Reading passage 1

A. The following is an excerpt from Jonathan Watt's book, When a Billion Chinese Jump: How China Will Save Mankind--or Destroy It. Cold, dark, silent. Close to death. Buried in the depths of a collapsed, illegal coal mine, Meng Xianchen and Meng Xianyou knew they had been given up for dead. The rescue effort had been abandoned. The two brothers could no longer hear the sound of mechanical diggers, drills and spades above their heads. Dismayed and exhausted, they had stopped yelling frantically for help. B. How long had it been? Hours, days, weeks? There was no way of knowing. When their mobile phone batteries died, they lost all track of time. And place. With the silence and the darkness came disorientation. They were unsure which way led to the surface and which led deeper into the mountain. They had little evidence that they were even still alive. It was like being lost inside a tomb. Above ground, their families were already preparing a funeral. In accordance with tradition, relatives had started burning 'ghost money' for the two brothers to spend in the other world. Negotiations had begun with the local authorities about compensation. Yet down below, the Mengs stubbornly refused to die. C. Driven by a powerful instinct to survive, they fought against the earth and the darkness, against death itself. The brothers started digging. They hacked and shovelled, using a single pick and their bare hands. They were only a few dozen metres from the surface, but despite twenty years of mining experience, they were so panicked and confused by the darkness that they started to worry they were tunnelling deeper into the mountain. They changed direction once, twice, three times, before deciding to head straight up. D. With every hour that passed they grew wearier and more depressed. It grew harder to dig, exhausting even to crawl. They filled water bottles with urine. The taste was so foul, they could only drink in small sips and felt like crying after they swallowed. Desperately hungry, Xianchen took to nibbling finger-sized pieces of coal, not knowing it had zero nutritional value. Yet they kept digging. Their companionship was a source of comfort and strength. They slept in each other's arms to stave off the cold and told jokes about their wives to maintain morale. 'My wife will be happy after I die. She can find a rich husband in Shenyang to replace me,' mused Xianchen out loud, then laughingly contradicted himself. 'But then again, she is an ugly woman with two children so it will be hard for her to remarry.' Humour does not get much blacker than laughter in a collapsed coal mine. But it kept them going for six days, until finally, miraculously, they scratched their way to the surface. E. Weak and close to starvation, they emerged blinking into the light, then staggered to the village where they were met with a hero's welcome and

incredulous joy that the dead could rise from their tombs. They were carried off to hospital, where the doctors treated their damaged kidneys and journalists bombarded them with questions. The mine owner, meanwhile, was on the run. Aware that the standard bribes would not protect him from a deadly accident investigation, he had fled as soon as he heard of the collapse. F. The survival of the magnificent Meng brothers made front-page headlines in Beijing. Their experience captured the Chinese zeitgeist of the past thirty yearsgritty, poor, dirty, illegal, dangerous, willing to go to almost any lengths to get ahead, ill as a result, but surviving long after being written off. They had been trapped in a carbon hell in which they dug, ate, inhaled and were almost suffocated by coal, yet they had lived to tell the tale. G. China finds itself in a similar predicament in the first decade of this century. Demand for energy continues to grow and most of it comes from underground. The economy is utterly dependent on coal. It provides 69.5 per cent of the country's energy, a greater degree of reliance than that of any other major nation. This, more than anything, explains why China is so cautious in setting carbon targets in international climate talks such as the 2009 summit in Copenhagen. Cheap coal generates electricity for Beijing, Shanghai and Chongqing, fires the steel mills of Huaxi, powers the production lines of Guangdong, and allows consumers in the West to buy Chinese goods at a knockdown price. No other fuel has such an impact on the environment. Source: Scientific American 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.

The exertion. The homecoming. Close to death. The survival of the fittest. The search for treasure. The survival. The predicament. The time. The Meng brothers.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Paragraph Paragraph Paragraph Paragraph Paragraph Paragraph Paragraph

A B 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 They were carried off to hospital, where the doctors treated their A. B. C. D. 9 A. B. C. D. 10 A. B. C. D. Heart. Damaged kidneys. Lungs. Weakness. The survival of the magnificent Meng brothers is A true story. Folklore. A movie clip. A fairy tale. The Meng brothers kept on digging for Six days. A week. A month. A couple of days.

