Listening

SECTION 1
Questions 1-5
Complete the form below.
Write NO MORE THAN ONE WORD OR A NUMBER for each answer.
WESTLEY PUBLIC LIBRARY
MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION FORM
FIRST NAME Peter
ADDRESS Flat 5
53 (1)……………………………..
Finsbury
POSTCODE (2)………………………………
DATE OF BIRTH 8th July (3)…………………………….
HOME TEL None
MOBILE TEL (4)………………………………………
PROOF OF RESIDENCE PROVIDED (5)………………………………………
Questions 6 – 8
Circle THREE letters A – F.
What type of books does Peter like?
A. Wildlife books B. Romance books C. Travel books
D. Historical novels E. Science Fiction novels F. Mystery books
Question 9 – 10
Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS OR A NUMBER for each answer.
9. How much does it cost to join the library?
____________________________________
10. How much does it cost to rent a DVD?
____________________________________
SECTION 2
Questions 11 -14
List FOUR reasons given for people needing blood transfusions.
Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS OR A NUMBER for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 11 -14 on your answer sheet.
11 __________________________________
12 __________________________________
13 __________________________________
14 __________________________________
Questions 15-20
Complete the 2 sets of notes below.
Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS OR A NUMBER for each answer.
Blood
Types of Blood O, A, B + AB
Component Parts
PART USED FOR
red blood cells (15)……………………………… to cells
white blood cells help patients’ (16)……………………………..
platelets blood clotting
plasma (17)………………………………….. the other blood
parts
GIVING BLOOD
DAYS Wednesday + next 2 days
WHERE Westley General Hospital. (18)……………………………… Department
WHEN Between 9.00am and (19)………………………………..
MUST be healthy
be (20) or over
weigh more than 110 pounds
have had no tattoos this year
not have donated blood within past 56 days
SECTION 3
Question 21-27
Complete the notes below.
Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS OR A NUMBER for each answer.
Computer Labs
The 4 labs below can be used by undergraduates. Other computer labs can only be used by postgraduates and
(21)…………………………………
Lab Locations Wimborne Johnson Building
Franklin Computer Sciences Building
Salisbury (22)………………………………
Court Johnson Building
Reservations (23)…………………………. a day unless computers are free
Write reservation in book (24)…………………………………….
(Penalty for erasing someone else’s reservation – 1 year ban)
User Name jamessmith2
Password (25)……………………………………
Printing Pick up print outs from (26)……………………………….. in Franklin
Costs (27)…………………………………..
Questions 28 – 30
Choose the correct letters A – C.
28. The introductory computer course that James decides to take is…
A. beginner. B. intermediate. C. advanced.
29. The computer laboratory for James’ introductory computer course is in…
A. Wimborne B. Franklin C. Court
30. James will take his introductory computer course…
A. on Thursday at 2.00pm. B. on Tuesday at 4.30pm. C. on Tuesday at 5.00pm
SECTION 4:
Question 31 – 35
Complete the notes below
Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS OR A NUMBER for each answer.
The Shinkansen or Bullet Train
Safety No deaths (bar 1 from passenger misadventure) since its launch in
(31)………………………………
Speed Holds world train record for (32)……………………………….. of 261.8 kph.
500 series Nozumi’s fastest speed is 300kph.
Punctuality Punctual to within the second.
All bullet trains for 1 year were a total of (33)……………………………… late.
History First used on Tokyo to Osaka route.
Old models have now been retired.
300, 500 and 700 are recent models.
Services Nozomi trains stop at the (34)…………………………………
Hikari stop more frequently.
Kodama trains stop at (35)……………………………………..
Question 36 – 40
Complete the sentences below.
Write NO MORE THAN 3 WORDS for each answer.
36. French TGV locomotives pull the T6V trains from both ends using a …………………………………..
37. Japanese ground is unsuitable for the TGV type of train because it is ………………………………… and
the tracks frequently curve horizontally and vertically.
38. An extra advantage of the Japanese electric car system is that it can act as a ………………………………
39. Even after the power supply is cut off in the electric car system, electricity is still produced by
………………………
40. Huge improvements in power, operability and safety administration have been made possible by advances
in …………………….

