TEST 1 – READING READING PASSAGE 1 You should spend about 20 minutes on Question 1-14, which are based on Reading Passage 1 below.
Questions 1-5 Reading Passage 1 has six paragraphs, -!. "hoose the correct heading #or paragraphs $-! #rom the list o# headings below. %rite the correct number, i-ix, next to &uestion 1-'.
$ist o% &ea'in(s 1 2 3 4 5 ) *
What are metabolites? The negative e!ects e!ects of allelopathy Biological warfare in the plant world Why we cannot use allelopathic chemicals at present What is allelopathy? The reasons why plants plants compete with other plants The e!ects of allelopathy and reali0ation reali0ation of its possible uses + (ow could we use allelopathic chemicals in farming? , 1pecic eamples of allelopathic plants 1 2 3 4 5
Paragraph Paragraph Paragraph Paragraph Paragraph
B C D E F
2ample #nswer
Mutua !a"# A In forests and elds all over the world, plants are engaged in a deadly deadly chemical war to suppress other plants and create conditions for their own success. But what if we could learn the secrets of these plants and use them for own purpose? Would it be possible to use their strategies and weapons to help us improve agriculture by preventing weeds from germinating and encouraging growth growth in crops? This possibility is leading agriculture researchers to eplore the e!ects plants have on other plants with the aim of applying their ndings to farming. B The Phenomenon by which an organism organism produces produces one or or more chemicals chemicals that in"uence in"uence the growth, survival and reproduction of other organisms is called allelopathy. These chemicals are a subset of chemicals produced by organism called secondary metabolites. # plant primary metabolites are associated with growth and development. #llelochemicals, #llelochemicals, however, are part of plants defence system and have a secondary function function in the life of organism. organism. The allelopathy comes from the $ree% & allele and pathy meaning' mutual harm'.The term was rst used by #ustrian scientist (ans )olisch in *+-, but people have been noting the negative e!ects that one plant can have no another for a long time. In B/, the $ree% philosopher Theophrastus noticed that pigweed had a negative e!ect
on alfalfa plants. In /hina, around the rst century #3, author of 1hennong Ben /ao 4ing described 56- plants that have the abilitry to %ill pests.
C #llolopathy can be observed in many aspects of plant ecology. It can a!ect where certain species of plant grow, the fertility of competitor plants, the natural change of plant communities over time, which plant species are able to dominate a particular area, and the diversity of plants in an area. Plants can release allelopathic chemicals in several ways& their roots can release chemicals directly into the soil , and their bar% and leaves can release chemicals into the soil as they rot. Initially, scientists were interested in the negative e!ects of allelopathic chemicals. 7bservations of the phenomenon included poor growth of some forest trees, damage to crops, changes in vegetation patterns and, interestingly, the occurrence of weed 8 free areas. It was also reali0ed that some species could have benecial e!ects on agricultural crop plants and the possible application of allelopathy became the sub9ect of research. D Today research is focused on the e!ects of weeds on crops, the e!ects of crops on weeds, and how certain crops a!ect other crops. #gricultural scientists are eploring the use of allelochemicals to regulate growth and to act as natural herbicides, thereby promoting sustainable agriculture by by using these natural chemicals as an alternative to man:made chemicals. ;or eample, a small fast:growing tree found in /entral #merica, sometimes called a study in china found that 5 out of highly poisonous weeds had signicant allelopathic properties. E There may be at least three applications of allelopathy to agriculture. ;irstly, the allelopathic properties of wild or cultivated plants may be bred into crop plants through genetic modication or traditional breeding methods to improve the release of desired allelochemicals and thus improve crop yield. 1econdly, a plant with strong allelopathic properties could be used to control weeds by planting it in rotation with an agriculture crop and then leaving it to rot and become part of the soil in order to inhibit the growth of weeds. ;inally, naturally occurring allelopathic chemicals could be used in combination with man:madechemicals. Boosting the e@ciency of man:made herbicides could lead to reduction in the amount of herbicides used in agriculture, which is better for the environment. F 3espite the promising uses of allelopathic chemicals, agricultural scientists are still cautious. ;irstly, allelopathic chemicals may brea% down and disappear in the soil more easily than articial chemicals. 1econdly, allelopathic chemicals may be harmful to plants other than weeds. Thirdly, allelopathic chemicals could persist in the soil for a long time and may a!ect crops grown in the same eld as the allelopathic plants at a later date. Because the e!ects of allelopathic chemicals are not yet fully %nown, agriculture scientists will need to continue to study the biological war between plants. Questions )-, D.
