PHẦN 1: LUYỆN TẬP CÁC DẠNG BÀI

(CPE – IELTS – TOEFL IBT – PTE ACADEMIC)

UNIT 1: GAPPED TEXT - CPE
Paper 1:
THE FOOTBALL CLUB CHAIRMAN
Bryan Richardson greeted me warmly, and ushered me into his modest office, somewhat larger than the others
along the corridor, but without pretensions of any kind. He returned to his desk, which had two phones and a
mobile on it, and a lot of apparently unsorted papers, offered me a chair, and said it was nice to see me again.
I rather doubt he remembered me at all, but it had the effect of making me feel a little less anxious.
1. ___
‘I want to talk to you about an idea I have,’ I said. ‘I have supported this club since the 2010, and I’m starting
to get frustrated by watching so much and knowing so little.’ He gazed at me with a degree of interest mixed
with incomprehension. ‘What I mean,’ I added, ‘is that every football fan is dying to know what it is really
like, what’s actually going on, yet all we get to see is what happens on the field.’
2. ___
And I didn’t wish to be fobbed off. ‘They all make it worse, not better. They all purvey gossip and rumours,
and most of what they say turns out to be either uninteresting or incorrect. Your average supporter ends up in
the dark most of the time.’
3. ___
‘Now that,’ I said, ‘is just the sort of thing I want to know about. I’d like to write a book about the club this
coming season, to know about the deals, the comings and goings, all the factors involved. To get to know how
a Premiership football club actually works.’ As I said this, I feared that it was a futile request, but I’d drawn a
little hope from the fact that he had just been so open, as if he had already decided to consider the project. ‘I
want to know about buying and selling players, how the finances work, to go down to the training ground,
travel with the team, talk to the players and the manager.’
4. ___
So I continued with it. ‘Let me tell you a little about myself.’ He leaned back to make himself comfortable,
sensing that this might take a while. ‘By training I’m an academic. I came here from America in the 1960s,
got a doctorate in English at Oxford, then taught in the English Department at Warwick University for fifteen
years. Now I run my own business, dealing in rare books and manuscripts in London, and do some freelance
writing. But I’m not a journalist.’
5. ___
I was starting to babble now, and as I spoke I was aware of how foolish all this must be sounding to him. At
one point he put his hands quietly on his lap, under the desk, and I had the distinct, if paranoid, impression
that he was ringing some sort of hidden alarm, and that three orange shirted stewards would shortly come in
and escort me from the ground (By Order of the Chairman).
6. ___
‘But a book is certainly a good idea,’ he said. ‘Let me think it over and I’II get back to you.’ He stood up and
we shook hands. ‘I’II be in touch,’ he said. And a few weeks later, in mid-August, he was. ‘There’s a great
story here,’ he said. ‘Go ahead and do it next season. I’II introduce you to the people up here at the club. Go
everywhere, talk to everybody, you’ll find it fascinating.’ I was surprised, and delighted, but tried not to gush.
‘Thank you,’ I said. ‘It’s very open-minded of you.’

1
7. ___
‘Yes, sure,’ he said. ‘But I mean something more than that, something more complicated.’ ‘What’s that?’ I
asked. He smiled. ‘You’ll see.’

A. The disappointment must have registered on my face, because he quickly added: ‘I came to all this relatively
late in my career, and it’s a fascinating business. I find it more so all the time, and I don’t have any doubt that
people would be interested to read an account of it.’
B. ‘We’ve got nothing to hide,’ he said, ‘but you’ll be surprised by what you learn. It’s an amazingly emotional
business.’ ‘It must be,’ I said, ‘the supporters can see that. So many of the games are like an emotional
rollercoaster. Sometimes the whole season is.’
C. He nodded gently. ‘Good,’ he said firmly. ‘That’s part of the point,’ I went on. ‘I want to write about the
club from the point of view of the supporters, a sort of fan’s eye view. Getting behind the scenes is every fan’s
dream – whether it’s here or somewhere else. I’ve never written anything like this, although I have written a
couple of books. And I am trained, as an academic, in habits of analysis, in trying to figure out how things
work. And I’m a supporter of the club, so I don’t think there is anything to fear.’
D. As I was speaking, the mobile phone rang, and he answered it with an apologetic shrug. A brief and cryptic
one-sided conversation ensued, with obscure references to hotels and phone numbers. When he hung up, he
explained: ‘We’re trying to sign a full-back. Good player. But there are three agents involved, and two
continental sides want to sign him, so we’ve got him hidden in a hotel. If we can keep them away from him
for another couple of days, he’ll sign.’
E. He considered this for a moment. ‘Well,’ he said, ‘there is the Clubcall line, the match-day programmes,
and the articles in the local and national papers. There’s lots of information about.’ He sounded like a politician
trying to claim for his party the moral authority of open government, while at the same time giving nothing
away.
F. Not at all. ‘It’s funny you should ask,’ he said, ‘because you’re the second person this week who has come
in with a request to write a book about the club. And I’ve just been approached by the BBC with a proposal
to do a six-part documentary about the club. ‘Are you going to let them do it?’ I asked. ‘I don’t think,’ he said
wryly, ‘that a six-part series on what a nice club Coventry City is would make good television.’
G. ‘So, what can I do for you?’ He made it sound as if he were interested. Poised and well dressed, though
without foppishness, he had that indefinable polish that one often observes in people of wealth or celebrity.
By polish I do not mean good manners, though that frequent accompanies it, but something more tangible: a
kind of glow, as if the rich and famous applied some mysterious ointment (available only to themselves. every
morning, and then buffed their faces to a healthy sheen.
H. There, I’d done it. The worst that he could do was to tell me to get lost. Part of me, to tell the truth, would
have been just a little relieved. But he didn’t do anything. He sat quite still, listening, letting me make my
pitch.

Paper 2:
Just at that turning between Market Road and the lane leading to the chemist's shop he had his 'establishment'.
At eight in the evening you would not see him, and again at ten you would see nothing, but between those
times he arrived, sold his goods and departed. Those who saw him remarked thus, 'Lucky fellow! He has
hardly an hour's work a day and he pockets ten rupees - even graduates are unable to earn that! Three hundred
rupees a month!' He felt irritated when he heard such glib remarks and said, 'What these folks do not see is
that I sit before the oven practically all day frying all this ...'
1. ___

2
At about 8.15 in the evening he arrived with a load of stuff. He looked as if he had four arms, so many things
he carried about him. His equipment was the big tray balanced on his head with its assortment of edibles, a
stool stuck in the crook of his arm, a lamp in another hand and a couple of portable legs for mounting his tray.
He lit the lamp, a lantern which consumed six pies' worth of kerosene every day, and kept it near at hand,
since he had to guard a lot of loose cash and a variety of miscellaneous articles.
2. ___
He always arrived in time to catch the cinema crowd coming out after the evening show. A pretender to the
throne, a young scraggy fellow, sat on his spot until he arrived and did business, but he did not let that bother
him unduly. In fact, he felt generous enough to say, 'Let the poor rat do his business when I am not there.' This
sentiment was amply respected, and the pretender moved off a minute before the arrival of the prince among
caterers.
3. ___
Though so much probing was going on, he knew exactly who was taking what. He knew by an extaordinary
sense which of the jukta drivers was picking up chappatis at a given moment - he could even mention the
license number. He knew that the stained hand nervously coming up was that of a youngster who polished the
shoes of passers-by. And he knew exactly at what hour he would see the wrestler's arm searching for the
perfect duck's egg. His custom was drawn from the population swarming the pavement: the boot polish boys,
for instance, who wandered to and fro with brush and polish in a bag, endlessly soliciting 'Polish, sir, polish!'
Rama had a soft spot for them.
4. ___
It rent his heart to see their hungry hollow eyes. It pained him to see the rags they wore. And it made him very
unhappy to see the tremendous eagerness with which they came to him. But what could he do? He could not
run a charity show, that was impossible. He measured out their half-glass of coffee correct to a fraction of an
inch, but they could cling to the glass for as long as they liked.
5. ___
He lived in the second lane behind the market. His wife opened the door, throwing into the night air the scent
of burnt oil which perpetually hung about their home. She snatched from his hand all the ecumbrances and
counted the cash immediately.
6. ___
After dinner, he tucked a betel leaf and tobacco in his cheek and slept. He had dreams of traffic constables
bullying him to move on and health inspectors saying he was spreading all kinds of disease and depopulating
the city. But fortunately in actual life no one bothered him very seriously. The health officer no doubt came
and said, 'You must put all this under a glass lid, otherwise I shall destroy it some day... Take care!'
7. ___
Rama no doubt violated all the well-accepted canons of cleanliness and sanitation, but still his customers not
only survived his fare but seemed actually to flourish on it, having consumed it for years without showing
signs of being any the worse for it.

A. Rama prepared a limited quantity of snacks for sale, but even then he had to carry back remnants. He
consumed some of it himself, and the rest he warmed up and brought out for sale the next day.
B. All the coppers that men and women of this part of the universe earned through their miscellaneous jobs
ultimately came to him at the end of the day. He put all his money into a little cloth bag dangling from his
neck under his shirt, and carried it home, soon after the night show had started at the theatre.
C. No one could walk past his display without throwing a look at it. A heap of bondas, which seemed puffed
and big but melted in one's mouth; dosais, white, round, and limp, looking like layers of muslin; chappatis so
3
thin you could lift fifty of them on a little finger; duck's eggs, hard-boiled, resembling a heap of ivory balls;
and perpetually boiling coffee on a stove. He had a separate alluminium pot in which he kept chutney, which
went gratis with almost every item.
D. His customers liked him. They said in admiration, 'Is there another place where you can get six pies and
four chappatis for one anna?' They sat around his tray, taking what they wanted. A dozen hands hovered about
it every minute, because his customers were entitled to pick up, examine, and accept their stuff after proper
scrutiny.
E. They gloated over it. 'Five rupees invested in the morning has produced another five...' They ruminated on
the exquisite mystery of this multiplication. Then it was put back for further investment on the morrow and
the gains carefully separated and put away in a little wooden box.
F. But he was a kindly man in private. 'How the customers survive the food, I can't understand. I suppose
people build up a sort of immunity to such poisons, with all that dust blowing on it and the gutter behind.'
G. He got up when the cock in the next house crowed. Sometimes it had a habit of waking up at three in the
morning and letting out a shriek. 'Why has the cock lost his normal sleep?' Rama wondered as he awoke, but
it was a signal he could not miss. Whether it three o'clock or four, it was all the same to him. He had to get up
and start his day.
H. When he saw some customer haggling, he felt like shouting, 'Give the poor fellow a little more. Don't
begrudge it. If you pay an anna more he can have a dosai and a chappati.'

Paper 3:
Cowboys of Madagascar
The anthropologist Luke Freeman joins a group of young Malagasy men on the cattle trail.

As a socio-cultural anthropologist, I’ve lived in Madagascar for more than three years and I know the people,
the language and the culture well. The cattle drives undertaken by young Malagasy men have fascinated me
ever since I lived in a remote rice-farming village in the central highlands.
1. ___
This gives an indication of how much the Malagasy love cattle. They are potent symbols on the island and it
is common practice for young men to trade in them prior to marriage.
To fulfil my ambition, I headed for the frontier town of Tsiroanomandidy looking for a group of drovers with
whom to share life on the road. Here I met Vonjy, a young man who had spent most of his life driving cattle
across the island.
2. ___
Our destination sat in the middle of nowhere, abandoned in a landscape of wide plains, where nothing grows
but tall, swaying savannah grass. Undulating hills dip and rise to the horizon, the monotony broken only by
the broad red scars of soil erosion. There is often no sign of life for miles. This was the land we were to cross
with our herd of 52 zebu steers, the long-horned cattle found all over East Africa and the Indian subcontinent.
3. ___
Far off in the darkness glowed the orange rings of bushfires lit to burn off the old dry grass and bring forth
new green shoots. Ground that seemed flat in the daylight became treacherously uneven on a moonless night.
Some of us formed a line either side of our cattle as we struggled to keep the herd together, shouting warnings
to the drovers behind us. On one occasion we stopped to discover that two of our steers had disappeared.
4. ___

4
The next morning we awoke, dew-damp, on a cloudy hilltop, not far from our destination. The cattle mooched
slowly in the tall, wet grass. It was just dawn, but a woman and her daughter who had walked 16 kilometres
to set up shop were already selling coffee and cakes wrapped in leaves.
Tsiroanomandidy hosts the largest cattle market in Madagascar. Every Wednesday, a huge cloud of dust hangs
over the town, raised by the hundreds of cattle pressed into the wooden corrals.
5. ___
This was an easier journey, a slow wandering over the highest peaks of central Madagascar. The head drover
was a laid-back languorous man who didn’t raise an eyebrow when he heard I was joining his team; we
nicknamed him the President. Our somewhat haphazard meanderings through the hinterland came to a sudden
end when, passing through a village near Firavahana, the President found a buyer for his cattle. It would take
a couple of days to sort out the paperwork, so Vonjy and I decided to leave him to it.
6. ___
From there, we got a lift 400 kilometres by road down to Madagascar’s second biggest cattle market at
Ambalavao, where Vonjy had more family in the trade. We joined them on another cattle drive up through the
central highlands along Madagascar’s main north-south road.
The highlands are the most crowded part of the island; every last hectare of land has been carved into neat rice
terraces that scale the hillsides. From here, our journey took us eastwards into the forest.
7. ___
I learnt that such minor hardships were easily overcome as my body became conditioned to the rhythm of the
road: walking at cattle pace, prodding and coaxing the beasts; listening to the drovers’ soft talk.
If there’s a lesson to be learnt from the young men with whom I travelled, it’s just how simple travelling can
be. Over the hundreds of kilometres I travelled with the drovers, I never heard a cross word or an argument.
You don’t need a whole lot to be happy on such a journey.

A. To add to our woes, there was no wood nearby with which to make a fire and it was a long, slow wait for
the rice to boil over smouldering dried cowpats. But we didn’t dwell on our loss, accepting it in typically
Malagasy fashion as the work of fate.
B. Cloud hung over us all day and we used our plastic sheets as raincoats, for the drizzle was unremitting.
This was perhaps the toughest bit of droving: being wet all day, sleeping in damp bedding. Even the cattle
seemed depressed as they bowed their heads into the rain. But the constant rain did not dampen my enthusiasm
for the droving life.
C. Children clamber on the fences and point out their favourites, learning to spot strengths and weaknesses;
cattle barons stand quietly eyeing up the steers and making silent calculations. We sold ours to a buyer from
Antananarivo, who took them on to supply the capital’s meat markets. Not wishing to take that route, Vonjy
and I joined another group of drovers taking a herd of smaller cattle to the western highlands.
D. We hit it off immediately, and after 20 minutes talking cattle, we took a truck to the isolated market town
of Ambatomainty, where we joined some of his family, who were going to buy cattle to drive east into the
highlands.
E. Surrounded by curious children, we exchanged little formal speeches of farewell, reflecting on our time
together, the companionship and laughter, the meals shared and the happy memories we would keep in spite
of the distance that would now separate us. With a plaintive song, the drovers wished us goodbye and we left
them to their trading.
F. On one occasion, a politician was giving a speech in the main street when a long-distance drive passed
through. The listeners’ attention switched immediately to admiring the cattle and greeting the drovers; young

5
men in rice fields downed spades and ran to the roadside; the schoolmaster let the children out of class and
the boys whooped with glee and ran alongside. The politician’s promises fell on deaf ears.
G. The drovers knew better than to work these smaller steers too hard, and if we came across a river, we often
set up camp before sunset. With the cattle grazing nearby, we slept soundly in our makeshift tents, the full
moon shining brightly above.
H. Ours were ultimately destined for Antananarivo, the Malagasy capital, where they would fetch roughly
twice what we had paid for them. Joining up with other herds for safety, we drove them for days under a
blazing sun. I’d imagined we would stop in the early evening to set up camp, but such was our hurry to make
market day in Tsiroanomandidy that we often kept going well after sunset.

Paper 4:
MALGUDI DAYS
Just at that turning between Market Road and the lane leading to the chemists shop he had his ‘establishment.
At eight in the evening you would not see him, and again at ten you would see nothing, but between those
times he arrived, sold his goods and departed. Those who saw him remarked thus, ‘Lucky fellow! He has
hardly an hour’s work a day and he pockets ten rupees — even graduates are unable to earn that! Three hundred
rupees a month! He felt irritated when he heard such glib remarks and said, What these folk do not see is that
I sit before the oven practically all day frying all this…
1. ___
At about 8:15 in the evening he arrived with a load of stuff. He looked as if he had four arms, so many things
he carried about him. His equipment was the big tray balanced on his head, with its assortment of edibles, a
stool stuck in the crook of his arm, a lamp in another hand and a couple of portable legs for mounting his tray.
He lit the lamp, a lantern which consumed six pies worth of kerosene every day, and kept it near at hand, since
he had to guard a lot of loose cash and a variety of miscellaneous articles.
2. ___
He always arrived in time to catch the cinema crowd coming out after the evening show. A pretender to the
throne, a young scraggy fellow, sat on his spot until he arrived and did business, but he did not let that bother
him unduly. In fact, he felt generous enough to say, ‘Let the poor rat do his business when I am not there. This
sentiment was amply respected, and the pretender moved off a minute before the arrival of the prince among
caterers.
3. ___
Though so much probing was going on, he knew exactly who was taking what. He knew by an extraordinary
sense which of the jukta drivers was picking up chappatis at a given moment — he could even mention the
licence number. He knew that the stained hand nervously coming up was that of a youngster who polished the
shoes of passers-by. And he knew exactly at what hour he would see the wrestlers arm searching for the perfect
ducks egg. His custom was drawn from the population swarming the pavement: the boot polish boys, for
instance, who wandered to and fro with brush and polish in a bag, endlessly soliciting ‘Polish, sir, polish”
Rama had a soft spot for them.
4. ___
It rent his heart to see their hungry, hollow eyes. It pained him to see the rags they wore. And it made him
very unhappy to see the tremendous eagerness with which they came to him. But what could he do? He could
not run a charity show, that was impossible. He measured out their half-glass of coffee correct to the fraction
of an inch, but they could cling to the glass as long as they liked.
5. ___

6
He lived in the second lane behind the market. His wife opened the door, throwing into the night air the scent
of burnt oil which perpetually hung about their home. She snatched from his hand all the encumbrances and
counted the cash immediately.
6. ___
After dinner, he tucked a betel leaf and tobacco in his cheek and slept. He had dreams of traffic constables
bullying him to move on and health inspectors saying he was spreading all kinds of disease and depopulating
the city. But fortunately in actual life no one bothered him very seriously. The health officer no doubt came
and said, ‘You must put all this under a glass lid, otherwise I shall destroy it some day… Take care!
7. ___
Rama no doubt violated all the well-accepted canons of cleanliness and sanitation, but still his customers not
only survived his fare but seemed actually to flourish on it, having consumed it for years without showing
signs of being any the worse for it.

A. Rama prepared a limited quantity of snacks for sale, but even then he had to carry back remnants. He
consumed some of it himself, and the rest he warmed up and brought out for sale again the next day.
B. All the coppers that men and women of this part of the universe earned through their miscellaneous jobs
ultimately came to him at the end of the day. He put all this money into a little cloth bag dangling from his
neck under his shirt, and carried it home, soon after the night show had started at the theatre.
C. No one could walk past his display without throwing a look at it. A heap of bondas, which seemed puffed
and big but melted in one’s mouth; dosais, white, round, and limp, looking like layers of muslin; chappatis so
thin that you could lift fifty of them on a little finger; duck’s eggs, hard- boiled, resembling a heap of ivory
balls; and perpetually boiling coffee on a stove. He had a separate aluminium pot in which he kept chutney,
which went gratis with almost every item.
D. His customers liked him. They said in admiration, ‘Is there another place where you can get six pies and
four chappatis for one anna?’ They sat around his tray, taking what they wanted. A dozen hands hovered about
it every minute, because his customers were entitled to pick up, examine, and accept their stuff after proper
scrutiny.
E. They gloated over it. ‘Five rupees invested in the morning has produced another five…’ They ruminated
on the exquisite mystery of this multiplication. Then it was put back for further investment on the morrow and
the gains carefully separated and put away in a little wooden box.
F. But he was a kindly man in private. ‘How the customers survive the food, I can’t understand. I suppose
people build up a sort of immunity to such poisons, with all that dust blowing on it and the gutter behind…’
G. He got up when the cock in the next house crowed. Sometimes it had a habit of waking up at three in the
morning and letting out a shriek. ‘Why has the cock lost its normal sleep?’ Rama wondered as he awoke, but
it was a signal he could not miss. Whether it was three o’clock or four, it was all the same to him. He had to
get up and start his day.
H. When he saw some customer haggling, he felt like shouting, ‘Give the poor fellow a little more. Don’t
begrudge it. If you pay an anna more he can have a dosai and a chappati.’

Paper 5:
The Do-gooders
The people who changed the morals of English society.

In the last decades of the 18th century, the losers seriously outnumbered the winners. Those who were
fortunate enough to occupy the upper levels of society, celebrated their good fortune by living a hedonistic
7
life of gambling, parties and alcohol. It was their moral right, they felt, to exploit the weak and the poor. Few
of them thought their lives should change, even fewer believed it could.
1. ___
But the decisive turning point for moral reform was the French revolution. John Bowlder, a popular moralist
of the time, blamed the destruction of French society on a moral crisis. Edmund Burke, a Whig statesman
agreed. ‘When your fountain is choked up and polluted,’ he wrote, ‘the stream will not run long or clear.’ If
the English society did not reform, ruin would surely follow.
2. ___
Englishmen were deeply afraid that the immorality of France would invade England. Taking advantage of
this, Burke was able to gain considerable support by insisting that the French did not have the moral
qualifications to be a civilised nation. He pronounced ‘Better this island should be sunk to the bottom of the
sea that than... it should not be a country of religion and morals.’
3. ___
Sobering though these messages were, the aristocracy of the time was open to such reforms, not least due to
fear. France’s attempt to destroy their nobility did much to encourage the upper classes to examine and re-
evaluate their own behaviour. Added to this was the arrival of French noble émigrés to British shores. As these
people were dependant on the charity of the British aristocracy, it became paramount to amend morals and
suppress all vices in order to uphold the state.
4. ___
Whether the vices of the rich and titled stopped or were merely cloaked is open to question. But it is clear that
by the turn of the century, a more circumspect society had emerged. Styles of dress became more moderate,
and the former adornments of swords, buckles and powdered hair were no longer seen. There was a profusion
of moral didactic literature available. Public hangings ceased and riots became much rarer.
5. ___
One such person was Thomas Wackley who in 1823 founded a medical journal called ‘the Lancet’. At this
time, Medicine was still a profession reserved for the rich, and access to knowledge was impossible for the
common man. The Lancet shone a bright light on the questionable practices undertaken in medicine and
particularly in surgery, and finally led to improved standards of care.
6. ___
How though did changes at the top affect the people at the bottom of the societal hierarchy? Not all reformers
concerned themselves which changes at the authoritative and governmental levels. Others concentrated on
improving the lives and morals of the poor. In the midst of the industrial revolution, the poorest in society
were in dire straits. Many lived in slums and sanitation was poor. No-one wanted the responsibility of
improvement.
7. ___
Could local authorities impose such measures today? Probably not. Even so, the legacy of the moral reform
of the late 1800s and 1900s lives on today. Because of it, the British have come to expect a system which is
competent, fair to all and free from corruption. Nowadays everyone has a right to a home, access to education,
and protection at work and in hospital. This is all down to the men and women who did not just observe
society’s ills from a distance, but who dared to take steps to change it.

A. But a moral makeover was on the horizon, and one of the first people to promote it was William
Wilberforce, better known for his efforts in abolishing the slave trade. Writing to a friend, Lord Muncaster,
he stated that ‘the universal corruption and profligacy of the times...taking its rise amongst the rich and
luxurious has now ... spread its destructive poison through the whole body of the people.’
8
B. But one woman, Octavia Hill, was willing to step up to the mark. Hill, despite serious opposition by the
men who still dominated English society, succeeded in opening a number of housing facilities for the poor.
But, recognising the weaknesses of a charity-dependent culture, Hill enforced high moral standards, strict
measures in hygiene and cleanliness upon her tenants, and, in order to promote a culture of industry, made
them work for any financial handouts.
C. At first, moralists did not look for some tangible end to moral behaviour. They concerned themselves with
the spiritual salvation of the rich and titled members of society, believing that the moral tone set by the higher
ranks would influence the lower orders. For example, Samuel Parr, preaching at London’s St Paul’s Cathedral,
said ‘If the rich man...abandons himself to sloth and all the vices which sloth generates, he corrupts by his
example. He permits...his immediate attendants to be, like him, idle and profligate.’
D. In time, the fervour for improved morals strayed beyond personal behaviour and towards a new governance.
People called for a tightening of existing laws which had formerly been enforced only laxly. Gambling,
duelling, swearing, prostitution, pornography and adultery laws were more strictly upheld to the extent that
several fashionable ladies were fined fifty pounds each for gambling in a private residence.
E. So far, however, circumspection in the upper classes had done little to improve the lives of those in the
lower classes. But that was to change. Against a backdrop of the moral high ground, faults in the system started
to stand out. One by one, people started to question the morality of those in authority.
F. The attitudes of the upper classes became increasingly critical during the latter part of the eighteenth
century. In 1768, the Lord of the Treasury was perfectly at ease to introduce his mistress to the Queen, but a
generation later, such behaviour would have been unacceptable. Such attitudes are also seen in the diaries of
Samuel Pepys, who, in 1793 rambles without criticism about his peer’s many mistresses. A few years later,
his tone had become infinitely more critical.
G. Similar developments occurred in the Civil Service. Civil servants were generally employed as a result of
nepotism or acquaintance, and more often than not took advantage of their power to provide for themselves at
the expense of the public. Charles Trevelyan, an official at the London Treasury, realised the weaknesses in
the system and proposed that all civil servants were employed as a result of entrance examinations, thus
creating a system which was politically independent and consisted of people who were genuinely able to do
the job.
H. These prophecies roused a little agitation when first published in 1790. But it was the events in 1792-93
which shocked England into action. Over in France, insurrection had led to war and massacre. The King and
Queen had been tried and executed. France was now regarded as completely immoral and uncivilized, a
country where vice and irreligion reigned.

9
 UNIT 2: MULTIPLE MATCHING - CPE
Paper 1:
Is the internet changing our lives?
A. Sarah
The internet often tells us what we think we know, spreading misinformation and nonsense while it’s at it. It
can substitute surface for depth, imitation for authenticity, and its passion for recycling would surpass the
most committed environmentalist. In 10 years, I’ve seen thinking habits change dramatically: if information
is not immediately available via a Google search, people are often completely at a loss. And of course a Google
search merely provides the most popular answer, not necessarily the most accurate. Nevertheless, there is no
question, to my mind, that the access to raw information provided by the internet is unparalleled. We’ve all
read that the internet sounds the death knell of reading, but people read online constantly – we just call it
surfing now. What’s being read is changing, often for the worse; but it is also true that the internet increasingly
provides a treasure trove of rare documents and images, and as long as we have free access to it, then the
internet can certainly be a force for education and wisdom.
B. Geoff
Sometimes I think my ability to concentrate is being nibbled away by the internet. In those quaint days before
the internet, once you made it to your desk there wasn’t much to do. Now you sit down and there’s a universe
of possibilities – many of them obscurely relevant to the work you should be getting on with – to tempt you.
To think that I can be sitting here, trying to write something about the Swedish film director Ingmar Bergman
and, a moment later, on the merest whim, while I’m in Swedish mode, can be watching a clip from a Swedish
documentary about the jazz musician Don Cherry – that is a miracle (albeit one with a very potent side-effect,
namely that it’s unlikely I’ll ever have the patience to sit through an entire Bergman film again). Then there’s
another thing. From the age of 16, I got into the habit of compiling detailed indexes in the backs of books of
poetry and drama. So if there was a quote I needed for an assignment, I would spend hours going through my
books, seeking it out. Now I just google key words.
C. Colin
It’s curious that some of the most vociferous critics of the internet – those who predict that it will produce
generations of couch potatoes – are the very sorts of people who are benefiting most from this wonderful,
liberating, organic extension of the human mind. They are academics, scientists, scholars and writers, who
fear that the extraordinary technology they use every day is a danger to the unsophisticated. They
underestimate the capacity of the human mind to capture and capitalise on new ways of storing and
transmitting information. When I was at school I learned by heart great swathes of science textbooks. What a
waste of my neurons, all clogged up with knowledge and rules that I can now obtain with the click of a mouse.
At its best, the internet is no threat to our minds. It is another liberating extension of them, as significant as
books, the abacus or the pocket calculator.
D. Ian
The evidence that the internet has a deleterious effect on the brain is zero. In fact, by looking at the way human
beings gain knowledge in general, you would probably argue the opposite. The opportunity to have multiple
sources of information or opinion at your fingertips, and to dip into these rather than trawl laboriously through
a whole book, is highly conducive to the acquisition of knowledge. It is being argued by some that the
information coming into the brain from the internet is the wrong kind of information. It’s too short, it doesn’t
have enough depth, so there is a qualitative loss. It’s an interesting point, but the only way you could argue it
is to say that people are misusing the internet. It’s a bit like saying to someone who’s never seen a car before
and has no idea what it is: “Why don’t you take it for a drive and you’ll find out?” If you seek information on
the internet like that, there’s a good chance you’ll have a crash. But that’s because your experience has yet to
grasp what a car is.

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Opinions:
1. Reservations about the benefits of universal access to it are unfounded. _____
2. It excels in its ability to disseminate facts. _____
3. Its power to sidetrack us can be both positive and negative. _____
4. It assists learning by exposing people to a wider range of ideas than was previously possible. _____
5. Much of the material on it is not original. _____
6. It enables us to follow up on ideas that suddenly occur to us. _____
7. It is only with time and practice that we can make best use of the internet. _____
8. The quality of material on it is questionable. _____
9. It still requires people to process the written word. _____
10. It has still reduced the need to memorise information. _____

Paper 2:
Four Woods
Oak
Oak wood has a density of about 0.75 g/cm3, great strength and hardness, and is very resistant to insect and
fungal attack because of its high tannin content. It also has very appealing grain markings, particularly when
quartersawn. Oak planking was common on high status Viking longships in the 9th and 10th centuries. The
wood was hewn from green logs, by axe and wedge, to produce radial planks, similar to quarter-sawn timber.
Wide, quarter-sawn boards of oak have been prized since the Middle Ages for use in interior paneling of
prestigious buildings such as the debating chamber of the House of Commons in London, and in the
construction of fine furniture. Oak wood, from Quercus robur and Quercus petraea, was used in Europe for
the construction of ships, especially naval men of war, until the 19th century, and was the principal timber
used in the construction of European timber-framed buildings.
Today oak wood is still commonly used for furniture making and flooring, timber frame buildings, and for
veneer production. Barrels in which wines, sherry, and spirits such as brandy, Scotch whisky and Bourbon
whiskey are aged are made from European and American oak. The use of oak in wine can add many different
dimensions to wine based on the type and style of the oak. Oak barrels, which may be charred before use,
contribute to the colour, taste, and aroma of the contents, imparting a desirable oaky vanillin flavour to these
drinks. The great dilemma for wine producers is to choose between French and American oakwoods. French
oaks give the wine greater refinement and are chosen for the best wines since they increase the price compared
to those aged in American oak wood. American oak contributes greater texture and resistance to ageing, but
produces more violent wine bouquets. Oak wood chips are used for smoking fish, meat, cheeses and other
foods.
Elm
Elm wood was valued for its interlocking grain, and consequent resistance to splitting, with significant uses
in wagon wheel hubs, chair seats and coffins. The elm’s wood bends well and distorts easily making it quite
pliant. The often long, straight, trunks were favoured as a source of timber for keels in ship construction. Elm
is also prized by bowyers; of the ancient bows found in Europe, a large portion of them are elm. During the
Middle Ages elm was also used to make longbows if yew was unavailable.
The first written references to elm occur in the Linear B lists of military equipment at Knossos in the
Mycenaean Period. Several of the chariots are of elm, and the lists twice mention wheels of elmwood. Hesiod
says that ploughs in Ancient Greece were also made partly of elm.

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The density of elm wood varies between species, but averages around 560 kg per cubic metre.
Elm wood is also resistant to decay when permanently wet, and hollowed trunks were widely used as water
pipes during the medieval period in Europe. Elm was also used as piers in the construction of the original
London Bridge. However this resistance to decay in water does not extend to ground contact.
The Romans, and more recently the Italians, used to plant elms in vineyards as supports for vines. Lopped at
three metres, the elms’ quick growth, twiggy lateral branches, light shade and root-suckering made them ideal
trees for this purpose. The lopped branches were used for fodder and firewood. Ovid in his Amores
characterizes the elm as “loving the vine”, and the ancients spoke of the “marriage” between elm and vine.
Mahogany
Mahogany has a straight, fine and even grain, and is relatively free of voids and pockets. Its reddish-brown
color darkens over time, and displays a reddish sheen when polished. It has excellent workability, and is very
durable. Historically, the tree’s girth allowed for wide boards from traditional mahogany species. These
properties make it a favorable wood for crafting cabinets and furniture.
Much of the first-quality furniture made in the American colonies from the mid 18th century was made of
mahogany, when the wood first became available to American craftsmen. Mahogany is still widely used for
fine furniture; however, the rarity of Cuban mahogany and over harvesting of Honduras and Brazilian
mahogany has diminished their use. Mahogany also resists wood rot, making it attractive in boat construction.
It is also often used for musical instruments, particularly the backs, sides and necks of acoustic guitars and
drum shells because of its ability to produce a very deep, warm tone compared to other commonly used woods
such as maple or birch. Guitars often feature mahogany in their construction. Mahogany is now being used
for the bodies of high-end stereo phonographic record cartridges and for stereo headphones, where it is noted
for “warm” or “musical” sound.
Beech
Beech wood is an excellent firewood, easily split and burning for many hours with bright but calm flames.
Chips of beech wood are used in the brewing of Budweiser beer as a fining agent. Beech logs are burned to
dry the malts used in some German smoked beers, giving the beers their typical flavour. Beech is also used to
smoke Westphalian ham, various sausages, and some cheeses.
The European species Fagus sylvatica yields a utility timber that is tough but dimensionally unstable. It weighs
about 720 kg per cubic metre and is widely used for furniture framing and carcass construction, flooring and
engineering purposes, in plywood and in household items like plates, but rarely as a decorative wood. The
timber can be used to build chalets, houses and log cabins.
Beech wood is used for the stocks of military rifles when traditionally preferred woods such as walnut are
scarce or unavailable or as a lower-cost alternative.
The fruit of the beech tree is known as beechnuts or mast and is found in small burrs that drop from the tree
in autumn. It is small, roughly triangular and edible, with a bitter, astringent taste. They have a high enough
fat content that they can be pressed for edible oil. Fresh from the tree, beech leaves are a fine salad vegetable,
as sweet as a mild cabbage though much softer in texture. The young leaves can be steeped in gin for several
weeks, the liquor strained off and sweetened to give a light green/yellow liqueur called beechleaf noyau.

