And for top-quality cork, it’s necessary to wait a further 15 or 20 years.

Book 12 test 1 You even have to wait for the right kind of summer’s day to harvest cork.
If the bark is stripped on a day when it’s too cold – or when the air is
damp – the tree will be damaged.
READING PASSAGE 1 Cork harvesting is a very specialised profession. No mechanical means of
stripping cork bark has been invented, so the job is done by teams of
Cork highly skilled workers. First, they make vertical cuts down the bark using
small sharp axes, then lever it away in pieces as large as they can
Cork – the thick bark of the cork oak tree (Quercus suber) – is a remarkable
manage. The most skilful cork-strippers prise away a semi-circular husk
material. It is tough, elastic, buoyant, and fire-resistant, and suitable for a
that runs the length of the trunk from just above ground level to the first
wide range of purposes. It has also been used for millennia: the ancient
branches. It is then dried on the ground for about four months, before
Egyptians sealed their sarcophagi (stone coffins) with cork, while the
being taken to factories, where it is boiled to kill any insects that might
ancient Greeks and Romans used it for anything from beehives to
remain in the cork. Over 60% of cork then goes on to be made into
sandals.
traditional bottle stoppers, with most of the remainder being used in the
And the cork oak itself is an extraordinary tree. Its bark grows up to 20
construction trade. Corkboard and cork tiles are ideal for thermal and
cm in thickness, insulating the tree like a coat wrapped around the trunk
acoustic insulation, while granules of cork are used in the manufacture
and branches and keeping the inside at a constant 20oC all year round.
of concrete.
Developed most probably as a defence against forest fires, the bark of
Recent years have seen the end of the virtual monopoly of cork as the
the cork oak has a particular cellular structure – with about 40 million
material for bottle stoppers, due to concerns about the effect it may
cells per cubic centimetre – that technology has never succeeded in
have on the contents of the bottle. This is caused by a chemical
replicating. The cells are filled with air, which is why cork is so buoyant. It
compound called 2,4,6-trichloroanisole (TCA), which forms through the
also has an elasticity that means you can squash it and watch it spring
interaction of plant phenols, chlorine and mould. The tiniest
back to its original size and shape when you release the pressure.
concentrations – as little as three or four parts to a trillion – can spoil the
Cork oaks grow in a number of Mediterranean countries, including
taste of the product contained in the bottle. The result has been a
Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece and Morocco. They flourish in warm, sunny
gradual yet steady move first towards plastic stoppers and, more
climates where there is a minimum of 400 millimetres of rain per year,
recently, to aluminium screw caps. These substitutes are cheaper to
and not more than 800 millimetres. Like grape vines, the trees thrive in
manufacture and, in the case of screw caps, move convenient for the
poor soil, putting down deep roots in search of moisture and nutrients.
user.
Southern Portugal’s Alentejo region meets all of these requirements,
The classic cork stopper does have several advantages, however. Firstly,
which explains why, by the early 20th century, this region had become
its traditional image is more in keeping with that of the type of high
the world’s largest producer of cork, and why today it accounts for
quality goods with which it has long been associated. Secondly – and
roughly half of all cork production around the world.
very importantly – cork is a sustainable product that can be recycled
Most cork forests are family-owned. Many of these family businesses,
without difficulty. Moreover, cork forests are a resource which support
and indeed many of the trees themselves, are around 200 years old.
local biodiversity, and prevent desertification in the regions where they
Cork production is, above all, an exercise in patience. From the planting
are planted. So, given the current concerns about environmental issues,
of a cork sapling to the first harvest takes 25 years, and a gap of
the future of this ancient material once again looks promising.
approximately a decade must separate harvests from an individual tree.
Questions 1-5
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading
Passage 1?
In boxes 1-5 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 cork oak has the thickest bark of any living tree.
2 Scientists have developed a synthetic cork with the same cellular
structures as natural cork.
3 Individual cork oak trees must be left for 25 years between the first
and second harvest.
4 Cork bark should be stripped in dry atmospheric conditions.
5 The only way to remove the bark from cork oak trees is by hand.
Questions 6-13
Complete the notes bolow.
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 6-13 on your answer sheet.
Comparison of aluminium screw caps and cork bottle stoppers
Advantages of aluminium screw caps
• do not affect the 6…………………………… of the bottle contents
• are 7…………………………….. to produce
• are 8……………………………… to use
Advantages of cork bottle stoppers
• suit the 9……………………………… of quality products
• made from a 10……………………………… material
• easily 11…………………………….
• cork forests aid 12…………………………………
• cork forests stop 13………………………………. happening
READING PASSAGE 2
COLLECTING AS A HOBBY
Collecting must be one of the most varied of human activities, and it’s
one that many of us psychologists find fascinating. Many forms of
collecting have been dignified with a technical name: an archtophilist
collects teddy bears, a philatelist collects postage stamps, and a
deltiologist collects postcards. Amassing hundreds or even thousands of
postcards, chocolate wrappers or whatever, takes time, energy and
money that could surely be put to much more productive use. And yet
there are millions of collectors around the world. Why do they do it?
There are the people who collect because they want to make money –
this could be called an instrumental reason for collecting; that is,
collecting as a means to an end. They’ll look for, say, antiques that they
can buy cheaply and expect to be able to sell at a profit. But there may
well be a psychological element, too – buying cheap and selling dear can
give the collector a sense of triumph. And as selling online is so easy,
more and more people are joining in.
Many collectors collect to develop their social life, attending meetings of
a group of collectors and exchanging information on items. This is a
variant on joining a bridge club or a gym, and similarly brings them into
contact with like-minded people.
Another motive for collecting is the desire to find something special, or a
particular example of the collected item, such as a rare early recording
by a particular singer. Some may spend their whole lives in a hunt for
this. Psychologically, this can give a purpose to a life that otherwise feels
aimless. There is a danger, though, that if the indiv is ever lucky enough
to find what they’re looking for, rather than celebrating their success,
they may feel empty, now that the goal that drove them on has gone.
If you think about collecting postage stamps, another potential reason
for it – or, perhaps, a result of collecting – is its educational value. Stamp
collecting opens a window to other countries, and to the plants, animals,
or famous people shown on their stamps. Similarly, in the 19th century,
many collectors amassed fossils, animals and plants from around the
globe, and their collections provided a vast amount of information about
the natural world. Without those collections, our understanding would
be greatly inferior to what it is.
In the past – and nowadays, too, though to a lesser extent – a popular
form of collecting, particularly among boys and men, was trainspotting.
This might involve trying to see every locomotive of a particular type,
using published data that identifies each one, and ticking off each engine
as it is seen. Trainspotters exchange information, these days often by
mobile phone, so they can work out where to go to, to see a particular
engine. As a by-product, many practitioners of the hobby become very
knowledgeable about railway operations, or the technical specifications
of different engine types.
Similarly, people who collect dolls may go beyond simply enlarging their
collection, and develop an interest in the way that dolls are made, or the
materials that are used. These have changed over the centuries from the
wood that was standard in 16th century Europe, through the wax and
porcelain of later centuries, to the plastics of today’s dolls. Or collectors
might be inspired to study how dolls reflect notions of what children like,
or ought to like.
Not all collectors are interested in learning from their hobby, though, so
what we might call a psychological reason for collecting is the need for a
sense of control, perhaps as a way of dealing with insecurity. Stamps
collectors, for instance, arrange their stamps in albums, usually very
neatly, organising their collection according to certain commonplace
principles – perhaps by country in alphabetical order, or grouping
stamps by what they depict – people, birds, maps, and so on.
One reason, conscious or not, for what someone chooses to collect is to
show the collector’s individualism. Someone who decides to collect
something as unexpected as dos collars, for instance, may be conveying
their belief that they must be interesting themselves. And believe it or
not, there is at least one dog collar museum in existence, and it grew out
of a personal collection.
Of course, all hobbies give pleasure, but the common factor in collecting
is usually passion: pleasure is putting it far too mildly. More than most
other hobbies, collecting can be totally engrossing, and can give a strong
sense of personal fulfilment. To non-collectors it may appear an
eccentric, if harmless, way of spending time, but potentially, collecting
has a lot going for it.
Questions 14-21
Complete the sentences below.
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
14 The writer mentions collecting …………………….. as an example of
collecting in order to make money.
15 Collectors may get a feeling of …………………….. from buying and selling
items.
16 Collectors’ clubs provide opportunities to share……………………………
17 Collectors’ clubs offer ………………………. with people who have similar
interests.
18 Collecting sometimes involves a life-long………………………. for a special
item.
19 Searching for something particular may prevent people from feeling
their life is completely……………………….
20 Stamp collecting may be ……………………….. because it provides facts
about different countries.
21 ……………………….. tends to be mostly a male hobby.
Questions 22-26
Do the following statements agree with the information given in the
passage on pages 20 and 21?
In boxes 22-26 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
22 The number of people buying dolls has grown over the centuries.
23 Sixteenth century European dolls were normally made of wax and
porcelain.
24 Arranging a stamp collection by the size of the stamps is less
common than other methods.
25 Someone who collects unusual objects may want others to think he
or she is also unusual.
26 Collecting gives a feeling that other hobbies are unlikely to inspire.
 marketing principled?’ After all, a subject matter can have principles in
READING PASSAGE 3 the sense of being codified, having rules, as with football or chess,
without being principled in the sense of being ethical. Many of the
What’s the purpose of gaining students immediately assumed that the answer to my question about
marketing principles was obvious: no. Just look at the ways in which
knowledge? everything under the sun has been marketed; obviously it need to be
done in a principled (=ethical) fashion.
A
D
‘I would found an institution where any person can find instruction in
Is that obvious? I made the suggestion, which may sound downright
any subject.’ That was the founder’s motto for Cornell University, and it
crazy in light of the evidence, that perhaps marketing is by
seems an apt characterization of the different university, also in the USA,
definition principled. My inspiration for this judgement is the philosopher
where I currently teach philosophy. A student can prepare for a career in
Immanuel Kant, who argued that any body of knowledge consists of an
resort management, engineering, interior design, accounting, music, law
end (or purpose) and a means.
enforcement, you name it. But what would the founders of these two
E
institutions have thought of a course called ‘Arson for Profit’? I kid you
Let us apply both the terms ‘means’ and ‘end’ to marketing. The students
not: we have it on the books. Any undergraduates who have met the
have signed up for a course in order to learn how to market effectively.
academic requirements can sign up for the course in our program in ‘fire
But to what end? There seem to be two main attitudes toward that
science’.
question. One is that the answer is obvious: the purpose of marketing is
B
to sell things and to make money. The other attitude is that the purpose of
Naturally, the course is intended for prospective arson investigators,
marketing is irrelevant: Each person comes to the program and course
who can learn all the tricks of the trade for detecting whether a fire was
with his or her own plans, and these need not even concern the
deliberately set, discovering who did it, and establishing a chain of
acquisition of marketing expertise as such. My proposal, which I believe
evidence for effective prosecution in a court of law. But wouldn’t this
would also be Kant’s, is that neither of these attitudes captures the
also be the perfect course for prospective arsonists to sign up for? My
significance of the end to the means for marketing. A field of knowledge
point is not to criticize academic programs in fire science: they are highly
or a professional endeavor is defined by both the means and the end;
welcome as part of the increasing professionalization of this and many
hence both deserve scrutiny. Students need to study both how to achieve
other occupations. However, it’s not unknown for a firefighter to torch a
X, and also what X is.
building. This example suggests how dishonest and illegal behavior, with
F
the help of higher education, can creep into every aspect of public and
It is at this point that ‘Arson for Profit’ becomes supremely relevant. That
business life.
course is presumably all about means: how to detect and prosecute
C
criminal activity. It is therefore assumed that the end is good in an ethical
I realized this anew when I was invited to speak before a class in
sense. When I ask fire science students to articulate the end, or purpose,
marketing, which is another of our degree programs. The regular
of their field, they eventually generalize to something like, ‘The safety
instructor is a colleague who appreciates the kind of ethical perspective.
and welfare of society,’ which seems right. As we have seen, someone
I can bring as a philosopher. There are endless ways I could have
could use the very same knowledge of means to achieve a much less noble
approached this assignment, but I took my cue from the title of the
end such as personal profit via destructive, dangerous, reckless activity.
course: ‘Principles of Marketing’. It made me think to ask the students, ‘Is
But we would not call that firefighting. We have a separate word for
it: arson. Similarly, if you employed the ‘principles of marketing’ is an
unprincipled way, you would not be doing marketing. We have another term for
it: fraud. Kant gives the example of a doctor and a poisoner, who use the
identical knowledge to achieve their divergent ends. We would say that
one is practicing medicine, the other, murder. Questions 33-36
Complete the summary below.
Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.
Questions 27-32 Write your answers in boxes 33-36 on your answer sheet.

Reading Passage 3 has six sections, A-F.

Choose the correct heading for each section from the list of headings The ‘Arson for Profit’ course
below. This is a university course intended for students who are
Write the correct number, i-viii, in boxes 27-32 on your answer sheet. undergraduates and who are studying 33………………………. The
List of Headings expectation is that they will become 34…………………………. specialising in
i Courses that require a high level of commitment arson. The course will help them to detect cases of arson and
ii A course title with two meanings find 35………………………. of criminal intent, leading to
iii The equal importance of two key issues successful 36………………………… in the courts.
iv Applying a theory in an unexpected context
v The financial benefits of studying
vi A surprising course little Questions 37-40
vii Different names for different outcomes Do the following statements agree with the views of the writer in
viii The possibility of attracting the wrong kind of student Reading Passage 3?
In boxes 37-40 on your answer sheet, write
27 Section A YES if the statement agrees with the views of the writer
28 Section B NO if the statement contradicts the views of the writer
29 Section C NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
30 Section D 37 It is difficult to attract students onto courses that do not focus on a
31 Section E career.
32 Section F 38 The ‘Arson for Profit’ course would be useful for people intending to
set fire to buildings.
39 Fire science courses are too academic to help people to be good at
the job of firefighting.
40 The writer’s fire science students provided a detailed definition of the
purpose of their studies.
Book 12 Test 2: basic services like roads to get produce more efficiently to markets, or
water and food storage facilities to reduce losses. Sophia Murphy, senior
advisor to the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, suggested that
READING PASSAGE 1 the procurement and holding of stocks by governments can also help
mitigate wild swings in food prices by alleviating uncertainties about
The risks agriculture faces in market supply.
E
developing countries Shenggen Fan, Director General of the International Food Policy
Research Institute, help up social safety nets and public welfare
Synthesis of an online debate*
programmes in Ethiopia, Brazil and Mexico as valuable ways to address
A
poverty among farming families and reduce their vulnerability to
Two things distinguish food production from all other productive
agriculture shocks. However, some commentators responded that cash
activities: first, every single person needs food each day and has a right
transfers to poor families do not necessarily translate into increased
to it; and second, it is hugely dependent on nature. These two unique
food security, as these programmes do not always strengthen food
aspects, one political, the other natural, make food production highly
production or raise incomes. Regarding state subsidies for agriculture,
vulnerable and different from any other business. At the same time,
Rokeya Kabir, Executive Director of Bangladesh Nari Progati Sangha,
cultural values are highly entrenched in food and agricultural systems
commented in her essay that these ‘have not compensated for the
worldwide.
stranglehold exercised by private traders. In fact, studies show that sixty
B
percent of beneficiaries of subsidies are not poor, but rich landowners
Farmers everywhere face major risks, including extreme weather, long-
and non-farmer traders.’
term climate change, and price volatility in input and product markets.
F
However, smallholder farmers in developing countries must in addition
Nwanze, Murphy and Fan argued that private risk management tools,
deal with adverse environments, both natural, in terms of soil quality,
like private insurance, commodity futures markets, and rural finance can
rainfall, etc., and human, in terms of infrastructure, financial systems,
help small-scale producers mitigate risk and allow for investment in
markets, knowledge and technology. Counter-intuitively, hunger is
improvements. Kabir warned that financial support schemes often
prevalent among many smallholder farmers in the developing world.
encourage the adoption of high-input agricultural practices, which in the
C
medium term may raise production costs beyond the value of their
Participants in the online debate argued that our biggest challenge is to
harvests. Murphy noted that when futures markets become excessively
address the underlying causes of the agricultural system’s inability to
financialised they can contribute to short-term price volatility, which
ensure sufficient food for all, and they identified as drivers of this
increases farmers’ food insecurity. Many participants and commentators
problem our dependency on fossil fuels and unsupportive government
emphasised that greater transparency in markets is needed to mitigate
policies.
the impact of volatility, and make evident whether adequate stocks and
D
supplies are available. Others contended that agribusiness companies
On the question of mitigating the risks farmers face, most essayists
should be held responsible for paying for negative side effects.
called for greater state intervention. In his essay, Kanayo F. Nwanze,
President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development, argued
that governments can significantly reduce risks for farmers by providing
G supported agriculture, where consumers invest in local farmers by
Many essayists mentioned climate change and its consequences for
small-scale agriculture. Fan explained that ‘in addition to reducing crop
yields, climate change increases the magnitude and frequency of
extreme weather events, which increase smallholder vulnerability.’ The
growing unpredictability of weather patterns increases farmers’ difficulty
in managing weather-related risks. According to this author, one solution
would be to develop crop varieties that are more resilient to new climate
trends and extreme weather patterns. Accordingly, Pat Mooney, co-
founder and executive director of the ETC Group, suggested that ‘if we
are to survive climate change, we must adopt policies that let peasants
diversify the plant and animal species and varieties/breeds that make up
our menus.’
H 2 a reference to challenges faced only by farmers in certain parts of the
Some participating authors and commentators argued in favour of
community-based and autonomous risk management strategies through
collective action groups, co-operatives or producers’ groups. Such
groups enhance market opportunities for small-scale producers, reduce
marketing costs and synchronise buying and selling with seasonal price
conditions. According to Murphy, ‘collective action offers an important
way for farmers to strengthen their political and economic bargaining
power, and to reduce their business risks.’ One commentator, Giel Ton,
warned that collective action does not come as a free good. It takes time,
effort and money to organise, build trust and to experiment. Others, like
Marcel Vernooij and Marcel Beukeboom, suggested that in order to
‘apply what we already know’, all stakeholders, including business,
government, scientists and civil society, must work together, starting at
the beginning of the value chain.
I of living of farmers.
Some participants explained that market price volatility is often
worsened by the presence of intermediary purchasers who, taking
advantage of farmers’ vulnerability, dictate prices. One commentator
suggested farmers can gain greater control over prices and minimise
price volatility by selling directly to consumers. Similarly, Sonali Bisht,
founder and advisor to the Institute of Himalayan Environmental
Research and Education (INHERE), India, wrote that community-
subscription and guarantee producers a fair price, is a risk-sharing
model worth more attention. Direct food distribution systems not only
encourage small-scale agriculture but also give consumers more control
over the food they consume, she wrote.
———————
* The personal names in the text refer to the authors of written contributions to the online
debate
Questions 1-3
Reading Passage 1 has nine paragraphs, A-I.
Which paragraph contains the following information?
Write the correct letter, A-I, in boxes 1-3 on your answer sheet.
1 a reference to characteristics that only apply to food production
world
3 a reference to difficulties in bringing about co-operation between
farmers
Questions 4-9
Look at the following statements (Question 4-9) and the list of people
below.
Match each statement with the correct person, A-G.
Write the correct letter, A-G, in boxes 4-9 on your answer sheet.
NB You may use any letter more than once.
4 Financial assistance from the government does not always go to the
farmers who most need it.
5 Farmers can benefit from collaborating as a group.
6 Financial assistance from the government can improve the standard
7 Farmers may be helped if there is financial input by the same
individuals who buy from them.
8 Governments can help to reduce variation in prices.
9 Improvements to infrastructure can have a major impact on risk for
farmers.
List of People
A Kanayo F. Nwanze READING PASSAGE 2
B Sophia Murphy
C Shenggen Fan
D Rokeya Kabir The Lost City
An explorer’s encounter with the ruined city of Machu Picchu, the most famous icon of the Inca
E Pat Mooney civilsation
F Giel Ton A
G Sonali Bisht When the US explorer and academic Hiram Bingham arrived in South
America in 1911, he was ready for what was to be the greatest
Questions 10-11 achievement of his life: the exploration of the remote hinterland to the
Choose TWO letters, A-E. west of Cusco, the old capital of the Inca empire in the Andes mountains
Write the correct letters in boxes 10 and 11 on your answer sheet. of Peru. His goal was to locate the remains of a city called Vitcos, the last
Which TWO problems are mentioned which affect farmers with small capital of the Inca civilisation. Cusco lies on a high plateau at an elevation
farms in developing countries? of more than 3,000 metres, and Bingham’s plan was to descend from
A lack of demand for locally produced food this plateau along the valley of the Urubamba river, which takes a
B lack of irrigation programmes circuitous route down to the Amazon and passes through an area of
C being unable to get insurance dramatic canyons and mountain ranges.
D the effects of changing weather patterns B
E having to sell their goods to intermediary buyers When Bingham and his team set off down the Urubamba in late July,
they had an advantage over travelers who had preceded them: a track
had recently been blasted down the valley canyon to enable rubber to be
Questions 12-13 brought up by mules from the jungle. Almost all previous travelers had
Choose TWO letters, A-E. left the river at Ollantaytambo and taken a high pass across the
Write the correct letters in boxes 12 and 13 on your answer sheet. mountains to rejoin the river lower down, thereby cutting a substantial
Which TWO actions are recommended for improving conditions for corner, but also therefore never passing through the area around Machu
farmers? Picchu.
A reducing the size of food stocks C
B attempting to ensure that prices rise at certain times of the year On 24 July they were a few days into their descent of the valley. The day
C organising co-operation between a wide range of interested parties began slowly, with Bingham trying to arrange sufficient mules for the
D encouraging consumers to take a financial stake in farming next stage of the trek. His companions showed no interest in
E making customers aware of the reasons for changing food prices accompanying him up the nearby hill to see some ruins that a local
farmer, Melchor Arteaga, had told them about the night before. The
morning was dull and damp, and Bingham also seems to have been less
than keen on the prospect of climbing the hill. In his book Lost City of the
Incas, he relates that he made the ascent without having the least
expectation that he would find anything at the top.
D Cusco they would certainly have come in search of gold. An idea which
Bingham writes about the approach in vivid style in his book. First, as he has gained wide acceptance over the past few years is that Machu Picchu
climbs up the hill, he describes the ever-present possibility of deadly was a moya, a country estate built by an Inca emperor to escape the cold
snakes, ‘capable of making considerable springs when in pursuit of their winters of Cusco, where the elite could enjoy monumental architecture
prey’; not that he sees any. Then there’s a sense of mounting discovery and spectacular views. Furthermore, the particular architecture of
as he comes across great sweeps of terraces, then a mausoleum, Machu Picchu suggests that it was constructed at the time of the
followed by monumental staircases and, finally, the grand ceremonial greatest of all the Incas, the emperor Pachacuti (c. 1438-71). By custom,
buildings of Machu Picchu. ‘It seemed like an unbelievable dream … the Pachacuti’s descendants built other similar estates for their own use, and
sight held me spellbound …’ he wrote. so Machu Picchu would have been abandoned after his death, some 50
E years before the Spanish Conquest.
We should remember, however, that Lost City of the Incas is a work of
hindsight, not written until 1948, many years after his journey. His
Questions 14-20
journal entries of the time reveal a much more gradual appreciation of
Reading Passage 2 has seven paragraphs, A-G.
his achievement. He spent the afternoon at the ruins noting down the
Choose the correct heading for each paragraph from the list of headings
dimensions of some of the buildings, then descended and rejoined his
below.
companions, to whom he seems to have said little about his discovery.
Write the correct number, i-viii, in boxes 14-20 on your answer sheet.
At this stage, Bingham didn’t realise the extent or the importance of the List of headings
site, nor did he realise what use he could make of the discovery. i Different accounts of the same journey
F ii Bingham gains support
However, soon after returning it occurred to him that he could make a iii A common belief
name for himself from this discovery. When he came to write the iv The aim of the trip
National Geographic magazine article that broke the story to the world in v A dramatic description
April 1913, he knew he had to produce a big idea. He wondered whether vi A new route
it could have been the birthplace of the very first Inca, Manco the Great, vii Bingham publishes his theory
and whether it could also have been what chroniclers described as ‘the viii Bingham’s lack of enthusiasm
last city of the Incas’. This term refers to Vilcabamba, the settlement 14 Paragraph A
where the Incas had fled from Spanish invaders in the 1530s. Bingham 15 Paragraph B
made desperate attempts to prove this belief for nearly 40 years. Sadly, 16 Paragraph C
his vision of the site as both the beginning and end of the Inca 17 Paragraph D
civilisation, while a magnificent one, is inaccurate. We now know that 18 Paragraph E
Vilcabamba actually lies 65 kilometres away in the depths of the jungle. 19 Paragraph F
G 20 Paragraph G
One question that has perplexed visitors, historians and archaeologists
alike ever since Bingham, is why the site seems to have been abandoned
before the Spanish Conquest. There are no references to it by any of the
Spanish chroniclers – and if they had known of its existence so close to

Questions 21-24
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading
Passage 2?
In boxes 21-24 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
21 Bingham went to South America in search of an Inca city.
22 Bingham chose a particular route down the Urubamba valley
because it was the most common route used by travellers.
23 Bingham understood the significance of Machu Picchu as soon as he
saw it.
24 Bingham returned to Machu Picchu in order to find evidence to
support his theory.
Questions 25-26
Complete the sentences below.
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 25-26 on your answer sheet.
25 The track that took Bingham down the Urubamba valley had been
created for the transportation of …………………………….
26 Bingham found out about the ruins of Machu Picchu from a
…………………………….. it the Urubamba valley.
READING PASSAGE 3
The Benefits of Being Bilingual
A the word match (i.e., the word ‘red’ printed in red), people correctly
According to the latest figures, the majority of the world’s population is
now bilingual or multilingual, having grown up speaking two or more
languages. In the past, such children were considered to be at a
disadvantage compared with their monolingual peers. Over the past few
decades, however, technological advances have allowed researchers to
look more deeply at how bilingualism interacts with and changes the
cognitive and neurological systems, thereby identifying several clear
benefits of being bilingual.
B
Research shows that when a bilingual person uses one language, the
other is active at the same time. When we hear a word, we don’t hear the
entire word all at once: the sounds arrive in sequential order. Long
before the word is finished, the brain’s language system begins to guess
what that word might be. If you hear ‘can’, you will likely activate words
like ‘candy’ and ‘candle’ as well, at least during the earlier stages of word
recognition. For bilingual people, this activation is not limited to a single
language; auditory input activates corresponding words regardless of
the language to which they belong. Some of the most compelling
evidence for this phenomenon, called ‘language co-activation’, comes
from studying eye movements. A Russian-English bilingual asked to ‘pick
up a marker’ from a set of objects would look more at a stamp than
someone who doesn’t know Russian, because the Russian word for
‘stamp’, marka, sounds like the English word he or she heard, ‘marker’. In
cases like this, language co-activation occurs because what the listener
hears could map onto words in either language.
C
Having to deal with this persistent linguistic competition can result in
difficulties, however. For instance, knowing more than one language can
cause speakers to name pictures more slowly, and can increase ‘tip-of-
the-tongue states’, when you can almost, but not quite, bring a word to
mind. As a result, the constant juggling of two languages creates a need
to control how much a person accesses a language at any given time. For
this reason, bilingual people often perform better on tasks that require
conflict management. In the classic Stroop Task, people see a word and
are asked to name the colour of the word’s font. When the colour and
name the colour more quickly than when the colour and the word don’t
match (i.e., the word ‘red’ printed in blue). This occurs because the word
itself (‘red’) and its font colour (blue) conflict. Bilingual people often excel
at tasks such as this, which top into the ability to ignore competing
perceptual information and focus on the relevant aspects of the input.
Bilinguals are also better at switching between two tasks; for example,
when bilinguals have to switch from categorizing objects by colour (red G
or green) to categorizing them by shape (circle or triangle), they do so Furthermore, the benefits associated with bilingual experience seem to
more quickly than monolingual people, reflecting better cognitive control start very early. In one study, researchers taught seven-month-old
when having to make rapid changes of strategy. babies growing up in monolingual or bilingual homes that when they
D heard a tinkling sound, a puppet appeared on one side of a screen.
It also seems that the neurological roots of the bilingual advantage Halfway through the study, the puppet began appearing on the opposite
extend to brain areas more traditionally associated with sensory side of the screen. In order to get a reward, the infants had to adjust the
processing. When monolingual and bilingual adolescents listen to simple rule they’d learned; only the bilingual babies were able to successfully
speech sounds without any intervening background noise, they show learn the new rule. This suggests that for very young children, as well as
highly similar brain stem responses. When researchers play the same for older people, navigating a multilingual environment imparts
sound to both groups in the presence of background noise, however, the advantages that transfer far beyond language.
bilingual listeners’ neural response is considerably larger, reflecting
better encoding of the sound’s fundamental frequency, a feature of
sound closely related to pitch perception. Questions 27-31
E Complete the table below.
Such improvements in cognitive and sensory processing may help a Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.
bilingual person to process information in the environment, and help Write your answers in boxes 27-31 on your answer sheet.
explain why bilingual adults acquire a third language better than Test Findings
monolingual adults master a second language. This advantage may be
rooted in the skill of focussing on information about the new language Observing Bilingual people engage
while reducing interference from the languages they already know. the 27…………………. of both languages
F Russian-English bilingual simultaneously: a
Research also indicates that bilingual experience may help to keep the people when asked to mechanism known
cognitive mechanisms sharp by recruiting alternate brain networks to select certain objects as 28…………………..
compensate for those that become damaged during aging. Older
bilinguals enjoy improved memory relative to monolingual people, which Bilingual people are more
A test called
can lead to real-world health benefits. In a study of over 200 patients able to handle tasks
the 29…………………, focusing
with Alzheimer’s disease, a degenerative brain disease, bilingual patients involving a skill
on naming colours
reported showing initial symptoms of the disease an average of five called 30…………………
years later than monolingual patients. In a follow-up study, researchers
When changing strategies,
compared the brains of bilingual and monolingual patients matched on A test involving switching
bilingual people have
the severity of Alzheimer’s symptoms. Surprisingly, the bilinguals’ brains between tasks
superior 31…………………..
had more physical signs of disease than their monolingual counterparts,
even though their outward behaviour and abilities were the same. If the
brain is an engine, bilingualism may help it to go farther on the same
amount of fuel.

Questions 32-36
Do the following statements agree with the claims of the writer in
Reading Passage 3?
In boxes 32-36 on your answer sheet, write
YES if the statement agrees with the claims of the writer
NO if the statement contradicts the claims of the writer
NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
32 Attitudes towards bilingualism have changed in recent years.
33 Bilingual people are better than monolingual people at guessing
correctly what words are before they are finished.
34 Bilingual people consistently name images faster than monolingual
people.
35 Bilingual people’s brains process single sounds more efficiently than
monolingual
People in all situations.
36 Fewer bilingual people than monolingual people suffer from brain
disease in old age.
Questions 37-40
Reading Passage 3 has seven paragraphs, A-G.
Which paragraph contains the following information?
Write the correct letter, A-G, in boxes 37-40 on your answer sheet.
37 an example of how bilingual and monolingual people’s brains
respond differently to a certain type of non-verbal auditory input
38 a demonstration of how a bilingual upbringing has benefits even
before we learn to speak
39 a description of the process by which people identify words that they
hear
40 reference to some negative consequences of being bilingual
Book 12 Test 3:
Flying tortoises
An airborne reintroduction programme has helped conservationists take significant steps to protect
the endangered Galápagos tortoise.
A
Forests of spiny cacti cover much of the uneven lave plains that separate
the interior of the Galápagos island of Isabela from the Pacific Ocean.
With its five distinct volcanoes, the island resembles a lunar landscape.
Only the thick vegetation at the skirt of the often cloud-covered peak of
Sierra Negra offers respite from the barren terrain below. This
inhospitable environment is home to the giant Galápagos tortoise. Some
time after the Galápagos’s birth, around five million years ago, the
islands were colonised by one or more tortoises from mainland South
America. As these ancestral tortoises settled on the individual islands,
the different populations adapted to their unique environments, giving
rise to at least 14 different subspecies. Island life agreed with them. In
the absence of significant predators, they grew to become the largest
and longest-living tortoises on the planet, weighing more than 400
kilograms, occasionally exceeding 1.8 metres in length and living for
more than a century.
B
Before human arrival, the archipelago’s tortoises numbered in the
hundreds of thousands. From the 17th century onwards, pirates took a
few on board for food, but the arrival of whaling ships in the 1790s saw
this exploitation grow exponentially. Relatively immobile and capable of
surviving for months without food or water, the tortoises were taken on
board these ships to act as food supplies during long ocean passages.
Sometimes, their bodies were processed into high-grade oil. In total, an
estimated 200,000 animals were taken from the archipelago before the
20th century. This historical exploitation was then exacerbated when
settlers came to the islands. They hunted the tortoises and destroyed
their habitat to clear land for agriculture. They also introduced alien
species – ranging from cattle, pigs, goats, rats and dogs to plants and
ants – that either prey on the eggs and young tortoises or damage or
destroy their habitat.
C centre worked around the clock to prepare the young tortoises for
Today, only 11 of the original subspecies survive and of these, several transport. Meanwhile, park wardens, dropped off ahead of time in
are highly endangered. In 1989, work began on a tortoise-breeding remote locations, cleared landing sites within the thick brush, cacti and
centre just outside the town of Puerto Villamil on Isabela, dedicated to lava rocks.
protecting the island’s tortoise populations. The centre’s captive- G
breeding programme proved to be extremely successful, and it Upon their release, the juvenile tortoises quickly spread out over their
eventually had to deal with an overpopulation problem. ancestral territory, investigating their new surroundings and feeding on
D the vegetation. Eventually, one tiny tortoise came across a fully grown
The problem was also a pressing one. Captive-bred tortoises can’t be giant who had been lumbering around the island for around a hundred
reintroduced into the wild until they’re at least five years old and weigh years. The two stood side by side, a powerful symbol of the regeneration
at least 4.5 kilograms, at which point their size and weight – and their of an ancient species.
hardened shells – are sufficient to protect them from predators. But if
people wait too long after that point, the tortoises eventually become Questions 1-7
too large to transport. Reading Passage 1 has seven paragraphs, A-G.
E Choose the correct heading for each paragraph from the list of headings
For years, repatriation efforts were carried out in small numbers, with below.
the tortoises carried on the backs of men over weeks of long, Write the correct number, i-viii, in boxes 1-7 on your answer sheet
treacherous hikes along narrow trails. But in November 2010, the List of Headings

environmentalist and Galápagos National Park liaison officer Godfrey i The importance of getting the timing right
Merlin, a visiting private motor yacht captain and a helicopter pilot ii Young meets old
gathered around a table in a small café in Puerto Ayora on the island of iii Developments to the disadvantage of tortoise populations
Santa Cruz to work out more ambitious reintroduction. The aim was to iv Planning a bigger idea
use a helicopter to move 300 of the breeding centre’s tortoises to v Tortoises populate the islands
various locations close to Sierra Negra. vi Carrying out a carefully prepared operation
F vii Looking for a home for the islands’ tortoises
This unprecedented effort was made possible by the owners of the 67- viii The start of the conservation project
metre yacht While Cloud, who provided the Galápagos National Park 1 Paragraph A

with free use of their helicopter and its experienced pilot, as well as the 2 Paragraph B

logistical support of the yacht, its captain and crew. Originally an air 3 Paragraph C

ambulance, the yacht’s helicopter has a rear double door and a large 4 Paragraph D

internal space that’s well suited for cargo, so a custom crate was 5 Paragraph E

designed to hold up to 33 tortoises with a total weight of about 150 6 Paragraph F

kilograms. This weight, together with that of the fuel, pilot and four crew, 7 Paragraph G

approached the helicopter’s maximum payload, and there were times

when it was clearly right on the edge of the helicopter’s capabilities.
Questions 8-13
During a period of three days, a group of volunteers from the breeding Complete the notes below.
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 8-13 on your answer sheet
The decline of the Galápagos tortoise
• Originally from mainland South America
• Numbers on Galápagos islands increased, due to lack of predators
• 17th century: small numbers taken onto ships used
by 8…………………………..
• 1790s: very large numbers taken onto whaling ships, kept
for 9……………………………….., and also used to
produce 10……………………………
• Hunted by 11…………………………… on the islands
• Habitat destruction: for the establishment of agriculture and by
various 12………………………… not native to the islands, which also fed on
baby tortoises and tortoises’ 13…………………………..
READING PASSAGE 2
The Intersection of Health Sciences and Geography
A and healthcare practices around the world. The aim of this hybrid
While many diseases that affect humans have been eradicated due to
improvements in vaccinations and the availability of healthcare, there
are still areas around the world where certain health issues are more
prevalent. In a world that is far more globalised than ever before, people
come into contact with one another through travel and living closer and
closer to each other. As a result, super-viruses and other infections
resistant to antibiotics are becoming more and more common.
B The geography of disease and ill health analyses the frequency with
Geography can often play a very large role in the health concerns of
certain populations. For instance, depending on where you live, you will
not have the same health concerns as someone who lives in a different
geographical region. Perhaps one of the most obvious examples of this
idea is malaria-prone areas, which are usually tropical regions that foster
a warm and damp environment in which the mosquitos that can give
people this disease can grow. Malaria is much less of a problem in high-
altitude deserts, for instance.
C population.
In some countries, geographical factors influence the health and well-
being of the population in very obvious ways. In many large cities, the
wind is not strong enough to clear the air of the massive amounts of
smog and pollution that cause asthma, lung problems, eyesight issues
and more in the people who live there. Part of the problem is, of course,
the massive number of cars being driven, in addition to factories that
run on coal power. The rapid industrialisation of some countries in
recent years has also led to the cutting down of forests to allow for the
expansion of big cities, which makes it even harder to fight the pollution
with the fresh air that is produced by plants.
D
It is in situations like these that the field of health geography comes into
its own. It is an increasingly important area of study in a world where
diseases like polio are re-emerging, respiratory diseases continue to
spread, and malaria-prone areas are still fighting to find a better cure.
Health geography is the combination of, on the one hand, knowledge
regarding geography and methods used to analyse and interpret
geographical information, and on the other, the study of health, diseases
science is to create solutions for common geography-based health
problems. While people will always be prone to illness, the study of how
geography affects our health could lead to the eradication of certain
illnesses, and the prevention of others in the future. By understanding
why and how we get sick, we can change the way we treat illness and
disease specific to certain geographical locations.
E
which certain diseases appear in different parts of the world, and
overlays the data with the geography of the region, to see if there could
be a correlation between the two. Health geographers also study factors
that could make certain individuals or a population more likely to be
taken ill with a specific health concern or disease, as compared with the
population of another area. Health geographers in this field are usually
trained as healthcare workers, and have an understanding of basic
epidemiology as it relates to the spread of diseases among the
F 16 a reference to classifying diseases on the basis of how far they
Researchers study the interactions between humans and their extend geographically
environment that could lead to illness (such as asthma in places with 17 reasons why the level of access to healthcare can vary within a
high levels of pollution) and work to create a clear way of categorizing country
illnesses, diseases and epidemics into local and global scales. Health 18 a description of health geography as a mixture of different academic
geographers can map the spread of illnesses and attempt to identify the fields
reasons behind an increase or decrease in illnesses, as they work to find 19 a description of the type of area where a particular illness is rare
a way to halt the further spread or re-emergence of diseases in
vulnerable populations.
Questions 20-26
G
Complete the sentences below.
The second subcategory of health geography is the geography of
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
healthcare provision. This group studies the availability (or lack thereof)
20 Certain disease have disappeared, thanks to better
of healthcare resources to individuals and populations around the world.
……………………………… and healthcare.
In both developed and developing nations there is often a very large
21 Because there is more contact between people, ……………………………….
discrepancy between the options available to people in different social
are losing their usefulness.
classes, income brackets, and levels of education. Individuals working in
22 Disease-causing ………………………………. are most likely to be found in
the area of the geography of healthcare provision attempt to assess the
hot, damp regions.
levels of healthcare in the area (for instance, it may be very difficult for
23 One cause of pollution is ……………………………… that burn a particular
people to get medical attention because there is a mountain between
fuel.
their village and the nearest hospital). These researchers are on the
24 The growth of cities often has an impact on nearby
frontline of making recommendations regarding policy to international
……………………………..
organisations, local government bodies and others.
25 …………………………… is one disease that is growing after having been
H
eradicated.
The field of health geography is often overlooked, but it constitutes a
26 A physical barrier such as a ………………………………. Can prevent people
huge area of need in the fields of geography and healthcare. If we can
from reaching a hospital.
understand how geography affects our health no matter where in the
world we are located, we can better treat disease, prevent illness, and
keep people safe and well.

Questions 14-19
Reading Passage 2 has eight sections, A-H.
Which paragraph contains the following information?
Write the correct letter, A-H, in boxes 14-19 on your answer sheet.
NB You may use any letter more than once.
14 an acceptance that not all diseases can be totally eliminated
15 examples of physical conditions caused by human behaviour

READING PASSAGE 3
Music and the emotions
Neuroscientist Jonah Lehrer considers the emotional power of music
Why does music make us feel? One the one hand, music is a purely
abstract art form, devoid of language or explicit ideas. And yet, even
though music says little, it still manages to touch us deeply. When
listening to our favourite songs, our body betrays all the symptoms of
emotional arousal. The pupils in our eyes dilate, our pulse and blood
pressure rise, the electrical conductance of our skin is lowered, and the
cerebellum, a brain region associated with bodily movement, becomes
strangely active. Blood is even re-directed to the muscles in our legs. In
other words, sound stirs us at our biological roots.
A recent paper in Nature Neuroscience by a research team in Montreal,
Canada, marks an important step in revealing the precise underpinnings
of the potent pleasurable stimulus’ that is music. Although the study
involves plenty of fancy technology, including functional magnetic
resonance imaging (fMRI) and ligand-based positron emission
tomography (PET) scanning, the experiment itself was rather
straightforward. After screening 217 individuals who responded to
advertisements requesting people who experience ‘chills’ to instrumental
music, the scientists narrowed down the subject pool to ten. They then
asked the subjects to bring in their playlist of favourite songs – virtually
every genre was represented, from techno to tango – and played them
the music while their brain activity was monitored. Because the scientists
were combining methodologies (PET and fMRI), they were able to obtain
an impressively exact and detailed portrait of music in the brain. The first
thing they discovered is that music triggers the production of dopamine
– a chemical with a key role in setting people’s moods – by the neurons
(nerve cells) in both the dorsal and ventral regions of the brain. As these
two regions have long been linked with the experience of pleasure, this
finding isn’t particularly surprising.
What is rather more significant is the finding that the dopamine neurons
in the caudate – a region of the brain involved in learning stimulus-
response associations, and in anticipating food and other ‘reward’ stimuli
– were at their most active around 15 seconds before the participants’
favourite moments in the music. The researchers call this the
‘anticipatory phase’ and argue that the purpose of this activity is to help
us predict the arrival of our favourite part. The question, of course, is
what all these dopamine neurons are up to. Why are they so active in the
period preceding the acoustic climax? After all, we typically associate surges
of dopamine with pleasure, with the processing of actual rewards. And yet,
this cluster of cells is most active when the ‘chills’ have yet to arrive,
when the melodic pattern is still unresolved.
One way to answer the question is to look at the music and not the
neurons. While music can often seem (at least to the outsider) like a
labyrinth of intricate patterns, it turns out that the most important part
of every song or symphony is when the patterns break down, when the
sound becomes unpredictable. If the music is too obvious, it is
annoyingly boring, like an alarm clock. Numerous studies, after all, have
demonstrated that dopamine neurons quickly adapt to predictable
rewards. If we know what’s going to happen next, then we don’t get
excited. This is why composers often introduce a key note in the
beginning of a song, spend most of the rest of the piece in the studious
avoidance of the pattern, and then finally repeat it only at the end. The
longer we are denied the pattern we expect, the greater the emotional
release when the pattern returns, safe and sound.
To demonstrate this psychological principle, the musicologist Leonard
Meyer, in his classic book Emotion and Meaning in Music (1956), analysed the 5th
movement of Beethoven’s String Quartet in C-sharp minor, Op. 131.
Meyer wanted to show how music is defined by its flirtation with – but
not submission to – our expectations of order. Meyer dissected 50
measures (bars) of the masterpiece, showing how Beethoven begins with
the clear statement of a rhythmic and harmonic pattern and then, in an
ingenious tonal dance, carefully holds off repeating it. What Beethoven
does instead is suggest variations of the pattern. He wants to preserve
an element of uncertainty in his music, making our brains beg for the
one chord he refuses to give us. Beethoven saves that chord for the end.
According to Meyer, it is the suspenseful tension of music, arising out of
our unfulfilled expectations, that is the source of the music’s feeling.
While earlier theories of music focused on the way a sound can refer to
the real world of images and experiences – its ‘connotative’ meaning –
Meyer argued that the emotions we find in music come from the
unfolding events of the music itself. This ‘embodied meaning’ arises from
the patterns the symphony invokes and then ignores. It is this
uncertainty that triggers the surge of dopamine in the caudate, as we
struggle to figure out what will happen next. We can predict some of the
notes, but we can’t predict them all, and that is what keeps us listening,
waiting expectantly for our reward, for the pattern to be completed.
Questions 27-31
Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer..
The Montreal Study
Participants, who were recruited for the study through advertisements,
had their brain activity monitored while listening to their favourite music.
It was noted that the music stimulated the brain’s neurons to release a
substance called 27…………………………. in two of the parts of the brain
which are associated with feeling 28…………………………..
Researchers also observed that the neurons in the area of the brain
called the 29……………………………. were particularly active just before the
participants’ favourite moments in the music – the period known as
the 30…………………………. Activity in this part of the brain is associated with
the expectation of ‘reward’ stimuli such as 31………………………….
Questions 32-36
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.
Write the correct letter in boxes 32-36 on your answer sheet.
32 What point does the writer emphasise in the first paragraph?
A how dramatically our reactions to music can vary
B how intense our physical responses to music can be
C how little we know about the way that music affects us
D how much music can tell us about how our brains operate
33 what view of the Montreal study does the writer express in the
second paragraph?
A Its aims were innovative.
B The approach was too simplistic.
C It produced some remarkably precise data.
D The technology used was unnecessarily complex.
34 What does the writer find interesting about the results of the
Montreal study?
A the timing of participants’ neural responses to the music
B the impact of the music of participants’ emotional state
C the section of participants’ brains which was activated by the music
D the type of music which had the strongest effect on participants’
brains
35 Why does the writer refer to Meyer’s work on music and emotion?
A to propose an original theory about the subject
B to offer support for the findings of the Montreal study
C to recommend the need for further research into the subject
D to present a view which opposes that of the Montreal researchers
36 According to Leonard Meyer, what causes the listener’s emotional
response to music?
A the way that the music evokes poignant memories in the listener
B the association of certain musical chords with certain feelings
C the listener’s sympathy with the composer’s intentions
D the internal structure of the musical composition
Questions 37-40
Complete each sentence with the correct ending, A-F, below.
Write the correct letter, A-F, in boxes 37-40 on your answer sheet.
37 The Montreal researchers discovered that
38 Many studies have demonstrated that
39 Meyer’s analysis of Beethoven’s music shows that
40 Earlier theories of music suggested that
A our response to music depends on our initial emotional state.
B neuron activity decreases if outcomes become predictable.
C emotive music can bring to mind actual pictures and events.
D experiences in our past can influence our emotional reaction to
music.
E emotive music delays giving listeners what they expect to hear.
F neuron activity increases prior to key points in a musical piece.
Book 12 Test 4: In Britain, the modern glass industry only really started to develop after
the repeal of the Excise Act in 1845. Before that time, heavy taxes had
been placed on the amount of glass melted in a glasshouse, and were
READING PASSAGE 1 levied continuously from 1745 to 1845. Joseph Paxton’s Crystal Palace at
London’s Great Exhibition of 1851 marked the beginning of glass as a
The History of Glass material used in the building industry. This revolutionary new building
encouraged the use of glass in public, domestic and horticultural
From our earliest origins, man has been making use of glass. Historians
architecture. Glass manufacturing techniques also improved with the
have discovered that a type of natural glass – obsidian – formed in places
advancement of science and the development of better technology.
such as the mouth of a volcano as a result of the intense heat of an
From 1887 onwards, glass making developed from traditional mouth-
eruption melting sand – was first used as tips for spears. Archaeologists
blowing to a semi-automatic process, after factory-owner HM Ashley
have even found evidence of man-made glass which dates back to 4000
introduced a machine capable of producing 200 bottles per hour in
BC; this took the form of glazes used for coating stone beads. It was not
Castleford, Yorkshire, England – more than three times quicker than any
until 1500 BC, however, that the first hollow glass container was made by
previous production method. Then in 1907, the first fully automated
covering a sand core with a layer of molten glass.
machine was developed in the USA by Michael Owens – founder of the
Glass blowing became the most common way to make glass containers
Owens Bottle Machine Company (later the major manufacturers Owens-
from the first century BC. The glass made during this time was highly
Illinois) – and installed in its factory. Owens’ invention could produce an
coloured due to the impurities of the raw material. In the first century
impressive 2,500 bottles per hour. Other developments followed rapidly,
AD, methods of creating colourless glass were developed, which was
but it was not until the First World War, when Britain became out off
then tinted by the addition of colouring materials. The secret of glass
from essential glass suppliers, that glass became part of the scientific
making was taken across Europe by the Romans during this century.
sector. Previous to this, glass had been as a craft rather than a precise
However, they guarded the skills and technology required to make glass
science.
very closely, and it was not until their empire collapsed in 476 AD that
Today, glass making is big business. It has become a modern, hi-tech
glass-making knowledge became widespread throughout Europe and
industry operating in a fiercely competitive global market where quality,
the Middle East. From the 10th century onwards, the Venetians gained a
design and service levels are critical to maintaining market share.
reputation for technical skill and artistic ability in the making of glass
Modern glass plants are capable of making millions of glass containers a
bottles, and many of the city’s craftsmen left Italy to set up glassworks
day in many different colours, with green, brown and clear remaining the
throughout Europe.
most popular. Few of us can imagine modern life without glass. It
A major milestone in the history of glass occurred with the invention of
features in almost every aspect of our lives – in our homes, our cars and
lead crystal glass by the English glass manufacturer George Ravenscroft
whenever we sit down to eat or drink. Glass packaging is used for many
(1632-1683). He attempted to counter the effect of clouding that
products, many beverages are sold in glass, as are numerous foodstuffs,
sometimes occurred in blown glass by introducing lead to the raw
as well as medicines and cosmetics.
materials used in the process. The new glass he created was softer and
Glass is an ideal material for recycling, and with growing consumer
easier to decorate, and had a higher refractive index, adding to its
concern for green issues, glass bottles and jars are becoming ever more
brilliance and beauty, and it proved invaluable to the optical industry. It
popular. Glass recycling is good news for the environment. It saves used
is thanks to Ravenscroft’s invention that optical lenses, astronomical
glass containers being sent to landfill. As less energy is needed to melt
telescopes, microscopes and the like became possible.
recycled glass than to melt down raw materials, this also saves fuel and 12 Concern for the environment is leading to an increased demand for
production costs. Recycling also reduces the need for raw materials to glass containers.
be quarried, thus saving precious resources. 13 It is more expensive to produce recycled glass than to manufacture
new glass.
Questions 1-8
READING PASSAGE 2
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 1-8 on your answer sheet.
Bring back the big cats
It’s time to start returning vanished native animals to Britain, says John Vesty
The History of Glass
There is a poem, written around 598 AD, which describes hunting a
• Early humans used a material called 1……………………….. to make the
mystery animal called a llewyn. But what was it? Nothing seemed to fit,
sharp points of their 2…………………….
until 2006, when an animal bone, dating from around the same period,
• 4000 BC: 3………………………… made of stone were covered in a coating
was found in the Kinsey Cave in northern England. Until this discovery,
of man-made glass.
the lynx – a large spotted cat with tasselled ears – was presumed to have
• First century BC: glass was coloured because of the 4……………………….
died out in Britain at least 6,000 years ago, before the inhabitants of
in the material.
these islands took up farming. But the 2006 find, together with three
• Until 476 AD: Only the 5………………………… knew how to make glass.
others in Yorkshire and Scotland, is compelling evidence that the lynx
• From 10th century: Venetians became famous for making bottles out
and the mysterious llewyn were in fact one and the same animal. If this is
of glass.
so, it would bring forward the tassel-eared cat’s estimated extinction
• 17th century: George Ravenscroft developed a process
date by roughly 5,000 years.
using 6……………………….. to avoid the occurrence of 7………………………. in
However, this is not quite the last glimpse of the animal in British
blown glass.
culture. A 9th-century stone cross from the Isle of Eigg shows, alongside
• Mid-19th century: British glass production developed after changes to
the deer, boar and aurochs pursued by a mounted hunter, a speckled
laws concerning 8……………………..
cat with tasselled ears. Were it not for the animal’s backside having worn
Questions 9-13 away with time, we could have been certain, as the lynx’s stubby tail is
unmistakable. But even without this key feature, it’s hard to see what
In boxes 9-13 on your answer sheet, write
else the creature could have been. The lynx is now becoming the totemic
TRUE if the statement agrees with the information
animal of a movement that is transforming British environmentalism:
FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
rewilding.
NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this
Rewilding means the mass restoration of damaged ecosystems. It
9 In 1887, HM Ashley had the fastest bottle-producing machine that
involves letting trees return to places that have been denuded, allowing
existed at the time.
parts of the seabed to recover from trawling and dredging, permitting
10 Michael Owens was hired by a large US company to design a fully-
rivers to flow freely again. Above all, it means bringing back missing
automated bottle manufacturing machine for them.
species. One of the most striking findings of modern ecology is that
11 Nowadays, most glass is produced by large international
ecosystems without large predators behave in completely different ways
manufacturers.
from those that retain them. Some of them drive dynamic processes that
resonate through the whole food chain, creating niches for hundreds of
species that might otherwise struggle to survive. The killers turn out to
be bringers of life.
Such findings present a big challenge to British conservation, which has
often selected arbitrary assemblages of plants and animals and sought,
at great effort and expense, to prevent them from changing. It has tried
to preserve the living world as if it were a jar of pickles, letting nothing in
and nothing out, keeping nature in a state of arrested development. But
ecosystems are not merely collections of species; they are also the
dynamic and ever-shifting relationships between them. And this
dynamism often depends on large predators.
At sea the potential is even greater: by protecting large areas from
commercial fishing, we could once more see what 18th-century literature
describes: vast shoals of fish being chased by fin and sperm whales,
within sight of the English shore. This policy would also greatly boost
catches in the surrounding seas; the fishing industry’s insistence on
scouring every inch of seabed, leaving no breeding reserves, could not
be more damaging to its own interests.
Rewilding is a rare example of an environmental movement in which
campaigners articulate what they are for rather than only what they are
against. One of the reasons why the enthusiasm for rewilding is
spreading so quickly in Britain is that it helps to create a more inspiring
vision than the green movement’s usual promise of ‘Follow us and the
world will be slightly less awful than it would otherwise have been.’
The lynx presents no threat to human beings: there is no known instance
of one preying on people. It is a specialist predator of roe deer, a species
that has exploded in Britain in recent decades, holding back, by intensive
browsing, attempts to re-establish forests. It will also winkle out sika
deer: an exotic species that is almost impossible for human beings to
control, as it hides in impenetrable plantations of young trees. The
attempt to reintroduce this predator marries well with the aim of
bringing forests back to parts of our bare and barren uplands. The lynx
requires deep cover, and as such presents little risk to sheep and other
livestock, which are supposed, as a condition of farm subsidies, to be
kept out of the woods.
On a recent trip to the Cairngorm Mountains, I heard several
conservationists suggest that the lynx could be reintroduced there within
20 years. If trees return to the bare hills elsewhere in Britain, the big cats
could soon follow. There is nothing extraordinary about these proposals,
seen from the perspective of anywhere else in Europe. The lynx has now
been reintroduced to the Jura Mountains, the Alps, the Vosges in eastern
France and the Harz mountains in Germany, and has re-established itself
in many more places. The European population has tripled since 1970 to
roughly 10,000. As with wolves, bears, beavers, boar, bison, moose and
many other species, the lynx has been able to spread as farming has left
the hills and people discover that it is more lucrative to protect
charismatic wildlife than to hunt it, as tourists will pay for the chance to
see it. Large-scale rewilding is happening almost everywhere – except
Britain.
Here, attitudes are just beginning to change. Conservationists are
starting to accept that the old preservation-jar model is failing, even on
its own terms. Already, projects such as Trees for Life in the Highlands
provide a hint of what might be coming. An organisation is being set up
that will seek to catalyse the rewilding of land and sea across Britain, its
aim being to reintroduce that rarest of species to British ecosystems:
hope.
Questions 14-18
Write the correct letter, A, B, C or D, in boxes 14-18 on your answer sheet.
14 What did the 2006 discovery of the animal bone reveal about the
lynx?
A Its physical appearance was very distinctive.
B Its extinction was linked to the spread of farming.
C It vanished from Britain several thousand years ago.
D It survived in Britain longer than was previously thought.
15 What point does the writer make about large predators in the third
paragraph?
A Their presence can increase biodiversity.
B They may cause damage to local ecosystems.
C Their behaviour can alter according to the environment.
D They should be reintroduced only to areas where they were native.
16 What does the writer suggest about British conservation in the
fourth paragraph?
A It has failed to achieve its aims.
B It is beginning to change direction.
C It has taken a misguided approach.
D It has focused on the most widespread species.
17 Protecting large areas of the sea from commercial fishing would
result in
A practical benefits for the fishing industry.
B some short-term losses to the fishing industry.
C widespread opposition from the fishing industry.
D certain changes to techniques within the fishing industry.
18 According to the author, what distinguishes rewilding from other
environmental campaigns?
A Its objective is more achievable.
B Its supporters are more articulate.
C Its positive message is more appealing.
D It is based on sounder scientific principles.
Questions 23-26
Do the following statements agree with the claims of the writer in
Reading Passage 2?
In boxes 23-26 on your answer sheet, write
YES if the statement agrees with the claims of the writer
NO if the statement contradicts the claims of the writer
NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
23 Britain could become the first European country to reintroduce the
lynx.
24 The large growth in the European lynx population since 1970 has
exceeded conservationists’ expectations.
25 Changes in agricultural practices have extended the habitat of the
lynx in Europe.
26 It has become apparent that species reintroduction has commercial
advantages.

