Professional Documents
Culture Documents
I. LISTENING
Part 1: Listen to a news bulletin about vertical farming. For questions 1-5, give short
answers to the questions. Write NO MORE THAN SIX WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER
for each question.
1. How many percents of the water does this kind of farming practice save?
____95%_______________________________________________________
2. What can be used to replace sunlight?
____LED light_______________________________________________________
3. What do they call the method of growing plants without soil and natural light, using
mineral nutrients in water?
___Hydroponics________________________________________________________
4. What device is used to collect the information about the development of each plant?
___Advanced sensors________________________________________________________
5. Why are the vegetables of Bowery popular with food experts?
___They have tons of flavours/The intensity of flavours__
Part 2: Listen to a part of a conversation between a professor and his student, Dona.
For questions 6-10, decide whether the following statements are true or false.
6. The professor recommends Donna to attend the seminar on “Power Learning Strategies”.F
7. The seminar Donna decides to attend lasts two days. T
8. The short course will cover managing time and barriers to study success. F
9. The short course information on oral presentations will help build fluency when speaking
in public. F
10. The short course writing focus will be on organization and expression. T
6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
Part 3: Listen to a radio talk about ley lines. For questions 11-20, complete the
sentences with a word or short phrase.
The existence of ley lines is the subject of much (11) _controversy________________.
The Glastonbury Tor is located at the (12) __hub_______________ of many ley lines.
The Nazca lines on the Peruvian (13) ____plains_____________ are also thought by some to
be on ley lines.
Alfred Watkins thought that ancient peoples marked their (14) __trade
routes______________ by building structures along them.
Not everyone accepts that the alignment of ancient sites is anything but (15) __a mere
coincidence_______________.
Ruth believes that ley lines could be an indication of the Earth's (16) ___geo-magnetic
energy______________.
Ancient peoples may have been drawn to ley lines because they were more (17) __in tune
with_______________ nature.
Another theory claims ancient civilizations made (18) __complex astronomical
calculations__ _____________ when erecting monuments in order to represent the position
of certain (19) ___constellations______________.
Some scientists believe there is greater (20) __magnetic intensity_______________ in areas
surrounding ley lines.
Many separate fires (1) __D_____ in the humus of the forest floor. Smoke sometimes (2)
___A____ the sun, which was often visible only at midday. On September 30, flames came
within three miles of the town of Green Bay, (3) ___B_____ 1,200 cords of wood stored at a
charcoal kiln.
The settlements in the area were becoming increasingly (4) __C______ from both the outside
world and one another as railroad and telegraph lines burned. The fires seemed to wax and wane,
(5) __A______ on the wind and chance. On September 30 the Marinette and Peshtigo Eagle
reported hopefully that “the fires have nearly (6) ___B______ now in this vicinity.”
But the paper was wrong, and the fires were growing. By October 4, the smoke was so thick on
Green Bay that ships had to use their foghorns and (7)___D___ by compass. On October 7, the
paper, reduced to looking for any scrap of good news, noted that at least the smoke had greatly
reduced the mosquito population and that “a certain establishment down on the bay shore that
has been (8) _____B____ to the respectable citizens” had burned.
The paper’s editor, (9) ____A_____ by the burning of the telegraph line, could not know it, but a
large, deep low-pressure area was moving in from the west. The winds circling it would turn the
smoldering forest of northeastern Wisconsin into (10) ____C____ on earth.
1. America has a long history of selecting talented students into different categories. T
2. Teachers and schools in Britain held a welcome attitude towards the government’s selection of
gifted students. F
3.Some parents agree to move to reputable schools in Britain.T
4 .Middle-class parents participate in their children’s education. NG
5. Japan and Finland comply with selected student’s policies. F
6. Avoiding-selection-policy only works in a specific environment.T
Questions 7-8
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.
Write your answers in boxes on your answer sheet.
7. What’s Laszlo Polgar’s point of view towards geniuses of children
A.Chess is the best way to train geniuses.
B.Genius tends to happen on the first child.
C.Geniuses can be educated later on.
D.Geniusesare born naturally.
8. What is the purpose of citing Zsofia’s example in the last paragraph?
A.Practice makes a genius.
B.Girlsare not good at chess.
C.She was an adopted child.
D.A Middle child is always the most talented.
Questions 9-13
Use the information in the passage to match the countries (listed A-E) with correct connection
below.
Write the appropriate letters, A-E, in boxes 9-13 on your answer sheet.
Part 4 : You are going to read an extract from an article about traffic congestion. For
questions 1— 6, choose the answer (A, B, C or D) which you think fits best according to the
text.
TRAFFIC CONGESTION REASSESSED
Congestion is the bane of modern life, yet no more than we deserve. It is the result of our
commodity-obsessed stupidity. In Joel Schumacher's 1992 film falling Down, a demented
Michael Douglas finally cracks under the stresses of modern American life — in a traffic jam.
The heat, the fumes, the flies and the sweat all accentuate his sense of suffocation. He has to get
away, breathe again, decongest his tubes, empty his barrels. Traffic jams feature, too, in Jean Luc
Godard's critique of consumerism run wild, Weekend (1968). Following one gruesome pile-up, a
hysterical woman runs back to the carnage, not to help the dying, but to rescue her Hermes
handbag.
