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READING PASSAGE 1
Answer Questions 1-16, which are based on Reading Passage 1.

An early cultural tourist

In the 15th century, the Italian merchant Cyriacus of Ancona journeyed in search of the
Mediterranean’s classical past. In doing so, he laid the groundwork for today’s cultural
holidays

Today we take it for granted that we travel around the world to admire the monuments
of the past. We prepare for such trips by reading about what we are going to see, set
out on the journey with a good idea of how we will get there and where we will stay and
have a sense of what we will encounter on location. Cyriacus of Ancona (1391-1452),
the first cultural tourist since antiquity, lacked these advantages when, in the first half of
the 15th century, he sailed around the Mediterranean in search of the remains of Greek
and Roman civilisations.

Cyriacus first became fascinated by ancient monuments while walking in his home city
Ancona and looking at the marble arch, erected in AD 115, to the Roman Emperor
Trajan. He suddenly saw the structure in a new light. He no longer saw it as just a
familiar and generally overlooked landmark, but as a doorway to the wonders of ancient
imperial Rome. Not many people of Cyriacus’s time were interested in historical travel,
they generally ignored old buildings and structures, or worse, dismantled them for their
building materials.

Cyriacus decided to see the world for himself and to record details of whatever other
antiquities remained to be discovered. His training as a merchant did not prepare him
for this vocation; he did not know ancient languages, history or art. However, he set out
to solve these failings, first by learning Latin at the age of 30 and then adding ancient
Greek. Having done this, he then set off on voyages around the Mediterranean to find,
investigate and understand ancient cultures from their buildings, sculptures and
inscriptions. Thus he became the first archaeologist and cultural tourist, predating
other antiquarians by some 200 years.

Travel in the 15th century, however, was anything but simple or enjoyable. Overland
journeys by foot or mule along bad roads, under constant threat from bandits, were bad;
voyages by seas were even worse. When the weather cooperated, sailing went
relatively smoothly, ships proceeded along coasts from one recognizable landmark to
another. However, when there was no wind the ship did not move. Strong winds were
no friends either, they drenched the ship with lashing waves and blew it off course.
Water swamped the desk, splashed into the cabins and soaked mattresses, clothes and
food. Remarkably, Cyriacus never complained about the miseries of travel. Optimistic
by nature, he endured such hardships unafraid and saw opportunities where other
people saw setbacks.

Among many of the important records made by Cyriacus was his crucial documenting,
in 1431, of the remains of Cyzicus, an ancient Roman city that had relied on commerce
for its financial success. He hired a local person to take him to site and then had to work
out for himself the significance of the ruins he was looking at because there was no
guidebook on ancient architecture to help him. Indeed, his contemporary knowledge
about the ruins. Cyzicus had been a splendid city in its prime. Unfortunately, the area
was highly seismic and in AD 123 the city was so devastated by a major earthquake
that, when the Roman Emperor Hadrian visited it the following year, he was so
saddened that he decided to subsidise a campaign to reconstruct Cyzicus. He made a
substantial donation for a new temple to the Roman go Jupiter. Cyriacus thought the
ruined city was awe-inspiring. He found the remains of the temple and examined it in
great detail, looking for clues in ancient texts to help him understand what he was
seeing. He sketched the great doorway adorned with carved foliage and mythological
characters. Cyriacu’s account of this temple is the only record of this building as in the
following centuries it was entirely stripped of all its stonework and all that remains is its
base.

Cyriacus also visited mainland Greece, in 1436, when no one went to Greece in order to
see the country’s ancient ruins. One of his destinations was the sanctuary of Delphi.
The ancient Greeks considered Delphi as being situated in the most beautiful spot in
Greece. When Cyriacus arrived at the site of Delphi, however, he found war,
earthquakes and avalanches had all but obliterated its ruins. Determined to find any
ancient traces, Cyriacus spent six days walking all over the areas, peering at odd stone
blocks sticking out of the ground, running his hands over inscriptions to trace fragments
of words, and trying to puzzle out the few surviving structural remains. Climbing uphill
towards the rocks that tower over the site, he came upon a theatre built into the slope.
Soon after his visit, the site was buried by a rockslide and was not seen again until
archaelogists began to excavate the area systematically in the late 19th century.

Cyriacus had hoped to visit Egypt and Ethipoia but he never got there. However, in his
life he did record for posterity countless ancient monuments around the Mediterranean,
paving the way for future archaelogists and cultural tourists.
Questions 1-8

Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1?

