101 IELTS reading past papers with answers 2019 by IELTSMaterial publishing

15 The nature of the Earth and human biology make it impossible for humanbeings to survive another million years, 16 An eruption by Yellowstone is likely to be more destructive thanprevi

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Traditional Farming System in AfricaSection 2

Reading Test 27

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Reading Test 8 Reading Test 9 Reading Test 10 Reading Test 11 Reading Test 12 Reading Test 13 Reading Test 14 Reading Test 15 Reading Test 16 Reading Test 17 Reading Test 18 Reading Test 19 Reading Test 20 Reading Test 21 Reading Test 22 Reading Test 23 Reading Test 24 Reading Test 25 Reading Test 26 Reading Test 27 Reading Test 28 Reading Test 29 Reading Test 30 Reading Test 31 Reading Test 32 Reading Test 33 Reading Test 34

in Padua, to be precise—500 years ago, the International Centre for the Study ofPalladio's Architecture has an excellent excuse for mounting la grande mostra, the big show.

B The exhibition has the special advantage of being

held in one of Palladio's buildings, Palazzo Barbaran da Porto Its bold facade is

a mixture of rustication and decoration set between two rows of elegantcolumns On the second floor the pediments are alternately curved or pointed,

a Palladian trademark The harmonious proportions of the atrium at the entrancelead through to a dramatic interior of fine fireplaces and painted ceilings.Palladio's design is simple, clear and not over-crowded The show has beenorganised on the same principles, according to Howard Burns, the architecturalhistorian who co-curated it

C Palladio's father was a miller who settled in

Vicenza, where the young Andrea was apprenticed to a skilled stonemason Howdid a humble miller's son become a world renowned architect? The answer in theexhibition is that, as a young man, Palladio excelled at carving decorativestonework on columns, doorways and fireplaces He was plainly intelligent,and lucky enough to come across a rich patron, Gian Giorgio Trissino, alandowner and scholar, who organised his education, taking him to Rome in the1540s, where he studied the masterpieces of classical Roman andGreek architecture and the work of other influential architects of the time, such

as Donato Bramante and Raphael

D Burns argues that social mobility was also important.Entrepreneurs, prosperous from agriculture in the Veneto, commissioned thepromising local architect to design their country villas and their urban mansions

In Venice the aristocracy were anxious to co-opt talented artists, and Palladiowas given the chance to design the buildings that have made him famous—the churches of San Giorgio Maggiore and the Redentore, both easy to admirebecause they can be seen from the city's historical centre across a stretch ofwater

E He tried his hand at bridges—his unbuilt version of the Rialto Bridge was

decorated with the large pediment and columns of a temple —and, after a fire atthe Ducal Palace, he offered an alternative design which bears anuncanny resemblance to the Banqueting House in Whitehall in London Since itwas designed by Inigo Jones, Palladio's first foreign disciple, this is not assurprising as it sounds

F Jones, who visited Italy in 1614, bought a trunk full of the

master's architectural drawings; they passed through the hands of the Dukes ofBurlington and Devonshire before settling at the Royal Institute ofBritish Architects in 1894 Many are now on display at Palazzo Barbaran Whatthey show is how Palladio drew on the buildings of ancient Rome as models.The major theme of both his rural and urban building was templearchitecture, with a strong pointed pediment supported by columnsand approached by wide steps

G Palladio's work for rich landowners alienates unreconstructed critics on the

Italian left, but among the papers in the show are designs for cheap housing inVenice In the wider world, Palladio's reputation has been nurtured by a text hewrote and illustrated, "Quattro Libri dell' Architettura" His influence spread to

St Petersburg and to Charlottesville in Virginia, where Thomas Jeffersoncommissioned a Palladian villa he called Monticello

H Vicenza's show contains detailed models of the major buildings and is

leavened by portraits of Palladio's teachers and clients by Titian, Veronese andTintoretto; the paintings of his Venetian buildings are all by Canaletto, no less.This is an uncompromising exhibition; many of the drawings are small and faint,and there are no sideshows for children, but the impact of harmonious linesand satisfying proportions is to impart in a viewer a feeling of benevolent calm.Palladio is history's most therapeutic architect

