TEST 2

I. LISTENING (50 points)

I. You will hear an interview with a British politician. For questions 1-5, choose
the answer (A, B, C or D) which fits best according to what you hear. (10pts)

1. Susan says that she particularly dislikes politicians who

A. pretend to feel strongly about issues. B. disguise their real beliefs.

C. are indecisive about issues. D. openly treat voters with

contempt.

2. When she had her disagreement with Martin Jones, Susan

A. decided that personal ambition was not her main motivation.

B. began to feel that she had failed as a politician.

C. felt that her point of view was not correctly understood.

D. regretted the effect it would have on her future in politics.

3. What was Susan's attitude to involving colleagues in the controversy?

A. She realized that they were unlikely to share her point of view.

B. She was reluctant to do so because she was not sure she was right.

C. She thought that involving colleagues would make things worse.

D. She felt they should decide for themselves whether she had a point,

4. When asked whether her opinion of her colleagues has changed, Susan says
that

A. their reaction has made her reluctant to get into the same position again.

B. she prefers those who criticized her to those who kept theft opinions private.

C. there may come a time when she does not publicly support them on issues.

D. politicians place too much emphasis on their personal opinions of each other.

5. Susan thinks she was considered mad by some other politicians because

A. her behaviour was out of character. B. they found her intimidating.

C. she did not conform. D. her unselfishness shamed
them.

II. Listen to an extract from a radio programme about the climber Annabelle
Bond, and say whether sentences 1-5 are true or false. (10 points)

1. It took her about a year to climb the seven mountains.

2. Only four men have climbed the peaks faster than Annabelle.

3. Annabelle always wanted to be a marathon runner.

4. She raised £8,500 for a cancer charity.

5. She plans to do more climbing in the near future.

III. You will hear a guide speaking to tourists who are visiting some Romans
remains. Listen and give short answers to the questions. Write NO MORE
THAN THREE WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER taken from the recording. (10
points)

1. When did the Romans first come to the Corbridge area?

………………………………………………………………………

2. Why did the Romans built a series of forts and strongholds?

………………………………………………………………………

3. What did people begin to search for in 1201?

………………………………………………………………………

4. How often have archaeological digs taken place since 1934?

………………………………………………………………………

5. What are the two things that visitors should pay attention to?

………………………………………………………………………

IV.Listen to a piece of news about How Japan's economy is destroying Its Youth. WRITE
NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS OR A NUMBER (20 points)

In Japan, nearly a million young men have locked themselves in their bedrooms, and refuse
to go outside.

This 1. ………………….. has been attributed as a side effect to Japan’s highly competitive
economy and culture.
So, how is Japan’s economy destroying their youth?

Japanese culture generally places a significant amount of emphasis on education and

employment.

But in recent years, Japan has seen a significant downturn in their economic growth.

However, Japan’s recession isn’t the same as in most other countries.

Stores don’t go out of business, luxury spending continues, 2 . ………………….. of society

still seems comfortable.

But the lack of available new jobs does have a 3 ………………….. younger generations.

With fewer jobs to go around, many Japanese men give up hope and withdraw from society.
Furthermore, the longer one is unemployed, the harder it is to find a job, since companies
tend to 4. ………………….. out of high school and college.

Young adults and adolescents who confine themselves for long periods of time are called
“hikikomori”.

They are among the generation of youths called “grass eaters”, which are mostly men who
shy away from 5………………….. and general social contact. They tend to live at home
with their parents, some well into their 40s.

Additionally, most Japanese youths are expected to provide for their families, putting
tremendous stress and pressure on them to succeed.

The weak economy also 6………………….. on relationships, as many Japanese women

refuse to date unemployed men, considering them weak and 7…………………... Japan’s
government has warned that more than one and a half million are on the verge of becoming
hikikomori.

An estimated 700,000 hikikomori have already locked themselves away.

The 8.………………….. anxious men has created big changes for Japan, including a massive

drop in birth rates to record lows, and a 9………………….. in consumer habits away from a
more

“masculine-driven” culture. Studies have shown that as much as 75% of men in their

20s and 30s consider themselves “grass eaters”. Considering the depth of culture 10
………………….. success and hard work with self identity in Japan, it will take significant
social effort and a better economy to improve this epidemic.
II.LEXICO-GRAMMAR
Part 1. Choose the best option A, B, C, or D to complete the following sentences.

1. Sandy stole my ___________ when she announced that she was pregnant two days before
I'd planned to tell people about my pregnancy.
A. thunder B. limelight C. stage D. mind

2. Dressed in a bright red suit for the wedding, Jack apparently was making a ___________
of himself.

A. mess B. light C. spectacle D. spot

3. . Bobby's new girlfriend must have gotten her_______ into him---have you seen the way
he’s dressing these days?

A. paws B. claws C. crooks D. hooks

4. More than 500 ___________ were involved in the coronation scene of Puyi in “The

last Emperor”.

A. adjuncts B. appendages C. extras D. additives

5. He talks as though he knows more than anyone else, but he's all hat and no_______.

A. herd B.Cow C. cattle D. bull

6. Despite their disagreement, the representatives of the two nations managed to reach a(n)
___________ settlement, bringing temporary peace for both sides.

A. affable B. fraternal C. amiable D. amicable

7. The first successful flight in human history completed by the Wright brothers
___________ the law of gravity and stunned everybody.

A. refuted B. defied C. quelled D. disproved

8. The concert ended and the crowd quickly ___________, returning the quietness to the
small town.

A. disassembled B. dissembled C. dismantled D. disgorged

9. After winning the lottery, they moved into a more ___________ house in a high-class
residential area and had a more comfortable life.

A. well-attended B. well-built C. well-appointed D. well-disposed

10. Tony, you are trying to make her believe your lies so just keep it simple, do not over-egg
the ___________.

A. brulee B. pudding C. sponge D. madeleines

11. My school always forces students to follow the rules to the ___________ without caring
about their feelings.
A. book B. letter C. lines D. dots

12. Although my new house is fine, I still prefer the old one which ___________ a river.

A. backs onto B. faces off C. stands by D. sides with

13. We are required to ___________ empirical data and evidence from reliable sources to
support our argument.

A. adduce B. attest C. elicit D. accost

14. Since John is the bee’s ___________ in terms of English, it is no wonder so many friends
ask him for support in this subject.

A. wings B. knees C. antenna D. spiracle

15. There is no need to ___________ over the cracks, I know you are having problems, just
tell me and I will help you.

A. carpet B. paper C. lay D. curtain

Part 2. Give the correct form of the word in capital in the following sentences
1.It was a moment for Kousei when he realized he wouldn’t have been able to go on
but for his friend’s sincere encouragement (LIGHT)
2.Practise good personal protection against mosquito bites to prevent
infections. (MOSQUITO)
3.ames was originally but he decided to leave his wealthy family and then joined
Team Rocket. (BLOOD)
4.Hikaru Nara is such a good and catchy song that I get every time I listen to it.
(GOOSE)
5.Oral disease, especially dental carries, is complicated and , and it often begins to
develop during infancy. (FACTOR)

Part 3.
Fill in the blank with ONE suitable word. Write your answers in the numbered blanks
provided below the passage. (15 points)
HOWARD’S CAREER AS A PALAEONTOLOGIST
Howard became a paleontologist because of a (1) ______ in interest rates when
he was six years old. His father, a cautious man with a large mortgage and thoughts
focussed merely on how the economic situation would affect him, announced that the
projected holiday to Spain was no longer (2) ______. A chalet was rented on the
English coast instead and thus, on a dank August afternoon, Howard picked up a coiled
fossil shell, called an ammonite, on the beach.
He know for a long time that he wanted to become a paleontologist, and (3)
______ the end of his time at university he became clear as to what sort of
paleontologist he wanted to be. He found the focus of his interest reaching further and
further back in time. The more spectacular areas were not for him, he realized, turning
his back on the Jurassic, on (4) ______. He was drawn particularly to the beginnings, to
that ultimate antiquity (5) ______ everything is decided, from which, against all odds,
we derive. So he studied delicate creatures revealed on the surface of grey rocks.
Work on his doctoral (6) ______ came to an end, and, he knew, possibly a bitter
one. Would he get a job? Would he get a job in the sort of institution he sought? He
was far from being without self-esteem and knew that his potential was good. But he
knew that whose who deserve do not always get, and that while the objectives of
science may be pure and uncompromising, the process of appointment to an academic
position is not. When the Assistant Lectureship at Tavistock College in London came
up, he applied at once, though (7) ______ high hopes.
(8) ______ the morning of Howard’s interview, the professor who would chair
the panel had a row with his wife. As a consequence he left home in a state of irritation
and inattention, drove his car violently into a gatepost and ended up in the Casualty
Department of the local hospital. The interview took place without him and without the
support he had intended to give to a candidate who had been a student of his.
The professor who replaced him on the panel was a hated colleague, whose
main concern was to oppose the appointment of his enemy’s protege; he was able to
engineer without much difficulty that Howard got the job. Howard, surprised at the
evident (9) ______ from a man he did not know, was fervently grateful until, months
later, a colleague kindly enlightened him as to the correct interpretation of events.
Howard was only slightly chagrined. It would have been nice to think that he was the
obvious candidate, or that he had captivated those present with his ability and
personality. But by then the only thing that really mattered was that he had the job and
that he could support (10) ______ by doing the sort of work he wanted to do.
Your answer:
1 2 3 4 5
6 7 8 9 10

III.READING

Part 1. For questions 1-13, read the following passage and do the tasks that follow.

What is meaning?

Why do we respond to words and symbols in the ways we do?

Semantics, in general, is the subdivision of linguistics concerned with meaning. Semantics

attempts the systematic study of the assignment of meanings to minimal meaning-bearing
elements and the combination of these in the production of more complex meaningful
expressions. Elementary word groups may be combined in a relationship of content, forming
thematic groups and semantic and lexical “fields”. For example, all the means of expressing
the concept of joy in a given language constitute the lexical-semantic field “joy”.

The end, product of education, yours and mine and everybody’s, is the total pattern of
reactions and possible reactions we have inside ourselves. If you did not have within you at
this moment the pattern of reactions that we call “the ability to read”, you would see here
only meaningless black marks on paper. Because of the trained patterns of response, you are
(or are not) stirred to patriotism by martial music, your feelings of reverence are aroused by
symbols of your religion, you listen more respectfully to the health advice of someone who
has “MD” after his name than to that of someone who hasn’t. What I call here a “pattern of
reactions”, then, is the sum total of the ways we act in response to events, to words, and to
symbols.

Our reaction patterns or our semantic habits, are the internal and most important residue of
whatever years of education or miseducation we may have received from our parents’
conduct toward us in childhood as well as their teachings, from the formal education we may
have had, from all the lectures we have listened to, from the radio programs and the movies
and television shows we have experienced, from all the books and newspapers and comic
strips we have read, from the conversations we have had with friends and associates, and
from all our experiences. If, as the result of all these influences that make us what we are, our
semantic habits are reasonably similar to those of most people around us, we are regarded as
“normal,” or perhaps “dull.” If our semantic habits are noticeably different from those of
others, we are regarded as “individualistic” or “original.” or, if the differences are
disapproved of or viewed with alarm, as “crazy.”

Semantics is sometimes defined in dictionaries as “the science of the meaning of words”—

which would not be a bad definition if people didn’t assume that the search for the meanings
of words begins and ends with looking them up in a dictionary. If one stops to think for a
moment, it is clear that to define a word, as a dictionary does, is simply to explain the word
with more words. To be thorough about defining, we should next have to define the words
used in the definition, then define the words used in defining the words used in the definition
and so on. Defining words with more words, in short, gets us at once into what mathemati-
cians call an “infinite regress”. Alternatively, it can get us into the kind of run-around we
sometimes encounter when we look up “impertinence” and find it defined as “impudence,” so
we look up “impudence” and find it defined as “impertinence.” Yet—and here we come to
another common reaction pattern—people often act as if words can be explained fully with
more words. To a person who asked for a definition of jazz, Louis Armstrong is said to have
replied, “Man. when you got to ask what it is, you’ll never get to know,” proving himself to
be an intuitive semanticist as well as a great trumpet player.

Semantics, then, seeks the “operational” definition instead of the dictionary Bridgman, the
1946 Nobel Prize winner and physicist, once wrote, “The true meaning of a term is to be
found by observing what a man does with it, not by what he says about it.” He made an
enormous contribution to science by showing that the meaning of a scientific term lies in the
operations, the things done, that establish its validity, rather than in verbal definitions. An
example of operational definition of the term “weight” of an object, operationalized to a
degree, would be the following: “Weight is the numbers that appear when that object is
placed on a weighing scale”. According to it, when one starts reading the numbers on the
scale, it would more fully make an operational definition. But if people say—and
revolutionists have started uprisings with just this statement “Man is born free, but
everywhere he is in chains!”—what operations could we perform to demonstrate its accuracy
or inaccuracy?

Next, if this suggestion of “operationalism” is pulled outside the physical sciences where
Bridgman applied it, what “operations” are people expected to perform as the result of both
the language they use and the language other people use in communicating to them? Here is a
personnel manager studying an application form. He comes to the words “Education: Harvard
University”, and drops the application form in the wastebasket (that’s the “operation”)
because, as he would say if you asked him, “I don’t like Harvard men”. This is an instance of
“meaning” at work—but it is not a meaning that can be found in dictionaries.

So far as we know, human beings are the only creatures that have, over and above that
biological equipment which we have in common with other creatures, the additional capacity
for manufacturing symbols and systems of symbols. When we react to a flag, we are not
reacting simply to a piece of cloth, but to the meaning with which it has been symbolically
endowed. When we react to a word, we are not reacting to a set of sounds, but to the meaning
with which that set of sounds has been symbolically endowed. As a matter of fact, how sound
symbolism is processed in our brains has not yet been fully explained in the field.

Simply put, the key point of semantics lies in, not the words definition, but our own semantic
reactions, which occur when we respond to things the way they “should” be, rather than to
the way they are. If a person was to tell a shockingly obscene story in Arabic or Hindustani or
Swahili before an audience that understood only English, no one would blush or be angry; the
story would be neither shocking nor obscene— indeed, it would not even be a story.
Likewise, the value of a dollar bill is not in the bill, but in our social agreement to accept it as
a symbol of value. If that agreement were to break down through the collapse of our
government, the dollar bill would become only a scrap of paper. We do not understand a
dollar bill by staring at it long and hard. We understand it by observing how people act with
respect to it. We understand it by understanding the social mechanisms and the loyalties that
keep it meaningful. Therefore, semantics belongs to social studies and potentially underpins
the integrity of the social sciences.

Questions 1-8

Do the following statements agree with the information given in the reading passage?
In boxes 1-8, 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 that the writer thinks about this

1. In linguistics, semantics is the subfield that studies meaning at the most basic level.

2. Printed words only carry meaning to those who have received appropriate ways to respond.

3. People are judged by how conventional their responses are.

4. Louis Armstrong is an expert on language.

5. Operational definition is more effective than verbal definition in explaining the meaning of
a word.

6. Some statements are incapable of being proved or disproved.

7. Meaning that is unique to an individual is less worthy of study than shared meanings.
8. A story can be entertaining without being understood.

Your answers
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

Questions 9-13

Complete each sentence with the correct ending, A-H, below.

Write the correct letter, A-H, in boxes 9-13.

9 A comic strip

10 A dictionary

11 Bridgman

12 A story in a language the audience cannot understand

13 A dollar bill
A is meaningless.
B has lasting effects on human behaviors.
C is a symbol that has lost its meaning.
D can be understood only in its social context.
E can provide inadequate explanation of meaning.
F reflects the variability of human behaviors.
G emphasizes the importance of analyzing how words were used.
H suggests that certain types of behaviors carry more meanings than others.

Your answers
9. 10. 11. 12. 13.