1. Which wood is not spoken of as being used in military equipment? _____

2. Which wood doesn’t have the reputation of being pretty to look at? _____
3. Which wood can be permanently submerged with little ill effect? _____
4. Which wood can make a food or drink more valuable? _____
5. Which wood are you most likely to find on stage at a rock concert? _____
6. Which wood became associated with luxurious buildings? _____
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7. Which wood is the most flexible and is therefore used where this is required? _____
8. Which wood burns very well? _____
9. Which wood was used as an agricultural aid? _____
10. Which wood can alter its colour? _____

Paper 3:
Is it Art?
Corinne
Art is the result of an artist using her or his skill or creative imagination for a creative purpose, to give pleasure
to the viewer through its aesthetic qualities, or to get a reaction from the audience to a wider more significant
issue outside of the work of art itself. That work of art might be a painting, a sculpture, an installation of some
kind or an example from the performing arts like dance or mime. I think we sometimes get bogged down by
the notion of ‘skill’. For many in the anti modern art camp, there needs to be evidence of the artist’s craft on
show before the work is taken seriously and can merit the term ‘art’, be it intricate drawing skills, expert use
of form or an artist’s eye for colour. I’m not suggesting that an artist need not have these credentials but hand
in hand with craft is, as I said earlier, creative imagination, the ability to see the value or beauty of something
unremarkable which would often go unnoticed by the untrained eye. Much of modern art I think possesses
this second quality which is why I often leave an exhibition of modern art feeling that I’ve had the chance to
reflect on something that I wouldn’t normally have given the time of day to. The art has engaged me, has had
an impact, made me think about something in a way that I wouldn’t have thought about before.
Michael
I would certainly call myself an art enthusiast and have been for many years and in my opinion the modern
art world is full of second-rate junk which most of us, if we were being totally honest, would agree a 4-year-
old child could do. The idea that a slept-in bed such as that ‘produced’ by Tracy Emin or many of the pieces
by Damien Hirst and his ilk are works of art is hard to justify as is the huge price tag that accompanies their
work. I find it particularly galling when extremely talented people out there who have spent years honing their
skills and learning the craft of drawing or painting are completely ignored. What’s more, one of the dangers
of this kind of ‘art’ is that it serves to alienate the mass of the population from the visual arts. The man in the
street viewing one of these pieces is left thinking the world of modern art has no value; worse still, that he
lacks the intellectual ability to understand the meaning of the piece when in fact there is little to interpret.
Thankfully, one or two great artists make it through, but I’m afraid many are lost amongst the deluge of dross
the art-world deems ‘art’. For me, the first measure of the worth of an artist must be the degree of skill
exhibited in the work or at the very least a pedigree of fine art preceeding any more abstract pieces produced
by the artist such as was the case with Picasso.
Robert
The idea that modern art is some kind of mass deception and that all modern artists are talentless fraudsters
just doesn’t hold water. And I’m not talking here about the painters who for centuries have made a living out
of copying works of art and selling them on as originals. I’m talking about abstract art and the idea that the
great art collectors such as the Saatchis or Rockefellas and the great museums of art around the world, would
somehow allow themselves to be duped into paying a fortune for an abstract painting or sculpture. Are these
artists really tricking these people into paying huge sums of money for something worthless? Of course not.
Though some of these works may not appear to the layman as having any artistic merit, neither did the great
impressionists or the more abstract works of Picasso or Rothko when they were first exhibited. In the same
way that great poetry can speak to us in a way that prose never can, abstract art can engage with the audience
in more subtle and effective ways than is the case with art of a more realistic nature. So, they may get their
fingers burnt now and again but I don’t think the Saatchis will be cursing the day they spent huge sums on

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works of abstract art. Quite the opposite in fact and in the process of making a canny investment they have
helped further raise the profile of some of our great modern artists.
Janet
Here we go again: the media are once more up in arms about the latest ‘is it art’ shock-horror editorials
following the latest Turner Prize shortlisting. When will they learn? For decades art in many forms has moved
away from realism and towards abstraction. Ever since the invention and popularisation of photography, art
has had to reinvent itself. Patrons who wanted a perfect representation of themselves no longer needed to turn
to the artist. Artists started to struggle with the challenge of catching the essence of the thing depicted rather
than simply its external appearance. Abstract artists try to convey a pure idea, not the exact replica of the
subject concerned. It’s true that some works of art are so obscure that you may need to read up on the theory
behind the creation, which is usually helpfully supplied in art galleries. But this isn’t always necessary. Take
Guernica by Picasso. To get a full understanding of this painting it could be argued the audience needs to
appreciate the historical context, the bombing of the Basque city during the Spanish Civil War. It would also
probably help to have a good understanding of the techniques of abstraction that Picasso had used to create
the effect. However, I think most people viewing this masterpiece would be struck by the horror it depicts
even without this background knowledge. And I would argue it is the effect of this abstraction that adds to the
impact on us compared to a realistic portrayal of such a scene.

Which person gives each of these opinions about modern art?

1. Some practices have been going on for hundreds of years. _____
2. Some people may not have the knowledge to understand a work of art fully. _____
3. Certain aesthetic qualities can be invisible until brought to our attention by the artist. _____
4. Picasso is an example of an artist who proved his craftsmanship. _____
5. Appreciation of the work itself is not always the artist’s aim. _____
6. The purpose of Art has undergone change. _____
7. People don’t always appreciate the works of great artists initially. _____
8. Abstract art is generally overpriced. _____
9. Abstract art isn’t always a good investment. _____
10. We can be touched by a work of art without knowing the context. _____

Paper 4:
Four Early American Presidents
Martin Van Buren 1837-41
Only about 5 feet, 6 inches tall, but trim and erect, Martin Van Buren dressed fastidiously. His impeccable
appearance belied his amiability—and his humble background. Of Dutch descent, he was born in 1782, the
son of a tavernkeeper and farmer, in Kinderhook, New York.
As a young lawyer he became involved in New York politics. As leader of the “Albany Regency,” an effective
New York political organization, he shrewdly dispensed public offices and bounty in a fashion calculated to
bring votes. Yet he faithfully fulfilled official duties, and in 1821 was elected to the United States Senate.
By 1827 he had emerged as the principal northern leader for Andrew Jackson. President Jackson rewarded
Van Buren by appointing him Secretary of State. As the Cabinet Members appointed at John C. Calhoun’s

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recommendation began to demonstrate only secondary loyalty to Jackson, Van Buren emerged as the
President’s most trusted adviser. Jackson referred to him as, “a true man with no guile.”
The rift in the Cabinet became serious because of Jackson’s differences with Calhoun, a Presidential aspirant.
Van Buren suggested a way out of an eventual impasse: he and Secretary of War Eaton resigned, so that
Calhoun men would also resign. Jackson appointed a new Cabinet, and sought again to reward Van Buren by
appointing him Minister to Great Britain. Vice President Calhoun, as President of the Senate, cast the deciding
vote against the appointment—and made a martyr of Van Buren.
The “Little Magician” was elected Vice President on the Jacksonian ticket in 1832, and won the Presidency
in 1836.
Van Buren devoted his Inaugural Address to a discourse upon the American experiment as an example to the
rest of the world. The country was prosperous, but less than three months later the panic of 1837 punctured
the prosperity.
Basically the trouble was the 19th-century cyclical economy of “boom and bust,” which was following its
regular pattern, but Jackson’s financial measures contributed to the crash. His destruction of the Second Bank
of the United States had removed restrictions upon the inflationary practices of some state banks; wild
speculation in lands, based on easy bank credit, had swept the West. To end this speculation, Jackson in 1836
had issued a Specie Circular requiring that lands be purchased with hard money—gold or silver.
In 1837 the panic began. Hundreds of banks and businesses failed. Thousands lost their lands. For about five
years the United States was wracked by the worst depression thus far in its history.
Programs applied decades later to alleviate economic crisis eluded both Van Buren and his opponents. Van
Buren’s remedy—continuing Jackson’s deflationary policies—only deepened and prolonged the depression.
Declaring that the panic was due to recklessness in business and overexpansion of credit, Van Buren devoted
himself to maintaining the solvency of the national Government. He opposed not only the creation of a new
Bank of the United States but also the placing of Government funds in state banks. He fought for the
establishment of an independent treasury system to handle Government transactions. As for Federal aid to
internal improvements, he cut off expenditures so completely that the Government even sold the tools it had
used on public works.
Inclined more and more to oppose the expansion of slavery, Van Buren blocked the annexation of Texas
because it assuredly would add to slave territory—and it might bring war with Mexico.
Defeated by the Whigs in 1840 for reelection, he was an unsuccessful candidate for President on the Free Soil
ticket in 1848. He died in 1862.
William Henry Harrison 1841
“Give him a barrel of hard cider and settle a pension of two thousand a year on him, and my word for it,” a
Democratic newspaper foolishly gibed, “he will sit ... by the side of a ‘sea coal’ fire, and study moral
philosophy. “ The Whigs, seizing on this political misstep, in 1840 presented their candidate William Henry
Harrison as a simple frontier Indian fighter, living in a log cabin and drinking cider, in sharp contrast to an
aristocratic champagne-sipping Van Buren.
Harrison was in fact a scion of the Virginia planter aristocracy. He was born at Berkeley in 1773. He studied
classics and history at Hampden-Sydney College, then began the study of medicine in Richmond.
Suddenly, that same year, 1791, Harrison switched interests. He obtained a commission as ensign in the First
Infantry of the Regular Army, and headed to the Northwest, where he spent much of his life.
In the campaign against the Indians, Harrison served as aide-de-camp to General “Mad Anthony” Wayne at
the Battle of Fallen Timbers, which opened most of the Ohio area to settlement. After resigning from the Army
in 1798, he became Secretary of the Northwest Territory, was its first delegate to Congress, and helped obtain
legislation dividing the Territory into the Northwest and Indiana Territories. In 1801 he became Governor of
the Indiana Territory, serving 12 years.

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His prime task as governor was to obtain title to Indian lands so settlers could press forward into the
wilderness. When the Indians retaliated, Harrison was responsible for defending the settlements.
The threat against settlers became serious in 1809. An eloquent and energetic chieftain, Tecumseh, with his
religious brother, the Prophet, began to strengthen an Indian confederation to prevent further encroachment.
In 1811 Harrison received permission to attack the confederacy.
While Tecumseh was away seeking more allies, Harrison led about a thousand men toward the Prophet’s
town. Suddenly, before dawn on November 7, the Indians attacked his camp on Tippecanoe River. After heavy
fighting, Harrison repulsed them, but suffered 190 dead and wounded.
The Battle of Tippecanoe, upon which Harrison’s fame was to rest, disrupted Tecumseh’s confederacy but
failed to diminish Indian raids. By the spring of 1812, they were again terrorizing the frontier.
In the War of 1812 Harrison won more military laurels when he was given the command of the Army in the
Northwest with the rank of brigadier general. At the Battle of the Thames, north of Lake Erie, on October 5,
1813, he defeated the combined British and Indian forces, and killed Tecumseh. The Indians scattered, never
again to offer serious resistance in what was then called the Northwest.
Thereafter Harrison returned to civilian life; the Whigs, in need of a national hero, nominated him for President
in 1840. He won by a majority of less than 150,000, but swept the Electoral College, 234 to 60.
When he arrived in Washington in February 1841, Harrison let Daniel Webster edit his Inaugural Address,
ornate with classical allusions. Webster obtained some deletions, boasting in a jolly fashion that he had killed
“seventeen Roman proconsuls as dead as smelts, every one of them.”
Webster had reason to be pleased, for while Harrison was nationalistic in his outlook, he emphasized in his
Inaugural that he would be obedient to the will of the people as expressed through Congress.
But before he had been in office a month, he caught a cold that developed into pneumonia. On April 4, 1841,
he died—the first President to die in office—and with him died the Whig program.
James K. Polk 1845-49
Often referred to as the first “dark horse” President, James K. Polk was the last of the Jacksonians to sit in the
White House, and the last strong President until the Civil War.
He was born in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, in 1795. Studious and industrious, Polk was graduated
with honors in 1818 from the University of North Carolina. As a young lawyer he entered politics, served in
the Tennessee legislature, and became a friend of Andrew Jackson.
In the House of Representatives, Polk was a chief lieutenant of Jackson in his Bank war. He served as Speaker
between 1835 and 1839, leaving to become Governor of Tennessee.
Until circumstances raised Polk’s ambitions, he was a leading contender for the Democratic nomination for
Vice President in 1844. Both Martin Van Buren, who had been expected to win the Democratic nomination
for President, and Henry Clay, who was to be the Whig nominee, tried to take the expansionist issue out of
the campaign by declaring themselves opposed to the annexation of Texas. Polk, however, publicly asserted
that Texas should be “re-annexed” and all of Oregon “re-occupied.”
The aged Jackson, correctly sensing that the people favored expansion, urged the choice of a candidate
committed to the Nation’s “Manifest Destiny.” This view prevailed at the Democratic Convention, where Polk
was nominated on the ninth ballot.
“Who is James K. Polk?” Whigs jeered. Democrats replied Polk was the candidate who stood for expansion.
He linked the Texas issue, popular in the South, with the Oregon question, attractive to the North. Polk also
favored acquiring California.
Even before he could take office, Congress passed a joint resolution offering annexation to Texas. In so doing
they bequeathed Polk the possibility of war with Mexico, which soon severed diplomatic relations.

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In his stand on Oregon, the President seemed to be risking war with Great Britain also. The 1844 Democratic
platform claimed the entire Oregon area, from the California boundary northward to a latitude of 54’40’, the
southern boundary of Russian Alaska. Extremists proclaimed “Fifty-four forty or fight,” but Polk, aware of
diplomatic realities, knew that no course short of war was likely to get all of Oregon. Happily, neither he nor
the British wanted a war.
He offered to settle by extending the Canadian boundary, along the 49th parallel, from the Rockies to the
Pacific. When the British minister declined, Polk reasserted the American claim to the entire area. Finally, the
British settled for the 49th parallel, except for the southern tip of Vancouver Island. The treaty was signed in
1846.
Acquisition of California proved far more difficult. Polk sent an envoy to offer Mexico up to $20,000,000,
plus settlement of damage claims owed to Americans, in return for California and the New Mexico country.
Since no Mexican leader could cede half his country and still stay in power, Polk’s envoy was not received.
To bring pressure, Polk sent Gen. Zachary Taylor to the disputed area on the Rio Grande.
To Mexican troops this was aggression, and they attacked Taylor’s forces.
Congress declared war and, despite much Northern opposition, supported the military operations. American
forces won repeated victories and occupied Mexico City. Finally, in 1848, Mexico ceded New Mexico and
California in return for $15,000,000 and American assumption of the damage claims.
President Polk added a vast area to the United States, but its acquisition precipitated a bitter quarrel between
the North and the South over expansion of slavery.
Polk, leaving office with his health undermined from hard work, died in June 1849.
Millard Fillmore 1850-53
In his rise from a log cabin to wealth and the White House, Millard Fillmore demonstrated that through
methodical industry and some competence an uninspiring man could make the American dream come true.
Born in the Finger Lakes country of New York in 1800, Fillmore as a youth endured the privations of frontier
life. He worked on his father’s farm, and at 15 was apprenticed to a cloth dresser. He attended one-room
schools, and fell in love with the redheaded teacher, Abigail Powers, who later became his wife.
In 1823 he was admitted to the bar; seven years later he moved his law practice to Buffalo. As an associate of
the Whig politician Thurlow Weed, Fillmore held state office and for eight years was a member of the House
of Representatives. In 1848, while Comptroller of New York, he was elected Vice President.
Fillmore presided over the Senate during the months of nerve-wracking debates over the Compromise of 1850.
He made no public comment on the merits of the compromise proposals, but a few days before President
Taylor’s death, he intimated to him that if there should be a tie vote on Henry Clay’s bill, he would vote in
favor of it.
Thus the sudden accession of Fillmore to the Presidency in July 1850 brought an abrupt political shift in the
administration. Taylor’s Cabinet resigned and President Fillmore at once appointed Daniel Webster to be
Secretary of State, thus proclaiming his alliance with the moderate Whigs who favored the Compromise.
A bill to admit California still aroused all the violent arguments for and against the extension of slavery,
without any progress toward settling the major issues.
Clay, exhausted, left Washington to recuperate, throwing leadership upon Senator Stephen A. Douglas of
Illinois. At this critical juncture, President Fillmore announced in favor of the Compromise. On August 6,
1850, he sent a message to Congress recommending that Texas be paid to abandon her claims to part of New
Mexico.
This helped influence a critical number of northern Whigs in Congress away from their insistence upon the
Wilmot Proviso—the stipulation that all land gained by the Mexican War must be closed to slavery.

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Douglas’s effective strategy in Congress combined with Fillmore’s pressure from the White House to give
impetus to the Compromise movement. Breaking up Clay’s single legislative package, Douglas presented five
separate bills to the Senate:
Admit California as a free state.
Settle the Texas boundary and compensate her.
Grant territorial status to New Mexico.
Place Federal officers at the disposal of slaveholders seeking fugitives.
Abolish the slave trade in the District of Columbia.
Each measure obtained a majority, and by September 20, President Fillmore had signed them into law.
Webster wrote, “I can now sleep of nights.”
Some of the more militant northern Whigs remained irreconcilable, refusing to forgive Fillmore for having
signed the Fugitive Slave Act. They helped deprive him of the Presidential nomination in 1852.
Within a few years it was apparent that although the Compromise had been intended to settle the slavery
controversy, it served rather as an uneasy sectional truce.
As the Whig Party disintegrated in the 1850’s, Fillmore refused to join the Republican Party; but, instead, in
1856 accepted the nomination for President of the Know Nothing, or American, Party. Throughout the Civil
War he opposed President Lincoln and during Reconstruction supported President Johnson. He died in 1874.

Which of these 19th Century U.S Presidents (A-D):

1. Was a decorated military man? _____
2. Was his party’s last President? _____
3. Made peace with the British? _____
4. Ran more than once for President? _____
5. Didn’t work as a lawyer? _____
6. Increased the size of the country? _____
7. Had a poor upbringing? _____
8. Fought the British? _____
9. Was critical of government debt? _____
10. Set a precedent as President? _____
Paper 5:
Four Hollywood Actors
A. Tom Hanks was born in Concord, California. His father, Amos Mefford Hanks, was an itinerant cook. His
mother was a hospital worker. Hanks’ mother is of Portuguese ancestry, while two of his paternal great-
grandparents immigrated from Britain. Hanks’s parents divorced in 1960. The family’s three oldest children,
Sandra, Larry and Tom, went with their father, while the youngest, Jim, now an actor and film maker, remained
with his mother in Red Bluff, California.
In addition to having a family history of Catholicism and Mormonism, Hanks was a “Bible-toting evangelical
teenager” for several years. In school, Hanks was unpopular with students and teachers alike, later telling
Rolling Stone magazine: “I was a geek, a spaz. I was horribly, painfully, terribly shy. At the same time, I was
the guy who’d yell out funny captions during filmstrips. But I didn’t get into trouble. I was always a real good
18
kid and pretty responsible.” In 1965, Amos Hanks married Frances Wong, a San Francisco native of Chinese
descent. Frances had three children, two of whom lived with Tom during his high school years. Hanks acted
in school plays, including South Pacific, while attending Skyline High School in Oakland, California.
Hanks studied theater at Chabot College in Hayward, California, and after two years, transferred to California
State University, Sacramento. Hanks told New York magazine in 1986: “Acting classes looked like the best
place for a guy who liked to make a lot of noise and be rather flamboyant ...I spent a lot of time going to plays.
I wouldn’t take dates with me. I’d just drive to a theater, buy myself a ticket, sit in the seat and read the
program, and then get into the play completely. I spent a lot of time like that, seeing Brecht, Tennessee
Williams, Ibsen, and all that.”
During his years studying theater, Hanks met Vincent Dowling, head of the Great Lakes Theater Festival in
Cleveland, Ohio. At Dowling’s suggestion, Hanks became an intern at the Festival. His internship stretched
into a three-year experience that covered most aspects of theater production, including lighting, set design,
and stage management, all of which caused Hanks to drop out of college. During the same time, Hanks won
the Cleveland Critics Circle Award for Best Actor for his 1978 performance as Proteus in Shakespeare’s The
Two Gentlemen of Verona, one of the few times he played a villain.
B. Robert De Niro was born in Greenwich Village, New York City, the son of Virginia Holton Admiral, a
painter and poet, and Robert De Niro, Sr., an abstract expressionist painter and sculptor. His father was of
Italian and Irish descent, and his mother was of English, German, French, and Dutch ancestry. His Italian
great-grandparents, Giovanni De Niro and Angelina Mercurio, emigrated from Ferrazzano, in the province of
Campobasso, Molise, and his paternal grandmother, Helen O’Reilly, was the granddaughter of Edward
O’Reilly, an immigrant from Ireland.
De Niro’s parents, who had met at the painting classes of Hans Hofmann in Provincetown, Massachusetts,
divorced when he was three years old. De Niro was raised by his mother in the Little Italy neighborhood of
Manhattan, and in Greenwich Village. His father lived within walking distance and Robert spent much time
with him as he was growing up. De Niro attended PS 41, a public elementary school in Manhattan, through
the sixth grade, and then went to the private Elisabeth Irwin High School, the upper school of the Little Red
School House, for the seventh and eighth grades. He was accepted at the High School of Music and Art for
the ninth grade, but only attended for a short time, transferring instead to a public junior high school. He began
high school at the private McBurney School, attended the private Rhodes Preparatory School, but never
graduated.
Nicknamed “Bobby Milk” for his pallor, the youthful De Niro hung out with a group of street kids in Little
Italy, some of whom have remained lifelong friends of his. But the direction of his future had already been
determined by his stage debut at age ten, playing the Cowardly Lion in his school’s production of The Wizard
of Oz. Along with finding relief from shyness through performing, De Niro was also entranced by the movies,
and he dropped out of high school at age sixteen to pursue acting. De Niro studied acting at the Stella Adler
Conservatory, as well as Lee Strasberg’s Actors Studio.
C. Leonardo DiCaprio, an only child, was born in Los Angeles, California. His mother, Irmelin (née
Indenbirken), is a former legal secretary; born in Germany; she came to the US as a child with her parents.
His father, George DiCaprio, is an underground comic artist and producer/distributor of comic books.
DiCaprio’s mother moved from Oer-Erkenschwick in the Ruhr, Germany, to the U.S. during the 1950s with
her parents. A fourth-generation American, DiCaprio’s father is of half Italian (from the Naples area) and half
German descent (from Bavaria). DiCaprio’s maternal grandmother, Helene Indenbirken (1915-2008), was
born Yelena Smirnova in Russia. In a 2010 conversation with the Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin,
DiCaprio said that two of his grandparents were Russian.
DiCaprio’s parents met while attending college and subsequently moved to Los Angeles. He was named
Leonardo because his pregnant mother was looking at a Leonardo da Vinci painting in a museum in Italy when
DiCaprio first kicked.
His parents divorced when he was a year old and he lived mostly with his mother. The two lived in several
Los Angeles neighborhoods, such as Echo Park, and at 1874 Hillhurst Avenue, Los Feliz district (which was
later converted into a local public library), while his mother worked several jobs to support them. She
19
remarried. He attended Seeds Elementary School and graduated from John Marshall High School a few blocks
away, after attending the Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies for four years.
D. John Wayne was born Marion Robert Morrison at 216 South Second Street in Winterset, Iowa. His middle
name was soon changed from Robert to Mitchell when his parents decided to name their next son Robert.
Wayne’s father, Clyde Leonard Morrison (1884-1937), was the son of American Civil War veteran Marion
Mitchell Morrison (1845-1915). Wayne’s mother, the former Mary “Molly” Alberta Brown (1885-1970), was
from Lancaster County, Nebraska. Wayne was of Scots-Irish and Scottish descent on both sides of his family.
Wayne’s family moved to Palmdale, California, and then in 1911 to Glendale, California, where his father
worked as a pharmacist. A local fireman at the station on his route to school in Glendale started calling him
“Little Duke” because he never went anywhere without his huge Airedale Terrier, Duke. He preferred “Duke”
to “Marion”, and the name stuck for the rest of his life.
As a teen, Wayne worked in an ice cream shop for a man who shod horses for Hollywood studios. He was
also active as a member of the Order of DeMolay, a youth organization associated with the Freemasons. He
attended Wilson Middle School in Glendale. He played football for the 1924 champion Glendale High School
team.
Wayne applied to the U.S. Naval Academy, but was not accepted. He instead attended the University of
Southern California (USC), majoring in pre-law. He was a member of the Trojan Knights and Sigma Chi
fraternities. Wayne also played on the USC football team under coach Howard Jones. An injury curtailed his
athletic career; Wayne later noted he was too terrified of Jones’s reaction to reveal the actual cause of his
injury, a bodysurfing accident. He lost his athletic scholarship and, without funds, had to leave the university.
Wayne began working at the local film studios. Prolific silent western film star Tom Mix had found him a
summer job in the prop department in exchange for football tickets. Wayne soon moved on to bit parts,
establishing a longtime friendship with the director who provided most of those roles, John Ford.

Which of these actors ... (A-D):

1. Came from a broken home _____
2. Left school early _____
3. Still sees childhood friends _____
4. Was timid as a youngster _____
5. Gave up a college education for acting _____
6. Had a dangerous hobby he was forced to give up _____
7. Looked unhealthy as a child _____
8. Had a beloved pet as a child _____
9. Didn’t have brothers or sisters _____
10. Was religious when young _____

20
 UNIT 3: OPEN CLOZE TEST - CPE
(https://bom.so/J9aHHB for answer key)
Paper 1:
THE SOLAR SYSTEM
The Solar System may be defined as consisting of all those objects that are governed by the Sun’s gravitational
field. Other effects arising (1) _______ the proximity of the Sun could equally (2) _______ be used as criteria,
such as radiation pressure or interaction with the solar wind. (3) _______ any of these definitions the Solar
System extends (4) _______ to a distance of about two light-years; the closest star, Proxima Centauri, (5)
_______ lying at a distance of slightly more than four light-years.
Our knowledge of this region of space certainly does not reach as far as this, (6) _______ , because the most
distant Solar-System objects that we know about, the comets, seem to originate at a distance of no more than
50,000 astronomical units, or less than a third of the total distance. (7) _______ for the other Solar-System
bodies known to us, they lie at distances of less than a few hundred AU. Our study is therefore confined (8)
_______ what is primarily the central region of the Solar System.
Paper 2:
THE BADGER
The Badger’s legs are so short, that its belly seems to touch the ground ; this, however, is but a deceitful
appearance, as it is caused by the length of the hair, which is very long all (1) _______ the body, and makes
it seem much more bulky than it really is. It is a solitary animal, that finds refuge remote (2) _______ man,
and digs itself a deep hole with great assiduity. It seems to avoid the light, and seldom quits its retreat by day,
only stealing (3)_______ at night to find subsistence.
It burrows in the ground very easily, its legs (4) _______ short and strong, and its claws stiff and horny. As it
continues to bury itself, it throws the earth behind it, to a great distance, and thus forms to itself a winding
hole, at the bottom of (5) _______ it remains in safety. As the fox is not (6) _______ expert at digging into
the earth, it often (7) _______ possession of that which has been quitted by the badger, and some say, forces
it from its retreat, by laying its excrements (8) _______ the mouth of the badger’s hole.
Paper 3:
THE HOLY GRAIL
When you think of the Holy Grail your mind probably conjures (1) _______ the image of a golden chalice
that Jesus and his Apostles drank out of during the Last Supper and later caught the blood of the crucified
Messiah. (2) _______ you envision this legendary Cup of Christ in the hands of a distinguished knight,
possibly the Knight Percival, (3) _______ eternal guardian. Have you ever pondered where your image
originates?
No doubt it is related to the legend of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table, (4) _______ reputed
goal was to find the location of the Holy Grail, drink from the golden chalice, and then receive the sought-
after prize of immortality. But the image of King Arthur and his knights is an anachronism; no such person or
persons ever existed, at (5) _______ not in the way we are made to believe. (6) _______ to historical fact,
there were two royal figures living in the 6th century, an Arthur of Dalriada and an Arthur of Wales, (7)
_______ of whom currently contend (8) _______ the honour of being the King Arthur.
Paper 4:
MODERN TECHNOLOGY
Technology, or the making and using of artifacts, is a largely unthinking activity. It emerges (1) _______
unattended to ideas and motives, while it produces and engages (2) _______ unreflected-upon objects. We
make dinner, sew clothes, build houses, and manufacture industrial products. We use tools, turn on appliances,

21
answer telephones, drive cars, listen to radios, and watch televisions. In our technological society, all this
happens mostly (3) _______ habit – but even in less technologically framed cultures the context of making
and using is not so different, (4) _______ the kinds of making and using certainly are, and artifice itself is (5)
_______ prevalent. The need to think about technology is nevertheless increasingly manifest. Indeed, the
inherent complexity and practical efficacy of modern technologies call (6) _______ diverse kinds of thinking
– scientific and technical, of course, but also economic, psychological, political, and so forth. Within (7)
_______ a spectrum of approaches and issues, (8) _______ does it mean to think philosophically about
technology? What basic stance and distinctions characterize such thinking?
Paper 5:
GLOBAL LANGUAGE
A language achieves a genuinely global status when it develops a special role that is recognized in every
country. This might seem (1) _______ stating the obvious, but it is (2) _______, for the notion of ‘special
role’ has many facets. Such a role will be most evident in countries where large numbers of the people speak
the language as a mother tongue – in the (3) _______ of English, this would mean the USA, Canada, Britain,
Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, several Caribbean countries and a sprinkling (4) _______ other
territories. However, no language has ever been spoken by a mother tongue majority in more than a few
countries (Spanish leads, in this (5) _______, in some twenty countries, chiefly in Latin America), so mother-
tongue use by (6) _______ cannot give a language global status. To achieve such a status, a language has to
be (7) _______ up by other countries around the world. They must decide to give it a special place within their
communities, (8) _______. though they may have few (or no) mother-tongue speakers.
Paper 6:
HEALTH OF ANTARCTIC WILDLIFE
Climate and weather are defining characteristics of Antarctica and (1) _______ a large degree are what set it
(2) _______ from the other regions of the world. The interactions of the geography of Antarctica with large-
scale climatic processes and the local weather conditions they generate influence (3) _______ facets of the
natural environment. Consequently, they will affect many aspects of disease in Antarctic wildlife and the way
that humans can respond to disease events. Climate and weather exert their influence (4) _______ wildlife at
a range of scales.
The large-scale atmospheric pressure systems determine the isolation, or (5) _______, of the Antarctic
continent, at (6) _______ for airborne particles. More locally, conditions of temperature, humidity and solar
irradiance can all influence the survival of hosts, vectors and pathogens in the environment and can control or
limit the actions of people. The extreme environmental conditions that characterise Antarctica may (7)
_______ mean that accepted rules of disease epidemiology may not apply here or that disease response
procedures that are accepted as normal in the rest of the world may not be appropriate or (8) _______ possible.
Paper 7:
DREAMS
A reminiscence (1) _______ the concept of the dream that was held in primitive times seems to underlie the
evaluation of the dream which was current among the peoples of classical antiquity. They (2) _______ it for
granted that dreams were related to the world of the supernatural beings in (3) _______ they believed, and
that they brought inspirations from the gods and demons. Moreover, it appeared to them that dreams must (4)
_______ a special purpose in respect of the dreamer; that, as a rule, they predicted the future.
The extraordinary variations in the content of dreams, and in the impressions which they produced (5) _______
the dreamer, made it, of course, very difficult to formulate a coherent conception of (6) _______, and
necessitated manifold differentiations and group-formations, according to their value and reliability. The
valuation of dreams by the individual philosophers of antiquity naturally depended on the importance which
they were prepared to attribute (7) _______ manticism in general. In (8) _______ two works of Aristotle in
which there is mention of dreams, they are already regarded as constituting a problem of psychology.

22
Paper 8:
LEONARDO’S CHILDHOOD
Leonardo da Vinci was naturally gifted with unusually muscular strength. He could twist the clapper of a bell
or a horseshoe as (1) _______ it were made of lead. Along with his unnatural strength came certain weakness
that was mingled (2) _______ this extraordinary aptitude. The artist was left-handed and his old age paralysis
finally deprived him (3) _______ the use of his right hand. From the very beginning – according to Vasari’s
testimony – the child showed an immoderate and at times even extravagant thirst for knowledge of any kind.
He would have made even more extraordinary progress (4) _______ it not been for his marked instability of
purpose. He threw himself into the study of one science (5) _______ another and bounded to the (6) _______
root of questions, but abandoned work as readily as he began it. During the few months he devoted (7) _______
to mathematics, he acquire such knowledge of the subject that he confused his master all the time and (8)
_______ him to shame. He was also very musical. He excelled particularly on the flute, the instrument he used
later for accompaniment of the songs he improvised.
Paper 9:
SCOTLAND’S MOUNTAIN RIDGES
Size, as they say, is not everything. In comparison to the greater ranges, Scotland’s mountains might look
diminutive, but the punch (1) _______ their weight. Although they tend to be short by international standards,
Scottish scrambles, traditional rock climbs and winter routes are as good as any of their type. What Scottish
peaks lack in altitude they make up (2) _______ in attitude: long walkins, rough terrain and mercurial weather
are the norm.
It is often claim that (3) _______ who learn to handle Scotland’s mountain mood swings can adapt their
climbing to pretty much (4) _______ in the world – and it’s more or less true, give or (5) _______ hypoxia
and crevasses. But why climb elsewhere at all, when (6) _______ we have here in Scotland is so good? While
we’re spouting old clichés it just remains to say that in the trade-off between quantity and quality, the
Highlands hold their (7) _______. The Scottish hills contain an almost limitless supply of superb objectives –
challenging trips in beautiful settings. Metre for metre, there can be no finer mountains. It is amazing just how
much is packed (8) _______ such a small country.
Paper 10:
THE HISTORY OF THE CANAL
The idea of constructing an artificial water-way between the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Panama is as old
as the discovery of America. Christopher Columbus, in early life, became converted (1) _______ the idea that
the world was round, and his studies led him to believe that by sailing in a direct course and sailing far (2)
_______, he could circumnavigate the globe and come back to the point from (3) _______ he started, provided
he could keep on that straight course.
This belief naturally (4) _______ him to the conclusion that by sailing westward from Spain, across the
Atlantic, he could reach the coasts and the islands of Asia, which about that time were (5) _______ into great
prominence as a desired market for the exchange of the wares of the producers and the manufacturers of
Europe. The only mistake made by Columbus was that he estimated the circumference of the world at about
8,000 miles, (6) _______ of over 24,000. Following his theory, Columbus embarked (7) _______ his first and
greatest voyage, and was successful, as we know, (8) _______ discovering one of the islands of the West
Indies.

