Reading passage 1

A. Finding a good cup of java in Indonesia has always been easy, but a decent bar of chocolate? That's another story never mind that the nation is a major exporter of cocoa beans. Just ask Thierry Detournay, the Belgian founder of Chocolate Monggo, chocolatemonggo.com. B. "Making chocolate is a very long process," says Detournay. And that about sums up his own slow drift into the trade. He moved to Java's cultural capital Yogyakarta about 10 years ago as a drifter, then embarked on stints as a social worker and French lecturer. But he was so aghast at the quality of local chocolates and the dearth of decent imported ones that he began making his own at home out of desperation. C. Friends encouraged him to sell them, and soon he was seen around town displaying his instantly popular treats on a pink Vespa that doubled as a sales booth. After a few starts and stops, in 2005 he founded what is today Chocolate Monggo with a team of three. D. The company now employs around 80 workers and its products are found in over 400 outlets in Java and Bali. It uses only properly fermented, highquality beans from Sumatra and Java, and real cocoa butter rather than vegetable or palm oil or some other cheap substitute. There are around 10 flavors, such as cashew-nut praline and ginger, with mango and a tongueblistering chili in the works. E. Detournay eventually plans to expand into overseas markets but for now he is more interested in dispelling the notion that high-quality products made in Indonesia are only for export. There's certainly lots of room for growth in the local market according to Euromonitor, in 2009 the per capita chocolate consumption in Indonesia was just 0.3 kg, compared with a whopping 11.6 kg in the U.K. With an eye toward attracting local shoppers, Monggo's recycled-paper packaging is adorned with Javanese motifs. At the same time, the brand's local identity has made it attractive to tourists in search of a tasty and tasteful memento. F. Tour operators now include the Monggo workshop as a stop on tours of Kota Gede the Yogyakarta neighborhood traditionally known for its silver workshops and picturesque old buildings. Visitors watch through a glass divider as workers wearing masks, caps and gloves inject chocolate shells with praline paste or noisily pound trays of recently poured chocolate to remove air bubbles. ("We don't sell air, we sell chocolate," explains Detournay.) Then everyone rushes to buy a souvenir bar fresh from the workshop. G. If you can't make it to Yogyakarta, the best place to find the full range of Monggo bars is in Jakarta at the Kem Chicks gourmet supermarket in the ritzy Pacific Place mall, next to the stock exchange. But it's increasingly common to see at least one or two Monggo varieties in cafs, bakeries and

even convenience stores. Detournay seems determined to salvage the reputation of Indonesian chocolate, one outlet at a time. Source: Time Questions You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1 to 14 which are based on Reading Passage 1 Questions 1 to 7 Reading Passage 1 has seven paragraphs A G. From the list of headings below, choose the most suitable heading for each paragraph. Write the appropriate numbers I ix in boxes 1 7 on your answer sheet.

i. ii. iii. iv. v. vi. vii. viii. ix.

Dearth of good chocolates. The span of the business. The plan of expansion. A new dream born. A tourist attraction. Birth of Chocolate Monggo. The difference in enthusiasm. The 1experiment. Paragraph A 2 Paragraph B Places to find Chocolate 3 Paragraph C Monggo. 4 Paragraph D 5 Paragraph E 6 Paragraph F 7 Paragraph G

Questions 8 10 Choose the correct letters, A, B, C or D Write your answers in boxes 8 10 on your answer sheet. 8 Thierry Detournay is a native of A. B. C. D. 9 Bulgaria. Belgium. Jakarta. Indonesia. Thierry Detournay started making chocolate because

A. B. C. D. 10 A. B. C. D.

He was interested in the business. He was not satisfied with his present profession. He did not get good chocolate in Indonesia. His father was a chocolate maker. Tour operators now include the Monggo workshop as a stop because The The The The factory is very beautiful. place is an attraction for its unique nature. place is a heritage spot. place is adventurous.

Questions 11 14 Complete each of the following statements (questions 11 14) with the best endings A G from the box below Write the appropriate letters A G in boxes 11 14 on your answer sheet. 11 Thierry Detournay started selling his chocolates as 12 If you can't make it to Yogyakarta, the best place to find 13 The brand's local identity has made it attractive to tourists 14 There are around 10 flavors, such as cashew-nut praline and ginger,

A In search of chocolates. B His friends insisted on. C And many others to come. D In search of a tasty and tasteful memento. E With mango and a tongue-blistering chili in the works.

