You are going to read a magazine article.

For questions 1-7, choose the answer which you think is best
according to the article.

An Unlikely Muse

A new wave of music and arts projects has emerged, focusing on someone who may seem for some a
dubious source of inspiration. Imelda Marcos, former first lady of the Philippines, is currently becoming
the subject of musicals, song cycles and shows on a worldwide arena.

When the Marcos regime collapsed in 1986, and Imelda and her husband Ferdinand were exiled in
Hawaii, they carried with them allegations of embezzlement, corruption and human rights abuses.
Imelda had spent the last twenty years living off a seemingly endless supply of funds, living an exotic and
glamorous lifestyle and rubbing shoulders with powerful figures worldwide. In 1972, when the superstar
couple’s popularity was fading and they were at risk of losing their power, Ferdinand Marcos instated
martial, leading to an era of chaos and plunder, and what is described by some as the second most
corrupt regime of the twentieth century. Ferdinand and Imelda fled in 1986 to escape the People’s
Power Revolution, Imelda leaving behind some 2000 pairs of shoes.

After her husband died in Hawaii due to ill health, Imelda stood trial in the United States on behalf of
her husband. Following that, she returned to the Philippines to face seventy more counts of corruption
and tax evasion. She has now returned to congress in the Philippines, her make-up and gowns as
flawless as ever.

So what makes Imelda Marcos such an appealing muse? Undoubtedly, Imelda Marcos’s resolute
character which has withstood exile, legal battles and the wrath of her enemies makes her an appealing
heroine, but film-maker Fenton Bailey attributes her iconicity to her sense of glamour and style, and her
role as a cultural trend-setter. And like so many women who let nothing come between them and their
goals, she has gained a certain iconic status, particularly among homosexuals, not unlike that of Judy
Garland and Lady Gaga.

And now the story of Imelda Marcos can be seen in the format of a musical, an artistic genre which is
quite befitting for this flamboyant, entertaining figure of beauty and glamour. ‘Imelda – A new musical’
has played in Los Angeles and New York. The artistic director of the musical, Tim Dang, realises that the
musical glosses over the darker aspects of the Marcos regime, but wanted to portray Imelda as a person
with all her faults on display, leaving the audience to come to a verdict. However, despite the glitz of
the show, reviews were mixed, stating the ‘the serio-comic spoof... had a vacuum at its centre’.

The story of Imelda Marcos has also been immortalised as a song cycle, ‘Here Lies Love’ written by David
Byrne and Norman Cook, in which Imelda comes across as both a hero and villain. Their reasoning was
to try to understand the story of how people can attain positions of such power and greed. They were
also inspired by Imelda’s love of dancing and clubbing, and how her own style of music could be
incorporated into their own. Byrne adds that their story is not black and white – the couple were very
popular at first, and Imelda headed a lot of public works in the Philippines and added much to the
nation’s sense of culture and identity.

At the Cultural Centre of the Philippines, a tour named ‘La Vida Imelda’ led by Carlos Sedran describes
the life of Imelda Marcos, the cold war and martial law, while also portraying the glamour of the Imelda
lifestyle. He describes it as an eternal story, in which her extravagance can be seen as either distasteful
or in some ways estimable.

There is a danger that these new art forms airbrush out the atrocities which accompanied the
ostentation and glamour. It was a time when democracy was suppressed, political enemies disappeared,
and billions of dollars which could have helped the poverty-stricken country were spent on the Marcos’s
extravagant lifestyle. However, the artists involved are keen to make clear that the regime also resulted
in great leaps forward in the country’s culture, architecture and infrastructure. The Marcos legacy
remains in the form of hospitals, Heart and Lung Centres, Folk Art theatres and homes for children and
the elderly, notwithstanding that the Marcos couple set their war-ravaged, poverty-stricken land onto
the world stage.

