Reading passage 1

A. If NASA ever gets a clear directive for interplanetary exploration, a new Hundred-Year Starship could be their version of the Mayflower. And like the first pilgrims, Martian explorers might set sail with the knowledge they would never return home. NASA and DARPA have joined forces to build something called a Hundred-Year Starship, according to the director of NASAs Ames Research Centre. Simon Pete Worden said NASA contributed $100,000 to the project and DARPA kicked in $1 million. B. The human space program is now really aimed at settling other worlds, Worden said, according to a Singularity University blog that covered the event. Twenty years ago you had to whisper that in dark bars and get fired. (Worden added that he was fired by President George W. Bush.) Beyond that, there are no details. But the prospect of a DARPA-NASA spaceship collaboration for Star Trek-esque exploration sounds thrilling even if by definition, a 100-year ship means leaving Earth and never coming back. C. Incidentally, thats exactly the proposal in a new paper in press in the Journal of Cosmology, a relatively new, peer-reviewed open access journal. Dirk Schulze-Makuch and Paul Davies suggest sending astronauts to Mars with the intention of staying for the rest of their lives, as trailblazers for a permanent Mars colony. D. They would get periodic supply missions, but they would be expected to fend for themselves for water, shelter, nutrients and mineral/chemical processing. They would be expected to develop some kind of home-grown Martian industry, which could ultimately serve as a hub for an expanded colonization program. Plus, leaving some people on another planet would probably ensure that wed want to go back, to visit them and see what they created. E. Such a mission would save money, the authors say, because the prohibitive costs (in dollars and payload) of a manned Mars mission are mostly associated with bringing the astronauts home. Eliminating the need for returning early colonists would cut the costs several fold and at the same time ensure a continuous commitment to the exploration of Mars and space in general, they write. In a news release, Davies, a cosmologist at Arizona State Universitys Beyond Centre, compared wouldbe Mars colonists to swashbuckling explorers like Columbus and Amundsen. It would really be little different from the first white settlers of the North American continent, who left Europe with little expectation of return, he said. F. Still, getting there would require an advanced propulsion system that could get off the ground with minimal fuel and land safely. At the weekend event, a Long Now Foundation-funded conference in San Francisco, Worden also said NASA is also exploring electric propulsion systems. He

believes we should go to the moons of Mars first, and believes it can happen by 2030. (Google cofounder) Larry Page asked me a couple weeks ago how much it would cost to send people one way to Mars and I told him $10 billion, and his response was, Can you get it down to 1 or 2 billion? So now were starting to get a little argument over the price, Worden said. G. Of course, that price tag does not include the inestimable cost of saying goodbye forever. NASA has worked with several psychologists and psychiatrists to study future astronauts' response to isolation and longterm absence from loved ones but a permanent absence is even more complicated. Schulze-Makuch, a Washington State University associate professor, said he would do it but only after his kids are grown. Source: Wikipedia.com Questions You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1 to 14 which are based on Reading Passage 1 Questions 1 to 7 Reading Passage 1 has seven paragraphs A G. From the list of headings below, choose the most suitable heading for each paragraph. Write the appropriate numbers I ix in boxes 1 7 on your answer sheet.

i. ii. iii. iv. v. vi. vii. viii. ix.

Spaceship collaboration. A cost effective mission. A Hundred-Year Starship. The proposal. Periodic supply missions. The idea of sending unmanned mission. Problem with propulsion. An 1 advanced propulsion Paragraph A system. 2 Paragraph B 3 Paragraph The price tag. 4 Paragraph 5 Paragraph 6 Paragraph 7 Paragraph C D E F G

Questions 8 10 Choose the correct letters, A, B, C or D Write your answers in boxes 8 10 on your answer sheet. 8 The prohibitive costs of a manned Mars mission are mostly associated with bringing A. B. C. D. 9 A. B. C. D. 10 A. B. C. D. The The The The spaceship back. astronauts home. evidences. astronauts to the space.

We should go to the moons of Mars first by 2020. 2030. 2050. 2040. A 100-year ship means leaving Earth and Reaching destination after 100 years. Coming back after 100 years. Never coming back. Coming back after every 100 years.

Questions 11 14 Complete each of the following statements (questions 11 14) with the best endings A G from the box below Write the appropriate letters A G in boxes 11 14 on your answer sheet. 11 Getting there would require 12 Eliminating the need for returning early colonists 13 The astronauts would be expected to fend for themselves for 14 The human space program is now really

A Water, shelter, nutrients and mineral/chemical processing. B Confucian preaching of benevolence. C An advanced propulsion system. D Would cut the costs several fold. E Aimed at settling records.

