TEST 1

Passage 1

INSOMNIA – THE ENEMY OF SLEEP

A It is not unusual to have sleep troubles from time to time. But, if you feel you do not get enough sleep, or
satisfying sleep, you may have insomnia, a sleep disorder. People with insomnia have one or more of the
following: difficulty in falling asleep, waking up often during the night and having trouble going back to
sleep, waking up too early in the morning, and unrefreshing sleep. Insomnia is not defined by the number of
hours you sleep every night. The amount of sleep a person needs varies. While most people need between 7
and 8 hours of sleep a night, some people do well with less, and some need more.

B Insomnia occurs most frequently in people over the age of 60, in people with a history of depression, and
in women, especially after the menopause. Severe emotional trauma can also cause insomnia, with divorced,
widowed and separated people being the most likely to suffer from this sleep disorder. An irregular work
schedule, jet lag or brain damage from a stroke or Alzheimer’s disease can also cause insomnia as can
excessive use of alcohol or illicit drugs. However, stress, anxiety, illness and other disorders such as restless
legs syndrome are the most common causes of insomnia.

C The mechanism that induces sleep and the reason why sleep is necessary for good health and efficient
mental functioning is not fully understood. We do know that sleep consists of two very different states: rapid
eye movement (REM) sleep and non-REM sleep. In REM sleep, dreams occur, the eyes move under the
closed lids and there is an increase in oxygen consumption, blood flow and neural activity. REM sleep
occurs four or five times during a night. Beginning periods last about 10 to 15 minutes but the periods get
longer as the night goes on. These interludes alternate with longer periods of non-REM sleep, when body
functions slow down. Non-REM sleep has four stages. During the deepest stages (3 and 4) it is hard to rouse
a sleeper. As the night goes on, the periods of non-REM sleep become progressively lighter. Sleep in stages
1 and 2 is felt to be restorative, as during this time the body repairs itself, utilising a hormone called
“somatostatin”.

D Researchers and healthcare providers define insomnia in several ways. One way is to categorise insomnia
by how often it occurs. Another way is to identify the insomnia by what is causing the sleep deprivation.
The two main types of insomnia have been described as “primary insomnia” and “secondary insomnia”.
Primary insomnia is a chronic condition with little apparent association with stress or a medical problem.
The most common form of primary insomnia is psychophysiological insomnia. Secondary insomnia is
caused by symptoms that accompany a medical condition such as anxiety, depression or pain.

E Improving one’s sleep hygiene helps improve insomnia in all patients. Relaxing during the hour before
you go to sleep and creating a comfortable environment suited for sleep can be helpful. Older people who
wake up earlier than normal or have trouble falling asleep may need less sleep than they used to. Changing
one’s sleep pattern, either by going to bed later or waking up earlier, can be effective in dealing with
insomnia in older people. Therapy also depends on the cause and severity of the insomnia. Transient and
intermittent insomnia may not require any direct action since these conditions last only a few days at a time.
However, if insomnia interferes with a person’s daily activities, something should be done. Usually the best
method of dealing with insomnia is by attacking the underlying cause. For example, people who are
depressed often have insomnia and working on this problem may eliminate the sleeping difficulties.
F Not getting enough sleep can make you less productive, irritable and unable to concentrate. Lack of sleep
can make it seem as if you “got out of the wrong side of bed". Waking up with a headache or feeling as if
you never went to sleep can result in frustration. Stress can cause insomnia but insomnia also increases
stress. Insomnia can make driving unsafe and can cause you to become less productive at work. It may leave
you feeling as if you just can’t get enough done. Insomnia can also mask serious mental disorders. People
with insomnia may think that not getting enough sleep is their only problem, but the insomnia may actually
be one symptom of a larger disorder, such as depression. Studies show that people with insomnia are four
times more likely to be depressed than people with a healthy sleeping pattern. In addition, lack of sleep can
tax the heart and lead to serious conditions like heart disease

G Establishing certain set routines can help insomniacs get better sleep. Examples of these routines include:
going to bed and getting up at the same time every day, avoiding naps, avoiding caffeine, nicotine, alcohol
and eating heavily late in the day, exercising regularly and making your bedroom comfortable in terms of
the bed, noise and temperature. Insomniacs should also only use their bedroom for sleep so that their bodies
associate the room with sleep. Finally, if you can’t get to sleep, don’t toss and turn all night. Get up and read
or do something that is not overly stimulating until you feel really sleepy again.
Questions 1-6
Reading Passage 1, Insomnia – The Enemy of Sleep, has seven paragraphs, A-G.
From the list of headings below, choose the most suitable ones for each paragraph, B-G.
Write the appropriate number (i-xi) in answer boxes 1-6.
NB There are more headings than paragraphs, so you will not use them all.

