Tổng hợp topic Technology (Computer, Science,...) IELTS READING (PDF)(Phần 5)

Building the Skyline: The Birth and Growth of Manhattan’s Skyscrapers

Katharine L. Shester reviews a book by Jason Barr about the development of New York City

In Building the Skyline, Jason Barr takes the reader through a detailed history of New York City. The book combines geology, history, economics, and a lot of data to explain why business clusters developed where they did and how the early decisions of workers and firms shaped the skyline we see today. Building the Skyline is organized into two distinct parts. The first is primarily historical and addresses New York’s settlement and growth from 1609 to 1900; the second deals primarily with the 20th century and is a compilation of chapters commenting on different aspects of New York’s urban development. The tone and organization of the book changes somewhat between the first and second parts, as the latter chapters incorporate aspects of Barr’s related research papers.

Barr begins chapter one by taking the reader on a ‘helicopter time-machine’ ride – giving a fascinating account of how the New York landscape in 1609 might have looked from the sky. He then moves on to a subterranean walking tour of the city, indicating the location of rock and water below the subsoil, before taking the reader back to the surface. His love of the city comes through as he describes various fun facts about the location of the New York residence of early 19th-century vice-president Aaron Burr as well as a number of legends about the city.

Chapters two and three take the reader up to the Civil War (1861-1865), with chapter two focusing on the early development of land and the implementation of a grid system in 1811. Chapter three focuses on land use before the Civil War. Both chapters are informative and well researched and set the stage for the economic analysis that comes later in the book. I would have liked Barr to expand upon his claim that existing tenements* prevented skyscrapers in certain neighborhoods because ‘likely no skyscraper developer was interested in performing the necessary “slum clearance”’. Later in the book, Barr makes the claim that the depth of bedrock** was not a limiting factor for developers, as foundation costs were a small fraction of the cost of development. At first glance, it is not obvious why slum clearance would be limiting, while more expensive foundations would not.

Chapter four focuses on immigration and the location of neighborhoods and tenements in the late 19th century. Barr identifies four primary immigrant enclaves and analyses their locations in terms of the amenities available in the area. Most of these enclaves were located on the least valuable land, between the industries located on the waterfront and the wealthy neighborhoods bordering Central Park.

Part two of the book begins with a discussion of the economics of skyscraper height. In chapter five, Barr distinguishes between engineering height, economic height, and developer height – where engineering height is the tallest building that can be safely made at a given time, economic height is the height that is most efficient from society’s point of view, and developer height is the actual height chosen by the developer, who is attempting to maximize return on investment.
Chapter five also has an interesting discussion of the technological advances that led to the construction of skyscrapers. For example, the introduction of iron and steel skeletal frames made thick, load-bearing walls unnecessary, expanding the usable square footage of buildings and increasing the use of windows and availability of natural light. Chapter six then presents data on building height throughout the 20th century and uses regression analysis to ‘predict’ building construction. While less technical than the research paper on which the chapter is based, it is probably more technical than would be preferred by a general audience.

Chapter seven tackles the ‘bedrock myth’, the assumption that the absence of bedrock close to the surface between Downtown and Midtown New York is the reason for skyscrapers not being built between the two urban centers. Rather, Barr argues that while deeper bedrock does increase foundation costs, these costs were neither prohibitively high nor were they large compared to the overall cost of building a skyscraper. What I enjoyed the most about this chapter was Barr’s discussion of how foundations are actually built. He describes the use of caissons, which enable workers to dig down for considerable distances, often below the water table, until they reach bedrock. Barr’s thorough technological history discusses not only how caissons work, but also the dangers involved. While this chapter references empirical research papers, it is a relatively easy read.

Chapters eight and nine focus on the birth of Midtown and the building boom of the 1920s. Chapter eight contains lengthy discussions of urban economic theory that may serve as a distraction to readers primarily interested in New York. However, they would be well-suited for undergraduates learning about the economics of cities. In the next chapter, Barr considers two of the primary explanations for the building boom of the 1920s – the first being exuberance, and the second being financing. He uses data to assess the viability of these two explanations and finds that supply and demand factors explain much of the development of the 1920s; though it enable the boom, cheap credit was not, he argues, the primary cause.

In the final chapter (chapter 10), Barr discusses another of his empirical papers that estimates Manhattan land values from the mid-19th century to the present day. The data work that went into these estimations is particularly impressive. Toward the end of the chapter, Barr assesses ‘whether skyscrapers are a cause or an effect of high land values’. He finds that changes in land values predict future building height, but the reverse is not true. The book ends with an epilogue, in which Barr discusses the impact of climate change on the city and makes policy suggestions for New York going forward.

* a tenement: a multi-occupancy building of any sort, but particularly a run-down apartment building or slum building

** bedrock: the solid, hard rock in the ground that lies under a loose layer of soil

Questions 27-31
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D. Write the correct letter in boxes 27-31 on your answer sheet.
27. What point does Shester make about Barr’s book in the first paragraph?

A. It gives a highly original explanation for urban development.

B. Elements of Barr’s research papers are incorporated throughout the book.

C. Other books that are available on the subject have taken a different approach.

D. It covers a range of factors that affected the development of New York.
28. How does Shester respond to the information in the book about tenements?

A. She describes the reasons for Barr’s interest.

B. She indicates a potential problem with Barr’s analysis.

C. She compares Barr’s conclusion with that of other writers.

D. She provides details about the sources Barr used for his research.
29. What does Shester say about chapter six of the book?

A. It contains conflicting data.

B. It focuses too much on possible trends.

C. It is too specialised for most readers.

D. It draws on research that is out of date.
30. What does Shester suggest about the chapters focusing on the 1920s building boom?

A. The information should have been organised differently.

B. More facts are needed about the way construction was financed.
C. The explanation that is given for the building boom is unlikely.

D. Some parts will have limited appeal to certain people.
31. What impresses Shester the most about the chapter on land values?

A. the broad time period that is covered

B. the interesting questions that Barr asks

C. the nature of the research into the topic

D. the recommendations Barr makes for the future

Questions 32-35
Do the following statements agree with the claims of the writer in Reading Passage 3? In boxes 32-35 on your answer sheet, write:

YES if the statement agrees with the claims of the writer

NO if the statement contradicts the claims of the writer

NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
32. The description in the first chapter of how New York probably looked from the air in the early 1600s lacks interest.

