MUET WRITING

6 The expression ….but I’m going kayaking (line 29) implies that people are
moving away from communal to individual sports.
A. True
B. False
C. Not stated

7 The writer prefers the current trend in sports participation.
A. True
B. False
C. Not stated

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Questions 8 to 14 are based on the following passage.

1 Pepsi and Starbucks share a problem. The second biggest maker of cola and the
world’s largest chain of coffee shops are both worried about how customers
perceive their brands. “Pepsi has always been about ‘experience’, says a

marketing executive. The trouble is that consumers are increasingly experiencing

healthier soft drinks and bottled water, rather than sugary cola. Starbucks, 5

meanwhile, may have expanded too quickly, which is why Howard Schulz, its
chairman, worries that the ‘Starbucks experience’ is under threat.

2 In an internal memo sent to senior Starbucks executives, which was leaked

onto the Internet, Schulz says that the expression from 1000 to more than 13 000

shops over the past ten years has led to a watering down of the Starbucks 10
experience and to what some might call the ‘commoditisation of the brand’. One
result, says Schulz, is that some people find its stores “sterile, cookie-cutter, no
longer reflecting the passion our partners feel about coffee.”

3 Starbucks and Pepsi rank among the 50 most valuable brands in the world,
according to Brandz, a market research company. Both have prospered by 15
exploiting their strong brands to sell what are really commodities – coffee and
cola – at premium prices. A cup of coffee costs about three times more at

Starbucks than at an ordinary coffee shop and Pepsi sells for 60% to 70% more
per litre than supermarkets’ own-label cola. Now both companies are at risk from

a growing sense that their products are indeed just commodities, says Passikoff, 20

founder of Brand Keys, a brand consultancy.

4 In his memo, Schulz suggests that the company needs to go back to its roots.
From its beginnings in the 1970s, Starbucks set out to be a ‘third place’ to spend
time, in addition to home and work. The smell of fresh coffee beans is supposed
to waft through brightly lit cafes fitted with tables and comfortable chairs. 25
Electrical plugs let customers recharge their portable music-players or laptop
computers. Most Starbucks in America, and in some other countries, provide
wireless Internet access.

5 But during its expansion, Starbucks installed automatic espresso machines

rather than hand-pulled ones, added drive-through windows for motorists and 30
started to sell hot food, mugs and even CDs. As McDonald’s, Dunkin Donuts and

other fast-food chains moved up-market, Starbucks looked less distinctive.

Consumer Reports, an American magazine that publishes reviews of consumer
products, recently rated McDonald’s coffee more highly than that sold at

Starbucks. 35

6 Pepsi’s problem is that it is a big brand in a shrinking market. Sales of
carbonated soft drinks declined from 10.24 billion cases in 2004 to 10.18 billion
cases in 2005, according to Beverage Marketing, a research company. The main
reason for the decline is growing concern about obesity. Last month, Pepsi
launched a global restyling of its Pepsi cans, with a series of 35 new designs with 40
themes such as music, sports or fashion. The globe logo and the lettering on the

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cans will remain the same, but a new theme will make its debut every few weeks. 45

Each one has its own website with video clips and other enticements to engage
consumers. The aim is to represent the ‘fun, optimistic and youthful’ spirit of
Pepsi, says the firm. “It’s a facelift, but I am not sure whether it will make such
difference to margins,” says Robert Van Brugge, a beverage analyst at Stanford
Bernstein. Passikoff says changing the packaging is a tired brand’s last refuge.

7 During its 109-year history, Pepsi has undergone many re-brandings, but

none on this scale. By next year, the current red, blue and white Pepsi containers

would have disappeared from the shelves. The company instead promises a 50
‘sustained discovery’ for people of all ages and –not surprisingly – a new
‘experience’.

(Adapted from The Economist, March 3, 2007)

8 Pepsi and Starbucks are worried that their brands are losing their
distinctiveness.

A. True
B. False
C. Not stated

9 The rapid expansion of Starbucks has led to a loss of revenue.

A. True
B. False
C. Not stated

10 Pepsi and Starbucks are losing their customers mainly because pf their high
prices.

A. True
B. False
C. Not stated

11 The main point of paragraph 4 is to

A. describe the original set-up of Starbucks.
B. compare the atmosphere of Starbucks and the home.
C. recommend that Starbucks returns to its original business strategies.

12 ……fast-food chains moved up-market (line 32) means that

A. their products have become more expensive and appealing to the rich
B. they have expanded their range of products
C. they have relocated to exclusive areas

13 Robert Van Brugge and Passikoff ___________ about Pepsi’s rebranding
efforts.

A. worried
B. doubtful
C. enthusiastic

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14 Pepsi’s profits have dropped because

A. Pepsi is considered old fashioned.
B. too much was spent on advertising.
C. consumers have become more health conscious.

Questions 15 to 21 are based on the following passage.

1 Big, bad carbon dioxide (CO2) gets most of the attention when it comes to
greenhouse gases, but it is not the only one that is warming the earth. Methane
– a gas that is found in everything from landfills to cow stomachs also plays a big
role. Although global methane-emissions levels are much lower than CO2
emissions, pound for pound methane is a more powerful greenhouse gas; a ton 5
of it has 23 times the warming effect of a CO2. And methane, like CO2 is on the
rise, thanks to us: about 60% of global methane emissions come from man-made
sources, and the atmospheric concentration of methane has increased by around
150% since 1950, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Now there is new focus on a pair of methane sources that we usually do not think 10
of as natural polluters: wetlands and rice paddies.

2 Separating the factors that contribute to climate change from the things that
help reverse it is not always easy because sometimes they are one and the same.
Trees sop up CO2, for example, but when they die and decay, they release it
back into the air. Wetlands and rice paddies serve a similar dual role for both 15
CO2 and methane, acting as sources and sinks simultaneously. The challenge
has been trying to tease out how those two functions balance out, but a new
paper in the January 14 issue of Science has provided some hard numbers.
Using satellite data, investigators determined that wetlands contribute from 53%
to 58% of global methane emissions and that rice paddies are responsible for 20
more than a quarter of that output. The study could help make climate-change
models more accurate, and help scientists understand whether increasing
temperatures will lead to even higher methane emissions in the future. “It’s all
about more accurately describing climate in these models,” says Paul Palmer, a
geoscientist at the University of Edinburgh and co-author of the Science paper. 25

3 There has been a steady increase in wetlands methane emissions from 003
and 2007 – and most of that increase was due to wetlands in the temperate
regions north or south of the tropics. Moreover, emissions from Arctic wetlands –
they do exist – were increasing fastest of all, up more than 30% between 2003
and 2007. That could be due to overall warming. “Most climate models say the 30
surface is going to warm at higher latitudes, and this is going to have serious
implications for emissions from wetlands,” says Palmer.

4 Indeed, many scientists worry that we could reach a tipping point at which
warming could begin to melt the Arctic permafrost and unleash masses of buried
methane – which would them further warm the atmosphere, releasing more 35
methane and continuing in a dangerous feedback cycle. But if we are going to
prevent that from happening, we are going to have to find a way other than

99

reducing methane emissions from wetlands. Global food requirements mean that 40
we cannot cut back seriously on rice paddy cultivation, and wetlands are far too
important to the environment as groundwater filters and buffers against coastal
floods. “I just don’t see any way to control methane emissions from wetlands,”
says Palmer. Instead, we will need to focus on methane emissions from man-
made sources – like landfills or natural gas drilling – and cut what is still
greenhouse gas number 1:CO2

(Adapted from http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1953751,00.html)

15 In paragraph 1, the writer says that methane is

A. a stronger greenhouse gas than CO2
B. more to be blamed than CO2 for global warming
C. not usually identified as an agent in global warming

16 It is difficult to control global warming because

A. wetlands and paddy fields release both methane and CO2 at the same
time

B. the sources of methane and CO2 are themselves beneficial to the
environment

C. of the inability to balance advantages against disadvantages of methane
and CO2

17 The comment they do exist ( line 29 ) conveys a sense of

A. disbelief
B. certainty
C. disappointment

18 ………and this is going to have serious implications ……(lines 31 and 32).
This refers to

A. overall warming
B. warming at higher latitudes
C. methane emission from the Arctic wetlands

19 ……a tipping point ( line 33 ) means

A. a crucial moment that will trigger a serious reaction
B. a position that is considered to be uncertain
C. a stage at which conditions start to improve

20 Man-made sources of methane

A. will cause more harmful effects than natural sources
B. are the fastest-rising sources of polluters today
C. are easier to control than natural sources

100

21 Which of the following are mentioned in paragraph 4?

I Controlling CO2 is the best way to reduce global warming.
II The possibility of controlling methane from natural sources is slim.
III Coastal floods worsen methane emission in the paddy fields and wetlands.

A. I and II
B. I and III
C. II and III

Questions 22 to 29 are based on the following passage.

1 It has not been easy to find a bright spot in the global economy for a couple of
years now. But in the last few months, economists, consultants, and other
business types have begun to track the rise of a new emerging market, one that
may end up being the largest and most powerful of all: women.

2 According to a new study by the Boston Consulting Group, women are now 5

poised to drive the post-recession world economy, thanks to an estimated $5

trillion in new female-earned income that will be coming on line over the next five

years. Worldwide, total income for men ($23.4 trillion) is still more than double

that for women ($10.5 trillion), but the gap is poised to shrink significantly because

the vast majority of new income growth over the next few years will go to women, 10

due to a narrowing wage gap and rising female employment. That means women
will be the ones driving the shopping – and, economists hope, the recovery. That
growth represents the biggest emerging market in the history of the planet – more

than twice the size of the two hottest developing markets, India and China,

combined. 15

3 It is seismic stuff, the impact of the shift will be broad and deep. A report by
Goldman Sachs entitled “The Power of the Purse” proclaims women the

economic engine of the future, nothing that future spending by women, which 20
tends to focus more on health, education, and children’s well-being, “should
support the development of human capital” to a greater extent than spending by
men, thus “fuelling economic growth in the years ahead.” At the same time, the

report notes, economic growth continues to bolster gender equality, a virtuous

circle that has already had massive impacts on the status of women around the

world.