) What does the term <#llelopathy' refers to? # the growth and development of a plant
Choose the correct letter, A, B,C or
B the relationship between plants and grown in the same area / the e!ects of chemicals produced by a plant on another plant 3 a plant's primary metabolic processes
* Which of the following does allelopathy A7T a!ect? # how certain species of plants change the nature of the soil where they grow B the diversity of plants in an area / the nutrients present in the soil. 3 the negative e!ects of weeds. + 1cientists are mainly interested in # being able to eploit allelopathy in sustainable farming B the benecial e!ects of weeds on crops. / the e!ect of allelopathy on forests 3 the negative e!ects of weeds , Which of the following is A7T mentioned in the tet? # a tree which is highly poisonous to weeds B a tree which ma%es a type of grass grow better / a tree which ma%es rice more productive 3 a tree which produces a chemical that a!ects the growth of other trees
Questions 1-14 "omplete the summar( o# paragraphs ) and ! below ."hoose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS #rom the passage o# each answer .%rite (our answer in spaces 10-14. 1cientists can see three potential uses of allelopathic chemicals in farming. ;irstly, the ability to produce allelopathic chemicals could be .1/ ..into agriculture crops> secondly, allelopathic plants could be planted in rotation with the .11/>nally, naturally produced chemicals could be combined with .12/..herbicides. (owever, agriculturalists are still .13/.are allelopthic plants may have negative e!ects on plants which are not the intended target and the chemicals could remain in the ground for aCnD .14/.,even after the plants themselves have died.
READING PASSAGE 2 You should spend about 20 minutes on Question 1'-2*, which are based on reading passage 2 below.
0"'ina" t"easu"es When #ndy Warhol, one of the twentieth century's most in"uential artists, died his four: "oor house was so full of items that the only rooms you could wal% through were the %itchen and bedroom. It turned out that Warhol had compulsive hoarding disorder, which is dened as the ecessive accumulation of ob9ects and a refusal to throw them away. But Warhol's case was not uncommon> around ve percent of #mericans 8 nearly * million people 8 su!er from compulsive hoarding disorder. This disorder interferes with daily activities such as sleeping and coo%ing, and in an etreme from it can harm one's health,
be a free ris% and even lead to death. #lthough researchers suspect that the disorder is more widespread in the west, cases of hoarding have been recorded in almost every country. Twenty years ago, compulsive hoarding disorder was relatively uneplored psychological phenomenon, often treated as an aspect of obsessive compulsive disorder:the compulsion to repeat a certain action over and over. (owever, it is now recogni0ed as a separate disorder. 1cientists from many disciplines, including psychologists, neurologists and behavioural researchers are loo%ing at gene seEuences within hoarders' 3A# and scanning their brains to try to understand their behaviour in the hope that they can be helped. There are several theories for the behaviour. ;irst of all, hoarding appears to run in families and may have genetic causes, with family members often having similar issues. In a study of 5*+ families, researchers at 4ohns (op%ins =niversity found that families with two or more hoarding members showed a lin%age between hoarding behaviour and chromosome *F 8 one of the 5 pairs of chromosomes that ma%e up human 3A#. # second theory states that instinct to hoard may be an evolutionary survival strategy& there are plenty of eamples of hoarding in the animal %ingdom. The arctic gray 9ay hoards around *, berries and insects so that it has enough food for the long winter months. (umans, however, are the only species that ta%e the strategy to etremes, sometimes lling their homes with so many ob9ects that they eventually become uninhabitable. Gecent psychological research, however, emphasi0es that hoarders do not 9ust collect 9un%> nor are they la0y or disorgani0ed, even if their homes are chaotic. )any hoarders have normal lives, with regular 9obs and normal relationships with friends and family. /ognitively, hoarders tend to be emotional, attaching