33. Chapters two and three prepare the reader well for material yet to come.

34. The biggest problem for many nineteenth-century New York immigrant neighbourhoods was a lack of amenities.

35. In the nineteenth century, New York’s immigrant neighbourhoods tended to concentrate around the harbour.

Questions 36-40
Complete the summary using the list of phrases, A-J, below. Write the correct letter, A-J, in boxes 36-40 on your answer sheet.

The bedrock myth

In chapter seven, Barr indicates how the lack of bedrock close to the surface does not explain why skyscrapers are absent from 36 …………………… . He points out that although the cost of foundations increases when bedrock is deep below the surface, this cannot be regarded as 37 ……………………, especially when compared to 38 …………………… .

A particularly enjoyable part of the chapter was Barr’s account of how foundations are built. He describes not only how 39 …………………… are made possible by the use of caissons, but he also discusses their 40 …………………… . The chapter is well researched but relatively easy to understand.

A. development plans

B. deep excavations

C. great distance

D. excessive expense

E. impossible tasks

F. associated risks

G. water level

H. specific areas

I. total expenditure

J. construction guidelines

The Dover Bronze-Age Boat

A beautifully preserved boat, made around 3,000 years ago and discovered by chance in a muddy hole, has had a profound impact on archaeological research.

It was 1992. In England, workmen were building a new road through the heart of Dover, to connect the ancient port and the Channel Tunnel, which, when it opened just two years later, was to be the first land link between Britain and Europe for over 10,000 years. A small team from the Canterbury Archaeological Trust (CAT) worked alongside the workmen, recording new discoveries bought to light by the machines.

At the base of the deep shaft six meters below the modern streets, a wooden structure was revealed. Cleaning away the waterlogged site overlying the timbers, archaeologists realized its true nature. They had found a prehistoric boat, preserved by the type of sediment in which it was buried. It was then named by Dover Bronze- Age Boat.

About nine meters of the boat’s length was recovered; one end lay beyond the excavation and had to be left. What survived consisted essentially of four intricately carved oak planks: two on the bottom, joined along a central seam by a complicated system of wedges and stitched to the others. The seams had been made watertight by pads of moss, fixed by wedges and yew stitches.

The timbers that closed the recovered end of the boat had been removed in antiquity when it was abandoned, but much about its original shape could be deduced. There was also evidence for missing upper side planks. The boat was not a wreck, but had been deliberately discarded, dismantled and broken. Perhaps it had been “ritually killed” at the end of its life, like other Bronze-Age objects.

With hindsight, it was significant that the boat was found and studied by mainstream archaeologists who naturally focused on its cultural context. At the time, ancient boats were often considered only from a narrower technological perspective, but news about the Dover boat reached a broad audience. In 2002, on the tenth anniversary of the discovery, the Dover Bronze-Age Boat Trust hosted a conference, where this meeting of different traditions became apparent. Alongside technical papers about the boat, other speakers explored its social and economic contexts, and the religious perceptions of boats in Bronze- Age societies. Many speakers came from overseas, and debate about cultural connections was renewed.

Within seven years of excavation, the Dover boat had been conserved and displayed, but it was apparent that there were issues that could not be resolved simply by studying the old wood. Experimental archaeology seemed to be the solution: a boat reconstruction, half-scale or full-sized, would permit assessment of the different hypotheses regarding its build and the missing end. The possibility of returning to Dover to search for a boat’s unexcavated northern end was explored, but practical and financial difficulties were insurmountable- and there was no guarantee that the timbers had survived the previous decade in the changed environment.

Detailed proposals to reconstruct the boat were drawn up in 2004. Archaeological evidence was beginning to suggest a Bronze- Age community straddling the Channel, brought together by the sea, rather than separated by it. In a region today divided by languages and borders, archaeologists had a duty to inform the general public about their common cultural heritage.

The boat project began in England but it was conceived from the start as a European collaboration. Reconstruction was only part of a scheme that would include a major exhibition and an extensive educational and outreach programme. Discussions began early in 2005 with archaeological bodies, universities and heritage organizations either side of the Channel. There was much enthusiasm and support, and an official launch of the project was held at an international seminar in France in 2007. Financial support was confirmed in 2008 and the project then named BOAT 1550BC got under way in June 2011.

A small team began to make the boat at the start of 2012 on the Roman Lawn outside Dover museum. A full- scale reconstruction of a mid-section had been made in 1996, primarily to see how Bronze- Age replica tools performed. In 2012, however, the hull shape was at the centre of the work, so modern power tools were used to carve the oak planks, before turning to prehistoric tools for finishing. It was decided to make the replica haft-scale for reasons of cost and time, any synthetic materials were used for the stitching, owing to doubts about the scaling and tight timetable.

Meanwhile, the exhibition was being prepared ready for opening in July 2012 at the Castle Museum in Boulogne-sur-Mer. Entitled 'Beyond the Horizon: Societies of the Channel & North Sea 3,500 years ago' it brought together for the first time a remarkable collection of Bronze- Age objects, including many new discoveries for commercial archaeology and some of the great treasure of the past. The reconstructed boat, as a symbol of the maritime connections that bound together the communities either side of the Channel, was the centrepiece.

Questions 1-5

Complete the chart below. Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the text for each answer. Write your answers in boxes 1-5 on your answer sheet.

Questions 6-9

Do the following statements agree with the information given in the text? In boxes 6-9 on 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

6. Archaeologists realized that the boat had been damaged on purpose.
7. Initially, only the technological aspects of the boat were examined.
8. Archaeologists went back to the site to try and find the missing northern.
9. Evidence found in 2004 suggested that the Bronze-Age Boat had been used for trade.

Questions 10-13

Answer the questions below. Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER from the text for each answer. Write your answers in boxes 10-13 on your answer sheet.

10. How far under the ground was the boat found?
11. What natural material had been secured to the boat to prevent water entering?
12. What aspect of the boat was the focus of the 2012 reconstruction?
13. Which two factors influenced the decision not to make a full-scale reconstruction of the boat?

IS PHOTOGRAPHY ART?

This may seem a pointless question today. Surrounded as we are by thousands of photographs, most of us take for granted that, in addition to supplying information and seducing customers, camera images also serve as decoration, afford spiritual enrichment, and provide significant insights into the passing scene. But in the decades following the discovery of photography, this question reflected the search for ways to fit the mechanical medium into the traditional schemes of artistic expression.

The much-publicized pronouncement by painter Paul Delaroche that the daguerreotype* signalled the end of painting is perplexing because this clever artist also forecast the usefulness of the medium for graphic artists in a letter written in 1839. Nevertheless, it is symptomatic of the swing between the outright rejection and qualified acceptance of the medium that was fairly typical of the artistic establishment. Discussion of the role of photography in art was especially spirited in France, where the internal policies of the time had created a large pool of artists, but it was also taken up by important voices in England. In both countries, public interest in this topic was a reflection of the belief that national stature and achievement in the arts were related.
From the maze of conflicting statements and heated articles on the subject, three main positions about the potential of camera art emerged. The simplest, entertained by many painters and a section of the public, was that photographs should not be considered ‘art’ because they were made with a mechanical device and by physical and chemical phenomena instead of by human hand and spirit; to some, camera images seemed to have more in common with fabric produced by machinery in a mill than with handmade creations fired by inspiration. The second widely held view, shared by painters, some photographers, and some critics, was that photographs would be useful to art but should not be considered equal in creativeness to drawing and painting. Lastly, by assuming that the process was comparable to other techniques such as etching and lithography, a fair number of individuals realized that camera images were or could be as significant as handmade works of art and that they might have a positive influence on the arts and on culture in general.
Artists reacted to photography in various ways. Many portrait painters - miniaturists in particular - who realized that photography represented the ‘handwriting on the wall’ became involved with daguerreotyping or paper photography in an effort to save their careers; some incorporated it with painting, while others renounced painting altogether. Still other painters, the most prominent among them the French painter, Jean - Auguste-Dominique Ingres, began almost immediately to use photography to make a record of their own output and also to provide themselves with source material for poses and backgrounds, vigorously denying at the same time its influence on their vision or its claims as art.

The view that photographs might be worthwhile to artists was enunciated in considerable detail by Lacan and Francis Wey. The latter, an art and literary critic, who eventually recognised that camera images could be inspired as well as informative, suggested that they would lead to greater naturalness in the graphic depiction of anatomy, clothing, likeness, expression, and landscape. By studying photographs, true artists, he claimed, would be relieved of menial tasks and become free to devote themselves to the more important spiritual aspects of their work.

Wey left unstated what the incompetent artist might do as an alternative, but according to the influential French critic and poet Charles Baudelaire, writing in response to an exhibition of photography in 1859, lazy and untalented painters would become photographers. Fired by a belief in art as an imaginative embodiment of cultivated ideas and dreams, Baudelaire regarded photography as ‘a very humble servant of art and science’; a medium largely unable to transcend ‘external reality’. For this critic, photography was linked with ‘the great industrial madness’ of the time, which in his eyes exercised disastrous consequences on the spiritual qualities of life and art.
Eugene Delacroix was the most prominent of the French artists who welcomed photography as help-mate but recognized its limitations. Regretting that ‘such a wonderful invention’ had arrived so late in his lifetime, he still took lessons in daguerreotyping, and both commissioned and collected photographs. Delacroix’s enthusiasm for the medium can be sensed in a journal entry noting that if photographs were used as they should be, an artist might ‘raise himself to heights that we do not yet know’.
The question of whether the photograph was document or art aroused interest in England also. The most important statement on this matter was an unsigned article that concluded that while photography had a role to play, it should not be ‘constrained’ into ‘competition’ with art; a more stringent viewpoint led critic Philip Gilbert Hamerton to dismiss camera images as ‘narrow in range, emphatic in assertion, telling one truth for ten falsehoods’.
These writers reflected the opposition of a section of the cultural elite in England and France to the ‘cheapening of art’ which the growing acceptance and purchase of camera pictures by the middle class represented. Technology made photographic images a common sight in the shop windows of Regent Street and Piccadilly in London and the commercial boulevards of Paris. In London, for example, there were at the time some 130 commercial establishments where portraits, landscapes, and photographic reproductions of works of art could be bought. This appeal to the middle class convinced the elite that photographs would foster a desire for realism instead of idealism, even though some critics recognized that the work of individual photographers might display an uplifting style and substance that was consistent with the defining characteristics of art.

These writers reflected the opposition of a section of the cultural elite in England and France to the ‘cheapening of art’ which the growing acceptance and purchase of camera pictures by the middle class represented. Technology made photographic images a common sight in the shop windows of Regent Street and Piccadilly in London and the commercial boulevards of Paris. In London, for example, there were at the time some 130 commercial establishments where portraits, landscapes, and photographic reproductions of works of art could be bought. This appeal to the middle class convinced the elite that photographs would foster a desire for realism instead of idealism, even though some critics recognized that the work of individual photographers might display an uplifting style and substance that was consistent with the defining characteristics of art.

* the name given to the first commercially successful photographic images.

Questions 27-30

Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D. Write your answers in boxes 27-30 on your answer sheet.

27. What is the writer’s main point in the first paragraph?

A. photography is used for many different purposes.
B. photographers and artists have the same principal aims.
C. Photography has not always been a readily accepted art form.
D. photographers today are more creative than those of the past.

28. What public view about artists was shared by the French and the English?

A. that only artists could reflect a culture’s true values
B. that only artists were qualified to judge photography
C. that artists could lose work as a result of photography
D. that artist success raised a country’s international profile

29. What does the writer mean by “the handwriting on the wall” in the second line of paragraph 4?

A. an example of poor talent
B. a message that cannot be trusted
C. an advertisement for something new
D. a signal that something bad will happen

30. What was the result of the widespread availability of photographs to the middle classes?

A. The most educated worried about its impact on public taste.
B. It helped artists appreciate the merits of photography.
C. Improvements were made in photographic methods.
D. It led to a reduction in the price of photographs.

Questions 31-34

Complete the summary of Paragraph 3 using the list of words, A-G, below. Write your answers in boxes 31-34 on your answer sheet.

A) inventive

B) similar

C) beneficial

D) next

E) mixed

F) justified

G) inferior

Camera art

In the early days of photography, opinions on its future were 31 ............................, but three clear views emerged. A large number of artists and ordinary people saw photographs as 32 ............................ to paintings because of the way they were produced. Another popular view was that photographs could have a role to play in the art world, despite the photographer being less 33............................... Finally, a smaller number of people suspected that the impact of photography on art and society could be 34...........................

Questions 35-40

Look at the following statements and the list of people, A-E, below. Match each statement with the correct person. Write the correct letter, A-E, in boxes 35-40 on your answer sheet.

