Reading Passage 1

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1–13, which are based on Reading Passage 1
below.

Electroreception

A Open your eyes in sea water and it is difficult to see much more than a murky, bleary green
colour. Sounds, too, are garbled and difficult to comprehend. Without specialised equipment
humans would be lost in these deep sea habitats, so how do fish make it seem so easy? Much
of this is due to a biological phenomenon known as electroreception – the ability to perceive and
act upon electrical stimuli as part of the overall senses. This ability is only found in aquatic or
amphibious species because water is an efficient conductor of electricity.
B Electroreception comes in two variants. While all animals (including humans) generate
electric signals, because they are emitted by the nervous system, some animals have the ability
– known as passive electroreception – to receive and decode electric signals generated by
other animals in order to sense their location.
C Other creatures can go further still, however. Animals with active electroreception possess
bodily organs that generate special electric signals on cue. These can be used for mating
signals and territorial displays as well as locating objects in the water. Active electroreceptors
can differentiate between the various resistances that their electrical currents encounter. This
can help them identify whether another creature is prey, predator or something that is best left
alone. Active electroreception has a range of about one body length – usually just enough to
give its host time to get out of the way or go in for the kill.
D One fascinating use of active electroreception – known as the Jamming Avoidance
Response mechanism – has been observed between members of some species known as the
weakly electric fish. When two such electric fish meet in the ocean using the same frequency,
each fish will then shift the frequency of its discharge so that they are transmitting on different
frequencies. Doing so prevents their electroreception faculties from becoming jammed. Long
before citizens’ band radio users first had to yell “Get off my frequency!” at hapless novices
cluttering the air waves, at least one species had found a way to peacefully and quickly resolve
this type of dispute.

E Electroreception can also play an important role in animal defences. Rays are one such
example. Young ray embryos develop inside egg cases that are attached to the sea bed. The
embryos keep their tails in constant motion so as to pump water and allow them to breathe
through the egg’s casing. If the embryo’s electroreceptors detect the presence of a predatory
fish in the vicinity, however, the embryo stops moving (and in so doing ceases transmitting
electric currents) until the fish has moved on. Because marine life of various types is often
travelling past, the embryo has evolved only to react to signals that are characteristic of the
respiratory movements of potential predators such as sharks.
F Many people fear swimming in the ocean because of sharks. In some respects, this concern
is well grounded – humans are poorly equipped when it comes to electroreceptive defence
mechanisms. Sharks, meanwhile, hunt with extraordinary precision. They initially lock onto their
prey through a keen sense of smell (two thirds of a shark’s brain is devoted entirely to its
olfactory organs). As the shark reaches proximity to its prey, it tunes into electric signals that
ensure a precise strike on its target; this sense is so strong that the shark even attacks blind by
letting its eyes recede for protection.
G Normally, when humans are attacked it is purely by accident. Since sharks cannot detect
from electroreception whether or not something will satisfy their tastes, they tend to “try before
they buy”, taking one or two bites and then assessing the results (our sinewy muscle does not
compare well with plumper, softer prey such as seals). Repeat attacks are highly likely once a
human is bleeding, however; the force of the electric field is heightened by salt in the blood
which creates the perfect setting for a feeding frenzy. In areas where shark attacks on humans
are likely to occur, scientists are exploring ways to create artificial electroreceptors that would
disorient the sharks and repel them from swimming beaches.
H There is much that we do not yet know concerning how electroreception functions. Although
researchers have documented how electroreception alters hunting, defence and communication
systems through observation, the exact neurological processes that encode and decode this
information are unclear. Scientists are also exploring the role electroreception plays in
navigation. Some have proposed that salt water and magnetic fields from the Earth’s core may
interact to form electrical currents that sharks use for migratory purposes.

Questions 1–6

Reading Passage 1 has eight paragraphs, A–H.

Which paragraph contains the following information?
Write the correct letter, A–H, in boxes 1–6 on your answer sheet.