Part 2. For questions 14-23, read an extract from an article and choose the answer
A, B, C or D that fits best according to the text. Write your answers in the
corresponding numbered boxes provided.
The Vanishing Tourist
One day, there will be no more tourists. There will be adventurers, fieldwork assistants,
volunteers and, of course, travellers. There might still be those who quietly slip away to
foreign lands for nothing more than pure pleasure, but it will be a secretive and frowned
upon pursuit. No one will want to own up to being on of those. It might even be illegal.
Already tourists are discouraged from entering certain areas, and new names are being
added to the list of territories where we should fear to tread. The charitable organisation
Tourism Concern identifies seven countries as having areas that have been adversely
affected by tourism. Tourists only wreak havoc. Tourists only destroy the natural
environment. Tourists only emasculate local cultures. Tourists bring nothing with them
but their money. They must be stopped at any price.
Yet less than 40 years ago, tourism was encouraged as an unquestionable good. With the
arrival of the package holiday and charter flights, tourism could at last be enjoyed by the
masses. By the 1980s, tourism was the largest and fastest-growing industry in the world
and, by the end of the decade, 20 million Britons a year went abroad on holiday.
It won’t be easy to wipe out this massive, ever growing tribe. Today there are more than
700m ‘tourist arrivals’ each year. The World Tourism Organisation forecasts that, by
2020, there will be 1.56 billion tourists travelling at any one time. The challenge to
forcibly curtail more than a billion tourists from going where they want to go is so
immense as to be impossible. You cannot make so many economically empowered
people stop doing something they want to do unless you argue that it is of such extreme
damage to the welfare of the world that only the truly malicious, utterly selfish and
totally irresponsible would ever consider doing it. This is clearly absurd; whatever
benefits or otherwise may accrue from tourism, it is not, despite what a tiny minority
say, evil. It can cause harm. It can be morally neutral. And it can, occasionally, be a
force for great good.
So the tourist is being attacked by more subtle methods: by being re-branded in the hope
we won’t recognise it as the unattractive entity it once was. The word ‘tourist’ is being
removed from anything that was once called a holiday in the pamphlet that was once
called a holiday brochure. Of course, adventurers, fieldwork assistants, volunteers and
travellers don’t go on holidays. Un-tourists (as I will call them) go on things called
‘cultural experiences’, ‘expeditions’, ‘projects’, ‘mini-ventures’ and, most tellingly,
‘missions’. A Coral Cay Conservation Expedition flyer says: ‘The mission of any Coral
Cay Conservation Volunteer is to help sustain livelihoods and alleviate poverty.’
The word mission is apposite. While this re-branding is supposed to present a
progressive, modernistic approach to travel, in fact it is firmly rooted in the
Victorian experience. Like Victorian travellers, the modern day un-tourist insists that
the main motive behind their adventure is to help others. Whereas the mass tourist and
the area they visit are condemned as anti-ethical and at loggerheads, the ethos of the un-
tourist and the needs of the area they wander into are presumed to be in tune with each
other. Environmental charity Earthwatch, which organises holidays for ‘volunteers’,
assures that they will provide ‘life-changing’ opportunities for you and the
environment ... See the world and give it a future.’
Un-tourists are very concerned about holding the moral high ground. Afraid of being
tainted by association, they avoid identifiably tourist structures, such as hotels. They
prefer to stay in a tent, a cabin, local-style houses such as yurts, thatched huts or, a
typical example, ‘a traditional Malay wooden stilt house’.These, they believe, are
somehow more in keeping with something they call local culture. Local culture is very
important to the un-tourist, whereas the mass tourist is believed to both shun and
obliterate it.
Un-tourism relies upon exclusivity; it is all about preventing other people travelling in
order that you might legitimise your own travels. Pretending you are not doing
something that you actually are – going on holiday – is at the heart of the un-tourist
endeavour. Every aspect of the experience has to be disguised. Gone are the glossy
brochures. Instead, the expeditions, projects and adventures are advertised in
publications more likely to resemble magazines with a concern in ecological or cultural
issues. The price is usually well hidden, as if there is a reluctance to admit that this is, in
essence, a commercial transaction. There is something unedifying about having to pay to
do good.

1. What does the passage suggest about tourists in the future?

A. They will try to minimize risks of being recognized as tourists.
B. They will assume various responsibilities and fulfill them.
C. They will travel stealthily and follow fixed modes of behaviour.
D. They will eschew tourism as a way of entertaining themselves.
2. In the second paragraph, what said about tourism is closest to a method of:
A. self-correcting B. fault-finding C. castigating D. acclaiming
3. The second paragraph is most probably to disprove:
A. tourists’ disregard for local cultures. B. tourism’s benefits to indigenous people.
C. the value of tourism. D. the toll tourists leave on visited areas.

4. The word “emasculate” in the second paragraph is closest in meaning to:

A. fortify B. vitiate C. homogenize D. reverberate
5. A reason cited by the author for the hardships in stopping tourism is that:
A. tourists are not awakened to the lack of morality in their pursuits.
B. financial freedom gives people the right to do things at their pleasure.
C. advocates of stopping tourism are less affluent than mass tourists.
D. arguments against it are unanswerable.
6. What does the writer suggest about tourism?
A. Up to the moment of writing, tourism had always been promoted.
B. It involves nefarious people travelling to quench their insatiable thirst for knowledge.
C. Its benefits have intrigued adventurers and laypersons alike.
D. Tourists may have recourse to so-called purposes to disguise their true motives.
7. Which phrase in the sixth paragraph best reflects the nature of the relationship
between un-tourists and local areas?

A. at loggerheads
B. presumed to be in tune
C. rooted in the Victorian experience
D. supposed to present a progressive, modernistic approach

8. The writer demonstrates a point that un-tourists:

A. are aesthetically attracted by environmentally-friendly types of accommodation

while travelling.
B. attach adequate importance to the development and preservation of local cultures.
 C. have an inclination to believe that what they do when travelling has beneficial effects.
D. represent a positive trend which correlates with the new approach to halting tourism.

9. It can be implied that efforts made by un-tourists are fundamentally aimed at:
A. masking their primary purposes for travelling.
B. demotivizing other people with regard to travelling.
C. masquerading as well-meaning travellers.
D. promoting local cultures in places they visit.
10. Which of the following is NOT mentioned as a method used by un-tourists to
achieve their goals?

A. associating travel with purposes different from pure pleasure.

B. publicizing their missions in magazines.
C. concealing the prices involved in their travels.
D. shunning places recognizable as accommodation for tourists.
Your answers
14. 15. 16. 17. 18.

19. 20. 21. 22. 23.

Part 3.
The Rise of Silicon Valley
On January 11, 1971, an article was published in the trade newspaper Electronic News
about the companies involved in the semiconductor and computer industries in Santa
Clara Valley at the southern end of San Francisco Bay Area in California, USA. The
article was entitled 'Silicon Valley USA', a reference to the fact that silicon is the most
important substance used in commercial semiconductors and their applications. The name
stuck, and in light of the commercial success of the companies there, 'Silicon Valley' is
now used as a metonym for the high-tech sector.

One such new business was the one founded by two graduates of the nearby Stanford
University called Bill Hewlett and David Packard. In 1938 the pair had $538, and along with
Dave's wife Lucile, decided to rent a property at 367 Addison Avenue, Palo Alto. For $45 a
month they got a ground floor apartment for Dave and Lucile, a garden shed where Bill slept,
and a garage from which to run the business, a garage which has more recently been dubbed
'The birthplace of Silicon Valley'.

As time passed, the 200A was improved and developed, resulting in the 200B. Eight of these
improved oscillators were bought by The Walt Disney Company, for use in testing and
certifying the Fantasound surround-sound systems installed in cinemas for the 1940 movie
Fantasia. Success was beginning to come.
 Although they are often considered to be the symbolic founders of Silicon Valley, they did
not deal in semiconductor devices until the 1960s. From then onwards, the semiconductor
devices they made were mostly intended for internal use, for such products as measuring
instruments and calculators. Today, however, Hewlett-Packard is the largest manufacturer of
personal computers in the world.

Terman also had a more direct influence through his role at Stanford University. The
University had been established in 1891 in the north-western part of the Santa Clara Valley,
and from the start, its leaders aimed to support the local region. The result was that the
University played an important part in establishing and developing local businesses, and
indeed its alumni went on to found some major companies, not just Hewlett-Packard, but
such household names as Yahoo! and Google.

Terman's proposal was taken up by Stanford University, and in 1951 Stanford Industrial Park
was created. The first tenant in the Park was Varian Associates, founded by Stanford alumni
in the 1930s to make components for military radars. Hewlett-Packard moved in two years
later. The Park still flourishes to this day, although it is now known as Stanford Research
Park. Current tenants include Eastman Kodak, General Electric and Lockheed Corporation.

The 1950s were also a time of great development in electronics technology. Most
importantly, the development of the transistor continued. Research scientist William
Shockley moved to the Santa Clara Valley region in 1956, when he formed Shockley
Semiconductor Laboratory. There his research team started constructing semiconductors from
silicon, rather than germanium, as did most other researchers. The silicon transistors proved
to perform much better, and started to be used in radios and the early computers.

Since the 1970s, however, the most important developments pioneered in Silicon Valley
have been in software and Internet services rather than hardware. So even though Hewlett-
Packard remains the largest producers of computers in the world, the future of Silicon Valley
might well lie elsewhere.

A. Throughout their early years, Hewlett and Packard were mentored by one of their
university professors, Frederick Terman. Terman was Stanford University's dean of
engineering and provost during the 1940s and 1950s, and had a positive influence on
many of the successful companies in Silicon Valley. Indeed, his influence was such that
he has been dubbed 'the father of Silicon Valley'. Terman encouraged his students to
form their own companies and personally invested in many of them, and in this way
nurtured many highly successful companies, including not just Hewlett-Packard, but
others such as Varian Associates and Litton Industries.

B. Hewlett-Packard was arguably the first company to offer a mass-produced personal

computer, namely the 9100A. For marketing reasons, however, the 9100A was sold as a
'desktop calculator'. It simply did not resemble what was then considered a 'computer',
namely the large machines being sold by IBM. The 9100A fitted comfortably on a desk,
and possessed a small screen and a keyboard. In fact, it was more like an oversized and
over-expensive precursor of a pocket calculator than a modern PC, since its keyboard
lacked letter keys.

C. Following the end of the Second World War in 1945, universities in the United
States were experiencing enormous enrolment demands from the returning military
personnel. Terman proposed launching a scheme which would kill two birds with one
stone. The idea was to lease out land owned by Stanford University to high-technology
companies for their offices. This scheme would firstly finance the University's growth
requirements and thereby facilitate a larger student intake, and secondly provide local
employment opportunities for graduating students.
D. The beginnings of Silicon Valley can be traced back to the early twentieth century.
At that time, Santa Clara Valley was known for its orchards which flourished in
California's balmy climate. There were nevertheless a number of experimenters and
innovators in such fields as radio, television and military electronics, and several people
were trying to take advantage of any business opportunities that might arise.

E. It was also in Silicon Valley that other revolutionary electronic components were
developed. The silicon-based integrated circuit, the microprocessor and the
microcomputer were all invented by companies there, as well as such electronic devices
as the mouse and the ink-jet printer. Indeed, Silicon Valley has been the world's most
important site of electronic innovation over the past 50 years.

F. In those early years, Hewlett-Packard was a company without a focused direction.

They made a whole range of electronic products, with diverse customers in industry and
agriculture. In the 1940s, their principal products were test equipment, including such
devices as voltmeters, oscilloscopes and thermometers. They aimed to provide better
quality products than their competitors, and made a big effort to make their products
more sensitive and accurate than their rivals.

G. Another bond between the University and the local high-technology businesses was
established in 1954, with the creation of the Honors Cooperative Program. This
programme allowed employees of the businesses to pursue part-time graduate degrees at
the University whilst continuing to work full-time in their jobs. In this way, key workers
in the electronics industry were able to hone their skills and knowledge, creating the
foundation for the development of Silicon Valley.

H. Of the many products Hewlett and Packard worked on, the first financially
successful one was a precision audio oscillator, a device for testing sound equipment.
This product, the 200A, featured the innovative use of a small light bulb as a
temperature-dependent resistor in a critical section of the circuit, which allowed them to
sell it for $54.40, only a quarter of the price of their competitors' audio oscillators.
Your answers
119. 120. 121. 122. 123. 124. 125.

Part 4. The passage below consists of four sections marked A, B, C and D. For
questions 31-40, read the passage and do the task that follows. Write your answers
(A, B, C or D) in the corresponding numbered boxes provided.
A Wander through Britain’s Woodlands
The president of the Woodland Trust, an organization which encourages people to enjoy
the woodlands of Britain, selects his favorite places for an autumn work.

A. Hampstead Heath
Where better for a country walk in autumn than north London? Hampstead Heath is just
a few kilometres from the centre of town, but it is one of the capital's best-known beauty
spots. And covering very nearly 325 hectares, certainly one of the largest. It is called a
heath, although it is in fact a patchwork of not just heath but also parkland and
hedgerow, laid out paths, open hillside and overgrown thickets, lakes and ponds - and
plenty of woods and trees. The City of London Corporation is now responsible for its
upkeep. They fuss about the swimming, designate cycle paths, regulate the fishing, and
put up notices about all such dangerous activities. But despite their best efforts, the
Heath still feels quite wild. From one popular vantage point there is a panoramic view of
central London, where visitors stop to admire the crowded streets and skyscrapers they
have come to the Heath to get away from. It's at its best later in the year. When it's warm
and sunny it can feel too crowded with casual visitors. But frosts and mist, rain and snow
deter the Heath's fair-weather friends.

B. Hainault Forest
This remnant of what was once the vast Forest of Essex is now an attractive stretch of
woodland easily reached by the London Underground. The woods around here were a
royal forest, but an Act of Parliament of 1851 authorised the cutting down and removal
of its trees. And removed they were, grubbed up by all too efficient men and machines -
hectare upon hectare laid waste within weeks of the passing of the Act. The devastation
stirred the beginnings of the modern conservation movement - local people led by a
politician called Edward North Buxton saved and restored Hainault. It is now owned and
managed by the Woodland Trust. Hainault is a unique site, which features open
heathland, some of which has been recently planted up with native trees by the
Woodland Trust, and the dense woodland of the ancient forest.

C. Glen Finglas
Far away from London and the South East, the Trossachs is Scotland. Among the best of
the Trossachs is Glen Finglas, the Woodland Trust's 4,000-hectare estate, which can
truly take the breath away, particularly during the late autumn when the frosted peaks
and still, cold lochs take on an ethereal splendour. For the enthusiastic hill walker, there
 is a challenging 25-kilometre trail around the hill called The Mell, which takes you on a
meander through woodland, alongside a reservoir and into the upper part of the glen,
where the remnants of an ancient royal hunting forest give way to the open hillsides of
Meall Cala, reaching a height of 600m. It's certainly not a gentle stroll, but is worth the
effort as the views are spectacular. For those after a slightly less arduous journey there
are many shorter routes around the site too.

D. Ardkinglas Woodland Gardens

For a slightly different woodland walk in the west of Scotland, head for the Ardkinglas.
In addition to native species it features many specimens of firs and pines and other trees
from overseas planted in the 19th century, when plant hunting was all the rage. There is
plenty of scope for a good walk around its ten hectares. Ardkinglas's sheltered location,
high rainfall and warm temperatures all encourage spectacular tree growth, and they
claim to have the tallest tree in Britain - a Grand Fir, Abies grandis - standing at last time
of measuring 64.5 metres high. If you are sceptical of such claims, bring a tape measure
and a long ladder. There are many other mighty trees that are impressive all year round
but on a clear November day the views towards the loch are fantastic. A couple of miles
away on Loch Fyne itself, next to the famous oyster restaurant, Ardkinglas runs a tree
shop. So if you want to create your own forest you can buy it and plant it, tree by tree.
Of which place are the following stated?

31. The old and the new intermingles.

32. Its name isn't strictly accurate.
33. This place can take advantage of weather conditions to flourish.
34. Official actions have not changed its fundamental character.
35. It underwent rapid change over a short period.
36. Its cost for preservation is taken charge of by the authority.
37. People who are energetic should love this place.
38. A special occasion is about to highlight the beauty of the lake there.
39. Tourists can reach a destination of beautiful landscapes and lakes through this place.

40.A legislation from a governing body directly threw a wrench into the development of
this place.

IV.WRITING
1. Summarize the following extract. Your summary should be about 140 words long.
Call it Generation Groggy. In the US, at least once a week, 28% of high school students fall
asleep in class, and 22% fall asleep doing homework, according to the survey released last
week by the US National Sleep foundation.