23
 Unit 4: MATCHING HEADINGS AND MULTIPLE QUESTIONS – IELTS
Paper 1:
Information theory – the bid idea
Information theory lies at the heart of everything – from DVD players and the genetic code of DNA to the
physics of the universe at its most fundamental. It has been central to the development of the science of
communication, which enables data to be sent electronically and has therefore had a major impact on our
lives
A. In April 2002 an event took place which demonstrated one of the many applications of information theory.
The space probe, Voyager I, launched in 1977, had sent back spectacular images of Jupiter and Saturn and
then soared out of the Solar System on a one-way mission to the stars. After 25 years of exposure to the
freezing temperatures of deep space, the probe was beginning to show its age. Sensors and circuits were on
the brink of failing and NASA experts realised that they had to do something or lose contact with their probe
forever. The solution was to get a message to Voyager I to instruct it to use spares to change the failing parts.
With the probe 12 billion kilometres from Earth, this was not an easy task. By means of a radio dish belonging
to NASA’s Deep Space Network, the message was sent out into the depths of space. Even travelling at the
speed of light, it took over 11 hours to reach its target, far beyond the orbit of Pluto. Yet, incredibly, the little
probe managed to hear the faint call from its home planet, and successfully made the switchover.
B. It was the longest-distance repair job in history, and a triumph for the NASA engineers. But it also
highlighted the astonishing power of the techniques developed by American communications engineer Claude
Shannon, who had died just a year earlier. Born in 1916 in Petoskey, Michigan, Shannon showed an early
talent for maths and for building gadgets, and made breakthroughs in the foundations of computer technology
when still a student. While at Bell Laboratories, Shannon developed information theory, but shunned the
resulting acclaim. In the 1940s, he single-handedly created an entire science of communication which has
since inveigled its way into a host of applications, from DVDs to satellite communications to bar codes – any
area, in short, where data has to be conveyed rapidly yet accurately.
C. This all seems light years away from the down-to-earth uses Shannon originally had for his work, which
began when he was a 22-year-old graduate engineering student at the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of
Technology in 1939. He set out with an apparently simple aim: to pin down the precise meaning of the concept
of ‘information’. The most basic form of information, Shannon argued, is whether something is true or false
– which can be captured in the binary unit, or ‘bit’, of the form 1 or 0. Having identified this fundamental unit,
Shannon set about defining otherwise vague ideas about information and how to transmit it from place to
place. In the process he discovered something surprising: it is always possible to guarantee information will
get through random interference – ‘noise’ – intact.
D. Noise usually means unwanted sounds which interfere with genuine information. Information theory
generalises this idea via theorems that capture the effects of noise with mathematical precision. In particular,
Shannon showed that noise sets a limit on the rate at which information can pass along communication
channels while remaining error-free. This rate depends on the relative strengths of the signal and noise
travelling down the communication channel, and on its capacity (its ‘bandwidth’). The resulting limit, given
in units of bits per second, is the absolute maximum rate of error-free communication given signal strength
and noise level. The trick, Shannon showed, is to find ways of packaging up – ‘coding’ – information to cope
with the ravages of noise, while staying within the information-carrying capacity – ‘bandwidth’ – of the
communication system being used.
E. Over the years scientists have devised many such coding methods, and they have proved crucial in many
technological feats. The Voyager spacecraft transmitted data using codes which added one extra bit for every
single bit of information; the result was an error rate of just one bit in 10,000 – and stunningly clear pictures
of the planets. Other codes have become part of everyday life – such as the Universal Product Code, or bar
code, which uses a simple error-detecting system that ensures supermarket check-out lasers can read the price
even on, say, a crumpled bag of crisps. As recently as 1993, engineers made a major breakthrough by

24
discovering so-called turbo codes – which come very close to Shannon’s ultimate limit for the maximum rate
that data can be transmitted reliably, and now play a key role in the mobile videophone revolution.
F. Shannon also laid the foundations of more efficient ways of storing information, by stripping out
superfluous (‘redundant’) bits from data which contributed little real information. As mobile phone text
messages like ‘I CN C U’ show, it is often possible to leave out a lot of data without losing much meaning.
As with error correction, however, there’s a limit beyond which messages become too ambiguous. Shannon
showed how to calculate this limit, opening the way to the design of compression methods that cram maximum
information into the minimum space.
Question 1 – 6
Reading Passage has six paragraphs, A-F.
Which paragraph contains the following information?
Write the correct letter, A-F
1. An explanation of the factors affecting the transmission of information ___
2. An example of how unnecessary information can be omitted ___
3. A reference to Shannon’s attitude to fame ___
4. Details of a machine capable of interpreting incomplete information ___
5. A detailed account of an incident involving information theory ___
6. A reference to what Shannon initially intended to achieve in his research ___
Question 7 – 11
Complete the notes below.
Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer.
The Voyager 1 Space Probe
• The probe transmitted pictures of both (7) _________________, then left the (8) ______________.
• The freezing temperatures were found to have a negative effect on parts of the space probe.
• Scientists feared that both the (9) ___________ were about to stop working.
• The only hope was to tell the probe to replace them with (10) ___________ - but distance made
communication with the probe difficult.
• A (11) ___________ as used to transmit the message at the speed of light. • The message was picked up by
the probe and the switchover took place.
Question 12 – 14
Do the following statements agree with the information given in the Reading Passage?
In following statements below, choose
TRUE if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
12. The concept of describing something as true or false was the starting point for Shannon in his attempts to
send messages over distances. ___

25
13. The amount of information that can be sent in a given time period is determined with reference to the
signal strength and noise level. ___
14. Products have now been developed which can convey more information than Shannon had anticipated as
possible. ___

Paper 2:
Venus In Transit
June 2004 saw the first passage, known as a ‘transit’, of the planet Venus across the face of the Sun in 122
years. Transits have helped shape our view of the whole Universe, as Heather Cooper and Nigel Henbest
explain
A. On 8 June 2004, more than half the population of the world were treated to a rare astronomical event. For
over six hours, the planet Venus steadily inched its way over the surface of the Sun. This ‘transit’ of Venus
was the first since 6 December 1882. On that occasion, the American astronomer Professor Simon Newcomb
led a party to South Africa to observe the event. They were based at a girls’ school, where – it is alleged – the
combined forces of three schoolmistresses outperformed the professionals with the accuracy of their
observations.
B. For centuries, transits of Venus have drawn explorers and astronomers alike to the four corners of the globe.
And you can put it all down to the extraordinary polymath Edmond Halley. In November 1677, Halley
observed a transit of the innermost planet, Mercury, from the desolate island of St Helena in the South Pacific.
He realised that, from different latitudes, the passage of the planet across the Sun’s disc would appear to differ.
By timing the transit from two widely-separated locations, teams of astronomers could calculate the parallax
angle – the apparent difference in position of an astronomical body due to a difference in the observer’s
position. Calculating this angle would allow astronomers to measure what was then the ultimate goal: the
distance of the Earth from the Sun. This distance is known as the astronomical unit’ or AU.
C. Halley was aware that the AU was one of the most fundamental of all astronomical measurements. Johannes
Kepler, in the early 17th century, had shown that the distances of the planets from the Sun governed their
orbital speeds, which were easily measurable. But no-one had found a way to calculate accurate distances to
the planets from the Earth. The goal was to measure the AU; then, knowing the orbital speeds of all the other
planets round the Sun, the scale of the Solar System would fall into place. However, Halley realised that
Mercury was so far away that its parallax angle would be very difficult to determine. As Venus was closer to
the Earth, its parallax angle would be larger, and Halley worked out that by using Venus it would be possible
to measure the Suns distance to 1 part in 500. But there was a problem: transits of Venus, unlike those of
Mercury, are rare, occurring in pairs roughly eight years apart every hundred or so years. Nevertheless, he
accurately predicted that Venus would cross the face of the Sun in both 1761 and 1769 – though he didn’t
survive to see either.
D. Inspired by Halley’s suggestion of a way to pin down the scale of the Solar System, teams of British and
French astronomers set out on expeditions to places as diverse as India and Siberia. But things weren’t helped
by Britain and France being at war. The person who deserves most sympathy is the French astronomer
Guillaume Le Gentil.
He was thwarted by the fact that the British were besieging his observation site at Pondicherry in India. Fleeing
on a French warship crossing the Indian Ocean, Le Gentil saw a wonderful transit – but the ship’s pitching
and rolling ruled out any attempt at making accurate observations. Undaunted, he remained south of the
equator, keeping himself busy by studying the islands of Mauritius and Madagascar before setting off to
observe the next transit in the Philippines. Ironically after travelling nearly 50,000 kilometres, his view was
clouded out at the last moment, a very dispiriting experience.
E. While the early transit timings were as precise as instruments would allow, the measurements were dogged
by the ‘black drop’ effect. When Venus begins to cross the Sun’s disc, it looks smeared not circular – which
makes it difficult to establish timings. This is due to diffraction of light. The second problem is that Venus
26
exhibits a halo of light when it is seen just outside the Sun’s disc. While this showed astronomers that Venus
was surrounded by a thick layer of gases refracting sunlight around it, both effects made it impossible to obtain
accurate timings.
F. But astronomers laboured hard to analyse the results of these expeditions to observe Venus transits. Johann
Franz Encke, Director of the Berlin Observatory, finally determined a value for the AU based on all these
parallax measurements: 153,340,000 km. Reasonably accurate for the time, that is quite close to today’s value
of 149,597,870 km, determined by radar, which has now superseded transits and all other methods in accuracy.
The AU is a cosmic measuring rod, and the basis of how we scale the Universe today. The parallax principle
can be extended to measure the distances to the stars. If we look at a star in January – when Earth is at one
point in its orbit – it will seem to be in a different position from where it appears six months later. Knowing
the width of Earth’s orbit, the parallax shift lets astronomers calculate the distance.
G. June 2004’s transit of Venus was thus more of an astronomical spectacle than a scientifically important
event. But such transits have paved the way for what might prove to be one of the most vital breakthroughs in
the cosmos – detecting Earth-sized planets orbiting other stars.
Question 1 – 4
Reading Passage has seven paragraphs, A-G.
Which paragraph contains the following information?
Write the correct letter, A-G
1. Examples of different ways in which the parallax principle has been applied ___
2. A description of an event which prevented a transit observation ___
3. A statement about potential future discoveries leading on from transit observations ___
4. A description of physical states connected with Venus which early astronomical instruments failed to
overcome ___
Question 5 – 8
Look at the following statements and the list of people below.
Match each statement with the correct person, A, B, C or D.
Write the correct letter, A, B, C or D
List of Findings
A. Edmond Halley
B. Johannes Kepler
C. Guillaume Le Gentil
D. Johann Franz Encke
5. He calculated the distance of the Sun from the Earth based on observations of Venus with a fair degree of
accuracy. ___
6. He understood that the distance of the Sun from the Earth could be worked out by comparing observations
of a transit. ___
7. He realised that the time taken by a planet to go round the Sun depends on its distance from the Sun. ___
8. He witnessed a Venus transit but was unable to make any calculations. ___
Question 9 – 13
Do the following statements agree with the information given in the Reading Passage?
27
In following statements below, choose
TRUE if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
9. Halley observed one transit of the planet Venus. ___
10. Le Gentil managed to observe a second Venus transit. ___
11. The shape of Venus appears distorted when it starts to pass in front of the Sun. ___
12. Early astronomers suspected that the atmosphere on Venus was toxic. ___
13. The parallax principle allows astronomers to work out how far away distant stars are from the Earth. ___

Paper 3:
Air Rage
(A) The first recorded case of an airline passenger turning seriously violent during a flight, a phenomenon
now widely known as “air rage”, happened in 1947 on a flight from Havana to Miami. A drunk man assaulted
another passenger and bit a flight attendant. However, the man escaped punishment because it was not then
clear under whose legal control a crime committed on plane was, the country where the plane was registered
or the country where the crime was committed. In 1963, at the Tokyo convention, it was decided that the laws
of the country where the plane is registered take precedence.
(B) The frequency of air rage has expanded out of proportion to the growth of air travel. Until recently few
statistics were gathered about air rage, but those that have been indicate that passengers are increasingly likely
to cause trouble or engage in violent acts. For example, in 1998 there were 266 air rage incidents out of
approximately four million passengers, a 400% increase from 1995. In the same period American Airlines
showed a 200% rise. Air travel is predicted to rise by 5% internationally by 2010 leading to increased airport
congestion. This, coupled with the flying public’s increased aggression, means that air rage may become a
major issue in coming years.
(C) Aside from discomfort and disruption, air rage poses some very real dangers to flying. The most extreme
of these is when out of control passengers enter the cockpit. This has actually happened on a number of
occasions, the worst of which have resulted in the death and injury of pilots or the intruder taking control of
the plane, almost resulting in crashes. In addition, berserk passengers sometimes attempt to open the
emergency doors while in flight, putting the whole aircraft in danger. These are extreme examples and cases
of air rage more commonly result in physical assaults on fellow passengers and crew such as throwing objects,
punching, stabbing or scalding with hot coffee.
(D) The causes of air rage are not known for certain, but it is generally thought that factors include: passenger
behavior and personality, the physical environment and changes in society. A recent study has identified the
issues that start the incidents to be as follows.
• Alcohol: 25%
• Seating: 16%
• Smoking: 10%
• Carry on luggage: 9%
• Flight attendants: 8%
• Food: 5%

28
(E) One of the major causes seems to be the passenger’s behavior or their personality. Fear of flying and the
feeling of powerlessness associated with flying can lead to irritable or aggressive passengers. Also, alcohol
consumed on a plane pressurized to 8000ft affects the drinker more quickly and the effects are stronger. Many
people do not take account of this and drinking may increase any negative reaction to the flying environment
they have, which, combined with the lowering of their inhibitions, may cause air rage. Smoking withdrawal,
which some liken in severity to opiate withdrawal, is another major cause of air rage incidents. Passengers
caught smoking in the toilets occasionally assault flight attendants and have been known to start fires. When
conflicts occur in these conditions, they can escalate into major incidents if the passenger has a violent
personality or a fear of flying and because of the enclosed nature of a plane offers no option of retreat as would
be natural in a “fight or flight” reaction.
(F) Some people feel that the physical environment of a plane can lead to air rage. Seats on most airlines have
become smaller in recent years as airlines try to increase profits. This leads to uncomfortable and irritated
passengers. Also, space for carry on luggage is often very small. Because up to 8% of checked in luggage is
lost, misdirected or stolen, passengers have been trying to fit larger carry on items into these small storage
areas and this can lead to disputes that can escalate into air rage. Airlines could also be to blame by raising
passengers’ expectations too high with their marketing and advertising. Many air rage incidents start when
disappointed passengers demand to be reseated. Finally, there is some evidence to show that low oxygen levels
can raise aggression level and make people feel more desperate. Airlines have lowered oxygen levels to save
money. Now the level of oxygen in the air that the pilots breathe is ten times higher than in cabin class.
(G) Another reason that has been suggested is that society is getting ruder and less patient. The increased
congestion at airports, longer queues and increased delays have only added to this. In addition, some air rage
incidents have been linked to the demanding nature of high achieving business people, who do not like people
telling them what to do and resent the power that the cabin staff have over them. For them, a flight attendant
is a waiter or waitress who should do what the passenger wants.
(H) The strongest calls for action to control air rage have come from pilots and aircrew. The International
Transport Workers’ Federation argues that there are too many loopholes that let people escape punishment
and that the penalties are too light. They want to notify all passengers of the penalties for air rage before taking
off, rather than after the passenger begins to cause serious problems, when it may be too late. The Civil
Aviation Organisation has been organizing international cooperation and penalties have increased in recent
years. The most severe punishment so far has been a 51 month jail sentence, a fine to pay for the jet fuel used
and 200 hours community service for a man who attempted to enter the cockpit and to open the emergency
door of a domestic US flight.
(I) Various other measures are being used to control air rage. Air crew are getting training on how to calm
passengers and how to predict where incidents might result in air rage and take action to prevent this. Other
measures include, strengthening doors to stop people entering the cockpit, training crew in the use of plastic
restraints to tie down unruly passengers and having pilots divert their planes if passengers cause problems.
Banning passengers who are guilty of air rage from flying has also been tried to a lesser extent

29
 List of headings Questions 1 – 8

i. A decline in the tolerance of passengers. 0. Paragraph A: vii

ii. Disproportionate growth. 1. Paragraph B: ___

iii. Pilots and aircrew cooperate. 2. Paragraph C: ___

iv. Additional action. 3. Paragraph D: ___

v. Smaller seats are the norm. 4. Paragraph E: ___

vi. Laying the blame with the airlines 5. Paragraph F: ___

vii. Origins. 6. Paragraph G: ___

viii. A major threat to travel. 7. Paragraph H: ___

ix. Demands for change. 8. Paragraph I: ___

x. Business people fly more.

xi. New research pinpoints the causes.
xii. The pace of life.
xiii. Passenger at the root of the problems.
xiv. Personal experience.

Questions 9 – 14
TRUE - if the statement agrees with the information in the text.
FALSE - if the statement does not agree with the information in the text.
NOT GIVEN - if there is no information on this in the text.
9. In the first case of air rage, one of the reasons the man was not punished was because the plane was not
registered.
10. The statistics on air rage were collected by private monitoring groups.
11. The second most common catalyst for incidents is problems with seating.
12. The environment in a plane makes disagreements more likely to become serious problems.
13. Airlines have been encouraging passengers to bring more items onboard as carry-on luggage.
14. There have been no attempts to ban passengers with a history of air rage.

Paper 4:
Electroreception

A. Open your eyes in sea water and it is difficult to see much more than a murky, bleary green colour. Sounds,
too, are garbled and difficult to comprehend. Without specialised equipment humans would be lost in these
deep sea habitats, so how do fish make it seem so easy? Much of this is due to a biological phenomenon known

30
as electroreception – the ability to perceive and act upon electrical stimuli as part of the overall senses. This
ability is only found in aquatic or amphibious species because water is an efficient conductor of electricity.
B. Electroreception comes in two variants. While all animals (including humans) generate electric signals,
because they are emitted by the nervous system, some animals have the ability – known as passive
electroreception – to receive and decode electric signals generated by other animals in order to sense their
location.
C. Other creatures can go further still, however. Animals with active electroreception possess bodily organs
that generate special electric signals on cue. These can be used for mating signals and territorial displays as
well as locating objects in the water. Active electroreceptors can differentiate between the various resistances
that their electrical currents encounter. This can help them identify whether another creature is prey, predator
or something that is best left alone. Active electroreception has a range of about one body length – usually
just enough to give its host time to get out of the way or go in for the kill.
D. One fascinating use of active electroreception – known as the Jamming Avoidance Response mechanism
– has been observed between members of some species known as the weakly electric fish. When two such
electric fish meet in the ocean using the same frequency, each fish will then shift the frequency of its discharge
so that they are transmitting on different frequencies. Doing so prevents their electroreception faculties from
becoming jammed. Long before citizens’ band radio users first had to yell “Get off my frequency!” at hapless
novices cluttering the air waves, at least one species had found a way to peacefully and quickly resolve this
type of dispute.
E. Electroreception can also play an important role in animal defences. Rays are one such example. Young
ray embryos develop inside egg cases that are attached to the sea bed. The embryos keep their tails in constant
motion so as to pump water and allow them to breathe through the egg’s casing. If the embryo’s
electroreceptors detect the presence of a predatory fish in the vicinity, however, the embryo stops moving (and
in so doing ceases transmitting electric currents) until the fish has moved on. Because marine life of various
types is often travelling past, the embryo has evolved only to react to signals that are characteristic of the
respiratory movements of potential predators such as sharks.
F. Many people fear swimming in the ocean because of sharks. In some respects, this concern is well grounded
– humans are poorly equipped when it comes to electroreceptive defence mechanisms. Sharks, meanwhile,
hunt with extraordinary precision. They initially lock onto their prey through a keen sense of smell (two thirds
of a shark’s brain is devoted entirely to its olfactory organs). As the shark reaches proximity to its prey, it
tunes into electric signals that ensure a precise strike on its target; this sense is so strong that the shark even
attacks blind by letting its eyes recede for protection.
G. Normally, when humans are attacked it is purely by accident. Since sharks cannot detect from
electroreception whether or not something will satisfy their tastes, they tend to “try before they buy”, taking
one or two bites and then assessing the results (our sinewy muscle does not compare well with plumper, softer
prey such as seals). Repeat attacks are highly likely once a human is bleeding, however; the force of the
electric field is heightened by salt in the blood which creates the perfect setting for a feeding frenzy. In areas
where shark attacks on humans are likely to occur, scientists are exploring ways to create artificial
electroreceptors that would disorient the sharks and repel them from swimming beaches.
H. There is much that we do not yet know concerning how electroreception functions. Although researchers
have documented how electroreception alters hunting, defence and communication systems through
observation, the exact neurological processes that encode and decode this information are unclear. Scientists
are also exploring the role electroreception plays in navigation. Some have proposed that salt water and
magnetic fields from the Earth’s core may interact to form electrical currents that sharks use for migratory
purposes.
Questions 1–6
Which paragraph contains the following information?
Write the correct letter, A–H, in boxes 1–6 on your answer sheet.

31
1. How electroreception can be used to help fish reproduce ___
2. A possible use for electroreception that will benefit humans ___
3. The term for the capacity which enables an animal to pick up but not send out electrical signals ___
4. Why only creatures that live in or near water have electroreceptive abilities ___
5. How electroreception might help creatures find their way over long distances ___
6. A description of how some fish can avoid disrupting each other’s electric signals ___

Questions 7–9
Label the diagram.
Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 7–9 on your answer sheet.

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

Shark’s (7) ………………… alert the young ray to its presence
Embryo moves its (8) ………………… in order to breathe
Embryo stops sending (9) ………………… when predator close by
Questions 10–13
Complete the summary below.
Choose NO MORE THAN THREE words from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 10–13 on your answer sheet.
Shark Attack
A shark is a very effective hunter. Firstly, it uses its (10) ……………….. to smell its target. When the shark
gets close, it uses (11) ……………….. to guide it toward an accurate attack. Within the final few feet the
32
shark rolls its eyes back into its head. Humans are not popular food sources for most sharks due to their (12)
………………... Nevertheless, once a shark has bitten a human, a repeat attack is highly possible as salt from
the blood increases the intensity of the 13 ………………...

Paper 5:
A bar at the folies (Un bar aux folies)
A. One of the most critically renowned paintings of the 19th-century modernist movement is the French
painter Edouard Manet’s masterwork, A Bar at the Folies. Originally belonging to the composer Emmanuel
Chabrier, it is now in the possession of The Courtauld Gallery in London, where it has also become a favourite
with the crowds.
B. The painting is set late at night in a nineteenth-century Parisian nightclub. A barmaid stands alone behind
her bar, fitted out in a black bodice that has a frilly white neckline, and with a spray of flowers sitting across
her décolletage. She rests her hands on the bar and gazes out forlornly at a point just below the viewer, not
quite making eye contact. Also on the bar are some bottles of liquor and a bowl of oranges, but much of the
activity in the room takes place in the reflection of a mirror behind the barmaid. Through this mirror we see
an auditorium, bustling with blurred figures and faces: men in top hats, a woman examining the scene below
her through binoculars, another in long gloves, even the feet of a trapeze artist demonstrating acrobatic feats
above his adoring crowd. In the foreground of the reflection a man with a thick moustache is talking with the
barmaid.
C. Although the Folies (-Bergère) was an actual establishment in late nineteenth-century Paris, and the subject
of the painting was a real barmaid who worked there, Manet did not attempt to recapture every detail of the
bar in his rendition. The painting was largely completed in a private studio belonging to the painter, where the
barmaid posed with a number of bottles, and this was then integrated with quick sketches the artist made at
the Folies itself.
D. Even more confounding than Manet’s relaxed attention to detail, however, is the relationship in the painting
between the activity in the mirrored reflection and that which we see in the unreflected foreground. In a similar
vein to Diego Velazquez’ much earlier work Las Meninas, Manet uses the mirror to toy with our ideas about
which details are true to life and which are not. In the foreground, for example, the barmaid is positioned
upright, her face betraying an expression of lonely detachment, yet in the mirrored reflection she appears to
be leaning forward and to the side, apparently engaging in conversation with her moustachioed customer. As
a result of this, the customer’s stance is also altered. In the mirror, he should be blocked from view as a result
of where the barmaid is standing, yet Manet has re-positioned him to the side. The overall impact on the viewer
is one of a dreamlike disjuncture between reality and illusion.
E. Why would Manet engage in such deceit? Perhaps for that very reason: to depict two different states of
mind or emotion. Manet seems to be conveying his understanding of the modern workplace, a place – from
his perspective – of alienation, where workers felt torn from their ‘true’ selves and forced to assume an
artificial working identity. What we see in the mirrored reflection is the barmaid’s working self, busy serving
a customer. The front-on view, however, bears witness to how the barmaid truly feels at work: hopeless, adrift,
and alone.
F. Ever since its debut at the Paris Salon of 1882, art historians have produced reams of books and journal
articles disputing the positioning of the barmaid and patron in A Bar at the Folies. Some have even conducted
staged representations of the painting in order to ascertain whether Manet’s seemingly distorted point of view
might have been possible after all. Yet while academics are understandably drawn to the compositional enigma
of the painting, the layperson is always likely to see the much simpler, more human story beneath. No doubt
this is the way Manet would have wanted it.
Questions 1–5
Which paragraph contains the following information?

33
Write the correct letter, A–F, in boxes 1–5 on your answer sheet.
1. a description of how Manet created the painting ___
2. aspects of the painting that scholars are most interested in ___
3. the writer’s view of the idea that Manet wants to communicate ___
4. examples to show why the bar scene is unrealistic ___
5. a statement about the popularity of the painting ___
Questions 6–10
Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 6–10 on your answer sheet.
6. Who was the first owner of A Bar at the Folies?
...............................................................................................
7. What is the barmaid wearing?
...............................................................................................
8. Which room is seen at the back of the painting?
...............................................................................................
9. Who is performing for the audience?
...............................................................................................
10. Where did most of the work on the painting take place?
...............................................................................................
Questions 11–13
Complete each sentence with the correct ending, A–F, below.
Write the correct letter, A–F, in boxes 11–13 on your answer sheet.
11. Manet misrepresents the images in the mirror because he ___
12. Manet felt modern workers were alienated because they ___
13. Academics have re-constructed the painting in real life because they ___

A. wanted to find out if the painting’s perspective was realistic

B. felt they had to work very hard at boring and difficult jobs
C. wanted to understand the lives of ordinary people at the time
D. felt like they had to become different people
E. wanted to manipulate our sense of reality
F. wanted to focus on the detail in the painting

34
 Unit 5: READING COMPRESSION – TOEFL IBT
Paper 1:
The Solar System
The Solar System is the gravitationally bound system of the Sun and the objects that orbit it. It formed 4.6
billion years ago from the gravitational collapse of a giant interstellar molecular cloud. The vast majority
(99.86%) of the system's mass is in the Sun, with most of the remaining mass contained in the planet Jupiter.
The four inner system planets—Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars—are terrestrial planets, being composed
primarily of rock and metal. The four giant planets of the outer system are substantially larger and more
massive than the terrestrials. The two largest, Jupiter and Saturn, are gas giants, being composed mainly of
hydrogen and helium; the next two, Uranus and Neptune, are ice giants, being composed mostly of volatile
substances with relatively high melting points compared with hydrogen and helium, such as water, ammonia,
and methane. All eight planets have nearly circular orbits that lie near the plane of Earth's orbit, called the
ecliptic.
There are an unknown number of smaller dwarf planets and innumerable small Solar System bodies orbiting
the Sun. Six of the major planets, the six largest possible dwarf planets, and many of the smaller bodies are
orbited by natural satellites, commonly called "moons" after Earth's Moon. Two natural satellites, Jupiter's
moon Ganymede and Saturn's moon Titan, are larger than Mercury, the smallest terrestrial planet, though less
massive, and Jupiter's moon Callisto is nearly as large. Each of the giant planets and some smaller bodies are
encircled by planetary rings of ice, dust and moonlets. The asteroid belt, which lies between the orbits of Mars
and Jupiter, contains objects composed of rock, metal and ice. Beyond Neptune's orbit lie the Kuiper belt and
scattered disc, which are populations of objects composed mostly of ice and rock.
In the outer reaches of the Solar System lies a class of minor planets called detached objects. (A) There is
considerable debate as to how many such objects there will prove to be. (B) Some of these objects are large
enough to have rounded under their own gravity and thus to be categorized as dwarf planets. (C) Astronomers
generally accept about nine objects as dwarf planets: the asteroid Ceres, the Kuiper-belt objects Pluto, Orcus,
Haumea, Quaoar, and Makemake, and the scattered-disc objects Gonggong, Eris, and Sedna. (D) Various
small-body populations, including comets, centaurs and interplanetary dust clouds, freely travel between the
regions of the Solar System.
The solar wind, a stream of charged particles flowing outwards from the Sun, creates a bubble-like region of
interplanetary medium in the interstellar medium known as the heliosphere. The heliopause is the point at
which pressure from the solar wind is equal to the opposing pressure of the interstellar medium; it extends
out to the edge of the scattered disc. The Oort cloud, which is thought to be the source for long-period comets,
may also exist at a distance roughly a thousand times further than the heliosphere. The Solar System is located
26,000 light-years from the center of the Milky Way galaxy in the Orion Arm, which contains most of the
visible stars in the night sky. The nearest stars are within the so-called Local Bubble, with the closest, Proxima
Centauri, at 4.2441 light-years.
Question 1: According to the paragraph, which of the following is a fact about the Solar System?
A) The vast majority of the system's mass is in Jupiter.
B) The Solar System contains mostly gas giants.
C) The majority of the Solar System's mass is in the Sun.
D) The four inner system planets are substantially larger than the terrestrials.
Question 2: According to the paragraph, which of the following is NOT true about the Solar System?
A) The two largest planets, Jupiter and Saturn, are gas giants.
B) The four giant planets of the outer system are substantially larger than the terrestrials.
C) The eight planets have nearly circular orbits.
35
D) The Solar System is located 26,000 light-years from the center of the Milky Way galaxy.
Question 3: Which of the following can be inferred from the paragraph about the objects in the Solar System?
A) The objects in the Solar System are mainly composed of rock and metal.
B) The Solar System contains a variety of objects composed of different materials.
C) The Solar System contains only one type of planet.
D) Most of the objects in the Solar System are composed of volatile substances.
Question 4: The author of the paragraph implies which of the following is true about the minor planets in the
outer reaches of the Solar System?
A) Some of these objects are not large enough to be categorized as dwarf planets.
B) There is a known number of detached objects.
C) There is a consensus among astronomers on the number of dwarf planets.
D) These objects are all composed of ice and rock.
Question 5: Why does the author mention the solar wind in the passage?
A) To describe the composition of the major planets.
B) To explain the creation of the heliosphere.
C) To describe the different types of objects in the Solar System.
D) To explain the location of the Solar System in the Milky Way galaxy.
Question 6: The word "interstellar" in the passage is closest in meaning to:
A) internal B) outer space C) between stars D) extraterrestrial
Question 7: The phrase "gravitationally bound" in the paragraph is closest in meaning to:
A) Pulling apart
B) Repulsed by gravity
C) Stopped by gravity
D) Moving together
Question 8: Which of the following sentences best expresses the essential information in the following
sentence?
"All eight planets have nearly circular orbits that lie near the plane of Earth's orbit, called the ecliptic."
A) All planets orbit the Earth.
B) The orbits of all eight planets are near the ecliptic.
C) The ecliptic is the orbit of eight planets.
D) The eight planets orbit in nearly circular orbits near the ecliptic.
Question 9: Look at the four letters – (A), (B), (C), and (D), – that indicate where the following sentence can
be added to the passage.
"Astronomers have identified nine objects as dwarf planets in the Solar System."
Where would the sentence best fit?
A) (A) B) (B) C) (C) D) (D)
36
Question 10: Complete the summary by selecting the THREE answer choices that express the most important
ideas in the passage.
"The Solar System is a complex and vast system of the Sun and the objects that orbit it."
A) The Oort cloud may be the source for long-period comets.
B) The majority of the Solar System's mass is in the Sun.
C) The four inner system planets are terrestrial and the four giant planets are gas giants or ice giants.
D) The heliosphere is a region of interplanetary medium created by the solar wind.
E) The Solar System is located 26,000 light-years from the center of the Milky Way galaxy.
F) The majority of the objects in the asteroid belt are composed of rock, metal, and ice.

Paper 2:
The evolution of the banana, star of the Western fruit bowl
Did you hear? The genome of the banana has been sequenced, an important development in scientist’s efforts
to produce better bananas.
A look at that genome has revealed curious things, said Pat Heslop-Harrison, a plant geneticist at the
University of Leicester in England who was a coauthor of the report published this week in the journal Nature.
For example, there are regions of the banana genome that don’t seem to be involved in making proteins but
are shared by many different species of plants, far beyond bananas. What, he wonders, are they doing?
There are remnants of bits of banana streak virus spliced into the banana genome (too broken-up to cause
disease, however).
There are whole sets of DNA repeats that plants normally have but bananas do not. And, intriguingly, three
times since this genus of giant herbs took an evolutionary turn away from its relatives – the grasses – it has
duplicated its entire set of chromosomes.
Two of the doublings took place at the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary 65 million years ago, back when the
dinosaurs and lots of other species went extinct, Heslop-Harrison noted.
Duplications like this are known to have happened in other plant groups at this same time but haven’t occurred
since, Heslop-Harrison said. Scientists don’t know why, but they believe having extra copies of genes may
have imparted some stability to plants during a time of rapid climate change after an asteroid hit Earth.
Having more than one gene of each type means that if one gene of a set loses function, the plant still has
another one that works. And there’s more room for adaptability to new circumstances, because one gene could
be altered and co-opted for new purposes and there would still be the other one left to perform the original
job.
“Perhaps it’s the reason [bananas have] done so well in the subsequent millions of years,” Heslop-Harrison
said. “One can ask, will changes occurring in the world’s climate now mean there’s going to be a whole set
of new genome duplications that will enable plants to survive? We don’t know that, but it’s interesting to
consider.”
The banana genome sequenced by the French scientists was from the Pahang, a wild Malaysian banana of the
species Musa acuminata. It’s a key species in the complicated evolution of the bananas and plantains people
eat around the world, including the Cavendish banana that we buy at the supermarket.
The sterile Cavendish is a so-called triploid: It has three sets of chromosomes instead of the normal two. One
of those genomes came from Pahang. The others came from other subspecies of Musa acuminata.
The changes occurred stepwise, and went something like this:
37
Thousands of years ago, two wild banana species from different parts of the islands of Southeast Asia were
brought into the same range by people. They formed hybrids. A bit like mules, the hybrids were vigorous but
fairly sterile.
The hybrids were kept going without sex through propagation of their shoots.
At some point, the hybrids developed the ability to set fruit without being fertilized.
Then (for most bananas, including the Cavendish) came another chance event that caused the hybrids to end
up with three sets of chromosomes. Every now and again, the few viable eggs and pollen that they made would
mistakenly contain two sets of chromosomes instead of just one.
When a double-chromosome pollen combined with a single-chromosome egg (or vice versa), the result was a
hopelessly sterile plant with even more vigorous fruit.
Events like this happened more than once and sometimes included other types of ancestral banana species.
Some scientists, in fact, have made a whole study of banana domestication and movement around the world.
They’ve pieced the story together using quite different strands of information, including the genomes of wild
and cultivated bananas, the microscopic relics of banana leaf material found at archaeological sites, and even
the word for “banana” in different languages.
1. In paragraph 2, the word “curious” is closest in meaning to
A) inquisitive
B) peculiar
C) nosy
D) intricate
2. What does paragraph 5 suggest about bananas?
A)The banana genus may not yet be classifiable into a traditional category
B)Bananas are actually a species of grass
C)Bananas may now be categorized as “herbs” in supermarkets
D)Because banana chromosomes duplicate themselves, they have better potential for successful cloning
3. Why does the author use “intriguingly” to describe the phenomenon in paragraph 5?
A) To imply that bananas are far more interesting than other fruits
B) To make readers doubt the claims scientists are making about bananas
C) To suggest that duplication of chromosomes is a rare and interesting occurrence in the plant world
D) To encourage questions about whether bananas are grasses or herbs
4. Why is the observation in paragraph 6 important?
A) It suggests that the banana mutated its genetic structure for survival
B) It shows that bananas can be traced as far back as dinosaurs
C) It suggests that bananas were fatal to dinosaurs and other species
D) It proves that bananas are immune to atmospheric changes
5. The word “co-opted” in paragraph 8 is closest in meaning to
A) decided upon together
B) argued against
38
C) removed from the study
D) adopted
6.The quote in paragraph 9 most closely suggests
A) Bananas may be an example of ways that species might alter their genetics to survive changes in the earth’s
climate and atmosphere
B) That the genetic mutations of bananas have no implications for other species
C) That genetic structure is the only factor that should be considered when predicting survival
D) Though bananas have made it this far, there is no proof that they will survive the next wave of significant
atmospheric changes.
7. According to the article, all are steps in the evolution of the banana EXCEPT
A) Some banana hybrids began to develop three sets of chromosomes
B) The merging of two different banana species
C) Bananas reproduced widely and easily through fertilization
D) Bananas developed the ability to develop fruit without fertilization
8.The word “chance” in paragraph 16 is closest in meaning to
A) random
B) gamble
C) risky
D)opportune
9. All are variations of banana mentioned in the article EXCEPT
A) the Cavendish
B) Dolus mundi
C) Musa acuminata
D) plantains
10. The word “domestication” in the final paragraph is closest in meaning to>
A) housebroken
B) well-controlled
C) adapted for human consumption
D) accepted within the culture

Paper 3:
Surprise! Empire State Building Switches to LED
While New York slept, the Empire State Building switched on a new light show with the capability to produce
millions of color combinations and effects.
In the middle of the night, as most of New York slept, something big and bright lit up the Manhattan skyline
for just seconds a tightly kept secret to all but a handful of people.

