Jan test 1

How the mind ages

The way mental function changes is largely determined by three factors-mental lifestyle,
the impact of chronic disease and flexibility of the mind.
Experiments have shown that younger monkeys consistently outperform their older
colleagues on memory tests. Formerly, psychologists concluded that memory and other
mental functions in humans deteriorate over time because of changes in the brain. Thus
mental decline after young adulthood appeared inevitable. The truth, however, is not
quite so simple.
Stanley Rapoport at the National Institute of Health in the United States measured the
flow of blood in the brains of old and young people as they completed different tasks.
Since blood flow reflects neural activity. Rapoport could compare which networks of
neurons were the same, the neural networks they used were significantly different. The
older subjects used different internal strategies to accomplish comparable results at the
same time,'Rapoport says. At the Georgia Institute of Technology, psychologist Timothy
Salthouse compared a group of fast and accurate typists of college age with another group
in their 60s. Both groups typed 60 words a minute. The older typists, it turned out,
achieved their speed with cunning little strategies that made them more efficient than
their younger counterparts. They made fewer finger shifts, gaining a fraction of a second
here and there. They also read ahead in the test. The neural networks involved in typing
appear to have been reshaped to compensate for losses in motor skills or other age
changes.
In fact, there's evidence that deterioration in mental functions can actually be reversed.
Neuropsychologist Marion Diamond at the University of California has shown that
mental activity maks neurons sprout new dendrites* which establish connections with
other neurons. The dendrites shrink when the mind is idle. For example,'when a rat is
kept in isolation, the animal's brain shrinks, but if we put that rat with other rats in a large
cage and give them an assortment of toys, we can show, after four days, significant
differences in its brain.'says Diamond. After a month in the enriched surroundings, the
whole cerebral cortex has expanded, as has its blood supply.'But even in the enriched
surroundings, rats get bored unless the toys are varied. Animals are just like we are. They
need stimulation,'says Diamond. A busy mental lifestyle keeps the human mind fit, says
Warner Schaie of Penn State University. ‘People who regularly participate in challenging
tasks retain their intellectual abilities better than mental couch potatoes.'
In his studies, Schaie detected a decline in mental function among individuals who
underwent lengthy stays in hospital for chronic illness. He postulated it might be due to
the mental passivity encouraged by hospital routine.
One of the most profoundly important mental functions is memory. Memory exists in
more than one form, what we call knowledge- facts- is what psychologists such as Harry
Bahrick of Ohio Wesleyan University call semantic memory. Events, conversations and
occurrences in time and space, on the other hand, make up episodic memory. It's true that
episodic memory begins to decline when most people are in their 50s, but it's never
perfect at any age.
Probing the longevity of knowledge, Bahrick tested 1,000 high school graduates to see
how well they remembered the school subject algebra. Some had completed the course a
month before, other 50 years earlier. Surprisingly, he found that a person's grasp of
algebra did not depend on how long ago he'd taken the course. The determining factor
was the duration of instruction. Those who had spent only a few months learning algebra
forgot most of it within two or three years while others who had been instructed for
longer remembered better. According to Bahrick,'the long-term residue of knowledge
remains stable over the decades, independent of the age of the person and the memory.'
Perhaps even more important than the ability to remember is the ability to manage
memory- a mental function known as metamemory.'You could say metamemory is a
byproduct of going to school,'says psychologist Robert Kail of Purdue University,'The
question-and-answer process,especially exam taking, helps children learn and teaches
them how their memory functions.This may be one reason why the better educated a
person is, the more likely they are to perform well in many aspects of life and in
psychological assessments: A group of adult novice chess players were compared with a
group of child experts at the game. But when asked to remember the patterns of chess
pieces arranged on a board, the children won.' Because they'd played a lot of chess, their
knowledge of chess was better organized than that of the adults, and their existing
knowledge of chess served as a framework for new memory,'explains Kail. Cognitive
style, another factor in maintaining mental function, is what Schaie calls the ability to
adapt and roll with life's punches.'He measured mental flexibility with questions and tests
requiring people to carry out in an offbeat way an everyday activity they had done
millions of times. One example was asking people to copy a paragraph substituting
uppercase letters for lowercase ones. These tests seem silly, but flexible-minded people
manage to complete them,'says Schaie. The rigid person responds with tension instead
and performs poorly. Those who score highly on tests of cognition at an advanced age are
those who tested high in mental flexibility at middle age'.
On a more optimistic note, one mental resource that only improves with time is
specialized knowledge. Crystallised intelligence about one's occupation apparently does
not decline at all until at least age 75. Vocabulary is another such specialized form of
knowledge. Research clearly shows that vocabulary develops with time. Retired teachers
and journalists consistently score higher on tests of vocabulary and general information
than college students.
Questions 1-3
Choose the correct letter A, B, C or D.
Write the correct letter in boxes 1-3 on your answer sheet
1. What does the writer say about the performance of older typists on the test?
A They used different motor skills from younger typists.
B They had been more efficiently trained than younger typists.
C They used more time-saving techniques than younger typists.
D They had better concentration skills than younger typists.
2. The experiment with the rats showed that
A brain structure only changed when the rats were given a familiar toy
B the rats became anxious after a lengthy period of time alone
C the rats lived longer then they were part of a social group
D the rats'brains expanded or shrank depending on the level of mental activity
3. A comparison between adults and children who played chess showed that
A the children were as capable as the adults of remembering a series of numbers
B the children had better recall of the layout of pieces
C the adults stored memories of chess moves in a more logical manner
D the adults had clearer memories of chess games they had played
Questions 4-9
Complete the summary below.
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 4-9 on your answer sheet.
Psychologists distinguish between two different types of memory:
and memory. A study was conducted into people's knowledge of to
determine recall ability. This aspect of memory was found to be a function not of age but
rather of length of tuition.
School also helps with a brain function called . This is why a more highly
educated person is generally more successful and does better in tests.
Some of our mental functions remain unaffected by age or even improve. For example, as
we get older, our knowledge of increases.
Questions 10-13
Look at the following statements and the list of people below.
List of People

A Stanley Rapoport

B Marion Diamond

C Warner Schaie

D Harry Bahrick

E Robert Kail
Match each statement with the correct person, A-E.
Write the correct letter, A-E, in boxes 10-13 on your answer sheet.
10. The educational system makes students aware of how their memory works.
11. Although older people may use a different mental approach when
completing a task, they can still achieve the same result as younger people
12. Being open to new ways of doing things can have a positive impact on your
mental condition as we get older
13. Both animals and humans need to exist in an environment full of interest.

