METU/SFL UPPER-INTERMEDIATE GROUP Spring 2024
DBE (Instructor’s Copy)
EPE RHO8 Topic: Mars
TEXT 1: Flesch Reading Ease: 31.7
A Although we know early Mars was wetter, warmer and more habitable than today’s freeze-dried
desert world, researchers have yet to find direct proof that life ever graced its surface. If such life
did exist, however, as a new study suggests, it could have helped tip the planet into its current
inhospitable state. The findings further identify certain regions of Mars— including Jezero Crater,
where NASA’s Perseverance rover now roams—as most likely to host signs of this past life. Re-
creating Mars as it was four billion years ago using climate and terrain models, researchers
concluded methane-producing microbes could once have thrived mere centimeters below much of
the Red Planet’s surface, consuming atmospheric hydrogen and carbon dioxide while protected by
overlying sediment. But that buried biosphere would have ultimately retreated deeper into the
planet, driven by freezing temperatures of its own making—perhaps to its doom. Their study,
published in Nature Astronomy, proposes that the interchange among hydrogen, carbon dioxide
and methane would have triggered global cooling that covered most of Mars’s surface with
inhospitable ice. “Basically, what we say is that life, when it appears on the planet and in the right
condition, might be self-destructive,” says study lead author Boris Sauterey. “It’s that self-
destructive tendency which might be limiting the ability of life to emerge widely in the universe.”
B In 1965, chemist and ecologist James Loveloc argued that certain chemical compounds in an
atmosphere act as biosignatures indicating life’s presence on another world. On Earth, for instance,
the coexistence of methane with oxygen constitutes a potent biosignature: each gas eradicates the
other in surrounding conditions, so the persistence of both indicates a steady replenishment most
easily explained by biological sources. Lovelock’s work forms the basis of today’s scientific search
for alien life. It also informs the Gaia hypothesis, which he codified with biologist Lynn Margulis
during the 1970s. This hypothesis, named after a “Mother Earth” deity from Greek mythology,
suggests that life is self-regulating: Earth’s organisms collectively interact with their surroundings in
a way that maintains environmental habitability. For instance, higher global temperatures from
excess atmospheric carbon dioxide also boost plant growth, which in turn siphons more of the
greenhouse gas from the air, eventually returning the planet to a cooler state.
C In 2009 paleontologist Peter Ward put forward a less optimistic view. At planetary scales, Ward argued, life is
more self-destructive than self-regulating and eventually wipes itself out. In contrast to the Gaia hypothesis,
he named his idea after another figure from Greek mythology: Medea, a mother who kills her own children.
To support his “Medea hypothesis,” Ward cited several past mass extinction events on Earth that suggest life
has an inherently self-destructive nature. During the Great Oxidation Event more than two billion years ago,
for instance, photosynthetic cyanobacteria pumped huge amounts of the gas into Earth’s oxygen-starved
atmosphere. This eradicated the earlier dominant life-forms: methanogens and other anaerobic organisms
for which oxygen was toxic. “You just look back at Earth’s history, and you see periods where life was its own
worst enemy,” says Ward, who was not involved in the new study. “And I think this certainly could’ve been
the case on Mars.” On Earth, though, the flood of oxygen also proved crucial for biological diversification and
the eventual emergence of our biosphere’s multicellular ancestors—showing that defining a situation as
Gaian or Medean might be a matter of perspective. Until life is found on other worlds, however, we are left
to examine the question through theoretical studies such as Sauterey’s.
D Kaveh Pahlevan, a research scientist at the SETI Institute, who was not involved in the study, says that the
work “does broaden the way we think about the effects that biospheres can have on habitability.” However,
he notes that it considers only the planet-altering effects of one metabolism type. The study would not
capture the intricacy of something akin to the Great Oxidation Event, which hinged on the conflicting
influences of methanogens and cyanobacteria. Sauterey acknowledges this limitation: “You can imagine that
a more complex, more diversified [Martian] biosphere would not have had the negative effect on planet
habitability that just meth anogens would have had,” he says. The study highlights how a complex ecosystem,
like that of early Earth, may be essential to recovery from otherwise catastrophic environmental change.
