Population Viability Analysis
Part A
To make political decisions about the extent and type of forestry in a region it is important to understand the
consequences of those decisions. One tool for assessing the impact of forestry on the ecosystem is population viability
analysis (PVA). This is a tool for predicting the probability that a species will become extinct in a particular region over a
specific period. It has been successfully used in the United States to provide input into resource exploitation decisions
and assist wildlife managers and there is now enormous potential for using population viability to assist wildlife
management in Australia’s forests. A species becomes extinct when the last individual dies. This observation is a useful
starting point for any discussion of extinction as it highlights the role of luck and chance in the extinction process. To
make a prediction about extinction we need to understand the processes that can contribute to it and these fall into four
broad categories which are discussed below.
Part B
A) Early attempts to predict population viability were based on demographic uncertainty whether an individual
survives from one year to the next will largely be a matter of chance. Some pairs may produce several young in a single
year while others may produce none in that same year. Small populations will fluctuate enormously because of the
random nature of birth and death and these chance fluctuations can cause species extinctions even if, on average, the
population size should increase. Taking only this uncertainty of ability to reproduce into account, extinction is unlikely if
the number of individuals in a population is above about 50 and the population is growing.
B) Small populations cannot avoid a certain amount of inbreeding. This is particularly true if there is a very small
number of one sex. For example, if there are only 20 individuals of a species and only one is a male, all future
individuals in the species must be descended from that one male. For most animal species such individuals are less
likely to survive and reproduce. Inbreeding increases the chance of extinction.
C) Variation within a species is the raw material upon which natural selection acts. Without genetic variability a
species lacks the capacity to evolve and cannot adapt to changes in its environment or to new predators and new
diseases. The loss of genetic diversity associated with reductions in population size will contribute to the likelihood of
extinction.
D) Recent research has shown that other factors need to be considered. Australia’s environment fluctuates
enormously from year to year. These fluctuations add yet another degree of uncertainty to the survival of many species.
Catastrophes such as fire, flood, drought or epidemic may reduce population sizes to a small fraction of their average
level. When allowance is made for these two additional elements of uncertainty the population size necessary to be
confident of persistence for a few hundred years may increase to several thousand.
Part C
Beside these processes we need to bear in mind the distribution of a population. A species that occurs in five isolated
places each containing 20 individuals will not have the same probability of extinction as a species with a single
population of 100 individuals in a single locality. Where logging occurs (that is, the cutting down of forests for timber)
forest-dependent creatures in that area will be forced to leave. Ground-dwelling herbivores may return within a decade.
However, arboreal marsupials (that is animals which live in trees) may not recover to pre-logging densities for over a
century. As more forests are logged, animal population sizes will be reduced further. Regardless of the theory or model
that we choose, a reduction in population size decreases the genetic diversity of a population and increases the
probability of extinction because of any or all of the processes listed above. It is therefore a scientific fact that increasing
the area that is loaded in any region will increase the probability that forest-dependent animals will become extinct.
Questions 28-31
Do the following statements agree with the views of the writer in Part A of Reading Passage 1? In boxes 28-31 on your
answer sheet write:
YES
if the statement agrees with the writer
NO
if the statement contradicts the writer
NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
Example
Answer
A link exists between the consequences of decisions and
the decision making process itself.
28
29
Scientists are interested in the effect of forestry on native animals.
PVA has been used in Australia for many years.
YES
30
31
A species is said to be extinct when only one individual exists.
Extinction is a naturally occurring phenomenon.
Questions 32-35
These questions are based on Part B of Reading Passage 1. In paragraphs A to D the author describes four processes
which may contribute to the extinction of a species. Match the list of processes (i-vi) to the paragraphs. Write the
appropriate number (i-vi) in boxes 32-35 on your answer sheet.
NB There are more processes than paragraphs so you will not use all of them.
32 Paragraph A
33 Paragraph B
34 Paragraph C
35 Paragraph D
Processes
i Loss of ability to adapt
ii Natural disasters
iii An imbalance of the sexes
iv Human disasters
v Evolution
vi The haphazard nature of reproduction
Questions 36-38
Based on your reading of Part C, complete the sentences below with words taken from the passage. Use NO MORE
THAN THREE WORDS for each answer. Write your answers in boxes 36-38 on your answer sheet.
While the population of a species may be on the increase, there is always a chance that small isolated groups ..........
(36) .......... Survival of a species depends on a balance between the size of a population and its .......... (37) ......... The
likelihood that animals which live in forests will become extinct is increased when .......... (38) ...........
Question 39
Choose the appropriate letter A-D and write it in box 39 on your answer sheet.
39 An alternative heading for the passage could be:
A The protection of native flora and fauna
B Influential factors in assessing survival probability
C An economic rationale for the logging of forests
D Preventive measures for the extinction of a species
Visual Symbols and the Blind
Part 1
From a number of recent studies, it has become clear that blind people can appreciate the use of outlines and
perspectives to describe the arrangement of objects and other surfaces in space.
But pictures are more than
literal representations. This fact was drawn to my attention dramatically when a blind woman in one of my investigations
decided on her own initiative to draw a wheel as it was spinning. To show this motion, she traced a curve inside the
circle (Fig. 1). I was taken aback, lines of motion, such as the one she used, are a very recent invention in the history of
illustration. Indeed, as art scholar David Kunzle notes, Wilhelm Busch, a trend-setting nineteenth-century cartoonist,
used virtually no motion lines in his popular figure until about 1877.
When I asked several other blind study subjects to draw a spinning wheel, one particularly clever rendition appeared
repeatedly: several subjects showed the wheel's spokes as curves lines. When asked about these curves, they all
described them as metaphorical ways of suggesting motion. Majority rule would argue that this device somehow
indicated motion very well. But was it a better indicator than, say, broken or wavy lines-or any other kind of line, for that
matter? The answer was not clear. So I decided to test whether various lines of motion were apt ways of showing
movement or if they were merely idiosyncratic marks. Moreover, I wanted to discover whether there were differences in
how the blind and the sighted interpreted lines of motion.
To search out these answers, I created raised-line drawings of five different wheels, depicting spokes with lines that
curved, bent, waved, dashed and extended beyond the perimeters of the wheel. I then asked eighteen blind volunteers
to feel the wheels and assign one of the following motions to each wheel: wobbling, spinning fast, spinning steadily,
jerking or braking. My control group consisted of eighteen sighted undergraduates from the University of Toronto.
Words associated
with circle/square
Agreement among
subjects(%)
SOFT-HARD
100
MOTHER-FATHER
94
HAPPY-SAD
94
GOOD-EVIL
89
LOVE-HATE
89
ALIVE-DEAD
87
BRIGHT-DARK
87
LIGHT-HEAVY
85
WARM-COLD
81
SUMMER-WINTER
81
WEAK-STRONG
79
FAST-SLOW
79
CAT-DOG
74
SPRING-FALL
74
QUIET-LOUD
62
WALKING-STANDING
62
ODD-EVEN
57
FAR-NEAR
53
PLANT-ANIMAL
53
DEEP-SHALLOW
51
All but one of the blind subjects assigned distinctive motions to each wheel. Most guessed that the curved spokes
indicated that the wheel was spinning steadily; the wavy spokes, they thought; suggested that the wheel was wobbling;
and the bent spokes were taken as a sign that the wheel was jerking. Subjects assumed that spokes extending beyond
the wheel's perimeter signified that the wheel had its brakes on and that dashed spokes indicated the wheel was
spinning quickly.
In addition, the favored description for the sighted was favored description for the blind in every instance. What is more,
the consensus among the sighted was barely higher than that among the blind. Because motion devices are unfamiliar
to the blind, the task I gave them involved some problem solving. Evidently, however, the blind not only figured out
meaning for each of motion, but as a group they generally came up with the same meaning at least as frequently as did
sighted subjects.
Part 2
We have found that the blind understand other kinds of visual metaphors as well. One blind woman drew a picture of a
child inside a heart-choosing that symbol, she said, to show that love surrounded the child. With Chang Hong Liu, a
doctoral student from china, I have begun exploring how well blind people understand the symbolism behind shapes
such as hearts that do not directly represent their meaning.
We gave a list of twenty pairs of words to sighted subjects and asked them to pick from each pair the term that best
related to a circle and the term that best related to assure. For example, we asked: what goes with soft? A circle or a
square? Which shapes goes with hard?
All our subjects deemed the circle soft and the square hard. A full 94% ascribed happy to the circle, instead of sad. But
other pairs revealed less agreement: 79% matched fast to slow and weak to strong, respectively. And only 51% linked
deep to circle and shallow to square. (see Fig. 2) When we tested four totally blind volunteers using the same list, we
found that their choices closely resembled those made by he sighted subjects. One man, who had been blind since
birth, scored extemely well. He made only one match differing from the consensus, assigning 'far' to square and 'near' to
circle. In fact, only a small majority of sighted subjects-53%- had paired far and near to the opposite partners. Thus we
concluded that the blind interpret abstract shapes as sighted people do.
Questions :
Choose the correct letter, A, B,C or D.
Write your answers in boxes 27 –29 on your answer sheet.
27 In the first paragraph the writer makes the point that blind people
A.
may be interested in studying art.
B.
can draw outlines of different objects and surfaces.
C.
can recognize conventions such as perspective.
D.
can draw accurately.
28 The writer was surprised because the blind woman
A.
drew a circle on her own initiative.
B.
did not understand what a wheel looked like.
C.
included a symbol representing movement.
D.
was the first person to use lines of motion.
29 From the experiment described in Part 1,the writer found that the blind subjects
A.
had good understanding of symbols representing movement.
B.
could control the movement of wheels very accurately.
C.
worked together well as a group in solving problems.
D.
got better results than the sighted undergraduates.
Questions 30 –32
Look at the following diagrams (Questions 30 –32), and the list of types of movement below. Match each diagram to the
type of movement A–E generally assigned to it in the experiment. Choose the correct letter A–E and write them in
boxes 30–32 on your answer sheet.
A
steady spinning
B
jerky movement
C
rapid spinning
D
wobbling movement
E
use of brakes
Questions 33 –39
Complete the summary below using words from the box. Write your answers in boxes 33 –39 on your answer
sheet. NB You may use any word more than once.
In the experiment described in Part 2, a set of word 33.......…… was used to investigate whether blind and sighted
people perceived the symbolism in abstract 34.....…...… in the same way. Subjects were asked which word fitted best
with a circle and which with a square. From the 35...…...… volunteers, everyone thought a circle fitted ‘soft ’while a
square fitted ‘hard’. However, only 51%of the 36.......…… volunteers assigned a circle to 37.....…… .When the test was
later repeated with 38...…...… volunteers, it was found that they made 39...…...… choices..
associations
Sighted
blind
similar
deep
hard
shallow soft
hundred
identical
pairs
shapes
words
Question 40
Choose the correct letter, A , B , C or D. Write your answer in box 40 on your answer sheet.
Which of the following statements best summarizes the writer ’s general conclusion?
A The blind represent some aspects of reality differently from sighted people.
B The blind comprehend visual metaphors in similar ways to sighted people.
C The blind may create unusual and effective symbols to represent reality.
D The blind may be successful artists if given the right training.
Zoo Conservation Programmes
One of London Zoo’s recent advertisements caused me some irritation, so patently did it distort reality. Headlined
“Without zoos you might as well tell these animals to get stuffed”, it was bordered with illustrations of several
endangered species and went on to extol the myth that without zoos like London Zoo these animals “will almost
certainly disappear forever”. With the zoo world’s rather mediocre record on conservation, one might be forgiven for
being slightly skeptical about such an advertisement.
Zoos were originally created as places of entertainment, and their suggested involvement with conservation didn’t
seriously arise until about 30 years ago, when the Zoological Society of London held the first formal international
meeting on the subject. Eight years later, a series of world conferences took place, entitled “The Breeding of
Endangered Species”, and from this point onwards conservation became the zoo community’s buzzword. This
commitment has now been clear defined in The World Zpo Conservation Strategy (WZGS, September 1993), which
although an important and welcome document does seem to be based on an unrealistic optimism about the nature of
the zoo industry.
The WZCS estimates that there are about 10,000 zoos in the world, of which around 1,000 represent a core of quality
collections capable of participating in co-ordinated conservation programmes. This is probably the document’s first
failing, as I believe that 10,000 is a serious underestimate of the total number of places masquerading as zoological
establishments. Of course it is difficult to get accurate data but, to put the issue into perspective, I have found that, in a
year of working in Eastern Europe, I discover fresh zoos on almost a weekly basis.
The second flaw in the reasoning of the WZCS document is the naive faith it places in its 1,000 core zoos. One would
assume that the calibre of these institutions would have been carefully examined, but it appears that the criterion for
inclusion on this select list might merely be that the zoo is a member of a zoo federation or association. This might be a
good starting point, working on the premise that members must meet certain standards, but again the facts don’t
support the theory. The greatly respected American Association of Zoological Parks and Aquariums (AAZPA) has had
extremely dubious members, and in the UK the Federation of Zoological Gardens of Great Britain and Ireland has
Occasionally had members that have been roundly censured in the national press. These include Robin Hill Adventure
Park on the Isle of Wight, which many considered the most notorious collection of animals in the country. This
establishment, which for years was protected by the Isle’s local council (which viewed it as a tourist amenity), was finally
closed down following a damning report by a veterinary inspector appointed under the terms of the Zoo Licensing Act
1981. As it was always a collection of dubious repute, one is obliged to reflect upon the standards that the Zoo
Federation sets when granting membership. The situation is even worse in developing countries where little money is
available for redevelopment and it is hard to see a way of incorporating collections into the overall scheme of the WZCS.
Even assuming that the WZCS’s 1,000 core zoos are all of a high standard complete with scientific staff and research
facilities, trained and dedicated keepers, accommodation that permits normal or natural behaviour, and a policy of cooperating fully with one another what might be the potential for conservation? Colin Tudge, author of Last Animals at the
Zoo (Oxford University Press, 1992), argues that “if the world”s zoos worked together in co-operative breeding
programmes, then even without further expansion they could save around 2,000 species of endangered land
vertebrates’. This seems an extremely optimistic proposition from a man who must be aware of the failings and
weaknesses of the zoo industry the man who, when a member of the council of London Zoo, had to persuade the zoo to
devote more of its activities to conservation. Moreover, where are the facts to support such optimism?
Today approximately 16 species might be said to have been “saved” by captive breeding programmes, although a
number of these can hardly be looked upon as resounding successes. Beyond that, about a further 20 species are
being seriously considered for zoo conservation programmes. Given that the international conference at London Zoo
was held 30 years ago, this is pretty slow progress, and a long way off Tudge’s target of 2,000.
Do the following statements agree with the views of the writer in Reading Passage 3? In boxes 16-22 write :
Y if the statement agrees with the writer
N if the statement contradicts the writer
NG if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
16
London Zoo’s advertisements are dishonest.
17
Zoos made an insignificant contribution to conservation up until 30 years ago.
18
The WZCS document is not known in Eastern Europe.
19
Zoos in the WZCS select list were carefully inspected.
20
No-one knew how the animals were being treated at Robin Hill Adventure Park.
21
Colin Tudge was dissatisfied with the treatment of animals at London Zoo.
22
The number of successful zoo conservation programmes is unsatisfactory.
Questions 23-25
Choose the appropriate letters A-D and write them in boxes 23-25 on your answer sheet.
23 What were the objectives of the WZCS document?
A
to improve the calibre of zoos world-wide
B
to identify zoos suitable for conservation practice
C
to provide funds for zoos in underdeveloped countries
D
to list the endangered species of the world
24 Why does the writer refer to Robin Hill Adventure Park?
A
to support the Isle of Wight local council
B
to criticise the 1981 Zoo Licensing Act
C
to illustrate a weakness in the WZCS document
D
to exemplify the standards in AAZPA zoos
25 What word best describes the writer’s response to Colin Tudges’ prediction on captive breeding programmes?
A
disbelieving
B
impartial
C
prejudiced
D
accepting
Questions 26-28
The writer mentions a number of factors which lead him to doubt the value of the WZCS document Which THREE of the
following factors are mentioned? Write your answers (A-F) in boxes 26-28 on your answer sheet.
List of Factors:
A the number of unregistered zoos in the world
B the lack of money in developing countries
C the actions of the Isle of Wight local council
D the failure of the WZCS to examine the standards of the “core zoos”
E the unrealistic aim of the WZCS in view of the number of species “saved” to date
F the policies of WZCS zoo managers
A Workaholic Economy
For The first century or so of the industrial revolution, increased productivity led to decreases in working hours.
Employees who had been putting in 12-hour days, six days a week, found their time on the job shrinking to 10 hours
daily, then, finally, to eight hours, five days a week. Only a generation ago social planners worried about what people
would do with all this new-found free time. In the US, at least, it seems they need not have bothered.
Although the output per hour of work has more than doubled since 1945, leisure seems reserved largely for the
unemployed and underemployed. Those who work full-time spend as much time on the job as they did at the end of
World War II. In fact, working hours have increased noticeably since 1970 — perhaps because real wages have
stagnated since that year. Bookstores now abound with manuals describing how to manage time and cope with stress.
There are several reasons for lost leisure. Since 1979, companies have responded to improvements in the business
climate by having employees work overtime rather than by hiring extra personnel, says economist Juliet B. Schor of
Harvard University. Indeed, the current economic recovery has gained a certain amount of notoriety for its “jobless”
nature: increased production has been almost entirely decoupled from employment. Some firms are even downsizing as
their profits climb. “All things being equal, we'd be better off spreading around the work,’ observes labour economist
Ronald G. Ehrenberg of Cornell University.
Yet a host of factors pushes employers to hire fewer workers for more hours and, at the same time, compels workers to
spend more time on the job. Most of those incentives involve what Ehrenberg calls the structure of compensation: quirks
in the way salaries and benefits are organised that make it more profitable to ask 40 employees to labour an extra hour
each than to hire one more worker to do the same 40-hour job.
Professional and managerial employees supply the most obvious lesson along these lines. Once people are on salary,
their cost to a firm is the same whether they spend 35 hours a week in the office or 70. Diminishing returns may
eventually set in as overworked employees lose efficiency or leave for more arable pastures. But in the short run, the
employer’s incentive is clear. Even hourly employees receive benefits -such as pension contributions and medical
insurance - that are not tied to the number of hours they work. Therefore, it is more profitable for employers to work their
existing employees harder.
For all that employees complain about long hours, they, too, have reasons not to trade money for leisure. “People who
work reduced hours pay a huge penalty in career terms,” Schor maintains. “It's taken as a negative signal’ about their
commitment to the firm.’ [Lotte] Bailyn [of Massachusetts Institute of Technology] adds that many corporate managers
find it difficult to measure the contribution of their underlings to a firm’s well-being, so they use the number of hours
worked as a proxy for output. “Employees know this,” she says, and they adjust their behavior accordingly.
“Although the image of the good worker is the one whose life belongs to the company,” Bailyn says, “it doesn't fit the
facts.’ She cites both quantitative and qualitative studies that show increased productivity for part-time workers: they
make better use of the time they have, and they are less likely to succumb to fatigue in stressful jobs. Companies that
employ more workers for less time also gain from the resulting redundancy, she asserts. “The extra people can cover
the contingencies that you know are going to happen, such as when crises take people away from the workplace.’
Positive experiences with reduced hours have begun to change the more-is-better culture at some companies, Schor
reports.
Larger firms, in particular, appear to be more willing to experiment with flexible working arrangements...
It may take even more than changes in the financial and cultural structures of employment for workers successfully to
trade increased productivity and money for leisure time, Schor contends. She says the U.S. market for goods has
become skewed by the assumption of full-time, two-career households. Automobile makers no longer manufacture
cheap models, and developers do not build the tiny bungalows that served the first postwar generation of home buyers.
Not even the humblest household object is made without a microprocessor. As Schor notes, the situation is a curious
inversion of the “appropriate technology” vision that designers have had for developing countries: U.S. goods are
appropriate only for high incomes and long hours.
----- Paul Walluh
Questions 27-32
Do the following statements agree with the views of the writer in reading passage 4? In boxes 27-32 on your answer
sheet write:
YES
if the statement agrees with the writer
NO
if the statement contradicts the writer
NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
Example
During the industrial revolution people worded harder
Answer
NOT GIVEN
27
Today, employees are facing a reduction in working hours.
28
Social planners have been consulted about US employment figures.
29
Salaries have not risen significantly since the 1970s.
30
The economic recovery created more jobs.
31
Bailyn’s research shows that part-time employees work more efficiently.
32
Increased leisure time would benefit two-career households.
Questions 33-34
Choose the appropriate letters A-D and write them in boxes 33 and 34 on your answer sheet.
33 Bailyn argues that it is better for a company to employ more workers because
A
it is easy to make excess staff redundant.
B
crises occur if you are under-staffed.
C
people are available to substitute for absent staff.
D
they can project a positive image at work.
34 Schor thinks it will be difficult for workers in the US to reduce their working hours because
A
they would not be able to afford cars or homes.
B
employers are offering high incomes for long hours.
C
the future is dependent on technological advances.
D
they do not wish to return to the humble post-war era.
Questions 35-38
The writer mentions a number of factors that have resulted, in employees working longer hours. Which FOUR of the
following factors are mentioned? Write your answers (A-H) in boxes 35-38 on your answer sheet.
List of Factors
A Books are available to help employees cope with stress.
B Extra work is offered to existing employees.
C Increased production has led to joblessness.
D Benefits and hours spent on the job are not linked.
E Overworked employees require longer to do their work.
F
Longer hours indicate greater commitment to the firm.
G Managers estimate staff productivity in terms of hours worked.
H Employees value a career more than a family.
The Risks of Cigarette Smoke
Discovered in the early 1800s and named nicotianine, the oily essence now called nicotine is the main active ingredient
of tobacco. Nicotine, however, is only a small component of cigarette smoke, which contains more than 4,700 chemical
compounds, including 43 cancer-causing substances. In recent times, scientific research has been providing evidence
that, years of cigarette smoking vastly increases the risk of developing fatal medical conditions.
In addition to being responsible for more than 85 per cent of lung cancers, smoking is associated with cancers of,
amongst others, the mouth, stomach and kidneys, and is thought to cause about 14 per cent of leukemia and cervical
cancers. In 1990, smoking caused more than 84,000 deaths, mainly resulting from such problems as pneumonia,
bronchitis and influenza. Smoking, it is believed, is responsible for 30 per cent of all deaths from cancer and clearly
represents the most important preventable cause of cancer in countries like the United States today.
Passive smoking, the breathing in of the side-stream smoke from the burning of tobacco between puffs or of the smoke
exhaled by a smoker, also causes a serious health risk. A report published in 1992 by the US Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) emphasized the health dangers, especially from side-stream smoke. This type of smoke contains more,
smaller particles and is therefore more likely to be deposited deep in the lungs. On the basis of this report, the EPA has
classified environmental tobacco smoke in the highest risk category for causing cancer.
As an illustration of the health risks, in the case of a married couple where one partner is a smoker and one a nonsmoker, the latter is believed to have a 30 per cent higher risk of death from heart disease because of passive smoking.
The risk of lung cancer also increases over the years of exposure and the figure jumps to 80 per cent if the spouse has
been smoking four packs a day for 20 years. It has been calculated that 17 per cent of cases of lung cancer can be
attributed to high levels of exposure to second-hand tobacco smoke during childhood and adolescence.
A more recent study by researchers at the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) has shown that secondhand cigarette smoke does more harm to non-smokers than to smokers. Leaving aside the philosophical question of
whether anyone should have to breathe someone else’s cigarette smoke, the report suggests that the smoke