Questions 19-22
Complete the summary using the list of words and phrases A-F below.
Write the correct letter, A-F, in boxes 19-22 on your answer sheet.

Reintroducing the lynx to Britain

There would be many advantages to reintroducing the lynx to Britain.
While there is no evidence that the lynx has ever put 19 …………………….. in
danger, it would reduce the numbers of certain 20…………………….. whose
populations have increased enormously in recent decades. It would
present only a minimal threat to 21…………………….., provided these were
kept away from lynx habitats. Furthermore, the reintroduction
programme would also link efficiently with initiatives to return
native 22……………………… to certain areas of the country.
A trees B endangered species C hillsides

D wild animals E humans F farm animals

 to last longer than the main board meeting itself. Process may take the
READING PASSAGE 3 place of discussion and be at the expense of real collaboration, so that
boxes are ticked rather than issues tackled.
D
UK companies need more effective boards of directors
A radical solution, which may work for some very large companies
A
whose businesses are extensive and complex, is the professional board,
After a number of serious failures of governance (that is, how they are
whose members would work up to three or four days a week, supported
managed at the highest level), companies in Britain, as well as elsewhere,
by their own dedicated staff and advisers. There are obvious risks to this
should consider radical changes to their directors’ roles. It is clear that
and it would be important to establish clear guidelines for such a board
the role of a board director today is not an easy one. Following the 2008
to ensure that it did not step on the toes of management by becoming
financial meltdown, which resulted in a deeper and more prolonged
too engaged in the day-to-day running of the company. Problems of
period of economic downturn than anyone expected, the search for
recruitment, remuneration and independence could also arise and this
explanations in the many post-mortems of the crisis has meant blame
structure would not be appropriate for all companies. However, more
has been spread far and wide. Governments, regulators, central banks
professional and better-informed boards would have been particularly
and auditors have all been in the frame. The role of bank directors and
appropriate for banks where the executives had access to information
management and their widely publicised failures have been extensively
that part-time non-executive directors lacked, leaving the latter unable to
picked over and examined in reports, inquiries and commentaries.
comprehend or anticipate the 2008 crash.
B
E
The knock-on effect of this scrutiny has been to make the governance of
One of the main criticisms of boards and their directors is that they do
companies in general an issue of intense public debate and has
not focus sufficiently on longer-term matters of strategy, sustainability
significantly increased the pressures on, and the responsibilities of,
and governance, but instead concentrate too much on short-term
directors. At the simplest and most practical level, the time involved in
financial metrics. Regulatory requirements and the structure of the
fulfilling the demands of a board directorship has increased significantly,
market encourage this behaviour. The tyranny of quarterly reporting can
calling into question the effectiveness of the classic model of corporate
distort board decision-making, as directors have to ‘make the numbers’
governance by part-time, independent non-executive directors. Where
every four months to meet the insatiable appetite of the market for
once a board schedule may have consisted of between eight and ten
more date. This serves to encourage the trading methodology of a
meetings a year, in many companies the number of events requiring
certain kind of investor who moves in and out of a stock without
board input and decisions has dramatically risen. Furthermore, the
engaging in constructive dialogue with the company about strategy or
amount of reading and preparation required for each meeting is
performance, and is simply seeking a short-term financial gain. This
increasing. Agendas can become overloaded and this can mean the time
effect has been made worse by the changing profile of investors due to
for constructive debate must necessarily be restricted in favour of
the globalisation of capital and the increasing use of automated trading
getting through the business.
systems. Corporate culture adapts and management teams are largely
C
incentivised to meet financial goals.
Often, board business is devolved to committees in order to cope with
F
the workload, which may be more efficient but can mean that the board
Compensation for chief executives has become a combat zone where
as a whole is less involved in fully addressing some of the most
pitched battles between investors, management and board members
important issues. It is not uncommon for the audit committee meeting
are fought, often behind closed doors but increasingly frequently in the vii Broads not looking far enough ahead
full glare of press attention. Many would argue that this is in the interest viii A proposal to change the way the board operates
of transparency and good governance as shareholders use their muscle 27 Paragraph A
in the area of pay to pressure boards to remove underperforming chief 28 Paragraph B
executives. Their powers to vote down executive remuneration policies 29 Paragraph C
increased when binding votes came into force. The chair of the 30 Paragraph D
remuneration committee can be an exposed and lonely role, as Alison 31 Paragraph E
Carnwath, chair of Barclays Bank’s remuneration committee, found 32 Paragraph F
when she had to resign, having been roundly criticised for trying to 33 Paragraph G
defend the enormous bonus to be paid to the chief executive; the irony
being that she was widely understood to have spoken out against it in Questions 34-37
the privacy of the committee. Do the following statements agree with the claims of the writer in
G Reading Passage 3?
The financial crisis stimulated a debate about the role and purpose of In boxes 34-37 on your answer sheet, write
the company and a heightened awareness of corporate ethics. Trust in YES if the statement agrees with the claims of the writer
the corporation has been eroded and academics such as Michael Sandel, NO if the statement contradicts the claims of the writer
in his thoughtful and bestselling book What Money Can’t Buy, are questioning NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
the morality of capitalism and the market economy. Boards of 34 Close scrutiny of the behaviour of boards has increased since the
companies in all sectors will need to widen their perspective to economic downturn.
encompass these issues and this may involve a realignment of corporate 35 Banks have been mismanaged to a greater extent than other
goals. We live in challenging times. businesses.
36 Board meetings normally continue for as long as necessary to debate
matters in full.
Questions 27-33 37 Using a committee structure would ensure that board members are
Reading Passage 3 has seven paragraphs, A-G fully informed about significant issues.
Choose the correct heading for each paragraph from the list of headings
below.
Write the correct number, i-viii, in boxes 27-33 on your answer sheet. Questions 38-40
List of Headings
Complete the sentences below.
i Disputes over financial arrangements regarding senior managers
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
ii The impact on companies of being subjected to close examination Write your answers in boxes 38-40 on your answer sheet.
iii The possible need for fundamental change in every area of 38 Before 2008, non-executive directors were at a disadvantage because
business of their lack of ………………………..
iv Many external bodies being held responsible for problems 39 Boards tend to place too much emphasis on ………………………….
v The falling number of board members with broad enough considerations that are only of short-term relevance.
experience 40 On certain matters, such as pay, the board may have to accept the
vi A risk that not all directors take part in solving major problems views of ………………………..
 Book 13 test 1: To communicate the New Zealand experience, the site also carried
features relating to famous people and places. One of the most popular
was an interview with former New Zealand All Blacks rugby captain Tana
READING PASSAGE 1 Umaga. Another feature that attracted a lot of attention was an
interactive journey through a number of the locations chosen for
Case Study: Tourism New Zealand blockbuster films which had made use of New Zealand’s stunning
scenery as a backdrop. As the site developed, additional features were
website added to help independent travelers devise their own customised
itineraries. To make it easier to plan motoring holidays, the site
New Zealand is a small country of four million inhabitants, a long-haul
catalogued the most popular driving routes in the country, highlighting
flight from all the major tourist-generating markets of the world.
different routes according to the season and indicating distances and
Tourism currently makes up 9% of the country’s gross domestic product,
times.
and is the country’s largest export sector. Unlike other export sectors,
Later, a Travel Planner feature was added, which allowed visitors to click
which make products and then sell them overseas, tourism brings its
and ‘bookmark’ places or attractions they were interested in, and then
customers to New Zealand. The product is the country itself – the
view the results on a map. The Travel Planner offered suggested routes
people, the places and the experiences. In 1999, Tourism New Zealand
and public transport options between the chosen locations. There were
launched a campaign to communicate a new brand position to the
also links to accommodation in the area. By registering with the website,
world. The campaign focused on New Zealand’s scenic beauty,
users could save their Travel Plan and return to it later, or print it out to
exhilarating outdoor activities and authentic Maori culture, and it made
take on the visit. The website also had a ‘Your Words’ section where
New Zealand one of the strongest national brands in the world.
anyone could submit a blog of their New Zealand travels for possible
A key feature of the campaign was the website www.newzealand.com,
inclusion on the website.
which provided potential visitors to New Zealand with a single gateway
The Tourism New Zealand website won two Webby awards for online
to everything the destination had to offer. The heart of the website was a
achievement and innovation. More importantly perhaps, the growth of
database of tourism services operators, both those based in New
tourism to New Zealand was impressive. Overall tourism expenditure
Zealand and those based abroad which offered tourism service to the
increased by an average of 6.9% per year between 1999 and 2004.
country. Any tourism-related business could be listed by filling in a
From Britain, visits to New Zealand grew at an average annual rate of
simple form. This meant that even the smallest bed and breakfast
13% between 2002 and 2006, compared to a rate of 4% overall for British
address or specialist activity provider could gain a web presence with
visits abroad.
access to an audience of long-haul visitors. In addition, because
The website was set up to allow both individuals and travel organisations
participating businesses were able to update the details they gave on a
to create itineraries and travel packages to suit their own needs and
regular basis, the information provided remained accurate. And to
interests. On the website, visitors can search for activities not solely by
maintain and improve standards, Tourism New Zealand organised a
geographical location, but also by the particular nature of the activity.
scheme whereby organisations appearing on the website underwent an
This is important as research shows that activities are the key driver of
independent evaluation against a set of agreed national standards of
visitor satisfaction, contributing 74% to visitor satisfaction, while
quality. As part of this, the effect of each business on the environment
transport and accommodation account for the remaining 26%. The more
was considered.
activities that visitors undertake, the more satisfied they will be. It has
also been found that visitors enjoy Write your answers in boxes 1-7 on your answer sheet.

cultural activities most when they are Section of

interactive, such as visiting Comments
website
a marae (meeting ground) to learn Questions 8-13
about traditional Maori life. Many Do the following statements agree
• easy for tourism-related businesses to
long-haul travelers enjoy such with the information given in Reading
get on the list
learning experiences, which provide Passage 1?
• allowed businesses
them with stories to take home to Database of In boxes 8-13 on your answer sheet,
to 1…………………………… information
their friends and family. In addition, it tourism write
regularly
appears that visitors to New Zealand services TRUE if the statement agrees
• provided a country-wide evaluation of
don’t want to be ‘one of the crowd’ with the information
businesses, including their impact on
and find activities that involve only a FALSE if the statement
the 2………………………..
few people more special and contradicts the information
meaningful. • e.g. an interview with a former NOT GIVEN if there is no information
It could be argued that New Zealand is Special on this
not a typical destination. New Zealand sports 3……………………………., and an
8 The website www.newzealand.com
features on
is a small country with a visitor interactive tour of various locations used aimed to provide ready-made
economy composed mainly of small local topics itineraries and packages for travel
businesses. It is generally perceived as in 4……………………….
companies and individual tourists.
a safe English-speaking country with a 9 It was found that most visitors
reliable transport infrastructure. Information started searching on the website by
Because of the long-haul flight, most • varied depending on
on driving geographical location.
visitors stay for longer (average 20 the 5…………………………… 10 According to research, 26% of
days) and want to see as much of the routes visitor satisfaction is related to their
country as possible on what is often accommodation.
seen as a once-in-a-lifetime visit. 11 Visitors to New Zealand like to
• included a map showing selected
However, the underlying lessons apply become involved in the local culture.
anywhere – the effectiveness of a Travel Planner places, details of public transport and 12 Visitors like staying in small hotels
strong brand, a strategy based on in New Zealand rather than in larger
local 6………………………….
unique experiences and a ones.
comprehensive and user-friendly 13 Many visitors feel it is unlikely that
website. • travelers could send a link to
‘Your Words’ they will return to New Zealand after
their 7………………………… their visit.
Questions 1-7
Complete the table
below.Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
 C
READING PASSAGE 2 Psychologist Sandi Mann at the University of Central Lancashire, UK,
goes further. ‘All emotions are there for a reason, including boredom,’
Why being bored is stimulating – she says. Mann has found that being bored makes us more creative.
‘We’re all afraid of being bored but in actual fact it can lead to all kinds of
and useful, too amazing things,’ she says. In experiments published last year, Mann
found that people who had been made to feel bored by copying
This most common of emotions is turning out to be more interesting than we
numbers out of the phone book for 15 minutes came up with more
thought
creative ideas about how to use a polystyrene cup than a control group.
A
Mann concluded that a passive, boring activity is best for creativity
We all know how it feels – it’s impossible to keep your mind on anything,
because it allows the mind to wander. In fact, she goes so far as to
time stretches out, and all the things you could do seem equally unlikely
suggest that we should seek out more boredom in our lives.
to make you feel better. But defining boredom so that it can be studied
D
in the lab has proved difficult. For a start, it can include a lot of other
Psychologist John Eastwood at York University in Toronto, Canada, isn’t
mental states, such as frustration, apathy, depression and indifference.
convinced. ‘If you are in a state of mind-wandering you are not bored,’ he
There isn’t even agreement over whether boredom is always a low-
says. ‘In my view, by definition boredom is an undesirable state.’ That
energy, flat kind of emotion or whether feeling agitated and restless
doesn’t necessarily mean that it isn’t adaptive, he adds. ‘Pain is adaptive
counts as boredom, too. In his book, Boredom: A Lively History, Peter Toohey at
– if we didn’t have physical pain, bad things would happen to us. Does
the University of Calgary, Canada, compares it to disgust – an emotion
that mean that we should actively cause pain? No. But even if boredom
that motivates us to stay away from certain situations. ‘If disgust protects
has evolved to help us survive, it can still be toxic if allowed to fester.’ For
humans from infection, boredom may protect them from “infectious”
Eastwood, the central feature of boredom is a failure to put our
social situations,’ he suggests.
‘attention system’ into gear. This causes an inability to focus on anything,
B
which makes time seem to go painfully slowly. What’s more, your efforts
By asking people about their experiences of boredom, Thomas Goetz
to improve the situation can end up making you feel worse. ‘People try
and his team at the University of Konstanz in Germany have recently
to connect with the world and if they are not successful there’s that
identified five distinct types: indifferent, calibrating, searching, reactant
frustration and irritability,’ he says. Perhaps most worryingly, says
and apathetic. These can be plotted on two axes – one running left to
Eastwood, repeatedly failing to engage attention can lead to state where
right, which measures low to high arousal, and the other from top to
we don’t know what to do any more, and no longer care.
bottom, which measures how positive or negative the feeling is.
E
Intriguingly, Goetz has found that while people experience all kinds of
Eastwood’s team is now trying to explore why the attention system fails.
boredom, they tend to specialise in one. Of the five types, the most
It’s early days but they think that at least some of it comes down to
damaging is ‘reactant’ boredom with its explosive combination of high
personality. Boredom proneness has been linked with a variety of traits.
arousal and negative emotion. The most useful is what Goetz calls
People who are motivated by pleasure seem to suffer particularly badly.
‘indifferent’ boredom: someone isn’t engaged in anything satisfying but
Other personality traits, such as curiosity, are associated with a high
still feels relaxed and calm. However, it remains to be seen whether
boredom threshold. More evidence that boredom has detrimental
there are any character traits that predict the kind of boredom each of
effects comes from studies of people who are more or less prone to
us might be prone to.
boredom. It seems those who bore easily face poorer prospects in
education, their career and even life in general. But of course, boredom
Questions 20-23
itself cannot kill – it’s the things we do to deal with it that may put us in
Look at the following people (Questions 20-23) and the list of ideas below.
danger. What can we do to alleviate it before it comes to that? Goetz’s
Match each person with the correct idea, A-E.
group has one suggestion. Working with teenagers, they found that Write the correct letter, A-E, in boxes 20-23 on your answer sheet.
those who ‘approach’ a boring situation – in other words, see that it’s 20 Peter Toohey
boring and get stuck in anyway – report less boredom than those who 21 Thomas Goetz
try to avoid it by using snacks, TV or social media for distraction. 22 John Eastwood
F 23 Francoise Wemelsfelder
Psychologist Francoise Wemelsfelder speculates that our over-connected List of Ideas
lifestyles might even be a new source of boredom. ‘In modern human A The way we live today may encourage boredom.
society there is a lot of overstimulation but still a lot of problems finding B One sort of boredom is worse than all the others.
meaning,’ she says. So instead of seeking yet more mental stimulation, C Levels of boredom may fall in the future.
perhaps we should leave our phones alone, and use boredom to D Trying to cope with boredom can increase its negative effects.
motivate us to engage with the world in a more meaningful way. E Boredom may encourage us to avoid an unpleasant experience.

Questions 24-26
Questions 14-19
Complete the summary below.
Reading Passage 2 has six paragraphs, A-F
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
Choose the correct heading for each paragraph from the list of headings Write your answers in boxes 24-26 on your answer sheet.
below.
Write the correct number, i-viii, in boxes 14-19 on your answer sheet. Responses to boredom
List of Headings
For John Eastwood, the central feature of boredom is that people
i The productive outcomes that may result from boredom
cannot 24……………………………, due to a failure in what he calls the
ii What teachers can do to prevent boredom
‘attention system’, and as a result they become frustrated and irritable.
iii A new explanation and a new cure for boredom
His team suggests that those for whom 25……………………….. is an
iv Problems with a scientific approach to boredom
important aim in life may have problems in coping with boredom,
v A potential danger arising from boredom
whereas those who have the characteristic of 26……………………….. can
vi Creating a system of classification for feelings of boredom
generally cope with it.
vii Age groups most affected by boredom
viii Identifying those most affected by boredom
14 Paragraph A
15 Paragraph B
16 Paragraph C
17 Paragraph D
18 Paragraph E
19 Paragraph F
 standards towards software-produced and human-produced art. After
READING PASSAGE 3 all, he says, consider that the Painting Fool painted the landscapes
without referring to a photo. ‘If a child painted a new scene from its
Artificial artist? head, you’d say it has a certain level of imagination,’ he points out. ‘The
same should be true of a machine.’ Software bugs can also lead to
unexpected results. Some of the Painting Fool’s paintings of a chair came
Can computers really create works of art?
out in black and white, thanks to a technical glitch. This gives the work an
The Painting Fool is one of a growing number of computer programs
eerie, ghostlike quality. Human artists like the renowned Ellsworth Kelly
which, so their makers claim, possess creative talents. Classical music by
are lauded for limiting their colour palette – so why should computers be
an artificial composer has had audiences enraptured, and even tricked
any different?
them into believing a human was behind the score. Artworks painted by
Researchers like Colton don’t believe it is right to measure machine
a robot have sold for thousands of dollars and been hung in prestigious
creativity directly to that of humans who ‘have had millennia to develop
galleries. And software has been built which creates are that could not
our skills’. Others, though, are fascinated by the prospect that a
have been imagined by the programmer.
computer might create something as original and subtle as our best
Human beings are the only species to perform sophisticated creative
artists. So far, only one has come close. Composer David Cope invented
acts regularly. If we can break this process down into computer code,
a program called Experiments in Musical Intelligence, or EMI. Not only
where does that leave human creativity? ‘This is a question at the very
did EMI create compositions in Cope’s style, but also that of the most
core of humanity,’ says Geraint Wiggins, a computational creativity
revered classical composers, including Bach, Chopin and Mozart.
researcher at Goldsmiths, University of London. ‘It scares a lot of people.
Audiences were moved to tears, and EMI even fooled classical music
They are worried that it is taking something special away from what it
experts into thinking they were hearing genuine Bach. Not everyone was
means to be human.’
impressed however. Some, such as Wiggins, have blasted Cope’s work as
To some extent, we are all familiar with computerised art. The question
pseudoscience, and condemned him for his deliberately vague
is: where does the work of the artist stop and the creativity of the
explanation of how the software worked. Meanwhile, Douglas Hofstadter
computer begin? Consider one of the oldest machine artists, Aaron, a
of Indiana University said EMI created replicas which still rely completely
robot that has had paintings exhibited in London’s Tate Modern and the
on the original artist’s creative impulses. When audiences found out the
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Aaron can pick up a paintbrush
truth they were often outraged with Cope, and one music lover even
and paint on canvas on its own. Impressive perhaps, but it is still little
tried to punch him. Amid such controversy, Cope destroyed EMI’s vital
more than a tool to realise the programmer’s own creative ideas.
databases.
Simon Colton, the designer of the Painting Fool, is keen to make sure his
But why did so many people love the music, yet recoil when the
creation doesn’t attract the same criticism. Unlike earlier ‘artists’ such as
discovered how it was composed? A study by computer scientist David
Aaron, the Painting Fool only needs minimal direction and can come up
Moffat of Glasgow Caledonian University provides a clue. He asked both
with its own concepts by going online for material. The software runs its
expert musicians and non-experts to assess six compositions. The
own web searches and trawls through social media sites. It is now
participants weren’t told beforehand whether the tunes were composed
beginning to display a kind of imagination too, creating pictures from
by humans or computers, but were asked to guess, and then rate how
scratch. One of its original works is a series of fuzzy landscapes,
much they liked each one. People who thought the composer was a
depicting trees and sky. While some might say they have a mechanical
computer tended to dislike the piece more than those who believed it
look, Colton argues that such reactions arise from people’s double
was human. This was true even among the experts, who might have
been expected to be more objective in their analyses.
Where does this prejudice come from? Paul Bloom of Yale University has
a suggestion: he reckons part of the pleasure we get from art stems
from the creative process behind the work. This can give it an ‘irresistible
essence’, says Bloom. Meanwhile, experiments by Justin Kruger of New
York University have shown that people’s enjoyment of an artwork
increases if they think more time and effort was needed to create it.
Similarly, Colton thinks that when people experience art, they wonder
what the artist might have been thinking or what the artist is trying to tell
them. It seems obvious, therefore, that with computers producing art,
this speculation is cut short – there’s nothing to explore. But as
technology becomes increasingly complex, finding those greater depths
in computer art could become possible. This is precisely why Colton asks
the Painting Fool to tap into online social networks for its inspiration:
hopefully this way it will choose themes that will already be meaningful
to us.
Questions 27-31
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.
Write the correct letter in boxes 27-31 on your answer sheet.
27 What is the writer suggesting about computer-produced works in the
first paragraph?
A People’s acceptance of them can vary considerably.
B A great deal of progress has already been attained in this field.
C They have had more success in some artistic genres than in others.
D the advances are not as significant as the public believes them to be.
28 According to Geraint Wiggins, why are many people worried by
computer art?
A It is aesthetically inferior to human art.
B It may ultimately supersede human art.
C It undermines a fundamental human quality.
D It will lead to a deterioration in human ability.
29 What is a key difference between Aaron and the Painting Fool?
A its programmer’s background
B public response to its work
C the source of its subject matter
D the technical standard of its output
30 What point does Simon Colton make in the fourth paragraph?
A Software-produced art is often dismissed as childish and simplistic.
B The same concepts of creativity should not be applied to all forms of
art.
C It is unreasonable to expect a machine to be as imaginative as a
human being.
D People tend to judge computer art and human art according to
different criteria.
31 The writer refers to the paintings of a chair as an example of
computer art which
A achieves a particularly striking effect.
B exhibits a certain level of genuine artistic skill.
C closely resembles that of a well-known artist.
D highlights the technical limitations of the software.
Questions 32-37
Complete each sentence with the correct ending, A-G below.
Write the correct letter, A-G, in boxes 32-37 on your answer sheet.
32 Simon Colton says it is important to consider the long-term view then
33 David Cope’s EMI software surprised people by
34 Geraint Wiggins criticized Cope for not
35 Douglas Hofstadter claimed that EMI was
36 Audiences who had listened to EMI’s music became angry after
37 The participants in David Moffat’s study had to assess music without
List of Ideas
A generating work that was virtually indistinguishable from that of
humans.
B knowing whether it was the work of humans or software.
C producing work entirely dependent on the imagination of its creator.
D comparing the artistic achievements of humans and computers.
E revealing the technical details of his program.
F persuading the public to appreciate computer art.
G discovering that it was the product of a computer program

Questions 38-40
Do the following statements agree with the claims of the writer in
Reading Passage 3?
In boxes 38-40 on your answer sheet, write
YES if the statement agrees with the claims of the writer
NO if the statement contradicts the claims of the writer
NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
38 Moffat’s research may help explain people’s reactions to EMI.
39 The non-experts in Moffat’s study all responded in a predictable way.
40 Justin Kruger’s findings cast doubt on Paul Bloom’s theory about
people’s prejudice towards computer art.
Book 13 test 2:
READING PASSAGE 1
Bringing cinnamon to Europe
Cinnamon is a sweet, fragrant spice produced from the inner bark of
trees of the genus Cinnamomum, which is native to the Indian sub-
continent. It was known in biblical times, and is mentioned in several
books of the Bible, both as an ingredient that was mixed with oils for
anointing people’s bodies, and also as a token indicating friendship
among lovers and friends. In ancient Rome, mourners attending funerals
burnt cinnamon to create a pleasant scent. Most often, however, the
spice found its primary use as an additive to food and drink. In the
Middle Ages, Europeans who could afford the spice used it to flavor food,
particularly meat, and to impress those around them with their ability to
purchase an expensive condiment from the ‘exotic’ East. At a banquet, a
host would offer guests a plate with various spices piled upon it as a sign
of the wealth at his or her disposal. Cinnamon was also reported to have
health benefits, and was thought to cure various ailments, such as
indigestion.
Toward the end of the Middle Ages, the European middle classes began
to desire the lifestyle of the elite, including their consumption of spices.
This led to a growth in demand for cinnamon and other spices. At that
time, cinnamon was transported by Arab merchants, who closely
guarded the secret of the source of the spice from potential rivals. They
took it from India, where it was grown, on camels via an overland route
to the Mediterranean. Their journey ended when they reached
Alexandria. European traders sailed there to purchase their supply of
cinnamon, then brought it back to Venice. The spice then travelled from
that great trading city to markets all around Europe. Because the
overland trade route allowed for only small quantities of the spice to
reach Europe, and because Venice had a virtual monopoly of the trade,
the Venetians could set the price of cinnamon exorbitantly high. These
prices, coupled with the increasing demand, spurred the search for new
routes to Asia by Europeans eager to take part in the spice trade.
Seeking the high profits promised by the cinnamon market, Portuguese
traders arrived on the island of Ceylon in the Indian Ocean toward the
end of the 15th century. Before Europeans arrived on the island, the
state had organized the cultivation of cinnamon. People belonging to the
ethnic group called the Salagama would peel the bark off young shoots
of the cinnamon plant in the rainy season, when the wet bark was more
pliable. During the peeling process, they curled the bark into the ‘stick’
shape still associated with the spice today. The Salagama then gave the
finished product to the king as a form of tribute. When the Portuguese
arrived, they needed to increase production significantly, and so
enslaved many other members of the Ceylonese native population,
forcing them to work in cinnamon harvesting. In 1518, the Portuguese
built a fort on Ceylon, which enabled them to protect the island, so
helping them to develop a monopoly in the cinnamon trade and
generate very high profits. In the late 16th century, for example, they
enjoyed a tenfold profit when shipping cinnamon over a journey of eight
days from Ceylon to India.
When the Dutch arrived off the coast of southern Asia at the very
beginning of the 17th century, the set their sights on displacing the
Portuguese as kings of cinnamon. The Dutch allied themselves with
added to food, especially meat
Kandy, an inland kingdom on Ceylon. In return for payments of
was an indication of a person’s 4………………………..
elephants and cinnamon, they protected the native king from the
known as a treatment for 5……………………….. and
Portuguese. By 1649, the Dutch broke the 150-year Portuguese
other health problems
monopoly when they overran and occupied their factories. By 1658, they
grown in 6……………………….
had permanently expelled the Portuguese from the island, thereby Middle
Ages:
merchants used 7……………………… to bring it to
gaining control of the lucrative cinnamon trade.
the Mediterranean
In order to protect their hold on the market, the Dutch, like the
arrived in the Mediterranean
Portuguese before them, treated the native inhabitants harshly. Because
at 8……………………………
of the need to boost production and satisfy Europe’s ever-increasing
traders took it to 9……………………………. and sold it
appetite for cinnamon, the Dutch began to alter the harvesting practices
to destinations around Europe.
of the Ceylonese. Over time, the supply of cinnamon trees on the island
became nearly exhausted, due to systematic stripping of the bark.
Eventually, the Dutch began cultivating their own cinnamon trees to
supplement the diminishing number of wild trees available for use. Questions 10-13
Then, in 1996, the English arrived on Ceylon, thereby displacing the Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading
Dutch from their control of the cinnamon monopoly. By the middle of Passage 1?
the 19th century, production of cinnamon reached 1,000 tons a year, TRUE if the statement agrees with the information
after a lower grade quality of the spice became acceptable to European FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
tastes. By that time, cinnamon was being grown in other parts of the NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this
Indian Ocean region and in the West Indies, Brazil, and Guyana. Not only 10 The Portuguese had control over the cinnamon trade in Ceylon

was a monopoly of cinnamon becoming impossible, but the spice trade throughout the 16th century.
overall was diminishing in economic potential, and was eventually 11 The Dutch took over the cinnamon trade from the Portuguese as

superseded by the rise of trade in coffee, tea, chocolate, and sugar. soon as they arrived in Ceylon.
12 The trees planted by the Dutch produced larger quantities of

Questions 1-9 cinnamon than the wild trees.

Complete the notes below. 13 The spice trade maintained its economic importance during the 19th
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer. century.
Write your answers in boxes 1-9 on your answer sheet.
The Early History of Cinnamon READING PASSAGE 2
Biblical added to 1………………………..
times: used to show 2…………………………. Between people Oxytocin
Ancient
Rome:
used for its sweet smell at 3……………………….. The positive and negative effects of the chemical known as the ‘love hormone’
A
Oxytocin is a chemical, a hormone produced in the pituitary gland in the brain. It
was through various studies focusing on animals that scientists first became aware of
the influence of oxytocin. They discovered that it helps reinforce the bonds between
prairie voles, which mate for life, and triggers the motherly behaviour that sheep
show towards their newborn lambs. It is also released by women in childbirth,
strengthening the attachment between mother and baby. Few chemicals have as
positive a reputation as oxytocin, which is sometimes referred to as the ‘love
hormone’. One sniff of it can, it is claimed, make a person more trusting,
empathetic, generous and cooperative. It is time, however, to revise this wholly
optimistic view. A new wave of studies has shown that its effects vary greatly
depending on the person and the circumstances, and it can impact on our social
interactions for worse as well as for better.
B Oxytocin could help to reduce anxiety and fear. Or it could simply motivate people
Oxytocin’s role in human behaviour first emerged in 2005. In a groundbreaking
experiments, Markus Heinrichs and his colleagues at the University of Freiburg,
Germany, asked volunteers to do an activity in which they could invest money with
an anonymous person who was not guaranteed to be honest. The team found the
participants who had sniffed oxytocin via a nasal spray beforehand invested more
money than those who received a placebo instead. The study was the start of
research into the effects of oxytocin on human interactions. ‘For eight years, it was
quite a lonesome field,’ Heinrichs recalls. ‘Now, everyone is interested.’ These
follow-up studies have shown that after a sniff of the hormone, people become more
charitable, better at reading emotions on others’ faces and at communicating
constructively in arguments. Together, the results fuelled the view that oxytocin
universally enhanced the positive aspects of our social nature.
C amygdala, so it’s going to have many effects on just about everything.’ Bartz agrees.
Then, after a few years, contrasting findings began to emerge. Simone Shamay-
Tsoory at the at the University of Haifa, Israel, found that when volunteers played a
competitive game, those who inhaled the hormone showed more pleasure when they
beat other players, and felt more envy when others won. What’s more, administering
oxytocin also has sharply contrasting outcomes depending on a person’s disposition.
Jennifer Bartz from Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, found that it
improves people’s ability to read emotions, but only if they are not very socially
adept to begin with. Her research also shows that oxytocin in fact reduces
cooperation in subjects who are particularly anxious or sensitive to rejection.
D
Another discovery is that oxytocin’s effects vary depending on who we are
interacting with. Studies conducted by Carolyn DeClerck of the University of
Antwerp, Belgium, revealed that people who had received a dose of oxytocin
actually became less cooperative when dealing with complete strangers. Meanwhile,
Carsten De Dreu at the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands discovered that
volunteers given oxytocin showed favouritism: Dutch men became quicker to
associate positive words with Dutch names than with foreign ones, for example.
According to De Dreu, oxytocin drives people to care for those in their social circles
and defend them from outside dangers. So, it appears that oxytocin strengthens
biases, rather than promoting general goodwill, as was previously thought.
E
There were signs of these subtleties from the start. Bartz has recently shown that in
almost half of the existing research results, oxytocin influenced only certain
individuals or in certain circumstances. Where once researchers took no notice of
such findings, now a more nuanced understanding of oxytocin’s effects is propelling
investigations down new lines. To Bartz, the key to understanding what the hormone
does lies in pinpointing its core function rather than in cataloguing its seemingly
endless effects. There are several hypotheses which are not mutually exclusive.
to seek out social connections. She believes that oxytocin acts as a chemical
spotlight that shines on social clues – a shift in posture, a flicker of the eyes, a dip in
the voice – making people more attuned to their social environment. This would
explain why it makes us more likely to look others in the eye and improves our
ability to identify emotions. But it could also make things worse for people who are
overly sensitive or prone to interpreting social cues in the worst light.
F
Perhaps we should not be surprised that the oxytocin story has become more
perplexing. The hormone is found in everything from octopuses to sheep, and its
evolutionary roots stretch back half a billion years. ‘It’s a very simple and ancient
molecule that has been co-opted for many different functions,’ says Sue Carter at the
University of Illinois, Chicago, USA. ‘It affects primitive parts of the brain like the
‘Oxytocin probably does some very basic things, but once you add our higher-order
thinking and social situations, these basic processes could manifest in different ways
depending on individual differences and context.’
Questions 14-17
Reading Passage 2 has six section, A-F.
Which paragraph contains the following information?
Write the correct letter, A-F, in boxes 14-17 on your answer sheet.
NB You may use any letter more than once.
14 reference to research showing the beneficial effects of oxytocin on people
15 reasons why the effects of oxytocin are complex
16 mention of a period in which oxytocin attracted little scientific attention
17 reference to people ignoring certain aspects of their research data
Questions 18-20
Look at the following research findings (Questions 18-20) and the list of researchers
below.
Match each research finding with the correct researcher, A-F.
Write the correct letter, A-F, in boxes 18-20 on your answer sheet.
18 People are more trusting when affected by oxytocin.
19 Oxytocin increases people’s feelings of jealousy.
20 The effect of oxytocin varies from one type of person to another.
List of Researchers
A Markus Heinrichs
B Simone Shamay-Tsoory
C Jennifer Bartz
D Carolyn DeClerck
E Carsten De Dreu
F Sue Carter
Questions 21-26
Complete the summary below.
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 21-26 on your answer sheet.
Oxytocin research
The earliest findings about oxytocin and bonding came from research
involving 21……………………….. It was also discovered that humans produce
oxytocin during 22………………………… An experiment in 2005, in which
participants were given either oxytocin or a 23…………………………, reinforced
the belief that the hormone had a positive effect.
However, later research suggests that this is not always the case. A study at the
University of Haifa where participants took part in a 24………………………..
revealed the negative emotions which oxytocin can trigger. A study at the University
of Antwerp showed people’s lack of willingness to help 25……………………….
while under the influence of oxytocin. Meanwhile, research at the University of
Amsterdam revealed that people who have been given oxytocin
consider 26……………………….. that are familiar to them in their own country to
have more positive associations than those from other cultures.
READING PASSAGE 3
MAKING THE MOST OF TRENDS
Experts from Harvard Business School give advice to managers
Most managers can identify the major trends of the day. But it the
course of conducting research in a number of industries and working
directly with companies, we have discovered that managers often fail to
recognize the less obvious but profound ways these trends are
influencing consumers’ aspirations, attitudes, and behaviors. This is
especially true of trends that managers view as peripheral to their core
markets.
Many ignore trends in their innovation strategies or adopt a wait-and-
see approach and let competitors take the lead. At a minimum, such
responses mean missed profit opportunities. At the extreme, they can
jeopardize a company by ceding to rivals the opportunity to transform
the industry. The purpose of this article is twofold: to spur managers to
think more expansively about how trends could engender new value
propositions in their core markets, and to provide some high-level advice
on how to make market research and product development personnel
more adept at analyzing and exploiting trends.
One strategy, known as ‘infuse and augment’, is to design a product or
service that retains most of the attributes and functions of existing
products in the category but adds others that address the needs and
desires unleashed by a major trend. A case in point in the Poppy range
of handbags, which the firm Coach created in response to the economic
downturn of 2008. The Coach brand had been a symbol of opulence and
luxury for nearly 70 years, and the most obvious reaction to the
downturn would have been to lower prices. However, that would have
risked cheapening the brand’s image. Instead, they initiated a consumer-
research project which revealed that customers were eager to lift
themselves and the country out of tough times. Using these insights,
Coach launched the lower-priced Poppy handbags, which were in vibrant
colors, and looked more youthful and playful than conventional Coach
products. Creating the sub-brand allowed Coach to avert an across-the-
board price cut. In contrast to the many companies that responded to
the recession by cutting prices, Coach saw the new consumer mindset as
an opportunity for innovation and renewal.
A further example of this strategy was supermarket Tesco’s response to
consumers’ growing concerns about the environment. With that in mind,
Tesco, one of the world’s top five retailers, introduced its Greener Living
program, which demonstrates the company’s commitment to protecting
the environment by involving consumers in ways that produce tangible
results. For example, Tesco customers can accumulate points for such
activities as reusing bags, recycling cans and printer cartridges, and
buying home-insulation materials. Like points earned on regular
purchases, these green points can be redeemed for cash. Tesco hasn’t
abandoned its traditional retail offering but augmented its business with
these innovations, thereby infusing its value proposition with a green
streak.
A more radical strategy is ‘combine and transcend’. This entails
combining aspects of the product’s existing value proposition with
attributes addressing changes arising from a trend, to create a novel
experience – one that may land the company in an entirely new market
space. At first glance, spending resources to incorporate elements of a
seemingly irrelevant trend into one’s core offerings sounds like it’s hardly
worthwhile. But consider Nike’s move to integrate the digital revolution
into its reputation for high-performance athletic footwear. In 2006, they
teamed up with technology company Apple to launch Nike+, a digital
sports kit comprising a sensor that attaches to the running shoe and a
wireless receiver that connects to the user’s iPod. By combining Nike’s
original value proposition for amateur athletes with one for digital
consumers, the Nike+ sports kit and web interface moved the company
from a focus on athletic apparel to a new plane of engagement with its
customers.
A third approach, known as ‘counteract and reaffirm’, involves
developing products or services that stress the values traditionally
associated with the category in ways that allow consumers to oppose –
or at least temporarily escape from – the aspects of trends they view as
undesirable. A product that accomplished this is the ME2, a video game
created by Canada’s iToys. By reaffirming the toy category’s association
with physical play, the ME2 counteracted some of the widely perceived
negative impacts of digital gaming devices. Like other handheld games,
the device featured a host of exciting interactive games, a full-color LCD
screen, and advanced 3D graphics. What set it apart was that it
incorporated the traditional physical component of children’s play: it
contained a pedometer, which tracked and awarded points for physical
activity (walking, running, biking, skateboarding, climbing stairs). The
child could use the points to enhance various virtual skills needed for the
video game. The ME2, introduced in mid-2008, catered to kids’ huge
desire to play video games while countering the negatives, such as
associations with lack of exercise and obesity.
Once you have gained perspective on how trend-related changes in
consumer opinions and behaviors impact on your category, you can
determine which of our three innovation strategies to pursue. When
your category’s basic value proposition continues to be meaningful for
consumers influenced by the trend, the infuse-and-augment strategy will
allow you to reinvigorate the category. If analysis reveals an increasing
disparity between your category and consumers’ new focus, your
innovations need to transcend the category to integrate the two worlds.
Finally, if aspects of the category clash with undesired outcomes of a
trend, such as associations with unhealthy lifestyles, there is an
opportunity to counteract those changes by reaffirming the core values
of your category.
Trends – technological, economic, environmental, social, or political –
that affect how people perceive the world around them and shape what
they expect from products and services present firms with unique
opportunities for growth.
Questions 27-31
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.
27 In the first paragraph, the writer says that most managers
A fail to spot the key consumer trends of the moment.
B make the mistake of focusing only on the principal consumer trends.
C misinterpret market research data relating to current consumer
trends.
D are unaware of the significant impact that trends have on consumers’
lives.
28 According to the third paragraph, Coach was anxious to
A follow what some of its competitors were doing.
B maintain its prices throughout its range.
C safeguard its reputation as a manufacturer of luxury goods.
D modify the entire look of its brand to suit the economic climate.
29 What point is made about Tesco’s Greener Living programme?
A It did not require Tesco to modify its core business activities.
B It succeeded in attracting a more eco-conscious slientele.
C Its main aim was to raise consumers’ awareness of environmental
issues.
D It was not the first time that Tesco had implemented such an
initiative.
30 What does the writer suggest about Nike’s strategy?
A It was an extremely risky strategy at the time.
B It was a strategy that only a major company could afford to follow.
C It was the type of strategy that would not have been possible in the
past.
D It was the kind of strategy which might appear to have few obvious
benefits.
31 What was original about the ME2?
A It contained technology that had been developed for the sports
industry.
B It appealed to young people who were keen to improve their physical
fitness.
C It took advantage of a current trend for video games with colourful 3D
graphic.
D It was a handheld game that addressed people’s concerns about
unhealthy lifestyles.
Questions 32-37
Look at the following statements (Questions 32-37) and the list of
companies below.
Match each statement with the correct company, A, B, C or D.
Write the correct letter, A, B, C or D, in boxes 32-37 on your answer sheet.
NB You may use any letter more than once.
32 It turned the notion that its products could have harmful effects to its
own advantage.
33 It extended its offering by collaborating with another manufacturer.
34 It implemented an incentive scheme to demonstrate its corporate
social responsibility.
35 It discovered that customers had a positive attitude towards dealing
with difficult circumstances.
36 It responded to a growing lifestyle trend in an unrelated product
sector.
37 It successfully avoided having to charge its customers less for its core
products.
List of companies
A Coach
B Tesco
C Nike
D iToys
Questions 38-40
Complete each sentence with the correct ending, A, B, C or D below.
Write the correct letter, A, B, C or D, in boxes 38-40 on your answer sheet.
38 If there are any trend-related changes impacting on your category,
you should
39 If a current trend highlights a negative aspect of your category, you
should
40 If the consumers’ new focus has an increasing lack of connection with
your offering you should
A employ a combination of strategies to maintain your consumer base.
B identify the most appropriate innovation strategy to use.
C emphasise your brand’s traditional values with the counteract-and-
affirm strategy.
D use the combine-and-transcend strategy to integrate the two worlds.
 Book 13 test 3: home as a cooking fuel. When broken in half, the shells are also used as
bowls in many parts of Asia.
Inside the shell are the nutrients (endosperm) needed by the developing
READING PASSAGE 1 seed. Initially, the endosperm is a sweetish liquid, coconut water, which
is enjoyed as a drink, but also provides the hormones which encourage
other plants to grow more rapidly and produce higher yields. As the fruit
The coconut palm
matures, the coconut water gradually solidifies to form the brilliant
For millennia, the coconut has been central to the lives of Polynesian and
white, fat-rich, edible flesh or meat. Dried coconut flesh, ‘copra’, is made
Asian peoples. In the western world, on the other hand, coconuts have
into coconut oil and coconut milk, which are widely used in cooking in
always been exotic and unusual, sometimes rare. The Italian merchant
different parts of the world, as well as in cosmetics. A derivative of
traveller Marco Polo apparently saw coconuts in South Asia in the late
coconut fat, glycerine, acquired strategic importance in a quite different
13th century, and among the mid-14th-century travel writings of Sir John
sphere, as Alfred Nobel introduced the world to his nitroglycerine-based
Mandeville there is mention of ‘great Notes of Ynde’ (great Nuts of India).
invention: dynamite.
Today, images of palm-fringed tropical beaches are clichés in the west to
Their biology would appear to make coconuts the great maritime
sell holidays, chocolate bars, fizzy drinks and even romance.
voyagers and coastal colonizers of the plant world. The large, energy-rich
Typically, we envisage coconuts as brown cannonballs that, when
fruits are able to float in water and tolerate salt, but cannot remain
opened, provide sweet white flesh. But we see only part of the fruit and
viable indefinitely; studies suggest after about 110 days at sea they are
none of the plant from which they come. The coconut palm has a
no longer able to germinate. Literally cast onto desert island shores, with
smooth, slender, grey trunk, up to 30 metres tall. This is an important
little more than sand to grow in and exposed to the full glare of the
source of timber for building houses, and is increasingly being used as a
tropical sun, coconut seeds are able to germinate and root. The air
replacement for endangered hardwoods in the furniture construction
pocket in the seed, created as the endosperm solidifies, protects the
industry. The trunk is surmounted by a rosette of leaves, each of which
embryo. In addition, the fibrous fruit wall that helped it to float during
may be up to six metres long. The leaves have hard veins in their centres
the voyage stores moisture that can be taken up by the roots of the
which, in many parts of the world, are used as brushes after the green
coconut seedling as it starts to grow.
part of the leaf has been stripped away. Immature coconut flowers are
There have been centuries of academic debate over the origins of the
tightly clustered together among the leaves at the top of the trunk. The
coconut. There were no coconut palms in West Africa, the Caribbean or
flower stems may be tapped for their sap to produce a drink, and the
the east coast of the Americans before the voyages of the European
sap can also be reduced by boiling to produce a type of sugar used for
explorers Vasco da Gama and Columbus in the late 15th and early 16th
cooking.
centuries. 16th century trade and human migration patterns reveal that
Coconut palms produce as many as seventy fruits per year, weighing
Arab traders and European sailors are likely to have moved coconuts
more than a kilogram each. The wall of the fruit has three layers: a
from South and Southeast Asia to Africa and then across the Atlantic to
waterproof outer layer, a fibrous middle layer and a hard, inner layer.
the east coast of America. But the origin of coconuts discovered along
The thick fibrous middle layer produces coconut fibre, ‘coir’, which has
the west coast of America by 16th century sailors has been the subject of
numerous uses and is particularly important in manufacturing ropes.
centuries of discussion. Two diametrically opposed origins have been
The woody innermost layer, the shell, with its three prominent ‘eyes’,
proposed: that they came from Asia, or that they were native to America.
surrounds the seed. An important product obtained from the shell is
Both suggestions have problems. In Asia, there is a large degree of
charcoal, which is widely used in various industries as well as in the
coconut diversity and evidence of millennia of human use – but there are
no relatives growing in the wild. In America, there are close coconut Questions 9-13
relatives, but no evidence that coconuts are indigenous. These problems Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading
have led to the intriguing suggestion that coconuts originated on coral Passage 1?
islands in the Pacific and were dispersed from there. In boxes 9-13 on your answer sheet, write
TRUE if the statement agrees with the information
Questions 1-8 FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
Complete the table below. NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this

Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer. 9 Coconut seeds need shade in order to germinate.
Write your answers in boxes 1-8 on your answer sheet. 10 Coconuts were probably transported to Asia from America in the

THE COCONUT PALM 16th century.