4 While most of us know intuitively that women’s place in the world has risen in 25
the last several decades, a look at the hard data is startling, in a good way. Huge
improvements in female access to education around the world mean that the
literacy rates for young women, which used to trail those of men by 30 per cent
or more, are now almost universally within a single digit of men’s. Labour-force
participation, already high in rich countries, has jumped exponentially in large 30
swaths of the developing world over the last few years; 70 per cent of women in
countries like China and Vietnam now work. Health has improved dramatically,

101

and fertility rates have dropped. Around the world, nations are changing laws to 35
give women more equal standing in areas like property, inheritance, and divorce
rights. In many cases, technology and globalisation have played an important role
in changing attitudes. A 2007 study by the National Bureau of Economic
Research on rural India found that within six to seven months of getting cable TV,
men and women alike had become more open to the idea of women’s autonomy,
and more accepting of female participation in household decision making.

5 In fact, women already make the majority of the world’s purchasing 40
decisions. Boston Consulting Group estimates that women control some $12
trillion of the world’s $18.4 trillion in annual consumer spending, and that
percentage will likely rise as a new upwardly mobile class of young female
professionals overtake their male peers in wealth and status. In developed
countries, there is already an elite cadre of urban women who are more powerful 45
than their male counterparts.

6 Higher female earners in the developed world, coupled with growing female
employment participation in poorer countries, is the reason that women’s earned
income is growing at 8.1 per cent versus 5.8 per cent for men. The financial crisis
has widened this gap, by hitting male job hardest. Some 80 per cent of job losses 50
in the U.S during the downturn have fallen men, in part because male-dominated
areas like manufacturing and financial services have been gutted during the
recession.

7 The rise of women as a grand, cross-border emerging market could have
implications as profound as the rise of India and China. There is a wide body of 55
research to suggest that women’s spending patterns may be exactly what the
world needs at this moment.

(Adapted from Newsweek, September 21, 2009)

22 The purchasing power of women is higher because

A. more women now work than men
B. women now earn almost as much as men
C. women now own more property than men

23 Why does the writer compare women to India and China?

A. To highlight potential impact
B. To emphasise the large numbers
C. To reflect the recent emergence of power

24 The word seismic ( line 16 ) can be best replaced by

A. nerve wrecking
B. earth shattering
C. groundbreaking

102

25 The spending power of women should support the development of human
capital (lines 19 and 20). This means that
A. women’s pattern of expenditure generates development of manpower
B. employment will be increased because of women’s demand for goods
C. there will be greater employment opportunities for women

26 The writer mentions 2007 study ( line 36 ) to highlight the fact that
A. technology has resulted in a more liberal attitude towards women
B. cable TV has influenced the attitudes of both men and women
C. globalisation has opened up more opportunities for women

27 In paragraph 4, the writer develops his idea mainly through
A. comparison and contrast
B. listing and elaboration
C. cause and effect

28 Which of the following statements is true of paragraph 6?
A. Women’s income is growing at a faster rate than men’s.
B. In developed countries, women earn more than men.
C. 80 per cent of men lost their jobs during recession.

29 The writer’s attitude towards the rise of women is
A. neutral
B. positive
C. ambiguous

103

Questions 30 to 37 are based on the following passage.

1 And here I thought my Botoxed friends were happy, mellow, and sweet tempered

because a couple of injections of a neurotoxin had eliminated their frown lines,
knocked years off their apparent age, and made them no longer look “tired and
unapproachable,” as the company’s website cheerfully puts it. But no! According

to an amusing little study, by paralysing the frown muscles that ordinarily are 5

engaged when we feel angry, Botox short-circuits the emotion itself.

2 It is a version of the classic finding in psychology that facial expressions can
produce the very emotion they usually reflect. Called the facial feedback
hypothesis, it implies that forcing your lips and cheeks into a smile can make you
feel happy and scowling can make you feel annoyed, at least a little. Building on 10
that research, graduate student David Havas, of the University of Wisconsin-
Madison decided to study people who had received Botox treatments that
paralysed one pair of their corrugator muscles, which can cause the forehead to
constrict into a frown. The idea is to see whether the treatment affected their
ability to feel certain emotions. We already know that Botox affect the ability to 15
convey emotions such as anger, and a 2006 study found that it might even
alleviate depression, presumably by the same mechanism: block the facial
expression of sadness, prevent the related emotion.

3 Havas found an even deeper effect. He had 40 volunteers, who were

planning to be Botoxed in two weeks, to read statements with particular emotions: 20
angry (“the pushy telemarketer won’t let you run to your dinner”), sad (“you open
your e-mail inbox on your birthday to find no new e-mails”), or happy (“the water
park is refreshing on a hot summer day”). After reading each sentence, the

volunteers pushed a button to indicate they had understood it. Then, two weeks

after their Botox injections, they repeated the exercise, reading and 25

understanding another list of emotion-producing sentences.

4 The volunteers pressed the “I’ve read and understood this” button just as
quickly when the sentence conveyed something happy. But when it conveyed
something infuriating or unhappy, people took longer to read and understand it.
The emotions just did not compute as easily as before their sadness and anger 30
muscles were paralysed.

5 This is the first study suggesting that Botox affects the ability to understand
and emotional content of language. “Normally, the brain would be sending signals

to the periphery to frown, and the extent of the frown would be sent back to the
brain,” UW-Madison Professor Emeritus of psychology, Arthur Glenberg (and 35
Havas’ adviser) said in a statement. “But here, that loop is disrupted, and the

intensity of the emotion and of our ability to understand it when embodied in 40
language is disrupted.” Even though the temporal delay is less than a second,
says Glenberg, “in conversation, people respond to fast, subtle cues about each
other’s understanding, intention, and empathy. If you are slightly slower reacting

as I tell you about something that made me really angry, that could signal to me

104

that you did not pick up my message.”

6 The research is part of a burgeoning field called “embodied cognition” which
posits that all our cognitive processes are rooted in, and reflected in the body.
Research in embodied cognition has shown that people pitch forward when they 45
talk about events in the future, for instance, but lean back when they discuss the
past. When they hold a mug of hot coffee, they judge people as warmer and
friendlier than when they clutch an iced latte. When they ponder their moral
transgressions, they have an urge to wash. Other researchers have also reported
that figurative or literal connection between all things dirty can be amazingly 50
specific. When volunteers left an unethical message on someone’s voice mail
(telling a lie, making a threat), they have an urge to wash out their mouth, but
when they sent the same message by e-mail (using their hands to type), they
wanted to wash their hands.

7 The body, it is clear, is no more bystander in our thoughts and emotions. At 55
least before Botox.

(Adapted from Newsweek, February 8, 2010)

30 But no! ( line 4 ) demonstrates the author’s feeling of

A. relief
B. regret
C. surprise
D. disappointment

31 Which of the following illustrates short-circuits the emotion (line 6)?

A. Knocked years off their apparent age (line 3)
B. Paralysing the frown muscles (line 5)
C. Cause the forehead to constrict into a frown (lines 13 and 14)
D. Block the facial expression of sadness (lines 17 and 18)

32 Hava’s study found that

A. Botox mars the users’ ability to feel sad
B. Botox does not affect the users’ emotions
C. Botox enhances the users’ feelings of happiness
D. Botox users respond faster to sadness than happiness

33 What is one consequence when that loop is disrupted….(line 36)

A. An inability to react to cues
B. A delayed response to anger
C. An inability to understand messages
D. A difficulty in conveying intense emotion

105

34 What is the significance of Havas’ study?
A. It warns Botox users against its use.
B. The findings support Arthur Glenberg’s study.
C. It contributes to the field of embodied cognition.
D. It leads to more investigations on the purpose of Botox.

35 Which of the following is an example of embodied cognition (line 43)?
A. Sitting upright when telling a lie
B. Washing one’s face after a quarrel
C. Washing one’s hands after shoplifting
D. Leaning comfortably in a chair when telling a lie

36 According to the passage, Botox does not
A. relieve the user’s depression
B. make the user unable to frown
C. affect the user’s expression of feelings
D. cause the user to become insensitive to others

37 The writer concludes that
A. Botox is harmful to the body
B. Botox disrupts our thoughts and emotions
C. there is interrelatedness of body, mind and feeling
D. there is connection between our emotions and our intellect

106

Questions 38 to 45 are based on the following passage.

1 For as long as most people can remember, food has been getting cheaper and
farming has been in decline. Food today is so cheap that the West is battling
gluttony even as it scrapes piles of half-eaten leftovers into the bin.

2 That is why this year’s price rise has been so extraordinary. Since the
spring, wheat prices have doubled and almost every crop under the sun – maize, 5
milk, oilseeds, you name it – is at or near a peak in nominal terms. The
Economist’s food-price index is higher today than at any time since it was
created in 1845. Prices have jumped by 75 per cent since 2005. No doubt
farmers will meet higher prices with investment and more production, but dearer
food is likely to persist for years. That is because “agflation” is under-pinned by 10
long-running changes in diet that accompany the growing wealth of emerging
economies – the Chinese consumer who ate 20 kg of meat in 1985 will consume
over 50kg of the stuff this year. That in turn pushes up demand for grain: it takes
8 kg of grain to produce 1 kg of beef.

3 But the rise in prices is also the self-inflicted result of America’s reckless 15
ethanol subsidies. This year biofuels will take a third of America’s (record) maize
harvest. That affects food markets directly: fill up an SUV’s fuel tank with ethanol
and you have used enough maize to feed a person for a year. And it affects
them indirectly, as farmers switch to maize from other crops. The 30 million
tonnes of extra maize going to ethanol this year amounts to half the fall in the 20
world’s overall grain stocks.

