Day 1

Never mind aid, never mind loans: what poor nations

are owed is reparations
theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/nov/05/the-climate-crisis-is-just-another-form-of-global-oppression-by-the-
rich-world

George Monbiot November 5, 2021

The story of the past 500 years can be crudely summarised as follows. A handful of
European nations, which had mastered both the art of violence and advanced seafaring
technology, used these faculties to invade other territories and seize their land, labour and
resources.

Competition for control of other people’s lands led to repeated wars between the
colonising nations. New doctrines – racial categorisation, ethnic superiority and a moral
duty to “rescue” other people from their “barbarism” and “depravity” – were developed to
justify the violence. These doctrines led, in turn, to genocide.

The stolen labour, land and goods were used by some European nations to stoke their
industrial revolutions. To handle the greatly increased scope and scale of transactions,
new financial systems were established that eventually came to dominate their own
economies. European elites permitted just enough of the looted wealth to trickle down to
their labour forces to seek to stave off revolution – successfully in Britain, unsuccessfully
elsewhere.

At length, the impact of repeated wars, coupled with insurrections by colonised peoples,
forced the rich nations to leave most of the lands they had seized, formally at least. These
territories sought to establish themselves as independent nations. But their independence
was never more than partial. Using international debt, structural adjustment, coups,
corruption (assisted by offshore tax havens and secrecy regimes), transfer pricing and
other clever instruments, the rich nations continued to loot the poor, often through the
proxy governments they installed and armed.

Unwittingly at first, then with the full knowledge of the perpetrators, the industrial
revolutions released waste products into the Earth’s systems. At first, the most extreme
impacts were felt in the rich nations, whose urban air and rivers were poisoned,
shortening the lives of the poor. The wealthy removed themselves to places they had not
trashed. Later, the rich countries discovered they no longer needed smokestack
industries: through finance and subsidiaries, they could harvest the wealth manufactured
by dirty business overseas.

Some of the pollutants were both invisible and global. Among them was carbon dioxide,
which did not disperse but accumulated in the atmosphere. Partly because most rich
nations are temperate, and partly because of extreme poverty in the former colonies
caused by centuries of looting, the effects of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases

1 1/3
Day 1

are felt most by those who have benefited least from their production. If the talks in
Glasgow are not to be experienced as yet another variety of oppression, climate justice
should be at their heart.

The wealthy nations, always keen to position themselves as saviours, have promised to
help their former colonies adjust to the chaos they have caused. Since 2009, these rich
countries have pledged $100bn (£75bn) a year to poorer ones in the form of climate
finance. Even if this money had materialised, it would have been a miserly token. By
comparison, since 2015, the G20 nations have spent $3.3tn on subsidising their fossil fuel
industries. Needless to say, they have failed to keep their wretched promise.

In the latest year for which we have figures, 2019, they provided $80bn. Of this, just
$20bn was earmarked for “adaptation”: helping people adjust to the chaos we have
imposed on them. And only about 7% of these stingy alms went to the poorest countries
that need the money most.

Instead, the richest nations have poured money into keeping out the people fleeing from
climate breakdown and other disasters. Between 2013 and 2018, the UK spent almost
twice as much on sealing its borders as it did on climate finance. The US spent 11 times,
Australia 13 times, and Canada 15 times more. Collectively, the rich nations are
surrounding themselves with a climate wall, to exclude the victims of their own waste
products.

But the farce of climate finance doesn’t end there. Most of the money the rich nations
claim to be providing takes the form of loans. Oxfam estimates that, as most of it will have
to be repaid with interest, the true value of the money provided is around one third of the
nominal sum. Highly indebted nations are being encouraged to accumulate more debt to
finance their adaptation to the disasters we have caused. It is staggeringly, outrageously
unfair.

Never mind aid, never mind loans; what the rich nations owe the poor is reparations.
Much of the harm inflicted by climate breakdown makes a mockery of the idea of
adaptation: how can people adapt to temperatures higher than the human body can
withstand; to repeated, devastating cyclones that trash homes as soon as they are rebuilt;
to the drowning of entire archipelagos; to the desiccation of vast tracts of land, making
farming impossible? But while the concept of irreparable “loss and damage” was
recognised in the Paris agreement, the rich nations insisted that this “does not involve or
provide a basis for any liability or compensation”.

By framing the pittance they offer as a gift, rather than as compensation, the states that
have done most to cause this catastrophe can position themselves, in true colonial style,
as the heroes who will swoop down and rescue the world: this was the thrust of Boris
Johnson’s opening speech, invoking James Bond, at Glasgow: “We have the ideas. We
have the technology. We have the bankers.”

2 2/3
Day 1
But the victims of the rich world’s exploitation don’t need James Bond, nor other white
saviours. They don’t need Johnson’s posturing. They don’t need his skinflint charity, or
the deadly embrace of the bankers who fund his party. They need to be heard. And they
need justice.

3 3/3
Day 1

Day 1 – Article
crude / kruː d / adjective (SIMPLE)
C2 simple and not skilfully done or made:
a crude device/weapon
crudely / ˈ kruː d.li / adverb
a crudely made bomb
crudeness / ˈ kruː d.nəs / noun [ U ] ( ALSO crudity )

handful / ˈ hænd.fʊl / noun [ S ] (A FEW)

B2 a small number of people or things:
She invited loads of friends to her party, but only a handful of them turned up.

doctrine / ˈ dɒk.trɪn / / ˈ dɑː k- / noun [ C or U ]

a belief or set of beliefs, especially political or religious ones, that are taught and accepted by a
particular group:
Christian doctrine
The president said he would not go against sound military doctrine.

elite / ɪˈ liː t / noun [ C , + sing/pl verb ]

C1 the richest, most powerful, best-educated, or best-trained group in a society:
the country's educated elite
a member of the elite
DISAPPROVING A powerful and corrupt elite has bled this country dry.

seize / siː z / verb

B2 [ T ] to take something quickly and keep or hold it:
I seized his arm and made him turn to look at me.
He seized the chance/opportunity of a free flight with both hands (= with eagerness or enthusiasm) .
C2 [ T ] to take using sudden force:
The rebels have seized ten soldiers to use as hostages.
Political instability helped the army to seize power .
Troops yesterday seized control of the broadcasting station.
[ T ] If the police or other officials seize something, they take possession of it with legal authority:
Customs officers at Heathrow have seized 60 kilos of heroin.
[ usually passive ] If a strong emotion or pain seizes you, you feel it suddenly:
I was suddenly seized by/with a feeling of great insecurity and loneliness.

loot / luː t / verb [ I or T ]

(usually of large numbers of people during a violent event) to steal from shops and houses:
During the riot shops were looted and cars damaged or set on fire.
INDIAN ENGLISH to steal something from a place or person:
Burglars looted cash and mobiles from a shop in Tagore Town.
The passengers in the general compartment of Shramjivi Express were looted and robbed of their
valuables.
looter / ˈ luː .tə r / / -t฀ɚ / noun [ C ]

unwitting / ʌnˈ wɪt.ɪŋ / / -ˈ wɪt฀- / adjective [ before noun ] FORMAL

without knowing or planning:
The two women claimed they were the unwitting victims of a drugs dealer who planted a large quantity
of heroin in their luggage.
unwittingly / -li / adverb
I regret any anxiety which I may, unwittingly, have caused.

4
Day 1

shorten / ˈ ʃ ɔː .t ə n / / ˈ ʃ ɔː r- / verb [ I or T ]
C1 to become shorter or to make something shorter:
As you grow older, your spine shortens by about an inch.
I've asked him to shorten my grey trousers.
The name 'William' is often shortened to 'Bill'.

disperse / dɪˈ spɜː s / / -spɝː s / verb [ I or T ]

to spread across or move away over a large area, or to make something do this:
When the rain came down the crowds started to disperse.
Police dispersed the crowd that had gathered.
dispersal / -ˈ spɜː .s ə l / / -ˈ spɝː .s ə l / noun [ U ]

saviour ( US savior ) / ˈ seɪ.vjə r / / -vjɚ / noun [ C ]

UK a person who saves someone from danger or harm
the/our Saviour
in the Christian religion, a way of referring to Jesus

pledge / pledʒ / verb [ T ]

to make a serious or formal promise to give or do something:
We are asking people to pledge their support for our campaign.
If you join the armed forces, you have to pledge allegiance to your country.
So far, £50,000 has been pledged (= people have promised to pay this amount) in response to the
appeal.
[ + to infinitive ] Both sides have pledged to end the fighting.
I've been pledged to secrecy.

pour / pɔː r
/ / pɔː r / verb [ I or T , usually + adv/prep ] (FLOW QUICKLY)
B1 to (cause to) flow quickly and in large amounts:
The bus was pouring out thick black exhaust fumes.
The government has been pouring money into inefficient state-owned industries and the country can no
longer afford it.
I felt a sharp pain and looked down to see blood pouring from my leg.
Refugees have been pouring into neighbouring countries to escape the civil war.
The sweat was pouring down her face by the end of the race.
It looks as though it 's about to pour (with rain) .
I was standing in the pouring rain for an hour waiting for my bus.

irreparable / ɪˈ rep.rə.bl฀ / adjective

impossible to repair or make right again:
Unless the oil spill is contained, irreparable damage will be done to the coastline.
irreparably / -bli / adverb
The ship has been irreparably damaged.

sweep / swiː p / verb ( swept , swept ) (MOVE)

C2 [ I + adv/prep ] to move, especially quickly and powerfully:
Everyone looked up as she swept into the room.
The fire swept (= spread quickly) through the house.
The National Party swept into power (= easily won the election) with a majority of almost 200.
[ T ] to quickly spread through and influence an area:
A 1970s fashion revival is sweeping Europe.
[ T ] to travel across all of an area, especially when looking for something:
American minesweepers are sweeping the Arabian Sea.

5
Day 1

[ I usually + adv/prep ] If a road, river, range of mountains, set of steps, etc. sweeps in a
particular direction, they follow a particular curved path:
The road sweeps down to the coast.

posturing / ˈ pɒs.tʃ ə r.ɪŋ / / ˈ pɑː s.tʃ ɚ- / noun [ U ] DISAPPROVING

behaviour or speech that is intended to attract attention and interest, or to make people believe
something that is not true:
His writing has been dismissed as mere intellectual posturing.
posture / ˈ pɒs.tʃ ə r / / ˈ pɑː s.tʃ ɚ / verb [ I ]

skinflint / ˈ skɪn.flɪnt / noun [ C ] INFORMAL DISAPPROVING

a person who is unwilling to spend money:
He's a real skinflint.

6
DAY 1
READING PASSAGE 1
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-16, which are based on Reading
Passage 1 below.
The early history of Scott and Bowne’s cod liver oil
Cod liver oil is a type of fish oil used today for general health purposes, but northern
European fishing communities used cod liver for centuries before the doctors and
chemists of 19th-century Europe began to take an interest. Its manufacture was simple:
the livers of the codfish were left for some days, then oil was taken from them. The oil
grew darker according to how long the livers were left, resulting in three grades of oil:
pale, light brown and dark brown.
Ludovicus Josephus de Jongh of the Netherlands produced the first extensive chemical
analysis of cod liver oil in 1843. His studies of the three grades of oil led him to conclude
that the light-brown oil was the most healthy. He attributed this superiority to the larger
quantities of iodine, phosphate of chalk and volatile acids found in it.
In 1846, de Jongh traveled to Norway to obtain the purest oil available. By the 1850s,
‘Dr. de Jong’s Light Brown Cod Liver Oil’ was marketed throughout Europe and
exported to the United States. Each bottle had de Jongh’s signature and stamped seal
on it – a blue codfish on a red shield – guaranteeing that the product was ‘put to the test
of chemical analysis’. Advertising emphasized de Jongh’s credentials as a doctor and
chemist, and included testimonials from other men of science and medicine.
However, even the most enthusiastic supporters of cod liver oil admitted that the highly
disagreeable taste and smell presented a significant obstacle to its use. De Jongh
believed the problem of the oil’s unpleasant taste and smell could be overcome with a
little perseverance or, failing that, by following it with some fruit or biscuit, or glass of
wine. But his recommendations appear not to have worked well. It was often combined
with coffee, although a few people recommended taking the oil with tomato ketchup.
In 1873, Alfred B. Scott came to New York and, along with partner Samuel W. Bowne,
began experimenting to produce a more pleasant preparation of cod liver. Three years
later they established the firm of Scott and Bowne, and began marketing their product
as Scott’s Emulsion. Though not a doctor or pharmacist by training, Scott had the eye
for opportunity that was necessary for achievement in business. Advertising, the two
men believed, would propel their product to success. And so it did: by the 1890s Scott
and Bowne had factories in five European countries, and were selling their emulsion
throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia.
Scott got his oil for Scott’s Emulsion directly from the Lofoten Islands in Norway, the
world center of cod fishery – located above the Arctic Circle. The codfish streamed to
the islands in early January to lay their eggs, and by the end of April were gone. The
Gulf Stream, the Arctic waters, and the Norwegian fjords combined to create a perfect
breeding group for the codfish and an unequaled fishing industry for the fishermen.
Scott and Bowne’s first trademark, registered in 1879, included the initials P.P.P. and
three words – ‘Perfect, Permanent, Palatable’. The mark reflected that Scott’s Emulsion
was a perfect formula, a permanent emulsion (that is, one in which the ingredients

7
DAY 1
would not separate), and most importantly, that it had a pleasant taste. ‘Palatable as
milk’ became a key phrase in Scott’s advertising.
A man with a fish on his back first appeared on Scott’s Emulsion around 1884 and
became Scott and Bowne’s trademark in 1890. As Scott told it, he saw this fisherman
with his record-breaking catch while on business in Norway. A photographer was
quickly found to record the scene. Later, the photo was faithfully reproduced as a
drawing, and registered as the company’s trademark. In the drawing, the man stoops
forward, glances out from under the brim of his hat, legs tensed under the weight of his
load. A thick rope, wrapped round his waist, shoulders and hands, secures the load on
his back – a huge fish with gaping mouth and glassy yellow eye, its tail sweeping the
floor. The common codfish is recognizable by the brown and amber spots all over its
body, the light stripe down its side, and the three dorsal fins. The words ‘SCOTT’S
EMULSION’ appear in the tittle of the picture.
Trade cards and booklets featured the fisherman and his catch along with the words
‘Scene taken from life on the coast of Norway’ and ‘The Codfish, weighing 156 pounds,
was caught off the coast of Norway’. The realistic image, a direct reference to the
natural source of the medicine, served as a reassurance of quality in a market that
contained some impure, unsafe products.
By the 1900s, ‘the man with the fish’ was famous. His imaged appeared on countless
boxes and bottles of a cod-liver-oil preparation. It was printed in full colour on
advertising trade cards, booklets, and posters distributed around the globe, and in one
instance painted several stories high on the side of a building. The man with the fish
endures today, a testament to the persistence of an age-old tradition, even as scientific
and commercial interest in cod liver oil has risen and fallen.

8
 DAY 1 PASSAGE 1 WORDLIST
cod (n) – a large sea fish that can be eaten
• Cod and chips, please.
cod liver oil – a thick, yellow oil that contains vitamins A and D, which some people
take to keep healthy
attribute sth to sb/sth (ph. v.) – to say or think that something is the result or work of
something or someone else:
• The doctors have attributed the cause of the illness to an unknown virus.
• To what do you attribute this delay?
• Most experts have attributed the drawing to Michelangelo.
superiority (n.) – the fact that one person or thing is better, stronger, etc. than another:
• The Australian team soon demonstrated their superiority over the opposition.
volatile (adj.) – likely to change suddenly and unexpectedly or suddenly become violent
or angry:
• The situation was made more volatile by the fact that people had been drinking a lot of
alcohol.
• He had a rather volatile temper and can't have been easy to live with.
obtain (v.) – to get something, especially by asking for it, buying it, working for it, or
producing it from something else:
• First editions of these books are now almost impossible to obtain.
• In the second experiment they obtained a very clear result.
• Sugar is obtained by crushing and processing sugar cane.
credentials (n.) – the abilities and experience that make someone suitable for a
particular job or activity, or proof of someone's abilities and experience:
• All the candidates had excellent academic credentials.
• She was asked to show her press credentials.
testimonial (n.) – a statement about the character or qualities of someone or
something
have an eye for sth (idiom) – to be good at noticing a particular type of thing:
• She has an eye for detail.
propel sb into/to/towards sth – to cause someone to do an activity or be in a situation:
• The film propelled him to international stardom.
emulsion (n.) – a mixture that results when one liquid is added to another and is mixed
with it but does not dissolve into it:
• Mixing oil and vinegar together produces an emulsion.

9
Day 1

stream (v.) – to flow somewhere or produce liquid, quickly and in large amounts without
stopping:
• There were tears streaming down his face.
• One woman was carried from the scene of the accident with blood streaming from her
head.
unequaled (adj.) – better or more extreme than any other:
• Though small, this restaurant offers a range of fish dishes unequalled anywhere else
in London.
palatable (adj.) – describes food or drink that has a pleasant taste:
• a very palatable wine
• The meal was barely palatable.
stoop (v.) – to bend the top half of the body forward and down:
• The doorway was so low that we had to stoop to go through it.
• Something fell out of her coat pocket and she stooped down and picked it up.
brim (n.) – the bottom part of a hat that sticks out all round
glance(v.) – to give a quick short look:
• She glanced around the room to see who was there.
• He glanced up from his book as I passed.
• Could you glance over/through this letter and see if it's alright?

Answers and video explanation

here.Just scan the QR code:

10
DAY 1
Questions 1 – 8
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1?
In boxes 1 – 8 on your answer sheet, 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 In the manufacturing process, cod livers left for the longest time produced the
lightest type of oil.
2 A Dutch scientist called de Jongh suggested why one grade of cod liver oil was
particularly healthy.
3 De Jongh was both a researcher in, and a supplier of, cod liver oil.
4 Many scientists tried to find a solution to the bad smell of cod liver oil.
5 The experimental methods of Scott and Bowne were much better than de
Jongh’s.
6 Scott was a trained chemist as well as a businessman.
7 Scott found a new location for cod fishing.
8 Cod around the Lofoten Islands could be caught during the first four months of
the year.
Questions 9 – 16
Complete the notes below.
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 9 – 16 on your answer sheet.
Two versions of cod liver oil
De Jongh’s version
to deal with the taste of the oil
• de Jongh suggested drinking some 9 ……………… after taking it
• others frequently added it to 10 ………………
Scott and Bowne’s version
trademarks and advertising:
• one slogan compared the product with 11 ………………
the image of the man with a fish:
• contains
– a man with a 12 ……………… around his body
– a fish whose 13 ……………… is touching the ground, and which has
multi-coloured
14 ……………… on it
• suggested the 15 ……………… of the product to customers
• appeared in large-scale on a 16 ………………

11
Day 2

Going vegan this year was one of the best decisions of

my life
theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/dec/21/vegan-best-decisions-long-covid-health

Shaista Aziz December 21, 2021

At the start of 2021, I was diagnosed with long Covid. It was a huge relief to finally know
why I had been struggling so much with my health – extreme fatigue, continuous
coughing and, most distressing of all, brain fog and panic attacks. The diagnosis was also
the beginning of a journey that would take me – of all places – to a life-changing decision
about what I eat.

After further tests, I was told it was very likely that I had caught Covid a while ago,
possibly at the start of the pandemic, before tests were available. I’m very fortunate to
have a brilliant and caring GP who listens to me and provides me with support. He signed
me off work for two months and helped me understand that I needed real rest to assist my
recovery.

Once I received my diagnosis I spoke to two friends who had also been instrumental in
helping me with my recovery and health. One of them had become a vegan a few years ago
in order to manage her own health issues. She gently suggested I should think about
trying a plant-based diet to help reduce the inflammation in my body, which was causing
me pain, contributing to the deep fatigue, and harming my mental health. And that’s how
I became a vegan.

I’ve always been curious about veganism but never really thought it was something I
would embrace. I also don’t know any women of colour or Muslims who are vegan. This
was part of the reason why I had never really explored it . You cannot be what you cannot
see.

In the west, veganism is seen as an indulgence for the white middle classes; and in this
country at least, it’s expensive and difficult to envisage for anyone who doesn’t fit into
these categories. There’s a kind of elitism linked to veganism, which I think puts people
off from exploring it.

Part of this is based in economic reality: it’s often more expensive to buy fresh vegetables
and fruit – and spend time cooking them – than it is to rely on fast food or processed
food, especially for people and families on budgets or struggling with the cost of living.
There’s so much judgment heaped on people over the food they consume in the UK; it’s
inherently linked to class – as most things are here. I’m understanding and seeing this
more clearly.

Shaista Aziz at the Happy Friday vegan kitchen in Oxford. Photograph: Neetu Singh

12 1/2
Day 2
This is just one of the reasons why vegans are also frequently portrayed as people without
humour or joy; whose entire personalities are reducible to what they eat. We’re portrayed
as smug people who spend time making our own yoghurt, trying out new ways to make a
Sunday roast from mung beans. Oh and, of course, winding up the likes of Piers Morgan.
The latter accusation I have no problem with.

Forget the stereotypes. Changing my mind about veganism has radically changed my life
and vastly improved my health. The inflammation has eased off hugely, I have far more
energy generally, I’m sleeping better, I feel less exhausted and stressed, and the panic
attacks have receded. I’ve resumed counselling too, which is also really helping my
recovery.

To be clear, I do not believe that anyone can wish away long Covid or any other illness
through veganism alone or a change in lifestyle. But I do believe that we create healthier
and more equal societies when everyone has the same opportunity to consciously be
aware of how we eat and live.

There’s a big rise in the numbers of people in the UK exploring veganism. Research by
BBC Good Food shows more than 20% of children in the UK are either already vegan or
would like to become so in the near future.

According to a recent report from the University of Illinois, food production contributes
around 37% of global greenhouse gas emissions; animal-based foods are estimated to
produce twice the emissions of plant-based ones. The arguments in favour of changing
our diets – whether for less meat or no animal-based products – are overwhelming.

I’m very much at the beginning of my vegan journey. However, I’ve learned that being
vegan doesn’t require having to spend lots of money or shopping in fancy places. It does
require being organised and planning meals and shopping visits. I’ve been reading up on
new recipes and learning how to eat well on a budget. I’m of Pakistani heritage: a lot of
the food I’ve grown up eating is vegan or can easily be adapted to be so.

Changing my mind about veganism has also introduced me to a community of people,

including people and women of colour, who are on the same journey as me. It’s simply
one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.

13 2/2
 Day 2 – Article
struggle / ˈ strʌɡ.l฀ / verb (EFFORT)
B2 [ I ] to experience difficulty and make a very great effort in order to do something:
[ + to infinitive ] The dog had been struggling to get free of the wire noose.
I've been struggling to understand this article all afternoon.
Fish struggle for survival when the water level drops in the lake.
struggle along, through, out, etc.
to move somewhere with great effort:
He struggled along the rough road holding his son.
By this time he'd managed to struggle out of bed.
[ I ] INFORMAL to be in danger of failing or being defeated:
After the first half, United were really struggling at 1–3 down.

recovery / rɪˈ kʌv. ə r.i / / -ɚ- / noun [ S or U ]

B2 the process of getting back something lost, especially health, ability, possessions, etc.:
Mira made a full/speedy, etc. recovery from the operation.
At last the economy is showing signs of recovery (= is starting to improve) .
The police arranged the recovery (= the getting back) of her body from the river.

fatigue / fəˈ tiː ɡ / noun (TIREDNESS/WEAKNESS)

[ U ] FORMAL extreme tiredness:
She was suffering from fatigue.
[ U ] SPECIALIZED weakness in something, such as a metal part or structure, often caused by
repeated bending:
The crash was caused by metal fatigue in one of the propeller blades.
→ SEE ALSO compassion fatigue

embrace / ɪmˈ breɪs / verb [ T ] FORMAL (ACCEPT)

C1 to accept something enthusiastically:
This was an opportunity that he would embrace.

indulgence / ɪnˈ dʌl.dʒəns / noun

[ C or U ] an occasion when you allow someone or yourself to have something enjoyable,
especially more than is good for you:
Chocolate is my only indulgence.
All the pleasures and indulgences of the weekend are over, and I must get down to some serious hard
work.
His health suffered from over- indulgence in (= too much) rich food and drink.
→ SEE ALSO self-indulgence (self-indulgent)
[ U ] an occasion when you allow or do not mind someone's failure or bad behaviour :
My inability to do needlework was treated with surprising indulgence by my teacher.

envisage / ɪnˈ vɪz.ɪdʒ / verb [ T ] FORMAL ( US ALSO envision )

C1 to imagine or expect something in the future, especially something good:
Train fare increases of 15 percent are envisaged for the next year.
[ + that ] It 's envisaged that building will start at the end of this year.
[ + -ing verb ] When do you envisage finish ing the project?
[ + question word ] It 's hard to envisage how it might happen.
to form a mental picture of something or someone you have never seen:
He wasn't what I'd expected - I'd envisaged someone much taller.

put sth off — phrasal verb with put / pʊt / verb ( PRESENT TENSE putting , PAST TENSE AND PAST
PARTICIPLE put )

14
Day 2

B1 to decide or arrange to delay an event or activity until a later time or date:

The meeting has been put off for a week.
[ + -ing verb ] I can't put off go ing to the dentist any longer.

heap / hiː p / verb [ T + adv/prep ]

to put things into a large, untidy pile:
He heaped more food onto his plate.

smug / smʌɡ / adjective ( smugger , smuggest ) DISAPPROVING

too pleased or satisfied about something you have achieved or something you know:
a smug grin
She deserved her promotion, but I wish she wasn't so damned smug about it.
There was a hint of smug self-satisfaction in her voice.
He's been unbearably smug since he gave up smoking.
smugness / ˈ smʌɡ.nəs / noun [ U ]

accusation / ˌ æk.jʊˈ zeɪ.ʃ ə n / noun [ C or U ]

C1 a statement saying that someone has done something morally wrong, illegal, or unkind, or the
fact of accusing someone:
You can't just make wild accusations like that!
He glared at me with an air of accusation.
[ + that ] What do you say to the accusation that you are unfriendly and unhelpful?

stereotype / ˈ ster.i.ə.taɪp / noun [ C ] DISAPPROVING

C1 a fixed idea that people have about what someone or something is like, especially an idea that
is wrong:
racial/sexual stereotypes
He doesn't conform to/fit/fill the national stereotype of a Frenchman.
The characters in the book are just stereotypes.

vastly / ˈ vɑː st.li / / ˈ væst.li / adverb

very much:
vastly different
vastly superior
vastly improved

overwhelming / ˌ əʊ.vəˈ wel.mɪŋ / / ˌ oʊ.vɚ- / adjective

C1 difficult to fight against:
She felt an overwhelming urge/desire/need to tell someone about what had happened.
C1 very great or very large:
She said how much she appreciated the overwhelming generosity of the public in responding to the
appeal.
An overwhelming majority have voted in favour of the proposal.

heritage / ˈ her.ɪ.tɪdʒ / / -t฀ɪdʒ / noun [ U ]

C2 features belonging to the culture of a particular society, such as traditions, languages, or
buildings, that were created in the past and still have historical importance:
These monuments are a vital part of the cultural heritage of South America.

15
DAY 2
READING PASSAGE 2
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based on Reading
Passage 2 below.
A About half the world's human population currently live in urban areas, which cover about
3% of the Earth's land surface. Both figures are increasing rapidly and, by 2050, it is
estimated that two thirds of the world's population will live in an urban area. This growing
trend of urbanisation represents the most extreme form of habitat loss for most plants and
animals. As towns and cities grow, the natural habitats are removed and replaced with
hard, impermeable structures such as roads and buildings. In a recent global study,
researchers estimated that cities accommodate only 8% of the bird species and 25% of the
plants that would have lived in those areas prior to urban development.
B Until recently, we knew relatively little about how many of the species that do live in
towns and cities were coping. With a growing human population, it is now more important
than ever for scientists and the public to work together to monitor wildlife and biodiversity
effectively. When data is limited, it is difficult to understand the bigger picture: we can't
know if animal populations are becoming more or less abundant and why; or whether
conservation is needed.
C One way that hundreds of ordinary people in the UK are helping to assess biodiversity is
by setting up cameras in their gardens to record and then report any animal activity they
capture on film. They are taking part in a project known as the MammalWeb database.
Anyone with access to a camera can register to take part and become a 'spotter'. Using the
general public in this way gives the ability to have far more cameras out in the field than
any single researcher could manage, resulting in a much more comprehensive data set to
analyse. The database has now amassed over 500,000 photographs of local wildlife, and
recorded 34 species, ranging from the largest UK land mammal - the red deer - right down
to some of the smallest, such as hedgehogs and bank voles.
D Many of the participants have been surprised by what the animals were doing in their
own back yard. At times the cameras have revealed an animal coexisting happily with one
of its known predators. Another remarkable discovery was a North American raccoon,
living wild in the north-east of England. It is not known how long the raccoon was roaming
free and, without the aid of the public, it may never have been spotted, which highlights just
how easy it is for urban wildlife to go unnoticed. Once discovered, the authorities were able
to locate the animal and transfer it to a wildlife park, where it was given a more suitable
home. The raccoon is not the only American visitor to have made itself at home in the UK.
In fact, another - the American grey squirrel - is the most frequent sighting on
MammalWeb, far outnumbering the native red squirrel.
E In many European cities, the red squirrel appears well adapted to modern urban living,
and they are abundant in countries such as Finland, France and Poland. They once thrived
in the UK, too. However, since the grey squirrel was introduced in the 1800s, the
population has declined drastically, and they are now classed as endangered. Several
studies have shown that the introduction of the grey squirrel is the main factor in the red

16
DAY 2
squirrel's decline, due to competition for food and shelter and the spread of the squirrelpox
virus (which grey squirrels transmit to red squirrels).
F However, again thanks in large part to the efforts of ordinary citizens, one area where the
reds haven't disappeared is a small coastal town in the north-west of England called
Formby, one of few red squirrel strongholds in England. Red squirrels can easily be
spotted in gardens throughout the town, and the local residents are passionate about
protecting them, with many volunteering with a local conservation group. This voluntary
organisation manages the extensive woodland nearby, supplying additional food, and
employing dedicated "squirrel officers" who help maintain "grey squirrel-free" habitats.
G Elsewhere in the UK, most research and conservation is carried out in more rural areas.
However, given the predicted future increases in urbanisation, managing urban sites like
the one in Formby may be a better alternative, particularly as it makes the most of the
benefits to animals of living alongside people, such as easy access to food and shelter. Of
course, there are downsides too: road traffic poses an ever-present threat, as do pets.
Even supplemental feeding can have unintended consequences, drawing animals from the
safety of their nests and lairs and encouraging the spread of disease. Still, the benefits
appear to outweigh the risks, and it is also worth noting that many native plant and bird
species continue to exist in cities that were never designed with biodiversity protection in
mind.
H humans rely on biological diversity, either directly for food, or indirectly, through nutrient
cycling and pollination. As these community-based conservation management programmes
show, with cameras offering fascinating insights into the secret lives of mammals, and local
volunteers safeguarding endangered species, there are many courses of action we can
take to help to counteract the damage brought by urbanisation and ensure that animals not
only survive, but thrive in our towns and cities.

17
 DAY 2 PASSAGE 2 WORDLIST
urban (adj.) – of or in a city or town:
• urban development
impermeable (adj.) – not allowing liquid or gas to go through:
• an impermeable membrane
accommodate (v.) – to provide with a place to live or to be stored in:
• New students may be accommodated in halls of residence.
prior to sth – before a particular time or event:
• the weeks prior to her death
cope (v.) – to deal successfully with a difficult situation:
• It must be difficult to cope with three small children and a job. T
• The tyres on my car don't cope very well on wet roads.
conservation (n.) – the protection of plants and animals, natural areas, and interesting
and important structures and buildings, especially from the damaging effects of human
activity:
• wildlife conservation
• a conservation area
amass (v.) – to get a large amount of something, especially money or information, by
collecting it over a long period:
• She has amassed a huge fortune from her novels.
• Some of his colleagues envy the enormous wealth that he has amassed.
roam (v.) – to move about or travel, especially without a clear idea of what you are
going to do:
• After the pubs close, gangs of youths roam the city streets.
• She roamed around America for a year, working in bars and restaurants.
stronghold (n.) – a place or area where a particular belief or activity is common:
• Rural areas have been traditionally thought of as a stronghold of old-fashioned
attitudes.
pose (v.) – to cause something, especially a problem or difficulty:
• Nuclear weapons pose a threat to everyone.
• The mountain terrain poses particular problems for civil engineers.
ever-present (adj.) – used to describe something that is always there:
• the ever-present danger of a terrorist attack

18
lair (n.) – a place where a wild animal lives, often underground and hidden, or a place
where a person hides:
• a fox's lair
• the thieves' lair
counteract (v.) – to reduce or remove the effect of something unwanted by producing
an opposite effect:
• Drinking a lot of water counteracts the dehydrating effects of hot weather.
thrive (v.) – to grow, develop, or be successful:
• His business thrived in the years before the war.
• She seems to thrive on stress.

Answers and video explanation

here.Just scan the QR code:

19
DAY 2
Questions 1-7
The reading passage 2 has eight paragraphs, A-H.
Which paragraph contains the following information?
Write the correct letter, A-H, next to questions 1-7.
NB You may use any letter more than once.

1 the pros and cons for animals living in cities

2 an example illustrating the benefit to research of working with non-scientists
3 an explanation for the drop in numbers of one type of animal
4 the likely proportion of local wildlife remaining once a location has been urbanized
5 the activities of a programme designed to help a particular at-risk species
6 the consequences of having too little information about wildlife numbers
7 an argument for more conservation programmes in cities rather than country areas

Questions 8-12
Complete the notes below.
Choose NO MORE THAN ONE WORD AND/OR A NUMBER from the passage for each
answer.
The Mammalweb Database
 It is a UK wildlife programme aiming to measure 8 ……………….
 Members of the public can apply to be something called a 9 ………………….
Findings
 A total of 10 ………………… different types of animal have been recorded
 The most common animal recorded is a type of 11 …………………
 One unusual report was of a 12 …………….. (it was later taken to a wildlife park).

Questions 13
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.
Which of the following is the most suitable title for this reading passage?
A The hidden world of garden animals
B It’s time to limit urban development
C How local residents aid conservation
D Why the future looks bad for urban wildlife

20
Day 3

Hollywood Can Take On Science Denial; Don’t Look Up

Is a Great Example
scientificamerican.com/article/hollywood-can-take-on-science-denial-dont-look-up-is-a-great-example

On a recent morning, in Lower Manhattan, 20 scientists, including me, gathered for a

private screening of the new film Don’t Look Up, followed by lunch with the film’s
director, Adam McKay.

The film’s plot is simple. An astronomy graduate student, Kate Dibiasky (Jennifer
Lawrence), and her professor, Randall Mindy (Leonardo DiCaprio), discover a new comet
and realize that it will strike the Earth in six months. It is about nine kilometers across,
like the one that wiped out the dinosaurs 66 million years ago. The astronomers try to
alert the president, played by Meryl Streep, to their impending doom.

“Let’s just sit tight and assess,” she says, and an outrageous, but believable comedy
ensues, in which the astronomers wrangle an article in a major newspaper and are
mocked on morning TV, with one giddy host asking about aliens and hoping that the
comet will kill his ex-spouse.

At last, mainstream Hollywood is taking on the gargantuan task of combatting the

rampant denial of scientific research and facts. Funny, yet dead serious, Don’t Look Up is
one of the most important recent contributions to popularizing science. It has the appeal,
through an all-star cast and wicked comedy, to reach audiences that have different or
fewer experiences with science.

Many mainstream movies that include elements of science are ridiculous, but Don’t Look
Up hits the right balance. My colleagues in astrophysics will surely nitpick a few scenes,
and there are transgressions, but they have no effect on the film’s purpose and
provenance, especially to anyone who understands the machinations of theater and the
mechanisms of science. Any professional astrophysicist need suspend disbelief for only a
few minutes out of the movie’s roughly 130. For science enthusiasts, easter eggs—the little
hidden jokes —abound as well.

Those gems of science pervade the film because of McKay’s insistence that a practicing
scientist, Amy Mainzer, be part of the production. Mainzer was the film’s “astrotech
adviser” and is the principal investigator for NASA’s NEOWISE mission, which is tasked
with finding and characterizing near-Earth objects (NEOs). Mainzer spent months with
the cast and crew and helped write some scenes.

Astronomy might be one of the first areas in academia that wrestled with what, years
later, became the Me Too movement. The student-advisor relationship, critical to the
growth and development of scientists, has been shaken by the problem of harassment.

21 1/2
Day 3

But one touching detail that she enabled was the relationship between the female
graduate student and her male adviser. It is mutually caring, sometimes personal, but
unquestionably professional. In the film, Mindy and Dibiasky have a warm relationship.
They even hug and comfort each other. I suspect some of my colleagues might have a
visceral reaction to this, but I found it refreshing. Research is vastly more productive and
fun if students and advisers, who often spend a lot of time together professionally, get to
know each other as people.

That aside, the promotion by the film’s crew of another issue is misguided: they want us
all to believe that the film is about climate change. Indeed, the director said, when he
talked to our group of scientists after the screening, that he wanted to make a film about
global warming and that the comet is the dramatic vehicle. I certainly applaud the
intention, but he doesn’t deliver.

Yes, there are vignettes and montages sprinkled throughout the movie showing hippos
playing, a polar bear leaping, otters wriggling, bees buzzing and whales singing. These are
typical tropes to appeal to nonscientists that global warming will kill everything we all
ought to find beautiful. This is the most decidedly unscientific aspect of the movie, which
makes no mention of climate change other than to say that the “climate” we know now
might not exist after a massive collision with a comet.

Global warming is a different beast than a “planet-killer” comet. The timescale for a
catastrophic comet impact is short, perhaps as short as six months, more likely a few
years. Global warming does not provide a date six months or 600 years from now when
the last human being on Earth will die. Indeed, it is unlikely to wipe out all life, given life’s
3.5-billion-year history spanning massive changes in temperature and atmospheric
chemistry.

Don’t Look Up isn’t a movie about climate change, but one about planetary defense from
errant rocks in space. It handles that real and serious issue effectively and accurately. The
true power of this film, though, is in its ferocious, unrelenting lampooning of science
deniers.

After the screening, in that basement theater in SoHo, McKay said: “This film is for you,
the scientists. We want you to know that some of us do hear you and do want to help fight
science denialism.”

A few days later, I met Mainzer again, finally, the first time since the pandemic began.
While we gabbed and caught up, we laughed, and we toasted, in all seriousness, her
success in putting real science into a big Hollywood movie. We also drank to the rainbow-
feathered, dinosaurlike “bronterocs,” who appear in the film, the ones who might be
custodians of the “climate” after us.

22 2/2
 Day 3 – Article
plot / plɒt / / plɑː t / noun [ C ] (STORY)
B2 the story of a book, film, play, etc.:
The film has a very simple plot.
The plots of his books are basically all the same.

impending / ɪmˈ pen.dɪŋ / adjective [ before noun ]

describes an event, usually something unpleasant or unwanted, that is going to happen soon:
impending disaster/doom
The player announced his impending retirement from international football.

doom / duː m / noun [ U ]

C2 death, destruction, or any very bad situation that cannot be avoided:
A sense of doom hung over the entire country.
The newspapers are always full of doom and gloom (= bad news and unhappiness) these days.

sit tight
to stay where you are:
You'd better sit tight and I'll call the doctor.
MAINLY UK to refuse to change your mind:
My parents tried to persuade me not to go alone, but I sat tight.

assess / əˈ ses / verb [ T ]

B2 to judge or decide the amount, value, quality, or importance of something:
The insurers will need to assess the flood damage.
They assessed the cost of the flood damage at £1,500.
Exams are not the only means of assessing a student's ability.
It's too early to assess the long-term consequences of the two countries' union.
[ + question word ] We need to assess wh ether the project is worth doing.

outrageous / ˌ aʊtˈ reɪ.dʒəs / adjective

B2 shocking and morally unacceptable:
The judge criticized the "outrageous greed" of some of the bankers.
[ + that ] It is outrageous that these buildings remain empty while thousands of people have no homes.
These prices are just outrageous (= much too high) .
describes something or someone that is shocking because they are unusual or strange:
outrageous clothes/behaviour
an outrageous character
outrageously / -li / adverb
outrageously high prices

ensue / ɪnˈ sjuː / / -ˈ suː / verb [ I ] FORMAL

to happen after something else, especially as a result of it:
The police officer said that he had placed the man under arrest and that a scuffle had ensued.

dizzy (giddy) / ˈ dɪz.i / adjective (FEELING)

B2 feeling as if everything is turning round and being unable to balance and about to fall down:
Going without sleep for a long time makes me feel dizzy and light-headed.
I felt quite dizzy with excitement as I went up to collect the award.
dizziness / -nəs / noun [ U ]
dizzily / -ɪ.li / adverb

23
Day 3

in a dizzy way or a way that makes you feel dizzy:

The skyscrapers towered dizzily above us.

gargantuan / ɡɑː ˈ ɡæn.tju.ən / / ɡɑː r- / adjective

very large:
a problem of gargantuan proportions
a gargantuan appetite

rampant / ˈ ræm.p ə nt / adjective (INCREASING)

(of something bad) getting worse quickly and in an uncontrolled way:
rampant corruption
Rampant inflation means that our wage increases soon become worth nothing.
He said that he had encountered rampant prejudice in his attempts to get a job.
Disease is rampant in the overcrowded city.

wicked / ˈ wɪk.ɪd / adjective INFORMAL (EXCELLENT)

excellent:
He's got some wicked trainers.

nitpick / ˈ nɪt.pɪk / verb [ I ] INFORMAL DISAPPROVING

to find faults in details that are not important:
Must you nitpick all the time?
nitpicker / -ə r / / -ɚ / noun [ C ]

abound / əˈ baʊnd / verb [ I ]

to exist in large numbers:
Theories abound about how the Earth began.

visceral / ˈ vɪs. ə r. ə l / / -ɚ- / adjective LITERARY (EMOTIONAL)

based on deep feeling and emotional reactions rather than on reason or thought:
visceral hatred/excitement
His approach to acting is visceral rather than intellectual.

refreshing / rɪˈ freʃ .ɪŋ / adjective

C1 making you feel less hot or tired:
There's nothing more refreshing on a hot day than a cold beer.
C1 pleasantly different and interesting:
It's a refreshing change to see a losing team shaking hands and still smiling after a match.
refreshingly / -li / adverb
refreshingly cold water
FIGURATIVE a woman with refreshingly original ideas

misguided / ˌ mɪsˈ ɡaɪ.dɪd / adjective

unreasonable or unsuitable because of being based on bad judgment or on wrong information or
beliefs:
He was shot as he made a misguided attempt to stop the robbers single-handed.
The company blamed its disappointing performance on a misguided business plan.
misguidedly / -li / adverb

applaud / əˈ plɔː d / / -ˈ plɑː d / verb [ T ] FORMAL (PRAISE)

C2 to say that you admire and agree with a person's action or decision:
We applaud the family's decision to remain silent over the issue.

24
Day 3

trope / trəʊp / / troʊp / noun [ C ]

something such as an idea, phrase, or image that is often used in a particular artist's
SPECIALIZED
work, in a particular type of art, etc.:
Human-like robots are a classic trope of science fiction.

ferocious / fəˈ rəʊ.ʃ əs / / -ˈ roʊ- / adjective

frightening and violent:
a ferocious dog
a ferocious battle
She's got a ferocious (= very bad) temper.
The president came in for some ferocious criticism.
ferociously / -li / adverb
A female lion defends her young ferociously.
ferocity / -ˈ rɒs.ə.ti / / -ˈ rɑː .sə.t฀i / noun [ U ] ( ALSO ferociousness )
The ferocity of the attack shocked a lot of people.

gab / ɡæb / verb [ I ] ( -bb- ) INFORMAL DISAPPROVING

to talk continuously and eagerly, especially about things that are not important:
I got so bored listening to him gabbing on about nothing.

25
DAY 3
READING PASSAGE 3
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-14, which are based on Reading
Passage 3.
The value of research into mite harvestmen
Few people have heard of the mite harvestman, and fewer still would recognize it at close range.
The insect is a relative of the far more familiar daddy longlegs. But its legs are stubby rather than
long, and its body is only as big as a sesame seed. To find mite harvestmen, scientists go to dark,
humid forests and sift through the leaf litter. The animals respond by turning motionless, making
them impossible for even a trained eye to pick out.’ They look like grains of dirt.’ said Gonzalo
Giribet, an invertebrate biologist at Harvard University.
Dr Giribet and his colleagues have spent six years searching for mite harvestmen on five
continents. The animals have an extraordinary story to tell they carry a record of hundreds of
millions of years of geological history, chronicling the journeys that continents have made around
the Earth. The Earth’s landmasses have slowly collided and broken apart again several times,
carrying animals and plants with them. These species have provided clues to the continents’ paths.
The notion of continental drift originally came from such clues. In 1911, the German scientist Alfred
Wegener was struck by the fact that fossils of similar animals and plants could be found on either
side of the Atlantic. The ocean was too big for the species to have traveled across it on their own.
Wegener speculated correctly, as it turned out that the surrounding continents had originally been
welded together in a single landmass, which he called Pangea.
Continental drift, or plate tectonics as it is scientifically known, helped move species around the
world. Armadillos and their relatives are found in South America and Africa today because their
ancestors evolved when the continents were joined. When South America and North America
connected a few million years ago, armadillos spread north, too.
Biogeographers can learn clues about continental drift by comparing related species. However,
they must also recognize cases where species have spread for other reasons, such as by crossing
great stretches of water. The island of Hawaii, for example, was home to a giant flightless goose
that has become extinct. Studies on DNA extracted from its bones show that it evolved from the
Canada goose. Having colonized Hawaii, it branched off from that species, losing its ability to fly.
This evolution occurred half a million years ago, when geologists estimate that Hawaii emerged
from the Pacific.
When species jump around the planet, their histories blur. It is difficult to say much about where
cockroaches evolved, for example, because they can move quickly from continent to continent.
This process, known as dispersal, limits many studies. ‘Most of them tend to concentrate on
particular parts of the world.' Dr Giribet said. I wanted to find a new system for studying
biogeography on a global scale.
Dr Giribet realized that mite harvestmen might be that system. The 5,000 or so mite harvestmen
species can be found on every continent except Antarctica. Unlike creatures found around the
world like cockroaches, mite harvestmen cannot disperse well. The typical harvestman species has
a range of fewer than 50 miles. Harvestmen are not found on young islands like Hawaii, as these
types of islands emerged long after the break-up of Pangea.
According to Assistant Professor Sarah Boyer, a former student of Dr Giribet. ‘It’s really hard to find
a group of species that is distributed all over the world but that also doesn’t disperse very far.' What
1

26
DAY 3
mite harvestmen lack in mobility, they make up in age. Their ancestors were among the first land
animals, and fossils of daddy longlegs have been found in 400 million-year ago rocks. Mite
harvestmen evolved long before Pangea broke up and have been carried along by continental drift
ever since they’ve managed to get themselves around the world only because they’ve been around
for hundreds of millions of years, Dr Boyer said. Dr Boyer, Dr Giribet and their colleagues have
gathered thousands of mite harvestmen from around the world, from which they extracted DNA.
Variations in the genes helped the scientists build an evolutionary tree. By calculating how quickly
the DNA mutated, the scientists could estimate when lineages branched off. They then compared
the harvestmen's evolution to the movements of the continents. ‘The patterns are remarkably clear.’
Dr Boyer said.
The scientists found that they could trace mite harvestmen from their ancestors on Pangea. One
lineage includes species in Chile South Africa, Sri Lanka and other places separated by thousands
of miles of ocean. But 150 million years ago, all those sites were in Gondwana which was a region
of Pangea.
The harvestmen preserve smaller patterns of continental drift, as well as bigger ones. After
analyzing the DNA of a Florida harvestman, Metasiro americanus, the scientists were surprised to
find that it was not related to other North American species. Its closet relatives live in West Africa.
Dr Boyer then began investigating the geological history of Florida and found recent research to
explain the mystery. Florida started out welded to West Africa near Segenal. North America than
collied into them Pangea was forming. About 170 million years ago, North America ripped away
from West Africa, taking Florida with it. The African ancestors of Florida’s harvestmen came along
the ride.
Dr Giribet now hopes to study dozens or even hundreds of species, to find clues about plate
tectonics that a single animal could not show

27
 Day 3 – Passage 3

stubby / ˈ stʌb.i / adjective

short and thick:
He had rather unattractive, stubby fingers.

sift / sɪft / verb [ T ] (EXAMINE)

to make a close examination of all the parts of something in order to find something or to
separate what is useful from what is not:
The police are sifting the evidence very carefully to try and find the guilty person.
After my father's death, I had to sift through all his papers.
The police are trying to sift out the genuine warnings from all the hoax calls they have received.

notion / ˈ nəʊ.ʃ ə n / / ˈ noʊ- / noun [ C or U ]

C1 a belief or idea:
[ + that ] The programme makers reject the notion that seeing violence on television has a harmful
effect on children.
I have only a vague notion of what she does for a living.

chronicle / ˈ krɒn.ɪ.kl฀ / / ˈ krɑː .nɪ- / verb [ T ]

to make a record or give details of something:
The book chronicles the writer's coming to terms with his illness.
chronicler / -klə r / / -klɚ / noun [ C ]

blur / blɜː r
/ / blɝː / verb [ I or T ] ( -rr- )
to (make something or someone) become difficult to see clearly:
As she drifted into sleep, the doctor's face began to blur and fade.
to make the difference between two things less clear, or to make it difficult to see the exact truth
about something:
This film blurs the line/distinction/boundary between reality and fantasy.

make up sth — phrasal verb with make / meɪk / verb ( made , made )
to form a particular thing, amount, or number as a whole:
Road accident victims make up almost a quarter of the hospital's patients.
The book is made up of a number of different articles.

branch off — phrasal verb with branch / brɑː ntʃ / / bræntʃ / verb [ I ]
If a road or path branches off, it goes in another direction:
We drove down a narrow track that branched off from the main road.

weld / weld / verb [ T ] (JOIN METAL)

to join two pieces of metal together permanently by melting the parts that touch:
Iron spikes have been welded (on) to the railings around the embassy.

Answers and video explanation

here.Just scan the QR code:

28
DAY 3
Questions 1 – 6
Choose the correct letter A, B, C or D.
Write the correct letter in boxes 1-6 on your answer sheet.
1 Why is it difficult to find mite harvestmen?
A they are too small to see with naked eye
B they can easily be confused with daddy longlegs
C they are hard to distinguish from their surroundings
D they do not exist in large numbers in any one place.

2 Why are mile harvestmen of interest to Dr Giribet and his colleagues?

A they have been studied far less than most other species.
B they show the effects of climate on the evolution of animals.
C they have an unusual relationship with plants and other animals.
D they provide evidence relating to a field of study other than insects.

3 What factor contributed to Wegener’s idea that present-day continents used to form a
single landmass?
A changes in the level of the ocean
B the distance that species could travel
C the lack of certain fossils on one side of the Atlantic
D similarities in living conditions on both sides of the Atlantic

4 What point is made by the reference to armadillos?

A regions have both separated and become connected.
B certain animals could travel longer distances than others.
C the oldest species of animals are likely to be found in Africa.
D there is a tendency for animals to spread in a particular direction.

5 Which of the following is stated in the fifth paragraph?

A Hawaii is a habitat that cannot support large birds.
B Hawaii is an attractive habitat for certain species of birds.
C flightless birds are more likely to become extinct than others.
D the Hawaiian goose became flightless after it had reached Hawaii.

6 Why is evidence from cockroached of limited value?

A they spread too fast.
B they multiply too quickly.
C they are found in too few places.
D they have divided into too many species.

29
DAY 3
Questions 7 - 10
Do the following statements agree with the claims of the writer in Reading Passage 3?
In boxes 7-10 on your answer sheet, write
YES if the statement agrees with the claims of the writer
NO if the statement contradicts the claims of the writer
NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this

7 The colonization of Hawaii by geese provides evidence of continental drift.

8 The reason why mite harvestmen don’t exist on Hawaii can be explained.
9 The DNA of certain species has evolved more quickly than that of others.
10 Dr Boyer’s theory concerning the origins of Florida is widely accepted.

Questions 11 - 14
Complete the summary using the list of words A-I below.
Write the correct letter A-I in boxes 11-14 on your answer sheet.

The age and evolution of mite harvestmen Some of the first creatures to live on land were
the 11 …………. of mite harvestmen. Boyer, Giribet and others study differences in the 12
………….. of these insects, and trace the development of a number of 13 ……………….. of
the species. Their evolution appears to reflect changes in the location of 14……………...
For example, the same type of mite harvestman is found in places that are now far apart
but used to form Gondwana, part of a huge landmass

A branches B fossils C drift D DNA

E evolution F Pangea G dispersal H ancestors I continents

30
Day 4

Is freelancing the future of employment?

theconversation.com/is-freelancing-the-future-of-employment-80253

Anthony Hussenot

Today, freelancers represent 35% of the United States workforce. In the European Union,
the rate is 16.1%. Both figures demonstrate the same global trend: from creative
entrepreneurs to those paid by the task, freelancing is on the rise worldwide.

So, too, are analyses of this phenomenon, as journalists, sociologists, human resources
specialists, life coaches, even freelancers themselves try to uncover “the truth” about
freelancing.

That’s because of the “gig economy”, as it is sometimes called, is a Janus-faced – and

relentlessly evolving – phenomenon. Freelancing is often portrayed as liberating,
empowering, and even glamorous, but the reality is far more complex.

In OECD countries, studies show that these individuals work chiefly in the service sector
(50% of men and 70% of women). The remainder are everything from online assistants to
architects, designers and photographers.

From the creative class to the precariat

A 2017 study found that the majority of freelancers in OECD countries are “slashers”,
meaning that their contract work supplements another part-time or full-time position.

These additional earnings can vary considerably. Those who spend a few hours a month
editing instruction manuals from home may earn a few hundred euros a month. Freelance
occupational therapists may pull in ten times that working full-time in this growing
industry.

Perhaps the most glamorous face of freelancing is the so-called creative class, an agile,
connected, highly educated and globalised category of workers that specialise in
communications, media, design, art and tech, among others sectors.

They are architects, web designers, bloggers, consultants and the like, whose job it is to
stay on top of trends. The most cutting-edge among them end up playing the role of social
“influencers”.

In London, this group has been partially responsible for what the economist Douglas
McWilliams has dubbed the “flat-white economy”, a flourishing, coffee-fuelled market
based on creativity, which combines innovative approaches to business and lifestyle.

Such hipsters, who are also referred to as “proficians”, may be relatively successful in their
self-employment, with numerous gigs and a wide portfolio of clients. For McWilliams,
they just might represent the future of British prosperity.

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Day 4

Also working hard, though in a much less exalted fashion, are the “precarians”. These
task-tacklers work long hours carrying our repetitive tasks, often for a single online
platform like Amazon’s Mechanical Turk. Most of their gigs do not require a high level of
expertise and creativity, and are thus easily interchangeable.

Job security is not assured for these online helpers, and though they likely work for a
single company, as employees do, benefits are almost certainly nonexistent.

Between the creative class and those struggling to juggle enough gigs to get by, there are
plenty of in-betweeners: bloggers driven by their passion to write but struggling to earn a
decent living; online assistants satisfied with their jobs who had previously faced
unemployment; students earning a few extra euros by working a handful of hours a week
as graphic designers.

Freelancers constitute a diverse population of workers – their educational backgrounds,

motivations, ambitions, needs, and willingness to work differ from one worker to the next,
and it is accordingly difficult for commentators to accurately represent their diversity
without resorting to caricature.

The search for freedom…and an income

Freelancing is increasingly a choice that people make in order to escape the 9-to-5
workday.

Many freelancers, whatever their job, may have originally opted for this employment
model because it offers (or seemed to offer) freedom – the freedom to work anytime and,
in some cases, anywhere. Only 37% of current US freelancers say they resort to gig work
out of necessity; in 2014, that figure was higher, at 47%.

Of course, this is not the end of the salariat. Full-time, company-based work is still the
standard for employment in most Western countries, as it is in Russia.

Nevertheless, with the rise of telecommuting and automation and the unlimited potential
of crowdsourcing, it stands to reason that more and more firms will begin running, and
even growing, their businesses with considerably fewer employees.

This does not necessarily mean an increase in unemployment. Instead, it likely means
more freelancers, who will form and reform around various projects in constant and
evolving networks.

The rise of freelancing may be a key visible indicator of the future of work, notably in
terms of collaboration practices. Freelancers are already facilitating the co-management
of projects. Soon enough, they will also be producing, communicating, and collaborating
with firms, customers, and with society at large.

Given that they are not a homogeneous class of workers, managing these new managers
will not be simple. Currently, there is not a single social protection system that cleanly
corresponds to all freelancers, from house cleaners and taxi drivers to architects and news

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Day 4

editors.

How can these individuals group and work together to promote and defend their diverse
employment interests? Surely, some ambitious freelancer is on the case right now.

