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Text 1.
5 To Clone or Not!
Britain’s Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority (HFEA) and the Human Genetics
Advisory Commission (HGAC) have advised the government to let research on human
cloning for therapeutic purposes 1_____ under specific circumstances. They recommended
10that the purposes 2_____ human embryos may be used for in research be extended. The
government, 3_____, has decided to keep a complete ban on such research while other
advisers reconsider the issue. In an editorial, New Scientist described this as a huge mistake
and asked how 4_____. An expert advisory group has 5_____ advise on the recommendation
by the HFEA and the HGAC. The report written by the HFEA and HGAC recognises that
15extending the purposes is not a simple matter. It recommends that the government consider
changing the law to allow further uses of human embryos in research. However, changing
this law is a big step 6_____ further details on needs and risks and serious consideration of
certain issues raised by using human embryos.
35Can ants provide answers to traffic problems? A German scientist says ants can teach humans
how 7_____ traffic. 8_____ ant colonies for several years, Dirk Helbing, of Dresden
University, was able to see how they 9_____with heavy insect traffic. In a scientific test,
Helbing and colleagues from two other universities studied how ants crossed a bridge
between their nest and a food source when they had a choice between two 10_____ paths.
40When there were few ants, or little traffic, they mainly used one path. This was because ants
left traces of pheromones on paths 11_____ used and the more of these traces there were on a
path, 12_____ to other ants. The ants only started to use the second path when the first one
was becoming too crowded. Scientists say this is 13_____ to the way the growth of cities
prevents main traffic routes from 14____. And they hope 15_____ the mathematical model of
45'ant algorithms' to better regulate data traffic on the internet.
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Text 3.
Types of Diving
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Of all the types of diving, free diving is the oldest and simplest. In fact, people
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_____ into seas and oceans long before diving equipment was invented. 17_____ no
equipment is necessary for free diving, most free divers use a face mask, foot fins, and a
snorkel. Free divers must hold their breath under the surface. Most free divers can only
10descend 30 to 40 feet, 18 _____ some skilled divers can go as deep as 100 feet.
Scuba diving provides a greater 19_____ than free diving. The word scuba 20_____
self-contained underwater breathing apparatus. Scuba divers wear metal tanks with
compressed air or other breathing gases. 21_____ using open-circuit equipment, a scuba diver
simply breathes air from the tank through a hose and 22_____ the exhaled air into the water.
15A closed-circuit breathing device, also called a re-breather, filters out carbon dioxide and
other harmful gases and automatically adds oxygen, 23_____ the diver to breathe the same air
over and over.
In surface supplied diving, divers wear helmets and water proof canvas suits. Today,
sophisticated plastic helmets have replaced the heavy copper helmets which divers 24_____ in
20the past. A hose connected to compressors on a boat 25_____ air for the diver. Surface-
supplied divers can go deeper than any other type of diver.
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Text 4.
Just Passing By
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The planet Venus crosses directly in front of the sun only twice a century – and on
June 8, 2004, this event happened for the first time since 1882. The transit always takes only
about six hours.
In 1627, the great German astronomer Johannes Kepler first 26_____ a transit of
10Venus, but he died 27_____ he could witness the 1631 event. In 1769, the explorer Captain
James Cook – just a lieutenant at the time – made his first voyage to the South Pacific
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_____ to view that year’s transit from Tahiti. Moreover, more than 50 expeditions 29_____
from the U.S., Britain, Russia and other nations to every corner of the earth to see the 1874
transit.
15 There was an important reason to make such efforts: 30_____ the moments a transit
began and ended from different points on Earth, astronomers could use trigonometry to
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_____ calculate the distance from Earth to the sun. That was 32_____ in theory than in
practice, though, and nowadays astronomers use other methods to measure the distance to the
sun. Last June, the world was watching out of 33_____ and wondered at seeing a planet
2034_____ across the face of the sun – first hand proof that the seemingly two-dimensional sky
is anything but. A transit is coming June 6, 2012. The people who miss that one are out of
luck because there 35_____ be another transit until 2117.
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SECTION II. READING COMPREHENSION / Questions 36-65 (30 x 1.5 = 45 points)
Text 1. Read the text and choose the alternative that best answers each question.
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Scientists have found a new way to make the obese slim again - by cutting off the
blood supply to the layers of fat that are a health hazard for hundreds of millions of people.
