This paper covers five reading passages and 4 writing tasks

You may need more than 6 hours to finish this paper.

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Reading 1 (20-30mins)
A ‘Hypotheses,’ said Medawar in 1964, are imaginative and inspirational in
character’; they are ‘adventures of the mind’. He was arguing in favour of the
position taken by Karl Popper in The Logic of Scientific Discovery (1972, 3rd
edition) that the nature of scientific method is hypothetico-deductive and not, as
is generally believed, inductive.

B It is essential that you, as an intending researcher, understand the difference

between these two interpretations of the research process so that you do not
become discouraged or begin to suffer from a feeling of ‘cheating’ or not going
about it the right way.

C The myth of scientific method is that it is inductive: that the formulation of

scientific theory starts with the basic, raw evidence of the senses - simple,
unbiased, unprejudiced observation. Out of these sensory data - commonly
referred to as ‘facts’ — generalisations will form. The myth is that from a
disorderly array of factual information an orderly, relevant theory will somehow
emerge. However, the starting point of induction is an impossible one.

D There is no such thing as an unbiased observation. Every act of observation

we make is a function of what we have seen or otherwise experienced in the past.
All scientific work of an experimental or exploratory nature starts with some
expectation about the outcome. This expectation is a hypothesis. Hypotheses
provide the initiative and incentive for the inquiry and influence the method. It
is in the light of an expectation that some observations are held to be relevant
and some irrelevant, that one methodology is chosen and others discarded, that
some experiments are conducted and others are not. Where is, your naive, pure
and objective researcher now?

E Hypotheses arise by guesswork, or by inspiration, but having been formulated

they can and must be tested rigorously, using the appropriate methodology. If
the predictions you make as a result of deducing certain consequences from your
hypothesis are not shown to be correct then you discard or modify your
hypothesis.If the predictions turn out to be correct then your hypothesis has been
supported and may be retained until such time as some further test shows it not
to be correct. Once you have arrived at your hypothesis, which is a product of
your imagination, you then proceed to a strictly logical and rigorous process,
based upon deductive argument — hence the term ‘hypothetico-deductive’.

F So don’t worry if you have some idea of what your results will tell you before
you even begin to collect data; there are no scientists in existence who really wait
until they have all the evidence in front of them before they try to work out what
it might possibly mean. The closest we ever get to this situation is when
something happens by accident; but even then the researcher has to formulate a
hypothesis to be tested before being sure that, for example, a mould might prove
to be a successful antidote to bacterial infection.

G The myth of scientific method is not only that it is inductive (which we have
seen is incorrect) but also that the hypothetical-deductive method proceeds in a
step-by-step, inevitable fashion. The hypothetical-deductive method describes
the logical approach to much research work, but it does not describe the
psychological behavior that brings it about. This is much more holistic —
involving guesses, rewordings, corrections, blind alleys and above all inspiration,
in the deductive as well as the hypothetic component -than is immediately
apparent from reading the final thesis or published papers. These have been,
quite properly, organized into a more serial, logical order so that the worth of the
output may be evaluated independently of the behavioral processes by which it
was obtained. It is the difference, for example between the academic papers with
which Crick and Watson demonstrated the structure of the DNA molecule and
the fascinating book The Double Helix in which Watson (1968) described how
they did it. From this point of view, ‘scientific method’ may more usefully be
thought of as a way of writing up research rather than as a way of carrying it
out.
Questions 29-30
Reading Passage 12 has seven paragraphs A-G.
Choose the most suitable headings for paragraphs C-G from the list of
headings below.
Write the appropriate numbers i-x in boxes 29-33 on your answer sheet.
List of Headings

i The Crick and Watson approach to research

ii Antidotes to bacterial infection

iii The testing of hypotheses

iv Explaining the inductive method

v Anticipating results before data is collected

vi How research is done and how it is reported

vii The role of hypotheses in scientific research

viii Deducing the consequences of hypotheses

ix Karl Popper’s claim that the scientific method is

hypothetico-deductive

x The unbiased researcher

Example Paragraph A Answer: ix

29. B 30. C 31. D 32 .E 33. F

Questions 34 and 35
In which TWO paragraphs in Reading Passage12 does the writer give advice
directly to the reader?
Write the TWO appropriate letters (A—G) in boxes 34 and 35 on your answer
sheet.
Questions 36-39
Do the following statements reflect the opinions of the writer in Reading
Passage 12?
In boxes 36-39 on your answer sheet write
YES if the statement reflects the opinion of the writer.
NO if the statement contradicts the opinion of the writer.
NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
36 Popper says that the scientific method is hypothetico-deductive.
37 If a prediction based on a hypothesis is fulfilled, then the hypothesis is
confirmed as true.
38 Many people carry out research in a mistaken way.
39 The ‘scientific method’ is more a way of describing research than a way of
doing it.

Question 40
Choose the appropriate letter A-D and write it in box 40 on your answer sheet.
Which of the following statements best describes the writer’s main purpose in
Reading Passage 3?
A to advise Ph.D students not to cheat while carrying out research.
B to encourage Ph.D students to work by guesswork and inspiration.
C to explain to Ph.D students the logic which the scientific research paper
follows.
D to help Ph.D students by explaining different conceptions of the research
process.
Reading 2 (20-30mins)
ABSENTEEISM IN NURSING:
A LONGITUDINAL STUDY
Absence from work is a costly and disruptive problem for any organisation. The
cost of absenteeism in Australia has been put at 1.8 million hours per day or
$1400 million annually. The study reported here was conducted in the Prince
William Hospital in Brisbane, Australia, where, prior to this time, few active
steps had been taken to measure, understand or manage the occurrence of
absenteeism.

Nursing Absenteeism
A prevalent attitude amongst many nurses in the group selected for study was
that there was no reward or recognition for not utilizing the paid sick leave
entitlement allowed them in their employment conditions. Therefore, they
believed they may as well take the days off — sick or otherwise. Similar attitudes
have been noted by James (1989), who noted that sick leave is seen by many
workers as a right, like annual holiday leave.
Miller and Norton (1986), in their survey of 865 nursing personnel, found that
73 percent felt they should be rewarded for not taking sick leave because some
employees always used their sick leave. Further, 67 per cent of nurses felt that
administration was not sympathetic to the problems shift work causes to
employees' personal and social lives. Only 53 percent of the respondents felt that
every effort was made to schedule staff fairly.
In another longitudinal study of nurses working in two Canadian
hospitals, Hacket Bycio and Guion (1989) examined the reasons why nurses
took absence from work. The most frequent reason stated for absence was minor
illness to self. Other causes, in decreasing order of frequency, were illness in
family, family social function, work to do at home and bereavement.
Method
In an attempt to reduce the level of absenteeism amongst the 250 Registered an
Enrolled Nurses in the present study, the Prince William management introduced
three different, yet potentially complementary, strategies over 18
months. Strategy 1: Non-financial (material) incentives : Within the established
wage and salary system it was not possible to use hospital funds to support this
strategy. However, it was possible to secure incentives from local businesses,
including free passes to entertainment parks, theatres, restaurants, etc. At the end
of each roster period, the ward with the lowest absence rate would win the
prize. Strategy 2 Flexible fair rostering: Where possible, staff were given the
opportunity to determine their working schedule within the limits of clinical
needs. Strategy 3: Individual absenteeism : and Each month, managers would
analyse the pattern of absence of staff with excessive sick leave (greater than ten
days per year for full-time employees). Characteristic patterns of potential
'voluntary absenteeism' such as absence before and after days off, excessive
weekend and night duty absence and multiple single days off were
communicated to all ward nurses and then, as necessary, followed up by action.
Results
Absence rates for the six months prior to the Incentive scheme ranged from 3.69
per cent to 4.32 per cent. In the following six months, they ranged between 2.87
percent and 3.96 percent. This represents a 20 percent improvement. However,
analysing the absence rates on a year-to-year basis, the overall absence rate was
3.60 percent in the first year and 3.43 percent in the following year. This
represents a 5 percent decrease from the first to the second year of the study. A
significant decrease in absence over the two-year period could not be
demonstrated.

Discussion
The non-financial incentive scheme did appear to assist in controlling
absenteeism in the short term. As the scheme progressed it became harder to
secure prizes and this contributed to the program's losing momentum and finally
ceasing. There were mixed results across wards as well. For example, in wards
with staff members who had a long-term genuine illness, there was little chance
of winning, and to some extent, the staffs on those wards were disempowered.
Our experience would suggest that the long-term effects of incentive awards on
absenteeism are questionable.
Over the time of the study, staff were given a larger degree of control in their
rosters. This led to significant improvements in communication between
managers and staff. A similar effect was found from the implementation of the
third strategy. Many of the nurses had not realised the impact their behaviour
was having on the organisation and their colleagues but there were also staff
members who felt that talking to them about their absenteeism was 'picking' on
them and this usually had a negative effect on management—employee
relationships.

Conclusion
Although there has been some decrease in absence rates, no single strategy or
combination of strategies has had a significant impact on absenteeism per se.
Notwithstanding the disappointing results, it is our contention that the strategies
were not in vain. A shared ownership of absenteeism and a collaborative
approach to problem solving has facilitated improved cooperation and
communication between management and staff. It is our belief that this
improvement alone, while not tangibly measurable, has increased the ability of
management to manage the effects of absenteeism more effectively since this
study.
[" This article has been adapted and condensed from the article by G. William
and K. Slater (1996), 'Absenteeism in nursing: A longitudinal study', Asia Pacific
Journal of Human Resources, 34(1): 111-21. Names and other details have been
changed and report findings may have been given a different emphasis from the
original. We are grateful to the authors and Asia Pacific Journal of Human
Resources for allowing us to use the material in this way. " ]

Questions 1-7
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading
Passage.
In boxes 1-7 on your answer sheet write:
YES if the statement agrees with the information
NO if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this in the passage
1. The Prince William Hospital has been trying to reduce absenteeism amongst
nurses for many years.
2. Nurses in the Prince William Hospital study believed that there were benefits
in taking as little sick leave as possible.
3. Just over half the nurses in the 1986 study believed that management
understood the effects that shift work had on them.
4. The Canadian study found that 'illness in the family' was a greater cause of
absenteeism than 'work to do at home'.
5. In relation to management attitude to absenteeism the study at the Prince
William Hospital found similar results to the two 1989 studies.
6. The study at the Prince William Hospital aimed to find out the causes of
absenteeism amongst 250 nurses.
7. The study at the Prince William Hospital involved changes in management
practices.
Questions 8-13
Complete the notes below.
Choose ONE OR TWO WORDS from the passage, for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 8-13 on your answer sheet.

In the first strategy, wards with the lowest absenteeism in different periods
would win prizes donated by ....... (8) .......
In the second strategy, staff were given more control over their ......(9 )........
In the third strategy, nurses who appeared to be taking ...... (10)...... sick leave
or ...... (11) ...... were identified and counselled.
Initially, there was a ...... (12)...... per cent decrease in absenteeism.
The first strategy was considered ineffective and stopped.
The second and third strategies generally resulted in better ...... (13) ...... among
staff.
Reading 3 (20-30mins)

The Discovery of Uranus

Someone once put forward an attractive though unlikely theory. Throughout the Earth's
annual revolution around the sun, there is one point of space always hidden from our
eyes. This point is the opposite part of the Earth's orbit, which is always hidden by the
sun. Could there be another planet there, essentially similar to our own, but always
invisible?

If a space probe today sent back evidence that such a world existed it would cause not
much more sensation than Sir William Herschel's discovery of a new planet, Uranus,
in 1781. Herschel was an extraordinary man — no other astronomer has ever covered
so vast a field of work — and his career deserves study. He was born in Hanover in
Germany in 1738, left the German army in 1757, and arrived in England the same year
with no money but quite exceptional music ability. He played the violin and oboe and
at one time was organist in the Octagon Chapel in the city of Bath. Herschel's was an
active mind, and deep inside he was conscious that music was not his destiny; he
therefore, read widely in science and the arts, but not until 1772 did he come across a
book on astronomy. He was then 34, middle-aged by the standards of the time, but
without hesitation he embarked on his new career, financing it by his professional work
as a musician. He spent years mastering the art of telescope construction, and even by
present-day standards his instruments are comparable with the best.

Serious observation began 1774. He set himself the astonishing task of 'reviewing the
heavens', in other words, pointing his telescope to every accessible part of the sky and
recording what he saw. The first review was made in 1775; the second, and most
momentous, in 1780-81. It was during the latter part of this that he discovered Uranus.
Afterwards, supported by the royal grant in recognition of his work, he was able to
devote himself entirely to astronomy. His final achievements spread from the sun and
moon to remote galaxies (of which he discovered hundreds), and papers flooded from
his pen until his death in 1822. Among these, there was one sent to the Royal Society
in 1781, entitled An Account of a Comet. In his own words:
On Tuesday the 13th of March, between ten and eleven in the evening, while I was
examining the small stars in the neighbourhood of H Geminorum, I perceived one that
appeared visibly larger than the rest; being struck with its uncommon magnitude, I
compared it to H Geminorum and the small star in the quartile between Auriga and
Gemini, and finding it to be much larger than either of them, suspected it to be a comet.

