The domestication of horses

A
Horses have been racing across the landscape for around 55 million years – much longer than our
own species has existed. However, prehistoric remains show that at the end of the Ice Age, some
10,000 years ago, wild horses died out in the Americas and dwindled in western Europe, for
reasons that are not clear. But they continued to thrive on the steps of eastern Europe and Central
Asia, where short grasses and shrubs grow on vast, dry stretches of land. Most scholars believe it
was here that people domesticated the horse. However, the DNA of domestic horses is very
diverse. This suggests they may be descended from a number of different wild horse populations,
in several locations.

B
Once horses and humans encountered each other, our two species became powerfully linked.
Humans domesticated horses some 6,000 years ago, and over time, we have created more than
200 breeds. The first domestic horses were likely to have been kept mainly as a source of food,
rather than for work or for riding. There is evidence of horses being raised for meat in Kazakhstan,
in Central Asia, around 5,500 years ago; later they began to pull chariots, and horseback riding
became common in Afghanistan and Iran about 4,000 years ago. As we have shaped horses to
suit our needs on battlefields, farms and elsewhere, these animals have shaped human history.
The ways we travel, trade, play, work and fight wars have all been profoundly shaped by our use
of horses.

C
When people domesticate animals, they control their behavior in many ways. For example,
animals that are being domesticated no longer choose their own mates. Instead, people control
their breeding. Individuals with traits that humans prefer are more likely to produce offspring and
pass on their genes. In the course of several generations, both the body and behavior of the
animal are transformed. In the wild, animals that are well adapted to their environment live long
and reproduce, while others die young. In this way, nature "chooses" the traits that are passed on
to the next generation. This is the process of evolution by natural selection. Domestic animals also
evolve, but people do the selecting. Humans seek out qualities like tameness, and help animals
with those traits to survive and bear young. This is evolution by artificial selection. Most domestic
animals are naturally social. Their wild ancestors lived in groups, with individuals responding to
each other – some led, others followed. In domestic animals, the tendency to submit to others is
especially strong. Generations of breeding have encouraged them to let people take the lead.

D
For more than 3,000 years, a fighter on horseback or horse-drawn chariot was the ultimate
weapon. Time after time, from Asia to Europe to the Americas, the use of horses has changed the
balance of power between civilizations. When people with horses clashed with those without,
horses provided a huge advantage. When both sides had horses, battles turned on the strength
and strategy of their mounted horsemen, or cavalry. Horses continued to define military tactics
well into the 1900s, until they finally became outmoded by machine guns, tanks, airplanes and
other modern weapons.
E
Horses are built for power. Their muscular bodies are heavier in the front than in the back, making
them well balanced to pull heavy loads. Yet they can also be agile and quick – fit to carry out
difficult tasks at top speed. So for more than a thousand years, people have called on the power of
horses to cultivate the land and manage livestock.

F
For most of human history, there was no faster way to travel over land than on a horse. When it
comes to carrying people and their possessions, horses have two important advantages – they
can run very fast and very far. Their speed and endurance are unusual for a creature so large,
making them the most suitable animals to carry people and goods around the world. Horses offer
other advantages as well. Since they eat grass, they can go almost anywhere that humans can,
eating as they go. And unlike cows and camels, which must sit and rest to digest food, a horse's
digestive system allows it to graze and walk the whole day without stopping. By carrying people,
goods and ideas between civilizations, horses changed history.

G
Today’s horses are not used to carry soldiers into battle, and do not pull plows and stage-coaches
as they once did. But horses are still part of our lives. Today the 58 million horses in the world are
used more for companionship, sport and recreation than for work and warfare.
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14—26, which are based on Reading Passage
2 below.
Questions 14-19
The reading passage has six paragraphs, A-F. Choose the correct heading for each paragraph
from the list of headings below.

