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GLASS – Capturing The Dance of Light IELTS READING

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Reading passage 1

A Glass, in one form or another, has long been in noble service to humans. As one of the most widely used of manufactured materials, and certainly the most versatile, it can be as imposing as a telescope mirror the width of a tennis court or as small and simple as a marble rolling across dirt. The uses of this adaptable material have been broadened dramatically by new technologies glass fibre optics — more than eight million miles — carrying telephone and television signals across nations, glass ceramics serving as the nose cones of missiles and as crowns for teeth; tiny glass beads taking radiation doses inside the body to specific organs, even a new type of glass fashioned of nuclear waste in order to dispose of that unwanted material.

B On the horizon are optical computers. These could store programs and process information by means of light – pulses from tiny lasers – rather than electrons and the pulses would travel over glass fibres, not copper wire. These machines could function hundreds of times faster than today’s electronic computers and hold vastly more information. Today fibre optics viruses. A new generation of optical instruments is emerging that can provide detailed imaging of the inner workings of cells. It is the surge in fibre optic use and in liquid crystal displays that has set the U.S. glass industry (a 16 billion dollar business employing some 150,000 workers) to building new plants to meet demand.

C But it is not only in technology and commerce that glass has widened its horizons. The use of glass as art, a tradition spins back at least to Roman times, is also booming. Nearly everywhere, it seems, men and women are blowing glass and creating works of art. “I didn’t sell a piece of glass until 1975”, Dale Chihuly said, smiling, for in the 18 years since the end of the dry spell, he has become one of the most financially successful artists of the 20th century. He now has a new commission – a glass sculpture for the headquarters building of a pizza company – for which his fee is half a million dollars.

D But not all the glass technology that touches our lives is ultra-modern. Consider the simple light bulb; at the turn of the century most light bulbs were hand blown, and the cost of one was equivalent to half a day’s pay for the average worker. In effect, the invention of the ribbon machine by Corning in the 1920s lighted a nation. The price of a bulb plunged. Small wonder that the machine has been called one of the great mechanical achievements of all time. Yet it is very simple: a narrow ribbon of molten glass travels over a moving belt of steel in which there are holes. The glass sags through the holes and into waiting moulds. Puffs of compressed air then shape the glass. In this way, the envelope of a light bulb is made by a single machine at the rate of 66,000 an hour, as compared with 1,200 a day produced by a team of four glassblowers.

E The secret of the versatility of glass lies in its interior structure. Although it is rigid, and thus like a solid, the atoms are arranged in a random disordered fashion, characteristic of a liquid. In the melting process, the atoms in the raw materials are disturbed from their normal position in the molecular structure; before they can find their way back to crystalline arrangements the glass cools. This looseness in molecular structure gives the material what engineers call tremendous “formability” which allows technicians to tailor glass to whatever they need.

F Today, scientists continue to experiment with new glass mixtures and building designers test their imaginations with applications of special types of glass. A London architect, Mike Davies, sees even more dramatic buildings using molecular chemistry. “Glass is the great building material of the future, the dynamic skin,’ he said. “Think of glass that has been treated to react to electric currents going through it, glass that will change from clear to opaque at the push of a button, that gives you instant curtains. Think of how the tall buildings in New York could perform a symphony of colours as the glass in them is made to change colours instantly.” Glass as instant curtains is available now, but the cost is exorbitant. As for the glass changing colours instantly, that may come true. Mike Davies’s vision may indeed be on the way to fulfilment.

Questions 1-5. Reading Passage 1 has six paragraphs (A-F). Choose the most suitable heading/or each paragraph from the list of headings below. Write the appropriate numbers (i-x) in boxes 1-5 on your answer sheet. Paragraph A has been done for you as an example.

NB There are more headings than paragraphs so you will not use all of them. You may use any heading more at once.

List of Headings

i. Growth in the market for glass crafts
ii. Computers and their dependence on glass
iii. What makes glass so adaptable
iv. Historical development of glass
v. Scientists’ dreams cost millions
vi. Architectural experiments with glass
vii. Glass art galleries flourish
viii. Exciting innovations in fibre optics
ix. A former glass technology
x. Everyday uses of glass

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

Questions 6-8

The diagram below shows the principle of Corning’s ribbon machine. Label the diagram by selecting NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the Reading Passage to fill each numbered space. Write your answers in boxes 6-8 on your answer sheet.

Questions 9-13. Look at the list below of the uses of glass. According to the passage, state whether these uses exist today, will exist in the future or are not mentioned by the writer. In boxes 9-13 write

A if the uses exist today

B if the uses will exist in the future

C if the uses are not mentioned by the writer

9. dental fittings

10. optical computers

11. sculptures

12. fashions

13. curtains



Why some women cross the finish line ahead of men

A Women who apply for jobs in middle or senior management have a higher success rate than men, according to an employment survey. But of course far fewer of them apply for these positions. The study, by recruitment consultants NB Selection, shows that while one in six men who appear on interview shortlists get jobs, the figure rises to one in four for women.

B The study concentrated on applications for management positions in the $45,000 to $110,000 salary range and found that women are more successful than men in both the private and public sectors Dr Elisabeth Marx from London-based NB Selection described the findings as encouraging for women, in that they send a positive message to them to apply for interesting management positions. But she added, “We should not lose sight of the fact that significantly fewer women apply for senior positions in comparison with men.”

C Reasons for higher success rates among women are difficult to isolate. One explanation suggested is that if a woman candidate manages to get on a shortlist, then she has probably already proved herself to be an exceptional candidate. Dr Marx said that when women apply for positions they tend to be better qualified than their male counterparts but are more selective and conservative in their job search. Women tend to research thoroughly before applying for positions or attending interviews. Men, on the other hand, seem to rely on their ability to sell themselves and to convince employers that any shortcomings they have will not prevent them from doing a good job.

D Managerial and executive progress made by women is confirmed by the annual survey of boards of directors carried out by Korn/ Ferry/ Carre/ Orban International. This year the survey shows a doubling of the number of women serving as non-executive directors compared with the previous year. However, progress remains painfully slow and there were still only 18 posts filled by women out of a total of 354 nonexecutive positions surveyed.Hilary Sears, a partner with Korn/ Ferry, said, “Women have raised the level of grades we are employed in but we have still not broken through barriers to the top.”

E In Europe a recent feature of corporate life in the recession has been the delayering of management structures. Sears said that this has halted progress for women in as much as de-layering has taken place either where women are working or in layers they aspire to. Sears also noted a positive trend from the recession, which has been the growing number of women who have started up on their own.

F In business as a whole, there are a number of factors encouraging the prospect of greater equality in the workforce. Demographic trends suggest that the number of women going into employment is steadily increasing. In addition a far greater number of women are now passing through higher education, making them better qualified to move into management positions.

G Organisations such as the European Women’s Management Development Network provide a range of opportunities for women to enhance their skills and contacts. Through a series of both pan-European and national workshops and conferences the barriers to women in employment are being broken down. However, Ariane Berthoin Antal, director of the International Institute for Organisational Change of Archamps in France, said that there is only anecdotal evidence of changes in recruitment patterns. And she said, “It’s still so hard for women to even get on to shortlists -there are so many hurdles and barriers.” Antal agreed that there have been some positive signs but said “Until there is a belief among employers, until they value the difference, nothing will change.”

Questions 14-19. Reading Passage 2 has 7 paragraphs (A-G). State which paragraph discusses each of the points below. Write the appropriate letter (A-G) in boxes 14-19 on your answer sheet.Example: The salary range studied in the NB Selection survey. Answer B

14 The drawbacks of current company restructuring patterns.
15 Associations that provide support for professional women.
16 The success rate of female job applicants for management positions.
17 Male and female approaches to job applications.
18 Reasons why more women are being employed in the business sector.
19 The improvement in female numbers on company management structures.


Questions 20-23. The author makes reference to three consultants in the Reading Passage. Which of the list of points below do these consultants make? In boxes 20-23 write

M if the point is made by Dr Marx
S if the point is made by Hilary Sears
A if the point is made by Ariane Berthoin Antal

20 Selection procedures do not favour women.
21 The number of female-run businesses is increasing.
22 Male applicants exceed female applicants for top posts.
23 Women hold higher positions now than they used to.

Questions 24-27. Using NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS answer the following questions. Write your answers in boxes 24-27 on your answer sheet.

24 What change has there been in the number of women in top management positions detailed in the annual
survey?
25 What aspect of company structuring has disadvantaged women?
26 What information tells us that more women are working nowadays?
27 Which group of people should change their attitude to recruitment?

Population viability analysis

Part A.
To make political decisions about the extent and type of forestry in a region it is important to understand the consequences of those decisions. One tool for assessing the impact of forestry on the ecosystem is population viability analysis (PVA). This is a tool for predicting the probability that a species will become extinct in a particular region over a specific period. It has been successfully used in the United States to provide input into resource exploitation decisions and assist wildlife managers and there is now enormous potential for using population viability to assist wildlife management in Australia’s forests.A species becomes extinct when the last individual dies. This observation is a useful starting point for any discussion of extinction as it highlights the role of luck and chance in the extinction process. To make a prediction about extinction we need to understand the processes that can contribute to it and these fall into four broad categories which are discussed below.

Part B.
A Early attempts to predict population viability were based on demographic uncertainty Whether an individual survives from one year to the next will largely be a matter of chance. Some pairs may produce several young in a single year while others may produce none in that same year. Small populations will fluctuate enormously because of the random nature of birth and death and these chance fluctuations can cause species extinctions even if, on average, the population size should increase. Taking only this uncertainty of ability to reproduce into account, extinction is unlikely if the number of individuals in a population is above about 50 and the population is growing. 

B Small populations cannot avoid a certain amount of inbreeding. This is particularly true if there is a very small number of one sex. For example, if there are only 20 individuals of a species and only one is a male, all future individuals in the species must be descended from that one male. For most animal species such individuals are less likely to survive and reproduce. Inbreeding increases the chance of extinction.

C Variation within a species is the raw material upon which natural selection acts. Without genetic variability a species lacks the capacity to evolve and cannot adapt to changes in its environment or to new predators and newdiseases. The loss of genetic diversity associated with reductions in population size will contribute to the likelihood of extinction.

D Recent research has shown that other factors need to be considered. Australia’s environment fluctuates enormously from year to year. These fluctuations add yet another degree of uncertainty to the survival of many species. Catastrophes such as fire, flood, drought or epidemic may reduce population sizes to a small fraction of their average level. When allowance is made for these two additional elements of uncertainty the population size necessary to be confident of persistence for a few hundred years may increase to several thousand.

Part C
Beside these processes we need to bear in mind the distribution of a population. A species that occurs in five isolated places each containing 20 individuals will not have the same probability of extinction as a species with a single population of 100 individuals in a single locality.Where logging occurs (that is, the cutting down of forests for timber) forest dependent creatures in that area will be forced to leave. Ground-dwelling herbivores may return within a decade. However, arboreal marsupials (that is animals which live in trees) may not recover to pre-logging densities for over a century. As more forests are logged, animal population sizes will be reduced further. Regardless of the theory or model that we choose, a reduction in population size decreases the genetic diversity of a population and increases the probability of extinction because of any or all of the processes listed above. It is therefore a scientific fact that increasing the area that is loaded in any region will increase the probability that forest-dependent animals will become extinct.




Questions 28-31. Do the following statements agree with the views of the writer in Part A of Reading Passage 3? In boxes 28-31 on your answer sheet write

YES if the statement agrees with the writer
NO if the statement contradicts the writer
NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this

28 Scientists are interested in the effect of forestry on native animals.
29 PVA has been used in Australia for many years.
30 A species is said to be extinct when only one individual exists.
31 Extinction is a naturally occurring phenomenon.

Questions 32-35. These questions are based on Part B of Reading Passage 3. In paragraphs A to D the author describes four processes which may contribute to the extinction of a species. Match the list of processes (i-vi) to the paragraphs. Write the appropriate number (i-vi) in boxes 32-35 on your answer sheet. NB There are more processes than paragraphs so you will not use all of them.

32 Paragraph A
33 Paragraph B
34 Paragraph C
35 Paragraph D

Processes

i. Loss of ability to adapt
ii. Natural disasters
iii. An imbalance of the sexes
iv. Human disasters
v. Evolution
vi. The haphazard nature of reproduction

Questions 36-39. Based on your reading of Part C, complete the sentences below with words taken from the passage. Use NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each answer. Write your answers in boxes 36-38 on your answer sheet.

While the population of a species may be on the increase, there is always a chance that small isolated groups (36)……………………….

Survival of a species depends on a balance between the size of a population and its (37)……………………. The likelihood that animals which live in forests will become extinct is increased when (38)…………………… After logging herbivores that reside on ground find it easier to return as compared to (39)……………… 



Question 40. Choose the appropriate letter A-D and write it in box 39 on your answer sheet. 40 An alternative heading for the passage could be:

A The protection of native flora and fauna

B Influential factors in assessing survival probability

C An economic rationale for the logging of forests

D Preventive measures for the extinction of a species

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Can animals count? IETLS READING

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Reading Passage 1

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based on Reading Passage 1 below.

A. Brannon. Humans can do this with ease – providing the ratio is big enough – but do other animals share this ability? In one experiment, rhesus monkeys and university students examined two sets of geometrical objects that appeared briefly on a computer monitor. They had to decide which set contained more objects. Both groups performed successfully but, importantly, Brannon’s team found that monkeys, like humans. make more errors when two sets of objects are close in number. The students’ performance ends up looking just like a monkey’s. It’s practically identical.’ she says.

B. Humans and monkeys are mammals, in the animal family known as primates. These are not the only animals whose numerical capacities rely on ratio, however. The same seems to apply to some amphibians. Psychologist Claudia Uller’s team tempted salamanders with two sets of fruit flies held in clear tubes. In a series of trials, the researchers noted which tube the salamanders scampered towards, reasoning that if they could recognize the number, they would head for the larger number. The salamanders successfully discriminated between tubes containing 8 and 16 flies respectively, but not between 3 and 4. 4 and 6, or 8 and 12. So it seems that for the salamanders to discriminate between two numbers, the larger must be at least twice as big as the smaller. However, they could differentiate between 2 and 3 flies just as well as between 1 and 2 flies, suggesting they recognize small numbers differently from larger numbers.

C. Further support for this theory comes from studies of mosquitofish, which instinctively join the biggest shoal* they can. A team at the University of Padova found that while mosquito fish can tell the difference between a group containing 3 shoal-mates and a group containing 4, they did not snow a preference between groups of 4 and 5. The team also found that mosquitofish can discriminate between numbers up to 16, but only if the ratio between the fish in each shoal was greater than 2:1. This indicates that the fish, like salamanders, possess both the approximate and precise number systems found in more intelligent animals such as infant humans and other primates.

D. While these findings are highly suggestive, some critics argue that the animals might be relying on other factors to complete the tasks, without considering the number itself. ‘Any study that’s claiming an animal is capable of representing number should also be controlling for other factors,’ says Brannon.Experiments have confirmed that primates can indeed perform numerical feats without extra clues, but what about the more primitive animals? To consider this possibility, the mosquitofish tests were repeated, this time using varying geometrical shapes in place of fish. The team arranged these shapes so that they had the same overall surface area and luminance even though they contained a different number of objects. Across hundreds of trials on 14 different fish, the team found they consistently discriminated 2 objects from 3. The team is now testing whether mosquito fish can also distinguish 3 geometric objects from 4.

E. Even more primitive organisms may share this ability. Entomologist Jurgen Tautz sent a group of bees down a corridor, at the end of which lay two chambers – one which contained sugar water, which they like, while the other was empty. To test the bees’ numeracy, the team marked each chamber with a different number of geometrical shapes – between 2 and 6. The bees quickly learned to match the number of shapes with the correct chamber. Like the salamanders and fish, there was a limit to the bees’ mathematical prowess – they could differentiate up to 4 shapes, but failed with 5 or 6 shapes.

F. These studies still do not show whether animals learn to count through training, or whether they are born with the skills already intact. If the latter is true, it would suggest there was a strong evolutionary advantage to a mathematical mind. Proof that this may be the case has emerged from an experiment testing the mathematical ability of three- and four-day-old chicks. Like mosquitofish, chicks prefer to be around as many of their siblings as possible, so they will always head towards a larger number of their kin. It chicks spend their first few days surrounded by certain objects, they become attached to these objects as if they were family. Researchers placed each chick in the middle of a platform and showed it two groups of balls of paper. Next, they hid the two piles behind screens, changed the quantities and revealed them to the chick. This forced the chick to perform simple computations to decide which side now contained the biggest number of its “brothers”. Without any prior coaching, the chicks scuttled to the larger quantity at a rate well above chance. They were doing some very simple arithmetic, claim tho researchers.

G. Why these skills evolved is not hard to imagine since it would help almost any animal forage for food. Animals on the prowl for sustenance must constantly decide which tree has the most fruit, or which patch of flowers will contain the most nectar. They are also other, less obvious, advantages of numeracy. In one compelling example, researchers in America found that female coots appear to calculate how many eggs they have laid – and add any in the nest laid by an intruder – before making any decisions about adding to them. Exactly how ancient these skills are is difficult to determine, however. Only’ by studying the numerical abilities of more and more creatures using standardised procedures can we hope to understand the basic preconditions for the evolution of number.

Questions 1-7. Complete the table below. Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer. Write your answers in boxes 1-7 on your answer sheet.

SubjectsExperimentResults
rhesus monkeys and humanslooked at two sets of geometrical on a computer screenperformance of two groups is almost 1 ……………….

chicks
chose between two sets of 2 ………………… which are altered
chicks can do calculations in order to choose a larger group

coots
the behaviour of 3…………………….. birds wasobserved
the bird seems to have the ability to count eggs

salamanders
offered clear tubes containing different quantities of 4………………….
salamanders distinguish between numbers over four if the bigger number is at least two times larger

5 ……………………….
shown real shoals and later artificial ones of geometrical shapes; these are used tocheck the influence of total 6………………… and brightness
subjects know the difference between two and three and possibly three and four, but not between four and five

bees
had to learn where 7……………………..  wasstored
could soon choose the correct place

Questions 8-13. Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1? In boxes 8-13 on your answer sheet, write

TRUE, if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE, if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN, if there is no information on this

8. Primates are better at identifying the larger of two numbers if one is much bigger than the other.

9. Jurgen Tautz trained the insects in his experiment to recognize the shapes of individual numbers.

10. The research involving young chicks took place over two separate days.

11. The experiment with chicks suggests that some numerical ability exists in newborn animals.

12. Researchers have experimented by altering quantities of nectar or fruit available to certain wild animals.

13. When assessing the number of eggs in their nest, coots take into account those of other birds.

Reading Passage 2

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14-26, which are based on Reading Passage 2 below. Is it time to halt the rising tide of plastic packaging?

A. Close up, plastic packaging can be a marvellous thing. Those who make a living from it call it a forgotten infrastructure that allows modem urban life to exist. Plastics have helped society defy natural limits such as the seasons, the rotting of food and the distance most of us live from where our food is produced. And yet we do not like it. Partly we do not like waste, but plastic waste, with its hydrocarbon roots and industrial manufacture, is especially galling. In 2008, the UK, for example, produced around two million tonnes of plastic waste, twice as much as in tire the early 1990s. The very qualities of plastic – its cheapness, its indestructible aura – make it a reproachful symbol of an unsustainable way of life.

B. The facts, however, do not justify our unease. All plastics are, at least theoretically, recyclable. Plastic packaging makes up just 6 to 7 per cent of the contents of British dustbins by weight and less than 3 per cent of landfills. Supermarkets and brands, which are under pressure to reduce the quantity of packaging of all types that they use, are finding good environmental reasons to turn to plastic: it is lighter, so requires less energy for transportation than glass, for example; it requires relatively little energy to produce, and it is often re-usable. An Austrian study found that if plastic packaging were removed from the tire supply chain, another packaging would have to increase fourfold to make up for it. So are we just wrong about plastic packaging?

C. Is it time to stop worrying and learn to love the disposable plastic wrapping around sandwiches? Certainly, there are bigger targets for environmental savings such as improving household insulation and energy emissions. Naturally, the tire plastics industry is keen to point them out. What’s more, concern over plastic packaging has produced a squall of conflicting initiatives from retailers, manufacturers, and local authorities. It’s a squall that dies down and then blows harder from one month to the next. ‘It is being left to the individual conscience and supermarkets playing the market,’ says Tim Lang, a professor specializing in food polio’. ‘It’s a mess.’

