PRACTICE 1- JULY 2021

LISTENING
Section 1: You will hear part of a radio programme about hypnotism. For questions 1 – 10, fill in each blank with
NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS or A NUMBER to complete the sentences
Dr. Anton Mesmer took his new form of treatment to Paris in (1)_______________________.
 Mesmerism was used to cure conditions such as deafness, rheumatism and (2)_________________.
 Patients were treated in dark rooms, sitting in (3)____________________.
 The English (4)___________________, James Braid, coined the word ‘hypnotism’ in 1841.
 Hypnotists use a swinging watch to (5)_________________the left of the brain.
 Watches, magnets and pictures of (6)__________________have all been used as props.
 Hypnotherapists say they can help people who want to overcome (7)_________________or
(8)________________.
 Hypnosis is particularly useful with problems which are (9)_________________in origin such as stomach
problems, skin disorders and (10)____________________.

Section 2: You are going to hear a conversation between Richard and Louise. As you listen, indicate whether the
statements are True (T) or False (F).
 Richard does most of the washing up in his family.
 Richard’s father makes him clean his shoes.
 Louise doesn’t mind shopping for food.
 Louise prefers to wait for her grandparents to visit her.
 Louise’s father cleans the car himself.
Section 3. You will hear a guide speaking to tourists who are visiting some Romans remains. Listen and give
short answers to the questions. Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER taken from the
recording.
1. When did the Romans first come to the Corbridge area?
_________________________________________________________________________
2. Why did the Romans built a series of forts and strongholds?
_________________________________________________________________________
3. What did people begin to search for in 1201?
_________________________________________________________________________
4. How often have archaeological digs taken place since 1934?
_________________________________________________________________________
5. What are the two things that visitors should pay attention to?
_________________________________________________________________________
Section 4: You will hear an interview in which two young entrepreneurs – Chloe Price, who sells skincare
products online, and Martin Moore, who is a distributor of snack foods – are talking about their work. For
questions 1 – 5, choose the answer which fits best according to what you hear. Write your answers in the
corresponding numbered boxes.
1. Chloe attributes her success as an entrepreneur to her
A. Exposure to unconventional business concepts. B.Willingness to take risks.
C.Ability to benefit from experience. D. Natural flair for money management.
2. Chloe thinks the greatest benefit new technology has brought her is in
A. Being able to promote her products through friends.
B. Encouraging interaction with consumers.
C. Reducing her ongoing business expenditure.
D. Enabling her to manage her time more effectively.
3. What does Martin say about finding work in the food industry?
A. It was a long-held ambition. B.It was something he soon regretted.
C.It happened by chance. D.It followed naturally from his studies.
4. Martin’s choice of product to distribute was based on his belief that
A. It was a quality item. B. It was effectively marketed.
C.It was part of a well-established brand. D. It was endorsed by famous people.
5. Both Chloe and Martin have been surprised by the importance in their work of
A. Collaborative decision-making. B. Paying attention to detail.
C.Securing sound financial backing. D. A total commitment to the enterprise.
LEXICO-GRAMMAR
Part 1. Choose the best option A, B, C, or D to complete the following sentences
1. According to the _____ of the contract, tenants must give six months’ notice if they intend to live.
A. laws B. rules C. terms D. details
2. No one could contemplate fame these days without knowing beforehand of its _____.
a. laisez-faire B. outburst C. insight D. downside
3. Books taken from the short _____ section are due to be returned the next day.
A. borrowing B. credit C. loan D. return
4. She was so undisciplined and disobedient that, as the manager, I just had to put my _____ down.
A. stamp B. shoe C. fist D. foot

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5. When Wilson’s company was hit by the recession, he decided to take early _____.
A. redundancy B. retirement C. resignation D. redeployment
6. I am sure your husband-to-be will lend you a _____ ear when you explain the situation to him.
A. merciful B. compassionate C. pitiful D. sympathetic
7. The whereabouts of the exiled president remains a _____ guarded secret.
A. highly B. closely C. deeply D. entirely
8. It’s a shame to fall out so badly with your own _____.
A. heart to heart B. flesh and blood C. heart and soul D. skin and bone
9. Life’s very easy for you. You were born with a _____ spoon in your mouth.
A. silver B. golden C. bronze D. diamond
10. There has been a lot of _____ surrounding the government’s proposed scheme.
A. controversy B. consent C. conformity D. consequence
11. You can’t bury your head _____ and hope that this problem goes away, you know.
A. in the mud B. in the pool C. in the sand D. in the water
12. Fiona’s offered to help you. Don’t ask why – never look a gift _____ in the mouth.
A. horse B. cow C. deer D. dog
13. Sandra’s unpleasant _____ suggested that she knew about Amanda’s terrible secret.
A. grimace B. smirk C. wince D. snort
14. Few people can do creative work unless they are in the right _____ of mind.
A. frame B. trend C. attitude D. tendency
15. He was arrested for trying to pass _____ notes at the bank.
A. camouflaged B. fake C. counterfeit D. fraudulent
16. This fabric has the _____ of silk but it’s very cheap.
A. stroke B. substance C. friction D. texture
17. I threw some biscuit _____ on the ground and a whole load of pigeons swooped down and started eating them.
A. grains B. specks C. flakes D. crumbs
18. The insects looked and tasted so horrible, I _____ with disgust as I tried to force them down.
A. gloated B. grinned C. grimaced D. chuckled
19. Going down white-water rapids in a canoe must be extremely _____! Does your heart start beating really fast?
A. trivial B. mundane C. sedentary D. exhilarating
20. Was it always an _____ of yours to play for France?
A. urge B. adoration C. anticipation D. aspiration
*21. ______, we missed our plane.
A. The train is late B. The train was late
C. To be late D. The train being late
22. I really cannot believe that anyone would ______ to such underhand tactics.
A. dabble B. stoop C. reach D. conceive
23. Dominant individuals may use ______ gestures to underline their power.
A. submissive B. expansive C. flirtatious D. nervous
24. Andrew’s ______ was to only tell his mother bad news when she was busy so that she would have less chance to
react.
A. tactics B. intent C. ploy D. threat
25. A sharp frost ______ the beginning of winter.
A. advertised B. predicted C. heralded D. showed
26. The old man led a ______ existence after she left and refused even to see his children.
A. reclusive B. deserted C. remote D. vacant
27. We may win, we may lose – it’s just the luck of the _______.
A. chance B. draw C. odds D. fate
28. They’re having serious problems. Their relationship is on the _______.
A. cliffs B. rocks C. stones D. grass
29. The renewed interest in Elizabethan times is evident in the _______ of new Hollywood films set during that period.
A. spate B. hypocrisy C. transience D. demise
30. The car was _______ speed.
A. gathering B. collecting C. consuming D. firing
*31. He was absolutely _______with anger when he found that I had scratched his car.
A. burned B. carmine C. fickle D. livid
32. The real test of your relationship will come when you start to see your boyfriend ______ and all.
A. faults B. spots C. moles D. warts
33. We are making an ______ effort to increase production.
A. all out B. altogether C. all in D. all together
34. We were able to present the latest film by Steven Spielberg only______ the Film Academy.
A. by courtesy of B. according to C. on behalf of D. in accordance with
35. We should all _______ when advertisers attempt to use unfair practices.
A. make a stand B. make a deal C. make amends D. make a comeback
36. The princess’s nanny’s autobiography really gives the _______ on life among the royals.
A. know-how B. low-down C. look-out D. show-down
37. The new tax policy has ________ a lot of anger and dissatisfaction.

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 A. devised B. evoked C. originated D. provoked
39. I don't think Paul will ever get married — he's the stereotypical _______ bachelor.
A. settled B. confirmed C. fixed D. determined
40. All the members of the board were __________ themselves to please the Chairperson.
A. falling over B. jumping over C. carrying off D. coming about
41. He ________ a yawn as the actor began yet another long speech.
A. squashed B. suffocated C. submerged D. stifled
42. In ______ to them, it wasn't their fault that the party went so badly.
A. fairness B. justice C. recognition D. sympathy
43. As we were in an urgent need of syringes and other medical equipment, the aid organization promised to deliver them
_______ the double.
A. at B. in C. with D. round
44. I’ve yet_______ a person as his father.
A. to have known such generous B. to know as generous
C. knowing as generous D. been knowing such generous
45. Did you see Jonathan this morning? He looked like__. It must have been quite a party last night!
A. a bear with a sore head B. death warmed up
C. dead duck D. a wet blanket
46. The difference between the polar and equatorial diameters of Mars has not been unequivocally determined.
A. easily B. definitely C. conventionally D. arithmetically
47. Don’t call Pam just now. Something has gone wrong with the computer; she’s ______ because she can’t get the data
she needs.
A. in a stew B. out of a rut C. in the swim D. under the sink
48. Many athletes have reached their ________ by the time they are twenty.
A. summit B. top C. point D. peak
49. The escaped prisoner fought _________ before he was finally overpowered.
A. head over heels B. tooth and nail C. heart and soul D. foot and mouth
50. The actor was so nervous that he could only remember small ________ of dialogue.
A. shreds B. pieces C. patches D. snatches
Part 2. Complete each sentence with one suitable particle or preposition.
1. It’s not fair. You’re always picking _____ me.
2. You look very guilty. What have you been getting _____ _____?
3. My parents are not interrupted in modern music. They are _____ the times.
4. At that time they were poor, and they went _____ a difficult time.
5. He gained ascendancy _____ all his main rivals.
6. We have to go _____ our work right now, or we won’t finish it on time.
7. The two trains came _____ ten metres of collision.
8. The skyscraper stands out _____ the blue sky.
9. I got _____ the Arts Faculty at the University of London to study history.
10. As the detective stories become popular once again, the publishing house decides to bring _____ a new edition of
Christie’s work.
* 11. George always falls __________ girls with blonde hair.
12. She will come __________ to the idea of buying a bigger house if we explain all the advantages.
13. If you cut __________ the field, you will save time.
14. Jane carried __________ her part in the play without difficulty.
15. A wet cloth helped to bring the unconscious man __________ .

