Read the text and label the diagram below.

The chicken egg

Chicken egg consists of six main parts: albumin, yolk, shell, germinal disc,
chalaza and air cell. In further paragraphs we will learn all the important
information you need to know about these parts.

One of the main parts of the egg is yolk - the yellow, inner part of the egg
where the embryo will form. The yolk contains the food that will nourish the
embryo as it grows. Yolk is a major source of vitamins, minerals, almost half of
the protein, and all of the fat and cholesterol. The yolk contains less water and
more protein than the white part of the egg, some fat, and most of the vitamins
and minerals of the egg. The yolk is also a source of lecithin, an effective
emulsifier. Yolk color ranges from just a hint of yellow to a magnificent deep
orange, according to the feed and breed of the hen. Yolk is anchored by chalaza -
a spiral, rope-like strand that anchors the yolk in the thick egg white. There are
two chalazae anchoring each yolk; one on the top and one on the bottom.

Another very important part of the egg is the albumin, which is the inner thick
white part of the egg. This part of the egg is a excellent source of riboflavin and
protein. In high-quality eggs, the inner thick albumen stands higher and spreads
less than thin white. In low-quality eggs, it appears thin white.

Now let's talk about the outer part of the egg - the shell It is a hard, protective
coating of the egg. It is semi-permeable; it lets gas exchange occur, but keeps
other substances from entering the egg. The shell is made of calcium carbonate
and is covered with as many as 17,000 tiny pores.

Air cell is an air space that forms when the contents of the egg cool and
contract after the egg is laid. The air cell usually rests between the outer and
inner membranes at the eggs larger end. As the egg ages, moisture and carbon
dioxide leave through the pores of the shell, air enters to replace them and the
air cell becomes larger.

And last but not least, let's look at the germinal disc. It's a small, circular,
white spot (2-3 mm across) on the surface of the yolk; it is where the sperm
enters the egg. The nucleus of the egg is in the blastodisc. The embryo develops
from this disk, and gradually sends blood vessels into the yolk to use it for
nutrition as the embryo develops.

Complete the diagram below.

Write NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer
READING PASSAGE 2
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14–26, which are
based on Reading Passage 2 below.

Life lessons from villains, crooks and gangsters

(A) A notorious Mexican drug baron’s audacious escape from prison in July
doesn’t, at first, appear to have much to teach corporate boards. But some in the
business world suggest otherwise. Beyond the morally reprehensible side of
criminals’ work, some business gurus say organised crime syndicates, computer
hackers, pirates and others operating outside the law could teach legitimate
corporations a thing or two about how to hustle and respond to rapid change.

(B) Far from encouraging illegality, these gurus argue that – in the same way big
corporations sometimes emulate start-ups – business leaders could learn from
the underworld about flexibility, innovation and the ability to pivot quickly.
“There is a nimbleness to criminal organisations that legacy corporations [with
large, complex layers of management] don’t have,” said Marc Goodman, head of
the Future Crimes Institute and global cyber-crime advisor. While traditional
businesses focus on rules they have to follow, criminals look to circumvent them.
“For criminals, the sky is the limit and that creates the opportunity to think
much, much bigger.”

(C) Joaquin Guzman, the head of the Mexican Sinaloa drug cartel, for instance,
slipped out of his prison cell through a tiny hole in his shower that led to a mile-
long tunnel fitted with lights and ventilation. Making a break for it required
creative thinking, long-term planning and perseverance – essential skills similar
to those needed to achieve success in big business.

(D) While Devin Liddell, who heads brand strategy for Seattle-based design
consultancy, Teague, condemns the violence and other illegal activities he
became curious as to how criminal groups endure. Some cartels stay in business
despite multiple efforts by law enforcement on both sides of the US border and
millions of dollars from international agencies to shut them down. Liddell
genuinely believes there’s a lesson in longevity here. One strategy he underlined
was how the bad guys respond to change. In order to bypass the border between
Mexico and the US, for example, the Sinaloa cartel went to great lengths. It built
a vast underground tunnel, hired family members as border agents and even
used a catapult to circumvent a high-tech fence.
(E) By contrast, many legitimate businesses fail because they hesitate to adapt
quickly to changing market winds. One high-profile example is movie and game
rental company Blockbuster, which didn’t keep up with the market and lost
business to mail order video rentals and streaming technologies. The brand has
all but faded from view. Liddell argues the difference between the two groups is
that criminal organisations often have improvisation encoded into their daily
behaviour, while larger companies think of innovation as a set process. “This is a
leadership challenge,” said Liddell. “How well companies innovate and organise
is a reflection of leadership.”

