READING PASSAGE 1
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based on Reading Passage 1.
Bovids
The family of mammals called bovids upper lip and lower incisors** (the upper
belongs to the Artiodactyl class, which also incisors are usually absent), and then ground
includes giraffes. Bovids are highly diverse down by the cheek teeth. As well as having
group consisting of 137 species, some of which cloven, or split hooves, the males of all bovid
are man's most important domestic animals. species and the females of most carry horns.
Bovid horns have bony cores covered in a
Bovids are well represented in most
sheath of horny material that is constantly
parts of Eurasia and Southeast Asian islands,
renewed from within; they are unbranched and
but they are by far the most numerous and
never shed. They vary in shape and size: the
diverse in the latter. Some species of bovid are
relatively simple horns of a large Indian buffalo
solitary, but others live in large groups with
may measure around 4m from tip to tip along
complex social structures. Although bovids
the outer curve, while the various gazelles
have adapted to a wide range of habitats, from
have horns with a variety of elegant curves.
arctic tundra to deep tropical forest, the
majority of species favour open grassland, Five groups, or sub-families, may be
scrub or desert. This diversity of habitat is also distinguished: Bovinae, Antelope, Caprinae,
matched by great diversity in size and form: at Cephalophinae and Antilocapridae. The sub-
one extreme is the royal antelope of West family Bovinae comprises most of the larger
Africa, which stands a mere 25 cm at the bovids, including the African bongo, and nilgae,
shoulder; at the other, the massively built eland, bison and cattle. Unlike most other
bisons of North America and Europe, growing bovids they are all non-territorial. The
to a shoulder height of 2.2m. ancestors of the various species of domestic
cattle banteng, gaur, yak and water buffalo are
Despite differences in size and
generally rare and endangered in the wild,
appearance, bovids are united by the
while the auroch (the ancestor of the domestic
possession of certain common features. All
cattle of Europe) is extinct.
species are ruminants, which means that they
retain undigested food in their stomachs, The term 'antelope' is not a very precise
and regurgitate it as necessary. Bovids are zoological name - it is used to loosely describe
almost exclusively herbivorous. Typically their a number of bovids that have followed different
teeth are highly modified for browsing and lines of development. Antelopes are typically
grazing: grass or foliage is cropped with the long-legged, fast-running species, often with
long horns that may be laid along the back The duiker of Africa belongs to the
when the animal is in full flight. There are two Cephalophinae sub-family. It is generally small
main sub-groups of antelope: Hippotraginae, and solitary, often living in thick forest. Although
which includes the oryx and the addax, and mainly feeding on grass and leaves, some
Antilopinae, which generally contains slighter duikers -- unlike most other bovids - are
and more graceful animals such as gazelle and believed to eat insects and feed on dead
the springbok. Antelopes are mainly grassland animal carcasses, and even to kill small
species, but many have adapted to flooded animals.
grasslands: pukus, waterbucks and lechwes
The pronghorn is the sole survivor of a
are all good at swimming, usually feeding in
New World sub-family of herbivorous
deep water, while the sitatunga has long,
ruminants, the Antilocapridae in North America.
splayed hooves that enable it to walk freely on
It is similar in appearance and habits to the Old
swampy ground.
World antelope. Although greatly reduced in
The sub-family Caprinae includes the numbers since the arrival of Europeans, and
sheep and the goat, together with various the subsequent enclosure of grasslands, the
relatives such as the goral and the tahr. Most pronghorn is still found in considerable
are woolly or have long hair. Several species, numbers throughout North America, from
such as wild goats, chamois and ibex, are agile Washington State to Mexico. When alarmed by
cliff and mountain-dwellers. Tolerance of the approach of wolves or other predators,
extreme conditions is most marked in this hairs on the pronghorn's rump stand erect, so
group: Barbary and bighorn sheep have showing and emphasising the white patch
adapted to arid deserts, while Rocky Mountain there. At this signal, the whole herd gallops off
sheep survive high up in mountains and musk at speed of over 60 km per hour.
oxen in arctic tundra.
Questions 1-3
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.
Write the correct letter in boxes 1-3 on your answer sheet.
1 In which region is the biggest range of bovids to be found?
A Africa
B Eurasia
C North America
D South-east Asia
2 Most bovids have a preference for living in
A isolation
B small groups
C tropical forest
D wide open spaces
3 Which of the following features do all bovids have in common?
A Their horns are shot.
