READING PASSAGE 1
Answer Questions 1-13, which are based on Reading Passage 1.
The Ascension Island experiment
The tiny tropical island of Ascension in the South Atlantic Ocean has an area of only 98 square
kilometres. It is located 1,600 km from the coast of Africa and 2,250 km from South America and is
certainly difficult for an ordinary commercial traveler to reach even today. Ascension sits on top of what
scientists call the mid-Atlantic ridge. This is a chain of underwater volcanoes which are still in the
process of forming as the ocean floor is slowly pulled apart by massive geological forces. A million years
ago, molten magma from beneath the ocean floor burst explosively above the waves and thus, a new
island was born which was to become Ascension. Because the island occupies a ‘hot spot’ on the ridge,
its volcano is especially active to this day.
The island was discovered by a Portuguese seafarer, João da Nova Castella, in 1501, but was given the
name Ascension Island two years later by a second Portuguese explorer, Alfonso de Albuquerque. At
that time, Ascension was little more than a barren volcanic rock, largely treeless, with no indigenous
people at all and no animals to speak of. Its coastal regions, however, supported a few small,
underdeveloped plants, while the central peaks were essentially bald.
Because of its location, by the early 19th century, Ascension had become a vital strategic base for the
British military. It was a thriving waystation providing much needed provisions for British ships.
However, the big problem that impeded further expansion of this outpost was the supply of fresh water.
Ascension was extremely arid and experienced strong trade winds from southern Africa. Due to the lack
of trees, the little rain that did fall swiftly disappeared in the hot environment.
But Charles Darwin, the British naturalist who is widely regarded as the father of the theory of evolution,
devised a bold plan for the barren island. In 1836, the young Darwin was finishing a five-year scientific
expedition around the world, reaching strange places like Ascension, where no other naturalist had gone
before. Darwin was aboard the British Naval vessel HMS Beagle when it called in at Ascension. Darwin
later admitted that his expectations Ascension were low, and indeed, it cannot have appeared to be a
very promising place. But arriving on Ascension, Darwin became excited by what he considered to be its
potential. Everywhere, he encountered bright red volcanic cones and rugged black lava, evidence of the
violent geological forces that must have formed the island. Although it remained quite barren, there was
evidence of human presence, including a few sheep, goats, cows and horses that had been introduced
by the Navy. Being the inventive scientist that he was, Darwin was intrigued by what he saw and began
to plan how this place of wild desolation could be transformed.
Only a few years after Darwin’s return to England, he laid out his imaginative scheme for Ascension to
his good friend, Joseph Hooker, also a respected botanist, who ultimately implemented the plan. In 1839
Hooker set off on his own four-year adventure by sea, an ambitious journey around the icy polar region
of Antarctica aboard HMS Erebus and HMS Terror. Mirroring Darwin's journey, the ships called in at
Ascension on their way home in 1843.
In 1847 Hooker advised the Royal Navy to set in motion Darwin’s elaborate plan. With the help of British
scientists, shipments of trees were to be sent to Ascension. These would provide shade, helping to
reduce evaporation after rain. And the ultimate results of the introduction of trees
would be even more important because the retention of water would create fertile soil, encouraging the
growth of even more vegetation of all kinds.
So, beginning in 1850 and continuing year after year, ships started to arrive at Ascension, each
depositing tree selected from special gardens maintained by scientists in Europe, South Africa and South
America. Soon, on the highest peak of 859m, great changes became apparent. By the late 1870s, a
variety of trees including fast-growing eucalyptus, Norfolk Island pine, bamboo and banana trees had all
taken root and begun to thrive.
Today, Green Mountain — as the highest peak is now known — is sometimes described as a ‘cloud
forest’. The trees capture sea mist, creating dampness in the centre of an essentially dry island. This
forest is a fully functioning, but in fact totally artificial ecosystem. When naturally occurring, ecosystems
develop over millions of years through the process of evolution. By contrast, the Green Mountain cloud
forest was created in a matter of decades. In effect, what Darwin, Hooker and the Navy achieved in an
effort to make Ascension Island more habitable was the world’s first experiment in creating a self-
sustaining and self-reproducing forest.
Could the Ascension experiment have more far-reaching consequences? Dr Dave Wilkinson, an ecologist
at Liverpool John Moores University in the UK, who has extensively studied Ascension and its history,
first visited there in 2003. ‘I remember thinking, this is really weird,’ he said. ‘There were all kinds of
plants that don't belong together in nature, growing side by side. I only later found out about Darwin,
Hooker and everything that had happened,’ he later recalled. Wilkinson has suggested that the
principles upon which the Ascension experiment was based could one day be used to transform the
planet Mars to make it sustainable for colonies from Earth.
Questions 1— 8
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1?
In boxes 1-8 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 People can visit Ascension easily today.
