You are going to read an article about children.

For questions 1-10, choose from

the sections of the article (A-E). The sections may be chosen more than once.
When more than one answer is required, these may be given in any order.

In which section of the article is the following mentioned?

1 an example of a sign that has become simpler.

2 the difference between how the deaf children communicate an image and how
other people communicate the same image.
3 the fact that the same signs can be used in the communication of a number of
ideas.
4 the characteristics of languages in general at different stages of their
development.
5 a belief that language is learnt by means of a specific part of the mind.
6 an aspect of language learning that children are particularly good at.
7 how regularly the children have been monitored.
8 older children passing their sign language on to younger children.
9 the reason why the children created a particular sign.
10 opposing views on how people acquire language.

Deaf Childern’s Ad Hoc Language Evolves and Instructs

A A deep insight into the way the brain learns language has emerged from the
study of Nicaraguan sign language, invented by deaf children in a Nicaraguan
school as a means of communicating among themselves. The Nicaraguan children
are well-known to linguists because they provide an apparently unique example of
people inventing a language from scratch. The phenomenon started at a school for
special education founded in 1977. Instructors noticed that the deaf children, while
absorbing little from their Spanish lessons, had developed a system of signs for
talking to one another. As one generation of children taught the system to the next,
it evolved from a set of gestures into a far more sophisticated form of
communication, and today’s 800 users of the language provide a living history of
the stages of formation.

B The children have been studied principally by Dr. Judy Kegi, a linguist at the
University of Southern Maine, and Dr. Ann Senghas, a cognitive scientist at
Columbia University in New York City. In the latest study, published in Science
magazine, Dr. Senghas shows that the younger children have now decomposed
certain gestures into smaller component signs. A hearing person asked to mime a
standard story about a cat waddling down a street will make a single gesture, a
downward spiral motion of the hand. But the deaf children have developed two
different signs to use in its place. They sign a circle for the rolling motion and then
a straight line for the direction of movement. This requires more signing, but the
two signs can be used in combination with others to express different concepts.
The development is of interest to linguists because it captures a principal quality of
human language – discrete elements usable in different combinations – in contrast
to the one sound, one meaning of animal communication. ‘The regularity she
documents here – mapping discrete aspects of the world onto discrete word choices
– is one of the most distinctive properties of human language’ said Dr. Steven
Pinker, a cognitive scientist at Harvard University.

C When people with no common language are thrown into contact, they often
develop an ad hoc language known to linguists as a pidgin language, usually
derived from one of the parent languages. Pidgins are rudimentary systems with
minimal grammar and utterances. But in a generation or two, the pidgins acquire
grammar and become upgraded to what linguists call creoles. Though many new
languages have been created by the pidgin-creole route, the Nicaraguan situation is
unique, Dr. Senghas said, because its starting point was not a complex language
but ordinary gestures. From this raw material, the deaf children appear to be
spontaneously fabricating the elements of language.

D Linguists have been engaged in a longstanding argument as to whether there is

an innate, specialised neural machinery for learning language, as proposed by
Noam Chomsky of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, or whether
everything is learned from scratch. Dr. Senghas says her finding supports the view
that language learning is innate, not purely cultural, since the Nicaraguan
children’s dis-aggregation of gestures appears to be spontaneous. Her result also
upholds the idea that children play an important part in converting a pidgin into a
creole. Because children’s minds are primed to learn the rules of grammar, it is
thought, they spontaneously impose grammatical structure on a pidgin that doesn’t
have one.

E The Nicaraguan children are a living laboratory of language generation. Dr.

Senghas, who has been visiting their school every year since 1990, said she had
noticed how the signs for numbers have developed. Originally the children
represented ’20’ by flicking the fingers of both hands in the air twice. But this
cumbersome sign has been replaced with a form that can now be signed with one
hand. The children don’t care that the new sign doesn’t look like a 20, Dr. Senghas
said; they just want a symbol that can be signed fast.
You are going to read an article about various birds in Britain. For questions 1-
10, choose from the sections o f the article (A-D). The sections may be chosen
more than once.

Of which bird are the following stated?

1 Further attempts to increase its numbers were made once initial attempts had
proved successful.
2 Its population growth is a reflection of how tough it is.
3 There is statistical evidence to support the view that it is a very popular bird.
4 There was a particular period when its population plummeted.
5 A criticism could be made of its physical appearance.
6 A common perception of it has proved inaccurate.
7 Growth in its numbers has been much more gradual than desired.
8 There is reason to believe that its progress in a particular region will be
maintained.
9 Measures taken in the running of a certain type of countryside have assisted in
the growth of its population.
10 Even though its population has fallen, it can frequently be seen in various
particular locations.

WINGED WINNERS AND LOSERS

Birds in Britain come under scrutiny in a massive new study, Birds Britannica. A
record of the avian community in the 21st century, it reveals a continually evolving
pattern. Mark Cocker, the principal author of the tome, selects some cases.

A Red Kite
The red kite’s recent rise from a mere handful to several thousands is among the
great stories of modern conservation. Testimony to its flagship status is a recent
Royal Society for the Protection of Birds poll which ranked it with the golden
eagle and song thrush in the nation’s list of favourite birds. The dramatic spread
has hinged on a reintroduction scheme at six sites in England and Scotland using
kites originally taken from Spain and Sweden. The English releases began in the
Chilterns in 1989 and when these had achieved a healthy population, subsequent
introductions were made in Northamptonshire and Yorkshire using mainly English
birds. The Scottish releases in the 1980s and 1990s have resulted in populations
totalling more than 50 pairs. Altogether there are now about 3,000 kites in Britain

B Dartford Warbler
This highly attractive bird is confined to just five Western European countries as
well as the north African littoral, and has the smallest world range of any of our
breeding birds. It is also a highly sedentary bird and a major cause of decline is its
great susceptibility to the cold. The worst case occurred in the two successive hard
winters of 1961 and 1962 when the numbers fell from 450 pairs to just 10.
Memories of this calamitous decrease, coupled with the bird’s own tiny size and
seeming delicacy, have cemented our sense of an overarching vulnerability. It is
one of the best British examples where a species’ local rarity has been assumed to
equal almost constitutional weakness. All the caution is perfectly understandable as
an expression of our protective instincts towards a much-loved bird. Yet it sits
oddly with the warbler’s continuing rise and expansion to a population of 1,925
pairs by the year 2000. It has undoubtedly been helped by mild winters as well as
the intensive management and protection of England’s lowland heath. Yet the
Dartford Warbler’s recent history illustrates how easy it is to underestimate the
resilience of a small rare bird.

C White-tailed Eagle
It is difficult to judge which is the more exciting conservation achievement – the
reintroduction of this magnificent bird or of red kites. By wingspan and weight,
this is the largest eagle in Europe and one of the biggest of all birds in Britain.
However, if the species itself is on a grand scale, the size of the reintroduced
population is tiny and the pace of increase agonizingly slow. The project involved
a remarkable team effort by various UK environmental groups, as well as the
Norwegian conservationists who organized the capture of the donated birds.
Between 1975 and 1985, they released 82 eagles (39 males and 43 females) from a
special holding area on the Inner Hebridean island of Rhum. Eight were later
recovered dead, but in 1983 came the first breeding attempt.

Two years later, a pair of white-tailed eagles produced the first British-born chick
in 69 years and every subsequent breeding season has seen a small incremental
improvement. There is now an established breeding nucleus spread between the
islands of Skye and Mull as well as the adjacent mainland, and their recent history
suggests that the white-tailed eagle’s increase will continue throughout north-west
Scotland.

