ASSIGNMENT 2.

TRUE/ FALSE/ NOT GIVEN QUESTIONS

READING PASSAGE 1

Read the passage Treating a Disease or Inventing One? and answer the True/False/Not Given
questions below.

Treating a Disease or Inventing One?

A Does your child frequently make careless mistakes in schoolwork or other activities?
Does he or she often have difficulty organising tasks or activities? Are there times
when you are frustrated by the way your child is easily distracted or forgetful? Or
perhaps the problem is the way he or she runs about or climbs excessively, is always
on the go and seems to find it impossible to play quietly. A dislike of difficult and
boring tasks, such as homework, could also be added to this list. If these “symptoms”
sound familiar, there is no need to blame yourself or feel bad about your parenting
skills. Your child is probably suffering from a medical condition: Attention Deficit
Hyperactivity Disorder, or ADHD as it is commonly known.
B This is the view of Dr Edward Bryant, president of the Australian Foundation for
Mental Health and an expert on the condition. Bryant maintains that ADHD affects
between 3 to 5 per cent of all children in Australian schools today. In the United
States, over 2 million children are thought to suffer from the disorder. According to
Dr Bryant, ADHD is the cause of an enormous array of learning problems, as well as
juvenile delinquency and anti-social behaviour in the teenage years. Bryant claims
“the problem is not only suffered by the children with ADHD. Parents suffer in many
ways. Not only do they have to cope with the demands of caring for their ADHD
affected children, but they also have to endure criticism that it is their poor parenting
skills which caused the condition. We know now that children with ADHD have
significantly different brain activity to normal children and thankfully we now have
ways of treating the condition. We cannot as yet cure it, but we can help manage the
symptoms and offer both parents and children some hope for a normal life.”
C The treatment Dr Bryant refers to – or at least the most controversial one – is the use
of stimulant drugs such as Ritalin and Dexedrine. Particularly controversial is the fact
that these drugs are basically the same amphetamines sold on the street illegally under
the name of ‘Speed.’ Bryant concedes that some parents are reluctant to have their
children put on these drugs for this very reason. “Many parents express concern that
the drugs could prove addictive to their children, but we have proven that this is only
the case with adults. Others also worry that the use of these drugs could set up a need
for harmful illegal drugs later in life, but this has also been shown to be a myth.”
D It is not a myth according to Professor Jane Mitchell, a leading child psychologist at
the University of East Sydney. She considers the views of Edward Bryant to be more
than simply inaccurate. She maintains that they are positively dangerous. “ADHD is
a disorder that has been created by those administering its treatment. Yes, there are
 children with behavioural problems and anti-social habits. But these are caused by
many different factors and have many different solutions. I ask all parents with
difficult children this question: Do you want your child being labelled as one who
misbehaves, or as one who suffers from clinical mental illness? That is your choice.”
E Professor Mitchell refutes Bryant’s so-called proof, arguing that there is no
conclusive evidence that children labelled with ADHD have different brain function.
She also is strongly opposed to the use of stimulant drugs to treat the condition.
Contrary to Bryant’s claims, she maintains that there is considerable evidence of
addiction in children to Ritalin, and a growing body of data suggesting that childhood
prescription of these drugs has led to serious substance abuse problems later in life
with drugs such as cocaine. “We even have documented cases of parents trying to
have their child classified as ADHD so they could sell their children’s drugs on the
street.”
F According to Jane Mitchell, there are no easy answers to many childhood behavioural
problems. But instead of settling for a simplistic label and subsequent drug treatment,
we need to ask ourselves more questions. Mitchell poses this question: “What
precisely is a normal child?” She maintains all the symptoms quoted by experts like
Edward Bryant are found in just about all children everywhere. It is true that some
children display these characteristics more than others, and some to the extent where
their education and family life are negatively affected. But all of the symptoms on the
list occur in all children at some time or another. Psychiatrists are ticking them off a
list and adding them up to be a medical diagnosis.” Mitchell lists many factors which
can contribute to an excessive display of the behaviour which can lead to the label of
ADHD: stress from divorce and domestic problems, growing pressure for children to
achieve good results in school and excessive stimulus from television and computer
games.
G She also points out that standards of how “good” children act vary hugely from
culture to culture. “Technically, a child who is considered well-behaved in one culture
could be classified as having ADHD in another. In Melanesian societies such as
Papua New Guinea, for instance, children would never be expected to sit quietly at
the dinner table while adults talked. They would be permitted to run around and
basically be children.”
H Labelling a wide range of unpleasant behaviours as a psychiatric disorder and then
treating it with drugs might not be the answer, but it is a good way of avoiding a lot
of very difficult questions. It is also a quick and convenient way for parents and health
practitioners alike to attempt to “fix” and dispense of behaviours in children which
have emotional and psychological roots which other forms of treatment could equally
address.
Questions 1-5 Do the following statements agree with the information given in the
passage? Write:

TRUE if the statement agrees with the information

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

1/ Dr. Bryant states that brain function of ADHD sufferers is unlike that of other people.

2/ Dr. Bryant claims that children who are put on drugs to help their ADHD become
addicted to illegal drugs later in life.

3/ Professor Mitchell believes that ADHD is a convenient label for problems with other
causes.

4/ In some countries, the disorder of ADHD is not known.

5/ The author believes that other methods should be used to help some children with
behavioural problems.

READING PASSAGE 2

Read the passage The Rush and answer the True/False/Not Given questions below.

The Rush

A Lying, huddled in his sleeping bag, Bernard Peters listens to the howling wind
buffeting the walls of his tent. In the distance, the occasional sound of falling ice and
rock, rumbles into the valley below. After initially falling asleep quite quickly at
around 9pm, the sound of the gale tearing through the mountain peaks has kept him
awake for the past 2 hours. He glances at his watch. It is now 3 am. Only two more
hours of sleep and it will be time to continue his assault on Mount Manaslu, the eighth
highest mountain in the world standing at a daunting 8163 metres, just 685 metres
lower than nearby Mount Everest.
B Bernard is part of an ever-growing group of people addicted to so-called ‘extreme’
sports. These sports, which include activities such as mountain climbing, scuba
diving, bungie jumping and sky diving, challenge the individual to push themself to
and beyond their physical and psychological limit. The aim of performing such death
defying feats is not to further science or for the discovery of anything that could
benefit humanity. If asked, participants of such activities will tell you they are there
for ‘the rush’.
C This ‘rush’ they refer to is actually the biological phenomenon of the release of
adrenaline into the blood. Adrenaline is a chemical produced by the body in the
adrenal glands, located above the kidneys. According to Professor Vice of Alablast
University, when people find themselves in a stressful situation, the glands release
adrenaline into the bloodstream, where it provides the body with a sudden surge of
energy. This causes the heart rate and body temperature to increase and senses such
as sight and smell to become more sensitive whilst reducing pain receptors. Blood is
drawn into the body core, so that if the skin is cut open, there will be less bleeding
 and the muscles of the body tighten ready for use. Professor Vice says that these
reactions are the body’s way of preparing the individual to deal with their source of
stress.
D In daily life adrenaline provides people with the extra energy needed to deal with
stressful and potentially dangerous situations. If someone, for example, found
themself in a dark street facing a person with a large knife, adrenaline would provide
the burst of energy and heightened concentration required for them to deal with the
situation and hopefully escape from their potential attacker. The power of this
chemical cannot be doubted with doctors using it on patients as a natural treatment
for pain and as a sedative, injecting adrenaline directly into patients suffering from
severe stress disorders and insomnia. There are also various accounts of people
performing super human feats, such as leaping over high walls under the influence of
adrenaline.
E Psychologist Alfred Ryan, in his recent study on the effects of adrenaline, has shown
that many of the people who take part in extreme sports become addicted to the natural
high they get from the adrenaline released into their bloodstream. “The result is, they
push themselves to perform increasingly risky feats trying overcome their natural fear
barriers.” Some actually refer to themselves as ‘adrenaline junkies’, literally living
their lives in pursuit of the state of euphoria they get from putting their life on the
edge.

Questions 1-5

Do the following statements agree with the information given in the passage? Write:

TRUE if the statement agrees with the information

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

1/ Alfred Ryan believes that people learn to conquer their fears through continuing to do
extreme sports.

2/ Bernard worries that he wouldn’t be a good husband.

3/ Bernard's training can prevent all unpredictable events except bad weather.

4/ Bernard thinks that a short and dangerous life is better than a long but boring one.

5/ Bernard’s team would only regret an expedition if his team suffered a tragedy.