READING MOCK TEST

READING PASSAGE 1
The Death of Wild Salmon

Over the last few decades there has been an enormous increase in the number of
salmon farms in countries bordering the North Atlantic. This proliferation is most
marked in two countries famous for their salmon, Norway and Scotland, where salmon
farming has expanded to become a major industry, and as the number of farmed
salmon has exploded, the population of their wild relatives has crashed. The rivers of
these countries, which had such great summer runs of fish every season that they used
to attract thousands of anglers from all over the world, are now in perilous decline.
Recently, Truls Halstensen, a Norwegian fishing writer, wrote that his local river, the
Driva, where he used to be able to catch five or more fish of over 20 pounds weight in
a morning, is now almost totally fishless.

The link between the increase in farmed salmon and the decline in the wild population
is hotly disputed. Environmentalists believe that salmon farming has affected wild
salmon and the marine environment in various ways. Firstly, they claim that mass
escapes of farmed fish present a grave threat to the gene pool of wild salmon stocks.
Escapees breed less successfully than wild salmon, but the young of the escapees,
known as “parr”, breed aggressively and can reproduce four times more successfully
than their wild counterparts. Parr also become sexually active far sooner than wild
salmon and fertilise more eggs. As a result, farmed salmon are genetically changing
wild salmon stocks. Jeremy Read, director of the Atlantic Salmon Trust points out:
“The major problem of interbreeding is that it reduces a population’s fitness and
ability to survive. Native salmon have evolved to meet the circumstances and habitat
of sea and river life. Farm fish are under very different selection pressures in an
artificial habitat. This could leave the world with a North Atlantic salmon which could
not survive in its native conditions.” A massive increase in sea lice in coastal waters is
another problem. Sea lice thrive in salmon farm conditions and their increase in
numbers means that wild salmon and other fish entering waters where there are farms
can fall prey to the lice.

Another difficulty, and one of the most worrying side effects of the salmon farm
industry, is that these farms cannot function without vast quantities of tiny sea
creatures to turn into food pellets to feed their stock. Lars Tennson of the Norwegian
Fishermen’s Association complains that “such huge quantities of small fish are caught
by industrial trawlers to be turned into feed for fish farms that wild salmon, and other
species, are deprived of the food sources they rely on.”.

Fish farms are also being blamed for increasing levels of nitrogen in the ocean. Over
the last 2 years there have been 26 effluent leaks involving nitrogen-rich fish
droppings. Naturally occurring algae feed on this and grow into large toxic blooms that
kill most other marine life. Even legal chemicals used in farms, such as those used to
combat sea lice, can unbalance microorganism populations, affecting the other
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organisms that feed on them. Kevin Dunnon, director of FEO Scotland, has warned:
“Using inappropriate chemicals and medicines has the potential to do real
environmental damage ... We will prosecute if we find enough proof.”

In spite of the evidence that farming is harming wild fish populations, fish farmers are
adamant that they are not responsible. Nick Jury insists: “Algal blooms and the decline
in fish stocks have occurred naturally for decades because of a wide range of unrelated
and more complex factors.” Jury feels that fish farms are being made the scapegoat for
problems that are actually due to a lack of government control of fishing.

Overfishing is a major problem that affects all wild fish stocks. A combination of high
trawler catches, net fishing at estuaries, sport fishing and poaching have all led to
stocks of wild salmon diminishing. The UK government likes to think that the roots of
the problem have been addressed through legislation - fishermen, at sea and in
estuaries, have been set quotas and many salmon rivers have been closed to fishing.
Poachers are more difficult to control but their effect is not as marked as that of
professional fishermen. However, environmentalist Angus Kilrie feels that the efforts
have been wasted: “Legislation has merely scratched the surface. Not enough money
has been forthcoming to compensate fishermen and the allowances have been set too
high.”

The fate of wild Atlantic salmon is anybody’s guess. Farmers and governments seem
unworried, environmentalists fear the worst. Wild Scottish salmon stocks have actually
gone up this year, a success which the UK’s fisheries department attributes to their
policies. Paul Knight, Director of the Salmon and Trout Fishing Association has stated
that he is “delighted with the upturn in numbers this year”. Nevertheless, he adds the
warning “there are still significant threats to salmon stocks and it is important not to
take our eye off the ball”. Even if this year's positive result is replicated, it is essential
that all the issues that affect the health of wild north Atlantic salmon continue to be
addressed in order to protect the viability of future stocks.