experienced by many people in their daily lives is enough to produce substantial adverse effects on a person’s heart and
lungs.
The report, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (AMA), was based on the researchers’ own
earlier research but also includes a review of studies over the past few years. The American Medical Association
represents about half of all US doctors and is a strong opponent of smoking. The study suggests that people who
smoke cigarettes are continually damaging their cardiovascular system, which adapts in order to compensate for the
effects of smoking. It further states that people who do not smoke do not have the benefit of their system adapting to the
smoke inhalation. Consequently, the effects of passive smoking are far greater on non-smokers than on smokers.
This report emphasizes that cancer is not caused by a single element in cigarette smoke; harmful effects to health are
caused by many components. Carbon monoxide, for example, competes with oxygen in red blood cells and interferes
with the blood’s ability to deliver life-giving oxygen to the heart. Nicotine and other toxins in cigarette smoke activate
small blood cells called platelets, which increases the likelihood of blood clots, thereby affecting blood circulation
throughout the body.
The researchers criticize the practice of some scientific consultants who work with the tobacco industry for assuming
that cigarette smoke has the same impact on smokers as it does on non-smokers. They argue that those scientists are
underestimating the damage done by passive smoking and, in support of their recent findings, cite some previous
research which points to passive smoking as the cause for between 30,000 and 60,000 deaths from heart attacks each
year in the United States. This means that passive smoking is the third most preventable cause of death after active
smoking and alcohol-related diseases.
The study argues that the type of action needed against passive smoking should be similar to that being taken against
illegal drugs and AIDS (SIDA). The UCSF researchers maintain that the simplest and most cost-effective action is to
establish smoke-free work places, schools and public places.
Questions 15-17
Choose the appropriate letters A - D and write them in boxes 15 -17 on your answer sheet.
15 According to information in the text, leukaemia and pneumonia
A
are responsible for 84,000 deaths each year.
B
are strongly linked to cigarette smoking.
C
are strongly linked to lung cancer.
D
result in 30 per cent of deaths per year.
16 According to information in the text, intake of carbon monoxide
A
inhibits the flow of oxygen to the heart.
B
increases absorption of other smoke particles.
C
inhibits red blood cell formation.
D
promotes nicotine absorption.
17 According to information in the text, intake of nicotine encourages
A
blood circulation through the body.
B
activity of other toxins in the blood.
C
formation of blood clots.
D
an increase of platelets in the blood.
Questions 18-21
Do the following statements reflect the claims of the writer in Reading Passage 5? In boxes 18-21 on your answer sheet
write:
YES
if the statement reflects the claims of the writer
NO
if the statement contradicts the claims of the writer
NOT GIVEN
if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
18 Thirty per cent of deaths in the United States are caused by smoking-related diseases.
19 If one partner in a marriage smokes, the other is likely to take up smoking.
20 Teenagers whose parents smoke are at risk of getting lung cancer at some time during their lives.
21 Opponents of smoking financed the UCSF study.
Questions 22-24
Choose ONE phrase from the list of phrases A - J below to complete each of the following sentences (Questions 22-24).
Write the appropriate letters in boxes 22 - 24 on your answer sheet.
22 Passive smoking ...................
23 Compared with a non-smoker, a smoker ...................
24 The American Medical Association ...................
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
includes reviews of studies in its reports.
argues for stronger action against smoking in public places.
is one of the two most preventable causes of death.
is more likely to be at risk from passive smoking diseases.
is more harmful to non-smokers than to smokers.
is less likely to be at risk of contracting lung cancer.
is more likely to be at risk of contracting various cancers.
opposes smoking and publishes research on the subject.
is just as harmful to smokers as it is to non-smokers.
reduces the quantity of blood flowing around the body.
Questions 25-28
Classify the following statements as being
A
a finding of the UCSF study
B
an opinion of the UCSF study
C
a finding of the EPA report
D
an assumption of consultants to the tobacco industry
Write the appropriate letters A—D in boxes 25—28 on your answer sheet.
NB You may use any letter more than once.
25 Smokers’ cardiovascular systems adapt to the intake of environmental smoke.
26 There is a philosophical question as to whether people should have to inhale others’ smoke.
27 Smoke-free public places offer the best solution.
28 The intake of side-stream smoke is more harmful than smoke exhaled by a smoker.
A Remarkable Beetle
Some of the most remarkable beetles are the dung beetles, which spend almost their whole lives eating and breeding in
dung’.
More than 4,000 species of these remarkable creatures have evolved and adapted to the world’s different climates and
the dung of its many animals. Australia’s native dung beetles are scrub and woodland dwellers, specialising in coarse
marsupial droppings and avoiding the soft cattle dung in which bush flies and buffalo flies breed.
In the early 1960s George Bornemissza, then a scientist at the Australian Government’s premier research organisation,
the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), suggested that dung beetles should be
introduced to Australia to control dung-breeding flies. Between 1968 and 1982, the CSIRO imported insects from about
50 different species of dung beetle, from Asia, Europe and Africa, aiming to match them to different climatic zones in
Australia. Of the 26 species that are known to have become successfully integrated into the local environment, only one,
an African species released in northern Australia, has reached its natural boundary.
Introducing dung beetles into a pasture is a simple process: approximately 1,500 beetles are released; a handful at a
time, into fresh cow pats 2 in the cow pasture. The beetles immediately disappear beneath the pats digging and
tunneling and, if they successfully adapt to their new environment, soon become a permanent, self-sustaining part of the
local ecology. In time they multiply and within three or four years the benefits to the pasture are obvious.
Dung beetles work from the inside of the pat so they are sheltered from predators such as birds and foxes. Most species
burrow into the soil and bury dung in tunnels directly underneath the pats, which are hollowed out from within. Some
large species originating from France excavate tunnels to a depth of approximately 30 cm below the dung pat. These
beetles make sausage-shaped brood chambers along the tunnels. The shallowest tunnels belong to a much smaller
Spanish species that buries dung in chambers that hang like fruit from the branches of a pear tree. South African
beetles dig narrow tunnels of approximately 20 cm below the surface of the pat. Some surface-dwelling beetles,
including a South African species, cut perfectly-shaped balls from the pat, which are rolled away and attached to the
bases of plants.
For maximum dung burial in spring, summer and autumn, farmers require a variety of species with overlapping periods
of activity. In the cooler environments of the state of Victoria, the large French species (2.5 cms long) is matched with
smaller (half this size), temperate-climate Spanish species. The former are slow to recover from the winter cold and
produce only one or two generations of offspring from late spring until autumn. The latter, which multiply rapidly in early
spring, produce two to five generations annually. The South African ball-rolling species, being a subtropical beetle,
prefers the climate of northern and coastal New South Wales where it commonly works with the South African tunneling
species. In warmer climates, many species are active for longer periods of the year.
Dung beetles were initially introduced in the late 1960s with a view to controlling buffalo flies by removing the dung
within a day or two and so preventing flies from breeding. However, other benefits have become evident. Once the
beetle larvae have finished pupation, the residue is a first-rate source of fertiliser. The tunnels abandoned by the beetles
provide excellent aeration and water channels for root systems. In addition, when the new generation of beetles has left
the nest the abandoned burrows are an attractive habitat for soil-enriching earthworms. The digested dung in these
burrows is an excellent food supply for the earthworms, which decompose it further to provide essential soil nutrients. If
it were not for the dung beetle, chemical fertiliser and dung would be washed by rain into streams and rivers before it
could be absorbed into the hard earth, polluting water courses and causing blooms of blue-green algae. Without the
beetles to dispose of the dung, cow pats would litter pastures making grass inedible to cattle and depriving the soil of
sunlight. Australia’s 30 million cattle each produce 10-12 cow pats a day. This amounts to 1.7 billion tones a year,
enough to smother about 110,000 sq km of pasture, half the area of Victoria.
Dung beetles have become an integral part of the successful management of dairy farms in Australia over the past few
decades. A number of species are available from the CSIRO or through a small number of private breeders, most of
whom were entomologists with the CSIRO’s dung beetle unit who have taken their specialised knowledge of the insect
and opened small businesses in direct competition with their former employer.
Glossary
1. dung:- the droppings or excreta of animals
2. cow pats:- droppings of cows
Questions 1-5
Do the following statements reflect the claims of the writer in Reading Passage 6? In boxes 1-5 on your answer sheet
write:
YES
if the statement reflects the claims of the writer
NO
if the statement contradicts the claims of the writer
NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
1
Bush flies are easier to control than buffalo flies.
2
Four thousand species of dung beetle were initially brought to Australia by the CSIRO.
3
Dung beetles were brought to Australia by the CSIRO over a fourteen-year period.
4
At least twenty-six of the introduced species have become established in Australia.
5
The dung beetles cause an immediate improvement to the quality of a cow pasture.
Questions 6-8
Label the tunnels on the diagram below. Choose your labels from the box below the diagram. Write your answers in
boxes 6-8 on your answer sheet.
Write your answers in boxes 6-8 on your answer sheet.
Dung Beetle Types
French
Spanish
Mediterranean
South African
Australian native
South African ball roller.
Question 9-13
Complete the table below.
Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS OR A NUMBER from Reading Passage 6 for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 9—13 on your answer sheet.
Species
Size
Preferred
Climate
Complementary
species
Start of
active period
Number of
generations
per year
French
Spanish
2.5 cm
1.25 cm
Cool
9
Spanish
Late spring
10
1-2
1
12
13
South African ball
roller
Alarming Rate of Loss of Tropical Rainforests
Adults and children are frequently confronted with statements about the alarming rate of loss of tropical
rainforests.
For example, one graphic illustration to which children might readily relate is the
estimate that rainforests are being destroyed at a rate equivalent to one thousand football fields every forty minutes –
about the duration of a normal classroom period. In the face of the frequent and often vivid media coverage, it is likely
that children will have formed ideas about rainforests – what and where they are, why they are important, what
endangers them – independent of any formal tuition. It is also possible that some of these ideas will be mistaken. Many
studies have shown that children harbour misconceptions about ‘pure’, curriculum science. These misconceptions do
not remain isolated but become incorporated into a multifaceted, but organised, conceptual framework, making it and
the component ideas, some of which are erroneous, more robust but also accessible to modification. These ideas may
be developed by children absorbing ideas through the popular media. Sometimes this information may be erroneous. It
seems schools may not be providing an opportunity for children to re-express their ideas and so have them tested and
refined by teachers and their peers.
Despite the extensive coverage in the popular media of the destruction of rainforests, little formal information is available
about children’s ideas in this area. The aim of the present study is to start to provide such information, to help teachers
design their educational strategies to build upon correct ideas and to displace misconceptions and to plan programmes
in environmental studies in their schools.
The study surveys children’s scientific knowledge and attitudes to rainforests. Secondary school children were asked to
complete a questionnaire containing five open-form questions. The most frequent responses to the first question were
descriptions which are self-evident from the term ‘rainforest’. Some children described them as damp, wet or hot. The
second question concerned the geographical location of rainforests. The commonest responses were continents or
countries: Africa (given by 43% of children), South America (30%), Brazil (25%). Some children also gave more general
locations, such as being near the Equator.
Responses to question three concerned the importance of rainforests. The dominant idea, raised by 64% of the pupils,
was that rainforests provide animals with habitats. Fewer students responded that rainforests provide plant habitats, and
even fewer mentioned the indigenous populations of rainforests. More girls (70%) than boys (60%) raised the idea of
rainforest as animal habitats.
Similarly, but at a lower level, more girls (13%) than boys (5%) said that rainforests provided human habitats. These
observations are generally consistent with our previous studies of pupils’ views about the use and conservation of
rainforests, in which girls were shown to be more sympathetic to animals and expressed views which seem to place an
intrinsic value on non-human animal life.
The fourth question concerned the causes of the destruction of rainforests. Perhaps encouragingly, more than half of the
pupils (59%) identified that it is human activities which are destroying rainforests, some personalising the responsibility
by the use of terms such as ‘we are’. About 18% of the pupils referred specifically to logging activity.
One misconception, expressed by some 10% of the pupils, was that acid rain is responsible for rainforest destruction; a
similar proportion said that pollution is destroying rainforests. Here, children are confusing rainforest destruction with
damage to the forests of Western Europe by these factors. While two fifths of the students provided the information that
the rainforests provide oxygen, in some cases this response also embraced the misconception that rainforest
destruction would reduce atmospheric oxygen, making the atmosphere incompatible with human life on Earth.
In answer to the final question about the importance of rainforest conservation, the majority of children simply said that
we need rainforests to survive. Only a few of the pupils (6%) mentioned that rainforest destruction may contribute to
global warming. This is surprising considering the high level of media coverage on this issue. Some children expressed
the idea that the conservation of rainforests is not important.
The results of this study suggest that certain ideas predominate in the thinking of children about rainforests. Pupils’
responses indicate some misconceptions in basic scientific knowledge of rainforests’ ecosystems such as their ideas
about rainforests as habitats for animals, plants and humans and the relationship between climatic change and
destruction of rainforests.
Pupils did not volunteer ideas that suggested that they appreciated the complexity of causes of rainforest destruction. In
other words, they gave no indication of an appreciation of either the range of ways in which rainforests are important or
the complex social, economic and political factors which drive the activities which are destroying the rainforests. One
encouragement is that the results of similar studies about other environmental issues suggest that older children seem
to acquire the ability to appreciate, value and evaluate conflicting views. Environmental education offers an arena in
which these skills can be developed, which is essential for these children as future decision-makers.
Questions 1–8
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Sample 7?
In boxes 1–8 on your answer sheet write:
TRUE if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this
1 The plight of the rainforests has largely been ignored by the media.
2 Children only accept opinions on rainforests that they encounter in their classrooms.
3 It has been suggested that children hold mistaken views about the ‘pure’ science that they study at school.
4 The fact that children’s ideas about science form part of a larger framework of ideas means that it is easier to change
them.
5 The study involved asking children a number of yes/no questions such as ‘Are there any rainforests in Africa?’
6 Girls are more likely than boys to hold mistaken views about the rainforests’ destruction.
7 The study reported here follows on from a series of studies that have looked at children’s understanding of rainforests.
8 A second study has been planned to investigate primary school children’s ideas about rainforests.
Questions 9–13
The box below gives a list of responses A–P to the questionnaire discussed in Reading sample 7.
Answer the following questions by choosing the correct responses A–P.
Write your answers in boxes 9–13 on your answer sheet.
09 What was the children’s most frequent response when asked where the rainforests were?
10 What was the most common response to the question about the importance of the rainforests?
11 What did most children give as the reason for the loss of the rainforests?
12 Why did most children think it important for the rainforests to be protected?
13 Which of the responses is cited as unexpectedly uncommon, given the amount of time spent on the issue by the
newspapers and television?
A There is a complicated combination of reasons for the loss of the rainforests.
B The rainforests are being destroyed by the same things that are destroying the forests of Western Europe.
C Rainforests are located near the Equator.
D Brazil is home to the rainforests.
E Without rainforests some animals would have nowhere to live.
F Rainforests are important habitats for a lot of plants.
G People are responsible for the loss of the rainforests.
H The rainforests are a source of oxygen.
I
Rainforests are of consequence for a number of different reasons.
J As the rainforests are destroyed, the world gets warmer.
K Without rainforests there would not be enough oxygen in the air.
L There are people for whom the rainforests are home.
M Rainforests are found in Africa.
N Rainforests are not really important to human life.
O The destruction of the rainforests is the direct result of logging activity.
P Humans depend on the rainforests for their continuing existence.
Question 14
Choose the correct letter A, B, C, D or E.
Write your answer in box 14 on your answer sheet.
Which of the following is the most suitable title for Reading sample Passage 7?
A The development of a programme in environmental studies within a science curriculum
B Children’s ideas about the rainforests and the implications for course design
C The extent to which children have been misled by the media concerning the rainforests
D How to collect, collate and describe the ideas of secondary school children
E The importance of the rainforests and the reasons for their destruction
Changing Our Understanding of Health
A
The concept of health holds different meanings for different people and groups. These meanings of health have also
changed over time. This change is no more evident than in Western society today, when notions of health and health
promotion are being challenged and expanded in new ways.
B
For much of recent Western history, health has been viewed in the physical sense only. That is, good health has been
connected to the smooth mechanical operation of the body, while ill health has been attributed to a breakdown in this
machine. Health in this sense has been defined as the absence of disease or illness and is seen in medical terms.
According to this view, creating health for people means providing medical care to treat or prevent disease and illness.
During this period, there was an emphasis on providing clean water, improved sanitation and housing.
C
In the late 1940s the World Health Organisation challenged this physically and medically oriented view of health. They
stated that 'health is a complete state of physical, mental and social well-being and is not merely the absence of
disease' (WHO, 1946). Health and the person were seen more holistically (mind/body/spirit) and not just in physical
terms.
D
The 1970s was a time of focusing on the prevention of disease and illness by emphasising the importance of the
lifestyle and behaviour of the individual. Specific behaviours which were seen to increase risk of disease, such as
smoking, lack of fitness and unhealthy eating habits, were targeted. Creating health meant providing not only medical
health care, but health promotion programs and policies which would help people maintain healthy behaviours and
lifestyles. While this individualistic healthy lifestyles approach to health worked for some (the wealthy members of
society), people experiencing poverty, unemployment, underemployment or little control over the conditions of their daily
lives benefited little from this approach. This was largely because both the healthy lifestyles approach and the medical
approach to health largely ignored the social and environmental conditions affecting the health of people.
E
During 1980s and 1990s there has been a growing swing away from seeing lifestyle risks as the root cause of poor
health. While lifestyle factors still remain important, health is being viewed also in terms of the social, economic and
environmental contexts in which people live. This broad approach to health is called the socio-ecological view of health.
The broad socio-ecological view of health was endorsed at the first International Conference of Health Promotion held in
1986, Ottawa, Canada, where people from 38 countries agreed and declared that:
The fundamental conditions and resources for health are peace, shelter, education, food, a viable income, a stable ecosystem, sustainable resources, social justice and equity. Improvement in health requires a secure foundation in these
basic requirements. (WHO, 1986) .
It is clear from this statement that the creation of health is about much more than encouraging healthy individual
behaviours and lifestyles and providing appropriate medical care. Therefore, the creation of health must include
addressing issues such as poverty, pollution, urbanisation, natural resource depletion, social alienation and poor
working conditions. The social, economic and environmental contexts which contribute to the creation of health do not
operate separately or independently of each other. Rather, they are interacting and interdependent, and it is the complex
interrelationships between them which determine the conditions that promote health. A broad socio-ecological view of
health suggests that the promotion of health must include a strong social, economic and environmental focus.
F
At the Ottawa Conference in 1986, a charter was developed which outlined new directions for health promotion based
on the socio-ecological view of health. This charter, known as the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion, remains as the
backbone of health action today. In exploring the scope of health promotion it states that:
Good health is a major resource for social, economic and personal development and an important dimension of quality
of life. Political, economic, social, cultural, environmental, behavioural and biological factors can all favour health or be
harmful to it. (WHO, 1986) .
The Ottawa Charter brings practical meaning and action to this broad notion of health promotion. It presents
fundamental strategies and approaches in achieving health for all. The overall philosophy of health promotion which
guides these fundamental strategies and approaches is one of 'enabling people to increase control over and to improve
their health' (WHO, 1986).
Questions 14-18
Reading passage 8 has six paragraphs B-F from the list of headings below Choose the most suitable headings for
paragraphsB-F from the list of headings below.
Write the appropriate numbers (i-ix) in boxes 14-18 on your answer sheet.
NB There are more headings than paragraphs, so you will not use them all.
List of Headings
i)
Ottawa International Conference on Health Promotion
ii)
Holistic approach to health
iii) The primary importance of environmental factors
iv) Healthy lifestyles approach to health
v)
Changes in concepts of health in Western society
vi) Prevention of diseases and illness
vii) Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion
viii) Definition of health in medical terms
ix) Socio-ecological view of health
14.
Paragraph B
15.
Paragraph C
16.
Paragraph D
17.
Paragraph E
18.
Paragraph F
Questions 19-22
Using NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage, answer the following questions
Write your answers in boxes 19-22 on your answer sheet.
19. In which year did the World Health Organization define health in terms of mental, physical and social well-being?
20. Which members of society benefited most from the healthy lifestyles approach to health?
21. Name the three broad areas which relate to people's health, according to the socio-ecological view of health.
22. During which decade were lifestyle risks seen as the major contributors to poor health?
Questions 23-27
Do the following statements agree with the information in Reading Passage 8?
In boxes 23-27 on your answer sheet write
YES
if the statement agrees with the information.
NO
if the statement contradicts the information.
NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this in the passage.
23 Doctors have been instrumental in improving living standards in Western society.
24 The approach to health during the 1970s included the introduction of health awareness programs.
25 The socio-ecological view of health recognises that lifestyle habits and the provision of adequate health care are
critical factors governing health.
26 The principles of the Ottawa Charter are considered to be out of date in the 1990s.
27 In recent years a number of additional countries have subscribed to the Ottawa Charter.
PAPER RECYCLING
A Paper is different from other waste produce because it comes from a sustainable resource: trees. Unlike the minerals
and oil used to make plastics and metals, trees are replaceable. Paper is also biodegradable, so it does not pose as
much threat to the environment when it is discarded. While 45 out of every 100 tonnes of wood fibre used to make
paper in Australia comes from waste paper, the rest comes directly from virgin fibre from forests and plantations. By
world standards this is a good performance since the world-wide average is 33 per cent waste paper. Governments
have encouraged waste paper collection and sorting schemes and at the same time, the paper industry has responded
by developing new recycling technologies that have paved the way for even greater utilization of used fibre. As a result,
industry’s use of recycled fibres is expected to increase at twice the rate of virgin fibre over the coming years.
B Already, waste paper constitutes 70% of paper used for packaging and advances in the technology required to
remove ink from the paper have allowed a higher recycled content in newsprint and writing paper. To achieve the
benefits of recycling, the community must also contribute. We need to accept a change in the quality of paper products;
for example stationery may be less white and of a rougher texture. There also needs to be support from the community
for waste paper collection programs. Not only do we need to make the paper available to collectors but it also needs to
be separated into different types and sorted from contaminants such as staples, paperclips, string and other
miscellaneous items.
C There are technical limitations to the amount of paper which can be recycled and some paper products cannot be
collected for re-use. These include paper in the form of books and permanent records, photographic paper and paper
which is badly contaminated. The four most common sources of paper for recycling are factories and retail stores which
gather large amounts of packaging material in which goods are delivered, also offices which have unwanted business
