PRACTICE TEST_1

READING COMPREHENSION
Part 1: Read the following passage and decide which answer (A, B, C, or
0914228228ts each gap. Write your answers in the corresponding
numbered boxes.
Stories about how people somehow know they are being watched have been going
around for years. However, few attempts have been made to investigate the
phenomenon scientifically. Now, with the completion of the largest ever study of the
so-called staring effect, there is impressive evidence that this is a recognizable and
(1) _____ sixth sense. The study involved hundreds of children. For the experiments,
they sat with their eyes (2) _____ so they could not see, and with their backs to other
children, who were told to either stare at them or look away. Time and time again the
results showed that the children who could not see were able to tell when being
stared at. In a (3) _____ of more than 18,000 trials carried out worldwide, the
children (4) _____ sensed when they were being watched almost 70% of the time.
The experiment was repeated with the (5) _____ precaution of putting the children
who were being watched outside the room, separated from the stares by the
windows. This was done just in case there was some (6) _____ going on with the
children telling each other whether they were looking or not. This (7) _____ the
possibility of sounds being (8) _____ the children. The results, though less
impressive, were more or less the same. Dr. Sheldrake, the biologist who designed
the study, believes that the results are (9) _____ enough to find out through further
experiments precisely how the staring effect might actually (10) _____.
1. A. genuine B. accepted C. received D. sure
2. A. shaded B. wrapped C. masked D. covered
3. A. sum B. collection C. mass D. total
4. A. correctly B. exactly C. thoroughly D. perfectly
5. A. attached B. added C. connected D. increased
6. A. pretending B. lying C. cheating D. deceiving
7. A. ended B. omitted C. evaded D. prevented
8. A. delivered B. transported C. transmitted D. distributed
9. A. satisfying B. convincing C. concluding D. persuading
10. A. come about B. be looked at. C. set out D. be held up

Part 2: Read the text below and think of a word which best fits each gap. Write
your answers in the corresponding numbered boxes.
Advertisements
Perhaps the most creative (1) _____ of language in newspapers is in the
advertisements. The writers have to catch and hold the reader’s attention. They often
do this with a (2) _____ on words. You read the words and understand one (3) _____
and then suddenly you realise that another interpretation is also (4) _____. Through
the ambiguity the advertisement has caught your attention and the advertiser hopes
you will buy the product.
Under the picture of a new car are the words: “Not another family saloon.” The dual
interpretation of that phrase is (5) _____ on how it is pronounced. Misread it by
putting the stress on the second word thereby projecting a massage the advertiser

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would clearly not want, and this makes you look again and pay conscious (6) _____
to the alternative message.
Advertising copywriters frequently make (7) _____ of idioms. One advertisement
showed girls wearing different coloured jeans, but none of the traditional blue ones.
Underneath were the words: “Jeanius is having ideas out of the blue.” On level, that
means the jeans are not ordinary blue jeans but ones in a wide range of colours. But
there is also the suggestion that these new jeans are a sudden piece of inspiration, a
stroke of a genius. “Out of the blue” is an idiom which (8) _____ quite unexpectedly
and genius often (9) _____getting a brilliant idea suddenly. That’s very clever, but it’s
not quite the (10) _____ of it, because it’s not genius they are talking about, but
Jeanius. That is another play on words – the product they are selling, after all, is just
a pair of jeans.

Part 3: Read the text below and choose the correct answer (A, B, C or D) to each
of the questions that follow. Write your answers in the corresponding
numbered boxes.

