READING PASSAGE 1

Questions 1-12, which are based on Reading Passage 1 below.

 

Thomas Young

Section A

Thomas Young (1773-1829) contributed 63 articles to the Encyclopedia Britannica, including 46 biographical entries (mostly on scientists and classicists) and substantial essays such as "Bridge," "Chromatics," "Egypt," "Languages" and “Tides." Was someone who could write authoritatively about so many subjects a polymath, a genius or a dilettante? In an ambitious new biography, Andrew Robinson argues that Young is a good contender for the epitaph "the last man who knew everything." Young has competition, however. The phrase, which Robinson takes for his title, also serves as the subtitle of two other recent biographies: Leonard Warren's 1998 biographic account of paleontologist Joseph Leidy (1823-1891) and Paula Findlen's 2004 book on Athanasius Kircher (1602-1680), another polymath.

 

Section B

Young, of course, did more than write encyclopedia entries. He presented his first paper to the Royal Society of London at the age of 20 and was elected a Fellow a week after his 21st birthday. In the paper, Young explained the process of accommodation in the human eye, meaning, how the eye focuses properly on objects at varying distances. Young hypothesized that this was achieved by changes in the shape of the lens. Young also theorized that light traveled in waves, as well as believing that to account for the ability to see in color, there must be three receptors in the eye corresponding to the three "principal colors" to which the retina could respond: red, green, violet. All these hypotheses were subsequently proved to be correct.

 

Section C

Later in his life, when he was in his forties, Young was instrumental in cracking the code that unlocked the unknown script on the Rosetta Stone, a tablet that was "found" in Egypt by the Napoleonic army in 1799. The stone contains text in three alphabets: Greek, something unrecognizable and Egyptian hieroglyphs. The unrecognizable script is now known as demotic and as Young deduced, is related directly to hieroglyphics. His initial work on this appeared in his Britannica entry on Egypt. In another entry, he coined the term Indo-European to describe the family of languages spoken throughout most of Europe and northern India. These are the landmark achievements of a man who was a child prodigy and who, unlike many remarkable children, did not disappear into obscurity as an adult.

 

Section D

Born in 1773 in Somerset in England, Young lived from an early age with his maternal grandfather, eventually leaving to attend boarding school. He had devoured books from the age of two, and through his own initiative he excelled at Latin, Greek, mathematics and natural philosophy. After leaving school, he was greatly encouraged by his mother's uncle, Richard Brocklesby, a physician and Fellow of the Royal Society. Following Brocklesby's lead, Young decided to pursue a career in medicine. He studied in London, following the medical circuit, and then moved on to more formal education in Edinburgh, Gottingen and Cambridge. After completing his medical training at the University of Cambridge 1808, Young set up practice as a physician in London. He soon became a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and a few years later was appointed physician at St. George's Hospital.

 

 

Section E

Young's skill as a physician, however, did not equal his skill as a scholar of natural philosophy or linguistics. Earlier, in 1801, he had been appointed to a professorship of natural philosophy at the Royal Institution, where he delivered as many as 60 lectures in a year. These were published in two volumes in 1807. In 1804 Young had become secretary to the Royal Society, a post he would hold until his death. His opinions were sought on civic and national matters, such as the introduction of gas lighting to London and methods of ship construction. From 1819 he was superintendent of the Nautical Almanac and secretary to the Board of Longitude. From 1824 to 1829 he was physician to and inspector of calculations for the Palladian Insurance Company. Between 1816 and 1825 he contributed his many and various entries to the Encyclopedia Britannica, and throughout his career he authored numerous books, essays and papers.

 

Section F

Young is a perfect subject for a biography — perfect, but daunting. Few men contributed so much to so many technical fields. Robinson's aim is to introduce non-scientists to Young's work and life. He succeeds, providing clear expositions of the technical material (especially that on optics and Egyptian hieroglyphs). Some readers of this book will, like Robinson, find Young's accomplishments impressive; others will see him as some historians have —as a dilettante. Yet despite the rich material presented in this book, readers will not be well-introduced to Young’s personal life. We catch glimpses of a playful Young, doodling Greek and Latin phrases in his notes on medical lectures and translating the verses that a young lady had written on the walls of a summerhouse into Greek elegiacs. Young was introduced into elite society, attended the theater and learned to dance and play the flute. In addition, he was an accomplished horseman. However, his personal life looks pale next to his vibrant career and studies.