Part 3. Write the correct form of the words given in the brackets.
A/ BECOMING A PARENT
Very little in our lives prepares us for ____________ (1. parent). Suddenly, your life is turned upside down and
all sorts of __________ (2. familiar) demands are replaced on you. How we ourselves were treated by our parents in our
_____________ (3. young) can have an ______________ (4. appreciate) effect on who we become as parents. Our
own _____ (5. observe) of how our parents responded to us creates a model of parenting that is ______________ (6.
intimate) connected to the kind of parents we become. It’s not uncommon for people to show the same child-rearing
______________ (7. character) as their own parents. If your father was an _____________ (8. sympathy) figure who
always seemed too busy to care about how you felt, then there’s a chance you will repeat the same behavior. If your
mother was utterly __________ (9. self) in her devotion to her children, there’s a chance that you too will be equally
giving and do all that is _____________ (10. human) possible for your offspring.
B/
There is little to disagree about in the notion that a good voice, whether in opera or rock music, is one which moves its
audience and brings a sense of release and (1. FULFIL) _____________ to the singer. But contemporary pop and rock
music have come about due to (2. SUBSTANCE) _____________ advances in technology. Here, the impact of the
microphone should not be (3. ESTIMATE) _____________, as it has enabled the (4. MAGNIFY) _______________ of
quiet, intimate sounds. This, in turn, allows the singer to experiment with the emphasis on mood rather than on strict (5.
ADHERE) _______________ to proper breathing and voice control. Donna Soto - Morettin, a rock and jazz vocal trainer,
feels that (6. ANATOMY) __________ reasons may account for the raspy sound produced by certain rock singers. Her
(7. SUSPECT) ____________ is that swollen vocal chords, which do not close properly, may allow singers to produce

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deeper notes. She does not, however, regard this as detracting (8. NOTICABLE) ______________ from the value of the
sound produced. Singing, she maintains, has an almost (9. SEDUCE) ___________ quality and so our response to it has
more (10. SIGNIFY) ____________ than its technical qualities.
*C/
1. Falling coffee prices have __________ many Third World economies. POOR
2. My friends started going out late to night clubs so I decided to ____ myself from the group. SOCIAL
3. There is little hope that Maurice’s behavior will ever improve. It will probably remain so_____till he grows up.
CORRECT
4. Some people create a(n) ________ and rebel against the traditional way of life. CULTURE
5. The doctor gave him an injection to _______ the pain. DIE
6. The policy was _______ a failure. JUDGE
7. Research has proved that certain types of meditation can decrease key stress symptoms such as anxiety and
__________. IRRITATE
8. One of the main aims of the organization is to provide _______ aid to the refugees. HUMAN
9. Patients are said to have more stamina, a happier ______and even enjoy better relationships. DISPOSE
10. The main __________ of pension equality so far have been men. BENEFIT
READING COMPREHENSION
Part 1. Read the following passage and decide which answer (A, B, C, or D) best fits each gap.
It only (1)_______ the completion of the reconstruction of the human genetic map for a whole host of hereditary diseases
to be (2)_______ . Originally, it was forecast that the venture would take until the beginning of the 21st century to be (3)
_______. At present, it is clear that the task can be finished much earlier.
Hundreds of scholars have gone to (4)_______ to help unravel the mystery of the human genetic structure with
an ardent hope for insulating mankind from disorders such as cancer, cystic fibrosis or arthritis.
The progress in this incredible undertaking is (5) _______ by an accurate interpretation of the information
involved in the chromosomes forming the trillions of the cell in the human body. Locating and characterizing every single
gene may (6) _______ an implausible assignment, but very considerable (7)_______ has already been made. What we
know by now is that the hereditary code is assembled in DNA, some parts of which may be diseased and conducive to be
uncontrollable transmission of the damaged code from parents to their children.
Whereas work at the completion of the human genome may last for a few years more, notions like gene
therapy or genetic engineering don’t (8)_______ much surprise any longer. Their potential application has already been
(9)_______ in the effective struggle against many viruses or in the genetic treatment of blood disorders. The hopes are,
then, that hundreds of maladies the humanity is (10)_______ with at present might eventually cease to exist in the not too
distant future.
1. A. expects B. anticipates C. requires D. remains
2. A. eradicated B. interfered C. terminated D. disrupted
3. A. dismantled B. discharged C. accomplished D. exterminated
4. A. maximum B. extremes C. supreme D. utmost
5. A. dependent B. reliant C. qualified D. conditioned
6. A. perceive B. hear C. voice D. sound
7. A. headline B. headway C. heading D. headship
8. A. evoke B. institute C. discharge D. encourage
9. A. examined B. inquired C. corroborated D. accounted
10. A. aggravated B. plagued C. persecuted D. teased
B/ A Great Composer
The classical composer Ernst Hoffsberger, who passed away earlier this week, truly 1.______ the world of contemporary
classical music and was a great 2._______of inspiration to a whole generation of 3.________young artists in various
fields. In many ways his three symphonies completely 4.________ the achievements of all other composers of the late
twentieth century and by 5.______ the classical genre with jazz, rock and latterly hip-hop, his work at times bore little
6._______ to what is commonly considered to be a classical sound. Born in California just after the Second World War,
Hoffsberger had a strict religious 7.________during which he was taught classical piano by his father. He first found work
as a(n) 8._________ journalist, playing and composing music in his free time. During the late sixties, he worked together
in 9._______ with a number of other amateur musicians before finally 10._______ professional with the first public
performance of his inspirational Tenor Sax Concerto in 1971. From then on, throughout the seventies and eighties, each
new work seemed to surpass the limits of the orchestral medium and also helped to bring classical music to a wider
audience. What many people consider Hoffsberger's defining quality that kept his music fresh and original was that he
never lost the human touch which gave him the ability to sit down and jam with musicians and artists from all walks of life.

1. A revolutionised B restored C renovated D refurbished

2. A form B kind C source D outlet
3. A branching B budding C blooming D bursting
4. A overcame B overshadowed C overturned D overwhelmed
5. A adjoining B attaching C co-joining D fusing
6. A similarity B familiarity C resemblance D identification
7. A family B background C childhood D upbringing

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 8. A non-contract B off-the-books C freelance D odd-job
9. A collaboration B combination C coordination D contribution
10. A taking B getting C making D turning

Part 2. Read the following text and fill in the blank with ONE suitable word.
A/ The majority of lottery winners change their lives (1) _______ little, and continue on their settled way happy ever after.
A couple of years ago, a Mr. David won a million. He had been struggling to (2) _______ a success of his dry cleaning
shop for the past 12 months. He accepted his cheque in a small ceremony (3) _______ the premises at 2.30, and by
three o’clock he had reopened for business. The reaction of Mr. Pasquale Consalvo who won $30 million in the New York
state lottery was very (4) _______.He was unhappy not to be able to fulfill his desire to go to work as (5) _______ on the
day he won. He also said that if the money made him (6) _______ he would give it back. In fact, the chances of his life
being made a misery by his new-found wealth are almost (7) _______ slim though not quite as the sixty million-to-one
odds he beat to take a jackpot (8) _______ had remained unclaimed through six previous draws. Gambling small
amounts (9) _______ the lottery is a harmless if futile hobby. (10) _______, gambling can become an addition,
increasingly so as the activity becomes socially acceptable.
B/ How can I cope better with stress?
Recent research found that having higher levels of self-esteem, a more positive way of explaining why things happen,
and avoiding perfectionist thinking were strongly 1._________ to bouncing back when things go wrong.
To begin with, according to Dr Judith Johnson self-esteem was shown to be 2. __________ in two thirds of the studies in
mediating the link between failure and distress. All we need to do is write a list of our positive qualities and examples of
when we have 3. _______them.
Secondly, how we explain things also 4.______. If we can brush off a disappointment by 5.____________ it to external
factors, then we have the equivalent of emotional armour.
Finally, if we have perfectionist tendencies, lower them. Perfectionists hold rigid standards that don’t bend in the stormy 6.
_________of life. Johnson says we need to set more realistic 7. ___________.
She also advises self-awareness and noticing when we are stressed. If you feel stuck, do something that 8._________
you up. You need to plan these things into a schedule – doing them will chip away at your negative 9. ________, even if
you do enjoy them a bit less than usual. Other research shows that the 10. __________ of friends or family also helps
emotional resilience, as does being physically active.
C/
For over two hundred years, scholars have shown an interest in the way children learn to speak and understand their first
language. Several small-scale studies were carried out, especially towards the end of the nineteenth century, using data
(1) ____________ in parental diaries. But detailed, systematic investigation did not begin (2) ____________ the middle
decades of the twentieth century, when the tape recorder (3) ____________ into routine use. This made it possible to
keep a permanent record of samples of child speech, so that analysts could listen repeatedly to obscure (4)
____________ , and thereby (5) ____________ a detailed and accurate description. The problems that have to be
tacked when investigating child speech are quite different from (6) ______________-encountered when working with
adults. It is not possible to carry out (7) ____________ kinds of experiments, because (8) ____________ of children’s
cognitive development, such as their ability to pay attention or to remember instructions, may not be sufficiently
advanced. (9) ____________ is it easy to get children to (10) ____________ systematic judgments about language - a
(11) ____________ that is virtually impossible below the age of three. Moreover, anyone who has tried to (12)
____________ a tape recording of a representative (13) ____________ of a child’s speech knows how frustrating this
can be. Some children, it seems, are (14) ____________ programmed to switch off as soon as they notice a tape
recorder (15) ____________ switched on.
Part 3. Read the following passage and circle the best answer to each of the following questions.
A/ The first scientific attempt at coaxing moisture from a cloud was in 1946, when scientist Vincent Schaefer
dropped 3 pounds of dry ice from an airplane into a cloud and, to his delight, produced snow. The success of the
experiment was modest, but it spawned optimism among farmers and ranchers around the country. It seemed to them
that science had finally triumphed over weather.
Unfortunately, it didn’t work out that way. Although there were many cloud-seeding operations, during the late
1940s and the 1950s, no one could say whether they had any effect on precipitation. Cloud seeding, or weather
modification as it came to be called, was dearly more complicated than had been thought. It was not until the early 1970s
that enough experiments had been done to understand the processes involved. What these studies indicated was that
only certain types of clouds are amenable to seeding. One of the most responsive is the winter orographic cloud, formed
when air currents encounter a mountain slope and rise. If the temperature in such a cloud is right, seeding can increase
snow yield by 10 to 20 percent.
There are two major methods of weather modification. In one method, silver iodide is burned in propane-fired ground
generators. The smoke rises into the clouds where the tiny silver-iodide particles act as nuclei for the formation of ice
crystals. The alternate system uses airplanes to deliver dry-ice pellets. Dry ice does not provide ice-forming nuclei.
Instead, it lowers the temperature near the water droplets in the clouds so that they freeze instantly—a process called
spontaneous nucleation. Seeding from aircraft is more efficient but also more expensive.
About 75 percent of all weather modification in the United States takes place in the Western states. With the
population of the West growing rapidly, few regions of the world require more water. About 85 percent of the waters in the
rivers of the West comes from melted snow. As one expert put it, the water problems of the future may make the energy
problems of the 70s seem like child’s play to solve. That’s why the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, along with state
governments, municipal water districts, and private interests such as ski areas and agricultural cooperatives, is putting
increased effort into cloud-seeding efforts. Without consistent and heavy snowfalls in the Rockies and Sierras, the West
would literally dry up. The most intensive efforts to produce precipitation was during the West’s disastrous snow drought
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of 1976-77. It is impossible to judge the efficiency of weather modification based on one crash program, but most experts
think that such hurry-up programs are not very effective.
1. What is the main subject of the passage?
A. The scientific contributions of Vincent Schaefer B. Developments in methods of increasing precipitation
C. The process by which snow crystals form D. The effects of cloud seeding
2. The word spawned in paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to _____.
A. intensified B. reduced C. preceded D. created
3. Which of the following can be inferred from the passage about the term weather modification?
A. It is not as old as the term cloud seeding. B. It has been in use since at least 1946.
C. It refers to only one type of cloud seeding. D. It was first used by Vincent Schaefer.
4. According to the passage, winter orographic clouds are formed _____.
A. on relatively warm winter days B. over large bodies of water
C. during intense snow storms D. when air currents rise over mountains
5. To which of the following does the word they in paragraph 3 refer?
A. Water droplets B. Clouds C. Ice-forming nuclei D. Airplanes
6. When clouds are seeded from the ground, what actually causes ice crystals to form?
A. Propane B. Silver-iodide smoke C. Dry-ice pellets D. Nuclear radiation
7. Clouds would most likely be seeded from airplanes when _____.
A. it is important to save money B. the process of spontaneous nucleation cannot be employed
C. the production of precipitation must be efficient D. temperatures are lower than usual
8. What does the author imply about the energy problems of the 1970s?
A. They were caused by a lack of water. B. They took attention away from water problems.
C. They may not be as critical as water problems will be in the future.
D. They were thought to be minor at the time but turned out to be serious.
9. The author mentions agricultural cooperatives (paragraph 4) as an example of _____.
A. state government agencies B. private interests
C. organizations that compete with ski areas for water D. municipal water districts
10. It can be inferred from, the passage that the weather-modification project of 1976-77 was _____.
A. put together quickly B. a complete failure
C. not necessary D. easy to evaluate
B/
COMEDIANS
What drives moderately intelligent persons to put themselves up for acceptance or disparagement? In short, what sort
of individual wants to be a comedian? When we hear the very word, what does the label suggest? Other professions,
callings and occupations attract separate and distinct types of practitioner. Some stereotypes are so familiar as to be
cheaply laughable examples from the world of travesty, among them absent-minded professors, venal lawyers, gloomy
detectives and cynical reporters. But what corny characteristics do we attribute to comedians? To a man or woman, are
they generally parsimonious, vulgar, shallow, arrogant, introspective, hysterically insecure, smug, autocratic, amoral, and
selfish? Read their superficial stories in the tabloids and so they would appear.
Rather than look at the complete image, perhaps we need to explore the initial motives behind a choice of career.
Consider first those who prefer a sort of anonymity in life, the ones who’d rather wear a uniform. The psychological make-
up of individuals who actively seek to resign their individuality is apparent among those who surrender to the discipline of
a military life. The emotional and intellectual course taken by those who are drawn to anonymity is easily observed but not
easily deflected. They want to be told what to do and then be required to do it over and over again in the safety of a
routine, often behind the disguises of a number of livery. If their egos ache with the need for recognition and praise, it’s a
pain that must be contained, frustrated or satisfied within the rut they occupy. The mere idea of standing up in front of an
audience and demanding attention is abhorrent.
Nor will we find our comics among the doormats and dormice, the meek. There’s precious little comedy in the lives of
quiet hobbyists, bashful scholars, hermits, anchorites and recluses, the discreet and the modest, ones who deliberately
select a position of obscurity and seclusion. Abiding quietly in this stratum of society, somewhere well below public
attention level, there is humor, yes, since humor can endure in the least favorable circumstances, persisting like lichen in
Antarctica. And jokes. Many lesser known comedy writers compose their material in the secret corners of an unassuming
existence. I know of two, both content to be minor figures in the civil service, who send in topical jokes to radio and TV
shows on condition that their real names are not revealed.
In both cases I've noticed that their comic invention, though clever, is based upon wordplay, puns and similar
equivoques, never an aggressive comic observation of life. Just as there may be a certain sterility in the self-effacement
of a humble life, so it seems feasible that the selection process of what’s funny is emasculated before it even
commences. If you have no ginger and snap in your daily round, with little familiarity with strong emotions, it seems likely
that your sense of fun will be limited by timidity to a simple juggling with language.
If the comedian’s genesis is unlikely to be founded in social submission, it’s also improbable among the top echelons of
our civilization. Once again, humor can be found among the majestic. Nobles and royals, statesmen and lawmakers, have
their wits. Jokes and jokers circulate at the loftiest level of every advanced nation, but being high-born seems to carry no
compulsion to make the hoi polloi laugh. Some of our rulers do make us laugh but that’s not what they’re paid to do.
And, so with the constricted comedy of those who live a constricted life, that which amuses them may lack the common
touch.
Having eliminated the parts of society unlikely to breed funnymen, it’s to the middle ranks of humanity, beneath the
exalted and above the invisible, that we must look to see where comics come from and why. And are they, like nurses