B They have upper incisors.
C They store food in the body.
D Their hooves are undivided.
Questions 4-8
Look at the following characteristics (Question 4-8) and the list of sub-families below.
Match each characteristic with the correct sub-family, A, B, C or D.
Write the correct letter, A, B, C or D, in boxes 4-8 on your answer sheet.
NB You may use any letter more than once.
4 can endure very harsh environments.
5 includes the ox and the cow.
6 may supplement its diet with meat.
7 can usually move at speed.
8 does not defend a particular area of land.
List of sub-families
A Antelope
B Bovinae
C Caprinae
D Cephalophinae
Question 9-13
Answer the questions below.
Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 9-13 on your answer sheet.
9 What is the smallest species of Bovid called?
10 Which species of Bovinae has now died out?
11 What facilitates the movement of the sitatunga over wetland?
12 What sort of terrain do barbary sheep live in?
13 What is the only living member of the Antilocapridae sub-family?
READING PASSAGE 2
You should spend about 20 minutes on Question 14 – 26 which are based on Reading Passage 2.
Photovoltaics on the rooftop
A natural choice for powering the family home
A In the past, urban homeowners have not always had much choice in the way electricity is supplied
to their homes. Now, however, there is a choice, and a rapidly increasing number of households
worldwide are choosing the solar energy option. Solar energy, the conversion of sunlight into
energy, is made possible through the use of 'photovoltaics', which are simple appliances that fit
onto the roof of a house.
B The photovoltaics-powered home remains connected to the power lines, but no storage is required
on-site, only a box of electronics (the inverter) to the interface between the photovoltaics and the
grid network. Figure 1 illustrates the system. During the day, when the home may not be using
much electricity, excess power from the solar array is fed back to the grid, to factories and offices
that need daytime power. At night, power flows the opposite way. The grid network effectively
provides storage. If the demand for electricity is well matched to when the sun shines, solar energy
is especially valuable. This occurs in places like California in the US and Japan, where air-
conditioning loads for offices and factories are large but heating loads for homes are small.
C The first systematic exploration of the use of photovoltaics on homes began in the US during the
1970s. A well-conceived program started with the sitting of a number of residential experiment
stations' at selected locations around the country, representing different climatic zones. These
stations contained a number of 'dummy' houses, each with a different solar-energy system design.
Homes within the communities close to these stations were monitored to see how well their energy
use matched the energy generated by the stations' dummy roofs. A change in US government
priorities in the early 1980s halted this program.
D With the US effort dropping away, the Japanese Sunshine Project came to the fore. A large
residential test station was installed on Rokko Island beginning in 1986. This installation consists of
18 'dummy' homes. Each equipped with its own 2 - 5 kilowatt photovoltaic system (about 20-50
square meters for each system). Some of these simulated homes have their own electrical
appliances inside, such as TV sets, refrigerators and air conditioning units, which switch on and off
under computer control providing a lavish lifestyle for the non-existent occupants. For the other
systems, electronics simulate these household loads. This test station has allowed the technical
issues involved in using photovoltaics within the electricity network to be explored in a systematic
way, under well-controlled test conditions. With no insurmountable problems identified, the
Japanese have used the experience gained from this station to begin their own massive residential
photovoltaics campaign.
E Meanwhile, Germany began a very important '1,000 roof program' in 1990, aimed at installing
photovoltaics on the roofs of 1,000 private homes. Large federal and regional government
subsidies were involved, accounting in most cases for 70% of the total system costs. The program
proved immensely popular, forcing its extension to over 2,000 homes scattered across Germany.
The success of this program stimulated other European countries to launch similar programs.
F Japan's 'one million roof program' was prompted by the experience gained in the Rokko Island test
site and the success of the German 1,000 roof program. The initially quoted aims of the Japanese
New Energy Development Organization were to have 70,000 homes equipped with the
photovoltaics by the year 2000, on the way to 1 million by 2010. The program made a modest start
in 1994, when 539 systems were installed with a government subsidy of 50 percent. Under this
program, entire new suburban developments are using photovoltaics.
