Reading Passage 1

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1 – 14, which are based on
Reading Passage 1.
Strategies: matching headings to paragraphs
 Look at the list of headings.
 Read quickly through the text, highlighting the key sentence in each paragraph and
summarizing the main ideas in your mind. Don’t try to understand every word.
 Study the examples and cross them off the list of headings.
 Match the main idea of each paragraph with a heading. Lightly cross out headings as
you choose them.
 When you finish, check that no remaining headings fit anywhere.

Questions 1-5
List of Headings
I The problem of dealing with emergencies in space
ii How space biomedicine can help patients on Earth
iii Why accidents are so common in outer space
iv What is space biomedicine?
v The psychological problems of astronauts
vi Conducting space biomedical research on Earth
vii The internal damage caused to the human body by space travel
viii How space biomedicine first began
ix The visible effects of space travel on the human body
x Why space biomedicine is now necessary

Example Paragraph AAnswer iv

1 Paragraph B
2 Paragraph C
3 Paragraph D
4 Paragraph E
Example Paragraph AAnswer iv
5 Paragraph G
 SPACE TRAVEL and HEALTH
A Space biomedicine is a relatively new area of research both in the USA and in
Europe. Its main objectives are to study the effects of space travel on the human
body, identifying the most critical medical problems and finding solutions to those
problems. Space biomedicine centres are receiving increasing direct support from
NASA and/or the European Space Agency (ESA).
B This involvement of NASA and the ESA reflects growing concern that the
feasibility of travel to other planets, and beyond, is no longer limited by
engineering constraints but by what the human body can actually withstand. The
discovery of ice on Mars, for instance, means that there is now no necessity to
design and develop a spacecraft large and powerful enough to transport the vast
amounts of water needed to sustain the crew throughout journeys that may last
many years. Without the necessary protection and medical treatment, however,
their bodies would be devastated by the unremittingly hostile environment of
space.
C The most obvious physical changes undergone by people in zero gravity are
essentially harmless; in some cases they are even amusing. The blood and other
fluids are no longer dragged down towards the feet by the gravity of Earth, so they
accumulate higher up in the body, creating what is sometimes called ‘fat face’,
together with the contrasting ‘chicken legs’ syndrome as the lower limbs become
thinner.
D Much more serious are the unseen consequences after months or years in space.
With no gravity, there is less need for a sturdy skeleton to support the body, with
the result that the bones weaken, releasing calcium into the bloodstream. This extra
calcium can overload the kidneys, leading ultimately to renal failure. Muscles too
lose strength through lack of use. The heart becomes smaller; losing the power to
pump oxygenated blood to all parts of the body, while the lungs lose the capacity
to breathe fully. The digestive system becomes less efficient, a weakened immune
system is increasingly unable to prevent diseases and the high level of solar and
cosmic radiation can cause various forms of cancer.
E To make matters worse, a wide range of medical difficulties can arise in the case
of an accident or serious illness when the patient is millions of kilometres from
Earth. There is simply not enough room available inside a space vehicle to include
all the equipment from a hospital’s casualty unit, some of which would not work
properly in space anyway. Even basic things such as a drip depend on gravity to
function, while standard resuscitation techniques become ineffective if sufficient
weight cannot be applied. The only solution seems to be to create extremely small
medical tools and ‘smart’ devices that can, for example, diagnose and treat internal
injuries using ultrasound. The cost of designing and producing this kind of
equipment is bound to be, well, astronomical.
F Such considerations have led some to question the ethics of investing huge sums
of money to help a handful of people who, after all, are willingly risking their own
health in outer space, when so much needs to be done a lot closer to home. It is
now clear; however, that every problem of space travel has a parallel problem on
Earth that will benefit from the knowledge gained and the skills developed from
space biomedical research. For instance, the very difficulty of treating astronauts in
space has led to rapid progressin the field of telemedicine, which in turn has
brought about developments that enable surgeons to communicate with patients in
inaccessible parts of the world. To take another example, systems invented to
sterilize waste water on board spacecraft could be used by emergency teams to
filter contaminated water at the scene of natural disasters such as floods and
earthquakes. In the same way miniature monitoring equipment, developed to save
weight in space capsules, will eventually become tiny monitors that patients on
Earth can wear without discomfort wherever they go.
G Nevertheless, there is still one major obstacle to carrying out studies into the
effects of space travel: how to do so without going to the enormous expense of
actually working in space. To stimulate conditions in zero gravity, one tried and
tested method is to work under water, but the space biomedicine centres are also
looking at other ideas. In one experiment, researchers study the weakening of
bones that results from prolonged inactivity. This would involve volunteers staying
in bed for three months, but the centre concerned is confident there should be no
great difficulty in finding people willing to spend twelve weeks lying down. All in
the name of science, of course.
 Strategies: Short answer questions
 These focus on particular points. For each question, highlight the key words.
 Go back to the part of the text where you remember this point being mentioned.
 Read through that part for the key words, or words with similar meaning, and
highlight them.
 Read the question again and decide on your answer, taking care with your grammar
and spelling.
Questions 6 and 7
Answer the question below using NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each
answer.

6 Where, apart from Earth, can space travelers find water? …………….

7 What happens to human legs during space travel? ………………

Strategies: yes/no/not given

 Scan the text for the sections where the topic of the question appears. The views
expressed will probably be the writer’s, unless there is reported or direct speech
quoting somebody else.
 Look for the expressions with similar meanings to words in the statement.
 Decide whether the writer agrees with the statement or not.
 If you can’t find any mention of the topic, ‘not given’ may be the answer.
 Don’t choose ‘yes’ or ‘no’ just because you believe it to be true.

Questions 8 – 12
Do the following statements agree with the writer’s views in Reading Passage 1?
In boxes 8 – 12 on your answer sheet write
YES if the statement agrees with the views of the writer
NO if the statement does not agree with the views of the writer
NOT GIVEN if there is no information about this in the passage

8 The obstacles to going far into space are now medical, not technological.

9 Astronauts cannot survive more than two years in space.

10 It is morally wrong to spend so much money on space biomedicine.

11 Some kinds ofsurgery are more successful when performed in space.

12 Space biomedical research can only be done in space.

 Strategies:
 Look closely at the headings and contents of the table, particularly the example line:
it may not be at the top. This shows you how the information is organized in the text.
 Decide what the missing information has in common, e.g. people, descriptions, or
actions.
 Decide how the answer needs to be expressed, e.g. as a complete phrase, and what
kinds of words are needed, e.g. names, adjectives + nouns, or verbs + nouns.
 The answers may or may not be close together in the text. For each question, scan
the text to find it and fill in the space without going over the word limit.

Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer. Write
your answers in boxes 13 and 14 on your answer sheet.

Research area Application in space Application on Earth

Telemedicine Treating astronauts 13 ……………………..in

remote areas

Sterilization Sterilizing waste water 14 ……………………..in

disaster zones

Miniaturization Saving weight Wearing small monitors

comfortably
 DEFORESTATION ANDDESERTIFICATION

A. The Sahel zone lies between the Sahara desert and the fertile savannahs of
northern Nigeria and southern Sudan. The word Sahel comes from Arabic and
means marginal or transitional, and this is a good description of these semi - arid
lands, which occupy much of the West African countries of Mali, Mauritania,
Niger and Chad.

B. Unfortunately, over the last century the Sahara desert has steadily crept
southwards, eating into once productive Sahel lands. United Nations surveys show
that over 70 per cent of the dry land agricultural use in Africa has deteriorated over
the last 30 years. Droughts have become more prolonged and more severe, the
most recent lasting over 20 years in parts of the Sahel region. The same process of
desertification in taking place across southern Africa as the Kalahari desert
advances into Botswana and parts of South Africa.

C. One of the major causes of this desert advance is poor agricultural land use,
driven by the pressures of increasing population. Overgrazing - keeping too many
farm animals on the land - means that grasses and other plants cannot recover, and
scarce water supplies and exhausted. Over cultivation - trying to grow too many
crops on poor land - results in the soil becoming even less fertile and drier, and
beginning to break up. Soil erosion follows, and the land turns into desert.

D. Another cause of desertification is loss of tree cover. Trees are cut down for use
as fuel and to clear land for agriculture use. Tree roots help to bind the soil
together, to conserve moisture and to provide a habitat for other plants and
animals. When trees are cut down, the soil begins to dry and loosen, wind and rain
erosion increase, other plant species die and eventually the fertile topsoil may be
almost entirely lost, leaving only bare rock and dust.

E. The effects of loss of topsoil and increased drought are irreversible. They are,
however, preventable. Careful conservation of tree cover and sustainable
agricultural land use have been shown to halt deterioration of soils and lessen the
effects of shortage of rainfall. One project in Kita in south-west Mali funded by the
UNDP has involves local communities in sustainable management of forest, while
at the same time providing a viable agricultural economy based on the production
of soaps, beekeeping and marketing shea nuts. This may be a model for similar
projects in other West African countries.
Sentence completion
Questions 1 - 6:
Read the sentences 1 – 6 taken from a Sentence completion task. Decide whether
the missing words are adjectives or nouns.
1.The climate of the Sahel is described as ………………. .
2.In some areas of the Sahel, there has been no rainfall for more than ……………..
.
3.Desertification is caused by overgrazing, but this in turn is due to the pressure
from ……………... .
4.When trees are cut down, the soil is affected which leads to the death of the
surrounding …………….. .
5.The consequences of the loss of topsoil cannot be reversed, but they are
………….. .
6.Looking after trees reduces the consequences of a lack of …………...

Questions 1 – 7
Statements 1 – 7 are taken from a True/False/Not Given task. Underline words
which could be used to scan the passage. Explain your choices.
Example
The semi – arid land of the Sahel is found only in Mali.
Scan for Mali because it is easy to see (capital letter) and cannot be expressed in
another way.

