1MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY ENGLISH PROFICIENCY EXAM CAREFUL READING AND VOCABULARY PART PRACTICE MATERIAL FALL 2025 SET II
2TEXT IA The sound of a gunshot alerted the rangers that something was wrong. Advancing through the forest in the Thung Yai Naresuan Wildlife Sanctuary in western Thailand, they arrived at a campsite littered with evidence of murder. The blood-soaked carcass of a deer lay on the ground. Other bits of victims—a kalij pheasant and a rare black leopard— leaked on a cutting board and simmered in a soup kettle. The rangers arrested four people at the scene on suspicion of poaching protected species and violating gun laws, crimes punishable by a maximum 10-year jail term. However, there was a complication: the leader of the hunting group was Premchai Karnasuta, a construction-empire tycoon and one of Thailand’s most prominent and powerful men.B Karnasuta declared his innocence, apparently trusting that his well-paid lawyers would get him off. However, he hadn’t counted on the perseverance and determination of Thailand’s wildlife police. The rangers cordoned off the crime scene and seized the carcasses, along with three rifles, rounds of ammunition and the bushmeat (meat from wildlife species that are hunted for human consumption) in the kettle. The evidence was then transported in sealed bags to a crime lab in Bangkok, where technicians under the supervision of Kanita Ouitavon, director of the parks department’s Wildlife Forensics Laboratory Center, sequenced the DNA of the bushmeat and the Police Forensic Science Office conducted ballistics tests on the carcasses.C The scientific evidence analyzed in the Bangkok lab was critical in bringing Karnasuta to justice. The defense attempted to discredit the forensics, but Ouitavon, the lab director, left no doubt in the judges’ minds that Karnasuta’s group had shot the animals. A court sentenced the tycoon to three years and two months and a two-million-baht ($59,700) fine, an outcome hailed by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) as “a victory for wildlife and a victory for the rule of law.” Karnasuta’s conviction comes at a time when wildlife and the rule of law are both under siege. High prices for ivory, rhino horn, pangolin scales, and other wildlife products such as bushmeat; the growing sophistication of guerilla groups and international crime organizations; and endemic corruption are all putting unprecedented pressure on endangered species. The United Nations estimates the global illegal wildlife trade to be worth as much as $23 billion a year.D To combat a surge in poaching and wildlife smuggling in Asia and Africa, conservationists and police are turning to methods long reserved for homicides, sexual assaults, and other crimes with human victims. DNA sequencing, fingerprint analysis, x-ray imaging to detect blood, ballistics tests, and additional scientific techniques have been utilized with success against criminals ranging from pangolin poachers in Zimbabwe to peregrine-nest raiders in Scotland. A dramatic change in wildlife laws has led to the increasing reliance on forensics. In the past, poachers and traffickers caught in the act typically pleaded guilty and paid a symbolic fine. But between 2010 and 2016, as poaching numbers soared, countries began to drastically raise their penalties. “They went from a fine of $50 for possession of ivory to up to 10 years in prison,” says Rob Ogden, director of conservation science at the University of Edinburgh and a specialist in DNA profiling. Criminals with resources began hiring skilled lawyers to fight it out in court. “The defense started saying things like, ‘prove that it’s ivory’,” Ogden says. “Trials collapsed because they lacked the scientific evidence.”