2 The mid-Atlantic ridge continues to experience volcanic activity.
3 João da Nova Castella was the first to call his discovery Ascension Island.
4 When the island was discovered, its center contained more life than the area near the sea.
5 The Portuguese military wanted to use the island as a base.
6 In the 19th century, Ascension Island acted as an important port for naval supplies.
7 The British imported fresh water to Ascension Island from southern Africa.
8 When it rained on Ascension Island, the water quickly dried up.
Questions 9 – 13
Complete the notes below.
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 9-13 on your answer sheet.
The Ascension Island experiment
Darwin’s plan
• before his 1836 visit, Darwin had limited 9 …………. of what he might find
• after his arrival, Darwin saw the 10 …………. of the island and so devised a plan
Joseph Hooker’s implementation
• on an expedition to explore the area around 11 …………. , Hoker visited Ascension
• trees were planted on Ascension to lessen the 12 …………. of rainwater
• from the 1850s, plants were brought to Ascension from 13 …………. around the world
Passage 2
STRESS LESS
How busy is too busy? For some it means sometimes having to have a short lunch; for
others it may mean missing lunch altogether. For a few, it is not being able to take a day
off once a month. Then there is a group of people for whom working every evening and
weekend is normal, and feeling stressed is taken for granted. For most senior
executives, workloads swing between extremely busy and frenzied. Neil Plumridge,
vice-president of a management consultancy company, says that his weeks vary from a
'manageable' 45 hours to 80 hours, but average 60 hours.
Three signs warn Plumridge about his workload: sleep, scheduling and family. He
knows he is doing too much when he gets less than six hours' sleep for three
consecutive nights, when he is constantly having to reschedule appointments, and
when he misses a family birthday or anniversary. 'Then,' he says, "I know things are out
of control.' Plumridge states that stress is often caused by his having unrealistic
expectations of himself. I'll promise a client that I'll do something tomorrow, and then I'll
promise another client that I'll do the same thing, when I know it's not going to happen. I
could have said: "Why don't I give that to you in 48 hours?" The client wouldn't care.
Over-committing is something people experience as an individual problem. However,
new research indicates that people may be designed to over-commit. A study in the
JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY shows that people always believe that
they will be less busy in the future. This is a misapprehension according to the authors
of the report, Gal Zauberman of the University of North Carolina and John Lynch of
Duke University. 'On average, an individual will be just as busy two weeks or a month
from now as he or she is today. But that is not how it appears in everyday life,' they say.
'People make commitments long in advance that they would never make if the same
commitments required immediate action. They discount future time investments
relatively steeply.
Being 'too busy' is highly subjective, but for any individual there are some concrete
signs of stress: disturbed sleep and declining mental and physical health are the most
common examples. Figures for National Workers' Compensation (insurance against
injury caused by work) show that stress causes the most lost time of any workplace
injury: employees suffering stress are absent from work for an average of 16.6 weeks.
The effects of stress are also expensive. The Australian Government insurer reports
that in 2003-2004, claims for stress-related psychological injury accounted for 7% of
insurance claims, but almost 27% of the amount paid out in claim payments.
Experts say the key to dealing with stress is not to focus on relief - a game of golf or a
massage - but to reassess workloads. Neil Plumridge says he makes it a priority to work
out what has to change: that might mean allocating extra staff to a job, allowing more
time, or changing expectations. He also relies on the advice of colleagues, saying that
his peers coach each other on business problems: 'Just a fresh pair of eyes over an
issue can help,' he states.
Executive stress is not confined to big organisations. Vanessa Stoykov has been
running her own advertising agency and public relations business for seven years. Her
company has grown so fast that it appeared on the BUSINESS REVIEW WEEKLY 'Fast
100' list of fastest- growing small enterprises in 2004, just after Stoykov had her first
child. In 2005, revenue was projected to double to $2.4 million. She had just had her
second child. With a fast-growing business and two small children, Stoykov says she
has mastered the art of caring for children, typing, and talking on the phone at the same
time. But, unlike many others, she appears to thrive on the mental stimulation of running
her own business, despite the stress.
Jan Elsner, a psychologist who specialises in executive coaching, says that doing well
on a demanding workload is typical of senior executives. Some people work best with
high-adrenaline periods followed by quieter times, while others thrive under sustained
pressure. Elsner's practice is based on a movement known as positive psychology, a
school of thought that argues that positive experiences - feeling engaged and
challenged, for example - do not balance out negative experiences such as stress;
instead they help people increase their resilience over time. Elsner says that many of
the senior business people she coaches are increasingly relying more on regulating
stress through methods such as meditation. She points to research showing that
meditation can alter the biochemistry of the brain and the way that brains and bodies
react to stress.
Some experts believe there is too much emphasis on treating job stress as an individual
problem. Tony LaMontagne, of the University of Melbourne, says that
while personality traits do have some effect on stress, it is systemic stressors - qualities
of job roles and organisations themselves - that have a far greater effect. His recent
research shows that the major predictor of stress is the level of job control a person has.