Reading

A Chronicle of Timekeeping
Our conception of time depends on the way we measure it
A According to archaeological evidence, at least 5, 000 years ago, and long before the advent of the Roman
Empire, the Babylonians began to measure time, introducing calendars to coordinate communal activities, to
plan the shipment of goods and, in particular, to regulate planting and harvesting. They based their calendars on
three natural cycles: the solar day, marked by the successive periods of light and darkness as the earth rotates on
its axis; the lunar month, following the phases of the moon as it orbits the earth; and the solar year, defined by
the changing seasons that accompany our planet's revolution around the sun.
B Before the invention of artificial light, the moon had greater social impact. And, for those living near the
equator, in particular, its waxing and waning were more conspicuous than the passing of the seasons. Hence, the
calendars that were developed at the lower latitudes were influenced more by the lunar cycle than by the solar
year. In more northern climes, however, where seasonal agriculture was practised, the solar year became more
crucial. As the Roman Empire expanded northward, it organised its activity chart for the most part around the
solar year.
C Centuries before the Roman Empire, the Egyptians had formulated a municipal calendar having 12
months of 30 days, with five days added to approximate the solar year. Each period of ten days was marked by
the appearance of special groups of stars called decans. At the rise of the star Sirius just before sunrise, which
occurred around the all-important annual flooding of the Nile, 12 decans could be seen spanning the heavens.
The cosmic significance the Egyptians placed in the 12 decans led them to develop a system in which each
interval of darkness (and later, each interval of daylight) was divided into a dozen equal parts. These periods
became known as temporal hours because their duration varied according to the changing length of days and
nights with the passing of the seasons. Summer hours were long, winter ones short; only at the spring and
autumn equinoxes were the hours of daylight and darkness equal. Temporal hours, which were first adopted by
the Greeks and then the Romans, who disseminated them through Europe, remained in use for more than 2, 500
years.
D In order to track temporal hours during the day, inventors created sundials, which indicate time by the
length or direction of the sun's shadow. The sundial's counterpart, the water clock, was designed to measure
temporal hours at night. One of the first water clocks was a basin with a small hole near the bottom through
which the water dripped out. The falling water level denoted the passing hour as it dipped below hour lines
inscribed on the inner surface. Although these devices performed satisfactorily around the Mediterranean, they
could not always be depended on in the cloudy and often freezing weather of northern Europe.
E The advent of the mechanical clock meant that although it could be adjusted to maintain temporal hours,
it was naturally suited to keeping equal ones. With these, however, arose the question of when to begin
counting, and so, in the early 14th century, a number of systems evolved. The schemes that divided the day into
24 equal parts varied according to the start of the count: Italian hours began at sunset, Babylonian hours at
sunrise, astronomical hours at midday and 'great clock' hours, used for some large public clocks in Germany, at
midnight. Eventually, these were superseded by 'small clock', or French, hours, which split the day into two 12-
hour periods commencing at midnight.
F The earliest recorded weight-driven mechanical clock was built in 1283 in Bedfordshire in England. The
revolutionary aspect of this new timekeeper was neither the descending weight that provided its motive force
nor the gear wheels (which had been around for at least 1, 300 years) that transferred the power; it was the part
called the escapement. In the early 1400s came the invention of the coiled spring or fusee which maintained a
constant force to the gear wheels of the timekeeper despite the changing tension of its mainspring. By the 16th
century, a pendulum clock had been devised, but the pendulum swung in a large arc and thus was not very
efficient.
G To address this, a variation on the original escapement was invented in 1670, in England. It was called
the anchor escapement, which was a lever-based device shaped like a ship's anchor. The motion of a pendulum
rocks this device so that it catches and then releases each tooth of the escape wheel, in turn allowing it to turn a
precise amount. Unlike the original form used in early pendulum clocks, the anchor escapement permitted the
pendulum to travel in a very small arc. Moreover, this invention allowed the use of a long pendulum which
could beat once a second and thus led to the development of a new floor-standing case design, which became
known as the grandfather clock.
H Today, highly accurate timekeeping instruments set the beat for most electronic devices. Nearly all
computers contain a quartz-crystal clock to regulate their operation. Moreover, not only do time signals beamed
down from Global Positioning System satellites calibrate the functions of precision navigation equipment, they
do so as well for mobile phones, instant stock-trading systems and nationwide power-distribution grids. So
integral have these time-based technologies become to day-to-day existence that our dependency on them is
recognised only when they fail to work.
Questions 1-4
Reading Passage 77 has eight paragraphs, A-H.
Which paragraph contains the following information?
Write the correct letter, A-H, in boxes 1- 4 on your answer sheet.
1 a description of an early timekeeping invention affected by cold temperatures
2 an explanation of the importance of geography in the development of the calendar in farming communities
3 a description of the origins of the pendulum clock
4 details of the simultaneous efforts of different societies to calculate time using uniform hours
Questions 5-8
Look at the following events (Questions 5-8) and the list of nationalities below.
Match each event with the correct nationality, A-F.
Write the correct letter, A-F, in boxes 5-8 on your answer sheet.
5 They devised a civil calendar in which the months were equal in length.
6 They divided the day into two equal halves.
7 They developed a new cabinet shape for a type of timekeeper.
8 They created a calendar to organise public events and work schedules.
List of Nationalities