The technique called "molecular liposuction" so far works only in mice. A team at the
University of Houston, Texas, report in Nature Medicine Today that weeks of treatment by an
5experimental drug restored the normal weight of mice that had doubled their size on a high-
fat "cafeteria" diet.
"If even a fraction of what we found in mice relates to human biology, then we are
cautiously optimistic that there may be a new way to think about reversing obesity," said
Renata Pasqualini, of the University of Texas at Houston.
10 Obesity is now one of the biggest problems in world health. Almost one American in
three is seriously overweight. One British person in four is clinically obese. Even in the
developing world, obesity levels are rising rapidly. Obesity has been linked to adult-onset
type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular hazards and increased risks of cancer. Health authorities have
urged people to eat less, choose a diet richer in fruit and vegetables and exercise more.
15 Cosmetic surgeons have promoted liposuction - the drastic removal of fat - and
stomach surgery. Geneticists have been trying to make a hereditary connection - because
some groups of people seem to be at greater risk of obesity - and research groups have been
studying the hormonal cycles linked with eating in the search for appetite-suppressing pills.
However, the Texas team tried an approach already being investigated as a cancer
20treatment. In theory, life-threatening tumours would first halt and then decline if you could
cut off the blood supply to the cancerous tissue. The growth of fat tissue, too, depends on a
steady supply of oxygen and nutrients delivered in the blood. These fat cells are abnormally
greedy for oxygen, and half a kilo of fat contains a mile of blood vessels, according to one
estimate. Blood vessels differ according to the "postal code addresses" they serve. So the
25Houston scientists, based at the university's M.D. Anderson Cancer Centre, searched for
unique protein markers that would identify only those blood cells that served fatty tissue.
They found one called prohibitin, already known to regulate cell survival and growth.
They attached to it a synthetic drug already known from cancer trial to cause a cell to self-
destruct. Then they injected it into mice that had become grossly overweight on a high-fat,
30sugary diet. Within four weeks, the mice had reached their normal weight again. The fat had
been reabsorbed and metabolised. Other collaborators looked for evidence of toxic or
unpleasant side effects - such as fat accumulation in the liver and blood - and found none.
But further trials are needed.
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36. Molecular liposuction is _____.
a) cutting out the fat layers that are a threat to the body
b) supplying blood to the layers of fat
c) stopping blood from getting to the fat layers
40 d) going on a high-fat "cafeteria" diet
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37. Which of the following sentences is true according to the article?
a) Most Americans prefer molecular liposuction to liposuction.
b) Mice and human biology are totally different.
c) The drug hasn’t been experimented on humans yet.
50 d) Pasqualini doesn’t believe that reversing obesity is possible.
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Text 2. Read the text and choose the alternative that best answers each question.
New IDs
When defending his proposal for a national ID card scheme, United Kingdom Home
50Secretary David Blunkett said that it could be effective in fighting terrorism. Draft legislation
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outlining the plans for the scheme will be published on Monday and a pilot trial is due to
begin soon. However, civil rights groups say it is a "myth" that the cards will prevent terror
attacks, thus indicating their opposition to the proposal. As an answer to these groups, Mr.
Blunkett told the BBC: "This is not a dream. This is real. This is about recognising the
5massive change that's taken place in the world." Speaking on a BBC programme called One's
Breakfast With Frost, he said the proposed programme would begin voluntarily before
including the whole population. "Within three years we will be in a position to start everyone
having a biometric passport issued and along with it a biometric card." This would include
specific identifiers like iris scans, finger prints or facial recognition. "Within seven years we'd
10start to move towards a position where people generally across the whole population have got
an ID card," he said. "At that point, we've agreed that we'll present a report to parliament on
how it's working and whether it should be compulsory, and at that point we'll have a vote."
Mr. Blunkett said the cards would stop terrorists from using multiple identities, which would
help prevent attacks.
15 "The Spanish do have an ID card - but it isn't a foolproof biometric card with a
database, with the ability to test not only the card, but actually the person and the card they
hold. That's what will be potentially possible and this will ensure that they can't have multiple
identities." Cards could also help fight so-called health tourism and benefit fraud, Mr.
Blunkett suggested. "The exploitation of our services, particularly our health and welfare
20services, is something we'll be able to control. In other words, it will stop fraud in such
areas." he said. "We'll be able to ensure that through true identity we can avoid clandestine
entry to the country and working illegally." He also said that it would ensure that people who
benefit from social welfare are only those who are entitled to it. The scheme would not
depend on people carrying their cards at all times. Mr. Blunkett said the technology would
25allow officials to double-check someone's identity simply by scanning, for example, an iris or
a fingerprint. He said: "This is about true identity: true identity will enable us to know who is
who and who is in the country. Thus, we will be able to trace them. We will know what
they're entitled to, or what their intentions are."