The best type of job combines challenging work with high autonomy. The worst jobs
combine challenging work and low control. People with demanding jobs but little
autonomy have up to four times the probability of depression and more than double the
risk of heart attack.
Questions 14-18
Read the following list of statements (questions 14-18) and the list of people (A-D)
which follows it.
Match each statement (14-18) with the correct person or people (A, B, C or D)
For questions 14-18, write the correct letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet.
NB You may use any letter more than once.
List of statements
14 High-level workers tend to react positively to stress
15 Stress levels are increased by trying to please customers
16 Support from other workers may relieve stress
17 Lack of independence at work is often responsible for stress
18 Workers commonly expect their workloads to lessen over time
List of people
A Neil Plumridge
B Gal Zauberman and John Lynch
C Jan Elsner
D Tony LaMontagne
Questions 19-21
For questions 19-21, choose the correct letter A, B, C or D.
Write the correct letter A-D on your answer sheet.
19 Which of the following is NOT mentioned by Neil Plumridge as an indication that his
workload is too heavy?
A an inability to keep to his schedule
B inattention to family celebrations
C a lack of concentration on a task
D a period of insufficient sleep
20 Which method of lessening work stress is NOT suggested by Neil Plumridge?
A rethinking ideas of what can be achieved
B extending the deadline for completing the task
C using more workers on a project
D taking more time off for sport or other recreation
21 According to Jan Elsner, meditation offers a method of
A taking a worker’s mind off his troubles
B changing physical response to stress
C resting more effectively
D encouraging executives to take breaks
Questions 22-26
Complete the summary below.
Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER from the passage for
each answer.
Write your answers on your answer sheet.
Stress: its effects and how to reduce it
Statistics on workers’ compensation show that people take more time off work due to
stress than for any other 22 ………….. at work. On average, workers who take time off
because of stress stay away for 23 ……………….. This absence comes at a high price
– while the number of insurance claims due to stress amount to only 24 ………….. of
the total, they account for a much higher proportion of the cost of claims payments.
Experts believe that seeking to relieve stress through physical therapies such as sport
or 25 ………….. may be less effective than simply reviewing your 26 ……………………
READING PASSAGE 3
Answer Questions 27-40, which are based on Reading Passage 3
Learning to be bilingual
Dr Chisato Danjo, Lecturer in Japanese and Linguistics, examines the bilingual family home
Few people would consider mastering more than one language a bad idea. Consequently,
parents who speak different languages from each other are generally keen for their children to
learn both. They understand that the family setting they create is central to this, and seek ways
to ensure their children thrive bilingually. One of the best-known approaches is the 'one-
parent-one-language' strategy (OPOL). Each parent uses their native language when
communicating with their children, so the children learn both simultaneously. OPOL
emphasises consistency - each parent sticking to one language - as key to its approach. But this
creates the myth that mixing languages should always be avoided. My recent study, part of a
new wave of multilingualism studies, would suggest that this received wisdom is just that: a
myth. My research looked at Japanese-British families living in the UK with pre- and early
school-age children who were following a more-or-less strict OPOL language policy. I was
particularly interested in examining the impact of OPOL in the family home - how does this
unique language environment affect the way children use languages?
Most of the Japanese mothers who participated were fluent in Japanese and English, while the
fathers possessed merely an elementary grasp of Japanese. This made English the primary
language of communication between the parents and outside the home. For this reason, the
mothers were careful to carve out additional space for more sustained Japanese language
learning with their children. In other words, this dedicated space for communicating in
Japanese was time the children spent exclusively with their mother. This seemed to create a
connection between `Japanese language' and 'motherhood' in the children's perception. This
link became apparent in the way the children used Japanese as a means of emotional bonding
with their mother. In addition, they adopted a broader behavioural repertoire than that which
is usually associated with a language. For example, switching to Japanese could sometimes
serve as a method to appease Mum when she seemed unhappy. At other times, refusing to
communicate in Japanese was a useful means of defiance, even when the dispute was not
related to language.
The OPOL approach emphasises the need for parents to monitor children's language closely
and correct them if they mix the two languages. In practice, many parents speaking the
minority language are bilingual themselves - so they understand what their children are saying
even when they do mix the two. In addition, parents feel it's problematic to keep correcting
children when they mix languages. This is particularly the case when children show annoyance
at being corrected. The parents believe it is a lot more important to have a meaningful
conversation with their children.
But what if a child uses language that cannot readily be categorised as either one language or
the other? An example from my study involved the use of English words adapted to
accommodate Japanese pronunciation. One of these borrowed words, `ice cream', is usually
pronounced `aisukurimu'. The distinction between singular and plural does not exist in
Japanese nouns in the English language sense, so whether using singular or plural, even in a
borrowed word, `aisukurimu' is the form normally used. But one of my child
participants showed his mother a drawing of two cones of ice cream and
described them as `aisukurimuzu', with a Japanese pronunciation but in English plural form. The
child had created something in between.