documents and computer output, paper converters and printers and lastly households which discard newspapers and
packaging material. The paper manufacturer pays a price for the paper and may also incur the collection cost.
D Once collected, the paper has to be sorted by hand by people trained to recognise various types of paper. This is
necessary because some types of paper can only be made from particular kinds of recycled fibre. The sorted paper then
has to be repulped or mixed with water and broken down into its individual fibres. This mixture is called stock and may
contain a wide variety of contaminating materials, particularly if it is made from mixed waste paper which has had little
sorting. Various machineries are used to remove other materials from the stock. After passing through the repulping
process, the fibres from printed waste paper are grey in colour because the printing ink has soaked into the individual
fibres. This recycled material can only be used in products where the grey colour does not matter, such as cardboard
boxes but if the grey colour is not acceptable, the fibres must be de-inked. This involves adding chemicals such as
caustic soda or other alkalis, soaps and detergents, water-hardening agents such as cal-cium chloride, frothing agents
and bleaching agents. Before the recycled fibres can be made into paper they must be refined or treated in such a way
that they bond together.
E Most paper products must contain some virgin fibre as well as recycled fibres and unlike glass, paper cannot be
recycled indefinitely. Most paper is down-cycled which means that a prod-uct made from recycled paper is of an inferior
quality to the original paper. Recycling paper is beneficial in that it saves some of the energy, labour and capital that go
into producing virgin pulp. However, recycling requires the use of fossil fuel, a non-renewable energy source, to collect
the waste paper from the community and to process it to produce new paper. And the recycling process still creates
emissions which require treatment before they can be disposed of safely. Nevertheless, paper recycling is an important
economical and environmental practice but one which must be carried out in a rational and viable manner for it to be
useful to both industry and the community.
Questions 30-36
Complete the summary below of the first two paragraphs of the Reading Passage.
Choose ONE OR TWO WORDS from the Reading Passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 30-36 on your answer sheet.
SUMMARY
Example ....
From the point of view of recycling, paper has two advantages over minerals and ...........oil..........
in that firstly it comes from a resource which is ........ (30) ........ and secondly it is less threatening to our environment
when we throw it away because it is ....... (31) ...... Although Australia’s record in the re-use of waste paper is good, it is
still necessary to use a combination of recycled fibre and ........ (32) ........ to make new paper. The paper industry has
contributed positively and people have also been encouraged by .........(33) ......... to collect their waste on a regular
basis. One major difficulty is the removal of ink from used paper but ......... (34) ......... are being made in this area.
However, we need to learn to accept paper which is generally of a lower ......... (35) ......... than before and to sort our
waste paper by removing ......... (36) ........ before discarding it for collection.
Look at paragraphs C, D, and E and, using the information in the passage, complete the flow chart below. Write your
answers in boxes 37-41 on your answer sheet. Use ONE OR TWO WORDS for each answer.
ABSENTEEISM IN NURSING:
A LONGITUDINAL STUDY
Absence from work is a costly and disruptive problem for any organisation. The cost of absenteeism in Australia has
been put at 1.8 million hours per day or $1400 million annually. The study reported here was conducted in the Prince
William Hospital in Brisbane, Australia, where, prior to this time, few active steps had been taken to measure,
understand or manage the occurrence of absenteeism.
Nursing Absenteeism
A prevalent attitude amongst many nurses in the group selected for study was that there was no reward or recognition
for not utilising the paid sick leave entitlement allowed them in their employment conditions. Therefore, they believed
they may as well take the days off — sick or otherwise. Similar attitudes have been noted by James (1989), who noted
that sick leave is seen by many workers as a right, like annual holiday leave.
Miller and Norton (1986), in their survey of 865 nursing personnel, found that 73 per cent felt they should be rewarded
for not taking sick leave, because some employees always used their sick leave. Further, 67 per cent of nurses felt that
administration was not sympathetic to the problems shift work causes to employees' personal and social lives. Only 53
per cent of the respondents felt that every effort was made to schedule staff fairly.
In another longitudinal study of nurses working in two Canadian hospitals, Hacket Bycio and Guion (1989) examined the
reasons why nurses took absence from work. The most frequent reason stated for absence was minor illness to self.
Other causes, in decreasing order of frequency, were illness in family, family social function, work to do at home and
bereavement.
Method
In an attempt to reduce the level of absenteeism amongst the 250 Registered an Enrolled Nurses in the present study,
the Prince William management introduced three different, yet potentially complementary, strategies over 18
months. Strategy 1:Non-financial (material) incentives : Within the established wage and salary system it was not
possible to use hospital funds to support this strategy. However, it was possible to secure incentives from local
businesses, including free passes to entertainment parks, theatres, restaurants, etc. At the end of each roster period,
the ward with the lowest absence rate would win the prize. Strategy 2 Flexible fair rostering: Where possible, staff were
given the opportunity to determine their working schedule within the limits of clinical needs. Strategy 3: Individual
absenteeism : and Each month, managers would analyse the pattern of absence of staff with excessive sick leave
(greater than ten days per year for full-time employees). Characteristic patterns of potential 'voluntary absenteeism'
such as absence before and after days off, excessive weekend and night duty absence and multiple single days off
were communicated to all ward nurses and then, as necessary, followed up by action.
Results
Absence rates for the six months prior to the Incentive scheme ranged from 3.69 per cent to 4.32 per cent. In the
following six months they ranged between 2.87 per cent and 3.96 per cent. This represents a 20 per cent improvement.
However, analysing the absence rates on a year-to-year basis, the overall absence rate was 3.60 per cent in the first
year and 3.43 per cent in the following year. This represents a 5 per cent decrease from the first to the second year of
the study. A significant decrease in absence over the two-year period could not be demonstrated.
Discussion
The non-financial incentive scheme did appear to assist in controlling absenteeism in the short term. As the scheme
progressed it became harder to secure prizes and this contributed to the program's losing momentum and finally
ceasing. There were mixed results across wards as well. For example, in wards with staff members who had long-term
genuine illness, there was little chance of winning, and to some extent the staffs on those wards were disempowered.
Our experience would suggest that the long-term effects of incentive awards on absenteeism are questionable.
Over the time of the study, staff were given a larger degree of control in their rosters. This led to significant
improvements in communication between managers and staff. A similar effect was found from the implementation of the
third strategy. Many of the nurses had not realised the impact their behaviour was having on the organisation and their
colleagues but there were also staff members who felt that talking to them about their absenteeism was 'picking' on
them and this usually had a negative effect on management—employee relationships.
Conclusion
Although there has been some decrease in absence rates, no single strategy or combination of strategies has had a
significant impact on absenteeism per se. Notwithstanding the disappointing results, it is our contention that the
strategies were not in vain. A shared ownership of absenteeism and a collaborative approach to problem solving has
facilitated improved cooperation and communication between management and staff. It is our belief that this
improvement alone, while not tangibly measurable, has increased the ability of management to manage the effects of
absenteeism more effectively since this study.
[" This article has been adapted and condensed from the article by G. William and K. Slater (1996), 'Absenteeism in
nursing: A longitudinal study', Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, 34(1): 111-21. Names and other details have
been changed and report findings may have been given a different emphasis from the original. We are grateful to the
authors and Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources for allowing us to use the material in this way. " ]
Questions 1-7
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage In boxes 1-7 on your answer sheet
write:
YES
if the statement agrees with the information
NO
if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this in the passage
1)
The Prince William Hospital has been trying to reduce absenteeism amongst nurses for many years.
2)
Nurses in the Prince William Hospital study believed that there were benefits in taking as little sick leave as
possible.
3)
Just over half the nurses in the 1986 study believed that management understood the effects that shift work had on
them.
4)
The Canadian study found that 'illness in the family' was a greater cause of absenteeism than 'work to do at home'.
5)
In relation to management attitude to absenteeism the study at the Prince William Hospital found similar results to
the two 1989 studies.
6) The study at the Prince William Hospital aimed to find out the causes of absenteeism amongst 250 nurses.
7) The study at the Prince William Hospital involved changes in management practices.
Questions 8-13
Complete the notes below.
Choose ONE OR TWO WORDS from the passage, for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 8-13 on your answer sheet.
In the first strategy, wards with the lowest absenteeism in different periods would win prizes donated by ....... (8) .......
In the second strategy, staff were given more control over their ......(9 )........
In the third strategy, nurses who appeared to be taking ...... (10)...... sick leave or ...... (11) ...... were identified and
counseled.
Initially, there was a ...... (12)...... per cent decrease in absenteeism.
The first strategy was considered ineffective and stopped.
The second and third strategies generally resulted in better ...... (13) ...... among staff.
THE ROCKET - FROM EAST TO WEST
A The concept of the rocket, or rather the mechanism behind the idea of propelling an object into the air, has been
around for well over two thousand years. However, it wasn’t until the discovery of the reaction principle, which was the
key to space travel and so represents one of the great milestones in the history of scientific thought, that rocket
technology was able to develop. Not only did it solve a problem that had intrigued man for ages, but, more importantly, it
literally
opened
the
door
to
exploration
of
the
universe.
B An intellectual breakthrough, brilliant though it may be, does not automatically ensure that the transition is made from
theory to practice. Despite the fact that rockets had been used sporadically for several hundred years, they remained a
relatively minor arte-fact of civilization until the twentieth century. Prodigious efforts, accelerated during two world wars,
were required before the technology of primitive rocketry could be translated into the reality of sophisticated astronauts.
It is strange that the rocket was generally ignored by writers of fiction to transport their heroes to mysterious realms
beyond the Earth, even though it had been commonly used in fireworks displays in China since the thirteenth century.
The reason is that nobody associated the reaction principle with the idea of traveling through space to a neighbouring
world.
C A simple analogy can help us to understand how a rocket operates. It is much like a machine gun mounted on the
rear of a boat. In reaction to the backward discharge of bullets, the gun, and hence the boat, move forwards. A rocket
motor’s ‘bullets’ are minute, high-speed particles produced by burning propellants in a suitable chamber. The reaction to
the ejection of these small particles causes the rocket to move forwards. There is evidence that the reaction principle
was applied practically well before the rocket was invented. In his Noctes Atticae or Greek Nights, Aulus Gellius
describes ‘the pigeon of Archytas’, an invention dating back to about 360 BC. Cylindrical in shape, made of wood, and
hanging from string, it was moved to and fro by steam blowing out from small exhaust ports at either end. The reaction
to
the
discharging
steam
provided
the
bird
with
motive
power.
D The invention of rockets is linked inextricably with the invention of ‘black powder’. Most historians of technology credit
the Chinese with its discovery. They base their belief on studies of Chinese writings or on the notebooks of early
Europeans who settled in or made long visits to China to study its history and civilisation. It is probable that, sometime in
the tenth century, black powder was first compounded from its basic ingredients of saltpetre, charcoal and sulphur. But
this does not mean that it was immediately used to propel rockets. By the thirteenth century, powder propelled fire
arrows had become rather common. The Chinese relied on this type of technological development to produce
incendiary projectiles of many sorts, explosive grenades and possibly cannons to repel their enemies. One such
weapon was the ‘basket of fire’ or, as directly translated from Chinese, the ‘arrows like flying leopards’. The 0.7 metrelong arrows, each with a long tube of gunpowder attached near the point of each arrow, could be fired from a long,
octagonal-shaped basket at the same time and had a range of 400 paces. Another weapon was the ‘arrow as am flying
sabre’, which could be fired from crossbows. The rocket, placed in a similar position to other rocket-propelled arrows,
was designed to increase the range. A small iron weight was attached to the 1.5m bamboo shaft, just below the
feathers, to increase the arrow’s stability by moving the centre of gravity to a position below the rocket. At a similar time,
the Arabs had developed the ‘egg which moves and burns’. This ‘egg’ was apparently full of gunpowder and stabilised
by a 1.5m tail. It was fired using two rockets attached to either side of this tail.
E It was not until the eighteenth century that Europe became seriously interested in the possibilities of using the rocket
itself as a weapon of war and not just to propel other weapons. Prior to this, rockets were used only in pyrotechnic
displays. The incentive for the more aggressive use of rockets came not from within the European continent but from
far-away India, whose leaders had built up a corps of rocketeers and used rockets successfully against the British in the
late eighteenth century. The Indian rockets used against the British were described by a British Captain serving in India
as ‘an iron envelope about 200 millimetres long and 40 millimetres in diameter with sharp points at the top and a 3mlong bamboo guiding stick’. In the early nineteenth century the British began to experiment with incendiary barrage
rockets. The British rocket differed from the Indian version in that it was completely encased in a stout, iron cylinder,
terminating in a conical head, measuring one metre in diameter and having a stick almost five metres long and
constructed in such a way that it could be firmly attached to the body of the rocket. The Americans developed a rocket,
complete with its own launcher, to use against the Mexicans in the mid-nineteenth century. A long cylindrical tube was
propped up by two sticks and fastened to the top of the launcher, thereby allowing the rockets to be inserted and lit from
the other end. However, the results were sometimes not that impressive as the behaviour of the rockets in flight was
less than predictable. Since then, there has been huge developments in rocket technology, often with devastating
results in the forum of war. Nevertheless, the modern day space programs owe their success to the humble beginnings
of those in previous centuries who developed the foundations of the reaction principle. Who knows what it will be like in
the future?
Questions 1-4
Reading passage 11 has six paragraphs labelled A-F.
Choose the most suitable headings for paragraphs B-E from the list of headings below.
Write the appropriate numbers (i-ix) in boxes 1-4 on your answer sheet.
List of Headings
i How the reaction principle works
ii The impact of the reaction principle
iii Writer's theories of the reaction principle
iv Undeveloped for centuries
v The first rockets
vi The first use of steam
vii Rockets for military use
viii Developments of fire
ix What's next?
Example
Paragraph A
Answer ii
1. Paragraph B
2. Paragraph C
3. Paragraph D
4. Paragraph E
Questions 5 and 6
Choose the appropriate letters A-D and write them in boxes 5 and 6 on your answer sheet.
5 The greatest outcome of the discovery of the reaction principle was that
A
rockets could be propelled into the air.
B
space travel became a reality.
C
a major problem had been solved.
D
bigger rockets were able to be built.
6 According to the text, the greatest progress in rocket technology was made
A
from the tenth to the thirteenth centuries.
B
from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries.
C
from the early nineteenth to the late nineteenth century.
D
from the late nineteenth century to the present day.
Questions 7-10
From the information in the text, indicate who FIRST invented or used the items in the list below.
Write the appropriate letters A-E in boxes 7-10 on your answer sheet.
NB You may use any letter more than once.
Example
rockets for displays
Answer
A
7 black powder
8 rocket-propelled arrows for fighting
9 rockets as war weapons
10 the rocket launcher
FIRST invented or used by
A the Chinese
B the Indians
C the British
D the Arabs
E the Americans
Questions 11-14
Look at the drawings of different projectiles below, A-H, and the names of types of projectiles given
in the passage, Questions 11-14. Match each name with one drawing.
Write the appropriate letters A-H in boxes 11-14 on your answer sheet.
Example
Answer
The Greek ‘pigeon of Archytas’
11
The Chinese ‘basket of fire’
12
The Arab ‘egg which moves and burns’
13
The Indian rocket
14
The British barrage rocket
C
THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD
A ‘Hypotheses,’ said Medawar in 1964,‘are imaginative and inspirational in character’; they are ‘adventures of the mind’.
He was arguing in favour of the position taken by Karl Popper in The Logic of Scientific Discovery (1972, 3rd edition)
that the nature of scientific method is hypothetico-deductive and not, as is generally believed, inductive.
B It is essential that you, as an intending researcher, understand the difference between these two interpretations of the
research process so that you do not become discouraged or begin to suffer from a feeling of ‘cheating’ or not going
about it the right way.
C The myth of scientific method is that it is inductive: that the formulation of scientific theory starts with the basic, raw
evidence of the senses - simple, unbiased, unprejudiced observation. Out of these sensory data - commonly referred to
as ‘facts’ — generalisations will form. The myth is that from a disorderly array of factual information an orderly, relevant
theory will somehow emerge. However, the starting point of induction is an impossible one.
D There is no such thing as an unbiased observation. Every act of observation we make is a function of what we have
seen or otherwise experienced in the past. All scientific work of an experimental or exploratory nature starts with some
expectation about the outcome. This expectation is a hypothesis. Hypotheses provide the initiative and incentive for the
inquiry and influence the method. It is in the light of an expectation that some observations are held to be relevant and
some irrelevant, that one methodology is chosen and others discarded, that some experiments are conducted and
others are not. Where is, your naive, pure and objective researcher now?
E Hypotheses arise by guesswork, or by inspiration, but having been formulated they can and must be tested rigorously,
using the appropriate methodology. If the predictions you make as a result of deducing certain consequences from your
hypothesis are not shown to be correct then you discard or modify your hypothesis.If the predictions turn out to be
correct then your hypothesis has been supported and may be retained until such time as some further test shows it not
to be correct. Once you have arrived at your hypothesis, which is a product of your imagination, you then proceed to a
strictly logical and rigorous process, based upon deductive argument — hence the term ‘hypothetico-deductive’.
F So don’t worry if you have some idea of what your results will tell you before you even begin to collect data; there are
no scientists in existence who really wait until they have all the evidence in front of them before they try to work out what
it might possibly mean. The closest we ever get to this situation is when something happens by accident; but even then
the researcher has to formulate a hypothesis to be tested before being sure that, for example, a mould might prove to
be a successful antidote to bacterial infection.
G The myth of scientific method is not only that it is inductive (which we have seen is incorrect) but also that the
hypothetico-deductive method proceeds in a step-by-step, inevitable fashion. The hypothetico-deductive method
describes the logical approach to much research work, but it does not describe the psychological behaviour that brings it
about. This is much more holistic — involving guesses, reworkings, corrections, blind alleys and above all inspiration, in
the deductive as well as the hypothetic component -than is immediately apparent from reading the final thesis or
published papers. These have been, quite properly, organised into a more serial, logical order so that the worth of the
output may be evaluated independently of the behavioural processes by which it was obtained. It is the difference, for
example between the academic papers with which Crick and Watson demonstrated the structure of the DNA molecule
and the fascinating book The Double Helix in which Watson (1968) described how they did it. From this point of view,
‘scientific method’ may more usefully be thought of as a way of writing up research rather than as a way of carrying it
out.
Questions 29-30
Reading Passage 12 has seven paragraphs A-G.
Choose the most suitable headings for paragraphs C-G from the list of headings below.
Write the appropriate numbers i-x in boxes 29-33 on your answer sheet.
List of Headings
i
The Crick and Watson approach to research
ii
Antidotes to bacterial infection
iii
The testing of hypotheses
iv
Explaining the inductive method
v
Anticipating results before data is collected
vi
How research is done and how it is reported
vii The role of hypotheses in scientific research
viii Deducing the consequences of hypotheses
ix
Karl Popper’s claim that the scientific method is
hypothetico-deductive
x
Example
Paragraph A
The unbiased researcher
Answer: ix
29
Paragraph C
30
Paragraph D
31
Paragraph E
32
Paragraph F
33
Paragraph G
Questions 34 and 35
In which TWO paragraphs in Reading Passage12 does the writer give advice directly to the reader?
Write the TWO appropriate letters (A—G) in boxes 34 and 35 on your answer sheet.
Questions 36-39
Do the following statements reflect the opinions of the writer in Reading Passage 12?
In boxes 36-39 on your answer sheet write
YES if the statement reflects the opinion of the writer.
NO if the statement contradicts the opinion of the writer.
NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
36 Popper says that the scientific method is hypothetico-deductive.
37 If a prediction based on a hypothesis is fulfilled, then the hypothesis is confirmed as true.
38 Many people carry out research in a mistaken way.
39 The ‘scientific method’ is more a way of describing research than a way of doing it.
Question 40
Choose the appropriate letter A-D and write it in box 40 on your answer sheet.
Which of the following statements best describes the writer’s main purpose in Reading Passage 3?
A to advise Ph.D students not to cheat while carrying out research.
B to encourage Ph.D students to work by guesswork and inspiration.
C to explain to Ph.D students the logic which the scientific research paper follows.
D to help Ph.D students by explaining different conceptions of the research process.
A.D.D. - Missing Out on Learning
Study requires a student's undivided attention. It is impossible to acquire a complex skill or absorb information about a
subject in class unless one learns to concentrate without undue stress for long periods of time.
Students with Attention Deficit Disorder (A.D.D.) are particularly deficient in this respect for
reasons which are now known to be microbiological and not behavioral, as was once believed. Of course, being unable
to concentrate, and incapable of pleasing the teacher and oneself in the process, quickly leads to despondence and low
self-esteem. This will naturally induce behavioral problems. It is estimated that 3 - 5 % of all children suffer from
Attention Deficit Disorder. There are three main types of Attention Deficit Disorder: A.D.D. without Hyperactivity, A.D.D.
with Hyperactivity (A.D.H.D.), and Undifferentiated A.D.D.
The characteristics of a person with A.D.D. are as follows:
• has difficulty paying attention
• does not appear to listen
• is unable to carry out given instructions
• avoids or dislikes tasks which require sustained mental effort
• has difficulty with organization
• is easily distracted
• often loses things
• is forgetful in daily activities
Children with A.D.H.D. also exhibit excessive and inappropriate physical activity, such as constant fidgeting and running
about the room. This boisterousness often interferes with the educational development of others. Undifferentiated A.D.D.
sufferers exhibit some, but not all, of the symptoms of each category.
It is important to base remedial action on an accurate diagnosis. Since A.D.D. is a physiological disorder caused by
some structural or chemically-based neurotransmitter problem in the nervous system, it responds especially well to
certain psycho stimulant drugs, such as Ritalin. In use since 1953, the drug enhances the ability to structure and
complete a thought without being overwhelmed by non-related and distracting thought processes.
Psycho stimulants are the most widely used medications for persons with A.D.D. and A.D.H.D. Recent findings have
validated the use of stimulant medications, which work in about 70 - 80% of A.H.D.D. children and adults (Wilens and
Biederman, 1997). In fact, up to 90% of destructibility in A.D.D. sufferers can be removed by medication. The specific
dose of medicine varies for each child, but such drugs are not without side effects, which include reduction in appetite,
loss of weight, and problems with falling asleep.
Not all students who are inattentive in class have Attention Deficit Disorder. Many are simply unwilling to commit
themselves to the task at hand. Others might have a specific learning disability (S.L.D.). However, those with A.D.D.
have difficulty performing in school not usually because they have trouble learning 1 , but because of poor organization,
inattention, compulsion and impulsiveness. This is brought about by an incompletely understood phenomenon, in which
the individual is, perhaps, best described as 'tuning out' for short to long periods of time. The effect is analogous to the
switching of channels on a television set. The difference is that an A.D.D. sufferer is not 'in charge of the remote control'.
The child with A.D.D. is unavailable to learn - something else has involuntarily captured his or her whole attention.
It is commonly thought that A.D.D. only affects children, and that they grow out of the condition once they reach
adolescence. It is now known that this is often not the case. Left undiagnosed or untreated, children with all forms of
A.D.D. risk a lifetime of failure to relate effectively to others at home, school, college and at work. This brings significant
emotional disturbances into play, and is very likely to negatively affect self-esteem. Fortunately, early identification of the
problem, together with appropriate treatment, makes it possible for many victims to overcome the substantial obstacles
that A.D.D. places in the way of successful learning.
1 approximately 15% of A.D.H.D. children do, however, have learning disabilities
Alternative Treatments for A.D.D.
Evaluation