Ensuring our future food supply

Climate change and new diseases threaten the limited varieties of seeds we depend on for
food. Luckily, we still have many of the seeds used in the past-but we must take steps to
save them.
Six miles outside the town of Decorah, Iowa in the USA, an 890-acre stretch of rolling
fields and woods called Heritage Farm is letting its crops go to seed. Everything about
Heritage Farm is in stark contrast to the surrounding acres of intensively farmed fields of
corn and soybean that are typical of modern agriculture. Heritage Farm is devoted to
collecting rather than growing seeds. It is home to the Seed Savers Exchange, one of the
largest non government-owned seed banks in the United States.
In 1975 Diane Ott Whealy was given the seedlings of two plant varieties that her great
grandfather had brought to America from Bavaria in 1870: Grandpa Ott’s morning glory
and his German Pink tomato. Wanting to preserve similar traditional varieties, known as
heirloom plants, Diane and her husband, Kent, decided to establish a place where the
seeds of the past could be kept and traded. The exchange now has more than 13,000
members, and the many thousands of heirloom varieties they have donated are kept in its
walk-in coolers, freezers, and root cellars the seeds of many thousands of heirloom
varieties and, as you walk around an old red barn that is covered in Grandpa Ott’s
beautiful morning glory blossoms, you come across the different vegetables, herbs, and
flowers they have planted there.
"Each year our members list their seeds in this,"Diane Ott Whealy says, handing over a
copy of the Seed Savers Exchange 2010 Yearbook. It is as thick as a big-city telephone
directory, with page after page of exotic beans, garlic, potatoes, peppers, apples, pears,
and plums-each with its own name and personal history .For example, there’s an Estonian
Yellow Cherry tomato, which was brought to the seed bank by “an elderly Russian lady”
who lived in Tallinn, and a Persian Star garlic from “a bazaar in Samarkand.”There’s also
a bean donated by archaeologists searching for pygmy elephant fossils in New Mexico.
Heirloom vegetables have become fashionable in the United States and Europe over the
past decade, prized by a food movement that emphasizes eating locally and preserving
the flavor and uniqueness of heirloom varieties. Found mostly in farmers' markets and
boutique groceries, heirloom varieties have been squeezed out of supermarkets in favor
of modern single-variety fruits and vegetables bred to ship well and have a uniform
appearance, not to enhance flavor. But the movement to preserve heirloom varieties goes
way beyond the current interest in North America and Europe in tasty, locally grown
food. It’s also a campaign to protect the world’s future food supply.Most people in the
well-fed world give little thought to where their food comes from or how it’s grown.
They wander through well-stocked supermarkets without realizing that there may be
problem ahead.We’ve been hearing for some time about the loss of flora and fauna in our
rainforests.Very little,by contrast,is being said or done about the parallel decline in the
diversity of the foods we eat.
Food variety extinction is happening all over the world - and it's happening fast. In the
United States an estimated 90 percent of historic fruit and vegetable varieties are no
longer grown. Of the 7,000 different apple varieties that were grown in the 1800s, fewer
than a hundred remain. In the Philippines thousands of varieties of rice once thrived; now
only about a hundred are grown there. In China 90 percent of the wheat varieties
cultivated just a hundred years ago have disappeared. Experts estimate that in total we
have lost more than 50 percent of the world's food varieties over the past century.
Why is this a problem? Because if disease or future climate change affects one of the
handful of plants we've come to depend on to feed our growing planet, we might
desperately need one of those varieties we've let become extinct. The loss of the world's
cereal diversity is a particular cause for concern. A fungus called Ug99, which was first
identified in Uganda in 1999, is spreading across the world's wheat crops. From Uganda
it moved to Kenya, Ethiopia, Sudan, and Yemen. By 2007 it had jumped the Persian Gulf
into Iran. Scientists predict that the fungus will soon make its way into India and
Pakistan, then spread to Russia and China, and eventually the USA.
Roughly 90 percent of the world's wheat has no defense against this particular fungus. If
it reached the USA, an estimated one billion dollars' worth of crops would be at risk.
Scientists believe that in Asia and Africa alone, the portion currently in danger could
leave one billion people without their primary food source. A famine with significant
humanitarian consequences could follow, according to Rick Ward of Cornell University.
The population of the world is expected to reach nine billion by 2045. Some experts say
we’ll need to double our food production to keep up with this growth. Given the added
challenge of climate change and disease, it is becoming ever more urgent to find ways to
increase food yield. The world has become increasingly dependent upon a technology-
driven, one-size-fits-all approach to food supply. Yet the best hope for securing our
food's future may depend on our ability to preserve the locally cultivated foods of the
past.
Questions 14-20
Do the following statements agree with the views of the writer in Reading Passage? In
boxes 14-20 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

14. Heritage Farm is different from most other nearby farms.

15. Most nongovernment-owned seed banks are bigger than Seed Savers
Exchange.
16. Diane Ott Whealy's grandfather taught her a lot about seed varieties.
17. The seeds people give to the Seed Savers Exchange are stored outdoors.
18. Diane and her husband choose which heirloom seeds to grow on
Heritage Farm.
19. The seeds are listed in alphabetical order in The Seed Savers Exchange
Yearbook.
20. The Seed Savers Exchange Yearbook describes how each seed was
obtained.
Questions 21-26
Complete the notes below.
Choose ONE WORD AND/OR A NUMBER from the passage for each answer. Write
your answers in boxes 21-26 on your answer sheet.
The food we grow and eat
Supermarkets
sell fruit and vegetables that transport well
want fruit and vegetables to be standard in their
Public awareness
while people know about plants disappearing from very few know about the
decline in fruit and vegetable varieties
Extinction of food varieties
less than 100 of the types of once available in the USA are still grown
over of food varieties around the world have disappeared in the last 100 years
Current problems in food production
a particular fungus is attacking wheat in various countries
Rick Ward believes the threat to food supplies in Asia and Africa might lead to
a
Food production in the future
climate change and disease may put pressure on food production
twice the amount of food may be needed because of an increase in