Left-field thinking

(F) Cash-strapped start-ups also use unorthodox strategies to problem solve and
build their businesses up from scratch. This creativity and innovation is often
borne out of necessity, such as tight budgets. Both criminals and start-up
founders “question authority, act outside the system and see new and clever
ways of doing things,” said Goodman. “Either they become Elon Musk or El
Chapo.” And, some entrepreneurs aren’t even afraid to operate in legal grey
areas in their effort to disrupt the marketplace. The co-founders of music
streaming service Napster, for example, knowingly broke music copyright rules
with their first online file sharing service, but their technology paved the way for
legal innovation as regulators caught up.

(G) Goodman and others believe thinking hard about problem solving before
worrying about restrictions could prevent established companies falling victim to
rivals less constrained by tradition. In their book The Misfit Economy, Alexa Clay
and Kyra Maya Phillips examine how individuals can apply that mindset to
become more innovative and entrepreneurial within corporate structures. They
studied not just violent criminals like Somali pirates, but others who break the
rules in order to find creative solutions to their business problems, such as
people living in the slums of Mumbai or computer hackers. They picked out five
common traits among this group: the ability to hustle, pivot, provoke, hack and
copycat.

(H) Clay gives a Saudi entrepreneur named Walid Abdul-Wahab as a prime

example. Abdul-Wahab worked with Amish farmers to bring camel milk to
American consumers even before US regulators approved it. Through
perseverance, he eventually found a network of Amish camel milk farmers and
started selling the product via social media. Now his company, Desert Farms,
sells to giant mainstream retailers like Whole Foods Market. Those on the fringe
don’t always have the option of traditional, corporate jobs and that forces them
to think more creatively about how to make a living, Clay said. They must
develop grit and resilience in order to last outside the cushy confines of cubicle
life. “In many cases scarcity is the mother of invention,” Clay said.

Questions 22–25

Complete the sentences below.

Write ONLY ONE WORD from the passage for each answer.

Write your answers in boxes 22–25 on your answer sheet.

22. To escape from a prison, Joaquin Guzman had to use such traits as creative
thinking, long-term planning and _________.

23. The Sinaloa cartel built a grand underground tunnel and even used a
_________ to avoid the fence.
24. The main difference between two groups is that criminals, unlike large
corporations, often have _________ encoded into their daily life.

25. Due to being persuasive, Walid Abdul-Wahab found a _________ of Amish

camel milk farmers.
Cam 11 - Test 2 - Passage 1: “Raising The Mary Rose” - Trích đoạn 10

