SECTION I.~ LISTENING (50 points) . .

Part 1: You will hear an interview with the presenter of a popular radio series about
food and cooking. For questions 1-5, choose the answer (A, B, C or D) which fits best
according to what you hear. The recording will be played TWICE. (10 pts) ·

1. What has made "Just a taste" so popular?

A. it gives advice about how to cook traditional dishes.
B.. it features interviews with professional chefs.
C. it takes a humorous approach.
D. it presents food and cooking in a more personal light.
2. The presenter of the programme believes that smells._ __
A. will one day be made available to listeners
B. can never be part of a radio cookery programme
C. are more important than sounds in the kitchen
D. cannot be successfully imagined by listeners
3. What makes describing a dish particularly difficult?
A. There are too many ingredients to describe.
B. Listeners are mainly interested in what they should be aiming for.
C. There is a lack of appropriate vocabulary.
D. Each stage of the cooking process needs to be described.
4. The presenter of the series mentions Iceland because _ __
A. it has a particularly unusual cuisine
B. fish-based dishes are particularly popular there
C. it has turned natural features to its advantage
D. it produces large quantities of fruit and vegetables
5. The spices asafoetida and turmeric are used in South India cooking _ __
A. mainly for the,i r therapeutic properties
B. mainly for their taste
C. by filtering them into the food
D. it produces large quantities of fruit and vegetables
Your answers:

I 1. 12. , 3. , 4. 15
Part 2: You will hear a lecture on the importance oflaughter. For questions 6-11, complete
the notes below. Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each answer: The recording
will be played TWICE. (12 pts)
LAUGHTER
* The nature of laughter
- Laughter is a (6) _ _ _ _ _ _ process- involves movement and sound.
- It is controlled by our (7) _ _ _ _ __
* Reasons for laughter
- Only 10 % oflaughter is caused by jokes/ funny stories.
- May have begun as sign of (8) _ _ _ _ _ _ after a dangerous situation.
·- Nowadays, may help to develop (9) _ _ _ _ _ _ within a group.
- Connected to (IO) _ _ _ _ _ _ (e.g. use of humor by politicians or bosses)
- May be related to male/ female differences (e.g.women laugh more at male speakers)
- May be used in a ( 11) _ _ _ _ _ _ way to keep someone out of a _group.
Your answers:

1
 6. - -- - - ---- 9. - - -- - - - - - -
7. - -- - - - - - - 10. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

8. - - - - - - - - - 11. _ __ _ _ _ _ _ __
Part 3. Listen to the lecture and decide if the follow ing statem
ents are Tor F. The recording
will be played TWICE. (10 pts)
12. The lectures aim to raise students' awareness of psychological featur
es in learning process.
13. Theory of multiple intelligence appeared before Gardner's theor
y.
14. A person with kinaesthetic intelligence is good at bodily motion.
15. Being ·sensitive to others' feelings is known as interpersonal intell
igence.
16. Visually intelligent learners like learning through diagrams.
Your answers:

\ 12. \B. 1
14.
1
15. \ 16.

Part 4. Listen to 'the recording about ozone layer and fill in

the gap with NO MORE
THAN TH~ E WOR DS taken from the recording. The recor
ding will be played TWICE.
(18 pts)

17. The ozone layer plays an indispensable role in the Earth's _ _

_ _ __ _ that takes
in the sun's precarious radiation
18. As a result of ill-adviced choices. human have created a considerab
le hole that destroys this
19. Between three months from September to December, this ominous
hole covers most of
Antarctica, which results in _ _ _ _ _ _ _ where half of the
ozone layer has
disappeared.
20. The decline in the quantity of ozone since the late 1970s can be
ascribed to the continual
use of · , which can be identified in hairspray or deorderant.
21 . What if the ozone destruction was _ _ _ _ _ _ _ and the
life facilitating the layer
disappeared?
22. UV light is p~rt and parcel of many main processes of a plant's
life, such as cell expansion
and - - -
- -- -
23. If vital crops were damaged, the entire food chain would be sent
into
24. As time elapses, the • would accumulate and earth_w_o_u-ld- ad_a_p_t_a__
smelling odour.
25. If exposing to unfiltered radiation for even less than five minutes,
suffer from a kind of human body would
- ------
Your answers:
17.
22.
18.
23.
19.
24.
20.
25.
21.
SECT ION II. LEX ICO- GRA MMA R (40 points)

2
Part 1. Choose the best answer A, B, c, or D to complete the following sentences. Write your
answers in the corresponding numbered boxes. (20 pts)
1. The picking of the fruit, _ _ _, takes about a week.
A. whose work they receive no money. B. as they receive no money for that work
C. for which work they receive no money D. they receive no money for it
2. I'm afraid that the herring we had for dinner has given me _ __
A. sickness B. indisposition C. infection D. 'in4igestion
3. Architectural pressure groups fought unsuccessfully to save a terrace of eighteenth century
houses from___ , ·
A. disruption B. abolition C. demolition D. dismantling
4.The manager's future _ _ _ whether the team wins or loses this one game.
A. stems from B. rests on C. derives·from D. counts on
5. Never buy anything second-hand. I bought a second-hand fridge a month and it was

