train. The reception area is the counter of the shop which has not changed in 8 years at least. The accommodation is an octagonal “Bure”. These are large rooms that are clean but! The equipment is tired and in some cases just working. Our ceiling fan only worked on high speed for example. Beds are hard but clean, there is television, radio, an old air conditioner and a small fridge. These “Bures” are right on top of each other and night noises do carry so be careful what you say and do. The only thing is the mosquitos but if you forget to bring mosquito repellant they sell some on the island. As an ecotourism-based resort, most of the planning and development of the attraction has been concentrated on the need to co-exist with the fragile natural environment of South Stradbroke Island to achieve sustainable development.

WATER AND ENERGY MANAGEMENT

C South Stradbroke Island has groundwater at the centre of the island, which has a maximum height of 3 metres above sea level. The water supply is recharged by rainfall and is commonly known as an unconfined freshwater aquifer. Couran Cove Island Resort obtains its water supply by tapping into this aquifer and extracting it via a bore system. Some of the problems which have threatened the island’s freshwater supply include pollution, contamination and over-consumption. In order to minimise some of these problems, all laundry activities are carried out on the mainland. The resort considers washing machines as onerous to the island’s freshwater supply, and that the detergents contain a high level of phosphates which are a major source of water pollution. The resort uses LPG-power generation rather than a diesel-powered plant for its energy supply, supplemented by wind turbine, which has reduced greenhouse emissions by 70% of diesel-equivalent generation methods. Excess heat recovered from the generator is used to heat the swimming pool. Hot water in the eco-cabins and for some of the resort’s vehicles are solar-powered. Water efficient fittings are also installed in showers and toilets. However, not all the appliances used by the resort are energy efficient, such as refrigerators. Visitors who stay at the resort are encouraged to monitor their water and energy usage via the in-house television system, and are rewarded with prizes (such as a free return trip to the resort) accordingly if their usage level is low.

CONCLUDING REMARKS

D We examined a case study of good management practice and a pro-active sustainable tourism stance of an eco-resort. In three years of operation, Couran Cove Island Resort has won 23 international and national awards, including the 2001 Australian Tourism Award in the 4-Star Accommodation category. The resort has embraced and has effectively implemented contemporary environmental management practices. It has been argued that the successful implementation of the principles of sustainability should promote long-term social, economic and environmental benefits, while ensuring and enhancing the prospects of continued viability for the tourism enterprise. Couran Cove Island Resort does not conform to the characteristics of the ResortDevelopmentSpectrum, as proposed by Prideaux (2000). According to Prideaux, the resort should be at least at Phase 3 of the model (the National tourism phase), which describes an integrated resort providing 3-4 star hotel-type accommodation. The primary tourist market in Phase 3 of the model consists mainly of interstate visitors. However, the number of interstate and international tourists visiting the resort is small, with the principal visitor markets comprising locals and residents from nearby towns and the Gold Coast region. The carrying capacity of Couran Cove does not seem to be of any concern to the Resort management. Given that it is a private commercial ecotourist enterprise, regulating the number of visitors to the resort to minimize damage done to the natural environment on South Stradbroke Island is not a binding constraint. However, the Resort’s growth will eventually be constrained by its carrying capacity, and quantity control should be incorporated in the management strategy of the resort.

Questions 27-31
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.

27 The Stradbroke became two islands
A by an intended destruction of the ship of the Cambus Wallace
B by an explosion of dynamite on a ship and following nature erosion
C by the movement sandhills on Stradbroke Island
D by the volcanic eruption on island

28 Why are laundry activities for the resort carried out on the mainland
A In order to obtain its water supply via a bore system
B In order to preserve the water and anti-pollution
C In order to save the cost of installing onerous washing machines
D In order to reduce the level of phosphates in water around

29 What is the major water supplier in South Stradbroke Island is by
A desalinizing the sea water
B collecting the rainfall
C transporting from the mainland
D boring ground water

30 What is applied for heating water on Couran Cove Island Resort
A the LPG-power
B a diesel-powered plant
C the wind power
D the solar-power

31 What does, as the managers of resorts believe, the prospective future focus on
A more awards of for resort’s accommodation
B sustainable administration and development in a long run
C Economic and environmental benefits for the tourism enterprise
D successful implementation the Resort Development Spectrum

Questions 32-36
Complete the following summary of the Reading Passage, using NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the Reading Passage for each answer.

