Making Copier

At first, nobody bought Chester Carlson’s strange idea. But trillions of documents later, his
invention is the biggest thing in printing since Gutenberg
A
Copying is the engine of civilization: culture is behavior duplicated. The oldest copier
invented by people is language, by which an idea of yours becomes an idea of mine. The
second great copying machine was writing. When the Sumerians transposed spoken words
into stylus marks on clay tablets more than 5,000 years ago, the hugely extended the human
network that language had created. Writing freed copying from the chain of living contact. It
made ideas permanent, portable and endlessly reproducible.
B
Until Johann Gutenberg invented the printing press in the mid-1400s, producing a book in an
edition of more than one generally meant writing it out again. Printing with moveable type
was not copying, however. Gutenberg couldn’t take a document that already existed, feed it
into his printing press and run off facsimiles. The first true mechanical copier was
manufactured in 1780, when James Watt, who is better known as the inventor of the modern
steam engine, created the copying press. Few people today know what a copying press was,
but you may have seen one in an antique store, where it was perhaps called a book press. A
user took a document freshly written in special ink, placed a moistened sheet of translucent
paper against the inked surface and squeezed the two sheets together in the press, causing
some of the ink from the original to penetrate the second sheet, which could then be read by
turning it over and looking through its back. The high cost prohibits the widespread use of
this copier.
C
Among the first modem copying machines, introduced in 1950 by 3M, was the Thermo-Fax,
and it made a copy by shining infrared light through an original document and a sheet of
paper that had been coated with heat-sensitive chemicals. Competing manufacturers soon
introduced other copying technologies and marketed machines called Dupliton, Dial-A-
Matic Autostat, Verifax, Copease and Copymation. These machines and their successors
were welcomed by secretaries, who had no other means of reproducing documents in hand,
but each had serious drawbacks. All required expensive chemically treated papers. And all
made copies that smelled bad, were hard to read, didn’t last long and tended to curl up into
tubes. The machines were displaced, beginning in the late 1800s, by a combination of two
19th century inventions: the typewriter and carbon paper. For those reasons, copying presses
were standard equipment in offices for nearly a century and a half.
D
None of those machines is still manufactured today. They were all made obsolete by a
radically different machine, which had been developed by an obscure photographic-supply
company. That company had been founded in 1906 as the Haloid Company and is known
today as the Xerox Corporation. In 1959, it introduced an office copier called the Haloid
Xerox 914, a machine that, unlike its numerous competitors, made sharp, permanent copies
on ordinary paper-a huge breakthrough. The process, which Haloid called xerography (based
on Greek words meaning “dry” and “writing”), was so unusual and nonnutritive that
physicists who visited the drafty warehouses where the first machines were built sometimes
expressed doubt that it was even theoretically feasible.
E
Remarkably, xerography was conceived by one person- Chester Carlson, a shy, soft-spoken
patent attorney, who grew up in almost unspeakable poverty and worked his way through
junior college and the California Institute of Technology. Chester Carlson was born in
Seattle in 1906. His parents-Olof Adolph Carlson and Ellen Josephine Hawkins—had grown
up on neighboring farms in Grove City, Minnesota, a tiny Swedish farming community about
75 miles west of Minneapolis. Compare with competitors, Carlson was not a normal inventor
in 20-century. He made his discovery in solitude in 1937 and offered it to more than 20
major corporations, among them IBM, General Electric, Eastman Kodak and RCA. All of
them turned him down, expressing what he later called “an enthusiastic lack of interest” and
thereby passing up the opportunity to manufacture what Fortune magazine would describe as
“the most successful product ever marketed in America.”
F
Carlson’s invention was indeed a commercial triumph. Essentially overnight, people began
making copies at a rate that was orders of magnitude higher than anyone had believed
possible. And the rate is still growing. In fact, most documents handled by a typical
American office worker today are produced xerographically, either on copiers manufactured
by Xerox and its competitors or on laser printers, which employ the same process (and were
invented, in the 1970s, by a Xerox researcher). This year, the world will produce more than
three trillion xerographic copies and laser-printed pages—about 500 for every human on
earth.
G
Xerography eventually made Carlson a very wealthy man. (His royalties amounted to
something like a 16th of a cent for every Xerox copy made, worldwide, through 1965.)
Nevertheless, he lived simply. He never owned a second home or a second car, and his wife
had to urge him not to buy third-class train tickets when he traveled in Europe. People who
knew him casually seldom suspected that he was rich or even well-to-do; when Carlson told
an acquaintance he worked at Xerox, the man assumed he was a factory worker and asked if
he belonged to a union. “His possessions seemed to be composed of the number of things he
could easily do without,” his second wife said. He spent the last years of his life quietly
giving most of his fortune to charities. When he died in 1968, among the eulogizers was the
secretary-general of the United Nations.
 
