IELTS LECTURE READING TEXTS (6.0)

IELTS READING 6.0 Lecture Texts Teacher Kieran YOU ARE WHAT YOU SPEAK Does your mother tongue really affect the way you see the world? Does the language you speak influence the way you think? Does it help define your world view? Anyone who has tried to master a foreign tongue has at least thought about the possibility At first glance the idea seems perfectly plausible Conveying even simple messages requires that you make completely different observations depending on your language Imagine being asked to count some pens on a table As an English speaker, you only have to count them and give the number But a Russian may need to consider the gender and a Japanese speaker has to take into account their shape (long and cylindrical) as well, and use the number word designated for items of that shape On the other hand, surely pens are just pens, no matter what your language compels you to specify about them? Little linguistic peculiarities, though amusing, don’t change the objective world we are describing So how can they alter the way we think? Scientists and philosophers have been grappling with this thorny question for centuries There have always been those who argue that our picture of the Universe depends on our native tongue Since the 1960s, however, with the ascent of thinkers like Noam Chomsky, and a host of cognitive scientists, the consensus has been that linguistic differences don’t really matter, that language is a universal human trait, and that our ability to talk to one another owes more to our shared genetics than to our varying cultures But now the pendulum is beginning to swing the other way as psychologists reexamine the question A new generation of scientists is not convinced that language is innate and hard-wired into our brain and they say that small, even apparently insignificant differences between languages affect the way speakers perceive the world ‘The brain is shaped by experience,’ says Dan Slobin of the University of California at Berkeley ‘Some people argue that language just changes what you attend to,’ says Lera Boroditsky of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology ‘But what you attend to changes what you encode and remember.’ In short, it changes how you think To start with the simplest and perhaps subtlest example, preparing to say something in a particular language demands that you pay attention to certain things and ignore others In Korean, for instance, simply to say ‘hello’ you need to know if you’re older or younger than the person you’re addressing Spanish speakers have to decide whether they are on intimate enough terms to call someone by the informal tu rather than the formal Usted In Japanese, simply deciding which form of the word ‘I’ to use demands complex calculations involving things such as your gender, their gender and your relative status Slobin argues that this process can have a huge impact on what we deem important and, ultimately, how we think about the world Whether your language places an emphasis on an object’s shape, substance or function also seems to affect your relationship with the world, according to John Lucy, a researcher at the Max Planck Institute of Psycholinguistics in the Netherlands He has compared American English with Yucatec Maya, spoken in Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula Among the many differences between the two languages is the way objects are classified In English, shape is implicit in many nouns We think in terms of discrete objects, and it is only when we want to quantify amorphous things like sugar that we employ units such as ‘cube’ or ‘cup’ But in Yucatec, objects tend to be defined by separate words that describe shape So, for example, ‘long banana’ describes the fruit, while ‘flat banana’ means the ‘banana leaf’ and ‘seated banana’ is the ‘banana tree’ To find out if this classification system has any far-reaching effects on how people think, Lucy asked English- and Yucatec-speaking volunteers to a likeness task In one experiment, he gave them three combs and asked which two were most alike One was plastic with a handle, another wooden with a handle, the third plastic without a handle English speakers thought the combs with handles were more alike, but Yucatec speakers felt the two plastic combs were In another test, Lucy used a plastic box, a cardboard box and a piece of cardboard The Americans thought the two boxes belonged together, whereas the Mayans chose the two cardboard items In other words, Americans focused on form, while the Mayans focused on substance Despite some criticism of his findings, Lucy points to his studies indicating that, at about the age of eight, differences begin to emerge that reflect language ‘Everyone comes with the same possibilities,’ he says, ‘but there’s a tendency to make the world fi t into our linguistic categories.’ Boroditsky agrees, arguing that even artificial classification systems, such as gender, can be important Nevertheless, the general consensus is that while the experiments done by Lucy, Boroditsky and others may be intriguing, they are not compelling enough to shift the orthodox view that language does not have a strong bearing on thought or perception The classic example used by Chomskians to back this up is colour Over the years many researchers have tried to discover whether linguistic differences in categorising colours lead to differences in perceiving them Colours, after all, fall on a continuous spectrum, so we shouldn’t be surprised if one person’s ‘red’ is another person’s ‘orange’ Yet most studies suggest that people agree on where the boundaries are, regardless of the colour terms used in their own language Do the following statements agree with the information given in the Passage? Write: TRUE, FALSE, or NOT GIVEN Learning a foreign language makes people consider the relationship between language and thought In the last century cognitive scientists believed that linguistic differences had a critical effect on communication Dan Slobin agrees with Chomsky on how we perceive the world Boroditsky has conducted gender experiments on a range of speakers The way we perceive colour is a well-established test of the effect of language on thought Look at the following features (Questions 6-10) and the list of languages below Match each feature with the correct language, A–E A Russian B Japanese C Korean D Spanish E Yucatec Maya the importance of the relative age of speakers the use of adjectives to distinguish the names of objects or things a need to use some numbers with the correct gender a relationship between form and number 10 the need to know how friendly your relationship is with the person you are addressing Questions 11-14 Complete the summary below using ONE WORD ONLY from the box for each answer Lucy’s Experiments In the likeness task, Lucy gave his subjects three combs Two of these were made of the same 11.