D Spotted Flycatcher
Even the greatest fans of this lovely bird, with its mouse-grey upper parts and
whitish breast and belly, would have to admit that it is rather drab. They have no
more than a thin, squeaky, small song. However, spotted flycatchers compensate
with enormous character.
They are adept at catching large species such as day-flying moths, butterflies, bees
and wasps, whose stings they remove by thrashing the victim against the perch.
Their specialized diet means that they are among the latest spring migrants to
return and are now in serious decline because of half a century of pesticide use. In
the past 25 years, their numbers have declined by almost 80 per cent, but they are
still sufficiently numerous (155,000 pairs) to be familiar and are often birds of
large gardens, churchyards or around farm buildings.

You are going to read an article about various paintings. For questions 1-10,
choose from the sections of the article (A-D). The sections may be chosen more
than once.

Of which painting is the following stated?

1 It is of something that no longer exists.

2 The artist points out that it is based on things actually observed, even though it
doesn’t depict them accurately.
3 The artist specialises in things that most people regard as ugly.
4 A deduction that could be made about what is happening in this picture is not
what artist is actually showing.
5 The artist took a risk while creating it.
6 The artist checks that nothing important is missing from preparatory work.
7 It was completely altered in order to produce various connections.
8 Its artist produces paintings in different locations.
9 In one way, it is unlike any other painting the artist has produced.
10 The artist likes to find by chance subjects that have certain characteristics.

Watercolour competition

First prize

A Carol Robertson – Interrupted

Field Carol Robertson’s Interrupted Field is a worthy winner, a more or less
geometric composition that exploits the qualities of evenly-applied washes of
colour. The painting is vast – ‘the largest I’ve ever attempted’- so the big, even
area of blue in the centre is, apart from anything else, something of a technical
achievement.

Robertson is keen to stress that her abstract compositions are firmly rooted in
reality. Though she does not ‘seek to confirm or record the way the world looks’,
her work is never disconnected from the natural world, so the coloured stripes and
bands in this painting have a specific source. Over the past five years, Robertson
has been working in Ireland, on the northwest coast of County Mayo. The coloured
stripes stimulate ‘memories of coastal landscape, brightly painted cottages,
harbours and fishing boats, things seen out of the corner of my eye as I explored
that coastline by car and on foot. The colour mirrors the fragments of life that
caught my eye against a background of sea and sky.’

Runners up

В Geoffrey Wynne – Quayside

Geoffrey Wynne describes himself as ‘an open-air impressionist watercolour
painter’, though he adds that ‘larger works’, this prize-winning picture among
them, ‘are developed in the studio’.

Perhaps the most noteworthy aspect of this painting is the sheer number of people
in it. According to the title, they are on a quay somewhere, and the number of
suitcases they have with them suggests they have just landed from a boat on the
first stage of a holiday. ‘Yes, that’s almost right,’ Wynne told me, ‘except that
we’re on the boat in the early morning, just arrived back from Mallorca, and the
people are waiting to get on. This painting took a long time to finish, and many
earlier attempts were abandoned. To achieve a unity, I immersed the half-finished
painting in the bath, then added the black with a big brush. It’s dangerous to do,
because you can’t really control the effects. Then I reworked everything,
establishing links with colour and tone throughout the composition, creating a kind
of web or net of similar effects.’

C Arthur Lockwood – Carbonizer Tower

Arthur Lockwood has a big reputation among watercolour painters and
watercolour enthusiasts, chiefly for his accomplished pictures of industrial sites,
subjects that are generally thought to be unsightly, but have striking visual qualities
all their own. Among them is a kind of romanticism stimulated by indications of
decay and the passing of irrecoverable time. Lockwood’s subjects are, after all,
ruins, the modern equivalent of Gothic churches overgrown by ivy. He aims not
only to reveal those qualities, but to make a visual record of places that are last
being destroyed.

This painting, a good example of his work in general, is one of an extensive series
on the same subject. What we see is part of a large industrial plant that once made
smokeless coal briquettes. It has now been closed and demolished to make way for
a business park.

D Michael Smee – Respite at The Royal Oak

Michael Smee was once a successful stage and television designer. This is worth
stressing, because this prize-winning painting makes a strong theatrical impression.
Smee agrees, and thinks it has much to do with the carefully judged lighting. ‘As a
theatre designer, you make the set, which comes to life only when its lit’.

Smee prefers to happen on pubs and cafes that are intriguing visually and look as
though they might be under threat, lie has a strong desire to record ‘not only the
disappearing pub culture peculiar to this country, but also bespoke bar interiors and
the individuals therein’, He works his paintings up from informative sketches. ‘I
get there early, before many people have arrived, sit in the corner and scribble
away. Then, once the painting is in progress in the studio, I make a return visit to
reassure myself and to note down what I’d previously overlooked.’ His main aim
isn’t topographical accuracy, however; it’s to capture the appearance of artificial
and natural light together, as well as the reflections they make.

You are going to read an article about the design of new stations on the London
Underground railway system. For questions 1-10, choose from the sections of
the article (A-D). The sections may be chosen more than once.

In which section of the article are the following mentioned?

1 the previously unattractive nature of the locations of most of the stations

2 a comparison Paoletti made to illustrate his approach to the JLE project
3 the immediate and massive effect that one of the stations had on its surroundings
4 a description that Paoletti considered not to be wholly accurate
5 a fundamental question concerning the function of station in underground
systems
6 an explanation Paoletti gave for why certain comments about the new buildings
were incorrect
7 Paoletti’s desire to unite elements that had previously been seen as wholly
different from each other
8 personal qualities that enabled Paoletti to tackle the JLE project successfully
9 parts of a station architects were not responsible for in the past
10 Paoletti’s opinion of those previously responsible for designing stations

Roland Paoletti
An architect who revolutionized the lives of London’s commuters

A
Roland Paoletti was the driving force behind the dramatic, award-winning stations
on the ?3 billion Jubilee Line Extension (JLE) to the London Underground system,
the most ambitious building programme on the Tube for many decades. An
irascible Anglo-Italian, Paoletti possessed the persuasiveness and tenacity to take
on the vested political interests at play in the planning of the 10-mile Jubilee Line
Extension to ensure good design and innovation. Historically, architects employed
on Tube projects had been restricted to ‘fitting out’ the designs of railway and civil
engineers with few or no aesthetic concerns, and whom Paoletti dismissed as
visionless ‘trench-diggers’. The Jubilee line would be unique in that for the first
time the architects would be responsible for designing entire underground stations.

В
As the commissioning architect in overall charge, Paoletti’s approach was to let
light flood down into the stations along the line. The project’s centrepiece was the
extraordinary huge new station at Canary Wharf, designed by Norman Foster and
Partners to handle up to 40,000 passengers an hour at peak times. ‘Everybody
keeps saying that it’s like a cathedral,’ complained Paoletti. ‘They’re wrong. It
actually is a cathedral.’ Explaining his approach to designing underground stations,
Paoletti likened the Jubilee line to architectural free-form jazz, the stations
responding to their different contexts as dramatic variations on a theme. Instead of
uniformity, Paoletti envisaged variety achieved in the beauty of raw materials like
concrete, and the architectural power of simple, large spaces for robust and
practical stations.

C
He procured the most talented individual architects he could find to design 11 new
stations along the line, creating a unique variety of architectural statement pieces –
notably different but all beautiful – in what had been a largely desolate stretch off
urban east London. ‘For the price of an underground ticket,’ he promised, ‘you will
see some of the greatest contributions to engineering and architecture worldwide.’
Paoletti’s sweeping vision did not disappoint. With their swagger and
individualism, the stations have been widely acclaimed as a tour de force in public
transport architecture.

D
In pressing for a seamless marriage between architecture and engineering, Paoletti
was concerned to make the stations pleasing to the eye, and the daily grind of
commuters using them as uplifting an experience as possible. The result was
generally reckoned to be the finest set of stations since the classic designs for the
Piccadilly line by Charles Holden In the 1930s. In Holden’s day, design stopped at
the top of the escalators leading down to the platforms, a symptom of the Tube’s
tradition of treating architecture and engineering as separate disciplines. From the
start Paoletti promised ‘a symbiosis of architecture and engineering’ throughout.
This is particularly evident at Westminster station, where Michael Hopkins solved
structural difficulties by designing fantastic supporting structures redolent of
science-fiction – what Paoletti called ‘engineering that expresses itself as
architecture … in which people can delight’.

