Category: IELTS Reading

Section 1
Read the text below and answer questions 1-6.

Consumer Advice

If something you’ve ordered hasn’t arrived, you should contact the seller to find out where it is. It’s their legal responsibility to make sure the item is delivered to you. They should chase the delivery company and let you know what’s happened to your item. If your item wasn’t delivered to the location you agreed (e.g. if it was left with your neighbour without your consent), it’s the seller’s legal responsibility to sort out the issue.

If the item doesn’t turn up, you’re legally entitled to a replacement or refund. You can ask for your money back if you don’t receive the item within 30 days of buying it. If the seller refuses, you should put your complaint in writing. If that doesn’t work, you could contact their trade association – look on their website for this information, or contact them to ask.

You might also be able to get your money back through your bank or payment provider – this depends on how you paid.

• If you paid by debit card, contact your bank and say you want to use the ‘chargeback’ scheme. If the bank agrees, they can ask the seller’s bank to refund the money to your account. Many bank staff don’t know about the scheme, so you might need to speak to a supervisor or manager. You should do this within 120 days of when you paid.
• If you paid by credit card and the item cost less than £100, you should contact your credit card company and say you want to use the ‘chargeback’ scheme. There’s no time limit for when you need to do this. If the item cost more than £100 but less than £30,000, contact your credit card company and say that you want to make a ‘section 75’claim.
• If you paid using PayPal, use PayPal’s online resolution centre to report your dispute. You must do this within 180 days of paying.

Questions 1-6
Do the following statements agree with the information given in the text? In boxes 1-6, write

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

1. You will receive a card telling you if an item has been left with a neighbour.
2. It may be quicker to get a refund than a replacement for a non-delivered item.
3. You are entitled to a refund if the item fails to arrive by a certain time.
4. There is a time limit when using the ‘chargeback’ scheme for a debit card payment.
5. You can use the ‘chargeback’ scheme for a credit card payment of more than £100.
6. PayPal’s online resolution centre has a good reputation for efficiency.

Read the text below and answer questions 7-14.

Rice Cookers

A Ezy Rice Cooker
This has a 1.8 litre pot and a stainless steel exterior. It has a separate glass lid, and the handle on the lid stays cool. It produces perfectly cooked white rice, but tends to spit when cooking brown rice. There are slight dirt traps around the rim of the lid, and neither the pot nor the lid is dishwasher safe.

B Family Rice Cooker
This has a plastic exterior and a flip-top lid. The lid locks when closed and becomes a secure handle to carry the cooker. The aluminium interior pot is quite difficult to clean, and it can’t be put in a dishwasher. It’s programmed to adjust the temperature once the rice is done so that it stops cooking but doesn’t get cold.

C Mini Rice Cooker
This has a flip-top lid and a 0.3 litre capacity. The interior pot is made of non-stick aluminium and is dishwasher safe. This rice cooker is ideal when cooking for one. However it does not have any handles at the side, and water sometimes overflows when cooking brown rice.

D VPN Rice Cooker
This has a painted steel exterior with a handle on each side and a steel inner pot. It has a lift-off lid and comes with a booklet including a range of ideas for rice dishes. However, the keep-warm setting must be manually selected and the handles are tricky to grip.

E S16 Rice cooker
This is simple to use, not spitting or boiling over even when cooking brown rice. The exterior stays cool when in use, so there’s no danger of burning your hand. However, the lack of handles is a nuisance, and a recipe book would have been useful.

Questions 7-14
Look at the five reviews of rice cookers, A-E. For which rice cooker are the following statements true? Write the correct letter; A-E, in boxes 7-14 sheet. NB You may use any letter more than once.

7. The handles at the side are hard to use.
8. It cooks brown rice without making a mess.
9. It automatically switches setting to keep the rice warm when cooked.
10. It’s difficult to get the removable top really clean.
11. A selection of recipes is provided with the cooker.
12. It has a handle at the top for carrying the cooker safely.
13. The outside of the cooker doesn’t get too hot.
14. You can put the pot in the dishwasher.

Section 2
Read the text below and answer questions 15-22.

Safety when working on roofs

A fall from height is the most serious hazard associated with roof work. Preventing falls from roofs is a priority for WorkSafe New Zealand. Investigations by WorkSafe into falls that occur while working at height show that more than 50 percent of falls are from under three metres, and most of these are from ladders and roofs. The cost of these falls is estimated to be $24 million a year – to say nothing of the human costs that result from these falls. More injuries happen on residential building sites than any other workplace in the construction sector.

In order to prevent such injuries, a hazard assessment should be carried out for all work on roofs to assess potential dangers. It is essential that the hazards are identified before the work starts, and that the necessary equipment, appropriate precautions and systems of work are provided and implemented. Hazard identification should be repeated periodically or when there is a change in conditions, for example, the weather or numbers of staff onsite.

The first thing to be considered is whether it is possible to eliminate this hazard completely, so that workers are not exposed to the danger of falling. This can sometimes be done at the design, construction planning, and tendering stage. If the possibility of a fail cannot be eliminated, some form of edge protection should be used to prevent workers from falling. It may be possible to use the existing scaffolding as edge protection. If this is not practicable, then temporary work platforms should be used. In cases where such protection is not possible, then steps should be taken to minimise the likelihood of any harm resulting. This means considering the use of safety nets and other similar systems to make it less likely that injury will be caused if a fall does occur.

Ladders should only be employed for short-duration maintenance work such as touching up paint. People using ladders should be trained and instructed in the selection and safe use of ladders. There should be inspection of all ladders on a regular basis to ensure they are safe to use.

Questions 15-22
Complete the notes below. Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS AND/ OR A NUMBER from the passage.

Safety when working on roofs
Investigations show that
• over half of falls are from less than (15) …………………
• most falls are from ladders and roofs
• falls cost $24 million per year
• the majority of falls occur on (16) ……………….

Hazard identification should be carried out
• before the work starts
• when conditions such as the weather or worker numbers change

Controls
• (17) ……………….. the hazard at the planning stage before the work begins if possible
• prevent a fall by using edge protection e.g. scaffolding or (18) ……………

Ladders
• these should only be used for (20) ……………….. which does not take a long time
• training should be provided in their (21) …………….. and use
• regular (22) ………………. of ladders is required

Read the text below and answer questions 23-27.

Maternity allowance for working women

You can claim Maternity Allowance once you’ve been pregnant for 26 weeks. Payments start 11 weeks before the date on which your baby is due.

The amount you can get depends on your eligibility. You could get either:
• £140.98 a week or 90% of your average weekly earnings (whichever is less) for 39 weeks
• £27 a week for 14 weeks

Maternity Allowance for 39 weeks
You might get Maternity Allowance for 39 weeks if one of the following applies:
• you’re employed
• you’re self-employed and pay Class 2 National Insurance (including voluntary National Insurance)
• you’ve recently stopped working

You may still qualify even if you’ve recently stopped working. It doesn’t matter if you had different jobs, or periods when you were unemployed.

Maternity Allowance for 14 weeks
You might get Maternity Allowance for 14 weeks if for at least 26 weeks in the 66 weeks before your baby is due:
• you were married or in a civil partnership
• you were not employed or self-employed
• you took part in the business of your self-employed spouse or civil partner

How to claim
You’ll need an MA1 claim form, available online. You can print this and fill it in, or fill it in online. You also need to provide a payslip or a Certificate of Small Earnings Exemption as proof of your income, and proof of the baby’s due date, such as a doctor’s letter.

You should get a decision on your claim within 24 working days.

You should report any changes to your circumstances, for example, if you go back to work, to your local Jobcentre Plus as they can affect how much allowance you get.

Questions 23-27
Complete the sentences below. Write NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/ OR A NUMBER from the passage.

23. The maximum amount of money a woman can get each weak is £
24. Being ………………… for a time does not necessarily mean that a woman will not be eligible for Maternity Allowance.
25. In order to claim, a woman must send a …………….. or a Small Earnings Exemption Certificate as evidence of her income.
26. In order to claim, a woman may need to provide a ………………….. as evidence of the due date.
27. Payment may be affected by differences in someone’s ………………… such as a return to work, and the local Jobcenter Plus must be informed.

Section 3

The California Gold Rush of 1849

A On January 24, 1848, James Wilson Marshal!, a carpenter, found small flakes of gold in the American River near Coloma, California. At the time, Marshall was working to build a water-powered sawmill for businessman John Sutter. As it happens, just days after Marshall’s discovery, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed, ending the Mexican-American War and transferring California, with its mineral deposits, into the ownership of the United States. At the time, the population of the territory consisted of 6,500 Californios {people of Spanish or Mexican descent); 700 foreigners (primarily Americans); and 150,000 Native Americans.

B Though Marshall and Sutter tried to keep news of the discovery quiet, word got out, and by mid-March 1848 at least one newspaper was reporting that large quantities of gold were being found. Though the initial reaction in San Francisco was disbelief, storekeeper Sam Brannan set off a frenzy when he paraded through town displaying a small bottle containing gold from Sutter’s Creek. By mid-June, some three-quarters of the male population of San Francisco had left town for the gold mines, and the number of miners in the area reached 4,000 by August.

C As news spread of the fortunes being made in California, the first migrants to arrive were those from lands accessible by boat, such as Oregon, the Sandwich Islands {now Hawaii), Mexico, Chile, Peru and even China. Only later would the news reach the East Coast, where press reports were initially skeptical. Throughout 1849, thousands of people around the United States (mostly men) borrowed money, mortgaged their property or spent their life savings to make the arduous journey to California. In pursuit of the kind of wealth they had never dreamed of, they left their families and local areas; in turn, their wives had no option but to shoulder different responsibilities such as running farms or businesses, and many made a real success of them.

By the end of the year, the non-native population of California was estimated at 100,000 {as compared with 20,000 at the end of 1848 and around 800 in March 1848). To accommodate the needs of the ’49ers, as the gold miners were known, towns had sprung up all over the region, complete with shops and other businesses seeking to make their own Gold Rush fortune. The overcrowded chaos of the mining camps and towns grew ever more lawless. San Francisco, for its part, developed a bustling economy and became the central metropolis of the new frontier.

D How did all these would-be miners search for gold? Panning was the oldest way. The basic procedure was to place some gold-bearing materials, such as river gravel, into a shallow pan, add some water, and then carefully swirl the mixture around so the water and light material spilled over the side. If all went well, the heavier gold nuggets or gold dust would settle to the bottom of the pan. Gold panning was slow even for the most skillful miner. On a good day, one miner could wash about 50 pans in the usual 12-hour workday.

E Another way was to use what was called a ‘rocker’. Isaac Humphrey is said to have introduced it to the California gold fields. It was simply a rectangular wooden box, set at a downward angle and mounted on a rocking mechanism. The dirt and rock was dumped into the top, followed by a bucket of water. The box was rocked by hand to agitate the mixture. The big rocks were caught in a sieve at the top, the waste exited the lower end with the water, and the heavy gold fell to the bottom of the box.

The rocker had advantages and disadvantages. The advantages were that it was easily transportable; it did not require a constant source of water; and, most importantly, a miner could process more dirt and rock than with a pan. The primary disadvantage was that the rocker had difficulty in trapping the smallest particles of gold, commonly known as ‘flour’. Some miners added small amounts of mercury to the bottom of the rocker. Due to its chemical composition, it had a facility to trap fine gold. Periodically, the miners would remove and heat it. As it vaporized, it would leave gold behind.

F After 1850, the surface gold in California had largely disappeared, even as miners continued to reach the gold fields. Mining had always been difficult and dangerous labor, and striking it rich required good luck as much as skill and hard work. Moreover, the average daily pay for an independent miner had by then dropped sharply from what it had been in 1848. As gold became more and more difficult to reach, the growing industrialization of mining drove more and more miners from independence into wage labor. The new technique of hydraulic mining, developed in 1853, brought enormous profits, but destroyed much of the region’s landscape.

G Though gold mining continued throughout the 1850s, it had reached its peak by 1852, when gold worth some $81 million was pulled from the ground. After that year, the total take declined gradually, leveling off to around $45 million per year by 1857. Settlement in California continued, however, and by the end of the decade the state’s population was 380,000.

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

28. The writer suggests that Marshall’s discovery came at a good time for the US because
A the Mexican-American War was ending so there were men needing work.
B his expertise in water power would be useful in gold mining.
C the population of California had already begun to increase rapidly.
D the region was about to come under the control of the US.

29. What was the reaction in 1848 to the news of the discovery of gold?
A The press played a large part in convincing the public of the riches available.
B Many men in San Francisco left immediately to check it out for themselves.
C People needed to see physical evidence before they took it seriously,
D Men in other mines in the US were among the first to respond to it.

30. What was the result of thousands of people moving to California?
A San Francisco could not cope with the influx of people from around the world.
B Many miners got more money than they could ever have earned at home.
C Some of those who stayed behind had to take on unexpected roles.
D New towns were established which became good places to live.

31. What does the writer say about using pans and rockers to find gold?
A Both methods required the addition of mercury.
B A rocker needed more than one miner to operate it.
C Pans were the best system for novice miners to use.
D Miners had to find a way round a design fault in one system.

Questions 32-36
The text has seven sections A-G. Which section contains the following information?

32. a reference to ways of making money in California other than mining for gold
33. a suggestion that the gold that was found did not often compensate for the hard work undertaken
34. a mention of an individual who convinced many of the existence of gold in California
35. details of the pre-Gold Rush population of California
36. a contrast between shrinking revenue and increasing population

Questions 37-40
Complete the summary below. Write NO MORE THAN ONE WORD from the passage.

Basic techniques for extracting gold

The most basic method used by many miners began with digging some (37) …………………….out of a river and hoping it might contain gold. Small amounts were put in a pan with water. The pan was spun round, causing the liquid and less heavy contents of the pan to come out. Gold dust, which weighed more, remained in the pan or, if the miners were very lucky, there might even be some (38) ………………..too. It was, however, a very laborious method.

The rocker was also used. A miner would put some earth and rock into the higher end, together with some water. He would then shake the rocker. Larger stones stuck in the (39) …………………… , while gold dropped to the bottom. Unfortunately, the rocker was not designed to catch what was called flour. However, a process was introduced involving (40) …………………… to ensure no gold was washed out in the water.

The Return Of The Huarango

The south coast of Peru is a narrow, 2,000-kilometre-long strip of desert squeezed between the Andes and the Pacific Ocean. It is also one of the most fragile ecosystems on Earth. It hardly ever rains there, and the only year-round source of water is located tens of metres below the surface. This is why the huarango tree is so suited to life there: it has the longest roots of any tree in the world. They stretch down 50-80 metres and, as well as sucking up water for the tree, they bring it into the higher subsoil, creating a water source for other plant life.

Dr David Beresford-Jones, archaeobotanist at Cambridge University, has been studying the role of the huarango tree in landscape change in the Lower lea Valley in southern Peru. He believes the huarango was key to the ancient people’s diet and, because it could reach deep water sources, it allowed local people to withstand years of drought when their other crops failed. But over the centuries huarango trees were gradually replaced with crops. Cutting down native woodland leads to erosion, as there is nothing to keep the soil in place. So when the huarangos go, the land turns into a desert. Nothing grows at all in the Lower lea Valley now.

For centuries the huarango tree was vital to the people of the neighbouring Middle lea Valley too. They grew vegetables under it and ate products made from its seed pods. Its leaves and bark were used for herbal remedies, while its branches were used for charcoal for cooking and heating, and its trunk was used to build houses. But now it is disappearing rapidly. The majority of the huarango forests in the valley have already been cleared for fuel and agriculture – initially, these were smallholdings, but now they’re huge farms producing crops for the international market.

‘Of the forests that were here 1,000 years ago, 99 per cent have already gone,’ says botanist Oliver Whaley from Kew Gardens in London, who, together with ethnobotanist Dr William Milliken, is rumiing a pioneering project to protect and restore the rapidly disappearing habitat. In order to succeed, Whaley needs to get the local people on board, and that has meant overcoming local prejudices. ‘Increasingly aspirational communities think that if you plant food trees in your home or street, it shows you are poor, and still need to grow your own food,’ he says. In order to stop the Middle lea Valley going the same way as the Lower lea Valley, Whaley is encouraging locals to love the huarangos again. ‘It’s a process of cultural resuscitation,’ he says. He has already set up a huarango festival to reinstate a sense of pride in their eco-heritage, and has helped local schoolchildren plant thousands of trees.

‘In order to get people interested in habitat restoration, you need to plant a tree that is useful to them,’ says Whaley. So, he has been working with local families to attempt to create a sustainable income from the huarangos by turning their products into foodstuffs. ‘Boil up the beans and you get this thick brown syrup like molasses. You can also use it in drinks, soups or stews.’ The pods can be ground into flour to make cakes, and the seeds roasted into a sweet, chocolatey ‘coffee’. ‘It’s packed full of vitamins and minerals,’ Whaley says.

And some farmers are already planting huarangos. Alberto Benevides, owner of lea Valley’s only certified organic farm, which Whaley helped set up, has been planting the tree for 13 years. He produces syrup and flour, and sells these products at an organic farmers’ market in Lima. His farm is relatively small and doesn’t yet provide him with enough to live on, but he hopes this will change. ‘The organic market is growing rapidly in Peru,’ Benevides says. ‘I am investing in the future.’

But even if Whaley can convince the local people to fall in love with the huarango again, there is still the threat of the larger farms. Some of these cut across the forests and break up the corridors that allow the essential movement of mammals, birds and pollen up and down the narrow forest strip. In the hope of counteracting this, he’s persuading farmers to let him plant forest corridors on their land. He believes the extra woodland will also benefit the farms by reducing their water usage through a lowering of evaporation and providing a refuge for bio-control insects.

‘If we can record biodiversity and see how it all works, then we’re in a good position to move on from there. Desert habitats can reduce down to very little,’ Whaley explains. ‘It’s not like a rainforest that needs to have this huge expanse. Life has always been confined to corridors and islands here. If you just have a few trees left, the population can grow up quickly because it’s used to exploiting water when it arrives.’ He sees his project as a model that has the potential to be rolled out across other arid areas around the world. ‘If we can do it here, in the most fragile system on Earth, then that’s a real message of hope for lots of places, including Africa, where there is drought and they just can’t afford to wait for rain.’

Questions 1-5
Complete the notes below. Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.

The importance of the huarango tree
• its roots can extend as far as 80 metres into the soil
• can access (1) …………….. deep below the surface
• was a crucial part of local inhabitants’ (2) …………… a long time ago
• helped people to survive periods of (3) ………………..
• prevents (4) ………………. of the soil
• prevents land from becoming a (5) ……………..

Questions 6-8
Complete the table below. Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.

Traditional Uses Of The Huarango Tree

Part of tree	Traditional use
(6)……………………	Fuel
(7)……………………and…………………..	Medicine
(8)…………………….	Construction

Questions 9-13
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1? In boxes 9-13, write

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

9. Local families have told Whaley about some traditional uses of huarango products.
10. Farmer Alberto Benevides is now making a good profit from growing huarangos.
11. Whaley needs the co-operation of farmers to help preserve the area’s wildlife.
12. For Whaley’s project to succeed, it needs to be extended over a very large area.
13. Whaley has plans to go to Africa to set up a similar project.