33 3/3
 3 – Article
Day 4
phenomenon / fəˈ nɒm.ɪ.nən / / -ˈ nɑː .mə.nɑː n / noun [ C ] ( PLURAL phenomena / -ə / )
(EXISTING THING)
C1 something that exists and can be seen, felt, tasted, etc., especially something unusual or
interesting:
Gravity is a natural phenomenon.
Do you believe in the paranormal and other psychic phenomena?
There's evidence to suggest that child abuse is not just a recent phenomenon.

liberating / ˈ lɪb. ə r.eɪ.tɪŋ / / -ɚ.eɪ.t฀ɪŋ / adjective

making you feel free and able to behave as you like:
Taking all your clothes off can be a very liberating experience.

empowering / ɪmˈ paʊə.rɪŋ / / -ˈ paʊr.ɪŋ / adjective

Something that is empowering makes you more confident and makes you feel that you are in
control of your life:
For me, learning to drive was an empowering experience.

glamorous / ˈ ɡlæm. ə r.əs / / -ə- / adjective ( MAINLY UK INFORMAL glam )

attractive in an exciting and special way:
a glamorous woman/outfit
a glamorous job
She was looking very glam.
glamorously / -li / adverb
glamorousness / -nəs / noun [ U ]

agile / ˈ ædʒ.aɪl / / - ə l / adjective (PHYSICALLY)

able to move your body quickly and easily:
Monkeys are very agile climbers.
You need to have agile fingers to do this kind of work.
agility / əˈ dʒɪl.ɪ.ti / / -ə.t฀i / noun [ U ]
He's got the agility of a mountain goat.
This job requires considerable mental agility.

flourishing / ˈ flʌr.ɪ.ʃ ɪŋ / / ˈ flɝː - / adjective

growing or developing successfully:
There's a flourishing trade in second-hand video machines.

hipster / ˈ hɪp.stə r / / -stɚ / noun [ C ] INFORMAL (PERSON)

someone who is very influenced by the most recent ideas and fashions

prosperity / prɒsˈ per.ɪ.ti / / prɑː ˈ sper.ə.t฀i / noun [ U ]

C1 the state of being successful and having a lot of money:
A country's future prosperity depends, to an extent, upon the quality of education of its people.
The war was followed by a long period of peace and prosperity.

exalted / ɪɡˈ zɑl.tɪd / / -ˈ zɑː l.t฀ɪd / adjective (IMPORTANT)

An exalted position in an organization is a very important one:
She rose to the exalted post of Foreign Secretary.

34
Day 4

homogeneous / ˌ hɒm.əˈ dʒiː .ni.əs / / ˌ həʊ.mə- / / ˌ hoʊ.moʊˈ dʒiː - / adjective

consisting of parts or people that are similar to each other or are of the same type:
a homogeneous group/society
The population of the village has remained remarkably homogeneous.
→ COMPARE heterogeneous
homogeneity / ˌ hɒm.ə.dʒəˈ neɪ.ɪ.ti / / ˌ hɑː .mə.dʒəˈ neɪ.ə.t฀i / noun [ U ]
cultural/racial homogeneity

ambitious / æmˈ bɪʃ .əs / adjective

B2 having a strong wish to be successful, powerful, or rich:
an ambitious young lawyer
He's very ambitious for his children (= he wants them to be successful) .
B2 If a plan or idea is ambitious, it needs a great amount of skill and effort to be successful or be
achieved:
She has some ambitious plans for her business.
The government has announced an ambitious plan to modernize the railway network.
The original completion date was over- ambitious, so we have had to delay the opening.
ambitiously / -li / adverb

35
DAY 4

READING PASSAGE 1
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-16, which are based on Reading
Passage 1 below.

The inventor of the periodic table – Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev

Mendeleev’s wish – to find a better way of

organizing chemistry – led to the creation of his
periodic table, one of the most iconic symbols in
science.

Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev was born on February 8, 1834 in Verkhnie Aremzyani, in

the Russian province of Siberia. His father, a graduate of Saint Petersburg's Main
Pedagogical Institute, died when Mendeleev was just 13. At age 16, Mendeleev
relocated to Saint Petersburg, which was then Russia's capital city. He won a place at
his father's old college, where he initially trained as a teacher, in part because the
director of the Institute had known his father. However, he went on to achieve worldwide
fame as a chemist.
By the time he was 20, Mendeleev was already having research papers published.
However, he was troubled with various health issues and was often so ill with
tuberculosis that he was forced to work from his bed. His uncontrollable temper made
him unpopular with some of the staff and his classmates, but he still graduated as the
top student in his year. In 1855, he got a job in Simferopol, Crimea, but soon returned to
Saint Petersburg, where he worked towards a Master's degree in chemistry. He gained
his Master's in 1856.
A few years later, he was given the opportunity to go to western Europe to pursue
chemical enquiry. He spent most of 1859 and 1860 in Heidelberg, Germany. Here he
had the good fortune to work briefly with renowned German chemist Robert Bunsen at
Heidelberg University, before setting up a laboratory in his own apartment.
In 1860, Mendeleev attended the first ever international chemistry conference, held in
Karlsruhe, Germany. Much of the event was spent discussing the need to standardize
chemistry, and this played a key role in Mendeleev's eventual development of his
periodic table of the elements.
By the time he returned to Saint Petersburg in 1861, this time to work at the Technical
Institute, Mendeleev had become even more passionate about chemistry. He was
concerned that Russia was trailing behind Germany in this field. He thought improved
Russian-language chemistry textbooks were necessary, and was determined to do
something about it. In just 61 days, the 27-year-old chemist wrote his 500-page Organic
Chemistry, which put him at the forefront of Russian chemical education.

36
DAY 4

Mendeleev was a charismatic lecturer and held a number of academic positions until, in
1867, aged just 33, he was awarded the Chair of General Chemistry at the University of
Saint Petersburg. In this prestigious position he continued pushing to improve chemistry
in Russia, publishing The Principles of Chemistry in 1869. The popularity of this work in
Russia and elsewhere led to the publication of translations three languages: English,
French and German.
At this time, chemistry was a patchwork of observations and discoveries. Mendeleev
was certain that better, more fundamental principles could be found. This was his
mindset when, in 1869, he began writing a second volume of his book The Principles of
Chemistry. At the heart of chemistry were hydrogen, oxygen and all its other elements.
What, wondered Mendeleev, could they reveal if he could find some way of organizing
them logically?
He wrote the names of the 65 known-elements on cards - one element on each card -
and then wrote the fundamental properties of each element, including atomic weight, on
its card. He saw that atomic weight was important in some way - the behavior of the
elements seemed to repeat as their atomic weights increased - but he could not see the
pattern. Convinced that he was close to making a significant discovery, Mendeleev
moved the cards about for hours until finally he fell asleep at his desk. When he awoke,
he found that his subconscious mind had done his work for him. He now knew the
pattern the elements fell into. He later wrote, ‘In a dream I saw a table where all the
elements fell into place as required. Awakening, I immediately wrote it down on a piece
of paper.’
Two weeks later, he published a paper entitled The Relation between the Properties
and Atomic Weights of the Elements. The-periodic table had been released to the
scientific world. As with many scientific discoveries, there is a time when a concept
becomes ripe for discovery, and this was the case in 1869 with the periodic table.
Lothar Meyer, for example, had proposed a rough periodic table in 1864 and by 1868
had devised one that was very similar to Mendeleev's, but he did not publish it until
1870.
Mendeleev was successful because he not only showed how the elements could be
organized, but he used his periodic table to predict the existence of eight new elements
and also to propose that some of the elements, whose behavior did not agree with what
he predicted, must have had their atomic weights measured incorrectly. It turned out
that chemists had measured some atomic weights incorrectly. Mendeleev was right.
Scientists everywhere started to pay attention to his periodic table. And on the discovery
of new elements, as per his prediction, Mendeleev's fame and scientific reputation were
further enhanced.
In 1905, the British Royal Society gave him its highest honor, the Copley Medal, for his
achievements, and in the same year he was elected to the Royal Swedish Academy of
Sciences. Element 101 is named Mendelevium in his honor.
Dmitri Mendeleev died in Saint Petersburg, on February 2, 1907.

37
 Day 4 – Passage 1
fame / feɪm / noun [ U ]
B2 the state of being known or recognized by many people because of your achievements, skills,
etc.:
She first rose to fame as a singer at the age of 16.
She moved to London in search of fame and fortune .
The town's fame rests on its beautiful cathedral.

pursue / pəˈ sjuː / / pɚˈ suː / verb [ T ] (TRY TO DO)

C1 If you pursue a plan, activity, or situation, you try to do it or achieve it, usually over a long
period of time:
He decided to pursue a career in television.
We need to decide soon what marketing strategy we should pursue for these new products.
Michael Evans is leaving the company to pursue his own business interests.
She is ruthless in pursuing her goals.

fortune / ˈ fɔː .tʃ uː n / / ˈ fɔː r- / noun (CHANCE)

B2 [ C or U ] chance and the way it affects your life:
He had the (good) fortune to train with some of the world's top athletes.
The family's fortunes changed overnight.
tell sb's fortune
to discover what will happen to someone in the future, for example by looking at the lines on their
hands or using a special set of cards

passionate / ˈ pæʃ . ə n.ət / / -ə.nɪt / adjective

B2 having very strong feelings or emotions:
a passionate speech
a passionate kiss/embrace
The Italians are said to be the most passionate people in Europe.
The child's mother made a passionate plea for help.
Joe is passionate about baseball (= he likes it very much) .
passionately / -li /
B2
I walked into the room and found them kissing passionately.
Ann has always believed passionately in women's rights.

concern / kənˈ sɜː n / / -ˈ sɝː n / verb [ T ] (WORRY)

C1 to cause worry to someone:
The state of my father's health concerns us greatly .
[ + that ] It concerns me that he hasn't been in contact.

determine / dɪˈ tɜː .mɪn / / -ˈ tɝː - / verb (DECIDE)

C1 [ T often passive ] to control or influence something directly, or to decide what will happen:
The number of staff we can take on will be determined by how much money we're allowed to spend.
Your health is determined in part by what you eat.
Eye colour is genetically determined.
[ + question word ] FORMAL A pitch inspection will determine wh ether or not the match will be played.
People should be allowed to determine their own future.
[ T ] FORMAL to make a strong decision:
[ + that ] She determined that one day she would be an actor.
[ + to infinitive ] On leaving jail, Joe determined to reform.

the forefront / ˈ fɔː .frʌnt / / ˈ fɔː r- / noun [ S ]

38
Day 4

the most noticeable or important position:

She was one of the politicians at/in the forefront of the campaign to free the prisoners.
His team are at the forefront of scientific research into vaccines.

charismatic / ˌ kær.ɪzˈ mæt.ɪk / / -ˈ mæt฀- / adjective (CHARACTER)

C2 describes a person who has charisma:
Few were able to resist this charismatic and persuasive leader.

charisma / kəˈ rɪz.mə / noun [ U ]

C2 a special power that some people have naturally that makes them able to influence other
people and attract their attention and admiration:
On screen Garbo had this great charisma so that you couldn't take your eyes off her.
How did a man of so little personal charisma get to be prime minister?

patchwork / ˈ pætʃ .wɜː k / / -wɝː k / noun

[ S ] a mixture of different things:
We looked out of the aircraft window down onto the patchwork of fields below.

mindset / ˈ maɪnd.set / noun [ U ]

a person's way of thinking and their opinions:
to have a different/the same mindset
It's extraordinary how hard it is to change the mindset of the public and the press.

heart / hɑː t / / hɑː rt / noun (CENTRAL PART)

B1 [ S ] the central or most important part:
The demonstrators will march through the heart of the capital.
A disagreement about boundaries is at the heart of the dispute.
Let's get to the heart of the matter .
[ C ] the firm central part of a vegetable, especially one with a lot of leaves:
artichoke hearts
the heart of a lettuce
See picture heart

convinced / kənˈ vɪnst / adjective

B2 certain:
My boyfriend says I'd enjoy a walking holiday, but I'm not convinced.
[ + (that) ] I'm convinced (that) she is lying.
certain of your beliefs:
a convinced Christian/atheist
a convinced socialist

ripe for
C2 developed to a suitable condition for something to happen:
The company is ripe for takeover.
The time is ripe (= it is the right time) for investing in new technology.

devise / dɪˈ vaɪz / verb [ T ]

C2 to invent a plan, system, object, etc., usually cleverly or using imagination:
He's good at devising language games that you can play with students in class.
The cartoon characters Snoopy and Charlie Brown were devised by Charles M. Schultz.

propose / prəˈ pəʊz / / -ˈ poʊz / verb (SUGGEST)

B2 [ T ] to offer or suggest a possible plan or action for other people to consider:

39
Day 4

[ + that ] I propose that we wait until the budget has been announced before committing ourselves to
any expenditure.
[ + -ing verb ] He proposed deal ing directly with the suppliers.
She proposed a boycott of the meeting.
He proposed a motion that the chairman resign.
[ T ] to suggest someone for a position or as a member of an organization:
To be nominated for union president you need one person to propose you and another to second you.
B2 [ I ] to ask someone to marry you:
I remember the night your father proposed to me.
propose a toast
to ask people at a formal social occasion to express their good wishes or respect for someone by
holding up their glasses, usually of alcohol, at the same time and then drinking from them:
Now, if you'd all please raise your glasses, I'd like to propose a toast to the bride and groom.
proposed / -ˈ pəʊzd / / -ˈ poʊzd / adjective
B2
There have been huge demonstrations against the proposed factory closure.

enhance / ɪnˈ hɑː ns / / -ˈ hæns / verb [ T ]

C1 to improve the quality, amount, or strength of something:
These scandals will not enhance the organization's reputation.
enhancement / -mənt / noun [ C or U ]
-enhancing / -ɪŋ / suffix
Several athletes tested positive for illegal performance -enhancing drugs.

Answers and video explanation

here.Just scan the QR code:

40
DAY 4

Questions 1 – 8
Complete the notes below.
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 1-8 on your answer sheet.
Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev
Mendeleev’s early life:
 he studied to become a 1 …………. in St Petersburg
 he often had to work in bed when he was sufferingg from 2 ………….
Mendeleev’s career:
 went to a 3 …………. in 1860, which inspired his work on the periodic table
 1861 – he wrote Organic Chemistry, having identified a need for better 4
…………. in Russian
 several 5 …………. of The Principiles of Chemistry were published
Mendeleev’s work on the periodic table:
 he used cards to make a note of the atomic weight and other 6 …………. of the
elements
 when asleep, he subconciously discovered a 7 …………. which organised the
elements in a table
 1869 – Mendeleev’s periodic table was made public
 Mendeleev’s reputation grew after he made 8 …………. about further elements

Questions 9 – 16
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1?
In boxes 9-16 on your answer sheet, 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
9 Dmitri Mendeleev was the first member of his family to receive a college education.
10 While he was studying in Saint Petersburg, Mendeleev often failed to control his
anger.
11 During his time at Heidelberg University, Mendeleev published a paper with Robert
Bunsen.
12 Mendeleev worried that Germany was more succesful than Russia in the field of
chemistry.
13 It took Mendeleev less than a year to write the second volume of his book The
Principles of Chemistry.
14 Mendeleev was the first scientist to suggest the organisation of the element in a
table.
15 Mendeleev’s paper on the periodic table received a positive reception from the
scientific community.
16 In his lifetime, Mendeleev failed to receive any awards for his work in chemistry.

41
Day 5

The Shady Business of Selling Futures

wired.com/story/too-much-future-present-miserable

Devon Powers December 30, 2021

Future predictions always proliferate at the end of the year, but in 2021 something
different is joining the usual speculations about gadgets and lifestyles: existential
introspection. Amid Covid-19 variants and surging nationalisms, global economic
meltdown and climate crisis, evolving emergencies are heightening the feeling that nearly
everything is up for overhaul—from food to queerness, marriage to gaming, and aging to
music. And with endemic uncertainty as the soul of the age, the future is as trendy as it’s
ever been, which promises to exacerbate uncertainty.

“The future” itself has become a catchall catchphrase. Slack has branded itself as the
future of work and launched its own Future Forum. Everyone from Facebook (now Meta)
to Atari to the city of Seoul have declared the metaverse the imminent future of our
reality. Universities are enacting “futures committees.” Governments are committing to
sustainable futures. This “future” is less a specific moment in time than an act of
promotion. Invoking it can be such a powerful signifier of progress and optimism that it
can burnish questionable or staid ideas and initiatives and motivate people even in the
face of the most dismal realities. “What the future offers,” wrote German historian
Reinhart Koselleck, “is compensation for the misery of the present.” But if we buy into
these visions too readily, the rosy futures being sold to us threaten to prolong misery.
Riding out this fad of futurism requires understanding how we got here, who profits from
it, and how to tell serious futures from schlock.

Humans have looked beyond their present for most of human history, whether expressed
as prayers for rain or for salvation. But using prediction to strategize the future is an idea
with only a brief past—widespread adoption in the West dates back only to the 1800s. In
her book Looking Forward: Prediction and Uncertainty in Modern America, Jamie
Pietruska explains how, amid the late 19th century’s scientific advancements and rising
secularism, “prediction became a ubiquitous scientific, economic, and cultural practice,”
manifesting in things like weather forecasting, fortune-telling, and prophecies about how
business would grow or contract. These shifts coincided with the rise of modernity, the
onslaught of social and technological changes that continues to steep developed societies
in newness, progress, and creative ruination. As the Marxist philosopher Marshall
Berman wrote, “To be modern is to find ourselves in an environment that promises us
adventure, power, joy, growth, transformation of ourselves and the world—and, at the
same time, that threatens to destroy everything we have, everything we know, everything
we are.” He wrote this in 1982 and was describing the 19th and 20th centuries, but it
applies even more aptly to a future Berman wouldn’t see, our current moment. Nonstop
upheaval can be exciting, bewildering, and scary all at once. It triggers a desire to
understand and control the chaos. The answer to future shock is future forecasting.

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Day 5

But not everyone experiences or imagines “the future” the same way. The linear march
toward a future filled with progress is also a historical and cultural construct, one that has
especially benefited the wealthy white men who have thought the future is theirs for the
taking. If the future is conceived as a resource, then it’s been pillaged and exploited
primarily by one kind of vision. Inequality and injustice limit access to the future just as
they do to land or capital. For instance, as sociologist Alondra Nelson has observed,
“Blackness gets constructed as always oppositional to technologically driven chronicles of
progress.” Take the dream that the future world might be raceless, a view that
simultaneously ignores the ills of racism while discounting the needs of Black people and
culture. Other marginalized groups also find themselves bearing the brunt of dystopian
futures while not being included within utopian ones. Consider what it means when
futuristic technologies aim to simply erase disability or age, without taking into
consideration either what older or disabled people desire, or what they can access. Power
influences what kinds of changes emerge and who benefits from them.

Too many futures, from too many places, with too many agendas doesn’t invalidate the
enterprise of prediction but adds to the confusion, thereby making prediction feel even
more necessary.

While the capacity to plan for the future is often a luxury, it is also central to capitalism,
which banks on things like returns on investments, prospective earnings, and
coordinating supply and demand. (In large part, the supply chain's current woes are a
failure to anticipate the future.) Since the turn of the 20th century, there have been ever-
expanding ways to profit off the future, as more and more areas of social life become
terrains of speculative economic opportunity. Companies like WGSN forecast fabrics,
silhouettes, and fashion moods; think tanks like Institute for the Future advise
foundations and nonprofits on the future of health care or governance, and cultural trend
forecasters like The Future Laboratory explain the consequences of virtual reality on
Generation Z to their Fortune 500 clientele. Not to mention (white, male) business titans
like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, or Mark Zuckerberg, who move markets with their hyperbolic
and self-serving proclamations.

As someone who has been studying professional futurists for years, the barrier to entry
does feel lower every day. Because the future is so top-of-mind, seemingly all it takes to be
taken seriously as a futurist is to claim to be one. On the one hand, democratizing
futurism means more voices, more imaginaries, and more possibilities—more capacity for
more of us to plan. But there is also a price to pay when something as important as the
future becomes subject to the whims of an attention economy where hype makes
headlines and misinformation crowds out truth. It means we take foolish ideas from
prominent people more seriously than we should. (Nuking Mars, anyone?) It means
impractical technologies (like a laundry-folding robot) and unpublished studies (like this
one about Covid transmissibility) get treated as though they are sound and verified. It
means the concerns about the future can distract us from engaging in the present. It
means, too, that those whose platform gives them the authority to speak and be heard
about the future are rarely asked to question their assumptions and motivations. Take the
breathless predictions about driverless cars, which were supposed to be ubiquitous by

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2020 yet are still stymied by regulatory, infrastructural, and technological woes. When
cultural change becomes a product, cheap versions abound, which threatens to cheapen
our future, too.

A surfeit of predictions might make it seem like there is more certainty about the world.
And of course, the rapid changes coming from all corners deserve our attention, action,
and care. But forecasting is notoriously fickle, and there is little accountability for
misguided predictions. (Many trained futurists will tell you that they don’t do predictions,
preferring terms such as forecasts, foresight, or alternative futures, but this distinction is
too insidery for most people to grasp.) What’s certain is that selling futures is a business
that feeds off uncertainty—and uncertainty is its true product. Too many futures, from too
many places, with too many agendas doesn’t invalidate the enterprise of prediction but
adds to the confusion, thereby making prediction feel even more necessary. The future
will stay trendy so long as the times feel turbulent—and so long as there is money to be
made and attention to be gained from guiding those who feel, and will always be, behind
the curve.

That’s why it’s important for everyone to be aware when the future is being used as snake
oil to persuade us of the inevitability of what is really just another marketing plan. Asking
who will benefit from a particular future vision is a good start; so is following the money.
Interpreting and creating future forecasts is also a good reason for everyone to learn basic
futuring methods like scenarios, environmental scanning, and backcasting. It’s also
important to support organizations looking to reshape what futures mean, including
Teach the Future bringing futures curriculum to schools and Afrotectopia empowering
radical Black futures. We may not be able to stop the future from being trendy, but we can
make it more on our terms. Our vigilance toward the futures being sold to us in the
present is essential to ensuring a better future for the next generation, whom Neil
Postman called “the living messages we send to a time we will not see.”

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shady /ˈ ʃ eɪ .di/ adjective DISHONEST

2. INFORMAL dishonest or illegal
They know some very shady characters.
overhaul /ˈ əʊ.və.hɔː l/ /ˈ oʊ.vɚ.hɑː l/ verb [ T ]
to repair or improve something so that every part of it works as it should
I got the engine overhauled.
endemic /enˈ dem.ɪ k/ adjective
especially of a disease or a condition, regularly found and very common among a
particular group or in a particular area
Malaria is endemic in many of the hotter regions of the world.
exacerbate /ɪ gˈ zæs.ə.beɪ t/ /-ɚ-/ verb [ T ]
to make something which is already bad worse
This attack will exacerbate the already tense relations between the two communities.
enact /ɪ ˈ nækt/ verb PERFORM
2. [ T ] FORMAL to perform a story or play
The stories are enacted using music, dance and mime.
burnish /ˈ bɜː .nɪ ʃ / /ˈ bɝː -/ verb [ T ]
1. LITERARY to rub metal until it is smooth and shiny
2. If you burnish something such as your public image, you take action to improve it and
make it more attractive.
The company is currently trying to burnish its socially responsible image.
staid /steɪ d/ adjective
serious, boring and slightly old-fashioned
In an attempt to change its staid image, the newspaper has created a new section aimed
at younger readers.
dismal /ˈ dɪ z.məl/ adjective
1. sad and without hope
a dismal expression
2. INFORMAL very bad
The acting was dismal, wasn't it?
What dismal weather!
buy into sth phrasal verb BELIEVE
1. DISAPPROVING to completely believe in a set of ideas
I don't buy into all that New Age stuff.
rosy /ˈ rəʊ.zi/ /ˈ roʊ-/ adjective
If a situation is described as rosy, it gives hope of success or happiness
Our financial position is rosy.
fad /fæd/ noun [ C ]
a style, activity or interest which is very popular for a short period of time
the latest health fad
schlock /ʃ lɒk/ /ʃ lɑː k/ noun [ U ] MAINLY US INFORMAL DISAPPROVING
goods or artistic works which are cheap or low in quality
markets selling schlock
schlock TV shows
secularism /ˈ sek.jʊ.l ə r.ɪ .z ə m/ /-jə.lɚ-/ noun [ U ]
the belief that religion should not be involved with the ordinary social and political
activities of a country
onslaught /ˈ ɒn.slɔː t/ /ˈ ɑː n.slɑː t/ noun [ C ]
a very powerful attack
It is unlikely that his forces could withstand an allied onslaught for very long.

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apt /æpt/ adjective CLEVER

FORMAL having a natural ability or skill; clever
We have some particularly apt students in the class this year.
aptly /ˈ æp t .li/ adverb
We spent a week at the aptly named Grand View Hotel.
upheaval /ʌpˈ hiː .v ə l/ noun [ C or U ]
(a) great change, especially causing or involving much difficulty, activity or trouble
Yesterday's coup brought further upheaval to a country already struggling with famine.
pillage /ˈ pɪ l.ɪ dʒ/ verb [ I or T ] FORMAL
to steal something from a place or a person by using violence, especially during war
Works of art were pillaged from many countries in the dark days of the Empire.
brunt /brʌnt/ noun [ S ]
the brunt of sth
the main force of something unpleasant
The infantry have taken/borne the brunt of the missile attacks.
Returns - the income or profit arising from transactions = payoff
titan /ˈ taɪ .t ə n/ noun [ C ] LITERARY
a person who is very important, powerful, strong, big, clever, etc.
an intellectual titan
hype /haɪ p/ noun [ U ] INFORMAL
when something is advertised and discussed in newspapers, on television, etc. all the time
in order to attract everyone's interest
media hype
crowd sb/sth out phrasal verb [ M ]
to not allow a person or thing any space or opportunity to grow or develop
Small local businesses have been crowded out by large multinationals.
stymie /ˈ staɪ .mi/ verb [ T often passive ] stymieing INFORMAL
to prevent something from happening or someone from achieving a purpose
In our search for evidence, we were stymied by the absence of any recent documents.
surfeit /ˈ sɜː .fɪ t/ /ˈ sɝː -/ noun [ C usually singular ] FORMAL
an amount which is too large, or is more than is needed
The country has a surfeit of cheap labour.
fickle /ˈ fɪ k.l ฀/ adjective DISAPPROVING
1. likely to change your opinion or your feelings suddenly and without a good reason
She's so fickle - she's never been interested in the same man for more than a week!
The world of popular music is notoriously fickle.
2. describes conditions that are likely to change suddenly and without warning
Fickle winds made sailing conditions difficult.
turbulent /ˈ tɜː .bjʊ.lənt/ /ˈ tɝː .bjə-/ adjective SITUATION/TIME
1. involving a lot of sudden changes, arguments or violence
a turbulent marriage
This has been a turbulent week for the government.

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DAY 5
READING PASSAGE 2
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based on Reading
Passage 2 below.
The Museum Dilemma
Can museums and art galleries make works of art both accessible to the public and
protected at the same time?
On any day of the week, tourists flock to museums and galleries such as the Louvre in
Paris and The Met in New York, willingly paying their steep entrance fees. This is in stark
contrast to the 55,000 local museums around the globe, who often struggle when it comes
to attracting visitors and the resulting much-needed funds. These institutions may be a
source of pride to locals, but are too often perceived as dusty cabinets – useful when it
comes to storing ancient things, but not very interesting to look at. The constant dilemma
for museum curators is that increasing visitor numbers also brings a far greater change for
damage, which can be deliberate, incidental or accidental.
Deliberate damage cannot be controlled for, as the perpetrators act in a determined and
destructive way. This was the case with the Leonardo da Vinci cartoon damaged by
gunshot in the National Gallery in London in 1987, despite the painting being protected
behind a glass screen. Incidental damage is easier to anticipate and often results from a
visitor’s innate curiosity and instructive urge to touch. This is mainly managed through the
use of signage, gallery attendants, or with a physical barrier such as a rope. Gallery
attendants are the more expensive but preferred option as written warnings tend to be
ignored. However, cutbacks in funding mean fewer and fewer attendants.
Rope barriers are commonplace but their very nature renders them ineffective – visitors
can still get quite close to a painting. It was in recognition of this that staff at Huashan 1914
Creative Park in Taipei decided to place a raised platform between the barrier and a
valuable 17th century oil painting as a reminder to visitors to not get too close.
Unfortunately, the platform inadvertently contributed to extensive damage when a young
boy tripped on it and put his hand through the painting while trying to break his fall.
Many galleries would rather not use barriers at all because they tend to spoil the overall
look, and some have resorted to technology to get around this issue. In the past, museums
such as the Stederlijk Museum in Amsterdam used alarms triggered by lasers to alert
visitors to their proximity to a painting. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the trade-off between
aesthetics and noise means this idea has not been taken up universally.
Nevertheless, technology does appear to solve the issues of attracting visitors, and there
are more interactive displays popping up. Even so, incorporating the occasional exhibit that
encourages visitor engagement can mean that visitors then assume it is acceptable to get
up close and personal with all works of art. The ensuing surface damage is often not
immediately apparent, but when thousands of subsequent visitors reach out to touch a
beautiful sculpture, the effect builds up cumulatively causing irreversible damage to the

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patina of materials such as bronze. While the surface of a painting does not offer quite the
same tactile allure, they too can suffer similar consequences.
Despite these challenges, technology use in museums seems likely to grow, especially as
they are uniquely placed to take advantage of augmented reality, where real people and
ancient artefacts can be juxtaposed in a virtual world. Tools such as these are being used
to construct exciting experiences that can bring a dull museum visit to life while also
keeping visitors away from precious and fragile objects.
One such example is an augmented reality project that was initially trialled at White Sands
National Monument in New Mexico with great success. Staff there showed visitors how, by
scanning a code with a smart phone camera, a troop of mammoths would appear to walk
over the horizon. Curiously though, when the same idea was later deployed with The
Etches Collection, an exhibit in Dorset, on Britain’s Jurassic Coast, no one engaged with it.
Rather than a lack of interest in the technology, the failure appears to have been due to the
reluctance of visitors to download the museum’s app onto their own phone. The best
technology in the world can’t fix that.
A key challenge is the lack of insight into what visitors actually want and expect from a
museum visit, and a recent study at several cultural sites in Scotland has tried to provide
this. Through questionnaires and interviews, researchers made some surprising
discoveries. While it had been assumed that more visual experiences would need less
narrative, the study shows the opposite is true: visitors still see information about the place
as important, whether the experience is virtual or not. Interestingly, although audiences do
enjoy immersive visitor attractions, if an exhibition is purely a simulation, they like to be
able to handle objects at the same time for extra realism, such as at Culloden Battlefield,
whose visitor centre has artefacts such as 18th-century weapons.
The clear message is that, although technology has much to offer the museums, and is
arguably essential to their survival, there is clearly some way still to go. It can bring
museums to life to the benefit rather than the detriment of the precious artefacts and
artworks they are home to, but only if it gives visitors the experience they want.

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 DAY 5 PASSAGE – WORDLIST

flock /flɒk/ /flɑː k/ verb [ I usually + adv/prep ]

to move or come together in large numbers
Hundreds of people flocked to the football match.
[ + to infinitive ] Crowds of people flocked to see the Picasso exhibition.
stark /stɑː k/ /stɑː rk/ adjective
empty, simple or obvious, especially without decoration or anything which is not
necessary; severe or extreme
In the suburbs the spacious houses stand in stark contrast to the slums of the city's poor.
perceive /pəˈ siː v/ /pɚ-/ verb [ T ] BELIEVE
1. to come to an opinion about something, or have a belief about something
How do the French perceive the British?
Women's magazines are often perceived to be superficial.
perpetrator /ˈ pɜː .pə.treɪ .tə r / /ˈ pɝː .pə.treɪ .t ฀ɚ/ noun [ C ]( US OLD-FASHIONED
SLANG perp ) FORMAL
someone who has committed a crime, or a violent or harmful act
The perpetrators of the massacre must be brought to justice as war criminals.
result from sth phrasal verb
If a situation or problem results from a particular event or activity, it is caused by it
His difficulty in walking results from a childhood illness.
urge /ɜː dʒ/ /ɝː dʒ/ noun [ C ]
a strong wish, especially one which is difficult or impossible to control
[ + to infinitive ] The urge to steal is very strong in many of the young men we look after
here.
render /ˈ ren.də r / /-dɚ/ verb [ T ] CAUSE
1. FORMAL to cause someone or something to be in a particular state
[ + adjective ] His rudeness rendered me speechless .
New technology has rendered my old computer obsolete.
inadvertently /ˌ ɪ n.ədˈ vɜː .t ə nt.li/ /-ˈ vɝː .t ฀ ə nt-/ adverb
not intentionally
He inadvertently deleted the file.
resort to sth phrasal verb
to do something that you do not want to do because you cannot find any other way of
achieving something
I had to resort to violence/threats to get my money.
proximity /prɒkˈ sɪ m.ɪ .ti/ /prɑː kˈ sɪ m.ə.t ฀i/ noun [ U ] FORMAL
the state of being near in space or time
The best thing about the location of the house is its proximity to the town centre.
trade-off /ˈ treɪ d.ɒf/ /-ɑː f/ noun
1. [ C ] a situation in which you balance two opposing situations or qualities
There is a trade-off between doing the job accurately and doing it quickly.
She said that she'd had to make a trade-off between her job and her family.
2. [ C usually singular ] a situation in which you accept something bad in order to have
something good
For some car buyers, lack of space is an acceptable trade-off for a sporty design.
pop up phrasal verb INFORMAL
to appear or happen, especially suddenly or unexpectedly
She's one of those film stars who pops up everywhere, on TV, in magazines, on
Broadway.

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ensue /ɪ nˈ sjuː / /-ˈ suː / verb [ I ] FORMAL
to happen after something else, especially as a result of it
The police officer said that he had placed the man under arrest and that a scuffle had
ensued.
cumulative /ˈ kjuː .mjʊ.lə.tɪ v/ /-t ฀ɪ v/ adjective
increasing by one addition after another
The cumulative effect of using so many chemicals on the land could be disastrous.
cumulatively /ˈ kjuː .mjʊ.lə.tɪ v.li/ /-t ฀ɪ v-/ adverb
allure /əˈ ljʊə r / , /-ˈ lʊə r / /-ˈ lʊr/ noun [ U ]
the quality of being attractive, interesting or exciting
the allure of work ing in television
augment /ɔː gˈ ment/ /ɑː g-/ verb [ T ] FORMAL
to increase the size or value of something by adding something to it
He would have to find work to augment his income.
juxtapose /ˌ dʒʌk.stəˈ pəʊz/ /-ˈ poʊz/ verb [ T ]
to put things which are not similar next to each other
The exhibition juxtaposes Picasso's early drawings with some of his later works.
deploy /dɪ ˈ plɔɪ / verb [ T ]
to use something or someone, especially in an effective way
The company is reconsidering the way in which it deploys its resources/staff .
My job doesn't really allow me fully to deploy my skills/talents.
reluctance /rɪ ˈ lʌk.t ə n t s/ noun [ S or U ]
an unwillingness to do something
I accepted his resignation with great reluctance.

Answers and video explanation

here.Just scan the QR code:

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Questions 1-6
Look at the following museums and galleries (Questions 1-6) and the list of comments
below.
Match each place with the correct comment, A-J.
Write the correct letter, A-J, next to questions 1-6.

1 National Gallery, London

2 Huashan 1914 Creative Park, Taipei
3 Stederlijk Museum, Amsterdam
4 White Sands National Monument, New Mexico
5 The Etches Collection, Dorset
6 Culloden Battlefield, Scotland

List of comments
A This museum shows the benefits of using a physical barrier
B An attempt to prevent damage had the opposite effect
C This is a good example of the importance of alarm systems
D This experience shows the potential benefits of technology for museums
E Holding something real helps improve a virtual experience
F An occurrence here shows that certain damage cannot be prevented
G This shows that technology will only benefit museums if it is used
H Some people prefer to have a real experience rather than a virtual one
I A system used to protect artwork proved to be unpopular elsewhere
J Visitors are not at all interested in using technology

Questions 7-13
Do the following statements agree with the claims of the writer in Reading Passage 2?
In boxes 7-13 on your answer sheet, write
YES if the statement agrees with the claims of the writer
NO if the statement contradicts the claims of the writer
NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this

7 Even the most famous museums in the world generally struggle for funds.
8 The majority of people admit they have never visited their local museum.
9 Putting up written signs is the best way to avoid incidental damage.
10 Rope barriers have been shown to cause visitors to trip.
11 Some interactive exhibits can lead to more incidental damage.
12 Surface damage to paintings is very different to that of sculptures.
13 Even with simulated experiences, visitors still want to be told the history of a place.

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Day 6

The Office Is an Efficiency Trap

As office design evolved over the last century, one feature remained: the goal of filling your
life with even more work.
RIGHT NOW, WHETHER at home or the office, you are surrounded by everything you
need to be an efficiency machine. Never, at least in the industrial age, have there been as
many tools, applications, and pieces of technology to help you communicate, collaborate,
and get things done. Theoretically, you should be living in a productivity golden age.
So why do you feel overstimulated, burned out, and somehow always playing catch-up?
Innovations that were supposed to make the office more humane got co-opted, were put
through cost efficiency calculators, and ended up making the workplace feel even more like
an overdesigned cage. Even the sprawling, no expenses spared campuses of Silicon
Valley share a fundamental flaw with the mundane fluorescent-lit cubicle. With a few
utopian exceptions, all of these designs have been oriented toward efficiency and
productivity. Not in the service of less work, but in the hopes of fostering a life enveloped
by it.
Office technology—and the cult of efficiency in which it is breathlessly adopted—have,
since the early 20th century, never been about getting all of our work done in less time.
Instead, the ever-accelerating goal of office tech and design has been to clear space in
someone’s life, then immediately seed it with the potential for more productivity. This is why
our current moment, in which many people are working remotely, feels so full of
possibilities and so incredibly treacherous. We’re in efficiency purgatory, caught between
all the liberating and oppressive effects of office tech and design. Even from the stifling
gloom of the pandemic, we can see the faint outline of a future that makes good on office
technology’s grand promise: to actually free us not only form the commute or the tyranny of
the open office plan but from the creep of work into every inch of our personal lives.
It’s an alluring vision: What if our tools could actually, legitimately, make us work less? And
what if the time we regained from stamping out inefficiencies was truly ours?
Office technology and design are not essentially evil. But we have to commit to using these
tools to add dimensionality to our lives instead of further flattening them for the ease of our
jobs. In order to realize that vision, we need to understand all the ways that tech and
design have successfully beguiled us in the past. We have to know how to spot when a
flashy technology or a gorgeous office setup is actually just an invitation for more work in
new camouflage.
OVER THE COURSE of the 20th century, as the manufacturing industry in the US began
adopting automation, the office also came to be understood as its own form of a factory—
one that produces paper and moves it around from desk to desk. This was first reflected in
office design in 1925, when William Henry Leffingwell, a disciple of the Frederick Taylor
school of workplace optimization and efficiency, drafted plans for the “straight-line flow of
work.” He redesigned the office into a sort of paper assembly line so workers could move
documents “without the necessity of the clerk even rising from his seat.” The overarching
principle was this: Every time a clerk left their seat, they lost precious seconds of

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productivity. But these Taylorist reforms of the office were met with resistance—workers
hated them. Other efficiency efforts were easier to sell, especially those cloaked in the
language of technological advancement: elevators, fluorescent lighting, movable walls, and
air-conditioning, popularized over the course of the 20th century, were all means of upping
productivity. Same for the open office, which was first proposed by a pair of German
brothers, Eberhard and Wolfgang Schnelle, in 1958. In place of rows of desks and corner
offices, the Schnelles saw dynamic clusters and movable partitions: an office landscape,
or Bürolandschaft.
When the idea for Bürolandschaft was first introduced, it felt scandalous: the same way,
say, working from home would later feel in the early 1980s. When the renowned interior
designer John F. Pile first encountered the plans in the pages of an esteemed architectural
journal, he described finding them “so shocking in character as to make me assume that I
was in the presence of some British joke.”
The setup of the Bürolandschaft was designed to follow the natural lines of communication,
decrease inefficiencies, and, as an added bonus, cost less: No real hierarchies meant no
expensively furnished offices for management. One huge room was far easier to heat, cool,
light, and electrify. Yet the design, however well-meaning in theory, was a disaster in
practice. Many companies embraced the cost-shaving elements for the “gang” employee
spaces—which were loud and antagonistic to anything approximating concentration or
privacy—but balked at actually eliminating offices for higher-ups. They were desperate to
decrease costs, but they were also fiercely protective of the status quo.
In Germany, Scandinavia, and the Netherlands, the experience of working in an open office
design was so miserable that in the 1970s local worker councils effectively mandated their
removal. But not in the United States, where, as the architecture critic James S. Russell
notes, Americans “characteristically reworked” the plan into “something cheaper and more
ordered.” The “curvilinear informality” of the Schnelles’ design was formalized into
workstations with shelves, cabinets, and dividing panels—what would eventually devolve
into the cubicle. (The development, like so many in American history, was facilitated by the
tax code: The Revenue Act, passed in 1962, allowed for a 7 percent tax credit on property
with a “useful life” of eight years. You couldn’t deduct the cost of a fixed wall. But a
partition? Go for it.)
Designing with a mind toward efficiency, in other words, produced increasingly inefficient
workers.
A cubicle offered the illusion of privacy but with little of the reality. You can still hear the
conversations of your neighbors; managers still have access to a full view of your current
work; you were still hundreds of feet from the nearest window or source of natural light. But
these offices weren’t built to make employees’ experience of work better or more bearable.
They were meant to match the demands of the “flexible” organization, poised to expand
and contract to meet market demands, shedding and accumulating employees as needed.
The open office was celebrated and implemented with a mind toward worker efficiency: a
means of facilitating communication and undamming the flows of information, decreasing
conflict and competition in the office. And as Nikil Saval points out in Cubed, even the

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bastardized American version did make some forms of communication easier; you could
still talk, after all, even with the sounds of the office in the background. But in so doing, it
made concentration and contemplation nearly impossible. “In the rush to open-plan the
world” in the 1970s and ’80s,” Saval writes, “some crucial values for the performance of
work were lost.” Including, somewhat ironically, the very efficiency and productivity that
these designs were intended to create: A 1985 study of offices found that levels of privacy
were a primary predictor of job satisfaction and job performance. Designing with a mind
toward efficiency, in other words, produced increasingly inefficient workers.
When you implement a new office design with an eye only to what it facilitates and not to
what is lost, you will simply create a new set of problems. Same for short-term strategies to
cut tax burdens or real estate footprints: If a technology promises to cut costs quickly and
significantly, chances are high that there will be perhaps as-yet-imperceptible effects of
those cuts, and they will be absorbed by your already overburdened workforce. New office
technologies, including the spaces where we expect employees to work and that determine
how they interact with people while doing that work, are never simply “good” or “bad.” But
their effects have never been, and will never be, neutral.
IN 1983, THREE employees at Chiat/Day advertising dreamed up an idea that would
become one of the most famous Super Bowl ads of all time. A runner, dressed in a tank top
bearing a drawing of an Apple Macintosh computer, destroys Big Brother and saves
humankind from a future of surveillance and conformity. The ad was hailed as a
masterpiece and cemented Chiat’s place as one of the most influential ad agencies of the
late 20th century.
A decade later, the cofounder Jay Chiat had a creative revelation, supposedly while skiing
at Telluride, that had nothing to do with an ad campaign. It was time, he decided, for an
office revolution. He wanted to get rid of not just cubicles but personal space altogether, in
the hopes of creating a space of “creative unrest.” In one of the new offices, built in Venice,
California, and designed by Frank Gehry, there would be no cubicles, no filing cabinets, no
fixed desks. Every employee would check out a PowerBook and portable phone upon
arrival and find a place to work for the day. They could even work at home, or at the beach,
if they chose: Your office could be wherever your mind was.
None of this will sound wild to anyone who’s visited a startup in the past 10 years, but at
the time Chiat’s vision of the first “virtual” office was just as titillating as those original plans
for the open office. The receptionist’s desk was framed by the outline of bright red lips. A
picture of a man peeing led the way to the men’s bathroom. The floor was covered in a
rainbow of hieroglyphs. For meetings, there was a club room, a student union, a romper
room, and a series of conference rooms filled with cars rescued from old Tilt-a-Whirl rides.
With no place to call their own, employees resorted to using the trunks of their cars as file
cabinets.
At first, the Chiat/Day offices were celebrated as the work of a creative visionary: The
Manhattan office, designed by the Italian architect Gaetano Pesce, was hailed by The New
York Times as “a remarkable work of art.” But as with the original open office plan, workers
hated it almost immediately. Employees from the time recalled feeling at once rootless and

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constantly surveilled; desperate for a space to call their own, many began setting up shop
in the conference rooms. In response, Chiat would roam the halls, demanding to know if an
individual had worked in the same spot the day before. The company had under-
anticipated the plan for everyday demands of PowerBooks, and the lines to check them out
were interminable. With no place to call their own, employees resorted to using the trunks
of their cars as file cabinets. “People panicked because they thought they couldn’t
function,” Chiat later admitted. “Most of it, I felt, was an overreaction. But we should’ve
been more prepared for it.”
Chiat sold the company in 1995, and the new owners almost immediately began to soften
the most outlandish and unsustainable components of the design. In December 1998, they
moved the West Coast offices into a new, equally ballyhooed space in Playa del Rey. The
desks were back, and so were the phones, placed in “nests” and “cliff dwellings” divided
into “neighborhoods” lined with indoor plants. The message of the office, as WIRED put it,
was “Stay a while. Stay all night. Hell, you can live here. Which makes obvious sense in a
business that is fueled by twentysomethings pulling late-nighters.”
In hindsight, the Chiat/Day offices anticipated the “hot desk” gang offices of the pre-
pandemic present. But Chiat had misunderstood how to actually unroot his workers from
their desks and incentivize productivity and creativity. It wasn’t through art, or Tilt-a-Whirl
cars, or flashy graphic design. You just needed to make them want to be there all the time.
Chiat/Day was far from the only company eager to construct an office design that aimed to
reflect its iconoclastic mission. If your company was creating truly innovative products, it
should follow that it was working out of a truly innovative space. Like the Chiat/ Day Venice
campus, these environments were designed as competitive advantages: They’d look cool
and attract talent, sure, but the spaces, too, would be generative—a perfect mix of
socializing, collaboration, and deep focus.
Of course, none of these companies were any less ruthless about productivity demands on
the work, and the nature of work was no less transactional. If anything, organizations
actually baked more precarity into workers’ lives in pursuit of growth and shareholder
value. But there was a highly cost-efficient, low-friction way to distract employees from this
fact: Just group them in inviting environments that fit the company’s projected cultural
values of “dynamism” and “community.” The office, in other words, as city—or, even better
yet, as campus.
BACK IN THE 1970s, Midwestern corporate giants like 3M and Caterpillar had designed
sprawling, bucolic office parks for their thousands of employees, and early Silicon Valley
companies like Xerox famously embraced the campus layout. These early campus
environments made economic sense: They allowed companies to abandon costly urban
real estate, and their location was easier to sell to prospective employees who planned to
make their homes in the suburbs.
Corporate campuses were not quite fortresses, but they were private, guarded, and
intended to be as self-sufficient as possible. And like a small liberal arts college campus,
their cultures were insular, loyal, and generally easy to control. Their skill at innovation
stemmed, at least in part, from the not-so-subtle blurring of work and home life: The

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corporate campus shaped the organization man, and then the suburbs became, in the
words of William Whyte, who wrote the book titled The Organization Man, “communities
made in [the organization man’s] image.” These workers might not have slept on campus,
but office norms extended far beyond the corporate walls, in social structures built to
accommodate and reinforce the rhythms of the devoted worker.
The office complexes and campuses of the past 30 years extended this notion even
further. They’re even more gorgeous and eminently photographable, but they are also
expertly designed by cutting-edge architects to be “cohesive communities.” The goal is not
just productivity but, as the architect Clive Wilkinson put it in his 2019 book, The Theatre of
Work, something far more aspirational and dignified: In these spaces, “human work may
finally be liberated from drudgery, and become inspiring and invigorating.”
Wilkinson, who designed Google’s 500,000-square-foot Googleplex campus in Mountain
View, California, says he had his first epiphany about the office in 1995. While reviewing
old studies and surveys about worker habits, he came upon a study that measured how
office workers spent their time between 9 am and 5 pm. He was immediately struck by just
how much “unaccounted” time workers were spending away from their desks—that is, not
in meetings or any other explicit work function. But Wilkinson found it hard to believe that
all of these workers were taking multi-hour bathroom breaks or simply leaving the office
together. They were still in the office; they were just hanging out in hallways, chatting in
foyers, clustering around someone else’s desk as the occupant tells a story.
“It blew my mind,” he told us. “And it made our team realize that the planning of the office
was fundamentally flawed.” His realization was straightforward: Office design had long
revolved around the placement of desks and offices, with the spaces in between those
areas treated as corridors and aisles. But that “overemphasis on the desk,” as Wilkinson
recalled, “had worked to the detriment of working life, trapping us in this rigid formality.”
And so he set out to liberate it, shifting the focus of his designs to work that took
place away from the desk. In practice, this meant designing bleachers and nooks in places
that were once poorly lit corridors, and spacing out desk clusters to incentivize more
movement among teams. A kinetic office environment, the idea went, could increase
spontaneous encounters, which would then spark creativity. The design also allowed for
private areas—many with comfy couches and plush ottomans to replicate a family room
feel—to do deep work, away from the noisy bullpen of desks.
Google’s founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, were especially fascinated with this new
brand of office. In early meetings, Wilkinson recalls, the pair’s ideas for design were heavily
influenced by their time at Stanford, where engineers tended to gather in small groups and
often flocked to far-flung enclaves of the campus for coding binges and study groups. They
wanted to merge the traditional office with the university environment, creating a space that
would incentivize both collaborative and self-directed work. Wilkinson thus developed a
design whose unifying goal—like that of a college campus—was self-sufficiency. That
meant flexible work spaces, designed to accommodate constantly shifting teams and new
projects, but it also meant abundant green spaces, mini libraries, social hubs, and “tech

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talk zones,” which Wilkinson later described as “areas along public routes … where almost
continuous seminars and knowledge-sharing events would take place.”
In service of this continuous knowledge sharing, the Googleplex was outfitted with a
staggering array of amenities. Volleyball courts, valets, organic gardens, tennis courts, and
soccer fields dot the campus, which also includes a private park for exclusive Google use.
Inside the Googleplex, workers have access to multiple fitness centers and massage
rooms, as well as multiple cafés, cafeterias, and self-service kitchens. Unlike traditional
company cafeterias, where food items are often gently subsidized, everything at Google is
free. In 2011, when the company had around 32,000 employees, the food service budget
was estimated at around $72 million per year. Since then, Google’s workforce has more
than quadrupled.
“Making the work environment more residential and domestic is, I think, dangerous.”
CLIVE WILKINSON, GOOGLEPLEX DESIGNER
In Wilkinson’s recounting, the Googleplex design was meant to allow for “all of your basic
work-life needs” to be met within a contained space. As he saw it then, supporting workers
with generative, social environments—plus significant perks, like meals and wellness
services—was a means to foster true community and sustained creativity. More important,
it was a humane, considerate way for companies to treat employees who were working
long hours and building products designed to change the world.
Reflecting today, Wilkinson is less sure of that vision. Over the past two decades, his
brilliant, innovative designs have rippled through the architecture world, as large-scale tech
companies and smaller startups alike have cribbed elements of his team’s dynamic
workplaces for their spaces. And Wilkinson is increasingly aware of the insidious nature of
those same perks. “Making the work environment more residential and domestic is, I think,
dangerous,” he told us in late 2020. “It’s clever, seductive, and dangerous. It’s pandering to
employees by saying we’ll give you everything you like, as if this was your home, and the
danger is that it blurs the difference between home and office.”
The danger Wilkinson is describing is, of course, exactly what happened. The new campus
design had a profound impact on company culture. Some of that impact was undeniably
positive: He created work spaces where people genuinely want to be. But that desire
becomes a gravitational pull, tethering the worker to the office for longer and longer, and
warping previous perceptions of social norms.
IMAGINE THIS SCENARIO: You’re an ambitious engineer, a few years out of school. It’s
easy to get to the office extra early and stay late into the night because you can always get
a free gourmet meal. You eat with coworkers and talk about a lot of things, but mostly
work. To blow off steam, you show up at one of the many company gyms, or you play
Frisbee in the company park. When you’re done for the day, you grab a beer on campus
before riding the company shuttle back home to your apartment in San Francisco, chatting
with your friends as you catch up on back emails using the shuttle’s Wi-Fi connection.
With time, your colleagues become your closest friends and, with even more time,
your only friends. Life feels streamlined, more efficient. Even fun! Sometimes you’re just

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goofing off, killing time, kinda like back in the dorm room in college. Other times you’re
working together, like those endless nights back in the library. Sometimes it’s a hazy hybrid
of both, but it’s generative nonetheless. It’s the new organization-man-style company
devotion, only the country club has moved on campus.
While we didn’t work for a Big Tech company in Silicon Valley, we both experienced
shades of this trajectory while working for a media startup in New York City in the middle of
the second decade of the 21st century. As earlyish employees, we quickly fell into the
perks that drew us to the office longer. A weekly Thursday afternoon “brews” all-hands was
capped off by free pizza and then a collective call out to the bars. Quickly, our colleagues
became our closest friends. (It’s not lost on us, of course, that these events are how the
two of us eventually met.)
The company culture’s gravitational pull meant we started dedicating less time to other
friends and fledgling nonwork relationships. It was always far easier to transition from the
office straight to socializing than somehow planning a meetup halfway across town. We
knew all the same people and had all the same conversational shorthand. During happy
hours with coworkers, bullshitting could quickly turn into discussions about a work issue.
Were we working? Sure. But none of us would have thought to call it that.
We love our old work friends. We’ve been to their weddings; we’re watching their kids grow
up; we continue to share our lives with them. Those actual friendships aren’t what we
regret, and they never will be. When we moved away from New York, however, we came to
realize how work friendships had functioned as Trojan horses for work to infiltrate and then
engulf our lives. These relationships didn’t make work-life balance more difficult. Instead,
they eclipsed the idea of balance altogether, because work and life had become so
thoroughly intertwined that spending most of our waking moments with some extension of
our corporation didn’t seem remotely odd or problematic. It was just life.

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 DAY 6 ARTICLE - WORDLIST

treacherous /ˈ tretʃ . ə r.əs/ /-ɚ-/ adjective DANGEROUS

1. If the ground or sea is treacherous, it is extremely dangerous, especially because of bad
weather conditions
Snow and ice have left many roads treacherous, and motorists are warned to drive
slowly.
treacherous /ˈ tretʃ . ə r.əs/ /-ɚ-/ adjective NOT LOYAL
2. MAINLY OLD USE A person who is treacherous deceives someone who trusts them, or
has no loyalty
Vargas plays the part of a treacherous aristocrat who betrays his king and country.
I feel a bit treacherous to my own sex if I ever make general criticisms of women.
purgatory /ˈ pɜː .gə.tri/ /ˈ pɝː .gə.tɔː r.i/ noun [ U ] HUMOROUS
an extremely unpleasant experience which causes suffering
I've been on a diet for two weeks now, and it's purgatory!
beguile /bɪ ˈ gaɪ l/ verb [ T ] LITERARY
to persuade, attract or interest, sometimes in order to deceive
He was completely beguiled by her beauty.
disciple /dɪ ˈ saɪ .pl ฀/ noun
1. [ C ] a person who believes in the ideas and principles of someone famous and tries to
live the way they do or did
an ardent disciple of the prime minister
verarching /ˌ əʊ.vəˈ rɑː .tʃ ɪ ŋ/ /ˌ oʊ.vɚˈ ɑː r-/ adjective [ before noun ] FORMAL
most important, because including or affecting all other areas
a grand overarching strategy
balk , baulk /bɔː k/ /bɑː lk/ verb [ I ]
to be unwilling to do something or to allow something to happen
I balked at the prospect of spending four hours on a train with him.
the status quo /ðəˌ steɪ .təsˈ kwəʊ/ /-əsˈ kwoʊ/ noun [ S ]
the present situation
Certain people always want to maintain the status quo.
deduct /dɪ ˈ dʌkt/ verb [ T ]
to take away an amount or part from a total
The player had points deducted ( from his score) for arguing with the referee.
shed /ʃ ed/ verb shedding , shed , shed GET RID OF
[ T ] (often used in newspapers) to get rid of something you do not need or want
900 jobs will be shed over the next few months.
bastardize , UK USUALLY bastardise /ˈ bɑː .stə.daɪ z/ /ˈ bæs.tɚ-/ verb [ T ]
to change something in a way which makes it fail to represent the values and qualities
that it is intended to represent
bastardized , UK USUALLY bastardised /ˈ bɑː .stə.daɪ zd/ /ˈ bæs.tɚ-/ adjective
a bastardized form of the word/language
contemplation /ˌ kɒn.təmˈ pleɪ .ʃ ə n/ /ˌ kɑː n.t ฀əm-/ noun [ U ]
when you spend time thinking about something in a serious and quiet way
She was staring out over the lake, lost in contemplation.
conformity /kənˈ fɔː .mɪ .ti/ /-ˈ fɔː r.mə.t ฀i/ noun [ U ]
behaviour that follows the usual standards which are expected by a group or society
It's depressing how much conformity there is in such young children.
hail sb/sth as sth phrasal verb [ often passive ]

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to praise a person or an achievement by saying that they are similar to someone or

something very good
She's being hailed as one of the best up-and-coming young dancers today.
The film was hailed as a masterpiece in its day.
titillating /ˈ tɪ t.ɪ .leɪ .tɪ ŋ/ /-t ฀ɪ ŋ/ adjective
HUMOROUS interesting and shocking
It seems that people can't resist titillating headlines, especially if they concern the Royal
family
interminable /ɪ nˈ tɜː .mɪ .nə.bl ฀/ /-ˈ tɝː -/ adjective
continuing for too long and therefore boring or annoying
an interminable delay
his interminable stories
outlandish /ˌ aʊtˈ læn.dɪ ʃ / adjective DISAPPROVING
strange and unusual and difficult to accept or like
an outlandish hairstyle/outfit
PRECARITY – a condition of uncertainty or insecurity

bucolic /bjuˈ kɒl.ɪ k/ /-ˈ kɑː .lɪ k/ adjective LITERARY

relating to the countryside
The painting shows a typically bucolic scene with peasants harvesting crops in a field.
insular /ˈ ɪ n.sjʊ.lə r / /-lɚ/ adjective DISAPPROVING
interested only in your own country or group and not willing to accept different or
foreign ideas
dignify /ˈ dɪ g.nɪ .faɪ / verb [ T ]
1. to cause something to be valued and respected
dignified /ˈ dɪ g.nɪ .faɪ d/ adjective
controlled, serious and calm, and therefore deserving respect
a tall dignified woman
He has maintained a dignified silence about the rumours.
invigorate /ɪ nˈ vɪ g. ə r.eɪ t/ /-ɚ-/ verb [ T ]
to make someone feel fresher, healthier and more energetic
We were invigorated by our walk.
invigorating /ɪ nˈ vɪ g.ə.reɪ .tɪ ŋ/ /-t ฀ɪ ŋ/ adjective
an invigorating swim/run
epiphany /ɪ ˈ pɪ f. ə n.i/ noun [ C or U ] LITERARY
when you suddenly feel that you understand, or suddenly become conscious of,
something that is very important to you or a powerful religious experience
bleachers /ˈ bliː .tʃ əz/ /-tʃ ɚz/ plural noun US
a sloping area of seats at a sports ground which are not covered and are therefore not
expensive to sit in
nook /nʊk/ noun [ C ] LITERARY
a small space which is hidden or partly sheltered
a cosy/sheltered/quiet nook
plush /plʌʃ / adjective INFORMAL
luxurious ; expensive, comfortable and of high quality
He took me out to a really plush restaurant.
OTTOMAN – thick cushion used as a seat

enclave /ˈ eŋ.kleɪ v/ /ˈ ɑː ŋ-/ noun [ C ]

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a part of a country that is surrounded by another country, or a group of people who are
different from the people living in the surrounding area
Campione d'Italia is an Italian enclave in Switzerland.
binge /bɪ ndʒ/ noun [ C ] INFORMAL
an occasion when an activity is done in an extreme way, especially eating, drinking or
spending money
a drinking/eating/spending binge
The annual office binge (= party) is in December.
insidious /ɪ nˈ sɪ d.i.əs/ adjective
(of something unpleasant or dangerous) gradually and secretly causing harm
High-blood pressure is an insidious condition which has few symptoms.
seductive /sɪ ˈ dʌk.tɪ v/ adjective ATTRACTING
making you want to do, have or believe something, because of seeming attractive
Television confronts the viewer with a succession of glittering and seductive images .
pander to sb/sth phrasal verb DISAPPROVING
to do or provide exactly what a person or group wants, especially when it is not
acceptable, reasonable or approved of, usually in order to get some personal advantage
It's not good the way she panders to his every whim.
tether /ˈ teð.ə r / /-ɚ/ verb [ T ]

tie with a tether

tether /ˈ teð.ə r / /-ɚ/ noun [ C ]

a rope or chain used to tie especially an animal to a post or other fixed place, usually so
that it can move freely within a small area
warp /wɔː p/ /wɔː rp/ verb STRANGE
2. [ T ] to make a person or their behaviour strange, in an unpleasant or harmful way
Prison warps people. Had it warped Kelley enough that he would kill a stranger?
goof off phrasal verb US INFORMAL
to avoid doing any work
They've goofed off and gone to the ball game
hazy /ˈ heɪ .zi/ adjective
not clear
fledgling , fledgeling /ˈ fledʒ.lɪ ŋ/ adjective [ before noun ]
new and without experience
The current economic climate is particularly difficult for fledgling businesses.
eclipse /ɪ ˈ klɪ ps/ verb IMPORTANCE
2. [ T often passive ] to make another person or thing seem much less important, good or
famous
The economy has eclipsed all other issues during this election campaign.
intertwine /ˌ ɪ n.təˈ twaɪ n/ /-t ฀ɚ-/ verb [ I or T ]
to twist or be twisted together, or to be connected so as to be difficult to separate
The town's prosperity is inextricably intertwined with the fortunes of the factory.

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DAY 6
READING PASSAGE 3
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-17, which are based on Reading
Passage 3.
The Work of Caravaggio
A Every once in a while, a controversy takes the art world by storm. One such example is
the case of a painting of a group of three men playing cards, which may or may not be by
the Italian painter Caravaggio (1571 to 1610) and which has been at the centre of a case at
the High Court in London. The painting was owned by one Mr Lancelot William
Thwaytes.who, back in 2006, sold the painting through the London auction house
Sotheby's for £42,000 The painting was bought on behalf of the art collector and
Caravaggio expert Sir Denis Mahon. After carrying out extensive research into and
restoration of the painting, Sir Denis announced that the painting was in fact an original
Caravaggio. It has since been valued at £10 million. Mr Thwaytes proceded to sue the
auctioneers for professional negligence arguing that they should have consulted more
experts when assessing the painting, and advised him of its potential value. Had they done
so, he insists, he could have sold the painting for millions,
B Authenticating a work of art is often difficult, especially when it is, as in this case, several
hundred years old, and at least one tool for the expert, namely records of all prior owners
are limited or non-existent. In some cases, these records can be traced right back to the
artist himself, but this is rare. Most judges, at least in the English-speaking world, are
reluctant to rule on whether an artwork should or should not be attributed 1 to a particular
artist, as this question lies outside their field of expertise.
C In civil legal cases, when a decision is challenged in court, a judge must decide if the
experts are right or wrong. The standard of proof is ‘more likely than not', or ‘on the
balance of probabilities’. And yet, in the art world, the degree of proof required is more
similar to that needed in criminal trials, which require ‘proof beyond all reasonable doubt’.
No one would pay full price for a painting that was more-likely-than-not, on-the-balance-of-
probabilities, by the legendary artist Picasso.
D An additional difficulty in attributing a work to a particular artist arises when the artist had
a studio, where pupils may have been engaged to make copies of works by the master
himself. This was the case with artists such as Guido Rent, but not with Caravaggio, Some
artists are known to have made copies, or ‘autograph replicas’ of their own works. The
majority of Caravaggio scholars are not of the opinion that Caravaggio himself painted
copies of his own works. However, Sir Denis Mahon, the new owner claimed that this was
precisely what Caravaggio had done in this case, and that this was an autograph replica of
the Caravaggio painting The Cardsharps2, which is on display in the Kimbell Art Museum,
in Fort Worth, Texas, USA, and depicts a very similar scene.
E Sotheby's contends that any resemblances between The Cardsharps and the painting it
sold on behalf of Mr Thwaytes are insufficient to attribute the latter as genuine Caravaggio
It presented to the court a record of about 30 versions of the card game scene which had
changed hands at auction, none of which were described as being by Caravaggio. An

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image of men cheating at cards was, they argued, popular subject matter at the time, and
by no means unique to one artist.
F Unsurprisingly, auction houses such as Sotheby's go to great lengths not to misrepresent
what is known about a painting's authorship when their catalogue. A set of phrases are
employed to describe the degree of certainty as to the identity of the artist, such as
'Attributed to Giovanni Bellini’, which means that the auctioneers consider that the work is
probably by Bellini, but that they cannot be absolutely positive. ‘Circle of Giovanni Bellini’
would indicate that, in the considered opinion of Sotheby's experts, the work in question
was produced by someone closely associated with Bellini, but almost certainly not by
Bellini himself, 'After Giovanni Bellini' would mean that the work is considered to be a copy
of a Bellini painting. In this case, Sotheby's attributed the work being sold by Mr Thwaytes
to a ‘follower’ (and that does not necessarily mean someone who was a pupil) of
Caravaggio.
G The court heard much discussion over the degree of artistic skill shown in the painting.
The judge drew the conclusion that the quality was not up to that of the rest of the artist's
known body of work, and as such ultimately ruled against Mr Thwaytes, who now faces
substantial costs, but who still has the right to appeal, and may yet do so. While
acknowledging many remarkable features of the picture, the judge instinctively felt that
something was not quite right, and that Sotheby's were justified in being reluctant to label
the painting a Caravaggio. She made a comparison with The Cardsharps, which is known
to be a genuine Caravaggio and pointed out how a feather in that picture looked lifelike,
soft and fluffy, whereas the one in the painting in question was far less convincing and
three-dimensional.
H Mr Thwaytes's legal team also put forward the case that changes had been made to the
picture. It can be seen that the artist had repainted a ribbon which hangs from the elbow of
one of the card players, making it shorter than it had been before. This, they argued, would
not have been necessary had someone simply been producing a duplicate from the original
painting. Yet the judge did not accept that this suggested evidence of a creative mind at
work rather than a copyist, or that this repainting should have alerted Sotheby's to any
need to investigate further.
1attribute = to say or believe that an artwork is the work of a particular person
2cardsharp = a person who cheats at card games

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 DAY 6 PASSAGE - WORDLIST

attribute sth to sb/sth phrasal verb /ˈ æt.rɪ .bjuː t/

to say or think that something is the result or work of something or someone else
The doctors have attributed the cause of the illness to an unknown virus.
cardsharp /ˈ kɑː d.ʃ ɑː p/ /ˈ kɑː rd.ʃ ɑː rp/ noun [ C ]
a person who earns money by playing cards dishonestly
take sb/sth by storm
to be suddenly extremely successful in a place or with a group of people
Her performance has taken the London critics by storm.
sue /suː / verb [ I or T ]
to take legal action against a person or organization, especially by making a legal claim
for money because of some harm that they have caused you
He was so furious about the accusations in the letter that he threatened to sue.
on behalf of sb ( ALSO on sb's behalf ) /bɪ ˈ hɑː f/ /-ˈ hæf/
representing; instead of
On behalf of the entire company, I would like to thank you for all your work.
extensive /ɪ kˈ sten t .sɪ v/ adjective
covering a large area; having a great range
a school with extensive grounds
authenticate /ɔː ˈ θen.tɪ .keɪ t/ /ɑː ˈ θen.t ฀ɪ -/ verb [ T ]
to prove that something is real, true, or what people say it is
They used carbon dating tests to authenticate the claim that the skeleton was 2 million
years old.
trace /treɪ s/ verb [ T ]
to discover the cause or origin of something by examining the way in which it has
developed
The practice of giving eggs at Easter can be traced back to festivals in ancient China.
replica /ˈ rep.lɪ .kə/ noun [ C ]
an exact copy of an object
The ship is an exact replica of the original Golden Hind.
depict /dɪ ˈ pɪ kt/ verb [ T ]
to represent or show something in a picture or story
Her paintings depict the lives of ordinary people in the last century.
contend /kənˈ tend/ verb CLAIM
2. [ T + ( that ) ] FORMAL to state that something is true or is a fact
The lawyer contended (that) her client had never been near the scene of the crime.
by no means ( ALSO not by any means )
not at all, definitely not
It is by no means certain that we'll finish the project by June.
go to great lengths ( ALSO go to any lengths )
to try very hard to achieve something
Some people go to great lengths to make their homes attractive.
as to FORMAL
about
He was uncertain as to which road to take.
such /sʌtʃ / noun
as such
in the true or exact meaning of the word or phrase

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There wasn't much vegetarian food as such, although there were several different types
of cheese.
acknowledge /əkˈ nɒl.ɪ dʒ/ /-ˈ nɑː .lɪ dʒ/ verb [ T ]
to accept, admit or recognize something, or the truth or existence of something
Historians generally acknowledge her as a genius in her field.

fluffy /ˈ flʌf.i/ adjective

1. soft and woolly or like fur
fluffy toys
put sth/sb forward phrasal verb [ M ] ( US put sth/sb forth )
to state an idea or opinion, or to suggest a plan or person, for other people to consider
The proposals that you have put forward deserve serious consideration.
I wasn't convinced by any of the arguments that he put forward.

Answers and video explanation

here.Just scan the QR code:

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DAY 6
Questions 1-8
Reading Passage 3 has six paragraphs, A-H.
Which paragraph contains the following information?
Write the correct letter A-H in boxes 1-8 on your answer sheet
NB You may use any letter more than once.
1 accusations again Sotheby's
2 the result of Mr Thwaytes's court case
3 a widespread belief about Caravaggio's practice
4 an area in which legal professionals have limited knowledge
5 an explanation of the way a painting is credited to a certain artist affects its value
6 language used to convey any doubts about who a painting is attributed to
7 whether conclusions can be drawn from changes which were made to Mr
Thwaytes's painting
8 evidence of sales of painting by other artists which are similar to Caravaggio's work

Questions 9 and 10
Which TWO of these beliefs are expressed by the writer?
A It is possible that Mr Thwaytes might not accept the court's verdict.
B The painting which belonged to Mr Thwates is probably a genuine Caravaggio
C When Sir Dennis Mahon was purchasing the painting, he already knew it was by
Caravaggio
D Judges frequently make decisions about whether paintings are by particular known
artists
E Greater certainty is required when attributing work to artists than would be needed in
other civil cases

Questions 11-16
Complete the summary below.
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
It can be very difficult who an old painting is by, especially when there is little information
as to its previous 11 …………………., or when the artist worked in a 12
…………………………
It is important that vendors accurately state in their 13 …………………… what is or isn’t
known about who the artist was.
Sotheby’s said that Mr Thwaytes’s picture was by a 14 …………………. of Caravaggio.
The judge believed that the 15 …………………. of Mr Thwayte’s painting was not that
which would be expected of Caravaggio.
The judge drew particular attention to the way a 16 ……………………. had been portrayed
in the picture and argued that Caravaggio could and would have painted it differently.
Question 17
What would be the best title for the article?
A Sotheby's wins case over 'Caravaggio'
B Caravaggio forgery discovered by art collector
C Many great artworks are actually fakes, claims expert
D Judge clarifies misunderstood law on attribution of artworks

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Day 7

Working from home has entrenched inequality – how

can we use it to improve lives instead?
theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jan/09/working-from-home-inequality-pandemic-inequalities-uk

John Harris January 9, 2022

It was Omicron that did it. Up until early December, office workers in England seemed to
be steadily returning to their desks. But once the new variant had arrived, a change that
had been taking shape since the Covid crisis started suddenly felt irresistible. Back-to-the-
office schedules were binned, more companies announced long-term plans for so-called
hybrid employment split between homes and workplaces, and there it was: a quiet
revolution, whose consequences will unfold over the next year and beyond.

Home and hybrid working has been embraced by a long list of tech companies that
includes Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Spotify and dozens more. Something similar seems
to be happening in the financial sector. In the UK, 18m sq ft of office space has been
vacated since the start of the pandemic. In the past year, in such places as Derby,
Southampton and the London borough of Brent around 20% of offices have been taken
out of use, and there are projections that between now and 2027, one in 10 British offices
will no longer be needed.

For all the government’s wishful thinking about a looming return to pre-Covid normality,
this looks like deep, era-defining change. Talk to people in trade unions, and you get a
sense of a new frontier that demands urgent and careful attention. At the union Unite, for
example, they are working on a detailed template for home working agreements, designed
to minimise the risk of isolation, “stress and depression” and “health and safety risks from
working in an unsuitable environment”. So far, though, any political debate about what is
happening has reduced everything to yet another instalment of the culture wars. The right
seems to see any move away from the traditional workplace as a mortal threat to both the
economy and our moral wellbeing, while more liberal voices glimpse something almost
utopian: liberation from the daily commute, increased productivity, more family time.
What both sides tend to ignore are massive issues about inequality, what work actually
involves, and the way that big companies too often try to offload responsibility and risk on
to fragile individuals.

For a start, only a minority of us are actually able to work from home (WFH). In April
2020, the Office for National Statistics put the figure at 46%, although the number varied
wildly across the UK: 57% of Londoners said they were able to do at least some work at
home, whereas the figure in the West Midlands was 35%. In that context, even if home
working ushers some of those who do it into an idyll of autonomy and holistic living, it
threatens to make the class divisions that the pandemic widened both permanent and
huge.

Other questions centre on the people who now do at least some of their work not far from
where they sleep. If you live alone, WFH may well represent both a degree of freedom and
a snatching-away of human interaction. For young people at the start of their working

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lives, not being in an office will probably entail two kinds of disadvantage: being cut adrift
from the collective workplace experiences that allow people to find their professional feet,
and not having the domestic space to do your job effectively. There is, needless to say,
clear evidence of how traditional gender roles affect home working: in American research
done by the management consultants McKinsey, 79% of men said they experienced
“positive work effectiveness” at home, compared with only 37% of women. Whoever you
are, moreover, there is a good chance that WFH will have increased your hours: research
during the first global lockdown found that for 3 million remote workers around the
world, the average working day had increased by 8.2%, or nearly 50 minutes.

The American writers Charlie Warzel and Anne Helen Petersen recently published Out of
Office, an exhaustive but very readable book about the upsides and drawbacks of working
from home. Its central contention, partly based on their experience of leaving behind
office jobs in New York and attempting a new life in Montana, is that working remotely
can “remove you from the wheel of constant productivity”, as well as turning you into “a
better friend and partner”. The big problem, as they see it, is that far too many employers
have quickly built a model of home working on workplace cultures that emphasise long
hours, the kind of camaraderie that quickly turns painful, and close monitoring of what
people do. They cite the comedian Kevin Farzad’s observation that “if an employer ever
says, ‘we’re like family here’ what they mean is they’re going to ruin you psychologically”.
Allow those attitudes into people’s domestic environment, and you risk “the total collapse
of work-life balance”.

To understand that point, forget any visions of high-powered people flitting between the
city and country and hosting Zoom meetings in their summerhouses. Instead, think about
call-centre work, which was being pushed into people’s homes long before the pandemic.
Here, you see not just the connections to be drawn between home working and bogus self-
employment, but a new world of remote worker surveillance. In March last year, the
Guardian reported on the multinational call centre company Teleperformance, and
software built around webcams in home-workers’ laptops. “If the system detects no
keyboard stroke and mouse click, it will show you as idle for that particular duration, and
it will be reported to your supervisor,” said one set of instructions.

“If you don’t talk about power in the workplace, you’re not going to get this right,” says
Andrew Pakes, a deputy general secretary of the white-collar union Prospect. From this
basic point, everything follows. We fixate on home working, when we really should begin
with flexibility: irrespective of where they work, the chance for people to start and finish
at times of their choosing, carve out free time and ensure holidays complement the other
aspects of their lives. Companies ought to pay much more attention to the needs of new
recruits – pairing them with dedicated mentors, ensuring they have the option of
spending all or most of their working hours in a workplace, allowing them to join a trade
union. For all employees, there ought to be both an entitlement to collective
representation, and the kind of right to disconnect – to not have to deal with emails, calls
and messages outside working hours – that has been adopted in France, Italy and Spain,
and is now tentatively supported – for public sector staff at least – by the SNP-led
government in Edinburgh.

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Somewhere in all that might be the beginnings of home and hybrid working that could
actually improve people’s lives. The danger of the weary, punch-drunk mood of early 2022
is that indifference and fatalism will set in, and we will end up sleepwalking into a post-
pandemic reality that no one wants. Amid grief, disruption and huge changes to our
everyday experiences, the future has arrived: not just of work, but all the other aspects of
life that it touches. When do we start doing something about it?

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 DAY 7 ARTICLE - WORDLIST

entrenched /ɪnˈtren t ʃt/ adjective MAINLY DISAPPROVING

Entrenched ideas are so fixed or have existed for so long that they cannot be changed
It's very difficult to change attitudes that have become so deeply entrenched over the
years.
hybrid /ˈhaɪ.brɪd/ adjective
intercrossed
His choreography is described as 'a hybrid mix of mime and circus tricks'.
unfold /ʌnˈfəʊld/ /-ˈfoʊld/ verb DEVELOP
2. [ I ] If a situation or story unfolds, it develops or becomes clear to other people
Like a lot of people, I've watched the events of the last few days unfold on TV.
vacate /vəˈkeɪt/ , /veɪ-/ verb [ T ] FORMAL
to leave a room, building, chair, etc. so that it is available for other people
Hotel guests are requested to vacate their rooms by noon.
looming /ˈluː.mɪŋ/ adjective
(of something unwanted or unpleasant) happening soon and causing worry
the looming crisis
mortal /ˈmɔː.t ə l/ /ˈmɔːr.t ̬ ə l/ adjective
mortal enemy/danger/threat, etc.
a very serious and dangerous enemy/danger/threat, etc.
offload /ˌɒfˈləʊd/ /ˈɑːf.loʊd/ verb [ T ]
to get rid of something that you do not want by giving it to someone else
I've managed to offload some of our old furniture onto a friend who's just bought a
house.
idyll , idyl /ˈɪd. ə l/ noun [ C ]
a very happy, peaceful and simple situation or period of time, especially in the
countryside, or a piece of music, literature, etc. that describes this
Every year thousands of people flee the big cities in search of the pastoral/rural idyll.
entail /ɪnˈteɪl/ verb [ T ] FORMAL
to make something necessary, or to involve something
Such a large investment inevitably entails some risk.
adrift /əˈdrɪft/ adjective [ after verb ]
If a person is adrift, they do not have a clear purpose in life and do not know what they
want to do
Da Silva plays a bright, lonely student from New York, adrift in small-town Arizona.
camaraderie /ˌkæm.əˈrɑː.d ə r.i/ /-dɚ-/ noun [ S or U ] SLIGHTLY FORMAL
a feeling of friendliness towards people that you work or share an experience with
When you've been climbing alone for hours, there's a tremendous sense of camaraderie
when you meet another climber.
collapse /kəˈlæps/ noun FAILURE
1. [ C or U ] the sudden failure of a system, organization, business, etc.
I don't know what caused the collapse of her marriage.
flit /flɪt/ verb [ I usually + adv/prep ] -tt-
1. to fly or move quickly and lightly
In the fading light we saw bats flitting around/about in the garden.
bogus /ˈbəʊ.gəs/ /ˈboʊ-/ adjective
false, not real or not legal
On investigation, his claim was found to be bogus.
deputy /ˈdep.jʊ.ti/ /-t ̬i/ noun [ C ]

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a person who is given the power to do something instead of another person, or the person
whose rank is immediately below that of the leader of an organization
I'd like you to meet Ann Gregory, my deputy.
carve sth out (for yourself ) phrasal verb
to successfully create or get something, especially a work position, by working for it
He hopes to carve out a niche for himself as a leading researcher in his field of study.
tentatively /ˈten.tə.tɪv.li/ /-ə.ɪv-/ adverb
If you do or say something tentatively, you do or say it in an uncertain way.
punch-drunk /ˈpʌntʃ.drʌŋk/ adjective TIRED
2. tired and confused, especially after dealing with a difficult situation
fatalism /ˈfeɪ.t ə l.ɪ.z ə m/ /-t ̬ ə l-/ noun [ U ]
the belief that people cannot change the way events will happen and that events,
especially bad ones, cannot be avoided

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DAY 7
READING PASSAGE 2
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-16, which are based on Reading
Passage 2 below.
The Global Effect of Food Systems
A Did you know that what’s on your plate plays a larger role in contributing to
climate change than the car you drive? Many people, especially in wealthier countries,
are becoming worried about how much their individual carbon footprint is contributing to
climate change. However, when they consider these issues, they’ll usually think about
what vehicle they drive and how much electricity they use in their home, but not so
much about farming machinery, processed meats or food waste. Few consider the
impacts of the food they eat, despite the fact that worldwide food systems account for
roughly one quarter of all manmade emission of greenhouse gases. That’s more than
the entire global transportation sector.
B The most immediate threat from climate change for most of the global population
will be at the dinner table, as our ability to grow critical staple crops is being affected by
the global warming we’ve already experienced. Between 1980 and 2008, for instance,
wheat yields fell by 5.5% and maize yields by 3.8% due to rising temperatures. Climate
change threatens the food security of millions of poor people around the world. And yet
what we see is that while food and agriculture are massively impacted by climate
change, they are also, simultaneously, major contributors to it. What all of this tells us is
that our food systems, as currently structured, are facing major challenges.
C So what are food systems? Everything from seed and soil, to the supermarket to
the plate to the landfill site. Food systems include the growing, harvesting, processing,
packaging, transporting, marketing, consumption and disposal of food and food-related
items. While farming alone accounts for 10–12% of global greenhouse gas emissions,
when we look at entire food systems the contributions to climate change more than
double. A recent report published by the non-for-profit organisation Meridian Institute
lays out the many-factors throughout food systems that spell trouble for the climate, and
also explains why a broad systems-wide perspective for implementing effective
changes.
D Consider the impact of deforestation as forests are cleared for the purpose of
making land available for other uses. Worldwide, 80% of deforestation is carried out to
create farmland, with potentially serious consequences for climate change. The world’s
forests are massive carbon sinks, vital natural ‘reservoirs’ which remove carbon dioxide
from the atmosphere and store it. So is soil, which locks away – or ‘sequesters’ – two to
three times as much carbon as there is present in the atmosphere. However, there are
ways to produce food without adding to climate change. Environmentally responsible
farming can help restore ecosystem function by producing crops and livestock in
productive ways that sequester carbon and preserve forests.
E Or consider food waste. Not just the scraps that we throw away, but throughout
the entire food system. Every year, a staggering 30–40% of the food produced in the
world is never eaten. Some never gets harvested, some spoils before it reaches
consumers, and a lot is tossed away by supermarkets, restaurants and at home. For the
sake of comparing emissions, if food waste were a country in its own right, it would be

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the world’s third largest contributor to global warming, after only China and the United
States. This says nothing of the gross injustice of wasting so much food while so many
in the world go hungry. In the developing world, improving infrastructure along the food
chain – including cold storage – would prevent much good food being lost. In the
developed world, retailers can prevent large amounts of waste by finding outlets for
slightly flawed or blemished goods, and consumers can limit waste by buying food in
amounts they actually want and need.
F The complex, dynamic and widely diverse forms of the world’s many food
systems yield some wildly divergent outcomes in terms of nutrition, health, and
environmental and climate impacts. Just as there’s no universal crop that grows
everywhere, there’s no ‘one size fits all’ model food system to implement across the
world. It is critical we start to better examine what works in some systems and what
must be improved in others, in order to produce more just and sustainable outcomes
around the world. It’s time to look beyond farming and agriculture and to see the whole
picture, to create systems that cause less harm to the climate and more resilient to the
impacts we’re already suffering from global warming. Food is a fundamental human
need and to eat is a basic human right. Our food systems must deliver that need,
without worsening the impacts of climate change.

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 DAY 7 PASSAGE – WORDLIST

carbon /ˈ kɑː .b ə n/ /ˈ kɑː r-/ noun SUBSTANCE

1. [ U ] a simple chemical substance, which exists in its pure form as diamond or graphite
, and is an important part of other substances such as coal and oil, as well as being contained in
all plants and animals
carbon ˈ footprint noun [ C ]
Someone's carbon footprint is a measurement of the amount of carbon dioxide that their
activities produce.
account for sth phrasal verb
to form the total of something
Students account for the vast majority of our customers.
staple /ˈ steɪ .pl ฀/ adjective [ before noun ]
basic or main; standard or regular
The staple diet here is mutton, fish and boiled potatoes.
landfill /ˈ læn d .fɪ l/ noun [ C or U ]
getting rid of large amounts of rubbish by burying it, or a place where rubbish is buried
Ninety per cent of American rubbish is dumped in landfill sites .
disposal /dɪ ˈ spəʊ.z ə l/ /-ˈ spoʊ-/ noun [ U ]
1. when you get rid of something, especially by throwing it away
waste disposal
the disposal of hazardous substances
spell /spel/ verb RESULT
2. spell disaster/trouble, etc.
to cause something bad to happen in the future
The new regulations could spell disaster for small businesses.
implement /ˈ ɪ m.plɪ .ment/ verb [ T ]
to put a plan or system into operation
The changes to the national health system will be implemented next year.
ˈ carbon ˌ sink noun [ C ] SPECIALIZED
an area of forest which is large enough to absorb important and noticeable amounts of
carbon dioxide from the Earth's atmosphere and therefore to reduce the effect of global warming
reservoir /ˈ rez.ə.vwɑː r / /-ɚ.vwɑː r/ noun [ C ]
1. a place for storing liquid, especially a natural or artificial lake providing water for a
city or other area
sequester /sɪ ˈ kwes.tə r / /-tɚ/ verb [ T ] KEEP SEPARATE
2. US LEGAL to keep a jury together in a place so that they cannot discuss the case with
other people or read or hear news reports about it
scraps /skræp/ noun SMALL PIECE

small bits of food which have not been eaten and which are usually thrown away
We give all our scraps to our cat.
toss sth away phrasal verb [ M ] INFORMAL
to spend or lose something carelessly
That much money is not to be tossed away lightly.
blemish /ˈ blem.ɪ ʃ / verb [ T ]
to spoil something
This latest revelation has seriously blemished the governor's reputation .
Blemished – spoiled

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resilient /rɪ ˈ zɪ l.i.ənt/ adjective

able to quickly return to a previous good condition
This rubber ball is very resilient and immediately springs back into shape.

Answers and video explanation

here.Just scan the QR code:

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DAY 7
Questions 1–6
Reading Passage 2 has six paragraphs, A–F.
Which paragraph contains the following information?
Write the correct letter, A-F, in boxes 1-6 on your answer sheet.
NB You may use any letter more than once.
1 a figure indicating the environmental impact of agricultural practices
2 an outline of two basic aims which food systems need to achieve
3 an illustration of a drop in the amount of basic foodstuffs being produced
4 a mention of a lack of public awareness of how food systems affect climate change
5 a mention of the two-way relationship between farming and climate change
6 a reference to how food systems need to vary according to region

Questions 7–10
Complete the summary below.
Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 7 – 10 on your answer sheet.
The public’s perception of their contribution to climate change
People, especially in richer countries, are increasingly concerned about the impact of
their personal 7……..…….. on the environment. When thinking about how their lifestyles
affect climate change, people tend to focus on the car they use or on the amount of
8……..……….. that they consume. Not many people consider the environmental effects
of what they eat, even though food systems are responsible for a large proportion of the
9 ………..……….. being released. In fact, the impact of food systems exceeds the
contribution to climate change of all 10………..……….. throughout the world.
Questions 11 and 12.
Choose TWO letters, A-E.
Write the correct letter in boxes 11 and 12 on your answer sheet.
Which TWO facts about the forests does the writer mention?
A how the presence of forests benefits the environment
B the proportion of the world’s forests which have been destroyed
C the principal reason for which forests are cut down
D the species of crops which have the potential to protect forests
E how long it will take to reverse the damage caused by the forest clearances
Questions 13 and 14.
Choose TWO letters, A-E.
Write the correct letters in boxes 13 and 14 on your answer sheet.
Which TWO facts about food waste does the writer mention?
A the countries in the world which waste most food
B the percentage of food which is wasted by retailers
C the total annual proportion of food wasted worldwide
D the impact of food waste on global warming
E the rate at which global food waste is increasing each year

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DAY 7
Questions 15 and 16.
Choose TWO letters, A-E.
Write the correct letters in boxes 15 and 16 on your answer sheet.
Which TWO solutions to the problem of food waste does the writer mention?
A selling products which have minor imperfections
B limiting the range of perishable goods on offer in retail outlets
C encouraging consumers to keep food for longer rather than discarding it
D shifting food production to countries whose inhabitants are undernourished
E increasing refrigeration facilities in poorer regions of the world

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Day 8

Why Misinformation Is Appealing

psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/change-your-mind/202201/why-misinformation-is-appealing

In recent months, it has become commonplace to see reporting about individuals, such as
Samantha Wendell, who tragically died from COVID-19 after refusing vaccination due to
antivaccine misinformation. With growing numbers of such stories, the potentially lethal
consequences of misinformation become increasingly clear.

Misinformation about COVID-19 has contributed to higher case and death rates. A vexing
question is how these consequences have unfolded despite widespread efforts to correct
the misinformation. Governmental, media, and academic outlets have all repeatedly
debunked COVID-19 misinformation as it arises, yet belief in such misinformation
remains.

Why Do Corrections of Misinformation Often Fail?

The fact that belief in misinformation can persist after it has been corrected has been
known for a while, but researchers are still identifying why it occurs. Though many factors
likely contribute, one of growing interest is misinformation’s frequent ability to provide
people with a new sense of certainty or understanding.

People like to know the causes of events in the world. When misinformation provides a
sense of causal understanding, people will incorporate it into their understanding of what
causes or caused related events to occur. For instance, for those who believed there was
tremendous support for former President Trump and therefore expected him to be
reelected, his loss might have created uncertainty about how that could have happened.
Misinformation stating that the election was stolen offers a causal explanation that could
reduce that uncertainty.

Does Desire for Causal Understanding Outweigh the Truth?

Recent research we conducted (Susmann & Wegener) suggests that people’s desire for
causal understanding can lead them to resist corrections of misinformation. When
misinformation that provides causal understanding is corrected, people perceive it as a
threat to their understanding of the event. Because people want to understand, this is an
unpleasant experience. As such, people feel motivated to maintain causal understanding.
The simplest way to do this is to disregard the correction and continue believing the
misinformation.

We found support for these ideas across several studies. In one, participants were told
about a fire that supposedly occurred at a warehouse. Because we wanted to isolate the
role of causal understanding, we used a description of a particular fire because it should
be free from confounding factors like pre-existing knowledge or attitudes.

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Participants were initially told that the fire resulted from combustible materials being
carelessly stored in a side room (the misinformation). Later, participants were randomly
assigned to one of two conditions. In one, they received a correction of the
misinformation stating that no combustible materials were stored in the side room. In the
other condition, they received a correction of a separate piece of information irrelevant to
the cause of the fire regarding who had initially sounded the alarm. Therefore,
participants’ understanding of the cause of the fire was threatened by the first correction
but not the second.

Correction of the misinformation caused participants to report significantly greater

discomfort than correction of the irrelevant information. In addition, participants’
reported discomfort in the misinformation correction condition predicted their continued
belief in the misinformation—those who experienced higher levels of discomfort were
more likely to disregard the correction and to continue believing the misinformation than
those who experienced lower levels of discomfort.

Therefore, it appears that participants were motivated to maintain their causal

understanding. When that understanding was threatened by a correction, they felt
uncomfortable and rejected the correction in order to reduce their discomfort and retain
their causal understanding. It is notable that this occurred in a context about which
participants likely cared little. The fact that threats to participants’ understanding of what
caused this fire produced discomfort might suggest that peoples’ need to understand
events is quite influential, and the more important the event, the more discomfort from
threats to causal understanding might drive acceptance of misinformation.

How Can Corrections Be Made More Effective?

We examined whether this discomfort-driven process can be interrupted to make
corrections more effective. Namely, if people could be convinced that experiencing
discomfort in response to a correction is actually a good thing, that might prevent them
from seeking to reduce that discomfort.

In a separate study, all participants received the version of the message that contained the
misinformation correction. The instructions received before reading the message were
manipulated. In one condition, participants were told that experiencing discomfort when
one encounters conflicting information is a good thing; it means that one is not jumping
to conclusions based on incomplete information and is doing exactly what one should to
form the most accurate conclusion. In the second condition (the control condition),
participants did not receive these instructions.

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Those told to view discomfort positively were less uncomfortable with the correction of
the misinformation and also believed the misinformation significantly less than those in
the control condition. These results suggest that people’s interpretation of discomfort can
be altered, and doing so can change how people react to corrections. If discomfort from

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corrections is seen as something to embrace rather than avoid, the motivation to

disregard a correction to reduce discomfort is eliminated. As such, this approach might
offer a relatively simple means to make corrections more effective.

Conclusions
Although the continued influence of misinformation feels like an intractable problem,
those combatting misinformation are not powerless to stop it. Means can be developed to
increase the efficacy of corrections. To reliably increase correction effectiveness, it is likely
necessary to first identify why people are resistant to corrections. Those reasons might
differ across different pieces of misinformation or populations.

If discomfort reduces correction acceptance, there likely exist many factors that
contribute to this discomfort but also many ways to prevent this discomfort from causing
people to disregard corrections. By researching these questions more closely, we can help
to bring about solutions to this growing challenge.

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 DAY 8 ARTICLE - WORDLIST

lethal /ˈ liː .θ ə l/ adjective

able to cause or causing death; extremely dangerous
Three minutes after the fire started, the house was full of lethal fumes.
vexing /veksi ŋ / verb [ T ] OLD-FASHIONED

Extremely annoying or displeasing

debunk /ˌ diː ˈ bʌŋk/ verb [ T ] INFORMAL

to show that something is less important, less good or less true than it has been made to
appear
The writer's aim was to debunk the myth that had grown up around the actress.
persist /pəˈ sɪ st/ /pɚ-/ verb [ I ]
1. If an unpleasant feeling or situation persists, it continues to exist
If the pain persists, consult a doctor.
causal /ˈ kɔː .z ə l/ /ˈ kɑː -/ adjective FORMAL
causal relationship/link etc.
a relationship, link, etc. between two things in which one causes the other
Is there a causal relationship between violence on television and violent behaviour?
disregard /ˌ dɪ s.rɪ ˈ gɑː d/ /-ˈ gɑː rd/ verb [ T ]
to ignore something
He told us to disregard everything we'd learned so far and start again.
confound /kənˈ faʊnd/ verb [ T ]
to confuse and very much surprise someone, so that they are unable to explain or deal
with a situation
An elderly man from Hull has confounded doctors by recovering after he was officially
declared dead.
combustible /kəmˈ bʌs.tɪ .bl ฀/ adjective FORMAL
able to burn easily
Wood and coal are both combustible substances.
assign /əˈ saɪ n/ verb [ T ]
to decide a reason for something
Detectives have been unable to assign a motive for the murder.
The report assigned the blame for the accident to inadequate safety regulations.
retain /rɪ ˈ teɪ n/ verb [ T ]
1. SLIGHTLY FORMAL to keep or continue to have something
She has lost her battle to retain control of the company.
intractable /ɪ nˈ træk.tə.bl ฀/ adjective FORMAL
very difficult and seeming to be impossible to control, manage or solve
We are facing an intractable problem .
bring sth about phrasal verb [ M ]
to cause something to happen
He brought about his company's collapse by his reckless spending.

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DAY 8
READING PASSAGE 3
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based on Reading
Passage 3.
The knowledge society
A A CENTURY ago, the overwhelming majority of people in developed countries worked
with their hands: on farms, in domestic service, in small craft shops and in factories. There
was not even a word for people who made their living other than by manual work. These
days, the fastest-growing group in the developed world are "knowledge workers' - people
whose jobs require formal and advanced schooling.
B At present, this term is widely used to describe people with considerable theoretical
knowledge and learning: doctors, lawyers, teachers, accountants, chemical engineers. But
the most striking growth in the coming years will be in 'knowledge technologists’: computer
technicians, software designers, analysts in clinical labs, manufacturing technologists, and
so on. These people are as much manual workers as they are knowledge workers; in fact,
they usually spend far more time working with their hands than with their brains. But their
manual work is based on a substantial amount of theoretical knowledge which can be
acquired only through formal education. They are not, as a rule, much better paid than
traditional skilled workers, but they see themselves as professionals. Just as unskilled
manual workers in manufacturing were the dominant social and political force in the
twentieth century, knowledge technologists are likely to become the dominant social - and
perhaps also political force over the next decades
C Such workers have two main needs: formal education that enables them to enter
knowledge work in the first place, and continuing education throughout their working lives
to keep their knowledge up to date. For the old high-knowledge professionals such as
doctors, clerics and lawyers, formal education has been available for many centuries. But
for knowledge technologists, only a few countries so far provide systematic and organised
preparation. Over the next few decades, educational institutions to prepare knowledge
technologists will grow rapidly in all developed and emerging countries, just as new
institutions to meet new requirements have always appeared in the past
D What is different this time is the need for the continuing education of already well-trained
and highly knowledgeable adults. Schooling traditionally stopped when work began. In the
knowledge society it never stops. Continuing education of already highly educated adults
will therefore become a big growth area in the next society. But most of it will be delivered
in non- traditional ways, ranging from weekend seminars to online training programmes,
and in any number of places, from a traditional university to the student's home. The
information revolution, which is expected to have an enormous impact on education and on
traditional schools and universities, will probably have an even greater effect on the
continuing education of knowledge workers, allowing knowledge to spread near-instantly,
and making it accessible to everyone

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E All this has implications for the role of women in the labour force. Although women have
always worked, since time immemorial the jobs they have done have been different from
men's. Knowledge work, on the other hand, is 'unisex’, not because of feminist pressure,
but because it can be done equally well by both sexes. Knowledge workers, whatever their
sex, are professionals, applying the same knowledge, doing the same work, governed by
the same standards and judged by the same results.
F The knowledge society is the first human society where upward mobility is potentially
unlimited. Knowledge differs from all other means of production in that it cannot be
inherited or bequeathed from one generation to another. It has to be acquired anew by
every individual, and everyone starts out with the same total ignorance. And nowadays it is
assumed that everybody will be a 'success' - an idea that would have seemed ludicrous to
earlier generations. Naturally, only a tiny number of people ca reach outstanding levels of
achievement, but a very large number of people assume they will reach adequate levels.
G The upward mobility of the knowledge society, however, comes at a high price: the
psychological pressures and emotional traumas of the rat race. Schoolchildren in some
countries may suffer sleep deprivation because they spend their evenings at a crammer to
help them pass their exams. Otherwise they will not get into the prestige university of their
choice, and thus into a good job. In many different parts of the world, schools are becoming
viciously competitive. That this has happened over such a short time - no more than 30 or
40 years - indicates how much the fear of failure has already permeated the knowledge
society.
H Given this competitive struggle, a growing number of highly successful knowledge
workers of both sexes - business managers, university teachers, museum directors,
doctors - 'plateau' in their 40s. They know they have achieved all they will achieve. If their
work is all they have, they are in trouble. Knowledge workers therefore need to develop,
preferably while they are still young, a non-competitive life and community of their own, and
some serious outside interest - be it working as a volunteer in the community, playing in a
local orchestra or taking an active part in a small town's local government. This outside
interest will give them the opportunity for personal contribution and achievement.

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 DAY 8 PASSAGE - WORDLIST

living /ˈ lɪ v.ɪ ŋ/ noun JOB

1. [ C ] the money that you earn from your job
What do you do for a living (= What is your job) ?
striking /ˈ straɪ .kɪ ŋ/ adjective
1. very unusual or easily noticed, and therefore attracting a lot of attention
She bears a striking resemblance to her mother.
substantial /səbˈ stæn.ʃ ə l/ adjective LARGE
1. large in size, value or importance
The findings show a substantial difference between the opinions of men and women.
up-to-date /ˌ ʌp.təˈ deɪ t/ adjective
modern, recent, or containing the latest information
Great trouble is taken to keep our database up-to-date.
emerging /ɪ ˈ mɜː .dʒɪ ŋ/ /-ˈ mɝː -/ adjective [ before noun ] ( FORMAL emergent )
starting to exist
Western governments should be giving more aid to the emerging democracies of the
Third World.
emergent economies/markets
accessible /əkˈ ses.ə.bl ฀/ adjective
1. able to be reached or easily got
The resort is easily accessible by road, rail and air.
The problem with some of these drugs is that they are so very accessible.
immemorial /ˌ ɪ m.əˈ mɔː .ri.əl/ /-ˈ mɔː r.i-/ adjective
1. from/since time immemorial
LITERARY for a very long time
Her family had farmed that land since time immemorial.
feminist /ˈ fem.ɪ .nɪ st/ adjective
relating to feminism
the feminist movement
feminist issues/literature
mobility /mə ʊ ˈ bɪ l.ɪ .ti/ /moʊˈ bɪ l.ə.t ฀i/ noun [ U ] SLIGHTLY FORMAL
the ability to move freely or be easily moved
Some neck injuries cause total loss of mobility below the point of injury.
bequeath /bɪ ˈ kwiː ð/ verb [ T + two objects ] FORMAL
to arrange to give money or property to others after your death
Her father bequeathed her the family fortune in his will.
ludicrous /ˈ luː .dɪ .krəs/ adjective
stupid or unreasonable and deserving to be laughed at
a ludicrous idea/suggestion
the ˈ rat ˌ race noun [ S ]
a way of life in modern society, in which people compete with each other for power and
money
He decided to get out of the rat race, and went to work on a farm.
crammer /ˈ kræm.ə r / /-ɚ/ noun [ C ] UK OLD-FASHIONED INFORMAL
a school or a book which helps you to learn quickly
viciously /ˈ vɪ ʃ .ə.sli/ adverb
in a vicious manner, brutally, severely

permeate /ˈ pɜː .mi.eɪ t/ /ˈ pɝː -/ verb [ I usually + adv/prep T ] FORMAL

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to spread through something and be present in every part of it

The table has a plastic coating which prevents liquids from permeating into the wood beneath.
given /ˈ gɪ v. ə n/ preposition
knowing about or considering a particular thing
Given his age, he's a remarkably fast runner.
Given (the fact) that he's had six months to do this, he hasn't made much progress.

Answers and video explanation

here.Just scan the QR code:

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DAY 8
1 According to the writer, a hundred years ago in the developed world, manual workers
A were mainly located in rural areas.
B were not provided with sufficient education.
C were the largest single group of workers.
D were the fastest growing group in society.
2 The writer suggests that the most significant difference between knowledge technologists
and manual workers is
A their educational background.
B the pay they can expect.
C their skill with their hands.
D their attitudes to society.
3 He predicts that in the' coming years, knowledge technologists
A will have access to the same educational facilities as professional people.
B will have more employment opportunities in educational institutions.
C will require increasing mobility in order to find suitable education.
D will be provided with appropriate education for their needs.
4 According to the writer, the most important change in education this century will be
A the way in which people learn.
B the sorts of things people learn about.
C the use people make of their education.
D the type of people who provide education.
5 The writer says that changes in women's roles
A mean women are now judged by higher standards,
B have led to greater equality with men in the workplace.
C are allowing women to use their traditional skills in new ways
D may allow women to out-perform men for the first time.

Questions 6-13
Do the following statements agree with the claims of the writer in Reading Passage?
In boxes 6-13 on your answer sheet, write
YES if the statement agrees with the claims of the writer
NO if the statement contradicts the claims of the writer
NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this

6 In the knowledge society, knowledge can be passed down from parents to children.
7 Everyone is expected to be successful in the knowledge society.
8 The knowledge society means that some people may become successful by accident.
9 The knowledge society has both good and bad points.
10 Schoolchildren should not study so hard that they risk becoming ill.
11 It is right for schools to encourage a high degree of competition between their students.
12 When choosing outside interests, knowledge workers should avoid the need to try to
do better than other people.
13 Outside interests are more fulfilling if they involve helping other people.

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Day 9

Want to seem younger? It’s not the bags under your

eyes, but way you use your phone that’s the giveaway
theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jan/11/want-to-seem-younger-its-not-the-bags-under-your-eyes-but-way-
you-use-your-phone-thats-the-giveaway

Zoe Williams January 11, 2022

A lot of people, particularly at this self-improvement stage of the year, spend a great deal
of time worrying about what makes them look old. Is it the bags under the eyes or the
invisible triceps? This is daft, since, if you have a ring light or – better yet – are willing to
pretend that your camera isn’t working, no one needs to know what you really look like
unless they live with you (and those people have a fair idea already). The giveaway now is
how you use your phone. You can absolutely carbon-date yourself in a single exchange.

If you leave voicemail, that makes you a boomer, according to assorted experts. If you
send a voice note, you are (spiritually, at least) a millennial, or even generation Z. This
makes no sense, since, to your interlocutor, these are two identical experiences: an
annoying taped message that they are burdened with listening to. However, if you query
the rules, that puts you back in boomer territory.

If you trail off a text with “…”, this situates you right in the middle of generation X, but if
you ask a younger acquaintance what is so wrong with ellipsis, you doubly age yourself,
first by using ellipsis and second by knowing what it is called.

Between two people over 40, switching from a text to a phone call in the middle of an
exchange is a little infra dig, but not drastic. You might just be at a loose end. In the 30 to
40 bracket, to call anyone at all without scheduling it first is considered incredibly
impertinent. To the under-30s, this counts as de-escalation – don’t intensify the tone,
change the platform.

Boomers answer their phone the minute it rings, like it is a smoke alarm. They could be in
the middle of getting knighted, or being diagnosed with a terminal illness, and they would
still go: “Ooh, unknown caller ID – could be important.” There is a generation above,
sometimes called the “silent generation”, where they keep their phone in a drawer, forget
it is there and might call you back a month later. This used to really bug me, but now I
find it ineffably charming and nostalgic, like vinyl.

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 DAY 9 ARTICLE - WORDLIST

bags under your eyes

dark, loose or swollen skin under your eyes because of tiredness or old age
giveaway /ˈ gɪ v.əˌ weɪ / noun [ C ] ( ALSO give-away ) SHOW
2. INFORMAL something that tells or shows something secret, often without intending to
He said he'd given up smoking, but the empty packets in the bin were a dead give-away
(= clearly showed the secret truth) .
triceps /ˈ traɪ .seps/ noun [ C ] plural triceps or tricepses
the large muscle at the back of the upper arm
daft /dɑː ft/ /dæft/ adjective INFORMAL
silly or stupid
It was a pretty daft idea anyway.
carbon ˈ dating noun [ U ]
a method of calculating the age of extremely old objects by measuring the amount of a
particular type of carbon in them
assorted /əˈ sɔː .tɪ d/ /-ˈ sɔː r.t ฀ɪ d/ adjective
consisting of various types mixed together
a case of assorted wines
interlocutor /ˌ ɪ n.təˈ lɒk.jʊ.tə r / /-t ฀ɚˈ lɑː .kjə.t ฀ɚ/ noun [ C ] FORMAL
1. someone who is involved in a conversation
2. someone who is involved in a conversation and who is representing someone else
Abraham was able to act as interpreter and interlocutor for our group.
query /ˈ kwɪ ə.ri/ /ˈ kwɪ r.i/ verb [ T ]
to ask questions, especially in order to check if something is true
A few students have queried their marks.
trail away/off phrasal verb
When a person's voice or a similar sound trails away/off, it becomes quieter and less
confident and then stops completely
His voice trailed off as he saw the look on her face.
ellipsis /ɪ ˈ lɪ p.sɪ s/ noun plural ellipses SPECIALIZED LANGUAGE
1. [ C or U ] when words are left out of a sentence but the sentence can still be
understood
An example of ellipsis is "What percentage was left?" "Twenty" (= 20 per cent) .
infra dig /ˌ ɪ n.frəˈ dɪ g/ adjective [ after verb ] UK OLD-FASHIONED
below what you consider to be socially acceptable
[ + to infinitive ] Diane thinks it's a bit infra dig to do her own housework.
bracket /ˈ bræk.ɪ t/ noun GROUP
2. [ C ] a set group with fixed upper and lower limits
They were both surgeons in a high income bracket.
terminal /ˈ tɜː .mɪ .nəl/ /ˈ tɝː -/ adjective ILLNESS
1. (of a disease or illness) leading gradually to death
She has terminal cancer.
2. A terminal patient is one who is seriously ill and will die soon.
bug /bʌg/ verb [ T ] -gg- ANNOY
1. INFORMAL to annoy or worry someone
He's been bugging me all morning.
ineffable /ɪ ˈ nef.ə.bl ฀/ adjective FORMAL
causing so much emotion, especially pleasure, that it cannot be described
ineffable joy/beauty

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ineffably – adv.

vinyl /ˈ vaɪ .n ə l/ noun [ U ]

strong plastic which can be bent, and which is used for making floor coverings, furniture,
clothing, etc. or (in the past) records

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DAY 9
READING PASSAGE 2
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-16, which are based on Reading
Passage 2 below.
How babies see colour
A Alice Skelton and fellow researchers at the Baby Lab at the University of Sussex in
the UK are attempting to answer a basic question which has fascinated parents and
scientists alike: when it comes to colour, what exactly can babies see? The Baby Lab
study also hopes to develop ways to identify babies at risk of becoming colour blind and
to discover ways to minimise the impact of this condition on their health and well-being.
The technology used at the Baby Lab involves a sophisticated eye-tracking system
which allows the researchers to follow the eye movements of the babies. While a
camera locks its focus onto their faces, sensors register the corneal reflections in the
babies’ eyes and the position of the pupils in the eyes. With this data, the researchers
can assess the babies’ reactions to colours.
B To illustrate one of their methods of studying babies, the Sussex researchers place
an infant subject, four-month-old Teo Bosten-Lam, in a padded seat arranged so he
gazes at a computer screen. The screen is grey, but in the top right-hand corner is a
deep blue circle. When Teo shows he is aware of the circle by looking directly at it, it
changes into a smiley face and a happy tune fills the room. At one point, Teo begins to
look around the room. When this happens, suddenly a black and white spinning disc
appears on the screen, making a ‘bong’ sound. A researcher explains, ‘Babies can’t
resist the black and white swirl things.’ These are played when they look away to get
their attention back to the screen. And, when Teo shows he is getting tired of the whole
process, the screen flashes a clip of an animated cartoon character. This results in
Teo’s eyes returning to the screen.
C To a baby, the world changes rapidly. At birth, everything is a blur, with visual acuity
around 5% of that a mature individual and faces initially only discernible at a distance of
around 30 cm. But change is rapid. ‘The early stages of learning to see colour and basic
forms happen relatively quickly,’ says Alex Wade, professor of psychology at Britain’s
University of York and an expert in visual processes. By the age of six months, he adds,
a baby’s visual acuity has developed to almost its full extent.
D Just how such changes occur, and their impact on a baby’s understanding of the
world, is the driving force behind baby labs around the world in many different things.
The Sussex Baby Lab is attempting to discover how colour is seen and understood by
infants; ‘It is a myth that babies see in black and white,’ says Anna Franklin, head of the
Baby Lab, pointing out that studies have found that newborn babies can see large,
bright patches of red on a grey background. An expert on colour vision, Franklin is
engaged in infancy to why certain children have colour obsessions. Her research has
aided the development of infant toys, as well as children’s theatre and television shows.
E That we can see the world in glorious colour at all, Franklin points out, depends on
specialist cells in the retinas of our eyes. Known as cones, these come in three types –
those sensitive to long, medium, and short wavelengths of light. While babies are born
with all three types of cones, it takes time for these to mature, and for the brain to make
sense of the signals on which a baby’s discrimination of colours depends. By two

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months, babies can tell red and green colours apart; a few weeks later, they can also
recongise blues and yellows. But the intensity of the colours is crucial. Franklin notes
that if you show a baby a kind of washed-out green, they won’t be able to see it, even if
they can see a strong green. While a gradual improvement in a baby’s ability to see
faint colours occurs as they mature, it isn’t known whether all colours need to be just as
strong for a baby to spot them.
F Skelton has found, through testing more than 40 babies, that even at four months they
need blues and yellows to be stronger than reds and greens in order to be able to see
them. Recently, Franklin and her team have been exploring the number of colour
categories babies possess. More than 170 babies were recruited for the experiment,
with each repeatedly shown two squares of the same colour, then two of different
colours, and the babies’ behaviour was monitored. ‘The upshot is babies have got five
colour categories, we think: red, green, blue, purple and yellow-brown,’ says Skelton.
Further categories, such as orange and pink, appear to emerge later with language.
But, not all societies categorise colours in the same way. This may be linked to the
words in different languages for particular colours. And the availability words may
depend on the needs of that society to be able to differentiate certain colours.

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sophisticated /səˈ fɪ s.tɪ .keɪ .tɪ d/ /-ɪ d/ adjective

1. having a good understanding of the way people behave and/or a good knowledge of
culture and fashion
She was slim, svelte and sophisticated.
I don't suppose I have any books that would suit your sophisticated tastes.
He was older than me and from London and I thought him very sophisticated.
2. clever in a complicated way and therefore able to do complicated tasks
I think a more sophisticated approach is needed to solve this problem.
These are among the most sophisticated weapons in the world.
cornea /kɔː ˈ ni.ə/ /ˈ kɔː r.ni-/ noun [ C ]
the transparent outer covering of the eye
corneal – of or related to the cornea

pupil /ˈ pjuː .p ə l/ noun [ C ] EYE

3. the circular black area in the centre of your eye, through which light enters
Pupils contract in bright light, and dilate in darkness.
padded /ˈ pæd.ɪ d/ adjective
containing a layer of soft material used for protection or to give shape
It's a short jacket with padded shoulders .
blur /blɜː r / /blɝː / noun [ S ]
1. something that you cannot see clearly
If I don't wear my glasses, everything is just a blur.
2. something that you cannot remember or understand clearly
It all happened so long ago that it's just a blur to me now.
The last few days seem to have gone by in a blur.
acuity /əˈ kjuː .ə.ti/ /-ə.t ฀i/ noun [ U ] FORMAL
the ability to hear, see or think accurately and clearly
Tiredness also affects visual acuity.
discernible , US ALSO discernable /dɪ ˈ sɜː .nɪ .bl ฀/ /-ˈ sɝː -/ adjective FORMAL
able to be seen or understood
The influence of Rodin is discernible in the younger artist.
There is no discernible reason why this should be the case.
retina /ˈ ret.ɪ .nə/ /ˈ ret ฀. ə n.ə/ noun [ C ] plural retinas or retinae
the area at the back of the eye that receives light and sends pictures of what the eye sees
to the brain
tell sth/sb apart phrasal verb
to be able to see the difference between two very similar things or people
As babies, the twins were so alike that I just couldn't tell them apart.
intensity /ɪ nˈ ten t .sɪ .ti/ /-sə.t ฀i/ noun
[ C or U ] the strength of something which can be measured such as light, sound, etc.
measures of light intensity
washed-up /ˌ wɒʃ tˈ ʌp/ /ˌ wɑː ʃ t-/ adjective [ after verb ]
If you are washed-up, the job for which you are trained is finished and you have no
further chances of success in the future
The tragedy of being a dancer is that you're all washed-up by the time you're thirty-five.
crucial /ˈ kruː .ʃ ə l/ adjective
extremely important or necessary
a crucial decision/question

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Her work has been crucial to the project's success.

spot /spɒt/ /spɑː t/ verb -tt- SEE
1. [ T ] to see or notice someone or something, usually because you are looking hard
I've just spotted Malcolm - he's over there, near the entrance.
recruit /rɪ ˈ kruː t/ verb [ T ]
to persuade someone to work for a company or become a new member of an
organization, especially the army
Charities such as Oxfam are always trying to recruit volunteers to help in their work.

