ADVANCED READING

2
Crop-growing skyscrapers
By the year 2050, nearly 80% of the Earth's population will live in urban centres. Applying the most conservative estimates to current demographic trends, the human
population will increase by about three billion people by then. An estimated 10 hectares of new land (about 20% larger than Brazil) will be needed to grow enough food
to feed them, if traditional farming methods continue as they are practised today. At present, throughout the world, over 80% of the land that is suitable for raising crops
is in use. Historically, some 15% of that has been laid waste by poor management practices. What can be done to ensure enough food for the world's population to live
on?

The concept of indoor farming is not new, since hothouse production of tomatoes and other produce has been in vogue for some time. What is new is the urgent need to
scale up this technology to accommodate another three billion people. Many believe an entirely new approach to indoor farming is required, employing cutting-edge
technologies. One such proposal is for the 'Vertical Farm'. The concept is of multi-storey buildings in which food crops are grown in environmentally controlled
conditions. Situated in the heart of urban centres, they would drastically reduce the amount of transportation required to bring food to consumers. Vertical farms would
need to be efficient, cheap to construct and safe to operate. If successfully implemented, proponents claim, vertical farms offer the promise of urban renewal,
sustainable production of a safe and varied food supply (through year-round production of all crops), and the eventual repair of ecosystems that have been sacrificed for
horizontal farming.

It took humans 10,000 years to learn how to grow most of the crops we now take for granted. Along the way, we despoiled most of the land we worked, often turning
verdant, natural ecozones into semi-arid deserts. Within that same time frame, we evolved into an urban species, in which 60% of the human population now lives
vertically in cities. This means that, for the majority, we humans have shelter from the elements, yet we subject our food-bearing plants to the rigours of the great
outdoors and can do no more than hope for a good weather year. However, more often than not now, due to a rapidly changing climate, that is not what happens.
Massive floods, long droughts, hurricanes and severe monsoons take their toll each year, destroying millions of tons of valuable crops.

The supporters of vertical farming claim many potential advantages for the system. For instance, crops would be produced all year round, as they would be kept in
artificially controlled, optimum growing conditions. There would be no weather-related crop failures due to droughts, floods or pests. All the food could be grown
organically, eliminating the need for herbicides, pesticides and fertilisers. The system would greatly reduce the incidence of many infectious diseases that are acquired
at the agricultural interface. Although the system would consume energy, it would return energy to the grid via methane generation from composting non-edible parts of
plants. It would also dramatically reduce fossil fuel use, by cutting out the need for tractors, ploughs and shipping.

A major drawback of vertical farming, however, is that the plants would require artificial light. Without it, those plants nearest the windows would be exposed to more
sunlight and grow more quickly, reducing the efficiency of the system. Single-storey greenhouses have the benefit of natural overhead light: even so, many still need
artificial lighting. A multi-storey facility with no natural overhead light would require far more. Generating enough light could be prohibitively expensive, unless cheap,
renewable energy is available, and this appears to be rather a future aspiration than a likelihood for the near future.

One variation on vertical farming that has been developed is to grow plants in stacked trays that move on rails. Moving the trays allows the plants to get enough
sunlight. This system is already in operation, and works well within a single-storey greenhouse with light reaching it from above: it is not certain, however, that it can
be made to work without that overhead natural light.

Vertical farming is an attempt to address the undoubted problems that we face in producing enough food for a growing population. At the moment, though, more needs
to be done to reduce the detrimental impact it would have on the environment, particularly as regards the use of energy. While it is possible that much of our food will
be grown in skyscrapers in future, most experts currently believe it is far more likely that we will simply use the space available on urban rooftops.

Questions 1-7
Complete the sentences below.

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

Write your answers in boxes 1-7 on your answer sheet.

Indoor farming
1) Some food plants, including ............., are already grown indoors.

2) Vertical farms would be located in ............., meaning that there would be less need to take them long distances to customers.

3) Vertical farms could use methane from plants and animals to produce ..............

4) The consumption of ............. would be cut because agricultural vehicles would be unnecessary.

5) The fact that vertical farms would need ............. light is a disadvantage.

6) One form of vertical farming involves planting in ............. which are not fixed.

7) The most probable development is that food will be grown on ............. in towns and cities.

Questions 8-13
Do the following statements agree with the views of the writer in the Reading Passage? Write:

TRUE if the statement agrees with the views of the writer.

FALSE if the statement contradicts what the writer thinks.
NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to know what the writer's point of view is.

8) Methods for predicting the Earth's population have recently changed.

9) Human beings are responsible for some of the destruction to food-producing land.
10) The crops produced in vertical farms will depend on the season.
11) Some damage to food crops is caused by climate change.
12) Fertilisers will be needed for certain crops in vertical farms.
13) Vertical farming will make plants less likely to be affected by infectious diseases.

History of the Steam Engine

The first steam-powered machine was built in 1698 by the English military engineer Thomas Savery (c. 1650-1715). His invention, designed to pump water out of coal
mines, was known as the Miner's Friend. The machine, which had no moving parts, consisted of a simple boiler - a steam chamber whose valves were located on the
surface - and a pipe leading to the water in the mine below. Water was heated in the boiler chamber until its steam filled the chamber, forcing out any remaining water
or air. The valves were then closed and cold water was sprayed over the chamber. This chilled and condensed the steam inside to form a vacuum. When the valves were
reopened, the vacuum sucked up the water from the mine, and the process could then be repeated.

A few years later, an English engineer named Thomas Newcomen (1663-1729) improved the steam pump. He increased efficiency by setting a moving piston inside a
cylinder, a technique still in use today. A cylinder - a long, thin, closed chamber separate from the boiler - replaced the large, open boiler chamber. A piston - a sliding
piece that fits in the cylinder - was used to create motion instead of a vacuum. Steam filled the cylinder from an open valve. When filled, the cylinder was sprayed with
water, causing the steam inside to condense into water and create a partial vacuum. The pressure of the outside air then forced the piston down, producing a power
stroke. The piston was connected to a beam, which was connected to a water pump at the bottom of the mine by a pump-rod. Through these connections, the movement
of the piston caused the water pump to suck up the water.

The most important improvement in steam engine design was brought about by the Scottish engineer James Watt (1736-1819). He set out to improve the performance
of Newcomen's engine and by 1769 had arrived at the conclusion: if the steam were condensed separately from the cylinder, the cylinder could always be kept hot. That
year he introduced the design of a steam engine that had a separate condenser and sealed cylinders. Since this kept the heating and cooling processes separate, his
machine could work constantly, without any long pause at each cycle to reheat the cylinder. Watt's refined steam engine design

used one-third less fuel than a comparable Newcomen engine.

Over the next 15 years, Watt continued to improve his engine and made three significant additions. He introduced the centrifugal governor, a device that could control
steam output and engine speed. He made the engine double-acting by allowing steam to enter alternately on either side of the piston. This allowed the engine to work
rapidly and deliver power on the downward and upward piston stroke. Most important, he attached a flywheel to the engine.

Flywheels allow the engine to run more smoothly by creating a more constant load, and they convert the conventional back-and-forth power stroke into a circular
(rotary) motion that can be adapted more readily to power machinery. By 1790, Watt's improved steam engine offered a powerful, reliable power source that could be
located almost anywhere. It was used to pump bellows for blast furnaces, to power huge hammers for shaping and strengthening forged metals, and to turn machinery at
textile mills. More than anything, it was Watt's steam engine that speeded up the Industrial Revolution both in England and the rest of the world.

Steam was successfully adapted to powerboats in 1802 and railways in 1829. Later, some of the first automobiles were powered by steam. In the 1880s, the English
engineer Charles A. Parsons (1854-1931) produced the first steam turbine, a new steam technology that was more efficient and which enabled the steam engine to
evolve into a highly sophisticated and powerful engine that propelled huge ships and ran turbogenerators that supplied electricity.

Once the dominant power source, steam engines eventually declined in popularity as other power sources became available. Although there were more than 60,000
steam cars made in the United States between 1897 and 1927, the steam engine eventually gave way to the internal combustion engine as a power source for
vehicles.

Questions 14-20
Match each statement with the correct person A-D.

A Thomas Savery
B Thomas Newcomen
C James Watt
D Charles A. Parsons
Write the correct letter A, B, C or D in boxes 1-7 on your answer sheet.
14) His invention was the first to use moving parts.  

15) His invention allowed steam power to be converted into electric power.  

16) His invention was the single biggest step in development.  
17) His invention was a simple solution to an industrial problem.  
18) His invention was the first continuous power source.  
19) His invention first used a method people still use now.  
20) His invention allowed a much greater degree of control.  

Questions 21-25
Complete the flow chart below.
Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer.
The Miner's Friend used condensed steam to (21) ...................., which sucked water from mines.

Design improved: Newcomen (22) .................... using a piston and cylinder instead of an open boiler.

 1769: separating heating and cooling processes meant no (23) .................... between power strokes.

Further development: became easier to (24) .................... through the use of the flywheel.

Nineteenth century: steam power (25) .................... for use in various means of transport.

A neuroscientist reveals how to think differently

In the last decade a revolution has occurred in the way that scientists think about the brain. We now know that the decisions humans make can be traced to the firing
patterns of neurons in specific parts of the brain. These discoveries have led to the field known as neuroeconomics, which studies the brain's secrets to success in an
economic environment that demands innovation and being able to do things differently from competitors. A brain that can do this is an iconoclastic one. Briefly, an
iconoclast is a person who does something that others say can't be done.

This definition implies that iconoclasts are different from other people, but more precisely, it is their brains that are different in three distinct ways: perception, fear
response, and social intelligence. Each of these three functions utilizes a different circuit in the brain. Naysayers might suggest that the brain is irrelevant, that thinking
in an original, even revolutionary, way is more a matter of personality than brain function. But the field of neuroeconomics was born out of the realization that the
physical workings of the brain place limitations on the way we make decisions. By understanding these constraints, we begin to understand why some people march to a
different drumbeat.

The first thing to realize is that the brain suffers from limited resources. It has a fixed energy budget, about the same as a 40 watt light bulb, so it has evolved to work as
efficiently as possible. This is where most people are impeded from being an iconoclast. For example, when confronted with information streaming from the eyes, the
brain will interpret this information in the quickest way possible. Thus it will draw on both past experience and any other source of information, such as what other
people say, to make sense of what it is seeing. This happens all the time. The brain takes shortcuts that work so well we are hardly ever aware of them. We think our
perceptions of the world are real, but they are only biological and electrical rumblings. Perception is not simply a product of what your eyes or ears transmit to your
brain. More than the physical reality of photons or sound waves, perception is a product of the brain.

Perception is central to iconoclasm. Iconoclasts see things differently to other people. Their brains do not fall into efficiency pitfalls as much as the average person's
brain. Iconoclasts, either because they were born that way or through learning, have found ways to work around the perceptual shortcuts that plague most people.
Perception is not something that is hardwired into the brain. It is a learned process, which is both a curse and an opportunity for change. The brain faces the fundamental
problem of interpreting physical stimuli from the senses. Everything the brain sees, hears, or touches has multiple interpretations. The one that is ultimately chosen is
simply the brain's best theory. In technical terms, these conjectures have their basis in the statistical likelihood of one interpretation over another and are heavily
influenced by past experience and, importantly for potential iconoclasts, what other people say.

The best way to see things differently to other people is to bombard the brain with things it has never encountered before. Novelty releases the perceptual process from
the chains of past experience and forces the brain to make new judgments. Successful iconoclasts have an extraordinary willingness to be exposed to what is fresh and
different. Observation of iconoclasts shows that they embrace novelty while most people avoid things that are different.

The problem with novelty, however, is that it tends to trigger the brain's fear system. Fear is a major impediment to thinking like an iconoclast and stops the average
person in his tracks. There are many types of fear, but the two that inhibit iconoclastic thinking and people generally find difficult to deal with are fear of uncertainty
and fear of public ridicule. These may seem like trivial phobias. But fear of public speaking, which everyone must do from time to time, afflicts one-third of the
population. This makes it too common to be considered a mental disorder. It is simply a common variant of human nature, one which iconoclasts do not let inhibit their
reactions.

Finally, to be successful iconoclasts, individuals must sell their ideas to other people. This is where social intelligence comes in. Social intelligence is the ability to
understand and manage people in a business setting. In the last decade there has been an explosion of knowledge about the social brain and how the brain works when
groups coordinate decision making. Neuroscience has revealed which brain circuits are responsible for functions like understanding what other people think, empathy,
fairness, and social identity. These brain regions play key roles in whether people convince others of their ideas. Perception is important in social cognition too. The
perception of someone's enthusiasm, or reputation, can make or break a deal. Understanding how perception becomes intertwined with social decision making shows
why successful iconoclasts are so rare.

Iconoclasts create new opportunities in every area from artistic expression to technology to business. They supply creativity and innovation not easily accomplished by
committees. Rules aren't important to them. Iconoclasts face alienation and failure, but can also be a major asset to any organization. It is crucial for success in any field
to understand how the iconoclastic mind works.

Questions 26-30
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.

26) Neuroeconomics is a field of study which seeks to

A cause a change in how scientists understand brain chemistry.
B understand how good decisions are made in the brain.
C understand how the brain is linked to achievement in competitive fields.
D trace the specific firing patterns of neurons in different areas of the brain.
27) According to the writer, iconoclasts are distinctive because
A they create unusual brain circuits.
B their brains function differently.
C their personalities are distinctive.
D they make decisions easily.
28) According to the writer, the brain works efficiently because
A it uses the eyes quickly.
 B it interprets data logically.
C it generates its own energy.
D it relies on previous events.
29) The writer says that perception is
A a combination of photons and sound waves.
B a reliable product of what your senses transmit.
C a result of brain processes.
D a process we are usually conscious of.
30) According to the writer, an iconoclastic thinker
A centralises perceptual thinking in one part of the brain.
B avoids cognitive traps.
C has a brain that is hardwired for learning.
D has more opportunities than the average person.

Questions 31-36
Do the following statements agree with the information given in the Reading Passage?
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
31) Exposure to different events forces the brain to think differently.
32) Iconoclasts are unusually receptive to new experiences.
33) Most people are too shy to try different things.
34) If you think in an iconoclastic way, you can easily overcome fear.
35) When concern about embarrassment matters less, other fears become irrelevant.
36) Fear of public speaking is a psychological illness.

Questions 37-40
Complete each sentence with the correct ending, A-E, below.
A requires both perceptual and social intelligence skills.
B focuses on how groups decide on an action.
C works in many fields, both artistic and scientific.
D leaves one open to criticism and rejection.
E involves understanding how organisations manage people.

37) Thinking like a successful iconoclast is demanding because it

38) The concept of the social brain is useful to iconoclasts because it
39) Iconoclasts are generally an asset because their way of thinking
40) What is your target score?