Being located away from the mainland, tourists can attain the resort only by (32)…………………… in a regular service. Within the resort, transports include trails for walking or tracks for both (33)…………………… and the beach train. The on-island equipment is old-fashioned which is barely working such as the (34)…………………… overhead. There is television, radio, an old (35)…………………… and a small fridge. And you can buy the repellant for (36)…………………… if you forget to bring some.

Questions 37-39
Choose THREE correct letters among, A-E.

What is true as to the contemporary situation of Couran Cove Island in the last paragraph
A Couran Cove Island Resort goes for more eco-friendly practices.
B The accommodation standard only conforms to the Resort Development Spectrum of Phase 3.
C Couran Cove Island Resort should raise the accommodation standard and build more facilities.
D The principal group visiting the resort is international tourists.
E Its carrying capacity will restrict the future business’ expansion.

Mammoth Kill 2

A mammoth is any species of the extinct genus Mammuthus, proboscideans commonly equipped with A mammoth is any species of the extinct genus Mammuthus, proboscideans commonly equipped withand, in northern species, a covering of long hair. They lived from the Pliocene epoch (from around 5 million years ago) into the Holocene at about 4,500 years ago, and were members of the family Elephantidae, which contains, along with mammoths, the two genera of modern elephants and their ancestors.

A Like their modern relatives, mammoths were quite large. The largest known species reached heights in the region of 4 m at the shoulder and weights of up to 8 tonnes, while exceptionally large males may have exceeded 12 tonnes. However, most species of mammoth were only about as large as a modern Asian elephant. Both sexes bore tusks. A first, small set appeared at about the age of six months, and these were replaced at about 18 months by the permanent set. Growth of the permanent set was at a rate of about 2.5 to 15.2 cm per year. Based on studies of their close relatives, the modern elephants, mammoths probably had a gestation period of 22 months, resulting in a single calf being born. Their social structure was probably the same as that of African and Asian elephants, with females living in herds headed by a matriarch, whilst bulls lived solitary lives or formed loose groups after sexual maturity.

B MEXICO CITY – Although it’s hard to imagine in this age of urban sprawl and automobiles, North America once belonged to mammoths, camels, ground sloths as large as cows, bear-size beavers and other formidable beasts. Some 11,000 years ago, however, these large-bodied mammals and others – about 70 species in all – disappeared. Their demise coincided roughly with the arrival of humans in the New World and dramatic climatic change – factors that have inspired several theories about the die-off. Yet despite decades of scientific investigation, the exact cause remains a mystery. Now new findings offer support to one of these controversial hypotheses: that human hunting drove this megafaunal menagerie to extinction. The overkill model emerged in the 1960s, when it was put forth by Paul S. Martin of the University of Arizona. Since then, critics have charged that no evidence exists to support the idea that the first Americans hunted to the extent necessary to cause these extinctions. But at the annual meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology in Mexico City last October, paleoecologist John Alroy of the University of California at Santa Barbara argued that, in fact, hunting-driven extinction is not only plausible, it was unavoidable. He has determined, using a computer simulation, that even a very modest amount of hunting would have wiped these animals out.

C Assuming an initial human population of 100 people that grew no more than 2 percent annually, Alroy determined that if each band of, say, 50 people killed 15 to 20 large mammals a year, humans could have eliminated the animal populations within 1,000 years. Large mammals in particular would have been vulnerable to the pressure because they have longer gestation periods than smaller mammals and their young require extended care.