Answers and video explanation

here.Just scan the QR code:

93
DAY 9
Questions 1-6
Reading Passage 2 has six paragraphs, A-F.
Choose the correct heading for each paragraph from the list of headings below.
Write the correct number, i-viii, in boxes 1-6 on your answer sheet.
List of Headings
i A comparison of the vision of babies with that of adults
ii Devices for measuring colour intensity
iii Ways in which bright colours are used to sell baby products
iv Possible cultural influences on colour perception
v A popular misconception about colours newly born babies can see
vi Maintaining a baby’s concentration during an experimental procedure
vii The aims and potential medical benefits of the research
viii Structures within the eye important for colour recognition

1 Paragraph A
2 Paragraph B
3 Paragraph C
4 Paragraph D
5 Paragraph E
6 Paragraph F

Questions 7 and 8
Choose TWO letters, A-E.
Write the correct letters in boxes 7 and 8 on your answer sheet.
Which TWO of the following are mentioned with regard to the Sussex Baby Lab research?
A A camera maintains direct attention on the baby’s face
B When a baby notices a screen image, the image automatically changes.
C A baby simles when he sees a new colour.
D A cartoon clip is used to show different bright colours
E A bright colour appears on a screen to signal the end of an experiment

Questions 9 and 10
Choose TWO letters, A-E.
Write the correct letters in boxes 9 and 10 on your answer sheet.
Which TWO of the following statements are made about a baby’s ability to see?
A Their clarity of vision will improve considerably in their first few months of life
B They can see black and white objects more clearly than coloured ones
C They are able to perceive a limited number of colours from birth
D They rapidly develop a preference for brightly coloured toys
E Their eyes contain fewer cones than those of an adult

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DAY 9
Questions 11-16
Complete the summary below.
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 11-16 on your answer sheet.
The human eye and colour perception
Cones are 11 ………………… in the eye which serve a particular function in the recognition
of colours. They all respond to light but vary in the different 12 …………….. they respond
to. Although babies have three types of cones from birth, their brains initially have difficulty
understanding the 13 ………………. coming from them. As these cones mature, the baby’s
power of 14 ……………………. develops between colours such as red and green.
However, an important factor in the baby’s ability to tell certain colours apart is the 15
………………., as weak colours are difficult for the baby to recognise. Over time, there is a
slow 16 ……………….. in this.

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Day 10

Sometimes Science Is Wrong

scientificamerican.com/article/sometimes-science-is-wrong

In 1996 scientists announced the astonishing news that they’d discovered what they
believed might be signs of ancient life inside a meteorite from Mars. In
2014 astrophysicists declared that they’d found direct evidence at last for the “inflationary
universe” theory, first proposed in the 1980s.

What these assertions had in common was that they were based on research by highly
qualified, credentialed scientists—and also that the "discoveries" turned out to be wrong.
Today essentially nobody thinks the meteorite contained persuasive evidence that it once
harbored life, or that the astrophysicists had found anything more exciting than dust in
the Milky Way.

This sort of backtracking isn’t unusual. In part, it happens because scientists almost
always have to revise cutting-edge research, or even retract it, as the scientific community
tries to replicate it and fails, or as more and better evidence comes in.

The problem science journalists face is that this process is fundamentally at odds with
how news coverage works, and that this can be confusing to readers. In most areas—
politics, international relations, business, sports—the newest thing journalists report is
almost always the most definitive. The Supreme Court heard arguments on Mississippi’s
challenge to Roe v. Wade; pitcher Max Scherzer signed a three-year, $130-million
contract with the Mets; Facebook rebranded its parent company as “Meta.” All of these
are indisputably true. And when the court issues its ruling next year, or if Scherzer is
injured and can’t play; or if Facebook re-rebrands itself, that won’t make these stories
incorrect; they’ll just be out-of-date.

But in scientific research, the newest thing is often the least definitive—we have seen this
over and over with COVID—with science reported, then revised, as more information
comes in.

The newest things are just a first step toward answering a deeper question—and
sometimes it’s a misstep that won’t be identified until months or years later. Sometimes,
as may have been the case with “cold fusion” back in the 1980s, it’s self-delusion on the
part of the scientists. Other times, as in the case of a front-page story about a
potential cancer cure in the New York Times, the writing is so breathless that readers fail
to notice the caveats.

Same goes for particles that seemed to travel faster than the speed of light—something the
scientists themselves said was almost certainly some kind of mistake, but which reporters
couldn’t resist running with (it turned out to be a false reading caused by a loose cable).
Sometimes, as with the Mars meteorite, the breathless coverage is driven a powerful
publicity campaign—in this case, by NASA. And sometimes, as argued by prosecutors in
the trial of Elizabeth Holmes, founder of Theranos, it’s just plain fraud.

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But even when the research is published in a major, peer-reviewed scientific journal, it
can still turn out to be wrong, no matter how carefully it’s done. Science journalists know
this, which is why we include caveats in our reporting.

But we can’t go overboard in emphasizing the caveats, crucial as they are, because that’s
just not how news is done. I once suggested to an editor at Time magazine that I lead a
story about an Alzheimer’s drug that looked promising in mice: “In a discovery that will
almost certainly have no impact whatever on human health, scientists announced
today….” He looked at me, aghast. It was true, since most drugs that work in mice fail in
humans—but he argued, correctly, that nobody would read past the first sentence if I
wrote it that way. It could have an impact, so I could, and must, start the story that way.
These days, we tend to avoid mouse research stories altogether, for that very reason.

But if you put the excitement first and the caveats further down, readers are likely to see
the latter as merely dutiful. It can be like the “results not typical” disclaimers that appear
in ads trumpeting the amazing success of weight-loss products. In principle, readers or
viewers are supposed to take serious note—but how many do?

And on a larger scale, a science discovery that makes headlines when it’s first announced
is almost certainly not going to make headlines when the debunking eventually happens
weeks or months later. Again, that’s just the way it works: “Scientists Find Amazing
Thing” is big news. “Scientists Find that the Thing They Thought Was Amazing Is Not
Amazing” is less likely to be framed that way—even though it should be. As a result, I still
run into people who think we found evidence of ancient bacteria on Mars more than two
decades ago.

That being said, some science-related reporting can be end-of-the-line factual: a powerful
tsunami kills hundreds of thousands in South and Southeast Asia; the space shuttle
Challenger is destroyed shortly after launch; scientists publish the first draft of the
human genome; President Biden announces a travel ban to try and slow the spread of the
Omicron variant of the coronavirus. All of these were factual events where the science
didn’t need to be independently confirmed, even though in many ways, in the follow-up
stories, the science behind the events was.

A decade ago, John Rennie, a former editor-in-chief of Scientific American, made a

startling proposal. Writing in the Guardian, he suggested that science journalists agree to
wait six months before they report on new research results. His point was that it takes
time for cutting-edge science to be digested and evaluated by the scientific community,
and that what looks like a game-changer at first can turn out, on reflection, to be less than
meets the eye—or even just plain wrong.

Rennie knew this would never actually happen, of course; it would violate the quasisacred
notion that new, potentially important information shouldn’t be withheld from the public
—and journalists being a highly competitive lot, someone would inevitably publish long
before the six months were up anyway. And in cases where lives are potentially at stake, as
with the Omicron variant, the worst-case scenario might never happen, just as was the

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case in the great swine flu nonepidemic of 1976. Ignoring the potential threat before we
fully understand it is a very risky idea, and one that hasn’t served our global pandemic
response very well.

But, still, Rennie had a point.

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 DAY 10 ARTICLE - WORDLIST

inflationary /ɪ nˈ fleɪ .ʃ ə n. ə r.i/ /-er.i/ adjective

causing price increases and inflation
inflationary policies/pressures/trends
persuasive /pəˈ sweɪ .sɪ v/ /pɚ-/ adjective
making you want to do or believe a particular thing
a persuasive speaker/speech
Your arguments are very persuasive.
He can be very persuasive.
harbour UK , US harbor /ˈ hɑː .bə r / /ˈ hɑː r.bɚ/ verb [ T ] HIDE
2. to protect someone or something bad, especially by hiding them when the police are
looking for them
to harbour a criminal
backtrack /ˈ bæk.træk/ verb [ I ] CHANGE OPINION
2. to say that you did not mean something you said earlier or say that you have changed
your opinion
[ + speech ] "All right, " he backtracked, "It's possible that I was mistaken."
The officers were forced to backtrack on their statements.
She refused to backtrack from her criticisms of the proposal.
retract /rɪ ˈ trækt/ verb FORMAL
1. [ T ] to take back an offer or statement, etc. or admit that a statement was false
retract an invitation/confession/promise
When questioned on TV, the minister retracted his allegations .
parent ˈ company noun [ C ]
a company which controls other smaller companies
indisputable /ˌ ɪ n.dɪ ˈ spjuː .tə.bl ฀/ /-t ฀ə-/ adjective
true, and impossible to doubt
an artist of indisputable skill
One fact is indisputable - this must never be allowed to happen again.
indisputably /ˌ ɪ n.dɪ ˈ spjuː .tə.bli/ /-t ฀ə-/ adverb
Segovia, she said, was indisputably the finest guitar player of the twentieth century.
self-delusion /ˌ self.dɪ ˈ luː .ʒ ə n/ noun [ C or U ]
when you allow yourself to believe something that is not true
It's self-delusion if he thinks he'll be offered a better contract.
caveat /ˈ kæv.i.æt/ noun [ C ] FORMAL
a warning to consider something before acting further, or a statement which limits a more
general statement; a proviso
He agreed to the interview, with the caveat that he could approve the final article.
prosecutor /ˈ prɒs.ɪ .kjuː .tə r / /ˈ prɑː .sɪ .kjuː .t ฀ɚ/ noun [ C ]
a legal representative who officially accuses someone of committing a crime, especially
in a court of law
trial /traɪ əl/ noun LEGAL PROCESS
1. [ C or U ] the hearing of statements and showing of objects, etc. in a court of law to
judge whether a person is guilty of a crime or to decide a case or a legal matter
trial proceedings
Trial by jury is a fundamental right.
fraud /frɔː d/ /frɑː d/ noun CRIME
1. [ C or U ] the crime of getting money by deceiving people
credit card fraud

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He is fighting extradition to Hong Kong to face trial on fraud charges .

promising /ˈ prɒm.ɪ .sɪ ŋ/ /ˈ prɑː .mɪ -/ adjective
Something which is promising shows signs that it is going to be successful or enjoyable
They won the award for the most promising new band of the year.
aghast /əˈ gɑː st/ /-ˈ gæst/ adjective [ after verb ]
suddenly filled with strong feelings of shock and worry
He looked at her aghast.
trumpet /ˈ trʌm.pɪ t/ verb ANNOUNCE
2. [ T ] MAINLY DISAPPROVING to announce or state something proudly to a lot of people
The museum has been loudly trumpeting its reputation as one of the finest in the world.
run into sb phrasal verb
to meet someone you know when you are not expecting to
Graham ran into someone he used to know at school the other day.
That being said – however

game-changer - an event, idea or procedure that effects a significant shift in thecurrent

way if doing or thinking about something

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DAY 10
READING PASSAGE 2
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-14, which are based on Reading
Passage 2 below.
Face to Face
Malcolm Gladwell reports on the art – or is it science? – of face reading
All of us read faces. When someone says, I love you', we look into that person's eyes to
judge his or her sincerity. When we meet someone new, we often pick up on subtle signals,
so that, even though he or she may have talked in a normal and friendly manner,
afterwards, we say, 'I don't think he liked me' or ‘I don't think she's very happy'. We easily
distinguish complex differences in facial expression.
The face is such an extraordinarily efficient instrument of communication that there must be
rules that govern the way we interpret facial expressions. But what are those rules? And
are they the same for everyone? In the 1960s, a young psychologist named Paul Ekman
began to study facial expression, and he discovered that no one knew the answers to
those questions. Ekman went to see an anthropologist called Margaret Mead and
suggested to her that he travel around the world to find out whether people from different
cultures agreed on the meaning of different facial expressions. Mead was unimpressed.
Like most social scientists of her day, she believed that expression was culturally
determined – that we simply used our faces according to a set of learned social
conventions.
Ekman was undaunted; he began travelling to places like Japan, Brazil and Argentina,
carrying photographs of men and women making a variety of distinctive faces. Everywhere
he went, people agreed on what those expressions meant. But he wondered whether
people in the developed world had all picked up the same cultural rules from watching the
same movies and television shows. So he set out again, this time making his way through
the jungles of Papua New Guinea, to the most remote villages, and he found that the
tribesmen there had no problem interpreting the expressions either. This may not sound
like much of a breakthrough. But in the scientific climate of the time, it was a revelation.
Ekman had established that expressions were the universal products of evolution. There
were fundamental lessons to be learned from the face, if you knew where to look.
If the face was part of a physiological system, he reasoned, the system could be learned.
He set out to teach himself and was introduced to the face reading business by a man
named Silvan Tomkins, possibly the best face reader of all time. Ekman's most memorable
encounter with Tomkins took place in the late 1960s. Ekman had just tracked down 30,000
metres of film that had been shot by the virologist Carleton Gajdusek in the remote jungles
of Papa New Guinea. Some of the footage was of a tribe called the South Fore, who were
peaceful and friendly people. The rest was of the Kukukuku, who were hostile and
murderous. Ekman was still working on the problem of whether human facial expressions
were universal, and the Gajdusek film was invaluable. For six months, Ekman and his
collaborator, Wallace Friesen, sorted through the footage. They cut extraneous scenes,

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focusing just on close-ups of the faces of the tribesmen, and when the cuts were finished,
Ekman called in Tomkins.
The two men, protégé and mentor, sat at the back of the room, as faces flickered across
the screen. Ekman had told Tomkins nothing about the tribes involved. At the end, Tomkins
went up to the screen and pointed to the faces of the South Fore. "These are a sweet
gentle people, very indulgent, very peaceful,' he said. Then he pointed to the faces of the
Kukukuku. 'This other group is violent, and there is lots of evidence to suggest murder'
Even today, a third of a century later, Ekman cannot get over what Tomkins did. Ekman
recalls, 'He went up to the screen and, while we played the film backward in slow motion,
he pointed out the particular bulges and wrinkles in the face that he was using to make his
judgement. ‘That's when Irealised,' Ekman says, 'that I had to unpack the face.'
Ekman and Friesen decided that they needed to create a taxonomy* of facial expressions,
so day after day, they sat across from each other and began to make every conceivable
face they could. Soon, though, they realised that their efforts weren't enough. 'I met an
anthropologist, Wade Seaford, and told him what I was doing, and he said, "Do you have
this muscular movement?" And it wasn't in Ekman's system because he had never seen it
before. 'I had built a system based not on what the face can do, but on what I had seen. I
was devastated. I realized that I had to learn the anatomy.
The two then combed through medical textbooks that outlined each of the facial muscles,
and identified every distinct muscular movement that the face could make. There were 43
such movements. Ekman and Friesen called them 'action units'. Then they sat across from
each other again and began manipulating each action unit in turn, first locating the muscle
in their mind and then concentrating on isolating it, watching each other closely as they did,
checking their movements in a mirror and videotaping the movements for their records.
When each of those action units had been mastered, Ekman and Friesen began working
action units in combination. The entire process took seven years. "There are 300
combinations of two muscles’ Ekman says. ‘If you add in a third muscle, you get over 4000.
We took it up to five muscles, which is over 10,000 visible facial configurations.' Most of
those 10,000 facial expressions don't mean anything, of course. They are the kind of
nonsense faces that children make. But, by working through each action-unit combination,
Ekman and Friesen identified about 3000 that did seem to mean something, until they had
catalogued the essential repertoire of human emotion.
* a scientific list

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 DAY 10 PASSAGE - WORDLIST

undaunted /ʌnˈ dɔː n.tɪ d/ /-ˈ dɑː n.t ฀ɪ d/ adjective [ after verb ]
still determined and enthusiastic, despite problems or no success
Undaunted by the cold and the rain, people danced until 2 a.m.
The team remain undaunted, despite three defeats in a row.
breakthrough /ˈ breɪ k.θruː / noun [ C ]
an important discovery or event that helps to improve a situation or provide an answer to
a problem
Scientists are hoping for a breakthrough in the search for a cure for cancer.
revelation /ˌ rev.əˈ leɪ .ʃ ə n/ noun [ C or U ]
1. when something is made known that was secret, or a fact that is made known
a moment of revelation
encounter /ɪ nˈ kaʊn.tə r / /-t ฀ɚ/ noun [ C ]
1. a meeting, especially one that happens by chance
I had a rather alarming encounter with a wild pig.
virology /vaɪ əˈ rɒl.ə.dʒi/ /vaɪ ˈ rɑː .lə-/ noun [ U ]
the scientific study of viruses and the diseases that they cause
footage /ˈ fʊt.ɪ dʒ/ /ˈ fʊt ฀-/ noun [ U ]
(a piece of) film especially one showing an event
Woody Allen's film 'Zelig' contains early newsreel footage.
protégé /ˈ prɒt.ə.ʒeɪ / /ˈ prɑː .t ฀ə-/ noun [ C ]
a young person who is helped and taught by an older and usually famous person
Shapur's restaurant is full every night as trendy Londoners enjoy the wonders of his
young protégé, chef Glyn Fussell.
flicker /ˈ flɪ k.ə r / /-ɚ/ verb
to appear for a short time or to make a sudden movement
A smile flickered across her face.
He'd been in a coma for weeks, when all of a sudden he flickered an eyelid.
indulgent /ɪ nˈ dʌl.dʒənt/ adjective
allowing someone to have or do what they want, especially when this is not good for
them
indulgent relatives
an indulgent smile
e/get over sth
to feel physically or mentally better after an illness or an upsetting experience
It takes you a while to get over an illness like that.
His girlfriend finished with him last year and he's not over her yet.
bulge /bʌldʒ/ noun [ C ]
1. a curved shape sticking out from the surface of something
I wondered what the bulge in her coat pocket was.
2. a sudden increase that soon returns to the usual level
There was a bulge in spending in the early part of the year.
wrinkle /ˈ rɪ ŋ.kl ฀/ noun [ C ] LINE
wrinkle
1. a small line in the skin caused by old age
fine wrinkles around the eyes
anti-wrinkle creams
taxonomy /tækˈ sɒn.ə.mi/ /-ˈ sɑː .nə-/ noun
a scientific list

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devastated /ˈ dev.ə.steɪ .tɪ d/ /-t ฀ɪ d/ adjective VERY UPSET

2. very shocked and upset
She was utterly devastated when her husband died.
comb /kəʊm/ /koʊm/ verb [ T ] SEARCH
2. to search a place or an area very carefully in order to find something
The police combed the whole area for evidence.
Investigators combed through the wreckage.

Answers and video explanation

here.Just scan the QR code:

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Questions 1-7
Complete the summary below using NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS AND/OR A
NUMBER from the reading passage.

Although we may not realise it, we 1 ……………….. on a daily basis. In the 1960s, a
psychologist named Paul Ekman decided to establish the 2 …………………… that govern
how we do this. He first carried out his research using 3 …………………….. which he took
with him to different countries. By doing this, he discovered that there was no
4………………. link to the way we interpret expressions. But it was after his meetings with
5 ……………. that he began to create a list of facial expressions. By analysing every
6……………..... that the face can make, he and his partner identified a total of 7
………………….. different facial experessions.
Questions 8-14
Look at the following statements (Questions 8-14) and the list of people below.
Match each statement with the correct person.
NB You may use any letter more than once.

8 helped edit material for an experiment

9 introduced a factor that had been overlooked
10 is considered by some to be the most successful interpreter of facial expression
11 rejected the usefulness of an idea
12 realised that many areas of facial expression were unexplained
13 provided useful material for research
14 successfully distinguished characteristics from unknown faces

List of People
A Paul Ekman
B Margaret Mead
C Silvan Tomkins
D Carleton Gajdusek
E Wallace Friesen
F Wade Seaford

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Book readers have realised that you can’t replace the

feel of turning a real page
theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jan/15/book-readers-have-realised-you-cant-replace-the-feel-of-turning-a-
real-page

Tim Adams January 15, 2022

In 2009, when Amazon’s Kindle ebook was launched in the UK, it seemed impossible to
imagine that a dozen years later booksellers would be reporting a record year of sales of
paperbacks and hardbacks. Despite the fact that bookshops were closed for three months
early in 2021, figures show that the rejuvenation of the printed word has gathered pace.

That trend undermines the tech companies’ seductive promises that apps and platforms
will always and inevitably eclipse physical objects. The unexpected triumph of printed
books – partly a result of their enhanced design values – proves that not all upgrades
represent progress.

As the great after-hours polymath Tom Waits once observed to me: “If I want to walk out
in the desert and heat up a tin of beans on a fire, I still can. In movies such as Gattaca, the
space-age stuff is always all there is. But in the world there is never just one way of living.
It’s more like a big junkyard. Put it this way: I’m not afraid I’m going to end up on a space
station in aluminium-foil underwear.”

Beguiled by slime

Among the more surprising books that currently feature on bestseller lists are those
devoted to the biography of the ground beneath our feet. Merlin Sheldrake’s mesmerising
Entangled Life, his quest into the subterranean kingdom of fungi, began that trend. I’ve
subsequently been hooked on Susanne Wedlich’s uncovering of 3bn years of Slime and
Robin Wall Kimmerer’s cultural history, Gathering Mosses. If these books share a thread
it is that life is fundamentally cooperation; its principle “we”, not “I”. As the magically
named Sheldrake puts it: “A mycelial network is a helpful reminder that all life-forms are
processes not things. The ‘you’ of five years ago was made from different stuff than the
‘you’ of today. Nature is an event that never stops.”

Legal aid

British people find it hard to take lawyers to their hearts. An exception might have to be
made, however, for Jolyon Maugham and his Good Law Project.

On a busy news day last Wednesday, with the competing shame of the prime minister and
Prince Andrew dominating the headlines, Maugham’s latest victory in the high court,
proving the illegality of the government’s “VIP lane” for PPE procurement, was relegated

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downpage. As the full detail of the billions squandered in the chaotic early response to the
pandemic emerges, however, it may well prove the story that most defines the unravelling
core belief of Johnsonism – that laws are for other people.

Old haunts

My journalistic highlight of the past couple of years was visiting 93-year-old Jan Morris at
her home in north Wales. Morris, the most mercurial of spirits, was full of a powerful
presentiment both of her mortality and what might come next. She gaily imagined an
afterlife that involved both a great love affair with Lord Jacky Fisher, former admiral of
the fleet, and the haunting of her two spiritual homes: the River Dwyfor beside her house
and the cliffs of Trieste, where she would again “watch the nightingales swarm”.

Her life exemplified a belief that there’s no need to settle as a single being. That shape-
shifting spirit is alive and well in the new posthumous collection of Morris’s essays,
Allegorizings.

In one, she dreams of an alternative Britain in which Princess Diana, our “patron sinner”,
still bewitches the world in a “summer dress of blazing crimson and an amazing hat”,
eternally uttering the fond farewell Morris always aspired to: “It HAS been fun!”

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 DAY 11 ARTICLE - WORDLIST

rejuvenate /rɪ ˈ dʒuː .v ə n.eɪ t/ verb [ T ]

1. to make someone look or feel young and energetic again
She felt rejuvenated by her fortnight in the Bahamas.
2. to make an organization or system more effective, productive and modern by
introducing new methods and ideas
He has decided to rejuvenate the team by bringing in a lot of new, young players.
rejuvenation /rɪ ˌ dʒuː .v ə nˈ eɪ .ʃ ə n/ noun [ U ]
undermine /ˌ ʌn.dəˈ maɪ n/ /-dɚ-/ verb [ T ]
to make someone less confident, less powerful or less likely to succeed, or to make
something weaker, often gradually
Criticism just undermines their confidence.
inevitably /ɪ ˈ nev.ɪ .tə.bli/ /-t ฀ə-/ adverb
in a way that cannot be avoided
Their arguments inevitably end in tears.
seductive /sɪ ˈ dʌk.tɪ v/ adjective PERSUADING
1. intended to seduce someone
It was a seductive black evening dress.
polymath /ˈ pɒl.ɪ .mæθ/ /ˈ pɑː .lɪ -/ noun [ C ] FORMAL APPROVING
a person who knows a lot about many different subjects
space-age /ˈ speɪ s.eɪ dʒ/ adjective [ before noun ]
very modern
space-age technology
mesmerizing , UK USUALLY mesmerising /ˈ mez.mə.raɪ .zɪ ŋ/ adjective
very attractive, in a mysterious way, making you want to keep looking
He had the most mesmerizing blue eyes.
subterranean /ˌ sʌb.t ə rˈ eɪ .ni.ən/ /-təˈ reɪ -/ adjective
under the ground
subterranean passages
a subterranean river
hook ( sb/sth ) up to sth phrasal verb
to connect a machine to a power supply or to another machine, or to connect a person to a
piece of medical equipment
Can we hook up to the electricity supply at the campsite?
take sth to heart
If you take criticism or advice to heart, you think about it seriously, often because it
upsets you
Don't take it to heart - he was only joking about your hair.
procurement /prəˈ kjʊə.mənt/ /-ˈ kjʊr-/ noun [ U ] FORMAL
the process of getting supplies
a substantial budget for the procurement of military supplies
relegate /ˈ rel.ɪ .geɪ t/ verb [ T ]
1. to put someone or something into a lower or less important rank or position
She resigned when she was relegated to a desk job.
The story was relegated to the middle pages of the paper.
squander /ˈ skwɒn.də r / /ˈ skwɑː n.dɚ/ verb [ T ]
to spend or use money or supplies in a wasteful way, or to waste opportunities by not
using them to your advantage
They'll quite happily squander a whole year's savings on two weeks in the sun.

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unravel /ʌnˈ ræv. ə l/ verb -ll- or US USUALLY -l- SUBJECT

2. [ I or T ] If you unravel a mysterious, unknown or complicated subject, you make it
known or understood, and if it unravels, it becomes known or understood
We've got a long way to go before we unravel the secrets of genetics.
haunt /hɔː nt/ /hɑː nt/ noun [ C ]
a place often visited
This pub used to be one of your old haunts, didn't it Jim?
mercurial /mɜː ˈ kjʊə.ri.əl/ /mɜː rˈ kjʊr.i-/ adjective LITERARY
1. changing suddenly and often
a mercurial temperament
She was entertaining but unpredictable, with mercurial mood swings.
2. intelligent, enthusiastic and quick
a mercurial mind/wit
presentiment /prɪ ˈ zen.tɪ .mənt/ noun [ C ] FORMAL
a feeling that something, especially something unpleasant, is going to happen; a
premonition
She had had a presentiment of what might lie ahead.
mortality /mɔː ˈ tæl.ə.ti/ /mɔː rˈ tæl.ə.t ฀i/ noun [ U ] FORMAL
1. the way that people do not live forever
Her death made him more aware of his own mortality.
gaily /ˈ geɪ .li/ adverb OLD-FASHIONED
happily or brightly
I could hear her gaily singing in her bedroom.
The tree lights twinkled gaily across the lake.
nightingale /ˈ naɪ .tɪ ŋ.geɪ l/ /-t ฀ɪ ŋ-/ noun [ C ]
a small brown European bird known especially for the beautiful song of the male bird
which is usually heard during the night
bewitch /bɪ ˈ wɪ tʃ / verb
1. [ T often passive ] to attract or interest someone a lot so that you have the power to
influence them
He was bewitched by her beauty.
2. [ T ] to put a magic spell on someone or something in order to control them
blazing /ˈ bleɪ .zɪ ŋ/ adjective
1. very bright and hot or powerful
We quickly grew tired in the blazing sunshine .
2. [ before noun ] violent and frightening
They used to have some blazing rows over money.
eternal /ɪ ˈ tɜː .nəl/ /-ˈ tɝː -/ adjective
lasting forever or for a very long time
The company is engaged in the eternal search for a product that will lead the market.
Will you two never stop your eternal arguing!
eternally /ɪ ˈ tɜː .nəl.i/ /-ˈ tɝː -/ adverb
the eternally changing seasons
eternally weary/sad/cheerful

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DAY 11
READING PASSAGE 2

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-16, which are based on Reading
Passage 2 below.

AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINAL ASTRONOMY

Research is revealing a complex and functional astronomical knowledge used by

Aboriginal people, Australia`s indigenous people, to navigate, find food and mark seasonal
changes.

A Australia`s Aboriginal people, living under a dazzling canopy of constellations, absorbed

the night skies into their cultural, social and spiritual life. The position of the stars, the motion
of the planets, and astronomical events such as comets, meteorites and eclipses have
informed their cosmology and traditions. “Spirituality, sacred law, kinship, cultural rules about
who you can marry, where you can go, what you can do, how society works…all of this social
structure is written in the stars”, says Dr Duane Hamacher, a lecturer at the Nura Gilli
Indigenous Programs Unit at the University of New South Wales, Australia.

B Hamacher, working closely with Aboriginal elders, is uncovering a wealth of

astronomical knowledge. He takes the example of the Pleiades, one of the closest star
clusters to Earth. He explains that the Pleiades rise early in the morning, just before the sun
comes up, and are visible for about 15 minutes. This signals the time at which flowers appear
on one type of tree, the start of winter , and the orca* migrating north. These observations
indicate that the early Aboriginal astronomers took an intellectual approach that sought
meaning in, and application of, astronomical phenomena. And no more is this evidenced
than in how they used this knowledge to navigate their vast, and sometimes featureless,
island continent.

C Professor Ray Norris, an astrophysicist at the Australian Telescope National Facility

and adjunct professor in Indigenous Astronomy at Macquarie University , Sydney, recounts
an occasion while bushwalking with Bill Yidumduma Harney , an Aboriginal elder : `Bill can
name about 5000 stars. Most Western astronomers can name only 20 or 30 on a good day
…He looks up at the sky and knows how it charges with the seasons, with the time , in ways
I don’t actually quite understand. And for him it’s completely intuitive ….. he looks at the sky
and knows it reflects what’s on the land.

William Stevens, an Aboriginal astronomy guide who conducts the Dreamtime ** Astronomy
tour at Sydney Observatory , explains how some Aboriginal people use the constellation of
Scorpius for navigation: `We don’t see a scorpion ; it’s actually a map for us, says Stevens,
adding that people use the stars to travel from one clan group to another.

D Norris considers the study of Aboriginal astronomy an opportunity for Aboriginal

communities to gain access to information that may have been lost after European
colonization of Australia. This giving back of knowledge as Norris describes it ,’could promote

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community pride and provide educational material for young Aboriginal people,. This could
also provide an opportunity to help foster a better understanding and appreciation as
Aboriginal culture among the wider Australian society.

E Perhaps the most beguiling application of astronomical observation is associated with

the behavior of one Australia’s most iconic birds , the emu. `The Emu in the Sky`, as it is
called, describes a carving that is clearly visible on a rock located in Ku-ring-gai Chase
National Park, north of Sydney. It depicts an emu is somewhat unnatural position for a real
emu , with the legs folded behind it. That is, until it is observed that there is a huge and dark
shape in one of the `dark` areas of the Milky Way that resembles an emu. This `emu` swings
around the sky each night, its starting point at dusk changing as the year goes by and the
season change. In April the body of the `Emu in the Sky` reaches a certain angle, and people
know it is the season to go and find fresh emu eggs, a rich highly valued food source. When
the angle of the representation of the emu on the rock face matches the `Emu in the Sky`,
the harvest might begin. The folded legs signify that the emu is sitting on the nest.

The Emu in the sky exemplifies one of the key principles of Aboriginal cultures: what is in the
sky is of what is on Earth . Aboriginal people also apply this concept to construct annual
calendars . Often based on six reasons ,Aboriginal calendars are relatively complex and are
generally constructed from the heliacal rising of stars (i.e when the star first becomes visible
above eastern horizon for a brief moment just before sunrise)

F Dr Philip Clarke of federation University Australia has documented how tha Kaurna
Aboriginal people of South Australia use the rising of they call Parna ,one of the brightest
stars in the night sky .Its appearance just before sunrise indicates that the hot ,dry summer
is ending and the autumn rains will soon arrive .The lands of Kaurna include the ADELAIDE
Plains ,which are prone to flooding .Therefore ,knowledge of when the arrival of autumn is
imminent allows them time to build their large, waterproof huts ,which are known as wurlies.

Not only were the positions and movements of individual stars used to predict seasonal
changes, the scintillation of stars also informs Aboriginal astronomers of a change in the
weather or season. ”They can tell by the degree of how much the star twinkles or changes
colour to gauge the amount of moisture in the atmosphere”, explains Hamacher. “They then
know wheter a storm is approaching or the wet season is coming”.

G It is clear that aboriginal cultures contain a wealth of astronomical knowledge. This

knowledge incorporates a deep and sophisticated understanding celestial and terrestrial
events and should be viewed through the prism of an interconnected world-view: a paradigm
in which the Aboriginal people saw themselves not a separate external observers, but
integral component of nature and the universe.

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consternation /ˌ kɒn t .stəˈ neɪ .ʃ ə n/ /ˌ kɑː n t .stɚ-/ noun [ U ]

a feeling of worry, shock or confusion
The prospect of so much work filled him with consternation.
sacred /ˈ seɪ .krɪ d/ adjective
1. considered to be holy and deserving respect, especially because of a connection with a
god
sacred relics/temples
This area is sacred to the Apaches.
adjunct /ˈ ædʒ.ʌŋ k t/ noun [ C ] FORMAL
something added or connected to a larger or more important thing
I hoped I would find the computer course a useful adjunct to my other studies.
clan /klæn/ noun [ C + sing/pl verb ]
1. a group of families, especially in Scotland, who originally came from the same family
and have the same name
2. INFORMAL a large family, or a group of people who share the same interest
Is/Are the whole clan coming to visit you for Christmas?
beguile /bɪ ˈ gaɪ l/ verb [ T ] LITERARY
to persuade, attract or interest, sometimes in order to deceive
He was completely beguiled by her beauty.
usk /dʌsk/ noun [ U ]
the time before night when it is not yet dark
As dusk fell , bats began to fly between the trees.
signify /ˈ sɪ g.nɪ .faɪ / verb FORMAL MEAN
1. [ T ] to be a sign of something; to mean
Nobody really knows what the marks on the ancient stones signify.
be prone to sth/do sth
likely to suffer from an illness or show a particular negative characteristic
I've always been prone to headaches.
imminent /ˈ ɪ m.ɪ .n ə nt/ adjective
coming or likely to happen very soon
imminent disaster/danger
A strike is imminent.
gauge , US ALSO gage /geɪ dʒ/ verb [ T ] MEASURE
1. to calculate an amount, especially by using a measuring device
Use a thermometer to gauge the temperature.
celestial /sɪ ˈ les.ti. ə l/ /-tʃ ə l/ adjective FORMAL
of or from the sky or outside this world
The moon is a celestial body.
terrestrial /təˈ res.tri.əl/ adjective EARTH
1. FORMAL relating to the planet Earth
prism /ˈ prɪ z. ə m/ noun [ C ]
prism
a transparent glass or plastic object which separates white light that passes through it into
different colours

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DAY 11
Questions 1-6
Reading Passage 2 has seven sections, A-G.
Which section contains the following information?
Write the correct letter, A-G, in boxes 1-6 on your answer sheet.
NB You may use any letter more than once.
1 an example of am Aboriginal person who can identify many stars in the sky

2 a reference of an astronomical feature that predicts the movement of a particular animal

3 a mention of an Aboriginal system of dividing the year into several periods

4 an explanation of how the Aboriginal people viewed themselves as part of the environment

5 an example of an Aboriginal art work that may seem strange at first

6 a reference to a chance for greater public insight into Aboriginal ways

Questions 7-12
Look at the following statements (Questions 7-12) and the list of people below
Match each statement with the correct person, A, B, C or D.
Write the correct letter, A, B, C or D, in boxes 7-12 on your answer sheet.
NB You may use any letter more than once.
7 The way a star shines gives information about the weather.
8 An aboriginal person makes an instinctive connection between earth and sky.
9 Astronomy provides a guide for Aboriginals about the suitability of partners.
10 Astronomy helps aboriginal people make practical preparations for a change in the
weather
11 Current research may help aboriginal people today learn about what their
ancestors knew
12 A pattern in the stars helps people know which route to take when visiting people
in other areas.

List of people
A Dr Duane Hamacher
B Professor Ray Norris
C William Stevens
D Dr Philip Clarke

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DAY 11
Questions 13-16
Complete the summary below.
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 13-16 on your answer sheet.
The Emu in the Sky

‘The Emu in the Sky’ is a 13........................ on a rock in Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park.
This portrays an emu that appears to be sitting in odd way as its 14....................... are in an
unusual position. However, when 15........................ comes, and emus lay their eggs, the
rock art matches the shape of one of the dark areas in the Milky Way. Then it becomes clear
that the rock art represents an emu on a 16........................ and that the Aboriginal people
see the sky as reflecting life on the land.

Answers and video explanation

here.Just scan the QR code:

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Day 12

Will blockchain fulfil its democratic promise or will it

become a tool of big tech?
theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jan/15/will-blockchain-fulfil-its-democratic-promise-or-will-it-become-a-tool-
of-big-tech

John Naughton January 15, 2022

When the cryptocurrency bitcoin first made its appearance in 2009, an interesting
divergence of opinions about it rapidly emerged. Journalists tended to regard it as some
kind of incomprehensible money-laundering scam, while computer scientists, who were
largely agnostic about bitcoin’s prospects, nevertheless thought that the distributed-
ledger technology (the so-called blockchain) that underpinned the currency was a Big Idea
that could have far-reaching consequences.

In this conviction they were joined by legions of techno-libertarians who viewed the
technology as a way of enabling economic life without the oppressive oversight of central
banks and other regulatory institutions. Blockchain technology had the potential to
change the way we buy and sell, interact with government and verify the authenticity of
everything from property titles to organic vegetables. It combined, burbled that well-
known revolutionary body Goldman Sachs, “the openness of the internet with the security
of cryptography to give everyone a faster, safer way to verify key information and establish
trust”. Verily, cryptography would set us free.

At its core, a blockchain is just a ledger – a record of time-stamped transactions. These

transactions can be any movement of money, goods or secure data – a purchase at a store,
for example, the title to a piece of property, the assignment of an NHS number or a
vaccination status, you name it. In the offline world, transactions are verified by some
central third party – a government agency, a bank or Visa, say. But a blockchain is a
distributed (ie, decentralised) ledger where verification (and therefore trustworthiness)
comes not from a central authority but from a consensus of many users of the blockchain
that a particular transaction is valid. Verified transactions are gathered into “blocks”,
which are then “chained” together using heavy-duty cryptography so that, in principle,
any attempt retrospectively to alter the details of a transaction would be visible. And
oppressive, rent-seeking authorities such as Visa and Mastercard (or, for that matter,
Stripe) are nowhere in the chain.

Blockchains are designed to be a network of peers, but not for your mobile device or your
browser to be one of those

Given all that, it’s easy to see why the blockchain idea evokes utopian hopes: at last,
technology is sticking it to the Man. In that sense, the excitement surrounding it reminds
me of the early days of the internet, when we really believed that our contemporaries had
invented a technology that was democratising and liberating and beyond the reach of
established power structures. And indeed the network had – and still possesses – those

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desirable affordances. But we’re not using them to achieve their great potential. Instead,
we’ve got YouTube and Netflix. What we underestimated, in our naivety, were the power
of sovereign states, the ruthlessness and capacity of corporations and the passivity of
consumers, a combination of which eventually led to corporate capture of the internet and
the centralisation of digital power in the hands of a few giant corporations and national
governments. In other words, the same entrapment as happened to the breakthrough
communications technologies – telephone, broadcast radio and TV, and movies – in the
20th century, memorably chronicled by Tim Wu in his book The Master Switch.

Will this happen to blockchain technology? Hopefully not, but the enthusiastic
endorsement of it by outfits such as Goldman Sachs is not exactly reassuring. The
problem with digital technology is that, for engineers, it is both intrinsically fascinating
and seductively challenging, which means that they acquire a kind of tunnel vision: they
are so focused on finding solutions to the technical problems that they are blinded to the
wider context. At the moment, for example, the consensus-establishing processes for
verifying blockchain transactions requires intensive computation, with a correspondingly
heavy carbon footprint. Reducing that poses intriguing technical challenges, but focusing
on them means that the engineering community isn’t thinking about the governance
issues raised by the technology. There may not be any central authority in a blockchain
but, as Vili Lehdonvirta pointed out years ago, there are rules for what constitutes a
consensus and, therefore, a question about who exactly sets those rules. The engineers?
The owners of the biggest supercomputers on the chain? Goldman Sachs? These are
ultimately political questions, not technical ones.

Blockchain engineers also don’t seem to be much interested in the needs of the humans
who might ultimately be users of the technology. That, at any rate, is the conclusion that
cryptographer Moxie Marlinspike came to in a fascinating examination of the technology.
“When people talk about blockchains,” he writes, “they talk about distributed trust,
leaderless consensus and all the mechanics of how that works, but often gloss over the
reality that clients ultimately can’t participate in those mechanics. All the network
diagrams are of servers, the trust model is between servers, everything is about servers.
Blockchains are designed to be a network of peers, but not designed such that it’s really
possible for your mobile device or your browser to be one of those peers.”

And we’re nowhere near that point yet.

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 DAY 12 ARTICLE - WORDLIST

money ˌ laundering noun [ U ]

the crime of moving money that has been obtained illegally through banks and other
businesses to make it seem as if the money has been obtained legally
scam /skæm/ noun [ C ] INFORMAL
an illegal plan for making money
an insurance scam
agnostic /ægˈ nɒs.tɪ k/ /-ˈ nɑː .stɪ k/ noun [ C ]
someone who does not know, or believes that it is impossible to know, whether a god
exists
Although he was raised a Catholic, he was an agnostic for most of his adult life.
ledger /ˈ ledʒ.ə r / /-ɚ/ noun [ C ]
a book in which things are regularly recorded, especially business activities and money
received or paid
underpin /ˌ ʌn.dəˈ pɪ n/ /-dɚ-/ verb [ T ] -nn-
to give support, strength or a basic structure to something
He presented the figures to underpin his argument.
far-reaching /ˌ fɑː ˈ riː .tʃ ɪ ŋ/ /ˌ fɑː r-/ adjective
Something far-reaching has a great influence on many people or things
These new laws will have far-reaching benefits for all working mothers.
legion /ˈ liː .dʒ ə n/ noun [ C ] MANY
2. legions of sb
large numbers of people
He failed to turn up for the concert, disappointing the legions of fans waiting outside.
oppressive /əˈ pres.ɪ v/ adjective CRUEL
1. cruel and unfair
an oppressive government/military regime
burble /ˈ bɜː .bl ฀/ /ˈ bɝː -/ verb TALK
2. [ I or T ] to talk about something continuously and in a way that is not very clear
She was burbling (on) about what she'd do if she won the lottery.
consensus /kənˈ sen t .səs/ noun [ S or U ]
a generally accepted opinion or decision among a group of people
The general consensus in the office is that he's useless at his job.
retrospective /ˌ ret.rə ʊ ˈ spek.tɪ v/ /-rə-/ adjective
relating to or thinking about the past
a retrospective album of solo Freddie Mercury tracks
retrospectively /ˌ ret.rə ʊ ˈ spek.tɪ v.li/ /-rə-/ adverb
Retrospectively, I can see where we went wrong.
evoke /ɪ ˈ vəʊk/ /-ˈ voʊk/ verb [ T ]
to make someone remember something or feel an emotion
That smell always evokes memories of my old school.
a detergent designed to evoke the fresh smell of summer meadows
ruthless /ˈ ruː θ.ləs/ adjective
not thinking or worrying about any pain caused to others; cruel
ruthless ambition
a ruthless dictator
entrapment /ɪ nˈ træp.mənt/ noun [ U ] FORMAL
the practice of causing someone to do something they would not usually do by tricking
them

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The police have been accused of using entrapment to bring charges against suspects.
endorsement /ɪ nˈ dɔː .smənt/ /-ˈ dɔː r-/ noun APPROVAL
1. [ C or U ] when you make a statement of your approval or support for something or
someone
The campaign hasn't received any political endorsements.
intrinsic /ɪ nˈ trɪ n.zɪ k/ adjective
being an extremely important and basic characteristic of a person or thing
works of little intrinsic value/interest
Maths is an intrinsic part of the school curriculum.
intrinsically /ɪ nˈ trɪ n.zɪ .kli/ adverb
seductive /sɪ ˈ dʌk.tɪ v/ adjective ATTRACTING
2. making you want to do, have or believe something, because of seeming attractive
Television confronts the viewer with a succession of glittering and seductive images .
seductively /sɪ ˈ dʌk.tɪ v.li/ adverb
corresponding /ˌ kɒr.ɪ ˈ spɒn.dɪ ŋ/ /ˌ kɔː r.ɪ ˈ spɑː n-/ adjective
similar, or resulting from something else
Company losses were 50 per cent worse than in the corresponding period last year.
correspondingly /ˌ kɒr.ɪ ˈ spɒn.dɪ ŋ.li/ /ˌ kɔː r.ɪ ˈ spɑː n-/ adverb
gloss over sth phrasal verb
to avoid considering something, such as an embarrassing mistake, to make it seem not
important, and to quickly continue talking about something else
She glossed over the company's fall in profits.
nowhere near
not close in distance, time, amount or quality
The house was nowhere near the sea.
It's nowhere near time for us to leave yet.

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DAY 12
READING PASSAGE 2
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based on Reading
Passage 2 below.
THE INTERNATIONAL STYLE
A In the early decades of the 20th century, many Western cities experienced a steep rise in
demand for commercial and civic premises, due to population growth and expansion of the
white-collar professions. At the same time, architects were growing discontented with the
ornamental spirals and decorative features in the prevailing design ethos of art deco or art
moderne. Once considered the height of sophistication, these styles were quickly
becoming seen as pretentious and old-fashioned. In this confluence of movements, a new
style of architecture emerged. It was simple, practical and strong; a new look for the
modern city and the modern man. It was named ‘the international style’.
B Although the international style first emerged in Western Europe in the 1920s, it found its
fullest expression in American architecture and was given its name in a 1932 book of the
same title. The first hints of it in America can be seen on the Empire State Building in New
York City, which was completed in 1931. The top of the building, with its tapered crown, is
decidedly art deco, yet the uniform shaft of the lower two thirds represents a pronounced
step in a new direction. Later efforts, such as the United Nations Secretariat building (1952)
and the Seagram Building (1954) came to exemplify the ‘true’ international style.
C The architects of the international style broke with the past by rejecting virtually all non-
essential ornamentation. They created blockish, flat-roofed skyscrapers using steel, stone
and glass. A typical building facade in this style has an instantly recognisable ribbon
design, characterised by strips of floor-to-ceiling windows separated by strips of metal
panelling. Interiors showcased open spaces and fluid movements between separate areas
of the building.
D Fans of the international style of modern buildings celebrated their sleek and economical
contribution to modern cityscapes. While pre-modern architecture was typically designed to
display the wealth and prestige of its landlords or occupants, the international style in some
ways exhibited a more egalitarian tendency. As every building and every floor looked much
the same, there was little attempt to use these designs to make a statement. This focus on
function and practicality reflected a desire in mid-century Western cities to ‘get on with
business’ and ‘give everyone a chance’, rather than lauding the dominant and influential
institutions of the day through features such as Romanesque columns.
E Detractors, however, condemned these buildings for showing little in the way of human
spirit or creativity. For them, the international style represented not an ethos of equality and
progress, but an obsession with profit and ‘the bottom line’ that removed spiritual and
creative elements from public life and public buildings. Under the dominance of the
international style, cities became places to work and do business, but not to express one’s
desires or show individuality. It is perhaps telling that while banks and government
departments favoured the international style, arts organisations rarely opted for its
austerity.
1

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F By the mid-1970s, the international style was ubiquitous across key urban centres,
dominating skylines to such an extent that many travellers complained they could get off a
plane and not know where they were. By their nature, buildings in this style demanded very
little of architects in the way of imagination, and a younger generation of designers was
yearning to express their ideas and experiment in novel and unexpected ways. The
outcome was a shift toward postmodernism, which celebrated much of what the
international style had dismissed: decoration, style without function, and an overall sense
of levity. By the turn of the 1980s, the international style was considered outdated and was
falling rapidly out of favour.

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 DAY 12 PASSAGE - WORDLIST

discontent /ˌ dɪ s.kənˈ tent/ noun [ U ] ( ALSO discontentment )

a feeling of wanting better treatment or an improved situation
Discontent among junior ranks was rapidly spreading.
There was widespread discontent at/about/over/with the plan.
discontented /ˌ dɪ s.kənˈ ten.tɪ d/ /ˌ dɪ s.kənˈ ten.t ฀ɪ d/ adjective
prevailing /prɪ ˈ veɪ .lɪ ŋ/ adjective
1. existing in a particular place or at a particular time
the prevailing attitude
ethos /ˈ iː .θɒs/ /-θɑː s/ noun [ S ]
the set of beliefs, ideas, etc. about social behaviour and relationships of a person or group
national ethos
pretentious /prɪ ˈ ten t .ʃ əs/ adjective DISAPPROVING
trying to appear or sound more important or clever than you are, especially in matters of
art and literature
a pretentious art critic
confluence /ˈ kɒn.fluː . ə n t s/ /ˈ kɑː n-/ noun [ C ] SPECIALIZED
the place where two rivers flow together and become one larger river
taper /ˈ teɪ .pə r / /-pɚ/ verb [ I or T ]
to become gradually narrower at one end, or to make something do this
Turn left where the road tapers (off) into a track.
tapering /ˈ teɪ .pə.rɪ ŋ/ /-pɚ-/ adjective
the shaft
US INFORMAL unfair treatment
After years of loyal service, his boss gave him the shaft by firing him just before he would
have qualified for a pension.
egalitarian /ɪ ˌ gæl.ɪ ˈ teə.ri.ən/ /-ˈ ter.i-/ adjective FORMAL
believing that all people are equally important and should have the same rights and
opportunities in life
an egalitarian society
get on phrasal verb MANAGE
2. MAINLY UK ( MAINLY US get along ) to manage or deal with a situation, especially
successfully
How are you getting on in your new flat?
We're getting on quite well with the decorating.
laud /lɔː d/ /lɑː d/ verb [ T ] FORMAL
to praise
The German leadership lauded the Russian initiative.
detractor /dɪ ˈ træk.tə r / /-tɚ/ noun [ C ]
someone who criticizes something or someone, often unfairly
His detractors claim that his fierce temper makes him unsuitable for party leadership.
opt /ɒpt/ /ɑː pt/ verb [ I ]
to make a choice, especially for one thing or possibility in preference to any others
Mike opted for early retirement.
austerity /ɔː ˈ ster.ɪ .ti/ /ˈ ɑː .ster.ɪ .t ฀i/ noun
1. [ C or U ] the condition or policy of living without things that are not necessary and
without comfort, with limited money or goods, or a practice, habit or experience that is typical of
this
The wartime austerity of my early years prepared me for later hardships.

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ubiquitous /juː ˈ bɪ k.wɪ .təs/ /-wə.t ฀əs/ adjective FORMAL OR HUMOROUS

seeming to be in all places
Leather is very much in fashion this season, as of course is the ubiquitous denim.
yearn /jɜː n/ /jɝː n/ verb [ I ]
to wish very strongly, especially something that you cannot have or something that is
very difficult to have
Despite his great commercial success he still yearns for critical approval.
[ + to infinitive ] Sometimes I just yearn to be alone.
dismiss /dɪ ˈ smɪ s/ verb FORGET
1. [ T ] to decide that something or someone is not important and not worth considering
Let's not just dismiss the idea before we've even thought about it.
levity /ˈ lev.ɪ .ti/ /-t ฀i/ noun [ U ] FORMAL
humour or lack of seriousness, especially during a serious occasion
a brief moment of levity amid the solemn proceedings
the turn of sth
the point at which something changes or moves in a different direction
the turn of the tide
She was born around the turn of the century (= around 1900/2000, etc.) .

Answers and video explanation

here.Just scan the QR code:

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DAY 12
Questions 1-6
Reading Passage 2 has six paragraphs, A–F.
Which paragraph contains the following information?
Write the correct letter, A–F, in boxes 1–6 on your answer sheet.

1 a description of how international style buildings look on the inside

2 a reference to institutions that didn’t like to use international style buildings
3 a reason why architects didn’t like the international style
4 a building which combined art deco and international features
5 types of materials commonly used in international style buildings
6 an architectural feature previously associated with prominent organisations

Questions 7-11
Complete the sentences below.
Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 7-11 on your answer sheet.

7 The development of the international style was prompted by an increased need for
……………………. buildings.
8 Designers used hardly any ………………… on international style buildings.
9 International style buildings are easily identified from the outside because of the
……………………..
10 Demonstration of ……………………… and ………………………. was often an important
factor in the design of old buildings.
11 The similarity of international style constructions reflect the concern of architects with
………………………. and ………………………………

Questions 12 and 13
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.
Write the correct letter in boxes 12 and 13 on your answer sheet.

12 Some people didn’t like the international style because they felt it focused too much on
A the public sector
B differences between people
C new ideas
D making money

13 In the mid-1970s
A the best architects were no longer using the international style
B there was a lot of international style architecture in major cities
C young architects were becoming interested in the international style
D people visited specifically to see international style buildings

123
Day 13

Are Childless People Who Adopt Pets Selfish?

psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/becoming-solutionary/202201/are-childless-people-who-adopt-pets-selfish

On January 5, 2022, Pope Francis spoke in Rome and described people who have pets
instead of children as selfish. He went on to say that pet keeping was “a denial of
fatherhood and motherhood and diminishes us, takes away our humanity.”

There's so much that is wrong about his statement.

1. Spoken by someone who himself chose not to have children, presumably for a higher
good, the criticism is ironic. Many people forgo having children precisely because they
are acting unselfishly and recognize the imperative of Laudato si', the Pope’s second
encyclical that calls all people of the world to take "swift and unified global action” on
environmental degradation and climate change. Such people choose not to have children
because they do not want to contribute to more resource depletion and carbon emissions.

2. People don't have biological children because they are unselfish. In a world full of
children in need of homes and foster care, and in the midst of a climate change and
biodiversity crisis caused by habitat destruction and carbon emissions, the choice to have
biological children (rather than adopt) is selfish, full stop. I should know. I chose to have a
biological child. Evolution has “programmed” every species on Earth to reproduce. It’s
natural to procreate and have children despite the toll doing so has taken on us over
history – the high incidence of pregnancy and delivery complications, maternal death in
childbirth, infant mortality, and much more. Knowing the stress, cost, and worry I would
experience by having a child, I nonetheless wanted to create a new human with my
husband, experience all that motherhood had to offer, and participate in this powerful
aspect of the human lifecycle. But my choice was hardly unselfish. As Nandita Bajaj, the
Executive Director of Population Balance who teaches an online graduate course on
Overpopulation and Pronatalism through Antioch University and the Institute for
Humane Education, says: “The fact that after fighting for personal and reproductive
liberation for centuries, women in some countries are finally able to exercise their right to
have no or fewer children is something to be celebrated.” Indeed. Calling such people
selfish is selfish.

3. Many people adopt animals who need homes, rather than purchase dogs from breeders,
precisely because they are acting unselfishly. I should know this, too. I’ve never
purchased a dog or cat from a breeder, but have rescued 17 over my lifetime. One old dog
we found running in traffic on a congested boulevard turned out to be a nightmare.
Aggressive and unpredictable, Beau would occasionally chase my husband down the
stairs, growling and snarling. We didn’t want to keep him, but we knew that it wasn’t a
good idea to try to foist this problem dog on someone else. We unselfishly cared for him
lovingly and compassionately until he died. Adopting animals enriches, rather than
detracts from, our humanity. Unlike children, whom we often make extensions of

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ourselves, take pride in, expect to care for us in old age, and brag about—there’s no
reflected glory in a mutt from a shelter. Yes, they shower us with love, which is great for
us, but it also betters us to care for them.

4. There’s no need for, and no good that comes from, the valorization of parenthood and
the denigration of adopting animals. Why do that? Why create a stink about a non-issue?
Declining population growth in many wealthy countries, and the subsequent economic
and social impacts of an aging population, is an issue to address, but to think that calling
people selfish for not wanting children but wanting pets solves anything or is helpful is a
bit bizarre. And the reality is that many, if not most, families in Europe and the U.S. have
both children and pets. Are such families semi-selfish and semi-unselfish?