11 Coconuts found on the west coast of America were a different type
Part Description Uses from those found on the east coast.
12 All the coconuts found in Asia are cultivated varieties.
up to 30 timber for houses and the making
trunk
metres of 1…………………….. 13 Coconuts are cultivated in different ways in America and the Pacific.

up to 6
leaves to make brushes
metres long

flowers
at the top of stems provide sap, used as a drink
the trunk or a source of 2…………………….

fruits outer layer

middle layer
used for 3………………………,
(coir fibres)

a source of 4…………………….
Inner layer
(when halved)
(shell)
for 5…………………….
fruits a drink
coconut
a source of 6……………………..
water
for other plants

oil and milk for cooking

coconut and 7…………………….
flesh glycerine (an ingredient
in 8……………………….)
 D
READING PASSAGE 2 Scientists from the University of Washington and the University of
Connecticut collected thousands of 30-second conversations between
parents and their babies, fitting 26 children with audio-recording vests
How baby talk gives infant brains a boost
that captured language and sound during a typical eight-hour day. The
A
study found that the more baby talk parents used, the more their
The typical way of talking to a baby – high-pitched, exaggerated and
youngsters began to babble. And when researchers saw the same babies
repetitious – is a source of fascination for linguists who hope to
at age two, they found that frequent baby talk had dramatically boosted
understand how ‘baby talk’ impacts on learning. Most babies start
vocabulary, regardless of socioeconomic status. ‘Those children who
developing their hearing while still in the womb, prompting some
listened to a lot of baby talk were talking more than the babies that
hopeful parents to play classical music to their pregnant bellies. Some
listened to more adult talk or standard speech,’ says Nairán Ramirez-
research even suggests that infants are listening to adult speech as early
Esparza of the University of Connecticut. ‘We also found that it really
as 10 weeks before being born, gathering the basic building blocks of
matters whether you use baby talk in a one-on-one context,’ she adds.
their family’s native tongue.
‘The more parents use baby talk one-on-one, the more babies babble,
B
and the more they babble, the more words they produce later in life.’
Early language exposure seems to have benefits to the brain – for
E
instance, studies suggest that babies raised in bilingual homes are better
Another study suggests that parents might want to pair their youngsters
at learning how to mentally prioritize information. So how does the
up so they can babble more with their own kind. Researchers from
sweet if sometimes absurd sound of infant-directed speech influence a
McGill University and Université du Québec à Montréal found that babies
baby’s development? Here are some recent studies that explore the
seem to like listening to each other rather than to adults – which may be
science behind baby talk.
why baby talk is such a universal tool among parents. They played
C
repeating vowel sounds made by a special synthesizing device that
Fathers don’t use baby talk as often or in the same ways as mothers –
mimicked sounds made by either an adult woman or another baby. This
and that’s perfectly OK, according to a new study. Mark VanDam of
way, only the impact of the auditory cues was observed. The team then
Washington State University at Spokane and colleagues equipped
measured how long each type of sound held the infants’ attention. They
parents with recording devices and speech-recognition software to study
found that the ‘infant’ sounds held babies’ attention nearly 40 percent
the way they interacted with their youngsters during a normal day. ‘We
longer. The baby noises also induced more reactions in the listening
found that moms do exactly what you’d expect and what’s been
infants, like smiling or lip moving, which approximates sound making.
described many times over,’ VanDam explains. ‘But we found that dads
The team theorizes that this attraction to other infant sounds could help
aren’t doing the same thing. Dads didn’t raise their pitch or fundamental
launch the learning process that leads to speech. ‘It may be some
frequency when they talked to kids.’ Their role may be rooted in what is
property of the sound that is just drawing their attention,’ says study co-
called the bridge hypothesis, which dates back to 1975. It suggests that
author Linda Polka. ‘Or maybe they are really interested in that particular
fathers use less familial language to provide their children with a bridge
type of sound because they are starting to focus on their own ability to
to the kind of speech they’ll hear in public. ‘The idea is that a kid gets to
make sounds. We are speculating here but it might catch their attention
practice a certain kind of speech with mom and another kind of speech
because they recognize it as a sound they could possibly make.’
with dad, so the kid then has a wider repertoire of kinds of speech to
practice,’ says VanDam.
F
In a study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a total of 57
babies from two slightly different age groups – seven months and eleven
and a half months – were played a number of syllables from both their
native language (English) and a non-native tongue (Spanish). The infants
were placed in a brain-activation scanner that recorded activity in a brain
region known to guide the motor movements that produce speech. The
results suggest that listening to baby talk prompts infant brains to start
practicing their language skills. ‘Finding activation in motor areas the
baby brain is engaged in trying to talk back right from the start, and
suggests that seven-month-olds’ brains are already trying to figure out
how to make interesting finding was that while the seven-month-olds
responded to all speech sounds regardless of language, the brains of the
older infants worked harder at the motor activations of non-native
sounds compared to native sounds. The study may have also uncovered
a process by which babies recognize differences between their native
language and other tongues.
Questions 14-17
Look at the following ideas (Questions 14-17) and the list of researchers
below.
Match each idea with the correct researcher, A, B or C.
Write the correct letter, A, B or C, in boxes 14-17 on your answer sheet.
NB You may use any letter more than once.
14 the importance of adults giving babies individual attention when
talking to them
15 the connection between what babies hear and their own efforts to
create speech
16 the advantage for the baby of having two parents each speaking in a
different way
17 the connection between the amount of baby talk babies hear and
how much vocalising they do themselves
List of Researchers
A Mark VanDam
B Nairán Ramirez-Esparza
C Patricia Kuhl
Questions 18-23
Complete the summary below.
Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 18-23 on your answer sheet.
Research into how parents talk to babies
Researchers at Washington State University used 18……………………………,
together with specialised computer programs, to analyse how parents
interacted with their babies during a normal day. The study revealed
that 19………………………… tended not to modify their ordinary speech
patterns when interacting with their babies. According to an idea known
as the 20……………………….., they may use a more adult type of speech to
prepare infants for the language they will hear outside the family home.
According to the researchers, hearing baby talk from one parent and
‘normal’ language from the other expands the baby’s 21…………………………
of types of speech which they can practise.
Meanwhile, another study carried out by scientists from the University of
Washington and the University of Connecticut recorded speech and
sound using special 22……………………………… that the babies were
equipped with. When they studies the babies again at age two, the found
that those who had heard a lot of baby talk in infancy had a much
larger 23……………………………. Than those who had not.
Questions 24-26
Reading Passage 2 has six paragraphs, A-F.
Which paragraph contains the following information?
Write the correct letter, A-F, in boxes 24-26 on your answer sheet.
24 a reference to a change which occurs in babies’ brain activity before
the end of their first year.
25 an example of what some parents do for their baby’s benefit before
birth
26 a mention of babies’ preference for the sounds that other babies
make
 unlikely that there was a single cause for the decline of the civilisation.
READING PASSAGE 3 But the fact is, until now, we have had little solid evidence from the area
for most of the key elements,’ said Petrie. ‘A lot of the archaeological
Whatever happened to the Harappan debate has really only been well-argued speculation.’
D
Civilisation? A research team led by Petrie, together with Dr Ravindanath Singh of
Banaras Hindu University in India, found early in their investigations that
many of the archaeological sites were not where they were supposed to
New research sheds light on the disappearance of an ancient society
be, completely altering understanding of the way that this region was
A
inhabited in the past. When they carried out a survey of how the larger
The Harappan Civilisation of ancient Pakistan and India flourished 5,000
area was settled in relation to sources of water, they found inaccuracies
years ago, but a thousand years later their cities were abandoned. The
in the published geographic locations of ancient settlements ranging
Harappan Civilisation was a sophisticated Bronze Age society who built
from several hundred metres to many kilometres. They realised that any
‘megacities’ and traded internationally in luxury craft products, and yet
attempts to use the existing data were likely to be fundamentally flawed.
seemed to have left almost no depictions of themselves. But their lack of
Over the course of several seasons of fieldwork they carried out new
self-imagery – at a time when the Egyptians were carving and painting
surveys, finding an astonishing 198 settlement sites that were previously
representations of themselves all over their temples – is only part of the
unknown.
mystery.
E
B
Now, research published by Dr Yama Dixit and Professor David Hodell,
‘There is plenty of archaeological evidence to tell us about the rise of the
both from Cambridge’s Department of Earth Sciences, has provided the
Harappan Civilisation, but relatively little about its fall,’ explains
first definitive evidence for climate change affecting the plains of north-
archaeologist Dr Cameron Petrie of the University of Cambridge. ‘As
western India, where hundreds of Harappan sites are known to have
populations increased, cities were built that had great baths, craft
been situated. The researchers gathered shells of Melanoides
workshops, palaces and halls laid out in distinct sectors. Houses were
tuberculate snails from the sediments of an ancient lake and used
arranged in blocks, with wide main streets and narrow alleyways, and
geochemical analysis as a means of tracing the climate history of the
many had their own wells and drainage systems. It was very much a
region. ‘As today, the major source of water into the lake is likely to have
“thriving” civilisation.’ Then around 2100 BC, a transformation began.
been the summer monsoon,’ says Dixit. ‘But we have observed that there
Streets went uncleaned, buildings started to be abandoned, and ritual
was an abrupt change about 4,100 years ago, when the amount of
structures fell out of use. After their final demise, a millennium passed
evaporation from the lake exceeded the rainfall – indicative of a
before really large-scale cities appeared once more in South Asia.
drought.’ Hodell adds: ‘We estimate that the weakening of the Indian
C
summer monsoon climate lasted about 200 years before recovering to
Some have claimed that major glacier-fed rivers changed their course,
the previous conditions, which we still see today.’
dramatically affecting the water supply and agriculture; or that the cities
F
could not cope with an increasing population, they exhausted their
It has long been thought that other great Bronze Age civilisations also
resource base, the trading economy broke down or they succumbed to
declined at a similar time, with a global-scale climate event being seen as
invasion and conflict; and yet others that climate change caused an
the cause. While it is possible that these local-scale processes were
environmental change that affected food and water provision. ‘It is
linked, the real archaeological interest lies in understanding the impact
of these larger-scale events on different environments and different
populations. ‘Considering the vast area of the Harappan Civilisation with
its variable weather systems,’ explains Singh, ‘it is essential that we
obtain more climate data from areas close to the two great cities at
Mohenjodaro and Harappa and also from the Indian Punjab.’
G 27 proposed explanations for the decline of the Harappan Civilisation
Petrie and Singh’s team is now examining archaeological records and
trying to understand details of how people led their lives in the region
five millennia ago. They are analysing grains cultivated at the time, and
trying to work out whether they were grown under extreme conditions
of water stress, and whether they were adjusting the combinations of
crops they were growing for different weather systems. They are also
looking at whether the types of pottery used, and other aspects of their
material culture, were distinctive to specific regions or were more similar
across larger areas. This gives us insight into the types of interactive
networks that the population was involved in, and whether those
changed.
H
Petrie believes that archaeologists are in a unique position to investigate
how past societies responded to environmental and climatic change. ‘By
investigating responses to environmental pressures and threats, we can
learn from the past to engage with the public, and the relevant
governmental and administrative bodies, to be more proactive in issues
such as the management and administration of water supply, the
balance of urban and rural development, and the importance of
preserving cultural heritage in the future.’
Questions 27-31
Reading Passage 3 has eight paragraphs, A-H.
Which paragraph contains the following information?
Write the correct letter, A-H, in boxes 27-31 on your answer sheet.
NB You may use any letter more than once
28 reference to a present-day application of some archaeological
research findings
29 a difference between the Harappan Civilisation and another culture
of the same period
30 a description of some features of Harappan urban design
31 reference to the discovery of errors made by previous archaeologists
Questions 32-36
Complete the summary below.
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 32-36 on your answer sheet.
Looking at evidence of climate change
Yama Dixit and David Hodell have found the first definitive evidence of
climate change affecting the plains of north-western India thousands of
years ago. By collecting the 32………………………… of snails and analysing
them, they discovered evidence of a change in water levels in
a 33……………………….. in the region. This occurred when there was
less 34…………………………….. than evaporation, and suggests that there was
an extended period of drought.
Petrie and Singh’s team are using archaeological records to look
at 35…………………………… from five millennia ago, in order to know
whether people had adapted their agricultural practices to changing
climatic conditions. They are also examining objects
including 36………………………….. , so as to find out about links between
inhabitants of different parts of the region and whether these changed
over time.
 Book 13 Test 4:
Questions 37-40
Complete the summary below.
Look at the following statements (Questions 38-40) and the list of READING PASSAGE 1
researchers below.
Match each statement with the correct researcher, A, B, C or D.
Write the correct letter, A, B, C or D, in boxes 37-40 on your answer sheet.
NB You may use any letter more than once.
the fastest
Cutty Sark:
37 Finding further information about changes to environmental
conditions in the region is vital.
38 Examining previous patterns of behaviour may have long-term
sailing ship of all time
The nineteenth century was a period of great technological development
benefits.
in Britain, and for shipping the major changes were from wind to steam
39 Rough calculations indicate the approximate length of a period of
power, and from wood to iron and steel.
water shortage.
The fastest commercial sailing vessels of all time were clippers, three-
40 Information about the decline of the Harappan Civilisation has been
masted ships built to transport goods around the world, although some
lacking.
List of Researchers
also took passengers. From the 1840s until 1869, when the Suez Canal
A Cameron Petrie opened and steam propulsion was replacing sail, clippers dominated
B Ravindanath Singh world trade. Although many were built, only one has survived more or
C Yama Dixit less intact: Cutty Sark, now on display in Greenwich, southeast London.
Cutty Sark’s unusual name comes from the poem Tam O’Shanter by the
D David Hodell
Scottish poet Robert Burns. Tam, a farmer, is chased by a witch called
Nannie, who is wearing a ‘cutty sark’ – an old Scottish name for a short
nightdress. The witch is depicted in Cutty Sark’s figurehead – the carving of
a woman typically at the front of old sailing ships. In legend, and in
Burns’s poem, witches cannot cross water, so this was a rather strange
choice of name for a ship.
Cutty Sark was built in Dumbarton, Scotland, in 1869, for a shipping
company owned by John Willis. To carry out construction, Willis chose a
new shipbuilding firm, Scott & Linton, and ensured that the contrast with
them put him in a very strong position. In the end, the firm was forced
out of business, and the ship was finished by a competitor.
Willis’s company was active in the tea trade between China and Britain,
where speed could bring shipowners both profits and prestige, so Cutty
Sark was designed to make the journey more quickly than any other ship.
On her maiden voyage, in 1870, she set sail from London, carrying large
amounts of goods to China. She returned laden with tea, making the
journey back to London in four months. However, Cutty Sark never lived up
to the high expectations of her owner, as a result of bad winds and
various misfortunes. On one occasion, in 1872, the ship and a rival
clipper, Thermopylae, left port in China on the same day. Crossing the Indian
Ocean, Cutty Sark gained a lead of over 400 miles, but then her rudder was
severely damaged in stormy seas, making her impossible to steer. The
ship’s crew had the daunting task of repairing the rudder at sea, and only
succeeded at the second attempt. Cutty Sark reached London a week
after Thermopylae.
Steam ships posed a growing threat to clippers, as their speed and cargo
capacity increased. In addition, the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869,
the same year that Cutty Sark was launched, had a serious impact. While
steam ships could make use of the quick, direct route between the
Mediterranean and the Red Sea, the canal was of no use to sailing ships,
which needed the much stronger winds of the oceans, and so had to sail
a far greater distance. Steam ships reduced the journey time between
Britain and China by approximately two months.
By 1878, tea traders weren’t interested in Cutty Sark, and instead, she took
on the much less prestigious work of carrying any cargo between any
two ports in the world. In 1880, violence aboard the ship led ultimately to
the replacement of the captain with an incompetent drunkard who stole
the crew’s wages. He was suspended from service, and a new captain
appointed. This marked a turnaround and the beginning of the most
successful period in Cutty Sark’s working life, transporting wool from
Australia to Britain. One such journey took just under 12 weeks, beating
every other ship sailing that year by around a month.
The ship’s next captain, Richard Woodget, was an excellent navigator,
who got the best out of both his ship and his crew. As a sailing ship, Cutty
Sark depended on the strong trade winds of the southern hemisphere,
and Woodget took her further south than any previous captain, bringing
her dangerously close to icebergs off the southern tip of South America.
His gamble paid off, though, and the ship was the fastest vessel in the
wool trade for ten years.
As competition from steam ships increased in the 1890s, and Cutty
Sark approached the end of her life expectancy, she became less
profitable. She was sold to a Portuguese firm, which renamed
her Ferreira. For the next 25 years, she again carried miscellaneous
cargoes around the world.
Badly damaged in a gale in 1922, she was put into Falmouth harbor in
southwest England, for repairs. Wilfred Dowman, a retired sea captain
who owned a training vessel, recognised her and tried to buy her, but
without success. She returned to Portugal and was sold to another
Portuguese company. Dowman was determined, however, and offered a
high price: this was accepted, and the ship returned to Falmouth the
following year and had her original name restored.
Dowman used Cutty Sark as a training ship, and she continued in this role
after his death. When she was no longer required, in 1954, she was
transferred to dry dock at Greenwich to go on public display. The ship
suffered from fire in 2007, and again, less seriously, in 2014, but now Cutty
Sark attracts a quarter of a million visitors a year.
Questions 1-8
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading
Passage 1?
In boxes 1-8 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 Clippers were originally intended to be used as passenger ships.
2 Cutty Sark was given the name of a character in a poem.
3 The contract between John Willis and Scott & Linton favoured Willis.
4 John Willis wanted Cutty Sark to be the fastest tea clipper travelling
between the UK and China.
5 Despite storm damage, Cutty Sark beat Thermopylae back to London.
6 The opening of the Suez Canal meant that steam ships could travel
between Britain and China faster than clippers.
7 Steam ships sometimes used the ocean route to travel between
London and China.
8 Captain Woodget put Cutty Sark at risk of hitting an iceberg.

Questions 9-13
Complete the sentences below.
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 9-13 on your answer sheet.
9 After 1880, Cutty Sark carried ………………………… as its main cargo during
its most successful time.
10 As a captain and …………………………., Woodget was very skilled.
11 Ferreira went to Falmouth to repair damage that a ………………………….
had caused.
12 Between 1923 and 1954, Cutty Sark was used for …………………………..
13 Cutty Sark has twice been damaged by ………………………… in the 21st
century.
READING PASSAGE 2
SAVING THE SOIL
More than a third of the Earth’s top layer is at risk. Is there hope for our planet’s
most precious resource?
A One of the people looking for a solution to his problem is Pius Floris, who started
More than a third of the world’s soil is endangered, according to a recent UN report.
If we don’t slow the decline, all farmable soil could be gone in 60 years. Since soil
grows 95% of our food, and sustains human life in other more surprising ways, that
is a huge problem.
B Spain recently used this cocktail on soils destroyed by years of fertiliser overuse.
Peter Groffman, from the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in New York, points
out that soil scientists have been warning about the degradation of the world’s soil
for decades. At the same time, our understanding of its importance to humans has
grown. A single gram of healthy soil might contain 100 million bacteria, as well as
other microorganisms such as viruses and fungi, living amid decomposing plants
and various minerals.
That means soils do not just grow our food, but are the source of nearly all our
existing antibiotics, and could be our best hope in the fight against antibiotic-
resistant bacteria. Soil is also an ally against climate change: as microorganisms
within soil digest dead animals and plants, they lock in their carbon content, holding
three times the amount of carbon as does the entire atmosphere. Soils also store
water, preventing flood damage: in the UK, damage to buildings, roads and bridges
from floods caused by soil degradation costs £233 million every year.
C Within the next four years, they aim to have mapped soils worldwide to a depth of
If the soil loses its ability to perform these functions, the human race could be in big
trouble. The danger is not that the soil will disappear completely, but that the
microorganisms that give it its special properties will be lost. And once this has
happened, it may take the soil thousands of years to recover.
Agriculture is by far the biggest problem. In the wild, when plants grow they remove
nutrients from the soil, but then when the plants die and decay these nutrients are
returned directly to the soil. Humans tend not to return unused parts of harvested
crops directly to the soil to enrich it, meaning that the soil gradually becomes less
fertile. In the past we developed strategies to get around the problem, such as
regularly varying the types of crops grown, or leaving fields uncultivated for a
season.
D
But these practices became inconvenient as populations grew and agriculture had to
be run on more commercial lines. A solution came in the early 20th century with the
Haber-Bosch process for manufacturing ammonium nitrate. Farmers have been
putting this synthetic fertiliser on their fields ever since.
But over the past few decades, it has become clear this wasn’t such a bright idea.
Chemical fertilisers can release polluting nitrous oxide into the atmosphere and
excess is often washed away with the rain, releasing nitrogen into rivers. More
recently, we have found that indiscriminate use of fertilisers hurts the soil itself,
turning it acidic and salty, and degrading the soil they are supposed to nourish.
E
out running a tree-care business in the Netherlands, and now advises some of the
world’s top soil scientists. He came to realise that the best way to ensure his trees
flourished was to take care of the soil, and has developed a cocktail of beneficial
bacteria, fungi and humus* to do this. Researchers at the University of Valladolid in
When they applied Floris’s mix to the desert-like test plots, a good crop of plants
emerged that were not just healthy at the surface, but had roots strong enough to
pierce dirt as hard as rock. The few plants that grew in the control plots, fed with
traditional fertilisers, were small and weak
F
However, measures like this are not enough to solve the global soil degradation
problem. To assess our options on a global scale we first need an accurate picture of
what types of soil are out there, and the problems they face. That’s not easy. For one
thing, there is no agreed international system for classifying soil. In an attempt to
unify the different approaches, the UN has created the Global Soil Map project.
Researchers from nine countries are working together to create a map linked to a
database that can be fed measurements from field surveys, drone surveys, satellite
imagery, lad analyses and so on to provide real-time data on the state of the soil.
100 metres, with the results freely accessible to all.
G
But this is only a first step. We need ways of presenting the problem that bring it
home to governments and the wider public, says Pamela Chasek at the International
Institute for Sustainable Development, in Winnipeg, Canada. ‘Most scientists don’t
speak language that policy-makers can understand, and vice versa.’ Chasek and her
colleagues have proposed a goal of ‘zero net land degradation’. Like the idea of
carbon neutrality, it is an easily understood target that can help shape expectations
and encourage action.
For soils on the brink, that may be too late. Several researchers are agitating for the
immediate creation of protected zones for endangered soils. One difficulty here is
defining what these areas should conserve: areas where the greatest soil diversity is
present? Or areas of unspoilt soils that could act as a future benchmark of quality?
Whatever we do, if we want our soils to survive, we need to take action now.
Questions 14-17
Complete the summary below.
Write ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 14-17 on your answer sheet.
Why soil degradation could be a disaster for humans
Healthy soil contains a large variety of bacteria and other microorganisms, as well as
plant remains and 14 ……………………….. It provides us with food and also with
antibiotics, and its function in storing 15 …………………………. has a significant
effect on the climate. In addition, it prevents damage to property and infrastructure
because it holds 16……………………………
If these microorganisms are lost, soil may lose its special properties. The main factor
contributing to soil degradation is the 17………………………….. carried out by
humans.
Questions 18-21
Complete each sentence with the correct ending, A-F, below.
Write the correct letter, A-F, in boxes 18-21 on your answer sheet.
18 Nutrients contained in the unused parts of harvested crops
19 Synthetic fertilisers produced with Haber-Bosch process
20 Addition of a mixture developed by Pius Floris to the soil
21 The idea of zero net soil degradation
A may improve the number and quality of plants growing there.
B may contain data from up to nine countries.
C may not be put back into the soil.
D may help governments to be more aware of soil-related issues.
E may cause damage to different aspects of the environment.
F may be better for use at a global level.
Questions 22-26
Reading Passage 2 has seven paragraphs, A-G.
Which section contains the following information?
Write the correct letter, A-G, in boxes 22-26 on your answer sheet.
NB You may use any letter more than once.
22 a reference to one person’s motivation for a soil-improvement project
23 an explanation of how soil stayed healthy before the development of farming
24 examples of different ways of collecting information on soil degradation
25 a suggestion for a way of keeping some types of soil safe in the near future
26 a reason why it is difficult to provide an overview of soil degradation
READING PASSAGE 3
Book Review
The Happiness Industry: How the Government and Big Business Sold Us Well-Being
By William Davies
‘Happiness is the ultimate goal because it is self-evidently good. If we are
asked why happiness matters we can give no further external reason. It
just obviously does matter.’ This pronouncement by Richard Layard, an
economist and advocate of ‘positive psychology’, summarises the beliefs
of many people today. For Layard and others like him, it is obvious that
the purpose of government is to promote a state of collective well-being.
The only question is how to achieve it, and here positive psychology – a
supposed science that not only identifies what makes people happy but
also allows their happiness to be measured – can show the way.
Equipped with this science, they say, governments can secure happiness
in society in a way they never could in the past.
It is an astonishingly crude and simple-minded way of thinking, and for
that very reason increasingly popular. Those who think in this way are
oblivious to the vast philosophical literature in which the meaning and
value of happiness have been explored and questioned, and write as if
nothing of any importance had been thought on the subject until it came
to their attention. It was the philosopher Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832)
who was more than anyone else responsible for the development of this
way of thinking. For Bentham it was obvious that the human good
consists of pleasure and the absence of pain. The Greek philosopher
Aristotle may have identified happiness with self-realisation in the 4th
century BC, and thinkers throughout the ages may have struggled to
reconcile the pursuit of happiness with other human values, but for
Bentham all this was mere metaphysics or fiction. Without knowing
anything much of him or the school of moral theory he established –
since they are by education and intellectual conviction illiterate in the
history of ideas – our advocates of positive psychology follow in his
tracks in rejecting as outmoded and irrelevant pretty much the entirety
of ethical reflection on human happiness to date.
But as William Davies notes in his recent book The Happiness Industry, the
view that happiness is the only self-evident good is actually a way of
limiting moral inquiry. One of the virtues of this rich, lucid and arresting
book is that it places the current cult of happiness in a well-defined
historical framework. Rightly, Davies his story with Bentham, noting that
he was far more than a philosopher. Davies writes, ‘Bentham’s activities
were those which we might now associate with a public sector
management consultant’. In the 1790s, he wrote to the Home Office
suggesting that the departments of government be linked together
through a set of ‘conversation tubes’, and to the Bank of England with a
design for a printing device that could produce unforgeable banknotes.
He drew up plans for a ‘frigidarium’ to keep provisions such as meat,
fish, fruit and vegetables fresh. His celebrated design for a prison to be
known as a ‘Panopticon’, in which prisoners would be kept in solitary
confinement while being visible at all times to the guards, was very
nearly adopted. (Surprisingly, Davies does not discuss the fact that
Bentham meant his Panopticon not just as a model prison but also as an
instrument of control that could be applied to schools and factories.)
Bentham was also a pioneer of the ‘science of happiness’. If happiness is
to be regarded as a science, it has to be measured, and Bentham
suggested two ways in which this might be done. Viewing happiness as a
complex of pleasurable sensations, he suggested that it might be
quantified by measuring the human pulse rate. Alternatively, money
could be used as the standard for quantification: if two different goods
have the same price, it can be claimed that they produce the same
quantity of pleasure in the consumer. Bentham was more attracted by
the latter measure. By associating money so closely to inner experience,
Davies writes, Bentham ‘set the stage for the entangling of psychological
research and capitalism that would shape the business practices of the
twentieth century’.
The Happiness Industry describes how the project of a science of happiness
has become integral to capitalism. We learn much that is interesting
about how economic problems are being redefined and treated as
psychological maladies. In addition, Davies shows how the belief that
inner of pleasure and displeasure can be objectively measured has
informed management studies and advertising. The tendency of thinkers
such as J B Watson, the founder of behaviourism*, was that human
beings could be shaped, or manipulated, by policymakers and managers.
Watson had no factual basis for his view of human action. When he
became president of the American Psychological Association in 1915, he
‘had never even studied a single human being’: his research had been
confined to experiments on white rats. Yet Watson’s reductive model is
now widely applied, with ‘behaviour change’ becoming the goal of
governments: in Britain, a ‘Behaviour Insights Team’ has been
established by the government to study how people can be encouraged,
at minimum cost to the public purse, to live in what are considered to be
socially desirable ways.
Modern industrial societies appear to need the possibility of ever-
increasing happiness to motivate them in their labours. But whatever its
intellectual pedigree, the idea that governments should be responsible
for promoting happiness is always a threat to human freedom.
———————–
* ‘behaviourism’: a branch of psychology which is concerned with
observable behaviour
 A measurement
Questions 27-29 B security
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D. C implementation
Write the correct letter in boxes 27-29 on your answer sheet. D profits
27 What is the reviewer’s attitude to advocates of positive psychology? E observation
A They are wrong to reject the ideas of Bentham. F communication
B They are over-influenced by their study of Bentham’s theories. G preservation
C They have a fresh new approach to ideas on human happiness.
D They are ignorant about the ideas they should be considering.
28 The reviewer refers to the Greek philosopher Aristotle in order to Questions 35-40
suggest that happiness Do the following statements agree with the claims of the writer in
A may not be just pleasure and the absence of pain. Reading Passage 3?
B should not be the main goal of humans. In boxes 35-40 on your answer sheet, write
C is not something that should be fought for. YES if the statement agrees with the claims of the writer
D is not just an abstract concept. NO if the statement contradicts the claims of the writer
29 According to Davies, Bentham’s suggestion for linking the price of NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
goods to happiness was significant because 35 One strength of The Happiness Industry is its discussion of the relationship
A it was the first successful way of assessing happiness. between psychology and economics.
B it established a connection between work and psychology. 36 It is more difficult to measure some emotions than others.
C it was the first successful example of psychological research. 37 Watson’s ideas on behaviourism were supported by research on
D it involved consideration of the rights of consumers. humans he carried out before 1915.
38 Watson’s ideas have been most influential on governments outside
America.
Questions 30-34
39 The need for happiness is linked to industrialisation.
Complete the summary using the list of words A-G below.
40 A main aim of government should be to increase the happiness of
Write the correct letter, A-G, in boxes 30-34 on your answer sheet.
the population.
Jeremy Bentham
Jeremy Bentham was active in other areas besides philosophy. In the
1970s he suggested a type of technology to improve 30………………………
for different Government departments. He developed a new way of
printing banknotes to increase 31………………………… and also designed a
method for the 32 …………………………. of food. He also drew up plans for a
prison which allowed the 33…………………………. of prisoners at al times,
and believed the same design could be used for other institutions as
well. When researching happiness, he investigated possibilities for
its 34……………………….., and suggested some methods of doing this.
 Book 14 test 1: International bodies like the United Nations and the European Union
have begun to develop policies concerned with children’s right to play,
and to consider implications for leisure facilities and educational
READING PASSAGE 1 programmes. But what they often lack is the evidence to base policies
on.
THE IMPORTANCE OF CHILDREN’S ‘The type of play we are interested in is child-initiated, spontaneous and
unpredictable – but, as soon as you ask a five-year-old “to play”, then you
PLAY as the researcher have intervened,’ explains Dr Sara Baker. ‘And we want
to know what the long-term impact of play is. It’s a real challenge.’
Brick by brick, six-year-old Alice is building a magical kingdom. Imagining
Dr Jenny Gibson agrees, pointing out that although some of the steps in
fairy-tale turrets and fire-breathing dragons, wicked witches and gallant
the puzzle of how and why play is important have been looked at, there
heroes, she’s creating an enchanting world. Although she isn’t aware of
is very little data on the impact it has on the child’s later life.
it, this fantasy is helping her take her first steps towards her capacity for
Now, thanks to the university’s new Centre for Research on Play in
creativity and so it will have important repercussions in her adult life.
Education, Development and Learning (PEDAL), Whitebread, Baker,
Minutes later, Alice has abandoned the kingdom in favour of playing
Gibson and a team of researchers hope to provide evidence on the role
schools with her younger brother. When she bosses him around as his
played by play in how a child develops.
‘teacher’, she’s practising how to regulate her emotions through
‘A strong possibility is that play supports the early development of
pretence. Later on, when they tire of this and settle down with a board
children’s self-control,’ explains Baker. ‘This is our ability to develop
game, she’s learning about the need to follow rules and take turns with a
awareness of our own thinking progresses – it influences how effectively
partner.
we go about undertaking challenging activities.’
‘Play in all its rich variety is one of the highest achievements of the
In a study carried out by Baker with toddlers and young pre-schoolers,
human species,’ says Dr David Whitebread from the Faculty of Education
she found that children with greater self-control solved problems more
at the University of Cambridge, UK. ‘It underpins how we develop as
quickly when exploring an unfamiliar set-up requiring scientific
intellectual, problem-solving adults and is crucial to our success as a
reasoning. ‘This sort of evidence makes up think that giving children the
highly adaptable species.’
chance to play will make them more successful problem-solvers in the
Recognizing the importance of play is not new: over two millennia ago,
long run.’
the Greek philosopher Plato extolled its virtues as a means of developing
If playful experiences do facilitate this aspect of development, say the
skills for adult life, and ideas about play-based learning have been
researchers, it could be extremely significant for educational practices,
developing since the 19th century.
because the ability to self-regulate has been shown to be a key predictor
But we live in changing times, and Whitebread is mindful of a worldwide
of academic performance.
decline in play, pointing out that over half the people in the world now
Gibson adds: ‘Playful behavior is also an important indicator of healthy
live in cities. ‘The opportunities for free play, which I experienced almost
social and emotional development. In my previous research, I
every day of my childhood, are becoming increasingly scarce,’ he says.
investigated how observing children at play can give us important clues
Outdoor play is curtailed by perceptions of risk to do with traffic, as well
about their well-being and can even be useful in the diagnosis of
as parents’ increased wish to protect their children from being the
neurodevelopmental disorders like autism.’
victims of crime, and by the emphasis on ‘earlier is better’ which is
leading to greater competition in academic learning and schools.
Whitebread’s recent research has involved developing a play-based International policies on children’s play

approach to supporting children’s writing. ‘Many primary school children • it is difficult to find 7 …………………………… to support new policies
find writing difficult, but we showed in a previous study that a playful • research needs to study the impact of play on the rest of the child’s 8
stimulus was far more effective than an instructional one.’ Children ……………………………..
wrote longer and better-structured stories when they first played with
dolls representing characters in the story. In the latest study, children Questions 9-13
first created their story with Lego*, with similar results. ‘Many teachers Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading
commented that they had always previously had children saying they Passage 1?
didn’t know what to write about. With the Lego building, however, not a In boxes 9-13 on your answer sheet, write
single child said this through the whole year of the project.’ TRUE if the statement agrees with the information
Whitebread, who directs PEDAL, trained as a primary school teacher in FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
the early 1970s, when, as he describes, ‘the teaching of young children NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this

was largely a quiet backwater, untroubled by any serious intellectual 9 Children with good self-control are known to be likely to do well at
debate or controversy.’ Now, the landscape is very different, with hotly school later on.
debated topics such as school starting age. 10 The way a child plays may provide information about possible

‘Somehow the importance of play has been lost in recent decades. It’s medical problems.
regarded as something trivial, or even as something negative that 11 Playing with dolls was found to benefit girls’ writing more than boys’

contrasts with “work”. Let’s not lose sight of its benefits, and the writing.
fundamental contributions it makes to human achievements in the arts, 12 Children had problems thinking up ideas when they first created the

sciences and technology. Let’s make sure children have a rich diet of play story with Lego.
experiences.’ 13 People nowadays regard children’s play as less significant than they
———————————- did in the past.
* Lego: coloured plastic building blocks and other pieces that can be joined together

Questions 1-8
READING PASSAGE 2
Complete the notes below.
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer. The growth of bike-sharing schemes around
Write your answers in boxes 1-8 on your answer sheet.
Children’s play the world
Uses of children’s play How Dutch engineer Luud Schimmelpennink helped to devise urban bike-sharing schemes
• building a ‘magical kingdom’ may help develop 1………………………………… A
• board games involve 2 ……………………………. and turn-taking The original idea for an urban bike-sharing scheme dates back to a
Recent changes affecting children’s play summer’s day in Amsterdam in 1965. Provo, the organization that came
• population of 3 ………………………… have grown up with the idea, was a group of Dutch activists who wanted to change
• opportunities for free play are limited due to society. They believed the scheme, which was known as the Witte
– fear of 4 ……………………………… Fietsenplan, was an answer to the perceived threats of air pollution and
– fear of 5 ……………………………… consumerism. In the centre of Amsterdam, they painted a small number
– increased 6 …………………………… in schools
of used bikes white. They also distributed leaflets describing the dangers
of cars and inviting people to use the white bikes. The bikes were then
left unlocked at various locations around the city, to be used by anyone
in need of transport.
B was made with a chip card developed by the Dutch bank Postbank.
Luud Schimmelpennink, a Dutch industrial engineer who still lives and
cycles in Amsterdam, was heavily involved in the original scheme. He
recalls how the scheme succeeded in attracting a great deal of attention
– particularly when it came to publicising Provo’s aims – but struggled to
get off the ground. The police were opposed to Provo’s initiatives and
almost as soon as the white bikes were distributed around the city, they
removed them. However, for Schimmelpennink and for bike-sharing
schemes in general, this was just the beginning. ‘The first Witte
Fietsenplan was just a symbolic thing,’ he says. ‘We painted a few bikes
white, that was all. Things got more serious when I became a member of
the Amsterdam city council two years later.’
C recognised as white bikes.’ But the biggest blow came when Postbank
Schimmelpennink seized this opportunity to present a more elaborate
Witte Fietsenplan to the city council. ‘My idea was that the municipality of
Amsterdam would distribute 10,000 white bikes over the city, for
everyone to use,’ he explains. ‘I made serious calculations. It turned out
that a white bicycle – per person, per kilometer – would cost the
municipality only 10% of what it contributed to public transport per
person per kilometer.’ Nevertheless, the council unanimously rejected
the plan. ‘They said that the bicycle belongs to the past. They saw a
glorious future for the car,’ says Schimmelpennink. But he was not in the
least discouraged.
D sharing.’ The huge and unexpected success of the Parisian bike-sharing
Schimmelpennink never stopped believing in bike-sharing, and in the
mid-90s, two Danes asked for his help to set up a system in Copenhagen.
The result was the world’s first large-scale bike-share programme. It
worked on a deposit: ‘You dropped a coin in the bike and when you
returned it, you got your money back.’ After setting up the Danish
system, Schimmelpennink decided to try his luck again in the
Netherlands – and this time he succeeded in arousing the interest of the
Dutch Ministry of Transport. ‘Times had changed,’ he recalls. ‘People had
become more environmentally conscious, and the Danish experiment
had proved that bike-sharing was a real possibility.’ A new Witte
Fietsenplan was launched in 1999 in Amsterdam. However, riding a
white bike was no longer free; it cost one guilder per trip and payment
Schimmelpennink designed conspicuous, sturdy white bikes locked in
special racks which could be opened with the chip card – the plan started
with 250 bikes, distributed over five stations.
E
Theo Molenaar, who was a system designer for the project, worked
alongside Schimmelpennink. ‘I remember when we were testing the bike
racks, he announced that he had already designed better ones. But of
course, we had to go through with the ones we had.’ The system,
however, was prone to vandalism and theft. ‘After every weekend there
would always be a couple of bikes missing,’ Molenaar says. ‘I really have
no idea what people did with them, because they could instantly be
decided to abolish the chip card, because it wasn’t profitable. ‘That chip
card was pivotal to the system,’ Molenaar says. ‘To continue the project
we would have needed to set up another system, but the business
partner had lost interest.’
F
Schimmelpennink was disappointed, but – characteristically – not for
long. In 2002 he got a call from the French advertising corporation JC
Decaux, who wanted to set up his bike-sharing scheme in Vienna. ‘That
went really well. After Vienna, they set up a system in Lyon. Then in 2007,
Paris followed. That was a decisive moment in the history of bike-
programme, which now boasts more than 20,000 bicycles, inspired cities
all over the world to set up their own schemes, all modelled on
Schimmelpennink’s. ‘It’s wonderful that this happened,’ he says. ‘But
financially I didn’t really benefit from it, because I never filed for a
patent.’
G
In Amsterdam today, 38% of all trips are made by bike and, along with
Copenhagen, it is regarded as one of the two most cycle-friendly capitals
in the world – but the city never got another Witte Fietsenplan. Molenaar
believes this may be because everybody in Amsterdam already has a Questions 21-22
bike. Schimmelpennink, however, cannot see that this changes Choose TWO letters, A-E
Amsterdam’s need for a bike-sharing scheme. ‘People who travel on the Write the correct letters in boxes 21 and 22 on your answer sheet.

underground don’t carry their bikes around. But often they need Which TWO of the following statements are made in the text about
additional transport to reach their final destination.’ Although he thinks it Amsterdam today?
is strange that a city like Amsterdam does not have a successful bike- A The majority of residents would like to prevent all cars from entering

sharing scheme, he is optimistic about the future. ‘In the ‘60s we didn’t the city.
stand a chance because people were prepared to give their lives to keep B There is little likelihood of the city having another bike-sharing

cars in the city. But that mentality has totally changed. Today everybody scheme.
longs for cities that are not dominated by cars.’ C More trips in the city are made by bike than by any other form of
transport.
Questions 14-18 D A bike-sharing scheme would benefit residents who use public

Reading Passage 2 has seven paragraphs, A-G. transport.

Which paragraph contains the following information? E The city has a reputation as a place that welcomes cyclists.

Write the correct letter, A-G, in boxes 14-18 on your answer sheet.
NB You may use any letter more than once. Questions 23-26
14 a description of how people misused a bike-sharing scheme Complete the summary below.
15 an explanation of why a proposed bike-sharing scheme was turned Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 23-26 on your answer sheet.
down
16 a reference to a person being unable to profit their work
The first urban bike-sharing scheme
17 an explanation of the potential savings a bike-sharing scheme would
The first bike-sharing scheme was the idea of the Dutch group Provo.
bring
The people who belonged to this group were 23……………………….. They
18 a reference to the problems a bike-sharing scheme was intended to
were concerned about damage to the environment and
solve
about 24 ………………………….., and believed that the bike-sharing scheme
would draw attention to these issues. As well as painting some bikes
Questions 19-20 white, they handed out 25 …………………….. that condemned the use of
Choose TWO letters, A-E cars.
Write the correct letters in boxes 19 and 20 on your answer sheet. However, the scheme was not a great success: almost as quickly as
Which TWO of the following statements are made in the text about the Provo left the bikes around the city, the 26 ………………………. Took them
Amsterdam bike-sharing scheme of 1999? away. According to Schimmelpennink, the scheme was intended to be
A It was initially opposed by a government department. symbolic. The idea was to get people thinking about the issues.
B It failed when a partner in the scheme withdrew support.
C It aimed to be more successful than the Copenhagen scheme.
D It was made possible by a change in people’s attitudes.
E It attracted interest from a range of bike designers.
 remove obstacles preventing effective performance, employees feel
READING PASSAGE 3 more obligated to stay with the company. This was succinctly
summarized by Michel et al. (2013): ‘[P]roviding support to employees
Motivational factors and the gives them the confidence to perform their jobs better and the
motivation to stay with the organization.’ Hospitality organizations can
hospitality industry therefore enhance employee motivation and retention through the
development and improvement of their working conditions. These
A critical ingredient in the success of hotels is developing and
conditions are inherently linked to the working environment.
maintaining superior performance from their employees. How is that
While it seems likely that employees’ reactions to their job characteristics
accomplished? What Human Resource Management (HRM) practices
could be affected by a predisposition to view their work environment
should organizations invest in to acquire and retain great employees?
negatively, no evidence exists to support this hypothesis (Spector et al.,
Some hotels aim to provide superior working conditions for their
2000). However, given the opportunity, many people will find something
employees. The idea originated from workplaces – usually in the non-
to complain about in relation to their workplace (Poulston, 2009). There
service sector – that emphasized fun and enjoyment as part of work-life
is a strong link between the perceptions of employees and particular
balance. By contrast, the service sector, and more specifically hotels, has
factors of their work environment that are separate from the work itself,
traditionally not extended these practices to address basic employee
including company policies, salary and vacations.
needs, such as good working conditions.
Such conditions are particularly troubling for the luxury hotel market,
Pfeffer (1994) emphasizes that in order to succeed in a global business
where high-quality service, requiring a sophisticated approach to HRM, is
environment, organizations must make investment in Human Resource
recognized as a critical source of competitive advantage (Maroudas et al.,
Management (HRM) to allow them to acquire employees who possess
2008). In a real sense, the services of hotel employees represent their
better skills and capabilities than their competitors. This investment will
industry (Schneider and Bowen, 1993). This representation has
be to their competitive advantage. Despite this recognition of the
commonly been limited to guest experiences. This suggests that there
importance of employee development, the hospitality industry has
has been a dichotomy between the guest environment provided in
historically been dominated by underdeveloped HR practices (Lucas,
luxury hotels and the working conditions of their employees.
2002).
It is therefore essential for hotel management to develop HRM practices
Lucas also points out that ‘the substance of HRM practices does not
that enable them to inspire and retain competent employees. This
appear to be designed to foster constructive relations with employees or
requires an understanding of what motivates employees at different
to represent a managerial approach that enables developing and
levels of management and different stages of their careers (Enz and
drawing out the full potential of people, even though employees may be
Siguaw, 2000). This implies that it is beneficial for hotel managers to
broadly satisfied with many aspects of their work’ (Lucas, 2002). In
understand what practices are most favorable to increase employee
addition, or maybe as a result, high employee turnover has been a
satisfaction and retention.
recurring problem throughout the hospitality industry. Among the many
Herzberg (1966) proposes that people have two major types of needs,
cited reasons are low compensation, inadequate benefits, poor working
the first being extrinsic motivation factors relating to the context in
conditions and compromised employee morale and attitudes (Maroudas
which work is performed, rather than the work itself. These include
et al., 2008).
working conditions and job security. When these factors are unfavorable,
Ng and Sorensen (2008) demonstrated that when managers provide
job dissatisfaction may result. Significantly, though, just fulfilling these
recognition to employees, motivate employees to work together, and
needs does not result in satisfaction, but only in the reduction of 29 Little is done in the hospitality industry to help workers improve their
dissatisfaction (Maroudas et al., 2008). skills.
Employees also have intrinsic motivation needs or motivators, which 30 Staff are less likely to change jobs if cooperation is encouraged.
include such factors as achievement and recognition. Unlike extrinsic 31 Dissatisfaction with pay is not the only reason why hospitality
factors, motivator factors may ideally result in job satisfaction (Maroudas workers change jobs.
et al., 2008). Herzberg’s (1966) theory discusses the need for a ‘balance’ List of Researchers

of these two types of needs. A Pfeffer

The impact of fun as a motivating factor at work has also been explored. B Lucas
For example, Tews, Michel and Stafford (2013) conducted a study C Maroudas et al.
focusing on staff from a chain of themed restaurants in the United D Ng and Sorensen
States. It was found that fun activities had a favorable impact on E Enz and Siguaw
performance and manager support for fun had a favorable impact in F Deery
reducing turnover. Their findings support the view that fun may indeed
have a beneficial effect, but the framing of that fun must be carefully Questions 32-35
aligned with both organizational goals and employee characteristics. Do the following statements agree with the claims of the writer in
‘Managers must learn how to achieve the delicate balance of allowing Reading Passage 3?
employees the freedom to enjoy themselves at work while In boxes 32-35 on your answer sheet, write
simultaneously high levels of performance’ (Tews et al., 2013). YES if the statement agrees with the claims of the writer
Deery (2008) has recommended several actions that can be adopted at NO if the statement contradicts the claims of the writer
the organizational level to retain good staff as well as assist in balancing NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
work and family life. Those particularly appropriate to the hospitality 32 One reason for high staff turnover in the hospitality industry is poor
industry include allowing adequate breaks during the working day, staff morale.
functions that involve families, and providing health and well-being 33 Research has shown that staff have a tendency to dislike their
opportunities. workplace.
34 An improvement in working conditions and job security makes staff
satisfied with their jobs.
Questions 27-31 35 Staff should be allowed to choose when they take breaks during the
Look at the following statements (Questions 27-31) and the list of working day.
researchers below.
Match each statement with the correct researcher, A-F.
Write the correct letter, A-F, in boxes 27-31 on your answer sheet.
Questions 36-40
NB You may use any letter more than once.
Complete the summary below.
27 Hotel managers need to know what would encourage good staff to
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
remain. Write your answers in boxes 36-40 on your answer sheet.
28 The actions of managers may make staff feel they shouldn’t move to
a different employer.