1. how electroreception can be used to help fish reproduce

2. a possible use for electroreception that will benefit humans

3. the term for the capacity which enables an animal to pick up but not send out electrical
signals

4. why only creatures that live in or near water have electroreceptive abilities

5. how electroreception might help creatures find their way over long distances

6. a description of how some fish can avoid disrupting each other’s electric signals
Questions 7–9

Label the diagram.

Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.

Write your answers in boxes 7–9 on your answer sheet.

Shark’s 7 ………………… alert the young ray to its presence

Embryo moves its 8 ………………… in order to breathe

Embryo stops sending 9 ………………… when predator close by

Questions 10–13

Complete the summary below.

Choose NO MORE THAN THREE words from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 10–13 on your answer sheet.

Shark Attack

A shark is a very effective hunter. Firstly, it uses its 10 ……………….. to smell its target. When the shark
gets close, it uses 11 ……………….. to guide it toward an accurate attack. Within the final few feet the
shark rolls its eyes back into its head. Humans are not popular food sources for most sharks due to their
12 ………………... Nevertheless, once a shark has bitten a human, a repeat attack is highly possible as salt
from the blood increases the intensity of the 13 ………………...
Reading Passage 2

Gifted children and learning

A.

Internationally, ‘giftedness’ is most frequently determined by a score on a general intelligence test,

known as an IQ test, which is above a chosen cutoff point, usually at around the top 2-5%. Children’s
educational environment contributes to the IQ score and the way intelligence is used. For example, a
very close positive relationship was found when children’s IQ scores were compared with their home
educational provision (Freeman, 2010). The higher the children’s IQ scores, especially over IQ 130, the
better the quality of their educational backup, measured in terms of reported verbal interactions with
parents, number of books and activities in their home etc. Because IQ tests are decidedly influenced by
what the child has learned, they are to some extent measures of current achievement based on age-
norms; that is, how well the children have learned to manipulate their knowledge and know-how within
the terms of the test. The vocabulary aspect, for example, is dependent on having heard those words.
But IQ tests can neither identify the processes of learning and thinking nor predict creativity.

B.

Excellence does not emerge without appropriate help. To reach an exceptionally high standard in any
area very able children need the means to learn, which includes material to work with and focused
challenging tuition -and the encouragement to follow their dream. There appears to be a qualitative
difference in the way the intellectually highly able think, compared with more average-ability or older
pupils, for whom external regulation by the teacher often compensates for lack of internal regulation.
To be at their most effective in their self-regulation, all children can be helped to identify their own ways
of learning – metacognition – which will include strategies of planning, monitoring, evaluation, and
choice of what to learn. Emotional awareness is also part of metacognition, so children should be helped
to be aware of their feelings around the area to be learned, feelings of curiosity or confidence, for
example.

C.

High achievers have been found to use self-regulatory learning strategies more often and more
effectively than lower achievers, and are better able to transfer these strategies to deal with unfamiliar
tasks. This happens to such a high degree in some children that they appear to be demonstrating talent
in particular areas. Overviewing research on the thinking process of highly able children, (Shore and
Kanevsky, 1993) put the instructor’s problem succinctly: ‘If they [the gifted] merely think more quickly,
then we need only teach more quickly. If they merely make fewer errors, then we can shorten the
practice ’. But of course, this is not entirely the case; adjustments have to be made in methods of
learning and teaching, to take account of the many ways individuals think.
D.

Yet in order to learn by themselves, the gifted do need some support from their teachers. Conversely,
teachers who have a tendency to ‘overdirect’ can diminish their gifted pupils’ learning autonomy.
Although ‘spoon-feeding’ can produce extremely high examination results, these are not always
followed by equally impressive life successes. Too much dependence on the teachers risks loss of
autonomy and motivation to discover. However, when teachers allow pupils to reflect on their own
learning and thinking activities, they increase their pupils’ self-regulation. For a young child, it may be
just the simple question ‘What have you learned today?’ which helps them to recognise what they are
doing. Given that a fundamental goal of education is to transfer the control of learning from teachers to
pupils, improving pupils’ learning to learn techniques should be a major outcome of the school
experience, especially for the highly competent. There are quite a number of new methods which can
help, such as child- initiated learning, ability-peer tutoring, etc. Such practices have been found to be
particularly useful for bright children from deprived areas.