Example Answer

Paragraph A iv

1 Paragraph B: ………. 4 Paragraph E: ……….

2 Paragraph C: ………. 5 Paragraph F: ……….
3 Paragraph D: ………. 6 Paragraph G: ………

i Normal Sleep Patterns vi Complications for Insomniacs

ii What Medication is Available vii When Should Insomnia be Treated
iii Habits to Promote a Good Night’s Sleep viii The Roots of Insomnia
iv What is Insomnia? ix Classes of Insomnia
v Government Action

Questions 7-14
Do the statements below (questions 7-14) agree with the claims of the writer of Reading Passage 1,
Insomnia -The Enemy of Sleep?
In answer boxes 7-14, write:
YES If the statement agrees with the writer
NO If the statement contradicts the writer
NOT GIVEN If it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this

7 Someone who only gets four hours of sleep a night must be suffering from insomnia.
8 Flying over long distances can cause insomnia.
9 REM sleep is thought to be the most important for the body’s rest.
10 Secondary insomnia is far more common than primary insomnia.
11 Some suffers of chronic insomnia may find changing the hours they sleep helpful.
12 Many people who suffer from insomnia don’ t realise that they suffer from it.
13 There is no correlation linking insomnia and depression.
14 Sleeping during the day can make insomnia worse.
Passage 2

Pollution in the Oceans

A Everybody uses the sea directly or indirectly as a rubbish bin. Most of the substances thrown into the sea
cannot be reused or broken down by nature and they cause soiling, destruction and death to the sea’s
inhabitants. The marine protection organisation, Oceana, estimates that worldwide about 680 tonnes of
waste are thrown directly into the oceans every hour, and more than half of this waste is made of plastic.

B Between Hawaii and California, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, an accumulation of small floating
plastic pieces derived from bottle caps, carrier bags, fishing nets and so on, covers an area of the ocean’s
surface as big as Western Europe. Due to its constant growth, the exact size of the Great Pacific Garbage
Patch is unknown. The garbage patch developed in this area because of the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre,
one of many oceanic gyres created by a convergence of ocean currents and wind. As the currents meet, the
earth’s coriolis effect causes the water to slowly rotate, acting like a funnel* that pulls together any rubbish
that is floating in the water. The existence of a garbage patch was predicted in 1988 by the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Association (NOAA), but it was not officially discovered until 1997, because of its remote
location and harsh conditions for navigation. The North Pacific gyre is one of five major ocean gyres, and it
is likely that this trash vortex problem is present in other oceans as well.

C Plastics can soak up and concentrate damaging pollutants, known as persistent organic pollutants (POPs),
chemicals that can cause different cancers, increased infertility and brain and nervous system abnormalities.
Any organism eating pieces of plastic debris will also take in these highly toxic pollutants. This leads to
biomagnification, whereby the concentration of POPs increases greatly at every step in the food chain, and
top predators end up with extremely high levels. Killer whales, for example, acquire the lifetime
accumulation of POPs of the animals they eat. These toxins are also passed from female to calf during
gestation* and nursing.

D In addition to these hazards, the floating plastics can also affect marine ecosystems by providing a ready
surface for organisms to live on. These plants and animals can then be transported on the plastic far outside
their normal environments, populating new ones and becoming possible nuisance species by interfering with
the food chains or breeding pools in these new ecosystems.