E
He wanted the designs of the JLE stations to have a uniformity of voice, or, as he
put it, ‘a philosophical uniformity’. Paoletti contrasted the drama of MacCormac
Jamieson Prichard’s design for Southwark station with the vast glass drum of Ron
Herron’s Canada Water station, intended as a response to the area’s bleakness, ‘a
big, splendid beacon that has transformed the area from a wasteland almost
overnight’. To critics who complained about the expense of these grand designs,
Paoletti pointed out that the same cut-and-cover, box-station design that allowed
his architects a free hand with their various structures also saved London
Underground millions in tunnelling costs. ‘In any case,’ he noted, ‘you have to
decide at the beginning whether you’re going to see an underground station as a
kind of vehicular underpass that happens to have people in it, or whether it’s a
building; a building with some other kind of job to do, like making people
comfortable.

You are going to read about four independent jewellery designers. For questions
1-10, choose from the sections of the article (A-D). The sections may be chosen
more than once.

Which designer …

1 is concerned about the sourcing of her materials?

2 is claimed to have the wrong attitude to business?
3 uses the same combination of metals and precious stones in each piece of
jewellery?
4 creates designs that feature different versions of the same symbol?
5 intends her jewellery to stand the test of time?
6 designs pieces to reflect her beliefs that everything is linked by patterns?
7 uses inspirations from experiences when she was young?
8 makes jewellery that is easily attributable to her?
9 does not work exclusively on making jewellery?
10 was originally inspired by a social connection?

Shining lights

A Emma Franklin
‘It has always been about animals,’ Emma Franklin says. ‘My friend’s
grandmother had an amazing stag brooch with huge antlers and that’s where it
started. Everyone has a relationship with an animal in my collection.’ Franklin has
focused on jewellery design since her teens and graduated from Central Saint
Martins in 2005, setting up her own business immediately. Based in east London,
Franklin, twenty-nine, hand-makes each necklace, bangle, ring, cuff link and pin,
featuring any of fourteen animal heads, from a pig to a triceratops, as well as a
shotgun. All her pieces are made in solid silver, plated in twenty-two-carat yellow
gold or black rhodium,with black diamonds and freshwater pearls. Bespoke
commissions, predominantly engagement rings, not all animal-related, are
becoming more frequent. Franklin’s robust designs are instantly recognisable, as
she has discovered. ‘Recently in a pub this girl was wearing one of my rings at the
bar, so I introduced myself. She was completely star-struck and fetched over her
dad, who had bought it for her. I had to explain that it was really me who was
excited.’

В Alexandra Jefford
‘My design style constantly evolves,’ Alexandra Jefford says. ‘But even though I
try new things, I can’t kick my art background. I’m really inspired by art,
architecture, design, furniture design.’ Jefford, forty-two, graduated in 1992 with a
degree in fine art, began designing jewellery in 2003 and sold her first piece, a gold
ring, on its first outing, at dinner with a friend. Her designs, produced on a project-
by-project basis rather than as collections, include her signature Alphabet series for
which she designed a slim font. Her recent О project interprets that letter in various
typefaces. She combines jewellery design with other artistic pursuits such as
sculptural welding and life drawing. Fans range from her daughter’s friends to her
mother’s friends, although she doesn’t always want to sell. ‘I become emotionally
involved with all my pieces, so I find it really hard to let go. There are still some
pieces that I hide “for the family museum”. My husband says that I work as a
shopper rather than a seller.’

C Hattie Rickards
Hattie Rickards’ first collection of twelve rings, entitled Revealed, was launched
last November and was an instant success. Her second, Geo, came out last month
to even greater acclaim. ‘The ethos behind Geo is connection and relationships,
bringing tessellating or geometrical shapes together making one, for example, the
Kindredring, where two puzzle pieces fit neatly together.’ Hampshire-born
Rickards, set up on her own last year. ‘I wanted to create a high-end, luxury
jewellery brand with an ethical backbone, which coincided with a gap in the
market.’ All Hattie Rickards’ jewellery is made using Fairtrade precious stones
from Thailand and India and eighteen-carat, Fairtrade, fair-mined gold from
Colombia. HRJ is one of the first twenty companies to become a certified user of
this type of gold, many of its pieces having the premium ‘ecological’ label. There
are no plans for e-commerce, as Rickards believes this detracts from the meaning
behind the piece. ‘I am passionate that people understand the symbolism behind
my work. I don’t want it to just be a ring on a website. The story is so important.’

D Mawi Keivom
Mawi Keivom, thirty-nine, is known for her architectural statement jewellery:
chunky box chainswith coloured pearls, spiked gold rings and brightly-coloured
gems. Born in the north-east of India, forty miles from the Burmese border, into
the Mahr tribe, Keivom draws her influences from a peripatetic childhood with her
diplomat parents that took them to Africa, the Middle East, south-east Asia and
Europe. Keivom studied fashion design in New Zealand, then, after a stint in New
York, moved to London in 1993, where she met her husband, Tim Awan, and
together they set up Mawi in 2001 – she as the jewellery designer, he as the
business brain. ‘My style of jewellery is very individual and not for the faint-
hearted. I have a very strong vision that translates into an industrial, graphic
aesthetic offset with crystals and pearls that are a little bit feminine. I don’t try to
do something that is for the moment. My pieces are classics in their own right, not
trend-specific.’

You are going to read about a certain genre of movies. For questions 1-10,
choose from the sections of the article (A-D). The sections may be chosen more
than once.

In which section does the writer…

1 praise the quality of some more serious films?

2 point out the value of feel-good films in difficult economic times?
3 mention a film character who learns from his experiences?
4 explain how a director uses a film as a vehicle for his own opinion?
5 comment on the artistic merit of the cinema?
6 talk about the importance of escapism in films?
7 mention a special technique used to create a feel good reaction?
8 insist that lighter films can also be clever?
9 talk about films that make us reflect on life?
10 refer to films where ordinary people triumph over authority?

Films that make you feel good

A
Feel-good films stretch back right into the early days of cinema. The Brits were
pioneers of the form. Producer Cecil Hepworth’s Rescued By Rover (1905), a
winsome yarn about a dog retrieving a kidnapped baby, was an early example of
feel-good film-making. What distinguished it was the tempo. The film-makers
used cross-cutting to crank up the tension, which is only finally released when the
baby is found. The film “marks a key stage in the medium’s development from an
amusing novelty to the ‘seventh art,’ able to hold its own alongside literature,
theatre, painting, music and other more traditional forms,” claims the British Film
Institute’s Screen online website. Film historians today continue to study
Hepworth’s storytelling abilities but that wasn’t what interested the 1905 audiences
who flocked to see it. They went because it was a feel-good film.