According to Amy Wolfson, sleep researcher and associate professor of psychology at

College of the Holy Cross, that is the tip of the iceberg as "you know they aren't alert before
they fall asleep and it is very alarming to me."

Sleep deprivation among youth is caused not only bny puberty, which triggers changes in
one's sleep cycle but also by environmental and lifestyle factors such as early school stars, a
taste for caffeinated drinks and bedrooms that are full of sleep-postponing temptations such
as cell phones, computers and televisions sets, sleep experts say.
According to Dr Judy Owens, an expert in pediatric sleep disorders in Rhode Island, this is
not all biological. The survey also showed that 97% had at least one electronic device in their
rooms, which is a big problem.

Researchers at other universities found plenty of evidence in their survey that adolescents
were falling far short of recommended nine hours of sleep. Only about one in five adolescents
between the ages of 11 and 17 gets the recommended nine hours of sleep per night and about
half get less than eight hours on school nights. The total hours of sleep also declined with
age. Sixth graders slept an average 8.4 hours per night while high school seniors slept 6.9
hours, two hours less than recommended. Young people are paying for the consequences,
both academically and in terms of personal health problems, the researchers said.

For instance, adolescents who get less sleep get worse grades than their pees who get at least
nine hours of sleep. Eighty percent of the well-rested subjects reported getting As and Bs in
school.

Also, 28% of respondents reported they were too tired to exercise. Exercise is sorely missing
in man children's lives these days with sports giving way to more sedentary activities such as
watching TV or playing on the computer. Many children also may be too busy with other
"more important pursuits" such as extra classes and enrichment classes to be involved in
exercise.

Owens noted that many studies have reported that the fewer hours of sleep an adolescent gets,
the more likely they are to be obese or to suffer from mood disorders. Also, about half of
teenage drivers in the survey said that they have driven while drowsy n the past year.

Owens said that there are things that parents and their children can do to help kids get a better
night's sleep. Adolescents should not drink caffeine after lunch and should not have
electronic devices in their bedrooms. They should stick to a regular sleep schedule with an
adequate number of hours of sleep and try not to deviate much from it on weekends.
However, for some adolescents, making major changes in their sleep cycles may require extra
help. Light therapy and the hormone melatonin sometimes can be used to restore more
normal sleep cycles in young night owls, according to researchers.

2. The table below shows the in which sector of the economy different age groups were
employed.
Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, making
comparisons where relevant
3. Write an academic essay of about 300 to 350 words
Multi-cultural societies, in which there is a mixture of different ethnic peoples, bring more
benefits than drawbacks to a country. To what extent do you agree or disagree?

TEST 3

I. LISTENING

Section 1. You will hear part of a radio interview in which the comedian and writer
Jane Clarkson is talking about her work. For questions 1- 5, choose the answer (A, B, C
or D) which fits best according to what you hear.

(10 points)

1 What did Jane find difficult about writing a book?

A She couldn’t travel around the country.

B She didn’t get any instant reaction to her work.

C She had to spend time looking after her daughter.

D She found the process itself very challenging.

2 According to Jane, why did some critics dislike her novel?

A They didn’t think the book was funny.

B They were dismissive of her initial success.

C They thought her male colleagues were better writers.

D They thought she should stick to being a comedian.

3 Which aspect of Jane’s work as a comedian helped her to write?

A her patience B her ability to listen

C her habit of watching people D her rational way of thinking

4 According to Jane, how do many people react to female comedians?

A They’re convinced women can’t tell jokes.

B They’re afraid the women will break down.

C They find women’s humour too intense.

D They find women’s jokes embarrassing.

5 What was the disadvantage of the stage image which Jane developed?

A It frightened the audience.

B It made the audience angry.

C People thought it reflected her real personality.

D People did not take her seriously any more.

Section 2. Listen to the recording and decide whether the following statements are true
(T) or false (F). (10 pts)
1. The speaker has come from the Theosophical Society.
2. One of the main points of the talk is to save money.
3. She thinks students should do more housework.
4. She argues that plastic containers won't biodegrade quickly.
5. She warns that asthma sufferers should be careful with her recipes.

Section 3. Listen to the talk about women in the workplace and answer the following
questions (10 pts)

1. How is the situation for women in the workplace changing?

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

2. In which management role that women constitute 17% of the staff?

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

3. How many percent of employees think that gender equality is a priority?

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

4. What is the action companies should take to understand the problem of gender inequality?

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

5. What should companies do to make sure opportunities and advancement are equitable?

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

Section 4: Listen and fill in the blanks with the missing information

Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each answer.

Over the past few years as first lady, I have had the (1)______________ of traveling
all across this country and everywhere I’ve gone and the people I've met and the stories I’ve
heard, I have seen the very best of the (2)______________.

See, our life before moving to Washington was, was filled with simple joys. Saturdays
at soccer games, Sundays at grandma’s house, and a date night for Barack and me was either
dinner or movie because as an exhausted mum I couldn’t stay awake for both.
Even back then when Barack was a senator and (3)______________ to me he was still the
guy who picked me up for our dates in a car that was so (4)______________ that I could
actually see the pavement going by in a hole in the passenger side door. He was the guy
whose (5)______________ was a coffee table he'd found in a dumpster.

Well today, after so many (6)______________ and moments that’ve tested my

husband in ways I never could have imagined, I have seen first-hand that being president
doesn’t change who you are. No it (7)______________who you are.

When it comes to the health of our families, Barack refused to listen to all those folks
to told him to leave (8)______________ for another day, another president. He didn’t care
whether it was the easy thing to do politically, no that's not how he was raised. He cared that
it was the right thing to do.

When we were first married our combined monthly student loan bill was actually
higher than our (9)______________.

Yeah!! We were so young, so in love, and so in debt.

If we wanna give all of our children a foundation for their dreams and opportunities
worthy of their promise. If we wanna give them that sense of (9)______________, that belief
that here in America there was always something better out there if you're willing to work for
it. Then we must work like never before, and we must once again come together and stand
together for the man we can trust to keep moving this great country forward.
My husband, our president, Barack Obama.

Thank you, God bless you, God bless America.

II.LEXICO-GRAMMAR
Part 1. Choose the best option A, B, C, or D to complete the following sentences.

1. After the earthquake, the entrance hall was turned into a ____________ casualty ward.

A. mainstay B. makeshift C. piecework D. wayside

2. My mother-in-law is coming to town this weekend, so I better batten…….._the hatcher.

A. off B,out C,down D,up

3. It’s a ____________ for decent jobs these days, so you need every qualification you

can get.

A. scramble B. jumble C. jostle D. flurry

4. Another, perhaps inspired by the nursery rhyme, is that a(n) ____________ for sweet
things during pregnancy makes you more likely to be having a girl, while a boy will

make you crave savoury, salty foods, meat and cheese in particular.

A. inspiration B. affinity C. predilection D. propensity

5. Jack was disappointed not to be promoted as he was given to ____________ that the job
would be his.

A. know B. understand C. realize D. say

6. I know you have a good voice and have ambitions to be an opera singer but do not give up
your day ____________ yet.

A. situation B. work C. job D. place

7. Her ambition and ____________ determination ensured that she rose to the top of her
profession.

A. hounded B. wormed C. ducked D. dogged

8. I'd been living in this country for a few years, but it wasn't until I had kids that I felt like I
had really put down ____________ here.

A. roots B. seeds C. nuts D. fruits

9. If you start rumors about other people, they'll eventually do the same thing to you._fair
play, after all.
A,Walkabout B,Layabout C,Turnabout D,Runabout

10. The first round of interviews only really serves to _________ the very weakest of
applicants.

A. tide over B. beat about C. bark up D. weed out

11. I am not able to go anywhere this weekend because I am up to my ____________ in

work.

A. neck B. nose C. waist D. ankle

12. He says he has raised certain issues, and the government is debating those issues, and

it is very necessary that we ____________ these concerns.

A. lash out B. scroll over C. shrivel up D. mull over

13. Steve used to be easy to work with, but since his promotion he’s begun to______ .

A. throw his weight around B. throw in the towel

C. throw him off balance D. throw a monkey wrench in the works

14. Both the favourite and then the second favourite pulled out. Naturally, we thought we
were ____________ a chance.

A in with B up for C in for D up with

15. The manager hesitated to assign the job to the newcomer as he was__________ .

A. wet behind the ears B. feeling your ears burning

C. ringing in your ears D. keeping your ears open

Part 2. Give the correct form of the word in capital in the following sentences
1. Jean will look after Harry, I'm quite sure - she's a for babies. (PUSH)
2.Merchandise imports have expanded significantly faster than world trade in both real and
dollar values. (NAME)
3.He suffers from Parkinson’s disease and has occasionally experienced
. (BLACK)
4.This is regarded by many as a initiative that has failed to deliver its promises.
(LAME)
5.On Wednesday night the UN issued its toughest to date, demanding that all
troops withdraw from the city. (ULTIMATE)
Part 3. Read the text below and think of one word which best fits each space. Use only
ONE WORD for each space. Write your answers in the corresponding numbered boxes.
(10 pts)

Until the nineteenth century, the ownership of land was the only certain basis of
power in England. It is true that both power and money (1) ________ be acquired by (2)
________ means: by trade, by commerce, by fighting, by useful services to the government
or by personal service to the king and queen. But wealth unsupported by power was (3)
________ to be plundered, power based only on personal abilities was at the mercy of time
and future, and the power to be (4) ________ through trade or commerce was limited. Before
the nineteenth century (5) ________ wealth of England lay in the countryside as opposed to
the towns; landowners (6) ________ than merchants were the dominating (7) ________ and
ran the country so that their own interests were the last to suffer. Even (8)________ the
economic balance began to change, they were so thoroughly in (9) ________of
administration and legislation, that their political and social supremacy continued. As a rule,
from the Middle Ages until the nineteenth century, anyone who had made money by
whatever means, and was ambitious for (10)________ and his family, automatically invested
in a country estate.

III.READING
Part 1. For questions 1-13, read the following passage and do the tasks that follow.
Company innovation

A. In a scruffy office in midtown Manhattan, a team of 30 artificial-intelligence

programmers is trying to simulate the brains of an eminent sexologist, a well known
dietician, a celebrity fitness trainer and several other experts. Umagic Systems is a young
firm, setting up websites that will allow clients to consult the virtual versions of these
personalities. Subscribers will feed in details about themselves and their goals; Umagic’s
software will come up with the advice that the star expert would give. Although few
people have lost money betting on the neuroses of the American consumer, Umagic’s
prospects are hard to gauge (in ten years’ time, consulting a computer about your sex life
might seem natural, or it might seem absurd). But the company and others like it are
beginning to spook large American firms, because they see such half-barmy
“innovative” ideas as the key to their own future success.
B. Innovation has become the buzz-word of American management. Firms have
found that most of the things that can be outsourced or re-engineered have been
(worryingly, by their competitors as well). The stars of American business tend today to
be innovators such as Dell, Amazon and Wal-Mart, which have produced ideas or
products that changed their industries

C. A new book by two consultants from Arthur D. Little records that, over the past 15
years, the top 20% of firms in an annual innovation poll by Fortune magazine have
achieved double the shareholder returns of their peers. Much of today’s merger boom is
driven by a desperate search for new ideas. So is the fortune now spent on licensing and
buying others’ intellectual property. According to the Pasadena-based Patent & Licence
Exchange, trading in intangible assets in the United States has risen from $15 billion in
1990 to $100 billion in 1998, with an increasing proportion of the rewards going to
small firms and individuals.
D. And therein lies the terror for big companies: that innovation seems to work best
outside them. Several big established “ideas factories”, including 3M, Procter & Gamble
and Rubbermaid, have had dry spells recently. Gillette spent ten years and $1 billion
developing its new Mach 3 razor; it took a British supermarket only a year or so to
produce a reasonable imitation. “In the management of creativity, size is your enemy,”
argues Peter Chemin, who runs the Fox TV and film empire for News Corporation. One
person managing 20 movies is never going to be as involved as one doing five
movies. He has thus tried to break down the studio into smaller units—even at the risk
of incurring higher costs.
E. It is easier for ideas to thrive outside big firms these days. In the past, if a clever
scientist had an idea he wanted to commercialise, he would take it first to a big company.
Now, with plenty of cheap venture capital, he is more likely to set up on his own.
Umagic has already raised $5m and is about to raise $25m more. Even in capital-
intensive businesses such as pharmaceuticals, entrepreneurs can conduct early-stage
research, selling out to the big firms when they reach expensive, risky clinical trials.
Around a third of drug firms’ total revenue now comes from licensed-in technology.
F. Some giants, including General Electric and Cisco, have been remarkably
successful at snapping up and integrating scores of small companies. But many others
worry about the prices they have to pay and the difficulty in hanging on to the talent that
dreamt up the idea. Everybody would like to develop more ideas in-house. Procter &
Gamble is now shifting its entire business focus from countries to products; one aim is to
get innovations accepted across the company. Elsewhere, the search for innovation has
led to a craze for “intrapreneurship”—devolving power and setting up internal ideas-
factories and tracking stocks so that talented staff will not leave.
G. Some people think that such restructuring is not enough. In a new book Clayton
Christensen argues that many things which established firms do well, such as looking
after their current customers, can hinder the sort of innovative behaviour needed to deal
with disruptive technologies. Hence the fashion for cannibalisation—setting up
businesses that will actually fight your existing ones. Bank One, for instance, has
established Wingspan, an Internet bank that competes with its real branches (see article).
Jack Welch’s Internet initiative at General Electric is called “Destroyyourbusiness.com”.
H. Nobody could doubt that innovation matters. But need large firms be quite so
pessimistic? A recent survey of the top 50 innovations in America, by Industry Week, a
journal, suggested that ideas are as likely to come from big firms as from small ones.
Another skeptical note is sounded by Amar Bhidé, a colleague of Mr Christensen’s at the
Harvard Business School and the author of another book on entrepreneurship. Rather
than having to reinvent themselves, big companies, he believes, should concentrate on
projects with high costs and low uncertainty, leaving those with low costs and high
uncertainty to small entrepreneurs. As ideas mature and the risks and rewards become
more quantifiable, big companies can adopt them.
I. At Kimberly-Clark, Mr Sanders had to discredit the view that jobs working on new
products were for “those who couldn’t hack it in the real business.” He has tried to
change the culture not just by preaching fuzzy concepts but also by introducing hard
incentives, such as increasing the rewards for those who come up with successful new
ideas and, particularly, not punishing those whose experiments fail. The genesis of one
of the firm’s current hits, Depend, a more dignified incontinence garment, lay in a
previous miss, Kotex Personals, a form of disposable underwear for menstruating
women.
J. Will all this creative destruction, cannibalisation and culture tweaking make big
firms more creative? David Post, the founder of Umagic, is sceptical: “The only
successful intrapreneurs are ones who leave and become entrepreneurs.” He also recalls
with glee the looks of total incomprehension when he tried to hawk his “virtual experts”
idea three years ago to the idea labs of firms such as IBM though, as he cheerfully adds,
“of course, they could have been right.” Innovation unlike, apparently, sex, parenting
and fitness is one area where a computer cannot tell you what to do.
Questions 1 - 6
Which section contains the following
information? Write the correct number on the
given boxes. .
i The unpredictability of the public’s viewpoints about a certain topic in the
future
ii A list of certain institutions that are having fewer business activities

iii A type of firms that are resorted to compulsive consumption for new ideas
iv The insatiable thirst for outstanding innovations being an impetus to big impacts on
the market.
v Some moguls which expressed financial concerns when investing in the acquisition
of smaller companies.
vi The reason why American business trends are highlighting the importance of
initiatives
vii A company that is able to going through economic falters itself.
viii Small firms that can make certain impacts on bigger ones when the former
possesses more potential ideas.
ix Example of three famous American companies’ innovation
x A type of firms that are regarded fly-by-night when investing in entrepreneurship.
1 Section A
2. Section B
3. Section C
4. Section D
5. Section E
6. Section F
Your answer

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Questions 7-13
In boxes 7-13, write: Y (Yes), N (No), NG (Not Given)
Yes if the statement agrees with 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

7. Peter infers his unwillingness to invest more in restructuring his organization in

return for better creativity management.
8. Some small organizations have a craving for ideas that are regarded as an
admixture of “innovative” and “strange”.
9. Umagic is head and shoulders above other competitors in such a new field.
10. A new trend that has already superseded “entrepreneurship” in one area may
directly impact living organizations.
11. Big giants prioritize innovations with low certainty on the understanding that big
risks are parallel to big profits.
12. It takes many years for Mr Sanders to sucessfully ditch preconceived ideas in his
organization.
13. The author expressed a positive attitude towards the development of innovations at
the end of the passage.
Your answer
7. 8. 9. 10 11. 12. 13.