E Not all plastic floats; approximately 70 per cent of discarded plastic sinks to the bottom. In the North Sea,
Dutch scientists have counted around 110 pieces of litter for every square kilometre of the seabed, which
represents a staggering 600,000 tonnes in the North Sea alone. These plastics can smother the sea bottom
and kill the marine life that is found there. A lot of this underwater rubbish comes from rivers, which also
carry the rubbish underwater and is therefore unseen. The UK’s River Thames, for example, has recently
undergone an experiment. Scientists used crab nets to catch underwater rubbish and retrieved more than
8,000 pieces of plastic over 3 months. All this rubbish would have ended up in the North Sea.

F The idea of sea water rubbish processors being placed in the ocean to gather trash is currently under
development. The processors would float on the surface of oceans and use long arms, known as "booms", to
divert rubbish into the main body of the processor where small pieces of plastic debris would be filtered out
of the water. The use of booms rather than net meshes would mean that even the smallest particles would be
diverted and extracted, but virtually no by-catch would occur. The platforms would be completely self-
supporting, receiving their energy from the sun, currents and waves. According to the inventor, reprocessing
and selling the plastic retrieved by rubbish processors from the world’s gyres could potentially even be
profitable.
G Many campaigners against marine debris are sceptical about this suggestion, however. They point out that
the size of the world’s oceans is so vast and the scope of the plastic trash problem so great that, even if they
worked efficiently, processors of this type would have a negligible effect on the amount of trash in the
oceans. What’s more, the sceptics say that recycled ocean plastic waste has very little commercial value, as
it requires cleaning to remove sea life and toxins before it can be used. They also assert that it is extremely
brittle, making it unsuitable for many of the purposes for which plastic is normally used.

H Environmentalists like these believe that ocean clean-up solutions are pointless and futile and that the
answer to the problem lies in prevention rather than cure. At a personal level, everyone can contribute by
avoiding plastics in the things they buy and by disposing of their plastic waste responsibly. Publicity
campaigns can make ship owners and operators, offshore platforms and fishing boat operators more aware
of the consequences of the irresponsible disposal of plastic items at sea. Furthermore, by signing petitions,
contributing to environmental organisations, taking part in beach clean-ups and exerting pressure on locally
elected officials, members of the public can make their concerns known and contribute to the goal of
preventing plastic waste ever reaching the sea.
Questions 15-21
Reading Passage 2, Pollution in the Oceans, has eight paragraphs (A-H).
Which paragraph contains the information below?
Write the correct letter, A-H, in answer boxes 15-21.
NB You can use any letter more than once.
15 Food poisoning in marine animals.
16 Renewable energy powering marine rubbish collectors.
17 The public’s role in marine pollution solutions.
18 The ineffectiveness of marine rubbish collectors.
19 Problematic travel area for ships.
20 Negative effect in breeding in marine organisms.
21 The spreading of species to new areas of the ocean.
Questions 22-24
Complete each sentence with the correct ending.
Choose from the list, A-D, below.
Write the appropriate letters, A-D, in answer boxes 22-24.
22 Oceana has claimed that more than 50 per cent of all marine rubbish …
A … originates in the United States.
B … is plastic.
C … ends up in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
D … comes from ships.
23 People do not know how big the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is because …
A … the research to determine this would be too expensive.
B … its exact location is not known.
C … it is continually expanding.
D … the earth’s coriolis effect makes the water move.

24 Scientists have recently discovered that rubbish in the River Thames …

A … travels downstream below the surface of the river.
 B … has damaged the river’s crab stocks.
C … is now always caught by nets before it reaches the open sea.
D … is responsible for the majority of marine pollution in the North Sea.
Questions 25-27
Do the statements below (questions 25-27) agree with the information given in Reading Passage 2, Pollution
in the Oceans?
In answer boxes 25-27, 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 in the reading passage

25 The person who came up with the idea for the sea water rubbish processors believes that sales of his
machine could be profitable.
26 Critics of marine clean-up operations claim that plastic recovered from the oceans is not appropriate
for recycling.
27 Many campaigners believe that the most effective solution to marine pollution is to deal with plastic
waste on land.
Passage 3