Questions 1 - 7
Look at statements 1 - 7 and the list of people below.
Match each statement with the correct person.
Write the appropriate initials of the people in answer boxes 1 - 7.
1. Says farming cannot be blamed for wild salmon stock collapse.
2. Claims salmon farms deplete supplies of food eaten by wild fish.
3. Says that efforts must be maintained to protect salmon.
4. Gives an example of declining fish stocks from his local area.
5. States that measures taken to stop overfishing are not adequate.
6. Says salmon might soon be incapable of living in their natural habitat.
7. Threatens legal action against farms that misuse chemicals.

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 JR Jeremy Read

PK Paul Knight

AK Angus Kilrie

TH Truls Halstensen

KD Kevin Dunnon

NJ Nick Jury

LT Lars Tennson

Questions 8 - 13
Complete the sentences below (questions 8 - 13).
Use NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from Reading Passage 1, The Death of the
Wild Salmon, for each answer.
Write them in answer boxes 8 - 13.
8. Large numbers of salmon used to return from the sea to ……...…………………….
in Norway and Scotland every summer.

9. The ………………………….. of farmed salmon reproduce in larger numbers and

more effectively than their wild equivalent.

10. Fishing by ………………………….. has led to a huge reduction in the numbers of

smaller fish, which other larger fish use as food.

11. Waste matter from fish farms contains high levels of …………………………..,
which leads to an increase in algae in the sea.

12. The British government has tried to control fishing at sea and at river mouths by
allocating specific ………………………….. for fishermen.

13. While ………………………….. are very pessimistic regarding the Atlantic

salmon’s future, farmers and governments seem unconcerned.

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READING PASSAGE 2
The Can - A Brief History Lesson
A
The story of the can begins in 1795 when Nicholas Appert, a Parisian, had an idea:
why not pack food in bottles like wine? Fifteen years later, after researching and
testing his idea, he published his theory: if food is sufficiently heated and sealed in an
airtight container, it will not spoil. In 1810 Peter Durand, an Englishman, wanted to
surpass Appert’s invention, so he elected to try tin instead of glass. Like glass, tin
could be sealed airtight, but tin was not breakable and was much easier to handle.
Durand himself did no canning, but two other Englishmen, Bryan Donkin and John
Hall, used Durand’s patent. After experimenting for more than a year, they set up the
world’s first commercial canning factory in London in 1812, and by 1814 they were
sending tins of food to British army and navy authorities for trial.

B
Perhaps the greatest encouragement to the newborn canning industry was the
explosion in the number of new colonial territories. As people and goods were being
transported to all parts of the world, the can industry itself was growing in new
territories. Englishmen who emigrated to America took their newfound knowledge
with them. One such man was Thomas Kensett, who might fairly be called the father
of the can manufacturing industry in the United States. In 1813 he set up a small plant
on the New York waterfront to can the first hermetically sealed products in the United
States.

C
Just before the Civil War, a technical advance by canners enabled them to speed up
production. Adding calcium chloride to the water in which cans were cooked raised
the water temperature, so speeding up the canning process. For almost 100 years, tin
cans were made by artisans by hand. It was a laborious process, requiring considerable
skill and muscle. As the industrial revolution took hold in the United States, the
demand for cans increased and machines began to replace the artisans’ handiwork. A
good artisan could make only 10 cans a day. True production progress in can making
began in 1922, when American engineers perfected the body-making process, and
soon production increased to as many as 250 cans a minute.

D
As early as 1940, can manufacturers began to explore the possibility of adapting cans
to package carbonated soft drinks. The can had to be strengthened to accommodate
higher internal pressures created by carbonation (especially during warm summer
months), which meant increasing the thickness of the metal used in the can ends.
Another concern for the new beverage can was its shelf life. Even small amounts of
dissolved tin or iron from the can could impair the drinks. In addition, the carbonic,
citric and phosphoric acids in soft drinks presented a risk for the rapid corrosion of
exposed tin and iron in the can. To counter this, the can was upgraded by improving
the organic coatings used to line them. Can manufacturers then embarked on a
programme of material and cost savings, reducing both the amounts of steel and

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coating used in can making. These efforts were in part inspired by a new competitor -
aluminium.

E
Beverage cans made of aluminium were introduced in 1965. This was an exciting
innovation for the packaging industry because the aluminium can was made with only
two pieces - a body and an end. This made production easier. Some of the reasons for
the aluminium can’s acceptance were its ductility, its support of carbonation pressure,
its lighter weight and the fact that aluminium does not rust. Both steel and aluminium
cans used an easy-open end tab, but the aluminium tab was much easier to make.
Perhaps the most critical element in the aluminium can’s market success was its
recycling value. Aluminium can recycling excelled economically in the competition
with steel cans due to the efficiencies that could be gained by using recycled materials
to make new cans.

