LISTENING

READING
Passage 1:
Build a Medieval Castle

A. Michel Guyot, owner and restorer of Saint Fargeau castle in France, first had the idea of
building a 13th-century style fortress following the discovery that the 15th-century red
bricks of his castle obscured the stone walls of a much older stronghold. His dream was
to build a castle just as it would have been in the Middle Ages, an idea which some found
mildly amusing and others dismissed as outright folly.
However, Maryline Martin – project director – was inspired by the exciting potential for the
venture to regenerate the region. It took several months to bring together and mobilise all
the various different partners: architects, archaeologists and financial backers. A site in
the heart of Guédelon forest was found: a site which offered not only all the resources
required for building a castle – a stone quarry, an oak forest and a water supply – but in
sufficient quantities to satisfy the demands of this gigantic site. The first team started
work and on June 20th 1997 the first stone was laid.

B. Unlike any other present-day building site, Michel Guyot’s purpose is clear, he warmly
welcomes members of the public to participate. The workers’ role is to demonstrate and
explain, to a wide audience, the skills of our forefathers. Stone quarrying, the building of
vaulted ceilings, the blacksmith’s work and the raising of roof timbers are just some of the
activities which visitors can witness during a visit to Guédelon. The workers are always
on hand to talk about their craft and the progress of the castle.
Each year 60,000 children visit Guédelon with their schools. The site is an excellent
educational resource, bringing to life the history of the Middle Ages. Guided tours are
tailored to the school curriculum and according to age groups: activity trails for primary
school children and interactive guided tours for secondary school children. Pupils of all
ages have the opportunity to follow in the footsteps of medieval stonemasons by taking
part in a stonecarving workshop or discover the secrets of the medieval master-builders
at the geometry workshop.

C. Workers in the Burgundy region of France are building a 13th century castle. They’re
not restoring an old castle. They’re actually building a new old castle. See the builders are
constructing it from scratch. The craftsmen have been working for nearly ten years now
but they’re not even halfway done yet. That’s because they’re using only medieval tools
and techniques. The World’s Gerry Hadden takes US to the site of what will be the
Guedelon Castle. Another reason said by Jean Francois, a member of Guedelon stone
cutter’s guild, for eight hours a day he bangs on a 13th century chisel with a 13th century
iron mallet.
D. The progress of construction has to give way to tourists' side for their visits. The
visitors from 2010, however unsightly they may be, are vital to the project. The initial
funding came not from pillaging the local peasantry but from regional councils, the
European Union and large companies. For the last 10 years, Guédelon, 100 miles
southeast of Paris, has funded itself from its entrance fees. Last year it had a record
300,000 visitors, who paid almost €2.5m, making it the second most-visited site in
 Burgundy. The most visited site was the Hospice de Beaune, a beautiful 15th-century
almshouse built 600 years before, or, if you prefer, 200 years “after”, Guédelon.

E. limestone is found in the construction of various local buildings, from the great and
prestigious edifice of Ratilly castle to the more modest poyaudines houses. This stone
contains 30-40% iron oxide; this can make it extremely hard to extract and dress. Having
studied the block in order to determine and anticipate the natural fault lines of the stone,
the quarrymen first carve a series of rectilinear holes into the block. Iron wedges are then
hammered into this line of holes. The shockwaves produced by the quarrymen’s
sledgehammers cause the stone to split along a straight line.
The highest quality blocks are dressed to produce lintels, voussoirs, corbels, ashlars etc.
The medium quality blocks are roughly shaped by the stonecutters and used on the
uncoursed curtain walls, and as facing stones on the castle’s inner walls. There are water-
filled clay pits in the forest. Clay is taken from these pits, cleaned and pugged. It is then
shaped in wooden moulds to form bricks. After the bricks have been left to air-dry, they
are fired in a woodfired kiln for about 12 hours, at roughly 1000°c.

F. The mortar is the “glue” used to bind the castle’s stones. It is made up of precise doses
of lime, sand and water. The people working there wear the tunics, skirts and headgear
that they might have worn then, but they wear these over jeans and shoes with reinforced
toes. They mix their mortar primarily as they would have done then, using sand they dig
themselves, but they are not allowed to use the extremely effective hot lime from medieval
days, because of its toxicity, and so they add a modem chemical ingredient instead, to
achieve the same effect.
Workers in the Mid Age obviously were unaware of it and some died earlier by inhaling
toxic gas. And so, we met many wonderful people who do not pretend to be anything but
modern human beings practicing an old technique and finding out what it would have felt
like, as much as possible, to do it with only the resources of an older time.