I "Palladio, 500 Anni: La Grande Mostra" is at Palazzo Barbaran da Porto,

a much better relationship with them than we have now Other animals need notlive in constant fear of us Many of those fellow species now seem bound tobecome extinct, but a significant proportion could and should continue to livealongside US Such a future may seem ideal, and so it is Yet I do not believe it

is fanciful There is nothing in the physical fabric of the Earth or in our ownbiology to suggest that this is not possible

B ‘Dire’ means that we human beings could be in deep trouble within the next

few centuries, living but also dying in large numbers in political terror and fromstarvation, while huge numbers of our fellow creatures would simply disappear,leaving only the ones that we find convenient - chickens, cattle - or that we can't

shake off, like flies and mice I'm taking it to be self-evident that glory ispreferable.

C Our future is not entirely in our own hands

because the Earth has its own rules, is part of the solar system and is neitherstable nor innately safe Other planets in the solar system are quite beyondhabitation, because their temperature is far too high or too low to be endured,and ours, too, in principle could tip either way Even relatively unspectacularchanges in the atmosphere could do the trick The core of the Earth is hot, which

in many ways is good for living creatures, but every now and again, the moltenrock bursts through volcanoes on the surface Among the biggest volcaniceruptions in recent memory was Mount St Helens, in the USA, which threw out

a cubic kilometre of ash - fortunately in an area where very few people live In

1815, Tambora (in present-day Indonesia) expelled so much ash into the upperatmosphere that climatic effects seriously harmed food production around theworld for season after season Entire civilisations have been destroyed byvolcanoes

D Yet nothing we have so far experienced shows what volcanoes can really do.

Yellowstone National Park in the USA occupies the caldera (the crater formedwhen a volcano collapses) of an exceedingly ancient volcano of extraordinarymagnitude Modem surveys show that its centre is now rising Sometime in thenext 200 million years, Yellowstone could erupt again, and when it does, thewhole world will be transformed Yellowstone could erupt tomorrow But there's

a very good chance that it will give US another million years, and that surely isenough to be going on with It seems sensible to assume that this will be thecase

we share the sky with vast numbers of asteroids, and every now and again, theycome into our planet's atmosphere An asteroid the size of a small island,hitting the Earth at 15,000 kilometres an hour (a relatively modest speed by thestandards of heavenly bodies), would strike the ocean bed like a rock in apuddle, send a tidal wave around the world as high as a small mountain and asfast as a jumbo jet, and propel us into an ice age that could last for centuries.There are plans to head off such disasters (including rockets to push approachingasteroids into new trajectories), but in truth it's down to luck

F On the other hand, the archaeological and the fossil evidence shows that no

truly devastating asteroid has struck since the one that seems to have accountedfor the extinction of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago So again, there seems noimmediate reason for despair The Earth is indeed an uncertain place, in anuncertain universe, but with average luck, it should do us well enough If theworld does become inhospitable in the next few thousand or million years, then

it will probably be our own fault In short, despite the underlying uncertainty,our own future and that of our fellow creatures is very much in our own hands

G Given average luck on the geological and the cosmic scale, the difference

between glory and disaster will be made, and is being made, by politics Certainkinds of political systems and strategies would predispose US to long-termsurvival (and indeed to comfort and security and the pleasure of being alive),while others would take us more and more frenetically towards collapse Thebroad point is, though, that we need to look at ourselves - humanity - and at theworld in general in a quite new light Our material problems are fundamentallythose of biology We need to think, and we need our politicians tothink, biologically Do that, and take the ideas seriously, and we are in with

a chance Ignore biology and we and our fellow creatures haven't a hope

Questions 14-19

Do the following statements reflect the claims of the writer in Reading Passage

YES if the statement is true

NO if the statement is false NOT GIVEN if the formation is not given to the passage

14 It seems predictable that some species will disappear

15 The nature of the Earth and human biology make it impossible for humanbeings to survive another million years,

16 An eruption by Yellowstone is likely to be more destructive thanprevious volcanic eruptions

17 There 18 a greater chance of the Earth being hit by small asteroids than

An asteroid hitting the Earth could create a 23 that would result in anew 24 Plans are being made to use 25 todeflect asteroids heading for the Earth

Question 26

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

Write your answer in box 26 on your answer sheet

What is the writer’s purpose in Reading Passage 2?