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and nuns, called to their vocation? As the mountain calls to the mountaineer and the pentameter to the poet, does the
need of the mirthless masses summon forth funsters, ready to administer relief as their sole raison d’etre? We’ve often
heard it said that someone’s a ‘born comedian’ but will it do for all of them or even most of them? Perhaps we like to think
of our greatest jesters as we do our greatest painters and composers, preferring to believe that their gifts are inescapably
driven to expression. But in our exploration of the comedy mind, hopefully finding some such, we are sure to find some
quite otherwise.
1. What does the writer imply about comedians in the first paragraph?
A. People in certain other professions generally have a better image than them.
B. It is harder to generalise about them than about people in other professions.
C. They often cannot understand why people make negative judgements of them.
D. It is possible that they are seen as possessing only negative characteristics.
2. The writer says that people at the top of society......
A. are unaware of how ridiculous they appear to others.
B. would not be capable of becoming comedians even if they wanted to.
C. take themselves too seriously to wish to amuse anybody.
D. have contempt for the humour of those at lower levels of society.
3. Which word/phrase can be a substitution for “the hoi polloi”?
A. the eliete B. the mass media C. ordinary people D. the showbitz
4. What does the writer say about people who wear uniforms?
A. The desires they have are never met when they are at work.
B. They are more aware of their inadequacies than others may think.
C. They criticise performers for craving attention.
D. It is unusual for them to break their normal patterns of thought.
5. In the fourth paragraph, the writer criticises the kind of comedy he describes for its lack of......
A. spirit. B. originality. C. sophistication. D. coherence.
C/ A DANCER'S LOT
1. All across London, they emerge from underground stations and buses; bags slung over their shoulders and taut
stomachs beneath thick winter overcoats. Nobody recognises them, as they head for freezing upstairs rooms in tatty
gymnasiums or slink into backstage theatre doors, even though they appear regularly in sold-out musicals and favourite
television shows. They earn precious little, even those who perform live with famous singers, and have no real prospects,
doing what they're doing, despite having hustled and sweated themselves to the heights of one of Britain’s most
demanding professions. But still they go, every morning, to their grim upstairs rooms in gyms and their backstreet,
backstage doors, to dance.
2. Most have left behind worried parents in faraway towns and villages; made repeated promises to look after themselves
and taken trains, in their late teenage years, for London. There's much to despise about the city, where talent and a
reptilian grade of resilience, although prerequisites, provide no guarantee of success. Even auditions are becoming rare.
Conscious of deadlines and financial constraints, choreographers call in talent from the blessed pool of their own chosen.
If you aren’t the right height, don’t have the right face, hair or sartorial style, then don’t expect a look in. Although
choreographers occasionally seek out the beautiful, they’re mostly instructed to hunt the bland: those least likely to
outshine the stars. And, as many dancers will tell you, it's getting to the point where mediocrity is acceptable; there'll be
someone over there out of sync, someone over there who can't hold her arm still.
3. And if they get a part, increasingly dancers are turning up for jobs where the choreographer just stands there and
works them endlessly, fingers clicking: 'Again, again, again'. As one dancer Melanie Grace says, 'You dance for the love
and the canteen - and the pay's lousy. But you have to ignore it, keep your head down. You're in London now. You’re one
of many; one of nothing. The sooner you accept that, the better you'll get on. Of the fleets of talented dancers who try,
only a quarter make it, the rest simply can't process the ruthlessness - to dance in London is hard on the soul.
4. Yet most of the dancers have agents, who you might think would negotiate a better fee or conditions for their dancers,
but no. You’ll never meet a dancer who thinks their agent deserves their twenty percent cut of the fee. Mostly you’ll just
get a text or email notifying you of an audition and a single agent might have as many as two hundred dancers on their
books. As Melanie says,‘It's catch-22, because you won't hear about the auditions without one.’ Here’s the job, take it or
leave it, and if you leave it, they’ll just hire someone straight out of college and pay them even less.
5. Oh, the annual churn of the colleges. The dancers hear it constantly, the sound of the machine in the distance, its
ceaselessly grinding gears that, with every coming year; push out hundreds of new dancers, each one younger and
hungrier and less jaded than you. And with every release of fresh limbs into the stew of the city, things get harder. The
worst thing the kids can do is accept a job for no pay. They do it all the time. One website has become notorious for
television and pop-video production companies scrounging for trained people to work for nothing but‘exposure’. And if
the youngsters are fresh out of dance school, despairing of their blank CV and craving the love of those ranks of sparkle-
eyed strangers, they'll leap at the chance. It's the reason things are getting harder How to describe the London dance
scene today? The word Melanie chooses is ‘savage’.
1. In the first paragraph, the writer paints a picture of dancers who are.....
A. careful not to be recognised by fans in the street.
B. hoping to find work on stage alongside established stars.
C. deserving of the fame they have achieved.
D. unlikely to be making further advances in their careers.
2. What is implied about choreographers in the third paragraph?
A. They dislike it when dancers criticise each other.
B. They are sensitive to the pressures that dancers are under.

7
 C. They are intolerant of dancers who make mistakes.
D. They expect dancers to do as they are told.
3. In the text as a whole, the writer is suggesting that dancers in London.....
A. should be rewarded for dedication and perseverance.
B. have to regard the experience as useful for the future.
C. have to accept the realities of a competitive industry.
D. should demand much better pay and working conditions.
4. The word ‘scrounging’ is closest in meaning to.....
A. seeking B. demanding C. begging D. training
5. What point is made about agents in the fourth paragraph?
A. Dancers are largely satisfied with their service.
B. They tend to represent only the less experienced dancers.
C. They make every effort to get the best deal for dancers.
D. Most dancers recognize that they are essential.
Part 5. Read the following text and do the tasks that follow.
A. The modern world is increasingly populated by quasi-intelligent gizmos whose presence we barely notice but whose
creeping ubiquity has removed much human drudgery. Our factories hum to the rhythm of robot assembly arms. Our
banking is done at automated teller terminals that thank us with rote politeness for the transaction. Our subway trains are
controlled by tireless robot-drivers. Our mine shafts are dug by automated moles, and our nuclear accidents-such as
those at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl-are cleaned up by robotic muckers fit to withstand radiation.
Such is the scope of uses envisioned by Karel Capek, the Czech playwright who coined the term 'robot' in 1920 (the word
'robota' means 'forced labor' in Czech). As progress accelerates, the experimental becomes the exploitable at record
pace.
B. Other innovations promise to extend the abilities of human operators. Thanks to the incessant miniaturization of
electronics and micromechanics, there are already robot systems that can perform some kinds of brain and bone surgery
with sub millimeter accuracy-far greater precision than highly skilled physicians can achieve with their hands alone. At the
same time, techniques of long-distance control will keep people even farther from hazard. In 1994 a ten-foot tall NASA
robotic explorer called Dante, with video-camera eyes and with spiderlike legs, scrambled over the menacing rim of an
Alaskan volcano while technicians 2,000 miles away in California watched the scene by satellite and controlled Dante's
descent.
C. But if robots are to reach the next stage of labour-saving utility, they will have to operate with less human supervision
and be able to make at least a few decisions for themselves-goals that pose a formidable challenge, 'while we know how
to tell a robot to handle a specific error,' says one expert, we can't yet give a robot enough common sense to reliably
interact with a dynamic world.' Indeed the quest for true artificial intelligence (AI) has produced very mixed results.
Despite a spasm of initial optimism in the 1960s and 1970s, when it appeared that transistor circuits and microprocessors
might be able to perform in the same way as the human brain by the 21 st century, researchers lately have extended their
forecasts by decades if not centuries.
D. What they found, in attempting to model thought, is that the human brain's roughly one hundred billion neurons are
much more talented-and human perception far more complicated-than previously imagined. They have built robots that
can recognize the misalignment of a machine panel by a fraction of a millimeter in a controlled factory environment. But
the human mind can glimpse a rapidly changing scene and immediately disregard the 98 per cent that is irrelevant,
instantaneously focusing on the woodchuck at the side of a winding forest road or the single suspicious face in a
tumultuous crowd. The most advanced computer systems on Earth can't approach that kind of ability, and neuroscientists
still don't know quite how we do it.
E. Nonetheless, as information theorists, neuroscientists, and computer experts pool their talents, they are finding ways to
get some lifelike intelligence from robots. One method renounces the linear, logical structure of conventional electronic
circuits in favour of the messy, ad hoc arrangement of a real brain's neurons. These 'neural networks' do not have to be
programmed. They can 'teach' themselves by a system of feedback signals that reinforce electrical pathways that
produced correct responses and, conversely, wipe out connections that produced errors. Eventually the net wires itself
into a system that can pronounce certain words or distinguish certain shapes.
F. In other areas researchers are struggling to fashion a more natural relationship between people and robots in the
expectation that someday machines will take on some tasks now done by humans in, say, nursing homes. This is
particularly important in Japan, where the percentage of elderly citizens is rapidly increasing. So experiments at the
Science University of Tokyo have created a 'face robot' -a life-size, soft plastic model of a female head with a video
camera imbedded in the left eye-as a prototype. The researchers' goal is to create robots that people feel comfortable
around. They are concentrating on the face because they believe facial expressions are the most important way to
transfer emotional messages. We read those messages by interpreting expressions to decide whether a person is happy,
frightened, angry, or nervous. Thus the Japanese robot is designed to detect emotions in the person it is 'looking at' by
sensing changes in the spatial arrangement of the person's eyes, nose, eyebrows, and mouth. It compares those
configurations with a database of standard facial expressions and guesses the emotion. The robot then uses an
ensemble of tiny pressure pads to adjust its plastic face into an appropriate emotional response.
G. Other labs are taking a different approach, one that doesn’t try to mimic human intelligence or emotions. Just as
computer design has moved away from one central mainframe in favour of myriad individual workstations- and single
processors have been replaced by arrays of smaller units that break a big problem into parts that are solved
simultaneously- many experts are now investigating whether swarms of semi-smart robots can generate a collective
intelligence that is greater than the sum of its parts. That’s what beehives and ant colonies do, and several teams are