1.The Sahara has spread slowly northwards into the Sahel region.
2.Just over 70 per cent of the dry land in agricultural use in Africa has deteriorated
over the last 30 years.
3.Desertification is taking place faster in southern Africa than in the Sahel.
4.The advance of the desert is not the result of poor agricultural land use.
5.The loss of tree cover is a minor cause of desertification.
6.If there is a loss of tree cover, the deterioration in the soil is halted.
7.Tree conservation is more effective than sustainable agricultural land use in
reducing the consequences of lack of rain.
Lake Vostok
A Beneath the white blanket of Antarctica lies half a continent of virtually
uncharted territory - an area so completely hidden that scientists have little clue
what riches await discovery. Recently, Russian and British glaciologists identified
an immense lake - one of Earth's largest and deepest - buried beneath 4,000 meters
of ice immediately below Russia's Vostok Station.

B As details have emerged, a growing number of scientists are showing interest,

with dozens of investigators keen to explore the feature, known as Lake Vostok. A
thick layer of sediment at the bottom of the lake could hold novel clues to the
planet's climate going back tens of millions of years. By looking at the ratio of
different oxygen isotopes, scientists should be able to trace how Earth's
temperature changed over the millennia. NASA has expressed interest in Lake
Vostok because of its similarity to Europe This moon of Jupiter appears to have a
water ocean covered by a thick ice sheet, measuring perhaps tens of kilometers in
depth. If hydrothermal vents exist beneath the ice, chemical reactions on Europe
could have created the molecular building blocks for life, if not life itself. Vostok
would be an ideal testing ground for technology that would eventually fly to
Europa or places even more distant, say many scientists. Though cheap compared
with a European mission, any expedition to Vostok would represent a significant
investment.

C Vostok Station holds the uncomfortable distinction of having recorded the

coldest temperature on Earth. Thermometers distinction of having recorded the
coldest temperature on Earth. Thermometers here measured -89.6 C° in July 1983,
and the average temperature hovers around -55 C°. It's the thick ice, strangely, that
enables a lake to survive in such a frozen environment. the 4 kilometers of ice acts
effectively as an insulation blanket protecting the bedrock underneath the ice from
the cold temperatures above. Geothermal heat coming from the planet's interior
keeps the leak from freezing and warms the lowest layers of ice. The tremendous
weight of the ice sheet also plays a role in maintaining the lake. Beneath 4 km of
glacier, the pressure is intense enough to melt ice at a temperature of -4 C°. These
factors have helped lakes develop across much of the thickly blanketed east
Antarctica. To date more than 70 hidden lakes have been detected in the small
portion of the continent. Lake Vostok is the largest of these, stretching 280 km
from south to north and some 60 km from east to west. At Vostok station, which
sits at the southern end of the lake, the water depth appears to be 500 m according
to seismic experiments carried out by Russian researchers.

D The first clues to Lake Vostok's existence came in the 1970s, when British, U.S.,
and Danish researchers collected radar observations by flying over this region, the
radar penetrates the ice and bounces off whatever sits below. When researchers
found a surface as flat as a mirror, they surmised that a lake must exist underneath
the ice. An airborne survey of the lake is being undertaken, the first step toward
eventually drilling into the water. Along with the potential rewards come a host of
challenges. Researchers must find a way to penetrate the icy covering without
introducing any microorganisms or pollutants into the sealed-off water.

E What about life in the depths? If tiny microbes do populate the lake, they may be
some of the hungriest organisms ever discovered. Lake Vostok has the potential to
be one of the most energy-limited, or oligotropic, environments on the planet. For
the lake's residents, the only nutrients would come from below. Russian
investigators have speculated that the lake floor may have hot springs spewing out
hydrothermal fluids stocked with reduced metals and other sorts of chemical
nutrients. Scant geological evidence available for this region, however, indicates
that the crust is old and dead. Without a stream of nutrients seeping up from the
deep Earth, the only potential source of energy lies above the lake. The ice sheet
above the water is creeping from west to east at a rate of roughly four meters per
year. The lowermost layers of ice melt when they come in contact with the lake,
liberating trapped gases and bits of crushed-up rock. If the glacier recently passed
over rock before reaching the lake, it could be supplying organic compounds useful
to microorganisms. It also could be seeding the lake with a continuous source of
new residents. Bacteria, yeasts, fungi, algae, and even pollen grains have been
found in the Vostok ice core samples taken down to depths of 2,750m-three
quarters of the way to the bottom. At least some of these organisms are alive and
capable of growing, according to recent reports. The results of this analysis may
indirectly indicate whether anything survives in the lightness body of water.
Questions 1-4
The passage has 5 sections A – E. Choose the most suitable heading for sections
B – E from the list of heading below. Write the appropriate numbers (i – vii).
There are more headings than sections so you will not use all of them.

List of Headings
I Cost of exploration
ii Location and description
iii Potential for living organisms in the lake
iv Challenges of exploration
v Discovery of the lake
vi Possible sources of nutrients to support life
vii Types of organisms in the lake
viii Scientific interest in Lake Vostok

Example Section A Answer v

1 Section B
2 Section C
3 Section D
4 Section E

5. Which is NOT given as a reason for interest in exploring Lake Vostok?

A. to test technology for space exploration
B. to develop anti – pollution devices
C. to investigate the history of Earth’s climate
D. to look for living organisms
6. Lake Vostok does not freeze because …
A. a thick ice cover provides insulation.
B. it is warmed by heat from the Earth’s surface.
C. low pressure prevents freezing.
D. an underwater volcano erupted recently.
Questions 7 – 13
Do the following statements reflect the claims of the author?
YES if the statement reflects the author’s claims.
NO if the statement contradicts the author’s claims.
NOT GIVEN if the information is not clearly given in the passage

7 Only one lake has been found beneath Antarctica.

8 Lake Vostok was detected by radar.
9 Exploration of Lake Vostok is coordinated by Russia
10 Nutrients to support life have been found in the Antarctic ice.
11 The ice above the lake is moving to the east.
12 Scientists have drilled through the ice into the water of Lake Vostok.
13 The water in the lake is approximately 500 m deep at the southern end.
 Sleeping on the job
North Americans are not a people of the siesta. There is a tendency to
associate afternoon naps with laziness and non-productivity. Latin Americans and
some in European cultures take a different view. In Mexico and Greece, for
example, it is customary to close businesses between noon and about 4:00 pm –
siesta time. Recent studies are showing that if you can take a 15 to 30 minute nap
while at work in the afternoon, you’ll be more alert, more energetic, happier doing
what you do, more productive and therefore more likely to get ahead. Napping on
the job is not a trend but there is serious talk in academic circles about the merits of
‘power napping’.
By some estimates, the average American collects an annual ‘sleep debt’ of
500 hours – subtracting from an assumed norm of eight hours a night. Two out of
three Americans get less than eight hours of sleep a night during the work week,
according to a recent study by National Sleep Foundation in Washington. 40% say
they’re so tried that it interferes with their daily activities. Sleep researcher
William Anthony, A professor of psychology at Boston University, says fatigue is
a significant problem in the modern society. He says sleepiness is a leading cause
of auto accidents, second only to drunkenness. All that drowsiness costs an
estimated $18 billion annually in lost productivity. ‘We have a simply message’,
says Professor Anthony. ‘People should be allowed to nap at their breaks. The
rationale is a productivity one – workers are sleepy, and when they’re sleepy on the
job they’re not productive.’
Some companies are encouraging sleep at work, primarily for safety. The
Metropolitan Transit Authority, which runs the New York subway system and two
suburban railroads, is considering power naps for its train operators and bus
drivers. Another railway has started letting its train operators take nap breaks of up
to 45 minutes but only when trains are stopped at designated spots off the main
lines and dispatchers have been notified. Some overseas air carriers permit airline
pilots, when not on duty, to nap in the cockpit. Airlines in the United States have
not accepted this practice yet.
According to the Encyclopedia of Sleep and Dreaming: ‘There is a
biologically-based tendency to fall asleep in mid-afternoon just as there is a
tendency to fall asleep at night. Moreover, if sleep the night before is reduced or
disturbed for any reason, a nap the subsequent afternoon is not only more likely to
occur, but it can also relieve sleepiness and increase alertness.’ The nap zone,
documented in numerous studies, is typically between noon and 3:00 pm. Some
people power through this natural slowdown with caffeine or sugar but if
employers allow naps, the benefit would be improvements in mood and
performance, especially in mid-afternoon. Workers would concentrate better and
persevere in tasks longer. Workers commonly sneak naps even without permission
but some companies have begun encouraging naps as part of their policies on
boosting production. One US distributor is opening a 2,000 square foot nap facility
that provides bed for up to 20 of its 225 workers at the time. A company
in Japan sets up tents in business offices provides eyeshades and ear plugs and
encourages employees to snooze in the middle of the work day. According to
Professor Anthony, ‘you’re not going to see napping at traditional types of
operations…. but in 21st century-style operations, this isn’t going to be a perk. It’s
going to have more to do with productivity. Smart employers understand that their
employees need rest to do their best.’
Some suspect that cooperate nap time, like other perks, is just a way to keep
people at the office longer. On the other hand, growing flexibility in hours, for
some workers is allowing nap time to become more common. With eleven million
Americans telecommuting and another forty million working out of their homes
full or part times, office hours are basically as long as you can awake. One thing is
sure: longer commutes, more intense, stressful, work days and higher production
demands are taking a toll. So, with Americans sleeping less and working longer
hours, some employers are warming up to the idea that a little nap in the middle of
the day can be good for business.

Question 1
Circle the correct answer A – D.
1 According to the passage, which of the following statements is supported by
recent research?
A. Napping is an indicator of laziness.
B. Two thirds of Americans sleep too much.
C. Napping in the workplace is a current trend.
D. Short naps at work increase productivity.

Questions 2 – 6
Do the following statements reflect the claims of the author?
YES if the statement reflects the author’s claims.
NO if the statement contradicts the author’s claims.
NOT GIVEN if the information is not clearly given in the passage
2 The number one cause of car accidents is fatigue.
3 People who nap in the afternoon are lazy.
4 A nap in the middle of the day can improve your mood.
5 People who nap regularly live longer.
6 The majority of Americans sleep at least eight hours a night.