G. We also learned that even if there is a straight lintel across a doorway, you will usually
find an arch of stones built into the wall differently. Because of the physics of an arch,
which channels the weight above it down into whatever is supporting it at each side
instead of pressing down in the middle, this helps to take a lot of the weight off of the
lintel itself, whether it is free standing or buried in the wall against the impact of warfare.
The arch is the strongest element for spanning space in stone architecture. This is why, in
ancient ruins, you will often find the entire wall missing, and the arched windows and
doorways still standing, in beautiful patterns against the sky

Questions 1-4
Do the following statements agree with the information given in the Reading
Passage?
In boxes 1- 4 on your answer sheet, write
TRUE if the statement is true
FALSE if the statement is false
NOT GIVEN if the information is not given in the passage
 1. The French people would not abandon his idea in favour of a realistic one.
2. One aim of the castle is to show the ancestral achievement to the public.
3. Short lifespan of workers was due to overdue heating.
4. Stones were laid not in a straight line arrangement to avoid damaging or
collapsing.
Questions 5-10
Complete the following summary of the paragraphs of Reading Passage, using A-L
from the following options for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 5-10 on your answer sheet.
Limestone Processing
When 5…………… found a suitable block, they began to cut lines of 6…………….
into it. 7…………………. were used and knocked into and generated shockwaves to
make stone 8………………….. Different qualities of blocks would be used in different
places of the castle. On the other hand, 9…………………... were shaped from clay in
a mould and went through a process of 10…………. for about 12 hours.

A. metal vedge B. hammer handle C. lift D. Masons

E. patterns F. heating G. bricks H. wood
I. experts J. split K. walls L. holes

Questions 11-13
Choose three correct letters, A-G.
Write your answers in boxes 11-13 on your answer sheet.
Why does the castle building project last 10 years for just half progress?
A They lack of enough funds
B Guedelon castle needs a time-consuming design
C Workers obeyed modem working hours
D Their progress were delayed by unpredictable weather
 E Guedelon castle need to receive valuable visitors
F They used old techniques and skills
G Stone processing need more labour and time

Passage 2:
Gifted children and learning
A. Internationally, ‘giftedness’ is most frequently determined by a score on a general
intelligence test, known as an IQ test, which is above a chosen cutoff point, usually at
around the top 2-5%. Children’s educational environment contributes to the IQ score and
the way intelligence is used. For example, a very close positive relationship was found
when children’s IQ scores were compared with their home educational provision
(Freeman, 2010). The higher the children’s IQ scores, especially over IQ 130, the better the
quality of their educational backup, measured in terms of reported verbal interactions with
parents, number of books and activities in their home etc. Because IQ tests are decidedly
influenced by what the child has learned, they are to some extent measures of current
achievement based on age-norms; that is, how well the children have learned to
manipulate their knowledge and know-how within the terms of the test. The vocabulary
aspect, for example, is dependent on having heard those words. But IQ tests can neither
identify the processes of learning and thinking nor predict creativity.
B. Excellence does not emerge without appropriate help. To reach an exceptionally high
standard in any area, very able children need the means to learn, which includes material
to work with and focused challenging tuition -and the encouragement to follow their
dream. There appears to be a qualitative difference in the way the intellectually highly able
think, compared with more average-ability or older pupils, for whom external regulation by
the teacher often compensates for lack of internal regulation. To be at their most effective
in their self-regulation, all children can be helped to identify their own ways of learning –
metacognition – which will include strategies of planning, monitoring, evaluation, and
choice of what to learn. Emotional awareness is also part of metacognition, so children
should be helped to be aware of their feelings around the area to be learned, feelings of
curiosity or confidence, for example.
C. High achievers have been found to use self-regulatory learning strategies more often
and more effectively than lower achievers, and are better able to transfer these strategies
to deal with unfamiliar tasks. This happens to such a high degree in some children that
they appear to be demonstrating talent in particular areas. Overviewing research on the
thinking process of highly able
children, (Shore and Kanevsky, 1993) put the instructor’s problem succinctly: ‘If they [the
gifted] merely think more quickly, then we need only teach more quickly. If they merely
make fewer errors, then we can shorten the practice’. But of course, this is not entirely the
case; adjustments have to be made in methods of learning and teaching, to take account
of the many ways individuals think.
D. Yet in order to learn by themselves, the gifted do need some support from their
teachers. Conversely, teachers who have a tendency to ‘overdirect’ can diminish their
gifted pupils’ learning autonomy. Although ‘spoon-feeding’ can produce extremely high
examination results, these are not always followed by equally impressive life successes.
Too much dependence on the teachers risks loss of autonomy and motivation to
discover. However, when teachers enable pupils to reflect on their own learning and
thinking activities, they increase their pupils’ self-regulation. For a young child, it may be
just the simple question ‘What have you learned today?’ which helps them to recognise
what they are doing. Given that a fundamental goal of education is to transfer the control
of learning from teachers to pupils, improving pupils’ learning to learn techniques should
 be a major outcome of the school experience, especially for the highly competent. There
are quite a number of new methods which can help, such as child- initiated learning,
ability-peer tutoring, etc. Such practices have been found to be particularly useful for
bright children from deprived areas.
E. But scientific progress is not all theoretical, knowledge is so vital to outstanding
performance: individuals who know a great deal about a specific domain will achieve at a
higher level than those who do not (Elshout, 1995). Research with creative scientists by
Simonton (1988) brought him to the conclusion that above a certain high level,
characteristics such as independence seemed to contribute more to reaching the highest
levels of expertise than intellectual skills, due to the great demands of effort and time
needed for learning and practice. Creativity in all forms can be seen as expertise mixed
with a high level of motivation (Weisberg, 1993).
F. To sum up, learning is affected by emotions of both the individual and significant
others. Positive emotions facilitate the creative aspects of earning and negative emotions
inhibit it. Fear, for example, can limit the development of curiosity, which is a strong force
in scientific advancement, because it motivates problem-solving behaviour. In Boekaerts’
(1991) review of emotion, the learning of very high IQ and highly achieving children, she
found emotional forces in harness. They were not only curious, but often had a strong
desire to control their environment, improve their learning efficiency and increase their
own learning resources.

Questions 14-17
Reading Passage has six paragraphs, A-F.
Which paragraph contains the following information?
Write the correct letter, A-F, in boxes 14-17 on your answer sheet
NB You may use any letter more than once.
14. a reference to the influence of the domestic background on the gifted child.
15. a reference to what can be lost if learners are given too much guidance.
16. a reference to the damaging effects of anxiety.
17. examples of classroom techniques which favour socially-disadvantaged children.

Questions 18-22
Look at the following statements (Questions 5-9) and the list of people below.
Match each statement with the correct person or people, A-E.
Write the correct letter, A-E, in boxes 5-9 on your answer sheet.
 18. Less time can be spent on exercises with gifted pupils who produce accurate
work.
19. Self-reliance is a valuable tool that helps gifted students reach their goals.
20. Gifted children know how to channel their feelings to assist their learning.
21. The very gifted child benefits from appropriate support from close relatives.
22. Really successful students have learnt a considerable amount about their
subject.
List of People
A. Freeman
B. Shore and Kanevsky
C. Elshout
D. Simonton
E. Boekaerts

Questions 23-26
Complete the sentences below.
Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 23-26 on your answer sheet
23. One study found a strong connection between children’s IQ and the availability of
………………………………. at home.
24. Children of average ability seem to need more direction from teachers because
they do not have ……………………….. .
25. Meta-cognition involves children understanding their own learning strategies, as
well as developing ……………………… .
26. Teachers who rely on what is known as ……………………….. often produce
sets of impressive grades in class tests.