8
betting that legions of mini-critters working together like an ant colony could be sent to explore the climate of planets or to
inspect pipes in dangerous industrial situations.
For questions 1-7, choose the correct heading for paragraphs A- G. There are three extra headings that you do
not need to use.
List of headings Your answers
i. Some success has resulted from observing how the brain functions. 1. Paragraph A: ___viii___
ii. Are we expecting too much from one robot? 2. Paragraph B: ___vi___
iii. Scientists are examining the humanistic possibilities. 3. Paragraph C: ___vii(not iv)___
iv. There are judgments that robots cannot make. 4. Paragraph D: ___iv(not i)___
v. Has the power of robots become too great? 5. Paragraph E: ___i(not iii)___
vi. Human skills have been heightened with the help of robotics. 6. Paragraph F: ___iii(not x)___
vii. There are some things we prefer the brain to control. 7. Paragraph G: ___ii___
viii. Robots have quietly infiltrated our lives.
ix. Original predictions have been revised.
x. Another approach meets the same result.

For question 8-10, complete the summary below with words taken from the passage. Use NO MORE THAN
THREE WORDS for each answer.
The prototype of the Japanese “face robot” observes humans through a (8) ______video camera______ which is planted
in its head. It then refers to a (9) ______database______ of typical “looks” that the human face can have, to decide what
emotion the person is feeling. To respond to this expression, the robot alters its own expression using a number of (10)
______tiny pressure pads______.

Part 5: Read the following passage and choose the best answer to each question.
Conquest by Patent
Patents are a form of intellectual property rights often touted as a means to give 'incentive and reward' to inventors. But
they're also a cause for massive protests by farmers, numerous lawsuits by transnational corporations and indigenous
peoples, and countless rallies and declarations by members of civil society.It is impossible to understand why they can
have all these effects unless you first recognize that patents are about the control of technology and the protection of
competitive advantage.
Lessons from history
In the 1760s, the Englishman Richard Arkwright invented the water-powered spinning frame, a machine destined to bring
cotton-spinning out of the home and into the factory. It was an invention which made Britain a world-class power in the
manufacture of cloth. To protect its competitive advantage and ensure the market for manufactured cloth in British
colonies, Parliament enacted a series of restrictive measures including the prohibition of the export of Arkwright
machinery or the emigration of any workers who had worked in factories using it. From 1774 on, those caught sending
Arkwright machines or workers abroad from England were subject to fines and 12 years in jail.
In 1790, Samuel Slater, who had worked for years in the Arkwright mills, left England for the New World disguised as a
farmer. He thereby enabled the production of commercial-grade cotton cloth in the New World and put the US firmly on
the road to the Industrial Revolution and economic independence. Slater was highly rewarded for his achievement. He is
still deemed the 'father of American manufacturing'. To the English, however, he was an intellectual property thief.
Interestingly, patent protection was a part of US law at the time of Slater's deed. But that protection would only extend to
US innovations. It is worth remembering that until the 1970s it was understood, even accepted that countries only
enforced those patent protections that served their national interest. When the young United States pirated the intellectual
property of Europe - and Slater wasn't the only infringer - people in the US saw the theft as a justifiable response to
England's refusal to transfer its technology.
By the early 1970s, the situation had changed. US industry demanded greater protection for its idea-based products -
such as computers and biotechnology - for which it still held the worldwide lead. Intellectual property rights held the key.
And so, together with its like-minded industrial allies, the US pushed for the inclusion of intellectual property clauses,
including standards for patents, in international trade agreements.
When US business groups explained the 'need' for patents and trademarks in trade agreements, they alleged $40-60
billion losses due to intellectual property piracy; they blamed the losses on Third World pirates; they discussed how piracy
undermined the incentive to invest; and they claimed that the quality of pirated products was lower than the real thing and
was costing lives.
The opposition pointed out that many of the products made in the industrial world, almost all its food crops and a high
percentage of its medicines had originated in plant and animal germplasm taken from the developing world. First,
knowledge of the material and how to use it was stolen, and later the material itself was taken. For all this, they said,
barely a cent of royalties had been paid. Such unacknowledged and uncompensated appropriation they named 'biopiracy'
and they reasoned that trade agreement patent rules were likely to facilitate more theft of their genetic materials.Their
claim that materials 'collected' in the developing world were stolen, elicited a counter-claim that these were 'natural' or
'raw' materials and therefore did not qualify for patents. This in turn induced a counter-explanation that such materials
were not 'raw' but rather the result of millennia of study, selection, protection, conservation, development and refinement
by communities of Majority World and indigenous peoples.
Others pointed out that trade agreements which forced the adoption of unsuitable notions of property and creativity - not
to mention an intolerable commercial relationship to nature - were not only insulting but also exceedingly costly. To a
developing world whose creations might not qualify for patents and royalties, there was first of all the cost of unrealized
profit. Secondly, there was the cost of added expense for goods from the industrialized world. For most of the people on
9
the planet, the whole patenting process would lead to greater and greater indebtness; for them, the trade agreements
would amount to “conquest by patents” – no matter what the purported commercial benefits.
Intellectual property*: an invention or composition that belongs to the person who created it.
1. According to paragraph 1, what is the real reason for patents to exist?
A. protests B. lawsuits C. prizes D. control
2. Which of the sentences below best expresses the information in the highlighted statement in the passage?
A. Among the laws to protect Britain from competition in the textile industry was a ban on exporting Arkwright equipment
and on emigration of former employees.
B. Former employees of Arkwright could not leave the country because they might provide information about the
company to competing factories.
C. The reason that Britain passed laws to prevent emigration was to keep employees in the textile mills from leaving their
jobs to work in other countries.
D. Parliament passed laws to ensure that the price of textiles was kept in high in spite of competition from the former
British colonies who were exporting cloth.
3. In paragraph 3, how does the author explain the concept of technological transfer?
A. By recounting how Samuel Slater, an American farmer established a successful textile mill in Great Britain.
B. By describing how Samuel Slater used workers from Britain to develop the textile industry in the United States.
C. By exposing how Samuel Slater stole ideas and technology from one nation to introduce them in another.
D. By demonstrating how Samuel Slater used the laws to his advantage in order to transfer technology.
4. The word “innovations” in the passage is closest in meaning to
A. discoveries B. exceptions C. Disputes D. territories
5. How did the perspective of industrialists in the United States change in the 1970s?
A. They favored free exchange of technology. B. They supported the protection of patents.
C. They refused to sign international trade agreements. D. They began to collaborate with Third World nations.
6. How did industrialized nations justify using plants and animals from the developing world for food and medicine
products?
A. They claimed that the plant and animal sources were raw materials that could not be patented.
B. They asserted that the original plant and animal materials were found in their own nations.
C. They paid a large royalty for the use of plants and animals that were not original to their countries.
D. They stated that they had manufactured a higher quality of products than the competition.
7. Based on the information in paragraph 7, which of the following best explains the term “biopiracy”?
A. A conspiracy by farmers B. The theft of plants and animals
C. Secret trade agreements D. Natural resources in the biosphere
8. The word “facilitate” in the passage is closest in meaning to
A. permit B. assist C. require D. delay
9. The word “notion” in the passage is closest in meaning to
A. customs B. records C. property D. ideas
10. Why does the author call this article “Conquest by Patents”?
A. Because most trade agreements are unfair to developing nations
B. Because patents cost too much money for developing nations
C. Because industrialized countries do not pay their debts to developing nations
D. Because natural resources are a source of power for developing nations
Part 6: Read the following passage and do the tasks that follow
Wealth in A Cold Climate
Latitude is crucial to a nation's economic strength.
A Dr William Masters was reading a book about mosquitoes when inspiration struck. “There was this anecdote about
the great yellow-fever epidemic that hit Philadelphia in 1793," Masters recalls. “This epidemic decimated the city until
the first frost came." The inclement weather froze out the insects, allowing Philadelphia to recover.
B If weather could be the key to a city's fortunes. Masters thought, then why not to the historical fortunes of nations?
And could frost lie at the heart of one of the most enduring economic mysteries of all - why are almost all the wealthy,
industrialised nations to be found at latitudes above 40 degrees? After two years of research, he thinks that he has
found a piece of the puzzle. Masters, an agricultural economist from Purdue University in Indiana, and Margaret
McMillan at Tufts University, Boston, show that annual frosts are among the factors that distinguish rich nations from
poor ones. Their study is published this month in the Journal of Economic Growth. The pair speculate that cold snaps
have two main benefits - they freeze pests that would otherwise destroy crops, and also freeze organisms, such as
mosquitoes, that carry disease. The result is agricultural abundance and a big workforce.
C The academics took two sets of information. The first was average income for countries, the second climate data from
the University of East Anglia. They found a curious tally between the sets. Countries having five or more frosty days a
month are uniformly rich, those with fewer than five are impoverished. The authors speculate that the five-day figure
is important; it could be the minimum time needed to kill pests in the soil. Masters says: “For example, Finland is a
small country that is growing quickly, but Bolivia is a small country that isn't growing at all. Perhaps climate has
something to do with that." In fact, limited frosts bring huge benefits to farmers. The chills kill insects or render them
inactive; cold weather slows the break-up of plant and animal material in the soil, allowing it to become richer; and
frosts ensure a build-up of moisture in the ground for spring, reducing dependence on seasonal rains. There are
exceptions to the “cold equals rich" argument. There are well-heeled tropical places such as Hong Kong and
Singapore, a result of their superior trading positions. Likewise, not all European countries are moneyed - in the
former communist colonies, economic potential was crushed by politics.

10
D Masters stresses that climate will never be the overriding factor - the wealth of nations is too complicated to be
attributable to just one factor. Climate, he feels, somehow combines with other factors - such as the presence of
institutions, including governments, and access to trading routes - to determine whether a country will do well.
Traditionally, Masters says, economists thought that institutions had the biggest effect on the economy, because they
brought order to a country in the form of, for example, laws and property rights. With order, so the thinking went,
came affluence. “But there are some problems that even countries with institutions have not been able to get around,”
he says. “My feeling is that, as countries get richer, they get better institutions. And the accumulation of wealth and
improvement in governing institutions are both helped by a favourable environment, including climate.”
E This does not mean, he insists, that tropical countries are beyond economic help and destined to remain penniless.
Instead, richer countries should change the way in which foreign aid is given. Instead of aid being geared towards
improving governance, it should be spent on technology to improve agriculture and to combat disease. Masters cites
one example: “There are regions in India that have been provided with irrigation - agricultural productivity has gone
up and there has been an improvement in health.” Supplying vaccines against tropical diseases and developing crop
varieties that can grow in the tropics would break the poverty cycle.
F Other minds have applied themselves to the split between poor and rich nations, citing anthropological, climatic and
zoological reasons for why temperate nations are the most affluent. In 350BC, Aristotle observed that “those who live
in a cold climate ... are full of spirit”. Jared Diamond, from the University of California at Los Angeles, pointed out in
his book Guns, Germs and Steel that Eurasia is broadly aligned east-west, while Africa and the Americas are aligned
north-south. So, in Europe, crops can spread quickly across latitudes because climates are similar. One of the first
domesticated crops, einkorn wheat, spread quickly from the Middle East into Europe; it took twice as long for com to
spread from Mexico to what is now the eastern United States. This easy movement along similar latitudes in Eurasia
would also have meant a faster dissemination of other technologies such as the wheel and writing, Diamond
speculates. The region also boasted domesticated livestock, which could provide meat, wool and motive power in the
fields. Blessed with such natural advantages, Eurasia was bound to take off economically.
G John Gallup and Jeffrey Sachs, two US economists, have also pointed out striking correlations between the
geographical location of countries and their wealth. They note that tropical countries between 23.45 degrees north
and south of the equator are nearly all poor. In an article for the Harvard International Review, they concluded that
“development surely seems to favour the temperate-zone economies, especially those in the northern hemisphere,
and those that have managed to avoid both socialism and the ravages of war”. But Masters cautions against
geographical determinism, the idea that tropical countries are beyond hope: “Human health and agriculture can be
made better through scientific and technological research," he says, “so we shouldn’t be writing off these countries.
Take Singapore: without air conditioning, it wouldn’t be rich.”
Questions 1-6
Choose the most suitable heading for paragraphs A-G from the list of headings below. Write the appropriate
number, i-x, in boxes 1-6 on your answer sheet.
Example answer List of Headings
Paragraph A: iii i. The positive correlation between climate and wealth
1. Paragraph B ii. Other factors besides climate that influence wealth
2. Paragraph C iii. Inspiration from reading a book
3. Paragraph D iv. Other researchers’ results do not rule out exceptional cases
4. Paragraph E v. Different attributes between Eurasia and Africa
5. Paragraph F vi. Low temperature benefits people and crops
6. Paragraph G vii. The importance of institution in traditional views
viii. The spread of crops in Europe, Asia and other places
ix. The best way to use aid
x. Confusions and exceptions
Questions 7-10
Complete the summary below. Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.
Dr William Masters read a book saying that a(an) 7. _______which struck an American city hundreds of years ago was
terminated by a cold frost. And academics found that there is a connection between climate and country’s wealth as in the
rich but small country of Finland. Yet besides excellent surroundings and climate, one country still needs to improve their
8. ______to achieve long prosperity.
Thanks to resembling weather conditions across latitude in the continent of 9. ______, crops such as einkorn wheat is
bound to spread faster than from South America to the North. Other researchers also noted that even though geo-
graphical factors are important, tropical country such as 10. ______ still became rich due to scientific advancement.
Part 7: Read the following passage and do the tasks that follow
Stealth Forces in Weight Loss
The field of weight loss is like the ancient fable about the blind men and the elephant. Each man investigates a different
part of the animal and reports back, only to discover their findings are bafflingly incompatible.
A The various findings by public-health experts, physicians, psychologists, geneticists, molecular biologists, and
nutritionists are about as similar as an elephant’s tusk is to its tail. Some say obesity largely predetermined by our
genes and biology; others attribute it to an overabundance of fries, soda, and screen-sucking; still others think we’re
fat because of viral infection, insulin, or the metabolic conditions we encountered in the womb. “Everyone subscribes
to their own little theory, says Rob Berkowitz, medical director of the Center for Weight and Eating Disorders at the
University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. We’re programmed to hang onto the fat we have, and some people
are predisposed to create and carry more fat than others. Diet and exercise help, but in the end the solution will
inevitably be more complicated than pushing away the plate and going for a walk. “It’s not as simple as ‘You’re fat
11
 because you’re lazy,”’ says Nikhil Dhurandhar, an associate professor at Pennington Biomedical Research Center in
Baton Rouge. “Willpower is not a prerogative of thin people. It’s distributed equally.”
B Science may still be years away from giving us a miracle formula for fat-loss. Hormone leptin is a crucial player in the
brain’s weight-management circuitry. Some people produce too little leptin; others become desensitised to it. And
when obese people lose weight, their leptin levels plummet along with their metabolism. The body becomes more
efficient at using fuel and conserving fat, which makes it tough to keep the weight off. Obese dieters’ bodies go into a
state of chronic hunger, a feeling Rudolph Leibel, an obesity researcher at Columbia University, compares to thirst.
“Some people might be able to tolerate chronic thirst, but the majority couldn’t stand it,” says Leibel. “Is that a
behavioural problem - a lack of willpower? I don’t think so.”
C The government has long espoused moderate daily exercise – of the evening-walk or take-the-stairs variety – but that
may not do much to budge the needle on the scale. A 150-pound person burns only 150 calories on a half-hour walk,
the equivalent of two apples. It’s good for the heart, less so for the gut. “Radical changes are necessary,” says
Deirdre Barrett, a psychologist at Harvard Medical School and author of Waistland, “People don’t lose weight by
choosing the small fries or taking a little walk every other day.” Barrett suggests taking a cue from the members of the
National Weight Control Registry (NWCR), a self-selected group of more than 5,000 successful weight-losers who
have shed an average of 66 pounds and kept it off 5.5 years. Some registry members lost weight using low-carb
diets; some went on low fat; others eliminated refined foods. Some did it on their own; others relied on counselling.
That said, not everyone can lose 66 pounds and not everyone needs to. The goal should not be getting thin, but
getting healthy. It is enough to whittle your weight down to the low end of your set range, says Jeffrey Friedman, a
geneticist at Rockefeller University. Losing even 10 pounds vastly decreases your risk of diabetes, heart disease, and
high blood pressure. The point is to not give up just because you do not look like a swimsuit model.
D The negotiation between your genes and the environment begins on day one. Your optimal weight, writ by genes,
appears to get edited early on by conditions even before birth, inside the womb. If a woman has high blood-sugar
levels while she is pregnant, her children are more likely to be overweight or obese, according to a study of almost
10,000 mother-child pairs. Maternal diabetes may influence a child’s obesity risk through a process called metabolic
imprinting, says Teresa Hillier, an endocrinologist with Kaiser Permanente’s Center for Health Research and the
study’s lead author. The implication is clear: Weight may be established very early on, and obesity largely passed
from mother to child. Numerous studies in both animals and humans have shown that a mother’s obesity directly
increases her child’s risk for weight gain. The best advice for moms-to-be: Get fit before you get pregnant. You will
reduce your risk of complications during pregnancy and increase your chances of having a normal- weight child.
E It’s the $64,000 question: Which diets work? It got people wondering: Isn’t there a better way to diet? A study seemed
to offer an answer. The paper compared two groups of adults: those who, after eating, secreted high levels of insulin,
a hormone that sweeps blood sugar out of the bloodstream and promotes its storage as fat, and those who secreted
less. Within each group, half were put on a low-fat diet and half on a low-glycemic-load diet. On average, the low-
insulin-secreting group fared the same on both diets, losing nearly 10 pounds in the first six months - but they gained
about half of it back by the end of the 18-month study. The high-insulin group did not do as well on the low-fat plan,
losing about 4.5 pounds, and gaining back more than half by the end. But the most successful were the high-insulin-
secretors on the low-glycemic-load diet. They lost nearly 13 pounds and kept it off.
F What if your fat is caused not by diet or genes, but by germs - say, a virus? It sounds like a sci-fi horror movie, but
research suggests some dimension of the obesity epidemic may be attributable to infection by common viruses, says
Dhurandhar. The idea of “infectobesity” came to him 20 years ago when he was a young doctor treating obesity in
Bombay. He discovered that a local avian virus, SMAM-1, caused chickens to die, sickened with organ damage but
also, strangely, with lots of abdominal fat. In experiments, Dhurandhar found that SMAM-1-infected chickens became
obese on the same diet as uninfected ones, which stayed svelte.
G He later moved to the U.S. and onto a bona fide human virus, adenovirus 36 (AD-36). In the lab, every species of
animal Dhurandhar infected with the virus became obese — chickens got fat, mice got fat, even rhesus monkeys at
the zoo that picked up the virus from the environment suddenly gained 15 percent of their body weight upon
exposure. In his latest studies, Dhurandhar has isolated a gene that, when blocked from expressing itself, seems to
turn off the virus’s fattening power. Stem cells extracted from fat cells and then exposed to AD-36 reliably blossom
into fat cells - but when stem cells are exposed to an AD-36 virus with the key gene inhibited, the stems cells don’t
differentiate. The gene appears to be necessary and sufficient to trigger AD-36-related obesity, and the goal is to use
the research to create a sort of obesity vaccine.
Questions 1 - 5 |
Which paragraph contains the following information? Write the Correct letter, A-G, in boxes
NB You may use any letter more than once.
1. evaluation on the effect of weight loss on different kinds of diets
2. an example of a research which includes the relatives of the participants
3. an example of a group of people who did not regain weight immediately after
4. long term hunger may appear to be acceptable to some of the participants during the period of losing weight program
5. a continuous experiment may lead to a practical application besides diet or hereditary resort
Questions 6-10
Look at the following findings (Questions 6-10) and the list of researchers below. Match each finding with the
correct researcher, A-F.
NB You may use any letter more than once.
6. A person’s weight is determined by the interaction of his/her DNA and the List of Researchers
environment. A Robert Berkowitz
7. Pregnant mothers who are overweight may risk their fetus in gaining weight. B Rudolph Leibel