A. trouble from the word go B. too awful for words

C. a play on word D. lost for words
6. It's a bit of a _ _ _ statement to say that "all Welsh people can sing" or "all black people
can dance". I know lots who can do either.
A. sweeping B. general C. broad D. tough
7. After congratulating his team, the coach left, allowing the players to let their _ _ _ down
for a while.
A. hair B. heads C. hearts D. souls
8. Sara brought in a lot of business last month; She should ask for a pay rise while she's still on
a---
A. run B. roll C. rush D. roam
9. The injury destroyed his hopes of being _ _ _ world champion.
A. peaked B. crowded C. awarded D. topped
10. After a six-year relationship, Martha and Billy have decided to ,,
A. break the bank B. turn the page C. tie the knot D. make the grade
11. His delight at getting the job was _ __ by the realizMion that it would involve long
hours commuting every day. ·
A. dimmed B. tempered C. modified D. moistened
12. I've _ _ _ how many times she's been late for work this month.
A. lost my marbles of B. lost count of C. lost my head of D. lost my mind of
13. All the others were experts and I was out of my _ __ in the conversation.
A. level B. depth C. limit D. range
14. Despite all the evidence, he wouldn't admit that he was in the
- --
A. fault B. error C. wrong D. slip
15. Politicians often promise to solve all a country's problems _ _ _
A. thick and fast B. at a stroke C. on the whole D. of set purpose
16. The government has agreed to _ _ _an additional £5 million to schools in
underprivileged regions.
A. dole out B. tip off C. crack down D. to~s off
17. After testing positive on a doping test, the renowned athlete was advised to lay low and
avoid the press like the - - -
A. plague B. hawk C. wildfire D. wj..n.d
18. There is no need to get so _ _ _ about being turned down. There are other advertising
agencies out there, you know. •
A. destitute B. descendant C. despondent D. despicable
19. He likes nothing better than to spend his Sunday mornings _ _ _ in the gardens.
3
A. pottering about B. hanging around C. whiling away D. winding down
20. The footballer never really recovered from the injury he _ _ _ at the beginning of the
l
season.
A. got B. struck C. endured D. sustained
Your answers:

11. \ 5. \ 6. \ 9. I10.
111. 112. 115. \ 16. \ 19. 20.

Part 2. Give the correct form of each bracketed word in the following passages. Write your
answers in the corresponding numbered boxes. (10 pts)
Passage 1. In a class ofyour own

Like any form of education, the (1. TEACH) ____ course has its advantages as
well as its drawbacks. On the o~ hand, you are (2. AUTONOMY) ____; no classroom,
no timetable and so no risk of getting a bad attendance record. You are able to study at your
own pace; at home, in the car or wherever your Walkman takes you. On the other hand, can
you really trust yourself to be (3. SUFFICE) ____ motivated without some form of
external stimulus?
I procrastinated dreadfully before beginning my first Spanish course. I made coffee, did
domestic chores that were anything but (4. PRESS) ____ ; I even watched daytime
television. But, once I got started, I found the course surprisingly engaging. The multimedia
formats, colourful textbooks and imaginative teaching methods all drew me into the
excitement of learning a new language.
Of course, if your aim is (5. EXPERT) ____ in the language, nothing can beat
actually going to the country concerned. Round-the-clock immersion is clearly always going to
be more effective than the odd half hour with a set tapes. But that odd half hour wi!l give you
an invaluable hea,d start when you step out onto the streets.
Passage 2
Complaining can be used constructively, for example to draw attention to inefficiency
but all too often in western society it consists of (6. SOCIAL) ____ moaning and
groaning which leads to mistrust and unnecessary arguments within relationships. So it is
refreshing to liv~ in a society where people do not complain. By western standards, the
islanders, diet is plain and monotonous but thanks to plentiful fish, none of the islanders suffer
from (7. NUTRIENT ) ____. Feasts are popular social occasions, but if the fish is (8. DO)
_____ or the rice proven to be (9. EAT) _ _ _ _, nobody complains. Similarly; in
restaurants, if the waiter brings the wrong dish or the bill is (10. CALCULAT E) ____, the
error is pointed out with a calm smile, not a surly frown.
Your answesr:
1. - - - - - - - - - - - 6. - - - -
-------
2. - - - - - - - - - - - 7. _____ ______

3. - - - - - - - - - - - 8. - - - - - - - - - - -
4. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
9. - - - - - - - - - - -
5. - - - - - - - - - - - 10. - - - - - - - - - - -

4
Part 3. Identify 10 errors in the following passage and correct them, (0) has been done as an
example. Write your answers in the correspondinf! numbered boxes. (10 pts).
Line
0 The role of the traditional zoo, inheriting from the 19th century, has undergone a
1 dramatic shift. A growing recognition that zoos ought to be in the vanguard of the fight
2 for the devastation of our natural world has begun a zoologic revolution. The change
3 occurred in the 1960s, when the Jersey zoo was set up to breed endangered species. As
4 a result, the breeding of animals in captive has become a complex science, with zoos
5 around the world co-ordinate their efforts to avoid the genetic dangers of in-breeding
6 small populations. ;
7 The answer for the question of whether zoos can have much impact on the
8 preservation of endangered species is probab!y minimal. Zoos do not focus their
9 education efforts on those people in the strongest positions to affect _the future of the
10 wildlife being exhibited. For the most part, conservation education is targeted at
11 children and other non-decision makers in a process too slow or too far away to address
12 the extinction crisis which exists now. Furthermore, the efforts of zoos to inform
13 lawmakers and government authorities are usually low-key or un-existent. Campaigns
14 are more likely to be for an animal exhibit other than for the existence of the animal
15 itself.
16 Nevertheless , it does not do to address the future from a foundation of pessimism. A
17 vision of the future is embraced in which the human population has leveled off at about
18 8.8 billion and wherein human effects upon the environment have been tethered and
19 considerable wildlife remain. It certainly will not be as rich or abundant as today's
20 wildlife, but with substantially diversity, numbers of more or less wild ecosystems, and
21 the zoos' work, this vision can become reality.