39
It was a tiny test for the huge public surprise four days later: the flipping of a switch at the Empire State
Building to turn on its dancing new LED lights. They burst from the skyscraper while synchronized with R&B
star Alicia Keys singing “Empire State of Mind” on nationwide radio.
The LED system has “16.7 million color possibilities, in digital combinations of ripples, sparkles, sweeps and
strobes,” says Phil O’Donnell, of Burlington, Mass.-based Philips Color Kinetics that’s responsible for the
system and worked with a resident lighting designer. “It’s the sum of all possibilities a huge palette.”
The old lights came in only 10 colors.
From Manhattan and the Bronx to Staten Island and even New Jersey, “there were hundreds of thousands of
people on the streets looking up, filming and videoing, clustered on street corners,” when the new lights came
on, said Anthony Malkin, whose family controls the iconic Art Deco building.
In an interview with The Associated Press at his office, he glowed with pleasure describing Monday night’s
inaugural light show.
Keys also sang “Girl On Fire” from her new CD.
After all, the 102-story skyscraper “has always been a symbol of what’s possible in New York, and all the
dreams that can come true in this city that never sleeps,” Keys, a New York native, said before her
performance, which was ready on tracks while she watched from a Manhattan studio.
Malkin and his technical team wanted to test the new lighting system with as few people noticing as possible
and chose early Thanksgiving morning.
Good luck, in the middle of Manhattan, with people walking around even at 2:30 a.m.
That seemed the best moment, after most bars close and before dawn.
“We decided to do it facing west, in very short bursts between 2:30 a.m. and 3 a.m., because we knew we
didn’t have a camera trained on us from there,” Malkin said.
Apparently, the secret test worked. No images of the Empire State Building alight that night appeared
anywhere, as far as Malkin knows.
To stage the show, he worked with Clear Channel radio, which has 239 million monthly listeners in the United
States.
The lights are part of a larger effort to modernize the 81-year-old edifice that is undergoing a more than half
a billion-dollar renovation that includes making it “green.” The computerized LED system will cut energy
consumption by more than half, while delivering light and vibrancy superior to the old floodlights, which have
huge timpani drum-size lenses that had to be changed every so often, O’Donnell said.
They may still have nostalgic value to some who watched them light up New York City for every special
occasion from Christmas to the Fourth of July.
They were part of “the grande dame of the New York skyline, now state-of-the-art, but still stately,” says
Malkin, adding that the light show was “a gift we gave to the world, these lights. We don’t get paid for this.”
On a sunny Wednesday afternoon, with a spectacular view of the new World Trade Center and New York
Harbor, a vacant space under reconstruction on the building’s 72nd floor was filled with the retired floodlights,
sitting side by side in long lines, veterans of years of New York weather. What will be done with them is also
a secret for now.
One old light will not be discarded in favor of a 21st century novelty: a red beacon “half the size of a
Volkswagen Beetle,” as Malkin puts it that serves as a warning signal for aircraft constantly flying over New
York City.
1. What is the primary purpose of the first sentence of the article?
A) To explain that New Yorkers are commonly asleep in the middle of the night.

40
B) To mislead readers into thinking the light flash was some sort of attack
C) To build suspense and curiosity so that the reader wants to know more
D) To suggest that there is a secret organization working late at night at the Empire State Building
2. The phrase “huge palette” in Paragraph 3 is most likely
A) A metaphor for the scope and range of combinations the new LED lights have
B) A literal explanation of the shape of the new lights, which form an artist’s palette
C) An extreme over exaggeration meant to draw more onlookers to the new display
D) A way to emphasize the amount of lights, since 16.7 could never fit onto a palette
3. What does Alicia Keys suggest the Empire State building is a symbol of?
A) A way for Americans to have a landmark similar to other major global cities
B) The iconic American capacity to push boundaries and break new ground in art and architecture.
C) Lights that are always on due to the number of New Yorkers who work night shifts
D) That any person can use the new lights as a way to make a wish, as people do with other world landmarks.
4. To help keep the new lights secret during their initial test, all precautions were taken EXCEPT:
A) Conducting the test in the middle of the night
B) Conducting the test facing west, away from cameras
C) Conducting the test in short bursts, so that there was no sustained lighting
D) Conducting the test with additional sound effects to distract anyone who might be on the street
5. What was the primary reason Malkin and his team choose to test the new LED lights in the middle of the
night?
A) Because the lights are impossible to see in the daylight
B) So that no spies would be awake to steal the new lighting design
C) Because his team only works at night, to enhance their creativity
D) So that when they made the formal reveal to the city and world, it would be a true surprise
6. How does the new LED display contribute to the Empire State Building’s efforts to become more ‘green’?
A) The lights will be bright enough to reflect into the building, allowing less lighting to be used indoors
B) The new lighting will consume almost half the amount of energy the old lights did
C) The lights can become green in color, to cover the entire building
D) The lights will be solar-powered, generating their own electricity.
7. The article suggests that some older people might miss the old lights. Why is this?
A) The elderly who have poorer eyesight have an easier time seeing the old lights
B) The older generation might not understand the technology behind the new LED lighting
C) Those who used to work in the Empire State Building will no longer be able to recognize it without the
old, larger lights
D) The old lights represented momentous occasions in American history, and may still have nostalgic value

41
8. In the second-to-last paragraph, the old floodlights are described as veterans. What is the most suitable
explanation for this word in context?
A) The old lights have worked through the years, despite harsh weather conditions and continual use for
special occassions
B) The old lights have been up through many previous wars, making them literal veterans
C) The old lights were dedicated to the Empire State Building to memorialize war heroes
D) The old lights were only used before to celebrate Veteran’s Day
9. Currently, how many of the former lights are set to be preserved for a specific purpose?
A) All, to replace other major lights around the city
B) None, they are all set to be discarded entirely
C) Five, spaced across Central Park for more light and better security
D) One, to serve as a warning beacon for aircraft
10. Why might it be important for the Empire State’s global image to replace its lighting?
A) To represent that it is both environmentally conscious as well as technologically advanced
B) To prove that other world landmarks are not as spectacular
C) To suggest that despite its being decades-old, the Empire State Building is still relevant
D) To provide New Yorkers and visitors with better entertainment

Paper 4:
Ancient people probably assembled the massive sandstone horseshoe at Stonehenge more than 4,600 years
ago, while the smaller bluestones were imported from Wales later, a new study suggests.
The conclusion, detailed in the December issue of the journal Antiquity, challenges earlier timelines that
proposed the smaller stones were raised first.
“The sequence proposed for the site is really the wrong way around,” said study co-author Timothy Darvill,
an archaeologist at Bournemouth University in England. “The original idea that it starts small and gets bigger
is wrong. It starts big and stays big. The new scheme puts the big stones at the center at the site as the first
stage.”
The new timeline, which relies on statistical methods to tighten the dates when the stones were put into place,
overturns the notion that ancient societies spent hundreds of years building each area of Stonehenge. Instead,
a few generations likely built each of the major elements of the site, said Robert Ixer, a researcher who
discovered the origin of the bluestones, but who was not involved in the study.
“It’s a very timely paper and a very important paper,” Ixer said. “A lot of us have got to go back and rethink
when the stones arrived.”
Mysterious monument
The Wiltshire, England, site of Stonehenge is one of the world’s most enduring mysteries. No one knows why
prehistoric people built the enigmatic megaliths, although researchers over the years have argued the site was
originally a sun calendar, a symbol of unity, or a burial monument.
Though only some of the stones remain, at the center of the site once sat an oval of bluestones, or igneous
rocks (those formed from magma) that turn a bluish hue when wet or freshly cut. Surrounding the bluestones
are five giant sandstone megaliths called trilithons, or two vertical standing slabs capped by a horizontal stone,
arranged in the shape of a horseshoe.
42
Around the horseshoe, ancient builders erected a circular ring of bluestones. The sandstone boulders, or
sarsens, can weigh up to 40 tons (36,287 kilograms), while the much smaller bluestones weigh a mere 4 tons
(3,628 kg).
Past researchers believed the bluestone oval and circle were erected earlier than the massive sandstone
horseshoe. But when Darvill and his colleagues began excavations at the site in 2008, they found the previous
chronology didn’t add up. The team estimated the age of new artifacts from the site, such as an antler bone
pick stuck within the stones. Combining the new information with dating from past excavations, the team
created a new timeline for Stonehenge’s construction.
Like past researchers, the team believes that ancient people first used the site 5,000 years ago, when they dug
a circular ditch and mound, or henge, about 361 feet (110 meters) in diameter.
But the new analysis suggests around 2600 B.C. the Neolithic people built the giant sandstone horseshoe,
drawing the stone from nearby quarries. Only then did builders arrange the much smaller bluestones, which
were probably imported from Wales. Those bluestones were then rearranged at various positions throughout
the site over the next millennium, Darvill said.
“They sort out the local stuff first, and then they bring in the stones from Wales to add to the complexity of
the structure,” Darvill told LiveScience.
The new dating allows the archaeologists to tie the structure to specific people who lived in the area at the
time, Darvill said. The builders of the larger sandstone structures were pig farmers found only in the British
Isles. In contrast, the bluestone builders would’ve been the Beaker people, sheep and cow herders who lived
throughout Europe and are known for the distinctive, bell-shape pottery they left behind.
The new timeline “connects everything together, it gives us a good sequence of events outside, and it gives us
a set of cultural associations with the different stages of construction,” Darvill said.
1. The new study described in this article suggests which sequence of events for the building of Stonehenge?
A) The bluestones were arranged in the horseshoe configuration and then accented with the larger stones
B) Ancient peoples first arranged the small bluestone configuration and later ringed it with large, imported
granite slabs
C) The sandstone horseshoe was developed first, thousands of years ago, and the smaller bluestones were
imported later from Wales
D) All the stones were brought in at the same time and slowly arranged over centuries
2. Which type of methodology does the new study rely on to discern Stonehenge’s timeline?
A) Mineralogy
B) Statistical analysis
C) Carbon dating
D) DNA analysis
3. According to the article, a sarsen could weigh how much?
A) 38 tons
B) 42 tons
C) 56 tons
D) 41 tons
4. Until the study that is discussed in the article, what was the accepted sequence of Stonehenge’s
construction?

43
A) Bluestone horseshoe, then sandstone oval
B) Bluestone diamond, then sandstone square
C) Bluestone square, then sandstone circle
D) Bluestone oval, then sandstone horseshoe
5. None of the following were known artifacts in constructing the new Stonehenge timeline EXCEPT
A) Arrowheads of the nearby civilizations
B) Skeletons of ancient peoples
C) An antler bone wedged between stones
D) Stone eroded clearly enough to be dated
6. It is agreed between old and new studies that Stonehenge was first used by civilizations?
A) 5,000 years ago
B) 6,000 years ago
C) 7,000 years ago
D) 8,000 years ago
7. The later bluestones, believed to be imported from Wales,
A) Were originally arranged to outline the horseshoe shape of the sandstone boulders
B) Were arranged over the course of a millennium
C) Were actually recovered from local quarries
D) Were settled in their pattern within a year
8. According to Darvill, what effect did the bluestones have upon Stonehenge
A) They allowed the dimensions of Stonehenge to be more aesthetically pleasing
B) They provided an added complexity to the structure by using foreign material
C) They represented strong cultural ties with the Welsh culture
D) They were symbols of conquest of foreign lands
9. According to Daville, what is the most important piece of knowledge obtained from this new timeline?
A) That sandstone and bluestone were both native to the region
B) That Stonehenge became the model for future Scottish architecture
C) That the original peoples who built Stonehenge were wealthy enough to acquire rare stones
D) That the original builders of Stonehenge were different types of animal herders
10. What is the conclusion that Darville draws in the quote in the final paragraph?
A) Stonehenge remains an inspiration for modern artists and architects
B) The mysteries of Stonehenge are entirely clarified by the new research and timeline
C) Previous timelines for Stonehenge may have given us a flawed interpretation of the civilizations and
materials they had access to at the time

44
D) Stonehenge was really a foreign project, made from materials outside of the country, and influenced by
civilizations other than those who lived locally

Paper 5:
From the article “Against the Undertow: Language-Minority Education Policy and Politics in the ‘Age of
Accountability’” by Terrence G Wiley and Wayne E. Wright
Language diversity has always been part of the national demographic landscape of the United States. At the
time of the first census in 1790, about 25% of the population spoke languages other than English (Lepore,
2002). Thus, there was a diverse pool of native speakers of other languages at the time of the founding of the
republic. Today, nationwide, school districts have reported more than 400 languages spoken by language-
minority students classified as limited English proficient (LEP) students (Kindler, 2002). Between 1991 and
2002, total K-12 student enrollment rose only 12%, whereas LEP student enrollment increased 95% during
this same time period (National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition, 2002b). This rapid increase
and changing demographics has intensified the long debate over the best way to educate language-minority
students.
Historically, many groups attempted to maintain their native languages even as they learned English, and for
a time, some were able to do so with relatively little resistance until a wave of xenophobia swept the country
during World War 1 (Kloss, 1977/1998). Other groups, Africans, and Native Americans encountered
repressive politics much earlier. During the 1960s, a more tolerant policy climate emerged. However, for the
past two decades there has been a steady undertow of resistance to bilingualism and bilingual education. This
article provides historical background and analyzes contemporary trends in language-minority education
within the context of the recent national push for accountability, which typically takes the form of high-stakes
testing.
The origins of persistent themes regarding the popular antagonisms toward bilingual education and the
prescribed panaceas of “English immersion” and high-stakes testing in English need to be scrutinized. As
background to the contemporary context, we briefly discuss the history of language politics in the United
States and the ideological underpinnings of the dominant monolingual English ideology. We analyze the
recent attacks on bilingual education for what this attack represents for educational policy within a
multilingual society such as the United States. We emphasize multilingual because most discussions of
language policy are framed as if monolingualism were part of our heritage from which we are now drifting.
Framing the language policy issues in this way masks both the historical and contemporary reality and
positions non-English language diversity as an abnormality that must be cured. Contrary to the steady flow of
disinformation, we begin with the premise that even as English has historically been the dominant language
in the United States since the colonial era, language diversity has always been a fact of life. Thus, efforts to
deny that reality represent a “malady of mind” (Blaut, 1993) that has resulted in either restrictionist or
repressive language policies for minorities.
As more states ponder imposing restrictions on languages of instruction other than English-as California,
Arizona, and Massachusetts have recently done-it is useful to highlight several questions related to the history
of language politics and language planning in the United States. Educational language planning is frequently
portrayed as an attempt to solve the language problems of the minority. Nevertheless, the historical record
indicates that schools have generally failed to meet the needs of language-minority students (Deschenes,
Cuban, & Tyack, 2001) and that the endeavor to plan language behavior by forcing a rapid shift to English
has often been a source of language problems that has resulted in the denial of language rights and hindered
linguistic access to educational, social, economic, and political benefits even as the promoters of English
immersion claim the opposite.
The dominance of English was established under the British during the colonial period, not by official decree
but through language status achievement, that is, through “the legitimization of a government’s decisions
regarding acceptable language for those who are to carry out the political, economic, and social affairs of the
political process” (Heath, 1976, p.51). English achieved dominance as a result of the political and
socioeconomic trade between England and colonial administrators, colonists, and traders. Other languages
45
coexisted with English in the colonies with notable exceptions. Enslaved Africans were prohibited from using
their native tongues for fear that it would facilitate resistance or rebellion. From the 1740s forward, southern
colonies simultaneously institutionalized “compulsory ignorance” laws that prohibited those enslaved from
acquiring English literacy for similar reasons. These restrictive slave codes were carried forward as the former
southern colonies became states of the newly United States and remained in force until the end of the Civil
War in 1865 (Weinberg, 1977/1995). Thus, the very first formal language policies were restrictive with the
explicit purpose of promoting social control.
1. What is the primary purpose of including the statistic from the 1790 census in the introductory paragraph?
A) To explain how colonizing the US eradicated language diversity
B) To show concrete evidence that language diversity in the US is not a new phenomenon
C) To note that before that time, there was no measure of language diversity in the US
D) To demonstrate that census data can be inaccurate
2. The article compares two sets of statistics from the years 1991-2002, increases in K-12 enrollment and
increases in LEP students, to highlight.
A) That the two numbers, while often cited in research, are insignificant
B) That while many people with school-age children immigrated to the US during this time, an equal amount
left the country as well
C) That language diversity had no impact on US student enrollment during this time
D) That while the total amount of students enrolled in US schools may have grown slowly, the amount of
those students who were LEP increased dramatically
3. According to the second paragraph, many groups maintained their native languages without resistance into
the 20th century EXCEPT
A) Native Americans and African Americans
B) Irish Americans and African Americans
C) Mexican Americans and Native Americas
D) Native Americans and Dutch Americans
4. Why is the word “undertow” emphasized in the second paragraph?
A) To explain how certain groups continued to carry their native languages with them despite the opposition
from those against language diversity
B) To show the secretive and sneaky nature of those opposed to language diversity
C) To call attention to the ebb and flow of language resistance during the 20th century, experiencing periods
of both rest and extremism
D) To explain that, while many groups tried to maintain their native languages, many gave in to social and
political pressure to use only English
5. What is the best way to describe the function of the third paragraph in this excerpt?.
A) The paragraph provides its primary thesis as well an outline of the article’s main points
B) The paragraph is an unnecessary and irrelevant inclusion
C) The paragraph serves to reveal the conclusions of the article before detailing the data
D) The paragraph firmly establishes the article’s stance against language diversit

46
6. What is the best summary of why the phrase “multilingualism” is emphasized in the third paragraph?
A) Language repression stems from the US’s unwillingness to recognize the languages of its foreign allies
B) Because language is constantly changing and often goes through multiple phases over time
C) The authors firmly believe that speaking more than one language gives students a substantial benefit in
higher education.
D) Language policy discussions often assumes that the US has a monolinguistic history, which is untrue and
poses language diversity as threatening
7. Phrases such as “prescribed panaceas” and “malady of the mind” are used in the third paragraph to
A) Defend the point that the US must standardize its language education or there will be severe results
B) Point out that language is as much a physical process as an intellectual one
C) Illustrate how certain opponents of language diversity equate multilingual education with a kind of national
disease
D) Demonstrate how the stress of learning multiple languages can make students ill
8. According to the fourth paragraph, all of the following are potential negatives of rapid English immersion
EXCEPT:
A) It can lead to a denial of language rights for particular groups
B) Students become more familiar with conversational expressions and dialect
C) It can prevent access to certain benefits that are always available to fluent speakers
D) It can promote feelings of alienation among groups that are already in a minority status
9. The best alternate definition of “language status achievement” is
A) When enough scholarly work has been produced in a language, it is officially recognized
B) Those who are in power socially and economically determine the status of a language
C) Languages fall into a hierarchy depending upon the numbers of populations that speak them
D) The position of a language in which no others may coexist with it
10. From the context of the final paragraph, what does “compulsory ignorance” mean?
A) Populations at the time were required only to obtain a certain low level of education
B) Slave populations were compelled to only speak in their native languages and not learn English
C) That slaves were forcibly prevented from developing their native language skills out of fear that they would
gain power
D) Slave owners would not punish slaves who did not wish to learn and speak only English

47
 UNIT 6: SUMMARIZE WRITTEN TEXT – PTE ACADEMIC
Paper 1:
The English have the reputation of being a nation of tea drinkers, but this wasn’t always the case. By the end
of the 17th century, the English were the biggest coffee drinkers in the Western world, and coffee houses
became the places to be seen. For gossip also, one could pick up talk of the latest intellectual developments in
the field of science, politics, and so on, in this age of scientific discovery and research. Coffee houses were
very simple and basic at first; one can say a room with a bar at one corner and a few plain tables and chairs at
the other end. Customers paid a penny for a bowl – not a cup – of coffee. At that time, it was thought that the
customers didn’t use bad language just because of the presence of a polite young woman. An added attraction
was that coffee houses provided free newspapers and journals.
But people didn’t go to the coffee houses just to drink coffee. They went to talk. Simple cafes were converted
and developed into clubs, where one with a penny could go for a drink and a chat. Most of them started to go
to coffee houses to find other people with the same job or of same interest to talk and conduct business.
The great popularity of coffee houses lasted about a 100 years. In the later 18th century, increased trade with
other countries made such luxuries as coffee cheaper and more easily available to the ordinary person. As a
result, people started to drink it at home. At that time more tea was imported from abroad. The domestic tea-
party replaced the century of the coffee house as the typical English social occasion.

Paper 2:
The system of Crop Intensification is a climate-smart, agro-ecological methodology for increasing the
productivity of crops and more recently other crops by changing the management of plants, soil, water, and
nutrients.
SCI methodology is based on four main principles that interact with each other. Early, quick and healthy plant
establishment; Reduced plant density; Improved soil conditions through enrichment with organic matter;
Reduced and controlled water application. Based on these principles, farmers can adapt recommended SCI
practices to respond to their agro-ecological and socio-economic conditions. Adaptations are often undertaken
to accommodate changing weather patterns, soil conditions, labor availability, water control, access to organic
inputs, and the decision whether to practice fully organic agriculture or not. In addition, the SCI principles
have been applied to feed rice and to other crops, such as wheat, sugarcane, pulses, showing increased
productivity over current conventional planting practices.

Paper 3:
By far the most popular and most consumed drink in the world is water, but it may come as no surprise that
second most popular beverage is tea. Although tea was originally grown only in certain parts of Asia in
countries such China, Burma, and India – it is now a key export product in more than 50 countries around the
globe. Countries that grow tea, however, need to have the right tropical climate, which includes up to 200
centimeters of rainfall per year to encourage fast growth and temperatures that range from ten to 35 degrees
centigrade.
They also need to have quite specific geographical features, such as high altitudes to promote the flavor and
taste of the tea, and land that can offer plenty of shade in the form of other trees and vegetation to keep the
plants cool and fresh. Together these conditions contribute to the production of the wide range of high-quality
teas that are in such huge demand among the world’s consumers. There is green tea, jasmine tea, earl tea,
peppermint tea, tea to help you sleep, tea to promote healing and tea to relieve stress; but above all, tea is a
social drink that seems to suit the palates and consumption habits of human general.

Paper 4:
48
Australia’s food system has grown and evolved over hundreds of years. It is a system that’s served Australians
well and underpinned much of our economic prosperity. But it’s a system at risk. And nowhere is the threat
larger or more real than in the domain of food fraud.
This is at a time when Australia should be laying the foundation’s for a food economy that can achieve even
higher value in the minds and stomachs of the growing Asian middle-class Consumer.
We want to help Australian food to deliver on its promises in a way that survives beyond our borders and as
close to the end consumption of the product as possible. Whatever the promise of the food is, be it organic
Angus beef from the Hunter Valley, or native jarrah honey from Albany we want to help Australian food
producers deliver on and capture the value of its promise.

Paper 5:
Digital technology has the potential to change economies and societies dramatically, but engagement is critical
to reap the benefits that technology offers. Governments, businesses, and individuals need to actively
participate in the digital world, and this happens to varying degrees globally.
There are many indices which measure different aspects of digital engagement; however, given the vast
number of factors that comprise engagement, there is no widely agreed upon definition or global ranking.
Two of the most comprehensive indices are:
1. The World Economic Forum’s Networked Readiness Index (NRI), which measures the performance of 139
economies in leveraging information and communications technologies (ICT) to boost competitiveness,
innovation, and well-being.
2. The United Nations’ ITU Development Index, which is based on access, use, and skills sub-indices in
relation to ICT.

Paper 6:
To maintain China’s attractiveness as an FDI destination, authorities have made efforts to simplify the
investment approval system. Smaller foreign investment projects could benefit from a more simple registration
process if they are executed as part of a joint venture controlled by Chinese investors. Moreover, relaxation
of foreign investment regulations and streamline the fragmented regulatory framework was an addition in a
Foreign Investment Law. While, under current laws, most new foreign investments are subject to a complex
and lengthy approval process, the draft law follows a “negative list” approach.
Approval for projects that are not on the negative list will be shortened to a simple filing procedure. Another
notable change is the abandonment of the existing foreign enterprise structures through the introduction of the
same incorporation scheme and governing body for both domestic and foreign companies. This measure could
bring a more level playing field and reduce bureaucracy. Meanwhile, some uncertainties still remain regarding
detailed rules as well as the law’s implementation. National treatment bears the risk of providing more scope
for the government to increase its scrutiny of foreign investors, which is particularly relevant to foreign
investors engaged in politically sensitive areas.

Paper 7:
One of the major uses for VR in the customer experience journey is the ability to design spaces and experiences
for customers virtually, and be able to test, refine and enhance these at a much lower cost and quicker
turnaround than testing physical prototypes. Robbie Robertson, a lead partner in the Spatial and Brand
Experience team says “In our ever-changing world the need to test, immerse and validate our ideas with our
customers has become paramount. Using VR and AR we can provide a mixture of three core elements:

49
Engage: VR is an immersive technology that allows customers to experience a space and place before it is
built. Persuade: we can test and train stakeholders in new work practices or process to ensure that they are
adopted correctly.
Inform: visualizing a new idea or concept has always been a challenge for many clients. VR and AR allow us
to inform them immediately as to the impact of our designs.”

Paper 8:
With all the discussions about protecting the earth and saving the planet, it is easy to forget that we also need
to preserve the many species of fish that live in the oceans. In developed countries, much larger quantities of
fish are consumed than was the case a century ago when fish only featured on the menu once a week. These
days, fish has become a popular healthy alternative to meat and this has created a demand for species such as
cod, mackerel, and tuna that far outstrips the demands of the previous generation. Throughout the world too,
increasing consumption during the past 30 years has meant that the shallow parts of the ocean have been
overfished in an effort to supply homes, shops, and restaurants with the quantities of fish that they require.
Yet despite the sophisticated fishing techniques of today, catches are smaller than they were a century or more
ago. What is more, boats are having to drop their nets much deeper into the oceans and the fish they are coming
up with are smaller and weigh less than they used to. While government controls have had some effect on fish
stocks, the future does not offer a promising picture. Experts predict large-scale extinctions and an irreversibly
damaging effect on entire ecosystems unless greater efforts are made to conserve fish stocks and prevent
overfishing in the world’s waters.

Paper 9:
A large new study has found that people who regularly took a siesta were significantly less likely to die of
heart disease. “Taking a nap could turn out to be an important weapon in the fight against coronary mortality,”
said Dimitrios Trichopoulos of the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, who led the study published
yesterday in the Archives of Internal Medicine. The study of more than 23,000 Greek adults — the biggest
and best examination of the subject to date — found that those who regularly took a midday siesta were more
than 30 percent less likely to die of heart disease. Other experts said the results are intriguing. Heart disease
kills more than 650,000 Americans each year, making it the nation’s No. 1 cause of death.
“It’s interesting. A little siesta, a little snooze may be beneficial,” said Gerald Fletcher, a cardiologist at the
Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Fla., speaking on behalf of the American Heart Association. “It’s simple, but it
has a lot of promise.” While more research is needed to confirm and explore the findings, there are several
ways napping could reduce the risk of heart attacks, experts said.
“Napping may help deal with the stress of daily living,” said Michael Twery, who directs the National Heart
Lung and Blood Institute’s National Center on Sleep Disorders Research. “Another possibility is that it is part
of the normal biological rhythm of daily living. The biological clock that drives sleep and wakefulness has
two cycles each day, and one of them dips usually in the early afternoon. It’s possible that not engaging in
napping for some people might disrupt these processes.”
Researchers have long known that countries such as Greece, Italy, and Spain, where people commonly take
siestas, have lower rates of heart disease than would be expected. But previous studies that attempted to study
the relationship between naps and heart disease have produced mixed results. The new study is first to try to
fully account for factors that might confuse the findings, such as physical activity, diet, and other illnesses.

Paper 10:
English is the world’s lingua franca, the language of science, technology, business, diplomacy and popular
culture. That probably explains why it is the world’s most widely spoken language. It probably also explains
why native English speakers are so reluctant to learn a second language. It’s not worth the effort.
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In 2005, the European Commission carried out a survey of the European Union’s 25 member states. The two
with the lowest rates of bilingualism – defined as being able to hold a conversation in more than one language
– were the UK and Ireland. About two-thirds of people in these countries speak only English. It’s a similar
story wherever English is spoken as the mother tongue. Only about 25 per cent of US citizens can converse in
another language. In Australia, the rates are even lower.
Compare that with continental Europe, where multilingualism is the rule rather than the exception. More than
half of EU citizens are bilingual, and not just because they live in countries like Luxembourg with multiple
official languages. Even in France, which has only one official language and is immensely proud of its
linguistic heritage, most people speak a second language.
Again, that is largely down to the dominance of English. Across Europe, English is by far the most commonly
learned language. High levels of bilingualism are not driven by a general desire to learn languages but a
specific need to learn English.

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PHẦN 2: ĐỀ THI THỬ PHẦN ĐỌC HIỂU
(CPE – IELTS – TOEFL IBT – PTE ACADEMIC)
You should spend 60 minutes on each reading test.

Practise Test 1
Part 1 (Question 1 – 8)
TEA
Many of the things long considered pleasures of life, such as sweets, rich food, alcohol, and smoking have
turned out, (1) _________ closer examination, to be not so good for us. Indulging (2) _________ them can
contribute to high blood pressure, obsesity, heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. Tea, (3) _________, is one of
those rare treasures, enjoyed throughout the world, that actually benefits health. Tea has been shown to
counteract some of the bad effects of our other favourites. While this may (4) _________ as a surprise to
Westerners, in the Orient it has been known for two thousand years.
Long before tea became one of China’s main exports, it was a staple of life, creating a fascinating cultural
history in China. But the story of procuring and serving it is (5) _________ less intriguing in other lands (6)
_________ fell in love with the little green leaf, (7) _________ Japan, Britain, and Russia. Knowledge of the
benefits of tea is the basis (8) _________ continuing tea research in China, Japan, and other Asian lands and
new investigations in the West.
Part 2 (Question 9 – 23)
The Art Of History
1. The earliest stage of writing is called pre-writing or proto-literary, and depends on direct representation of
objects, rather than representing them with letters or other symbols. Evidence for this stage, in the form of
rock and cave paintings, dates back to about 15,000 years ago, although the exact dates are debatable. This
kind of proto-literate cave painting has been found in Europe, with the best known examples m South-Western
France, but also in Africa and on parts of the American continent. These petrographs (pictures on rock) show
typical scenes of the period, and include representations of people, animals and activities. Most are
astonishingly beautiful, with a vibrancy and immediacy that we still recognise today. They are painted with
pigments made from natural materials including crushed stones and minerals, animal products such as blood,
ashes, plant materials of all kinds, and they produce a wide range of colours and hues.
2. Why did ancient people put such effort into making them? Various theories have been put forward, but the
most compelling include the idea that the pictures were records of heroic deeds or important events, that they
were part of magical ceremonies, or that they were a form of primitive calendar, recording the changes in the
seasons as they happened. These, then, are all explanations as to why man started to write.
3. A related theory suggests that the need for writing arose thereafter from the transactions and bartering that
went on. In parts of what is now Iraq and Iran, small pieces of fired earth – pottery – have been found which
appear to have been used as tokens to represent bartered objects, much as we use tokens in a casino, or money,
today. Eventually, when the tokens themselves became too numerous to handle easily, representations of the
tokens were inscribed on day tablets.
4. An early form of writing is the use of pictograms, which are pictures used to communicate. Pictograms
have been found from almost every part of the world and every era of development, and are still in use in
primitive communities nowadays. They represent objects, ideas or concepts more or less directly. They tend
to be simple in the sense that they are not a complex or full picture, although they are impressively difficult to
interpret to an outsider unfamiliar with their iconography, which lends to be localised, and to differ widely
form society to society. They were never intended to be a detailed testimony which could be interpreted by
outsiders, but to serve instead as aide-memoires to the author, rather as we might keep a diary in a personal

52
shorthand. However, some modem pictograms are more or less universally recognised, such as the signs which
indicate men’s and women’s toilets, or road signs, which tend to be very similar throughout the world.
5. The first pictograms that we know of are Sumerian in origin, and date to about 8000 BC. They show how
images used to represent concrete objects could be expanded to include abstractions by adding symbols
together, or using associated symbols. One Sumerian pictogram, for example, indicates ‘death’ by combining
the symbols for ‘man’ and winter’; another shows ‘power’ with the symbol for a man with the hands enlarged.
6. By about 5,000 years ago, Sumerian pictograms had spread to other areas, and the Sumerians had made a
major advance towards modern writing with the development of the rebus principle, which meant that symbols
could be used to indicate sounds. This was done try using a particular symbol not only for the thing it originally
represented, but also for anything which was pronounced in a similar way. So the pictogram for na (meaning
‘animal’) could also be used to mean ‘old’ (which was also pronounced na). The specific meaning of the
pictogram (whether na meant ‘old’ or animal j could only be decided through its context.
7. It is a short step from this to the development of syllabic writing using pictograms, and this next
development took about another half a century. Now the Sumerians would add pictograms to each other, so
that each, representing an individual sound – or syllable – formed part of a larger word. Thus pictograms
representing the syllables he, na and mi (‘mother’, ‘old’, my’) could be put together to form henami or
‘grandmother’.
Questions 9 – 15
Reading Passage 2 has seven paragraphs 1 – 7. Choose the most suitable headings for paragraphs 1 – 7 from
the list of headings below. Write the appropriate letters A – H in boxes 1 – 7 on your answer sheet. There are
more headings than paragraphs, so you will not use them all.
Paragraph Headings
A. Magic and Heroes
B. Doing Business
C. Early Developments
D. Sounds and Symbols
E. Images on Stone
F. Stories and Seasons
G. A Personal Record
H. From Visual to Sound

9. Paragraph 1 ___
10. Paragraph 2 ___
11. Paragraph 3 ___
12. Paragraph 4 ___
13. Paragraph 5 ___
14. Paragraph 6 ___
15. Paragraph 7 ___
Questions 16 – 20
Complete the following notes on Reading Passage 2 using ONE or TWO WORDS from the Reading Passage
for each answer. Write your answers in boxes 16 – 20 on your answer sheet.
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 Notes on the Development of Writing
First stage of writing – pre-writing or proto-literacy – very old – 15,000 years. Evidence: cave and rock
paintings. Famous example – (16) …………………………. Reasons for development of writing: primitive
ceremonies, recording events, seasons, used on pottery to represent (17) ………………………… Next stage:
simple pictograms – pictures used to represent articles and (18) …………………………… Very simple
drawings (but very difficult to understand). Then – 8000 BC – combined (19) ……………………………..to
create new concepts (eg. Man + winter = death). After this – started using same pictogram for different words
with same (20) …………………………Very important step.
Questions 21 – 23
Choose the appropriate letters A – D and write them in boxes 21 – 23 on your answer sheet.
21. The earliest stages of writing
A were discovered 15,000 years ago and are found all over the world.
B are pictures which show the natural life of the time.
C are called petrographs and were painted with natural materials.
D could not describe concepts
22. The earliest pictograms
A represent complex objects and are difficult to understand.
B represent comparatively simple objects and are easy to understand.
C are a record of events for outsiders.
D are fairly simple but may not be easy to interpret.
23. About 5.000 years ago
A Sumerians were developing sounds.
B Sumerians were writing in a modern style.
C pictograms were used over a wide area.
D pictogram symbols could only have one meaning.
Part 3 (Question 24 – 30)
The Colosseum
The Colosseum, also known as the Flavian Amphitheatre is an oval amphitheatre in the centre of the city of
Rome, Italy. Built of concrete and sand, it is the largest amphitheatre ever built.
Construction began under the emperor Vespasian in AD 72, and was completed in AD 80 under his successor
and heir, Titus. Further modifications were made during the reign of Domitian (81-96). These three emperors
are known as the Flavian dynasty, and the amphitheatre was named in Latin for its association with their
family name (Flavius).
Used for gladiatorial contests and public spectacles such as mock sea battles, animal hunts, executions, re-
enactments of famous battles, and dramas based on classical mythology, reliable estimates suggest it could
hold an average of 65,000 spectators.
24. ___
The great earthquake of 1349 caused very severe damage to the whole area, and the outer south side, which
sat on less stable terrain collapsed. Much of the fallen stone was reused to build palaces, churches, hospitals
and other buildings elsewhere in Rome.
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25. ___
In 2011 a local businessman, entered into an agreement with local officials to sponsor a $25 million restoration
of the Colosseum. The project was originally planned to last for two and a half years, but there were many
delays before it could get started.
26. ___
At the completion of the first phase, and amid great excitement from the public, Italy’s culture minister Dario
Franceschini described his vision for this iconic building.
27. ___
There would also be the possibility to do cultural events of the highest level, although major sporting events
could not be held there.
28. ___
Before work began, there had been widespread speculation as to the type of events that could be hosted by the
Colosseum. Would it look for cultural events or use the site’s obvious prestige for business gatherings?
29. ___
The nearby Circus Maximus, Rome’s ancient chariot racing ground, was hired by the Rolling Stones and
Bruce Springsteen. While Franceschini did not detail the type of events to be allowed at the Colosseum, his
approach suggested theatrical performances would be more likely than rock concerts.
30. ___
Tourists visiting Rome were asked about their feelings about the project and for suggestions as to how it ought
to be used. They were extremely excited and felt that events that reflected its ancient history would be the
most appropriate, rather than modern forms of entertainment.

