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SECTION TEST - ACADEMIC READING
(Time: 60 minutes)
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Passage 1
Reducing electricity consumption on the Isle of Eigg Background The Isle of Eigg is situated off the West Coast of Scotland, and is reached by ferry from the mainland. For the island community of about a of self-sufficiency and careful use of resources. Today, although the island now has most modern conveniences, CO2 emissions per household are 20 percent lower than the UK average, and electricity use is 50 percent lower. When Eigg designed its electricity grid, which was switched on in February 2008, it quickly became apparent that in order to keep the capital building costs down, it would be necessary to manage demand. This would also allow the island to generate most of its electricity from renewable sources, mainly water, wind and solar power. This goal was overseen by the Eigg Heritage Trust (EHT). The technology Eigg manages electricity demand mainly by capping the instantaneous power that can be used to five kilowatts (kW) for a household and ten kW for a business. If usage goes over the limit, the electricity supply is cut off and the maintenance team must be called to come and switch it back on again. All households and businesses have energy monitors which display current and cumulative electricity usage, and sound an alarm when consumption reaches a user-defined level, usually set a few hundred watts below the actual limit. The result is that Eigg residents have a keen sense of how much power different electrical appliances use, and are careful to minimise energy consumption. Demand is also managed by warning the entire island when renewable energy generation is lower than demand, and diesel generators are operating to back it up-a so-called ‘red light day’, as opposed to ‘green light days’ when there is sufficient renewable energy. Residents then take steps to temporarily reduce electricity demand further still, or postpone demand until renewable energy generation has increased. Energy use on the island has also been reduced through improved wall and loft insulation in homes, new boilers, solar water heating car-sharing and various small, energy-saving measures in households. New energy supplies are being developed, including sustainably harvested forests to supply wood for heating. Eigg Heritage Trust has installed insulation in all of its own properties at no cost to the tenants, while private properties have paid for their own insulation to be installed. The same applies for installations of solar water heating although not all Trust Properties have received this as yet. The Trust also operates a Green Grants scheme, where residents can claim 50 percent of the cost of equipment to reduce carbon emissions, up to a limit of £300. Purchases included bikes, solar water heating, secondary galzing, thicker curtains, and greenhouses to grow food locally, rather than importing it. Environmental benefits Prior to the installation of the new electricity grid and renewable energy generation, most households on Eigg used diesel generators to supply electricity, resulting in significant carbon emissions. Homes were also poorly insulated and had old, inefficient oil-burning boilers, or used coal for heating. The work by the Eigg Heritage Trust to reduce energy use has resulted in significant reductions in carbon emissions from the island’s households and businesses. The average annual electricity use per household is just 2,160 kilowatt hours (kWh), compared to a UK average in 2008 of 4,198 kWh. Domestic carbon emissions have fallen by 47 percent, from 8.4 to 4.45 tonnes per year. This compares to average IJK household emissions of 5.5 to 6 tonnes per year. The emissions should fall even further over the next few years as the supply of wood for heating increases. Social benefits The completion of Eigg’s electricity grid has made a significant difference to the island’s residents, freeing them from dependence on diesel generators and providing them with a stable and affordable power supply. A reliable electricity supply has brought improvements in other areas, for example, better treatment of drinking water in some houses, and the elimination of the constant noise of diesel generators, improved home insulation and heating has also yielded benefits, making it more affordable to keep homes at a comfortable temperature. One of the incentives for capping electricity use, rather than charging different amounts according to usage, was to make access to energy equitable. Every household has the same five kW cap, irrespective of income, so distributing the available resources equally across the island’s population. Economic and employment benefits Eigg’s electricity grid supports four part-time maintenance jobs on the island, and residents have also been employed for building work to improve Trust-owned houses and other buildings. Likewise, the start of organised harvesting of wood for heating has created several forestry jobs for residents. A part-time ‘green project manager’ post has also been created. A wider economic impact has come from having a reliable and affordable electricity supply, which has enabled several new businesses to start up, including restaurants, shops, guest houses and self-catering accommodation. As Eigg has become known for cutting carbon emissions and protecting the environment, an increasing number of visitors have come to the island to learn about its work, bringing a further economic benefit to the residents.
Answer the questions below. Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER from the passage for each answer.
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100/a hundred/one hundred
diesel generators
greenhouses
insulation
water
energy monitors
50 percent/fifty percent
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Do the following statements agree with the information given in the reading passage? TRUE if the statement agrees with the information FALSE if the statement contradicts the information NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this
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1. Electricity was available for the first time on Eigg when a new grid was switched on.
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Explain:
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2. Eigg′s carbon emissions are now much lower than before
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Explain:
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3. Wood will soon be the main source of heating on Eigg.
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Explain:
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4. Eigg is quieter as a result of having a new electricity supply.
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Explain:
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5. Well-off households pay higher prices for the use of extra electncity.
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Explain:
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6. The new electricity grid has created additional employment opportunities on Eigg.