Silbo Gomero – The Whistle ‘Language’ Of The Canary Islands

La Gomera is one of the Canary Islands situated in the Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of Africa. This small volcanic island is mountainous, with steep rocky slopes and deep, wooded ravines, rising to 1,487 metres at its highest peak. It is also home to the best known of the world’s whistle languages’, a means of transmitting information over long distances which is perfectly adapted to the extreme terrain of the island.

This ‘language’, known as ‘Silbo’ or ‘Silbo Gomero’ – from the Spanish word for ‘whistle’ – is now shedding light on the language-processing abilities of the human brain, according to scientists. Researchers say that Silbo activates parts of the brain normally associated with spoken language, suggesting that the brain is remarkably flexible in its ability to interpret sounds as language.

‘Science has developed the idea of brain areas that are dedicated to language, and we are starting to understand the scope of signals that can be recognised as language,’ says David Corina, co-author of a recent study and associate professor of psychology at the University of Washington in Seattle.

Silbo is a substitute for Spanish, with individual words recoded into whistles which have high- and low-frequency tones. A whistler – or silbador – puts a finger in his or her mouth to increase the whistle’s pitch, while the other hand can be cupped to adjust the direction of the sound. ‘There is much more ambiguity in the whistled signal than in the spoken signal,’ explains lead researcher Manuel Carreiras, psychology professor at the University of La Laguna on the Canary island of Tenerife. Because whistled ‘words’ can be hard to distinguish, silbadores rely on repetition, as well as awareness of context, to make themselves understood.

The silbadores of Gomera are traditionally shepherds and other isolated mountain folk, and their novel means of staying in touch allows them to communicate over distances of up to 10 kilometres. Carreiras explains that silbadores are able to pass a surprising amount of information via their whistles. ‘In daily life they use whistles to communicate short commands, but any Spanish sentence could be whistled.’ Silbo has proved particularly useful when fires have occurred on the island and rapid communication across large areas has been vital.

The study team used neuroimaging equipment to contrast the brain activity of silbadores while listening to whistled and spoken Spanish. Results showed the left temporal lobe of the brain, which is usually associated with spoken language, was engaged during the processing of Silbo. The researchers found that other key regions in the brain’s frontal lobe also responded to the whistles, including those activated in response to sign language among deaf people. When the experiments were repeated with non-whistlers, however, activation was observed in all areas of the brain.

‘Our results provide more evidence about the flexibility of human capacity for language in a variety of forms,’ Gorina says. ‘These data suggest that left-hemisphere language regions are uniquely adapted for communicative purposes, independent of the modality of signal. The non- Silbo speakers were not recognising Silbo as a language. They had nothing to grab onto, so multiple areas of their brains were activated.’

Carreiras says the origins of Silbo Gomero remain obscure, but that indigenous Canary Islanders, who were of North African origin, already had a whistled language when Spain conquered the volcanic islands in the 15th century Whistled languages survive-today in Papua New Guinea, Mexico, Vietnam, Guyana, China, Nepal, Senegal, and a few mountainous pockets in southern Europe. There are thought to be as many as 70 whistled languages still in use, though only 12 have been described and studied scientifically. This form of communication is an adaptation found among cultures where people are often isolated from each other, according to Julien Meyer, a researcher at the Institute of Human Sciences in Lyon, France. ‘They are mostly used in mountains or dense forests,’ he says. ‘Whistled languages are quite clearly defined and represent an original adaptation of the spoken language for the needs of isolated human groups.’

But with modern communication technology now widely available, researchers say whistled languages like Silbo are threatened with extinction. With dwindling numbers of Gomera islanders still fluent in the language, Canaries’ authorities are taking steps to try to ensure its survival. Since 1999, Silbo Gomero has been taught in all of the island’s elementary schools. In addition, locals are seeking assistance from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). ‘The local authorities are trying to get an award from the organisation to declare (Silbo Gomero) as something that should be preserved for humanity,’ Carreiras adds.

Questions 14-19
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 2? In boxes 14-19, write

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

14. La Gomera is the most mountainous of all the Canary Islands.
15. Silbo is only appropriate for short and simple messages.
16. In the brain-activity study, silbadores and non-whistlers produced different results.
17. The Spanish introduced Silbo to the islands in the 15th century.
18. There is precise data available regarding all of the whistle languages in existence today.
19. The children of Gomera now learn Silbo.

Questions 20-26
Complete the notes below. Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.

Silbo Gomero

How Silbo is produced
• high- and low-frequency tones represent different sounds in Spanish (20) ………………
• pitch of whistle is controlled using silbador’s (21) ………………
• (22) ……………… is changed with a cupped hand

How Silbo is used
• has long been used by shepherds and people living in secluded locations
• in everyday use for the transmission of brief (23) ……………..
• can relay essential information quickly, e.g. to inform people about (24) ……………..

The future of Silbo
• future under threat because of new (25) ………………
• Canaries’ authorities hoping to receive a UNESCO (26) ………………. to help preserve it

Environmental Practices Of Big Businesses

The environmental practices of big businesses are shaped by a fundamental fact that for many of us offends our sense of justice. Depending on the circumstances, a business may maximize the amount of money it makes, at least in the short term, by damaging the environment and hurting people. That is still the case today for fishermen in an unmanaged fishery without quotas, and for international logging companies with short-term leases on tropical rainforest land in places with corrupt officials and unsophisticated landowners. When government regulation is effective, and when the public is environmentally aware, environmentally clean big businesses may out-compete dirty ones, but the reverse is likely to be true if government regulation is ineffective and if the public doesn’t care.

It is easy for the rest of us to blame a business for helping itself by hurting other people. But blaming alone is unlikely to produce change. It ignores the fact that businesses are not charities but profit-making companies, and that publicly owned companies with shareholders are under obligation to those shareholders to maximize profits, provided that they do so by legal means. US laws make a company’s directors legally liable for something termed ‘breach of fiduciary responsibility’ if they knowingly manage a company in a way that reduces profits. The car manufacturer Henry Ford was in fact successfully sued by shareholders in 1919 for raising the minimum wage of his workers to $5 per day: the courts declared that, while Ford’s humanitarian sentiments about his employees were nice, his business existed to make profits for its stockholders.

Our blaming of businesses also ignores the ultimate responsibility of the public for creating the conditions that let a business profit through destructive environmental policies. In the long run, it is the public, either directly or through its politicians, that has the power to make such destructive policies unprofitable and illegal, and to make sustainable environmental policies profitable.

The public can do that by suing businesses for harming them, as happened after the Exxon Valdez disaster, in which over 40,000 m3 of oil were spilled off the coast of Alaska. The public may also make their opinion felt by preferring to buy sustainably harvested products; by making employees of companies with poor track records feel ashamed of their company and complain to their own management; by preferring their governments to award valuable contracts to businesses with a good environmental track record; and by pressing their governments to pass and enforce laws and regulations requiring good environmental practices.

In turn, big businesses can exert powerful pressure on any suppliers that might ignore public or government pressure. For instance, after the US public became concerned about the spread of a disease known as BSE, which was transmitted to humans through infected meat, the US government’s Food and Drug Administration introduced rules demanding that the meat industry abandon practices associated with the risk of the disease spreading. But for five years the meat packers refused to follow these, claiming that they would be too expensive to obey. However, when a major fast-food company then made the same demands after customer purchases of its hamburgers plummeted, the meat industry complied within weeks. The public’s task is therefore to identify which links in the supply chain are sensitive to public pressure: for instance, fast-food chains or jewelry stores, but not meat packers or gold miners.

Some readers may be disappointed or outraged that I place the ultimate responsibility for business practices harming the public on the public itself. I also believe that the public must accept the necessity for higher prices for products to cover the added costs, if any, of sound environmental practices. My views may seem to ignore the belief that businesses should act in accordance with moral principles even if this leads to a reduction in their profits. But I think we have to recognize that, throughout human history, in all politically complex human societies, government regulation has arisen precisely because it was found that not only did moral principles need to be made explicit, they also needed to be enforced.

To me, the conclusion that the public has the ultimate responsibility for the behavior of even the biggest businesses is empowering and hopeful, rather than disappointing. My conclusion is not a moralistic one about who is right or wrong, admirable or selfish, a good guy or a bad guy. In the past, businesses have changed when the public came to expect and require different behavior, to reward businesses for behavior that the public wanted, and to make things difficult for businesses practicing behaviors that the public didn’t want. I predict that in the future, just as in the past, changes in public attitudes will be essential for changes in businesses’ environmental practices.

Questions 27-31
Complete the summary using the list of words, A-I, below.

Big businesses

Many big businesses today are prepared to harm people and the environment in order to make money, and they appear to have no (27) …………………. Lack of (28) ……………….by governments and lack of public (29)……………….. can lead to environmental problems such as (30) …………….. or the destruction of (31)……………

A funding
B trees
C rare species
D moral standards
E control
F involvement
G flooding
H overfishing
I worker support

Questions 32-34
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.

32. The main idea of the third paragraph is that environmental damage
A requires political action if it is to be stopped.
B is the result of ignorance on the part of the public.
C could be prevented by the action of ordinary people.
D can only be stopped by educating business leaders.

33. In the fourth paragraph, the writer describes ways in which the public can
A reduce their own individual impact on the environment.
B learn more about the impact of business on the environment.
C raise awareness of the effects of specific environmental disasters.
D influence the environmental policies of businesses and governments.

34. What pressure was exerted by big business in the case of the disease BSE?
A Meat packers stopped supplying hamburgers to fast-food chains.
B A fast-food company forced their meat suppliers to follow the law.
C Meat packers persuaded the government to reduce their expenses.
D A fast-food company encouraged the government to introduce legislation.

Questions 35-39
Do the following statements agree with the claims of the writer in Reading Passage 3? In boxes 35-39, write

YES                     if the statement agrees with the claims of the writer
NO                       if the statement contradicts the claims of the writer
NOT GIVEN     if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this

35. The public should be prepared to fund good environmental practices.
36. There is a contrast between the moral principles of different businesses.
37. It is important to make a clear distinction between acceptable and unacceptable behaviour.
38. The public have successfully influenced businesses in the past.
39. In the future, businesses will show more concern for the environment.

Question 40
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or B.

40. What would be the best subheading for this passage?
A Will the world survive the threat caused by big businesses?
B How can big businesses be encouraged to be less driven by profit?
C What environmental dangers are caused by the greed of businesses?
D Are big businesses to blame for the damage they cause the environment?

Henry Moore (1898-1986)

Henry Moore was born in Castleford, a small town near Leeds in the north of England. He was the seventh child of Raymond Moore and his wife Mary Baker. He studied at Castleford Grammar School from 1909 to 1915, where his early interest in art was encouraged by his teacher Alice Gostick. After leaving school, Moore hoped to become a sculptor, but instead he complied with his father’s wish that he train as a schoolteacher. He had to abandon his training in 1917 when he was sent to France to fight in the First World War.

After the war, Moore enrolled at the Leeds School of Art, where he studied for two years. In his first year, he spent most of his time drawing. Although he wanted to study sculpture, no teacher was appointed until his second year. At the end of that year, he passed the sculpture examination and was awarded a scholarship to the Royal College of Art in London. In September 1921, he moved to London and began three years of advanced study in sculpture.

Alongside the instruction he received at the Royal College, Moore visited many of the London museums, particularly the British Museum, which had a wide-ranging collection of ancient sculpture. During these visits, he discovered the power and beauty of ancient Egyptian and African sculpture. As he became increasingly interested in these ‘primitive’ forms of art, he turned away from European sculptural traditions.

After graduating, Moore spent the first six months of 1925 travelling in France. When he visited the Trocadero Museum in Paris, he was impressed by a cast of a Mayan”‘ sculpture of the rain spirit. It was a male reclining figure with its knees drawn up together, and its head at a right angle to its body. Moore became fascinated with this stone sculpture, which he thought had a power and originality that no other stone sculpture possessed. He himself started carving a variety of subjects in stone, including depictions of reclining women, mother-and-child groups, and masks.

Moore’s exceptional talent soon gained recognition, and in 1926 he started work as a sculpture instructor at the Royal College. In 1933, he became a member of a group of young artists called Unit One. The aim of the group was to convince the English public of the merits of the emerging international movement in modem art and architecture.

Around this time, Moore moved away from the human figure to experiment with abstract shapes. In 1931, he held an exhibition at the Leicester Galleries in London. His work was enthusiastically welcomed by fellow sculptors, but the reviews in the press were extremely negative and turned Moore into a notorious figure. There were calls for his resignation from the Royal College, and the following year, when his contract expired, he left to start a sculpture department at the Chelsea School of Art in London.

Throughout the 1930s, Moore did not show any inclination to please the British public. He became interested in the paintings of the Spanish artist Pablo Picasso, whose work inspired him to distort the human body in a radical way. At times, he seemed to abandon the human figure altogether. The pages of his sketchbooks from this period show his ideas for abstract sculptures that bore little resemblance to the human form.

In 1940, during the Second World War, Moore stopped teaching at the Chelsea School and moved to a farmhouse about 20 miles north of London. A shortage of materials forced him to focus on drawing. He did numerous small sketches of Londoners, later turning these ideas into large coloured drawings in his studio. Tn 1942, he returned to Castleford to make a series of sketches of the miners who worked there.

In 1944, Harlow, a town near London, offered Moore a commission for a sculpture depicting a family. The resulting work signifies a dramatic change in Moore’s style, away from the experimentation of the 1930s towards a more natural and humanistic subject matter. He did dozens of studies in clay for the sculpture, and these were cast in bronze and issued in editions of seven to nine copies each. In this way, Moore’s work became available to collectors all over the world. The boost to his income enabled him to take on ambitious projects and start working on the scale he felt his sculpture demanded.

Critics who had begun to think that Moore had become less revolutionary were proven wrong by the appearance, in 1950, of the first of Moore’s series of standing figures in bronze, with their harsh and angular pierced forms and distinct impression of menace. Moore also varied his subject matter in the 1950s with such works as Warrior with Shield and Falling Warrior. These were rare examples of Moore’s use of the male figure and owe something to his visit to Greece in 1951, when he had the opportunity to study ancient works of art.

In his final years, Moore created the Henry Moore Foundation to promote art appreciation and to display his work. Moore was the first modern English sculptor to achieve international critical acclaim and he is still regarded as one of the most important sculptors of the 20th century.

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

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

1. On leaving school, Moore did what his father wanted him to do.
2. Moore began studying sculpture in his first term at the Leeds School of Art.
3. When Moore started at the Royal College of Art, its reputation for teaching sculpture was excellent.
4. Moore became aware of ancient sculpture as a result of visiting London museums.
5. The Trocadero Museum’s Mayan sculpture attracted a lot of public interest.
6. Moore thought the Mayan sculpture was similar in certain respects to other stone sculptures.
7. The artists who belonged to Unit One wanted to make modern art and architecture more popular.

Questions 8-13
Complete the notes below. Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.

Moore’s career as an artist

1930s
• Moore’s exhibition at the Leicester Galleries is criticised by the press
• Moore is urged to offer his (8) …………….. and leave the Royal College

1940s
• Moore turns to drawing because (9) ……………….. for sculpting are not readily available
• While visiting his hometown, Moore does some drawings of (10) ………………
• Moore is employed to produce a sculpture of a (11) ………………
• (12) ………………… start to buy Moore’s work
• Moore’s increased (13) …………….. makes it possible for him to do more ambitious sculptures

1950s
• Moore’s series of bronze figures marks a further change in his style

The Desolenator: producing clean water

A Travelling around Thailand in the 1990s, William Janssen was impressed with the basic rooftop solar heating systems that were on many homes, where energy from the sun was absorbed by a plate and then used to heat water for domestic use. Two decades later Janssen developed that basic idea he saw in Southeast Asia into a portable device that uses the power from the sun to purify water.

B The Desolenator operates as a mobile desalination unit that can take water from different places, such as the sea, rivers, boreholes and rain, and purify it for human consumption. It is particularly valuable in regions where natural groundwater reserves have been polluted, or where seawater is the only water source available. Janssen saw that there was a need for a sustainable way to clean water in both the developing and the developed countries when he moved to the United Arab Emirates and saw large-scale water processing. ‘1 was confronted with the enormous carbon footprint that the Gulf nations have because of all of the desalination that they do,’ he says.

C The Desolenator can produce 15 litres of drinking water per day, enough to sustain a family for cooking and drinking. Its main selling point is that unlike standard desalination techniques, it doesn’t require a generated power supply: just sunlight. It measures 120 cm by 90 cm, and is easy to transport, thanks to its two wheels. Water enters through a pipe, and flows as a thin film between a sheet of double glazing and the surface of a solar panel, where it is heated by the sun. The warm water flows into a small boiler (heated by a solar-powered battery) where it is converted to steam. When the steam cools, it becomes distilled water. The device has a very simple filter to trap particles, and this can easily be shaken to remove them. There are two tubes for liquid coming out: one for the waste – salt from seawater, fluoride, etc. – and another for the distilled water. The performance of the unit is shown on an LCD screen and transmitted to the company which provides servicing when necessary.

D A recent analysis found that at least two-thirds of the world’s population lives with severe water scarcity for at least a month every year. Janssen says that by 2030 half of the world’s population will be living with water stress – where the demand exceeds the supply over a certain period of time. ‘It is really important that a sustainable solution is brought to the market that is able to help these people,’ he says. Many countries ‘don’t have the money for desalination plants, which are very expensive to build. They don’t have the money to operate them, they are very maintenance intensive, and they don’t have the money to buy the diesel to run the desalination plants, so it is a really bad situation.’

E The device is aimed at a wide variety of users – from homeowners in the developing world who do not have a constant supply of water to people living off the grid in rural parts of the US. The first commercial versions of the Desolenator are expected to be in operation in India early next year, after field tests are carried out. The market for the self-sufficient devices in developing countries is twofold – those who cannot afford the money for the device outright and pay through microfinance, and middle- income homes that can lease their own equipment. ‘People in India don’t pay for a fridge outright; they pay for it over six months. They would put the Desolenator on their roof and hook it up to their municipal supply and they would get very reliable drinking water on a daily basis,’ Janssen says. In the developed world, it is aimed at niche markets where tap water is unavailable – for camping, on boats, or for the military, for instance.

F Prices will vary according to where it is bought. In the developing world, the price will depend on what deal aid organisations can negotiate. In developed countries, it is likely to come in at $1,000 (£685) a unit, said Janssen. ‘We are a venture with a social mission. We are aware that the product we have envisioned is mainly finding application in the developing world and humanitarian sector and that this is the way we will proceed. We do realise, though, that to be a viable company there is a bottom line to keep in mind,’ he says.

G The company itself is based at Imperial College London, although Janssen, its chief executive, still lives in the UAE. It has raised £340,000 in funding so far. Within two years, he says, the company aims to be selling 1,000 units a month, mainly in the humanitarian field. They are expected to be sold in areas such as Australia, northern Chile, Peru, Texas and California.

Questions 14-20
Reading Passage 2 has seven sections, A-G. Choose the correct heading for each section from the list of headings below. Write the correct number, i-x, in boxes 14-20.

List of Headings
i Getting the finance for production
ii An unexpected benefit
iii From initial inspiration to new product
iv The range of potential customers for the device
v What makes the device different from alternatives
vi Cleaning water from a range of sources
vii Overcoming production difficulties
viii Profit not the primary goal
ix A warm welcome for the device
x The number of people affected by water shortages

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

Questions 21-26
Complete the summary below. Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.