Raising the Mary Rose

How a sixteenth-century warship was recovered from the seabed
On 19 July 1545, English and French fleets were engaged in a sea battle off the coast of southern
England in the area of water called the Solent, between Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight. Among the
English vessels was a warship by the name of Mary Rose. Built in Portsmouth some 35 years earlier,
she had had a long and successful fighting career, and was a favourite of King Henry VIII. Accounts
of what happened to the ship vary: while witnesses agree that she was not hit by the French, some
maintain that she was outdated, overladen and sailing too low in the water, others that she was
mishandled by undisciplined crew. What is undisputed, however, is that the Mary Rose sank into the
Solent that day, taking at least 500 men with her. After the battle, attempts were made to recover the
ship, but these failed.
The Mary Rose came to rest on the seabed, lying on her starboard (right) side at an angle of
approximately 60 degrees. The hull (the body of the ship) acted as a trap for the sand and mud carried
by Solent currents. As a result, the starboard side filled rapidly, leaving the exposed port (left) side to
be eroded by marine organisms and mechanical degradation. Because of the way the ship sank, nearly
all of the starboard half survived intact. During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the entire
site became covered with a layer of hard grey clay, which minimised further erosion.
Then, on 16 June 1836, some fishermen in the Solent found that their equipment was caught on an
underwater obstruction, which turned out to be the Mary Rose. Diver John Deane happened to be
exploring another sunken ship nearby, and the fishermen approached him, asking him to free their
gear. Deane dived down, and found the equipment caught on a timber protruding slightly from the
seabed. Exploring further, he uncovered several other timbers and a bronze gun. Deane continued
diving on the site intermittently until 1840, recovering several more guns, two bows, various timbers,
part of a pump and various other small finds.
The Mary Rose then faded into obscurity for another hundred years. But in 1965, military historian
and amateur diver Alexander McKee, in conjunction with the British Sub-Aqua Club, initiated a
project called ‘Solent Ships’. While on paper this was a plan to examine a number of known wrecks in
the Solent, what McKee really hoped for was to find the Mary Rose. Ordinary search techniques
proved unsatisfactory, so McKee entered into collaboration with Harold E. Edgerton, professor of
electrical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 1967, Edgerton’s side-scan
sonar systems revealed a large, unusually shaped object, which McKee believed was the Mary Rose
Further excavations revealed stray pieces of timber and an iron gun. But the climax to the operation
came when, on 5 May 1971, part of the ship’s frame was uncovered. McKee and his team now knew
for certain that they had found the wreck, but were as yet unaware that it also housed a treasure trove
of beautifully preserved artefacts. Interest in the project grew, and in 1979, The Mary Rose Trust was
formed, with Prince Charles as its President and Dr Margaret Rule its Archaeological Director. The
decision whether or not to salvage the wreck was not an easy one, although an excavation in 1978 had
shown that it might be possible to raise the hull. While the original aim was to raise the hull if at all
feasible, the operation was not given the go-ahead until January 1982, when all the necessary
information was available.
An important factor in trying to salvage the Mary Rose was that the remaining hull was an open shell.
This led to an important decision being taken: namely to carry out the lifting operation in three very
distinct stages. The hull was attached to a lifting frame via a network of bolts and lifting wires. The
problem of the hull being sucked back downwards into the mud was overcome by using 12 hydraulic
jacks. These raised it a few centimetres over a period of several days, as the lifting frame rose slowly
up its four legs. It was only when the hull was hanging freely from the lifting frame, clear of the
seabed and the suction effect of the surrounding mud, that the salvage operation progressed to the
second stage. In this stage, the lifting frame was fixed to a hook attached to a crane, and the hull was
lifted completely clear of the seabed and transferred underwater into the lifting cradle. This required
precise positioning to locate the legs into the stabbing guides of the lifting cradle. The lifting cradle
was designed to fit the hull using archaeological survey drawings, and was fitted with air bags to
provide additional cushioning for the hull’s delicate timber framework. The third and final stage was
to lift the entire structure into the air, by which time the hull was also supported from below. Finally,
on 11 October 1982, millions of people around the world held their breath as the timber skeleton of
the Mary Rose was lifted clear of the water, ready to be returned home to Portsmouth.

Label the diagram below.

Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.

Write your answers in boxes 9-13 on your answer sheet.

Raising the hull of the Mary Rose: Stages one and two
Luyện tập

(Cam 11 - Test 1 - Passage 2) - Trích đoạn 6

Boats needing to be lifted up enter the canal basin at the level of the Forth &
Clyde Canal and then enter the lower gondola of the Wheel. Two hydraulic steel
gates are raised, so as to seal the gondola off from the water in the canal basin.
The water between the gates is then pumped out. A hydraulic clamp, which
prevents the arms of the Wheel moving while the gondola is docked, is removed,
allowing the Wheel to turn. In the central machine room an array of ten hydraulic
motors then begins to rotate the central axle. The axle connects to the outer
arms of the Wheel, which begin to rotate at a speed of 1/8 of a revolution per
minute. As the wheel rotates, the gondolas are kept in the upright position by a
simple gearing system. Two eight-metre-wide cogs orbit a fixed inner cog of the
same width, connected by two smaller cogs travelling in the opposite direction to
the outer cogs - so ensuring that the gondolas always remain level. When the
gondola reaches the top, the boat passes straight onto the aqueduct situated 24
metres above the canal basin.

The remaining 11 metres of lift needed to reach the Union Canal is achieved by
means of a pair of locks. The Wheel could not be constructed to elevate boats
over the full 35-metre difference between the two canals, owing to the presence
of the historically important Antonine Wall, which was built by the Romans in the
second century AD.

Boats travel under this wall via a tunnel, then through the locks, and finally on to
the Union Canal.