D. Dick Scarle of the Packaging Federation points out that societies without sophisticated packaging lose hall their food before it reaches consumers and that in the UK, waste in supply chains is about 3 per cent. In India, it is more titan 50 per cent. The difference comes later: the British throw out 30 per cent of the food they buy – an environmental cost in terms of emissions equivalent to a fifth of the cars ontheir roads. Packagers agree that cardboard, metals, and glass all have their good points, but there’s nothing quite like plastic. With more than 20 families of polymers to choose from and then sometimes blend, packaging designers and manufacturers have a limitless variety of qualities to play with.

E. But if there is one law of plastic that, in environmental terms at least, prevails over all others, it is this: a little goes a long way. This means, first, that plastic is relatively cheap to use – it represents just over one-third of the UK packaging market by value but it wraps more than half the total number of items bought. Second, it means that even though plastic encases about 53 per cent of products bought, it only makes up 20 per cent by weight of the packaging consumed. And in the packaging equation, weight isthe main issue because the heavier something is, the more energy you expend moving it around. Because of this, righteous indignation against plastic can look foolish.

F. One store commissioned a study to find precise data on which had a less environmental impact: selling apples lose or ready-wrapped. Helene Roberts, head of packaging, explains that in fact, they found apples in fours on a tray covered by plastic film needed 27 per cent less packaging in transportation than those sold loose. Sieve Kelsey, a packaging designer, finds die debate frustrating. He argues that the hunger to do something quickly is diverting effort away from more complicated questions about how you truly alter supply chains. Rather than further reducing the weight of a plastic bottle, more thought should be given to how packaging can be recycled. Helene Roberts explains that their greatest packaging reduction came when the company switched to reusable plastic crates and stopped consuming 62,000 tonnes of cardboard boxes every year.

G. Plastic packaging is important, and it might provide a way of thinking about broader questions of sustainability. To target plastic on its own is to evade the complexity’ of the issues. There seems to be a universal eagerness to condemn plastic. Is this due to an inability to make the general changes in society that are really required? ‘Plastic as a lightweight food wrapper is now built-in as the logical thing,’ Lang says. ‘Does that make it an environmentally sound system of packaging? It only makes sense if you have a structure such as exists now. An environmentally-driven packaging system would look completely different’ Dick Scarle put the challenge another way. “The amount of packaging used today is a reflection of modern life.”

Questions 14-18. Reading Passage 2 has five paragraphs A-E.

Choose the correct heading for each paragraph, A-E from the list of headings below. Write the correct number, i-viii in boxes 14-18 on your answer sheet.

List of Headings

i. A lack of consistent policy

ii. Learning from experience

iii. The greatest advantage

iv. The role of research

v. A unique material

vi. An irrational anxiety

vii. Avoiding the real challenges

viii. A sign of things to come

Paragraph A 

Paragraph B 

Paragraph C 

Paragraph D 

Paragraph E 

Questions 19-23 Look at the following statements (Questions 19-23) and the list of people below. Match each statement to the correct person A-D. Write the correct letter, A-D in boxes 19-23 on your answer sheet. NB You may use any letter more than once.

19.A comparison of two approaches to packaging revealed an interesting result.
20.People are expected to do the right thing.21.Most food roaches UK shops in good condition.
22.Complex issues are ignored in the search for speedy solutions.23.It is merely because of the way societies operate that using plastic seems valid.

People

A.Tim Lang
B.Dick Seatle
C.Helene Roberts
D.Steve Kelsey

Questions 24-26 Complete the summary below. Write NO MORE THAN ONE WORD from the text for each answer. Write your answers in boxes 24-26 on your answer sheet.

A revolutionary material

Plastic packaging has changed the way we consume food. However, we instinctively dislike it partly because it is the product of 24…………………………  processes, but also because it seems to be 25…………………………  so we feel it is wasteful. Nevertheless, it is thanks to plastic that for many people their choice of food is no longer restricted by the 26…………………………  in which it is available or the location of its source.

Reading Passage 3

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 26-40, which are based on Reading Passage 3 below.

The growth of intelligence

A. No one doubts that intelligence develops as children grow older. Yet the concept of intelligence has proved both quite difficult to define in unambiguous terms and unexpectedly controversial in some respects. Although at one level, there seem to be almost as many definitions of intelligence as people who have tried to define it, there is broad agreement on two key features. That is, intelligence involves the capacity not only to learn from experience but also to adapt to one’s environment. However, we cannot leave the concept there. Before turning to what is known about the development of intelligence, it is necessary to consider whether we are considering the growth of one or many skills. That question has been tackled in rather different ways by psychometricians and by developmentalism.

B. The former group has examined the issue by determining how children’s abilities on a wide range of tasks correlate or go together. Statistical techniques have been used to find out whether the pa Hems are best explained by one broad underlying capacity’, general intelligence, or by a set of multiple,relatively separate, special skills in domains such as verbal and visuospatial ability’. While it cannot be claimed that everyone agrees on what the results mean, most people now accept that for practical purposes it is reasonable to suppose that both are involved. In brief, the evidence in favour of some kind of general intellectual capacity is that people who are superior (or inferior) on one type of task tend also to be superior (or inferior) on others. Moreover, general measures of intelligence tend to have considerable powers to predict a person’s performance on a wide range of tasks requiring special skills. Nevertheless, it is plain that it is not at all uncommon for individuals to be very’ good at some sorts of a task and yet quite poor at some others. Furthermore, the influences that affect verbal skills are not quite the same as those that affect other skills.

C. This approach to investigating intelligence is based on the nature of the task involved but studies of age-related changes show that this is not the only, or necessarily the most important, approach. For instance, some decades ago, Horn and Cattell argued for differentiation between what they termed ‘fluid’ and ‘crystallized’ intelligence. Fluid abilities are best assessed by tests that require mental manipulation of abstract symbols. Crystallized abilities, by contrast, reflect knowledge of the environment in which we live and past experience of similar tasks; they may be assessed by tests of comprehension and information. It scents that fluid abilities peak in early adult life, whereas crystallized abilities increase up to advanced old age.

D. Developmental studies also show that the interconnection between different skills varies with age. Titus in the first year of a life interest in perceptual patterns is a major contributor to cognitive abilities, whereas verbal abilities are more important later on. These findings seemed to suggest a substantial lack of continuity between infancy and middle childhood. However, it is important to realize that the apparent discontinuity will vary according to which of the cognitive skills were assessed in infancy. It has been found that tests of coping with novelty do predict later intelligence. These findings reinforce theview that voting children’s intellectual performance needs to be assessed from their interest in and curiosity about the environment, and the extent to which this is applied to new situations, as well as by standardized intelligence testing.

E. These psychometric approaches have focused on children’s increase in cognitive skills as they grow older. Piaget brought about a revolution in the approach to cognitive development through his arguments (backed up by observations) that the focus should be on the thinking processes involved rather than on levels of cognitive achievement. These ideas of Piaget gave rise to an immense body of research and it would be true to say that subsequent thinking has been heavily dependent on his genius in opening up new ways of thinking about cognitive development. Nevertheless, most of his concepts have had to be so radically revised, or rejected, that his theory no longer provides an appropriate basis for thinking about cognitive development. To appreciate why that is so, we need to focus on some rather different elements of Piaget s theorizing.

F. The first element, which has stood the test of time, is his view that the child is an active agent of learning and of the importance of this activity in cognitive development. Numerous studies have shown how infants actively scan their environment; how they prefer patterned to non-patterned objects, how they choose novel over familiar stimuli, and how they explore their environment as if to see how it works. Children’s questions and comments vividly illustrate the ways in which they are constantly constructing schemes of what they know and trying out their ideas of how to fit new knowledge into those schemes or deciding that the schemes need modification. Moreover, a variety’ of studies have shown that active experiences have a greater effect on learning than comparable passive experiences. However, a second element concerns the notion that development proceeds through a series of separate stages that have to be gone through step-by-step, in a set order, each of which is characterized by a particular cognitive structure. That has thinned out to be a rather misleading way of thinking about cognitive development, although it is not wholly wrong.

Questions 27-30. Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D. Write your answers in boxes 27-30 on your answer sheet.

27. Most researchers accept that one feature of intelligence is the ability to ………………………..

A.change our behaviour according to our situation.

B.reacts to others’ behaviour patterns.

C.experiment with environmental features.

D.cope with unexpected setbacks.

28. What have psychometricians used statistics for?

A.to find out if cooperative tasks are a useful tool In measuring certain skills

B.to explore whether several abilities are involved in the development of intelligence

C.to demonstrate that mathematical models can predict test results for different skills

D.to discover whether common sense is fundamental to developing children’s abilities

29. Why are Horn and Cattell mentioned?

A.They disagreed about the interpretation of different intelligence tests.

B.The research concerned both linguistic and mathematical abilities.

C.They were the first to prove that intelligence can be measured by testing a range of special skills.

D.Their work was an example of research into how people’s cognitive skills vary with age.

30. What was innovative about Piaget’s research?

A.He refused to accept that children developed according to a set pattern.

B.He emphasized the way children thought more than how well they did in tests.

C. He used visually appealing materials instead of traditional intelligence tests.

D.He studied children of all ages and levels of intelligence.

Questions 31-36 . Do the following statements agree with the views of the writer in Reading Passage 3? In boxes 31-36 on your answer sheet, write 

YES, if the statement agrees with the views of the writer 

NO, if the statement contradicts the views of the writer 

NOT GIVEN, if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this 

31.A surprising number of academics have come to the same conclusion about what the termintelligence means.

32.A general test of intelligence is unlikely to indicate the level of performance in every type of task.

33. The elderly perform less well on comprehension tests than young adults. 

34. We must take into account which skills are tested when comparing intelligence at different ages. 

35. Piaget’s work influenced theoretical studies more than practical research. 

36. Piaget’s emphasis on active learning has been discredited by later researchers. 

Questions 37-40 

Complete the summary using the list of words, A-I below.  Write the correct letter, A-l, in boxes 37-40 on your answer sheet. 

Researchers investigating the development of intelligence have shown that 37……………………………… skills become more significant with age. One good predictor of 38………………………… intelligence is the degree to which small children are 39………………………. about their surroundings and how much interest they show on finding themselves in a 40…………………………. setting. 

A.adult

B.practical

C.verbal

D.spatial

E.inquisitive

F.uncertain

G.academic

H.plentiful

I.unfamiliar

ANSWERS – CAN ANIMALS COUNT?
IELTS ACADEMIC READING IELTS GENERAL READING VOCABULARY COACH WRTING TASK 1 VOCAB IELTS AC WRITING TASK 1 IELTS GENERAL WRITING TASK 1 IELTS WRITING TASK 2 IELTS SPEAKING TASK 1 IELTS SPEAKING TASK 2 IELTS LISTENING TEST

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BIOLUMINESCENCE IELTS READING

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A. In the pitch-black waters of the ocean‘s aphotic zone-depths from 1,000m to the seafloor – Rood eyesight does not count for very much on its own. Caves, in addition, frequently present a similar problem: the complete absence of natural light at any time of the day. This has not stopped some organisms from turning these inhospitable environments into their homes, and in the process, many have created their own forms of light by developing one of the stunning visual marvels of the biological universe – bioluminescence.

B. Many people will encounter bioluminescence at some point in their life, typically in some form of a glowworm, which is found on most continents. North and South America are home to the ―firefly‖, a glowing beetle which is known as a glow-worm during its larvae stage. Flightless glowing beetles and worms are also found in Europe, Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. Less common flies, centipedes, molluscs, and snails have bioluminescent qualities as well, as do some mushrooms. The most dramatic examples of bioluminescence. however, are found deep below the ocean‘s surface, where no sunlight can penetrate at all. Here, anglerfish, cookie-cutter sharks, flashlight fish, lantern fish, gulper eels, viperfish, and many other species have developed bioluminescence in unique and creative ways to facilitate their lives.

C. The natural uses of bioluminescence vary widely, and organisms have learnt to be very creative with its use. Fireflies employ bioluminescence primarily for reproductive means – their flashing patterns advertise a firefly‘s readiness to breed. Some fish use it as a handy spotlight to help them locate prey. Others use it as a lure; the anglerfish, for example, dangles a luminescent flare that draws in gullible, smaller fishes which get snapped up by the anglerfish in an automated reflex. Sometimes, bioluminescence is used to resist predators. Vampire squids eject a thick cloud of glowing liquid from the tip of its arms when threatened, which can be disorientating. Other species use a single, bright flash to temporarily blind their attacker, with an effect similar to that of an oncoming car which has not dipped its headlights.

D. Humans have captured and utilized bioluminescence by developing, over the last decade, a technology known as Bioluminescence Imaging (BLI). BU involves the extraction of a DNA protein from a bioluminescent organism, and then the integration of this protein into a laboratory animal through trans- geneticism. Researchers have been able to use luminesced pathogens and cancer cell lines to track the respective spread of infections and cancers. Through BLI, cancers and infections can be observed without intervening in a way that affects their independent development. In other words, while an ultra-sensitive camera and bioluminescent proteins add a visual element, they do not disrupt or mutate the natural processes. As a result, when testing drugs and treatments, researchers are permitted a single perspective of a therapy‘s progression.

E. Once scientists learn how to engineer bioluminescence and keep it stable in large quantities, a number of other human uses for it will become available. Glowing trees have been proposed as replacements for electric lighting along busy roads, for example, which would reduce our dependence on non-renewable energy sources. The same technology used in Christmas trees for the family home would also eliminate the fire danger from electrical fairy lights. It may also be possible for crops and plants to luminesce when they require watering, and for meat and dairy products to ―tell us‖ when they have become contaminated by bacteria. In a similar way. forensic investigators could detect bacterial species on corpses through bioluminescence. Finally, there is an element of pure novelty. Children‘s toys and stickers are often made with glow-in-the-dark qualities, and a biological form would allow rabbits, mice, fish, and other pets to glow as well.


Questions 1-5. Reading Passage 1 has five sections, A-E. Choose the correct headings for sections A-E from the list of headingsbelow. Write the correct number i-ix in boxes 1-5 on your answersheet.

LIST OF HEADINGS

ii. Mushrooms that glow in the dark
iii. Bright creatures on land and in the sea
iv. Evolution’s solution
v. Cave-dwelling organisms
vi. Future opportunities in biological engineering
vii. Nature’s gift to medicine
viii. Bioluminescence in humans
ix. Purposes of bioluminescence in the wild
x. Luminescent pet
1. Section A
2. Section B
3. Section C
4. Section D
5. Section E



Questions 6-9. Choose FOUR letters. A—G. Write the correct letters in boxes 6-9 on your answersheet.
Which FOUR uses are listed for bioluminescence in nature?
A. ways of attracting food
B. tracing the spread of diseases
C. mating signals
D. growing trees for street lighting
E. drug trials
F. defensive tactics
G. a torch to identify food

6………..

7………..

8 ………..

9 ………..

Questions 10-13. Complete the sentences below. Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer. Write your answers in boxes 10-13 on your answer sheet


10. The luminescent fluid that a vampire squid emits has a effect on its predator.
11. In order to use bioluminescence in a trans-genetic environment, must first be removed
from a bioluminescent creature.
12. One advantage of BLI is that it could allow researchers to see how a treatment is working without altering or disturbing …………………….
13. In the future, may be able to use bioluminescence to identify evidence on dead bodies.

Reading Passage 2.

CHANGES IN MALE BODY IMAGE

A. The pressures on women to look slender, youthful, and attractive have been extensively documented, but changing expectations for women‘s bodies have varied widely. From voluptuous and curvy in the days of Marilyn Monroe to slender and androgynous when Twiggy hit the London scene in the mid- 1960s, and then on to the towering Amazonian models of the 1980s and the ―heroin chic‖ and size-zero obsession of today, it is not just clothes that go in and out of fashion for women. The prevailing notion of the perfect body for men, however, has remained remarkably static: broad shoulders, a big chest and arms, and rippling, visible abdominal muscles and powerful legs have long been the staple ingredients of a desirable male physique.

B. A growing body of evidence suggests this is changing, however. Rootsteins, a mannequin design company in Britain, has released its newest male model – the Homme nouveau – with a cinched-in 27- inch waist. “To put that into perspective,” says one female fashion reporter, “I had a 27-inch waist when I was thirteen _ and I was really skinny.” The company suggests that the Homme nouveau “redress the prevailing ‘beefcake‘ figure by carving out a far more streamlined, sinuous silhouette to match the edgier attitude of a new generation”.

C. Elsewhere in the fashion industry, the label American Apparel is releasing a line of trousers in sizes no larger than a 30-inch waist, which squeezes out most of the younger male market who have an average waistline over five inches larger. Slender young men are naturally starting to dominate the catwalks and magazine pages as well “No one wanted the big guys,” model David Gandy has said, describing how his muscled physique was losing him jobs. “It was all the skinny, androgynous look. People would look at me very, very strangely when I went to castings.”

D. Achieving such a physique can be unattainable for those without the natural genetic make-up. “I don‘t know that anyone would consider my body archetypal or as an exemplar to work towards,” notes model Davo McConville. “You couldn‘t aim for this; it‘s defined by a vacuum of flesh, by what it‘s not.” Nevertheless, statistics suggest it is not just an obsession of models, celebrities, and the media – more and more ordinary men are prepared to go to great lengths for a slender body. One indication is the growing number of men who are discovering surgical reconstruction. Male breast reduction has become especially popular, in 2009, the year-on-year growth rate for this procedure rose to 44 per cent in the United Kingdom. Liposuction also remains popular in the market for male body reconstructive surgery, with 35,000 such procedures being performed on men every year.

E. Additionally, more men now have eating disorders than ever before. These are characterized by normal eating habits, typically either the consumption of insufficient or excessive amounts of food. Eating disorders are detrimental to the physical and mental condition of people who suffer from them, and the desire to achieve unrealistic physiques has been implicated as a cause. In 1990, only 10% of people suffering from anorexia or bulimia were believed to be male, but this figure has climbed steadily to around one-quarter today. Around two in five binge eaters are men. Women still make up the majority of those afflicted by eating disorders, but the perception of it being a “girly” problem has contributed to men being less likely to pursue treatment. In 2008, male eating disorders were thrust into the spotlight when former British Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott, admitted to habitually gorging on junk food and then inducing himself to vomit while in office. “I never admitted to this out of the shame and embarrassment,” he said. ―I found it difficult as a man like me to admit that I suffered from bulimia.”

F. In some respects, the slim male silhouette seems to be complementing, rather than displacing, the G. I. Joe physique. Men‘s Health, one of the only titles to weather the floundering magazine market with sales increasing to a quarter of a million per issue, has a staple diet of bulky men on the cover who entice readers with the promise of big, powerful muscles. Advertising executives and fashion editors suggest that in times of recession and political uncertainty, the more robust male body image once again becomes desirable. Academic research supports this claim, indicating that more “feminine” features are desirable for men in comfortable and secure societies, while “masculine” physical traits are more attractive where survival comes back to the individual. A University of Aberdeen study, conducted using 4,500 women from over 30 countries, found a pronounced correlation between levels of public healthcare and the amount of effeminacy women preferred in their men. In Sweden, the country considered to have the best healthcare, 68 per cent of women preferred the men who were shown with feminine facial features. In Brazil, the country with the worst healthcare in the study, only 45 per cent of women were so inclined. “The results suggest that as healthcare improves, more masculine men fall out of favour,” the researchers concluded.

G. Ultimately, columnist Polly Vernon has written, we are left with two polarized ideals of masculine beauty. One is the sleek, slender silhouette that exudes cutting-edge style and a wealthy, comfortable lifestyle. The other is the ‘strong, muscular, austerity-resistant” form that suggests a man can look after himself with his own bare hands. These ideals co-exist by pulling men in different directions and encouraging them to believe they must always be chasing physical perfection, while simultaneously destabilizing any firm notions of what physical perfection requires.

H. As a result, attaining the ideal body becomes an ever more futile and time-consuming task. Vernon concludes that this means less time for the more important things in life, and both sexes should resist the
compulsive obsession with beauty.


Questions 14-20. Reading Passage 2 has eight paragraphs, A-H. Which paragraph contains the following information? Write the correct letter, A-H, in boxes 14-20 on your answer sheet. NB You may use any letter more than once.

14. an opinion on whether body image changes have positive or negative effects
15. a historical comparison of gendered body images
16. a humiliating confession of overeating by a public figure
17. a cosmetic operation that has become increasingly popular
18. a health condition afflicting increasing numbers of men
19. the effect of changing body ideals on a male model
20. an explanation of how living standards affect the desirability of male physiques

Questions 21-26. Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 2? In boxes 21—26 on your answer sheet, write:
YES, if the statement agrees with the views of the writer
NO, if the statement contradicts with the view of the writer
NOT GIVEN, if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this

21. A thin body is achievable for men regardless of their genes.
22. Male liposuction is more popular than male breast-reduction.
23. Rating disorders harm the mind and body.
24. Women seek help for eating disorders more often than men.
25. Men’s Health has suffered from a downturn in magazine sales.
26. As public healthcare improves, men become more feminine.