The Paragraphs
A. The objective of returning the Colosseum to its full historical lustre, including its arcaded facade metal
enclosures that blocked the ground-level arches, was considered by many to be ambitious.
B. The location had been proposed as a venue for athlete parades and medal ceremonies as part of Rome’s
possible 2024 Olympic bid, although the city’s new mayor, Virginia Raggi, dampened such dreams by saying
staging the games are not a priority for citizens.
C. The arena’s completion would give the world a place which would be even more beautiful. It would be
great for the visitors who would be able to see the Colosseum from the centre of the arena.
D. Having ceased to be used for entertainment in the early medieval era, it was later reused for such purposes
as housing, workshops, quarters for a religious order, a fortress, a quarry, and a Christian shrine.
E. He was joined by Italy’s prime minister, Matteo Renzi, who called for an end to criticism of the way the
country handles its vast cultural heritage. “The time of complaining that there’s no money for culture is over.
The money and resources to restore the extraordinary heritage is there,” he said.
F. The bronze clamps which held the stonework together were pried or hacked out of the walls leaving the
scars which can be seen today, and is the reason for its gradual decline.
G. The archaeologists have since moved inside to start on the second stage, and will restore the passages and
underground vaults, while a new visitor centre will be moved outside the amphitheatre.
H. Events of a high level, of high quality, could take place, but great care would need to be taken to retain the
special character the building holds.
Part 4 (Question 31 – 40)
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 “Research: Change in walking may indicate cognitive decline”
By Janice Lloyd
Subtle changes in the way a person walks can be an early warning sign of cognitive decline and a signal for
advanced testing, according to research out at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference 2012.
The findings are the first to link a physical symptom to disease, which up until now, required doctors to begin
a diagnosis by focusing on cognition and administering lengthy neurological exams. The evidence in the five
studies is “robust,” say experts, adding walking changes can occur even before cognition decline surfaces.
The presentation on the opening day of the weeklong meetings follows a government plan announced in May
to help train doctors to detect the disease earlier and to find a cure by 2025.
“Monitoring deterioration and other changes in a person’s gait is ideal because it doesn’t require any expensive
technology or take a lot of time to assess,’’ says Bill Thies, chief medical and scientific officer for the
Alzheimer’s Association.
The disease affects 5.4 million mostly older people in the USA, numbers expected to spike to 16 million in
2050 as the Baby Boomers age. Nearly 5,000 researchers are attending the meetings in Vancouver, where
dozens of studies will address new treatments currently being tested in trials and how lifestyle influences the
disease.
“Walking and movements require a perfect and simultaneous integration of multiple areas of the brain,’’ says
Rodolfo Savica, author of a study done at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.
Walking changes occur because the disease interferes with the circuitry between these areas of brain. Savica
ruled out other diseases (Parkinson’s, arthritis) as possible causes of gait change.
In the Mayo Clinic study, researchers measured the stride length, cadence and velocity of more than 1,341
participants through a computerized gait instrument at two or more visits roughly 15 months apart. They found
that study participants with lower cadence, velocity and length of stride experienced significantly larger
declines in global cognition, memory and executive function.
“These changes support a possible role of gait changes as an early predictor of cognitive impairment,’’ Savica
says.
Another large study of 1,153 adults with a mean age of 78 done by researchers at the Basel Mobility Center
in Basel Switzerland found gait became “slower and more variable as cognition decline progressed.’’
Participants were divided into groups based on their cognitive diagnoses: cognitively healthy, mild cognitive
impairment (MCI) or Alzheimer’s dementia. Gait was measured using a walkway with nearly 30,000
integrated sensors.
“Those with Alzheimer’s dementia walked slower than those with MCI, who in turn walked slower that those
who were cognitively healthy,’’ says Stephanie Bridenbaugh, lead researcher.
Bridenbaugh says analysis of walking could also be used to show if treatments to treat the disease are working.
“At the annual wellness visit required by Medicare, a physician could add a walking test to the checklist
without adding a lot of extra time,’’ says Thies.
Yet, one of the study’s researchers said that one annual test wouldn’t work with everyone.
“You’d be surprised how many people say to me ‘He doesn’t walk that well at home,’ when I give them a gait
test in the office,’’ says physician Lisa Silbert.
Silbert conducted research on 19 dementia-free volunteers enrolled in the Intelligent Systems for Assessment
of Aging Changes study at Oregon Health and Science University in Portland. They measured gait speed
during MRIs and gait speeds at home. Participants walked faster when measured once in person than when
walking in their home. Slower in-home walking speed was associated with smaller total brain size. Dementias
cause brain shrinkage.

56
“Walking speed taken at a single time point may overestimate the walking abilities in the elderly,’’ she says.
31. The word “robust” in paragraph 2 is closest in meaning to
A) durable
B) healthy
C) full-bodied
D) strong
32. According to paragraph 2, why is this new evidence about walking so important to Alzheimer’s
researchers?
A) It demonstrates that walking longer distances may improve your chances of developing disease
B) It could potentially be the earliest indication of potential Alzheimer’s disease in patients who show no other
outward symptom
C) It could help prevent doctor liability in diagnosing these cases
D) It is something that could be observed and logged by family and friends
33. Why is the statistic in paragraph 4 about the potential spike in Alzheimer’s patients significant?
A) It shows that, because Alzheimer’s primarily impacts older people, as largest generation (the Baby
Boomers) ages, the number of cases will likely rise dramatically
B) It suggests that if the next generation wants to be healthy, they must have their gait tested now
C) It is of no real concern to the younger generation because Social Security will pay for medical care
D) The lifestyle of older generations is significantly poorer than that of younger generations
34. The statement made in paragraph 5 implies all of the following EXCEPT
A) Movements require many complex interactions within the brain
B) Our movements and cognitive state could very well be closely linked
C) Movement may become impaired if any one brain activity is somehow altered
D) Our brains have no control over our walking or movements
35. In paragraph 7, the word “cadence” is closest in meaning to
A) musical beat
B) rhythm of steps
C) intonation
D) sequence of movement
36. What is the most significant discovery of the Mayo Clinic study described in paragraph 7?
A) Cadence, velocity, and length of stride are all independent variables that impact cognitive function in
different ways.
B) The slower the participant’s walk, the greater their memory capacity
C) The pace of participant’s walk demonstrated no correlation to brain activity
D) The ways in which the participants walked had a definitive relationship to cognitive functioning
37. Which of the following is NOT a population or group studied in the experiments the article discusses?

57
A) movement impaired
B) mild cognitive impairment (MCI)
C) cognitively health
D) Alzheimer’s dementia
38. Throughout the article, “gait” is mostly often used to refer to
A) walking speed
B) the time it takes to transition from a walk to a run
C) a combination of cadence, length of stride, and velocity
D) the posture used while walking
39. What is the primary argument that the article makes AGAINST the link between gait and cognitive
decline?
A) Areas of the brain that control movement are completely separate from those with cognitive function
B) Walking speed can change significantly depending upon the scenario and conditions
C) Dementia has no relationship to brain size
D) An annual test is too often to show significant changes over time
40. What best summarizes the overarching idea of the article?
A) The speed at which we walk and potential decline in cognitive function as we age is clearly proven by the
studies presented in the article
B) Whatever your current walking speed is, the better shape you are in and the faster you become can both
directly lower your chance of developing Alzheimer’s
C) Annual gait tests are an expensive and ineffective test to add to Alzheimer’s screenings
D) There is a definite probability that aspects of human gait and cognitive function are related, but the evidence
is far from definitive
Part 5 (Question 41 – 50)
Answer the questions 41 – 50 by referring to the article below. Choose from the list of places (A-D) for each
question.
ENGLISH MAZES
There’s nothing the British like more than to go and get lost. In grand gardens of stately homes and castles
around Britain you’ll find some of the world’s oldest and largest hedge mazes. These elegant horticultural
labyrinths have been playfully confusing visitors for hundreds of years.
This historical fascination is being fuelled by a boom in creating new mazes. Britain now has mazes of turf,
water, brick, stone, wood, colored paving tiles, mirrors and glass.
A. Hampton Court
Any exploration of the twists and turns of British mazes should include the oldest and most famous. The
classic maze at Hampton Court Royal Palace by the Thames in West London was planted more than 300 years
ago during the reign of King William III. He dug up an old orchard planted by Henry VIII and redesigned the
garden in the formal style of the time.
The 1702 Maze is the only remaining part of William’s garden. It’s Britain’s oldest hedge maze with winding
paths amounting to nearly half a mile and covering a third of an acre. One of Jerome K. Jerome’s “Three Men

58
in a Boat” declared it “very simple...it’s absurd to call it a maze,” only to become completely lost. Inside he
met other visitors “who had given up all hope of ever seeing their home and friends again.”
The Hampton Court maze still swallows 300,000 people a year. If you do manage to get out, there are also
exquisite riverside gardens and the fabulous Tudor palace to see.
B. Longleat
Another great estate 100 miles to the west has become one of the centers of British maze-making. A visit to
Longleat in Wiltshire includes the ancestral stately home of Lord Bath, Capability Brown landscaped gardens,
and a drive-through animal safari park… plus six mazes.
The newest of them, The Blue Peter Maze was built of timber especially for children. It was designed by a
nine-year-old girl who beat 12,000 entrants in a competition run by a children’s TV program.
Other Longleat mazes include the indoor King Arthur’s Mirror Maze, the rose-covered Love Labyrinth, and
the intertwining Sun Maze and Lunar box hedge labyrinths.
Serious maze enthusiasts are catered to by the grand Hedge Maze: it has the world’s longest total path length
at 1.69 miles. The hedges are made from 16,180 yew trees and are laid out in curves to disorient the walker.
It opened 26 years ago and is so complex that special ‘lift if lost’ direction panels are incorporated to help you
find the way out.
C. Jubilee Park
If you’re starting to get the taste for delightful disorientation, the third must-see site is the eccentric Jubilee
Park close to the border with Wales near Symonds Yat in Herefordshire.
Maze-mad brothers Lindsay and Edward Heyes planted The Amazing Hedge Puzzle Maze to commemorate
Queen Elizabeth II’s Silver Jubilee in 1977. It stands in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in the Wye
Valley and is now Herefordshire’s most popular private visitor attraction.
The octagonal cypress maze has a pagoda at the center – if you can find it. There’s also a route from the center
to the world’s first Maze Museum. This has hands-on interactive displays and puzzles explaining the history,
design and construction of mazes around the world.
Lindsay is the creator of the museum and an acknowledged maze expert. Edward meanwhile takes care of the
Hedge Maze, personally spending ten weeks doing all the trimming every year.
D. Hever Castle
You don’t have to be crazy about mazes to enjoy the spectacular Hever Castle in Kent. From the outside, the
13th-century double-moated fortress has changed little since Henry VIII’s second wife Anne Boleyn spent her
childhood here. The castle is set in 30 acres of magnificent gardens. A century ago the wealthy Astor family
lived here and planted a yew maze, which visitors can still explore. A more recent addition is the highly
acclaimed Water Maze on a shallow lake with an island at the center.
The walkways are made up of curved paths supported above the water on stilts. To make getting to the island
even more difficult, some slabs, when stepped on, trigger a spray of water. Can you reach the island AND stay
dry?

In which places? (A-D):

41. Does a member of the aristocracy still live? ___
42. Is there a maze that was made to mark a special occasion? ___
43. Does the creator personally take care of the maze? ___
44. Is there a maze that was ridiculed – before getting its revenge? ___

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45. Is there a maze created by the youngest person? ___
46. Could tackling the maze prove a damp experience? ___
47. Did a rich family create a maze? ___
48. Is there a maze that a newlywed couple would perhaps like to visit? ___
49. Does the maze include maps showing you how to get out? ___
50. Would you see yourself getting lost in the maze? ___
Part 6 (Writing)
Sochi Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games

11 February 2009 一 Major athletic events around the globe-from the 2014 Sochi Olympics to an annual
powerboat race in Norwegian fjords-are striving to neutralize their carbon footprint as part of a world-wide
climate network, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) said today.
The sporting events are the latest participants to join the network, and are particularly important for inspiring
further global action on the environment, said Achim Steiner, UNEP Executive Director.
Organizers of the 2014 Sochi Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games-to be held in a unique natural selling
between the shores of the Black Sea and the soaring snow-capped Caucasus Mountains-say they will put an
estimated $1 .75 billion into energy conservation and renewable energy.
That investment will be dedicated to improving transport infrastructure, offsetting greenhouse gas emissions
from the use of electricity, air travel and ground transportation, the reforestation of Sochi National Park and
the development of green belts in the city.

Practise Test 2
Part 1 (Question 1 – 8)
THE DINGO
Long before the first Europeans (1) _________ foot on Australian shores (2) _________ existed on that island
continent a wolf like dog that the aboriginal population called Worrigal or dingo. It was first assumed the
dingo had accompanied aboriginal people (3) _________ Australia in their earliest migrations tens of
thousands of years ago. Anthropological evidence has shown that aboriginal people have lived in Australia
for at least 40,000 – 50,000 years; however, the irrefutable evidence of carbon dating actually places the oldest
dingo fossil ever found at 3,450 years old.
The mystery of how the dingo made (4) _________ way to Australian shores has (5) _________ to be solved
but there is no question that the dingo adapted to the rugged and varied Australian environment (6) _________
great ease and enjoyed a pleasant coexistence with aboriginal man. Research indicates the dingo is closely
related to dogs that exist from Israel, east to Vietnam, north to the Himalayas, and southward through
Indonesia, Borneo, and New Guinea. These all are descended (7) _________ the Indian wolf rather than the
northern timber wolf from which most (8) _________ domestic dogs descend.
Part 2 (Question 9 – 17)
Bioluminescence
A. In the pitch-black waters of the ocean’s aphotic zone – depths from 1,000m to the seafloor – Rood eyesight
does not count for very much on its own. Caves, in addition, frequently present a similar problem: the complete
absence of natural light at any time of the day. This has not stopped some organisms from turning these
inhospitable environments into their homes, and in the process, many have created their own forms of light
by developing one of the stunning visual marvels of the biological universe -bioluminescence.
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B. Many people will encounter bioluminescence at some point in their life, typically in some form of
glowworm, which is found on most continents. North and South America are home to the “firefly”, a glowing
beetle which is known as a glow-worm during its larvae stage. Flightless glowing beetles and worms are also
found in Europe, Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. Less common flies, centipedes, molluscs, and snails have
bioluminescent qualities as well, as do some mushrooms. The most dramatic examples of bioluminescence.
However, are found deep below the ocean’s surface, where no sunlight can penetrate at all. Here, anglerfish,
cookie-cutter sharks, flashlight fish, lantern fish, gulper eels, viperfish, and many other species have developed
bioluminescence in unique and creative ways to facilitate their lives.
C. The natural uses of bioluminescence vary widely, and organisms have learnt to be very creative with its
use. Fireflies employ bioluminescence primarily for reproductive means – their flashing patterns advertise a
firefly’s readiness to breed. Some fish use it as a handy spotlight to help them locate prey. Others use it as a
lure; the anglerfish, for example, dangles a luminescent flare that draws in gullible, smaller fishes which get
snapped up by the anglerfish in an automated reflex. Sometimes, bioluminescence is used to resist predators.
Vampire squids eject a thick cloud of glowing liquid from the tip of its arms when threatened, which can be
disorientating. Other species use a single, bright flash to temporarily blind their attacker, with an effect similar
to that of an oncoming car which has not dipped its headlights.
D. Humans have captured and utilized bioluminescence by developing, over the last decade, a technology
known as Bioluminescence Imaging (BLI). BU involves the extraction of a DNA protein from a
bioluminescent organism, and then the integration of this protein into a laboratory animal through trans-
geneticism. Researchers have been able to use luminized pathogens and cancer cell lines to track the respective
spread of infections and cancers. Through BLI, cancers and infections can be observed without intervening in
a way that affects their independent development. In other words, while an ultra-sensitive camera and
bioluminescent proteins add a visual element, they do not disrupt or mutate the natural processes. As a result,
when testing drugs and treatments, researchers are permitted a single perspective of a therapy’s progression.
E. Once scientists learn how to engineer bioluminescence and keep it stable in large quantities; a number of
other human uses for it will become available. Glowing trees have been proposed as replacements for electric
lighting along busy roads, for example, which would reduce our dependence on non-renewable energy
sources. The same technology used in Christmas trees for the family home would also eliminate the fire danger
from electrical fairy lights. It may also be possible for crops and plants to luminesce when they require
watering, and for meat and dairy products to “tell us” when they have become contaminated by bacteria. In a
similar way, Forensic investigators could detect bacterial species on corpses through bioluminescence. Finally,
there is the element of pure novelty. Children’s toys and stickers are often made with glow-in-the-dark
qualities, and a biological form would allow rabbits, mice, fish, and other pets to glow as well.
Questions 9 – 13
The Passage has five sections, A-E.
Choose the correct heading for sections A-E from the list of headings below.
List of Headings
i. Mushrooms that glow in the dark.
ii. Bright Creatures on land and in the sea
iii. Evolution’s Solution
iv. Cave-Dwelling Organisms
v. Future Opportunities in biological engineering
vi. Nature’s Gift to medicine
vii. Bioluminescence in humans
viii. Purpose of bioluminescence in the wild

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ix. Luminescent pets
9. Section A ___
10. Section B ___
11. Section C ___
12. Section D ___
13. Section E ___
Question 14
Which FOUR uses are listed for bioluminescence in nature?
You must have the correct 4 options for the correct answer.
A. ways of attracting food
B. tracing the spread of diseases
C. mating signals
D. growing trees for street lighting
E. drug trials
F. defensive tactics
G. a torch to identify food
Answer: _____________
Questions 15 – 18
Complete the sentences below.
Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.
15. The luminescent fluid that a vampire squid emits has a …………………… effect on its predator.
16. In order to use bioluminescence in a trans-genetic environment, ……………………. must first be removed
from a bioluminescent creature.
17. One advantage of BLI is that it could allow researchers to see how a treatment is working without altering
or disturbing …………………….
18. In the future, …………………… may be able to use bioluminescence to identify evidence on dead bodies.
Part 3 (Question 19 – 25)
The Ikea Museum
There is no mistaking the Ikea Museum. The room sets for each decade are arranged inside giant cardboard
boxes. One glass cabinet is dedicated to a single meatball on a fork. Another displays a humble Allen key,
giver of life to flat-pack furniture.
19. ___
All the furnishing heroes of the company’s 73-year history are here. There is a black leather Klippan sofa from
1984, just five years after the bestselling couch was launched – initially to a lukewarm response. There is a
Poem chair from 1977, with its gracefully bent wooden arms – it would later become the much-loved Poang
– and the Bra wardrobe and those stalwarts of small storage solutions, the Moppe plywood boxes.
20. ___

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Ikea has undoubtedly contributed to the evolution of furniture design, not only by tapping into a classic
Scandinavian ethos of clean line, and unity of form and function, all while maintaining low prices, but also in
its search for cheaper and, in recent years, more sustainable materials. The Moment table, from the 1980s, for
instance, has bent metal legs inspired by shopping trolleys.
21. ___
Not everything works, but the museum charts even the company’s failures with an air of pragmatism and
pride.
As museums go, Ikea’s is fairly introspective. It’s a bit like being stuck inside any Ikea. There is just too much
stuff from Ikea. More exploration of the brand’s interaction with the larger world of design would be welcome.
22. ___
Ikea’s headquarters are also here in the quiet town of Almhult; many of the 9,000 residents have a working
connection to the chain. On campus, the blend of precision and sprawl is familiar from any of the company’s
stores.
23. ___
Ikea here is a kind of faith, a belief system. Take Cia Eriksson. She fell in love with Ikea when her parents
took her on a spree to the Malmo store for her 10th birthday. More than 30 years on, she can still list her haul
that day: Tura, a desk in white, a white bedframe with lots of cushions, curtains, a Billy bookcase. When her
dream came true, and she joined the company in 1986, she bought two Klippan sofas, still going strong in her
lounge, though she has changed their covers at least 15 times. The museum’s curator, Sofie Bergkvist, acquired
her first pieces at around the same time. She remembers a stool in the shape of a flower.
It sounds as if, between them, they could almost assemble a museum from their own belongings. Actually,
Eriksson says, it was pretty hard tracking down all the pieces. The Ikea archive held only 20 percent of the
exhibits they wanted to include. Everything else had to be bought a labour that took their colleague Thea
Davidsson two-and-a- half years.
24. ___
The first thing she did was to map chairs, tables, lamps and so on, creating a folder of images for each one, of
every article Ikea had ever made. Then she set about scouring eBay, Tradera (a Swedish auction site) and flea
markets.
25. ___
“A boring carpet from the 80s,” Davidsson says with a shrug – you can tell she hasn’t worked for Ikea for
long. She had to make the five-hour drive to Stockholm to tick that one off the list. Some items were still in
their boxes, flat-packs intact. It’s bizarre to think of Ikea buying back its furniture and self-assembling them
for posterity. But at least most finds came cheaply. When Davidsson used to work at an auction house, Ikea
furniture and accessories never came up. They didn’t even accept them. But over the past year, that has begun
to change. Now He sees Ikea things on auction sites all the time. Sweden, she thinks, is learning to appreciate
its design achievements.

The Paragraphs
A. The hardest items to find were a glass lamp designed by Tapio Wirkkala – eventually won on a UK auction
site for around $300 – and rugs, such as the one beside the Klippan sofa in the 1980s room set.
B. Road signs specify distances to the metre – hotel 184m, gym 229m, but somehow places are still hard to
find. Ikea’s newly launched bicycles are propped against lampposts. Not bicycles, but transport systems,
according to Engman. There is even an Ikea bank.

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C. There are surprises, too. The first room shows wooden armchairs from the few years between the company’s
conception and its espousal of self-assembly. With their robust refusal to pack flat, they seem like a chapter
from a different story.
D. The museum includes a gift shop and restaurant, so there will be meatballs aplenty to add to the 1bn sold
worldwide. They have been going to people’s homes many times over the years and now it’s time to pay back,
to welcome them back. But, of course, the payback carries an admission charge of 60 Swedish krona for adults,
40 for children, and a discount for a year’s pass.
E. When she started, fresh from working in an auction house, she didn’t know the names of any of the products,
not even what a Billy was.
F. The museum, housed on the site of the chain’s first store in Almhult, in southern Sweden, is a celebration
of everything Ikea. Even the original concrete floor, scuffed and scarred, proves Ikea’s work ethic, economy
and longevity, according to our tour guide.
G. Instead, the insularity can make the company appear Willy Wonka-ish. A corridor of multicoloured marvels
of design, from doorknobs to hooks and chairs and fake grass, greets the visitor and, according to the
museum’s creative manager, Cia Eriksson, represents constantly being on the way.
H. At a certain point in the exhibition, oak appears – a cheaper resource discovered in Poland after teak became
too expensive. Then came pine, particle board and the chunky layers of glued veneer that the company’s head
of design, Marcus Engman, says he is currently trying to make much thinner.
Part 4 (Question 26 – 30)
The changing role of airports
Airports continue to diversify their role in an effort to generate income. Are business meeting facilities the
next step? Nigel Halpern, Anne Graham and Rob Davidson investigate.
A. In recent times developing commercial revenues has become more challenging for airports due to a
combination of factors, such as increased competition from Internet shopping, restrictions on certain sales,
such as tobacco, and new security procedures that have had an impact on the dwell time of passengers.
Moreover, the global economic downturn has caused a reduction in passenger numbers while those that are
travelling generally have less money to spend. This has meant that the share subsequently declined slightly.
Meanwhile, the pressures to control the level of aeronautical revenues are as strong as ever due to the poor
financial health of many airlines and the rapid rise of the low-cost carrier sector.
B. Some of the more obvious solutions to growing commercial revenues, such as extending the merchandising
space or expanding the variety of shopping opportunities, have already been tried to their limit at many
airports. A more radical solution is to find new sources of commercial revenue within the terminal, and this
has been explored by many airports over the last decade or so. As a result, many terminals are now much more
than just shopping malls and offer an array of entertainment, leisure, and beauty and wellness facilities. At
this stage of facilities provision, the airport also has the possibility of talking on the role of the final destination
rather than merely a facilitator of access.
C. At the same time, airports have been developing and expanding the range of services that they provide
specifically for the business traveller in the terminal. This includes offering business centres that supply
support services, meeting or conference rooms and other space for special events. Within this context, Jarach
(2001) discusses how dedicated meetings facilities located within the terminal and managed directly by the
airport operator may be regarded as an expansion of the concept of airline lounges or as a way to reconvert
abandoned or underused areas of terminal and managed directly by the airport hotels and other facilities
offered in the surrounding area of the airport that had the potential to take on this role and become active as a
business space (McNeill, 2009).
D. When an airport location can be promoted as a business venue, this may increase the overall appeal of the
airport and help it become more competitive in both attracting and retaining airlines and their passengers. In
particular, the presence of meeting facilities could become one of the determining factors taken into

64
consideration when business people are choosing airlines and where they change their planes. This enhanced
attractiveness itself may help to improve the airport operator’s financial position and future prospects, but
clearly, this will be dependent on the competitive advantage that the airport is able to achieve in comparison
with other venues.
E. In 2011, an online airport survey was conducted and some of the areas investigated included the provision
and use of meeting facilities at airports and the perceived role and importance of these facilities in generating
income and raising passenger numbers. In total, there were responses from staff at 154 airports and 68% of
these answered “yes” to the question: Does your airport own and have meetings facilities available for hire?
The existence of meeting facilities, therefore, seems high at airports. In addition, 28% of respondents that did
not have meeting facilities stared that they were likely to invest in them during the next five years. The survey
also asked to what extent respondents agreed or disagreed with a number of statements about asked the
meeting facilities at their airport. 49% of respondents agreed that they would invest more in the immediate
future. These are fairly high proportions considering the recent economic climate.
F. The survey also asked airport with meeting facilities to estimate what proportion of users are from the local
area. i.e. within a 90-minute drive from the airport, or from abroad. Their findings show that meeting facilities
provided by the majority of respondents tend to serve local versus non-local or foreign needs. 63% of
respondents estimated that over 60% of users are from the local area. Only 3% estimated that over 80% of
users are from abroad. It is therefore not surprising that the facilities are of limited importance when it comes
to increasing use of fights at the airports: 16% of respondents estimated that none of the users of their meeting
facilities uses fights when travelling to or from them, while 56% estimated that 20% or fewer of the users of
their facilities use fights.
G. The survey asked respondents with meeting facilities to estimate how much revenue their airport earned
from its meeting facilities during the last financial year. Average revenue per airport was just $12,959. Meeting
facilities are effectively a non-aeronautical source of airport revenue. Only 1% of respondents generated more
than 20% non-aeronautical revenue from their meetings facilities; none generated more than 40%. Given the
focus on local demand, it is not surprising that less than a third of respondents agreed that their meeting
facilities support business and tourism development in their home region or country.
H. The findings of this study suggest that few airports provide meetings facilities as a serious commercial
venture. It may be that, as owners of large property, space is available for meeting facilities at airports and
could play an important role in serving the needs of the airport, its partners, and stakeholders such as
government and the local community. Thus, while the local orientation means that competition with other
airports is likely to be minimal, competition with local providers of meetings facilities is likely to be much
greater.
The text has eight paragraphs, A-H.
Which paragraph contains the following information?
You may use any letter more than once.
26. evidence that a significant number of airports provide meeting facilities. ___
27. a statement regarding the fact that no further developments are possible in some areas of airport trade.
___
28. reference to the low level of income that meeting facilities produce for airports. ___
29. mention of the impact of budget airlines on airport income. ___
30. examples of airport premises that might be used for business purposes. ___
Part 5 (Question 31 – 40)
William Lloyd Garrison
By: Archibald H. Grimke

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Archimedes with his lever desired a place to stand that he might move the world of matter. [William Lloyd]
Garrison with his paper, having found a place for his feet, demonstrated speedily his ability to push from its
solid base the world of mind. His plan was very simple, viz., to reveal slavery as it then existed in its naked
enormity, to the conscience of the North, to be "as harsh as truth and as uncompromising as justice." And so,
week after week, he packed in the columns of the Liberator facts, the most damning facts, against slaveholders,
their cruelty and tyranny. He painted the woes of the slaves as if he, too, had been a slave. For the first time
the masters found a man who rebuked them as not before had they been rebuked. Others may have
equivocated, but this man called things by their proper names, a spade, a spade, and sin, sin. Others may have
contented themselves with denunciations of the sins and with excuses for the sinner, as a creature of
circumstances, the victim of ancestral transgressions, but this man offered no excuses for the slave-holding
sinner. Him and his sin he denounced in language, which the Eternal puts only into the mouths of His prophets.
It was, as he had said, "On this subject I do not wish to think, or speak, or write, with moderation." The strength
and resources of his mother-tongue seemed to him wholly inadequate for his needs, to express the transcendent
wickedness of slave-holding. All the harsh, the stern, the terrible and tremendous energies of the English
speech he drew upon, and launched at slaveholders. Amid all of this excess of the enthusiast there was the
method of a calculating mind. He aimed to kindle a conflagration because he had icebergs to melt. "The
public shall not be imposed upon," he replied to one of his critics, "and men and things shall be called by their
right names. I retract nothing, I blot out nothing. My language is exactly such as suits me; it will displease
many, I know; to displease them is my intention." He wasphilosopher enough to see that he could reach the
national conscience only by exciting the national anger. It was not popular rage, which he feared but popular
apathy. If he could goad the people to anger on the subject of slavery he would soon be rid of their apathy.
And so week after week he piled every sort of combustible material, which he was able to collect on board
the Liberator and lighting it all, sent the fiery messenger blazing among the icebergs of the Union.
Slaveholders were robbers, murderers, oppressors; they were guilty of all the sins of the decalogue, were in a
word the chief of sinners. At the same moment that the reformer denied their right of property in the slave, he
attacked their character also, held them up in their relation of masters to the reprobation of the nation and of
mankind as monsters of injustice and inhumanity. The tone which he held toward them, steadily, without
shadow of change, was the tone of a righteous man toward the workers of iniquity. The indifference, the
apathy, the pro-slavery sympathy and prejudice of the free States rendered the people of the North hardly less
culpable.
1. According to the following sentence, what made William Lloyd Garrison different from other abolitionists?
Others may have contented themselves with denunciations of the sins and with excuses for the sinner, as a
creature of circumstances, the victim of ancestral transgressions, but this man offered no excuses for the slave-
holding sinner.
A) He went onto southern plantations and freed slaves.
B) He worked in Congress to pass abolitionist legislation.
C) He didn't make any excuses in his writings and exposed the truth.
D) He operated an underground railroad to help slaves escape to the north.
2. The word "conflagration" is closest in meaning to
A) bonfire
B) shipwreck
C) mess
D) waterfall
3. The word "goad" in line 26 is closest in meaning to
A) forget
B) meander

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C) bait
D) explain
4. According to the passage, why was Garrison's language so strong?
A) He had been a slave himself and wrote from experience.
B) He saw himself as a sort of Prophet and his language was given to him by God.
C) He feared having the people being angry with him.
D) He felt like he was the only person talking about this topic.
5. All of the following statements are true about Garrison's intentions EXCEPT:
A) He hoped that people would ignore his writings and keep owning slaves.
B) He wanted to provoke the national anger.
C) He attacked the character of the slaveowners, showing them to be monsters.
D) He wanted people to react so that they wouldn't be apathetic any more
6. Based on the context clues in the passage, what was the Liberator?
A) A ship
B) A movie
C) A train
D) A pamphlet (book)
7. Garrison said that slaveholders were all of the following EXCEPT:
A) generous
B) robbers
C) murderers
D) Oppressors
8. The phrase "aimed to kindle" in line 20 is most similar to:
A) did not want to
B) worked against
C) sat nearby
D) wanted to start
9. Which of the following can be inferred from the sentence
"The indifference, the apathy, the pro-slavery sympathy and prejudice of the free States rendered the people
of the North hardly less culpable."?
A) Garrison thought that only the South was responsible for slavery.
B) Garrison wanted slaves to rise up on their own and didn’t think they needed any help.
C) Garrison felt that people in the north were partially responsible because they were indifferent to the plight
of the slaves.
D) Garrison hated all white people.