Alternative Farming Methods in Oregon

Onion growers in eastern Oregon are adopting a system that saves water and keeps topsoil in place, while
producing the highest quality “super colossal” onions. Pear growers in southern Oregon have reduced their
use of some of the most toxic pesticides by up to two-thirds, and are still producing top-quality pears. Range
managers throughout the state have controlled the poisonous weed, tansy ragwort, with insect predators and
saved the Oregon livestock industry up to $4.8 million a year.
These are some of the results Oregon growers have achieved in collaboration with Oregon State University
(OSU) researchers as they test new farming methods including Integrated Pest Management (IPM).
Nationwide, however, IPM has not delivered results comparable to those in Oregon. A recent US General
Accounting Office (GAO) report indicates that while Integrated Pest Management can result in dramatically
reduced pesticide use, the federal government has been lacking in effectively promoting that goal and
implementing IPM. Farmers also blame the government for not making the new options of pest management
attractive. “Wholesale changes in the way that farmers control the pests on their farms is an expensive
business,” Tony Brown, of the National Farmers Association says. “If the farmers are given tax breaks to
offset the expenditure, then they would willingly accept the new practices.” The report goes on to note that
even though the use of the riskiest pesticides has declined nationwide, they still make up more than 40 per
cent of all pesticides used today; and national pesticide use has risen by 40 million kilograms since 1992.
“Our food supply remains the safest and highest quality on Earth but we continue to overdose our farmland
with powerful and toxic pesticides and to underuse the safe and effective alternatives,” charges Patrick
Leahy, who commissioned the report. Green action groups disagree about the safety issue. “There is no way
that habitual consumption of foodstuffs grown using toxic chemicals of the nature found on today’s farms
can be healthy for consumers,” notes Bill Bowler, spokesman for Green Action, one of many lobbyists
interested in this issue.
The GAO report singles out Oregon’s apple and pear producers who have used the new IPM techniques with
growing success. Although Oregon is clearly ahead of the nation, scientists at OSU are taking the
Government Accounting Office criticisms seriously. “We must continue to develop effective alternative
practices that will reduce environmental hazards and produce high-quality products,” says Paul Jepson, a
professor of entomology at OSU and new director of OSU’s Integrated Plant Protection Center (IPPC). The
IPPC brings together scientists from OSU’s Agricultural Experiment Station, OSU Extension service, the
US Department of Agriculture and Oregon farmers to help develop agricultural systems that will save water
and soil, and reduce pesticides. In response to the GAO report, the Center is putting even more emphasis on
integrating research and farming practices to improve Oregon agriculture environmentally and
economically.
“The GAO report criticises agencies for not clearly communicating the goals of IPM,” says Jepson. “Our
challenge is to greatly improve the communication to and from growers, to learn what works and what
doesn’t. The work coming from OSU researchers must be adopted in the field and not simply languish in
scientific journals.”
In Oregon, growers and scientists are working together to instigate new practices. For example, a few years
ago scientists at OSU’s Malheur Experiment Station began testing a new drip irrigation system to replace
old ditches that wasted water and washed soil and fertiliser into streams. The new system cut water and
fertiliser use by half, kept topsoil in place and protected water quality. In addition, the new system produced
crops of very large onions, rated “super colossal” and highly valued by the restaurant industry and food
processors. Art Pimms, one of the researchers at Malheur comments: “Growers are finding that when they
adopt more environmentally benign practices, they can have excellent results. The new practices benefit the
environment and give the growers their success.”
OSU researchers in Malheur next tested straw mulch* and found that it successfully held soil in place and
kept the ground moist with less irrigation. In addition, and unexpectedly, the scientists found that the
mulched soil created a home for beneficial beetles and spiders that prey on onion thrips – a notorious pest in
commercial onion fields – a discovery that could reduce the need for pesticides. “I would never have
believed that we could replace the artificial pest controls that we had before and still keep our good results,”
comments Steve Black, a commercial onion farmer in Oregon, “but instead we have actually surpassed
expectations.”
OSU researchers throughout the state have been working to reduce dependence on broad-spectrum chemical
sprays that are toxic to many kinds of organisms, including humans. “Consumers are rightly putting more
and more pressure on the industry to change its reliance on chemical pesticides, but they still want a picture-
perfect product,” says Rick Hilton, entomologist at OSU’s Southern Oregon Research and Extension Center,
where researchers help pear growers reduce the need for highly toxic pesticides. Picture-perfect pears are an
important product in Oregon, and traditionally they have required lots of chemicals. In recent years, the
industry has faced stiff competition from overseas producers, so any new methods that growers adopt must
make sense economically as well as environmentally. Hilton is testing a growth regulator that interferes with
the molting of codling moth larvae*. Another study used pheromone dispensers to disrupt codling moth
mating. These and other methods of Integrated Pest Management have allowed pear growers to reduce their
use of organophosphates by two-thirds and reduce all other synthetic pesticides by even more and still
produce top-quality pears. These and other studies around the state are part of the effort of the IPPC to find
alternative farming practices that benefit both the economy and the environment.
Questions 28-35
Look at statements 28-35 and the list of people below.
Match each statement with the correct person.
Write the appropriate initials of the people in answer boxes 28-35.
28 There is a double advantage to the new techniques.
29 Expectations of end-users of agricultural goods affect the products.
30 The work on developing these alternative techniques is not finished.
31 Eating food that has had chemicals used in its production is dangerous to our health.
32 Changing current farming methods is not a cheap process.
33 Results have exceeded anticipations.
34 The research done should be translated into practical projects. X
35 The US produces the best food in the world.