Part 2. For questions 14-23, read an extract from an article and choose the answer
A, B, C or D that fits best according to the text. Write your answers in the
corresponding numbered boxes provided.
At home with books
In an age when literature is increasingly going digital, books hold a curious role in some
people’s homes. There are few purchases which, once used, are placed on proud display
and carted around as families move from place to place. And yet that’s precisely what
sometimes happens with books, despite the existence of a digital equivalent. After all,
both the music industry and other aspects of the print media have felt the heat of virtual
competition – why not books? Part of the explanation for this may lie in the fact that,
when it comes to the crunch, nosing around someone’s bookshelves is interesting. ‘You
can tell a lot about someone by their collection of books,’ says Doug Jeffers, owner of a
London bookstore.
It’s not just the quantity of titles on display, however, that speaks volumes; generation,
occupation, political leanings, leisure pursuits (even where they go on holiday) – clues to
all of these abound, if you care to analyse the contents of someone’s bookshelves, and
even casual visitors aren’t slow to form judgements. Evidence of this manifested itself
when the President of the USA made an informal call on the English Prime minister at
home recently, and for some reason the pair posed for photos in the kitchen. One of the
snapshots was subsequently released to the press, and widely published. There then
ensued much speculation as to how the complete works of Shakespeare had ended up on
the shelf in the background rather than a cookery book.
Household stylist Abigail Hall agrees. ‘I often style houses for sale and you’d be amazed
how important the contents of the bookcase can be.’ Apparently, people use such clues
to form judgements about the type of person who lives in a property that’s up for sale,
and this may affect how they feel about going ahead with the purchase. Perhaps we all
seek out others whose tastes in such matters match our own, and we can imagine living
happily in a space that like-minded people have made homely. And even if we’re not
thinking of putting our home on the market, instinct tells us that however much they
were enjoyed, paperbacks read on the beach might be better put away in a cupboard,
whilst the unopened classics are destined for display.
For the interior designer, however, the art of reputation-management-via-bookshelf is
not the only issue. Books can also become an interactive display tool. ‘They can almost
be sculptural in that they offer a physical presence,’ explains Abigail Hall. ‘It’s not just
about stacking them on a bookcase, it’s how you stack them. I’ve seen books arranged
by colour, stacked on top of each other. Once I saw a load of coffee-table books piled up
to become a coffee table in themselves. Books define a space, if you have some books
and a comfy chair, you’ve immediately created an area.’ It’s a trick of which countless
hotels, cafés and waiting rooms for fee-paying clients are only too aware. Placing a few
carefully-chosen books atop coffee tables is about creating an ambiance. No one actually
engages with the content.
And this principle can be transferred to the home ‘I’ve not actually read any of the. I
just love the bindings.’ So said the actress, Davinia Taylor, earlier this year when she
decided to put her house on the market – complete with its carefully-sourced collection
of classic books. Rarely removed from their perch on a bookcase in the living room,
their primary purpose was to disguise Taylor’s walk-in fridge. And so, with the fridge no
longer destined to be a feature in her life, the books were deemed redundant.
Perhaps, then, the future of books lies in this. With more and more being bought in the
undeniably handier digital format, the first casualties of the tangible variety are likely to
be the beach-read paperbacks – the ones that, if you invite Abigail Hall around, would be
relegated to the garage anyway. But given the uses to which we put our other tomes –
whether they’re deployed to show off, look pretty, or create an atmosphere – the odds of
them hanging around look good. The kudos of great work is still there, and there’s
nothing like being, and being seen to be, in possession of the real thing.

14. What is the writer’s main aim in the first paragraph?

A. seeking to account for a seemingly illogical perspective.
B. questioning our assumptions about people’s behaviour.
C. drawing our attention to an ongoing process.
D. outlining the reasons for shifts in priorities.
15. It can be implied from the passage that:
A. The appeal of non-digital books is a sound answer to the important roles of them.
B. The number of books displayed on the shelves is a manifestation of the casualness
of their owner.
C. A person’s characteristics may be well reflected in the non-digital books he has.
D. What is written in the books one possesses may unveil hidden depths of them.
16. The example of what happened after the release of a photo featuring two political
figures serves to illustrate:

A. the revealing quality of photoshoots

B. people’s curiosity about private lives of politicians
C. the attractiveness of unusual features in a photo
D. books’ faculty for grabbing people’s attention

17. Described in the passage is a tendency for people to:

A. forge a relationship with people having the same tastes.
B. reach their own conclusions based on a person’s bookshelf
C. showcase their wealth by displaying unused classic books.
D. take an interest in reading books with paper cover.
18. As can be deduced from the passage, in hotels or cafés, considerable importance is
attached to:

A. incentivizing visitors to read books on the shelf .

B. establishing an atmosphere with the aid of well-placed books.
C. charging customers a considerable sum of money for using books.
D. piling books according to categorization of their colours.

19. The phrase “this principle” most probably refers to:

A. the use of books to create a climate without paying much heed to the content of
those on show
B. the arrangement of books in order of content to impress visitors right from their
arrival at a place
C. the tricks used to magnetize visitors which are usually adopted by hotels and cafés
D. the interactivity of books which can be of assistance to the formation of an
ambiance within a house

20. What can be said about books in the case of Davinia Taylor?
A. They were not regarded as reflections of her taste in reading.
B. Their titles were inappropriately selected for display.
C. Their presence was indispensable to the house she intends to sell.
D. They fell into disuse as there was no longer a need for another item.
21. Given the current situation, the writer suggests that:
A. paperbacks are definitely the most vulnerable to redundancy.
B. technology has raised the number of books purchased.
C. there remains a likelihood that non-digital books are put on display.
D. owning a tangible item is a tantalising thing.
22. In the passage as a whole, the writer’s primary aim is most probably to:
A. elucidate the arguments in favour of non-digital books.
B. foreshadow the decline of paperbacks.
C. express a sanguine view regarding the future of non-digital books.
D. avert any attempts by other people to defame books.
23. Which of the following adjectives best describe a characteristic of this passage?
A. well-supported
B. well-rounded
C. well-appointed
D. well-turned
 Your answers
14. 15. 16. 17. 18.

19. 20. 21. 22. 23.

Part 3. In the passage below, seven paragraphs have been removed. For questions 24-30,
read the passage and choose from the paragraphs A-H the one which fits each gap.
There is ONE extra paragraph which you do not need to use. Write your answers in the
corresponding numbered box provided.

Women in the Sciences

The expression 'behind every great man is a great woman' has been in use since the mid-
1940s, but undoubtedly the meaning behind this saying has been true for centuries. This
phrase more literally refers to both the practical and emotional support women can give to
their significant others who toil for success, yet it also infers the disheartening idea that
perhaps women haven't previously had the opportunity to revel in their own successes.
24.

Rosalind Franklin is a name you might recognise now, but just seventy years ago her research
was overlooked in terms of its instrumental contribution to the discovery of the structure of
DNA. The acclaim for the discovery, however, and even the Nobel Prize, went to three men,
Francis Crick, James Watson and Maurice Wilkins, without any reference to Franklin's input.
25.

Incidents like this have occurred so often within the field that the term 'the Matilda Effect'
was coined in 1993 by Margaret W. Rossiter, a scientist who has devoted her career to
shining a light on the generally overlooked female scientists who were rather brazenly
excluded from the history books. One of Rossiter's aims has been that a renewed focus on
successes of female scientists in history may encourage more women to enter the field of
science.
26.

Still, efforts continue to publicise the overlooked female scientists in history. From a series of
pop art posters showcasing pioneering scientists like Ada Lovelace and Chien-Shiung Wu, to
even rectifying past injustices by amending search-engine results to reflect real contributions,
the cause of female scientists is gradually strengthening.
27.
However, perhaps scientific traditions need to be rectified not just by the gender divide but by
using a broader lens. There is plenty of discussion nowadays about how women have
frequently been underestimated and overlooked by their male colleagues, as illustrated by the
examples above. However, rather than this being a pure case of gender inequality, perhaps
the defining factor is simply the historically unequal power relationship between parties.
28.

While we see efforts to shine a light on the females whose contributions have been unnoticed
by the general scientific community, maybe it will be a little harder to find those men who
were overlooked in favour of someone with a greater stature. After all, it is near impossible to
explore these kinds of power relationships so long after the event.
29.

Perhaps science will never reach an ideal world of an individual's contribution being equal to
their reward, but opening this subject up for reflection and discussion is essential, and equal
input for equal credit is just one aim to strive for. It has encouraged females into the sciences
already, and both the terms 'the Matilda Effect' and 'the Matthew Effect' by their very use are
making inroads into highlighting inequalities.
30.

The missing paragraphs

A The Matthew Effect can be summarised as the way in which disproportionate recognition
is attributed to someone who is more famous or in a position of power. So, for example, an
acclaimed scientist will naturally get more credit than a lesser-known researcher, even if their
work is comparable. This may seem a given, as the most powerful or famous team member
often leads the research, but that doesn't mean there isn't a talent in the background
contributing the lion's share of the scientific endeavour.

B Due to this growing number of complaints, especially those from female research scientists
at universities, some institutions are now addressing the issue. They are doing this in a
twofold manner: by shining a light on incidences in their own institutions that have been
caused by a gender power inequality and offering further opportunities and support to women
in the sciences. This has been heartily welcomed by the wider scientific community.

C One effort we can all make is to encourage a shift in people's attitudes in general and
ensure that this shift is also reflected in the world of science. We can see flaws in the past and
the present, as illustrated, and research shows that male and female stereotypes still exist
when it comes to the perceived quality of female work, and common sense can tell us that the
most powerful names get the most credit. However, that doesn't mean things should remain
the same in the years to come.

D However, perhaps the views on female scientists are too deeply embedded in the scientific
community for the situation to be rectified overnight. A 2013 paper found that male scientists
and more masculine topics, regardless of who wrote them, are perceived as being of higher
scientific quality. In the investigation, graduate students of both sexes rated abstracts of
papers that were assigned a fake male or female name, and the fake male names were more
highly rated overall. In addition, the same study indicated that men are more desirable as
collaboration partners.

E Never has this bleak interpretation been more accurate than in the field of science, where
women have usually taken a back seat, and not by choice. Examples of this can be observed
throughout history, as far back as the 12th century, when physician Trotula of Salerno had
her ground-breaking work attributed to men, and in the modern day where female science
professionals still sometimes struggle for appropriate recognition.

F For instance, try finding out about 'the Dean Method' online. A quick google will offer you
little mention of that particular term, but instead it will return a multitude of results for
scientist Alice Augusta Ball. The Dean Method, published by chemist and academic Arthur
L. Dean, was widely known as the cure for leprosy, an infectious condition that used to cause
severe skin sores and often resulted in limbs withering. However, it eventually transpired
that, upon the death of Alice Augusta Ball in 1916, Arthur Dean had taken her efforts and
claimed them as his own.

G You may be reading this article thinking that this is an issue you are powerless to change,
but you make up part of the world we share, and a sea change only happens through the
individual shifts in people's opinions. So, the next time you read about the latest greatest
discovery or the history of science, it might well be worth remembering that behind every big
name, there are many others who make valuable, if not the most valuable contributions to
research.

H Even in one of the winner's memoirs, we can see the attitude displayed towards her, with
the mentioned colleague even failing to call her by her proper name, preferring nicknames
that served to belittle her role in this ground-breaking finding. The author did acknowledge
her achievements in his book, but this admission was fifteen years too late.

Part 4.You are going to read an extract from a book review. For
questions 44-53, choose from the sections (A-E). The sections may be
chosen more than once.
Be prepared

Mark Pollan offers a deft and persuasive account of the art and science of cooking
- Linda Libero

Cooked: A natural history of transformation

A In the half dozen years since The Omnivore's Dilemma became the benchmark
argument for knowing where the stuff you eat comes from, Michael Pollan has ascended
to the top of the locavore food chain. He's now arguably the most respected, and certainly
one of the most visible, proponents of locally grown and sourced food. Alice Waters may
have been doing it longer and Eric Schlosser louder, but Pollan's influence on how we eat
and what we think about it has been widespread and profound enough to reach the ear of
our current commander in chief and to spark a spate of serious activism around farm
legislation. Waters coined a verb – ‘Pollanise’ – for what happens to your relationship
with food after reading his work, and the result has meant many people changing the way
they eat, or at least trying to.
B Pollan has always been quick to point out that he is, in fact, a science journalist
whenever an interviewer pegs him as a food writer, and readers of The Omnivore's
Dilemma will recall the arduousness, the anxiety and the trepidation with which he
approached the preparation of his 'perfect meal' in the final chapter. (Plus, he burned the
top of his cherry galette.) Even when he's championing his ethical concerns, Pollan is a
researcher, a prodigious gatherer of vast reams of information. Having thoroughly
scrutinised every other link in the food chain, he finally turns his skills to the one link
missing from his repertoire and, in the process, learned to cook.
C Cooked, perhaps his most personal and engaging book, reaffirms why Pollan is such a
phenomenal success at selling his message, much of which involves explaining subject
matter that might otherwise be stultifying and pressing points that, in lesser hands, would
sound unbearably strident. He is a breathtakingly fine writer and a mesmerising
storyteller. Even when he draws material from other sources - works of science, history
and anthropology, all generously cited - his skill at weaving those separate strands into a
forceful narrative is singular and has rarely been equalled by any of the multitude of food
critics, celebrity chefs, and nutrition-obsessed crusaders. Pollan's writing conjures an
eminently reasonable, fair-minded persona, the gently inquisitive guide who cares more
for the truth than for any particular agenda, even when he passionately argues for his
agenda with every elegant sentence.

D That he's thoroughly versed in the most recent evidence from evolutionary science
makes it pretty difficult to refute his claims. That his research is seamlessly wedded to his
own intrepid adventures in cooking makes for surprisingly thrilling reading. In each
chapter, Pollan takes the reader on a dizzying tour of the very particular science behind
cooking: what happens, for instance, to an onion when you chop it up - the inherent
sweetness of its liquid defensively exploding into a volatile compound of sulphurous
acids on penetration - as well as the magical permutations of taste that evolve from the
slow excretion of flavours as you sweat the humble vegetable into a sauce. He caps that
with a personal reflection on how the boredom of chopping onions becomes an
opportunity to contemplate what Pollan elsewhere calls the 'mystery, doubt, uncertainty'
that accompany waiting for the results.

E Cooking requires, Pollan asserts again and again, a yielding of control, the very thing
that manufacturers of ready-made packaged food attempt to elide with the certainty of
efficiency and speed. But, he argues, that efficiency is an illusion. In a scene that
approaches slapstick, the author describes an evening meal that he, his wife and their
teenage son 'prepared' from an assortment of frozen dinners, an experiment designed to
test the advantages of yielding the job of cooking to the corporation, as so many harried
consumers are wont to do. Juggling the various times required and the stubborn limitation
of being able to prepare only one microwave entree at a time, Pollan and his family found
not only that 'convenience' prohibited sitting down together for a meal, but also that it
was far more costly - both in time and expense - than throwing together a simple repast
out of real food. Of course, the latter approach is healthier, too. It may seem paradoxical,
but Pollan uncovers evidence that people who cook are thinner than those who rely on
convenience foods for sustenance.
In which section are the following mentioned ?