List of headings
i Some of the things liars really do
ii When do we begin to lie?
iii How wrong is it to lie?
iv Exposing some false beliefs
v Which form of communication best exposes a lie?
vi Do only humans lie?
vii Dealing with known liars
viii A public test of our ability to spot a lie

14 Paragraph A
15 Paragraph B
16 Paragraph C
17 Paragraph D
18 Paragraph E
19 Paragraph F
 The truth about lying
Over the years Richard Wiseman has tried to unravel the truth about deception - investigating the
signs that give away a liar.
A
In the 1970s, as part of a large-scale research programme exploring the area of Interspecies
communication, Dr Francine Patterson from Stanford University attempted to teach two lowland
gorillas called Michael and Koko a simplified version of Sign Language. According to Patterson,
the great apes were capable of holding meaningful conversations, and could even reflect upon
profound topics, such as love and death. During the project, their trainers believe they uncovered
instances where the two gorillas' linguistic skills seemed to provide reliable evidence of intentional
deceit. In one example, Koko broke a toy cat, and then signed to indicate that the breakage had
been caused by one of her trainers.
In another episode, Michael ripped a jacket belonging to a trainer and, when asked who was
responsible for the incident, signed ‘Koko’. When the trainer expressed some scepticism, Michael
appeared to change his mind, and indicated that Dr Patterson was actually responsible, before
finally confessing.

B
Other researchers have explored the development of deception in children. Some of the most
interesting experiments have involved asking youngsters not to take a peek at their favourite toys.
During these studies, a child is led into a laboratory and asked to face one of the walls. The
experimenter then explains that he is going to set up an elaborate toy a few feet behind them.
After setting up the toy, the experimenter says that he has to leave the laboratory, and asks the
child not to turn around and peek at the toy. The child is secretly filmed by hidden cameras for a
few minutes, and then the experimenter returns and asks them whether they peeked. Almost all
three-year-olds do, and then half of them lie about it to the experimenter. By the time the children
have reached the age of five, all of them peek and all of them lie. The results provide compelling
evidence that lying starts to emerge the moment we learn to speak.

C
So what are the tell-tale signs that give away a lie? In 1994, the psychologist Richard Wiseman
devised a large-scale experiment on a TV programme called Tomorrow's World. As part of the
experiment, viewers watched two interviews in which Wiseman asked a presenter in front of the
cameras to describe his favourite film. In one interview, the presenter picked Some Like It Hot and
he told the truth; in the other interview, he picked Gone with the Wind and lied. The viewers were
then invited to make a choice - to telephone in to say which film he was lying about. More than
30,000 calls were received, but viewers were unable to tell the difference and the vote was a
50/50 split. In similar experiments, the results have been remarkably consistent - when it comes to
lie detection, people might as well simply toss a coin. It doesn’t matter if you are male or female,
young or old; very few people are able to detect deception.
D
Why is this? Professor Charles Bond from the Texas Christian University has conducted surveys
into the sorts of behaviour people associate with lying. He has interviewed thousands of people
from more than 60 countries, asking them to describe how they set about telling whether someone
is lying. People’s answers are remarkably consistent. Almost everyone thinks liars tend to avert
their gaze, nervously wave their hands around and shift about in their seats. There is, however,
one small problem. Researchers have spent hour upon hour carefully comparing films of liars and
truth-tellers. The results are clear. Liars do not necessarily look away from you; they do not
appear nervous and move their hands around or shift about in their seats. People fail to detect
lies because they are basing their opinions on behaviours that are not actually associated with
deception.

E
So what are we missing? It is obvious that the more information you give away, the greater the
chances of some of it coming back to haunt you. As a result, liars tend to say less and provide
fewer details than truth-tellers. Looking back at the transcripts of the interviews with the presenter,
his lie about Gone with the Wind contained about 40 words, whereas the truth about Some Like It
Hot was nearly twice as long. People who lie also try psychologically to keep a distance from their
falsehoods, and so tend to include fewer references to themselves in their stories. In his entire
interview about Gone with the Wind, the presenter only once mentioned how the film made him
feel, compared with the several references to his feelings when he talked about Some Like It Hot.

