READING PASSAGE 1
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based on Reading Passage 1 on
pages 2 and 3.
People living in a typical urban environment employees against the harmful impact of
experience a wide range of sounds on a noise'.
daily basis. In its Guidelines for Community 'For many people in the United States,
Noise the World Health Organisation (WHO) noise has drastically affected the quality of
declared, Worldwide, noise-induced hearing their lives', says Arline Bronzaft, chair of the
impairment is the most prevalent Noise Committee of the New York City
irreversible occupational hazard, and it is Council of the Environment, and a
estimated that 120 million people psychologist who has done pioneering
worldwide now have disabling hearing research on the effects of noise on
difficulties. children's reading ability. 'My daughter lives
The growing noise pollution problem near La Guardia airport in New York City,
has many different sources. Booming and she can't open a window or enjoy her
population growth and the loss of rural backyard in the summer because of the
land to urban sprawl both play a role. Other airplane noise'.
factors include the inability of authorities in The United States is not the only
many parts of the world to implement country where noise pollution is affecting
noise-reducing legislation: the electronic the quality of life. In Japan noise pollution
nature of our age, which encourages many caused by public loudspeaker
noisy gadgets; the rising number of announcements and other forms of city
vehicles on street, and busier airports. noise has forced many Tokyo citizens to
Sound intensity is measured in decibels wear earplugs as they go about their daily
(dB); the unit A-weighted dB (dBA) is used to lives. In Europe, about 65% of the
indicate how humans hear a given sound population is exposed to ambient sound at
Zero dBA is considered the point at which a levels above 55 dBA, while about 17% is
person begins to hear sound. A soft exposed to levels about 65 dBA, according
whisper at three feet equals 30 dBA, a busy to the European Enviroment Agency.
freeway at 50 feet is around 80 dBA, and a Numerous scientific studies over the
chainsaw can reach 110 dBA. years have confirmed that exposure to
Mark Stephenson, a senior research certain levels of sound can damage hearing.
audiologist at the National Institute for NIOSH studies from the mid to late 1990s
Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), show that 90% of coal miners have hearing
says his agency's definition of hazardous impairment by age 52- compare to 9% of
noise is sound that exceeds 85 Dba, the general population. NIOSH research
meaning the average noise exposure also reveals that by age twenty-five, the
measured over a typical eight-hour average carpenter's hearing is equivalent to
workday. that of a fifty-year-old male who hasn't been
In the United States, about 30 million exposed to noise.
workers are exposed to hazardous sound In 2001 researchers from the Center for
levels on the job, according to NIOSH. Noise Disease Control anf Prevention reported
in the US industry is an extremely difficult that, based on audiometric testing of 5,249
problem to monitor, acknowledges Craig children, an estimated 12.5% of American
Moulton, an industrial hygienist for the children have noise-induced hearing
Occupational Safety and Health threshold shifts – or dulled hearing – in one
Administration (OSHA). Still, he says, OSHA or both ears. Most children with dulled
does require that any employer with staff hearing have only limited hearing damage,
overexposed to noise safeguard those but continued exposure to excessive noise
can lead to difficulties with high-frequency so they can establish health and
sound discrimination. environmental policies based on solid
The effects of sound don't stop with the scientific research.
ears. The non-auditory effects of noise were
noted as far back as 1930s by a study
published by South and D L Laird in the
Journal of the Acoustical Society of
America. The results showed that exposure
to noise caused stomach problems in
healthy human beings.
Noise has also been shown to affect
learning ability. In 1975, Bronzaft
collaborated on a study of children in a
school near a train track that showed how
exposure to noise affects reading ability.
Half of the students in the study were in
classrooms facing the train track and the
other half were in classrooms in the
school's quieter section. The findings were
that students on the quieter sidle
performed better on reading tests.
Bronzaft and the school principal
persuaded the school board to have
acoustical tiles installed in the classrooms
adjacent to the tracks. The Transit
Authority also undertook work on the track
near the school in order to reduce noise
levels. A follow-up study in 1981 found that
children's reading scores improved after
these interventions were put in place.
Anti-noise activists say that Europe and
several countries in Asia are more advanced
than the United States in terms of
combating noise. 'Population pressure has
prompted Europe to move more quickly on
the noise issue,' says Ken Hume, a principal
lecturer in human physiology at the
Manchester Metropolitan University in
England. European cities with at least
250,000 people are developing noise maps
of those cities to help leaders determine
noise pollution strategies. Paris has already
prepared its first noise maps. The map data
will be fed into computer models that will
help test the sound impact of new road
layouts or buildings before construction
begins.
Bronzaft stresses that governments
worldwide need to direct more financial
resources towards studies investigating the
effects of noise, and do a better job
coordinating their noise pollution efforts,
Question 1 – 4
Complete the sentences below.
Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER from the passage for each
answer.
Write your answer in boxes 1-4 on your answer sheet.
1 Experts consider noise levels to be harmful if they go above ............ .
2 Children with "dulled hearing" may eventually have trouble distinguishing ............ sounds.
3 Early research into physical effects other than hearing problems revealed that adults may
suffer from ............ if exposed to noise.
4 Some European cities are creating noise policies ............ in order to help governments
develop noise policies.
Questions 5 – 10
Look at the following statements (Questions 5-10) and the list of people and organisations
below.
Match each person with the correct person or organisation, A-E.
Write the correct letter, A-E, in boxes 5-10 on your answer sheet.
NB You may use any letter more than once.
5 A significant proportion of American children have suffered some hearing loss as a result
of exposure to noise.
6 Noise in our enviroment can affect the kind of lifestyle we have.
7 American companies are expected to protect workers from the effects of excessive noise.
8 Authorities should increase funding for noise pollution research.
9 Permanent hearing loss caused by noise is the most commonly occurring danger in the
global workplace today.
10 Workers in certain occupations in the US have high rates of hearing damage.
List of People and Organisations
A World Health Organisation (WHO)
B National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
C Craig Moulton
D Arline Bronzaft
E Center for Disease Control and Prevention
Questions 11 – 13
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.
Write the correct letter in boxes 11-13 on your answer sheet.
11 As a result of the findings from Bronzaft's train track study
A the school moved the classrooms located near the track.
B the track was treated to make it less noisy.
C the classrooms facing the track were no longer used.
D the amount of traffic on the track was reduced.
12 According to the passage, European countries are examining how noise levels will be
affected by
A population distribution.
B the size of cities.
C street design.
D the purpose of tower blocks.
13 Which of the following is the most suitable title for Reading Passage 1?
A Effects of noise on workers’ job performance
B The cities most effective at reducing noise
C Educating workers about noise
D Living in a noisy world
READING PASSAGE 2
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14-26, which are based on Reading Passage 2.
Roller coaster: the great fairground attraction
How they move
Like a passenger train, a roller coaster consists of a series of connected cars that move on a
track. But unlike a passenger train, it has no engine or power source of its own. For most of
the ride, it is moved only by the forces of inertia and gravity. The only exertion of energy
occurs at the very beginning of the ride when the coaster train is pulled up the lift hill.
The traditional lifting mechanism is a long length of chain running up the hill under the track.
The chain is fastened in a loop, which is wound around a gear at the top of the hill and
another one at the bottom of the hill. The gear at the bottom of the hill is turned by a motor.
This turns the chain so that it continually moves up the hill like a long conveyor belt. The
coaster cars grip onto the chain, which simply pulls them to the top of the hill. At the summit,
the train is released and starts its descent.
The purpose of this initial ascent is to build up a sort of reservoir of potential energy, which
simply means that as the coaster gets higher in the air, there is a greater distance gravity can
pull it down.
As the train starts coasting down the hill, this potential energy is converted into kinetic energy
(energy of motion), and the train speeds up. At the bottom of the hill, this has reached its
maximum, and this propels the train up the second hill, again building up the potential energy
level.
In this way, the course of the track is constantly converting energy from kinetic to potential
and back again. This fluctuation in acceleration is what makes roller coasters so much fun. At
its most basic level, this is all a roller coaster is - a machine that uses gravity and inertia to
send a train along a winding track.
Coasting through history
Roller coasters have a long, fascinating history. Their direct ancestors were ice slides,
popular in Russia in the 16th and 17th centuries. They consisted of a long, steep, wooden
slide covered in ice. Riders walked up a ladder or set of stairs to the top of the slide, as high
as 21 metres up. At the top, they climbed into sleds made out of wood or blocks of ice and
shot down the slope. At the base of the slide, the sleds would crash-land in a sand pile.
It seems that the idea was then imported into France. For most of the year, the warmer
climate would melt the ice, so the French started building waxed slides instead. To help the
sleds move down these slides, they added wheels, and in 1817, for the first time, a train was
attached to the track. The French continued to expand on this idea, coming up with more
complex track layouts, with multiple cars and all sorts of twists and turns.
The first American roller coaster was built in the mountains of Pennsylvania in the mid-1800s,
originally to provide an easy way to send coal to the railway 29km down to mountain. When
the track was first build, a crew at the bottom of the mountain would attach the cart to a team
of mules after emptying the load, and the mules would drag it back up to the top. They were
eventually replaced with steam engines, to make the system more efficient.