Reading passage 2 A. IT IS a year since the investment-banking industry committed reputational suicide by paying bumper bonuses just a few months after the worst financial crisis in living memory. That move helped destroy investment bankers credibility with the public and many politicians. Outside finance, even red-blooded capitalists cringed in embarrassment. Bonuses were paid from profits buoyed by public subsidieseither directly through bailouts or by central-bank interventions and implicit government guarantees. They also were paid at the expense of rebuilding capital buffers. In 2009 the typical firms wage bill was equivalent to between a quarter and half of its core capital. Investment banks, it seemed, were not being run in the

interests of the economy or even of their owners, but for their staff. It was financial mutiny. B. Now banks are once again working out how much they should pay their people. Amazingly since 2009 there have been no political keel-haulings, just a few whips of the lash. Faced with an angry public, some governments have agreed to tax banks borrowing to recoup some of the subsidy they get. Britain imposed a one-off tax on bonuses that should raise at least 2.5 billion ($4 billion), more than the 550m originally expected. America restricted pay at firms that still have TARP bail-out funds. C. Regulators, meanwhile, have obsessed about the structure of bankers pay. In June American supervisors issued guidelines that said bosses should not incentivise employees to blow up their firmsa management insight worthy of the Springfield nuclear-power plant. The European Union is finalising rules that will apply next year. Banks say they have already changed their ways. A recent report by the Institute of International Finance, a lobbying group, and Oliver Wyman, a consulting firm, found that three-quarters of firms asked said they now took risk into account when calculating bonuses, and that 39% of banks aggregate bonus pools was in the form of deferred compensation, not cash. D. How useful all this is remains to be seen. Managers at Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns owned lots of shares, just as the corporate-governance police said they should, yet ran their firms aground. And there is a strong sense that regulators have answered the subordinate question (how should bankers be paid?) while ignoring the one that matters most to people: how much should they be paid? E. Policymakers doubtless hoped (again) that banks would show some restraint this year. They also probably guessed that new regulations would squeeze profits, limiting the amount available for traders to spend on provocatively expensive dessert wines. Encouragingly, there is some evidence this has happened. Most observers reckon the industrys revenue could fall by up to a fifth in 2010 as the exceptional market conditions that followed the bail-outs have faded. Some banks are reacting. Goldman Sachss compensation bill in the third quarter was $3.8 billion, down by 28% compared with the same period in 2009. But the overall picture is less convincing. For five leading firms in America and Europe that have so far reported third-quarter results, overall compensation fell by 17%, to $18 billion, compared with the same quarter in 2009 (see chart). F. Some firms that did badly still booked pay costs that pushed their investment-banking units into the redmost notably UBS. Its chief financial officer was brutally honest to analysts. We are a living example of a bank that experimented with not paying people and it didnt come off very well in 2008. And as a consequence we know that we are bound to pay people, to some extent, regardless of the performance of the bank.

More marginal firms, including Nomura (which bought bits of Lehman Brothers), seem to struggle to make decent returns in any conditions. G. Huw van Steenis, an analyst at Morgan Stanley, says that since investment banks are now relying more on client businesses and less on trading on their own account, revenues have become more volatile. Areas such as interest-rate swaps and foreign-exchange trading incur large fixed costs. Banks with lower market shares may struggle to produce profits during weak quarters, which makes it more important that they can control pay. The flow monster firms with high market shares may be more resilient. Yet even the really big firms are paying staff a lot but barely making acceptable profits on their newly enlarged capital bases Goldmans return on equity (ROE) was 10% in the third quarter. Deutsche Bank, which has relatively low capital ratios (something that should flatter ROE), managed 13% on an underlying pre-tax basis. Source: The Economist Questions You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 15 27 which are based on Reading Passage 2 Questions 15 19 Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 2? In boxes 15 -19 in your answer sheet write TRUE if the statement agrees with the information FALSE if the statement contradicts the information NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this 15. The investment banking is all out to save its reputation. 16. Many of the banks ran out of funds during the financial crisis. 17. Managers at Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns owned lots of shares. 18. Policymakers doubtlessly hoped that banks would show some restraint this year. 19. The banks are now calculating how much they can earn from the clients.