F
The simple fact is that the real clues to deceit are in the words that people use, not the body
language. So do people become better lie detectors when they listen to a liar, or even just read a
transcript of their comments? The interviews with the presenter were also broadcast on radio and
published in a newspaper, and although the lie-detecting abilities of the television viewers were no
better than chance, the newspaper readers were correct 64% of the time, and the radio listeners
scored an impressive 73% accuracy rate.
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14—26, which are based on Reading Passage
2 below.
Questions 14—19
The reading passage has six paragraphs, A—F.
Choose the correct heading for each paragraph from the list of headings below
Write the correct number, i—ix, in boxes 14—19 on your answer sheet

List of headings
i. Children's views on birth order
ii. Solutions are more important than causes
iii. Characteristics common to all children regardless of birth order
iv. Doubts about birth-order theory but personal experience supporting it
v. A theory that is still supported
vi. Birth-order characteristics continuing as children get older
vii. A typical example of birth-order behaviour in practice
viii. Exceptions to the rule of birth order
ix. A detailed description of each child in families in general

14 Paragraph A
15 Paragraph B
16 Paragraph C
17 Paragraph D
18 Paragraph E
19 Paragraph F
 ESTABLISHING YOUR BIRTHRIGHTS

Position in the family can play a huge role in shaping character, finds Clover Stroud
A
Last week I was given a potent reminder of how powerful birth order might be in determining a
child's character. My son, Jimmy Joe, nine, and my daughter, Dolly, six, were re-enacting a TV
talent show. Jimmy Joe elected himself judge and Dolly was a contestant. Authoritative and
unyielding, he wielded a clipboard, delivering harsh criticisms that would make a real talent show
judge flinch. Initially Dolly loved the attention, but she soon grew tired of his dominance, instigating
a pillow fight, then a fist fight. It ended, inevitably, in tears. A visiting friend, with an older, more
successful sister, declared it 'classic first child behaviour of dominance and supposed authority'.
Dolly's objection to her brother's self-appointed role as leader was justified, he announced, while
Jimmy Joe's superiority was characteristic of the forceful personality of firstborns. Birth order, he
said, wasn't something they could just shrug off.

B
Debate about the significance of birth order goes right to the heart of the nature versus nurture
argument and is, consequently, surrounded by huge controversy. This controversy has raged
since the 9th century, when Austrian psychiatrist Alfred Adler argued that birth order can define
the way someone deals with life. He identified firstborns as driven and often suffering from a sense
of having been 'dethroned' by a second child. Younger children, he stated, were hampered by
having been more pampered than older siblings. It's a view reiterated by Professor Frank
Sulloway's influential work, Born to Rebel. Sulloway, a leading proponent of the birth order idea,
argued it has a definitive effect on the 'Big Five' personality traits of openness, conscientiousness,
extroversion, agreeableness and neuroticism.

C
According to the birth-order theory, first children are usually well-organised high achievers.
However, they can have an overdeveloped sense of entitlement and be unyielding. Second
children are sometimes very competitive through rivalry with the older sibling. They're also good
mediators and negotiators, keen to keep everyone happy. Middle children, tagged the 'easy' ones,
have good diplomacy skills. They suffer from a tendency to feel insignificant beside other siblings
and often complain of feeling invisible to their parents. Youngest children are often the most likely
to rebel, feeling the need to 'prove' themselves. They're often extroverts and are sometimes
accused of being selfish. Twins inevitably find it harder to see themselves as individuals, unless
their parents have worked hard to identify them as such. It's not unusual for one twin to have a
slightly dominant role over the other and take the lead role.

D
But slapping generalised labels on a child is dangerous; they change all the time, often taking
turns at being the 'naughty one' or the 'diligent one'. However, as one of five children, I know how
hard it is to transcend the tags you earn according to when you were born. It is unsurprising then
that my eldest sister is the successful entrepreneur, and that, despite covering all the big bases of
adult life like marriage, kids and property, my siblings will probably always regard me as their spoilt
younger sister.
E
'As the oldest of three, I've found it hard not to think of my own three children as having the same
personality types that the three of us had when I was growing up,' says Lisa Cannan, a teacher. 'l
identify with my eldest son, who constantly takes the lead in terms of organisation and
responsibility: My daughter, the middle child, is more cerebral than her brothers. She's been easier
than them. She avoids confrontation, so has an easy relationship with both boys. My youngest is
gorgeous but naughty. I know I'm partly to blame for this, as I forgive him things the elder two
wouldn't get away with.'