Questions 2 – 6
Choose one phrase from the list in the box (A – F) to complete each of the
following sentences.
7 Humans are biologically programmed to …
8 Employees of some progressive companies are encouraged to …
9 Traditional employers are likely to …

A drink coffee to stay awake during the afternoon

B have a nap during breaks
C fall asleep when they are bored
D sneak naps without permission
E resist the trend toward napping
F fall asleep in the afternoon

Questions 2 – 6
Complete the following sentences using NO MORE THEN THREE WORDS
FROM THE PASSAGE.

10 In the transportation industry napping is a matter of … …………….

11 On some airlines pilots can sleep in the cockpit if … …………….

Questions 12 – 13
Circle the correct answer A – D.

12 According to the writer, in America the workplace is becoming ……….

A. Less flexible
B. More exciting
C. Less demanding
D. More stressful

13 According to the writer, what is the main reason why employers support the
idea of naps at work?
A. For health reasons
B. To promote safety
C. To increase productivity
D. To encourage creativity
You should spend about 20 minutes on questions 14 – 26 which are based on this
passage.

Homeopathy
A Homeopathy is an alternative system of medicine, founded in the early
th
19 century by a German physician, Dr. Samuel Hahnemann. Since 1980
homeopathy has experienced a strong resurgence of interest in north and South
America as well as in Europe. Surveys indicate that more than a third of French
physicians have prescribed homeopathic treatment.
B Hahnemann’s discovery of the principle of homeopathy was accidental.
After taking some quinine he noticed that he developed malaria – like symptoms.
Since malaria patients were treated with quinine, he speculated that possibly
malaria is cured by quinine because it causes malaria – like symptoms in healthy
people. He decided to explore his theory by testing other substances used as
medicine at the time, such as arsenic and belladonna. His tests were conducted by
either taking the substances internally himself or by administering them to healthy
volunteers and then recording all of the symptoms the volunteers experienced. He
continued his experiments on a wide range of natural substances, often toxic.
These recorded results created ‘drug pictures’ which formed the basis for the new
system of medicine. The next step was to give the tested substances to give the
tested substances to patients suffering from the same group of symptoms
represented by the drug picture recorded. The results were incredible. People were
being cured from diseases that had never been cured before. He condensed his
theory into a single Latin phrase: similia similubus curentur (let likes be cured by
likes). This means that a disease can be cured by a medicine which produces in a
healthy person, symptoms similar to those experienced by the patient.
C The process of making remedies is very precise. A homeopathic remedy is
normally a single substance. The substances may be made from plants, minerals
and even animals, for example snake venom cuttlefish ink. To make remedies, the
raw material is dissolved in a mixture that contains approximately 90% alcohol and
10% water. The mixture is left to stand for 2 to 4 weeks, shaken occasionally then
strained. The resulting liquid or tincture is then diluted according to very specific
measures to a factor of 1:100. For example, to produce a remedy called I c
potency or strength , one drop of the tincture is added to 99 drops of alcohol/
water mixture. Between each mixture the remedy is shaken vigorously.
Hahnemann believed that through this process, the energy of the substance was
released. Once the remedy has been diluted beyond a 12 c potency it is unlikely
that even a molecule of the original substance remains. Yet, ironically, the more
dilute the remedy, the stronger it is. This makes no sense in light of present day
science but regardless of what science tells us is impossible, in practice, the higher
the dilution the stronger and more lasting the effect.
D It is this use of high dilution that has given rise to controversy. Many
conventional doctors claim that homeopathy functions only as a placebo because
the dosage is so small. However, the clinical experience of homeopathy shows that
this tiny dose can be effective: it works on unconscious people and infants, and it
even works on animals. Controlled clinical studies performed by medical
researchers are demonstrating that homeopathy can be an effective method of
treatment for many diseases.
E The most important part of homeopathic treatments lies in the lengthy
interview which the homeopath conducts with the patient. The idea behind this one
to two hours consultations is to build up a psychological, emotional and physical
history of the patient, to discover the underlying patterns of disease. The
homeopath then decides which medicine to prescribe based on the closest match
between the patient's symptoms and the known symptoms elicited by the medicine
in a healthy body. A single dose is given for the shortest period of time necessary
to stimulate the body's healing power.
F How does the concept of homeopathy differ from that of conventional
medicine? Very simply, homeopathy attempts to stimulate the body to recover
itself. Instead of looking upon the symptoms as something wrong which must be
set right, the homeopath sees them as signs of the way the body is attempting to
help itself. Another basic difference between conventional medical therapy and
homeopathy is in the role of medication. In much of conventional therapy the
illness is controlled through regular use of medical substances. If the medication is
withdrawn, the person returns to illness. For example, a person who takes a pill for
high blood pressure every day is not undergoing a cure but is only controlling the
symptoms. Homeopathy's aim is the cure: 'The complete restoration of perfect
health,' as Dr. Hahnemann said.
G Homeopathy has made significant progress in treating diseases which
orthodox medicine finds difficult. Best at dealing with inflammatory conditions
such as arthritis, skin conditions, migraines respiratory problems linked to
allergies, it has also proved highly successful at treating asthma. But homeopathy
is not an appropriate treatment for degenerative diseases such as emphysema. It
cannot treat diseases which destroy tissue, although it can still be beneficial if used
in combination with other treatments. Two of the main advantages homeotherapy
are the low cost of the medications and the rarity of adverse reactions. The
medicines are inexpensive, safe, and easy to use, so people can learn to handle
many of the common illnesses for which they currently seek medical help. The
resulting savings in costs and the increase in personal independence represent a
significant contribution to health care.
Questions 14-26
The passage has 7 sections A – G. Choose the most suitable heading for sections
B – G from the list of heading below. Write the appropriate numbers (i – x). There
are more headings than sections so you will not use all of them.

List of Headings
I The future of homeopathy
ii Concerns about homeopathy
iii Comparison with traditional western medicine
iv Dr. S. Hahnemann
v Theoretical and experimental basis
vi Revival of homeopathy
vii Preparation of medicines
viii Debate over effectiveness
ix Advantages and limitations of homeopathy
x Aspects of treatment

Example Section A Answer vi

14 Section B
15 Section C
16 Section D
17 Section E
18 Section F
19 Section G
Questions 20 – 22
Complete the description below. Choose NO MORE THEN THREE WORDS
FROM THE PASSAGE for each answer.

Making a homeopathic remedy

The remedies come from plant, animal and mineral sources.
A single product is mixed with [20]…….. and left to stand for 2 - 4 weeks.
This mixture is strained to produce a tincture which can be diluted.
1 drop of this tincture is added to 99 drops of alcohol/water.
The mixture is then [21] …………… vigorously.
This produces a remedy with a potency of 1c.
As the remedy becomes more diluted it gets [22]……………….
Questions 23 – 26
Complete the summary. Choose your answers from the box below.
Homeopathy differs from conventional medicine in a number of ways.
Conventional medicine views symptoms as an indication of something wrong in
the body whereas homeopathy seems them as signs that the body is attempting to
[23]………….. . The uses of medication differ also. Many types of conventional
medication [24]…………… but if the medicine is taken away, the illness returns.
The intention of homeopathy is to bring about a complete cure. Homeopathic
remedies are [25]…………… than conventional medicine and have fewer [26]
…………… .

List of words/phrases

cheaper cure heal itself

illness treatment getting better
control symptoms more expensive side effects
stronger healthy patients
 Crop circles
The crop circle phenomenon has puzzled and mystified humanity for many
years. The designs just appear, placed carefully in fields of food grains. Some are
larger than football fields and highly complex in design and construction. Others
are smaller and more primitive. We call them crop circles, but many of them are
not circular. Some are elongated abstract designs, a few resemble insects or other
known forms, and some are mixtures of lines, circles, and other shapes melded into
intricate patterns. Most become visible overnight, though it has been claimed that a
few have appeared within a half-hour in broad daylight.

Crop circles have appeared all over the world. About 10,000 instances from
various countries have been reported in recent years. The first modern rash of crop
circles appeared in Australia in December of 1973. A strange circular imprint
appeared in a wheat field near Wokurna, a community southeast of Adelaide. Soon
seven swirled circles up to 14 feet in diameter appeared in an oatfield nearby. In
December of 1989, an amazing set of circles, ranging from a few inches to a few
feet in diameter appeared in the wheat belt west of Melbourne. As many as 90 crop
circles were found. The best documented and largest modern spread of crop circles
began in southern England during the summer of 1980. By the end of 1988, 112
new circles had been formed. At that time circles were being reported worldwide,
305 by the end of 1989. The total grew to an outstanding 1000 newly-formed
circles in 1990. In 1991, 200 to 300 circles were reported. Crop circles have been
documented in over 30 countries, including Canada, the former Soviet Union,
Japan and the United States.

Nine out of ten circles remained simple with broken stems flattened to the
g1tiund and swirled. The stalks around the circles remained completely erect. But
over the years, crop circles have become much more geometrically intricate.
Patterns involved multiple circles, bars, triangles, rings, and spurs. Pictorial
imagery also appeared. Reliable eyewitnesses have reported seeing unusual lights
and hearing unidentifiable sounds while on an early-morning walk in the
countryside where a crop circle showed later that day. High-pitched, warbling
noises have been recorded at the site of some crop circles. On several occasions a
strange glow or a darker colouring has been seen in the sky over a crop circle. And
in more than one instance, the electrical power of small planes flying overhead has
been cut off abruptly. While the causal energies do not seem to harm animals, or
even insects as far as we can tell, wild creatures tend to avoid the circles. Flocks of
birds have been seen to split apart and fly around the perimeter rather than go
directly over a crop circle formation.