The fluoridation controversy

The long-standing debate about whether to fluoridate our drinking water continues
Fluoridation is the addition of fluorine to public water supplies with the aim of reducing
tooth decay. The fluorine, when mixed with water, becomes fluoride and the desired
concentration of fluoride in public water is approximately one part per million, depending
on the regional temperature and hence the amount of water people are likely to drink.
Many studies, such as those by McClure in 1970 through to Burt in 1983, have shown
that when children drink fluoridated water, their average rate of tooth decay seems
greatly reduced. A typical figure claimed is 50 percent reduction. This apparently
enormous benefit for children's teeth is the major argument in favor of fluoridation.
Three main grounds for opposition to fluoridation have been expressed. First, opponents
claim the benefits are exaggerated or not established. Second, there are claims of health
risks to pans of the population, for example, allergic reactions. It is also accepted that
high levels of fluoride can cause discoloration of otherwise healthy teeth. Proponents do
not consider this to be a problem in such small concentrations, whereas opponents
disagree - especially because some people drink more water and obtain much more than
the standard 1 milligram of fluoride per day. Third, fluoridation is thought to be an
infringement on individual rights because it is compulsory medication of all members of
a community.
An understanding of the fluoridation issue has important implications. If, according to the
experts, fluoridation is unquestionably a beneficial and non-hazardous measure, then the
wisdom of allowing the public to vote on, and reject it must be questioned.
Almost all studies that have been done have assumed that the scientific aspects of the
controversy are unproblematic, and they have excluded science from sociological
examination. The traditional view is that science is a special kind of knowledge, which is
established through scientific methods and objectively applied by members of a scientific
community. However, in recent years there has been a major challenge to this picture by
a sociology of science that shows how scientific knowledge is socially negotiated, and
inevitably linked to the values of the relevant parties, both scientists and nonscientists.
These challengers do not see scientific knowledge as exempt from social inquiry.
Kuhn (1970) argued that scientific knowledge does not always develop as an orderly
process, but is characterized by periodic revolutions. in which the methods of study and
the assessment criteria change in a fragmented way. According to Kuhn, the shift from
one scientific way of thinking to another is not made solely on the basis of clear rules of
formal scientific practice, but can include social factors, though Kuhn has never
developed a full analysis of what these might be. Collins (1975) took this concept further
when he asserted that the outcome of experiments was not something whose meaning
could be immediately comprehended, but rather something for interpretation, discussion
between scientists, and reinterpretation in the light of other experiments.
One interpretation of this analysis of science is that traditional distinctions between facts
and theories, and between scientific knowledge and values, can no longer be justified.
Because social processes are involved at all stages of the creation, evaluation, and
establishing of scientific knowledge, social values may also be involved.
In the same way as many scientists who study fluoridation have overlooked social values,
sociologists have also downplayed an important part of the debate by ignoring the
number of eminent scientists who have questioned aspects of fluoridation. An example is
the study by Sutton in 1960, which analyzed the classic North American studies of the
effect of fluoridation on tooth decay, and found that each showed significant
methodological shortcomings. Sutton's detailed study throws doubt as to the extent of
reductions in tooth decay from fluoridation. Yet Sutton's book is not cited in a single
analysis of the fluoridation issue by any sociologist. In a situation of some scientific
uncertainty, differences in values are highlighted. A supporter of fluoridation might
argue. The evidence for the benefits of fluoridation is quite substantial, while the
evidence for harm is limited and dubious. I think the likely benefits outweigh the possible
dangers; hence I support fluoridation because it is the cheapest and easiest way to make
sure every child reaps the benefits. An opponent might argue, 'Though the evidence for
the benefits of fluoridation is substantial, there is some doubt about it. Since fluoridation
is not necessary for good teeth, we should forego the benefits if there is some slight
chance of harm. Some scientists claim that a small percentage of the population could be
harmed by fluoride. Therefore I oppose fluoridation of water supplies and favor the
voluntary use of fluoride tablets by those who want to take them.'
Both arguments consider the scientific evidence concerning fluoridation, but differ in
their assessments of the social benefits and costs. This difference is not between
rationality and irrationality but is a legitimate difference in values, for example, the
positive value placed on good teeth, the negative value placed on possible health risks,
and the social benefits or costs of compulsory or voluntary intake of fluorides.
From the sociological point of view, opposition to fluoridation is not necessarily
irrational. Rather, claims to rationality and to scientific authority are better seen as part of
a strategy to promote fluoridation than as incontrovertible statements of fact. Second,
social values are likely to be bound up in any decision about fluoridation, so this is not an
issue on which declarations by scientific experts ought to be considered the final word.
Questions 27-31
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D
Write the correct letter in boxes 1-5 on your answer sheet
27. The optimum amount of fluorine in fluoridated water is calculated partly according to
A how hot the area is.
B how warm the water is.
C how many dental problems there are in the community.
D how much fluorine the community chooses to have in its water.
28. One reason given by the writer for opposing fluoridation is that
A it may contribute to tooth decay
B it will be unacceptably expensive for the public.
C obligatory fluoridation takes away personal freedom.
D excessive fluoride could be added to the water by mistake.
29. The writer mentions Kuhn in order to
A provide a contrast with the view of Collins.
B support the rational nature of scientific inquiry.
C demonstrate that Kuhn did not argue his case adequately.
D show that science can be influenced by non-scientific considerations
30. What did Sutton's research discover about earlier studies in North America?
A There were failings in the way they were carried out.
B The scientists involved had achieved unique results.
C Proponents of fluoridation had not understood its long-term effects.
D Fluoridation had a greater effect on tooth decay than previously believed.
31. In the last paragraph, what does the writer say about scientists?
A They should reveal their true motivations.
B They should not decide the fluoridation policy.
C They are solely concerned with scientific truths.
D They cannot reach agreement on the fluoridation issue.
Questions 32-35
Do the following statements agree with the views of the writer in Reading Passage?
In boxes 32-35on your answer sheet, write
YES. if the statement agrees with the views of the writer

NO. if the statement contradicts the views of the writer

NOT GIVEN. if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this

32. Scientific knowledge should be kept separate from social values.

33. Many sociologists have disregarded the doubts that some scientists have
concerning fluoridation.
34. Sutton's findings have been given insufficient attention by scientists
outside of North America.
35. There are valid arguments on both sides of the fluoridation debate.
Questions 36-40
Complete each sentence with the correct en3ding. A-G. below. Write the correct letter.
A-G, in boxes 36-40 on your answer sheet.

10. The traditional view of science is that 36.

11. A sociological view of science argues that 37.
12. Collins is of the opinion that 38.
13. The writer suggests that a supporter of fluoridation may conclude that 39.
14. The writer suggests that an opponent of fluoridation may conclude that 40.
A the results of scientific research are not always understood at first
B if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
C people should be able to choose whether they want fluoride.
D there is insufficient proof to support a cautious approach.
E the serious damage fluoride causes far outweighs any positive effects.
F children are not the only ones who benefit from fluoridation.
G scientific knowledge is affected by the beliefs of everyone concerned.