E.

But scientific progress is not all theoretical, knowledge is so vital to outstanding performance:
individuals who know a great deal about a specific domain will achieve at a higher level than those who
do not (Elshout, 1995). Research with creative scientists by Simonton (1988) brought him to the
conclusion that above a certain high level, characteristics such as independence seemed to contribute
more to reaching the highest levels of expertise than intellectual skills, due to the great demands of
effort and time needed for learning and practice. Creativity in all forms can be seen as expertise as
mixed with a high level of motivation (Weisberg, 1993).

F.

To sum up, learning is affected by emotions of both the individual and significant others. Positive
emotions facilitate the creative aspects of earning and negative emotions inhibit it. Fear, for example,
can limit the development of curiosity, which is a strong force in scientific advance, because it motivates
problem-solving behaviour. In Boekaerts’ (1991) review of emotion in the learning of very high IQ and
highly achieving children, she found emotional forces in harness. They were not only curious, but often
had a strong desire to control their environment, improve their learning efficiency and increase their
own learning resources.
Questions 14-17

Reading Passage 2 has six paragraphs, A-F

Which paragraph contains the following information? Write the correct letter, A-F, in boxes 14-17 on
your answer sheet

NB You may use any letter more than once.

14. a reference to the influence of the domestic background on the gifted child.
15. reference to what can be lost if learners are given too much guidance.
16. a reference to the damaging effects of anxiety.
17. examples of classroom techniques which favour socially-disadvantaged children.

Questions 18-22

Look at the following statements (Questions 18-22) and the list of people below.

Match each statement with the correct person or people, A-E.

Write the correct letter, A-E, in boxes 18-22 on your answer sheet.

18. Less time can be spent on exercises with gifted pupils who produce accurate work.
19. Self-reliance is a valuable tool that helps gifted students reach their goals.
20. Gifted children know how to channel their feelings to assist their learning.
21. The very gifted child benefits from appropriate support from close relatives.
22. Really successful students have learnt a considerable amount about their subject.

List of People

A. Freeman
B. Shore and Kanevsky
C. Elshout
D. Simonton
E. Boekaerts

Questions 23-26

Complete the sentences below. Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each
answer. Write your answers in boxes 23—26 on your answer sheet

23. One study found a strong connection between children’s IQ and the availability
of .................... and .................... at home.
24. Children of average ability seem to need more direction from teachers because they do not
have ....................
25. Meta-cognition involves children understanding their own learning strategies, as well as
developing ....................
26. Teachers who rely on what is known as .................... often produce sets of impressive grades in class
tests.
Reading Passage 3

The Story of Coffee

Coffee was first discovered in Eastern Africa in an area we know today as Ethiopia. A popular legend
refers to a goat herder by the name of Kaldi, who observed his goats acting unusually friskily after eating
berries from a bush. Curious about this phenomenon, Kaldi tried eating the berries himself. He found
that these berries gave him renewed energy.

The news of this energy-laden fruit quickly moved throughout the region. Coffee berries were
transported from Ethiopia to the Arabian Peninsula, and were first cultivated in what today is the
country of Yemen. Coffee remained a secret in Arabia before spreading to Turkey and then to the
European continent by means of Venetian trade merchants.

Coffee was first eaten as a food though later people in Arabia would make a drink out of boiling the
beans for its narcotic effects and medicinal value. Coffee for a time was known as Arabian wine to
Muslims who were banned from alcohol by Islam. It was not until after coffee had been eaten as a food
product, a wine and a medicine that it was discovered, probably by complete accident in Turkey, that by
roasting the beans a delicious drink could be made. The roasted beans were first crushed and then
boiled in water, creating a crude version of the beverage we enjoy today. The first coffee houses were
opened in Europe in the 17th Century and in 1675, the Viennese established the habit of refining the
brew by filtering out the grounds, sweetening it, and adding a dash of milk.