Researchers have spent a great deal of time investigating different aspects of

crop circles. They try to detect traces of human involvement in the circle-making,
test the area of the circle itself for geophysical anomalies, and analyze the field's
grain both from within and outside the circles, searching for differences.
Dr. W. C. Levengood of BLT Research in Cambridge, Massachusetts, has
analyzed many grain samples and confirmed, time after time, significant changes at
the cellular level of crop circle plants. The plants from the circles have elongated
cells and blown-out growth nodes. Seeds from the circle plants often show
accelerated growth rates when they are sown, and in some instances, quite
different-looking plants result. In many instances it appears that a vortex-like
energy causes the plants to swirl down, flattening the design into the land.
Whatever this energy is, it does not generally inhibit the plants' growth. They
continue to show normal response to the sun, raising upward over several days
following the appearance of the circle. Michael Chorost of Duke University found
occasions of short-lived radionuclides in the top layer of soil in some of the
formations. A British government laboratory found diminished nitrogen and
decreased nematode populations as well as decreased water content in the soil of a
formation. Researchers have discovered other anomalies as well, such as curious
embedded magnetic particles and charred tissue. Some of the plant stalks within
the circles show evidence of being exposed to rapid microwave heating.

Scientists have attempted to explain crop circles as a result of natural

processes. One popular theory, accepted by many mainstream scientists and
academics, is known as 'Plasma Vortex Theory'. Developed by Dr. Terence
Mearden, it theorizes that electrified air (plasma), on the side of hills, becomes
mini-tornadoes and screws down onto the ground, creating the circles. The theory
also holds that the electrified air would cause a light to appear above the circle and
therefore account for UFO sightings. Although this theory still has considerable
support it has come under fire because of the highly intricate and complex crop
circle patterns that have appeared since 1991. Another theory is that the circles are
all hoaxes or practical jokes. Major support came to this theory when, on
September 9, 1991, two Englishmen claimed to have created approximately 250
crop circles. However, those circles were more ragged than others, and many were
already suspect. It is irrational to believe that all crop circles are faked for publicity
or other reasons. Many crop circles appeared long before the phenomenon gained
large recognition from the public and press. Too many circles and patterns are
formed each year in too many countries for them to have been hoaxes. Many crop
circles show strange mathematical traits when analyzed.

The crop circle phenomenon is an enigma. Many dollars have been spent by
researchers and their associations in an attempt to find a solution to this intriguing
puzzle which will continue to haunt humanity until an explanation is found.
Questions 15 – 19
Do the following statements reflect the claims of the author?
YES if the statement reflects the author’s claims.
NO if the statement contradicts the author’s claims.
NOT GIVEN if the information is not clearly given in the passage

15 Crop circles only appear in wheat fields

16 Crop circles have necer been documented in tropical countries
17 The largest number of crop circle reporting in a single year occurred in 1990.
18 The patterns of crop circles have become increasingly complex over the years.
19 All crop circles are hoaxes.
Questions 20 – 23
Complete the summary below. Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS
FROM THE PASSAGE for each answer.
Since the early 1970's, over ten thousand crop circles have been reported around
the world, the greatest number in [20]…………., where in a single year, over one
hundred circles appeared. Phenomena such as the appearance of strange lights and
unusual [21]…………….. sometimes occur around the sites of crop circles.
[22]………….. are not affected but it has been observed that birds [23]…………..
flying over a formation.
Questions 24 – 27
Use the information in the text to match one scientist (A - C)with each area of
study (24 -27) listed below.
A Dr. Mearden
B Dr. Levengood
C Michael Chorost

Example Answer
observation of light in relation to crop circles A
24 changes in the structure of soil within crop circles
25 accelerate growth of seeds from crop circles
26 electrical charges in the air around crop circles
27 changes in cell structure of plants found in crop circles
Passage 3
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 29-40 which are based on this
passage.

Kidsand
Two Italian psychologists, Vincenzo Mane and Giovanni Noornicola, describe the
traditional spontaneous practice of sport by children — climbing trees, riding a
bicycle along quiet roads, racing their friends across the fields — as an activity of
freedom, a special activity of discovery and learning. In the case of free sporting
activity, the child's time is given up entirely to the activity, as can be seen in the
endless games of football young children play, which may then be followed by
bicycle races and/or a swim in the river, for example.
Today, however, children's discovery of sport has become very different. It is often
parents who take their children, when they are very young, to the swimming pool
or to the sports grounds or sports halls. Children's first experience of sport thus
takes place as an organised activity, which they see as organisation of their free
time. By organising sport for children, and often deciding for them, we
unfortunately create an imbalance preventing them from managing their own
play/sports time, thus denying them an opportunity of autonomy and independence
as was possible in the past.
A first possible reason for the imbalance in the practice of sport by children is
therefore linked to the urban society we live in today. We need not regret the past:
it is rather a question of knowing how to recreate this freedom in our towns and in
the country, where spun is increasingly based on organised leisure activities. Doing
one sport is now the rule in clubs. Sports grounds are often on the outskirts of
cities, and are overcrowded and invariably enclosed, while recreational areas such
as parks or hard-packed surfaces are very few and far between. How can we find
the balance of a varied and spontaneous relationship to sport under such
conditions?
Some interesting answers have already been suggested which take into account the
need to recreate this freedom. Marie and Notarnicola have shown that children who
have experienced such freedom were considered by sports trainers to be more
capable when they joined organised sport aged 12-13. Their study concluded that
no formal training. no matter how early in life it took place, could replace these
first experiences.
Measures which would reverse this imbalance include: increasing the number of
sports facilities which encourage self-organisation by the children. and also setting
up unstructured playing areas with little in the way of equipment. Areas when
street sport can be practiced need to be established and sports clubs which offer
multidisciplinary spans training should be supported. Children should be offered
pre-school activity where they can the discover different sports.
For children, sport remains a special kind (it discos cry and learning, no matter
how much adults limit and control the practice. of early intensive training. Here is
the second example of imbalance in children's sport. Today, sport is practiced with
early intensive training from the youngest possible age. Sometimes this is even
before the age of six and is usually one specific sport within an organized
framework. When adult-style competitions are introduced at an early age, the
conditions which encourage a balanced development of children through sport arc
no longer respected.
Today, early intensive training is much more widely on offer. Many sports
organizations claim that they are forced to do to this type of training because of
what is called 'the golden age' to acquire the physical skills. It is considered
unthinkable for a young skater or gymnast to miss this period, because if they did
so, they could fall so far behind the best that they could never hope to catch up.
Faced with this demand for early ability, it is important that a safety net is put in
place to maximize the benefits and minimize the disadvantages of such intensive
training.
Why do very young children give up sport? The most common reason for leaving a
sport is to change 16 another sport which in itself is no bad thing. However,
children may leave a sport because they believe that they have received too much
criticism and too many negative assessments. We know that young children, up to
the age of eleven or twelve, cannot assess their own level of competence. They
believe that if they are making an effort, then this in itself is a sign of their
competence. We also know that young children are particularly sensitive to
criticism from adults or peers. Trainers must therefore pay particular attention to
this and avoid excessive criticism. They should also avoid any strategies that
discriminate against the child: for example in team sports, naming first choice
players and reserves. It should be remembered that primary school children's main
desire is to have fun and socialize. The desire to improve and become it good
competitor will develop later. This brief example shows that knowledge of child
development is indispensable for those who take care of children at this age. It is
up to trainers, sports doctors and psychologists to implement the measures
necessary to limit this excessive early practice of sport by children.
A third source of imbalance which threatens children and sport is parental
attitudes. The American psychologist Rainer Martens, emphasizes that, 'too often
children's joy of sports is destroyed by adults who want glory through victory.'
Several studies have shown that parental pressure is high on the list of reasons why
children leave sport. The presence of mothers and fathers can prevent children
from considering, sport as their own, where they can learn to master technical
difficulties, manage interpersonal relations, and experience success and failure. As
Martens highlights, 'adults are solely to blame if joy and sadness become
synonymous, to a child, with victory or defeat.'
If the children make the decisions, this ensures that they enjoy being a child in
sport, and relaxed with their development a human beings. We need only observe
the activity in a school playground, where games are organized on an improvised
playing field, to understand that children show genetic traces of the hunter instinct,
which naturally leads them to physical activity. Sport is included as something they
want, and which they identify both as a means of release and as a form of self-
expression. By acting as a route to self-discovery, sport gives children both the
opportunity to know their limits, and to acquire tools which will allow them to
surpass them. Playing sport is a source of learning, progress and pleasure; an
additional way of enriching life.
Questions 29-36
Complete the summary below using NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS FROM
THE PASSAGE.
Matte & Notarnicota define the spontaneous sporting games of children as
activities of [29] .................. .Because today sport is often decided and
[30]………….. by parents, children lose their autonomy. A first imbalance occurs
because [31]................ are out of the city and often crowded, whilst there are a
limited number of open recreational areas where children can play spontaneously.
Children should discover and learn about sports themselves. The second
imbalance occurs because they start early [32]..............training very young and
participate in only [33]..................specific activity. Children often give up a sport
because of negative [34]...................It is important that trainers avoid excessive
criticism of young children, who should have [35]...................at sporting activities.
Another reason that children may give up sport is the attitudes of their parents.
This third imbalance occurs as parents exert [36]...................on children to win
rather than to enjoy sport.
Questions 37-40
Choose the correct letter A-D.

[37] Children's expression of this 'freedom' is important because ...

A it allows them to be lazy.

B it means they can learn to swim and ride a bike.
C it puts them in charge of what they do and when they do it.
D it relieves the parents from transporting their children to sports.

[38] Ways of allowing children to develop this 'freedom' include...

A making transport to sports clubs free.

B offering a range of different sports in each sports club.
C offering sporting tuition to pre school children.
D making children play outside regularly.

[39] To encourage young children to continue with sport we should give them...
A accurate feedback about their ability at sport.
B experience of failure as well as success.
C experience of being reserves as well as first choice team members.
D the opportunity to mix socially with their peers at sport.

[40] The author believes that...

A children's sport should not be organized by adults.
B playing sport is an important part of children's development.
C children need to learn that sport is about losing as well as winning.
D children can be psychologically and physiologically damaged by sport.

