Part 4: Write the correct FORM of each bracketed word in the numbered space provided in the column

on the right.
The Inventor of the Bar Code
Your answers:
Although you may never have heard of Joe Woodland, you almost certainly use
his invention on a daily basis. For Joe was the man who came up with the idea of 1._____________________
the bar code - that little box containing parallel lines of (1- REGULAR)
_____________ width and (2- LONG) _____________that you find on the 2._____________________
packaging of most products that are offered for sale at retail (3- LET)
_____________worldwide. Joe Woodland actually invented the bar code way 3._____________________
back in 1949, when the manager of a supermarket in Philadelphia asked him to
design an electronic (4- CHECK) _____________ system which would be
4._____________________
both simple and effective. The purpose of the bar code is to store (5- CODE)
_____________ information about the product, which (6- POTENTIAL)
_____________ speeds up the process of recording sales and restocking the 5._____________________
shelves. Joe’s (7- INSPIRE) _____________ came from Morse code and he
formed his first barcode in the sand on the beach one day. The idea was way 6._____________________
ahead of its time however, and didn’t find any immediate practical (8- APPLY)
_____________.Convinced that the system was (9- WORK) 7._____________________
_____________with further development, however, Woodland didn’t give up. It
was the (10- ARRIVE) _____________of laser gun technology decades later 8._____________________
which allowed Joe’s invention to come into everyday use.
9._____________________
10.____________________

III. READING

Part 1: Read the following passage and decide which answer (A, B, C, or D) best fits each gap. Write
your answer in the numbered boxes.
The virtual assistant
Personal (0) _______ are no more. They have been replaced with a much more (1) _______version called
virtual assistants (VAs). VAs do not work in big city offices dressed in (2) _______black suits. Nor do they
work exclusively for one (3) _______. The VA works from home and may help to run the lives of up to 30
business people simultaneously. They are self-employed and (4) _______ by the hour allowing great
flexibility on both sides. VAs have more equality than (5) _______ PAs; they have customers rather than
bosses.
There are a few disadvantages to the job; you work alone all day and so have no colleagues to chat to over
coffee and you can (6) _______ the social interaction. But on the plus side no day is ever the same. There is
no boring routine or rigid (7) _______ and the variety of jobs you might be asked to do means it is never
(8) _______.
Clients who employ a VA benefit from being able to outsource. Their VA can do the tasks they don’t
have time to do: typing, filing, (9) _______ flights, uploading a blackberry and even (10) _______ to
clients. VAs are perfect for the self-employed and small businesses, they don’t need annual (11) _______
and can be (12) _______ for one-off days or weeks.
0. A. assistants В. helpers С. supporters D. colleagues
1. A. free B. flexible C. adjustable D. rigid
2. A. informal B. smart C. neat D. clean
3. A. chief B. leader C. boss D. director
4. A. charged B. earned C. rewarded D. paid
5. A. traditional B. old C. original D. ancient
6. A. lose B. lack C. forget D. miss
7. A. agenda B. diary C. timetable D. journal
8. A. still B. slow C. regular D. dull
9. A. ordering B. finding out C. booking D. paying
10. A. talking B. discussing C. telling D. explaining
11. A. salaries B. pay C. wages D. money
12. A. used B. employed C. borrowed D. worked
Your answers:

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12.

Part 2: Fill each of the following numbered blanks with ONE suitable word. Write your answers in the
corresponding numbered boxes.
Getting on with people

Most of us have to cope with the everyday world, whether or not we go out to a full time job. Even a trip
to the supermarket brings us (1) _______ against people who could easily upset our equilibrium. There
are those who jumps the (2) _______, bash us with their trolleys or block the gangways with (3) _______
thought for those who want to get past. The secret of stress – free shopping, (4) _______ with all other
aspects of getting along with people, must surely lie within ourselves.