F
As a parent, it's easy to feel guilty about saddling a child with labels according to birth order, but
as child psychologist Stephen Bayliss points out, these characteristics might be better attributed to
parenting styles, rather than a child's character. He says that if a parent is worried about having
encouraged, for example, an overdeveloped sense of dominance in an older sibling or spoiled a
younger child, then it's more useful to look at ways this can be addressed than over-analysing why
it happened. Bayliss is optimistic that as adults we can overcome any negative connotations
around birth order. 'Look at the way you react to certain situations with your siblings. If you're
unhappy about being treated as a certain type of personality, try to work out if it's a role that you've
willingly accepted. If you're unhappy with the role, being dynamic about focusing on your own
reactions, rather than blaming theirs, will help you overcome it. Change isn't easy but nobody
need be the victim of their biography’
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14—26, which are based on Reading Passage
2 below.
Questions 14—18
The reading passage has five sections, A—E.
Choose the correct heading for each section from the list of headings below.
Write the correct number, i—viii, in boxes 14—18 on your answer sheet.

List of headings
i. Outdoor spaces in the house of tomorrow
ii. The house of the future helps with the battle of the sexes
iii. The compact home of tomorrow
iv. The multipurpose home of tomorrow
v. Housework declines in the house of the future
vi. Mixed success for visions of the future
vii. The future lies in the past
viii. A change of structure in the home of tomorrow

14 Section A
15 Section B
16 Section C
17 Section D
18 Section E
 The house of the future, then and now
A
The term 'home of tomorrow' first came into usage in the 1920s to describe the 'ideal house for
future living (Corn and Horrigan, 1984, p. 62). It quickly emerged as a cultural symbol for the
American obsession with the single-family dwelling. In the 1930s and 1940s, advertisers and
promoters picked up the concept, and a number of full-scale homes of tomorrow travelled through
fairs and department stores. It was in this same era that American consumer culture was
consolidated. In the 1920s, there were three competing conceptions of the home of the future. The
first, indebted to modernist architecture, depicted the home of tomorrow as a futuristic architectural
structure. The second conception was that of the mass-produced, prefabricated house, a dwelling
potentially available to every North American. These first two failed to capture the imagination and
the dollars of industrialists or of the public, but the third image of the home of the future did- From
World War II until the present, the evolving story of the home of the future is a story of the house
as a wonderland of gadgets (Horrigan, 1986, p. 154).

B
In the 1950s, the home of the future was represented in and by one room: the kitchen. Appliance
manufacturers, advertisers and women's magazines teamed up to surround women with images
of the technology of tomorrow that would 'automate' their lives, and automation became a
synonym for reduced domestic labor. In 1958, one author predicted 'Combustion freezers and
electric ovens may someday reduce the job of preparing meals to a push-button operation' (Ross,
1958, pp. 197-8). 'Before long there will also be self-propelled carpet and floor sweepers,
automatic ironers that can fold and stack clothing, laundro-matic units that will wash and dry
clothes even as these hang in the closet, dishwashers capable of washing and drying dinnerware
and storing it in the cupboard, and many additional push-button marvels.' (Ross, 1958, p. 200).

The postwar faith in and fascination with science is very apparent in future predictions made in the
1950s. The magazine Popular Mechanics did a special feature in February 1950 entitled, 'Miracles
You'll See in the Next Fifty Years'. 'Housewives in 50 years may wash dirty dishes-right down the
Cheap plastic would melt in hot water'. They also predicted that the housewife of the future would
clean her house by simply turning the hose on everything. Furnishings, rugs, draperies and
unscratchable floors would all be made of synthetic fabric or waterproof plastic. After the water
had run down a drain in the middle of the floor (later concealed by a rug of synthetic fibre) you
would tum on a blast of hot air and dry everything.