E Beyond life’s potential fate, the study suggests a way to find it: Although the researchers did not explore the
possibility of present-day methanogens lurking deep within Mars’s subsurface, they did pinpoint places
untouched by ice for large swaths of the planet’s history where such microbes could have once thrived closer
to the surface. One spot is Jezero Crater, the current target of the Perseverance rover’s search for
biosignature-bearing materials. But it is possible that fossil evidence of early methanogens would be under
too much sediment for the rover to reach. The study also identified two even more promising sites: Mars’s
Hellas Planitia and Isidis Planitia regions. These targets fit with a broader rising interest in examining the
Martian subsurface for signs of life, says California Institute of Technology geobiologist Victoria Orphan, who
was not involved in the study. Sauterey’s research, Orphan says, is “a reference point to help stimulate
debates and deeper thinking about future missions.”
F Sauterey is careful to point out that the new work is hypothetical—and that just because parts of Mars’s
crust were once habitable does not mean the planet was ever inhabited. Whether or not ancient
methanogens ever lived on Mars, however, the results of the study illustrate how life itself can set the
conditions for its own flourishing or frizzling on any world in the cosmos. Even single-celled organisms have
the power to transform an otherwise habitable planet into a hostile place. And, Sauterey darkly adds, “with
the technological means that we have, humans can do that even faster.”
(Adapted from Scientific American: [Link]
Mark the alternatives that best answer the questions or complete the statements about the text.
1. What is the main message conveyed by the study's lead author in paragraph A?
a) The regulatory mechanisms governing life on Mars appear to outweigh its self-destructive tendencies
b) Life's inclination to self-destruct hinders its capacity for widespread emergence across the universe
c) Life's ability to flourish or fizzle depends on the presence of multicellular organisms on a planet
2. What does the term "biosignature" refer to according to paragraph B?
a) Chemical substances signaling the existence of life on different planets
b) The study of the existence and characteristics of ancient microbial life on Mars
c) The process of terraforming Mars to make it a habitable planet
3. The writer’s main purpose of including Medea hypothesis in paragraph C is _______.
a) to introduce an alternative perspective on the self-regulating nature of life, suggesting a more
pessimistic view regarding life's tendency towards self-destruction
b) to provide evidence from paleontologist Peter Ward's Medea hypothesis, raising questions about the
potential implications for life on Mars
c) to present the notion that life's impact on planetary environments may not always be beneficial, as
proposed by Ward's Medea hypothesis
4. Which of the following is true about the Great Oxidation Event according to paragraph C?
a) It disproved the Gaia hypothesis proposed by Lovelock
b) It caused a mass extinction event on Mars
c) It led to the emergence of multicellular organisms on Earth
5. It can be inferred from paragraph D that the main limitation of the study conducted by Sauterey is that
it _______.
a) fails to provide evidence of life on Mars in the present day
b) only considers the effects of one type of metabolism on Mars
c) overlooks the potential for complex ecosystems on Mars
6. According to paragraph E, the primary objective of the Perseverance rover on Mars is to _______.
a) collect samples of Martian soil for analysis
b) study the geological features of Jezero Crater
c) search for signs of ancient microbial life
7. According to paragraph F, what can be inferred about the study's findings regarding Mars's habitability?
a) Life on Mars may have contributed to its current inhospitable state
b) Mars's climate and terrain models need to be re-evaluated
c) The search for life on Mars should focus on regions with ice cover
8. What does the word “eradicated” in paragraph C mean?
a) destroyed b) constructed c) wasted
9. What does the word “hypothetical” in paragraph F mean?
a) impractical b) theoretical c) problematical
TEXT 2:
Topic: Brain
Flesch Reading Ease: 35
A In Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, prisoners are chained to a blank wall all their lives, so that they see only the
play of shadows cast by objects passing by a fire behind them, and they give the shadows names because for
them, the shadows are what is real. A thousand years later, the Arab scholar Ibn al-Haytham wrote that
perception, in the here and now, depends on processes of “judgment and inference” rather than involving
direct access to an objective reality. Hundreds of years after that, Immanuel Kant realized that the chaos of
unbridled sensory data would always remain meaningless without being given structure by preexisting
conceptions or “beliefs,” which for him included a priori frameworks such as space and time. Kant’s term
“noumenon” refers to a “thing in itself”—Ding an sich—an objective reality that will always be inaccessible to
human perception.