However, the proposal faces opposition among Labour's own members, with Labour
30MP David Winnick saying the entire idea should be "dropped". "I think this is a very costly
exercise which will not do what is claimed by the home secretary and other enthusiasts," he
said. Civil rights group Liberty raised concerns that the government would be unable to keep
personal data secure, raising privacy concerns. Executive director Shami Chakrabarti said,
"David Blunkett is too quick to offer various draconian measures as a magic bullet to erase
35fears and solve our current problems such as terrorism, illegal immigration and so on."
Campaigners say having several methods of identification, including passports, driving
licences and benefit cards, is the safest option.
Ministers have said the £3.1 billion cost of introducing a national ID card will be met
by raising the cost of passports. Mr. Blunkett said it would cost approximately £31 per person
40to add biometric details to passports, and people would only pay around an extra £4 for the
ID card element. But he said there would be concessions for people on low incomes,
including the elderly and those applying for their first card at the age of 16, or poor people on
welfare. Government sources say that under the new proposals, carrying false identity papers
will become a specific offence for the first time, with offenders facing up to 10 years in jail.
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a) biometric passport b) biometric card c) every person d) the proposal
46. The word ‘clandestine’ in line 23 is similar in meaning to _____.
a) restricted b) permitted c) secret d) legal
47. The word ‘draconian’ in line 36 is similar in meaning to _____.
5 a) flexible b) severe c) loose d) dangerous
48. The word ‘concessions’ in line 43 could best be replaced by _____.
a) reductions b) classification c) division d) disadvantages
49. Which of the following is true about the national ID card?
a) Civil Rights groups are supportive of it.
10 b) It will be compulsory for everyone in the next three years.
c) There will be a vote in parliament in about seven years.
d) Mr. Blunkett does not think it is necessary to have a test period.
52. Which of the following is not given by Blunkett as an advantage of the new ID card?
30 a) It will stop people from using multiple identities.
b) It will indirectly contribute to the economy of the country.
c) It will make it easy to trace the people who enter the country.
d) It will help fight terrorist attacks and illegal immigration.
Text 3. Read the text and choose the alternative that best answers each question.
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55. The word ‘they’ in line 3 refers to _____.
a) potentials of the environment c) demands of the environment
b) assumed mistakes d) primitive societies
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56. The word ‘manipulate’ in line 3 is similar in meaning to _____.
a) control b) check c) fight d) beat
Throughout Anglophone Africa, English is seen as the key to economic power and
progress and it is the preferred language of education in African classrooms. Surveys carried
45out in a number of schools in Africa indicate that most students in schools and colleges there
prefer to be instructed in English (or French) as this greatly increases their career prospects in
a rapidly globalizing world. 63. _______________ UNESCO's international literacy institute
describes it as one of the most important challenges facing African countries this
millennium.
50 English is a colonial language, and it continued to be the official language after
independence in virtually all African countries that were under British rule. In some cases, it
was employed to avoid ethnic tensions; in all cases, it was retained because of its prestige
and association with power. 64. ________________ Students were made to feel ashamed of
their mother tongue and punished for speaking it at school. In Kenya, for example, speaking
in the mother tongue was forbidden in schools and punished. One popular method was to
embarrass pupils by making them carry around the skull of a dead animal all day.
5 Today, it is difficult to use the native languages because they have not been codified
and standardised. There is also a shortage of teaching materials and trained teachers in the
native languages. 65. __________________ Even the terms used to refer to these languages
are controversial. They include such terms as ‘dialects’, ‘minority languages’ and
‘undeveloped languages’ – all of which suggest that these languages are not rich in
10expression and are unsuitable for modern needs. They are considered incapable of being part
of a modern education which includes science and technology.
15b. This has often been used as an excuse for not adopting them in schools.
c. This preference has caused a debate as to whether education should be carried out in the
mother tongue or in the second language.
20d. Teaching foreign languages has always been one of the most popular jobs in Africa.
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1. With news readily available from electronic media, why are newspapers still popular?
Discuss.
402. Plastic surgery for cosmetic reasons has become very popular, especially among women.
Discuss the reasons for this.
454. How does the educational level of people’s parents affect their lives? Discuss.
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