… and two were alike in that they had the same 12 In another experiment, plastic and 13… items were used The 14… that English and Yucatec speakers used to group these objects helped him show that speakers of different languages think about things differently 4 THE BOY WHO HARNESSED THE WIND In 2002, William Kamkwamba had to drop out of school, as his father, a maize and tobacco farmer, could no longer afford his school fees But despite this setback, William was determined to get his education He began visiting a local library that had just opened in his old primary school, where he discovered a tattered science book With only a rudimentary grasp of English, he taught himself basic physics - mainly by studying photos and diagrams Another book he found there featured windmills on the cover and inspired him to try and build his own He started by constructing a small model Then, with the help of a cousin and friend, he spent many weeks searching scrap yards and found old tractor fans, shock absorbers, plastic pipe and bicycle parts, which he used to build the real thing For windmill blades, William cut some bath pipe in two lengthwise, then heated the pieces over hot coals to press the curled edges flat To bore holes into the blades, he stuck a nail through half a corncob, heated the metal red and twisted it through the blades It took three hours to repeatedly heat the nail and bore the holes He attached the blades to a tractor fan using proper nuts and bolts and then to the back axle of a bicycle Electricity was generated through the bicycle dynamo When the wind blew the blades, the bike chain spun the bike wheel, which charged the dynamo and sent a current through wire to his house What he had built was a crude machine that produced 12 volts and powered four lights When it was all done, the windmill's wingspan measured more than eight feet and sat on top of a rickety tower 15 feet tall that swayed violently in strong gales He eventually replaced the tower with a sturdier one that stands 39 feet, and built a second machine that watered a family garden The windmill brought William Kamkwamba instant local fame, but despite his accomplishment, he was still unable to return to school However, news of his magetsi a mphepo - electric wind spread beyond Malawi, and eventually things began to change An education official, who had heard news of the windmill, came to visit his village and was amazed to learn that William had been out of school for five years He arranged for him to attend secondary school at the government's expense and brought journalists to the farm to see the windmill Then a story published in the Malawi Daily Mail caught the attention of bloggers, which in turn caught the attention of organisers for the Technology Entertainment and Design conference In 2007, William spoke at the TED Global conference in Tanzania and got a standing ovation Businessmen stepped forward with offers to fund his education and projects, and with money donated by them, he was able to put his cousin and several friends back into school and pay for some medical needs of his family With the donation, he also drilled a borehole for a well and water pump in his village and installed drip irrigation in his father's fields The water pump has allowed his family to expand its crops They have abandoned tobacco and now grow maize, beans, soybeans, potatoes and peanuts The windmills have also brought big lifestyle and health changes to the other villagers 'The village has changed a lot,' William says 'Now, the time that they would have spent going to fetch water, they are using for doing other things And also the water they are drinking is clean water, so there is less disease.' The villagers have also stopped using kerosene and can use the money previously spent on fuel to buy other things 5 William Kamkwamba's example has inspired other children in the village to pursue science William says they now see that if they put their mind to something, they can achieve it 'It has changed the way people think,' he says Questions 1-5 Complete the flow chart below Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer Building the Windmill William learned some (1)… from a library book First, he built a (2)… of the windmill Then he collected materials from (3)… with a relative He made the windmill blades from pieces of (4)… He fixed the blades to a (5)… and then to part of a bicycle He raised the blades on a tower Questions 6-10 Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage? In boxes 6-10 on your answer sheet write: TRUE, FALSE or NOT GIVEN William used the electricity he created for village transport At first, William's achievement was ignored by local people Journalists from other countries visited William's farm William used money he received to improve water supplies in his village 10 The health of the villagers has improved since the windmill was built Questions 11-13 Use NO MORE THAN ONE WORD and/or a NUMBER from the passage for each answer 11 How tall was the final tower that William built? 12 What did the villagers use for fuel before the windmill was built? 13 What school subject has become more popular in William's village? THE US CITY AND THE NATURAL ENVIRONMENT A) While cities and their metropolitan areas have always interacted with and shaped the natural environment, it is only recently that historians have begun to consider this relationship During our own time, the tension between natural and urbanized areas has increased, as the spread of metropolitan populations and urban land uses has reshaped and destroyed natural landscapes and environments B) The relationship between the city and the natural environment has actually been circular, with cities having massive effects on the natural environment, while the natural environment, in turn, has profoundly shaped urban configurations Urban history is filled with stories about how city dwellers contended with the forces of nature that threatened their lives Nature not only caused many of the annoyances of daily urban life, such as bad weather and pests, but it also gave rise to natural disasters and catastrophes such as floods, fires, and earthquakes In order to protect themselves and their settlements against the forces of nature, cities built many defences including flood walls and dams, earthquake-resistant buildings, and storage places for food and water At times, such protective steps sheltered urbanites against the worst natural furies, but often their own actions – such as building under the shadow of volcanoes, or in earthquake-prone zones – exposed them to danger from natural hazards C) City populations require food, water, fuel, and construction materials, while urban industries need natural materials for production purposes In order to fulfill these needs, urbanites increasingly had to reach far beyond their boundaries In the nineteenth century, for instance, the demands of city dwellers for food produced rings of garden farms around cities In the