1 Why are Imelda’s shoes mentioned in the second paragraph?

To illustrate how little she cared for her personal possessions

To illustrate her love of fashion and beauty
To indicate how quickly she had to flee the country
To illustrate the extravagance of her lifestyle

2 What aspect of Imelda’s character is emphasised in paragraph 3?

her flamboyance
her kindness

her resolution
her beauty

3 Why is Imelda compared with Judy Garland and Lady Gaga?

Due to her status as a gay icon

Due to her ambition and drive

Because she has created new fashions

Because she has triumphed over legal battles

4 Why was the musical of Imelda’s life criticised?

Because it did not portray Imelda’s faults

Because the show was too shallow

Because it was too glamorous and showy
 Because it was both serious and comedic

5 What was it about Imelda’s story that interested David Byrne and Norman Cooke?

The ongoing themes of power, greed and music

The fact that the story had both a clear hero and villain
The reasoning why people such as Imelda become who they are

The fact that her musical taste was similar to theirs

6 According to Carlos Sedran, how do people respond to Imelda’s expensive lifestyle?

Most people are shocked by it.

It evokes both positive and negative feelings

People want to be like her
People realise why she did it

7 Which of the following is NOT mentioned in the text as something Imelda Marcos did for the
Philippines?

She made health services available to the people.

She gave the country a cultural identity.
She reduced the levels of poverty for Filipino people.
She drew the world’s attention to the country.

You are going to read four extracts which are all concerned in some way with the human mind. For each
question, choose the answer which you think fits best according to the text.

Where do emotions come from?

For many centuries, the question of how our minds work was left to theologians and philosophers. But
at the beginning of the twentieth century, a new science, experimental psychology emerged, in which
the speculative theories of the past were confirmed or disproved by the scientific method. At the
forefront of this research was J B Watson. His area of interest was the origin of human emotions. Do we
learn them, or do we have them when we are born? In particular, Watson wanted to study fear, and was
prepared to go to whatever lengths to study his theory.

Watson’s subject was a 9 month old infant, Albert. During the experiment, Watson presented the child
with things which are often considered frightening – a rat, fire, a clown mask. At first, Albert was
unafraid of these things. But then Watson tormented the child with loud, unexpected noises as he was
playing with them. Sure enough, Albert learnt to associate these things with the unpleasant experience.
Even when the noises were stopped, Albert withdrew his body and puckered his face when presented
once more with the rat and mask.

Such abusive and disturbing experiments would never be permitted nowadays. The film which Watson
made of the experiment makes discomforting viewing, as the child is interminably and cold-heartedly
tortured by the items which he has been taught to fear. Nonetheless, this was a landmark work with
profound influence. Through it, Watson confirmed that humans learn fear by association, and as a result
they can ‘un-learn’ it, a discovery that still impact s the work of behavioural therapists today.

1 What did Watson set out to prove?

Humans can be conditioned to fear anything

Children are unafraid of potentially dangerous things

Humans are born with all their emotions

Children are more afraid of loud noises than rats and masks

2 The writer believes that Watson’s work was ultimately...

unwarranted
significant

irrational
trivial

With Age comes Wisdom

Ah, the wisdom of age! It’s comforting to know, as you reach for another cup of tea and a digestive, that
even though you are not jogging lithely up and down the streets like those lithe bodies out there, at
least your mind has been honed by your life experiences into a pearl of insight and erudition, ready to
be tapped for knowledge.

But I would think that, wouldn’t I? But thankfully, I’m not alone in my view, and nor is it just my
generation that agrees with me. There are in fact a small but growing number of young researchers who
are helping us to prove our case. Recently, some American psychologists set about to find out whether
there is a relationship between wisdom and age by studying how people of various ages reasoned in
questions of social conflict.

Subjects were invited to comment on stories featuring disputes between individuals or social groups,
including matters of ethnic tension and immigration. Evaluators listened to their responses and scored
them according to a set of ‘wisdom criteria’ – such factors included preference for compromise,
acknowledgement of other’s points of view and ways to manage uncertainty – (pinpointing exactly what
wisdom is is a decidedly tricky business, it would appear). The findings were clear, (as of course you
would know already, wouldn’t you, being so wise?). The older participants scored more highly than the
younger ones. QED.

Of course there’s always someone who wants it to rain on the parade. Another American theorised
more recently that older brains are slower, and thus more risk-averse and less impulsive. Clearly this is
balderdash, but he’ll learn, when he’s older.

3 This article is clearly written for an audience of...

students
elderly people
psychology researchers

Americans

4 One difficulty in measuring the relationship between wisdom and age mentioned in the passage
was...

deciding how the responses should be scored.

ensuring there was a diverse range of participants.
deciding how wisdom can be measured.
defining the term ‘wisdom’.

