LEVEL: C1

READING COMPREHENSION

I. Read the following text carefully and then answer the questions by selecting the correct
answer from the four options given. For each question there is only ONE correct answer.

‘Triple Package’ by Amy Chua & Jed Rubenfeld

Reviewed by Jenni Russell

I do admire Amy Chua’s spirit. Having ignited an international firestorm among the chattering
classes with her bestselling book, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, the Yale law professor has
decided to be just as provocative with her follow up.
Tiger Mother was a funny, apologetic, self-knowing memoir recounting Chua’s hyperdemanding
parenting of her two daughters (sample story: Chua threatening to throw away her seven year-old
daughter’s doll’s house because she wasn’t practicing the piano perfectly). Most critics didn’t
bother to acknowledge the nuances in her account, nor her eventual realisation that her tiger
mothering can go too far. Instead, they responded with horror to her tough-love regime. Some
readers even sent death threats.
Chua’s philosophy made her unpopular because it ran counter to the current Western belief that
childhood should be fun and that parents should praise and encourage their offspring at all times.
Her new book, written jointly with fellow law professor, Jed Rubenfeld, is already being
denounced across the Atlantic because it challenges another liberal tenet: that exploring the
cultural differences between groups amounts to racism.
In a lengthy, bitter piece in Time, the writer Suketu Mehta argues that praising the cultural
characteristics of any particular group implies that others are inferior, and that Chua and
Rubenfeld are thus among “the new racialists”. “The language of racism in America has
changed, although the plot remains the same. It’s not about skin colour any more, it’s about
cultural traits. And it comes cloaked in a whole lot of social science babble.”
The critics have a genuine concern. They worry, understandably, that generalisations about
group behaviour can be used as reasons to discriminate against communities. They point out that
in the past, Italians, French-Canadians and Hispanics have all been labelled as possessing
undesirable, un-American values. In the 1920s racial and cultural prejudice barred Asians from
immigrating to America and established quotas for eastern Europeans that were aimed at
excluding Jews. But in their rage and anxiety over the issue, these critics are denying the
importance of analysing how societies work, and casually misinterpreting what Chua and
Rubenfeld actually say.
The Triple Package sets out to ask a serious question: why do some groups in America radically
outperform others? The authors look beyond the categories of class to identify the group whose
income, academic accomplishment, corporate leadership and professional success outperform the
norm. “The reality, uncomfortable as it may be to talk about, is that some religious, ethnic and
national origin groups are starkly more successful than others. Without looking squarely at such
groups, it’s impossible to understand economic mobility in America and what the levers of
success in this country really are.”
Why, the authors ask, do Nigerian-Americans, less than 1% of the US black population, make up
some 10% of black doctors, almost 25% of black students at Harvard Business School and 5% of
black lawyers at top law firms? How have the Mormons gone from being outsiders in Wall Street
and Washington 30 years ago to stunning numbers at the top of America’s corporate and political
spheres? Why do Asian children, many from poor families, make up 5% of college-aged students
but almost 20% of those at the top, so called ‘Ivy League’, universities?
Chua and Rubenfeld insist that the answer has nothing to do with innate or genetic differences
between groups. They are not uncovering in-built superiorities, but identifying belief systems
that are encouraging individuals to succeed. They argue that America’s very different and super-
achieving subcultures share three critical characteristics – the “Triple Package”. They grow up
believing privately that their group is superior, whether for religious, racial, historical,
geographical or class reasons. All feel insecure about whether the society around them will
recognise and reward that superiority, which makes them desperate to prove their worth. And,
importantly, each preaches impulse control to its members, particularly children. Sacrifices of
time, happiness and money must be made today in order that parents may be proud and that
individuals may have better lives tomorrow.
This combination leads to disproportionate levels of worldly success, the authors say because
they are no longer values lauded in America. Schools teach that no group is superior, while
selfesteem and living in the present are supposed to be the key to living the good life. But while
America preaches the advantages of being laid-back, society’s rewards go to those who reject
those ideas. It is the disciplined and the driven who end up with wealth, prestige and power.

1. We learn from this review that Amy Chua’s second book

a. is the second part of a three-part trilogy.
b. has proved as controversial as her first book.
c. has provoked numerous death threats.
d. is much admired by the reading public.