Your answers:
Line Mistakes Corrections
0 inheriting inherited
' .

SECTION III. READING (50 points)

Part 1. For questions 1-10, read the text below and think of the word which best fits each
space. Use only one word in each space. Write your answers in the corresponding numbered
boxes. (JO pts)
Memory Theories •
Theories about memory are important because they offer ( 1) _ _ _ about how
individuals learn. Since learning is relatively (2) _ _ _ influence on behavior, knowledge,
5
and thinking skills that results when information is (3) ___ through experience, · and
7
experience is (4) ___ contacted with or observation of facts or events, then memory is the
retained information from experience.
. Memory (5) ___ involves three main processes. They are encoding, storage, and
retrieval. Encoding is the process of taking infonnation as it is experience; storage is the metal
process of storing or (6) ___ that information in the mind; and retrieval is the process of
recalling information as it is (7) ___ for specific or related tasks.
Encoding relies on learning and attention. While learning involves how the senses
interpret an experience, attention is concentrating and focusing (8) ___ resources on a
specific task. Attention includes being able to shift from one activity to another and to use
different skills to accomplish a relevant goal. For example, in order to (9) ___ to writing a
sentence, an individual must focus on the purpose of the letter as well as how to write the
letters and and how to spell the words correctly on (10) ___. Proper capitalization,
grammar and punctuation must be implemented.

Your answers:
I 4. I5.
I~: \ 9. 110.

Part 2. For queslions 1-8, read the extract below and decide which answer (A, B, C or D)
best fits each gap. (8 pts)
GREENHOUSE GAS ALERT
Friday 10 May 2013 was a climate (1) ___ inhuman history. It was the day when
data released by the carbon dioxide (2) ___ stations at Mauna Loa revealed that the
greenhouse gas h~d reached its highest level for more than three million years. The 400 ppm
barrier which was last broken during the Pliocene era, is regarded as an indication that the
increase in global average temperature is approaching the (3) ___ of no return.
Although the catastrophic consequences of climate change do not appear to be just
round the :(4) _ _ _, various regions across the world are already feeling the effects of rising
temperatures. Wet and cold spells during European summers, for example, have been (5)
- - - to changes in the .high-level jet stream winds caused by melting sea ice in the Arctic,
which has now ( 6) _ _ _ to its wwest level.
Despite views to the (7) ___, the rising carbon dioxide levels are cause for concern.
If this warning sign goes unheeded, we are in danger of (8) _ _ _ the climate clock to a time
when humans did not roam this planet.

1. A. benchmark•· B. yardstick C. way station D. milestone

2. A. observing B. counting C. evaluating D. monitoring
3. A. stage B. level C. point D. verge
4. A. comer B. bend C. verge D. cusp
5. A. linked B. associated C. referred D.joined
6. A. reduced B. recorded C. wasted D. shrunk
7. A. opposite B. converse C. contrary D . alternative
8. A. setting off B. turning back C. winding up D. changing down
Your answers:
11. 12. I 3. 14. 15. 16. 11. 1s.
Part 3. You are going to read a text about the impact of social media. For question 1-5,
choose the answer (A, B, C, or D) which you think fits best according to the text. (5 pts)
The Impact of social Media on Children, Adolescents and Families
Engaging in social media is a routine activity that has been shown to benefit young
people by enhancing communication and social skills. Social media sites such as Facebook
offer multiple opportunities for connecting with friends and people with shared interests. In
recent years, the number of young people using such sites has increased drammatically, with
many logging on more than ten times a day. In addition, a large proportion of teenagers noe
own mobile phones, so a large part of their social and emotional development is occurring
while they are on the Internaet or on mobiles.
Because of their limited capacity for self-regulation and susceptibility to peer pressure,
young people are at some risk as they experiment with social media. Research indicates that
there are frequent online expressions of offline behavieurs, such as bullying and clique-
forming, that have introduced problems such as cyberbullying. Other problems ath merit
awareness include internet addiction.
Many parents today use technology incredibly well and feel cpmfortable with the
programs and online venues that their children are using. Nevertheless, for various reasons,
some may find it difficult to relate to their digitally smart. youngsters. Such parents may lack a
basic u.,derstanding of these forms of socialization, which are integral to children's lives.
Frequently, the do not have the technical abilities or time needed to keep pace with their
children in their ever-changing internet habits. In addition, these parents often lack a basic
understanding that children's online lives are an extension of their offline lives. The result can
be a knowledge and skill gap, \1/hich creates a disconnect in how these parents and their
children relate.
Social media sites allow young people to accomplish online many of the tasks that are
important to them offline: staying connected with friends and family, making new friends, and
exchanging ideas. Other students also use social media to connect with one another on school
work. For example, Facebook allows students to gather outside class to e}f.change ideas about
assignments. Some schools successfully use biogs as teaching tools, which has the benefit of
reinforcing skills in written expression and creativity. Adolescents are also finding that they
can access online information about their health concern~ easily and anonymously. Excellent
health resources are increasingly available to youth on topics such as stress reduction.
However, because of their young age, adolescents can encounter inaccuracies during these
searches and may require parental involvement to be sure they are using reliable online
resources, interpreting the information correctly, and not becoming overwhelmed by what they
are reading.
Using social media becomes a risk to adolescents more often than adults realize. Most
risks fall into these categories: peer-to-peer; lack of understanding of online privacy issues;
and the influences of advertisers. Although "online harassment" is often used interchangeably
with the term "cyberbullying", it is actually different. Research suggests that online harassment
is not as common as offline harassment, and participation in social networking sites does not
put most children at risk of onlne harassment. Cyberbullying is deliberately using digital media
to communicate false, embarrassing, or hostile information about another person. It is the most
common online risk for all teens, and can have profound emotional effects.
Researchers have proposed a new phenomenon called "Facebook depression", defined
as depression that develops when youngsters spend a great deal of time on social media sites
and then begin to exhibit classic symtoms of depression. The intensity of the online world is
thought to be a factor that may trigger depression in some adolescents. As with offiine
depression, young people who suffer from Facebook depfession are at risk of social isolation
and sometimes tum to risky internet sites for "help". The main risks to young people online
7
r today are each other, risks of improper use of technology, lack of privacy, or posting false
information about themselves or others. These types of behaviour endanger their privacy.
When people go onto wedsites, they can leave evidence of their visits. This ongoing
record of online activity is called the "digital footprint". One of the biggest threats to young
people on social media sites is to their digital footprint and future reputations. Young people
who lack an awareness of privacy issues often post inappropriate material without
understanding that "what goes online stays online". As a result, future job and college
acceptance may be put in jeopardy by inexperienced clicks of the mouse.

1. How does the writer explain why young people could face some problems when they use
social media?
A. They spend more time than they should on social media sites.
B. They cannot control their use of social media sites well enough.
C. Th_ey are unaware of the ways in which others use social media sites.
D. Their use of social media sites and mobile phones has increased
2. The writer suggests that there is a problem between parents and their children because
parents ___ ._,
A. do not understand the technology behind social media sites
B. take little interest in their children's online behaviour
C. feel excluded from their children's online lives
D. do not understand the relationship between children's online and offline lives
3. The writer suggests it may be dangerous for young people to access online health
information because - - -
A. they can get information without saying who they are
B. the information they find may not be correct
C. they may refuse to share the information they find with their parents
D. they may not be able to find the information they need
4. In the sixth paragraph, the writer suggests that young social media users who feel socially
excluded may _ __
A. ,give away more personal information than they should
B. be at risk of becoming seriously depressed
C. loek for advice and support on unreliable wedsites
D. tell lies about themselves and other people
5. The writer uses the term 'digital footprint' to refer to _ __
A. a permanent account of someone's contributions to a social media site
B. a list of places someone has visited
C. the information that someone wishes to keep private

1-1.--,2-.- ~ ,3-.- - ,4-.

Your answers:
-~,-5.-~
D. a record of jobs and college places someone has applied for

Part 4. You are going to read an introduction to a book. Seven paragraphs have been
removed from the extract. Choose from the paragraphs A-H the one which fits each gap (1-
7). There is one extra paragraph which you do not need to use. (7 pts)

If you work for an advertising agency, the early years of the 1990s may well have been the
toughest of your professional life. The recession in business was bad enough. It was longer,
deeper and more severe than anticipated by even the most pessimistic, hitting industrialised
nations as h~d as anything else for thirty years.
8
1.
---
Eve~ single business in the country was affected, some the vehicle and building trades -
findmg themselves 30 per cent down. A lot of people - a lot of companies in a lot of countries
s~ffered. Of course, advertising people are scarcely unique in losing their jobs in such difficult
times, but of all those still in employment, they often feel particularly under pressure.

2. _ __
And yet, alongside these psychological and fmancial imperatives lies an almost paradoxical
ri~e in the perceived importance of the marketing process. The notion that companies should
be making sure they are producing services and goods that their customers want, as opposed to
merely what it is convenient for them to provide, is not a new one. Still, it's scarcely unfair to
say that it has been only over the past ten or fifteen years that many companies seem to have
put the idea intentionally, rather than fortuitously, into practice. .

3. ---
All these things have pleasingly increased the status of marketing people, while simultaneously
adding to their burden. Marketing is increasingly regarded as that which it is not: a universal
panacea. With approximately half of most marketing budgets being spent on advertising,
there's some truth in saying that the buck then stops with the ad-people. It is certainly true that
if the 80s was the decade in which advertising never had it so good, the start of the 90s saw the
industry enduring its worst. downturn for a generation. This was, of course, partly a direct
consequence of the economic climate at the time.

4. _ __
And, generally, in the absence of concrete, convincing and quantitative evidence to the
contrary, they had to conclude that the benefits of advertising might be questionable. At a time
"'.hen enthusiasm to account for every dollar spent was naturally high, it was simply not clear
enough to many client companies exactly what they were getting for the large sums of money
they were spending, exactly what return they were seeing on their investment. Advertising -
ever a business to excite the suspicions of the sceptic - wa_s, as a consequence, more than ever
before on trial.