How the Desolenator works

The energy required to operate the Desolenator comes from sunlight. The device can be used in different locations, as it has (21) …………………. Water is fed into a pipe, and a (22) ……………… of water flows over a solar panel. The water then enters a boiler, where it turns into steam. Any particles in the water are caught in a (23) …………………. The purified water comes out through one tube, and all types of (24) ………………… come out through another. A screen displays the (25) …………………. of the device, and transmits the information to the company so that they know when the Desolenator requires (26) …………………

Why fairy tales are really scary tales

People of every culture tell each other fairy tales but the same story often takes a variety of forms in different parts of the world. In the story of Little Red Riding Hood that European children are familiar with, a young girl on the way to see her grandmother meets a wolf and tells him where she is going. The wolf runs on ahead and disposes of the grandmother, then gets into bed dressed in the grandmother’s clothes to wait for Little Red Riding Hood. You may think you know the story – but which version? In some versions, the wolf swallows up the grandmother, while in others it locks her in a cupboard. In some stories Red Riding Hood gets the better of the wolf on her own, while in others a hunter or a woodcutter hears her cries and comes to her rescue.

The universal appeal of these tales is frequently attributed to the idea that they contain cautionary messages: in the case of Little Red Riding Hood, to listen to your mother, and avoid talking to strangers. ‘It might be what we find interesting about this story is that it’s got this survival-relevant information in it,’ says anthropologist Jamie Tehrani at Durham University in the UK. But his research suggests otherwise. ‘We have this huge gap in our knowledge about the history and prehistory of storytelling, despite the fact that we know this genre is an incredibly ancient one,’ he says. That hasn’t stopped anthropologists, folklorists* and other academics devising theories to explain the importance of fairy tales in human society. Now Tehrani has found a way to test these ideas, borrowing a technique from evolutionary biologists. To work out the evolutionary history, development and relationships among groups of organisms, biologists compare the characteristics of living species in a process called ‘phylogenetic analysis’. Tehrani has used the same approach to compare related versions of fairy tales to discover how they have evolved and which elements have survived longest.

Tehrani’s analysis focused on Little Red Riding Hood in its many forms, which include another Western fairy tale known as The Wolf and the Kids. Checking for variants of these two tales and similar stories from Africa, East Asia and other regions, he ended up with 58 stories recorded from oral traditions. Once his phylogenetic analysis had established that they were indeed related, he used the same methods to explore how they have developed and altered over time.

First he tested some assumptions about which aspects of the story alter least as it evolves, indicating their importance. Folklorists believe that what happens in a story is more central to the story than the characters in it – that visiting a relative, only to be met by a scary animal in disguise, is ‘Folklorists: those who study traditional stories more fundamental than whether the visitor is a little girl or three siblings, or the animal is a tiger instead of a wolf.

However, Tehrani found no significant difference in the rate of evolution of incidents compared with that of characters. ‘Certain episodes are very stable because they are crucial to the story, but there are lots of other details that can evolve quite freely,’ he says. Neither did his analysis support the theory that the central section of a story is the most conserved part. He found no significant difference in the flexibility of events there compared with the beginning or the end.

But the really big surprise came when he looked at the cautionary elements of the story. ‘Studies on hunter-gatherer folk tales suggest that these narratives include really important information about the environment and the possible dangers that may be faced there – stuff that’s relevant to survival,’ he says. Yet in his analysis such elements were just as flexible as seemingly trivial details. What, then, is important enough to be reproduced from generation to generation?

The answer, it would appear, is fear – blood-thirsty and gruesome aspects of the story, such as the eating of the grandmother by the wolf, turned out to be the best preserved of all. Why are these details retained by generations of storytellers, when other features are not? Tehrani has an idea: ‘In an oral context, a story won’t survive because of one great teller. It also needs to be interesting when it’s told by someone who’s not necessarily a great storyteller.’ Maybe being swallowed whole by a wolf, then cut out of its stomach alive is so gripping that it helps the story remain popular, no matter how badly it’s told.

Jack Zipes at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, is unconvinced by Tehrani’s views on fairy tales. ‘Even if they’re gruesome, they won’t stick unless they matter,’ he says. He believes the perennial theme of women as victims in stories like Little Red Riding Hood explains why they continue to feel relevant. But Tehrani points out that although this is often the case in Western versions, it is not always true elsewhere. In Chinese and Japanese versions, often known as The Tiger Grandmother, the villain is a woman, and in both Iran and Nigeria, the victim is a boy.

Mathias Clasen at Aarhus University in Denmark isn’t surprised by Tehrani’s findings. ‘Habits and morals change, but the things that scare us, and the fact that we seek out entertainment that’s designed to scare us – those are constant,’ he says. Clasen believes that scary stories teach us what it feels like to be afraid without having to experience real danger, and so build up resistance to negative emotions.

Questions 27-31
Complete each sentence with the correct ending, A-F, below. Write the correct letter, A-F, in boxes 27-31.

27. In fairy tales, details of the plot
28. Tehrani rejects the idea that the useful lessons for life in fairy tales
29. Various theories about the social significance of fairy tales
30. Insights into the development of fairy tales
31. All the fairy tales analysed by Tehrani

A may be provided through methods used in biological research.
B are the reason for their survival.
C show considerable global variation.
D contain animals which transform to become humans.
E were originally spoken rather than written.
F have been developed without factual basis.

Questions 32-36
Complete the summary using the list of words, A-l, below. Write the correct letter, A-I, in boxes 32-36.

Phylogenetic analysis of Little Red Riding Hood

Tehrani used techniques from evolutionary biology to find out if (32) ………………. existed among 58 stories from around the world. He also wanted to know which aspects of the stories had fewest (33) ……………….., as he believed these aspects would be the most important ones. Contrary to other beliefs, he found that some (34) ………………… that were included in a story tended to change over time, and that the middle of a story seemed no more important than the other parts. He was also surprised that parts of a story which seemed to provide some sort of (35) ……………………. were unimportant. The aspect that he found most important in a story’s survival was (36) ……………….

A ending
B events
C warning
D links
E records
F variations
G horror
H people
I plot

Questions 37-40
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.

37. What method did Jamie Tehrani use to test his ideas about fairy tales?
A He compared oral and written forms of the same stories.
B He looked at many different forms of the same basic story.
C He looked at unrelated stories from many different countries.
D He contrasted the development of fairy tales with that of living creatures.

38. When discussing Tehrani’s views, Jack Zipes suggests that
A Tehrani ignores key changes in the role of women.
B stories which are too horrific are not always taken seriously.
C Tehrani overemphasises the importance of violence in stories.
D features of stories only survive if they have a deeper significance.

39. Why does Tehrani refer to Chinese and Japanese fairy tales?
A to indicate that Jack Zipes’ theory is incorrect
B to suggest that crime is a global problem
C to imply that all fairy tales have a similar meaning
D to add more evidence for Jack Zipes’ ideas

40. What does Mathias Clasen believe about fairy tales?
A They are a safe way of learning to deal with fear.
B They are a type of entertainment that some people avoid.
C They reflect the changing values of our society.
D They reduce our ability to deal with real-world problems.

Could urban engineers learn from dance?

A The way we travel around cities has a major impact on whether they are sustainable. Transportation is estimated to account for 30% of energy consumption in most of the world’s most developed nations, so lowering the need for energy-using vehicles is essential for decreasing the environmental impact of mobility. But as more and more people move to cities, it is important to think about other kinds of sustainable travel too. The ways we travel affect our physical and mental health, our social lives, our access to work and culture, and the air we breathe. Engineers are tasked with changing how we travel round cities through urban design, but the engineering industry still works on the assumptions that led to the creation of the energy-consuming transport systems we have now: the emphasis placed solely on efficiency, speed, and quantitative data. We need radical changes, to make it healthier, more enjoyable, and less environmentally damaging to travel around cities.

B Dance might hold some of the answers. That is not to suggest everyone should dance their way to work, however healthy and happy it might make us, but rather that the techniques used by choreographers to experiment with and design movement in dance could provide engineers with tools to stimulate new ideas in city-making. Richard Sennett, an influential urbanist and sociologist who has transformed ideas about the way cities are made, argues that urban design has suffered from a separation between mind and body since the introduction of the architectural blueprint.

C Whereas medieval builders improvised and adapted construction through their intimate knowledge of materials and personal experience of the conditions on a site, building designs are now conceived and stored in media technologies that detach the designer from the physical and social realities they are creating. While the design practices created by these new technologies are essential for managing the technical complexity of the modern city, they have the drawback of simplifying reality in the process.

D To illustrate, Sennett discusses the Peachtree Center in Atlanta, USA, a development typical of the modernist approach to urban planning prevalent in the 1970s. Peachtree created a grid of streets and towers intended as a new pedestrian-friendly downtown for Atlanta. According to Sennett, this failed because its designers had invested too much faith in computer-aided design to tell them how it would operate. They failed to take into account that purpose-built street cafes could not operate in the hot sun without the protective awnings common in older buildings, and would need energy-consuming air conditioning instead, or that its giant car park would feel so unwelcoming that it would put people off getting out of their cars. What seems entirely predictable and controllable on screen has unexpected results when translated into reality.

E The same is true in transport engineering, which uses models to predict and shape the way people move through the city. Again, these models are necessary, but they are built on specific world views in which certain forms of efficiency and safety are considered and other experiences of the city ignored. Designs that seem logical in models appear counter-intuitive in the actual experience of their users. The guard rails that will be familiar to anyone who has attempted to cross a British road, for example, were an engineering solution to pedestrian safety based on models that prioritise the smooth flow of traffic. On wide major roads, they often guide pedestrians to specific crossing points and slow down their progress across the road by using staggered access points to divide the crossing into two – one for each carriageway. In doing so they make crossings feel longer, introducing psychological barriers greatly impacting those that are the least mobile, and encouraging others to make dangerous crossings to get around the guard rails. These barriers don’t just make it harder to cross the road: they divide communities and decrease opportunities for healthy transport. As a result, many are now being removed, causing disruption, cost, and waste.

F If their designers had had the tools to think with their bodies – like dancers – and imagine how these barriers would feel, there might have been a better solution. In order to bring about fundamental changes to the ways we use our cities, engineering will need to develop a richer understanding of why people move in certain ways, and how this movement affects them. Choreography may not seem an obvious choice for tackling this problem. Yet it shares with engineering the aim of designing patterns of movement within limitations of space. It is an art form developed almost entirely by trying out ideas with the body, and gaining instant feedback on how the results feel. Choreographers have deep understanding of the psychological, aesthetic, and physical implications of different ways of moving.

G Observing the choreographer Wayne McGregor, cognitive scientist David Kirsh described how he ‘thinks with the body’. Kirsh argues that by using the body to simulate outcomes, McGregor is able to imagine solutions that would not be possible using purely abstract thought. This land of physical knowledge is valued in many areas of expertise, but currently has no place in formal engineering design processes. A suggested method for transport engineers is to improvise design solutions and get instant feedback about how they would work from their own experience of them, or model designs at full scale in the way choreographers experiment with groups of dancers. Above all, perhaps, they might learn to design for emotional as well as functional effects.

Questions 1-6
Reading Passage 1 has seven paragraphs, A-G. Which paragraph contains the following information?
Write the correct letter, A-G, in boxes 1-6.

1. reference to an appealing way of using dance that the writer is not proposing
2. an example of a contrast between past and present approaches to building
3. mention of an objective of both dance and engineering
4. reference to an unforeseen problem arising from ignoring the climate
5. why some measures intended to help people are being reversed
6. reference to how transport has an impact on human lives

Questions 7-13
Complete the summary below. Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.

Guard rails

Guard rails were introduced on British roads to improve the (7) ………………… of pedestrians, while ensuring that the movement of (8) …………………. Is not disrupted. Pedestrians are led to access points, and encouraged to cross one (9) ……………… at a time. An unintended effect is to create psychological difficulties in crossing the road, particularly for less (10) …………………….. people. Another result is that some people cross the road in a (11) …………………. way. The guard rails separate (12) ………………., and make it more difficult to introduce forms of transport that are (13) …………………

Should we try to bring extinct species back to life?

A The passenger pigeon was a legendary species. Flying in vast numbers across North America, with potentially many millions within a single flock, their migration was once one of nature’s great spectacles. Sadly, the passenger pigeon’s existence came to an end on 1 September 1914, when the last living specimen died at Cincinnati Zoo. Geneticist Ben Novak is lead researcher on an ambitious project which now aims to bring the bird back to life through a process known as ‘de-extinction’. The basic premise involves using cloning technology to turn the DNA of extinct animals into a fertilised embryo, which is carried by the nearest relative still in existence – in this case, the abundant band-tailed pigeon – before being born as a living, breathing animal. Passenger pigeons are one of the pioneering species in this field, but they are far from the only ones on which this cutting-edge technology is being trialled.

B In Australia, the thylacine, more commonly known as the Tasmanian tiger, is another extinct creature which genetic scientists are striving to bring back to life. There is no carnivore now in Tasmania that fills the niche which thylacines once occupied,’ explains Michael Archer of the University of New South Wales. He points out that in the decades since the thylacine went extinct, there has been a spread in a ‘dangerously debilitating’ facial tumour syndrome which threatens the existence of the Tasmanian devils, the island’s other notorious resident. Thylacines would have prevented this spread because they would have killed significant numbers of Tasmanian devils. ‘If that contagious cancer had popped up previously, it would have burned out in whatever region it started. The return of thylacines to Tasmania could help to ensure that devils are never again subjected to risks of this kind.’

C If extinct species can be brought back to life, can humanity begin to correct the damage it has caused to the natural world over the past few millennia? The idea of de-extinction is that we can reverse this process, bringing species that no longer exist back to life,’ says Beth Shapiro of University of California Santa Cruz’s Genomics Institute. ‘I don’t think that we can do this. There is no way to bring back something that is 100 per cent identical to a species that went extinct a long time ago.’ A more practical approach for long-extinct species is to take the DNA of existing species as a template, ready for the insertion of strands of extinct animal DNA to create something new; a hybrid, based on the living species, but which looks and/or acts like the animal which died out.

D This complicated process and questionable outcome begs the question: what is the actual point of this technology? ‘For us, the goal has always been replacing the extinct species with a suitable replacement,’ explains Novak. ‘When it comes to breeding, band-tailed pigeons scatter and make maybe one or two nests per hectare, whereas passenger pigeons were very social and would make 10,000 or more nests in one hectare.’ Since the disappearance of this key species, ecosystems in the eastern US have suffered, as the lack of disturbance caused by thousands of passenger pigeons wrecking trees and branches means there has been minimal need for regrowth. This has left forests stagnant and therefore unwelcoming to the plants and animals which evolved to help regenerate the forest after a disturbance. According to Novak, a hybridised band-tailed pigeon, with the added nesting habits of a passenger pigeon, could, in theory, re-establish that forest disturbance, thereby creating a habitat necessary for a great many other native species to thrive.

E Another popular candidate for this technology is the woolly mammoth. George Church, professor at Harvard Medical School and leader of the Woolly Mammoth Revival Project, has been focusing on cold resistance, the main way in which the extinct woolly mammoth and its nearest living relative, the Asian elephant, differ. By pinpointing which genetic traits made it possible for mammoths to survive the icy climate of the tundra, the project’s goal is to return mammoths, or a mammoth- like species, to the area. ‘My highest priority would be preserving the endangered Asian elephant,’ says Church, ‘expanding their range to the huge ecosystem of the tundra. Necessary adaptations would include smaller ears, thicker hair, and extra insulating fat, all for the purpose of reducing heat loss in the tundra, and all traits found in the now extinct woolly mammoth.’ This repopulation of the tundra and boreal forests of Eurasia and North America with large mammals could also be a useful factor in reducing carbon emissions – elephants punch holes through snow and knock down trees, which encourages grass growth. This grass growth would reduce temperatures, and mitigate emissions from melting permafrost.

F While the prospect of bringing extinct animals back to life might capture imaginations, it is, of course, far easier to try to save an existing species which is merely threatened with extinction. ‘Many of the technologies that people have in mind when they think about de-extinction can be used as a form of ‘‘genetic rescue”,’ explains Shapiro. She prefers to focus the debate on how this emerging technology could be used to fully understand why various species went extinct in the first place, and therefore how we could use it to make genetic modifications which could prevent mass extinctions in the future. ‘I would also say there’s an incredible moral hazard to not do anything at all,’ she continues. ‘We know that what we are doing today is not enough, and we have to be willing to take some calculated and measured risks.’

Questions 14-17
Reading Passage 2 has six paragraphs, A-F. Which paragraph contains the following information?
Write the correct letter, A-F, in boxes 14-17. NB You may use any letter more than once.

14. a reference to how further disappearance of multiple species could be avoided
15. explanation of a way of reproducing an extinct animal using the DNA of only that species
16. reference to a habitat which has suffered following the extinction of a species
17. mention of the exact point at which a particular species became extinct

Questions 18-22
Complete the summary below. Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.

The woolly mammoth revival project

Professor George Church and his team are trying to identify the (18) …………………..which enabled mammoths to live in the tundra. The findings could help preserve the mammoth’s close relative, the endangered Asian elephant. According to Church, introducing Asian elephants to the tundra would involve certain physical adaptations to minimise (19) ……………….. To survive in the tundra, the species would need to have the mammoth-like features of thicker hair, (20) …………………. of a reduced size and more (21) ………………. Repopulating the tundra with mammoths or Asian elephant/mammoth hybrids would also have an impact on the environment, which could help to reduce temperatures and decrease (22) ……………….

Questions 23-26
Match each statement with the correct person, A, B or C. Write the correct letter, A, B or C, in boxes 23-26 on your answer sheet. NB You may use any letter more than once.

23. Reintroducing an extinct species to its original habitat could improve the health of a particular species living there.
24. It is important to concentrate on the causes of an animal’s extinction.
25. A species brought back from extinction could have an important beneficial impact on the vegetation of its habitat.
26. Our current efforts at preserving biodiversity are insufficient.

List of People
A Ben Novak
B Michael Archer
C Beth Shapiro

Having a laugh

Humans start developing a sense of humour as early as six weeks old, when babies begin to laugh and smile in response to stimuli. Laughter is universal across all human cultures and even exists in some form in rats, chimps, and bonobos. Like other human emotions and expressions, laughter and humour provide psychological scientists with rich resources for studying human psychology, ranging from the development of language to the neuroscience of social perception.

Theories focusing on the evolution of laughter point to it as an important adaptation for social communication. Take, for example, the recorded laughter in TV comedy shows. Back in 1950, US sound engineer Charley Douglass hated dealing with the unpredictable laughter of live audiences, so started recording his own ‘laugh tracks’. These were intended to help people at home feel like they were in a social situation, such as a crowded theatre. Douglass even recorded various types of laughter, as well as mixtures of laughter from men, women, and children. In doing so, he picked up on a quality of laughter that is now interesting researchers: a simple ‘haha’ communicates a remarkable amount of socially relevant information.