sentimental value to belongings that other people would discard. They also tend to be intelligent, well educated and more creative than average. (owever, they can be indecisive and may start several di!erent pro9ects at the same time. /arol )athews, a leading researcher into the condition, used magnetic resonance imaging C)GID to show the brain activity in the process of decision ma%ing. People with compulsive hoarding disorder display increased activity in an area of the brain related to decision ma%ing when as% to organi0e ob9ects. This increased activity is due to their greater emotional attachment to possessions. In other tests, )athew found that people with hoarding behaviour had di@culty grouping similar ob9ects and remembering the seEuence of things. In e!ect, people with compulsive hoarding disorder do not categorise ob9ects in the same way as other people, and when they are as%ed to do so, show an increase in brain activity associated with decision ma%ing process. It seems that people with hoarding behaviour see and treat ob9ects di!erently and might have a di!erent appreciation of the physical world. ;or eample, a pile of ob9ects in the middle of a room may be seen as a wor% of art by a hoarder rather than 9ust a heap of 9un%. Treating hoarding e!ectively may depend upon whether we can identify specic character traits. 3r )oni%a 2c%eld of the =niversity of /alifornia, 1an ;rancisco, believes there are two di!erent %inds of people with hoarding behavior. 1he calls one %ind impulsive: acEuirers, who buy ob9ects of ecitement and %eep them because they are interested in them . The other type are worried:%eepers 8 the hoarders who acEuire items passively and %eep them in case they need them in future. Worried:%eepers spend more time sorting and organi0ing belongings. While both %inds of hoarders of either gender nd it nearly possible to throw anything away, more men than women belong to former category whilst more women fall into the worried:%eeper group.
QESTI0NS 15-1, 3o the following statements agree with the information given in Geading Passage 5?
TRE
if the statement agrees with the information
FA$SE N0T GIEN
if the statement contradicts the information if there is no information on this
* People have died as a result of etreme hoarding behavior. *6 /ompulsive hoarding disorder is a type of obsessive disorder. *- People with compulsive hoarding disorder usually have parents with the same condition *H People with ta%e to collecting to etremes eventually cannot live in their homes. *+ (oarders show more activity in parts of the brain associated with the emotions.
QESTI0NS 2-25 /lassify the following as typical of
A
i#usie-a67ui"e !oa"'e"s
B
8o""ie'-9eee" !oa"'e"s
C
:ot! Write the correct letter, #, B or /, net to Euestions 5:5 5 This type of hoarder nds it almost impossible to discard anything. 5* This type of hoarder %eeps possessions because heshe nds them interesting. 55 This type of hoarder %eeps ob9ects for future use. 5 This type of hoarder buys things because heshe is ecited by them. 5F This type of hoarder has a greater tendency to sort ob9ects. 5 This type of hoarder includes more men than women.
QESTI0N 2) /hoose the correct letter, #, B or /. The writer of the article views people with compulsive hoarding disorder as # la0y and disorganised. B abnormal because they cannot lead a normal life. / having a di!erent perception of physical ob9ects from the ma9ority of people.
READING PASSAGE 3 Jou should spend about 5 minutes on Kuestion 5-:F, which are based on Geading Passage below. # # ma9or cause of blindness in the industriali0ed world is age:related macular degeneration C#)3D. It a!ects approimately three million people globally and accounts for around nine per cent of all blindness. These statistics are epected to double by the year 55 as the world population increases. 1cientists have been wor%ing on a new treatment for one type of disease by using stem cells to repair damage to the retina, with positive results. Two women in #merica, both registered as blind, were given the new treatment and say their vision improved 9ust wee%s after they are in9ected with the stem cells. With such promising results for a condition which previously had no treatment, researchers are positive about the direction of the stem cell treatment.