3E __________. Tracy Alexander, director of forensic services for the City of London Police, recalls that when she started working with police in Zimbabwe, “they would stop a car based on a tip, find rhino horns in the back, four mobile phones, and three guns. The driver would say, ‘I know nothing about this; I’m just the driver.’ The guy in the passenger seat would say, ‘He just picked me up, and I know nothing.’ The two guys in the back would say, ‘We just asked for a lift.’ Then they would let them go.” Now the wildlife police learn how to dust for fingerprints, data-mine cell phones, conduct ballistics tests, and seal off crime scenes. Grant Miller, counter trafficking adviser at the Zoological Society of London, who has trained ecological police in Mongolia and park rangers in Thailand, the Philippines, Cameroon, Nepal, Niger, and Kenya, says that officers once passed around elephant tusks and rhino horns and posed with the smuggled goods without using gloves. But they’re coming to understand that effective crime fighting means avoiding contamination and finding evidence that will be admissible in the courtroom.F The wildlife cops are also benefiting from new tools aimed at improving evidence gathering. At the London Metropolitan Police Forensic Science Laboratory, Mark Moseley, a police photographer, spends his workdays taking bloodcurdling photographs of homicide scenes. In his spare time, he experiments with forensic innovations aimed at combating wildlife crime. Moseley achieved his first breakthrough 12 years ago, after his two young daughters came across online photographs of decapitated elephants while making elephant-themed birthday cards for their grandmother. The girls begged their father to invent a technique that would give the cops an edge in the war against poachers. Moseley turned to the method pioneered by Sir Edward Henry of the British colonial police in India 130 years ago: lifting fingerprints.G Elephant tusks are coated in cementum—a porous material that resembles a sponge when looked at through an electron microscope—and fingerprints left by poachers and smugglers rarely survive for more than seven days using traditional powders. Moseley wanted a material that would provide a record of the numerous hands that pass over ivory during the weeks that often pass between poaching in the bush and smuggling overseas. In 2015, after months of testing compounds, Moseley came across SupraNano Magnetic Powder, a fingerprint enhancer made up of microscopic chemical particles that can both absorb and repel sweat and oils. It proved capable of retrieving fingerprint details for up to 28 days after prints were deposited. “The powder fit into those tiny pores, which the others couldn’t do, so we were bringing back much higher resolution,” Moseley explained.H Moseley’s innovation took off. The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), in partnership with the United Kingdom’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office, distributed a hundred fingerprinting kits—two jars of the magnetic powder and a magnetic wand, brushes, and lifting tape, packed into a durable plastic orange case—to police and rangers in 23 countries in Africa and Asia. In 2019, IFAW announced that the Kenya Wildlife Service had arrested 15 people, including five police officers, after using the kits to identify the suspects by their fingerprints on confiscated ivory. The kits have also been tested successfully on rhino horns, tiger claws, hippopotamus teeth, sperm whale teeth, and even eggshells—all coveted by traffickers.www.nationalgeographic.com
41. What can be inferred from the scene described in paragraph A?a) Thailand is rich in wildlife but many endangered species are not protected by law.b) In Thailand poaching wild animals is a criminal activity that rangers are fighting against.c) Thai tycoons commonly carry out illegal trades such as poaching and wildlife trafficking. 2. How does paragraph B relate to paragraph C?a) Paragraph B introduces a court case related to wildlife poaching and paragraph C explains the reason why wildlife protectors won the case.b) Paragraph B gives an example of an incident of wildlife poaching and paragraph C explains some ways of preventing illegal wildlife trade.c) Paragraph B describes the methods of defense used in court by offenders and paragraph C further explains why offenders can get away with their crime. 3. According to paragraph D, which one of the following is a change that countries have adopted against wildlife crime?a) Treating poaching and wildlife trafficking as crimes against human victimsb) Appointing skilled lawyers in court to give more serious penalties to criminalsc) Using modern scientific techniques in order to provide strong evidence in court4. Which one of the following fits best as the first sentence in paragraph E?a) Wildlife experts have begun training law enforcement officers in Africa and Asia to back up their arrests with evidence that will stand up in court.b) In Zimbabwe, poachers slaughtered 10,334 rhinos, between 2006 and 2024, the equivalent of two-thirds of the country’s entire population.c) Advancements in molecular biology have helped researchers identify through DNA analysis exactly which species may have been killed.5. According to paragraph F, which incident triggered Mosely’s technological invention?a) On one occasion, he took terrifying pictures of wildlife crime scenes while working as a police photographer.b) He unexpectedly came across an effective method used by the British Colonial Police in the 19th century.c) After seeing shocking pictures, his daughters urged him to develop a technique that would help the police catch wildlife criminals.