4 Dearer food has the capacity to do enormous good and enormous harm. It
will hurt urban consumers, especially in poor countries, by increasing the price
of what is already the most expensive item in their household budgets. It will
benefit farmers and agricultural communities by increasing the rewards of their 25
labour, in many poor rural places it will boost the most important source of jobs
and economic growth.

5 Although the cost of food is determined by fundamental patterns of demand
and supply, the balance between good and ill also depends in part on
governments. If politicians do nothing, or the wrong things, the world faces more 30
misery, especially among the urban poor. If they get the policy right, they can
help increase the wealth of the poorest nations, aid the rural poor, rescue
farming from subsidies and neglect – and minimise the harm to the slum-
dwellers and landless labourers.

6 Three-quarters of the world’s poor live in rural areas. The depressed world 35

prices created by farm policies over the past few decades have had a

devastating effect. There has been a long-term fall in investment in farming and

the things that sustain it, such as irrigation. The share of public spending going

to agriculture in developing countries has fallen by half since 1980. Poor

countries that used to export food now import it. 40

107

7 Reducing subsidies in the West would help reverse this. The World Bank
reckons that if you free up agricultural trade, the prices of things poor countries
specialise in (like cotton) would rise and developing countries would capture the
gains by increasing exports. And because farming accounts for two-thirds of
jobs in the poorest countries, it is the most important contributor to the early 45
stages of economic growth. According to the World Bank, the really poor get
three times as much extra income from an increase in farm productivity as from
the same gain in industry or services. In the long term, thriving farms and open
markets provide a secure food supply.

8 However, there is an obvious catch – and one that justifies government 50
help. High prices have a mixed impact on poverty: they hurt anyone who loses
more from dear food than he gains from higher income. And that means over a
billion urban consumers (and some landless labourers), many of whom are
politically influential in poor countries. Given the speed of this year’s food-price
rises, governments in emerging markets have no alternative but to try to reduce 55
the impact.

9 Where they can, these governments should subsidise the incomes of the
poor, rather than food itself, because that minimises price distortions. Where
food subsidies are unavoidable, they should be temporary and targeted on the
poor. So far, most government interventions in the poor world have failed. 60
Politicians who seem to think cheap food is part of the natural order of things
have imposed price and export controls which hurt farmers.

10 Over the past few years, a sense has grown that the rich are hogging the
world’s wealth. In poor countries, widening income inequality takes the form of
a gap between the city and country: income has been rising faster for urban 65
dwellers than for rural ones. If handled properly, dearer food is a once-in-a-
generation chance to narrow income disparities and to wean rich farmers from
subsidies and help poor ones. The ultimate reward, though, is not merely theirs:
it is to make the world richer and fairer.

(Adapted from The Economist, December 8, 2007)

38 …..this year’s price rise has been so extraordinary (line 4) because

A. consumers are earning more
B. food has been cheap for many years
C. world markets have been falling steadily
D. the West continues to waste a lot of food

39 Which of the following information is not true of paragraph 2?

A. Price of wheat has doubled
B. With higher prices, farmers will increase production.
C. Dietary patterns have changed with increasing income.
D. Demand for grain decreases when more meat is consumed.

108

40 The main idea of paragraph 3 is
A. biofuels has become increasingly popular
B. farmers have switched to maize from other crops
C. the use of maize for ethanol has increased food prices
D. a tank of ethanol is equivalent to a person’s annual consumption of grain

41 Dearer food has the capacity to do enormous good and enormous harm
(line 22). This means that dearer food will benefit
A. farmers but not urban consumers
B. urban consumers as well as the rural poor
C. the urban poor but not agricultural communities
D. agricultural communities as well as the urban poor

42 The following are reasons for dearer food except
A. ethanol subsidies
B. government policies
C. changes in diet
D. higher wages

43 The intention of the writer in paragraph 7 is to
A. highlight the benefits of developing farming
B. argue for less control and opening up of agricultural trade
C. compare the situation before and after introducing subsidies
D. explain how poor countries can benefit from importing food

44 However, there is an obvious catch (line 50). The word catch means
A. a good offer
B. a disadvantage
C. no way of escape
D. something worth getting

45 The writer is ___________ dearer food.
A. indifferent towards
B. depressed over
C. frustrated with
D. in favour of

109

PRACTICE 3

Questions 1 to 7 are based on the following passage.
1 The world's biggest multinationals are becoming increasingly happy to carry out

their Research and Development (R&D) in emerging markets. Companies in the
Fortune 500 list have 98 R&D facilities in China and India. Some have more than
one. Knowledge- intensive companies such as Information Technology (IT)
specialists and consultancies have hugely stepped up the number of people they 5
employ in developing countries.
2 Both Western and emerging-country companies have also realised that they
need to try harder if they are to prosper in these booming markets. It is not enough
to concentrate on the Gucci and Mercedes crowd; they have to learn how to appeal
to the billions of people who live outside of Shanghai and Bangalore, from the rising 10
middle classes in second-tier cities to the farmers in isolated villages. That means
rethinking everything from products to distribution systems.

3 But the opportunities are equally extraordinary. The potential market is huge:
populations are already much bigger than in the developed world and growing much
faster (see Figure 1), and both China and India hundreds of millions of people will 15
enter the middle class in the coming decades. The economies are set to grow faster
too (see Figure 2). Brainpower is relatively cheap and abundant: in China, over five
million people graduate every year and in India about three million, respectively four
times and three times the numbers a decade ago.

4 This combination of challenges and opportunities is producing a fizzing cocktail 20
of creativity because so many consumers are poor, companies have to go for
volume But because piracy is so commonplace, they also have to keep upgrading
their products. In a way, these emerging-companies are turning problems into
advantages.

( Adapted from The Economist, 2012)

110

1 Most of the multinationals that are doing research in emerging markets are from the
United States of America.

A. True
B. False
C. Not stated

2 In Figure 1, Africa’s population is projected to double by 2050.

A. True
B. False
C. Not stated

3 The survival of multinationals depends on their strategies to adjust to their new target
customers.

A. True
B. False
C. Not stated

4 In figure 2, the GDP of advanced markets is projected to grow at a slower rate after
2010.

A. True
B. False
C. Not stated

5 In figure 2, the GDP of advanced economies is expected to shrink in the near future.

A. True
B. False
C. Not stated

6 The challenge for emerging market companies is to attract more affluent consumers.
A. True
B. False
C. Not stated

7 Multinational companies invested a high percentage of their expenditure on R&D.
A. True
B. False
C. Not stated

111

Questions 8 to14 are based on the following passage.

1 In Panama, the rainy season lasts most of the year. Rivers flood, runoff pours down
hillsides, and the red clay roads become impassable. Horses strain forward against
thick mud rising almost to their chest, soaked riders urging them on. The village of
Limon, 300 people and a two-room school house, both depend on and fight against
the rain. The small town grew up near a river that used to serve as transportation 5
to the coast. Although the area was once pure rainforest, almost none of it remains.
It has been transformed into cattle pasture, slash-and-burn farming fields, and
shade-grown coffee farms. The vast majority of families run subsistence farms and
build their own houses out of wood and palm leaves. There is a government-run
agricultural resource outpost, but it is located over two hours away and the staff 10
rarely visits.

2 I lives in Limon as a volunteer for over a year, getting to know the families and
learning from their many kindnesses. It is impossible in Limon, and most other rural
Panamanian towns, to visit someone and leave without having been stuffed full of
banana, or fried plantain (a type of green banana), or a little rice, all accompanied 15
with a very thick black cup of coffee rich with sugar. In turn, I taught in the school
and ran seminars on organic composting, coffee plantation diseases, and seed
saving.

3 One of the first things I noticed was although everyone raised their own food
from chicken to pigs, to rice and corn, there were few vegetables. To buy tomatoes 20
or cucumbers or carrots you would have to travel two hours in the chiva, a modified
and jam-packed pickup truck that served a local public transportation, to a very
small shop that carried them. The vegetables were imported from several
provinces away, where farmers have access to consistent running water,
electricity, and government assistance. Most meals were pure starches: rice, 25
tapioca, plantain, over and over again. Occasionally a fruit tree would be in season,
and there would be a glut of starfruit or marinon (the fruit that produces the cashew
nut), but it never lasted long. Although the area was lush with mango trees, none
of them ever bore fruit. Several of the older men would reminisce about the days
when there was more forest and they could hunt the deer and tapir that lived there. 30

4 Before I joined as a volunteer, I was sure I had all the answers for the town

where I would work. After living there I saw how easily the crops could be lost to

fungi, disease, and flooding during the wet season. How the soil, already marginal

at best, could barely support most of what was grown. How all the forest had been

cut down in an attempt to continue to provide enough food. How crops that could 35

enhance diets were incredibly fragile in the nutrient-deficient and harsh

environment. While my composting lessons could improve soil health, they could

do little to remedy the complete lack of food security. I could not change the

climate, the availability of water, or the pests plaguing the crops. The only variable

that could be changed was the genetic makeup of the crops themselves. 40

5 Marginal arable lands such as the rainforest can be transformed into healthy
foundations for farming. But in a world facing severe and sudden climate change,

112

the families of LIMON need more immediate help than increasing soil health over 45
the course of several years. Even with healthy soils, the town would still face
severe yearly flooding. Crops capable of resisting drought, flood, and disease
could provide immediate nutritional relief and added food security. By focusing on
intensive farming and bolstering soil on key desirable acres, the rest of the forest
could be left to grow once again.