44 a finding that might appear contrary to expectations

 45 the apprehension caused by having to undertake a particular task
46 an ability to get the reader to maintain focus on potentially uninteresting
topics
47 the compelling use of contemporary research
48 a sequence of events that is almost comical
49 the far-reaching effects of the author's work
50 an ability to synthesise information from different
disciplines
51 correcting a misconception relating to
genre
52 a tine of reasoning regarded as being a standard for others to
follow
53 revealing facts in such a way that readers'
heads spin

IV.WRITING
Part 1:Summarize the following article in not more than 120 words.
Vitamin A is found only in yellow animal fats, in egg-yolk, milk and cheese. It is
particularly plentiful in fish-liver oils, hence fish-liver oils are used for preventing and
curing illness caused by lack of vitamin A. In a well-fed, healthy human being, the liver can
store up sufficient vitamin A to meet the body's requirements for six months.

Although vitamin A itself is not present in plants, many plants produce a substance called
carotene, formed from leaf-green which our bodies can convert into vitamin A. Carotene is
the yellowish-red coloring matter in carrots. The greener a leaf is, the more carotene it
usually contains. Hence the importance of green, leafy vegetables in the diet as a source of
carotene. Tomatoes, papayas, mangoes and bananas contain more carotene than most other
fruits. Red palm oil contains so much carotene that it is used instead of cod-liver oil. Thus, it
is very valuable, both as a food-fat and for deep-frying.

Vitamin A and carotene are insoluble in water and they are not destroyed by heat unless
oxygen is present. Boiling in water, therefore, does not destroy much vitamin A or carotene.

Vitamin A encourages healthy growth and physical fitness. Young animals soon stop
growing and die if vitamin A is not present in their diet. This vitamin keeps the moist
surfaces lining the digestive canal, the lungs and air passages healthy. It also helps keep the
ducts of the various glands, the tissue that lines the eyelids and covers the front of the
eyeball functional. As vitamin A helps these tissues build up resistance to infection, it is
often called the anti-infective vitamin.

Some of the most common disorders in people are caused by a shortage of vitamin A, when
the moist tissues become dry and rough. This often causes serious eye disease, followed by
infection of the air-passages. The skin may also become flaky and rough. Another defect
caused by shortage of vitamin A is 'night-blindness', when the affected person
has distinct vision only in bright light.

As the body cannot produce vitamin A, it has to come from external sources. Thus a well-
balanced diet is required and is usually sufficient to provide the necessary amount. There is
therefore no need to supplement the need in the form of pills.
 Part 2: The line graph shows three different crimes in England and Wales in
1970-2005.
Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and
make comparisons where relevant.

Part 3: ESSAY:
It is necessary for parents to attend parenting training course to bring their children
up. Do you agree or disagree?
Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own
knowledge or experience.

Write about 300-350 words.

TEST 4

I. LISTENING (50p.)

I. You will hear a discussion in which two marine biologists. Gina Kelso and
Thomas Ludman, talk about an award-winning television film they made about
wildlife in Antarctica. Choose the answer (A, B, C or D) which fits best
according to what you hear. (10p.) (CPE, Specifications and Sample Papers for
Examinations from March 2013)
1. Gina’s interest in marine biology dates from ______.

A. her earliest recollections of life in Africa

B. one memorable experience in childhood

C. the years she spent studying in England

 D. a postgraduate research project she led
2. The first wildlife TV series they both worked on ______.

A. made use of a previously untried format

B. was not filmed in a natural environment

C. was not intended to be taken too seriously

D. required them to do background research

3. How did Thomas feel when he was asked to produce the programs about Antarctica?

A. disappointed not to be presenting the series

B. surprised that people thought he was suitable

C. uncertain how well he would get on with the team

D. worried about having to spend the winter there

4. When they were in Antarctica, they would have appreciated ______.

A. a less demanding work schedule

B. more time to study certain animals

C. a close friend to share their feelings with

D. a chance to share their work with colleagues

5. What was most impressive about the whales they filmed?

A. The unusual sounds the whales made.

B. The number of whales feeding in a small bay.

C. How long the whales stayed feeding in one area.

D. how well the whales co-operated with each other.

Your answers
1. …………… 2. …………… 3. …………… 4. …………… 5. ……………

II. Listen to the conversation. Write T for True or F for False for each statement.
(10p.)

(Open Forum 3, 2007, OUP)

1. Buyers should talk to the painting’s previous owners.

2.The chemical composition of the paint may help determine if a painting is real or not.

3.Comparing fingerprints left in paint helps in detecting a forgery.

4.It’s always possible to identify a forged painting.

5. Some forgeries have become valuable themselves.

Your answers
1. …………… 2. …………… 3. …………… 4. …………… 5. ……………

III. You are going to hear two students, Brett and Mica, on an environmental studies
course talking to their tutor about photography assignment. Now listen and answer
questions 1-5. Write NO MORE THAN FIVE WORDS for each answer. (10p.)
1.In bad weather, what should students think carefully about when it comes to photography?
………………………………………………………………………………………………..
2.What does Brett want to take advantage of when photographing near water?
………………………………………………………………………………………………..
3.What can they avoid when they use a piece of equipment called an “angle finder”?
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
….
4.According to the tutor and Brett, whose works or paintings should they use to generate
ideas?
…………………………………………………………………………………………………..
5.What issues should they think about when deciding on what to photograph?

……………………………………………………………………………………………….

Your answers
1. ………………………………………………………………………………..……
2. ………………………………………………………………………………..……
3. ………………………………………………………………………………..……
4. ………………………………………………………………………………..……
5. ………………………………………………………………………………..……

IV. Listen to the recording and fill in the missing information with NO MORE THAN
THREE WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER for each answer. (20p.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HndV87XpkWg

What is education for?

Education is so important because it is supposed to help us get prepared for the challenges in
our life. That’s why in most of schools of all kinds (1) ______ with challenges in life is
widely studied. However, things such as talent, energy, goodwill, and (2) ______ seem to
disappear. In order to improve education it is claimed that what we need is not money but
that we must pay more attention to the real purpose of education, which is aimed to help us
with: working and (3) ______. To address these needs two crucial subjects must be included
in the curriculum. The first one is (4) ______ since we don’t fully understand how the
economy works. To help to study this subject, maths is taught to help students how to deal
with money. It is hoped that students can get more understanding the global economy
together with other terms such as leadership, marketing and competition, cash flow, and ( 5)
______. Secondly students really need to study themselves since we usually misunderstand
ourselves. They should be taught a number of concepts and helped towards their personality
maps so that they can understand, among with other issues, what type of people they are (6)
______ to go out with.

It is essential that they should also be taught (7) ______ so that they can understand which
job they are fit for. Regarding the study of relationships, there must be lessons on techniques
such as (8) ______ and on kindness and forgiveness as well.

Education must not be restricted to classrooms or schools. Other forms or fields such as
media and arts are also used to help students learn what they really need to. However, the
real problem is that we fail to identify the (9) ______ of the problems that we are now facing
in education that is we have got the (10) ______.

Your answers
1. 6.
2. 7.
3. 8.
4. 9.
5. 10.
II.LEXICO-GRAMMAR
Part 1. Choose the best option A, B, C, or D to complete the following sentences.

1. I goofed off for the first two years of college, but I turned into a real____once I
realized the importance of my academic performance.

A sly dog B study animal C eager beaver D war horse

2.I rarely take my kids to the library because he can be a bit of______ , running
around and making a mess.

A a bull in a china shop B a pig in mud

C a bird in the hand D a duck in Arizona

3.I know you really want the promotion, but telling the boss about my personal problems was
____________.

A under the hatches B under thumb

C below the belt D below par

4.Don’t worry, I am confident that Annie will manage to solve the quiz soon,she is as sharp
as___________ .

A a blaze B a blade C a knife D a tack

5.Kids, please hold your ____________, let’s sing the birthday song before we start eating
the cake!
A. tatters B horses C brake D tongue

6.If you desire some practical lessons before your start-up, there are clear_________ to be
drawn from the failure of these companies.

A cheeks B chapters C morals D policies

7. . There's nothing more disheartening than to slog your guts_ on an assignment, only for the
computer to crash and delete all your work.

A. off B. on C. out D. over

8.Although the matter was outside my _________of responsibility, I still lent her a helping
hand.

A bound B orbit C sphere D hall

9.I don’t think the two directors would cooperate again in the second part, there

was a real personality _______________between them.

A disagreement B brawl C clash D discord

10. With so many manuscripts arriving daily, it's a challenge to__________ the wheat from
the

chaff and spot the really exceptional ones.

A,break B. detach C. separate D. disconnect

11.When Tony came in class with his ridiculous costume, he was greeted with

__________of laughter.

A clap B blasts C gales D rounds

12. The kids are _________ in the steam-filled room, and the girl seems grateful for adult
conversation.

A. impinging on B. larking about C. ploughing ahead D. floating out

13.The architecture chose a gentle colour scheme to create a relaxing_________for the

owner’s bedroom.

A ambience B complex C palette D sentiment

14.Unlike in the North, apricot blossoms are the ____________of Tet in the South of
Vietnam.

A pulse B heartbeat C compass D avatar

15.While everybody else all_________or the Shang-Shi premiere, director Chloe Zhao
dressed casually in jeans and a loose-fitting top as if she was just dropping by.

A gussied up B bobbed up C blazed up D bucked up

Part 2. Give the correct form of the word in capital in the following sentences
1.An early example of product is in the 1949 movie Gun Crazy, where a Bulova
clock is repeatedly shown in important scenes. (PLACE)
2.I just use a few basic and symbols, for the most part just crossing out errors and
inserting the correct version. (EXPLAIN)
3. The conflict relating to border delineation between the two countries has led to the
of their diplomatic relation. (SEVER)
4.Mining and other industrial activities destroy this area and turn it into a desolate .
(MOON)
5.Although tourists are attracted to Sapa because of the snow, residents there are actually
afraid of this weather due to its harm to their , especially the buffaloes. (LIVE)

Part 3. Read the text and think of a word that best fits each gap. Use ONLY ONE word
in each gap. (15 points)

Over the last century the world has become increasingly smaller. Not geographically,
of course, but in the sense that media, technology and the opening of borders has
enabled the world’s citizens to view, share and gain (1)__________ to a much wider
range of cultures, societies and world views. In this (2)__________ pot that the world
has become, today’s child is privy (3)__________ facets of the human experience that
his immediate predecessors had no inkling even existed. It (4)__________ to reason
that in order to absorb, configure and finally form opinions about this information-
laden planet, children must be supplied with certain tools. (5)__________ in this list
of ‘tools’ are: education, social skills, cultural awareness and the acquisition of
languages, the most important of these being the latter. Until recently, a child who had
the ability to speak more than

one language would have been considered a very rare entity. (6)__________ one-
language phenomenon could be attributed to a combination of factors. One of them is
that the monolingual environment in which a child was raised played a strong role,
(7)__________ did the limited, biased education of the past. With regard to
immigrants, the sad fact was that non-native parents tended to withhold the teaching
of the mother tongue so that the child would acquire the ‘more prestigious’ language
of the adopted country. Nowadays, the situation has (8)__________ an almost
complete reversal. In the majority of North American and European countries, most
children are given the opportunity to learn a second or (9)__________a third
language. Children acquire these foreign languages through various and diverse
means. In many countries, learning a foreign language is a compulsory subject in the
state school curriculum. Other children rely on language schools or private tuition to
achieve their goal. In other instances, children are (10)__________ to bilingual
parents, who, if they so desire, may teach the children two languages.

III.READING

Part 1. For questions 1-13, read the following passage and do the tasks that follow.
 Keep taking the tablets

The history of aspirin is a product of a rollercoaster ride through time, of accidental

discoveries, intuitive reasoning and intense corporate rivalry.

A. In the opening pages of Aspirin: The Remarkable Story of a Wonder Drug, Diarmuid
Jeffreys describes this little white pill as ‘one of the most amazing creations in
medical history, a drug so astonishingly versatile that it can relieve headache, ease
your aching limbs, lower your temperature and treat some of the deadliest human
diseases’.
B. Its properties have been known for thousands of years. Ancient Egyptian physicians
used extracts from the willow tree as an analgesic, or pain killer. Centuries later the
Greek physician Hippocrates recommended the bark of the willow tree as a remedy
for the pains of childbirth and as a fever reducer. But it wasn't until the eighteenth and
nineteenth centuries that salicylates the chemical found in the willow tree became the
subject of serious scientific investigation. The race was on to identify the active
ingredient and to replicate it synthetically. At the end of the nineteenth century a
German company, Friedrich Bayer & Co. succeeded in creating a relatively safe and
very effective chemical compound, acetylsalicylic acid, which was renamed aspirin.
C. The late nineteenth century was a fertile period for experimentation, partly because of
the hunger among scientists to answer some of the great scientific questions, but also
because those questions were within their means to answer. One scientist in a
laboratory with some chemicals and a test tube could make significant breakthroughs
whereas today, in order to map the human genome for instance, one needs ‘an army of
researchers, a bank of computers and millions and millions of dollars’.
D. But an understanding of the nature of science and scientific inquiry is not enough on
its own to explain how society innovates. In the nineteenth century, scientific advance
was closely linked to the industrial revolution. This was a period when people
frequently had the means, motive and determination to take an idea and turn it into
reality. In the case of aspirin that happened piecemeal - a series of minor, often
unrelated advances, fertilised by the century’s broader economic, medical and
scientific developments, that led to one big final breakthrough.
E. The link between big money and pharmaceutical innovation is also a significant one.
Aspirin’s continued shelf life was ensured because for the first 70 years of its life,
huge amounts of money were put into promoting it as an ordinary everyday analgesic.
In the 1970s other analgesics, such as ibuprofen and paracetamol, were entering the
market, and the pharmaceutical companies then focused on publicising these new
drugs. But just at the same time, discoveries were made regarding the beneficial role
of aspirin in preventing heart attacks, strokes and other afflictions. Had it not been for
these findings, this pharmaceutical marvel may well have disappeared.
F. So the relationship between big money and drugs is an odd one. Commercial markets
are necessary for developing new products and ensuring that they remain around long
enough for scientists to carry out research on them. But the commercial markets are
just as likely to kill off' certain products when something more attractive comes along.
In the case of aspirin, a potential ‘wonder drug* was around for over 70 years without
anybody investigating the way in which it achieved its effects, because they were
making more than enough money out of it as it was. If ibuprofen or paracetamol had
entered the market just a decade earlier, aspirin might then not be here today. It would
be just another forgotten drug that people hadn't bothered to explore.
 G. None of the recent discoveries of aspirin's benefits were made by the big
pharmaceutical companies; they were made by scientists working in the public sector.
'The reason for that is very simple and straightforward,' Jeffreys says in his book.
'Drug companies will only pursue research that is going to deliver financial benefits.
There's no profit in aspirin any more. It is incredibly inexpensive with tiny profit
margins and it has no patent any more, so anyone can produce it.' In fact, there's
almost a disincentive for drug companies to further boost the drug, he argues, as it
could possibly put them out of business by stopping them from selling their more
expensive brands.
H. So what is the solution to a lack of commercial interest in further exploring the
therapeutic benefits of aspirin? More public money going into clinical trials, says
Jeffreys. ‘If I were the Department of Health. I would say “this is a very inexpensive
drug. There may be a lot of other things we could do with it." We should put a lot
more money into trying to find out.'
I. Jeffreys' book which not only tells the tale of a 'wonder drug' but also explores the
nature of innovation and the role of big business, public money and regulation
reminds us why such research is so important.

Questions 1-6

The Reading Passage has nine paragraphs A-I.

Choose the correct heading for each paragraph (A-F) from the list of headings below.

Write the correct number (i-x) in boxes 1-6.

List of headings:

i. The most powerful analgesic

ii. The profit potential of aspirin
iii. Saved from oblivion by drug companies
iv. Recognition of an important medicinal property
v. A double-edged sword
vi. An unstructured pattern of development
vii. Major pharmaceutical companies
viii. A wonder drug
ix. Roots of the scientific advancements in the 19th century
x. The discovery of new medical applications

1. Paragraph A
2. Paragraph B
3. Paragraph C
4. Paragraph D
5. Paragraph E
6. Paragraph F

Your answers
 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Questions 7-13

Do the following statements agree with the views of the writer in Reading Passage 3?