Fun at work
Tews, Michel and Stafford carried out research on staff in an American
chain of 36……………………… . They discovered that activities designed for
staff to have fun improved their 37……………………… , and that
management involvement led to lower staff 38 ………………………….. . They
also found that the activities needed to fit with both the
company’s 39 ………………………….. and the 40 …………………………. Of the staff.
A balance was required between a degree of freedom and maintaining
work standards.
Book 14 Test 2:
READING PASSAGE 1
Alexander Henderson (1831-1913)
Born in Scotland, Henderson emigrated to Canada in 1855 and become a well-known landscape
photographer
Alexander Henderson was born in Scotland in 1831 and was the son of a
successful merchant. His grandfather, also called Alexander, had
founded the family business, and later became the first chairman of the
National Bank of Scotland. The family had extensive landholding in
Scotland. Besides its residence in Edinburgh, it owned Press Estate, 650
acres of farmland about 35 miles southeast of the city. The family often
stayed at Press Castle, the large mansion on the northern edge of the
property, and Alexander spent much of his childhood in the area, playing
on the beach near Eyemouth or fishing in the streams nearby.
Even after he went to school at Murcheston Academy on the outskirts of
Edinburgh, Henderson returned to Press at weekends. In 1849 he began
a three-year apprenticeship to become an accountant. Although he
never liked the prospect of a business career, he stayed with it to please
his family. In October 1855, however, he emigrated to Canada with his
wife Agnes Elder Robertson and they settled in Montreal.
Henderson learned photography in Montreal around the year 1857 and
quickly took it up as a serious amateur. He became a personal friend and
colleague of the Scottish – Canadian photographer William Notman. The
two men made a photographic excursion to Niagara Falls in 1860 and
they cooperated on experiments with magnesium flares as a source of
artificial light in 1865. They belonged to the same societies and were
among the founding members of the Art Association of Montreal.
Henderson acted as chairman of the association’s first meeting, which
was held in Notman’s studio on 11 January 1860.
In spite of their friendship, their styles of photography were quite
different. While Notman’s landscapes were noted for their bold realism,
Henderson for the first 20 years of his career produced romantic images,
showing the strong influence of the British landscape tradition. His
artistic and technical progress was rapid and in 1865 he published his
first major collection of landscape photographs. The publication had
limited circulation (only seven copies have ever been found), and was
called Canadian Views and Studies. The contents of each copy vary significantly
and have proved a useful source for evaluating Henderson’s early work.
In 1866, he gave up his business to open a photographic studio,
advertising himself as a portrait and landscape photographer. From
about 1870 he dropped portraiture to specialize in landscape
photography and other views. His numerous photographs of city life
revealed in street scenes, houses, and markets are alive with human
activity, and although his favourite subject was landscape he usually
composed his scenes around such human pursuits as farming the land,
cutting ice on a river, or sailing down a woodland stream. There was
sufficient demand for these types of scenes and others he took depicting
the lumber trade, steamboats and waterfalls to enable him to make a
living. There was little competing hobby or amateur photography before
the late 1880s because of the time-consuming techniques involved and
the weight of equipment. People wanted to buy photographs as
souvenirs of a trip or as gifts, and catering to this market, Henderson
had stock photographs on display at his studio for mounting, framing, or
inclusion in albums.
Henderson frequently exhibited his photographs in Montreal and
abroad, in London, Edinburgh, Dublin, Paris, New York, and Philadelphia.
He met with greater success in 1877 and 1878 in New York when he won
first prizes in the exhibition held by E and H T Anthony and Company for
landscapes using the Lambertype process. In 1878 his work won second
prize at the world exhibition in Paris.
In the 1890s and 1880s Henderson travelled widely throughout Quebec
and Ontario, in Canada, documenting the major cities of the two
provinces and many of the villages in Quebec. He was especially fond of
the wilderness and often travelled by canoe on the Blanche, du Lièvre,
and other noted eastern rivers. He went on several occasions to the
Maritimes and in 1872 he sailed by yacht along the lower north shore of
the St Lawrence River. That same year, while in the lower St Lawrence
River region, he took some photographs of the construction of the
Intercolonial Railway. This undertaking led in 1875 to a commission from
the railway to record the principal structures along the almost-
completed line connecting Montreal to Halifax. Commissions from other
railways followed. In 1876 he photographed bridges on the Quebec,
Montreal, Ottawa and Occidental Railway between Montreal and Ottawa.
In 1885 he went west along the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) as far as
Rogers Pass in British Columbia, where he took photographs of the
mountains and the progress of construction.
In 1892 Henderson accepted a full-time position with the CPR as
manager of a photographic department which he was to set up and
administer. His duties included spending four months in the field each
year. That summer he made his second trip west, photographing
extensively along the railway line as far as Victoria. He continued in this
post until 1897, when he retired completely from photography.
When Henderson died in 1913, his huge collection of glass negatives was
stored in the basement of his house. Today collections of his work are
held at the National Archives of Canada, Ottawa, and the McCord
Museum of Canadian History, Montreal.
Questions 1-8
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading
Passage 1?
In boxes 1-8 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 Henderson rarely visited the area around Press estate when he was
younger.
2 Henderson pursued a business career because it was what his family
wanted.
3 Henderson and Notman were surprised by the results of their 1865
experiment.
4 There were many similarities between Henderson’s early landscapes
and those of Notman.
5 The studio that Henderson opened in 1866 was close to his home.
6 Henderson gave up portraiture so that he could focus on taking
photographs of scenery.
7 When Henderson began work for the Intercolonial Railway, the
Montreal to Halifax line had been finished.
8 Henderson’s last work as a photographer was with the Canadian
Pacific Railway.
Questions 9-13
Complete the notes below
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
Alexander Henderson
Early life
• was born in Scotland in 1831 – father was a 9 …………………………
• trained as an accountant, emigrated to Canada in 1855
Start of a photographic career
• opened up a photographic studio in 1866
• took photos of city life, but preferred landscape photography
• people bought Henderson’s photos because photography took up
considerable time and the 10 ……………………… was heavy
• the photographs Henderson sold were 11 …………………………… or
souvenirs
Travelling as a professional photographer
• travelled widely in Quebec and Ontario in 1870s and 1880s
• took many trips along eastern rivers in a 12…………………………..
• worked for Canadian railways between 1875 and 1897
• worked for CPR in 1885 and photographed the 13 ……………………………
and the railway at Rogers Pass

READING PASSAGE 2
Back to the future of skyscraper
design
Answers to the problem of excessive electricity use by skyscrapers and large public buildings can be found
in ingenious but forgotten architectural designs of the 19th and early-20th centuries
A in today’s hospitals, at a fraction of the energy cost.’
The Recovery of Natural Environments in Architecture by
Professor Alan Short is the
culmination of 30 years of research and award-winning green building design by
Short and colleagues in Architecture, Engineering, Applied Maths and Earth
Sciences at the University of Cambridge.
‘The crisis in building design is already here,’ said Short. ‘Policy makers think you
can solve energy and building problems with gadgets. You can’t. As global
temperatures continue to rise, we are going to continue to squander more and more
energy on keeping our buildings mechanically cool until we have run out of
capacity.’
B and were used to explain the spread of infection from the Middle Ages right through
Short is calling for a sweeping reinvention of how skyscrapers and major public
buildings are designed – to end the reliance on sealed buildings which exist solely
via the ‘life support’ system of vast air conditioning units.
Instead, he shows it is entirely possible to accommodate natural ventilation and
cooling in large buildings by looking into the past, before the widespread
introduction of air conditioning systems, which were ‘relentlessly and aggressively
marketed’ by their inventors.
C air conditioning. ‘But I have designed and built a series of buildings over the past
Short points out that to make most contemporary buildings habitable, they have to
be sealed and air conditioned. The energy use and carbon emissions this generates is
spectacular and largely unnecessary. Buildings in the West account for 40-50% of
electricity usage, generating substantial carbon emissions, and the rest of the world
is catching up at a frightening rate. Short regards glass, steel and air-conditioned
skyscrapers as symbols of status, rather than practical ways of meeting our
requirements.
D Montfort University in Leicester. Containing as many as 2,000 staff and students,
Short’s book highlights a developing and sophisticated art and science of ventilating
buildings through the 19th and earlier-20th centuries, including the design of
ingeniously ventilated hospitals. Of particular interest were those built to the designs
of John Shaw Billings, including the first Johns Hopkins Hospital in the US city of
Baltimore (1873-1889).
‘We spent three years digitally modelling Billings’ final designs,’ says Short. ‘We
put pathogens* in the airstreams, modelled for someone with tuberculosis (TB)
coughing in the wards and we found the ventilation systems in the room would have
kept other patients safe from harm.
* pathogens: microorganisms that can cause disease
E
‘We discovered that 19th-century hospital wards could generate up to 24 air changes
an hour – that’s similar to the performance of a modern-day, computer-controlled
operating theatre. We believe you could build wards based on these principles now.
Single rooms are not appropriate for all patients. Communal wards appropriate for
certain patients – older people with dementia, for example – would work just as well
Professor Short contends the mindset and skill-sets behind these designs have been
completely lost, lamenting the disappearance of expertly designed theatres, opera
houses, and other buildings where up to half the volume of the building was given
over to ensuring everyone got fresh air.
F
Much of the ingenuity present in 19th-century hospital and building design was
driven by a panicked public clamouring for buildings that could protect against what
was thought to be the lethal threat of miasmas – toxic air that spread disease.
Miasmas were feared as the principal agents of disease and epidemics for centuries,
to the cholera outbreaks in London and Paris during the 1850s. Foul air, rather than
germs, was believed to be the main driver of ‘hospital fever’, leading to disease and
frequent death. The prosperous steered clear of hospitals.
While miasma theory has been long since disproved, Short has for the last 30 years
advocated a return to some of the building design principles produced in its wake.
G
Today, huge amounts of a building’s space and construction cost are given over to
three decades which have tried to reinvent some of these ideas and then measure
what happens.
‘To go forward into our new low-energy, low-carbon future, we would be well
advised to look back at design before our high-energy, high-carbon present
appeared. What is surprising is what a rich legacy we have abandoned.’
H
Successful examples of Short’s approach include the Queen’s Building at De
the entire building is naturally ventilated, passively cooled and naturally lit,
including the two largest auditoria, each seating more than 150 people. The award-
winning building uses a fraction of the electricity of comparable buildings in the
UK.
Short contends that glass skyscrapers in London and around the world will become a
liability over the next 20 or 30 years if climate modelling predictions and energy
price rises come to pass as expected.
I
He is convinced that sufficiently cooled skyscrapers using the natural environment
can be produced in almost any climate. He and his team have worked on hybrid
buildings in the harsh climates of Beijing and Chicago – built with natural
ventilation assisted by back-up air conditioning – which, surprisingly perhaps, can
be switched off more than half the time on milder days and during the spring and
autumn.
Short looks at how we might reimagine the cities, offices and homes of the future.
Maybe it’s time we changed our outlook.
Questions 14-18
Reading Passage 2 has nine section, A-I
Which section contains the following information?
Write the correct letter, A-I, in boxes 14-18 on your answer sheet.
14 why some people avoided hospitals in the 19th century
15 a suggestion that the popularity of tall buildings is linked to prestige
16 a comparison between the circulation of air in a 19th-century building and
modern standards
17 how Short tested the circulation of air in a 19th-century building
18 an implication that advertising led to the large increase in the use of air
conditioning
Questions 19-26
Complete the summary below.
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 19-26 on your answer sheet.
Ventilation in 19th-century hospital wards
Professor Alan Short examined the work of John Shaw Billings, who influenced the
architectural 19 ……………………… of hospitals to ensure they had good
ventilation. He calculated that 20 ……………………….. in the air coming from
patients suffering form 21……………………… would not have harmed other
patients. He also found that the air in 22…………………………. In hospitals could
change as often as in a modern operating theatre. He suggests that energy use could
be reduced by locating more patients in 23 ………………………. areas.
A major reason for improving ventilation in 19th-century hospitals was the demand
from the 24 ………………………….. for protection against bad air, known
as 25 …………………………… These were blamed for the spread of disease for
hundreds of years, including epidemics of 26…………………………… in London
and Paris in the middle of the 19th century.
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READING PASSAGE 3
Why companies should welcome
disorder
A
Organisation is big business. Whether it is of our lives – all those inboxes
and calendars – or how companies are structured, a multi-billion dollar
industry helps to meet this need.
We have more strategies for time management, project management
and self-organisation than at any other time in human history. We are
told that we ought to organize our company, our home life, our week,
our day and seven our sleep, all as a means to becoming more
productive. Every week, countless seminars and workshops take place
around the world to tell a paying public that they ought to structure their
lives in order to achieve this.
This rhetoric has also crept into the thinking of business leaders and
entrepreneurs, much to the delight of self-proclaimed perfectionists with
the need to get everything right. The number of business schools and
graduates has massively increased over the past 50 years, essentially
teaching people how to organise well.
B
Ironically, however, the number of business that fail has also steadily
increased. Work-related stress has increased. A large proportion of
workers from all demographics claim to be dissatisfied with the way their
work is structured and the way they are managed.
This begs the question: what has gone wrong? Why is it that on paper
the drive for organisation seems a sure shot for increasing productivity,
but in reality falls well short of what is expected?
C
This has been a problem for a while now. Frederick Taylor was one of the
forefathers of scientific management. Writing in the first half of the 20th
century, he designed a number of principles to improve the efficiency of
the work process, which have since become widespread in modern
companies. So the approach has been around for a while.
D approach proved to be highly successful initially, with clear
New research suggests that this obsession with efficiency is misguided. improvements in worker productivity in all facets of the business.
The problem is not necessarily the management theories or strategies In similar fashion, the former chairman of General Electric embraced
we use to organise our work; it’s the basic assumptions we hold in disorganisation, putting forward the idea of the ‘boundaryless’
approaching how we work. Here it’s the assumption that order is a organisation. Again, it involves breaking down the barriers between
necessary condition for productivity. This assumption has also fostered different parts of a company and encouraging virtual collaboration and
the idea that disorder must be detrimental to organizational flexible working. Google and a number of other tech companies have
productivity. The result is that businesses and people spend time and embraced (at least in part) these kinds of flexible structures, facilitated
money organising themselves for the sake of organising, rather than by technology and strong company values which glue people together.
actually looking at the end goal and usefulness of such an effort. H
E A word of warning to others thinking of jumping on this bandwagon: the
What’s more, recent studies show that order actually has diminishing evidence so far suggests disorder, much like order, also seems to have
returns. Order does increase productivity to a certain extent, but diminishing utility, and can also have detrimental effects on performance
eventually the usefulness of the process of organisation, and the benefit if overused. Like order, disorder should be embraced only so far as it is
it yields, reduce until the point where any further increase in order useful. But we should not fear it – nor venerate one over the other. This
reduces productivity. Some argue that in a business, if the cost of research also shows that we should continually question whether or not
formally structuring something outweighs the benefit of doing it, then our existing assumptions work.
that thing ought not to be formally structured. Instead, the resources
involved can be better used elsewhere.
F Questions 27-34
In fact, research shows that, when innovating, the best approach is to Reading Passage 3 has eight sections, A-H
create an environment devoid of structure and hierarchy and enable Choose the correct heading for each section from the list of headings
everyone involved to engage as one organic group. These environments below.
can lead to new solutions that, under conventionally structured Write the correct number, i-ix, in boxes 27-34 on your answer sheet.
environments (filled with bottlenecks in term of information flow, power List of Headkings

structures, rules, and routines) would never be reached.
G ii
In recent times companies have slowly started to embrace this
disorganisation. Many of them embrace it in terms of perception
(embracing the idea of disorder, as opposed to fearing it) and in terms of
process (putting mechanisms in place to reduce structure).
For example, Oticon, a large Danish manufacturer of hearing aids, used
what it called a ‘spaghetti’ structure in order to reduce the organisation’s
rigid hierarchies. This involved scrapping formal job titles and giving staff
huge amounts of ownership over their own time and projects. This
i Complaints about the impact of a certain approach
Fundamental beliefs that are in fact incorrect
iii Early recommendations concerning business activities
iv Organisations that put a new approach into practice
v Companies that have suffered from changing their approach
vi What people are increasingly expected to do
vii How to achieve outcomes that are currently impossible
viii Neither approach guarantees continuous improvement
ix Evidence that a certain approach can have more disadvantages
that advantages
27 Section A
28 Section B Book 14 test 3:
29 Section C
30 Section D
31 Section E READING PASSAGE 1
32 Section F
33 Section G The concept of intelligence
34 Section H A
Looked at in one way, everyone knows what intelligence is; looked at in
another way, no one does. In other words, people all have unconscious
Questions 35-37
notions – known as ‘implicit theories’ – of intelligence, but no one knows
Complete the sentences below.
for certain what it actually is. This chapter addresses how people
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
conceptualize intelligence, whatever it may actually be.
Write your answers in boxes 35-37 on your answer sheet.
But why should we even care what people think intelligence is, as
35 Numerous training sessions are aimed at people who feel they are
opposed only to valuing whatever it actually is? There are at least four
not ………………………. enough.
seasons people’s conceptions of intelligence matter.
36 Being organised appeals to people who regard themselves as
B
……………………………
First, implicit theories of intelligence drive the way in which people
37 Many people feel ……………………….. with aspects of their work.
perceive and evaluate their own intelligence and that of others. To better
understand the judgments people make about their own and others’
Questions 38-40 abilities, it is useful to learn about people’s implicit theories. For
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading example, parents’ implicit theories of their children’s language
Passage 3? development will determine at what ages they will be willing to make
In boxes 38-40 on your answer sheet, write various corrections in their children’s speech. More generally, parents’
TRUE if the statement agrees with the information implicit theories of intelligence will determine at what ages they believe
FALSE if the statement contradicts the information their children are ready to perform various cognitive tasks. Job
NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this
interviewers will make hiring decisions on the basis of their implicit
38 Both businesses and people aim at order without really considering
theories of intelligence. People will decide who to be friends with on the
its value. basis of such theories. In sum, knowledge about implicit theories of
39 Innovation is most successful if the people involved have distinct
intelligence is important because this knowledge is so often used by
roles. people to make judgments in the course of their everyday lives.
40 Google was inspired to adopt flexibility by the success of General
C
Electric. Second, the implicit theories of scientific investigators ultimately give rise
to their explicit theories. Thus it is useful to find out what these implicit
theories are. Implicit theories provide a framework that is useful in
defining the general scope of a phenomenon – especially a not-well-
understood phenomenon. These implicit theories can suggest what
aspects of the phenomenon have been more or less attended to in of themselves. Left to themselves, the unintelligent would create, as they
previous investigations. always have created, a kind of chaos.
D H
Third, implicit theories can be useful when an investigator suspects that The Jeffersonian view is that people should have equal opportunities, but
existing explicit theories are wrong or misleading. If an investigation of they do not necessarily avail themselves equally of these opportunities
implicit theories reveals little correspondence between the extant and are not necessarily equally rewarded for their accomplishments.
implicit and explicit theories, the implicit theories may be wrong. But the People are rewarded for what they accomplish, if given equal
possibility also needs to be taken into account that the explicit theories opportunity. Low achievers are not rewarded to the same extent as high
are wrong and in need of correction or supplementation. For example, achievers. In the Jeffersonian view, the goal of education is not to favor
some implicit theories of intelligence suggest the need for expansion of or foster an elite, as in the Hamiltonian tradition, but rather to allow
some of our explicit theories of the construct. children the opportunities to make full use of the skills they have. My
E own views are similar to these (Sternberg, 1997).
Finally, understanding implicit theories of intelligence can help elucidate I
developmental and cross-cultural differences. As mentioned earlier, The Jacksonian view is that all people are equal, not only as human
people have expectations for intellectual performances that differ for beings but in terms of their competencies – that one person would serve
children of different ages. How these expectations differ is in part a as well as another in government or on a jury or in almost any position
function of culture. For example, expectations for children who of responsibility. In this view of democracy, people are essentially
participate in Western-style schooling are almost certain to be different intersubstitutable except for specialized skills, all of which can be
from those for children who do not participate in such schooling. learned. In this view, we do not need or want any institutions that might
F lead to favoring one group over another.
I have suggested that there are three major implicit theories of how J
intelligence relates to society as a whole (Sternberg, 1997). These might Implicit theories of intelligence and of the relationship of intelligence to
be called Hamiltonian, Jeffersonian, and Jacksonian. These views are not society perhaps need to be considered more carefully than they have
based strictly, but rather, loosely, on the philosophies of Alexander been because they often serve as underlying presuppositions for explicit
Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, and Andrew Jackson, three great statesmen theories and even experimental designs that are then taken as scientific
in the history of the United States. contributions. Until scholars are able to discuss their implicit theories
G and thus their assumptions, they are likely to miss the point of what
The Hamiltonian view, which is similar to the Platonic view, is that people others are saying when discussing their explicit theories and their data.
are born with different levels of intelligence and that those who are less
intelligent need the good offices of the more intelligent to keep them in Questions 1-3. A-J para graph
line, whether they are called government officials or, in Plato’s term, Which section contains the following information?
philosopher-kings. Herrnstein and Murray (1994) seem to have shared 1 information about how non-scientists’ assumptions about intelligence
this belief when they wrote about the emergence of a cognitive (high-IQ) influence their behavior towards others
elite, which eventually would have to take responsibility for the largely 2 a reference to lack of clarity over the definition of intelligence
irresponsible masses of non-elite (low-IQ) people who cannot take care 3 the point that a researcher’s implicit and explicit theories may be very
different
Questions 4-6 READING PASSAGE 2
Do the following statements agree with the claims of the writer in
Reading Passage 1?
In boxes 4-6 on your answer sheet, write
Saving bugs to find new drugs
Zoologist Ross Piper looks at the potential of insects in pharmaceutical
YES if the statement agrees with the claims of the writer
research
NO if the statement contradicts the claims of the writer
A
NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
More drugs than you might think are derived from, or inspired by,
4 Slow language development in children is likely to prove disappointing
compounds found in living things. Looking to nature for the soothing
to their parents.
and curing of our ailments is nothing new – we have been doing it for
5 People’s expectations of what children should gain from education are
tens of thousands of years. You only have to look at other primates –
universal.
such as the capuchin monkeys who rub themselves with toxin-oozing
6 Scholars may discuss theories without fully understanding each other.
millipedes to deter mosquitoes, or the chimpanzees who use noxious
forest plants to rid themselves of intestinal parasites – to realise that our
Questions 7-13
ancient ancestors too probably had a basic grasp of medicine.
Look at the following statements (Questions 7-13) and the list of theories
B
below.
Pharmaceutical science and chemistry built on these ancient foundations
Match each statement with the correct theory, A, B or C.
and perfected the extraction, characterization, modification and testing
Write the correct letter, A, B or C, in boxes 7-13 on your answer sheet.
of these natural products. Then, for a while, modern pharmaceutical
NB You may use any letter more than once.7 It is desirable for the
science moved its focus away from nature and into the laboratory,
same possibilities to be open to everyone.
designing chemical compounds from scratch. The main cause of this
8 No section of society should have preferential treatment at the
shift is that although there are plenty of promising chemical compounds
expense of another.
in nature, finding them is far from easy. Securing sufficient numbers of
9 People should only gain benefits on the basis of what they actually
the organism in question, isolating and characterizing the compounds of
achieve.
interest, and producing large quantities of these compounds are all
10 Variation in intelligence begins at birth.
significant hurdles.
11 The more intelligent people should be in positions of power.
C
12 Everyone can develop the same abilities.
Laboratory-based drug discovery has achieved varying levels of success,
13 People of low intelligence are likely to lead uncontrolled lives.
List of Theories something which has now prompted the development of new
A Hamiltonian approaches focusing once again on natural products. With the ability to
B Jeffersonian mine genomes for useful compounds, it is now evident that we have
C Jacksonian barely scratched the surface of nature’s molecular diversity. This
realization, together with several looming health crises, such as antibiotic
resistance, has put bioprospecting – the search for useful compounds in
nature – firmly back on the map.
D
Insects are the undisputed masters of the terrestrial domain, where the
occupy every possible niche. Consequently, they have a bewildering
array of interactions with other organisms, something which has driven
the evolution of an enormous range of very interesting compounds for
defensive and offensive purposes. Their remarkable diversity exceeds
that of every other group of animals on the planet combined. Yet even
though insects are far and away the most diverse animals in existence,
their potential as sources of therapeutic compounds is yet to be realised.
E the insect’s DNA that carry the codes for the interesting compounds and
From the tiny proportion of insects that have been investigated, several
promising compounds have been identified. For example, alloferon, an
antimicrobial compound produced by blow fly larvae, is used as an
antiviral and antitumor agent in South Korea and Russia. The larvae of a
few other insect species are being investigated for the potent
antimicrobial compounds they produce. Meanwhile, a compound from
the venom of the wasp Polybia paulista has potential in cancer treatment.
F With every bit of wilderness that disappears, we deprive ourselves of
Why is it that insects have received relatively little attention in
bioprospecting? Firstly, there are so many insects that, without some
manner of targeted approach, investigating this huge variety of species
is a daunting task. Secondly, insects are generally very small, and the
glands inside them that secrete potentially useful compounds are
smaller still. This can make it difficult to obtain sufficient quantities of the
compound for subsequent testing. Thirdly, although we consider insects
to be everywhere, the reality of this ubiquity is vast numbers of a few
extremely common species. Many insect species are infrequently
encountered and very difficult to rear in captivity, which, again, can leave
us with insufficient material to work with.
G
My colleagues and I at Aberystwyth University in the UK have developed
an approach in which we use our knowledge of ecology as a guide to
target our efforts. The creatures that particularly interest us are the
many insects that secrete powerful poison for subduing prey and
keeping it fresh for future consumption. There are even more insects
that are masters of exploiting filthy habitats, such as faeces and
carcasses, where they are regularly challenged by thousands of micro-
organisms. These insects have many antimicrobial compounds for
dealing with pathogenic bacteria and fungi, suggesting that there is
certainly potential to find many compounds that can serve as or inspire
new antibiotics.
H
Although natural history knowledge points us in the right direction, it
doesn’t solve the problems associated with obtaining useful compounds
from insects. Fortunately, it is now possible to snip out the stretches of
insert them into cell lines that allow larger quantities to be produced.
And although the road from isolating and characterizing compounds
with desirable qualities to developing a commercial product is very long
and full of pitfalls, the variety of successful animal-derived
pharmaceuticals on the market demonstrates there is a precedent here
that is worth exploring.
I
potential medicines. As much as I’d love to help develop a
groundbreaking insect-derived medicine, my main motivation for looking
at insects in this way is conservation. I sincerely believe that all species,
however small and seemingly insignificant, have a right to exist for their
own sake. If we can shine a light on the darker recesses of nature’s
medicine cabinet, exploring the useful chemistry of the most diverse
animals on the planet, I believe we can make people think differently
about the value of nature.
Questions 14-20
Reading Passage 2 has nine paragraphs, A-I
Which paragraph contains the following information?
Write the correct letter, A-I, in boxes 14-20 on your answer sheet.
14 mention of factors driving a renewed interest in natural medicinal
compounds.
15 how recent technological advances have made insect research easier
16 examples of animals which use medicinal substances from nature
17 reasons why it is challenging to use insects in drug research
18 reference to how interest in drug research may benefit wildlife
19 a reason why nature-based medicines fell out of favour for a period
20 an example of an insect-derived medicine in use at the moment
Questions 21-22
Choose TWO letters, A-E
Write the correct letters in boxes 21 and 22 on your answer sheet.
Which TWO of the following make insects interesting for drug research?
A the huge number of individual insects in the world
B the variety of substances insects have developed to protect
themselves
C the potential to extract and make use of insects’ genetic codes
D the similarities between different species of insect
E the manageable size of most insects
Questions 23-26
Complete the summary below.
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 23-26 on your answer sheet.
Research at Aberystwyth University
Ross Piper and fellow zoologists at Aberystwyth University are using their
expertise in 23………………………… when undertaking bioprospecting with
insects. They are especially interested in the compounds that insects
produce to overpower and preserve their 24…………………………. They are
also interested in compounds which insects use to protect themselves
from pathogenic bacteria and fungi found in their 25…………………………
Piper hopes that these substances will be useful in the development of
drugs such as 26……………………………..
The power of play
Virtually every child, the world over, plays. The drive to play is so intense
that children will do so in any circumstances, for instance when they
have no real toys, or when parents do not actively encourage the
behavior. In the eyes of a young child, running, pretending, and building
are fun. Researchers and educators know that these playful activities
benefit the development of the whole child across social, cognitive,
physical, and emotional domains. Indeed, play is such an instrumental
component to healthy child development that the United Nation High
Commission on Human Rights (1989) recognized play as a fundamental
right of every child.
Yet, while experts continue to expound a powerful argument for the
importance of play in children’s lives, the actual time children spend
playing continues to decrease. Today, children play eight hours less each
week than their counterparts did two decades ago (Elkind 2008). Under
pressure of rising academic standards, play is being replaced by test
preparation in kindergartens and grade schools, and parents who aim to
give their preschoolers a leg up are led to believe that flashcards and
educational ‘toys’ are the path to success. Our society has created a false
dichotomy between play and learning
Through play, children learn to regulate their behavior, lay the
foundations for later learning in science and mathematics, figure out the
complex negotiations of social relationships, build a repertoire of
creative problem-solving skills, and so much more. There is also an
important role for adults in guiding children through playful learning
opportunities.
Full consensus on a formal definition of play continues to elude the
researchers and theorists who study it. Definitions range from discrete
descriptions of various types of play such as physical, construction,
language, or symbolic play (Miler & Almon 2009), to lists of broad criteria,
based on observations and attitudes, that are meant to capture the
essence of all play behaviors (e.g. Rubin et al. 1983).
A majority of the contemporary definitions of play focus on several key
criteria. The founder of the National Institute for Play, Stuart Brown, has
described play as ‘anything that spontaneously is done for its own sake’.
More specifically, he says it ‘appears purposeless, produces pleasure and
joy, [and] leads one to the next stage of mastery’ (as quoted in Tippett
2008). Similarly, Miller and Almon (2009) say that play includes ‘activities
that are freely chosen and directed by children and arise from intrinsic
motivation’. Often, play is defined along a continuum as more or less
playful using the following set of behavioral and dispositional criteria
(e.g. Rubin et al. 1983).
Play is pleasurable: Children must enjoy the activity or it is not play. It is
intrinsically motivated: Children engage in play simply for the satisfaction
the behavior itself brings. It has no extrinsically motivated function or
goal. Play is process oriented: When children play, the means are more
important than the ends. It is freely chosen, spontaneous and voluntary.
If a child is pressured, they will likely not think of the activity as play. Play
is actively engaged: Players must be physically and/or mentally involved
in the activity. Play is non-literal. It involves make-believe.
According to this view, children’s playful behaviors can range in degree
from 0% to 100% playful. Rubin and colleagues did not assign greater
weight to any one dimension in determining playfulness; however, other
researchers have suggested that process orientation and a lack of
obvious functional purpose may be the most important aspects of play
(e.g. Pellegrini 2009).
From the perspective of a continuum, play can thus blend with other
motives and attitudes that are less playful, such as work. Unlike play,
work is typically not viewed as enjoyable and it is extrinsically motivated
(i.e. it is goal oriented). Researcher Joan Goodman (1994) suggested that
hybrid forms of work and play are not a detriment to learning; rather,
they can provide optimal contexts for learning. For example, a child may
be engaged in a difficult, goal-directed activity set up by their teacher,
but they may still be actively engaged and intrinsically motivated. At this
mid-point between play and work, the child’s motivation, coupled with
guidance from an adult, can create robust opportunities for playful
learning.
Critically, recent research supports the idea that adults can facilitate
children’s learning while maintaining a playful approach in interactions
known as ‘guided play’ (Fisher et al. 2011). The adult’s role in play varies
as a function of their educational goals and the child’s developmental
level (Hirsch-Pasek et al. 2009).
Guided play takes two forms. At a very basic level, adults can enrich the
child’s environment by providing objects or experiences that promote
aspects of a curriculum. In the more direct form of guided play, parents
or other adults can support children’s play by joining in the fun as a co-
player, raising thoughtful questions, commenting on children’s
discoveries, or encouraging further exploration or new facets to the
child’s activity. Although playful learning can be somewhat structured, it
must also be child-centered (Nicolopolou et al. 2006). Play should stem
from the child’s own desire.
Both free and guided play are essential elements in a child-centered
approach to playful learning. Intrinsically motivated free play provides
the child with true autonomy, while guided play is an avenue through
which parents and educators can provide more targeted learning
experiences. In either case, play should be actively engaged, it should be
predominantly child-directed, and it must be fun.
Questions 27-31
Look at the following statements (Questions 27-31) and the list of
researchers below.
Match each statement with the correct researcher, A-G.
Write the correct letter, A-G, in boxes 27-31 on your answer sheet.
27 Play can be divided into a number of separate categories.
28 Adults’ intended goals affect how they play with children.
29 Combining work with play may be the best way for children to learn.
30 Certain elements of play are more significant than others.
31 Activities can be classified on a scale of playfulness.
List of Researchers
A Elkind
B Miller & Almon
C Rubin et al.
D Stuart Brown
E Pellegrini
F Joan Goodman
G Girsch-Pasek et al.

Questions 32-36
Do the following statements agree with the claims of the writer in
Reading Passage 3?
In boxes 32-36 on your answer sheet, write
YES if the statement agrees with the claims of the winter
NO if the statement contradicts the claims of the writer
NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
32 Children need toys in order to play.
33 It is a mistake to treat play and learning as separate types of
activities.
34 Play helps children to develop their artistic talents.
35 Researchers have agreed on a definition of play.
36 Work and play differ in terms of whether or not they have a target.
Questions 37-40
Complete the summary below.
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 37-40 on your answer sheet.
Guided play
In the simplest form of guided play, an adult contributes to the
environment in which the child is playing. Alternatively, an adult can play
with a child and develop the play, for instance by 37…………………….. the
child to investigate different aspects of their game. Adults can help
children to learn through play, and may make the activity rather
structured, but it should still be based on the child’s 38………………………….
to play.
Play without the intervention of adults gives children
real 39………………………….; with adults, play can be 40………………………… at
particular goals. However, all forms of play should be an opportunity for
children to have fun.
Book 14 test 4:
The secret of staying young
Pheidole dentata,
a native ant of the south-eastern U.S., isn’t immortal. But
scientists have found that it doesn’t seem to show any signs of aging. Old
workers ants can do everything just as well as the youngsters, and their
brains appear just as sharp. ‘We get a picture that these ants really don’t
decline,’ says Ysabel Giraldo, who studies the ants for her doctoral thesis
at Boston University.
Such age-defying feats are rare in the animal kingdom. Naked mole rats
can live for almost 30 years and stay fit for nearly their entire lives. They
can still reproduce even when old, and they never get cancer. But the
vast majority of animals deteriorate with age just like people do. Like the
naked mole rat, ants are social creatures that usually live in highly
organised colonies. ‘It’s this social complexity that makes P. dentata useful
for studying aging in people,’ says Giraldo, now at the California Institute
of Technology. Humans are also highly social, a trait that has been
connected to healthier aging. By contrast, most animal studies of aging
use mice, worms or fruit flies, which all lead much more isolated lives.
In the lab, P. dentata worker ants typically live for around 140 days. Giraldo
focused on ants at four age ranges: 20 to 22 days, 45 to 47 days, 95 to 97
days and 120 to 122 days. Unlike all previous studies, which only
estimated how old the ants were, her work tracked the ants from the
time the pupae became adults, so she knew their exact ages. Then she
put them through a range of tests.
Giraldo watched how well the ants took care of the young of the colony,
recording how often each ant attended to, carried and fed them. She
compared how well 20-day-old and 95-day-old ants followed the telltale
scent that the insects usually leave to mark a trail to food. She tested
how ants responded to light and also measured how active they were by
counting how often ants in a small dish walked across a line. And she
experimented with how ants react to live prey: a tethered fruit fly.
Giraldo expected the older ants to perform poorly in all these tasks. But
the elderly insects were all good caretakers and trail-followers – the 95-
day-old ants could track the scent even longer than their younger
counterparts. They all responded do light well, and the older ants were to the science of aging in larger animals. Either way, it seems that for
more active. And when it came to reacting to prey, the older ants these ants, age really doesn’t matter.
attacked the poor fruit fly just as aggressively as the young ones did,
flaring their mandibles or pulling at the fly’s legs. Questions 1-8
Then Giraldo compared the brains of 20-day-old and 95-day-ole ants, Complete the notes below.
identifying any cells that were close to death. She saw no major Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
differences with age, nor was there any difference in the location of the Ysabel Giraldo’s research
dying cells, showing that age didn’t seem to affect specific brain Focused on a total of 1………………………….. different age groups of ants,
functions. Ants and other insects have structures in their brains called analyzing
mushroom bodies, which are important for processing information, Behaviour:
learning and memory. She also wanted to see if aging affects the density • how well ants looked after their 2 …………………………..
of synaptic complexes within these structures – regions where neurons • their ability to locate 3………………………… using a scent trail
come together. Again, the answer was no. what was more, he old ants • the effect that 4………………………….. had on them
didn’t experience any drop in the levels of either serotonin or dopamine • how 5…………………………. They attacked prey
Brains:
– brain chemicals whose decline often coincides with aging. In humans,
for example, a decrease in serotonin has been linked to Alzheimer’s • comparison between age and the 6…………………………… of dying cells in
disease. the brains of ants
• condition of synaptic complexes (areas in which 7……………………………
‘This is the first time anyone has looked at both behavioral and neural
changes in these ants so thoroughly,’ says Giraldo, who recently meet) in the brain’s ‘mushroom bodies’
• level of two 8………………………….. in the brain associated with ageing
published the findings in the Proceeding of the Royal Society B. Scientists have
looked at some similar aspects in bees, but the results of recent bee
studies were mixed – some studies showed age-related declines, which
Questions 9-13
Do the following statements agree with the information give in Reading
biologists call senescence, and others didn’t. ‘For now, the study raises
Passage 1?
more questions than it answers,’ Giraldo says, ‘including how P.
TRUE if the statement agrees with the information
dentata stays in such good shape.’
FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
Also, if the ants don’t deteriorate with age, why do they die at all? Out in
NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this
the wild, the ants probably don’t live for a full 140 days thanks to
9 Pheidole dentata ants are the only known animals which remain active for
predators, disease and just being in an environment that’s much harsher
almost their whole lives.
than the comforts of the lab. ‘The lucky ants that do live into old age may
10 Ysabel Giraldo was the first person to study Pheidole dentata ants using
suffer a steep decline just before dying,’ Giraldo says, but she can’t say
precise data about the insects’ ages.
for sure because her study wasn’t designed to follow an ant’s final
11 The ants in Giraldo’s experiments behaved as she had predicted that
moments.
they would.
‘It will be important to extend these findings to other species of social
12 The recent studies of bees used different methods of measuring age-
insects,’ says Gene E. Robinson, an entomologist at the University of
related decline.
Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. This ant might be unique, or it might
13 Pheidole dentata ants kept in laboratory conditions tend to live longer
represent a broader pattern among other social bugs with possible clues
lives.
 C
READING PASSAGE 2 Zoos also provide education. Many children and adults, especially those
in cities, will never see a wild animal beyond a fox or pigeon. While it is
true that television documentaries are becoming ever more detailed and
Why zoos are good
impressive, and many natural history specimens are on display in
Scientist David Hone makes the case for zoos museums, there really is nothing to compare with seeing a living
creature in the flesh, hearing it, smelling it, watching what it does and
A
having the time to absorb details. That alone will bring a greater
In my view, it is perfectly possible for many species of animals living in
understanding and perspective to many, and hopefully give them a
zoos or wildlife parks to have a quality of life as high as, or higher than,
greater appreciation for wildlife, conservation efforts and how they can
in the wild. Animals in good zoos get a varied and high-quality diet with
contribute.
all the supplements required, and any illnesses they might have will be
D
treated. Their movement might be somewhat restricted, but they have a
In addition to this, there is also the education that can take place in zoos
safe environment in which to live, and they are spared bullying and
through signs, talks and presentations which directly communicate
social ostracism by others of their kind. They do not suffer from the
information to visitors about the animals they are seeing and their place
threat or stress of predators, or the irritation and pain of parasites or
in the world. This was an area where zoos used to be lacking, but they
injuries. The average captive animal will have a greater life expectancy
are now increasingly sophisticated in their communication and outreach
compared with its wild counterpart, and will not die of drought, of
work. Many zoos also work directly to educate conservation workers in
starvation or in the jaws of a predator. A lot of very nasty things happen
other countries, or send their animal keepers abroad to contribute their
to truly ‘wild’ animals that simply don’t happen in good zoos, and to view
knowledge and skills to those working in zoos and reserves, thereby
a life that is ‘free’ as one that is automatically ‘good’ is, I think, an error.
helping to improve conditions and reintroductions all over the world.
Furthermore, zoos serve several key purposes.
E
B
Zoos also play a key role in research. If we are to save wild species and
Firstly, zoos aid conservation. Colossal numbers of species are becoming
restore and repair ecosystems we need to know about how key species
extinct across the world, and many more are increasingly threatened
live, act and react. Being able to undertake research on animals in zoos
and therefore risk extinction. Moreover, some of these collapses have
where there is less risk and fewer variables means real changes can be
been sudden, dramatic and unexpected, or were simply discovered very
effected on wild populations. Finding out about, for example, the oestrus
late in the day. A species protected in captivity can be bred up to provide
cycle of an animal of its breeding rate helps us manage wild populations.
a reservoir population against a population crash or extinction in the
Procedures such as capturing and moving at-risk or dangerous
wild. A good number of species only exist in captivity, with many of these
individuals are bolstered by knowledge gained in zoos about doses for
living in zoos. Still more only exist in the wild because they have been
anaesthetics, and by experience in handling and transporting animals.
reintroduced from zoos, or have wild populations that have been
This can make a real difference to conservation efforts and to the
boosted by captive bred animals. Without these efforts there would be
reduction of human-animal conflicts, and can provide a knowledge base
fewer species alive today. Although reintroduction successes are few and
for helping with the increasing threats of habitat destruction and other
far between, the numbers are increasing, and the very fact that species
problems.
have been saved or reintroduced as a result of captive breeding proves
the value of such initiatives.
F 22 Studying animals in zoos is less stressful for the animals than
In conclusion, considering the many ongoing global threats to the
environment, it is hard for me to see zoos as anything other than
essential to the long-term survival of numerous species. They are vital
not just in terms of protecting animals, but as a means of learning about
them to aid those still in the wild, as well as educating and informing the
general population about these animals and their world so that they can
assist or at least accept the need to be more environmentally conscious.
Without them, the world would be, and would increasingly become, a
much poorer place.
studying them in the wild.
Questions 23 and 24
Choose TWO letters, A-E.
Write the correct letters in boxes 23 and 24 on your answer sheet.
Which TWO of the following are stated about zoo staff in the text?
A Some take part in television documentaries about animals
B Some travel to overseas locations to join teams in zoos.
C Some get experience with species in the wild before taking up zoo

Questions 14-17 jobs.

Reading Passage 2 has six paragraphs, A-F. D Some teach people who are involved with conservation projects.

Which paragraph contains the following information?
Write the correct letter, A-F, in boxes 14-17 on your answer sheet.
14 a reference to how quickly animal species can die out
15 reasons why it is preferable to study animals in captivity rather than
in the wild
E Some specialise in caring for species which are under threat.
Questions 25 and 26
Choose TWO letters, A-E
Write the correct letters in boxes 25 and 26 on your answer sheet.

16 mention of two ways of learning about animals other than visiting

them in zoos
17 reasons why animals in zoos may by healthier than those in the wild
Which TWO of these beliefs about zoos does the writer mention in the
text?
A They can help children overcome their fears of wild animals.
B They can increase public awareness of environmental issues.

Questions 18-22 C They can provide employment for a range of professional people.

Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading D They can generate income to support wildlife conservation projects.

Passage 2? E They can raise animals which can later be released into the wild.

In boxes 18-22 on you 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
18 An animal is likely to live longer in a zoo than in the wild
19 There are some species in zoos which can no longer be found in the
wild.
20 Improvements in the quality of TV wildlife documentaries have
resulted in increased numbers of zoo visitors.
21 Zoos have always excelled at transmitting information about animals
to the public.
 the dangers also involved large pieces of debris – animals getting
READING PASSAGE 3 entangled in trash, for example, or eating it and severely injuring
themselves.
Chelsea Rochman, an ecologist at the University of California, Davis, has
But a lot of ocean debris is ‘microplastic’, or pieces smaller than five
been trying to answer a dismal question: Is everything terrible, or are
millimeters. These may be ingredients used in cosmetics and toiletries,
things just very, very bad?
fibers shed by synthetic clothing in the wash, or eroded remnants of
Rochman is a member of the National Center for Ecological Analysis and
larger debris. Compared to the number of studies investigating large-
Synthesis’s marine-debris working group, a collection of scientists who
scale debris, Rochman’s group found little research on the effects of
study, among other things, the growing problem of marine debris, also
these tiny bits. ‘There are a lot of open questions still for microplastic,’
known as ocean trash. Plenty of studies have sounded alarm bells about
Rochman says, though she notes that more papers on the subject have
the state of marine debris; in a recent paper published in the
been published since 2013, the cutoff point for the group’s analysis.
journal Ecology, Rochman and her colleagues set out to determine how
There are also, she adds, a lot of open questions about the ways that
many of those perceived risks are real.
ocean debris can lead to sea-creature death. Many studies have looked
Often, Rochman says, scientists will end a paper by speculating about
at how plastic affects an individual animal, or that animal’s tissues or
the broader impacts of what they’ve found. For example, a study could
cells, rather than whole populations. And in the lab, scientists often use
show that certain seabirds eat plastic bags, and go on to warn that whole
higher concentrations of plastic than what’s really in the ocean. None of
bird populations are at risk of dying out. ‘But the truth was that nobody
that tells us how many birds or fish or sea turtles could die from plastic
had yet tested those perceived threats,’ Rochman says. ‘There wasn’t a
pollution – or how deaths in one species could affect that animal’s
lot of information.’
predators, or the rest of the ecosystem.
Rochman and her colleagues examined more than a hundred papers on
‘We need to be asking more ecologically relevant questions,’ Rochman
the impacts of marine debris that were published through 2013. Within
says. Usually, scientists don’t know exactly how disasters such as a
each paper, they asked what threats scientists had studied – 366
tanker accidentally spilling its whole cargo of oil and polluting huge areas
perceived threats in all – and what they’d actually found.
of the ocean will affect the environment until after they’ve happened.
In 83 percent of cases, the perceived dangers of ocean trash were
‘We don’t ask the right questions early enough,’ she says. But if ecologists
proven true. In the remaining cases, the working group found the
can understand how the slow-moving effect of ocean trash is damaging
studies had weaknesses in design and content which affected the validity
ecosystems, they might be able to prevent things from getting worse.
of their conclusions – they lacked a control group, for example, or used
Asking the right questions can help policy makers, and the public, figure
faulty statistics.
out where to focus their attention. The problems that look or sound
Strikingly, Rochman says, only one well-designed study failed to find the
most dramatic may not be the best places to start. For example, the
effect it was looking for, an investigation of mussels ingesting
name of the ‘Great Pacific Garbage Patch’ – a collection of marine debris
microscopic bits. The plastic moved from the mussels’ stomachs to their
in the northern Pacific Ocean – might conjure up a vast, floating trash
bloodstreams, scientists found, and stayed there for weeks – but didn’t
island. In reality though, much of the debris is tiny or below the surface;
seem to stress out the shellfish.
a person could sail through the area without seeing any trash at all. A
While mussels may be fine eating trash, though, the analysis also gave a
Dutch group called ‘The Ocean Cleanup’ is currently working on plans to
clearer picture of the many ways that ocean debris is bothersome.
put mechanical devices in the Pacific Garbage Patch and similar areas to
Within the studies they looked at, most of the proven threats came from
suck up plastic. But a recent paper used simulations to show that
plastic debris, rather than other materials like metal or wood. Most of
strategically positioning the cleanup devices closer to shore would more
effectively reduce pollution over the long term. Findings related to marine debris
‘I think clearing up some of these misperceptions is really important,’ Studies of marine debris found the biggest threats were

Rochman says. Among scientists as well as in the media, she says, ‘A lot • plastic (not metal or wood)
of the images about strandings and entanglement and all of that cause • bits of debris that were 34………………………….. (harmful to animals)
the perception that plastic debris is killing everything in the ocean.’ There was little research into 35…………………………. e.g. from synthetic
Interrogating the existing scientific literature can help ecologists figure fibres.
Drawbacks of the studies examined
out which problems really need addressing, and which ones they’d be
• most of them focused on individual animals, not entire 36
better off – like the mussels – absorbing and ignoring.
………………………..
• the 37…………………….. of plastic used in the lab did not always reflect
those in the ocean
Questions 27-33
• there was insufficient information on
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading
– numbers of animals which could be affected
Passage 3?
– the impact of a reduction in numbers on the 38……………………….. of that
In boxes 27-33 on you answer sheet, write
species
TRUE if the statement agrees with the information
– the impact on the ecosystem
FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
Rochman says more information is needed on the possible impact of
NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this
future 39………………………… (e.g. involving oil).
27 Rochman and her colleagues were the first people to research the
problem of marine debris.
28 The creatures most in danger from ocean trash are certain seabirds.
Question 40
29 The studies Rochman has reviewed have already proved that
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.
populations of some birds will soon become extinct. Write the correct letter in box 40 on your answer sheet.
30 Rochman analysed papers on the different kinds of danger caused by
40 What would be the best title for this passage?
ocean trash. A Assessing the threat of marine debris
31 Most of the research analysed by Rochman and her colleagues was
B Marine debris: who is to blame?
badly designed. C A new solution to the problem of marine debris
32 One study examined by Rochman was expecting to find that mussels
D Marine debris: the need for international action
were harmed by eating plastic.
33 Some mussels choose to eat plastic in preference to their natural
diet.