TB Tony Brown

PL Patrick Leahy

BB Bill Bowler

PJ Paul Jepson

AP Art Pimms

SB Steve Black

RH Rick Hilton
Questions 36-40
Do the statements below (questions 36-40) agree with the information given in Reading Passage 3,
Alternative Farming Methods in Oregon?
In answer boxes 36-40, 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 in the reading passage

36 Integrated Pest Management has generally been regarded as a success in the US.
37 Oregon farmers of apples and pears have been promoted as successful examples of Integrated Pest
Management.
38 The IPPC uses scientists from different organisations.
39 Straw mulch experiments produced unplanned benefits.
40 The apple industry is now facing a lot of competition from abroad.
 KEYS
1 viii (Paragraph B talks about the causes of insomnia, so viii – The Roots of Insomnia is the best
heading.)
2 i (Paragraph C talks about the different stages of sleep in normal conditions so i – Normal Sleep
Patterns is the best heading.)
3 ix (Paragraph D talks about different ways to categorise insomnia, so ix – Classes of Insomnia is the best
heading.)
4 vii (Paragraph E talks about how to manage insomnia and when medical care is needed, so vii - When
Should Insomnia be Treated? is the best heading. )
5 v (Paragraph F talks about how difficult insomnia can be for people who suffer from it, so v –
Complications for Insomniacs if the best heading.)
6 iii (Paragraph G talks about changing your daily routine to sleep better, so iii – Habits to Promote a
Good Night Sleep is the best heading.)
7 NO (Paragraph A says that Insomnia is not defined by the number of hours you sleep every night , so NO
is the correct answer.)
8 Yes (Paragraph B says that jet lag […] can also cause insomnia, so YES is the correct answer.)
9 NG (Paragraph C talks about REM sleep, but does not say that it is the most important stage so NOT
GIVEN is the correct answer.)
10 NG (Paragraph D mentions both primary and secondary insomnia, but does not talk about how frequent
each one is, so NOT GIVEN is the correct answer.)
11 YES (Paragraph E says that Changing one’s sleep pattern, either by going to bed later or walking up
earlier, can be effective in dealing with insomnia in older people, so YES is the correct answer.)
12 NG (No paragraph in the text mentions anything about people not realising they suffer from insomnia, so
NOT GIVEN is the correct answer.)
13 NO (Paragraph F says that people with insomnia are four times more likely to be depressed than people
with a healthy sleeping pattern sleeping pattern, so NO is the correct answer.)
14 YES (Paragraph G says that Establishing certain set routines can help insomniacs get better sleep and
that [These] include […] avoiding naps, so YES is the correct answer.)
15 C (Paragraph C mentions that Any organism eating pieces of plastic debris will also take in these highly
toxic pollutants, so C is the correct answer.)
16 F (Paragraph F mentions that The platforms would be completely self-supporting, receiving their energy
from the sun, currents and waves, so F is the correct answer.)
17 H (Paragraph H mentions that At a personal level, everyone can contribute by avoiding plastics in the
things they buy and by disposing of their plastic waste responsibly, so H is the correct answer.)
18 G (Paragraph G mentions that … processors of this type would have a negligible effect on the amount of
trash in the oceans, so G is the right answer.)
19 B (Paragraph B mentions that ... it was not officially discovered until 1997, because of its remote location
and harsh conditions for navigation, so B is the correct answer.)
20 C (Paragraph C mentions that ... plastics can soak up and concentrate damaging pollutants, known as
persistent organic pollutants (POPs), chemicals that can cause different cancers, increased infertility and
brain and nervous system abnormalities, so C is the correct answer.)
21 D (Paragraph D mentions that … plants and animals can then be transported on the plastic far outside