twentieth century, as urban populations increased, the demand for food drove the rise of large factory farms Cities also require fresh water supplies in order to exist – engineers built waterworks, dug wells deeper and deeper into the earth looking for groundwater, and dammed and diverted rivers to obtain water supplies for domestic and industrial uses In the process of obtaining water from distant locales, cities often transformed them, making deserts where there had been fertile agricultural areas D) Urbanites had to seek locations to dispose of the wastes they produced Initially, they placed wastes on sites within the city, polluting the air, land, and water with industrial and domestic effluents As cities grew larger, they disposed of their wastes by transporting them to more distant locations Thus, cities constructed sewerage systems for domestic wastes They usually discharged the sewage into neighbouring waterways, often polluting the water supply of downstream cities The air and the land also became dumps for waste disposal In the late nineteenth century, coal became the preferred fuel for industrial, transportation, and domestic use But while providing an inexpensive and plentiful energy supply, coal was also very dirty The cities that used it suffered from air contamination and reduced sunlight, while the cleaning tasks of householders were greatly increased 7 E) In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, reformers began demanding urban environmental cleanups and public health improvements Women's groups often took the lead in agitating for clean air and clean water, showing a greater concern than men in regard to quality of life and health-related issues The replacement of the horse, first by electric trolleys and then by the car, brought about substantial improvements in street and air sanitation The movements demanding clean air, however, and reduction of waterway pollution were largely unsuccessful On balance, urban sanitary conditions were probably somewhat better in the 1920s than in the late nineteenth century, but the cost of improvement often was the exploitation of urban hinterlands for water supplies, increased downstream water pollution, and growing automobile congestion and pollution F) In the decades after the 1940s, city environments suffered from heavy pollution as they sought to cope with increased automobile usage, pollution from industrial production, new varieties of chemical pesticides and the wastes of an increasingly consumer-oriented economy Cleaner fuels and smoke control laws largely freed cities during the 1940s and 1950s of the dense smoke that they had previously suffered from Improved urban air quality resulted largely from the substitution of natural gas and oil for coal and the replacement of the steam locomotive by the diesel-electric However, great increases in automobile usage in some larger cities produced the new phenomenon of smog, and air pollution replaced smoke as a major concern G) During these decades, the suburban out-migration, which had begun in the nineteenth century with commuter trains and streetcars and accelerated because of the availability and convenience of the automobile, now increased to a torrent, putting major strains on the formerly rural and undeveloped metropolitan fringes To a great extent, suburban layouts ignored environmental considerations, making little provision for open space, producing endless rows of resource-consuming and fertilizer-dependent lawns, contaminating groundwater through leaking septic tanks, and absorbing excessive amounts of fresh water and energy The growth of the outer city since the 1970s reflected a continued preference on the part of many people in the western world for space-intensive single-family houses surrounded by lawns, for private automobiles over public transit, and for the development of previously untouched areas Without better planning for land use and environmental protection, urban life will, as it has in the past, continue to damage and stress the natural environment 8 Choose the correct heading for each section (A-G) from the list below Write the correct number, i-x List of Phrases: i) Legislation brings temporary improvements ii) The increasing speed of suburban development iii) A new area of academic interest iv) The impact of environmental extremes on city planning v) The first campaigns for environmental change vi) Building cities in earthquake zones vii) The effect of global warming on cities viii) Adapting areas surrounding cities to provide resources ix) Removing the unwanted by-products of city life x) Providing health information for city dwellers Paragraph A Paragraph B Paragraph C Paragraph D Paragraph E Paragraph F Paragraph G Do the following statements agree with the information given in the text? Write: TRUE, FALSE or NOT GIVEN In the nineteenth century, water was brought into the desert to create productive farming land Women were often the strongest campaigners for environmental reform 10 Reducing urban air and water pollution in the early twentieth century was extremely expensive 11 The introduction of the car led to increased suburban development 12 Suburban lifestyles in many western nations fail to take account of environmental protection 13 Many governments in the developed world are trying to halt the spread of the suburbs SENDING MONEY HOME A Every year millions of migrants travel vast distances using borrowed money for their airfares and taking little or no cash with them They seek a decent job to support themselves with money left over that they can send home to their families in developing countries These remittances exceeded $400 billion last year It is true that the actual rate per person is only about $200 per month but it all adds up to about triple the amount officially spent on development aid B In some of the poorer, unstable or conflict-torn countries, these sums of money are a lifeline – the only salvation for those left behind The decision to send money home is often inspired by altruism – an unselfish desire to help others Then again, the cash might simply be an exchange for earlier services rendered by the recipients or it could be intended for investment by the recipients Often it will be repayment of a loan used to finance the migrant’s travel and resettlement C At the first sign of trouble, political or financial upheaval, these personal sources of support not suddenly dry up like official investment monies Actually, they increase in order to ease the hardship and suffering of the migrants’ families and, unlike development aid, which is channeled through government or other official agencies, remittances go straight to those in need Thus, they serve an insurance role, responding in a countercyclical way to political and economic crises D This flow of migrant money has a huge economic and social impact on the receiving countries It provides cash for food, housing and necessities It funds