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. Cyriacus was unable to research his journeys before he left.

2. Cyriacus was inspired to begin travelling by a Roman ruin in his city.
3. The Roman Emperor Trajan built the city of Ancona
4. Respect for ancient architecture was widespread in the 15th century
5. Cyriacus’s experience as a merchant gave him skills he needed to investigate
the ancient world.
6. Before leaving on his journey, Cyriacus studied ancient languages.
7. Travelling by sea in the 15th century was easier than travelling on land.
8. Cyriacus tried to make his fellow sea travelers more comfortable
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.

Ancient Roman and Greek sites visited by Cyriacus

The city of Cyzicus

• The wealth of the city had come from 9.....................

• 10................... to the ancient city ruins was not available when visited by Cyriacus
• The city was destroyed by a powerful 11.................... in AD 123
• A year later Emperor Hadrian supported a 12………………….. to rebuild the city
• A temple to Jupiter was built – helped by an especially large
as 13 …………………… from Emperor Hadrian
• Cyriacus found part of the temple, which was built in the time of Emperor Hadrian,
and made drawings of the 14………………………… to the temple and its
decorative carvings

The sanctuary of Delphi

By the 15th century Delphi had almost disappeared due to natural disasters and
15………………..

Cyriacus found a 16……………………. Above Delphi

READING PASSAGE 2

Answer Questions17-32, which are based on Reading Passage 2

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 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.
Questions 17-22

Reading Passage 2 has seven sections, A-G.

Which section contains the following information?

Write the correct letter, A-G, in boxes 17-22 on your answer sheet.

NB You may use any letter more than once.

17 an example of am Aboriginal person who can identify many stars in the sky

18 a reference of an astronomical feature that predicts the movement of a particular

animal

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

20 an explanation of how the Aboriginal people viewed themselves as part of the

environment

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

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

Questions 23-28

Look at the following statements (Questions 23-28) 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 23-28 on your answer sheet.

NB You may use any letter more than once.

23 The way a star shines gives information about the weather.

24 An aboriginal person makes an instinctive connection between earth and sky.
25 Astronomy provides a guide for Aboriginals about the suitability of partners.
26 Astronomy helps aboriginal people make practical preparations for a change in
the weather
27 Current research may help aboriginal people today learn about what their
ancestors knew
28 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

Questions 29-32

Complete the summary below.

Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.

Write your answers in boxes 29-32 on your answer sheet.

The Emu in the Sky

‘The Emu in the Sky’ is a 29........................ on a rock in Ku-ring-gai Chase National

Park. This portrays an emu that appears to be sitting in odd way as its 30........................
are in an unusual position. However, when 31........................ 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 32........................ and that the
Aboriginal people see the sky as reflecting life on the land.
READING PASSAGE 3

Answer questions 33-46, which are based on Reading Passage 3

The Ingenuity gap

In this book introduction the author explains what he means by ‘ingenuity’ and
discusses the factors that influence the requirement for and provision of new ideas in
today’s society.

Ingenuity, as I define it here, consists not only of ideas for new technologies like
computers or drought-resistant crops but, more fundamentally, of ideas for better
institutions and social arrangements, like efficient markets and competent governments.

How much and what kinds of ingenuity a society requires depends on a range of factors,
including the society’s goals and the circumstances within which it must achieve those
goals – whether it has a young population or an ageing one, an abundance of natural
resources or a scarcity of them, an easy climate or a punishing one, whatever the case
may be.

How much and what kinds of ingenuity a society supplies also depends on many factors,
such as the nature of human inventiveness and understanding, the rewards an
economy gives to the producers of useful knowledge, and the strength of political
opposition to social and institutional reforms.

A good supply of the right kinds of ingenuity is essential, but it isn’t, of course, enough
by itself. We know that the creation of wealth, for example, depends not only on an
adequate supply of useful ideas but also on the availability of other, more conventional
factors of production, like capital and labor. Similarly, prosperity, stability and justice
usually depend on the resolution, or at least the containment, of major political struggles
over wealth and power.

The past century’s countless incremental changes in our societies around the planet, in
our technologies and our interactions with our surrounding natural environment, have
accumulated to create a qualitatively new world.

Because these changes have accumulated slowly, it’s often hard for us to recognize
how profound and sweeping they’ve been. They include far larger and denser
populations; much higher per capita consumption of natural resources; and far better
and more widely available technologies for the movement of people, materials, and
especially information.