D Not everyone agrees with Alroy’s assessment. For one, the results depend in part on population-size estimates for the extinct animals – figures that are not necessarily reliable. But a more specific criticism comes from mammalogist Ross D. E. MacPhee of the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, who points out that the relevant archaeological record contains barely a dozen examples of stone points embedded in mammoth bones (and none, it should be noted, are known from other megafaunal remains) – hardly what one might expect if hunting drove these animals to extinction. Furthermore, some of these species had huge ranges – the giant Jefferson’s ground sloth, for example, lived as far north as the Yukon and as far south as Mexico – which would have made slaughtering them in numbers sufficient to cause their extinction rather implausible, he says.

E MacPhee agrees that humans most likely brought about these extinctions (as well as others around the world that coincided with human arrival), but not directly. Rather he suggests that people may have introduced hyperlethal disease, perhaps through their dogs or hitchhiking vermin, which then spread wildly among the immunologically naive species of the New World. As in the overkill model, populations of large mammals would have a harder time recovering. Repeated outbreaks of a hyperdisease could thus quickly drive them to the point of no return. So far MacPhee does not have empirical evidence for the hyperdisease hypothesis, and it won’t be easy to come by: hyperlethal disease would kill far too quickly to leave its signature on the bones themselves. But he hopes that analyses of tissue and DNA from the last mammoths to perish will eventually reveal murderous microbes.

F The third explanation for what brought on this North American extinction does not involve human beings. Instead its proponents blame the loss on the weather. The Pleistocene epoch witnessed considerable climatic instability, explains paleontologist Russell W. Graham of the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. As a result, certain habitats disappeared, and species that had once formed communities split apart. For some animals, this change brought opportunity. For much of the megafauna, however, the increasingly homogeneous environment left them with shrinking geographical ranges – a death sentence for large animals, which need large ranges. Although these creatures managed to maintain viable populations through most of the Pleistocene, the final major fluctuation – the so-called Younger Dryas event – pushed them over the edge, Graham says. For his part, Alroy is convinced that human hunters demolished the titans of the Ice Age. The overkill model explains everything the disease and climate scenarios explain, he asserts, and makes accurate predictions about which species would eventually go extinct. “Personally, I’m a vegetarian,” he remarks, “and I find all of this kind of gross – but believable.”

Questions 1-7
Complete the following summary of the paragraphs of Reading Passage, using NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the Reading Passage for each answer.

The reason why had big size mammals become extinct 11,000 years ago is under hot debate. First explanation is that (1)…………………… of human made it happen. This so called (2)…………………… began from 1960s suggested by an expert, who however received criticism of lack of further information. Another assumption promoted by MacPhee is that deadly (3)…………………… from human causes their demises. However his hypothesis required more (4)…………………… to testify its validity. Graham proposed a third hypothesis that (5)…………………… in Pleistocene epoch drove some species disappear, reduced (6)…………………… posed a dangerous signal to these giants, and (7)…………………… finally wiped them out.

Questions 8-13
Use the information in the passage to match the people (listed A-C) with opinions or deeds below. Write the appropriate letters A-C in boxes 8-13 on your answer sheet.

A John Alroy
B Ross D.E. MacPhee
C Russell W. Graham

8 Human hunting well explained which species would finally disappear.
9 Further grounded proof needed to explain human’s indirect impact on mammals
10 Over hunting situation has caused die-out of large mammals.
11 Illness rather than hunting caused extensive extinction.
12 Doubt raised through the study of several fossil records.
13 Climate shift is the main reason of extinction.

Stress of Workplace

A How busy is too busy? For some it means having to miss the occasional long lunch; for others it means missing lunch altogether. For a few, it is not being able to take a “sickie” once a month. Then there is a group of people for whom working every evening and weekend is normal, and frantic is the tempo of their lives. For most senior executives, workloads swing between extremely busy and frenzied. The vice-president of the management consultancy AT Kearney and its head of telecommunications for the Asia-Pacific region, Neil Plumridge, says his work weeks vary from a “manageable” 45 hours to 80 hours, but average 60 hours.

B Three warning signs alert Plumridge about his workload: sleep, scheduling and family. He knows he has too much on when he gets less than six hours of sleep for three consecutive nights; when he is constantly having to reschedule appointments; “and the third one is on the family side”, says Plumridge, the father of a three-year-old daughter, and expecting a second child in October. “If I happen to miss a birthday or anniversary, I know things are out of control.” Being “too busy” is highly subjective. But for any individual, the perception of being too busy over a prolonged period can start showing up as stress: disturbed sleep, and declining mental and physical health. National workers’ compensation figures show stress causes the most lost time of any workplace injury. Employees suffering stress are off work an average of 16.6 weeks. The effects of stress are also expensive. Comcare, the Federal Government insurer, reports that in 2003-04, claims for psychological injury accounted for 7% of claims but almost 27% of claim costs. Experts say the key to dealing with stress is not to focus on relief – a game of golf or a massage – but to reassess workloads. Neil Plumridge says he makes it a priority to work out what has to change; that might mean allocating extra resources to a job, allowing more time or changing expectations. The decision may take several days. He also relies on the advice of colleagues, saying his peers coach each other with business problems. “Just a fresh pair of eyes over an issue can help,” he says.

C Executive stress is not confined to big organisations. Vanessa Stoykov has been running her own advertising and public relations business for seven years, specialising in work for financial and professional services firms. Evolution Media has grown so fast that it debuted on the BRW Fast 100 list of fastest-growing small enterprises last year – just after Stoykov had her first child. Stoykov thrives on the mental stimulation of running her own business. “Like everyone, I have the occasional day when I think my head’s going to blow off,” she says. Because of the growth phase the business is in, Stoykov has to concentrate on short-term stress relief – weekends in the mountains, the occasional “mental health” day – rather than delegating more work. She says: “We’re hiring more people, but you need to train them, teach them about the culture and the clients, so it’s actually more work rather than less.”

D Identify the causes: Jan Elsnera, Melbourne psychologist who specialises in executive coaching, says thriving on a demanding workload is typical of senior executives and other high-potential business people. She says there is no one-size-fits-all approach to stress: some people work best with high-adrenalin periods followed by quieter patches, while others thrive under sustained pressure. “We could take urine and blood hormonal measures and pass a judgment of whether someone’s physiologically stressed or not,” she says. “But that’s not going to give us an indicator of what their experience of stress is, and what the emotional and cognitive impacts of stress are going to be.”

E Eisner’s practice is informed by a movement known as positive psychology, a school of thought that argues “positive” experiences – feeling engaged, challenged, and that one is making a contribution to something meaningful – do not balance out negative ones such as stress; instead, they help people increase their resilience over time. Good stress, or positive experiences of being challenged and rewarded, is thus cumulative in the same way as bad stress. Elsner says many of the senior business people she coaches are relying more on regulating bad stress through methods such as meditation and yoga. She points to research showing that meditation can alter the biochemistry of the brain and actually help people “retrain” the way their brains and bodies react to stress. “Meditation and yoga enable you to shift the way that your brain reacts, so if you get proficient at it you’re in control.”

F The Australian vice-president of AT Kearney, Neil Plumridge, says: “Often stress is caused by our setting unrealistic expectations of ourselves. I’ll promise a client I’ll do something tomorrow, and then promise another client the same thing, when I really know it’s not going to happen. I’ve put stress on myself when I could have said to the clients: ‘Why don’t I give that to you in 48 hours?’ The client doesn’t care.” Over-committing is something people experience as an individual problem. We explain it as the result of procrastination or Parkinson’s law: that work expands to fill the time available. New research indicates that people may be hard-wired to do it.

G A study in the February issue of the Journal of Experimental Psychology shows that people always believe they will be less busy in the future than now. This is a misapprehension, according to the authors of the report, Professor Gal Zauberman, of the University of North Carolina, and Professor John Lynch, of Duke University. “On average, an individual will be just as busy two weeks or a month from now as he or she is today. But that is not how it appears to be in everyday life,” they wrote. “People often make commitments long in advance that they would never make if the same commitments required immediate action. That is, they discount future time investments relatively steeply.” Why do we perceive a greater “surplus” of time in the future than in the present? The researchers suggest that people underestimate completion times for tasks stretching into the future, and that they are bad at imagining future competition for their time.

Question 14-18
Use the information in the passage to match the people (listed A-D) with opinions or deeds below. Write the appropriate letters A-D in boxes 14-18 on your answer sheet.
NB You may use any letter more than once.

A Jan Elsnera
B Vanessa Stoykov
C Gal Zauberman
D Neil Plumridge

14 Work stress usually happens in the high level of a business.
15 More people’s ideas involved would be beneficial for stress relief.
16 Temporary holiday sometimes doesn’t mean less work.
17 Stress leads to a wrong direction when trying to satisfy customers.
18 It is not correct that stress in the future will be eased more than now.

Question 19-21
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.

19 Which of the following workplace stress is NOT mentioned according to Plumridge in the following options
A Not enough time spend on family
B Unable to concentrate on work
C Inadequate time of sleep
D Alteration of appointment

20 Which of the following solution is NOT mentioned in helping reduce the work pressure according toPlumridge
A Allocate more personnel
B Increase more time
C Lower expectation
D Do sports and massage

21 What is point of view of Jan Elsnera towards work stress
A Medical test can only reveal part of the data needed to cope with stress
B Index somebody samples will be abnormal in a stressful experience
C Emotional and cognitive affection is superior to physical one
D One well designed solution can release all stress

Question 22 – 27
Complete the following summary of the paragraphs of Reading Passage, using NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the Reading Passage for each answer.

Statistics from National worker’s compensation indicate stress plays the most important role in (22)…………………… which cause the time losses. Staffs take about (23)…………………… for absence from work caused by stress. Not just time is our main concern but great expenses generated consequently. An official insurer wrote sometime that about (24)…………………… of all claims were mental issues whereas nearly 27% costs in all claims, Sports Such as (25)…………………… as well as (26)…………………… could be a treatment to release stress; However, specialists recommended another practical way out, analyse (27)…………………… once again.

Unexpected Benefits to Human Brain

James Paul Gee, professor of education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, played his first video game years ago when his six-year-old son Sam was playing Pajama Sam: No Need to Hide When It’s Dark Outside. He wanted to play the game so he could support Sam’s problem solving. Though Pajama Sam is not an “educational game”, it is replete with the types of problems psychologists study when they study thinking and learning. When he saw how well the game held Sam’s attention, he wondered what sort of beast a more mature video game might be.

Video and computer games, like many other popular, entertaining and addicting kid’s activities, are looked down upon by many parents as time-wasters, and worse, parents think that these games rot the brain. Violent video games are readily blamed by the media and some experts as the reason why some youth become violent or commit extreme anti-social behavior. Recent content analyses of video games show that as many as 89% of games contain some violent content, but there is no form of aggressive content for 70% of popular games. Many scientists and psychologists, like James Paul Gee, find that video games actually have many benefits – the main one being making kids smart. Video games may actually teach kids high-level thinking skills that they will need in the future.

“Video games change your brain,” according to University of Wisconsin psychologist Shawn Green. Video games change the brain’s physical structure the same way as do learning to read, playing the piano, or navigating using a map. Much like exercise can build muscle, the powerful combination of concentration and rewarding surges of neurotransmitters like dopamine, which strengthens neural circuits, can build the player’s brain.

Video games give your child’s brain a real workout. In many video games, the skills required to win involve abstract and high level thinking. These skills are not even taught at school. Some of the mental skills trained by video games include: following instructions, problem solving, logic, hand-eye coordination, fine motor and spatial skills. Research also suggests that people can learn iconic, spatial, and visual attention skills from video games. There have been even studies with adults showing that experience with video games is related to better surgical skills. Jacob Benjamin, doctor from Beth Israel Medical Center NY, found a direct link between skill at video gaming and skill at keyhole or laparoscopic surgery. Also, a reason given by experts as to why fighter pilots of today are more skillful is that this generation’s pilots are being weaned on video games.