READING PASSAGE 3. You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 27-40. which are based on Reading Passage 3 below.

EATS, SHOOTS AND LEAVES. A BOOK REVIEW

A. The title of Eats, Shoots and Leaves refers to a famously misplaced comma in a wildlife manual that ended up suggesting a panda rather violently ―eats, shoots and leaves‖ instead of eating shoots andleaves. The author of this book, journalist Lynne Truss, is something akin to a militant linguist, dedicating this “zero tolerance” manifesto on grammar to the striking Bolshevik printers of St. Petersburg who, in demanding the same remuneration for punctuation as they received for letters, ended up setting in motion the first Russian Revolution.

B. Some of the books involve humorous attacks on erroneous punctuation. There is the confused Shakespearian thespian who inadvertently turns a frantic plea: “Go, get him surgeons!” into the cheerful encouragement of “Go get him, surgeons!” Street and shop signs have a ubiquitous presence. A bakery declares “FRESH DONUT‘S SOLD HERE” and a florist curiously announces that “Pansy‘s here!” (Is she?). The shameless title of a Hollywood film Two Weeks Notice is reeled in for criticism – “Would they similarly call it One Weeks Notice?”, Truss enquires – and sometimes, as in the case of signs promoting “ANTIQUE‘S” and “Potatoe‘s” – one questions whether we are bearing witness to new depths of grammar ignorance, or a postmodern caricature of atrocious punctuation.

C. Eats, Shoots and Leaves is not just a piece of comedy and ridicule, however, and Truss has plenty to offer on the question of proper grammar usage. If you have ever wondered whether it is acceptable to simply use an “em dash” in place of a comma – the verdict from Truss is that you can. “The dash is less formal than the semicolon, which makes it more attractive,” she suggests. “It enhances conversational tone; and … it is capable of quite subtle effects.” The author concludes, with characteristic wry condescension, that the em dash‘s popularity largely rests on people knowing it is almost impossible to use incorrectly. A truss is a personal champion of the semicolon, a historically contentious punctuation mark elsewhere maligned by novelist Kurt Vonnegut Jr., as a “transvestite hermaphrodite representing absolutely nothing”. Coming to the semicolon‘s defence. Truss suggests that while it can certainly be overused, she refers to the dying words of one 20th century writer: “I should have used fewer semicolons, the semicolon can perform the role of a kind of Special Policeman in the event of comma fights.”

D. Truss has come under criticism on two broad points. The first argument criticises the legitimacy of her authority as a punctuation autocrat. Louis Menand, writing in the New Yorker, details Eats, Shoots and Leaves‘ numerous grammatical and punctuation sins: a comma-free non-restrictive clause; a superfluous ellipsis; a misplaced apostrophe; a misused parenthesis; two misused semicolons; an erroneous hyphen in the word “abuzz”, and so on. In fact, as Menand notes, half the semicolons in the Truss book are spuriously deployed because they stem from the author‘s open flouting of the rule that semicolons must only connect two independent clauses. “Why would a person not just vague about the rules but disinclined to follow them bother to produce a guide to punctuation?” Menand inquires. Ultimately, he holds Truss accused of producing a book that pleases those who “just need to vent” and concludes that Eats, Shoots and Leaves is actually a tirade against the decline of language and print that disguises itself, thinly and poorly, as some kind of a style manual.

E. Linguist David Chrystal has criticised what he describes as a “linguistic purism” coursing through Truss‘ book. Linguistic purism is the notion that one variety of language is somehow more-pure than others, with this sense of purity often based on an idealised historical point in the language‘s development, but sometimes simply in reference to an abstract idea. In The Fight for English: How Language Pundits Ate, Shot and Left, Chrystal – a former colleague of Truss – condemns the no-holds- barred approach to punctuation and grammar. “Zero tolerance does not allow for flexibility,” he argues. “It is prescriptivism taken to extremes. It suggests that language is in a state where all the rules are established with 100 per cent certainty. The suggestion is false. We do not know what all the rules of punctuation are. And no rule of punctuation is followed by all of the people all of the time.”

F. Other detractors of Truss‘ “prescriptivism” are careful to disassociate needless purism from robust and sensible criticism, an oppositional stance they call descriptivism. “Don‘t ever imagine,” Geoffrey K. Pullum on the Language Log emphasises, “that I think all honest attempts at using English are just as good as any others. [ Bad writing needs to be fixed. But let‘s make sure we fix the right things.” In other words, we do not require a dogmatic approach to clean up the misused language. Charles Gaulke concurs, noting that his opposition to “prescriptivism” does not require contending with the existence of standards themselves, but questioning whether our standards should determine what works, or whether what works should determine our standards.

G. Ultimately, it is unlikely the purists and pedagogues will ever make absolute peace with those who see language as a fluid, creative process within which everyone has a role to play. Both sides can learn to live in a sort of contentious harmony, however. Creativity typically involves extending, adapting and critiquing the status quo, and revising and reviving old traditions while constructing new ones. Rules must exist in order for this process to take place, if only for them to be broken. On the flip side, rules have an important role to play in guiding our language into forms that can be accessed by people across all manner of differences, so it is vital to acknowledge the extent to which they can be democratic, rather than merely autocratic in function. Nevertheless, all the regulations in the world cannot stem the natural spring of language, which bursts through rivets and snakes around the dams that linguistic authorities may try to put in place. We should celebrate rather than curse these inevitabletensions.



Questions 27-32. Look as the following statements (Questions 27-32) and the list of people below. Match each statement with the correct person A-E. Write the correct letter A-E in boxes 27-32 on your answer sheet. NB You may use any letter more than once.

27. Mistakes should be corrected on the basis of common sense.
28. No one has legitimacy as an ultimate authority on punctuation use.
29. Eats, Shoots and Leaves is not the type of book it claims to be.
30. The idea that some forms of language can be better than others is wrong.
31. The semicolon has no real purpose.
32. We can ask whether rules are helpful without undermining the need for rules.

List of people

A. Kurt Vonnegut Jr
B. Louis Menand
C. David Chrystal
D. Geoffrey K. Pullum
E. Charles Gaulke



Questions 33-37. Complete the summary below. Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer. Write your answers in boxes 33-37 on your answersheet.

Eats, Shoots and Leaves is a book on punctuation by journalist Lynne Truss, who could be described as a 33 ……………………. She dedicates the book to the Bolshevik printers who started the 34 …………………. by protesting for better pay conditions. The book is partly a humorous criticism of incorrect punctuation. Some of the examples are so bad it is possible that they are actually a 35…………………. Truss also guides the reader on correct punctuation usage. She likes the em dash because it is not as 36 ……………………. as the semicolon, for example, but remains a 37 of the latter due to its ability to discipline areas of text that are crowded with commas.

Questions 38-40. Choose THREE letters, A—G. Write the correct letters in boxes 38-40 on your answer sheet.

Which THREE of the following statements form part of the author’s conclusion?

A. Rules prevent the creation of new things.
B. A centralised point of control can effectively guide the flow of language.
C. Both the descriptivists and prescriptivists have important roles to play in language evolution.
D. Disputes over matters of language rules need not be condemned.
E. Prescriptivists and descriptivists are both wrong.
F. Rules help everyone use language and do not merely prescribe usage.
G. An essential part of creativity is the rejection of that which has come before.
38…………….
39 …………….
40 …………….

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VIEW ANSWERS
IELTS ACADEMIC READING IELTS GENERAL READING VOCABULARY COACH WRTING TASK 1 VOCAB IELTS AC WRITING TASK 1 IELTS GENERAL WRITING TASK 1 IELTS WRITING TASK 2 IELTS SPEAKING TASK 1 IELTS SPEAKING TASK 2 IELTS LISTENING TEST

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Being Left-handed in a Right-handed World

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Reading Passage 1.

A The probability that two right-handed people would have a left-handed child is only about 9.5 percent. The chance rises to 19.5 percent if one parent is a lefty and 26 percent if both parents are left-handed. The preference, however, could also stem from an infant’s imitation of his parents. To test genetic influence, starting in the 1970s British biologist Marian Annett of the University of Leicester hypothesized that no single gene determines handedness. Rather, during fetal development, a certain molecular factor helps to strengthen the brain’s left hemisphere, which increases the probability that the right hand will be dominant, because the left side of the brain controls the right side of the body, and vice versa. Among the minority of people who lack this factor, handedness develops entirely by chance. Research conducted on twins complicates the theory, however. One in fivesets of identical twins involves one right-handed and one left-handed person, despite the fact that their genetic material is the same. Genes, therefore, are not solely responsible for handedness.

B Genetic theory is also undermined by results from Peter Hepper and his team at Queen’s University in Belfast, Ireland. In 2004 the psychologists used ultrasound to show that by the 15th week of pregnancy, fetuses already have a preference as to which thumb they suck. In most cases, the preference continued after birth. At 15 weeks, though, the brain does not yet have control over the body’s limbs. Hepper speculates that fetuses tend to prefer whichever side of the body is developing quicker and that their movements, in turn, influence the brain’s development. Whether this early preference is temporary or holds up throughout development and infancy is unknown. Genetic predetermination is also contradicted by the widespread observation that children do not settle on either their right or left hand until they are two or three years old.

C But even if these correlations were true, they did not explain what actually causes left-handedness. Furthermore, specialization on either side of the body is common among animals. Cats will favor one paw over another when fishing toys out from under the couch. Horses stomp more frequently with one hoof than the other. Certain crabs motion predominantly with the left or right claw. In evolutionary terms, focusing power and dexterity in one limb is more efficient than having to train two, four or even eight limbs equally. Yet for most animals, the preference for one side or the other is seemingly random. The overwhelming dominance of the right hand is associated only with humans. That fact directs attention toward the brain’s two hemispheres and perhaps toward language.

D. Interest in hemispheres dates back to at least 1836. That year, at a medical conference, French physician Marc Dax reported on an unusual commonality among his patients. During his many years as a country doctor, Dax had encountered more than 40 men and women for whom speech was difficult, the result of some kind of brain damage. What was unique was that every individual suffered damage to the left side of the brain. At the conference, Dax elaborated on his theory, stating that each half of the brain was responsible for certain functions and that the left hemisphere controlled speech. Other experts showed little interest in the Frenchman’s ideas. Over time, however, scientists found more and more evidence of peopleexperiencing speech difficulties following injury to the left brain. Patients with damage to the right hemisphere most often displayed disruptions in perception or concentration. Major advancements in understanding the brain’s asymmetry were made in the 1960s as a result of so-called split-brain surgery, developed to help patients with epilepsy. During this operation, doctors severed the corpus callosum—the nerve bundle that connects the two hemispheres. The surgical cut also stopped almost all normal communication between the two hemispheres, which offered researchers the opportunity to investigate each side’s activity.

E. In 1949 neurosurgeon Juhn Wada devised the first test to provide access to the brain’s functional organization of language. By injecting an anesthetic into the right or left carotid artery, Wada temporarily paralyzed one side of a healthy brain, enabling him to more closely study the other side’s capabilities.Based on this approach, Brenda Milner and the late Theodore Rasmussen of the Montreal Neurological
Institute published a major study in 1975 that confirmed the theory that country doctor Dax had formulated nearly 140 years earlier: in 96 percent of right-handed people, language is processed much more intensely in the left hemisphere. The correlation is not as clear in lefties, however. For two thirds of them, the left hemisphere is still the most active language processor. But for the remaining third, either the right side is dominant or both sides work equally, controlling different language functions. That last statistic has slowed acceptance of the notion that the predominance of right-handedness is driven by left- hemisphere dominance in language processing. It is not at all clear why language control should somehow have dragged the control of body movement with it. Some experts think one reason the left hemisphere reigns over language is because the organs of speech processing—the larynx and tongue— are positioned on the body’s symmetry axis. Because these structures were centered, it may have been unclear, in evolutionary terms, which side of the brain should control them, and it seems unlikely that shared operation would result in smooth motor activity. Language and handedness could have developed preferentially for very different reasons as well. For example, some researchers, including evolutionary psychologist Michael C. Corballis of the University of Auckland in New Zealand, think that the origin of human speech lies in gestures. Gestures predated words and helped language emerge. If the left hemisphere began to dominate speech, it would have dominated gestures, too, and because the left brain controls the right side of the body, the right hand developed more strongly.

F. Perhaps we will know more soon. In the meantime, we can revel in what, if any, differences handedness brings to our human talents. Popular wisdom says right-handed, left-brained people excel at logical, analytical thinking. Lefthanded, right-brained individuals are thought to possess more creative skills and may be better at combining the functional features emergent in both sides of the brain. Yet some neuroscientists see such claims as pure speculation. Fewer scientists are ready to claim that left- handedness means greater creative potential. Yet lefties are prevalent among artists, composers and the generally acknowledged great political thinkers. Possibly if these individuals are among the lefties whose language abilities are evenly distributed between hemispheres, the intense interplay required could lead to unusual mental capabilities.

G Or perhaps some lefties become highly creative simply because they must be more clever to get by in our right-handed world. This battle, which begins during the very early stages of childhood, may lay the groundwork for exceptional achievements.

Questions 1-5. Reading Passage has seven sections A-G. Which section contains the following information? Write the correct letter A-G in boxes 1-5 on your answer sheet.

  1. Preference of using one side of the body in animal species.
  2. How likely one-handedness is born.
  3. The age when the preference of using one hand is settled.
  4. Occupations usually found in left-handed population.
  5. A reference to an early discovery of each hemisphere’s function.

    Questions 6-9. Look at the following researchers (Questions 6-9) and the list of findings below. Match each researcher with the correct finding.Write the correct letter A-G in boxes 6-9 on your answer sheet.

    List of Findings

    A Early language evolution is correlated to body movement and thus affecting the preference of use of one hand.

    B No single biological component determines the handedness of a child.

    C Each hemisphere of the brain is in charge of different body functions.

    D Language process is mainly centered in the left-hemisphere of the brain.

    E Speech difficulties are often caused by brain damage.

    F The rate of development of one side of the body has influence on hemisphere preference in fetus.

    G Brain function already matures by the end of the fetal stage.
  6. Marian Annett
  7. Peter Hepper
  8. Brenda Milner & Theodore Rasmussen
  9. Michael Corballis

    Questions 10-13. Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage? In boxes 10-13 on your answer sheet write
    YES if the sataement agrees with the information 
    NO if the statement contradicts the information 
    NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this

  10. The study of twins shows that genetic determinationis not the only factor for left-. handedness
  11. Marc Dax’s report was widely accepted in his time.
  12. Juhn Wada based his findings on his research of people with language problems.
  13. There tend to be more men with left-handedness than women.

    Reading Passage 2. The Motor Car – 2

    A There are now over 700 million motor vehicles in the world – and the number is rising by more than 40 million each year. The average distance driven by car users is growing too – from 8 km a day per person in western Europe in 1965 to 25 km a day in 1995. This dependence on motor vehicles has given rise to major problems, including environmental pollution, depletion of oil resources, traffic congestion and safety.

    B While emissions from new cars are far less harmful than they used to be, city streets and motorways are becoming more crowded than ever, often with older trucks, buses and taxis, which emit excessive levels of smoke and fumes. This concentration of vehicles makes air quality in urban areas unpleasant and sometimes dangerous to breathe. Even Moscow has joined the list of capitals afflicted by congestion and traffic fumes. In Mexico City, vehicle pollution is a major health hazard.

    C Until a hundred years ago, most journeys were in the 20 km range, the distance conveniently accessible by horse. Heavy freight could only be carried by water or rail. The invention of the motor vehicle brought personal mobility to the masses and made rapid freight delivery possible over a much wider area. Today about 90 per cent of inland freight in the United Kingdom is carried by road. Clearly the world cannot revert to the horse-drawn wagon. Can it avoid being locked into congested and polluting ways of transporting people and goods?

    D In Europe most cities are still designed for the old modes of transport. Adaptation to the motor car has involved adding ring roads, one-way systems and parking lots. In the United States, more land is assigned to car use than to housing. Urban sprawl means that life without a car is next to impossible. Mass use of motor vehicles has also killed or injured millions of people. Other social effects have been blamed on the car such as alienation and aggressive human behaviour.

    E A 1993 study by the European Federation for Transport and Environment found that car transport is seven times as costly as rail travel in terms of the external social costs it entails such as congestion, accidents, pollution, loss of cropland and natural habitats, depletion of oil resources, and so on. Yet cars easily surpass trains or buses as a flexible and convenient mode of personal transport. It is unrealistic to expect people to give up private cars in favour of mass transit.

    F Technical solutions can reduce the pollution problem and increase the fuel efficiency of engines. But fuel consumption and exhaust emissions depend on which cars are preferred by customers and how they are driven. Many people buy larger cars than they need for daily purposes or waste fuel by driving aggressively. Besides, global car use is increasing at a faster rate than the improvement in emissions and fuel efficiency which technology is now making possible.

    G One solution that has been put forward is the long-term solution of designing cities and neighbourhoods so that car journeys are not necessary – all essential services being located within walking distance or easily accessible by public transport. Not only would this save energy and cut carbon dioxide emissions, it would also enhance the quality of community life, putting the emphasis on people instead of cars. Good local government is already bringing this about in some places. But few democratic communities are blessed with the vision – and the capital – to make such profound changes in modern lifestyles.

    H A more likely scenario seems to be a combination of mass transit systems for travel into and around cities, with small ‘low emission’ cars for urban use and larger hybrid or lean burn cars for use elsewhere. Electronically tolled highways might be used to ensure that drivers pay charges geared to actual road use. Better integration of transport systems is also highly desirable – and made more feasible by modern computers. But these are solutions for countries which can afford them. In most developing countries, old cars and old technologies continue to predominate.

    Questions 14-19. Reading Passage 2 has eight paragraphs (A-H). Which paragraphs concentrate on the following information?Write the appropriate letters (A-H) in boxes 1-6 on your answer sheet.NB You need only write ONE letter for each answer.
  14. a comparison of past and present transportation methods
  15. how driving habits contribute to road problems
  16. the relative merits of cars and public transport
  17. the writer’s own prediction of future solutions
  18. the increasing use of motor vehicles
  19. the impact of the car on city development

    Questions 20–26.Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 2? In boxes 20-26 on your answer sheet write
    YES if the statement agrees with the information
    NO if the statement contradicts the information
    NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this in the passage
  20. Vehicle pollution is worse in European cities than anywhere else.
  21. Transport by horse would be a useful alternative to motor vehicles.
  22. Nowadays freight is not carried by water in the United Kingdom.
  23. Most European cities were not designed for motor vehicles.
  24. Technology alone cannot solve the problem of vehicle pollution.
  25. People’s choice of car and attitude to driving is a factor in the pollution problem.
  26. Redesigning cities would be a short-term solution.

Reading passage 3. Motivating Drives

Scientists have been researching the way to get employees motivated for many years. This research in a relational study which builds the fundamental and comprehensive model for study. This is especially true when the business goal is to turn unmotivated teams into productive ones. But their researchers have limitations. It is like studying the movements of car without taking out the engine.

Motivation is what drives people to succeed and plays a vital role in enhancing an organizational development. It is important to study the motivation of employees because it is related to the emotion and behavior of employees. Recent studies show there are four drives for motivation. They are the drive to acquire, the drive to bond, the drive to comprehend and the drive to defend.

The Drive to Acquire

The drive to acquire must be met to optimize the acquire aspect as well as the achievement element. Thus the way that outstanding performance is recognized, the type of perks that is provided to polish the career path. But sometimes a written letter of appreciation generates more motivation than a thousand dollar check, which can serve as the invisible power to boost business engagement. Successful organizations and leaders not only need to focus on the optimization of physical reward but also on moving other levers within the organization that can drive motivation.

The Drive to Bond

The drive to bond is also key to driving motivation. There are many kinds of bonds between people, like friendship, family. In company, employees also want to be an essential part of company. They want to belong to the company. Employees will be motivated if they find personal belonging to the company. In the meantime, the most commitment will be achieved by the employee on condition that the force of motivation within the employee affects the direction, intensity and persistence of decision and behavior in company.

The Drive to Comprehend

The drive to comprehend motivates many employees to higher performance. For years, it has been known that setting stretch goals can greatly impact performance. Organizations need to ensure that the various job roles provide employees with simulation that challenges them or allow them to grow. Employees don’t want to do meaningless things or monotonous job. If the job didn’t provide them with personal meaning and fulfillment, they will leave the company.

The Drive to Defend

The drive to defend is often the hardest lever to pull. This drive manifests itself as a quest to create and promote justice, fairness, and the ability to express ourselves freely. The organizational lever for this basic human motivator is resource allocation. This drive is also met through an employee feeling connection to a company. If their companies are merged with another, they will show worries.