Academic reading 1 hour

Reading passage 1
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-14, which are based on
Reading Passage 1.
Unmasking skin
A If you took off your skin and laid it flat, it would cover an area of about
twenty-one square feet, making it by far the body's largest organ. Draped in place
over our bodies, skin forms the barrier between what's inside us and what's outside.
It protects us from a multitude of external forces. It serves as an avenue to our most
intimate physical and psychological selves.
B This impervious yet permeable barrier, less than a millimetre thick in plat., is
composed of three layers. The outermost layer is the bloodless epidermis. The
dermis includes collagen, elastin, and nerve endings. The innermost layer,
subcutaneous fat, contains tissue that acts as an energy source, cushion and
insulator for the body.
C From these familiar characteristics of skin emerge the profound mysteries of
touch, arguably our most essential source of sensory stimulation. We can live
without seeing or hearing — in fact, without any of our other senses. But babies
born without effective nerve connections between skin and brain can fail to thrive
and may even die.
D Laboratory experiments decades ago, now considered unethical and inhumane,
kept baby monkeys from being touched by their mothers. It made no difference
that the babies could see, hear and smell their mothers; without touching, the
babies became apathetic, and failed to progress.
E For humans, insufficient touching in early years can have lifelong results. 'In
touching cultures, adult aggression is low, whereas in cultures where touch is
limited, adult aggression is high,' writes Tiffany Field, director of the Touch
Research Institutes at the University of Miami School of Medicine. Studies of a
variety of cultures show a correspondence between high rates of physical affection
in childhood and low rates of adult physical violence.
F While the effects of touching are easy to understand, the mechanics of it are
less so. `Your skin has millions of nerve cells of various shapes at different depths,'
explains Stanley Bolanowski, a neuroscientist and associate director of the Institute
for Sensory Research at Syracuse University. `When the nerve cells are stimulated,
physical energy is transformed into energy used by the nervous system and passed
from the skin to the spinal cord and brain. It's called transduction, and no one
knows exactly how it takes place.' Suffice it to say that the process involves the
intricate, split-second operation of a complex system of signals between neurons in
the skin and brain.
G This is starting to sound very confusing until Bolanowski says: 'In simple
terms people perceive three basic things via skin: pressure, temperature, and pain.'
And then I'm sure he's wrong. 'When I get wet, my skin feels wet,' I protest. 'Close
your eyes and lean back,' says Bolanowski.
H Something cold and wet is on my forehead —so wet, in fact, that I wait for
water to start dripping down my cheeks. 'Open your eyes.' Bolanowski says,
showing me that the sensation comes from a chilled, but dry, metal cylinder. The
combination of pressure and cold, he explains, is what makes my skin perceive
wetness. He gives me a surgical glove to put on and has me put a finger in a glass
of cold water. My forger feels wet, even though I have visual proof 'that it's not
touching water. My skin, which seemed so reliable, has been deceiving me my
entire life. When I shower or wash my hands, I now realize, my skin feels pressure
and temperature. It's my brain that says I feel wet.
I Perceptions of pressure, temperature and pain manifest themselves in many
different ways. Gentle stimulation of pressure receptors can result in ticklishness;
gentle stimulation of pain receptors, in itching. Both sensations arise from a
neurological transmission, not from something that physically exists. Skin, I'm
realizing, is under constant assault, both from within the body and from forces
outside. Repairs occur with varying success.
J Take the spot where I nicked myself with a knife while slicing fruit. I have a
crusty scab surrounded by pink tissue about a quarter inch long on my right palm.
Under the scab, epidermal cells are migrating into the wound to close it up. When
the process is complete, the scab will fall off to reveal new epidermis. It's only
been a few days, but my little self-repair is almost complete.
Likewise, we recover quickly from slight burns. If you ever happen to touch a hot
burner, just put your finger in cold water. The chances are you will have no blister,
little pain and no scar. Severe burns, though, are a different matter.

Questions 1-4
The passage has 10 paragraphs A—J.
Which paragraph contains the following information?
Write the correct letter A—I in boxes 1-4 on your answer sheet.

1 the features of human skin, on and below the surface

2 an experiment in which the writer can see what is happening
3 advice on how you can avoid damage to the skin
4 cruel research methods used in the past
Questions 5 and 6
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.
Write your answres in boxes 5 and 6 on your answer sheet.

5 How does a lack of affectionate touching affect children?

A It makes them apathetic.
B They are more likely to become violent adults.
C They will be less aggressive when they grow up.
D We do not really know.

6 After the 'wetness' experiments, the writer says that

A his skin is not normal.
B his skin was wet when it felt wet.
C he knew why it felt wet when it was dry.
D the experiments taught him nothing new.

READING PASSAGE 2
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14-26 which are based on
Reading Passage 2
ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE IN AUSTRALIA
The first students to study alternative medicine at university level in
Australia began their four-yeas; ill-time course at the University of Technology,
Sydney, in early 1994. Their course covered, among other therapies, acupuncture.
The theory they learnt is based on the traditional Chinese explanation of this
ancient healing art: that it can regulate the flow of `Qi' or energy through
pathways in the body. This course reflects how far some alternative therapies have
come in their struggle for acceptance by the medical establishment.
Australia has been unusual in the Western world in having a very
conservative attitude to natural or alternative therapies, according to Dr Paul Laver,
a lecturer in Public Health at the University of Sydney. `We've had a tradition of
doctors being fairly powerful and 1 guess they are pretty loath to allow any
pretenders to their position to come into it.' In many other industrialised countries,
orthodox and alternative medicine have worked 'hand in glove' for years. In
Europe, only orthodox doctors can prescribe herbal medicine. In Germany, plant
remedies account for 10% of the national turnover of pharmaceuticals. Americans
made more visits to alternative therapists than to orthodox doctors in 1990, and
each year they spend about $US 12 billion on therapies that have not been
scientifically tested.
 Disenchantment with orthodox medicine has seen the popularity of
alternative therapies in Australia climb steadily during the past 20 years. In a 1983
national health survey, 1.9% of people said they had contacted a chiropractor,
naturopath, osteopath, acupuncturist or herbalist in the two weeks prior to the
survey. By 1990, this figure had risen to 2.6% of the population. The 550,000
consultations with alternative therapists reported in the 1990 survey represented
about an eighth of the total number of consultations with medically qualified
personnel covered by the survey, according to Dr Laver and colleagues writing in
the Australian Journal. of Public Health in 1993. 'A better educated and less
accepting public has become disillusioned with the experts in general, and
increasingly sceptical about science and empirically based knowledge,' they said.
'The high standing of professionals, including doctors, has been eroded as a
consequence.'
Rather than resisting or criticising this trend, increasing numbers Australian
doctors, particularly younger ones, are forming group practices with alternative
therapists or taking courses themselves, particularly in acupuncture and herbalism.
Part of the incentive was financial, Dr Laver said. 'The bottom line is that most
general practitioners are business people. If they see potential clientele going
elsewhere, they might want to be able to offer a similar service.'
In 1993, Dr Laver and his colleagues published a survey of 289 Sydney
people who attended eight alternative therapists' practices in Sydney. These
practices offered a wide range of alternative therapies from 25 therapists. Those
surveyed had experienced chronic illnesses, for which orthodox medicine had been
able to provide little relief. They commented that they liked the holistic approach
of their alternative therapists and the friendly, concerned and detailed attention
they had received. The cold, impersonal manner of orthodox doctors featured in
the survey. An increasing exodus from their clinics, coupled with this and a
number of other relevant surveys carried out in Australia, all pointing to orthodox
doctors' inadequacies, have led mainstream doctors themselves to begin to admit
they could learn from the personal style of alternative therapists. Dr Patrick Store,
President of the Royal College of General Practitioners, concurs that orthodox
doctors could learn a lot about bedside manner and advising patients on
preventative health from alternative therapists.
According to the Australian Journal of Public Health, 18% of patients
visiting alternative therapists do so because they suffer from musculo-skeletal
complaints; 12% suffer from digestive problems, which is only 1% more than
those suffering from emotional problems. Those suffering from respiratory
complaints represent 7% of their patients, and candida sufferers represent an equal
percentage. Headache sufferers and those complaining of general ill health
represent 6% and 5% of patients respectively, and a further 4% see therapists for
general health maintenance.
The survey suggested that complementary medicine is probably a better term
than alternative medicine. Alternative medicine appears to be an adjunct, sought in
times of disenchantment when conventional medicine seems not to offer the
answer.

Questions 14 and 15
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C, or D.
Write your answers in boxes 14 and 15 on your answer sheet.
14 Traditionally, how have Australian doctors differed from doctors in many
Western countries?
A They have worked closely with pharmaceutical companies.
B They have often worked alongside other therapists.
C They have been reluctant to accept alternative therapists.
D They have regularly prescribed alternative remedies.
15 In 1990, Americans
A were prescribed more herbal medicines than in previous years.
B consulted alternative therapists more often than doctors.
C spent more on natural therapies than orthodox medicines.
D made more complaints about doctors than in previous years.

Questions 16-23
Do the following statements agree with the views of the writer in Reading Passage
2?
In boxes 16 -23 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

16 Australians have been turning to alternative therapies in increasing numbers

over the past 20 years.
17 Between 1983 and 1990 the numbers of patients visiting alternative therapists
rose to include a further 8% of the population.
18 The 1990 survey related to 550.000 consultations with alternative therapists.
19 In the past, Australians had a higher opinion of doctors than they do today.
20 Some Australian doctors arc retraining in alternative therapies.
21 Alternative therapists earn higher salaries than doctors.
22 The 1993 Sydney survey involved 289 patients who visited alternative
therapists for acupuncture treatment.
23 All the patients in the 1993 Sydney survey had long-term medical complaints.
Questions 24 – 26
Complete the vertical axis on the table below.
Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from Reading passage 2 for each
answer.
Write your answers in boxes 24 – 26 on your answer sheet.

Medical complaints of patients visiting therapists

Other

Musculo - skeletal

Digestive

24…………….

Respiratory

Candida

25…………….

26…………….