In one study conducted in 2016, samples of laughter from pairs of English-speaking students were recorded at the University of California, Santa Cruz. A team made up of more than 30 psychological scientists, anthropologists, and biologists then played these recordings to listeners from 24 diverse societies, from indigenous tribes in New Guinea to city-dwellers in India and Europe. Participants were asked whether they thought the people laughing were friends or strangers. On average, the results were remarkably consistent: worldwide, people’s guesses were correct approximately 60% of the time.

Researchers have also found that different types of laughter serve as codes to complex human social hierarchies. A team led by Christopher Oveis from the University of California, San Diego, found that high-status individuals had different laughs from low-status individuals, and that strangers’ judgements of an individual’s social status were influenced by the dominant or submissive quality of their laughter. In their study, 48 male college students were randomly assigned to groups of four, with each group composed of two low-status members, who had just joined their college fraternity group, and two high-status members, older students who had been active in the fraternity for at least two years. Laughter was recorded as each student took a turn at being teased by the others, involving the use of mildly insulting nicknames. Analysis revealed that, as expected, high-status individuals produced more dominant laughs and fewer submissive laughs relative to the low-status individuals. Meanwhile, low-status individuals were more likely to change their laughter based on their position of power; that is, the newcomers produced more dominant laughs when they were in the ‘powerful’ role of teasers. Dominant laughter was higher in pitch, louder, and more variable in tone than submissive laughter.

A random group of volunteers then listened to an equal number of dominant and submissive laughs from both the high- and low-status individuals, and were asked to estimate the social status of the laugher. In line with predictions, laughers producing dominant laughs were perceived to be significantly higher in status than laughers producing submissive laughs. ‘This was particularly true for low-status individuals, who were rated as significantly higher in status when displaying a dominant versus submissive laugh,’ Oveis and colleagues note. ‘Thus, by strategically displaying more dominant laughter when the context allows, low-status individuals may achieve higher status in the eyes of others.’ However, high-status individuals were rated as high-status whether they produced their natural dominant laugh or tried to do a submissive one.

Another study, conducted by David Cheng and Lu Wang of Australian National University, was based on the hypothesis that humour might provide a respite from tedious situations in the workplace. This ‘mental break’ might facilitate the replenishment of mental resources. To test this theory, the researchers recruited 74 business students, ostensibly for an experiment on perception. First, the students performed a tedious task in which they had to cross out every instance of the letter ‘e’ over two pages of text. The students then were randomly assigned to watch a video clip eliciting either humour, contentment, or neutral feelings. Some watched a clip of the BBC comedy Mr. Bean, others a relaxing scene with dolphins swimming in the ocean, and others a factual video about the management profession.

The students then completed a task requiring persistence in which they were asked to guess the potential performance of employees based on provided profiles, and were told that making 10 correct assessments in a row would lead to a win. However, the software was programmed such that it was nearly impossible to achieve 10 consecutive correct answers. Participants were allowed to quit the task at any point. Students who had watched the Mr. Bean video ended up spending significantly more time working on the task, making twice as many predictions as the other two groups.

Cheng and Wang then replicated these results in a second study, during which they had participants complete long multiplication questions by hand. Again, participants who watched the humorous video spent significantly more time working on this tedious task and completed more questions correctly than did the students in either of the other groups.

‘Although humour has been found to help relieve stress and facilitate social relationships, the traditional view of task performance implies that individuals should avoid things such as humour that may distract them from the accomplishment of task goals,’ Cheng and Wang conclude. ‘We suggest that humour is not only enjoyable but more importantly, energising.’

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

27. When referring to laughter in the first paragraph, the writer emphasises
A its impact on language.
B its function in human culture.
C its value to scientific research.
D its universality in animal societies.

28. What does the writer suggest about Charley Douglass?
A He understood the importance of enjoying humour in a group setting.
B He believed that TV viewers at home needed to be told when to laugh.
C He wanted his shows to appeal to audiences across the social spectrum.
D He preferred shows where audiences were present in the recording studio.

29. What makes the Santa Cruz study particularly significant?
A the various different types of laughter that were studied
B the similar results produced by a wide range of cultures
C the number of different academic disciplines involved
D the many kinds of people whose laughter was recorded

30. Which of the following happened in the San Diego study?
A Some participants became very upset.
B Participants exchanged roles.
C Participants who had not met before became friends.
D Some participants were unable to laugh.

31. In the fifth paragraph, what did the results of the San Diego study suggest?
A It is clear whether a dominant laugh is produced by a high- or low-status person.
B Low-status individuals in a position of power will still produce submissive laughs.
C The submissive laughs of low- and high-status individuals are surprisingly similar.
D High-status individuals can always be identified by their way of laughing.

Questions 32-36
Complete the summary using the list of words, A-H, below.

The benefits of humour

In one study at Australian National University, randomly chosen groups of participants were shown one of three videos, each designed to generate a different kind of (32) ……………….. When all participants were then given a deliberately frustrating task to do, it was found that those who had watched the (33) …………………video persisted with the task for longer and tried harder to accomplish the task than either of the other two groups. A second study in which participants were asked to perform a particularly (34) ……………….. task produced similar results. According to researchers David Cheng and Lu Wang, these findings suggest that humour not only reduces (35) ………………………. and helps build social connections but it may also have a (36) …………….. effect on the body and mind.

A laughter
B relaxing
C boring
D anxiety
E stimulating
F emotion
G enjoyment
H amusing

Questions 37-40
Do the following statements agree with the claims of the writer in Reading Passage 3? In boxes 37-40 write

YES                               if the statement agrees with the claims of the writer
NO                                 if the statement contradicts the claims of the writer
NOT GIVEN              if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this

37. Participants in the Santa Cruz study were more accurate at identifying the laughs of friends than those of strangers.
38. The researchers in the San Diego study were correct in their predictions regarding the behaviour of the high-status individuals.
39. The participants in the Australian National University study were given a fixed amount of time to complete the task focusing on employee profiles.
40. Cheng and Wang’s conclusions were in line with established notions regarding task performance.

Nutmeg – A Valuable Spice

The nutmeg tree, Myristica fragrans, is a large evergreen tree native to Southeast Asia. Until the late 18th century, it only grew in one place in the world: a small group of islands in the Banda Sea, part of the Moluccas – or Spice Islands – in northeastern Indonesia. The tree is thickly branched with dense foliage of tough, dark green oval leaves, and produces small, yellow, bell-shaped flowers and pale yellow pear-shaped fruits. The fruit is encased in a fleshy husk. When the fruit is ripe, this husk splits into two halves along a ridge running the length of the fruit. Inside is a purple-brown shiny seed, 2-3 cm long by about 2cm across, surrounded by a lacy red or crimson covering called an ‘aril’. These are the sources of the two spices nutmeg and mace, the former being produced from the dried seed and the latter from the aril.

Nutmeg was a highly prized and costly ingredient in European cuisine in the Middle Ages, and was used as a flavouring, medicinal, and preservative agent. Throughout this period, the Arabs were the exclusive importers of the spice to Europe. They sold nutmeg for high prices to merchants based in Venice, but they never revealed the exact location of the source of this extremely valuable commodity. The Arab-Venetian dominance of the trade finally ended in 1512, when the Portuguese reached the Banda Islands and began exploiting its precious resources.

Always in danger of competition from neighbouring Spain, the Portuguese began subcontracting their spice distribution to Dutch traders. Profits began to flow into the Netherlands, and the Dutch commercial fleet swiftly grew into one of the largest in the world. The Dutch quietly gained control of most of the shipping and trading of spices in Northern Europe. Then, in 1580, Portugal fell under Spanish rule, and by the end of the 16th century the Dutch found themselves locked out of the market. As prices for pepper, nutmeg, and other spices soared across Europe, they decided to fight back.

In 1602, Dutch merchants founded the VOC, a trading corporation better known as the Dutch East India Company. By 1617, the VOC was the richest commercial operation in the world. The company had 50,000 employees worldwide, with a private army of 30,000 men and a fleet of 200 ships. At the same time, thousands of people across Europe were dying of the plague, a highly contagious and deadly disease. Doctors were desperate for a way to stop the spread of this disease, and they decided nutmeg held the cure. Everybody wanted nutmeg, and many were willing to spare no expense to have it. Nutmeg bought for a few pennies in Indonesia could be sold for 68,000 times its original cost on the streets of London. The only problem was the short supply. And that’s where the Dutch found their opportunity.

The Banda Islands were ruled by local sultans who insisted on maintaining a neutral trading policy towards foreign powers. This allowed them to avoid the presence of Portuguese or Spanish troops on their soil, but it also left them unprotected from other invaders. In 1621, the Dutch arrived and took over. Once securely in control of the Bandas, the Dutch went to work protecting their new investment. They concentrated all nutmeg production into a few easily guarded areas, uprooting and destroying any trees outside the plantation zones. Anyone caught growing a nutmeg seedling or carrying seeds without the proper authority was severely punished. In addition, all exported nutmeg was covered with lime to make sure there was no chance a fertile seed which could be grown elsewhere would leave the islands. There was only one obstacle to Dutch domination. One of the Banda Islands, a sliver of land called Run, only 3 Ion long by less than 1 km wide, was under the control of the British. After decades of fighting for control of this tiny island, the Dutch and British arrived at a compromise settlement, the Treaty of Breda, in 1667. Intent on securing their hold over every nutmeg-producing island, the Dutch offered a trade: if the British would give them the island of Run, they would in turn give Britain a distant and much less valuable island in North America. The British agreed. That other island was Manhattan, which is how New Amsterdam became New York. The Dutch now had a monopoly over the nutmeg trade which would last for another century.

Then, in 1770, a Frenchman named Pierre Poivre successfully smuggled nutmeg plants to safety in Mauritius, an island off the coast of Africa. Some of these were later exported to the Caribbean where they thrived, especially on the island of Grenada. Next, in 1778, a volcanic eruption in the Banda region caused a tsunami that wiped out half the nutmeg groves. Finally, in 1809, the British returned to Indonesia and seized the Banda Islands by force. They returned the islands to the Dutch in 1817, but not before transplanting hundreds of nutmeg seedlings to plantations in several locations across southern Asia. The Dutch nutmeg monopoly was over.

Today, nutmeg is grown in Indonesia, the Caribbean, India, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea and Sri Lanka, and world nutmeg production is estimated to average between 10,000 and 12,000 tonnes per year.

Questions 1-4
Complete the notes below. Write ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.

The nutmeg tree and fruit
• The leaves of the tree are (1) ……………….. in shape
• The (2) ………………. surrounds the fruit and breaks open when the fruit is ripe
• The (3) ………………. is used to produce the spice nutmeg
• The covering known as the aril is used to produce (4) ………………

Questions 5-7
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1? In boxes 5-7, write

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

5. In the Middle Ages, most Europeans knew where nutmeg was grown.
6. The VOC was the world’s first major trading company.
7. Following the Treaty of Breda, the Dutch had control of all the islands where nutmeg grew.

Questions 8-13
Complete the table below. Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage.

Middle ages	Nutmeg was brought to Europe by the (8)………………..
16th century	European nations took control of the nutmeg trade
17th century	Demand for nutmeg grew, as it was believed to be effective against the disease known as the (9)…………… The Dutch – took control of the Banda Islands – restricted nutmeg production to a few areas – put (10)……………..on nutmeg to avoid it being cultivated outside the islands – finally obtained the island of (11)………………from the British
Late 18th century	1770 – nutmeg plants were secretly taken to (12)…………….. 1778 – half the Banda Islands’ nutmeg plantations were destroyed by a (13)………………..

Driverless Cars

A The automotive sector is well used to adapting to automation in manufacturing. The implementation of robotic car manufacture from the 1970s onwards led to significant cost savings and improvements in the reliability and flexibility of vehicle mass production. A new challenge to vehicle production is now on the horizon and, again, it comes from automation. However, this time it is not to do with the manufacturing process, but with the vehicles themselves.

Research projects on vehicle automation are not new. Vehicles with limited self-driving capabilities have been around for more than 50 years, resulting in significant contributions towards driver assistance systems. But since Google announced in 2010 that it had been trialling self-driving cars on the streets of California, progress in this field has quickly gathered pace.

B There are many reasons why technology is advancing so fast. One frequently cited motive is safety; indeed, research at the UK’s Transport Research Laboratory has demonstrated that more than 90 percent of road collisions involve human error as a contributory factor, and it is the primary cause in the vast majority. Automation may help to reduce the incidence of this.

Another aim is to free the time people spend driving for other purposes. If the vehicle can do some or all of the driving, it may be possible to be productive, to socialise or simply to relax while automation systems have responsibility for safe control of the vehicle. If the vehicle can do the driving, those who are challenged by existing mobility models – such as older or disabled travellers – may be able to enjoy significantly greater travel autonomy.

C Beyond these direct benefits, we can consider the wider implications for transport and society, and how manufacturing processes might need to respond as a result. At present, the average car spends more than 90 percent of its life parked. Automation means that initiatives for car-sharing become much more viable, particularly in urban areas with significant travel demand. If a significant proportion of the population choose to use shared automated vehicles, mobility demand can be met by far fewer vehicles.

D The Massachusetts Institute of Technology investigated automated mobility in Singapore, finding that fewer than 30 percent of the vehicles currently used would be required if fully automated car sharing could be implemented. If this is the case, it might mean that we need to manufacture far fewer vehicles to meet demand. However, the number of trips being taken would probably increase, partly because empty vehicles would have to be moved from one customer to the next.

Modelling work by the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute suggests automated vehicles might reduce vehicle ownership by 43 percent, but that vehicles’ average annual mileage would double as a result. As a consequence, each vehicle would be used more intensively, and might need replacing sooner. This faster rate of turnover may mean that vehicle production will not necessarily decrease.

E Automation may prompt other changes in vehicle manufacture. If we move to a model where consumers are tending not to own a single vehicle but to purchase access to a range of vehicles through a mobility provider, drivers will have the freedom to select one that best suits their needs for a particular journey, rather than making a compromise across all their requirements.

Since, for most of the time, most of the seats in most cars are unoccupied, this may boost production of a smaller, more efficient range of vehicles that suit the needs of individuals. Specialised vehicles may then be available for exceptional journeys, such as going on a family camping trip or helping a son or daughter move to university.

F There are a number of hurdles to overcome in delivering automated vehicles to our roads. These include the technical difficulties in ensuring that the vehicle works reliably in the infinite range of traffic, weather and road situations it might encounter; the regulatory challenges in understanding how liability and enforcement might change when drivers are no longer essential for vehicle operation; and the societal changes that may be required for communities to trust and accept automated vehicles as being a valuable part of the mobility landscape.

G It’s clear that there are many challenges that need to be addressed but, through robust and targeted research, these can most probably be conquered within the next 10 years. Mobility will change in such potentially significant ways and in association with so many other technological developments, such as telepresence and virtual reality, that it is hard to make concrete predictions about the future. However, one thing is certain: change is coming, and the need to be flexible in response to this will be vital for those involved in manufacturing the vehicles that will deliver future mobility.

Questions 14-18
Reading Passage 2 has seven sections, A-G. Which section contains the following information?
Write the correct letter, A-G, in boxes 14-18.

14. reference to the amount of time when a car is not in use
15. mention of several advantages of driverless vehicles for individual road-users
16. reference to the opportunity of choosing the most appropriate vehicle for each trip
17. an estimate of how long it will take to overcome a number of problems
18. a suggestion that the use of driverless cars may have no effect on the number of vehicles manufactured

Questions 19-22
Complete the summary below. Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.

The impact of driverless cars

Figures from the Transport Research Laboratory indicate that most motor accidents are partly due to (19) ……………., so the introduction of driverless vehicles will result in greater safety. In addition to the direct benefits of automation, it may bring other advantages. For example, schemes for (20) ………………… will be more workable, especially in towns and cities, resulting in fewer cars on the road. According to the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute, there could be a 43 percent drop in (21) ……………..of cars. However, this would mean that the yearly (22) …………………. of each car would, on average, be twice as high as it currently is. This would lead to a higher turnover of vehicles, and therefore no reduction in automotive manufacturing.

Questions 23 and 24
Choose TWO letters, A-E.

Which TWO benefits of automated vehicles does the writer mention?
A Car travellers could enjoy considerable cost savings.
B It would be easier to find parking spaces in urban areas.
C Travellers could spend journeys doing something other than driving.
D People who find driving physically difficult could travel independently.
E A reduction in the number of cars would mean a reduction in pollution.

Questions 25 and 26
Choose TWO letters, A~E.

Which TWO challenges to automated vehicle development does the writer mention?
A making sure the general public has confidence in automated vehicles
B managing the pace of transition from conventional to automated vehicles
C deciding how to compensate professional drivers who become redundant
D setting up the infrastructure to make roads suitable for automated vehicles
E getting automated vehicles to adapt to various different driving conditions

What Is Exploration?

We are all explorers. Our desire to discover, and then share that new-found knowledge, is part of what makes us human – indeed, this has played an important part in our success as a species. Long before the first caveman slumped down beside the fire and grunted news that there were plenty of wildebeest over yonder, our ancestors had learnt the value of sending out scouts to investigate the unknown. This questing nature of ours undoubtedly helped our species spread around the globe, just as it nowadays no doubt helps the last nomadic Penan maintain their existence in the depleted forests of Borneo, and a visitor negotiate the subways of New York.

Over the years, we’ve come to think of explorers as a peculiar breed – different from the rest of us, different from those of us who are merely ‘well travelled’, even; and perhaps there is a type of person more suited to seeking out the new, a type of caveman more inclined to risk venturing out. That, however, doesn’t take away from the fact that we all have this enquiring instinct, even today; and that in all sorts of professions – whether artist, marine biologist or astronomer – borders of the unknown are being tested each day.

Thomas Hardy set some of his novels in Egdon Heath, a fictional area of uncultivated land, and used the landscape to suggest the desires and fears of his characters. He is delving into matters we all recognise because they are common to humanity. This is surely an act of exploration, and into a world as remote as the author chooses. Explorer and travel writer Peter Fleming talks of the moment when the explorer returns to the existence he has left behind with his loved ones. The traveller ‘who has for weeks or months seen himself only as a puny and irrelevant alien crawling laboriously over a country in which he has no roots and no background, suddenly encounters his other self, a relatively solid figure, with a place in the minds of certain people’.

In this book about the exploration of the earth’s surface, I have confined myself to those whose travels were real and who also aimed at more than personal discovery. But that still left me with another problem: the word ‘explorer’ has become associated with a past era. We think back to a golden age, as if exploration peaked somehow in the 19th century – as if the process of discovery is now on the decline, though the truth is that we have named only one and a half million of this planet’s species, and there may be more than 10 million – and that’s not including bacteria. We have studied only 5 per cent of the species we know. We have scarcely mapped the ocean floors, and know even less about ourselves; we fully understand the workings of only 10 per cent of our brains.

Here is how some of today’s ‘explorers’ define the word. Ran Fiennes, dubbed the ‘greatest living explorer’, said, ‘An explorer is someone who has done something that no human has done before – and also done something scientifically useful.’ Chris Bonington, a leading mountaineer, felt exploration was to be found in the act of physically touching the unknown: ‘You have to have gone somewhere new.’ Then Robin Hanbury-Tenison, a campaigner on behalf of remote so-called ‘tribal’ peoples, said, ‘A traveller simply records information about some far-off world, and reports back; but an explorer changes the world.’ Wilfred Thesiger, who crossed Arabia’s Empty Quarter in 1946, and belongs to an era of unmechanised travel now lost to the rest of us, told me, ‘If I’d gone across by camel when I could have gone by car, it would have been a stunt.’ To him, exploration meant bringing back information from a remote place regardless of any great self-discovery.