 
Questions 1-6 Making Copier ielts reading answers
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1?
In boxes 1-6 on 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
1   The earliest languages were recorded on papyrus.
2   when applying Johann Gutenberg’s printing machine, it requires lots of training.
3   James Watt invented a modem steam engine before he made his first mechanical copier.
4   using the Dupliton copiers and follower versions are very costly.
5   The typewriters with carbon papers were taken place of very soon because they were not
sold well
6   The Haloid Xerox 914 model also required specially treated paper for making copies.
Questions 7-13
Complete the notes below using NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the Reading
Passage.
Write your answers in boxes 7-13 on your answer sheet.
Calson, unlike a 20-century 7…………………….., like to work on his own. In 1937, he
unsuccessfully invited 20 major 8……………………… to make his discovery. However,
this action was not welcome among shareholders at the beginning, all of them
9………………………. Eventually, Calson’s creation was undeniably a
10…………………….. Thanks for the discovery of Xerography, Calson became a very
11………………………. person. Even so, his life remains as simple as before. It looks as if
he can live without his 12……………………. At the same time, he gave lots of his money to
13………………………..
FORENSIC SCIENCE
A.   Students who want to enter the University of Montreal’s Athletic Complex need more
than just a conventional ID card – their identities must be authenticated by an electronic hand
scanner. In some California housing estates, a key alone is insufficient to get someone in the
door; his or her voiceprint must also be verified. And soon, customers at some Japanese
banks will have to present their faces for scanning before they can enter the building and
withdraw their money.
B.   All of these are applications of biometrics, a little-known but fast-growing technology
that involves the use of physical or biological characteristics to identify individuals. In use
for more than a decade at some high-security government institutions in the United States
and Canada, biometrics are now rapidly popping up in the everyday world. Already, more
than 10,000 facilities, from prisons to day-care centres, monitor people’s fingerprints or other
physical parts to ensure that they are who they claim to be. Some 60 biometric companies
around the world pulled in at least $22 million last year and that grand total is expected to
mushroom to at least $50 million by 2020.
C.   Biometric security systems operate by storing a digitised record of some unique human
feature. When an authorised user wishes to enter or use the facility, the system scans the
person’s corresponding characteristics and attempts to match them against those on record.
Systems using fingerprints, hands, voices, irises, retinas and faces are already on the market.
Others using typing patterns and even body odours are in various stages of development.
D.   Fingerprint scanners are currently the most widely deployed type of biometric
application, thanks to their growing use over the last 20 years by law-enforcement agencies.
Sixteen American states now use biometric fingerprint verification systems to check that
people claiming welfare payments are genuine. In June, politicians in Toronto voted to do
the same, with a pilot project beginning next year.
E.   To date, the most widely used commercial biometric system is the hand key, a type of
hand scanner which reads the unique shape, size and irregularities of people’s hands.
Originally developed for nuclear power plants in the 1960s, the hand key received its big
break when it was used to control access to the Olympic Village in Atlanta by more than
65,000 athletes, trainers and support staff. Now there are scores of other applications.
F.   Around the world, the market is growing rapidly. Malaysia, for example, is preparing to
equip all of its airports with biometric face scanners to match passengers with luggage. And
Japan’s largest maker of cash dispensers is developing new machines that incorporate iris
scanners. The first commercial biometric, a hand reader used by an American firm to
monitor employee attendance, was introduced in 1974. But only in the past few years has the
technology improved enough for the prices to drop sufficiently to make them commercially
viable. ‘When we started four years ago, I had to explain to everyone what a biometric is,’
says one marketing expert. ‘Now, there’s much more awareness out there.’
G.   Not surprisingly, biometrics raises thorny questions about privacy and the potential for
abuse. Some worry that governments and industry will be tempted to use the technology to
monitor individual behaviour. ‘If someone used your fingerprints to match your health-
insurance records with a credit card record showing you regularly bought lots of cigarettes
and fatty foods,’ says one policy analyst, ‘you would see your insurance payments go
through the roof.’ In Toronto, critics of the welfare “fingerprint plan complained that it
would stigmatise recipients by forcing them to submit to a procedure widely identified with
criminals.
H.   Nonetheless, support for biometrics is growing in Toronto as it is in many other
communities. In an increasingly crowded and complicated world, biometrics may well be a
technology whose time has come.
Questions 28-33
Reading Passage has eight paragraphs (A-H).Choose the most suitable headings for
paragraphs B-H from the list of headings below.
Write the appropriate numbers (i-x) in boxes 28-33 on your answer sheet.
NB There are more headings than paragraphs, so you will not use all of them.
List of Headings
i  Common objections
ii  Who's planning what
iii  This type sells best in the shops
iv  The figures say it all
v  Early trials
vi  They can't get in without these
vii  How does it work?
viii  Fighting fraud
ix  Systems to avoid
x  Accepting the inevitable
Example : Paragraph  B - iv
28  Paragraph  C
29  Paragraph  D
30  Paragraph  E
31  Paragraph  F
32  Paragraph  G
33  Paragraph  H
 