education and healthcare and contributes towards the upkeep of the elderly Extra money is sent for special events such as weddings, funerals or urgent medical procedures and other emergencies Occasionally it becomes the capital for starting up a small enterprise E Unfortunately, recipients hardly ever receive the full value of the money sent back home because of exorbitant transfer fees Many money transfer companies and banks operate on a fixed fee, which is unduly harsh for those sending small sums at a time Others charge a percentage, which varies from around 8% to 20% or more dependent on the recipient country There are some countries where there is a low fixed charge per transaction; however, these cheaper fees are not applied internationally because of widespread concern over money laundering Whether this is a genuine fear or just an excuse is hard to say If the recipients live in a small village somewhere, usually the only option is to obtain their money through the local post office Regrettably, many governments allow post offices to have an exclusive affiliation with one particular money transfer operator so there is no alternative but to pay the extortionate charge F The sums of money being discussed here might seem negligible on an individual basis but they are substantial in totality If the transfer cost could be reduced to no more than one per cent, that would release another $30 billion dollars annually – 10 approximately the total aid budget of the USA, the largest donor worldwide – directly into the hands of the world’s poorest If this is not practicable, governments could at least acknowledge that small remittances not come from organised crime networks, and ease regulations accordingly They should put an end to restrictive alliances between post offices and money transfer operators or at least open up the system to competition Alternately, a non-government humanitarian organisation, which would have the expertise to navigate the elaborate red tape, could set up a non-profit remittance platform for migrants to send money home for little or no cost G Whilst contemplating the best system for transmission of migrant earnings to the home country, one should consider the fact that migrants often manage to save reasonable amounts of money in their adopted country More often than not, that money is in the form of bank deposits earning a tiny percentage of interest, none at all or even a negative rate of interest H If a developing country or a large charitable society could sell bonds with a guaranteed return of three or four per cent on the premise that the invested money would be used to build infrastructure in that country, there would be a twofold benefit Migrants would make a financial gain and see their savings put to work in the development of their country of origin The ideal point of sale for these bonds would be the channel used for money transfers so that, when migrants show up to make their monthly remittance, they could buy bonds as well Advancing the idea one step further, why not make this transmission hub the conduit for affluent migrants to donate to worthy causes in their homeland so they may share their prosperity with their compatriots on a larger scale? 11 Reading Passage has seven paragraphs, A–G Choose the correct heading for paragraphs from the list of headings below List of Headings i Stability of remittances in difficult times ii Effect of cutback in transaction fees iii Targeted investments and contributions iv Remittances for business investment v How to lower transmission fees vi Motivations behind remittances vii Losses incurred during transmission viii Remittances worth more than official aid ix How recipients utilise remittances x Frequency and size of remittances xi Poor returns on migrant savings Paragraph A … Paragraph B … Paragraph C … Paragraph D … Paragraph E … Paragraph F … Paragraph G (xi) Paragraph H … QUESTIONS 8–13: Complete the summary below Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer Countries are unwilling to enforce lower transaction fees as they are worried about ……………… , and villagers lose out when post offices have a special relationship with one particular money transfer agency Each remittance might be small but the total cost of remittance fees is huge Governments should ……………… on small amounts and end the current post office system or make it more competitive Another idea would be for a large non-profit association, capable of handling complicated 10 ……………… to take charge of migrant remittances Migrants who send money home are able to save money, too, but it receives little or no interest from 11 ……………… If a country or organisation sold bonds that earned a reasonable rate of interest for the investor, that money could fund the development of homeland 12 ……………… The bonds could be sold at the remittance centre, which could also take donations from 13 ……………… to fund charitable projects in their home country 12 THE RISKS AGRICULTURE FACES IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES A Two things distinguish food production from all other productive activities: first, every single person needs food each day and has a right to it; and second, it is hugely dependent on nature These two unique aspects, one political, the other natural, make food production highly vulnerable and different from any other business At the same time, cultural values are highly entrenched in food and agricultural systems worldwide B Farmers everywhere face major risks; including extreme weather, long-term climate change, and price volatility in input and product markets However, smallholder farmers in developing countries must in addition deal with adverse environments, both natural, in terms of soil quality, rainfall, etc and human, in terms of infrastructure, financial systems, markets, knowledge and technology Counter-intuitively, hunger is prevalent among many smallholder farmers in the developing world C Participants in the online debate argued that our biggest challenge is to address the underlying causes of the agricultural system’s inability to ensure sufficient food for all, and they identified as drivers of this problem our dependency on fossil fuels and unsupportive government policies D On the question of mitigating the risks farmers face, most essayists called for greater state intervention In his essay, Kanayo F Nwanze, President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development, argued that governments can significantly reduce risks for farmers by providing basic services like roads to get produce more efficiently to markets, or water and food storage facilities to reduce losses Sophia Murphy, senior advisor to the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, suggested that the procurement and holding of stocks by governments can also help mitigate wild swings in food prices by alleviating uncertainties about market supply E Shenggen Fan, Director General of the