their normal environments, so D is the correct answer.)
22 B (Paragraph A mentions that 'Oceana, estimates that worldwide about 680 tonnes of waste are thrown
directly into the oceans every hour, and more than half of this waste is made of plastic.' so B is the correct
answer.)
23 C (Paragraph B mentions that ‘Due to its constant growth, the exact size of the Great Pacific Garbage
Patch is unknown.’ so C is the correct answer.)
24 A (Paragraph E mentions that ‘A lot of this underwater rubbish comes from rivers, which also carry the
rubbish underwater and therefore unseen. The UK’s River Thames, for example, has recently undergone
an experiment. Scientists used crab nets to catch underwater rubbish and retrieved more than 8,000
pieces of plastics over 3 months.’ so A is the correct answer.)
25 NOT GIVEN (Paragraph F mentions that According to the inventor reprocessing and selling the plastic
retrieved by rubbish processors from the world's gyres could potentially even be profitable but it does not
mention sales of the machine, so NOT GIVEN is the correct answer)
26 TRUE (Paragraph G mentions Many campaigners against marine debris 1.1 assert that (plastic) is
extremely brittle making it unsuitable for many of the purposes for which plastic is normally used so
TRUE is the correct answer.)
27 TRUE (Paragraph H states that Environmentalists like these believe that ocean clean-up solutions are
pointless and that everyone can contribute by avoiding plastics in the things they buy and by disposing of
their plastic waste responsibly so TRUE is the correct answer)
28 AP (In the fifth paragraph Art Pimms says The new practices benefit the environment and give the
growers their success, so AP is the correct answer)
29 RH (in the seventh paragraph Rick Hilton says Consumers are rightly putting more and more pressure
on the industry to change its reliance on chemical pesticides, so RH is the correct)
30 PJ (in the third paragraph Paul Jenson says We must continue to develop effective alternative practices, so
PJ is the correct answer)
31 BB (In the second paragraph Bill Bowler says There is no way that habitual consumption of foodstuffs
grown using toxic chemicals of the nature found on today's farms can be healthy for consumers, so BB is
the correct answer.
32 TB (in the second paragraph Tony Brown says Wholesale changes in the way that farmers control the
pests on the farms on expensive business, so TB is the correct answer)
33 SB (In the sixth paragraph Steve Black says I would never have believed that we could replace the
artificial pest controls […] but instead we have actually surpassed expectations, so SB is the correct
answer)
34 PJ (In the fourth paragraph Paul Jepson says The work coming from OSU researchers must be adopted in
the field and not simply languish in scientific journals, so PJ is the correct answer.)
35 PL (in the second paragraph Patrick Leahy says Our food supply remains the safest and highest Quality
on Earth, so PL is the correct answer)
36 FALSE (The second paragraph mentions that Nationwide, however, IPM [integrated Pest Management
has not delivered results comparable to those in Oregon, so FALSE is the correct answer)
37 TRUE (The third paragraph mentions that The GAO report singles out Oregon's apple and pear
producers who have used the new IPM techniques with growing success, so TRUE is the correct answer)
38 TRUE (The third paragraph mentions that The IPPC brings together scientists from OSUS Agricultural
Experiment Station. OSU Extension service the US Department of Agriculture and Oregon farmers, so
TRUE is the correct answer.)
39 TRUE (The sixth paragraph states that … unexpectedly, the scientists found that the mulched soil created
a home for beneficial beetles and spiders, so TRUE is the correct answer)
40 NG (The seventh paragraph mentions that … pears are an important product in Oregon and that the
industry has faced stiff competition from overseas producers, but it does not mention if the same is true of
the apple industry, so NOT GIVEN is the correct answer.)