Reading passage 2 A. Herald Square is formed by the intersection of Broadway, Sixth Avenue (officially named Avenue of the Americas) and 34th Street in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It was named for the New York Herald, a newspaper originally headquartered there. The Square also gives its name to the surrounding area. The intersection is a typical Manhattan bow-tie square that consists of two named sections: Herald Square to the north (uptown) and Greeley Square to the south (downtown). Most non-New Yorkers know of it from the song Give My Regards to Broadway where the singer asks "remember me to Herald Square", or from the fact that Herald Square is the terminus for the annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, broadcast nationally each year by NBC-TV. B. Greeley Square lies between West 32nd Street and West 33rd Street and between Broadway and Sixth Avenue, and is taken up almost entirely by a triangular park.[1] It is named after Horace Greeley, who was the publisher of the New York Tribune, the Herald's rival newspaper. (The two papers later merged to form the New York Herald Tribune.) There is a statue of Greeley inside the park, created in 1890 by Alexander Doyle The small park has great deal of charm, it is planted with trees and shrubbery, enclosed by a wrought-iron fence, and provided with inviting chairs, tables and a restaurant kiosk. C. Herald Square itself is the north end of the square between West 34th Street and West 35th Street. The old New York Herald Building was located on the square. The square contains a huge mechanical clock whose mechanical structures were constructed in 1895 by the sculptor Antonin Jean Carles. D. Since 1992, Herald and Greeley Squares have been operated by the 34th Street Partnership, a Business Improvement District (BID) operating over 31 blocks in midtown Manhattan. The 34SP provides sanitary and security services, maintains a horticultural program that includes trees, gardens, and planters, and produces events, product launches, and photo shoots. 34SP also added movable chairs, tables, and umbrellas, to the parks. In 1999, the parks were completely renovated by 34SP. Since 2008, each park has had a food kiosk operated by 'wichcraft, the highly regarded sandwich, soup and salad purveyor owned by Tom Collichio of "Top Chef" fame. In 2009, 34SP converted the parks' Automated Pay Toilets into free public facilities, a rarity in New York City. E. With the introduction of "Broadway Boulevard", a project by the NYC Department of Transportation to close Broadway to vehicles on the stretch between 33rd and 35th Streets, the passive space provided by Herald and Greeley Squares more than doubled, radically changing the character of the area. The parks' operators, 34SP, filled the newly-pedestrianized space with chairs, tables, umbrellas, and free public programs such as chess tables, dance lessons, and exercise classes. F. Herald and Greeley Squares stand today as rest areas for the thousands of shoppers that flood the neighbourhood, as a lunchroom for thousands of midtown office workers, and as a stage for product launches, musical performances, and photo and film shoots. G. The area around Herald Square along Broadway and 34th Street is a retail hub. The most notable attraction is the Macy's flagship department store,

the largest in the United States (and according to Guinness World Records the largest in the world). In 2007, Macy's, Inc. moved its corporate headquarters to that store after renaming from Federated. Macy's archrival Gimbels was also located in the neighbourhood until 1984; in 1986 the building became the Manhattan Mall. Other past retailers in the area included E.J. Korvette, Stern's, and Abraham & Straus. J.C. Penney opened its first Manhattan flagship store in August 2009 at the former A&S location inside the Manhattan Mall. The square is roughly equidistant between Madison Square to the south, and Times Square to the north. Herald Square's south side borders Korea town, at West 32nd Street. Source: Wikipedia.com Questions You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 15 27 which are based on Reading Passage 2 Questions 15 19 Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 2? In boxes 15 -19 in your answer sheet write TRUE if the statement agrees with the information FALSE if the statement contradicts the information NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this 15. Herald Square is a market place. 16. "Broadway Boulevard" is a project by the NYC Department of Transportation. 17. Herald and Greeley Squares stand today as entertainment areas for the thousands of shoppers. 18. Macy's arch-rival Gimbels was also located in the neighbourhood until 1984. 19. Herald Square itself is the north end of the square between West 34th Street and East 35th Street.

Question 20 23 Look at the following persons or places (questions 20 23) and the list of statements below. Match each person or place to the correct statement. Write the correct letter A G in boxes 1 4 on your answer sheet. 20. Tom Collichio 21. Greeley Square 22. Midtown Manhattan 23. J.C. Penney A 'Wichcraft, the highly regarded sandwich, soup and salad purveyor. B Lies between Broadway and Sixth Avenue. C Has a store in the Manhattan. D Became the Manhattan Mall. E Have helped many brands to flourish.

Questions 24 27 Complete the following statements with the correct alternative from the box. Write the correct letter A F in boxes 24 27 on your answer sheet. 24. The area around Herald Square along 25. The square is roughly equidistant between Madison Square to the south, 26. There is a statue of Greeley inside the park, 27. The old New York Herald Building A Created in 1890. B Canada. C Was located on the 34th Street. D Broadway and 34th Street is a retail hub. E And Times Square to the north.