Jan 2
Learning to Walk
These days the feet of a typical city dweller rarely encounter terrain any more uneven
than a crack in the pavement. While that may not seem like a problem, it turns out that by
flattening our urban environment we have put ourselves at risk of a surprising number of
chronic illnesses and disabilities. Fortunately, the commercial market has come to the
rescue with a choice of products. Research into the idea that flat floors could be
detrimental to our health was pioneered back in the late 1960s in Long Beach, California.
Podiatrist Charles Brantingham and physiologist Bruce Beekman were concerned with
the growing epidemic of high blood pressure, varicose veins and deep-vein thromboses
and reckoned they might be linked to the uniformity of the surfaces that we tend to stand
and walk on.
The trouble, they believed, was that walking continuously on flat floors, sidewalks and
streets concentrates forces on just a few areas of the foot. As a result, these surfaces are
likely to be far more conducive to chronic stress syndromes than natural surfaces, where
the foot meets the ground in a wide variety of orientations. They understood that the
anatomy of the foot parallels that of the human hand - each having 26 bones, 33 joints
and more than 100 muscles, tendons and ligaments - and that modern lifestyles waste all
this potential flexibility.
Brantingham and Beekman became convinced that the damage could be rectified by
making people wobble. To test their ideas, they got 65 factory workers to try standing on
a variable terrain floor - spongy mats with varying degrees of resistance across the
surface. This modest irregularity allowed the soles of the volunteers' feet to deviate
slightly from the horizontal each time they shifted position. As the researchers hoped, this
simple intervention made a huge difference, within a few weeks. Even if people were
wobbling slightly, it activated a host of muscles in their legs, which in turn helped pump
blood back to their hearts. The muscle action prevented the pooling of blood in their feet
and legs, reducing the stress on the heart and circulation. Yet decades later, the flooring
of the world's largest workplaces remains relentlessly smooth. Earlier this year, however,
the idea was revived when other researchers in the US announced findings from a similar
experiment with people over 60. John Fisher and colleagues at the Oregon Research
Institute in Eugene designed a mat intended to replicate the effect of walking on
cobblestones*.
In tests funded by the National Institute of Aging, they got some 50 adults to walk on the
toots in their bare feet for less than an hour, three times a week. After 16 weeks, these
people showed marked improvements in mobility, and even a significant reduction in
blood pressure. People in a control group who walked on ordinary floors also improved
but not as dramatically. The mats are now available for purchase and production is being
scaled up. Even so, demand could exceed supply if this footstimulating activity really is a
'useful nonpharmacological approach for preventing or controlling hypertension of older
adults, as the researchers believe. They are not alone in recognising the benefits of
cobblestones. Reflexologists have long advocated walking on textured surfaces to
stimulate so-called 'acupoints' on the soles of the feet. They believe that pressure applied
to particular spots on the foot connects directly to particular organs of the body and
somehow enhances their function. In China, spas, apartment blocks and even factories
promote their cobblestone paths as healthful amenities. Fisher admits he got the concept
from regular visits to the country. Here, city dwellers take daily walks along cobbled
paths for five or ten minutes, perhaps several times a day, to improve their health. The
idea is now taking off in Europe too.
People in Germany, Austria and Switzerland can now visit 'barefoot parks' and walk
along 'paths of the senses - with mud, logs, stone and moss underfoot. And it is not
difficult to construct your own path with simple everyday objects such as stones or
bamboo poles. But if none of these solutions appeal, there is another option. A new shoe
on the market claims to transform flat, hard, artificial surfaces into something like uneven
ground. 'These shoes have an unbelievable effect,' says Benno Nigg, an exercise scientist
at Calgary University in Canada.
Known as the Masai Barefoot Technology, the shoes have rounded soles that cause you
to rock slightly when you stand still, exercising the small muscles around the ankle that
are responsible for stability. Forces in the joint are reduced, putting less strain on the
system, Nigg claims.
Some of these options may not appeal to all consumers and there is a far simpler
alternative.
If the urban environment is detrimental to our health, then it is obvious where we should
turn. A weekend or even a few hours spent in the countryside could help alleviate a
sufferer's aches and pains, and would require only the spending of time.
However, for many modern citizens, the countryside is not as accessible as it once was
and is in fact a dwindling resource. Our concrete cities are growing at a terrifying rate -
perhaps at the same rate as our health problems.
Questions 1-5
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage?
In boxes 1-5 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. Brantingham and Beekman were the first researchers to investigate the

relationship between health problems and flat floors.
2. The subjects in Fisher's control group experienced a decline in their
physical condition.
3. The manufacturers are increasing the number of cobblestone mats they
are making.
4. Fisher based his ideas on what he saw during an overseas trip.
5. The Masai Barefoot Technology shoes are made to fit people of all ages.
Questions 6-8
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.
Write the correct letter in boxes 6-8 on your answer sheet.
6. The writer suggests that Brantingham and Beekman's findings were
A ignored by big companies.
B doubted by other researchers.
C applicable to a narrow range of people.
D surprising to them.
7. What claim is made by the designers of the cobblestone mats"?
A They need to be used continuously in order to have a lasting effect.
B They would be as beneficial to younger people as to older peopl
C They could be an effective alternative to medical intervention.
D Their effects may vary depending on individual users.
Questions 9-14
Complete the summary below.
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 9-14 on your answer sheet.
In their research, Brantingham and Beekman looked at the complex physical of
the foot and noted that the surfaces of modem environments restrict its movement. They
invented a mat which they tried out on factory workers. Whenever the workers walked on
it, the different levels of in the mat would encourage greater muscle action. In
turn, this lessened the effect of on the cardiovascular system.
Similar research was undertaken by John Fisher and colleagues in Oregon. As a result of
their findings, they decided to market cobblestone mats to the elderly as a means of
dealing with . Reflexologists claim that by manipulating specific parts of the
feet, the performance of certain will also improve. Finally, Benno Nigg at
Calgary University believes that specially shaped on shoes should give health
benefits.
Australian artist Margaret Preston
Margaret Preston's vibrant paintings and prints of Australian flowers, animals and
landscapes have delighted the Australian public since the early 1920s.
Margaret Preston was born Margaret Rose McPherson in Port Adelaide, South Australia
in 1875, the daughter of David McPherson, a Scottish marine engineer and his wife
Prudence Lyle. She and her sister were sent at first to a private school, but when family
circumstances changed, her mother took the girls to Sydney where Margaret attended a
public high school. She decided early in life to become an artist and took private art
lessons. In 1888, she trained for several months with Sydney landscape painter William
Lister, and in 1893 enrolled at the National Gallery of Victoria Art School, where she
studied for just over four years.
In 1898, after her father died, Margaret returned to Adelaide to study and then teach at
the Adelaide School of Design. Her early artwork was influenced by the German
aesthetic tradition, in which subjects of the natural world were depicted in a true to life
manner.
Margaret's first visit to Europe in 1904, and her studies in Paris, France had little impact
on this naturalism that dominated her work from this early period. However some eight
years later, after returning to Paris, she began to recognise the decorative possibilities of
art.
With the outbreak of the First World War, Margaret traveled to England, where she had
exhibitions and continued her studies of art. She was a student of pottery, but at some
time developed her interest in various techniques of printmaking and design. In England's
West Country, she taught basket weaving at a rehabilitation unit for servicemen. It was
on board a boat returning to Australia that she met wealthy businessman William Preston,
whom she married in 1919. Together Margaret and William settled in the Sydney
harbourside suburb of Mosman. The most characteristic prints from her early years in
Sydney are views of boats floating on Sydney Harbour and of houses clustered on
foreshore hills. Although Sydney was their home, the couple traveled regularly, both
overseas and within Australia.
Her first major showing in Australia was with her friend Thea Proctor, in exhibitions in
Melbourne and Sydney in 1925. Many of Preston's prints were hand-coloured in rich
scarlet reds, blues and greens, and all of them were set in Chinese red lacquer frames.
Harbour views were again prominent, but in comparison with earlier artworks, they were
compact and busy. using striking contrasts of black and white combined with elaborate
patterns and repetitions. Other prints from this period featured native flora. It was with
these still-life subjects that she convinced the public that Australian native flowers were
equal in beauty to any exotic species.
From 1932 to 1939, Preston moved away from Sydney and lived with her husband at
Berowra, on the upper reaches of the Hawkesbury River. The area was one of rugged
natural beauty, and for the first time Preston found herself living in a home surrounded
bush. Prior to this, the native flowers that featured in her paintings and prints had been
purchased from local florists; they now grew in abundance around her home. Preston's
prints became larger, less complex and less reliant on the use of bright colours. Flowers
were no longer arranged in vases, and Preston began to concentrate instead on flowers
that were growing wild.
While living at Berowra, and undoubtedly prompted by the Aboriginal' rock engravings
found near her property, Preston also developed what was to he a lifelong interest in
Aboriginal art. On returning to Sydney in 1939, she became a member of the
Anthropological Society of New South Wales, and later visited many important
Aboriginal sites throughout Australia. Preston believed that Aboriginal art provided the
key to establishing a national body of art that reflected the vast and ancient continent of
Australia.
During the 1940s, symbols used by Aboriginal people, together with dried, burnt colours
found in traditional Aboriginal paintings, became increasingly prominent in her prints.
The artist's titles from this period frequently acknowledge her sources, and reveal the
extent to which she drew inspiration from traditional Aboriginal art to create her own art.
It was in 1953, at the age of 78, that Preston produced her most significant prints. The
exhibition at Macquarie Galleries in Sydney included 29 prints made using the ancient
technique known as stenciling. Many of the artworks in the exhibition incorporated her
fusion of Aboriginal and Chinese concepts. Preston had admired Chinese art since 1915,
when she acquired the first of her many books on the subject, and she had visited China
on two occasions. Chinese elements may be found in several of her earlier paintings.
However, in her prints of the 1950s, Preston combined Chinese ideas with her
understanding of the Dreamtime' creation stories of Aboriginal Australians. Preston did
not let age alter her habit of working hard. As she got older, her love of painting,
printmaking and travel continued. By the time of her death in 1963, when she was 88, she
had produced over 400 paintings and prints. In a career spanning almost 60 years, she
created a body of work that demonstrates her extraordinary originality and the intensity
of her commitment to Australian art.
Questions 15-21
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage?
In boxes 15-21 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