Questions 34-40
Look at the following groups of people (Questions 34-40) and the list of biometric
systems(A-F) below.
Match the groups of people to the biometric system associated with them in Reading Passage
134.
Write the appropriate letters A-F in boxes 34-40 on your answer sheet.
NB You may use any biometric system more than once.
34  sports students
35  Olympic athletes
36  airline passengers
37  welfare claimants
38  business employees
39  home owners
40  bank customers
List of Biometric Systems
A  fingerprint scanner
B  hand scanner
C  body odour
D  voiceprint
E  face scanner
F  typing pattern
 Communication in science

A
Science plays an increasingly significant role in people’s lives, making the faithful
communication of scientific developments more important than ever. Yet such
communication is fraught with challenges that can easily distort discussions, leading to
unnecessary confusion and misunderstandings.
B
Some problems stem from the esoteric nature of current research and the associated difficulty
of finding sufficiently faithful terminology. Abstraction and complexity are not signs that a
given scientific direction is wrong, as some commentators have suggested, but are instead a
tribute to the success of human ingenuity in meeting the increasingly complex challenges
that nature presents. They can, however, make communication more difficult. But many of
the biggest challenges for science reporting arise because in areas of evolving research,
scientists themselves often only partly understand the full implications of any particular
advance or development. Since that dynamic applies to most of the scientific developments
that directly affect people’s lives global warming, cancer research, diet studies – learning
how to overcome it is critical to spurring a more informed scientific debate among the
broader public.
C
Ambiguous word choices are the source of some misunderstandings. Scientists often employ
colloquial terminology, which they then assign a specific meaning that is impossible to
fathom without proper training. The term “relativity,” for example, is intrinsically
misleading. Many interpret the theory to mean that everything is relative and there are no
absolutes. Yet although the measurements any observer makes depend on his coordinates and
reference frame, the physical phenomena he measures have an invariant description that
transcends that observer’s particular coordinates. Einstein’s theory of relativity is really
about finding an invariant description of physical phenomena. True, Einstein agreed with the
idea that his theory would have been better named “Invarianten theorie.” But the term
“relativity” was already entrenched at the time for him to change. 
D
“The uncertainty principle” is another frequently abused term. It is sometimes interpreted as
a limitation on observers and their ability to make measurements.
E
But it is not about intrinsic limitations on any one particular measurement; it is about the
inability to precisely measure particular pairs of quantities simultaneously? The first
interpretation is perhaps more engaging from a philosophical or political perspective. It’s just
not what the science is about.
F
Even the word “theory” can be a problem. Unlike most people, who use the word to describe
a passing conjecture that they often regard as suspect, physicists have very specific ideas in
mind when they talk about theories. For physicists, theories entail a definite physical
framework embodied in a set of fundamental assumptions about the world that lead to a
specific set of equations and predictions – ones that are borne out by successful predictions.
Theories aren’t necessarily shown to be correct or complete immediately. Even Einstein took
the better part of a decade to develop the correct version of his theory of general relativity.
But eventually both the ideas and the measurements settle down and theories are either
proven correct, abandoned or absorbed into other, more encompassing theories.
G
“Global warming” is another example of problematic terminology. Climatologists predict
more drastic fluctuations in temperature and rainfall – not necessarily that every place will be
warmer. The name sometimes subverts the debate, since it lets people argue that their winter
was worse, so how could there be global warming? Clearly “global climate change” would
have been a better name. But not all problems stem solely from poor word choices. Some
stem from the intrinsically complex nature of much of modern science. Science sometimes
transcends this limitation: remarkably, chemists were able to detail the precise chemical
processes involved in the destruction of the ozone layer, making the evidence that
chlorofluorocarbon gases (Freon, for example) were destroying the ozone layer indisputable.
H
A better understanding of the mathematical significance of results and less insistence on a
simple story would help to clarify many scientific discussions. For several months, Harvard
was tortured months, Harvard was tortured by empty debates over the relative intrinsic
scientific abilities of men and women. One of the more amusing aspects of the discussion
was that those who believed in the differences and those who didn’t use the same evidence
about gender-specific special ability? How could that be? The answer is that the data shows
no substantial effects. Social factors might account for these tiny differences, which in any
case have an unclear connection to scientific ability. Not much of a headline when phrased
that way, is it? Each type of science has its own source of complexity and potential for
miscommunication. Yet there are steps we can take to improve public understanding in all
cases. The first would be to inculcate greater understanding and acceptance of indirect
scientific evidence. The information from an unmanned space mission is no less legitimate
than the information from one in which people are on board.
I
This doesn’t mean questioning an interpretation, but it also doesn’t mean equating indirect
evidence with blind belief, as people sometimes suggest. Second, we might need different
standards for evaluating science with urgent policy implications than research with the
purely theoretical value. When scientists say they are not certain about their predictions, it
doesn’t necessarily mean they’ve found nothing substantial. It would be better if scientists
were more open about the mathematical significance of their results and if the public didn’t
treat math as quite so scary; statistics and errors, which tell us the uncertainty in a
measurement, give us the tools to evaluate new developments fairly.
J
But most important, people have to recognize that science can be complex. If we accept only
simple stories, the description will necessarily be distorted. When advances are subtle or
complicated, scientists should be willing to go the extra distance to give proper explanations
and the public should be more patient about the truth. Even so, some difficulties are
unavoidable. Most developments reflect work in progress, so the story is complex because no
one yet knows the big picture.
 