35. He claimed that photography would make paintings more realistic.
36. He highlighted the limitations and deceptions of the camera.
37. He documented his production of artwork by photographing his works.
38. He noted the potential for photography to enrich artistic talent.
39. He based some of the scenes in his paintings on photographs.
40. He felt photography was part of the trend towards greater mechanisation.

A. Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres
B. Francis Wey
C. Charles Baudelaire
D. Eugene Delacroix
E. Philip Gilbert Hamerton

Questions 14-19
The text on the following pages has six paragraphs, A-F. Choose the correct heading for each paragraph from the list of headings (i-ix) below. Write the correct number, i-ix, in boxes 14-19 on your answer sheet.
List of headings
i. Tackling the issue using a different approach
ii. A significant improvement on last time
iii. How robots can save human lives
iv. Examples of robots at work
v. Not what it seemed to be
vi. Why timescales are impossible to predict
vii. The reason why robots rarely move
viii. Following the pattern of an earlier development
ix. The ethical issues of robotics
14. Paragraph A
15. Paragraph B
16. Paragraph C
17. Paragraph D
18. Paragraph E
19. Paragraph F

Dawn Of The Robots

They're already here - driving cars, vacuuming carpets and feeding hospital patients. They may not be walking, talking, human-like sentient beings, but they are clever ... and a little creepy.

A. At first sight it looked like a typical suburban road accident. A Land Rover approached a Chevy Tahoe estate car that had stopped at a kerb; the Land Rover pulled out and tried to pass the Tahoe just as it started off again. There was a crack of fenders and the sound of paintwork being scraped, the kind of minor mishap that occurs on roads thousands of times every day. Normally drivers get out, gesticulate, exchange insurance details and then drive off. But not on this occasion. No one got out of the cars for the simple reason that they had no humans inside them; the Tahoe and Land Rover were being controlled by computers competing in November’s DARPA (the U.S. Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency) Urban Challenge.
B. The idea that machines could perform to such standards is startling. Driving is a complex task that takes humans a long time to perfect. Yet here, each car had its on-board computer loaded with a digital map and route plans, and was instructed to negotiate busy roads; differentiate between pedestrians and stationary objects; determine whether other vehicles were parked or moving off; and handle various parking manoeuvres, which robots turn out to be unexpectedly adept at. Even more striking was the fact that the collision between the robot Land Rover, built by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the Tahoe, fitted out by Cornell University Artificial Intelligence (AI) experts, was the only scrape in the entire competition. Yet only three years earlier, at DARPA’s previous driverless car race, every robot competitor – directed to navigate across a stretch of open desert – either crashed or seized up before getting near the finishing line.
C. It is a remarkable transition that has clear implications for the car of the future. More importantly, it demonstrates how robotics sciences and Artificial Intelligence have progressed in the past few years – a point stressed by Bill Gates, the Microsoft boss who is a convert to these causes. ‘The robotics industry is developing in much the same way the computer business did 30 years ago,’ he argues. As he points out, electronics companies make toys that mimic pets and children with increasing sophistication. ‘I can envision a future in which robotic devices will become a nearly ubiquitous part of our day-to-day lives,’ says Gates. ‘We may be on the verge of a new era, when the PC will get up off the desktop and allow us to see, hear, touch and manipulate objects in places where we are not physically present.’
D. What is the potential for robots and computers in the near future? The fact is we still have a way to go before real robots catch up with their science fiction counterparts/ Gates says. So what are the stumbling blocks? One key difficulty is getting robots to know their place. This has nothing to do with class or etiquette, but concerns the simple issue of positioning. Humans orient themselves with other objects in a room very easily. Robots find the task almost impossible. ‘Even something as simple as telling the difference between an open door and a window can be tricky for a robot,’ says Gates. This has, until recently, reduced robots to fairly static and cumbersome roles.
E. For a long time, researchers tried to get round the problem by attempting to re-create the visual processing that goes on in the human cortex. However, that challenge has proved to be singularly exacting and complex. So scientists have turned to simpler alternatives: ‘We have become far more pragmatic in our work,’ says Nello Cristianini, Professor of Artificial Intelligence at the University of Bristol in England and associate editor of the Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research. ‘We are no longer trying to re-create human functions. Instead, we are looking for simpler solutions with basic electronic sensors, for example.’ This approach is exemplified by vacuuming robots such as the Trilobite scuttles around homes emitting ultrasound signals to create maps of rooms, which are remembered for future cleaning. Technology like this is now changing the face of robotics, says philosopher Ron Chrisley, director of the Centre for Research in Cognitive Science at the University of Sussex in England.
F. Last year, a new Hong Kong restaurant, Robot Kitchen, opened with a couple of sensor-laden humanoid machines directing customers to their seats. Each possesses a touch-screen on which orders can be keyed in. The robot then returns with the correct dishes. In Japan, University of Tokyo researchers recently unveiled a kitchen ‘android’ that could wash dishes, pour tea and make a few limited meals. The ultimate aim is to provide robot home helpers for the sick and the elderly, a key concern in a country like Japan where 22 per cent of the population is 65 or older. Over US$1 billion a year is spent on research into robots that will be able to care for the elderly. ‘Robots first learn basic competence – how to move around a house without bumping into things. Then we can think about teaching them how to interact with humans,’ Chrisley said. Machines such as these take researchers into the field of socialised robotics: how to make robots act in a way that does not scare or offend individuals. ‘We need to study how robots should approach people, how they should appear. That is going to be a key area for future research,’ adds Chrisley.

Questions 20-23
Look at the following statements (Questions 20-23) and the list of people below. Match each statement with the correct person, A, B or C. NB You may use any letter more than once.
A. Bill Gates
B. Nello Cristianini
C. Ron Chrisley
20. An important concern for scientists is to ensure that robots do not seem frightening.
21. We have stopped trying to enable robots to perceive objects as humans do.
22. It will take considerable time for modern robots to match the ones we have created in films and books.
23. We need to enable robots to move freely before we think about trying to communicate with them.
Questions 24-26
Complete the notes below. Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the text for each answer. Write your answers in boxes 24-26 on your answer sheet.

Robot features

DARPA race cars: (24)…………………………provides maps and plans for route

Electrolux trilobite: builds an image of a room by sending out (25)………………………..
Robot kitchen humanoids: have a (26)……………………………..to take orders

Questions 14-18
The text on the following pages has five paragraphs, A-E. Choose the correct heading for each paragraph from the list of headings below. Write the correct number, i-viii, in boxes 14-18 on your answer sheet.
List of Headings
i. A joint business project
ii. Other engineering achievements
iii. Examining the overall benefits
iv. A building like no other
v. Some benefits of traditional methods
vi. A change of direction
vii. Examples of similar global brands
viii. From factory to building site
14. Paragraph A
15. Paragraph B
16. Paragraph C
17. Paragraph D
18. Paragraph E

High Speed, High Rise

A Chinese entrepreneur has figured out a way to manufacture 30-story, earthquake- proof skyscrapers that snap together in just 15 days.