Two studies have been done to find the relations between the four drives and motivation. The article based on two studies was finally published in Harvard Business Review. Most authors’ arguments have laid emphasis on four-drive theory and actual investigations. Using the results of the surveys which executed with employees from Fortune 500 companies and other two global businesses (P company and H company) , the article mentions about how independent drives influence employees’ behavior and how organizational levers boost employee motivation.

The studies show that the drive to bond is most related to fulfilling commitment, while the drive to comprehend is most related to how much effort employees spend on works. The drive to acquire can be satisfied by a rewarding system which ties rewards to performances, and gives the best people opportunities for advancement. For drive to defend, a study on the merging of P company and H company shows that employees in former company show an unusual cooperating attitude.

The key to successfully motivate employees is to meet all drives. Each of these drives is important if we are to understand employee motivation. These four drives, while not necessarily the only human drives, are the ones that are central to unified understanding of modern human life.

Questions 27-31. Choose the correct letter A, B, C or D. Write the correct letter in boxes 27-31 on your answer sheet.

27. According to the passage, what are we told about the study of motivation?

A The theory of motivating employees is starting to catch attention in organizations in recent years.

B It is very important for managers to know how to motivate their subordinates because it is related to the salary of employees.

C Researchers have tended to be too theoretical to their study.

D The goal of employee motivation is to increase the profit of organizations.

28. What can be inferred from the passage about the study of people’s drives?

A Satisfying employees’ drives can positively lead to the change of behavior.

B Satisfying employees’ drives will negatively affect their emotions.

C Satisfying employees’ drives can increase companies’ productions.

D Satisfying employees’ drives will result in employees’ outstanding performance.

29. According to paragraph three, in order to optimize employees’ performance, are needed.

A Drive to acquire and achievement element

B Outstanding performance and recognition

C Career fulfillment and a thousand dollar check

D Financial incentive and recognition

30. According to paragraph five, how does “the drive to comprehend” help employees perform better?

A It can help employees better understand the development of their organizations.

B It can help employees feel their task in meaningful to their companies.

C It can help employees set higher goals.

D It can provide employees with repetitive tasks.

31. According to paragraph six, which of following is true about “drive to defend”?

A Organizational resource is the most difficult to allocate.

B It is more difficult to implement than the drive to comprehend.

C Employees think it is very important to voice their own opinions.

D Employees think it is very important to connect with a merged corporation.

Questions 32-34. Choose THREE letters, A-F. Write the correct letters in boxes 32-34 on your answer sheet.

Which THREE of the following statements are true of study of drives?

A Employees will be motivated if they feel belonged to the company.

B If employees get an opportunity of training and development program, their motivation will be enhanced.

C If employees’ working goals are complied with organizational objectives, their motivation will be reinforced.

D If employees’ motivation in very low, companies should find a way to increase their salary as their first priority.

E If employees find their work lacking challenging, they will leave the company.

F Employees will worry if their company is sold.

Questions 35-40. Do the following statements agree with the claims of the writer in Reading Passage? In boxes 35-40 on your answer sheet, write

YES if the statement agree 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

35. Increasing pay can lead to the high work motivation.
36. Local companies benefit more from global companies through the study.
37. Employees achieve the most commitment if their drive to comprehend is met.
38. The employees in former company presented unusual attitude toward the merging of two companies.
39. The two studies are done to analyze the relationship between the natural drives and the attitude of employees.
40. Rewarding system cause the company to lose profit.

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BAKELITE IELTS READING

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Reading passage 1

In 1907, Leo Hendrick Baekeland, a Belgian scientist working in New York, discovered and patented a revolutionary new synthetic material. His invention, which he named ‘Bakelite’, was of enormous technological importance, and effectively launched the modern plastics industry.

The term ‘plastic’ comes from the Greek plassein, meaning ‘to mould’. Some plastics are derived from natural sources, some are semi-synthetic (the result of chemical action on a natural substance), and some are entirely synthetic, that is, chemically engineered from the constituents of coal or oil. Some are ‘thermoplastic’, which means that, like candlewax, they melt when heated and can then be reshaped.

Others are ‘thermosetting’: like eggs, they cannot revert to their original viscous state, and their shape is thus fixed forever. Bakelite had the distinction of being the first totally synthetic thermosetting plastic.

The history of today’s plastics begins with the discovery of a series of semi-synthetic thermoplastic materials in the mid-nineteenth century. The impetus behind the development of these early plastics was generated by a number of factors – immense technological progress in the domain of chemistry, coupled with wider cultural changes, and the pragmatic need to find acceptable substitutes for dwindling supplies of ‘luxury’ materials such as tortoiseshell and ivory.

Baekeland’s interest in plastics began in 1885 when, as a young chemistry student in Belgium, he embarked on research into phenolic resins, the group of sticky substances produced when phenol (carbolic acid) combines with an aldehyde (a volatile fluid similar to alcohol). He soon abandoned the subject, however, only returning to it some years later. By 1905 he was a wealthy New Yorker, having recently made his fortune with the invention of a new photographic paper. While Baekeland had been busily amassing dollars, some advances had been made in the development of plastics. The years 1899 and 1900 had seen the patenting of the first semi-synthetic thermosetting material that could be manufactured on an industrial scale. In purely scientific terms, Baekeland’s major contribution to the field is not so much the actual discovery of the material to which he gave his name, but rather the method by which a reaction between phenol and formaldehyde could be controlled, thus making possible its preparation on a commercial basis. On 13 July 1907, Baekeland took out his famous patent describing this preparation, the essential features of which are still in use today.

The original patent outlined a three-stage process, in which phenol and formaldehyde (from wood or coal) were initially combined under vacuum inside a large egg-shaped kettle. The result was a resin known as Novalak, which became soluble and malleable when heated. The resin was allowed to cool in shallow trays until it hardened, and then broken up and ground into powder. Other substances were then introduced: including fillers, such as woodflour, asbestos or cotton, which increase strength and moisture resistance, catalysts (substances to speed up the reaction between two chemicals without joining to either) and hexa, a compound of ammonia and formaldehyde which supplied the additional formaldehyde necessary to form a thermosetting resin. This resin was then left to cool and harden, and ground up a second time. The resulting granular powder was raw Bakelite, ready to be made into a vast range of manufactured objects. In the last stage, the heated Bakelite was poured into a hollow mould of the required shape and subjected to extreme heat and pressure; thereby ‘setting’ its form for life.

The design of Bakelite objects, everything from earrings to television sets, was governed to a large extent by the technical requirements of the moulding process. The object could not be designed so that it was locked into the mould and therefore difficult to extract. A common general rule was that objects should taper towards the deepest part of the mould, and if necessary the product was moulded in separate pieces. Moulds had to be carefully designed so that the molten Bakelite would flow evenly and completely into the mould. Sharp corners proved impractical and were thus avoided, giving rise to the smooth, ‘streamlined’ style popular in the 1930s. The thickness of the walls of the mould was also crucial: thick walls took longer to cool and harden, a factor which had to be considered by the designer in order to make the most efficient use of machines.

Baekeland’s invention, although treated with disdain in its early years, went on to enjoy an unparalleled popularity which lasted throughout the first half of the twentieth century. It became the wonder product of the new world of industrial expansion — ‘the material of a thousand uses’. Being both non- porous and heat-resistant, Bakelite kitchen goods were promoted as being germ-free and sterilisable.

Electrical manufacturers seized on its insulating: properties, and consumers everywhere relished its dazzling array of shades, delighted that they were now, at last, no longer restricted to the wood tones and drab browns of the pre-plastic era. It then fell from favour again during the 1950s, and was despised and destroyed in vast quantities. Recently, however, it has been experiencing something of a renaissance, with renewed demand for original Bakelite objects in the collectors’ marketplace, and museums, societies and dedicated individuals once again appreciating the style and originality of this innovative material.

Questions 1-3. Complete the summary. Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer. Write your answers in boxes 1-3 on your answer sheet.

Some plastics behave in a similar way to 1……………….. in that they melt under heat and can be moulded into new forms. Bakelite was unique because it was the first material to be both entirely 2……………….. in origin and thermosetting.

There were several reasons for the research into plastics in the nineteenth century, among them the great advances that had been made in the field of 3……………….. and the search for alternatives to natural resources like ivory.

Questions 4-8. Complete the flow-chart. Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.Write your answers in boxes 4-8 on your answer sheet.

Questions 9-10. Write your answers in boxes 9 and 10 on your answer sheet. Your answers may be given in either order.

Which TWO of the following factors influencing the design of Bakelite objects are mentioned in the text?

A the function which the object would serve

B the ease with which the resin could fill the mould

C the facility with which the object could be removed from the mould

D the limitations of the materials used to manufacture the mould

E the fashionable styles of the period

Questions 11-13. Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1? In for questions 11-13, write

TRUE if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this statement

11 Modern-day plastic preparation is based on the same principles as that patented in 1907.
12 Bakelite was immediately welcomed as a practical and versatile material.
13 Bakelite was only available in a limited range of colours

Reading passage 2. What’s so funny?


John McCrone reviews recent research on humour.

The joke comes over the headphones: ‘Which side of a dog has the most hair? The left.’ No, not funny. Try again. ‘Which side of a dog has the most hair? The outside.’ Hah! The punchline is silly yet fitting, tempting a smile, even a laugh. Laughter has always struck people as deeply mysterious, perhaps pointless. The writer Arthur Koestler dubbed it the luxury reflex: ‘unique in that it serves no apparent biological purpose’.

Theories about humour have an ancient pedigree. Plato expressed the idea that humour is simply a delighted feeling of superiority over others. Kant and Freud felt that joke-telling relies on building up a psychic tension which is safely punctured by the ludicrousness of the punchline. But most modern humour theorists have settled on some version of Aristotle’s belief that jokes are based on a reaction to or resolution of incongruity, when the punchline is either a nonsense or, though appearing silly, has a clever second meaning.

Graeme Ritchie, a computational linguist in Edinburgh, studies the linguistic structure of jokes in order to understand not only humour but language understanding and reasoning in machines. He says that while there is no single format for jokes, many revolve around a sudden and surprising conceptual shift. A comedian will present a situation followed by an unexpected interpretation that is also apt. So, even if a punchline sounds silly, the listener can see there is a clever semantic fit and that sudden mental ‘Aha!’ is the buzz that makes us laugh. Viewed from this angle, humour is just a form of creative insight, a sudden leap to a new perspective.

However, there is another type of laughter, the laughter of social appeasement and it is important to understand this too. Play is a crucial part of development in most young mammals. Rats produce ultrasonic squeaks to prevent their scuffles turning nasty. Chimpanzees have a ‘play-face’ – a gaping expression accompanied by a panting ‘ah, ah’ noise. In humans, these signals have mutated into smiles and laughs. Researchers believe social situations, rather than cognitive events such as jokes, trigger these instinctual markers of play or appeasement.

Both social and cognitive types of laughter tap into the same expressive machinery in our brains, the emotion and motor circuits that produce smiles and excited vocalisations. However, if cognitive laughter is the product of more general thought processes, it should result from more expansive brain activity.

Psychologist Vinod Goel investigated humour using the new technique of ‘single event’ functional magnetic resonance imaging (FMRI). An MRI scanner uses magnetic fields and radio waves to track the changes in oxygenated blood that accompany mental activity. Until recently, MRI scanners needed several minutes of activity and so could not be used to track rapid thought processes such as comprehending a joke. New developments now allow half-second ‘snapshots’ of all sorts of reasoning and problem-solving activities.

Although Goel felt being inside a brain scanner was hardly the ideal place for appreciating a joke, he found evidence that understanding a joke involves a widespread mental shift. His scans showed that at the beginning of a joke the listener’ prefrontal cortex lit up, particularly the right prefrontal believed to be critical for problem solving. But there was also activity in the temporal lobes at the side of the head (consistent with attempts to rouse stored knowledge) and in many other brain areas. Then when the punchline arrived, a new area sprang to life – the orbital prefrontal cortex. This patch of brain tucked behind the orbits of the eyes is associated with evaluating information.

Making a rapid emotional assessment of the events of the moment is an extremely demanding job for the brain, animal or human. Energy and arousal levels may need to be retuned in the blink of an eye.These abrupt changes will produce either positive or negative feelings. The orbital cortex, the regionthat becomes active in Goel’s experiment, seems the best candidate for the site that feeds such feelings into higher-level thought processes, with its close connections to the brain’s sub-cortical arousal apparatus and centres of metabolic control.

All warm-blooded animals make constant tiny adjustments in arousal in response to external events, but humans, who have developed a much more complicated internal life as a result of language, respond emotionally not only to their surroundings, but to their own thoughts. Whenever a sought-for answer snaps into place, there is a shudder of pleased recognition. Creative discovery being pleasurable, humans have learned to find ways of milking this natural response. The fact that jokes tap into our general evaluative machinery explains why the line between funny and disgusting, or funny andfrightening, can be so fine. Whether a joke gives pleasure or pain depends on a person’s outlook.Humour may be a luxury, but the mechanism behind it is no evolutionary accident. As Peter Derks, a psychologist at William and Mary College in Virginia, says: ‘I like to think of humour as the distorted mirror of the mind. It’s creative, perceptual, analytical and lingual. If we can figure out how the mind processes humour, then we’ll have a pretty good handle on how it works in general.



Questions 14-20. Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 2? For questions 14-20, write
TRUE if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this statement

14 Arthur Koestler considered laughter biologically important in several ways.
15 Plato believed humour to be a sign of above-average intelligence.
16 Kant believed that a successful joke involves the controlled release of nervous energy.
17 Current thinking on humour has largely ignored Aristotle’s view on the subject.
18 Graeme Ritchie’s work links jokes to artificial intelligence.
19 Most comedians use personal situations as a source of humour.
20 Chimpanzees make particular noises when they are playing.

Questions 21-23. The diagram below shows the areas of the brain activated by jokes.

Label the diagram. Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.

Questions 24-27Complete each sentence with the correct ending A-G below. Write the correct letter A-G next to questions 24-27.

24 One of the brain’s most difficult tasks is to
25 Because of the language they have developed, humans
26 Individual responses to humour
27 Peter Derks believes that humour

A react to their own thoughts.

B helped create language in humans.

C respond instantly to whatever is happening.

D may provide valuable information about the operation of the brain.

E cope with difficult situations.

F relate to a person’s subjective views.

G led our ancestors to smile and then laugh.

Reading passage 3.

The Birth of Scientific English

World science is dominated today by a small number of languages, including Japanese, German and French, but it is English which is probably the most popular global language of science. This is not just because of the importance of English-speaking countries such as the USA in scientific research; the scientists of many non-English-speaking countries find that they need to write their research papers in English to reach a wide international audience. Given the prominence of scientific English today, it may seem surprising that no one really knew how to write science in English before the 17th century. Before that, Latin was regarded as the lingua franca for European intellectuals.

The European Renaissance (circa 14th-16th century) is sometimes called the ‘revival of learning’, a time of renewed interest in the ‘lost knowledge’ of classical times. At the same time, however, scholars also began to test and extend this knowledge. The emergent nation states of Europe developed competitive interests in world exploration and the development of trade. Such expansion, which was to take the English language west to America and east to India, was supported by scientific developments such as the discovery of magnetism (and hence the invention of the compass), improvements in cartography and – perhaps the most important scientific revolution of them all – the new theories of astronomy and the movement of the Earth in relation to the planets and stars, developed by Copernicus (1473-1543).

England was one of the first countries where scientists adopted and publicised Copernican ideas with enthusiasm. Some of these scholars, including two with interests in language – John Wall’s and John Wilkins – helped Found the Royal Society in 1660 in order to promote empirical scientific research.

Across Europe similar academies and societies arose, creating new national traditions of science. In the initial stages of the scientific revolution, most publications in the national languages were popular works, encyclopaedias, educational textbooks and translations.

Original science was not done in English until the second half of the 17th century. For example, Newton published his mathematical treatise, known as the Principia, in Latin, but published his later work on the properties of light – Optics – in English.

There were several reasons why original science continued to be written in Latin. The first was simply a matter of audience. Latin was suitable for an international audience of scholars, whereas English reached a socially wider, but more local, audience. Hence, popular science was written in English.

A second reason for writing in Latin may, perversely, have been a concern for secrecy. Open publication had dangers in putting into the public domain preliminary ideas which had not yet been fully exploited by their ‘author’ . This growing concern about intellectual property rights was a feature of the period – it reflected both the humanist notion of the individual, rational scientist who invents and discovers through private intellectual labour, and the growing connection between original science and commercial exploitation. There was something of a social distinction between ‘scholars and gentlemen’ who understood Latin, and men of trade who lacked a classical education. And in the mid-17th century it was common practice for mathematicians to keep their discoveries and proofs secret, by writing them in cipher, in obscure languages, or in private messages deposited in a sealed box with the Royal Society.

Some scientists might have felt more comfortable with Latin precisely because its audience, though international, was socially restricted. Doctors clung the most keenly to Latin as an ‘insider language’.

A third reason why the writing of original science in English was delayed may have been to do with the linguistic inadequacy of English in the early modern period. English was not well equipped to deal with scientific argument. First, it lacked the necessary technical vocabulary. Second, it lacked the grammatical resources required to represent the world in an objective and impersonal way, and to discuss the relations, such as cause and effect, that might hold between complex and hypothetical entities.

Fortunately, several members of the Royal Society possessed an interest in language and became engaged in various linguistic projects. Although a proposal in 1664 to establish a committee for improving the English language came to little, the society’s members did a great deal to foster the publication of science in English and to encourage the development of a suitable writing style. Many members of the Royal Society also published monographs in English. One of the first was by Robert Hooke, the society’s first curator of experiments, who described his experiments with microscopes in Micrographia (1665). This work is largely narrative in style, based on a transcript of oral demonstrations and lectures.

In 1665 a new scientific journal, Philosophical Transactions, was inaugurated. Perhaps the first international English-language scientific journal, it encouraged a new genre of scientific writing, that of short, focused accounts of particular experiments.

The 17th century was thus a formative period in the establishment of scientific English. In the following century much of this momentum was lost as German established itself as the leading European language of science. It is estimated that by the end of the 18th century 401 German scientific journals had been established as opposed to 96 in France and 50 in England. However, in the 19th century scientific English again enjoyed substantial lexical growth as the industrial revolution created the need for new technical vocabulary, and new, specialised, professional societies were instituted to promote and publish in the new disciplines.

Questions 28-34. Complete the summary.

For answers to questions 28-34 choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage.

In Europe modern science emerged at the same time as the nation state. At first, the scientific language of choice remained 28……………………….. It allowed scientists to communicate with other socially privileged thinkers while protecting their work from unwanted exploitation. Sometimes the desire to protect ideas seems to have been stronger than the desire to communicate them, particularly in the case of mathematicians and 29………………………. In Britain, moreover, scientists worried that English had neither the 30……………………….    nor the 31………………………. to express their ideas. This situation only changed after 1660 when scientists associated with the 32 ………………………. set about developing English. An early scientific journal fostered a new kind of writing based on short descriptions of specific experiments. Although English was then overtaken by 33……………………….     , it developed again in the 19th century as a direct result of the 34………………………..

Questions 35-37. Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 3?For questions 35- 37, write

YES if the statement agrees with the writer’s claims
NO if the statement contradicts the writer’s claims
NOT GIVEN if there is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this.

35 There was strong competition between scientists in Renaissance Europe.
36 The most important scientific development of the Renaissance period was the discovery of magnetism.
37 In 17th century Britain, leading thinkers combined their interest in science with an interest in how to express ideas.

Questions 38-40. Complete the table. Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer

Science written in the first half of the 17th century
Language usedLatinEnglish
Type of scienceOriginal38 …………………….
Examples39 ……………………. Encyclopedias
Target audienceInternational scholars40…………………….     but socially wider
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AUSTRALIA’S SPORTING SUCCESS IELTS READING

1 Comment

Reading passage 1

A They play hard, they play often, and they play to win. Australian sports teams win more than their fair share of titles, demolishing rivals with seeming ease. How do they do it? A big part of the secret is an extensive and expensive network of sporting academies underpinned by science and medicine. At the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS), hundreds of youngsters and pros live and train under the eyes of coaches. Another body, the Australian Sports Commission (ASC), finances programmes of excellence in a total of 96 sports for thousands of sportsmen and women. Both provide intensive coaching, training facilities and nutritional advice.