In boxes 7-13 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

7. The discovery of aspirin’s full medicinal properties was a very unusual one.

8. The 19th century saw significant changes in the way in which scientific experiments were
carried out.

9. For nineteenth-century scientists, small-scale research was far from enough to make
important discoveries.

10. The creation of a market for aspirin as a painkiller was achieved through commercial
advertising campaigns.

11. In the 1970s sales of new analgesic drugs overtook sales of aspirin.

12. Between 1900 and 1970, there was little research into aspirin because commercial
companies thought it had been adequately exploited.

13. Jeffrey suggests that there should be state support for further research into the possible
applications of aspirin.

Part 2. For questions 14-23, read an extract from an article and choose the answer A, B,
C or D that fits best according to the text. Write your answers in the corresponding
numbered boxes provided.
Line We are told that it is not within the “province of woman,” to discuss the subject
of slavery; that it is a “political question,” and we are “stepping out of our
sphere,” when we take part in its discussion. It is not true that it is merely a
political question, it is likewise a question of justice, of humanity, of morality, of
religion; a question which, while it involves considerations of immense
importance to the welfare and prosperity of our country, enters deeply into the
home-concerns, the every-day feelings of millions of our fellow beings. Whether
the laborer shall receive the reward of his labor, or be driven daily to unrequited
5 toil - whether he shall walk erect in the dignity of conscious manhood, or be
reckoned among the beasts which perish - whether his bones and sinews shall be
his own, or another's - whether his child shall receive the protection of its natural
guardian, or be ranked among the live-stock of the estate, to be disposed of as the
caprice or interest of the master may dictate - ... these considerations are all
 involved in the question of liberty or slavery.

And is a subject comprehending interests of such magnitude, merely a “political

10 question,” and one in which woman “can take no part without losing something
of the modesty and gentleness which are her most appropriate ornaments”? May
not the “ornament of a meek and quiet spirit” exist with an upright mind and
enlightened intellect, and must woman necessarily be less gentle because her
heart is open to the claims of humanity, or less modest because she feels for the
degradation of her enslaved sisters, and would stretch forth her hand for their
rescue?

15 By the Constitution of the United States, the whole physical power of the North is
pledged for the suppression of domestic insurrections, and should the slaves,
maddened by oppression, endeavor to shake off the yoke of the taskmaster, the men
of the North are bound to make common cause with the tyrant, and put down, at the
point of the bayonet, every effort on the part of the slave, for the attainment of his
freedom. And when the father, husband, son, and brother shall have left their
homes to mingle in the unholy warfare, “to become the executioners of their
brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands,” will the mother, wife, daughter, and
sister feel that they have no interest in this subject? Will it be easy to convince
them that it is no concern of theirs, that their homes are rendered desolate, andtheir
habitation the abodes of wretchedness? Surely this consideration iss of itself
sufficient to arouse the slumbering energies of woman, for the overthrow of a
20 system which thus threatens to lay in ruins the fabric of her domestic happiness;
and she will not be deterred from the performance of her duty herself, her family,
and her country, by the cry of political question.

But admitting it to be a political question, have we no interest in the welfare of our

country? May we not permit a thought to stray beyond the narrow limits of our
own family circle, and of the present hour? May we breathe a sigh over the miseries
of our countrymen, nor utter a word of remonstrance against the unjust laws that are
crushing them to the Earth? Must we witness “the headlong rage heedless
folly, with which our nation is rushing to destruction, and not seek to arrest its
25 downward course? Shall we silently behold the land which we all love with all the
heart-warm affection of children, rendered a hissing and a reproach throughout the
world, by this system which is already tolling the death-bell of her decease among
the nations? No: the events of the last two years have cast their dark shadows
before, overclouding the bright prospects of the future, and shrouding the destinies
of our country in more than midnight gloom, and we cannot remain inactive. Our
country is as dear to us as the proudest statesman. and the more closely our hearts
cling to “our altars and our homes,” the more fervent are our aspirations that every
inhabitants of our land may be protected in his fireside enjoyments by just and
equal laws; that the foot of the tyrant may longer invade the domestic sanctuary nor
his hand tear asunder those whom God himself had united by the most holy ties. Let
 our course, then, still be onward!

14. The author’s main purpose in the passage is to

A. accuse fellow abolitionists of overlooking the contribution that women have made to the
movement.

B. argue that the causes of abolition and women’s rights are continuations of the spirit of the
American revolution.

C. make the case that women’s tights are meaningless while slavery exists.

D. encourage women to see their participation in the abolitionist cause as just and important.

15. Which statement provides the best description of a technique that Smith uses throughout
the passage to advance her main point?

A. She presents claims in the form of rhetorical questions that mostly have implicit negative
answers.

B. She criticizes her opponents by quoting self-contradictory remarks they have made.

C. She illustrates each of her central ideas with an emotionally powerful anecdote.

D. She emphasizes the reasonableness of her views by presenting them as though they are
universally held.

16. How does the author develop her argument about slavery as a “political question” (line 2)
over the course of the passage?

A. She claims the designation of an outdated one and then offers alternative definitions.

B. She dismisses the resignation as too narrow but then demonstrates its relevance to her
audience.

C. She contends that the designation has become trite and then invites her audience to
revitalize it.

D. She describes the meaning of the designation has for men and then challenges women to
embrace it.

17. Which choice best summarizes the first paragraph?

A. The author explains a conventional viewpoint and presents evidence supporting it.

B. The author rejects a claim and elaborates on her reasons for doing so.

C. The author introduces her subject and provides historical background for understanding it.
D. The author identifies a problem and proposes steps to remedy it.

18. In the passage, the authors argues that it is possible for women to engage in which
activity?

A. Acting according to humanitarian principles while preserving their femininity

B. Adhering to personal morality while being politically neutral

C. Contributing to their family’s financial security while meeting social expectation

D. Resisting calls for war while still opposing slavery

19. Which choice provides the best evidence for the answer to the previous question?

A. Lines 19 – 23 (“May … rescue”)

B. Lines 29 – 33 (“And when … subject”)

C. Lines 35 – 37 (“Surely … happiness”)

D. Lines 53 – 56 (“Our … laws”)

20. According to the author, the U.S. Constitution requires which action on the part of the
Northern free states if slaves were to revolt?

A. The Northern states would have to sever ties with the slave states.

B. The Northern states would have to give shelter to refugees from the slave states.

C. The Northern states would have to help the slave states fight the slaves’ rebellion.

D. The Northern states would have to provide financial assistance to the rebelling slaves.

21. In context, what is the main effect of the author’s use of the word “tyrant” in lines and ?

A. It identifies a specific individual as oppressive.

B. It highlights the threat of aggression from abroad.

C. It critiques the limited roles of women in antislavery movements.

D. It emphasizes the unjustness of slavery.

22. As used in line, “slumbering” most nearly means

A. lethargic B. drowsy C. dormant D. unconscious

23. In the passage, the author most strongly suggests that slavery affects the United States by
A. lowering the country’s reputation in the international community

B. leading many women to disavow their allegiance to the country

C. causing violent conflicts in many areas of the country

D. weakening the authority of the country’s government

Your answers
14. 15. 16. 17. 18.

19. 20. 21. 22. 23.

Part 3. Born to be together

"It was just so unfair. Being criticised for being the same, when we shared the same
genetic make-up and the same upbringing." You can still hear the bitterness in the voice
of Amrit Kaur Singh, an artist, many years after she was ridiculed at university for
producing work that was virtually indistinguishable from that of her identical twin,
Rabindra.

Nowadays, at the age of 35, the Singh twins make a point of being the same. They dress
alike, often work together on the same paintings, and collect joint awards for their
internationally acclaimed work. They are inseparable, living together in an extended
Indian family near Liverpool, professional twins par excellence. Their art creates a
delightful dual world that straddles two cultures.

This is the challenge facing every twin, and every parent of twins: how to find a natural
identity and independence in a society that is both fascinated and repelled by the idea of
replica human beings. Should individuals with a common gene pool be steered along
divergent paths, or should they be encouraged to accept, even celebrate, their sameness?

Liz has fought to treat her boys as individuals, fighting off attempts by others to lump
them together as "the twins". They dress differently and sleep in different rooms. On their
birthday, they will have two cakes and separate parties with different guests. When
young, they attended playgroup on separate days. At school, Liz requested different
classes.

Her philosophy is not shared by Gina Prince. Her six-year-old twins, Amy and Karina,
have spent their childhood in matching outfits. They ride around on identical bikes.
Presents must always be the same. They sleep in bunks, top to toe in the same one. When
school decided to separate them, the twins were unhappy and so was their mother.

But treating the girls alike has brought problems as well as benefits. "I do enjoy the
attention when I take them out dressed the same. I also prevent jealousy by always being
fair. However, I worry that they won't grow up to lead their own lives. I want them to be
more independent, but often they still want to be the same. It's very difficult. They are
twins after all. Who am I to force them apart?"

But according to Gina Siddons, mother of 16-year-old twins and manager of the Twins
and Multiple Birth Association , problems often crop up when parents treat twins as a
"unit"."The answer is to separate them early," she says. "Send them to playgroup on
different days, put them in different classes at school. If you dress them the same, it gives
other people the message that they are a unit. And there is nothing more disappointing for
a child than opening exactly the same present as his or her twin."

It is difficult, however, to feel sad about the Singh twins. The world of their paintings is
bright, humorous, intelligent and warm. They are successful. They seem happy. They are
doing what they want to do. If the fact that they are doing it together is a problem, then it
is our problem, and not theirs

The missing paragraphs:

A. "People are not sure how to deal with twins. There is a weirdness about the idea that
makes people treat them like freaks," says Liz Traynor, mother of identical seven-year-
old twins, John and Angus. "I didn't want any of that for my two. I hated it. I wanted
them to be like any other child."

B. "You must treat your twins as individuals and make special time for each twin
separately. Be relaxed about about their shared interests, but don’t let them gang up on
you. If you have problems, join a twin club for information and support, " she says, "But
what I really cannot approve of is giving joint birthday cakes or presents.”

C. "They were quite upset. They are very close. I wanted them to have their own beds,
but they always end up in the same one. My mum bought them different coats, but Amy
just wanted Karina's. I buy them the same all the time just to save arguments," she says.

D. The twins themselves appear frequently in their own work, always dressed the same,
often in mirrored poses, occasionally with one twin standing apart, perhaps with a
camcorder to emphasise her detachment. The same but different, together but apart. It is a
fascinating theme, one that has brought them professional recognition and an annoying,
but commercially useful, media obsession with their twin status. It is, as they both admit,
"a double-edged sword".

E. As for Amrit and Rabindra, Gina says: "It is very common for twins to follow the
same career path, even when they are comfortable with their own individuality. The
Singh twins' experience just shows how we have failed to educate the public on the
subject of twins. People think they are copying each other when they are just the same by
nature. They end up being forced to make a statement about it. It's sad."

F. "I admit I was paranoid about it when they were little," Liz confesses. "They are
extremely alike, even losing teeth at the same times, and many people can't tell them
apart, but because of our efforts, they have emerged as individuals, with different
personalities, different interests and different friends.

G. They exchange glances, two tiny and beautiful mirror images, dressed in traditional
Sikh costumes that are duplicated down to the last elaborate detail. They both remember
the sneering words of the examiners: "Haven't you ever tried to be different?" "As if,"
Amrit says contemptuously, "we had ever actually tried to be the same."

H. Barney Allcock, father of two-year-old twins Alec and Max, agrees. His wife Jane
founded their local twin club. "You've got to treat twins exactly the same, otherwise they
fight." says Barney. "We dress ours differently because I for one can't tell them apart, but
everything else they get is the same. They are rarely split up; they get on well, so what's
the point? The more obstacles you put in their way, the more they will break them down.
They were born together, and you can't take that closeness away from them.".
Part 4.You are going to read an extract from a book on photography. For questions
44 – 53, choose from the sections (A – E). The sections may be chosen more than
once.
In which section are the following mentioned?

44 the possibility that photography can directly influence events in the world
45 the possibility that the photographic image has become redundant
46 images being interpreted in a similar way by different societies
47 a commonly held view about the relationship between what is visible and how it is
interpreted

48 the contrasts of scale that can be represented in photography

49 the possibility that the techniques employed in photography today have taken the
medium back to where it started
50 the ability of photography to provide images that will exist for a long time
51 uncertainty as to whether the main purpose of photography is to inform or to
entertain

52 the potential of photography to epitomise the human condition

53 the view that photography was the greatest achievement in the history of visual
images

Photography

A historical background

A Over the past one and a half centuries, photography has been used to record all aspects
of human life and activity. During this relatively short history, the medium has expanded
its capabilities in the recording of time and space, thus allowing human vision to be able to
view the fleeting moment or to visualise both the vast and the minuscule. It has brought us
images from remote areas of the world, distant parts of the solar system, as well as the
social complexities and crises of modern life. Indeed, the photographic medium has
provided one of the most important and influential means of capturing the essence of our
being alive. Nonetheless, the recording of events by means of the visual image has a much
longer history. The earliest creations of pictorial recording go as far back as the Upper
Palaeolithic period of about 35,000 years ago and, although we cannot be sure of the exact
purposes of the early cave paintings, pictorial images seem to be inextricably linked to
human culture as we understand it.
B Throughout the history of visual representation, questions have been raised concerning
the supposed accuracy (or otherwise) of visual images, as well as their status in society.
Ideas and debates concerning how we see the world and the status of its pictorial
representations have been central political, philosophical and psychological issues from the
time of Ancient Greece to the present-day technical revolution of the new media
communications. Vision and representation have pursued interdependent trajectories,
counter-influencing each other throughout history. The popular notion that ‘seeing is
believing’ had always afforded special status to the visual image. So when the technology
was invented, in the form of photography, the social and cultural impact was immense. Not
only did it hold out the promise of providing a record of vision, but it had the capacity to
 make such representation enduring.
C In the mid-nineteenth century, the invention of photography appeared to offer the
promise of ‘automatically’ providing an accurate visual record. It was seen not only as the
culmination of visual representation but, quite simply, the camera was regarded as a
machine that could provide a fixed image. And this image was considered to be a very
close approximation to that which we actually see. Because of the camera’s perceived
realism in its ability to replicate visual perception, it was assumed that all peoples would
‘naturally’ be able to understand photographs. This gave rise to the question of whether
photography constituted a ‘universal language’. For example, a photograph of the heavens,
whether it showed the sun and moon or the constellations, would immediately be
understood in any part of the world. In the face of the rapid increase in global
communications, we do need at least to ask to what extent the photographic image can
penetrate through cultural differences in understanding.
D There are other questions that arise concerning the role of photography in society that
have aimed to determine whether the camera operates as a mute, passive recorder of what
is happening or whether it possesses the voice and power to instigate social change. We
may further speculate whether the camera provides images that have a truly educational
function or if it operates primarily as a source of amusement. In provoking such issues, the
photographic debate reflects polarised arguments that traditionally have characterised
much intellectual thought.
E The last 170 years have witnessed an ever-increasing influence of the visual image,
culminating in the global primacy of television. For photography, the new prospects and
uncertainties posed by digital storage and manipulation, and the transmission of images via
the internet present new challenges. It has even been suggested that we now inhabit the
‘post- photographic era’ – where technological and cultural change have devalued
photography to such an extent that events have taken us beyond the photograph’s use and
value as a medium of communication. Furthermore, perhaps we should be asking if the
advent of digital imagery means that photography, initially born from painting, has turned
full circle and has now returned to emulating painting – its progenitor.

IV.WRITING

Section 1. Read the following extract and use your own words to summarize it. Your
summary should be about 80 - 100 words long. You MUST NOT copy the original.

The way in which information is taught can vary greatly across cultures and time periods.
Entering a British primary school classroom from the early 1900s, for example, one gains a
sense of austerity, discipline, and a rigid way of teaching. Desks are typically seated apart
from one another, with straight-backed wooden chairs that face directly to the teacher and the
chalkboard. In the present day, British classrooms look very different. Desks are often
grouped together so that students face each other rather than the teacher, and a large floor
area is typically set aside for the class to come together for group discussion and learning.

Traditionally, it was felt that teachers should be in firm control of the learning process, and
that the teacher’s task was to prepare and present material for students to understand. Within
this approach, the relationship students have with their teachers is not considered important,
nor is the relationship students have with each other in the classroom. A student’s
participation in class is likely to be minimal, aside from asking questions directed at the
teacher, or responding to questions that the teacher has directed at the student. This style
encourages students to develop respect for positions of power as a source of control and
discipline. It is frequently described as the “formal authority” model of teaching.

