A neuroscientist reveals how to think differently

The best way to see things differently to other people is to bombard the brain with
things it has never encountered before. Novelty releases the perceptual process
from the chains of past experience and forces the brain to make new judgments.
Successful iconoclasts have an extraordinary willingness to be exposed to what is
fresh and different. Observation of iconoclasts shows that they embrace novelty
while most people avoid things that are different.
The problem with novelty, however, is that it tends to trigger the brain's fear
system. Fear is a major impediment to thinking like an iconoclast and stops the
average person in his tracks. There are many types of fear, but the two that inhibit
iconoclastic thinking and people generally find difficult to deal with are fear of
uncertainty and fear of public ridicule. These may seem like trivial phobias. But
fear of public speaking, which everyone must do from time to time, afflicts one-
third of the population. This makes it too common to be considered a
mental disorder. It is simply a common variant of human nature, one which
iconoclasts do not let inhibit their reactions.

Câu 1:Iconoclasts are unusually receptive to new experiences.

Câu 2 :Fear of public speaking is a psychological illness.
Mỗi đoạn passage sẽ chia ra làm 13-14 câu hỏi được chia ra thành các phần nhỏ
Ví dụ
Câu 1-5: dạng câu hỏi gap filling
Câu 6-10 : dạng câu hỏi true/false/not given
Câu 11-14: dạng câu hỏi multiple choice
Với mỗi phần nhỏ này thông tin sẽ xuất hiện lần lượt.Thông tin câu 1 sẽ xuất hiện
trước thông tin câu 2
 Attitudes to language

It is not easy to be systematic and objective about language study. Popular linguistic debate
regularly deteriorates into invective and polemic. Language belongs to everyone, so most people
feel they have a right to hold an opinion about it. And when opinions differ, emotions can run high.
Arguments can start as easily over minor points of usage as over major policies of linguistic
education.(1) 
Language, moreover, is a very public behaviour, so it is easy for different usages to be noted and
criticised. No part of society or social behaviour is exempt: linguistic factors influence how we judge
personality, intelligence, social status, educational standards, job aptitude, and many other areas of
identity and social survival(2). As a result, it is easy to hurt, and to be hurt, when language use is
unfeelingly attacked.
In its most general sense, prescriptivism is the view that one variety of language has an inherently
higher value than others, and that this ought to be imposed on the whole of the speech community.
The view is propounded especially in relation to grammar and vocabulary, and frequently with
reference to pronunciation. The variety which is favoured, in this account, is usually a version of the
'standard' written language, especially as encountered in literature, or in the formal spoken language
which most closely reflects this style. Adherents to this variety are said to speak or write 'correctly';
deviations from it are said to be 'incorrect!(3)
All the main languages have been studied prescriptively, especially in the 18th century approach to
the writing of grammars and dictionaries(5). The aims of these early grammarians were threefold: (a)
they wanted to codify the principles of their languages, to show that there was a system beneath the
apparent chaos of usage, (b) they wanted a means of settling disputes over usage, and (c) they
wanted to point out what they felt to be common errors, in order to 'improve' the language. The
authoritarian nature of the approach is best characterised by its reliance on ‘rules' of grammar. Some
usages are 'prescribed,' to be learnt and followed accurately; others are 'proscribed,' to be avoided.
(4) In this early period, there were no half-measures: usage was either right or wrong, and it was the
task of the grammarian not simply to record alternatives, but to pronounce judgement upon them.
These attitudes are still with us, and they motivate a widespread concern that linguistic standards
should be maintained. Nevertheless, there is an alternative point of view that is concerned less with
Trình tự trả lời câu hỏi
Bước 1: đọc câu hỏi trước
Phân tích từ khóa của câu hỏi
Bước 2: dựa vào các từ khóa A B C để tìm ngược lên bài đọc
Để tìm các từ khóa đã được paraphrase
Bước 3: đọc kỹ vị trí có từ khóa để tìm câu trả lời tránh tìm lan man
Bước đầu tiên khi làm reading không phải đọc passage mà là câu hỏi
Phân tích các từ khóa quan trọng của câu hỏi(các từ khóa A,B và C)
Ví dụ
In 1990, the boat was damaged on purpose
Từ khóa bao gồm 2 loại
Loại 1: từ khóa không biến đổi được
Loại 2: từ khóa có thể biến đổi được
A thành A1
B thành B1
C thành C1
Ví dụ 1
The NaVajo language will die out because it currently has too few speakers
Từ khóa loại 1: Navajo
Từ khóa loại 2: will die out ,because, too few speakers
Will die out= be likely disappear=is predicted to become extinct
Because=due to=as a result of
Too few speakers=almost noboby speaks language
Ví dụ 2:
Perkin was still young when he made the discovery that made him rich and famous
Từ khóa loại 1: perkin
Từ khóa loại 2:
Was still young =was only a teenager=at an early age
Made the discovery=discovered something new=found out something new
Made him rich and famous=made him wealthy and well-known
Ví dụ 3: in 1903,women in Australia were still not allowed to vote
BÀI 2: PHÂN TÍCH TỪ KHÓA TRONG CÂU HỎI
Phân tích các từ khóa loại 1 và loại 2 trong các câu hỏi dưới đây. Với các từ khóa
loại 2, bạn hãy đưa ra một vài dự đoán về các cách paraphrase trong passage.
1. There was little improvement in athletic performance before the twentieth
century.
2. Teenagers whose parents smoke are at risk of getting lung cancer at some time
during their lives.
3. Thirty per cent of deaths in the United States are caused by smoking related
diseases.
4. Many people carry out research in a mistaken way.
5. It is currently possible to measure the pollution coming from individual vehicles
whilst they are moving.
6. Residents of Los Angeles are now tending to reduce the yearly distances they
travel by car.
7. Charging drivers for entering certain parts of the city has been successfully
done in Cambridge, England
8. Archaeologists went back to the site to try and find the missing northern end of
the boat.
9. Evidence found in 2004 suggested that the Bronze-Age Boat had been used for
trade.
10. Shirase's original ambition was to travel to the North Pole.
11. Some Japanese officials thought Shirase's intention to travel to the South Pole
was pointless.
12. Shirase found it easy to raise the money he needed for his trip to the South
Pole.
13. In the future, farmers are likely to increase their dependency on chemicals.
14. An important concern for scientists is to ensure that robots do not seem
frightening.
15. It will take considerable time for modern robots to match the ones we have
created in films and books.
16. Our ability to deal with a lot of input materials has improved over time