Questions 34-39
Complete the notes below.
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 34-39 on your answer sheet.
 Book 15 test 1: In 1602, Dutch merchants founded the VOC, a trading corporation better
known as the Dutch East India Company. By 1617, the VOC was the
richest commercial operation in the world. The company had 50,000
READING PASSAGE 1 employees worldwide, with a private army of 30,000 men and a fleet of
200 ships. At the same time, thousands of people across Europe were
dying of the plague, a highly contagious and deadly disease. Doctors
Nutmeg – a valuable spice
were desperate for a way to stop the spread of this disease, and they
The nutmeg tree, Myristica fragrans, is a large evergreen tree native to
decided nutmeg held the cure. Everybody wanted nutmeg, and many
Southeast Asia. Until the late 18th century, it only grew in one place in
were willing to spare no expense to have it. Nutmeg bought for a few
the world: a small group of islands in the Banda Sea, part of the
pennies in Indonesia could be sold for 68,000 times its original cost on
Moluccas – or Spice Islands – in northeastern Indonesia. The tree is
the streets of London. The only problem was the short supply. And that’s
thickly branched with dense foliage of tough, dark green oval leaves, and
where the Dutch found their opportunity.
produces small, yellow, bell-shaped flowers and pale yellow pear-shaped
The Banda Islands were ruled by local sultans who insisted on
fruits. The fruit is encased in a flesh husk. When the fruit is ripe, this husk
maintaining a neutral trading policy towards foreign powers. This
splits into two halves along a ridge running the length of the fruit. Inside
allowed them to avoid the presence of Portuguese or Spanish troops on
is a purple-brown shiny seed, 2-3 cm long by about 2 cm across,
their soil, but it also left them unprotected from other invaders. In 1621,
surrounded by a lacy red or crimson covering called an ‘aril’. These are
the Dutch arrived and took over. Once securely in control of the Bandas,
the sources of the two spices nutmeg and mace, the former being
the Dutch went to work protecting their new investment. They
produced from the dried seed and the latter from the aril.
concentrated all nutmeg production into a few easily guarded areas,
Nutmeg was a highly prized and costly ingredient in European cuisine in
uprooting and destroying any trees outside the plantation zones. Anyone
the Middle Ages, and was used as a flavouring, medicinal, and
caught growing a nutmeg seedling or carrying seeds without the proper
preservative agent. Throughout this period, the Arabs were the exclusive
authority was severely punished. In addition, all exported nutmeg was
importers of the spice to Europe. They sold nutmeg for high prices to
covered with lime to make sure there was no chance a fertile seed which
merchants based in Venice, but they never revealed the exact location of
could be grown elsewhere would leave the islands. There was only one
the source of this extremely valuable commodity. The Arab-Venetian
obstacle to Dutch domination. One of the Banda Islands, a sliver of land
dominance of the trade finally ended in 1512, when the Portuguese
called Run, only 3 km long by less than 1 km wide, was under the control
reached the Banda Islands and began exploiting its precious resources.
of the British. After decades of fighting for control of this tiny island, the
Always in danger of competition from neighbouring Spain, the
Dutch and British arrived at a compromise settlement, the Treaty of
Portuguese began subcontracting their spice distribution to Dutch
Breda, in 1667. Intent on securing their hold over every nutmeg-
traders. Profits began to flow into the Netherlands, and the Dutch
producing island, the Dutch offered a trade: if the British would give
commercial fleet swiftly grew into one of the largest in the world. The
them the island of Run, they would in turn give Britain a distant and
Dutch quietly gained control of most of the shipping and trading of
much less valuable island in North America. The British agreed. That
spices in Northern Europe. Then, in 1580, Portugal fell under Spanish
other island was Manhattan, which is how New Amsterdam became New
rule, and by the end of the 16th century the Dutch found themselves
York. The Dutch now had a monopoly over the nutmeg trade which
locked out of the market. As prices for pepper, nutmeg, and other spices
would last for another century.
soared across Europe, they decided to fight back.
Then, in 1770, a Frenchman named Pierre Poivre successfully smuggled 7 Following the Treaty of Breda, the Dutch had control of all the islands
nutmeg plants to safety in Mauritius, an island off the coast of Africa. where nutmeg grew.
Some of these were later exported to the Caribbean where they thrived,
especially on the island of Grenada. Next, in 1778, a volcanic eruption in
the Banda region caused a tsunami that wiped out half the nutmeg
groves. Finally, in 1809, the British returned to Indonesia and seized the
Banda Islands by force. They returned the islands to the Dutch in 1817, Questions 8-13
but not before transplanting hundreds of nutmeg seedlings to Complete the table below.
plantations in several locations across southern Asia. The Dutch nutmeg Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
monopoly was over.
Today, nutmeg is grown in Indonesia, the Caribbean, India, Malaysia, Middle
Nutmeg was brought to Europe by the 8……………
Papua New Guinea and Sri Lanka, and world nutmeg production is Ages
estimated to average between 10,000 and 12,000 tonnes per year.
16th European nations took control of the nutmeg
century trade
Questions 1-4
Demand for nutmeg grew, as it was believed to
Complete the notes below.
be effective against the disease known as
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 1-8 on your answer sheet.
the 9……………
The Dutch
The nutmeg tree and fruit 17th – took control of the Banda Islands
● the leaves of the tree are 1……………………. in shape century – restricted nutmeg production to a few areas
● the 2……………………. surrounds the fruit and breaks open when the – put 10…………… on nutmeg to avoid it being
fruit is ripe cultivated outside the islands
● the 3……………………. is used to produce the spice nutmeg – finally obtained the island of 11…………… from
● the covering known as the aril is used to produce 4…………………….. the British
● the tree has yellow flowers and fruit
1770 – nutmeg plants were secretly taken
Late
to 12……………
Questions 5-7 18th
1778 – half the Banda Islands’ nutmeg
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading century
plantations were destroyed by a 13……………
Passage 1?
In boxes 5-7 on your answer sheet, write Write your answers in boxes 8-13 on your answer sheet.
TRUE if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this
5 In the Middle Ages, most Europeans knew where nutmeg was grown.
6 The VOC was the world’s first major trading company.
 percent of its life parked. Automation means that initiatives for car-
READING PASSAGE 2 sharing become much more viable, particularly in urban areas with
significant travel demand. If a significant proportion of the population
choose to use shared automated vehicles, mobility demand can be met
Driverless cars
by far fewer vehicles.
A
D
The automotive sector is well used to adapting to automation in
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology investigated automated
manufacturing. The implementation of robotic car manufacture from the
mobility in Singapore, finding that fewer than 30 percent of the vehicles
1970s onwards led to significant cost savings and improvements in the
currently used would be required if fully automated car sharing could be
reliability and flexibility of vehicle mass production. A new challenge to
implemented. If this is the case, it might mean that we need to
vehicle production is now on the horizon and, again, it comes from
manufacture far fewer vehicles to meet demand. However, the number
automation. However, this time it is not to do with the manufacturing
of trips being taken would probably increase, partly because empty
process, but with the vehicles themselves.
vehicles would have to be moved from one customer to the next.
Research projects on vehicle automation are not new. Vehicles with
Modelling work by the University of Michigan Transportation Research
limited self-driving capabilities have been around for more than 50
Institute suggests automated vehicles might reduce vehicle ownership
years, resulting in significant contributions towards driver assistance
by 43 percent, but that vehicles’ average annual mileage double as a
systems. But since Google announced in 2010 that it had been trialling
result. As a consequence, each vehicle would be used more intensively,
self-driving cars on the streets of California, progress in this field has
and might need replacing sooner. This faster rate of turnover may mean
quickly gathered pace.
that vehicle production will not necessarily decrease
B
E
There are many reasons why technology is advancing so fast. One
Automation may prompt other changes in vehicle manufacture. If we
frequently cited motive is safety; indeed, research at the UK’s Transport
move to a model where consumers are tending not to own a single
Research Laboratory has demonstrated that more than 90 percent of
vehicle but to purchase access to a range of vehicle through a mobility
road collisions involve human error as a contributory factor, and it is the
provider, drivers will have the freedom to select one that best suits their
primary cause in the vast majority. Automation may help to reduce the
needs for a particular journey, rather than making a compromise across
incidence of this.
all their requirements.
Another aim is to free the time people spend driving for other purposes.
Since, for most of the time, most of the seats in most cars are
If the vehicle can do some or all of the driving, it may be possible to be
unoccupied, this may boost production of a smaller, more efficient range
productive, to socialise or simply to relax while automation systems have
of vehicles that suit the needs of individuals. Specialised vehicles may
responsibility for safe control of the vehicle. If the vehicle can do the
then be available for exceptional journeys, such as going on a family
driving, those who are challenged by existing mobility models – such as
camping trip or helping a son or daughter move to university.
older or disabled travellers – may be able to enjoy significantly greater
F
travel autonomy.
There are a number of hurdles to overcome in delivering automated
C
vehicles to our roads. These include the technical difficulties in ensuring
Beyond these direct benefits, we can consider the wider implications for
that the vehicle works reliably in the infinite range of traffic, weather and
transport and society, and how manufacturing processes might need to
road situations it might encounter; the regulatory challenges in
respond as a result. At present, the average car spends more than 90
understanding how liability and enforcement might change when drivers
are no longer essential for vehicle operation; and the societal changes
that may be required for communities to trust and accept automated
vehicles as being a valuable part of the mobility landscape.
G According to the University of Michigan Transportation Research
It’s clear that there are many challenges that need to be addressed but,
through robust and targeted research, these can most probably be
conquered within the next 10 years. Mobility will change in such
potentially significant ways and in association with so many other
technological developments, such as telepresence and virtual reality,
that it is hard to make concrete predictions about the future. However,
one thing is certain: change is coming, and the need to be flexible in
response to this will be vital for those involved in manufacturing the
vehicles that will deliver future mobility.
Questions 14-18
Reading Passage 2 has seven paragraphs, A-G.
Which section contains the following information?
Write the correct letter, A-G, in boxes 14-18 on your answer sheet.
14 reference to the amount of time when a car is not in use
15 mention of several advantages of driverless vehicles for individual
road-users
16 reference to the opportunity of choosing the most appropriate
vehicle for each trip
17 an estimate of how long it will take to overcome a number of
problems
18 a suggestion that the use of driverless cars may have no effect on the
number of vehicles manufactured
Questions 19-22
Complete the summary below.
Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 19-22 on your answer sheet.
The impact of driverless cars
Figures from the Transport Research Laboratory indicate that most
motor accidents are partly due to 19……………………., so the introduction of
driverless vehicles will result in greater safety. In addition to the direct
benefits of automation, it may bring other advantages. For example,
schemes for 20………………………. will be more workable, especially in towns
and cities, resulting in fewer cars on the road.
Institute, there could be a 43 percent drop in 21…………………….. of cars.
However, this would mean that the yearly 22…………………….. of each car
would, on average, be twice as high as it currently is. this would lead to a
higher turnover of vehicles, and therefore no reduction in automotive
manufacturing.
Questions 23 and 24
Choose TWO letters, A-E.
Write the correct letters in boxes 23 and 24 on your answer sheet.
Which TWO benefits of automated vehicles does the writer mention?
A Car travellers could enjoy considerable cost savings.
B It would be easier to find parking spaces in urban areas.
C Travellers could spend journeys doing something other than driving.
D People who find driving physically difficult could travel independently.
E A reduction in the number of cars would mean a reduction in
pollution.
Questions 25 and 26
Choose TWO letters, A-E.
Write the correct letters in boxes 25 and 26 on your answer sheet.
Which TWO challenges to automated vehicle development does the writer
mention?
A making sure the general public has confidence in automated vehicles
B managing the pace of transition from conventional to automated
vehicles
C deciding how to compensate professional drivers who become
redundant
D setting up the infrastructure to make roads suitable for automated
vehicles
E getting automated vehicles to adapt to various different driving
conditions
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 word ‘explorer’ has become associated with a past era. We think back to
READING PASSAGE 3 a golden age, as if exploration peaked somehow in the 19th century – as
if the process of discovery is now on the decline, though the truth is that
we have named only one and a half million of this planet’s species, and
What is exploration?
there may be more than 10 million – and that’s not including bacteria.
We are all explores. Our desire to discover, and then share that new-
We have studied only 5 per cent of the species we know. We have
found knowledge, is part of what makes us human – indeed, this has
scarcely mapped the ocean floors, and know even less about ourselves;
played an important part in our success as a species. Long before the
we fully understand the workings of only 10 per cent of our brains.
first caveman slumped down beside the fire and grunted news that
Here is how some of today’s ‘explorers’ define the word. Ran Fiennes,
there were plenty of wildebeest over yonder, our ancestors had learnt
dubbed the ‘greatest living explorer’, said, ‘An explorer is someone who
the value of sending out scouts to investigate the unknown. This
has done something that no human has done before – and also done
questing nature of ours undoubtedly helped our species spread around
something scientifically useful.’ Chris Bonington, a leading mountaineer,
the globe, just as it nowadays no doubt helps the last nomadic Penan
felt exploration was to be found in the act of physically touching the
maintain their existence in the depleted forests of Borneo, and a visitor
unknown: ‘You have to have gone somewhere new.’ Then Robin
negotiate the subways of New York.
Hanbury-Tenison, a campaigner on behalf of remote so-called ‘tribal’
Over the years, we’ve come to think of explorers as a peculiar breed –
peoples, said, ‘A traveller simply records information about some far-off
different from the rest of us, different from those of us who are merely
world, and reports back; but an explorer changes the world.’ Wilfred
‘well travelled’, even; and perhaps there is a type of person more suited
Thesiger, who crossed Arabia’s Empty Quarter in 1946, and belongs to an
to seeking out the new, a type of caveman more inclined to risk
era of unmechanised travel now lost to the rest of us, told me, ‘If I’d gone
venturing out. That, however, doesn’t take away from the fact that we all
across by camel when I could have gone by car, it would have been a
have this enquiring instinct, even today; and that in all sorts of
stunt.’ To him, exploration meant bringing back information from a
professions – whether artist, marine biologist or astronomer – borders of
remote place regardless of any great self-discovery.
the unknown are being tested each day.
Each definition is slightly different – and tends to reflect the field of
Thomas Hardy set some of his novels in Egdon Heath, a fictional area of
endeavour of each pioneer. It was the same whoever I asked: the
uncultivated land, and used the landscape to suggest the desires and
prominent historian would say exploration was a thing of the past, the
fears of his characters. He is delving into matters we all recognise
cutting-edge scientist would say it was of the present. And so on. They
because they are common to humanity. This is surely an act of
each set their own particular criteria; the common factor in their
exploration, and into a world as remote as the author chooses. Explorer
approach being that they all had, unlike many of us who simply enjoy
and travel writer Peter Fleming talks of the moment when the explorer
travel or discovering new things, both a very definite objective from the
returns to the existence he has left behind with his loved ones. The
outset and also a desire to record their findings.
traveller ‘who has for weeks or months seen himself only as a puny and
I’d best declare my own bias. As a writer, I’m interested in the
irrelevant alien crawling laboriously over a country in which he has no
exploration of ideas. I’ve done a great many expeditions and each one
roots and no background, suddenly encounters his other self, a relatively
was unique. I’ve lived for months alone with isolated groups of people all
solid figure, with a place in the minds of certain people’.
around the world, even two ‘uncontacted tribes’. But none of these
In this book about the exploration of the earth’s surface, I have confined
things is of the slightest interest to anyone unless, through my books,
myself to those whose travels were real and who also aimed at more
I’ve found a new slant, explored a new idea. Why? Because the world has
than personal discovery. But that still left me with another problem: the
moved on. The time has long passed for the great continental voyages –
another walk to the poles, another crossing of the Empty Quarter. We
know how the land surface of our planet lies; exploration of it is now
down to the details – the habits of microbes, say, or the grazing
behaviour of buffalo. Aside from the deep sea and deep underground,
it’s the era of specialists. However, this is to disregard the role the
human mind has in conveying remote places; and this is what interests
me: how a fresh interpretation, even of a well-travelled route, can give its
readers new insights.
Questions 27-32
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.
Write the correct letter in boxes 27-32 on your answer sheet.
27 The writer refers to visitors to New York to illustrate the point that
A exploration is an intrinsic element of being human.
B most people are enthusiastic about exploring.
C exploration can lead to surprising results.
D most people find exploration daunting.
28 According to the second paragraph, what is the writer’s view of
explorers?
A Their discoveries have brought both benefits and disadvantages.
B Their main value is in teaching others.
C They act on an urge that is common to everyone.
D They tend to be more attracted to certain professions than to others.
29 The writer refers to a description of Egdon Heath to suggest that
A Hardy was writing about his own experience of exploration.
B Hardy was mistaken about the nature of exploration.
C Hardy’s aim was to investigate people’s emotional states.
D Hardy’s aim was to show the attraction of isolation.
30 In the fourth paragraph, the writer refers to ‘a golden age’ to suggest
that
A the amount of useful information produced by exploration has
decreased.
B fewer people are interested in exploring than in the 19th century.
C recent developments have made exploration less exciting.
D we are wrong to think that exploration is no longer necessary.
31 In the sixth paragraph, when discussing the definition of exploration,
the writer argues that
A people tend to relate exploration to their own professional interests.
B certain people are likely to misunderstand the nature of exploration.
C the generally accepted definition has changed over time.
D historians and scientists have more valid definitions than the general
public.
32 In the last paragraph, the writer explains that he is interested in
A how someone’s personality is reflected in their choice of places to
visit.
B the human ability to cast new light on places that may be familiar.
C how travel writing has evolved to meet changing demands.
D the feelings that writers develop about the places that they explore.
Questions 33-37
Look at the following statements (Questions 33-37) and the list of
explorers below.
Match each statement with the correct explorer, A-E.
Write the correct letter, A-E, in boxes 33-37 on your answer sheet.
NB You may use any letter more than once.
33 He referred to the relevance of the form of transport used.
34 He described feelings on coming back home after a long journey.
35 He worked for the benefit of specific groups of people.
36 He did not consider learning about oneself an essential part of
exploration.
37 He defined exploration as being both unique and of value to others.
List of Explorers
A Peter Fleming
B Ran Fiennes
C Chris Bonington
D Robin Hanbury-Tenison
E Wilfred Thesiger
Questions 38-40
Complete the summary below.
Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 38-40 on your answer sheet.

The writer’s own bias
The writer has experience of a large number of 38………………., and was
the first stranger that certain previously 39………………… people had
encountered. He believes there is no need for further exploration of
Earth’s 40…………………., except to answer specific questions such as how
buffalo eat.
Book 15 test 2:
READING PASSAGE 1
Could urban engineers learn from dance?
A
The way we travel around cities has a major impact on whether they are
sustainable. Transportation is estimated to account for 30% of energy
consumption in most of the world’s most developed nations, so lowering
the need for energy-using vehicles is essential for decreasing the
environmental impact of mobility. But as more and more people move
to cities, it is important to think about other kinds of sustainable travel
too. The ways we travel affect our physical and mental health, our social
lives, our access to work and culture, and the air we breathe. Engineers
are tasked with changing how we travel round cities through urban
design, but the engineering industry still works on the assumptions that
led to the creation of the energy-consuming transport systems we have
now: the emphasis placed solely on efficiency, speed, and quantitative
data. We need radical changes, to make it healthier, more enjoyable, and
less environmentally damaging to travel around cities.
B
Dance might hold some of the answers. That is not to suggest everyone
should dance their way to work, however healthy and happy it might
make us, but rather that the techniques used by choreographers to
experiment with and design movement in dance could provide
engineers with tools to stimulate new ideas in city-making. Richard
Sennett, an influential urbanist and sociologist who has transformed
ideas about the way cities are made, argues that urban design has
suffered from a separation between mind and body since the
introduction of the architectural blueprint.
C
Whereas medieval builders improvised and adapted construction
through their intimate knowledge of materials and personal experience
of the conditions on a site, building designs are now conceived and
stored in media technologies that detach the designer from the physical
and social realities they are creating. While the design practices created
by these new technologies are essential for managing the technical
complexity of the modern city, they have the drawback of simplifying
reality in the process.
D
To illustrate, Sennett discusses the Peachtree Center in Atlanta, USA, a
development typical of the modernist approach to urban planning
prevalent in the 1970s. Peachtree created a grid of streets and towers
intended as a new pedestrian-friendly downtown for Atlanta. According
to Sennett, this failed because its designers had invested too much faith
in computer-aided design to tell them how it would operate. They failed
to take into account that purpose-built street cafés could not operate in
the hot sun without the protective awnings common in older buildings,
and would need energy-consuming air conditioning instead, or that its
giant car park would feel so unwelcoming that it would put people off
getting out of their cars. What seems entirely predictable and
controllable on screen has unexpected results when translated into
reality.
E
The same is true in transport engineering, which uses models to predict
and shape the way people move through the city. Again, these models
are necessary, but they are built on specific world views in which certain
forms of efficiency and safety are considered and other experience of
the city ignored. Designs that seem logical in models appear counter-
intuitive in the actual experience of their users. The guard rails that will
be familiar to anyone who has attempted to cross a British road, for
example, were an engineering solution to pedestrian safety based on
models that prioritise the smooth flow of traffic. On wide major roads,
they often guide pedestrians to specific crossing points and slow down
their progress across the road by using staggered access points divide
the crossing into two – one for each carriageway. In doing so they make
crossings feel longer, introducing psychological barriers greatly
impacting those that are the least mobile, and encouraging others to
Questions 1-6
Reading Passage 1 has seven paragraphs, A-G.
Which paragraph contains the following information?
Write the correct letter, A-G, in boxes 1-6 on your answer sheet.

make dangerous crossings to get around the guard rails. These barriers 1 reference to an appealing way of using dance that the writer is not
don’t just make it harder to cross the road: they divide communities and proposing
decrease opportunities for healthy transport. As a result, many are now 2 an example of a contrast between past and present approaches to

being removed, causing disruption, cost, and waste. building

F 3 mention of an objective of both dance and engineering

If their designers had had the tools to think with their bodies – like 4 reference to an unforeseen problem arising from ignoring the climate

dancers – and imagine how these barriers would feel, there might have 5 why some measures intended to help people are being reversed

been a better solution. In order to bring about fundamental changes to 6 reference to how transport has an impact on human lives

the ways we use our cities, engineering will need to develop a richer
understanding of why people move in certain ways, and how this Questions 7-13
movement affects them. Choreography may not seem an obvious choice Complete the summary below.
for tackling this problem. Yet it shares with engineering the aim of Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 7-13 on your answer sheet.
designing patterns of movement within limitations of space. It is an art
form developed almost entirely by trying out ideas with the body, and
Guard rails
gaining instant feedback on how the results feel. Choreographers have
Guard rails were introduced on British roads to improve
deep understanding of the psychological, aesthetic, and physical
the 7…………………… of pedestrians, while ensuring that the movement
implications of different ways of moving.
of 8……………………. is not disrupted. Pedestrians are led to access points,
G
and encouraged to cross one 9…………………….. at a time.
Observing the choreographer Wayne McGregor, cognitive scientist David
An unintended effect is to create psychological difficulties in crossing the
Kirsh described how he ‘thinks with the body’, Kirsh argues that by using
road, particularly for less 10………………….. people. Another result is that
the body to simulate outcomes, McGregor is able to imagine solutions
some people cross the road in a 11……………………. way. The guard rails
that would not be possible using purely abstract thought. This kind of
separate 12……………………., and make it more difficult to introduce forms
physical knowledge is valued in many areas of expertise, but currently
of transport that are 13…………………….
has no place in formal engineering design processes. A suggested
method for transport engineers is to improvise design solutions and
instant feedback about how they would work from their own experience
of them, or model designs at full scale in the way choreographers
experiment with groups of dancers. Above all, perhaps, they might learn
to design for emotional as well as functional effects.
 bringing species that no longer exist back to life,’ says Beth Shapiro of
READING PASSAGE 2 University of California Santa Cruz’s Genomics Institute. ‘I don’t think that
we can do this. There is no way to bring back something that is 100 per
cent identical to a species that went extinct a long time ago.’ A more
Should we try to bring extinct species back to life?
practical approach for long-extinct species is to take the DNA of existing
A
species as a template, ready for the insertion of strands of extinct animal
The passenger pigeon was a legendary species. Flying in vast numbers
DNA to create something new; a hybrid, based on the living species, but
across North America, with potentially many millions within a single
which looks and/or acts like the animal which died out.
flock, their migration was once one of nature’s great spectacles. Sadly,
D
the passenger pigeon’s existence came to an end on 1 September 1914,
This complicated process and questionable outcome begs the question:
when the last living specimen died at Cincinnati Zoo. Geneticist Ben
what is the actual point of this technology? ‘For us, the goal has always
Novak is lead researcher on an ambitious project which now aims to
been replacing the extinct species with a suitable replacement,’ explains
bring the bird back to life through a process known as ‘de-extinction’.
Novak. ‘When it comes to breeding, band-tailed pigeons scatter and
The basic premise involves using cloning technology to turn the DNA of
make maybe one or two nests per hectare, whereas passenger pigeons
extinct animals into a fertilised embryo, which is carried by the nearest
were very social and would make 10,000 or more nests in one hectare.’
relative still in existence – in this case, the abundant band-tailed pigeon –
Since the disappearance of this key species, ecosystems in the eastern
before being born as a living, breathing animal. Passenger pigeons are
US have suffered, as the lack of disturbance caused by thousands of
one of the pioneering species in this field, but they are far from the only
passenger pigeons wrecking trees and branches means there has been
ones on which this cutting-edge technology is being trialled.
minimal need for regrowth. This has left forests stagnant and therefore
B
unwelcoming to the plants and animals which evolved to help
In Australia, the thylacine, more commonly known as the Tasmanian
regenerate the forest after a disturbance. According to Novak, a
tiger, is another extinct creature which genetic scientists are striving to
hybridized band-tailed pigeon, with the added nesting habits of a
bring back to life. ‘There is no carnivore now in Tasmania that fills the
passenger pigeon, could, in theory, re-establish that forest disturbance,
niche which thylacines once occupied,’ explains Michael Archer of the
thereby creating a habitat necessary for a great many other native
University of New South Wales. He points out that in the decades since
species to thrive.
the thylacine went extinct, there has been a spread in a ‘dangerously
E
debilitating’ facial tumour syndrome which threatens the existence of
Another popular candidate for this technology is the woolly mammoth.
the Tasmanian devils, the island’s other notorious resident. Thylacines
George Church, professor at Harvard Medical School and leader of the
would have prevented this spread because they would have killed
Woolly Mammoth Revival Project, has been focusing on cold resistance,
significant numbers of Tasmanian devils. ‘If that contagious cancer had
the main way in which the extinct woolly mammoth and its nearest living
popped up previously, it would have burned out in whatever region it
relative, the Asian elephant, differ. By pinpointing which genetic traits
started. The return of thylacines to Tasmania could help to ensure that
made it possible for mammoths to survive the icy climate of the tundra,
devils are never again subjected to risks of this kind.’
the project’s goal is to return mammoths, or a mammoth-like species, to
C
the area. ‘My highest priority would be preserving the endangered Asian
If extinct species can be brought back to life, can humanity begin to
elephant,’ says Church, ‘expanding their range to the huge ecosystem of
correct the damage it has caused to the natural world over the past few
the tundra. Necessary adaptations would include smaller ears, thicker
millennia? ‘The idea of de-extinction is that we can reverse this process,
hair, and extra insulating fat, all for the purpose of reducing heat loss in
the tundra, and all traits found in the now extinct woolly mammoth.’ This
repopulation of the tundra and boreal forests of Eurasia and North
America with large mammals could also be a useful factor in reducing
carbon emissions – elephants punch holes through snow and knock
down trees, which encourages grass growth. This grass growth would
reduce temperature, and mitigate emissions from melting permafrost.
F endangered Asian elephant.
While the prospect of bringing extinct animals back to life might capture
imaginations, it is, of course, far easier to try to save an existing species
which is merely threatened with extinction. ‘Many of the technologies
that people have in mind when they think about de-extinction can be
used as a form of “genetic rescue”,’ explains Shapiro. She prefers to
focus the debate on how this emerging technology could be used to fully
understand why various species went extinct in the first place, and
therefore how we could use it to make genetic modifications which could
prevent mass extinctions in the future. ‘I would also say there’s an
incredible moral hazard to not do anything at all,’ she continues. ‘We
know that what we are doing today is not enough, and we have to be
willing to take some calculated and measured risks.’
Questions 14-17
Reading Passage 2 has six paragraphs, A-F.
Which paragraph contains the following information?
Write the correct letter, A-F, in boxes 14-17 on your answer sheet.
NB You may use any letter more than once.
14 a reference to how further disappearance of multiple species could
be avoided.
15 explanation of a way of reproducing an extinct animal using the DNA
of only that species
16 reference to a habitat which has suffered following the extinction of a
species
17 mention of the exact point at which a particular species became
extinct
Questions 18-22
Complete the summary below.
Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 18-22 on your answer sheet.
The woolly mammoth revival project
Professor George Church and his team are trying to identify
the 18…………………… which enabled mammoths to live in the tundra. The
findings could help preserve the mammoth’s close relative, the
According to Church, introducing Asian elephants to the tundra would
involve certain physical adaptations to minimise 19…………………… To
survive in the tundra, the species would need to have the mammoth-like
features of thicker hair, 20………………….. of a reduced size and
more 21……………………..
Repopulating the tundra with mammoths or Asian elephant/mammoth
hybrids would also have an impact on the environment, which could
help to reduce temperatures and decrease 22……………………
Questions 23-26
Look at the following statements (Questions 23-26) and the list of people
below.
Match each statement with the correct person, A, B or C.
Write the correct letter, A, B or C, in boxes 23-26 on your answer sheet.
NB You may use any letter more than once.
23 Reintroducing an extinct species to its original habitat could improve
the health of a particular species living there.
24 It is important to concentrate on the causes of an animal’s extinction.
25 A species brought back from extinction could have an important
beneficial impact on the vegetation of its habitat.
26 Our current efforts at preserving biodiversity are insufficient.
List of People
A Ben Novak
B Michael Archer
C Beth Shapiro
 strangers’ judgements of an individual’s social status were influenced by
READING PASSAGE 3 the dominant or submissive quality of their laughter. In their study, 48
male college students were randomly assigned to groups of four, with
each group composed of two low-status members, who had just joined
Having a laugh
their college fraternity group, and two high-status members, older
The findings of psychological scientists reveal the importance of humour
student took a turn at being teased by the others, involving the use of
Humans start developing a sense of humour as early as six weeks old,
mildly insulting nicknames. Analysis revealed that, as expected, high-
when babies begin to laugh and smile in response to stimuli. Laughter is
status individuals produced more dominant laughs and fewer
universal across all human cultures and even exists in some form in rats,
submissive laughs relative to the low-status individuals. Meanwhile, low-
chimps, and bonobos. Like other human emotions and expressions,
status individuals were more likely to change their laughter based on
laughter and humour psychological scientists with rich resources for
their position of power; that is, the newcomers produced more
studying human psychology, ranging from the development of language
dominant laughs when they were in the ‘powerful’ role of teasers.
to the neuroscience of social perception.
Dominant laughter was higher in pitch, louder, and more variable in tone
Theories focusing on the evolution of laughter point to it as an important
than submissive laughter.
adaptation for social communication. Take, for example, the recorded
A random group of volunteers then listened to an equal number of
laughter in TV comedy shows. Back in 1950, US sound engineer Charley
dominant and submissive laughs from both the high- and low-status
Douglass hated dealing with the unpredictable laughter of live
individuals, and were asked to estimate the social status of the laughter.
audiences, so started recording his own ‘laugh tracks’. These were
In line with predictions, laughers producing dominant laughs were
intended to help people at home feel like they were in a social situation,
perceived to be significantly higher in status than laughers producing
such as a crowded theatre. Douglass even recorded various types of
submissive laughs. ‘This was particularly true for low-status individuals,
laughter, as well as mixtures of laugher from men, women, and children.
who were rated as significantly higher in status when displaying a
In doing so, he picked up on a quality of laughter that is now interesting
dominant versus submissive laugh,’ Oveis and colleagues note. ‘Thus, by
researchers: a simple ‘haha’ communicates a remarkable amount of
strategically displaying more dominant laughter when the context
socially relevant information.
allows, low-status individuals may achieve higher status in the eyes of
In one study conducted in 2016, samples of laughter from pairs of
others.’ However, high-status individuals were rated as high-status
English-speaking students were recorded at the University of California,
whether they produced their natural dominant laugh or tried to do a
Santa Cruz. A team made up of more than 30 psychological scientists,
submissive one.
anthropologists, and biologists then played these recording to listeners
Another study, conducted by David Cheng and Lu Wang of Australian
from 24 diverse societies, from indigenous tribes in New Guinea to city-
National University, was based on the hypothesis that humour might
dwellers in India and Europe. Participants were asked whether they
provide a respite from tedious situations in the workplace. This ‘mental
thought the people laughing were friends or strangers. On average, the
break’ might facilitate the replenishment of mental resources. To test
results were remarkably consistent: worldwide, people’s guesses were
this theory, the researchers recruited 74 business students, ostensibly
correct approximately 60% of the time.
for an experiment on perception. First, the students performed a tedious
Researchers have also found that different types of laughter serve as
task in which they had to cross out every instance of the letter ‘e’ over
codes to complex human social hierarchies. A team led by Christopher
two pages of text. The students then were randomly assigned to watch a
Oveis from the University of California, San Diego, found that high-status
video clip eliciting either humour, contentment, or neutral feelings. Some
individuals had different laughs from low-status individuals, and that
watched a clip of the BBC comedy Mr. Bean, others a relaxing scene with
dolphins swimming in the ocean, and others a factual video about the
management profession.
The students then completed a task requiring persistence in which they
were asked to guess the potential performance of employees based on
provided profiles, and were told that making 10 correct assessments in a
row would lead to a win. However, the software was programmed such
that is was nearly impossible to achieve 10 consecutive correct answers.
Participants were allowed to quit the task at any point. Students who had
watched the Mr. Bean video ended up spending significantly more time
working on the task, making twice as many predictions as the other two
groups.
Cheng and Wang then replicated these results in a second study, during
which they had participants complete long multiplication questions by
hand. Again, participants who watched the humorous video spent
significantly more time working on this tedious task and completed more
questions correctly than did the students in either of the other groups.
‘Although humour has been found to help relieve stress and facilitate
social relationships, traditional view of task performance implies that
individuals should avoid things such as humour that may distract them
from the accomplishment of task goals,’ Cheng and Wang conclude. ‘We
suggest that humour is not only enjoyable but more importantly,
energising.’
Questions 27-31
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.
Write the correct letter in boxes 27-31 on your answer sheet.
27 When referring to laughter in the first paragraphs, the writer
emphasises
A its impact on language.
B its function in human culture.
C its value to scientific research.
D its universality in animal societies.
28 What does the writer suggest about Charley Douglass?
A He understood the importance of enjoying humour in a group setting.
B He believed that TV viewers at home needed to be told when to laugh.
C He wanted his shows to appeal to audiences across the social
spectrum.
D He preferred shows where audiences were present in the recording
studio.
29 What makes the Santa Cruz study particularly significant?
A the various different types of laughter that were studied
B the similar results produced by a wide range of cultures
C the number of different academic disciplines involved
D the many kinds of people whose laughter was recorded
30 Which of the following happened in the San Diego study?
A Some participants became very upset.
B Participants exchanged roles.
C Participants who had not met before became friends.
D Some participants were unable to laugh.
31 In the fifth paragraph, what did the results of the San Diego study
suggest?
A It is clear whether a dominant laugh is produced by a high- or low-
status person.
B Low-status individuals in a position of power will still produce
submissive laughs.
C The submissive laughs of low- and high-status individuals are
surprisingly similar.
D High-status individuals can always be identified by their way of
laughing.
Questions 32-36
Complete the summary using the list of words, A-H, below.
Write the correct letter, A-H, in boxes 32-36 on your answer sheet.
The benefits of humour
In one study at Australian National University, randomly chosen groups
of participants were shown one of three videos, each designed to
generate a different kind of 32………………….. . When all participants were
then given a deliberately frustrating task to do, it was found that those
who had watched the 33…………………….. video persisted with the task for
longer and tried harder to accomplish the task than either of the other
two groups.
A second study in which participants were asked to perform a
particularly 34……………………… task produced similar results. According to
researchers David Cheng and Lu Wang, these findings suggest that
humour not only reduces 35…………………… and helps build social
connections but it may also have a 36……………………. Effect on the body
and mind.
A laughter B relaxing C boring
D anxiety E stimulating F emotion
G enjoyment H amusing
Questions 37-40
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading
Passage 3?
In boxes 37-40 on your answer sheet, write
TRUE if the statement agrees with the claims of the writer
FALSE if the statement contradicts the claims of the writer
NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
37 Participants in the Santa Cruz study were more accurate at
identifying the laughs of friends than those of strangers.
38 The researchers in the San Diego study were correct in their
predictions regarding the behaviour of the high-status individuals.
39 The participants in the Australian National University study were
given a fixed amount of time to complete the task focusing on employee
profiles.
40 Cheng and Wang’s conclusions were in line with established notions
regarding task performance.
Book 15 test 3:
READING PASSAGE 1
Henry Moore (1898-1986)
The British sculptor Henry Moore was a leading figure in the 20th-century art
world
Henry Moore was born in Castleford, a small town near Leeds in the
north of England. He was the seventh child of Raymond Moore and his
wife Mary Baker. He studied at Castleford Grammar School from 1909 to
1915, where his early interest in art was encouraged by his teacher Alice
Gostick. After leaving school, Moore hoped to become a sculptor, but
instead he complied with his father’s wish that he train as a
schoolteacher. He had to abandon his training in 1917 when he was sent
to France to fight in the First World War.
After the war, Moore enrolled at the Leeds School of Art, where he
studied for two years. In his first year, he spent most of his time drawing.
Although he wanted to study sculpture, no teacher was appointed until
his second year. At the end of that year, he passed the sculpture
examination and was awarded a scholarship to the Royal College of Art
in London. In September 1921, he moved to London and began three
years of advanced study in sculpture.
Alongside the instruction he received at the Royal College, Moore visited
many of the London museums, particularly the British Museum, which
had a wide-ranging collection of ancient sculpture. During these visits, he
discovered the power and beauty of ancient Egyptian and African
sculpture. As he became increasingly interested in these ‘primitive’ forms
of art, he turned away from European sculptural traditions.
After graduating, Moore spent the first six months of 1925 travelling in
France. When he visited the Trocadero Museum in Paris, he was
impressed by a cast of a Mayan* sculpture of the rain spirit. It was a
male reclining figure with its knees drawn up together, and its head at a
right angle to its body. Moore became fascinated with this stone
sculpture, which he thought had a power and originality that no other
stone sculpture possessed. He himself started carving a variety of
subjects in stone, including depiction of reclining women, mother-and-
child groups, and masks.
Moore’s exceptional talent soon gained recognition, and in 1926 he
started work as a sculpture instructor at the Royal College. In 1933, he
became a member of a group of young artists called Unit One. The aim
of the group was to convince the English public of the merits of the
emerging international movement in modern art and architecture.
Around this time, Moore moved away from the human figure to
experiment with abstract shapes. In 1931, he held an exhibition at the
Leicester Galleries in London. His work was enthusiastically welcomed by
fellow sculptors, but the reviews in the press were extremely negative
and turned Moore into a notorious figure. There were calls for his
resignation from the Royal College, and the following year, when his
contract expired, he left to start a sculpture department at the Chelsea
School of Art in London.
Throughout the 1930s, Moore did not show any inclination to please the
British public. He became interested in the paintings of the Spanish artist
Pablo Picasso, whose work inspired him to distort the human body in a
radical way. At times, he seemed to abandon the human figure
altogether. The pages of his sketchbooks from this period show his ideas
for abstract sculptures that bore little resemblance to the human form.
In 1940, during the Second World War, Moore stopped teaching at the
Chelsea School and moved to a farmhouse about 20 miles north of
London. A shortage of materials forced him to focus on drawing. He did
numerous small sketches of Londoners, later turning these ideas into
large coloured drawings in his studio. In 1942, he returned to Castleford
to make a series of sketches of the miners who worked there.
In 1944, Harlow, a town near London, offered Moore a commission for a
sculpture depicting a family. The resulting work signifies a dramatic
change in Moore’s style, away from the experimentation of the 1930s
towards a more natural and humanistic subject matter. He did dozens of
studies in clay for the sculpture, and these were cast in bronze and
issued in editions of seven to nine copies each. In this way, Moore’s work
became available to collectors all over the world. The boost to his
income enabled him to take on ambitious projects and start working on
the scale he felt his sculpture demanded.
Critics who had begun to think that Moore had become less
revolutionary were proven wrong by the appearance, in 1950, of the first
of Moore’s series of standing figures in bronze, with their harsh and
angular pierced forms and distinct impression of menace. Moore also
varied his subject matter in the 1950s with such works as Warrior with
Shield and Falling Warrior. These were rare examples of Moore’s use of the
male figure and owe something to his visit to Greece in 1951, when he
had the opportunity to study ancient works of art.
In his final years, Moore created the Henry Moore Foundation to
promote art appreciation and to display his work. Moore was the first
modern English sculptor to achieve international critical acclaim and he
is still regarded as one of the most important sculptors of the 20th
century.
—
*Mayan: belonging to an ancient civilisation that inhabited parts of current-day Mexico,
Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador and Honduras.
Questions 1-7
Do the following statements agree with the claims of the writer in
Reading Passage 1?
In boxes 1-7 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 On leaving school, Moore did what his father wanted him to do.
2 Moore began studying sculpture in his first term at the Leeds School
of Art.
3 When Moore started at the Royal College of Art, its reputation for
teaching sculpture was excellent.
4 Moore became aware of ancient sculpture as a result of visiting
London Museums.
5 The Trocadero Museum’s Mayan sculpture attracted a lot of public
interest.
6 Moore thought the Mayan sculpture was similar in certain respects to
other stone sculptures.
7 The artists who belonged to Unit One wanted to make modern art
and architecture more popular.

Questions 8-13
Complete the notes below.
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 8-13 on your answer sheet.
Moore’s career as an artist
1930s
● Moore’s exhibition at the Leicester Galleries is criticised by the press
● Moore is urged to offer his 8………………… and leave the Royal College.
1940s
● Moore turns to drawing because 9…………………. for sculpting are not
readily available
● While visiting his hometown, Moore does some drawings
of 10………………….
● Moore is employed to produce a sculpture of a 11…………………
● 12………………. start to buy Moore’s work
● Moore’s increased 13…………………. makes it possible for him to do
more ambitious sculptures
1950s
● Moore’s series of bronze figures marks a further change in his style
READING PASSAGE 2
The Desolenator: producing clean water
A to be in operation in India early next year, after field tests are carried out. The
Travelling around Thailand in the 1990s, William Janssen was impressed with the
basic rooftop solar heating systems that were on many homes, where energy from
the sun was absorbed by a plate and then used to heat water for domestic use. Two
decades later Janssen developed that basic idea he saw in Southeast Asia into a
portable device that uses the power from the sun to purify water.
B get very reliable drinking water on a daily basis,’ Janssen says. In the developed
The Desolenator operates as a mobile desalination unit that can take water from
different places, such as the sea, rivers, boreholes and rain, and purify it for human
consumption. It is particularly valuable in regions where natural groundwater
reserves have been polluted, or where seawater is the only water source available.
Janssen saw that there was a need for a sustainable way to clean water is both the
developing and the developed countries when he moved to the United Arab Emirates
and saw large-scale water processing. ‘I was confronted with the enormous carbon
footprint that the Gulf nations have because of all of the desalination that they do,’
he says.
C
The Desolenator can produce 15 litres of drinking water per day, enough to sustain a
family for cooking and drinking. Its main selling point is that unlike standard
desalination techniques, it doesn’t require a generated power supply: just sunlight. It
measures 120 cm by 90 cm, and it easy to transport, thanks to its two wheels. Water
enters through a pipe, and flows as a thin film between a sheet of double glazing and
the surface of a solar panel, where it is heated by the sun. the warm water flows into
a small boiler (heated by a solar-powered battery) where it is converted to steam.
When the steam cools, it becomes distilled water. The device has a very simple filter
to trap particles, and this can easily be shaken to remove them. There are two tubes
for liquid coming out: one for the waste – salt from seawater, fluoride, etc. – and
another for the distilled water. The performance of the unit is shown on an LCD
screen and transmitted to the company which provides servicing when necessary.
D
A recent analysis found that at least two-thirds of the world’s population lives with
severe water scarcity for at least a month every year. Janssen says that be 2030 half
of the world’s population will be living with water stress – where the demand
exceeds the supply over a certain period of time. ‘It is really important that a
sustainable solution is brought to the market that is able to help these people,’ he
says. Many countries ‘don’t have the money for desalination plants, which are very
expensive to build. They don’t have the money to operate them, they are very
maintenance intensive, and they don’t have the money to buy the diesel to run the
desalination plants, so it is a really bad situation.’
E
The device is aimed at a wide variety of users – from homeowners in the developing
world who do not have a constant supply of water to people living off the grid in
rural parts of the US. The first commercial versions of the Desolenator are expected
market for the self-sufficient devices in developing countries is twofold – those who
cannot afford the money for the device outright and pay through microfinance, and
middle-income homes that can lease their own equipment. ‘People in India don’t
pay for a fridge outright; they pay for it over six months. They would put the
Desolenator on their roof and hook it up to their municipal supply and they would
world, it is aimed at niche markets where tap water is unavailable – for camping, on
boats, or for the military, for instance.
F
Prices will vary according to where it is bought. In the developing world, the price
will depend on what deal aid organisations can negotiate. In developed countries, it
is likely to come in at $1,000 (£685) a unit, said Janssen. ‘We are a venture with a
social mission. We are aware that the product we have envisioned is mainly finding
application in the developing world and humanitarian sector and that this is the way a 23………………… . The purified water comes out through one tube, and all types
we will proceed. We do realise, though, that to be a viable company there is a of 24………………… come out through another. A screen displays
bottom line to keep in mind,’ he says. the 25………………… of the device, and transmits the information to the company
G so that they know when the Desolenator requires 26…………………. .
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The company itself is based at Imperial College London, although Janssen, its chief
executive, still lives in the UAE. It has raised £340,000 in funding so far. Within
two years, he says, the company aims to be selling 1,000 units a month, mainly in READING PASSAGE 3
the humanitarian field. They are expected to be sold in areas such as Australia,
northern Chile, Peru, Texas and California.
Why fairy tales are really scary tales
Questions 14-20 Some people think that fairy tales are just stories to amuse children, but their universal and
enduring appeal may be due to more serious reasons
Reading Passage 2 has nine paragraphs, A-H
Choose the correct heading for each section from the list of headings below People of every culture tell each other fairy tales but the same story
Write the correct number, i-x, in boxes 14-20 on your answer sheet. often takes a variety of forms in different parts of the world. In the story
List of Headings
i Getting the finance for production of Little Red Riding Hood that European children are familiar with, a young girl
ii An unexpected benefit on the way to see her grandmother meets a wolf and tells him where
iii From initial inspiration to new product she is going. The wolf runs on ahead and disposes of the grandmother,
iv The range of potential customers for the device then gets into bed dressed in the grandmother’s clothes to wait for Little
v What makes the device different from alternatives Red Riding Hood. You may think you know the story – but which version?
vi Cleaning water from a range of sources
In some versions, the wolf swallows up the grandmother, while in others
vii Overcoming production difficulties
viii Profit not the primary goal it locks her in a cupboard. In some stories Red Riding Hood gets the
ix A warm welcome for the device better of the wolf on her own, while in others a hunter or a woodcutter
x The number of people affected by water shortages hears her cries and comes to her rescue.
14 Section A The universal appeal of these tales is frequently attributed to the idea
15 Section B that they contain cautionary messages: in the case of Little Red Riding Hood, to
16 Section C
17 Section D listen to your mother, and avoid talking to strangers. ‘It might be what
18 Section E we find interesting about this story is that it’s got this survival-relevant
19 Section F information in it,’ says anthropologist Jamie Tehrani at Durham
20 Section G University in the UK. But his research suggests otherwise. ‘We have this
huge gap in our knowledge about the history and prehistory of
Questions 21-26 storytelling, despite the fact that we know this genre is an incredibly
Complete the summary below. ancient one,’ he says. That hasn’t stopped anthropologists, folklorists*
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
and other academics devising theories to explain the importance of fairy
tales in human society. Now Tehrani has found a way to test these ideas,
How the Desolenator works
The energy required to operate the Desolenator comes from sunlight. The device can borrowing a technique from evolutionary biologists.
be used in different locations, as it has 21………………… . Water is fed into a pipe, To work out the evolutionary history, development and relationships
and a 22………………….. of water flows over a solar panel. The water then enters a among groups of organisms, biologists compare the characteristics of
boiler, where it turns into steam. Any particles in the water are caught in living species in a process called ‘phylogenetic analysis’. Tehrani has used
the same approach to compare related versions of fairy tales to discover
how they have evolved and which elements have survived longest.
Tehrani’s analysis focused on Little Red Riding Hood in its many forms, which
include another Western fairy tale known as The Wolf and the Kids. Checking
for variants of these two tales and similar stories from Africa, East Asia
and other regions, he ended up with 58 stories recorded from oral
traditions. Once his phylogenetic analysis had established that they were
indeed related, he used the same methods to explore how they have
developed and altered over time.
First he tested some assumptions about which aspects of the story alter
least as it evolves, indicating their importance. Folklorists believe that
what happens in a story is more central to the story than the characters
in it – that visiting a relative, only to be met by a scary animal in disguise,
is more fundamental than whether the visitor is a little girl or three
siblings, or the animal is a tiger instead of a wolf.
However, Tehrani found no significant difference in the rate of evolution
of incidents compared with that of characters. ‘Certain episodes are very
stable because they are crucial to the story, but there are lots of other
details that can evolve quite freely,’ he says. Neither did his analysis
support the theory that the central section of a story is the most
conserved part. He found no significant difference in the flexibility of
events there compared with the beginning or the end.
But the really big surprise came when he looked at the cautionary
elements of the story. ‘Studies on hunter-gatherer folk tales suggest that
these narratives include really important information about the
environment and the possible dangers that may be faced there – stuff
that’s relevant to survival,’ he says. Yet in his analysis such elements
were just as flexible as seemingly trivial details. What, then, is important
enough to be reproduced from generation to generation?
The answer, it would appear, is fear – blood-thirsty and gruesome
aspects of the story, such as the eating of the grandmother by the wolf,
turned out to be the best preserved of all. Why are these details retained
by generations of storytellers, when other features are not? Tehrani has
an idea: ‘In an oral context, a story won’t survive because of one great
teller. It also needs to be interesting when it’s told by someone who’s not
necessarily a great storyteller.’ Maybe being swallowed whole by a wolf,
then cut out of its stomach alive is so gripping that it helps the story
remain popular, no matter how badly it’s told.
Jack Zipes at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, is unconvinced by
Tehrani’s views on fairy tales. ‘Even if they’re gruesome, they won’t stick
unless they matter,’ he says. He believes the perennial theme of women
as victims in stories like Little Red Riding Hood explains why they continue to
feel relevant. But Tehrani points out that although this is often the case
in Western versions, it is not always true elsewhere. In Chinese and
Japanese versions, often known as The Tiger Grandmother, the villain is a
woman, and in both Iran and Nigeria, the victim is a boy.
Mathias Clasen at Aarhus University in Denmark isn’t surprised by
Tehrani’s findings. ‘Habits and morals change, but the things that scare
us, and the fact that we seek out entertainment that’s designed to scare
us – those are constant,’ he says. Clasen believes that scary stories teach
us what it feels like to be afraid without having to experience real
danger, and so build up resistance to negative emotions.
—-
*Folklorists: those who study traditional stories
Questions 27-31
Complete each sentence with the correct ending, A-F, below.
Write the correct letter, A-F, in boxes 27-31 on your answer sheet.
27 In fairy tales, details of the plot
28 Tehrani rejects the idea that the useful lessons for life in fairy tales
29 Various theories about the social significance of fairy tales
30 Insights into the development of fairy tales
31 All the fairy tales analysed by Tehrani
A may be provided through methods used in biological research.
B are the reason for their survival.
C show considerable global variation.
D contain animals which transform to become humans.
E were originally spoken rather than written.
F have been developed without factual basis.
 B to suggest that crime is a global problem
Questions 32-36 C to imply that all fairy tales have a similar meaning
Complete the summary using the list of words, A-I, below. D to add more evidence for Jack Zipes’ ideas
40 What does Mathias Clasen believe about fairy tales?
Phylogenetic analysis of Little Red Riding Hood A They are a safe way of learning to deal with fear.
Tehrani used techniques from evolutionary biology to find out B They are a type of entertainment that some people avoid.
if 32………………….. existed among 58 stories from around the world. He C They reflect the changing values of our society.
also wanted to know which aspects of the stories had D They reduce our ability to deal with real-world problems.
fewest 33…………………., as he believed these aspects would be the most
important ones. Contrary to other beliefs, he found that
some 34……………………. that were included in a story tended to change
over time, and that the middle of a story seemed no more important
than the other parts. He was also surprised that parts of a story which
seemed to provide some sort of 35…………………. were unimportant. The
aspect that he found most important in a story’s survival
was 36…………………
A ending B events C warning
D links E records F variations
G horror H people I plot

Questions 37-40
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.
Write the correct letter in boxes 37-40 on your answer sheet.
37 What method did Jamie Tehrani use to test his ideas about fairy
tales?
A He compared oral and written forms of the same stories.
B He looked at many different forms of the same basic story.
C He looked at unrelated stories from many different countries.
D He contrasted the development of fairy tales with that of living
creatures.
38 When discussing Tehrani’s views, Jack Zipes suggests that
A Tehrani ignores key changes in the role of women.
B stories which are too horrific are not always taken seriously.
C Tehrani overemphasises the importance of violence in stories.
D features of stories only survive if they have a deeper significance.
39 Why does Tehrani refer to Chinese and Japanese fairy tales?
A to indicate that Jack Zipes’ theory is incorrect
 Book 15 test 4: project to protect and restore the rapidly disappearing habitat. In order
to succeed, Whaley needs to get the local people on board, and that has
meant overcoming local prejudices. ‘Increasingly aspirational
READING PASSAGE 1 communities think that if you plant food trees in your home or street, it
shows you are poor, and still need to grow your own food,’ he says. In
order to stop the Middle Ica Valley going the same way as the Lower Ica
The return of the huarango
Valley, Whaley is encouraging locals to love the huarangos again. ‘It’s a
The arid valleys of southern Peru are welcoming the return of a native plant
process of cultural resuscitation,’ he says. He has already set up a
The south coast of Peru is a narrow, 2,000-kilometre-long strip of desert
huarango festival to reinstate a sense of pride in their eco-heritage, and
squeezed between the Andes and the Pacific Ocean. It is also one of the
has helped local schoolchildren plant thousands of trees.
most fragile ecosystems on Earth. It hardly ever rains there, and the only
‘In order to get people interested in habitat restoration, you need to
year-round source of water is located tens of metres below the surface.
plant a tree that is useful to them,’ says Whaley. So, he has been working
This is why the huarango tree is so suited to life there: it has the longest
with local families to attempt to create a sustainable income from the
roots of any tree in the world. They stretch down 50-80 metres and, as
huarangos by turning their products into foodstuffs. ‘Boil up the beans
well as sucking up water for the tree, they bring it into the higher subsoil,
and you get this thick brown syrup like molasses. You can also use it in
creating a water source for other plant life.
drinks, soups or stews.’ The pods can be ground into flour to make
Dr David Beresford-Jones, archaeobotanist at Cambridge University, has
cakes, and the seeds roasted into a sweet, chocolatey ‘coffee’. ‘It’s packed
been studying the role of the huarango tree in landscape change in the
full of vitamins and minerals,’ Whaley says.
Lower Ica Valley in southern Peru. He believes the huarango was key to
And some farmers are already planting huarangos. Alberto Benevides,
the ancient people’s diet and, because it could reach deep water sources,
owner of Ica Valley’s only certified organic farm, which Whaley helped set
it allowed local people to withstand years of drought when their other
up, has been planting the tree for 13 years. He produces syrup and flour,
crops failed. But over the centuries huarango trees were gradually
and sells these products at an organic farmers’ market in Lima. His farm
replaced with crops. Cutting down native woodland leads to erosion, as
is relatively small and doesn’t yet provide him with enough to live on, but
there is nothing to keep the soil in place. So when the huarangos go, the
he hopes this will change. ‘The organic market is growing rapidly in Peru,’
land turns into a desert. Nothing grows at all in the Lower Ica Valley now.
Benevides says. ‘I am investing in the future.’
For centuries the huarango tree was vital to the people of the
But even if Whaley can convince the local people to fall in love with the
neighbouring Middle Ica Valley too. They grew vegetables under it and
huarango again, there is still the threat of the larger farms. Some of
ate products made from its seed pods. Its leaves and bark were used for
these cut across the forests and break up the corridors that allow the
herbal remedies, while its branches were used for charcoal for cooking
essential movement of mammals, birds and pollen up and down the
and heating, and its trunk was used to build houses. But now it is
narrow forest strip. In the hope of counteracting this, he’s persuading
disappearing rapidly. The majority of the huarango forests in the valley
farmers to let him plant forest corridors on their land. He believes the
have already been cleared for fuel and agriculture – initially, these were
extra woodland will also benefit the farms by reducing their water usage
smallholdings, but now they’re huge farms producing crops for the
through a lowering of evaporation and providing a refuge for bio-control
international market.
insects.
‘Of the forests that were here 1,000 years ago, 99 per cent have already
‘If we can record biodiversity and see how it all works, then we’re in a
gone,’ says botanist Oliver Whaley from Kew Gardens in London, who,
good position to move on from there. Desert habitats can reduce down
together with ethnobotanist Dr William Milliken, is running a pioneering
to very little,’ Whaley explains. ‘It’s not like a rainforest that needs to have
8……………… construction
this huge expanse. Life has always been confined to corridors and
islands here. If you just have a few trees left, the population can grow up
quickly because it’s used to exploiting water when it arrives.’ He sees his
project as a model that has the potential to be rolled out across other Questions 9-13
arid areas around the world. ‘If we can do it here, in the most fragile Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading
system on Earth, then that’s a real message of hope for lots of places, Passage 1?
In boxes 9-13 on your answer sheet, write
including Africa, where there is drought and they just can’t afford to wait
TRUE if the statement agrees with the information
for rain.’
FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this
Questions 1-5
9 Local families have told Whaley about some traditional uses of
Complete the notes below.
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer. huarango products.
Write your answer in boxes 1-5 on your answer sheet. 10 Farmer Alberto Benevides is now making a good profit from growing
huarangos.
The importance of the huarango tree 11 Whaley needs the co-operation of farmers to help preserve the area’s
– its roots can extend as far as 80 metres into the soil wildlife.
– can access 1………………… deep below the surface 12 For Whaley’s project to succeed, it needs to be extended over a very
– was a crucial part of local inhabitants’ 2………………… a long time ago large area.
– helped people to survive periods of 3………………….. 13 Whaley has plans to go to Africa to set up a similar project.
– prevents 4………………… of the soil
– prevents land from becoming a 5………………… READING PASSAGE 2