In combination, these changes have sharply increased the density, intensity, and pace
of our interactions with each other; they have greatly increased the burden we place on
our natural environment; and they have helped shift power from national and
international institutions to individuals in subgroups, such as political special interests
and ethnic factions. The management of our relationship with the new world requires
immense and ever-increasing amounts of social and technical ingenuity.
When we enhance the performance of any system, from our cars to the planet’s
network of financial institutions, we tend to make it more complex. Many of the natural
systems critical to our well-being, like the global climate and the oceans, are
extraordinarily complex, to begin with. We often can’t predict or manage the behavior of
complex systems with much precision, because they are often very sensitive to the
smallest of changes and perturbations, and their behavior can flip from one mode to
another suddenly and dramatically. Over the last 100 years as the human-made and
natural systems we depend upon have become more complex, and as our demands on
them have increased, the institutions and technologies we use to manage them must
become more complex too, which further boosts our requirement for ingenuity.

However, we should not jump to the conclusion that the supply of ingenuity always
increases in lockstep with our ingenuity requirement: while it’s true that necessity is
often the mother of invention, we can’t always rely on the right kind of ingenuity
appearing when and where we need it. In many cases, the complexity and speed of
operation of today’s vital economic, social, and ecological systems exceed the human
brain’s grasp. Not many of us have more than a rudimentary understanding of how
these systems work. They remain fraught with countless “unknown unknowns,” which
makes it hard to supply the ingenuity we need to solve problems associated with these
systems.

In this book, I explore a wide range of other factors that will limit our ability to supply the
ingenuity required in the coming century. For example, the crush of information in our
everyday lives is shortening our attention span, limiting the time we have to reflect on
critical matters of public policy, and making policy arguments more superficial.

Modern markets and science are an important part of the story of how we supply
ingenuity. Markets are critically important because they give entrepreneurs an incentive
to produce knowledge. As for science, although it seems to face no theoretical limits, at
least in the foreseeable future, practical constraints often slow its progress. The cost of
scientific research tends to increase as it delves deeper into nature.

And science’s rate of advance depends on the characteristics of the natural phenomena
it investigates, simply because some phenomena are intrinsically harder to understand
than others, so the production of useful new knowledge in these areas can be very slow.

Consequently, there is often a critical time lag between the recognition between a
problem and the delivery of sufficient ingenuity, in the form of technologies, to solve that
problem. Progress in the social sciences is especially slow, for reasons we don’t yet
fully understand; but we desperately need better social scientific knowledge to build the
sophisticated institutions today’s world demands.
Questions 33-36

Complete each sentence with the correct ending, A-F, below

Write the correct letter, A-F, in boxes 33-36 on your answer sheet.

33 The author’s definition of ingenuity

34 The type of ingenuity required by a society
35 The creation of wealth
36 The stability of a society

A does not depend on ingenuity alone.

B depends on the successful management of certain disputes.
C has often been misunderstood.
D is not limited to the creation of new inventions.
E frequently increases in accordance with the material successes
achieved.
F is linked to factors such as the weather.

Questions 37-39

Choose the correct letter, A,B, C or D.

Write the correct letter in boxes 37-39 on your answer sheet.

37 What point does the author make about the incremental changes of the last
century?

A Their effect on the environment has been positive.

B They have not affected all parts of the world.
C Their significance may not be noticed.
D They have had less impact than those of previous centuries.

38 According to the author, one effect of the combined changes is that life has
become

A easier.
B faster.
C more interesting
D more enjoyable.

39 What observation does the author make about complex natural systems?

A They can be greatly affected by minor alterations.

B They cannot be compared to human-made systems.
C Their performance cannot be improved by human intervention.
D Their behavior is better understood than ever before.
Questions 40-46

Do the following statements agree with the views of the writer in Reading Passage 3?

In boxes 40-46 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

40 Changes in the last 100 years have increased the need for human ingenuity.
41 The amount of ingenuity available is strictly related to the demand which exists
for it.
42 Although ingenuity may be available, it may be inappropriate for the tasks that
need solutions at the time.
43 Few people today truly understand the way the modern world works.
44 Access to more and more information is improving our grasp of current affairs.
45 Future generations will be critical of the way today’s governments have
conducted themselves
46 It is inevitable that some areas of scientific study advance more quickly than
others.