Another example from my study focused on the interaction between Japanese-English bilingual
siblings. In one case, a six-year-old girl was trying to convince her four-year-old brother to let
her play with his toys. Following firm rejections by her brother, the girl drew on her
communicative repertoire to convince him. To start with, she shifted from an authoritative
demand to a softer and humbler appeal. She rephrased the question by using various polite
forms. Then, her voice became more nasal, suggesting she was about to burst into tears. Even
more interestingly, while the negotiation had begun in English, in the middle she shifted to
Japanese. Although this may give the impression of language mixing, a considerably more
complex process was taking place. The shift was accompanied by the incorporation of Japanese
cultural elements, such as honorific titles that emphasise emotional attachment, a relationship
of dependence between sister and brother, and an assumed obligation to care on the part of
the brother. She succeeded.
These examples show how creatively and strategically human beings use language in their daily
communication. Whether bilingual or not, we all constantly select from our repertoire anything
that will best serve our purpose. For instance, imagine you want to ask a neighbour a favour.
You would use polite language in a friendly voice. But what about your facial expression? Your
body language? It is likely you would make appropriate choices. For bilinguals, shifting between
languages is all part of their repertoire.
Our language repertoires are shaped by meaning, based on knowledge gathered throughout
our lives, and the ways we use language also shape its meaning. The use of OPOL in the family
brings specific meaning to language used at home, and children make full use of emergent
meaning in their own interactions.
The popularity of OPOL amongst parents rests on the simplicity of its message, which is that it
should be applied consistently. But when we see a child actively using, adapting and negotiating
their repertoire, it casts doubt on the belief that it's bad for children to mix languages. What
they could actually be doing is demonstrating high-level flexibility and interpersonal skills.
Being bilingual isn't simply about an ability to speak two languages. Rigidly policing consistency
in the OPOL approach could actually inhibit bilingual children's linguistic ability and creativity.
And in the same way, it could also limit their parents' ability to reveal their own bilingual skills,
using their own repertoires.
Questions 27-32
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.
Write the correct letter in boxes 27-32 on your answer sheet.
27. What does the writer say about families in which the parents speak different languages?
A. They constantly research ways to help their children learn both languages.
B. They realise the importance of their role in their children's language learning.
C. They prioritise their children's language learning over their own.
D. They find the OPOL approach the easiest to adopt.
28. The writer uses the term 'received wisdom' in the first paragraph to illustrate that
A. the success of OPOL depends on the languages spoken by the parents.
B. OPOL fails if the parents are not consistent in its use.
C. one generally accepted principle of OPOL is incorrect.
D. there has been a lack of research into OPOL.
29. The mothers who took part in the writer's research
A. compensated for the fact that their children were exposed to more English than
Japanese.
B. took their children's language learning more seriously than their partners did.
C. used language learning to increase the time they spent with their children.
D. were reluctant for their partners to speak Japanese to their children.
30. The writer says that the children in her study
A. preferred to use Japanese exclusively for communicating with their mothers.
B. understood their mothers better as their knowledge of Japanese increased.
C. argued about things that would be unimportant for monolingual children.
D. used language in a way that is uncommon.
31. What does the writer suggest about correcting children who are learning to be bilingual?
A. It is usually avoided if it causes bad feeling.
B. Parents tend to prioritise it over maintaining a conversation.
C. It is unnecessary with the OPOL method of learning.
D. Parents are less likely to do it if they speak both languages.
Questions 32-37
Complete the summary using the list of words, A-J, below.
Write the correct letter, A-J, in boxes 32-37 on your answer sheet
A bilingual child negotiates with her brother
Faced with her little brother's 32…………….. to let her play with his toys, a young bilingual child
used all of her communication 3 3 …………….. to change his mind. First, she expressed her
34…………….. in gentler, more polite language, and pretended to be about to cry. Having
switched from English to Japanese, she exploited 35………….. of Japanese culture, such as
reminding him of his 36………….. to her as her brother. She succeeded in her 4 37…………….. to
convince him.
A request B attempts C strategies D misunderstandings
E responsibility F agreement G judgement H refusal
I behavior J aspects
Questions 38-40
Do the following statements agree with the claims of the writer in Reading Passage 3?
YES If the statement agrees with the claims of the writer
NO If the statement contradicts the claims of the writer
NOT GIVEN If it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
38. Even people who speak only one language know how to adapt their way of communicating
according to the situation.
39. People who grow up in OPOL families will go on to use this approach with their own
children.
40. The reason the OPOL approach is favoured by many parents is that it encourages them to
switch languages when necessary.
