Reading and Listening Book Answer

International College Brisbane, Australia CRICOS No: 00213J

English Language Programs QCE009 EAP Plus

Reading and Listening Guide October 2012

Class: __________________ Name: _________________

Table of Contents The reading guide ................................................................................................................................ 1 W1  Elements of culture ............................................................................................................ 3 W2  Religious dentistry.............................................................................................................. 9  Valium............................................................................................................................... 11  The brain .......................................................................................................................... 13 W3  Networking....................................................................................................................... 18  To MBA or not to MBA? ................................................................................................... 21  Worker poll shows family, fringes gains favour ............................................................... 24 W4  Caring for the customer ................................................................................................... 28  Conspicuous consumption ............................................................................................... 32  Consumerism: Curses and causes .................................................................................... 36 W5  Poverty and health ........................................................................................................... 39  Development without boarders ....................................................................................... 42  Lost tribes, lost knowledge .............................................................................................. 44 W6  Human-powered pumps for African farmers .................................................................. 52  Microbes at the gas pump................................................................................................ 55  Australia’s geothermal resources .................................................................................... 58 W7  An ordinary miracle.......................................................................................................... 62  Dolly’s false legacy ........................................................................................................... 64  Genetic ethics ................................................................................................................... 68 W8  The keyless society........................................................................................................... 72  The high-tech poisoning of Asia ....................................................................................... 74  Let the bones talk ............................................................................................................. 78 W9  Spain family matters ........................................................................................................ 87  Twins ................................................................................................................................ 90  Love and marriage in China ............................................................................................ 102 W10  Worms put new life into derelict site ............................................................................ 108  It’s ecological ................................................................................................................. 111  Oceans of death ............................................................................................................ 115 W11  SUVs: Profits fuel the ‘highway arms race’ .................................................................... 118  The face of beauty ......................................................................................................... 121

 School is bad for children .............................................................................................. 127 W12  Mathematicians learn how to tame Chaos ................................................................... 131  The life cycle of a star .................................................................................................... 134  The influence of junk science and the role of science education ................................. 137 The listening guide ........................................................................................................................... 141 Listening Tips ................................................................................................................................ 142  IELTS Style Listening: Intercultural Communication ........................................................... 143  Listening for Context ........................................................................................................... 144  IELTS Style Listening: Obesity .............................................................................................. 145  IELTS Style Listening: Presenteeism and Absenteeism ....................................................... 147  IELTS Style Listening- Workplace Satisfaction .................................................................... 149  IELTS Style Listening: Advertising ........................................................................................ 151 Julian Treasure: Shh! Sound Health in 8 Steps .................................................................... 152  IELTS Style Listening: The Effects of Tourism ...................................................................... 153  IELTS Style Listening: Presentations .................................................................................... 155  IELTS Style Listening: Hybrid Solar Lighting ........................................................................ 157  IELTS Style Listening: Nuclear Energy ................................................................................. 159  IELTS Style Listening: Homes of the Future......................................................................... 161  IELTS Style Listening: Changes in Car Technology ............................................................... 163  IELTS Style Listening: Bicycle Road Safety ........................................................................... 165  IELTS Style Listening: Hotel Fire Safety ............................................................................... 167  IELTS Style Listening: Women and Work ............................................................................ 169  IELTS Style Listening: Water Shortages in Brisbane ............................................................ 171  IELTS Style Listening: Home Fire Safety .............................................................................. 173  IELTS Style Listening: Water Shortages and Desalination ................................................... 175  IELTS Style Listening: Lighting Design ................................................................................. 177

CRICOS No: 00213J

The reading guide Reading and listening are skills that need to be built over time. You cannot cram for a reading or listening test, nor can you expect to improve your vocabulary and grammar without reading on a regular basis. You should be reading and listening to a wide variety of texts every week, including this one, to improve your skills.

How to use this Guide This Reading and Listening Guide is designed to take you through a variety of readings and listenings. The readings and listenings differ in terms of topic, question types and degrees of difficulty. It uses the occasionally IELTS style readings and listening because the question types and skills used in IETLS are very similar to those used on the EAP tests that you will have. However, it is heavily supplemented with longer reading texts like the ones you will encounter in faculty. 





You should take about 20 – 30 minutes for shorter reading (unless otherwise stated). You may find some of the readings easier than others, and some will be quite difficult and take you longer. For the longer reading take as long as you need. Do not use a dictionary as this will slow down the reading and listening process. It is better to try and guess the meaning of unknown words. You can look word up once you have finished the reading. Read the instructions for each question carefully.

When to use Your teacher will tell you when each set of readings or listening needs to be done by and when you will check the answers. It is important to bring this book to class on the day the teacher tells you. After you have finished your allocated reading or listening and the answers have been checked Read back through your readings to look for areas that you did not understand. Check any answers you got wrong. Try to understand what the problem was: a vocabulary problem? a grammar problem? a question-type problem? a reading/ listening skill problem? ‘TIP’ boxes Some sections contain tip boxes (see example). These are designed to help you with question types. Read each tip carefully. If you have any questions, ask your teacher. All ‘Tips’ from O’Connell, S. (2002). Focus on IELTS. Essex, England: Pearson.

 TIP: MATCHING HEADINGS TO PARAGRAPHS

Be careful not to choose headings which refer to only part or one aspect of the paragraph. Some of the headings may contain words or phrases that appear in exactly the same form in the reading passage, so you may at first think they are correct Remember that an example is usually given.

1

CRICOS No: 00213J

2

CRICOS No: 00213J

W1  Elements of culture Donald Light, Jr. and Suzanne Keller One of the most surprising things about culture is the way it influences our daily lives without our even being aware of it. This essay makes clear that, from brushing our teeth in the morning with brush and paste to having a pillow beneath our head at night, our habitual behaviours are governed by the culture in which we live. Q12 “Come alive with Pepsi” proved a winning advertising slogan in the United States. However, some residents of Taiwan found the translation—”Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the dead”— unappealing. General Motors Corporation ran into difficulty in Belgium when the firm promoted its “Body by Fisher” cars that translated into Flemish as “Corpse by Fisher.” Some car buyers in Spanish- speaking countries were reluctant to purchase the Chevrolet Nova because nova means “it doesn’t go.” These examples all demonstrate a failure to understand language differences in a foreign environment. A somewhat different problem arose in Salt Lake City, Utah, when a man came to purchase a Shetland pony advertised for sale. The owner asked what the man planned to do with the horse. “For my son’s birthday,” was the response. Gratified that the pony was going to a child, the owner closed the deal. But then the buyer took out a two-by-four, clubbed the pony over the head, dumped the carcass in his pickup truck, and drove off. The horrified seller notified the police. When the police arrived at the buyer’s home, they found a birthday party underway. The pony was Q5 roasting in a “luau pit.” The buyer, a recent immigrant from Tonga, a group of Polynesian Islands off New Zealand, explained that the Tongans do not ride horses but eat them. They had acquired their taste for horse meat from European missionaries who found horses the only readily available source of meat on the Pacific Islands. All of the customs, beliefs, values, knowledge, and skills that guide a people’s behaviour along shared paths are part of their culture. Q6 Culture can be divided into material aspects (the products of a people’s arts and technology) and nonmaterial aspects (a people’s customs, beliefs, values, and patterns of communication). People throughout the world have different cultures. Thus, their standards for behaviour often differ. We tend to assume that certain behaviours have pretty much the same meaning around the world, and we anticipate that other people will act as we do. Yet this is clearly not the case. When we are thrust into a different culture, we may find ourselves in situations for which we are unprepared. Not surprisingly, interaction among peoples of different cultures is often filled with uncertainties and even difficulties. Take the matter of the “language of space,” identified by the anthropologist Edward T. Hall. He notes that Arabs tend to get very close to other people, close enough to breathe on them. When Arabs do not breathe on a person, it means that they are ashamed. However, Americans insist on staying outside the range of other people’s breath, viewing the odour as distasteful. Arabs ask, “Why are Americans so ashamed? They withhold their breath.” Americans on the receiving end wonder, “Why are the Arabs so pushy?” Americans typically back away as an Arab comes close, and the Arab follows. Such differences can have serious consequences. For example, an Arab business representative may not trust an American who backs off. On the other hand, the American may distrust the Arab for seeming so pushy. Q13 Culture is a taken-for-granted aspect of life, one we commonly overlook as we go about our daily activities. Yet it touches all aspects of our lives. Q8 Alexander Alland, Jr., provides the following analogy for culture: th

Jacobus, L. A. (2001). Improving college reading (pp. 361-368, 7 ed.). Boston, MA: Thomson Heinle. Adapted th from: Light, D. Jr., & Keller, S. (1985). Sociology, (4 ed.). Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. Reprinted by permission of the publisher.

3

CRICOS No: 00213J

I remember watching a blind student several years ago walking across the campus of a large state university. He guided himself with a cane, tapping it against the sidewalk which ran in spokes from building to building. Although he knew the campus well, on that particular occasion he became distracted for a moment and wandered onto the grass, where he immediately lost all sense of direction. His movements became disorganized as he searched hopelessly for a bit of cement. He became visibly panicked until a passing student came up and led him back to the appropriate path. Once again he was able to continue toward his class unaided. Q17 I was struck by the similarity of this situation to the situation of all human beings who have grown up within a particular social milieu. Out of an incredibly large number of possible ways of living successfully, all normal human beings operate within a narrow framework of convention. The convention is sometimes limiting and perhaps to certain individuals unsatisfying, but it provides a set of rules which act as guidelines for action. The anthropologist Edmund Carpenter confronted a situation similar to that described by Alland when he went to live among the Aivilik, an Eskimo people: For months after I first arrived among the Aivilik, I felt empty, clumsy. I never knew what to do, even where to sit or stand. I was awkward in a busy world, as helpless as a child, yet a grown man. I felt like a mental defective. Q16 The map of life that underlies both material and nonmaterial culture includes three elements: norms, values, and Q18 symbols. Let’s consider what each contributes to social life.

NORMS In Games People Play Eric Berne describes the greeting ritual of the American: “Hi!” (Hello, good morning.) “Hi!” (Hello, good morning.) “Warm enough forya?” (How are you?) “Sure is. Looks like rain, though.” (Fine. How are you?) “Well, take cara yourself.” (Okay.) “I’ll be seeing you.” “So long.” “So long.” This brief exchange is conspicuously lacking in content. If you were to measure the success of the conversation in terms of the information conveyed, you would have to rate it zero. Even so, both parties leave the scene feeling quite satisfied. In using the greeting ritual, they have made social contact and established a friendly atmosphere. Norms are the guidelines people are supposed to follow in their relations with one another; they are shared rules that specify appropriate and inappropriate behaviour. Not only do norms indicate what people should or should not do in a specific situation, they also enable people to anticipate how others will interpret and respond to their words and actions. Q2 Norms vary from society to society, from group to group within societies, and from situation to situation. Polite and appropriate behaviour in one society may be disgraceful in another. For example: Among the Ila-speaking peoples of Africa, girls are given houses of their own at harvest time where they may play at being man and wife with boys of their choice. It is said that among these people th

Jacobus, L. A. (2001). Improving college reading (pp. 361-368, 7 ed.). Boston, MA: Thomson Heinle. Adapted th from: Light, D. Jr., & Keller, S. (1985). Sociology, (4 ed.). Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. Reprinted by permission of the publisher.

4

CRICOS No: 00213J

virginity does not exist beyond the age of ten. [In contrast] among the Tepoztlan Indians of Mexico, from the time of a girl’s first menstruation, her life becomes “crabbed, cribbed, confined.” No boy is to be spoken to or encouraged in the least way. To do so would be to court disgrace, to show oneself to be crazy or mad. [Ember, C. R., & Ember, M. (1977) Anthropology, 2nd ed., Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, p. 277.] Some norms are situational—they apply to specific categories of people in specific settings. We consider it appropriate for a person to pray to God in church, or to speak to people who have long since “gone to the other side” during a séance (even if we think the séance is phony). But we usually find a person “peculiar” if he or she addresses God or invokes spirits on a bus. Social norms shape our emotions and perceptions. For example, people are supposed to feel sad and be depressed when a family member dies. Similarly, people are supposed to pay attention to certain things but not to others. For example, we consider it bad taste to gawk at a couple who is quarrelling bitterly or to eavesdrop on an intimate conversation, yet we occasionally do both. Thus, Q9 we hold norms, but at times we violate them. Most of the time people follow norms more or less automatically; alternatives never occur to them. This is particularly true of unspoken norms that seem self-evident, such as responding to a person who addresses you. Q9 People conform because it seems right, because to violate norms would damage their self-image (or “hurt their conscience”), and because they want approval and fear ridicule, ostracism, or, in some cases, punishment. Folkways, mores, and laws Norms vary in the importance that people assign to them and the leeway they permit violators. Folkways are everyday habits and conventions people obey without giving much thought to the matter. For example, Q14 Americans eat three meals a day and call other food “snacks.” We have cereal for breakfast but not for other meals; we save sweets for the end of dinner. Even though we could easily begin a meal with cherry pie, we don’t. Other customs we observe are covering our mouths when we yawn, shaking hands when introduced, closing zippers on pants or skirts, and not wearing evening clothes to class. People who violate folkways may be labelled eccentrics or slobs, but as a rule they are tolerated. In contrast, violations of mores provoke intense reactions. Mores are the norms people consider vital to their well-being and to their most cherished values. Examples are the prohibitions against incest, cannibalism, and sexual abuse of children. People who violate mores are considered unfit for society and may be ostracized, beaten, locked up in a prison or a mental hospital, exiled, or executed. (Hence, most Americans would not condemn an individual who gave a child molester a severe beating.) Some norms are formalized into laws. A law is a rule enacted by a political body and enforced by the power of the state. Whereas folkways and mores are typically enforced by the collective and spontaneous actions of the members of the community, laws are enforced by the police, the military, or some other special organization. Laws may formalize folkways (as some traffic regulations do) or back up mores (as laws against murder and treason do). Political authorities may also attempt to introduce new norms by enacting laws such as those governing the disposal of toxic wastes or the extension of civil rights to various minorities. In general, the laws that are most difficult to enforce are those that are not grounded in the folkways or mores—for example, laws against gambling or the use of marijuana. th

Jacobus, L. A. (2001). Improving college reading (pp. 361-368, 7 ed.). Boston, MA: Thomson Heinle. Adapted th from: Light, D. Jr., & Keller, S. (1985). Sociology, (4 ed.). Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. Reprinted by permission of the publisher.

5

CRICOS No: 00213J

Sanctions Norms are only guides to behaviour; by themselves they have no force. It is sanctions, or socially imposed rewards and punishments, that compel people to obey norms. Such sanctions may be formal or informal. Examples of formal sanctions that reward people are promotions, medals of honour, and pay checks. Formal sanctions that punish people include jail terms, job dismissals, failing grades, and traffic fines. Informal sanctions are those expressed by behaviour in everyday situations— smiles, frowns, friendly nods, gossip, praise, insults, and even attention. Societies vary in their use of sanctions. For instance, Q10 the Amish punish those who violate their norms with shunning, in which no one is allowed to speak to the offender. Such a punishment is less effective in the larger American society. In Japan, slurping one’s soup loudly is a positive sanction, indicating to a hostess that one has greatly enjoyed a meal. In the United States, such slurping is itself disapproved; instead, Americans are expected to compliment the cook verbally.

VALUES Norms typically derive from a people’s values. Values are the general ideas that individuals share about what is good or bad, right or wrong, desirable or undesirable. These notions transcend particular situations or interactions. Unlike norms (the rules that govern behaviour in actual situations with other people), values are broad, abstract concepts. As such, they provide the foundation that underlies a people’s entire way of life. Q11 Even the games they play reflect their values. A good illustration is formed among the Tangu, a people who live in a remote part of New Guinea and play a game called taketak. In some respects, taketak resembles bowling. The game is played with a toplilce object fashioned from a dried fruit and with two groups of coconut stakes that look like bowling pins. The players divide into two teams. The members of the first team step to the line and take turns throwing the top into their batch of stakes; every stake they hit they remove. Then the members of the second team toss the top into their batch of stakes. The object of the game, surprisingly, is not to knock over as many stakes as possible. Rather, the game continues until both teams have removed the same number of stakes. The Tangu disapprove of winning while favouring value equivalence. The idea that one individual or group should win and another lose bothers them, for they believe winning generates ill will. In fact, when Europeans brought soccer to New Guinea, the Tangu altered the rules so that the object was for two teams to score the same number of goals. Sometimes their soccer games went on for days! American games, in contrast, are highly competitive; there are always winners and losers. Since values entail broad and abstract cultural principles, we frequently have difficulty identifying them. The sociologist Robin M. Williams, Jr., in an interpretation of American society, identifies fifteen major value orientations. These include the high value Americans place upon achievement and success, activity and work, humanitarianism, efficiency and practicality, progress, material comfort, equality, freedom, conformity, science and rationality, nationalism and patriotism, democracy, individuality, and racial and ethnic group superiority. Q15 Many of these values tend to be interrelated, including those having to do with achievement and success, activity and work, material comfort, and individuality. Q15 Others are in conflict, for example, stressing conformity and individuality or equality and racial and ethnic superiority. Moreover, Q3 values change. Thus, in recent years many of America’s more overt racist attitudes have faded. The 1983 annual survey of college freshmen found that, for the first time, a majority supported busing to achieve racial integration in the schools. In the same year, 69.3 percent of the freshmen said they believed that being well off was very important; in 1970 the figure stood at 39 percent. The distinct th

Jacobus, L. A. (2001). Improving college reading (pp. 361-368, 7 ed.). Boston, MA: Thomson Heinle. Adapted th from: Light, D. Jr., & Keller, S. (1985). Sociology, (4 ed.). Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. Reprinted by permission of the publisher.

6

CRICOS No: 00213J

characteristics of American values become more apparent when we compare them with the values of another culture. The Relation between norms and values Values assume considerable importance because norms are usually based on them. Even so, there is not a one-to-one correspondence between norms and values. For instance, some American values favour individuality and competition, yet some norms run counter to these values. Affirmative-action laws, for example, have often allowed minorities to be hired in proportion to their numbers as a matter of fairness, while competitive standards of individual achievement are relaxed. Such a norm attempts to reconcile the values of individuality and competition with the values of justice and equality. Q15 Thus conflicts in values are often a source of social change that leads to new norms. In our daily lives, Q4 we frequently find that more than one value may also be operating in a given situation. If being honest also means being unkind to another person, we are caught in a conflict of values. You have probably faced situations where the truth will hurt someone and kindness means lying. Hinting gently at the truth or surrounding the hurtful truth with kindnesses or saying nothing at all are norms that attempt to reconcile two conflicting values. It is important not to confuse norms with values: The distinction is highlighted by a young child’s obedience: A child obeys the parent because failure to do so may result in punishment or jeopardize rewards (a norm). But the child as yet does not judge the behaviour as desirable or undesirable in its own right (a value). Likewise, you may stop at a red light even when there is no traffic, yet you do not attach an underlying value to stopping for a red light under these circumstances. In sum, norms constitute rules for behaviour; values provide the criteria or standards we use for evaluating the desirability of behaviour.

LENGTH: 2,637 WORDS

Questions 1 - 15 Retention: Which of the following statements are True (T), False (F), or Not given (NG)? 1. Government sometimes tries to change norms by creating new folkways.

T / F / NG

2. Norms vary from situation to situation.

T / F / NG

3. The values in a given society remain stable.

T / F / NG

4. More than one value can operate at one time.

T / F / NG

5. Tongans eat roasted horse meat.

T / F / NG

6. Culture can be divided into two aspects, material and nonmaterial.

T / F / NG

7. Margaret Mead was one of the first to study courtship rituals among the Polynesians.

T / F / NG

8. Seeing a blind student become lost gave one anthropologist an idea of a way to explain culture to people.

T / F / NG

9. Because the influence of norms is so powerful, we cannot bring ourselves to violate them.

T / F / NG

10. The Amish tradition of shunning involves refusing to talk to people who are not Amish.

T / F / NG

11. Recreational activities such as games may reflect people’ s values.

T / F / NG

th

Jacobus, L. A. (2001). Improving college reading (pp. 361-368, 7 ed.). Boston, MA: Thomson Heinle. Adapted th from: Light, D. Jr., & Keller, S. (1985). Sociology, (4 ed.). Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. Reprinted by permission of the publisher.

7

CRICOS No: 00213J

12. Because human beings are basically alike, advertisements that work in one country will work well in

T / F / NG

most countries. 13. We tend to take our culture for granted.

T / F / NG

14. Eating three meals a day is an example of mores.

T / F / NG

15. A society’s values are harmonious, working smoothly together to create a conflict-free world. T / F / NG Question 16 Main Idea: Which of the following statement best represents the main point of the reading? _4__ 1. Culture means different things to different people; therefore, we should be careful in how we use the term. 2. The most important elements of culture are the norms and values that affect our daily lives. 3. The quality of each society can be evaluated on the basis of its cultural norms, mores, laws, and values. 4. Culture is made up of three elements: norms, values, and symbols, each of which quietly shapes our behaviour. 5. Conformity to one’s culture is necessary for mental health. Question 17 Interpretation: Which of the following is the best interpretation of a key point in this reading? _5__ 1. By setting some limits, conventions free us to live in a large number of possible ways. 2. Although norms vary, the norms of one society will seldom be directly contradictory to those of another. 3. Laws and norms have nothing in common. 4. Norms and values are essentially the same thing. 5. Culture is like a map of life in that it provides guidelines and a sense of direction. Question 18 Conclusion: Which of the following statements is the best conclusion that can be drawn from the reading? Choose one statement: _5__ 1. People are probably more likely to obey laws not grounded in mores because they are enforced by the state, not by the members of the community. 2. In their everyday interactions with each other, Americans usually say what they mean without any alternative meaning. 3. An experienced American advertiser is probably better at designing ads to use in a foreign country than an experienced foreigner. 4. Because of their studies of many cultures, anthropologists are probably exempt from feeling dislocated in a new culture. 5. The authors of this article probably went on to a discussion of symbols. th

Jacobus, L. A. (2001). Improving college reading (pp. 361-368, 7 ed.). Boston, MA: Thomson Heinle. Adapted th from: Light, D. Jr., & Keller, S. (1985). Sociology, (4 ed.). Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. Reprinted by permission of the publisher.