We see congestion as an urban disease; since the 19th century, city routes have been described as
arteries. Now, the new mayor thinks he has found the cure, with his proposals for road charges in
London. But what if the mayor's 'diagnosis is wrong? Is it possible that traffic congestion is not a
symptom of urban disease, even less a sign of social meltdown, but rather a mark of robust
health? Just as physicians no longer advocate bleeding, nor try to stimulate the flow of the
humours, perhaps traffic congestion is another aspect of circulation that is best left alone. Before
dismissing the idea, just try thinking of a decent world city that is not regularly gripped by
gridlock.
Congestion is slow-moving traffic. Nothing more complicated than that, although it is worth
noting the discriminatory definition of 'traffic', which is generally applied only to motor traffic
(20 cars waiting at traffic lights indicate traffic congestion, whereas 20 pedestrians waiting to
cross the same road do not). If we don't have congestion, then, we have two alternatives: either
fast-moving motor traffic or no motor traffic. Is either situation actually any better than
congestion?
Speeding up urban traffic dominated the minds of planners and city administrators throughout
the 20th century. The visions of Le Corbusier and the brutal realities of Robert Moses's New
York freeways are only the two most widely known cases. ''A city made for speed is made for
success," wrote Le Corbusier. The connection between the two notions still appears logical in
many circles — a successful economy or business is one in which money circulates, and profits
accrue, speedily.
But money is an abstract and increasingly amorphous concept. Cars are not. Allowing hard,
heavy, speeding vehicles to come into contact with fleshy mortals is a recipe for disaster. Cutting
the death toll has consistently dominated the minds of planners. Modernists such as Le Corbusier
and Moses engineered new types of urban road on which only motor vehicles were permitted,but
there are obvious limits to this approach. Not only is the cost prohibitive, in terms of money and
destruction, but there are people inside those vehicles, heading to a place where they will want to
get out, walk about, stay alive.
So, in cities around the world, planners sought ways to enable speeding motorists and vulnerable
non-motorists to coexist. It has proved a tortuous exercise, and one based on a notion of
compromise: that it must surely be possible to allow motorists to enjoy reasonable speed while
affording pedestrians a reasonable chance of survival. In this mood of give and take, pedestrians
have been contained and controlled, apparently for their own good. Walking through many urban
areas has become a pinball experience of pedestrian barriers, bollards, street signage, constricted
pavements, walk/don't walk signs, pedestrian underpasses, overpasses, and jaywalking
restrictions. Yet, in almost every city in the world, the violence inflicted on human beings by
motor vehicles still far outstrips the violence inflicted by crime. Not much of a deal.
Then there have been the other costs associated with trying to manage the competing claims of
speed and safety, in particular those of the countless research institutions, university
departments, engineers, planners, systems analysts, etc, all apparently dedicated to finding better
means for managing motor traffic. Plus the costs of installing and operating their solutions: the
one-way systems, tidal-flow roads, urban clearways, gyratories, underpasses, overpasses, eyes in
the sky, traffic lights, parking restrictions, speed cameras, and so on. Few of these experts would
deny that somewhere in their heads was the kernel of that modernist vision — flashing tail lights
on elevated freeways — but the tabula rasa was mythical. These were real cities and real people's
lives that had to be devastated before they could be rebuilt. Despite all this physical and mental
exertion, average road journey times in London have remained unchanged for a century.
1. In the first paragraph, the writer wishes to present traffic jams as
A. one of the consequences of materialism.
B. the result of hysteria.
C.a staple of cinema critiques.
D. the main element in scenes of death and destruction.
2. The writer draws a parallel between medical science and traffic in the second paragraph
to underline the
A. deleterious effect of traffic on our health.
B. tragic consequences traffic has for society.
C. possibility that current thinking may be flawed.
D. relationship between the mayor and medical practitioners.
3. What does the writer imply in the third paragraph?
A. People are irrelevant to questions of urban traffic control.
B. Congestion may not be so disastrous as we assume.
C. It is easier for pedestrians to use roads than for drivers.
D. Pedestrians need traffic-free streets.
4. The connection between speed of circulation and profitability is shown to be
A. less obvious than some people imagine.
B. the only logical conclusion to be drawn.
C. the reason why people in vehicles stay alive.
D. the overriding consideration as far as planners are concerned.
5. The writer suggests that the compromise between the interests of motorists and
pedestrians
A. makes walking a more exciting experience.
B. is the only reasonable balance achievable.
C. is essential for the good of pedestrians.
D. has not proved satisfactory.
6. What is implied about the traffic management ploys referred to in the last paragraph?
A. They are unnecessary.
B. They are always too costly to implement.
C. Their overall effectiveness is open to question.
D. Theynvoke mythical principles.
IV . WRITING
Part 1: The graph and bar chart below show the average monthly temperature and
precipitation in Geneva from 1961 to 1990
Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make
comparisons where relevant. Write at least 150 words.
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