PART 1: THINKING VISUALLY

PART 2: READING COMPREHENSION

READING PASSAGE 1: Read and answer the questions below.

The ancient Greeks and the Chinese believed that we first clothed our bodies for some physical
reason, such as protecting ourselves from the elements. Ethnologists and psychologists have
invoked psychological reasons: modesty, taboo, magical influence, or the desire to please.
Anthropological research indicates that the function of the earliest clothing was to carry objects.
Our hunting-gathering ancestors had to travel great distances to obtain food. For the male
hunters, carrying was much easier if they were wearing simple belts or animal skins from which
they could hang weapons and tools. For the female gatherers, more elaborate carrying devices
were necessary. Women had to transport collected food back to the settlement and also had to
carry babies, so they required bags or slings.

Another function of early clothing—providing comfort and protection-probably developed at the

same time as a utility. As human beings multiplied and spread out from the warm lands in which
they evolved they covered their bodies more and more to maintain body warmth. Today, we still
dress to maintain warmth and to carry objects in our clothes. And like our hunting-gathering
ancestors, most men still carry things on their person, as if they still needed to keep their arms
free for hunting, while women tend to have a separate bag for carrying as if they were still food-
gatherers. But these two functions of clothing are only two of many uses to which we put the
garments that we wear today.

There is a clear distinction between attire that constitutes "clothing" and attire that is more aptly
termed "costume." We might say that clothing has to do with covering the body. and costume
concerns the choice of a particular form of garment for a particular purpose. Clothing depends
primarily on such physical conditions as climate, health, and textile, while costume reflects
social factors such as personal status, religious beliefs, aesthetics, and the wish to be
distinguished from or to EMULATE others.
Even in early human history, costume fulfilled a function beyond that of simple utility. Costume
helped to impose authority or inspire fear. A chieftain's costume embodied attributes expressing
his power, while a warrior's costume enhanced his physical superiority and suggested he was
superhuman. Costume often had a magical significance such as investing humans with the
attributes of other creatures through the addition of trinkets to identify the wearer with animals,
gods, or heroes. In more recent times, the professional or administrative costume is designed to
distinguish the wearer and to express personal or delegated authority. Costume communicates
the status of the wearer, and with very few exceptions, the aim is to display as high a status as
possible. Costume denotes power, and since power is often equated with wealth, the costume has
conic to be an expression of social class and material prosperity.

A uniform is a type of costume that serves the important function of displaying membership in a
group: school, sports team. occupation. or aimed force. Military uniform denotes rank and is
intended not only to express group membership but also to protect the body and to intimidate. A
soldier's uniform says. "I am part of a powerful machine, and when you deal with me, you deal
with my whole organization" Uniforms are immediate beacons of power and authority. If a
person needs to display power—a police officer, for example- then the body can be virtually
transformed. Height can be exaggerated with protective headgear. thick clothing can make the
body look broader and stronger, and boots can enhance the power of the legs. Uniforms also
convey low social status; at the bottom of the scale, the uniform of the prisoner denotes
membership in the society of convicted criminals.

Religious costume signifies spiritual or superhuman authority and possesses a significance that
identifies the wearer with a belief or god. A successful clergy has always displayed Impressive
investments of one kind or another that clearly demonstrate the religious leader’s dominant
status.

1. By skimming the passage, this can be from a/an _________ ?

A. encyclopedia
B. travel brochure
C. national geography book
D. business insider
2. According to the passage, some of the psychological motivations for wearing garments are as
follows?

A. the desire to please

B. the availability of materials
C. prevention of illness
D. protection from cold weather

3. Which of the following excerpt from paragraph 2 indicates a pattern of cohesion

A. Another function of early clothing—providing comfort and protection-probably

developed at the same time as a utility.
B. As human beings multiplied and spread out from the warm lands in which they evolved
they covered their bodies more and more to maintain body warmth. Today, we still dress
to maintain warmth and to carry objects in our clothes.
C. And like our hunting-gathering ancestors, most men still carry things on their person, as
if they still needed to keep their arms free for hunting, while women tend to have a
separate bag for carrying as if they were still food-gatherers.
D. But these two functions of clothing are only two of many uses to which we put the
garments that we wear today.

4. Which cohesive pattern indicates compare and contrast?

A. Distinction
B. Termed
C. We might say
D. Distinguished

5. What is the main idea of paragraph 3?

A. We like clothing to fit our bodies well, but different costumes fit differently depending on
the purpose.
B. Clothes have a physical function, whereas costume serves a personal, social, or
psychological purpose.
C. Both clothing and costume types of attire, but it is often difficult to distinguish between
them.
D. People spend more time choosing special costumes than they do in selecting everyday
clothing.

6. The word EMULATE in paragraph 3 is closest in meaning to?

 A. imitate
B. inoculate
C. eradicate
D. postulate

7. A signpost indicating a spatio-temporal relationship in paragraph 4; ________

Costume communicates the status of the wearer, and with very few exceptions, the aim is to
display as high a status as possible.

A. of the wearer
B. and with very few
C. the aim is to
D. as high a status as

Questions 8-10: Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS.

The pattern of cohesion of the whole passage is (8) ___________. because it shows the
distinction between (9) _________; dressing for pleasure while (10) __________ refers to
defending our body from harmful weather.