(5) _______ considerate you may be yourself, you are constantly faced by tired or neurotic folk who
cannot, or will not, play their (6) _______ in making life as easy and pleasant as possible. Some people
simply do not care how much trouble they cause. They have probably been subjected to (7 ) _______
unkindness themselves that they get a perverse pleasure (8) _______ of being difficult. They
subconsciously believe that they deserve to suffer and they invite friction when there is no need for it.
“I’m not happy”, they seem to think, “so why should anyone else be?”

I think we should avoid nervous tension as far as (9) _______ by disregarding most of the offensive
behaviour we encounter in everyday life. (10) _______ someone bang your leg with their supermarket
trolley, you can shout at them or (11) _______ them an angry stare, or you can take no notice, try to
ignore the pain, and remind

(12) _______ that there must have been occasions when you have accidentally hurt someone with a
trolley. If you take the latter opinion, you will go on your way of feeling more relaxed than if you flared
up angrily.

Your answers:
 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12.

Part 3: Read the following passage and choose the best answer (A, B, C, or D) for each question. Write
your answer in the numbered boxes.
"Group Decision Making"

Advantages of Group Decision Making

Committees, task forces, and ad hoc groups are frequently assigned to identify and recommend decision
alternatives or, in some cases, to actually make important decisions. In essence, a group is a tool that can
focus the experience and expertise of several people on a particular problem or situation. Thus, a group
offers the advantage of greater total knowledge. Groups accumulate more information, knowledge, and
facts than individuals and often consider more alternatives. Each person in the group is able to draw on
his or her unique education, experience, insights, and other resources and contribute those to the group.
The varied backgrounds, training levels, and expertise of group members also help overcome tunnel
vision by enabling the group to view the problem in more than one way.

Participation in group decision making usually leads to higher member satisfaction. People tend to accept
a decision more readily and to be better satisfied with it when they have participated in making that
decision. In addition, people will better understand and be more committed to a decision in which they
have had a say than to a decision made for them. As a result, such a decision is more likely to be
implemented successfully

Disadvantages of Group Decision Making

While groups have many potential benefits, we all know that they can also be frustrating. One obvious
disadvantage of group decision making is the time required to make a decision. The time needed for
group discussion and the associated compromising and selecting of a decision alternative can be
considerable. Time costs money, so a waste of time becomes a disadvantage if a decision made by a
group could have been made just as effectively by an individual working alone. Consequently, group
decisions should be avoided when speed and efficiency are the primary considerations.

A second disadvantage is that the group discussion may be dominated by an individual or subgroup.
Effectiveness can be reduced if one individual, such as the group leader, dominates the discussion by
talking too much or being closed to other points of view. Some group leaders try to control the group and
provide the major input. Such dominance can stifle other group members' willingness to participate and
could cause decision alternatives to be ignored or overlooked. All group members need to be encouraged
and permitted to contribute.
Another disadvantage of group decision making is that members may be less concerned with the group's
goals than with their own personal goals. They may become so sidetracked in trying to win an argument
that they forget about group performance. On the other hand, a group may try too hard to compromise and
consequently may not make optimal decisions. Sometimes this stems from the desire to maintain
friendships and avoid disagreements. Often groups exert tremendous social pressure on individuals to
conform to established or expected patterns of behavior. Especially when they are dealing with important
and controversial issues, interacting groups may be prone to a phenomenon called groupthink.

Groupthink is an agreement-at-any-cost mentality that results in ineffective group decision making. It

occurs when groups are highly cohesive, have highly directive leaders, are insulated so they have no clear
ways to get objective information, and-because they lack outside information-have little hope that a better
solution might be found than the one proposed by the leader or other influential group members. These
conditions foster the illusion that the group is invulnerable, right, and more moral than outsiders. They
also encourage the development of self-appointed "mind guards" who bring pressure on dissenters. In
such situations, decisions-often important decisions-are made without consideration of alternative frames
or alternative options. It is difficult to imagine conditions more conducive to poor decision making and
wrong decisions.

Recent research indicates that groupthink may also result when group members have preconceived ideas
about how a problem should be solved. Under these conditions, the team may not examine a full range of
decision alternatives, or it may discount or avoid information that threatens its preconceived choice.