The next attempt at mind control

It is not enough for companies to bombard us with visual and auditory advertisements. It’s not that
potential customers have become immune to this kind of sensory stimuli. Indeed a catchy jingle or an
image that taps into our personal desires is as effective as ever it was. But nowadays the average person
experiences over a hundred advertisements per day. How is a company to make an impact when it is
basically just one bullet in a continuous barrage?

A modern solution is find alternative entry to our subconscious – olfactory. This is a far more primal
sense than the ones we have come to depend on, and, if urban legends are true and we do choose our
mates according to their pheromones over any other factor, one that we have less control of than we
think.

Subliminal messaging via visual stimuli has been practised for some time. In 1957, there were reports
that drinks promotions flashed on a movie screen for a fraction of a second could increase sales by over
50% by striking viewer at a subconscious level. Such techniques were later judged by a United Nations
study to be “a major threat to human rights” and were banned in a number of countries.

Olfactory advertising has an even more powerful effect on our buying habits. Our sense of smell is
directly connected to the limbic system, our emotional centre. Odours nearly always cause emotional
reactions, and there is no way for humans to avoid them. Marketers can thus create an atmosphere
which effectively encourages customers to spend longer in stores or gravitate to certain products.
Awareness is key. Only through a greater control over our most basic instincts can we hope to withstand
the marketers’ newest assaults.

5 This article is written to...

inform people about advertising techniques.

teach the reader about the different senses.
advise marketers on new strategies.

warn people about how their minds can be manipulated.

6 Why are auditory and visual stimuli less effective these days?

People are no longer influenced by these messages.

They do not tap into a person’s subconscious.
People come across too many of them.
They are not used as much as the olfactory sense.

Read the passage and complete the sentences below.

Why is the 21st century making us miserable?

We've built an all-encompassing web of technology dedicated to avoiding people. We shop online so we
can avoid people in the supermarket. We spend a fortune on a home theatre system so we can avoid
the annoyance of going to the cinema. Filter from your world that chatty person next to you in a queue
by plugging in your iPod and texting your mates.

The problem is that tolerating annoyance is necessary in a world populated by other people who aren't
you. As long as you have needs, you'll have to deal with people you can't stand from time to time.
Technology is ensuring we lose that vital ability.

These days, whatever your interests, you can find a forum and meet a dozen people just like you. Say
goodbye to the painful process of dealing with somebody who's different. That's another Old World
inconvenience. Fifty years ago people were unable to filter their peers in this way, but still managed to
have more close friends than we have now – people they could trust.

They say 40 percent of your personality is lost in the text transition, so do your online friends even really
know you? How often do they get a different message than the one you sent? For example, sarcasm is
just mismatching the words with the tone. So how can we effectively communicate by text or email? In
face-to-face conversation, only 7% of meaning is in the words; the rest is nonverbal.
We are losing the art of criticism and gaining the ability to insult, especially online. In my time online I've
been insulted lots, but I've been criticized very little. Don't ever confuse the two. Criticism is someone
trying to help you, by telling you something about yourself that you were a little too comfortable not
knowing. Your response to this criticism helps build trust with friends over time. Tragically, these
common quirks and vulnerabilities that real friendships are built on are disappearing online.

We are programmed by evolution to need to do things for and with people, to interact face to face.
Most office jobs these days make us miserable because we don't get physical, tangible results from our
work. Do some building work out in the hot sun for two months, and you can say, "I built that. That’s my
work. "Work for two months in your office and what have you achieved?

So why not turn off the computer, go outdoors and re-connect with the real world? That feeling can't be
matched by anything the Internet has to offer, but I guess we are too far down the line.

1 By the phrase ‘technology dedicated to avoiding people’, the writer is being

ironic.
truthful.
naïve.

2 The second paragraph claims that technology

erodes our social skills.

refocuses our social skills.

identifies a new set of social skills.

3 The implication is that, compared with fifty years ago, people now make friends more

conveniently.
superficially.
appropriately.

4 According to the author, online contacts frequently

fail to receive messages.
misinterpret messages.
misplace messages.

5 The author says that online friendships

 encourage mutual criticism.
involve an element of disagreement.
ignore key elements of relationships.

6 The inference of the article is that technology

allows us to express ourselves fully.
helps us develop more friendships.
contradicts our natural instinct.