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Explain:
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Passage 2
GREYING POPULATION STAYS IN THE PINK Elderly people are growing healthier, happier and more independent, say American scientist. The result of a 14-year study to be announced later this month reveal that the diseases associated with old age are afflicting fewer and fewer people and when they do strike, it is much later in life. In the last 14 years, the National Long-term Health Care Survey has gathered data on the health and lifestyles of more than 20,000 men and women over 65. Researchers, now analysing the results of data gathered in 1994, say arthritis, high blood pressure and circulation problems - the major medical complaints in this age group - are troubling a smaller proportion every year. And the data confirms that the rate at which these diseases are declining continues to accelerate. Other diseases of old age - dementia, stroke, arteriosclerosis and emphysema - are also troubling fewer and fewer people. 'It really raises the question of what should be considered normal ageing,' says Kenneth Manton, a demographer from Duke University in North Carolina. He says the problems doctors accepted as normal in a 65-year-old in 1982 are often not appearing until people are 70 or 75. Clearly, certain diseases are beating a retreat in the face of medical advances. But there may be other contributing factors. Improvements in childhood nutrition in the first quarter of the twentieth century, for example, gave today's elderly people a better start in life than their predecessors. On the downside, the data also reveals failures in public health that have caused surges in some illnesses. An increase in some cancers and bronchitis may reflect changing smoking habits and poorer air quality, say the researchers. 'These may be subtle influences,' says Manton, 'but our subjects have been exposed to worse and worse pollution for over 60 years. It's not surprising we see some effect.' One interesting correlation Manton uncovered is that better-educated people are likely to live longer. For example, 65-year-old women with fewer than eight years of schooling are expected, on average, to live to 82. Those who continued their education live an extra seven years. Although some of this can be attributed to a higher income, Manton believes it is mainly because educated people seek more medical attention. The survey also assessed how independent people over 65 were, and again found a striking trend. Almost 80% of those in the 1994 survey could complete everyday activities ranging from eating and dressing unaided to complex tasks such as cooking and managing their finances. That represents a significant drop in the number of disabled old people in the population. If the trends apparent in the United States 14 years ago had continued, researchers calculate there would be an additional one million disabled elderly people in today's population. According to Manton, slowing the trend has saved the United States government's Medicare system more than $200 billion, suggesting that the greying of America's population may prove less of a financial burden than expected. The increasing self-reliance of many elderly people is probably linked to a massive increase in the use of simple home medical aids. For instance, the use of raised toilet seats has more than doubled since the start of the study, and the use of bath seats has grown by more than 50%. These developments also bring some health benefits, according to a report from the MacArthur Foundation's research group on successful ageing. The group found that those elderly people who were able to retain a sense of independence were more likely to stay healthy in old age. Maintaining a level of daily physical activity may help mental functioning, says Carl Cotman, a neuroscientist at the University of California at Irvine. He found that rats that exercise on a treadmill have raised levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor coursing through their brains. Cotman believes this hormone, which keeps neurons functioning, may prevent the brains of active humans from deteriorating. As part of the same study, Teresa Seeman, a social epidemiologist at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, found a connection between self-esteem and stress in people over 70. In laboratory simulations of challenging activities such as driving, those who felt in control of their lives pumped out lower levels of stress hormones such as cortisol. Chronically high levels of these hormones have been linked to heart disease. But independence can have drawbacks. Seeman found that elderly people who felt emotionally isolated maintained higher levels of stress hormones even when asleep. The research suggests that older people fare best when they feel independent but know they can get help when they need it. 'Like much research into ageing, these results support common sense,' says Seeman. They also show that we may be underestimating the impact of these simple factors. 'The sort of thing that your grandmother always told you turns out to be right on target,' she says.
Complete the summary using the list of words below. cost | falling | technology | undernourished | earlier | later | disabled | more | increasing | nutrition | education | constant | medicine | pollution | environmental | health | independent | | | |
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medicine
falling
nutrition
pollution
cost
education
later
increasing
disabled
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Complete each sentence with the correct ending.
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1. Home medical aids ................
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Explain:
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2. Regular amounts of exercise ................
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Explain:
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3. Feelings of control over life ................
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Explain:
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4. Feelings of loneliness ................