1. In paragraph 1, the author states that groups frequently do which of the following?
A. Generate more options than individuals B. Agree on the way that the problem should be
approached
C. Make recommendations instead of decisions D. Are chosen to participate because of their
experience
2. According to paragraph 2, why do group decisions tend to be more successful?
A. When more people are involved, there are more ideas from which to choose.
B. People are more accepting of decisions when they have been involved in them.
C. Implementing ideas is easier with a large number of people to help.
D. People like to be participants in decisions that are successful.
3. The word “Consequently” in the passage is closest in meaning to
A. About now B. Without doubt C. Before long D. As a result
4. According to paragraph 3, why can group discussion be problematic?
 A. It takes more time for a group to arrive at a decision.
B. Individual decisions are always more effective.
C. It costs more to pay all of the group members.
D. Interaction among group members can be a problem.
5. What can be inferred about a group leader?
A. A good leader will provide goals for the group to consider and vote on.
B. Expectations for group behavior must be presented by the group leader.
C. A group leader should be the dominant member of the group.
D. The purpose of the leader is to facilitate the participation of all of the members.
6. The word “controversial” in the passage is closest in meaning to
A. accepted B. debatable C. recent D. complicated
7. According to paragraph 5, how does the author explain compromise in a group?
A. The group may try to make a better decision by compromising.
B. A compromise may be the best way to encourage groupthink.
C. Compromising may allow the group members to remain friends.
D. To compromise can help 0ne member to reach a personal goal
8. The phrase the one in the passage refers to
A. solution B. information C. hope D. leader
9. What does the term "mind guards" refer to?
A. People who conform to the group opinion without thinking
B. Group members who try to force others to agree with the group
C. Members of the group who are the most ethical and influential
D. Those people who disagree without offering an alternative view
10. According to paragraph 6, why are alternative solutions often rejected in groupthink?
A. Dissenters exert pressure on the group. B. Group leaders are not very creative.
C. Information is not made available. D. The group is usually right.
Your answers

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
Part 4: Read the following passage and answer questions 1-14
Worldly Wealth

