C1 - Reading and Use of English : For questions 1–8, read the text below and decide which answer

(A, B, C, or D) best fits each gap.

Ernest Shackleton
Ernest Shackleton was an early (0) Pioneer . of polar exploration, who led three British
expeditions to the Antarctic.

Shackleton’s first experience of the polar regions was with Captain Robert Scott and his team
and they established a new record. However, much to his (1) ................................. , Shackleton was
sent home due to (2) ................................. health, meaning that he had to (3) ................................. his
dream of reaching the South Pole. During his second expedition, he and three companions set
another record — this time for having made the greatest (4) ................................. to the South Pole

in history. Members of Shackleton’s team also climbed Mount Erebus, the Antarctic’s most
active volcano. For these achievements, Shackleton received official (5) ................................. from
the British king.

In 1911, the race to the South Pole ended with Roald Amundsen’s victory.
Shackleton turned his (6) ................................. to the crossing of Antarctica from sea to sea, via the
Pole. Disaster (7) ................................. , though, when his ship, Endurance, became trapped in ice
and was slowly (8) ................................. Shackleton returned to the Antarctic in 1921, but died
shortly after his arrival. At his wife’s request, he was buried there.

0 A pioneer B developer C designer D creator

1 A irritability B disorder C annoyance D temper
2 A dissolving B deteriorating C damaging D decaying
3 A withdraw B concede C vanish D abandon
4 A revolution B progress C modification D gain
5 A recognition B awareness C gratitude D reception
6 A objective B basis C proposal D aim
7 A struck B caused C broke D established
8 A demolished B smashed C extinguished D crushed

Part two: For questions 9 — 16, read the text below. Use the word given in capitals at the end of
some of the lines to form a word that fits in the gap in the same line. There is an example at the
beginning (0).
 The United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is a (0) Global organisation made up of GLOBE
almost 200 member states, whose mission and work are influenced by
the principles agreed on when it was founded.
Through bodies and committees like the Security Council and the
General Assembly, the UN makes (9) .......................... for its members PROVIDE
to state their views on various issues. The UN works in areas such as
the (10) .......................... of international peace and security, the MAINTAIN
protection of human rights, the upholding of international law and
the (11) .......................... of humanitarian aid. By facilitating dialogue DISTRIBUTE
between its members and also by hosting (12) .......................... , the UN NEGOTIATE
has become a mechanism for governments to work (13) .......................... COLLABORATE
to find solutions to problems.
The accurate interpretation and translation of the UN’s six official
languages is fundamental to the work of the organisation. This
unique multilingual environment encourages increased efforts by
the (14) .......................... , which results in more involvement by the PARTICIPATE
member states, better outcomes and greater (15) .......................... . To EFFECT
date, the various agencies, programmes and staff of the UN have been
awarded the (16) .......................... Nobel Peace Prize more than ten times PRESTIGE
Part three: You are going to read part of an article about multitasking. For questions 17 —22,
choose the answer (A, B, C or D) which you think fits best according to the text

Multitasking: myth or reality?