2. According to this review, Amy Chua’s first book

a. provides an honest account of her own upbringing.
b. is a detailed analysis of child upbringing in the West.
c. takes a critical look at her own mothering skills.
d. is a novel about a mother’s love for her daughters.

3. The phrase that is nearest in meaning and could best replace ‘tenet’ is:
a. point of principle
b. way of teaching
c. style of writing
d. point of friction

4. We learn from this review that Chua and Rebenfeld have been criticised for
a. the language they use in their book.
b. their bitterness towards other cultures.
c. advocating views of cultural superiority.
d. their attitude towards those of different skin colour.
5. The phrase ‘it comes cloaked in a whole lot of social science babble’ (paragraph 4) suggests
that accounts of racism are written in
a. approachable language to be accessible to everyone.
b. a mysterious way to create suspense for the reader.
c. a way that is both informative and enlightened.
d. language made to sound academic and well researched.

6. The writer of this review considers that critics of Chua and Rubenfeld are
a. wholeheartedly justified in their reservations about the book.
b. justified in raising questions but miss the main point of the book.
c. completely unjustified and should not be taken seriously
d. not genuine in their criticism as they do not like the authors.

7. The example of Nigerian-Americans cited in paragraph 7 is used to

a. suggest that Nigerians are exceptionally talented people.
b. illustrate the lack of success of Afro-Americans in America.
c. argue for the inclusion of more minority students at top universities.
d. support the view that minority groups can achieve economic mobility.

8. In their book, Chua and Rubenfeld suggest that success

a. is determined by one’s confidence and feeling of security.
b. is inborn and depends on your genetic makeup.
c. depends on the values instilled in you by your parents.
d. comes more easily to those who are assertive.

9. It can be inferred from the review that Chua and Rubenfeld believe
a. success is open to everyone in America, provided that their upbringing satisfies certain
conditions.
b. only recent immigrants can succeed in America as others cannot satisfy the necessary
conditions.
c. Afro-American societies have little chance of succeeding in America because of their ethnic
origins.
d. Americans are losing their competitive edge and those living outside America are more likely
to succeed.

10. We learn from this review of Chua and Rubenfeld’s book that the American school system
a. encourages young people to succeed in future life.
b. fails to promote the values that are rewarded in later life.
c. advocates making sacrifices in the short term for long term success.
d. has recently responded to changes in society values.

II. In the article below about fast-growing economies of Africa, five paragraphs have been
removed. Choose from paragraphs A – F which one best fits each gap. There is one extra
paragraph that you will not need to use.
No need to dig

AFRICA is a continent rich in minerals and oil. China has an economy that requires them in
abundance. Since the mid-1990s the economy of sub-Saharan Africa has grown by an average of
5% a year. At the start of this period Africa’s trade with China was negligible. It is now worth
around $200 billion a year. Most of Africa’s exports are raw materials. China sends
manufactured goods back in return.

1. XXXXXXXXXX
Yet mining and oil are far from the whole story. A study published this week by the International
Monetary Fund (IMF) finds that eight of the 12 fastest-growing economies in Africa in recent
years did not rely on natural resources. Together these economies grew more even than the group
of oil producers. The first thing the IMF wanted to confirm was that the growth was real.
Countries of meager means cannot afford to devote much money or manpower to gathering
economic data; their GDP figures can be shaky, forcing analysts to fall back on rough-and-ready
guides to the economy’s health.

27. XXXXXXXXXX

Six countries qualified: Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda.
They are a diverse bunch. What they have in common is poverty. Even after their growth spurt
none has an average income per head above $1,500 a year.

2. XXXXXXXXXX

Higher revenues, in turn, helped to control inflation. Tanzania’s government had once relied on
the central bank to plug its budget deficits. The more money the bank printed, the less it was
worth. From 1980 to 1994 inflation in Tanzania averaged almost 30%. With a more reliable tax
base and better control of public spending, the central bank was freed to focus on inflation,
which has since dropped to single digits. In neighbouring Uganda the headway has been even
greater. Inflation fell to 6% in 1995-2010 compared with an average of 92% over the preceding
15 years.