Soon after these improvements were made, the railway company built a new tunnel that
brought the freight trains much closer to the coal mine. Now no longer required for its original
purpose, the roller coaster was configured as a 'scenic tour'. For one dollar, tourists got a
leisurely ride up to the top of the mountain, followed by a wild, bumpy ride straight down. This
was soon a resounding success, attracting thousands of tourists every year.
Scenic rides like this continued to thrive and were joined by wooden roller coasters similar to
the ones we know today. These coasters were the main attraction at popular amusement
parks throughout the United States, such as the many parks of Coney Island in New York. By
the 1920s, roller coasters were in full swing, with some 2,000 rides in operation around the
country.
Following the Great Depression, a decline in roller coaster production began in the early
1930s, but a second roller-coaster boom in the 1970s and the beginning of the 1980s
revitalised the amusement park industry, and introduced a slew of innovative tubular steel
coasters.
This was followed by a decline in interest for the rest of the decade, but since the early 1990s,
the amusement-park industry has experienced another coaster boom of sorts. New launching
techniques and other technological developments have opened up a world of options for
designers, so in some rides you feel as if you are flying. In the next few years we can expect
to see many faster, taller and more twisted rides popping up in amusement parks around the
world.
Questions 14 – 16
Label the diagram below.
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 14-16 on your answer sheet.
Questions 17 – 21
Complete the summary below.
Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.
Write your answer in boxes 17-21 on your answer sheet.
History of roller coasters
Modern roller coasters are descended from 16th-century Russian slides with a surface of
17 ............
People climbed to the top, and travelled down in sleds. In France, because of the higher
temperatures, the wooden surface on the slides was 18 ............ and 19 ............ were
attached to the cars to ease the descent.
The first US roller coaster was used for transporting 20 ............ down a mount
mountainside in carts.
Initially, these were pulled by mules but in time power was produced by 21 ............
Questions 22 – 26
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1?
In boxes 22-26 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
22 The earliest modifications to the basic slide were made in France.
23 Roller coasters continued to increase in popularity throughout the 1920s and 1930s.
24 New roller coaster technology was introduced in the 1970s in response to public
demand.
25 Roller coasters were less popular for most of the 1980s than in the 1970s and 1990s.
26 The design of roller-coaster rides became more varied in the 1990s.
READING PASSAGE 3
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 27-40, which are based on Reading Passage 3.
The value of research into mite harvestmen
Few people have heard of the mite harvestman, and fewer still would recognize it at close
range. The insect is a relative of the far more familiar daddy longlegs. But its legs are stubby
rather than long, and its body is only as big as a sesame seed. To find mite harvestmen,
scientists go to dark, humid forests and sift through the leaf litter. The animals respond by
turning motionless, making them impossible for even a trained eye to pick out.' They look like
grains of dirt.' said Gonzalo Giribet, an invertebrate biologist at Harvard University
Dr Giribet and his colleagues have spent six years searching for mite harvestmen on five
continents. The animals have an extraordinary story to tell they carry a record of hundreds of
millions of years of geological history, chronicling the journeys that continents have made
around the Earth. The Earth's landmasses have slowly collided and broken apart again
several times, carrying animals and plants with them. These species have provided clues to
the continents' paths.
The notion of continental drift originally came from such clues. In 1911, the German scientist
Alfred Wegener was struck by the fact that fossils of similar animals and plants could be
found on either side of the Atlantic. The ocean was too big for the species to have traveled
across it on their own. Wegener speculated correctly, as it turned out that the surrounding
continents had originally been welded together in a single landmass, which he called Pangea.
Continental drift, or plate tectonics as it is scientifically known, helped move species around
the world. Armadillos and their relatives are found in South America and Africa today because
their ancestors evolved when the continents were joined. When South America and North
America connected a few million years ago, armadillos spread north, too.
Biogeographers can learn clues about continental drift by comparing related species.
However, they must also recognize cases where species have spread for other reasons, such
as by crossing great stretches of water. The island of Hawaii, for example, was home to a
giant flightless goose that has become extinct. Studies on DNA extracted from its bones
show that it evolved from the Canada goose. Having colonized Hawaii, it branched off from
that species, losing its ability to fly. This evolution occurred half a million years ago, when
geologists estimate that Hawaii emerged from the Pacific.
When species jump around the planet, their histories blur. It is difficult to say much about
where cockroaches evolved, for example, because they can move quickly from continent to
continent. This process, known as dispersal, limits many studies. 'Most of them tend to
concentrate on particular parts of the world.' Dr Giribet said. I wanted to find a new system for
studying biogeography on a global scale.