B Inside the academies, science takes centre stage. The AIS employs more than 100 sports scientists and doctors, and collaborates with scores of others in universities and research centres. AIS scientists work across a number of sports, applying skills learned in one – such as building muscle strength in golfers – to others, such as swimming and squash. They are backed up by technicians who design instruments to collect data from athletes. They all focus on one aim: winning. ‘We can’t waste our time looking at ethereal scientific questions that don’t help the coach work with an athlete and improve performance.’ says Peter Fricker, chief of science at AIS.

C A lot of their work comes down to measurement – everything from the exact angle of a swimmers dive to the second-by-second power output of a cyclist. This data is used to wring improvements out of athletes. The focus is on individuals, tweaking performances to squeeze an extra hundredth of a second here, an extra millimetre there. No gain is too slight to bother with. It’s the tiny, gradual improvements that add up to world-beating results. To demonstrate how the system works, Bruce Mason at AIS shows off the prototype of a 3D analysis tool for studying swimmers. A wire-frame model of a champion swimmer slices through the water, her arms moving in slow motion. Looking side-on, Mason measures the distance between strokes. From above, he analyses how her spine swivels. When fully developed, this system will enable him to build a biomechanical profile for coaches to use to help budding swimmers. Mason’s contribution to sport also includes the development of the SWAN (SWimming ANalysis) system now used in Australian national competitions. It collects images from digital cameras running at 50 frames a second and breaks down each part of a swimmers performance into factors that can be analysed individually – stroke length, stroke frequency, average duration of each stroke, velocity, start, lap and finish times, and so on. At the end of each race, SWAN spits out data on each swimmer.

D ‘Take a look.’ says Mason, pulling out a sheet of data. He points out the data on the swimmers in second and third place, which shows that the one who finished third actually swam faster. So why did he finish 35 hundredths of a second down? ‘His turn times were 44 hundredths of a second behind the other guy,’ says Mason. ‘If he can improve on his turns, he can do much better.’ This is the kind of accuracy that AIS scientists’ research is bringing to a range of sports. With the Cooperative Research Centre for Micro Technology in Melbourne, they are developing unobtrusive sensors that will be embedded in an athlete’s clothes or running shoes to monitor heart rate, sweating, heat production or any other factor that might have an impact on an athlete’s ability to run. There’s more to it than simply measuring performance. Fricker gives the example of athletes who may be down with coughs and colds 11 or 12 times a year. After years of experimentation, AIS and the University of Newcastle in New South Wales developed a test that measures how much of the immune-system protein immunoglobulin A is present in athletes’ saliva. If IgA levels suddenly fall below a certain level, training is eased or dropped altogether. Soon, IgA levels start rising again, and the danger passes. Since the tests were introduced, AIS athletes in all sports have been remarkably successful at staying healthy.

E Using data is a complex business. Well before a championship, sports scientists and coaches start to prepare the athlete by developing a ‘competition model’, based on what they expect will be the winning times. ‘You design the model to make that time.’ says Mason. ‘A start of this much, each free-swimming period has to be this fast, with a certain stroke frequency and stroke length, with turns done in these times’. All the training is then geared towards making the athlete hit those targets, both overall and for each segment of the race. Techniques like these have transformed Australia into arguably the world’s most successful sporting nation.

F Of course, there’s nothing to stop other countries copying – and many have tried. Some years ago, the AIS unveiled coolant-lined jackets for endurance athletes. At the Atlanta Olympic Games in 1996, these sliced as much as two per cent off cyclists’ and rowers times. Now everyone uses them. The same has happened to the altitude tent’, developed by AIS to replicate the effect of altitude training at sea level. But Australia’s success story is about more than easily copied technological fixes, and up to now no nation has replicated its all-encompassing system.

Questions 1-7

Reading Passage 1 has six sections, A-F. Which paragraph contains the following information? Write the correct letter A-F in boxes 1-7 on your answer sheet. NB You may use any letter more than once

  1. a reference to the exchange of expertise between different sports
  2. an explanation of how visual imaging is employed in investigations
  3. a reason for narrowing the scope of research activity
  4. how some AIS ideas have been reproduced
  5. how obstacles to optimum achievement can be investigated
  6. an overview of the funded support of athletes
  7. how performance requirements are calculated before an event


    Questions 8-11. Classify the following techniques according to whether the writer states they

    A are currently exclusively used by Australians
    B will be used in the future by Australians
    C are currently used by both Australians and their rivals

    Write the correct letter A, B, or C in boxes 8-11 on your answer sheet.
  8. cameras
  9. sensors
  10. protein tests
  11. altitude tents

    Questions 12 and 13. Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER from the Reading Passage 1 for each answer. Write your answers in boxes 12 and 13 on your answer sheet.
  12. What is produced to help an athlete plan their performance in an event?
  13. By how much did some cyclists’ performance improve at the 1996 Olympic Games?



    Reading passage 2

    DELIVERING THE GOODS

    A International trade is growing at a startling pace. While the global economy has been expanding at a bit over 3% a year, the volume of trade has been rising at a compound annual rate of about twice that. Foreign products, from meat to machinery, play a more important role in almost every economy in the world, and foreign markets now tempt businesses that never much worried about sales beyond their nation’s borders.

    B What lies behind this explosion in international commerce? The general worldwide decline in trade barriers, such as customs duties and import quotas, is surely one explanation. The economic opening of countries that have traditionally been minor players is another. But one force behind the import-export boom has passed all but unnoticed: the rapidly falling cost of getting goods to market. Theoretically, in the world of trade, shipping costs do not matter. Goods, once they have been made, are assumed to move instantly and at no cost from place to place. The real world, however, is full of frictions. Cheap labour may make Chinese clothing competitive in America, but if delays in shipment tie up working capital and cause winter coats to arrive in spring, trade may lose its advantages.

    C At the turn of the 20th century, agriculture and manufacturing were the two most important sectors almost everywhere, accounting for about 70% of total output in Germany, Italy and France, and 40-50% in America, Britain and Japan. International commerce was therefore dominated by raw materials, such as wheat, wood and iron ore, or processed commodities, such as meat and steel. But these sorts of products are heavy and bulky and the cost of transporting them relatively high.

    D Countries still trade disproportionately with their geographic neighbours. Over time, however, world output has shifted into goods whose worth is unrelated to their size and weight. Today, it is finished manufactured products that dominate the flow of trade, and, thanks to technological advances such as lightweight components, manufactured goods themselves have tended to become lighter and less bulky. As a result, less transportation isrequired for every dollar’s worth of imports or exports.

    E To see how this influences trade, consider the business of making disk drives for computers. Most ofthe world’s disk-drive manufacturing is concentrated in South-east Asia. This is possible only because disk drives, while valuable, are small and light and so cost little to ship. Computer manufacturers in Japan or Texas will not face hugely bigger freight bills if they import drives from Singapore rather than purchasing them on the domestic market. Distance therefore poses no obstacle to the globalisation of the disk-drive industry.

    F This is even more true of the fast-growing information industries. Films and compact discs cost little to transport, even by aeroplane. Computer software can be ‘exported’ without ever loading it onto a ship, simply by transmitting it over telephone lines from one country to another, so freight rates and cargo-handling schedules become insignificant factors in deciding where to make the product. Businesses can locate based on other considerations, such as the availability of labour, while worrying less about the cost of delivering their output.

    G In many countries deregulation has helped to drive the process along. But, behind the scenes, a series of technological innovations known broadly as containerisation and inter-modal transportation has led to swift productivity improvements in cargo-handling. Forty years ago, the process of exporting or importing involved a great many stages of handling, which risked portions of the shipment being damaged or stolen along the way. The invention of the container crane made it possible to load and unload containers without capsizing the ship and the adoption of standard container sizes allowed almost any box to be transported on any ship. By 1967, dual-purpose ships, carrying loose cargo in the hold and containers on the deck, were giving way to all-container vessels that moved thousands of boxes at a time.

    H The shipping container transformed ocean shipping into a highly efficient, intensely competitive business. But getting the cargo to and from the dock was a different story. National governments, by and large, kept a much firmer hand on truck and railroad tariffs than on charges for ocean freight. This started changing, however, in the mid-1970s, when America began to deregulate its transportation industry. First airlines, then road hauliers and railways, were freed from restrictions on what they could carry, where they could haul it and what price they could charge. Big productivity gains resulted. Between 1985 and 1996, for example, America’s freight railways dramatically reduced their employment, trackage, and their fleets of locomotives – while increasing the amount of cargo they hauled. Europe’s railways have also shown marked, albeit smaller, productivity improvements.

    I In America the period of huge productivity gains in transportation may be almost over, but in most countries the process still has far to go. State ownership of railways and airlines, regulation of freight rates and toleration of anti- competitive practices, such as cargo-handling monopolies, all keep the cost of shipping unnecessarily high anddeter international trade. Bringing these barriers down would help the world’s economies grow even closer.

    Questions 14-17. Reading Passage 2 has six sections, A-I.Which paragraph contains the following information?Write the correct letter A-I in boxes 14-17 on your answer sheet.
  14. a suggestion for improving trade in the future
  15. the effects of the introduction of electronic delivery
  16. the similar cost involved in transporting a product from abroad or from a local supplier
  17. the weakening relationship between the value of goods and the cost of their delivery

    Questions 18-22. Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 2? In boxes 18-22 on your answer sheet, write
    TRUE if the statement agrees with the information
    FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
    NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this
  18. International trade is increasing at a greater rate than the world economy.
  19. Cheap labour guarantees effective trade conditions.
  20. Japan imports more meat and steel than France.
  21. Most countries continue to prefer to trade with nearby nations.
  22. Small computer components are manufactured in Germany.
Questions 23-26

Complete the summary using the list of words, A-K, below. Write the correct letter, A-K, in boxes 23-26 on your answer sheet.

THE TRANSPORT REVOLUTION

Modern cargo-handling methods have had a significant effect on (23) ……………….. as the business of moving freight around the world becomes increasingly streamlined. Manufacturers of computers, for instance, are able to import

(24) ……………….. from overseas, rather than having to rely on a local supplier. The introduction of (25)………………….. has meant that bulk cargo can be safely and efficiently moved over long distances. While international shipping is now efficient, there is still a need for governments to reduce (26) ………………..in order to free up the domestic cargo sector.

A. tariffsB. componentsC. container shipsD. output
E. employeesF. insurance costsG. tradeH. freight
I. faresJ. softwareK. international standards

Reading passage 3.

Climate change and the Inuit


A Unusual incidents are being reported across the Arctic. Inuit families going off on snowmobiles to prepare their summer hunting camps have found themselves cut off from home by a sea of mud,following early thaws. There are reports of igloos losing their insulating properties as the snow drips and refreezes, of lakes draining into the sea as permafrost melts, and sea ice breaking up earlier than usual, carrying seals beyond the reach of hunters. Climate change may still be a rather abstract idea to most of us, but in the Arctic it is already having dramatic effects – if summertime ice continues to shrink at its present rate, the Arctic Ocean could soon become virtually ice-free in summer. The knock-on effects are likely to include more warming, cloudier skies, increased precipitation and higher sea levels. Scientists are increasingly keen to find out what’s going on because they consider the Arctic the ‘canary in the mine’ for global warming – a warning of what’s in store for the rest of the world.


B For the Inuit the problem is urgent. They live in precarious balance with one of the toughest environments on earth. Climate change, whatever its causes, is a direct threat to their way of life. Nobody knows the Arctic as well as the locals, which is why they are not content simply to stand back and let outside experts tell them what’s happening. In Canada, where the Inuit people are jealously guarding their hard-won autonomy in the country’s newest territory, Nunavut, they believe their best hope of survival in this changing environment lies in combining their ancestral knowledge with the best of modern science. This is a challenge in itself.

C The Canadian Arctic is a vast, treeless polar desert that’s covered with snow for most of the year. Venture into this terrain and you get some idea of the hardships facing anyone who calls this home. Farming is out of the question and nature offers meagre pickings. Humans first settled in the Arctic a mere 4,500 years ago, surviving by exploiting sea mammals and fish. The environment tested them to the limits: sometimes the colonists were successful, sometimes they failed and vanished. But around a thousand years ago, one group emerged that was uniquely well adapted to cope with the Arctic environment. These Thule people moved in from Alaska, bringing kayaks, sleds, dogs, pottery and iron tools. They are the ancestors of today’s Inuit people.

D Life for the descendants of the Thule people is still harsh. Nunavut is 1.9 million square kilometres of rock and ice, and a handful of islands around the North Pole. It’s currently home to 2,500 people, all but a handful of them indigenous Inuit. Over the past 40 years, most have abandoned their nomadic ways and settled in the territory’s 28 isolated communities, but they still rely heavily on nature to provide food and clothing.Provisions available in local shops have to be flown into Nunavut on one of the most costly air networks in the world, or brought by supply ship during the few ice-free weeks of summer. It would cost a family around £7,000 a year to replace meat they obtained themselves through hunting with imported meat. Economic opportunities are scarce, and for many people state benefits are their only income.

E While the Inuit may not actually starve if hunting and trapping are curtailed by climate change, there has certainly been an impact on people’s health. Obesity, heart disease and diabetes are beginning to appear in a people for whom these have never before been problems. There has been a crisis of identity as the traditional skills of hunting, trapping and preparing skins have begun to disappear. In Nunavut’s ‘igloo and email’ society, where adults who were born in igloos have children who may never have been out on the land, there’s a high incidence of depression.

F With so much at stake, the Inuit are determined to play a key role in teasing out the mysteries of climate change in the Arctic. Having survived there for centuries, they believe their wealth of traditional knowledge is vital to the task. And Western scientists are starting to draw on this wisdom, increasingly referred to as ‘Inuit Qaujimajatugangit’, or IQ. ‘In the early days scientists ignored us when they came up here to study anything. They just figured these people don’t know very much so we won’t ask them,’ says John Amagoalik, an Inuit leader and politician. ‘But in recent years IQ has had much more credibility and weight.’ In fact it is now a requirement for anyone hoping to get permission to do research that they consult the communities, who are helping to set the research agenda to reflect their most important concerns. They can turn down applications from scientists they believe will work against their interests, or research projects that will impinge too much on their daily lives and traditional activities.

G Some scientists doubt the value of traditional knowledge because the occupation of the Arctic doesn’t go back far enough. Others, however, point out that the first weather stations in the far north date back just 50 years.There are still huge gaps in our environmental knowledge, and despite the scientific onslaught, many predictions are no more than best guesses. IQ could help to bridge the gap and resolve the tremendous uncertainty about how much of what we’re seeing is natural capriciousness and how much is the consequence of human activity.



Questions 27-32. Choose the correct heading for paragraphs B-G from the list of headings below.

List of Headings

i The reaction of the Inuit community to climate change

ii Understanding of climate change remains limited

iii Alternative sources of essential supplies

iv Respect for Inuit opinion grows

v A healthier choice of food

vi A difficult landscape

vii Negative effects on well-being

viii Alarm caused by unprecedented events in the Arctic

ix The benefits of an easier existence

27 Paragraph B

28 Paragraph C

29 Paragraph D

30 Paragraph E

31 Paragraph F

32 Paragraph G

Questions 33-40. Complete the summary of paragraphs C and D below. Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from paragraphs C and D for each answer.

If you visit the Canadian Arctic, you immediately appreciate the problems faced by people for whom this is home. It would clearly be impossible for the people to engage in (33)……………….. as a means of supporting themselves.

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Attitudes to Language IELTS Reading

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Reading passage 1

It is not easy to be systematic and objective about language study. Popular linguistic debate regularly deteriorates into invective and polemic. Language belongs to everyone, so most people feel they have a right to hold an opinion about it. And when opinions differ, emotions can run high. Arguments can start as easily over minor points of usage as over major policies of linguistic education.

Language, moreover, is a very public behaviour, so it is easy for different usages to be noted and criticised. No part of society or social behaviour is exempt: linguistic factors influence how we judge personality, intelligence, social status, educational standards, job aptitude, and many other areas of identity and social survival. As a result, it is easy to hurt, and to be hurt, when language use is unfeelingly attacked.

In its most general sense, prescriptivism is the view that one variety of language has an inherently higher value than others, and that this ought to be imposed on the whole of the speech community. The view is propounded especially in relation to grammar and vocabulary, and frequently with reference to pronunciation. The variety which is favoured, in this account, is usually a version of the ‘standard’ written language, especially as encountered in literature, or in the formal spoken language which most closely reflects this style. Adherents to this variety are said to speak or write ‘correctly’; deviations from it are said to be ‘incorrect!

All the main languages have been studied prescriptively, especially in the 18th-century approach to the writing of grammars and dictionaries. The aims of these early grammarians were threefold: (a) they wanted to codify the principles of their languages, to show that there was a system beneath the apparent chaos of usage, (b) they wanted a means of settling disputes over usage, and (c) they wanted to point out what they felt to be common errors, in order to ‘improve’ the language. The authoritarian nature of the approach is best characterized by its reliance on ‘rules’ of grammar. Some usages are ‘prescribed,’ to be learned and followed accurately; others are ‘proscribed,’ to be avoided. In this early period, there were no half- measures: usage was either right or wrong, and it was the task of the grammarian not simply to record alternatives but to pronounce judgment upon them

These attitudes are still with us, and they motivate a widespread concern that linguistic standards should be maintained. Nevertheless, there is an alternative point of view that is concerned less with standards than with the facts of linguistic usage. This approach is summarised in the statement that it is the task of the grammarian to describe, not prescribe to record the facts of linguistic diversity, and not to attempt the impossible tasks of evaluating language variation or halting language change. In the second half of the 18th century, we already find advocates of this view, such as Joseph Priestley, whose Rudiments of English Grammar (1761) insists that ‘the custom of speaking is the original and only just standard of any language! Linguistic issues, it is argued, cannot be solved by logic and legislation. And this view has become the tenet of the modern linguistic approach to grammatical analysis.

In our own time, the opposition between ‘descriptivists’ and ‘prescriptivists’ has often become extreme, with both sides painting unreal pictures of the other. Descriptive grammarians have been presented as people who do not care about standards, because of the way they see all forms of usage as equally valid. Prescriptive grammarians have been presented as blind adherents to a historical tradition. The opposition has even been presented in quasi- political terms – of radical liberalism vs elitist conservatism.

Questions 1-8. Do the following statements agree with the claims of the writer in Reading Passage 1? In boxes 1-8 in your answer sheet, write:

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

  1. There are understandable reasons why arguments occur about language.
  2. People feel more strongly about language education than about small differences in language usage.
  3. Our assessment of a person’s intelligence is affected by the way he or she uses language.
  4. Prescriptive grammar books cost a lot of money to buy in the 18th century.
  5. Prescriptivism still exists today.
  6. According to descriptivists it is pointless to try to stop language change.
  7. Descriptivism only appeared after the 18th century.
  8. Both descriptivists and prescriptivists have been misrepresented.

Questions 9-12. Complete the summary using the list of words, A-l, below.

The language debate

According to (9)…………………… there is only one correct form of language. Linguists who take this approach to language place great importance on grammatical (10) ……………………. Conversely, the view of (11) ………….., such as Joseph Priestley, is that grammar should be based on (12) ………………….

A descriptivists

B language expert

C popular speech

D formal language

E evaluation

F rules

G modern linguists

H prescriptivists

I change 

Question 13. Choose the correct letter A. B, C or D.

What is the writer’s purpose in Reading Passage?

A to argue in favour of a particular approach to writing dictionaries and grammar books

B to present a historical account of differing views of language

C to describe the differences between spoken and written language

D to show how a certain view of language has been discredited

Tidal Power

A Operating on the same principle as wind turbines, the power in sea turbines comes from tidal currents which turn blades similar to ships’ propellers, but, unlike wind, the tides are predictable and the power input is constant. The technology raises the prospect of Britain becoming self-sufficient in renewable energy and drastically reducing its carbon dioxide emissions. If tide, wind and wave power are all developed, Britain would be able to close gas, coal and nuclear power plants and export renewable power to other parts of Europe. Unlike wind power, which Britain originally developed and then abandoned for 20 years allowing the Dutch to make it a major industry, undersea turbines could become a big export earner to island nations such as Japan and New Zealand.

B Tidal sites have already been identified that will produce one sixth or more of the UK’s power – and at prices competitive with modern gas turbines and undercutting those of the already ailing nuclear industry. One site alone, the Pentland Firth, between Orkney and mainland Scotland, could produce 10% of the country’s electricity with banks of turbines under the sea, and another at Alderney in the Channel Islands three times the 1,200 megawatts of Britain’s largest and newest nuclear plant, Sizewell B, in Suffolk. Other sites identified include the Bristol Channel and the west coast of Scotland, particularly the channel between Campbeltown and Northern Ireland.