EEG Biofeedback
Dietary intervention (removal of food additives
-preservatives, colorings etc.)
Sugar reduction (in A.D.H.D.)
Correction of (supposed) inner-ear disturbance
Correction of (supposed) yeast infection (Candida
albicans)
Vitamin/mineral regimen for (supposed) genetic
abnormality
Body manipulations for (supposed) misalignment of two
bones in the skull













expensive
trials flawed - (sample groups small, no control
groups)
ineffective
numerous studies disprove link
slightly effective (but only for small percentage
of children)
undocumented, unscientific studies
inconsistent with current theory
lack of evidence
inconsistent with current theory
lack of evidence
theory disproved in the 1970s
lack of evidence
inconsistent with current theory
Figure 1. Evaluations of Controversial Treatments for A.D.D.
Questions 27-29
You are advised to spend about 5 minutes on Questions 27-29.
Refer to Reading Passage 13 "A.D.D. - Missing Out On Learning", and decide which of the answers best completes the
following sentences. Write your answers in boxes 27 - 29 on your Answer Sheet. The first one has been done for you as
an example.
Example: The number of main types of A.D.D. is:
a) 1
b) 2
c) 3
d) 4
Q. 27. Attention Deficit Disorder:
a) is a cause of behavioural problems
b) is very common in children
c) has difficulty paying attention
d) none of the above
Q. 28. Wilens and Biederman have shown that:
a) stimulant medications are useful
b) psychostimulants do not always work
c) hyperactive persons respond well to psychostimulants
d) all of the above
Q. 29. Children with A.D.D.:
a) have a specific learning disability
b) should not be given medication as a treatment
c) may be slightly affected by sugar intake
d) usually improve once they become teenagers
Questions 30-37
You are advised to spend about 10 minutes on Questions 30 - 37.
The following is a summary of Reading Passage 13.
Complete each gap in the text by choosing 30 - 37 on your Answer Sheet.
Write your answers in boxes. Note that there are more choices in the box than gaps.
You will not need to use all the choices given, but you may use a word, or phrase more than once.
Attention Deficit Disorder is a neurobiological problem that affects 3 - 5% of all .....(Ex:). ...... Symptoms include
inattentiveness and having difficulty getting (30) , as well as easily becoming distracted. Sometimes, A.D.D. is
accompanied by (31) In these cases, the sufferer exhibits excessive physical activity. Psychostimulant drugs can be
given to A.D.D. sufferers to assist them with the (32) of desired thought processes, although they might cause (33)
Current theory states that medication is the only (34) that has a sound scientific basis. This action should only be taken
after an accurate diagnosis is made. Children with A.D.D. do not necessarily have trouble learning; their problem is that
they involuntarily (35) their attention elsewhere. It is not only (36) that are affected by this condition. Failure to treat
A.D.D. can lead to lifelong emotional and behavioral problems. Early diagnosis and treatment, however, are the key to
(37) overcoming learning difficulties associated with A.D.D.
side effects
successfully
completion
medicine
switch
drug
hyperactivity
organized
children
attention
adults
Ritalin
losing weight
remedial action
A.D.H.D.
paying
Questions 38 - 40
You are advised to spend about 5 minutes on Questions 38 - 40.
Refer to Reading Passage 13, and decide which of the following pieces of advice is best suited for child listed in the
table below.
Write your answers in boxes 38 - 40 on your Answer Sheet.
ADVICE:
A
current treatment ineffective - suggest increased dosage of Ritalin.
B
supplement diet with large amounts of vitamins and minerals.
C
probably not suffering from A.D.D. - suggest behavioral counseling.
D
bone manipulation to realign bones in the skull.
E
EEG Biofeedback to self-regulate the child's behavior.
F
daily dose of Ritalin in place of expensive unproven treatment.
CHILD 1
Problems