General health maintenance

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30%

READING PASSAGE 1
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based on
Reading Passage 1 below.
A Hearing impairment or other auditory function deficit in young children
can have a major impact on their development of speech and communication,
resulting in a detrimental effect on their ability to learn at school. This is likely to
have major consequences for the individual and the population as a whole. The
New Zealand Ministry of Health has found from research carried out over two
decades that 6-10% of children in that country are affected by hearing loss.
B A preliminary study in New Zealand has shown that classroom noise
presents a major concern for teachers and pupils. Modern teaching practices, the
organization of desks in the classroom, poor classroom acoustics, and mechanical
means of ventilation such as air-conditioning units all contribute to the number of
children unable to comprehend the teacher's voice. Education researchers Nelson
and Soli have also suggested that recent trends in learning often involve
collaborative interaction of multiple minds and tools as much as individual
possession of information. This all amounts to heightened activity and noise levels,
which have the potential to be particularly serious for children experiencing
auditory function deficit. Noise in classrooms can only exacerbate their difficulty
in comprehending and processing verbal communication with other children and
instructions from the teacher.
C Children with auditory function deficit are potentially failing to learn to
their maximum potential because of noise levels generated in classrooms. The
effects of noise on the ability of children to learn effectively in typical classroom
environments are now the subject of increasing concern. The International Institute
of Noise Control Engineering (I-INCE), on the advice of the World Health
Organization, has established an international working party, which includes New
Zealand, to evaluate noise and reverberation control for school rooms.
D While the detrimental effects of noise in classroom situations are not
limited to children experiencing disability, those with a disability that affects their
processing of speech and verbal communication could be extremely vulnerable.
The auditory function deficits in question include hearing impairment, autistic
spectrum disorders (ASD) and attention deficit disorders (ADD/ADHD).
E Autism is considered a neurological and genetic life-long disorder that
causes discrepancies in the way information is processed. This disorder is
characterized by interlinking problems with social imagination, social
communication and social interaction. According to Janzen, this affects the ability
to understand and relate in typical ways to people, understand events and objects in
the environment, and understand or respond to sensory stimuli. Autism does not
allow learning or thinking in the same ways as in children who are developing
normally.
Autistic spectrum disorders often result in major difficulties in
comprehending verbal and speech processing. Those experiencing these disorders
often find sounds such as crowd noise and the noise generated by machinery
painful and distressing. This is difficult to scientifically quantify as such extra-
sensory stimuli vary greatly from one autistic individual to another. But a child
who finds any type of noise in their classroom or learning space intrusive is likely
to be adversely affected in their ability to process information.
F The attention deficit disorders are indicative of neurological and genetic
disorders and are characterised by difficulties with sustaining attention, effort and
persistence, organisation skills and disinhibition. Children experiencing these
disorders find it difficult to screen out unimportant information, and focus on
everything in the environment rather than attending to a single activity.
Background noise in the classroom becomes a major distraction, which can affect
their ability to concentrate.
G Children experiencing an auditory function deficit can often find speech
and communication very difficult to isolate and process when set against high
levels of background noise. These levels come from outside activities that
penetrate the classroom structure, from teaching activities, and other noise
generated inside, which can be exacerbated by room reverberation. Strategies are
needed to obtain the optimum classroom construction and perhaps a change in
classroom culture and methods of teaching. In particular, the effects of noisy
classrooms and activities on those experiencing disabilities in the form of auditory
function deficit need thorough investigation. It is probable that many undiagnosed
children exist in the education system with 'invisible' disabilities. Their needs are
less likely to be met than those of children with known disabilities.
H The New Zealand Government has developed a New Zealand Disability
Strategy and has embarked on a wide-ranging consultation process. The strategy
recognizes that people experiencing disability face significant barriers in achieving
a full quality of life in areas such as attitude, education, employment and access to
services. Objective 3 of the New Zealand Disability Strategy is to 'Provide the Best
Education for Disabled People' by improving education so that all children, youth
learners and adult learners will have equal opportunities to learn and develop
within their already existing local school. For a successful education, the learning
environment is vitally significant, so any effort to improve this is likely to be of
great benefit to all children, but especially to those with auditory function
disabilities.
I A number of countries are already in the process of formulating their own
standards for the control and reduction of classroom noise. New Zealand will
probably follow their example. The literature to date on noise in school rooms
appears to focus on the effects on schoolchildren in general, their teachers and the
hearing impaired. Only limited attention appears to have been given to those
students experiencing the other disabilities involving auditory function deficit. It is
imperative that the needs of these children are taken into account in the setting of
appropriate international standards to be promulgated in future.

Questions 1 – 6
Reading passage 1 has nine sections, A – I.
‘Which’ section contains the following information?
Write the correct letter, A – I, in boxes 1 – 6 on your answer sheet.
1 an account of a national policy initiative
2 a description of a global team effort
3 a hypothesis as to one reason behind the growth in classroom noise
4 a demand for suitable worldwide regulations
5 a list of medical conditions which place some children more at risk from
noise than others
6 the estimated proportion of children in New Zealand with auditory problems

Questions 7-10
Answer the questions below.
Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER from the
passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 7-10 on your answer sheet.
7 For what period of time has hearing loss in schoolchildren been studied in
New Zealand?
8 In addition to machinery noise, what other type of noise can upset children
with autism?
9 What term is used to describe the hearing problems of schoolchildren which
have not been diagnosed?
10 What part of the New Zealand Disability Strategy aims to give schoolchildren
equal opportunity?
Questions 11 and 12
Choose TWO letters, A—F.
Write the correct letters in boxes 11 and 12 017 your answer sheet.
The list below includes factors contributing to classroom noise.
Which TWO are mentioned by the writer of the passage?
A current teaching methods
B echoing corridors
C cooling systems
D large class sizes
E loud-voiced teachers
F playground games
Question 13
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.
Write the correct letter in box 13 on your answer sheet.
What is the writer's overall purpose in writing this article?
 A to compare different methods of dealing with auditory problems
B to provide solutions for overly noisy learning environments
C to increase awareness of the situation of children with auditory problems
D to promote New Zealand as a model for other countries to follow

Passage 2
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14-28 which are based on this
passage.

Just relax
A Hypnosis is an intriguing and fascinating process. A trance-like mental
state is induced in one person by another, who appears to have the power to
command that person to obey instructions without question. Hypnotic experiences
were described by the ancient Egyptians and Greeks - whilst references to deep
sleep and anaesthesia have been found in the Bible and in the Jewish Talmud. In
the mid-1700s, Franz Mesmer, an Austrian physician, developed his theory of
'animal magnestism’, which was the belief that the cause of disease was the
'improper distribution of invisible magnetic fluids. Mesmer used water tubs and
magnetic wands to direct these supposed fluids to his patients. In 1784, a French
commission studied Mesmer's claims, and concluded that these 'cures' were only
imagined by the patients. However, people continued to believe in this process of
'mesmerism' and it was soon realised that successful results could be achieved, but
without the need for magnets and water.
B The term hypnotism was first used by James Braid, a British physician
who studied suggestion and hypnosis in the mid-1800s. He demonstrated that
hypnosis differed from sleep, that it was a physiological response and not the
result of secret powers. During this same period, James Esdaile, a Scottish doctor
working in India, used hypnotism instead of anaesthetic in over 200 major surgical
operations, including leg amputations. Later that century, a French neurologist,
Jean Charcot, successfully experimented with hypnosis in his clinic for nervous
disorders.
C Since then, scientists have shown that the state of hypnosis is a natural
human behavior, which can affect psychological, social and/or physical
experiences. The effects of hypnotism depend on the ability, willingness and
motivation of the person being hypnotised. Although hypnosis has been compared
to dreaming and sleepwalking, it is not actually related to sleep. It involves a more
active and intense mental concentration of the person being hypnotised.
Hypnotised people can talk, write, and walk about and they are usually hilly aware
of what is being said and done.
D There are various techniques used to induce hypnosis. The best-known is
a series of simple suggestions repeated continuously in the same tone of voice. The
subject is instructed to focus their attention on an object or fixed point, while being
told to relax, breathe deeply, and allow the eyelids to grow heavy and close. As the
person responds, their state of attention changes, and this altered state often leads
to other changes. For example, the person may experience different levels of
awareness, consciousness, imagination, memory and reasoning or become more
responsive to suggestions. Additional phenomena may be produced or eliminated
such as blushing, sweating, paralysis, muscle tension or anaesthesia. Although
these changes can occur with hypnosis, none of these experiences is unique to it.
people who are very responsive to hypnosis are also more responsive to
suggestions when they are not hypnotised. This responsiveness increases during
hypnotism. This explains why hypnosis takes only a few seconds for some, whilst
other people cannot be easily hypnotised.
E It is a common misunderstanding that hypnotists are able to force people
to perform criminal or any other acts against their will. In fact, subjects can resist
suggestions, and they retain their ability to distinguish right from wrong. This
misunderstanding is often the result of public performances where subjects
perform ridiculous or highly embarrassing actions at the command of the
hypnotist. These people are usually instructed not to recall their behavior after
reemerging from the hypnotic state, so it appears that they were powerless while
hypnotised. The point to remember however, is that these individuals chose to
participate, and the success of hypnotism depends on the willingness of a person to
be hypnotised.
F Interestingly, there are different levels of hypnosis achievable. Thus deep
hypnosis can be induced to allow anaesthesia for surgery, childbirth or dentistry.
This contrasts to a lighter state of hypnosis, which deeply relaxes the patient who
will then follow simple directions. This latter state may be used to treat mental
health problems, as it allows patients to feel calm white simultaneously thinking
about distressing feelings or painful memories. Thus patients can learn new
responses to situations or come up with solutions to problems. This can help
recovery from psychological conditions such as anxiety, depression or phobias.
Sometimes, after traumatic incidents, memory of the events may be blocked. For
example, some soldiers develop amnesia [loss of memory] as a result of their
experiences during wartime. Through hypnosis these repressed memories can be
retrieved and treated. A variation of this treatment involves age regression, when
the hypnotist takes the patient back to a specific age. In this way patients may
remember events and feelings from that time, which may be affecting their current
wellbeing.
G Physicians also have made use of the ability of a hypnotised person to
remain in a given position for long periods of time. In one case, doctors had to
graft skin onto a patient's badly damaged foot. First, skin from person's abdomen
was grafted onto his arm; then the graft was transferred to his foot. With hypnosis,
the patient held his arm tightly in position over his abdomen for three weeks, then
over his foot for four weeks. Even though these positions were unusual, the patient
at no time felt uncomfortable!
 H Hypnosis occasionally has been used with witnesses and victims of crime
to enable people to remember important clues, such as a criminal's physical
appearance or other significant details that might help to solve a crime. However,
as people can both lie and make mistakes while hypnotised, the use of hypnotism in
legal situations can cause serious problems. Also hypnosis cannot make a person
divulge secret information if they don't want to. This was confirmed by the Council
on Scientific Affairs of the American Medical Association, which in 1985 reported
that memories refreshed through hypnosis may include inaccurate information,
false memories, and confabulation (fact and fantasy combined).