B The bulk of pottery found at Akrotiri is locally made, and dates from the latefifteenth century BC It clearly fulfilled a vast range of the settlement’srequirements: more than fifty different types of pots can be distinguished Thepottery found includes a wide variety of functional types like storage jars,smaller containers, pouring vessels, cooking pots, drinking vessels and so on,which all relate to specific activities and which would have been made anddistributed with those activities in mind Given the large number of shapesproduced and the relatively high degree of standardisation, it has generally beenassumed that most, if not all, of Akrotiri pottery was produced by specialisedcraftsmen in a non-domestic context Unfortunately neither the potters’workshops nor kilns have been found within the excavated area The reason may

be that the ceramic workshops were located on the periphery of the site, whichhas not yet been excavated In any event, the ubiquity of the pottery, and theconsistent repetition of the same types in different sizes, suggest production on

an industrial scale

C The Akrotirian potters seem to have responded topressures beyond their households, namely to the increasing complexity of

regional distribution and exchange systems We can imagine them as full-timecraftsmen working permanently in a high production-rate craft such as potterymanufacture, and supporting themselves entirely from the proceeds of then craft.

In view of the above, one can begin to speak in terms of mass-produced potteryand the existence of organised workshops of craftsmen during the period 1550—

1500 BC Yet, how pottery production was organised at Akrotiri remains anopen question, as there is no real documentary evidence Our entire knowledgecomes from the ceramic material itself, and the tentative conclusions which can

be drawn from it

D The invention of units of quantity and of a numerical system to count themwas of capital importance for an exchange-geared society such as that ofAkrotiri In spite of the absence of any written records, the archaeologicalevidence reveals that concepts of measurements, both of weight and number, hadbeen formulated Standard measures may already have been in operation, such asthose evidenced by a graduated series of lead weights— made in disc form—found at the site The existence of units of capacity in Late Bronze Age times isalso evidenced, by the notation of units of a liquid measure for wine onexcavated containers

E It must be recognised that the function of pottery vessels plays a veryimportant role in determining then characteristics The intended function affectsthe choice of clay, the production technique, and the shape and the size of thepots For example, large storage jars (pithoi) would be needed to storecommodities, whereas smaller containers would be used for transport In fact,the length of a man’s arm limits the size of a smaller pot to a capacity of abouttwenty lines; that is also the maximum a man can comfortably carry

F The various sizes of container would thus represent standard quantities of acommodity, which is a fundamental element in the function ofexchange Akrotirian merchants handling a commodity such as wine would havebeen able to determine easily the amount of wine they were transporting fiomthe number of containers they carried in then ships, since the capacity of eachcontainer was known to be 14-18 litres (We could draw a parallel here with thecurrent practice in Greece of selling oil in 17 kilogram tins.)

G We may therefore assume that the shape, capacity, and, sometimes decoration

of vessels are indicative of the commodity contained by them Sinceindividual transactions would normally involve different quantities of a givencommodity, a range of ‘standardised’ types of vessel would be needed to meettraders’ requirements

H In trying to reconstruct systems of capacity by measuring the volume ofexcavated pottery, a rather generous range of tolerances must be allowed Itseems possible that the potters of that time had specific sizes of vessel in mind,and tried to reproduce them using a specific type and amount of clay However,

it would be quite difficult for them to achieve the exact size required every time,without any mechanical means of regulating symmetry and wall thickness, andsome potters would be more skilled than others In addition, variations in therepetition of types and size may also occur because of unforeseen circumstancesduring the throwing process For instance, instead of destroying the entire pot ifthe clay in the rim contained a piece of grit, a potter might produce a smaller pot

by simply cutting off the rim Even where there is no noticeable externaldifference between pots meant to contain the same quantity of a commodity,differences in their capacity can actually reach one or two litres In one case thedeviation from the required size appears to be as much as 10-20 percent