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 They were unsure which way led to the surface and which 12 Cheap coal generates electricity for 13 The survival of the magnificent Meng brothers made 14 Driven by a powerful instinct to survive,

A Led deeper into the mountain. B The whole of China. C Front-page headlines in Beijing. D Beijing, Shanghai and Chongqing. E Everyone surprised. F They dug the mountain. Reading passage 2 A. China should be given better access to lucrative European markets as a reward for opening its own economy to western companies, David Cameron said earlier today. Steps to allow its currency to rebalance against western currencies, making its exports more expensive, would also support its case for further integration, he said. Talking to a group of students at Peking University during his two-day trip to China, Cameron said he was prepared to lobby on China's behalf for preferred status within the European Union if it further opened its borders to trade with British and continental European companies. B. His speech also urged the world's new economic superpower to embrace human rights and democracy. He said the Chinese could not shut down debate about democracy, urging them instead to recognise that political freedom, the rule of law and a free press represent the best path to stability and prosperity. Cameron's main mission on the trip was to promote the prospects of British businesses and tie up a series of trade deals. C. In a question-and-answer session after his speech one student asked why fees for overseas students were high. Cameron said fees for domestic students needed to rise to maintain funding levels and prevent the many excellent British universities from losing out in competition with rivals in China, India and the US. He said the rise also kept fee rises to foreign students in check. D. "We won't go on increasing so fast fees for overseas students because in the past we have been pushing up the fees and using it as a way of keeping down the rest," he said. "Overseas students will still [have to pay] a significant amount of money, but we should be able to keep that growth under control." In the speech he said the Chinese authorities should be rewarded for pushing forward with reforms to its domestic economy, albeit over a slower timescale than many EU countries would like. E. He said: "If China is prepared to pursue further opening of its markets and to work with Britain and the other G20 countries to rebalance the world economy and take steps over time towards internationalising its currency

that will go a long way towards helping the global economy lock in the stability it needs for strong and sustainable growth. "And just as importantly, it will go a long way in securing confidence in the global community that China as an economic power is a force for good," he said. F. France and many other EU countries have balked at offering China preferred access to European markets without a crackdown on intellectual property theft by Chinese companies. Aggressive deals in Africa and South America to secure food supplies and essential commodities have also made the EU authorities anxious about closer ties with China. However, Cameron said China should be encouraged to embrace further reforms and not shut out from the international community. "I will make the case for China to get market economy status in the EU but China needs to help, by showing that it is committed to becoming more open, as it becomes more prosperous. G. "And we need to work together to do more to protect intellectual property rights because this will give more businesses confidence to come and invest in China." Also today, Michael Gove, the education secretary, who is accompanying Cameron, announced a partnership with China to train more than 1,000 Mandarin teachers for English secondary schools. Gove said he was "delighted to be building a stronger education partnership with the Chinese", adding: "This is not just about fostering a better understanding of China among our young people. Offering every young person the chance to learn Mandarin will help to encourage mobility between the two countries, equip the next generation with the skills they need to succeed, and ensure the long-term success of our economy and society." Source: The Guardian 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. Chinas new economy needs to explore the newer markets. 16. Michael Gove is hopeful about Chinas future as a superpower. 17. Chinese government is holding talks with the rest of the world for business. 18. There are more Chinese companies now dominating the market.

19.

European Union is giving China a good support.

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. Michael Gove 21. David Cameron 22. France 23. British universities A Is suggesting of supporting Chinese business in the EU. B Is accompanying Cameron. C Are giving extra attention to the Asian students. D Is on a visit to China. E Have helped China to educate teachers.

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. 25. 26. 27. The Chinese authorities should be rewarded for pushing forward France and many other EU countries have balked at Fees for domestic students needed to The Chinese could not shut down A Offering China preferred access to European markets. B Debate about democracy. C With reforms to its domestic economy. D Rise to maintain funding levels. E With significant potential hazards.