56. According to paragraph G, the breakthrough achieved by Mosely in lifting fingerprints is the use of __________. a) a porous material on the elephant tusks in order to conserve fingerprintsb) a powder that can make fingerprint details last longer on the elephant tusksc) high resolution photography to distinguish between different fingerprints 7. What can be concluded from the facts and figures given in paragraph H about Mosely’s fingerprinting tool? a) There hasn’t been a sufficient number of kits to be distributed to other countries.b) The invention has enjoyed a rise in popularity in the fight against wildlife traffickers.c) There is a need for further innovation in the technique in order to apply it to a variety of species.8. What does the word “unprecedented” in the text mean? a) widespreadb) exceptional c) suspicious9. What does the word “confiscated” in the text mean? a) taken awayb) wished forc) driven backTEXT IIA Do you know the trouble with young people these days? The younkers think they are better than the rest of us, the ephebes are growing up too fast, and what about the backfisch? Well, they are far too independent and reckless. If you don’t recognize these words, you wouldn't be alone. They are all old terms for adolescents that have fallen out of common usage. Across history, the words and categories we use to describe young people have evolved significantly, driven by transformations in culture, work, education and scientific insight. How have these factors shaped the terms we use for adolescents today – like \"teenager\"? And as societal norms change and new discoveries are made, how might our categories for the young change again in the future? (I)One of the most culturally significant inventions of the past century was the teenager. (II) In tougher times in history, teenagers had to grow up quickly and behave like older adults. (III) It is now difficult to imagine that we ever existed without our teenager years, but if you could timetravel back a few centuries, you would find that the modern idea of the teenager was an alien concept.
6B Back in the 1500s, for example, most Western adolescents would have been workers, recruited into the world of adult labour from as early as seven years old, according to the historian of childhood Hugh Cunningham of the University of Kent. In rural economies, this may have involved farm work to support the family's agricultural income, but as industrialisation spread in the 18th and 19th centuries, many teens became factory workers, working alongside their adult peers. In the late 1800s, writes Cunningham, children in the US were contributing around a third of family income by the time their father was in his 50s. There was no universal schooling , and only the wealthiest could tap into a \"bank of mum and dad\" (the idea of parents helping younger family members with expenses) to provide food and shelter.C However, as the living standards and education policies began to change in the developedworld, in the early 20th century, young people were increasingly able to live fully under the wings of their parents for longer. They were supported financially and emotionally. But even then, the invention of the modern teenager wouldn't happen immediately. Before World War Two (WWII), the term teenager had occasionally been used, but it was only in the late 1940s and 1950s that it became more common. Around this time, a number of different forces converged to make that happen. In rich countries, it became much more likely for a young person to stay in school for their teenage years. In the late 1940s, schooling in the UK was made compulsory up to the age of 15. And in the US, high school graduation rates grew from less than 10% at the start of the century to around 60% by the mid-1950s. Post-WWII, historians also note that social attitudes towards the rights of young people changed in many Western nations: the sense that young people had a duty to serve their parents weakened, and their own wishes and values began to be listened to more.D One sector of society that was listening to these needs the most was commerce. In the 1950s, companies realised that teenagers could also be influencers. __________. As a writer for the New Yorker noted in 1958: \"To some extent, the teenage market – and, in fact, the very notion of the teenager – has been created by the businessmen who exploit it.\" Back then, it was all about taking advantage of rebellion, hot-rods (automobiles modified for high speed) and rock n' roll. The point is that the perception of teenagers as cool, trend-setting and influential was – and still is – just as much a creation of commerce and media as a reflection of reality. Teenage music, fashion and language moves across the rest of society in waves, supercharged by industries established to profit from them.E All this means that the teenager as we know it was very much a 20th-Century invention. The question is, will these cultural perceptions change again in the future? Over the past decade or two, there have been some intriguing changes in the attributes of the teenager. The psychologist Jean Twenge of San Diego State University notes that teens are growing up more slowly by many measures, compared with their 20th-Century counterparts. A typical 17-18-year-old in the US, for example, is now less likely to have tried alcohol, have had sex, or acquired their driver's licence, compared with similarly-aged teens only 20 years ago. A 13-14-year-old is less likely to have a job or to have gone on dates. Meanwhile other measures of early adulthood, such as teenage pregnancy, have reached historic lows in the US and Europe.F Twenge points to a number of reasons why growing up is slowing down. There's little doubt that technology and the internet has played a major role, meaning more interaction with peers happens online and in the home, where sex, experimentation and trouble are perhaps less likely.