Fortunately, there are people like Nandita Bajaj and many others who are attempting to
do what the Pope did not do when he spoke on January 5: find real solutions to the
problems we face regarding a growing human population globally and a declining
birthrate in certain countries.

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adopt /əˈ dɒpt/ /-ˈ dɑː pt/ verb TAKE CHILD

1. [ I or T ] to take another person's child into your own family and legally look after him
or her as your own child
They've adopted a baby girl.
denial /dɪ ˈ naɪ .əl/ noun NOT TRUE
1. [ C ] a statement that something is not true or does not exist
The prime minister issued a denial of the report that she is about to resign.
diminish /dɪ ˈ mɪ n.ɪ ʃ / verb [ I or T ]
to reduce or be reduced in size or importance
I don't want to diminish her achievements, but she did have a lot of help.
ironic /aɪ ə ˈ rɒn.ɪ k/ /aɪ ˈ rɑː .nɪ k/ adjective ( ALSO ironical )
1. interesting, strange or funny because of being very different from what you would
usually expect
[ + that ] It is ironic that although many items are now cheaper to make, fewer people
can afford to buy them.
forgo /fɔː ˈ gəʊ/ /fɔː rˈ goʊ/ verb [ T ] forgoing , forwent , forgone ( ALSO forego )
FORMAL
to not have or do something enjoyable
I shall have to forgo the pleasure of seeing you this week.
depletion /dɪ ˈ pliː .ʃ ə n/ noun [ S or U ]
(a) reduction
the depletion of the ozone layer
destruction /dɪ ˈ strʌk.ʃ ə n/ noun [ U ]
when something is destroyed
Many people are very concerned about the destruction of the rainforests.
procreate /ˈ prəʊ.kri.eɪ t/ /ˈ proʊ-/ verb [ I ] FORMAL
to produce young
While priests were denied the right to marry and procreate, he said, their situation would
remain impossible.
take its/their/a toll
If something takes its/their/a toll, it causes suffering, deaths or damage
The problems of the past few months have taken their toll on her health and there are
shadows beneath her eyes.
oist sth on/upon sb phrasal verb
to force someone to have or experience something they do not want
I try not to foist my values on the children but it's hard.
brag /bræg/ verb [ I ] -gg- INFORMAL DISAPPROVING
to speak too proudly about what you have done or what you own
She's always bragging about how much money she earns.
alour , US valor /ˈ væl.ə r / /-ɚ/ noun [ U ] FORMAL
great bravery
He was promoted to the rank of major in recognition of his valour during the battle.
denigrate /ˈ den.ɪ .greɪ t/ verb [ T ]
to say that someone or something is not good or important
You shouldn't denigrate people just because they have different beliefs from you.
denigration /ˌ den.ɪ ˈ greɪ .ʃ ə n/ noun [ U ]
create/kick up/raise a stink INFORMAL
to make a strong public complaint

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She created a stink about the lack of recycling facilities in the town.

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READING PASSAGE 1
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based on Reading
Passage 1 below.
Tickling and laughter
Why does tickling, or even the thought of it, produce laughter?
A Tickling is the act of touching so as to cause laughter or twitching movements.
Tickling may have been one of the first ways early humans communicated with each
other and is a useful form of non-verbal communication, particular with babies and
children. The word itself comes from the English of the Middle Ages when tickelen
meant ‘to touch lightly’.
B If you don’t know whether you are ticklish, you’ll have to ask someone else. Tickling
is not included in the spectrum of pains and pleasures that we can inflict on
ourselves and while we can stroke and scratch and hurt ourselves, the one thing we
can’t do effectively is tickle ourselves. And no-one knows why. It is a subject that has
intrigued philosophers and scientists since antiquity. He ancient Greek philosophers
Plato and Aristotle speculated about tickling and its purpose. The 19th-century
British scientist Charles Darwin was the first to attempt to analyse this peculiar
phenomenon, observing the involuntary spasm it seems to trigger in babies and
primates, and he came to the conclusion that tickling was an ingredient in forming
social bonds. In 1872 he noted that the key to the success of tickling is that ‘the
precise point to be tickled must not be known’. So it is surprise, rather than tactile
pressure, that is a key ingredient in successful tickling. Indeed, in people who are
extremely suggestible, the threat of being tickled without even being touched is
enough to induce hysterical laughter. This is as effective with adults as with children
and provides a clue to the fact that tickling is not merely a physical sensation.
Ticklishness is not something that diminishes with age, nor does anyone know why
some people are more ticklish than others, and there are no distinctions to be made
along gender lines. The whole thing is mysterious.
C Research has been done on animals on the relationship between tickling and
laughter. Neuroscientists at Bowling Green University in Ohio in the USA have
recently discovered that rats respond to being tickled with squealing, chirping
sounds, increased excitement and little kicks – especially when tickled one the nape
of the neck. Dogs may not respond quite as effusively, but it is common for tummy-
tickling to trigger frantic hind leg action which appears to be a sign of pleasure. More
controversial is the claim that Washoe, a female gorilla living in the primate facility at
Washington Central University and trained in American sign language, frequently
makes the sign for ‘tickle me’, suggesting that it is pleasant sensation.
D For eminent neuroscientist Professor V S Ramachandran, head of the Department
of Brain and Cognition at the University of California, laughter is the essential key to

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unlocking the mystery of tickling. ‘Laughter’ is a signal that the tickling is a false
alarm, that there is nothing to really worry about, the subject is not really under
attack,’ Ramachandran says. ‘When someone tells you a joke, they take you along a
path of expectation to a punchline which is a twist in the path. When the subject
laughs at the punchline, it is a recognition that danger has been averted. The same
applies to tickling.’
E Ramachandran has studied the response by children to tickling. He says: ‘Most
babies are ticklish. In evolutionary terms it may be that in humans, ticklishness is a
leftover of childhood behaviour with some social benefits. But because there are so
many layers to the human mind, people who do not consider themselves ticklish my
be inhibited about laughing and exposing their vulnerability.’ Another researcher,
Christine Harris believes that there are two types of tickling. The lighter pressure
results in the urge to scratch or rub, while the heavier provokes laughter. As to why
some areas of the body appear to be more sensitive to tickling than others – the
soles of the feet, the underarm area, the stomach and the neck are most commonly
mentioned – Ramachandran suggests that ‘these are areas that are not normally
touched by other people so it is an indication that they are considered private space’.
Other especially ticklish areas include the waist and ribs.
F The laughter response to the stimulus of tickling comes from the brain. Sarah Jayne
Blakemore, a cognitive neuroscientist at London’s University College, says the
cerebellum, a more primitive part of the brain, dampens the tickle sensation if you try
to tickle yourself, telling the cortex to ignore the feeling. To demonstrate theory, she
constructed a robotic tickle machine with a foam-tipped arm and operated by an
unseen person. Blakemore used MRI scans which measure blood flow in the brain
to compare cerebral activity when six volunteers tried to tickle themselves and when
they were tickled by the machine. The part of the brain that registers touch reacted
more strongly when the machine tickled them than when they tickled themselves.
Recent studies suggest that reaction to tickling, like laughter, is innate. Children born
deaf and blind react normally to being tickled. No specific studies have been
conducted, however, on tickling in people suffering from autism.

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tickle /ˈ tɪ k.l ฀/ verb RUB SKIN

1. [ T ] to touch someone lightly with your fingers, making them slightly uncomfortable
and often making them laugh
Stop! You're tickling me!
I tickled her feet and she laughed.
so as to
in order to
I always keep fruit in the fridge so as to keep insects off it.
twitch /twɪ tʃ / verb MOVE SLIGHTLY
1. [ I or T ] (to cause) to make a sudden small movement with a part of the body, usually
without intending to
He tried to suppress a smile but felt the corner of his mouth twitch.
hysterical /hɪ ˈ ster.ɪ .k ə l/ adjective
1. unable to control your feelings or behaviour because you are extremely frightened,
angry, excited, etc
Calm down, you're getting hysterical.
squeal /skwiː l/ verb [ I ]
1. to make a long very high sound or cry
We could hear the piglets squealing as we entered the farmyard.
nape /neɪ p/ noun [ C usually singular ]
the back of the neck
She kissed the nape of his neck .
effusive /ɪ ˈ fjuː .sɪ v/ adjective FORMAL
expressing welcome, approval or pleasure in a way that shows very strong feeling
They gave us such an effusive welcome it was quite embarrassing.
effusively /ɪ ˈ fjuː .sɪ v.li/ adverb
frantic /ˈ fræn.tɪ k/ /-t ฀ɪ k/ adjective VERY WORRIED/FRIGHTENED
1. almost out of control because of extreme emotion, such as worry
Where on Earth have you been? We've been frantic with worry.
punch ˌ line , punchline noun [ C ]
the last part of a story or a joke which explains the meaning of what has happened
previously or makes it funny
twist /twɪ st/ noun CHANGE
4. [ C ] a change in the way in which something happens
There's an unexpected twist in/to the plot towards the end of the film.
subject /ˈ sʌb.dʒekt/ noun [ C ] PERSON
5. a person who lives in or who has the right to live in a particular country, especially a
country with a king or queen
He is a British subject.
avert /əˈ vɜː t/ /-ˈ vɝː t/ verb [ T ] PREVENT
1. to prevent something bad from happening; avoid
to avert a crisis /conflict/strike/famine
sole /səʊl/ /soʊl/ noun [ C ] FOOT
1. plural soles the bottom part of a foot which touches the ground when you stand or
walk, or the bottom part of a shoe which touches the ground, usually not including the heel
a cut on the sole of her foot
shoes with rubber soles
cerebellum /ˌ ser.əˈ bel.əm/ noun [ C ] plural cerebella or cerebellums SPECIALIZED

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a large part at the back of the brain that controls your muscles, movement and balance
dampen /ˈ dæm.pən/ verb [ T ] FEELINGS
2. to make feelings, especially of excitement or enjoyment, less strong
Nothing you can say will dampen her enthusiasm .
autism /ˈ ɔː .tɪ .z ə m/ /ˈ ɑː .t ฀ɪ -/ noun [ U ]
a failure to develop social abilities, language and other communication skills to the usual
level
Autism is four times more common in boys than in girls.

Answers and video explanation

here.Just scan the QR code:

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Questions 1 – 5
Reading passage 1 has six paragraphs, A-F.
Which paragraph contains the following information?
Write the correct letter, A-F, in boxes 1-5 on your answer sheet.
NB You may use any letter more than once.
1 the parts of the human body which are sensitive to tickling
2 the interest in tickling shown by scientists and thinkers throughout history
3 the similarity between response to tickling and response to telling funny stories
4 an experiment on tickling oneself
5 a reason why some people do not believe they are ticklish
Questions 6 – 11
Look at the following claims (Questions 6-11) and the list of people below.
Match each claim with the correct person, A, B, C or D.
Write the correct letter, A, B, C or D, in boxes 6-11 on your answer sheet.
NB You may use any letter more than once.
6 Laughter demonstrates that tickling is not a threat.
7 Tickling strengthens relations between people.
8 Different sorts of tickling cause different reactions.
9 Tickling oneself results in a weaker sensation than being tickled by someone or
something else.
10 Effective tickling relies on not knowing where it will happen.
11 Understanding laughter will allow us to understand tickling.
List of people
A Charles Darwin
B Professor V S Ramachandran
C Christine Harris
D Sarah Jayne Blakemore
Questions 12 and 13
Complete the summary below.
Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 12 and 13 on your answer sheet.

When people are tickled, the brain produces a laughter-response. If you attempt to
tickle yourself, the part of the brain called the 12 …………… weakens the feeling you
experience. A recent experiment testing why people do not laugh when they tickle
themselves examined 13 …………… in the brain to assess brain activity. The
experiment found that the area of the brain where we experience the sensation of touch
responded more intensely when tickling was controlled by another person.

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This is what ‘cutting red tape’ gets you: rivers polluted

without consequence
theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jan/17/cutting-red-tape-rivers-polluted-england-water-regulators

John Vidal January 17, 2022

Last year the Environment Agency received more than 100,000 reports of water, air and
land pollution in England. The public told of rivers flowing with human faeces, chemicals
dumped, fish killed, factories emitting dangerous fumes, nature reserves and the
countryside trashed, as well as unbearable noise and dirty air.

Nearly all these reports were ignored and now we know why. According to shocking
leaked documents, the agency, which is the statutory protector of England’s natural
environment and therefore of much of its health and safety, had ordered its staff to ignore
all but the most obvious, high-profile incidents. Its staff were sent to observe only 8,000
of the 116,000 potential pollution incidents and only a handful of companies were taken
to court.

In effect, there is now no one in authority even questioning the pollution that blights
much ofBritain, causes disease, destroys the natural world and costs billions of pounds
every year to clean up. That toxic waste dumped at the bottom of your street? Forget it.
Your local nature reserve or park despoiled? Don’t worry. That factory illegally belching
formaldehyde? Look the other way.

Fighting pollution is no government’s strong point, but protection against the destruction
of nature has been bitterly fought for. Now it is being wilfully trashed. At least in the
1980s, when environment secretary Nicholas Ridley was dubbed the “minister against the
environment” and Britain was the “dirty man of Europe”, the EA was more or less
independent of government, science-based, and quick to jump on polluters and to
prosecute. Anyone fouling a river was likely to be investigated and at least admonished.
The problem then was that the fines imposed by the courts were so minimal that the law
was flouted at will.

To understand what is happening now, go back to 2011, shortly after David Cameron was
elected. In his autumn statement the chancellor, George Osborne, said that he wanted to
remove the “ridiculous” social and environmental costs of business. A list emerged of 174
regulations he wanted scrapped, watered down, merged, liberalised or simplified, and the
prevailing governing coalition – shame on you, Nick Clegg – knowingly set about trying to
abolish controls on asbestos, invasive species and industrial air pollution, as well as
protections for wildlife and restrictions on noise pollution.

It was war on the environment and public safety. The forests were to be sold off, badgers
exterminated and the land fracked. The climate crisis was not to be addressed at the
expense of business, and profit was not to be subservient to nature. Even as the crisis was
building, and nature everywhere was known to be in steep decline, government was
ideologically obsessed with deregulation and actively making a grim situation even worse.

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Thanks to fierce opposition, not least from some of his own backbenchers and EA staff,
not all of Osborne’s anti-red tape measures could be shovelled through. But faced with
opposition, the government simply strangled, muzzled or frightened the major regulatory
bodies that together have been charged with protecting people.

The leaked document shows the extent of the damage done. Over the past 10 years, the EA
has had its budget slashed, its staff massively reduced and its powers weakened. Polluting
businesses are now expected to self-regulate and report their own transgressions,
prosecutions are rare, and the agency admits that it has neither the staff nor the money to
do anything other than scratch the surface of control. In words destined to become as
notorious as when disgraced environment minister Owen Paterson said “the badgers have
moved the goalposts”, the agency now warns, “you get the environment you pay for”.

Last week, too, the environmental audit committee reported that a “chemical cocktail” of
raw sewage and slurry was polluting many of England’s rivers. According to watchdog
group Unchecked UK, between 2011 and 2016, the agency’s protection budget fell by 62%
and staff numbers were cut by nearly a quarter. Prosecutions fell by 80%, the number of
pollution incidents logged dropped 29% and water samples taken by the EA fell by 28%.
Meanwhile, nearly half of England’s sites of special scientific interest – the jewels in the
crown of nature – haven’t been checked for many years.

Nor is it only the EA, or England. Taking cues from Donald Trump in the US, all other
protection agencies have been neutered, including Natural England, the Forestry
Commission, Natural Resources Wales and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency.
Funding for the Food Standards Agency was slashed by half between 2009 and 2019, ,
and that of the Health and Safety Executive, which oversees workplace safety, by 53%.
Proactive inspections by local authorities have been almost abandoned and prosecutions
have plummeted.

The obsession with cutting “red tape” has been ruinous. Deregulation of the construction
industry contributed to Grenfell and the cladding scandal, and allowing water companies
to use rivers as sewage dumps – even as they were allowed to cut investment and reward
shareholders – will cost tens of billions. Public outrage and the courts may have forced
small improvements in air pollution, but tens of thousands of people still die needlessly
every year because ministers refuse to bring standards up to the minimum World Health
Organization levels.

It is now just a matter of time before another major chemical incident like that at
Camelford, in Cornwall, in 1988 – when water was contaminated and up to 20,000 people
poisoned – takes place. Proposed new rules buried on a government website suggest that
the new post-Brexit British chemicals regulator will have only limited powers and that
Britain may become a dumping ground and a laboratory for toxic chemicals. The
proposals will not be subject to public consultation and will not require a vote in
parliament.

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Supposedly overseeing the almighty regulatory failure of the past decade will be the new
Office for Environmental Protection. This new public body is to report to parliament and
be theoretically independent from government. But the secretary of state will appoint the
chair and other board members, there is no guarantee it will be adequately funded, and it
will not take on all functions of the EU institutions that previously protected the public.

Britain is already one of the least safe places to live in Europe. From now on, the
government can introduce damaging policies with little fear of official comeback and
companies are more or less free to abuse the environment. With cash-strapped, politically
cowed regulators muzzled, few inspections likely and little danger of prosecution, we can
look forward to a pandemic of pollution.

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 DAY 14 ARTCILE - WORDLIST

unbearable /ʌnˈ beə.rə.bl ฀/ /-ˈ ber.ə-/ adjective

too painful or unpleasant for you to continue to experience
All I remember of childbirth was the unbearable pain and the relief when it was all over.
dump /dʌmp/ verb [ T ] GET RID OF
2. to get rid of something unwanted, especially by leaving it in a place where it is not
allowed to be
The tax was so unpopular that the government decided to dump it.
belch /beltʃ / verb [ I or T ]
to allow air from the stomach to come out noisily through the mouth
He belched noisily.
dub /dʌb/ verb -bb- NAME
1. [ T + noun ] to give something or someone a particular name, especially describing
what you think of them
She was dubbed by the newspapers 'The Angel of Death'.
prosecute /ˈ prɒs.ɪ .kjuː t/ /ˈ prɑː .sɪ -/ verb LEGAL
1. [ I or T ] to officially accuse someone of committing a crime in a court of law, or (of a
lawyer) to try to prove that a person accused of committing a crime is guilty of that crime
Shoplifters will be prosecuted.
impose /ɪ mˈ pəʊz/ /-ˈ poʊz/ verb FORCE
1. [ T ] to officially force a rule, tax, punishment, etc. to be obeyed or received
Very high taxes have recently been imposed on cigarettes.
admonish /ədˈ mɒn.ɪ ʃ / /-ˈ mɑː .nɪ ʃ / verb FORMAL
1. [ T ] to tell someone that they have done something wrong
His mother admonished him for eat ing too quickly.
flout /flaʊt/ verb [ T ]
to intentionally not obey a rule, law, or custom
Many motorcyclists flout the law by not wearing helmets.
merge /mɜː dʒ/ /mɝː dʒ/ verb
1. [ I or T ] to combine or join together, or to cause things to do this
They decided to merge the two companies into one.
abolish /əˈ bɒl.ɪ ʃ / /-ˈ bɑː .lɪ ʃ / verb [ T ]
to end an activity or custom officially
I think bullfighting should be abolished.
invasive /ɪ nˈ veɪ .sɪ v/ adjective
moving into all areas of something and difficult to stop
an invasive disease
exterminate /ɪ kˈ stɜː .mɪ .neɪ t/ /-ˈ stɝː -/ verb [ T ]
to kill all the animals or people in a particular place or of a particular type
Once cockroaches get into a building, it's very difficult to exterminate them.
obsessed /əbˈ sest/ adjective
unable to stop thinking about something; too interested in or worried about something
Why are people so obsessed with money?
fierce /fɪ əs/ /fɪ rs/ adjective
strong and powerful
Fierce winds/seas prevented the race from taking place.
Fire fighters had to retreat from the fierce heat.
shovel /ˈ ʃ ʌv. ə l/ noun [ C ]
shovel

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1. a tool consisting of a wide square metal or plastic blade, usually with slightly raised
sides, fixed to a handle, for moving loose material such as sand, coal or snow
shovel /ˈ ʃ ʌv. ə l/ verb [ I or T ] -ll- or US USUALLY -l-
to move with a shovel
Would you give me a hand shovelling the snow away from the garage door?
muzzle /ˈ mʌz.l ฀/ verb [ T ] STOP OPINIONS
2. to stop a person or organization from expressing independent opinions
The new Secrecy Act will muzzle the media and the opposition.
slash /slæʃ / verb
1. [ I or T ] to cut with a sharp blade using a quick strong swinging action
The museum was broken into last night and several paintings were slashed.
transgress /trænzˈ gres/ verb [ I or T ] FORMAL
to break a law or moral rule
Those are the rules, and anyone who transgresses will be severely punished.
transgression /trænzˈ greʃ . ə n/ noun [ C or U ]
Who is supposed to have committed these transgressions?
notorious /nə ʊ ˈ tɔː .ri.əs/ /noʊˈ tɔː r.i-/ adjective
famous for something bad
one of Britain's most notorious criminals
watchdog /ˈ wɒtʃ .dɒg/ /ˈ wɑː tʃ .dɑː g/ noun [ C ] ORGANIZATION
1. a person or organization responsible for making certain that companies obey particular
standards and do not act illegally
The Countryside Commission was set up as the government's official watchdog on
conservation.
plummet /ˈ plʌm.ɪ t/ verb [ I ]
to fall very quickly and suddenly
House prices have plummeted in recent months.
cladding /ˈ klæd.ɪ ŋ/ noun [ U ]
protective material which covers the surface of something
The pipes froze because the cladding had fallen off.
contaminate /kənˈ tæm.ɪ .neɪ t/ verb [ T ]
to make something less pure or make it poisonous
Much of the coast has been contaminated by nuclear waste.

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DAY 14
READING PASSAGE 3
You should spend 20 minutes on Questions 1-14, which are based on Reading Passage
3.
Pacific navigation and voyaging
How people migrated to the Pacific islands
The many tiny islands of the Pacific Ocean had no human population until ancestors of
today’s islanders sailed from Southeast Asia in ocean-going canoes approximately 2,000
years ago. At the present time, the debate continues about exactly how they migrated such
vast distances across the ocean, without any of the modern technologies we take for
granted.
Although the romantic vision of some early twentieth-century writers of fleets of heroic
navigators simultaneously setting sail had come to be considered by later investigators to
be exaggerated, no considered assessment of Pacific voyaging was forthcoming until 1956
when the American historian Andrew Sharp published his research. Sharp challenged the
‘heroic vision’ by asserting that the expertise of the navigators was limited, and that the
settlement of the islands was not systematic, being more dependent on good fortune by
drifting canoes. Sharp’s theory was widely challenged, and deservedly so. If nothing else,
however, it did spark renewed interest in the topic and precipitated valuable new research.
Since the 1960s a wealth of investigations has been conducted, and most of them,
thankfully, have been of the ‘non-armchair’ variety. While it would be wrong to denigrate all
‘armchair’ research – that based on an examination of available published materials – it
has turned out that so little progress had been made in the area of Pacific voyaging
because most writers relied on the same old sources – travelers’ journals or missionary
narratives compiled by unskilled observers. After Sharp, this began to change, and
researchers conducted most of their investigations not in libraries, but in the field.
In 1965, David Lewis, a physician and experienced yachtsman, set to work using his own
unique philosophy: he took the yacht he had owned for many years and navigated through
the islands in order to contact those men who still find their way at sea using traditional
methods. He then accompanied these men, in their traditional canoes, on test voyages
from which all modern instruments were banished from sight, though Lewis secretly used
them to confirm the navigator’s calculations. His most famous such voyage was a return
trip of around 1,000 nautical miles between two islands in mid-ocean. Far from drifting, as
proposed by Sharp, Lewis found that ancient navigators would have known which course
to steer by memorizing which stars rose and set in certain positions along the horizon and
this gave them fixed directions by which to steer their boats.
The geographer Edwin Doran followed a quite different approach. He was interested in
obtaining exact data on canoe sailing performance, and to that end employed the latest
electronic instrumentation. Doran traveled on board traditional sailing canoes in some of
the most remote parts of the Pacific, all the while using his instruments to record canoe
speeds in different wind strengths – from gales to calms – the angle canoes could sail

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relative to the wind. In the process, he provided the first really precise attributes of
traditional sailing canoes.
A further contribution was made by Steven Horvath. As a physiologist, Horvath’s interest
was not in navigation techniques or in canoes, but in the physical capabilities of the men
themselves. By adapting standard physiological techniques, Horvath was able to calculate
the energy expenditure required to paddle canoes of this sort at times when there was no
wind to fill the sails, or when the wind was contrary. He concluded that paddles, or perhaps
long oars, could indeed have propelled for long distances what were primarily sailing
vessels.
Finally, a team led by P Wall Garrard conducted important research, in this case by making
investigations while remaining safely in the laboratory. Wall Garrard’s unusual method was
to use the findings of linguists who had studied the languages of the Pacific islands, many
of which are remarkably similar although the islands where they are spoken are sometimes
thousands of kilometres apart. Clever adaptation of computer simulation techniques
pioneered in other disciplines allowed him to produce convincing models suggesting the
migrations were indeed systematic, but not simultaneous. Wall Garrard proposed the
migrations should be seen not as a single journey made by a massed fleet of canoes, but
as a series of ever more ambitious voyages, each pushing further into the unknown ocean.
What do we learn about Pacific navigation and voyaging from this research? Quite
correctly, none of the researchers tried to use their findings to prove one theory or another;
experiments such as these cannot categorically confirm or negate a hypothesis. The
strength of this research lay in the range of methodologies employed. When we splice
together these findings we can propose that traditional navigators used a variety of canoe
types, sources of water and navigation techniques, and it was this adaptability which was
their greatest accomplishment. These navigators observed the conditions prevailing at sea
at the time a voyage was made and altered their techniques accordingly. Furthermore, the
canoes of the navigators were not drifting helplessly at sea but were most likely part of a
systematic migration; as such, the Pacific peoples were able to view the ocean as an
avenue, not a barrier, to communication before any other race on Earth. Finally, one
unexpected but most welcome consequence of this research has been a renaissance in
the practice of traditional voyaging. In some groups of islands in the Pacific today young
people are resurrecting the skills of their ancestors, when a few decades ago it seemed
they would be lost forever.

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 DAY 14 PASSAGE - WORDLIST

take sth or sb for granted

If you take situations or people for granted, you do not realise or show that you are
grateful for how much you get from them
One of the problems with relationships is that after a while you just take each other for
granted.
exaggerate /ɪ gˈ zædʒ.ə.reɪ t/ /-ɚ.eɪ t/ verb [ I or T ]
to make something seem larger, more important, better or worse than it really is
The threat of attack has been greatly exaggerated.
fortune /ˈ fɔː .tʃ uː n/ /ˈ fɔː r-/ noun CHANCE
2. [ C or U ] chance and the way it affects your life
He had the (good) fortune to train with some of the world's top athletes.
drift /drɪ ft/ verb [ I usually + adv/prep ]
to move slowly, especially as a result of outside forces, with no control over direction
No one noticed that the boat had begun to drift out to sea.
deservedly /dɪ ˈ zɜː .vɪ d.li/ /-ˈ zɝː -/ adverb
If something happens to you deservedly, you deserve it to happen
He won the award for best actor, and deservedly so .
precipitate /prɪ ˈ sɪ p.ɪ .teɪ t/ verb MAKE HAPPEN
1. [ T ] FORMAL to make something happen suddenly or sooner than expected
An invasion would certainly precipitate a political crisis.
denigrate /ˈ den.ɪ .greɪ t/ verb [ T ]
to say that someone or something is not good or important
You shouldn't denigrate people just because they have different beliefs from you.
rely on sb/sth phrasal verb
1. to need a particular thing or the help and support of someone or something in order to
continue, to work correctly, or to succeed
[ + -ing verb ] The success of this project relies on everyone mak ing an effort.
confirm /kənˈ fɜː m/ /-ˈ fɝː m/ verb MAKE CERTAIN
1. [ I or T ] to make an arrangement or meeting certain, often by telephone or writing
[ + that ] Six people have confirmed that they will be attending and ten haven't replied
yet.
nautical ˈ mile noun [ C ] ( ALSO sea mile )
a unit of distance used at sea which is equal to 1852 metres
steer /stɪ ə r / /stɪ r/ verb
1. [ I or T ] to control the direction of a vehicle
She carefully steered the car around the potholes.
This car is very easy to steer.
paddle /ˈ pæd.l ฀/ verb WITH POLE
2. [ I or T ] to push a pole with a wide end through the water in order to make a boat
move
propel /prəˈ pel/ verb [ T ] -ll-
1. to push or move something somewhere, often with a lot of force
a rocket propelled through space
convince /kənˈ vɪ n t s/ verb [ T ]
to persuade someone or make them certain
He managed to convince the jury of his innocence.
simultaneous /ˌ sɪ m. ə lˈ teɪ .ni.əs/ /ˌ saɪ .m ə l-/ adjective
happening or being done at exactly the same time

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Day 14

There were several simultaneous explosions in different cities.

negate /nɪ ˈ geɪ t/ verb [ T ] SLIGHTLY FORMAL
to cause something to have no effect
The increase in our profits has been negated by the rising costs of running the business.
splice /splaɪ s/ verb [ T ]
to join two pieces of rope, film, etc. together at their ends in order to form one long piece
Scientists have discovered how to splice pieces of DNA.
prevailing /prɪ ˈ veɪ .lɪ ŋ/ adjective
1. existing in a particular place or at a particular time
the prevailing attitude
consequence /ˈ kɒn t .sɪ .kwən t s/ /ˈ kɑː n t -/ noun [ C ]
1. a result of a particular action or situation, often one which is bad or not convenient
Not making a will can have serious consequences for the people you might wish to
benefit.
resurrect /ˌ rez. ə rˈ ekt/ /-əˈ rekt/ verb [ T ]
to bring back something into use or existence that had disappeared or ended
Several members of the party have resurrected the idea of constitutional change.

Answers and video explanation

here.Just scan the QR code:

141
DAY 14
Question 1-5
Do the following statements agree with the claims of the writer in Reading Passage 3?
In boxes 1-5 on your answer sheet, write
YES if the statement agrees with the claims of the writer
NO if the statement contradicts the claims of the writer
NOT GIVEN if is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this

1 The Pacific islands were uninhabited when migrants arrived by sea from Southeast
Asia
2 Andrew Sharp was the first person to write about the migrants to islanders
3 Andrew Sharp believed migratory voyages were based on more on luck than skill
4 Despite being controversial, Andrew Sharp’s research had positive results
5 Edwin Doran disagreed with the findings of Lewis’s research

Questions 6-10
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.
Write the correct letter in boxes 6-10 on your answer sheet.
6 David Lewis’s research was different because
A he observed traditional navigators at work
B he conducted test voyages using his own yacht
C he carried no modern instruments on test voyages
D he spoke the same language as the islanders he sailed with

7 What did David Lewis’s research discover about traditional navigators?

A They used the sun and moon to find their position
B They could not sail further than about 1,000 nautical miles
C They knew which direction they were sailing in
D They were able to drift for long distances

8 What are we told about Edwin Doran’s research?

A Data were collected after the canoes had returned to land
B Canoe characteristics were recorded using modern instruments
C Research was conducted in the most densely populated regions
D Navigators were not allowed to see the instruments Doran used

9 Which of the following did Steven Horvath discover during his research?
A Canoe design was less important than human strength
B New research methods had to be developed for use in canoes
C Navigators became very tired on the longest voyages
D Human energy may have been used to assist sailing canoes

10 What is the writer’s opinion of P Wall Garrard’s research?

A He is disappointed it was conducted in the laboratory
B He is impressed by the originality of the techniques used
C He is surprised it was used to help linguists with their research
D He is concerned that the islands studied are long distances apart

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DAY 14
Questions 11-14
Complete each sentence with the correct ending, A-F, below.
Write the correct letter, A-F, in boxes 11-14 on your answer sheet.
11 One limitation in the information produced by all of this research is that it
12 The best thing about this type of research
13 The most important achievement of traditional navigators
14 The migration of people from Asia to the Pacific

A was the variety of experimental techniques used

B was not of interest to young islanders today
C was not conclusive evidence in support of a single theory
D was being able to change their practices when necessary
E was the first time humans intentionally crossed an ocean
F was the speed with which it was conducted

143
Day 15

The Guardian view on the cost of living: money’s too

tight to mention
theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jan/19/the-guardian-view-on-the-cost-of-living-moneys-too-tight-to-mention

Editorial January 19, 2022

The economic news this week is stark. Inflation has hit a 30-year high and the average
British worker is entering their third drop in real wages in a decade. But what’s really
sobering is that the worst is still to come. Next month, the regulator Ofgem announces the
maximum price for heating bills, and energy company bosses are already warning that
they will almost certainly be double last winter’s levels. The new price cap kicks in from
April, at just the point that national insurance goes up alongside council tax increases in
many boroughs, and there’s a stealth rise in income tax. If government ministers think
they’re unpopular now, they should check back once voters are paying what economists
estimate as an extra £1,200 a year for the average household.

Without immediate state action, the human fallout of all of this will be severe. Two big
points need to be borne in mind: first, when basics are shooting up in price, households
cannot put off their purchases or buy something cheaper. You either switch the heating on
or not; you either have enough food or you go hungry. Second, although prices are going
up for everyone, not all families have the same financial buffer against this storm. As it is,
debt charities are already warning of many more people trying to borrow to keep on top of
their bills. Fuel poverty looks almost certain to shoot up.

What should be done immediately has been sketched out by Labour’s Rachel Reeves: a
windfall tax on oil and gas companies, with the proceeds going towards the least well-off
to help with bills. Labour is also proposing scrapping VAT on fuel bills for a few months,
which makes better sense politically than it does in policy terms. The amount households
save would be small and financial support should be better targeted.

In any case, it would not be a surprise to see the business secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, steal
one or both of these ideas. What he should also do, but won’t, is restore the £20 cut from
universal credit and increase benefits, which are not going up in line with prices. Still,
Labour should continue to press the government on this policy.

Much more of a mistake would be for Whitehall to hand money to utility firms, as has
been suggested: that hands money to shareholders rather than to households. Over the
longer term, the state needs to build up a much bigger renewables base so that the UK is
less dependent on international oil and gas markets.

What doesn’t help is for the Bank of England to raise interest rates again, as looks likely.
There is no evidence of workers pushing for higher wages, but there are already signs of
companies raising their prices in line with their material costs.

144 1/2
A quarter-point increase in the base rate will do nothing to prevent that, nor will it curb
fluctuations on international oil markets. All it does is signal a certain complacency on
Threadneedle Street about the prospects for the UK economy, which are not that rosy.
The high growth, high productivity miracle promised by Boris Johnson just last autumn is
being revealed instead as a high-cost, high-inequality flop.

145 2/2
 DAY 15 PASSAGE - WORDLIST

get by phrasal verb

to be able to live or deal with a situation with difficulty, usually by having just enough of
something you need, such as money
How can he get by on so little money?
gut /gʌt/ noun BRAVERY
6. guts
INFORMAL bravery; the ability to control fear and to deal with danger and uncertainty
[ + to infinitive ] It takes a lot of guts to admit to so many people that you've made a
mistake.
put sb through sth phrasal verb BAD EXPERIENCE
1. to make someone experience something unpleasant or difficult
I'm sorry to put you through this ordeal.
split /splɪ t/ verb splitting , split , split DIVIDE
The teacher split the children (up) into three groups.
transducer /trænzˈ djuː .sə r / /trɑː n t sˈ duː .sɚ/ noun [ C ] SPECIALIZED
any electronic device that changes one form of energy into another, such as a microphone
, which changes sound waves into electrical signals
javelin /ˈ dʒæv.lɪ n/ noun [ C ]
javelin
1. a long stick with a pointed end which is thrown in sports competitions
make a (big) difference ( ALSO make all the difference )
to improve a situation (a lot)
Exercise can make a big difference to your state of health.
room for improvement
a possibility or hope that someone or something will improve
Her writing is better but there is still room for improvement.
let sb down phrasal verb [ M ]
to disappoint someone by failing to do what you agreed to do or were expected to do
You will be there tomorrow - you won't let me down, will you?
strive /straɪ v/ verb [ I ] strove or strived , striven or strived
to try very hard to do something or to make something happen, especially for a long time
or against difficulties
[ + to infinitive ] Mr Roe has kindled expectations that he must now strive to live up to.
relive /ˌ riː ˈ lɪ v/ verb [ T ]
to remember clearly an experience that happened in the past
Whenever I smell burning, I relive the final moments of the crash.

146
DAY 15
READING PASSAGE 2
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 17-29, which are based on Reading
Passage 2 below.
Sports Science
When the first Olympics took place in Greece 3,000 years ago, athletes could get by with
little more than raw strength. These days, however, talent and guts just aren't enough to
make it on the international circuit
A Olympic athletes today train with a dedicated team of sports scientists, each applying
the latest research and technology to their quest for success. Everything from the fibres in
their muscles to the cells in their brains is put through a rigorous workout programme to
ensure that, on the big day, they walk out of their changing room with a perfectly designed
body and a focused mind. It's not difficult to find examples of this, but what's behind this
never-ending increase in performance? Most experts agree that part of it is down to huge
advances in sports science, bringing not only a better understanding of the body and mind,
but massive improvements in equipment design.
B Sports science can be split into four areas: biomechanics, physiology, psychology and
technology. Biomechanics is the science that applies engineering principles to the motion
of the body. Biomechanists analyse an athlete's movements using video, motion tracking,
force transducers and instruments to measure electrical muscle activity and gauge internal
and external forces on the body. 'We need to know which muscles are working when, and
how hard, to understand technique and co-ordination,' says Dr Neil Fowler, a biomechanist
at Manchester Metropolitan University and biomechanics chair for the British Association
of Sport and Exercise Sciences.
C Over the years, Fowler has worked with his fair share of elite athletes, including
Olympic javelin throwers and long jumpers, and has plenty of examples of when
biomechanics has made a difference to performance. 'We found that in the long jump, it's
best if the foot is moving backwards when it hits the board, like a kind of pawing
movement. One of our elite jumpers made a radical jumping strategy change as a result of
this advice and that season there was a substantial increase in their personal best.'
D But to get the best from biomechanics, an athlete has to be physically capable of
making the changes — and that's where the physiology comes in. Physiologists often work
closely with biomechanists to fill the physiological gaps that could make the difference
between success and failure. What physiologists measure varies from sport to sport and
even between events. For an endurance athlete, for example, a priority is to get enough
oxygen to the muscles so they can work aerobically for as long as possible. Once your
body reaches the maximum rate at which it can process oxygen, your muscles begin to
work anaerobically and produce lactic acid, which leads to muscle fatigue. With this in
mind, physiologists try to establish what is the maximum sustainable speed where lactic
acid levels no longer rise.

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E 'We know in general that if you want to get stronger, you lift a lot (bones become bigger
and there's an increase in density leading to more strength); if you want to be a good
endurance runner, you run a lot — but it's really about targeting each of these determinants
of performance and training at the correct intensity, for the correct duration, at the correct
frequency,' says Dr Greg Whyte, physiologist and sports science co-ordinator for the
English Institute of Sport.
F But it does seem there is a limit to what the body can do, and in some parts there may
now be little room for improvement. So this is where equipment can play an important role.
The Sports Engineering Group at Sheffield University is just one group which is designing
high-tech sporting equipment that can make changes. However, sometimes not everyone
wants the same from technology. 'We get it from all angles,' says the group's Dr Matt
Carre. Mithin industry, a company might want to make tennis rackets that can hit balls
faster, but we also get governing bodies who want to know what's happening. Obviously
they want new technology, but if it starts to spoil the game then they need to bring in some
rule changes to stop that happening.'
G Even with a perfect body and the best equipment, the athlete's mind could let them
down on the day. Professor Ian Maynard from Sheffield Hallam University is psychology
advisor to the British Olympic Association, and works with the sailing and diving teams. As
he explains, mental preparation can begin up to two months before the event, with
competitors striving to maintain a positive frame of mind. 'The whole idea is that consistent
preparation leads to consistent performance,' says Maynard. 'They might have videos,
music, arrange to meet friends and family, anything that would be a positive distraction.'
They are also trained to refocus quickly and put themselves back on track in case
something goes wrong mid-event.
H Visualisation can add an extra dimension to training. 'Reliving your best performances
is one of the best ways to build confidence, so we go through a performance in the mind's
eye, reliving the emotions and the technical aspects of it,' says Maynard. Research also
suggests visualisation is almost as good as practice. 'The neurophysiological explanation is
that if you imagine a movement, you go through the same synaptic pathways in the brain
as if you were actually executing it,' he says.

148
 DAY 15 PASSAGE - WORDLIST

get by phrasal verb

to be able to live or deal with a situation with difficulty, usually by having just enough of
something you need, such as money
How can he get by on so little money?
gut /gʌt/ noun BRAVERY
6. guts
INFORMAL bravery; the ability to control fear and to deal with danger and uncertainty
[ + to infinitive ] It takes a lot of guts to admit to so many people that you've made a
mistake.
put sb through sth phrasal verb BAD EXPERIENCE
1. to make someone experience something unpleasant or difficult
I'm sorry to put you through this ordeal.
split /splɪ t/ verb splitting , split , split DIVIDE
The teacher split the children (up) into three groups.
transducer /trænzˈ djuː .sə r / /trɑː n t sˈ duː .sɚ/ noun [ C ] SPECIALIZED
any electronic device that changes one form of energy into another, such as a microphone
, which changes sound waves into electrical signals
javelin /ˈ dʒæv.lɪ n/ noun [ C ]
javelin
1. a long stick with a pointed end which is thrown in sports competitions
make a (big) difference ( ALSO make all the difference )
to improve a situation (a lot)
Exercise can make a big difference to your state of health.
room for improvement
a possibility or hope that someone or something will improve
Her writing is better but there is still room for improvement.
let sb down phrasal verb [ M ]
to disappoint someone by failing to do what you agreed to do or were expected to do
You will be there tomorrow - you won't let me down, will you?
strive /straɪ v/ verb [ I ] strove or strived , striven or strived
to try very hard to do something or to make something happen, especially for a long time
or against difficulties
[ + to infinitive ] Mr Roe has kindled expectations that he must now strive to live up to.
relive /ˌ riː ˈ lɪ v/ verb [ T ]
to remember clearly an experience that happened in the past
Whenever I smell burning, I relive the final moments of the crash.

149
DAY 15
Question 17-19
Reading Passage 2 has eight paragraphs, A-H
Which paragraph contains the following information?
Write the correct letter A-H in boxes 17-19 on your answer sheet.

17 a reference to a particular sports event which has benefited from close analysis of
performance
18 a reference to the importance for athletes of recalling past successes
19 examples of devices used to gather data

Questions 20-24
Look at the following statements (Questions 20-24) and the list of people below
Match each statement with the correct person, A-D.
Write the correct letter, A-D, in boxes 20-24 on your answer sheet.
NB you may use any letter more than once.
20 He mentions the difficulty in satisfying conflicting demands.
21 He aims to prevent athletes from being deterred by unforeseen problems.
22 He describes an occasion when a small adjustment in technique led to improved
performance.
23 He explains the need to observe athletes in action.
24 He mentions the importance of research in helping to decide upon the right amount of
physical preparation.

List of People
A Dr Neil Fowler
B Dr Greg Whyte
C Dr Matt Carre
D Professor Ian Maynard

Answers and video explanation

here.Just scan the QR code:

150
DAY 15
Questions 25-29
Label the diagram below
Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer
Write your answers in boxes 25-29 on your answer sheet.

151
Day 16

Now that science has defanged Covid, it’s time to get

on with our lives
theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jan/19/science-covid-ineradicable-disease-prevention

Devi Sridhar January 19, 2022

Delaying and preventing infection as much as possible through this pandemic was a
worthwhile strategy. In early 2020, there were few treatments, limited testing and no
vaccines. The costs of those lockdowns were big, but the effort to buy time paid off. In that
time, science has transformed Covid from a deadly virus to a much less serious, nasty
disease – one that is manageable at home, for the vast majority of those vaccinated. It has,
largely, defanged it.

But even as we have had success treating and preventing serious infections, Sars-CoV-2
has become increasingly transmissible. ONS survey data indicates that one in 15 are
positive in England, with similar numbers for the other three nations. While the good
news is that the Omicron variant is resulting in less severe disease and a smaller fraction
of hospitalisations, so many people are infected and isolating that critical services are
struggling with staffing. This is what is driving governments to rethink isolation policies,
and ask whether they are becoming more disruptive than the virus itself.

In the UK the prime minister announced today that restrictions including masking
requirements will be removed from next week, and self-isolation requirements will be
reviewed in March. I think this is largely reasonable – all governments face the question
of how to approach this new landscape.

For policymakers, it’s a bit like landing an aeroplane on an icy landing strip. The fuel of
public patience is running low; and wear and tear, in the form of economic and social
damage, has built up over two years in a holding pattern. The need to land is obvious, and
we have the tools to do so, but it’s still a tricky feat in current conditions.

There are now clearly three camps of scientists voicing opinions on what is happening and
what to do in the coming weeks. This can be confusing for the public.

The first group still seem to see the virus as the same deadly one of March 2020, despite
the massive scientific progress in managing it, and they suggest extremely cautious
measures. The second say they’ve been right all along in that mass infection is
unavoidable; this is the “let it rip” group. They ignore the dramatic difference that mass
vaccinations and treatments have made – avoiding serious illness from Covid-19 now is
wholly different from 2020.

The third group – where I sit – have evolved their position as the data and tools, namely
vaccines and therapeutics, have also evolved to transform Covid-19 into something more
akin to other infectious diseases that we control and manage. My analysis has consistently
responded to the latest evidence.

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First, we now have safe and effective vaccines that protect the vast majority of people
from hospitalisation and death. Recent data from the UK Health Security Agency shows
that unvaccinated people are between three and eight times more likely to be hospitalised
with Covid-19. Early in the Omicron wave, New Yorkers who were not vaccinated were
more than eight times more likely to be hospitalised than New Yorkers who were fully
vaccinated. If everyone who was offered a vaccine and booster would take it, the pandemic
would be effectively over in richer countries.

And while our current vaccines don’t stop us getting infected, major investment is being
made in next-generation vaccines that offer sterilizing immunity, meaning they stop
infection completely in those getting two doses.

Next, we have exciting home treatments on the horizon for Covid-19, two in particular.
The first is Pfizer’s Paxlovid and the second is Merck’s molnupiravir. Both are seen by
scientists as groundbreaking because early trial data showed they significantly reduced
the chances of hospitalisation and death in high-risk patients. The pills aren’t affected by
new variants such as Omicron as they don’t target the spike protein where most mutations
have occurred. And unlike vaccines, which must be taken weeks before infection to be
effective, these treatments can help fight active infections.

Antivirals need to be tied to a good diagnostic system as the pills need to be taken as soon
as possible after confirming Covid-19 diagnosis and symptoms. This means we need a
smooth system for getting tested, getting a prescription from a medical professional and
starting the course of oral pills. Although, because of current supply issues, rather than
general population use they will be targeted at older people and those who are more
vulnerable due to health conditions such as heart disease, cancer or diabetes.

What does all this mean in terms of living with Covid-19? We still need to test. We still
need to vaccinate and combat misinformation. We need to encourage people to wear
medical-grade masks such as N95s in crowded and indoor settings. Employers need to
recognise and support employees who have been identified as in a shielding group. We
also need to review isolation and other policies so they remain safe, but are less disruptive
to the functioning of society.

We will still need to monitor Covid-19 in public health, as we do other diseases. When
people say it will be “endemic”, that doesn’t mean harmless. Endemic means that we
accept a circulation of a disease because elimination or eradication is perceived as too
difficult. Malaria, dengue and measles are endemic in certain parts of the world even
though they are all serious diseases. Malaria was endemic in the United States until the
government decided to eliminate it.

This is part of a larger question about how much we continue to alter what “normal” social
relations are, given the circulation of Sars-CoV-2. Humans are social: we need to hug,
dance, sing and recognise each other’s faces and smiles. A sense of community and
connection are vital to wellbeing too. Public health is not about one disease; it is broadly
about wellbeing, which includes mental health and being able to pay the rent, feed your
family, stay warm through winter and have a meaningful role in society.

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Slowing the spread of Sars-CoV-2, even stopping it completely in certain countries, helped
save lives. It allowed two transformative antiviral pills to be made available. It allowed
doctors to develop better ways of treating patients, and to understand what we’re facing.
It allowed a better understanding of transmission and risk.

But now, two years into this pandemic, we need to find a better way of living alongside
Sars-CoV-2 using the tools we have. We have created ways to minimise the impact of
Covid-19. And now is the time to start to recover and heal as a society and move forward,
treating this virus like we do other infectious disease threats.

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 DAY 16 ARTICLE - WORDLIST

defang – transitive: to make harmless or less powerful

pay off phrasal verb
If something you have done pays off, it is successful
All her hard work paid off in the end, and she finally passed the exam.
struggle /ˈ strʌg.l ฀/ verb FIGHT
4. [ I ] to fight, especially with your hands
He struggled with his attacker who then ran off.
5. [ I usually + adverb or preposition ] to use a lot of effort to defeat someone, prevent
something, or achieve something
For years she struggled with/against the establishment to get her theories accepted
obvious /ˈ ɒb.vi.əs/ /ˈ ɑː b-/ adjective
clear; easy to see, recognize or understand
[ + ( that ) ] It 's obvious (that) she doesn't like him.
confusing /kənˈ fjuː .zɪ ŋ/ adjective
describes something that makes you feel confused because it is difficult to understand
We've got two people called Paul James working here, so it's a bit confusing!
cautious /ˈ kɔː .ʃ əs/ /ˈ kɑː -/ adjective
1. describes someone who avoids risks
He's a cautious driver.
2. describes something which is careful, well considered and sometimes slow or
uncertain
a cautious approach
ground-breaking /ˈ graʊndˌ breɪ .kɪ ŋ/ adjective
If something is ground-breaking, it is very new and a big change from other things of its
type
His latest film is interesting, but not ground-breaking.
vulnerable /ˈ vʌl.n ə r.ə.bl ฀/ , /ˈ vʌn.rə-/ /ˈ vʌl.nɚ.ə-/ adjective
able to be easily physically, emotionally, or mentally hurt, influenced or attacked
I felt very vulnerable, standing there without any clothes on.
disruptive /dɪ sˈ rʌp.tɪ v/ adjective
causing trouble and therefore stopping something from continuing as usual
His teacher described him as a noisy, disruptive influence in class.
endemic /enˈ dem.ɪ k/ adjective
especially of a disease or a condition, regularly found and very common among a
particular group or in a particular area
Malaria is endemic in many of the hotter regions of the world.
malaria /məˈ leə.ri.ə/ /-ˈ ler.i-/ noun [ U ]
a disease that you can get from the bite of a particular type of mosquito (= a small flying
insect) which causes periods of fever and makes you feel very cold and shake. It is common in
many hotter parts of the world.
measles /ˈ miː .zl ฀z/ noun [ U ]
an infectious disease which produces small red spots all over the body

155
DAY 16
READING PASSAGE 2
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based on Reading
Passage 2 below.
The return of monkey life
Rain forest trees growing anew on Central American farmland are helping scientists
find ways for monkey and agriculture to benefit one another.

A Hacienda La Pacifica, a remote working cattle ranch in Guanacaste province of northern

Costa Rica, has for decades been home to a community of mantled howler monkeys.
Other native primates- white-faced capuchin monkeys and spider monkeys were once
common in this area, too, but vanished after the Pan-American Highway was built nearby
in the 1950s and most of the surrounding land was cleared for cattle-raising. At Hacienda
La Pacifica, however, an enlightened ranch owner chose to leave some strips of native
trees growing. He used these as windbreaks to protect both cattle and their food crops
from dry-season winds. In the process, the farmer unwittingly founded a unique laboratory
for the study of monkeys.
B Ken Glander, a primatologist from Duke University in the USA, is studying La Pacifica's
monkeys in an effort to understand the relationship between howlers and regenerating
forests at the edges of grazing lands. Studying such disturbed woodlands is increasingly
important because throughout much of the New World Tropics, these are the only forests
left. In the 1gth century, tropical dry forests once covered most of Central America, but by
the 1980s less than two percent remained undisturbed, and less than one percent was
protected.
C Howlers persists at La Pacifica, Glander explains, because they are leaf-eaters. They eat
fruit when it is available but, unlike capuchin and spider monkeys, do not depend on large
areas of fruiting trees. Glander is particularly interested in howlers' ability to thrive on
leaves loaded with toxins- poisonous substances designed to protect the plants. For leaf-
eaters, long-term exposure to a specific plant toxin can increase their ability to neutralize
the poisonous substances and absorb the leaf nutrients. Watching generations of howlers
at La Pacifica has shown Glander that the monkeys keep their systems primed by sampling
a variety of plants and then focusing on a small number of the most nutritious food items.
The leaves that grow in regenerating forests, like those at La Pacifica, are actually more
howler-friendly than those produced by the centuries-old trees that survive farther south. In
younger forests, trees put most of their limited energy into growing wood, leaves, and fruit,
so they produce much lower levels of toxin than do well-established, old-growth trees.
D The value of maturing forests to primates is also a subject of study at Santa Rosa
National Park, about 35 miles northwest of La Pacifica. Large areas of Santa Rosa's
forests had at one time been burnt to make space for cattle ranching and coffee farming,
thereby devastating local monkey habitat, but in 1971 the government protected the area
by designating it a National Park, and species of Indigenous Lees which had been absent
for decades began to invade the abandoned pastures. Capuchins were the first to begin
1

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using the reborn forests, followed by howlers. Eventually, even spider monkeys, fruit-eaters
that need large areas of continuous forest, returned. In the first 28 years following
protection of the area, the capuchin population doubled, while the number of howlers
increased sevenfold.
E Some of the same traits that allow howlers to survive at La Pacifica also explain their
population boom in Santa Rosa, Howler reproduction is faster than that of other native
monkey species. They give birth for the first time at about 3.5 years of age, compared with
seven years for capuchins, and eight or more for spider monkeys. Also, while a female
spider monkey will have a baby about once every four years, well-fed howlers can produce
an infant every two years. Another factor is diet. Howlers are very adaptable feeders, and
only need a comparatively small home range. Spider monkeys, on the other hand, need to
occupy a huge home range. Also crucial is fact that the leaves howlers eat hold plenty of
water, so the monkeys can survive away from open streams and water holes. This ability
gives them a real advantage over capuchin and spider monkeys, which have suffered
during the long, ongoing drought in the area.
F Alejandro Estrada, an ecologist at Estacion de Biologia Los Tuxtlas in Veracruz, Mexico,
has been studying the ecology of a group of howler monkeys that thrive in a habitat totally
altered by humans: a cacao plantation in Tabasco state, Mexico. Cacao plants need shade
to grow, so 40 years ago the owners of Cholula Cacao Farm planted figs, monkeypod and
other tall trees to form a protective canopy over their crop. The howlers moved in about 25
years ago after nearby torests were cut. This strange habitat seems to support about as
many monkeys as would a same-sized patch of wild forest. The howlers eat the leaves and
fruit of the shade trees, leaving the valuable cacao pods alone.
G Estrada believes the monkeys bring underappreciated benefits to such plantations,
dispersing the seeds of fruits such as fig and other shade trees, and fertilizing the soil.
Spider monkeys also forage for fruit here, though they need nearby areas of forest to
survive in the long term. He hopes that farmers will begin to see the advantages of
associating with wild monkeys, which could include potential ecotourism projects,
'Conservation is usually viewed as a conflict between farming practices and the need to
preserve nature, Estrada says. We're moving away from that vision and beginning to
consider ways in which commercial activities may become a tool for the conservation of
primates in human-modified landscapes.

Answers and video explanation

here.Just scan the QR code:

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 DAY 16 PASSAGE - WORDLIST

anew /əˈ njuː / /-ˈ nuː / adverb FORMAL

again or one more time, especially in a different way
The film tells anew the story of his rise to fame and power.
enlightened /ɪ nˈ laɪ .t ə nd/ /-t ฀ ə nd/ adjective APPROVING
1. showing understanding, acting in a positive way, and not following old-fashioned or
false beliefs
The school has an enlightened policy of teaching boys to cook.
graze /greɪ z/ verb FOOD
3. [ I or T ] to (cause animals to) eat grass
The cows were grazing.
disturb /dɪ ˈ stɜː b/ /-ˈ stɝː b/ verb [ T ] INTERRUPT
1. to interrupt what someone is doing
Please don't disturb Georgina - she's trying to do her homework.
absorb /əbˈ zɔː b/ /-ˈ zɔː rb/ verb [ T ] TAKE IN
1. to take something in, especially gradually
Plants absorb carbon dioxide.
designate /ˈ dez.ɪ g.neɪ t/ verb [ T ]
1. to choose someone officially to do a particular job
Traditionally, the president designates his or her successor.
abandon /əˈ bæn.dən/ verb [ T ] LEAVE
1. to leave a place, thing or person forever
We had to abandon the car.
abandoned /əˈ bæn.dənd/ adjective
pasture /ˈ pɑː s.tʃ ə r / /ˈ pæs.tʃ ɚ/ noun [ C or U ]
grass or similar plants suitable for animals such as cows and sheep to eat, or an area of
land covered in this
The sheep were grazing on the lush green pastures.
boom /buː m/ noun PERIOD OF GROWTH
2. [ C or U ] a period of sudden economic growth, especially one that results in a lot of
money being made
This year has seen a boom in book sales.
disperse /dɪ ˈ spɜː s/ /-spɝː s/ verb [ I or T ]
to spread across or move away over a large area, or to make something do this
When the rain came down the crowds started to disperse.
forage /ˈ fɒr.ɪ dʒ/ /ˈ fɔː r-/ verb [ I ]
to go from place to place searching, especially for food
The children had been living on the streets, foraging for scraps and sleeping rough.
potential /pə ʊ ˈ ten. t ʃ ə l/ /poʊ-/ adjective [ before noun ]
possible when the necessary conditions exist
A number of potential buyers have expressed interest in the company.