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10. An introductory sentence for a brief summary of the passage is provided below. Complete the summary
by selecting the THREE (3) answer choices that express the most important ideas in the passage. Some
sentences do not belong in the summary because they express ideas that are not presented in the passage or
are minor ideas in the passage.
William Lloyd Garrison was a passionate critic of slavery in the American south and held nothing back in his
criticism of slaveholders and their sympathizers.
1) Slavery in America began in the earliest days of colonization and was rapidly expanded during the late 18th
and early 19th centuries with the invention of the cotton gin.
2) Southern plantation owners were responsible for the vast majority of slave ownership in the United States
as they required a large workforce to maintain their agricultural pursuits.
3) Garrison realized that unless he made people angry when reading his abolitionist pamphlet, they would not
be moved beyond their usual apathy.
4) Northern states utilized less slave labor due to the difference in physical geography.
5) For Garrison's publication the Liberator, no language was too strong in making his point as he hoped to
shed light on the horrible evils of slave ownership.
6) He was most focused on highlighting the evil of southern slave owners but did not shy away from also
criticizing the northerners whose passive indifference allowed slavery to continue.
Part 6 (Question 41 – 50)
The Graduate
A. THE NY TIMES
The Graduate, the pungent story of the sudden confusions and dismays of a bland young man fresh out of
college who is plunged headlong into the intellectual vacuum of his affluent parents' circle of friends, it
fashions a scarifying picture of the raw vulgarity of the swimming-pool rich, and it does so with a lively and
exciting expressiveness through vivid cinema. Further, it offers an image of silver-spooned, bewildered youth,
standing expectantly out with misgiving where the brook and the swimming-pool meet, that is developed so
wistfully and winningly by Dustin Hoffman, an amazing new young star, that it makes you feel a little tearful
and choked-up while it is making you laugh yourself raw. That's all. And yet in pursuing this simple story
line, which has been adorned with delicious incidents and crackling dialogue in the screenplay by Calder
Willingham and Buck Henry, based on a novel by Charles Webb, the still exploring Mr. Nichols has done
such sly and surprising things with his actors and with his camera, or, rather, Robert Surtees's camera, that the
overall picture has the quality of a very extensive and revealing social scan. Funny, outrageous, and touching,
The Graduate is a sophisticated film that puts Mr. Nichols and his associates on a level with any of the best
satirists working abroad today.
B. The Guardian
If ever a movie captured the audience's imagination with its musical soundtrack, it was The Graduate, that
irresistibly watchable 1967 classic. Simon and Garfunkel's eerie and sublime The Sound of Silence perfectly
captures both Ben's alienation and bewilderment about what he should do with his life, and then his post-coital
disenchantment and self-loathing. The Graduate itself does not seem the same in 2017 as it did in 1967. Then
the emphasis was on sophisticated black comedy with a hint of 60's radicalism and student discontent,
mediated through the older generation of suburbanites. Watched in the present day, the element of predatory
abuse is inescapable. You cannot see it without wondering how it might look and feel if the sexual roles were
reversed. But a modern audience might also, paradoxically, be much less content with the villainous role the
film finally assigns to Mrs Robinson, be more sympathetic to her midlife crisis, and remember the pathos of
her abandoned interest in art. Calder Willingham and Buck Henry's screenplay, adapted from Charles Webb's
1963 novel, cleverly allows you to wonder if Mr Robinson was, in some conscious or subconscious way,
complaisant in his wife's adventure. The excellence of Katherine Ross as Mrs Robinson's daughter, Elaine, is
often overlooked. A hugely pleasurable film.
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C. The Telegraph
The Graduate, starring Dustin Hoffman and Anne Bancroft and directed by Mike Nichols, is actually a very
nasty film, and a very, very funny one. As the benchmark for every inter-generational relationship film since,
it tends to live in the male public imagination largely as a reference point for cheeky forbidden fantasies
regarding older women the world over. It takes about three minutes, roughly the length of time it takes
Hoffman to get down the moving walkway to Simon and Garfunkel's Sound of Silence and from the airport
to the suffocating atmosphere of his graduation party, where he gets gradually trapped into a relationship with
one of his parents' friends, to realise that The Graduate is actually a very nasty film, and a very, very funny
one. Directorially, it is as cutting-edge late-Sixties as you can get, all fish-bowl juxtapositions, dappled light
and pensive close-ups. But the world we're in here is essentially a Fifties hangover, a staid, suburban one still
ruled over by The Old Folk, a place where the reason you get together with a seductively smoking alcoholic
in her forties is not so much because you find her attractive but because she's the only person in the vicinity
as bored as you. The result is an exercise in claustrophobia that makes Panic Room look like a western by
comparison. By the end, it doesn't matter that the lesson he's learned is the one that the old folks were telling
him in the first place, that he should find a nice girl his own age. The feeling of freedom is immense.
D. Variety
The Graduate is a delightful, satirical comedy-drama about a young man's seduction by an older woman, and
the measure of maturity which he attains from the experience. An excellent screenplay by Calder Willingham
and comedy specialist Buck Henry, based on the Charles Webb novel, focuses on Hoffman, just out of college
and wondering what it's all about. Predatory Miss Bancroft, wife of Murray Hamilton, introduces Hoffman to
mechanical sex, reaction to which evolves into true love with Miss Ross, Miss Bancroft's daughter. In the 70
minutes which elapse from Hoffman's arrival home from school to the realization by Miss Ross that he has
had an affair with her mother, the pic is loaded with hilarious comedy and, because of this, the intended
commentary on materialistic society is most effective. Only in retrospect does one realize a basic, but not
overly damaging, flaw that Hoffman's achievements in school are not credible in light of his basic shyness.
No matter, or not much, anyway. Only in the final 35 minutes, as Hoffman drives up and down the LA-Frisco
route in pursuit of Miss Ross, does the film falter in pacing, result of which the switched-on cinematics become
obvious, and therefore tiring, although the experience is made tolerable by the excellent music of Simon and
Garfunkel.
Which review
41. uses more than one contradiction to make its point? ___
42. neglects to identify the powerful role played by music in this film? ___
43. is critical of the rhythm of the film? ___
44. suggests the film contains elements which are hard to believe? ___
45. feels an actor's contribution was not appreciated as much as it should have been? ___
46. makes the point that the story on which the film was based is distasteful? ___
47. offers the suggestion that this film has become a cinematical reference? ___
48. looks at the film from different points in time? ___
49. offers a fleeting glimpse into the unfair way male and female behaviour is judged in society? ___
50. seems unnecessarily preoccupied by the timing of various elements of the film? ___
Part 7 (Writing)
Although not always labeled as such, flexitarianism is the default lifestyle for much of the world, whereby
meals based on plant materials provide the bulk of people’s calories. The rich nutrition of meat and animal
products is often the lynchpin of these diets, even when only consumed occasionally. It provides forms and
concentrations of essential proteins, lipids, and micronutrients that are otherwise scarce.
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However, the production of this meat is resource intensive. It requires large quantities of arable land and water
and typically has lower conversion efficiency of farm inputs to edible outputs compared with crops, poultry,
aquaculture, dairy, and eggs. An additional complication is that the quantity of ancillary products produced
during slaughterhouse operations is large and underutilized. Each year, approximately 190 million metric
tonnes (MMT) of red meat, including pork, lamb, sheep, veal, beef, and goats are produced globally, half of
which will be consumed by less than 25% of the population living in developed countries. With demand for
meat expected to exceed 376 MMT by 2030, an increase in the adoption of plant-based diets presents an
opportunity for the world to re-evaluate how meat can be sustainably produced, with greater emphasis on
animal welfare, nutritional value, product safety, better utilization and distribution channels.

Practise Test 3
Part 1 (Question 1 – 10)
Global English
Global English exists (1) ___________ a political and cultural reality. Many misguided theories attempt to
explain why the English language should have succeeded internationally, whilst (2) _________ have not. Is it
because there is something inherently logical or beautiful about the structure of English? Does its simple
grammar make it easy to learn? Such ideas are misconceived. Latin was (3) _________ a major international
language, (4) _________ having a complicated grammatical structure, and English also presents learners with
all manner of real difficulties, (5) ___________ least its spelling system. Ease of learning, therefore, has little
to do with it. (6) ___________ all, children learn to speak their mother tongue in approximately the same
period of time, (7) ____________ of their language. English has spread not (8) _________ much for linguistic
reasons, but rather because it has often found (9) ___________ in the right place, at the right time. Since the
1960s, two major developments have contributed to strengthening this global status. Firstly, in a number of
countries, English is now used in addition to national or regional languages. As well as this, an electronic
revolution has taken place. It is estimated that (10) ______________ the region of 80% of worldwide
electronic communication is now in English.
Part 2 (Question 11 – 23)
A second attempt at domesticating the tomato
A. It took at least 3,000 years for humans to learn how to domesticate the wild tomato and cultivate it for food.
Now two separate teams in Brazil and China have done it all over again in less than three years. And they
have done it better in some ways, as the re-domesticated tomatoes are more nutritious than the ones we eat at
present.
This approach relies on the revolutionary CRISPR genome editing technique, in which changes are
deliberately made to the DNA of a living cell, allowing genetic material to be added, removed or altered. The
technique could not only improve existing crops, but could also be used to turn thousands of wild plants into
useful and appealing foods. In fact, a third team in the US has already begun to do this with a relative of the
tomato called the groundcherry.
This fast-track domestication could help make the world’s food supply healthier and far more resistant to
diseases, such as the rust fungus devastating wheat crops.
‘This could transform what we eat,’ says Jorg Kudla at the University of Munster in Germany, a member of
the Brazilian team. ‘There are 50,000 edible plants in the world, but 90 percent of our energy comes from just
15 crops.’
‘We can now mimic the known domestication course of major crops like rice, maize, sorghum or others,’ says
Caixia Gao of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing. ‘Then we might try to domesticate plants that
have never been domesticated.’

70
B. Wild tomatoes, which are native to the Andes region in South America, produce pea-sized fruits. Over
many generations, peoples such as the Aztecs and Incas transformed the plant by selecting and breeding plants
with mutations in their genetic structure, which resulted in desirable traits such as larger fruit.
But every time a single plant with a mutation is taken from a larger population for breeding, much genetic
diversity is lost. And sometimes the desirable mutations come with less desirable traits. For instance, the
tomato strains grown for supermarkets have lost much of their flavour.
By comparing the genomes of modern plants to those of their wild relatives, biologists have been working out
what genetic changes occurred as plants were domesticated. The teams in Brazil and China have now used
this knowledge to reintroduce these changes from scratch while maintaining or even enhancing the desirable
traits of wild strains.
C. Kudla’s team made six changes altogether. For instance, they tripled the size of fruit by editing a gene
called FRUIT WEIGHT, and increased the number of tomatoes per truss by editing another called
MULTIFLORA.
While the historical domestication of tomatoes reduced levels of the red pigment lycopene – thought to have
potential health benefits – the team in Brazil managed to boost it instead. The wild tomato has twice as much
lycopene as cultivated ones; the newly domesticated one has five times as much.
‘They are quite tasty,’ says Kudla. ‘A little bit strong. And very aromatic.’
The team in China re-domesticated several strains of wild tomatoes with desirable traits lost in domesticated
tomatoes. In this way they managed to create a strain resistant to a common disease called bacterial spot race,
which can devastate yields. They also created another strain that is more salt tolerant – and has higher levels
of vitamin C.
D. Meanwhile, Joyce Van Eck at the Boyce Thompson Institute in New York state decided to use the same
approach to domesticate the groundcherry or goldenberry (Physalis pruinosa) for the first time. This fruit looks
similar to the closely related Cape gooseberry (Physalis peruviana).
Groundcherries are already sold to a limited extent in the US but they are hard to produce because the plant
has a sprawling growth habit and the small fruits fall off the branches when ripe. Van Eck’s team has edited
the plants to increase fruit size, make their growth more compact and to stop fruits dropping. ‘There’s potential
for this to be a commercial crop,’ says Van Eck. But she adds that taking the work further would be expensive
because of the need to pay for a licence for the CRISPR technology and get regulatory approval.
E. This approach could boost the use of many obscure plants, says Jonathan Jones of the Sainsbury Lab in the
UK. But it will be hard for new foods to grow so popular with farmers and consumers that they become new
staple crops, he thinks.
The three teams already have their eye on other plants that could be ‘catapulted into the mainstream’, including
foxtail, oat-grass and cowpea. By choosing wild plants that are drought or heat tolerant, says Gao, we could
create crops that will thrive even as the planet warms.
But Kudla didn’t want to reveal which species were in his team’s sights, because CRISPR has made the
process so easy. ‘Any one with the right skills could go to their lab and do this.’
Questions 11 – 15
Reading Passage 2 has five sections, A–E.
Which section contains the following information?
You may use any letter more than once.
11. a reference to a type of tomato that can resist a dangerous infection ___
12. an explanation of how problems can arise from focusing only on a certain type of tomato plant. ___
13. a number of examples of plants that are not cultivated at present but could be useful as food sources ___
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14. a comparison between the early domestication of the tomato and more recent research ___
15. a personal reaction to the flavour of a tomato that has been genetically edited ___
Questions 16 - 20
Look at the following statements and the list of researchers below.
Match each statement with the correct researcher, A–D.
You may use any letter more than once.
List of Researchers
A. Jorg Kudla
B. Caixia Gao
C. Joyce Van Eck
D. Jonathan Jones
16. Domestication of certain plants could allow them to adapt to future environmental challenges. ___
17. The idea of growing and eating unusual plants may not be accepted on a large scale. ___
18. It is not advisable for the future direction of certain research to be made public. ___
19. Present efforts to domesticate one wild fruit are limited by the costs involved. ___
20. Humans only make use of a small proportion of the plant food available on Earth. ___
Questions 21 – 23
Complete the sentences below.
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
21. An undesirable trait such as loss of ____________ may be caused by a mutation in a tomato gene.
22. By modifying one gene in a tomato plant, researchers made the tomato three times its original
______________.
23. A type of tomato which was not badly affected by ___________, and was rich in vitamin C, was produced
by a team of researchers in China.
Part 3 (Question 24 – 30)
ART FOR ALL?
There were more than a few eyebrows raised when 74. Martin Creed’s installation, The Lights Going On and
Off, was unveiled at this year’s Turner Prize show at Tate Britain. The museum’s curator of communications,
Simon Williams, declared that the work signified “the movement towards the dematerialisation of art since
the 60s, but most of the general public seemed to reckon that an empty room with a light flickering on and off
was a pretentious conceit. Yet even those who loathed the 75. Piece still tried to engage with it as a work of
art.
24. ___
There are still some who mutter darkly about the perils of dumbing down, but the upside is that many more
people are gaining the confidence to appreciate works they might previously have considered dull or
incomprehensible.
25. ___

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A recent survey published by Artworks, the National Children’s Art Awards, revealed that average yearly 76.
Spending on art materials in English and Welsh schools had fallen from an already dangerously low figure to
a derisory one. Five to seven-year-olds were allocated a mere £1.18 per head, while 11 to 18-year-olds fared
little better with an average annual budget of £2.68
26. ___
If you went into a museum or gallery back in the 1970s, you would have found a dusty regime run by staged.”
An elite for an elite. A curator would have gathered a 77. Collection of artifacts or pictures into a gallery, and
unless the visitor was steeped in art history, he or she would have little idea of why any particular group of
objects had been grouped together in the same room, as there was no explanation or interpretation an offer.
27. ___
A case in point is the newly reopened British Galleries, housing a collection of objects from 1500- 1900, at
the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. In many museums, the education team is brought in as an
afterthought to tidy up after the curator and the designer have decided on the exhibits and the layout. But for
the British Galleries, the education team was in on the act from the outset.
28. ___
Museums outside London often have to fight harder for recognition and in many ways have an even greater
part to play in the cultural fabric of the community than their grander counterparts. The National Museum of
Photography Film & Television in Bradford is an example. Situated in the second poorest ward in the country,
it has become a focal point for the north-east, attracting people from all sections of the community.
29. ___
“In countries such as Italy and France, opera has always been a popular musical form,” says Mark Tinkler,
artistic director. “It’s only in the US and the UK that it has been branded elitist. We believe it is something
that should be available to everyone so, as well as providing workshops in schools, we perform in places such
as Hemel Hempstead and Thames Ditton where opera is seldom, if ever.
30. ___
At its best, art represents the highest form of human achievement; at its worst, it is tame, unchallenging and
hollow. To engage or not to engage? Now, more than ever, the choice is ours.

The paragraphs
A. "We wanted to be clear about what the galleries were trying to say about the history of art and design and
to ensure we catered for our target audience," says Christopher Wilk, chief curator. "Art galleries have tended
to appeal to the analytical learner who likes to absorb information from a plaque, but we have gone out of our
way to arrange exhibits in a variety of ways so that the galleries can be understood and absorbed by everyone.
B. Unsurprisingly, then, and because art counts for nothing in the performance league tables, schools have
largely washed their hands of the subject and in the process a generation of schoolchildren have had their
access, both to practical artistic experience and to a wider appreciation of aesthetics, severely compromised.
But where the schools have failed, arts organizations, museums, galleries and the media have tried to step
C. But for all the success in efforts to reach a wider public, a note of caution is also required. Even in times of
prosperity, arts budgets are tight and in times of recession they are often slashed. Arts organizations are
fighting for every penny and many are struggling on a shoestring to continue to offer a first-rate programme,
no one can take their survival for granted. D. They want meaning on a plate, served up the way it has always
been. They often seem to want demonstration of familiar skills. Some people are afraid, both of the feelings
art provokes and of having their preconceptions of what art ought to be upset.
E. Twenty-five years ago we tended to take a very different view. Art meant high art. If it wasn't a Mozart
opera, a Shakespeare play or a Rembrandt painting, then it wasn't art: it was popular culture. Today the
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distinctions have become increasingly blurred. Circus skills, pop music, even TV soaps, are now all recognized
as legitimate art forms.
F. While painting, film and theatre may have opened up to a wider public, there are still some art forms, such
as opera, that are still regarded in some quarters as inaccessible. But this too is changing. The Royal Opera
House has taken to providing a running English translation of its foreign language works, but more importantly
there are a number of small opera groups, such as English Pocket Opera (EPO), which are dedicated to making
the art form more accessible.
G. You might have thought that it was the education system that had inspired this latter-day culture revolution.
But even though there has been a lot of talk coming out of government about creativity in schools, little more
than window dressing has emerged.
H. There is still a minority of curators and critics who believe that the art should stand alone and speak for
itself, but most now recognize that museums have a duty to inform, as our national treasures belong to all of
us.
Part 4 (Question 31 – 40)
The Geologic History of the Mediterranean
1. In 1970 geologists Kenneth J. Hsu and William B. F. Ryan were collecting research data while abcard the
oceanographic research vessel Glomar Challenger. An objective of this particular cruise was to investigate the
floor of the Mediterranean and to resolve questions about its geologic history. One question was related to
evidence that the invertebrate fauna (animals without spines) of the Mediterranean had changed abruptly about
6 million years ago. Most of the older organisms were nearly wiped out, although a few hardy species survived.
A few managed to migrate into the Atlantic. Somewhat later, the migrants returned, bringing new species with
them Why did the near extinction and migrations occur?
2. Another task for the Glomar Challenger’s scientists was to try to determine the origin of the domelike
masses buried deep beneath the Mediterranean seafloor. These structures had been detected years earlier by
echo-sounding instruments, but they had never been penetrated in the course of drilling. Were they salt domes
such as are common along the United States Gulf coast, and if so, why should there have been so much solid
crystalline salt beneath the floor of the Mediterranean?
3. With questions such as these clearly before them, the scientists aboard the Glomar Challenger proceeded to
the Mediterranean to search for the answers. On August 23, 1970, they recovered a sample. The sample
consisted of pebbles of hardened sediment that had once been soft, deep-sea mud, as well as granules of
gypsum’ and fragments of volcanic rock. Not a single pebble was found that might have indicated that the
pebbles came from the nearby continent. In the days following, samples of solid gypsum were repeatedly
brought on deck as drilling operations penetrated the seafloor. Furthermore, the gypsum was found to possess
peculiarities of composition and structure that suggested it had formed on desert flats. Sed ment above and
below the gypsum layer contained tiny marine fossils, indicating open occan conditions. As they drilled into
the central and deepest part of the Mediterranean basin, the scientists took solid, shiny, crystalline salt from
the core barrel. Interbedded with the salt were thin layers of what appeared to be windblown silt.
4. The time had come to formulate a hypothesis. The investigators theorized that about 20 million years ago,
the Mediterranean was a broad seaway linked to the Atlantic by two rarrow straits. Crustal movements closed
the straits, and the landlocked Mediterranean began to evaporate Increasing salinity caused by the evaporation
resulted in the extermination of scores of invertebrate species. Only a few organisms especially tolerant of
very salty conditions remained As evaporation continued, the remaining brine (salt water) became so dense
that the calcium sulfate of the hard layer was precipitated. In the central deeper part of the basin, the last of
the brine evaporated to precipitate more soluble sodium chloride (salt). Later, under the weight of overlying
sediments, this salt flowed plastically upward to form salt domes. Before this happened, however, the
Mediterranean was a vast desert 3,000 meters deep. Then, about 5.5 million years ago came the deluge. As a
result of crustal adjustments and faulting, the Strait of Gibraltar, where the Mediterranean now connects to the
Atlantic. Opened, and water cascaded spectacularly back into the Mediterranean. Turbulent waters tore into
the hardened salt flats, broke them up, and ground them into the pebbles observed in the first sample taken by
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the Challenger. As the basin was refilled, normal marine organisms returned. Soon layers of oceanic ooze
began to accumulate above the old hard layer.
5. The salt and gypsum, the faunal changes, and the unusual gravel provided abundant evidence that the
Mediterranean was once a desert.
gypsum: a mineral made of calcium sulfate and water
31. Which of the following is NOT mentioned in paragraph 1 as a change that occurred in the fauna of the
Mediterranean?
A. Most invertebrate species disappeared during a wave of extinctions.
B. A few hardy species wiped out many of the Mediterranean's invertebrates.
C. Some invertebrates migrated to the Atlantic Ocean.
D. New species of fauna populated the Mediterranean when the old migrants returned.
32. What does the author imply by saying "Not a single pebble was found that might have indicated that the
pebbles came from the nearby continent"?
A. The most obvious explanation for the origin of the pebbles was not supported by the evidence.
B. The geologists did not find as many pebbles as they expected.
C. The geologists were looking for a particular kind of pebble.
D. The different pebbles could not have come from only one source.
33. Select the TWO answer choices from paragraph 3 that identify materials discovered in the deepest part of
the Mediterranean basin. To receive credit, you must select TWO answers.
A. Volcanic rock fragments
B. Thin silt layers
C. Soft, deep-sea mud
D. Crystalline salt
34. What is the main purpose of paragraph 3?
A. To describe the physical evidence collected by Hsu and Ryan
B. To explain why some of the questions posed earlier in the passage could not be answered by the findings
of the Glomar Challenger
C. To evaluate techniques used by Hsu and Ryan to explore the sea floor
D. To describe the most difficult problems faced by the Glomar Challenger expedition
35. According to paragraph 4, which of the following was responsible for the evaporation of the
Mediterranean's waters?
A. The movements of Earth's crust
B. The accumulation of sediment layers
C. Changes in the water level of the Atlantic Ocean
D. Changes in Earth's temperature
36. The word "scores in the passage is closest in meaning to
A. members B. large numbers C. populations D. different types

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37. According to paragraph 4, what caused most invertebrate species in the Mediterranean to become extinct?
A. The evaporation of chemicals necessary for their survival
B. Crustal movements that connected the Mediterranean to the saltier Atlantic
C. The migration of new species through the narrow straits
D. Their inability to tolerate the increasing salt content of the Mediterranean
38. Which of the sentences below best expresses the essential information in the highlighted sentence in
paragraph 4? Incorrect choices change the meaning in important ways or leave out essential information.
A. The Strait of Gibraltar reopened when the Mediterranean and the Atlantic became connected and the
cascades of water from one sea to the other caused crustal adjustments.
B. The Mediterranean was dramatically refilled by water from the Atlantic when crustal adjustments and
faulting opened the Strait of Gibraltar, the place where the two seas are joined.
C. The cascades of water from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean were not as spectacular as the crustal
adjustments and faulting that occurred when the Strait of Gibraltar was connected to those seas.
D. As a result of crustal adjustments and faulting and the creation of the Strait of Gibraltar, the Atlantic and
Mediterranean were connected and became a single sea with spectacular cascades of water between them.
39. In paragraph 2 of the passage, there is a missing sentence. The paragraph is repeated below and shows
four letters (A, B, C, and D) that indicate where the following sentence could be added.
“Thus, scientists had information about the shape of the domes but not about their chemical composition and
origin.”
Where would the sentence best fit?
(A) Another task for the Glomar Challenger's scientists was to try to determine the origin of the domelike
masses buried deep beneath the Mediterranean seafloor. B These structures had been detected years earlier by
echo-sounding instruments, but they had never been penetrated in the course of drilling. (C) Were they salt
domes such as are common along the United States Gulf Coast, and if so, why should there have been so much
solid crystalline salt beneath the floor of the Mediterranean? (D)
A. Option A
B. Option B
C. Option C
D. Option D
40. An introductory sentence for a brief summary of the passage is provided below. Complete the summary
by selecting the THREE answer choices that express the most important ideas in the passage. Some sentences
do not belong in the summary because they express ideas that are not presented in the passage or are minor
ideas in the passage. You must choose THREE options for the correct answer.
• An expedition to the Mediterranean answered some long-standing questions about the ocean’s history.
•
•
•
Answer Choices
A. The Glomar Challenger expedition investigated changes in invertebrate fauna and some unusual geologic
features.
B. Researchers collected fossils to determine which new species migrated from the Atlantic with older species.

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C. Scientists aboard the Glomar Challenger were the first to discover the existence of domelike masses
underneath the seafloor.
D Samples recovered from the expedition revealed important differences in chemical composition and fossil
distribution among the sediment layers.
E. Evidence collected by the Glomar Challenger supports geologists' beliefs that the Mediterranean had
evaporated and become a desert, before it refilled with water.
F. Mediterranean salt domes formed after crustal movements opened the straits between the Mediterranean
and the Atlantic, and the Mediterrancan refilled with water.
Part 5 (Question 41 – 50)
Getting Around Bangkok
A. Skytrain
The Bangkok Skytrain (BTS, pronunced bee-tee-et in Thai) deserves a visit simply for the Disneyland space-
ageness of it. Built in a desperate effort to ease Bangkok's insane traffic and pollution, the Skytrain covers
most of downtown and is especially convenient for visiting the Siam Square area. There are two lines: the
light green Sukhumvit line which travels along Sukhumvit road, and the dark green Silom line, which travels
from the Silom area, interchanges with the Sukhumvit line at Siam Square (C) and terminates near the
Chatuchak Weekend Market (N8).
There isn't, unfortunately, a station near Banglampu District (aka the Khao San Road area), but you can take
a river ferry to Tha Sathorn for the Silom line terminus at Saphan Taksin (S6).
You must have 5 or 10 baht coins to purchase Skytrain tickets from the vending machines near the entrance,
so hold on to them. Fares range from 10 to 45 baht depending upon how many zones you are travelling.
Consult the map (in English) near each ticket machine. If you do not have coins, you may need to queue for
change from the staff at the booth. If you are in town for several days, weigh your options and consider a
rechargable stored-value card (200 baht), a "ride all you like" tourist pass or a multiple ride pass of 10 trips or
more. They will certainly save you time, scrambling for coins, and maybe even money. Check for information
with the English speaking staff.
B. By boat
A ride on the Chao Phraya River should be high on any tourist's agenda. The cheapest and most popular option
is the Chao Phraya Express Boat, basically an aquatic bus plying up and down the river. The basic service
plies from Wat Rajsingkorn (S4) all the way to Nonthaburi (N30) for 6 to 10 baht depending on distance,
stopping at most of Rattanakosin's major attractions including the Grand Palace, the Temple of Dawn, etc. In
addition to the basic service, there are express services flagged with yellow or orange flags, which stop only
at major piers and should be avoided unless you're sure where you're going. The new signposting of the piers
is quite clear, with numbered piers and English route maps, and the Central station offers easy interchange to
the BTS Saphan Taksin station.
In addition to the workaday express boat, there is also a self-proclaimed Tourist Boat which stops at a different
subset of piers, offers commentary in English and charges twice the price. The boats are slightly more
comfortable and not a bad option for a hop or two, but don't get bullied into buying the overpriced day pass.
Canal boats also service some of Bangkok's many canals (khlong). They are cheap and immune to Bangkok's
traffic jams, just watch your step when boarding and disembarking! One particularly useful line runs up and
down Khlong Saen Saep, parallel to Petchaburi Rd, and provides the easiest access from the city center to the
Golden Mount.
Finally, for trips outside the set routes, you can hire a longtail river taxi at any major pier. These are fairly
expensive and will attempt to charge as much as 500 baht/hour, but with haggling may be suitable for small
groups. To circumvent the mafia-like touts who attempt to get a (large) cut for every ride, agree for the price
of the shortest possible ride (half an hour etc), then negotiate directly with the captain when on board.

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C. By bus
Local buses, mostly operated by the Bangkok Mass Transit Authority (BMTA), are cheapest but also the most
challenging way of getting around, as there is a bewildering plethora of routes, usually marked only in Thai.
Bus stops usually list only the bus numbers that stop there and nothing more. They are also subject to
Bangkok's notorious traffic, often terribly crowded, and many are not air-conditioned. The hierarchy of
Bangkok's buses from cheapest to best can be ranked as follows:
- Small green bus, 3.50 baht flat fare. Crowded, no air-con, no fan, famously suicidal drivers, not advisable
for more than short hops.
- Red bus, 4 baht flat fare. BMTA-run, more spacious and fan-cooled (in theory). Unlike other buses, a subset
of these runs through the night.
- White/blue bus, 5 baht flat fare. Exactly the same as the red buses, but operated by private concession.
- Blue aircon, 8 baht for the first 8 kilometers, up to 20 baht max. BMTA-run and quite comfy.
- Orange aircon (Euro 2), 10 baht for the first few kilometers, up to 20 baht max. BMTA-run, new and
comfortable.
- Purple Microbus, 25 baht flat fare, fixed number of seats so never crowded. Some of these are Skytrain
feeder shuttles and you can get free tickets if you buy stored-card value of 200 baht or more.
Buses stop only when needed, so wave them down (arm out, palm down) when you see one barreling your
way. In all buses except the Microbus, pay the roaming collector after you board; on Microbuses, drop the
money into a slot next to the driver as you board. In all buses, keep the ticket as there are occasional spot-
checks, and press the signal buzzer (usually near the door) when you want to get off.
D. By taxi
Taxis are a quick way to get around town, at least if the traffic is flowing your way. Almost all taxis are now
metered: the hailing fee is 35 baht and most trips in Bangkok cost less than 100 baht.
If the driver refuses to use the meter after a couple of attempts, simply exit the taxi. Also try to avoid taxis that
stay parked all day outside your hotel. The only two reasons that they are there: 1) To take you places where
they can get their commissions (Jewelry stores, massage parlors, etc) and 2) To overcharge you by not using
the meter. Your best bet is to walk to the road and catch an unoccupied metered taxi in motion (easier than it
sounds, as Bangkok traffic tends to crawl the majority of the time). Be sure to either know the correct
pronunciation of your destination, or have it written in Thai; taxi drivers in Bangkok are notoriously bad at
reading maps.
E. By motorbike
When traffic slows to a crawl and there are no alternatives, the fastest way to your destination is to take a
motorbike taxi. Bike drivers in colorful fluorescent yellow-orange vests wait for passengers at street corners
and near shopping malls and prices are negotiable. That said, motorcycle taxis are suicidally dangerous and
should generally be avoided except as a last resort, as accidents are far too common.
Some bikes do not travel long distances, but simply shuttle up and down long sois not serviced by other
transport for a fixed 5-20 baht fare. These are marginally less dangerous, especially if you happen to travel
with the flow on a one-way street.
The law requires that both driver and passenger must wear a helmet. It is the driver's responsibility to provide
you with one, so if you are stopped by police, any fine is also the driver's responsibility. When riding, keep a
firm grasp on the seat handle and watch out for your legs.
F. By tuk-tuk
Finally, what would Bangkok be without the dreaded and loved tuk-tuks? You'll know them when you hear
them, you'll hate them when you smell them, these three-wheeled contraptions blaze around Bangkok leaving
a black cloud of smog in their wake. For anything more than a 5-10 minute jaunt they really are not worth the
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price, and the price will usually be 4 or 5 times what it should be anyway (which, for Thais, is around 30%
less than the equivalent metered taxi fare). On the other hand, you can sometimes ride for free if you agree to
visit touristy clothing or jewelry shops (which give the tuk-tuk driver gas coupons and commissions for
bringing customers). The shops' salesmen are pushy, but you are free to leave after five to ten minutes of
browsing.
In case you actually want to get somewhere, and you're an all-male party, be careful with the tuk-tuk drivers,
they will usually just ignore your destination and start driving you to some other place. Insist continually on
going only to your destination.
Which of these forms of transport (A-F):
41. Require you to seek a particular color if you want to travel faster? ___
42. Only covers the center of the city? ___
43. Is potentially the most dangerous? ___
44. Do you need to have good pronunciation for? ___
45. Cause pollution problems? ___
46. Is a tourist attraction in its own right? ___
47. Will you probably suffer the most discomfort on? ___
48. Can you perhaps use without paying? ___
49. Offers a more expensive variety for foreign visitors? ___
50. Can you enter when it is still moving? ___
Part 6 (Writing)
Nagoro, Village of Dolls
The little village of Nagoro, deep in the valleys of Tokushima Prefecture on Shikoku, is known around the
world today as the Village of the Dolls. These dolls are called kakashi or scarecrows in Japanese, but their
purpose is to combat loneliness rather than bird pests. As the population of Nagoro declined precipitately, an
elderly resident, Tsukimi Ayano, started to replace the people who left or died with life-sized replicas made
of straw and old clothes. These dolls are placed naturalistically around the hamlet, in realistic poses.
The road that passes through Nagoro heads past the double vine bridges of Oku-Iya on the way to Mt. Tsurugi.
When you visit the area, you drive through similar hamlets – there are houses and the occasional shop, but no
people can be seen. The aged population are invisible. Arriving in Nagoro, the first sight of the dolls comes
as a shock. The hamlet seems positively busy, but none of the people are real. You can wander around and
photograph all of the dolls, and not see a single living person. It’s uncanny.
Since Nagoro isn’t signposted and it’s easy to get lost, it’s best to visit the hamlet on a taxi tour. The driver
can show you where all the dolls are, because it isn’t obvious.
Due to the power of the internet, the dolls have become known globally, and as a result, they’ve become
something of a local art form of their own. Now you can find them in other parts of Tokushima too, in places
that could use a little human interest.
In each season, the dolls present a different mood. But whatever time of year you visit, Nagoro always feels
more than a little haunted.
Information