7For this reason, she calls this latest crop of young people the \"iGen\" generation. But she also points out that some of these trends were already beginning before the online culture of the 21st century, and so the internet can't be totally blamed. Her hypothesis is that teens behave differently depending on how hostile and merciless their local environment feels to them, an idea that social scientists called \"life history theory\". When times were difficult in the past, teens were forced to take a \"fast life strategy\", growing up faster, reproducing earlier and focusing on basic needs. Now life in the West is generally less challenging and families are wealthier – at least on average – so it is possible for teens to take a \"slow life strategy\", delaying the transition to more adult behaviours.G A slower path to adulthood is not the only way that cultural perceptions of youth may need updating. In recent years, science has also shown that adolescence doesn't finish at the end of the teenage years. By 20 years old, a young person is usually considered an adult: their body size is fully grown, they can vote, get married, and many have already entered the workplace. But the evidence suggests that, by many important measures, adolescence continues until around the age of 24 to 25. At the end of the teens, puberty may have finished but the development and maturation of the brain is far from complete. Brain imaging shows that white matter, for instance, continues to increase into the mid-20s, coupled with a rise in cortical complexity. Some researchers now also see these years as an important developmental social stage too, where young people are still learning about intimacy, friendship, family, self-expression, and political and social awareness, and so deserve more support and protection than they currently receive from society. Therefore, could there be a case for recognizing these older adolescents as a distinct demographic group? Should we allow them to delay their entry into the fully adult world of life and work? It might seem like spoiling to some, but then again, our ancestors might have said the same about how we treat teenagers today.www.bbc.com10. Which one of the following does not belong in paragraph A?a) (I)b) (II)c) (III)11.What is the purpose of paragraph B?a) To draw attention to the economic reasons why teenagers had to work at a very young age in the past.b) To contrast the rural economies with industrial areas where teenagers had to do factory work.c) To describe the poor conditions of teenagers whose parents could not provide them with food and shelter.
812. According to paragraph C, which one of the following contributed to the appearance of the modern notion of teenager in the 20th century?a) Requirement of high school diploma for new jobsb) Increase in the age of compulsory schoolingc) The youth’s negative attitude towards society 13. Which one of the following best completes the blank in paragraph D?a) During these years, cultural perceptions of teenagers as rebellious and independent became more widely known.b) They were driving their own cars, getting into trouble, and experimenting with drink and drugs. c) They were capable of setting trends and spreading fashions, and therefore could be targeted for great profit.14. How does paragraph E relate to paragraph F? a) Paragraph E describes the recent changes in teenagers’ characteristics and paragraph F explains the factors that have contributed to this change.b) Paragraph E exemplifies the behavioral changes in teenagers in recent decades and paragraph F shows how these changes have increased online interaction. c) Paragraph E explains how today’s teenagers behave like mature adults and Paragraph F claims that the main reason for this change is the internet.15. According to paragraph G, what do the new research findings suggest about teenagers?a) Entering the workforce before the age of 25 allows teenagers to better develop their minds and social skills.b) Because of cultural changes, teenagers have difficulties in their relations with family and friends until they reach their mid-20s.c) Teenagers’ brains continue their process of maturation through development stages until mid-20s.16. What does the word “converged” in the text mean?a) followed each otherb) came togetherc) increased their effect
9TEXT IIIA Humans today are uniquely alone. For the majority of the existence of Homo sapiens, we shared the planet with many other types of human. At the time, when our lineage first evolved in Africa some 300,000 years ago, there were at least five others. And if you were going to place a bet on which of those would outlast all the rest, you might not have put your money on us. The odds would have seemed more favourable for the Neanderthals, who had already adapted to live in colder conditions and expanded to inhabit much of Eurasia or Homo erectus, who had made a success of living in south-east Asia. By contrast, our direct Homo sapiens ancestors were new on the planet, and wouldn’t successfully settle outside of Africa until more than 200,000 years later. Yet, by 40,000 years ago, or possibly a bit more recently, we were the only humans left standing. Why?B Many explanations have been put forward: brainpower, language or just luck. Now, a new idea is building momentum to explain our dominance. Ironically, it may be our seemingly deepest vulnerabilities such as being dependent on others, feeling compassion and experiencing empathy that could have given us the edge. Today, surrounded by computers, phones and all the other clever things we have invented, it is easy to pin our success on our cognitive abilities. But the more we learn about other types of human, the more they seem similar to us in this regard. In the case of Neanderthals, and possibly the mysterious Denisovans (a group of ancient humans), similarities include the ability to make sophisticated tools, such as projectile spears that enabledthem to hunt large animals. In the same way, we are discovering that artistic talent – a marker for the ability to think symbolically, and thought to be another vital ingredient for our dominance –wasn’t just the domain of our species. Homo erectus carved patterns onto shells some 500,000years ago and Neanderthals drew on cave walls.C More recently, the focus has shifted from intelligence to our ability to network with strangers: the survival of the friendliest. Archaeological evidence shows, for example, that Homosapiens not only lived in larger groups than all other humans, but had an