(Adapted from the National Geographic, 2012 )

8 The river is the only form of transportation in Limon

A. True
B. False
C. Not stated

9 Coffee farming is the main source of income for the people of Limon.

A. True
B. False
C. Not stated

10 Cattle is reared for the villagers’ own consumption.

A. True
B. False
C. Not stated

11 It is impossible in Limon, and most other rural Panamanian towns, to visit someone
and leave without having been stuffed full of banana, or fried plantain (a type of green
banana), or a thick rice, all accompanied with a very thick black coffee rich with sugar
(lines 13 to 16). This shows that the villagers are

A. generous
B. charitable
C. hospitable

12 Before I joined as a volunteer, I was sure I had all the answers for the town where I
would work (lines 31 to 32). The writer could be described as

A. boastful
B. confident
C. ambitious

13 Vegetables are not easily available to the villagers because of the following except

A. they have to be imported
B. they are difficult to grow
C. they are difficult to transport

113

14 The author ends on a note of

A. hope
B. despair
C. uncertainty

Questions 15 to 21 are based on the following passage. 5
10
P1ro Forget about the spurious benefits of eating shark fin soup, a traditional Chinese 15
delicacy that is to be responsible for the needless destruction of some 73 million
sharks a year. In Palau, the first country in the world to proclaim a shark
sanctuary, the sharks that frequent the Pacific Island country’s reefs generate
enormous financial benefits. A single reef shark can contribute almost US$2
million in lifetime to the economy of Palau, according to a new study by the
Australia Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) and the University of Western
Australia.

2 “The analysis quantified the economic benefits of the shark-diving industry
to the Pacific Island nation and found that its value far exceeded that of shark
fishing,” Pew said in a news statement about the research. Pew Environment
Group – a Washington-based group that works to advance scientific
understanding of the causes and consequences of environmental problems,
design innovative policy solutions to these problems and mobilise public support
for their implementation – commissioned the study.

3 The research focused on an estimated 100 reef sharks that frequent the five
major sites in Palau. The study did not take into account the sharks in Palau
waters that do not regularly visit the dive sites.

4 "Sharks can literally be a 'million-dollar' species and a significant economic
driver,” said Mark Meekan, principal research scientist at AIMS. "Because of their 20
low rates reproduction and late maturity, shark population have been driven into a

global decline due to fishing. Yet your study shows that these animals can

contribute for more as a tourism resource than as a catch target."

5 Sharks are the top predators that keep the ecosystem healthy, and on top of
that bring much more money through tourism than fishing, said marine ecologist 25
Enric Sala, a National Geographic Fellow. Sala is actively engaged in research,
exploration, communication, and application of scientific knowledge related to the
conservation of marine ecosystems. “If everyone is worried about the economy, it
makes much more sense to keep sharks in the water than killing them. They are
the sharks with the golden eggs," he said in an email to National Geographic News 30
Watch.

6 There were several interesting findings from the AIMS study, which looked at
the reef sharks observed at Palau's major dive sites. The estimated annual value
to the tourism industry of an individual reef shark that frequents these sites was
US$179000 or US$1.9 million over its lifetime. Shark diving alone brings 35

114

approximately US$18 million annually to the Palauan economy, approximately 40
eight per cent of the country’s gross domestic product. The annual income in

salaries paid by the shark-diving industry was an estimated US$1.2 million, and

the annual tax income to Palau generated by shark diving was approximately 14
per cent of the country’s business tax revenue.

7 “Globally, up to 73 million sharks are killed every year primarily for their fins,
which are used in the Asian delicacy shark fin soup,” Pew Environment Group said
in its statement. “The Pacific Island States have been among the first to recognise
the danger of this unsustainable rate of consumption. In 2009, Palau President,
Johnson Toribiong declared Palauan waters to be a shark sanctuary in his address 45
to the United Nations General Assembly. Since then, the U.S. state of Hawaii, the
territories of Guam and the Northern Marianas, and the republic of the Marshall
Islands all banned the possession, sale or distribution of shark fins."

8 "Shark tourism can be a viable economic engine," said Matt Rand, director of
Global Shark Conservation for the Pew Environment Group. "Overfishing of 50
sharks can have disastrous effects on ocean ecosystems, but this study provides
a compelling case that can convince more countries to embrace these animals for
their benefit to the ocean and their value to a country's financial well-being.

(Adapted from the National Geographic, 3 May 2011)

15 In paragraph 1, the writer’s main intention is to

A. highlight the economic value of sharks
B. promote the shark sanctuary in Palau
C. discourage the consumption of shark fins soup

16 The significance of the Pew study is

A. shark diving is a profitable industry
B. shark population needs to be protected
C. reef sharks are attached to Palau waters

17 What is the main idea of paragraph 5?

A. Sharks are a source of income
B. The value of sharks to the ecosystem
C. The advantages of keeping sharks alive

18 Which of the following is true of paragraph 6?

A. Almost ten per cent pf Palau’s gross domestic income comes from sharks
B. Salaries paid by the shark diving industry total approximately US$18 million

annually
C. Taxes collected from the shark industry account for more than 10 per cent of Palau

business tax revenue

115

19 The danger of this unsustainable rate of consumption (line 44) promoted several island
republics to
A. prohibit shark fin trade
B. stop the fishing of sharks
C. work together to save sharks

20 The best title for this passage is
A. Sharks: Priceless resource
B. Sharks: Endangered species
C. Sharks: The Palau experience

21 The passage ends with a
A. solution
B. summary
C. prediction

116

Questions 22 to 29 are based on the following passage.

1 We have now become the dominant force shaping our planet. Some geologists
now believe that human activity has so irrevocably altered our planet that we have
entered a new geological age. As the global climate shifted at the end of the last
Ice Age, some 10 000 ago, humans put their fire-making skills to great use, blazing
a trail across continents to clear trees for grazing and agriculture, enabling 5
societies to develop from hunter-gatherecs to rooted civilizations that produced
complex technologies.

2 We were even able to improve on our external sources of energy by
expanding our range of fuels: rather than relying on fuel that grew in forests and
the continual recycling of bio-matter, we delved deep into the ground to extract 10
fossil fuels made over geological timescales.

3 Humans proved so clever and successful that we were able to overcome
almost all the environmental limitations that restricted other species to their
ecological niches. The Industrial Revolution began a march towards control of the
planet and its resources, which, over the past 50 years, has become truly global. 15
Our population soared from around 10 000 individuals 10 000 years ago to 7 billion
today. It is estimated that it will pass a colossal 9 billion by 2050.

4 We have changed the covering of the planet by chopping down trees
(currently we fell 130 000 sq km per year, according to the Food and Agricultural
Organization of the United Nations), rerouting rivers (we manage more than half 20
of the planet's available freshwater) and constructing highways and cities. More
than half of the world's population now lives in urban areas. At least 75 per cent of
the world's land surface has been modified by humans.

5 Some of our changes are geologically profound - deforestation and the
elimination and distribution of species, for example, are scarring the rocks to leave 25
tell-tale evidence of our human influence for geologists to discover many thousands
of years into the future. Others are immediately obvious to anyone who has looked
down at our continents from the window of an aircraft and seen the patchwork of
farmland monocultures or the mountain tops we have removed in our quest for coal.
But some are more subtle and harder to see directly - the way we are changing the 30
climate, or interfering in the nitrogen cycle, or selecting some metals but not others
from the Earth's crust.

6 We are pretty resourceful and innovative, which is why we have managed to
"geo- engineer" our planet to produce ever more food, to double human life
expectancy in much of the world, and control freshwater sources and most other 35
species. However, we are now faced with some planetary limitations that threaten
our survival. If we are going to accommodate 9 billion humans in the next 35
years, and if those people are going to live in comfort, with enough food, water,
energy and other important trappings of a liveable existence, then we are going
to have to recognise these limitations and come up with innovative ways to 40
overcome them.

117

7 In most cases, the problem is that we are using the resource faster than it can

be replenished through natural processes. The solution may be to assist the

replenishment or to use less of the resources. Either way, the solution calls for a

combination of clever engineering, technology and social tools. 45

(Adapted from Smart Planet, 2012)

22 Which of the following ideas is not found in paragraph 1?

A. Man’s capacity to alter the climate
B. Man’s ability to develop and use resource
C. Man’s skilful re-shaping of the environment

23 Which of the following questions does paragraph 2 attempt to answer?

A. How are external sources of energy expanded?
B. When did man first extract their source of energy?
C. Why did man produce a variety of sources of energy?

24 The main point of paragraph 3 is

A. the world is increasingly becoming overpopulated
B. the Industrial Revolution has led to much progress
C. the human species is capable of developing its potential

25 The main purpose of paragraph 5 is to emphasise

A. the extensiveness of change brought about by Man
B. the work of the Food and Agricultural Organization
C. the extent of urbanisation

26 Profound ( line 24 ) means

A. significant
B. extensive
C. intense

27 However, we are now faced with some planetary limitations that threaten our
survival.
(lines 36 and 37)

In the statement above, the writer’s intention is to

A. predict
B. advise
C. warn

118

28 The passage is developed mainly through
A. comparison and contrast
B. problem and solution
C. cause and effect

29 Which of the following is not a solution to the problem mentioned in the last
paragraph?
A. Using available resources sparingly
B. Replenishing whatever that has been used up
C. Striking a balance between engineering and social tools

119

Questions 30 to 37 are based on the following passage.

te1rm, We like to think our intelligence is self-made: it happens inside our heads, the
product of our inner thoughts alone. But the rise of Google, Wikipedia and other
online tools has made many people question the impact of these technologies on
our brains. Is typing in the search term, "Who has played James Bond in the
movies?" the same as knowing that the answer is Sean Connery, George 5
Lacenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig? Can
we say we know the answer to this questions when what we actually know is how
to rapidly access the information?

2 An influential theory among psychologists is that we are cognitive misers. This
is the idea that we are reluctant to do mental work unless we have to. We will try 10
to avoid thinking things fully when a short cut is available. For instance, if you were
asked to name the street where the restaurant serving the best Japanese food in
town is located, what would you do? More often than not, you would type on
Google for the information you need. By your action you have exemplified yourself
as a cognitive miser. The theory explains why we would rather type than memorise 15
and recall the location of a venue - it is so much easier to do so.