Label the diagram below.

Choose ONE WORD from the passage for each answer.

Write your answers in boxes 7-13 on your answer sheet.

Snow-Makers Reading Passage

Snow-Makers

A.Ski slopes had become an extremely profitable business with the growing popularity of skiing in
the early to mid-twentieth century. However, ski resort owners were completely dependent on the
weather: if it didn't snow, or didn’t snow enough, they had to shut their businesses. Fortunately,
snow can be produced whenever it's necessary through a gadget called the "snow gun." Such
devices are now common in the great majority of ski resorts across the world, allowing many resorts
to remain open for months, or even the whole year.

B.Snow originates from natural weather systems and arrives from water vapor in the atmosphere.
The water vapor crystallizes into droplets, constructing clouds. If the temperature is sufficiently
intense, the water droplets freeze into tiny ice crystals. More water particles then condense onto the
crystal and unite with it to form a snowflake. As the snowflake grows heavier, it drops towards the
Earth.

C.Although the snow gun works very differently from a natural weather system, it accomplishes
exactly the same thing as the device basically works by merging water and air. Two multifarious
hoses are attached to the gun. One leads from a water pumping station that pumps water up from a
lake or reservoir, and the other leads from an air compressor. It atomizes the water whenever the
consolidated air passes through the hose into the gun - that is, it disrupts the stream so that the
water splits up into tiny droplets which are then bobbled out of the gun, and ice crystals will form if
the outside temperature is below 0°C, which will make snowflakes in the same way as natural snow.

D.Snowmakers frequently refer to dry snow and wet snow. Dry snow contains relatively teensy
water. And thus, it is extremely light and powdery. This type of snow is ideal for skiing because it is
dry enough to prevent skis from becoming stuck in slush. One of the benefits of using a snow-maker
is that powdery snow can be produced to create a level surface on ski slopes. However, resort
owners also use denser and wetter snow thatthat is denser and wetter on heavily traveled slopes.
Many resorts build snow depth in this manner once or twice a year, and then apply a layer of dry
snow to the trails regularlya a regular basis throughout the winter.

E.The wettability of snow depends on the outside temperature and humidity as well as the size of
the water droplets released by the gun. Snowmakers must regulate the amounts of water and air in
their snow guns to produce snow with the ideal consistency for the outdoor climate. Numerous ski
slopes now do this using a centralized computer system linked to weather-reading stations located
around the slope.

F.However, artificial snow has a significant influence on the ecosystem. It takes around 275,000 liters
of water to cover a 60-by-60-meter stretch with snow. Most resorts obtain their water from one or
more reservoirs in low-lying regions. The runoff water from the slopes returns to these reservoirs,
allowing the resort to reuse the same water several times. However, huge air-compressing pumps
require substantial energy, and the diesel engines that power them contribute to air pollution.

G.Due to the expense of generating snow, ski resorts must weigh the cost of running the machines
against the benefits of prolonging the ski season, ensuring that they only manufacture snow when it
is indispensable and when the investment will provide the greatest return. However, artificial snow
has a variety of other applications. A coating of snow prevents much of the Earth's heat from
escaping into space, so farmers frequently employ artificial snow to insulate winter crops. Snow-
making devices have played a significant role in several film projects. Typically, it takes many months
to film scenes that span only a few days. If the film is set in a snowy environment, the set designers
must obtain the proper amount of snow for each day of filming by adding artificial snow or melting
real snow. And another significant usage of artificial snow is in testing airplanes to verify that they
can operate safely in harsh situations.

Questions 6-8

Label the diagram below.

Choose no more than two words from the passage for each answer.

Write your answers in boxes 6-8 on your answer sheet.

Questions 9-13

Complete the sentences below.

For each answer, choose no more than three words from the passage.

Write your answers in boxes 9-13 on your answer sheet.

9.Dry snow is utilized to provide a level surface on slopes, whereas wet snow is used to boost
_______ on heavily traveled slopes.

10.Before calculating the required snow consistency, the atmospheric _____ must be measured.

11.Snowmaking technology requires a great deal of _____, which is detrimental to the environment.

12.Artificial snow is used as a sort of ______ for plants in cold climates.

13.Artificial snow can also be utilized for safety checks on _____.