International Food Policy Research Institute, held up social safety nets and public welfare programmes in Ethiopia, Brazil and Mexico as valuable ways to address poverty among farming families and reduce their vulnerability to agriculture shocks However, some commentators responded that cash transfers to poor families not necessarily translate into increased food security, as these programmes not always strengthen food production or raise incomes Regarding state subsidies for agriculture, Rokeya Kabir, Executive Director of Bangladesh Nari Progati Sangha, commented in her essay that these ‘have not compensated for the stranglehold exercised by private traders In fact, studies show that sixty percent of beneficiaries of subsidies are not poor, but rich landowners and nonfarmer traders F Nwanze, Murphy and Fan argued that private risk management tools, like private insurance, commodity futures markets, and rural finance can help small-scale producers mitigate risk and allow for investment in improvements Kabir warned that financial support schemes often encourage the adoption of high-input agricultural practices, 13 which in the medium term may raise production costs beyond the value of their harvests Murphy noted that when futures markets become excessively financialised they can contribute to short-term price volatility, which increases farmers’ food insecurity Many participants and commentators emphasised that greater transparency in markets is needed to mitigate the impact of volatility, and make evident whether adequate stocks and supplies are available Others contended that agribusiness companies should be held responsible for paying for negative side effects G Many essayists mentioned climate change and its consequences for small-scale agriculture Fan explained that in addition to reducing crop yields, climate change increases the magnitude and the frequency of extreme weather events, which increase smallholder vulnerability The growing unpredictability of weather patterns increases farmers’ difficulty in managing weather-related risks According to this author, one solution would be to develop crop varieties that are more resilient to new climate trends and extreme weather patterns Accordingly, Pat Mooney, co-founder and executive director of the ETC Group, suggested that ‘if we are to survive climate change, we must adopt policies that let peasants diversify the plant and animal species and varieties/breeds that make up our menus H Some participating authors and commentators argued in favour of community- based and autonomous risk management strategies through collective action groups, cooperatives or producers’ groups Such groups enhance market opportunities for smallscale producers, reduce marketing costs and synchronise buying and selling with seasonal price conditions According to Murphy, ‘collective action offers an important way for farmers to strengthen their political and economic bargaining power, and to reduce their business risks One commentator, Giel Ton, warned that collective action does not come as a free good It takes time, effort and money to organise, build trust and to experiment Others, like Marcel Vernooij and Marcel Beukeboom, suggested that in order to ‘apply what we already know’, all stakeholders, including business, government, scientists and civil society, must work together, starting at the beginning of the value chain I Some participants explained that market price volatility is often worsened by the presence of intermediary purchasers who, taking advantage of farmers’ vulnerability, dictate prices One commentator suggested farmers can gain greater control over prices and minimise price volatility by selling directly to consumers Similarly, Sonali Bisht, founder and advisor to the Institute of Himalayan Environmental Research and Education (INHERE), India, wrote that copipunity-supported agriculture, where consumers invest in local farmers by subscription and guarantee producers a fair price, is a risk-sharing model worth more attention Direct food distribution systems not only encourage small-scale agriculture but also give consumers more control over the food they consume, she wrote 14 Which paragraph contains the following information? Write the correct letter, A-l a reference to characteristics that only apply to food production a reference to challenges faced only by farmers in certain parts of the world a reference to difficulties in bringing about co-operation between farmers Look at the following statements (Questions 4-9) and the list of people below Match each statement with the correct person, A-G NB You may use any letter more than once Financial assistance from the government does not always go to the farmers who most need it Farmers can benefit from collaborating as a group Financial assistance from the government can improve the standard of living of farmers Farmers may be helped if there is financial input by the same individuals who buy Governments can help to reduce variation in pages Improvements to infrastructure can have a major impact on risk for farmers from them List of People: A Kanayo F Nwanze B Sophia Murphy C Shenggen Fan D Rokeya Kabir E Pat Mooney F Giel Ton G Sonali Bisht Questions 10 and 11 Choose TWO letters, A-E Which TWO problems are mentioned which affect farmers with small farms in developing countries? A lack of demand for locally produced food B lack of irrigation programmes C being unable to get insurance D the effects of changing weather patterns E having to sell their goods to intermediary buyers Questions 12-13 Choose TWO letters, A-E Which TWO actions are recommended for improving conditions for farmers? A reducing the size of food stocks B attempting to ensure that prices rise at certain times of the year C organising co-operation between a wide range of interested parties D encouraging consumers to take a financial stake in farming E making customers aware of the reasons for changing food prices 15 The Pursuit of Happiness "New research uncovers some anti-intuitive insights into how many people are happy and why." Compared with misery, happiness is a relatively unexplored terrain for social scientists Between 1967 and 1994, 46,380 articles indexed in Psychological Abstracts mentioned depression, 36,851 anxiety, and 5,099 anger Only 2,389 spoke of happiness, 2,340 life satisfaction, and 405 joy Recently we and other researchers have begun a systematic study of happiness During the past two decades, dozens of investigators throughout the world have asked several hundred thousand Representative sampled people to reflect on their happiness and satisfaction with life or what psychologists call "subjective well-being" In the US the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago has surveyed a representative sample of roughly 1,500 people a year since 1957; the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan has carried out similar studies on a less regular basis, as