READING PASSAGE 1

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based on Reading Passage
1 on pages 2 and 3.

Development Tasks of Normal Adolescence

Some years ago, Professor Robert Havighurst of the University of Chicago, USA, proposed
that stages in human development can best be thought of in terns of the developmental ‘task’
that are part of the normal transition. He identified ten developmental tasks associated with
the adolescent transition. Each of the Havighurst tasks can also be seen as elements of the
overall sense of self that adolescents carry with them as they are move towards and into
young adulthood. Adolescents do not progress through these multiple developmental tasks
separately; at any given time they may be dealing with several.
The adolescent must adjust to a new physical sense of self. At no other time since birth does
an individual undergo such profound physical changes as during early adolescence. Puberty
is marked by sudden rapid growth in height and weight. Also, the young person experiences
the emergence and accentuation of those physical traits that make the person a boy or a girl.
The young person looks less like a child and more like a physically mature adult. The effect
of this rapid change is that mid-adolescents are body-conscious, and their concerns are
directed towards their opposite-sexed peers.
The adolescent must adjust to new intellectual abilities. In addition to a sudden spurt in
physical growth, adolescents experience a sudden increase in their ability to think about their
world. As a normal part of maturity, they are able to think about more things. However, they
are also able to conceive of their world with a new level of awareness. Before adolescence,
children’s thinking is dominated by a need to have a concrete example for any problem that
they solve; their thinking is constrained to what is real and physical. During adolescence,
young people begin to recognise and understand abstractions. The growth in ability to deal
with abstractions accelerates during the middle stages of adolescence.
The adolescent must adjust to increased cognitive demands at school. Adults see high school
in part as a place where adolescents prepare for adult roles and responsibilities and in part as
preparatory for further education. School curricula are frequently dominated by the inclusion
of more abstract, demanding material, regardless of whether the adolescents have achieved
formal thought. Since not all adolescents make the intellectual transition at the same rate,
demands for abstract thinking prior to the achievement of that ability may be frustrating.
The adolescent must adopt a personal value system. During adolescence, as teens develop
increasingly complex knowledge systems, they also adopt an integrated set of values and
morals. During the early stages of moral development, parents provide their child with a
structured set of rules of what is right and wrong, what is acceptable and unacceptable.
Eventually the adolescent must assess the parent’s values as they come into conflict with
values expressed by peers and other segments of society. To reconcile differences, the
adolescent restructures those beliefs into a personal ideology.
The adolescent must develop expanded verbal skills to accommodate more complex concepts
and tasks. Their limited language of childhood is no longer adequate. As their conceptual
development may outstrip their verbal development, adolescents may appear less competent
than they really are.
The adolescent must establish adult vocational goals. As part of the process of establishing a
personal identity, the adolescent must also begin the process of focusing on the question.
‘What do you plan to be when you grow up?’ Mid-adolescents must identify, at least at a
preliminary level, what their adult vocational goals are and how they intend to achieve them.
The adolescent must develop a personal sense of identity. Prior to adolescence, one’s identity
is an extension of one’s parent’s identity. During the early adolescent years a young person
begins to recognise their uniqueness and to establish themselves as separate individuals,
independent of their parents. As such, one must reconsider the answer to the question, ‘What
does it mean to be me?’ or ‘Who am I?’
The adolescent must establish emotional and psychological independence from his or her
parents. Childhood is marked by strong dependence on one’s parents. Adolescents may yearn
to keep that safe, secure, supportive, dependent relationship. Yet, to be an adult implies a
sense of independence, of autonomy, of being one’s own person. In an attempt to assert their
need for independence and individuality, adolescents may respond with what appears to be
hostility and lack of cooperation.
The adolescent must develop stable and productive peer relationships. Although peer
interaction is not unique to adolescence, it seems to hit a peak of importance during early
adolescence. Certainly by late adolescence or early adulthood the need for peer approval has
diminished. This degree to which an adolescent is able to make friends and have an accepting
peer group, though, is a major indicator of how well the adolescent will adjust in other areas
of social and psychological development. Early adolescence is also a period of intense
conformity to peers. ‘Fitting in’ , not being different, and being accepted seem somehow
pressing to this age group. The worst possibility, from the view of the young teen, is to be
seen by peers as ‘different’.
The adolescent must develop increased impulse control and behavioural maturity. In their
shift to adulthood, most young people engage in one or more behaviours that place them at
physical, social, or educational risk. Risky behaviours are sufficiently pervasive among
adolescents to suggest that risk-talking may be a normal developmental process of middle
adolescence. Gradually adolescents develop a set of behavioural self-controls through which
they assess which behaviours are acceptable and adult-like.