Questions 27-31

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

Write your answers in boxes 27-31 on your answer sheet.
27   Why faithful science communication important?
A   Science plays an increasingly significant role in people’s lives.
B   Science is fraught with challenges public are interested in.
C   The nature of complexity in science communication leads to confusion.
D   Scientific inventions are more important than ever before.
28   what is the reason that the author believes for the biggest challenges for science
reporting
A   phenomenon such as global warming, cancer research, diet studies is too complex.
B   Scientists themselves often only partly understand the Theory of Evolution
C   Scientists do not totally comprehend the meaning of certain scientific evolution
D   Scientists themselves often partly understand the esoteric communication nature
29   According to the  3rd paragraph, the reference to the term and example of “theory of
relativity” is to demonstrate
A   theory of relativity is about an invariant physical phenomenon
B   common people may be misled by the inaccurate choice of scientific phrase
C   the term “relativity,” is designed to be misleading public
D   everything is relative and there is no absolutes existence
30   Which one is a good example of appropriate word choice:
A   Scientific theory for the uncertainty principle
B   phenomenon of Global warming
C   the importance of ozone layer
D   Freon’s destructive process on environmental
31   What is a surprising finding of the Harvard debates in the passage?
A   There are equal intrinsic scientific abilities of men and women.
B   The proof applied by both sides seemed to be of no big difference.
C   The scientific data usually shows no substantial figures to support a debated idea.
D   Social factors might have a clear connection to scientific ability.
 
Questions 32-35

Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1?
In boxes 32-35 on your answer sheet, write
TRUE           if the statement is true
FALSE          if the statement is false
NOT GIVEN    if the information is not given in the passage 
32   “Global warming” scientifically refers to greater fluctuations in temperature and rainfall
rather than a universal temperature rise.
33   More media coverage of “global warming” would help the public to recognize the
phenomenon.
34   Harvard debates should focus more on female scientist and male scientists
35   Public understanding and acceptance of indirect scientific evidence in all cases would
lead to confusion
 
Questions 36-40

Complete the following summary of the paragraphs of Reading Passage

Using NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the Reading Passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 36-40 on your answer sheet. 
Science Communication is fraught with challenges that can easily distort discussions, leading
to unnecessary confusion and misunderstandings. Firstly, Ambiguous 36……………………
are the source of some misunderstandings. Common people without proper training do not
understand clearly or deeply a specific scientific meaning via the 37………………….
scientists often employed. Besides, the measurements any 38…………………… makes can
not be confined to describe in a(n) constant 39…………………….. yet the phenomenon can
be. What’s more, even the word “theory” can be a problem. Theories aren’t necessarily
shown to be correct or complete immediately since scientists often evolved better versions of
specific theories, a good example can be the theory of 40……………………. Thus, most
importantly people have to recognize that science can be complex.