 

Section G

Young married Eliza Maxwell in 1804, and according to Robinson, "their marriage was a happy one and she appreciated his work.” Almost all we know about her is that she sustained her husband through some rancorous disputes about optics and that she worried about money when his medical career was slow to take off. Very little evidence survives about the complexities of Young's relationships with his mother and father. Robinson does not credit them, or anyone else, with shaping Young's extraordinary mind. Despite the lack of details concerning Young's relationships, however, anyone interested in what it means to be a genius should read this book.

 

 

Questions 1-7

The reading passage has seven sections, A-G.

Choose the correct heading for sections A-G from the list of headings below.

 

 

1. Section A …………………..

2. Section B …………………..

3. Section C …………………..

4. Section D …………………..

5. Section E  …………………..

6. Section F  …………………..

7. Section G …………………..

 

 

Questions 8-12

Complete the short answers below.

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

 

8. What aspect of scientific research did Young focus on in his first academic paper? 

 

9. Which ancient tablet did Young crack the code for? 

 

10. What term did Young use for a language family formed by some European and Indian languages? 

 

11. Who inspired Young to start his medical studies? 

 

12. What contribution did Young make to London?

 

 

READING PASSAGE 2

Questions 13-26. which are based on Reading Passage 2 below

 

Antarctica - in from the cold?

 

A little over a century ago, an expedition led by Scott, Shackleton and Mawson bravely battled against Antarctica’s blizzards, cold and deprivation. In the name of the Empire and in an age of heroic deeds they created an image of Antarctica that was to last well into the 20th century—an image of remoteness, hardship, bleakness and isolation that was the province of only the most courageous of men. The image was one of a place removed from everyday reality, of a place with no apparent value to anyone.

 

As we enter the 21st century, our perception of Antarctica has changed. Although physically Antarctica is no closer and probably no warmer, and to spend time there still demands a dedication not seen in ordinary life, the continent and its surrounding ocean are increasingly seen to be an integral part of planet earth, and a key component in the earth’s ecosystem. Is this because the world seems a little smaller these days, shrunk by TV and tourism, or is it because Antarctica really does occupy a central spot on Earth’s mantle? Scientific research during the past half century has revealed—and continues to reveal—that Antarctica's great mass and low temperature exert a major influence on climate and ocean circulation, factors which influence the lives of millions of people all over the globe.

 

Antarctica was not always cold. The slow break-up of the supercontinent Gondwana with the northward movements of Africa, South America, India and Australia eventually created enough space around Antarctica for the development of an Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC), that flowed from west to east under the influence of the prevailing westerly winds. Antarctica cooled, its vegetation perished, glaciation began, and the continent took on its present-day appearance. Today the ice that overlies the bedrock is up to 4km thick, and surface temperatures as low as -89.2deg C have been recorded. The icy blast that howls over the ice cap and out to sea—the so-called katabatic wind—can reach 300 km/hr, creating fearsome wind-chill effects.

 

Out of this extreme environment come some powerful forces that reverberate around the world. The Earth’s rotation, coupled to the generation of cells of low pressure off the Antarctic coast, allow astronauts in space a view of Antarctica that is as beautiful as it is awesome. Spinning away to the northeast, the cells grow and deepen, whipping up the Southern Ocean into the mountainous seas so respected by mariners. Recent work shows that the temperature of the ocean may be a better predictor of rainfall in Australia than is the pressure difference between Darwin and Tahiti, the Southern Oscillation Index. By receiving more accurate predictions, graziers in northern Queensland are able to avoid overstocking in years when rainfall will be poor. Not only does this limit their losses but it prevents serious pasture degradation that may take decades to repair. CSIRO is developing this as a prototype forecasting system, but we can confidently predict that as we know more about the Antarctic and Southern Ocean we will be able to enhance and extend our predictive ability.