В
There has long been a tendency to sneer at feel-good films. Serious, self-conscious
auteurs are often too busy trying to express their innermost feelings about art and
politics to worry about keeping audiences happy. However, as Preston Sturges
famously showed in his comedy Sullivan’s Travels(1941), if you’re stuck on a
prison chain gang, you don’t necessarily want to watch Battleship Potemkin.
Sullivan’s Travels is about John L Sullivan, a glib and successful young
Hollywood director of comedies, who yearns to be taken seriously. Sullivan
dresses up as a hobo and sets off across America to learn more about the plight of
the common man. He ends up sentenced to six years in prison. One of the
prisoners’ few escapes from drudgery is watching cartoons. As he sits among his
fellow cons and sees their faces convulsed with laughter at a piece of what he
regards as throwaway Disney animation, he rapidly revises his own priorities.
“After I saw a couple of pictures put out by my fellow comedy directors, which
seemed to have abandoned the fun in favour of the message, I wrote Sullivan’s
Travels to satisfy an urge to tell them to leave the preaching to the preachers,”
Sturges recalled.
C
A few years ago there were a lot of ‘deep-dish’ movies. We had films about guilt,
(Atonement) about the all-American dream coming apart at the seams
(Revolutionary Road) and even a very long account of a very long life
backwards(the deeply morbid The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button). Deep-dish,
feel-bad films have plenty to recommend them. If you’re not teenager and you
don’t just want to see the next summer tent-pole blockbuster, you’ll welcome
movies that pay attention to characterisation and dialogue and don’t just rely on
CGI or the posturing of comic book heroes. However, as film-makers from Preston
Sturges to Danny Boyle have discovered, there is no reason that a feel-good movie
needs to be dumb. You can touch on social deprivation and political injustice: the
trick is to do so lithely and, if possible, with a little leavening humour.

D
Historically, the best feel-good movies have often been made at the darkest times.
The war years and their immediate aftermath saw the British turning out some
invigorating, entertaining fare alongside all the propaganda. The Age of Austerity
was also the age of the classic Ealing comedies, perfect examples of feel-good
film-making. In the best of these films like Passport To Pimlico or Whisky Galore,
a community of eccentric and mildly anarchic characters would invariably come
together to thwart the big, bad, interfering bureaucrats. Stories about hiding away a
hoard of whisky or setting up a nation state in central London were lapped up by
the audiences. To really work, feel-good movies must have energy and spontaneity
– a reckless quality that no amount of script tinkering from studio development
executives can guarantee. The best take you by surprise. What makes the perfect
feel-good movie? That remains as hard to quantify as ever – you only know one
when you see one.

You are going to read about items from science fiction that became real. For
questions 1-10, choose from the sections of the article (A-D). The sections may
be chosen more than once.

Which science fiction work …

1 had a purpose other than pure entertainment?
2 presented a concept that is familiar today but through a different process?
3 was written by an author who has more famous fictional creations?
4 features machines that threaten to cause the downfall of man?
5 shows us a device that would have enormous significance for us if it really
existed?
6 was created by a writer whose name will never be forgotten?
7 was given a title that might be better understood by people today than when it
was written?
8 revolves around a character who uses a particular device to escape from the
reality of a situation?
9 delighted people over a period of many years?
10 foresaw something that is controversial today?

We’ve seen it all before!

Just how many of the technological advances we take for granted today were
actually predicted in science fiction years ago? Karen Smith checks out four
influential works.

A
R.U.R
Originally a word that appeared solely in science fiction, the term ‘robot’ has now
become commonplace as developments in technology have allowed scientists to
design ever more complex machines that can perform tasks to assist us at work or
home. But how did the word originate and when? To answer this, we have to go
back nearly 100 years to a play written in 1920 by a Czech playwright, Karel
Capek, called R. U. R — Rossum’s Universal Robots. The word is a derivation
from the Czech robota, meaning ‘forced labour’, or rab, meaning ‘slave’. Capek’s
robots are biological machines which are uncannily similar to what we today refer
to as ‘clones’ or ‘androids’ but are assembled from various parts rather than being
genetically ‘grown.’ The play eerily predicts problems that concern people today
regarding machines that can think independently. Rossum’s robots plan a rebellion
against their creator, a man who in his own words, wants to ‘play God’. The
famous science fiction writer Isaac Asimov was unimpressed by the literary value
of Capek’s play but believed it had enormous significance because it introduced
the word robot to the world.

В
Ralph 124C41+
If you’re a science fiction aficionado, you’ll definitely have heard of Hugo
Gernsback. Considered by many to be the founding father of science fiction back
in 1926 with the publication of his magazine Amazing Stories, his name has been
immortalised in the annual science fiction awards, the ‘Hugos’. However, the
quality of his writing is questionable and his stories are more highly regarded for
their content rather than plot or character development. Gernsback was deeply
interested in the world of electronics and, believing that science-fiction should
inspire future scientists, he filled his stories with ideas for numerous new gadgets
and electronic devices. An extraordinary number of his predictions have actually
come true. Today we have television, televised phone calls, sliding doors and
remote controls, to name only a few, and the precursors of many of these can be
found in just one novel: Ralph 124C41+.The mystifying title is itself a prediction
of language used in text talk today: ‘one to foresee for all (1+)’! Gernsback’s
prophetic stories included other predictions which currently remain unfulfilled,
such as complete weather control, thought records and aircabs. Watch this space!

C
From the London Town of 1904
Mark Twain is a familiar name to most of us as the author of magnificent books
such as Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer . He is less well-known, however, for
his science fiction but to avid readers of that genre, he is considered one of the best
writers of all time. It is also quite possible that he predicted one of the most
influential scientific inventions the world has ever seen — something that we all
use and rely on every day: the Internet! It is in a little-known short story called
From the London Town of 1904 that a character invents a device called a
‘telectroscope’. This is a machine that uses telephone line links across the world to
enable him to see and hear what is going on in any place on the globe at a given
time. How familiar does that sound? The character, while on death row for a
murder that he did not commit, uses his machine to ‘call up’ different places in the
world and the narrator of the story comments that although in a prison cell, the
man is ‘almost as free as the birds.’

D
Star Trek
These days mobile phones have become such an integral part of our daily lives that
we would be lost without them but there was a time when we had to communicate
using landlines or — horror of horrors — by writing letters! Viewers watching the
birth of a new TV science fiction series in the 1960s would have been amazed at
the thought that the ‘communicator’ used by Star Trek’s Captain Kirk would one
day become an everyday form of communication available to us all. Kirk’s
‘communicator’ was a small device he used to flip open and, in retrospect, it seems
surprisingly similar to a mobile phone that became popular in the late 90s. The
long-running series also featured several other devices that have since moved from
fiction to the real world. However, the famous Star Trek ‘Transporter’, through
which people can immediately materialise in different places, still remains the
Holy Grail for many in the world of science. Now, that really would make a
difference to our lives. ‘Beam us up, Scottie,’ please?
You are going to read an article about colour-taste relationships. For questions
1-10, choose from the sections of the article (A-D). The sections may be chosen
more than once.

In which section are the following mentioned?

1 the influence of external factors other than the colour of food or drink
2 the idea that reaction to colours is not uniform
3 the type of people who are most susceptible to colour influence
4 a collaboration between people from different backgrounds
5 the effect of impaired vision on eating habits
6 something that interests people but not for its original purpose
7 a hypothetical situation which may disgust us
8 some people’s ability to be more precise than others in describing subtle taste
changes
9 the way companies can use psychology to make us eat more
10 a belief that some people are naturally reluctant to taste something

How we taste different colours

A
We’ve all heard that the first bite is taken with the eye but the link between our
visual sense and our flavour perception may be stronger than you think. When I
think of flavour perception, noses and taste buds primarily spring to mind. Sure,
other factors such as texture, temperature and touch sensations play a part but taste
and smell are the dominant senses here, right? Well, perhaps not. You only have to
consider the insatiable public appetite for food pictures masquerading as
cookbooks to see there is meat to the old adage we eat with our eyes. Charles
Spence, the Oxford experimental psychologist who helped Heston Blumenthal
develop some of his playful multisensory signature dishes, places vision right up
there with smell, in flavour’s ‘premier league’, if you will. ‘Half the brain is visual
in some sense,’ says Spence. This is, in part, why the colour of our food and drink
can not only determine whether it is appetising but its flavour, too.