8

CRICOS No: 00213J

W2  Religious dentistry

Bali is, without doubt, one of the most culturally rich islands in the world. In fact, its carved temples, dances and. immaculately manicured rice terraces do all seem too perfect to be true, even down to the people’s smiles. However, take a closer look at those smiles and the perfect teeth do seem a bit too perfect, and for good reason. Those flattened teeth are the result of an important piece of dentistry that every young Balinese man or woman experiences in their life, known as potong gigi, or tooth filing. Tooth filing is part of Bali’s religious traditions and is not performed for cosmetic reasons. In fact, so important is the tooth filing ceremony that Q1 without it, the Balinese believe they may experience serious social or behavioural problems later in life, or their personality may change altogether. Q10 Balinese religious life is surrounded by a belief in a variety of deities — gods and demons that Q2 inhabit different levels of the cosmic and real worlds. These deities range from the most holy in the mountains to the lowest that inhabit the ground and the sea. There are gods and goddesses in every walk of life which have special forces of their own. Q2 They inhabit temple statues, trees, even fly through the air. They exist together in a dual concept of good and evil, clean and dirty, etc. As such, both the good and the evil spirits must be appeased, and offerings are thus made at the myriad temples on the island. It is not only the good spirits that are worshipped, for Bali has a dark and evil side too. Terrifying demons and monsters walk the earth and although they are seldom seen, they too must be appeased. These demons can take over and inhabit the body of an animal or human and wreak havoc in the community, so it is very important to strike a balance between offerings made to all spirits that swarm the island. At every stage in a person’s life, he or she is susceptible to influences of the super- natural — Q3 from demons and layak, to good spirits which may bring luck. Purification of the body and mind is therefore central to Balinese religious life and the tooth-filing ceremony represents one such rite of passage from childhood to becoming an adult. According to the Balinese, long pointed teeth resemble the fangs of animals and these give the person characteristics of the animal sides of human nature and ferocity. The Balinese believe there are six of these evil qualities: desire, greed, anger, intoxication, irresoluteness and jealousy. These are liable to flare up, along with animal instincts, when the canines are still sharp. To prevent this, Q8 the points of the canines are filed down, together with any prominent points of the lower teeth in a special potong gigi ceremony. Although this may prevent the person taking on animal instincts and beautify the smile, it is, unfortunately Q9 offset by early tooth decay since the protective enamel is removed from the points of the teeth, exposing them to acid decay. The situation is exacerbated in those who go on to chew betel nuts, since the caustic lime rapidly attacks the teeth.

Sahanaya, W., Lindeck, J. & Stewart, R. (1998). IELTS Preparation and practice: Reading and writing: Academic module (pp. 6-15). Melbourne, VIC: Oxford University Press.

9

CRICOS No: 00213J

The potong gigi ceremony Q13 usually is undertaken for members of the same family together since it is a very expensive occasion to host. It is often necessary to wait until the youngest child is of age. Girls are ready for tooth filing only when they have reached sexual maturity and boys are usually older, about 17 or at least after puberty. A person must have their teeth filed Q4 before marriage, and since marriage is early, the ceremony is often undertaken as a Q4 prenuptial event. The Q11 high priest is consulted first to choose an auspicious day from the Balinese calendar. Every day has a different function — a best day for rice planting, best day for cremations and other festivals, as well as tooth-filing days. Q5 The dentist’s chair, so to speak, is specially constructed for the ceremony from bamboo in the form of a rack covered with coconut leaves, blankets and a variety of offerings and frangipani flowers. Q5 & 12 Surrounding the platform is food for the guests and a huge display of skewered suckling pig, fruit, and whole roasted chickens adorn the entrance to the ceremony room. Questions 1 – 6 Choose the appropriate letters A – D. 1 The Balinese have their teeth filed A to have a perfect smile B for cosmetic reasons C to avoid problems in life D to change their personality 2 Balinese spirits A are usually easily seen C can all fly through the air

B are only found in the mountains D can be found anywhere

3 Layak are probably A good spirits C tooth-filing experts

B evil spirits D people whose teeth have been filed

4 When do many Balinese have their teeth filed? A just before getting married B as part of the marriage ceremony C in early childhood D when the high priest has time 5 Where does tooth filing take place? A in the dentist’s surgery B at the village temple C on a special platform D in the family residence 6 What is the most likely source of this passage? A an undergraduate essay B a scientific journal C a current affairs news magazine D an airline magazine process of elimination

Sahanaya, W., Lindeck, J. & Stewart, R. (1998). IELTS Preparation and practice: Reading and writing: Academic module (pp. 6-15). Melbourne, VIC: Oxford University Press.

10

CRICOS No: 00213J

 Valium In the 1960s, Valium was launched around the world as the new miracle pill. It was prescribed for dozens of ailments, including stress, panic attacks, back pain, insomnia and calming patients before and after surgery. Four decades later, many are questioning why the drug is still so popular, given that Q1 doctors and drug addiction workers believe Valium, and drugs like it, create more health problems than they solve. Valium — a Latin word meaning “strong and well” — was developed in the early 1960s in the United States (US) by Dr Leo Sternbach, a Polish chemist working for pharmaceutical giant Hoffman-LaRoche. Approved for use in 1963, Valium quickly became a favourite among mental heath professionals and general practitioners. Valium was the most prescribed drug in the US between 1969 and 1982. Q2 At the peak of Valium use in the 1970s, Hoffman LaRoche’s parent company, the Roche Group, was selling about two billion Valium pills a year, earning the company $US 600 million a year. Valium quickly became a household name, Q3 the drug of choice for millions of people, from the rich and famous to the stressed executive and the frustrated housewife. These days Valium is still a popular choice. From 2002-2003, Q4 50% of prescriptions for diazepams (the generic name for Valium) in Australia were for Valium. Almost two million scripts were issued for diazepam in 2002, costing consumers and governments more than $13 million. Diazepams belong to a class of drugs known as benzodiazepines, which include tranquillizers to ease anxiety and hypnotics to treat insomnia. Q 6 & 7 Valium and other benzodiazepines were marketed as fast acting, non-addictive and as having no side effects. Initially benzodiazepines were considered to be quite safe, especially compared to other drugs on the market. For example, barbiturates were also very toxic and a small overdose would be fatal. One of the great advantages of benzodiazepines over their predecessors was that Q5 even if the patient took many tablets, they would get very sick and go off to sleep, but they wouldn’t die. It seemed too good to be true. And of course it was. Some doctors began to observe alarming facts about benzodiazepines which weren’t well known during the 1960s and the 1970s, and which are still true today. Q8 They were addictive, even in small doses; they could be safely prescribed for only a very short period; and the body adapted to the drug within a week, Q9 which usually led the user to take higher dosages or an increased number of tablets. In addition to this, what wasn’t well known until the early 1980s is that Q10 a much larger group of people had become dependent on these benzodiazepines, including Valium, by taking the normal dose. Although they were only taking 2 mg three times a day, doctors observed that within a week they were becoming dependent. Moreover, they were becoming very ill if that dose was reduced or withdrawn. Because the withdrawal from benzodiazepines is brutal, doctors continue to prescribe the medication for fear of the patient’s health during withdrawal. Doctors believe that there is no point in refusing to prescribe the drug until the patient is prepared to stop. Q11 Valium has a long half-life, which means that it takes 30-plus hours for the body to get rid of half of the daily dose. As a result, withdrawals from Valium are just as difficult as withdrawals from other drugs, including alcohol. Patients who are withdrawing can have fits for five or six days after they have stopped taking Valium, which is one of the big risks. It usually takes the body five to seven days to detoxify from alcohol and less than a month for heroin compared to withdrawal from Valium which can take up to six months. Q12 Many doctors believe that Valium gives people false hope and argue that while many patients feel better when they initially begin taking the drug, the feelings are short-lived. In the case of benzodiazepines they should only be taken as part of an overall examination of the patient’s lifestyle.

Scovell, D., Pastellas, V., & Knobel, M. (2004). 404 Essential tests for IELTS. Academic module (pp. 47-48). Sydney, NSW: Adams and Austen Press.

11

CRICOS No: 00213J Q13 Guidelines have been developed to support the appropriate use by doctors and patients of Valium and other benzodiazepines. Q14 Doctors need to talk about what is causing the stress and suggest possible alternative treatment options. The flip side of the coin is that consumers need to take ownership of the medicines that they are taking. They should talk to their doctor about the impact the medication has on their health. This also helps doctors to help manage their patient’s health. The emergence of concerns over the use of Valium, originally hailed as the wonder drug of its day, is a warning for us all to be cautious about the newer drugs. What it all boils down to is that doctors and patients need to monitor the use of all medicines — this includes prescription medicine as well as over-thecounter medications. (Source: The Weekend Australian, Saturday 26 July 2003, “Anxious and Addicted” by Clare Pirani. Copyright: used with permission.)

Questions 1 - 5 Look at the following statements (Questions 1 - 5). Indicate: YES if the statement agrees with information in the passage NO if the statement contradicts information in the passage NOT GIVEN if the information is not given in the passage Example: Valium was launched as a new miracle pill. 1. Valium is of greater risk to users than their original illness. 2. Valium sales caused business in the Roche Group to peak in the 1970s. 3. Valium became popular because it seemed to suit a wide range of people. 4. Valium is part of the group of drugs called diazepams. 5. A Valium overdose is not fatal.

Y / N / NG Y / N / NG Y / N / NG Y / N / NG Y / N / NG Y / N / NG

Questions 6 - 14 Complete the summary below by using words taken from reading. Use NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS OR A NUMBER for each answer. Initially, doctors believed that Valium was a comparatively 6.safe drug for a number of reasons: it worked quickly, patients could take it but give it up easily and it did not create any unpleasant 7. side effects. However, about thirty years ago some disturbing facts became apparent. Doctors found that Valium was 8.addictive in the short term and users needed to 9. increase the dosage in order to get the same effect. They also found that even users who took a 10. Small/normal dose became addicted very quickly. In addition to this, one of the most worrying concerns about Valium use was that it was extremely 11.difficult/ hard for users to give up the drug because it had a long half-life. Doctors are now aware that patients who take Valium merely receive a short lived feeling 12. false hope Therefore, guidelines have been developed to make sure that it is used only when it is 13. appropriate. More caution needs to be exercised. Doctors need to talk about patients stress levels and advise them of 14.(possible) alternative treatment (options). Finally, patients need to be more aware of the medications they take.

Scovell, D., Pastellas, V., & Knobel, M. (2004). 404 Essential tests for IELTS. Academic module (pp. 47-48). Sydney, NSW: Adams and Austen Press.

12

CRICOS No: 00213J

 The brain Cecie Starr and Ralph Taggart Q16 More complicated than a computer, more fascinating than outer space, the brain is only now revealing its mysteries to science. As much as we grow in understanding, however, one question remains: why do people sometimes deliberately destroy with drugs the very part of themselves that makes them human? CONSCIOUS EXPERIENCE Our two cerebral hemispheres are strapped together deep inside the cleft between them by a thick tract of white matter, the corpus callosum. The corpus callosum consists of axons running from one hemisphere to the other. Thus you might assume that it functions in communication between the two hemispheres. Indeed, experiments such as those performed by Roger Sperry and his co-workers showed that this is the case. They also demonstrated some intriguing differences in perception between the two halves! Q9 The body’s right and left sides have the same kinds of sensory nerves. These nerves enter the spinal cord or brainstem, and then run in parallel to the brain. Similarly, sensory nerves from the left eye and ear run in parallel with sensory nerves from the right eye and ear toward the brain. The signals carried by these nerves reach the left or right cerebral hemisphere. Q14 But the signals are not all processed on the same side as the nerves. Instead, much of the information is projected onto the opposite hemisphere. In other words, many of the nerve pathways leading into and from one hemisphere deal with the opposite side of the body. Knowing this, Sperry’s group set out to treat severe cases of epilepsy. Persons afflicted with severe epilepsy are wracked with seizures, sometimes as often as every half hour of their lives. The seizures have a neurological basis, analogous to an electrical storm in the brain. What would happen if the corpus callosum of afflicted persons were cut? Would the electrical storm be confined to one cerebral hemisphere, leaving at least the other to function normally? Earlier studies of animals and of humans whose corpus callosum had been damaged suggested that this might be so. Q4 The surgery was performed. And the electrical storms subsided, in both frequency and intensity. Apparently, cutting the neural bridge between the two hemispheres put an end to what must have been positive feedback loops of ever intensified electrical disturbances between them. Beyond this, the “splitbrain” individuals were able to lead what seemed, on the surface, entirely normal lives. But then Sperry devised some elegant experiments to determine whether the conscious experience of these individuals was indeed “normal.” After all, the corpus callosum is a tract of no less than 200 million through-conducting axons; surely something was different. Something was. Q17 “The surgery,” Sperry later reported, “left these people with two separate minds, that is, two spheres of consciousness. What is experienced in the right hemisphere seems to be entirely outside the realm of awareness of the left.” In Sperry’s experiments, the left and right hemispheres of split-brain individuals were presented with different stimuli. Recall that visual connections to and from one hemisphere are mainly concerned with the opposite visual field. Sperry projected words—say, COWBOY—onto a screen. He did this in such a way that th

Jacobus, L. A. (2001). Improving college reading, 361-368 (7 ed.). Boston, MA: Thomson Heinle. Adapted rd from: Starr, C. & Taggart, R. (1984). Biology: The university and diversity of life (pp. 375-382, 3 ed.). Wadsworth, Inc. Used by permission of the publisher.

13

CRICOS No: 00213J

COW fell only on the left visual field, and BOY fell on the right. The subject reported seeing the word BOY. (The left hemisphere, which received the word, controls language.) However, when asked to write the perceived word with the left hand—a hand that was deliberately blocked from view—the subject wrote COW. The right hemisphere, which “knew” the other half of the word, had directed the left hand’s motor response. But it couldn’t tell the left hemisphere what was going on because of the severed corpus callosum. The subject knew that a word was being written but he could not say what it was. The functioning of our two cerebral hemispheres has been the focus of many more experiments. Taken together, the results have revealed the following information about our conscious experience: 1. Each cerebral hemisphere can function separately, but it functions in response to signals mainly from the opposite side of the body. Q1 2. The main association regions responsible for spoken language skills generally reside in the left hemisphere. 3. The main association regions responsible for nonverbal skills (music, mathematics, and other abstract abilities) generally reside in the right hemisphere. Memory Conscious experience is far removed from simple reflex action. It entails thinking about things—recalling objects and events encountered in the past, comparing them with newly encountered ones, and making rational connections based on the comparison of perceptions. Thus conscious experience entails a capacity for memory: the storage of individual bits of information somewhere in the brain. The neural representation of information bits is known as a memory trace, although Q13 no one knows for sure in what form a memory trace occurs, or where it resides. So far, experiments strongly suggest that there are at least two stages involved in its formation. One is a short-term formative period, lasting only a few minutes or so; then, information becomes spatially and temporally organized in neural pathways. The other is long-term storage; then, information is put in a different neural representation that lasts more or less permanently. Observations of people suffering from retrograde amnesia tell us something about memory. These people can’t remember anything that happened during the half hour or so before experiencing electroconvulsive shock or before losing consciousness after a severe head blow. Yet memories of events before that time remain intact! Such disturbances temporarily suppress normal electrical activities in the brain. These observations may mean that whereas short-term memory is a fleeting stage of neural excitation, long-term memory depends on chemical or structural changes in the brain. In addition, information seemingly forgotten can be recalled after being unused for decades. This means that individual memory traces must be encoded in a form somewhat immune to degradation. Most molecules and cells in your body are used up, wear out, or age and are constantly being replaced—yet memories can be retrieved in exquisite detail after many years of such wholesale turnovers. Q7 Nerve cells, recall, are among the few kinds that are not replaced. You are born with billions, and as you grow older some 50,000 die off steadily each day. Those nerve cells formed during embryonic development are the same ones present, whether damaged or otherwise modified, at the time of death. The part about being “otherwise modified” is tantalizing. There is evidence that neuron structure is not static, but rather can be modified in several ways. Most likely, such modifications depend on electrical and chemical interactions with neighbouring neurons. Electron micrographs show that some synapses regress as a result of disuse. Such regression weakens or breaks connections between neurons. The visual cortex of th

Jacobus, L. A. (2001). Improving college reading, 361-368 (7 ed.). Boston, MA: Thomson Heinle. Adapted rd from: Starr, C. & Taggart, R. (1984). Biology: The university and diversity of life (pp. 375-382, 3 ed.). Wadsworth, Inc. Used by permission of the publisher.

14

CRICOS No: 00213J

mice raised without visual stimulation showed such effects of disuse. Similarly, Q18 there is some evidence that intensively stimulated synapses may form stronger connections, grow in size, or sprout buds or spines to form more connections! The chemical and physical transformations that underlie changes in synaptic connections may correspond to memory storage.

SLEEPING AND DREAMING Q5 Between the mindless drift of coma and total alertness are many levels of conscious experience, known by such names as sleeping, dozing, meditating, and daydreaming. Through this spectrum of consciousness, neurons in the brain are constantly chattering among themselves. This neural chatter shows up as wavelike patterns in an electroencephalogram (EEG). An EEG is an electrical recording of the frequency and strength of potentials from the brain’s surface. Each recording shows the contribution of thousands of neurons. EEG Patterns The prominent wave pattern for someone who is relaxed, with eyes closed, is an alpha rhythm. In this relaxed state of wakefulness, potentials are recorded in trains of about ten per second. Alpha waves predominate during the state of meditation. With a transition to sleep, wave trains gradually become longer, slower, and more erratic. This slow-wave sleep pattern shows up about eighty percent of the total sleeping time for adults. It occurs when sensory input is low and the mind is more or less idling. Q10 Subjects awakened from slow-wave sleep usually report that they were not dreaming. If anything, they seemed to be mulling over recent, ordinary events. However, slow-wave sleep is punctuated by brief spells of REM sleep. The name refers to the Rapid Eye Movements accompanying this pattern (the eyes jerk about beneath closed lids). Also accompanying REM sleep are irregular breathing, faster heartbeat, and twitching fingers. Most people who are awakened from REM sleep say that they were experiencing vivid dreams. With the transition from sleep (or deep relaxation) into wakefulness, EEG recordings show a shift to lowamplitude, higher frequency wave trains. Associated with this accelerated brain activity are increased blood flow and oxygen uptake in the cortex. The transition, called EEG arousal, occurs when individuals make a conscious effort to focus on external stimuli or even on their own thoughts. The Reticular Formation What brain regions govern changing levels of consciousness? Deep in the brainstem, buried within ascending and descending nerve pathways, lies a mass of nerve cells and processes called the reticular formation. This mass forms connections with the spinal cord, cerebellum, and cerebrum, as well as back with itself. It constantly samples messages flowing through the central nervous system. Q2 The flow of signals along these circuits—and the inhibitory or excitatory chemical changes accompanying them—has a great deal to do with whether you stay awake or drop off to sleep. For example, when certain areas of the reticular formation of sleeping animals are electrically stimulated, long, slow alpha rhythms are displaced by high- frequency potentials associated with arousal. Similarly, damage to the reticular formation leads to unconsciousness and coma. Within this formation are neurons collectively called the reticular activating system (RAS). Excitatory pathways connect the RAS to the thalamus (the forebrain’s switching station). Messages routed from the RAS arouse the brain and maintain wakefulness. Also in the reticular formation are sleep centres. One centre contains neurons that release the transmitter substance serotonin. This chemical has an inhibitory effect on RAS neurons: high serotonin levels are th

Jacobus, L. A. (2001). Improving college reading, 361-368 (7 ed.). Boston, MA: Thomson Heinle. Adapted rd from: Starr, C. & Taggart, R. (1984). Biology: The university and diversity of life (pp. 375-382, 3 ed.). Wadsworth, Inc. Used by permission of the publisher.

15

CRICOS No: 00213J

associated with drowsiness and sleep. Another sleep centre, in the part of the reticular formation that lies in the pons, has been linked to REM sleep. Chemicals released from the second centre counteract the effects of serotonin. Hence its action allows the RAS to maintain the waking state. Drug Action on Integration and Control Each day can bring some minor frustration or disappointment, some pleasure or small triumph—and the brain responds to the shadings of environmental stimuli with delicate interplays among the activities of norepinephrine, dopamine, and the like. These interplays translate into changing emotional and behavioural states. Q15 When stress leads to physical or emotional pain, the brain apparently deploys other substances—analgesic, or pain relievers that the brain produces itself. Receptors for natural analgesics have been identified on neural membranes in many parts of the nervous system, including the spinal cord and limbic system. (The limbic system includes structures bordering the cerebral hemispheres, at the top of the brainstem.) When bound to receptors, the pain relievers seem to inhibit neural activity. Endorphins (including enkephalins) are brain analgesics that may have this inhibitory effect. High concentrations of endorphins (“internally produced morphines”) occur in brain regions concerned with our emotions and perceptions of pain. Emotional stages—joy, elation, anxiety, depression, fear, anger—are normal responses to changing conditions in the complex world around us. Sometimes, through imbalances in transmitter substances, one or another of these states becomes pronounced. For instance, schizophrenic persons become despairing; they withdraw from the social world and focus obsessively on themselves. In an extreme form of the disorder (paranoid schizophrenia), afflicted persons suffer delusions of persecution or grandeur. Yet by administering certain synthetic tranquilizers, the symptoms can be brought under control. It appears that the tranquilizers affect norepinephrine, dopaniine, and serotonin levels in the brain, in ways that depress the activity of neurons utilizing these transmitter substances. Tranquilizers, opiates, stimulants, hallucinogens—such drugs are known to inhibit, modify, or enhance the release or action of chemical messengers throughout the brain. Yet research into the effects of drugs on integration and control is in its infancy. For the most part, we don’t understand much about how any one drug works. Given the complexity of the brain, it could scarcely be otherwise at this early stage of inquiry. Despite our ignorance of drug effects, one of the major problems in the modern world is drug use—the self-destructive use of drugs that alter emotional and behavioural states. The consequences show up in unexpected places—among seven-year- old heroin addicts; among the highway wreckage left by individuals whose perceptions were skewed by alcohol or amphetamines; among victims of addicts who steal and sometimes kill to support their drug habit; Q3 among suicides on LSD trips who were deluded into believing that they could fly, and who flew off buildings and bridges. Each of us possesses a body of great complexity. Its architecture, its functioning are legacies of millions of years of evolution. It is unique in the living world because of its nervous system—a system that is capable of processing far more than the experience of the individual. One of its most astonishing products is language— the encoding of shared experiences of groups of individuals in time and space. Through the evolution of our nervous system, the sense of history was born, and the sense of destiny. Through this system we can ask how we have come to be what we are, and where we are headed from here. Perhaps the sorriest consequence of drug abuse is its implicit denial of this legacy—the denial of self when we

cease to ask, and cease to care.

th

Jacobus, L. A. (2001). Improving college reading, 361-368 (7 ed.). Boston, MA: Thomson Heinle. Adapted rd from: Starr, C. & Taggart, R. (1984). Biology: The university and diversity of life (pp. 375-382, 3 ed.). Wadsworth, Inc. Used by permission of the publisher.