Herschel's care was the hallmark of a great observer; he was not prepared to jump any
conclusions. Also, to be fair, the discovery of a new planet was the last thought in
anybody's mind. But further observation by other astronomers besides Herschel
revealed two curious facts. For the comet, it showed a remarkably sharp disc;
furthermore, it was moving so slowly that it was thought to be a great distance from the
sun, and comets are only normally visible in the immediate vicinity of the sun. As its
orbit came to be worked out the truth dawned that it was a new planet far beyond
Saturn's realm, and that the 'reviewer of the heavens' had stumbled across an
unprecedented prize. Herschel wanted to call it georgium sidus (Star of George) in
honour of his royal patron King George III of Great Britain. The planet was later for a
time called Herschel in honour of its discoverer. The name Uranus, which was first
proposed by the German astronomer Johann Elert Bode, was in use by the late 19th
century.

Uranus is a giant in construction, but not so much in size; its diameter compares
unfavourably with that of Jupiter and Saturn, though on the terrestrial scale it is still
colossal. Uranus' atmosphere consists largely of hydrogen and helium, with a trace of
methane. Through a telescope the planet appears as a small bluish-green disc with a
faint green periphery. In 1977, while recording the occultation 1 of a star behind the
planet, the American astronomer James L. Elliot discovered the presence of five rings
encircling the equator of Uranus. Four more rings were discovered in January 1986
during the exploratory flight of Voyager 2 2 , In addition to its rings, Uranus has 15
satellites ('moons'), the last 10 discovered by Voyager 2 on the same flight; all revolve
about its equator and move with the planet in an east—west direction. The two largest
moons, Titania and Oberon, were discovered by Herschel in 1787. The next two,
Umbriel and Ariel, were found in 1851 by the British astronomer William Lassell.
Miranda, thought before 1986 to be the innermost moon, was discovered in 1948 by
the American astronomer Gerard Peter Kuiper.

Glossary:
'Occultation' : in astronomy, when one object passes in front of another and hides the
second from view, especially, for example, when the moon comes between an observer
and a star or planet .
'Voyager 2' : an unmanned spacecraft sent on a voyage past Saturn, Uranus and
Jupiter in 1986; during which it sent back information about these planets to scientists
on earth .

Questions 27-31
Complete the table below. Write a date for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 27-31 on your answer sheet.

Event Date

Example Answer

William Herschel was born 1738

Herschel began investigating astronomy (27)………….

Discovery of the planet Uranus (28)………….

Discovery of the moons Titania and Oberon (29)………….

First discovery of Uranus' rings (30)………….

Discovery of the last 10 moons of Uranus (31)………….

Questions 32-36
Do the following statements reflect the claims of the writer of the Reading Passage?
In boxes 32-36 on your answer sheet write

YES if the statement reflects the claims of the writer

NO if the statement contradicts the writer
NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this

Example Answer
Herschel was multi-talented YES

32 It is improbable that there is a planet hidden behind the sun.

33 Herschel knew immediately that he had found a new planet.
34 Herschel collaborated with other astronomers of his time.
35 Herschel's newly-discovered object was considered to be too far from the sun to
be a comet.
36 Herschel's discovery was the most important find of the last three hundred years.

Questions 37-40
Complete each of the following statements (Questions 37-40) with a name from the
Reading Passage.
Write your answers in boxes 37-40 on your answer sheet.