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Questions 1-4
Reading Passage 2 has seven paragraphs, A-G.
Which paragraph contains the following information?
Write the correct letter A-G, in boxes 1-4 on your answer sheet.
NB You may use any letter more than once.

1 a reason why newer forests provide howlers with better feeding opportunities
than older forests
2 a reference to a change in farmers' attitudes towards wildlife
3 a description of the means by which howlers select the best available diet for
themselves
4 figures relating to the reduction of natural wildlife habitat over a period of time

Question 5-8
Complete the summary below.
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 5-8 on your answer sheet.
Why do howlers have an advantage over Central American
monkeys?
Howler monkeys have a more rapid rate of 5 …………….. than either capuchin of spider
monkeys. Unlike the other local monkey species, howlers can survive without eating 6
………………. , and so can live inside a relatively small habitat area. Their diet is more
flexible, and they are able to tolerate leaves with high levels of 7 ………………………
Howlers can also survive periods of 8 …………………… better than the other monkey
species can.
Questions 9 - 13
Look at the following features (Questions 9-13) and the list of locations below.
Match each feature with the correct location, A, B or C.
Write the correct letter, A, B or C, in boxes 9-13 on your answer sheet.
NIB You may use any letter more than once.

9 It has seen the return of native tree species.

10 It supports only one species of native monkey.
11 Its monkey population helps the agriculture of the area.
12 It is home to populations of all three local monkey species.
13 Its landscape was altered by the construction of a transport link.

List of Locations
A Hacienda La Pacifica
B Santa Rosa National Park
C Cholula Cacao Farm

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Day 17

Is It Time for the Four-Day Workweek?

psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/mind-the-manager/202201/is-it-time-the-four-day-workweek

Key points
The U.S. economy is currently beset by labor shortages and employee burnout.
A recent survey shows a strong majority of employees feel adopting a four-day
workweek would be a constructive move.
Research indicates companies adopting a four-day week have improved productivity
and reduced stress.

Headlines over the past year have told a tale of woe for businesses plagued by persistent
labor shortages. Too often these days workers feel they're dining on an unhealthy diet of
stress, risk, fatigue, and burnout. Many have quit or gone out on their own. Many are fed
up with working in a hazardous Covid-19 environment without higher hazardous-level
pay to compensate them for it. In some respects, it's been a management nightmare. Yet
amid this labor turmoil, one old, relatively simple solution suggested by a recent survey
has gone virtually unnoticed: the four-day workweek.

More than half of U.S. employees are experiencing job burnout.

A November 2021 survey from Eagle Hill Consulting found that 53 percent of American
workers felt job "burnout" and one-third planned to leave their organization in the next 12
months. On the positive side, however, when asked about reducing burnout, "83 percent
said a four-day workweek would help." This solution was especially popular among
younger workers and women.

The idea of a four-day workweek seems to have been tossed around since time
immemorial, or at least since I entered the workforce back in the 1970s, but over the
decades in the U.S. remarkably little has been done about it.

More productivity, less stress

Would companies have to rethink and re-engineer their logistical operations to make a
four-day workweek feasible and viable? No doubt. Would it be simple? Nope. But would it
be possible to restructure a great many more jobs than currently offered? I can't imagine
why not.

There are substantive reasons why a four-day workweek benefits organizations. A 2019
study from Henley Business School in the U.K. found that when companies adopted a
four-day week, 64 percent reported "improvements in staff productivity." Not
surprisingly, from an employee standpoint, this study showed workers were happier (78
percent) and less stressed (70 percent). Additionally, from a competitive standpoint, 63
percent of the employers believed the four-day week "helped them to attract and retain
talent."

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These general sentiments, a shorter workweek would help with stress and work-life
balance, are very similar to what I've heard for years in my own conversations with
employees. Time, or lack of it, is virtually always an issue, and anything that helps busy
people find more of it is gladly welcomed.

The nine most dangerous words

A Gallup study last fall noted that only 5 percent of the U.S. workforce currently has a
four-day week. I sometimes think back to my own roles as an executive in
communications and marketing (I retired from the corporate world in 2012) and wonder:
Could I have satisfactorily performed my jobs with a four-day schedule? My answer is yes,
absolutely. Would this have required some operational adjustments? Yes, absolutely. But
was there a fundamental reason why a four-day structure could not have worked (other
than a management culture that likely would have looked seriously askance at it)? I can't
think of any.

Why have American businesses been reluctant to think outside the box toward a shorter
week? Inertia. Objects at rest tend to stay at rest. Don't rock the boat when it's sailing
along smoothly. The easier course is to keep things running as they have been for many,
many years. But the fact is the sailing isn't so smooth right now. Economists are calling
the past year's workforce exodus "The Great Resignation." Just walk around the town I
live in. Almost everywhere you look—banks, restaurants, shops, Starbucks, Walgreens,
Walmart—have "help wanted" signs. Especially in lower-paying service jobs, labor is in
markedly short supply.

Could a shorter work week be a tangible change in the right direction? In the Eagle Hill
survey described above, 83 percent of respondents felt it would help. It's hard to get 83
percent of Americans to agree on much of anything, except maybe that they like ice
cream. A number of years ago, I wrote a post based on my own experiences and
observations called The Nine Most Dangerous Words In Business. They were: This is the
way we've always done it here, a reference to the resistance to change endemic in mature
corporate cultures. I believe this kind of stay-the-course thinking has also kept the four-
day workweek in the shadows. It's long been a pleasant enough idea lacking any urgency
to adopt it.

Today there's more urgency. The new Covid Economy has laid it at our doorstep. In this
context, an old management idea could well have constructive future value.

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beset /bɪˈset/ adjective [ after verb ]

troubled (by); full (of)
With the amount of traffic nowadays, even a trip across town is beset by/with dangers.
woe /wəʊ/ /woʊ/ noun
1. woes FORMAL
great problems or troubles
The country has been beset by economic woes for the past decade.
plague /pleɪg/ verb [ T ]
1. to cause worry, pain or difficulty to someone or something over a period of time
Financial problems have been plaguing their new business partners.
My shoulder's been plaguing me all week.
2. to annoy someone, especially by asking repeated questions
The children plagued him with questions all through lunch.
hazardous /ˈhæz.ə.dəs/ /-ɚ-/ adjective
dangerous
a hazardous journey/occupation
amid /əˈmɪd/ preposition ( ALSO amidst ) FORMAL
in the middle of or surrounded by; among
On the floor, amid mounds of books, were two small envelopes.
turmoil /ˈtɜː.mɔɪl/ /ˈtɝː-/ noun [ S or U ]
a state of confusion, uncertainty or disorder
The whole region is in turmoil.
immemorial /ˌɪm.əˈmɔː.ri.əl/ /-ˈmɔːr.i-/ adjective
1. from/since time immemorial
LITERARY for a very long time
Her family had farmed that land since time immemorial.
feasible /ˈfiː.zə.bl /̩ adjective SLIGHTLY FORMAL
1. able to be made, done or achieved
With the extra resources, the scheme now seems feasible.
viable /ˈvaɪ.ə.bl /̩ adjective
1. able to work as intended or able to succeed
In order to make the company viable, it will unfortunately be necessary to reduce staffing
levels.
sentiment /ˈsen.tɪ.mənt/ /-t ̬ə-/ noun IDEA
1. [ C or U ] FORMAL a thought, opinion or idea based on a feeling about a situation, or a
way of thinking about something
Nationalist sentiment has increased in the area since the bombing.
virtually /ˈvɜː.tju.ə.li/ /ˈvɝː-/ adverb
almost
Their twins are virtually identical.
askance /əˈskɑːn t s/ /-ˈskæn t s/ adverb
look askance
to look at or think about someone or something with doubt, disapproval or no trust
They looked askance at our scruffy clothes.
reluctant /rɪˈlʌk.t ə nt/ adjective
not willing to do something and therefore slow to do it
[ + to infinitive ] I was having such a good time I was reluctant to leave.
think outside the box

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to think imaginatively using new ideas instead of traditional or expected ideas

exodus /ˈek.sə.dəs/ noun [ S ]
the movement of a lot of people from a place
There has been a mass exodus of workers from the villages to the towns.
tangible /ˈtæn.dʒə.bl /̩ adjective
real or not imaginary; able to be shown, touched or experienced
We need tangible evidence if we're going to take legal action.
on sb's doorstep INFORMAL
very close to where someone is or lives
There's a lovely park right on our doorstep.

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DAY 17
READING PASSAGE 1
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-17, which are based on Reading
Passage 1 below.
What exactly is a hoard? Broadly speaking, a hoard is a group of items kept together,
perhaps gathered all at once or gradually over time. Even though a typical image of a
hoard is a pot full of gold coins, it need not be a collection of metal objects. Hoards that
have survived over the centuries are the ones which were either lost or deliberately thrown
away. Many of those discovered have been split up, spent or melted down, leaving no
traces behind.
People have been finding hoards since the practice of burying them began. In the past,
they were dug up by farmers while working the soil and clearing land, or were exposed by
fallen trees or eroded riverbanks. Some of the places where hoards have been found seem
to have held particular significance throughout centuries. Bronze Age (around 3000 to 1200
BC) objects appear in later hoards, and the Romans in particular (Britain’s rulers 43 to 410
AD) seem to have found ancient artefacts intriguing: they buried fossils and prehistoric
weapons alongside their own items. In Britain’s historic town centers today, the past is
revealed when buildings are knocked down or rebuilt. In these urban areas, hoards are
usually found by archaeologists excavating sites before they are redeveloped, whereas
many recent discoveries in rural areas have been made by amateur metal-detector users.
Each newly found hoard raises questions. Who did it belong to? Why was it not recovered?
The actual contents of hoards have much to tell us when studied. The act of hiding a group
of objects in a pot in the ground or behind a wall often keeps them in good condition. In
contrast to single objects that have been accidentally dropped on the ground. These are
often later damaged as fields are ploughed. Hoarded objects may be rare survivals: things
that would normally be melted down for recycling or coins that would have been recalled by
the authorities had they not been hidden.
Archaeologists have come to realize, however, that the key to understanding a hoard is
usually held not in the group of objects itself but in its context; that is, in the information
held in the soil immediately around it and evidence of human activity in the wider
landscape. Where the precise locations of hoards have been investigated further, their
stories are enriched with detail. Although metal items may be thrown up to the surface
during farming activities, archaeological remains are often waiting to be discovered below
ground.
Why were hoards buried? Some smaller hoards were certainly accidental losses, or so-
called ‘purse hoards.’ This may be the case for smaller groups of coins found together,
sometimes still with the bags that had contained them. Larger hoards may have been
emergency hoards hidden in times of conflict, when people who owned precious objects
had to flee suddenly, or felt their homes were under threat.
A combination of conflict and economic insecurity may explain why so many hoards were
buried in late third-century Britain. Instability in the Roman empire led to rapid inflation and
the official coinage decreased in silver content, to the point where the coins had little
1

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DAY 17
intrinsic value. When the coinage was eventually reformed, older coins may have been
unacceptable for official payments, so coins were discarded, or hoards were not recovered.
Concealing coins and valuable items would have been more common before ordinary
people had access to banks. Savings would need to be kept secure and hidden, and many
hoards clearly started off this way. The Beau Street hoard of over 17,5000 coins found in
Bath in 2007 is composed of eight lots of money that appear to have been sorted and then
stored under the floor of a Roman building. The hoard could represent savings made by a
wealthy individual or business, but the reason why the hoard was not recovered is
uncertain. It is also important to remember that not all hoards found in the ground had been
buried there: many hoards from Roman villas were hidden within walls that later collapsed.
There are other reasons for the burial of hoards. A strong theme that runs through
prehistory is the practice of ‘deliberate deposition’ – that is, putting something underground
or under water, which was perhaps a way of releasing it to the gods. There are no records
to allow us ever to know the exact significance of prehistoric rituals but some later offerings
are accompanied by legible inscriptions. Such offerings may have been made on one
occasion or built up over a long period of time.
Seemingly unusual rites were often simply part of everyday life in the past. In Iron Age
Britain (800 BC to the Roman Invasion), for instance, chosen objects were carefully placed
in pits and ditches in settlements as well as at shrines, possibly marking the beginning or
end of use of a building, or defending significant boundaries. In some societies, a public
destruction or donation of valuable items enhances the status of the person giving them
away. These ceremonies may be carried out when there is a change of leader, to create
social cohesion in a time of uncertainty or to make significant events in the community –
and some hoards may be the result of such ceremonies.

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 DAY 17 PASSAGE - WORDLIST

hoard /hɔː d/ /hɔː rd/ verb [ T ]

to collect large amounts of something and keep it in a safe, often secret, place
During the siege people began hoarding food and supplies.
survive /səˈ vaɪ v/ /sɚ-/ verb
1. [ I or T ] to continue to live or exist, especially after coming close to dying or being
destroyed or after being in a difficult or threatening situation
The baby was born with a heart problem and only survived for a few hours.
deliberately /dɪ ˈ lɪ b. ə r.ət.li/ /-ɚ-/ adverb
1. intentionally
I'm sure he says these things deliberately to annoy me.
2. slowly and carefully
Calmly and deliberately, she poured petrol over the car and set it alight.
trace /treɪ s/ noun SIGN/RECORD
1. [ C or U ] a sign that something has happened or existed
He attempted to cover up all the traces of his crime.
erode /ɪ ˈ rəʊd/ /-ˈ roʊd/ verb [ I or T ]
1. to rub or be rubbed away gradually
Wind and rain have eroded the statues into shapeless lumps of stone.
The cliffs are eroding several feet a year.
intriguing /ɪ nˈ triː .gɪ ŋ/ adjective
very interesting because of being unusual or mysterious
an intriguing possibility/question
alongside /əˌ lɒŋˈ saɪ d/ /əˈ lɑː ŋ.saɪ d/ preposition , adverb
next to, or together with
A car pulled up alongside (ours).
The new pill will be used alongside existing medicines.
reveal /rɪ ˈ viː l/ verb [ T ]
1. to make known or show something that is surprising or that was previously secret
He was jailed for revealing secrets to the Russians.
knock sth down phrasal verb [ M ]
to destroy a building or part of a building
The Council plans to knock the library down and replace it with a hotel complex.
amateur /ˈ æm.ə.tə r / /-t ฀ʃ ɚ/ adjective
1. taking part in an activity for pleasure, not as a job
an amateur astronomer/boxer/historian
plough UK , US plow /plaʊ/ verb [ I or T ]
to dig land with a plough
Farmers start ploughing in the spring.
recall /rɪ ˈ kɔː l/ /ˈ riː .kɑː l/ verb REMEMBER
1. [ I or T ] to bring the memory of a past event into your mind, and often to give a
description of what you remember
The old man recalled the city as it had been before the war.
remains /rɪ ˈ meɪ nz/ plural noun
1. pieces or parts of something which continue to exist when most of it has been used,
destroyed or taken away
The remains of lunch were still on the table.

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DAY 17
Questions 1-8
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1?
In boxes 1-8 on your answer sheet, 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 People typically think of a hoard as consisting of money

2 In the past, most hoards were discovered in wooded areas
3 The Romans took little interest in objects from earlier civilizations
4 Nowadays hoards in British towns and cities are generally discovered using metal detectors
5 Items in hoards are often better preserved than single lost objects
6 Archaeologists have realized that certain soil types cause less harm to buried objects
7 The Beau Street hoard is the largest collection of coins discovered in the UK
8 The precise meaning of prehistoric rituals has become clear following recent discoveries

Questions 9-16
Complete the notes below.
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 9-16 on your answer sheet.

Why were hoards buried?

• accidental loss: in ‘purse hoards’, the 9 ……………… are often found alongside their contents
• loss of value: coins in late third-century Britain had less and less 10 ………………… in them
• greater security:
- money found in Bath in 2007 may have been 11 ……………….. before being hidden
- hoards from Roman villas were often placed in 12 …………………
• rituals:
- ‘deliberate deposition’ in prehistory involved people placing objects in 13 ………………. or
below the ground
- offerings are sometimes found with 14 ……………………..
• common rites:
- in Iron Age Britain important 15 ……………. were protected by burying objects
- ceremonies in which items were destroyed or donated sometimes indicated a new 16
……………… within a community

Answers and video explanation

here.Just scan the QR code:

167
Day 18

The Guardian view on the threat to Ukraine: high and

rising
theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jan/25/the-guardian-view-on-the-threat-to-ukraine-high-and-rising

Editorial January 25, 2022

The US president’s need to state on Monday that there is “total unanimity” over how to
deal with the Ukraine crisis, like the video call with European leaders which preceded it,
was itself evidence of ongoing differences among western allies. There is no dispute about
the threat: more than 100,000 Russian troops are now massed near Ukraine’s borders.
The US has put 8,500 troops on standby to deploy to Europe to reinforce allies there,
while Nato has reinforced its eastern borders with warships and fighter jets. A senior US
official briefed on Tuesday that in the event of an invasion, sanctions will “start at the top
of the escalation ladder and stay there”.

In addition to the clear deterrent message, talks continue: Dmitry Kozak, the Kremlin’s
deputy chief of staff, will meet French, German and Ukrainian officials in Paris on
Wednesday, in the “Normandy format”. Set against that, Russia paid little price for the
annexation of Crimea and fomenting the separatist uprising in the Donbas region in 2014.
There is a credible case that Russia is set on a major military offensive – not merely
pursuing coercive diplomacy – and that it is in Moscow’s interests to act before Kyiv
receives further arms shipments. Above all, there is at present no visible off-ramp for
Vladimir Putin. The very thing he says Russia must counter – Nato’s presence in eastern
Europe – is growing because of his own actions. He might take an exit; it’s harder to see
him beating a retreat.

So the risks are high and rising. But an attack on Ukraine is not inevitable. French
officials have indicated that they regard recent US and UK briefing as alarmist; Kyiv itself
is notably more cautious. An analysis by the Centre for Defence Strategies, a Ukrainian
thinktank, says a full-scale invasion capturing most of the country in the next few months
seems unlikely, given current Russian troop formations. But it also suggests that “hybrid
invasion” is already being implemented, citing the recent cyber-attack. Moscow may
believe that such methods, along with cross-border missile strikes, sabotage and political
meddling, might be enough to effect a change of government. (The EU offer of €1.2bn in
emergency financial assistance is designed to reduce pressure on Kyiv.)

What price would Russia pay? Its markets have already tanked; and it appears to have
amassed a cash stockpile in preparation for sanctions. It believes its control of gas
supplies give it asymmetric leverage, especially given Europe’s cost of living crisis. And it
may count on distraction and disunity in the west. The stepping up of US rhetoric is in
part an attempt to compensate for Joe Biden’s gaffe suggesting Nato division over how to
respond to a “minor incursion”. Excitable UK briefing over the weekend comes as the
prime minister hopes for people to look beyond his domestic woes. Germany, from
history, principle (established policy against arms sales to war zones) and pragmatism (it
gets more than half of its gas from Russia), is strikingly more muted; uncertainty persists
over how far it would go, especially over the NordStream 2 gas pipeline.

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Nonetheless, there are signs that the allies are moving closer after Monday’s call – US
coordination with Qatar and other suppliers to address the energy shortfall is helpful –
and are certainly more united than in 2014. The drumbeat of war is concentrating minds
and encouraging solidarity. That must now be maintained and built upon.

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unanimity /ˌ juː .nəˈ nɪ m.ɪ .ti/ /-ə.t ฀i/ noun [ U ] FORMAL

the state of being unanimous
precede /prɪ ˈ siː d/ /priː -/ verb [ T ]
to be or go before something or someone in time or space
Boutros Boutros-Ghali preceded Kofi Annan as the Secretary-General of the UN.
on standby
When a person or a thing is on standby, they are ready to be used if necessary
Hospitals are on standby ready to deal with casualties from the crash.
deter /dɪ ˈ tɜː r / /-ˈ tɝː / verb [ T ] -rr-
to prevent from doing something or to make someone less enthusiastic about doing
something by making it difficult for them to do it or by threatening bad results if they do it
These measures are designed to deter an enemy attack.
deterrent adjective
a deterrent effect
annexe UK , US annex /ˈ æn.ɪ ks/ noun [ C ]
an extra building added to a larger building
Delicate and valuable books are kept in an air-conditioned annexe to the main library.
annexation /ˌ æn.ekˈ seɪ .ʃ ə n/ noun [ C or U ]
foment /fəʊˈ ment/ /foʊ-/ verb [ T ] FORMAL
to cause trouble to develop
The song was banned on the grounds that it might foment racial tension.
coercive /kəʊˈ ɜː .sɪ v/ /koʊˈ ɝː -/ adjective FORMAL
using force to persuade people to do things which they are unwilling to do
The president relied on the coercive powers of the military.
think ˌ tank noun [ C usually singular + sing/pl verb ]
a group of experts brought together, usually by a government, to develop ideas on a
particular subject and to make suggestions for action
missile /ˈ mɪ s.aɪ l/ /- ə l/ noun [ C ]
1. a flying weapon which has its own engine so that it can travel a long distance before
exploding at the place that it has been aimed at
a missile launcher
sabotage /ˈ sæb.ə.tɑː ʒ/ verb [ T ]
to intentionally prevent the success of a plan or action
This was a deliberate attempt to sabotage the ceasefire.
meddle /ˈ med.l ฀/ verb [ I ] DISAPPROVING
to try to change or have an influence on things which are not your responsibility,
especially by criticizing in a damaging or annoying way
My sister's always meddling in other people's affairs .
People shouldn't meddle with things they don't understand.
meddling /ˈ med.l ฀.ɪ ŋ/ , /-lɪ ŋ/ noun [ U ]
gaffe /gæf/ noun [ C ]
a remark or action that is a social mistake and not considered polite; faux pas
I made a real gaffe - I called his new wife 'Judy' which is the name of his ex-wife.
incursion /ɪ nˈ kɜː .ʒ ə n/ /-ˈ kɝː -/ noun [ C ]
1. a sudden attack on or act of going into a place, especially across a border
incursions into enemy territory

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DAY 18
READING PASSAGE 1
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based on Reading
Passage 1 below.
The Diagnose of Bridge
A Most road and rail bridges are only inspected visually, if at all. Every few months,
engineers have to clamber over the structure in an attempt to find problems before the
bridge shows obvious signs of damage. Technologies developed at Los Alamos National
Laboratory, New Mexico, and Texas A&M University may replace these surveys with
microwave sensors that constantly monitor the condition of bridges.
B "The device uses microwaves to measure the distance between the sensor and the
bridge, much like radar does," says Albert Migliori, a Los Alamos physicist. "Any load on
the bridge- such as traffic- induces displacements, which change that distance as the
bridge moves up and down." By monitoring these movements over several minutes, the
researchers can find out how the bridge resonates. Changes in its behavior can give an
early warning of damage.
C The Interstate 4o bridge over the Rio Grande river in Albuquerque provided the
researchers with a rare opportunity to test their ideas. Chuck Farrar, an engineer at Los
Alamos, explains: "The New Mexico authorities decided to raze this bridge and replace it.
We were able to mount instruments on it, test it under various load conditions and even
inflict damage just before it was demolished. "In the 1960s and 1970s, 2500 similar bridges
were built in the US. They have two steel girders supporting the load in each section.
Highway experts know that this design is "fracture critical" because a failure in either girder
would cause the bridge to fail.
D After setting up the microwave dish on the ground below the bridge, the Los Alamos
team installed conventional accelerometer at several points along across it and while
subjecting it to pounding from a "shaker", which delivered precise punches to a specific
point on the road.
E "We then created damage that we hoped would simulate fatigue cracks that can occur in
steel girders," says Farrar. They first cut a slot about 60 centimeters long in the middle of
one girder. They then extended the cut until it reached the bottom of the girder and finally
they cut across the flange- the bottom of the girder's "I" shape.
F The initial, crude analysis of the bridge's behavior, based on the frequency at which the
bridge resonates, did not indicate that anything was wrong until the flange was damaged.
But later the data were reanalyzed with algorithms that took into account changes in the
mode shapes of the structure- shapes that the structure takes on when excited at a
particular frequency. These more sophisticated algorithms, which were developed by
Norris Stubbs at Texas A&M University, successfully identified and located the damage
caused by the initial cut.
G "When any structure vibrates, the energy is distributed throughout with some points not
moving, while others vibrate strongly at various frequencies," says Stubbs. "My algorithms
1

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DAY 18
use pattern recognition to detect changes in the distribution of this energy. NASA already
uses Stubbs' method to check the behavior of the body flap that slows space shuttles down
after they land.
H A commercial system based on the Los Alamos hardware is now available, complete
with the Stubbs algorithms, from the Quatro Corporation in Albuquerque for about $100
000.
I Tim Darling, another Los Alamos physicist working on the microwave interferometer with
Migliori, says that as the electronics become cheaper, a microwave inspection system will
eventually be applied to most large bridges in the US. "In a decade I would like to see a
battery or solar-powered package mounted under the bridge, scanning it every day to
detect changes," he says.

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 DAY 18 PASSAGE - WORDLIST

inspect /ɪ nˈ spekt/ verb [ T ]

1. to look at something or someone carefully in order to discover information, especially
about their quality or condition
After the crash both drivers got out and inspected their cars for damage.
clamber /ˈ klæm.bə r / /-bɚ/ verb [ I usually + adv/prep ]
to climb up, across or into somewhere with difficulty, using the hands and the feet
They clambered over/up the rocks.
induce /ɪ nˈ djuː s/ /-ˈ duː s/ verb FORMAL CAUSE
2. [ T ] to cause something to happen
Pills for seasickness often induce drowsiness
resonate /ˈ rez. ə n.eɪ t/ verb [ I ] HAVE QUALITY/EFFECT
2. to be filled with a particular quality
The building resonates with historic significance.
raze /reɪ z/ verb [ T ]
to completely destroy a city, building, etc
The town was razed to the ground in the bombing raid - not a building was left standing.
mount /maʊnt/ verb FIX
5. [ T ] to fix something on a wall, in a frame etc., so that it can be viewed or used
The children's work has been mounted on cards and put up on the walls of the classroom.
demolish /dɪ ˈ mɒl.ɪ ʃ / /-ˈ mɑː .lɪ ʃ / verb [ T ] DESTROY
1. to completely destroy a building, especially in order to use the land for something else
A number of houses were demolished so that the supermarket could be built.
inflict /ɪ nˈ flɪ kt/ verb [ T ]
to force someone to experience something very unpleasant
These new bullets are capable of inflicting massive injuries.
girder /ˈ gɜː .də r / /ˈ gɝː .dɚ/ noun [ C ]
a long thick piece of steel or concrete, etc. which supports a roof, floor, bridge or other
large structure
steel roof girders
fracture /ˈ fræk. t ʃ ə r / /-tʃ ɚ/ verb [ I or T ]
A fractured pipe at a steelworks has leaked 20 tons of oil into the Severn estuary.
extend /ɪ kˈ stend/ verb REACH
1. [ T I usually + adverb or preposition ] to (cause something to) reach, stretch or
continue; to add to something in order to make it bigger or longer
The Sahara Desert extends (= reaches) for miles.
flange /flændʒ/ noun [ C ]
a flat surface sticking out from an object, which is used to fix it to something or to make
it stronger
The flange around the wheels on railway trains helps to keep them on the rails.
crude /kruː d/ adjective SIMPLE
1. simple and not skilfully done or made
a crude device/weapon
detect /dɪ ˈ tekt/ verb [ T ]
1. to notice something that is partly hidden or not clear, or to discover something,
especially using a special method
Some sounds cannot be detected by the human ear.
shuttle /ˈ ʃ ʌt.l ฀/ /ˈ ʃ ʌt ฀-/ verb [ I or T usually + adv/prep ]
to travel or take people regularly between the same two places

173
 A small train shuttles constantly between the concourse and the runways.

Day 18 Reading answers

1.D
2.E
3.C
4.I
5.B
6.B
7.A
8.C
9.A
10.Two steel girders
11.Conventional Accelerometer
12.Slot
13.Flange

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DAY 18
Questions 1 - 5
The reading Passage has nine paragraphs, A-I.
Which paragraph contains the following information?
Write the correct letter, A-I, in boxes 1-5 on your answer sheet.

1 The professional team put pressure to test the motion of the bridge.
2 Engineers apply knife to the bridge to excite cracks.
3 A precious chance of experiment to certificate ideas.
4 The popular application of the microwave inspection system within a decade.
5 How the microwave works.

Questions 6 - 9
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.
Write your answer in boxes 6-9 on your answer sheet.
6 What is the responsibility of engineers in order to prevent the damage of the bridge
before the invention of the microwave sensors?
A they have to climb over the bridge.
B They have to regularly check the bridge.
C They have to inspect the condition of the bridge through monitors.
D They have to employ others to help them check the bridge.
7 What did the device take advantage of the microwaves to do?
A to calculate the distance
B to induce displacements
C to change the distance
D to give an advanced warning
8 Why did highway experts think the design as "fracture critical"?
A Engineers failed to take several tests according to different conditions.
B Engineers failed to install conventional accelerometers.
C The supporting part would probably make the bridge fall down.
D No cars drove past the bridge.
9 What was the achievement of Norris Stubbs' complicated algorithms?
A the identification and location of the damage.
B the movement of some points.
C the renounce of the bridge.
D the distribution of the energy.

Questions 10-13
Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passages for each answer.
10 The weight of the 2500 bridges is sustained by ……………….in every sector.
11 ……………….. were set up by the Los Alamos team in order to test the movement of
the bridge.
12 In order to cause break, the Los Alamos team decided to make a ………………… at first
step.
13 The ……………………….. in the bottom of the bridge resembles "I"shape.

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Day 19

Schoolkids Are Falling Victim to Disinformation and

Conspiracy Fantasies
scientificamerican.com/article/schoolkids-are-falling-victim-to-disinformation-and-conspiracy-fantasies

AUTHOR

Melinda Wenner Moyer, a contributing editor at Scientific American,

is author of How to Raise Kids Who Aren’t Assholes: Science-Based
Strategies for Better Parenting--from Tots to Teens (G. P. Putnam’s Sons,
2021). She wrote about the challenges of teaching U.S. students how to
separate fact from fiction in the February 2022 issue. Credit: Nick Higgins

When Amanda Gardner, an educator with two decades of experience, helped to start a
new charter elementary and middle school outside of Seattle last year, she did not
anticipate teaching students who denied that the Holocaust happened, argued that
COVID is a hoax and told their teacher that the 2020 presidential election was rigged. Yet
some children insisted that these conspiracy fantasies were true. Both misinformation,
which includes honest mistakes, and disinformation, which involves an intention to
mislead, have had “a growing impact on students over the past 10 to 20 years,” Gardner
says, yet many schools do not focus on the issue. “Most high schools probably do some
teaching to prevent plagiarism, but I think that’s about it.”

Children, it turns out, are ripe targets for fake news. Age 14 is when kids often start
believing in unproven conspiratorial ideas, according to a study published in September
2021 in the British Journal of Developmental Psychology. Many teens also have trouble
assessing the credibility of online information. In a 2016 study involving nearly 8,000
U.S. students, Stanford University researchers found that more than 80 percent of middle
schoolers believed that an advertisement labeled as sponsored content was actually a
news story. The researchers also found that less than 20 percent of high schoolers
seriously questioned spurious claims in social media, such as a Facebook post that said
images of strange-looking flowers, supposedly near the site of a nuclear power plant
accident in Japan, proved that dangerous radiation levels persisted in the area. When
college students in the survey looked at a Twitter post touting a poll favoring gun control,
more than two thirds failed to note that the liberal antigun groups behind the poll could
have influenced the data.

Disinformation campaigns often directly go after young users, steering them toward
misleading content. A 2018 Wall Street Journal investigation found that YouTube’s
recommendation algorithm, which offers personalized suggestions about what users
should watch next, is skewed to recommend videos that are more extreme and far-fetched
than what the viewer started with. For instance, when researchers searched for videos
using the phrase “lunar eclipse,” they were steered to a video suggesting that Earth is flat.
YouTube is one of the most popular social media site among teens: After Zeynep Tufekci,
an associate professor at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, School of

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Information and Library Science, spent time searching for videos on YouTube and
observed what the algorithm told her to watch next, she suggested that it was “one of the
most powerful radicalizing instruments of the 21st century.”

One tool that schools can use to deal with this problem is called media literacy education.
The idea is to teach kids how to evaluate and think critically about the messages they
receive and to recognize falsehoods masquerading as truth. For children whose parents
might believe conspiracy fantasies or other lies fueled by disinformation, school is the one
place where they can be taught skills to evaluate such claims objectively.

Yet few American kids are receiving this instruction. Last summer Illinois became the first
U.S. state to require all high school students to take a media literacy class. Thirteen other
states have laws that touch on media literacy, but requirements can be as general as
putting a list of resources on an education department Web site. A growing number of
students are being taught some form of media literacy in college, but that is “way, way too
late to begin this kind of instruction,” says Howard Schneider, executive director of the
Center for News Literacy at Stony Brook University. When he began teaching college
students years ago, he found that “they came with tremendous deficits, and they were
already falling into very bad habits.”

Even if more students took such classes, there is profound disagreement about what those
courses should teach. Certain curricula try to train students to give more weight to
journalistic sources, but some researchers argue that this practice ignores the potential
biases of publications and reporters. Other courses push students to identify where
information comes from and ask how the content helps those disseminating it. Overall
there are very few data showing the best way to teach children how to tell fact from
fiction.

Most media literacy approaches “begin to look thin when you ask, ‘Can you show me the
evidence?’” says Sam Wineburg, a professor of education at Stanford University, who runs
the Stanford History Education Group. There are factions of educational researchers
behind each method, says Renee Hobbs, director of the Media Education Lab at the
University of Rhode Island, and “each group goes out of its way to diss the other.” These
approaches have not been compared head-to-head, and some have only small studies
supporting them. Like online media sources themselves, it is hard to know which ones to
trust.

News literacy is a subset of media literacy research that deals directly with the
propagation of conspiracies and the ability to discern real news from fake stories. It
entails a set of skills that help people judge the reliability and credibility of news and
information. But as with media literacy, researchers have very different ideas about how
this type of news analysis should be taught.

Some programs, such as Schneider’s Stony Brook program and the nonprofit,
Washington, D.C.–based News Literacy Project, teach students to discern the quality of
the information in part by learning how responsible journalism works. They study how
journalists pursue news, how to distinguish between different kinds of information and

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how to judge evidence behind reported stories. The goal, Schneider wrote in a 2007 article
for Nieman Reports, is to shape students into “consumers who could differentiate
between raw, unmediated information coursing through the Internet and independent,
verified journalism.”

Yet some media literacy scholars doubt the efficacy of these approaches. Hobbs, for
instance, wrote a 2010 paper arguing that these methods glorify journalism, ignore its
many problems and do little to instill critical thinking skills. “All that focus on the ideals
of journalism is mere propaganda if it is blind to the realities of contemporary journalism,
where partisan politics and smear fests are the surest way to build audiences,” she stated.

Other approaches teach students methods for evaluating the credibility of news and
information sources, in part by determining the goals and incentives of those sources.
They teach students to ask: Who created the content and why? And what do other sources
say? But these methods are relatively new and have not been widely studied.

The lack of rigorous studies of the different approaches is indeed a major roadblock, says
Paul Mihailidis, a civic media and journalism expert at Emerson College. He is the
principal investigator of the Mapping Impactful Media Literacy Practices initiative, a
research project supported by the National Association for Media Literacy Education.
“Most of the science done is very small scale, very exploratory. It’s very qualitative,” he
says. That is not simply because of a lack of resources, he adds. “There’s also a lack of
clarity about what the goals are.”

For instance, in a 2017 study researchers looked at how well students who had taken
Stony Brook’s undergraduate course could answer certain questions a year later compared
with students who had not. Students who had taken the class were more likely to correctly
answer questions about the news media, such as that PBS does not rely primarily on
advertising for financial support. But the study did not test how well the students could
discern fake from real news, so it is hard to know how well the program inoculates
students against falsehoods.

Moreover, the small amount of research that does exist has largely been conducted with
college students, not the middle school or high school students who are so vulnerable to
disinformation. Indeed, the various approaches that are being used in K–12 classrooms
have hardly been tested at all. As part of his current research initiative, Mihailidis and his
team interviewed the heads of all major organizations that are part of the National Media
Literacy Alliance, which works to promote media literacy education. “We are finding,
repeatedly, that many of the ways in which they support schools and teachers—resources,
guidelines, best practices, etcetera—are not studied in much of a rigorous fashion,” he
says.

Some researchers, including Wineburg, are trying to fill in the research gaps. In a study
published in 2019, Wineburg and his team compared how 10 history professors, 10
journalism fact-checkers and 25 Stanford undergraduates evaluated Web sites and
information on social and political issues. They found that whereas historians and
students were often fooled by manipulative Web sites, journalism fact-checkers were not.

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In addition, their methods of analysis differed significantly: historians and students tried
to assess the validity of Web sites and information by reading vertically, navigating within
a site to learn more about it, but fact-checkers read laterally, opening new browser tabs
for different sources and running searches to judge the original Web site’s credibility.

Working with the Poynter Institute and the Local Media Association and with support
from Google.org (a charity founded by the technology giant), Wineburg and his team have
created a civic online reasoning course that teaches students to evaluate information by
reading laterally. The effects so far look promising. In a field experiment involving 40,000
high school students in urban public health districts, Wineburg and his group found that
students who took the class became better able to evaluate Web sites and the credibility of
online claims, such as Facebook posts, compared with students who did not take the class.

Still, even if news literacy education teaches specific skills well, some researchers question
its broader, longer-term impact. Once students learn how to evaluate Web sites and
claims, how confident can we be that they will retain these skills and use them down the
line? How sure can we be that these methods will inculcate students with skepticism
about conspiracy theories and disinformation campaigns? And will these methods lead
students to become civically engaged members of society? “There’s always this kind of
leap into ‘that will make our democracy and news systems stronger.’ And I don’t know if
that’s necessarily the case,” Mihailidis says.

Some research does hint that news literacy approaches could have these broader
beneficial effects. In a 2017 study of 397 adults, researchers found that people who were
more media-literate were less likely to endorse conspiracy theories compared with people
who were less media-literate. “We can’t definitely say news literacy causes you to reject
conspiracy theories, but the fact that we see a positive relationship there tells us there’s
something to this that we need to continue to explore,” says co-author Seth Ashley, an
associate professor of journalism and media studies at Boise State University.

While Ashley’s results are encouraging, some experts worry that a focus only on
evaluating Web sites and news articles is too narrow. “News literacy in a lot of ways
focuses on credibility and whether we know something is true or not, and that’s a really
important question, but that is one question,” says Michelle Ciulla Lipkin, executive
director of the National Association for Media Literacy Education. “Once we figure out if
it’s false or true, what is the other assessment and the other analyzing we need to do?”
Determining credibility of the information is just the first step, she argues. Students
should also be thinking about why the news is being told in a particular way, whose
stories are being told and whose are not, and how the information is getting to the news
consumer.

Pressing students to be skeptical about all information also may have unexpected
downsides. “We think that some approaches to media literacy not only don’t work but
might actually backfire by increasing students’ cynicism or exacerbating
misunderstandings about the way news media work,” says Peter Adams, senior vice
president of education at the News Literacy Project. Students may begin to “read all kinds
of nefarious motives into everything.” Adams’s concern was amplified by danah boyd, a

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technology scholar at Microsoft Research and founder and president of the Data & Society
research institute, in a 2018 talk at the South by Southwest media conference. Boyd
argued that although it is good to ask students to challenge their assumptions, “the hole
that opens up, that invites people to look for new explanations, that hole can be filled in
deeply problematic ways.” Jordan Russell, a high school social studies teacher in Bryan,
Tex., agrees. “It’s very easy for students to go from healthy critical thinking to unhealthy
skepticism” and the idea that everyone is lying all the time, he says.

To avoid these potential problems, Ashley advocates for broad approaches that help
students develop mindsets in which they become comfortable with uncertainty. According
to educational psychologist William Perry of Harvard University, students go through
various stages of learning. First children are black-and-white thinkers—they think there
are right answers and wrong answers. Then they develop into relativists, realizing that
knowledge can be contextual. This stage can be dangerous, however. It is the one where,
as Russell notes, people can come to believe there is no truth. Ashley adds that when
students think everything is a lie, they also think there is no point in engaging with
difficult topics.

With news literacy education, the goal is to get students to the next level, “to that place
where you can start to see and appreciate the fact that the world is messy, and that’s
okay,” Ashley says. “You have these fundamental approaches to gathering knowledge that
you can accept, but you still value uncertainty, and you value ongoing debates about how
the world works.” Instead of driving students to apathy, the goal is to steer them toward
awareness and engagement.

Schools still have a long way to go before they get there, though. One big challenge is how
to expand these programs so they reach everyone, especially kids in lower-income school
districts, who are much less likely to receive any news literacy instruction at all. And
teachers already have so much material they have to impart—can they squeeze in more,
especially if what they have to add is nuanced and complex? “[We] desperately need
professional development and training and support for educators because they’re not
experts in the field,” Adams says. “And it’s the most complex and fraught and largest
information landscape in human history.”

In 2019 Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota introduced the Digital Citizenship and
Media Literacy Act into the U.S. Senate, which, if passed, would authorize $20 million to
create a grant program at the Department of Education to help states develop and fund
media literacy education initiatives in K–12 schools. More investment in this kind of
education is critical if America’s young people are going to learn how to navigate this new
and constantly evolving media landscape with their wits about them. And more research
is necessary to understand how to get them there. At the Center for News Literacy,
Schneider plans to conduct a trial soon to determine how his course shapes the
development of news literacy, civic engagement and critical thinking skills among
students in middle school and high school.

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But many more studies will be needed for researchers to reach a comprehensive
understanding of what works and what doesn’t over the long term. Education scholars
need to take “an ambitious, big step forward,” Schneider says. “What we’re facing are
transformational changes in the way we receive, process and share information. We’re in
the middle of the most profound revolution in 500 years.”

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 DAY 19 ARTICLE - WORDLIST

con ˈ spiracy ˌ theory noun [ C ]

a belief that an unpleasant event or situation is the result of a secret plan made by
powerful people
tot /tɒt/ /tɑː t/ noun [ C ] CHILD
1. INFORMAL a young child
These are good strong toys for tiny tots.
arsehole /ˈ ɑː s.həʊl/ /ˈ ɑː rs.hoʊl/ noun [ C ] ( US asshole ) OFFENSIVE
UNPLEASANT PERSON
1. an unpleasant or stupid person
Some arsehole had parked so I couldn't get out.
hoax /həʊks/ /hoʊks/ noun [ C ]
a plan to deceive someone, such as telling the police there is a bomb somewhere when
there is not one, or a trick
The bomb threat turned out to be a hoax.
rig /rɪ g/ verb [ T ] -gg- DISHONESTLY ARRANGE
1. to arrange dishonestly for the result of something, for example an election, to be
changed
Previous elections in the country have been rigged by the ruling party.
credibility /ˌ kred.əˈ bɪ l.ɪ .ti/ /-ə.t ฀i/ noun [ U ]
when someone can be believed or trusted
His arrest for lewd behaviour seriously damaged his credibility as a religious leader.
spurious /ˈ spjʊə.ri.əs/ /ˈ spjʊr.i-/ adjective
false and not what it appears to be, or (of reasons and judgments) based on something
that has not been correctly understood and therefore false
Some of the arguments in favour of shutting the factory are questionable and others
downright spurious.
tout /taʊt/ verb MAKE KNOWN
1. [ T ] to advertise, make known or praise something or someone repeatedly, especially
as a way of encouraging their sale, popularity or development
As an education minister, she has been touting these ideas for some time.
skew /skjuː / verb [ T ]
to cause something to be not straight or exact; to twist or distort
The company's results for this year are skewed because not all our customers have paid
their bills.
far-fetched /ˌ fɑː ˈ fetʃ t/ /ˌ fɑː r-/ adjective
very unlikely to be true, and difficult to believe
a far-fetched idea/story
masquerade as sb/sth phrasal verb
to pretend or appear to be someone or something
Hooligans masquerading as football fans have once again caused disturbances.
disseminate /dɪ ˈ sem.ɪ .neɪ t/ verb [ T ] FORMAL
to spread or give out something, especially news, information, ideas, etc., to a lot of
people
One of the organization's aims is to disseminate information about the disease.
faction /ˈ fæk.ʃ ə n/ noun [ C ] MAINLY DISAPPROVING
a group within a larger group, especially one with slightly different ideas from the main
group
the left-wing faction of the party

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diss -ss- , dis /dɪ s/ verb [ T ] US SLANG

to speak or behave rudely to someone or to show them no respect
Don't diss me, man!
discern /dɪ ˈ sɜː n/ /-ˈ sɝː n/ verb [ T ] FORMAL
to see, recognize or understand something that is not clear
I could just discern a figure in the darkness.
entail /ɪ nˈ teɪ l/ verb [ T ] FORMAL
to make something necessary, or to involve something
Such a large investment inevitably entails some risk.
mediate /ˈ miː .di.eɪ t/ verb [ I or T ]
to talk to two separate people or groups involved in a disagreement to try to help them to
agree or find a solution to their problems
Negotiators were called in to mediate between the two sides.
inoculate /ɪ ˈ nɒk.jʊ.leɪ t/ /-ˈ nɑː .kjə-/ verb [ T ]
to give a weak form of a disease to a person or animal, usually by injection , as a
protection against that disease
My children have been inoculated against polio.
lateral /ˈ læt.r ə l/ /ˈ læt ฀.ɚ. ə l/ adjective [ before noun ] SPECIALIZED
relating to the sides of an object or to sideways movement
lateral movement
Trim the lateral shoots of the flower (= the ones which grow sideways from the main
stem of a plant) .
laterally /ˈ læt.r ə l.i/ /ˈ læt ฀.ɚ. ə l.i/ adverb
inculcate /ˈ ɪ ŋ.kʌl.keɪ t/ verb [ T ] FORMAL
to fix beliefs or ideas in someone's mind, especially by repeating them often
Our football coach has worked hard to inculcate a team spirit in/into the players.
backfire /ˌ bækˈ faɪ ə r / /-ˈ faɪ r/ verb [ I ] BAD RESULT
1. (of a plan) to have the opposite result from the one you intended
Her plans to make him jealous backfired on her when he went off with her best friend.
nefarious /nəˈ feə.ri.əs/ /-ˈ fer.i-/ adjective FORMAL
(especially of activities) evil or immoral
The director of the company seems to have been involved in some nefarious practices/
activities .
wit /wɪ t/ noun INTELLIGENCE
3. wits
4. intelligence and the ability to think quickly
She learned to survive on her wits.

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DAY 19
READING PASSAGE 2
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-16, which are based on Reading
Passage 1 below
The shape of bird eggs
A A sandpiper’s egg is shaped like a teardrop, an owl’s looks a bit like a golf ball, and
a hummingbird’s resembles a tiny bean. Now, for the first time, scientists in the US have
come up with a convincing explanation for this variation. Princeton University evolutionary
biologist Mary Stoddard has long been fascinated by the fact that eggs are so diverse in
shape even though they all basically serve one function: nourish and protect the
developing chick inside. She recently headed and interdisciplinary team of evolutionary
biologists, computer scientists, mathematicians and physicists, with the expectation of
bringing together different ways of looking at bird egg shapes and achieving a better
understanding of them.
B Fortunately, over the past century, the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology at the
University of California, Berkeley has amassed thousands of egg shells from 1,400
species, representing about 14% of all birds, and put digital photos of them online. Using
this database, Stoddard and her team at Princeton University wrote a computer program,
which they called Eggxtractor, that can select the image of any egg and calculate it length,
width and shape. The team used these calculations to determine how far from perfectly
spherical each of nearly 50,000 eggs in their sample was – that is, how pointed or
elongated each was.
C Next, the research team attempted to answer how and why eggs might have
acquired these varying shapes. Rather than looking at the outer hard shell, as one might
expect, the researchers concentrated on the egg’s soft thin inner membrane, which is, in
fact, essential in fixing the egg’s shape. Stoddard worked with Harvard University physicist
L.Mahadevan and Ee Hou Yong of China’s Nanyang Technological University to devise a
mathematical representation based on the membrane’s properties and how much pressure
it received from the unhatched chick within the egg. They then used their model to create
many different egg shapes by altering the membrane’s stiffness and changing the
pressure. ‘Adjusting these [features] allows us to generate the entire diversity of egg
shapes that we observe in nature,’ Stoddard says.
D When Stoddard and her colleagues made a diagram showing the relationship
between some 1,000 bird species, they realized that members of each closely associated
species tended to lay eggs with the same characteristic shape. The researchers then
investigated why egg shapes might be so spectacularly diverse. Some scientists had
previously believed that the shape might depend on nest location: cliff-nesting birds, it was
thought, lay pointed eggs so that if the eggs are knocked, they spin in a circle rather than
rolling of the cliff. Other scientists suggested that birds lay eggs in shapes that pack
together most economically in a nest. Stoddard and her researchers found neither of these
hypotheses to be persuasive.

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E In fact, Stoddard’s team were surprised by their findings: that egg shape is strongly
correlated with a measure of wing shape, which in turn reflects how well the birds can fly
and therefore their frequency of flight. ‘There was an obscure hypothesis that egg shape
could be related to flight ability that no one had paid any attention to,’ Stoddard says. To
her team’s surprise, they found that egg shape does depend on how much the species
flies. Good fliers such as sandpipers tend to lay eggs that are more elongated and more
asymmetrical. This is probably because a bird which spends lots of time in the air requires
a compact, long, streamlined body, and this best accommodates an elongated egg.
Meanwhile, birds that spend little or no time in the air, like tropical pittas and trogons, do
not need elongated bodies and therefore have more spherical eggs. For such round eggs
to be laid, the bird requires a wide pelvis. By contrast, birds needing aerodynamically
shaped bodies have smaller, less heavy skeletons and their eggs have evolved to fit
through their relatively narrow pelvises.
F Martin Sander, a paleontologist at Bonn University in Germany, says that scientist
can quite accurately predict how good a flier a bird species is just by looking at the shape
of its eggs. ‘What’s cool is you have the [overall] formula for egg shape,’ Sander says. ‘You
can take this study and look at the egg and immediately get some general information.’
Surprisingly, though, penguins lay pointed, asymmetrical eggs too, even though they are
flightless. Stoddard says that penguins’ bodies may be an adaptation to allow them to
swim, and so perhaps the same processes that influence egg shape in flying birds are at
work in swimming birds.
G The work is significant on two levels, Stoddard says. For one, the results of the
research ‘could be of value to the egg industry’, she says, perhaps by helping in the
production of more durable eggs. But for her, just solving the puzzle is reward in itself. A
specialized egg like that of modern birds made it possible for young to survive on land, she
notes, and thus allowed our land vertebrate ancestors to leave the seas about 36 million
years ago. Stoddard adds that she is eager to explore how eggs changed the shape at the
point when birds evolved from dinosaurs. She believes that both egg symmetry and flight
evolved roughly at this time, raising the intriguing possibility that the emergence of flight is
associated with egg shape variation.

Answers and explanation

here.Just scan the QR code:

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 DAY 19 PASSAGE - WORDLIST

resemble /rɪ ˈ zem.bl ฀/ verb [ T ]

to look like or be like someone or something
You resemble your mother very closely.
come up with sth phrasal verb
to suggest or think of an idea or plan
She's come up with some amazing scheme to double her income.
diverse /d a ɪ ˈ vɜː s/ /dɪ ˈ vɝː s/ adjective
varied or different
Students from countries as diverse as Colombia and Lithuania use Cambridge textbooks.
nourish /ˈ nʌr.ɪ ʃ / /ˈ nɝː -/ verb [ T ]
1. to provide people or living things with food in order to make them grow and keep them
healthy
Children need plenty of good fresh food to nourish them.
She looks happy and well nourished.
elongate /ˈ iː .lɒŋ.geɪ t/ /ɪ ˈ lɑː ŋ-/ verb [ I or T ]
to become or make something become longer, and often thinner
The cells elongate as they take in water.
devise /dɪ ˈ vaɪ z/ verb [ T ]
to invent a plan, system, object, etc., usually cleverly or using imagination
He's good at devising language games that you can play with students in class.
hatch /hætʃ / verb EGG
1. [ I or T ] to (cause an egg to) break in order to allow a young animal to come out
stiffness /ˈ stɪ f.nəs/ noun [ U ] FIRM
2. the quality of being firm, hard or unable to bend
the stiffness of her muscles
cliff /klɪ f/ noun [ C ]
cliff
a high area of rock with a very steep side, often on a coast
Keep away from the edge of the cliff - you might fall.
obscure /əbˈ skjʊə r / /-ˈ skjʊr/ adjective NOT CLEAR
2. not clear and difficult to understand or see
Official policy has changed, for reasons that remain obscure.
spherical /ˈ sfer.ɪ .k ə l/ adjective
round, like a ball
The Earth is not perfectly spherical.
pelvis /ˈ pel.vɪ s/ noun [ C ]
the bones which form a bowl-shaped structure in the area below the waist at the top of the
legs, and to which the leg bones and spine are joined
durable /ˈ djʊə.rə.bl ฀/ /ˈ dʊr.ə-/ adjective
able to last a long time without becoming damaged
The machines have to be made of durable materials.
vertebrate /ˈ vɜː .tɪ .brət/ /ˈ vɝː .t ฀ə-/ adjective SPECIALIZED
having a spine (= back bone)

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DAY 19
Questions 1–7
Reading Passage 2 has seven paragraphs, A-G.
Which paragraph contains the following information.
Write the correct letter, A-G, in boxes 1-7 on your answer sheet.
1 a reference to a part of the egg focused on by the Stoddard team
2 an explanation of why egg shape is related to flying
3 an exception to the theory connection egg shape and flight
4 a mention of possible commercial uses of the Stoddard research findings
5 a reference to the kinds of egg measurements the Stoddard researchers made
6 examples of incorrect explanations of why egg shapes vary
7 a reference to the essential purpose of eggs
Questions 8 and 9
Choose TWO letters, A-E.
Write the correct letters in boxes 8 and 9 on your answer sheet.
Which TWO things do we learn about Princeton University team?
A They collected egg shells of a majority of all bird species.
B They were specialists in the nourishment of unhatched chicks.
C They had a variety of backgrounds offering different perspectives.
D They attempted to identify all known birds with spherical-shaped eggs.
E They developed a tool for precisely examining digital photos of eggs.
Questions of 10 and 11
Choose TWO letters, A-E.
Write the correct letters in boxes 10 and 11 on your answer sheet.
Which TWO things do we learn about how and why eggs have varying shapes?
A The inner membrane of a bird egg is important in establishing the egg shape.
B An unhatched chick’s movements can change the shape of its egg.
C Birds in related species usually have similarly shaped eggs.
D The shape of bird eggs is determined by where the nests are built.
E Birds eggs are shaped so they can fit efficiently in their nest.
Questions 12–16
Complete the summary below.
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
Write your answer in boxes 12–16 on your answer sheet.
The Stoddard research findings
Stoddard and her team found that the egg shape of a bird species is determined at least in
part by the species’ ability to fly and the 12 ……….………. with which it flies. They found
that birds with aerodynamic bodies and lightweight 13……….………. require long eggs so
that they are able to pass through the birds’ pelvises. Likewise, the shape of the bodies
and eggs of penguins is probably an evolutionary
14 ……….………. to their need to swim.
The findings of Stoddard’s research could prove beneficial to the sale of eggs if this leads
to the
15 ……….………. of tougher eggs that last longer. Stoddard says she hopes o study
changes in egg shaped which took place during the evolutionary transition from 16
……….………. to birds.

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Day 20

To Fully Mitigate Climate Change, We Need to Curb

Methane Emissions
scientificamerican.com/article/to-fully-mitigate-climate-change-we-need-to-curb-methane-emissions

It’s been more than two months since the House of Representatives passed the Build Back
Better Act—a bill that would make desperately needed and decades-overdue strides
toward the U.S. meeting its moral responsibility to combat the climate crisis. But instead
of moving into a new year on the hope that would come with the Senate passing and
President Biden signing this historic legislation into law, I’m terrified—and furious—that
we’re tripping at the finish line.

Ahead of COP26, the United Nations climate change conference in November, President
Joe Biden committed the U.S. to reducing our greenhouse gas emissions by half by 2030.
Having run for Congress on a climate platform after spending two decades combating
climate change in the private sector, I know that reducing our greenhouse gas emissions is
what’s right for our environment—and for our wallets. If we want to have a shot at
meeting that goal, we must find a way to implement the provisions in the House version
of the Build Back Better Act that science tells us will reduce emissions quickly, cheaply
and most dramatically. One of the most critical and expedient moves we can make is to
reduce methane emissions.

Methane is a rapidly accelerating part of the climate problem. It is the primary

component of natural gas, and it warms the planet more than 80 times as quickly as a
comparable volume of atmospheric CO2 over a comparable amount of time. On the one
hand, while burning natural gas produces about half the CO2 emissions as burning coal,
methane leaking into the atmosphere more than eliminates those environmental benefits.

Moreover, methane pollution, which is a primary component of ground-level ozone and

emitted alongside toxic chemicals such as benzene, has been linked to heart disease, birth
defects, asthma and other adverse health impacts. These affect frontline and fenceline
communities, the majority of whom are people of color, the hardest.