A less rigid form of teacher-centred education is the “demonstrator” model. This maintains
the formal authority model’s notion of the teacher as a “flashlight” who illuminates the
material for his or her class to learn, but emphasises a more individualized approach to form.
The demonstrator acts as both a role model and a guide, demonstrating skills and processes
and then helping students develop and apply these independently. Instructors who are drawn
to the demonstrator style are generally confident that their own way of performing a task
represents a good base model, but they are sensitive to differing learning styles and expect to
provide students with help on an individual basis.

Many education researchers argue for student-centred learning instead, and suggest that the
learning process is more successful when students are in control. Within the student-centred
paradigm, the “delegator” style is popular. The delegator teacher maintains general authority,
but they delegate much of the responsibility for learning to the class as a way for students to
become independent thinkers who take pride in their own work. Students are often
encouraged to work on their own or in groups, and if the delegator style is implemented
successfully, they will build not only a working knowledge of course specific topics, but also
self-discipline and the ability to co-ordinate group work and interpersonal roles.

Section 2. The line graph below gives information about the rates of unemployment
between 1991 and 2005 in three different countries in Europe. The table shows the
percentage of men and woman in the workforce in these three countries.

Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make
comparisons where relevant. Write at least 150 words.

(15 points)
Employment rates of men and women in three countries in Europe in 1991

Men Women
Germany 76.5% 54.4%
Spain 66.2% 32.3%
Italy 77.1% 37.8%

Section 3. Write an essay of about 300 – 350 words on the following topic:

Some people feel that in order to improve the quality of our education we should
encourage high school students to evaluate and criticise their teachers. Others feel that it
will cause the loss of respect and discipline in the classroom.

To what extent do you agree or disagree?

TEST 5
I. LISTENING (50 points)

Part 1(from Expert CPE). You will hear two sports commentators called Heidi Stokes and
Rob Aslett taking part in a discussion on the subject of gyms. For questions 1-5, choose the
correct answer (A, B, C or D) which fits best according to what you hear. (10pts)

1. What do Rob and Heidi think about government proposals regarding the problem of
obesity?

A. They over-emphasize the role of dietary factors.

B. They represent a radical solution that must be worth trying.

C. They over-estimate the extent to which the fitness industry can help.

D. They are attempting to accommodate too many varied perspectives.

2. Heidi agrees with the suggestion that regular gym attendance

A. can discourage people from keeping fit in other ways.

B. may lead to obsessive behaviour in some cases.

C. generally forms the basis of a healthy lifestyle.

D. could be harder to keep up in rural areas.

3. When asked about motivation, Rob suggests that many gym clients lose interest
A. if they don’t get good value for money.

B. if they don’t find it enjoyable on a social level.

C. if they don’t make it part of a wider fitness regime.

D. if they don’t perceive real gains in personal fitness.

4. What does Heidi suggest about memership levels in gyms?

A. The best ones restrict access at peak times.

B. Most recruit more people than they cope with.

C. It is impossible to predict demand with any accuracy.

D. Over-recruitment can be counter-productive in the long run.

5. Rob thinks the key to successful gym markeing lies in

A. remaining true to the core values of fitness and strength.

B. appealing to a wide cross-section of the population.

C. joining forces with providers of the related activities.

D. specialising in the needs of certain key groups.

Part 2. You will hear a representative from British Waterways called John Sampson taling
about the canal network in England. Listen and decide whether each of the following
statements is true (T) or false (F):

1. The canals were built despite the fact that there was no public finance and very little
technology.

2. From 1919 to 1929, there were many canals that were competing with each other but were
not uniform in size.

3. The new union of canals provided a continuous link between major industrial cities.

4. There are plenty of natural habitats for a variety of wildlife on and around the canals.

5. Walkers can go to the nearest waterway office to get information on circular walks so they
can start and end at the same place.

Part 3. You will hear a piece of news called “Bottled air”. For questions 1-5, write an
answer of NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each of the questions below.

1. What kind of news did the man see that made him decide to start his business?
......................................................................................................................................................
2. What is the name of the industry the man is in?
......................................................................................................................................................
3. How much air can you buy for $115?
......................................................................................................................................................
4. Where does the entrepreneur live now?
......................................................................................................................................................
5. What does the man sometimes have to go to the bottom of to get air?
......................................................................................................................................................

Part 4 (from Seekerdaily). Listen to a piece of news about the three countries with the
best healhcare and fill in the gaps using NO MORE THAN FOUR WORDS OR NUMBER
for each.

Higher quality care, with higher life expectancy and lower rates of disease are often (1)
_______ by citizens in the rest of the world.

Spain was one of the top (2) ______ in the world with $ (3) ______ roughtly spent on each
person. In its (4) “ ________” system, most citizens see no out-of-pocket expenses when they
visit public hospitals.

Unlike Spain, only 1,6 % of (5) _____________ goes towards healthcare costs. In addition,
there is Medisave system – a (6) ________, where 9% of empolyee salaries are required to
(7) ______ for personal or family care.

Both (8) _____ are used in the autonomous territory of Hong Kong. However, private
hospitals are reportedly speedy but very expensive.

While these three countries get the most (9) ______, applying worldwide is difficult.

By comparison, that the United States is enormous, with a population of over 320 million
makes (10) ________ harder to implement without serious complications.
II.LEXICO-GRAMMAR

Part 1

1. Our teacher tends to ______ certain subjects which she finds difficult to talk about

A.boil down B.string along C. skate over D.track down

2. The game turned into a __________when Harry caught the golden snitch, with the
Gryffindor winning by 180 to 40.

A rout B shutout C fit D bash

3. “Under the hawthorn” is a(n) ___________tale of pure young love set during the

Cultural Revolution that has brought many people to tears.

A amorous B poignant C mordant D doting

4. When the school year ends and I won’t have to meet my annoying deskmate

again, I will definitely tell her the ________!

A Ps and Qs B home truth C good grief D nuts and bolts

5. I had an ambition of getting the First prize in the National Contest, but I knew it was
just a ________in the sky.

A pig B star C buffalo D pie

6. After having a whale of a time at my wedding yesterday, my colleague was looking a

little ________when he came to work this morning.

A around the bend B in a fog

C off his trolley D green around the gills

7. Temporarily, the number of COVID-19 cases has ceased to increase, but I can see
more problems ____________ .

A carrying the day B coming down the pike

C arriving on the scene D drifting with the tide

8. The authority seems powerless to____________ of violence across the city after
the new law was implemented.

A beat the air B hold the fire C stem the tide D step off the curb

9. The small-scale demonstration later escalated into a ________battle with the police,
involving more than 800 protesters and causing serious traffic congestion across the city.

A pitched B racked C heaped D scrap

10. Now that I have to work closely with the CEO on this project, I feel like I have a_ by the
tail.

A. lion B,horse C,tiger D,wolf

11. In the system of constitutional monarchy, the Queen may have privilege but she has
no real political ______ .

A loft B swathe C clout D nought

12. The needs of today's children cannot be met by the traditional _________of education
we’re using, in which emphasis is placed solely on theoretical knowledge.

A prototype B paradigm C emblem D epitome

13. Newspapers __________tributes to Professor Albus Dumbledore after his heroic
sacrifice in the battle against the evils.

A bristled with B hedged in C plucked at D talked into

14. My parents thought the costs of the trip would only remain in their calculations, but
unexpected additional expenses later _________their budget.

A drank in B gobbled up C harped on D copped out

15. Scout decided that her brother Jem needed some time to _______after a terrible night
so she tried to keep some distance from him.

A cry off B drill down C come off D simmer down

Part 2
1.Ever since his girlfriend had to serve in the isolation area, he has always seemed
(CAST)
2.Many FMVs were produced using this web service, which allows people to create
of movies by combining scenes from various films. (MASH)
3.Sarah didn’t do very well on the test, so when knowing her score was barely enough to
pass, the expression on her face was between disappointment and relief. (WAY)
4. The rainbow appears after the rain and looks just like a colorful giant fan in the sky.
(CIRCLE)
5.My team is submerged in deadlines so we do not have the_ to take on
new projects at the moment. (BAND)

Part 3 For questions 66- 75, read the text again and think of the word which best fits
each gap. Use only one word in each gap.

Getting ready for Mars

The 'Mars 500 project' (66) ______ an experiment that simulated a return mission to Mars.
Spending 18 months in a sealed facility in Moscow (67) ______ access to natural light or
fresh air, six men were monitored as they attended (68) ______ their daily duties. A study
into (69) ______ each of them coped with the psychological and physical constraints of the
mission has found that there were wide differences in their wake-sleep patterns. For example,
(70) ______ most of the crew began to sleep for longer periods as the mission progressed
and boredom set in, one individual slept progressively less, resulting (71) ______ him
becoming chronically sleep-deprived towards the end of the (72) ______ . Identifying bad
sleepers could be important on a real Mars mission, during (73) ______ people are required
to be constantly alert even when days are tediously similar. Researchers warn that for any
astronaut heading to Mars, exciting as the trip might initially seem, (74) ______ could be
problems with stress brought on by the monotony of routine. However, they also report that
(75)______ some personal tensions between crew members, there was overall harmony
within the group.
III. READING

Part 1.
Overdosing on nothing

A
An international protest this week aims to demonstrate the truth about homeopathy-that
there’s literally nothing in it, says Martin Robbins AT 10.23 am on 30 January, more than
300 activists in the UK, Canada, Australia and the US will take part in a mass homeopathic
“overdose”. Skeptics will publicly swallow an entire bottle of homeopathic pills to
demonstrate to the public that homeopathic remedies, the product of a scientifically
unfounded 18th-century ritual, are simply sugar pills. Many of the skeptics will swallow
84 pills of arsenicum album, a homeopathic remedy based on arsenic which is used to treat
a range of symptoms, including food poisoning and insomnia. The aim of the “10:23”
campaign, led by the Merseyside Skeptics Society, based in Liverpool, UK, is to raise
public awareness of just exactly what homeopathy is, and to put pressure on the UK’s
leading pharmacist, Boots, to remove theremedies from sale. The campaign is called 10:23
in honor of the Avogadro constant (approximately 6 x 1023, the number of atoms or
molecules in onemole of a substance), of which more later.

B
That such a protest is even necessary in 2010 is remarkable, but somehow the homeopathic
industry has not only survived into the 21st century, but prospered. In the UK alone more
than
£40 million is spent annually on homeopathic treatments, with £4 million of this being
sucked from the National Health Service budget. Yet the basis for homeopathy defies the
laws of physics, and high-quality clinical trials have never been able to demonstrate that it
works beyond the placebo effect.

C
The discipline is based on three “laws”; the law of similars, the law of infinite simals and
the law of succession. The law of similars states that something which causes your
symptoms will cure your symptoms, so that, for example, as caffeine keeps you awake, it
can also be a cure for insomnia. Of course, that makes little sense, since drinking caffeine,
well, keeps you awake. Next is the law of infinitesimals, which claims that diluting a
substance makes it more potent. Homeopaths start by diluting one volume of their remedy
arsenic oxide, in the case of arsenicumalbum-in 99 volumes of distilled water oralcohol to
create a “centesimal”. They then dilute one volume of the centesimal in 99volumes of
water or alcohol, and so on, up to 30 times. Application of Avogadro’s constant tells you
that a dose of such a“30C” recipe is vanishingly unlikely to contain even a single molecule
of the active ingredient. The third pillar of homeopathy is the law of succession. This
states-and I’m not making this up-that by tapping the liquid in a special way during the
dilution process, a memory of the active ingredient is somehow imprinted on it. This
explains how water is able to carry a memory of arsenic oxide, but apparently not of the
contents of your local sewer network.

D
The final preparation is generally dropped onto a sugar pill which the patient swallows.
Homeopaths claim that the application of these three laws results in a remedy that, even
though it contains not a single molecule of the original T-T-J.— ingredient, somehow
carries an “energy signature” of it that nobody can measure or detect. Unsurprisingly,
when tested under rigorous scientific conditions, in randomized, controlled and double
blind trials, homeopathic remedies have shown to be no better than a placebo. Of course,
the placebo effect is quite powerful, but it’s a bit like justifying building a car without any
wheels on the basis that you can still enjoy the comfy leather seats and play with the gear
shift.

E
Even some retailers who sell the treatments have admitted there is no evidence that they
work. In November, Paul Bennett, the super intendent pharmacist at Boots, appeared
before the UK parliament’s Commons Science and Technology Committee’s “evidence
check” on homeopathy. He was questioned by Member of Parliament Phil Willis, who
asked: “Do they work beyond the placebo effect?” I have no evidence before me to suggest
that they are efficacious,” Bennett replied. He defended Boots’s decision to sell
homeopathic remedies on the grounds of consumer choice. “A large number of our
consumers actually do believe they are efficacious, but they are licensed medicinal
products and, therefore, we believe it is right to make the mavailable,” he said.

F
You might agree. You might also argue that homeopathy is harmless: if people want to
part with their money for sugar pills and nobody is breaking the law, why not let them? To
some extent that’s true-there’s only so much damage you can do with sugar pills short of
feeding them to a diabetic or dropping a large crate of them on someone’s head. However,
we believe there is a risk in perpetuating the notion that homeopathy is equivalent to
modern medicine. People may delay seeking appropriate treatment for themselves or their
children.

G
We accept that we are unlikely to convince the true believers. Homeopathy has many ways
to sidestep awkward questions, such as rejecting the validity of randomized controlled
trials, or claiming that homeopathic remedies only work if you have symptoms of the
malady they purport to cure. Our aim is to reach out to the general public with our simple
message: “There is nothing in it”. Boots and other retailers are perfectly entitled to
continue selling homeopathic remedies if they so wish and consumers are perfectly entitled
to keep on buying them. But hopefully the 10:23 campaign will ram home our message to
the public. In the 21st century, with decades of progress behind us, it is surreal that
governments are prepared to spend millions of tax pounds on homeopathy. There really is
nothing in it.

iii There are many methods of avoiding answering ambiguous questions.

iv The purpose of illustrating the effectiveness of homeopathy
v The constant booming of homeopathy
vi Some differences between homeopathy and placebo
vii vii Placebo is better than homeopathy
viii An example of further demonstrating the negative effect of homeopathy
ix The purpose of staging an demonstration to against homeopathy

1 Paragraph A
2 Paragraph B
3 Paragraph C
4 Paragraph D
5 Paragraph E
6 Paragraph F
7 Paragraph G

Questions 8-14
Do the following statements agree with the information given in the reading passage?
In boxes 8-14 on your answer sheet write
TRUE if the statement is true FALSE if the statement is false
NOT GIVEN if the information is not given in the passage

8. Skeptics planning to hold a demonstration in "10.23" campaign is to against UK's

leading pharmacist, Boots.
9. National Health Service budget gained a small portion of homeopathic industry.
10.The example of Caffeine is to present that homeopathy resists the laws of similars.
11.Instilling the idea to people that homeopathy is equal to modern medicine poses danger.
12.Paul Bennett claimed effectiveness of taking the homeopathic medicine is proved.

13. The adoption of homeopathy mainly contributes to the delay of seeking appropriate
treatment for themselves or their children.