If you were to explore the planet for coffee, you would find about 60 species of coffee plants growing
wild in Africa, Malaysia, and other regions. But only about ten of them are actually cultivated. Of these
ten, two species are responsible for almost all the coffee produced in the world: Coffea Arabica and
Coffea Canephora (usually known as Robusta). Because of ecological differences existing among the
various coffee producing countries, both types have undergone many mutations and now exist in many
sub-species.

Although wild plants can reach 10 - 12 metres in height, the plantation one reaches a height of around
four metres. This makes the harvest and flowering easier, and cultivation more economical. The flowers
are white and sweet-scented like the Spanish jasmine. Flowers give way to a red, darkish berry. At first
sight, the fruit is like a big cherry both in size and in colour. The berry is coated with a thin, red film
(epicarp) containing a white, sugary mucilaginous flesh (mesocarp). Inside the pulp there are the seeds
in the form of two beans coupled at their flat surface. Beans are in turn coated with a kind of resistant,
golden yellow parchment, (called endocarp). When peeled, the real bean appears with another very thin
silvery film. The bean is bluish-green verging on bronze and is at the most 11 millimetres long and 8
millimetres wide.
F

Coffee plants need special conditions to give a satisfactory crop. The climate needs to be hot-wet or hot
temperate, between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn, with frequent rains and
temperatures varying from 15 to 25 Degrees C. The soil should be deep, hard, permeable, well irrigated,
with well-drained subsoil. The best lands are the hilly ones or from just-tilled woods. The perfect altitude
is between 600 and 1200 metres, though some varieties thrive at 2000-2200 metres. Cultivation aimed
at protecting the plants at every stage of growth is needed. Sowing should be in sheltered nurseries
from which, after about six months, the seedlings should be moved to plantations in the rainy season
where they are usually alternated with other plants to shield them from wind and excessive sunlight.
Only when the plant is five years old can it be counted upon to give a regular yield. This is between 400
grams and two kilos of arabica beans for each plant, and 600 grams and two kilos for robusta beans.

Harvesting time depends on the geographic situation and it can vary greatly therefore according to the
various producing countries. First, the ripe beans are picked from the branches. Pickers can selectively
pick approximately 250 to 300 pounds of coffee cherry a day. At the end of the day, the pickers bring
their heavy burlap bags to pulping mills where the cherry coffee can be pulped (or wet milled). The
pulped beans then rest, covered in pure rainwater to ferment overnight. The next day the wet beans are
hand-distributed upon the drying floor to be sun-dried. This drying process takes from one to two weeks
depending on the amount of sunny days available. To make sure they dry evenly, the beans need to be
raked many times during this drying time. Two weeks later the sun-dried beans, now called parchment,
are scooped up, bagged and taken to be milled. Huge milling machines then remove the parchment and
silver skin, which renders a green bean suitable for roasting. The green beans are roasted according to
the customers’ specifications and, after cooling, the beans are then packaged and mailed to customers.
Questions 27 - 33
The reading passage on The Story of Coffee has 7 paragraphs A – G.
From the list of headings below choose the most suitable headings for paragraphs B – G.

Write the appropriate number (i – xi) in boxes 28 – 33 on your answer sheet.

NB There are more headings than paragraphs, so you will not use them all.

i. Growing Coffee
ii. Problems with Manufacture
iii. Processing the Bean
iv. First Contact
v. Arabian Coffee
vi. Coffee Varieties
vii. Modern Coffee
viii. The Spread of Coffee
ix. Consuming Coffee
x. Climates for Coffee
xi. The Coffee Plant

27. Paragraph A
28. Paragraph B
29. Paragraph C
30. Paragraph D
31. Paragraph E
32. Paragraph F
33. Paragraph G

Questions 34 - 36
Complete the labels on the diagram of a coffee bean below.
Choose your answers from the text and write them in boxes 34 - 36 on your answer sheet.
Questions 37 – 40
Using the information in the passage, complete the flow chart below.
Write your answers in boxes 37 – 40 on your answer sheet.

Use NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer.