TEST 1
READING PASSAGE 1
The Importance of Business Cards
The exchanging of business cards is as close to a universal ritual as
you can find in the business world
The ritual may be universal, but the details of business cards and how they are swapped vary across
countries. Americans throw their cards casually across a table; the Japanese make the exchange of
cards a formal ceremony. While there are cards that are discreet and understated, others are
crammed full of details and titles. Some business people hand out 24-carat gold cards, and there are
kindergarten children who have cards with not only their own contact details, but also with the job
descriptions of their parents and even grandparents. This practice has become so common in parts
of New York, for example, that the use of such cards is now prohibited by some of these
institutions.
Cards have been around a long time in one form or another. The Chinese invented calling cards in
the 15th century to give people notice that they intended to pay them a visit, but these were for
social purposes only. Then, in the 17th century, European business people invented a new type of
card to act as miniature advertisements, signalling the advent of the business card. In today's world,
business cards can cause people to have strong emotional reactions. According to one experienced
company director, very few things can provoke more heated discussion at a board meeting than the
composition of the company's business cards.
Lots of companies try to promote themselves by altering the form of the card. Employees at one
famous toy company give out little plastic figures with their contact details stamped on them. One
fast food company has business cards which are shaped like a portion of French fries. A Canadian
divorce lawyer once gave out cards that could be torn in two - one half for each of the spouses. For
many business commentators, such gimmicky business cards prove that the use of a physical
business card is nearly at an end. After all, why bother exchanging bits of thick paper at all when
you can simply swap electronic versions by smartphone.
However, one can just as well argue the opposite: that business cards are here to stay, and in a
business world full of meetings and correspondence, it is more important than ever that your card is
unique. Attempts to reinvent business cards for the digital age have not been successful. Even at the
latest technology conferences, people still greet each other by handing out little rectangles made
from paper rather than using a digital alternative.
To understand business cards, it is necessary to understand how business works. That business
cards are thriving in a digital age is a forceful reminder that there is much about business that is
timeless. According to Kate Jones, a business lecturer, there is one eternal and inescapable issue.
Her 2006 study of more than 200 business executives in North America found that trust was the key
element for running a successful business. It is vital to be able to look someone in the eye and
decide what sort of person they are. In this way, you can transform acquaintanceships into
relationships. A good proportion of business life will always be about building social connections -
having dinner or playing sport with clients and colleagues- and while computers can deal with
administrative tasks, it is still human beings that have to focus on the emotional.
The rapid advance of globalisation means that this relationship building process is becoming ever
more demanding. Managers have to put more effort in when dealing with international counterparts.
especially when there is not a common language, which is so often the case these days. A recent UK
survey showed that chief executives of global organisations now routinely spend three out of every
four weeks on international travel. It is in these situations that business cards are doubly useful, as
they are a quick way of establishing connections. Cards can also remind you that you have actually
met someone in a face to face meeting rather than just searched for them on the internet. Looking
through piles of different cards can enhance your memory in ways that simply looking through
uniform electronic lists would never do.
Janet McIntyre is a leading expert on business cards in today's world. She maintains that as
companies become more complex, cards are essential in determining the exact status of every
contact you meet in multinational corporations. Janet also explains how exchanging business cards
can be an effective way of initiating a conversation, because it gives people a ritual to follow when
they first meet a new business contact.
The business world is obsessed with the idea of creating and inventing new things that will change
the way we do everything, and this does lead to progress. But there are lots of things that do not
need to be changed and in Janet McIntyre's view, tradition also has an equally valuable role to play.
Therefore the practice of exchanging business cards is likely to continue in the business world.
Questions 1-5
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1?
In boxes 1-5 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
1. Children's business cards have been banned in some kindergartens. t
2. It was the Chinese who first began the practice of using business cards.f
3. Designing business cards can be a controversial process for some companies. T
4. A famous toy company has boosted their sales by using one type of unusual business card.
ng
5. Some business commentators predict a decline in the use of paper business cards. t
Questions 6-13
Complete the notes below.
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 6-13 on your answer sheet.
How business works
Kate Jones's research
• The most important aspect of business is having 6....trust.......... in others.