has the Gallup Organization Governmentfunded efforts have also probed the moods of European countries We have uncovered some surprising findings People are happier than one might expect, and happiness does not appear to depend significantly on external circumstances Although viewing life as a tragedy has a long and honorable history, the responses of random samples of people around the world about their happiness paints a much rosier picture In the University of Chicago surveys, three in 10 Americans say they are very happy, for example Only one in 10 chooses the most negative description "not too happy" The majority describe themselves as "pretty happy" How can social scientists measure something as hard to pin down as happiness? Most researchers simply ask people to report their feelings of happiness or unhappiness and to assess how satisfying their lives are Such self-reported well-being is moderately consistent over years of retesting Furthermore, those who say they are happy and satisfied seem happy to their close friends and family members and to a psychologist-interviewer Their daily mood ratings reveal more positive emotions, and they smile more than those who call themselves unhappy Self-reported happiness also predicts other indicators of well-being Compared with the depressed, happy people are less self-focused, less hostile and abusive, and less susceptible to disease 16 We have found that the even distribution of happiness cuts across almost all demographic classifications of age, economic class, race and educational level In addition, almost all strategies for assessing subjective well-being - including those that sample people's experience by polling them at random times with beepers - turn up similar findings Interviews with representative samples of people of all ages, for example, reveal that no time of life is notably happier or unhappier Similarly, men and women are equally likely to declare themselves "very happy" and "satisfied" with life, according to a statistical digest of 146 studies by Marilyn J, Haring, William Stock and Morris A, Okun, all then at Arizona State University Wealth is also a poor predictor of happiness People have not become happier over time as their cultures have become more affluent Even though Americans earn twice as much in today's dollars as they did in 1957, the proportion of those telling surveyors from the National Opinion Research Center that they are "very happy" has declined from 35 to 29 percent Even very rich people - those surveyed among Forbes magazine's 100 wealthiest Americans are only slightly happier than the average American Those whose income has increased over a 10-year period are not happier than those whose income is stagnant Indeed, in most nations the correlation between income and happiness is negligible - only in the poorest countries, such as Bangladesh and India, is income a good measure of emotional well-being Are people in rich countries happier, by and large, than people in not so rich countries? It appears in general that they are, but the margin may be slim In Portugal, for example, only one in 10 people reports being very happy, whereas in the much more prosperous Netherlands the proportion of very happy is four in 10 Yet there are curious reversals in this correlation between national wealth and well-being -the Irish during the 1980s consistently reported greater life satisfaction than the wealthier West Germans Furthermore, other factors, such as civil rights, literacy and duration of democratic government, all of which also promote reported life satisfaction, tend to go hand in hand with national wealth, As a result, it is impossible to tell whether the happiness of people in wealthier nations is based on money or is a by-product of other felicities Although happiness is not easy to predict from material circumstances, it seems consistent for those who have it, In one National Institute on Aging study of 5,000 adults, the happiest people in 1973 were still relatively happy a decade later, despite changes in work, residence and family status, 17 Questions 28-30 Choose the appropriate letters A-D 28 What point are the writers making in the opening paragraph? A Happiness levels have risen since 1967 В Journals take a biased view on happiness С Happiness is not a well-documented research area, D People tend to think about themselves negatively 29 What the writers say about their research findings? A They had predicted the results correctly В They felt people had responded dishonestly С They conflict with those of other researchers D Happiness levels are higher than they had believed 30 In the fourth paragraph, what does the reader learn about the research method used? A It is new В It appears to be reliable С It is better than using beepers D It reveals additional information According to the passage, which of the findings below (31-34) is quoted by which Investigative Body (A-G)? (There are more Investigative Bodies than findings, so you not have to use all of them) 31 Happiness is not gender related 32 Over fifty percent of people consider themselves to be 'happy' 33 Happiness levels are marginally higher for those in the top income brackets 34 'Happy' people remain happy throughout their lives Investigative Bodies A The National Opinion Research Center, University of Chicago B Arizona State University С The Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan D Forbes Magazine E The National Institute on Aging F The Gallup Organization G The Government 18 Questions 35-40 Complete the summary of Reading Passage 20 below Choose your answers from the box at the bottom of the page and write them in boxes 35-40 on your answer sheet (There are more words than spaces so you will not use them all You may use any of the words more than once) HOW HAPPY ARE WE? For example, incomes in the States have (35) over the past forty years but happiness levels have (36) over the same period In fact, people on average incomes are only slightly (37) happy than extremely rich people and a gradual increase in prosperity makes (38) difference to how happy we are In terms of national wealth, populations of wealthy nations are (39) happier than those who live in poorer countries Although in some cases this trend is (40) and it appears that other factors need to be considered stopped doubled stabilized no crept up slightly significant remarkably less slowed down List of Words too similar reversed much more great some dropped affected clearly 19 THE RETURN OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE It is becoming acceptable again to talk of computers performing human tasks such as problem-solving and pattern-recognition A After years in the wilderness, the term ‘artificial intelligence' (Al) seems poised to make a comeback Al was big in the 1980s but vanished in the 1990s It re-entered public consciousness with the release of Al, a movie about a robot boy This has ignited public debate