A. Zhang Yue is founder and chairman of Broad Sustainable Building (otherwise known as ‘Broad’) who, on 1 January, 2012, released a time-lapse video of its 30-story achievement. It shows construction workers buzzing around like gnats while a clock in the corner of the screen marks the time. In just 360 hours, a 100-metre-tall tower called the T30 rises from an empty site to overlook Hunan’s Xiang River. At the end of the video, the camera spirals around the building overhead as the Broad logo appears on the screen: a lowercase b that wraps around itself in an imitation of the @ symbol. The company is in the process of franchising its technology to partners in India, Brazil, and Russia. What it is selling is the world’s first standardized skyscraper and with it, Zhang aims to turn Broad into the McDonald’s of the sustainable building industry. When asked why he decided to start a construction company, Zhang replies, ‘It’s not a construction company. It’s a structural revolution.’
B. So far, Broad has built 16 structures in China, plus another in Cancun. They are fabricated at two factories in Hunan, roughly an hour’s drive from Broad Town, the sprawling headquarters. The floors and ceilings of the skyscrapers are built in sections, each measuring 15.6 by 3.9 meters with a depth of 45 centimeters. Pipes and ducts for electricity, water and waste are threaded through each floor module while it is still in the factory. The client’s choice of flooring is also pre-installed on top. Standardized truckloads carry two modules each to the site with the necessary columns, bolts and tools to connect them stacked on top of each other. Once they arrive at the location, each section is lifted by crane directly to the top of the building, which is assembled like toy Lego bricks. Workers use the materials on the module to quickly connect the pipes and wires. The unique column design has diagonal bracing at each end and tabs that bolt into the floors above and below. In the final step, heavily insulated exterior walls and windows are slotted in by crane. The result is far from pretty but the method is surprisingly safe – and phenomenally fast.
C. Zhang attributes his success to his creativity and to his outsider perspective on technology. He started out as an art student in the 1980s, but in 1988, Zhang left the art world to found Broad. The company started out as a maker of non- pressurized boilers. His senior vice-president, Juliet Jiang, says, ‘He made his fortune on boilers. He could have kept doing this business, but … he saw the need for nonelectric air-conditioning.’ Towards the end of the decade, China’s economy was expanding past the capacity of the nation’s electricity grid, she explains. Power shortages were becoming a serious obstacle to growth. Large air-conditioning (AC) units fueled by natural gas could help companies ease their electricity load, reduce overheads, and enjoy more reliable climate control into the bargain. Today, Broad has units operating in more than 70 countries, in some of the largest buildings and airports on the planet.
D. For two decades, Zhang’s AC business boomed. But a couple of events conspired to change his course. The first was that Zhang became an environmentalist. The second was the earthquake that hit China’s Sichuan Province in 2008, causing the collapse of poorly constructed buildings. Initially, he says, he tried to convince developers to refit existing buildings to make them both more stable and more sustainable, but he had little success. So Zhang drafted his own engineers and started researching how to build cheap, environmentally friendly structures that could also withstand an earthquake. Within six months of starting his research, Zhang had given up on traditional methods. He was frustrated by
the cost of hiring designers and specialists for each new structure. The best way to cut costs, he decided, was to take building to the factory. But to create a factory-built skyscraper, Broad had to abandon the principles by which skyscrapers are typically designed. The whole load-bearing structure had to be different. To reduce the overall weight of the building, it used less concrete in the floors; that in turn enabled it to cut down on structural steel.
E. Around the world, prefabricated and modular buildings are gaining in popularity. But modular and prefabricated buildings elsewhere are, for the most part, low- rise. Broad is alone in applying these methods to skyscrapers. For Zhang, the environmental savings alone justify the effort. According to Broad’s numbers, a traditional high-rise will produce about 3,000 tons of construction waste, while a Broad building will produce only 25 tons. Traditional buildings also require 5,000 tons of water onsite to build, while Broad buildings use none. The building process is also less dangerous. Elevator systems – the base, rails, and machine room – can be installed at the factory, eliminating the risk of injury. And instead of shipping an elevator car to the site in pieces, Broad orders a finished car and drops it into the shaft by crane. In the future, elevator manufacturers are hoping to preinstall the doors, completely eliminating any chance that a worker might fall. ‘Traditional construction is chaotic,’ he says. ‘We took construction and moved it into the factory.’ According to Zhang, his buildings will help solve the many problems of the construction industry and what’s more, they will be quicker and cheaper to build.

Questions 19-22

Label the diagram below. Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the text for each answer. Write your answers in boxes 19-22 on your answer sheet.

Questions 23-26
Complete the sentences below. Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the text for each answer. Write your answers in boxes 23-26 on your answer sheet.
23. Zhang refers to his business as a……………………………
24. The first products Broad manufactured were…………………………..
25. In the late eighties,…………………………….were holding back industrial progress in China.
26. In addition to power and cost benefits, Broad’s AC units improve………………………………

SCIENCE IN SPACE

How will NASA transform the International Space Station from a building site into a cutting-edge research laboratory?

A premier, world-class laboratory in low Earth orbit. That was how the National Aeronautics and Space Administration agency (NASA) sold the International Space Station (ISS) to the US Congress in 2001.Today no one can doubt the agency’s technological ambition. The most complex engineering project ever attempted has created an enormous set of interlinked modules that orbits the planet at more than 27,000 kilometres per hour. It might be travelling fast but, say critics, as a lab it is going nowhere. So far, it has gone through $150 billion.

So where should its future priorities lie? This question was addressed at the recent 1st annual ISS research and development conference in Colorado. Among the presenters was Satoshi Iwase of Aichi Medical University in Japan who has spent several years developing an experiment that could help solve one of the key problems that humans will face in space: keeping our bodies healthy in weightlessness. One thing that physiologists have learned is that without gravity our bodies begin to lose strength, leaving astronauts with weakened bones, muscles and cardiovascular systems. To counter these effects on a long-duration mission to, say, Mars, astronauts will almost certainly need to create their own artificial gravity. This is where Iwase comes in. He leads a team designing a centrifuge for humans. In their preliminary design, an astronaut is strapped into the seat of a machine that resembles an exercise bike. Pedalling provides a workout for the astronaut’s muscles and cardiovascular system, but it also causes the seat to rotate vertically around a central axis so the rider experiences artificial gravity while exercising.