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8. The aim of losing weight should be keeping healthy rather than being attractive. C Nikhil Dhurandhar
9. Small changes in lifestyle will not help in reducing much weight. D Deirdre Barrett
10. Researchers can be divided into different groups with their own point of view E Jeffrey Friedman
about weight loss. F Teresa Hillier

PART 8: Choose which of the paragraphs A-G fit into the numbered gaps in the following magazine article. There is one
extra paragraph which does not fit in any of the gaps.
THE BOAT OF MY DREAMS
The best boat design should combine old and new, says Tom Cunliffe. And he put it into practice
in his own craft, 'The Westerman'.
This week. the Summer Boat Show in London is resplendent with fine yachts, bristling with new technology. Nearly all are
descendants of the hull-shape revolution that took place 25 years ago. By contrast, my own lies quietly on a tidal creek off
the south coast. She was designed last year but, seeing her, you might imagine her to be 100 years old and think that her
owner must be some kind of lost-soul romantic.
(1)_______
It has to be said, however, that despite being an indispensable tool in current design methods and boat-building practice,
sophisticated technology frequently insulates crews from the harsh realities of maritime life. These are often the very
realities they hoped to rediscover by going to sea in the first place.
(2)________
The occasional battle with flapping canvas is surely part of a seaman's life. And for what purpose should we abandon
common sense and move our steering positions from the security of the aft end to some vulnerable perch half-way to the
bow? The sad answer is that this creates a cabin like that of an ocean liner, with space for a bed larger than the one at
home.
(3)_________
Her sails were heavy, and she had no pumped water, no electricity to speak of, no fridge, no central heating, no winches,
and absolutely no electronics, especially in the navigation department, yet she was the kindest, easiest
boat that I have ever sailed at sea.
(4)__________
The Westerman has never disappointed me. Although Nigel Irens, the designer, and Ed Burnett, his right-hand man, are
adept with computer-assisted design programs, Irens initially drew this boat on a paper napkin, and only later transferred
his ideas to the computer. After this had generated a set of lines, he carved a model, just as boatyards did in the days of
sail. Together we considered the primary embryonic vessel, then fed the design back into the electronic box for
modification.
(5)______
Her appearance is ageless, her motion at sea is a pleasure and her accommodation, much of it in reclaimed pitch pine,
emanates an atmosphere of deep peace. Maybe this is because she was drawn purely as a sailing craft, without
reference to any furniture we might put into her. That is the well-tried method of the sea.
(6)_______
Constructed in timber treated with a penetrating glue, she is totally impervious to water. Thus she has all the benefits of a
glass fibre boat yet looks like, feels like and sails like the real thing.
Paragraphs

A. It's not that I'm suggesting that sailors should go back to enduring every hardship. It's always been important to
me that my boats have a coal stove for warmth and dryness and cosy berths for sleeping. But why go cruising at all if
every sail sets and furls itself?
B. Back on land, however, it is a sad fact that the very antiquity of classic boats means that they need a lot of looking
after. When I had a bad injury to my back, I realised that my first year love affair with her had to end. Searching for a
younger replacement produced no credible contenders, so I decided to build a new boat from scratch.
C. In her timeless serenity, she is the living proof that it works; that there is no need to follow current fashions to find
satisfaction. and that sometimes it pays to listen to the lessons of history.
D. The next version was nearly right and by the time the final one appeared, the form was perfect. The completed boat
has now crossed the North Atlantic and has won four out of her first six racing starts,
E .At the same time, having lived aboard an ancient wooden beauty in the early seventies, it's easier to understand more
of this area of the mechanics. My designer, for example, knows more about the ways of a boat on the sea than anyone I
can think of.
F. Perhaps I am, though I doubt it. This boat has benefited from all the magic of old fashioned boat design, but it would
have been a much harder job without the advances of modern know-how.
G. For me a boat should always be a boat and not a cottage on the water. When I bought an earlier boat, Hirta, in which I
circumnavigated Britain for a TV race series, the previous owner observed that she had every comfort, but no luxury.
During my long relationship with her, Hirta taught me how wise he was.
Part 9: For questions 1-16, answer by choosing from the sections of the article (A-E). Some of the choices may be
required more than once
In which section are the following mentioned?
1.a tester admitting that he did not trust any type of alarm clock
2. a tester later regretting having touched the controls
3. a tester approving of a model because of its conspicuous appearance

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4. the testers being able to operate the model without reference to the manual
5. a tester's praise for a model despite the existence of a technical fault
6. doubts about the reliability of a model because of the design of an additional feature
7. the testers feeling positive about their success in getting the model to work
8. doubts about whether anyone would wish to follow certain instructions from the manual
9. an explanation of why companies had started to make better radios
10. the intended market for the model being apparent from its design
11. a tester realising that he had drawn the wrong conclusion about a particular feature
12. the testers agreeing on the usefulness of a particular feature
13. an additional feature which made the price seem competitive
14. uncertainty over whether the radio controls had been set in the correct sequence
15. a tester's reaction to the imprecision of the alarm
16. surprise at the commercial success of a particular model

SOUND THE ALARM

Many of us listen to the radio when we get up in the morning and most of us also require some external means to
persuade us to get out of bed. Thus we have the clock radio. But how do you pick a good one? Our panel, which
consisted of myself plus the inventor Tom Granger and the broadcaster Paul Bridges, tested five currently available.
A.The 'dual alarm function' that is advertised with this model does not allow you, as I first supposed, to be woken by the
buzzer, snooze a while and then finally be driven out of bed. The instruction booklet advises you to use this function to set
two different wake-up times, one for work days and one for weekends, but whose life is programmed to this extent? Since
this model costs more or less the same as the second model tested, the inclusion of a cassette player is quite a bargain -
you can fall asleep to your own soothing tapes and wake up to a day without news. We all thought the quality of the radio
excellent, too - if only the whole thing was smaller. It's as big as a rugby ball. Paul Bridges said, 'Any clock radio I buy has
to leave enough space on the bedside table for my keys, wallet, glasses and telephone. Anyway, I'm completely paranoid
and always book a wake-up call in case the
alarm doesn't go off.'
B.This model was voted best in the beauty stakes and overall winner. Paul Bridges declared himself 'in love with it',
although the clock on the one he tested 'kept getting stuck at 16.00'. I was fascinated by the digital display, with its classy
grey numbers on a gentle green background. The wide snooze bar means you can tap it on the edge with your eyes shut.
Unfortunately, the smooth undulations and tactile buttons, like pebbles on the beach, encouraged me to run my fingers
over them as if they were keys on a piano, which proved my undoing when I finally looked at the SO-page instruction
booklet. The clock has a self-power back-up so you don't have to reset it if someone unceremoniously pulls the plug out
in order to use a hairdryer or the vacuum cleaner; this met with unanimous approval. However, we all found it a technical
feat to set up – though completing the learning curve made us feel 'cool' and sophisticated.
C.Tom Granger described this model with its extra built in lamp as 'unbelievably tacky' in the way it's made.
'You have to wrench the funny light out of its socket to get it to work, which makes me wonder about the
quality of the rest of it.' He complained that he had to read the instruction booklet twice before he could get it
to work; the clock kept leaping from 12.00 to 02.00 so he had to go round again. The light was certainly hard to position;
you would never be able to read by it - it only shines on the clock, which is illuminated anyway. Paul Bridges said he was
'very tickled' by the lamp idea but agreed that the radio was hard to tune. The buzzer is reminiscent of 'action stations' on
a submarine and made me feel like hurling the whole thing across the bedroom. Interestingly, however, this model is the
third most popular on the market.
D. Clearly aimed at young people, with its brightly coloured casing and matching bootlace strap, this one appealed to the
child in Tom Granger and me. 'I would choose this one because it doesn't disappear into the background like the others,'
he said. In fact, the traditional design of the controls made it the only one we managed to set up without reading the
instruction booklet. Too bad the alarm is allowed a hilarious 20- minute margin for error; the manual notes, 'the alarm may
sound about 10 minutes earlier or later than the pre-set time'. Paul Bridges scoffed at such a notion, adding that this
model was 'terribly fiddly' and, indeed, 'completely useless'.
E. The simplest and cheapest of all the models tested, this scored points with Tom Granger because it 'seemed
very standard and took up little space', but also because it has old-fashioned dial tuning. 'It's more intuitive to set up. With
modern push-button tuning you're never really sure if you've pressed all the buttons in the right order so you can't have
confidence that the thing will actually work.' He accepted, however, that manufacturers had been obliged to improve the
quality of radios because of the advent of button-tuning. I thought the tuning rather crude, as did Paul Bridges, but we
agreed that the radio quality was fine. The buzzer on this model certainly works; it succeeded in getting me out of bed in
just two beeps!
TEST YOURSELF
A. LISTENING
Part 1. You are going to hear a speech given at a poetry award ceremony. For questions 1-5, choose the answer
(A, B, C or D) which fits best according to what you hear. Write your answer in the space provided.
1. What significant event happened in 2006?
A. Antonia Watson won the award for the first time. B. The award was presented twice.
C. The Poetry Award was first instituted. D. The Poetry competition was cancelled.
2. The Antonia Watson Memorial Poetry Award's second prize is £ .............. .?
A. £1.500 B. £2.250 C. £500 D. £250
3. What is the relationship between Thomas and Antonia Watson?
A. He is one of Antonia Watson’s siblings. B. He is her neighbor.

14
 C. He is the close friend of Antonia Watson’s flatmate. D. He is her cousin.
4. What was the name of the first poem Antonia Watson published?
A. Be Kind B. Love Barks C. Triad Children D. Love Bird
5. What did Antonia Watson suffer from after her grandfather passed away?
A. Pneumonia B. Writer’s block
C. Overwork D. Too much stress
Part 2. You will hear a discussion between two students. For questions 6-10, listen and decide whether the
following sentences are true (T) or false (F).
6. Jess wants to start the meeting by reviewing the objectives for the project
7. Matt and Jess are planning to study old photos.
8. The plots are supposed to be 10 meters apart.
9. The bamboo sticks can be purchased at gardening centres.
10. The instructions sound complicated because there are so many squares.
Part 3. You will hear a radio interview with a spokesman from a dolphin conservation organisation. For
questions 11-15, listen and answer the following questions with NO MORE THAN FIVE WORDS. Write your
answer in the space provided.
11. According to the recording, what do we seem to feel about dolphins?
____________________________________
12. What are people believed to benefit from interacting with dolphins?
____________________________________
13. What may people want to do if they are informed about dolphins?
____________________________________
14. Why are dolphins forced to look for new homes?
____________________________________
15. What do tourists often do when dolphins surface to breathe?
____________________________________
Part 4. You will hear a piece of news. For questions 16-25, listen and complete the summary with NO MORE
THAN FOUR WORDS. Write your answer in the space provided.
T. Berry Brazelton, one of the 16. _______________ to parents and children, a pediatrician and a child psychiatrist
passed away this week, but he will be remembered most for teaching the world and especially parents about babies.
Brazelton, 17. _______________ the Baby Whisperer, became a rock star to 18. _______________ new parents. He
once told NPR's Steve Inskeep a family story that led him to be a pediatrician. He hated his younger brother because his
mother was 19. _______________ his younger brother. But his grandmother valued him, and she let him take care of all
his younger cousins, thanks to which he wanted to be just what he is - a pediatrician who works with parents. For
generations of parents, Brazelton was the expert. But when it 20. _______________, he struggled. He said he really felt
that 21. _______________ was learning from your mistakes, not from your success.
Brazelton's work we view babies and young children. During his more than 50-year career, he encouraged the world to
see them 23. _______________. Here he is in a 2010 interview.
“What I dream of is that every parent will have an opportunity to give her and his child the best future that they can dream
of and that every child will be ready to accept that and 24. _______________. there. And I think we can do that.”
T. Berry Brazelton died on 25. _______________Tuesday his 100th birthday.

B. VOCABULARY AND GRAMMAR

Part 1. Choose the word/ phrase that best completes each of the following sentences.
1. The breakwater ____________ into the sea.
A. prodded out B. jutted out C. waved out D. hollowed out
2. My house is a mile from here, as the ______________ flies, but two miles following the old road.
A. bird B. falcon C. sparrow D. crow
3. His opponent called him a traitor, which really ____________ his patriotism.
A. cast aspersions on B. dumped asperity on
C. hurled insults D. drew integrity from
4. His smirk suggested some vicious _____________, which terrified everyone at the meeting.
A. subtleties B. allusions C. insinuations D. inertia
5. Jean, have you seen the ______________ in your stocking?
A. ladder B. blade C. spade D. spatula
6. The old lady was becoming increasingly affected by ________________.
A. masculinity B. senility C. virility D. audacity
7. She does her homework on Fridays to save herself from the ____________ of having to do it during the weekend.
A. blast B. drudgery C. furnace D. callousness
8. From the result of your test, it’s evident that you were paying _______ attention to the lecture.
A. scanty B. meager C. frugal D. scant  
9. It’s curious that he _______ her to come after they had that bitter quarrel last week.
A. should ask B. would ask C. might ask D. asked
10. Arthur’s skills as a businessman are _______ to his position at the company. The boss hired him because he wanted
a regular golf partner.
A. adventurous    B. apposite C. adventitious      D. arrant  

15
Part 2. Read the text and find 5 mistakes and correct them. You should indicate in which line the mistake is.
Write your answer in the space provided.
Asking people to think of a Viking and the image they would most likely conjure upon is one of a huge, flame-haired
Norseman in a horn helmet and brandishing a battleaxe. In fact, such ideas stem from romanticized tales that took hold in
the 18th century and which have evolved into the two-dimensional caricatures we are familiar with today. They may be
captivating, but dismiss them we must. These myths have acquired such power that certain modern historians appear to
have been unable to resist turning asserts into fact, attributing purposes to relics for which there is no support, and
imposing their interpretations of ritual when there is no truly reliable record. What has to be recognized above all else is
the Vikings' technological ability in boatbuilding and navigation, to which sea-faring nations owe a debt of disgrace
whether they realize it or not.
Your answers
Number Line Mistake Correction
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Part 3. Complete each of the following sentences with a suitable preposition or particle.
1. The Vietnamese national team has clocked _______ 8 gold medals in the Martial arts events.
2. If the school reins _______its expenditure on research and development, the quality, as a whole, will be affected.
3. It’s generally agreed that the primary responsibility for the child’s education should rest_______ the family.
4. During the violent storm, the little boats strained _______ their anchors at the mercy of the breaking waves.
5. Students are demanding equal rights for men and women, and several newspapers have taken _______ their cause.
Part 4. Complete the text by writing the correct form of the word in capitals.
Our council members, a hopeless group who demonstrated remarkable (0. COMPETENCE) ___ incompetence ____ in
the design process of Hillside Road, are now busily working on plans for the rest of Bayview, again behind (1. CLOSE)
_______ doors. Only when these people finish will the public be 'invited' to submit comments, by which point none of
these will make a difference. The council will simply go ahead despite our concerns. Where is the (2. TRANSPARENT)
_______ in this process? When has anyone from the council ever taken responsibility for the vast sums of money wasted
when their schemes fail? And now we have to prepare for further (3. WASTE) _______ as the council use taxpayers'
money to 'develop' Bayview in ways that no local desires. The reason for this tirade is that, in my view, the problems we
are faced with – the escalation of (4. RISE) _______ housing in single-storey areas, the road design, the connection to
our city, these issues have to be addressed before our beautiful environment is damaged beyond repair.
The council has announced its intention to spend a figure approaching $20 million over the next few years improving
facilities and transport in Bayview. This is not before time. Furthermore, they have (5. APPEAR) _______ set aside
further funds to improve traffic flow on Hillside Road, and to finance the design and building of an exhibition centre and
renovation of the library. People who live and work here will have to face the inconvenience of noise, dust and (6.
BLOCK) _______ pavements as roads are widened and car parks are extended in downtown Bayview, but this is
something we must tolerate if we aim to attract the tourist dollar and encourage residents to use local services and retail
facilities. The housing issue is another matter altogether and council plans for introducing (7. CHARACTER) _______
multi-storey buildings to the suburb have been ill thought out.
As a suburb that draws more tourists than any other in the city, Bayview deserves the considerable investment that the
council has proposed. However, it is not for the council to force upon us developments that people here object to, and
which we recognize are fundamentally detrimental to the community. Many of us have asked the council for details
concerning the anticipated population figures, should their high-density housing projected be (8. ACT) _______ , but they
appear reluctant to (9. CLOSE) _______ them. We have thus been forced to work it out for ourselves. It has been
estimated that by building apartment blocks of four to five storeys, the council will facilitate an (10. EXPONENT) _______
and undesirable growth in population: 400 homes are likely to rise to 1200 in the North Bayview area and 700 cars could
turn into 2100; with the increased population impacting heavily on Hillside Road traffic.
C. READING COMPREHENSION
Part 1. For each gap, choose the correct answer A, B, C or D which best fits the context.
The Return of El Nino
Aside from the seasons, El Nino and its twin, La Nina, are the two largest single (0) ___C____ of variability in the
world's climate from year to year. Both are dictated by (1) _______ in water temperature in the tropical Pacific
basin between Australia and South America. (2) _______ after the Spanish words for "Christ child" and "the girl"
because of their (3) _______to Christmas, they lead to dramatic shifts in the entire system of oceanic and
atmospheric factors from air pressure to currents.
A significant rise in sea temperature leads to an El Nino event whereas a fall in temperature leads to La Nina.
The cause of the phenomenon is not fully understood but in an El Nino "event" the pool of warm surface water is
forced eastwards by the loss of the westerly trade winds. The sea water evaporates, (4) _______ in drenching
rains over South America, as well as western parts of the United States, such as California. The effects can (5)
_______ for anything from a few weeks to 8 months, causing extreme weather as far (6) _______ as India and
East Africa. The correlation with global warming is as (7) _______unclear. Archaeological evidence shows El Ninos
and La Ninas have been (8) _______ for 15,000 years. But scientists are investigating whether climate change is
leading to an increase in their intensity or duration.
The weather pattern is already having early and intense effects and El Nino could bring extreme rainfall to parts of
east Africa which were last year (9) _______ by a cycle of drought and floods. It's difficult to (10) _______ what will
16
happen to the weather in the British Isles, but it will probably add to the likelihood of record-breaking
temperatures in the UK.
0. A. methods B. theories C. causes D. consequences
1. A. shifts B. drops C. alternatives D. downfall
2. A. Elected B. Called C. Nominated D. Named
3. A. proximity B. neighborhood C. attachment D. bond
4. A. producing B. resulting C. stemming D. refreshing
5. A. persist B. keep C. conserve D. assert
6. A. ahead B. afield C. along D. alongside
7. A. still B. yet C. present D. now
8. A. dawning B. obtaining C. occurring D. securing
9. A. hit B. shoved C. punctured D. punched
10. A. predict B. imply C. entail D. point
Part 2. Read the text below and think of one word which best fits each space. Use only ONE WORD for each
space.
Moths count!
Renowned conservationist Sir David Attenborough is launching a campaign today called
'Moths Count', to halt the drastically declining number of Britain's native moths and improve their poor image. A report (1)
_______ 'The State of Britain's Larger Moths' revealed last year that in some areas, the moth population has almost (2)
_______since 1968. This has led the charity, 'Butterfly Conservation', of which Sir David is president, to develop a new
strategy which will provide opportunities for real (3) _______ to broaden their (4) _______ and also generate appreciation
among the wider public. Moths, he insists, play an essential role in the environment. Their loss (5) _______the species of
birds, bats and small mammals that (6) _______ on them, and the plants they (7) _______. 'Moths Count' campaigner
Richard Fox says 'Currently there's an image problem, partly because there's a (8) _______ that moths are night
creatures, although many are day-flying and only about half a dozen of Britain's 2500 species damage clothes.' Reasons
for their decline include climate change and loss of habitat. Although the (9) _______ of moths has increased with the
establishment of new species in Britain, overall their numbers have dropped, and for some, extinction now seems sadly
(10) _______.
Part 3. Read the passage and choose the best answer to each of the questions.
How to rebuild your own brain
It’s not the kind of thing you would ever forget. When Barbara Arrowsmith-Young started school in Canada in the early
1950s, her teacher told her mother – in her presence – that she would never be able to learn. Having helped over 4,000
children overcome exactly the same diagnosis, she can laugh at it. But she didn’t at the time. Today Arrowsmith-Young
holds a master’s degree in psychology and has published a groundbreaking book called The Woman Who Changed Her
Brain. But until she was in her mid-twenties, she was desperate, tormented and often depressed. She didn’t know what
was wrong.
On the one hand, she was brilliant with near-total auditory and visual memory. ‘I could memorise whole books.’ On the
other hand, she was a dolt. ‘I didn’t understand anything,’ she says. ‘Meaning just never crystallised. Everything was
fragmented, disconnected.’
In exams, she sometimes got 100 percent but whenever the task involved reasoning and interpretation she would fail
dismally. ‘The teachers didn’t understand,’ she says. ‘They thought I wasn’t trying and I was often punished.’ To help her,
her mother devised a series of flash cards with numbers and letters and, after much hard work, she achieved literacy and
numeracy of a sort, even getting into university, where she disguised her learning disabilities by working twenty hours a
day: ‘I used to hide when the security guards came to close the library at night, then come back out and carry on.’
The breakthrough came when she was twenty-six. A fellow student gave her a book by a Russian neuropsychologist,
Aleksandr Luria. The book contained his research on the writings of a highly intelligent Russian soldier, Lyova Zazetsky,
who had been shot in the brain during a battle, and recorded in great detail his subsequent disabilities.
For the first time, Arrowsmith-Young says, ‘I recognised somebody describing exactly what I experienced. His
expressions were the same: living life in a fog. His difficulties were the same: he couldn’t tell the time from a clock, he
couldn’t tell the difference between the sentences The boy chases the dog and The dog chases the boy. I began to see
that maybe an area of my brain wasn’t working.’
The bullet had lodged in a part of the brain where information from sight, sound, language and touch is synthesised,
analysed and made sense of. Arrowsmith-Young began to realise that, in all probability, this was the region of her own
brain that had been malfunctioning since she was born.
Then she read about the work of Mark Rosenzweig, an American researcher who found that laboratory rats given a rich
and stimulating environment developed larger brains. Rosenzweig concluded that the brain continues developing rather
than being fixed at birth: a concept known as ‘neuroplasticity’. Arrowsmith-Young decided that if rats could grow bigger
and better brains, so could she.
She started devising exercises for herself to work the parts of her brain that weren’t functioning. She drew 100 two-
handed clockfaces on cards and wrote the time each told on the back. Then she started trying to tell the time from each.
She did this eight to ten hours a day, gradually becoming faster and more accurate.
‘I was experiencing mental exhaustion like I had never known,’ she says, ‘so I figured something was happening. After
three or four months of this, it really felt like something had fundamentally changed in my brain. I watched an edition of a
news programme and I got it. I read pages from ten books, and understood every single one. It was like stepping from
darkness into light.’
She developed more exercises, for different parts of her brain, and found they worked, too. Now almost 30, she was
finally beginning to function normally.

17
It was revolutionary work, and not just for her. ‘At that time,’ she says, ‘all the work around learning disabilities involved
compensating for what learners couldn’t do. It all started from the premise that they were unchangeable.’
Faced with little receptivity for her ideas, Arrowsmith-Young decided to found her own school in Toronto in 1980; she now
has thirty-five such schools. Thousands of children dismissed as impossible to teach, have attended Arrowsmith schools
and gone on to academic and professional success.
‘So much human suffering is caused by cognitive mismatches with the demands of the task,’ says Arrowsmith-Young. ‘So
many wrong diagnoses get made, so many children get written off, so many people take wrong decisions and end up in
lives and careers they did not choose for themselves but were chosen for them by cognitive limitations that can be
identified and strengthened. There is hope for these people.’
1. What do we learn about Barbara Arrowsmith-Young in the first paragraph?
A. She has learned over the years how to help her own child.
B. When she was a child, it was thought that she would grow out of her problems.
C. Her particular problem went undiagnosed until she was a young woman.
D. She believes that children need to be told if they are likely to find school difficult.
2. How did her problem manifest itself?
A. She could understand the meaning of difficult words. B. She found it hard to remember anything.
C. She had amazing eyesight. D. She could seem quite stupid at times.
3. Her teachers at school _______ .
A. thought she was just being lazy. B. set exams that were too difficult.
C. helped her with special lessons. D. said that she would be unable to pass university entrance exams.
4. When Barbara was twenty-six years old, she _______ .
A. was studying neuropsychology in Russia.
B. discovered that she was not the only person in the world with her problem.
C. started to write a book about her disabilities.
D. wrote to a Russian soldier who had the same problems as she did.
5. What do we learn about the Russian soldier?
A. His language skills were those of a young child.
B. He knew that his injury had caused damage to his sight.
C. He believed that brain damage might be the cause of his problem.
D. His interpretation of his problem was slightly different from Barbara’s.
6. According to Mark Rosenzweig, _______ .
A. rats have much larger brains than people think
B. neuroplasticity is the ability of the brain to keep on growing
C. Barbara would not be able to do anything to improve her brain
D. the brain requires regular and frequent stimulation to function normally
7. Barbara’s attempt at improving her brain _______ .
A. ended up with her giving up from extreme tiredness
B. made her feel as if her personality was changing
C. included spending a long time focusing on speed tests
D. failed to help her make connections she had always found difficult
8. What do we learn about the traditional attitude towards people with learning disabilities?
A. It was impossible to improve the performance of the brain.
B. People were taught how to live with the problem.
C. Brain exercises have always been a part of dealing with learning disabilities.
D. They would never be able to function in a modern society.
9. What does the phrase “the same diagnosis” in the first paragraph refer to?
A. The master’s degree in psychology. B. 4000 children.
C. Learning disability. D. Barbara Arrowsmith-Young.
10. What does the word “these” in the last paragraph refer to?
A. People who make wrong diagnoses.
B. People who choose their own careers.
C. Scientists who try to help learning-impaired people.
D. People whose careers are chosen by cognitive limitations.
Part 3. You are going to read part of an article about the psychological effect that money has on our behaviour.
Six paragraphs have been removed from the extract. Choose from the paragraphs A-G the one which fits each
gap (1-6). There is one extra paragraph which you do not need to use.
Money - that's what I want!

Cash, currency, greenbacks, dosh. Just words, you might say, but they carry an eerie psychological force. Chew them
over for a few moments, and you will become a different
person. Simply thinking about money seems to make us more self-reliant and less inclined to
help others. And it gets weirder; just handling cash can take the sting out of social rejection and even diminish physical
pain, according to recent psychological studies.
1

Yet money stirs up more stress and envy than any other tool ever could. We just can't seem to

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deal with it rationally. But why? Our relationship with money has many facets. Some people seem addicted to
accumulating it, whilst others can't help maxing out their credit cards and find it impossible to save for a rainy day. As we
come to understand more about money's effect on us, it is emerging that some people's brains can react to it as they
would to a drug, while to others it is like a friend.

2
On the surface, this might seem unnecessary. Surely money is just cold, unemotional stuff?
We know already that it takes a variety of forms, from feathers of old, through gold coins, and dollar bills to data in a
bank's computer. The value of $100 is supposed to lie in how much
food or fuel it can purchase and nothing else. You should no more care about being short-changed $5 at the supermarket
checkout than losing the same amount when borrowing money to buy a $300 000 house.
3

To understand how this affects our behaviour, some economists are starting to think more
like evolutionary anthropologists. Daniel Ariely of the Massachusetts Institute ofTechnology is one of them. He suggests
that modern society presents us with two distinct sets of behavioural rules. Social standards of behaviour, which are
'warm and fuzzy', are designed to foster long-term relationships, trust and cooperation.
4
Economic exchange has been going on throughout human history, so it is possible that our ancestors evolved an
instinctive capacity for recognizing the difference between situations
suited to these different behavioural rules, and that this could have developed well before the
invention of money. Alternatively, we may have learnt the distinction.
5
Kathleen Vohs and colleagues at the University of Minnesota got student volunteers to complete an activity in which they
had to arrange a series of discs into two patterns. But before doing this, they were asked to make sensible phrases either
from a group of words that had nothing to do with money or from a group of money-related words.
6
Vohs suggests there is a simple dynamic at work here. 'Money makes people feel self-
sufficient; she says. 'They are more likely to put forth effort to attain personal goals, and they also prefer to be separate
from others.'The touchy-feely side of us may disapprove of such behaviour, but it is useful for survival.

A. In reality we are not that rational. Instead of treating cash simply as a tool to be
wielded with objective precision, we allow money to reach inside our heads and tap
into the ancient emotional parts of our brain, often with unpredictable results.
B. This is all the stranger when you consider what money is supposed to be: nothing
more than a medium of exchange that makes economic life more efficient. Just as an axe allows us to chop down
trees, money allows us to have markets that, traditional economists tell us, dispassionately set the price of
anything from a loaf of bread to a painting by Picasso.
C. The trick is to get the correct balance between these two mindsets. Psychological studies have found a general
trade-off between the pursuit of extrinsic aspirations such as wealth and fame and intrinsic ones, such as building
and maintaining relationships.
D. Either way, we appear immediately and subconsciously to recognize the cues associated with the realm of
market norms. Experiments published recently reveal that even a passing contact with concepts linked to money
puts us into a market-oriented mentality, making us think and behave in characteristic ways.
E. Then there is a set of market norms. These revolve around money and competition,
and encourage individuals to put their own interests first.
F. And, of course, whichever way we regard it, having a pile of money means that you can buy m ore things, so it is
virtually synonymous with status - so much so that losing it can lead to severe depression. In these cash-
strapped times, perhaps by developing an insight into the psychology of money, we can improve the way we deal
with it.
G. It turned out that those who had been primed with the latter set worked on the main task for far longer before
asking for help. In a related experiment, these individuals were also significantly less likely to help anyone asking
for assistance.
Part 4: Choose the correct heading for paragraphs B-G from the list of headings below. Write the correct number,
i-x, next to Questions 1-6.
List of Headings Example Answer
i The prevalence of numerical 'codes' in modern life Paragraph A iii
ii How RSA works 1. Paragraph B
iii A brief history of keeping things safe 2. Paragraph C
iv 'New math' vs 'medieval math' 3. Paragraph D
v Proof that RSA is effective 4. Paragraph E
vi The illusion of security 5. Paragraph F
vii Cryptography: the modern key for the lock 6. Paragraph G
viii Why RSA is effective
ix In defence of medieval security systems
x A new approach to system security
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 Using Mathematics to Secure Our Money
A .Up until very recently people's wealth, mostly coins and jewels, was kept safe under lock and key. Rich medieval
families would keep a strong box with a large key, both of which were carefully hidden in different places. Later the box
may have been kept in a bank. In either case, potential thieves would need to find both the box and the key. A similar
principle was used for sending secret diplomatic and military messages. The messages were written in code with both the
sender and the receiver having the key to the code. Thus, while the message
could be discovered its meaning could only be found if the 'key' was also known. And so began a long-running battle
between code-makers who tried to make better keys, and code-breakers who sought ways of finding them.
B .Nowadays, cryptography is central to how our money is kept secure, even though we may not be aware of it. Our
money is no longer in a tangible form, but in the form of information kept with our banks. To keep everyone involved
happy, the messages initiated by our plastic cards have to be sent and received safely and the entire operation must be
carried out with a high level of confidentiality and security.
C .On a practical level, it is clear that the work of code-makers has been introduced into our daily financial lives. Our
credit cards have 16-digit numbers on the front and a 3-digit number on the back. They also contain a 'chip' that can do all
sorts of mysterious operations with these numbers. Finally, we also have a Personal Identification Number which we all
need to memorize. All these numbers form a type of cryptographic key. However, as we shall see, the modern crypto
systems are very different in the way the keys are used.
D .The main feature of the traditional systems was that only one key was needed by both the sender and the receiver to
understand the message. However the main problem was that the key itself needed to be communicated to both parties
before they could use it. Obviously a major security risk. A very different approach was developed in the 1970s, based on
a different way of using the keys. Now the main idea is that the typical user, let us call him Amir, has two keys; a 'public
key' and a 'private key'. The public key is used to encrypt messages that other people wish to send to Amir, and the
private key is used by Amir to decrypt these messages. The security of the system is based on keeping Amir's private key
secret.
E .This system of public-key cryptography, known as RSA- from the names of the developers (Ronald Rivest, Adi Shamir
and Leonard Adleman) - was developed in the late 1970s and is based on a collection of several mathematical
algorithms. The first is a process that allows the user, Amir, to calculate two numerical keys: private and public, based on
two prime numbers. To complete the RSA system, two more algorithms are then needed: one for encrypting messages
and one for decrypting them.
F .The effectiveness of RSA depends on two things. It is efficient, because the encryption and decryption algorithms used
by participants are easy, in a technical sense they can be made precise. On the other hand, it is believed to be secure,
because no one has fund an easy way of decrypting the encrypted message without knowing Amir's private key.
G .When the RSA system was first written about in Scientific American, the strength of the system was shown by
challenging the readers to find the prime factors -the two original numbers - of a certain number with 129 digits. It took 17
years to solve this problem, using the combined efforts of over 600 people. So clearly it is a very secure system. Using
mathematics in this way, scientists and technologists have enabled us to keep our money as secure as the rich medieval
barons with their strong boxes and hidden keys.
Do the following statements agree with the views of the writer in Reading Passage?
YES if the statement agrees with the views of the writer
NO if the statement contradicts the views of the writer
NOTGIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thank about this
7 Online banking makes most people nervous
8 The way keys are used in modern cryptograph is quite different from the past
9 The main problem with traditional cryptography systems is that neither party can decode the message.
10 The RSA system represents the most secure cryptography we are ever likely to develop

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