В
It is often said that we have an inherent aversion to blue food because it appears so
rarely in nature. Another popular theory is that we’re attracted to red food because
it signals ripeness, sweetness and calories.But is this an innate preference?
Probably not, thinks Chris Lukehurst, head of research at the Marketing Clinic.
How colour affects appetite is inconsistent and contextual. Think about green food
and you might picture fresh, nutritious rocket, watercress or cucumber. Or perhaps
under-ripe, sour fruits. ‘However, If I talk to you about green meat,’ he says, ‘your
stomach probably turns.’ It is interesting, though, that a dyed-blue steak will have
the same effect, even if you know it’s perfectly safe. If you get people to eat it in
the dark, says Spence, ‘so they think it’s normal, then you turn the lights up and
show them the colour, some will get up and be sick straightaway.’ Such is the
powerfully aversive effect of food colour out of context.

C
As well as tasting the colour of what we consume, we can also taste the shade of its
wrapping. Spence has tricked people into confusing salt and vinegar crisps with
cheese and onion flavour merely by switching packets. ‘Many of our subjects will
taste the colour of the crisp packet, not the crisp itself,’ he says. Our brains excel in
picking up associations and using them as shortcuts. When the colour makes us
expect something to taste a certain way, we’ll taste what we expect unless it’s
shockingly different. Using multiple colours in sweets such as Smarties and
M&Ms is a strategy to get you to eat lots of them. People will wolf down more
from a mixed bowl than they will from a bowl full of their favourite colour. And a
recent study from Cornwell University showed that you’ll eat more, too, if your
food colour matches the plate, while a contrast will have the opposite effect.

D
If you can’t see colours, you might expect your other senses to sharpen and
compensate but blind people don’t taste or smell any more than anyone else. They
are, however, generally better at naming smells, which most sighted people
struggle with. So they may not be tasting more intensely but they can identify
flavours better without visual cues. Not surprisingly, losing your sight can make
eating stressful and it is thought to contribute to a diminished appetite in old age.
But even losing the capacity to see colours can have adverse effects. In his book
An Anthropologist on Mars, Oliver Sacks told the fascinating story of a man who
experienced this after an accident. He found eating less pleasurable and started to
choose black or white foods, or eat with his eyes closed. Following a discussion
with Blumenthal, Spence and his team at Oxford did some research to discover
who is the most easily influenced by the effects of colouring and found that those
at the super-taster end of the spectrum rely less on their eyes. ‘Whereas those with
fewer taste buds,’ says Spence, ‘will be more easily led astray or say,”Yep, I see
red therefore it’s sweet”.’

You are going to read four movie series reviews. For questions 1-10, choose
from the sections o f the article (A-D). The sections may be chosen more than
once.
Which reviewer(s) …
1 states the film he liked least?
2 mentions the difficulty in following the story plot?
3 criticises how one of the directors managed the film production?
4 gives importance to how the characters respond to some tragic events?
5 supports a venue’s decision to run the film?
6 implies that the film will not appeal to a certain group of people?
7 liked the acting?
8 wouldn’t have noticed that the trilogy was meant for TV viewers?
9 suggests how some people may find it difficult to understand?
10 says one film is good thanks to the feelings of one of the characters?

Red Riding Trilogy

A
The “Red Riding” films all come across as great, gritty tales of police corruption
and human failing, but it’s the first film that has the most impact, mainly because
the young reporter Dunford is such a mix of romantic notions — he’s going to
solve the crime and save the girl. Such optimism runs dead against reality in these
films. Mix the best episodes of the superb British crime series “Prime Suspect”
with the current real-feel cinema (“Fish Tank”) coming out of England and you’ve
got a sense of what “Red Riding” is about. The key isn’t the murders; the key is
the reactions to the murders on a breadth of levels, and those reactions lay bare
gray and grave souls. Each film works well separately, although 1983 is
necessarily dependent on 1974, but taken as one great sweep of a dark hand, “Red
Riding” stands as a wrenching tale of power abused and lives discarded. It is
powerful stuff.

B
Red Riding is a challenge. The convoluted story is not easily summarized and it
demands constant viewer attention. A two-minute trip to the lavatory or snack bar
can be deadly. For American audiences, there is an additional problem: some of the
accents are so thick that it can be difficult to decipher dialogue and entire passages
may be missed. I’m generally not in favor of subtitling English movies in English,
but this is one occasion when such an approach might have been helpful. There are
times when the movie is slow going. Patience is rewarded not only in the second
half of this film, when the violence mounts and secrets are revealed, but during the
subsequent productions, when a degree of familiarity with the initial narrative
bears fruit. Red Riding: 1974 is the weakest of the three Red Riding films, but it is
effective at setting the stage, introducing some of the characters, and capturing the
attention of those who love gritty, uncompromising dramas about police corruption
and the dark side of human nature.

C
There’s a good reason the indie-minded Zeitgeist Multi-Disciplinary Arts Center
has turned over its programming for the next three weeks to the superb and
ambitious “Red Riding” film trilogy: because “Red Riding” isn’t so much a film
series as it is a film event, and it deserves to be treated as such. Inspired by author
David Peace’s neo-noir “Red Riding Quartet” novels, it is ambitious, it is gripping
and it is dark. It’s also entirely irresistible cinema, an uncompromising and hard-
to-turn-away-from nightmare in three acts. With its muted colours but unmuted
violence, the beautifully shot “Red Riding” is similar both tonally and texturally to
David Fincher’s superb 2007 thriller “Zodiac” about another 1970s serial killer.
It’s also just as disturbing. “Red Riding” is so richly produced, in fact, and so
cinematic, that it’s easy to forget it and its sister films were produced for British
television, airing on England’s Channel 4 last spring. This is movie that deserves to
be seen in a theatre.

D
Buoyed by very strong performances and a deliberate, grim style, the first
installment in the acclaimed Red Riding Trilogy, Red Riding 1974 sets the tone for
the movies to come and makes clear that these are not sunny days for the faint of
heart. These are gloomy times; films not merely about the seedy underbelly of
society but the fact that the seedy underbelly keeps things moving. They have been
compared to Zodiac but they are more realistically grim than David Fincher’s
masterpiece. The film can be a bit too self-serious at times, director Julian Jarrold
(Brideshead Revisited) would have been wise to focus on the procedural a bit more
than the lead’s dream sequences or moments of reflection, and the film’s television
roots show on a production level, but Red Riding 1974 is a well-made, expertly
performed mystery with the added bonus that there are two more films to watch
when the first one’s over.

You are going to read an article about the Royal Society, a British scientific
institution. For questions 1-10, choose from the sections of the article (A-E). The
sections may be chosen more than once.

In which section of the article are the following mentioned?

1 a belief that a certain development has been of particular use to scientists
2 the variety of ways in which the Royal Society encourages people who are not
scientists to consider scientific issues
3 a rapid reaction to research being made public
4 a particular development that requires urgent action to improve it
5 a resource for information on past scientific discoveries
6 a lack of understanding of scientific matters among people in general
7 a system that the Royal Society introduced
8 the fact that scientists do not always reach firm conclusions
9 a problem that is not limited to the world of science
10 the belief that certain things that are possible are not desirable

The unstoppable spirit of inquiry

The president of the Royal Society, Martin Rees, celebrates the long history of one
of Britain’s greatest institutions.

A
The Royal Society began in 1660. From the beginning, the wide dissemination of
scientific ideas was deemed important. The Society started to publish Philosophical
Transaction, the first scientific journal, which continues to this day. The Society’s
journals pioneered what is still the accepted procedure whereby scientific ideas are
subject to peer review – criticised, refined and codified into ‘public knowledge’.
Over the centuries, they published Isaac Newton’s researches on light, Benjamin
Franklin’s experiments on lightning, Volta’s first battery and many of the triumphs
of twentieth century science. Those who want to celebrate this glorious history
should visit the Royal Society’s archives via our Trailblazing website.