3 Research shows that people do not rely on their memories for things they can
easily access. Things like the world in front of our eyes can be change quite

radically without people noticing. Experiments have shown that buildings can

somehow disappear from pictures we are looking at, or the people we are talking 20

to can be switched with someone else, and often we would not notice - a

phenomenon called "change blindness". This is not as an example of human

stupidity. Far from it, in fact, this is an example of mental efficiency. The mind relies

on the world as a better record than memory, and usually that is a good

assumption. 25

4 As a result, philosophers have suggested that the mind is designed to spread
itself out over the environment. So much so that, they suggest the thinking is really
happening in our brains. The philosopher Andy Clark called humans "natural born
cyborgs", beings with minds that naturally incorporate new tools, ideas and
abilities. From Clark's perspective, the route to a solution is not the issue – having 30
the right tools really do mean you know the answers, just as much as already
knowing the answer.

5 A memory study by Harvard University provides a neat example of this effect.
Couples were asked to go into the laboratory to take a memorisation test. Half the
couples were kept together, and half were reassigned to pair up with someone 35
they did not know. Both groups then studied a list of words in silence, and were
then tested individually. The pairs that were made up of a couple in a relationship
could remember more items, both overall and as individuals.

6 What happened, according to psychologist Wegner, was that the couples in a
relationship had a good understanding of their partners. Because of this they would 40
quietly divide up the work between them, so that, say, one partner would remember

120

words to do with technology, assuming the other would remember the words to do
with sports. In this way, each partner could concentrate on their strengths, and so
individually they outperformed people in couples where on mental division of labour
was possible. Just as you rely on a search engine for answers, you can rely on 45
people you deal with regularly to think about certain things, developing a shared
system for committing items to memory and bringing them out again.

7 So as well as having a physical environment – like the rooms or buildings we
live or work in – we also have a mental environment. This means that when I ask
you where your mind is, you should not point toward the centre of your forehead. 50
As research shows, our minds are made up just as much by the people and tools
around us as they are by the brain cells inside our skull.

( Adapted from Smart Planet, 2012)

30 Which of the following statements captures the main idea of paragraph 1?

A. Many intelligent actors have played the role of James Bond
B. Our intelligence is partly self-made and technology-aided
C. Our intelligence is the product of our inner thoughts
D. New technologies are taking over our intelligence

31 According to psychologists we are cognitive misers because

A. we would avoid thinking if there is a shortcut
B. we would like to save our mental capacity for other tasks
C. we are by nature lazy thinkers, we find mental work too hard
D. we do not want to clutter our minds with too much information

32 Change blindness (line 22) is a phenomenon in which when change happens

A. it causes confusion
B. it may not be noticed
C. it affects our memory
D. it reduces our mental efficiency

33 What does the philosopher Andy Clark mean when he called humans “natural born
cyborgs” (lines 28 and 29) ?

A. Human depend on gadgets to do work
B. Human need technology to solve their problems
C. Humans are instinctively able to adapt to technology
D. Human naturally turn to the environment to find answers

121

34 The Harvard University study illustrates the successful
A. use on search engine
B. mental division of work
C. development of memory test
D. memorisation of information

35 What does the writer mean when he say “you should not point toward the centre of
your forehead” (line 50)
A. We should not just work alone
B. We should not just memorise facts
C. We should not just work with tools
D. We should not just rely on our mental intelligence

36 The intention of the writer is to ______________ the readers.
A. enlighten
B. entertain
C. persuade
D. advise

37 The most appropriate title for the passage is
A. Impact of Technologies on Our Brains
B. Natural Born Cyborgs
C. Change Blindness
D. Cognitive Misers

122

Questions 38 to 45 are based on the following passage.

te1rm, One of the most striking end-of-year statistics pumped out recently by the Chinese
government was an update on the number of Internet users in the country, which
had reached 210 million. It is a staggering figure, up by more than 50 per cent on
the previous year and more than three times the number for India, the emerging
Asian giant with which China is most often compared. Within a few months, China 5
will have more Internet users than America, the current leader. And because of the
proportion of the population using the Internet is so low, at just 16 per cent, rapid
growth is likely to continue for some time.

2 That such a big, increasingly wealthy and technologically adept country has
embraced the Internet is no surprise, but it has done so in a very different way from 10
other countries. That is in large part the result of the government’s historically
repressive approach towards information and entertainment. News is censored,

television is controlled by the state, and bookshops and cinemas, shuttered during
the Cultural Revolution, are still scarce.

3 The Internet itself is also tightly controlled. Access to many foreign websites 15
(such as Wikipedia) is restricted, and Google’s Chinese site filters its results to

exclude politically sensitive material. New rules governing online video came into

force this week. Electronic retailing is in its infancy, thanks to an unwieldy

government-controlled payment system, so most shopping still done in person.
The attempt by eBay, the world’s leading online auction site, to enter the Chinese 20

market was a flop. Alibaba, a site often described as the eBay of China, is in fact

more an electronic yellow pages, helping buyers find sellers, than an online auction

room.

4 Yet, it is all these limitations, paradoxically, that make the Internet so

popular in China. In the West, online activities have transformed existing 25

businesses; in China, by contrast, the Internet fills gaps and provides what is

unavailable, particularly for young people. More than 70 per cent of Chinese

Internet users are under 30, precisely the opposite of America, and there is an

enormous pent-up demand for entertainment, amusement and social interaction.

Rich rewards await those entrepreneurial Internet companies which are able to 30

meet that demand and establish themselves in the market: operating profit margins

for leading Internet firms are 28 per cent in China, compared with 15 per cent in

America. An Internet companies’ share prices have shot up, with their collective

market capitalisation nearly doubling every year since 2003 to reach over US$50

billion today. 35

5 So, what is the Internet used for in China? Its most obvious use is to
distribute free pirated films, television shows and music. Even though China’s

censors do an excellent job of restricting access to content that might cause

political problems, they are strangely unable to stem the flow of pirated foreign

media. On December 30th, an appeal court in Beijing ruled in favour of Baidu, 40
china’s leading search engine, which had been accused by the world’s big record

companies of copyright violation by providing links to pirated music files. Even so,

piracy is starting to worry the government, not least because the availability of free

foreign content is holding back the development of the domestic media industry.

But for the time being, the free for all continues. 45

( Adapted from The Economist, February 2008)

123

38 In paragraph 1, the writer makes the point that

A. China will have more Internet users than America
B. the number of Internet users than America
C. China will beat India in terms of the number of Internet users
D. the proportion of China’s population using the Internet is low

39 What is the main reason why China has embraced the Internet in a very different way
from other countries?

A. Access to foreign websites.
B. The government had controlled information and entertainment.
C. The profile of the Chinese Internet users is different from the West.
D. The Chinese are becoming wealthier and are technologically advanced.

40 The attempt by eBay, the world’s leading online auction site, to enter the Chinese market
was a flop (lines 20 and 21). This is because

A. access to eBay is restricted
B. Chinese shoppers do not like to shop online
C. Chinese Internet users prefer the site, Alibaba
D. government controlled payment system is not user-friendly

41 Yet, it is all these limitations, paradoxically, that make the Internet so popular in China
(lines 24 and 25). What is the paradox?

A. New laws have made online video more popular.
B. The tight control of the Internet has increased its popularity.
C. Restriction of foreign websites has increased interest in them.
D. Although electronic retailing is problematic, Internet shopping is on rise.

42 Which statement about China’s online activities is true?

A. China’s Internet companies require high operating costs.
B. China’s Internet users prefer to visit social interaction sites.
C. China’s Internet services have transformed the existing businesses.
D. China’s Internet companies provide services that are not available in the country.

43 Even though China’s censors do an excellent job of restricting access to content that
might cause political problems, they are strangely unable to stem the flow of pirated
foreign media (lines 37 to 40). This implies that China

A. has no regret for copyright laws
B. wants to win over its young Internet users
C. is unwilling to stop the flow of pirated foreign media
D. is only concerned about content that is politically-sensitive

44 The phrase even so (line 42) can be replaced by

A. regardless
B. eventually
C. therefore
D. besides

124

45 What is true about the distribution of free pirated materials in China?
A. The court has ruled that it is a violation of copyright.
B. The growth of China’s media market will be hampered.
C. The government is coming up with regulations to control it.
D. The government is worried that it might cause political problems.

125

PRACTICE 4

Questions 1 to 7 are based on the following passage.
1 A growing number of men are making Asia one of the fastest growing markets

for men’s skin care. Asia accounts for USS2.1 billion, or 65 per cent of the 3.3
billion spent globally in 2013 on such items as male skin creams, lotions and
whiteners, according to data compiled by Euromonitor, a market research firm.

2 That amount dwarfs the US$286.4 million spent by North American men and 5
the US$682.9 million used by Western European males on the same products.
China, including Hong Kong, is the largest market for men's skin care, at
US$974.8 million, an amount that is forecast to grow to US$1.2 billion this year.
In second place is South Korea, which spent US$635 million.

3 "This is where the market's development is happening. It's very concentrated 10
in Asia," says Nicole Tyrimou, a beauty analyst for Euromonitor in London.

4 Men are still far from rivalling women - the women's skin care market is valued
at more than 30 times the men's at US$107.6 billion. But men's skin care products
are growing at a much faster pace, 9.4 per cent compared with 4.8 percent for
women's skin care. And as men have only recently considered buying items like 15
serums and deep-cleansing moisturising soap, beauty companies see much more
potential for expansion among males, compared with the mature women's skin
care market.

5 The most enthusiastic adoption, by far, is in South Korea, where male
celebrities, like singer and actor Rain, have long endorsed skin care in billboards 20
and television advertisements, paving the way for broader acceptance. South
Korean men spent USS25.3 per capita on skin care in 2013. Asian countries
account for five of the top 10 countries in per capita spending.

126

6 "There is a wider idea of skin care being effeminate in many countries, but in
Korea this doesn't seem to be the case," says Simon Duffy, co-founder of the 25 25
United Kingdom brand Bulldog, which started selling its line in Korean stores last
year.