The overriding message of the 1950s vision of the house of the future is that one can access the
wonders of the future through the purchase of domestic technology today. In an October 1957
issue of Life magazine, the built-in appliances from Westinghouse reflect the ‘shape of tomorrow'.
'Put them in your home suddenly you're living in the future.' As Corn and Horrigan (1984) noted,
'by focusing on improving technology the future becomes strictly a matter of things, their invention,
improvement, and acquisition' (p. 11)
C
What is most striking in the 1960s home of the future is the recognition and incorporation of social
and political turmoil into the representation of domestic technology. Technology moves out of the
kitchen and spreads to the living room, bedroom and bathroom, While the home of the future was
still a wonderland of gadgets, who was using the gadgets, why, and to what effect, was finally
being opened up to possible alternatives. Whirlpool dishwashers ran an advertisement in
November 1968 in Ladies' Home Journal explaining, 'How Whirlpool made my husband a man
again'. Readers learned of the crisis of masculinity that can take place if a man helps with the
housework. We learn that Barry is a great son, father and husband. He believed that the scrubbing
of pots and pans was man's work and so he helped out at home. However, at work the men that
work for him used to laugh behind his back because his hands were rough and red. The Whirlpool
two-speed dishwasher stopped all that. Thus, a household appliance can preserve a man's
masculinity by ensuring that he does not have to do 'women's work' in the home.

D
The broader social context continued to be reflected in the 1970s home of the future, but now the
trend was to look backwards for the future, back to a proud pioneer heritage. In stark contrast to
the 1950s, 'old-fashioned' is no longer used in a pejorative way: it is seen as a cherished value.
Over the 1970s, North America experienced a certain erosion of trust in science and technology
and there was less utopian speculation about the technologically produced future. The previous
unproblematic link between technology, the future and progress was being questioned (Corn,
1986).

From the space-age metals of the 1960s where every object had an electrical cord, we find a
return to the traditional Ideal homes featured wood, inside and out, and an increased emphasis on
windows. Domestic technologies were not featured as prominently, and the modernist or ultra-
modernist designs of a few years earlier were all but gone. The use of wood, combined with the
use of windows, worked to blur the line between outside and inside, bringing the outside into inner
or domestic space.

We also see the influence of the Green movement, such as in the deployment of technology for
solar-heated homes. The energy crisis was making itself felt, reflecting fears about a future not
quite as rosy as that predicted by Popular Mechanics in 1950. Whereas in the 1960s the General
Electric Company was exhorting consumers to 'LiveElectrically', in the 1970s, the Edison Electric
Company found it necessary to address the energy crisis directly in their advertisements.

E
In 1978, House Beautiful magazine, predicting what the homes of the 1980s would be like,
suggested that self- indulgence was the wave of the future. 'Our senses are awakened, and a new
technology is waiting to aid us in giving them a free rein. Bathroom spas and gyms, computerized
kitchens, wide screen entertainment, even home discotheques are all on the way.' By the 1980s,
the environmental and social movements of the 1970s were starting to ebb, significantly more
women were working outside of the home, and computer technology was becoming more of a
reality in the household. All these trends opened the door for a renewed love of technology.
The line between work and leisure became blurred in the 1980s. Forget about not being able to fit
exercise into a hectic workday, in 1982, you can work and work out simultaneously. The Walking
Desk, a computer workstation for the office at home, has a treadmill, stationary bike and stair
climber installed underneath. On her most productive day, a worker should be able to walk four to
five miles and burn as many as fifteen hundred calories while maintaining a normal workload. The
desk will also come with a compact-disc player and color monitor for viewing nature scenes on a
computer break. Thus, in addition to turning exercise into work, we see that nature is being
brought into the home for breaks. One never has to leave the home, but the imperative is still
clearly productive.
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14—26, which are based on Reading Passage
2 below.
Questions 14—20
The reading passage has seven sections, A—G.
Choose the correct heading for each section from the list of headings below.
Write the correct number, i—x, in boxes 14—20 on your answer sheet.