Part 2. For questions 14-23, read an extract from an article and choose the answer
A, B, C or D that fits best according to the text. Write your answers in the
corresponding numbered boxes provided.
Welsh stories
It was an American wit who listed one of man’s greatest virtues as the art of making the
long story short, but he was saying nothing about the short story, which has its own
necessary length, neither too long nor too short, and is at its best when it presents a
revealing insight into a person in a particular situation. What interests me most is being
at the core of another life, seeing new light thrown upon it through the mind and world
of the central character. It is a help if I am so involved at the outset that my attention
does not wander and that my sympathies are immediately engaged, but ultimately, I must
know more at the end than I did at the beginning. Now and again, let it also be stated, I
can certainly do with a smile.
These stories have been chosen to fulfil such requirements where they can be met, but
they are in addition, of a place and a time. The place is Wales and the time is the
twentieth century, since the short story is a comparatively new arrival here. They reflect
Wales, not always flatteringly, as it is and has been. English writers, it has been said, are
often refugees from society, but almost all the stories in this book written by Welsh men
and women show a concern for a particular landscape or community. It is as if Welsh
writers cannot escape this involvement, and often there is also a sense of characters off
stage, present but unseen at the storyteller’s elbow. Perhaps the reason for this awareness
of others is that so many of us have lived in crowded places, while it is not always
healthy, it is a part of the Welsh experience which is very different from that of our
neighbours.
I have not otherwise been able to define a specific characteristic of the Welsh story
which makes it immediately identifiable, save for the nationality or place of residence of
the writer, but it should be pointed out that some Welsh writers writing in English have
faced particular difficulties when they have felt the need to emphasise their difference
from English counterparts. Often this need has led to stereotyped patterns of speech, the
whimsicality of which often gives a false impression. At the back of it, one suspects the
seductive pressures of those who like to see their Welshmen as clowns or 'characters',
but it should also be said that many Welshmen have woven myths about themselves and
their country with mischievous delight, and one doubts if they needed much more
encouragement. Of course, this forced use of language can be detected in other
literatures, some of them colonialist, and it is perhaps the inevitable consequence of the
dominance of a distant metropolis. Having said that, it is only fair to note that many of
the short story writers who write in English received their first encouragement in
England, and indeed some of them, like Alun Lewis, represented here by an almost
unknown story of army life, are at their best away from home. In his case, he was
probably more searching as an observer with a foreign eye and his stories dealing with
English life were perhaps more acutely observed than those dealing with his native
South Wales. There is an abundance of riches from which the anthologist may choose
and my task has been made easier by the selections of other editors whose choices I have
tried not to duplicate where possible.
I have said that these stories were chosen because they please one reader and are of a
place and time, but I have also had a number of other considerations in mind and I have
tried to represent all Welsh writers, including those whose work belies the concept of
Wales as a homogeneous society, some who write in English and others who write
exclusively in Welsh and for whom Welsh is the first language. All arguments about
degrees of Welshness I find to be fruitless; for me, the story is the thing, although on re-
reading so many stories in preparing this volume, I could not help but detect the security
of so many writers in the Welsh language, which has freed them from painful attempts to
emphasise their nationality, a strain which affected the work of their counterparts writing
in English for a time. Ironically, this freedom seems to be in danger of ending and,
judging by some of the stories made available in translation, appears to have been
replaced by the aim of political conversion, to the detriment, in my view, of the
storyteller’s art. However, the representation of writers in the Welsh language, translated
here, is varied enough to warrant a further anthology comprised solely of stories
translated from the original. It is my hope that the Wales of the past and the present is
well represented in this volume, together with the world of work and workmen in some
of our more ravaged terrains, as an aspect which has tended to be neglected in the past.

14. According to the author, he considers it essential for a short story to:
A. grab his attention from the start.
B. evoke emotions of sympathy.
C. be at the correct length.
D. enrich his understanding.
15. The stories are implied to:
A. authentically portray life in Wales.
B. plot a glamorous picture of Welsh life.
C. exaggerate the living conditions of Welsh.
D. delineate certain aspects of Welsh life.
16. Unlike their English counterparts, Welsh writers:
A. share the same qualities as their own characters.
B. possess a particular sense of place.
C. steer clear of their societies and avoid any exposure to them.
D. abhor writing about their communities
17. It is suggested that Welsh writers writing in English:
A. may be indistinguishable from novelists writing in Welsh.
B. may make inept translation of their works from English into Welsh.
C. may be confronted with hardships in highlighting their distinction.
D. may misuse common patterns of speech and create false impressions.
18. Alun Lewis is cited as an example illustrating the point that:
A. the best source of inspiration for a writer may not be their country of origin.
B. observing life with the eye of a foreigner may bring undesirable outcomes.
C. forcible use of language is noticeable in many literatures.
D. stories of life should be told by novelists unfamiliar with the culture.
19. The writer says that his selection of stories has been made easier:
A. because he ignores some authors in the first place.
B. since there are a large number of stories to choose.
C. as options he selected before are to be abandoned.
D. for he eschews the inclusion of similar stories to his counterparts.
20 According to the passage, writers in Welsh differentiate from those in English in that:

A. they are more knowledgeable about the Welsh culture.

B. they shoulder no responsibility for portraying their country.
C. they feel no burden to accentuate their country of origin.
D. they fail to perceive the need to highlight their differences.

21. The passage suggests that storytellers’ skills suffer when:

A. writers deviate from their common patterns of speech.
B. writing a sound story is no longer their main purpose.
C. writers free themselves of shackles in writing.
D. the plots of stories are distorted during translation.
22. The writer suggests that the book includes:
A. many collections of stories amassed by the editor.
B. description of a subject receiving little notice previously.
C. colored illustrations of Welsh life in the past and present.
D. only Welsh writers who see Wales as a multicultural country.
23. In the book, this extract most probably serves as:
A. a foreword. B. a biography. C. a preface. D. a prologue.
Part 3. In the passage below, seven paragraphs have been removed. For questions 24-30,
read the passage and choose from the paragraphs A-H the one which fits each gap.
There is ONE extra paragraph which you do not need to use. Write your answers in the
corresponding numbered box provided.
Ringing the Alarm for Earth

Peter Raven is a botanist. He knows about photosynthesis, primary productivity and

sustainable growth. He knows that all flesh is grass; that the richest humans and the hungriest
alike depend ultimately on plants for food, fuel, clothing, medicines and shelter, and that all
of these come from the kiss of the sun on warm moist soils, to quicken growth and ripen
grain.

24.

The global population is about to soar from six billion to nine billion in less than a lifetime.
Around 800 million humans are starving, and maybe two billion are malnourished, while
three billion survive on two dollars a day.

25.

By many, Raven means perhaps half to two thirds of all the other species on the planet in the
next 100 years. There could be ten million different kinds of fern, fungus, flowering plant,
arthropod, amphibian, reptile, bird, fish and mammal on Earth. Nobody knows. People such
as Raven, director of the Missouri Botanic Gardens in St Louis, are doing their best to count
and preserve them.

26.

Some of these organisms are now being chased to oblivion by human population growth at
levels that ecosystems cannot sustain.

27.

There are ways of confirming species loss, even if it cannot be established how many species
there were in the first place. Look at the vertebrates and molluscs in fossil records, Raven
says, just for the past sixty-five million years or so. 'You find that the average life of a species
is two to three million years and you get about one species per million becoming extinct per
year in the fossil record. Those particular groups are a small sample, but they are a real
sample,' he says.

28.

That works out at hundreds of creatures per year over the past four centuries, and even more
when humans, rats and other invaders started colonising islands: 2,000 species have vanished
from the Pacific basin alone since the Polynesians got there 1,200 years ago.
 29.

There are various wild creatures that get along with humans and follow them everywhere:
cockroaches, fleas, ticks, rats, cats, pigs, cattle, scavenger birds, lusty weeds. These invade
little islands of ancient biodiversity, take over, and see the natives off the premises. And not
just islands: one third of all endangered plants in the continental US are threatened because of
alien invaders, Raven says. In Hawaii, it is 100 percent.

30.

Ecosystems are not static. They change, naturally. They burn, are grazed or browsed, they
regenerate, flood and silt up. But left to themselves, they go on providing services that
humans and other creatures value. A mangrove swamp provides a habitat for shrimps. It
cannot be improved by draining it for a tourist beach, or building a large city on it. Its natural
value would be dissipated. 'An ecosystem itself undamaged is very, very resilient, and the
more simplified it gets, the less resilient. Globally, what we are doing is simplifying them all,
simultaneously, which is a very dangerous large-scale experiment,' Raven says.

The missing paragraphs:

A Ecosystems, Raven says, can be whatever you like. Hedgerows in Hampshire are an
ecosystem; so are weeds on a railway line at Hammersmith. Savannahs, grasslands, prairies,
rainforests, dry forests, pine forests, uplands, heathlands, downlands, wetlands, mangrove
swamps, estuaries, oxbow lakes and coral reefs are all ecosystems, and they survive on
diversity. The greater the variety of microbes, plants and animals in an ecosystem, the more
resilient it is and the better it works for all, including humans. So it would not be a good idea
to evict at least half of these creatures, especially if nothing is known about them. But, Raven
says, that is what is happening.

B 'Then you can start with the literature in about 1600, when people began to care enough
about organisms to be able to document them well, and for the groups that they were
documenting - birds, mammals, amphibians, reptiles, butterflies and plants - then you can
say, "What was the rate over the past 400 years? It's tens of times or hundreds of times the
level it was before." ,
C Global warming is not going to help, either. What happens to the unique assembly of plants
in the Cape region of Africa as the thermometer rises? They cannot migrate south. There is
no land south of the Cape. So many will perish.

D As he keeps pointing out, the human species is living as if it had more than one planet to
occupy. Forty years ago, he and colleagues tried to calculate the economic cost of exporting
humans to a star system likely to be orbited by habitable planets. They worked out that it
would cost the entire gross economic product of the planet to ship just twelve people a year to
Proxima Centauri or beyond. His message for the planet is, 'Think, look at the big picture,
and think again'.

E But the human population is growing at the rate of about 10,000 an hour, and each human
depends on a hectare or two of land and water for what economists now call 'ecosystem
services' - the organisms that ultimately recycle waste and deliver new wealth to provide
oxygen, fresh food, clean water, fuel, new clothes, safe shelter and disposable income.
F Valuable agricultural land is being poisoned or parched or covered in concrete, soils
eroded, rivers emptied and aquifers drained to feed the swelling numbers. Something has-got
to give, and the first things to go are many of the plants and animals.

G So botanists such as Raven begin with the big picture of sustainable growth and can
calculate to the nearest planet how much land and sea it would take to sustain the population
of the world if everybody lived as comfortably as the Americans, British or French. The
answer is three planets.

H There is another way of checking, Raven says, pioneered by, among others, sociobiologist
and evolutionary psychologist Edward O. Wilson. There is a logarithmic relationship
between the area of habitat and the species that inhabit it. Measure a patch of forest and count
a sample of the species in it. Then compare it with another patch of forest ten times smaller.
The smaller one will have only half the sample species count. This has been shown in
thousands of individual observations, he says. So destroying forests piecemeal is a way of
extinguishing creatures.

Your answers
24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30.

Part 4.You are going to read extracts from an introductory book about studying the
law. For questions 44-53, choose from the sections (A-D). The extracts may be chosen
more than once. Mark your answers on the separate answer sheet.
In which extract are the following mentioned?

44 the relative frequency of certain types of legal cases

45 input by those who are not directly involved in a dispute

46 how common transactions assume certain guarantees

47 ascertaining the effectiveness of a legal system

48 determining the consequences of altering the legal system

49 the influence of popular depictions of the law

50 a reluctance to submit to formal legal processes
51 how a decentralised legal system depends on a feeling of reciprocity

52 the lack of drama in the way the law operates

53 the absence of a certain type of legal institution
Studying the law

A Ordinary people regularly encounter law in a variety of circumstances. Freely-

negotiated commercial contracts may bind them to act in particular ways. By becoming
members of a sports club or a trade union they agree to comply with a set of rules.
Sometimes these forms of law will use the courts to enforce their arrangements. In other
cases privately-instituted adjudication bodies are established, a third party being
appointed to decide whether an agreement or rule has been broken or not. These kinds of
 arrangements may seem very different from the normal idea of law, especially if law is
thought of mainly in terms of the criminal law. However, it is possible to see law simply
as a way of regulating our actions, of deciding what can be done and what cannot be
done. Most laws are not about something spectacular but, rather, about the details of
ordinary life. Every time a purchase is made, a contract is made. Both parties make
promises about what they will do; one to hand over the goods, one to pay the price. In
this and other ways, everybody is involved in law every day of their lives.
B Legal rules can be divided up in many different ways. The rules show differences in
purpose, in origin and form, in the consequences when they are breached, and in matters
of procedure, remedies and enforcement. One of the most fundamental divisions in law is
the division between criminal and civil law. Newcomers to the study of law tend to
assume that criminal law occupies the bulk of a lawyer's caseload and of a law student's
studies. This is an interesting by-product of the portrayal of the legal system by the
media. Criminal law weighs very lightly in terms of volume when measured against non-
criminal (that is, civil) law. There are more rules of civil law than there are of criminal
law; more court cases involve breach of the civil law than that of the criminal law.

C The term 'national law' is used to mean the internal legal rules of a particular country,
in contrast to international law which deals with the external relationships of a state with
other states. There is no world government or legislature issuing and enforcing laws to
which all nations are subject. The international legal order has no single governing body
and operates by agreement between states. This means that the creation, interpretation
and enforcement of international law lie primarily in the hands of states themselves. Its
scope and effectiveness depend on the sense of mutual benefit and obligation involved in
adhering to the rules. Disputes
about the scope and interpretation of international law are rarely resolved by the use of
international courts or binding arbitration procedures of an international organisation.
This is because submission to an international court or similar process is entirely
voluntary and few states are likely to agree to this if there is a serious risk of losing their
case or where important political or national interests are at stake.
D One source of detailed information about the legal system is statistical analyses.
Information about the number of cases handled by a court shows in specific terms what a
court's workload is. Changes in these from year to year may indicate some effects of
changes in the law and practice. Statistical tests can establish that there is a relationship, a
correlation, between different things. For example, the length of a sentence for theft may
correlate with the value of the items stolen or the experience of the judge who heard the
case. This means that the sentence will be longer if, for example, more items are stolen or
the judge is more experienced. A correlation can provide evidence for a theory. Such
confirmation is important; without it we have little to establish the impact the law has,
being forced to rely on individual instances of its application and having to assume that
these have general truth. Empirical study of the operation of law may reveal areas of
improvement. It can also confirm that, measured by particular standards, the courts are
working well.

IV.WRITING

Part 1: Summary (15 pts)

Read the following extract and use your own words to summarize it. Your summary
should be between 120 and 140 words long:

It was one of the oddest experiments in the history of dentistry. In the early 1950s a
researcher called Benjamin Kamrin was looking into the causes of tooth decay. To do so, he
turned to that scientific stalwart, the lab rat. Specifically, he cut small patches of skin from
pairs of rats and then sutured the animals together at the site of the wound. After about a
week of being joined in this way, the animals’ blood vessels began to merge. The result was
two rats whose hearts pumped blood around a shared circulatory system. This state of
affairs is called parabiosis.

Parabiosis works best on animals that are closely related genetically. By getting his
rats to share blood, as well as genes, and then feeding the animals a variety of diets, Kamrin
hoped to prove (which he did) that it was sugar in food, and not some inherent deficiency in
individuals, that was responsible for rotting their teeth.

Other people, though, have used the technique to find more striking results. For
example, mammalian bone density usually drops with age. Three years after Kamrin’s
work, however, a gerontologist called Clive McCay showed that linking an old rat to a
young one boosted the density of the oldster’s bones. In 1972 another paper reported, even
more spectacularly, that elderly rats which shared blood with young ones lived four to five
months longer than similarly old rats which did not.

The rats themselves, unsurprisingly, were not always keen on the procedure. Early
papers describe the dangers of “parabiotic disease”, in which one animal’s immune system
rebels against the foreign blood, and also explain how rats must be socialised carefully
before being joined, to stop them biting each other to death.

“The technique itself is kind of gross and crude,” admits Michael Conboy, a
biologist and parabiosis researcher at the University of California, Berkeley. Perhaps for
that reason, research had more or less died out by the late 1970s. These days, though, it is
back in the news—for a string of recent discoveries have suggested that previous
generations of researchers were on to something. The blood of young animals, it seems,
may indeed be able to ameliorate at least some of the effects of ageing. And the technique is
promising enough to have spawned human clinical trials.

Part 2. Chart description.(15pts)

The chart below shows the annual number of rentals and sales (in various formats) of
films from a particular store between 2002 and 2011. Write at least 150 words.
Part 3: Write an essay of about 350 words to express your opinion on the following issue
(30 pts)
In today's world of advanced science and technology, we still greatly value our artists such
as musicians, painters and writers. What can arts tell us about life that science and
technology cannot?

What is your own opinion?

Give reasons for your answer, and include any relevant examples from your knowledge or
experience. You may continue your writing on the back page if you need more space