5. _ __
Now, while none of this should elicit sympathy for a thoroughly tough business, it does mean
that many of those advertising people still in work continue to face precisely the same
problems as their clients: how to do more with less. If this is, in itself, sufficiently trying, a
number of other factors have made the production of effective advertising particularly difficult.
.
6. - - -
These inclade, for example, the dramatic demographic changes facing much of the West; the
burgeoning power of the retailer; the changing needs and desires of consumers; the rise of
sponsorship; the increasingly onerous legal restrictions on advertising. And, of course, for
some companies there is the new challenge of advertising abroad. Together with the economic
situation, it is these matters which have forced many of those responsible for advertising to
revisit Lord Leverhulme's commonplace that: 'Only half my advertising works. The trouble is I
don't know which half. Because now more than ever before, the pressure is on to increase the
proportion of advertising that works.

7. - - -
9
This means that while conferences and seminars may provide some useful information, the
books currently available on advertising, and how to do it, really don't. Those that are available
tend to treat the process of producing advertising with too much respect. To give the
impression that the work advertising agencies produce is invariably of the highest quality,
deeply considered and remarkable value for money, is neither true nor likely to help those
employees of the client company who are ultimately responsible.

Missing paragraphs

A. Thus, client companies almost everywhere took the view of one of their leaders quoted in
the British trade 'magazine Campaign: "We want better strategies, better targeting, better
creativity, better media placement, better thinking. We aim to ensure we get advertising
agencies' best people on our business and then ensure they are motivated to work their fingers
to the bone, producing outstanding work for us.

B. The consequ~nces have been that marketing activities have at last begun to be given the
attention they deserve by management, that these people have acquired a little learning about
the subject, and that a few brands have actually begun to be genuinely marketed.

C. Ultimately, the poverty of the current advertising scene is due to the nature of the
relationship between agencies and their clients. The best way of getting better advertising lles
partly in improving this, and partly in adopting a more empirical approach to the whole
advertising process.

D. However, there was also evidence of more deep seated change which would not simply be
waved away as, and when, economic prospects brightened. The fact was that while this
recession naturally caused potential clients to review, reconsider and often cut their budgets at
the time, it also made them examine more closely than ever before the economics of
advertising.

E. It is not terribly surprising that, at the moment, help for those who want or need to do just
that is far from freely available. ·Generally, companies and the advertising agencies they use
have been far too busy simply coping with these circumstances to wish to talk or write about
them, while th(?se that have succeeded in keeping their heads above water are often
understandably anxious to keep the secrets of their success to themselves.

F. Seen, as they are, to spearhead efforts to support the bottom line, they suppose themselves
to be under close enough scrutiny from their colleagues, let alone their bosses. Moreover, they
are also faced with the very considerable problem of increasingly being asked to do their ever
more difficult jobs with smaller and smaller budgets. They have been told that less must be
more.

G. Some of these are a direct consequence of the recession discussed earlier: the controversy
over production costs, and the disinclination to take the sort of risks that are ironically often
the essence of good advertising. Other events would have happened irrespective of local or
global economic conditions.

H. In Britain, it meant in 1991 alone that while gross domestic product (GDP) declined,
.
interest rates remained punitively high, consumer spending on almost everything other than

10
staples fell, more than half a million people lost their jobs, and some 75,000 homes were
repossessed.

Your answers:

L_11._ _L_l2_· ___LJ_3· _....J.._J4_· _------1..1_s. ---'-----16_· _____._I_1 · _ I.

Part 5. Read the passage and do the tasks that follow. (10 pts)
Multitasking
In the social media era, we're all required to do several things at onte. But this constant
multitasking is taking its toll. Neuroscientist Daniel J Levitin talks about our addicition
to technology and its impact.

Our brains are busier than ever before. We're assaulted with facts, pseudo facts, jibber-jabber,
and rumour, all posing as information. Trying to figure out what you need to know and what
you can ignore is exhausting. At the same time, we are all doing more. Thirty years ago, travel
agents made our airline reservations and salespeople helped us find what we needed in shops.
Now we do most things ourselves. We're doing a broad spectrum of tasks while still trying to
keep up with our lives, our families, our hobbies and our favourite TV shows, and helping us
do all this is our smartphones. They play a pivotal role - part of the 21st-century mania for
cramming everything we do into every single spare moment of downtime. ·

But there's a fly in the ointment. Although we think we're multitasking - doing several things at
once-and making a good job of it, this is a powerful illusion. Now new research shows that the
mind can easily deal with two separate tasks at the same time, because it can channel them into
the two separate parts of the front of the brain. However, when a third activity was introduced
the mind became overloaded. Earl Miller, a neuroscientist at MIT and wo!ld expert on divided
attention, says that our brains are 'not wired to multitask well... When · people think they're
multitasking, they're actually just switching from one task to another very rapidly. And every
time they do, there's a cognitive cost in doing so'. So we're not actually keeping a lot of balls in
the air like expert jugglers; we're more like amateur plate spinners, frantically switching from
one task to another, ignoring the one that's not right in. front of us but worried it'll come
crashing down any minute. Even though we think we're getting a lot done, ironically,
multitasking makes us demonstrably less efficient.