The suggested names of the new planet started with ........ (37) ........, then ........
(38) ......., before finally settling on Uranus. The first five rings around Uranus were
discovered by ........ (39) ......... From 1948 until 1986, the moon ........ (40)........ was
believed to be the moon closest to the surface of Uranus.
Reading 4 (20-30mins)

SECRETS OF THE FORESTS

A. In 1942 Allan R Holmberg, a doctoral student in anthropology from Yale
University, USA, ventured deep into the jungle of Bolivian Amazonia and
searched out an isolated band of Siriono Indians. The Siriono, Holmberg later
wrote, led a "strikingly backward" existence. Their villages were little more than
clusters of thatched huts. Life itself was a perpetual and punishing search for
food: some families grew manioc and other starchy crops in small garden plots
cleared from the forest, while other members of the tribe scoured the country for
small game and promising fish holes. When local resources became depleted,
the tribe moved on. As for technology, Holmberg noted, the Siriono "may be
classified among the most handicapped peoples of the world". Other than bows,
arrows and crude digging sticks, the only tools the Siriono seemed to possess
were "two machetes worn to the size of pocket-knives".
B. Although the lives of the Siriono have changed in the intervening decades,
the image of them as Stone Age relics has endured. Indeed, in many respects, the
Siriono epitomize the popular conception of life in Amazonia. To casual
observers, as well as to influential natural scientists and regional planners, the
luxuriant forests of Amazonia seem ageless, unconquerable, a habitat totally
hostile to human civilization. The apparent simplicity of Indian ways of life has
been judged an evolutionary adaptation to forest ecology, living proof that
Amazonia could not - and cannot - sustain a more complex society.
Archaeological traces of far more elaborate cultures have been dismissed as the
ruins of invaders from outside the region, abandoned to decay in the
uncompromising tropical environment.
C. The popular conception of Amazonia and its native residents would be
enormously consequential if it were true. But the human history of Amazonia in
the past 11,000 years betrays that view as myth. Evidence gathered in recent
years from anthropology and archaeology indicates that the region has supported
a series of indigenous cultures for eleven thousand years; an extensive network
of complex societies - some with populations perhaps as large as 100,000 -
thrived there for more than 1,000 years before the arrival of Europeans. (Indeed,
some contemporary tribes, including the Siriono, still live among the earthworks
of earlier cultures.) Far from being evolutionarily retarded, prehistoric
Amazonian people developed technologies and cultures that were advanced for
their time. If the lives of Indians today seem "primitive", the appearance is not
the result of some environmental adaptation or ecological barrier; rather it is a
comparatively recent adaptation to centuries of economic and political pressure.
Investigators who argue otherwise have unwittingly projected the present onto
the past.
D. The evidence for a revised view of Amazonia will take many people by
surprise. Ecologists have assumed that tropical ecosystems were shaped entirely
by natural forces and they have focused their research on habitats they believe
have escaped human influence. But as the University of Florida ecologist, Peter
Feinsinger, has noted, an approach that leaves people out of the equation is no
longer tenable. The archaeological evidence shows that the natural history of
Amazonia is to a surprising extent tied to the activities of its prehistoric
inhabitants.
E. The realization comes none too soon. In June 1992 political and
environmental leaders from across the world met in Rio de Janeiro to discuss
how developing countries can advance their economies without destroying their
natural resources. The challenge is especially difficult in Amazonia. Because the
tropical forest has been depicted as ecologically unfit for large-scale human
occupation, some environmentalists have opposed development of any kind.
Ironically, one major casualty of that extreme position has been the environment
itself. While policy makers struggle to define and implement appropriate
legislation, development of the most destructive kind has continued apace over
vast areas.
F. The other major casualty of the "naturalism" of environmental scientists has
been the indigenous Amazonians, whose habits of hunting, fishing, and slash-
and-burn cultivation often have been represented as harmful to the habitat. In the
clash between environmentalists and developers, the Indians, whose presence is,
in fact, crucial to the survival of the forest, have suffered the most. The new
understanding of the pre-history of Amazonia, however, points toward a middle
ground. Archaeology makes clear that with judicious management selected parts
of the region could support more people than anyone thought before. The long-
buried past, it seems, offers hope for the future.
Questions 13-15
Reading Passage 27 has six sections A-F.
Choose the most suitable headings for sections A, B and D from the list of
headings below.
Write the appropriate numbers i-vii in boxes 13-15 on your answer sheet.
List of Headings

i Amazonia as unable to sustain complex societies

ii The role of recent technology in ecological research in Amazonia

iii The hostility of the indigenous population to North American influences

iv Recent evidence

v Early research among the Indian Amazons

vi The influence of prehistoric inhabitants on Amazonian natural history

vii The great difficulty of changing local attitudes and practices

13 Section A
14 Section B
Example Answer
Paragraph C iv

15 Section D
Questions 16-21
Do the following statements agree with the views of the writer in Reading
Passage 27? In boxes 16—21 on your answer sheet write :
YES if the statement agrees with the views of the writer
NO if the statement contradicts the views of the writer
NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about
this
Example Answer
The prehistoric inhabitants of Amazonia were relatively NO

backward in technological terms.