7 Some retail experts attribute Asian men 's relative affinity for skin care to
simply following the lead of the women around them. "If your mother has a nine-
step skin care routine, which happens a lot in Korea, you're going to do five," says 30
Ms Tyrimou.

(Adapted from The Wall Street Journal, May 29, 2014)

1 Male skin creams are the fastest selling products in Asia.

A. True
B. False
C. Not stated

2 The figures given in the chart are derived from the annual sales figures for
male’s skin care products.

A. True
B. False
C. Not stated

3 Beauty companies are concentrating on male’s skin products because of the
declining market for female’s cosmetics.

A. True
B. False
C. Not stated

4 Male skin care products account for 65 per cent of the global skin care market.

A. True
B. False
C. Not stated

5 Sales of male skin care products in Africa is the slowest.

A. True
B. False
C. Not stated

6 The growth of male skin care products in Latin America and Eastern Europe is
the same.

A. True
B. False
C. Not stated

127

7 In Korea, the negative perception about men’s grooming has been changed by
extensive promotion.

A. True
B. False
C. Not stated

Questions 8 to 14 are based on the following passage.

1 Emily Howell is not yet ten. But that did not stop her from composing six musical

scores and releasing two classical albums. Some say her style resembles that of

the great composers Bach and Mozart. No wonder her father, Professor David

Cope, is a proud man. Oh yes, by the way, Emily Howell is a computer

programme. 5

2 If you ever thought that creativity was the secluded corner where humans are
safe from machine invasion, well, you need to find a new corner. Most people are
oblivious to the creative adventures of computer algorithms – a set of rules that
are used to solve problems. So how can computer algorithms be creative? Yet,
music and computer science professor, Cope built a highly sophisticated and 10
refined algorithm to create music based on the works of great artistes but in his
own style. Emily Howell, the algorithm solves the problem of creating great
symphonies.

3 Algorithms are slowly replacing writers too. Professor Phil Parker, a
marketing professor at Insead Graduate Business school in France, has published 15
on Amazon more than a million business reports. And he did all that in just a
couple of years. According to Professor Parker, the number of released reports
changes by the hour. How can one man execute this monstrous task on his own?
It turns out Professor Parker has developed an algorithm that produces a report
in 10 to 20 minutes instead of about four weeks, which it typically takes one to do 20
manually.

4 We could question the effectiveness of algorithms on intangible dimensions
such as creativity. “Perhaps, for many people, human creativity is still highly
distinguishable from the creations of algorithms.” But one area where algorithms
trounce human beings mercilessly is stock trading. With every passing day, more 25
and more stocks around the world are traded by computer programmes. Their
algorithms execute trades at lightning speeds and carry out numerous
transactions every second.

5 On the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), the average time taken to
complete a transaction is approximately 600 microseconds. Didn’t you blink when 30
you saw that number? To put things in perspective, if you blinked, it takes you 300
milliseconds to do that, during which the NYSE executed 500 transactions.

6 Arguably, the highest achievement in algorithms is IBM’s Watson

128

supercomputer. Never before has an algorithm posed such a formidable

challenge to human superiority in reason, logic and other skills. Watson is perhaps 35

better known for winning the game show, Jeopardy in 2011 and with it the US$1

million prize. But this popular anecdote overshadows the critical fact that Watson
is poised to revolutionise the medical field. According to IBM, “Watson uses

natural language capabilities, hypothesis generation, and evidence-based

learning to support medical professionals as they make decision.” 40

7 This will help physicians make more accurate and fact-based diagnoses. My

unscientific survey of comments on Watson-related Internet articles suggests that

many people are more willing to trust Watson than even their physicians. Although

Dr Watson will not be seeing patients any time soon on its own, we will definitely

see assistant Watson helping oncologists in cancer treatment. 45

(Adapted from The Straits Times, May 3, 2012)

8 Emily Howell was designed specifically for composing music.

A. True
B. False
C. Not stated

9 Creativity is confined to human brains only.

A. True
B. False
C. Not stated

10 Algorithms can produce better quality business reports.

A. True
B. False
C. Not stated

11 Which of the following sentences is the topic sentence in paragraph 4?

A. We could question the effectiveness of algorithms on intangible
dimensions such as creativity. (lines 22 and 23)

B. Perhaps, for many people, human creativity is still highly distinguishable
from the creations of algorithms. (lines 24 and 25)

C. Their algorithms execute trades at lightning speeds and carry out
numerous transactions every second. (lines 26 to 28)

12 Which idea is supported by paragraph 5?

A. The fantastic speed of algorithms in operation at work
B. The high volume of transactions in the New York Stock Exchange
C. The speed of human transactions compared to the use of algorithms

13 Which of the following is true about Watson?

A. Watson has great potential in many fields.
B. Watson can replace medical professionals.
C. Watson’s best capabilities was showcased when it won Jeopardy in 2011.

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14 The writer’s tone may be described as

A. forceful
B. persuasive
C. argumentative

Questions 15 to 21 are based on the following passage.

1 In the 1990s John Dilulio, a conservative American academic, argued that a new
breed of “superpredators”, “kids that have absolutely no respect for human life
and no sense of the future”, would terrorise Americans almost indefinitely. He
was not alone. Experts were convinced that crime would keep rising. Law-abiding
citizens would retreat to gated communities, patrolled by security guards. Police 5
chiefs could do little except bluster and try to fiddle the statistics.

2 Mr. Dilulio later recanted and it is clear that the pessimists were wrong. Even
as he wrote, America’s crime wave was breaking. Its cities have become vastly
safer, and the rest of the developed world has followed. From Japan to Estonia,
property and people are now safer than at almost any time since the 1970s. 10
Confounding expectations, the recession has not interrupted the downward trend.

3 Some crimes have all but died out. Last year there was just 69 armed
robberies of banks in England and Wales, compared with 500 a year in the 1990s.
In 1990 some 147 000 cars were stolen in New York. Last year fewer than 10 000
were stolen. In the Netherlands and Switzerland street dealers and hustlers have 15
been driven out of city centres; addicts there are now elderly men, often
alcoholics, living in state hostels. In countries such as Lithuania and Poland the
gangsters who trafficked people and drugs in the 1990s have moved into less
violent activities such as fraud.

4 Cherished social theories have been discarded. Conservatives who insisted 20
that the decline of the traditional nuclear family and growing ethnic diversity would
unleash an unstoppable crime wave have been proven wrong. Young people are
increasingly likely to have been brought up by one parent and to have played a
lot of computer games. Yet they are far better behaved than previous generations.
Experts who argued that crime could never be curbed unless inequality was 25
reduced look just as silly.

5 There is no single cause of the decline; rather, several have coincided.
Western societies are growing older, and most crimes are committed by young
men. Policing has improved greatly in recent decades, especially in big cities such
as New York and London, with forces using computers to analyse the incidence 30
of crime; in some parts of Manhattan this helped to reduce the robbery rate by
over 95 per cent. The epidemics of crack cocaine and heroine appear to have
burnt out.

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6 The biggest factor may be simply that security measures have improved. Car
immobilisers have killed joyriding; bulletproof screens, security guards and 35
marked money have reduced bank robbery. Alarms and DNA databases have
increased the chance a burglar will be caught. At the same time, the rewards for
burglary have fallen because electronic gizmos are so cheap. Even small shops
now invest in CCTV cameras and security tags. Some crimes now look very risky
And that matters because as every survey of criminals shows the main deterrent 40
to crime is the fear of being caught.

(Adapted from The Economist, July 20, 2013)

15 What is the main point of paragraph 1?

A. Crime would keep increasing
B. Young children would turn to crime
C. People are taking more security measures

16 The information in paragraph 2 _........................... that of paragraph 1.

A. illustrates
B. elaborates
C. contradicts

17 America’s crime wave was breaking (line 8) means that

A. the crime rate fluctuated.
B. the crime rate was declining
C. the crime rate remained static

18 What conclusion can be made of paragraph 4?

A. Disintegration of nuclear family leads to crime.
B. Social inequality is not the main cause crime.
C. Children of single parents are more likely to commit crime.

19 The number of robberies in Manhattan has dropped drastically mainly
because

A. there is improved policing
B. there are fewer drug addicts
C. there are fewer young people

20 The following crimes are declining except

A. fraud
B. robbery
C. drug trafficking.

21 In the last paragraph, the writer attributes the drop in crime to

A. inexpensive security gadgets
B. widespread use of security devices
C. the use of sophisticated tracking gizmos

131

Questions 22 to 29 are based on the following passage.

1 Bilingual education in schools has long been a political hot potato in the United
States – it was banned in California by a 1998 ballot measure, which the state
Senate is now asking voters to repeal. But politics aside, there is an increasing
amount of scientific support for the benefits of knowing (at least) two languages.

2 Now, a new study published by the Annals of Newlogy finds that you do not 5

even need to learn that second (or third, or fourth) tongue at a very young age.

Picking up a new language even a little later in life can have serious cognitive

benefits for the ageing brain. Many recent studies have pointed out that

bilingualism seems to be good exercise for the brain, and later in life, might even

help delay the onset of dementia. 10

3 But what if it is a self-selecting crowd? What if the people who learned two
languages are just smarter to begin with? To help rule that factor out, researchers
at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland studied 853 people who first took an
intelligence test in 1947 when they were about 11 years old as part of a group
called the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936, and retested them around 2008 to 2010 15
when they were in their early 70s.”Reflecting the society of its time,” the study
authors wrote, “the cohort is remarkably homogenous; they are English native
speakers, of European origin, born, raised and living in and around Edinburg.
None was an immigrant.” That was good for the study, given that it mostly wipes
out potentially confounding differences, such as ethnicity and immigration status, 20
that might complicate the relationship between bilingualism and cognitive decline.

4 In the study, a total of 262 of the septuagenarians (roughly a third of the study
group) reported having learned at least one language other than English enough
to communicate in it. Of those, 195 said they learned it before age of 18; 65 said
they learned it thereafter. It is unclear what happened to the remaining two 25
people. Also, few participants seemed to have learned their second language in
early childhood: 19 of the under-18 crowd said they learned it before age 11.

5 The researchers gave the participants a battery of cognitive tests, including

tests of their verbal reasoning, vocabulary and reading abilities, verbal fluency

and ability to process information quickly. They found that bilingual speakers 30

performed much better than expected from their baseline cognitive ability,

particularly in reading and general intelligence. Those who knew three or more

languages performed even better. Bilingualism’s effects were comparable to

factors such as “the effect of variation in the gene for apolipoprotein E, physical

fitness, and smoking or not smoking”, the authors wrote. 35

6 Learning a language seemed to make as much difference in people’s later-
in-life cognitive decline as a gene that has been tied to risk of Alzheimer’s disease
and smoking or non-smoking habits. These participants mostly learned their
second languages after 11. So, the researchers could not study the perfect, early
parallel acquisition of both languages – what they call the “classical” scenario. 40
But in this way, the results actually make a very compelling point- you do not have

132

to be fluent speaker of a language to get the benefits, and you can start later in
life too.

7 “Millions of people across the world acquire their second language later in
life; in school, university or work, or through migration or marriage to a member 45
of another linguistic community. Many never reach native-like perfection,” the
study authors pointed out. “For this population,” they continued, “Our results are
particularly relevant; bilingualism in its broad definition, even if acquired in
adulthood, might have beneficial effects on cognition.” Maybe it is time to blow
the dust off of that Spanish textbook or dig up that Mandarin audio CD and learn 50
something new.

(Adapted from The Star (Fit For Life), June 2014)

22 Bilingual education in schools is being referred to as a political hot potato
(line1). This means that bilingual education is

A. popular
B. difficult
C. controversial

23 What is the main point in paragraph 2?

A. Young people pick up languages faster.
B. Learning new languages at any age is beneficial.
C. People who learn new languages will not experience dementia.

24 that factor (line12) refers to

A. age
B. memory
C. intelligence

25 “The cohort is remarkably homogenous…..” (line 17) shows that researchers
are pleased that the sample

A. lives in the same area
B. is of a similar age group
C. has uniform characteristics

26 Which of the following is a finding of the study on bilingualism?

A. Smoking has an effect on language learning
B. Learning new languages improves reading abilities
C. Inborn abilities determine the success in language learning

27 Why did the writer enclose the information in lines 22 and 23 in brackets?

A. To show it is an after thought
B. To contradict the previous data
C. To indicate that it is of lesser significance

133

28 From the findings, the researchers strongly believed that people can benefit
from language learning
A. when they begin before age 11
B. regardless of their level of mastery
C. if they start learning two languages at the same time

29 The message in the last paragraph is
A. it is never too late to learn a new language
B. you can learn a new language on your own
C. Mandarin is learnt more easily through using audio CD

134

Questions 30 to 37 are based on the following passage.

1 If you are like most people, you are way too smart for advertising. You flip right
past newspaper ads, click on ads online and leave the room during TV
commercials. That, at least, is what we tell ourselves. But what we tell ourselves
is nonsense. Advertising works, which is why, even in hard economic times,
Madison Avenue is a $34 billion-a-year business. And if Martin Lindstrom, author 5
of the best seller Buyology and a marketing consultant for Fortune 500
companies, including PepsiCo and Disney – is correct, trying to tune this stuff out
is about to get a whole lot harder.

2 Lindstrom is a practitioner of neuromarketing research, in which consumers
are exposed to ads while hooked up to machines that monitor brain activity, pupil 10
dilation, sweat responses and flickers in facial muscles, all of which are markers
of emotion. According to his studies, 83 per cent of all forms of advertising
principally engage only one of our senses; sight. Hearing, however, can be just
as powerful, though advertisers have taken only limited advantage of it.
Historically, ads have relied on jingles and slogans to catch our ear, largely 15
ignoring everyday sounds – a steak sizzling, a baby laughing and other noises
our bodies can’t help paying attention to. Weave this stuff into an ad campaign,
and we may be powerless to resist it.

3 To figure out what most appeals to our ear, Lindstrom wired up his

volunteers, then played them recordings of dozens of familiar sounds, from 20
McDonald’s ubiquitous “I’m Lovin’ It” jingle to birds chirping and cigarettes being
lit. The sound that blew the doors off all the rest – both in terms of interest and
positive feelings – was a baby giggling. The other high-ranking sounds were less
primal but still powerful. The hum of a vibrating cell phone was Lindstrom’s

second place finisher. Others that followed were an ATM dispensing cash, a 25

steak sizzling on a grill and a soda being popped and poured.

4 In all of these cases, it didn’t take a Mad Man to invent sounds, infuse them

with meaning and then play them over and over until the subjects internalised

them. Rather, the sounds already had meaning and thus triggered a cascade of

reactions; hunger, thirst, happy anticipation. 30

5 “Cultural messages that get into your nervous system are very common and
make you behave in certain ways,” says neuroscientist Read Montague of Baylor
College of Medicine. Advertisers who fail to understand that pay a price.
Lindstrom admits to being mystified by TV ads that give viewers close-up shots
of meat on a grill but accompany that with generic jangly guitar music. One of his 35
earlier brain studies showed that numerous regions, including the insula and
orbital frontal cortex, jump into action when such discordance occurs, trying to
make sense of it.

6 TV advertisers aren’t the only ones who may start putting sound to greater
use. Retailers are also catching on. The 0101 department store in Japan, for 40
example, has been designed as a series of soundscapes, playing different sound

135

effects such as children at play, birdsongs and lapping water in the sportswear, 45
fragrance and formal-wear sections. Lindstrom is consulting with clients about
employing a similar strategy in European supermarkets, piping the sound of
percolating coffee or fizzing soda into the beverage department or that of a baby
cooing into the baby – food aisle.

7 None of this means that advertisers just have to turn the audio dials and
consumers will come running. Indeed, sometimes the consumers flee. In the early
years of mainstream cell-phone use, the Nokia ringtone was recognised by 42
per cent of people in the United Kingdom – and soon became widely-loathed. 50
That, Lindstrom says, was partly because so few users practised cell-phone
etiquette and the blasted things kept going off in movie theatres. The Microsoft
start-up sound has taken on similarly negative associations, because people so
often hear it when they are rebooting after their computer has crashed. In these
cases, manufactures themselves must reboot by changing the offending sound 55
slightly or replacing it entirely.

8 If history is any indication, marketers will keep getting more manipulative,
and the storm of commercial noise will become more focused. Even then, there
may be hope: Lindstrom’s testing shows that people respond to a sound better
when it subtler. If nothing else, smart marketers may at least keep the volume 60
low.

(Adapted from Time Magazine,March 1, 2010)

30 What is the main idea of paragraph 1?

A. Advertising is a big business
B. People avoid advertisements when they can
C. When the economy is bad, advertisement revenue suffers

31 In paragraph 2, the writer makes the point that

A. Advertisers aim to influence our emotions
B. Advertisers have not yet taken full advantage of our hearing
C. Advertisements set into motion different markers emotion
D. Advertisements work because of our reactions to what we see and hear

32 blew the doors off all the rest (line 22) means

A. the most special
B. the most popular
C. the most effective
D. the most interesting

136

33 “In all of these cases, it didn’t take a Mad Man to invent the sounds, infuse
them with meaning and then play them over and over until the subjects
internalised them (lines 27 to 29). The writer is implying that

A. advertisers use sounds wrongly in their advertisements
B. making advertisements involves a lot of time and money
C. some advertisers are unware of the strategies that do work
D. making use of sounds in advertisements is not a complex process

34 Which of the following is an example of discordance (line 37)?

A. Chirpy nursery rhymes being played with close-ups of smiling children’s
faces.

B. Loud alternative music being played with clips of models clad in trendy
clothes.

C. Classical music being played with shots of racing mountain bikers racing
downhill.

D. Slow jazzy music being played with different shots of a fancy restaurant at
dinner time.

35 Retailers are also catching on (line 40) means that they are

A. increasing their advertising campaigns
B. using the same strategies as advertisers
C. getting better at marketing than advertisers
D. competing with advertisers for the same consumers

36 The Nokia ringtone and the Microsoft start-up sound were mentioned to
support the idea that

A. music has been overused in advertising
B. all electronic gadgets have distinctive tunes
C. certain sounds are associated with particular gadgets
D. overuse of the same sound can have a negative effect

37 The writer concludes that

A. advertisers should continue to carry out research
B. advertisements will become increasingly more effective
C. sound should be used more conspicuously in advertisements
D. Lindstrom’s research findings have contributed to better advertising

137

Questions 38 to 45 are based on the following passage.

1 The price of wheat is setting an all-time high in the United Kingdom. Food riots
are spreading across Algeria. Russia is importing grain to sustain its cattle herds
until spring grazing begins. India is wrestling with an 18 per cent annual food
inflation rate, sparking protests. China is looking abroad for potentially massive
quantities of wheat and corn. The Mexican government is buying corn futures to 5
avoid unmanageable tortilla price rises. And on January 5, the United Nations
(UN) Food and Agriculture Organisation announced that its food price index for
December hit an all-time high.

2 But in years past, it has been weather that has caused a spike in
commodities prices, now it is trends on both sides of the food supply and demand 10
equation that are driving up prices. On the demand side, the culprits are
population growth rising affluence, and the use of grain to fuel cars. On the supply
side; soil erosion, aquifer depletion, the loss of cropland to nonfarm uses, the
diversion of irrigation water to cities, the plateauing of crop yields in agriculturally
advanced countries, and –due to climate change- crop withering heat waves and 15
melting mountain glaciers and ice sheets. These climate-related trends seem
destined to take a far greater toll in the future.