Multitasking has been found to increase the production of the stress hormone cortisol as well
as the fight-or flight hormone adrenaline, which can overstimulate your brain and cause mental
fog or scrambled thinking. Multitasking creates a dopamine-addiction feedback loop,
effectively rewarding the brain for losing focus and for constantly searching for external
stimulation. To make matters worse, the area of the brain known as the prefrontal cortex has a
novelty bias, meaning that its attention can be easily hijacked by something new - the
proverbial shiny objects that we use to entice infants, for example. The irony here for those of
us who are trying to focus amid competing activities is clear, the very brain region we need to
rely on for staying on task is easily distracted.
'
Just having the opportunity to multitask is detrimental to cognitive performance. Glenn
Wilson, former visiting. professor of psychology at Gresham College, London, calls it info-
mania. His research found that being in situations where you're making a concerted effort to
concentrate on a task as an email sits unread in your inbox reduces your effective Intelligence

11
Quotient (IQ) by almost 1O points. Wilson showed that the cognitive losses from multitasking
are even greater than the cognitive losses from taking certain drugs.

Russ Poldrack, a neuroscientist at Stanford, found that learning information while multitasking
causes the new information to go to the wrong part of the brain. If students do their homework
and watch TV at the same time, for instance, the information from their schoolwork goes into
the striatum, a region specialised for storing new procedures and skills, as opposed to facts and
ideas. Without the distraction of TV, the information goes into the hippocampus, where it's
organised and categorised in a variety of ways, making it easier to retrieve.

To make matters worse, lots of multitasking requires decision-making: Do I answer this text
message or ignore it? How do I respond to this? It turns out that decision-making is also very
hard on our neural resources and that little decisions appear to take up. as much energy as big
ones. One of the first things we ·1ose is impulse control. This rapidly spirals into a depleted
state in which, after making lots of insignificant decisions, we can end up making truly bad
decisions about something important.

In discussing information overload with Fortune 500 leaders, top scientists, writers, students
and business owners, email comes up again and again as a problem. It's not a philosophical
objection to email itself, but rather the mind-numbing number of communications that come
in. When the 10-year-old son of my neuroscience colleague Jeff Mogil at McGill University
was asked what his father does for a living. he responded, 'He answers emails'. Jeff admitted
after some thought that it's not so far from the truth. Workers in government, the arts, and
industry report that the sheer volume of email they receive is overwhelming. taking a huge bite
out of their day hot only in terms of answering them, but also prioritising which ones to
answer. We feel obliged to reply our emails, but it seems impossible to do so and get anything
else done.

Questions 1-4

.
Do the following statements reflect the claims of the writer in the reading passage?

YES if the statement agrees with the claims of the writer

NO if the statement contradicts the claims of the writer
NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks

1. People are making greater demands on their time than ever before.
2. The smartphone has become an indispensible device for our careers.
3. People have incorrect beliefs regarding their ability to multitask well.
4. The maximum number of tasks the mind can deal with successfully at a given time to
achieve a desired outcome is three.

Questions 5-10 '.

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

5. Earl Miller uses the term 'cognitive cost' in the second paragraph _ __
A. to imply that multitasking may result in us missing vital information ·
B. to explain what actually happens in the brain during multitasking
C. to demonstrate the spee~ with which we work while multitasking
D. to suggest that multitasking adds to the time needed to complete a task
12
 I. k' ?
6. What does the writer say about one particular hormone in relation to mu titas mg.
A. It causes people to lose their concentration.
Il. It triggers a part of the brain used for practical activities.
C. It allows people to focus on several things simultaneously.
D. It acts as a way of slowing down the front region of the brain.
7 According to Glenn Wilson, 'info-mania' means people
A. place a strong emphasis on learning.
B. rise to the challenge of performing well.
C. find it difficult to resist the chance to multitask.
D. become less competent at what they are doing
8. What is suggested by Russ Poldrack's research?
A. There is some overlap in the brain's zones.
B. Television plays a useful role in education.
C. There are benefits to doing uninterrupted study.
D. Some people are better than others at recalling information.
9. What does the writer say about decision making?
A. The brain has the ability to distinguish between big and small decisions.
B. The brain struggles to deal with the questions involved in making a decision.
C. We often make mistakes when it comes to making decisions about minor matters.
D. We need equal amounts of brain power to make major and unimportant decisions.
10. Which problem concerning emails does the writer mention?
A. the quantity that has to be dealt with
B. the difficulty in deciding when to respond
C. the guilt experienced by failing to write a reply
D. the boring nature of this type of communication
Your answers:

I~: I~:
Part 6. You are going to read about the experiences and opinions offive educators online
courses and learning. For questions 1-10, match the information with a suitable section (A-
E). The sections may be chosen more than once. (10 pts)
ONLINE STUDY

A. Educators have known for 30 years that students perform better when given one-on-one
tutoring and mastery learning - working on a subject until it is masteres, not just until a test is
scheduled. Success also requires motivation, whether from an inner drive or from parents,
mentors or peers. For years my colleagues and I have given srtificial-intelligence courses: we
lectured, assigned homework and gave everyone the same exam at the same time. Each
semester just 5 to 10 per cent of students regularly engaged in deep discussion; the rest were
more passive. We felt there had to be a better way, so we created a free online course, which
was completed by only 23,000 participants of an initial 'intake' of 100,000. Our second
scheme was more successful as we made learning happen actively. This helped us increase
motivation and keep attention from wavering, both of which led us to a: much lower dropout
rate. For our class. Teachers analyzed the data generated by student participation, but an
artificial-intelligence system could perform this function and then make recommendations for
what a student could try next to improve.