G The Japanese initiative in embracing residential photovoltaics on a large scale prompted responses
in both Europe and the US. The European Commission has called for one million solar residential
systems before the year 2010, with 500,000 in Europe and 500,000 in the developing world, to be
subsidised by the Commission. In 1997, a similar one million roof target was announced in the US.
Since then, several other countries including Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Australia, have
announced their own targets for residential photovoltaics.
H This is good news, not only for the photovoltaic industry, but for everyone concerned with the
environment. The use of fossil fuels to generate electricity is not only costly in financial terms, but
also in terms of environmental damage. Gases produced by the burning of fossil fuels in the
production of electricity are a major contributor to the greenhouse effect. To deal with this problem,
many governments are now proposing stringent targets on the amount of greenhouse gas
emissions permitted. These targets mean that all sources of greenhouse gas emissions including
residential electricity use, will receive closer attention in the future.
I It is likely that in the future, governments will develop building codes that attempt to constrain the
energy demands of new housing. For example, the use of photovoltaics or the equivalent maybe
stipulated to lessen demands on the grid network and hence reduce fossil fuel emissions.
Approvals for building renovations may also be conditional upon taking such energy-saving
measures. If this were to happen, everyone would benefit. Although there is an initial cost in
attaching the system to the rooftop, the householder's outlay is soon compensated with the savings
on energy bills. In addition, everyone living on the planet stands to gain from the more benign
environmental impact.
Residential use of photovoltaics - by day excess power is sent to the grid, and by night power is
supplied to the home.
Question 14-19
Reading Passage 2 has nine paragraphs A-l.
Which paragraph contains the following information?
Write the correct letter A-l in boxes 14 - 19 on your answer sheet.
NB You may use any letter more than once.
14 examples of countries where electricity use is greater during the day than at night
15 a detailed description of an experiment that led to photovoltaics being promoted throughout the
country
16 the negative effects of using conventional means of generating electricity
17 an explanation of the photovoltaics system
18 the long-term benefits of using photovoltaics
19 a reference to wealthy countries being prepared to help less wealthy countries have access to
photovoltaics
Questions 20- 26
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 2?
In boxes 20 - 26 on your answer sheet, write
TRUE if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this
20 Photovoltaics are used to store electricity.
21 Since the 1970s, the US government has provided continuous support for the use of photovoltaics
on homes.
22 The solar-powered houses on Rokko Island are uninhabited.
23 In 1994, the Japanese government was providing half the money required for installing
photovoltaics on homes.
24 Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Australia all have strict goals with regard to greenhouse gas
emissions.
25 Residential electricity use is the major source of greenhouse gas emission.
26 Energy-saving measures must now be included in the design of all new homes and improvements
to buildings.
READING PASSAGE 3
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 27-40, which are based on Reading Passage 3.
Questions 27 - 31
Reading Passage 3 has six sections, A-F.
Choose the correct heading for sections B-F from the list of headings below.
Write the correct number, i-ix, in boxes 27-31 on your answer sheet.
List of Headings
i Disagreement about the reading process
ii The roots of the debate
iii A combined approach
iv Methods of teaching reading
v A controversial approach
vi Inconclusive research
vii Research with learners
viii Allowing teachers more control
ix A debate amongst educators
Example
Section A ix
………..
27 Section B ………..
28 Section C ………..
29 Section D ………..
30 Section E ………..
31 Section F ………..
How should reading be taught?
By Keith Rayner an Barbara R Foorman
A Learning to speak is automatic for almost all children, but learning to read requires elaborate
instruction and conscious effort. Well aware of the difficulties, educators have given a great deal of
thought to how they can best help children learn to read. No single method has triumphed. Indeed,
heated arguments about the most appropriate form of reading instruction continue to polarise the
teaching community.
B Three general approaches have been tried. In one, called whole-word instruction, children learn by rote
how to recognise at a glance a vocabulary of 50 to 100 words. Then they gradually acquire other words,
often through seeing them used over and over again in the context of a story.
Speakers of most languages learn the relationship between letters and the sounds associated with
them (phonemes). That is, children are taught how to use their knowledge of the alphabet to sound out
words. This procedure constitutes a second approach to teaching reading - phonics.
Many schools have adopted a different approach: the whole-language method. The strategy here relies
on the child's experience with language. For example, students are offered engaging books and are
encouraged to guess the words that they do not know by considering the context of the sentence or by
looking for clues in the storyline and illustrations, rather than trying to sound them out.