16. The reason for the simplicity of the Indian way of life is that Amazonia has
always been unable to support a more complex society.
17. There is a crucial popular misconception about the human history of
Amazonia.
18. There are lessons to be learned from similar ecosystems in other parts of
the world.
19. Most ecologists were aware that the areas of Amazonia they were working
in had been shaped by human settlement.
20. The indigenous Amazonian Indians are necessary to the well-being of the
forest.
21. It would be possible for certain parts of Amazonia to support a higher
population.
Questions 22-25
Choose the appropriate letters A-D and write them in boxes 22-25 on your
answer sheet.
22. In 1942 the US anthropology student concluded that the Siriono
A. were unusually aggressive and cruel.
B. had had their way of life destroyed by invaders.
C. were an extremely primitive society.
D. had only recently made permanent settlements.
23. The author believes recent discoveries of the remains of complex societies
in Amazonia
A. are evidence of early indigenous communities.
B. are the remains of settlements by invaders.
C. are the ruins of communities established since the European invasions.
D. show the region has only relatively recently been covered by forest.
24. The assumption that the tropical ecosystem of Amazonia has been created
solely by natural forces
A. has often been questioned by ecologists in the past.
B. has been shown to be incorrect by recent research.
C. was made by Peter Feinsinger and other ecologists.
D. has led to some fruitful discoveries.
25. The application of our new insights into the Amazonian past would
A. warn us against allowing any development at all.
B. cause further suffering to the Indian communities.
 C. change present policies on development in the region.
D. reduce the amount of hunting, fishing, and ‘slash-and-burn’.

Reading 5 (20-30mins)
A Psychologists have long held that a person's character cannot undergo
a transformation in any meaningful way and that the key traits of personality
are determined at a very young age. However, researchers have begun looking
more closely at ways we can change. Positive psychologists have identified 24
qualities we admire, such as loyalty and kindness, and are studying them to
find out why they come so naturally to some people. What they're discovering
is that many of these qualities amount to habitual behaviour that determines
the way we respond to the world. The good news is that all this can be learned.

Some qualities are less challenging to develop than others, optimism being one
of them. However, developing qualities requires mastering a range of skills
which are diverse and sometimes surprising. For example, to bring more joy
and passion into your life, you must be open to experiencing negative emotions.
Cultivating such qualities will help you realise your full potential.

B 'The evidence is good that most personality traits can be altered,' says
Christopher Peterson, professor of psychology at the University of Michigan,
who cites himself as an example. Inherently introverted, he realised early on
that as an academic, his reticence would prove disastrous in the lecture hall.
So he learned to be more outgoing and to entertain his classes. 'Now my
extroverted behaviour is spontaneous, ' he says.

C David Fajgenbaum had to make a similar transition. He was preparing for

university, when he had an accident that put an end to his sports career. On
campus, he quickly found that beyond ordinary counselling, the university had
no services for students who were undergoing physical rehabilitation and
suffering from depression like him. He, therefore, launched a support group to
help others in similar situations. He took action despite his own pain - a typical
response of an optimist.

D Suzanne Segerstrom, professor of psychology at the University of Kentucky,

believes that the key to increasing optimism is through cultivating optimistic
behaviour, rather than positive thinking. She recommends you train yourself to
pay attention to good fortune by writing down three positive things that come
about each day. This will help you convince yourself that favourable outcomes
actually happen all the time, making it easier to begin taking action.

E You can recognise a person who is passionate about a pursuit by the way
they are so strongly involved in it. Tanya Streeter's passion is freediving - the
sport of plunging deep into the water without tanks or other breathing equipment.
Beginning in 1998, she set nine world records and can hold her breath for six
minutes. The physical stamina required for this sport is intense but the
psychological demands are even more overwhelming. Streeter learned to
untangle her fears from her judgment of what her body and mind could do. 'In
my career as a competitive freediver, there was a limit to what I could do - but
it wasn't anywhere near what I thought it was/ she says.