Each definition is slightly different – and tends to reflect the field of endeavour of each pioneer. It was the same whoever I asked: the prominent historian would say exploration was a thing of the past, the cutting-edge scientist would say it was of the present. And so on. They each set their own particular criteria; the common factor in their approach being that they all had, unlike many of us who simply enjoy travel or discovering new things, both a very definite objective from the outset and also a desire to record their findings.

I’d best declare my own bias. As a writer, I’m interested in the exploration of ideas. I’ve done a great many expeditions and each one was unique. I’ve lived for months alone with isolated groups of people all around the world, even two ‘uncontacted tribes’. But none of these things is of the slightest interest to anyone unless, through my books, I’ve found a new slant, explored a new idea. Why? Because the world has moved on. The time has long passed for the great continental voyages – another walk to the poles, another crossing of the Empty Quarter. We know how the land surface of our planet lies; exploration of it is now down to the details – the habits of microbes, say, or the grazing behaviour of buffalo. Aside from the deep sea and deep underground, it’s the era of specialists. However, this is to disregard the role the human mind has in conveying remote places; and this is what interests me: how a fresh interpretation, even of a well-travelled route, can give its readers new insights.

Questions 27-32
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.

27. The writer refers to visitors to New York to illustrate the point that
A exploration is an intrinsic element of being human.
B most people are enthusiastic about exploring.
C exploration can lead to surprising results.
D most people find exploration daunting.

28. According to the second paragraph, what is the writer’s view of explorers?
A Their discoveries have brought both benefits and disadvantages.
B Their main value is in teaching others.
C They act on an urge that is common to everyone.
D They tend to be more attracted to certain professions than to others.

29. The writer refers to a description of Egdon Heath to suggest that
A Hardy was writing about his own experience of exploration.
B Hardy was mistaken about the nature of exploration.
C Hardy’s aim was to investigate people’s emotional states.
D Hardy’s aim was to show the attraction of isolation.

30. In the fourth paragraph, the writer refers to ‘a golden age’ to suggest that
A the amount of useful information produced by exploration has decreased.
B fewer people are interested in exploring than in the 19th century.
C recent developments have made exploration less exciting.
D we are wrong to think that exploration is no longer necessary.

31. In the sixth paragraph, when discussing the definition of exploration, the writer argues that
A people tend to relate exploration to their own professional interests.
B certain people are likely to misunderstand the nature of exploration.
C the generally accepted definition has changed over time.
D historians and scientists have more valid definitions than the general public.

32. In the last paragraph, the writer explains that he is interested in
A how someone’s personality is reflected in their choice of places to visit.
B the human ability to cast new light on places that may be familiar.
C how travel writing has evolved to meet changing demands.
D the feelings that writers develop about the places that they explore.

Questions 33-37
Look at the following statements (Questions 33-37) and the list of explorers below. Match each statement with the correct explorer, A-E. Write the correct letter, A-E, in boxes 33-37. NB You may use any letter more than once.

33. He referred to the relevance of the form of transport used.
34. He described feelings on coming back home after a long journey.
35. He worked for the benefit of specific groups of people.
36. He did not consider learning about oneself an essential part of exploration.
37. He defined exploration as being both unique and of value to others.

List of Explorers
A Peter Fleming
B Ran Fiennes
C Chris Bonington
D Robin Hanbury-Tenison
E Wilfred Thesiger

Questions 38-40
Complete the summary below. Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.

The writer’s own bias

The writer has experience of a large number of (38) …………………. , and was the first stranger that certain previously (39) …………………… people had encountered. He believes there is no need for further exploration of Earth’s (40) …………………, except to answer specific questions such as how buffalo eat.

Section 1
Read the text below and answer questions 1-8.

The best hiking boots

Whether you’re climbing a mountain or walking in the country, be sure to buy the right boots, writes Sian Lewis

A Hanwag Tatra Boots
These boots are expensive but will give you a lifetime of wear. They are a wide fit and offer excellent ankle support. They passed our waterproof test when worn on long, rainy walks, although they are a bit heavy.

B Scarpa Peak Gore-tex Boots
These are good all-round boots that have kept our feet dry in heavy rain, snow and mud. They are warm and comfortable to wear straight out of the box and continue to be so even after many kilometres. A great choice for all seasons.

C Keen Terradora Ethos
These are meant for spring and summer walks and for putting in your backpack for treks in hot climates. They will never weigh you down. Their soles grip well and despite not being waterproof, they are quick-drying when they get wet.

D Danner Jag
Danner’s retro boots are one of the heavier ones we reviewed. They take a week or two for your feet to get used to them, but we found them waterproof even in heavy rain. These are boots for the style conscious, but still suitable for demanding walks.E Merrell Siren Sport Q2 Mid Boots
We’ve worn these boots in freezing cold conditions and our feet felt comfortable. Remember to pull the laces firmly when you put these boots on as they are rather wide around the ankles.

F Teva Arrowood Mid WP
The soft leather might not be tough enough for extreme environments, but these boots get top marks for comfort. They’re waterproof, but we found this wore off after about 20 wet walks. You can, however, get round this problem by using a protective spray on them.

G Regatta Clydebank Mid Boots
These boots are reasonably priced and they performed well in heavy rain. They don’t grip the ground as well as some other boots and aren’t very warm in cold winter weather so we’d say they’re best for country walks in spring and summer.

Questions 1-8
Look at the seven reviews of hiking boots, A-G. For which hiking boots are the following statements true?
Write the correct letter, A-G, in boxes 1-8 on your answer sheet. NB You may use any letter more than once.

1. These boots are a good choice for people who want to look smart when they are walking.
2. People do not need to spend time getting their feet accustomed to these boots.
3. These boots should last for many years.
4. People find these boots useful when travelling as they are not heavy.
5. One feature of these boots does not continue to be effective for very long.
6. These boots do not keep the rain out.
7. It is important to make sure these boots are done up tightly before starting a walk.
8. These boots should suit people who don’t want to spend a lot.

Read the text below and answer Questions 9-14.

Beekeeping workshop at Elm Farm

If you’ve ever wanted to keep bees and have your own delicious honey, there’s no better time to begin!

Whether you’re keen to learn everything you need to know to get you started, or simply extremely interested in the idea of keeping bees, this one-day interactive workshop will teach you the fascinating secrets of the honeybee and how to care for and keep bees.

Our day begins here on the farm, getting to know about the honeybee, specifically the kind we keep here, and their fascinating history. You will find out about and try for yourself the equipment beekeepers use to care for their bees and discover the many different types of hives bee colonies live in and their different uses. You’ll learn about the life cycle of a colony, disease prevention and caring for bees and of course how to harvest honey for your personal use or for sale.

Then it’s time to try on your bee suit and meet our bees. We’ll teach you how to open the hive, recognise the different bees in it (including how to spot the queen!) and explain what they’re doing in different parts of the hive.

What’s included in the price?

We’ll provide everything you need, including unlimited organic tea or coffee, lunch cooked in our outdoor, wood-fired oven and beekeeping suits for the day. Just bring a pair of thick boots with you. You’ll leave with plenty of notes and resources, including a packet of bee-friendly wildflower seeds and, courtesy of BJ Sherriff, the leading supplier of beekeeping clothing, an exclusive 25% discount for anything in their online store.

We like to run our workshops fairly and honestly. Your booking secures a very limited place, so is non-refundable – if you can’t make it, you can send a friend or colleague instead though. If at the end of any of our workshops, you don’t believe that it has helped you to achieve what it set out to, we will gladly provide a full refund.
Places are strictly limited so please do book early to avoid disappointment.

Questions 9-14
Do the following statements agree with the information given in the text? In boxes 9-14 on your answer sheet, write

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

9. The workshop is only suitable for people who already keep their own bees.
10. Participants will meet people who are involved in selling honey to the public.
11. Vegetarian refreshments are available if requested in advance.
12. Participants will need to pay extra to hire appropriate clothes for the workshop.
13. Protective footwear will be required during the workshop.
14. If someone has to cancel before the workshop, the fee will be repaid.

Section 2
Read the text below and answer Questions 15-20.

Should you pay someone to write your CV?

In my view, the belief that the individual is the best person to write their own CV is not always true. Although many people can write their own CVs, and do it well, others struggle with a variety of problems initially, such as not knowing how to structure a CV or how to highlight their most relevant strengths.

Through in-depth consultation, a professional CV writer can help identify exactly what is necessary for a particular role, cut out unnecessary or irrelevant details, and pinpoint what makes the individual stand out. This level of objectivity is one of the major benefits of working with a professional writer. It’s often difficult to stand back from your own career history to assess what’s relevant or not, or to choose the most appropriate qualities.

If you do choose to work with a professional CV writer, here are some tips:

Ask for a CV writer who has experience in your sector. HR professionals and recruiters with relevant experience can also have valuable insights into what companies are looking for.

Look for someone who’s prepared to take the time to find out your core qualities, who can choose exactly the right words for maximum impact and who understands what and where to edit. Ask to see samples of their work or use personal recommendations before you choose a CV writing service.

You’ll probably need to answer an in-depth email questionnaire or be interviewed before any writing actually starts. The more you can give your CV writer to work with, the better, so the promise of a quick turnaround time isn’t always going to result in the best possible CV. Take the time to think about and jot down your career aims, your past successes, and the value you bring, before you start the whole process. Your CV will probably be used as a springboard for questions at interview, so you need to make sure you feel happy with the way it’s being written and with the choice of words. Being involved in the writing process means your CV sounds authentic.

Questions 15-20
Complete the sentences below. Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the text for each answer.

15. Some jobseekers have difficulty with their CV because they have not learnt which qualities they should………
16. Professional CV writers know which………………are best left out of the CV.
17. CV writers with knowledge of a particular field of work often provide useful………………about the skills firms expect from job applicants.
18. It is advisable to request……………….of what a professional CV writer has previously produced.
19. Professional CV writers often ask jobseekers to work through a………………as a first step.
20. If the jobseeker assists the professional writer, the tone of the CV will be……………..

Read the text below and answer Questions 21-27.

Starting a new job

First impressions really do last, so it’s important you perform well on your first day in the new job. Here are our top tips that will help you sail through your first day with ease. A new job is a great opportunity to hit the reset button. If you got into the habit of skipping breakfast at your last job, fit it in now or experiment with getting a workout in before going to the office. Having a routine you like and sticking to it definitely impacts on your overall happiness.

You’ve probably already been into the office for an interview, so you’ll have some idea of what the dress code is. While you definitely want to feel comfortable, it’s best to play it safe, leaning towards a smarter and more polished look on your first day.

You don’t want to be late, but getting to the office way too early can also potentially upset not only your schedule but other people’s too. A good rule of thumb is to try and arrive 15 minutes ahead of the agreed start time. Accepting an invite to lunch with your boss and co-workers will allow you to get to know the people you’ll be working with on a more personal level. It will also help you get a handle on personalities and work styles. To ensure the lunch goes well, have a few conversation starters in mind. That way, if the talk dries up, you can get it going again.

One of the big outcomes of going through a job search is you learn loads about yourself. In particular, you learn what you want and don’t want, and what skills you bring to the table. With this new-found understanding, take some time over the initial period to think about what goals you have for your new role. In identifying these early on, you’ll be one step closer to positioning yourself for success.

It’s important that you approach your new job with an open mind, and that you’re ready to soak it all in. Be patient with yourself as you figure out how you fit in, and make sure you understand the way things are done before rushing into giving suggestions on improvements. Remember they hired you for a reason, so smile, relax a little and enjoy the first day of your next big thing.

Questions 21-27
Complete the notes below. Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the text on page for each answer.

How best to tackle a new job

The first day
• Before arriving at work
o Try out a different morning (21)………………..that will create a sense of well-being
o Make sure your chosen outfit conforms to the company’s (22)…………
• If you eat with colleagues at midday:
o It will provide information on their (23)……………….and the way they operate
o It may be wise to prepare some (24)………………to help the interaction flow

During the first few weeks
• Work out some (25)………………and how to go about fulfilling them
• Try to keep a completely (26)……………..as you settle into the post
• Avoid making proposals at (27)……………….too soon

Section 3
Read the text below and answer questions 28-40.

History of women’s football in Britain

Womens’ football In Britain has deeper roots than might be expected. In one town in 18th- century Scotland, single women played an annual match against their married counterparts, though the motives behind the contest were not purely sporting. Some accounts say that the games were watched by a crowd of single men, who hoped to pick out a potential bride based on her footballing ability.

By the late 19th century, with the men’s game spreading across Britain like wildfire, women also began to take up association football. Early pioneers included Nettie J Honeyball, who founded the British Ladies’ Football Club (BLFC) in 1895. Honeyball was an alias: like many of the middle- and upper-class women who played in the late 19th century, she was not keen to publicise her involvement with a contact sport played on muddy fields. We know more about Lady Florence Dixie, who was appointed president of the BLFC in 1895 and who was an ardent believer in equality between the sexes.

The BLFC arranged games between teams representing the north and the south of England, where money would be raised for those in need. These initially attracted healthy numbers of supporters although early newspaper reports were not particularly generous, with one reporter suggesting ‘when the novelty has worn off, I do not chink women’s football will attract the crowds’. And crowds did drop off as the growing popularity of the men’s game came to dominate public interest. In a country where women were not yet allowed to vote, it would take extraordinary circumstances for their efforts on the football pitch to attract widespread attention.

Those circumstances arose in 1914 with the outbreak of the First World War. With many men leaving their jobs to join the army, women started to work in factories and just as men had done before them, they began to play informal games of football during their lunch breaks. After some initial uncertainty, their superiors came to see these games as a means to boost morale and thus increase productivity. Teams soon formed and friendly matches were arranged.

In the town of Preston in the north of England, the female workers at a manufacturing company called Dick, Kerr & Co showed a particular aptitude for the game. Watching from a window above the yard where they played, office worker Alfred Frankland spotted their talent and he set about forming a team. Under Frankland’s management, they soon drew significant crowds to see their games. Known as Dick, Kerr’s Ladies, they beat rival factory Arundel Coulthard 4-0 on Christmas Day 1917, with 10,000 watching at Preston stadium.

After the war ended in 1918 the Dick, Kerr’s side and other women’s teams continued to draw large crowds. In 1920 there were around 150 women’s sides in England and Dick, Kerr’s Ladies packed 53,000 into Everton’s Goodison Park stadium. The same year, the team found their one true genius: Lily Parr. Parr grew up playing football with her brothers, and began her career with her town’s ladies’ team at the age of 14. When they played against the Dick, Kerr’s side, she caught Frankland’s eye and was offered a job at the factory – as well as a spot on the team. Close to six-feet tall and with jet-black hair, she had a ferocious appetite and a fierce left foot. She is credited with 43 goals during her first season playing for Dick, Kerr’s Ladies and around 1,000 in total.

By 1921 Dick, Kerr’s Ladies were regularly attracting crowds in the tens of thousands. But the year ended in catastrophe for the women’s game. The Football Association (FA) – officially the governing body for the sport as a whole, but really only concerned with men’s competitions — had always taken a poor view of female participation. Women’s football was tolerated during the war, but in the years that followed, driven by the fear that the women’s game could affect Football League attendances, the FA sought to assert itself.

Its solution was decisive and brutal. On 5 December 1921, the FA banned its members from allowing women’s football to be played at its grounds, saying that football was ‘quite unsuitable for females’. The FA also forbade its members from acting as referees at women’s games. To all intents and purposes, women’s football in England was outlawed.

The FA also suggested that an excessive proportion of the gate receipts were absorbed in expenses and an inadequate percentage devoted to charity. No such obligation to donate profits existed for men’s clubs and no proof of financial mismanagement was presented, but there was little the women’s clubs could do in response. There was outrage from players, with the captain of Plymouth Ladies remarking that the FA was ‘a hundred years behind the times’ and calling its decision ‘purely sex prejudice’.

It was not until 1966 that serious efforts to revive the women’s game began, but progress remained painfully slow. It took pressure from the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), to finally force the FA to end restrictions on women’s football in 1971. By this time, half a century of progress had been lost.

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

28. In the first paragraph, the writer says that in 18th-century Scotland
A only unmarried women were allowed to play football.
B women’s football was more common than men’s football.
C women were sometimes forbidden to watch football matches.
D skill at football might be considered when choosing a wife.

29. The writer says that Nettie J Honeyball was unwilling to
A take an active part in team sports.
B mix with people she considered lower class.
C let the public know of her involvement in football.
D take a leadership role in the British Ladies’ Football Club.

30. The writer suggests that in Britain, between 1895 and 1914,
A society was not yet ready for women’s football.
B there were false reports of the decline of women’s football.
C the media felt that women’s football should not be allowed.
D women’s football mainly attracted people because it was unusual.

31. After the First World War broke out in 1914, factory managers
A were initially unwilling to employ women.
B played in matches against female employees.
C allowed extra time for their employees to play football.
D decided that women’s football might have positive effects.

Questions 32-37
Look at the following statements (Questions 32-37) and the list of football organisations below. Match each statement with the correct organisation, A, B, C or D. Write the correct letter, A, B, C or D, in boxes 32-37 on your answer sheet. NB You may use any letter more than once.

32. It felt threatened by the rise of women’s football.
33. It was established by a male office worker.
34. It donated money from football matches to good causes.
35. It called for the ending of the ban on women’s football in Britain.
36. it was accused of being old-fashioned.
37. It was led by a believer in women’s rights.

List of Football Organisations
A the British Ladies’ Football Club (BLFC)
B the Dick, Kerr’s Ladies team
C the Football Association (FA)
D the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA)

Questions 38-40
Complete the summary below. Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the text for each answer.

A catastrophic year for women’s football

At the end of 1921, women’s football teams were forbidden to use the (38)…………….of the Football Association, and were not allowed to have Football Association members as (39)……………….The FA said that women’s clubs did not give enough to charity, and that there had been mismanagement of funds. Female workers accused the FA of (40)…………………..against women, but the ban continued until 1971.

Section 1
Read the text below and answer questions 1-5.

Maps Showing Walks Starting From Bingham Town Hall

A The walk described in this leaflet takes you to one of the many places in the district where bricks were made for hundreds of years, until it was closed in the late 19th century. This brickworks is now the largest and best-known nature reserve in the area. Please note that the ground is very uneven, and under- sixes should not be taken on this walk.

B This walk will take you to the top of Burley Hill, along a nice easy path that people of all ages will be able to manage. From the summit you can see for a great distance to the north and west, across a landscape that includes half a dozen lakes and the entrance to Butter Caves. Bear in mind, though, that mist often comes in from the sea and covers the hilltop.

C This route leads you through the village of Cottesloe, which was created in the 1930s and is famous for its strange-looking houses and ceramics factory, which is still the largest employer in the area. An artificial lake was originally created beside the village, and has since been filled in and turned into an adventure playground. After you leave Cottesloe, you have a choice of routes to return to the starting point, so either continue via Thurley Park, or if it’s raining, take the shorter direct route.

D This walk is ideal in fine weather, as it takes you to the shore of a lake, at a spot convenient for swimming. Children will want to enjoy themselves in the adventure playground nearby. From there you continue to Starling Cottage, which draws people from around the world to visit the home, from 1920 to 1927, of the poet Barbara Cottam.

E If you want an easy, undemanding walk over flat ground, this walk will suit you perfectly. It passes the entrance to the famous Butter Caves visitor attraction, so you can combine a visit there with the walk, or just take shelter if it starts raining! On the final stage of the walk you pass through Wimpole, the village where Richard Merton, the architect of a number of local buildings, lived for much of his life.

Questions 1-5
The text has five paragraphs, A-E. Which paragraph mentions the following? Write the correct letter, A-E, in boxes 1-5 on your answer sheet. NB You may use any letter more than once.

1. the chance to go into caves
2. the chance to spend time beside a lake
3. some unusual architecture
4. unsuitability for young children
5. the length of the walk depending on the weather

Read the text below and answer Questions 6-14.

The Maplehampton Scarecrow Competition – A Great Success!

There was once a time when farmers all over the country put scarecrows in fields of growing crops. A traditional scarecrow was a model – usually life-size – of a man or woman dressed in old clothes, and their purpose was to frighten the birds away; though how successful they were is a matter of opinion!

Maplehampton’s scarecrow competition took place on September 12th. Local farmers supplied everything needed to make a scarecrow – like pieces of wood to form a frame, and straw to stuff the scarecrow. The scarecrows were dressed in old clothes which the competitors brought with them.

The festival was held in the village hall, instead of outdoors as planned, due to the unusually high temperature. There were two classes, one for adults and one for children, all of them working in small teams. Over 20 teams took part, each creating one scarecrow. They were encouraged by an audience of around 50, and had ideas and guidance from local artist Tracey Sanzo.

The scarecrows were judged by a team of people from the village. The winning children’s team made a scarecrow that looked like a giant bird – which would surely keep every real bird away! The winning adult team’s scarecrow was dressed as an alien from another planet, and its face was painted to make it look very frightening – at least to human beings!

After the judging, many of the participants and the spectators had a picnic which they had brought. Some of the scarecrows then went home to their creators’ gardens. Alice Cameron, a local farmer, liked one of the scarecrows so much, she bought it to stand on her balcony: she said she didn’t need it to scare birds away from her crops, as only bird-scarers that made a noise were effective. She just wanted to be able to see it! The event raised over £300 for village funds.

Questions 6-14
Do the following statements agree with the information given in the text? In boxes 6-14 on your answer sheet, write

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

6. Traditionally, most scarecrows were the same size as a human being.
7. The competition in September was the first one in Maplehampton.
8. The farmers who provided materials could take part in the competition.
9. Old clothes were supplied to the people who made the scarecrows.
10. The venue for the competition was changed because of the weather.
11. Competitors could get advice on making their scarecrows.
12. In the judges’ opinion, the scarecrow dressed as an alien was better than the giant bird.
13. The competition organisers supplied a picnic for the competitors and spectators.
14. Alice Cameron bought a scarecrow to frighten birds away from her crops.

Section 2
Read the text below and answer Questions 15-22.

Qualities That Make A Great Barista

Truly great baristas take the time to develop the key skills that will enable them to deliver the highest possible quality of coffee-based beverage and service. As a barista, you must make a concerted effort to listen to your clientele and make sure the drinks you produce are correct in all respects. This is particularly important when you consider the sheer range and complexity of modern coffee drinks, which may start from a single (or double) shot of espresso but can include many additional elements. If you become distracted by the conversation that is going on nearby, you may ultimately miss the mark from a service perspective.

One thing that separates a great from a good barista is that the former is constantly busy and has a strong work ethic. You will often catch a great barista rinsing out the filter in their machines, for example, as this erodes the build-up of burnt coffee oil that can begin to impact on the quality and taste of each espresso shot. Similarly, do not be surprised to hear the sound of the coffee grinder at work. This highlights the keen attention to detail that distinguishes skilled baristas, as they have the desire and the awareness to make every drink with completely fresh ground coffee. This type of attentiveness helps baristas to get the most from the coffee that they use, as many of the delicate aromas found in espresso are lost when exposed to the open air.

Timing is everything when it comes to producing the perfect cup of coffee. A great barista knows precisely when to finish the extraction of espresso, at the point when the balance of flavour has reached its optimum levels. They also understand how important this is; those who act too soon are left with a drink without flavour while those who delay the finish risk burning the beverage and tainting it with a bitter after-taste.

When it comes to customer service, there is so much more to a coffee shop experience than drinking perfectly roasted blends. The atmosphere and the ambience also play a central role, and the interaction that the customer has with their barista sets the tone for an enjoyable experience. Great baristas ask their customers how their day is going or what they’re going to do later; they read local newspapers and keep up with issues that really matter, all of which make a real difference in a competitive marketplace.

Questions 15-22
Complete the notes below. Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the text for each answer.

Notes on being a great barista

Serving the customer
• Be sure you make drinks that are (15)………………….for the customer
• Ignore any (16)………………….around you

Using the equipment
• Clean the machine (17)……………….regularly
• Grinding
– always use ground coffee that is (18)………………
– remember that air causes the smell to fade

Making the coffee
• Know when to stop making the espresso
– too early reduces the (19)……………….
– too late makes the coffee (20)……………………

Giving good customer service
• Talk to your customers
– ask about the customers’ (21)…………………….
– know something about the important (22)………………….in the area

Read the text below and answer Questions 23-27.

Running A Meeting

Prior to the meeting, think about the seating and arrange it in an appropriate way. A circle can work well for informal meetings, but sometimes the furniture cannot be re-arranged or rows are more suitable. Consider the participants and decide what is best. Before people arrive, it’s a good idea to designate someone to stand at the entrance and greet everyone.

If the meeting is small, start by requesting everyone to introduce themselves and to give a bit of relevant information in addition to their name. This may be what they do or why they are there. For all meetings, you need to introduce the chairperson, i.e., yourself, and any other outside speakers you have invited.

Next, make sure everyone can see the agenda or has a copy of it. Briefly run through the items then take one point at a time, and make sure the group doesn’t stray from that point until it has been dealt with. Encourage participation at all times so that attendees can contribute but don’t let everyone talk at the same time. Try to keep discussions positive, but don’t ignore conflicts – find a solution for them and make sure they are resolved before they grow.

Summarise points regularly and make clear action points. Write these down and don’t forget to note who’s doing what, and by when. Encourage everyone to feel able to volunteer for tasks and roles. It can help if the more experienced members of the group offer to share skills and knowledge, but don’t let the same people take on all the work as this can lead to tension within the group.

At the end, remember to thank everyone for turning up and contributing. It can be nice to follow the meeting with a social activity like sharing a meal or going to a cafe.

Questions 23-27
Complete the flow chart below. Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the text on page 66 for each answer.

Tips for running a meeting
Arrange seats according to the type of meeting and participants
In small meetings, ask people for some (23)…………………..as they introduce themselves
Make sure the (24)……………….is available to everyone
Involve people in the discussion and solve any (25)……………………quickly if they arise
Note action points and who is responsible for them
Avoid (26)…………………..by involving a range of people in tasks
Thank people for coming, and possibly have some kind of (27)…………………..afterwards

Section 3
Read the text below and answer questions 28-40.

Feathers As Decoration In European History

A Today, we do not generally associate feathers with the military in Europe, yet history shows that in fact feathers have played an intriguing role in European military clothing. The Bersaglieri of the Italian Army, for example, still wear a bunch of long black feathers in their hats hanging down to one side, while British fusiliers have a clipped feather plume whose colour varies according to their regiment. The Royalists in the English Civil War adorned their headgear with ostrich feathers. ‘Historically, feathers were an incredibly expressive accessory for men,1 observes Cambridge historian, Professor Ulinka Rublack. ‘Nobody has really looked at why this was the case. That’s a story that! want to tell.’

Rublack is beginning to study the use of featherwork in early modern fashion as part of a joint project between the Universities of Cambridge, Basel and Bern. To the outsider, its preoccupations (her co-researchers are studying gold, glass and veils) might seem surprising. Yet such materials sustained significant economies and expertise.

B Rublack has spotted that something unusual started to happen with feathers during the 16th century. In 1500, they were barely worn at all in Europe; 100 years later they had become an indispensable accessory for the fashionable European man. In prosperous trading centres, the citizens started wearing hats bedecked with feathers from cranes and swallows. Headgear was specially manufactured so that feathers could be inserted more easily. By 1573, Plantin’s Flemish-French dictionary was even obliged to offer words to describe people who chose not to wear them, recommending such terms as: ‘the featherless’ and ‘unfeathered’.

Featherworking became big business. From Prague and Nuremberg to Paris and Madrid, people started to make a living from decorating feathers for clothing. Impressive efforts went into dyeing them. A 1548 recipe recommends using ashes, lead monoxide and river water to create a ‘very beautiful’ black, for example.

C Why this happened will become clearer as Rublack’s project develops. One crucial driver, however, was exploration – the discovery of new lands, especially in South America. Compared with many of the other species that early European colonists encountered, exotic birds could be captured, transported and kept with relative ease. Europe experienced a sudden ‘bird-craze’, as exotic birds became a relatively common sight in the continent’s largest markets.

Given the link with new territories and conquest, ruling elites wore feathers partly to express their power and reach. But there were also more complex reasons. In 1599, for example, Duke Frederick of Wurttemberg held a display at his court at which he personally appeared wearing a costume covered in exotic feathers and representing the Americas. This was not just a symbol of power, but of cultural connectedness, Rublack suggests: The message seems to be that he was embracing the global in a duchy that was quite insular and territorial.’

D Nor were feathers worn by the powerful alone. In 1530, a legislative assembly at Augsburg imposed restrictions on peasants and traders adopting what it clearly felt should be an elite fashion. The measure did not last, perhaps because health manuals of the era recommended feathers could keep the wearer safe from ‘bad’ air – cold, miasma, damp or excessive heat – all of which were regarded as hazardous. During the 1550s, Eleanor of Toledo had hats made from peacock feathers to keep her dry in the rain. Gradually, feathers came to indicate that the wearer was healthy and civilised. Artists and musicians took to wearing them as a mark of subtlety and style.

E As with most fads, this enthusiasm eventually wore off. By the mid-17th century, feathers were out of style, with one striking exception. Within the armies of Europe feathers remained an essential part of military costume. Rublack thinks that there may have been several reasons for this strange contradiction. ‘It’s associated with the notion of graceful warfaring,’ she says. This was a period when there were no standing armies and it was hard to draft soldiers. One solution was to aestheticise the military, to make it seem graceful and powerful.’ Feathers became associated with the idea of an art of warfare. They were also already a part of military garb among many native American peoples and in the Ottoman empire. Rublack believes that just as some of these cultures considered the feathers of certain birds to be highly significant, and sometimes sacred, European soldiers saw the feathers as imparting noble passions, bravery and courage.

F In time, her research may therefore reveal a tension about the ongoing use of feathers in this unlikely context. But, as she also notes, she is perhaps the first historian to have spotted the curious emotional resonance of feathers in military fashion at all. All this shows a sea-change in methodologies: historians now chart the ways in which our identities are shaped through deep connections with ‘stuff’ – the material objects that are parts of our lives.

Questions 28-33
The text on has six sections, A-F. Choose the correct heading for each section from the list of headings below.
Write the correct number, i-viii, in boxes 28-33 on your answer sheet.

List of Headings
i The link between feathers and a wider international awareness
ii An unsuitable decoration for military purposes
iii A significant rise in the popularity of feathers
iv Growing disapproval of the trapping of birds for their feathers
v A new approach to researching the past
vi Feathers as protection and as a symbol of sophistication
vii An interesting relationship between the wearing of feathers and gender
viii A reason for the continued use of feathers by soldiers

28. Section A
29. Section B
30. Section C
31. Section D
32. Section E
33. Section F

Questions 34-36
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.

34. In Section B, what information is given about the use of feathers in the 16th century?
A Some were not real feathers, but imitations.
B They were sometimes coloured artificially.
C Birds were specially bred for their feathers.
D There was some disapproval of their use for decoration.

35. Rublack suggests the feather costume worn by Duke Frederick in 1599 represented
A a lack of sensitivity to American traditions.
B a rejection of the beliefs held by those around him.
C a positive attitude towards the culture of the Americas.
D a wish to follow a fashion of the time.

36. According to Rublack, one reason why feathers survived in European military costume was because
A birds were seen as having religious significance.
B feathers suggested certain qualities about military activities.
C the power of feathers was feared by other cultures.
D soldiers came to associate particular birds with warlike qualities.

Questions 37-40
Complete each sentence with the correct ending, A-G, below.

37. Hats decorated with long black feathers
38. Feathers from cranes and swallows
39. Feathers from exotic birds
40. Peacock feathers

A lost popularity in the 16th century.
B were used as protection from bad weather.
C are worn today by some soldiers.
D could only be worn by men of noble birth.
E were used to create an outfit worn by a person of high status.
F were once awarded for military achievements.
G became popular decorations for urban dwellers in the 16th century

Section 1
Read the text below and answer questions 1-7.

How to choose your builder

Building a new home is a significant investment, and it’s essential to find the right builder for the job. Before you look for a builder, it’s important to develop a comprehensive budget and have clear plans. Once you have a design in mind, it is time to start narrowing down your builder shortlist, and this starts with assessing how qualified each builder is. In Australia, this means checking that the builder holds a residential building licence. Most states have their own building authority who you can contact to check a builder’s licence.

You can also check if the builder is a member of an industry association such as the Housing Industry Association (HIA), and whether they have won any industry awards. For instance, the HIA runs a state and national awards programme, with a category that recognises the level of customer service that a builder delivers.

Most experts agree that display homes {homes constructed by the builder that are open to the public) offer a great opportunity to study their work up close. Display homes are usually offered by major project builders who work on a large scale and can deliver good quality and value. You can also talk to the salesperson and find out about the home design and what is and isn’t included in the sale price. And it may be possible to talk to other customers you meet there and ask their opinion of the workmanship in the display home.

Finally, avoid signing any business contract before you have read and understood it thoroughly. Ask your builder to use a standard building contract that has been designed to comply with the Domestic Building Contracts Act, and to be fair to both client and builder. You have five business days within which you may withdraw from the contract after signing it.

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

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

1. After selecting a builder, you should decide on the design of your new house.
2. In Australia, you can make sure that a builder has the appropriate licence.
3. The best builders usually belong to the Housing Industry Association.
4. The HIA gives an award to builders whose standards of customer service are very high.
5. Builders who work on smaller projects are more likely to have display homes.
6. It is advisable to have a contract which is in accordance with the Domestic Building Contracts Act.
7. A contract is legally binding from the time it has been signed.

Read the text below and answer Questions 8-14.

Island adventure activities

A Rib riding
Conquer stormy seas on a high-speed ride in an RIB (Rigid Inflatable Boat). These powerful boats cut through choppy waters with ease. You’ll need to hold on tight as the boat bounces across the wake of awesome cruise liners in one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes.

B Horse riding
Experience the thrill of riding on horseback along peaceful country lanes and secluded bridleways with the help of expert guides. Even a novice can quickly take the reins and feel the thrill of riding one of nature’s most magnificent beasts.

C Kayaking
Test your kayak nerves paddling around a deserted military fort built on a rocky outcrop out at sea, then explore the island’s busy harbours before gliding back to dry land where a hot shower and a cup of tea await.

D Cycling
Test your endurance on the famous Round the Island Cycle Route. Grit your teeth and tackle the brutal hills in the south of the island, or for something less challenging, discover our car-free cycle tracks on former railway lines.

E Segway riding
Have you got what it takes to master a Segway? In theory, these quirky electric machines are simple to control, with users leaning forwards to go faster and back to slow down. In reality, you’ll need some practice before you can master the skill and glide around the island.

F Tree climbing
A climb into the canopy of a 25-metre oak tree is an amazing experience. Supported by a rope and harness, you can stand on branches no bigger than your wrist, and swing out between the boughs, or simply take the opportunity to lie in a tree-top hammock and absorb the stunning bird’s eye views.

G Coasteering
Tackle the spectacular coast in the north of the island. Scrabble over the rocks around cliff edges as the waves crash around you, dive through submerged caves and emerge onto a beach once used by smugglers. This is a thrilling experience, but not an adventure to attempt alone.

H Mountain boarding
First developed as an off-season alternative to winter sports and now a sport in its own right, mountain boarding has the speed of snowboarding but with a harder landing when you fall. After a bit of practice and a few bruises, you’ll learn to control the ride and can join the few people who can call themselves mountain boarders.

Questions 8-14
Look at the eight advertisements for adventure sports on an island. For which adventure sport are the following statements true? Write the correct letter, A-H, in boxes 8-14 on your answer sheet. NB You may use any letter more than once.

8. You will be provided with safety equipment.
9. You may get some minor injuries doing this activity.
10. You can see a disused, isolated building.
11. You can relax and look down from above in an unusual location.
12. You will take an exciting trip in rough water close to big ships.
13. You can choose easy options or more difficult ones.
14. You may find this more difficult than you expect.

Section 2
Read the text below and answer Questions 15-20.

Barrington Music Service: Business and Development Manager

Barrington Music Service organises a wide range of music activities for children and young people resident in and around Barrington. It provides singing and specialist instrumental lessons in schools, and it owns a collection of instruments for use in schools, some of which are available for hire by the parents of children having lessons. The Service also arranges a number of music-related events, including festivals bringing together choirs and soloists from schools in both Barrington and other areas. The Music Service provides administrative and financial support for the Barrington Youth Orchestra, which takes part in workshops with professional artists and gives performances.

Barrington Music Service is seeking to recruit a Business and Development Manager to manage the administrative function and build on the success of the Service. We are looking for an individual with a passion for delivering the best possible music provision for the benefit of our children and young people.

As the Business and Development Manager, you will be responsible for managing the administrative and financial systems of the Music Service, ensuring it does not exceed its budget, which is currently around £1m a year. You will take the lead on marketing the Service and ensuring the generation of new income. The Music Service is involved in several partnerships with schools and with music and community organisations in the district, and you will be expected to increase the number and scope of these, as well as take the lead in fundraising. The Service recently embarked on a programme to broaden what is taught in school music lessons, to include instruments and musical styles from around the world, and you will be required to further develop this emphasis on diversity. You will need to improve systems for ensuring that the records of the Service’s activities are accurate, and maintain a database of all music teachers, students, and instruments belonging to the Service.

The person appointed will have experience of a supervisory role and the skills to motivate members of a team. You will have an understanding of accounting, at a non-specialist level, and of standard financial procedures. High-level IT skills and excellent verbal and written communication skills are essential. Although experience in music education is not crucial, good knowledge of the field, or of other areas of arts management, would be an advantage.

Questions 15-20
Complete the notes below.

Barrington Music Service
Activities
• organises music lessons
• enables the hire of instruments
• events such as (15)……………….for local and visiting schools
• supports Barrington Youth Orchestra

Post of Business and Development Manager
Person appointed will
• manage the administration of the Service
• be responsible for keeping to the (16)……………….
• build (17)……………….with other organisations
• be proactive in fundraising
• increase the focus on (18)………………..in school music lessons (e.g., international styles)
• make sure records and a (19)………………..is kept up-to-date

Person appointed must have
• ability to supervise and motivate others
• basic knowledge of (20)…………………
• other relevant skills

Read the text below and answer questions 21-27.

Health and safety in small businesses

The rate of accidents at work is almost 75% higher in small businesses than in larger companies. One possible reason is that many managers of small businesses have an inadequate knowledge of health and safety issues. Many managers of small businesses claim their situation is made worse by bureaucracy, arguing that the huge number of regulations — not just on health and safety but also on tax, the minimum wage, and much, much more – makes their work difficult.

Many managers are simply not aware of their responsibilities. They are too busy running their companies to read manuals, employ consultants or go to seminars. Moreover, the average business person doesn’t know where and how to get information. The Federation of Small Businesses argues that the special nature of small businesses should be recognised by health and safety inspectors, with an emphasis on education and how to comply with the law, rather than simply on enforcement. For instance, inspectors could make employers aware of what they really need to know, rather than swamping them with mountains of leaflets which may not be relevant.

Improvements are being made, however. The Health and Safety Executive has issued a free guide to the most important health and safety laws for employers. All employers must have their own health and safety policy statement and, for businesses with more than five employees, this must be in writing. It should be specific to the business and clear about the arrangements for and organisation of health and safety at work.

It should state a strategy, detail how it will be implemented and by whom, and say when it will be reviewed and updated. It is advisable to involve employees in this process, as they have direct experience. Assessing and identifying risks is the starting point. But to comply with the law, businesses must train their employees about health and safety, and provide information to others who need to know, such as the contractors working for them. These are often smaller companies that carry out most of the dangerous work. Helping them to get into good safety habits makes it easier for them to tender for work from big companies. Other advice from the Health and Safety Executive for small businesses tackles specific issues, such as helping small companies to deal with work-related stress.

Questions 21-27
Complete the sentences below.

21. One cause of health and safety problems in small businesses is that managers do not have enough relevant……………..
22. Managers complain they have too many………………..to deal with.
23. Managers may not fully understand their……………….
24. Businesses sometimes feel that inspectors give them far too many………………..
25. Businesses above a certain size must produce a written………………..of their health and safety policy.
26. A company’s health and safety policy is relevant to both its employees and its…………………
27. The Health and Safety Executive can advise small businesses on problems of……………….among their employees.

Section 3
Read the passage below and answer questions 28-40.

Jobs in ancient Egypt

In order to be engaged in the higher professions in ancient Egypt, a person had to be literate and so first had to become a scribe. The apprenticeship for this job lasted many years and was tough and challenging. It principally involved memorizing hieroglyphic symbols and practicing handwritten lettering. Scribes noted the everyday activities in ancient Egypt and wrote about everything from grain stocks to tax records. Therefore, most of our information on this rich culture comes from their records. Most scribes were men from privileged backgrounds. The occupation of scribe was among the most sought-after in ancient Egypt. Craftspeople endeavored to get their sons into the school for scribes, but they were rarely successful.

As in many civilizations, the lower classes provided the means for those above them to live comfortable lives. You needed to work if you wanted to eat, but there was no shortage of jobs at any time in Egypt’s history. The commonplace items taken for granted today, such as a brush or bowl, had to be made by hand; laundry had to be washed by hand, clothing sewn, and sandals made from papyrus and palm leaves. In order to make these and have paper to write on, papyrus plants had to be harvested, processed, and distributed and all these jobs needed workers. There were rewards and sometimes difficulties. The reed cutter, for example, who harvested papyrus plants along the Nile, had to bear in mind that he worked in an area that was also home to wildlife that, at times, could prove fatal.

At the bottom rung of all these jobs were the people who served as the basis for the entire economy; the farmers. Farmers usually did not own the land they worked. They were given food, implements, and living quarters as payment for their labor. Although there were many more glamorous jobs than farming, farmers were the backbone of the Egyptian economy and sustained everyone else.

The details of lower-class jobs are known from medical reports on the treatment of injuries, letters, and documents written on various professions, literary works, tomb inscriptions, and artistic representations. This evidence presents a comprehensive view of daily work in ancient Egypt – how the jobs were done, and sometimes how people felt about the work. In general, the Egyptians seem to have felt pride in their work no matter what their occupation. Everyone had something to contribute to the community, and no skills seem to have been considered non-essential. The potter who produced cups and bowls was as important to the community as the scribe, and the amulet-maker as vital as the pharmacist.

Part of making a living, regardless of one’s special skills, was taking part in the king’s monumental building projects. Although it is commonly believed that the great monuments and temples of Egypt were achieved through slave labor, there is absolutely no evidence to support this. The pyramids and other monuments were built by Egyptian laborers who either donated their time as community service or were paid for their labor, and Egyptians from every occupation could be called on to do this.

Stone had to first be quarried and this required workers to split the blocks from the rock cliffs. It was done by inserting wooden wedges in the rock which would swell and cause the stone to break from the face. The often huge blocks were then pushed onto sleds, devices better suited than wheeled vehicles to moving weighty objects over shifting sand. They were then rolled to a different location where they could be cut and shaped. This job was done by skilled stonemasons working with copper chisels and wooden mallets. As the chisels could get blunt, a specialist in sharpening would take the tool, sharpen it, and bring it back. This would have been constant daily work as the masons could wear down their tools on a single block.

The blocks were then moved into position by unskilled laborers. These people were mostly farmers who could do nothing with their land during the months when the Nile River overflowed its banks. Egyptologists Bob Brier and Hoyt Hobbs explain: ‘For two months annually, workmen gathered by the tens of thousands from all over the country to transport the blocks a permanent crew had quarried during the rest of the year. Overseers organized the men into teams to transport the stones on the sleds.’ Once the pyramid was complete, the inner chambers needed to be decorated by scribes who painted elaborate images on the walls. Interior work on tombs and temples also required sculptors who could expertly cut away the stone around certain figures or scenes that had been painted.

While these artists were highly skilled, everyone – no matter what their job for the rest of the year – was expected to contribute to communal projects. This practice was in keeping with the value of ma’at (harmony and balance) which was central to Egyptian culture. One was expected to care for others as much as oneself and contributing to the common good was an expression of this. There is no doubt there were many people who did not love their job every day, but the Egyptian government was aware of how hard the people worked and so staged a number of festivals throughout the year to show gratitude and give them days off to relax.

Questions 28-32
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.

28. What does the writer say about scribes in ancient Egypt?
A Their working days were very long.
B The topics they wrote about were very varied.
C Many of them were once ordinary working people.
D Few of them realised the true value of their occupation.

29. What is the writer doing in the second paragraph?
A explaining why jobs were plentiful in ancient Egypt
B pointing out how honest workers were in ancient Egypt
C comparing manual and professional work in ancient Egypt
D noting the range of duties an individual worker had in ancient Egypt

30. What is the writer doing in the fifth paragraph?
A explaining a problem
B describing a change
C rejecting a popular view
D criticising a past activity

31. The writer refers to the value of ma’at in order to explain
A how the work of artists reflected beliefs in ancient Egypt.
B how ancient Egyptians viewed their role in society.
C why the opinions of certain people were valued in ancient Egypt.
D why ancient Egyptians expressed their views so readily.

32. Which word best describes the attitude of the Egyptian government toward its workers?
A strict
B patient
C negligent
D appreciative

Questions 33-36
Look at the following statements (Questions 33-36) and the list of jobs below. Match each statement with the correct job, A-G.

33. was unable to work at certain times
34. divided workers into groups
35. faced daily hazards
36. underwent a long period of training

List of Jobs
A scribe
B reed cutter
C farmer
D potter
E stonemason
F overseer
G sculptor

Questions 37-40
Complete the summary below. Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the text for each answer.

The king’s building projects

Labourers who worked on the king’s buildings were local people who chose to participate in (37)……………………or who received payment.

The work involved breaking up stone cliffs using wooden wedges. The large pieces of stone were then transported to another site on sleds, which moved easily over the (38)…………………Here, the blocks could be cut and shaped using tools made of (39)…………………..and wood. Some of these had to be sharpened regularly.

Eventually, the stone was moved into place to create a building. The job of moving the stone was often done by (40)…………………..or other unskilled workers.

Section 1
Read the text below and answer questions 1-6.

Helping pupils to choose optional subjects when they’re aged 14-15: what some pupils say

A Krishnan
I’m studying Spanish, because it’s important to learn foreign languages – and I’m very pleased when I can watch a video in class and understand it. Mr Peckham really pushes us, and offers us extra assignments, to help us improve. That’s good for me, because otherwise I’d be quite lazy.

B Lucy
History is my favourite subject, and it’s fascinating to see how what we learn about the past is relevant to what’s going on in the world now. It’s made me understand much more about politics, for instance. My plan is to study history at university, and maybe go into the diplomatic service, so I can apply a knowledge of history.

C Mark
Thursdays are my favourite days, because that’s when we have computing. It’s the high spot of the week for me – I love learning how to program. I began when I was about eight, so when I started doing it at school, I didn’t think I’d have any problem with it, but I was quite wrong! When I leave school, I’m going into my family retail business, so sadly I can’t see myself becoming a programmer.

D Violeta
My parents both work in leisure and tourism, and they’ve always talked about their work a lot at home. I find it fascinating. I’m studying it at school, and the teacher is very knowledgeable, though I think we spend too much time listening to her: I’d like to meet more people working in the sector, and learn from their experience.

E Walid
I’ve always been keen on art, so I chose it as an optional subject, though I was afraid the lessons might be a bit dull. I needn’t have worried, though – our teacher gets us to do lots of fun things, so there’s no risk of getting bored. At the end of the year the class puts on an exhibition for the school, and I’m looking forward to showing some of my work to other people.

Questions 1-6
Look at the five comments about lessons, A-E. For which comments are the following statements true?
Write the correct letter, A-E, in boxes 1-6. NB You may use any letter more than once.

1. This pupil is interested in the subject despite the way it is taught.
2. This pupil is hoping to have a career that makes use of the subject.
3. This pupil finds the subject harder than they expected.
4. This pupil finds the lessons very entertaining.
5. This pupil appreciates the benefit of doing challenging work.
6. This pupil has realised the connection between two things.

Read the text below and answer questions 7-14.

It’s Almost Time For The Next Ripton Festival!

As usual, the festival will be held in the last weekend of June, this year on Saturday to Monday, 27-29 June. Ever since last year’s festival, the committee has been hard at work to make this year’s the best ever! The theme is Ripton through the ages. Scenes will be acted out showing how the town has developed since it was first established. But there’s also plenty that’s up-to-date, from the latest music to local crafts.

The Craft Fair is a regular part of the festival. Come and meet professional artists, designers and craftsmen and women, who will display their jewellery, paintings, ceramics, and much more. They’ll also take orders, so if you want one of them to make something especially for you, just ask! You’ll get it within a month of the festival ending.
The Saturday barbecue will start at 2 pm and continue until 10 pm, with a bouncy castle for kids. The barbecue will be held in Palmer’s Field, or in the town hall if there’s rain. Book your tickets now, as they always sell out very quickly! Entry for under 16s is free all day; adults can come for free until 6 pm and pay £5 after that. There’ll be live music throughout, with local amateur bands in the afternoon and professional musicians in the evening.

On Sunday we’re delighted to introduce an afternoon of boat races, arranged by the Ripton Rowing Club. The spectator area by the bridge has plenty of room to stand and cheer the boats home, in addition to a number of benches. The winners of the races will be presented with trophies by the mayor of Ripton. All money raised by the festival will go to support the sports clubs in Ripton.

Questions 7-14
Do the following statements agree with the information given in the text? In boxes 7-14 on your answer sheet, write

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

7. The festival is held every year.
8. This year’s festival focuses on the town’s history.
9. Goods displayed in the craft fair are unlike ones found in shops.
10. The barbecue will be cancelled if it rains.
11. Adults can attend the barbecue at any time without charge.
12. Amateur musicians will perform during the whole of the barbecue.
13. Seating is available for watching the boat races.
14. People attending the festival will be asked to donate some money.

Section 2
Read the text below and answer Questions 15-20.

Reducing injuries on the farm

Farms tend to be full of activity. There are always jobs to be done and some tasks require physical manual work. While it is good for people to be active, there are risk factors associated with this, and efforts need to be made to reduce them.

The first risk relates to the carrying of an excessive load or weight. This places undue demands on the spine and can cause permanent damage. Examples of tasks that involve this risk are moving 50-kilogramme fertiliser bags from one site to another or carrying heavy buckets of animal feed around fields. According to the UK Health and Safety Executive, activities such as these ‘should be avoided at all times’. Their documentation states that other methods should be considered, such as breaking down the load into smaller containers prior to movement or transporting the materials using a tractor or other vehicle. The risk posed by excessive force is made worse if the person lifting is also bending over as this increases pressure on the discs in the back.

If a load is bulky or hard to grasp, such as a lively or agitated animal, it will be more difficult to hold while lifting and carrying. The holder may adopt an awkward posture, which is tiring and increases the risk of injury. Sometimes a load has to be held away from the body because there is a large obstacle in the area and the person lifting needs to be able to see where their feet are going. This results in increased stress on the back; holding a load at arm’s length imposes about five times the stress of a close-to-the-body position. In such cases, handling aids should be purchased that can take the weight off the load and minimise the potential for injury.

Another risk that relates to awkward posture is repetitive bending when carrying out a task. An example might be repairing a gate that has collapsed onto the ground. This type of activity increases the stress on the lower back because the back muscles have to support the weight of the upper body. The farmer should think about whether the job can be performed on a workbench, reducing the need for prolonged awkward posture.

Questions 15-20
Complete the table below. Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the text.

Risks And How To Avoid Them

Risk factor	Examples of farm activities	Risk reduction measures to consider
Heavy load	– lifting sacks of (15)…………….. – carrying foods for animals	– divide into containers that weigh less – use a vehicle such as a tractor
Awkward posture	– lifting a restless (16)………….. – moving something around a big (17)……………..	buy particular (18)……………to help with support
A lot of (19)…………….while working	fixing a fallen (20)………………	use a workbench instead

Read the text below and answer Questions 21-27.

Good Customer Service In Retail

Without customers, your retail business would not exist. It stands to reason, therefore, that how you treat your customers has a direct impact on your profit margins. Some customers just want to browse and not be bothered by sales staff. Try to be sensitive to how much help a customer wants; be proactive in offering help without being annoying. Suggest a product that naturally accompanies what the customer is considering or point out products for which there are special offers, but don’t pressure a customer into buying an item they don’t want.

Build up a comprehensive knowledge of all the products in your shop, including the pros and cons of products that are alike but that have been produced under a range of brand names. If you have run out of a particular item, make sure you know when the next orders are coming in. Negativity can put customers off instantly. If a customer asks a question to which the answer is no’, do not just leave it at that – follow it with a positive, for example; ‘we’re expecting more of that product in on Tuesday’.

Meanwhile, if you see a product in the wrong place on a shelf, don’t ignore it — put it back where it belongs. This attention to presentation keeps the shop tidy, giving the right impression to your customers. Likewise, if you notice a fault with a product, remove it and replace it with another.

When necessary, be discreet. For example, if the customer’s credit card is declined at the till, keep your voice down and enquire about an alternative payment method quietly so that the customer doesn’t feel humiliated. If they experience uncomfortable emotions in your shop, it’s unlikely that they’ll come back.
Finally, good manners are probably the most important aspect of dealing with customers. Treat each person with respect at all times, even when you are faced with rudeness. Being discourteous yourself will only add more fuel to the fire.

Build a reputation for polite, helpful staff and you’ll find that customers not only keep giving you their custom, but also tell their friends about you.

Questions 21-27
Complete the sentences below. Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the text for each answer.

21. A ………………..approach to selling is fine as long as you do not irritate the customer.
22. Recommend additional products and……………….without being too forceful.
23. Know how to compare similar products which have different……………….
24. Avoid………………….by always saying more than ‘no’.
25. Keep an eye on the…………………of goods on the shelves.
26. If a customer has problems paying with their……………….handle the problem with care.
27. Any…………………..from a customer should not affect how you treat them.

Section 3
Read the text below and answer questions 28-40.

Plastic Is No Longer Fantastic

A In 2017, Carlos Ferrando, a Spanish engineer-turned-entrepreneur, saw a piece of art in a museum that profoundly affected him, ‘What Lies Under’, a photographic composition by Indonesian digital artist Ferdi Rizkiyanto, shows a child crouching by the edge of the ocean and ‘lifting up’ a wave, to reveal a cluster of assorted plastic waste, from polyethylene bags to water bottles. The artwork, designed to raise public awareness, left Ferrando angry – and fuelled with entrepreneurial ideas.

B Ferrando runs a Spanish-based design company, Closca, that produces an ingenious foldable bicycle helmet. But he has now also designed a stylish glass water bottle with a stretchy silicone strap and magnetic closure mechanism that means it can be attached to almost anything, from a bike to a bag to a pushchair handle. The product comes with an app that tells people where they can fill their bottles with water for free.

C The intention is to persuade people to stop buying water in plastic bottles, thus saving consumers money and reducing the plastic waste piling up in our oceans. ‘Bottled water is now a $100 billion business, and 81 per cent of the bottles are not recycled. It’s a complete waste – water is only 1.5 per cent of the price of the bottle!’ Ferrando cries. Indeed, environmentalists estimate that by 2050 there will be more plastic in our oceans than fish and that’s mainly down to such bottles. ‘We are trying to create a sense that being environmentally sophisticated is a status symbol,’ he adds. ‘We want people to clip their bottles onto what they are wearing, to show that they are recycling – and to look cool.’

D Ferrando’s story is fascinating because it seems like an indicator of something unexpected. Three decades ago, conspicuous consumption – the purchase of luxuries, such as handbags, shoes, cars, etc. on a lavish scale – heightened people’s social status. Indeed, the closing decades of the 20th century were a time when it seemed that anything could be turned into a commodity. Hence the fact that water became a consumer item, sold in plastic bottles, instead of just emerging, for free, from a tap.

E Today, though, conspicuous extravagance no longer seems desirable among consumers. Now, recycling is fashionable – as is cycling rather than driving. Plastic water bottles have become so common that they do not command status; instead, what many millennials – young people born in the late 20th century – prefer to post on social media are ‘real’ (refillable) bottles or even the once widespread Thermos bottles, Some teenagers currently think that these stainless-steel vacuum-insulated water bottles that are coming back onto the market are ultra ‘cool’; never mind the fact that they feel oddly out-of-date to anyone over the age of 40 or that teenagers in the 1970s would have avoided ever being seen with one.

F it is uncertain whether Closca will succeed in its goal. Although its foldable bike helmet is available in some outlets in New York, including the Museum of Modern Art, it can be very hard for any design entrepreneur to really take off in the global mass market, though not as hard as it might have been in the past. If an entrepreneur had wanted to fund a smart invention a few decades ago, he or she would have had to either raise a bank loan, borrow money from a family member or use a credit card. Things have moved on slightly since then.