A Babylonians
B Egyptians
C Greeks
D English
E Germans
F French
 Questions 9-13
Label the diagram below.
Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from
the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 9-13 in your answer
sheet

Disappearing Delta
A
The fertile land of the Nile delta is being eroded
along Egypt's Mediterranean coast at an
astounding rate, in some parts estimated at 100
metres per year. In the past, land scoured away
from the coastline by the currents of the
Mediterranean Sea used to be replaced by sediment brought dawn to the delta by the River Nile, but this is no
longer happening.
B
Up to now, people have blamed this loss of delta land on the two large dams at Aswan in the south of Egypt,
which hold back virtually all of the sediment that used to flow down the river. Before the dams were built, the
Nile flowed freely, carrying huge quantities of sediment north from Africa's interior to be deposited on the Nile
delta. This continued for 7,000 years, eventually covering a region of over 22,000 square kilometres with layers
of fertile silt. Annual flooding brought in new, nutrient-rich soil to the delta region, replacing what had been
washed away by the sea, and dispensing with the need for fertilizers in Egypt's richest food-growing area. But
when the Aswan dams were constructed in the 20th century to provide electricity and irrigation, and to protect
the huge population centre of Cairo and its surrounding areas from annual flooding and drought, most of the
sediment with its natural fertilizer accumulated up above the dam in the southern, upstream half of Lake Nasser,
instead of passing down to the delta.