 

The ocean’s surface temperature results from the interplay between deep-water temperature, air temperature and ice. Each winter between 4 and 19 million square km of sea ice form, locking up huge quantities of heat close to the continent. Only now can we start to unravel the influence of sea ice on the weather that is experienced in southern Australia. But in another way the extent of sea ice extends its influence far beyond Antarctica. Antarctic krill—the small shrimp-like crustaceans that are the staple diet for baleen whales, penguins, some seals, flighted sea birds and many fish—breed well in years when sea ice is extensive and poorly when it is not. Many species of baleen whales and flighted sea birds migrate between the hemispheres and when the krill are less abundant they are less able to thrive.

 

The circulatory system of the world’s oceans is like a huge conveyor belt, moving water and dissolved minerals and nutrients from one hemisphere to the other, and from the ocean's abyssal depths to the surface. The Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) is the longest current in the world and has the largest flow. Through it, the deep flows of the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans are joined to form part of a single global thermohaline circulation. During Winter, the howling katabatics sometimes scour the ice off patches of the sea's surface leaving large ice-locked lagoons, or ’polynyas'. Recent research has shown that as fresh sea ice forms, it is continuously stripped away by the wind and may be blown up to 90km in a single day. Since only fresh water freezes into ice, the water that remains becomes increasingly salty and dense, sinking until it spills over the continental shelf. Cold water carries more oxygen than warm water, so when it rises, well into the northern hemisphere, it re-oxygenates and revitalizes the ocean. The state of the northern oceans, and their biological productivity, owe much to what happens in the Antarctic

 

Questions 13-21

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

 

13. The early public perception of Antarctica was of a place with little underlying worth. 

 

14. Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC), the longest current in the world, circulated under contributory force from wind blowing from the east. 

15. The extreme environment of Antarctica influences weather patterns throughout the southern hemisphere. 

16. Farmers in Australia use research carried out in the Antarctic to plan their business. 

 

17. When sea ice in the Antarctic is less widespread, there is more food available for other marine animals. 

18. Whales and seabirds spend an equal amount of time feeding in both the northern and southern hemispheres. 

19. The decrease of salt and density of the water causes Antarctic water to move beyond the continental shelf 

20. Sea ice tends to remain static for long periods of time. 

21. The positive effects of cold water from Antarctica is crucial to other oceans. 

 

Questions 22-25

Complete the summary below.

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

 

Arctic krill is part of the 22……………. of many other marine creatures. The flow of water, around the world’s oceans, is similar to a 23……………. moving from one hemisphere to another extreme winds cause ice to be blown off the surface of the sea leaving large 24 …………….. The condition of the northern oceans owe their 25……………. to what is going on in Antarctica.

 

Question 26

Choose the correct letter, A,B or C.

 

26. The decrease in the number of Whales and seabirds is due to

1. More sea ice increases the productivity of sea birds

2. killers whales are more active around

3. less sea ice reduces the productivity of food source

 

 

READING PASSAGE 3

Questions 27-40 which are based on Reading Passage 3 below.

 

History of Sound in Film 

A The early twentieth century brought a multitude of changes to the entertainment business. In the 1920s, innovators advanced the medium of film by playing with new technology and new styles. Color processors were added and multiple projectors were used. The television was invented and screen sizes expanded. Yet, more significant than the transition from black and white to Technicolor or the expansion of size was the addition of sound to film in the 1920s. These early “talking pictures,” or simply “talkies,” would eventually become all the rage and change the direction of cinema forever.

 

B Before this change, silent films were not in fact “silent.” A variety of sounds were created to enhance the motion picture experience for the patron. Almost every theater had a piano or an organ that a musician would play to accompany the action on screen. Some theaters employed even more elaborate set-ups. In Japan, for instance, “benshi” provided live narration; the voice actors stood to one side of the screen, sometimes voicing multiple roles alongside the original musical compositions. And in some cases, original music was composed to go along with a particular film. An example of these original musical films can be seen in the 1925 soviet film “The Battleship Potemkin,” screened in Berlin. When The Battleship Potemkin first played outside the USSR in Berlin, Germany, director Sergei Eisenstein teamed up with Austrian composer Edmund Meisel to produce a musical score that matched sound to image.