• 7....computers.......... do not have the ability to establish the good relationships essential to
business.
Business and globalisation
• Managers must work harder when they don't share the same 8......language........ with their
contacts.
• A UK survey indicates that 9......travel........ takes up the largest part of business leaders'
time.
• A business person's 10........memory...... of a meeting can be improved by looking at business
cards.
Janet McIntyre
• Business cards clearly show the 11 ....status.......... of each person in a large company.
• The ritual of swapping business cards is a good way of starting a 12....conservation.........at the
beginning of a business relationship.
• Janet feels that in the business world, 13.....tradition........ is just as important as innovation.
READING PASSAGE 2
The importance of law
A
The law influences all of us virtually all the time. It governs almost all aspects of our behavior, and
even what happens to us when we are no longer alive. It affects us from the embryo onwards. It
governs the air we breathe, the food and drink we consume, our travel, family relationships, and our
property. It applies at the bottom of the ocean and in space. Each time we examine a label on a food
product, engage in work as an employee or employer, travel on the roads, go to school to learn or to
teach, stay in a hotel, borrow a library book, create or dissolve a commercial company, play sports,
or engage the services of someone for anything from plumbing a sink to planning a city, we are in
the world of law.
B
Law has also become much more widely recognised as the standard by which behaviour needs. to
be judged. A very telling development in recent history is the way in which the idea of law has
permeated all parts of social life. The universal standard of whether something is socially tolerated
is progressively becoming whether it is legal, rather than something that has always been
considered acceptable. In earlier times, most people were illiterate. Today, by contrast, a vast
number of people can read, and it is becoming easier for people to take an interest in law, and for
the general population to help actually shape the law in many countries. However, law is a versatile
instrument that can be used equally well for the improvement or the degradation of humanity.
C
This, of course, puts law in a very significant position. In our rapidly developing world, all sorts of
skills and knowledge are valuable. Those people, for example, with knowledge of computers, the
internet, and communications technology are relied upon by the rest of us. There is now someone
with IT skills or an IT help desk in every UK school, every company, every hospital, every local
and central government office. Without their knowledge, many parts of commercial and social life
today would seize up in minutes. But legal understanding is just as vital and as universally needed.
The American comedian Jerry Seinfeld put it like this, 'We are all throwing the dice, playing the
game, moving our pieces around the board, but if there is a problem, the lawyer is the only person
who has read the inside of the top of the box.' In other words, the lawyer is the only person who has
read and made sense of the rules.
D
The number of laws has never been greater. In the UK alone, about 35 new Acts of Parliament are
produced every year, thereby delivering thousands of new rules. The legislative output of the British
Parliament has more than doubled in recent times from 1,100 pages a year in the early 1970s, to
over 2,500 pages a year today. Between 1997 and 2006, the legislature passed 365 Acts of
Parliament and more than 32,000 legally binding statutory instruments. In a system with so much
law, lawyers do a great deal not just to vindicate the rights of citizens and organizations but also to
help develop the law through legal arguments, some of which are adapted by judges to become
laws. Law courts can and do produce new law and revise old law, but they do so having heard the
arguments of lawyers.
E
However, despite their important role in developing the rules, lawyers are not universally admired.
Anti-lawyer jokes have a long history going back to the ancient Greeks. More recently the son of a
famous Hollywood actor was asked at his junior school what his father did for a living, to which he
replied,'My daddy is a movie actor, and sometimes he plays the good guy, and sometimes he plays
the lawyer.' For balance, though, it is worth remembering that there are, and have been,many heroic
and revered lawyers such as the Roman philosopher and politician Cicero, and Mahatma Gandhi,
the Indian campaigner for Independence.
F
People sometimes make comments that characterise lawyers as professionals whose concerns put
personal reward above truth, or who gain financially from misfortune. There are undoubtedly
lawyers that would fit that bill, just as there are some scientists, journalists and others in that
category. But, in general, it is no more just to say that lawyers are bad because they make a living
from people's problems than it is to make the same accusation in respect of nurses or IT consultants.