Questions 14-18
The passage has eight sections A—H. Choose the most suitable heading for sections B—
F from the list of headings below. Write the appropriate numbers ( i —x).
There are more headings than sections, so you will not use all of them.

Example

Section A Answer
(x)

List of Headings
[14] Section B (i) Use of hypnotism in criminal cases
(ii) The normality of hypnotised subjects' behaviour
[15] Section C (iii Early medical experiments with hypnotism
(iv Early association of hypnosis with psychology
[16] Section D (v Dangers of hypnotism
(vi How to hypnotise
(vii Hypnosis and free will
[17] Section E (viii) Difference between mesmerism and hypnotism
(ix) Therapeutic uses of hypnosis
[18] Section F (x) Origins of hypnosis

Questions 19-23
Complete the notes on the history of hypnosis using NO MORE THAN
THREE WORDS from the passage.

References to hypnotism can be found in both the Talmud and the

[19]……………. Even when Mesmer's [20]……………… were not used,
successful results occurred without them. Braid identified hypnosis as a natural
[21]……………… response, rather than magical or mystical. Early psychological
studies showed the difference between sleep and hypnosis. Successful hypnosis
requires the subject's active [22]……………... . Consequently subjects can
speak or move mound and are [23]……………… of their surroundings.
Questions 24-28
Choose the correct letter A—D.
[24] In order to induce hypnosis the hypnotist will....
A encourage the person to relax using a repetitively even tone of voice.
B say a specific set of words in a special tone of voice.
C say any words but in a particular tone of voice.
D encourage the person to relax white focusing on a slowly moving
object.
[25] Hypnotised subjects can be instructed to...
A do something they have previously said is against their wishes.
B demonstrate physical strength they would normally not have.
C reveal confidential information against their will.
D do something that they would not normally be opposed to doing.
[26] Past events are recalled under hypnosis...
A to entertain the hypnotist.
B to allow subjects to reassess them without distress.
C to help the subjects improve their memories.
D to make the subject feel younger.
[27] After surgery, hypnosis may be used...
A to make drugs unnecessary.
B to keep the patient mobile.
C to make the patient forget to move.
D to minimise patient's discomfort while immobile.
[28] The American Medical Association reported that...
A people lie when giving evidence under hypnosis.
B people should be hypnotised before giving evidence.
C evidence given when hypnotised may be unreliable.
D secret evidence can be obtained through hypnosis.

Reading passage 2
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 15-27, which are based on
Reading Passage 2.
Questions 15-19
Reading passage 2 has five sections A-E.
Choose the most suitable headings for sections A—E from the list of headings
below. Write the correct number i—x in boxes 15-19 on your answer sheet.

List of headings
i How to make the locks in your home more secure
ii How to open a lock without a key
iii Choosing the right tools to open locks
iv The cylinder and the bolt
v How to open a lock with a different key
vi Lock varieties
vii How a basic deadbolt system works
 viii The people who open locks without a key
ix How a cylinder lock works
x How to pick different kinds of lock

15 Section A
16 Section B
17 Section C
18 Section D
19 Section E

How Lock Picking Works

Section A
Lock picking is an essential skill for locksmiths because it lets them get past a lock
without destroying it. When you lock yourself out of your house or lose your key, a
locksmith can let you back in very easily.
Lock-picking skills are not particularly common among burglars, mainly
because there are so many other, simpler ways of breaking into a house (throwing a
brick through a back window, for example). For the most part, only intruders who
need to cover their tracks, such as spies and detectives, will bother to pick a lock.
Simply understanding the principles of lock picking may change your whole
attitude toward locks and keys. Lock picking clearly demonstrates that normal
locks are not infallible devices. They provide a level of security that can be
breached with minimal effort. With the right tools, a determined intruder can break
into almost anything.
Section B
Locksmiths define lock-picking as the manipulation of a lock's components
to open a lock without a key. To understand lock-picking then, you first have to
know how locks and keys work.
Think about the normal deadbolt lock you might find on a front door. In this
sort of lock, a movable bolt or latch is embedded in the door so it can he extended
out to the side. This bolt is lined up with a notch in the frame. When you turn the
lock, the bolt extends into the notch in the frame, so the door can't move. When
you retract the bolt, the door moves freely. The lock's only job is to make it simple
for someone with a key to move the bolt but difficult for someone without a key to
move it.
Section C
The most widely-used lock design is the cylinder lock. In this kind, the key turns a
cylinder in the middle of the lock, which turns the attached mechanism. When the
cylinder is turned one way, the mechanism pulls in on the bolt and the door can
open. When the cylinder turns the other way, the mechanism releases the bolt so
the door cannot open.
One of the most common cylinder locks is the pin design. Its main
components are the housing (the outer part of the lock which does not move). the
central cylinder, and several vertical shafts that run down from the housing into the
cylinder. Inside these shafts are pairs of metal pins of varying length, held in
position by small springs.
Without the key, the pins are partly in the housing and partly in the cylinder,
so that the mechanism cannot turn and the lock, therefore, cannot open. When you
put the correct key into the cylinder, the notches in the key push each pair of pins
up just enough so that the top pin is completely in the housing and the bottom pin
is entirely in the cylinder. It now turns freely, and you can open the lock.
Section D
To pick a pin lock, you simply move each pin pair into the correct position,
one by one. There are two main tools used in the picking process.
Picks: long, thin pieces of metal that curve up at the end (like a dentist's
pick).
A tension wrench: the simplest sort of tension wrench is a thin screwdriver.
The first step in picking a lock is to insert the tension wrench into the
keyhole and turn it in the same direction that you would turn the key. This turns the
cylinder so that it is slightly offset from the housing around it, creating a slight
ledge In the pin shafts.
While applying pressure on the cylinder, you slide the pick into the keyhole
and begin lifting the pins. The object is to lift each pin pair up to the level at which
the top pin moves completely into the housing, as if pushed by the correct key.
When you do this while applying pressure with the tension wrench, you feel or
hear a slight click when the pin falls into position. This is the sound of the upper
pin falling into place on the ledge in the shaft. The ledge keeps the upper pin
wedged in the housing, so it won't fall back down into the cylinder. In this way,
you move each pin pair into the correct position until all the upper pins are pushed
completely into the housing and all the lower pins rest inside the cylinder. At this
point, the cylinder rotates freely and you can open the lock.
Section E
You'll find pin locks everywhere, from houses to padlocks. They are so
popular because they are relatively inexpensive but offer moderate security.
Another common type of cylinder lock is the wafer lock. These work the
same basic way as pin locks, but they have flat, thin pieces of metal called wafers
rather than pins. You pick the wafers exactly the same way you pick pins — in
fact, it is a little bit easier to pick wafer locks because the keyhole is wider. Despite
giving relatively low security, these locks are found in most cars.
Tubular locks provide superior protection to pin and wafer locks, but they
are also more expensive. Instead of one row of pins, tubular locks have pins
positioned all the way around the circumference of the cylinder. This makes them
much harder to pick. Conventional lock-picking techniques don't usually work on
this type of lock, which is why they are often found on vending machines.

Questions 20 – 22
Complete the diagram below.
Choose NO MORE THAN' THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 20-22 on your answer sheet.

Questions 23-25
Complete the notes below.
Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 23-25 on your answer sheet.

Picking a lock
Turn cylinder slightly using 23………………….
Hold cylinder still and insert 24…………………
Push top pin into shaft.
Hold top pin above cylinder, on 25 ………………..
Lift and hold all other pins in same way.
Turn cylinder and open lock.

Questions 26-27
Complete the table below
Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 26-27 on your answer sheet.

Type of lock How secure? Where used?