Eliminating those leaks is perhaps the biggest “bang for the buck” action we can take, and
the Build Back Better legislation has built within it a program that pairs grants to natural
gas companies to help monitor and reduce methane pollution at oil and gas operations
with fines on companies who instead break the rules.

The program ties into the Global Methane Pledge that President Biden created at COP26.
More than 100 countries signed on to a 30 percent reduction of methane levels by 2030.
Reducing methane pollution could also reduce adverse health for those in the immediate
vicinity of polluters.

To meet this goal, we can use existing technology to monitor for and prevent leaks at oil
and gas drilling, production, and transmission sites, and prohibit routine venting and
flaring of methane gas. This one set of actions would get us most of the way to that goal

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and is exactly why the Build Back Better Act is so critical.

President Biden understands we have a golden opportunity at a critical moment. His

administration has already taken a number of important executive actions to eliminate
methane emissions at the source: on the same day he and climate envoy John Kerry
announced the Global Methane Pledge, the Environmental Protection Agency and the
Departments of the Interior and Transportation rolled out new or strengthened rules to
tackle methane emissions from oil and gas operations, landfills, pipelines and agriculture.

But we can’t get there on executive action alone.

While eliminating methane emissions is essential to our fight against climate change
building the leak monitoring system that Build Back Better currently calls for would
create tens of thousands of jobs in the manufacturing and service sectors and spur
hundreds of billions in economic growth.

Admittedly, we still have a long way to go. The truth is that carbon dioxide levels, even
after all the COP pledges, are not declining fast enough to avert the most irreparable
consequences of climate change. What do deadly and irreversible changes look like? The
loss of the Greenland ice sheet. Miami Beach and Lower Manhattan gone. The permanent
loss of our western forests to fire. Western mountain ranges snowless for years at a time.

As terrifying as this reality is, we have the technology, the workforce and the support of an
overwhelming majority of Americans, but only if our leaders find the political will to take
action immediately.

Senator Manchin’s decision to walk away from Build Back Better is all the more
frustrating because the bill would do so much to help American workers, strengthen our
energy security and independence, lower utility bills and improve our energy grid—
policies Manchin has previously supported. And above all, it would lead to real cuts in
pollution that causes climate change.

In November, I attended COP26. I came home feeling optimistic about what we promised,
and what we could accomplish. But now, thanks to one Democratic senator (and—it must
be said—50 Republican ones), I fear the rest of the world is looking at us now and saying,
‘You are who we thought you were.’

As Congress forges a path forward on the Build Back Better Act, its crucial the methane
fee program is prioritized. The planet demands this action, and the planet’s governments
need the U.S. to lead. This is our moment. Let’s seize it.

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 DAY 20 ARTICLE - WORDLIST

mitigate /ˈ mɪ t.ɪ .geɪ t/ /ˈ mɪ t ฀-/ verb [ T ] FORMAL

to make something less harmful, unpleasant or bad
It is unclear how to mitigate the effects of tourism on the island.
curb /kɜː b/ /kɝː b/ verb [ T ]
to control or limit something that is not wanted
The Government should act to curb tax evasion.
desperately /ˈ des.p ə r.ət.li/ /-pɚ-/ adverb SERIOUSLY
1. extremely or very much
He was desperately ill.
stride /straɪ d/ noun DEVELOPMENT
1. [ C ] an important positive development
The West made impressive strides in improving energy efficiency after the huge rises in
oil prices during the seventies.
trip /trɪ p/ verb -pp- MOVE
2. [ I usually + adverb or preposition ] to move with quick gentle steps
She looked stunning as she tripped down the stairs in her ball gown.
implement /ˈ ɪ m.plɪ .ment/ verb [ T ]
to put a plan or system into operation
The changes to the national health system will be implemented next year.
expedient /ɪ kˈ spiː .di. ə nt/ adjective FORMAL
helpful or useful in a particular situation, but sometimes not morally acceptable
It might be expedient not to pay him until the work is finished.
accelerate /əkˈ sel.ə.reɪ t/ /-ɚ.eɪ t/ verb
1. [ I ] When a vehicle or its driver accelerates, the speed of the vehicle increases
I accelerated to overtake the bus.
eliminate /ɪ ˈ lɪ m.ɪ .neɪ t/ verb
1. [ T ] to remove or take away
A move towards healthy eating could help eliminate heart disease.
vicinity /vɪ ˈ sɪ n.ɪ .ti/ /vəˈ sɪ n.ə.t ฀i/ noun [ S ]
the immediately surrounding area
There are several hotels in the immediate vicinity of the station.
vent /vent/ verb [ T ]
to express a negative emotion in a forceful and often unfair way
Please don't shout - there's no need to vent your frustration/anger/rage/spleen on me.
envoy /ˈ en.vɔɪ / noun [ C ]
someone who is sent as a representative from one government or organization to another
a United Nations special envoy
roll (sth) out phrasal verb [ M ]
to make a new product, service or system available for the first time
The government plans to roll out a series of tax cuts over the next few years.
tackle /ˈ tæk.l ฀/ verb DEAL WITH
1. [ T ] to try to deal with something or someone
There are many ways of tackling this problem.
call for sth phrasal verb
to demand that something happens
Members have called for his resignation.
spur /spɜː r / /spɝː / verb [ T ] -rr- ENCOURAGE
1. to encourage an activity or development or make it happen faster

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Rising consumer sales have the effect of spurring the economy to faster growth.
avert /əˈ vɜː t/ /-ˈ vɝː t/ verb [ T ] PREVENT
1. to prevent something bad from happening; avoid
to avert a crisis /conflict/strike/famine
thanks to sb/sth
because of someone or something
It's thanks to Sandy that I heard about the job.
forge /fɔː dʒ/ /fɔː rdʒ/ verb CREATE
2. [ T ] to make or produce, especially with some difficulty
The accident forged a close bond between the two families.
crucial /ˈ kruː .ʃ ə l/ adjective
extremely important or necessary
a crucial decision/question
seize /siː z/ verb
1. [ T ] to take something quickly and keep or hold it
I seized his arm and made him turn to look at me.

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DAY 20
READING PASSAGE 2
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-16, which are based on Reading
Passage 2 below.
Viking Ireland
A recent excavation in Dublin challenges long-held ideas about when the Scandinavian
raiders known as Vikings arrived in Ireland
A When Irish archaeologists working under Dublin's South Great George's Street
unearthed the remains of four young men buried with fragments of Viking shields, daggers
and personal ornaments, the excavation appeared to be simply more evidence of the
Viking presence in Ireland. At least 77 Viking burial sites have been found across Dublin
since the late 18th century. All have been dated to the ninth or tenth centuries on the basis
of artefacts that accompanied them, and the South Great George's Street burials seemed
to be further examples. Yet when archaeologist Linzi Simpson sent the remains for
analysis, the tests showed that the men had been buried in Irish soil years, or even
decades, before the accepted date for the establishment of the first year-round Viking
settlement in Dublin.
B Simpson's findings are now adding new weight to an idea gaining growing acceptance-
that instead of a sudden, calamitous invasion, the arrival of the Vikings in Ireland started
with small-scale settlements and trade links that connected Ireland with northern Europe.
And, further, that those trading contacts may have occurred generations before the violent
raids described in contemporary text, works written by monks living in isolated
monasteries. These were often the only places where literate people lived and were
especially targeted by Viking raiders for their food supplies and treasures.
Scholars are continuing to examine the texts written by monks, but are also considering the
limitations of using them. ‘Most researchers accept now that the raids were not the first
contact, as the old texts suggest,' says Viking expert Gareth Williams How did the Vikings
know where all those monasteries were? It's because there was already contact. They
were already trading before those raids happened.
C Although the earlier dates for a Viking presence in Dublin that have been identified by
Simpson and independent archaeologists differ from the later dates by only a few decades,
when combined with other evidence, they are challenging the chronology of Viking
settlement in Ireland, Since the 1960s, archaeologists have been gathering information
about the mid-ninth-century settlement that lay under the sidewalks of Fishamble Street in
Dublin, According to archaeologist Ruth Johnson) the Vikings started with sporadic
summer raids, but atter some years of profitable plunder, they decided to stay, and built
settlements for the winter.
D Carbon dating, which measures the age of organic materials based on the amount of
radioactive carbon 14 remaining in a specimen, usually gives a range of likely dates for the
time of death. The older the material, the wider the range. In the case of the four individuals
excavated at the South Great George's Street site, Simpson found that two of them had a

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DAY 20
95 per cent probability of having died between 670 and 880, with a 68 percent probability of
death occurring between 690 and 790. Thus, the entire most likely range was before the
first documented arrival of Vikings in 795. A third individual lived slightly later, with a 95 per
cent probability of having died between 689 and 882. The dates were not what Simpson
had thought they would be. ‘These dates seem impossibly early and difficult to reconcile
with the available historical and archaeological sources, she says.
F The fourth individual excavated at South Great George's Street was the most intact of
the group, and revealed the most about the lives and hardships of Vikings at this time. A
powerfully built man in his late teens or early 20s, he was approximately 1.70m, tall by the
day's standards, with the muscular torso and upper limbs that would have come from hard,
ocean-going rowing. His bones showed stresses associated with heavy lifting beginning in
childhood. Unlike the three other men, he was not buried with weapons, Like one of the
other men found at the site, he had a congenital deformity at the base of his spine, perhaps
indicating they were relatives. Carbon dating gave a wider range for his lifetime, showing a
95 per cent probability that he died between 786 and 955.
F Tests were also camied out on the four South Great George's Street men's isotopic
oxygen levels. Such tests indicate where a person spent their childhood based on a
chemical signature left by ground water in developing teeth. The results showed that the
two men with the spinal deformity had spent their childhood in Scandinavia. However, the
other two had spent their childhoods in Ireland or Scotland, another sign of permanent
settlement by Viking families and not just summertime raids by warriors.
G The evidence of an earlier-than-expected Viking presence in Ireland, based as it is on
forensic tests conducted on a handful of burials, may seem slight. But seemingly small
pieces of evidence can overturn well-established conventions in archaeology. Both
Simpson and Johnson stress that more excavations and tests will be needed before
anyone can rewrite the history of Viking settlement, and such work is years away. Williams
adds, ‘There are two possibilities raised by [Simpson's] work. Either there was Viking
activity earlier than we've realised in Ireland, or there is something in the water or soil in
Dublin skewing the data, and both possibilities need further research Nevertheless,
Williams agrees with Simpson and others that the chronology of the Vikine presence in
Ireland is uncertain, and that they were possibly trading or raiding in Ireland before 795.
"It's a poorly documented part of history," says Williams. ‘But before there was Viking
settlement, there was this big trading zone in the North Sea. Did it extend to the Irish Sea?
We don't have any evidence to say that, but it could be just a question of time

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 DAY 20 PASSAGE - WORDLIST

raider /ˈ reɪ .də r / /-dɚ/ noun [ C ]

someone who enters a place illegally and usually violently, and steals from it
Armed raiders forced their way into the couple's home.
unearth /ʌnˈ ɜː θ/ /-ˈ ɝː θ/ verb [ T ]
1. to discover something in the ground
Building at the site was halted after human remains were unearthed earlier this month.
ornament /ˈ ɔː .nə.mənt/ /ˈ ɔː r-/ noun
FORMAL decoration which is added to increase the beauty of something
The building relies on clever design rather than on ornament for its impressive effect.
calamity /kəˈ læm.ɪ .ti/ /-ə.t ฀i/ noun [ C ]
a serious accident or bad event causing damage or suffering
A series of calamities ruined them - floods, a failed harvest and the death of a son.
calamitous /kəˈ læm.ɪ .təs/ /-t ฀əs/ adjective
violent /ˈ vaɪ ə.l ə nt/ adjective STRONG
3. sudden and powerful
He has a violent temper.
isolated /ˈ aɪ .sə.leɪ .tɪ d/ /-t ฀ɪ d/ adjective
1. not near to other places
an isolated farm/village
combine /kəmˈ baɪ n/ verb
1. [ I or T ] to (cause to) exist together, or join together to make a single thing or group
None of us has much money so let's combine what we've got.
sporadic /spəˈ ræd.ɪ k/ adjective
happening sometimes; not regular or continuous
sporadic gunfire
plunder /ˈ plʌn.də r / /-dɚ/ noun [ U ]
1. when goods are stolen from a place especially violently or during a war, or these stolen
goods
Residents in the villages under attack have been unable to protect their homes from
plunder.
reconcile /ˈ rek. ə n.saɪ l/ verb [ T ]
1. to find a way in which two situations or beliefs that are opposed to each other can
agree and exist together
It is sometimes difficult to reconcile science and religion.
intact /ɪ nˈ tækt/ adjective
1. complete and in the original state
The church was destroyed in the bombing but the altar survived intact.
2. not damaged
It's difficult to emerge from such a scandal with your reputation still intact.
torso /ˈ tɔː .səʊ/ /ˈ tɔː r.soʊ/ noun [ C ] plural torsos
the human body considered without head, arms or legs, or a statue representing this
The air bag will protect the head and torso.
limb /lɪ m/ noun [ C ]
an arm or leg of a person or animal, or a large branch of a tree
The accident victims mostly had injuries to their lower limbs (= legs) .
congenital /kənˈ dʒen.ɪ .t ə l/ /-t ฀ ə l/ adjective
1. SPECIALIZED describes a disease or condition that exists at or from birth
a congenital abnormality/disease

194
 2. describes someone who always shows a particular bad quality
a congenital liar
deformity /dɪ ˈ fɔː .mɪ .ti/ /-ˈ fɔː r.mə.t ฀i/ noun [ C or U ]
when a part of the body has not developed in the normal way or with the normal shape
handful /ˈ hænd.fʊl/ noun A FEW
2. [ S ] a small number of people or things
She invited loads of friends to her party, but only a handful of them turned up.
skew /skjuː / verb [ T ]
to cause something to be not straight or exact; to twist or distort
The company's results for this year are skewed because not all our customers have paid
their bills.

Answers and explanation

here.Just scan the QR code:

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DAY 20
Questions 1-7
Reading Passage 2 has seven sections, A-G.
Choose the correct heading from the list of headings below.
Write the correct number, i-viii, in boxes 1-7 on your answer sheet.

List of Headings
i A possible genetic link between the Vikings and the Irish
ii An assumed similarity with previous discoveries
iii The need for additional data
iv An insight into the lifestyle of a particular Viking
v Doubts about the truth of historical documents
vi A research technique providing unexpected information
vii The locations particular Vikings grew up in
viii A decision to remain in Ireland for longer periods

1 Section A
2 Section B
3 Section C
4 Section D
5 Section E
6 Section F
7 Section G

Questions 8-10
Look at the following statements (Questions 8-10) and the list of experts below,
Match each statement with the correct expert, A, B or C.
Write the correct letter, A, B or C, in boxes 8-10 on your answer sheet.
NB You may use any letter more than once.
8 The Vikings were aware of the financial benefits of staying in Ireland.
9 Written accounts reporting when the Vikings arrived in Ireland may not be accurate.
10 The inconsistency in sets of data came as a surprise.
11 It may be the case that the archaeological evidence gathered so far is being affected by
geological factors.
List of Experts
A Linzi Simpson
B Garth Williams
C Ruth Johnson

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DAY 20
Questions 12-16
Complete the summary below.
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 12-16 on your answer sheet.
The fourth Viking of South Great George's Street
When the remains of the fourth Viking were excavated at South Great George's Street, it
became clear that they were of a male who was tall by the 12 ………………..of that time.
Due to strenuous physical activity, his 13……………..... as well as his arms were well
developed, but several of his bones indicated stresses that would have dated from his 14
……………………He also had a genetic abnormality in his lower 15 ………………… His
burial differed from that of the other three Vikings discovered at the site, as no 16
……………………. were included.

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Day 21

Can the world’s megacities survive the digital age?

theconversation.com/can-the-worlds-megacities-survive-the-digital-age-83257

Christopher H. Lim, Vincent Mack

Today, megacities have become synonymous with economic growth. In both developing
and developed countries, cities with populations of 10 million or more account for one-
third to one-half of their gross domestic product.

Many analysts and policymakers think this trend is here to stay. The rise of big data
analytics and mobile technology should spur development, they assert, transforming
metropolises like Shanghai, Nairobi and Mexico City into so-called “smart cities” that can
leverage their huge populations to power their economies and change the power balance
in the world.

As technology researchers, however, we see a less rosy urban future. That’s because
digitization and crowdsourcing will actually undermine the very foundations of the
megacity economy, which is typically built on some combination of manufacturing,
commerce, retail and professional services.

The exact formula differs from region to region, but all megacities are designed to
maximize the productivity of their massive populations. Today, these cities lean heavily
on economies of scale, by which increased production brings cost advantages, and on the
savings and benefits of co-locating people and firms in neighborhoods and industrial
clusters.

But technological advances are now upending these old business models, threatening
future of megacities as we know them.

Manufacturing on the fritz

One classic example of a disruptive new technology is 3-D printing, which enables
individuals to “print” everything from ice cream to machine parts.

As this streamlined technique spreads, it will eliminate some of the many links in the
global production process. By taking out the “middle men,” 3-D printing may ultimately
reduce the supply chain to just a designer on one end and a manufacturer on the other,
significantly reducing the production costs of manufactured goods.

That’s good for the profit margins of transnational companies and consumers, but not for
factory cities, where much of their transportation and warehousing infrastructure may
soon become redundant. Jobs in manufacturing, logistics and storage, already threatened
across many large sites, may soon be endangered globally.

In short, 3-D printing has transformed the economies of scale that emerged from
industrialization into economies of one or few. As it spreads, many megacities,
particularly Asian manufacturing centers like Dongguan and Tianjin, both in China, can

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expect to see widespread disruption to their economies and work forces.

Decline of the shopping mall

The retail sector is experiencing a similar transformation. Shopping malls, for example,
which once thrived in megacities, are now suffering from the advent of e-commerce.

The value proposition of shopping malls was always that their economies of scale were
location-dependent. That is, for malls to be profitable, they had to be sited near a large
consumer base. Densely populated megacities were perfect.

But as stores have moved online, megacities have lost this competitive advantage. While
online shopping has not completely replaced brick-and-mortar retail, its ease and
convenience have forced many shopping malls to close worldwide. In the U.S., mall visits
declined 50 percent between 2010 and 2013.

Cities in China, where the government has sought to build its national economy on
consumption, will be hit particularly hard by this phenomenon. China has the world’s
largest e-commerce market, and it is estimated that one-third of the country’s 4,000
shopping malls will shut down within the next five years.

As mobile technology continues its spread, accessing even the most remote populations,
this process will accelerate globally. Soon enough, retail websites like Amazon, Alibaba
and eBay will have turned every smartphone into a virtual shopping mall, especially if the
dream of drone delivery becomes a reality.

The new work force: Robots, AI and the human cloud

Changes in the business world will also affect cities worldwide.

Thanks to artificial intelligence, or AI, which makes it possible to automate numerous

tasks, both manual and cognitive, these days it’s goodbye, human bank tellers and fund
managers, hello robots.

Even in jobs that cannot be easily automated, the digitized gig economy is putting people
into direct competition with a global supply of freelancers to do tasks both menial and
specialized.

There are certainly benefits to crowdsourcing. Using both AI and the crowdsourced
knowledge of thousands of medical specialists across 70 countries, the Human Diagnosis
Project has built a global diagnosis platform that’s free to all patients and doctors – a
particular boon to people with limited access to public health services.

But by taking collaboration virtual, the “human cloud” business model is also making the
notion of offices obsolete. In the future, medical professionals from various specialties will
no longer need to work near to each other to get the job done. The same holds for other
fields.

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In a world without office space, traditional business and financial centers like New York
and London would feel the pain, as urban planning, zoning and the real estate market
struggle to adjust to firms’ and workers’ changing needs.

Crisis in the making

At some point, all this change may end up meaning that economies of scale matter much,
much less. If that happens, population size – currently the motor of the modern
metropolis – will become a liability.

Megacities have long struggled with the downsides of density and rapid urbanization,
including communicable disease, critical infrastructure shortages, rising inequality, crime
and social instability. As their economic base erodes, such challenges are likely to grow
more pressing.

The damage will differ from city to city, but we believe that the profound shifts underway
in retail, manufacturing and professional services will impact all of the world’s seven main
types of megacities: global giants (Tokyo, New York), Asian anchors (Singapore, Seoul),
emerging gateways (Istanbul, São Paulo), factory China (Tianjin, Guangzhou), knowledge
capitals (Boston, Stockholm), American middleweights (Phoenix, Miami) and
international middleweights (Tel Aviv, Madrid).

And because 60 percent of global GDP is generated by just 600 cities, struggle in one city
could trigger cascading failures. It’s conceivable that in 10 or 20 years, floundering
megacities may cause the next global financial meltdown.

If this forecast seems dire, it’s also predictable: Places, like industries, must adapt with
technological change. For megacities, it’s time to start planning for a disrupted future.

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assert /əˈ sɜː t/ /-ˈ sɝː t/ verb [ T ]

FORMAL to say that something is certainly true
[ + that ] He asserts that she stole money from him.
leverage /ˈ liː .v ə r.ɪ dʒ/ /ˈ lev.ɚ.ɪ dʒ/ verb [ T ] SPECIALIZED
to use borrowed money to buy a company
lean on sb/sth phrasal verb
to use someone or something to help you, especially in a difficult situation
He's always had his big brother to lean on.
upend /ʌpˈ end/ verb [ T ]
to push or move something so that the part which usually touches the ground does so no
longer
She upended the chessboard halfway through the game because she was losing.
ultimately /ˈ ʌl.tɪ .mət.li/ /-t ฀ə-/ adverb
1. finally, after a series of things have happened
Everything will ultimately depend on what is said at the meeting with the directors next
week.
profit ˌ margin noun [ C ]
the profit that can be made in a business after the costs have been subtracted
Many small companies operate on very narrow profit margins.
transnational /ˌ trænzˈ næʃ . ə n. ə l/ adjective
involving several nations
transnational corporations/companies
redundant /rɪ ˈ dʌn.d ə nt/ adjective NOT EMPLOYED
1. UK having lost your job because your employer no longer needs you
To keep the company alive, half the workforce is being made redundant.
advent /ˈ æd.vent/ , /-vənt/ noun [ S ]
the arrival of an event, invention or person
Life in Britain was transformed by the advent of the steam engine.
densely /ˈ den t .sli/ adverb
with a lot of things close together
England was once a densely wooded country (= a lot of trees grew close together there) .
boon /buː n/ noun [ C usually singular ]
something that is very helpful and improves the quality of life
Guide dogs are a great boon to the partially sighted.
adjust /əˈ dʒʌst/ verb CHANGE
1. [ T ] to change something slightly, especially to make it more correct, effective, or
suitable
If the chair is too high you can adjust it to suit you.
trigger /ˈ trɪ g.ə r / /-ɚ/ verb [ T ]
to cause something bad to start
Some people find that certain foods trigger their headaches.
cascade /kæsˈ keɪ d/ verb [ I usually + adv/prep ]
to fall quickly and in large amounts
Coins cascaded from/out of the fruit machine.
lounder /ˈ flaʊn.də r / /-dɚ/ verb [ I ]
to experience great difficulties or be completely unable to decide what to do or say next
He lost the next page of his speech and floundered (about/around) for a few seconds.
dire /daɪ ə r / /daɪ r/ adjective
1. very serious or extreme
These people are in dire need of help.

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He gave a dire warning that an earthquake was imminent.

This decision will have dire consequences for local people.
2. INFORMAL very bad
I thought that film was dire!
disrupt /dɪ sˈ rʌpt/ verb [ T ]
to prevent something, especially a system, process or event, from continuing as usual or
as expected
A heavy fall of snow had disrupted the city's transport system.

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READING PASSAGE 3
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-14, which are based on Reading
Passage 3.
The conservation of rare species
When a naturalist says that a bird or a plant is rare, he or she may mean one of several
different things (Harper 1981, Rabinowitz 1981). The concept of rarity can refer to one of
three characteristics: geographic range, habitat specificity, or local population size, and a
classification based on the interplay between these variables yields seven different types of
rarity. For example, certain species may be locally abundant over a wide geographic range,
but found in only a very specific habitat, whilst others may be found in several habitats, but
only in small numbers and in geographically restricted area. We must therefore recognise
that the kinds of management which will be appropriate for protecting species threatened
with extinction will vary.
Classic rare species are often those which have a small geographic range and narrow
habitat specificity. Many plants of this type are restricted endemics, and are often
endangered or threatened (Rabinowitz 1981). Other rare species have very large
geographic ranges and occur widely in different habitats but are always at low density.
These species are ecologically interesting but almost never appear on lists of endangered
species. So the important point is that not all rare species are problems for
conservationists.
The reasons why a particular species is rare vary. In some cases we can observe a
species declining over time: for example, the African elephant population since 1950. This
is a direct result of ivory poaching (Caughley et al. 1990). But not all species that have
declined to rarity are so well understood. Some plant and animal species undergo bursts of
colonisation and decay so that they persist as a mosaic of increasing and declining
populations (Harper 1981).
For species with small geographic ranges or narrow habitat specificity we must be
concerned with the spatial distribution of the population. The number or size of habitable
sites may be too small, and this could be one reason the species is rare. Or, if there are
many habitable sites that are not occupied, a species may be rare because of its limited
dispersal powers. Within habitable sites, competition from other species, predation,
disease or social interactions may restrict abundance. One example that illustrates some of
these factors is the red-cockaded woodpecker.
The red-cockaded woodpecker is an endangered species of bird endemic to eastern parts
of the United States of America. It was once abundant from New Jersey in the north to
Texas in the south, and from the coast inland as far as Missouri, but it is now nearly extinct
in the northern and inland parts of its geographic range. The red-cockaded woodpecker is
adapted to pine savannas, but most of this woodland has been destroyed for agriculture
and timber production. The birds feed on insects and nest in cavities in old pine trees, and
because old pines have been mostly cut down, their available habitats have been reduced
(Walters 1991).
1

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Designing a recovery programme for the red-cockaded woodpecker has been complicated
by the social organisation of the species. The birds live in groups of a breeding pair and up
to four helpers, nearly all males. Helpers do not breed but assist in incubation and feeding.
Young birds have a choice of dispersing or staying to help in a breeding group. If they stay,
they become breeders by inheriting breeding status on the death of older birds. Helpers
may wait many years before they acquire breeding status.
From a conservation viewpoint, the problem is that red-cockaded woodpeckers compete
for breeding vacancies in existing groups, rather than forming new groups and occupying
abandoned territories, or starting at a new site. The key problem is the excavation of new
breeding cavities. Because of the energy and time needed, typically several years, birds
are better off competing for existing territories than building new ones.
To test this idea, Walters (1991) and his colleagues artificially constructed cavities in trees
a: 270 Pit 2, n the were epini far sis ed. YorktaGeanina Tokeresulta were breeding groups
were formed only on areas where artificial cavities were drilled. This experiment showed
clearly that much suitable habitat is not occupied by this woodpecker because of a
shortage of cavities. Therefore management of this endangered species was not directed
at reducing mortality of the birds, but instead focused on physical characteristics of their
chosen habitat.
The rescue of the red-cockaded woodpecker is a good example of how successful
conservation biology depends on identifying and alleviating limiting factors. However, there
can be no general prescription for rescuing rare species. Detailed information on resource
requirements, social organisation, and dispersal powers are required before recovery plans
can be specified.

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conservation /ˌ kɒn t .səˈ veɪ .ʃ ə n/ /ˌ kɑː n t .sɚ-/ noun [ U ]

1. the protection of plants and animals, natural areas, and interesting and important
structures and buildings, especially from the damaging effects of human activity
wildlife conservation
refer to sb/sth phrasal verb
1. to talk or write about someone or something, especially in only a few words
In her autobiography she occasionally refers to her unhappy schooldays.
yield /jiː ld/ verb PRODUCE
1. [ T ] to supply or produce something positive such as a profit, an amount of food or
information
an attempt to yield increased profits
abundant /əˈ bʌn.d ə nt/ adjective FORMAL
more than enough
an abundant supply of food
undergo /ˌ ʌn.dəˈ gəʊ/ /-dɚˈ goʊ/ verb [ T ] undergoing , underwent , undergone
to experience something which is unpleasant or which involves a change
She underwent an operation on a tumour in her left lung last year.
decay /dɪ ˈ keɪ / verb [ I or T ]
to (cause something to) become gradually damaged, worse or less
Sugar makes your teeth decay.
spatial /ˈ speɪ .ʃ ə l/ adjective
relating to the position, area and size of things
This task is designed to test the child's spatial awareness (= understanding of where
things are in relation to other things) .
cavity /ˈ kæv.ɪ .ti/ /-ə.t ฀i/ noun [ C ]
1. a hole, or an empty space between two surfaces
The gold was hidden in a secret cavity.
timber /ˈ tɪ m.bə r / /-bɚ/ noun
1. [ U ] trees that are grown so that the wood from them can be used for building
a timber forest
acquire /əˈ kwaɪ ə r / /-ˈ kwaɪ ɚ/ verb [ T ]
to get something
He acquired the firm in 1978.
alleviate /əˈ liː .vi.eɪ t/ verb [ T ] FORMAL
to make something bad such as pain or problems less severe
The drugs did nothing to alleviate her pain/suffering.

Answers and explanation

here.Just scan the QR code:

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DAY 21
Questions 1-4
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.
Write the correct letter in boxes 1-4 on your answer sheet.
1 What does the writer say about rarity?
A There is more than one criterion for defining it.
B The term is a cause of dispute amongst naturalists.
C It applies to only a very small number of species.
D It is a phenomenon which has been widely researched.

2 What does the writer say about the threat of extinction?

A All types of rarity present a problem.
B Few plant species are known to be vulnerable.
C Low density by itself does not endanger species.
D Lists of endangered species are not reliable.

3 Which of the following makes it difficult for the red-cockaded woodpecker to increase in
number?
A A proportion of male birds are sterile.
B Birds leave the parental nest too early.
C There is too much competition for food.
D Individuals may not breed for several years.

4 What was the basis of the recovery programme for the red-cockaded woodpecker?
A Birds were bred in captivity.
B Nesting holes were created.
C Pine forests were planted.
D Food supplements were provided.

Questions 5-11
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 3.
In boxes 5-11 on your answer sheet, write
TRUE if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE if the statement contradicts thevinformation
NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this
5 Species with various habitat types are not necessarily widely distributed.
6 The rate of decline of the African elephant has slowed down
7 The causes of rarity are generally easy to establish,
8 The traditional habitat of the red-cockaded woodpecker has been destroyed by
human activity.
9 The red-cockaded woodpecker prefers to leave its nest before breeding.
10 It usually takes years for the red-cockaded woodpecker to make a nesting hole.
11 The project to rescue the red-cockaded woodpecker is ongoing

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Questions 12 and 13
Answer the questions below.
Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 12 and 13 on your answer sheet.
12 What does the red-cockaded woodpecker feed on?
13 Which TWO parental tasks do the helper woodpeckers perform?

Question 14
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.
Write the correct letter in box 14 on your answer sheet.
In this article, the writer's purpose is to
A alert the reader to the plight of the red-cockaded woodpecker.
B explain how Walters's recovery programme can be applied to other species.
C illustrate the factors that must be considered when dealing with rarity.
D persuade readers that rarity is a neglected ecological issue.

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Day 22

Is artificial intelligence a (job) killer?

theconversation.com/is-artificial-intelligence-a-job-killer-80473

Marko Robnik-Šikonja

There’s no shortage of dire warnings about the dangers of artificial intelligence these days.

Modern prophets, such as physicist Stephen Hawking and investor Elon Musk, foretell
the imminent decline of humanity. With the advent of artificial general intelligence and
self-designed intelligent programs, new and more intelligent AI will appear, rapidly
creating ever smarter machines that will, eventually, surpass us.

When we reach this so-called AI singularity, our minds and bodies will be obsolete.
Humans may merge with machines and continue to evolve as cyborgs.

Is this really what we have to look forward to?

AI’s checkered past

Not really, no.

AI, a scientific discipline rooted in computer science, mathematics, psychology, and

neuroscience, aims to create machines that mimic human cognitive functions such as
learning and problem-solving.

Since the 1950s, it has captured the public’s imagination. But, historically speaking, AI’s
successes have often been followed by disappointments – caused, in large part, by the
inflated predictions of technological visionaries.

In the 1960s, one of the founders of the AI field, Herbert Simon, predicted that “machines
will be capable, within twenty years, of doing any work a man can do.” (He said nothing
about women.)

Marvin Minsky, a neural network pioneer, was more direct, “within a generation,” he said,
“… the problem of creating ‘artificial intelligence’ will substantially be solved”.

But it turns out that Niels Bohr, the early 20th century Danish physicist, was right when
he (reportedly) quipped that, “Prediction is very difficult, especially about the future.”

Today, AI’s capabilities include speech recognition, superior performance at strategic

games such as chess and Go, self-driving cars, and revealing patterns embedded in
complex data.

These talents have hardly rendered humans irrelevant.

New neuron euphoria

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But AI is advancing. The most recent AI euphoria was sparked in 2009 by much faster
learning of deep neural networks.

Artificial intelligence consists of large collections of connected computational units called

artificial neurons, loosely analogous to the neurons in our brains. To train this network to
“think”, scientists provide it with many solved examples of a given problem.

Suppose we have a collection of medical-tissue images, each coupled with a diagnosis of

cancer or no-cancer. We would pass each image through the network, asking the
connected “neurons” to compute the probability of cancer.

We then compare the network’s responses with the correct answers, adjusting
connections between “neurons” with each failed match. We repeat the process, fine-
tuning all along, until most responses match the correct answers.

Eventually, this neural network will be ready to do what a pathologist normally does:
examine images of tissue to predict cancer.

This is not unlike how a child learns to play a musical instrument: she practices and
repeats a tune until perfection. The knowledge is stored in the neural network, but it is
not easy to explain the mechanics.

Networks with many layers of “neurons” (therefore the name “deep” neural networks)
only became practical when researchers started using many parallel processors on
graphical chips for their training.

Another condition for the success of deep learning is the large sets of solved examples.
Mining the internet, social networks and Wikipedia, researchers have created large
collections of images and text, enabling machines to classify images, recognise speech,
and translate language.

Already, deep neural networks are performing these tasks nearly as well as humans.

AI doesn’t laugh
But their good performance is limited to certain tasks.

Scientists have seen no improvement in AI’s understanding of what images and text
actually mean. If we showed a Snoopy cartoon to a trained deep network, it could
recognise the shapes and objects – a dog here, a boy there – but would not decipher its
significance (or see the humour).

We also use neural networks to suggest better writing styles to children. Our tools suggest
improvement in form, spelling, and grammar reasonably well, but are helpless when it
comes to logical structure, reasoning, and the flow of ideas.

Current models do not even understand the simple compositions of 11-year-old

schoolchildren.

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AI’s performance is also restricted by the amount of available data. In my own AI

research, for example, I apply deep neural networks to medical diagnostics, which has
sometimes resulted in slightly better diagnoses than in the past, but nothing dramatic.

In part, this is because we do not have large collections of patients’ data to feed the
machine. But the data hospitals currently collect cannot capture the complex
psychophysical interactions causing illnesses like coronary heart disease, migraines or
cancer.

Robots stealing your jobs

So, fear not, humans. Febrile predictions of AI singularity aside, we’re in no immediate
danger of becoming irrelevant.

AI’s capabilities drive science fiction novels and movies and fuel interesting philosophical
debates, but we have yet to build a single self-improving program capable of general
artificial intelligence, and there’s no indication that intelligence could be infinite.

Deep neural networks will, however, indubitably automate many jobs. AI will take our
jobs, jeopardising the existence of manual labourers, medical diagnosticians, and
perhaps, someday, to my regret, computer science professors.

Robots are already conquering Wall Street. Research shows that “artificial intelligence
agents” could lead some 230,000 finance jobs to disappear by 2025.

In the wrong hands, artificial intelligence can also cause serious danger. New computer
viruses can detect undecided voters and bombard them with tailored news to swing
elections.

Already, the United States, China, and Russia are investing in autonomous weapons using
AI in drones, battle vehicles, and fighting robots, leading to a dangerous arms race.

Now that’s something we should probably be nervous about.

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dire /daɪ ə r / /daɪ r/ adjective

1. very serious or extreme
These people are in dire need of help.
prophet /ˈ prɒf.ɪ t/ /ˈ prɑː .fɪ t/ noun [ C ]
a person who supports a new system of beliefs and principles
Rousseau, that great prophet of the modern age
imminent /ˈ ɪ m.ɪ .n ə nt/ adjective
coming or likely to happen very soon
imminent disaster/danger
surpass /səˈ pɑː s/ /sɚˈ pæs/ verb [ T ] FORMAL
to do or be better than
His time for the 100 metres surpassed the previous world record by one hundredth of a
second.
obsolete /ˌ ɒb.s ə lˈ iː t/ /ˌ ɑː b-/ adjective
not in use any more, having been replaced by something newer and better or more
fashionable
Gas lamps became obsolete when electric lighting was invented.
capture /ˈ kæp.tʃ ə r / /-tʃ ɚ/ verb [ T ] CATCH
to succeed in getting something when you are competing with other people
The Democratic Party captured 70% of the vote.
inflate /ɪ nˈ fleɪ t/ verb MAKE LARGER
2. [ T ] to make something larger or more important
They inflated their part in the rescue every time they told the story.
render /ˈ ren.də r / /-dɚ/ verb [ T ] CAUSE
1. FORMAL to cause someone or something to be in a particular state
[ + adjective ] His rudeness rendered me speechless .
euphoria /juː ˈ fɔː .ri.ə/ /-ˈ fɔː r.i-/ noun [ U ]
extreme happiness, sometimes more than is reasonable in a particular situation
They were in a state of euphoria for days after they won the prize.
pathologist /pəˈ θɒl.ə.dʒɪ st/ /-ˈ θɑː .lə-/ noun [ C ]
an expert in the study of diseases, especially someone who examines a dead person's
body and cuts it open to discover how they died
decipher /dɪ ˈ saɪ .fə r / /-fɚ/ verb [ T ]
to discover the meaning of something written badly or in a difficult or hidden way
Can you decipher the writing on this envelope?
reasonably /ˈ riː .z ə n.ə.bli/ adverb
satisfactorily
She writes reasonably good children's books.
I did reasonably well at school but nowhere near as well as my sister or brother.
indubitable /ɪ nˈ djuː .bɪ .tə.bl ฀/ /-ˈ duː .bɪ .t ฀ə-/ adjective FORMAL
that cannot be doubted
an indubitable fact
indubitably /ɪ nˈ djuː .bɪ .tə.bli/ /-ˈ duː .bɪ .t ฀ə-/ adverb
He looked different, but it was indubitably John.
jeopardize , UK USUALLY jeopardise /ˈ dʒep.ə.daɪ z/ /-ɚ-/ verb [ T ]
to put something such as a plan or system in danger of being harmed or damaged
She knew that by failing her exams she could jeopardize her whole future.

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tailored /ˈ teɪ .ləd/ /-lɚd/ adjective FOR PURPOSE

3. made or adapted especially for a particular situation or purpose
The project clearly requires a tailored computer system.

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DAY 22
READING PASSAGE 1
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based on Reading
Passage 1.
How to find your way out of a food desert
Ordinary citizens have been using the internet to draw attention to the lack of healthy
eating options in inner cities
Over the last few months, a survey has been carried out of over 200 greengrocers and
convenience stores in Crown Heights, a neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York. As
researchers from the Brooklyn Food Association enter the details, colorful dots appear
on their online map, which display the specific location of each of the food stores in a
handful of central Brooklyn neighborhoods. Clicking on a dot will show you the store’s
name and whether it carries fresh fruit and vegetables, wholegrain bread, low-fat dairy
and other healthy options.
The researchers plan eventually to survey the entire borough of Brooklyn. ‘We want to
get to a more specific and detailed description of what that looks like’, says Jeffrey
Heehs, who leads the project. He hopes it will help residents find fresh food in urban
areas where the stores sell mostly packaged snacks or fast food, areas otherwise
known as food deserts. The aim of the project is also to assist government officials in
assessing food availability, and in forming future policies about what kind of food should
be sold and where.
In fact, the Brooklyn project represents the intersection of two growing trends: mapping
fresh food markets in US cities, and private citizens creating online maps of local
neighborhood features. According to Michael Goodchild, a geographer at the University
of California at Santa Barbara, citizen map makers may make maps because there is no
good government map, or to record problems such as burned-out traffic lights.
According to recent studies, people at higher risk of chronic disease and who receive
minimal incomes for the work they do, frequently live in neighborhoods located in food
deserts. But how did these food deserts arise? Linda Alwitt and Thomas Donley,
marketing researchers at DePaul University in Chicago, found that supermarkets often
can’t afford the amount of land required for their stores in cities. City planning
researcher Cliff Guy and colleagues at the University of Leeds in the UK found in 2004
that smaller urban groceries tend to close due to competition from suburban
supermarkets.
As fresh food stores leave a neighborhood, residents find it harder to eat well and stay
healthy. Food deserts are linked with lower local health outcomes, and they may be a
driving force in the health disparities between lower-income and affluent people in the
US. Until recently, the issue attracted little national attention, and received no ongoing
funding for research.
Now, more US cities are becoming aware of their food landscapes. Last year, the
United States Department of Agriculture launched a map of where food stores are
located in all the US counties. Mari Gallagher, who runs a private consulting firm, says
her researchers have mapped food stores and related them to health statistics for the
cities of Detroit, Chicago, Cincinnati and Washington, D.C. These maps help cities

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identify where food deserts are and, occasionally, have documented that people living in
food deserts have higher rates of diet-related diseases.
The Brooklyn project differs in that it’s run by a local core of five volunteers who have
worked on the project for the past year, rather than trained, academic researchers. To
gather data, they simply go to individual stores with pre-printed surveys in hand, and
once the storekeeper’s permission has been obtained, check off boxes on their list
against the products for sole in the store. Their approach to data collection and research
has been made possible by technologies such as mapping software and GPS-related
smart phones, Google Maps and OpenStreeMap, an open-source online map with a
history of involvement in social issues. Like Brooklyn Food Association volunteers,
many citizen online map makers use maps to bring local problems to official attention,
Goodchild says. Heehs, the mapping project leader, says that after his group gathers
more data, it will compare neighborhoods, come up with solutions to address local
needs, and then present them to New York City officials. Their website hasn’t caught
them much local or official attention yet, however. It was launched only recently, but its
creators haven’t yet set up systems to see who’s looking at it.
Experts who visited the Brooklyn group’s site were optimistic but cautious. ‘This kind of
detailed information could be very useful’ says Michele Ver Ploeg, an economist for the
Department of Agriculture. To make the map more helpful to both residents and policy
makers, she would like to see price data for healthy products, too. Karen Ansel, a
registered dietician and a spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association, found
the site confusing to navigate. ‘That said, with this information in place the group has
the tools to build a more user-friendly site that could be … very helpful to consumers’,
she says. ‘The group also should ensure their map is available to those who don’t have
internet access at home’, she adds. In fact, a significant proportion of Brooklyn residents
don’t have internet access at home and 8 percent rely on dial-up service, instead of
high-speed internet access, according to Gretchen Maneval, director of Brooklyn
College’s Center for the Study of Brooklyn. ‘It’s still very much a work in progress’,
Heehs says of the online map. They’ll start advertising it online and by email to other
community groups, such as urban food garden associations, next month. He also hopes
warmer days in the spring will draw out fresh volunteers to spread awareness and to
finish surverying, as they have about two-thirds of Brooklyn left to cover.

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 DAY 22 PASSAGE - WORDLIST

draw /drɔː / /drɑː / noun ATTRACTION

1. [ C usually singular ] someone or something that a lot of people are interested in
We need someone at the event who'll be a big draw and attract the paying public.
borough /ˈ bʌr.ə/ /ˈ bɝː .oʊ/ noun [ C ]
a town, or a division of a large town
package /ˈ pæk.ɪ dʒ/ verb [ T ]
1. to put goods into boxes or containers to be sold
These organic olives are packaged in recycled glass containers.
policy /ˈ pɒl.ə.si/ /ˈ pɑː .lə-/ noun [ C ] PLAN
1. a set of ideas or a plan of what to do in particular situations that has been agreed
officially by a group of people, a business organization, a government or a political party
They believe that the European Community needs a common foreign and security policy.
intersection /ˌ ɪ n.təˈ sek.ʃ ə n/ /-t ฀ɚ-/ noun LINES
1. [ C or U ] when two lines cross, or the point where this happens
The intersection of the lines on the graph marks the point where we start to make a profit.
urban /ˈ ɜː .b ə n/ /ˈ ɝː -/ adjective [ before noun ]
of or in a city or town
urban development
outcome /ˈ aʊt.kʌm/ noun [ C usually singular ]
a result or effect of an action, situation, etc
It's too early to predict the outcome of the meeting.
disparity /dɪ ˈ spær.ə.ti/ /-ˈ per.ə.t ฀i/ noun [ C or U ] SLIGHTLY FORMAL
a state in which there is no equality and similarity, especially in a way that is not fair;
difference
the growing disparity between rich and poor
affluent /ˈ æf.lu.ənt/ adjective
having a lot of money or owning a lot of things; rich
affluent nations/neighbourhoods
launch /lɔː n t ʃ / /lɑː n t ʃ / verb BEGIN
1. [ I or T ] to begin something such as a plan or introduce something new such as a
product
The scheme was launched a year ago.
occasionally /əˈ keɪ .ʒ ə n. ə l.i/ , /-ˈ keɪ ʒ.nəl-/ adverb
sometimes but not often
I see him occasionally in town.
address /əˈ dres/ verb [ T ] DEAL WITH
2. to give attention to or deal with a matter or problem
The issue of funding has yet to be addressed.
catch someone's attention/imagination/interest, etc.
to make you notice something and feel interested
A ship out at sea caught his attention.
set sth up phrasal verb [ M ]
1. to formally establish a new company, organization, system, way of working, etc
A committee has been set up to organize social events in the college.
cautious /ˈ kɔː .ʃ əs/ /ˈ kɑː -/ adjective
1. describes someone who avoids risks
He's a cautious driver.
draw sth out phrasal verb [ M ]

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to cause something to last longer than is usual or necessary

The director drew the meeting out for another hour.

Answers and explanation

here.Just scan the QR code:

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DAY 22
Questions 1-6
Complete the notes below.
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 1-6 on your answer sheet.
Data on food deserts and their effects on health
The Brooklyn Food Association
• The online map provides users with a store’s name, 1 ……………… and details
of its produce
• One goal of the mapping project is to help develop new 2 ……………… on food.
• Citizen maps are sometimes made when 3 ……………….. maps are
unsatisfactory.

Reasons for the development of food deserts

• New research suggests that people living in food deserts often have low 4
……………….
• Some supermarkets are unable to buy enough 5 …………………. inside cities for
their stores
• Small grocery stores in cities often cannot cope with supermarket 6
……………….

Questions 7-13
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1?
In boxes 7-13 on your answer sheet, 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

7 A group of professional researchers are in charge of the Brooklyn project.

8 The Brooklyn project team carries out their assessment of stores without the owner’s
knowledge
9 The Brooklyn project has experienced technical difficulties setting up the website
10 The city government has taken a considerable interest in the Brooklyn project
website
11 Michele Ver Ploeg believes the Brooklyn project website should contain additional
information
12 The rate of internet use in Brooklyn is unlikely to increase in the near future
13 Jeffrey Heehs would like more people to assist with the Brooklyn project research

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Understanding the amazing complexity of

sign language
theconversation.com/understanding-the-amazing-complexity-of-sign-language-72813

Andrea Lackner

Most people are familiar with sign language, the system that deaf people use to
communicate. What fewer may know is that there are many different sign languages
around the world, just as there are many different spoken languages.

So how does the grammar of sign language work?

Unlike in spoken languages, in which grammar is expressed through sound-based

signifiers for tense, aspect, mood and syntax (the way we organise individual words), sign
languages use hand movements, sign order as well as body and facial cues to create
grammar. This is called non-manual activity.

To find out whether these cues are comprehensible to signers and non-signers of a
country, my team of deaf and hearing linguists and translators conducted two studies. The
results, which will be published in July, demonstrate the incredible complexity of sign
language.

What signers and non-signers see

In the first study, which included both signers and non-signers from Austria, we asked
participants to watch a set of videos of people using Austrian sign languages. We
instructed them to try to break up the signed text into smaller units – the equivalent of
cutting unbroken speech down into prosodic units.

The participants then went through the resulting segments and showed us the cues that
had led them to break the videos where they did.

When it came to pauses and signs made with hands, signers and non-signers alike made
similar decisions. All participants identified rest positions, such as crossing one’s arms, as
pauses as well as discerned holds – where a signer maintains the same hand position for a
longer period of time or repeats the last sign of a segmented unit.

But when it came to cues from other parts of the body – non-manual activity – signers
and non-signers performed very differently.

Almost exclusively, sign language users also listed head and body movements as cues, as
well as movements of the eyebrows, gaze direction and blinks. Non-signers tended to
identify only one or two cues from the hands.

Xenia Dürr, Author provided

Meanings of non-manual elements

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The second study involved only deaf Austrian Sign Language users.

Once again, we showed signed videos to the participants. But this time we instructed them
to identify the non-manual elements that they thought had relevance to the language.
That is, elements that acted as grammar.

Participants had to describe the form, meaning and function of each non-manual element.

The agreement between the signers’ description showed that certain body, head or facial
movements have linguistic functions. They express assertion, negation, conditionality (a
phrase using the word if, for instance), hypothetical thoughts and alternatives, as well as
time, location, and cause.

While shaking one’s head can be used to simply negate a clause or thought, for instance,
other head shakes, performed in a slow, small and tentative way, can express the signer’s
negative attitude toward a hypothetical thought.

Gaze can also serve several functions. So far, our data shows that signers consistently
looked upward when indicating a hypothetical statement.

The position of the signer’s head, too, conveys different meanings. Positioning the head
forward while formulating a hypothetical thought can be used to express a self-addressed,
hypothetical question (such as should I go to the movies tonight?).

But moving the head forward can also accompany an “if” clause (If I go to the movies
tonight, I might see Wonder Woman).

In other contexts, it can also act as an exclamation or imply possibility.

To make our research publicly available, we used an approach that ensured accuracy of
interpretation and translation.

Our linguists first discussed the outcomes with deaf native signers in Austrian Sign
Language. Then, the native signers described the outcome from their deaf native signers’
perspective. Only then did the translators interpret the phenomena description into
written German and English.

In a follow-up project (funded by the Austrian Science Fund), we will investigate the
interplay of non-manual cues and clauses in several varieties of Austrian Sign Language,
comparing our findings with non-manual activity of other sign languages to determine
how the form and function of different sign languages vary across the globe.

Diversity in sign language

Including both non-signers and deaf signers in our study enabled us to learn not only
about grammar among people who sign but about how we all interpret certain gestural
behaviour. The – perhaps unsurprising – fact that a non-signer’s understanding of visual
signals differs tremendously from that of a sign language user has pedagogical
implications.

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Because some of the same non-manual behaviours may signify different things depending
on context, written explanations of sign language, such as textbook lessons, must
incorporate the perspectives of native signers to avoid incorrect interpretations.

More broadly, the influence of body movements must be considered when describing any
language. Our mental concepts are strongly shaped by visual configurations.

If sign language is any indication, the close relationship between how we gesture and how
we think may matter more than previously thought.

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 DAY 23 ARTICLE – WORDLIST

complexity /kəmˈ plek.sɪ .ti/ /-sə.t ฀i/ noun

1. [ U ] when something has many parts and may be difficult to understand or find an
answer to
a problem of great complexity
comprehensible /ˌ kɒm.prɪ ˈ hen t .sɪ .bl ฀/ /ˌ kɑː m-/ adjective
able to be understood
It's written in clear, comprehensible English.
conduct /kənˈ dʌkt/ verb ORGANIZE
1. [ T ] to organize and perform a particular activity
We are conducting a survey to find out what our customers think of their local bus
service.
discern /dɪ ˈ sɜː n/ /-ˈ sɝː n/ verb [ T ] FORMAL
to see, recognize or understand something that is not clear
I could just discern a figure in the darkness.
segment /segˈ ment/ /ˈ --/ verb [ I or T ] SPECIALIZED
to divide something into different parts
City Insurance segmented the market into three by issuing three types of policy.
negate /nɪ ˈ geɪ t/ verb [ T ] SLIGHTLY FORMAL
to cause something to have no effect
The increase in our profits has been negated by the rising costs of running the business.
negation /nɪ ˈ geɪ .ʃ ə n/ noun [ U ]
tentative /ˈ ten.tə.tɪ v/ /-ə.ɪ v/ adjective
(of a plan or idea) not certain or agreed, or (of a suggestion or action) said or done in a
careful but uncertain way because you do not know if you are right
I have made tentative plans to take a trip to Seattle in July.
consistent /kənˈ sɪ s.t ə nt/ adjective NOT CHANGING
1. always behaving or happening in a similar, especially positive, way
There has been a consistent improvement in her attitude.
consistently /kənˈ sɪ s.t ə nt.li/ adverb
The President has consistently denied the rumours.
convey /kənˈ veɪ / verb [ T ] COMMUNICATE
1. to express a thought, feeling or idea so that it is understood by other people
His poetry conveys a great sense of religious devotion.
imply /ɪ mˈ plaɪ / verb [ T ]
1. to communicate an idea or feeling without saying it directly
[ + ( that ) ] Are you implying (that) I'm fat?
determine /dɪ ˈ tɜː .mɪ n/ /-ˈ tɝː -/ verb DECIDE
1. [ T often passive ] to control or influence something directly, or to decide what will
happen
The number of staff we can take on will be determined by how much money we're allowed
to spend.
diversity /d a ɪ ˈ vɜː .sɪ .ti/ /dɪ ˈ vɝː .sə.t ฀i/ noun [ S or U ]
when many different types of things or people are included in something
Does television adequately reflect the ethnic and cultural diversity of the country?
tremendous /trɪ ˈ men.dəs/ adjective
very great in amount or level, or extremely good
They were making the most tremendous amount of noise last night.

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tremendously /trɪ ˈ men.də.sli/ adverb

We all enjoyed ourselves tremendously.
signify /ˈ sɪ g.nɪ .faɪ / verb FORMAL MEAN
1. [ T ] to be a sign of something; to mean
Nobody really knows what the marks on the ancient stones signify.

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READING PASSAGE 2
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based on Reading
Passage 2.
The dingo debate
Graziers see them as pests, and poisoning is common, but some biologists think
Australia’s dingoes are the best weapon in a war against imported cats and foxes.
A A plane flies a slow pattern over Carlton Hill station, a 3,600 square kilometre ranch
in the Kimberley region in northwest Australia. As the plane circles, those aboard drop
1,000 small pieces of meat, one by one, onto the scrubland below, each piece laced
with poison; this practice is known as baiting.
Besides 50,000 head of cattle, Carlton Hill is home to the dingo, Australia’s largest
mammalian predator and the bane of a grazier’s (cattle farmer’s) life. Stuart McKechnie,
manager of Carlton Hill, complains that graziers’ livelihoods are threatened when
dingoes prey on cattle. But one man wants the baiting to end, and for dingoes to once
again roam Australia’s wide-open spaces. According to Chris Johnson of James Cook
University, ‘Australia needs more dingoes to protect our biodiversity.’
B About 4,000 years ago, Asian sailors introduced dingoes to Australia. Throughout
the ensuing millennia, these descendants of the wolf spread across the continent and,
as the Tasmanian tiger disappeared completely from Australia, dingoes became
Australia’s top predators. As agricultural development took place, the European settlers
found that they could not safely keep their livestock where dingoes roamed. So began
one of the most sustained efforts at pest control in Australia’s history. Over the last 150
years, dingoes have been shot and poisoned, and fences have been used in an attempt
to keep them away from livestock. But at the same time, as the European settlers tried
to eliminate one native pest from Australia, they introduced more of their own.
C In 1860, the rabbit was unleashed on Australia by a wealthy landowner and by 1980
rabbits had covered most of the mainland. Rabbits provide huge prey base for two other
introduced species: the feral (wild) cat and the red fox.
The Interaction between foxes, cats and rabbits is a huge problem for native mammals.
In good years, rabbit numbers increase dramatically, and fox and cat populations grow
quickly in response to the abundance of this prey. When bad seasons follow, rabbit
numbers are significantly reduced – and the dwindling but still large fox and cat
populations are left with little to eat besides native mammals.
D Australian mammals generally reproduce much more slowly than rabbits, cats and
foxes – and adaption to prevent overpopulation in the arid environment, where food can
be scarce and unreliable – and populations decline because they can’t grow fast
enough to replace animals killed by the predators. Johnson says dingoes are the
solution to this problem because they keep cat and fox populations under control.
Besides regularly eating the smaller predators, dingoes will kill them simply to lessen
competition.
Dingo packs live in large, stable territories and generally have only one fertile, which
limits their rate of increase. In the 4,000 years that dingoes have been Australia, they
have contributed to few, if any, extinctions, Johnsons says.
1

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E Reaching out from a desolate spot where three states meet, for 2,500 km in either
direction, is the world’s longest fence, two metres high and stretching from the coast in
Queensland to the Great Australian Bight in South Australia; it is there to keep dingoes
out of southeast, the fence separates the main types of livestock found in Australia. To
the northwest of the fence, cattle predominate; to the southwest, sheep fill the
landscape. In fact, Australia is a land dominated by these animals – 25 million cattle,
100 million sheep and just over 20 million people.
F While there is no argument that dingoes will prey on sheep if given the chance, they
don’t hunt cattle once the calves are much past two or three weeks old, according to
McKechnie. And a study in Queensland suggests that dingoes don’t even prey heavily
on the newborn calves unless their staple prey disappears due to deteriorating
conditions like drought.
This study, co-authored by Lee Alien of the Robert Wicks Research Centre in
Queensland, suggests that the aggressive baiting programs used against dingoes may
actually be counter-productive for graziers. When dingoes are removed from an area by
baiting m the area is recolonized by younger, more solitary dingoes. These animals
aren’t capable of going after the large prey like kangaroos, so they turn to calves. In
their study, some of the highest rates of calf predation occurred in areas that had been
baited.
G Mark Clifford, general manager of a firm that manages over 200,000 head of cattle,
is not convinced by Allen’s assertion. Clifford says, ‘It’s obvious if we drop or loosen
control on dingoes, we are going to lose more calves.’ He doesn’t believe that dingoes
will go after kangaroos when calves are around. Nor is he persuaded of dingoes’
supposed ecological benefits, saying he is not convinced that they manage to catch
cats that often, believing they are more likely to catch small native animals instead.
H McKechnie agrees that dingoes kill the wallabies (small native animals) that
compete with his cattle for food, but points out that in parts of Westers Australia, there
are no fixes, and not very many cats. He doesn’t see how relaxing controls on dingoes
in his area will improve the ecological balance.
Johnson sees a need for a change in philosophy on the part of graziers. ‘There might be
a number of different ways of thinking through dingo management in cattle country,’ he
says. ‘At the moment, though, that hasn’t got through to graziers. There’s still just on
prescription, and that is to bait as widely as possible.’