does not listen to
CHILD 2

given instructions
Current
often forgets to do
homework

excessively active

unable to pay attention

dislikes mental effort

loses interest easily 
sleeps in class

cannot complete tasks

disturbs other students 

quiet and withdrawn

EEG Feedback

none
Treatment
Best Advice
CHILD 3
(38)…………….
(39)………………
disturbs other students

diet contains no food additives

low dose of Ritalin
(40)……………..
THE BEAM-OPERATED TRAFFIC SYSTEM
The Need for Change
The number of people killed each year on the road is more than for all other types of avoidable deaths except for those
whose lives are cut short by tobacco use.
Yet road deaths are tolerated - so great is our need
to travel about swiftly and economically. Oddly, modern vehicle engine design - the combustion engine - has remained
largely unchanged since it was conceived over 100 years ago. A huge amount of money and effort is being channeled
into alternative engine designs, the most popular being based around substitute fuels such as heavy water, or the
electric battery charged by the indirect burning of conventional fuels, or by solar power. Nevertheless, such innovations
will do little to halt the carnage on the road. What is needed is a radical rethinking of the road system itself.
Section (ii)
The Beam-Operated Traffic System, proposed by a group of Swedish engineers, does away with tarred roads and
independently controlled vehicles, and replaces them with innumerable small carriages suspended from electrified rails
along a vast interconnected web of steel beams crisscrossing the skyline. The entire system would be computercontrolled and operate without human intervention.
Section (iii)
The most preferable means of propulsion is via electrified rails atop the beams. Although electric transport systems still
require fossil fuels to be burnt or dams to be built, they add much less to air pollution than the burning of petrol within
conventional engines. In addition, they help keep polluted air out of cities and restrict it to the point of origin where it can
be more easily dealt with. Furthermore, electric motors are typically 90% efficient, compared to internal combustion
engines, which are at most 30% efficient. They are also better at accelerating and climbing hills. This efficiency is no
less true of beam systems than of single vehicles.
Section (iv)
A relatively high traffic throughput can be maintained - automated systems can react faster than can human drivers and the increased speed of movement is expected to compensate for loss of privacy. It is estimated that at peak travel
times passenger capacity could be more than double that of current subway systems. It might be possible to arrange for
two simultaneous methods of vehicle hire: one in which large carriages (literally buses) run to a timetable, and another
providing for hire of small independently occupied cars at a slightly higher cost. Travelers could order a car by swiping a
card through a machine, which recognizes a personal number code.
Section (v)
Monorail systems are not new, but they have so far been built as adjuncts to existing city road systems. They usually
provide a limited service, which is often costly and fails to address the major concern of traffic choking the city. The
Beam-Operated Traffic System, on the other hand, provides a complete solution to city transportation. Included in its
scope is provision for the movement of pedestrians at any point and to any point within the system. A city relieved of
roads carrying fast moving cars and trucks can be given over to pedestrians and cyclists who can walk or pedal as far
as they wish before hailing a quickly approaching beam-operated car. Cyclists could use fold-up bicycles for this
purpose.
Section (vi)
Since traffic will be designated an area high above the ground, human activities can take place below the transit system
in complete safety, leading to a dramatic drop in the number of deaths and injuries sustained while in transit and while
walking about the city. Existing roads can be dug up and grassed over, or planted with low growing bushes and trees.
The look of the city is expected to improve considerably for both pedestrians and for people using the System.
Section (vii)
It is true that the initial outlay for a section of the beam-operated system will be more than for a similar stretch oftarred
road. However, costs for the proposed system must necessarily include vehicle costs, which are not factored into roadbuilding budgets. Savings made will include all tunnels, since it costs about US $120,000 per kilometer to build a new
six lane road tunnel. Subway train tunnels cost about half that amount, because they are smaller in size. Tunnels
carrying beamed traffic will have a narrower cross-sectional diameter and can be dug at less depth than existing
tunnels, further reducing costs.
Objections
The only major drawbacks to the proposal are entrenched beliefs that resist change, the potential for vandalism, and the
loss of revenue for car manufacturers. Video camera surveillance is a possible answer to vandalism, while the last
objection could be overcome by giving car manufacturers beam-operated vehicle building contracts. 60% of all people
on earth live in cities; we must loosen the immediate environment from the grip of the road-bound car.
Questions 1-4
You are advised to spend about 5 minutes on Questions 1 - 4.
Refer to Reading Passage 14 "The Beam-Operated Traffic System", and complete the flowchart below with appropriate
words or phrases from the passage. Write your answers in boxes 1 - 4 on your Answer Sheet.
Current City Traffic System :
internal
combustion
engine
independently
controlled
vehicles
conventional
tarred road
system
traffic
choking the
city
…..(3)…...
System
city
without any
…..(4)….
Proposed City Traffic System :
…..…(1)……
rails
……(2)…....
-controlled
carriages
Questions 5 - 9
You are advised to spend about 8 minutes on Questions 5-9. Choose the most suitable heading from the list of headings
below for the seven sections of Reading Passage 14 "The Beam-Operated Traffic System". Write your answers in boxes
5 - 9 on your Answer Sheet.
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
F.
G.
H.
I.
List of Headings
Returning the city to the people
Speed to offset loss of car ownership
Automation to replace existing roads
A safe and cheap alternative
The monorail system
Inter-city freeways
Doing the sums ( Example)
The complete answer to the traffic problem
Cleaner and more efficient
5. Section (ii)............... Q8. Section (v)..................
6. Section (hi).............. Q9. Section (vi) .................
7. Section (iv)............... Example: Section (vii).........
Questions 10-12
You are advised to spend about 7 minutes on Questions 10 -12.
Refer to Reading Passage 14, and look at the statements below.
Write S if the statement is Supported by what is written in the passage, and write NS if the statement is Not Supported.
Write your answers in boxes 10 -12 on your Answer Sheet.
Example: The combustion engine was designed over 100 years ago.
S
10.
The increased speed of traffic in a Beam-Operated Traffic System is due to electric motors being 90% efficient.
11.
Beamed traffic will travel through tunnels costing less to build than subway tunnels.
12. A possible solution to willful damage to the System is to install camera equipment.
BENEATH THE CANOPY
1. The world's tropical rainforests comprise some 6% of the Earth's land area and contain more than half of all known
life forms, or a conservative estimate of about 30 million species of plants and animals. Some experts estimate there
could be two or even three times as many species hidden within these complex and fast- disappearing ecosystems;
scientists will probably never know for certain, so vast is the amount of study required.
2. Time is running out for biological research. Commercial development is responsible for the loss of about 17 million
hectares of virgin rainforest each year - a figure approximating 1% of what remains of the world's rainforests.
3. The current devastation of once impenetrable rainforest is of particular concern because, although new tree growth
may in time repopulate felled areas, the biologically diverse storehouse of flora and fauna is gone forever. Losing this
bountiful inheritance, which took millions of years to reach its present highly evolved state,
would be an unparalleled act of human stupidity.
4. Chemical compounds that might be extracted from yet-to-be-discovered species hidden beneath the tree canopy
could assist in the treatment of disease or help to control fertility. Conservationists point out that important medical
discoveries have already been made from material found in tropical rainforests. The drug aspirin, now synthesised, was
originally found in the bark of a rainforest tree. Two of the most potent anti- cancer drugs derive from the rosy periwinkle
discovered in the 1950s in the tropical rainforests of Madagascar.
5. The rewards of discovery are potentially enormous, yet the outlook is bleak. Timber-rich countries mired in debt, view
potential financial gain decades into the future as less attractive than short-term profit from logging. Cataloguing species
and analysing newly-found substances takes time and money, both of which are in short supply.
6. The developed world takes every opportunity to lecture countries which are the guardians of rainforest . Rich nations
exhort them to preserve and care for what is left, ignoring the fact that their wealth was in large part due to the
exploitation of their own natural world.
7. It is often forgotten that forests once covered most of Europe. Large tracts of forest were destroyed over the centuries
for the same reason that the remaining rainforests are now being felled - timber. As well as providing material for
housing, it enabled wealthy nations to build large navies and shipping fleets with which to continue their plunder of the
world's resources.
8. Besides, it is not clear that developing countries would necessarily benefit financially from extended bioprospecting of
their rainforests. Pharmaceutical companies make huge profits from the sale of drugs with little return to the country in
which an original discovery was made.
9. Also, cataloguing tropical biodiversity involves much more than a search for medically useful and therefore
commercially viable drugs. Painstaking biological fieldwork helps to build immense databases of genetic, chemical and
behavioural information that will be of benefit only to those countries developed enough to use them.
10. Reckless logging itself is not the only danger to rainforests. Fires lit to clear land for further logging and for housing
and agricultural development played havoc in the late 1990s in the forests of Borneo. Massive clouds of smoke from
burning forest fires swept across the southernmost countries of South-East Asia choking cities and reminding even the
most resolute advocates of rainforest clearing of the swiftness of nature's retribution.
11. Nor are the dangers entirely to the rainforests themselves. Until very recently, so-called "lost" tribes - indigenous
peoples who have had no contact with the outside world - still existed deep within certain rainforests. It is now unlikely
that there are any more truly lost tribes. Contact with the modern world inevitably brings with it exploitation, loss of
traditional culture, and, in an alarming number of instances, complete obliteration.
12. Forest-dwellers who have managed to live in harmony with their environment have much to teach us of life beneath
the tree canopy. If we do not listen, the impact will be on the entire human race. Loss of biodiversity, coupled with
climate change and ecological destruction will have profound and lasting consequences.
Questions 16-20
You are advised to spend about 8 minutes on Questions 16-20.
Refer to Reading Passage 15 "Beneath the Canopy" and answer the following questions. The left-hand column contains
quotations taken directly from the reading passage. The right-hand column contains explanations of those quotations.
Match each quotation with the correct explanation. Select from the choices A - F below and write your answers in
boxes 16 - 20 on your Answer Sheet.
Example: ' a conservative estimate'
......B......
Quotation
Ex:
'a conservative estimate'
(paragraph 1)
16. 'biologically diverse storehouse of flora and fauna'
(paragraph 3)
17. 'timber-rich countries mired in debt' (paragraph 5)
18. 'exploitation of their own natural world' (paragraph 6)
19. 'benefit financially from extended bioprospecting of their
rainforests' (paragraph 8)
20. 'loss of biodiversity' (paragraph 12)
Explanation
A. with many trees but few financial resources
B. purposely low and cautious reckoning
C. large-scale use of plant and wildlife
D. profit from an analysis of the plant and animal life
E. wealth of plants and animals
F. being less rich in natural wealth
Questions 21-23
You are advised to spend about 5 minutes on Questions 21-23.Refer to Reading Passage 2, and look at Questions 2123 below. Write your answers in boxes 21 - 23 on your Answer Sheet.
Q21. How many medical drug discoveries does the article mention?
Q22. What two shortages are given as the reason for the writer's pessimistic outlook?
Q23. Who will most likely benefit from the bioprospecting of developing countries' rainforests?
Questions 24-26
You are advised to spend about 7 minutes on Questions 24-26. Refer to Reading Passage 15, and decide which of the
answers best completes the sentences.
Write your answers in boxes 24-26 on your Answer Sheet.
Q 24. The amount of rainforest destroyed annually is:
a) approximately 6% of the Earth's land area
b) such that it will only take 100 years to lose all the forests
c) increasing at an alarming rate
d) responsible for commercial development
Q 25. In Borneo in the late 1990s:
a) burning forest fires caused air pollution problems as far away as Europe
b) reckless logging resulted from burning forest fires
c) fires were lit to play the game of havoc
d) none of the above
Q 26. Many so-called "lost" tribes of certain rainforests:
a) have been destroyed by contact with the modern world
b) do not know how to exploit the rainforest without causing harm to the environment
c) are still lost inside the rainforest
d) must listen or they will impact on the entire human race.
DESTINATIONS FOR INTERNATIONAL ENGLISH STUDENTS
Paragraph (i)
At any given time, more than a million international students around the world are engaged in the study of the English
language in a predominantly English-speaking country. The five most popular destinations, in order of popularity, are the
U. S., Britain, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada. The reasons for choosing to study English abroad differ with each
individual, as do the reasons for the choice of destination.
Paragraph (ii)
Numerous studies conducted in Britain and the United States show that the country of choice depends to a large extent
on economic factors. While this should not provoke much surprise, careful analysis of the data suggests that students
and their parents are most influenced by the preconceptions they have of the countries considered for study abroad,
which, in turn, influence the amount they or their parents are prepared to outlay for the experience. The strength of
international business connections between countries also gives a good indication of where students will seek tuition. In
the main, students tend to follow the traditional pattern of study for their national group.
Paragraph (iii)
The United States attracts the most diverse array of nationalities to its English language classrooms - this heterogeneity
being largely due to its immense pulling power as the world's foremost economy and the resulting extensive focus on
U.S. culture. Furthermore, throughout the non-European world, in Asia and North and South America especially, the
course books used to teach English in most elementary and high schools introduce students to American English and
the American accent from a very early age. Canada also benefits from worldwide North American exposure, but has the
most homogenous group of students - most with French as their first language. Before furthering their English skills,
students in Europe study from predominantly British English material; most Europeans, naturally, opt for neighbouring
Britain, but many Asian, Middle-Eastern, and African students decide upon the same route too.
Paragraph (iv)
Australia and New Zealand are often overlooked, but hundreds of thousands of international students have discovered
the delights of studying in the Southern Hemisphere. The majority are Asian for reasons that are not difficult to
comprehend: the proximity of the two countries to Asia, (Jakarta, the capital of Australia's closest Asian neighbor,
Indonesia, is only 5506 kilometers from Sydney), the comparatively inexpensive cost of living and tuition, and, perhaps
of most importance to many Asian students whose English study is a prelude to tertiary study, the growing awareness
that courses at antipodean universities and colleges are of an exceptionally high standard. In addition, revised entry
procedures for overseas students have made it possible for an increasing number to attend classes to improve their
English for alternative reasons.
Paragraph (v)
Australia and New Zealand have roughly the same mix of students in their language classrooms, but not all students of
English who choose these countries are from Asia. The emerging global consciousness of the late twentieth century has
meant that students from as far as Sweden and Brazil are choosing to combine a taste for exotic travel with the study of
English 'down under' and in 'the land of the long white cloud'. But even the Asian economic downturn in the 1990s has
not significantly altered the demographic composition of the majority of English language classrooms within the region.
Paragraph (vi)
Nor have the economic problems in Asia caused appreciable drops in full-time college and university attendances by
Asian students in these two countries. This is partly because there has always been a greater demand for enrolment at
Australian and New Zealand tertiary institutions than places available to overseas students. In addition, the economic
squeeze seems to have had a compensatory effect. It has clearly caused a reduction in the number of students from
affected countries who are financially able to study overseas. However, there has been a slight but noticeable shift
towards Australia and New Zealand by less wealthy Asian students who might otherwise have chosen the United States
for English study.
Paragraph (vii)
The U.S. and Britain will always be the first choice of most students wishing to study the English language abroad, and it
is too early to tell whether this trend will continue. However, economic considerations undoubtedly wield great influence
upon Asian and non-Asian students alike. If student expectations can be met in less traditional study destinations, and
as the world continues to shrink, future international students of English will be advantaged because the choice of viable
study destinations will be wider.
Questions 1-4
You are advised to spend about 5 minutes on Questions 1-4.
Complete the missing information in the table below by referring to Reading Passage 1
"Destinations for International English Students".
Write your answers in boxes 1 - 4 on your Answer Sheet. The first one has been done for you as an example.
order of popularity
U.S.
Britain
Australia
New Zealand Canada
1st
Ex:… 2nd…
3rd
4th
5th
American
1………..
2……..
not given
not given
3…….
Equal 3
5
1
type of English in course books used in
2
this country
student heterogeneity
(1 = most heterogenous
5 = least heterogenous)
You are advised to spend about 5 minutes on Questions 4 -9.
Choose the most suitable heading from the list of headings below for the seven paragraphs of Reading Passage 1
"Destinations for International English Students". Write your answers in boxes 5 - 10 on your Answer Sheet.
A.
B.
C.
D.
List of Heading
Heterogeneity in the language classroom
Enrollment demand in Australia & New Zealand.
Reasons for the choice of destination
The attractions of studying in the antipodes
Example: E. Conclusion
F. Additional student sources
G. Student destinations
Q4. Paragraph (i) ...............
Q5. Paragraph (ii) ...............
Q6. Paragraph (iii)............... Q7. Paragraph (iv)...............
Q8. Paragraph (v)...............
Q9. Paragraph (vi)...............
Example: Paragraph (vii) ...... E..............
Questions 10-15
You are advised to spend about 10 minutes on questions 10 -15.
Refer to Reading Passage 1 "Destinations for International English Students", and look at the statements below.
Write your answers in boxes 10 -15 on your Answer Sheet.
Write T if the statement is True; F if the statement is False; N if the information is Not Given in the text.
Example: There are presently more than 1,000,000 foreign students of English abroad.
T
F
N
Q10. Study destination choices are mostly influenced by proximity to home.
T
F
N
Q11. Students who wish to study business will probably study English overseas.
T
F
N
Q12. Students of the same nationality usually make similar study choices.
T
F
N
Q13. English language classrooms in the U.S. have the widest range of student nationalities.
T
F
N
Q14. Standards at Australian and New Zealand tertiary institutions are improving.
T
F
N
Q15. Despite the 1990s Asian economic crisis, Asian students still dominate the English language classrooms of
Australia and New Zealand.
T
F
N
The Danger of ECSTASY
Use of the illegal drug named Ecstasy (MDMA) has increased alarmingly in Britain over the last few years, and in
1992 the British Medical Journal claimed that at least seven deaths and many s,evere adverse reactions have followed
its use as a dance drug. 14 deaths have so far been attributed to the drug in Britain, although it is possible that other
drugs contributed to some of those deaths. While it is true that all drugs by their very nature change the way in which
the body reacts to its environment and are therefore potentially dangerous, it is still unclear whether casual use of
Ecstasy is as dangerous as authorities believe. What is certain is that the drug causes distinct changes to the body
which, unless understood, may lead to fatal complications in certain circumstances.
In almost all cases of MDMA-related deaths in Britain, overheating of the body and inadequate replacement of fluids
have been noted as the primary causes of death. Yet in the United States, studies appear to implicate other causes
since no deaths from overheating have yet been reported. It seems that normal healthy people are unlikely to die as a
result of taking MDMA, but people with pre-existing conditions such as a weak heart or asthma may react in extreme
ways and are well-advised not to take it.
Not all physical problems associated with the drug are immediate. Medium term and long term effects have been
reported which are quite disturbing, yet not all are conclusively linked to the drug's use. Medium term effects include the
possibility of contracting the liver disease hepatitis, or risking damage to the kidneys. However, animal studies show no
such damage (although it is readily admitted by researchers that animal studies are far from conclusive since humans
react in different ways than rats and monkeys to the drug), and cases of human liver or kidney damage have so far only
been reported in Britain. Nonetheless, evidence to date suggests that alcohol and Ecstasy taken at the same time may
result in lasting harm to bodily organs.
Evidence that MDMA causes long term cellular damage to the brain has, until recently, been based on experiments
with animals alone; the most common method of detection is to cut out a section of the brain, and measure the level of
the chemical serotonin. This is performed weeks or
months after use of a suspect drug. If the serotonin level, which is lowered as a result of the use of many drugs, fails to
return to normal, then it is probable that the drug in question has caused damage to the cells of that part of the brain.
Ecstasy has been implicated in causing brain damage in this way, but in most cases the serotonin level returns to
normal, albeit after a long time.
Early experiments with monkeys, in which they were found to have permanent brain damage as a result of being
administered MDMA, were used to link brain damage in humans to Ecstasy use.
These early
concerns led to the drug being classified as extremely dangerous, and although the results of the research were
doubted by some and criticised as invalid, no attempt was made to change the classification. However, the latest
available data regarding permanent brain damage in humans who have taken Ecstasy regularly over many years (as