Pin houses, padlocks, etc

relatively low security most cars

Tubular superior protection vending machines

 The cells from hell
Recently, an international team of biologists met to discuss what they
believe is a global crisis in the sudden appearance of strange marine micro-
organisms capable of poisoning not just fish but people too.
In the mid-1980s, fishermen in North Carolina, on the eastern coast of the
United States, began complaining about mysterious fish kills. They were
convinced that pollution was responsible but nobody would listen. That changed in
1988 after an accident at a research centre. Tank after tank of fish suddenly died.
Researchers spotted an unknown micro-organism in the water. It was later named
pfiesteria.
Pfiesteria belongs to a prehistoric group of algae that are part plant, part
animal. They are called dinoflagellates after the tiny whips or flagella (tails) that
propel them through the water. Magnified a thousand times they are some of the
strangest and most beautiful creatures in the sea. They are at the bottom of the
food-chain but, to deter fish from swallowing them, some have evolved powerful
toxins.
As the researchers discovered that pfiesteria doesn’t just discourage fish. It
actively hunts them before eating them. Fish are one of its preferred foods but one
of the intriguing things about pfiesteria is that it will eat anything from bacteria to
dead plant and animal remains all the way up to mammalian tissues. Therefore its
food spans the entire food web of an estuary. Gradually the researchers realised
that nothing in the water was safe from pfiesteria. It could harm humans too. A
mis-directed air-conditioning unit duct from a room containing the toxins nearly
killed one of the researchers. He suffered a host of symptoms ranging from profuse
sweating, tingling hands and feet, to liver and kidney problems, as well as memory
loss.
As the research intensified, some startling discoveries were made. In tanks,
pfiesteria was quite content to behave like a plant and photosynthesise. However,
when fish were added to the tank, a dramatic transformation occurred. The algae
switched to attack mode. In a matter of minutes, it changed shape and secreted a
toxin. The fish quickly became disoriented and within five minutes, all were dead.
Then pfiesteria changed shape again and devoured the dead fish. When it had eaten
enough, it vanished. No one had ever seen an organism do this before.
Initially scientists thought this was part of a natural cycle, but on closer
examination, realised that pollution was to blame. When the water containing the
biggest fish kills was analysed, scientists found high levels of pollution.
But pollution is just one of the factors that can boost the transformation of
pfiesteria. Other factors include large numbers of fish travelling together which
feed in stagnant areas with a lot of food to eat. That is the perfect habitat for
pfiesteria. But pfiesteria is not the only concern. In the oceans around the world
similar kinds of algae are now materialising and turning toxic. In the last decade,
algal blooms have poisoned sea-lions in California, caused catastrophic fish kills in
the Pacific, the Mediterranean and the North Sea, as well as devastating the
shellfish industry in New Zealand. Researchers from forty seven nations met
recently to share the latest information about harmful algal blooms. They heard
about new kinds of toxins and discussed possible links between toxic algae and
whale strandings. But what dominated the proceedings was news that toxic algae
are spreading to new shores in ballast water carried by ships.
That may have already happened in Australian waters. A tuna kill in 1996
cost fish farmers an estimated $45 million. The official explanation was that a
storm was to blame. But there were also reports of orange-brown streaks in the
water. When a water sample was examined, it was found to be teeming with an
alga never before seen in Australia, called chattonella. The same chattonella killed
half a billion dollars’ worth of fish in Japan in 1972. This toxin was also present in
the livers of the dead tuna. Despite this powerful evidence, the official explanation
remains that the storm was the killer. However, in Japan this was a prime example
of an algal bloom induced by the waste products of the aquaculture industry itself,
and of course that is not something that the tuna industry wants to hear.
It is clear that chattonella is present in Australian waters. But there is little
knowledge of what else may surface or where it may have come from. What is of
greater concern is that, in Australia and around the world, there is a reluctance to
acknowledge that it is human activity which is triggering the transformation of
normally benign organisms into increasingly dangerous forms. If we continue to
mismanage the way nutrients and pollutants are released into the environment we
will have to confront new versions of the cells from hell.

Questions 1-4
Complete the summary below. Choose your answers from the box below the
summary. There are more words than you need so you will not need to use all of
them.
Pfiesteria is a (e.g.) …micro-organism…with some unusual characteristics.
Under normal conditions, it acts like a (1)………………………………………..
but it also has developed powerful (2)……………………………………….. as a
defence against being eaten by fish. When the fish are disabled and killed by the
neurotoxins, the organism (3)……………………………………….. them. Then it
(4)………………………………………..
List of words
Jaws grows animal
kills eats poisons
plant disappears micro-organism
bacteria fish dies

Questions 5-8
Fill in the blanks with NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS FROM THE
PASSAGE.
Conditions which favour the growth of toxic algae include high levels of
(5)……………………………….. and (6) ………….. fish feeding together.
Research scientists at the international conference learned about
(7)…………………….. toxic algae and how they are spreading around the world
in water (8)………………………..

The power of light

Light reveals the world to us. It sets our biological clocks. It triggers in our
brains the sensations of colour. Light feeds us, supplying the energy for plants to
grow. It inspires us with special effects like rainbows and sunsets. Light gives us
life-changing tools, from incandescent bulbs to lasers and fibre optics.
There has been light from the beginning. There will be light, feebly, at the
end. In all its in forms, visible and invisible, it saturates the universe. Light is more
than a little bit inscrutable. Modern physics has sliced the stuff of nature into ever
smaller and more exotic constituents, but light won’t reduce. Light is light- pure,
but not simple. No one is quite sure how to describe it. A wave? A particle? Yes,
the scientists say Both.
It is a measure of light’s importance in our daily lives that we hardly pay any
attention to in Light is almost like air. It’s a given. A human would no more linger
over the concept of light than a fish would ponder the notion of water. There are
exceptions, certain moments of sudden appreciation when a particular
manifestation of light, a transitory glory; appears: a rainbow, a sunset, a flash of
lightning in a dark sky the shimmering surface of the sea at twilight, the dappled
light in a forest, the little red dot from a professor’s laser pointer. The flicker of a
candle, flooding a room with romance. The torch searching for the circuit breakers
after a power cut.
Usually, though, we don’t see light, we merely see with it. You can’t
appreciate the beauty of a rose if you ponder that the colour red is just the brain’s
interpretation of a specific wavelength of Light with crests that are roughly 700
nanometres apart. A theatrical lighting director told me that she’s doing her job
best when no one notices the lights at all. Her goal is to create an atmosphere, a
mood – not to show off the fancy new filters that create colours of startling
intensity.
Light is now used for everything from laser eye surgery to telephone
technology. It could even become the main power source for long- distance space
travel. The spaceship would have an ultrathin sail to catch the ‘wind’ of light
beamed from an Earth-based laser. In theory such a craft could accelerate to a
sizeable fraction of the speed of light, without carrying fuel.
What we call light is really the same thing in a different set of wavelengths
as the radiation that we call radio waves or gamma rays or x- rays. But visible light
is unlike any other fundamental element of the universe: it directly, regularly and
dramatically interacts with our senses. Light offers high-resolution information
across great distances. You can’t hear or smell the moons of Jupiter or the Crab
Nebula. So much of vital importance is communicated by visible light that almost
everything from a fly to an octopus has a way to capture it – an eye, eyes, or
something similar.
 It’s worth noting that our eyes are designed to detect the kind of light that is
radiated in abundance by the particular star that gives life to our planet: the sun.
Visible light is powerful stuff, moving at relatively short wavelengths, which
makes it biologically convenient. To see long, stretched-out radio waves, we’d
have to have huge eyes like satellite dishes. Not worth the trouble! Nor would it
make sense for our eyes to detect infrared light (though some deep-sea shrimp near
hot springs do see this way). We’d be constantly distracted, because in these
wavelengths any heat-emitting object glows. That would include almost everything
around us.
There is also darkness in the daytime: shadows. There are many kinds of
shadows, more than I realized until I consulted astronomer and shadow expert
David Lynch in Topanga Canyon, up the coast from Santa Monica, California.
Lynch points out that a shadow is filled with light reflected from the sky, otherwise
it would be completely black. Black is the way shadows on the moon looked to the
Apollo astronauts, because the moon has no atmosphere and thus no sky to bounce
light into the unlit crannies of the lunar surface.
Lynch is a man who, when he looks at a rainbow, spots details that elude
most of us. He knows, for example, that all rainbows come in pairs, and he always
looks for the second rainbow a faint, parallel rainbow, with the colours in reverse
order. The intervening region is darker. That area has a name, wouldn’t you know:
Alexander’s dark band. As I took in the spectacular view across the canyon, Lynch
explained something else: ‘the reason those mountains over there look a little
blue,’ he said, indicating the range that obscures the Pacific, ‘is because there’s sky
between here and those mountains. It’s called airlight.’
What next for light? What new application will we see? What orthodoxy-
busting cosmic information will starlight deliver to our telescopes? Will the
rotating disco ball ever make a dancefloor comeback? Above all, you have to
wonder: will we ever fully understand light?
There have been recent headlines about scientists finding ways to make light
go faster than the speed of light. This is what science fiction writers and certain
overly imaginative folks have dreamed of for decades. If you could make a
spaceship that wasn’t bound by Einstein’s speed limit, they fantasized, you could
zip around the universe far more easily. Lijun Wang, a research scientist at
Princeton, managed to create a pulse of light that went faster than the supposed
speed limit. ‘We created an artificial medium of cesium gas in which the speed of
a pulse of light exceeds the speed of light in a vacuum,’ he said, ‘but this is not at
odds with Einstein. ’ Even though light can be manipulated to go faster than light,
matter can’t Information can’t. There’s no possibility of time travel.
I asked Wang why light goes 186,282 miles a second and not some other
speed. ‘That’s just the way nature is,’ he said. There are scientists who don’t like
‘why’ questions like this. The speed of light is just what it is. That’s their belief.
Whether light would move at a different velocity in a different universe is
something that is currently outside the scope of experimental science. It’s even a
bit ‘out there’ for the theorists.
 What’s certain is that light is going to remain extremely useful for industry,
science, art, and our daily, mundane comings and goings. Light permeates our
reality at every scale of existence. It’s an amazing tool, a carrier of beauty; a giver
of life. I can’t help but say that it has a very bright future.

Questions 1-5
Reading passage 3 describes a number of cause and effect relationships. Match
each Cause (1-5) in List A, with its Effect (A-H) in List B. There are more Effects
in List B than you will need, so you will not use all.

List A Causes
1 . Much of the time, visible light is all around us.
2 . Light can sometimes appear in an interesting way.
3 . Visible light carries a lot of essential information.
4 . Without an atmosphere, light is not reflected onto solid surfaces.
5 . Only light can exceed 186,282 miles per second.

List B Effects
A . Nearly all living creatures can detect it.
B . There is a dark gap between rainbows.
C . Light from Earth could power a spacecraft.
D . Shadows are totally black.
E . We cannot return to the past.
F . We don’t really notice or think about it.
G . Certain creatures can detect infra—red light.
H . We instantly become aware of it.

Questions 6-10
Do the following statements agree with the views of the writer in Reading Passage
1? Write

YES the statement agrees with the views of the writer

NO the statement does not agree with the views of the writer

NOT GIVEN there is no information about this in the passage

6 . It is difficult to find a single word to say exactly what light is.

7 . Thinking about the physics of light can make an object seem even more
beautiful.
8 . Light from the sun makes it possible for life to exist on other planets.
9 . It is more practical for humans to detect visible light rather than radio waves.
10 . David Lynch sometimes notices things that other people don’t.

Questions 11-13

Answer the following questions using NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each
answer.

11 . What appearance can the land have when seen from a distance?
…………………………………
12 . In what have some people imagined travelling? ……………………………
13 . In what substance did light go faster than previously thought possible?
…………………………………