13
 . lectur. es.
r--
f B. Today stud en.t s• m
Despite there being 20
• mos c
to
t
300
las sro
stu
om
den
s
ts
sit
in
, list
the
en
roo
and take no
m,
. tes
. wh ile a pro fes sor
_there 1s _httle or no hu ma n mt
eract10n.
students
firs t opp ort uni ty to get rea l mformat10n ~n ho w we~J the
Exams often offer the s a Jack of understandmg _o~ a bas
te concep~, the
dge . If the exa m ide nti fie
digested the knowle
anc ed con cep t. Vir tua l too ls are prov1dmg an opportumty to
adv
class still moves on to a more ble onl ine , cla ss time can be freed for discus
sion,
lec tur e is ava ila
rethink this methodology. If a lec tur e is rem ov ed from class time and
~e ~a ve
-le d exp lor atio n. If a
peer-tutoring or professor we can ent er the realm of 'blend~d
lea rm ng . In
exe rci ses and dia gno stic ,
on-demand adaptive m. Rath~r tha n
ng rea lity , the pro fes sor 's role is mo ved up the value cha
the blended lerani
ing , wr itin g exa ms and gra din g them, th~y can mt era ct
lec tur
spending the bulk of their time sit- and -lis ten passivity, teachers will me nto
r and
n enf orc ing a
with their students. Rather tha rat e of lea rning- the mo st valuable skill of
all.
tak e con tro l of the ir
challenge their students to
. . A ne w m? del
ies hav e the pot ent ial to tra nsform Indian hig her education
C. Digital technolog all y and com bm ed
ve ope n onl ine cou rse s (M OOCs) that are dev elo ped loc
built around ma ssi
siti es abr oad cou ld del ive r hig her edu cat ion on a scale and at
with those provided by top univer me nte d wit h online cla sse s before, bu t
the ir
. Ind ia has exp eri
a quality not po,ssible before cou ntr y began usi ng the int ern et to
distribute
l. A dec ade ago , the
impact has been J,nargina nt- funded initiative, the Na tio nal
Pro gra m on
cou rse s und er a gov ern me
video and Web-based created ov er 900 courses, foc
used ma inl y on
ced Le arn ing . De vel ope rs
Technology Enhan lim ite d int era cti vit y
eri ng wit h abo ut 40 hou rs of introduction each. With
science and eng ine
s fai led to attr act a lar ge bo dy of students. No w, tho ug h,
rse
and uneven quality, these cou sen se of ho w a lecture cou ld be res tru ctu red
int o
dem ics a bet ter
MOOCs have given Indian aca era cti vity to eng age stu den ts mo re
eff ect ive ly.
me nts wit h hig her int
short, self-contained seg , but , wh at is really nee ded is the rig
ht mo del to
p in the rig ht dir ect ion
This appears to be a ste ade of experience in this spa
ce and a vib ran t
Ind ian con tex t. Wi th a dec
use MO OC s in an n.
technology ecosystem, Ind ia wi
ll mo st likely find its wa y very soo
mo de s
ital res our ces lik e vid eo, int eractive mu ltim edi a and ne w
D. The rapid evolution of dig we can and sho uld do wh en we are fac
e-t o-f ace
us to rei ma gin e wh at
of assessment challenges rse s on cellular me tab oli sm , for
ins tan ce, I
I dev elo p onl ine cou
with ou r students. As and appropriate em bed ded ass ess
me nts wi ll
ble nd of ani ma tio n
hypothesise that the t pro tio n of my
int ric aci es of ele ctr on tra nsfer mo re effectively tha n tha e
communicate the
ng cla ss ass ign me nts to inc lude bo th rea din g and on lin
nci
traditional lecture. Af ter rebala wo rkl oad , I no net hel ess gai n tim e wi th my
the sam e ove ral l
materials, while -maintaining all y ana lys e -the me tab oli c con seq uen ces
of
dis cus s and cri tic
students in the classroom to der lyi ng this pro gre ss is the aw are nes
s tha t
ctr on tra nsf er. Un
experimentally disrupting ele yet kn ow ho w bes t to har nes s the eno
rm ou s
and tha t we do no t
experimentation is the key -ca mp us learning. Th is is wh y eve ry cou
rse or
ine rev olu tio n for on
positive potential of the onl nen t wh ere stu den t pro gre ss is me
asu red .
oci ate d res ear ch com po
module should hav e a ass
to gra de
in? edu cat io~ for the wo rse and on e of its du bio us use s is
E. Technol_ogy i_s !ransform sof tw are to sco re wr itte n tes t ans we rs as
ma chi nes
pan ies are usm g
essays. Ma jor tes tm g com t eva lua te the im agi nat ive use
of lan gu age .
can work faster ~a n tea che rs. !f ow eve r,_ the y can no
nd s to bes t at
rn to wr ite acc ord mg to the formula tha t the ma chi ne res po
Thus, students w1I1 lea agination. Worse ' the tea che
r wi ll ab an d on th e
acc ura cy, cre ati vit y and im
the expense bof f ct·mg what the students write and will be less inf on ne d abo ut h th
som e use of technolog:wis ~~
. . rea
im po rta nt JO o
lity of edu cat ion . A mo re wo rri
think. Tha_t is a loss for the qua Wh o nee ds all th. pe rso na1
ula t10 n and sto rag e of per s6n al, confidential dat a an a cloud. 1s
accum · · b · the go al is to cre ate bet ter pro du cts
d h g sha red ? Ad vo cat es say tha t
• .j:'_ •
m1ormat10n an w y 1s 1t em
14
 for individual students. Critics believe that the infonnation will be given or sold to vendors,
who will use it to market products to children and their parents.