List of Headings
i Looking for clues
ii Blaming the beekeepers
iii Solutions to a more troublesome issue
iv Discovering a new bee species
v An impossible task for any human
vi The preferred pollinator
vii Plant features designed to suit the pollinator
viii Some obvious and less obvious pollen carriers
ix The undesirable alternative
x An unexpected setback

14 Section A
15 Section B
16 Section C
17 Section D
18 Section E
19 Section F
20 Section G
 Gold dusters

They are the Earth’s pollinators and they come in more than 200,000 shapes and sizes.

A
Row upon row, tomato plants stand in formation inside a greenhouse. To reproduce, most
flowering plants depend on a third party to transfer pollen between their male and female parts.
Some require extra encouragement to give up that golden dust. The tomato flower, for example,
needs a violent shake, a vibration roughly equivalent to 30 times the pull of Earth’s gravity,
explains Arizona entomologist Stephen Buchmann. Growers have tried numerous ways to rattle
pollen from tomato blossoms. They have used shaking tables, air blowers and blasts of sound. But
natural means seem to work better.

B
It is no surprise that nature’s design works best. What’s astonishing is the array of workers that do
it: more than 200,000 individual animal species, by varying strategies, help the world's 240,000
species of flowering plants make more flowers. Flies and beetles are the original pollinators, going
back to when flowering plants first appeared 130 million years ago. As for bees, scientists have
identified some 20,000 distinct species so far. Hummingbirds, butterflies, moths, wasps and ants
are also up to the job. Even non-flying mammals do their part: sugar-loving opossums, some
rainforest monkeys, and lemurs in Madagascar, all with nimble hands that tear open flower stalks
and furry coats to which pollen sticks. Most surprising, some lizards, such as geckos, lap up nectar
and pollen and then transport the stuff on their faces and feet as they forage onward.

C
All that messy diversity, unfortunately, is not well suited to the monocrops and mega-yields of
modern commercial farmers Before farms got so big, says conservation biologist Claire Kremen of
the University of California, Berkeley, ‘we didn’t have to manage pollinators. They were all around
because of the diverse landscapes. Now you need to bring in an army to get pollination done. The
European honeybee was first imported to the US some 400 years ago.
Now at least a hundred commercial crops rely almost entirely on managed honeybees, which
beekeepers raise and rent out to tend to big farms. And although other species of bees are five to
ten times more efficient, on a per-bee basis, at pollinating certain fruits, honeybees have bigger
colonies, cover longer distances, and tolerate management and movement better than most
insects. They're not picky - they’ll spend their time on almost any crop. It’s tricky to calculate what
their work is truly worth; some economists put it at more than $200 billion globally a year.

D
Industrial-scale farming, however, may be wearing down the system. Honeybees have suffered
diseases and parasite infestations for as long as they've been managed, but in 2006 came an
extreme blow. Around the world, bees began to disappear over the winter in massive numbers.
Beekeepers would lift the lid of a hive and be amazed to find only the queen and a few stragglers,
the worker bees gone. In the US, a third to half of all hives crashed; some beekeepers reported
colony losses near 90 percent. The mysterious culprit was named colony collapse disorder (CCD)
and it remains an annual menace - and an enigma.
E
When it first hit, many people, from agronomists to the public, assumed that our slathering of
chemicals on agricultural fields was to blame for the mystery. Indeed, says Jeff Pettis of the USDA
Bee Research Laboratory, ‘we do find more disease in bees that have been exposed to pesticides,
even at low levels.’ But it is likely that CCD involves multiple stressors. Poor nutrition and chemical
exposure, for instance, might wear down a bee's immunities before a virus finishes the insect off.
It’s hard to tease apart factors and outcomes, Pettis says. New studies reveal that fungicides - not
previously thought toxic to bees - can interfere with microbes that break down pollen in the insects’
guts, affecting nutrient absorption and thus long-term health and longevity. Some findings pointed
to viral and fungal pathogens working together. ‘I only wish we had a single agent causing all the
declines,’ Pettis says, ’that would make our work much easier!