I The establishment of regular trade routes within the Aegean led to increasedmovement of goods; consequently a regular exchange of local, luxury andsurplus goods, including metals, would have become feasible as a result of theadvances in transport technology The increased demand for standardisedexchanges, inextricably linked to commercial transactions, might have been one

of the main factors which led to the standardisation of pottery production Thus,the whole network of ceramic production and exchange would have depended onspecific regional economic conditions, and would reflect the socio-economicstructure of prehistoric Akrotiri

34 Some of the evidence concerning pottery production in ancient Akrotiricomes from written records.

35 Pots for transporting liquids would have held no more than about 20 litres

36 It would have been hard for merchants to calculate how much wine was ontheir ships

37 The capacity of containers intended to hold the same amounts differed by up

to 20 percent

38 Regular trading of goods around the Aegean would have led to the general

in the open ocean Claws are absent from both pairs of flippers TheLeatherback's flippers arc the largest in proportion to its body among extant seaturtles Leatherback's front flippers can grow up to 2.7 meters (9 ft) in largespecimens, the largest flippers (even in comparison to its body) of any sea turtle.

As the last surviving member of its family, the leatherback turtle has severaldistinguishing characteristics that differentiate it from other sea turtles Its mostnotable feature is that it lacks the bony carapace of the other extant sea turtles

C Actually, There has been extensive research conducted regarding the seaturtles’ abilities to return to their nesting regions and sometimes exact locationsfrom hundreds of miles away In the water, their path is greatly affected bypowerful currents Despite their limited vision, and lack of landmarks in theopen water, turtles are able to retrace their migratory paths Some explanations

of this phenomenon have found that sea turtles can detect the angle and intensity

of the earth’s magnetic fields

water temperatures here are far too cold for their survival Instead, adultloggerheads prefer the warmers waters of the Mediterranean, the Caribbean andNorth America's east coast The four turtles that were found have probablyoriginated from the North American population of loggerheads However it willrequire genetic analysis to confirm this assumption It is thought that afterleaving their nesting beach as hatchlings (when they measure 4.5 cm in length),these tiny turtles enter the North Atlantic Gyre (a giant circular ocean current)that takes them from America, across to Europe (Azores area), down towardsNorth Africa, before being transported back again to America via a differentcurrent This remarkable round trip may take many years during which these tinyturtles grow by several centimetres a year Loggerheads may circulate around theNorth Atlantic several times before they settle in the coastal waters of Florida orthe Caribbean

E These four turtles were probably on their way around the Atlantic when theystrayed a bit too far north from the Gulf Stream Once they did, their fate wassealed, as the cooler waters of the North East Atlantic are too cold forloggerheads (unlike leatherback turtles which have many anatomical andphysiological adaptations to enable them to swim in our seas) Once in coolwaters, the body of a loggerhead begins to shut down as they get 'cold stunned',then get hypothermia and die

F Leatherbacks are in immanent danger of extinction A critical factor(among others) is the

harvesting of eggs from nests Valued as a food delicacy, Leatherback eggs arefalsely touted to have aphrodisiacal properties in some cultures The leatherback,unlike the Green Sea turtle, is not often killed for its meat; however, the increase

in human populations coupled with the growing black market trade has escalatedtheir egg depletion Other critical factors causing the leatherbacks’ decline arepollution such as plastics (leatherbacks eat this debris thinking it is jellyfish;fishing practices such as longline fishing and gill nets, and development onhabitat areas Scientists have estimated that there are only about 35,000Leatherback turtles in the world

G We are often unable to understand the critical impact a species has on the

environment—that is, until that species becomes extinct Even if we do not knowthe role a creature plays in the health of the environment, past lessons have

taught US enough to know that every animal and plant is one important link inthe integral chain of nature Some scientists now speculate that the Leatherbackmay play an important role in the recovery of diminishing fish populations.Since the Leatherback consumes its weight in jellyfish per day, it helps to keepJellyfish populations in check Jellyfish consume large quantities of fish larvae.The rapid decline in Leatherback populations over the last 50 years has beenaccompanied by a significant increase in jellyfish and a marked decrease in fish

in our oceans Saving sea turtles is an International endeavor

Question 1-6

Choose the most suitable headings for paragraphs B-G from the list of headings below.

*do the right thing” —is prominent in the goal of Business for Social Responsibility, the leading nonprofit CSR business association in the United States It asks that its members “achieve commercial success in ways that honor ethical values and respect people, communities, and the natural environment.” Sustainability emphasizes environmental and community stewardship.

A An excellent definition was developed in the 1980s

by Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland and used by the WorldBusiness Council for Sustainable Devebpment "Meeting the needs of the presentwithout compromising the ability of future generations to meet their ownneeds.” The notion of license to operate derives from the fact that everycompany needs tacit or explicit permission from governments, communities, andnumerous other stakeholders to do business Finally, reputation is used by manycompanies to justify CSR initiatives on the grounds that they will improve acompany's image, strengthen its brand, enliven morale, and even raise thevalue of its stock

B To advance CSR, we must root it in a broad understanding of theinterrelationship between a corporation and society while at the sametime anchoring it in the strategies and activities of specific companies To saybroadly that business and society need each other might seem like a cliché, but it

is also the basic truth that will pull companies out of the muddle that theircurrent corporate-responsibility thinking has created Successful corporationsneed a healthy society Education, health care, and equal opportunity areessential to a productive workforce Safe products and working conditions notonly attract customers but lower the internal costs of accidents Efficientutilization of land, water, energy, and other natural resources makes businessmore productive Good government, the rub of law, and property rights areessential for efficiency and innovation Strong regulatory standards protect bothconsumers and competitive companies from exploitation Ultimately, a healthysociety creates expanding demand for business, as more human needs are metand aspirations grow Any business that pursues its ends at the expense of thesociety in which it operates will find its success to be illusory and ultimatelytemporary At the same time, a healthy society needs successful companies Nosocial program can rival the business sector when it comes to creating the jobs,wealth, and innovation that improve standards of living and social conditionsover time

C A company’s impact on society also changes over time, as social standardsevolve and science progresses Asbestos, now understood as a serious healthrisk, was thought to be safe in the early 1900s, given the scientific knowledgethen available Evidence of its risks gradually mounted for more than 50 yearsbefore any company was held liable for the harms it can cause Many firms that

failed to anticipate the consequences of this evolving body of research havebeen bankrupted by the results No longer can companies be content to monitoronly the obvious social impacts of today Without a careful process foridentifying evolving social effects of tomorrow, firms may risk their verysurvival.

D No business can solve all of society’s problems or bear the cost of doing so.Instead, each company must select issues that intersect with itsparticular business Other social agendas are best left to those companies inother industries, NGOs, or government institutions that are better positioned toaddress them The essential test that should guide CSR is not whether a cause isworthy but whether it presents an opportunity to create shared value— that is,

a meaningful benefit for society that is also valuable to the business.However, Corporations are not responsible for all the world’s problems, nor dothey have the resources to solve them all Each company can identify theparticular set of societal problems that it is best equipped to help resolve andfrom which it can gain the greatest competitive benefit Addressing social issues

by creating shared value will lead to self-sustaining solutions that do not depend

on private or government subsidies When a well-run business applies its vastresources, expertise, and management talent to problems that it understands and

in which it has a stake, it can have a greater impact on social good than any otherinstitution or philanthropic organization

E The best corporate citizenship initiatives involve far more than writing acheck: They specify clear, measurable goals and track results over time A goodexample is GE’s program to adopt underperforming public high schools nearseveral of its major u.s facilities The company contributes between $250,000and $1 million over a five-year period to each school and makes in-kinddonations as well GE managers and employees take an active role by workingwith school administrators to assess needs and mentor or tutor students In anindependent study of ten schools in the program between 1989 and 1999, nearlyall showed significant improvement, while the graduation rate in four of thefive worst performing schools doubled from an average of 30% to 60%.Effective corporate citizenship initiatives such as this one create goodwill andimprove relations with local governments and other important constituencies.What's more, GE’s employees feel great pride in their participation Their effect

is inherently limited, however No matter how beneficial the program is, itremains incidental to the company’s business, and the direct effect on GE'srecruiting and retention is modest

F Microsoft's Working Connections partnership with the American Association

of Community Colleges (AACC) is a good example of a shared-valueopportunity arising from investments in context The shortage of informationtechnology workers is a significant constraint on Microsoft’s growth; currently,there are more than 450,000 unfilled IT positions in the United States alone.Community colleges, with an enrollment of 11.6 million students, representing45% of all U.S undergraduates, could be a major solution Microsoft recognizes,however, that community colleges face special challenges: IT curricula are notstandardized, technology used in classrooms is often outdated, and there are nosystematic professional development programs to keep faculty up to date.Microsoft's $50 million five-year initiative was aimed at all three problems Inaddition to contributing money and products, Microsoft sent employeevolunteers to colleges to assess needs, contribute to curriculum development,and create faculty development institutes Note that in this case, volunteers andassigned staff were able to use their core professional skills to address a socialneed, a far cry from typical volunteer programs Microsoft has achieved resultsthat have benefited many communities while having a direct—and potentiallysignificant—impact on the company.

G At the heart of any strategy is a unique value proposition: a set of needs acompany can meet for its chosen customers that others cannot Themost strategic CSR occurs when a company adds a social dimension to itsvalue proposition, making social impact integral to the overall strategy ConsiderWhole Foods Market, whose value proposition is to sell organic, natural andhealthy food products to customers who are passionate about food and theenvironment The company's sourcing emphasizes purchases from local farmersthrough each store's procurement process Buyers screen out foods containingany of nearly 100 common ingredients that the company considers unhealthy

or environmentally damaging The same standards apply to productsmade internally Whole Foods’ commitment to natural and environmentallyfriendly operating practices extends well beyond sourcing Stores are constructedusing a minimum of virgin raw materials Recently, the company purchasedrenewable wind energy credits equal to 100% of its electricity use in all of itsstores and facilities, the only Fortune 500 company to offset its electricityconsumption entirely Spoiled produce and biodegradable waste are trucked toregional centers for composting Whole Foods' vehicles are being converted torun on biofuels Even the cleaning products used in its stores areenvironmentally friendly And through its philanthropy, the company has createdthe Animal Compassion Foundation to develop more natural and humane ways

of raising farm animals In short, nearly every aspect of the company’s value

chain reinforces the social dimensions of its value proposition, distinguishingWhole Foods from its competitors.

The implement of CSR, HOW?

Promotion of CSR requires the understanding of interdependence betweenbusiness and society Corporations workers’ productivity generally needs healthcare, Education, and given 21 Restrictions imposed by governmentand companies both protect consumers from being treated unfairly Improvement

of the safety standard can reduce the 22 .ofaccidents in the workplace Similarly society becomes pool of more humanneeds and aspirations

TV for a living marvel at the medium’s hold on them personally PercyTannenbaum of the University of California at Berkeley haswritten: “Among life’s more embarrassing moments have been countlessoccasions when I am engaged in conversation in a room while a TV set is on,and I cannot for the life of me stop from periodically glancing over to the screen.This occurs not only during dull conversations but during reasonably interestingones just as well.”

B Scientists have been studying the effects of televisionfor decades, generally focusing on whether watching violence on TV correlateswith being violent in real life Less attention has been paid to the basic allure ofthe small screen—the medium, as opposed to the message

C The term “TV addiction” is imprecise and laden with value judgments, but itcaptures the essence of a very real phenomenon Psychologists andpsychiatrists formally define substance dependence as a disorder characterized

by criteria that include spending a great deal of time using the substance; using itmore often than one intends; thinking about reducing use or makingrepeated unsuccessful efforts to reduce use; giving up important social, family

or occupational activities to use it; and reporting withdrawal symptoms whenone stops using it

D All these criteria can apply to people who watch a lot of television That doesnot mean that watching television, in itself, is problematic Television can teachand amuse; it can reach aesthetic heights; it can provide much needed distractionand escape The difficulty arises when people strongly sense that they ought not

to watch as much as they do and yet find themselves strangely unable to reducetheir viewing Some knowledge of how the medium exerts its pull may helpheavy viewers gain better control over their lives