F
Prior to 1970, can makers, customers and consumers alike were unaware of the impact
that the mining and manufacturing of steel or aluminium had on the environment. The
concept of natural resource preservation was not an issue of great importance and the
low growth of population during these early years further de-emphasised concerns for
resource depletion. Both industries, however, came to realise the importance of
reducing their impact on the environment in the late 1960s and early 1970s as a new,
environmentally conscious generation emerged. Manufacturers began to recognise the
economics of recycling, namely lower manufacturing costs from using less material
and less energy. By the 1980s and 1990s, recycling had become a way of life.
Aluminium can recycling has become a billion-dollar business and one of the world’s
most successful environmental enterprises. Over the years, the aluminium can has
come to be known as America’s most recyclable package, with over 60 per cent of
cans being recycled annually.

G
Advances in can manufacturing technology have also brought us lighter aluminium
cans. In 1972, 1 pound of aluminium yielded only 21.75 cans. Today, by using less
material to make each can, 1 pound of aluminium makes approximately 32 cans - a 47
per cent improvement. Just the lightening of can ends makes a huge difference. When
you multiply the savings by the 100 billion cans that are made each year, the weight
and cost reductions are phenomenal.

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Questions 14 - 19
Reading Passage 2, The Can - A Brief History Lesson, has seven paragraphs, A - G.
From the list of headings below, choose the most suitable one for each paragraph, B -
G.
Write the appropriate number (i - xi) in answer boxes 14 - 19.
NB There are more headings than paragraphs, so you will not use them all.

Example Answer

Paragraph A iv

14. Paragraph B
15. Paragraph C
16. Paragraph D
17. Paragraph E
18. Paragraph F
19. Paragraph G

I A Useful New Material

Ii Technological Breakthroughs
Iii Canning and the Beer Industry
Iv The Invention
V Canning and War
Vi Further Manufacturing Advances
vii Problems with Spoiled Contents
viii Expansion of the Industry
Ix Today’s Uses for Canning
X Drinks Canning
xi Cans and the Environment

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Questions 20 - 24
Look at the following events, 20 - 24, and the list of dates, A - F, below.
Match each event with the correct date.
Write the appropriate letter, A - F, in answer boxes 20 - 24.
NB Some letters are extra.
20. Today’s canning material was first introduced.
21. The first US canning factory was opened.
22. The first business canning factory was opened.
23. Manufacturers first explored the canning of fizzy drinks.
24. Mass production techniques revolutionised the canning process.

YEARS
A 1810
B 1812
C 1813
D 1922
E 1940
F 1965

Questions 25 and 26
Do the statements below (questions 25 and 26) agree with the information given in
Reading Passage 3, The Can - A Brief History Lesson?

In answer boxes 25 and 26, write:

TRUE if the statement agrees with the information

FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVENif there is no information on this in the reading passage

25. The introduction of aluminium recycling was fuelled by changes in society.

26. Aluminium can production costs have fallen by nearly 50 per cent over the last 40
years.

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READING PASSAGE 3
Our Shortening Attention Spans

Modern media usage, especially of the internet, has left some people with short
attention spans. Martin Farrow of the London-based Mind Institute comments that: “…
the addictive nature of web browsing can leave people with an attention span of 9
seconds. Our attention span is affected by the way we do things. We have proved that
if people spend their time flitting from one thing to another on the web, they can get
into a habit of not concentrating fully.”

Near the medulla oblongata in the brain is the reticular activating system (RAS), which
is something like a filter between the conscious and subconscious. It is involved in
primitive functions like the ability to be awake or asleep, and the ability to direct
attention towards certain stimuli. “The job of the RAS is to filter and screen all
incoming stimuli and decide which stimuli should merit the attention of the
conscious,” writes psychologist Dr Greg Steyn. “There is a hierarchy that determines
what our brains pay attention to. Physical needs come first, but after that our brains
tend to gravitate toward novel experiences. I feel that our shortened attention spans can
be blamed on the heightened pace at which we encounter these novel experiences in
today’s world.”