3. XXXXXXXXXX

The climate for private business is also much improved. Price controls and state-backed
monopolies have been swept away. Rwanda stands out for its progress. Its coffee farmers once
had little incentive to produce for export. The state set a single price for beans and took the lion’s
share of any profits. But from the mid-1990s it granted private enterprise a bigger role. Now
gourmet coffee from Rwanda is sold in posh grocery stores around the world. The country has
risen to a heady 32nd in the World Bank’s global ranking for ease of doing business.

4. XXXXXXXXXX

When governments run short of cash, spending on roads, schools or power plants is more likely
to be cut than the wages (or jobs) of civil servants. Reliable flows of aid, however, enable
countries to protect their capital spending. This has allowed as poor a place as Burkina Faso to
plan its public spending over several years.

A.
It can thus be quite hard to see past the role of China’s ravenous appetite for raw materials in
Africa’s recent economic success. Natural resources make up a quarter or more of export
revenues for around half of the 45 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Nine of them, including
Nigeria and Angola, which have two of Africa’s largest economies, benefit from exports of oil
and gas.

B.
Such reforming zeal attracts outside help. All six countries in the IMF study received more aid
(in the form of grants or cheap loans) and more foreign direct investment than their peers. The
aid helped, among other things, to prop up investment in education and infrastructure.

C.
Why did the six economies grow so fast? Stable and purposeful policy-making helped. All six
countries took steps in the 1990s to control public finances and curb inflation. Tanzania is a
striking example. In 1998 it introduced a value-added tax in place of less reliable forms of
revenue. Income-tax bands were simplified and rates cut. Tax inspectors focused on the cases
likely to yield the most money. Receipts rose from 10% of GDP in 2000 to 16% by 2009. That
allowed higher public spending.

D.
To discover what lay behind this success, IMF researchers focused on countries that met two
criteria: GDP growth of at least 5% a year on average from 1995 to 2010, and growth in GDP per
head of at least 3% a year.

E.
And alongside these familiar challenges are some new ones. Burkina Faso has become a gold
producer. There is natural gas off Tanzania’s coast. In a few years Mozambique will be a big
source of coal, oil and gas. In Africa, it seems, natural resources are never far away.

F.
Progress was not restricted to economic policy. The six countries in the IMF study are far better
governed than they were in the mid- 1990s. Based on indicators compiled by the World Bank,
they are less corrupt, have better bureaucrats, enjoy more stable politics and are better regulated
than their African peers.

GRAMMAR AND VOCABULARY

III. Read the following text and decide which of the four options (A, B, C or D) given in the
table below the text best fits. There is only ONE correct answer.

When Virtue Becomes Vice

After being shot 1) _____ Theodore Roosevelt continued with his 2) ______campaign speech for
an hour before consenting to medical 3) _____. Self-confidence, resilience and fearlessness
produce bold leaders who perform well 4) _____, whether as presidents, chairpersons of major
companies, or war heroes. But the very same virtues are also 5) _____ a few degrees from
antisocial behaviors 6) _____decidedly negative consequences. If you lack awareness of your
own fears and limitations, you may easily 7) _____ reckless, impulsive and callous.
‘Some traits may be like a 8) ______sword,’ says psychologist Scott Lilienfeld. ‘Fearless
dominance, for example, may contribute to skillful leadership in a crisis or to reckless criminality
and violence,’ he reports in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. In his personality
assessment of forty-two presidents, Lilienfeld notes that Teddy Roosevelt 9) _____ highest in
fearless dominance.
The nature of a virtue 10) _____ a vice is almost always hidden inside. In the latest scientific 11)
______ on personality, our characteristics are no 12) _____ seen as binary, but as dimensional.
Not only does each trait 13) _____ a continuum, each holds the grain of its own destruction:
confident turns to arrogant, cautious to anxious, persuasive to domineering. It's all 14) _____ of
degree.
Human nature, social norms and the culture of the workplace generally pull us toward virtues.
But alleged virtues are not always 15) _____ they seem. Not only can they 16) _____ vices, they
are not invariably virtuous and so must be regularly re-examined. None is a blanket prescription
in a highly dynamic universe. Change requires, above all, adaptability, the ability to move on
from the status quo and move 17) ______ what worked in the past and what you 18) ______ by
your parents as you were growing up.
Even when, on the 19) ______, they seem to be one of the best things about an individual or
organization, deeply held, unquestioned beliefs can be destructive. Sticking to preconceived
ideas of the virtues that make a ‘good parent’, ‘loyal employee’, ‘inspiring boss’ or ‘loving
spouse’ may often 20) _____.