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Explain:
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Passage 3
THE BIRTH OF SCIENTIFIC ENGLISH World science is dominated today by a small number of languages, including Japanese, German and French, but it is English which is probably the most popular global language of science. This is not just because of the importance of English-speaking countries such as the USA in scientific research; the scientists of many non-English-speaking countries find that they need to write their research papers in English to reach a wide international audience. Given the prominence of scientific English today, it may seem surprising that no one really knew how to write science in English before the 17th century. Before that, Latin was regarded as the lingua franca for European intellectuals. The European Renaissance (c. 14th-16th century) is sometimes called the 'revival of learning', a time of renewed interest in the 'lost knowledge' of classical times. At the same time, however, scholars also began to test and extend this knowledge. The emergent nation states of Europe developed competitive interests in world exploration and the development of trade. Such expansion, which was to take the English language west to America and east to India, was supported by scientific developments such as the discovery of magnetism (and hence the invention of the compass), improvements in cartography and - perhaps the most important scientific revolution of them all - the new theories of astronomy and the movement of the Earth in relation to the planets and stars, developed by Copernicus (1473-1543). England was one of the first countries where scientists adopted and publicised Copernican ideas with enthusiasm. Some of these scholars, including two with interests in language - John Wallis and John Wilkins - helped found the Royal Society in 1660 in order to promote empirical scientific research. Across Europe similar academies and societies arose, creating new national traditions of science. In the initial stages of the scientific revolution, most publications in the national languages were popular works, encyclopaedias, educational textbooks and translations. Original science was not done in English until the second half of the 17th century. For example, Newton published his mathematical treatise, known as the Principia, in Latin, but published his later work on the properties of light - Opticks - in English. There were several reasons why original science continued to be written in Latin. The first was simply a matter of audience. Latin was suitable for an international audience of scholars, whereas English reached a socially wider, but more local, audience. Hence, popular science was written in English. A second reason for writing in Latin may, perversely, have been a concern for secrecy. Open publication had dangers in putting into the public domain preliminary ideas which had not yet been fully exploited by their 'author'. This growing concern about intellectual property rights was a feature of the period - it reflected both the humanist notion of the individual, rational scientist who invents and discovers through private intellectual labour, and the growing connection between original science and commercial exploitation. There was something of a social distinction between 'scholars and gentlemen' who understood Latin, and men of trade who lacked a classical education. And in the mid-17th century it was common practice for mathematicians to keep their discoveries and proofs secret, by writing them in cipher, in obscure languages, or in private messages deposited in a sealed ox with the Royal Society. Some scientists might have felt more comfortable with Latin precisely because its audience, though international, was socially restricted. Doctors clung the most keenly to Latin as an 'insider language'. A third reason why the writing of original science in English was delayed may have been to do with the linguistic inadequacy of English in the early modern period. English was not well equipped to deal with scientific argument. First, it lacked the necessary technical vocabulary. Second, it lacked the grammatical resources required to represent the world in an objective and impersonal way, and to discuss the relations, such as cause and effect, that might hold between complex and hypothetical entities. Fortunately, several members of the Royal Society possessed an interest in language and became engaged in various linguistic projects. Although a proposal in 1664 to establish a committee for improving the English language came to little, the society's members did a great deal to foster the publication of science in English and to encourage the development of a suitable writing style. Many members of the Royal Society also published monographs in English. One of the first was by Robert Hooke, the society's first curator of experiments, who described his experiments with microscopes in Micrographia (1665). This work is largely narrative in style, based on a transcript of oral demonstrations and lectures. In 1665 a new scientific journal, Philosophical Transactions, was inaugurated. Perhaps the first international English-language scientific journal, it encouraged a new genre of scientific writing, that of short, focused accounts of particular experiments. The 17th century was thus a formative period in the establishment of scientific English. In the following century much of this momentum was lost as German established itself as the leading European language of science. If is estimated that by the end of the 18th century 401 German scientific journals had been established as opposed to 96 in France and 50 in England. However, in the 19th century scientific English again enjoyed substantial lexical growth as the industrial revolution created the need for new technical vocabulary, and new, specialised, professional societies were instituted to promote and publish in the new disciplines.
Complete the summary. Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer. In Europe, modern science emerged at the same time as the nation state. At first, the scientific language of choice remained (1)………. It allowed scientists to communicate with other socially privileged thinkers while protecting their work from unwanted exploitation. Sometimes the desire to protect ideas seems to have been stronger than the desire to communicate them, particularly in the case of mathematicians and (2)……….
In Britain, moreover, scientists worried that English had neither the (3)............ nor the grammatical resources to express their ideas. This situation only changed after 1660 when scientists associated with the (4)………… set about developing English. An early scientific journal fostered a new kind of writing based on short descriptions of specific experiments. Although English was then overtaken by (5) ……………,it developed again in the 19th century as a direct result of the (6)……………
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Latin
Royal Society
industrial revolution
doctors
technical vocabulary
German
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Complete the table. Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer. Science written in the first half of the 17th century | Language used | Latin | English | Type of science | Original | (1)……… | Examples | (2)……… | Encyclopaedias | Target audience | International scholars | (3)………, but socially wider |
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Principia / the Principia / Newton's Principia / mathematical treatise
local / more local / local audience
popular
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Do the following statements agree with the views of the writer in Reading Passage? YES if the statement agrees with the writers claims NO if the statement contradicts the writer's claims NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
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1. There was strong competition between scientists in Renaissance Europe.
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Explain:
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2. The most important scientific development of the Renaissance period was the discovery of magnetism.
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Explain:
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3. In 17th-century Britain, leading thinkers combined their interest in science with an interest in how to express ideas.
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Explain:
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