Questions 14–19

Reading Passage 2 has six paragraphs, A–F.

Choose the correct heading for paragraphs A–F from the list of headings below.
Write the correct number, i–ix, in boxes 14–19 on your answer sheet.
List of Headings

i. A legacy is established
ii. Formal education unhelpful
iii. An education in two parts
iv. Branching out in new directions
v. Childhood and family life
vi. Change necessary to stay creative
vii. Conflicted opinions over Davis’ earlier work
viii. Davis’ unique style of trumpet playing
ix. Personal and professional struggles

14. Paragraph A
15. Paragraph B
16. Paragraph C
17. Paragraph D
18. Paragraph E
19. Paragraph F
Miles Davis - Icon and iconoclast
An iconoclast is somebody who challenges traditional beliefs or customs

A At the age of thirteen, Miles Davis was given his first trumpet, lessons were arranged
with a local trumpet player, and a musical odyssey began. These early lessons, paid for
and supported by his father, had a profound effect on shaping Davis’ signature sound.
Whereas most trumpeters of the era favoured the use of vibrato (a wobbly quiver in
pitch inflected in the instrument’s tone), Davis was taught to play with a long, straight
tone, a preference his instructor reportedly drilled into the young trumpeter with a rap on
the knuckles every time Davis began using vibrato. This clear, distinctive style never left
Davis. He continued playing with it for the rest of his career, once remarking, ‘If I can’t
get that sound, I can’t play anything.’
B Having graduated from high school in 1944, Davis moved to New York City, where
he continued his musical education both in the clubs and in the classroom. His
enrolment in the prestigious Julliard School of Music was short-lived, however – he
soon dropped out, criticising what he perceived as an over-emphasis on the classical
European repertoire and a neglect of jazz. Davis did later acknowledge, however, that
this time at the school was invaluable in terms of developing his trumpet-playing
technique and giving him a solid grounding in music theory. Much of his early training
took place in the form of jam sessions and performances in the clubs of 52nd Street,
where he played alongside both up-and-coming and established members of the jazz
pantheon such as Coleman Hawkins, Eddie ‘Lockjaw’ Davis, and Thelonious Monk.
C In the late 1940s, Davis collaborated with nine other instrumentalists, including a
French horn and a tuba player, to produce The Birth of Cool, an album now renowned
for the inchoate sounds of what would later become known as ‘cool’ jazz. In contrast to
popular jazz styles of the day, which featured rapid, rollicking beats, shrieking vocals,
and short, sharp horn blasts, Davis’ album was the forerunner of a different kind of
sound – thin, light horn-playing, hushed drums and a more restrained, formal
arrangement. Although it received little acclaim at the time (the liner notes to one of
Davis’ later recordings call it a ‘spectacular failure’), in hindsight The Birth of Cool has
become recognised as a pivotal moment in jazz history, cementing – alongside his 1958
recording, Kind of Blue – Davis’ legacy as one of the most innovative musicians of his
era.
D Though Davis’ trumpet playing may have sounded effortless and breezy, this ease
rarely carried over into the rest of his life. The early 1950s, in particular, were a time of
great personal turmoil. After returning from a stint in Paris, Davis suffered from
prolonged depression, which he attributed to the unravelling of a number of
relationships, including his romance with a French actress and some musical
partnerships that ruptured as a result of creative disputes. Davis was also frustrated by
his perception that he had been overlooked by the music critics, who were hailing the
success of his collaborators and descendants in the ‘cool’ tradition, such as Gerry
Mulligan and Dave Brubeck, but who afforded him little credit for introducing the cool
sound in the first place.
E In the latter decades of his career, Davis broke out of exclusive jazz settings and
began to diversify his output across a range of musical styles. In the 1960s, he was
influenced by early funk performers such as Sly and the Family Stone, which then
expanded into the jazz-rock fusion genre – of which he was a frontrunner – in the
1970s. Electronic recording effects and electric instruments were incorporated into his
sound. By the 1980s, Davis was pushing the boundaries further, covering pop anthems
such as Cyndi Lauper’s Time After Time and Michael Jackson’s Human Nature,
dabbling in hip hop, and even appearing in some movies.
F Not everyone was supportive of Davis’ change of tune. Compared to the recordings
of his early career, universally applauded as linchpins of the jazz oeuvre, trumpeter
Wynston Marsalis derided his fusion work as being ‘not true jazz’, and pianist Bill Evans
denounced the ‘corrupting influence’ of record companies, noting that rock and pop
‘draw wider audiences’. In the face of this criticism Davis remained defiant, commenting
that his earlier recordings were part of a moment in time that he had no ‘feel’ for any
more. He firmly believed that remaining stylistically inert would have hampered his
ability to develop new ways of producing music. From this perspective, Davis’ continual
revamping of genre was not merely a rebellion, but an evolution, a necessary path that
allowed him to release his full musical potential.
Questions 20–26
Do the following statements agree with the views of the writer in Reading Passage 2?
In boxes 20–26 on your answer sheet, write
Yes - if the statement agrees with the views of the writer
No - if the statement contradicts the views of the writer
Not Given - if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
 20. Davis’ trumpet teacher wanted him to play with vibrato.
21. According to Davis, studying at Julliard helped him to improve his musical
abilities.
22. Playing in jazz clubs in New York was the best way to become famous.
23. The Birth of Cool featured music that was faster and louder than most jazz at
the time.
24. Davis’ personal troubles had a negative effect on his trumpet playing.
25. Davis felt that his contribution to cool jazz had not been acknowledged.
26. Davis was a traditionalist who wanted to keep the jazz sound pure.

Section 3

A In the early days of mountaineering, questions of safety, standards of practice, and

environmental impact were not widely considered. The sport gained traction following
the successful 1786 ascent of Mont Blanc, the highest peak in Western Europe, by two
French mountaineers, Jacques Balmat and Michel-Gabriel Paccard. This event
established the beginning of modern mountaineering, but the sole consideration over
the next hundred years was the success or failure of climbers in reaching the summit
and claiming the prestige of having made the first ascent.
B Toward the end of the nineteenth century, however, developments in technology
spurred debate regarding climbing practices. Of particular concern in this era was the
introduction of pitons (metal spikes that climbers hammer into the rock face for
leverage) and the use of belaying techniques. A few, such as Italian climber Guido Ray,
supported these methods as ways to render climbing less burdensome and more
‘acrobatic’. Others felt that they were only of value as a safety net if all else failed.
Austrian Paul Preuss went so far as to eschew all artificial aids, scaling astonishing
heights using only his shoes and his bare hands. Albert Mummery, a well known British
mountaineer and author who climbed the European Alps, and, more famously, the
Himalayas, where he died at the age of 39 attempting a notoriously difficult ascent,
developed the notion of ‘fair means’ as a kind of informal protocol by which the use of
‘walk-through’ guidebooks and equipment such as ladders and grappling hooks were
discouraged.
C By the 1940s, bolts had begun to replace pitons as the climber’s choice of
equipment, and criticism surrounding their use was no less fierce. In 1948, when two
American climbers scaled Mount Brussels in the Canadian Rockies using a small
number of pitons and bolts, climber Frank Smythe wrote of their efforts: ‘I still regard
Mount Brussels as unclimbed, and my feelings are no different from those I should have
were I to hear that a helicopter had deposited its passenger on the summit of that
mountain just so that he could boast that he had trodden an untrodden mountain top.’
D Climbing purists aside, it was not until the 1970s that the general tide began to turn
against bolting and pitons. The USA, and much of the western world, was waking up to
the damage it had been causing to the planet, and environmentalist campaigns and new
government policies were becoming widespread. This new awareness and sensitivity to
environmental issues spilled over into the rock climbing community. As a result, a
stripped-down style of rock climbing known as ‘clean climbing’ became widely adopted.
Clean climbing helped preserve rock faces and, compared with older approaches, it was
much simpler to practise. This was partly due to the hallmark of clean climbing – the use
of nuts – which were favoured over bolts because they could be placed into the rock
wall with one hand while climbers maintained their grip on the rock with the other.
E Not everyone embraced the clean climbing movement, however. A decade later,
debates over two more developments were erupting. The first related to the practice of
chipping, in which climbers chip away pieces of rock in order to create tiny cracks in
which to insert their fingers. The other major point of contention was a process that
involves setting bolts in reverse from the top of the climb down. Rappel bolting makes
almost any rock face climbable with relative ease, and as a result of this new technique,
the sport has lost much of its risk factor and sense of pioneering spirit; indeed, it has
become more about muscle power and technical mastery than a psychological trial of
fearlessness under pressure. Because of this shift in focus, many amateur climbers
have flocked to indoor climbing gyms, where the risk of serious harm is negligible.
F Given the environmental damage rock climbing can cause, this may be a positive
outcome. It is ironic that most rock climbers and mountaineers love the outdoors and
have great respect for the majesty of nature and the impressive challenges she poses,
but that in the pursuit of their goals they inevitably trample sensitive vegetation,
damaging and disturbing delicate flora and lichens which grow on ledges and cliff faces.
Two researchers from a Canadian university, Doug Larson and Michelle McMillan, have
found that rock faces that are regularly climbed have lost up to 80% of the coverage and
diversity of native plant species. If that were not bad enough, non-native species have
also been inadvertently introduced, having been carried in on climbers’ boots.
G This leaves rock climbing with an uncertain future. Climbers are not the only user
group that wishes to enjoy the wilderness – hikers, mountain bikers and horseback
riders visit the same areas, and more importantly, they are much better organised, with
long-established lobby groups protecting their interests. With increased pressure on
limited natural resources, it has been suggested that climbers put aside their differences
over the ethics of various climbing techniques, and focus on the effect of their practices
on the environment and their relationship with other users and landowners.
H In any event, there can be no doubt that the era of the rock climber as a lone wolf or
intrepid pioneer is over. Like many other forms of recreation, rock climbing has
increasingly come under the fold of institutional efforts to curb dangerous behaviour and
properly manage our natural environments. This may have spoiled the magic, but it has
also made the sport safer and more sustainable, and governing bodies would do well to
consider heightening such efforts in the future.
belaying: fastening or controlling of a climber’s rope by wrapping it around a metal
device or another person

Questions 27–32
Reading Passage 3 has eight paragraphs, A–H.
Which paragraph contains the following information?
Write the correct letter, A–H, in boxes 27–32 on your answer sheet.
 27. examples of the impact of climbers on ecosystems
28. an account of how politics affected rock climbing
29. a less dangerous alternative to climbing rock faces
30. a recommendation for better regulation
31. a reference to a climber who did not use any tools or ropes for assistance
32. examples of different types of people who use the outdoors for recreation

Questions 33–39
Complete the flow chart below.
Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 33–39 on your answer sheet.
A rock climbing time line

Late 19th century

Some climbers discuss whether pitons and ropes should only be considered
33 ....................
34 ………….….. calls for guidelines based on unwritten rules which discourage
climbing aids.

1940s
New equipment becomes controversial. Frank Smythe says that Mt Brussels is
effectively 35 ……………….. because of the techniques that were used in order to
scale the mountain.

1970s
36 ……………….. is more environmentally friendly. 37 ……………….. are
introduced as a climbing aid.

1980s – today
Climbers discuss the merits of new techniques for making hand holds, and also
of 38 ………………..... Many say that climbing is now a test of physical strength
and 39 ……………….., rather than of courage.

Question 40
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.
Write the correct letter in box 40 on your answer sheet.
Choose the most appropriate title for the reading passage.
A. A history of rock climbing
B. Ethics and issues in rock climbing
C. Current trends in rock climbing
D. Sport climbers versus traditional climbers

A bar at the folies (Un bar aux folies)

A One of the most critically renowned paintings of the 19th-century modernist

movement is the French painter Edouard Manet’s masterwork, A Bar at the Folies.
Originally belonging to the composer Emmanuel Chabrier, it is now in the possession of
The Courtauld Gallery in London, where it has also become a favourite with the crowds.

B The painting is set late at night in a nineteenth-century Parisian nightclub. A barmaid

stands alone behind her bar, fitted out in a black bodice that has a frilly white neckline,
and with a spray of flowers sitting across her décolletage. She rests her hands on the
bar and gazes out forlornly at a point just below the viewer, not quite making eye
contact. Also on the bar are some bottles of liquor and a bowl of oranges, but much of
the activity in the room takes place in the reflection of a mirror behind the barmaid.
Through this mirror we see an auditorium, bustling with blurred figures and faces: men
in top hats, a woman examining the scene below her through binoculars, another in long
gloves, even the feet of a trapeze artist demonstrating acrobatic feats above his adoring
crowd. In the foreground of the reflection a man with a thick moustache is talking with
the barmaid.

C Although the Folies (-Bergère) was an actual establishment in late nineteenth-

century Paris, and the subject of the painting was a real barmaid who worked there,
Manet did not attempt to recapture every detail of the bar in his rendition. The painting
was largely completed in a private studio belonging to the painter, where the barmaid
posed with a number of bottles, and this was then integrated with quick sketches the
artist made at the Folies itself.

D Even more confounding than Manet’s relaxed attention to detail, however, is the
relationship in the painting between the activity in the mirrored reflection and that which
we see in the unreflected foreground. In a similar vein to Diego Velazquez’ much earlier
work Las Meninas, Manet uses the mirror to toy with our ideas about which details are
true to life and which are not. In the foreground, for example, the barmaid is positioned
upright, her face betraying an expression of lonely detachment, yet in the mirrored
reflection she appears to be leaning forward and to the side, apparently engaging in
conversation with her moustachioed customer. As a result of this, the customer’s stance
is also altered. In the mirror, he should be blocked from view as a result of where the
barmaid is standing, yet Manet has re-positioned him to the side. The overall impact on
the viewer is one of a dreamlike disjuncture between reality and illusion.

E Why would Manet engage in such deceit? Perhaps for that very reason: to depict two
different states of mind or emotion. Manet seems to be conveying his understanding of
the modern workplace, a place – from his perspective – of alienation, where workers
felt torn from their ‘true’ selves and forced to assume an artificial working identity. What
we see in the mirrored reflection is the barmaid’s working self, busy serving a customer.
The front-on view, however, bears witness to how the barmaid truly feels at work:
hopeless, adrift, and alone.

F Ever since its debut at the Paris Salon of 1882, art historians have produced reams
of books and journal articles disputing the positioning of the barmaid and patron in A
Bar at the Folies. Some have even conducted staged representations of the painting in
order to ascertain whether Manet’s seemingly distorted point of view might have been
possible after all. Yet while academics are understandably drawn to the compositional
enigma of the painting, the layperson is always likely to see the much simpler, more
human story beneath. No doubt this is the way Manet would have wanted it.

Questions 1–5
Reading Passage 1 has six paragraphs, A–F.
Which paragraph contains the following information?
Write the correct letter, A–F, in boxes 1–5 on your answer sheet.

1. a description of how Manet created the painting

2. aspects of the painting that scholars are most interested in
3. the writer’s view of the idea that Manet wants to communicate
4. examples to show why the bar scene is unrealistic
5. a statement about the popularity of the painting

Questions 6–10
Answer the questions below.
Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 6–10 on your answer sheet.

6. Who was the first owner of A Bar at the Folies?

7. What is the barmaid wearing?
8. Which room is seen at the back of the painting?
9. Who is performing for the audience?
10. Where did most of the work on the painting take place?

Questions 11–13
Complete each sentence with the correct ending, A–F, below.
Write the correct letter, A–F, in boxes 11–13 on your answer sheet.

11. Manet misrepresents the images in the mirror because he

12. Manet felt modern workers were alienated because they
13. Academics have re-constructed the painting in real life because they
A. wanted to find out if the painting’s perspective was realistic
B. felt they had to work very hard at boring and difficult jobs
C. wanted to understand the lives of ordinary people at the time
D. felt like they had to become different people
E. wanted to manipulate our sense of reality
F. wanted to focus on the detail in the painting