little as once a week for four years) seem to justify the cautious approach taken in the past. The psychological effects of
taking Ecstasy are also a major cause for concern. It is clear that the mind is more readily damaged by the drug than is
the body. It is not difficult to find occasional or regular users of the drug who will admit to suffering mental damage as a
result. Paranoia, depression, loss of motivation and desire, bouts of mania - all are common, and not unusual side
effects of the drug.
To be fair to those who claim that Ecstasy frees the personality by removing one's defenses against psychological
attack, it is true that the drug can be liberating for some users. Unfortunately, the experience is likely to be short-lived,
and there is always the danger is that one's normal life might seem dull by comparison. .*
Perhaps the most damning evidence urging against the use of Ecstasy is that it is undoubtedly an addictive
substance, but one that quickly loses its ability to transport the mind, while it increases its effect upon the body. Yet,
unlike the classic addictive drugs, heroin, opium, morphine and so on, Ecstasy does not produce physical withdrawal
symptoms. In fact, because one becomes quickly tolerant of its effect on the mind, it is necessary to forgo its use for a
while in order to experience again its full effect. Any substance which produces such a strong effect on the user should
be treated with appropriate respect and caution.
You are advised to spend about 10 minutes on Questions 32 - 35.
Refer to Reading Passage 17 "The Dangers of Ecstasy", and decide which of the answers best completes the
following sentences.
Write your answers in boxes 32 - 35 on your Answer Sheet.
The first one has been done for you as an example.
Example: In recent years, use of the illegal drug Ecstasy in Britain:
a) has increased
b) has decreased alarmingly
c) has decreased
d) has increased a little
Q32. It is not known whether:
a) drugs change the way the body reacts
b) the British Medical Journal has reported seven deaths caused Ecstasy
c) Ecstasy alone was responsible for the 14 deaths in Britain
d) Ecstasy causes changes to the body
Q33. The use of Ecstasy:
a) is usually fatal
b) is less dangerous than the authorities believe
c) is harmless when used as a dance drug
d) none of the above
Q34. Deaths from Ecstasy are sometimes caused by:
a) people with pre-existing conditions
b) too much fluid in the body
c) overheating of the body
d) all of the above
Q35. MDMA studies conducted on animals:
a) show damage to the kidneys
b) cannot provide absolute proof of the effect of the drug on humans
c) are cruel and have been discontinued
d) have yet to indicate long term brain damage
Questions 36 - 40
Using information from Reading Passage 17, complete the following sentences using NO MORE THAN THREE
WORDS.
Write your answers in boxes 36 - 40 on your Answer Sheet.
Q36. Permanent damage to the body may result if Ecstasy is taken simultaneously with
Q37. Cellular damage to the brain is detected by measuring the amount of
Q38. The serotonin level of Ecstasy users takes a long time to
Q39. One of the positive effects of taking Ecstasy is that it can
Q40. Ecstacy produces no withdrawal symptoms even though it is
The Discovery of Uranus
Someone once put forward an attractive though unlikely theory. Throughout the Earth's annual revolution around the
sun there is one point of space always hidden from our eyes. This point is the opposite part of the Earth's orbit, which is
always hidden by the sun. Could there be another planet there, essentially similar to our own, but always invisible?
If a space probe today sent back evidence that such a world existed it would cause not much more sensation than Sir
William Herschel's discovery of a new planet, Uranus, in 1781. Herschel was an extraordinary man — no other
astronomer has ever covered so vast a field of work — and his career deserves study. He was born in Hanover in
Germany in 1738, left the German army in 1757, and arrived in England the same year with no money but quite
exceptional music ability. He played the violin and oboe and at one time was organist in the Octagon Chapel in the city
of Bath. Herschel's was an active mind, and deep inside he was conscious that music was not his destiny; he therefore
read widely in science and the arts, but not until 1772 did he come across a book on astronomy. He was then 34,
middle-aged by the standards of the time, but without hesitation he embarked on his new career, financing it by his
professional work as a musician. He spent years mastering the art of telescope construction, and even by present-day
standards his instruments are comparable with the best.
Serious observation began 1774. He set himself the astonishing task of 'reviewing the heavens', in other words, pointing
his telescope to every accessible part of the sky and recording what he saw. The first review was made in 1775; the
second, and most momentous, in 1780-81. It was during the latter part of this that he discovered Uranus. Afterwards,
supported by the royal grant in recognition of his work, he was able to devote himself entirely to astronomy. His final
achievements spread from the sun and moon to remote galaxies (of which he discovered hundreds), and papers
flooded from his pen until his death in 1822. Among these there was one sent to the Royal Society in 1781, entitled An
Account of a Comet. In his own words:
On Tuesday the 13th of March, between ten and eleven in the evening, while I was examining the small stars in the
neighbourhood of H Geminorum, I perceived one that appeared visibly larger than the rest; being struck with its
uncommon magnitude, I compared it to H Geminorum and the small star in the quartile between Auriga and Gemini,
and finding it to be much larger than either of them, suspected it to be a comet.
Herschel's care was the hallmark of a great observer; he was not prepared to jump any conclusions. Also, to be fair, the
discovery of a new planet was the last thought in anybody's mind. But further observation by other astronomers besides
Herschel revealed two curious facts. For comet, it showed a remarkably sharp disc; furthermore, it was moving so
slowly that it was thought to be a great distance from the sun, and comets are only normally visible in the immediate
vicinity of the sun. As its orbit came to be worked out the truth dawned that it was a new planet far beyond Saturn's
realm, and that the 'reviewer of the heavens' had stumbled across an unprecedented prize. Herschel wanted to call it
georgium sidus (Star of George) in honour of his royal patron King George III of Great Britain. The planet was later for a
time called Herschel in honour of its discoverer. The name Uranus, which was first proposed by the German astronomer
Johann Elert Bode, was in use by the late 19th century.
Uranus is a giant in construction, but not so much in size; its diameter compares unfavourably with that of Jupiter and
Saturn, though on the terrestrial scale it is still colossal. Uranus' atmosphere consists largely of hydrogen and helium,
with a trace of methane. Through a telescope the planet appears as a small bluish-green disc with a faint green
periphery. In 1977, while recording the occultation 1 of a star behind the planet, the American astronomer James L.
Elliot discovered the presence of five rings encircling the equator of Uranus. Four more rings were discovered in
January 1986 during the exploratory flight of Voyager 2 2 , In addition to its rings, Uranus has 15 satellites ('moons'), the
last 10 discovered by Voyager 2 on the same flight; all revolve about its equator and move with the planet in an east—
west direction. The two largest moons, Titania and Oberon, were discovered by Herschel in 1787. The next two, Umbriel
and Ariel, were found in 1851 by the British astronomer William Lassell. Miranda, thought before 1986 to be the
innermost moon, was discovered in 1948 by the American astronomer Gerard Peter Kuiper.
Glossary:
'Occultation' : in astronomy, when one object passes in front of another and hides the second from view, especially,
for example, when the moon comes between an observer and a star or planet .
'Voyager 2' : an unmanned spacecraft sent on a voyage past Saturn, Uranus and Jupiter in 1986; during which it sent
back information about these planets to scientists on earth .
Questions 27-31
Complete the table below. Write a date for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 27-31 on your answer sheet.
Event
Date
Example
William Herschel was born
Answer
1738
Herschel began investigating astronomy
(27)………….
Discovery of the planet Uranus
(28)………….
Discovery of the moons Titania and Oberon
(29)………….
First discovery of Uranus' rings
(30)………….
Discovery of the last 10 moons of Uranus
(31)………….
Questions 32-36
Do the following statements reflect the claims of the writer of the Reading Passage?
In boxes 32-36 on your answer sheet write
YES
if the statement reflects the claims of the writer
NO
if the statement contradicts the writer
NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
Example
Herschel was multi-talented
Answer
YES
32 It is improbable that there is a planet hidden behind the sun.
33 Herschel knew immediately that he had found a new planet.
34 Herschel collaborated with other astronomers of his time.
35 Herschel's newly-discovered object was considered to be too far from the sun to be a comet.
36 Herschel's discovery was the most important find of the last three hundred years.
Questions 37-40
Complete each of the following statements (Questions 37-40) with a name from the Reading Passage.
Write your answers in boxes 37-40 on your answer sheet.
The suggested names of the new planet started with ........ (37) ........, then ........ (38) ......., before finally settling on
Uranus. The first five rings around Uranus were discovered by ........ (39) ......... From 1948 until 1986, the moon ........
(40)........ was believed to be the moon closest to the surface of Uranus.
Creating Artificial Reefs
In the coastal waters of the US, a nation's leftovers have been discarded. Derelict ships, concrete blocks, scrapped
cars, army tanks, tyres filled with concrete and redundant planes litter the sea floor. However, this is not waste disposal,
but part of a coordinated, state-run programme. To recently arrived fish, plants and other sea organisms, these artificial
reefs are an ideal home, offering food and shelter.
Sea-dumping incites widespread condemnation. Little surprise when oceans are seen as 'convenient' dumping grounds
for the rubbish we have created but would rather forget. However, scientific evidence suggests that if we dump the right
things, sea life can actually be enhanced. And more recently, purpose-built structures of steel or concrete have been
employed - some the size of small apartment blocks -principally to increase fish harvests.
Strong currents, for example, the choice of design and materials for an artificial reef depends on where it is going to be
placed. In areas of a solid concrete structure will be more appropriate than ballasted tyres. It also depends on what
species are to be attracted. It is pointless creating high-rise structures for fish that prefer flat or low-relief habitat. But the
most important consideration is the purpose of the reef.
In the US, where there is a national reef plan using cleaned up rigs and tanks, artificial reefs have mainly been used to
attract fish for recreational fishing or sport-diving. But there are many other ways in which they can be used to manage
the marine habitat. For as well as protecting existing habitat, providing purpose-built accommodation for commercial
species (such as lobsters and octupi) and acting as sea defences, they can be an effective way of improving fish
harvests.
Japan, for example, has created vast areas of artificial habitat - rather than isolated reefs - to increase its fish stocks. In
fact, the cultural and historical importance of seafood in Japan is reflected by the fact that it is a world leader in reef
technology; what's more, those who construct and deploy reefs have sole rights to the harvest.
In Europe, artificial reefs have been mainly employed to protect habitat. Particularly so in the Mediterranean where reefs
have been sunk as physical obstacles to stop illegal trawling, which is destroying sea grass beds and the marine life that
depends on them. If you want to protect areas of the seabed, you need something that will stop trawlers dead in their
tracks,' says Dr Antony Jensen of the Southampton Oceanography Centre.
Italy boasts considerable artificial reef activity. It deployed its first scientifically planned reef using concrete cubes
assembled in pyramid forms in 1974 to enhance fisheries and stop trawling. And Spain has built nearly 50 reefs in its
waters, mainly to discourage trawling and enhance the productivity of fisheries. Meanwhile, Britain established its first
quarried rock artificial reef in 1984 off the Scottish coast, to assess its potential for attracting commercial species.
But while the scientific study of these structures is a little over a quarter of a century old, artificial reefs made out of
readily available materials such as bamboo and coconuts have been used by fishermen for centuries. And the benefits
have been enormous. By placing reefs close to home, fishermen can save time and fuel. But unless they are carefully
managed, these areas can become over- fished. In the Philippines, for example, where artificial reef programmes have
been instigated in response to declining fish populations, catches are often allowed to exceed the maximum potential
new production of the artificial reef because there is no proper management control.
There is no doubt that artificial reefs have lots to offer. And while purpose-built structures are effective, the real
challenge now is to develop environmentally safe ways of using recycled waste to increase marine diversity. This will
require more scientific research. For example, the leachates from one of the most commonly used reef materials, tyres,
could potentially be harmful to the creatures and plants that they are supposed to attract. Yet few extensive studies have
been undertaken into the long- term effects of disposing of tyres at sea. And at the moment, there is little consensus
about what is environmentally acceptable to dump at sea, especially when it comes to oil and gas rigs. Clearly, the
challenge is to develop environmentally acceptable ways of disposing of our rubbish while enhancing marine life too.
What we must never be allowed to do is have an excuse for dumping anything we like at sea.
Questions 1-3
The list below gives some of the factors that must be taken into account when deciding how to construct an artificial
reef. WhichTHREE of these factors are mentioned by the writer of the article? Write the appropriate letters A-F in boxes
1-3 on your answer sheet.
A The fishing activity in the area
В The intended location of the reef
С The existing reef structures
D The type of marine life being targeted
E The function of the reef
F The cultural importance of the area
Questions 4-8
Complete the table below. Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer. Write your
answers in boxes 4-8 on your answer sheet.
Area/Country Type of Reef
Purpose
US
Made using old ….(4)….
To attract fish for leisure activities
Japan
Forms large area of artificial habitat
to improve ….(5)….
Europe
lies deep down to form …(6)….
to act as a sea defence
Italy
Consists of pyramid shapes of ….(7)…..
to prevent trawling
Britain
made of rock
to encourage ….(8)…. Fish species
Questions 9-12
Using NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS, complete the following sentences. Write your answers in boxes 9-12 on your
answer sheet.
In .....(9)....., people who build reefs are legally entitled to all the fish they attract. Trawling inhibits the development of
marine life because it damages the .....(10)...... In the past, both ......(11)......were used to make reefs. To ensure that
reefs are not over-fished, good ......(12)..... is required.
Question 13
Choose the appropriate letter A-D and write it in box 13 on your answer sheet.
13 According to the writer, the next step in the creation of artificial reefs is
A
to produce an international agreement.
В
to expand their use in the marine environment.
С
to examine their dangers to marine life.
D
to improve on purpose-built structures.
The Pursuit of Happiness
"New research uncovers some
anti-intuitive insights into how
many people are happy - and why."
_____________________________
Compared with misery, happiness is relatively unexplored terrain for social scientists, Between 1967 and 1994,
46,380 articles indexed in Psychological Abstracts mentioned depression, 36,851 anxiety, and 5,099 anger. Only 2,389
spoke of happiness, 2,340 life satisfaction, and 405 joy.
joy.
Recently we and other researchers have begun a systematic study of happiness. During the past two decades,
dozens of investigators throughout the world have asked several hundred thousand Representative sampled people to
reflect on their happiness and satisfaction with life or what psychologists call "subjective well-being". In the US the
National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago has surveyed a representative sample of roughly 1,500
people a year since 1957; the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan has carried out similar studies
on a less regular basis, as has the Gallup Organization. Government-funded efforts have also probed the moods of
European countries.
We have uncovered some surprising findings. People are happier than one might expect, and happiness does not
appear to depend significantly on external circumstances. Although viewing life as a tragedy has a long and honorable
history, the responses of random samples of people around the world about their happiness paints a much rosier
picture. In the University of Chicago surveys, three in
10 Americans say they are very happy, for example. Only one in 10 chooses the most negative description "not too
happy". The majority describe themselves as "pretty happy", ...
How can social scientists measure something as hard to pin down as happiness? Most researchers simply ask
people to report their feelings of happiness or unhappiness and to assess how satisfying their lives are. Such selfreported well-being is moderately consistent over years of retesting. Furthermore, those who say they are happy and
satisfied seem happy to their close friends and family members and to a psychologist-interviewer. Their daily mood
ratings reveal more positive emotions, and they smile more than those who call themselves unhappy. Self-reported
happiness also predicts other indicators of well-being. Compared with the depressed, happy people are less selffocused, less hostile and abusive, and less susceptible to disease.
We have found that the even distribution of happiness cuts across almost all demographic classifications of age,
economic class, race and educational level. In addition, almost all strategies for assessing subjective well-being including those that sample people's experience by polling them at random times with beepers - turn up similar findings.
Interviews with representative samples of people of all ages, for example, reveal that no time of life is notably happier or
unhappier. Similarly, men and women are equally likely to declare themselves "very happy" and "satisfied" with life,
according to a statistical digest of 146 studies by Marilyn J, Haring, William Stock and Morris A, Okun, all then at Arizona
State University.
Wealth is also a poor predictor of happiness. People have not become happier over time as their cultures have become
more affluent. Even though Americans earn twice as much in today's dollars as they did in 1957, the proportion of those
telling surveyors from the National Opinion Research Center that they are "very happy" has declined from 35 to 29
percent.
Even very rich people - those surveyed among Forbes magazine's 100 wealthiest Americans - are only slightly
happier than the average American. Those whose income has increased over a 10-year period are not happier than
those whose income is stagnant. Indeed, in most nations the correlation between income and happiness is negligible only in the poorest countries, such as Bangladesh and India, is income a good measure of emotional well-being.
Are people in rich countries happier, by and large, than people in not so rich countries? It appears in general that they
are, but the margin may be slim. In Portugal, for example, only one in 10 people reports being very happy, whereas in
the much more prosperous Netherlands the proportion of very happy is four in 10. Yet there are curious reversals in this
correlation between national wealth and well-being -the Irish during the 1980s consistently reported greater life
satisfaction than the wealthier West Germans. Furthermore, other factors, such as civil rights, literacy and duration of
democratic government, all of which also promote reported life satisfaction, tend to go hand in hand with national
wealth, As a result, it is impossible to tell whether the happiness of people in wealthier nations is based on money or is a
by-product of other felicities.
Although happiness is not easy to predict from material circumstances, it seems consistent for those who have it, In
one National Institute on Aging study of 5,000 adults, the happiest people in 1973 were still relatively happy a decade
later, despite changes in work, residence and family status,
[ From "The Pursuit of Happiness" by David G, Myers and Ed Diener. Copyright © May 1996 by Scientific American, Inc.
All rights reserved. ]
Questions 28-30
Choose the appropriate letters A-D and write them in boxes 23-30 on your answer sheet.
28 What point are the writers making in the opening paragraph?
A
Happiness levels have risen since 1967.
В
Journals take a biased view on happiness.
С
Happiness is not a well-documented research area,
D
People tend to think about themselves negatively.
29 What do the writers say about their research findings?
A They had predicted the results correctly.
В They felt people had responded dishonestly.
С They conflict with those of other researchers.
D Happiness levels are higher than they had believed.
30 In the fourth paragraph, what does the reader learn about the research method used?
A It is new.
В It appears to be reliable.
С It is better than using beepers.
D It reveals additional information.
Questions 31-34
According to the passage, which of the findings below (31-34) is quoted by which Investigative Body (A-G)? Write your
answers in boxes 31-34 on your answer sheet.
NB There are more Investigative Bodies than findings, so you do not have to use all of them.
31 Happiness is not gender related.
32 Over fifty per cent of people consider themselves to be 'happy'.
33 Happiness levels are marginally higher for those in the top income brackets.
34 'Happy' people remain happy throughout their lives.
Investigative Bodies
A The National Opinion Research Center, University of Chicago
B Arizona State University
С The Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan
D Forbes Magazine
E The National Institute on Aging
F The Gallup Organization
G The Government
Questions 35-40
Complete the summary of Reading Passage 20 below. Choose your answers from the box at the bottom of the page
and write them in boxes 35-40 on your answer sheet NB There are more words than spaces so you will not use them
all. You may use any of the words more than once.
HOW HAPPY ARE WE?
Example :
Answer
Our happiness levels are ... ...... by relatively few factors.
Affected
For example, incomes in the States have ..... (35)..... over the past forty years but happiness levels have ..... (36).....
over the same period. In fact, people on average incomes are only slightly..... (37)..... happy than extremely rich people
and a gradual increase in prosperity makes ..... (38)..... difference to how happy we are. In terms of national wealth,
populations of wealthy nations are ..... (39)..... happier than those who live in poorer countries. Although in some cases
this trend is ..... (40)..... and it appears that other factors need to be considered.
List of Words
Stopped
Doubled
Stabilized
No
Crept up
Slightly
Significant
Remarkably
Less
Slowed down
too
similar
reversed
much
more
great
some
dropped
affected
clearly
Looking for a Market among Adolescents
A
In 1992, the most recent year for which data are available, the US tobacco industry spent $5 billion on domestic
marketing. That figure represents a huge increase from the approximate £250-million budget in 1971, when tobacco
advertising was banned from television and radio. The current expenditure translates to about $75 for every adult
smoker, or to $4,500 for every adolescent who became a smoker that year. This apparently high cost to attract a new
smoker is very likely recouped over the average 25 years that this teen will smoke.