15. Artists in the German aesthetic tradition portrayed nature realistically.

16. Margaret attended a famous art college in Paris.
17. Margaret met her husband William while teaching a craft at a
rehabilitation unit.
18. Margaret Preston and Thea Proctor explored similar themes in their art.
19. Margaret's 1925 artworks of Sydney Harbour were simpler than her
previous ones.
20. The colours in Margaret's Berowra prints were very bright.
21. When living in Berowra, Margaret painted flowers in their natural
location.
Questions 22-27
Complete the notes below.
Choose ONE WORD AND/OR A NUMBER from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 22-27 on your answer sheet.
Margaret Preston's later life
Aboriginal influence
interest in Aboriginal art was inspired by seeing rock engravings close to her
Berowra home
incorporated and colours from Aboriginal art in her own work often
referred to Aboriginal sources in the she gave her artworks
1953 exhibition
very old method of was used for some prints
was inspired by about Chinese art that she had started collecting in 1915
combination of Chinese and Aboriginal elements
Old age
still interested in and art
worked for nearly six decades making more than artworks
dedicated n to Australian art and the originality of her work is seen in Preston's
long career

Mind Music
Scientists investigate 'earworms', the music we can't get out of our head
A Ever had a song stuck in your head, playing on an endless loop? Scientists call them
'involuntary musical images', or 'earworms, and a wave of new research is shining light
on why they occur and what can be learned from them. Some neuroscientists and
cognitive psychologists are studying earworms to explore the mysteries of memory and
the part of the brain that is beyond our conscious control. The idea that we have full
control over our thought processes is an illusion,' says psychologist Lauren Stewart, who
founded the master's program in music, mind and brain at Goldsmiths, University of
London, UK, where recent research has taken place. Researchers haven't been able to
watch what happens in the brain when earworms occur, because they happen
unpredictably. Much of what is known about them comes from surveys, questionnaires,
diaries and lab experiments.
B A Goldsmiths study published in the journal Memory and Cognition this year showed
that the singing we hear in our heads tends to be true to actual recordings. Researchers
had 17 volunteers tap to the beat of any earworm they heard during a four-day period
while a device attached to their wrist recorded their movements. The tapping tempos
were within 10% of the tempos of the original recordings. Another Goldsmiths study,
published this year in Consciousness and Cognition, found that people who report
hearing earworms often, and find them most intrusive, have slightly different brain
structures, with more gray matter in areas associated with processing emotions.
C Studies also show that the music in our heads often starts playing during times of 'low
cognitive load', such as while showering, getting dressed, walking, or doing chores. Dr
Stewart likens earworms to 'sonic screen savers' that keep the mind entertained while it is
otherwise unoccupied. She and her colleagues tested that theory by having volunteers
listen to songs and giving them various tasks afterwards. The volunteers who sat idly for
the next five minutes were the most likely to report hearing the music m their heads. Dr
Stewart observed that the more challenging the activity, the less likely the volunteers
were to hear the music. Diary studies also show songs tend to match people's moods and
therefore they are not random. If you are energized and upbeat, an earworm that occurs is
likely to be uptempo too.
D Songs the brain fixates on are usually those it has been exposed to recently, surveys
show, which is why tunes getting heavy radio play frequently top the earworm charts.
Even tunes you may have heard but didn't pay attention to can worm their way into your
subconscious, says Ira Hyman, a psychologist at Western Washington University in
Bellingham, USA. In an unpublished study there, participants who listened to music
while doing other tasks were more likely to report that the songs returned as earworms
later on, compared with participants who simply listened.
E Some earworms are just fragments of a song that repeat like a broken record. So, when
the mind hits a part of a song it can't remember, it loops back rather than moving on. That
could make an earworm even more entrenched, Dr Hyman says. According to a theory
known as the Zeigarik effect, named for a Soviet psychologist, Bluma Zeigarnik,
unfinished thoughts and activities weigh on the mind more heavily than those that are
completed, although experiments exposing students to interrupted songs have yielded
mixed results.
F Researchers say they can't pinpoint a spot in the brain where earworms live. Imaging
studies by Andrea Halpern at Bucknell University, in Lewisburg, USA, have shown that
deliberately imagining music and actually listening to music activate many of the same
neurological networks. Dr Halpern's earlier studies showed that when subjects listened to
the first few notes of familiar music, areas in the right frontal and superior temporal
portions of the brain became activated, along with the supplementary motor area at the
top, which is typically involved in remembering sequences. When the same subjects
listened to unfamiliar music and were asked to recall it, there was activity in the left
frontal portions of the brain instead.
G One factor that makes some songs stick might be repetition. 'Repetition leads to
familiarity which leads to anticipation, which is satisfied by hearing the song,' says John
Seabrook, author of The Song Machine: Inside the Hit Factory, about how producers
pump pop songs full of aural "hooks', the punchy melodic phrases designed to target the
brain and leave it wanting more. The researchers are comparing the melodic structure of
100 often-mentioned songs with 100 similarly popular songs that weren't cited as
earworms, to assess the difference. Songs with earworm potential appear to share certain
features: a repeating pattern of ups and downs in pitch, and an irregular musical interval.
H The researchers plan next to test their results in reverse, and play ringtones from songs
of both the earworm and non earworm variety for volunteers several times a day to see
which ones get stuck. Drs Stewart and Halper are now working together to recruit survey
participants for a study looking at whether people at different stages of life experience
earworms differently. 'You can argue that older people might get them more often
because they know more songs,' Dr Halpern says. 'But the few responses we have so far
indicate that they have earworms less often. It could be that they don't play music as often
as younger people do.
Questions 28-31
The reading Passage has eight paragraphs, A-H.
Which paragraph contains the following information?
Write the correct letter, A-H, in boxes 28-31 on your answer sheet.
28. a description of the characteristics common to songs with earworms
29. a justitication for research into earworms
30. a description of the brain's reaction to known and unknown songs
31. details of proposed research into the frequency with which earworms occur
indifferent age groups
Questions 32-35
Complete the summary below.
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 32-35 on your answer sheet.
Researchers from Goldsmiths concluded that the music we imagine in our minds is quite
similar to recordings. They proved this by asking volunteers to record the rhythm of
music using a monitor on their . Further research has demonstrated that those
who hear earworms more frequently have brains that may deal with differently
from other people, Dr Stewart also believes that the brain is by earworms when
it is not focused on a task. In fact, a reduction in the occurrence of earworms was found
to be directly related to how the task was Interestingly, volunteers' diaries
revealed that the songs they heard inside their head reflected their moods, so the choice of
music is not accidental.
Questions 36-40
Look at the following statements and the list of researcher below.
Match each statement with the correct person, A, B, C or D.
Write the correct letter. A, B, C or D, in boxes 36-40 on your answer sheet.
NB You may use any letter more than once.
36. Some musicians create music that is intentionally memorable.
37. People are unable to completely regulate how they think.
38. We can remember songs without knowing that we have heard them.
39. Thinking about music has a similar effect on the brain to hearing music.
40. Earworms are more persistent when only a short section of the song is
constantly replayed.
List of Researchers
A Lauren Stewart
B Ira Hyman
C Andrea Haiper
D John Seabrook