Questions 6-8
Silbo Gomero – the whistle ‘language’ of the Canary Islands
Complete the table below.
La Gomera is one of the Canary Islands situated in the Atlantic Ocean off
Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.
the northwest coast of Africa. This small volcanic island is mountainous,
Write your answers in boxes 6-8 on your answer sheet.
with steep rocky slopes and deep, wooded ravines, rising to 1,487
metres at its highest peak. It is also home to the best known of the
Traditional uses of the huarango tree world’s whistle ‘languages’, a means of transmitting information over
long distances which is perfectly adapted to the extreme terrain of the
Part of tree Traditional use
island.
6……………….. Fuel This ‘language’, known as ‘Silbo’ or ‘Silbo Gomero’ – from the Spanish
word for ‘whistle’ – is now shedding light on the language-processing
7………………. and abilities of the human brain, according to scientists. Researchers say that
Medicine Silbo activates parts of the brain normally associated with spoken
……………….
language, suggesting that the brain is remarkably flexible in its ability to
interpret sounds as language.
‘Science has developed the idea of brain areas that are dedicated to
language, and we are starting to understand the scope of signals that
can be recognised as language,’ says David Corina, co-author of a recent
study and associate professor of psychology at the University of
Washington in Seattle.
Silbo is a substitute for Spanish, with individual words recoded into
whistles which have high- and low-frequency tones. A whistler –
or silbador – puts a finger in his or her mouth to increase the whistle’s
pitch, while the other hand can be cupped to adjust the direction of the
sound. ‘There is much more ambiguity in the whistled signal than in the
spoken signal,’ explains lead researcher Manuel Carreiras, psychology
professor at the University of La Laguna on the Canary island of Tenerife.
Because whistled ‘words’ can be hard to distinguish, silbadores rely on
repetition, as well as awareness of context, to make themselves
understood.
The silbadores of Gomera are traditionally shepherds and other isolated
mountain folk, and their novel means of staying in touch allows them to
communicate over distances of up to 10 kilometres. Carreiras explains
that silbadores are able to pass a surprising amount of information via
their whistles. ‘In daily life they use whistles to communicate short
commands, but any Spanish sentence could be whistled.’ Silbo has
proved particularly useful when fires have occurred on the island and
rapid communication across large areas has been vital.
The study team used neuroimaging equipment to contrast the brain
activity of silbadores while listening to whistled and spoken Spanish.
Results showed the left temporal lobe of the brain, which is usually
associated with spoken language, was engaged during the processing of
Silbo. The researchers found that other key regions in the brain’s frontal
lobe also responded to the whistles, including those activated in
response to sign language among deaf people. When the experiments
were repeated with non-whistlers, however, activation was observed in
all areas of the brain.
‘Our results provide more evidence about the flexibility of human
capacity for language in a variety of forms,’ Corina says. ‘These data
suggest that left-hemisphere language regions are uniquely adapted for
communicative purposes, independent of the modality of signal. The
non-Silbo speakers were not recognising Silbo as a language. They had
nothing to grab onto, so multiple areas of their brains were activated.’
Carreiras says the origins of Silbo Gomero remain obscure, but that
indigenous Canary Islanders, who were of North African origin, already
had a whistled language when Spain conquered the volcanic islands in
the 15th century. Whistled languages survive today in Papua New
Guinea, Mexico, Vietnam, Guyana, China, Nepal, Senegal, and a few
mountainous pockets in southern Europe. There are thought to be as
many as 70 whistled languages still in use, though only 12 have been
described and studied scientifically. This form of communication is an
adaptation found among cultures where people are often isolated from
each other, according to Julien Meyer, a researcher at the Institute of
Human Sciences in Lyon, France. ‘They are mostly used in mountains or
dense forests,’ he says. ‘Whistled languages are quite clearly defined and
represent an original adaptation of the spoken language for the needs of
isolated human groups.’
But with modern communication technology now widely available,
researchers say whistled languages like Silbo are threatened with
extinction. With dwindling numbers of Gomera islanders still fluent in
the language, Canaries’ authorities are taking steps to try to ensure its
survival. Since 1999, Silbo Gomero has been taught in all of the island’s
elementary schools. In addition, locals are seeking assistance from the
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
(UNESCO). ‘The local authorities are trying to get an award from the
organisation to declare [Silbo Gomero] as something that should be
preserved for humanity,’ Carreiras adds.
Questions 14-19
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading
Passage 2?
In boxes 14-19 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
14 La Gomera is the most mountainous of all the Canary Islands.
15 Silbo is only appropriate for short and simple messages.
16 In the brain-activity study, silbadores and non-whistlers produced
different results.
17 The Spanish introduced Silbo to the islands in the 15th century.
18 There is precise data available regarding all of the whistle languages
in existence today.
19 The children of Gomera now learn Silbo.
Questions 18-22
Complete the notes below.
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 20-26 on your answer sheet.
Silbo Gomero
How Silbo is produced
● high- and low-frequency tones represent different sounds in
Spanish 20……………
● pitch of whistle is controlled using silbador’s 21……………
● 22………….. is changed with a cupped hand
How Silbo is used
● has long been used by shepherds and people living in secluded
locations
● in everyday use for the transmission of brief 23……………
● can relay essential information quickly, e.g. to inform people
about 24……………
The future of Silbo
● future under threat because of new 25……………
● Canaries’ authorities hoping to receive a UNESCO 26……………. to help
preserve it
READING PASSAGE 3
Environmental practices of big businesses
The environmental practices of big businesses are shaped by a
fundamental fact that for many of us offend our sense of justice.
Depending on the circumstances, a business may maximize the amount
of money it makes, at least in the short term, by damaging the
environment and hurting people. That is still the case today for
fishermen in an unmanaged fishery without quotas, and for
international logging companies with short-term leases on tropical
rainforest land in places with corrupt officials and unsophisticated
landowners. When government regulation is effective, and when the
public is environmentally aware, environmentally clean big businesses
may out-compete dirty ones, but the reverse is likely to be true if
government regulation is ineffective and if the public doesn’t care.
It is easy for the rest of us to blame a business for helping itself by
hurting other people. But blaming alone is unlikely to produce change. It
ignores the fact that businesses are not charities but profit-making
companies, and that publicly owned companies with shareholders are
under obligation to those shareholders to maximize profits, provided
that they do so by legal means. US laws make a company’s directors
legally liable for something termed ‘breach of fiduciary responsibility’ if
they knowingly manage a company in a way that reduces profits. The car
manufacturer Henry Ford was in fact successfully sued by shareholders
in 1919 for raising the minimum wage of his workers to $5 per day: the
courts declared that, while Ford’s humanitarian sentiments about his
employees were nice, his business existed to make profits for its
stockholders.
Our blaming of businesses also ignores the ultimate responsibility of the
public for creating the condition that let a business profit through
destructive environmental policies. In the long run, it is the public, either
directly or through its politicians, that has the power to make such
destructive policies unprofitable and illegal, and to make sustainable
environmental policies profitable.
The public can do that by suing businesses for harming them, as
happened after the Exxon Valdez disaster, in which over 40,000m3 of oil
were spilled off the coast of Alaska. The public may also make their
opinion felt by preferring to buy sustainably harvested products; by
making employees of companies with poor track records feel ashamed
of their company and complain to their own management; by preferring
their governments to award valuable contracts to businesses with a
good environmental track record; and by pressing their governments to
pass and enforce laws and regulations requiring good environmental
practices.
In turn, big businesses can expert powerful pressure on any suppliers
that might ignore public or government pressure. For instance, after the
US public became concerned about the spread of a disease known as
BSE, which was transmitted to humans through infected meat, the US
government’s Food and Drug Administration introduced rules
demanding that the meat industry abandon practices associated with
the risk of the disease spreading. But for five years the meat packers
refused to follow these, claiming that they would be too expensive to
obey. However, when a major fast-food company then made the same
demands after customer purchases of its hamburgers plummeted, the
meat industry complied within weeks. The public’s task is therefore to
identify which links in the supply chain are sensitive to public pressure:
for instance, fast-food chains or jewelry stores, but not meat packers or
gold miners.
Some readers may be disappointed or outraged that I place the ultimate
responsibility for business practices harming the public on the public
itself. I also believe that the public must accept the necessity for higher
prices for products to cover the added costs, if any, of sound
environmental practices. My views may seem to ignore the belief that
businesses should act in accordance with moral principles even if this
leads to a reduction in their profits. But I think we have to recognize that,
throughout human history, in all politically complex human societies,
government regulation has arisen precisely because it was found that
not only did moral principles need to be made explicit, they also needed
to be enforced.
To me, the conclusion that the public has the ultimate responsibility for
the behavior of even the biggest businesses is empowering and hopeful,
rather than disappointing. My conclusion is not a moralistic one about
who is right or wrong, admirable or selfish, a good guy or a bad guy. In
the past, businesses have changed when the public came to expect and
require different behavior, to reward businesses for behavior that the
public wanted, and to make things difficult for businesses practicing
behaviors that the public didn’t want. I predict that in the future, just as
in the past, changes in public attitudes will be essential for changes in
businesses’ environmental practices.
Questions 27-31
Complete the summary using the list of words, A-J, below.
Big businesses
Many big businesses today are prepared to harm people and the
environment in order to make money, and they appear to have
no 27………………. . Lack of 28……………….. by governments and lack of
public 29………………. can lead to environmental problems such
as 30……………….. or the destruction of 31……………….
A funding B trees C rare species
D moral standards E control F involvement
G flooding H overfishing I worker support
Question 32-34
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.
32 The main idea of the third paragraph is that environmental damage
A requires political action if it is to be stopped.
B is the result of ignorance on the part of the public.
C could be prevented by the action of ordinary people.
D can only be stopped by educating business leaders.
33 In the fourth paragraph, the writer describes ways in which the public
can
A reduce their own individual impact on the environment.
B learn more about the impact of business of the environment.
C raise awareness of the effects of specific environmental disasters.
D influence the environmental policies of businesses and governments.
34 What pressure was exerted by big business in the case of the disease
BSE?
A Meat packers stopped supplying hamburgers to fast-food chains.
B A fast-food company forced their meat suppliers to follow the law.
C Meat packers persuaded the government to reduce their expenses.
D A fast-food company encouraged the government to introduce
legislation.
Questions 35-39
Do the following statements agree with the claims of the writer in
Reading Passage 3?
In boxes 35-39 on your answer sheet, write
YES if the statement agrees with the claims of the writer
NO if the statement contradicts the claims of the writer
NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
35 The public should be prepared to fund good environmental
practices.
36 There is a contrast between the moral principles of different
businesses.
37 It is important to make a clear distinction between acceptable and
unacceptable behaviour.
38 The public have successfully influenced businesses in the past.
39 In the future, businesses will show more concern for the
environment.
Question 40
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.
Write the correct letter in box 40 on your answer sheet.
40 What would be the best subheading for this passage?
A Will the world survive the threat caused by big businesses?
B How can big businesses be encouraged to be less driven by profit?
C What environmental dangers are caused by the greed of businesses?
D Are big businesses to blame for the damage they cause the
environment?
Book 16 Test 1:
READING PASSAGE 1
Why we need to protect polar bears
Polar bears are being increasingly threatened by the effects of climate
change, but their disappearance could have far-reaching consequences.
They are uniquely adapted to the extreme conditions of the Arctic Circle,
where temperatures can reach -40°C. One reason for this is that they
have up to 11 centimetres of fat underneath their skin. Humans with
comparative levels of adipose tissue would be considered obese and
would be likely to suffer from diabetes and heart disease. Yet the polar
bear experiences no such consequences.
A 2014 study by Shi Ping Liu and colleagues sheds light on this mystery.
They compared the genetic structure of polar bears with that of their
closest relatives from a warmer climate, the brown bears. This allowed
them to determine the genes that have allowed polar bears to survive in
one of the toughest environments on Earth. Liu and his colleagues found
the polar bears had a gene known as APoB, which reduces levels of low-
density lipoproteins (LDLs) – a form of ‘bad’ cholesterol. In humans,
mutations of this gene are associated with increased risk of heart
disease. Polar bears may therefore be an important study model to
understand heart disease in humans.
The genome of the polar bear may also provide the solution for another
condition, one that particularly affects our older generation:
osteoporosis. This is a disease where bones show reduced density,
usually caused by insufficient exercise, reduced calcium intake or food
starvation. Bone tissue is constantly being remodelled, meaning that
bone is added or removed, depending on nutrient availability and the
stress that the bone is under. Female polar bears, however, undergo
extreme conditions during every pregnancy. Once autumn comes
around, these females will dig maternity dens in the snow and will
remain there throughout the winter, both before and after the birth of
their cubs. This process results in about six months of fasting, where the
female bears have to keep themselves and their cubs alive, depleting
their own calcium and calorie reserves. Despite this, their bones remain
strong and dense.
LIVE
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Physiologists Alanda Lennox and Allen Goodship found an explanation
for this paradox in 2008. They discovered that pregnant bears were able
to increase the density of their bones before they started to build their
dens. In addition, six months later, when they finally emerged from the
den with their cubs, there was no evidence of significant loss of bone
density. Hibernating brown bears do not have this capacity and must
therefore resort to major bone reformation in the following spring. If the
mechanism of bone remodelling in polar bears can be understood, many
bedridden humans, and even astronauts, could potentially benefit.
The medical benefits of the polar bear for humanity certainly have their
importance in our conservation efforts, but these should not be the only
factors taken into consideration. We tend to want to protect animals we
think are intelligent and possess emotions, such as elephants and
primates. Bears, on the other hand, seem to be perceived as stupid and
in many cases violent. And yet anecdotal evidence from the field
challenges those assumptions, suggesting for example that polar bears
have good problem-solving abilities. A male bear called GoGo in Tennoji
Zoo, Osaka, has even been observed making use of a tool to manipulate
his environment. The bear used a tree branch on multiple occasions to
dislodge a piece of meat hung out of his reach. Problem-solving ability
has also been witnessed in wild polar bears, although not as obviously as
with GoGo. A calculated move by a male bear involved running and
jumping onto barrels in an attempt to get to a photographer standing on
a platform four metres high.
In other studies, such as one by Alison Ames in 2008, polar bears
showed deliberate and focused manipulation. For example, Ames
observed bears putting objects in piles and then knocking them over in
what appeared to be a game. The study demonstrates that bears are
capable of agile and thought-out behaviours. These examples suggest
bears have greater creativity and problem-solving abilities than
previously thought.
As for emotions, while the evidence is once again anecdotal, many bears
have been seen to hit out at ice and snow – seemingly out of frustration
– when they have just missed out on a kill. Moreover, polar bears can
form unusual relationships with other species, including playing with the
dogs used to pull sleds in the Arctic. Remarkably, one hand-raised polar
bear called Agee has formed a close relationship with her owner Mark
Dumas to the point where they even swim together. This is even more
astonishing since polar bears are known to actively hunt humans in the
wild.
If climate change were to lead to their extinction, this would mean not
only the loss of potential breakthroughs in human medicine, but more
importantly, the disappearance of an intelligent, majestic animal.
Questions 1-7
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading
Passage 1?
In boxes 1-7 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 Polar bears suffer from various health problems due to the build-up
of fat under their skin.
2 The study done by Liu and his colleagues compared different groups
of polar bears.
3 Liu and colleagues were the first researchers to compare polar bears
and brown bears genetically.
4 Polar bears are able to control their levels of ‘bad’ cholesterol by
genetic means.
5 Female polar bears are able to survive for about six months without
food.
6 It was found that the bones of female polar bears were very weak
when they came out of their dens in spring.
7 The polar bear’s mechanism for increasing bone density could also be
used by people one day.
Questions 8-13
Complete the table below.
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 8-13 on your answer sheet.

Reasons why polar bears should be protected
People think of bears as unintelligent and 8 ………………. .
However, this may not be correct. For example:
● In Tennoji Zoo, a bear has been seen using a branch as
a 9 ………………. . This allowed him to knock down
some 10 ………………. .
● A wild polar bear worked out a method of reaching a
platform where a 11 ………………. was located.
● Polar bears have displayed behaviour such as conscious
manipulation of objects and activity similar to a 12 ………………. .
Bears may also display emotions. For example:
● They may make movements suggesting 13 ………………. if
disappointed when hunting.
● They may form relationships with other species.
READING PASSAGE 2
The Step Pyramid of Djoser
A
The pyramids are the most famous monuments of ancient Egypt and still
hold enormous interest for people in the present day. These grand,
impressive tributes to the memory of the Egyptian kings have become
linked with the country even though other cultures, such as the Chinese
and Mayan, also built pyramids. The evolution of the pyramid form has
been written and argued about for centuries. However, there is no
question that, as far as Egypt is concerned, it began with one monument
to one king designed by one brilliant architect: the Step Pyramid of
Djoser at Saqqara.
B
Djoser was the first king of the Third Dynasty of Egypt and the first to
build in stone. Prior to Djoser’s reign, tombs were rectangular
monuments made of dried clay brick, which covered underground
passages where the deceased person was buried. For reasons which
remain unclear, Djoser’s main official, whose name was Imhotep,
conceived of building a taller, more impressive tomb for his king by
stacking stone slabs on top of one another, progressively making them
smaller, to form the shape now known as the Step Pyramid. Djoser is
thought to have reigned for 19 years, but some historians and scholars
attribute a much longer time for his rule, owing to the number and size
of the monuments he built.
C
The Step Pyramid has been thoroughly examined and investigated over
the last century, and it is now known that the building process went
through many different stages. Historian Marc Van de Mieroop
comments on this, writing ‘Much experimentation was involved, which is
especially clear in the construction of the pyramid in the center of the
complex. It had several plans … before it became the first Step Pyramid
in history, piling six levels on top of one another … The weight of the
enormous mass was a challenge for the builders, who placed the stones
at an inward incline in order to prevent the monument breaking up.’
D
When finally completed, the Step Pyramid rose 62 meters high and was
the tallest structure of its time. The complex in which it was built was the
size of a city in ancient Egypt and included a temple, courtyards, shrines,
and living quarters for the priests. It covered a region of 16 hectares and
was surrounded by a wall 10.5 meters high. The wall had 13 false doors
cut into it with only one true entrance cut into the south-east corner; the
entire wall was then ringed by a trench 750 meters long and 40 meters
wide. The false doors and the trench were incorporated into the complex
to discourage unwanted visitors. If someone wished to enter, he or she
would have needed to know in advance how to find the location of the
true opening in the wall. Djoser was so proud of his accomplishment
that he broke the tradition of having only his own name on the
monument and had Imhotep’s name carved on it as well.
E
The burial chamber of the tomb, where the king’s body was laid to rest,
was dug beneath the base of the pyramid, surrounded by a vast maze of
long tunnels that had rooms off them to discourage robbers. One of the
most mysterious discoveries found inside the pyramid was a large
number of stone vessels. Over 40,000 of these vessels, of various forms
and shapes, were discovered in storerooms off the pyramid’s
underground passages. They are inscribed with the names of rulers from
the First and Second Dynasties of Egypt and made from different kinds
of stone. There is no agreement among scholars and archaeologists on
why the vessels were placed in the tomb of Djoser or what they were
supposed to represent. The archaeologist Jean-Philippe Lauer, who
excavated most of the pyramid and complex, believes they were
originally stored and then give a ‘proper burial’ by Djoser in his pyramid
to honor his predecessors. There are other historians, however, who
claim the vessels were dumped into the shafts as yet another attempt to
prevent grave robbers from getting to the king’s burial chamber.
F 19 Paragraph F
Unfortunately, all of the precautions and intricate design of the
underground network did not prevent ancient robbers from finding a
way in. Djoser’s grave goods, and even his body, were stolen at some
point in the past and all archaeologists found were a small number of his
valuables overlooked by the thieves. There was enough left throughout
the pyramid and its complex, however, to astonish and amaze the
archaeologists who excavated it.
G The Step Pyramid of Djoser
Egyptologist Miroslav Verner writes, ‘Few monuments hold a place in
human history as significant as that of the Step Pyramid in Saqqara … It
can be said without exaggeration that this pyramid complex constitutes
a milestone in the evolution of monumental stone architecture in Egypt
and in the world as a whole.’ The Step Pyramid was a revolutionary
advance in architecture and became the archetype which all the other
great pyramid builders of Egypt would follow.
Questions 14-20
Reading Passage 2 has seven paragraphs, A-G.
Choose the correct heading for each paragraph from the list of headings
below.
Write the correct number, i-ix, in boxes 14-20 on your answer sheet.
List of Headings
i The areas and artefacts within the pyramid itself
ii A difficult task for those involved
iii A king who saved his people
iv A single certainty among other less definite facts
v An overview of the external buildings and areas
vi A pyramid design that others copied
vii An idea for changing the design of burial structures
viii An incredible experience despite the few remains
ix The answers to some unexpected questions
14 Paragraph A
15 Paragraph B
16 Paragraph C
17 Paragraph D
18 Paragraph E
20 Paragraph G
Questions 21-24
Complete the notes below.
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 21-24 on your answer sheet.
The complex that includes the Step Pyramid and its surroundings is
considered to be as big as an Egyptian 21 ………………….. of the past. The
area outside the pyramid included accommodation that was occupied
by 22 ………………….., along with many other buildings and features.
A wall ran around the outside of the complex and a number of false
entrances were built into this. In addition, a long 23 …………………..
encircled the wall. As a result, any visitors who had not been invited were
cleverly prevented from entering the pyramid grounds unless they knew
the 24 ………………….. of the real entrance.
Questions 25-26
Choose TWO letters, A-E.
Write the correct letters in boxes 25 and 26 on your answer sheet.
Which TWO of the following points does the writer make about King
Djoser?
A Initially he had to be persuaded to build in stone rather than clay.
B There is disagreement concerning the length of his reign.
C He failed to appreciate Imhotep’s part in the design of the Step
Pyramid.
D A few of his possessions were still in his tomb when archaeologists
found it.
E He criticised the design and construction of other pyramids in Egypt.
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READING PASSAGE 3
The future of work
According to a leading business consultancy, 3-14% of the global
workforce will need to switch to a different occupation within the next
10-15 years, and all workers will need to adapt as their occupations
evolve alongside increasingly capable machines. Automation – or
‘embodied artificial intelligence’ (AI) – is one aspect of the disruptive
effects of technology on the labour market. ‘Disembodied AI’, like the
algorithms running in our smartphones, is another.
Dr Stella Pachidi from Cambridge Judge Business School believes that
some of the most fundamental changes are happening as a result of the
‘algorithmication’ of jobs that are dependent on data rather than on
production – the so-called knowledge economy. Algorithms are capable
of learning from data to undertake tasks that previously needed human
judgement, such as reading legal contracts, analysing medical scans and
gathering market intelligence.
‘In many cases, they can outperform humans,’ says Pachidi.
‘Organisations are attracted to using algorithms because they want to
make choices based on what they consider is “perfect information”, as
well as to reduce costs and enhance productivity.’
‘But these enhancements are not without consequences,’ says Pachidi. ‘If
routine cognitive tasks are taken over by AI, how do professions develop
their future experts?’ she asks. ‘One way of learning about a job is
“legitimate peripheral participation” – a novice stands next to experts
and learns by observation. If this isn’t happening, then you need to find
new ways to learn.’
Another issue is the extent to which the technology influences or even
controls the workforce. For over two years, Pachidi monitored a
telecommunications company. ‘The way telecoms salespeople work is
through personal and frequent contact with clients, using the benefit of
experience to assess a situation and reach a decision. However, the
company had started using a(n) … algorithm that defined when account
managers should contact certain customers about which kinds of
campaigns and what to offer them.’
The algorithm – usually build by external designers – often becomes the
keeper of knowledge, she explains. In cases like this, Pachidi believes, a
short-sighted view begins to creep into working practices whereby
workers learn through the ‘algorithm’s eyes’ and become dependent on
its instructions. Alternative explorations – where experimentation and
human instinct lead to progress and new ideas – are effectively
discouraged.
Pachidi and colleagues even observed people developing strategies to
make the algorithm work to their own advantage. ‘We are seeing cases
where workers feed the algorithm with false data to reach their targets,’
she reports.
It’s scenarios like these that many researchers are working to avoid.
Their objective is to make AI technologies more trustworthy and
transparent, so that organisations and individuals understand how AI
decisions are made. In the meantime, says Pachidi, ‘We need to make
sure we fully understand the dilemmas that this new world raises
regarding expertise, occupational boundaries and control.’
Economist Professor Hamish Low believes that the future of work will
involve major transitions across the whole life course for everyone: ‘The
traditional trajectory of full-time education followed by full-time work
followed by a pensioned retirement is a thing of the past,’ says Low.
Instead, he envisages a multistage employment life: one where
retraining happens across the life course, and where multiple jobs and
no job happen by choice at different stages.
On the subject of job losses, Low believes the predictions are founded
on a fallacy: ‘It assumes that the number of jobs is fixed. If in 30 years,
half of 100 jobs are being carried out by robots, that doesn’t mean we
are left with just 50 jobs for humans. The number of jobs will increase:
we would expect there to be 150 jobs.’
Dr Ewan McGaughey, at Cambridge’s Centre for Business Research and
King’s College London, agrees that ‘apocalyptic’ views about the future of
work are misguided. ‘It’s the laws that restrict the supply of capital to the
job market, not the advent of new technologies that causes
unemployment.’
His recently published research answers the question of whether
automation, AI and robotics will mean a ‘jobless future’ by looking at the
causes of unemployment. ‘History is clear that change can mean
redundancies. But social policies can tackle this through retraining and
redeployment.’
He adds: ‘If there is going to be change to jobs as a result of AI and
robotics then I’d like to see governments seizing the opportunity to
improve policy to enforce good job security. We can “reprogramme” the
law to prepare for a fairer future of work and leisure.’ McGaughey’s
findings are a call to arms to leaders of organisations, governments and
banks to pre-empt the coming changes with bold new policies that
guarantee full employment, fair incomes and a thriving economic
democracy.
‘The promises of these new technologies are astounding. They deliver
humankind the capacity to live in a way that nobody could have once
imagined,’ he adds. ‘Just as the industrial revolution brought people past
subsistence agriculture, and the corporate revolution enabled mass
production, a third revolution has been pronounced. But it will not only
be one of technology. The next revolution will be social.’
Questions 27-30
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.
Write the correct letter in boxes 27-30 on your answer sheet.
27 The first paragraph tells us about
A the kinds of jobs that will be most affected by the growth of AI.
B the extent to which AI will after the nature of the work that people do.
C the proportion of the world’s labour force who will have jobs in AI in
the future.
D the difference between ways that embodied and disembodied AI with
impact on workers.
28 According to the second paragraph, what is Stella Pachidi’s view of
the ‘knowledge economy’?
A It is having an influence on the number of jobs available.
B It is changing people’s attitudes towards their occupations.
C It is the main reason why the production sector is declining.
D It is a key factor driving current developments in the workplace.
29 What did Pachidi observe at the telecommunications company?
A staff disagreeing with the recommendations of AI
B staff feeling resentful about the intrusion of AI in their work
C staff making sure that AI produces the results that they want
D staff allowing AI to carry out tasks they ought to do themselves
30 In his recently published research, Ewan McGaughey
A challenges the idea that redundancy is a negative thing.
B shows the profound effect of mass unemployment on society.
C highlights some differences between past and future job losses.
D illustrates how changes in the job market can be successfully handled.
Questions 31-34
Complete the summary using the list of words, A-G, below.
Write the correct letter, A-G, in boxes 31-34 on your answer sheet.
The ‘algorithmication’ of jobs
Stella Pachidi of Cambridge Judge Business School has been focusing on
the ‘algorithmication’ of jobs which rely not on production but
on 31 …………………. .
While monitoring a telecommunications company, Pachidi observed a
growing 32 …………………. on the recommendations made by AI, as
workers begin to learn through the ‘algorithm’s eyes’. Meanwhile, staff
are deterred from experimenting and using their own 33 ………………….,
and are therefore prevented from achieving innovation.
To avoid the kind of situations which Pachidi observed, researchers are
trying to make AI’s decision-making process easier to comprehend, and
to increase users’ 34 …………………. with regard to the technology.
A pressure B satisfaction C intuition
D promotion E reliance F confidence
G information

Questions 35-40
Look at the following statements (Questions 35-40) and the list of people
below.
Match each statement with the correct person, A, B or C.
Write the correct letter, A, B or C, in boxes 35-40 on your answer sheet.
NB You may use any letter more than once.
35 Greater levels of automation will not result in lower employment.
36 There are several reasons why AI is appealing to businesses.
37 AI’s potential to transform people’s lives has parallels with major
cultural shifts which occurred in previous eras.
38 It is important to be aware of the range of problems that AI causes.
39 People are going to follow a less conventional career path than in the
past.
40 Authorities should take measures to ensure that there will be
adequately paid work for everyone
List of people
A Stella Pachidi
B Hamish Low
C Ewan McGaughey
Book 16 test 2:
READING PASSAGE 1
The White Horse of Uffington
The cutting of huge figures or ‘geoglyphs’ into the earth of English
hillsides has taken place for more than 3,000 years. There are 56 hill
figures scattered around England, with the vast majority on the chalk
downlands of the country’s southern counties. The figures include giants,
horses, crosses and regimental badges. Although the majority of these
geoglyphs date within the last 300 years or so, there are one or two that
are much older.
The most famous of these figures is perhaps also the most mysterious –
the Uffington White Horse in Oxfordshire. The White Horse has recently
been re-dated and shown to be even older than its previously assigned
ancient pre-Roman Iron Age* date. More controversial is the date of the
enigmatic Long Man of Wilmington in Sussex. While many historians are
convinced the figure is prehistoric, others believe that it was the work of
an artistic monk from a nearby priory and was created between the 11th
and 15th centuries.
The method of cutting these huge figures was simply to remove the
overlying grass to reveal the gleaming white chalk below. However, the
grass would soon grow over the geoglyph again unless it was regularly
cleaned or scoured by a fairly large team of people. One reason that the
vast majority of hill figures have disappeared is that when the traditions
associated with the figures faded, people no longer bothered or
remembered to clear away the grass to expose the chalk outline.
Furthermore, over hundreds of years the outlines would sometimes
change due to people not always cutting in exactly the same place, thus
creating a different shape to the original geoglyph. That fact that any
ancient hill figures survive at all in England today is testament to the
strength and continuity of local customs and beliefs which, in one case at
least, must stretch back over millennia.
The Uffington White Horse is a unique, stylised representation of a horse
consisting of a long, sleek back, thin disjointed legs, a streaming tail, and
a bird-like beaked head. The elegant creature almost melts into the
landscape. The horse is situated 2.5 km from Uffington village on a steep
close to the Late Bronze Age* (c. 7th century BCE) hillfort of Uffington
Castle and below the Ridgeway, a long-distance Neolithic** track.
The Uffington Horse is also surrounded by Bronze Age burial mounds. It
is not far from the Bronze Age cemetery of Lambourn Seven Barrows,
which consists of more than 30 well-preserved burial mounds. The
carving has been placed in such a way as to make it extremely difficult to
see from close quarters, and like many geoglyphs is best appreciated
from the air. Nevertheless, there are certain areas of the Vale of the
White Horse, the valley containing and named after the enigmatic
creature, from which an adequate impression may be gained. Indeed on
a clear day the carving can be seen from up to 30 km away.
The earliest evidence of a horse at Uffington is from the 1070s CE when
‘White Horse Hill’ is mentioned in documents from the nearby Abbey of
Abingdon, and the first reference to the horse itself is soon after, in 1190
CE. However, the carving is believed to date back much further than that.
Due to the similarity of the Uffington White Horse to the stylised
depictions of horses on 1st century BCE coins, it had been thought that
the creature must also date to that period.
However, in 1995 Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) testing was
carried out by the Oxford Archaeological Unit on soil from two of the
lower layers of the horse’s body, and from another cut near the base.
The result was a date for the horse’s construction somewhere between
1400 and 600 BCE – in other words, it had a Late Bronze Age or Early Iron
Age origin.
The latter end of this date range would tie the carving of the horse in
with occupation of the nearby Uffington hillfort, indicating that it may
represent a tribal emblem making the land of the inhabitants of the
hillfort. Alternatively, the carving may have been carried out during a
Bronze or Iron Age ritual. Some researchers see the horse as
representing the Celtic*** horse goddess Epona, who was worshipped
as a protector of horses, and for her associations with fertility. However,
the cult of Epona was not imported from Gaul (France) until around the
first century CE. This date is at least six centuries after the Uffington
Horse was probably carved. Nevertheless, the horse had great ritual and
economic significance during the Bronze and Iron Ages, as attested by its
depictions on jewellery and other metal objects. It is possible that the
carving represents a goddess in native mythology, such as Rhiannon,
described in later Welsh mythology as a beautiful woman dressed in gold
and riding a white horse.
The fact that geoglyphs can disappear easily, along with their associated
rituals and meaning, indicates that they were never intended to be
anything more than temporary gestures. But this does not lessen their
importance. These giant carving are a fascinating glimpse into the minds
of their creators and how they viewed the landscape in which they lived.
*Iron Age: a period (in Britain 800 BCE – 43 CE) that is characterised by the use of iron tools
*Bronze Age: a period (in Britain c. 2,500 BCE – 800 BCE) that is characterised by the
development of bronze tools
**Neolithic: a period (in Britain c. 4,000 BCE – c. 2,500 BCE) that is significant for the spread of
agricultural practices, and the use of stone tools
***Celtic: an ancient people who migrated from Europe to Britain before the Romans
Questions 1-8
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading
Passage 1?
In boxes 1-8 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 Most geoglyphs in England are located in a particular area of the
country.
2 There are more geoglyphs in the shape of a horse than any other
creature.
3 A recent dating of the Uffington White Horse indicates that people
were mistaken about its age.
4 Historians have come to an agreement about the origins of the Long
Man of Wilmington.
5 Geoglyphs were created by people placing white chalk on the hillside.
6 Many geoglyphs in England are no longer visible.
7 The shape of some geoglyphs has been altered over time.
8 The fame of the Uffington White Horse is due to its size.

Questions 9-13
Complete the summary below.
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 9-13 on your answer sheet.
The Uffington White Horse
The location of the Uffington White Horse:
● a distance of 2.5 km from Uffington village
● near an ancient road known as the 9 …………………
● close to an ancient cemetery that has a number of burial mounds
Dating the Uffington White Horse:
● first reference to White Horse Hill appears in 10 ………………… from the
1070s
● horses shown on coins from the period 100 BCE – 1 BCE are similar in
appearance
● according to analysis of the surrounding 11 …………………, the Horse is
Late Bronze Age / Early Iron Age
Possible reasons for creation of the Uffington White Horse:
● an emblem to indicate land ownership
● formed part of an ancient ritual
● was a representation of goddess Epona – associated with protection
of horses and 12…………………
● was a representation of a Welsh goddess called 13 …………………
READING PASSAGE 2
I contain multitudes
Wendy Moore reviews Ed Yong’s book about microbes
Microbes, most of them bacteria, have populated this planet since long
before animal life developed and they will outlive us. Invisible to the
naked eye, they are ubiquitous. They inhabit the soil, air, rocks and water
and are present within every form of life, from seaweed and coral to
dogs and humans. And, as Yong explains in his utterly absorbing and
hugely important book we mess with them at our peril.
Every species has its own colony of microbes, called a ‘microbiome’, and
these microbes vary not only between species but also between
individuals and within different parts of each individual. What is amazing
is that while the number of human cells in the average person is about
30 trillion, the number of microbial ones is higher – about 39 trillion. At
best, Yong informs us, we are only 50 per cent human. Indeed, some
scientists even suggest we should think of each species and its microbes
as a single unit, dubbed a ‘holobiont’.
In each human there are microbes that live only in the stomach, the
mouth or the armpit and by and large they do so peacefully. So ‘bad’
microbes are just microbes out of context. Microbes that sit contentedly
in the human gut (where there are more microbes than there are stars in
the galaxy) can become deadly if they find their way into the
bloodstream. These communities are constantly changing too. The right
hand shares just one sixth of its microbes with the left hand. And, of
course, we are surrounded by microbes. Every time we eat, we swallow a
million microbes in each gram of food; we are continually swapping
microbes with other humans, pets and the world at large.
It’s a fascinating topic and Yong, a young British science journalist, is an
extraordinarily adept guide. Writing with lightness and panache, he has a
knack of explaining complex science in terms that are both easy to
understand and totally enthralling. Yong is on a mission. Leading us
gently by the hand, he takes us into the world of microbes – a bizarre,
alien planet – in a bid to persuade us to love them as much as he does.
By the end, we do.
For most of human history we had no idea that microbes existed. The
first man to see these extraordinarily potent creatures was a Dutch lens-
maker called Antony van Leeuwenhoek in the 1670s. Using microscopes
of his own design that could magnify up to 270 times, he examined a
drop of water from a nearby lake and found it teeming with tiny
creatures he called ‘animalcules’. It wasn’t until nearly two hundred years
later that the research of French biologist Louis Pasteur indicated that
some microbes caused disease. It was Pasteur’s ‘germ theory’ that gave
bacteria the poor image that endures today.
Yong’s book is in many ways a plea for microbial tolerance, pointing out
that while fewer than one hundred species of bacteria bring disease,
many thousands more play a vital role in maintaining our health. The
book also acknowledges that our attitude towards bacteria is not a
simple one. We tend to see the dangers posed by bacteria, yet at the
same time we are sold yoghurts and drinks that supposedly nurture Questions 14-16
‘friendly’ bacteria. In reality, says Yong, bacteria should not be viewed as Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.
either friends or foes, villains or heroes. Instead we should realise we Write the correct letter in boxes 14-16 on your answer sheet.

have a symbiotic relationship, that can be mutually beneficial or mutually 14 What point does the writer make about microbes in the first
destructive. paragraph?
What then do these millions of organisms do? The answer is pretty much A They adapt quickly to their environment.

everything. New research is now unravelling the ways in which bacteria B The risk they pose has been exaggerated.

aid digestion, regulate our immune systems, eliminate toxins, produce C They are more plentiful in animal life than plant life.

vitamins, affect our behaviour and even combat obesity. ‘They actually D They will continue to exist for longer than the human race.

help us become who we are,’ says Yong. But we are facing a growing 15 In the second paragraph, the writer is impressed by the fact that

problem. Our obsession with hygiene, our overuse of antibiotics and our A each species tends to have vastly different microbes.

unhealthy, low-fibre diets are disrupting the bacterial balance and may B some parts of the body contain relatively few microbes.

be responsible for soaring rates of allergies and immune problems, such C the average individual has more microbial cells than human ones.

as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). D scientists have limited understanding of how microbial cells behave.

The most recent research actually turns accepted norms upside down. 16 What is the writer doing in the fifth paragraph?

For example, there are studies indicating that the excessive use of A explaining how a discovery was made

household detergents and antibacterial products actually destroys the B comparing scientists’ theories about microbes

microbes that normally keep the more dangerous germs at bay. Other C describing confusion among scientists

studies show that keeping a dog as a pet gives children early exposure to D giving details of how microbes cause disease

a diverse range of bacteria, which may help protect them against

allergies later. Questions 17-20
The readers of Yong’s book must be prepared for a decidedly Complete the summary using the list of words, A-H, below.
Write the correct letter, A-H, in boxes 17-20 on your answer sheet.
unglamorous world. Among the less appealing case studies is one about
a fungus that is wiping out entire populations of frogs and that can be
We should be more tolerant of microbes
halted by a rare microbial bacterium. Another is about squid that carry
Yong’s book argues that we should be more tolerant of microbes. Many
luminescent bacteria that protect them against predators. However, if
have a beneficial effect, and only a relatively small number lead
you can overcome your distaste for some of the investigations, the
to 17 ………………… . And although it is misleading to think of microbes as
reasons for Yong’s enthusiasm become clear. The microbial world is a
‘friendly’, we should also stop thinking of them as the enemy. In fact, we
place of wonder. Already, in an attempt to stop mosquitoes spreading
should accept that our relationship with microbes is one based
dengue fever – a disease that infects 400 million people a year –
on 18 ………………… .
mosquitoes are being loaded with a bacterium to block the disease. In
New research shows that microbes have numerous benefits for humans.
the future, our ability to manipulate microbes means we could construct
Amongst other things, they aid digestion, remove poisons, produce
buildings with useful microbes built into their walls to fight off infections.
vitamins and may even help reduce obesity. However, there is a growing
Just imagine a neonatal hospital ward coated in a specially mixed cocktail
problem. Our poor 19 …………………, our overuse of antibiotics, and our
of microbes so that babies get the best start in life.
excessive focus on 20 ………………… are upsetting the bacterial balance and
may be contributing to the huge increase in allergies and immune
system problems.
A solution B partnership C destruction
D exaggeration E cleanliness F regulations
G illness H nutrition
Questions 21-26
Do the following statements agree with the claims of the writer in
Reading Passage 2?
In boxes 21-26 on your answer sheet, write
YES if the statement agrees with the claims of the writer
NO if the statement contradicts the claims of the writer
NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
21 It is possible that using antibacterial products in the home fails to
have the desired effect.
22 It is a good idea to ensure that children come into contact with as few
bacteria as possible.
23 Yong’s book contains more cause studies than are necessary.
24 The case study about bacteria that prevent squid from being attacked
may have limited appeal.
25 Efforts to control dengue fever have been surprisingly successful
26 Microbes that reduce the risk of infection have already been put
inside the walls of some hospital wards.
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READING PASSAGE 3
How to make wise decisions
Across cultures, wisdom has been considered one of the most revered
human qualities. Although the truly wise may seem few and far between,
empirical research examining wisdom suggests that it isn’t an
exceptional trait possessed by a small handful of bearded philosophers
after all – in fact, the latest studies suggest that most of us have the
ability to make wise decisions, given the right context.
‘It appears that experiential, situational, and cultural factors are even
more powerful in shaping wisdom than previously imagined,’ says
Associate Professor Igor Grossmann of the University of Waterloo in
Ontario, Canada. ‘Recent empirical findings from cognitive,
developmental, social, and personality psychology cumulatively suggest
that people’s ability to reason wisely varies dramatically across
experiential and situational contexts. Understanding the role of such
contextual factors offers unique insights into understanding wisdom in
daily life, as well as how it can be enhanced and taught.’
It seems that it’s not so much that some people simply possess wisdom
and others lack it, but that our ability to reason wisely depends on a
variety of external factors. ‘It is impossible to characterize thought
processes attributed to wisdom without considering the role of
contextual factors,’ explains Grossmann. ‘In other words, wisdom is not
solely an “inner quality” but rather unfolds as a function of situations
people happen to be in. Some situations are more likely to promote
wisdom than others.’
Coming up with a definition of wisdom is challenging, but Grossmann
and his colleagues have identified four key characteristics as part of a
framework of wise reasoning. One is intellectual humility or recognition
of the limits of our own knowledge, and another is appreciation of
perspectives wider than the issue at hand. Sensitivity to the possibility of
change in social relations is also key, along with compromise or
integration of different attitudes and beliefs.
Grossmann and his colleagues have also found that one of the most
reliable ways to support wisdom in our own day-to-day decisions is to
look at scenarios from a third-party perspective, as though giving advice
to a friend. Research suggests that when adopting a first-person
viewpoint we focus on ‘the focal features of the environment’ and when
we adopt a third-person, ‘observer’ viewpoint we reason more broadly
and focus more on interpersonal and moral ideals such as justice and
impartiality. Looking at problems from this more expansive viewpoint
appears to foster cognitive processes related to wise decisions.
What are we to do, then, when confronted with situations like a
disagreement with a spouse or negotiating a contract at work, that
require us to take a personal stake? Grossmann argues that even when
we aren’t able to change the situation, we can still evaluate these
experiences from different perspectives.
For example, in one experiment that took place during the peak of a
recent economic recession, graduating college seniors were asked to
reflect on their job prospects. The students were instructed to imagine
their career either ‘as if you were a distant observer’ or ‘before your own
eyes as if you were right there’. Participants in the group assigned to the
‘distant observer’ role displayed more wisdom-related reasoning
(intellectual humility and recognition of change) than did participants in
the control group.
In another study, couples in long-term romantic relationships were
instructed to visualize an unresolved relationship conflict either through
the eyes of an outsider or from their own perspective. Participants then
discussed the incident with their partner for 10 minutes, after which they
wrote down their thoughts about it. Couples in the ‘other’s eyes’
condition were significantly more likely to rely on wise reasoning –
recognizing others’ perspectives and searching for a compromise –
compared to the couples in the egocentric condition.
‘Ego-decentering promotes greater focus on others and enables a bigger
picture, conceptual view of the experience, affording recognition of
intellectual humility and change,’ says Grossmann.
We might associate wisdom with intelligence or particular personality
traits, but research shows only a small positive relationship between
wise thinking and crystallized intelligence and the personality traits of
openness and agreeableness. ‘It is remarkable how much people can
vary in their wisdom from one situation to the next, and how much
stronger such contextual effects are for understanding the relationship
between wise judgment and its social and affective outcomes as
compared to the generalized “traits”,’ Grossmann explains. ‘That is,
knowing how wisely a person behaves in a given situation is more
informative for understanding their emotions or likelihood to forgive [or]
retaliate as compared to knowing whether the person may be wise “in
general”.’
Questions 27-30
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.
Write the correct letter in boxes 27-30 on your answer sheet.
27 What point does the writer make in the first paragraph?
A Wisdom appears to be unique to the human race.
B A basic assumption about wisdom may be wrong.
C Concepts of wisdom may depend on the society we belong to.
D There is still much to be discovered about the nature of wisdom.
28 What does Igor Grossmann suggest about the ability to make wise
decisions?
A It can vary greatly from one person to another.
B Earlier research into it was based on unreliable data.
C The importance of certain influences on it was underestimated.
D Various branches of psychology define it according to their own
criteria.
29 According to the third paragraph, Grossmann claims that the level of
wisdom an individual shows
A can be greater than they think it is.
B will be different in different circumstances.
C may be determined by particular aspects of their personality.
D should develop over time as a result of their life experiences.
30 What is described in the fifth paragraph?
A a difficulty encountered when attempting to reason wisely
B an example of the type of person who is likely to reason wisely
C a controversial view about the benefits of reasoning wisely
D a recommended strategy that can help people to reason wisely
Questions 31-35
Complete the summary using the list of words, A-J, below.
Write the correct letter, A-J, in boxes 31-35 on your answer sheet.
The characteristics of wise reasoning
Igor Grossmann and colleagues have established four characteristics
which enable us to make wise decisions. It is important to have a certain
degree of 31 ………………….. regarding the extent of our knowledge, and to
take into account 32 ………………….. which may not be the same as our
own. We should also be able to take a broad 33 ………………….. of any
situation. Another key characteristic is being aware of the likelihood of
alterations in the way that people relate to each other.
Grossmann also believes that it is better to regard scenarios
with 34 ………………….. . By avoiding the first-person perspective, we focus
more on 35 ………………….. and on other moral ideals, which in turn leads Book 16 Test 3:
to wiser decision-making.
A opinions B confidence C view
D modesty E problems F objectivity READING PASSAGE 1
G fairness H experiences I range
reasons
J
Henry Moore (1898-1986)
The British sculptor Henry Moore was a leading figure in the 20th-century art
Questions 36-40
world
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading
Henry Moore was born in Castleford, a small town near Leeds in the
Passage 3?
In boxes 36-40 on your answer sheet, write
north of England. He was the seventh child of Raymond Moore and his
TRUE if the statement agrees with the information wife Mary Baker. He studied at Castleford Grammar School from 1909 to
FALSE if the statement contradicts the information 1915, where his early interest in art was encouraged by his teacher Alice
NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this
Gostick. After leaving school, Moore hoped to become a sculptor, but
36 Students participating in the job prospects experiment could choose
instead he complied with his father’s wish that he train as a
one of two perspectives to take. schoolteacher. He had to abandon his training in 1917 when he was sent
37 Participants in the couples experiment were aware that they were
to France to fight in the First World War.
taking part in a study about wise reasoning. After the war, Moore enrolled at the Leeds School of Art, where he
38 In the couples experiments, the length of the couples’ relationships
studied for two years. In his first year, he spent most of his time drawing.
had an impact on the results. Although he wanted to study sculpture, no teacher was appointed until
39 In both experiments, the participants who looked at the situation
his second year. At the end of that year, he passed the sculpture
from a more detached viewpoint tended to make wiser decisions. examination and was awarded a scholarship to the Royal College of Art
40 Grossmann believes that a person’s wisdom is determined by their
in London. In September 1921, he moved to London and began three
intelligence to only a very limited extent. years of advanced study in sculpture.
Alongside the instruction he received at the Royal College, Moore visited
many of the London museums, particularly the British Museum, which
had a wide-ranging collection of ancient sculpture. During these visits, he
discovered the power and beauty of ancient Egyptian and African
sculpture. As he became increasingly interested in these ‘primitive’ forms
of art, he turned away from European sculptural traditions.
After graduating, Moore spent the first six months of 1925 travelling in
France. When he visited the Trocadero Museum in Paris, he was
impressed by a cast of a Mayan* sculpture of the rain spirit. It was a
male reclining figure with its knees drawn up together, and its head at a
right angle to its body. Moore became fascinated with this stone
sculpture, which he thought had a power and originality that no other
stone sculpture possessed. He himself started carving a variety of
subjects in stone, including depiction of reclining women, mother-and-
child groups, and masks.
Moore’s exceptional talent soon gained recognition, and in 1926 he
started work as a sculpture instructor at the Royal College. In 1933, he
became a member of a group of young artists called Unit One. The aim
of the group was to convince the English public of the merits of the
emerging international movement in modern art and architecture.
Around this time, Moore moved away from the human figure to
experiment with abstract shapes. In 1931, he held an exhibition at the
Leicester Galleries in London. His work was enthusiastically welcomed by
fellow sculptors, but the reviews in the press were extremely negative
and turned Moore into a notorious figure. There were calls for his
resignation from the Royal College, and the following year, when his
contract expired, he left to start a sculpture department at the Chelsea
School of Art in London.
Throughout the 1930s, Moore did not show any inclination to please the
British public. He became interested in the paintings of the Spanish artist
Pablo Picasso, whose work inspired him to distort the human body in a
radical way. At times, he seemed to abandon the human figure
altogether. The pages of his sketchbooks from this period show his ideas
for abstract sculptures that bore little resemblance to the human form.
In 1940, during the Second World War, Moore stopped teaching at the
Chelsea School and moved to a farmhouse about 20 miles north of
London. A shortage of materials forced him to focus on drawing. He did
numerous small sketches of Londoners, later turning these ideas into
large coloured drawings in his studio. In 1942, he returned to Castleford
to make a series of sketches of the miners who worked there.
In 1944, Harlow, a town near London, offered Moore a commission for a
sculpture depicting a family. The resulting work signifies a dramatic
change in Moore’s style, away from the experimentation of the 1930s
towards a more natural and humanistic subject matter. He did dozens of
studies in clay for the sculpture, and these were cast in bronze and
issued in editions of seven to nine copies each. In this way, Moore’s work
became available to collectors all over the world. The boost to his
income enabled him to take on ambitious projects and start working on
the scale he felt his sculpture demanded.
Critics who had begun to think that Moore had become less
revolutionary were proven wrong by the appearance, in 1950, of the first
of Moore’s series of standing figures in bronze, with their harsh and
angular pierced forms and distinct impression of menace. Moore also
varied his subject matter in the 1950s with such works as Warrior with
Shield and Falling Warrior. These were rare examples of Moore’s use of the
male figure and owe something to his visit to Greece in 1951, when he
had the opportunity to study ancient works of art.
In his final years, Moore created the Henry Moore Foundation to
promote art appreciation and to display his work. Moore was the first
modern English sculptor to achieve international critical acclaim and he
is still regarded as one of the most important sculptors of the 20th
century.
—
*Mayan: belonging to an ancient civilisation that inhabited parts of current-day Mexico,
Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador and Honduras.
Questions 1-7
Do the following statements agree with the claims of the writer in
Reading Passage 1?
In boxes 1-7 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 On leaving school, Moore did what his father wanted him to do.
2 Moore began studying sculpture in his first term at the Leeds School
of Art.
3 When Moore started at the Royal College of Art, its reputation for
teaching sculpture was excellent.
4 Moore became aware of ancient sculpture as a result of visiting
London Museums.
5 The Trocadero Museum’s Mayan sculpture attracted a lot of public
interest.
6 Moore thought the Mayan sculpture was similar in certain respects to
other stone sculptures.
7 The artists who belonged to Unit One wanted to make modern art
and architecture more popular.