Reading Passage 3 A. "In adult centres the nerve paths are something fixed, ended, immutable. Everything may die, nothing may be regenerated." -- Santiago Ramon Y Cajal, "Degeneration and Regeneration in the Nervous System," 1928. This long-held tenet, first proposed by Professor

Cajal, held that brain neurons were unique because they lacked the ability to regenerate. B. In 1998, the journal Nature Medicine published a report indicating that neurogenesis, the growth of new brain cells, does indeed occur in humans. As Sharon Begley remarked in her book, "Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain," "The discovery overturned generations of conventional wisdom in neuroscience. The human brain is not limited to the neurons it is born with, or even the neurons that fill in after the explosion of brain development in early childhood." C. What the researchers discovered was that within each of our brains there exists a population of neural stem cells which are continually replenished and can differentiate into brain neurons. Simply stated, we are all experiencing brain stem cell therapy every moment of our lives. As one might expect, the process of neurogenesis is controlled by our DNA. A specific gene codes for the production of a protein, brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) which plays a key role in creating new neurons. Studies reveal decreased BDNF in Alzheimer's patients, as well as in a variety of neurological conditions including epilepsy, depression, schizophrenia and obsessive-compulsive disorder. D. Fortunately, many of the factors that influence our DNA to produce BDNF factors are under our direct control. The gene that turns on BDNF is activated by a variety of factors including physical exercise, caloric restriction, curcumin and the omega-3 fat, DHA. This is a powerful message. These factors are all within our grasp and represent choices we can make to turn on the gene for neurogenesis. Thus, we can treat ourselves to stem cell therapy by taking control of our gene expression. Laboratory rats that exercise have been shown to produce far more BDNF in their brains compared to sedentary animals. And there is a direct relationship between elevation of BDNF levels in these animals and their ability to learn, as one might expect. E. With this understanding of the relationship of BDNF to exercise, researchers in a report in the Journal of the American Medical Association , entitled "Effect of Physical Activity in Cognitive Function in Older Adults at Risk for Alzheimer's Disease," found that elderly individuals engaged in regular physical exercise for a 24-week period had an improvement of an astounding 1,800 percent on measures of memory, language ability, attention and other important cognitive functions compared to an agematched group not involved in the exercise program. F. The mechanism by which exercise enhances brain performance is described in these and other studies as sitting squarely with increased production of BDNF. Just by engaging in regular physical exercise, you open the door to the possibility of actively taking control of your mental destiny.

G. In January, 2009, the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science published a study entitled "Caloric Restriction Improves Memory in Elderly Humans." In this study, German researchers imposed a 30 percent calorie reduction on the diets of elderly individuals and compared their memory function with a similar age group who basically ate whatever they wanted. At the conclusion of the three-month study, those who ate without restriction experienced a small, but clearly defined decline in memory function, while memory function in the group consuming the caloriereduced diet actually increased, and fairly profoundly. In recognition of the obvious limitations of current pharmaceutical approaches to brain health, the authors concluded, "The present findings may help to develop new prevention and treatment strategies for maintaining cognitive health into old age." What a concept. Preventive medicine for the brain. Source: The Huffington Post 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 process of neurogenesis is controlled by our DNA. The human brain is not limited to the neurons it is born with. Caloric restrictions are helpful to memory function in elderly h people. The researchers discovered that within each of our brains there exists a population of neural stem cells. The present findings will help to treatment strategies for maintaining cognitive health into old age.

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 process of neurogenesis is controlled by . Brain neurons were unique because they lacked the . Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) plays a key role in creating . Many of the factors that influence our DNA to produce BDNF factors are under our .

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. Elderly individuals engaged in regular physical exercise are 37 . Just by engaging in regular physical exercise, you open the door to the possibility of actively taking control of 38 .. Caloric restriction improves memory 39 . The present findings may help to develop new prevention and treatment strategies for maintaining cognitive 40 .