The centrifuge project highlights the station’s potential as a research lab. Similar machines have flown in space aboard NASA’s shuttles, but they couldn’t be tested for long enough to prove whether they were effective. It’s been calculated that to properly assess a centrifuge’s impact on human physiology, astronauts would have to ride it for 30 minutes a day for at least two months. The only way to test this is in weightlessness, and the only time we have to do that is on the space station,’ says Laurence Young, a space medicine expert at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

There are certainly plenty of ideas for other experiments: but many projects have yet to fly. Even if the centrifuge project gets the green light, it will have to wait another five years before the station’s crew can take a spin. Lengthy delays like this are one of the key challenges for NASA, according to an April 201 I report from the US National Academy of Sciences. Its authors said they were ‘deeply concerned’ about the state of NASA’s science research, and made a number of recommendations. Besides suggesting that the agency reduces the time between approving experiments and sending them into space, it also recommended setting clearer research priorities.

NASA has already begun to take action, hiring management consultants ProOrbis to develop a plan to cut through the bureaucracy. And Congress also directed NASA to hire an independent organisation, the Centre for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS), to help manage the station’s US lab facilities. One of CASIS’s roles is to convince public and private investors that science on the station is worth the spend because judged solely by the number of papers published, the ISS certainly seems poor value: research on the station has generated about 3,100 papers since 1998.The Hubble Space Telescope, meanwhile, has produced more than I 1,300 papers in just over 20 years, yet it cost less than one-tenth of the price of the space station.

Yet Mark Uhran, assistant associate administrator for the ISS, refutes the criticism that the station hasn’t done any useful research. He points to progress made on a salmonella vaccine, for example. To get the ISS research back on track, CASIS has examined more than 100 previous microgravity experiments to identify promising research themes. From this, it has opted to focus on life science and medical research, and recently called for proposals for experiments on muscle wasting, osteoporosis and the immune system. The organisation also maintains that the ISS should be used to develop products with commercial application and to test those that are either close to or already on the market. Investment from outside organisations is vital, says Uhran, and a balance between academic and commercial research will help attract this.

The station needs to attract cutting-edge research, yet many scientists seem to have little idea what goes on aboard it.Jeanne DiFrancesco at ProOrbis conducted more than 200 interviews with people from organisations with potential interests in low gravity studies. Some were aware of the ISS but they didn’t know what’s going on up there, she says. ‘Others know there’s science, but they don’t know what kind.’

According to Alan Stern, planetary scientist, the biggest public relations boost for the ISS may come from the privately funded space flight industry. Companies like SpaceX could help NASA and its partners when it comes to resupplying the ISS, as it suggests it can reduce launch costs by two-thirds. Virgin Atlantic’s Space Ship Two or ZeroUnfinity’s high- altitude balloon could also boost the space station’s fortunes. They might not come close to the ISS’s orbit, yet Stern believes they will revolutionise the way we, the public, see space. Soon everyone will be dreaming of interplanetary travel again, he predicts. More importantly, scientists are already queuing for seats on these low-gravity space-flight services so they can collect data during a few minutes of weightlessness. This demand for low-cost space flight could eventually lead to a service running on a more frequent basis, giving researchers the chance to test their ideas before submitting a proposal for experiments on the ISS. Getting flight experience should help them win a slot on the station, says Stern.

Questions 27-30
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D. Write the correct letter in boxes 27-30 on your answer sheet.
27. What does the writer state about the ISS in the first paragraph?
A. Its manufacture has remained within the proposed budget.
B. It is a great example of technological achievement.
C. There are doubts about the speed it has attained.
D. NASA should have described its purpose more accurately.
28. What are we told about Satoshi Iwase’s experimental machine?
A. It is based on conventional exercise equipment.
B. It was originally commissioned by NASA.
C. It is designed only to work in low-gravity environments.
D. It has benefits that Iwase did not anticipate.
29. The writer refers to the Hubble Space Telescope in order to
A. show why investment in space technology has decreased.
B. highlight the need to promote the ISS in a positive way.
C. explain which kind of projects are more likely to receive funding.
D. justify the time required for a space project to produce results.
30. In the sixth paragraph, we are told that CASIS has
A. rejected certain applications for experiments on the ISS.
B. expressed concern about testing products used for profit.
C. questioned the benefits of some of the projects currently on the ISS.
D. invited researchers to suggest certain health-based projects.
Questions 31-35
Look at the following opinions (Questions 31-35) and the list of people below. Match each opinion with the correct person, A, B, C or D. Write the correct letter, A, B, C or D, in boxes 31-35 on your answer sheet.
NB You may use any letter more than once.
31. The ISS should be available for business-related ventures.
32. There is general ignorance about what kinds of projects are possible on the ISS.
33. The process of getting accepted projects onto the ISS should be speeded up.
34. Some achievements of the ISS are underrated.
35. To properly assess new space technology, there has to be an absence of gravity.
List of people
A. Laurence Young
B. Authors of the US National Academy of Sciences report
C. Mark Uhran
D. Jeanne DiFrancesco
Questions 36-39
Complete the summary using the lists of words, A-H, below. Write the correct letter, A-H, in boxes 36-39 on your answer sheet. Write the correct letter, A-H, in boxes 36-39 on your answer sheet.

The influence of commercial space flight on the ISS

According to Alan Stern, private space companies could affect the future of the ISS. He believes they could change its image; firstly because sending food and equipment there would be more (36)…………………………….if a commercial craft were used, and secondly, because commercial flights might make the whole idea of space exploration seem (37)……………………………….to ordinary people. Another point is that as the demand for space flights increases, there is a chance of them becoming more (38)…………………………………. And by working on a commercial flight first, scientists would be more (39)……………………….. if an ISS position came up.
A. safe
B. competitive
C. flexible
D. real
E. rapid
F. regular
G. suitable
H. economical
Question 40
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D. Write the correct letter in box 40 on your answer sheet.
40. The writer’s purpose in writing this article is to
A. promote the advantages of space flight in general.
B. illustrate how the ISS could become more effective.
C. criticise the ISS for its narrow-minded attitude.
D. contrast useful and worthless space projects.