B #)3 usually a!ects the elderly although younger people can also develop a version of the condition. People with #)3 typically have dar% patches at the centre of their vision 8 the deterioration ta%es place over months and years. #lthough people with #)3 do not lose their sight completely, they do lose central vision, which is vital for detailed wor% and activities li%e reading and driving, so that leading a normal life can become impossible over time. In the cases of two #merican Women, one was a graphic artist who began to lose her vision in her twenties. #s she lost most of her central vision, she became unable to wor%, and then eventually it became impossible for her to recogni0e people or watch TL. The second women became unable to recogni0e faces, had to stop driving and in the end could not leave her home. / To understand #)3, we need to understand how our eyes wor%. 2ssentially a hollow ball, the eye has a number of layers. The outer layer consists of the white of the eye and the cornea. The cornea is the transparent area in front of the coloured iris and the blac% pupil at the centre of the iris. The middle layer of the eye includes blood vessels and the iris, which regulates the amount of light entering the eye. 4ust behind the iris is the lens, which focuses images on retina, which covers the inside of the eyeball. The retina is the part of the eye that contains photoreceptors 8 cells that sense light. Aerve bers from the photoreceptors in the retina 9oin together to from the optic nerve, which then eists the eyeball and transmits visual information to the brain. The photoreceptors are of two types, rods and cones& the rods are sensitive to light intensity and the cones are sensitive to colour. They are mostly concentrated in the part of the retina called the macula. This is only the si0e of a grain of rice, but it is responsible for our central vision, most of our colour vision and our visual acuity, or sharpness of vision. The photoreceptor cells cannot function properly, and this leads to a loss of vision. 3 3amage to the macula can result from a variety of factors. #ge is the main ris% factor but smo%ing also damages blood vessels and the structure of eye. 1mo%ers are three times more li%ely to develop #)3, as are people with poor diets. # diet lac%ing in fruit and vegetables cannot help the body defend itself against free radical molecules which damage cells. ;ruit and vegetables contain antioidants, which protect the body against these free radicals. ;inally people with high blood pressure are one and a half times more li%ely to contract #)3, as are those people with a family history of the disease. 2 The new treatment for #)3, developed by 3r Gobert Man0a at #dvanced /ell Technology, involves changing embryonic stem cells into more speciali0ed eye stem cells and in9ecting
, of them into the layer of the eye that supports the photoreceptors. # stem cell is primary cell that has the ability to divide and form speciali0ed cells that perform various functions within the body. ;irst, a single stem cell was ta%en from a human embryo and grown into a colony of millions of cells. The cells were chec%ed to ma%e sure they were healthy. Then another procedure encouraged the stem cells into the type of cell that forms the layer under the photoreceptor cells. The eye stem cells were in9ected below the retina through a cut into the eyeball, where they lled in the gaps left by dead and damaged cells and began functioning again. ; ;or the two patients, the results have been stunning. Tests have indicated that healthy cells have grown where the stem cells were in9ected. The rst women has regained enough vision to be able to cycle. )eanwhile, the second women can read, coo% and go shopping by herself again. The hope is that the treatment could be a way forward for other currently incurable conditions so that other people can lead normal lives again.
QESTI0NS 2*-32 Geading Passage has si paragraphs, #:;. Which paragraphs, #:;, contain the following information? Write the correct letter, #:;, net to Euestions 5-:5.
5- the symptoms of #)3 5H details about the treatment process 5+ factors that may contribute to #)3 the physical causes of #)3 * potential future uses of stem cell treatment 5 the freEuency of occurrence of #)3
Questions 33-35 Mabel the diagram below using words from the bo.
Ma6ua Co"nea 0ti6 ne"e
Questions 3)-4 Co#ete t!e su##a" :eo8; /hoose A7 )7G2 T(#A TW7 W7G31 from the passage for each answer. Write your answers in spaces 6:F
#ge:related macular degeneration N#)3O is one of the main causes of loss of sight in the N6O . #lthough #)3 can a!ect N-O. ,the ma9ority of su!erers are older. 3espite being very small, the macula is essential to our NHOas well as detailed vision and some colour vision. #)3 happens when the cells beneath the N+Ocells are damaged or die. # new treatment to repair the damaged cells involvesNFO... stem cells under them.