 Tidal Power

A. Operating on the same principle as wind turbines, the power in sea turbines comes from tidal
currents which turn blades similar to ships' propellers, but, unlike the wind, the tides are predictable
and the power input is constant. The technology raises the prospect of Britain becoming self-sufficient
in renewable energy and drastically reducing its carbon dioxide emissions, if tide, wind and wave
power are all developed. Britain would be able to close gas, coal and nuclear power plants and export
renewable power to other parts of Europe. Unlike wind power which Britain originally developed and
then abandoned for 20 years allowing the Dutch to make it a major industry, undersea turbines could
become a big export earner to island nations such as Japan and New Zealand.
B. Tidal sites have already been identified that will produce one-sixth or more of the UK’s power -
and at prices competitive with modern gas turbines and undercutting those of the already ailing
nuclear industry. One site alone, the Pendand Firth, between Orkney and mainland Scotland, could
produce 10% of the country's electricity with banks of turbines under the sea, and another at Alderney
in the Channel islands three times the 1,200 megawatts of Britain's largest and newest nuclear plant,
Sizewell B, in Suffolk. Other sites identified include the Bristol Channel and the west coast of
Scotland, particularly the channel between Campbeltown and Northern Ireland.

C. Work on designs for the new turbine blades and sites are well advanced at the University of
Southampton‘s sustainable energy research group. The first station is expected to be installed off
Lynmouth in Devon shortly to test the technology in a venture jointly funded by the department of
Trade and Industry and the European Union. AbuBakr Bahaj, in charge of the Southampton
research, said: The prospects for energy from tidal currents are far better than from wind because the
flows of water are predictable and constant. The technology for dealing with the hostile saline
environment under the sea has been developed in the North Sea oil industry and much is already
known about turbine blade design, because of wind power and ship propellers. There are a few
technical difficulties, but I believe in the next nine to ten years we will be installing commercial
marine turbine farms.' Southampton has been awarded £2l5.000 over three years to develop the
turbines and is working with Marine Current Turbines a subsidiary of IT power; on the Lynmouth
project. EU research has now identified 1GB potential sites for tidal power 80% round the coasts of
Britain. The best sites are between islands or around heavily indented coasts where there are strong
tidal currents.

Questions 23-26
Label the diagram below.
Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 23-26 on your answer sheet.

An Undersea Turbine
Whole tower can be raised for 23 .................... and the extraction of seaweed from the blades.
Sea life not in danger due to the fact that blades are comparatively 24 .................... .
Air bubbles result from the 25 .................... behind blades. This is known as 26 ....................
.
 Striking Back at Lightning With Lasers