Dr Giribet realized that mite harvestmen might be that system. The 5,000 or so mite
harvestmen species can be found on every continent except Antarctica. Unlike creatures
found around the world like cockroaches, mite harvestmen cannot disperse well. The typical
harvestman species has a range of fewer than 50 miles. Harvestmen are not found on young
islands like Hawaii, as these types of islands emerged long after the break-up of Pangea.
According to Assistant Professor Sarah Boyer, a former student of Dr Giribet. 'It's really hard
to find a group of species that is distributed all over the world but that also doesn't disperse
very far.' What mite harvestmen lack in mobility, they make up in age. Their ancestors were
among the first land animals, and fossils of daddy longlegs have been found in 400 million-
year-ago rocks.
Mite harvestmen evolved long before Pangea broke up and have been carried along by
continental drift ever since they've managed to get themselves around the world only because
they’ve been around for hundreds of millions of years, Dr Boyer said. Dr Boyer, Dr Giribet and
their colleagues have gathered thousands of mite harvestmen from around the world, from
which they extracted DNA. Variations in the genes helped the scientists build an evolutionary
tree. By calculating how quickly the DNA mutated, the scientists could estimate when
lineages branched off. They then compared the harvestmen's evolution to the movements of
the continents. The patterns are remarkably clear.' Dr Boyer said.
The scientists found that they could trace mite harvestmen from their ancestors on Pangea.
One lineage includes species in Chile South Africa, Sri Lanka and other places separated by
thousands of miles of ocean. But 150 million years ago, all those sites were in Gondwana
which was a region of Pangea.
The harvestmen preserve smaller patterns of continental drift, as well as bigger ones. After
analyzing the DNA of a Florida harvestman, Metasiro americanus, the scientists were
surprised to find that it was not related to other North American species. Its closest relatives
live in West Africa. Dr Boyer then began investigating the geological history of Florida and
found recent research to explain the [Link] started out welded to West Africa near
Senegal. North America than collied into them Pangea was forming. About 170 million years
ago, North America ripped away from West Africa, taking Florida with it. The African
ancestors of Florida’s harvestmen came along the ride.
Dr Giribet now hopes to study dozens or even hundreds of species, to find clues about plate
tectonics that a single animal could not show.
Questions 27 – 31
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.
Write the correct letter in boxes 27-31 on your answer sheet.
27 Why is it difficult to find mite harvestmen?
A They are too small to see with naked eye.
B They can easily be confused with daddy longlegs.
C They are hard to distinguish from their surroundings.
D They do not exist in large numbers in any one place.
28 Why are mile harvestmen of interest to Dr Giribet and his colleagues?
A They have been studied far less than most other species.
B They show the effects of climate on the evolution of animals.
C They have an unusual relationship with plants and other animals.
D They provide evidence relating to a field of study other than insects.
29 What factor contributed to Wegener's idea that present-day continents used to
form a single landmass?
A changes in the level of the ocean
B the distance that species could travel
C the lack of certain fossils on one side of the Atlantic
D similarities in living conditions on both sides of the Atlantic
30 What point is made by the reference to armadillos?
A regions have both separated and become connected
B certain animals could travel longer distances than others
C the oldest species of animals are likely to be found in Africa
D there is a tendency for animals to spread in a particular direction
31 Which of the following is stated in the fifth paragraph?
A Hawaii is a habitat that cannot support large birds.
B Hawaii is an attractive habitat for certain species of birds.
C flightless birds are more likely to become extinct than others.
D the Hawaiian goose became flightless after it had reached Hawaii.
32 Why is evidence from cockroaches of limited value?
A they spread too fast
B they multiply too quickly
C they are found in too few places
D they have divided into too many species
Questions 33 – 36
Do the following statements agree with the claims of the writer in Reading Passage 3?
In boxes 33-36 on your answer sheet, write
YES if the statement agrees with the claims of the writer
NO if the statement contradicts with the claims of the writer
NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
33 The colonization of Hawaii by geese provides evidence of continental drift.
34 The reason why mite harvestmen don’t exist on Hawaii can be explained.
35 The DNA of certain species has evolved more quickly than that of others.
36 Dr Boyer’s theory concerning the origins of Florida is widely accepted.
Questions 37 – 40
Complete the summary using the list of words, A-I, below
Write the correct letter, A-I, in boxes 37-40 on your answer sheet
The age and evolution of mite harvestmen
Some of the first creatures to live on land were the 37 ............ of mite harvestmen. Boyer,
Giribet and others study differences in the 38 ............ of these insects, and trace the
development of a number of 39 ............ of the species.
Their evolution appears to reflect changes in the location of 40 ............ . For example, the
same type of mite harvestman is found in places that are now far apart but used to form
Gondwana, part of a huge landmass.
A branches B fossils C drift
D DNA E evolution F Pangea
G dispersal H ancestors I continents