READING PASSAGE 2 : Read the passage and answer the following questions.

PARAGRAPH 1. For as long as we have had academic writing, academics have complained
about the writing skills of students. Students are expected to write research papers and academic
reports with a high degree of formality and professionalism. There is a practical reason for this;
professional writing skills are necessary for many different types of jobs. Casual syntax,
abbreviations, misspellings, and slang are tolerated only in informal settings.

PARAGRAPH 2. Today’s students arguably write more frequently than any previous generation.
Young adults spend a significant portion of their time using electronically mediated
communication, such as texting or tweeting. The informal, slang-filled style of writing often used
on social media is not acceptable in professional or academic writing. Unfortunately, many
students end up using casual language in their papers. Is this simply a mistake, or does it indicate
some dastardly warping of one’s writing ability due to social media?
PARAGRAPH 3. In simple terms, the Internet does influence the way people speak and write—
as does every other form of media. Language is always evolving. One of the ways speech
changes is with the introduction of new vocabulary. There’s quite a lot of new vocabulary
introduced through digital media. The early days of the Internet and texting spawned numerous
acronyms. An acronym is a lexical term for when the first letter of each word in a phrase
becomes shorthand for the entire phrase. When communicating in texts and on social media,
BTW, FTW, and IDK are stand-ins for “by the way,” “for the win,” and “I don’t know.”

PARAGRAPH 4. There are many other examples of this sort of simplification of language.
Sometimes acronyms are incorporated into speech. Examples of this include ASAP and RSVP. It
is less common to hear LOL, BRB, or other text-speak in speech, but it still happens, particularly
among young people. Amusingly, this same phenomenon occurred decades prior. Style guides
on professional writing from the 1940s and 1950s decried the overuse of acronyms like ASAP
and RSVP—especially the “unnatural” sounding use of them in spoken language!

PARAGRAPH 5. Other new words taken directly from Internet communication include trolling,
friending, unfriending, and selfies, which was the Oxford Dictionary’s Word of the Year in 2013.
There are also entirely new phrases like I can’t even, which indicates being overwhelmed. Many
new phrases come directly from Internet blogs, tweets, and videos that have gone viral. The
verbal phrase to go viral is itself another example of new terminology derived from the
Internet. New, clever words have always entered the English language—the speed of digital
communication simply means that more of them become commonplace quickly. Digital media
makes the life cycle of slang much shorter. A clever new word used to survive for a few years;
now, new slang can be invented, popularized, and disappear over a few short months.

PARAGRAPH 6. One study from 2013, conducted by the Pew Research Center, found that teens
who use digital technologies are more likely to use informal language in school papers. Does this
really mean that digital technology harms your writing skills, or does it just indicate that
spending more time on social media means that you are spending less time writing papers?
Students on Twitter, Tumblr, and other sites are likely writing more nowadays than people did in
the past, but their ability to construct a formal sentence is not any better for it. Linguistics has a
term—register—which describes the particular language used in a certain place and time.
Students are getting a great deal of practice writing in the register of informal social media, but
need to be more meticulous writing in a formal, academic register.

PARAGRAPH 7. Another problem is that, despite what your English teachers may have told
you, appropriate professional and academic English is also changing frequently. I snuck an
example in a few sentences ago. Henry Fowler, one of the early 20th century’s most respected
authors on the subject of English style and usage, absolutely hated the idea of using the word
meticulous to mean “careful.” The proper meaning, he insisted, was “fearful,” after its French
origins. Fowler went one way, while the rest of the world chose to use the word in its modern,
commonly accepted form. The point is that all language changes, even the professional. Students
have a broader audience than ever for their writing. Digital technologies allow students to
collaborate, edit, and revise more easily than ever before. Students simply need more practice
with the register of academic and professional writing. That will prove more helpful than any
amount of faculty complaining.

1. What is the best summary of the main idea of the introduction?

A. Academics complain about having to teach writing skills.

B. Informal language is sometimes OK in academic writing.
C. Academic and professional writing skills are the same.
D. Academic writing skills are difficult for students to acquire.

2. By skimming the passage, this can be from a/an _________ ?

A. scientific article
B. academic essay
C. informal blog
D. short story

3. According to the author, digital technologies _______.

A. are directly to blame for casual writing in student papers

B. have decreased the amount of writing people do in their daily lives
C. can help students collaborate, edit, and revise their writing
D. prevent students from writing in an academic register

4. In what ways does the Internet influence language, according to the passage?

A. It introduces and popularizes new vocabulary quickly.

B. It simplifies and ruins people’s ability to write.
C. It makes language change more slowly.
D. It simplifies speech and improves written grammar.

5. Which cohesion pattern does paragraph 3 belong to?

 A. Spatio-temporal
B. Spatial-cohesion
C. Temporal cohesion
D. Continuum

6. Why are the words more and really italicized in Paragraph 6?

A. to show they are part of a title

B. to show sarcasm
C. to quote speech
D. to emphasize the words

7. What pattern of cohesion does the passage belong to?

A. Compare and Contrast

B. Cause and Effect
C. Problem and Solution
D. Chronology

Question 8 & 9. Write NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS

8. By skimming and scanning the text, which is a book or can be an online resource?
____________

9. Which cohesive device in paragraph 2 indicates a problem in the pattern of cohesion?

________