A great many lawyers are involved in public law work, such as that Involving civil liberties,
housing and other issues. Such work is not lavishly remunerated and the quality of the service
provided by these lawyers relies on considerable professional dedication. Moreover, much legal
work has nothing to do with conflict or misfortune, but is primarily concerned with drafting
documents. Another source of social disaffection for lawyers, and disaffection for the law, is a
limited public understanding of how law works and how it could be changed. Greater clarity about
these issues,maybe as a result of better public relations, would reduce many aspects of public
dissatisfaction with the law.
Questions 14-19
Reading Passage 2 has six paragraphs, A-F.
Choose the correct heading for each paragraph from the list of headings below.
Write the correct number, I-vill, in boxes 14-19 on your answer sheet.
List of Headings
i Different areas of professional expertise
ii Reasons why it is unfair to criticise lawyers
iii The disadvantages of the legal system
iv The law applies throughout our lives
v The law has affected historical events
vi A negative regard for lawyers
vii public's increasing ability to influence the law
viii growth in laws
14 Paragraph A iv
15 Paragraph B vii
16 Paragraph C i
17 Paragraph D viii
18 Paragraph E vi
19 Paragraph F ii
Questions 20 and 21
Choose TWO letters, A-E.
Write the correct letters in boxes 20 and 21 on your answer sheet.
Which TWO of the following statements does the writer make about legal skills in today's world?
A There should be a person with legal training in every hospital.
B Lawyers with experience in commercial law are the most in demand.
C Knowledge of the law is as important as having computer skills.
D Society could not function effectively without legal experts.
E Schools should teach students about the law.
Questions 22-26
Complete the summary below.
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 22-26 on your answer sheet.
Lawyers as professionals
People sometimes say that 22....truth............is of little interest to lawyers, who are more concerned
with making money. This may well be the case with some individuals, in the same way that some
23....jounalists............. or scientific experts may also be driven purely by financial greed. However,
criticising lawyers because their work is concerned with people's problems would be similar to
attacking IT staff or 24.....nurses........... for the same reason. In fact, many lawyers focus on
questions relating, for example, to housing or civil liberties, which requires them to have
25......dedication.......... to their work. What's more, a lot of lawyers' time is spent writing
26 ..documents............. rather than dealing with people's misfortunes.
READING PASSAGE 3
The Voynich Manuscript
The starkly modern Beinecke Library at Yale University is home to some of the most valuable
books in the world: first folios of Shakespeare, Gutenberg Bibles and manuscripts from the early
Middle Ages, Yet the library's most controversial possession is an unprepossessing vellum
manuscript about the size of a hardback book, containing 240-odd pages of drawings and text of
unknown age and authorship. Catalogued as MS408, the manuscript would attract little attention
were it not for the fact that the drawings hint at esoteric knowledge, while the text seems to be some
sort of code - one that no-one has been able to break. It's known to scholars as the Voynich
manuscript, after the American book dealer Wilfrid Voynich, who bought the manuscript from a
Jesuit college in Italy in 1912.
Over the years, the manuscript has attracted the attention of everyone from amateur dabblers to top
codebreakers, all determined to succeed where countless others have failed. Academic research
papers, books and websites are devoted to making sense of the contents of the manuscript, which
are freely available to all "Most other mysteries involve secondhand reports,' says Dr Gordon Rugg
of Keele University, a leading Voynich expert. But this is one that you can see for yourself.
It is certainly strange: page after page of drawings of weird plants, astrological symbolism and
human figures, accompanied by a script that looks like some form of shorthand. What does it say
and what are the drawings about? Voynich himself believed that the manuscript was the work of the
13th- century English monk Roger Bacon, famed for his knowledge of alchemy, philosophy and
science. In 1921 Voynich's view that Bacon was the writer appeared to win support from the work
of William Newbold, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania, who claimed to
have found the key to the cipher system used by Bacon. According to Newbold, the manuscript
proved that Bacon had access to a microscope centuries before they were supposedly first invented.