16

CRICOS No: 00213J

Questions 1- 15 Retention: Which of the following statements are True (T), False (F), or Not given (NG)? 1. The main association regions responsible for spoken language skills generally reside in the right hemisphere. T / F / NG 2. The sleep centres are in the reticular formation. T / F / NG 3. Some people on LSD trips think that they can fly. T / F / NG 4. Cutting the corpus callosum resulted in increased epileptic seizures. T / F / NG 5. Even when we are in a coma, the neurons in our brains are constantly talking with one another. T / F / NG 6. We understand how one stimulant, coffee, works. T / F / NG 7. Nerve cells are among the few kinds of cells that can be replaced. T / F / NG 8. Epileptic seizures can be controlled with drugs. T / F / NG 9. The body’s right and left sides have the same kinds of sensory nerves. T / F / NG 10. Most people who are awakened from slow-wave sleep report that they were experiencing vivid dreams. T / F / NG 11. Anxiety is a normal response to changing conditions in the world around us. T / F / NG 12. The pituitary gland governs changing levels of consciousness. T / F / NG 13. No one knows for sure in what form a memory trace occurs. T / F / NG 14. Each cerebral hemisphere functions in response to signals from its own part of the body. T / F / NG 15. The brain is actually capable of producing its own pain relievers. T / F / NG Question 16 Main Idea: Which of the following statements best represents the main point of the reading? 4 1 . The brain consists of two cerebral hemispheres. 2. The brain varies in its activity depending on whether we are asleep or awake, using drugs or not using drugs. 3. The brain, carrier of our conscious and unconscious experiences, is that part of us which makes us distinctly human. 4. The brain is a complex organ whose role and workings we are only beginning to understand. 5. Experimentation on the brain is difficult because of the repercussions involved in terms of the quality of life. Question 17 Interpretation: Which of the following is the best interpretation of a key point in this reading? 2 1. Whether we are awake or asleep is a result of physical activity and time, not chemicals. 2. When the corpus callosum was cut, people’s brains were to all intents and purposes cut in half, with one side not knowing what the other side was experiencing. 3. Long-term memory and short-term memory have basically the same structure. 4. Schizophrenia is a result of a normal response to change in our world. 5. REM sleep periods represent a deeper sleep than do sleep periods characterized by alpha waves. Question 18 Conclusion: Which of the following statements is the best conclusion that can be drawn from the reading? 1 1. If synapses can be strengthened, scientists may be able to improve an individual’s memory by synapse stimulation. 2. Even if a person were placed in a different environment, the basic relative amounts of the substances put out by his brain would not change. 3. Cutting a person’s corpus callosum would mean that they would see a word such as backstop as two different words, each being read separately by one side of the brain. 4. Alcoholism, while self-destructive, is not a form of drug abuse. 5. The author of this article does not believe in evolution. th

Jacobus, L. A. (2001). Improving college reading, 361-368 (7 ed.). Boston, MA: Thomson Heinle. Adapted rd from: Starr, C. & Taggart, R. (1984). Biology: The university and diversity of life (pp. 375-382, 3 ed.). Wadsworth, Inc. Used by permission of the publisher.

17

CRICOS No: 00213J

W3  Networking

Q1

Q2

Q6

Q3

Q4

Q5 Q7

Q8

Q9

Q10

McCarter, S., & Ash, J. (2003). IELTS Testbuilder with answer key (pp. 16-18, 55-57). Oxford, UK: Macmillan.

18

CRICOS No: 00213J

Q13

Q11 Q14 Q12

Q15

Example Networking is a concept.

Answer Yes

1. Networking is not a modern idea. Y 2. Networking is worn like a badge exclusively in the business world. N 3. People fall into two basic categories. Y 4. A person who shares knowledge and friends makes a better networker than one who does not. Y 5. The classic networker is physically strong and generally in good health.NG

McCarter, S., & Ash, J. (2003). IELTS Testbuilder with answer key (pp. 16-18, 55-57). Oxford, UK: Macmillan.

19

CRICOS No: 00213J

brings success/ has benefits jealous/ insecure/envious block/ stifle

Companies/ businesses/ enterprises Cooperation and contacts

(the) academic world

(the) stereotypical academic

(around) Cambridge (in England) Homosapiens culture

McCarter, S., & Ash, J. (2003). IELTS Testbuilder with answer key (pp. 16-18, 55-57). Oxford, UK: Macmillan.

20

CRICOS No: 00213J

 To MBA or not to MBA? ‘You could be forgiven for thinking just about every man and Ms dog has an MBA these days, ‘ says Anthony Hesketh, of Lancaster University management school. We know what he means. Such is the worldwide growth and awareness of the MBA that this icon of career advancement and high salaries has almost become synonymous with postgraduate education in the business sector. In reality many postgraduate alternatives to an MBA exist. The total number of MBA programmes worldwide is around 2,400, while other masters and advanced courses in the whole spectrum of business education add up to more than 10,000. Two key distinctions exist in matching what aspiring students want with what the universities offer: first is generalization versus specialization, and second is pre-experience versus post-experience, and the two distinctions are interlinked. 6. Carol Blackman, of the University of Westminster school of business, explains the first distinction. ‘Specialist masters programmes are designed either for career preparation in a clearly defined type of job or profession, or are intended to develop or enhance professional competence in individuals who are already experienced. The aim is to increase the depth of their knowledge in the specialist area. The MBA, on the other hand, is a general management programme which provides practising managers with an opportunity for personal development with a broadly-based introduction to all management subject areas and the theory and practice of management’. Specialist knowledge, however, is not everything when it comes to finding a job. 1. Surveys by the UK’S Association of Graduate Recruiters (AGR) repeatedly confirm that what employers seek, and continue to find scarce, are the personal skills that will make graduates valuable employees. In fact, when recruiting new graduates, most employers considered these skills more important than specialist knowledge. What employers seek most from new graduates are enthusiasm and self- motivation, interpersonal skills, team working and good oral communication. Of the nineteen skills considered important in AGR’S 2002 survey, just three require specialist education — numeracy, computer Literacy and foreign languages — and these are low on the list. 4. Nunzio Quacquarelli, chief executive of topcareers.net takes this further. 2 ‘Clearly, salary differentials for those with a second degree, but no significant work experience, do not match those of a good MBA and a number of years in the workplace. According to the AGR research, 4. about 14% of employers offered a better salary to those new graduates with a masters — or even a doctorate. In my view the salary improvement of I0% to 15% largely reflects the recruit’s age and earning expectancy rather than the increase in human capital perceived by the employer. Contrast this with our latest topmba.com MBA Recruiters Survey results which shows 2. that the average salary paid to an MBA with good work experience in the US and Europe is US$80,000 — around two and a half times the average starting salary for a young postgraduate. May, P. (2004). IELTS practice tests (pp. 107-110). London, UK: Oxford University Press.

21

CRICOS No: 00213J

5. & 7 Anthony Hesketh poses the question whether holding a second degree may even be a disadvantage. 7. ‘I have seen many reports over the years suggesting that employers view postgraduates as eminently less employable than those with a first degree. Drive, motivation and career focus, not to mention ability, are what employers value and are prepared to pay for. 5. A postgraduate immediately has an uphill task explaining an additional year or three years of study’. This view may seem cynical, but if you are about to graduate and are considering a further degree, you should take the realities into account and ask yourself some hard questions:  Is the qualification I am considering going to impress employers?  Is it going to give me the edge over less qualified candidates?  Is my consideration of a second degree because I am not sure of my career direction?  Will employers consider that I lack drive and ambition because I have deferred my attempts to find a worthwhile job? Many postgraduate options exist that can help you to acquire the personal skills that employers in the world of business are seeking. Consider, for example, the offerings of Strathclyde and Durham universities. According to 7. Dr Nic Beech, of the University of Strathclyde graduate school of business: ‘The MSc in business management (MBM), offered at USGSB is suitable for students with a good first degree — particularly a non-business first degree — but little or no business experience. Our MBM offers these graduates the opportunity to combine the specialization of their first degree with a general management qualification — something employers recognize produces a well-rounded individual. Graduates tell us that the MBM allows them to access sectors previously out of reach. It is designed to develop the business knowledge1 practical experience and personal skills which employers are seeking’. At the University of Durham business school, Sheena Maberly is careers development officer; she too sees high value in qualifications such as the Durham MA in management (DMAM). She says: ‘Whatever your first degree, from anthropology to zoology a postgraduate business degree can help you gain a competitive edge in an over-crowded 9. job market. If you’re just starting out in your career, a business masters degree like the DMAM will enable you to develop 10. skills directly relevant to employers’ needs. So, extending your studies into management can make you better equipped to ‘hit the ground running’ — and that’s what employers expect Recruiters are highly selective and a vocational qualification is additional evidence of 11. motivation.’ Before committing yourself to postgraduate study, weigh up the 12. options. Perhaps the best route might be to take a job now and plan to do an MBA a few years down the line? Try to get sponsorship from a 13. company. Or go for a well researched and thoroughly thought through masters that will help you land a good job. Ultimately the choice is yours, but focus on the future, and on your target employer’s expectations. Questions 1-3 Do the following statements agree with the information given in the reading passage? TRUE FALSE NOT GIVEN

if the statement agrees with the information if the statement contradicts the information if there is no information on this

May, P. (2004). IELTS practice tests (pp. 107-110). London, UK: Oxford University Press.

22

CRICOS No: 00213J

1. British employers are more interested in what potential recruits can do than what they know.

T / F / NG

2. A recruit with a specialist masters usually earns as much as an experienced employee with a good MBA.

T / F / NG

3. The writer claims that undergraduates often plan to do a masters because they can’t decide what career to follow.

T / F / NG

Questions 4-8 The text quotes various individuals. Match the four people A—D with the four points made in Questions 4-8. You may use any of the people more than once. 4.

Employees with postgraduate qualifications earn more because they are older and expect more.

__C____

5.

It can be difficult to convince an employer that the extra time spent at university was necessary.

__A____

6.

One type of course focuses on a particular aspect of business, whereas the other is more general in approach.

__B____

7.

Graduates who have neither worked in nor studied business are suited to our programme.

__D____

8.

There is evidence that companies may prefer to employ people without a masters degree.

__A____

List of people A. Anthony Hesketh B. Carol Blackman C. Nunzio Quacquarelli D. Nic Beech Questions 9-14 Complete the summary below. Choose ONE word from the reading passage for each answer. According to Sheena Maberly, a second degree can improve the 9. job prospects of graduates in any subject. Taking a management MA gives them the 10. skills companies are looking for, and lets them get straight on with the job as soon as they start work. It also shows they have the 11. motivation that companies seek.

First, however, it is important to consider the 12. options whether to start right away on a carefully chosen postgraduate course or to do so after a few years’ work, preferably with financial assistance from the 13. Company. Whichever they decide, they should think about the 14. future and what the company wants.

May, P. (2004). IELTS practice tests (pp. 107-110). London, UK: Oxford University Press.

23

CRICOS No: 00213J

 Worker poll shows family, fringes gains favour American workers are sacrificing higher pay and fast promotion for 1. more fun on the job and 2. more time with their families, according to a 30. major survey of life in the American workplace. Three in five employees say they feel 23.“used up” by the end of the day: a day that piles up an average of 8 hours at work and 6 more hours of commuting, chores and children. A similar majority say they have seen a coworker lose a job in recent years, and are deeply nervous about the economy and their own job security. The survey of 3,381 workers nationwide, by the New York-based Families and Work Institute, confirms some trends that have been chronicled informally for years. Managers with families of their own, for instance, are far more patient with employees who lose job time because of child-related problems. Furthermore, when it comes to cooking, cleaning, shopping, and child care, women in two-income couples are four times more likely than men to carry the load. However, the most profound finding, labour specialists and workers say, is that most employees say they prefer 3. a decent supervisor and a chance at a 4. home life over big money and responsibility The pattern makes sense to Anne McGrath, a 39-year-old data analyst with Hale & Dorr in Boston. She said she could easily earn more than her $30,000 a year as an executive secretary in another office. However, the law firm’s 24. fringe benefits, which include emergency on-site day care, flexible work hours and a computer terminal in the home, have kept her in place for seven years.“Let’s face it: data analysis is pretty dry” she said. “I used to be a career-first person: I wanted to be a flight attendant, but I’ve changed. I seek fulfilment from family.” Punctuating the changes in McGrath’s life was the survey’s finding that 87 percent of American workers live with at least one family member (4 percent have roommates and just 9 percent live alone). According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of workers who live with family members is 15 percent higher than it was in a 1990 survey, before recession and downsizing rippled through the American workforce, forcing many children and parents to live together to cut costs. A result, the survey said, is that finding time for spouses, children, parents 8 or partners is becoming a priority. “It’s a profound new path after 15 turbulent years in the workplace,” said Ellen Galinsky, who directed the survey. “For years, people were living and breathing their careers. Now they’re saying, ‘I just won’t put aside my family life.” Fandi Pleskow of Needham, a 35-year-old mother of three who trained as a paediatric surgeon, says she took the path of fewer hours despite her original ambitions of becoming well-known, even famous, in the field of 25. gastroenterology. “I guess I fit the bill exactly,” said Pleskow, who now works a flexible schedule as a researcher at the New England Medical Center in Boston. “I turned my whole career around: I could earn twice the money in a less joyful atmosphere; I’ve put my ambitions aside in favour of my 5. family life, and my husband . . . he’s wonderful, but I’m the one who sweeps the house.” MOMENTUM GROWING The survey found that the family-first trend is gaining momentum among 6. younger men. About one-third of men under 40 said they would consider giving up both promotions and pay increases in favour of a better home life, twice the number of men who felt that way five years ago.“I used to think I’d put up with endless hours forever,” said 7. John Costello, 8. an engineer with Polaroid Corp. in Waltham who has

Adapted from Gardener, P.S. (2000). New directions: An integrated approach to reading, writing and critical thinking (pp. 177-181). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

24

CRICOS No: 00213J

declined offers of better pay from other companies. “I once saw myself as a manager. Now I manage my family” Costello, 38, says he took the job at Polaroid for reasons big and small. The office is within biking distance of his Belmont home, and the company even installed new showers. More importantly, he said, his bosses have children and never scowl when he needs a morning off. “I took a half-day last week,” he said. “It’s viewed more positively here, and believes me I’ve seen it viewed negatively elsewhere. It’s not that I’ve dropped my career. I’m doing well here and the fringe benefits are great. But family is first.” According to the survey, that view is gaining among managers, but is not as universal as workers would like. Forty percent of the working parents questioned said they still felt they were breaking unspoken rules of the workplace by taking time off from the job to care for their children. A MORALE-BOOSTER “I wouldn’t say all 9. employers have caught on to this,” said Whit Browne, a Wakefield 26. consultant who helps businesses with employee needs. “But the ones who listen are learning that simple things like 10. onsite child care work wonders for morale.” In day care, at least, companies seem to be coming around. The survey noted that parents with youngsters tend to miss a week more each year due to 27.absenteeism than workers without children. As a result, more and more companies are investing in day care. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts yesterday opened its first day-care centre, in Quincy, with spaces for 20 children. The company said it received nearly 70 applications and hopes to expand to 60 spaces in the next few weeks. “Sure it’s a response,” said Susan Leahy, a spokeswoman for the giant health insurer. “Our workers tell us what they need.” Specialists said the survey’s results offer other insights into a work force where the presence of 11. women has risen from 40 percent to 48 percent in 15 years. Not since the Department of Labor’s Quality of Employment Survey, conducted in 1977, they say, has such a 28. broad-based survey been conducted of workers’ lives. The discoveries included changes in the work environment. Workers are crediting their employers with more flexibility and with trying to make the workplace more open and comfortable. OPEN DIALOGUE PRAISED Asked why they had taken their most recent jobs, 65 percent of those surveyed cited 12. open communications; 60 percent cited 13. the effect on family life; and 59 percent 14. management quality. Only 35 percent of workers rated salary as very important. “A lot of this stems from the psychologists— that total-quality and team- management stuff,” said Browne. “If people buy into it then they have huge motivational rewards. They feel like they’ve practically signed the products they’ve made.” It was that kind of environment that drew Michael Berry, a Cambridge father of two, to Thinking Machines Corp., a high-tech firm near his home that tries to keep the mood light. Like many workers in the survey, Berry said he did not give up the urge to get ahead. He just took his ambition to a new setting.“I took a pay cut—very willingly—to work in a 15. friendly environment,” he said. “I’ve had fun, but I don’t feel like I gave up all the traditional rewards. I can get those here.”He also gets to enjoy a bit of 29. quirkiness. Like the day a co-worker raised a French flag in the lunchroom and declared one of the tables a French-only zone. Even the food was French. “It’s the kind of thing that adds extra appeal,” he said.

Adapted from Gardener, P.S. (2000). New directions: An integrated approach to reading, writing and critical thinking (pp. 177-181). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

25

CRICOS No: 00213J

MORE EMPLOYEE CONTROL Browne said this type of workplace approach, which can give employees control over their own hours, work teams and even their spots on the assembly line, has angered 16.unions. “The survey points up the weakened position of unions,” he said, noting that they now represent only 15 percent of the labour force. “They’re ceding almost everything to managers.” Still, the heart of the survey was its focus on the way employees balance 17. work and 18. family concerns. Despite the big changes in the office place, 66 percent of employed parents with young children surveyed said they still lacked time at home with their children. Deirdre Mailing, a dental hygienist in Medway and new mother, said her key was finding a likable place and a liveable schedule, and not worrying too much about advancement above all else.“I’ve been told that I could make more money elsewhere,” she said. ‘But we have a great group of girls here and we work well together. We make time for our 19. kids. Who needs anything else?”

Adapted from Gardener, P.S. (2000). New directions: An integrated approach to reading, writing and critical thinking (pp. 177-181). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

26

CRICOS No: 00213J

Questions 1-19 Read the text and complete the gap fill summary. US workers are seeking 1. more fun on the job and 2. more time with families rather than more income or opportunities for advancement, claims a US workplace survey. In fact, most employees surveyed claim that they would rather have a 3. decent supervisor and more chances to have a better 4. home life . Anne McGrath and Fandi Pleskow are examples as they too value their 5. family life above all else. The text suggests that another group, 6. younger men , is giving more priority to families. A person who is an example of this group is 7. John Costello, who works as an 8. engineer . Another group that is beginning to view families as more important is 9. employers . Evidence of this is the provision of 10. child care at some workplaces. One major factor driving this change is the rise in the number of 11. women in the workforce. As a result, the top three criteria for selecting jobs are 12. open communications , 13. effect on family life and 14. management quality . One happy employee, Michael Berry, describes his work environment as 15. friendly . According to the article, one group that is not happy with the trend is 16. unions. The article argues that employees wish to create a balance between 17. work and 18. family (concerns) and cites Deirdre Mailing as an example of someone who wants more time to spend with her 19. kids. Questions 20-22 The following questions relate to the two bar graphs. 20. What were the top three priorities for workers according to the first graph? open communications, effect on personal/family life and management quality 21. Are these the same priorities mentioned in the article? YES 22. Who does most of the housework according to the second bar graph? women Questions 23-30 Vocabulary in context. Please answer the following questions without looking in dictionaries. 23. “used up” in paragraph 1 means tired, exhausted 24. “fringe benefits” in paragraph 3 means extra items paid for by employers e.g. on-site day care, flexible hours, a computer at home 25. From the context you can tell that “gastroenterology” (paragraph 6) is a field of medicine 26. What do “consultants” (paragraph 10) do? help people (in this case employers) 27. What is “absenteeism” (paragraph 11)? missing work 28. What is a “broad-based survey” (paragraph 12)? a set of questions that many people answered 29. What is “quirkiness” (paragraph 14)? something odd and funny 30. The purpose of the article was to report on and discuss the results of a survey about life in American workplaces

Adapted from Gardener, P.S. (2000). New directions: An integrated approach to reading, writing and critical thinking (pp. 177-181). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

27

CRICOS No: 00213J

W4  Caring for the customer A damning new report claims that tobacco giants possessed the technology to make cigarette smoking safer, but didn’t use it. Cigarette manufacturers abandoned dozens of technologies that could have reduced the death toll from their products, according to a new report from two leading British anti-smoking groups. It claims that tobacco barons feared that marketing a ‘safer’ cigarette would amount to an admission that smoking is dangerous. The report, from Action On Smoking and Health (ASH) and the Imperial Cancer Research Fund, details 58 patented methods for cutting levels of toxic chemicals in cigarette smoke.(Q1) None has yet seen the light of day.( Q16) These include a catalytic method to remove carbon monoxide and nitric oxide from smoke (Q2A) (US 412348), registered by British American Tobacco (BAT) in 1980. Philip Morris filed a similar patent (US 4301817) (Q10) in 1981, which also describes a process to cut levels of hydrogen cyanide.(Q2B) The cost of implementing these technologies (Q3A) may have been one of the reasons they were abandoned. But ASH believes concerns about the legal difficulties in admitting the dangers posed by existing products were far more significant. (Q3B)

RISING TOLL Smoking-related deaths in developed countries Men Women 1955 447 000 26 000 1965 793 000 70 000 1975 1 119 000 165 000 1985 1 369 000 317 000 1995 1 442 000 476 000

“Marketing a cigarette on the basis it had less of a tasteless gas like ( Q11) carbon monoxide would effectively mean admitting the product was bad for you,’(Q4) says Clive Bates, director of ASH. “Then you would move into the area of product liability with the smoker who has had heart disease made worse by inhaling carbon monoxide.’(Q17) Although cigarette manufacturers have promoted lower-tar brands for decades,( Q 12) Bates says that the industry has been careful not to claim these are safer. Instead, they have been marketed as tasting milder.

Miller, M. (2004). QUTIC Resource. Adapted from: New Scientist 6 March 1999

28

CRICOS No: 00213J

Bates also points to a confidential memo written in 1986 by Patrick Sheehy, then chief executive of BAT, uncovered last year during litigation in the US. It states: “In attempting to develop a ‘safe’ cigarette you are, by implication, in danger of being interpreted as accepting that the current product is unsafe and this is not a position I think we should take.”( Q18) Chris Proctor, head of science and regulatory affairs at BATs London headquarters, disputes Bates’s claims. He says that many of the technologies were not developed because they might in theory increase Ievels of other toxic chemicals.(Q5)(Q19) But Proctor could not confirm whether BAT had conducted tests to exclude this possibility. It is unclear to what extent the shelved patents could have cut premature deaths. But Bates says: “If you could make cigarettes 10 per cent less dangerous, that’s 12 000 lives saved each year in the UK alone.” Among the most dangerous substances in cigarette smoke (Q 13)are carcinogens called nitrosamines. The new report lists six patented processes for reducing or eliminating these chemicals from cigarette smoke.( Q20) The tobacco giants have never implemented any of them, but a small company called Star Scientific of Petersburg, Virginia, hopes to introduce nitrosaminefree cigarettes next year. (Q14) In 1998, the company patented a method (US 5803081) of microwaving tobacco to kill the bacteria that create the right chemical environment for the production of nitrosamines. (Q6) “If their process is effective, it should be applied to cigarette manufacturing everywhere,” says John Slade, a specialist in nicotine addiction at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in Newark. “But it might require legislation”.( Q21) The report will be seized upon by sick smokers who are trying to sue tobacco firms for damages.( Q15) They have been experiencing mixed fortunes. Last week in Britain, for example, 46 smokers abandoned their action against Gallaher and Imperial Tobacco after a judge ruled they had waited too long after contracting lung cancer before launching their suit. (Q7)(Q22) However, Richard Daynard, a law professor at North-eastern University in Boston and founder of the Tobacco Products Liability Project advocacy group, believes the report could precipitate further lawsuits. (Q8) “The companies knew how to make changes that would mean many fewer deaths, but they continued to make cigarettes as they are. This is criminal level of negligence.”(Q9)(Q23) Proctor rejects this charge: “l firmly believe that BAT has been very responsible.” Philip Morris would not comment on the report.

Miller, M. (2004). QUTIC Resource. Adapted from: New Scientist 6 March 1999

29

CRICOS No: 00213J

Read the text and answer the following questions. 1. What did the new report on smoking list? 58 Patented methods for cutting levels of toxic chemicals in cigarette smoke 2. Provide two examples of the patented methods reduce toxicity in cigarettes. A catalytic method to remove carbon monoxide and nitric oxide from smoke A process to cut levels of hydrogen cyanide. 3. What two factors could have contributed to these technologies not being used? Cost of the technologies Concerns about the legal difficulties in admitting the dangers posed by existing products. 4. According to Sheehy, what does stating you are developing a safer cigarette imply? It would effectively mean admitting the product was bad for you. 5. Why does Proctor believe the development of the technologies wasn't furthered? He says that many of the technologies were not developed because they might in theory increase levels of other toxic chemicals. 6. How does microwaving tobacco affect it? It kills the bacteria that create the right chemical environment for the production of nitrosamines. 7. What caused the approximately fifty British smokers to stop their court action? The judge’s ruling that they had waited too long after contracting lunvh cancer before launching their suit. 8. What does Daynard believe the new report might lead to? Further lawsuits. 9. In what way does he support this? The companies knew how to make changes but didn’t. He believes this is criminal negligence. True or false? 10. US Patent 4301817 is a duplicate of Patent 4182348.

T

F

11. Having less carbon dioxide means the cigarette has less taste.

T

F

12. Cigarettes with less tar have been advertised for more than ten years.

T

F

13. Nitrosamines are the most dangerous chemicals in cigarettes.

T

F

Miller, M. (2004). QUTIC Resource. Adapted from: New Scientist 6 March 1999

30

CRICOS No: 00213J

14. Star Scientific will start selling nitrosamine-less cigarettes next year.

T

15. People who want to take cigarette companies to court will use the report to help them. T

F F

Who said it? Write the initials of the person/ group below who made the following statements. Clive Bates Chris Proctor Action on Smoking and Health Patrick Sheehy (CB) (CP) (ASH) (PS) A judge (J)

Richard Daynard (RD)

Philip Morris . " (PM)

John Slade (JS)

16. None of the methods to reduce the levels of toxicity in cigarettes has been implemented. ASH 17. Admitting cigarettes were bad for you would have led to people believing cigarette companies were liable for smokers having heart problems. CB 18. BAT should not state we have developed a safe cigarette due to the fact it could mean our current cigarettes are dangerous. PS 19. I’m not sure if BAT undertook experiments to see if the technologies would make the levels of other dangerous chemicals increase. CP 20. The fact that there are six patented processes. ASH 21. They could need to make new laws. JS 22. You should have sued before this point in time. J 23. The tobacco companies have behaved like criminals. RD Complete the following sentences by adding the cause or effect as outlined in the article. 24. Tobacco barons didn't want to introduce new smoking technologies because they were afraid that marketing a “safer” cigarette would amount to an admission that smoking is dangerous. 25. The tobacco companies are the same as criminals due to the fact they cigarette the same as they are even though they knew how to make changes that would have meant fewer

26. The manufacture of less dangerous cigarettes by a factor of 10% could lead to 12,000 lives saved every year. Miller, M. (2004). QUTIC Resource. Adapted from: New Scientist 6 March 1999

31

CRICOS No: 00213J

 Conspicuous consumption Pre reading vocabulary questions 1. What does ‘conspicuous’ mean? Look it up in a dictionary and write the definition here: ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ 2. What is the opposite of conspicuous? _________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ First published in 1899, The Theory of the Leisure Class, written by Norwegian American sociologist and economist Thorstein Bunde Veblen, introduced the concept of conspicuous consumption. Q1 Conspicuous consumption is the term that describes the tendency of individuals to purchase expensive products as an outward display of wealth and a means of enhancing their status in society. Veblen (1994) used the term to describe the phenomena of gaining and holding the esteem of others in society through the evidential display of wealth. In this way, an individual is attempting to prove that they have the financial means to afford a particular product. Conspicuous consumption is therefore closely linked to demonstrating status, success, and achievement. It has long been considered that material possessions, capable of being observed in society, Q2 carry social meanings and are used as a communicator to signal a person's wealth, status, and identity. In Plato's The Republic, Book II, Adeimantus declares to Socrates: “since… appearance tyrannizes over truth and is lord of happiness, to appearance I must devote myself” (2007, p. 42). Through consumption behaviour and product choices, consumers can send signals to society. Products and brands displayed conspicuously (overtly) have the ability to indicate to others in a particular society one's image identity, as well as wealth. Q3 Consuming conspicuously cannot be achieved without the presence of others and the visual display of that consumption. Therefore, those who consume conspicuously rely on other people's understanding the “signalling by consuming” and evaluating the person on the basis of their choices, known as the spectator's view. O'Cass and McEwen (2004) defined “conspicuous consumption” as the tendency for individuals to enhance their image through overt consumption of possessions, which communicates status to others. It is through consumption decisions that an individual can benefit not only from the direct effects of their choice but also from the indirect and social effects emanating from society's observation of their choice. Q4 Private or fundamental utility is the theoretical framework that refers to the individual's evaluation of their own satisfaction from consuming certain goods. In this way, product styles and cost, rather than utility, determine how consumers are perceived by others. Not all individuals desire conspicuous goods. The level of conspicuous consumption prevalent depends on one of a number of factors. Firstly, Q5 the prevailing norms, values, customs, beliefs, and laws in a society may all be part of sociocultural context that underlies consumption patterns. In this case, conspicuous consumption occurs where the visibility of such behaviour can be understood by those within the society. It is not only Bertacco, L. (2012) QUTIC Resource. Adapted from Nash, H. (2011). Conspicuous consumption. In J. Mansvelt, & P. Robbins (Eds.), Green consumerism: An A-to-Z guide. (pp. 68-70). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc. doi: 10.4135/9781412973809.n26

CRICOS No: 00213J

Western industrialized countries that can be characterized by conspicuous consumption. Belk (1988) argues that even in Q6 less economically developed countries people are often attracted to and indulge in aspects of conspicuous consumption before they have adequate food, clothing, and shelter. Secondly, an individual's social network or reference group can influence their consumption patterns. Thirdly, psychological variables, that is, the way in which an individual regulates their own behaviour, otherwise referred to as “selfmonitoring,” plays a role in conspicuous consumption. According to O'Cass and McEwen (2004), high self-monitors tend to place more importance on the overt self and be concerned with maintaining their appearance and overall image as a means of compensating for a lack of security in their own identity. Braun and Wicklund (1989) argue that people who are committed to an identity and who evidence incompleteness with respect to that identity will be more prone to exaggerate the prestige value of whatever symbols they have at hand. Q7 Last, gender has been found to also increase susceptibility to conspicuous consumption. Auty and Elliot observe that females use clothing and apparel more than males to tell others who they are and how much status they have. In these ways, Veblen's theory implies a positive relationship between wealth and conspicuous consumption, in which the more costly the item, the greater the demand, although the utility remains the same as a similar item at a lower price. The rationale for this has been explained by Brehm (as cited in Burke, Lake, & Paine, 2008) in his theory of psychological reactance. A higher-priced product is more attractive because the affordability of the item decreases, which precludes the majority from obtaining the product. Intrinsically linked to the higher price of a product is the prestige value and status that intensify a product's attractiveness to consumers on the basis of exclusivity. Q9 It follows, then, that certain brand dimensions and associations can lead to increased marketplace recognition and economic success, although researchers have found that with greater utility and uptake of more expensive products, the prestige and symbolism of wealth can dissipate, as can be observed with the Burberry label. Today, Q10 conspicuous consumption not only refers to the wealthy obtaining expensive and relatively exclusive goods not for their utility but for the prestige value, as Veblen described, but it also has come to be regarded as a broader term to explain the phenomenon of expenditures made by an individual from any socioeconomic background for the purpose of ostentatiously displaying wealth, status, image, or a certain identity that will be perceived by their particular social networks and reference groups. However, with the global economic crisis, there has been a distinct reduction in support for conspicuous consumption. Instead, Western societies in particular are focusing increasingly on inconspicuous consumption. This theory, adopted by scholars in 1980, provides the antithesis of Veblen's conspicuous consumption. Inconspicuous consumption is characterized by consumers buying cheaper items than they need to avoid Q11 ostentation. The underlying motivation of the inconspicuous consumer is either to Q12 avoid embarrassing others by their wealth or to discourage them from asking for Q13 financial support. So, although higher-priced items continue to be bought, many individuals, described as “furtive shoppers,” are now choosing discretion over demonstrable, conspicuous goods. Bertacco, L. (2012) QUTIC Resource. Adapted from Nash, H. (2011). Conspicuous consumption. In J. Mansvelt, & P. Robbins (Eds.), Green consumerism: An A-to-Z guide. (pp. 68-70). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc. doi: 10.4135/9781412973809.n26

CRICOS No: 00213J

References Auty, S., & Elliott, R. (1998). Social identity and the meaning of fashion brands. In B. G. Englis, and A. Olofsson, (Eds.), European advances in consumer research, Provo, UT: Association for Consumer Research. Belk, R.W. (1988) Possessions and the extended self. Journal of Consumer Research 15(2), 139-168. Retrieved from: http://www.jstor.org.ezp01.library.qut.edu.au/stable/2489522 Braun, O. L., & Wicklund, R. A. (1989). Psychological antecedents of conspicuous consumption. Journal of Economic Psychology 10(2), 161–187. Retrieved from: http://www.sciencedirect.com.ezp01.library.qut.edu.au/science/article/pii/01674870 89900184 Brehm, J. W. (1966) A theory of psychological reactance. In Burke, W. W., Lake, D. G., & Paine. J.W. (Eds) (2008). Organisation change: A comprehensive reader (pp. 377-390). London, UK: Josey Bass Wiley. O'Cass, A., & McEwen, H. (2004). Exploring consumer status and conspicuous consumption. Journal of Consumer Behaviour 4(1), 25–39. Retrieved from: http://dx.doi.org.ezp01.library.qut.edu.au/10.1002/cb.155 Plato. (2007).). The republic. MobileReference.com. [EBL version] Retrieved from: http://reader.eblib.com.au.ezp01.library.qut.edu.au/%28S%28tfjj5khmxuwrla0efytwv gyt%29%29/Reader.aspx?p=370170&o=96&u=Sxsv%2blrc58hEflXyseNHig%3d%3d&t= 1349831521&h=D4D3B6144A126245AA228BE09464446643291365&s=6951472&ut=2 45&pg=1&r=img&c=-1&pat=n Veblen, T. B. (1994). The theory of the leisure class. New York, NY: Penguin.

Bertacco, L. (2012) QUTIC Resource. Adapted from Nash, H. (2011). Conspicuous consumption. In J. Mansvelt, & P. Robbins (Eds.), Green consumerism: An A-to-Z guide. (pp. 68-70). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc. doi: 10.4135/9781412973809.n26

CRICOS No: 00213J

Questions 1-3 Circle the best answer, A, B, or C. 1. The term conspicuous consumption refers to: a) Someone purchasing an expensive item to display their wealth, and boost their social standing b) Someone purchasing a high quality item to be associated with its designer c) Someone purchasing an expensive item to display their wealth, so that people will envy them 2. We use the ways we consume and the products we choose, to send out signals about our: a) Status b) Appearance c) Society 3. To consume conspicuously, it must occur: a) In private b) In a shopping mall c) In front of others Questions 4-9 Read the statement and decide if it True, False or Not Given. 4. A person is judged on how useful their product is not by its style or cost.

T

F

NG

5. The sociocultural context determines patterns of consumption.

T

F

NG

6. In developing countries some people may put aspects of conspicuous consumption before their basic needs.

T

F

NG

7. Sex does not influence an individual’s vulnerability to conspicuous consumption.

T

F

NG

8. Low self monitors also buy brand name products.

T

F

NG

9. Burberry is an example of a brand whose increased economic success has meant that their social status has diminished.

T

F

NG

Summary 10-13 This is a summary of the final paragraph. Complete the gaps in the summary with three words or less from the paragraph. You may need to change some of the word forms. These days the term Q10 conspicuous consumption has come to refer to the ways that people from different backgrounds use products to convey their financial status, and image to their peers. However, the global financial crisis has seen a shift towards less Q11 ostentatious displays of wealth in harsh economic times to Q12 avoid embarrassing others or deter people from seeking Q13 financial support. This shift has been termed inconspicuous consumption.

Bertacco, L. (2012) QUTIC Resource. Adapted from Nash, H. (2011). Conspicuous consumption. In J. Mansvelt, & P. Robbins (Eds.), Green consumerism: An A-to-Z guid. (pp. 68-70). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc. doi: 10.4135/9781412973809.n26

35

CRICOS No: 00213J

 Consumerism: Curses and causes By Rick Wolff 1. US consumerism, citizens driven excessively to buy goods and services and accumulate consumable wealth, is cursed almost everywhere. Many environmentalists blame it for global warming. Critics of the current economic disasters often point to home-buying gluttony as the cause. Many see consumerism behind the borrowing that makes the US the world's greatest debtor nation today. Moralists of otherwise diverse motivations agree on attacking consumerist materialism as against spiritual values. Educators blame it for distracting young people's interest from learning. Psychologists attribute mass loneliness and depression to unrealizable expectations of what commodities can deliver to consumers. Physicians decry the diseases, stress, and exhaustion linked to excessive work driven by desire for excessive consumption. Yet, for a long time, exhortations by all such folks have mostly failed to slow, let alone reverse, US consumerism. 2. The reasons for the emergence of consumerism are not so obvious. 10. The cause is not advertising, since that begs the question of why that industry should have been so successful in the US and grown to such influence. Nor is it plausible to attribute some national personality flaw to our citizens. 3. A big part of the explanation lies in the unique history of US business. 11. From 1820 to 1970, over every decade, 15. average real wages rose enabling a rising standard of consumption. These 150 years rooted workers' beliefs that the USA was a "chosen" place where every generation would live better than its parents. This was "the good news" of US capitalism for the workers. The "bad news" was that the average 13. worker's productivity, the amount of output each worker produced for his/her employer to sell, rose even faster. This was because workers were relentlessly driven by employers to work harder, faster, and 13. with ever more (and more complicated) machinery. Thus, alongside rising workers' wages, faster 14. rising productivity brought even bigger gains for employers. 4. An unspoken, historic deal defined the US economy for those 150 years. 16.Businesses paid rising wages to enable rising working class consumption; while the 16. workers had to provide rising work effort, rising profitability, and thus the even faster rise of profits. As the rise in workers consumption was slower than the rise of their productivity, the output that they delivered to employers, the gap between workers and employers widened across US history. A fundamentally unequal society emerged, one that forever mocked, challenged, and undermined the ideological claims of the US to be the land of equality and opportunity. The working class labored ever harder, consumed more, and yet fell ever further behind the minority who lived off the growing difference between what workers produced and their wages. This deal might have collapsed at any time if US workers rebelled against the organization of production in the US. This could have occurred if rising wages did not suffice to make them ignore the growing inequality of US life, or if they rejected subordination to ever more automated, exhausting work disciplines, or if they refused to deliver ever more wealth to ever fewer corporate boards of directors of immense corporations ever further removed from them in power, wealth, and access to culture. For that deal to survive, for the US economy to have been "successful" for so long, something had to emerge in US society that prevented any of these deal-breakers from happening. Enter consumerism! 5. The idea settled into US culture that consumption was the proper goal of work and the measure of personal worth, of one's "success" in life. 17. Business boosters and ideologues pushed that idea, but they were hardly alone. 17. Advertisers made it their constant message. 17. Trade unions focused also on raising wages and consumption, just what US capitalism could and did deliver, rather than challenging the organization of production. 17. Economists did their part by building modern economics on the unquestioned axiom that labor was a burden for which consumption enabled by wages was the compensation. This definition of economics required banishing any alternative economic theories from Healy, J. (2012). Adapted from: Wolff, R. (2008). http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2008/wolff300408.html

36

CRICOS No: 00213J

schools. 17. The mass media proceeded as if it were likewise obvious common sense that all any employee really cared about was the size of his/her wage/salary. Of course, some dissident voices rejected these ideas and this capital/labor deal, but consumerism usually all but drowned them out. 6. Consumerism's deep roots in the psyche of US workers explains their reactions when real wages stopped rising in the 1970s and since. They simply kept on 18. buying more commodities. To pay for them, 19. workers took on more hours of labor and 20. borrowed vast sums. Worker exhaustion rose accordingly, likewise the number of family members sent out to 21. work (straining "family values" to the breaking point). Anxiety intensified over frightening family debt levels. In this situation, the huge scandal of 22. subprime mortgages was a predictable disaster waiting to happen. 7. The 150 year deal has been broken. The business side no longer needs it; it has not since the 1970s. That is why real wages stopped rising. Most workers just postponed facing that reality and its implications: by having more family members do more work and by heavy borrowing. Meanwhile, able and willing laborers 23. abroad who accept 24. wages far lower than in the US beckon. US corporations are moving to produce there. They will ship 25. "home" the goods and services they produce abroad so long as US citizens can afford them. When that no longer pays, they will redirect shipments to the rest of the 26. world market. 8. Consumerism was a necessary component of US business from the 1820s to the 1970s. As an ideology uniquely suited to that economic system, it was articulated, cultivated, and supported by different social groups. Whatever fun comedians and critics poke at consumerism, it was not some lovable human foible, nor some quirk of our culture. It was the 27. glue holding the US economy together for a long time. Even more important, business dissolved that glue in the 1970s, and now US workers have exhausted ways to postpone the results of that dissolution. 28. Storms are rising.

Questions 1-8 Read the text and decide which of the sentences in the box belong in the gaps marked in the text above. Write your answers in the spaces provided under the box. A. Consumerism was a necessary component of US business from the 1820s to the 1970s. B. The idea settled into US culture that consumption was the proper goal of work and the measure of personal worth, of one's "success" in life. C. A big part of the explanation lies in the unique history of US business. D. US consumerism, citizens driven excessively to buy goods and services and accumulate consumable wealth, is cursed almost everywhere. E. The 150 year deal has been broken. F. Consumerism's deep roots in the psyche of US workers explains their reactions when real wages stopped rising in the 1970s and since. G. An unspoken, historic deal defined the US economy for those 150 years. H. The reasons for the emergence of consumerism are not so obvious. 1. 5.

D B

2. 6.

H F

3. 7.

C E

4. 8.

G A

Healy, J. (2012). Adapted from: Wolff, R. (2008). http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2008/wolff300408.html

37

CRICOS No: 00213J

Questions 9-12 True/ False/ Not Given Circle the correct answer. 9. US consumerism is blamed for many of the world’s key problems. 10. Advertising was one factor causing consumerism. 11. Real wages in the US kept rising until 1972. 12. Profits rose slightly faster than wages.

T/ F/ NG T/ F/ NG T/ F/ NG T/ F/ NG

Questions 13-15 Match the following causes and results in the text. Write the letter for each result opposite the correct cause. Results: a. higher consumption, b. higher productivity, c. higher profits 13. more and better machinery → b 14. higher productivity → c 15. higher real wages → a

Questions 16-17 16. The deal referred to in paragraph 4 was between which two parties? business and workers 17. Name three groups that promoted the consumerist concept. Any three of the following: business boosters/ideologues, advertisers, economists, trade unions, the mass media. Questions 18-28 Complete the summary of the last three paragraphs by using no more than three words from the passage. Most answers are only one word. Some words may need to be altered grammatically. Despite the new trend that began in the 1970s, US employees did not change their behaviour but continued to 18. buy more goods. In order to do this they 19. worked longer, 20. borrowed huge amounts of money and more of them went to 21. work. A huge catastrophe, known as the 22. sub-prime mortgage scandal resulted.

Now US companies are planning to manufacture goods 23. abroad as many overseas workers are happy to accept 24. (far) lower wages. They will transport these products 25. “home” as Americans can 26. afford them, but when that is no longer profitable, they will sell them to the remainder of the 26. world market.

The author concludes that consumerism 27. glued the American economy together for an extended period. As a result, 28. storms are rising. Healy, J. (2012). Adapted from: Wolff, R. (2008). http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2008/wolff300408.html

38

CRICOS No: 00213J

W5  Poverty and health

Q9

The link between health and economic outcomes has always been a central issue for both economists and sociologists. Most experts believe that there is a strong causal link between health and economic prosperity. For example, 1. those earning higher incomes have more money to invest in human capital such as improving and maintaining health. This means that their standard of living improves as their earning power increases and they are able to invest in better diets, improved sanitation and better health care. 2 & 3 A healthy worker is less likely to contract disease, and this means productivity at work improves with the resultant opportunity to command higher earnings. 9. A clear example of the link between economic productivity and poor health is Uganda, which is situated in the east of central Africa. Recent surveys have indicated that 46% of the population is forced to live on less than $1.00 per day. 4. Only 49% of households in Uganda have access to health care facilities. The current average life expectancy is 48 years from birth, which is estimated to be about 45 for males and 50.5 years for females. An assessment of the burden of disease in Uganda in 1995 demonstrated that 5. 75% of life years lost as a result of premature death were due to entirely preventable diseases: perinatal and maternal conditions accounted for 20% ; malaria for 1 5.4% ; acute lower respiratory tract infections 10.5%; AIDS 9. 1 %; diarrhoea 8.4%. In addition, 38% of under five year olds are stunted, 6. 25% are underweight and 5% wasted. These factors accounted for the extremely high mortality rate experienced in this age-group. 10. A recent report from Healthcare Worldwide makes the clearest and strongest case yet that 10.disease has a fundamental and disastrous effect on the economies of countries and, in the long run, at the global level. The report concludes that funding increases for health from affluent and poorer countries alike are vital. Although the extra expenditure from poorer countries would be difficult to find, the report concluded that the benefits received would be worth it. It is estimated that this injection of funds into the healthcare systems of the poorer countries would result in a significant increase in productivity because people would be healthier and more able to work. 10. The report also urges a focus on the biggest killers, from childbirth and AIDS, and on medical care at a local clinic level rather than in prestigious hospitals. To this end, the Ugandan government has pursued a comprehensive poverty reduction strategy which has addressed the issues of access to appropriate and adequate health care by utilising the existing political structure of the country. This strategy has resulted in the incidence of poverty in Uganda falling from 56% in 1992 to 35% in 2000. 7. The Multinational Finance Corporation (MFCJ has praised the East African country for the progress it has made towards reducing poverty 7. and has just announced its approval of a staggered $21 million loan which will be made available in three equal parts over three years beginning in 2002. This incentive means that Uganda has become the first country this year to benefit from a 11. Poverty Reduction Support Credit (PRSC). This is a new approach to World Bank lending, 11. available exclusively to low-income countries with strong policy and institutional reform programs, which allows poverty reduction strategies to be carried out. However, the MFC notes that although the 8. Ugandan economy has performed relatively well during 20012002 in achieving a 5.5% growth, Uganda would still continue to rely heavily on donor assistance. The United Nations Human Development Report for 2002 ranks Uganda as 1 50th out of 1 73 countries, and reports it is 8. “far behind” in its attempts to gain the anticipated 1 0% increase. It may also be unable to reach the hoped for Millennium Development goal of halving the proportion of people suffering from hunger by 2015. Scovell, D., Pastellas, V., & Knobel, M. (2004). 404 Essential tests for IELTS. Academic module (pp. 44-51). Sydney, NSW: Adams and Austen Press.

39

CRICOS No: 00213J

The Ugandan government is also dedicated to the control of AIDS through the Uganda AIDS Commission. In 1993, Uganda reported the highest rate of AIDS cases per population in Africa and, therefore, the world. 12. HIV, the name given to the preliminary stages of AIDS, and AIDS, the fully developed form of the disease, are still one of the leading causes of death in Uganda. Currently, about 2.4 million people in the country are 12. HIV positive while another 0.9 million have the fully developed form. To make matters worse, the majority of those affected with the disease are within the 1 5 and 40 year age group, which is where the majority of the labour force comes from. Therefore the economy suffers. 12. However, since the introduction of the Uganda AIDS Commission, there has been a major decrease in the incidence of the disease. The struggle to maintain adequate and appropriate levels of health care in underdeveloped countries will continue to represent a major challenge to organizations such as Healthcare Worldwide and UNICEF. 13. However, through the involvement of the more affluent countries and the development of a global fund set up by the United Nations, hope is present and there is an air of optimism about the future.

Questions 4 – 8 Complete the following table using information taken from Reading Passage 1. Use NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS OR A NUMBER for each answer.

Scovell, D., Pastellas, V., & Knobel, M. (2004). 404 Essential tests for IELTS. Academic module (pp. 44-51). Sydney, NSW: Adams and Austen Press.

40

CRICOS No: 00213J

Questions 9 — 13 Choose the correct letter from A – D. 9. Poor health amongst Ugandans A. results from insufficient access to healthcare facilities. B. can be attributed to poor economic conditions. C. has resulted in increased mortality rates. D. All of the above.

10. Healthcare Worldwide recommends A. spending more money on health worldwide. B. investigating the incidence of death due to childbirth and AIDS. C. making health care facilities accessible at a local level. D. All of the above.

11. The Poverty Reduction Support Credit A. was first offered to Uganda. B. is a department of the World Bank. C. only helps certain low-income countries. D. None of the above.

12. HIV/AIDS in Uganda A is not as prevalent as it used to be.

(“major decrease in the incidence of the disease”)

B causes the highest rate of death in the world. C targets those who no longer work. D occurs in 2.4 million of the population.

13. The writer of this article A believes Uganda’s situation will ultimately improve. B thinks that developed countries do not help Uganda enough. C is optimistic about the future in general. D is sympathetic to poorer countries.

Scovell, D., Pastellas, V., & Knobel, M. (2004). 404 Essential tests for IELTS. Academic module (pp. 44-51). Sydney, NSW: Adams and Austen Press.

41

CRICOS No: 00213J

 Development without borders Kofi Annan Kofi Annan of Ghana is the seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations, the first to be elected from the ranks of the United Nations staff. He joined the United Nations in the early 197Os and has held many positions, including Assistant Secretary-General for Program Planning; Budget and Finance; Head of Human Resources; Director of the Budget; Chief of Personnel for the High Commissioner for Refugees; Administrative Officer for the Economic Commission for Africa; and Under Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations. Kofi Annan and the United Nations were awarded the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize. This paper was published in the Summer 2001 issue of the Harvard International Review. What is globalization? More than ever before, groups and individuals are interacting directly across borders without involving the state. This happens partly due to technology and partly because states have found that prosperity is better secured by releasing the creative energies of their people than by restricting them. The benefits of globalization are obvious: faster growth, higher standards of Iiving, and new opportunities. However globalization’s benefits are vey unequally distributed; the global market is not yet underpinned by shared social objectives, and if all of today’s poor follow the same path that brought the rich to prosperity, the earth resources will soon be exhausted The challenge we face is to ensure that globalization becomes a positive force for all people instead of leaving billions in squalor. If we are to get the most out of globalization, we must learn how to provide better governance at the local, national, and international levels. We must think afresh about how we manage our joint activities and our shared interests, since so many challenges that we confront today are beyond the reach of any state acting on its own. This should not be seen as a future of world government or the eclipse of nation states. On the contrary, states will draw strength from each other by acting together within the framework of common institutions based on shared rules and values. Governments must work together to make these changes possible, but governments alone cannot make them happen. Much of the heavy lifting will be done by private investment and charitable foundations. The best ideas, however will come from nongovernmental sources; from academic researchers, non-profit organizations, business, the media, and the arts. These elements compose civil society and they have a vital role to play. At the UN Millennium Summit in September 2000, world leaders resolved to halve three figures: the number of people whose income is less than one US dollar a day; the proportion of people who suffer from hunger; the proportion of people who are unable to reach or afford safe drinking water. They resolved to accomplish these goals by 2015. History will judge this generation by what it did to fulfil that pledge. Success in achieving sustained growth depends on expanding access to the opportunities of globalization. That in turn depends in large measure on the quality of governance a country enjoys. Countries can only compete in the global market if their people benefit from the rule of law, effective state institutions, Ackley, K. A. (2009). Perspectives on contemporary issues. Boston, MA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.

42

CRICOS No: 00213J

transparency and accountability in the management of public affairs, and respect for human rights. Their people must have a say in the decisions that affect their lives. If developing countries succeed in creating the right economic and social environment, new technology can put many opportunities within their reach. That is especially true of information technology, which does not require vast amounts of hardware, financial capital, or even energy, and which is relatively environment-friendly. What information technology does require is brain power - the one commodity that is equally distributed among the peoples of the world. So for a relatively small investment, for example, an investment in basic education, we can bring all kinds of knowledge within reach of the world’s poor and enable poor countries to leapfrog some of the long and painful stages of development that other nations had to go through. In short, there is much that poor countries can do to help themselves. But rich countries have an indispensable role to play. For wealthy nations to preach the virtues of open markets to developing countries is mere hypocrisy if they do not open their own markets to those countries’ products or stem the flooding of the world market with subsidized food exports that make it impossible for farmers in developing countries to compete. Nor can they expect developing countries to protect the global environment, unless they are ready to alter their own irresponsible patterns of production and consumption. Developing countries must be helped to export their way to prosperity. Everyone now agrees that the burden of debt must be lifted from the poorest countries, but developed countries have not yet come forward with sufficient resources to alleviate this burden. Nations, whether in debt or not, need help to reach the stage where they can produce goods and services the rest of the world wants to buy. Many also need help in resolving destructive conflicts and rebuilding a peaceful, productive society. Long ago, all members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development committed 7 percent of their gross domestic product to development aid. Very few made good on that commitment. Private companies, as well as governments, have an obligation to consider the interests of the poor when making investment choices and when pricing their products. Companies are the largest beneficiaries of globalization; it is in their interest to make this trend sustainable, by helping it work for all. Only when the lives of ordinary men, women, and children in cities and villages around the world are made better will we know that globalization is becoming inclusive, allowing everyone to share in its opportunities. This is the key to eliminating world poverty. PERSONAL RESPONSE Prepare your own written response to these questions. You will discuss your responses in class. 1. Do you agree that the developed countries have an obligation to help developing countries? 2. How well does Annan support his statement that “the benefits of globalization are obvious” but that they “are very unequally distributed” (paragraph2)? 3. Do you think it possible for world leaders to achieve the goals resolved upon at the UN Millennium Summit (paragraph 6)? 4. What do you think they will have to do to accomplish these goals? 5. Discuss ways in which rich or strong nations could help developing countries enhance their brainpower. 6. Explain the extent to which you agree with this statement: ‘Private companies, as well as governments, have an obligation to consider the interests of the poor when making investment choices and when pricing their products’. Ackley, K. A. (2009). Perspectives on contemporary issues. Boston, MA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.

43

CRICOS No: 00213J

 Lost tribes, lost knowledge Eugene Linden Everyone knows about the many species of animals that are endangered by human beings’ predation or by the destruction of habitats in many parts of the world. But little has been said about the dangers to groups of peoples who have lived lives remote from the rest of the world. Some of these people possess priceless knowledge about the natural world and their environment. Modernization robs us of this knowledge. Eugene Linden tells us how serious the losses may be. One horrible day 1,600 years ago, the wisdom of many centuries went up in flames. The great library in Alexandria burned down, a catastrophe at the time and a symbol for all ages of the vulnerability of human knowledge. The tragedy forced scholars to grope to reconstruct a grand literature and science that once lay neatly catalogued in scrolls. Today, with little notice, more vast archives of knowledge and expertise are spilling into oblivion, leaving humanity in danger of losing its past and perhaps jeopardizing its future as well. Stored in the memories of elders, healers, midwives, farmers, fishermen and hunters in the estimated 15,000 cultures remaining on earth is an enormous trove of wisdom. This largely undocumented knowledge base is humanity’s lifeline to a time when people accepted nature’s authority and learned through trial, error and observation. But the world’s tribes are dying out or being absorbed into modern civilization. As they vanish, so does their irreplaceable knowledge. Q19 Over the ages, indigenous peoples have developed innumerable technologies and arts. They have devised ways to farm deserts without irrigation and produce abundance from the rain forest without destroying the delicate balance that maintains the ecosystem; they have learned how to navigate vast distances in the Pacific using their knowledge of currents and the feel of intermittent waves that bounce off distant islands; they have explored the medicinal properties of plants; and they have acquired an understanding of the basic ecology of flora and fauna. Q2 If this knowledge had to be duplicated from scratch, it would beggar the scientific resources of the West. Much of this expertise and wisdom has already disappeared, and if neglected, most of the remainder could be gone within the next generation. Q3 Until quite recently, few in the developed world cared much about this cultural holocaust. The prevailing attitude has been that Western science, with its powerful analytical tools, has little to learn from tribal knowledge. Q20 The developed world’s disastrous mismanagement of the environment has somewhat humbled this arrogance, however, and some scientists are beginning to recognize that the world is losing an enormous amount of basic research as indigenous peoples lose their culture and traditions. Scientists may someday be struggling to reconstruct this body of wisdom to secure the developed world’s future.

A Voluntary Crisis Indigenous peoples have been threatened for centuries as development encroaches on their lands and traditions. What is different about the present situation, however, is that it goes beyond basic questions of native land rights into more ambiguous issues, such as the prerogative of individuals to decide between traditional and modern ways. Indigenous knowledge disappears when natives are stripped of their lands, but th

Jacobus, L. A. (2001). Improving college reading, 109-118 (7 ed.). Boston, MA: Thomson Heinle. Adapted from: Time, September 1991.

44

CRICOS No: 00213J

in many parts of the globe, knowledge also disappears because the young who are in contact with the outside world have embraced the view that traditional ways are illegitimate and irrelevant. The most intractable aspect of the crisis is that it is largely voluntary. Entranced by images of the wealth and power of the First World, the young turn away from their elders, breaking an ancient but fragile chain of oral traditions. For the elders, it is difficult to persuade an ambitious young native that he is better off hunting boar with blowpipes than reaching for the fruits of “civilization,” even if those fruits might translate into a menial job in a teeming city. For the well-fed, well-educated visiting scientist to make that argument can seem both hypocritical and condescending. The pace of change is startling. According to Harrison Ngau, a member of the Malaysian Parliament concerned with the rights of tribes on the island of Borneo, as many as 10,000 members of the Penan tribe still led the semi-nomadic life of hunting and gathering at the beginning of the 1980s. But the logging industry has been destroying their woodlands, and the Malaysian government has encouraged them to move to villages. Now fewer than 500 Penans live in the forest. When they settle into towns, their expertise in the ways of the forest slips away. Villagers know that their elders used to watch for the appearance of a certain butterfly, which always seemed to herald the arrival of a herd of boar and the promise of good hunting. These days, most of the Penans cannot remember which butterfly to look for. Q4 The number of different tribes around the world makes it impossible to record or otherwise preserve more than a tiny percentage of the knowledge being lost. Since 1900, 90 of Brazil’s 270 Indian tribes have completely disappeared, while scores more have lost their lands or abandoned their ways. More than twothirds of the remaining tribes have populations of fewer than 1,000. Some might disappear before anyone notices. Q5 A recent study by M.I.T. linguist Ken Hale estimates that 3,000 of the world’s 6,000 languages are doomed because no children speak them. Researchers estimate that Africa alone has 1,800 languages, Indonesia 672 and New Guinea 800. Q21 If a language disappears, traditional knowledge tends to vanish with it, since individual language groups have specialized vocabularies reflecting native people’s unique solutions to the challenges of food gathering, healing and dealing with the elements in their particular ecological niche. Hale estimates that only 300 languages have a secure future.

The Price of Forgetting The most immediate tragedy in the loss of knowledge and traditions is for the tribes themselves. They do not always die out, but the soul of their culture withers away. Often left behind are people “who are shadows of what they once were, and shadows of what we in the developed world are,” as one Peace Corps volunteer put it. The price is real as well as psychological when native peoples lose their grip on traditional knowledge. At the Catholic mission in Yalisele in equatorial Zaire, for instance, nurses and missionaries have encountered patients brought in with burns or perforations of the lower intestine. Investigation revealed that those afflicted had been treated for a variety of ailments with traditional medicines delivered in suppository form. Q22 The problem was not the medicines but the dosages. Q14 As the old healers died off, people would try to administer traditional medicines themselves or turn to healers who had only a partial understanding of what their elders knew. This problem is likely to get worse because Western medicines and trained nurses are becoming ever more scarce in Zaire’s economically beleaguered society.

th

Jacobus, L. A. (2001). Improving college reading, 109-118 (7 ed.). Boston, MA: Thomson Heinle. Adapted from: Time, September 1991.

45

CRICOS No: 00213J

In the island nation of Papua New Guinea, in the Coral Sea, jobless people returning to highland villages from the cities often lack the most rudimentary knowledge necessary to survive, such as which rot-resistant trees to use to build huts or which poisonous woods to avoid when making fires for cooking. Many of the youths, alienated from their villages by schooling and exposure to the West, become marauding “rascals,” who have made Papua New Guinea’s cities among the most dangerous in the world. The global haemorrhage of indigenous knowledge even fuels the population explosion as people ignore taboos and forget traditional methods of birth control. In many parts of Africa, tribal women who used to bear, on average, five or six children now often have more than ten.

The Young Drift Away It is difficult for an outsider to imagine the degree to which novel ideas and images assault the minds of tribal adolescents moving into the outside world. They get glimpses of a society their parents never encountered and cannot explain. Students who leave villages for schooling in Papua New Guinea learn that people, not the spirits of their ancestors, created the machines, dams and other so-called cargo of the modern world. Q23 Once absorbed, this realization undermines the credibility and authority of elders. Father Frank Mihalic, a Jesuit missionary in New Guinea since 1948, views with sadness the degree to which education has alienated the young from their “one talks,” as kinsmen are called. “They don’t like history because history is embarrassing,” he says. “They wince when I talk about the way their dad or their mom lived.” Mihalic and other members of his order have intervened to prevent the government from burning spirit houses, used during tribal initiation rites. But other missionaries often tell the young people that their customs are primitive and barbaric. Relatives who have left villages for the city and return to show off their wealth and status also influence the young. Girls encounter educated women who work as clerks and are exempt from the backbreaking hauling done by their mothers’ generation. How can these youngsters resist the allure of modern life? How can they make an informed judgment about which of the old ways should be Q6 & respected and maintained?

Q17 John Maru, who works in Papua New Guinea’s Ministry for Home Affairs and Youth recalls how during his schooling he came to see the endless gift exchanges and other traditions that marked his youth in the Sepik region as a waste of time and money and a drag on individual initiative. Now, however, he sees that such customs serve to seal bonds among families and act as a barrier to poverty and loneliness. Sadly, tribal peoples often realize they are losing something of value too late to save it. In the village of TaI, in the Ivory Coast, three brothers from a prosperous family have tried to balance respect for the practices of their Guéré tribe with careers in the modem economy. Yet their mother, an esteemed healer, has not been able to pass on her learning. One brother said he wanted to know about the plants she used but was afraid to ask because she would think he had foreseen her death— the traditional time to pass on knowledge. Another brother would go into the forest with her but hesitated to ask what she was doing because he feared the power of her medicines; while the third, pursuing a successful engineering career, assumed that others would acquire her learning. Now with each passing year, it is more likely her knowledge will die with her. Western Contempt Q13 If the developed world is to help indigenous peoples preserve their heritage, it must first recognize that this wisdom has value. Q7 Western science is founded on the belief that knowledge inexorably progresses: th

Jacobus, L. A. (2001). Improving college reading, 109-118 (7 ed.). Boston, MA: Thomson Heinle. Adapted from: Time, September 1991.

46

CRICOS No: 00213J

the new and improved inevitably drive out the old and fallible. Western science also presumes to be objective and thus more rigorous than other systems of thought. Guided by these conceits, scientists have often failed to notice traditional technologies even, for instance, when they are on display in the U.S. Several Andean artefacts made the rounds of American museums in the 1980s as examples of hammered gold. Then Heather Lechtman, an M.I.T. archaeologist interested in ancient technologies, examined the metal and discovered that it represented a far more sophisticated art. Lechtman’s analysis revealed that the artefacts had been gilded with an incredibly thin layer of gold using a Q10 chemical technique that achieved the quality of modem electroplating. No one had previously suspected that these Indians had the know-how to create so subtle a technology. Nor is it only the West that has scorned traditional learning. When communist China imposed tight control over Tibet in 1959, the aggressors tried to eradicate the captive country’s culture. In particular, the communists denounced Tibetan medicine as feudal superstition, and the number of doctors practicing the 2,000-year-old, herb-based discipline shrank from thousands to 500. Q12 But since the Chinese began to relent on this issue in recent years, Tibetans have returned to their traditional medicines, which they often find more effective and less harsh than Western drugs. Q8 Even in the Third World, governments have tended to look at their indigenous cultures as an impediment to development and nationhood. In Papua New Guinea, for instance, European administrators, influenced by colonial practices in Africa, sought to discourage tribalism by consolidating power and commerce in cities far away from the villages that are the centres of tribal life. According to John Waiko, director of Papua New Guinea’s National Research Institute, this decision has fuelled instability by making government seem remote and arbitrary. Among dozens of nations and regions with substantial native populations, only Greenland and Botswana stand out for their efforts to accommodate the culture and interests of these people.

Growing Appreciation Attitudes are beginning to change, however. Scientists are learning to look past the myth, superstition and ritual that often conceal the hard-won insights of indigenous peoples. Sometimes the lessons have come in handy: during the gulf war, European doctors treated some wounds with a sugar paste that traces back to Egyptian battlefield medicine of 4,000 years ago. Michael Balick, director of the New York Botanical Garden’ s Institute of Economic Botany, notes that only 1,100 of the earth’s 265,000 species of plants have been thoroughly studied by Western scientists, but as many as 40,000 may have medicinal or undiscovered nutritional value for humans. Q9 Many are already used by tribal healers, who can help scientists greatly focus their search for plants with useful properties. Balick walks tropical forests with shamans in Latin America as part of a study, sponsored by the National Cancer Institute, designed to uncover plants useful in the treatment of AIDS and cancer. The 5,000 plants collected so far, says the NCI’s Gordon Cragg, have yielded some promising chemicals. If any of them turn out to be useful as medicines, the country from which the plant came would get a cut of the profits. In the past decade, researchers in developed countries have realized that they have much to learn from traditional agriculture. Formerly, such farming was often viewed as inefficient and downright destructive. “Slash and burn” agriculture, in particular, was viewed with contempt. Following this method, tribes burn th

Jacobus, L. A. (2001). Improving college reading, 109-118 (7 ed.). Boston, MA: Thomson Heinle. Adapted from: Time, September 1991.

47

CRICOS No: 00213J

down a section of forest, farm the land until it is exhausted and then move on to clear another patch of trees. This strategy has been blamed for the rapid loss of tropical rain forests.

Q1

Now, however, researchers have learned that if practiced carefully, the method is environmentally benign. The forests near Chiapas, Mexico, for instance, are not threatened by native Lacandon practices but by the more commercial agricultural practices of encroaching peasants, according to James Nations of Conservation In international in Washington. Many indigenous farmers in Asia and South America manage to stay on one patch of land for as long as 50 years. As nutrients slowly disappear from the soil, the farmers keep switching to hardier crops and thus do not have to clear an adjacent stretch of forest.

Q15

Westerners have also come to value traditional farmers for the rich variety of crops they produce. By cultivating numerous strains of corn, legumes, grains and other foods, they are ensuring that botanists have a vast genetic reservoir from which to breed future varieties. The genetic health of the world’s potatoes, for example, depends on Quechua Indians, who cultivate more than 50 diverse strains in the high plateau country around the Andes Mountains in South America. If these natives switched to modern crops, the global potato industry would lose a crucial line of defence against the threat of insects and disease. Anthropologists studying agricultural and other traditions have been surprised to find that people sometimes retain valuable knowledge long after they have dropped the outward trappings of tribal culture. In one community in Peru studied by Christine Padoch of the Institute of Economic Botany, peasants employed all manner of traditional growing techniques, though they were generations removed from tribal life. Padoch observed almost as many combinations of crops and techniques as there were households. Similarly, a study of citified Aboriginal children in Australia revealed that they had far more knowledge about the species and habits of birds than did white children in the same neighbourhood. Somehow their parents had passed along this knowledge, despite their removal from their native lands. Still, the amount of information in jeopardy dwarfs that being handed down.

Lending a Hand There is no way that concerned scientists can move fast enough to preserve the world’s traditional knowledge. While some can be gathered in interviews and stored on tape, much information is seamlessly interwoven with a way of life. Boston anthropologist Jason Clay therefore insists that knowledge is best kept alive in the culture that produced it. Clay’s solution is to promote economic incentives that also protect the ecosystems where natives live. Toward that end, Cultural Survival, an advocacy group in Cambridge, Mass., that Clay helped establish, encourages traditional uses of the Amazon rain forest by sponsoring a project to market products found there. Clay believes that in 20 years, demand for the Amazon’ s nuts, oils, medicinal plants and flowers could add up to a $15 billion-a-year retail market—enough so that governments might decide it is worthwhile to leave the forests standing. The Amazon’s Indians could earn perhaps $1 billion a year from the sales. That could pay legal fees to protect their lands and provide them with cash for buying goods from the outside world. American companies are also beginning to see economic value in indigenous knowledge. In 1989 a group of scientists formed Shaman Pharmaceuticals, a California company that aims to commercialize the pharmaceutical uses of plants. Among its projects is the development of an antiviral agent for respiratory diseases and herpes infections that is used by traditional healers in Latin America. th

Jacobus, L. A. (2001). Improving college reading, 109-118 (7 ed.). Boston, MA: Thomson Heinle. Adapted from: Time, September 1991.

48

CRICOS No: 00213J

An indigenous culture can in itself be a marketable commodity if handled with respect and sensitivity. In Papua New Guinea, Australian Peter Barter, who first came to the island in 1965, operates a tour service that takes travellers up the Sepik River to traditional villages. The company pays direct fees to villages for each visit and makes contributions to a foundation that help cover school fees and immunization costs in the region. Barter admits, however, that the 7,000 visitors a year his company brings through the region disrupt local culture to a degree. Among other things, native carvers adapt their pieces to the tastes of customers, adjusting their size to the requirements of luggage. But the entrepreneur argues that the visits are less disruptive than the activities of missionaries and development officials.

Q11 Q16

There are other perils to the commercial approach. Money is an alien and destabilizing force in many native villages. A venture like Barter’s could ultimately-destroy the integrity of the cultures it exhibits if, for example, rituals become performances tailored to the tourist business. Some villages in New Guinea have begun to permit tourists to visit spirit houses that were previously accessible only to initiated males. In Africa villages on bus routes will launch into ceremonial dances at the sound of an approaching motor. Forestproduct concerns like those encouraged by Cultural Survival run the risk of promoting overexploitation of forests, and if the market for these products takes off, the same settlers who now push aside natives to mine gold might try to take over new enterprises as well. Still, economic incentives already maintain traditional knowledge in some parts of the world. John and Terese Hart, who have spent 18 years in contact with Pygmies in north-eastern Zaire, note that other tribes and villagers rely on Pygmies to hunt meat and collect foods and medicines from the forests, and that this economic incentive keeps their knowledge alive. According to John Hart, the Pygmies have an uncanny ability to find fruits and plants they may not have used for years. Says Hart: “If someone wants to buy something that comes from the forest, the Pygmies will know where to find it.”

Restoring Respect Preserving tribal wisdom is as much an issue of restoring respect for traditional ways as it is of creating financial incentives. The late Egyptian architect Hassan Fathy put his prestige behind an attempt to convince his countrymen that their traditional mud-brick homes are cooler in the summer, warmer in the winter and cheaper than the prefabricated, concrete dwellings they see as modern status symbols. Balick has made it part of his mission to enhance the status of traditional healers within their own communities. He and his colleagues hold ceremonies to honour shamans, most of whom are religious men who value respect over material reward. In one community in Belize, the local mayor was so impressed that American scientists had come to learn at the feet of an elderly healer that he asked them to give a lecture so that townspeople could learn about their own medical tradition. Balick recalls that this healer had more than 200 living descendants, but that none as yet had shown an interest in becoming an apprentice. The lecture, though, was packed. “Maybe,” says Balick, “seeing the respect that scientists showed to this healer might inspire a successor to come forward.”

Q18

Such deference represents a dramatic change from past scientific expeditions, which tended to treat village elders as living museum specimens. Balick and others like him recognize that communities must decide for themselves what to do with their traditions. Showing respect for the wisdom keepers can help the young of

th

Jacobus, L. A. (2001). Improving college reading, 109-118 (7 ed.). Boston, MA: Thomson Heinle. Adapted from: Time, September 1991.

49

CRICOS No: 00213J

various tribes better weigh the value of their culture against blandishments of modernity. If young apprentices begin to step forward, the world might see a slowing of the slide toward oblivion. LENGTH: 3,558 WORDS Questions 1 - 10 Retention: Which of the following are Facts (F), Opinions (0), or False statements (X)? 1. If scientists are unable to reconstruct tribal knowledge, the developed world’s future will certainly become insecure.

F/O/X

Modern scientists would probably find it very difficult to duplicate the knowledge of tribal peoples. F / O / X 3. In the past, Western science had little to learn from tribal knowledge.

F/O/X

4. Since 1900, ninety of Brazil’s 200 Indian tribes have completely disappeared.

F/O/X

5. Linguist, Ken Hale, states that all of the world’s 6,000 languages have a secure future.

F/O/X

6. Many tribal rituals have no purpose in the modern world and are a waste of time, money, and individual initiative.

F/O/X

7. Western science is founded on the belief that knowledge progresses.

F/O/X

8. Fortunately, Third World governments respect tribal cultures much more than the governments of the developed world.

F/O/X

9. Botanist, Michael Balick, states that the medicinal and nutritive value of many plant species are currently known only to tribal healers.

F/O/X

10. Andean Indians once used a chemical gilding technique that produced the same quality as modern gold electroplating.

F/O/X

Questions 11 - 18 Inferences: Which four of the following eight statements, based on the reading, are most probably true? 11. Tourism has little effect on the rituals of indigenous peoples.

T/F

12. The Chinese government has come to respect Tibetan folk medicine.

T/F

13. The developed world won’t be able to help tribal peoples preserve their cultures, unless it recognizes the value of those cultures.

T/F

14. The amount of valuable tribal knowledge people retain when they leave their native lands for modern living is not significant enough to preserve tribal legacy.

T/F

15. Though tribal cultures have much to contribute to the field of medicine, they have little to contribute to the field of plant genetics.

T/F

16. Unless carefully managed, financial incentives to preserving traditional ways can be as harmful as they are helpful.

T/F

17. Exposure to Western affluence and technology causes tribal youths to more fully appreciate their own cultures.

T/F

18. It may be less possible to forever preserve tribal cultures than to slow down their disappearance. th

Jacobus, L. A. (2001). Improving college reading, 109-118 (7 ed.). Boston, MA: Thomson Heinle. Adapted from: Time, September 1991.

T/F

50

CRICOS No: 00213J

Questions 19 - 23 Application: Choose the best answer for each question. 19. Linden cites that indigenous peoples have devised ways to farm deserts without irrigation in order to illustrate the fact that: a. tribal peoples have always been excellent farmers. b. tribal peoples have developed many sophisticated technologies. c. irrigation is important in both the traditional and the civilized world. d. the desert can be a good place to live if one knows how.

20. The arrogance of Western scientists has been humbled to some degree by their: a. recognition of the developed world’s terrible mismanagement of the environment. b. desire to serve the constructive aims of multiculturalism. c. inability to cure cancer on their own. d. recognition that science doesn’t have all the answers.

21. Traditional knowledge tends to vanish with a language because: a. individual language groups lose the specialized vocabularies that reflect specific tribal knowledge. b. instead of transferring knowledge to the young, tribal elders spend all their free time learning the new language. c. knowledge can’t be passed on when people can’t speak. d. tribal groups usually haven’t written anything down.

22. Indigenous peoples have been harmed by incomplete knowledge of tribal medicine primarily because they: a. sometimes can’t tell curative from poisonous plants. b. they lack the service of trained nurses. c. don’t remember the correct dosages. d. don’t understand modern chemistry.

23. The credibility of tribal elders can be undermined when youths receive education in the outside world because they learn that: a. disrespect for one’ s elders is a normal attitude in modern society. b. modern education is typically more entertaining than tribal education. c. adolescents should differentiate from their elders. d. from a scientific perspective, their elders’ mythical explanations of the industrial world are inaccurate. th

Jacobus, L. A. (2001). Improving college reading, 109-118 (7 ed.). Boston, MA: Thomson Heinle. Adapted from: Time, September 1991.

51

CRICOS No: 00213J

W6  Human-powered pumps for African farmers The plight of many African farmers and families in their search for water is well publicised in terms of disaster relief. Yet in many areas, there are small dispersed sources of shallow ground water, which constitute a considerable resource. 28. This is often not acknowledged by government agencies which think only in terms of large dams and perennial rivers. African farmers are both ingenious and knowledgeable, and the work described here builds on these indigenous skills. The provision of effective and affordable human powered pumps transforms the possibilities of water supply for both small scale irrigation and domestic use. 30. The field work was carried out predominantly in Zimbabwe, although more recently the pumps described here have been introduced in Kenya. The need for water An adequate supply of domestic water is vital for human health and hygiene. Despite the great progress made in this recent decade, the achievement of the goal of clean water for all is still a long way off. An adequate water supply is also vital for the production of food. In many parts of Africa, rainfall is a very unreliable provider of such water. 31. E For example, in Zimbabwe, Mupawose (1984) states that unreliable rainfall and the incidence of midseason drought represent the single most critical uncertainty facing the Zimbabwean farmer today. While staple foods such as maize and rice produced during the rainy season can be stored for consumption in the dry season, the same is not true of vegetables and fruit which are essential for good nutrition. Since the early part of this century, the answer to the problem of inadequate rainfall has been through the provision of conventional irrigation schemes. 32. B The failure of such schemes in many parts of Africa is well-documented (Morris and Thom, 1990) and there is little hope of significant expansion in this sector. Most of these irrigation schemes depend on the utilization of surface water resources, principally through the construction of dams. 33. A There is grave concern over the use of such dams because of their adverse impact on health, their displacement of successful farmers and the severe limitations on their useful life due to siltation (Wright, 1986; Arlosoroff et al. 1984; Bell et al, 1987). In order to develop groundwater resources, a suitable water lifting technology must be employed.34. H While much work has been done on the development of power sources for water pumping (Hofkes and Visscher, 1986), 35. D for many people in rural Africa the use of human energy remains the only practical option (Lambert and Faulkner, 1991). In recent years, there have been significant improvements in the design of handpumps for community use. However, community water points still suffer breakdowns and attempts to remedy this, through community managed pump maintenance schemes, are still far from universally successful. The problems of community management could be avoided through the promotion of household supplies, where these are feasible. An example of such a strategy in Zimbabwe is 36. G the program of upgrading

Scovell, D., Pastellas, V., & Knobel, M. (2004). 404 Essential tests for IELTS. Academic module (pp. 44-51). Sydney, NSW: Adams and Austen Press.

52

CRICOS No: 00213J

family wells (Mtero and Chimbunde, 1991). However, most of the pumps developed for community use are either not available to individual households or are too expensive. In recognition of the need for simple water-lifting technology, research was carried out to identify suitable water-lifting devices. Almost all existing human powered pumps tested could not supply water at more than about 0.3 litres per second, which is not sufficient for irrigation. Two designs were finally selected as the most promising for further development, the rope-washer and the treadle (Lambert and Faulkner, 1991).

Questions 28-30 Read the following statements. According to the information in the reading passage, if the statement is true, write T, if the statement is false, write F, and if there is no information about the statement in the reading passage, write NI. Example: The difficulty in finding water in Africa is highly publicised. Answer: T List of statements 28. Government agencies only consider dams and rivers as sources of water. 29. The pumps will help African villages develop small industrial projects. 30. Most of the experimental work had been done in Zimbabwe and Kenya. Questions 31—36 In the section after the subheading, The need for water, there are 7 references cited. Questions 31—36 list 6 of the references. Below is a list of statements A—K which are supported by the references. Match each reference (Questions 31—36) with its corresponding statement. Example: Lambert and Faulkner, 1991 Write the answers A—K. One has been done for you as an example. Answer: K There are more statements than references so you won’t use them all. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36.

Mupawose, 1984 Morris and Thom, 1990 Wright, 1986; Arlosoroff et al, 1984; Bell et al, 1987 Hofkes and Visscher, 1986 Lambert and Faulkner, 1991 Mtero and Chimbunde, 1991

A Dams usually take up a lot of land so that farmers have to move somewhere else. B There has been little success with irrigation projects. C It is important to have an adequate water supply. D Human power is still cheaper and more readily available. E Rainfall is too little and too irregular when most needed. F Building dams has helped improve health. G There is a plan to improve individual domestic wells. H Experiments have been done, to provide energy to pump water. I Most families cannot afford to buy pumps. Scovell, D., Pastellas, V., & Knobel, M. (2004). 404 Essential tests for IELTS. Academic module (pp. 44-51). Sydney, NSW: Adams and Austen Press.

53

CRICOS No: 00213J

J The design of hand pumps has improved lately. K The rope washer and treadle will help solve the problem. Questions 37—43 Below is a paragraph explaining the design and development of the water pump. There are some words missing from the paragraph. From the list of words below, select ONE correct word for each space. Pump design and development The principle of the rope-washer pump is very old, dating back to ancient Rome and China. A pipe extends from the surface down to below the water 37.level. A loop of rope with washers attached is pulled by a 38. pulley up through the pipe, and returns down to the water outside the pipe. Attached to the rope at intervals are washers whose 39. diameter is slightly less than that of the pipe. As the rope and washers travel up 40. inside the pipe, they draw water with them which discharges at the top of the pipe. Historically, the pulley was fashioned from wood or steel with teeth to 41. grip the washers on the rope. Considerable 42. skill was needed to make a pulley capable of pulling a wet and slippery rope which was under tension from the 43. weight of water in the pipe. List of words

grip length skill centre size strength

height inside weight pulley depth middle

level diameter tension handle over pump

Scovell, D., Pastellas, V., & Knobel, M. (2004). 404 Essential tests for IELTS. Academic module (pp. 44-51). Sydney, NSW: Adams and Austen Press.

54

CRICOS No: 00213J

 Microbes at the gas pump Jennifer Cutraro The following text has the first sentences removed. Read the text and then answer the following questions. 1. G. Scientists searching for an Earth-friendly alternative to gasoline are looking in some of the weirdest places—termite guts, cow stomachs, and rotting logs. These researchers are hunting for bacteria and

fungi that can help turn plant waste into a liquid fuel called ethanol. 2.- C. Many vehicles run on fuels made of a blend of gasoline and ethanol. Experts at the U.S. Department of Energy say that using more ethanol would help reduce our dependence on fossil fuels.

To produce enough ethanol to meet our energy needs, researchers are developing methods to turn plant parts into ethanol. They are members of a growing movement to use renewable resources, such as plants, to provide energy. 3. J.

"There's leftover plant material everywhere," says Jared Leadbetter. "There are rice hulls, sawdust,

wood chips—plant material that's full of energy." Leadbetter is a microbiologist at the California

Institute of Technology in Pasadena. To tap this energy supply, scientists and engineers are turning to microbes to convert huge amounts of waste plant material into ethanol for cars. Breaking down sugars 4. A.When tiny organisms such as yeast break down sugars to obtain energy, they produce ethanol. This process is called fermentation. Scientists and engineers have been using fermentation for years

to make ethanol from kernels of corn. But there's a lot more to a corn plant than just the kernel. Corn plants include stalks, leaves, and the cob that's left behind after the kernels are removed. 5. K.The trouble is that stalks, leaves, and other plant parts contain a complex molecule called cellulose.

It

is a tough molecule to break down. In fact, our bodies cannot even digest it. However, breaking down cellulose into sugar molecules is a key step in making ethanol from the nearly 430 million tons of plant waste produced on farmland every year. Fortunately, some organisms make compounds called enzymes that can digest, or break down, cellulose. Scientists hope to use such enzymes to produce ethanol. Termite stomachs 6.- D.

Scientists are looking for these cellulose-busting enzymes in unusual places—termite stomachs, for

example. Most people think of termites as pests because of the damage that they do to homes

and other structures. But termites harbour more than 100 species of bacteria in their guts— bacteria that may help us make ethanol from plant waste. These microbes digest cellulose and other complex molecules in wood. Without their bacteria, termites wouldn't be able to survive on their woody diet.

Healy, J. & Marcel, A. (2010). QUTIC Resource. Adapted from Cutraro, J. (2006). Microbes at the gas pump., April 12, 2006 http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/2006/04/microbes-at-the-gas-pump-3/

55

CRICOS No: 00213J

7. - H. Leadbetter and his co-workers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Joint Genome Institute are studying the genes of microbes that produce wood-digesting enzymes. Made up of molecules called

DNA, genes determine such traits as the shape of a plant leaf, the colour of an animal's coat, or the texture of a person's hair. "We are making a toolbox of wood-degrading enzymes and we want to tap it to obtain enzymes for making ethanol," Leadbetter says. Once they find the genes that control the enzymes that digest wood and those that produce ethanol, Leadbetter and his team hope to genetically modify bacteria to do both steps. Cow stomachs 8.- E. The dark depths of a cow's stomach are home to cellulose-munching microbes as well, says Paul Weimer. He is a research scientist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Dairy Forage Centre

in Madison, Wis. "Cows are natural processors," Weimer says. "They make their living by eating plants, and bacteria carry out their fibre digestion." Weimer says that the bacteria in a cow's stomach produce many different enzymes that break down the cellulose in grass and other plants in a cow's diet. These bacteria hold cellulose-digesting enzymes on their cell surfaces in a structure called a cellulosome. What is more, the bacteria attach themselves to cellulose fibres in the cow's stomach and digest them on the spot. "The bacteria basically glue themselves to the fibre and begin digesting it," Weimer says. "It works like a disassembly line that takes apart the cell wall." 9. I. Right now, making ethanol from cellulose is expensive. Enzymes are costly to make, and current

methods for breaking down cellulose require a lot of energy. "If we could re-create the activity of the cellulosome," Weimer says, "we could greatly increase the efficiency and improve the economics of digesting cellulose." Increasing production 10. F. Another common wood digester is a fungus called Trichoderma reesei. By producing cellulose-

digesting enzymes, this fungus breaks down logs in the forest and causes "jungle rot," which ruins tents and other fabrics in the tropics. At least one company has developed strains of this fungus that can churn out huge quantities of enzymes. 11. B. Advances in ethanol production cannot come soon enough. A few years ago, President Bush

signed a law requiring 7.5 billion gallons of biofuels such as ethanol to be blended with gasoline by 2012. That's almost twice the amount of ethanol that we produce from corn today. By the time the teenagers of today get their driver's licenses, they may be filling up at an ethanol pump.

Healy, J. & Marcel, A. (2010). QUTIC Resource. Adapted from Cutraro, J. (2006). Microbes at the gas pump., April 12, 2006 http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/2006/04/microbes-at-the-gas-pump-3/

56

CRICOS No: 00213J

SECTION ONE: Which topic sentences go in which gaps? A. When tiny organisms such as yeast break down sugars to obtain energy, they produce ethanol. B.

Advances in ethanol production cannot come soon enough.

C.

Many vehicles run on fuels made of a blend of gasoline and ethanol.

D.

Scientists are looking for these cellulose-busting enzymes in unusual places—termite stomachs, for example.

E.

The dark depths of a cow's stomach are home to cellulose-munching microbes as well, says Paul Weimer.

F.

Another common wood digester is a fungus called Trichoderma reesei.

G.

Scientists searching for an Earth-friendly alternative to gasoline are looking in some of the weirdest places—termite guts, cow stomachs, and rotting logs.

H.

Leadbetter and his co-workers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Joint Genome Institute are studying the genes of microbes that produce wood-digesting enzymes.

I.

Right now, making ethanol from cellulose is expensive.

J.

"There's leftover plant material everywhere," says Jared Leadbetter.

K.

The trouble is that stalks, leaves, and other plant parts contain a complex molecule called cellulose.

SECTION TWO: True/ False/ Not Given

Circle the correct answer.

12.

Interest in ethanol has resulted from a desire to replace petrol in motor vehicles. T/ F/ NG (para2)

13.

Scientists hope to stop using microbes to produce ethanol from plant waste. (para 3)

T/ F/ NG

14.

Conversion of cellulose molecules to sugar is crucial in Leadbetter’s studies. (para 5)

T/ F/ NG

15.

Producing ethanol from cellulose needs to be cheaper to be economic. (para 9)

T/ F/ NG

Healy, J. & Marcel, A. (2010). QUTIC Resource. Adapted from Cutraro, J. (2006). Microbes at the gas pump., April 12, 2006 http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/2006/04/microbes-at-the-gas-pump-3/

57

CRICOS No: 00213J

 Australia’s geothermal resources Renfrey Clarke

Choose the most suitable headings from sections A-I from the list of headings below. Write the appropriate numbers 1-14 below. The first one has been done for you as an example. (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) (11) (12) (13) (14)

Cheapest clean energy On the Internet too Not being considered by government? Stock exchange interested High potential Read the Australian Proven technology Not lucrative Clean green energy Plenty of energy Size of underground reserves Profits at every stage Investors interested Cheap and reliable

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

paragraph A paragraph B paragraph C paragraph D paragraph E paragraph F paragraph G paragraph H

Heading __1___ Heading ______ Heading ______ Heading ______ Heading ______ Heading ______ Heading ______ Heading ______

The federal government’s Uranium Mining, Processing and Nuclear Energy Review, released on November 21, provided the government with arguments in favour of nuclear energy. It did not discuss Australia’s most spectacular renewable energy resource, the “hot dry rock” geothermal energy of the Cooper Basin and other regions. A Q1 A1 “Nuclear power is the least-cost low-emission technology”, the review boldly asserted. There was no sign that the review panel had seriously researched the alternatives. Under its terms of reference, it was not even required to do so. However, armed with its assumption that no lower-cost renewable alternative to nuclear energy was even in prospect, the panel went on to urge that 25 nuclear power plants be built in Australia by 2050, in close proximity to major cities. B Actually, if review chief Ziggy Switkowski and his team had wanted to inform themselves on the real potential of Australia’s prime renewable energy source, all they needed to do was to read the Australian. In an optimistic article on September 9, the newspaper detailed howQ2 A10 the potentially recoverable geothermal energy in the Cooper Basin, in South Australia’s far north-east, equates to Australia’s current Healy, J. (2006). Adapted from Clarke, R. (2006). Wilderness Society Newsletter 6/12/06.

58

CRICOS No: 00213J

electricity consumption for 450 years. C A little more web-browsing would have convinced the panel members that Q3 A7 exploiting the “hot dry rock” geothermal resource in the Cooper Basin was not just a technological dream. The basic “hot dry rock” concept was demonstrated to work in 2004 at the Soultz-sous-Forêt geothermal prospect in northern France. Testing at this site in the period since has yielded encouraging results. Now that the concept has been shown to be feasible, the argument that the technology involved is unproven is out-of-date. With few exceptions, the techniques used are borrowed from the oil industry, where they are quite familiar. D In Australia, investors are impressed enough with the potential of geothermal energy to have committed some $500 million to fund exploration and development work by no fewer than 14 companies. Drilling at several sites, including in the Cooper Basin, has revealed Q4 A5 natural conditions markedly more favourable than those in France. E Once producing, Australia’s geothermal resources will release no greenhouse gases or other pollutants. Unlike wind or solar, they will provide continuous, dependable base-load power. In other words, geothermal energy can produce aQ5 A14 reliable and continuous supply of electricity twenty-four hours a day. Moreover, and contradicting Switkowski’s report, the electricity it produces will be cheap, probably about half the total cost of power from nuclear plants. Modelling by energy companies suggests that the cost will be about 4 cents per kilowatt hour, similar to natural gas and only marginally more than coal. F When the stock exchange is talking about the promise of geothermal energy, it is hard to believe that news of this potential is completely unknown to government advisers. Perhaps the reason why Switkowski’s panel argued as it did is that Australia’s hot rock richesQ6 A3 do not interest the government very much. G Some large Australian corporations can seeQ7 A12 future profits from the full nuclear cycle. This goes from uranium mining, through uranium enrichment and nuclear power plants, to reprocessing and storing the world’s reactor wastes. H Developing geothermal energy might promise to give Australia one of the world’s cleanest, greenest power generation industries. On the other hand, at the end of the nuclear road lies something far more enticing for the energy companies, decade upon decade of large nuclear industry profits. In comparison, the money to be made at the most lucrative points of the nuclear cycle, Q8 A8 geothermal power is not very profitable. Energy extraction I Australia’s geothermal resources are huge. Across large stretches of Australia, granites containing radiogenic elements such as uranium, thorium and potassium occur at depths from three to six kilometres, and are overlain by thick deposits of sedimentary rocks that have low thermal conductivity. Q9 A YES The slow decay of the radioactive elements in the granites produces heat, which is kept from escaping by the insulating rocks higher up. In the Cooper Basin, an area of 1000 square kilometres has an average temperature of 270°C at a depth of five kilometres. J Like most rocks, the granites contain natural fissures which can be expanded using an oil industry technique known as fracturing. Q10 A YES A bore is sunk into the granites and water at very high pressure is Healy, J. (2006). Adapted from Clarke, R. (2006). Wilderness Society Newsletter 6/12/06.

59

CRICOS No: 00213J

pumped in. Numerous mini-earthquakes are set off and when the pressure is released the result is a permanent, many-fold increase in the permeability of the fracture systems. K Other bores can then be drilled as far as a kilometre away, and the process repeated. If the geologists have calculated correctly, the fracture zones interconnect. Water pumped down one bore will emerge from others as superheated steam, which can be used to generate electricity; the steam can then be condensed and recycled. Although the heat has its origins in radioactive decay, the granites are virtually insoluble and, essentially, Q11 A NO no radioactive material reaches the surface. L Over a period of perhaps 20 years, the temperature of the rocks in the underground “heat exchanger” falls to the point where extraction of further heat becomes uneconomic. Q12 A NO But if the process is halted for several decades, the temperatures build up again. M As already indicated, the technologies used in “hot dry rock” energy extraction of deep drilling, rock fracturing, and managing hot fluids are already well developed. The fact that so much use is made of established technologies suggests that the timelines for bringing sizable geothermal plants on stream should be reasonably short, shorter, in all likelihood, than for nuclear power. As with all deep drilling, there are risk factors that mean particular holes can be expensive “duds”. Lower risk N Nevertheless, the presence of granites at the required temperatures can be predicted with a high degree of certainty, and this means that Q14 A YES the business risks involved in developing geothermal energy should be relatively low. They are much less, for example, than in the case of drilling for new oilfields, provided that the power generated can be delivered to consumers. Australia’s largest geothermal prospects are 500 kilometres or more from the nearest electrical grid connection. O Q15 A NO These distances are not extreme by world standards, and with modern transmission technology, the losses of current en route to consumers would be surprisingly small. In any case, Australia’s geothermal prospects are not all in the remote inland. The project that is probably closest to commercial operation, at Paralana in the North Flinders region of South Australia, is only 130 kilometres from the grid. Other prospects are near the border between South Australia and Victoria, and in the Hunter Valley region of New South Wales. P Also, the building of transmission lines to remote generating plants would allow the development of resources along the way. In South Australia, a number of promising mineral deposits lie along the so-called Moomba-Adelaide corridor. Q Nevertheless, Q16 A YES the cost of building and upgrading the infrastructure needed to make geothermal energy a prime supplier of Australia’s future energy needs would be massive. It could be as much as $800 million for a grid connection to the Cooper Basin. Development on this scale requires huge financial resources, along with an ability to plan over decades. It is thus a legitimate function of governments, rather than of private investors. R The federal government, in particular, needs to commit itself to making an exhaustive, open investigation of geothermal energy as the bedrock of eastern Australia’s future electricity supplies. If the potential is realised, as the evidence suggests it will, private developers could be taken over, and the necessary funds Healy, J. (2006). Adapted from Clarke, R. (2006). Wilderness Society Newsletter 6/12/06.

60

CRICOS No: 00213J

could be put into the coordinated development of publicly-owned energy systems based on renewable power sources. S The government’s plans are, of course, diametrically different. The more the federal government locks Australia into the nuclear option, the more potential investors in geothermal energy will conclude that the really big money will not be coming their direction. Plans will be put on hold, then scrapped. Politicians will continue to talk about greenhouse gas reduction, but will argue that the commitment to nuclear energy is too entrenched to allow a shift to alternatives. Unless, that is, masses of people demonstrate, and go on to organise and campaign to compel a change of course.

Do the following statements agree with the information given in the passage? For questions 9-16 write YES NO NOT GIVEN 9.

if the statement agrees with the information if the statement contradicts the information if there is no information on this in the passage

The heat comes from radiation.

Y / N /NG

(para I) 10.

High pressure pumping causes small earthquakes.

Y / N /NG

(para J) 11.

Radioactivity is a problem.

Y / N /NG

(para K) 12.

After 20 years the process is finished.

Y / N /NG

(para L) 13.

Geothermal energy can be developed quickly.

Y / N /NG

(see para M) 14.

The risk to investors is low.

Y / N /NG

(para N) 15.

Distance is a major issue.

Y / N /NG

(para O) 16.

Building geothermal plants will be expensive.

Y / N /NG

(para Q)

Healy, J. (2006). Adapted from Clarke, R. (2006). Wilderness Society Newsletter 6/12/06.

61

CRICOS No: 00213J

W7  An ordinary miracle Bigger harvests, without pesticides or genetically modified crops? Farmers can make it happen by letting weeds do the work. Across East Africa, thousands of farmers are planting weeds in their maize fields. Bizarre as it sounds, their technique is actually raising yields by giving the insect pests something else to chew on besides maize. “It’s better than pesticides, and a lot cheaper,” said Ziadin Khan, whose idea it is, as he showed me round his demonstration plots at the Mbita Point research station on the shores of Lake Victoria in Kenya. “And it has raised farm yields round here by 60 to 70 per cent.” His novel way of fighting pests is one of a host of low-tech innovations boosting production by 100 per cent or more on millions of poor Third World farms in the past decade. This “sustainable agriculture” just happens to be the biggest movement in Third World farming today, dwarfing the tentative forays into genetic manipulation. In East Africa, maize fields face two major pests, and Khan has a solution to both. The first is an insect called the stem borer, whose larvae eat their way through a third of the region’s maize most years. But Khan discovered that the borer is even fonder of a local weed, napier grass. By planting napier grass in their fields, farmers can lure the stem borer away from the maize — and into a honey-trap. For the grass produces a sticky substance that traps and kills stem borer larvae. The second pest is Striga, a parasitic plant that wrecks $10 billion worth of maize crops every year, threatening the livelihoods of 100 million Africans. “Weeding Striga is one of the most time-consuming activities for millions of African women farmers,” says Khan. However, he has an antidote: another weed called Desmodium. “It seems to release another sort of chemical that Striga doesn’t like. At any rate, where farmers plant Desmodium between rows of maize, Striga won’t grow.” “The success of sustainable agriculture is dispelling the myth that modern techno-farming is the most productive method,” says Miguel Altieri of the University of California, Berkeley. “In Mexico, it takes 1.73 hectares of land planted with maize to produce as much food as one hectare planted with a mixture of maize, squash and beans. “The difference,” he says, “comes from the reduction of losses due to weeds, insects and diseases and a more efficient use of the available resources of water, light and nutrients. Monocultures breed pests and waste resources,” he says. Researchers from the Association Tefy Saina, a Madagascan group working for local farmers, were looking for ways to boost rice yields on small farms. They decided to make the best use of existing strains rather than track down a new breed of super-rice. Through trial and error, a new system was developed that raises typical rice yields from three to twelve tonnes per hectare. The trick is to transplant seedlings earlier and in smaller numbers so that more survive; to keep paddies unflooded for much of the growing period; and to help the plants grow using compost rather than chemical fertilisers. The idea has grown like wildfire, and 20,000 have adopted the idea in Madagascar alone. Few countries have switched wholesale to sustainable agriculture. But Cuba has. The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1990 cut off cheap supplies of grain, tractors and agrochemicals. Pesticide use halved overnight, as did the calorie intake of its citizens. The cash-strapped country was forced to embrace low-input farming or starve. “Today,” says Fernando Funes of the Country’s Pasture and Fodder Research Institute, “teams of O'Connell, S. (2002). Focus on IELTS (pp. 173-181). Harlow: Longman.

62

CRICOS No: 00213J

oxen replace the tractors, and farmers have adapted organic methods, mixing maize with beans and cassava and doubling yields in the process, helping average calorie intake per person rise back to pre-1990 levels.” Worldwide, one of the most widely adopted sustainable techniques has been to throw away the plough, the ultimate symbol of the farmer. Ploughing aerates the soil, helping rot weeds and crop residues. However, it can also damage soil fertility and increase erosion. Now millions of Latin American farmers have decided it isn’t worth the effort. A third of Argentina’s farms no longer use the plough. Instead, they fight weeds by planting winter crops, such as black oats, or by spraying a biodegradable herbicide such as glyphosate. “The farmers saw results in a short time — reduced costs, richer soils, bigger grain yields and increased income,” says Lauro Bassi of EPAGRI, the agricultural research institute in Santa Catarina state, southern Brazil, which has been promoting the idea. Zero-tillage also benefits the planet in general. Unploughed soils hang on to carbon that would otherwise escape into the air as carbon dioxide when organic matter rots. “A onehectare field left unploughed can absorb up to a tonne of carbon every year,” says Pretty, “making soils a vital element in preventing global warming.” Sustainable agriculture is no magic bullet for feeding the world. It is an approach rather than a blueprint. Small farms with low yields stand to gain the most and agribusiness the least. Yet it does offer an alternative for the millions of small farms that have plenty of hands to work the land, but not the skills or financial resources to adopt conventional mechanised farming. Complete each of the following statements with the best ending A-I from the box below. 13. Napier grass G 16. Ploughing the land B 14. The plant called Striga C 17. Sowing black oats E 15. Growing single crops I List of Endings A reduces losses due to plant diseases B can lead to soil erosion C causes major financial losses D increases soil fertility E discourages the growth of weeds

G

F helps to retain carbon dioxide destroys harmful insect larvae H helps prevent global warming

Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer. Area East Africa 19. Mexico Madagascar

Cuba

Latin America

Strategy 17. planting weeds with food crop Growing mixed crops together Transplanting seedlings earlier. Leaving paddy fields unflooded Replacing chemical fertilisers with 20. compost Reducing 21. pesticide use/use of pesticides Using 22. (teams of) oxen instead of farm vehicles Growing mixed crops together Zero tillage

O'Connell, S. (2002). Focus on IELTS (pp. 173-181). Harlow: Longman.

Benefits to farmers Lower costs Higher yields Higher yields Higher yields

Yields doubled Citizen’s 23. (average) calorie intake increased Lower costs Improved 24. Soil(s) Higher yields Higher/Increased 25. Income/earnings

63

CRICOS No: 00213J

 Dolly’s false legacy Ian Wilmut Ian Wilmut is the Scottish embryologist whose team of researchers, in 1996, was the first to clone a mammal from fully differentiated adult mammary cells. Wilmut holds a Ph.D. in animal genetic engineering from Darwin College, University of Cambridge, and has been a researcher at the Animal Research Breeding Station (now known as the Roslin Institute) in Edinburgh, Scotland, since 1974. He is co-author of The Second Creation: Dolly and the Age of Biological Control. (2000). and has been editor of the Journal of Reproduction Fertility since 1993. This essay appeared in the January 11th, 1999, issue of Time magazine. Overlooked in the arguments about the morality of artificially reproducing life is the fact that, at present, cloning is a very inefficient procedure. Q10 The incidence of death among fetuses and offspring produced by cloning is much higher than it is through natural reproduction—roughly 10 times as high as normal before birth and three times as high after birth in our studies at Roslin. Distressing enough for those working with animals, Q1 these failure rates surely render unthinkable the notion of applying such treatment to humans. Even if the technique were perfected, however, we must ask ourselves what practical value whole being cloning might have. What exactly would be the difference between a “cloned” baby and a child born naturally—and why would we want one? The cloned child would be a genetically identical twin of the original, and thus physically very similar, far more similar than a natural parent and child. Human personality, however, emerges from both the effects of the genes we inherit (nature) and environmental factors (nurture). The two clones would develop distinct personalities, just as twins develop unique identities. Q2 And because the copy would often be born in a different family, cloned twins would be less alike in personality than natural identical twins. Why “copy” people in the first place? Couples unable to have children might choose to have a copy of one of them rather than accept the intrusion of genes from a donor. My wife and I have two children of our own and an adopted child, but I find it helpful to consider what might have happened in my own marriage if a copy of me had been made to overcome infertility. My wife and I met in high school. Q3a How would she react to a physical copy of the young man she fell in love with? How would any of us find living with ourselves? Surely Q3b the older clone - I, in this case - would believe that he understood how the copy should behave and so be even more likely than the average father to impose expectations upon his child. Above all, Q3c how would a teenager cope with looking at me, a balding, aging man, and seeing the physical future ahead of him? Each of us can imagine hypothetical families created by the introduction of a cloned child—a copy of one partner in a homosexual relationship or of a single parent, for example. What is missing in all this is consideration of what’s in the interests of the cloned child. Because there is no form of infertility that could be overcome only by cloning, I do not find these proposals acceptable. Q4 My concerns are not on religious grounds or on the basis of a perceived intrinsic ethical principle. Rather, my judgment is that it would be difficult for families created in this way to provide an appropriate environment for the child. Sewell, H. QUTIC Resource. Adapted from Ackley, K. A. (2009). Perspectives on contemporary issues. Boston, MA : Wadsworth Cengage Learning.

64

CRICOS No: 00213J

Cloning is also suggested as a means of bringing back a relative, usually a child, killed tragically. Any parent can understand that wish, but it must first be recognized that the copy would be a new baby and not the lost child. Herein lies the difficulty, for the grieving parents are seeking not a new baby but a return of the dead one. Since the original would be fondly remembered as having particular talents and interests, Q5 would not the parent expect the copy to be the same? It is possible, however, that the copy would develop quite differently. Is it fair to the new child to place it in a family with such unnatural expectations? What if the lost child was very young? Q6 The shorter the life, the fewer the expectations parents might place on the substitute, right? If a baby dies within a few days of birth and there is no reason to think that death was caused by an inherited defect, would it then be acceptable to make a copy? Q7 Is it practical to frame legislation that would prevent copying of adults or older children, but allow copying of infants? At what age would a child be too old to be copied in the event of death? Copying is also suggested as a means by which parents can have the child of their dreams. Couples might choose to have a copy of a film star, baseball player or scientist, depending on their interests. But because personality is only partly the result of genetic inheritance, Q8a conflict would be sure to arise if the cloned child failed to develop the same interests as the original. What if the copy of Einstein shows no interest in science? Or the football player turns to acting? Q8b Success also depends upon fortune. What of the child who does not live up to the hopes and dreams of the parent simply because of bad luck? Every child should be wanted for itself as an individual. In making a copy of oneself or some famous person, a parent is deliberately specifying the way he or she wishes that child to develop. In recent years, particularly in the U.S., much importance has been placed on the right of individuals to reproduce in ways that they wish. Q9 I suggest that there is a greater need to consider the interests of the child and to reject these proposed uses of cloning. By contrast, human cloning could, in theory be used to obtain tissues needed to treat disorders such as Parkinson’s disease and diabetes. These diseases are associated with cell types that do not repair or replace themselves, but suitable cells will one day be grown in culture. These uses cannot be justified now; nor are they likely to be in the near future. Moreover, there is a lot we do not know about the effects of cloning, especially in terms of aging. As we grow older, changes occur in our cells that reduce the number of times they can reproduce. This clock of age is reset by normal reproduction during the production of sperm and eggs; that is why children of each new generation have a full life span. It is not yet known whether aging is reversed during cloning or if the clone’s natural life is shortened by the years its parent has already lived. Then there is the problem of the genetic errors that accumulate in our cells. There are systems to seek out and correct such errors during normal reproduction; it is not known if that can occur during cloning. Q10 Research with animals is urgently required to measure the life span and determine the cause of death of animals produced by cloning. Important questions also remain on the most appropriate means of controlling the development and use of these techniques. It is taken for granted that the production and sale of drugs will be regulated by governments, but this was not always the case. Q11 A hundred years ago, the production and sale of drugs in the U.S. was unregulated. Unscrupulous companies took the opportunity to include in their products substances, like cocaine, that were likely to make the patients feel better even if they offered no treatment for the original condition. After public protest, championed by publications such as the Ladies’ Home Sewell, H. QUTIC Resource. Adapted from Ackley, K. A. (2009). Perspectives on contemporary issues. Boston, MA : Wadsworth Cengage Learning.