Jan 3
Marketing And Mind Control
How marketing and advertising appeal to the associative nature of the brain
While there had been a long tradition of giving rings as a commitment to marry, the
custom of giving diamond engagement rings was in large part manufactured by one of the
most effective marketing campaigns in history . In the early 1900s, diamond sales were
declining, posing a serious problem for the company that essentially had control over the
diamond market. In 1938, this company hired an advertising agency. Which proposed
reshaping social attitudes toward diamonds? As well as magazines showing film stars
draped in diamonds, the agency arranged for movies to incorporate diamond engagement
rings into their plots. The campaign culminated with the slogan:' A diamond is forever.
At the time, the approach was unique. Rather than pushing a brand, the objective was to
promote diamonds as the symbol of everlasting love. This was achieved by exploiting the
associative nature of the brain: associating neurons! Activated by the concept of' love '
with neurons that encoded the concept of “diamonds. By 1941, diamond sales had
increased by 55 %.
Advertising comes in many forms, from blatant neon signs to subtly embedded products
in movies. In each case, the goal is to mould our habits, desires and opinions. Our visual
system is targeted by an avalanche of information on the internet, street posters, and
billboards and in movie theatres. Our auditory system submits to catchy radio jingles and
telemarketers. More surreptitiously, our olfactory system is targeted by variations of
vanilla and citrus perfumes aimed at enticing US to linger in a retail outlet. It is difficult
to measure how effective these campaigns are, but as in the ' A diamond is forever ’
campaign, they can be so successful that they change the fabric of our culture. In the case
of bottled water, we are swayed by advertising into paying for something that we can
obtain for free. Most people cannot distinguish bottled from tap water, much less between
brands of bottled water, which is why you rarely hear of a bottled water company
proposing a blind taste test.
So why is marketing such an effective mind - control technique? It is interesting to
consider whether other animals exhibit anything analogous to humans ' susceptibility to
advertising. If we provide a lab rat with two types of cereal, it will consume
approximately the same amount of each. However, if we put that rat with another rat that
spent its day eating just one type, when faced with a choice, our rat will now show a
preference for the same type as the other rat was eating. Psychologists call this ' socially
transmitted food preference ‘.
What many regard as the first documented examples of cultural learning in primates
started with a clever monkey that lived in a colony of Japanese monkeys on the island of
Koshima. She began taking her dirt - covered sweet potatoes to the river to wash them
before eating them. Upon seeing this, a few 11 other open - minded monkeys picked up
on the idea. Potato washing then spread from monkey to monkey and, over the course of
a few years, most monkeys were eating clean potatoes. Humans are clearly not the only
animals to engage in imitation and social learning.
Learning by observation can be an extraordinarily valuable brain feature, this is how we
learn to communicate and perform motor skills as well as deal with many everyday
problems. For example, a newcomer struggling to purchase tickets and navigate the
subway system in a foreign city may step back to learn from the people nearby. Humans
and other primates exhibit multiple forms of imitative learning and this is called cultural
transmission.
A component of advertising relies on the marketer's ability to tap into the brain’s
propensity for imitation. Anybody who has watched TV knows advertisements are
disproportionately populated with attractive, successful looking individuals. If we are
going to imitate someone, we are more inclined to imitate those who appear to be popular
and appealing.
Although not all researchers are convinced by the findings, a number of studies indicate
that some animals also imitate dominant members of their group. Primatologist Frans de
Waal provides anecdotal evidence of preferential imitation among chimpanzees. He noted
that in one particular group the dominant male was hurt and was limping as a result. Soon
unlikely if a non-dominant male had been injured.
Imitation is undoubtedly an invaluable ability, but often our propensity to imitate
generalises indiscriminately, leading to poor decisions. When athlete Dick Fosbury
revolutionised the high jump by jumping over the bar backward in 1968, imitators
obviously copied his jumping style, not his brand of sports shoes. However, today, sports
people appear in advertisements asking US to buy the laptops or sports drinks that they
promote. Rationally, we know these people's success did not depend on these products, so
it seems our propensity to purchase products relates more to neural programs that evolved
to encourage imitation of those further up the social ladder. Today , companies engage in
stealth marketing campaigns in which people are paid to frequent bars or websites to
covertly promote certain products , Companies also perform studies in which they track
the eye movements of people viewing displays , and carefully craft names , packages and
jingles associated with their products. While we may like to believe that manipulation on
a grand scale would not be possible, that's not to say that advertising is innately harmful.
To the contrary, the marketing of products or ideas is essential to human culture. The
point is that we should ensure our choices reflect our actual goals and desires, and we
must distinguish between the dissemination of information which is for our own good,
and our manipulation for the benefit of companies
Questions 1-5
Choose the correct letter, A, B, c or D.
Write the correct letter in boxes 1-5 on your answer sheet.
1. According to the writer, which marketing technique attempts to make consumers stay
in a shop for longer?
A playing appealing music
B emitting pleasant scents
C displaying attractive posters
D making in - store announcements
2. The writer mentions bottled water in order to show that
A consumers buy it because of the fact that it is marketed.
B people purchase it despite the fact that it has no taste.
C marketers need not do taste tests when a campaign is effective.
D tests prove that people cannot differentiate it from tap water.
3. According to the writer, socially transmitted food preference occurs when
A only dominant members of an animal group influence what others eat.
B the same types of animals naturally prefer the same types of food.
C animals are influenced by what any other animals of the same species eat.
D a food type is more desirable because an animal views that food as scarce.
4. According to the writer, how is learning by observation and imitation a useful feature
of the brain?
A it helps people overcome challenges.
B positive models can influence social behaviour.
C it can give an advantage when communicating with others.
D cultural norms and relationships can be understood more easily
5. According to the writer, how does television advertising exploit the human tendency to
imitate others ?
A It shows buying behaviour that marketers want to encourage in viewers.
B It features people who have a desirable image.
C It shows older people whom teenagers admire.
D It features successful people endorsing products responsible for their success.
Questions 6-10
Do the following statements agree with the claims of the writer in Reading Passage ?
In boxes 6-10 on your answer sheet, write
YES. if the statement agrees with the views of the writer