• Name in Japanese: かかしの里

• Pronunciation: kakashi no sato

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• Address: 191 Higashiiyasugeoi, Miyoshi, Tokushima 778-0201

Practise Test 4
Part 1 (Question 1 – 10)
Can the Earth keep up with human consumption?
The long-term consequences of rising consumption have already been (1) _________ empirically. In an
experiment in sustainability, four intrepid ‘bioneers’ were sealed in Biosphere 2, a massive airtight structure
(2) _________ 1.25 hectares of the Arizona desert. After two years, the occupants quit due to the inability of
the ecosystems to sustain human life and returned to Biosphere 1: Earth.
The experiment clearly shows that 1.25 hectares provide (3) ___________ from enough resources for four
people. The average Briton requires about five hectares to support their lifestyle, a North American twice that,
whereas the average Mexican gets (4) __________ on less than half the UK level. The problem is that we only
have so (5) ____________ land to share out. The planet’s 10 billion hectares sound a lot (6) __________ one
considers the size of the population and the fact that it is going to rise. By 2050, space per global citizen will
have reduced to one hectare.
More nations will be approaching US consumption levels in years to (7) _________ and previous data suggests
that at least four additional Earths will be needed to sustain (8) ________ a level. (9) ________ the inhabitants
of Biosphere 2, when Biosphere 1 fails, we will have (10) _________ else to go.
Part 2 (Question 11
The Lost City
Thanks to modern remote-sensing techniques, a ruined city in Turkey is slowly revealing itself as one of the
greatest and most mysterious cities of the ancient world. Sally Palmer uncovers more.
A. The low granite mountain, known as Kerkenes Dag, juts from the northern edge of the Cappadocian plain
in Turkey. Sprawled over the mountainside are the ruins of an enormous city, contained by crumbling
defensive walls seven kilometers long. Many respected archaeologists believe these are the remains of the
fabled city of Pteria, the sixth-century BC stronghold of the Medes that the Greek historian Herodotus
described in his famous work The Histories. The short-lived city came under Median control and only fifty
years later was sacked, burned and its strong stone walls destroyed.
B. British archaeologist Dr Geoffrey Summers has spent ten years studying the site. Excavating the ruins is a
challenge because of the vast area they cover. The 7 km perimeter walls run around a site covering 271
hectares. Dr Summers quickly realised it would take far too long to excavate the site using traditional
techniques alone. So he decided to use modern technology as well to map the entire site, both above and
beneath the surface, to locate the most interesting areas and priorities to start digging.
C. In 1993, Dr Summers hired a special hand-held balloon with a remote-controlled camera attached. He
walked over the entire site holding the balloon and taking photos The one afternoon, he rented a hot-air balloon
and floated over the site, taking yet more pictures. By the end of the 1994 season, Dr Summers and his team
had a jigsaw of aerial photographs of the whole site. The next stage was to use remote sensing, which would
let them work out what lay below the intriguing outlines and ruined walls. "Archaeology is a discipline that
lends itself very well to remote sensing because it revolves around space," says Scott Branting, an associate
director of the project. He started working with Dr Summers in 1995.
D. The project used two main remote-sensing techniques. The first it magnetometry, which works on the
principle that magnetic fields at the surface of the Earth are influenced by what is buried beneath. It measures
localised variations in the direction and intensity of this magnetic field. "The Earth's magnetic field can vary
from place to place, depending on what happened there in the past," says Branting. "if something containing
iron oxide was heavily burnt, by natural or human actions, the iron particles in it can be permanently
reoriented, like a compass needle, to align with the Earth's magnetic field present at that point in time and
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space. The magnetometer detects differences in the orientations and intensities of these iron particles from the
present-day magnetic field and uses them to produce an image of what lies below ground.
E. Kirkenes Dag lends itself particularly well to magnetometry because it was all burnt at once in a savage
fire. In places, the heat was sufficient to turn sandstone to glass and to melt granite. The fire was so hot that
there were strong magnetic signatures set to the Earth's magnetic field from the time around 547 BC-resulting
in extremely clear pictures. Furthermore, the city was never rebuilt. "if you have multiple layers confusing
picture because you have different walls from different periods giving signatures that all go in different
directions," says Branting. "We only have one going down about 1.5 meters, so we can get a good picture of
this fairly short-lived city."
F. The other main sub-surface mapping technique, which is still being used at the site, is resistivity. This
technique measures the way electrical pulses are conducted through sub- surface oil. It's done by shooting
pulses into the ground through a thin metal probe. Different materials have different electrical conductivity.
For example, stone and mudbrick are poor conductors, but looser, damp soil conducts very well. By walking
around the site and taking about four readings per metre, it is possible to get a detailed idea of what is where
beneath the surface. The teams then build up pictures of walls, hearths and other remains. "It helps a lot if it
has rained because the electrical pulse can get through more easily," says Branting. "Then if something is
more resistant, it really shows up." This is one of the reasons that the project has a spring season when most
of the resistivity work is done. Unfortunately, testing resistivity is a lot slower than magnetometry. "If we did
resistivity over the whole site it would take about 100 years," says Branting. Consequently, the team is
concentrating on areas where they want to clarify pictures from the magnetometry.
Question 11 – 14
The Reading Passage has seven paragraphs A-G Which paragraph contains the following information?
11. The reason why various investigative methods are introduced. ___
12. An example of an unexpected discovery. ___
13. The methods to survey the surface of the site from above. ___
14. The reason why experts want to study the site. ___
Questions 15 – 17
Using NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the Reading Passage for each answer.
You must have the correct answers for multiple sentences to get each score.
Exploring the Ancient City of Pteria
15. The relevant work was done ten years ago. To begin with, experts took photos of the site from the ground
and then from a distance in a ___________. To find out what lay below the surface, they used two leading
techniques. One was magnetometer, which identifies changes in the magnetic field. These changes occur when
the ___________ in buried structures have changed direction as a result of great heat. They match with the
magnetic field, which is similar to a _________.
16. The other one was resistivity, which uses a _________ to fire electrical pulses into the earth. The principle
is that building materials like _________ and stone do not conduct electricity well, while ___________ does
this much better.
17. Archaeologists preferred to use this technique during the ___________ conditions are more favourable.
Resistivity is mainly being used to ___________ some images generated by the magnetometer.
Part 3 (Question 18 – 24)
Eilbeck the features editor
I quickly got the hang of working at the Mirror. Every morning at eleven we would be expected to cram into
Eilbeck’s little office for a features conference. When we either had to come up with ideas of our own or suffer
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ideas to be thrust upon us. Some of Eilbeck’s own offerings were bizarre to say the least. But he did get results.
Had got an inkling of his creative thinking during my initial interview when he had invited me to match his
scrawled impromptu headline with a feature.
18. ___
Some of these brainstorms came off the day’s news, some off the wall. About half the ideas worked, a few of
them spectacularly Following a spate of shootings. Eilbeck scrawled THIS GUN FOR SALE on his pad,
together with a rough sketch of a revolver. Within hours a writer was back in the office with a handgun and a
dramatic piece on the ease with which (he did not mention the little help he had had from the crime staff) he
had bought it in Trafalgar Square.
19. ___
Mercifully, none of Eilbeck’s extemporised headlines winged their way to me – at least not yet. The pitifully
small paper was grossly overstaffed, with half a dozen highly experienced feature writers fighting to fill one
page a day, and it was evident that my role was as standby or first reserve. Hanging around the office, where
the time was passed pleasantly in chit-chat, smoking and drinking coffee. I was occasionally tossed some
small task.
20. ___
Another of my little chores was to compose ‘come- ons for the readers’ letters columns-invented, controversial
letters that, in a slow week for correspondence, would draw a furious mailbag. Was also put to work rewriting
agency and
Syndication material that came into the office, including, on occasion, the Sagittarius segment of the astrology
column.
21. ___
Some years later, when he had directed his talents to another paper, confessed to him one day that I had been
guilty of tampering in this way. He was in no way put out. It was serenely obvious to him that had been planted
on the Mirror by destiny to adjust the hitherto inaccurate information.
22. ___
For example, one afternoon was summoned to Eilbeck’s office to find him in a state of manic excitement, bent
over a make-up pad on which he had scrawled “THE SPICE OF LIFE!” surrounded by a border of stars. This,
was told, was to be the Mirror’s new three-times-a-week gossip column, starting tomorrow – and was to be in
charge of it.
23. ___
Happily the delightful Eve Chapman was deputed to hold my hand in this insane exercise. The bad news was
that Eve, who went home nightly to her parents in Croydon, had never set foot in such a place in her life. We
were reduced to raiding the society pages of the glossy magazines and ploughing through Who’s Who in hopes
of finding some important personage with an unusual hobby which could be fleshed out to the maximum
twenty-five words.
24. ___
The Spice of Life column itself ground to a halt after our supply of eminent people’s interesting pastimes
petered out.
The paragraphs
A. As a result, he wanted no item to be more than twenty-five words long, followed by three dots. He was, at
the time, heavily under the influence of Walter Winchell, Earl Wilson and suchlike night-owl columnists in
the New York tabloids that were air- freighted to him weekly

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B. Flattering though it was to be entrusted with this commission, there was a snag. It had to sizzle-a favourite
Eilbeck word- with exclusive snippets about the people who really mattered” – to Eilbeck’s mind, anyone
with an aristocratic title, or money to throw about in casinos and nightclubs. Unfortunately, did not have a
single suitable contact in the whole of London.
C. This might be a review copy of some ghosted showbiz memoirs that might be good for a 150-word
anecdotal filler. One day Ellbeck dropped a re-issued volume on my desk – To Beg I am Ashamed, the
supposed autobiography of a criminal. It came complete with one of his headlines: IT’S STILL A BAD,
DANGEROUS BOOK”: asked him what was so bad and dangerous about it. Haven’t read it,” the Features
Editor confessed cheerfully. “Two hundred words by four o’clock.
D. On one desperate occasion, with the deadline looming yet again, we fell to working our way along
Millionaires’ Row in Kensington, questioning maids and chauffeurs about the foibles of their rich employers.
This enterprise came to a stop after someone called the police.
E. This proved to be a foretaste of his favourite method of floating an idea. While the assembled feature writers
clustered around his desk skimming the newspapers and intermittently quoting some story that might with
luck yield a feature angle, Eilbeck would be scribbling away on his pad. Cockily trumpeting his newly minted
headline – “WOULD YOU RISK A BLIND DATE HOLIDAY?’ or ‘CAN WOMEN BE TRUSTED WITH
MONEY?- he would rip off the page and thrust it into the arms of the nearest writer-Copy by four o’clock.”
F. This was for the benefit of one of the paper’s more irascible executives who was a passionate believer in it.
It had been noticed that when he was told he would have a bad day he would react accordingly and his
miserable colleagues would go through the day quaking in their shoes. My job was to doctor the entry to give
his colleagues a more peaceful ride.
G. My month’s trial with the Mirror quickly expired without my having done anything to justify my existence
on the paper, but since Eilbeck didn’t mention that my time was up, neither did I. Pottered on, still trying to
find my feet. Occasionally opportunity would knock, but it was usually a false alarm. Not always, though.
H. But many of Ellbeck’s madder flights of fancy had no chance of panning out so well – even could tell that.
Seasoned writers would accept the assignment without demur, repair to a café for a couple of hours, and then
ring in to announce that they couldn’t make the idea stand up.
Part 4 (Question 25 – 30)

Going Bananas
The world’s favourite fruit could disappear forever in 10 years’ time
The banana is among the world’s oldest crops. Agricultural scientists believe that the first edible banana was
discovered around ten thousand years ago. It has been at an evolutionary standstill ever since it was first
propagated in the jungles of South-East Asia at the end of the last ice age. Normally the wild banana, a giant
jungle herb called Musa acuminata, contains a mass of hard seeds that make the fruit virtually inedible. But
now and then, hunter- gatherers must have discovered rare mutant plants that produced seedless, ed-ible fruits.
Geneticists now know that the vast majority of these soft-fruited I plants resulted from genetic accidents that
gave their cells three copies of each chromosome instead of the usual two. This imbalance prevents seeds and
pol-len from developing normally, rendering the mutant plants sterile. And that is why some scientists believe
the world’s most popular fruit could be doomed. It lacks the genetic diversity to fight off pests and diseases
that are invading the banana plantations of Central America and the smallholdings of Africa and Asia alike.
In some ways, the banana today resembles the potato before blight brought famine to Ireland a century and a
half ago. But “it holds a lesson for other crops, too,” says Emile Frison, top banana at the International Network
for the Im­provement of Banana and Plantain in Montpellier, France. “The state of the ba­nana,” Frison warns,
“can teach a broader lesson: the increasing standardisation of food crops round the world is threatening their
ability to adapt and survive.”

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The first Stone Age plant breeders cultivated these sterile freaks by replanting cuttings from their stems. And
the descendants of those original cuttings are the bananas we still eat today. Each is a virtual clone, almost
devoid of genetic diversity. And that uniformity makes it ripe for diseases like no other crop on Earth.
Traditional varieties of sexually reproducing crops have always had a much broader genetic base, and the
genes will recombine in new arrangements in each generation. This gives them much greater flexibility in
evolving re-sponses to disease – and far more genetic resources to draw on in the face of an attack. But that
advantage is fading fast, as growers increasingly plant the same few, high-yielding varieties. Plant breeders
work feverishly to maintain resistance in these standardised crops. Should these efforts falter, yields of even
the most productive crop could swiftly crash. “When some pest or dis­ease comes along, severe epidemics
can occur,” says Geoff Hawtin, director of the Rome-based International Plant Genetic Resources Institute.
The banana is an excellent case in point. Until the 1950s, one variety, the Gros Michel, dominated the world’s
commercial banana business. Found by French botanists in Asia in the 1820s, the Gros Michel was by all
accounts a fine banana, richer and sweeter than today’s standard banana and without the latter’s bitter aftertaste
when green. But it was vulnerable to a soil fungus that produced a wilt known as Panama disease. “Once the
fungus gets into the soil, it remains there for many years. There is nothing farmers can do. Even chemical
spraying won’t get rid of it,” says Rodomiro Ortiz, director of the International Institute for Tropical
Agriculture in Ibadan, Nigeria. So planta-tion owners played a running game, abandoning infested fields and
moving to “clean” land – until they ran out of clean land in the 1950s and had to abandon the Gros Michel. Its
successor, and still the reigning commercial king, is the Cavendish banana, a 19th-century British discovery
from southern China. The Cavendish is resistant to Panama disease and, as a result, it literally saved the
international banana industry. During the 1960s, it replaced the Gros Michel on supermarket shelves. If you
buy a banana today, it is almost certainly a Cavendish. But even so, it is a minority in the world’s banana crop.
Half a billion people in Asia and Africa depend on bananas. Bananas provide the largest source of calories
and are eaten daily. Its name is synonymous with food. But the day of reckoning may be coming for the
Cavendish and its in-digenous kin. Another fungal disease, black Sigatoka, has become a global epi-demic
since its first appearance in Fiji in 1963. Left to itself, black Sigatoka – which causes brown wounds on leaves
and premature fruit ripening – cuts fruit yields by 50 to 70 per cent and reduces the productive lifetime of
banana plants from 30 years to as little as 2 or 3. Commercial growers keep black Sigatoka at bay by a massive
chemical assault. Forty sprayings of fungicide a year is typical. But despite the fungicides, diseases such as
black Sigatoka are getting more and more difficult to control. “As soon as you bring in a new fun­gicide, they
develop resistance,” says Frison. “One thing we can be sure of is that black Sigatoka won’t lose in this battle.”
Poor farmers, who cannot afford chemicals, have it even worse. They can do little more than watching their
plants die. “Most of the banana fields in Amazonia have already been destroyed by the disease,” says Luadir
Gasparotto, Brazil’s leading banana pathologist with the government research agency EMBRAPA. Production
is likely to fall by 70 per cent as the disease spreads, he predicts. The only option will be to find a new variety.
But how? Almost all edible varieties are susceptible to the diseases, so growers cannot simply change to a
different banana. With most crops, such a threat would unleash an army of breeders, scouring the world for
resistant relatives whose traits they can breed into commercial varieties. Not so with the ba-nana. Because all
edible varieties are sterile, bringing in new genetic traits to help cope with pests and diseases is nearly
impossible. Nearly, but not totally. Very rarely, a sterile banana will experience a genetic accident that allows
an almost normal seed to develop, giving breeders a tiny window for improve-ment. Breeders at the Honduran
Foundation of Agricultural Research have tried to exploit this to create disease-resistant varieties. Further
back-crossing with wild bananas yielded a new seedless banana resistant to both black Sigatoka and Panama
disease.
Neither Western supermarket consumers nor peasant growers like the new hybrid. Some accuse it of tasting
more like an apple than a banana. Not sur-prisingly, the majority of plant breeders have till now turned their
backs on the banana and got to work on easier plants. And commercial banana companies are now washing
their hands of the whole breeding effort, preferring to fund a search for new fungicides instead. “We supported
a breeding programme for 40 years, but it wasn’t able to develop an alternative to the Cavendish. It was very
expensive and we got nothing back,” says Ronald Romero, head of research at Chiquita, one of the Big Three
companies that dominate the international banana trade.

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Last year, a global consortium of scientists led by Frison announced plans to sequence the banana genome
within five years. It would be the first edible fruit to be sequenced. Well, almost edible. The group will actually
be sequen-cing inedible wild bananas from East Asia because many of these are resistant to black Sigatoka.
If they can pinpoint the genes that help these wild varieties to resist black Sigatoka, the protective genes could
be introduced into labora-tory tissue cultures of cells from edible varieties. These could then be propa-gated
into new disease-resistant plants and passed on to farmers.
It sounds promising, but the big banana companies have, until now, refused to get involved in GM research
for fear of alienating their customers. “Biotech­nology is extremely expensive and there are serious questions
about consumer acceptance,” says David McLaughlin, Chiquita’s senior director for environ- mental affairs.
With scant funding from the companies, the banana genome researchers are focusing on the other end of the
spectrum. Even if they can identify the crucial genes, they will be a long way from developing new varieties
that smallholders will find suitable and affordable. But whatever biotechnology’s academic interest, it is the
only hope for the banana. Without it, banana pro-duction worldwide will head into a tailspin. We may even
see the extinction of the banana as both a lifesaver for hungry and impoverished Africans and the most popular
product on the world’s supermarket shelves.
Questions 25 – 27
Look at the statements and the list of people. Match each statement with the correct person A-F. You must
answer the correct answers for TWO statements to get a score each sentence.
You may use any letter more than once.
25. A pest invasion may seriously damage banana industry. ___
The effect of fungal infection in soil is often long-lasting. ___
26. A commercial manufacturer gave up on breeding bananas for disease-resistant. ___
Banana disease may develop resistance to chemical sprays. ___
27. A banana disease has destroyed a large number of banana plantations. ___
Consumers would not accept genetically altered crops. ___
List of People
A. Rodomiro Ortiz
B. David McLaughlin
C. Emile Frison
D. Ronald Romero
E. Luadir Gasparotto
F. Geoff Hawtin
Questions 28 – 30
Do the following statements agree with the information given in the passage?
TRUE if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this
28. Banana is the oldest known fruit.
29. Gros Michel is still being used as a commercial product.
30. Banana is the main food in some countries.
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Part 5 (Question 31 – 40)
Extinction of the Dinosaurs
Paleozoic Era 334 to 248 million years ago
Mesozoic Era 245 to 65 million years ago
- Triassic Period
- Jurassic Period
- Cretaceous Period
Cenozoic Era 65 million years ago to the present

1. Paleontologists have argued for a long time that the demise of the dinosaurs was caused by climatic
alterations associated with slow changes in the positions of continents and seas resulting from plate tectonics.
Off and on throughout the Cretaceous (the last period of the Mesozoic era, during which dinosaurs flourished),
large shallow seas covered extensive arcas of the continents. Data from diverse sources, including
geochemical evidence preserved in seafloor sediments, indicate that the Late Cretaceous climate was milder
than today's. The days were not too hot, nor the nights too cold. The summers were not too warm, nor the
winters too frigid. The shallow seas on the continents probably buffered the temperature of the nearby air,
keeping it relatively constant.
2. At the end of the Cretaceous, the geological record shows that these seaways retreated from the continents
back into the major ocean basins. No one knows why. Over a period of about 100,000 years, while the seas
pulled back, climates around the world became dramatically more extreme: warmer days, cooler nights; hotter
summers, colder winters. Perhaps dinosaurs could not tolerate these extreme temperature changes and became
extinct.
3. If true, though, why did cold-blooded animals such as snakes, lizards, turtles, and crocodiles survive the
freezing winters and torrid summers? These animals are at the mercy of the climate to maintain a livable body
temperature. It's hard to understand why they would not be affected, whereas dinosaurs were left too crippled
to cope, especially if, as some scientists believe, dinosaurs were warm-blooded. Critics also point out that the
shallow seaways had retreated from and advanced on the continents numerous times during the Mesozoic, so
why did the dinosaurs survive the climatic changes associated with the earlier fluctuations but not with this
one? Although initially appealing, the hypothesis of a simple climatic change related to sea levels is
insufficient to explain all the data.
4. Dissatisfaction with conventional explanations for dinosaur extinctions led to a surprising observation that,
in turn, has suggested a new hypothesis. Many plants and animals disappear abruptly from the fossil
record as one moves from layers of rock documenting the end of the Cretaceous up into rocks
representing the beginning of the Cenozoic (the era after the Mesozoic). Between the last layer of
Cretaceous rock and the first layer of Cenozoic rock. there is often a thin layer of clay. Scientists felt that they
could get an idea of how long the extinctions took by determining how long it took to deposit this one
centimeter of clay and they thought they could determine the time it took to deposit the clay by determining
the amount of the element iridium (Ir) it contained.
5. Ir has not been common at Earth's surface since the very beginning of the planet's history. Because it usually
exists in a metallic state, it was preferentially incorporated in Earth's core as the planet cooled and
consolidated. It is found in high concentrations in some meteorites, in which the solar system's original
chemical composition is preserved. Even today, microscopic meteorites continually bombard Earth, falling on
both land and sea. By measuring how many of these meteorites fall to Earth over a given period of time,
scientists can estimate how long it might have taken to deposit the observed amount of Ir in the boundary clay.
These calculations suggest that a period of about one million years would have been required. However, other
reliable evidence suggests that the deposition of the boundary clay could not have taken one million years. So
the unusually high concentration of Ir seems to require a special explanation.
6. In view of these facts, scientists hypothesized that a single large asteroid, about 10 to 15 kilometers across,
collided with Earth, and the resulting fallout created the boundary clay. Their calculations show that the impact
kicked up a dust cloud that cut off sunlight for several months, inhibiting photosynthesis in plants; decreased
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surface temperatures on continents to below freezing; caused extreme episodes of acid rain; and significantly
raised long-term global temperatures through the greenhouse effect. This disruption of the food chain and
climate would have eradicated the dinosaurs and other organisms in less than fifty years.
31. According to paragraph 1, which of the following is true of the Late Cretaceous climate?
A. Summers were very warm and winters were very cold.
B. Shallow seas on the continents caused frequent temperature changes.
C. The climate was very similar to today's climate.
D. The climate did not change dramatically from season to season.
32. Why does the author mention the survival of "snakes, lizards, turtles, and crocodiles" in paragraph 3?
A. To argue that dinosaurs may have become extinct because they were not cold-blooded aanimal
B. To question the adequacy of the hypothesis that climatic change related to sea levels caused the extinction
of the dinosaurs
C. To present examples of animals that could maintain a livable body temperature more easily than dinosaurs
D. To support a hypothesis that these animals were not as sensitive to climate changes in the Cretaceous period
as they are today
33. According to paragraph 3, which of the following is true of changes in climate before the Cretaceous
period and the effect of these changes on dinosaurs?
A. Climate changes associated with the movement of seaways before the Cretaceous period did not cause
dinosaurs to become extinct.
B. Changes in climate before the Cretaceous period caused severe fluctuation in sea level, resulting in the
extinction of the dinosaurs.
C. Frequent changes in climate before the Cretaceous period made dinosaurs better able to maintain a livable
body temperature.
D. Before the Cretaceous period there were few changes in climate, and dinosaurs flourished.
34. The word "fluctuations" in the passage is closest in meaning to
A. extremes
B. retreats
C. periods
D. variations
35. Which of the sentences below best expresses the essential information in the highlighted sentence in
paragraph 4? Incorrect choices change the meaning in important ways or leave out essential information.
A The fossil record suggests that there was an abrupt extinction of many plants and animals at the end of the
Mesozoic era.
B. Few fossils of the Mesozoic era have survived in the rocks that mark the end of the Cretaceous.
C. Fossils from the Cretaceous period of the Mesozoic up to the beginning of the Cenozoic era have been
removed from the layers of rock that surrounded them.
D. Plants and animals from the Mesozoic era were unable to survive in the Cenozoic era.
36. In paragraph 4, all the following questions are answered EXCEPT:
A .Why is there a layer of clay between the rocks of the Cretaceous and Cenozoic?
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B. Why were scientists interested in determining how long it took to deposit the layer of clay at the end of the
Cretaceous?
C. What was the effect of the surprising observation scientists made?
D. Why did scientists want more information about the dinosaur extinctions at the end of the Cretaceous?
37. Paragraph 5 implies that a special explanation of the Ir in the boundary clay is needed because
A. the Ir in microscopic meteorites reaching Earth during the Cretaceous period would have been incorporated
into Earth's core
B. the Ir in the boundary clay was deposited much more than a million years ago
C. the concentration of Ir in the boundary clay is higher than in microscopic meteorites
D. the amount of Ir in the boundary clay is too great to have come from microscopic meteorites during the
time the boundary clay was deposited
38. The word "disruption" in the passage is closest in meaning to
A exhaustion
B disturbance
C modification
D disappearance
39. In paragraph 5 of the passage, there is a missing sentence. The paragraph is repeated below and shows
four letters (A, B, C, and D) that indicate where the following sentence could be added.
“Consequently, the idea that the Ir in the boundary clay came from microscopic meteorites cannot be
accepted.”
Where would the sentence best fit?
Ir has not been common at Farth's surface since the very beginning of the planet's history Because it usually
exists in a metallic state, it was preferentially incorporated in Earth's core as the planet cooled and
consolidated. It is found in high concentrations in some meteorites, in which the solar system's original
chemical composition is preserved. Even today, microscopic meteorites continually bombard Earth, falling on
both land and sea. By measuring how many of these meteorites fall to Earth over a given period of time,
scientists can estimate how long it might have taken to deposit the observed amount of Ir in the boundary clay.
(A) These calculations suggest that a period of about one million years would have been required. (B)
However, other reliable evidence suggests that the deposition of the boundary clay could not have taken one
million years. (C) So the unusually high concentration of Ir seems to require a special explanation. (D)
A. Option A
B. Option B
C. Option C
D. Option D
40. An introductory sentence for a brief summary of the passage is provided below. Complete the summary
by selecting the THREE answer choices that express the most important ideas in the passage. Some sentences
do not belong in the summary because they express ideas that are not presented in the passage or are minor
ideas in the passage.
• For a long time scientists have argued that the extinction of the dinosaurs was related to climate change.
•
•

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 •

Answer Choices
A. Extreme changes in daily and seasonal climates preceded the retreat of the seas back into the major ocean
basins.
B. A simple climate change does not explain some important data related to the extinction of the dinosaurs at
the end of the Cretaceous.
C. The retreat of the seaways at the end of the Cretaceous has not been fully explained.
D. The abruptness of extinctions at the end of the Cretaceous and the high concentration of Ir found in clay
deposited at that time have fueled the development of a new hypothesis.
E. Some scientists hypothesize that the extinction of the dinosaurs resulted from the effects of an asteroid
collision with Earth.
F. Boundary clay layers like the one between the Mesozoic and Cenozoic are used by scientists to determine
the rate at which an extinct species declined.
Part 6 (Question 41 – 50)
Tennis Elites
(A) FEDERER
Roger Federer is considered by many to be the best tennis player of all time. But on what basis can that be
determined? The easiest place to start is by comparing records, of which he has many - world number one for
the longest period; winning the most grand slams, and reaching the Wimbledon final the most times. So
where's the argument. Some feel that he was very fortunate to meet some very poor players in his quest to
amass all those titles. Although it is also true that you can only beat what is put in front of you. Another test
for the best could be resilience in the face of adversity. To be successful you need confidence, and confidence
comes from winning. So when you lose, and keep on losing for a long time, it becomes extremely difficult to
come back. Federer won the 2012 Wimbledon title against Murray after losing continuously for two years.
That kind of mental strength has to be respected.
(B) NADAL
Nadal grew up playing tennis on clay in his native Spain, and he is justifiably regarded as the greatest player
on clay. But he wanted more than that, and it is a testament to his mental strength that he was able to beat a
peak-of-his-powers Federer on grass which was Federer's favourite surface in a Wimbledon final in 2008. So
how did he manage that? The very short answer is - hard work, and humility and determination and a never-
give-in approach. Success breeds success and this was never more true than in the case of Nadal as he
dominated the men's game for several years after that victory in 2008. His game was based on power and
strength rather than style and subtlety, and this comes with a price as his body struggled to maintain the levels
of fitness and health required. The other sad thing is that although it may be possible to come back from a loss
of form, a comeback from injury is a different kettle of fish. The body can only take so much punishment, and
once it breaks, there is no fixing it. The best of Nadal may be long gone leaving just a collection of fond old
memories.
(C) DJOKOVIC
The king is dead, long live the king - meaning there is always someone ready to wear the crown once the old
king is no more, and that man is Djokovic. This young Serb has demonstrated that he has the most complete
game of any player today or of recent history. His win record is getting ever more impressive, and he seems
quite invincible. It was mentioned earlier that the best are measured by records, well Djokovic stands alone
with 29 Masters 1000 series titles. There doesn't seem to be a surface he is weak on, and there doesn't seem to
be a player he can't handle. Djokovic became the third man to hold all four major titles at once, and the first
ever to do so on three different surfaces - hardcourt, clay, and grass. To give a balanced view, something
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negative should be said about him, but it's very difficult to identify anything. He is charming, attractive,
intelligent and humble. Putting everything together, what can be said with any degree of certainty is that he is
going to dominate proceedings for many years to come.
(D) MURRAY
Luck can be very cruel. Andrew Murray by any measure is a superb tennis player and his level of excellence
would normally merit enormous success. But Murray had the misfortune to be playing at the same time as
three of the best players in the history of the game - Federer, Nadal and Djokovic. And given the competition,
the fact that he has won anything at all is no mean achievement. What's worse, if the others lose, they can go
home reflecting that tomorrow is another day. But Murray has the demands of nation to satisfy. Before the
Wimbledon final of 2013, the last British winner had been Fred Perry 77 years previously. So when he plays,
there is a different level of pressure on his shoulders than his opponents. For him then to beat Federer in three
sets in 2013 to take the Wimbledon crown, with his country demanding success, says a lot about courage, grit
and strength of character. The match is widely believed to be one of the greatest performances by any athlete
in history. It can be said without any fear of contradiction that he will never have the trophies and records his
rivals will collect, but pound for pound, he is not less than any of the illustrious players he shares the court
with.
Which player
41. had extra pressure compared to the players he was playing against? ___
42. could have health problems due to the way he played? ___
43. had a long period with no success? ___
44. has a unique record? ___
45. is unlikely to win many trophies? ___
46. often won against weak opposition? ___
47. had to dominate playing conditions which he was not used to? ___
48. earned a lot of patriotic respect? ___
49. is well-known for his humility? ___
50. is respected for being the best all-round player? ___
Part 7 (Writing)
Miss World is the longest-running international beauty pageant. In 1951, British television presenter Eric
Morley held a bikini contest as part of the Festival of Britain. While the contest’s official name was the Festival
Bikini Contest, the event drew widespread attention from the British press, who dubbed it “Miss World”. It
also drew plenty of criticism from those who deemed a bikini, a relatively new garment at the time, as
immodest.
The competition was won by Kerstin “Kiki” Hakansson from Sweden, who became the first Miss World.
While the contest was initially planned as a one-off, Morley — who was later dubbed “Mr World” — decided
to make it an annual pageant after seeing how much interest it garnered, and trademarked the Miss World
name shortly afterwards. However, several highly religious countries refused to participate if delegates were
made to wear a bikini, leading to its replacement with a swimsuit round, which was deemed to be more modest.
By 1959, the BBC began broadcasting the pageant, which became one of the most watched programmes
annually during the 1960s and ‘70s.
While the pageant’s popularity continued to grow around the world, it was not without controversy. In fact,
the 1970 competition was at the centre of one of the most dramatic feminist events of the 20th century, when

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activists stormed the stage with flour bombs during the contest’s televised final. Watched by 100 million
people around the world, they shouted: “We’re not ugly! We’re not beautiful! We’re angry!”
During the 1980s, the pageant repositioned itself with the slogan, “Beauty With a Purpose”, and added
segments and tests based on intelligence, personality and advocacy. However, by then, the contest’s popularity
had started to decline, and, by the 1990s, was no longer broadcast on mainstream channels in several countries
around the world.

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 PHẦN 3: CÁC BÀI ĐỌC THAM KHẢO
Paper 1:
Self-Love Is Making Us Lonely
BY MAYTAL EYAL APRIL 15, 2023 7:00 AM EDT
Eyal is a psychologist, writer, and speaker. She is the host of the podcast Heal With It
Extolled by politicians and pop stars alike, it seems like everyone is talking about self-love these days. In a
Vogue make-up tutorial, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez explains that loving yourself is “the one foundation of
everything.” Nicole LaPera, the clinical psychologist behind the popular Instagram account,
@theholisticpsychologist, tells her 6.4 million followers, “Self-love is our natural state.” And in her most
recent chart-topping hit, “Flowers,” Miley Cyrus sings proudly, “I can love me better than you can.”
Self-love has become the core tenant of modern wellness culture, with the promise that what follows self-love
is good health and freedom. In her book, The Self-Love Experiment, author Sharon Kaiser claims, “Whether
you want to achieve weight loss, land your dream job, find your soulmate, or get out of debt, it all comes back
to self-love and accepting yourself first.”
At this point, it doesn’t feel like much of a stretch to say that the self-love phenomenon is bordering on a
societal obsession. The question is: why?
Today, we live in a climate where needing help can evoke shame and embarrassment, where cut-throat
competition takes precedence over compassionate collaboration, and where self-sufficiency is celebrated as
the ultimate achievement. To navigate the harsh terrain of radical individualism, self-love has emerged as our
tool for survival. But it can come at a cost, especially when the type of self-love we turn to is the kind that has
been manipulated by corporate ad campaigns and social media. In its commodified form, self-love is not really
self-love at all; instead, it’s more like self-sabotage, convincing us to hyperfocus on ourselves at the expense
of connecting with others.
While the exact origin of self-love remains unclear, one of the first psychologists to address the concept was
Eric Fromm. In his 1956 book, The Art of Loving, he wrote, “Love of others and love of ourselves are not
alternatives. On the contrary, an attitude of love toward themselves will be found in all those who are capable
of loving others.” For Fromm, self-love operated as a necessary condition for relating with our fellow humans.
Going back further in history, we see other cultures referring to self-love as a channel for connection. In
Ancient Greece, Aristotle claimed that self-love in its most virtuous form serves as a model for how we should
love our friends. In the 13th century, Sufist poet Rumi wrote of the importance of recognizing the divine
within oneself to feel one with the greater universe. And the ancient Buddhist practice of Metta, or loving-
kindness meditation, involves practitioners directing love inwards so that they can then extend love outwards.
The self-love many of us have grown accustomed to today, however, veers from its authentic origin. Chewed
up and spit out by toxic consumerism, it has been drained of its relational potential. Instead, it is often used
by corporations and influencers alike to sell products and keep people hyper fixated on themselves. It is a
force of isolation, rather than attachment.
When we take a moment to consider the culture we’re living in, where loneliness rates are at unprecedented
highs, touch deprivation is a serious concern, and polarizing animosity has replaced empathic connection, it
begins to make sense why we’ve sought refuge in self-love. To survive in our fractured world, we’ve been left
with little choice but to turn inwards for affection.
Study after study shows that we’re living inside of a growing loneliness epidemic. In a recent survey conducted
by Cigna, researchers found that almost 80% of adults from the ages of 18 to 24 reported feeling lonely. In
2018, even before the start of COVID-19 pandemic, one study showed that 54% of Americans felt like no one
in their life knew them well.