Reading Passage 3 A. In an unruly, unpredictable and chaotic election year, no group has asserted its presence and demanded to be heard more forcefully than the tea party. The grass-roots movement that was spawned with a rant has gone on to upend the existing political order, reshaping the debate in Washington, defeating a number of prominent lawmakers and elevating a fresh cast of conservative stars. But a new Washington Post canvass of hundreds of local tea party groups reveals a different sort of organization, one that is not so much a movement as a disparate band of vaguely connected gatherings that do surprisingly little to engage in the political process. B. The results come from a months-long effort by The Post to contact every tea party group in the nation, an unprecedented attempt to understand the network of individuals and organizations at the heart of the nascent movement. Seventy percent of the grass-roots groups said they have not participated in any political campaigning this year. As a whole, they have no official candidate slates, have not rallied behind any particular national leader, have little money on hand, and remain ambivalent about their goals and the political process in general.

C. "We're not wanting to be a third party," said Matt Ney, 55, the owner of a Pilates studio and a founder of the Pearland Tea Party Patriots in Pearland, Tex. "We're not wanting to endorse individual candidates ever. What we're trying to do is be activists by pushing a conservative idea." The group, with 25 active members, meets to discuss policies and listen to speakers, Ney said. "We provide opportunities for like-minded people to get together," he said. D. The local groups stand in contrast to - and, in their minds, apart from - a handful of large national groups that claim the tea party label. Most of those outfits, including Freedom Works and Tea Party Express, are headed by long-time political players who have used their resources and knowhow to help elect a number of candidates. The findings suggest that the breadth of the tea party may be inflated. The Atlanta-based Tea Party Patriots, for example, says it has a listing of more than 2,300 local groups, but The Post was unable to identify anywhere near that many, despite help from the organization and independent research. E. In all, The Post identified more than 1,400 possible groups and was able to verify and reach 647 of them. Each answered a lengthy questionnaire about their beliefs, members and goals. The Post tried calling the others as many as six times. It is unclear whether they are just hard to reach or don't exist. Mark Meckler, a founding member of the Tea Party Patriots, said: "When a group lists themselves on our Web site, that's a group. That group could be one person, it could be 10 people, it could come in and out of existence - we don't know. We have groups that I know are 15,000 people and I have groups that I know are five people." F. There is little agreement among the leaders of various groups about what issue the tea party should be most concerned about. In fact, few saw themselves as part of a coordinated effort. The most common responses were concerns about spending and limiting the size of government, but together those were named by less than half the groups. Social issues, such as same-sex marriage and abortion rights, did not register as concerns. G. If anything tied the groups together, it was what motivated their members to participate. Virtually all said that economic concerns were a factor, and nearly as many cited a general mistrust of government. Opposition to President Obama and Democratic policies was a big factor, but only slightly more so than dissatisfaction with mainstream Republican leaders. Eleven percent said that Obama's race, religion or ethnic background was either a "very important" or "somewhat important" factor in the support their group has received. While the tea party groups may lack a unifying direction or vision at the moment, the results show that they are ripe for action. A remarkable 86 percent of local leaders said most of their members are new to political activity, suggesting that they could be turned into a potent grass-roots force heading into the 2012 elections. Of

course, their general lack of interest in politics also suggests that they could just as easily recede, particularly if the economy improves. Source: Time Questions You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 28 40 which are based on Reading Passage 3. Questions 28 32 The passage has seven paragraphs labelled AG. Which paragraph contains the following information? Write the correct letter A-G in boxes 28-32 on your answer sheet. NB: You may use any letter more than once. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. The breadth of the tea party may be inflated. The most common responses were concerns about spending and limiting the size of government. Matt Ney, 55, is the owner of a Pilates studio. Seventy percent of the grass-roots groups have not participated in any political campaigning this year. The Atlanta-based Tea Party Patriots has a listing of more than 2,300 local groups.

Questions 33 36 Complete the sentences below with words taken from Reading Passage 3. Use NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS for each answer. Write your answers in boxes 33-36 on your answer sheet.

33. 34. 35. 36.

The Post was unable to identify . The grass-roots movement that has gone on to upend the existing . The group, with 25 active members, meets to . The local groups stand in contrast to a handful of large .

Questions 37 40 Complete the summary of the paragraphs E G below. Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each answer. Write your answers in boxes 37-40 on your answer sheet. The Post identified more than 1,400 possible groups and was able to verify 37..................... The most common responses were concerns about spending and limiting 38........................ A remarkable 86 percent of local leaders said most of their members are new 39......................... their general lack of interest in politics also suggests that they could just 40......................