Because conducting censuses requires detailed planning, the

organization conducting a census decides on and narrows the topics to
be addressed and, more specifically, determines how to word the
questions, tabulate the responses, and report the findings. Assimilating,
5 compiling, and statistically analyzing the information is a work-intensive
process that may sometimes take up to a year. Censuses examine such
issues as population size and density, employment and industrial
affiliation, migration, formal education, income received, housing, marital
status, relationship of each individual to the head of the family, and age.
1 A detailed series of queries sample the data associated with the quality
0 of housing, transportation, the level of industrial production, water and
electricity consumption, or the functioning of the local government. Major
censuses taken by the federal government are conducted every 10
years, in the years that end in zero. Surveys of agriculture take place
every 5 years and cover the years ending in 4 and 9, manufacturing
1 censuses in the years that end in 3 and 8, governmental units in the
5 years ending in 2 and 7, and drainage and irrigation systems in the years
ending in 9.
To ensure that the census information is complete, the organization
conducting the census attempts to contact every individual residing or
employed in a particular geographic area. To be consistent, information
2 is gathered at approximately the same time. Because it is practically
0 impossible to reach every person on the same day, censuses question
the individual about conditions as they were on a certain date. Following
the data gathering, the information is analyzed to determine the extent of
social and economic change and problems, as well as the resources
available to deal with them. During the years between censuses, the
2 Census Bureau engages in monthly interviews and queries from a
5 sample population to update its statistics. The issues of Statistical
Abstract of the United States summarize all the information that is
collected by 50 federal agencies and by private and public agencies.
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1. With what aspect of conducting censuses is the passage mainly concerned
A. Content and timing B. Inquiring and analyzing
C. Tallying and updating D. Reporting and publicizing
2. The word “narrows” in line 2 is closest in meaning to _____.
A. delimits B. declines C. betrays D. depletes
3. According to the passage, censuses take a great deal of _____.
A. funding B. publicity C. insight D. time
4. The author mentions that censuses gather data about all of the following
EXCEPT _____.
A. household size B. agricultural production
C. industrial output D. social networks
5. It can be inferred from the passage that a census of industries took place in
_____.
A. 1990 B. 1994 C. 1998 D. 1997
6. The word “consistent” in line 17 is closest in meaning to _____.
A. constant B. uniform C. assorted D. various
7. To gather complete information, the organization conducting the census
contacts all people who _____.
A. speak at the same time B. have a similar economic status
C. are involved in similar activities D. are concerned about a specific problem
8. It can be inferred from the passage that census data are necessary to ___
A. rebuild urban infrastructure B. determine arising needs
C. analyze the electoral outlook D. identify sources of criminal activity
9. The author of the passage implies most censuses are conducted by _____.
A. private agencies B. public organizations
C. the central government D. the statistical bureau
10. The word “statistics” in line 23 is closest in meaning to _____.
A. equations B. solutions C. questionnaires D. data