F
However, habitat loss and alteration, he says, are even more of a menace to pollinators than
pathogens. Claire Kremen encourages farmers to cultivate the flora surrounding farmland to help
solve habitat problems. ‘You can't move the farm,’ she says, ‘but you can diversify what grows in
its vicinity: along roads, even in tractor yards.’ Planting hedgerows and patches of native flowers
that bloom at different times and seeding fields with multiple plant species rather than monocrops
'not only is better for native pollinators, but it’s just better agriculture,’ she says. Pesticide-free
wildflower havens, adds Buchmann, would also bolster populations of useful insects. Fortunately,
too, ‘there are far more generalist plants than specialist plants, so there's a lot of redundancy in
pollination,’ Buchmann says. ‘Even if one pollinator drops out, there are often pretty good
surrogates left to do the job. The key to keeping our gardens growing strong, he says, is letting
that diversity thrive.

G
Take away that variety, and we'll lose more than honey. ‘We wouldn't starve,’ says Kremen. ‘But
what we eat, and even what we wear pollinators, after all, give us some of our cotton and flax -
would be limited to crops whose pollen travels by other means. ‘In a sense,’ she says, ‘our lives
would be dictated by the wind. It’s vital that we give pollinators more of what they need and less of
what they don't, and ease the burden on managed bees by letting native animals do their part, say
scientists.
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14—26, which are based Reading Passage 2
below.
Questions 14—20
Reading passage 2 has seven paragraphs, A—G.
Choose the correct heading for each paragraph from the list of headings below
Write the correct number, i—viii, in boxes 14—20 on your answer sheet.

List of Headings
i How CSR may help one business to expand
ii CSR in many aspects of a company’s business
iii A CSR initiative without a financial gain
iv Lack of action by the state of social issues
v Drives or pressures motivate companies to address CSR
vi The past illustrates business are responsible for future outcomes
vii Companies applying CSR should be selective
viii Reasons that business and society benefit each other

14 Paragraph A
15 Paragraph B
16 Paragraph C
17 Paragraph D
18 Paragraph E
19 Paragraph F
20 Paragraph G
 Corporate Social Responsibility

Broadly speaking, proponents of CSR have used four arguments to make their case: moral
obligation, sustainability, license to operate, and reputation. The moral appeal – arguing that
companies have a duty to be good citizens and to “do the right thing” – is prominent in the goal of
Business for Social Responsibility, the leading nonprofit CSR business association in the United
States. It asks that its members “achieve commercial success in ways that honour ethical values
and respect people, communities, and the natural environment. “Sustainability emphasises
environmental and community stewardship.

A
An excellent definition was developed in the 1980s by Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlen
Brundtland and used by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development: “Meeting the
needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own
needs.” Nowadays, governments and companies need to account for the social consequences of
their actions. As a result, corporate social responsibility (CSR) has become a priority for business
leaders around the world. When a well-run business applies its vast resources and expertise to
social problems that it understands and in which it has a stake, it can have a greater impact than
any other organization. The notion of license to operate derives from the fact that every company
needs tacit or explicit permission from governments, communities, and numerous other
stakeholders to justify CSR initiatives to improve a company’s image, strengthen its brand, enliven
morale and even raise the value of its stock.

B
To advance CSR. we must root it in a broad understanding of the interrelationship between a
corporation and society. Successful corporations need a healthy society. Education, health care,
and equal opportunity are essential lo a productive workforce. Safe products and working
conditions not only attract customers but lower the internal costs of accidents. Efficient utilization
of land, water, energy, and other natural resources makes business more productive. Good
government, the rule of law, and property rights are essential for efficiency and innovation. Strong
regulatory standards protect both consumers and competitive companies from exploitation.
Ultimately, a healthy society creates expanding demand for business, as more human needs are
met and aspirations grow. Any business that pursues its ends at the expense of the society in
which it operates will find its success to be illusory and ultimately temporary. At the same time, a
healthy society needs successful companies. No social program can rival the business sector
when it comes lo creating the jobs, wealth, and innovation that improve standards of living and
social conditions over time.