Seldom is the weather more dramatic than when thunderstorms strike. Their electrical fury inflicts
death or serious injury on around 500 people each year in the United States alone. As the clouds roll
in, a leisurely round of golf can become a terrifying dice with death - out in the open, a lone golfer
maybe a lightning bolt's most inviting target. And there is damage to property too. Lightning damage
costs American power companies more than $100 million a year.
But researchers in the United States and Japan are planning to hit back. Already in laboratory trials
they have tested strategies for neutralising the power of thunderstorms, and this winter they will brave
real storms, equipped with an armoury of lasers that they will be pointing towards the heavens to
discharge thunderclouds before lightning can strike.
The idea of forcing storm clouds to discharge their lightning on command is not new. In the early
1960s, researchers tried firing rockets trailing wires into thunderclouds to set up an easy discharge
path for the huge electric charges that these clouds generate. The technique survives to this day at a
test site in Florida run by the University of Florida, with support from the Electrical Power Research
Institute (EPRI), based in California. EPRI, which is funded by power companies, is looking at ways
to protect the United States' power grid from lightning strikes. 'We can cause the lightning to strike
where we want it by using rockets': says Ralph Bernstein, manager of lightning projects at EPRI. The
rocket site is providing precise measurements of lightning voltages and allowing engineers to check
how electrical equipment bears up.
Bad behaviour
But while rockets are fine for research, they cannot provide the protection from lightning strikes that
everyone is looking for. The rockets cost around $1,200 each, can only be fired at a limited frequency
and their failure rate is about 40 per cent. And even when they do trigger lightning, things still do not
always go according to plan. 'Lightning is not perfectly well behaved: says Bernstein. 'Occasionally, it
will take a branch and go someplace it wasn't supposed to go.'
And anyway, who would want to fire streams of rockets in a populated area? 'What goes up must
come down,' points out Jean-Claude Diels of the University of New Mexico. Diels is leading a
project, which is backed by EPRI, to try to use lasers to discharge lightning safely — and safety is a
basic requirement since no one wants to put themselves or their expensive equipment at risk. With
around $500,000 invested so far, a promising system is just emerging from the laboratory.
The idea began some 20 years ago, when high-powered lasers were revealing their ability to extract
electrons out of atoms and create ions. If a laser could generate a line of ionisation in the air all the
way up to a storm cloud, this conducting path could be used to guide lightning to Earth, before the
electric field becomes strong enough to break down the air in an uncontrollable surge. To stop the
laser itself from being struck, it would not be pointed straight at the clouds. Instead, it would be
directed at a mirror, and from there into the sky. The mirror would be protected by placing lightning
conductors dose by. Ideally, the cloud-zapper (gun) would be cheap enough to be installed around all
key power installations, and portable enough to be taken to international sporting events to beam up at
brewing storm clouds.
A stumbling block
However, there is still a big stumbling block. The laser is no nifty portable: it's a monster that takes up
a whole room. Diels is trying to cut down the size and says that a laser around the size of a small table
is in the offing. He plans to test this more manageable system on live thunderclouds next summer.
Bernstein says that Diels's system is attracting lots of interest from the power companies. But they
have not yet come up with the $5 million that EPRI says will be needed to develop a commercial
system, by making the lasers yet smaller and cheaper. `I cannot say I have money yet, but I'm working
on it,' says Bernstein. He reckons that the forthcoming field tests will be the turning point — and he's
hoping for good news. Bernstein predicts ‘an avalanche of interest and support' if all goes well. He
expects to see cloud-zappers eventually costing $50,000 to $100,000 each.
Other scientists could also benefit. With a lightning `switch' at their fingertips, materials scientists
could find out what happens when mighty currents meet matter. Diels also hopes to see the birth of
‘interactive meteorology’ — not just forecasting the weather but controlling it. `If we could discharge
clouds, we might affect the weather,' he says.
And perhaps, says Diels, we'll be able to confront some other meteorological menaces. `We think we
could prevent hail by inducing lightning,' he says. Thunder, the shock wave that comes from a
lightning flash, is thought to be the trigger for the torrential rain that is typical of storms. A laser
thunder factory could shake the moisture out of clouds, perhaps preventing the formation of the giant
hailstones that threaten crops. With luck, as the storm clouds gather this winter, laser-toting
researchers could, for the first time, strike back.

Questions 1-3
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.
Write the correct letter in boxes 1-3 on your answer sheet.

1. The main topic discussed in the text is

A. the damage caused to US golf courses and golf players by lightning strikes.
B. the effect of lightning on power supplies in the US and in Japan.
C. a variety of methods used in trying to control lightning strikes.
D. a laser technique used in trying to control lightning strikes.

2. According to the text, every year lightning

A. does considerable damage to buildings during thunderstorms.
B. kills or injures mainly golfers in the United States.
C. kills or injures around 500 people throughout the world.
D. damages more than 100 American power companies.

3. Researchers at the University of Florida and at the University of New Mexico

A. receive funds from the same source.
B. are using the same techniques.
C. are employed by commercial companies.
D. are in opposition to each other.

Questions 4-6
Complete the sentences below.
Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 4-6 on your answer sheet.
4. EPRI receives financial support from ...............................
5. The advantage of the technique being developed by Diets is that it can be used .............................
6. The main difficulty associated with using the laser equipment is related to its .................................
Questions 7-10
Complete the summary using the list of words, A-I, below.
Write the correct letter, A-I, in boxes 7-10 on your answer sheet.

In this method, a laser is used to create a line of ionisation by removing electrons

from 7 ................... This laser is then directed at 8 ....................... in order to control electrical charges,
a method which is less dangerous than using 9 ....................... As a protection for the lasers, the beams
are aimed firstly at 10 .......................
A cloud-zappers B atoms C storm clouds
D mirrors E technique F ions
G rockets H conductors I thunder

Questions 11-13
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 115?
In boxes 11-13 on your answer sheet write:

YES if the statement agrees with the claims of the writer

NO if the statement contradicts the claims of the writer
NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this

11. Power companies have given Diels enough money to develop his laser.
12. Obtaining money to improve the lasers will depend on tests in real storms.
13. Weather forecasters are intensely interested in Diels's system
 Attitudes to Language

It is not easy to be systematic and objective about language study. Popular linguistic debate regularly
deteriorates into invective and polemic. Language belongs to everyone, so most people feel they have
a right to hold an opinion about it. And when opinions differ, emotions can run high. Arguments can
start as easily over minor points of usage as over major policies of linguistic education.