Question 20 23 Look at the following topics (questions 20 23) and the list of statements below. Match each topic to the correct statement. Write the correct letter A G in boxes 1 4 on your answer sheet. 20. Oliver Wyman 21. Lehman Brothers 22. Regulators 23. Morgan Stanley

A Joined hands with the government. B Is apprehensive about the future of banking. C Investment banks are now relying more on client businesses. D Is a consulting firm. E Have obsessed about the structure of bankers

Questions 24 27 Complete the following statements with the correct alternative from the box. Write the correct letter A F in boxes 24 27 on your answer sheet. 24. 25. 26. 27. Some firms that did badly still booked pay costs that The flow monster firms with UBSs chief financial officer was brutally Most observers reckon the industrys revenue

A Honest to analysts. B Critical to the analysts. C Could fall by up to a fifth in 2010. D Pushed their investment-banking units into the red. E Could fall by up to a fifth in 2015. Reading Passage 3 A. Biologically, a child (plural: children) is generally a human between the stages of birth and puberty. The legal definition of "child" generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person younger than the age of majority. "Child" may also describe a relationship with a parent or authority figure, or signify group membership in a clan, tribe, or religion; it can also signify being strongly affected by a specific time, place, or circumstance, as in "a child of nature" or "a child of the Sixties." B. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child defines a child as "a human being below the age of 18 years unless under the law applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier." Ratified by 192 of 194 member countries. Biologically, a child is anyone between birth and puberty or in

the developmental stage of childhood, between infancy and adulthood. Children generally have fewer rights than adults and are classed as not able to make serious decisions, and legally must always be under the care of a responsible adult. C. Recognition of childhood as a state different from adulthood began to emerge in the 16th and 17th centuries. Society began to relate to the child not as a miniature adult but as a person of a lower level of maturity needing adult protection, love and nurturing. This change can be traced in painting: In the Middle Ages, children were portrayed in art as miniature adults with no childish characteristics. In the 16th century, images of children began to acquire a distinct childish appearance. From the late 17th century onwards, children were shown playing. Toys and literature for children also began to develop at this time. D. The age at which children are considered responsible for their own actions (e.g., marriage, voting, etc.) has also changed over time, and this is reflected in the way they are treated in courts of law. In Roman times, children were regarded as not culpable for crimes, a position later adopted by the Church. In the nineteenth century, children younger than seven years old were believed incapable of crime. Children from the age of seven forward were considered responsible for their actions. Therefore, they could face criminal charges, be sent to adult prison, and be punished like adults by whipping, branding or hanging. E. Surveys have found that at least 25 countries around the world have no specified age for compulsory education. Minimum employment age and marriage age also vary. In at least 125 countries, children aged 715 may be taken to court and risk imprisonment for criminal acts. In some countries, children are legally obliged to go to school until they are 14 or 15 years old, but may also work before that age. A child's right to education is threatened by early marriage, child labour and imprisonment. F. All children go through stages of social development. An infant or very young child will play alone happily. If another child wanders onto the scene, he or she may be physically attacked or pushed out of the way. Next, the child is able to play with another child, gradually learning to share and take turns. Eventually the group grows larger, to three or four children. By the time a child enters kindergarten, he or she is usually able to join in and enjoy group experiences. G. Children with ADHD and learning disabilities may need extra help in developing social skills. The impulsive characteristics of an ADHD child may lead to poor peer relationships. Children with poor attention spans may not tune in to social cues in their environment, making it difficult for them to learn social skills through experience. According to population health experts, child mortality rates have fallen sharply since the 1990s. Deaths of children under the age of five are down by 42% in the United States, while Serbia and Malaysia have cut their rates by nearly 70%.

Source: Wikipedia.com Questions You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 28 40 which are based on Reading Passage 3. Questions 28 32 The passage has seven paragraphs labelled AG. Which paragraph contains the following information? Write the correct letter A-G in boxes 28-32 on your answer sheet. NB: You may use any letter more than once. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. Children generally have fewer rights than adults. "Child" may also describe a relationship with a parent or authority figure. At least 25 countries around the world have no specified age for compulsory education. Society began to relate to the child not as a miniature adult but as a person of a lower level of maturity. In Roman times, children were regarded as not culpable for crimes.

Questions 33 36 Complete the sentences below with words taken from Reading Passage 3. Use NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS for each answer. Write your answers in boxes 33-36 on your answer sheet.

33. 34. 35. 36.

In the nineteenth century, children younger than seven years old were believed . Children legally must always be under the care of a . Recognition of childhood as a state different from adulthood began to emerge in . In the 16th century, images of children began to acquire a distinct .

Questions 37 40

Complete the summary of the paragraphs A C below. Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each answer. Write your answers in boxes 37-40 on your answer sheet. The legal definition of "child" generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person younger than 37 .. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child defines a child as "a human being below the age of 18 years unless under the law applicable to the child, 38 . Society began to relate to the child not as a miniature adult but as a person of a lower level of maturity needing adult 39 Toys and literature for children also began 40