NO. if the statement contradicts the views of the writer

NOT GIVEN. if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this

6. The diamond campaign worked by making a connection in people's

minds between diamonds and luxury
7. People are more aware of visual marketing than auditory marketing.
8. The campaign advertising diamonds had a positive influence on society.
9. There is still some uncertainty about whether animals copy the behaviour
of the most powerful animals among them.
10. Consumers make a logical connection between celebrities '
achievements and the products they promote.
Questions 11-14
Complete each sentence with the correct ending , A - G , below
Write the correct letter, A - G , in boxes 37-40 on your answer sheet.
11. The behaviour of the monkeys on the island of Koshima showed that
12. Primatologist Frans de Waal found that
13. Dick Fosbury is mentioned in order to show that
14. A feature of some modern marketing campaigns is that
-People imitated behaviour that was linked with success .
-Younger animals of a certain species are more likely to imitate each other.
-An animal would imitate another that had higher status .
-Imitation of popular sportspeople has occurred for many decades .
-Products are marketed to potential consumers who are unaware that marketing is
occurring .
-Animals can develop new habits by observation.
-Incentives are provided for consumers who behave in a certain way.

Australian parrots and their adaptation to habitat change

A Parrots are found across the tropic and in all southern hemisphere continents except
Antarctica, but nowhere do the display such a richness of diversity and form as in
Australia. One- sixth of the world's 345 parrot species are found there, and Australia has
long been renowned for the number and variety of its parrots.
B In the 16th century, the German cartographer Mercator made a world map that
included a place, somewhere near present-day Australia, that he named Terra Psittacorum
- the Land of Parrots - and the first European settlers in Australia often referred to the
country as Parrot Land. In 1865, the celebrated British naturalist and wildlife artist John
Gould said: "No group of birds gives Australia so tropical and benign an air as the
numerous species of this great family by which it is tenanted.
C Parrots are descendants of an ancient line. Due to their great diversity, and since most
species inhabit Africa, Australia and South America, it seems almost certain that parrots
originated millions of years ago on the ancient southern continent of Gondwana, before it
broke up into the separate southern hemisphere continents we know today. Much of
Gondwana comprised vast rainforests intersected by huge slow-flowing rivers and
expansive lakes, but by eight million years ago, great changes were underway. The center
of the continent of Australia had begun to dry out, and the rainforests that once covered it
gradually contracted to the continental margins, where, to a limited extent, they still exist
today.
D The creatures that remained in those shrinking rainforests had to adapt to the drier
conditions or face extinction. Reacting to these desperate circumstances, the parrot
family, typically found in jungles in other parts of the world, has populated some of
Australia's harshest environments. The parrots spread from ancestral forests through
eucalypt woodlands to colonies the central deserts of Australia, and as a consequence
they diversified into a wide range of species with adaptations that reflect the many
changes animals and plants had to make to survive in these areas.
E These evolutionary pressures helped mould keratin, the substance from which breaks
are made into a range of tools capable of gathering the new food types favored by various
species of parrot. The size of a parrot's short, blunt beak and the length of that beak's do
curved upper section are related to the type of food each species eats. Some have
comparatively long beaks that are perfect for extracting seeds from fruit; others have
broader and stronger beaks that are designed for cracking hard seeds.
F Differently shaped beaks are not the only adaptations that have been made during the
developing relationship between parrots and their food plants. Like all of Australia's
many honey eating birds, the rainbow-coloured lorikeets and the flowers on which they
feed have long coevolved with features such as the shape and colour of the flowers
adapted to the bird's particular needs, and physical a example, red is the most I attractive
colour to birds, and thus flowers which depend on birds for pollination are more often
red, and lorikeets' to gues have bristles which help them to collect as much pollen as
possible.
G Today, most of Australia's parrots inhabit woodland and open forest, and their numbers
decline towards both deserts and wetter areas. The majority are nomadic to some degree,
moving around to take advantage of feeding and breeding places. Two of the dry country
parrots, the pink and grey galah and the pink, white and yellow corella have expanded
their ranges in recent years. They are among the species that have adapted well to the
changes brought about by European settlement forest telling created grasslands where
galahs and corellas thrive.
H But other parrot species did not fare so well when their environments were altered. The
clearing of large areas of rainforest is probably responsible for the disappearance of the
double-eyed fig parrot, and numbers of ground parrots declined when a great part of their
habitat was destroyed by the draining of coastal swamps. Even some parrot species that
benefited from forest clearing at first are now comforted by a shortage of nesting sites
due to further man-made changes.
I New conditions also sometimes favour an incoming species over one that originally
inhabited the area. For example, after farmers cleared large areas of forest on Kangaroo
Island off the coast of South Australia, the island was colonised by galahs. They were
soon going down holes and destroying black cockatoo eggs in order to take the hole for
their own use. Their success precipitated a partial collapse in the black cockatoo
population when the later lost the struggle for scarce nesting hollows.
J There may be no final answer to ensuring an equitable balance between parrot species.
Nest box programmers help ease the shortage of nesting sites in some places, but there
are not enough, they are expensive and they are not an adequate substitute by large, old
trees, such as the habitat they represent and nectar, pollen and seeds they provide.
Competition between parrots for nest sites is a result of the changes we humans have
made to the Earth. We are the most widespread and dangerous competitors that parrots
have ever had to face, but we also have the knowledge and skill to maintain the
wonderfully rich diversity of Australia's parrots. All we need is the wild to do so.
Questions 15-20
Reading Passage has ten paragraphs A-J
Which paragraph contains the following information?
Write the correct letter, A-J in boxes 15-20 on your answer sheet
1. An example of how one parrot species may survive at the expense of
another 15.
2. A description of how plants may adapt to attract birds 16.
3. Example of two parrot species which benefited from changes to the
environment 17.
4. How the varied Australian landscape resulted in a great variety of parrot
species 18.
5. A reason why most parrot species are native to the southern hemisphere 19.
6. An example of a parrot species which did not survive changes to its
habitat 20.
Questions 21-23
Choose the correct letter A, B, c, or D
Write the correct letter in boxes 21-23 on your answer sheet
21. The writer believes that most parrot species
A Move from Africa and South America to Australia
B Had ancestors in either Africa, Australia or South America
C Had ancestors in a continent which later split up
D Came from a continent now covered by water
22. What does the Writer say about parrot's beak?
A They are longer than those of other birds
B They are made of a unique material
C They are used more efficiently than those of other species
D They are specially adapted to suit the diet
23. Which of the following is NOT mentioned by the writer as a disadvantage of nesting
boxes?
A They cost too much
B They need to be maintained
C They provide only shelter, not food
D They are too few of them
Questions 24-27
Complete the summary below
Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER from the passage for
each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 24-27 on your answer sheet
There are 345 varieties of parrot in existence and, of these, live in Australia. As
early as the , the mapmaker recognized that parrots lived in that part
of the world. , the famous painter of animals and birds, commented on the size
and beauty of the Australian parrot family.