Questions 8-13
Complete the notes below.
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 8-13 on your answer sheet.
Moore’s career as an artist
1930s
● Moore’s exhibition at the Leicester Galleries is criticised by the press
● Moore is urged to offer his 8………………… and leave the Royal College.
1940s
● Moore turns to drawing because 9…………………. for sculpting are not
readily available
● While visiting his hometown, Moore does some drawings
of 10………………….
● Moore is employed to produce a sculpture of a 11…………………
● 12………………. start to buy Moore’s work
● Moore’s increased 13…………………. makes it possible for him to do
more ambitious sculptures
1950s
● Moore’s series of bronze figures marks a further change in his style
READING PASSAGE 2
The Desolenator: producing clean water
A
Travelling around Thailand in the 1990s, William Janssen was impressed
with the basic rooftop solar heating systems that were on many homes,
where energy from the sun was absorbed by a plate and then used to
heat water for domestic use. Two decades later Janssen developed that
basic idea he saw in Southeast Asia into a portable device that uses the
power from the sun to purify water.
B
The Desolenator operates as a mobile desalination unit that can take
water from different places, such as the sea, rivers, boreholes and rain,
and purify it for human consumption. It is particularly valuable in regions
where natural groundwater reserves have been polluted, or where
seawater is the only water source available.
Janssen saw that there was a need for a sustainable way to clean water is
both the developing and the developed countries when he moved to the
United Arab Emirates and saw large-scale water processing. ‘I was
confronted with the enormous carbon footprint that the Gulf nations
have because of all of the desalination that they do,’ he says.
C
The Desolenator can produce 15 litres of drinking water per day, enough
to sustain a family for cooking and drinking. Its main selling point is that
unlike standard desalination techniques, it doesn’t require a generated
power supply: just sunlight. It measures 120 cm by 90 cm, and it easy to
transport, thanks to its two wheels. Water enters through a pipe, and
flows as a thin film between a sheet of double glazing and the surface of
a solar panel, where it is heated by the sun. the warm water flows into a
small boiler (heated by a solar-powered battery) where it is converted to
steam. When the steam cools, it becomes distilled water. The device has
a very simple filter to trap particles, and this can easily be shaken to
remove them. There are two tubes for liquid coming out: one for the
waste – salt from seawater, fluoride, etc. – and another for the distilled
water. The performance of the unit is shown on an LCD screen and
transmitted to the company which provides servicing when necessary.
D
A recent analysis found that at least two-thirds of the world’s population
lives with severe water scarcity for at least a month every year. Janssen
says that be 2030 half of the world’s population will be living with water
stress – where the demand exceeds the supply over a certain period of
time. ‘It is really important that a sustainable solution is brought to the
market that is able to help these people,’ he says. Many countries ‘don’t
have the money for desalination plants, which are very expensive to
build. They don’t have the money to operate them, they are very
maintenance intensive, and they don’t have the money to buy the diesel
to run the desalination plants, so it is a really bad situation.’
E
The device is aimed at a wide variety of users – from homeowners in the
developing world who do not have a constant supply of water to people
living off the grid in rural parts of the US. The first commercial versions iii From initial inspiration to new product
of the Desolenator are expected to be in operation in India early next iv The range of potential customers for the device
year, after field tests are carried out. The market for the self-sufficient v What makes the device different from alternatives
devices in developing countries is twofold – those who cannot afford the vi Cleaning water from a range of sources
money for the device outright and pay through microfinance, and vii Overcoming production difficulties
middle-income homes that can lease their own equipment. ‘People in viii Profit not the primary goal
India don’t pay for a fridge outright; they pay for it over six months. They ix A warm welcome for the device
would put the Desolenator on their roof and hook it up to their x The number of people affected by water shortages
municipal supply and they would get very reliable drinking water on a 14 Section A
daily basis,’ Janssen says. In the developed world, it is aimed at niche 15 Section B
markets where tap water is unavailable – for camping, on boats, or for 16 Section C
the military, for instance. 17 Section D
F 18 Section E
Prices will vary according to where it is bought. In the developing world, 19 Section F
the price will depend on what deal aid organisations can negotiate. In 20 Section G
developed countries, it is likely to come in at $1,000 (£685) a unit, said
Janssen. ‘We are a venture with a social mission. We are aware that the Questions 21-26
product we have envisioned is mainly finding application in the Complete the summary below.
developing world and humanitarian sector and that this is the way we Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
will proceed. We do realise, though, that to be a viable company there is Write your answers in boxes 21-26 on your answer sheet.

a bottom line to keep in mind,’ he says.

G How the Desolenator works
The company itself is based at Imperial College London, although The energy required to operate the Desolenator comes from sunlight.
Janssen, its chief executive, still lives in the UAE. It has raised £340,000 in The device can be used in different locations, as it has 21………………… .
funding so far. Within two years, he says, the company aims to be selling Water is fed into a pipe, and a 22………………….. of water flows over a solar
1,000 units a month, mainly in the humanitarian field. They are expected panel. The water then enters a boiler, where it turns into steam. Any
to be sold in areas such as Australia, northern Chile, Peru, Texas and particles in the water are caught in a 23………………… . The purified water
California. comes out through one tube, and all types of 24………………… come out
through another. A screen displays the 25………………… of the device, and
Questions 14-20 transmits the information to the company so that they know when the
Reading Passage 2 has nine paragraphs, A-H Desolenator requires 26…………………. .
Choose the correct heading for each section from the list of headings
below
Write the correct number, i-x, in boxes 14-20 on your answer sheet.
List of Headings
i Getting the finance for production
ii An unexpected benefit

READING PASSAGE 3
Why fairy tales are really scary tales
Some people think that fairy tales are just stories to amuse children, but their universal and
enduring appeal may be due to more serious reasons
People of every culture tell each other fairy tales but the same story
often takes a variety of forms in different parts of the world. In the story
of Little Red Riding Hood that European children are familiar with, a young girl
on the way to see her grandmother meets a wolf and tells him where
she is going. The wolf runs on ahead and disposes of the grandmother,
then gets into bed dressed in the grandmother’s clothes to wait for Little
Red Riding Hood. You may think you know the story – but which version?
In some versions, the wolf swallows up the grandmother, while in others
it locks her in a cupboard. In some stories Red Riding Hood gets the
better of the wolf on her own, while in others a hunter or a woodcutter
hears her cries and comes to her rescue.
The universal appeal of these tales is frequently attributed to the idea
that they contain cautionary messages: in the case of Little Red Riding Hood, to
listen to your mother, and avoid talking to strangers. ‘It might be what
we find interesting about this story is that it’s got this survival-relevant
information in it,’ says anthropologist Jamie Tehrani at Durham
University in the UK. But his research suggests otherwise. ‘We have this
huge gap in our knowledge about the history and prehistory of
storytelling, despite the fact that we know this genre is an incredibly
ancient one,’ he says. That hasn’t stopped anthropologists, folklorists*
and other academics devising theories to explain the importance of fairy
tales in human society. Now Tehrani has found a way to test these ideas,
borrowing a technique from evolutionary biologists.
To work out the evolutionary history, development and relationships
among groups of organisms, biologists compare the characteristics of
living species in a process called ‘phylogenetic analysis’. Tehrani has used
the same approach to compare related versions of fairy tales to discover
how they have evolved and which elements have survived longest.
Tehrani’s analysis focused on Little Red Riding Hood in its many forms, which
include another Western fairy tale known as The Wolf and the Kids. Checking
for variants of these two tales and similar stories from Africa, East Asia
and other regions, he ended up with 58 stories recorded from oral
traditions. Once his phylogenetic analysis had established that they were
indeed related, he used the same methods to explore how they have
developed and altered over time.
First he tested some assumptions about which aspects of the story alter
least as it evolves, indicating their importance. Folklorists believe that
what happens in a story is more central to the story than the characters
in it – that visiting a relative, only to be met by a scary animal in disguise,
is more fundamental than whether the visitor is a little girl or three
siblings, or the animal is a tiger instead of a wolf.
However, Tehrani found no significant difference in the rate of evolution
of incidents compared with that of characters. ‘Certain episodes are very
stable because they are crucial to the story, but there are lots of other
details that can evolve quite freely,’ he says. Neither did his analysis
support the theory that the central section of a story is the most
conserved part. He found no significant difference in the flexibility of
events there compared with the beginning or the end.
But the really big surprise came when he looked at the cautionary
elements of the story. ‘Studies on hunter-gatherer folk tales suggest that
these narratives include really important information about the
environment and the possible dangers that may be faced there – stuff
that’s relevant to survival,’ he says. Yet in his analysis such elements
were just as flexible as seemingly trivial details. What, then, is important
enough to be reproduced from generation to generation?
The answer, it would appear, is fear – blood-thirsty and gruesome
aspects of the story, such as the eating of the grandmother by the wolf,
turned out to be the best preserved of all. Why are these details retained
by generations of storytellers, when other features are not? Tehrani has
an idea: ‘In an oral context, a story won’t survive because of one great
teller. It also needs to be interesting when it’s told by someone who’s not
necessarily a great storyteller.’ Maybe being swallowed whole by a wolf,
then cut out of its stomach alive is so gripping that it helps the story
remain popular, no matter how badly it’s told.
Jack Zipes at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, is unconvinced by
Tehrani’s views on fairy tales. ‘Even if they’re gruesome, they won’t stick
unless they matter,’ he says. He believes the perennial theme of women
as victims in stories like Little Red Riding Hood explains why they continue to
feel relevant. But Tehrani points out that although this is often the case
in Western versions, it is not always true elsewhere. In Chinese and
Japanese versions, often known as The Tiger Grandmother, the villain is a
woman, and in both Iran and Nigeria, the victim is a boy.
Mathias Clasen at Aarhus University in Denmark isn’t surprised by
Tehrani’s findings. ‘Habits and morals change, but the things that scare
us, and the fact that we seek out entertainment that’s designed to scare
us – those are constant,’ he says. Clasen believes that scary stories teach
us what it feels like to be afraid without having to experience real
danger, and so build up resistance to negative emotions.
*Folklorists: those who study traditional stories
Questions 27-31
Complete each sentence with the correct ending, A-F, below.
Write the correct letter, A-F, in boxes 27-31 on your answer sheet.
27 In fairy tales, details of the plot
28 Tehrani rejects the idea that the useful lessons for life in fairy tales
29 Various theories about the social significance of fairy tales
30 Insights into the development of fairy tales
31 All the fairy tales analysed by Tehrani
A may be provided through methods used in biological research.
B are the reason for their survival.
C show considerable global variation.
D contain animals which transform to become humans.
E were originally spoken rather than written.
F have been developed without factual basis.
Questions 32-36
Complete the summary using the list of words, A-I, below.
Phylogenetic analysis of Little Red Riding Hood
Tehrani used techniques from evolutionary biology to find out
if 32………………….. existed among 58 stories from around the world. He
also wanted to know which aspects of the stories had
fewest 33…………………., as he believed these aspects would be the most
important ones. Contrary to other beliefs, he found that
some 34……………………. that were included in a story tended to change
over time, and that the middle of a story seemed no more important
than the other parts. He was also surprised that parts of a story which
seemed to provide some sort of 35…………………. were unimportant. The
aspect that he found most important in a story’s survival
was 36…………………
A ending B events C warning
D links E records F variations
G horror H people I plot
Questions 37-40
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.
Write the correct letter in boxes 37-40 on your answer sheet.
37 What method did Jamie Tehrani use to test his ideas about fairy
tales?
A He compared oral and written forms of the same stories.
B He looked at many different forms of the same basic story.
C He looked at unrelated stories from many different countries.
D He contrasted the development of fairy tales with that of living
creatures.
38 When discussing Tehrani’s views, Jack Zipes suggests that
A Tehrani ignores key changes in the role of women.
B stories which are too horrific are not always taken seriously.
C Tehrani overemphasises the importance of violence in stories.
D features of stories only survive if they have a deeper significance.
39 Why does Tehrani refer to Chinese and Japanese fairy tales?
A to indicate that Jack Zipes’ theory is incorrect
B to suggest that crime is a global problem
C to imply that all fairy tales have a similar meaning
D to add more evidence for Jack Zipes’ ideas
40 What does Mathias Clasen believe about fairy tales?
A They are a safe way of learning to deal with fear.
B They are a type of entertainment that some people avoid.
C They reflect the changing values of our society.
D They reduce our ability to deal with real-world problems.
 Book 16 test 4: project to protect and restore the rapidly disappearing habitat. In order
to succeed, Whaley needs to get the local people on board, and that has
meant overcoming local prejudices. ‘Increasingly aspirational
READING PASSAGE 1 communities think that if you plant food trees in your home or street, it
shows you are poor, and still need to grow your own food,’ he says. In
order to stop the Middle Ica Valley going the same way as the Lower Ica
The return of the huarango
Valley, Whaley is encouraging locals to love the huarangos again. ‘It’s a
The arid valleys of southern Peru are welcoming the return of a native plant
process of cultural resuscitation,’ he says. He has already set up a
The south coast of Peru is a narrow, 2,000-kilometre-long strip of desert
huarango festival to reinstate a sense of pride in their eco-heritage, and
squeezed between the Andes and the Pacific Ocean. It is also one of the
has helped local schoolchildren plant thousands of trees.
most fragile ecosystems on Earth. It hardly ever rains there, and the only
‘In order to get people interested in habitat restoration, you need to
year-round source of water is located tens of metres below the surface.
plant a tree that is useful to them,’ says Whaley. So, he has been working
This is why the huarango tree is so suited to life there: it has the longest
with local families to attempt to create a sustainable income from the
roots of any tree in the world. They stretch down 50-80 metres and, as
huarangos by turning their products into foodstuffs. ‘Boil up the beans
well as sucking up water for the tree, they bring it into the higher subsoil,
and you get this thick brown syrup like molasses. You can also use it in
creating a water source for other plant life.
drinks, soups or stews.’ The pods can be ground into flour to make
Dr David Beresford-Jones, archaeobotanist at Cambridge University, has
cakes, and the seeds roasted into a sweet, chocolatey ‘coffee’. ‘It’s packed
been studying the role of the huarango tree in landscape change in the
full of vitamins and minerals,’ Whaley says.
Lower Ica Valley in southern Peru. He believes the huarango was key to
And some farmers are already planting huarangos. Alberto Benevides,
the ancient people’s diet and, because it could reach deep water sources,
owner of Ica Valley’s only certified organic farm, which Whaley helped set
it allowed local people to withstand years of drought when their other
up, has been planting the tree for 13 years. He produces syrup and flour,
crops failed. But over the centuries huarango trees were gradually
and sells these products at an organic farmers’ market in Lima. His farm
replaced with crops. Cutting down native woodland leads to erosion, as
is relatively small and doesn’t yet provide him with enough to live on, but
there is nothing to keep the soil in place. So when the huarangos go, the
he hopes this will change. ‘The organic market is growing rapidly in Peru,’
land turns into a desert. Nothing grows at all in the Lower Ica Valley now.
Benevides says. ‘I am investing in the future.’
For centuries the huarango tree was vital to the people of the
But even if Whaley can convince the local people to fall in love with the
neighbouring Middle Ica Valley too. They grew vegetables under it and
huarango again, there is still the threat of the larger farms. Some of
ate products made from its seed pods. Its leaves and bark were used for
these cut across the forests and break up the corridors that allow the
herbal remedies, while its branches were used for charcoal for cooking
essential movement of mammals, birds and pollen up and down the
and heating, and its trunk was used to build houses. But now it is
narrow forest strip. In the hope of counteracting this, he’s persuading
disappearing rapidly. The majority of the huarango forests in the valley
farmers to let him plant forest corridors on their land. He believes the
have already been cleared for fuel and agriculture – initially, these were
extra woodland will also benefit the farms by reducing their water usage
smallholdings, but now they’re huge farms producing crops for the
through a lowering of evaporation and providing a refuge for bio-control
international market.
insects.
‘Of the forests that were here 1,000 years ago, 99 per cent have already
‘If we can record biodiversity and see how it all works, then we’re in a
gone,’ says botanist Oliver Whaley from Kew Gardens in London, who,
good position to move on from there. Desert habitats can reduce down
together with ethnobotanist Dr William Milliken, is running a pioneering
to very little,’ Whaley explains. ‘It’s not like a rainforest that needs to have
this huge expanse. Life has always been confined to corridors and
islands here. If you just have a few trees left, the population can grow up Questions 9-13
quickly because it’s used to exploiting water when it arrives.’ He sees his Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading
project as a model that has the potential to be rolled out across other Passage 1?
arid areas around the world. ‘If we can do it here, in the most fragile In boxes 9-13 on your answer sheet, write

system on Earth, then that’s a real message of hope for lots of places, TRUE if the statement agrees with the information
including Africa, where there is drought and they just can’t afford to wait FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
for rain.’ NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this
9 Local families have told Whaley about some traditional uses of

Questions 1-5 huarango products.

Complete the notes below. 10 Farmer Alberto Benevides is now making a good profit from growing

Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
Write your answer in boxes 1-5 on your answer sheet.
The importance of the huarango tree
– its roots can extend as far as 80 metres into the soil
– can access 1………………… deep below the surface
– was a crucial part of local inhabitants’ 2………………… a long time ago
– helped people to survive periods of 3…………………..
– prevents 4………………… of the soil
– prevents land from becoming a 5…………………
Questions 6-8
Complete the table below.
Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 6-8 on your answer sheet.
Traditional uses of the huarango tree
Part of tree
6………………..
7………………. and ……………….
8………………
huarangos.
11 Whaley needs the co-operation of farmers to help preserve the area’s
wildlife.
12 For Whaley’s project to succeed, it needs to be extended over a very
large area.
13 Whaley has plans to go to Africa to set up a similar project.
READING PASSAGE 2
Silbo Gomero – the whistle ‘language’ of the Canary Islands
La Gomera is one of the Canary Islands situated in the Atlantic Ocean off the
northwest coast of Africa. This small volcanic island is mountainous, with steep
rocky slopes and deep, wooded ravines, rising to 1,487 metres at its highest peak. It
is also home to the best known of the world’s whistle ‘languages’, a means of
transmitting information over long distances which is perfectly adapted to the
extreme terrain of the island.
This ‘language’, known as ‘Silbo’ or ‘Silbo Gomero’ – from the Spanish word for
‘whistle’ – is now shedding light on the language-processing abilities of the human
brain, according to scientists. Researchers say that Silbo activates parts of the brain
Traditional use normally associated with spoken language, suggesting that the brain is remarkably
flexible in its ability to interpret sounds as language.
Fuel ‘Science has developed the idea of brain areas that are dedicated to language, and
we are starting to understand the scope of signals that can be recognised as
Medicine language,’ says David Corina, co-author of a recent study and associate professor of
psychology at the University of Washington in Seattle.
construction Silbo is a substitute for Spanish, with individual words recoded into whistles which
have high- and low-frequency tones. A whistler – or silbador – puts a finger in his or
her mouth to increase the whistle’s pitch, while the other hand can be cupped to from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
adjust the direction of the sound. ‘There is much more ambiguity in the whistled (UNESCO). ‘The local authorities are trying to get an award from the organisation
signal than in the spoken signal,’ explains lead researcher Manuel Carreiras, to declare [Silbo Gomero] as something that should be preserved for humanity,’
psychology professor at the University of La Laguna on the Canary island of Carreiras adds.
Tenerife. Because whistled ‘words’ can be hard to distinguish, silbadores rely on
repetition, as well as awareness of context, to make themselves understood. Questions 14-19
The silbadores of Gomera are traditionally shepherds and other isolated mountain Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 2?
folk, and their novel means of staying in touch allows them to communicate over In boxes 14-19 on your answer sheet, write
distances of up to 10 kilometres. Carreiras explains that silbadores are able to pass a TRUE if the statement agrees with the information
surprising amount of information via their whistles. ‘In daily life they use whistles to FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
communicate short commands, but any Spanish sentence could be whistled.’ Silbo NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this
has proved particularly useful when fires have occurred on the island and rapid 14 La Gomera is the most mountainous of all the Canary Islands.
communication across large areas has been vital. 15 Silbo is only appropriate for short and simple messages.
The study team used neuroimaging equipment to contrast the brain activity of 16 In the brain-activity study, silbadores and non-whistlers produced different
silbadores while listening to whistled and spoken Spanish. Results showed the left results.
temporal lobe of the brain, which is usually associated with spoken language, was 17 The Spanish introduced Silbo to the islands in the 15th century.
engaged during the processing of Silbo. The researchers found that other key regions 18 There is precise data available regarding all of the whistle languages in existence
in the brain’s frontal lobe also responded to the whistles, including those activated in today.
response to sign language among deaf people. When the experiments were repeated 19 The children of Gomera now learn Silbo.
with non-whistlers, however, activation was observed in all areas of the brain.
‘Our results provide more evidence about the flexibility of human capacity for Questions 18-22
language in a variety of forms,’ Corina says. ‘These data suggest that left- Complete the notes below.
hemisphere language regions are uniquely adapted for communicative purposes, Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
independent of the modality of signal. The non-Silbo speakers were not recognising Write your answers in boxes 20-26 on your answer sheet.
Silbo as a language. They had nothing to grab onto, so multiple areas of their brains
were activated.’
Silbo Gomero
Carreiras says the origins of Silbo Gomero remain obscure, but that indigenous How Silbo is produced
Canary Islanders, who were of North African origin, already had a whistled ● high- and low-frequency tones represent different sounds in
language when Spain conquered the volcanic islands in the 15th century. Whistled Spanish 20……………
languages survive today in Papua New Guinea, Mexico, Vietnam, Guyana, China, ● pitch of whistle is controlled using silbador’s 21……………
Nepal, Senegal, and a few mountainous pockets in southern Europe. There are ● 22………….. is changed with a cupped hand
thought to be as many as 70 whistled languages still in use, though only 12 have How Silbo is used
been described and studied scientifically. This form of communication is an ● has long been used by shepherds and people living in secluded locations
adaptation found among cultures where people are often isolated from each other, ● in everyday use for the transmission of brief 23……………
according to Julien Meyer, a researcher at the Institute of Human Sciences in Lyon, ● can relay essential information quickly, e.g. to inform people
France. ‘They are mostly used in mountains or dense forests,’ he says. ‘Whistled about 24……………
languages are quite clearly defined and represent an original adaptation of the The future of Silbo
spoken language for the needs of isolated human groups.’ ● future under threat because of new 25……………
But with modern communication technology now widely available, researchers say ● Canaries’ authorities hoping to receive a UNESCO 26……………. to help
whistled languages like Silbo are threatened with extinction. With dwindling preserve it
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numbers of Gomera islanders still fluent in the language, Canaries’ authorities are
taking steps to try to ensure its survival. Since 1999, Silbo Gomero has been taught
in all of the island’s elementary schools. In addition, locals are seeking assistance
 The public can do that by suing businesses for harming them, as
READING PASSAGE 3 happened after the Exxon Valdez disaster, in which over 40,000m3 of oil
were spilled off the coast of Alaska. The public may also make their
opinion felt by preferring to buy sustainably harvested products; by
Environmental practices of big businesses
making employees of companies with poor track records feel ashamed
The environmental practices of big businesses are shaped by a
of their company and complain to their own management; by preferring
fundamental fact that for many of us offend our sense of justice.
their governments to award valuable contracts to businesses with a
Depending on the circumstances, a business may maximize the amount
good environmental track record; and by pressing their governments to
of money it makes, at least in the short term, by damaging the
pass and enforce laws and regulations requiring good environmental
environment and hurting people. That is still the case today for
practices.
fishermen in an unmanaged fishery without quotas, and for
In turn, big businesses can expert powerful pressure on any suppliers
international logging companies with short-term leases on tropical
that might ignore public or government pressure. For instance, after the
rainforest land in places with corrupt officials and unsophisticated
US public became concerned about the spread of a disease known as
landowners. When government regulation is effective, and when the
BSE, which was transmitted to humans through infected meat, the US
public is environmentally aware, environmentally clean big businesses
government’s Food and Drug Administration introduced rules
may out-compete dirty ones, but the reverse is likely to be true if
demanding that the meat industry abandon practices associated with
government regulation is ineffective and if the public doesn’t care.
the risk of the disease spreading. But for five years the meat packers
It is easy for the rest of us to blame a business for helping itself by
refused to follow these, claiming that they would be too expensive to
hurting other people. But blaming alone is unlikely to produce change. It
obey. However, when a major fast-food company then made the same
ignores the fact that businesses are not charities but profit-making
demands after customer purchases of its hamburgers plummeted, the
companies, and that publicly owned companies with shareholders are
meat industry complied within weeks. The public’s task is therefore to
under obligation to those shareholders to maximize profits, provided
identify which links in the supply chain are sensitive to public pressure:
that they do so by legal means. US laws make a company’s directors
for instance, fast-food chains or jewelry stores, but not meat packers or
legally liable for something termed ‘breach of fiduciary responsibility’ if
gold miners.
they knowingly manage a company in a way that reduces profits. The car
Some readers may be disappointed or outraged that I place the ultimate
manufacturer Henry Ford was in fact successfully sued by shareholders
responsibility for business practices harming the public on the public
in 1919 for raising the minimum wage of his workers to $5 per day: the
itself. I also believe that the public must accept the necessity for higher
courts declared that, while Ford’s humanitarian sentiments about his
prices for products to cover the added costs, if any, of sound
employees were nice, his business existed to make profits for its
environmental practices. My views may seem to ignore the belief that
stockholders.
businesses should act in accordance with moral principles even if this
Our blaming of businesses also ignores the ultimate responsibility of the
leads to a reduction in their profits. But I think we have to recognize that,
public for creating the condition that let a business profit through
throughout human history, in all politically complex human societies,
destructive environmental policies. In the long run, it is the public, either
government regulation has arisen precisely because it was found that
directly or through its politicians, that has the power to make such
not only did moral principles need to be made explicit, they also needed
destructive policies unprofitable and illegal, and to make sustainable
to be enforced.
environmental policies profitable.
To me, the conclusion that the public has the ultimate responsibility for
the behavior of even the biggest businesses is empowering and hopeful,
rather than disappointing. My conclusion is not a moralistic one about
who is right or wrong, admirable or selfish, a good guy or a bad guy. In
the past, businesses have changed when the public came to expect and
require different behavior, to reward businesses for behavior that the
public wanted, and to make things difficult for businesses practicing
behaviors that the public didn’t want. I predict that in the future, just as
in the past, changes in public attitudes will be essential for changes in
businesses’ environmental practices.
Questions 27-31
Complete the summary using the list of words, A-J, below.
Write the correct letter, A-J, in boxes 27-31 on your answer sheet.
Big businesses
Many big businesses today are prepared to harm people and the
environment in order to make money, and they appear to have
no 27………………. . Lack of 28……………….. by governments and lack of
public 29………………. can lead to environmental problems such
as 30……………….. or the destruction of 31……………….
A funding B trees C rare species
D moral standards E control F involvement
G flooding H overfishing I worker support
Question 32-34
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.
Write the correct letter in boxes 32-34 on your answer sheet.
32 The main idea of the third paragraph is that environmental damage
A requires political action if it is to be stopped.
B is the result of ignorance on the part of the public.
C could be prevented by the action of ordinary people.
D can only be stopped by educating business leaders.
33 In the fourth paragraph, the writer describes ways in which the public
can
A reduce their own individual impact on the environment.
B learn more about the impact of business of the environment.
C raise awareness of the effects of specific environmental disasters.
D influence the environmental policies of businesses and governments.
34 What pressure was exerted by big business in the case of the disease
BSE?
A Meat packers stopped supplying hamburgers to fast-food chains.
B A fast-food company forced their meat suppliers to follow the law.
C Meat packers persuaded the government to reduce their expenses.
D A fast-food company encouraged the government to introduce
legislation.
Questions 35-39
Do the following statements agree with the claims of the writer in
Reading Passage 3?
In boxes 35-39 on your answer sheet, write
YES if the statement agrees with the claims of the writer
NO if the statement contradicts the claims of the writer
NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
35 The public should be prepared to fund good environmental
practices.
36 There is a contrast between the moral principles of different
businesses.
37 It is important to make a clear distinction between acceptable and
unacceptable behaviour.
38 The public have successfully influenced businesses in the past.
39 In the future, businesses will show more concern for the
environment.
Question 40
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.
Write the correct letter in box 40 on your answer sheet.
40 What would be the best subheading for this passage?
A Will the world survive the threat caused by big businesses?
B How can big businesses be encouraged to be less driven by profit?
C What environmental dangers are caused by the greed of businesses?
D Are big businesses to blame for the damage they cause the
environment?
 Book 17 Test 1: tunnels would collapse under the weight of traffic overhead, buildings
would be shaken and passengers would be poisoned by the emissions
from the train engines. However, Pearson and his partners persisted.
READING PASSAGE 1 The GWR, aware that the new line would finally enable them to run
trains into the heart of the City, invested almost £250,000 in the scheme.
Eventually, over a five-year period, £1m was raised. The chosen route
The development of the London underground railway
ran beneath existing main roads to minimise the expense of demolishing
In the first half of the 1800s, London’s population grew at an astonishing
buildings. Originally scheduled to be completed in 21 months, the
rate, and the central area became increasingly congested. In addition,
construction of the underground line took three years. It was built just
the expansion of the overground railway network resulted in more and
below street level using a technique known as ‘cut and cover’. A trench
more passengers arriving in the capital. However, in 1846, a Royal
about ten metres wide and six metres deep was dug, and the sides
Commission decided that the railways should not be allowed to enter
temporarily help up with timber beams. Brick walls were then
the City, the capital’s historic and business centre. The result was that
constructed, and finally a brick arch was added to create a tunnel. A two-
the overground railway stations formed a ring around the City. The area
metre-deep layer of soil was laid on top of the tunnel and the road
within consisted of poorly built, overcrowded slums and the streets were
above rebuilt.
full of horse-drawn traffic. Crossing the City became a nightmare. It
The Metropolitan line, which opened on 10 January 1863, was the world’s
could take an hour and a half to travel 8 km by horse-drawn carriage or
first underground railway. On its first day, almost 40,000 passengers
bus. Numerous schemes were proposed to resolve these problems, but
were carried between Paddington and Farringdon, the journey taking
few succeeded.
about 18 minutes. By the end of the Metropolitan’s first year of
Amongst the most vocal advocates for a solution to London’s traffic
operation, 9.5 million journeys had been made.
problems was Charles Pearson, who worked as a solicitor for the City of
Even as the Metropolitan began operation, the first extensions to the line
London. He saw both social and economic advantages in building an
were being authorised; these were built over the next five years,
underground railway that would link the overground railway stations
reaching Moorgate in the east to London and Hammersmith in the west.
together and clear London slums at the same time. His idea was to
The original plan was to pull the trains with steam locomotives, using
relocate the poor workers who lived in the inner-city slums to newly
firebricks in the boilers to provide steam, but these engines were never
constructed suburbs, and to provide cheap rail travel for them to get to
introduced. Instead, the line used specially designed locomotives that
work. Pearson’s ideas gained support amongst some businessmen and
were fitted with water tanks in which steam could be condensed.
in 1851 he submitted a plan to Parliament. It was rejected, but coincided
However, smoke and fumes remained a problem, even though
with a proposal from another group for an underground connecting line,
ventilation shafts were added to the tunnels.
which Parliament passed.
Despite the extension of the underground railway, by the 1880s,
The two groups merged and established the Metropolitan Railway
congestion on London’s streets had become worse. The problem was
Company in August 1854. The company’s plan was to construct an
partly that the existing underground lines formed a circuit around the
underground railway line from the Great Western Railway’s (GWR)
centre of London and extended to the suburbs, but did not cross the
station at Paddington to the edge of the City at Farringdon Street – a
capital’s centre. The ‘cut and cover’ method of construction was not an
distance of almost 5 km. The organisation had difficulty in raising the
option in this part of the capital. The only alternative was to tunnel deep
funding for such a radical and expensive scheme, not least because of
underground.
the critical articles printed by the press. Objectors argued that the
Although the technology to create these tunnels existed, steam The construction

locomotives could not be used in such a confined space. It wasn’t until
the development of a reliable electric motor, and a means of transferring
power from the generator to a moving train, that the world’s first deep-
level electric railway, the City & South London, became possible. The line
opened in 1890, and ran from the City to Stockwell, south of the River
Thames. The trains were made up of three carriages and driven by
electric engines. The carriages were narrow and had tiny windows just
below the roof because it was thought that passengers would not want
to look out at the tunnel walls. The line was not without its problems,
mainly caused by an unreliable power supply, Although the City & South
London Railway was a great technical achievement, it did not make a
profit. Then, in 1900, the Central London Railway, known as the
‘Tuppenny Tube’, began operation using new electric locomotives. It was
very popular and soon afterwards new railways and extensions were
added to the growing tube network. By 1907, the heart of today’s
Underground system was in place.
Questions 1-6
Complete the notes below.
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 1-6 on your answer sheet.
● The chosen route did not require many buildings to be pulled down
● The ‘cut and cover’ method was used to construct the tunnels
● With the completion of the brick arch, the tunnel was covered
with 6 ……………………
Questions 7-13
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading
Passage 1?
In boxes 7-13 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
7 Other countries had built underground railways before the
Metropolitan line opened.
8 More people than predicted travelled on the Metropolitan line on the
first day.
9 The use of ventilation shafts failed to prevent pollution in the tunnels.
10 A different approach from the ‘cut and cover’ technique was required
in London’s central area.
11 The windows on City & South London trains were at eye level.
12 The City & South London Railway was a financial success.
13 Trains on the ‘Tuppenny Tube’ nearly always ran on time.

The London underground railway

The problem READING PASSAGE 2
● The 1 …………………… of London increased rapidly between 1800 and
1850
Stadiums: past, present and future
● The streets were full of horse-drawn vehicles A
The proposed solution
Stadiums are among the oldest forms of urban architecture: vast
● Charles Pearson, a solicitor, suggested building an underground
stadiums where the public could watch sporting events were at the
railway
centre of western city life as far back as the ancient Greek and Roman
● Building the railway would make it possible to move people to better
Empires, well before the construction of the great medieval cathedrals
housing in the 2 ……………………
and the grand 19th- and 20th-century railway stations which dominated
● A number of 3 …………………… agreed with Pearson’s idea
urban skylines in later eras.
● The company initially had problems getting the 4 ……………………
Today, however, stadiums are regarded with growing scepticism.
needed for the project
Construction costs can soar above £1 billion, and stadiums finished for
● Negative articles about the project appeared in the 5 ……………………
major events such as the Olympic Games or the FIFA World Cup have
notably fallen into disuse and disrepair.
But this need not be the cause. History shows that stadiums can drive
urban development and adapt to the culture of every age. Even today,
architects and planners are finding new ways to adapt the mono-
functional sports arenas which became emblematic of modernisation
during the 20th century.
B seem to be having particular success: the stadium as an urban hub, and
The amphitheatre* of Arles in southwest France, with a capacity of
25,000 spectators, is perhaps the best example of just how versatile
stadiums can be. Built by the Romans in 90 AD, it became a fortress with
four towers after the fifth century, and was then transformed into a
village containing more than 200 houses. With the growing interest in
conservation during the 19th century, it was converted back into an
arena for the staging of bullfights, thereby returning the structure to its
original use as a venue for public spectacles.
Another example is the imposing arena of Verona in northern Italy, with
space for 30,000 spectators, which was built 60 years before the Arles
amphitheatre and 40 years before Rome’s famous Colosseum. It has
endured the centuries and is currently considered one of the world’s
prime sites for opera, thanks to its outstanding acoustics.
C The phenomenon of stadium as power stations has arisen from the idea
The area in the centre of the Italian town of Lucca, known as the Piazza
dell’ Anfiteatro, is yet another impressive example of an amphitheatre
becoming absorbed into the fabric of the city. The site evolved in a
similar way to Arles and was progressively filled with buildings from the
Middle Ages until the 19th century, variously used as houses, a salt
depot and a prison. But rather than reverting to an arena, it became a
market square, designed by Romanticist architect Lorenzo Nottolini.
Today, the ruins of the amphitheatre remain embedded in the various
shops and residences surrounding the public square.
D and the Kaohsiung Stadium. The latter, inaugurated in 2009, has 8,844
There are many similarities between modern stadiums and the ancient
amphitheatres intended for games. But some of the flexibility was lost at
the beginning of the 20th century, as stadiums were developed using
new products such as steel and reinforced concrete, and made use of
bright lights for night-time matches.
Many such stadiums are situated in suburban areas, designed for
sporting use only and surrounded by parking lots. These factors mean
that they may not be as accessible to the general public, require more
energy to run and contribute to urban heat.
E
But many of today’s most innovative architects see scope for the
stadium to help improve the city. Among the current strategies, two
as a power plant.
There’s a growing trend for stadiums to be equipped with public spaces
and services that serve a function beyond sport, such as hotels, retail
outlets, conference centres, restaurants and bars, children’s playgrounds
and green space. Creating mixed-use developments such as this
reinforces compactness and multi-functionality, making more efficient
use of land and helping to regenerate urban spaces.
This opens the space up to families and a wider cross-section of society,
instead of catering only to sportspeople and supporters. There have
been many examples of this in the UK: the mixed-use facilities at
Wembley and Old Trafford have become a blueprint for many other
stadiums in the world.
F
that energy problems can be overcome by integrating interconnected
buildings by means of a smart grid, which is an electricity supply network
that uses digital communications technology to detect and react to local
changes in usage, without significant energy losses. Stadiums are ideal
for these purposes, because their canopies have a large surface area for
fitting photovoltaic panels and rise high enough (more than 40 metres)
to make use of micro wind turbines.
Freiburg Mage Solar Stadium in Germany is the first of a new wave of
stadiums as power plants, which also includes the Amsterdam Arena
photovoltaic panels producing up to 1.14 GWh of electricity annually.
This reduces the annual output of carbon dioxide by 660 tons and
supplies up to 80 percent of the surrounding area when the stadium is
not in use. This is proof that a stadium can serve its city, and have a
decidedly positive impact in terms of reduction of CO2 emissions.
G including the storage of 21 …………………… . It is now a market square
Sporting arenas have always been central to the life and culture of cities. with 22 …………………… and homes incorporated into the remains of the
In every era, the stadium has acquired new value and uses: from military Roman amphitheatre.
fortress to residential village, public space to theatre and most recently a
field for experimentation in advanced engineering. The stadium of today Questions 23-24
now brings together multiple functions, thus helping cities to create a
sustainable future. Choose TWO letters, A-E.
—————- Write the correct letters in boxes 23 and 24 on your answer sheet.
* amphitheatre: (especially in Greek and Roman architecture) an open circular or oval When comparing twentieth-century stadiums to ancient amphitheatres
building with a central space surrounded by tiers of seats for spectators, for the presentation
in Section D, which TWO negative features does the writer mention?
of dramatic or sporting events
A They are less imaginatively designed.
B They are less spacious.
Questions 14-17
C They are in less convenient locations.
Reading Passage 2 has seven paragraphs, A-G.
D They are less versatile.
Which section contains the following information?
Write the correct letter, A-G, in boxes 14-17 on your answer sheet. E They are made of less durable materials
NB You may use any letter more than once.
14 a mention of negative attitudes towards stadium building projects Questions 25-26
15 figures demonstrating the environmental benefits of a certain Choose TWO letters, A-E.
Write the correct letters in boxes 25 and 26 on your answer sheet.
stadium
Which TWO advantages of modern stadium design does the writer
16 examples of the wide range of facilities available at some new
mention?
stadiums
A offering improved amenities for the enjoyment of sports events
17 reference to the disadvantages of the stadiums built during a certain
B bringing community life back into the city environment
era
C facilitating research into solar and wind energy solutions
D enabling local residents to reduce their consumption of electricity
Questions 18-22
Complete the summary below. E providing a suitable site for the installation of renewable power

Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer. generators
Write your answers in boxes 18-22 on your answer sheet.

Roman amphitheatres
The Roman stadium of Europe have proved very versatile. The
amphitheatre of Arles, for example, was converted first into
a 18 ……………………, then into a residential area and finally into an arena
where spectators could watch 19 …………………… . Meanwhile, the arena in
Verona, one of the oldest Roman amphitheatres, is famous today as a
venue where 20 …………………… is performed. The site of Lucca’s
amphitheatre has also been used for many purposes over the centuries,