In which section are the following mentioned?

a strategy that helped the learners focus 1.

the reason why more data is required to make the best use of computer-based
learning 2.
!
digital resources leading to the standardisation of student learning 3.

.the necessity to adapt online courses to a specific culture 4.

a claim that information will be used to enhance product quality 5.

personally combining digital and traditional tools to prov.ide a more effective

learning experience 6.

the problem of gaps in students' knowledge not being addressed 7.

humans undertaking a task that machines could carry out 8.

the importance of students progressing at their own pace 9.

computer-based courses that attracted a disappoiting number of participants 10.

SECTION IV. WRITIN G (60 points)

Part 1 :Read the following passage and use your own words to summariz e it. Your summary
should be between JOO and 120 words long. (10 pts) ,
Vitamin A is found only in yellow animal fats, in egg-yolk, milk and cheese. It is
particularly plentiful in fish-liver oils, hence fish-liver oils are used for preventing and curing
illness caused by lack of vitamin A. In a well-fed, healthy human being, the liver can store up
sufficient vitamin A to meet the body's requirements for six months.
Although vitamin A itself is not present in plants, many plants produce 'a substance called
carotene, formed from leaf-green which our bodies can convert into vitamin A. Carotene is the
yellowish-red coloring matter in carrots. The greener a leaf is, the more carotene it usually
contains. Hence the importance of green, leafy vegetables in the diet as a source of carotene.
Tomatoes, papayas, mangoes and bananas contain more carotene than most other fruits. Red
palm oil contains so much carotene that it is used instead of cod-liver oil. Thus, it is very
valuable, both as a food-fat and for deep-frying.
Vitamin A and carotene are insoluble in water and they are not destroyed by heat unless
oxygen is present. Boiling in water, therefore, does not destroy much vitamin A or carotene.
Vitamin A encourages healthy growth and physical fitness. Young animals soon stop
growing and die if vitamin A is not present in their diet. This vitamin keeps the moist surfaces
lining the digestive canal, the lungs and air passages healthy. It also helps keep the ducts of the
various glands, the tissue that lines the eyelids and covers the front of the eyeball functional.
As vitamin A helps these tissues build up resistance to infection, it is pften called the anti-
infective vitamin. -
Some of the most common disorders in people are caused by a shortage of vitamin A,
when the moist tissues become dry and rough. This often causes serious eye disease, followed
by infection of the air-passages. The skin may also become flaky and rough. Another defect
15
caused by shortage of vitamin A is 'night-blindness', when the affected person
has distinct vision only in bright light.
As the body cannot produce vitamin A, it has to come from external sources. Thus a
well-balanced diet is required and is usually sufficient to provide the necessary amount. There
is therefore no need to supplement the need in the form of pills .
. .. . .. .. . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. .. .. .. . . .. . . .. . . . . .. . . . . .. . .. . . ... . . . .. . .. .. . . .. . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . .. .. . .. . . . . . .. . . . . . .

.. .. . . .. .. . . . . . . . .. . ............................................................................................ .
~

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.
.. . . . .. . .. .. . . . .. .. .. . . . .. .. . .. . .. . ... . . . . .. . . ... . . .. . . .. . .. . .. . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . .... .. .. . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . .. .. . . .. . . . . . . . .. . . . . . .. . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . ... .. . .. . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. ... . . . . . . . ... . . . . . . .... . . . . .. . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. .. . ... . .. . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. .. . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . .. . . . . .. . .. . .. . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . .. .. . .. . . . . .. . . . . . . . . .. . . .. . .. . ... .. . . .. . .. . . . . . . . . . . .. .. . .... . .... . . .. . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . .. .. . . .. . . . . . . . . . .. . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . .. . . .. . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. .. . . . . .

Part 2. The table below gives tht: information about wheat exports in three different countries
from 2010 to 2015. Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main features,
and make comparisons where relevant. Write at least 150 words. (20 points)

- 16
 WHEA T EXPO RTS 2010 - 2015 (in millions of tons)

30

25

20

15 ◄-France

~Can ada
10 r - - - - - - - - - - - - - ----= =~+--- ;;;;;;;; ;;;;;;;: .;=--
- - - -_.,_E uropea n Community

0
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

························································································································..........................................
.......................................................................

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·································································
17
.......................... .................................................... ............................................................. .......,.................................................. .

Part 2: Essay writing (30 pts)

Some people believe that learning depends not upon the personality or methodology
of the teacher, but rather on the student's attitude to his or her own learning.
To what extent would you support or reject this idea? Give reasons for your answer and
include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience. Write at least 300
words .

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