The importance of law

A The law influences all of us virtually all the time, it governs almost all aspects of our
behavior, and even what happens to us when we are no longer alive. It affects us from the
embryo onwards. It governs the air we breathe, the food and drink we consume, our
travel, family relationships, and our property. It applies at the bottom of the ocean and in
space.
Each time we examine a label on a food product, engage in work as an employee or
employer, travel on the roads, go to school to learn or to teach, stay in a hotel, borrow a
library book, create or dissolve a commercial company, play sports, or engage the
services of someone for anything from plumbing a sink to planning a city, we are in the
world of law.
B Law has also become much more widely recognised as the standard by which behavior
needs to be judged. A very telling development in recent history is the way in which the
idea of law has permeated all parts of social life. The universal standard of whether
something is socially tolerated is progressively becoming whether it is legal, rather than
something that has always been considered acceptable. In earlier times, most people were
illiterate.
Today, by contrast, a vast number of people can read, and it is becoming easier for people
to take an interest in law, and for the general population to help actually shape the law in
many countries. However, law is a versatile instrument that can be used equally well for
the improvement or the degradation of humanity.
C This, of course, puts law in a very significant position. In our rapidly developing world,
all sorts of skills and knowledge are valuable. Those people, for example, with
knowledge of computers, the internet, and communications technology are relied upon by
the rest of us.
There is now someone with IT skills or an IT help desk in every UK school, every
company, every hospital, every local and central government office. Without their
knowledge, many parts of commercial and social life today would seize up in minutes.
But legal understanding is just as vital and as universally needed. The American
comedian Jerry Seinfeld put it like this, 'We are all throwing the dice, playing the game,
moving our pieces around the board, but if there is a problem, the lawyer is the only
person who has read the inside of the top of the box.' In other words, the lawyer is the
only person who has read and made sense of the rules.
D The number of laws has never been greater. In the UK alone, about 35 new Acts of
Parliament are produced every year, thereby delivering thousands of new rules. The
legislative output of the British Parliament has more than doubled in recent times from
1,100 pages a year in the early 1970s,to over 2,500 pages a year today. Between 1997 and
2006,the legislature passed 365 Acts of Parliament and more than 32,000 legally binding
statutory instruments. In a system with so much law, lawyers do a great deal not just to
vindicate the rights of citizens and organizations but also to help develop the law through
legal arguments, some of which are adapted by judges to become laws. Law courts can
and do produce new law and revise old law, but they do so having heard the arguments of
lawyers.
E However, despite their important role in developing the rules, lawyers are not
universally admired. Anti-lawyer jokes have a long history going back to the ancient
Greeks.
More recently the son of a famous Hollywood actor was asked at his junior school what
his father did for a living, to which he replied,'My daddy is a movie actor, and sometimes
he plays the good guy, and sometimes he plays the lawyer. For balance, though, it Is
worth remembering that there are and have been many heroic and revered lawyers such
as the Roman philosopher and politician Cicero and Mahatma Gandi, the Indian
campaigner for independence.
F People sometimes make comments that characterise lawyers as professionals whose
concerns put personal reward above truth, or who gain financially from misfortune. There
are undoubtedly lawyers that would fit that bill, Just as there are some scientists,
Journalists and others In that category, But, In general, it is no more Just to say that
lawyers are bad because they make a living from people's problems than it is to make the
same accusation In respect of nurses or IT consultants, A great many lawyers are
involved in public law work, such as that Involving civil liberties, housing and other
Issues. Such work Is not lavishly remunerated and the quality of the service provided by
these lawyers relies on considerable professional dedication, Moreover, much legal work
has nothing to do with conflict or misfortune, but is primarily concerned with drafting
documents, Another source of social disaffection for lawyers, and disaffection for the
law, is a limited public understanding of how law works and how It could be changed.
Greater clarity about these issues, maybe as a result of better public relations, would
reduce many aspects of public dissatisfaction with the law.
Questions 34-35
Choose TWO letters, A-E.
Write the correct letters in boxes 7-8 on your answer sheet.
Which TWO of the following statements does the writer make about legal skills in
today's world?
A There should be a person with legal training in every hospital.
B Lawyers with experience in commercial law are the most in demand.
C Knowledge of the law is as important as having computer skills.
D Society could not function effectively without legal experts.
E Schools should teach students about the law.
Questions 36-40
Complete the summary below.
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 36-40 on your answer sheet.
Lawyers as professionals People sometimes say that 36…………….. is of little interest
to lawyers, who are more concerned with making money. This may well be the case with
some individuals, in the same way that some 37 …………….. . or scientific experts may
also be driven purely by financial greed. However, criticising lawyers because their work
is concerned with people's problems would be similar to attacking IT staff
or 38 …………….. for the same reason. In fact, many lawyers focus on questions
relating, for example, to housing or civil liberties, which requires them to
have 39 …………….. to their work. What's more, a lot of lawyers' time is spent
writing 40…………….. rather than dealing with people's misfortunes.