Questions 1 – 6
Classify the following developments as characterising
A early adolescence
B middle adolescence
C late adolescence
Write the correct letter, A, B or C, in boxes 1-6 on your answer sheet.
1 becoming interested in people of the other gender
2 beginning to choose a future career
3 needing to feel the same as one’s friends
4 beginning to form a self-image separate from the family context
5 having less need for the good opinion of friends
6 exposing oneself to dangers

Questions 7-10
Complete each sentence with the correct ending, A-E, below.
Write the correct letter, A-E, in boxes 7-10 on your answer sheet.
7 Havighurst proposed a set of tasks which
8 A course of study at high school
9 The speed of development of thinking ability during adolescence
10 Adolescence is a time when the young person

A reflects an adolescent’s emerging self-perception.

B cannot solve a problem without an example.
C is designed to become more challenging.
D formulates a personal set of moral beliefs and values
E varies according to the individual.

Questions 11-13
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1?
In boxes 11-13 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
11 Most pre-adolescent children are capable of abstract thought.
12 Adolescents' limited skills with words may give a false impression of their ability.
13 Whether or not an adolescent is accepted by their age-group is an important clue to
other aspects of their social adjustment.

READING PASSAGE 2
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14-26, which are based on Reading
Passage 2 on pages 8 and 9.
Questions 14 – 21
Reading Passage 2 has nine paragraphs, A-I.
Choose the correct heading for paragraphs A and C-I from the list of headings below.
Write the correct number, i-xi, in boxes 14-21 on your answer sheet.

List of Headings
 i An analysis of protective coatings
ii Applying technology to violin production
iii Location – a key factor
iv A controversial range of prices
v Techniques of mass production
vi The advantages of older wood
vii A re-evaluation of documentary evidence
viii The mathematical basis of earlier design
ix Manual woodworking techniques
x Preferences of top musicians
xi The use of saturated wood
xii The challenge for scientists

14 Paragraph A
Example

Paragraph B xii

15 Paragraph C
16 Paragraph D
17 Paragraph E
18 Paragraph F
19 Paragraph G
20 Paragraph H
21 Paragraph I

Science and the Stradivarius:

Uncovering the secret of quality

A. Violins made by long-dead Italian craftsmen from the Cremona region are beautiful
works of art, coveted by collectors as well as players. Particularly outstanding violins
have reputedly changed hands for over a million pounds. In contrast, fine modern
instruments can be bought for under £100. Do such figures really reflect such large
differences in quality? After more than a hundred years of vigorous debate, this
 question remains highly contentious, provoking strongly held but divergent views
among musicians, violin makers and scientists alike.
B. Every violin, whether a Stradivarius or the cheapest factory-made copy, has a
distinctive ‘voice’ of its own. Just as any musician can immediately recognise the
difference between Domingo and Pavarotti singing the same operatic aria, so a skilled
violinist can distinguish between different qualities in the sound produced by
individual Stradivari or Guarneri violins. Individual notes on a single instrument
sound different each time they are played, which suggests that the perceived tone of a
violin must be related to the overall design of the instrument, rather than the
frequencies of particular resonances on it. But although various attempts have been
made to analyse such global properties, it is extremely difficult to distinguish between
a fine Stradivarius instrument and an indifferent modern copy on the basis of the
measured response alone. The ear is a supreme detection device, and a system has yet
to be developed which can match the brain’s sophisticated ability to assess complex
sounds.
C. So how do skilled violin makers optimise the tone of an instrument during the
construction process? They begin by selecting a wood of the highest possible quality
for the front and back plates (or parts of the violin), which they test by tapping with a
hammer and judging how well it ‘rings’. The next important step is to skilfully carve
the plates out of the solid wood, taking great care to get the right degree of arching
and variations in thickness. Traditional makers optimise the thickness by testing the
‘feel’ of the plates when they are flexed, and by the sounds produced when they are
tapped at different positions with the knuckles.
D. However, in the last 50 years or so a group of violin makers has emerged who have
tried to take a more overtly scientific approach to violin making. One common
practice they have adopted is to replace the traditional flexing and tapping of plates by
controlled measurements. During the carving process, the thinned plates are sprinkled
with flakes of glitter and suspend horizontally above a loudspeaker. The glitter forms
a pattern each time the loudspeaker excites a resonance. The aim is to interactively
‘tune’ these first few freeplate resonances to specified patterns.
E. Unfortunately, there are very few examples of such measurements for really fine
Italian instruments because their owners are naturally reluctant to allow their violins
to be taken apart for the sake of science. The few tests that have been performed
suggest that the first Italian makers may have tuned the resonant modes of the
individual plates – which they could identify as they tapped them – to exact musical
intervals. This would be consistent with the prevailing Renaissance view of
‘perfection’, which was measured in terms of numbers and exact ratios. However,
there is no historical data to support this case.
F. Another factor that affects sound quality is the presence of moisture. To achieve the
quality of ‘vibrancy’ in a violin requires high-quality wood with low internal
damping. By measuring the pattern of growth-rings in the wood of a Stradivarius, we
know that the Italian violin makers sometimes used planks of wood that had only been
seasoned for five years. However, such wood is now 300 years old, and the intrinsic
internal damping will almost certainly have decreased with time. The age of the wood
may therefore automatically contribute to the improved quality of older instruments.
 This may also explain why the quality of a modern instrument appears to improve in
its first few years.
G. Another factor thought to account for sound quality is the nature of the varnish used
to protect the instrument. One of the most popular theories for well over a century to
account for the Stradivarius secret has been that the varnish had some sort of ‘magic’
composition. However, historical research has shown that it was very similar to the
varnish used today. So apart from the possibility that the Italian varnish was
contaminated with the wings of passing insects and debris from the workshop floor,
there is no convincing evidence to support the idea of a secret formula.
H. Other researchers, meanwhile, have claimed that Stradivarius’s secret was to soak the
timber in water, to leach out supposedly harmful chemicals, before it was seasoned.
Although this would be consistent with the idea that the masts and oars of recently
sunken Venetian war galleys might have been used to make violins, other scientific
and historical evidence to support this view is unconvincing.
I. In conclusion, science has not provided any convincing evidence to set Cremonese
instruments apart from the finest violins made by skilled craftsmen today. Indeed,
some leading soloists do occasionally play on modern instruments. However, the
foremost soloists – and, not surprisingly, violin dealers, who have a vested interest in
maintaining the Cremonese legend of intrinsic superiority – remain utterly
unconvinced.

Questions 22 – 26
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 2?
In boxes 22-26 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
22 The quality of any particular note played on the same violin varies.
23 Scientific instruments analyse complex sound more accurately than humans.
24 The quality of handmade violins varies according to the musical ability of the
craftsman.
25 Modern violins seem to improve in their early years.
26 Modern violins are gaining in popularity amongst the top violinists.

READING PASSAGE 3
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 27-40, which are based on Reading
Passage 3 on pages 10 and 11.

The dark side of the technological boom

What are the effects on the individual of working in modern technological workplaces?