В
In the first half of this century, leaders of the tobacco companies boasted that innovative mass-marketing strategies
built the industry. Recently, however, the tobacco business has maintained that its advertising is geared to draw
established smokers to particular brands. But public health advocates insist that such advertising plays a role in
generating new demand, with adolescents being the primary target. To explore the issue, we examined several
marketing campaigns undertaken over the years and correlated them with the ages smokers say they began their habit.
We find that, historically, there is considerable evidence that such campaigns led to an increase in cigarette smoking
among adolescents of the targeted group.
С
National surveys collected the ages at which people started smoking. The 1955 Current Population Survey (CPS)
was the first to query respondents for this information, although only summary data survive. Beginning in 1970,
however, the National Health Interview Surveys (NHIS) included this question in some polls. Answers from all the
surveys were combined to produce a sample of more than 165,000 individuals. Using a respondent's age at the time of
the survey and the reported age of initiation, [age they started smoking ], the year the person began smoking could be
determined. Dividing the number of adolescents (defined as those 12 to 17 years old)who started smoking during a
particular interval by the number who were "eligible" to begin at the start of the interval set the initiation rate for that
group.
D
Mass-marketing campaigns began as early as the 1880s, which boosted tobacco consumption sixfold by 1900.
Much of the rise was attributed to a greater number of people smoking cigarettes, as opposed to using cigars, pipes,
snuff or chewing tobacco. Marketing strategies included painted billboards and an extensive distribution of coupons,
which a recipient could redeem for free cigarettes .... Some brands included soft-porn pictures of women in the
packages. Such tactics inspired outcry from educational leaders concerned about their corrupting influence on teenage
boys. Thirteen percent of the males surveyed in 1955 who reached adolescence between i 890 and 1910 commenced
smoking by 18 years of age, compared with almost no females.
E
The power of targeted advertising is more apparent if one considers the men born between 1890 and 1899. In 1912,
when many of these men were teenagers, the R.J. Reynolds company launched the Camel brand of cigarettes with a
revolutionary approach. ... Every city in the country was bombarded with print advertising. According to the 1955 CPS,
initiation by age 18 for males in this group jumped to 21.6 percent, a two thirds increase over those bom before 1890.
The NHIS initiation rate also reflected this change. For adolescent males it went up from 2.9 percent between 1910 and
1912 to 4.9 percent between 1918 and 1921.
F
It was not until the mid-1920s that social mores permitted cigarette advertising to focus on women. ... In 1926 a
poster depicted women imploring smokers of Chesterfield cigarettes to "Blow Some My Way". The most successful
crusade, however, was for Lucky Strikes, which urged women to "Reach for a Lucky instead of a Sweet." The 1955 CPS
data showed that 7 percent of the women who were adolescents during the mid-1920s had started smoking by age 18,
compared with only 2 percent in the preceding generation of female adolescents. Initiation rates from the NHIS data for
adolescent girls were observed to increase threefold, from 0.6 percent between 1922 and 1925 to 1.8 percent between
1930 and 1933. In contrast, rates for males rose only slightly.
G
The next major boost in smoking initiation in adolescent females occurred in the late 1960s. In 1967 the tobacco
industry launched "niche" brands aimed exclusively at women. The most popular was Virginia Slims. The visuals of this
campaign emphasized a woman who was strong, independent and very thin. ... Initiation in female adolescents nearly
doubled, from 3.7 percent between 1964 and 1967 to 6.2 percent between 1972 and 1975 (NHIS data). During the
same period, rates for adolescent males remained stable.
H
Thus, in four distinct instances over the past 100 years, innovative and directed tobacco marketing campaigns were
associated with marked surges in primary demand from adolescents only in the target group. The first two were directed
at males and the second two at females. Of course, other factors helped to entrench smoking in society. ... Yet it is clear
from the data that advertising has been an overwhelming force in attracting new users.
Questions 14-19
Reading Passage 21 has eight paragraphs (A-H). Choose the most suitable heading for each paragraph from the list of
headings below.
Write the appropriate numbers (i-xi) in boxes 14-19 on your answer sheet.
NB There are more headings than paragraphs so you will not use all of them. You may use any heading more than
once.
List of Headings
i Gathering the information
ii Cigarettes produced to match an image
iii Financial outlay on marketing
iv The first advertising methods
v Pressure causes a drop in sales
vi Changing attitudes allow new marketing tactics
vii Background to the research
viii A public uproar is avoided
ix The innovative move to written adverts
x A century of uninhibited smoking
xi Conclusions of the research
14 Paragraph A
15 Paragraph В
16 Paragraph С
Example
Paragraph D
Answer
iv
17 Paragraph E
18 Paragraph F
19 Paragraph G
Example
Paragraph H
Answer
xi
Questions 20-24
Do the following statements agree with the information in Reading Passage 21? In boxes 20-24 write:
YES
if the statement is true according to the passage
NO
if the statement contradicts the passage
NOT GIVEN if there is no information about this in the passage
20
Cigarette marketing has declined in the US since tobacco advertising banned on TV.
21
Tobacco companies claim that their advertising targets existing smokers.
22
The difference in initiation rates between male and female smokers at of the 19 Lh century was due to selective
marketing.
23
Women who took up smoking in the past lost weight.
24
The two surveys show different trends in cigarette initiation.
Questions 25-27
Complete the sentences below with words taken from the Reading Passage. Use NO MORE THAN THREE
WORDS for each answer. Write your answers in boxes 25-27 on your answer sheet.
Tobacco companies are currently being accused of aiming their advertisements mainly at ..... (25)..... statistics on
smoking habits for men born between 1890 and 1899 were gathered in the year ..... (26)..... The ..... (27)..... brand of
cigarettes was designed for a particular sex.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS COUNT
A Traditionally uniforms were — and for some industries still are — manufactured to protect the worker. When they were
first designed, it is also likely that all uniforms made symbolic sense - those for the military, for example, were originally
intended to impress and even terrify the enemy; other uniforms denoted a hierarchy - chefs wore white because they
worked with flour, but the main chef wore a black hat to show he supervised.
B The last 30 years, however, have seen an increasing emphasis on their role in projecting the image of an organisation
and in uniting the workforce into a homogeneous unit — particularly in ‘customer facing" industries, and especially in
financial services and retailing. From uniforms and workwear has emerged ‘corporate clothing’. "The people you employ
are your ambassadors," says Peter Griffin, managing director of a major retailer in the UK. "What they say, how they
look, and how they behave is terribly important." The result is a new way of looking at corporate workwear. From being a
simple means of identifying who is a member of staff, the uniform is emerging as a new channel of marketing
communication.
C Truly effective marketing through visual cues such as uniforms is a subtle art, however. Wittingly or unwittingly, how
we look sends all sorts of powerful subliminal messages to other people. Dark colours give an aura of authority while
lighter pastel shades suggest approachability. Certain dress style creates a sense of conservatism, others a sense of
openness to new ideas. Neatness can suggest efficiency but, if it is overdone, it can spill over and indicate an obsession
with power. "If the company is selling quality, then it must have quality uniforms. If it is selling style, its uniforms must be
stylish. If it wants to appear innovative, everybody can’t look exactly the same. Subliminally we see all these things,"
says Lynn Elvy, a director of image consultants House of Colour.
D But translating corporate philosophies into the right mix of colour, style, degree of branding and uniformity can be a
fraught process. And it is not always successful. According to Company Clothing magazine, there are 1000 companies
supplying the workwear and corporate clothing market. Of these, 22 account for 85% of total sales - £380 million in
1994.
E A successful uniform needs to balance two key sets of needs. On the one hand, no uniform will work if staff feel
uncomfortable or ugly. Giving the wearers a choice has become a key element in the way corporate clothing is
introduced and managed. On the other, it is pointless if the look doesn’t express the business’s marketing strategy. The
greatest challenge in this respect is time. When it comes to human perceptions, first impressions count. Customers will
size up the way staff look in just a few seconds, and that few seconds will colour their attitudes from then on. Those few
seconds can be so important that big companies are prepared to invest years, and millions of pounds, getting them
right.
F In addition, some uniform companies also offer rental services. "There will be an increasing specialisation in the
marketplace," predicts Mr Blyth, Customer Services Manager of a large UK bank. The past two or three years have
seen consolidation. Increasingly, the big suppliers are becoming ‘managing agents’, which means they offer a total
service to put together the whole complex operation of a company’s corporate clothing package - which includes reliable
sourcing, managing the inventory, budget control and distribution to either central locations or to each staff member
individually. Huge investments have been made in new systems, information technology and amassing quality
assurance accreditations.
G Corporate clothing does have potential for further growth. Some banks have yet to introduce a full corporate look;
police forces are researching a complete new look for the 21st century. And many employees now welcome a company
wardrobe. A recent survey of staff found that 90 per cent welcomed having clothing which reflected the corporate
identity.
Questions 28-33
The passage First Impressions Count has seven paragraphs A—G. Which paragraphs discuss the following points?
Write the appropriate letters A-G in boxes 28-33 on your answer sheet.
Example
Answer
the number of companies supplying the corporate clothing market
D
28 different types of purchasing agreement
29 the original purposes of uniforms
30 the popularity rating of staff uniforms
31 involving employees in the selection of a uniform
32 the changing significance of company uniforms
33 perceptions of different types of dress
Questions 34-40
Do the following statements agree with the views of the writer of the passage? In boxes 34-40 on your answer sheet
write
YES
if the statement agrees with the writer’s views
NO
if the statement contradicts the writer’s views
NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
34 Uniforms were more carefully made in the past than they are today.
35 Uniforms make employees feel part of a team.
36 Using uniforms as a marketing tool requires great care.
37 Being too smart could have a negative impact on customers.
38 Most businesses that supply company clothing are successful.
39 Uniforms are best selected by marketing consultants.
40 Clothing companies are planning to offer financial services in the future.
Air Pollution
PART 1
A Air pollution is increasingly becoming the focus of government and citizen concern around the globe. From Mexico
City and New York, to Singapore and Tokyo, new solutions to this old problem are being proposed, Mailed and
implemented with ever increasing speed. It is feared that unless pollution reduction measures are able to keep pace
with the continued pressures of urban growth, air quality in many of the world’s major cities will deteriorate beyond
reason.
B Action is being taken along several fronts: through new legislation, improved enforcement and innovative technology.
In Los Angeles, state regulations are forcing manufacturers to try to sell ever cleaner cars: their first of the cleanest,
titled "Zero Emission Vehicles’, hove to be available soon, since they are intended to make up 2 per cent of sales in
1997. Local authorities in London are campaigning to be allowed to enforce anti-pollution lows themselves; at present
only the police have the power to do so, but they tend to be busy elsewhere. In Singapore, renting out toad space to
users is the way of the future.
C When Britain’s Royal Automobile Club monitored the exhausts of 60,000 vehicles, it found that 12 per cent of them
produced more than half the total pollution. Older cars were the worst offenders; though a sizeable number of quire new
cars were also identified as gross polluters, they were simply badly tuned. California has developed a scheme to get
these gross polluters off the streets: they offer a flat $700 for any old, run-down vehicle driven in by its owner. The aim is
to remove the heaviest-polluting, most decrepit vehicles from the roads.
D As part of a European Union environmental programme, a London council is resting an infra-red spectrometer from
the University of Denver in Colorado. It gauges the pollution from a passing vehicle - more useful than the annual
stationary rest that is the British standard today - by bouncing a beam through the exhaust and measuring what gets
blocked. The council’s next step may be to link the system to a computerised video camera able to read number plates
automatically.
E The effort to clean up cars may do little to cut pollution if nothing is done about the tendency to drive them more. Los
Angeles has some of the world’s cleanest cars - far better than those of Europe - but the total number of miles those
cars drive continues to grow. One solution is car-pooling, an arrangement in which a number of people who share the
same destination share the use of one car. However, the average number of people in o car on the freeway in Los
Angeles, which is 1.0, has been falling steadily. Increasing it would be an effective way of reducing emissions as well as
easing congestion. The trouble is, Los Angelinos seem to like being alone in their cars.
F Singapore has for a while had o scheme that forces drivers to buy a badge if they wish to visit a certain part of the city.
Electronic innovations make possible increasing sophistication: rates can vary according to road conditions, time of day
and so on. Singapore is advancing in this direction, with a city-wide network of transmitters to collect information and
charge drivers as they pass certain points. Such road-pricing, however, can be controversial. When the local
government in Cambridge, England, considered introducing Singaporean techniques, it faced vocal and ultimately
successful opposition.
PART 2
The scope of the problem facing the world’s cities is immense. In 1992, the United Nations Environmental Programme
and the World Health Organisation (WHO) concluded that all of a sample of twenty megacities - places likely to have
more than ten million inhabitants in the year 2000 - already exceeded the level the WHO deems healthy in at least one
major pollutant. Two-thirds of them exceeded the guidelines for two, seven for three or more.
Of the six pollutants monitored by the WHO - carbon dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, ozone, sulphur dioxide, lead and
particulate matter - it is this last category that is attracting the most attention from health researchers. PM10, a subcategory of particulate matter measuring ten-millionths of a meter across, has been implicated in thousands of deaths a
year in Britain alone. Research being conducted in two counties of Southern California is reaching similarly disturbing
conclusions concerning this little-understood pollutant.
A world-wide rise in allergies, particularly asthma, over the past four decades is now said to be linked with increased air
pollution. The lungs and brains of children who grow up in polluted air offer further evidence of its destructive power the
old and ill; however, are the most vulnerable to the acute effects of heavily polluted stagnant air. It can actually hasten
death, so it did in December 1991 when a cloud of exhaust fumes lingered over the city of London for over a week.
The United Nations has estimated that in the year 2000 there will be twenty-four mega-cities and a further eighty-five
cities of more than three million people. The pressure on public officials, corporations and urban citizens to reverse
established trends in air pollution is likely to grow in proportion with the growth of cities themselves. Progress is being
made. The question, though, remains the same: ‘Will change happen quickly enough?’
Questions 1-5
Look at the following solutions (Questions 1-5) and locations. Match each solution with one location. Write the
appropriate locations in boxes 1-5 on your answer sheet.
NB You may use any location more than once.
SOLUTIONS
1 Manufacturers must sell cleaner cars.
2 Authorities want to have power to enforce anti-pollution laws.
3 Drivers will be charged according to the roads they use.
4 Moving vehicles will be monitored for their exhaust emissions.
5 Commuters are encouraged to share their vehicles with others.
Locations
Singapore
Tokyo
London
New York
Mexico City
Cambridge
Los Angeles
Questions 6-10
Do the following statements reflect the claims of the writer in Reading Passage 23?
In boxes 6-10 on your answer sheet write
YES
if the statement reflects the claims of the writer
NO
if the statement contradicts the claims of the writer
NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
6 According to British research, a mere twelve per cent of vehicles tested produced over fifty per cent of total pollution
produced by the sample group.
7 It is currently possible to measure the pollution coming from individual vehicles whilst they are moving.
8 Residents of Los Angeles are now tending to reduce the yearly distances they travel by car.
9 Car-pooling has steadily become more popular in Los Angeles in recent years.
10 Charging drivers for entering certain parts of the city has been successfully done in Cambridge, England.
Questions 11-13
Choose the appropriate letters A—D and write them in boxes 11-13 on your answer sheet.
11 How many pollutants currently exceed WHO guidelines in all megacities studied?
A one
B two
C three
D seven
12 Which pollutant is currently the subject of urgent research?
A nitrogen dioxide
B ozone
C lead
D particulate matter
13 Which of the following groups of people are the most severely affected by intense air pollution?
A allergy sufferers
B children
C the old and ill
D asthma sufferers
MEASURING ORGANIZATIONAL PERFORMANCE
There is clear-cut evidence that, for a period of at least one year, supervision which increases the direct pressure for
productivity can achieve significant increases in production. However, such short-term increases are obtained only at a
substantial and serious cost to the organisation.
To what extent can a manager make an impressive earnings record over a short period of one to three years by
exploiting the company’s investment in the human organisation in his plant or division? To what extent will the quality of
his organisation suffer if he does so? The following is a description of an important study conducted by the Institute for
Social Research designed to answer these questions.
The study covered 500 clerical employees in four parallel divisions. Each division was organised in exactly the same
way, used the same technology, did exactly the same kind of work, and had employees of comparable aptitudes.
Productivity in all four of the divisions depended on the number of clerks involved. The work entailed the processing of
accounts and generating of invoices. Although the volume of work was considerable, the nature of the business was
such that it could only be processed as it came along. Consequently, the only way in which productivity could be
increased was to change the size of the workgroup.
The four divisions were assigned to two experimental programmes on a random basis. Each programme was assigned
at random a division that had been historically high in productivity and a division that had been below average in
productivity. No attempt was made to place a division in the programme that would best fit its habitual methods of
supervision used by the manager, assistant managers, supervisors and assistant supervisors.
The experiment at the clerical level lasted for one year. Beforehand, several months were devoted to planning, and
there was also a training period of approximately six months. Productivity was measured continuously and computed
weekly throughout the year. The attitudes of employees and supervisory staff towards their work were measured just
before and after the period.
Turning now to the heart of the study, in two divisions an attempt was made to change the supervision so that the
decision levels were pushed down and detailed supervision of the workers reduced. More general supervision of the
clerks and their supervisors was introduced. In addition, the managers, assistant managers, supervisors and assistant
supervisors of these two divisions were trained in group methods of leadership, which they endeavoured to use as much
as their skill would permit during the experimental year. For easy reference, the experimental changes in these two
divisions will be labelled the ‘participative programme!
Result of the Experiment
In the other two divisions, by contrast, the programme called for modifying the supervision so as to increase the
closeness of supervision and move the decision levels upwards. This will be labelled the ‘hierarchically controlled
programme’. These changes were accomplished by a further extension of the scientific management approach. For
example, one of the major changes made was to have the jobs timed and to have standard times computed. This
showed that these divisions were overstaffed by about 30%. The general manager then ordered the managers of these
two divisions to cut staff by 25%. This was done by transfers without replacing the persons who left; no one was to be
dismissed.
Changes in Productivity
Figure 1 shows the changes in salary costs per unit of work, which reflect the change in productivity that occurred in the
divisions. As will be observed, the hierarchically controlled programmes increased productivity by about 25%. This was
a result of the direct orders from the general manager to reduce staff by that amount. Direct pressure produced a
substantial increase in production.
A significant increase in productivity of 2O°/o was also achieved in the participative programme, but this was not as
great an increase as in the hierarchically controlled programme. To bring about this improvement, the clerks themselves
participated in the decision to reduce the size of the work group. (They were aware of course that productivity increases
were sought by management in conducting these experiments.) Obviously, deciding to reduce the size of a work group
by eliminating some of its members is probably one of the most difficult decisions for a work group to make. Yet the
clerks made it. In fact, one division in the participative programme increased its productivity by about the same amount
as each of the two divisions in the hierarchically controlled programme. The other participative division, which
historically had been the poorest of all the divisions, did not do so well and increased productivity by only 15%.
Changes in Attitude
Although both programmes had similar effects on productivity, they had significantly different results in other respects.
The productivity increases in the hierarchically controlled programme were accompanied by shifts in an adverse
direction in such factors as loyalty, attitudes, interest, and involvement in the work. But just the opposite was true in the
participative programme.
For example, Figure 2 shows that when more general supervision and increased participation were provided, the
employees’ feeling of responsibility to see that the work got done increased. Again, when the supervisor was away, they
kept on working. In the hierarchically controlled programme, however, the feeling of responsibility decreased, and when