C Work on designs for the new turbine blades and sites are well advanced at the University of Southampton’s sustainable energy research group. The first station is expected to be installed off Lynmouth in Devon shortly to test the technology in a venture jointly funded by the department of Trade and Industry and the European Union. AbuBakr Bahaj, in charge of the Southampton research, said: The prospects for energy from tidal currents are far better than from wind because the flows of water are predictable and constant. The technology for dealing with the hostile saline environment under the sea has been developed in the North Sea oil industry and much is already known about turbine blade design, because of wind power and ship propellers. There are a few technical difficulties, but I believe in the next five to ten years we will be installing commercial marine turbine farms.’ Southampton has been awarded £215,000 over three years to develop the turbines and is working with Marine Current Turbines, a subsidiary of IT power, on the Lynmouth project. EU research has now identified 106 potential sites for tidal power, 80% round the coasts of Britain. The best sites are between islands or around heavily indented coasts where there are strong tidal currents.

D A marine turbine blade needs to be only one third of the size of a wind generator to produce three times as much power. The blades will be about 20 metres in diameter, so around 30 metres of water is required. Unlike wind power, there are unlikely to be environmental objections. Fish and other creatures are thought unlikely to be at risk from the relatively slow-turning blades. Each turbine will be mounted on a tower which will connect to the national power supply grid via underwater cables. The towers will stick out of the water and be lit, to warn shipping, and also be designed to be lifted out of the water for maintenance and to clean seaweed from the blades.

E Dr Bahaj has done most work on the Alderney site, where there are powerful currents. The single undersea turbine farm would produce far more power than needed for the Channel Islands and most would be fed into the French Grid and be re-imported into Britain via the cable under the Channel.

F One technical difficulty is cavitation, where low pressure behind a turning blade causes air bubbles. These can cause vibration and damage the blades of the turbines. Dr Bahaj said: ‘We have to test a number of blade types to avoid this happening or at least make sure it does not damage the turbines or reduce performance. Another slight concern is submerged debris floating into the blades. So far we do not know how much of a problem it might be. We will have to make the turbines robust because the sea is a hostile environment, but all the signs that we can do it are good.’

Questions 14-17

Reading Passage 2 has six paragraphs, A-F. Which paragraph contains the following information? NB You may use any letter more than once.

14 the location of the first test site
15 a way of bringing the power produced on one site back into Britain
16 a reference to a previous attempt by Britain to find an alternative source of energy
17 mention of the possibility of applying technology from another industry

Questions 18-22. Choose FIVE Letters A-J

Which FIVE of the following claims about tidal power are made by the writer?

A It is a more reliable source of energy than wind power.

B It would replace all other forms of energy in Britain.

C Its introduction has come as a result of public pressure.

D It would cut down on air pollution.

E It could contribute to the closure of many existing power stations ln Britain.

F It could be a means of increasing national income.

G It could face a lot of resistance from other fuel industries.

H It could be sold more cheaply than any other type of fuel.

I It could compensate for the shortage of inland sites for energy production. J It is best produced in the vicinity of coastlines with particular features.

Questions 23-26

Label the diagram below. Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer. An Undersea Turbine

Information Theory – The Big Idea

A In April 2002 an event took place which demonstrated one of the many applications of information theory. The space probe, Voyager I, launched in 1977, had sent back spectacular images of Jupiter and Saturn and then soared out of the Solar System on a one-way mission to the stars. After 25 years of exposure to the freezing temperatures of deep space, the probe was beginning to show its age. Sensors and circuits were on the brink of failing and NASA experts realised that they had to do something or lose contact with their probe forever. The solution was to get a message to Voyager I to instruct it to use spares to change the failing parts. With the probe 12 billion kilometres from Earth, this was not an easy task. By means of a radio dish belonging to NASA’s Deep Space Network, the message was sent out into the depths of space. Even travelling at the speed of light, it took over 11 hours to reach its target, far beyond the orbit of Pluto. Yet, incredibly, the little probe managed to hear the faint call from its home planet, and successfully made the switchover.

B It was the longest-distance repair job in history, and a triumph for the NASA engineers. But it also highlighted the astonishing power of the techniques developed by American communications engineer Claude Shannon, who had died just a year earlier. Born in 1916 in Petoskey, Michigan, Shannon showed an early talent for maths and for building gadgets, and made breakthroughs in the foundations of computer technology when still a student. While at Bell Laboratories, Shannon developed information theory, but shunned the resulting acclaim. In the 1940s, he single-handedly created an entire science of communication which has since inveigled its way into a host of applications, from DVDs to satellite communications to bar codes – any area, in short, where data has to be conveyed rapidly yet accurately.

C This all seems light years away from the down-to-earth uses Shannon originally had for his work, which began when he was a 22-year-old graduate engineering student at the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1939. He set out with an apparently simple aim: to pin down the precise meaning of the concept of ‘information’. The most basic form of information, Shannon argued, is whether something is true or false – which can be captured in the binary unit, or ‘bit’, of the form 1 or 0. Having identified this fundamental unit, Shannon set about defining otherwise vague ideas about information and how to transmit it from place to place. In the process he discovered something surprising: it is always possible to guarantee information will get through random interference – ‘noise’ – intact.

D Noise usually means unwanted sounds which interfere with genuine information. Information theory generalises this idea via theorems that capture the effects of noise with mathematical precision. In particular, Shannon showed that noise sets a limit on the rate at which information can pass along communication channels while remaining error-free. This rate depends on the relative strengths of the signal and noise travelling down the communication channel, and on its capacity (its ‘bandwidth’). The resulting limit, given in units of bits per second, is the absolute maximum rate of error-free communication given signal strength and noise level. The trick, Shannon showed, is to find ways of packaging up – ‘coding’ – information to cope with the ravages of noise, while staying within the information-carrying capacity – ‘bandwidth’ – of the communication system being used.

E Over the years scientists have devised many such coding methods, and they have proved crucial in many technological feats. The Voyager spacecraft transmitted data using codes which added one extra bit for every single bit of information; the result was an error rate of just one bit in 10,000 – and stunningly clear pictures of the planets. Other codes have become part of everyday life – such as the Universal Product Code, or bar code, which uses a simple error-detecting system that ensures supermarket check-out lasers can read the price even on, say, a crumpled bag of crisps. As recently as 1993, engineers made a major breakthrough by discovering so-called turbo codes – which come very close to Shannon’s ultimate limit for the maximum rate that data can be transmitted reliably, and now play a key role in the mobile videophone revolution.

F Shannon also laid the foundations of more efficient ways of storing information, by stripping out superfluous (‘redundant’) bits from data which contributed little real information. As mobile phone text messages like ‘I CN C U’ show, it is often possible to leave out a lot of data without losing much meaning. As with error correction, however, there’s a limit beyond which messages become too ambiguous. Shannon showed how to calculate this limit, opening the way to the design of compression methods that cram maximum information into the minimum space.

Questions 27-32

Reading Passage 3 has six paragraphs, A-F. Which paragraph contains the following information?

27 an explanation of the factors affecting the transmission of information
28 an example of how unnecessary information can be omitted
29 a reference to Shannon`s attitude to fame
30 details of a machine capable of interpreting incomplete information
31 a detailed account of an incident involving information theory
32 a reference to what Shannon initially intended to achieve in his research

Questions 33-37

Complete the notes below. Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer

The Voyager l Space Probe

The probe transmitted pictures of both (33) ……………….,and ……………. , then left the (34) ……………. The freezing temperatures were found to have a negative effect on parts of the space probe. Scientists feared that both the (35)……………….. and …………………….. were about to stop working. The only hope was to tell the probe to replace them with (36)…………..… but distance made communication with the probe difficult. A (37)…………….. was used to transmit the message at the speed of light. The message was picked up by the probe and the switchover took place.

Questions 38-40

Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 3? In boxes 38-40 on your answer sheet write

TRUE if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this

38. The concept of describing something as true or false was the starting point for Shannon in his attempts to send messages over distances.

39. The amount of information that can be sent in a given time period is determined with reference to the signal strength and noise level.

40. Products have now been developed which can convey more information than Shannon had anticipated as possible.

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APHANTASIA: A LIFE WITHOUT MENTAL IMAGES IELTS READING

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Reading Passage 1



You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1–13, which are based on Reading Passage 1 below.

Close your eyes and imagine walking along a sandy beach and then gazing over the horizon as the Sun rises. How clear is the image that springs to mind?

Most people can readily conjure images inside their head – known as their mind’s eye. But this year scientists have described a condition, Aphantasia, in which some people are unable to visualise mental images. Niel Kenmuir, from Lancaster, has always had a blind mind’s eye. He knew he was different even in childhood. “My stepfather, when I couldn’t sleep, told me to count sheep, and he explained what he meant, I tried to do it and I couldn’t,” he says. “I couldn’t see any sheep jumping over fences, there was nothing to count.”

Our memories are often tied up in images, think back to a wedding or first day at school. As a result, Niel admits, some aspects of his memory are “terrible”, but he is very good at remembering facts. And, like others with Aphantasia, he struggles to recognise faces. Yet he does not see Aphantasia as a disability, but simply a different way of experiencing life.

Mind’s eye blind

Ironically, Niel now works in a bookshop, although he largely sticks to the non-fiction aisles. His condition begs the question of what is going on inside his picture-less mind. I asked him what happens when he tries to picture his fiancee. “This is the hardest thing to describe, what happens in my head when I think about things,” he says. “When I think about my fiancee there is no image, but I am definitely thinking about her, I know today she has her hair up at the back, she’s brunette. But I’m not describing an image I am looking at, I’m remembering features about her, that’s the strangest thing and maybe that is a source of some regret.”

The response from his mates is very sympathetic: “You’re weird.” But while Niel is very relaxed about his inability to picture things, it is often a cause of distress for others. One person who took part in a study into Aphantasia said he had started to feel “isolated” and “alone” after discovering that other people could see images in their heads. Being unable to reminisce about his mother years after her death led to him being “extremely distraught”. 

The super-visualiser 

At the other end of the spectrum is children’s book illustrator, Lauren Beard, whose work on the Fairytale Hairdresser series will be familiar to many six-year-olds. Her career relies on the vivid images that leap into her mind’s eye when she reads text from her author. When I met her in her box-room studio in Manchester, she was working on a dramatic scene in the next book. The text describes a baby perilously climbing onto a chandelier. 

“Straightaway I can visualise this grand glass chandelier in some sort of French kind of ballroom, and the little baby just swinging off it and really heavy thick curtains,” she says. “I think I have a strong imagination, so I can create the world and then keep adding to it so it gets sort of bigger and bigger in my mind and the characters too they sort of evolving. I couldn’t really imagine what it’s like to not imagine, I think it must be a bit of a shame really.” 

Not many people have mental imagery as vibrant as Lauren or as blank as Niel. They are the two extremes of visualisation. Adam Zeman, a professor of cognitive and behavioural neurology, wants to compare the lives and experiences of people with Aphantasia and its polar-opposite Hyperphantasia. His team, based at the University of Exeter, coined the term Aphantasia this year in a study in the journal Cortex. 

Prof Zeman tells the BBC: “People who have contacted us say they are really delighted that this has been recognised and has been given a name because they have been trying to explain to people for years that there is this oddity that they find hard to convey to others.” How we imagine is clearly very subjective – one person’s vivid scene could be another’s a grainy picture. But Prof Zeman is certain that Aphantasia is real. People often report being able to dream in pictures, and there have been reported cases of people losing the ability to think in images after a brain injury. 

He is adamant that Aphantasia is “not a disorder” and says it may affect up to one in 50 people. But he adds: “I think it makes quite an important difference to their experience of life because many of us spend our lives with imagery hovering somewhere in the mind’s eye which we inspect from time to time, it’s the variability of human experience.”Top of Form

Questions 1–8. Do the following statements agree with the information in the IELTS reading text? In boxes 1- 8 on your answer sheet, write 

TRUE, if the statement agrees with the information 
FALSE, if the statement contradicts the information 
NOT GIVEN, if there is no information on this 

1.Aphantasia is a condition, which describes people, for whom it is hard to visualise mentalimages.
2.Niel Kenmuir was unable to count sheep in his head.
3.People with Aphantasia struggle to remember personal traits and clothes of differentpeople.
4.Niel regrets that he cannot portray an image of his fiancee in his mind.
5.Inability to picture things in someone’s head is often a cause of distress for a person.
6.All people with Aphantasia start to feel ‘isolated’ or ‘alone’ at some point in their lives.
7.Lauren Beard’s career depends on her imagination.
8.The author met Lauren Beard when she was working on a comedy scene in her next book.

Questions 9–13 . Complete the sentences below. Write NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer. Write your answers in boxes 9-13 on your answer sheet. 

9. Only a small fraction of people have imagination as_________ as Lauren does.
10. Hyperphantasia is __________ to Aphantasia.
11. There are lots of subjectivity in comparing people’s imagination – somebody’s vivid scenecould be another person’s __________.
12. Prof Zeman is _________ that Aphantasia is not an illness.
13. Many people spend their lives with _________ somewhere in the mind’s eye.

Reading Passage 2 

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14–26, which are based on Reading Passage 2 below.

Life lessons from villains, crooks and gangsters 

A. A notorious Mexican drug baron’s audacious escape from prison in July doesn’t, atfirst, appear to have much to teach corporate boards. But some in the business world suggest otherwise. Beyond the morally reprehensible side of criminals’ work, some business gurus say organised crime syndicates, computer hackers, pirates and others operating outside the law could teach legitimate corporations a thing or two about how to hustle and respond to rapid change. 

B. Far from encouraging illegality, these gurus argue that – in the same way, bigcorporations sometimes emulate start-ups – business leaders could learn from the underworld about flexibility, innovation and the ability to pivot quickly. “There is a nimbleness to criminal organisations that legacy corporations [with large, complex layers of management] don’t have,” said Marc Goodman, head of the Future Crimes Institute and global cyber-crime advisor. While traditional businesses focus on rules they have to follow, criminals look to circumvent them. “For criminals, the sky is the limit and that creates the opportunity to think much, much bigger.” 

C. Joaquin Guzman, the head of the Mexican Sinaloa drug cartel, for instance, slipped outof his prison cell through a tiny hole in his shower that led to a mile-long tunnel fitted with lights and ventilation. Making a break for it required creative thinking, long-term planning and perseverance – essential skills similar to those needed to achieve success in big business. 

D. While Devin Liddell, who heads brand strategy for Seattle-based design consultancy,Teague, condemns the violence and other illegal activities he became curious as to how criminal groups endure. Some cartels stay in business despite multiple efforts by law enforcement on both sides of the US border and millions of dollars from international agencies to shut them down. Liddell genuinely believes there’s a lesson in longevity here. One strategy he underlined was how the bad guys respond to change. In order to bypass the border between Mexico and the US, for example, the Sinaloa cartel went to great lengths. It built a vast underground tunnel, hired family members as border agents and even used a catapult to circumvent a high-tech fence. 

E. By contrast, many legitimate businesses fail because they hesitate to adapt quickly tochanging market winds. One high-profile example is movie and game rental company 

Blockbuster, which didn’t keep up with the market and lost business to mail order video rentals and streaming technologies. The brand has all but faded from view. Liddell argues the difference between the two groups is that criminal organisations often have improvisation encoded into their daily behaviour, while larger companies think of innovation as a set process. “This is a leadership challenge,” said Liddell. “How well companies innovate and organise is a reflection of leadership.” 

Left-field thinking 

F. Cash-strapped start-ups also use unorthodox strategies to problem solve and build theirbusinesses up from scratch. This creativity and innovation are often borne out of necessity, such as tight budgets. Both criminals and start-up founders “question authority, act outside the system and see new and clever ways of doing things,” said Goodman. “Either they become Elon Musk or El Chapo.” And, some entrepreneurs aren’t even afraid to operate in legal grey areas in their effort to disrupt the marketplace. The co-founders of music streaming service Napster, for example, knowingly broke music copyright rules with their first online file sharing service, but their technology paved the way for legal innovation as regulators caught up. 

G. Goodman and others believe thinking hard about problem-solving before worryingabout restrictions could prevent established companies from falling victim to rivals less constrained by tradition. In their book The Misfit Economy, Alexa Clay and Kyra Maya Phillips examine how individuals can apply that mindset to become more innovative and entrepreneurial within corporate structures. They studied not just violent criminals like Somali pirates, but others who break the rules in order to find creative solutions to their business problems, such as people living in the slums of Mumbai or computer hackers. They picked out five common traits among this group: the ability to hustle, pivot, provoke, hack and copycat. 

H. Clay gives a Saudi entrepreneur named Walid Abdul-Wahab as a prime example.Abdul-Wahab worked with Amish farmers to bring camel milk to American consumers even before US regulators approved it. Through perseverance, he eventually found a network of Amish camel milk farmers and started selling the product via social media. Now his company, Desert Farms, sells to giant mainstream retailers like Whole Foods Market. Those on the fringe don’t always have the option of traditional, corporate jobs and that forces them to think more creatively about how to make a living, Clay said. They must develop grit and resilience in order to last outside the cushy confines of cubicle life. “In many cases, scarcity is the mother of invention,” Clay said. 

Questions 14-21. Reading Passage 2 has eight paragraphs A-H.  Match the headings below with the paragraphs. Write the correct letter, A-H, in boxes 14-21 on your answer sheet. 

14. Jailbreak with creative thinking ____________

15. Five common traits among rule-breakers ____________

16. Comparison between criminals and traditional businessmen___________

17.Can drug baron’s e-space teach legitimate corporations? ___________

18.Great entrepreneur ___________ .

19.How criminal groups deceive the law ___________.

20.The difference between legal and illegal organizations ___________ .

21.Similarity between criminals and start-up founders __________ .

Questions 22–25. Complete the sentences below. Write ONLY ONE WORD from the passage for each answer. Write your answers in boxes 22–25 on your answer sheet. 

22. To escape from prison, Joaquin Guzman had to use such traits as creative thinking, long-term planning and _________.

23. The Sinaloa cartel built a grand underground tunnel and even used a __________ to avoidthe fence.

24. The main difference between the two groups is that criminals, unlike large corporations,often have _________ encoded into their daily life.

25. Due to being persuasive, Walid Abdul-Wahab found a ________ of Amish camel milkfarmers.

Question 26. Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D. 

26. The main goal of this article is to:

A. Show different ways of illegal activity

B. Give an overview of various criminals and their gangs

C. Draw a comparison between legal and illegal business, providing examples

D. Justify criminals with creative thinking bottom of the form

Reading Passage 3.

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 28–40, which are based on Reading Passage 3 below. 

As More Tech Startups Stay Private, So Does the Money 

A. Not long ago, if you were a young, brash technologist with a world-conquering start-upidea, there was a good chance you spent much of your waking life working toward a singlebusiness milestone: taking your company public. Though luminaries of the tech industry havealways expressed scepticism and even hostility toward the finance industry, tech’s dirtysecret was that it looked to Wall Street and the ritual of a public offering for affirmation —not to mention wealth. But something strange has happened in the last couple of years: Theinitial public offering of stock has become déclassé. For start-up entrepreneurs and theiremployees across Silicon Valley, an initial public offering is no longer the main goal. Instead,many founders talk about going public as a necessary evil to be postponed as long as possiblebecause it comes with more problems than benefits.

B. “If you can get $200 million from private sources, then yeah, I don’t want my companyunder the scrutiny of the unwashed masses who don’t understand my business,” saidDanielle Morrill, the chief executive of Mattermark, a start-up that organizes and sellsinformation about the start-up market. “That’s actually terrifying to me.” Silicon Valley’ssudden distaste for the I.P.O. — rooted in part in Wall Street’s scepticism of new tech stocks— may be the single most important psychological shift underlying the current tech boom.Staying private affords start-up executives the luxury of not worrying what outsiders thinkand helps them avoid the quarterly earnings treadmill. It also means Wall Street is doingwhat it failed to do in the last tech boom: using traditional metrics like growth andprofitability to price companies. Investors have been tough on Twitter, for example, becauseits user growth has slowed. They have been tough on Box, the cloud-storage company thatwent public last year because it remains unprofitable. And the e-commerce company Zulily,which went public last year, was likewise punished when it cut its guidance for future sales.

C. Scott Kupor, the managing partner at the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, andhis colleagues said in a recent report that despite all the attention start-ups have received inrecent years, tech stocks are not seeing unusually high valuations. In fact, their share of theoverall market has remained stable for 14 years, and far off the peak of the late 1990s. Thatunwillingness to cut much slack to young tech companies limits risk for regular investors. Ifthe bubble pops, the unwashed masses, if that’s what we are, aren’t as likely to get washedout. Private investors, on the other hand, are making big bets on so-called unicorns — theSilicon Valley jargon for start-up companies valued at more than a billion dollars. If any of those unicorns flops, most Americans will escape unharmed, because losses will be confined to venture capitalists and hedge funds that have begun to buy into tech start-ups, as well as tech founders and their employees. 

