READING PASSAGE 1
You should spend about trăng tròn minutes on Questions 1-13 which are based on Reading Passage 1 below.
Cork
Cork – the thick bark of the cork oak tree (Quercus suber) – is a remarkable material. It is tough, elastic, buoyant, and fire-resistant, and suitable for a wide range of purposes. It has also been used for millennia: the ancient Egyptians sealed their sarcophagi (stone coffins) with cork, while the ancient Greeks and Romans used it for anything from beehives to tướng sandals.
And the cork oak itself is an extraordinary tree. Its bark grows up to tướng trăng tròn centimet in thickness, insulating the tree lượt thích a coat wrapped around the trunk and branches and keeping the inside at a constant 20oC all year round. Developed most probably as a defence against forest fires, the bark of the cork oak has a particular cellular structure – with about 40 million cells per cubic centimetre – that technology has never succeeded in replicating. The cells are filled with air, which is why cork is ví buoyant. It also has an elasticity that means you can squash it and watch it spring back to tướng its original size and shape when you release the pressure.
Cork oaks grow in a number of Mediterranean countries, including Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece and Morocco. They flourish in warm, sunny climates where there is a minimum of 400 millimetres of rain per year, and not more than thở 800 millimetres. Like grape vines, the trees thrive in poor soil, putting down deep roots in tìm kiếm of moisture and nutrients. Southern Portugal’s Alentejo region meets all of these requirements, which explains why, by the early 20th century, this region had become the world’s largest producer of cork, and why today it accounts for roughly half of all cork production around the world.
Most cork forests are family-owned. Many of these family businesses, and indeed many of the trees themselves, are around 200 years old. Cork production is, above all, an exercise in patience. From the planting of a cork sapling to tướng the first harvest takes 25 years, and a gap of approximately a decade must separate harvests from an individual tree. And for top-quality cork, it’s necessary to tướng wait a further 15 or trăng tròn years. You even have to tướng wait for the right kind of summer’s day to tướng harvest cork. If the bark is stripped on a day when it’s too cold – or when the air is damp – the tree will be damaged.
Cork harvesting is a very specialised profession. No mechanical means of stripping cork bark has been invented, ví the job is done by teams of highly skilled workers. First, they make vertical cuts down the bark using small sharp axes, then lever it away in pieces as large as they can manage. The most skilful cork-strippers prise away a semi-circular husk that runs the length of the trunk from just above ground level to tướng the first branches. It is then dried on the ground for about four months, before being taken to tướng factories, where it is boiled to tướng kill any insects that might remain in the cork. Over 60% of cork then goes on to tướng be made into traditional bottle stoppers, with most of the remainder being used in the construction trade. Corkboard and cork tiles are ideal for thermal and acoustic insulation, while granules of cork are used in the manufacture of concrete.
Recent years have seen the kết thúc of the virtual monopoly of cork as the material for bottle stoppers, due to tướng concerns about the effect it may have on the contents of the bottle. This is caused by a chemical compound called 2,4,6-trichloroanisole (TCA), which forms through the interaction of plant phenols, chlorine and mould. The tiniest concentrations – as little as three or four parts to tướng a trillion – can spoil the taste of the product contained in the bottle. The result has been a gradual yet steady move first towards plastic stoppers and, more recently, to tướng aluminium screw caps. These substitutes are cheaper to tướng manufacture and, in the case of screw caps, move convenient for the user.
The classic cork stopper does have several advantages, however. Firstly, its traditional image is more in keeping with that of the type of high quality goods with which it has long been associated. Secondly – and very importantly – cork is a sustainable product that can be recycled without difficulty. Moreover, cork forests are a resource which tư vấn local biodiversity, and prevent desertification in the regions where they are planted. So, given the current concerns about environmental issues, the future of this ancient material once again looks promising.
Questions 1-5
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1?
In boxes 1-5 on your answer sheet, write
TRUE if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this
1 The cork oak has the thickest bark of any living tree.
2 Scientists have developed a synthetic cork with the same cellular structures as natural cork.
3 Individual cork oak trees must be left for 25 years between the first and second harvest.
4 Cork bark should be stripped in dry atmospheric conditions.
5 The only way to tướng remove the bark from cork oak trees is by hand.
Questions 6-13
Complete the notes bolow.
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 6-13 on your answer sheet.
Comparison of aluminium screw caps and cork bottle stoppers
Advantages of aluminium screw caps
• do not affect the 6…………………………… of the bottle contents
• are 7…………………………….. to tướng produce
• are 8……………………………… to tướng use
Advantages of cork bottle stoppers
• suit the 9……………………………… of quality products
• made from a 10……………………………… material
• easily 11…………………………….
• cork forests aid 12…………………………………
• cork forests stop 13………………………………. happening
READING PASSAGE 2
You should spend about trăng tròn minutes on Questions 14-26 which are based on Reading Passage 2 below.