READING PASSAGE 3
To catch a king
Anna Keay reviews Charles Spencer’s book about the hunt for King Charles II during the English Civil
War of the seventeenth century
Charles Spencer’s latest book, To Catch a King, tells us the story of the hunt
for King Charles II in the six weeks after his resounding defeat at the
Battle of Worcester in September 1651. And what a story it is. After his
father was executed by the Parliamentarians in 1649, the young Charles
II sacrificed one of the very principles his father had died for and did a
deal with Scots, thereby accepting Presbyterianism* as the national
religion in return for being crowned King of Scots. His arrival in
Edinburgh prompted the English Parliamentary army to invade Scotland
in a pre-emptive strike. This was followed by a Scottish invasion of
England. The two sides finally faced one another at Worcester in the
west of England in 1651. After being comprehensively defeated on the
meadows outside the city by the Parliamentarian army, the 21-year-old
king found himself the subject of a national manhunt, with a huge sum
offered for his capture, through a series of heart-poundingly close
escapes, to evade the Parliamentarians before seeking refuge in France.
For the next nine years, the penniless and defeated Charles wandered
around Europe with only a small group of loyal supporters.
Years later, after his restoration as king, the 50-year-old Charles II
requested a meeting with the writer and diarist Samuel Pepys. His
intention when asking Pepys to commit his story to paper was to ensure
that this most extraordinary episode was never forgotten. Over two
three-hour sittings, the king related to him in great detail his personal
recollections of the six weeks he had spent as a fugitive. As the king and
secretary settled down (a scene that is surely a gift for a future
scriptwriter), Charles commenced his story: ‘After the battle was so
absolutely lost as to be beyond hope of recovery, I began to think of the
best way of saving myself.’
One of the joys of Spencer’s book, a result not least of its use of Charles
II’s own narrative as well as those of his supporters, is just how close the
reader gets to the action. The day-by-day retelling of the fugitives’ doings
provides delicious details: the cutting of the king’s long hair with
agricultural shears, the use of walnut leaves to dye his pale skin, and the
day Charles spent lying on a branch of the great oak tree in Boscobel
Wood as the Parliamentary soldiers scoured the forest floor below.
Spencer draws out both the humour – such as the preposterous refusal
of Charles’s friend Henry Wilmot to adopt disguise on the grounds that it
was beneath his dignity – and the emotional tension when the secret of
the king’s presence was cautiously revealed to his supporters.
Charles’s adventures after losing the Battle of Worcester hide the
uncomfortable truth that whilst almost everyone in England had been
appalled by the execution of his father, they had not welcomed the
arrival of his son with the Scots army, but had instead firmly bolted their
doors. This was partly because he rode at the head of what looked like a
foreign invasion force and partly because, after almost a decade of civil
war, people were desperate to avoid it beginning again. This makes it all
the more interesting that Charles II himself loved the story so much ever
after. As well as retelling it to anyone who would listen, causing eye-
rolling among courtiers, he set in train a series of initiatives to
memorialise it. There was to be a new order of chivalry, the Knights of
the Royal Oak. A series of enormous oil paintings depicting the episode
were produced, including a two-metre-wide canvas of Boscobel Wood
and a set of six similarly enormous paintings of the king on the run. In
1660, Charles II commissioned the artist John Michael Wright to paint a
flying squadron of cherubs* carrying an oak tree to the heavens on the
ceiling of his bedchamber. It is hard to imagine many other kings
marking the lowest point in their life so enthusiastically, or indeed
pulling off such an escape in the first place.
Charles Spencer is the perfect person to pass the story on to a new
generation. His pacey, readable prose steers deftly clear of modern
idioms and elegantly brings to life the details of the great tale. He has
even-handed sympathy for both the fugitive king and the fierce
republican regime that hunted him, and he succeeds in his desire to
explore far more of the background of the story than previous books on
the subject have done. Indeed, the opening third of the book is about
how Charles II found himself at Worcester in the first place, which for
some will be reason alone to read To Catch a King.
The tantalizing question left, in the end, is that of what it all meant.
Would Charles II have been a different king had these six weeks never
happened? The days and nights spent in hiding must have affected him
in some way. Did the need to assume disguises, to survive on wit and
charm alone, to use trickery and subterfuge to escape from tight corners
help form him? This is the one area where the book doesn’t quite hit the
mark. Instead its depiction of Charles II in his final years as an ineffective,
pleasure-loving monarch doesn’t do justice to the man (neither is it
accurate), or to the complexity of his character. But this one niggle
aside, To Catch a King is an excellent read, and those who come to it
knowing little of the famous tale will find they have a treat in store.
* Presbyterianism: part of the reformed Protestant religion
* cherub: an image of angelic children used in paintings
Questions 27-31
Complete the summary using the list of phrases, A-J, below.
Write the correct letter, A-J, in boxes 27-31 on your answer sheet.
The story behind the hunt for Charles II
Charles II’s father was executed by the Parliamentarian forces in 1649.
Charles II then formed a 27 ………………… with the Scots, and in order to
become King of Scots, he abandoned an important 28 ………………… that
was held by his father and had contributed to his father’s death. The
opposing sides then met outside Worcester in 1651. The battle led to
a 29 ………………… for the Parliamentarians and Charles had to flee for his
life. A 30 ………………… was offered for Charles’s capture, but after six weeks
spent in hiding, he eventually managed to reach the 31 ………………… of
continental Europe.
A military innovation B large reward
C widespread conspiracy D relative safety
E new government F decisive victory
G political debate H strategic alliance
I popular solution J religious conviction
Questions 32-35
Do the following statements agree with the claims of the writer in
Reading Passage 3?
In boxes 32-35 on your answer sheet, write
YES if the statement agrees with the claims of the writer
NO if the statement contradicts the claims of the writer
NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
32 Charles chose Pepys for the task because he considered him to be
trustworthy.
33 Charles’s personal recollection of the escape lacked sufficient detail.
34 Charles indicated to Pepys that he had planned his escape before the
battle.
35 The inclusion of Charles’s account is a positive aspect of the book.
Questions 36-40
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C, or D.
Write the correct letter in boxes 36-40 on your answer sheet.
36 What is the reviewer’s main purpose in the first paragraph?
A to describe what happened during the Battle of Worcester
B to give an account of the circumstances leading to Charles II’s escape
C to provide details of the Parliamentarians’ political views
D to compare Charles II’s beliefs with those of his father
37 Why does the reviewer include examples of the fugitives’ behaviour
in the third paragraph?
A to explain how close Charles II came to losing his life
B to suggest that Charles II’s supporters were badly prepared
C to illustrate how the events of the six weeks are brought to life
D to argue that certain aspects are not as well known as they should be
38 What point does the reviewer make about Charles II in the fourth
paragraph?
A He chose to celebrate what was essentially a defeat.
B He misunderstood the motives of his opponents.
C He aimed to restore people’s faith in the monarchy.
D He was driven by a desire to be popular.
39 What does the reviewer say about Charles Spencer in the fifth
paragraph?
A His decision to write the book comes as a surprise.
B He takes an unbiased approach to the subject matter.
C His descriptions of events would be better if they included more
detail.
D He chooses language that is suitable for a twenty-first-century
audience.
40 When the reviewer says the book ‘doesn’t quite hit the mark’, she is
making the point that
A it overlooks the impact of events on ordinary people.
B it lacks an analysis of prevalent views on monarchy.
C it omits any references to the deceit practised by Charles II during his
time in hiding.
D it fails to address whether Charles II’s experiences had a lasting
influence on him.
Book 17 Test 2:
READING PASSAGE 1
The Dead Sea Scrolls
In late 1946 or early 1947, three Bedouin teenagers were tending their
goats and sheep near the ancient settlement of Qumran, located on the
northwest shore of the Dead Sea in what is now known as the West
Bank. One of these young shepherds tossed a rock into an opening on
the side of a cliff and was surprised to hear a shattering sound. He and
his companions later entered the cave and stumbled across a collection
of large clay jars, seven of which contained scrolls with writing on them.
The teenagers took the seven scrolls to a nearby town where they were
sold for a small sum to a local antiquities dealer. Word of the find
spread, and Bedouins and archaeologists eventually unearthed tens of
thousands of additional scroll fragments from 10 nearby caves; together
they make up between 800 and 900 manuscripts. It soon became clear
that this was one of the greatest archaeological discoveries ever made.
The origin of the Dead Sea Scrolls, which were written around 2,000
years ago between 150 BCE and 70 CE, is still the subject of scholarly
debate even today. According to the prevailing theory, they are the work
of a population that inhabited the area until Roman troops destroyed
the settlement around 70 CE. The area was known as Judea at that time,
and the people are thought to have belonged to a group called the
Essenes, a devout Jewish sect.
The majority of the texts on the Dead Sea Scrolls are in Hebrew, with
some fragments written in an ancient version of its alphabet thought to
have fallen out of use in the fifth century BCE. But there are other
languages as well. Some scrolls are in Aramaic, the language spoken by
many inhabitants of the region from the sixth century BCE to the siege of
Jerusalem in 70 CE. In addition, several texts feature translations of the
Hebrew Bible into Greek.
The Dead Sea Scrolls include fragments from every book of the Old
Testament of the Bible except for the Book of Esther. The only entire
book of the Hebrew Bible preserved among the manuscripts from
Qumran is Isaiah; this copy, dated to the first century BCE, is considered
the earliest biblical manuscript still in existence. Along with biblical texts,
the scrolls include documents about sectarian regulations and religious
writings that do not appear in the Old Testament.
The writing on the Dead Sea Scrolls is mostly in black or occasionally red
ink, and the scrolls themselves are nearly all made of neither parchment
(animal skin) or an early form of paper called ‘papyrus’. The only
exception is the scroll numbered 3Q15, which was created out of a
combination of copper and tin. Known as the Copper Scroll, this curious
document features letters chiselled onto metal – perhaps, as some have
theorized, to better withstand the passage of time. One of the most
intriguing manuscripts from Qumran, this is a sort of ancient treasure
map that lists dozens of gold and silver caches. Using an unconventional
vocabulary and odd spelling, it describes 64 underground hiding places
that supposedly contain riches buried for safekeeping. None of these
hoards have been recovered, possibly because the Romans pillaged
Judea during the first century CE. According to various hypotheses, the
treasure belonged to local people, or was rescued from the Second
Temple before its destruction or never existed to begin with.
Some of the Dead Sea Scrolls have been on interesting journeys. In 1948,
a Syrian Orthodox archbishop known as Mar Samuel acquired four of
the original seven scrolls from a Jerusalem shoemaker and part-time
antiquity dealer, paying less than $100 for them. He then travelled to the
United States and unsuccessfully offered them to a number of
universities, including Yale. Finally, in 1954, he placed an advertisement
in the business newspaper The Wall Street Journal – under the category
‘Miscellaneous Items for Sale’ – that read: ‘Biblical Manuscripts dating
back to at least 200 B.C. are for sale. This would be an ideal gift to an
educational or religious institution by an individual or group.’
Fortunately, Israeli archaeologist and statesman Yigael Yadin negotiated
their purchase and brought the scrolls back to Jerusalem, where they
remain to this day.
In 2017, researchers from the University of Haifa restored and
deciphered one of the last untranslated scrolls. The university’s Eshbal
Ratson and Jonathan Ben-Dov spent one year reassembling the 60
fragments that make up the scroll. Deciphered from a band of coded
text on parchment, the find provides insight into the community of
people who wrote it and the 364-day calendar they would have used.
The scroll names celebrations that indicate shifts in seasons and details
two yearly religious events known from another Dead Sea Scroll. Only
one more known scroll remains untranslated.
Questions 1-5
Complete the notes below.
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 1-5 on your answer sheet.
The Dead Sea Scrolls
Discovery
Qumran, 1946/7
● three Bedouin shepherds in their teens were near an opening on side
of cliff
● heard a noise of breaking when one teenager threw a 1 ……………………
● teenagers went into the 2 …………………… and found a number of
containers made of 3 ……………………
The scrolls
● date from between 150 BCE and 70 CE
● thought to have been written by group of people known as
the 4 ……………………
● written mainly in the 5 …………………… language
● most are on religious topics, written using ink on parchment or
papyrus
Questions 6-13
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading
Passage 1?
In boxes 6-13 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
6 The Bedouin teenagers who found the scrolls were disappointed by
how little money they received for them.
7 There is agreement among academics about the origin of the Dead
Sea Scrolls.
8 Most of the books of the Bible written on the scrolls are incomplete.
9 The information on the Copper Scroll is written in an unusual way.
10 Mar Samuel was given some of the scrolls as a gift.
11 In the early 1950s, a number of educational establishments in the US
were keen to buy scrolls from Mar Samuel.
12 The scroll that was pieced together in 2017 contains information
about annual occasions in the Qumran area 2,000 years ago.
13 Academics at the University of Haifa are currently researching how to
decipher the final scroll.
READING PASSAGE 2
A second attempt at domesticating the tomato
A
It took at least 3,000 years for humans to learn how to domesticate the wild tomato
and cultivate it for food. Now two separate teams in Brazil and China have done it
all over again in less than three years. And they have done it better in some ways, as
the re-domesticated tomatoes are more nutritious than the ones we eat at present.
This approach relies on the revolutionary CRISPR genome editing technique, in
which changes are deliberately made to the DNA of a living cell, allowing genetic
material to be added, removed or altered. The technique could not only improve
existing crops, but could also be used to turn thousands of wild plants into useful
and appealing foods. In fact, a third team in the US has already begun to do this with
a relative of the tomato called the groundcherry.
This fast-track domestication could help make the world’s food supply healthier and
far more resistant to diseases, such as the rust fungus devastating wheat crops.
‘This could transform what we eat,’ says Jorg Kudla at the University of Munster in
Germany, a member of the Brazilian team. ‘There are 50,000 edible plants in the
world, but 90 percent of our energy comes from just 15 crops.’
‘We can now mimic the known domestication course of major crops like rice,
maize, sorghum or others,’ says Caixia Gao of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in
Beijing. ‘Then we might try to domesticate plants that have never been
domesticated.’
B The three teams already have their eye on other plants that could be ‘catapulted into
Wild tomatoes, which are native to the Andes region in South America, produce
pea-sized fruits. Over many generations, peoples such as the Aztecs and Incas
transformed the plant by selecting and breeding plants with mutations* in their
genetic structure, which resulted in desirable traits such as larger fruit.
But every time a single plant with a mutation is taken from a larger population for
breeding, much genetic diversity is lost. And sometimes the desirable mutations
come with less desirable traits. For instance, the tomato strains grown for
supermarkets have lost much of their flavour.
By comparing the genomes of modern plants to those of their wild relatives,
biologists have been working out what genetic changes occurred as plants were
domesticated. The teams in Brazil and China have now used this knowledge to
reintroduce these changes from scratch while maintaining or even enhancing the
desirable traits of wild strains.
C
Kudla’s team made six changes altogether. For instance, they tripled the size of fruit
by editing a gene called FRUIT WEIGHT, and increased the number of tomatoes
per truss by editing another called MULTIFLORA.
While the historical domestication of tomatoes reduced levels of the red pigment
lycopene – thought to have potential health benefits – the team in Brazil managed to
boost it instead. The wild tomato has twice as much lycopene as cultivated ones; the
newly domesticated one has five times as much.
‘They are quite tasty,’ says Kudla. ‘A little bit strong. And very aromatic.’
The team in China re-domesticated several strains of wild tomatoes with desirable
traits lost in domesticated tomatoes. In this way they managed to create a strain
resistant to a common disease called bacterial spot race, which can devastate yields.
They also created another strain that is more salt tolerant – and has higher levels of
vitamin C.
D
Meanwhile, Joyce Van Eck at the Boyce Thompson Institute in New York state
decided to use the same approach to domesticate the groundcherry or goldenberry
(Physalis pruinosa) for the first time. This fruit looks similar to the closely related Cape
gooseberry (Physalis peruviana).
Groundcherries are already sold to a limited extent in the US but they are hard to
produce because the plant has a sprawling growth habit and the small fruits fall off
the branches when ripe. Van Eck’s team has edited the plants to increase fruit size,
make their growth more compact and to stop fruits dropping. ‘There’s potential for
this to be a commercial crop,’ says Van Eck. But she adds that taking the work
further would be expensive because of the need to pay for a licence for the CRISPR
technology and get regulatory approval.
E
This approach could boost the use of many obscure plants, says Jonathan Jones of
the Sainsbury Lab in the UK. But it will be hard for new foods to grow so popular
with farmers and consumers that they become new staple crops, he thinks.
the mainstream’, including foxtail, oat-grass and cowpea. By choosing wild plants
that are drought or heat tolerant, says Gao, we could create crops that will thrive Write your answers in boxes 24-26 on your answer sheet.
even as the planet warms. 24 An undesirable trait such as loss of ……………………… may be caused by a
But Kudla didn’t want to reveal which species were in his team’s sights, because mutation in a tomato gene.
CRISPR has made the process so easy. ‘Any one with the right skills could go to 25 By modifying one gene in a tomato plant, researchers made the tomato three
their lab and do this.’ times its original ………………………
———————- 26 A type of tomato which was not badly affected by ………………………, and
* mutations: changes in an organism’s genetic structure that can be passed down to later generations was rich in vitamin C, was produced by a team of researchers in China.
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Questions 14-18
Reading Passage 2 has five paragraphs, A-E.
Which section contains the following information? READING PASSAGE 3
Write the correct letter, A-E, in boxes 14-18 on your answer sheet.
NB You may use any letter more than once.
14 a reference to a type of tomato that can resist a dangerous infection.
Insight or evolution?
15 an explanation of how problems can arise from focusing only on a certain type
Two scientists consider the origins of discoveries and other innovative behavior
of tomato plant.
16 a number of examples of plants that are not cultivated at present but could be
Scientific discovery is popularly believed to result from the sheer genius
useful as food sources. of such intellectual stars as naturalist Charles Darwin and theoretical
17 a comparison between the early domestication of the tomato and more recent physicist Albert Einstein. Our view of such unique contributions to
research science often disregards the person’s prior experience and the efforts of
18 a personal reaction to the flavour of a tomato that has been genetically edited
their lesser-known predecessors. Conventional wisdom also places great
weight on insight in promoting breakthrough scientific achievements, as
Questions 19-23 if ideas spontaneously pop into someone’s head – fully formed and
Look at the following statements (Questions 19-23) and the list of researchers below.
Match each statement with the correct researcher, A-D. functional.
Write the correct letter, A-D, in boxes 19-23 on your answer sheet.
NB You may use any letter more than once.
There may be some limited truth to this view. However, we believe that it
19 Domestication of certain plants could allow them to adapt to future largely misrepresents the real nature of scientific discovery, as well as
environmental challenges. that of creativity and innovation in many other realms of human
20 The idea of growing and eating unusual plants may not be accepted on a large endeavor.
scale. Setting aside such greats as Darwin and Einstein – whose monumental
21 It is not advisable for the future direction of certain research to be made public.
22 Present efforts to domesticate one wild fruit are limited by the costs involved.
contributions are duly celebrated – we suggest that innovation is more a
23 Humans only make use of a small proportion of the plant food available on process of trial and error, where two steps forward may sometimes
Earth. come with one step back, as well as one or more stops to the right or
List of Researchers left. This evolutionary view of human innovation undermines the notion
A Jorg Kudla of creative genius and recognizes the cumulative nature of scientific
B Caixia Gao progress.
C Joyce Van Eck
Consider one unheralded scientist: John Nicholson, a mathematical
D Jonathan Jones
physicist working in the 1910s who postulated the existence of ‘proto-
elements’ in outer space. By combining different numbers of weights of
these proto-elements’ atoms, Nicholson could recover the weights of all
Questions 24-26
Complete the sentences below. the elements in the then-known periodic table. These successes are all
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer. the more noteworthy given the fact that Nicholson was wrong about the
presence of proto-elements: they do not actually exist. Yet, amid his
often fanciful theories and wild speculations, Nicholson also proposed a
novel theory about the structure of atoms. Niels Bohr, the Nobel prize-
winning father of modern atomic theory, jumped off from this
interesting idea to conceive his now-famous model of the atom.
What are we to make of this story? One might simply conclude that
science is a collective and cumulative enterprise. That may be true, but
there may be a deeper insight to be gleaned. We propose that science is
constantly evolving, much as species of animals do. In biological systems,
organisms may display new characteristics that result from random
genetic mutations. In the same way, random, arbitrary or accidental
mutations of ideas may help pave the way for advances in science. If
mutations prove beneficial, then the animal or the scientific theory will
continue to thrive and perhaps reproduce.
Support for this evolutionary view of behavioral innovation comes from
many domains. Consider one example of an influential innovation in US
horseracing. The so-called ‘acey-deucy’ stirrup placement, in which the
rider’s foot in his left stirrup is placed as much as 25 centimeters lower
than the right, is believed to confer important speed advantages when
turning on oval tracks. It was developed by a relatively unknown jockey
named Jackie Westrope. Had Westrope conducted methodical
investigations or examined extensive film records in a shrewd plan to
outrun his rivals? Had he foreseen the speed advantage that would be
conferred by riding acey-deucy? No. He suffered a leg injury, which left
him unable to fully bend his left knee. His modification just happened to
coincide with enhanced left-hand turning performance. This led to the
rapid and widespread adoption of riding acey-deucy by many riders, a
racing style which continues in today’s thoroughbred racing.
Plenty of other stories show that fresh advances can arise from error,
misadventure, and also pure serendipity – a happy accident. For
example, in the early 1970s, two employees of the company 3M each
had a problem: Spencer Silver had a product – a glue which was only
slightly sticky – and no use for it, while his colleague Art Fry was trying to
figure out how to affix temporary bookmarks in his hymn book without
damaging its pages. The solution to both these problems was invention
of the brilliantly simple yet phenomenally successful Post-It note. Such
examples give lie to the claim that ingenious, designing minds are
responsible for human creativity and invention. Far more banal and
mechanical forces may be at work; forces that are fundamentally
connected to the laws of science.
The notions of insight, creativity and genius are often invoked, but they
remain vague and of doubtful scientific utility, especially when one
considers the diverse and enduring contributions of individuals such as
Plato, Leonardo da Vinci, Shakespeare, Beethoven, Galileo, Newton,
Kepler, Curie, Pasteur and Edison. These notions merely label rather
than explain the evolution of human innovations. We need another
approach, and there is a promising candidate.
The Law of Effect was advanced by psychologist Edward Thorndike in
1898, some 40 years after Charles Darwin published his groundbreaking
work on biological evolution, On the Origin of Species. This simple law holds
that organisms tend to repeat successful behaviors and to refrain from
performing unsuccessful ones. Just like Darwin’s Law of Natural
Selection, the Law of Effect involves an entirely mechanical process of
variation and selection, without any end objective in sight.
Of course, the origin of human innovation demands much further study.
In particular, the provenance of the raw material on which the Law of
Effect operates is not as clearly known as that of the genetic mutations
on which the Law of Natural Selection operates. The generation of novel
ideas and behaviors may not be entirely random, but constrained by
prior successes and failures – of the current individual (such as Bohr) or
of predecessors (such as Nicholson).
The time seems right for abandoning the naïve notion of intelligent
design and genius, and for scientifically exploring the true origins of
creative behavior.
Questions 27-31
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.
Write the correct letter in boxes 27-31 on your answer sheet.
27 The purpose of the first paragraph is to
A defend particular ideas.
B compare certain beliefs.
C disprove a widely held view.
D outline a common assumption.
28 What are the writers doing in the second paragraph? 35 The Law of Effect sets out clear explanations about the sources of
A criticising an opinion new ideas and behaviours.
B justifying a standpoint 36 Many scientists are now turning away from the notion of intelligent
C explaining an approach design and genius.
D supporting an argument
29 In the third paragraph, what do the writers suggest about Darwin Questions 37-40
and Einstein? Complete the summary using the list of words, A-G, below.
Write the correct letter, A-G, in boxes 37-40 on your answer sheet.
A They represent an exception to a general rule.
B Their way of working has been misunderstood.
The origins of creative behaviour
C They are an ideal which others should aspire to.
The traditional view of scientific discovery is that breakthroughs happen
D Their achievements deserve greater recognition.
when a single great mind has sudden 37 …………………… . Although this can
30 John Nicholson is an example of a person whose idea
occur, it is not often the case. Advances are more likely to be the result
A established his reputation as an influential scientist.
of a longer process. In some cases, this process involves 38 ……………………,
B was only fully understood at a later point in history.
such as Nicholson’s theory about proto-elements. In others, simple
C laid the foundations for someone else’s breakthrough.
necessity may provoke innovation, as with Westrope’s decision to modify
D initially met with scepticism from the scientific community.
the position of his riding stirrups. There is also often an element
31 What is the key point of interest about the ‘acey-deucy’ stirrup
of 39 ……………………, for example, the coincidence of ideas that led to the
placement?
invention of the Post-It note. With both the Law of Natural Selection and
A the simple reason why it was invented
the Law of Effect, there may be no clear 40 …………………… involved, but
B the enthusiasm with which it was adopted
merely a process of variation and selection.
C the research that went into its development
A invention B goals C compromise
D the cleverness of the person who first used it
D mistakes E luck F inspiration
Questions 32-36
G experiments
Do the following statements agree with the claims of the writer in
Reading Passage 3?
In boxes 32-36 on your answer sheet, write
YES if the statement agrees with the claims of the writer
NO if the statement contradicts the claims of the writer
NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
32 Acknowledging people such as Plato or da Vinci as geniuses will help
us understand the process by which great minds create new ideas.
33 The Law of Effect was discovered at a time when psychologists were
seeking a scientific reason why creativity occurs.
34 The Law of Effect states that no planning is involved in the behaviour
of organisms.
 Book 17 Test 3: island of Tasmania. The most recent, well-dated occurrence of a
thylacine on the mainland is a carbon-dated fossil from Murray Cave in
Western Australia, which is around 3,100 years old. Its extinction
READING PASSAGE 1 coincided closely with the arrival of wild dogs called dingoes in Australia
and a similar predator in New Guinea. Dingoes never reached Tasmania,
and most scientists see this as the main reason for the thylacine’s
The thylacine
survival there.
The extinct thylacine, also known as the Tasmanian tiger, was a
The dramatic decline of the thylacine in Tasmania, which began in the
marsupial* that bore a superficial resemblance to a dog. Its most
1830s and continued for a century, is generally attributed to the
distinguishing feature was the 13-19 dark brown stripes over its back,
relentless efforts of sheep farmers and bounty hunters** with shotguns.
beginning at the rear of the body and extending onto the tail. The
While this determined campaign undoubtedly played a large part, it is
thylacine’s average nose-to-tail length for adult males was 162.6 cm,
likely that various other factors also contributed to the decline and
compared to 153.7 cm for females.
eventual extinction of the species. These include competition with wild
The thylacine appeared to occupy most types of terrain except dense
dogs introduced by European settlers, loss of habitat along with the
rainforest, with open eucalyptus forest thought to be its prime habitat. In
disappearance of prey species, and a distemper-like disease which may
terms of feeding, it was exclusively carnivorous, and its stomach was
also have affected the thylacine.
muscular with an ability to distend so that it could eat large amounts of
There was only one successful attempt to breed a thylacine in captivity,
food at one time, probably an adaptation to compensate for long
at Melbourne Zoo in 1899. This was despite the large numbers that went
periods when hunting was unsuccessful and food scarce. The thylacine
through some zoos, particularly London Zoo and Tasmania’s Hobart Zoo.
was not a fast runner and probably caught its prey by exhausting it
The famous naturalist John Gould foresaw the thylacine’s demise when
during a long pursuit. During long-distance chases, thylacines were likely
he published his Mammals of Australia between 1848 and 1863, writing, ‘The
to have relied more on scent than any other sense. They emerged to
numbers of this singular animal will speedily diminish, extermination will
hunt during the evening, night and early morning and tended to retreat
have its full sway, and it will then, like the wolf of England and Scotland,
to the hills and forest for shelter during the day. Despite the common
be recorded as an animal of the past.’
name ‘tiger’, the thylacine had a shy, nervous temperament. Although
However, there seems to have been little public pressure to preserve the
mainly nocturnal, it was sighted moving during the day and some
thylacine, nor was much concern expressed by scientists at the decline
individuals were even recorded basking in the sun.
of this species in the decades that followed. A notable exception was T.T.
The thylacine had an extended breeding season from winter to spring,
Flynn, Professor of Biology at the University of Tasmania. In 1914, he was
with indications that some breeding took place throughout the year. The
sufficiently concerned about the scarcity of the thylacine to suggest that
thylacine, like all marsupials, was tiny and hairless when born. Newborns
some should be captured and placed on a small island. But it was not
crawled into the pouch on the belly of their mother, and attached
until 1929, with the species on the very edge of extinction, that
themselves to one of the four teats, remaining there for up to three
Tasmania’s Animals and Birds Protection Board passed a motion
months. When old enough to leave the pouch, the young stayed in a lair
protecting thylacines only for the month of December, which was
such as a deep rocky cave, well-hidden nest or hollow log, whilst the
thought to be their prime breeding season. The last known wild thylacine
mother hunted.
to be killed was shot by a farmer in the north-east of Tasmania in 1930,
Approximately 4,000 years ago, the thylacine was widespread
leaving just captive specimens. Official protection of the species by the
throughout New Guinea and most of mainland Australia, as well as the
Tasmanian government was introduced in July 1936, 59 days before the
last known individual died in Hobart Zoo on 7th September, 1936.
There have been numerous expeditions and searches for the thylacine
over the years, none of which has produced definitive evidence that
thylacines still exist. The species was declared extinct by the Tasmanian
government in 1986.
———-
* marsupial: a mammal, such as a kangaroo, whose young are born incompletely developed
and are typically carried and suckled in a pouch on the mother’s belly
**bounty hunters: people who are paid a reward for killing a wild animal
Questions 1-5
Complete the notes below.
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 1-5 on your answer sheet.
6 Significant numbers of thylacines were killed by humans from the
1830s onwards.
7 Several thylacines were born in zoos during the late 1800s.
8 John Gould’s prediction about the thylacine surprised some biologists.
9 In the early 1900s, many scientists became worried about the possible
extinction of the thylacine.
10 T.T. Flynn’s proposal to rehome captive thylacines on an island
proved to be impractical.
11 There were still reasonable numbers of thylacines in existence when
a piece of legislation protecting the species during their breeding season
was passed.
12 From 1930 to 1936, the only known living thylacines were all in
captivity.
13 Attempts to find living thylacines are now rarely made.

The thylacine READING PASSAGE 2

Appearance and behaviour
● looked rather like a dog
● had a series of stripes along its body and tail Palm oil
● ate an entirely 1 ………………… diet A
● probably depended mainly on 2 ………………… when hunting Palm oil is an edible oil derived from the fruit of the African oil palm tree,
● young spent first months of life inside its mother’s 3 ………………… and is currently the most consumed vegetable oil in the world. It’s almost
Decline and extinction certainly in the soap we wash with in the morning, the sandwich we have
● last evidence in mainland Australia is a 3,100-year-old 4 ………………… for lunch, and the biscuits we snack on during the day. Why is palm oil so
● probably went extinct in mainland Australia due to animals known as attractive for manufacturers? Primarily because its unique properties –
dingoes such as remaining solid at room temperature – make it an ideal
● reduction in 5 ………………… and available sources of food were partly ingredient for long-term preservation, allowing many packaged foods on
responsible for decline in Tasmania supermarket shelves to have ‘best before’ dates of months, even years,
into the future.
Questions 6-13 B
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Many farmers have seized the opportunity to maximise the planting of
Passage 1? oil palm trees. Between 1990 and 2012, the global land area devoted to
In boxes 1-7 on your answer sheet, write growing oil palm trees grew from 6 to 17 million hectares, now
TRUE if the statement agrees with the information accounting for around ten percent of total cropland in the entire world.
FALSE if the statement contradicts the information From a mere two million tonnes of palm oil being produced annually
NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this globally 50 years ago, there are now around 60 million tonnes produced
every single year, a figure looking likely to double or even triple by the
middle of the century.
C order to produce the same volume of oil from that competitor.
However, there are multiple reasons why conservationists cite the rapid
spread of oil palm plantations as a major concern. There are countless
news stories of deforestation, habitat destruction and dwindling species
populations, all as a direct result of land clearing to establish oil palm
tree monoculture on an industrial scale, particularly in Malaysia and
Indonesia. Endangered species – most famously the Sumatran
orangutan, but also rhinos, elephants, tigers, and numerous other fauna
– have suffered from the unstoppable spread of oil palm plantations.
D
‘Palm oil is surely one of the greatest threats to global biodiversity,’
declares Dr Farnon Ellwood of the University of the West of England,
Bristol. ‘Palm oil is replacing rainforest, and rainforest is where all the
species are. That’s a problem.’ This has led to some radical questions
among environmentalists, such as whether consumers should try to
boycott palm oil entirely.
Meanwhile Bhavani Shankar, Professor at London’s School of Oriental
and African Studies, argues, ‘It’s easy to say that palm oil is the enemy
and we should be against it. It makes for a more dramatic story, and it’s
very intuitive. But given the complexity of the argument, I think a much
more nuanced story is closer to the truth.’
E
One response to the boycott movement has been the argument for the
vital role palm oil plays in lifting many millions of people in the
developing world out of poverty. Is it desirable to have palm oil
boycotted, replaced, eliminated from the global supply chain, given how
many low-income people in developing countries depend on it for their
livelihoods? How best to strike a utilitarian balance between these
competing factors has become a serious bone of contention.
F
Even the deforestation argument isn’t as straightforward as it seems. Oil
palm plantations produce at least four and potentially up to ten times
more oil per hectare than soybean, rapeseed, sunflower or other
competing oils. That immensely high yield – which is predominantly what
makes it so profitable – is potentially also an ecological benefit. If ten
times more palm oil can be produced from a patch of land than any
competing oil, then ten times more land would need to be cleared in
As for the question of carbon emissions, the issue really depends on
what oil palm trees are replacing. Crops vary in the degree to which they
sequester carbon – in other words, the amount of carbon they capture
from the atmosphere and store within the plant. The more carbon a
plant sequesters, the more it reduces the effect of climate change. As
Shankar explains: ‘[Palm oil production] actually sequesters more carbon
in some ways than other alternatives. […] Of course, if you’re cutting
down virgin forest it’s terrible – that’s what’s happening in Indonesia and
Malaysia, it’s been allowed to get out of hand. But if it’s replacing rice, for
example, it might actually sequester more carbon.’
G
The industry is now regulated by a group called the Roundtable on
Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), consisting of palm growers, retailers,
product manufacturers, and other interested parties. Over the past
decade or so, an agreement has gradually been reached regarding
standards that producers of palm oil have to meet in order for their
product to be regarded as officially ‘sustainable’. The RSPO insists upon
no virgin forest clearing, transparency and regular assessment of carbon
stocks, among other criteria. Only once these requirements are fully
satisfied is the oil allowed to be sold as certified sustainable palm oil
(CSPO). Recent figures show that the RSPO now certifies around 12
million tonnes of palm oil annually, equivalent to roughly 21 percent of
the world’s total palm oil production.
H
There is even hope that oil palm plantations might not need to be such
sterile monocultures, or ‘green deserts’, as Ellwood describes them. New
research at Ellwood’s lab hint at one plant which might make all the
difference. The bird’s nest fern (Asplenium nidus) grows on trees in an
epiphytic fashion (meaning it’s dependent on the tree only for support,
not for nutrients), and is native to many tropical regions, where as a
keystone species it performs a vital ecological role. Ellwood believes that
reintroducing the bird’s nest fern into oil palm plantations could
potentially allow these areas to recover their biodiversity, providing a
home for all manner of species, from fungi and bacteria, to invertebrates
such as insects, amphibians, reptiles and even mammals.
Questions 14-20
Reading Passage 2 has eight paragraphs, A-H.
Which section contains the following information?
Write the correct letter, A-H, in boxes 14-20 on your answer sheet.
14 examples of a range of potential environmental advantages of oil
palm tree cultivation
15 description of an organisation which controls the environmental
impact of palm oil production
16 examples of the widespread global use of palm oil
17 reference to a particular species which could benefit the ecosystem
of oil palm plantations
18 figures illustrating the rapid expansion of the palm oil industry
19 an economic justification for not opposing the palm oil industry
20 examples of creatures badly affected by the establishment of oil
palm plantations
Questions 21 and 22
Choose TWO letters, A-E.
Write the correct letters in boxes 21 and 22 on your answer sheet.
Which TWO statements are made about the Roundtable on Sustainable
Palm Oil (RSPO)?
A Its membership has grown steadily over the course of the last decade.
B It demands that certified producers be open and honest about their
practices.
C It took several years to establish its set of criteria for sustainable palm
oil certification.
D Its regulations regarding sustainability are stricter than those
governing other industries.
E It was formed at the request of environmentalists concerned about
the loss of virgin forests.
Questions 23-26
Complete the sentences below.
Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 23-26 on your answer sheet.
23 One advantage of palm oil for manufacturers is that it stays
……………………… even when not refrigerated.
24 The ……………………… is the best known of the animals suffering
habitat loss as a result of the spread of oil palm plantations.
25 As one of its criteria for the certification of sustainable palm oil, the
RSPO insists that growers check ……………………… on a routine basis.
26 Ellwood and his researchers are looking into whether the bird’s nest
fern could restore ……………………… in areas where oil palm trees are
grown.
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READING PASSAGE 3
Building the Skyline: The Birth and Growth of Manhattan’s Skyscrapers
Katharine L. Shester reviews a book by Jason Barr about the development of New York City
In Building the Skyline, Jason Barr takes the reader through a detailed history
of New York City. The book combines geology, history, economics, and a
lot of data to explain why business clusters developed where they did
and how the early decisions of workers and firms shaped the skyline we
see today. Building the Skyline is organized into two distinct parts. The first is
primarily historical and addresses New York’s settlement and growth
from 1609 to 1900; the second deals primarily with the 20th century and
is a compilation of chapters commenting on different aspects of New
York’s urban development. The tone and organization of the book
changes somewhat between the first and second parts, as the latter
chapters incorporate aspects of Barr’s related research papers.
Barr begins chapter one by taking the reader on a ‘helicopter time-
machine’ ride – giving a fascinating account of how the New York
landscape in 1609 might have looked from the sky. He then moves on to
a subterranean walking tour of the city, indicating the location of rock
and water below the subsoil, before taking the reader back to the
surface. His love of the city comes through as he describes various fun
facts about the location of the New York residence of early 19th-century
vice-president Aaron Burr as well as a number of legends about the city.
Chapters two and three take the reader up to the Civil War (1861-1865),
with chapter two focusing on the early development of land and the
implementation of a grid system in 1811. Chapter three focuses on land
use before the Civil War. Both chapters are informative and well
researched and set the stage for the economic analysis that comes later
in the book. I would have liked Barr to expand upon his claim that
existing tenements* prevented skyscrapers in certain neighborhoods
because ‘likely no skyscraper developer was interested in performing the
necessary “slum clearance”’. Later in the book, Barr makes the claim that
the depth of bedrock** was not a limiting factor for developers, as
foundation costs were a small fraction of the cost of development. At
first glance, it is not obvious why slum clearance would be limiting, while
more expensive foundations would not.
Chapter four focuses on immigration and the location of neighborhoods
and tenements in the late 19th century. Barr identifies four primary
immigrant enclaves and analyses their locations in terms of the
amenities available in the area. Most of these enclaves were located on
the least valuable land, between the industries located on the waterfront
and the wealthy neighborhoods bordering Central Park.
Part two of the book begins with a discussion of the economics of
skyscraper height. In chapter five, Barr distinguishes between
engineering height, economic height, and developer height – where
engineering height is the tallest building that can be safely made at a
given time, economic height is the height that is most efficient from
society’s point of view, and developer height is the actual height chosen
by the developer, who is attempting to maximize return on investment.
Chapter five also has an interesting discussion of the technological
advances that led to the construction of skyscrapers. For example, the
introduction of iron and steel skeletal frames made thick, load-bearing
walls unnecessary, expanding the usable square footage of buildings
and increasing the use of windows and availability of natural light.
Chapter six then presents data on building height throughout the 20th
century and uses regression analysis to ‘predict’ building construction.
While less technical than the research paper on which the chapter is
based, it is probably more technical than would be preferred by a
general audience.
Chapter seven tackles the ‘bedrock myth’, the assumption that the
absence of bedrock close to the surface between Downtown and
Midtown New York is the reason for skyscrapers not being built between
the two urban centers. Rather, Barr argues that while deeper bedrock
does increase foundation costs, these costs were neither prohibitively
high nor were they large compared to the overall cost of building a
skyscraper. What I enjoyed the most about this chapter was Barr’s
discussion of how foundations are actually built. He describes the use of
caissons, which enable workers to dig down for considerable distances,
often below the water table, until they reach bedrock. Barr’s thorough
technological history discusses not only how caissons work, but also the
dangers involved. While this chapter references empirical research
papers, it is a relatively easy read.
Chapters eight and nine focus on the birth of Midtown and the building
boom of the 1920s. Chapter eight contains lengthy discussions of urban
economic theory that may serve as a distraction to readers primarily
interested in New York. However, they would be well-suited for
undergraduates learning about the economics of cities. In the next
chapter, Barr considers two of the primary explanations for the building
boom of the 1920s – the first being exuberance, and the second being
financing. He uses data to assess the viability of these two explanations
and finds that supply and demand factors explain much of the
development of the 1920s; though it enable the boom, cheap credit was
not, he argues, the primary cause.
In the final chapter (chapter 10), Barr discusses another of his empirical
papers that estimates Manhattan land values from the mid-19th century
to the present day. The data work that went into these estimations is
particularly impressive. Toward the end of the chapter, Barr assesses
‘whether skyscrapers are a cause or an effect of high land values’. He
finds that changes in land values predict future building height, but the
reverse is not true. The book ends with an epilogue, in which Barr
discusses the impact of climate change on the city and makes policy
suggestions for New York going forward.
————-
* a tenement: a multi-occupancy building of any sort, but particularly a run-down apartment
building or slum building
** bedrock: the solid, hard rock in the ground that lies under a loose layer of soil
Questions 27-31
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.
Write the correct letter in boxes 27-31 on your answer sheet.
27 What point does Shester make about Barr’s book in the first
paragraph?
A It gives a highly original explanation for urban development.
B Elements of Barr’s research papers are incorporated throughout the
book.
C Other books that are available on the subject have taken a different
approach.
D It covers a range of factors that affected the development of New
York.
28 How does Shester respond to the information in the book about
tenements?
A She describes the reasons for Barr’s interest.
B She indicates a potential problem with Barr’s analysis.
C She compares Barr’s conclusion with that of other writers.
D She provides details about the sources Barr used for his research.
29 What does Shester say about chapter six of the book?
A It contains conflicting data.
B It focuses too much on possible trends.
C It is too specialised for most readers.
D It draws on research that is out of date.
30 What does Shester suggest about the chapters focusing on the 1920s
building boom?
A The information should have been organised differently.
B More facts are needed about the way construction was financed.
C The explanation that is given for the building boom is unlikely.
D Some parts will have limited appeal to certain people.
31 What impresses Shester the most about the chapter on land values?
A the broad time period that is covered
B the interesting questions that Barr asks
C the nature of the research into the topic
D the recommendations Barr makes for the future
Questions 32-35
Do the following statements agree with the claims of the writer in
Reading Passage 3?
In boxes 32-35 on your answer sheet, write
YES if the statement agrees with the claims of the writer
NO if the statement contradicts the claims of the writer
NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
32 The description in the first chapter of how New York probably looked
from the air in the early 1600s lacks interest.
33 Chapters two and three prepare the reader well for material yet to
come.
34 The biggest problem for many nineteenth-century New York
immigrant neighbourhoods was a lack of amenities.
35 In the nineteenth century, New York’s immigrant neighbourhoods
tended to concentrate around the harbour.
Questions 36-40
Complete the summary using the list of phrases, A-J, below.
The bedrock myth
In chapter seven, Barr indicates how the lack of bedrock close to the
surface does not explain why skyscrapers are absent
from 36 …………………… . He points out that although the cost of
foundations increases when bedrock is deep below the surface, this
cannot be regarded as 37 ……………………, especially when compared
to 38 …………………… .
A particularly enjoyable part of the chapter was Barr’s account of how
foundations are built. He describes not only how 39 …………………… are
made possible by the use of caissons, but he also discusses
their 40 …………………… . The chapter is well researched but relatively easy
to understand.
A development plans B deep excavations
C great distance D excessive expense
E impossible tasks F associated risks
G water level H specific areas
I total expenditure J construction guidelines
 Book 17 Test 4:
READING PASSAGE 1
Bats to the rescue
How Madagascar’s bats are helping to save the rainforest
There are few places in the world where relations between agriculture
and conservation are more strained. Madagascar’s forests are being
converted to agricultural land at a rate of one percent every year. Much
of this destruction is fuelled by the cultivation of the country’s main
staple crop: rice. And a key reason for this destruction is that insect pests
are destroying vast quantities of what is grown by local subsistence
farmers, leading them to clear forest to create new paddy fields. The
result is devastating habitat and biodiversity loss on the island, but not
all species are suffering. In fact, some of the island’s insectivorous bats
are currently thriving and this has important implications for farmers
and conservationists alike.
Enter University of Cambridge zoologist Ricardo Rocha. He’s passionate
about conservation, and bats. More specifically, he’s interested in how
bats are responding to human activity and deforestation in particular.
Rocha’s new study shows that several species of bats are giving
Madagascar’s rice farmers a vital pest control service by feasting on
plagues of insects. And this, he believes, can ease the financial pressure
on farmers to turn forest into fields.
Bats comprise roughly one-fifth of all mammal species in Madagascar
and thirty-six recorded bat species are native to the island, making it one
of the most important regions for conservation of this animal group
anywhere in the world.
Co-leading an international team of scientists, Rocha found that several
species of indigenous bats are taking advantage of habitat modification
to hunt insects swarming above the country’s rice fields. They include the
Malagasy mouse-eared bat, Major’s long-fingered bat, the Malagasy
white-bellied free-tailed bat and Peters’ wrinkle-lipped bat.
‘These winner species are providing a valuable free service to
Madagascar as biological pest suppressors,’ says Rocha. ‘We found that
six species of bat are preying on rice pests, including the paddy
swarming caterpillar and grass webworm. The damage which these
insects cause puts the island’s farmers under huge financial pressure
and that encourages deforestation.’
The study, now published in the journal Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment,
set out to investigate the feeding activity of insectivorous bats in the
farmland bordering the Ranomafana National Park in the southeast of
the country.
Rocha and his team used state-of-the-art ultrasonic recorders to record
over a thousand bat ‘feeling buzzes’ (echolocation sequences used by
bats to target their prey) at 54 sites, in order to identify the favourite
feeding spots of the bats. The next used DNA barcoding techniques to
analyse droppings collected from bats at the different sites.
The recordings revealed that bat activity over rice fields was much higher
than it was in continuous forest – seven times higher over rice fields
which were on flat ground, and sixteen times higher over fields on the
sides of hills – leaving no doubt that the animals are preferentially
foraging in these man-made ecosystems. The researchers suggest that
the bats favour these fields because lack of water and nutrient run-off
make these crops more susceptible to insect pest infestations. DNA
analysis showed that all six species of bat had fed on economically
important insect pests. While the findings indicated that rice farming
benefits most from the bats, the scientists also found indications that
the bats were consuming pests of other crops, including the black twig
borer (which infests coffee plants), the sugarcane cicada, the macadamia
nut-borer, and the sober tabby (a pest of citrus fruits).
‘The effectiveness of bats as pest controllers has already been proven in
the USA and Catalonia,’ said co-author James Kemp, from the University
of Lisbon. ‘But our study is the first to show this happening in
Madagascar, where the stakes for both farmers and conservationists are
so high.’
Local people may have a further reason to be grateful to their bats.
While the animal is often associated with spreading disease, Rocha and
his team found evidence that Malagasy bats feed not just on crop pests
but also on mosquitoes – carriers of malaria, Rift Valley fever virus and
elephantiasis – as well as blackflies, which spread river blindness.
 The study carried out by Rocha’s team
● to investigate the feeding habits of
Aim bats in farmland near the Ranomafana
National Park
● ultrasonic recording to identify
Method favourite feeding spots
● DNA analysis of bat 7 …………………
● the bats
– were most active in rice fields
located on hills
– ate pests of rice, 8 …………………,
sugarcane, nuts and fruit
– prevent the spread of disease by
eating 9 ………………… and blackflies
Findings
● local attitudes to bats are mixed:
– they provide food rich
in 10 …………………
– the buildings where they roost
become 11 …………………
– they play an important role in
local 12 …………………
● farmers should provide
Recommendation special 13 ………………… to support the
bat population
Rocha points out that the relationship is complicated. When food is
scarce, bats become a crucial source of protein for local people. Even the
children will hunt them. And as well as roosting in trees, the bats
sometimes roost in buildings, but are not welcomed there because they
make them unclean. At the same time, however, they are associated with
sacred caves and the ancestors, so they can be viewed as beings
between worlds, which makes them very significant in the culture of the
people. And one potential problem is that while these bats are benefiting
from farming, at the same time deforestation is reducing the places
where they can roost, which could have long-term effects on their
numbers. Rocha says, ‘With the right help, we hope that farmers can
promote this mutually beneficial relationship by installing bat houses.’
Rocha and his colleagues believe that maximising bat populations can
help to boost crop yields and promote sustainable livelihoods. The team
is now calling for further research to quantify this contribution. ‘I’m very
optimistic,’ says Rocha. ‘If we give nature a hand, we can speed up the
process of regeneration.’
Questions 1-6
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 Many Madagascan forests are being destroyed by attacks from
insects.
2 Loss of habitat has badly affected insectivorous bats in Madagascar.
3 Ricardo Rocha has carried out studies of bats in different parts of the
world.
4 Habitat modification has resulted in indigenous bats in Madagascar
becoming useful to farmers.
5 The Malagasy mouse-eared bat is more common than other
indigenous bat species in Madagascar.
6 Bats may feed on paddy swarming caterpillars and grass webworms.
Questions 7-13
Complete the table below.
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 7-13 on your answer sheet.
READING PASSAGE 2
Does education fuel economic growth?
A
Over the last decade, a huge database about the lives of southwest
German villagers between 1600 and 1900 has been compiled by a team
led by Professor Sheilagh Ogilvie at Cambridge University’s Faculty of
Economics. It includes court records, guild ledgers, parish registers,
village censuses, tax lists and – the most recent addition – 9,000
handwritten inventories listing over a million personal possessions
belonging to ordinary women and men across three centuries. Ogilvie,
who discovered the inventories in the archives of two German
communities 30 years ago, believes they may hold the answer to a
conundrum that has long puzzled economists: the lack of evidence for a
causal link between education and a country’s economic growth.
B and economic change,’ she says. Individual lives have unfolded before
As Ogilvie explains, ‘Education helps us to work more productively,
invent better technology, and earn more … surely it must be critical for
economic growth? But, if you look back through history, there’s no
evidence that having a high literacy rate made a country industrialise
earlier.’ Between 1600 and 1900, England had only mediocre literacy
rates by European standards, yet its economy grew fast and it was the
first country to industrialise. During this period, Germany and
Scandinavia had excellent literacy rates, but their economies grew slowly
and they industrialised late. ‘Modern cross-country analyses have also
struggled to find evidence that education causes economic growth, even
though there is plenty of evidence that growth increases education,’ she
adds.
C Germany and elsewhere regulated people’s access to labour markets.
In the handwritten inventories that Ogilvie is analysing are the
belongings of women and men at marriage, remarriage and death. From
badger skins to Bibles, sewing machines to scarlet bodices – the villagers’
entire worldly goods are included. Inventories of agricultural equipment
and craft tools reveal economic activities; ownership of books and
education-related objects like pens and slates suggests how people
learned. In addition, the tax lists included in the database record the
value of farms, workshops, assets and debts; signatures and people’s
estimates of their age indicate literacy and numeracy levels; and court
records reveal obstacles (such as the activities of the guilds*) that stifled
industry.
Previous studies usually had just one way of linking education with
economic growth – the presence of schools and printing presses,
perhaps, or school enrolment, or the ability to sign names. According to
Ogilvie, the database provides multiple indicators for the same
individuals, making it possible to analyse links between literacy,
numeracy, wealth, and industriousness, for individual women and men
over the long term.
D
Ogilvie and her team have been building the vast database of material
possessions on top of their full demographic reconstruction of the
people who lived in these two German communities. ‘We can follow the
same people – and their descendants – across 300 years of educational
their eyes. Stories like that of the 24-year-olds Ana Regina and
Magdalena Riethmüllerin, who were chastised in 1707 for reading books
in church instead of listening to the sermon. ‘This tells us they were
continuing to develop their reading skills at least a decade after leaving
school,’ explains Ogilvie. The database also reveals the case of Juliana
Schweickherdt, a 50-year-old spinster living in the small Black Forest
community of Wildberg, who was reprimanded in 1752 by the local
weavers’ guild for ‘weaving cloth and combing wool, counter to the guide
ordinance’. When Juliana continued taking jobs reserved for male guild
members, she was summoned before the guild court and told to pay a
fine equivalent to one third of a servant’s annual wage. It was a small act
of defiance by today’s standards, but it reflects a time when laws in
The dominance of guilds not only prevented people from using their
skills, but also held back even the simplest industrial innovation.
E
The data-gathering phase of the project has been completed and now,
according to Ogilvie, it is time ‘to ask the big questions’. One way to look
at whether education causes economic growth is to ‘hold wealth
constant’. This involves following the lives of different people with the
same level of wealth over a period of time. If wealth is constant, it is
possible to discover whether education was, for example, linked to the
cultivation of new crops, or to the adoption of industrial innovations like
sewing machines. The team will also ask what aspect of education
helped people engage more with productive and innovative activities.
Was it, for instance, literacy, numeracy, book ownership, years of
schooling? Was there a threshold level – a tipping point – that needed to
be reached to affect economic performance?
F
Ogilvie hopes to start finding answers to these questions over the next
few years. One thing is already clear, she says: the relationship between
education and economic growth is far from straightforward. ‘German-
speaking central Europe is an excellent laboratory for testing theories of
economic growth,’ she explains. Between 1600 and 1900, literacy rates
and book ownership were high and yet the region remained poor. It was
also the case that local guilds and merchant associations were extremely
powerful and legislated against anything that undermined their
monopolies. In villages throughout the region, guilds blocked labour
migration and resisted changes that might reduce their influence.
‘Early findings suggest that the potential benefits of education for the
economy can be held back by other barriers, and this has implications
for today,’ says Ogilvie. ‘Huge amounts are spent improving education in
developing countries, but this spending can fail to deliver economic
growth if restrictions block people – especially women and the poor –
from using their education in economically productive ways. If economic
institutions are poorly set up, for instance, education can’t lead to
growth.’
——————–
* guild: an association of artisans or merchants which oversees the practice of their craft or
trade in a particular area
Questions 14-18
Reading Passage 2 has six paragraphs, A-F.
Which section contains the following information?
Write the correct letter, A-F, in boxes 14-18 on your answer sheet.
14 an explanation of the need for research to focus on individuals with a
fairly consistent income
15 examples of the sources the database has been compiled from
16 an account of one individual’s refusal to obey an order
17 a reference to a region being particularly suited to research into the
link between education and economic growth
18 examples of the items included in a list of personal possessions
Questions 19-22
Complete the summary below.
Choose ONE WORD from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 19-22 on your answer sheet.
Demographic reconstruction of two German communities
The database that Ogilvie and her team has compiled sheds light on the
lives of a range of individuals, as well as those of their 19 …………………,
over a 300-year period. For example, Ana Regina and Magdalena
Riethmüllerin were reprimanded for reading while they should have
been paying attention to a 20 ………………… .
There was also Juliana Schweickherdt, who came to the notice of the
weavers’ guild in the year 1752 for breaking guild rules. As a punishment,
she was later given a 21 ………………… . Cases like this illustrate how the
guilds could prevent 22 ………………… and stop skilled people from working
Questions 23 and 24
Choose TWO letters, A-E.
Write the correct letters in boxes 23 and 24 on your answer sheet.
Which TWO of the following statements does the writer make about
literacy rates in Section B?
A Very little research has been done into the link between high literacy
rates and improved earnings.
B Literacy rates in Germany between 1600 and 1900 were very good.
C There is strong evidence that high literacy rates in the modern world
result in economic growth.
D England is a good example of how high literacy rates helped a country
industrialise.
E Economic growth can help to improve literacy rates.
Questions 25 and 26
Choose TWO letters, A-E.
Write the correct letters in boxes 25 and 26 on your answer sheet.
Which TWO of the following statements does the writer make in Section F
about guilds in German-speaking Central Europe between 1600 and
1900?
A They helped young people to learn a skill.
B They were opposed to people moving to an area for work.
C They kept better records than guilds in other parts of the world.
D They opposed practices that threatened their control over a trade.
E They predominantly consisted of wealthy merchants.
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READING PASSAGE 3
Timur Gareyev – blindfold chess champion
A
Next month, a chess player named Timur Gareyev will take on nearly 50
opponents at once. But that is not the hard part. While his challengers
will play the games as normal, Gareyev himself will be blindfolded. Even
by world record standards, it sets a high bar for human performance.
The 28-year-old already stands out in the rarefied world of blindfold
chess. He has a fondness for bright clothes and unusual hairstyles, and
he gets his kicks from the adventure sport of BASE jumping. He has
already proved himself a strong chess player, too. In a 10-hour chess
marathon in 2013, Gareyev played 33 games in his head simultaneously.
He won 29 and lost none. The skill has become his brand: he calls
himself the Blindfold King.
B ends of games are taxing too, as exhaustion sets in. When Gareyev is
But Gareyev’s prowess has drawn interest from beyond the chess-
playing community. In the hope of understanding how he and others like
him can perform such mental feats, researchers at the University of
California in Los Angeles (UCLA) called him in for tests. They now have
their first results. ‘The ability to play a game of chess with your eyes
closed is not a far reach for most accomplished player,’ said Jesse
Rissman, who runs a memory lab at UCLA. ‘But the thing that’s so
remarkable about Timur and a few other individuals is the number of
games they can keep active at once. To me it is simply astonishing.’
C seems to be supremely gifted at.’ But next came the brain scans. With
Gareyev learned to play chess in his native Uzbekistan when he was six
years old. Tutored by his grandfather, he entered his first tournament
aged eight and soon became obsessed with competitions. At 16, he was
crowned Asia’s youngest ever chess grandmaster. He moved to the US
soon after, and as a student helped his university win its first national
chess championship. In 2013, Gareyev was ranked the third best chess
player in the US.
D task. It helps you to allocate attention, keep rules in mind, and work out
To the uninitiated, blindfold chess seems to call for superhuman skill.
But displays of the feat go back centuries. The first recorded game in
Europe was played in 13th-century Florence. In 1947, the Argentinian
grandmaster Miguel Najdorf played 45 simultaneous games in his mind,
winning 39 in the 24-hour session.
E
Accomplished players can develop the skill of playing blind even without
realising it. The nature of the game is to run through possible moves in
the mind to see how they play out. From this, regular players develop a
memory for the patterns the pieces make, the defences and attacks. ‘You
recreate it in your mind,’ said Gareyev. ‘A lot of players are capable of
doing what I’m doing.’ The real mental challenge comes from playing
multiple games at once in the head. Not only must the positions of each
piece on every board be memorised, they must be recalled faithfully
when needed, updated with each player’s moves, and then reliably
stored again, so the brain can move on to the next board. First moves
can be tough to remember because they are fairly uninteresting. But the
tired, his recall can get patchy. He sometimes makes moves based on
only a fragmented memory of the pieces’ positions.
F
The scientists first had Gareyev perform some standard memory tests.
These assessed his ability to hold numbers, pictures and words in mind.
One classic test measures how many numbers a person can repeat, both
forwards and backwards, soon after hearing them. Most people manage
about seven. ‘He was not exceptional on any of these standard tests,’
said Rissman. ‘We didn’t find anything other than playing chess that he
Gareyev lying down in the machine, Rissman looked at how well
connected the various regions of the chess player’s brain were. Though
the results are tentative and as yet unpublished, the scans found much
greater than average communication between parts of Gareyev’s brain
that make up what is called the frontoparietal control network. Of 63
people scanned alongside the chess player, only one or two scored more
highly on the measure. ‘You use this network in almost any complex
whether you should be responding or not,’ said Rissman.
G 35 UCLA is the first university to carry out research into blindfold chess
It was not the only hint of something special in Gareyev’s brain. The players.
scans also suggest that Gareyev’s visual network is more highly 36 Good chess players are likely to be able to play blindfold chess.
connected to other brain parts than usual. Initial results suggest that the
areas of his brain that process visual images – such as chess boards – Questions 37-40
may have stronger links to other brain regions, and so be more powerful Complete the summary below
than normal. While the analyses are not finalised yet, they may hold the Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
first clues to Gareyev’s extraordinary ability. Write the correct letter in boxes 37-40 on your answer sheet.
H
For the world record attempt, Gareyev hopes to play 47 blindfold games How the research was carried out
at once in about 16 hours. He will need to win 80% to claim the title. ‘I The researchers started by testing Gareyev’s 37 ……………………; for
don’t worry too much about the winning percentage, that’s never been example, he was required to recall a string of 38 …………………… in order
an issue for me,’ he said. ‘The most important part of blindfold chess for and also in reverse order. Although his performance was normal, scans
me is that I have found the one thing that I can fully dedicate myself to. I showed an unusual amount of 39 …………………… within the areas of
miss having an obsession.’ Gareyev’s brain that are concerned with directing attention. In addition,
the scans raised the possibility of unusual strength in the parts of his
Questions 27-32 brain that deal with 40 …………………… input.
Reading Passage 3 has eight paragraphs, A-H.
Which paragraph contains the following information?
Write the correct letter, A-H, in boxes 27-32 on your answer sheet.
NB You may use any letter more than once.
27 a reference to earlier examples of blindfold chess
28 an outline of what blindfold chess involves
29 a claim that Gareyev’s skill is limited to chess
30 why Gareyev’s skill is of interest to scientists
31 an outline of Gareyev’s priorities
32 a reason why the last part of a game may be difficult

Questions 33-36
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading
Passage 3?
In boxes 33-36 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
33 In the forthcoming games, all the participants will be blindfolded.
34 Gareyev has won competitions in BASE jumping.