E The amount of time people spend watching television is astonishing Onaverage, individuals in the industrialized world devote three hours a day to thepursuit—fully half of their leisure time, and more than on any single activitysave work and sleep At this rate, someone who lives to 75 would spend nine

years in front of the tube To some commentators, this devotion means simplythat people enjoy TV and make a conscious decision to watch it But if that is thewhole story, why do so many people experience misgivings about how muchthey view? In Gallup polls in 1992 and 1999, two out of five adult respondentsand seven out of 10 teenagers said they spent too much time watching TV Othersurveys have consistently shown that roughly 10 percent of adults callthemselves TV addicts

F What is it about TV that has such a hold on US? In part, the attraction seems

to spring from our biological ‘orienting response.’ First described by IvanPavlov in 1927, the orienting response is our instinctive visual or auditoryreaction to any sudden or novel stimulus It is part of our evolutionary heritage, abuilt-in sensitivity to movement and potential predatory threats

G In 1986 Byron Reeves of Stanford University, Esther Thorson of theUniversity of Missouri and their colleagues began to study whether the simpleformal features of television-cuts, edits, zooms, pans, sudden noises—activatethe orienting response, thereby keeping attention on the screen By watchinghow brain waves were affected by formal features, the researchers concludedthat these stylistic tricks can indeed trigger involuntary responses and ‘derivetheir attention-al value through the evolutionary significance of detectingmovement It is the form, not the content, of television that is unique.’

H The orienting response may partly explain common viewer remarks such as:

“If a television is on, I just can’t keep my eyes off it,” “I don’t want to watch asmuch as I do, but I can’t help it,” and “I feel hypnotized when I watchtelevision.” In the years since Reeves and Thorson published then pioneeringwork, researchers have delved deeper Annie Lang’s research team at IndianaUniversity has shown that heart rate decreases for four to six seconds after anorienting stimulus In ads, action sequences and music videos, formal featuresfrequently come at a rate of one per second, thus activating the orientingresponse continuously

I Lang and her colleagues have also investigated whether formal features affectpeople’s memory of what they have seen In one of their studies,participants watched a program and then filled out a score sheet Increasing thefrequency of edits (defined here as a change from one camera angle to another inthe same visual scene) improved memory recognition, presumably because itfocused attention on the screen Increasing the frequency of cuts—changes to anew visual scene-had a similar effect but only up to a point If the number ofcuts exceeded 10 in two minutes, recognition dropped off sharply

J Producers of educational television for children have found that formalfeatures can help learning But increasing the rate of cuts and edits eventuallyoverloads the brain Music videos and commercials that use rapid intercutting ofunrelated scenes are designed to hold attention more than they are toconvey information People may remember the name of the product or band, butthe details of the ad itself float in one ear and out the other The orientingresponse is overworked Viewers still attend to the screen, but they feel tired andworn out, with little compensating psychological reward Our ESM findingsshow much the same thing.

K Sometimes the memory of the product is very subtle Many ads today aredeliberately oblique: they have an engaging story line, but it is hard to tellwhat they are trying to sell Afterward you may not remember the productconsciously Yet advertisers believe that if they have gotten your attention, whenyou later go to the store you will feel better or more comfortable with a givenproduct because you have a vague recollection of having heard of it

You should spend about 20 minutes on question 27-40, which are based on reading passage 3 on the following pages.

27 Even researcher find sometimes it is more interesting in watching TV thantalking with others in personal experience

28 Information medium as TV has always been the priority for scientificresearch

TV is becoming a worldwide 38 Some people love it and spend a great

deal of time watching it According to some surveys, a small group even claimthemselves as 39 One researcher believes that this attraction comesfrom our human instinct, described as 40 which is built in part of ourphysiological evolution.