COLLECTING AS A HOBBY
Collecting must be one of the most varied of human activities, and it’s one that many of us psychologists find fascinating. Many forms of collecting have been dignified with a technical name: an archtophilist collects teddy bears, a philatelist collects postage stamps, and a deltiologist collects postcards. Amassing hundreds or even thousands of postcards, chocolate wrappers or whatever, takes time, energy and money that could surely be put to tướng much more productive use. And yet there are millions of collectors around the world. Why tự they tự it?
There are the people who collect because they want to tướng make money – this could be called an instrumental reason for collecting; that is, collecting as a means to tướng an kết thúc. They’ll look for, say, antiques that they can buy cheaply and expect to tướng be able to tướng sell at a profit. But there may well be a psychological element, too – buying cheap and selling dear can give the collector a sense of triumph. And as selling online is ví easy, more and more people are joining in.
Many collectors collect to tướng develop their social life, attending meetings of a group of collectors and exchanging information on items. This is a variant on joining a bridge club or a thể hình, and similarly brings them into liên hệ with like-minded people.
Another motive for collecting is the desire to tướng find something special, or a particular example of the collected item, such as a rare early recording by a particular singer. Some may spend their whole lives in a hunt for this. Psychologically, this can give a purpose to tướng a life that otherwise feels aimless. There is a danger, though, that if the individual is ever lucky enough to tướng find what they’re looking for, rather than thở celebrating their success, they may feel empty, now that the goal that drove them on has gone.
If you think about collecting postage stamps, another potential reason for it – or, perhaps, a result of collecting – is its educational value. Stamp collecting opens a window to tướng other countries, and to tướng the plants, animals, or famous people shown on their stamps. Similarly, in the 19th century, many collectors amassed fossils, animals and plants from around the globe, and their collections provided a vast amount of information about the natural world. Without those collections, our understanding would be greatly inferior to tướng what it is.
In the past – and nowadays, too, though to tướng a lesser extent – a popular size of collecting, particularly among boys and men, was trainspotting. This might involve trying to tướng see every locomotive of a particular type, using published data that identifies each one, and ticking off each engine as it is seen. Trainspotters exchange information, these days often by mobile phone, ví they can work out where to tướng go to tướng, to tướng see a particular engine. As a by-product, many practitioners of the hobby become very knowledgeable about railway operations, or the technical specifications of different engine types.
Similarly, people who collect dolls may go beyond simply enlarging their collection, and develop an interest in the way that dolls are made, or the materials that are used. These have changed over the centuries from the wood that was standard in 16th century Europe, through the wax and porcelain of later centuries, to tướng the plastics of today’s dolls. Or collectors might be inspired to tướng study how dolls reflect notions of what children lượt thích, or ought to tướng lượt thích.
Not all collectors are interested in learning from their hobby, though, ví what we might Hotline a psychological reason for collecting is the need for a sense of control, perhaps as a way of dealing with insecurity. Stamps collectors, for instance, arrange their stamps in albums, usually very neatly, organising their collection according to tướng certain commonplace principles – perhaps by country in alphabetical order, or grouping stamps by what they depict – people, birds, maps, and ví on.
One reason, conscious or not, for what someone chooses to tướng collect is to tướng show the collector’s individualism. Someone who decides to tướng collect something as unexpected as dos collars, for instance, may be conveying their belief that they must be interesting themselves. And believe it or not, there is at least one dog collar museum in existence, and it grew out of a personal collection.
Of course, all hobbies give pleasure, but the common factor in collecting is usually passion: pleasure is putting it far too mildly. More than thở most other hobbies, collecting can be totally engrossing, and can give a strong sense of personal fulfilment. To non-collectors it may appear an eccentric, if harmless, way of spending time, but potentially, collecting has a lot going for it.
Questions 14-21
Complete the sentences below.
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 14-21 on your answer sheet.
14 The writer mentions collecting …………………….. as an example of collecting in order to tướng make money.
15 Collectors may get a feeling of …………………….. from buying and selling items.
16 Collectors’ clubs provide opportunities to tướng share……………………………
17 Collectors’ clubs offer ………………………. with people who have similar interests.
18 Collecting sometimes involves a life-long………………………. for a special item.
19 Searching for something particular may prevent people from feeling their life is completely……………………….
20 Stamp collecting may be ……………………….. because it provides facts about different countries.
21 ……………………….. tends to tướng be mostly a male hobby.
Questions 22-26
Do the following statements agree with the information given in the passage on pages trăng tròn and 21?
In boxes 22-26 on your answer sheet, write
TRUE if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this
22 The number of people buying dolls has grown over the centuries.
23 Sixteenth century European dolls were normally made of wax and porcelain.
24 Arranging a stamp collection by the size of the stamps is less common than thở other methods.
25 Someone who collects unusual objects may want others to tướng think he or she is also unusual.
26 Collecting gives a feeling that other hobbies are unlikely to tướng inspire.