Changes in the way we work and how our offices are structured come at us faster and faster.
Waves of state-of-the-art information technology and instant telecommunications let us reach
anyone, anywhere, and speed is the key. Most of us are too busy struggling to keep pace with
ongoing innovations to question the implications of our new electronic authority figures.
According to a number of psychologists, however, the need to stay on top of the information
flow and the consequent degree to which we remain in touch with our offices exact a
profound toll on us as individuals.
Mass exposure to technological innovations in the workplace has come too recently for
psychologists to reach a consensus on its societal implications. Many agree, however, that
one of the first signs of the struggle to adapt to the electronic office is often ‘technostress’, a
cognitive shift that results from an over-identification with information systems. Psychologist
Craig Brod says people become accustomed to the patterns set by electronic tools –
accelerated time and yes/no logic – and internalize these patterns. ‘When they leave the office
or go home,’ Brod says, ‘they need complete isolation to recover from the effects of the
technology.’
Brod warns that over-reliance on electronic tools could also have serious repercussions on
our ability to think creatively and develop new ideas. Because we don’t create in a vacuum,
he points out, we need to avoid the temptation to replace informal gatherings for bouncing
ideas off colleagues with electronic networking. It’s also more difficult to spot errors or even
evaluate the shape of a project displayed in a flat, two-dimensional way on a screen.
Electronically networked offices can also make it increasingly difficult to convince ourselves
that we’re doing an adequate job and accumulating enough information to make informed
decisions. Philosopher Daniel Dennett points out that modern technology eliminates the
possibility of unavoidable ignorance. As the opportunity to amass information grows larger,
the obligation to make accurate predictions – the ‘right’ decisions – becomes more onerous.
Instead of consoling ourselves that we’re doing as good a job as we can, we are tormented by
the knowledge that the world of information is limitless.
For executives near the top of the office pyramid, the benefits of the electronic revolution –
like telecommuting and flexible scheduling – may outweigh the disadvantages of being
continuously on call. But in Workplace 2000, authors Joseph Boyett and Henry Conn
describe a future in which millions of people now charged with analyzing information and
making routine decisions will be replaced by less skilled workers using ‘intelligent’ software
to make decisions for them. They predict that a cult of performance excellence will engulf
most businesses.
The millions of people on the bottom levels of electronic hierarchies are increasingly likely to
spend their days in an isolated no-man’s land, subservient to intelligent information systems
that report their progress to unseen supervisors far away. Because computers measure
quantity better than quality, such systems tend to reward employees who work faster more
than those who work better.
Service people on the telephone or at a cash register curtly terminate attempts at idle
conversation because their performance is being electronically monitored. Once judged on
their ability to communicate with customers or troubleshoot unexpected situations, they’re
now evaluated by the number of transactions they complete in a shift or the number of
keystrokes required to draft a document. In these electronic ‘sweatshops’, the computers are
running the people, not the other way around.
‘I think people are going to feel an increased fragmentation of self. They won’t be able to
hold the pieces together,’ human resources consultant Philip Nicholson says. ‘How do you
keep a coherent ace if you’re going in and out of spaces that don’t exist?’ He likens the
psychic numbing of electronic information overload to symptoms of post-traumatic stress
syndrome (a mental disorder lowing a horrific event). In office ‘wars’, people become
overwhelmed by the sheer amount of formation available, internalize the diversity of the
world outside, and fear losing control over their own lives.
If we are to survive the challenges of information-driven, hardwired offices, says Nicholson,
we need to provide psychological support systems. As no one has yet measured the social
cost of the workplace revolution, some psychologists are mobilizing efforts to pool
information as it is derived. Nicholson started the Technostress International Information
Network in Massachusetts to foster an exchange of data and ideas on the effects of
computerization and information technology. Meanwhile, Brod wants to examine the
parallels between electronic work environments and ‘sealed-cabin ecologies’ like space
capsules or submarines, both totally automated artificial worlds in which people live in highly
confined circumstances surrounded by technology that dictates the tenor of their days as well
as their survival. He is petitioning other psychologists to convince the American
Psychological Association to form a specialized study group.
In addition, Brod suggests that we re-examine our value systems and that we make greater
allowances for privacy in order to circumvent potential revolts against technology. ‘We need
to co-evolve with technology,’ he says. ‘These are wonderful tools, but if we exploit them
without imposing appropriate values on their use, they become alienating and dangerous.’
Questions 27 – 29
Complete each sentence with the correct ending, A-E, below.
Write the correct letter, A-E, in boxes 27-29 on your answer sheet.
27 The speed of technological changes
28 A dependency on technology and computers
29 A deterioration in personal service

A requires more detailed study by psychologists.

B means people have no time to challenge the significance
of the new technology.
C may reduce inventiveness and innovation.
D suggests computers will take over the workplace.
E results from increased electronic supervision.

Questions 30 – 35
Look at the following statements (Questions 30-35) and the list of people below.
Match each statement with the correct person or people, A, B, C or D.
Write the correct letter, A, B, C or D, in boxes 30-35 on your answer sheet.
NB You may use any letter more than once.
30 Technology has placed greater expectations on workers not to make mistakes.
31 People will need time away from technology to reduce the frustrations caused by it.
32 Interacting with others at work contributes to creative thinking.
33 The psychological effect of working with technology is similar to the anxiety felt aft
surviving a major ordeal.
34 Technology will ultimately increase unemployment for more highly qualified
personnel.
35 More counselling is required to help people cope with the demands of the modern
workplace.

List of People
 A Craig Brod
B Daniel Dermot
C Joseph Boyett and Henry Conn
D Philip Nicholson

Questions 36 – 40
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 3?
In boxes 36-40 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
36 Our knowledge of the effects of technology on workers is still limited.
37 An early indicator of technological anxiety is a tendency to adopt machine-like
thinking.
38 We have now started to doubt our ability to perform well at work.
39 Top level managers may be more negatively affected by changes created by the
electronic workplace than junior workers.
40 Employees who learn to use new technology quickly will get promoted.