D. The reluctance — and sometimes inability — to go public is spurring the unicorns. By relying on private investors for a longer period of time, start-ups get more runway to figure out sustainable business models. To delay their entrance into the public markets, firms like Airbnb, Dropbox, Palantir, Pinterest, Uber and several other large start-ups are raising hundreds of millions, and in some cases billions, that they would otherwise have gained through an initial public offering. “These companies are going public, just in the private market,” Dan Levitan, the managing partner of the venture capital firm Maveron, told me recently. He means that in many cases, hedge funds and other global investors that would have bought shares in these firms after an I.P.O. are deciding to go into late-stage private rounds. There is even an oxymoronic term for the act of obtaining private money in place of a public offering: It’s called a “private I.P.O.” 

E. The delay in I.P.O.s has altered how some venture capital firms do business. Rather than waiting for an initial offering, Maveron, for instance, says it now sells its stake in a start-up to other, larger private investors once it has made about 100 times its initial investment. It is the sort of return that once was only possible after an I.P.O. But there is also a downside to the new version to initial offerings. When the unicorns do eventually go public and begin to soar — or whatever it is that fantastical horned beasts tend to do when they’re healthy — the biggest winners will be the private investors that are now bearing most of the risk. It used to be that public investors who got in on the ground floor of an initial offering could earn historic gains. If you invested $1,000 in Amazon at its I.P.O. in 1997, you would now have nearly $250,000. If you had invested $1,000 in Microsoft in 1986, you would have close to half a million. Public investors today are unlikely to get anywhere near such gains from tech I.P.O.s. By the time tech companies come to the market, the biggest gains have already been extracted by private backers. 

F. Just 53 technology companies went public in 2014, which is around the median since 1980, but far fewer than during the boom of the late 1990s and 2000, when hundreds of tech companies went public annually, according to statistics maintained by Jay Ritter, a professor of finance at the University of Florida. Today’s companies are also waiting for longer. In 2014, the typical tech company hitting the markets was 11 years old, compared with a median age of seven years for tech I.P.O.s since 1980. Over the last few weeks, I’ve asked several founders and investors why they’re waiting; few were willing to speak on the record about their own companies, but their answers all amounted to “What’s the point?” Initial public offerings were also ways to compensate employees and founders who owned lots of stock, but there are now novel mechanisms — such as selling shares on a secondary market — for insiders to cash in on some of their shares in private companies. Still, some observers cautioned that the new trend may be a bad deal for employees who aren’t given much information about the company’s performance. 

G. “One thing employees may be confused about is when companies tell them, ‘We’re basically doing a private I.P.O.,’ it might make them feel like there’s less risk than there really is,” said Ms.Morrill of Mattermark. But she said it was hard to persuade people that their paper gains may never materialize. “The Kool-Aid is really strong,” she said. If the delay in I.P.O.s becomes a normal condition for Silicon Valley, some observers say tech companiesmay need to consider new forms of compensation for workers. “We probably need tofundamentally rethink how do private companies compensate employees because that’sgoing to be an issue,” said Mr.Kupor, of Andreessen Horowitz.

H. During a recent presentation for Andreessen Horowitz’s limited partners — the institutionsthat give money to the venture firm — Marc Andreessen, the firm’s co-founder, told thejournalist Dan Primack that he had never seen a sharper divergence in how investors treatpublic- and private-company chief executives. “They tell the public C.E.O, ‘Give us the moneyback this quarter,’ and they tell the private C.E.O., ‘No problem, go for 10 years,’ ”Mr.Andreessen said. At some point, this tension will be resolved. “Private valuations will notforever be higher than public valuations,” said Mr. Levitan, of Maveron. “So the question is,will private markets capitulate and go down or will public markets go up?” If the privateinvestors are wrong, employees, founders and a lot of hedge funds could be in for areckoning. But if they’re right, it will be you and me wearing the frown — the public investorswho missed out on the next big thing.

Questions 28–31. Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D. Write the correct letter in boxes 28–31 on your answer sheet. 

28. How many funds would you gain by now, if you had invested 1000$ in theAmazon in 1997?

A. 250,000$

B. close to 500,000$

C. It is not stated in the text

D. No funds

29. Nowadays founders talk about going public as a:

A. necessity

B. benefit

C. possibility

D. profit

30. In which time period was the biggest number of companies going public?

A. the early 1990s

B. the late 1900s and 2000s

C. The 1980s

D. the late 1990s

31. According to the text, which of the following is true?

A. Private valuations maybe forever higher than public ones.

B. Public valuations eventually will become even less valuable.

C. The main question is whether the public market increase or the private market decrease.

D. The pressure might last for a long time.

Questions 32–36. Complete the sentences below.  Write ONLY ONE WORD from the passage for each answer. Write your answers in boxes 32–36 on your answer sheet. 

32. Skepticism was always expected by the ___________of tech industry.

33. The new aversion to initial offerings has its ___________.

34. Selling shares on a secondary market is considered a ___________ mechanism.

35. Workers’ compensation might be an ___________.

36. The public investors who failed to participate in the next big thing might be the ones wearing the___________.

Questions 37–40. Do the following statements agree with the information in the IELTS reading text? In boxes 37–40 on your answer sheet, write 

TRUE, if the statement agrees with the information 

FALSE, if the statement contradicts the information 

NOT GIVEN, if there is no information on this 

37. Private investors are bearing most of the risk.

38. Not many investors were willing to speak on the record.

39. The typical tech company hitting the markets in the 1990s was 5 years old.

40. Marc Andreessen, the firm’s co-founder, expressed amazement with divergence in how investorstreat the public.

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ANT INTELLIGENCE IELTS READING

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Reading passage 1

When we think of intelligent members of the animal kingdom, the creatures that spring immediately to mind are apes and monkeys. But in fact the social lives of some members of the insect kingdom are sufficiently complex to suggest more than a hint of intelligence. Among these, the world of the ant has come in for considerable scrutiny lately, and the idea that ants demonstrate sparks of cognition has certainly not been rejected by those involved in these investigations.

Ants store food, repel attackers and use chemical signals to contact one another in case of attack. Such chemical communication can be compared to the human use of visual and auditory channels (as in religious chants, advertising images and jingles, political slogans and martial music) to arouse and propagate moods and attitudes. The biologist Lewis Thomas wrote Ants are so much like human beings as to be an embarrassment. They farm fungi, raise aphids as livestock, launch armies to war, use chemical sprays to alarm and confuse enemies, capture slaves, engage in child labour, exchange information ceaselessly. They do everything but watch television.

However, in ants there is no cultural transmission – everything must be encoded in the genes – whereas in humans the opposite is true. Only basic instincts are carried in the genes of a newborn baby, other skills being learned from others in the community as the child grows up. It may seem that this cultural continuity gives us a huge advantage over ants. They have never mastered fire nor progressed. Their fungus farming and aphid herding crafts are sophisticated when compared to the agricultural skills of humans five thousand-years ago but have been totally overtaken by modem human agribusiness. Or have they? The farming methods of ants are at least sustainable. They do not ruin environments or use enormous amounts of energy. Moreover, recent evidence suggests that the crop farming of ants may be more sophisticated and adaptable than was thought.

Ants were farmers fifty million years before humans were. Ants can’t digest the cellulose in leaves – but some fungi can. The ants therefore cultivate these fungi in their nests, bringing them leaves to feed on, and then use them as a source of food. Farmer ants secrete antibiotics to control other fungi that might act as ‘weeds’, and spread waste to fertilise the crop.

It was once thought that the fungus that ants cultivate was a single type that they had propagated, essentially unchanged from the distant past. Not so. Ulrich Mueller of Maryland and his colleagues genetically screened 862 different types of fungi taken from ants’ nests. These turned out to be highly diverse: it seems that ants are continually domesticating new species. Even more impressively, DNA analysis of the fungi suggests that the ants improve or modify the fungi by regularly swapping and sharing strains with neighboring ant colonies.

Whereas prehistoric man had no exposure to urban lifestyles – the forcing house, of intelligence – the evidence suggests that ants have lived in urban settings for close on a hundred million years, developing and maintaining underground cities of specialised chambers and tunnels.

When we survey Mexico City, Tokyo, Los Angeles, we are amazed at what has been accomplished by humans. Yet Hoelldobler and Wilson’s magnificent work for ant lovers, the Ants, describes a supercolony of the ant Formica yessensis on the Ishikari Coast of Hokkaido. This ‘megalopolis’ was reported to be composed of 360 million workers and a million queens living in 4,500 interconnected nests across a territory of 2.7 square kilometers.

Such enduring and intricately meshed levels of technical achievement outstrip by far anything achieved by our distant ancestors. We hail as masterpieces the cave paintings in southern France and elsewhere, dating back some 20,000 years. Ant societies existed in something like their present form more than seventy million years ago. Beside this, prehistoric man looks technologically primitive. Is this then some kind of intelligence, albeit of a different kind?

Research conducted at Oxford, Sussex and Zurich Universities has shown that when; desert ants return from a foraging trip, they navigate by integrating bearings and distances, which they continuously update their heads. They combine the evidence of visual landmarks with a mental library of local directions, all within a framework which is consulted and updated. So ants can learn too.

And in a twelve-year programme of work, Ryabko and Reznikova have found evidence that ants can transmit very complex messages. Scouts who had located food in a maze returned to mobilise their foraging teams. They engaged in contact sessions, at the end of which the scout was removed in order to observe what her team might do. Often the foragers proceeded to the exact spot in the maze where the food had been. Elaborate precautions were taken to prevent the foraging team using odour clues. Discussion now centers on whether the route through the maze is communicated as a ‘left- right sequence of turns or as a ‘compass bearing and distance’ message.

During the course of this exhaustive study, Reznikova has grown so attached to her laboratory ants that she feels she knows them as individuals – even without the paint spots used to mark them. It’s no surprise that Edward Wilson, in his essay, ‘In the company of ants’, advises readers who ask what to do with the ants in their kitchen to: ‘Watch where you step. Be careful of little lives.’

Questions 1-6

Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1? In boxes 1-6 on your answer sheet, write:

TRUE              if the statement agrees with the information

FALSE           if the statement contradicts the information

NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this

  1. Ants use the same channels of communication as humans do.
  2. City life is one factor that encourages the development of intelligence.
  3. Ants can build large cities more quickly than humans do.
  4. Some ants can find their way by making calculations based on distance and position.
  5. In one experiment, foraging teams were able to use their sense of smell to find food.
  6. The essay. ‘In the company of ants’ explores ant communication.
Questions 7-13

Complete the summary using the list of words, A-O, below. Write the correct letter, A-O, in boxes 7-13 on your answer sheet.

Ants as farmers

Ants have sophisticated methods of farming, including herding livestock and growing crops, which are in many ways similar to those used in human agriculture. The ants cultivate a large number of different species of edible fungi which convert (7)…………..… into a form which they can digest. They use their own natural (8)…………….…  as weed-killers and also use unwanted materials as (9)……………….. Genetic analysis shows they constantly upgrade these fungi by developing new species and by (10)…………….. species with neighboring ant colonies. In fact, the farming methods of ants could be said to be more advanced than human agribusiness, since they use (11)………………… methods, they do not affect the (12)……………… and do not waste (13)……………………

Population Movement and Genetics

A Study of the origins and distribution of human populations used to be based on archaeological and fossil evidence. A number of techniques developed since the 1950s, however, have placed the study of these subjects on a sounder and more objective footing. The best information on early population movements is now being obtained from the ‘archaeology of the living body’, the clues to be found in genetic material.

B Recent work on the problem of when people first entered the Americas is an example of the value of these new techniques. North-east Asia and Siberia have long been accepted as the launching ground for the first human colonisers of the New World*. But was there one major wave of migration across the Bering Strait into the Americas, or several? And when did this event, or events, take place? In recent years, new clues have come from research into genetics, including the distribution of genetic markers in modern Native Americans.

C An important project, led by the biological anthropologist Robert Williams, focused on the variants (called Gm allotypes) of one particular protein – immunoglobin G — found in the fluid portion of human blood. All proteins ‘drift’, or produce variants, over the generations, and members of an interbreeding human population will share a set of such variants. Thus, by comparing the Gm allotypes of two different populations (e.g. two Indian tribes), one can establish their genetic ‘distance’, which itself can be calibrated to give an indication of the length of time since these populations last interbred.

D Williams and his colleagues sampled the blood of over 5,000 American Indians in western North America during a twenty- year period. They found that their Gm allotypes could be divided into two groups, one of which also corresponded to the genetic typing of Central and South American Indians. Other tests showed that the Inuit (or Eskimo) and Aleut formed a third group. From this evidence it was deduced that there had been three major waves of migration across the Bering Strait. The first, Paleo-lndian, wave more than 15,000 years ago was ancestral to all Central and South American Indians. The second wave, about 14,000-12,000 years ago, brought Na-Dene hunters, ancestors of the Navajo and Apache (who only migrated south from Canada about 600 or 700 years ago). The third wave, perhaps 10,000 or 9,000 years ago, saw the migration from North-east Asia of groups ancestral to the modern Eskimo and Aleut.

E How far does other research support these conclusions? Geneticist Douglas Wallace has studied mitochondrial DNA in blood samples from three widely separated Native American groups: Pima- Papago Indians in Arizona, Maya Indians on the Yucatdn peninsula, Mexico, and Ticuna Indians in the Upper Amazon region of Brazil. As would have been predicted by Robert Williams’s work, all three groups appear to be descended from the same ancestral (Paleo-lndian) population.

F There are two other kinds of research that have thrown some light on the origins of the Native American population; they involve the study of teeth and of languages. The biological anthropologist Christy Turner is an expert in the analysis of changing physical characteristics in human teeth. He argues that tooth crowns and roots have a high genetic component, minimally affected by environmental and other factors. Studies carried out by Turner of many thousands of New and Old World specimens, both ancient and modern, suggest that the majority of prehistoric Americans are linked to Northern Asian populations by crown and root traits such as incisor6 shoveling (a scooping out on one or both surfaces of the tooth), single-rooted upper first premolars6 and triple- rooted lower first molars.

According to Turner, this ties in with the idea of a single Paleo-lndian migration out of North Asia, which he sets at before 14,000 years ago by calibrating rates of dental micro-evolution. Tooth analyses also suggest that there were two later migrations of Na-Denes and Eskimo- Aleut.

G The linguist Joseph Greenberg has, since the 1950s, argued that all Native American languages belong to a single ‘Amerind’ family, except for Na-Dene and Eskimo-Aleut – a view that gives credence to the idea of three main migrations. Greenberg is in a minority among fellow linguists, most of whom favour the notion of a great many waves of migration to account for the more than 1,000 languages spoken at one time by American Indians. But there is no doubt that the new genetic and dental evidence provides strong backing for Greenberg’s view. Dates given for the migrations should nevertheless be treated with caution, except where supported by hard archaeological evidence.

Questions 14-19

Reading Passage 2 has seven sections, A-G. Choose the correct headings for sections A-F from the list of headings below. Write the correct number, i-x, in boxes 14-19 on your answer sheet.

Questions 14-19

Reading Passage 2 has seven sections, A-G. Choose the correct headings for sections A-F from the list of headings below. Write the correct number, i-x, in boxes 14-19 on your answer sheet.
List of Headings
i The results of the research into blood-variants
ii Dental evidence
iii Greenberg’s analysis of the dental and linguistic evidence
iv Developments in the methods used to study early population movements
v Indian migration from Canada to the U.S.A.
vi Further genetic evidence relating to the three-wave theory
vii Long-standing questions about prehistoric migration to America
viii Conflicting views of the three-wave theory, based on non-genetic Evidence
ix Questions about the causes of prehistoric migration to America
x How analysis of blood-variants measures the closeness of the relationship between different populations
14 Passage A
15 Passage B
16 Passage C
17 Passage D
18 Passage E
19 Passage F
Example Section G viii



Questions 20 and 21

The discussion of Williams’s research indicates the periods at which early people are thought to have migrated along certain routes. There are six routes, A-F, marked on the map below.

Complete the form below. Write the correct letter A-F in boxes 20-21 on your answer sheet.

RoutePeriod (number of years ago)
20………………………..15,000 or more
21………………………..600 to 700
Questions 22-25

Reading Passage 2 refers to the three-wave theory of early migration to the Americas. It also suggests in which of these three waves the ancestors of various groups of modern native Americans first reached the continent.

Classify the groups named in the table below as originating from

A the first wave

B the second wave

C the third wave



Write the correct letter. A. B or C. in boxes 22-25 on your answer sheet.

Name of groupWave number
Inuit22…………………..
Apache23…………………..
Pima-Papago24…………………..
Ticuna25…………………..

Question 26. Choose the correct letter A, B, Cor D. Write the correct letter in box 26 on your answer sheet.
Christy Turner’s research involved the examination of

A teeth from both prehistoric and modern Americans and Asians
B thousands of people who live in either the New or the Old World
C dental specimens from the majority of prehistoric Americans
D the eating habits of American and Asian populations

Reading Passage 3

Forests are one of the main elements of our natural heritage. The decline of Europe’s forests over the last decade and a half has led to an increasing awareness and understanding of the serious imbalances which threaten them. European countries are becoming increasingly concerned by major threats to European forests, threats which know no frontiers other than those of geography or climate: air pollution, soil deterioration, the increasing number of forest fires and sometimes even the mismanagement of our woodland and forest heritage. There has been a growing awareness of the need for countries to get together to co-ordinate their policies. In December 1990, Strasbourg hosted the first Ministerial Conference on the protection of Europe’s forests. The conference brought together 31 countries from both Western and Eastern Europe. The topics discussed included the coordinated study of the destruction of forests, as well as how to combat forest fires and the extension of European research programs on the forest ecosystem. The preparatory work for the conference had been undertaken at two meetings of experts. Their initial task was to decide which of the many forest problems of concern to Europe involved the largest number of countries and might be the subject of joint action. Those confined to particular geographical areas, such as countries bordering the Mediterranean or the Nordic countries therefore had to be discarded. However, this does not mean that in future they will be ignored.

As a whole, European countries see forests as performing a triple function: biological, economic and recreational. The first is to act as a ‘green lung’ for our planet; by means of photosynthesis, forests produce oxygen through the transformation of solar energy, thus fulfilling what for humans is the essential role of an immense, non-polluting power plant. At the same time, forests provide raw materials for human activities through their constantly renewed production of wood. Finally, they offer those condemned to spend five days a week in an urban environment an unrivalled area of freedom to unwind and take part in a range of leisure activities, such as hunting, riding and hiking. The economic importance of forests has been understood since the dawn of man – wood was the first fuel. The other aspects have been recognised only for a few centuries but they are becoming more and more important. Hence, there is a real concern throughout Europe about the damage to the forest environment which threatens these three basic roles.

The myth of the ‘natural’ forest has survived, yet there are effectively no remaining ‘primary’ forests in Europe. All European forests are artificial, having been adapted and exploited by man for thousands of years. This means that a forest policy is vital, that it must transcend national frontiers and generations of people, and that it must allow for the inevitable changes that take place in the forests, in needs, and hence in policy. The Strasbourg conference was one of the first events on such a scale to reach this conclusion. A general declaration was made that ‘a central place in any ecologically coherent forest policy must be given to continuity over time and to the possible effects of unforeseen events, to ensure that the full potential of these forests is maintained.

That general declaration was accompanied by six detailed resolutions to assist national policy-making. The first proposes the extension and systematisation of surveillance sites to monitor forest decline. Forest decline is still poorly understood but leads to the loss of a high proportion of a tree’s needles or leaves. The entire continent and the majority of species are now affected: between 30% and 50% of the tree population. The condition appears to result from the cumulative effect of a number of factors, with atmospheric pollutants the principal culprits.

Compounds of nitrogen and sulphur dioxide should be particularly closely watched. However, their effects are probably accentuated by climatic factors, such as drought and hard winters, or soil imbalances such as soil acidification, which damages the roots. The second resolution concentrates on the need to preserve the genetic diversity of European forests. The aim is to reverse the decline in the number of tree species or at least to preserve the ‘genetic material’ of all of them. Although forest fires do not affect all of Europe to the same extent, the amount of damage caused the experts to propose as the third resolution that the Strasbourg conference consider the establishment of a European databank on the subject.