C
Now, however, there turns out to be more to the story. IF appears
that the sediment-free water emerging from the Aswan dams picks
up silt and sand as it erodes the river bed and banks on the 800-
kilometre trip to Cairo. Daniel Jean Stanley of the Smithsonian
Institute noticed that water samples taken in Cairo, just before the
river enters the delta, indicated that the river sometimes carries mare
than 850 grams of sediment per cubic metre of water - almost half of
what it carried before the dams were built. 'I'm ashamed to say that
the significance of this didn't strike me until after I had read 50 or 60
studies,' says Stanley in Marine Geology. There is still a lot of
sediment coming into the delta, but virtually no sediment comes out
into the Mediterranean to replenish the Coastline. So this sediment
must be trapped on the delta itself.'
D
Once north of Cairo, most of the Nile water is diverted into more than 10,000 kilometres of irrigation canals and
only a small proportion reaches the sea directly through the rivers in the delta. The water in the irrigation canals
is still or very slow-moving and thus cannot carry sediment, Stanley explains. The sediment sinks to the bottom
of the canals and then is added to fields by farmers or pumped with the water into the four large freshwater
lagoons that are located near the outer edges of the delta. So very little of it actually reaches the coastline to
replace what is being washed away by the Mediterranean currents.
E
The farms on the delta plains and fishing and aquaculture in the lagoons account for much of Egypt's food
supply. But by the time the sediment has come to rest in the fields and lagoons, it is laden with municipal,
industrial and agricultural waste from the Cairo region, which is home to more than 40 million people.
'Pollutants are building up faster and faster' says Stanley.
Based on his investigations of sediment from the delta lagoons, Frederic Siegel of George Washington
University concurs. 'In Manzalah Lagoon, for example, the increase in mercury, lead, copper and zinc coincided
with the building of the High Dam at Aswan, the availability of cheap electricity, and the development of major
power-based industries he says. Since that time the concentration of mercury has increased significantly. Lead
from engines that use leaded fuels and from other industrial sources has also increased dramatically. These
poisons can easily enter the food chain, affecting the productivity of Fishing and Farming. Another problem is
that agricultural wastes include fertilizers which stimulate increases in plant growth in the lagoons and upset the
ecology of the area, with serious effects on the fishing industry.
F
According to Siegel, international environmental organisations are beginning to pay closer attention to the
region, partly because of the problems of erosion and pollution of the Nile delta, but principally because they
fear the impact this situation could have on the whole Mediterranean coastal ecosystem. But there are no easy
solutions. In the immediate Future, Stanley believes that one solution would be to make artificial floods to flush
out the delta waterways, in the same way, that natural floods did before the construction of the dams. He says,
however, that in the long term an alternative process such as desalination may have to be used to increase the
amount of water available, 'In my view, Egypt must devise a way to have more water running through the river
and the delta' says Stanley. Easier said than done in a desert region with a rapidly growing population.
Questions 14-17
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14-26, which are based on Reading Passage 2 on the
following pages.
Reading Passage 2 has six paragraphs, A-F.
Choose the correct heading for paragraphs B and D-F from the list of headings below..
Write the correct number i-viii in boxes 14-17 on your answer sheet.
List of Headings
i Effects of irrigation on sedimentation
ii The danger of flooding the Cairo area
iii Causing pollution in the Mediterranean
iv Interrupting a natural process
v The threat to food production
vi Less valuable sediment than before
vii Egypt's disappearing coastline
viii Looking at the long-term impact
Example Paragraph A Answer vii
14 Paragraph B
Example Paragraph C Answer vi
15 Paragraph D 16 Paragraph E 17 Paragraph F
Questions 18-23
Do the following statements reflect the claims of the writer in Reading Passage 2?
In boxes 18-23 on your answer sheet, write-
YES if the statement reflects the claims of the writer
NO if the statement contradicts the claims of the writer
NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
18 Coastal erosion occurred along Egypt's Mediterranean coast before the building of the Aswan dams.
19 Some people predicted that the Aswan dams would cause land loss before they were built.
20 The Aswan dams were built to increase the fertility of the Nile delta.
21 Stanley found that the levels of sediment in the river water in Cairo were relatively high.
22 Sediment in the irrigation canals on the Nile delta causes flooding.
23 Water is pumped from the irrigation canals into the lagoons.
Questions 24-26
Complete the summary of paragraphs E and F with the list of words A-H below.
Write the correct letter A-H in boxes 24-26 on your answer sheet.
In addition to the problem of coastal erosion, there has been a marked increase in the level of 24........................
contained in the silt deposited in the NileDeltaa. To deal with this, Stanley suggests the use of 25 .......................
in the short term, and increasing the amount of water available through 26........................ in the longer term.
A artificial floods B desalination C delta waterways D natural floods
E nutrients F pollutants G population control H sediment