F Finding a pursuit that excites you can improve anyone's life. The secret about
consuming passions, though, according to psychologist Paul Silvia of the
University of North Carolina, is that 'they require discipline, hard work and ability,
which is why they are so rewarding.' Psychologist Todd Kashdan has this
advice for those people taking up a new passion: ' As a newcomer, you also
have to tolerate and laugh at your own ignorance. You must be willing to accept
the negative feelings that come your way,' he says.

G In 2004, physician-scientist Mauro Zappaterra began his PhD research at

Harvard Medical School. Unfortunately, he was miserable as his research
wasn't compatible with his curiosity about healing. He finally took a break and
during eight months in Santa Fe, Zappaterra learned about alternative healing
techniques not taught at Harvard. When he got back, he switched labs to study
how cerebrospinal fluid nourishes the developing nervous system. He also
vowed to look for the joy in everything, including failure, as this could help him
learn about his research and himself.

One thing that can hold joy back is a person's concentration on avoiding failure
rather than their looking forward to doing something well. 'Focusing on being
safe might get in the way of your reaching your goals,' explains Kashdan. For
example, are you hoping to get through a business lunch without embarrassing
yourself, or are you thinking about how fascinating the conversation might be?

H Usually, we think of courage in physical terms but ordinary life demands

something else. For marketing executive Kenneth Pedeleose, it meant
speaking out against something he thought was ethically wrong. The new
manager was intimidating staff so Pedeleose carefully recorded each instance
of bullying and eventually took the evidence to a senior director, knowing his
own job security would be threatened. Eventually, the manager was the one to
go. According to Cynthia Pury, a psychologist at Clemson University,
Pedeleose's story proves the point that courage is not motivated by
fearlessness, but by moral obligation. Pury also believes that people can
acquire courage. Many of her students said that faced with a risky situation,
they first tried to calm themselves down, then looked for a way to mitigate the
danger, just as Pedeleose did by documenting his allegations.

Over the long term, picking up a new character trait may help you move toward
being the person you want to be. And in the short term, the effort itself could be
surprisingly rewarding, a kind of internal adventure.
Questions 14-18
Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 14-18 on your answer sheet.
Psychologists have traditionally believed that a
personality 14......................... was impossible and that by
a 15......................... , a person’s character tends to be fixed. This is not true
according to positive psychologists, who say that our personal qualities can
be seen as habitual behaviour. One of the easiest qualities to acquire
is 16......................... . However, regardless of the quality, it is necessary to
learn a wide variety of different 17......................... in order for a new quality to
develop; for example, a person must understand and feel
some 18......................... in order to increase their happiness.
Questions 19-22
Match each statement with the correct person, A-G. Write the correct
letter, A-G, in boxes 19-22 on your answer sheet.
19. People must accept that they do not know much when first trying
something new.
20. It is important for people to actively notice when good things happen.
21. Courage can be learned once its origins in a sense of responsibility are
understood.
22. It is possible to overcome shyness when faced with the need to speak in
public.
List of People
A. Christopher Peterson B. David Fajgenbaum
C. Suzanne Segerstrom D. Tanya Streeter
E. Todd Kashdan F. Kenneth Pedeleose
G. Cynthia Pury
Questions 23-26
Reading Passage 210 has eight sections, A-H. Which section contains the
following information?

Write the correct letter, A-H, in boxes 23-26 on your answer sheet.
23. a mention of how rational thinking enabled someone to achieve physical
goals
24. an account of how someone overcame a sad experience
25. a description of how someone decided to rethink their academic career
path
26. an example of how someone risked his career out of a sense of duty
Writing Task 1
A. You should spend about 20 minutes on this task.
The line graphs below show the production and demand for steel in million tonnes
and the number of workers employed in the steel industry in the UK in 2010.
Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make
comparisons where relevant.
Write at least 150 words.
B. You should spend about 20 minutes on this task.
The diagram shows the procedure for university entry for high school graduates.
Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make
comparisons where relevant.
Write at least 150 words.
Writing Task 2
A. You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.
Parents are the best teachers. To what extent do you agree or disagree with the
following statement?

Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer. You should give reasons
for your answer using your own ideas and experience.

B.You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.

Write about the following topic:
We are becoming increasingly dependent on computers. They are used in business,
hospitals, crime detection and even to fly planes. What things will they be used in
the future? Is this dependence on computers a good thing or should we be more
suspicious of their benefits?

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own
knowledge or experience.