Passage 3:
Keep taking the tablets
The history of aspirin is a product of a rollercoaster ride through time, of accidental
discoveries, intuitive reasoning and intense corporate rivalry.
In the opening pages of Aspirin: The Remarkable Story of a Wonder Drug, Diarmuid
Jeffreys describes this little white pill as ‘one of the most amazing creations in medical
history, a drug so astonishingly versatile that it can relieve headache, ease your aching
limbs, lower your temperature and treat some of the deadliest human diseases’.
Its properties have been known for thousands of years. Ancient Egyptian physicians used
extracts from the willow tree as an analgesic, or pain killer. Centuries later the Greek
physician Hippocrates recommended the bark of the willow tree as a remedy for the pains
of childbirth and as a fever reducer. But it wasn't until the eighteenth and nineteenth
centuries that salicylates, the chemical found in the willow tree became the subject of
serious scientific investigation. The race was on to identify the active ingredient and to
replicate it synthetically. At the end of the nineteenth century a German company,
Friedrich Bayer & Co. succeeded in creating a relatively safe and very effective chemical
compound, acetylsalicylic acid, which was renamed aspirin.
The late nineteenth century was a fertile period for experimentation, partly because of the
hunger among scientists to answer some of the great scientific questions, but also
because those questions were within their means to answer. One scientist in a laboratory
with some chemicals and a test tube could make significant breakthroughs whereas
today, in order to map the human genome for instance, one needs ‘an army of
researchers, a bank of computers and millions and millions of dollars’.
But an understanding of the nature of science and scientific inquiry is not enough on its
own to explain how society innovates. In the nineteenth century, scientific advance was
closely linked to the industrial revolution. This was a period when people frequently had
the means, motive and determination to take an idea and turn it into reality. In the case of
aspirin that happened piecemeal - a series of minor, often unrelated advances, fertilised
by the century’s broader economic, medical and scientific developments, that led to one
big final breakthrough.
The link between big money and pharmaceutical innovation is also a significant one.
Aspirin's continued shelf life was ensured because for the first 70 years of its life, huge
amounts of money were put into promoting it as an ordinary everyday analgesic. In the
1070s other analgesics, such as ibuprofen and paracetamol, were entering the market,
and the pharmaceutical companies then focused on publicising these new drugs. But just
at the same time, discoveries were made regarding the beneficial role of aspirin in
preventing heart attacks, strokes and other afflictions. Had it not been for these findings,
this pharmaceutical marvel may well have disappeared.
So the relationship between big money and drugs is an odd one. Commercial markets are
necessary for developing new products and ensuring that they remain around long
enough for scientists to carry out research on them. But the commercial markets are just
as likely to kill off certain products when something more attractive comes along. In the
case of aspirin, a potential ‘wonder drug* was around for over 70 years without anybody
investigating the way in which it achieved its effects, because they were making more
than enough money out of it as it was. If ibuprofen or paracetamol had entered the market
just a decade earlier, aspirin might then not be here today. It would be just another
forgotten drug that people hadn't bothered to explore.
None of the recent discoveries of aspirin's benefits were made by the big pharmaceutical
companies; they were made by scientists working in the public sector. 'The reason for
that is very simple and straightforward,' Jeffreys says in his book. 'Drug companies will
only pursue research that is going to deliver financial benefits. There's no profit in aspirin
any more. It is incredibly inexpensive with tiny profit margins and it has no patent any
more, so anyone can produce it.' In fact, there's almost a disincentive for drug companies
to further boost the drug, he argues, as it could possibly put them out of business by
stopping them from selling their more expensive brands.
So what is the solution to a lack of commercial interest in further exploring the
therapeutic benefits of aspirin? More public money going into clinical trials, says Jeffreys.
‘If I were in the Department of Health. I would say “this is a very inexpensive drug. There
 may be a lot of other things we could do with it." We should put a lot more money into
trying to find out.'
Jeffreys' book which not only tells the tale of a 'wonder drug' but also explores the nature
of innovation and the role of big business, public money and regulation reminds us why
such research is so important.

Questions 27-32
Complete each sentence with the correct ending A-H from the box below.
Write the correct letter A-H in boxes 27-32 on your answer sheet.
27. Ancient Egyptian and Greek doctors were aware of
28. Frederick Bayer & Co were able to reproduce
29. The development of aspirin was partly due to the effects of
30. The creation of a market for aspirin as a painkiller was achieved through
31. Aspirin might have become unavailable without
32. The way in which aspirin actually worked was not investigated by

A. the discovery of new medical applications.

B. the negative effects of publicity.
C. the large pharmaceutical companies.
D. the industrial revolution.
E. the medical uses of a particular tree
F. the limited availability of new drugs.
G. the chemical found in the willow tree.
H. commercial advertising campaigns.
Questions 33-37
Do the following statements agree with the views of the writer in the Reading
Passage 3?
In boxes 33-37 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
33. For nineteenth-century scientists, small-scale research was enough to make
important discoveries.
34. The nineteenth-century industrial revolution caused a change in the focus of
scientific research.
35. The development of aspirin in the nineteenth century followed a structured
pattern of development.
36. In the 1970s sales of new analgesic drugs overtook sales of aspirin.
37. Commercial companies may have both good and bad effects on the availability
of pharmaceutical products.

Questions 38-40
Complete the summary below using the list of words A-l below.
Write the correct letter A-l in boxes 38-40 on your answer sheet
Research into aspirin
Jeffreys argues that the reason why 38…………… did not find out about new uses of
aspirin is that aspirin is no longer a 39…………… drug. He therefore suggests that
there should be 40…………….. support for further research into the possible
applications of the drug.

A. useful B. cheap C. state D. international

E. major drug companies F. profitable G. commercial H. public sector scientists
 I. health officials

WRITING
Task 1:

Task 2:
Nowadays young people are admiring media and sports stars, even though they do not set a
good example. Do you think this is a positive or negative development?