В
The founders of the Society enjoyed speculation, but they were also intensely
engaged with the problems of their era, such as improvements to timekeeping and
navigation. After 350 years, our horizons have expanded, but the same engagement
is imperative in the 21st century. Knowledge has advanced hugely, but it must be
deployed for the benefit of the ever-growing population of our planet, all
empowered by ever more powerful technology. The silicon chip was perhaps the
most transformative single invention of the past century; it has allowed
miniaturisation and spawned the worldwide reach of mobile phones and the
internet. It was physicists who developed the World Wide Web and, though it
impacts us all, scientists have benefited especially.

C
Traditional journals survive as guarantors of quality, but they are supplemented by
a blogosphere of widely varying quality. The latter cries out for an informal system
of quality control. The internet levels the playing fields between researchers in
major centres and those in relative isolation. It has transformed the way science is
communicated and debated. In 2002, three young Indian mathematicians invented
a faster scheme for factoring large numbers -something that would be crucial for
code-breaking. They posted their results on the web. Within a day, 20,000 people
had downloaded the work, which was the topic of hastily convened discussions in
many centres of mathematical research around the world. The internet also allows
new styles of research. For example, in the old days, astronomical research was
stored on delicate photographic plates; these were not easily accessible and
tiresome to analyse. Now such data (and large datasets in genetics and particle
physics) can be accessed and downloaded anywhere. Experiments and natural
events can be followed in real-time.

D
We recently asked our members what they saw as the most important questions
facing us in the years ahead and we are holding discussion meetings on the ‘Top
Ten’. Whatever breakthroughs are in store, we can be sure of one thing: the
widening gulf between what science enables us to do and what it’s prudent or
ethical actually to do. In respect of certain developments, regulation will be called
for, on ethical as well as prudential grounds. The way science is applied is a matter
not just for scientists. All citizens need to address these questions. Public decisions
should be made, after the widest possible discussion, in the light of the best
scientific evidence available. That is one of the key roles of the Society. Whether it
is the work of our Science Policy Centre, our journals, our discussion meetings,
our work in education or our public events, we must be at the heart of helping
policy-makers and citizens make informed decisions.

E
Our science isn’t dogma. Its assertions are sometimes tentative, sometimes
compelling; noisy controversy doesn’t always connote balanced arguments; risks
are never absolutely zero, even if they are hugely outweighed by potential benefits.
In promoting an informed debate, the media are crucial. When reporting a
scientific controversy, the aim should be neither to exaggerate risks and
uncertainties, nor to gloss over them. This is indeed a challenge, particularly when
institutional, political or commercial pressures distort the debate. Scientists often
bemoan the public’s weak grasp of science — without some ‘feel’ for the issues,
public debate can’t get beyond sloganising. But they protest too much: there are
other issues where public debate is, to an equally disquieting degree, inhibited by
ignorance. The Royal Society aims to sustain Britain’s traditional strength in
science, but also to ensure that wherever science impacts on people’s lives, it is
openly debated.

You are going to read an article about risk taking. For questions 1-10, choose
from the sections of the article (A-D). The sections may be chosen more than
once. When more than one answer is required, these may be given in any order.

In which section of the article is the following mentioned?

1 the use of car imagery to help explain neural activity?

2 mention of one person’s interest in the history of risk taking?
3 details of the process used to investigate the brain’s mechanics?
4 a chemical-based explanation as to why people have such varied attitudes
towards risk taking?
5 a well-known theory that explains why people take risks during everyday
activities?
6 specific examples of what a person could lose if risk taking goes wrong?
7 mention of a common confusion about the chemical causes of risky behaviour?
8 a judgement of another person’s stated belief about risk taking?
9 a reference to the fact that some people become addicted to the chemical reaction
experienced in risk taking?
10 a description of a biological process initiated by fear in humans?

The Mystery of Risk

Jodie O’Rourke reviews current thinking about what lies behind risk taking

A
Exploration of all sorts is rooted in the notion of taking risks. Risk underlies any
journey into the unknown, whether it is a ship captain’s voyage into uncharted
seas, a scientist’s research on dangerous diseases, or an entrepreneur’s investment
in a new venture. Some of the motivations for taking risks are obvious – financial
reward, fame, political gain, saving lives. But as the danger increases, the number
of people willing to go forward shrinks, until the only ones who remain are the
extreme risk takers. This is the mystery of risk: what makes some humans willing
to jeopardize their reputation, fortune, and life and to continue to do so, even in the
face of dire consequences? Scientists have now begun to open up the neurological
black box containing the mechanisms for risk taking and tease out the biological
factors that may prompt someone to become an explorer. Their research has
centred on neurotransmitters, the chemicals that control communication in the
brain.
B
One neurotransmitter that is crucial to the risk taking equation is dopamine, which
helps control motor skills but also helps drive us to seek out and learn new things
as well as process emotions such as anxiety and fear. Robust dopamine production
holds one of the keys to understanding risk taking, says Larry Zweifel, a
neurobiologist at the University of Washington. ‘When you’re talking about
someone who takes risks to accomplish something, that’s driven by motivation,
and motivation is driven by the dopamine system. This is what compels humans to
move forward.’ Dopamine helps elicit a sense of satisfaction when we accomplish
tasks: the riskier the task, the larger the hit of dopamine. Part of the reason we
don’t all climb mountains is that we don’t all have the same amount of dopamine.
Molecules on the surface of nerve cells called autoreceptors control how much
dopamine we make and use, essentially controlling our appetite for risk.

C
In a study conducted at Vanderbilt University, participants underwent scans
allowing scientists to observe the autoreceptors in the part of the brain circuitry
associated with reward, addiction, and movement. People who had fewer
autoreceptors – that is, who had freer flowing dopamine – were more likely to
engage in novelty-seeking behaviour, such as exploration. ‘Think of dopamine like
gasoline,’ says neuropsychologist David Zald, the study’s lead author. ‘You
combine that with a brain equipped with a lesser ability to put on the brakes than
normal, and you get people who push limits.’ This is where the discussion often
mixes up risk takers with thrill seekers or adrenaline junkies. The hormone
adrenaline is designed to help us escape from danger. It works like this: When the
brain perceives a threat, it triggers the release of adrenaline into the bloodstream,
which in turn stimulates the heart, lungs, muscles, and other parts of the body to
help us flee or fight in a life-threatening situation. This release generates a feeling
of exhilaration that continues after the threat has passed, as the adrenaline clears
from the system. For some people, that adrenaline rush can become a reward the
brain seeks. They are prompted to induce it by going to scary movies or engaging
in extreme sports.

D
Acclimating to risk is something we all do in our daily lives. A good example of
this occurs when learning to drive a car. At first, a new driver may fear traveling
on freeways, but over time that same driver with more experience will merge
casually into speeding traffic with little consideration for the significant potential
dangers. What is commonly referred to as the ‘familiarity principle’ can also be
applied to help explain the lack of fear associated with high-risk situations. By
practising an activity, humans can become used to the risk and manage the fear that
arises in those situations. The notion that we are all descended from risk takers
fascinates writer Paul Salopek. ‘Early humans leaving the Great Rift Valley in
Africa thousands of years ago were the first great explorers,’ he reasons. ‘At our
innermost core we are all risk takers. And this shared willingness to explore our
planet has bound our species from the very beginning.’ It’s a noble idea, albeit a
dopamine-based one!

You are going to read an article about the value of boredom. For questions 1-10,
choose from the sections of the article (A-D). The sections may be chosen more
than once. When more than one answer is required, these may be given in any
order.

In which section of the article is the following mentioned?

1 points out a drawback in failing to allow time for mundane reflection?

2 comments on a personal experience of using a particular psychological
technique?
3 comments on the broad appeal that a particular notion might potentially have?
4 suggests that boredom as a way of dealing with a problem is not a new idea?
5 distinguishes between mere reflection and conscious avoidance of mental
stimulation?
6 refers to the communication of an erroneous message?
7 refers to an activity indicative of modern life taking place in various locations?
8 outlines a positive consequence of distancing oneself from technology?
9 explains that a particular finding supported existing knowledge?
10 remarks on the significance of monotony in the development of the human
species?