The players learn to manage resources that are limited, and decide the best use of resources, the same way as in real life. In strategy games, for instance, while developing a city, an unexpected surprise like an enemy might emerge. This forces the player to be flexible and quickly change tactics. Sometimes the player does this almost every second of the game giving the brain a real workout. According to researchers at the University of Rochester, led by Daphne Bavelier, a cognitive scientist, games simulating stressful events such as those found in battle or action games could be a training tool for real-world situations. The study suggests that playing action video games primes the brain to make quick decisions. Video games can be used to train soldiers and surgeons, according to the study. Steven Johnson, author of Everything Bad is Good For You: How Today’s Popular Culture, says gamers must deal with immediate problems while keeping their long-term goals on their horizon. Young gamers force themselves to read to get instructions, follow storylines of games, and get information from the game texts.

James Paul Gee, professor of education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, says that playing a video game is similar to working through a science problem Like students in a laboratory, gamers must come up with a hypothesis. For example, players in some games constantly try out combinations of weapons and powers to use to defeat an enemy. If one does not work, they change hypothesis and try the next one. Video games are goal-driven experiences, says Gee, which are fundamental to learning. Also, using math skills is important to win in many games that involve quantitative analysis like managing resources. In higher levels of a game, players usually fail the first time around, but they keep on trying until they succeed and move on to the next level.

Many games are played online and involve cooperation with other online players in order to win. Video and computer games also help children gain self-confidence and many games are based on history, city building, and governance and so on. Such games indirectly teach children about aspects of life on earth.

In an upcoming study in the journal Current Biology, authors Daphne Bavelier, Alexandre Pouget, and C. Shawn Green report that video games could provide a potent training regimen for speeding up reactions in many types of real-life situations. The researchers tested dozens of 18- to 25-year-olds who were not ordinarily video game players. They split the subjects into two groups. One group played 50 hours of the fast-paced action video games “Call of Duty 2” and “Unreal Tournament,” and the other group played 50 hours of the slow-moving strategy game “The Sims 2.” After this training period, all of the subjects were asked to make quick decisions in several tasks designed by the researchers. The action game players were up to 25 percent faster at coming to a conclusion and answered just as many questions correctly as their strategy game playing peers.

Questions 28-31
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.

28 What is the main purpose of paragraph one
A Introduction of professor James Paul Gee.
B Introduction of the video game: Pajamas Sam.
C Introduction of types of video games.
D Introduction of the background of this passage.

29 What does the author want to express in the second paragraph
A Video games are widely considered harmful for children’s brain.
B Most violent video games are the direct reason of juvenile delinquency.
C Even there is a certain proportion of violence in most video games; scientists and psychologists see its benefits of children’s intellectual abilities.
D Many parents regard video games as time-wasters, which rot children’s brain.

30 What is correctly mentioned in paragraph four
A Some schools use video games to teach students abstract and high level thinking.
B Video games improves the brain ability in various aspects.
C Some surgeons have better skills because they play more video games.
D Skillful fighter pilots in this generation love to play video games.

31 What is the expectation of the experiment the three researchers did
A Gamers have to make the best use of the limited resource.
B Gamers with better math skills will win in the end.
C Strategy game players have better ability to make quick decisions.
D Video games help increase the speed of players’ reaction effectively.

Questions 32-35
Do the following statement with the information given in Reading Passage? In boxes 32-35 on your answer sheet, write

TRUE                            if the statement is true
FALSE                          if the statement is false
NOT GIVEN               if the information is not given in the passage

32 Most video games are popular because of their violent content.
33 The action game players minimized the percentage of making mistakes in the experiment.
34 It would be a good idea for schools to apply video games in their classrooms.
35 Those People who are addicted to video games have lots of dopamine in their brains.

Questions 36-40
Use the information in the passage to match the people (listed A-F) with opinions or deeds below. Write the appropriate letters, A-F, in boxes 36-40 on your answer sheet.

A The writer’s opinion
B James Paul Gee
C Shawn Green
D Daphne Bavelier
E Steven Johnson
F Jacob Benjamin

36 Video games as other daily life skills alter the brain’s physical structure.
37 Brain is ready to make decisions without hesitation when players are immersed in playing stressful games.
38 The purpose-motivated experience that video games offer plays an essential role in studying.
39 Players are good at tackling prompt issues with future intensions.
40 It helps children broaden their horizon in many aspects and gain self-confidence.