The Swiffer

For a fascinating tale about creativity, look at a cleaning product called the Swiffer and how it came about, urges writer Jonah Lehrer. In the story of the Swiffer, he argues, we have the key elements in producing breakthrough ideas: frustration, moments of insight and sheer hard work. The story starts with a multinational company which had invented products for keeping homes spotless, and couldn’t come up with better ways to clean floors, so it hired designers to watch how people cleaned. Frustrated after hundreds of hours of observation, they one day noticed a woman do with a paper towel what people do all the time: wipe something up and throw it away. An idea popped into lead designer Harry West’s head: the solution to their problem was a floor mop with a disposable cleaning surface. Mountains of prototypes and years of teamwork later, they unveiled the Swiffer, which quickly became a commercial success.

Lehrer, the author of Imagine, a new book that seeks to explain how creativity works, says this study of the imagination started from a desire to understand what happens in the brain at the moment of sudden insight. ‘But the book definitely spiraled out of control,’ Lehrer says. ‘When you talk to creative people, they’ll tell you about the ‘eureka’* moment, but when you press them they also talk about the hard work that comes afterwards, so I realised I needed to write about that, too. And then I realised I couldn’t just look at creativity from the perspective of the brain, because it’s also about the culture and context, about the group and the team and the way we collaborate.’

When it comes to the mysterious process by which inspiration comes into your head as if from nowhere, Lehrer says modern neuroscience has produced a ‘first draft’ explanation of what is happening in the brain. He writes of how burnt-out American singer Bob Dylan decided to walk away from his musical career in 1965 and escape to a cabin in the woods, only to be overcome by a desire to write. Apparently ‘Like a Rolling Stone’ suddenly flowed from his pen. ‘It’s like a ghost is writing a song,’ Dylan has reportedly said. ‘It gives you the song and it goes away.’ But it’s no ghost, according to Lehrer.

Instead, the right hemisphere of the brain is assembling connections between past influences and making something entirely new. Neuroscientists have roughly charted this process by mapping the brains of people doing word puzzles solved by making sense of remotely connecting information. For instance, subjects are given three words – such as ‘age’, ‘mile’ and ‘sand’ – and asked to come up with a single word that can precede or follow each of them to form a compound word. (It happens to be ‘stone’.) Using brain-imaging equipment, researchers discovered that when people get the answer in an apparent flash of insight, a small fold of tissue called the anterior superior temporal gyrus suddenly lights up just beforehand. This stays silent when the word puzzle is solved through careful analysis. Lehrer says that this area of the brain lights up only after we’ve hit the wall on a problem. Then the brain starts hunting through the ‘filing cabinets of the right hemisphere’ to make the connections that produce the right answer.

Studies have demonstrated it’s possible to predict a moment of insight up to eight seconds before it arrives. The predictive signal is a steady rhythm of alpha waves emanating from the brain’s right hemisphere, which are closely associated with relaxing activities. ‘When our minds are at ease-when those alpha waves are rippling through the brain – we’re more likely to direct the spotlight of attention towards that stream of remote associations emanating from the right hemisphere,’ Lehrer writes. ‘In contrast, when we are diligently focused, our attention tends to be towards the details of the problems we are trying to solve.’ In other words, then we are less likely to make those vital associations. So, heading out for a walk or lying down are important phases of the creative process, and smart companies know this. Some now have a policy of encouraging staff to take time out during the day and spend time on things that at first glance are unproductive (like playing a PC game), but day-dreaming has been shown to be positively correlated with problem-solving. However, to be more imaginative, says Lehrer, it’s also crucial to collaborate with people from a wide range of backgrounds because if colleagues are too socially intimate, creativity is stifled.

Creativity, it seems, thrives on serendipity. American entrepreneur Steve Jobs believed so. Lehrer describes how at Pixar Animation, Jobs designed the entire workplace to maximise the chance of strangers bumping into each other, striking up conversations and learning from one another. He also points to a study of 766 business graduates who had gone on to own their own companies. Those with the greatest diversity of acquaintances enjoyed far more success. Lehrer says he has taken all this on board, and despite his inherent shyness, when he’s sitting next to strangers on a plane or at a conference, forces himself to initiate conversations. As for predictions that the rise of the Internet would make the need for shared working space obsolete, Lehrer says research shows the opposite has occurred; when people meet face-to-face, the level of creativity increases. This is why the kind of place we live in is so important to innovation. According to theoretical physicist Geoffrey West, when corporate institutions get bigger, they often become less receptive to change. Cities, however, allow our ingenuity to grow by pulling huge numbers of different people together, who then exchange ideas. Working from the comfort of our homes may be convenient, therefore, but it seems we need the company of others to achieve our finest ‘eureka’ moments.

Glossary:

Eureka: In ancient Greek, the meaning was 'I have found!'. Now it can be used when people suddenly find the solution to a difficult problem and want to celebrate.

Questions 27-30
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D. Write the correct letter in boxes 27-30 on your answer sheet.
27. What are we told about the product called a ‘Swifter’?
A. Its designers had little experience working with household objects.
B. Once the idea for it was conceived, it did not take long to develop.
C. It achieved profits beyond the manufacturer’s expectations.
D. Its design was inspired by a common housework habit.
28. When Jonah Lehrer began writing his book,
A. he had not intended to focus on creativity.
B. he ended up revising his plans for the content.
C. he was working in a highly creative environment.
D. he was driven by his own experience of the ‘eureka’ moment.
29. Lehrer refers to the singer Bob Dylan in order to
A. illustrate how ideas seem spontaneous.
B. exemplify ways in which we might limit our inventiveness.
C. contrast different approaches to stimulating the imagination.
D. propose particular approaches to regaining lost creativity.
30. What did neuroscientists discover from the word puzzle experiment?
A. Memories are easier to retrieve when they are more meaningful.
B. An analytical approach to problem-solving is not necessarily effective.
C. One part of the brain only becomes active when a connection is made suddenly.
D. Creative people tend to take a more instinctive approach to solving language problems.
Questions 31-34
Complete each sentence with the correct ending, A-G, below. Write the correct letter, A-G, in boxes 31-34 on your answer sheet.
31. Scientists know a moment of insight is coming
32. Mental connections are much harder to make
33. Some companies require their employees to stop working
34. A team will function more successfully
A. when people are not too familiar with one another.
B. because there is greater activity in the right side of the brain.
C. if people are concentrating on the specifics of a problem.
D. so they can increase the possibility of finding answers.
E. when people lack the experience required for problem-solving.
F. when the brain shows strong signs of distraction.
G. when both hemispheres of the brain show activity.
Questions 35-39
Complete the notes below. Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer. Write your answers in boxes 35-39 on your answer sheet.