Time Out

It seems that embracing boredom and allowing ourselves to drift away could be
good for us

A
Consider any public place where people used to enjoy a spot of silent
contemplation – from train carriages and beauty spots to our local streets – and
these days you’ll see people plugged into their seductive electronic sources of
constant stimulation. All this information overload seems like a terribly modern-
day problem. But one unique thinker actually stumbled on a neat solution several
decades ago: radical boredom. In 1942, a German writer called Siegfried Karcauer
wrote despairingly of the massive over-stimulation of the modern city where
people listening to the radio were in a state of ‘permanent receptivity, constantly
pregnant with London, the Eiffel Tower, Berlin.’ His answer was to suggest a
period of total withdrawal from stimulation – to cut ourselves off and experience
‘extraordinary, radical boredom’. On a sunny afternoon when everyone is outside,
one would do best to hang about the train station,’ he wrote. ‘Or better yet, stay at
home, draw the curtains and surrender oneself to one’s boredom on the sofa.’

B
Karcauer believed that actively pursuing boredom in this way was a valuable
means of unlocking playful wild ideas far away from plain reality and, better still,
achieve ‘a kind of bliss that is almost unearthly’. It’s a beautiful theory and one
that would definitely hold an allure for many people. Plus modern research
suggests that it might actually have a sound psychological basis. To test the
potential positives of boredom, psychologist Dr Sandi Mann asked a group of 40
people to complete a task designed to showcase their creativity. But before they
got started on it, a subgroup was asked to perform a suitably dull task – copying
numbers from the telephone directory for 15 minutes. The data pointed to the
group that had previously endured boredom displaying more creative flair during
the task than the control group. According to psychologists this is normal, because
when people become bored and start to daydream, their minds come up with
different processes and they work out more creative solutions to problems

C
This would suggest perhaps, that by overstimulating our minds, we’re not just
making ourselves more stressed, we’re also missing out on a chance to unhook our
thoughts from the daily grind and think more creatively. Having said that,
psychologists also point out that despite its bad reputation, boredom has a definite
evolutionary purpose. Mann says ‘Without it, we’d be like toddlers in a perpetual
state of amazement. Just imagine it: “Wow – look at that fantastic cereal at the
bottom of my bowl!” It may be very stimulating, but we’d never get anything
done.’ That puts me in mind of adults who are addicted to social media and smart
phones – attention seeking, scurrying around the internet screaming ‘Look at this!
Look at them! Look at me!’ while the real world beyond the electronic devices
continues on untroubled and unexamined. Meanwhile, as Mann points out, we’re
incorrectly teaching our actual toddlers that boredom and lack of stimulation is
something to be feared rather than embraced.

D
So how do you learn to tactically embrace periods of radical boredom? The first
step is realising that this is different from simply taking time to ponder what
you’ve done since getting up that morning. ‘Using boredom positively is about
creating new opportunities when your mind isn’t occupied and you can’t focus on
anything else,’ says Mann. This could be as simple as staring out the window or
watching the rain come down. Or heading off for a solitary walk with no fixed
destination in mind, or your smart phone in your pocket. Anything that gives your
mind the rare chance to drift off its moorings. ‘I can really recommend it,’ says
Mann. ‘It’s a great experience – like taking a holiday from your brain.’ I’m
definitely sold. I’m trying to keep my phone turned off during the weekends and
allow myself the odd, dreamy wallow on the sofa during the week, time permitting.
And the best thing: it works. After taking a break and allowing my mind to roam, it
returns refreshed and revitalized, with a fresh take on the challenges that I face
during the day. When my daughter gets to an age when she’s ready to whine ‘I’m
bored’, I’ll know exactly what to say!

You are going to read reviews of four psychology books. For questions 1-10,
choose from the sections of the article (A-D). The sections may be chosen more
than once. When more than one answer is required, these may be given in any
order.

About which book is each following point made?

1 It is likely to put certain kinds of people off.

2 It has aims which resemble those in other recently published books.
3 It offers unnecessary advice to readers.
4 It makes seemingly original but convincing observations.
5 It avoids obvious answers to an issue which is familiar to many people.
6 It may prompt the publication of other books exploring the same subject matter.
7 It is organised differently from other writing by the same author.
8 It lacks a clear structure.
9 It challenges a modern trend in psychology.
10 It is difficult to understand in places.

Reviews of psychology books

A Missing Out: in Praise of the Unlived Life by Adam Phillips

In Missing Out, a slim volume peppered with insights that may never have been
expressed quite like this before but which make you want to scrawl ‘yes’ in the
margins on almost every page, the psychoanalyst and writer Adam Phillips asserts
that we all ‘learn to live somewhere between the lives we have and the lives we
would like’. For ‘modern’ people, ‘the good life is … filled to the full’; we seek
complete satisfaction. But what we need, argues Phillips, isn’t satisfaction but
frustration. You can’t get instant satisfaction because you can’t control people or
the world. You can’t ‘get’ other people because no one can be fully understood and
neither, of course, can you. But a capacity for tolerating frustration allows us to
develop. Appropriately, given the subject matter, this book can be a frustrating
read – sometimes you think you’re just getting to grips with an idea, only for it to
slip away. But, as is often true of Phillips’s books, what you do feel when you’ve
finished it is that it offers glimpses of the real, messy and never fully knowable
human heart.

B Together by Richard Sennett

Together is the second book in a planned trilogy about the skills modern humans
need for a happy co-existence. The first addressed the joys of making things with
your hands, and the third will be about cities. This one looks at how we can all get
along together. Sennett explores the importance of equality and how, in unequal
societies, people are less willing to co-operate. He argues that our society is
becoming atomised, ‘deskilling people in practising co-operation’. The trouble is it
all feels atomised itself. Sennett’s argument seems to bounce from place to place,
and he relies on anecdotes and experience more than data. It aims to be a practical,
how-to guide for maximising co-operation, but ends up a sort of unsystematic self-
help book: listening is as important a skill as the presentation of your own ideas;
discussion need not reach agreement but can teach us new things; assertiveness is
valuable, but so is politeness and diffidence. All true, but don’t we know it
already?

C Teach Us To Sit Still by Tim Parks

A few years ago, a number of writers dealt movingly about what it’s like to have a
serious illness. If Teach Us to Sit Still does well, we could be in for a glut of
writing by people who don’t have much wrong with them, yet still write about it at
length. But if they are anything like as good as this, it might not be such a gloomy
prospect. A few years ago, Tim Parks couldn’t sleep and had serious pains in his
side. Medical tests all came back negative, but the pain persisted. So, he embarked
on a sceptical exploration of the possible causes of and cures for his woes. He tried
out an array of theories and therapies. The intensity, of Park’s search makes for a
less than relaxing read, and, in all probability, there will be readers who fail to
make it past the first couple of chapters. Parks, an innovative and prolific novelist,
writes wonderfully however, and despite the subject matter, a layer of wit runs
through it Parks eventually achieves some relief through special breathing
exercises and meditation, but uncovers no magic formulas.
D The Antidote by Oliver Burkeman
Should we all be striving for happiness? Should we think positively? Should we try
to ignore any difficult thoughts, feelings, or situations that arise? Many self-help
books these days would shout ‘Yes!’ Oliver Burkeman isn’t so sure. A leading
writer in what could be called the ‘antiself-help self-help’ genre – which happily
seems to be swelling – Burkeman’s work, as represented in The Antidote, is not
about positive thinking, finding partners, and getting promotions at work and
doesn’t offer facile instructions for living a happy, easy life. Rather, it uses
research to suggest that we reconsider our assumptions and find new ways of
thinking and being. Help! How to Become Slightly Happier, his previous book,
comprised a series of short sections, each a page or two long, which presented an
idea fairly quickly. The Antidote has just eight chapters and each one explores a
subject like success and failure in detail. So what are his conclusions? Well, one is
that we have to stop searching for firm answers and quick fixes.