the supervisor was absent, work tended to stop.
As Figure 3 shows, the employees in the participative programme at the end of the year felt that their manager and
assistant manager were ‘closer to them’ than at the beginning of the year. The opposite was true in the hierarchical
programme. Moreover, as Figure 4 shows, employees in the participative programme felt that their supervisors were
more likely to ‘pull’ for them, or for the company and them, and not be solely interested in the company, while in the
hierarchically controlled programme, the opposite trend occurred.
Choose the appropriate letters A-D and write them in boxes 28-30 on your answer sheet.
28 The experiment was designed to ...
A. establish whether increased productivity should be sought at any cost.
B. show that four divisions could use the same technology.
C. perfect a system for processing accounts.
D. exploit the human organisation of a company in order to increase profits.
29 The four divisions ...
A. each employed a staff of 500 clerks.
B. each had equal levels of productivity.
C. had identical patterns of organisation.
D. were randomly chosen for the experiment.
30 Before the experiment ...
A. the four divisions were carefully selected to suit a specific programme.
B. each division was told to reduce its level of productivity.
C. the staff involved spent a number of months preparing for the study.
D. the employees were questioned about their feelings towards the study.
Questions 31-36
Complete the summary below. Choose ONE word from Reading Passage 24 for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 31-36 on your answer sheet.
This experiment involved an organisation comprising four divisions, which were divided into two programmes: the
hierarchically controlled programme and the participative programme. For a period of one year a different method
of ....... 31 ....... was used in each programme. Throughout this time ........ 32 ........ was calculated on a weekly basis.
During the course of the experiment the following changes were made in an attempt to improve performance.
In the participative programme:
• supervision of all workers was ....... 33 .......
• supervisory staff were given training in ........ 34 .......
In the hierarchically controlled programme:
• supervision of all workers was increased.
• work groups were found to be ....... 35 ...... by 30%.
• the work force was ...... 36 ...... by 25%.
Questions 37-40
Look at Figures 1, 2, 3 and 4 in Reading Passage 24.
Choose the most appropriate label, A—I, for each Figure from the box below.
Write your answers in boxes 37-40 on your answer sheet.
A. Employees’ interest in the company
B. Cost increases for the company
C. Changes in productivity
D. Employees’ feelings of responsibility towards completion of work
E. Changes in productivity when supervisor was absent
F. Employees’ opinion as to extent of personal support from management
G. Employees feel closer to their supervisors
H. Employees’ feelings towards increased supervision
I. Supervisors’ opinion as to closeness of work group
37. Fig 1..............................
38. Fig 2..............................
39. Fig 3..............................
40. Fig 4..............................
TRACKING HURRICANES
North American meteorologists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)'s Hurricane
Research Division have recently improved the success rate in their forecasting of where hurricanes are likely to hit land
by an estimated 15 to 30%. This increase in accuracy is due to the use of instruments called GPS-dropwindsondes,
which can probe the atmosphere surrounding a hurricane while it is still out at sea. The atmospheric characteristics of
hurricanes over land are well understood because investigation is possible with weather balloons containing
sophisticated meteorological instruments. When hurricanes are out of reach of balloons, gathering information is
decidedly more difficult. Little is known of the weather conditions that guide hurricanes towards land.
An accurate estimation of where a hurricane will strike is essential in order to reduce loss of life and property. Hurricane
Andrew, the most costly hurricane in U.S. history, killed 15 people and caused damage of $35 billion, in today's dollars,
in 1992. However, the unnamed : Category 4 2 hurricane which struck southeast Florida in 1926 and killed 243 people
would have caused an estimated $77 billion if it had struck today. The reason for this is the explosion in population
growth and development along the south-east coast of the U.S. during the last half century.
Hurricanes occur in cycles every few decades, the last intense period in the U.S. being from 1940 to 1969. 'Camille', a
Category 5 hurricane of such catastrophic force that it caused over a billion and a half dollars worth of damage at the
time and killed 256 people, struck the coast of the Gulf of Mexico in 1969 with winds over 320 km/h. Yet, for the last
quarter century, hurricane activity has been relatively mild. Scientists do not know the precise reason for the cycles of
hurricane activity, but they could be caused by a phenomenon called the 'Atlantic Conveyor'. This is the name given to
the gigantic current of water that flows cold from the top of the globe slowly along the Atlantic ocean floor to Antarctica
and resurfaces decades later before flowing back north, absorbing heat as it crosses the equator. Since hurricanes
derive their energy from the heat of warm water, it is thought that an increase in the speed of the' Conveyor', as it pulls
warm water to the north, is an indicator of intensifying hurricane activity.
The use of GPS-dropwindsondes began in 1997. Small sensing devices dropped from planes at very high altitudes and
over a wide area, they are far more revealing than previously used sensors. Because they weigh only 0.4 kilograms,
they are able to stay aloft for longer periods and broadcast more data to the ground. Each sonde carries its own global
positioning satellite receiver. The GPS signals received are used to calculate the direction and speed of wind, and data
on temperature, humidity, and barometric pressure at half second intervals all the way down to the ocean surface.
Dropwindsonde information is fed into a special meteorological computer in Maryland which generates a global
computer model of wind patterns. Data analysts have discovered a greater variability in the winds at sea level than
previously believed, but many forecasting problems are beyond a solution, at least for the time being. For instance, it is
not yet known why hurricanes can suddenly change in intensity; current computer models often fail to predict whether a
hurricane will reach land or else cannot pinpoint where a strike will take place.
One surprising result of a recent computer simulation was the destruction of a large part of downtown New York.
Hurricane researchers believe that the city is more likely than Miami to suffer a direct hit in the near future. Also, certain
geographical features of the coastline near New York make it conceivable that a wall of water called a storm surge
pushed ashore by hurricane winds would cause a devastating flooding of Manhattan. A storm surge was responsible for
the more than 8000 deaths caused by the hurricane that destroyed the city of Galveston in 1900.
1
the custom of naming hurricanes began in the early 1950s
2
hurricanes are categorised according to their wind speed from Category 1 (least intense) to Category 5 (most intense)
Questions 1 - 4
You are advised to spend about 5 minutes on Questions 1-4.
Refer to Reading Passage 25 "Tracking Hurricanes", and look at Questions 1 - 4 below.
Write your answers in boxes 1 - 4 on your Answer Sheet. The first one has been done for you as an example.
Example: What do the letters NOAA stand for?
Q1. Which instruments have recently increased the success rate of U.S. hurricane forecasts?
Q2. What reason is given for the lack of knowledge of hurricanes at sea?
Q3. Why was the hurricane which struck in 1926 not given a name?
Q4. What is the name of the strongest hurricane mentioned in the article?
You are advised to spend about 8 minutes on Questions 5-11.
Look at the table below. According to Reading Passage 1, to whom or what do the phrases on the right refer?
Write your answers in boxes 5 -11 on your Answer Sheet. The first one has been done for you as an example.
Note that you must give your answer IN NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS.
WHO or WHAT ?
Ex : ......... Meteorologist ..........
have improved their forecasts for hurricanes.
Q5 ...........................................
become stronger every few decades.
Q6 ...........................................
energises all hurricanes.
Q7 ...........................................
is a huge current of water flowing from north to south.
Q8 ...........................................
could not stay in the air for a long time.
Q9 ............................................
know more about surface winds than they knew before.
Q10 ..........................................
recently predicted a catastrophe for the city of New York.
Q11 ..........................................
is a huge wave of water blown on land by a hurricane.
Questions 12 -15
You are advised to spend about 7 minutes on Questions 12-15.
Refer to Reading Passage 25, and decide which of the answers best completes the following sentences.
Write your answers in boxes 12 -15 on your Answer Sheet. The first one has been done for you as an example.
Example: The main point of the passage is to give information about:
a) previous U.S. hurricanes
b) future U.S. hurricanes
c) forecasting hurricane activity
d) why hurricanes change in intensity
Q12. The intensity of U.S. hurricanes:
a) has increased by 15 to 30% recently
b) depends on the GPS-dropwindsondes
c) was greater from 1940 to 1969 than at any previous time
d) can be more accurately measured by satellite assistance
Q13. The Category 4 hurricane which hit Florida in 1926:
a) w as the most catastrophic to hit the U. S. this century
b) caused $77 billion worth of damage
c) caused an explosion in population growth
d) none of the above
Q14. Hurricane'Camille':
a) caused $1.5 billion dollars damage in today's money
b) was the worst U.S. storm this century in terms of life lost
c) was named in the 1950s
d) was not as intense as the hurricane of 1926
Q15. The writer of the passage probably believes that:
a) accurate tracking of hurricanes might be possible in the future
b) storm surges only occur within computer simulations
c) computer predictions are unreliable
d) the worst hurricanes occur in the U.S.
THE DEPARTMENT OF ETHNOGRAPHY
The Department of Ethnography was created as a separate department within the British Museum in 1946, after 140
years of gradual development from the original Department of Antiquities. If is concerned with the people of Africa, the
Americas, Asia, the Pacific and parts of Europe. While this includes complex kingdoms, as in Africa, and ancient
empires, such as those of the Americas, the primary focus of attention in the twentieth century has been on small-scale
societies. Through its collections, the Department’s specific interest is to document how objects are created and used,
and to understand their importance and significance to those who produce them. Such objects can include both the
extraordinary and the mundane, the beautiful and the banal.
The collections of the Department of Ethnography include approximately 300,000 artifacts, of which about half are the
product of the present century. The Department has a vital role to play in providing information on non-Western cultures
to visitors and scholars. To this end, the collecting emphasis has often been less on individual objects than on groups of
material which allow the display of a broad range of a society’s cultural expressions. Much of the more recent collecting
was carried out in the field, sometimes by Museum staff working on general anthropological projects in collaboration
with a wide variety of national governments and other institutions. The material collected includes great technical series
- for instance, of textiles from Bolivia, Guatemala, Indonesia and areas of West Africa - or of artifact types such as boats.
The latter include working examples of coracles from India, reed boars from Lake Titicaca in the Andes, kayaks from the
Arctic, and dug-out canoes from several countries. The field assemblages, such as those from the Sudan, Madagascar
and Yemen, include a whole range of material culture representative of one people. This might cover the necessities of
life of an African herdsman or on Arabian farmer, ritual objects, or even on occasion airport art. Again, a series of
acquisitions might represent a decade’s fieldwork documenting social experience as expressed in the varieties of
clothing and jewellery styles, tents and camel trappings from various Middle Eastern countries, or in the developing
preferences in personal adornment and dress from Papua New Guinea. Particularly interesting are a series of
collections which continue to document the evolution of ceremony and of material forms for which the Department
already possesses early (if nor the earliest) collections formed after the first contact with Europeans.
The importance of these acquisitions extends beyond the objects themselves. They come to the Museum with
documentation of the social context, ideally including photographic records. Such acquisitions have multiple purposes.
Most significantly they document for future change. Most people think of the cultures represented in the collection in
terms of the absence of advanced technology. In fact, traditional practices draw on a continuing wealth of technological
ingenuity. Limited resources and ecological constraints are often overcome by personal skills that would be regarded as
exceptional in the West. Of growing interest is the way in which much of what we might see as disposable is, elsewhere,
recycled and reused.
With the Independence of much of Asia and Africa after 1945, it was assumed that economic progress would rapidly
lead to the disappearance or assimilation of many small-scale societies. Therefore, it was felt that the Museum should
acquire materials representing people whose art or material culture, ritual or political structures were on the point of
irrevocable change. This attitude altered with the realisation that marginal communities can survive and adapt .In spite
of partial integration into a notoriously fickle world economy. Since the seventeenth century, with the advent of trading
companies exporting manufactured textiles to North America and Asia, the importation of cheap goods has often
contributed to the destruction of local skills and indigenous markets. On the one hand modern imported goods may be
used in an everyday setting, while on the other hand other traditional objects may still be required for ritually significant
events. Within this context trade and exchange attitudes are inverted. What are utilitarian objects to a Westerner may be
prized objects in other cultures - when transformed by local ingenuity - principally for aesthetic value. In the some way,
the West imports goods from other peoples and in certain circumstances categorise them as ‘art’.
Collections act as an ever-expanding database, nor merely for scholars and anthropologists, bur for people involved in a
whole range of educational and artistic purposes. These include schools and universities as well as colleges of art and
design. The provision of information about non-Western aesthetics and techniques, not just for designers and artists but
for all visitors, is a growing responsibility for a Department whose own context is an increasingly multicultural European
society.
Questions 1-6
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1?
In boxes 1-6 on your answer sheet write
TRUE
if the statement is true according to the passage
FALSE
if the statement is false according to the passage
NOT GIVEN
if the information is not given in the passage
Example
The Department of Ethnography replaced the Department of
Antiquities at the British Museum.
Answer
FALSE
1 The twentieth-century collections come mainly from mainstream societies such as the US and Europe.
2 The Department of Ethnography focuses mainly on modern societies.
3 The Department concentrates on collecting single unrelated objects of great value.
4 The textile collection of the Department of Ethnography is the largest in the world.
5 Traditional societies are highly inventive in terms of technology.
6 Many small-scale societies have survived and adapted in spite of predictions to the contrary.
Questions 7-12
Some of the exhibits at the Department of Ethnography are listed below (Questions 7-12). The writer gives these
exhibits as examples of different collection types. Match each exhibit with the collection type with which it is associated
in Reading Passage 1. Write the appropriate letters in boxes 7-12 on your answer sheet. NB You may use any collection
type more than once.
Example
Answer
Boats
AT
Collection Type
AT
Artifact Types
EC
Evolution of Ceremony
FA
Field Assemblages
SE
Social Experience
TS
Technical Series
7 Bolivian textiles
8 Indian coracles
9 airport art
10 Arctic kayaks
11 necessities of life of an Arabian farmer
12 tents from the Middle East
SECRETS OF THE FORESTS
A In 1942 Allan R Holmberg, a doctoral student in anthropology from Yale University, USA, ventured deep into the jungle
of Bolivian Amazonia and searched out an isolated band of Siriono Indians. The Siriono, Holmberg later wrote, led a
"strikingly backward" existence. Their villages were little more than clusters of thatched huts. Life itself was a perpetual
and punishing search for food: some families grew manioc and other starchy crops in small garden plots cleared from
the forest, while other members of the tribe scoured the country for small game and promising fish holes. When local
resources became depleted, the tribe moved on. As for technology, Holmberg noted, the Siriono "may be classified
among the most handicapped peoples of the world". Other than bows, arrows and crude digging sticks, the only tools
the Siriono seemed to possess were "two machetes worn to the size of pocket-knives".
B Although the lives of the Siriono have changed in the intervening decades, the image of them as Stone Age relics has
endured. Indeed, in many respects the Siriono epitomize the popular conception of life in Amazonia. To casual
observers, as well as to influential natural scientists and regional planners, the luxuriant forests of Amazonia seem
ageless, unconquerable, a habitat totally hostile to human civilization. The apparent simplicity of Indian ways of life has
been judged an evolutionary adaptation to forest ecology, living proof that Amazonia could not - and cannot - sustain a
more complex society. Archaeological traces of far more elaborate cultures have been dismissed as the ruins of
invaders from outside the region, abandoned to decay in the uncompromising tropical environment.
C The popular conception of Amazonia and its native residents would be enormously consequential if it were true. But
the human history of Amazonia in the past 11,000 years betrays that view as myth. Evidence gathered in recent years
from anthropology and archaeology indicates that the region has supported a series of indigenous cultures for eleven
thousand years; an extensive network of complex societies - some with populations perhaps as large as 100,000 thrived there for more than 1,000 years before the arrival of Europeans. (Indeed, some contemporary tribes, including
the Siriono, still live among the earthworks of earlier cultures.) Far from being evolutionarily retarded, prehistoric
Amazonian people developed technologies and cultures that were advanced for their time. If the lives of Indians today
seem "primitive", the appearance is not the result of some environmental adaptation or ecological barrier; rather it is a
comparatively recent adaptation to centuries of economic and political pressure. Investigators who argue otherwise
have unwittingly projected the present onto the past.
D The evidence for a revised view of Amazonia will take many people by surprise. Ecologists have assumed that
tropical ecosystems were shaped entirely by natural forces and they have focused their research on habitats they
believe have escaped human influence. But as the University of Florida ecologist, Peter Feinsinger, has noted, an
approach that leaves people out of the equation is no longer tenable. The archaeological evidence shows that the
natural history of Amazonia is to a surprising extent tied to the activities of its prehistoric inhabitants.
E The realization comes none too soon. In June 1992 political and environmental leaders from across the world met in
Rio de Janeiro to discuss how developing countries can advance their economies without destroying their natural
resources. The challenge is especially difficult in Amazonia. Because the tropical forest has been depicted as
ecologically unfit for large-scale human occupation, some environmentalists have opposed development of any kind.
Ironically, one major casualty of that extreme position has been the environment itself. While policy makers struggle to
define and implement appropriate legislation, development of the most destructive kind has continued apace over vast
areas.
F The other major casualty of the "naturalism" of environmental scientists has been the indigenous Amazonians, whose
habits of hunting, fishing, and slash-and-burn cultivation often have been represented as harmful to the habitat. In the
clash between environmentalists and developers, the Indians, whose presence is in fact crucial to the survival of the
forest, have suffered the most. The new understanding of the pre-history of Amazonia, however, points toward a middle
ground. Archaeology makes clear that with judicious management selected parts of the region could support more
people than anyone thought before. The long-buried past, it seems, offers hope for the future.
Questions 13-15
Reading Passage 27 has six sections A-F.
Choose the most suitable headings for sections A, B and D from the list of headings below.
Write the appropriate numbers i-vii in boxes 13-15 on your answer sheet.
i
ii
iii
iv
v
vi
vii
List of Headings
Amazonia as unable to sustain complex societies
The role of recent technology in ecological research in Amazonia
The hostility of the indigenous population to North American influences
Recent evidence
Early research among the Indian Amazons
The influence of prehistoric inhabitants on Amazonian natural history
The great difficulty of changing local attitudes and practices
13 Section A
14 Section B
Example
Answer
Paragraph C
iv
15 Section D
Questions 16-21
Do the following statements agree with the views of the writer in Reading Passage 27? In boxes 16—21 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
Example
Answer
The prehistoric inhabitants of Amazonia were relatively
NO
backward in technological terms.
16 The reason for the simplicity of the Indian way of life is that Amazonia has always been unable to support a more
complex society.
17 There is a crucial popular misconception about the human history of Amazonia.
18 There are lessons to be learned from similar ecosystems in other parts of the world.
19 Most ecologists were aware that the areas of Amazonia they were working in had been shaped by human settlement.
20 The indigenous Amazonian Indians are necessary to the well-being of the forest.
21 It would be possible for certain parts of Amazonia to support a higher population.
Questions 22-25
Choose the appropriate letters A-D and write them in boxes 22-25 on your answer sheet.
22 In 1942 the US anthropology student concluded that the Siriono
A were unusually aggressive and cruel.
B had had their way of life destroyed by invaders.
C were an extremely primitive society.
D had only recently made permanent settlements.
23 The author believes recent discoveries of the remains of complex societies in Amazonia
A are evidence of early indigenous communities.
B are the remains of settlements by invaders.
C are the ruins of communities established since the European invasions.
D show the region has only relatively recently been covered by forest.
24 The assumption that the tropical ecosystem of Amazonia has been created solely by natural forces
A has often been questioned by ecologists in the past.
B has been shown to be incorrect by recent research.
C was made by Peter Feinsinger and other ecologists.
D has led to some fruitful discoveries.
25 The application of our new insights into the Amazonian past would
A warn us against allowing any development at all.
B cause further suffering to the Indian communities.
C change present policies on development in the region.
D reduce the amount of hunting, fishing, and ‘slash-and-burn’.
Ielts mentor
Mark clark