about Al, but the term is also being used once more within the computer industry Researchers, executives and marketing people are now using the expression without irony or inverted commas And it is not always hype The term is being applied, with some justification, to products that depend on technology that was originally developed by Al researchers Admittedly, the rehabilitation of the term has a long way to go, and some firms still prefer to avoid using it But the fact that others are starting to use it again suggests that Al has moved on from being seen as an over- ambitious and under-achieving field of research B The field was launched, and the term ‘artificial intelligence’ coined, at a conference in 1956,,by a group of researchers that included Marvin Minsky, John McCarthy, Herbert Simon and Alan Newell, all of whom went on to become leading figures in the field The expression provided an attractive but informative name for a research programme that encompassed such previously disparate fields as operations research, cybernetics, logic and computer science The goal they shared was an attempt to capture or mimic human abilities using machines That said, different groups of researchers attacked different problems, from speech recognition to chess playing, in different ways; Al unified the field in name only But it was a term that captured the public imagination C Most researchers agree that Al peaked around 1985 A public reared on sciencefiction movies and excited by the growing power of computers had high expectations For years, Al researchers had implied that a breakthrough was just around the corner Marvin Minsky said in 1967 that within a generation the problem of creating ‘artificial intelligence' would be substantially solved Prototypes of medical-diagnosis programs and speech recognition software appeared to be making progress It proved to be a false dawn Thinking computers and household robots failed to materialise, and a backlash ensued 'There was undue optimism in the early f 980s,’ says David Leake, a researcher at Indiana University ‘Then when people realised these were hard problems, there was retrenchment By the late 1980s, the term Al was being avoided by many researchers, who opted instead to align themselves with specific sub-disciplines such as neural networks, agent technology, case-based reasoning, and so on.’ D Ironically, in some ways Al was a victim of its own success Whenever an apparently mundane problem was solved, such as building a system that could land an aircraft 20 unattended, the problem was deemed not to have been Al in the first place ‘If it works, it can’t be Al,' as Dr Leake characterises it The effect of repeatedly moving the goal-posts in this way was that Al came to refer to 'blue-sky' research that was still years away from commercialisation, Researchers joked that Al stood for 'almost implemented’ Meanwhile, the technologies that made it once the market, such as speech recognition, language translation and decision-support software, were no longer regarded as Al Yet all three once fell well within the umbrella of Al research E But the tide may now be turning, according to Dr Leake HNC Software of San Diego, backed by a government agency, reckon chat their new approach to artificial intelligence is the most powerful and promising approach ever discovered HNC claim that their system, based on a duster of 30 processors, could be used to spot camouflaged vehicles on a battlefield or extract a voice signal from a noisy background - tasks humans can well, but computers cannot ‘Whether or not their technology lives up to the claims made for it, the fact that HNC are emphasising the use of Al is itself an interesting development,' says Dr Leake F Another factor that may boost the prospects for Al in the near future is that investors are now looking for firms using clever technology, rather than just a clever business model, to differentiate themselves In particular, the problem of information overload, exacerbated by the growth of e-mail and the explosion in the number of web pages, means there are plenty of opportunities for new technologies to help filter and categorise information - classic Al problems That may mean that more artificial intelligence companies will start to emerge to meet this challenge G The 1969 film, 2001:A Space Odyssey, featured an intelligent computer called HAL 9000 As well as understanding and speaking English, HAL could play chess and even learned to lipread HAL thus encapsulated the optimism of the 1960s that intelligent computers would be widespread by 2001 But 2001 has been and gone, and there is still no sign of a HAL-like computer Individual systems can play chess or transcribe speech, but a general theory of machine intelligence still remains elusive It may be however, that the comparison with HAL no longer seems quite so Important, and Al can now be judged by what it can do, rather than by how well it matches up to a 30-year-old science-fiction film ‘People are beginning to realise that there are impressive things that these systems can do.’ says Dr Leake hopefully 21 Which paragraph contains the following information? Write the correct letter A-G (You may use any letter more than once) How Al might have a military impact The fact that AI brings together a range of separate research areas The reason why AI has become a common topic of conversation again How AI could help deal with difficulties related to the amount of information available electronically Where the expression AI was first used Do the following statements agree with the information given? Write: TRUE, FALSE or NOT GIVEN The researchers who launched the field of AI had worked together on other projects in the past In 1985, AI was at its lowest point Research into agent technology was more costly than research into neural networks Applications of AI have already had a degree of success 10 The problems waiting to be solved by AI have not changed since 1967 11 The film 2001: A Space Odyssey, reflected contemporary ideas about the potential of AI computers Questions 12-14 Choose the correct letter A B, C or D Write your answers in boxes 12-14 on your answer sheet 12 According to researchers, in the late 1980s there was a feeling that… A a general theory of AI would never be developed B original expectations of Al may not have been justified C a wide range of applications was close to fruition D more powerful computers were the key to further progress 13 In Dr Leake’s opinion, the reputation of AI suffered as a result of… A changing perceptions B premature implementation C poorly planned projects D commercial pressures 14 The prospects for AI may benefit from… A existing Al applications B new business models C orders from internet-only companies D new investment priorities 22 THE GENERATIONAL POWER BALANCE Throughout history, the clash between the old and the young has been a defining feature of both reality and literature