In one of the many letters he wrote to his son in the 1740s, the British statesman Lord Chesterfield
offered the following advice: ‘There is time enough for everything in the course of the day, if you
do but one thing at once, but there is not time enough in the year, if you will do two things at
a time.’ To Chesterfield, singular focus was not merely a practical way to structure one’s time; it
conveyed something about a person, regardless of their educational background. ‘This steady and
undissipated attention to one object, is a sure mark of a genius; as hurry, bustle, and agitation, are
the never-failing symptoms of a weak and frivolous mind.’
In modern times, hurry, bustle, and agitation are a regular way of life for many people —
unfortunately so much so that we have embraced a word that describes our efforts to respond to the
many pressing demands on our time: multitasking. Used for decades to describe the parallel
processing abilities of computers, multitasking is now shorthand for the human attempt to do
simultaneously as many things as possible, as quickly as possible, preferably marshalling the power
of as many technologies as possible.
Massachusetts-based psychiatrist Dr Edward Hallowell, who specialises in the treatment of attention
deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADD) and has written a book with the self-explanatory title
CrazyBusy, has been offering therapies to combat extreme multitasking for years. In his book he calls
multitasking a ‘mythical activity in which people believe they can perform two or more tasks
simultaneously’. In a 2005 article, he coined the term ‘Attention Deficit Trait’ (ADT), a syndrome
which he claims is rampant in the business world. ADT is ‘purely a response to the hyperactive
environment in which we live’, writes Hallowell, and its hallmark symptoms mimic those of ADD.
‘Never in history has the human brain been asked to track so many data points,’ Hallowell argues,
and this challenge ‘can be controlled only by creatively engineering one’s environment and one’s
emotional and physical health.’ Limiting
multitasking is essential.
To better understand the multitasking phenomenon, neurologists and psychologists have studied the
workings of the brain. In 1999, Jordan Grafman used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)
scans to determine that when people engage in ‘task-switching’ — that is, multitasking behaviour —
the flow of blood increases to a region of the frontal cortex called Brodmann area 10. (The flow of
blood to particular regions of the brain is taken as an indication of activity in those regions.) ‘This is
presumably the last part of the brain to evolve, the most mysterious and exciting part,’ Grafman said.
This fact is also what makes multitasking a poor long-term strategy for learning. Other studies, such
as those performed by psychologist René Marois, have used fMRI to demonstrate the brain’s
response to handling multiple tasks. Marois found evidence of a ‘response selection bottleneck’ that
occurs when the brain is forced to respond to several stimuli at once. As a result, task-switching leads
to time lost as the brain determines which task to perform. Psychologist David Meyer believes that
rather than a bottleneck in the brain, a process of ‘adaptive executive control’ takes place, which
‘schedules task processes appropriately to obey instructions about their relative priorities and serial
order’, as he described to the New Scientist. Unlike many other researchers who study multitasking,
Meyer is optimistic that, with training, the brain can learn to task-switch more effectively, and there
is some
evidence that certain simple tasks are amenable to such practice.
Psychology professor Russell Poldrack found that ‘multitasking adversely affects how people learn.
Even if you learn while multitasking, that learning is less flexible and more specialised, so you
cannotretrieve the information as easily.’ His research demonstrates that people use different areas of
the brain for learning and storing new information when they are distracted: brain scans of people
who are distracted or multitasking show activity in the striatum, a region of the brain involved in
learning new skills; brain scans of people who are not distracted show activity in the hippocampus, a
region involved in storing and recalling information. Discussing his research, Poldrack warned, ‘We
have to be aware that there is a cost to the way that our society is changing, that humans are not built
to work this way.
We’re really built to focus. And when we sort of force ourselves to multitask, we’re driving ourselves
to perhaps be less efficient in the long run even though it sometimes feels like we’re being more
efficient
Questions:

17 According to Lord Chesterfield, concentrating solely on one thing

A. A took up an excessive amount of people’s time.
B. B was essentially a mark of an intelligent mind.
C. C led to tasks not being completed on time.
D. D suited some people better than others.
18 In the second paragraph, the writer suggests that the concept of ‘multitasking’
A. A involves an over-reliance on specialised equipment.
B. B is only now being used in the field of technology.
C. C has become increasingly common in recent years.
D. D has been long used in a different context.
19 What point does the writer make about Dr Hallowell?
A. A He believes certain professionals find themselves multitasking more than others.
B. B He wrote a book about multitasking long before the term became fashionable.
C. C He has been responsible for the identification of a new condition related to multitasking.
D. D He has disputed the definition of the word ‘multitasking’.
20 What is suggested by Jordan Grafman’s research on multitasking?
A. A There is considerable overlap between the brain’s zones.
B. B Activity is confined to a specific area of the brain.
C. C There has been a great deal of uncertainty surrounding brain development.
D. D Experts are in agreement about what happens in the brain.
21 Marois and Meyer differ in their opinion of how the brain responds to multitasking in terms of
A. A the processing of information.
B. B the most suitable subject for research.
C. C the types of tasks that are suitable for multitasking.
D. D the fact that some people respond more quickly.
22 What implication does Russell Poldrack’s research have for students who multitask?
A. A They may soon have to use new techniques to remember what they have learnt.
B. B They should make a conscious effort to consider how efficiently they work.
C. C They actually engage in more multitasking than they are aware of.
D. D They are probably failing to retain as much information as they think.