The sociologist, Dr Peter Alcock, has explained how the surrounding society works
upon a child’s brain. “At one time a young child could master or learn his
surroundings and they remained relatively unchanged. Even the world outside the
home had relatively limited novelty to offer after the first few years of one’s life. This
allowed the RAS and attention to be drawn to other things, primarily self-made
choices and more complex types of thinking and learning of abstract concepts. It
seems that today, television, the internet, and other external stimuli have trained
people’s minds to perceive and interpret quickly and be ready to accept the next
presentation. That’s why people have trouble reading long articles. People’s brains are
ready to jump to the next stimulus before they’ve fully absorbed the first.”

This change in people’s habits has been commented on by media specialist, Jonathon
Newell. “The unrestricted nature of the internet is a major cause of shortened attention
spans. Because anyone can and does put information on the web, the amount of bad
content has increased considerably. This includes people just trying to make money,
people without certifications and people who don’t know how to make good content.
We skim because there’s so much rubbish out there.”

For some people, however, a short attention span is sometimes innate and is also a
much greater problem than just not being able to concentrate on something. This issue
needs far more serious thought than it is given today.

One of the common causes of a short attention span in children and some adults is a
developmental problem known as attention deficit disorder (ADD). It is characterised
by an impaired ability to learn, to listen, to wait for one’s turn or to complete a task.

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Many people are quick to blame parenting, but Daniel White, an education lecturer,
counters this. “While ADD may be a reaction to a disorderly home environment, it is
normally not a condition that is caused by improper parenting. These symptoms are
often natural in children under 4 years of age, but they are a major cause for concern if
they continue beyond that.”

As ADD is a developmental problem, it can be handled if parents and teachers look

upon it as a behavioural problem and adopt disciplinary techniques to manage it. Child
behaviour counsellor Karen Cook explains that this approach is not always followed.
“Unfortunately, medical specialists are more prone to highlighting physical causes,
and as ADD is mostly caused by genetic disposition, this is not helpful. This leads to a
heavy dependence on pharmaceuticals and thus the behavioural aspect of managing
ADD is lost in many cases.”

Cook also comments on today’s focus on electronic appliances. “The effect of our
fascination with the latest electronic gadgetry goes far deeper than we would like to
believe. The same goes for the meaningless and plotless movies being dished out
under the guise of public demand. Add to that the obsession with using cell phones and
it is not difficult to understand why attention spans are shortening.”

The child psychiatrist, Dr Anna Wren, agrees that approaches to ADD children should
be governed by behavioural methods. “If a child is born with a hereditary short
attention span and inability to focus, parents and teachers should provide help by
putting into place external controls. To set an example for our children, we can at least
demand more meaningful content, control obsessions with gadgets and involve
ourselves in more outdoor activities.”

In conclusion, it seems that people’s capacities to communicate and understand have

been seriously hampered. Dr Peter Alcock states that there is no magic bullet, but
summarises what can be done. “The best way to learn and improve one’s attention
span is to keep an open mind, gather as much information as you can, and then try to
analyse it critically.”

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Questions 27 - 34
Look at statements 27 - 34 and the list of people below.
Match each statement with the correct person.
Write the appropriate initials of the people in answer boxes 27 - 34.
27. The way society has evolved prevents children’s minds from developing more
sophisticated thinking skills.
28. Spending too much time inside can have a negative influence on children with
ADD.
29. It should not be considered a problem if very young children exhibit signs of
ADD.
30. Researchers have established that there is a common connection between web
surfing and shorter attention spans.
31. We have learned to speed-read in order to judge if a text is worth reading in depth.
32. We need to change the way ADD is managed.
33. The change in pace in our experiences has meant our brains act in a different way.
34. There is no way to quickly return to previous levels of attention.

MF Martin Farrow

GS Dr Greg Steyn

PA Dr Peter Alcock

JN Jonathon Newell

DW Daniel White

KC Karen Cook

AW Dr Anna Wren

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Questions 35 - 40
Complete each sentence with the correct ending.
Choose from the list, A - J, below.
Write the appropriate letters, A - J, in answer boxes 35 - 40.
35. Frequent exposure to external stimuli means that people experience something
then...
36. Being exposed to poor online content means people are less likely to ...
37. People with ADD find it hard to ...
38. Misunderstanding the causes of ADD can ...
39. Children with ADD can be helped by adults who ...
40. Being curious, acquiring knowledge and thinking analytically all help to ...

A ... limit their own use of electronic devices.

B ... limit communication.

C ... lead to ineffective treatment.

D ... finish something that they have begun.

E ... cause problems due to accidents soon after birth.

F ... develop a person's attention span.

G ... want something new.

H ... read in detail because it may not be worthwhile.

I ... set up educational establishments that offer this service.

J ... watch bad movies.

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