65

CRICOS No: 00213J

Journal, a federal act was passed in 1906. An enforcement agency, known now as the FDA, was established in 1927. An independent body similar to the FDA is now required to assess all the research on cloning. There is much still to be learned about the biology associated with cloning. The time required for this research, however, will also provide an opportunity for each society to decide how it wishes the technique to be used. At some point in the future, cloning will have much to contribute to human medicine, but we must use it cautiously.

Questions: 1: Why, according to Wilmut, is cloning for humans unthinkable? Due to the high incidence of death among fetuses and offspring produced by cloning.______ 2: Why are identical twins born naturally more likely to have similar personalities? Because they are generally brought up in the same family._____________________________ 3: What does Wilmut consider troublesome when imagining he and his wife had a cloned child? a) his wife would have a son identical to the man she fell in love with b) the older clone will impose expectations on the younger clone c) the younger clone will see his/her physical future__________________________________ 4: Wilmut disagrees with cloning on the basis that it is unethical?

T/F

5: Why does Wilmut feel it problematic for parents to bring back and relative or child through cloning? a) It is a return of a dead child b) The parents are grieving and it is difficult c) The new child is more talented d) It is unfair to the child due to the unrealistic expectations of the parents 6: Wilmut is more accepting of the idea of cloning a child born from the genes of a child who died when he/she was young. This answer is arguable T/F 7: On what basis does Wilmut think that the above situation is problematic? It is hard to decide on an age limit for the cloning of infants___________________________ 8: What two things does Wilmut see as problems when parents copy the “child of their dreams”. a) the child may not develop the same interests as the original b) the child may not be as fortunate as the ____________________________________________ 9: Wilmut feels the rights of a couple to reproduce are more important than the rights of a child? T/F Sewell, H. QUTIC Resource. Adapted from Ackley, K. A. (2009). Perspectives on contemporary issues. Boston, MA : Wadsworth Cengage Learning.

66

CRICOS No: 00213J

10: It appears there are no problems with cloned people living to a full life?

T/F

11: Why was the FDA established? It was established in response to the lack of regulation of drugs, which led to protests about unethical companies, including ineffective substances in drugs_________________________________________________________________________

Sewell, H. QUTIC Resource. Adapted from Ackley, K. A. (2009). Perspectives on contemporary issues. Boston, MA : Wadsworth Cengage Learning.

67

CRICOS No: 00213J

 Genetic ethics The promises of genetic engineering seem almost limitless. In only a few years scientists have developed methods for improving agricultural yields, producing valuable new substances and materials, and predicting which diseases a person is likely to get in later life. Even more remarkably, medical researchers have been able to locate the genes responsible for nearly six hundred genetic diseases (Mallovy, 1988, p. 17). Q1 Locating these genes is the first step toward repairing or replacing them and thus preventing the diseases they cause. As Louis Siminovitch, director of Toronto’s Mt. Sinai Research Institute, observes, We are in the midst of a golden age of biological and medical research. Advances are occurring with amazing rapidity, and the opportunities and challenges are unprecedented. The developments are having an impact on the whole spectrum of life processes, including forestry, agriculture, dentistry and medicine (Mallovy, 1988, pp. 16-47) Together with the many benefits of genetic research, however, are the dangers and risks involved whenever scientists tamper with the basic structures of bile. In the early days of recombinant DNA technology, many books and movies appeared that warned of the dangers of genetic experiments gone wrong. They depicted creatures that were half-human and half- animal, gigantic mutant insects, and new strains of deadly viruses that resisted all treatment. Nor was this fear of genetic havoc restricted to the science fiction of the twentieth century. As early 1818 Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein the book that became the most famous genetic horror story of all time. In it, a genetically created human monster attacks and destroys his own creator. Q1 All technologies have the capacity to produce evil as well as good, and genetic engineering is no exception. In an attempt to limit the dangers of genetic research, Q3 scientists from all over the world have drafted a list of guide lines for recombinant DNA experiments They have agreed to work only with relatively harmless substances and to develop strains of bacteria that cannot exist outside laboratory conditions. In this way they have prevented early fears from becoming reality. There can be no doubt, however, that the potential for danger exists in this, as in every technological endeavour. Together with benefits, genetic engineering brings with it a number of dangers and risks, and some of these lead to fundamental ethical concerns. One of the most significant risks of genetic agriculture, for example, is the possibility that genetically engineered species will mix with natural species. Q4 Scientists are not able to predict the results of such a mixing, which could cause a fundament change in the definition of life. Many genetically engineered species have already been produced, so the danger of such mixing is high (Gooderham, 1989, p. A14). For example, scientists have successfully engineered a new species of carp, a fish that is popular in many parts of the world. This new species contains a growth gene from another kind of fish, the rainbow trout. The new kind of carp grows twenty percent faster than ordinary carp. The same kind of technology can be used on many different species of fish, perhaps allowing scientists to turn entire bays, or even oceans, into mariculture farms (Schneider, 1989). What does the future hold for such “improved” species? Will they destroy all the other fish in the oceans? And when only the engineered species are left, will these die out from some genetic weakness that scientists had not foreseen? Clearly, it is dangerous to play such games with nature. At least three serious objections may be raised against genetically altered species. First, the new species could force many farmers and fishermen out of business. Next, the existence of such species could have a harmful effect on the balance of nature. Finally, genetic techniques could cause animals to suffer. An experiment in the United States that demonstrates some of these objections is the injection of an Roseberry, R. L. & Weinstock, R. (1992). Reading etc, 177-185. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc.

68

CRICOS No: 00213J

engineered growth hormone into cows to make them produce more milk. These cows regularly produce three times as much milk as normal cows. If the government permits this technique to be used commercially, however, fewer cows will be needed and many dairy farmers will lose their businesses. There are also indications that the technique may be harmful to the cows themselves and possibly even to the people who drink the milk that these cows produce (Schneider, 1988) Another major user of genetic engineering techniques is the manufacturing industry. Genetic manufacturing, however, could pose even more serious threats than genetic agriculture. In agriculture, clearly identifiable species such as cows and carp are altered to make them more profitable. Q5 In manufacturing, on the other hand, microorganisms -very small forms of life-are altered so that they will produce desired substances or perform desired functions. Because these creatures are too small to be seen without microscopes, and because they tend to reproduce rapidly, their potential for creating hazards is great. Therefore, governments of such countries as the United States, where much genetic research is taking place, are establishing guidelines and appointing panels to control such research. Meanwhile, critics are questioning the efficacy of these guidelines and are pointing to the potential harm that genetically altered microbes might cause if they are released into the environment. One of the greatest dangers of modified microorganisms, the critics point out, is their tendency to undergo spontaneous mutations. When organisms Q6 mutate spontaneously, they change into different organisms without any outside influence. The changed organisms may be much more dangerous than the original, genetically altered ones. Some critics worry that mutating organisms, created by science, could get out of control, spreading new, incurable diseases or destroying agricultural crops (Field Test, 1989). The area of greatest concern to critics of genetic engineering is, of course, medical science, for genetic medicine would affect people directly by altering human genes. Even critics who are not greatly concerned about the genetic manipulation of livestock or bacteria are likely to be worried about the possible effects of genetic engineering on people. Q7a Algeny, the use of genetic engineering to cure or prevent disease, is a new science, but there is no doubt that it will soon come of age. How will algeny affect medical practice and medical ethics? Two examples will illustrate some of the dangers and ethical concerns involved. One of the fastest growing fields of medicine is transplant surgery, in which an organ from one person is placed into the body of another. Transplant surgery involving many different organs is now possible, and can often extend the patient’s lifespan and improve the quality of life. As a result, there is a large demand for replacement organs. However, relatively few such organs are available. The shocking evidence suggests that in some countries children are being kidnapped and killed in order to provide an illegal source of organs. At the same time, to get desperately needed money, poor people in some Third World countries are selling spare organs, such as kidneys, from their own bodies (Taylor, 1989). Obviously, there are serious social, economic, and ethical concerns surrounding these activities. These concerns will be complicated by algeny and genetic engineering For one thing, genetic techniques will enable doctors to predict the kinds of diseases that a person is likely to experience later in life. People will be able, therefore, to plan for these diseases. But even more remarkably, genetic engineering will eventually enable scientists to Q7b create humanoids that could be used as a source of spare organs. These creatures may contain human hearts, kidneys, lungs, and other organs. Such genetically produced sources of human organs could eliminate the illegal trade in body parts of children and the poor; however, this use of humanoids would present a completely different set of ethical problems to be debated and resolved. Another example of a genetic technique that may soon have implications for genetic ethics is amniocentesis, a procedure for determining the sex of a foetus. In some Third World societies in which Roseberry, R. L. & Weinstock, R. (1992). Reading etc, 177-185. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc.

69

CRICOS No: 00213J

boys are prized more highly than girls, mothers who do not want to give birth to a girl occasionally use this technique to determine Q7b whether or not to have an abortion. As a consequence, some governments have outlawed amniocentesis. However, nothing prevents the expectant mothers from going elsewhere to have the test performed (Weisman, 1988) It is likely that algeny will soon provide a solution to this problem by Q7b allowing parents to decide what sex the baby should have. By changing the genes on a single chromosome, the sex of a baby could be changed while it is still in the womb. Again, however, this practice would present serious ethical concerns that must be dealt with before such a procedure could be permitted. In dealing with the ethical concerns of algeny and genetic engineering, Jeremy Fakin (1983) points to the branch of recombinant DNA technology called eugenics. Q7cEugenics is concerned with using biotechnology to remove biologically undesirable characteristics and to make genetic changes that will improve an organism or species. Rifkin refers to the eugenics movement in the United States early in this century, long before genetic engineering was born. In the 1920s some federal and state laws were instituted that identified certain racial and genetic traits as being inferior to others. Under these laws, thousands of American citizens were required to be sterilised so that they could not pass on these traits (Rifkin, 1983, p. 229). An even more drastic eugenics program was imposed by the government of Nazi Germany in the 1930s and l940s. Millions of Jews and others were treated as being racially inferior and were imprisoned and killed (Rifkin, 1983, p. 230) In addition, unspeakable medical experiments were performed on many of these prisoners. In recent years, according to Rifkin, eugenics has once again become a popular idea. This new interest in eugenics is apparently more commercial than racial, however, and is directed at improved economic performance and quality of life (Rifkin, 1983, p. 231). It seems that every age and society has its own ideas about what is desirable and good. And if we do not know what perfection is, what will our moral obligations be when it lies within our power to alter the human species? Rifkin asks, for example, whether a parent will have the right to refuse genetic engineering of his or her unborn children. Q8 Will the parent be guilty of a crime if the children get a genetic disease that could have been prevented by biotechnology (Rifkin, 1983, p. 232)? Soon, as medical writer Robin Marantz Henig (1989) points out, doctors will be able to give us a list of all our genetic weaknesses In other words, they will be able to tell us what genetic diseases we are most likely to get and how we will probably die Even before biotechnology provides us with treatments for these diseases, however, we will have ethical choices to make. Most importantly, society will have to decide who is allowed to use personal genetic information and for which purposes this information may be used. Henig (1989, p. 20) asks, “Will the presence of a faulty gene be enough to prevent full access to schooling, health care, employment and the other rights and privileges of society?” She notes further that genetic information about individuals poses two important concerns. “The first is whether knowledge of the information is itself potentially hazardous to the individual; the second, whether institutions will misuse that knowledge to foster their own dominance and control.” There is a very real fear that in the near future employers will demand to know the genetic profiles of their workers. They may fire or refuse to hire people with certain genetic weaknesses. Insurance companies may not sell insurance to people who have a high genetic risk of getting cancer or some other serious disease. Schools may refuse to admit children whose genetic profiles indicate behavioural problems or learning disabilities. Henig points out that such discrimination already exists. In one case, an insurance company refused to renew the policy of a driver whose genetic profile indicated the possibility of getting a rare nervous disease in later life. At the time, the insurance policy was revoked; the driver had no symptoms of illness and had been driving for twenty years without accidents or tickets (Henig, 1989, p 22). Roseberry, R. L. & Weinstock, R. (1992). Reading etc, 177-185. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc.

70

CRICOS No: 00213J

In view of these and other ethical considerations involving eugenics, Rifkin asks society to consider seriously whether science should be thinking about genetic engineering of human beings at all. He wonders whether we have misplaced our values about life and have forgotten that being human means more than being a well engineered machine (Rifkin, 1983, p. 233). In an attempt to ensure that bioengineering can continue without posing a threat to people and societies, Suzuki and Knudtson (1988, pp 345348) have proposed ten ethical principles for dealing with genetic engineering. Among these principles are the need for understanding genes and what they do, the possible applications and misapplications of genetic techniques, and the need for privacy concerning an individual’s genetic profile. In addition, they stress the importance of the diversity of living species, and insist that the genes that define a species and determine genetic traits are not the property of individuals and must not be changed without the consent of all members of the society. Above all, they indicate that we must always be ready to receive new ideas about life, ethics and humanity, not only from science, but also from art, philosophy, and religion. And We must look for these ideas not only in our own culture but also in all other cultures and throughout all periods of history. Checking Your Comprehension 1. Why do geneticists want to locate the genes that are responsible for a number of diseases? First step towards repairing or replacing them, and thus preventing the disease they cause. 2. How do the early fictional treatments of genetic engineering relate to the problems that we currently face? All technologies have the capacity to produce evil as well as good. 3. What have scientists done to combat the dangers of genetic experiments? Drafted a list of guidelines for recombinant DNA 4. What are the prima dangers inherent in creating new species and altering existing species? Results not predictable – they could alter the definition of life 5. How could genetic manufacturing be more dangerous than genetic agriculture? Very small forms of life cannot be seen without a microscope &, therefore, reproduce rapidly. 6. What are spontaneous mutations, and how could such mutations pose a threat? Change into different organisms without outside influence & changed organisms may be much more dangerous 7. What is algeny, and what kinds of ethical concerns would it present? Explain the relationship of algeny to eugenics. a) Algeny = use of genetic engineering to cure/prevent disease. b) humanoids for organs; abortion; deciding sex of baby. c) Algeny for curing/preventing disease but eugenics for removing characteristics or improving a species 8. Describe the main ethical concerns of transplant surgery and amniocentesis. Indicate what new concerns could arise as a result of genetic engineering. See text For Discussion 1. In your view, what steps should be taken to protect society from the possibly harmful effects of genetic research? 2. Suppose that you or a Ioved one were dying from a disease for which genetic engineering might soon provide a cure. Would this change you last answer? How? 3. If you were an employer, what would be your attitude towards hiring people with genetic defects? 4. Do you think public money should be used to educate people who are going to die shortly after they finish school? 5. Which of the ethical problems discussed in this essay seems most serious to you? Why?

Roseberry, R. L. & Weinstock, R. (1992). Reading etc, 177-185. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc.

71

CRICOS No. 00213J

W8  The keyless society A Students who want to enter the University of Montreal’s Athletic Complex need more than just a conventional ID card - their identities must be authenticated by an electronic hand scanner. In some California housing estates, a key alone is insufficient to get someone in the door; his or her voiceprint must also be verified. And soon, customers at some Japanese banks will have to present their faces for scanning before they can enter the building and withdraw their money. B All of these are applications of biometrics, a little-known but fast-growing technology that involves the use of physical or biological characteristics to identify individuals. In use for more than a decade at some high- security government institutions in the United States and Canada, biometrics are now rapidly popping up in the everyday world. Already, more than 10,000 facilities, from prisons to day-care centres, monitor people’s fingerprints or other physical parts to ensure that they are who they claim to be. Some 60 biometric companies around the world pulled in at least $22 million last year and that grand total is expected to mushroom to at least $50 million by 1999. C Biometric security systems operate by storing a digitised record of some unique human feature. When an authorised user wishes to enter or use the facility, the system scans the person’s corresponding characteristics and attempts to match them against those on record. Systems using fingerprints, hands, voices, irises, retinas and faces are already on the market. Others using typing patterns and even body odours are in various stages of development. D Fingerprint scanners are currently the most widely deployed type of biometric application, thanks to their growing use over the last 20 years by law-enforcement agencies. Sixteen American states now use biometric fingerprint verification systems to check that people claiming welfare payments are genuine. In June, politicians in Toronto voted to do the same, with a pilot project beginning next year. E To date, the most widely used biometric system is the handkey, a type of hand scanner which reads the unique shape, size and irregularities of people’s hands. Originally developed for nuclear power plants, the handkey received its big break when it was used to control access to the Olympic Village in Atlanta by more than 65,000 athletes, trainers and support staff. Now there are scores of other applications. F

Around the world, the market is growing rapidly. Malaysia, for example, is preparing to equip all of its airports with biometric face scanners to match passengers with luggage. And Japan’s largest maker of cash dispensers is developing new machines that incorporate iris scanners. The first commercial biometric, a hand reader used by an American firm to monitor employee attendance, was introduced in 1974. But only in the past few years has the technology improved enough for the prices to drop sufficiently to make them commercially viable. ‘When we started four years ago, I had to explain to everyone what a biometric is,’ says one marketing expert. ‘Now, there’s much more awareness out there.’

Cambridge ESOL. 2000. Cambridge IELTS 2. 69-72. Cambridge, UK: CUP.

72

CRICOS No. 00213J

G Not surprisingly, biometrics raise thorny questions about privacy and the potential for abuse. Some worry that governments and industry will be tempted to use the technology to monitor individual behaviour. ‘If someone used your fingerprints to match your health-insurance records with a credit-card record showing you regularly bought lots of cigarettes and fatty foods,’ says one policy analyst, ‘you would see your insurance payments go through the roof.’ In Toronto, critics of the welfare fingerprint plan complained that it would stigmatise recipients by forcing them to submit to a procedure widely identified with criminals. H Nonetheless, support for biometrics is growing in Toronto as it is in many other communities. In an increasingly crowded and complicated world, biometrics may well be a technology whose time has come. Questions 1-7 The reading text has eight paragraphs (A—H). Choose the most suitable headings for paragraphs B—H from the list of headings below. NB There are more headings than paragraphs, so you will not use all of them. List of Headings i. Common objections ii. Who’s planning what iii. This type sells best in the shops iv. The figures say it all v. Early trials vi. They can’t get in without these vii. How does it work? viii. Fighting fraud ix. Systems to avoid x. Accepting the inevitable

Paragraphs 1. B iv 2. C vii 3. D viii 4. E iii 5. F ii 6. G i 7. H x

Questions 8 - 14 Look at the following groups of people and the list of biometric systems (A—F) below. Match the groups of people to the biometric system associated with them in the reading text. NB You may use any biometric system more than once. List of Biometric Systems A. Fingerprint scanner B. Hand scanner C. Body colour D. Voiceprint E. Face scanner F. Typing pattern

Groups of people 8. sports students B 9. Olympic athletes B 10. airline passengers E 11. welfare claimants A 12. business employees B 13. home owners D 14. bank customers E

Cambridge ESOL. 2000. Cambridge IELTS 2. 69-72. Cambridge, UK: CUP.

73

CRICOS No. 00213J

 The high-tech poisoning of Asia Jim Green Choose the most suitable headings from sections A-I from the list of headings below. Write the appropriate numbers 1-14 below. The first one has been done for you as an example. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14.

A sustainability revolution Less landfill and incineration Worse than the situation in China Poor nations on the receiving end Harmful component recycling? Amazing risks Unsatisfactory working conditions Rapidly-growing quantities of rubbish The affluent’s effluent flood A glamorous waste stream Report shows the reality A Chinese dumping ground An optimistic myth An undesirable choice 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25.

paragraph A paragraph B paragraph C paragraph D paragraph E paragraph F paragraph G paragraph H paragraph I

Heading __1___ Heading ___13___ Heading ___11___ Heading ___8___ Heading ___4___ Heading ___12__ Heading ___6___ Heading ___3___ Heading ___14___

A The Australian Conservation Foundation argued in its 2000 Blueprint for a Sustainable Australia, “The digital revolution is merely the first taste of a complete industrial revolution, a sustainability revolution”. The ACF did not have much else to say about this “revolution”, but we can sketch out the parameters nonetheless. The benefits of the digital revolution are taken as given — such as the internet, the ability to take your work home to make your boss even richer, and so on. B As for the “sustainability revolution”, a growing computer recycling industry means that fewer old computers are going to become landfill or incinerated. Recycling of computers, estimated to be growing at 18% annually, is being promoted by widespread bans on the dumping or incineration of old computers. Export of old computers to Third World countries is creating jobs in the recycling industry, and is helping to bridge the North-South “digital divide”. Too good to be true? I'm afraid so. The realpolitik of the “new”

Healy, J. (2003). Adapted from: Green, J. (2002). Exporting Harm: The High-Tech Trashing of Asia. GLW, May 8, 2002. http://www.ban.org> and and and