Can the future population of the world enjoy a comfortable lifestyle, with possessions, space
and mobility, without crippling the environment?
The world's population is expected to stabilize at around nine billion. Will it be possible for nine billion
people to have the lifestyle enjoyed today only by the wealthy? One school of thought says no: not only
should the majority of the world's people resign themselves to poverty forever, but rich nations must also
revert to simpler lifestyles in order to save the planet.
Admittedly, there may be political or social barriers to achieving a rich world. But in fact there seems to
be no insuperable physical or ecological reason why nine billion people should not achieve a comfortable
lifestyle, using technology only slightly more advanced than that which we now possess. In thinking
about the future of civilization, we ought to start by asking what people want. The evidence demonstrates
that as people get richer they want a greater range of personal technology, they want lots of room
(preferably near or in natural surroundings) and they want greater speed in travel. More possessions, more
space, more mobility.
In the developed world, the personal technologies of the wealthy, including telephones, washing
machines and ears, have become necessities within a generation or two. Increasing productivity that
results in decreasing costs for such goods has been responsible for the greatest gains in the standard of
living, and there is every reason to believe that this will continue.
As affluence grows, the amount of energy and raw- materials used for production of machinery will
therefore escalate. But this need not mean an end to the machine age. Rather than being thrown away,
materials from old machinery can be recycled by manufacturers. And long before all fossil fuels are
exhausted, their rising prices may compel industrial society not only to become more energy efficient but
also to find alternative energy sources sufficient for the demands of an advanced technological
civilization nuclear fission, nuclear fusion, solar energy, chemical photosynthesis, geothermal, biomass or
some yet unknown source of energy.
The growth of cities and suburbs is often seen as a threat to the environment. However, in fact the
increasing amount of land consumed by agriculture is a far greater danger than urban sprawl. Stopping the
growth of farms is the best way to preserve many of the world's remaining wild areas. But is a dramatic
downsizing of farmland possible? Thanks to the growth of agricultural productivity, reforestation and ‘re-
wilding’ has been under way in the industrial countries for generations. Since 1950 more land in the US
has been set aside in parks than has been occupied by urban and suburban growth. And much of what was
farmland in the nineteenth century is now forest again. Taking the best Iowa maize growers as the norm
for world food productivity, it has been calculated that less than a tenth of present cropland could support
a population of 10 billion.
In The Environment Game, a vision of a utopia that would be at once high-tech and environmentalist,
Nigel Calder suggested that ‘nourishing but unpalatable primary food produced by industrial techniques -
like yeast from petroleum may be fed to animals, so that we can continue to eat our customary meat, eggs,
milk, butter, and cheese and so that people in underdeveloped countries can have adequate supplies of
animal protein for the first time.'
In the long run, tissue-cloning techniques could be used to grow desired portions of meat by themselves.
Once their DNA has been extracted to create cow less steaks and chicken less drumsticks, domesticated
species of livestock, bred for millennia to be stupid or to have grotesquely enhanced traits, should be
allowed to become extinct, except for a few specimens in zoos. However, game such as wild deer, rabbits
and wild ducks will be ever more abundant as farms revert to wilderness, so this could supplement the
laboratory-grown meat in the diets of tomorrow's affluent.
With rising personal incomes come rising expectations of mobility. This is another luxury of today’s rich
that could become a necessity of tomorrow’s global population - particularly if its members choose to live
widely dispersed in a post - agrarian wilderness. In his recent book Free Flight, James Fallows, a pilot as
well as a writer, describes serious attempts by both state and private entrepreneurs in the USA to promote
an ‘air taxi' system within the price range of today’s middle class and perhaps tomorrow’s global
population.
Two of the chief obstacles to the science fiction fantasy of the personal plane or hover car are price and
danger. While technological improvements are driving prices down, piloting an aircraft in three
dimensions is still more difficult than driving a car in two, and pilot error causes more fatalities than
driver error. But before long our aircraft and cars will be piloted by computers which are never tired or
stressed.
So perhaps there are some grounds for optimism when viewing the future of civilization. With the help of
technology, and without putting serious strains on the global environment, possessions, space and
mobility can be achieved for all the projected population of the world.
Questions 1-6
Do the following statements agree with the claims of the writer in the reading passage?
In boxes 1-6, 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

1. Today's wealthy people ignore the fact that millions are living in poverty.
2. There are reasons why the future population of the world may not enjoy a comfortable lifestyle.
3. The first thing to consider when planning for the future is environmental protection.
4. As manufactured goods get cheaper, people will benefit more from them.
5. It may be possible to find new types of raw materials for use in the production of machinery.
6. The rising prices of fossil fuels may bring some benefits.
Your answers

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Questions 7-12
Complete the summary below.
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in the corresponding numbered boxes.
Space for an increased population
According to the writer, the use of land for (7) _______ is the most serious threat to the environment.
However, in the US, there has already been an increase in the amount of land used for (8)
_______, forests. Far less land would be required to feed the world's population if the (9) _______ of the
land could be improved worldwide. It has also been claimed that the industrial production of animal foods
could allow greater access to animal (10) _______ by the entire world’s population.
Scientists could use (11) _______ from domesticated animals to help produce meat by tissue cloning, and
these species could then be allowed to die out. In addition to this type of meat, (12)_______will also be
widely available.
Questions 13-14
Choose the correct answer, A. B, C or D
Write your answers in the corresponding numbered boxes.
13. Greater mobility may be a feature of the future because of changes in
A. the location of housing. B. patterns of employment.
C. centres of transport. D. the distribution of wealth.
14. Air transport will be safe because of
A. new types of aircraft. B. better training methods.
C. three-dimensional models. D. improved technology.

Your answers:

7. 8. 9. 10.

11. 12. 13. 14.