Part 4: You are going to read an extract from a newspaper article. Five
paragraphs have been removed from the extract. Choose from the
paragraphs (A-F) the one which fits each gap (1-5). There is one extra
paragraph which you do not need to use.
Science Flying in the Face of Gravity
Journalist Tom Mumford joins students using weightlessness to test their theories
It looked like just another aircraft from the outside. The pilot told his young
passengers that it was built in 1964, a Boeing KC-135 refueling tanker, based on the
Boeing 707 passenger craft. But appearances were deceptive, and the 13 students
from Europe and America who boarded were in for the flight of their lives. Inside, it
had become a long white tunnel.
There were almost no windows, but it was eerily illuminated by lights along the
padded walls. Most of the seats had been ripped out, apart from a few at the back,
where the pale-faced, budding scientists took their places with the air of condemned
men.
1. ________
Those with the best ideas won a place on this unusual flight, which is best described
as the most extraordinary roller-coaster ride yet devised. For the next two hours the
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Boeing’s flight would resemble that of an enormous bird which had lost its reason,
shooting upwards towards the heavens before hurtling towards Earth.
2. ________
In the few silent seconds between ascending and falling the aircraft and everything
inside it become weightless, and the 13 students would, in theory, feel themselves
closer to the moon than the Earth. The aircraft took off smoothly enough, but any
lingering illusions the young scientists and I had that we were on anything like a
scheduled passenger service were quickly dispelled when the Pilot put the Boeing
into a 45-degree climb which lasted around 20 seconds. The engines strained wildly,
blood drained from our heads, and bodies were scattered across the cabin floor.
3. ________
We floated aimlessly; the idea of going anywhere was itself confusing. Left or right,
up or down, no longer had any meaning. Only gravity, by rooting us somewhere,
permits us to appreciate the possibility of going somewhere else.
4. ________
Our first curve completed, there were those who turned green at the thought of the
29 to follow. Thirty curves added up to ten minutes ‘space time’ for experiments and
the Dutch students were soon studying the movements of Leonardo, their robotic cat,
hoping to discover how it is that cats always land on their feet.
5. ________
Next to the slightly stunned acrobatic robocat, a German team from the University of
Aachen investigated how the quality of joins in metal is affected by the absence of
gravity, with an eye to the construction of tomorrow’s space stations.
Another team of students, from Utah State University, examined the possibility of
creating solar sails from-thin-liquid films hardened in ultraviolet sunlight. Their flight
was spent attempting to produce the films under microgravity. They believe that once
the process is perfected, satellites could be equipped with solar sails that use the
sun’s radiation just as a yacht’s sails use the wind.
After two hours spent swinging between heaven and Earth, that morning’s breakfast
felt unstable, but the predominant sensation was exhilaration, not nausea. This was a
feeling that would stay with us for a long time. ‘It was an unforgettable experience,’
said one of the students, ‘I was already aiming to become an astronaut, but now I
want to even more.’

A. The intention was to achieve a kind of state of grace at the top of each curve. As
the pilot cuts the engines at 3,000 metres, the aircraft throws itself still higher by
virtue of its own momentum before gravity takes over and it plummets earthwards
again.
B. After ten seconds of free fall descent, the pilot pulled the aircraft out of its nose
dive. The return of gravity was less immediate than its loss, but was still sudden
enough to ensure that some of the students came down with a bump.
C. At the appropriate moment the device they had built to investigate this was
released, floating belly-up, and one of the students succeeded in turning it belly-
down with radio-controlled movements. The next curve was nearly its last,
however, when another student landed on top of it during a less well-managed
return to gravitational pull.
D. For 12 months, they had competed with other students from across the continent
to participate in the flight. The challenge, offered by the European Space Agency,
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 had been to suggest imaginative experiments to be conducted in weightless
conditions.
E. It was at that point that the jury of scientists were faced with the task of selecting
from these experiments. They were obviously pleased by the quality: ‘We need
new ideas and new people like this in the space sciences,’ a spokesman said.
F. Then the engines cut out and the transition to weightlessness was nearly
instantaneous. For 20 seconds we conducted a ghostly dance in the unreal
silence: the floor had become a vast trampoline, and one footstep was enough to
launch us headlong towards the ceiling.

Part 5: Read the following passage and do the tasks that follow.

Choose the most suitable headings for paragraphs (C-G) from the list of
headings below. Write the appropriate numbers (i-x) in the space provided.
List of headings:

i. The Crick and Watson approach to research

ii. Antidotes to bacterial infection
iii. The testing of hypotheses
iv. Explaining the inductive method
v. Anticipating results before data is collected
vi. How research is done and how it is reported
vii. The role of hypotheses in scientific research
viii. Deducing the consequences of hypotheses
ix. Karl Popper’s claim that the scientific method is hypothetico-deductive
x. The unbiased researcher
A. ‘Hypotheses,’ said Medawar in 1964, ‘are imaginative and inspirational in
character’; they are ‘adventures of the mind’. He was arguing in favor of the
position taken by Karl Popper in The Logic of Scientific Discovery (1972, 3rd
edition) that the nature of scientific method is hypothetico-deductive and not, as
is generally believed, inductive.
B. It is essential that you, as an intending researcher, understand the difference
between these two interpretations of the research process so that you do not
become discouraged or begin to suffer from a feeling of ‘cheating’ or not going
about it the right way.
C. The myth of scientific method is that it is inductive: that the formulation of
scientific theory starts with the basic, raw evidence of the senses - simple,
unbiased, unprejudiced observation. Out of these sensory data - commonly
referred to as ‘facts’ - generalizations will form. The myth is that from a
disorderly array of factual information an orderly, relevant theory will somehow
emerge. However, the starting point of induction is an impossible one.
D. There is no such thing as an unbiased observation. Every act of observation we
make is a function of what we have seen or otherwise experienced in the past.
All scientific work of an experimental or exploratory nature starts with some
expectation about the outcome. This expectation is a hypothesis. Hypotheses
provide the initiative and incentive for the inquiry and influence the method. It is
in the light of an expectation that some observations are held to be relevant and
some irrelevant, that one methodology is chosen and others discarded, that
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 some experiments are conducted and others are not. Where is, your naive, pure
and objective researcher now?
E. Hypotheses arise by guesswork, or by inspiration, but having been formulated
they can and must be tested rigorously, using the appropriate methodology. If
the predictions you make as a result of deducing certain consequences from
your hypothesis are not shown to be correct then you discard or modify your
hypothesis. If the predictions turn out to be correct then your hypothesis has
been supported and may be retained until such time as some further test shows
it not to be correct. Once you have arrived at your hypothesis, which is a product
of your imagination, you then proceed to a strictly logical and rigorous process
based upon deductive argument - hence the term ‘hypothetico-deductive’.
F. So don’t worry if you have some idea of what your results will tell you before you
even begin to collect data; there are no scientists in existence who really wait
until they have all-the evidence in front of them before they try to work out what
it might possibly mean. The closest we ever get to this situation is when
something happens by accident; but even then the researcher has to formulate
a hypothesis to be tested before being sure that, for example, a mold might
prove to be a successful antidote to bacterial infection.
G. The myth of scientific method is not only that it is inductive (which we have seen
is incorrect) but also that the hypothetico-deductive method proceeds in a step-
by-step, inevitable fashion. The hypothetico-deductive method describes the
logical approach to much research work, but it does not describe the
psychological behavior that brings it about. This is much more holistic - involving
guesses, reworkings, corrections, blind alleys and above all inspiration, in the
deductive as well as the hypothetic component - than is immediately apparent
from reading the final thesis or published papers. These have been, quite
properly, organized into a more serial, logical order so that the worth of the
output may be evaluated independently of the behavioral processes by which it
was obtained. It is the difference, for example between the academic papers
with which Crick and Watson demonstrated the structure of the DNA molecule
and the fascinating book The Double Helix in which Watson (1968) described
how they did it. From this point of view, ‘scientific method’ may more usefully be
thought of as a way of writing up research rather than as a way of carrying it out.

Your answers:
1. Paragraph C: 2. Paragraph D: 3. Paragraph E: 4. Paragraph F: 5. Paragraph G:

Do the following statements reflect the opinions of the writer in the passage?
Write
YES (Y) if the statement reflects the opinion of the writer
NO (N) if the statement contradicts the opinion of the writer
NOT GIVEN (NG) if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this

6. Popper says that the scientific method is hypothetico-deductive.

7. If a prediction based on a hypothesis is fulfilled, then the hypothesis is confirmed
as true.
8. Many people carry out research in a mistaken way.
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9. The ‘scientific method’ is more a way of describing research than a way of doing
it.

10. Choose the appropriate letter (A-D). Which of the following statements best
describes the writer’s main purpose the passage?
A. to advise Ph.D. students not to cheat while carrying out research
B. to encourage Ph.D. students to work by guesswork and inspiration
C. to explain to Ph.D. students the logic which the scientific research paper
follows
D. to help Ph.D. students by explaining different conceptions of the research
process

Your answers:

6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

- THE END -

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