The claim that this medieval monk had observed living ceils created a sensation. It soon became
clear, however, that Newbold had fallen victim to wishful thinking. Other scholars showed that his
'decoding' methods produced a host of possible interpretations. The Voynich manuscript has
continued to defy the efforts of world-class experts. In 1944, a team was assembled to tackle the
mystery, led by William Friedman, the renowned American codebreaker. They began with the most
basic codebreaking task: analysing the relative frequencies of the characters making up the text,
looking for signs of an underlying structure. Yet Friedman's team soon found themselves in deep
water. The precise size of the 'alphabet' of the Voynich manuscript was unclear: it's possible to
make out more than 70 distinct symbols among the 170,000- character text. Furthermore, Friedman
discovered that some words and phrases appeared more often than expected in a standard language,
casting doubt on claims that the manuscript concealed a real language, as encryption typically
reduces word frequencies.
Friedman concluded that the most plausible resolution of this paradox was that "Voynichese' is
some sort of specially created artificial language, whose words are devised from concepts, rather
than linguistics. So, could the Voynich manuscript be the earliest known example of an artificial
language? Friedman's hypothesis commands respect because of the lifetime of cryptanalytical
expertise he brought to bear,' says Rob Churchill, co-author of TheVoynich Manuscript, that still
leaves a host of questions unanswered, however, such as the identity of the author and the meaning
of the bizarre drawings. 'It does little to advance our understanding of the manuscript as a whole,"
says Churchill. Even though Friedman was working more than 60 years ago, he suspected that
major insights would come from using the device that had already transformed codebreaking: the
computer. In this he was right - it is now the key tool for uncovering clues about the manuscript's
language.
The insights so far have been perplexing. For example, in 2001 another leading Voynich scholar, Dr
Gabriel Landin of Birmingham University in the UK, published the results of his study of the
manuscript using a pattern-detecting method called spectral analysis. This revealed evidence that
the manuscript contains genuine words, rather than random nonsense, consistent with the existence
of some underlying natural language. Yet the following year, Voynich expert Ren Zandbergen of
the European Space Agency in Darmstadt, Germany showed that the entropy of the text (a measure
of the rate of transfer of information) was consistent with Friedman's suspicions that an artificial
language had been used.
Many are convinced that the Voynich manuscript isn't a hoax. For how could a medieval hoaxer
create so many telltale signs of a message from random nonsense? Yet even this has been
challenged in new research by Rugg. Using a system, first published by the Italian mathematician
Girolamo Cardano in 1150 in which a specially constructed grille issued to pick out symbols from a
table, Rugg found he could rapidly generate text with many of the basic traits of the Voynich
manuscript. Publishing his results in 2004 Rugg stresses that he hadn't set out to prove the
manuscript a hoax. 'I simply demonstrated that it's feasible to hoax something this complex in a few
months’, he says. Inevitably, others beg to differ. Some scholars, such as Zandbergen, still suspect
the text has genuine meaning, though believe it may never be decipherable. Others, such as
Churchill, have suggested that the sheer weirdness of the illustrations and text hint at an author who
had lost touch with reality. What is clear is that the book-sized manuscript kept under lock and key
at Yale University has lost none of its fascination. "Many derive great intellectual pleasure from
solving puzzles,' says Rugg. The Voynich manuscript is as challenging a puzzle as anyone could
ask for.
Questions 27-30
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 3?
In boxes 27-30 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
27 It is uncertain when the Voynich manuscript was written.
28 Wilfrid Voynich donated the manuscript to the Beinecke Library.
29 Interest in the Voynich manuscript extends beyond that of academics and professional
codebreakers.
30 The text of the Voynich manuscript contains just under 70 symbols
Questions 31-34
Look at the following statements (Questions 31-34) and the list of people below.
Match each statement with the correct person, A-H.
Write the correct letter, A-H, in boxes 31-34 on your answer sheet.
31 The number of times that some words occur make it unlikely that the manuscript is based
on an authentic language.
32 Unlike some other similar objects of fascination, people can gain direct access to the
Voynich manuscript.
33 The person who wrote the manuscript may not have been entirely sane.
34 It is likely that the author of the manuscript is the same person as suggested by Wilfrid
Voynich
List of People
A Gordon Rugg
B Roger Bacon
C William Newbold
D William Friedman
E Rob Churchill
F Gabriel Landini
G Ren Zandbergen
H Girolamo Cardano