G Entrepreneurs are still using the last two options, but some are also tapping into the ever-growing pot of money that is becoming available in the management world for ‘corporate social responsibility’ (CSR) investments. And then there are other options for those who wish to raise money straight away. Ferrando posted details about his water-bottle venture on a large, recognised platform for funding creative projects. He appealed for people to donate $30,000 of seed money – the money he needed to get his project going – and promised to give a bottle to anyone who provided more than $39 in ‘donations’. If he received the funds, he stated that the company would produce bottles in grey and white; if $60,000 was raised, a multicoloured one would be made. Using this approach, none of the donors has a stake in his idea, nor does he have any debt. Instead, it is almost a pre-sale of the product, in a manner that tests demand in advance and creates a potential crowd of enthusiasts. This old-fashioned community funding with a digital twist is supporting a growing array of projects ranging from films to card games, videos, watches and so on. And, at last count, Closca had raised some $52,838 from 803 backers. Maybe, 20 years from now, it will be the plastic bottle that seems peculiarly old-fashioned.

Questions 28-34
The text has seven paragraphs, A-G. Choose the correct heading for each paragraph from the list of headings below. Write the correct number, i-viii, in boxes 28-34 on your answer sheet.

List of Headings
i A time when opportunities were limited
ii The reasons why Ferrando’s product is needed
iii A no-risk solution
iv Two inventions and some physical details
v The contrasting views of different generations
vi A disturbing experience
vii The problems with replacing a consumer item
viii Looking back at why water was bottled

28. Paragraph A
29. Paragraph B
30. Paragraph C
31. Paragraph D
32. Paragraph E
33. Paragraph F
34. Paragraph G

Questions 35-37
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.

35. What does Ferrando say about his glass water bottle?
A it matches his bicycle helmet,
B it is cheaper than a plastic bottle.
C He has designed it to suit all ages.
D He wants people to be proud to show it.

36. What does the writer find fascinating about Ferrando’s story?
A the youthfulness of his ideas
B the old-fashioned nature of his products
C the choice it is creating for consumers
D the change it is revealing in people’s attitudes

37. What does the writer suggest about Closca’s bike helmet?
A It has both functional and artistic value.
B Its main appeal is to older people.
C It has had extraordinary success worldwide.
D It is a more exciting invention than the glass bottle.

Questions 38-40
Complete the summary below. Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the text for each answer.

Funding a smart invention

Thirty years ago, the methods used by creators to fund their projects involved getting money from the bank or from someone in the (38)…………………….Banks today are still a useful source of finance, but investments may also be sought from ‘corporate social responsibility’ projects. In order to get immediate funding, the method Ferrando took was to use a well-known (39)…………………to advertise his product and request financial support. People who gave a certain figure or over were offered a free gift. In addition, Ferrando advised his donors that his company would create bottles in two colours, followed by a (40)………………bottle once they had received a more significant amount. In this way, Ferrando avoided debt and found out how many people might want his products before manufacturing them.

Roman tunnels

The Persians, who lived in present-day Iran, were one of the first civilizations to build tunnels that provided a reliable supply of water to human settlements in dry areas. In the early first millennium BCE, they introduced the qanat method of tunnel construction, which consisted of placing posts over a hill in a straight line, to ensure that the tunnel kept to its route, and then digging vertical shafts down into the ground at regular intervals. Underground, workers removed the earth from between the ends of the shafts, creating a tunnel. The excavated soil was taken up to the surface using the shafts, which also provided ventilation during the work. Once the tunnel was completed, it allowed water to flow from the top of a hillside down towards a canal, which supplied water for human use. Remarkably, some qanats built by the Persians 2,700 years ago are still in use today.

They later passed on their knowledge to the Romans, who also used the qanat method to construct water-supply tunnels for agriculture. Roman qanat tunnels were constructed with vertical shafts dug at intervals of between 30 and 60 meters. The shafts were equipped with handholds and footholds to help those climbing in and out of them and were covered with a wooden or stone lid. To ensure that the shafts were vertical, Romans hung a plumb line from a rod placed across the top of each shaft and made sure that the weight at the end of it hung in the center of the shaft. Plumb lines were also used to measure the depth of the shaft and to determine the slope of the tunnel. The 5.6-kilometer-long Claudius tunnel, built in 41 CE to drain the Fucine Lake in central Italy, had shafts that were up to 122 meters deep, took 11 years to build and involved approximately 30,000 workers.

By the 6th century BCE, a second method of tunnel construction appeared called the counter-excavation method, in which the tunnel was constructed from both ends. It was used to cut through high mountains when the qanat method was not a practical alternative. This method required greater planning and advanced knowledge of surveying, mathematics and geometry as both ends of a tunnel had to meet correctly at the center of the mountain. Adjustments to the direction of the tunnel also had to be made whenever builders encountered geological problems or when it deviated from its set path. They constantly checked the tunnel’s advancing direction, for example, by looking back at the light that penetrated through the tunnel mouth, and made corrections whenever necessary. Large deviations could happen, and they could result in one end of the tunnel not being usable. An inscription written on the side of a 428-meter tunnel, built by the Romans as part of the Saldae aqueduct system in modern-day Algeria, describes how the two teams of builders missed each other in the mountain and how the later construction of a lateral link between both corridors corrected the initial error.

The Romans dug tunnels for their roads using the counter-excavation method, whenever they encountered obstacles such as hills or mountains that were too high for roads to pass over. An example is the 37-meter-long, 6-meter-high, Furlo Pass Tunnel built in Italy in 69-79 CE. Remarkably, a modern road still uses this tunnel today. Tunnels were also built for mineral extraction. Miners would locate a mineral vein and then pursue it with shafts and tunnels underground. Traces of such tunnels used to mine gold can still be found at the Dolaucothi mines in Wales. When the sole purpose of a tunnel was mineral extraction, construction required less planning, as the tunnel route was determined by the mineral vein.

Roman tunnel projects were carefully planned and carried out. The length of time it took to construct a tunnel depended on the method being used and the type of rock being excavated. The qanat construction method was usually faster than the counter-excavation method as it was more straightforward. This was because the mountain could be excavated not only from the tunnel mouths but also from shafts. The type of rock could also influence construction times. When the rock was hard, the Romans employed a technique called fire quenching which consisted of heating the rock with fire, and then suddenly cooling it with cold water so that it would crack. Progress through hard rock could be very slow, and it was not uncommon for tunnels to take years, if not decades, to be built. Construction marks left on a Roman tunnel in Bologna show that the rate of advance through solid rock was 30 centimeters per day. In contrast, the rate of advance of the Claudius tunnel can be calculated at 1.4 meters per day. Most tunnels had inscriptions showing the names of patrons who ordered construction and sometimes the name of the architect. For example, the 1.4-kilometer Cevlik tunnel in Turkey, built to divert the floodwater threatening the harbor of the ancient city of Seleuceia Pieria, had inscriptions on the entrance, still visible today, that also indicate that the tunnel was started in 69 CE and was completed in 81 CE.

Questions 1-6
Label the diagram below. Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.

Questions 7-10
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage? In boxes 7-10 on your answer sheet, write

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

7. The counter-excavation method completely replaced the qanat method in the 6th century BCE.
8. Only experienced builders were employed to construct a tunnel using the counter-excavation method.
9. The information about a problem that occurred during the construction of the Saldae aqueduct system was found in an ancient book.
10. The mistake made by the builders of the Saldae aqueduct system was that the two parts of the tunnel failed to meet.

Questions 11-13
Answer the questions below. Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer. Write your answers in boxes 11-13 on your answer sheet.

11. What type of mineral were the Dolaucothi mines in Wales built to extract?
12. In addition to the patron, whose name might be carved onto a tunnel?
13. What part of Seleuceia Pieria was the Qevlik tunnel built to protect?

Changes in reading habits

Look around on your next plane trip. The iPad is the new pacifier for babies and toddlers. Younger school-aged children read stories on smartphones; older kids don’t read at all, but hunch over video games. Parents and other passengers read on tablets or skim a flotilla of email and news feeds. Unbeknown to most of us, an invisible, game-changing transformation links everyone in this picture: the neuronal circuit that underlies the brain’s ability to read is subtly, rapidly changing and this has implications for everyone from the pre-reading toddler to the expert adult.

As work in neurosciences indicates, the acquisition of literacy necessitated a new circuit in our species’ brain more than 6,000 years ago. That circuit evolved from a very simple mechanism for decoding basic information, like the number of goats in one’s herd, to the present, highly elaborated reading brain. My research depicts how the present reading brain enables the development of some of our most important intellectual and affective processes: internalized knowledge, analogical reasoning, and inference; perspective-taking and empathy; critical analysis and the generation of insight. Research surfacing in many parts of the world now cautions that each of these essential ‘deep reading’ processes may be under threat as we move into digital- based modes of reading.

This is not a simple, binary issue of print versus digital reading and technological innovation. As MIT scholar Sherry Turkle has written, we do not err as a society when we innovate but when we ignore what we disrupt or diminish while innovating. In this hinge moment between print and digital cultures, society needs to confront what is diminishing in the expert reading circuit, what our children and older students are not developing, and what we can do about it.

We know from research that the reading circuit is not given to human beings through a genetic blueprint like vision or language; it needs an environment to develop. Further, it will adapt to that environment’s requirements – from different writing systems to the characteristics of whatever medium is used. If the dominant medium advantages processes that are fast, multi-task oriented and well-suited for large volumes of information, like the current digital medium, so will the reading circuit. As UCLA psychologist Patricia Greenfield writes, the result is that less attention and time will be allocated to slower, time-demanding deep reading processes.

Increasing reports from educators and from researchers in psychology and the humanities bear this out. English literature scholar and teacher Mark Edmundson describes how many college students actively avoid the classic literature of the 19th and 20th centuries in favour of something simpler as they no longer have the patience to read longer, denser, more difficult texts. We should be less concerned with students’ ‘cognitive impatience’, however, than by what may underlie it: the potential inability of large numbers of students to read with a level of critical analysis sufficient to comprehend the complexity of thought and argument found in more demanding texts.

Multiple studies show that digital screen use may be causing a variety of troubling downstream effects on reading comprehension in older high school and college students. In Stavanger, Norway, psychologist Anne Mangen and her colleagues studied how high school students comprehend the same material in different mediums. Mangen’s group asked subjects questions about a short story whose plot had universal student appeal; half of the students read the story on a tablet, the other half in paperback. Results indicated that students who read on print were superior in their comprehension to screen-reading peers, particularly in their ability to sequence detail and reconstruct the plot in chronological order.

Ziming Liu from San Jose State University has conducted a series of studies which indicate that the ‘new norm’ in reading is skimming, involving word-spotting and browsing through the text. Many readers now use a pattern when reading in which they sample the first line and then word- spot through the rest of the text. When the reading brain skims like this, it reduces time allocated to deep reading processes. In other words, we don’t have time to grasp complexity, to understand another’s feelings, to perceive beauty, and to create thoughts of the reader’s own.

The possibility that critical analysis, empathy and other deep reading processes could become the unintended ‘collateral damage’ of our digital culture is not a straightforward binary issue about print versus digital reading. It is about how we all have begun to read on various mediums and how that changes not only what we read, but also the purposes for which we read. Nor is it only about the young. The subtle atrophy of critical analysis and empathy affects us all equally. It affects our ability to navigate a constant bombardment of information. It incentivizes a retreat to the most familiar stores of unchecked information, which require and receive no analysis, leaving us susceptible to false information and irrational ideas.

There’s an old rule in neuroscience that does not alter with age: use it or lose it. It is a very hopeful principle when applied to critical thought in the reading brain because it implies choice. The story of the changing reading brain is hardly finished. We possess both the science and the technology to identify and redress the changes in how we read before they become entrenched. If we work to understand exactly what we will lose, alongside the extraordinary new capacities that the digital world has brought us, there is as much reason for excitement as caution.

Questions 14-17
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.

14. What is the writer’s main point in the first paragraph?
A Our use of technology is having a hidden effect on us.
B Technology can be used to help youngsters to read.
C Travellers should be encouraged to use technology on planes.
D Playing games is a more popular use of technology than reading.

15. What main point does Sherry Turkle make about innovation?
A Technological innovation has led to a reduction in print reading.
B We should pay attention to what might be lost when innovation occurs.
C We should encourage more young people to become involved in innovation.
D There is a difference between developing products and developing ideas.

16. What point is the writer making in the fourth paragraph?
A Humans have an inborn ability to read and write.
B Reading can be done using many different mediums.
C Writing systems make unexpected demands on the brain.
D Some brain circuits adjust to whatever is required of them.

17. According to Mark Edmundson, the attitude of college students
A has changed the way he teaches.
B has influenced what they select to read.
C does not worry him as much as it does others.
D does not match the views of the general public.

Questions 18-22
Complete the summary using the list of words, A-H, below. Write the correct letter, A-H, in boxes 18-22 on your answer sheet.

Studies on digital screen use

There have been many studies on digital screen use, showing some (18) ………………… trends. Psychologist Anne Mangen gave high-school students a short story to read, half using digital and half using print mediums. Her team then used a question-and-answer technique to find out how (19) ………………… each group’s understanding of the plot was. The findings showed a clear pattern in the responses, with those who read screens finding the order of information (20) ………………….. to recall. Studies by Ziming Liu show that students are tending to read (21) …………………. words and phrases in a text to save time. This approach, she says, gives the reader a superficial understanding of the (22) …………….content of material, leaving no time for thought.

A fast
B isolated
C emotional
D worrying
E many
F hard
G combined
H thorough

Questions 23-26
Do the following statements agree with the views of the writer in Reading Passage? In boxes 23-26 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

23. The medium we use to read can affect our choice of reading content.
24. Some age groups are more likely to lose their complex reading skills than others.
25. False information has become more widespread in today’s digital era.
26. We still have opportunities to rectify the problems that technology is presenting.

Attitudes towards Artificial Intelligence

A Artificial intelligence (AI) can already predict the future. Police forces are using it to map when and where crime is likely to occur. Doctors can use it to predict when a patient is most likely to have a heart attack or stroke. Researchers are even trying to give AI imagination so it can plan for unexpected consequences. Many decisions in our lives require a good forecast, and AI is almost always better at forecasting than we are. Yet for all these technological advances, we still seem to deeply lack confidence in AI predictions. Recent cases show that people don’t like relying on AI and prefer to trust human experts, even if these experts are wrong. If we want AI to really benefit people, we need to find a way to get people to trust it. To do that, we need to understand why people are so reluctant to trust AI in the first place.

B Take the case of Watson for Oncology, one of technology giant IBM’s supercomputer programs. Their attempt to promote this program to cancer doctors was a PR disaster. The AI promised to deliver top-quality recommendations on the treatment of 12 cancers that accounted for 80% of the world’s cases. But when doctors first interacted with Watson, they found themselves in a rather difficult situation. On the one hand, if Watson provided guidance about a treatment that coincided with their own opinions, physicians did not see much point in Watson’s recommendations. The supercomputer was simply telling them what they already knew, and these recommendations did not change the actual treatment. On the other hand, if Watson generated a recommendation that contradicted the experts’ opinion, doctors would typically conclude that Watson wasn’t competent. And the machine wouldn’t be able to explain why its treatment was plausible because its machine-learning algorithms were simply too complex to be fully understood by humans. Consequently, this has caused even more suspicion and disbelief, leading many doctors to ignore the seemingly outlandish AI recommendations and stick to their own expertise.

C This is just one example of people’s lack of confidence in AI and their reluctance to accept what AI has to offer. Trust in other people is often based on our understanding of how others think and having experience of their reliability. This helps create a psychological feeling of safety. AI, on the other hand, is still fairly new and unfamiliar to most people. Even if it can be technically explained (and that’s not always the case), AI’s decision-making process is usually too difficult for most people to comprehend. And interacting with something we don’t understand can cause anxiety and give us a sense that we’re losing control. Many people are also simply not familiar with many instances of AI actually working, because it often happens in the background. Instead, they are acutely aware of instances where AI goes wrong. Embarrassing AI failures receive a disproportionate amount of media attention, emphasising the message that we cannot rely on technology. Machine learning is not foolproof, in part because the humans who design it aren’t.

D Feelings about AI run deep. In a recent experiment, people from a range of backgrounds were given various sci-fi films about AI to watch and then asked questions about automation in everyday life. It was found that, regardless of whether the film they watched depicted AI in a positive or negative light, simply watching a cinematic vision of our technological future polarised the participants’ attitudes. Optimists became more extreme in their enthusiasm for AI and sceptics became even more guarded. This suggests people use relevant evidence about AI in a biased manner to support their existing attitudes, a deep-rooted human tendency known as “confirmation bias”. As AI is represented more and more in media and entertainment, it could lead to a society split between those who benefit from AI and those who reject it. More pertinently, refusing to accept the advantages offered by AI could place a large group of people at a serious disadvantage.

E Fortunately, we already have some ideas about how to improve trust in AI. Simply having previous experience with AI can significantly improve people’s opinions about the technology, as was found in the study mentioned above. Evidence also suggests the more you use other technologies such as the internet, the more you trust them. Another solution may be to reveal more about the algorithms which AI uses and the purposes they serve. Several high-profile social media companies and online marketplaces already release transparency reports about government requests and surveillance disclosures. A similar practice for AI could help people have a better understanding of the way algorithmic decisions are made.

F Research suggests that allowing people some control over AI decision-making could also improve trust and enable AI to learn from human experience. For example, one study showed that when people were allowed the freedom to slightly modify an algorithm, they felt more satisfied with its decisions, more likely to believe it was superior and more likely to use it in the future. We don’t need to understand the intricate inner workings of AI systems, but if people are given a degree of responsibility for how they are implemented, they will be more willing to accept AI into their lives.

Questions 27-32
Reading Passage 3 has six sections, A-F. Choose the correct heading for each section from the list of headings below. Write the correct number, i-viii, in boxes 27-32 on your answer sheet.

List of Headings
i An increasing divergence of attitudes towards Al
ii Reasons why we have more faith in human judgement than in Al
iii The superiority of Al projections over those made by humans
iv The process by which Al can help us make good decisions
v The advantages of involving users in Al processes
vi Widespread distrust of an Al innovation
vii Encouraging openness about how Al functions
viii A surprisingly successful Al application

27. Section A
28. Section B
29. Section C
30. Section D
31. Section E
32. Section F

Questions 33-35
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.

33. What is the writer doing in Section A?
A providing a solution to a concern
B justifying an opinion about an issue
C highlighting the existence of a problem
D explaining the reasons for a phenomenon

34. According to Section C, why might some people be reluctant to accept Al?
A They are afraid it will replace humans in decision-making jobs.
B Its complexity makes them feel that they are at a disadvantage.
C They would rather wait for the technology to be tested over a period of time.
D Misunderstandings about how it works make it seem more challenging than it is.

35. What does the writer say about the media in Section C of the text?
A It leads the public to be mistrustful of Al.
B It devotes an excessive amount of attention to Al.
C Its reports of incidents involving Al are often inaccurate.
D It gives the impression that Al failures are due to designer error.

Questions 36-40
Do the following statements agree with the claims of the writer in Reading Passage? In boxes 36-40 on your answer sheet, write

YES                        if the statement agrees with the claims of the writer
NO                         if the statement contradicts the claims of the writer
NOT GIVEN      if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this

36. Subjective depictions of Al in sci-fi films make people change their opinions about automation.
37. Portrayals of Al in media and entertainment are likely to become more positive.
38. Rejection of the possibilities of Al may have a negative effect on many people’s lives.
39. Familiarity with Al has very little impact on people’s attitudes to the technology.
40. Al applications which users are able to modify are more likely to gain consumer approval.