B The longitude is a measure of how far around the worldone has come from home and has no naturally occurring base line like theequator The crew of a given ship was naturally only concerned with how farround they were from their own particular home base Even when in the middle

of the ocean, with no land in sight, knowing this longitude position is verysimple in theory The key to knowing how far around the world you are fromhome is to know, at that very moment, what time it is back home A comparisonwith your local time (easily found by checking the position of the Sim) will thentell you the time difference between you and home, and thus how far round theEarth you are from home

C Up until the middle of the 18th century, navigators had

three-hour intervals of Greenwich Time In order to determine longitude, sailors

together with height of both planets using the naval sextant The sailors also had

had to measure the angle between Moon centre and a given star - lunar distance -to calculate the Moon’s position if seen form the centre of Earth Time

corresponding to Greenwich Time was determined using the nautical

almanac Then the difference between the obtained time and local time servedfor calculation in longitude from Greenwich The great flaw in this ‘simple’theory was - how does the sailor know time back home when he is in the middle

180 degrees of longitude from home

E After 1714 when the British government offered the huge sum of £20,000 for

a solution to the problem, with the prize to be administered by diesplendidly titled Board of Longitude The Government prize of £20,000 was thehighest of three sums on offer for varying degrees of accuracy, the full prizeonly payable for a method that could find the longitude at sea within half adegree If the solution was to be by timekeeper (and there were other methodssince the prize was offered for any solution to the problem), then thetimekeeping required to achieve this goal would have to be within 2.8 seconds aday, a performance considered impossible for any clock at sea and unthinkablefor a watch, even under the very best conditions

F It was this prize, worth about £2 million today, which inspired the self-taughtYorkshfre carpenter, John Harrison, to attempt a design for a practical marine

clock During the latter part of his early career, he worked with his youngerbrother James Their first major project was a revolutionary turret clockfor the stables at Brocklesby Park, seat of the Pelham family The clock wasrevolutionary because it required no lubrication 18th century clock oils wereuniformly poor and one of the major causes of failure in clocks of the period.Rather than concentrating on improvements to the oil, Harrison designed a clockwhich didn't need it In 1730 Harrison created a description and drawings for aproposed marine clock to compete for the Longitude

Prize and went to London seeking financial assistance He presented his ideas toEdmond Halley, the Astronomer Royal Halley referred him to George Graham,the country's foremost clockmaker He must have been impressed by Harrison,for Graham personally loaned Harrison money to build a model of his marineclock It took Harrison five years to build Harrison Number One or HI Hedemonstrated it to members of the Royal Society who spoke on his behalf to theBoard of Longitude The clock was the first proposal that the Board considered

to be worthy of a sea trial In 1736,

G After several attempts to design a betterment of HI, Harrison believed that the' solution to the longitude problem lay in an entirely different design H4

is completely different from the other three timekeepers It looks like a verylarge pocket watch Harrison's son William set sail for the West Indies, with H4,aboard the ship Deptford on 18 November 1761 It was aremarkable achievement but it would be some time before the Board

of Longitude was sufficiently satisfied to award Harrison the prize

H John Hadley, an English mathematician, developed sextant, who was acompetitor of Harrison at that time for the luring prize A sextant is aninstrument used for measuring angles, for example between the sun and thehorizon, so that the position of a ship or aeroplane can be calculated Making thismeasurement is known as sighting the object, shooting the object, or taking

a sight and it is an essential part of celestial navigation The angle, and the timewhen it was measured, can be used to calculate a position line on a nautical oraeronautical chart A sextant can also be used to measure the Lunar distancebetween the moon and another celestial object (e.g., star, planet) in order todetermine Greenwich time which is important because it can then be used todetermine the longitude

I The majority within this next generation of chronometer pioneers wereEnglish, but the story is by no means wholly that of English achievement OneFrench name, Pierre Le Roy of Paris, stands out as a major presence in the earlyhistory of the chronometer Another great name in the story is that of the

Lancastrian, Thomas Eamshaw, a slightly younger contemporary of JohnArnold's It was Eamshaw who created the final form of chronometerescapement, the spring detent escapement, and finalized the format and theproduction system for the marine chronometer, making it truly an article ofcommerce, and a practical means of safer navigation at sea over the next centuryand half.

6 It is with no great effort by sailors to calculate the position when in the center

of the ocean theoretically

7 To determine the longitude, a measurement of distance from moon to a givenstar is a must