A B C D
1 at near range in short range at close range in close range
2 schedule scheduled scheduler scheduling
3 Cure appointment operation treatment
4 at a post on a post on the job at the job
5 Very well so just
6 With by through per
7 became become becomes becoming
8 Double-handed double-edged double-action double-sided
9 Ranked scaled classed graded
10 is such is so being that is that
11 treatises knowledge hearsay awareness
12 Longer later doubt further
13 fall down fall at fall on fall by
14 an issue a matter a level a case
15 That which what whether
16 rub out conceal convey make up
17 forward further beyond away
18 were teaching were taught taught would teach
19 Face top summit surface
20 let us go let us down let is in Let us through

IV. Read the following text carefully and think of ONE word that best fits each gap. Make
sure that the text as a whole is cohesive and is both grammatically and logically correct.

Smoking tobacco sends perhaps half of its long-term addicts to an 1) ____ grave and inflicts
chronic illness on many of the rest. The filthy habit is 2) ____ the wane in rich countries, though
it is still worryingly popular with many of 3) ____ young. Electronic cigarettes 4) ____ like a
promising substitute: power from a small battery vaporises a 5) ____ of purified nicotine,
delivering the hit that smokers crave but 6) ____ the toxins in tobacco smoke. So you might
imagine that the increasing demand for e-cigarettes would 7) ____ welcomed and encouraged.
Not at the European Parliament. Soon members 8) ___ going to debate a new tobaccocontrol
directive. 9) ____ intention is to cut smoking and stop children from taking it 10) ____.
But one of the directive’s main provisions will have a diametrically 11) ____ effect. It is going to
treat ecigarettes 12) ____ medicines, which includes requiring their makers to seek 13) ____
from the agencies that regulate pharmaceuticals when they bring a new product to market. This
would greatly reduce the range 14) ____ products available and increase the 15) ____ at which
they are sold. Even the European Commission, 16) ____ first proposed the approach, admits that
this is going to 17) ____ down the uptake of e-cigarettes. E-cigarettes are not entirely risk-free.
Little 18) ____ has so far been done into their long-term health effects. Nicotine is, in
implausibly large doses, 19) ____ poison. In small quantities it is addictive, although the amount
of the chemical dispensed by e-cigarettes 20) ____ from one brand to 21) ____. It is,
nonetheless, already clear that even 22) ____ health risks emerge in studies of e-cigarette use,
they are going to be vastly 23) ____ lethal than traditional smokes. For this 24) ____,
governments should invest 25) ____ rigorous testing and see how the product evolves.

WRITING

V. Write an essay of 200-250 words addressing ONE of the questions below:

A. ‘Modern technology makes the telling of white lies more difficult to detect and therefore
encourages us to tell such lies.’ To what extent do you agree with this statement and why?

B. ‘Higher education is a privilege, not a right’. Do you agree? Why / why not?

VI. Choose one of the following four tasks:

A. You are applying for a place on a distance-learning degree course at a British university. They
have asked you to write why you wish to take the course and why you think you will be
successful. Write an application letter of at least 150 words.
B. A magazine for English language learners is running a short essay-writing competition. You
decide to take part. Those wishing to take part are asked to write an essay on: How language
learning can help to reduce prejudice. Write an essay of at least 150 words.

Answer Key

I.
1b
2c
3a
4c
5d
6b
7d
8c
9a
10 b

II
1A
2D
3C
4F
5B
(E not used)

III
1. C
2. B
3. D
4. C
5. D
6. A
7. B
8. B
9. A
10. D
11. A
12. A
13. C
14. B
15. C
16. B
17. C
18. B
19. D
20. B

IV.
1) early
2) on
3) the, our
4) look, seem, sound
5) solution
6) without, omitting, not
7) be
8) are
9) Its
10) up
11) opposite
12) like, as
13) approval, permission, authorisation
14) of
15) price
16) which
17) slow, bring
18) research, investigation, study
19) a
20) varies, differs, changes
21) another
22) if
23) less
24) reason
25) in