Many teachers adopted the whole-language approach because of its intuitive appeal. Making reading
fun promises to keep children motivated, and learning to read depends more on what the student does
than on what the teacher does. The presumed benefits of whole-language instruction - and the contrast
to the perceived dullness of phonics - led to its growing acceptance across America during the 1990s,
and a movement away from phonics.
C However, many linguists and psychologists objected strongly to the abandonment of phonics in
American schools. Why was this so? In short, because research had clearly demonstrated that
understanding how letters related to the component sounds in words is critically important in reading.
This conclusion rests, in part, on knowledge of how experienced readers make sense of words on a
page. Advocates of whole-language instruction have argued forcefully that people often derive
meanings directly from print without ever determining the sound of the word. Some psychologists today
accept this view, but most believe that reading is typically a process of rapidly sounding out words
mentally. Compelling evidence for this comes from experiments which show that subjects often confuse
homophones (words that sound the same, such as 'rose' and 'rows'). This supports the idea that
readers convert strings of letters to sounds.
D In order to evaluate different approaches to teaching reading, a number of to experiments have been
carried out, firstly with college students, then with school pupils. Investigators trained English-speaking
college students to read using unfamiliar symbols such as Arabic letters (the phonics approach), while
another group learned entire words associated with certain strings of Arabic letters (whole-word). Then
both groups were required to read a new set of words constructed from the original characters. In
general, readers who were taught the rules of phonics could read many more new words than those
trained with a whole-word procedure.
Classroom studies comparing phonics with either whole-word or whole-language instruction are also
quite illuminating. One particularly persuasive study compared two programmes used in 20 first-grade
classrooms. Half the students were offered traditional reading instruction, which included the use of
phonics drills and applications. The other half were taught using an individualised method that drew
from their experiences with language; these children produced their own booklets of stories and
developed sets of words to be recognised (common components of the whole-language approach). This
study found that the first group scored higher at year's end on tests of reading and comprehension.
E If researchers are so convinced about the need for phonics instruction, why does the debate continue?
Because the controversy is enmeshed in the philosophical differences between traditional and
progressive (or new) approaches, differences that have divided educators for years. The progressives
challenge the results of laboratory tests and classroom studies on the basis of a broad philosophical
scepticism about the values of such research. They champion student-centred learning and teacher
empowerment. Sadly, they fail to realise that these very admirable educational values are equally
consistent with the teaching of phonics.
F If schools of e du cation insisted that would-be reading teachers learned something about the vast
research in linguistics and psychology that bears on reading, their graduates would be more eager to
use phonics and would be prepared to do so effectively. They could allow their pupils to apply the
principles of phonics while reading for pleasure. Using whole-language activities to supplement phonics
instruction certainly helps to make reading fun and meaningful for children, so no one would want to
see such tools discarded. Indeed, recent work has indicated that the combination of literature-based
instruction and phonics is more powerful than either method used alone. Teachers need to strike a
balance. But in doing so, we urge them to remember that reading must be grounded in a firm
understanding of the connections between letters and sounds. Educators who deny this reality are
neglecting decades of research. They are also neglecting the needs of their students.
Questions 32- 36
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 3?
In boxes 32-36 on your answer sheet, write
TRUE if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this
32 The whole-language approach relates letters to sounds.
33 Many educators believe the whole-language approach to be the most interesting way to teach
children to read.
34 Research supports the theory that we read without linking words to sounds.
35 Research has shown that the whole-word approach is less effective than the whole-language
approach.
36 Research has shown that phonics is more successful than both the whole-word and whole-
language approaches.
Questions 37 - 40
Complete the summary of sections E and F using the list of words, A-G, below.
Write the correct letter, A-G, in boxes 37-40 on your answer sheet.
In the teaching community, 37 ……………. question the usefulness of research into methods of
teaching reading. These critics believe that 38 ……………. is incompatible with student-centred
learning. In the future, teachers need to be aware of 39 ……………. so that they understand the
importance of phonics. They should not, however, ignore the ideas of 40 ……………. which make
reading enjoyable for learners.
A the phonics method
B the whole-word method
C the whole-language method
D traditionalists
E progressives
F linguistics
G research studies