unparalleled ability to form alliances beyond their immediate group. It might be that these social abilities helped to make us the most adaptable humans, the only ones capable of occupying every single biome (anarea classified according to the species that live in that location) on the planet. Other humanscertainly became successful in living in particular environments. Homo heidelbergensis and the Neanderthals, for example, had the cultural and technological skills – the ability to makeclothing, fire and shelter – needed to branch out into colder climates. The miniscule newly discovered Homo luzonensis, along with Homo floresiensis (also called “the hobbit”), thrived in woodland environments. “But it is doubtful that these humans would have been successful if they were magically dropped in the other’s habitat, whereas ‘sapiens’ likely could have,” says Brian Stewart, an archaeologist at the University of Michigan.D However, it still isn’t clear how we became the masters of adaptability. Now, Penny Spikins, an archaeologist at the University of York, UK, has a new explanation. She thinks that our emotional nature and weaknesses gave us an advantage. “Our emotional neediness gave us the drive to connect with others,” she says. In addition, expanding our network made us more
10resilient, allowing us to flourish in many different environments. To understand why, we have to turn the clock back around 2 million years to when these complex emotions appear to have emerged, and travel to southern Africa to meet our ape-like ancestor Australopithecus. Here, we find the earliest known examples of the possible care for the sick or the injured. There is evidence from the skeletons of individuals who lived with bone problems that would have caused pain and disability, such as a teenage boy with a spinal tumor. “They almost certainly received some level of help, being given food and protection, to survive with these conditions,” says Spikins, whose book exploring these ideas, Hidden Depths: The origins of human connection, will be published next year.E When Homo sapiens emerged, they took these collaborative skills one step further and began to extensively interact with others outside their own immediate group, which is something not seen before. Exactly what drove this is unclear, but sudden changes in climate in Africa would have made life difficult, and those who collaborated may have been more likely to survive. Around 320,000 years ago, in the Olorgesailie basin in what is now southern Kenya, people began to transfer obsidian – a highly valued volcanic glass used for spear points – over longer distances, up to 90 kilometres in some cases. This suggests that interactions were occurring with neighbouring groups. Over time, these long-distance networks expanded. By 30,000 years ago, Stewart and his colleagues have shown that Homo sapiens in southern Africa were exchanging ostrich eggshell beads over distances of more than 300 kilometres.F This expansion of our social networks was a significant part of our success, says Chris Stringerat the Natural History Museum, London. “Interacting with more people allowed us to acquire behaviours and inventions from neighbouring groups, which may have aided survival.” By contrast, the Neanderthal’s insular way of life, separated from other humans and cultures, may have cost them a lot. Let us look at an example from Schöningen in Germany. Ten woodenthrowing spears, excavated from a mine in Schöningen, and dated to around 300,000 years ago, would have enabled those who used them – most probably early Neanderthals – to hunt big animals from a distance. “You would assume that such a good invention could never be lost, but maybe within 10,000 years of the Schöningen people living there, the entire area was covered by an ice sheet and all these Neanderthals were gone,” says Stringer. G By 50,000 years ago, Homo sapiens had become well established across Eurasia, having finally burst successfully out of Africa. Then, between 50,000 and 40,000 years ago, there seems to have been a crisis, from which the Neanderthals and Denisovans were never able to recover. There was an intense cooling of the climate and a major volcanic eruption in Italy around 39,000 years ago, and a reversal of Earth’s magnetic field around 42,000 years ago, which together are thought to have caused major climate changes around the world. __________. “Our drive to connect with others may have helped us to network more widely and cope better with the immense environmental changes at that time,” says Spikins. Luck certainly played a part too. Perhaps our emotional and social skills just happened to be the best tool to navigate this particular challenge. Had the environment been different, it might have been other types of human that were better equipped to cope. “If things had turned out differently, for example with a more stable climate, would it be Neanderthals’ ancestors here today?” says Spikins.From: www.newscientist.com
1117. Which one of the following is a paraphrase of the question asked in paragraph A?a) Why did Homo sapiens have to share the planet with other human species until recently?b) Why could only Homo sapiens manage to survive on the planet although other humans were better adapted to their environments?c) Why couldn’t Homo sapiens leave Africa earlier and spread to Eurasia and south-east Asia like other human species?18. According to paragraph B, which characteristic may have given the modern human an advantage over other human species?a) Being skillful in making toolsb) Being able to think symbolicallyc) Feeling sympathy for others 19. According to paragraph C, which one of the following represents homo sapiens’strength?a) They managed to prosper in a variety of climates and environmentsb) They were able to combine their physical, cultural and technical skillsc) They increased their chances of survival by avoiding colder climates 20. According to paragraph D, the evidence from our ancestor Australopithecus showsthat they had __________.a) the mental ability to cope with difficult conditionsb) skills in providing food and shelter for the communityc) the ability to have emotional connections with others21. What is the main idea of paragraph E?a) Climatic changes in Africa forced Homo sapiens to travel long distances and join other human groups.b) Increased cooperation and interaction with other human groups increased homo sapiens’ chances of survival.c) The exchange of valuable materials among different human groups caused early humans to make better tools.