C
A company’s impact on society also changes over time, as social standards evolve and science
progresses. Asbestos, now understood as a serious health risk was thought to be safe in the early
1900s, given the scientific knowledge then available. Evidence of its risks gradually mounted for
more than 50 years before any company was held liable for the harms it can cause. Many firms
that failed to anticipated the consequences of this evolving body of research have been
bankrupted by the results. No longer can companies be content to monitor only the obvious social
impacts of today. Without a careful process for identifying evolving social effects of tomorrow,
firms may risk their very survival.
D
No business can solve all of society’s problems or bear the cost of doing so. Instead, each
company must select issues that intersect with its particular business. Other social agendas are
best left to those companies in other industries, NGOs, or government institutions that are better
positioned to address them. The essential test that should guide CSR is not whether a cause is
worthy but whether it presents an opportunity to create shared value – that is, a meaningful benefit
for society that is also valuable to the business. Each company can identify the particular set of
societal problems that it is best equipped to help resolve and from which it can gain the greatest
competitive benefit.

E
The best corporate citizenship initiatives involve far more than writing a check: They specify clear,
measurable goals and track results over time. A good example is General Electronics’s program to
adopt underperforming public high schools near several of its major U.S. facilities. The company
contributes between $250,000 and $1 million over a five-year period to each school and makes in-
kind donations as well. GE managers and employees take an active role by working with school
administrators to assess needs and mentor or tutor students. In an independent study of Ion
schools in the program between 1989 and 1999, nearly all showed significant improvement, while
the graduation rate in four of the five worst performing schools doubled from an average of 30% to
60%. Effective corporate citizenship initiatives such as this one creates goodwill and improve
relations with local governments and other important constituencies. What’s more, GE’s
employees feel great pride in their participation. Their effect is inherently limited, however. No
matter how beneficial (he program is, it remains incidental to the company’s business, and the
direct effect on GE’s recruiting and retention is modest.

F
Microsoft’s Working Connections partnership with the American Association of Community
Colleges (AACC) is a good example of a shared-value opportunity arising from investments in
context. The shortage of information technology workers is a significant constraint on Microsoft’s
growth; currently, there are more than 450,000 unfilled IT positions in the United States alone.
Community colleges, with an enrollment of 11.6 million students, representing 45% of all U.S.
undergraduates, could be a major solution. Microsoft recognizes, however, that community
colleges face special challenges: IT curricula are not standardized, technology used in classrooms
is often outdated, and there are no systematic professional development programs to keep faculty
up to date. Microsoft’s $50 million five-year initiative was aimed at all three problems. In addition to
contributing money and products, Microsoft sent employee volunteers to colleges to assess
needs, contribute to curriculum development, and create faculty development institutes. Microsoft
has achieved results that have benefited many communities while having a direct-and potentially
significant-impact on the company.
G
At the heart of any strategy is a unique value proposition: a set of needs a company can meet for
its chosen customers that others cannot. The most strategic CSR occurs when a company adds a
social dimension to its value proposition, making social impact integral to the overall strategy.
Consider Whole Foods Market, whose value proposition is to sell organic, natural, and healthy
food products to customers who are passionate about food and the environment. The company’s
sourcing emphasises purchases from local farmers through each store’s procurement process.
Buyers screen out foods containing any of nearly 100 common ingredients that the company
considers unhealthy or environmentally damaging. The same standards apply to products made
internally. Whole Foods’ commitment to natural and environmentally friendly operating practices
extends well beyond sourcing. Stores are constructed using a minimum of virgin raw materials.
Recently, the company purchased renewable wind energy credits equal to 100% of its electricity
use in all of its stores and facilities, the only Fortune 500 company to offset its electricity
consumption entirely. Spoiled produce and biodegradable waste are trucked to regional centers
for composting. Whole Foods’ vehicles are being converted to run on biofuels. Even the cleaning
products used in its stores are environmentally friendly. And through its philanthropy, the company
has created the Animal Compassion Foundation to develop more natural and humane ways of
raising farm animals. In short, nearly every aspect of the company’s value chain reinforces the
social dimensions of its value proposition, distinguishing Whole Foods from its competitors.