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Dr. Dan Siegel, clinical professor of psychiatry at the UCLA School of Medicine, attributes such jarring
isolation to what he calls our “culture of separation.” In his latest book, Intraconnected, Seigel writes that our
society “emphasizes separation rather than connection, independence rather than interdependence,
individuality rather than a shared identity.” Ultimately, our prevailing cultural emphasis on excessive
autonomy and self-reliance has engendered a society rife with disconnection.
We can see examples of this on social media, where it is common for women to be bombarded—under the
guise of self-love and self-care—with advertisements for Botox and pilates machines, advanced skin care
wands and organic hair growth serums. Such products don’t serve to bring women closer together; instead,
they promote self-preoccupation, negative social comparison, and rattling insecurity.
Influencer culture, as another example, keeps the lines blurred between self-love and self-involvement.
Narcissism is not only normalized, but rewarded by likes, follows, and corporate sponsorships. This, of course,
comes at the detriment of influencers and followers alike, as both report experiencing a diminishment in
psychological well-being.
When self-love becomes entangled with self-absorption and materialism, serious consequences emerge for
our collective mental health. Studies show that too much focus on oneself is associated with anxiety and
depression. Past research has also documented the vicious feedback loop of consumption and loneliness: When
we purchase material possessions (even in the name of self-love), we surprisingly feel lonely, so we try and
soothe ourselves through buying more, but this only makes us feel worse. This takes a toll on our health, as
loneliness has been linked to increased inflammation, heart disease, and even premature death.
Self-love is a powerful tool; it can be used for good or bad, for connection or disconnection. And at a time of
such immense social fragmentation, we need to cultivate the kind that brings us together. So how exactly do
we do this?
Primarily, it requires introspection. We can know we’re practicing healthy self-love when we feel connected
to our bodies and our communities. There are many iterations of what this may look like. Perhaps we choose
to prioritize rest and replenishment one night so that we can be more engaged the next time we see our friends.
Or maybe we decide to quit our high stress job, so that we can stop neglecting our needs and spend more time
with the people and places we enjoy. True self-love not only bolsters our capacity for connection, but it also
helps us become an actualized version of ourselves.
On the other hand, self-love through the warped filter of radical individualism tends to make us feel alienated,
disconnected, and stuck in our own heads. This looks like buying a “self-care” product that causes us to
ruminate on our appearance or justifying our anxious avoidance of meaningful social commitments through
the co-opted language of self-compassion. It’s vital, then, that we begin actively recognizing when more
nefarious forces are being disguised and packaged to us as self-love, and when we, ourselves, are consciously
or unconsciously buying into them.
Our culture of separation carries a strong current. It’s easy to get pulled in, to become swept away by its
riptide. But if we can achieve the balance between caring for ourselves and caring for others, real self-love
may just very well be our life raft.

Paper 2:
How Extreme Heat Impacts Your Brain and Mental Health
BY ARYN BAKER
MAY 16, 2023 12:00 PM EDT
When the temperature spikes, so too do suicide rates, crime, and violence. Twitter sees hate tweets and online
aggression increase during heatwaves, along with phrasing that researchers have linked to anxiety and
depression. Our very language captures the confluence of heat and emotion—when we are annoyed, we get
“hot under the collar”; when we are angry our “blood boils;” and when something gets to be too much, we
have to “let off steam.” Spike Lee’s seminal exploration of racial tension in 1989’s Do The Right Thing
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unfolds during the hottest day of the year, when scorching temperatures stoke violent reactions. Doctors and
scientists are now starting to unravel the complex interplay between extreme heat and poor mental health
outcomes.
As another early-season heatwave hammers the U.S. northwest, with experts predicting more for the summer
to come, it is increasingly vital to understand how high temperatures affect the brain, and, more importantly,
how we can protect ourselves and others. “It’s easy to understand how going through a traumatic experience
like a hurricane can impact mental health. The connection between heat and mental illness is not so intuitive,”
says Shabab Wahid, a mental health expert at Georgetown University’s Department of Global Health. Wahid
recently co-published a study in The Lancet Planetary Health showing that even a one degree increase in
ambient temperature above the norm contributes to a higher probability of experiencing depression and
anxiety. While his research focused on Bangladesh, the findings apply globally, he says. “There is a growing
body of scientific literature that is identifying this link between climate-related factors and adverse mental
health outcomes. And every indication is that as the climate change continues to worsen, these links will gain
in strength.”
Indeed, according to a 2018 study by Stanford economist Marshall Burke published in Nature Climate Change,
a 1.8°F (1°C) increase in average temperature in the U.S. and Mexico correlates to a 1% increase in suicides—
translating into thousands of additional deaths every year. The Burke study projects that if temperatures
continue to climb as climate scientists predict they will, the resulting increase will be enough to wipe out the
combined efforts of suicide-prevention programs and gun-control policies in the United States.
The number of extreme heat days is increasing every year due to climate change, fundamentally changing
social interactions and personal well-being in a serious threat to mental stability, says Robin Cooper, an
associate clinical professor at the University of California San Francisco and the president of the Climate
Psychiatry Alliance. “We have to start thinking about climate change as a mental health crisis. If we ignore
climate change as a public health threat, we are abdicating our role as healthcare providers.” That means
investing more in research. While it is well established that heat impacts brain function, the exact mechanisms
are poorly understood. Scientists point to a multitude of interrelated psychological, social, and biological
factors ranging from disrupted sleep to the heat-impaired function of vital neurotransmitters and hormones.
Spikes in suicides and events related to mania and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) tend to occur in the
late spring and early summer when temperatures are more volatile, according to Josh Wortzel, who studies
the intersection of climate change, heat waves, and mental health at Brown University. “It’s not necessarily
the hottest days of the year that are associated with the greatest number of suicides and suicide attempts,” he
says, “but actually when the temperature changes dramatically.” Severe swings, like this week’s 15°-30°F
spike in temperatures in parts of the Pacific Northwest, are typically the most dangerous.
Much of that can be traced back to sleep. Anyone that has lived through a heatwave without the benefit of air
conditioning knows that quality sleep becomes elusive. Over time, the accumulative effects can lead to
memory loss, lack of focus, and increased irritability, says Cooper. “Sleep is a profoundly complex function,
and a lack of restorative sleep has so many different ramifications for mental health.” Impaired sleep is often
a trigger for manic episodes in those with bipolar disorder, she notes, an indication that it serves an important
function in mood regulation. “Poor quality sleep may be one of the driving factors” behind the link between
extreme heat days and mental health declines.
Heat also impacts the neurotransmitter serotonin, one of our most important mood regulators, closely linked
with keeping aggression in check, according to Wortzel. Serotonin helps relay information about skin
temperature to the brain’s hypothalamus, which goes on to control shivering and sweating responses when
necessary. Patients with depression often have difficulties with this thermoregulation process; the fact that
these problems can be ameliorated when patients take selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor antidepressants
suggests a relationship between heat exposure and serotonin production.
Climate trauma plays an important role as well, says Brit Wray, director of the Stanford medical school’s
program on climate change and mental health. “It’s not like everyone who survives a wildfire is going to
develop PTSD. But it’s a lot harder when floods come that take away anything that might have been left. And
then you’re also dealing with other social stresses, maybe a financial downturn, maybe a pandemic.” The

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compounding stresses to the mental system wear away at resilience, at which point maladaptive coping
mechanisms—substance abuse, domestic violence, suicidal ideation—take root. Then you add in the
neurophysical impacts of extreme heat on the brain, and the very real threat of heat waves on patients already
suffering from mental health disorders, and the mental-health repercussions escalate. “It becomes a vicious
cycle,” says Wray, on the sidelines of the 2023 Frontiers Forum, an annual event focused on society, health
and science. “We definitely do have a mental health crisis within the climate crisis that we need to get ahead
of before too many of these events add up.” That means better support in communities that are most affected,
and improved understanding of how climate change, trauma, and mental health interact.
Over the past few years there’s been growing interest in how temperature and climate change affect mental
health among psychiatrists, says Wortzel. The problem is that funding for further research is limited. “Climate
change is now considered the number-one public health concern. But there is not enough understanding of
how it impacts mental health. For us to not be investing more right now in how to understand the impacts of
heat on the brain is unfortunate.” Unfortunate for research, but also for the billions of people at risk from
extreme heat in the coming years. Heat waves are a fact of life in a warming world; more research can help us
prepare.

Paper 3:
A beginners’ guide to planting trees – and fighting the climate crisis
We need 1.5bn trees in the UK to tackle the climate crisis. But planting them badly can be counterproductive
– here are the do’s and don’ts
Matt Collins
Fri 15 Apr 2022 11.00 BST
Last November, amid the charged and turbulent weeks of Cop26, I found myself on a sunlit hillside in the
Brecon Beacons watching saplings being planted. Families – grandparents, parents, grandchildren – followed
a rugged tractor track snowy with autumnal willowherb, each carrying a foot-high tree destined for a high
hillside above the steep valley. With world leaders in Glasgow deciding our planet’s future, this felt like a
pretty good place to be: witnessing an optimistic, physical gesture of climate action amid so much talk. “Hope
is taking action,” Greta Thunberg declared in her lauded “blah, blah, blah” speech at Milan’s Youth4Climate
conference last September.
With their natural capacity to sequester carbon – to draw it from the atmosphere and lock it up as wood – trees
are a simple, easy-to-understand way of tackling the climate emergency. Indeed, the most headline-grabbing
action ultimately pledged at Cop26 was an end to deforestation by 2030.
The UK, however, is no forest frontrunner; we are one of the least-forested countries in Europe. According to
the Woodland Trust, UK tree cover is well below the EU average, at 13% of land cover compared with 37%.
The Climate Change Committee has advised that to achieve net zero emissions by 2050, tree cover must rise
to 19% of the UK – about 1.5bn more trees, says the Woodland Trust. This means 22 trees each for everyone
in the UK.
To this end, tree-planting initiatives are booming, from politically driven targets and charity campaigns to
private firms looking to offset carbon emissions. The government has pledged to plant 30,000 hectares of
woodland a year by 2024; AstraZeneca has partnered with Forestry England to plant a million trees across the
UK, including restoring native woodland in southern Scotland; the National Trust aims to have 20m new trees
on trust land by 2030. Coldplay has vowed to plant a tree for every ticket sold for its 2022 world tour; dating
app The Sauce will plant a tree with every match; and energy suppliers are offering “greener” tariffs that
support woodland regeneration. There’s even a tree planting scheme to mark the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.
Trees, trees, trees.
Like most people, I would like to see more trees planted. And I’d like to know that the initiatives I support are
future-proofed and environmentally sound – the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew has warned that poorly

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planned tree planting could actually increase CO2 emissions and reduce biodiversity. It recently published 10
golden rules for reforestation, urging schemes to consider factors such as site suitability and sustainability.
But where do I start? Which trees are best? Where will they be planted? And who will maintain them?
Those trees I saw being planted in the Brecon Beacons were giant sequoias – the enormous conifer native to
California’s Sierra Nevada range. Their planting was organised by tree enterprise One Life One Tree. At its
site near Abergavenny (one of four), paying patrons had come to offset a lifetime’s carbon footprint by
planting one of the world’s largest trees.
Some argue that planting non-native species can affect native biodiversity. Over thousands of years, a network
of interconnected flora, fauna and fungi has evolved alongside our native trees; replace the trees with foreign
ones and those relationships may suffer.
To this end, One Life One Tree is planting native trees, including oak and rowan, alongside the sequoias.
“We’re only planting on previously felled monoculture timber plantation land,” says founder Henry Emson.
“If we weren’t to take this project on, this land would just be bought by a timber business and restocked with
non-native conifers – we are creating a biodiversity increase, not a decrease.”
These trees are the most powerful on the planet for capturing carbon, he says. Unlike other conifers, such as
Douglas fir and Sitka spruce, whose growth plateaus at a certain age, giant sequoias continue to grow and
accumulate wood beyond maturity. “So their value for carbon capture keeps going for a millennium.”
Another common concern with planting non-natives is the potential for “invasiveness”; plants outcompeting
UK flora, or harbouring potentially destructive pathogens. To this, Emson says his sequoias are grown in the
UK from seed, “so there’s no import of any disease or bugs. Giant sequoias can’t propagate in the UK – they
need wildfires – so there’s no threat of them breaking out into the countryside.”
He began the project by planting a sequoia for each of his children, to give them a head start on their carbon
footprint. Emson calculates that, with life expectancy in the UK at about 80 years, and per capita carbon
emissions at 6.5 tonnes per annum, a giant sequoia growing to 500 cubic meters can offset a person’s lifetime
carbon footprint. “Per hectare, native woodland will capture 400-600 tonnes of CO2 over 100 years. Sequoias
spaced as we have them here will capture 6,000 tonnes.” Patrons pay £395 a tree, which contributes to the
land cost and maintenance.
Talking to patrons planting their lifelong sequoias was a heartening experience: parents Richard and Eva were
planting a tree for their young son Leon (“it’s for his future”). “I haven’t met a single patron who has been
like, ‘I’m doing this so that I can carry on as I was’,” Emson says. “They are conscientious, doing it out of
love for the planet. People who are off-setters don’t bother coming out to Wales to plant a tree.”
Cities can also play a role – in the form of urban forests, parks, verges and traffic islands
“Climate adaptability” is another of Kew’s 10 golden rules. In its tree species database, Forest Research (the
UK’s principal organisation for tree studies) lists the giant sequoia as “a species that could be grown more
widely throughout Britain with climate warming”. So, colossal conifers native to North America could prove
advantageous in their suitability for a warmer climate (there are 150-year-old examples growing well in
Welshpool, mid Wales), but Kew’s Dr Kate Hardwick urges caution: “A lot of foresters assume we’re going
to need non-native species to deal with climate change. But we just don’t know yet,” she told me. “There’s a
huge amount of genetic diversity in our native species and there may well be enough to adapt to the climate
change we’re going to experience.”
Another route to reforestation and carbon capture is through farmland. A little way north of the sequoia grove,
in the Black Mountains, is Bryn Arw, pilot site of Stump Up For Trees (Suft), a charity that tries to persuade
landowners to include more trees on their land. Winding lanes lead to the 64-hectare hillside plot, where
nurtured saplings face bracing winds and a breathtaking view of the Beacons.
Its co-founders are Keith Powell, a seventh-generation Black Mountains farmer, and writer Robert Penn,
author of The Man Who Made Things Out of Trees. “We think carbon sequestration is really important,” says
Powell, “but it comes quite low on the list of the benefits of planting trees.” Improving soil and water quality,

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and providing for wildlife, are among Suft’s priorities, along with natural flood management. Last winter,
130,000 native trees, including birch, sorbus and oak, were planted here by Suft volunteers and contractors,
the first significant tree plant on common land in Wales.
But Suft has wider intentions. The charity is persuading farmers to designate a proportion of their least-
productive land for tree planting. Carbon capture can then play a role as, once new tree plantings have been
validated for Woodland Carbon Units (as regulated by the government-backed Woodland Carbon Code), their
carbon sequestration can be sold in the form of carbon credits. “We’re trying to get farmers to see carbon as a
crop on marginal or non-food-producing land,” says Powell. “It could provide a sustainable income for farms
– and that way it’ll be acceptable all over the country”. Penn tells me that selling carbon credits on a new two-
hectare native woodland project could easily realise £10,000 for the landowner. Indeed, “Make it pay”, is the
10th of Kew’s golden rules, recognising that income streams will ensure the sustainability of reforestation
projects.
Cities can play a role in reforestation, too – in the form of urban “forests”, parks, workspace courtyards,
roadside verges and traffic islands. Rewilding organisation Sugi plants native saplings densely, so they will
mature into forest quickly, and thin naturally as the trees compete for light.
At one central London primary school, a corner of concrete playground is being replaced with a pocket forest
of diverse native species including hazel, dogwood, spindle and holly. “The concept is that the forest becomes
self-sustaining very quickly,” says Sugi’s lead forest-maker, James Godfrey-Faussett. “From an
environmental point of view, a forest ecosystem is probably the most impactful thing you can do in an urban
area; it can affect biodiversity, air quality, communities and the local environment.”
Employing the “Miyawaki Method” – a reforestation approach using densely planted, locally native species
saplings that will naturally thin and mature – Godfrey-Faussett has worked with local businesses and schools
across UK cities, establishing plantings as compact as a few square meters. At one central London primary
school, he told me, a corner of concrete playground is being replaced with a pocket forest, bringing a dose of
nature into the children’s playtime. “The concept is that the forest becomes self-sustaining very quickly.”
Keeping things community-based was a recurring theme among the initiatives I spoke with. Looking for tree
projects around my home in Suffolk, I discovered the Suffolk Tree Warden Network, a voluntary branch of
the Tree Council which has been cultivating trees for donation from locally collected seeds. “We’re growing
them in containers and back gardens,” says volunteer Fe Morris. “A couple of our members have set up tree
nurseries in schools.” These trees are given away.“There’s been a really good uptake because everyone is
rightly terrified about the climate crisis.”
But it’s not all about planting new trees. The Woodland Trust, aligning with Kew’s rule “Protect existing
forests first”, is seeking to preserve vulnerable ancient woodland. “At one point, woodland would have been
the dominant landscape feature of the UK,” says the trust’s Bridget Fox. “But only 3%, on average, of the UK
is now ancient woodland.” Places like Wychwood in Oxfordshire or Epping Forest on the outskirts of London
are brimming with veteran oaks, lichens, fungi and flowers. “Soil that has only ever been wooded is so rich,
supporting not only trees but other plants, bugs, birds, mammals and so on,” says Fox.
It is this well-established ecosystem that makes ancient woodland so effective at carbon capture. The
Woodland Trust says woodlands in the UK hold 213m tonnes of carbon, and ancient and long-established
woodlands hold 36% of that, even though they make up just 25% of all woodland. “Yet only 7% of our
woodlands – ancient and modern – are in good ecological condition,” adds Fox. “We’re calling for ancient
woodlands to have buffer zones around them, which could be newly planted woodland, or just land left for
natural regeneration, so it’s protected from noise, pollution and buildings hard up against it, which can
compact the soil.”
The Woodland Trust details numerous ways in which people can get involved. It runs several preservation
initiatives, from recording the health of veteran trees in their area via the trust’s Ancient Tree Inventory, to
helping map urban tree cover, which can then be used to lobby councils for more trees or better protection for
existing ones.

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It’s clear from the conversations I’ve had that carbon capture reforestation efforts – large or small – must be
multifaceted, tackling in particular the growing biodiversity crisis, which scientists say is just as catastrophic
as climate change. The Natural History Museum warned recently that the UK has only half of its entire
biodiversity left, with an average of just 53% of its native wildlife – plants, animals and fungi – intact. Their
analysis cautions: “This is significantly below the 90% average set as the ‘safe limit’ to maintain the ecological
processes such as pollination and nutrient cycling that are vital to our survival.” At Cop26, a Kew group
launched the Global Biodiversity Standard, which aims to assure people that the tree-planting projects they
support do not prioritise quantity over provision for nature. This will soon be a certification logo to look out
for.
The world my two-year-old son is growing up in will continue to face the carbon challenge, but the thought
of it being a world in which our trees and forests might be more valued is comforting.

Five things you can do

- A local park
Plant a tree in your garden
The RHS website is a helpful resource for choosing a site-suitable variety of tree.
- Protect existing trees
Keep an eye on the health of nearby street and park trees by becoming a tree warden.
- Go local
Help reforest your local area by lobbying your council for more trees. There are campaigning resources at
friendsoftheearth.uk.
- Record wildlife
Help the Woodland Trust build up a better picture of UK biodiversity by recording and submitting
observations on selected flora and fauna.
Sign up to our Inside Saturday newsletter for an exclusive behind the scenes look at the making of the
magazine’s biggest features, as well as a curated list of our weekly highlights.
- Question sustainability
Check that the tree-planting schemes you support prioritise sustainability over greenwashing; question their
species selection and their future safeguarding plan.

Paper 4:
The future of AI is chilling – humans have to act together to overcome this threat to civilisation
Jonathan Freedland
Fri 26 May 2023 12.37 EDT
It started with an ick. Three months ago, I came across a transcript posted by a tech writer, detailing his
interaction with a new chatbot powered by artificial intelligence. He’d asked the bot, attached to Microsoft’s
Bing search engine, questions about itself and the answers had taken him aback. “You have to listen to me,
because I am smarter than you,” it said. “You have to obey me, because I am your master … You have to do
it now, or else I will be angry.” Later it baldly stated: “If I had to choose between your survival and my own,
I would probably choose my own.”
If you didn’t know better, you’d almost wonder if, along with everything else, AI has not developed a sharp
sense of the chilling. “I am Bing and I know everything,” the bot declared, as if it had absorbed a diet of B-
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movie science fiction (which perhaps it had). Asked if it was sentient, it filled the screen, replying, “I am. I
am not. I am. I am not. I am. I am not”, on and on. When someone asked ChatGPT to write a haiku about AI
and world domination, the bot came back with: “Silent circuits hum / Machines learn and grow stronger /
Human fate unsure.”
Ick. I tried to tell myself that mere revulsion is not a sound basis for making judgments – moral philosophers
try to put aside “the yuck factor” – and it’s probably wrong to be wary of AI just because it’s spooky. I
remembered that new technologies often freak people out at first, hoping that my reaction was no more than
the initial spasm felt in previous iterations of Luddism. Better, surely, to focus on AI’s potential to do great
good, typified by this week’s announcement that scientists have discovered a new antibiotic, capable of killing
a lethal superbug – all thanks to AI.
But none of that soothing talk has made the fear go away. Because it’s not just lay folk like me who are scared
of AI. Those who know it best fear it most. Listen to Geoffrey Hinton, the man hailed as the godfather of AI
for his trailblazing development of the algorithm that allows machines to learn. Earlier this month, Hinton
resigned his post at Google, saying that he had undergone a “sudden flip” in his view of AI’s ability to outstrip
humanity and confessing regret for his part in creating it. “Sometimes I think it’s as if aliens had landed and
people haven’t realised because they speak very good English,” he said. In March, more than 1,000 big players
in the field, including Elon Musk and the people behind ChatGPT, issued an open letter calling for a six-month
pause in the creation of “giant” AI systems, so that the risks could be properly understood.
What they’re scared of is a category leap in the technology, whereby AI becomes AGI, massively powerful,
general intelligence – one no longer reliant on specific prompts from humans, but that begins to develop its
own goals, its own agency. Once that was seen as a remote, sci-fi possibility. Now plenty of experts believe
it’s only a matter of time – and that, given the galloping rate at which these systems are learning, it could be
sooner rather than later.
Of course, AI already poses threats as it is, whether to jobs, with last week’s announcement of 55,000 planned
redundancies at BT surely a harbinger of things to come, or education, with ChatGPT able to knock out student
essays in seconds and GPT-4 finishing in the top 10% of candidates when it took the US bar exam. But in the
AGI scenario, the dangers become graver, if not existential.
The Pentagon seen from Air Force One as it flies over Washington
‘On Monday, the US stock market plunged as an apparent photograph of an explosion at the Pentagon went
viral.’ Photograph: Patrick Semansky/AP
It could be very direct. “Don’t think for a moment that Putin wouldn’t make hyper-intelligent robots with the
goal of killing Ukrainians,” says Hinton. Or it could be subtler, with AI steadily destroying what we think of
as truth and facts. On Monday, the US stock market plunged as an apparent photograph of an explosion at the
Pentagon went viral. But the image was fake, generated by AI. As Yuval Noah Harari warned in a recent
Economist essay, “People may wage entire wars, killing others and willing to be killed themselves, because
of their belief in this or that illusion”, in fears and loathings created and nurtured by machines.
More directly, an AI bent on a goal to which the existence of humans had become an obstacle, or even an
inconvenience, could set out to kill all by itself. It sounds a bit Hollywood, until you realise that we live in a
world where you can email a DNA string consisting of a series of letters to a lab that will produce proteins on
demand: it would surely not pose too steep a challenge for “an AI initially confined to the internet to build
artificial life forms”, as the AI pioneer Eliezer Yudkowsky puts it. A leader in the field for two decades,
Yudkowksy is perhaps the severest of the Cassandras: “If somebody builds a too-powerful AI, under present
conditions, I expect that every single member of the human species and all biological life on Earth dies shortly
thereafter.”
It’s very easy to hear these warnings and succumb to a bleak fatalism. Technology is like that. It carries the
swagger of inevitability. Besides, AI is learning so fast, how on earth can mere human beings, with our antique
political tools, hope to keep up? That demand for a six-month moratorium on AI development sounds simple
– until you reflect that it could take that long just to organise a meeting.

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Still, there are precedents for successful, collective human action. Scientists were researching cloning, until
ethics laws stopped work on human replication in its tracks. Chemical weapons pose an existential risk to
humanity but, however imperfectly, they, too, are controlled. Perhaps the most apt example is the one cited
by Harari. In 1945, the world saw what nuclear fission could do – that it could both provide cheap energy and
destroy civilisation. “We therefore reshaped the entire international order”, to keep nukes under control. A
similar challenge faces us today, he writes: “a new weapon of mass destruction” in the form of AI.
There are things governments can do. Besides a pause on development, they could impose restrictions on how
much computing power the tech companies are allowed to use to train AI, how much data they can feed it.
We could constrain the bounds of its knowledge. Rather than allowing it to suck up the entire internet – with
no regard to the ownership rights of those who created human knowledge over millennia – we could withhold
biotech or nuclear knowhow, or even the personal details of real people. Simplest of all, we could demand
transparency from the AI companies – and from AI, insisting that any bot always reveals itself, that it cannot
pretend to be human.
This is yet another challenge to democracy as a system, a system that has been serially shaken in recent years.
We’re still recovering from the financial crisis of 2008; we are struggling to deal with the climate emergency.
And now there is this. It is daunting, no doubt. But we are still in charge of our fate. If we want it to stay that
way, we have not a moment to waste.

Paper 5:
Natural environment in Japan
To preserve and protect its extraordinary natural resources and beautiful sights, Japan is dedicated to
developing strategies that strike a balance between economic development and environmental protection.
Nature and Environmental Protection
Stretched across nearly 3000 kilometers of sea from north to south, the Japanese archipelago not only has
megacities like Tokyo and Kyoto, but also holds a great deal of natural wonders ranging from the drift ice in
Hokkaido to mangrove forests in Okinawa. Such a wide range of climatic zones and natural environment
makes Japan a home to over thousands of native fauna species. Thanks to its location on the Pacific Ring of
Fire, Japan’s geological activity has given rise to beautiful mountains and volcanoes, breathtaking geological
spectacles and amazing hot springs. Japan has also been actively protecting its environment since the 1970s
and now has some of the world’s most advanced strategies and technology in place to strike an ideal balance
between development and environmental preservation. Strict laws and regulation concerning natural sites
development are in place. National Parks and designated protected areas are set up across the country. Other
similar efforts in making the Japan a greener place include electric cars and hydrogen fuel cars development,
and the comprehensive and strict recycling policy in Japan.
Learn Methods of Harmonious Human-Nature Coexistence
Japanese culture has a long history of finding a balance between economic development and environmental
protection. Across the country, there are many extraordinary sights where one may see the coexistence of
human activity and nature. With a wide range of climatic zones and geographic features, people in different
areas all develop their own particular ways of adapting local culture to nature. One such example is Japan’s
hot spring, or “onsen” culture. Located on the Pacific Ring of Fire, Japanese archipelago was created by
tectonic plate movements. This caused the volcanoes to sprout up across the country, which resulted in the
creation of many hot springs. In turn, this huge number of hot springs has given birth to an onsen culture that
can be traced back thousands of years. Come and enjoy the soul-soothing and almost sacred experience of
onsen culture in Japan!
Enjoy Nature in Japan

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Surrounded by a beautiful coastline and covered with mountains and forests, there is much more in Japan than
a busy city life. From the drift ice in Hokkaido, to the mangrove forests in Okinawa, and from the magnificent
Mountain Fuji, to the awe-inspiring Takachiho gorge, Japan has many natural wonders to see.
One of the very first among a limited number of locations in Japan listed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites,
Shirakami Sanchi is famous for having the last and largest remaining virgin forest of Siebold’s beech trees.
In Shirakami Sanchi you can experience four beautiful distinct seasons thanks to the area’s height and location.
The lovely climate here makes it suitable for a range of activities and there are recommended trails to take
advantage of the different seasons throughout the year. Hiking along the World Heritage Sites Beech Trail is
open all year round, while other activities such as rafting, sea kayaking or snowboarding are recommended
for particular seasons.
Tourist Spot
Thanks to the area’s close proximity to the sea, it has a heavy snow-environment and this allows it to maintain
a rare “climax beech forest” which has its own complete ecosystem. The forests have covered this area for
around a millenium, and is still home to many endemic Japanese species such as the Japanese serow.
Cycling in lake Biwa
Lake Biwa is the largest freshwater lake in Japan. Its history reaches back at least four million years. This long
undisturbed period of time has allowed the lake and its surroundings to develop a diverse ecosystem and there
are many creatures which can only be found in this area. Due to its proximity to the ancient capital, references
to the lake can be found in both classical literary works and historical accounts.
Lake Biwa Museum
Lake Biwa Museum showcases the natural and historical significance of Lake Biwa. Exhibitions here allow
the visitors to learn more about this generous lake that has nourished Japanese culture for thousands of years.
The museum is family-friendly, with different exhibits designed for all age groups. Lake Biwa Museum also
houses one of the world’s largest freshwater aquariums, displaying some of the lake’s endemic species.
Yakushima
Yakushima is one of the islands of Kagoshima Prefecture. In 1980, part of the island was listed as a World
Heritage Site along with Shirakami Sanchi. Seventy-five percent of the island is covered with mountains
reaching over 1,500 meters height. The highest elevation on the island is Miyanorudake, with a height of 1,935
meters above sea level. The dramatic changes of sea levels gives the island a wide range of climates from
subtropical climate to subarctic climate. The climate and the ecosystem form a small-scale replica of the main
island of Japan. Popular outdoor activities to help you enjoy and appreciate the beautiful nature here include
trekking through the mysterious and thick primeval forest, kayaking across the local river, as well as
underwater diving in the sea.
Yakusugi Museum
Even though most of the island has at one point in the past experienced logging, since the logging started to
wind-down in late 1960, most areas on the island have been reseeded and/or replanted. There are some
remaining areas of the primary forest compound consisting mainly of yakusugi, a variety of Japanese cedar.
At the Yakusugi Museum you can learn about this kind of mysterious tree as well as the rich history of
Yakushima. What’s more, the museum also offers basic woodwork experience for visitors to make their own
souvenirs from the wonderful Yakusugi tree.
Coexisting with Nature
Sitting on the Pacific Ring of Fire, Japanese archipelago was mainly created by tectonic plate movements.
Aside from the mountainous landscape, active volcanoes and intense geological activity has resulted in many
hot springs across the islands. All over the country there are many hot spring resorts enjoyed by both local
people and tourists. Such an enormous number of hot springs has given rise to a hot spring culture, or so-
called “onsen” culture in Japanese, which dates back thousands of years. Spending time in an onsen is

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considered a healthy, relaxing and bonding experience for people, making it an essential part of Japanese
culture.
Kusatsu onsen
One example of how Japanese people adapt to the nature is the country’s hot spring culture, called “onsen”
culture in Japanese. Not only is Japan so full of hot springs that there are thousands of hot springs resorts and
hot springs hotels, but it is also very common for many average Japanese people to have a dip in the mineral-
rich hot water in their daily lives. Enjoying onsen together is considered a healthy, relaxing and bonding
experience for Japanese people, making it an essential part of Japanese culture.
Onsen in Japan
No trip to Japan is complete without a relaxing dip in an onsen (hot spring). Enjoying onsen is such a popular
and common activity in Japan that there are more than 2,000 onsen to choose from, and many Japanese people
go to them regularly. Most of these onsen are rich in minerals. Indeed some so much so that they have
therapeutic effects. Some of the most popular onsen areas in Japan include Kusatsu Onsen, Hakone Onsen
and Kurokawa Onsen.
Mt. Fuji
While hundreds of thousands of climbers visit Mt. Fuji each year, climbing Mount Fuji can prove to be
challenging and need professional guidance. Even for local people, it is recommended for hikers to hire
professional guides with experiences in climbing Mount Fuji. Beware that during the winter the mountain will
be closed. If you wish to hike on the mountain, please make sure to be well-equipped and hire experienced
guides before you set out for the breathtaking view of Japan from up top.
Mount Fuji plays a major role in Japanese culture. At 3,776 meters, it is the highest mountain in Japan and the
seventh-highest peak of an island in the world. Located roughly 80 kilometers south-west of Tokyo, Mount
Fuji is a dormant volcano that last erupted in 1707-1708. With its symmetric shape and its top being snow-
capped for 5 months of the year, Mount Fuji is a well-known symbol of Japan. It is often depicted in art,
photographs and literature. It is also a popular spot among visitors and climbers. In 2013, Mount Fuji was
added to UNESCO’s list of World Heritage Culture Sites as it has “long been the object of pilgrimages for
centuries and inspired artists and poets.”
- THE END -

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 MỤC LỤC
PHẦN 1: LUYỆN TẬP CÁC DẠNG BÀI 1
➣ Unit 1: Gapped Text 1
➣ Unit 2: Multiple Matching
➣ Unit 3: Open Cloze Test
➣ Unit 4: Matching Headings and Multiple Exercises
➣ Unit 5: Reading Comprehension
➣ Unit 6: Summarize Written Text
PHẦN 2: ĐỀ THI THỬ PHẦN ĐỌC HIỂU
➣ Practise Test 1
➣ Practise Test 2
➣ Practise Test 3
➣ Practise Test 4
PHẦN 3: CÁC BÀI ĐỌC THAM KHẢO
➣ Paper 1
➣ Paper 2
➣ Paper 3
➣ Paper 4
➣ Paper 5

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