All information used in the development of national preventative policies would become generally available. The subject of the fourth resolution discussed by the ministers was mountain forests. In Europe, it is undoubtedly the mountain ecosystem which has changed most rapidly and is most at risk. A thinly scattered permanent population and development of leisure activities, particularly skiing, have resulted in significant long-term changes to the local ecosystems. Proposed developments include a preferential research program on mountain forests. The fifth resolution relaunched the European research network on the physiology of trees, called Eurosilva. Eurosilva should support joint European research on tree diseases and their physiological and biochemical aspects. Each country concerned could increase the number of scholarships and other financial support for doctoral theses and research projects in this area. Finally, the conference established the framework for a European research network on forest ecosystems. This would also involve harmonising activities in individual countries as well as identifying a number of priority research topics relating to the protection of forests. The Strasbourg conference’s main concern was to provide for the future. This was the initial motivation, one now shared by all 31 participants representing 31 European countries. Their final text commits them to on-going discussion between government representatives with responsibility for forests.

Questions 27-33

Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 3? In boxes 27-33 on your answer sheet, write

TRUE                 if the statement agrees with the information

FALSE         if the statement contradicts the information

NOT GIVEN  if there is no information on this

27 Forest problems of Mediterranean countries are to be discussed at the next meeting of experts.
28 Problems in Nordic countries were excluded because they are outside the European Economic Community.
29 Forests are a renewable source of raw material.
30 The biological functions of forests were recognised only in the twentieth century.
31 Natural forests still exist in parts of Europe.
32 Forest policy should be limited by national boundaries.
33 The Strasbourg conference decided that a forest policy must allow for the possibility of change.

Questions 34-39

Look at the following statements issued by the conference.

Which SIX of the following statements. A-J, refer to the resolutions that were issued? Match the statements with the appropriate resolutions (Questions 34-39).

A All kinds of species of trees should be preserved.

B Fragile mountain forests should be given priority in research programs.

C The surviving natural forests of Europe do not need priority treatment.

D Research is to be better co-ordinate throughout Europe.

E Information on forest fires should be collected and shared.

F Loss Of leaves from trees should be more extensively and carefully monitored.

G Resources should be allocated to research into tree diseases.

H Skiing should be encouraged in thinly populated areas.

I Soil imbalances such as acidification should be treated with compounds of nitrogen and sulphur.
J Information is to be systematically gathered on any decline in the condition of forests.

34 Resolution 1

35 Resolution 2

36 Resolution 3

37 Resolution 4

38 Resolution 5

39 Resolution 6

Question 40. Choose the correct letter, A. B, C or D. Write the correct letter in box 40 on your answer sheet.

40  What is the best title for Reading Passage 3?

A The biological, economic and recreational role of forests

B Plans to protect the forests of Europe

C The priority of European research into ecosystems

D Proposals for a world-wide policy on forest management

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ANIMAL MINDS: PARROT ALEX IELTS READING

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Reading passage 1



A. In 1977 Irene Pepperberg, a recent graduate of Harvard University did something very bold. At a time when animals still were considered automatons, she set out to find what was on another creature’s mind by talking to it. She brought a one-year-old African grey parrot she named Alex into her lab to teach him to reproduce the sounds of the English language. “I thought if he learned to communicate, I could ask him questions about how he sees the world.”

B. When Pepperberg began her dialogue with Alex, who died last September at the age of 31, many scientists believed animals were incapable of any thought. They were simply machines, robots programmed to react to stimuli but lacking the ability to think or feel. Any pet owner would disagree. We see the love in our dogs’ eyes and know that, of course, they have thoughts and emotions. But such claims remain highly controversial. Gut instinct is not science, and it is all too easy to project human thoughts and feelings onto another creature. How, then, does a scientist prove that an animal is capable of thinking – that it can acquire information about the world and act on it? “That’s why I started my studies with Alex,” Pepperberg said. They were seated – she at her desk, he on top of his cage – in her lab, a windowless room about the size of a boxcar, at Brandeis University. Newspapers lined the floor; baskets of bright toys were stacked on the shelves. They were a team – and because of their work, the notion that animals can think is no longer so fanciful.

C. Certain skills are considered key signs of higher mental abilities: good memory, a grasp of grammar and symbols, self-awareness, understanding others’ motives, imitating others, and being creative. Bit by bit, in ingenious experiments, researchers have documented these talents in other species, gradually chipping away at what we thought made human beings distinctive while offering a glimpse of where our own abilities came from. Scrub jays know that other jays are thieves and that stashed food can spoil; sheep can recognize faces; chimpanzees use a variety of tools to probe termite mounds and even use weapons to hunt small mammals; dolphins can imitate human postures; the archerfish, which stuns insects with a sudden blast of water, can learn how to aim its squirt simply by watching an experienced fish perform the task and Alex the parrot turned out to be a surprisingly good talker.

D. Thirty years after the Alex studies began; Pepperberg and a changing collection of assistants were still giving him English lessons. The humans, along with two younger parrots, also served as Alex’s flock, providing the social input all parrots crave. Like any flock, this one – as small as it was – had its share of drama. Alex dominated his fellow parrots, acted huffy at times around Pepperberg, tolerated the other female humans, and fell to pieces over a male assistant who dropped by for a visit. Pepperberg bought Alex in a Chicago pet store where she let the store’s assistant pick him out because she didn’t want other scientists saying later that she’d particularly chosen an especially smart bird for her work. Given that Alex’s brain was the size of a shelled walnut, most researchers thought Pepperberg’s interspecies communication study would be futile.

E.“Some people actually called me crazy for trying this,” she said. “Scientists thought that chimpanzees were better subjects, although, of course, chimps can’t speak.” Chimpanzees, bonobos, and gorillas have been taught to use sign language and symbols to communicate with us, often with impressive results. The bonobo Kanzi, for instance, carries his symbol-communication board with him so he can “talk” to his human researchers, and he has invented combinations of symbols to express his thoughts. Nevertheless, this is not the same thing as having an animal look up at you, open his mouth, and speak. Under Pepperberg’s patient tutelage, Alex learned how to use his vocal tract to imitate almost one hundred English words, including the sounds for various foods, although he calls an apple a “beanery.” “Apples taste a little bit like bananas to him, and they look a little bit like cherries, Alex made up that word for them,” Pepperberg said.

F. It sounded a bit mad, the idea of a bird having lessons to practice, and willingly doing it. But after listening to and observing Alex, it was difficult to argue with Pepperberg’s explanation for his behaviours. She wasn’t handing him treats for the repetitious work or rapping him on the claws to make him say the sounds. “He has to hear the words over and over before he can correctly imitate them,” Pepperberg said, after pronouncing “seven” for Alex a good dozen times in a row. “I’m not trying to see if Alex can learn a human language,” she added. “That’s never been the point. My plan always was to use his imitative skills to get a better understanding of avian cognition.”

G. In other words, because Alex was able to produce a close approximation of the sounds of some English words, Pepperberg could ask him questions about a bird’s basic understanding of the world. She couldn’t ask him what he was thinking about, but she could ask him about his knowledge of numbers, shapes, and colours. To demonstrate, Pepperberg carried Alex on her arm to a tall wooden perch in the middle of the room. She then retrieved a green key and a small green cup from a basket on a shelf. She held up the two items to Alex’s eye. “What’s the same?” she asked. Without hesitation, Alex’s beak opened: “Color.” “What’s different?” Pepperberg asked. “Shape,” Alex said. His voice had the digitized sound of a cartoon character. Since parrots lack lips (another reason it was difficult for Alex to pronounce some sounds, such as ba), the words seemed to come from the air around him, as if a ventriloquist were speaking. But the words – and what can only be called the thoughts – were entirely his.

H. For the next 20 minutes, Alex ran through his tests, distinguishing colours, shapes, sizes, and materials (wool versus wood versus metal). He did some simple arithmetic, such as counting the yellow toy blocks among a pile of mixed hues. And, then, as if to offer final proof of the mind inside his bird’s brain, Alex spoke up. “Talk clearly!” he commanded, when one of the younger birds Pepperberg was also teaching talked with wrong pronunciation. “Talk clearly!” “Don’t be a smart aleck,” Pepperberg said, shaking her head at him. “He knows all this, and he gets bored, so he interrupts the others, or he gives the wrong answer just to be obstinate. At this stage, he’s like a teenager; he’s moody, and I’m never sure what he’ll do.”



Questions 1-6. Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage? In boxes 1-6 on your answer sheet, write
TRUE, if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE, if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN, if there is no information on this

1. Firstly, Alex has grasped quite a lot of vocabulary.
2. At the beginning of the study, Alex felt frightened in the presence of humans.
3. Previously, many scientists realized that animals possess the ability of thinking.
4. It has taken a long time before people get to know cognition existing in animals.
5. As Alex could approximately imitate the sounds of English words, he was capable of roughly answering Irene’s questions regarding the world.
6. By breaking in other parrots as well as producing the incorrect answers, he tried to be focused.



Questions 7-10. Complete the following summary of the paragraphs of Reading Passage, using NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the Reading Passage for each answer. Write your answers in boxes 7-10 on your answer sheet.

After the training of Irene, Parrot Alex can use his vocal tract to pronounce more than 7…………………, while other scientists believe that animals have no this advanced ability of thinking, they would rather teach 8…………………. Pepperberg clarified that she wanted to conduct a study concerning 9………………… but not to teach him to talk. The store’s assistant picked out a bird at random for her for the sake of avoiding other scientists saying that the bird is 10 ………………… afterwards.

Questions 11-13. Answer the questions 11-13 below.
Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER from the passage for each answer.

11. What did Alex reply regarding the similarity of the subjects showed to him?
12. What is the problem of the young parrots except for Alex?
13. To some extent, through the way, he behaved what we can call him


Reading Passage 2

Developing Courtiers

A. The Ecotourism Society defines ecotourism as “responsible travel to natural areas which conserves the environment and improves the welfare of local people”. It is recognized as being particularly conducive to enriching and enhancing the standing of tourism, on the basis that this form of tourism respects the natural heritage and local populations and are in keeping with the carrying capacity of the sites. Cuba is undoubtedly an obvious site for ecotourism, with its picturesque beaches, underwater beauty, countryside landscapes, and ecological reserves.

B. An educated population and improved infrastructure of roads and communications add to the mix. In the Caribbean region, Cuba is now the second most popular tourist destination. Ecotourism is also seen as an environmental education opportunity to heighten both visitors’ and residents’ awareness of environmental and conservation issues, and even to inspire conservation action. Ecotourism has also been credited with promoting peace, by providing opportunities for educational and cultural exchange. Tourists’ safety and health are guaranteed. Raul Castro, brother of the Cuban president, started this initiative to rescue the Cuban tradition of herbal medicine and provide natural medicines for its healthcare system. The school at Las Terrazas Eco-Tourism Community teaches herbal healthcare and children learn not only how to use medicinal herbs, but also to grow them in the school garden for teas, tinctures, ointments, and creams. In Cuba, ecotourism has the potential to alleviate poverty by bringing money into the economy and creating jobs. In addition to the environmental impacts of these efforts, the area works on developing community employment opportunities for locals, in conjunction with ecotourism.

C. In terms of South America, it might be the place which shows the shortcoming of ecotourism. Histoplasma capsulatum, a dimorphic fungus, is the most common endemic mycosis in the United States and is associated with exposure to bat or bird droppings. Most recently, outbreaks have been reported in healthy travellers who returned from Central and South America after engaging in recreational activities associated with spelunking, adventure tourism, and ecotourism. It is quite often to see tourists neglected sanitation while travelling. After engaging in high-risk activities, boots should be hosed off and clothing placed in airtight plastic bags for laundering. HIV- infected travellers should avoid risky behaviours or environments, such as exploring caves, particularly those that contain bat droppings.

D. Nowhere is the keen eye and intimate knowledge of ecotourism are more amidst this fantastic biodiversity, as we explore remote realms rich in wildlife rather than a nature adventure. A sustainable tour is significant for ecotourism, one in which we can grow hand in hand with nature and our community, respecting everything that makes us privileged. Travellers get great joy from every step that takes forward on this endless but exciting journey towards sustainability. The primary threats to South America’s tropical forests are deforestation caused by agricultural expansion, cattle ranching, fagging, oil extraction and spills, mining, illegal coca farming, and colonization initiatives. Deforestation has shrunk territories belonging to indigenous peoples and wiped out more than 90% of the population. Many are taking leading roles in sustainable tourism even as they introduce protected regions to more travellers.

E. In East Africa, significantly reducing such illegal hunting and allowing wildlife populations to recover would allow the generation of significant economic benefits through trophy hunting and potentially ecotourism. “Illegal hunting is an extremely inefficient use of wildlife resources because it fails to capture the value of wildlife achievable through alternative forms of use such as trophy hunting and ecotourism,” said Peter Lindsey, author of the new study. Most residents believed that ecotourism could solve this circumstance. They have a passion for local community empowerment, loves photography and writes to laud current local conservation efforts, create environmental awareness and promote ecotourism.

F. In Indonesia, ecotourism started to become an important concept from 1995, in order to strengthen the domestic travelling movement, the local government targeting the right markets is a prerequisite for successful
ecotourism. The market segment for Indonesian ecotourism consists of: (i) “The silent generation”, 55-64-year-old people who are wealthy enough, generally well-educated and have no dependent children, and can travel for four weeks; (ii) “The baby boom generation”, junior successful executives aged 35-54 years, who are likely to be travelling with their family and children (spending 2-3 weeks on travel) – travelling for them is a stress reliever; and (iii) the “X generation”, aged 18-29 years, who love to do ecotours as backpackers – they are generally students who can travel for 3-12 months with a monthly expenditure of US$300-500. It is suggested that the promotion of Indonesian ecotourism products should aim to reach these various cohorts of tourists. The country welcomes diverse levels of travellers.

G. On the other hand, ecotourism provides as many services as traditional tourism. Nestled between Mexico, Guatemala and the Caribbean Sea is the country of Belize. It is the wonderful place for Hamanasi honeymoon, a bottle of champagne upon arrival, three meals daily, private service on one night of your stay and a choice of adventures depending on the length of your stay. It also offers six-night and seven-night honeymoon packages. A variety of specially tailored tours, including the Brimstone Hill Fortress, and a trip to a neighbouring island. Guided tours include rainforest, volcano, and off-road plantation tours. Gregory Pereira, extremely knowledgeable and outgoing hiking and tour guide say the following about his tours: “All of our tours on St. Kitts include transportation by specially modified Land Rovers, a picnic of island pastries and local fruit, fresh tropical juices, CSR, a qualified island guide and a full liability insurance coverage for participants.

H. Kodai is an ultimate splendour spot for those who love being close to mother nature. They say every bird must sing its own throat while we say every traveller should find his own way out of variegated and unblemished paths of deep valleys and steep mountains. The cheese factory here exports a great quantity of cheese to various countries across the globe. It is located in the centre of the forest. Many travellers are attracted by the delicious cheese. Ecotourism is very famous for this different eating experience.



Questions 14-18

Use the information in the passage to match the place (listed A-D) with opinions or deeds below. Write the appropriate letters, A-D, in boxes 14-18 on your answer sheet.
NB: You may use any letter more than once.

14. a place to improve local education to help tourists
15. a place suitable for both rich and poor travellers
16. a place where could easily get fungus
17. a place taking a method to stop unlawful poaching
18. a place where the healthcare system is developed

A. Cuba
B. East Africa
C. South America
D. Indonesia

Questions 19-22. Use the information in the passage to match the companies (listed A-C) with or deeds below. Write the appropriate letters A, B, C or D in boxes 19-22 answer sheet.

Eating the local fruits at the same time find job opportunities in the community which is situated on the heart of the jungle with private and comfortable service

19. Visiting the cheese factory
20. Enjoying the honeymoon
21. Having the picnic while
22. The residents in Cuba could



Questions 23-26. Complete the following summary of the paragraphs of Reading Passage, using NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the Reading Passage for each answer. Write your answers in boxes 23-26 on your answer sheet.

Ecotourism is not nature 23…………………… but a 24……………… tour. The reason why South America promotes ecotourism is due to the destruction of 25 In addition, East Africa also encourages this kind of tourism for cutting the 26……………………in order to save wild animals.

Reading Passage 3

Classifying Societies

Although humans have established many types of societies throughout history sociologists and anthropologists tend to classify different societies according to the degree to which different groups within a society have unequal access to advantages such as resources, prestige or power, and usually refer to four basic types of societies. From least to most socially complex, they are clans, tribes, chiefdoms, and states.

Clan

These are small-scale societies of hunters and gatherers, generally of fewer than 100 people, who move seasonally to exploit wild (undomesticated) food resources. Most surviving hunter-gatherer groups are of this kind, such as the Hadza of Tanzania or the San of southern Africa. Clan members are generally kinsfolk, related by descent or marriage. Clans lack formal leaders, so there are no marked economic differences or disparities in status among their members.
Because clans are composed of mobile groups of hunter-gatherers, their sites consist mainly of seasonally occupied camps, and other smaller and more specialized sites. Among the latter are kill or butchery sites – locations where large mammals are killed and sometimes butchered – and work sites, where tools are made or other specific activities carried out. The base camp of such a group may give evidence of rather insubstantial dwellings or temporary shelters, along with the debris of residential occupation.

Tribe

These are generally larger than mobile hunter-gatherer groups, but rarely number more than a few thousand, and their diet or subsistence is based largely on cultivated plants and domesticated animals. Typically, they have settled farmers, but they may be nomadic with a very different, mobile economy based on the intensive exploitation of livestock. These are generally multi-community societies, with the individual communities integrated into the large society through kinship ties. Although some tribes have officials and even a “capital” or seat of government, such officials lack the economic base necessary for effective use of power.
The typical settlement pattern for tribes is one of settled agricultural homesteads or villages. Characteristically, no one settlement dominates any of the others in the region. Instead, the archaeologist finds evidence for isolated, permanently occupied houses or for permanent villages. Such villages may be made up of a collection of free- standing houses, like those of the first farms of the Danube valley in Europe. Or they may be clusters of buildings grouped together, for example, the pueblos of the American Southwest, and the early farming village or the small town of Catalhoyuk in modern Turkey.

Chiefdom

These operate on the principle of ranking-differences in social status between people. Different lineages (a lineage is a group claiming descent from a common ancestor) are graded on a scale of prestige, and the senior lineage, and hence the society as a whole, is governed by a chief. Prestige and rank are determined by how closely related one is to the chief, and there is no true stratification into classes. The role of the chief is crucial.
Often, there is local specialization in craft products, and surpluses of these and of foodstuffs are periodically paid as an obligation to the chief. He uses these to maintain his retainers and may use them for redistribution to his subjects. The chiefdom generally has a centre of power, often with temples, residences of the chief and his retainers, and craft specialists. Chiefdoms vary greatly in size, but the range is generally between about 5000 and 20,000 persons.

Early State

These preserve many of the features of chiefdoms, but the ruler (perhaps a king or sometimes a queen) has explicit authority to establish laws and also to enforce them by the use of a standing army. Society no longer depends totally upon kin relationships: it is now stratified into different classes. Agricultural workers and the poorer urban dwellers form the lowest classes, with the craft specialists above, and the priests and kinsfolk of the ruler higher still. The functions of the ruler are often separated from those of the priest: the palace is distinguished from the temple. The society is viewed as a territory owned by the ruling lineage and populated by tenants who have an obligation to pay taxes. The central capital houses a bureaucratic administration of officials; one of their principal purposes is to collect revenue (often in the form of taxes and tolls) and distribute it to government, army and craft specialists. Many early states developed complex redistribution systems to support these essential services.

This rather simple social typology, set out by Elman Service and elaborated by William Sanders and Joseph Marino, can be criticized, and it should not be used unthinkingly. Nevertheless, if we are seeking to talk about early societies, we must use words and hence concepts to do so. Service categories provide a good framework to help organize our thoughts.



Questions 27-33
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage? In boxes 27-33 on your answer sheet, write
TRUE FALSE NOT GIVEN

27. There’s little economic difference between members of a clan.
28. The farmers of a tribe grow a wide range of plants.
29. One settlement is more important than any other settlement in a tribe.
30. A member’s status in a chiefdom is determined by how much land he owns.
31. There are people who craft goods in chiefdoms. 32. The king keeps the order of a state by keeping a military.
33. Bureaucratic officers receive higher salaries than other members.

Questions 34-39

Answer the questions below. NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS

34. What is made at the clan work sites?
35. What is the other way of life for tribes besides settled farming?
36. How are Catalhoyuk’s housing units arranged?
37. What does a chief give to his subjects as rewards besides crafted goods?
38. What is the largest possible population of a chiefdom?
39. Which group of people is at the bottom of an early state but higher than the farmers?


40. Write the correct letter on the answer sheet.
In early states, what distinguishes the palace from the temple in terms of function and role?
A) The palace is the religious center, while the temple is the seat of government.
B) The palace is where craft specialists work, while the temple houses the king or queen.
C) The palace is responsible for tax collection, while the temple enforces laws.
D) The palace is where the ruler resides, while the temple is the religious center.

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