1222. Which one of the following can we infer from the evidence found in Schöningen (para F)? a) The Neanderthals were more skilled than the Homo sapiens in making wooden throwing spears and hunting big animals from a distance.b) Thanks to the cooperation between different groups, early humans learned new inventions and shared knowledge.c) Because the Neanderthals weren’t part of a much wider social network, the technology that was invented in their group died with them.23. Which one of the following best fits in the blank in paragraph G? a) The more we look, the more we see evidence for increased social interaction and wider networks even before Homo sapiens emerged.b) It is possible that our emotions and communication skills were the most valuable resources that gave us an advantage during this difficult period.c) It seems that our Homo sapiens ancestors became more connected and tolerant towards others, but our desire to please others made us vulnerable too.24. What does the word “resilient” in the text mean? a) adaptableb) skillful c) communicativeTEXT IVA At a summit in Paris in February this year, technology bosses competed with each other to issue the most impressive claim about artificial intelligence. “AI will be the most profound shift of our lifetimes,” is how Sundar Pichai, Alphabet’s boss, put it. Dario Amodei, chief executive of Anthropic, said that it would lead to the “largest change to the global labor market in human history”. In a blog post, Sam Altman of OpenAI wrote that “In a decade perhaps everyone on earth will be capable of accomplishing more than the most effective person can today.”B Mr Altman’s prediction taps into an established school of thought. As large language models first gained popularity in the early 2020s, economists and bosses were hopeful that they, and other AI tools, would level the playing field, with lower-skilled workers benefiting most. Software capable of handling tasks such as protein-folding and poetry-writing would surely democratize opportunity. Jensen Huang, chief executive of Nvidia, a chip designer, envisioned a future in which workers “are all going to be CEOs of AI agents”. More recent findings have cast doubt on this vision, however. They instead suggest a future in which high-flyers fly still higher and the rest are left behind. In complex tasks such as research and management, new evidence indicates that high performers are best positioned to work with AI. Evaluating the output of models requires expertise and good judgment. Rather than narrowing disparities, AI is likely to widen workforce divides, much like past technological revolutions.