HELIUM’S FUTURE UP IN THE AIR

A. In recent years we have all been exposed to dire media reports concerning the impending demise of global
coal and oil reserves, but the depletion of another key nonrenewable resource continues without receiving much
press at all. Helium – an inert, odourless, monatomic element known to lay people as the substance that makes
balloons float and voices squeak when inhaled – could be gone from this planet within a generation.
B. Helium itself is not rare; there is actually a plentiful supply of it in the cosmos. In fact, 24 per cent of our
galaxy’s elemental mass consists of helium, which makes it the second most abundant element in our universe.
Because of its lightness, however, most helium vanished from our own planet many years ago. Consequently,
only a miniscule proportion – 0.00052%, to be exact – remains in earth’s atmosphere. Helium is the byproduct
of millennia of radioactive decay from the elements thorium and uranium. The helium is mostly trapped in
subterranean natural gas bunkers and commercially extracted through a method known as fractional distillation.
C. The loss of helium on Earth would affect society greatly. Defying the perception of it as a novelty substance
for parties and gimmicks, the element actually has many vital applications in society. Probably the most well
known commercial usage is in airships and blimps (non-flammable helium replaced hydrogen as the lifting gas
du jour after the Hindenburg catastrophe in 1932, during which an airship burst into flames and crashed to the
ground killing some passengers and crew). But helium is also instrumental in deep-sea diving, where it is
blended with nitrogen to mitigate the dangers of inhaling ordinary air under high pressure; as a cleaning agent
for rocket engines; and, in its most prevalent use, as a coolant for superconducting magnets in hospital MRI
(magnetic resonance imaging) scanners.
D. The possibility of losing helium forever poses the threat of a real crisis because its unique qualities are
extraordinarily difficult, if not impossible to duplicate (certainly, no biosynthetic ersatz product is close to
approaching the point of feasibility for helium, even as similar developments continue apace for oil and coal).
Helium is even cheerfully derided as a “loner” element since it does not adhere to other molecules like its
cousin, hydrogen. According to Dr. Lee Sobotka, helium is the “most noble of gases, meaning it’s very stable
and non-reactive for the most part … it has a closed electronic configuration, a very tightly bound atom. It is
this coveting of its own electrons that prevents combination with other elements’. Another important attribute is
helium’s unique boiling point, which is lower than that for any other element. The worsening global shortage
could render millions of dollars of high-value, life-saving equipment totally useless. The dwindling supplies
have already resulted in the postponement of research and development projects in physics laboratories and
manufacturing plants around the world. There is an enormous supply and demand imbalance partly brought
about by the expansion of high-tech manufacturing in Asia.
E. The source of the problem is the Helium Privatisation Act (HPA), an American law passed in 1996 that
requires the U.S. National Helium Reserve to liquidate its helium assets by 2015 regardless of the market price.
Although intended to settle the original cost of the reserve by a U.S. Congress ignorant of its ramifications, the
result of this fire sale is that global helium prices are so artificially deflated that few can be bothered recycling
the substance or using it judiciously. Deflated values also mean that natural gas extractors see no reason to
capture helium. Much is lost in the process of extraction. As Sobotka notes: "[t]he government had the good
vision to store helium, and the question now is: Will the corporations have the vision to capture it when
extracting natural gas, and consumers the wisdom to recycle? This takes long-term vision because present
market forces are not sufficient to compel prudent practice”. For Nobel-prize laureate Robert Richardson, the
U.S. government must be prevailed upon to repeal its privatisation policy as the country supplies over 80 per
cent of global helium, mostly from the National Helium Reserve. For Richardson, a twenty- to fifty-fold
increase in prices would provide incentives to recycle.
F. A number of steps need to be taken in order to avert a costly predicament in the coming decades. Firstly, all
existing supplies of helium ought to be conserved and released only by permit, with medical uses receiving
precedence over other commercial or recreational demands. Secondly, conservation should be obligatory and
enforced by a regulatory agency. At the moment some users, such as hospitals, tend to recycle diligently while
others, such as NASA, squander massive amounts of helium. Lastly, research into alternatives to helium must
begin in earnest.
Questions 27–31
Reading Passage 3 has six paragraphs, A–F.
Which paragraph contains the following information?
Write the correct letter, A–F, in boxes 27–31 on your answer sheet.
27 a use for helium which makes an activity safer
28 the possibility of creating an alternative to helium
29 a term which describes the process of how helium is taken out of the ground
30 a reason why users of helium do not make efforts to conserve it
31 a contrast between helium’s chemical properties and how non-scientists think about it
Questions 32–35
Do the following statements agree with the claims of the writer in Reading Passage 98?
In boxes 32–35 on your answer sheet, write
YES if the statement agrees with the claims of the writer
NO if the statement contradicts the claims of the writer
NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
32 Helium chooses to be on its own.
33 Helium is a very cold substance.
34 High-tech industries in Asia use more helium than laboratories and manufacturers in other parts of the world.
35 The US Congress understood the possible consequences of the HPA.
Questions 36–40
Complete the summary below.
Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 36–40 on your answer sheet.
Sobotka argues that big business and users of helium need to help look after helium stocks because 36
……………….. will not be encouraged through buying and selling alone. Richardson believes that the 37
……………….. needs to be withdrawn, as the U.S. provides most of the world’s helium. He argues that higher
costs would mean people have 38 ……………….. to use the resource many times over.
People should need a 39 ……………….. to access helium that we still have. Furthermore, a 40 ………………..
should ensure that helium is used carefully.
Writing
Task 1
You should spend about 20 minutes on this task.
The graphs show enrolment in different colleges in the Higher Colleges of Technology in 1999.
Write a report for a university lecturer describing the information given.
Write at least 150 words.
HTC Graduates by Colleges

HTC Graduates by levels and genders

Task 2
You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.
Education is not a luxury, but a basic human right and as such should be free for everyone irrespective of
personal wealth.
Do you agree or disagree?
You should give reasons for your answer using your own ideas and experience.

Write at least 250 words.