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dingo /ˈ dɪ ŋ.gəʊ/ /-goʊ/ noun [ C ] plural dingoes

a type of wild dog found in Australia
poison /ˈ pɔɪ .z ə n/ verb [ T ] ADD SUBSTANCE
1. to kill a person or animal or to make them very ill by giving them poison
Four members of the family had been poisoned, but not fatally.
lace /leɪ s/ verb [ T ] ADD ALCOHOL
1. to add alcohol or drugs to food or drink, often secretly
coffee laced with brandy
bait /beɪ t/ verb [ T ] MAKE ANGRY
1. to intentionally make a person angry by saying or doing things to annoy them
Ignore him - he's just baiting you.
predator /ˈ pred.ə.tə r / /-t ฀ɚ/ noun [ C ]
1. an animal that hunts, kills and eats other animals
lions, wolves and other predators
prey on sth phrasal verb
If an animal preys on another animal, it catches and eats it
The spider preys on small flies and other insects.
roam /rəʊm/ /roʊm/ verb [ I + adv/prep T ]
to move about or travel, especially without a clear idea of what you are going to do
After the pubs close, gangs of youths roam the city streets .
introduce /ˌ ɪ n.trəˈ djuː s/ /-ˈ duː s/ verb [ T ] BEGIN
3. to be the beginning of something
A haunting oboe solo introduces the third movement of the concerto.
ensuing /ɪ nˈ sjuː .ɪ ŋ/ /-ˈ suː -/ adjective [ before noun ]
happening after something and because of it
An argument broke out and in the ensuing fight, a gun went off.
descendant /dɪ ˈ sen.d ə nt/ noun [ C ]
a person who is related to someone and who lives after them, such as their child or
grandchild
He has no descendants.
unleash /ʌnˈ liː ʃ / verb [ T ]
to release suddenly a strong, uncontrollable and usually destructive force
At worst, nuclear war could be unleashed.
dwindle /ˈ dwɪ n.dl ฀/ verb [ I ]
to become smaller in size or amount, or fewer in number
The community has dwindled to a tenth of its former size in the last two years.
Her hopes of success in the race dwindled last night as the weather became worse.
dwindling /ˈ dwɪ n.dl ฀.ɪ ŋ/ adjective
dwindling numbers/supplies
arid /ˈ ær.ɪ d/ /ˈ er-/ adjective
1. very dry and without enough rain for plants
The desert is so arid that nothing can grow there.
scarce /skeəs/ /skers/ adjective
not easy to find or get
Food and clean water were becoming scarce.
scarce resources
decline /dɪ ˈ klaɪ n/ verb GO DOWN
1. [ I ] to gradually become less, worse, or lower

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His interest in the project declined after his wife died.

fertile /ˈ fɜː .taɪ l/ /ˈ fɝː .t ฀ ə l/ adjective LAND
1. describes land that can produce a large number of good quality crops
desolate /ˈ des. ə l.ət/ adjective EMPTY
1. describes a place that is empty and not attractive, with no people or nothing pleasant in
it
The house stood in a bleak and desolate landscape.
deteriorate /dɪ ˈ tɪ ə.ri.ə.reɪ t/ /-ˈ tɪ r.i-/ verb [ I ]
to become worse
She was taken into hospital last week when her condition suddenly deteriorated.

Answers and explanation

here.Just scan the QR code:

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DAY 23
Questions 1–7
Reading Passage 2 has eight sections, A–H.
Which sections contains the following information?
Write the correct letter, A–H, in boxes 1–7 on your answer sheet.
NB You may use any letter more than once.
1 a description of a barrier designed to stop dingoes, which also divides two kinds of
non-natives animals
2 how dingoes ensure that rival species do not dominate
3 a reference to a widespread non-native species that other animals feed on
4 a mention of the dingo’s arrival in Australia
5 research which has proved that dingoes have resorted to eating young livestock
6 a description of a method used to kill dingoes
7 the way that the structure of dingo groups affects how quickly their numbers grow

Questions 8–10
Look at the following statements (Questions 8–10) and the list of people below.
Match each statement with the correct person, A, B, C or D.
Write the correct letter, A, B, C or D, in boxes 8–10 on your answer sheet.
8 Dingoes tend to hunt native animals rather than hunting other non-native predators.
9 The presence of dingoes puts the income of some people at risk.
10 Dingoes have had little impact on the dying out of animal species in Australia.

List of People
A Stuart McKechnie
B Chris Johnson
C Lee Allen
D Mark Clifford

Questions 11–13
Complete the sentences below.
Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 11–13 on your answer sheet.
11 The dingo replaced the ……….………. as the main predatory animal in Australia.
12 Foxes and cats are more likely to hunt native animals when there are fewer
……….………. .
13 Australian animals reproduce at a slow rate as a natural way of avoiding
……….………. .

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Day 24

Astronomy’s Most Dazzling Era Is About to Begin

theatlantic.com/science/archive/2022/01/nasa-james-webb-space-telescope-journey/621352

January 24, 2022

The James Webb Space Telescope is now about 1 million miles from Earth, and almost
ready to scan the cosmos.

The world’s most powerful space telescope was ready to uncover the wonders of the
universe, but first it needed some help from a little blue truck. The truck had to haul the
James Webb Space Telescope, perched atop a more than 165-foot-tall rocket, to the
launchpad at a spaceport in South America in late December. Next to the rocket, the
vehicle looked almost decorative. I asked Bruno Gérard how the Ariane 5 rocket, standing
crane-your-neck tall in front of us, on a platform hitched to the truck, would make the
journey without tipping over.

Like me, Gérard—a vice president at Arianespace, which operates rockets like this one—
was wearing a blue hard hat and gripping a gas mask. The rocket wasn’t completely fueled
for launch yet, but its firecrackerlike boosters, one on each side, were packed with highly
explosive propellant. How was this whole thing tied down?

“Oh, it’s not,” Gérard replied, and my eyes nearly popped out of my head. A $10 billion
space telescope was sitting on top of that rocket! Gérard explained that the rocket holds
itself down with its massive weight, and rocket crews do it like this all the time. No need
to worry.

The trek to the launchpad was one of many, many journeys that Webb has taken since the
mission, an international project led by NASA, began 25 years ago. The telescope and all
its parts have traveled by truck, plane, ship, and rocket. But the most nerve-racking leg of
its journey was the one it finally completed today, when Webb fired its engines and
nudged itself into position about 1 million miles from Earth—four times farther than the
moon’s orbit. Until this moment, Webb was mostly a marvel of logistics. Now nestled in
its final orbit, the space telescope is finally poised to be a marvel of science. Over the next
several months, Webb will make its last adjustments, switch on its instruments, and start
basking in the starlight from distant galaxies. It’s all wonder from here on out.

Read: We have one shot to see the universe like never before

Webb, a hundred times more powerful than the Hubble Space Telescope, will soon study
nearly everything between Mars and the edges of the observable universe. NASA has
grand plans to re-create Hubble’s famous deep-field image using Webb’s ability to scan
the cosmos in infrared, which should reveal even more distant galaxies. Caitlin Casey, an
astronomer at the University of Texas at Austin, once told me that a Webb deep field will
resemble the spray of a freshly opened bottle of champagne—a sparkling display, with
every amber droplet a galaxy.

Chris Gunn / NASA

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The travels that brought Webb to its new home began in underground mines in Utah,
where the lightweight metal that would become the telescope’s 18 mirrors was excavated.
Over the years, the material, known as beryllium, was trucked to 11 facilities across eight
U.S. states: first to Ohio, where it was purified; then to Alabama, where it was chiseled
into honeycomb shapes; then to California to be polished; and so on. The mirrors and
other parts of the telescope were assembled and tested at a NASA facility in Maryland
before being driven to Texas for even more testing. After that, Webb was flown to
California, where it was fitted with its tennis-court-size sunshield and the propulsion
equipment it used to nudge itself into place today.

By then, Webb was too big to fit in even the largest cargo plane, so it traveled by ship to its
last stop on Earth, the spaceport in French Guiana. The telescope sailed for 16 days,
passing through the Panama Canal, to reach the French territory, where the European
Space Agency had offered up its launch services. The ship had a military escort, and the
travel dates were kept secret to protect against the unlikely—but not impossible—chance
that pirates might try to steal the telescope.

After years of relying on truck drivers, pilots, and ship captains, Webb was turned over to
flight-dynamics engineers. These engineers had spent years planning out and simulating
the final leg of Webb’s journey, so crucial to ensuring that the mission succeeded. Now
“all this theoretical work is actually coming to life,” Karen Richon, who leads the team at
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center that created Webb’s trajectory, told me.

Richon’s team was tasked with mapping out a path that would bring Webb to a special
spot in space called a Lagrange point. There, the forces of gravity will conspire to keep the
telescope in place, allowing it to orbit the sun alongside Earth, always in contact with
home. The exact route depended on how the launch went, and everything that came after.
The telescope, too big to fit on any existing rockets, launched to space folded up and
unfolded itself piece by piece while on the move. The flight-dynamics team has spent
years rehearsing Webb’s maneuvers, making sure they could keep the spacecraft on track
as it underwent the most complicated deployment in space history. “There’s no way to
physically test something like our designs until it's actually in orbit,” Wayne Yu, a flight-
dynamics engineer on Richon’s team at Goddard, told me. “We run simulations—a lot of
simulations.”

The Ariane 5 rocket deposited Webb into space just as engineers expected, and every
course correction since, including today’s maneuver, has proceeded smoothly. Richon, Yu,
and the rest of the team haven’t had to dip into their reserve of well-rehearsed
contingency plans. That logistical success is good news for Webb’s scientific operations:
The less fuel used to maneuver Webb around, the more would be left to power the
observatory itself, potentially extending its operations. “We were looking at every single
microgram of fuel,” Richon said, making sure the mission had enough to react in case
Webb was thrown off course.

The space navigators’ job isn’t over. Even with gravity’s help, Webb must make tiny,
periodic adjustments to keep itself in orbit around its Lagrange point, known as L2. The
forces of other celestial bodies—Earth, the moon, even planets as far as Jupiter—will tug

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at Webb, and without any intervention, the observatory would drift off. Richon and her
team plan to conduct a small maneuver every three weeks to keep it on course, but that
schedule could change. They’ve never had an object like Webb near L2 before, and they’ve
yet to learn how exactly the spacecraft will behave there.

Webb will remain in its carefully maintained place until it runs out of fuel, about 20 years
from now. When its tank gets low, engineers might command the observatory to push
itself into a higher orbit, to make sure it doesn’t crash into any objects closer to home. If
that happens, Webb could remain in orbit around the sun for hundreds, maybe thousands
of years. It would no longer be yoked to the Earth in the same way, but its mirrors and
scientific instruments could keep working, and Webb could still phone home, Yu said.

Last month, after that little blue truck took Webb to the launchpad, I traveled a few miles
inland from the coast, into French Guiana’s thick jungle, to go to the zoo with Mark
McCaughrean, an astronomer at the European Space Agency. A day earlier, McCaughrean
had stared into the sky as Webb departed on the final leg of its journey; now he was
studying the leaf-cutting ants hauling snips of foliage at our feet, a miniature simulacrum
of what the people who designed and assembled and transported Webb had carried out
over the years.

You don’t have to leave Earth to see what the universe is capable of, McCaughrean told me
as we looked out on a pond blanketed in lime-green algae, the stillness interrupted by
turtles poking their noses out of the water. But if you’re going to do it—if you’re going to
schlep pieces of a cosmic instrument around the world on nearly every vehicle known to
humankind and then shoot them all into the sky—this is the kind of journey that’s worth
making.

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 DAY 24 ARTICLE - WORDLIST

dazzling /ˈ dæz.lɪ ŋ/ adjective

extremely attractive or exciting
dazzling good looks
a dazzling smile
uncover /ʌnˈ kʌv.ə r / /-ɚ/ verb [ T ]
1. to discover something secret or hidden or remove something covering something else
The investigation uncovered evidence of a large-scale illegal trade in wild birds.
haul /hɔː l/ /hɑː l/ verb [ T ]
to pull something heavy slowly and with difficulty
They hauled the boat out of the water.
perch /pɜː tʃ / /pɝː tʃ / verb
[ I or T ] to be in a high position or in a position near the edge of something, or to put
something in this position
The village is perched on top of a high hill.
hitch /hɪ tʃ / verb FASTEN
2. [ T usually + adverb or preposition ] to fasten something to another thing by tying it
with a rope or using a metal hook
The horses were hitched to a shiny black carriage.
propellant /prəˈ pel.ənt/ noun [ C or U ]
1. an explosive substance or fuel which causes something to move forwards
nudge /nʌdʒ/ verb
[ I + adverb or preposition T ] to move slowly and almost reach a higher point or level
Oil prices continue to nudge higher.
nestle /ˈ nes.l ฀/ verb [ I or T + adv/prep ]
1. to rest yourself or part of your body in a warm, comfortable and protected position
She nestled (her head) against his shoulder.
infrared /ˌ ɪ n.frəˈ red/ adjective
a type of light that feels warm but cannot be seen
Their pilots are guided by an infrared optical system that shows images clearly even at
night.
reveal /rɪ ˈ viː l/ verb [ T ]
1. to make known or show something that is surprising or that was previously secret
He was jailed for revealing secrets to the Russians.
amber /ˈ æm.bə r / /-bɚ/ noun [ U ]
1. a hard transparent yellowish-brown substance which was formed in ancient times from
the liquid of trees and is used in jewellery
He has a collection of prehistoric insects preserved in amber.
chisel /ˈ tʃ ɪ z. ə l/ noun [ C ]
chisel
a tool with a long metal blade that has a sharp edge for cutting wood, stone, etc
chisel /ˈ tʃ ɪ z. ə l/ verb [ T ] -ll- or US USUALLY -l-
to use a chisel
She chiselled a figure out of the marble.
assemble /əˈ sem.bl ฀/ verb GATHER
1. [ I or T ] to come together in a single place or bring parts together in a single group
We assembled in the meeting room after lunch.
escort /ˈ es.kɔː t/ /-kɔː rt/ noun SOCIAL COMPANION

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1. [ C ] a person who goes with another person, usually someone of the opposite sex, to a
social event
"But I can't go to the dance without an escort," she protested.
conspire /kənˈ spaɪ ə r / /-ˈ spaɪ r/ verb [ I ]
to plan secretly with other people to do something bad, illegal or against someone's
wishes
[ + to infinitive ] He felt that his colleagues were conspiring together to remove him from
his job.
smoothly /ˈ smuː ð.li/ adverb
easily and without interruption or difficulty
The road was blocked for two hours after the accident, but traffic is now flowing
smoothly again.
contingency /kənˈ tɪ n.dʒ ə n t .si/ noun [ C ] FORMAL
something that might possibly happen in the future, usually causing problems or making
further arrangements necessary
You must be able to deal with all possible contingencies.
drift off phrasal verb
to gradually start to sleep
I couldn't help drifting off in the middle of that lecture - it was so boring!
tug /tʌg/ verb [ I or T ] -gg-
to pull something quickly and usually with a lot of force
Tom tugged at his mother's arm.
yoke /jəʊk/ /joʊk/ verb CONNECT
2. [ T often passive ] FORMAL to combine or connect two things
All these different political elements have somehow been yoked together to form a new
alliance.
schlep -pp- , schlepp /ʃ lep/ verb [ I or T + adv/prep ] MAINLY US INFORMAL
to move yourself or an object with effort and difficulty
Do I really have to schlep all that junk down to the cellar?

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DAY 24
READING PASSAGE 3
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-14, which are based on Reading
Passage 3.
Shoemaker-Levy 9
A The last half of July 1994 witnessed much interest among astronomers and the wider
public in the collision of comet Schoemaker-Levy (SL9) with Jupiter. The comet was
discovered on 25 March 1993 by Eugene and Carolyn Shoemaker and David Levy, using
the 450 mm Schmidt camera at the Mount Palomar Observatory. The discovery was based
on a photographic plate exposed two days earlier. The Shoemakers are particularly
experienced comet hunters with 61 discoveries to their credit. Their technique relies on the
proper motion of a comet to identify the object as a non- stellar body. They photograph
large areas of the sky, typically with an eight-minute exposure, and repeat the photograph
45 minutes later. Comparison of the two photographs with a stereo-microscope reveals any
bodies which have moved against the background of fixed stars.
B As so often in science, serendipity played a large part in the discovery of Shoemaker-
Levy 9! The weather on the night of 23 March was so poor that the observers would not
normally have bothered putting film into their camera. However, they had a box of old film
to hand which had been partially exposed by accident some days previously, so decided to
insert it into the camera rather than waste good film, Fortunately, two of the film plates,
despite being fogged round the edges, captured the first image of a very strange, bar-
shaped object. This object, which Carolyn Shoemaker first described as a squashed
comet, later became known as comet Shoemaker-Levy 9.
C Other, more powerful, telescopes revealed that the comet was, in fact, composed of 21
cometary fragments, strung out in a line, which accounted for the unusual shape. The term
string of pearls was soon coined. Figure 1 is a mosaic taken by the Hubble Space
Telescope (HST) during 24-27 January 1994. It shows the main fragments which at that
time spanned a linear distance of approximately 600,000 km. Initially, the fragments were
surrounded by extensive dust clouds in the line of the nuclei but these later disappeared.
Some of the nuclei also faded out (presumably due to disintegration), while others split into
multiple fragments.
D The size of the original comet and each of the fragments was, and still is, something of a
mystery. The first analysis of the orbital dynamics of the fragments suggested that the
comet was originally some 2.5 km in diameter with an average fragment diameter of 0.75
km. Later work gave corresponding diameters of approximately 10 km and 2 km and these
values are now considered more likely. There was considerable variation in the diameters
of different fragments.
E Further calculations revealed that the cemetery fragments were on course to collide with
Jupiter during July 1994, and that each fragment could deliver an energy equivalent to
approximately 500,000 million tonnes of TNT. The prospect of celestial fireworks on such a
grand scale immediately captured the attention of astronomers worldwide!

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F Each fragment was assigned an identity letter A-W (letters "I" and "O" were not used to
avoid potential confusion with numbers "I" and 'o") and a co-ordinated program of
observations was put in place world-wide to track their towards impact with Jupiter. As the
cometary fragments reached the cloud of Jupiter, they were travelling at approximately 60
km/s and the chain of fragments had spread out to cover approximately 30 million km. The
impacts occurred during 16-22 July. All took place at a latitude of approximately 48 which
nominally placed them in the SSS Temperate Region however, visually, they appeared
close to the Jovian polar region. Although the impacts all occurred some 10-15 round the
limb on the far side of the planet as seen from Earth, the rapid rotation of the planet (a
Jovian day is only some 10 hours long) soon carried them into the view of Earth- based
telescope. The collisions lived up to all but the wildest expectations and provided a truly
impressive spectacle.
G Jupiter is composed of a relatively small core of iron and silicates surrounded by
hydrogen. In the depths of the planet approximately 1000 km and more below the visible
cloud tops) the hydrogen is so compressed that it is metallic in form; further from the
centre, the pressure is lower and the hydrogen is in its normal molecular form. The Jovian
cloud tops visible from Earth consist primarily of methane and ammonia with relatively
small amounts of other elements and compounds which are thought to be responsible for
the colours seen in the atmosphere.
H The smaller cometary fragments plunged into Jupiter, rapidly disintegrated and left little
trace; three of the smallest fragments, namely T, U and V left no discernible traces
whatsoever. However, many of the cometary fragments were sufficiently large to produce a
spectacular display. Each large fragment punched through the cloud tops, heated the
surrounding gases to some 20,000 K on the way, and caused a massive plume or fireball
up to 2000km in diameter to rise. Before encountering thicker layers of the atmosphere and
disintegrating in a mammoth shock wave, the large fragments raised dark dust particles
and ultra-violet (UV) absorbing gases high into the Jovian cloud tops; in visible light, this
material manifested itself as a dark scar surrounding the impact site.
I Some days after collision the impact sites began to evolve and fade as they became
subject to the dynamics of Jupiter's atmosphere. No-one knows how long they will remain
visible from Earth, but it is thought that the larger scars may persist for a year or more. The
interest of professional astronomers in Jupiter is now waning and valuable work can
therefore be performed by amateurs in tracking the evolution of the collision scars. The
scars are easily visible in a modest telescope, and a large reflector will show them in some
detail. There is scope for valuable observing work from now until Jupiter reaches
conjunction with the Sun in November 2004.
J Astronomers and archivists are now searching old records for possible previously
unrecognized impacts on Jupiter. Several spots were reported from 1690 to 1872 by
observers including William Herschel and Giovanni Cassini. The records of the BAA in
1927 and 1948 contain drawings of Jupiter with black dots or spots visible. It is possible
that comet impacts have been observed before, without their identity being realized, but
no-one can be sure.

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 DAY 24 PASSAGE - WORDLIST

comet /ˈ kɒm.ɪ t/ /ˈ kɑː .mɪ t/ noun [ C ]

an object that moves around the sun, usually at a great distance from it, that is seen on
rare occasions from Earth as a bright line in the sky
collision /kəˈ lɪ ʒ. ə n/ noun ACCIDENT
1. [ C or U ] an accident that happens when two vehicles hit each other with force
There has been a collision on the southbound stretch of the motorway.
expose /ɪ kˈ spəʊz/ /-ˈ spoʊz/ verb [ T ] UNCOVER
1. to remove what is covering something so that it can be seen
The plaster on the walls has been removed to expose the original bricks underneath.
serendipity /ˌ ser. ə nˈ dɪ p.ɪ .ti/ /-ə.t ฀i/ noun [ U ] FORMAL
the lucky tendency to find interesting or valuable things by chance
squash /skwɒʃ / /skwɑː ʃ / verb PUSH
2. [ I or T usually + adverb or preposition ] to push a person or thing into a small space
The room was so full you couldn't squash another person in .
compose /kəmˈ pəʊz/ /-ˈ poʊz/ verb FORM
2. be composed of sth
to be formed from various things
Air is composed mainly of nitrogen and oxygen.
string sth out phrasal verb GROUP
1. If a group of similar things or people are strung out, they are in a long line with spaces
between each of them
Most of Canada's population is strung out along its 5525-mile border with the United
States.
account for sth phrasal verb
to form the total of something
Students account for the vast majority of our customers.
fade ( sth ) out phrasal verb [ I or M ]
If the picture or sound of a film or recording fades out or someone fades it out, it
becomes gradually weaker.
presumably /prɪ ˈ zjuː .mə.bli/ /-ˈ zuː -/ adverb
used to say what you think is the likely situation
They can presumably afford to buy a bigger apartment.
corresponding /ˌ kɒr.ɪ ˈ spɒn.dɪ ŋ/ /ˌ kɔː r.ɪ ˈ spɑː n-/ adjective
similar, or resulting from something else
Company losses were 50 per cent worse than in the corresponding period last year.
cemetery /ˈ sem.ə.tri/ /-ter.i/ noun [ C ]
an area of ground in which dead bodies are buried, especially one which is not next to a
church
on course
likely to happen, or likely to succeed as planned
Because of the recession, we're on course for/to have record unemployment levels.
collide /kəˈ laɪ d/ verb [ I ]
(especially of moving objects) to hit something violently
The two vans collided at the crossroads.
It was predicted that a comet would collide with one of the planets.
celestial /sɪ ˈ les.ti. ə l/ /-tʃ ə l/ adjective FORMAL
of or from the sky or outside this world
The moon is a celestial body

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latitude /ˈ læt.ɪ .tjuː d/ /ˈ læt ฀.ɪ .tuː d/ noun POSITION

1. [ C or U ] the position north or south of the equator measured from 0° to 90°
live up to sth phrasal verb
to be as good as something
The concert was brilliant - it lived up to all our expectations.
silicate /ˈ sɪ l.ɪ .kət/ noun [ C or U ]
any of a large number of common minerals formed of silica, oxygen and one or more
other elements
plunge in/plunge into sth phrasal verb
to suddenly start doing something actively or enthusiastically
Two months before his exams, he suddenly plunged into his studies.
punch /pʌntʃ / verb [ T ] HIT
1. to hit someone or something with your fist (= closed hand)
He punched him in the stomach.
absorb /əbˈ zɔː b/ /-ˈ zɔː rb/ verb [ T ] TAKE IN
1. to take something in, especially gradually
Plants absorb carbon dioxide.

Answers and explanation

here.Just scan the QR code:

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DAY 24
Questions 1-5
Choose the most suitable headings for paragraphs B - F from the list of headings below.
Write appropriate numbers (i-x) in boxes 1-5 on your answer sheet.
List of Headings
i Camera settings for observation
ii Collisions on stage
iii Size of the comet
iv String of pearls
v Scientific explanations
vi Hubble Space Telescope
vii First discovery of the squashed comet
viii Power generated from the collisions
ix Calculations, expectations and predictions
x Change of the fragment's shape

1 Paragraph B
2 Paragraph C
3 Paragraph D
4 Paragraph E
5 Paragraph F

Questions 6-9
Reading Passage 3 contains 10 paragraphs A-J.
Which paragraphs state the following information?
Write the appropriate letters A-J in boxes 6-9 on your answer sheet.

6 Shoemaker- Levy 9 comets had been accidentally detected.

7 The collision caused a spectacular vision on Jupiter.
8 Every single element of Shoemaker- Levy 9 was labeled.
9 Visual evidence explains the structure of Shoemaker- Levy 9.

Questions 10-14
Complete the summary below.
Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passages for each answer.

The core of Jupiter, which is enclosed by hydrogen, consists of 10 ……………… and 11

……………………… Hydrogen is in metallic form as it is squeezed by pressure generated
from the depths of the planet. The pressure is gradually reduced from the centre to the
outside layers, where hydrogen is in normal form of 12 ………………………..
Far from the ground, methane and ammonia structures the 13 ………………….. , which
can be observed from earth. Colours seen in the atmosphere are largely due to other
particles 14 …………… in the cloud.

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Human History Gets a Rewrite

theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2021/11/graeber-wengrow-dawn-of-everything-history-humanity/620177

October 18, 2021

Many years ago, when I was a junior professor at Yale, I cold-called a colleague in the
anthropology department for assistance with a project I was working on. I didn’t know
anything about the guy; I just selected him because he was young, and therefore, I figured,
more likely to agree to talk.

Five minutes into our lunch, I realized that I was in the presence of a genius. Not an
extremely intelligent person—a genius. There’s a qualitative difference. The individual
across the table seemed to belong to a different order of being from me, like a visitor from
a higher dimension. I had never experienced anything like it before. I quickly went from
trying to keep up with him, to hanging on for dear life, to simply sitting there in wonder.

That person was David Graeber. In the 20 years after our lunch, he published two books;
was let go by Yale despite a stellar record (a move universally attributed to his radical
politics); published two more books; got a job at Goldsmiths, University of London;
published four more books, including Debt: The First 5,000 Years, a magisterial
revisionary history of human society from Sumer to the present; got a job at the London
School of Economics; published two more books and co-wrote a third; and established
himself not only as among the foremost social thinkers of our time—blazingly original,
stunningly wide-ranging, impossibly well read—but also as an organizer and intellectual
leader of the activist left on both sides of the Atlantic, credited, among other things, with
helping launch the Occupy movement and coin its slogan, “We are the 99 percent.”

On September 2, 2020, at the age of 59, David Graeber died of necrotizing pancreatitis
while on vacation in Venice. The news hit me like a blow. How many books have we lost, I
thought, that will never get written now? How many insights, how much wisdom, will
remain forever unexpressed? The appearance of The Dawn of Everything: A New History
of Humanity is thus bittersweet, at once a final, unexpected gift and a reminder of what
might have been. In his foreword, Graeber’s co-author, David Wengrow, an archaeologist
at University College London, mentions that the two had planned no fewer than three
sequels.

And what a gift it is, no less ambitious a project than its subtitle claims. The Dawn of
Everything is written against the conventional account of human social history as first
developed by Hobbes and Rousseau; elaborated by subsequent thinkers; popularized
today by the likes of Jared Diamond, Yuval Noah Harari, and Steven Pinker; and accepted
more or less universally. The story goes like this. Once upon a time, human beings lived in
small, egalitarian bands of hunter-gatherers (the so-called state of nature). Then came the
invention of agriculture, which led to surplus production and thus to population growth
as well as private property. Bands swelled to tribes, and increasing scale required
increasing organization: stratification, specialization; chiefs, warriors, holy men.

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Eventually, cities emerged, and with them, civilization—literacy, philosophy, astronomy;

hierarchies of wealth, status, and power; the first kingdoms and empires. Flash forward a
few thousand years, and with science, capitalism, and the Industrial Revolution, we
witness the creation of the modern bureaucratic state. The story is linear (the stages are
followed in order, with no going back), uniform (they are followed the same way
everywhere), progressive (the stages are “stages” in the first place, leading from lower to
higher, more primitive to more sophisticated), deterministic (development is driven by
technology, not human choice), and teleological (the process culminates in us).

It is also, according to Graeber and Wengrow, completely wrong. Drawing on a wealth of

recent archaeological discoveries that span the globe, as well as deep reading in often
neglected historical sources (their bibliography runs to 63 pages), the two dismantle not
only every element of the received account but also the assumptions that it rests on. Yes,
we’ve had bands, tribes, cities, and states; agriculture, inequality, and bureaucracy, but
what each of these were, how they developed, and how we got from one to the next—all
this and more, the authors comprehensively rewrite. More important, they demolish the
idea that human beings are passive objects of material forces, moving helplessly along a
technological conveyor belt that takes us from the Serengeti to the DMV. We’ve had
choices, they show, and we’ve made them. Graeber and Wengrow offer a history of the
past 30,000 years that is not only wildly different from anything we’re used to, but also
far more interesting: textured, surprising, paradoxical, inspiring.

The bulk of the book (which weighs in at more than 500 pages) takes us from the Ice Age
to the early states (Egypt, China, Mexico, Peru). In fact, it starts by glancing back before
the Ice Age to the dawn of the species. Homo sapiens developed in Africa, but it did so
across the continent, from Morocco to the Cape, not just in the eastern savannas, and in a
great variety of regional forms that only later coalesced into modern humans. There was
no anthropological Garden of Eden, in other words—no Tanzanian plain inhabited by
“mitochondrial Eve” and her offspring. As for the apparent delay between our biological
emergence, and therefore the emergence of our cognitive capacity for culture, and the
actual development of culture—a gap of many tens of thousands of years—that, the
authors tell us, is an illusion. The more we look, especially in Africa (rather than mainly in
Europe, where humans showed up relatively late), the older the evidence we find of
complex symbolic behavior.

The Dawn of Everything: A New History of HumanityDavid Graeber and David Wengrow,
Farrar, Straus and Giroux

When you buy a book using a link on this page, we receive a commission. Thank you for
supporting The Atlantic.

That evidence and more—from the Ice Age, from later Eurasian and Native North
American groups—demonstrate, according to Graeber and Wengrow, that hunter-
gatherer societies were far more complex, and more varied, than we have imagined. The
authors introduce us to sumptuous Ice Age burials (the beadwork at one site alone is
thought to have required 10,000 hours of work), as well as to monumental architectural
sites like Göbekli Tepe, in modern Turkey, which dates from about 9000 B.C. (at least

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6,000 years before Stonehenge) and features intricate carvings of wild beasts. They tell us
of Poverty Point, a set of massive, symmetrical earthworks erected in Louisiana around
1600 B.C., a “hunter-gatherer metropolis the size of a Mesopotamian city-state.” They
describe an indigenous Amazonian society that shifted seasonally between two entirely
different forms of social organization (small, authoritarian nomadic bands during the dry
months; large, consensual horticultural settlements during the rainy season). They speak
of the kingdom of Calusa, a monarchy of hunter-gatherers the Spanish found when they
arrived in Florida. All of these scenarios are unthinkable within the conventional
narrative.

Five minutes into my lunch with David Graeber, I realized that I was in the presence of a
genius. Not an extremely intelligent person—a genius.
The overriding point is that hunter-gatherers made choices—conscious, deliberate,
collective—about the ways that they wanted to organize their societies: to apportion work,
dispose of wealth, distribute power. In other words, they practiced politics. Some of them
experimented with agriculture and decided that it wasn’t worth the cost. Others looked at
their neighbors and determined to live as differently as possible—a process that Graeber
and Wengrow describe in detail with respect to the Indigenous peoples of Northern
California, “puritans” who idealized thrift, simplicity, money, and work, in contrast to the
ostentatious slaveholding chieftains of the Pacific Northwest. None of these groups, as far
as we have reason to believe, resembled the simple savages of popular imagination,
unselfconscious innocents who dwelt within a kind of eternal present or cyclical
dreamtime, waiting for the Western hand to wake them up and fling them into history.

The authors carry this perspective forward to the ages that saw the emergence of farming,
of cities, and of kings. In the locations where it first developed, about 10,000 years ago,
agriculture did not take over all at once, uniformly and inexorably. (It also didn’t start in
only a handful of centers—Mesopotamia, Egypt, China, Mesoamerica, Peru, the same
places where empires would first appear—but more like 15 or 20.) Early farming was
typically flood-retreat farming, conducted seasonally in river valleys and wetlands, a
process that is much less labor-intensive than the more familiar kind and does not
conduce to the development of private property. It was also what the authors call “play
farming”: farming as merely one element within a mix of food-producing activities that
might include hunting, herding, foraging, and horticulture.

Settlements, in other words, preceded agriculture—not, as we’ve thought, the reverse.

What’s more, it took some 3,000 years for the Fertile Crescent to go from the first
cultivation of wild grains to the completion of the domestication process—about 10 times
as long as necessary, recent analyses have shown, had biological considerations been the
only ones. Early farming embodied what Graeber and Wengrow call “the ecology of
freedom”: the freedom to move in and out of farming, to avoid getting trapped by its
demands or endangered by the ecological fragility that it entails.

From the December 2020 issue: The next decade could be even worse

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The authors write their chapters on cities against the idea that large populations need
layers of bureaucracy to govern them—that scale leads inevitably to political inequality.
Many early cities, places with thousands of people, show no sign of centralized
administration: no palaces, no communal storage facilities, no evident distinctions of rank
or wealth. This is the case with what may be the earliest cities of all, Ukrainian sites like
Taljanky, which were discovered only in the 1970s and which date from as early as
roughly 4100 B.C., hundreds of years before Uruk, the oldest known city in Mesopotamia.
Even in that “land of kings,” urbanism antedated monarchy by centuries. And even after
kings arose, “popular councils and citizen assemblies,” Graeber and Wengrow write,
“were stable features of government,” with real power and autonomy. Despite what we
like to believe, democratic institutions did not begin just once, millennia later, in Athens.

If anything, aristocracy emerged in smaller settlements, the warrior societies that

flourished in the highlands of the Levant and elsewhere, and that are known to us from
epic poetry—a form of existence that remained in tension with agricultural states
throughout the history of Eurasia, from Homer to the Mongols and beyond. But the
authors’ most compelling instance of urban egalitarianism is undoubtedly Teotihuacan, a
Mesoamerican city that rivaled imperial Rome, its contemporary, for size and
magnificence. After sliding toward authoritarianism, its people abruptly changed course,
abandoning monument-building and human sacrifice for the construction of high-quality
public housing. “Many citizens,” the authors write, “enjoyed a standard of living that is
rarely achieved across such a wide sector of urban society in any period of urban history,
including our own.”

And so we arrive at the state, with its structures of central authority, exemplified variously
by large-scale kingdoms, by empires, by modern republics—supposedly the climax form,
to borrow a term from ecology, of human social organization. What is the state? the
authors ask. Not a single stable package that’s persisted all the way from pharaonic Egypt
to today, but a shifting combination of, as they enumerate them, the three elementary
forms of domination: control of violence (sovereignty), control of information
(bureaucracy), and personal charisma (manifested, for example, in electoral politics).
Some states have displayed just two, some only one—which means the union of all three,
as in the modern state, is not inevitable (and may indeed, with the rise of planetary
bureaucracies like the World Trade Organization, be already decomposing). More to the
point, the state itself may not be inevitable. For most of the past 5,000 years, the authors
write, kingdoms and empires were “exceptional islands of political hierarchy, surrounded
by much larger territories whose inhabitants … systematically avoided fixed, overarching
systems of authority.”

Is “civilization” worth it, the authors want to know, if civilization—ancient Egypt, the
Aztecs, imperial Rome, the modern regime of bureaucratic capitalism enforced by state
violence—means the loss of what they see as our three basic freedoms: the freedom to
disobey, the freedom to go somewhere else, and the freedom to create new social
arrangements? Or does civilization rather mean “mutual aid, social co-operation, civic
activism, hospitality [and] simply caring for others”?

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These are questions that Graeber, a committed anarchist—an exponent not of anarchy but
of anarchism, the idea that people can get along perfectly well without governments—
asked throughout his career. The Dawn of Everything is framed by an account of what
the authors call the “indigenous critique.” In a remarkable chapter, they describe the
encounter between early French arrivals in North America, primarily Jesuit missionaries,
and a series of Native intellectuals—individuals who had inherited a long tradition of
political conflict and debate and who had thought deeply and spoke incisively on such
matters as “generosity, sociability, material wealth, crime, punishment and liberty.”

The Indigenous critique, as articulated by these figures in conversation with their French
interlocutors, amounted to a wholesale condemnation of French—and, by extension,
European—society: its incessant competition, its paucity of kindness and mutual care, its
religious dogmatism and irrationalism, and most of all, its horrific inequality and lack of
freedom. The authors persuasively argue that Indigenous ideas, carried back and
publicized in Europe, went on to inspire the Enlightenment (the ideals of freedom,
equality, and democracy, they note, had theretofore been all but absent from the Western
philosophical tradition). They go further, making the case that the conventional account
of human history as a saga of material progress was developed in reaction to the
Indigenous critique in order to salvage the honor of the West. We’re richer, went the logic,
so we’re better. The authors ask us to rethink what better might actually mean.

The Dawn of Everything is not a brief for anarchism, though anarchist values—
antiauthoritarianism, participatory democracy, small-c communism—are everywhere
implicit in it. Above all, it is a brief for possibility, which was, for Graeber, perhaps the
highest value of all. The book is something of a glorious mess, full of fascinating
digressions, open questions, and missing pieces. It aims to replace the dominant grand
narrative of history not with another of its own devising, but with the outline of a picture,
only just becoming visible, of a human past replete with political experiment and
creativity.

“How did we get stuck?” the authors ask—stuck, that is, in a world of “war, greed,
exploitation [and] systematic indifference to others’ suffering”? It’s a pretty good
question. “If something did go terribly wrong in human history,” they write, “then
perhaps it began to go wrong precisely when people started losing that freedom to
imagine and enact other forms of social existence.” It isn’t clear to me how many
possibilities are left us now, in a world of polities whose populations number in the tens
or hundreds of millions. But stuck we certainly are.

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 DAY 25 ARTICLE - WORDLIST

cold ˌ calling noun [ U ]

when a person in business telephones or visits a possible customer to try to sell them
something without being asked by the customer to do so
cold-call /ˌ kəʊldˈ kɔː l/ /ˌ koʊldˈ kɑː l/ verb [ T ]
We were cold-called by a company offering savings on our phone bill.
dimension /ˌ d a ɪ ˈ men. t ʃ ə n/ noun
1. [ C often plural ] a measurement of something in a particular direction, especially its
height, length or width
Please specify the dimensions (= the height, length and width) of the room.
stellar /ˈ stel.ə r / /-ɚ/ adjective
1. of a star or stars
a stellar explosion
blazing /ˈ bleɪ .zɪ ŋ/ adjective
1. very bright and hot or powerful
We quickly grew tired in the blazing sunshine .
2. [ before noun ] violent and frightening
They used to have some blazing rows over money.
dawn /dɔː n/ /dɑː n/ noun [ C or U ]
the dawn of sth
LITERARY the start of a period of time or the beginning of something new
The fall of the Berlin Wall marked the dawn of a new era in European history.
sequel /ˈ siː .kw ə l/ noun [ C ]
1. a book, film or play which continues the story of a previous book, etc.
I'm reading the sequel to 'Gone with the Wind'.
swell /swel/ verb swelled , swollen or swelled
1. [ I or T ] to become larger and rounder than usual; to (cause to) increase in size or
amount
It was obvious she had broken her toe, because it immediately started to swell (up) .
stratify /ˈ stræt.ɪ .faɪ / /ˈ stræ-/ verb [ T ]
to arrange the different parts of something in separate layers or groups
The sample of people questioned was drawn from the university's student register and
stratified by age and gender.
stratification /ˌ stræt.ɪ .fɪ ˈ keɪ .ʃ ə n/ /ˌ stræt ฀-/ noun [ U ] FORMAL
The Prime Minister wants to reduce social stratification and make the country a classless
society.
culminate /ˈ kʌl.mɪ .neɪ t/ verb
culminate in/with sth
If an event or series of events culminates in something, it ends with it, having developed
until it reaches this point
My arguments with the boss got worse and worse, and it all culminated in my deciding to
change jobs.
dismantle /dɪ ˈ smæn.tl ฀/ /-t ฀l ฀/ verb
[ T ] to get rid of a system or organization, usually over a period of time
Unions accuse the government of dismantling the National Health Service.
rest on/upon sth phrasal verb FORMAL
If something rests on a particular idea, belief or fact, it is based on it or needs it in order
for it to be true
Christianity rests on the belief that Jesus was the son of God.

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coalesce /kəʊ.əˈ les/ /koʊ-/ verb [ I ] FORMAL

If two or more things coalesce, they come or grow together to form one thing or system.
sumptuous /ˈ sʌmp.tju.əs/ adjective
luxurious and showing that you are rich
The celebrity guests turned up dressed in sumptuous evening gowns.
intricate /ˈ ɪ n.trɪ .kət/ adjective
having a lot of small parts or details that are arranged in a complicated way and are
therefore sometimes difficult to understand, solve or produce
The watch mechanism is extremely intricate and very difficult to repair.
horticulture /ˈ hɔː .tɪ .kʌl.tʃ ə r / /ˈ hɔː r.t ฀ə.kʌl.tʃ ɚ/ noun [ U ]
the study or activity of growing garden plants
ostentatious /ˌ ɒs.tenˈ teɪ .ʃ əs/ /ˌ ɑː .stən-/ adjective DISAPPROVING
too obviously showing your money, possessions or power, in an attempt to make other
people notice and admire you
They criticized the ostentatious lifestyle of their leaders.
an ostentatious gesture/manner
savage /ˈ sæv.ɪ dʒ/ noun [ C ] OFFENSIVE
a person whose way of life is at a very early stage of development
Twelve thousand years ago, our ancestors were primitive savages living in caves.
innocent /ˈ ɪ n.ə.s ə nt/ adjective
1. (of a person) not guilty of a particular crime, or having no knowledge of the unpleasant
and evil things in life, or (of a thing) not intended to harm anyone
He firmly believes that she is innocent of the crime.
dwell /dwel/ verb [ I usually + adv/prep ] dwelt or dwelled , dwelt or dwelled FORMAL
to live in a place or in a particular way
She dwelt in remote parts of Asia for many years.
fling /flɪ ŋ/ verb flung , flung THROW
1. [ T usually + adverb or preposition ] to throw something or someone suddenly and
with a lot of force
He crumpled up the letter and flung it into the fire.
inexorable /ɪ ˈ nek.s ə r.ə.bl ฀/ /-sɚ-/ adjective FORMAL
continuing without any possibility of being stopped
the inexorable progress of science
inexorably /ɪ ˈ nek.s ə r.ə.bli/ /-sɚ-/ adverb
These events led inexorably to war.
conducive /kənˈ djuː .sɪ v/ /-ˈ duː -/ adjective
providing the right conditions for something good to happen or exist
Such a noisy environment was not conducive to a good night's sleep.
antedate /ˌ æn.tiˈ deɪ t/ /ˈ æn.t ฀i.deɪ t/ verb [ T ]
FORMAL FOR predate
flourish /ˈ flʌr.ɪ ʃ / /ˈ flɝː -/ verb SUCCEED
1. [ I ] to grow or develop successfully
My tomatoes are flourishing this summer - it must be the warm weather.
compelling /kəmˈ pel.ɪ ŋ/ adjective STRONG
1. If a reason, argument, etc. is compelling, it makes you believe it or accept it because it
is so strong
compelling evidence
egalitarian /ɪ ˌ gæl.ɪ ˈ teə.ri.ən/ /-ˈ ter.i-/ adjective FORMAL

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believing that all people are equally important and should have the same rights and
opportunities in life
an egalitarian society
abrupt /əˈ brʌpt/ adjective SUDDEN
1. describes something that is sudden and unexpected, and often unpleasant
an abrupt change/movement
abruptly /əˈ brʌp t .li/ adverb
The talks ended abruptly when one of the delegations walked out in protest.
overarching /ˌ əʊ.vəˈ rɑː .tʃ ɪ ŋ/ /ˌ oʊ.vɚˈ ɑː r-/ adjective [ before noun ] FORMAL
most important, because including or affecting all other areas
a grand overarching strategy
incisive /ɪ nˈ saɪ .sɪ v/ adjective
expressing an idea or opinion in a clear and direct way which shows good understanding
of what is important
incisive questions/comments
incisively /ɪ nˈ saɪ .sɪ v.li/ adverb
articulate /ɑː ˈ tɪ k.jʊ.leɪ t/ /ɑː r-/ verb [ T ] FORMAL
1. to express in words
I found myself unable to articulate my feelings.
interlocutor /ˌ ɪ n.təˈ lɒk.jʊ.tə r / /-t ฀ɚˈ lɑː .kjə.t ฀ɚ/ noun [ C ] FORMAL
1. someone who is involved in a conversation
paucity /ˈ pɔː .sɪ .ti/ /ˈ pɑː .sə.t ฀i/ noun [ S ] FORMAL
when there is too little of something
There is a paucity of information on the ingredients of many cosmetics.
saga /ˈ sɑː .gə/ noun [ C ]
1. a long story about several past events or people, originally one told in the Middle Ages
in Iceland or Norway
a lengthy and compelling family saga
replete /rɪ ˈ pliː t/ adjective [ after verb ] FORMAL
1. full, especially with food
After two helpings of dessert, Sergio was at last replete.
2. well supplied
This car has an engine replete with the latest technology.

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DAY 25
READING PASSAGE 2
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based on Reading
Passage 2.
The study of laughter
Humans don't have a monopoly on laughter, says Silvia Cardoso. A behavioral biologist at
the State University of Campinas, Brazil, she says it's a primitive reflex common to most
animals: even rats laugh. She tells Sophie Petit-Zeman that too little laughter could have
serious consequences for our mental, physical and social well- being.
Laughter a universal phenomenon, and one of the most common things we do. We laugh
many times a day, for many different reasons, but rarely think about it, and seldom
consciously control it. We know so little about the different kinks and functions of laughter,
and my interest really starts there. Why do we do it? What can laughter teach us about our
positive emotions and social behaviour? There's so much we don't know about how the
brain contributes to emotion and I think we can get at understanding this by studying
laughter.
Only 10 or 20 per cent of laughing is a response to humor. Most of the time it's a message
we send to other people-communicating joyful disposition, a willingness to bond and so on.
It occupies a special place in social interaction and is a fascinating feature of our biology,
with motor, emotional and cognitive components. Scientists study all kinds of emotions and
behaviour, but few focus on this most basic ingredient. Laughter gives us a clue that we
have powerful systems in our brain which respond to pleasure, happiness and joy. It's also
involved in events such as release of fear.
Many professionals have always focused on emotional behaviour. I spent many years
investigating the neural basis of fear in rats, and came to laughter via that route. When I
was working with rats, I noticed that when they were alone, in an exposed environment,
they were scared and quite uncomfortable. Back in a cage with others, they seemed much
happier. It looked as if they played with one another real rough-and-tumble and I wondered
whether they were also laughing. The neurobiologist Jaak Panksepp and shown that
juvenile rats make short vocalisations, pitched too high for humans to hear, during rough-
and-tumble play. He thinks these are similar to laughter. This made me wonder about the
roots of laughter.
You only have to look at the primates closest to humans to see that laughter is clearly not
unique to us. I don't find this too surprising, because we're only one among many social
species and there's no reason why we should have a monopoly on laughter as a social
tool. The great apes, such as chimpanzees, fo something similar to humans. They open
their mouths wide, expose their teeth, retract the corners of their lips, and make loud and
repetitive vocalisations in situations that tend to evoke human laughter, like when playing
with one another or with humans, or when tickled. Laugher may even have evolved long
before primates. We know that dogs at play have strange patterns of exhalation that differ
from other sounds made during passive or aggressive confrontation.

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But I think we need to be careful about over-interpreting panting behaviour in animals at
play. It's nice to think of it as homologous to human laughter, but it could just be something
similar but with entirely different purposes and evolutionary advantages.
Everything humans do has a function, and laughing is no exception. Its function is surely
communication. We need to build social structures in order to live well in our society and
evolution has selected laughter as a useful device for promoting social communication. In
other words, it must have a survival advantage for the species.
The brain scans are usually done while people are responding to humorous material. You
see brainwave activity spread from the sensory processing area of the occipital lobe, the bit
at the back of the brain that processes visual signals, to the brain's frontal lobe analyses
the words and structure of jokes while the right side the intellectual analyses required to
"get" jokes. Finally, activity spreads to the motor areas of the brain controlling the physical
task of laughing. We also know about these complex pathways involved in laughter from
neurological illness and injury. Sometimes after brain damage, tumors, stroke, or brain
disorders such as Parkinson's disease, people get "stonefaced" syndrome and can't laugh.
We are sure that laughter differs between the sexes, particularly the uses to which the
sexes put laughter as a social tool, For instance, women smile more than laugh, and are
particularly adept at smiling and laughing with men as a kind of "social lubricant". It might
even be possible that this has a biological origin because women don't or can't use their
physical size as a threat, which men do, even if unconsciously.
It's undoubtedly the best medicine. For one thing, it's exercise. It activates the
cardiovascular system, so heart rate and blood pressure increase, the arteries dilate,
causing blood pressure to fall again. Repeated short, strong contractions of the chest
muscles, diaphragm, and abdomen increase blood flow into our internal organs, and forced
respiration- the ha! ha!- makes sure that this blood is well oxygenated. Muscle tension
decreases, and indeed we may temporarily lose control of our limbs, as in the expression
"weak with laugher". It may also release brain endorphins, reducing sensitivity to pain and
boosting endurance and pleasurable sensations. Some studies suggest that laughter
affects the immune system by reducing the production of hormones associated with stress
and that when you laugh the immune system produces more T-cells. But no rigorously
controlled studies have confirmed these effects. Laughter's social role is definitely
important.
Today's children may be heading for a whole lot of social ills because their play and leisure
time is so isolated and they lose out on lots of chances for laughter. When children stare at
computer screens, rather than laughing with each other, this is at odds with what's natural
for them. Natural social behaviour in children is playful behaviour, and in such situations
laughter indicates that make-believe aggression is just fun, not for real, and this is an
important way in which children form positive emotional bonds, gain new social skills and
generally start to move from childhood to adulthood. I think parents need to be very careful
to ensure that their children play in groups, with both peers and adults, and laugh more.

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 DAY 25 PASSAGE - WORDLIST

kink /kɪ ŋk/ noun [ C ] HABIT

4. a strange habit
bond /bɒnd/ /bɑː nd/ verb [ I or T ] MAKE CONNECTION
2. to develop a close connection or strong relationship with someone
The aim was to bond the group into a closely-knit team.
occupy /ˈ ɒk.jʊ.paɪ / /ˈ ɑː .kjʊ-/ verb [ T ] TAKE CONTROL
3. (of an army or group of people) to move into and take control and/or possession of a
place
Troops quickly occupied the city.
release /rɪ ˈ liː s/ verb [ T ] MAKE FREE
1. to give freedom or free movement to someone or something
He was released from prison after serving two years of a five-year sentence.
juvenile /ˈ dʒuː .v ə n.aɪ l/ /-n ə l/ adjective
1. FORMAL OR LEGAL relating to a young person who is not yet old enough to be
considered an adult
juvenile crime/offenders
2. DISAPPROVING silly and typical of a child
juvenile behaviour
retract /rɪ ˈ trækt/ verb FORMAL
[ I or T ] to pull something back or in
The wheels retract after the aircraft takes off.
The cat retracted its claws.
evoke /ɪ ˈ vəʊk/ /-ˈ voʊk/ verb [ T ]
to make someone remember something or feel an emotion
That smell always evokes memories of my old school.
tickle /ˈ tɪ k.l ฀/ verb RUB SKIN
1. [ T ] to touch someone lightly with your fingers, making them slightly uncomfortable
and often making them laugh
Stop! You're tickling me!
exhale /eksˈ heɪ l/ /ˈ --/ verb [ I or T ] FORMAL
to send air out of your lungs
Take a deep breath in then exhale into the mouthpiece.
Compare inhale
exhalation /ˌ eks. h əˈ leɪ .ʃ ə n/ noun [ C or U ]
confrontation /ˌ kɒn.frʌnˈ teɪ .ʃ ə n/ /ˌ kɑː n.frən-/ noun [ C or U ]
a fight or argument
She actually enjoys confrontation, whereas I prefer a quiet life.
pant /pænt/ verb [ I ]
to breathe quickly and loudly through your mouth, usually because you have been doing
something very energetic
Matteo arrived at the top of the hill, panting and covered in sweat.
homologous /hə.mɒl.ə.gəs/ /hoʊˈ mɑː .lə-/ adjective
1. FORMAL having a similar position, structure, value or purpose
2. SPECIALIZED in biology, having the same origin although now having a different
purpose or shape as a result of evolution (= gradual change over millions of years)
The wing of a bat and the arm of a man are homologous structures.
adept /əˈ dept/ adjective
having a natural ability to do something that needs skill

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She's very adept at deal ing with the media.

dilate /daɪ ˈ leɪ t/ /ˈ --/ verb [ I or T ] MAINLY SPECIALIZED
to (cause a part of the body to) become wider or further open
The pupils of the eyes dilate as darkness increases.
boost /buː st/ verb [ T ]
to improve or increase something
The theatre managed to boost its audiences by cutting ticket prices.
endurance /ɪ nˈ djʊə.r ə n t s/ /-ˈ dʊr. ə n t s/ noun [ U ]
the ability to keep doing something difficult, unpleasant or painful for a long time
Running a marathon is a test of human endurance.
rigorous /ˈ rɪ g. ə r.əs/ /-ɚ-/ adjective STRICT
2. severe or strict
the rigorous controls governing the sale of shares
rigorously /ˈ rɪ g. ə r.ə.sli/ /-ɚ-/ adverb

Answers and explanation

here.Just scan the QR code:

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DAY 25
Questions 1 and 2
Which of the following claims and arguments are presented in the passage above?
Choose TWO following claims and arguments.

A All animals share the phenomenon of laughter

B Laughter can influence both adult and child health
C Laughter is not unique to humans
D Human mental, physical and social well-being are closely related
E Laughter teaches us how to behave

Questions 3-7
Do the following statements agree with the writer in Reading passage 2?
YES if the statement agrees with the writer
NO if the statement contradicts the writer
NOT GIVEN if there is no information about this in the passage

3 Laughter is one of the most common expressions shared by humans.

4 There are complicated systems in human brain take responsibility of our emotions as
happiness and fear.
5 Communication is the only purpose of laughter.
6 Reduced blood pressure would lead to a stimulated cardiovascular system.
7 With the mass production of T-cells from laughter, stress hormones would be deducted
from immune system.

Questions 8-13
Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer.

Emotional behaviour takes academic concerns. For years scientists have been examining
the origin of 8 …………………….. and laughter that comes from the same route as rats.
Within an open environment, they have been noticed to be 9 ………………………... When
they are alone, happier when they are back with the others.
Jack Panksepp even found that rats make 10 ……………….. when they are in a chaotic
state. It is well understood that humans are not only living species that laughs and laughter
may have developed long before 11 …………………… Despite such facts, we need to pay
attention when we explain various animal behaviour, as they may express with differed 12
…………………….and 13 ……………………………………

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