Language, moreover is a very public behavior so it is easy for different usages to be noted and
criticized. No part of society or social behavior is exempt: linguistic factors influence how we judge
personality, intelligence, social status, educational standards, job aptitude, and many other areas of
identity and social survival. As a result, it is easy to hurt, and to be hurt, when language use is
unfeelingly attacked.
In its most general sense, prescriptivism is the view that one variety of language has an inherently
higher value than others, and that this ought to be imposed on the whole of the speech community.
The view is propounded especially in relation to grammar and vocabulary, and frequently with
reference to pronunciation. The variety which is favoured, in this account, is usually a version of the
‘standard’ written language, especially as encountered in literature, or in the formal spoken language
which most closely reflects this style. Adherents to this variety are said to speak or write ‘correctly';
deviations from it are said to be 'incorrect.
All the main languages have been studied prescriptlvely, especially in the 18th-century approach to
the writing of grammars and dictionaries. The aims of these early grammarians were threefold: [a)
they wanted to codify the principles of their languages, to show that there was a system beneath the
apparent chaos of usage. (b] they wanted a means of settling disputes over usage, and (c] they wanted
to point out what they felt to be common errors, in order to ‘improve' the language. The authoritarian
nature of the approach is best characterized by its reliance on 'rules' of grammar. Some usages are
prescribed; to be learnt and followed accurately; others are prescribed to be avoided. In this early
period, there were no half-measures: usage was either right or wrong, and it was the task of the
grammarian not simply to record alternatives but to pronounce judgment upon them.

These attitudes are still with us, and they motivate a widespread concern that linguistic standards
should be maintained. Nevertheless, there is an alternative point of view that is concerned less with
standards than with the facts of linguistic usage. This approach is summarized in the statement that it
is the task of the grammarian to describe not prescribe to record the facts of linguistic diversity, and
not to attempt the impossible tasks of evaluating language variation or halting language change. In the
second half of the 18th century, we already find advocates of this view, such as Joseph Priestley,
whose Rudiments of English Grammar (1761) insists that ‘the custom of speaking is the original and
only just standard of any language. `Linguistic issues, it is argued, cannot be solved by logic and
legislation. And this view has become the tenet of the modem linguistic approach to grammatical
analysis.
In our own time, the opposition between ‘descriptivists' and 'prescriptivists' has often become
extreme, with both sides painting unreal pictures of the other. Descriptive grammarians have been
presented as people who do not care about standards, because of the way they see all forms of usage
as equally valid. Prescriptive grammarians have been presented as blind adherents to a historical
tradition. The opposition has even been presented in quasi-political terms - of radical liberalism vs
elitist conservatism.
Questions 1-8
Do the following statements agree with the claims of the writer in Reading Passage 54?
In boxes 1-8 of your answer sheet, write:

YES if the statement agrees with the claims of the writer

NO if the statement contradicts the claims of the writer
NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this

1 There are understandable reasons why arguments occur about language.

2 People feel more strongly about language education than about small differences in language usage.
3 Our assessment of a person's intelligence is affected by the way he or she uses language.
4 Prescriptive grammar books cost a lot of money to buy in the 18th century.
5 Prescriptivism still exists today.
6 According to the descriptivist, it is pointless to try to stop language change.
7 Descriptivism only appeared after the 18th century.
8 Both descriptivists and prescriptivists have been misrepresented.

Questions 9-12
Complete the summary using the list of words, A-l, below
Write the correct letter A-l, in boxes 9-12 on your answer sheet.

A descriptivists
B language experts
C popular speech
D formal language
E evaluation
F rules
G modern linguists
H prescriptivists
I change
The language debate

According to 9 ………….., there is only one correct form of language. Linguists who take this
approach to language place great importance on grammatical 10 ......................... Conversely, the view
of 11 ………….., such as Joseph Priestley, is that grammar should be based on 12 ...................... .