 

C While we now take for granted the use of sound in movies, it was not always seen as an inevitable development. Before World War One, innovators had played with adding sound to recorded movies. As early as 1900, public exhibitions of sound films had taken place. However, the technology available didn’t match filmmakers’ ambitions. Not only were recording and amplification quality poor, but it was difficult to synchronize sound and film reliably. The result – a poor quality recording out of sync with the action on film - made viewers of the 1920s skeptical about the future of sound in films. Many thought that it would soon fade. Though critics of early sound films disregarded their ongoing popularity, innovative filmmakers continued their experiments. Eventually, as scientific interest in sound technology progressed, so did the public’s desire for film with sound.

 

D The phone was being developed in this era, and wireless technologies began to surface. In the United States, firms like the American Telephone and Telegraph (AT&T) and General Electric (GE) emerged as industry leaders, as they pursued new forms of sound technology and all potential avenues for commercial exploitation. Commercial radio programming began, spawning an entirely new outlet for entertainment and news. Clearly, the world was enjoying the newfound success in sound technology, and it was only a matter of time before the film industry caught up.

 

E Until 1927, only short films were made with sound. In October of that year came Warner Brothers release of The Jazz Singer, the first full-length feature film incorporating sound. Using the most advanced sound-on-disc technology of the time, it was a resounding success. But other major studios were rather slow to join the movement. Warner Bros. released three more successful feature-length talkies in the following year, and it wasn’t until September 1928 that another studio – Paramount – brought out its own sound film: Beggars of Life. Seeing the profits that Warner Bros. was reaping, all of the other major studios followed suit over the next year and a half. In 1929, only two years after The Jazz Singer, the United States released over 300 sound films, including many with music. The trend was so swift that by 1930, virtually all American theaters had been retrofitted for sound.

 

F Talkies were not purely an American phenomenon. European filmmakers, following the release of The Jazz Singer in September of 1928, realized the potential and joined the fray. In 1929, most major filmmakers in Europe embraced the new technology, but they had to shoot their films abroad while their domestic studios scrambled to catch up technologically. And it wasn’t only studios that lagged behind the filmmakers; conversion of theaters happened somewhat slowly, which meant that many European filmmakers created two versions of each movie: one with sound, one without. Eventually, Britain matched the pace of conversion in America, with well over half of theaters becoming sound-equipped by the end of 1930. In France, on the other hand, a majority of venues were still fully silent in late 1932

 

Questions 27-32

The reading passage has six paragraphs,A-F.

Which paragraph contains the following information?

NB : You may use any letter more than once.

 

27. An account of the use of sound in films spreading to another part of the world 

28. A reference to what is considered a ground-breaking sound film 

29. An account of how the early movie industry was altered by contemporary technology 

30. An outline of the difficulties faced by the early sound pioneers 

31. A reference to motion pictures before the advent of sound 

32. How other areas of innovation produced a greater demand for sound 

 

Questions 33-37

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

 

33. Before the “talkies,” movies incorporated sound through live music and narration. 

34. Early mainstream film makers  listened to the public’s demand for sound films. 

35. When the first full length sound movie was released, other studios could not compete. 

36. The conversion of theaters in Europe happened slowly because European filmmakers continued to   create a sound and non-sound version of their movies. 

37. By the end of the 1920s, sound films had become widely accepted in the United States and most of Europe. 

 

 

Questions 38-40

Choose the correct option  A, B, C or D.

 

38. Which of the following is true about the film “The Battleship Potemkin”?

1. It received greater praise than it did in the US.

2. It was co-written by Edmund Meisel

3. It was one of the first movies to include recorded music

4. It featured the premier of an original piece of music

 

39. Some people believed that sound in films would not achieve popularity because …

1. people were too accustomed to silent films

2. early attempts produced poor results.

3. They are naturally resistant to change.

4. it did not have enough financial support.

 

40. What is the significance of the film Beggars of Life?

1. It was the first full-length film made in America that used sound-on-disc technology.

2. It prompted a majority of American theaters to be retrofitted for sound.

3. It achieved greater success than The Jazz Singer.

4. It was the first full-length sound film released by a studio other than Warner Bros.