You are going to read an article in which people talk about their experiences of job
interviews. For questions 1-10, choose from the sections of the article (A-D). The
sections may be chosen more than once. When more than one answer is required,
these may be given in any order.

Which person mentions the following?

1 establishing how the interview will be conducted

2 the importance of keeping to the point
3 a relaxed atmosphere in the workplace
4 an abrupt ending to an interview
5 taking responsibility for past errors
6 appearing to have rehearsed responses
7 preparing inquiries to put to a prospective employer
8 awareness of body language
9 revealing what motivates you
10 advantages in being honest about your weaknesses

Tell us something about yourself

Being interviewed for a job can be a stressful experience. We asked four people
what they learnt from being in that situation.

A
My first interview for a job taught me a great deal. I was applying for the position
of junior account executive in an advertising company, which involves dealing
with clients on a face-to-face basis. It follows that you have to be good at
interpersonal skills, and unfortunately, that’s not the impression I gave. Like a lot
of people, I tend to babble when I’m nervous. The interviewer began by asking me
to say something about myself, and I started talking about my hobbies. But I got
carried away and went off at a tangent, which made a bad impression. The other
lesson I learnt was that if you are asked to talk about things you aren’t good at, you
really shouldn’t be evasive. You could mention something that can also be a
strength. For example, being pedantic is not always a bad thing in certain
circumstances, and you should explain how you cope with that deficiency, but you
have to say something.

B
In my present job, I have to interview applicants, and I can offer a few general tips.
Firstly, a candidate should not learn a speech off by heart; you will come across as
insincere. Secondly, it is crucial to understand what the interviewer wants you to
talk about. For instance, an interviewer might ask about a situation where your
supervisor or manager had a problem with your work. Now, what the interviewer is
really after is to see how you react to criticism, and the best thing is to say that you
tried to learn from this. Finally, don’t try to conceal your real character. Many
years ago, an interviewer asked me at the end of our talk if I had any questions. I
was very keen to get the job, so I asked what opportunities there were for
promotion. I wondered if perhaps I had been too direct, but I later discovered that
employers like you to seem eager and ambitious.

C
I remember one interview I attended with a company that makes ice cream and
other dairy products. I turned up in a smart business suit and tie, only to find that
my prospective employers were in jeans! They believed in being casual: no private
offices, everyone ate in the same canteen, people all used first names with each
other. I realised I should have done more research. Needless to say, I didn’t get the
job. On another occasion, as the interview was drawing to a close, I was asked if I
had anything to say. I was so relieved it was over that I just smiled and blurted out:
‘No thanks!’ I later realised this was a mistake. A candidate should decide in
advance on at least ten things to ask the interviewer: it’s not necessary to ask more
than two or three questions, but you need to have some in reserve in case the
question you wanted to ask is answered in the course of the interview.

D
Preparation is of extreme importance; things like finding out what form the
interview will take. Will there be any sort of written component, for instance, and
will you be talking to one person or a panel? And of course, you need to prepare
answers to those awkward questions designed to find out more about your
character. For example, you might be asked about your most important
achievement so far; don’t answer this in a way that makes you seem swollen-
headed or complacent, as this will suggest that you don’t learn easily. Actually, it’s
not so much what people say that makes them seem arrogant as the way they sit,
how they hold their heads, whether they meet the interviewer’s eye, so bear that in
mind. Another question interviewers sometimes ask, to find out how well you
work in a team, is about mistakes you have made. You should have an example
ready and admit that you were at fault, otherwise it looks as though you are the
kind of person who shifts the blame onto others. But you should also show that you
learnt from the mistake and wouldn’t make it again.

You are going to read an article in which four academics give their views on
fiction. For questions 1-10, choose from the sections of the article (A-D). The
sections may be chosen more than once. When more than one answer is
required, these may be given in any order.

Which academic …

1 compares books to other story-telling art forms?

2 admits to gaps in their literary knowledge?
3 suggests a possible consequence of not reading novels?
4 points out that opinion about a book depends on the period in which it is being
judged?
5 explains why readers sometimes choose to read books which are not considered
classic works of literature?
6 believes that it is possible to improve any novel?
7 gives reassurance about people whose choice of reading is limited?
8 says that no-one should feel obliged to read a particular type of book?
9 gives another writer’s opinion on why people enjoy reading literature?
10 defends their right to judge particular types of novels?

Why Do We Read Novels?

We asked a group of academics for their views on the appeal of fiction

A Cathy Smith
Is a work by a prize-winning novelist better than a trashy summer blockbuster?
Undoubtedly, if you’re looking for a literary masterpiece. But it’s not ‘better’ if
you’re simply looking for escapism. ‘Literary fiction’, unlike ‘genre fiction’ such
as mystery or romance, is not about escaping from reality. Instead it provides a
means to better understand the world. What makes a work deserve the title of
literary fiction can be pinned down, to a certain extent, by critical analysis of the
writer’s techniques. Yet a huge element of the appeal of literary fiction lies in
something almost indefinable – the brilliant, original idea; the insight that, once
written down, seems the only way to say something. Writers of fiction have to
recruit or seduce us into their world – only then do we trust them to take us on a
journey with them. The books we put down after only a few pages are those which
have failed to make that connection with us.

B Matteo Bianco
A novel – whether for adults or children – takes you places, emotionally and
imaginatively, which you would never otherwise have visited. However, I don’t
think you should put yourself under any more pressure to finish ‘a classic’ than a
kids’ comic. And if by ‘classics’ we mean Tolstoy, Proust, Hardy and so on, then
my own reading is distinctly patchy. The author Martin Amis once said that the
only way we have of evaluating the quality of a book is whether it retains a
readership. I think that’s fair enough, though it’s imprecise. A work of fiction can
always be fine-tuned in such a way that the final experience for the reader is
enhanced, and this fact must say something about the theoretical (if not practical)
possibility of stating that one book is better than another. And while I can’t prove
that a single copy of a classic work of fiction is a greater gift to the world than a
million trashy romances, I’m going to go ahead and say it’s so anyway.

C Gita Sarka
The author Albert Camus says that the appeal of narrative art lies in its power to
organise life in such a way that we can reflect on it from a distance and experience
it anew. Distinct from television or film, literature allows us significant control
over our experience of what’s being presented to us. One book I would always tell
anyone to read is The Life and Times of Michael K. – a literary prize winner, but
hated by some of my colleagues. It’s a classic for me because of what it says about
living in difficult times; to a lot of people it’s just a bit boring and the main
character doesn’t speak enough. Categories such as ‘literary masterpieces’ and
even ‘literature’ do not exist independently of their assessors – assessors who are
bound in an era and see value in part through the eyes of that era. Personally, I find
it impossible to make claims that one work is better than another. I can say why it
might be worthwhile to study it, but that’s all.

D George C. Schwarz
If, at a certain time in their life a person is interested in just one particular genre or
author, that’s fine as long as they have the opportunity of reading a wide range of
books throughout their lives. These opportunities can come through family
members, teachers and friends who can create the reading landscape and encourage
them to look wider and further. A famous writer once said that it’s easy to
recognise the people who don’t read fiction, as their outlook on life is narrower and
less imaginative, and they find it hard to put themselves in other people’s shoes.
It’s a generalisation, but with elements of truth. The power of fiction begins with
fairy tales, nursery rhymes and picture books, which give children ways of looking
at the world outside their own experience. Literature teachers often recommend
reading ‘the classics’. But what classics, whose and which era? In a way it doesn’t
matter – the key point is that one can’t escape from a need for shared references
and reading experience.