How other people influence our creativity

• Steve Jobs 
  • made changes to the (35)……………………… to encourage interaction at Pixar.
• Lehrer 
  • company owners must have a wide range of (36)………………………. to do well. 
  • it’s important to start (37)………………………. with new people 
  • the (38)………………………….. has not replaced the need for physical contact.
• Geoffrey West
  • living in (39)……………………………….. encourages creativity.

Question 40
Choose the correct letter; A, B, C or D. Write the correct letter in boxes 40 on your answer sheet.
40. Which of the following is the most suitable title for Reading Passage 3?
A. Understanding what drives our moments of inspiration
B. Challenging traditional theories of human creativity
C. Creative solutions for enhancing professional relationships
D. How the future is shaped by innovative ideas and inspired people

The Hidden Histories of Exploration Exhibition

A. We have all heard tales of lone, heroic explorers, but what about the local individuals who guided and protected European explorers in many different parts of the globe? Or the go-betweens – including interpreters and traders – who translated the needs and demands of explorers into a language that locals could understand? Such questions have received surprisingly little attention in standard histories, where European explorers are usually the heroes, sometimes the villains. The Hidden Histories of Exploration exhibition at Britain’s Royal Geographical Society in London sets out to present an alternative view, in which exploration is a fundamentally collective experience of work, involving many different people. Many of the most famous examples of explorers said to have been ‘lone travellers’ – say, Mungo Park or David Livingstone in Africa – were anything but ‘alone’ on their travels. They depended on local support of various kinds – for food, shelter, protection, information, guidance and solace – as well as on other resources from elsewhere.
B. The Royal Geographical Society (RGS) seeks to record this story in its Hidden Histories project, using its astonishingly rich collections. The storage of geographical information was one of the main rationales for the foundation of the RGS in 1830, and the Society’s collections now contain more than two million individual items, including books, manuscripts, maps, photographs art-works, artefacts and film – a rich storehouse of material reflecting the wide geographical extent of British interest across the globe. In addition to their remarkable scope and range, these collections contain a striking visual record of exploration: the impulse to collect the world is reflected in a large and diverse image archive. For the researcher, this archive can vield many surprises: materials gathered for one purpose – say, maps relating to an international boundary dispute or photographs taken on a scientific expedition – may today be put to quite different uses.
C. In their published narratives, European explorers rarely portrayed themselves as vulnerable or dependent on others, despite the fact that without this support they were quite literally lost. Archival research confirms that Europeans were not merely dependent on the work of porters soldiers translators, cooks, pilots, guides, hunters and collectors: they also relied on local expertise. Such assistance was essential in identifying potential dangers poisonous species, unpredictable rivers, uncharted territories – which could mean the difference between life and death. The assistants themselves were usually in a strong bargaining position. In the Amazon, for example access to entire regions would depend on the willingness of local crew members and other assistants to enter areas inhabited by relatively powerful Amerindian groups. In an account of his journey across South America published in 1836, William Smyth thus complained of frequent desertion by his helpers: without them it was impossible to get on.
D. Those providing local support and information to explorers were themselves often not ‘locals’. For example, the history of African exploration in the nineteenth century is dominated by the use of Zanzibar as a recruiting station for porters, soldiers and guides who would then travel thousands of miles across the continent. In some accounts, the leading African members of expedition parties – the ‘officers’ or ‘foremen’ – are identified, and their portraits published alongside those of European explorers.
E. The information provided by locals and intermediaries was of potential importance to geographical science. How was this evidence judged? The formal procedures of scientific evaluation provided one framework. Alongside these were more ‘common sense’ notions of veracity and reliability, religiously-inspired judgments about the authenticity of testimony, and the routine procedures for cross-checking empirical observations developed in many professions.
F. Given explorers’ need for local information and support, it was in their interests to develop effective working partnerships with knowledgeable intermediaries who could act as brokers in their dealings with local inhabitants. Many of these people acquired far more experience of exploration than most Europeans could hope to attain. Some managed large groups of men and women, piloted the explorers’ river craft, or undertook mapping work. The tradition was continued with the Everest expeditions in the 1920s and 1930s, which regularly employed the Tibetan interpreter Karma Paul. In Europe, exploration was increasingly thought of as a career; the same might be said of the non-Europeans on whom their expeditions depended.
G. These individuals often forged close working relationships with European explorers. Such partnerships depended on mutual respect, though they were not always easy or intimate, as is particularly clear from the history of the Everest expeditions depicted in the Hidden Histories exhibition. The entire back wall is covered by an enlarged version of a single sheet of photographs of Sherpas taken during the 1936 Everest expedition. The document is a powerful reminder of the manpower on which European mountaineering expeditions depended, and also of the importance of local knowledge and assistance. Transformed from archive to wall display, it tells a powerful story through the medium of individual portraits – including Karma Paul, veteran of previous expeditions, and the young Tensing Norgay, 17 years before his successful 1953 ascent. This was a highly charged and transitional moment as the contribution of the Sherpas, depicted here with identity tags round their necks, was beginning to be much more widely recognised. These touching portraits encourage us to see them as agents rather than simply colonial subjects or paid employees. Here is a living history, which looks beyond what we already know about exploration: a larger history in which we come to recognise the contribution of everyone involved.

Questions 1-7
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1? In boxes 1-7 on 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
1. The Hidden Histories of Exploration exhibition aims to show the wide range of people involved in expeditions.
2. The common belief about how Park and Livingstone travelled is accurate.
3. The RGS has organised a number of exhibitions since it was founded.
4. Some of the records in the RGS archives are more useful than others.
5. Materials owned by the RGS can be used in ways that were not originally intended.
6. In their publications, European explorers often describe their dependence on their helpers.
7. Local helpers refused to accompany William Smyth during parts of his journey.
Questions 8-13
Reading Passage 1 has seven paragraphs, A-G. Which paragraph contains the following information?

Write the correct letter, A-G, in boxes 8-13 on your answer sheet.
8. reference to the distances that some non-European helpers travelled
9. description of a wide range of different types of documents
10. belief about the effect of an exhibition on people seeing it
11. examples of risks explorers might have been unaware of without local help
12. reference to various approaches to assessing data from local helpers
13. reference to people whose long-term occupation was to organise local assistance for European explorers