3 There is at least a glimmer of good news on the demand side: World

population growth, which peaked at two per cent per year around 1970, dropped

below 1.2 per cent per year in 2010. But because the world population has nearly 20

doubled since 1970, we are still adding 80 million people each year. Tonight,

there will be 219 000 additional mouths to feed at the dinner table, and many of

them will be greeted with empty plates. Another 219 000 will join us tomorrow

night. At some point, this relentless growth begins to tax both the skills of farmers

and the limits of the earth’s land and water resources. 25

4 Beyond population growth, there are now some three billion people moving

up the food chain, eating greater qualities of grain-intensive livestock and poultry

products. The rise in meat, milk, and egg consumption in fast-growing developing

countries has no precedent. Total meat consumption in China today is already

nearly doubled that in the United States (US). 30

5 The third major source of demand growth is the use of crops to produce fuel

for cars. In the United States, which harvested 416 million tons of grain in 2009,

119 million tons went to ethanol distilleries to produce fuel for cars. That is enough

to feed 350 million people for a year. The massive US investment in ethanol

distilleries sets the stage for direct competition between cars and people for the 35

world grain harvest. In Europe, where much of the auto fleet runs on diesel fuel,

there is growing demand for plant-based diesel oil, principally from rapeseed and

palm oil. This demand for oil-bearing crops is not only reducing the land available

to produce food crops in Europe, it is also driving the clearing of rainforests in

Indonesia and Malaysia for palm oil plantations. 40

138

6 The combined effect of these three growing demands is stunning; a doubling

in the annual growth in world grain consumption from an average of 21 million

tons per year in 1990-2005 to 41 million tons per year in 2005-2010. Most of this

huge jump is attributable to the excessive investment in ethanol distilleries in the

US in 2006-2008. 45

7 While the annual demand growth for grain was doubling, new constraints
were emerging on the supply side, even as longstanding ones such as soil
erosion intensified. An estimated one third of the world’s cropland is losing its
inherent productivity. Two huge dust bowls are forming, one across northwest
China, western Mongolia, and central Asia; the other in central Africa. Each of 50
these dwarfs the US dust bowl of the 1930s.

8 Meanwhile, aquifer depletion is fast shrinking the amount of irrigated area in
many parts of the world; this relatively recent phenomenon is driven by the large
scale use of mechanical pumps to exploit underground water. Today, half the
world’s people live in countries where water tables are falling as over pumping 55
depletes aquifers.

9 Irrigated area is shrinking in the Middle East, notably in Saudi Arabia, Syria,
Iraq, and possibly Yemen. In Saudi Arabia, which was totally dependent on a
now-depleted fossil aquifer for its wheat self-sufficiency, production is in a freefall.
From 2007 to 2010, Saudi wheat production fell by more than two thirds. By 2012, 60
wheat production will likely and entirely, leaving the country totally dependent on
imported grain.

(Adapted from Foreign Policy, January 10, 2011)

38 The intention of the writer in paragraph 1 is to highlight

A. The trend in global food imports
B. The seriousness of the food crisis globally
C. The dissatisfaction over increasing food prices
D. The steps taken by governments to tackle the food crisis

39 Which of the following is the demand factor that causes an increase in the
prices of commodities?

A. Soil erosion
B. Bad weather
C. Population growth
D. Reduction in farmland

40 ……..the plateauing of crop yields (line 14) means that crop yields have

A. declined
B. increased
C. started fluctuating
D. remained constant

139

41 Which of the following would have the most serious impact on world
commodity prices in the future?
A. Drastic climate change
B. Rapid population growth
C. Rising affluence of people
D. Massive depletion of cropland

42 ….. a glimmer of good news ….(line18) refers to
A. an increase of food production
B. a drop in the use of water resources
C. a decline in world population growth
D. an improvement in farming technique

43 …….there are now some three billion people moving up the food chain
(lines 26 and 27). This means that more people are
A. eating larger amounts of meat
B. moving to food producing areas
C. developing a taste for milk-based products
D. migrating to countries where food is easily available

44 The writer mentions dust bowls in China, Africa and the US dust bowl of 1930s
to support the idea that
A. the dust bowls are natural processes
B. the demand for cropland is increasing
C. the cropland is being excessively depleted
D. the dust bowls are a longstanding problem

45 What is true about aquifer depletion?
A. It is not a recent occurrence.
B. It will affect half the countries in the world.
C. It is slowly reducing the amount of irrigated land.
D. It is the result of the wide use of mechanical pumps.

140

PRACTICE 5
Questions 1 to 7 are based on the following passage.

1 For all Britain’s hard work to boost organ donation, around 1000 people die
each year for lack of a transplant. The active waiting list numbers more than
7600, and 10 000 may be a fairer reflection of the need. As hypertension,
obesity and the miracles of modern medicine proliferate, that gap is likely to
increase – unless donation rates rise drastically. Deceased donors are twice 5
as numerous in Spain as in Britain, per million people (Figure 1). Even the
European Union (EU) average is higher. Britain does better when living
donors are included, but dead donors are more useful because they can part
with a wider range of organs. Why the difference?
Figure 1: Organ donor rate per million population, 2010

(Source: Council of Europe)
2 For many, the answer lies in Britain’s “opt-in” regime of informed 10

consent. A potential donor has to signal his intent by enrolling on an official
Organ Donor Register. Though 90 per cent of Britons say they approve of
donation, only 30 per cent have signed up. Spain and most EU members,
have instead embraced some form of presumed consent, in which everyone
is assumed to be a donor unless he expressly “opts out”. This week the 15
British Medical Association (BMA), which represents doctors, urged switching
systems.

141

3 Even if the 50 per cent target is met, the number of people who needs
transplants will still greatly exceed the number of organs available. So, the
BMA thinks more controversial measures should be debated. These include 20
taking hearts from dead newborns, using organs from higher-risk donors and
putting dying patients on a ventilator to retrieve organs later. A sustained
public-information campaign, plus an expansion of medical specialists and
intensive-care capacity, might do the job while raising fewer problems.

(Adapted from The Economist, 18 February 2012)

Most people who require organ transplants are obese and suffer from
1 hypertension.

A. True
B. False
C. Not stated

2 More organs are now required due to medical advancements.
A. True
B. False
C. Not stated

3 In Figure 1, although Spain and Norway have almost the same number of
organ donors, Spain is in a better position than Norway in terms of availability
of organs.
A. True
B. False
C. Not stated

A Spaniard is assumed to have given his consent for organ donation unless
4 he has opted out of the system

A. True
B. False
C. Not stated

142

5 A country with more deceased donors will have more organs available for
transplant.
A. True
B. False
C. Not stated

6 To meet the 50 per cent target, Britain is implementing extreme methods to
obtain organs.
A. True
B. False
C. Not stated

7 Britain has replaced the “opt-in” with the “opt-out” organ donation system
A. True
B. False
C. Not stated

143

Questions 8 to 14 are based on the following passage.

1 What is talent? If you ask the average grade school teacher to identify her
most talented student, she is likely to reject the question (All my students are
equally talented). But of course, this answer is not quite true. Anyone who
has worked with numerous young people over the years knows that some
students catch on quickly, almost instantly, to new skills and understandings, 5
while others must go through the same drill, with depressingly little
improvement over time. As misguided as the teacher’s response, is the
viewpoint put forward by some psychological researchers and those most
recently popularised in Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers: The Story of Success.
This is the notion that there is nothing mysterious about talent: no need to 10
crack open the lockbox: Anyone who works hard enough over a long period
of time can end up at the top of his or her field.

2 But anyone who has the opportunity to observe or read about a prodigy -

be it Mozart or Yo-Yo Ma in music, Tiger Woods in golf, John von Neumann
in mathematics – knows that achievement is not just hard work. The 15

differences between performance at time one and successive performances

at times two, three, and four are vast, not simply the result of additional

sweat. It is said that if algebra had not already existed, the philosopher and

logician Saul Kripke would have invented it in elementary school: such a

characterisation would be ludicrous if applied to most individuals. 20

For the first time, it should be possible to delineate the nature of talent.
3 This breakthrough will come about through a combination of findings from

genetics (do highly-talented individuals have a distinctive, recognisable
genetic profile?), neuroscience (are there structural or functional neural
signatures, and can these be recognised early in life?), cognitive psychology 25
(are the mental representations of talented individuals distinctive when
contrasted to those of hard workers?), and the psychology of motivation (why
are talented individuals often said to have “a rage to learn, a passion to
master”?)

4 This interdisciplinary scientific breakthrough will allow us to understand 30
what is special about Picasso, Gauss, and J.S. Mill. And it will illuminate the
question whether a talented person can achieve equally in different domains
(Could Mozart have been a great physicist? Could Newton have been a great
musician?). However, it will not illuminate two other issues:
(a) What makes someone original, creative? Talent and expertise are 35
necessary but not sufficient.
(b) What determines how talents are applied? Are they applied to
constructive or destructive ends?

144

5 These answers are likely to come from historical or cultural case studies 40
rather than from biological or psychological science. Part of the maturity of
the sciences is an appreciation of which questions are best left to other
disciplinary approaches.

(Adapted from Cracking Open the Lockbox of Talent,
Howard Gardner, HarperCollins 2010)

8 The teacher’s claim that all her students are equally talented is valid.
A. True
B. False
C. Not stated

9 The notion of talent as proposed by psychological researchers has become a
popular belief.

A. True
B. False
C. Not stated

10 The writer cites the example of Mozart to support the idea that talent is more
than just hard work.

A. True
B. False
C. Not stated

The main idea of paragraph 3 is that
11

A. the work of interdisciplinary scientists will help us to understand talent
better

B. while science has provided some answers about talent, it has raised
more questions

C. biological science has contributed more to our understanding of talent
than psychological science

12 The scientific breakthrough regarding talent will answer one of the following
questions.

A. Could Newton have been a great musician? (lines 33 and 34)
B. What makes someone original, creative? (line 35)
C. Are they applied to constructive or destructive ends? (lines 37 and 38)

145