13C The case for AI as an equalizer was supported by research showing that technology enhances output most for less experienced workers. A study in 2023 by Erik Brynjolfsson of Stanford University and Danielle Li and Lindsey Raymond of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) found that generative-AI tools boosted productivity by 34% for beginner customersupport workers, helping them resolve queries faster and more effectively. Experienced workers, by contrast, saw little benefit, as the AI reinforced approaches they were already using. This suggested that technology could narrow gaps by transferring best practices from talented to less talented employees. A similar trend was observed in knowledge-intensive tasks. Research by Shakked Noy and Whitney Zhang, both of MIT, found that weaker writers experienced the greatest improvements in the quality of their work when using OpenAI’s ChatGPT to draft materials such as press releases and reports. Many saw better quality simply by using the AI’s unedited output, which shows its ability to elevate baseline performance. Similarly, Jonathan Choi of the University of Southern California found a general-purpose AI tool improved the quality of legal work, such as drafting contracts, most notably for the least talented law students.D The problem is that this kind of benefit is erased by another effect. A job can be considered as a package of tasks, which technology may either automate or assist with. For example, for airtraffic controllers, technology is an improvement: it processes flight data while leaving decisions to humans, keeping wages high. (I) AI reshapes work by freeing up a couple of hours a week for employees, allowing them to focus on creative work. By contrast, self-check-out systems simplify cashiers’ roles, automating tasks such as calculating change. This lowers the skill requirement, causing wages to decrease. (II)Thus despite the early optimism, customer-service agents and other low-skilled workers may face a future similar to cashiers’ future. Their repetitive tasks are susceptible to automation. Amit Zavery of ServiceNow, a business-software company, estimates that more than 85% of customer-service cases for some clients no longer require human involvement. (III) As AI advances, this figure will probably rise, leaving fewer agents to handle only the most complex cases. Although AI may at first boost productivity, its long-term impact will turn skills into mechanized tasks that can be bought as a package.E Unlike earlier automation, which replaced routine jobs such as assembly-line work and bookkeeping, AI may extend its reach to non-routine and creative work. It can recognize patterns and make predictions without explicit instruction; perhaps, in time, it will be able to write entertaining scripts and design useful products. For the moment it seems as though, in high-wage industries, it is junior staff who are the most vulnerable to automation. At A&O Shearman, a law firm, AI tools now handle much of the routine work once done by associates or paralegals –employees who perform tasks such as preparing legal documents, and assisting with client communication. The company’s software can analyze contracts, compare them with past deals and suggest revisions in under 30 seconds. Top performers have been best at using the technology to make strategic decisions, says David Wakeling, the firm’s head of AI.F The change in recent economic research supports his observation. Although early studies suggested that lower performers could benefit simply by copying AI outputs, newer studies look at more complex tasks, such as scientific research, running a business and investing money. In these contexts, high performers benefit far more than their lower-performing peers. Labor markets have always been defined by the destruction of old roles and the creation of new ones. David Autor of MIT has estimated that 60% or so of work in America in 2018 did not exist in
141940. The job of “airplane designer” was added to the census in the 1950s; “conference planner” arrived in the 1990s. But who will take AI’s new jobs when they emerge? History suggests that technological upheavals favor the skilled. In the Industrial Revolution, engineers who mastered new machinery saw their wages soar as routine laborers lost out. The computer age rewarded software engineers and rendered typists obsolete. AI appears ready to follow a similar path, benefiting those with the judgment, agility and expertise to navigate complex, information-rich environments. Moreover, today’s AI tools are just the beginning. As the technology grows more sophisticated, semi-autonomous agents capable of acting independently—of the sort envisioned by Mr. Huang—may transform workplaces. That might make every worker a CEO of sorts, just as the Nvidia chief executive has predicted. But there will be no levelling-out: the most talented will still make the best CEOs.www.theeconomist.com25. What is the purpose of the quotes given in paragraph A?a) To present the most important technology bosses who contribute to the progress of AIb) To introduce the idea that AI is predicted to cause unparalleled changes in human lifec) To draw attention to the fact that fierce competition in AI may have negative effects 26. As we understand from paragraph B, in the future, working with AI tools will ________.a) be most beneficial for highly skilled workers performing complex tasks b) will enable many people to improve their skills in science, literature and arts c) decrease the gap between high and low-performers in areas requiring expertise27. Which one of the following do the research findings presented in paragraph C support?a) In knowledge-intensive tasks, talented workers benefit more from AI tools.b) AI tools are insufficient in assisting with complex tasks such as writing reports.c) Using AI tools increases inexperienced employees’ work efficiency and quality.28. Which one of the following does not belong in paragraph D?a) (I)b) (II)c) (III)
1529. As we understand from paragraph E, junior lawyers are now more likely to lose their jobs as AI tools __________.a) are capable of taking decisions in legal cases b) can quickly and effectively prepare legal documents c) can design contracts from scratch by adding original parts 30. What can be inferred from paragraph F about AI’s future effect?a) Software engineering will remain one of the most important careers.b) Talented workers will excel by finding creative ways of using AI.c) Workers who use AI tools will have better judgment and expertise.31. What does the word “upheaval” in the text mean? a) disruptionb) enlargementc) transformation
16CAREFUL READING AND VOCABULARY FALL 2025 SET II ANSWER KEY TEXT I1 B2 A3 C4 A5 C6 B7 B8 B9 ATEXT II 10 B11 A12 B13 C14 A15 C16 BTEXT III17 B18 C19 A20 C21 B22 C23 B24 ATEXT IV25 B26 A27 C28 A29 B30 B31 A