Parents have power over their children… but as those juveniles approach adolescence, they begin to put pressure on their parents’ power They test the rules; they rebel; they create their own rules The parents are puzzled, frustrated and resentful about the shift in the balance of power They fight back; try to exert their leadership in an attempt to maintain their power But as they grow towards old age, they are forced to relinquish it, while the world changes into a place they cease to recognize from their youth The friction between old and young is set to become a feature of the twenty first century, as we approach a period where the balance of power reaches virgin territory This is not to say that relationships between the generations are expected to worsen; rather that the unprecedented demographic changes to come will have knock-on effects that we cannot yet imagine How can we be so sure that trials lie ahead? Demographic trends are incredibly easy to predict Decades pass between the birth of children and their growth into adulthood, while rises in life expectancy due to affluence and better medical care are gradual Consequently, it is possible to predict accurately what proportion of the population will be economically active, and what proportion will be dependent, for a considerable time in the future Hence, we know that rising as people are living longer and having fewer children – and having them later in life - population structure will skew much more towards the aged Statistical prediction is one thing Predicting the implications of such trends on society is another thing entirely In the 1900s, demographers could – or at least should – have predicted that trend toward city-living as opposed to country-living was likely to continue, as indeed it did, becoming one of the most defining features of the twentieth century The political, economic, social and environmental implications of this shift were much harder to predict, however Many economically developed countries already fear that by 2025, there will be too few young tax-payers in the working population to support those in old age This is the generation that requires pensions, medical care, local services and other benefits Governments are already putting in steps, such as compulsory work pensions and increases in the retirement age in an attempt to mitigate the problem How effective these measures prove to be remains to be seen Moreover, this isn’t just a predicament for richer countries All less 23 economically developed countries outside the AIDS stricken regions of SubSaharan African are experiencing the same demographic trends, and, unless their economies develop extremely quickly, their populations will suffer much more Economically, therefore, adults will be at the mercy of the elderly Governments will be obliged to put money and efforts into the provision for the elderly and working adults will have to forego their share But perhaps such a conclusion is too glib The scenario could pan out in differently After all, rising elderly populations also bring opportunities for the young, such as in employment in products and services geared towards the older generation Moreover, the shift comes at a time when seniority is beginning to count for less in the workplace than in the past Youthful traits, such as innovation, creativity and familiarity with new technology are being recognized more and more Perhaps power will not shift towards the elderly as much as demographic data suggests Add another twist, and we realize that the older generation are not the oldfashioned bedridden fuddy-duddies that they perhaps were perceived to be in the past The over-seventies look younger and are fitter than ever Moreover, their tastes are less divergent from those of younger generations than they used to be They listen to rock music, study at university, embrace new hobbies, travel and socialize The lines between youth and age, culturally at least, have blurred This may mean that a standard retirement age may become a thing of the past, as vigorous people in their seventies and eighties choose to carry on working Such a trend would greatly ease the tax burden on the younger generations, as well as giving the older generation more choice However, it comes as a two edged coin, as young, inexperienced workers would be forced to compete for jobs with the seasoned workers,; while those in employment may never get the promotion they desire if the old guy at the top refuses to quit Of course, the predictions envisaged in this scenario will only come to pass if the world develops in a relatively benign way In the twentieth century population shifts were irrevocably altered by world war and economic depression, and similar events could afflict coming generations too Until we know for sure, we can rest easy in the knowledge that the problems which arise now are the problems of success – problems that arise through economic growth, better medication, reduced inequality and by maintaining peace 24 Select True, False, or Not given The population patterns predicted for the 21st century have never happened before Predictions about the size of the human population can be made quite successfully In 1900 it was difficult to see that many people would move to urban areas Many rich countries are concerned about a significant imbalance in old and young people by 2025 The consequences of an imbalance between the old and the young would be worse in developed countries than in developing countries In most developed countries today the elderly are respected less than in the past Write ONE WORD for each answer In future, working age adults will probably have to 7. their allocation of government funds, as they are used to provide for the elderly Nowadays, in the workplace hierarchy, less status is given to people with 8. The difference between the definition of an old person and a young one is more 9. _ than in the past Complete the summary with ONE or TWO words from the text In future, governments may abolish the fixed 10 , meaning that fitter elderly could help to contribute towards relieving the 11 on the working population However, there are negative implications of this, as experienced workers may be considered more employable, and there would be fewer opportunities for 12 among younger workers However, it is worth remembering that all these difficulties come as a result of 13 ... blades on a tower Questions 6-10 Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage? In boxes 6-10 on your answer sheet write: TRUE, FALSE or NOT GIVEN William used... their homeland so they may share their prosperity with their compatriots on a larger scale? 11 Reading Passage has seven paragraphs, A–G Choose the correct heading for paragraphs from the list... on Aging F The Gallup Organization G The Government 18 Questions 35-40 Complete the summary of Reading Passage 20 below Choose your answers from the box at the bottom of the page and write them