B Today these ideas have gained a new momentum through an influential collection of theories that turn on the
idea that the brain is a kind of prediction machine and that perception of the world—and of the self within it
—is a process of brain-based prediction about the causes of sensory signals. In theories of predictive
perception, the brain approximates inference from the outside world by continually generating predictions
relying on sensory signals and comparing these predictions with the sensory signals that arrive at the eyes and
the ears (and the nose and the fingertips, and all the other sensory surfaces on the outside and inside of the
body). The differences between predicted and actual sensory signals give rise to so-called prediction errors,
which are used by the brain to update its predictions, readying it for the next round of sensory inputs. By
striving to minimize sensory prediction errors everywhere and all the time, the brain implements an
approximate inference, and the resulting best guess is what we perceive.
C To understand how dramatically this perspective shifts our intuitions about the neurological basis of
perception, it is helpful to think in terms of bottom-up and top-down directions of signal flow in the brain. If
we assume that perception is a direct window onto an external reality, then it is natural to think that the
content of perception is carried by bottom-up signals— those that flow from the sensory surfaces inward.
Top-down signals might contextualize or finesse what is perceived, but nothing more. Call this the “how
things seem” view because it seems as if the world is revealing itself to us directly through our senses. The
prediction machine scenario is very different. Here the heavy lifting of perception is performed by the top-
down signals that convey perceptual predictions, with the bottom-up sensory flow serving only to calibrate
these predictions, keeping them yoked, in some appropriate way, to their causes in the world. In this view,
our perceptions come from the inside out just as much as, if not more than, from the outside in. Rather than
being a passive registration of an external objective reality, perception emerges as a process of active
construction— a-controlled hallucination, as it has come to be known.
D Why controlled hallucination? People tend to think of hallucination as a kind of false perception, in clear
contrast to veridical, true-to-reality, normal perception. ■The prediction machine view suggests instead a
continuity between hallucination and normal perception. Both depend on an interaction between top-
down, brain-based predictions and bottom-up sensory data, but during hallucinations, sensory signals no
longer keep these top-down predictions appropriately tied to their causes in the world.
E This view of perception does not mean that nothing is real. Writing in the 17th century, English philosopher
John Locke made an influential distinction between “primary” and “secondary” qualities. Primary qualities of
an object, such as solidity and occupancy of space, exist independently of a perceiver. Secondary qualities, in
contrast, exist only in relation to a perceiver—color is a good example. This distinction explains why
conceiving of perception as controlled hallucination does not mean it is okay to jump in front of a bus. This
bus has primary qualities of solidity and space occupancy that exist independently of our perceptual
machinery and that can do us injury. It is the way in which the bus appears to us that is a controlled
hallucination, not the bus itself.
(Adapted from Scientific American: [Link]
Mark the alternative that best answers the questions or completes the statements about the text.
1. According to paragraph A, what does Immanuel Kant believe is necessary for sensory data to be
meaningful?
a)Preexisting conceptions or beliefs
b)Direct access to an objective reality
c) Processes of judgment and inference
2. Considering the concept of predictive perception in paragraph B, how does the brain refine its
predictions?
a) By minimizing the number of incoming sensory data
b) By reducing inaccuracies in sensory predictions
c) By comparing previous expectations with new data
3. According to paragraph C, how does perception differ from the traditional view?
a) Perception is a direct window onto an external reality carried by top-down sensory signals.
b) Perception is a passive registration of an external objective reality based on our intuitions.
c) Perception is an active construction based on brain-based predictions and sensory data.
4. Where in paragraph D can the following statement be inserted?
What we call hallucination, then, is just a form of uncontrolled perception, just as normal perception is a
controlled form of hallucination.
a) ■ b) c)
5. Which of the following is TRUE based on the information in paragraph E?
a) Primary qualities, such as color, are independent of perception, while secondary qualities, like
solidity, rely solely on perception.
b)Primary qualities like solidity and occupancy of space are entirely subjective, whereas secondary
qualities are objective.
c) Primary qualities of objects, such as solidity and occupancy of space, exist irrespective of
perception, whereas secondary qualities like color are contingent upon perception.
6. Which one would be the best title for this text?
a) The Illusion of Reality
b) Exploring Perception Through History
c) The Predictive Brain
7. What does the word “dramatically” in paragraph C mean?
a) desperately b) greatly c) madly
8. What does the word “solidity” in paragraph E mean?
a) concreteness b) temperature c) density
TEXT 3:
Topic: Mindfulness
Flesh Reading Ease: 31
A Can you imagine getting a root canal or other major dental procedure without novocaine? A scientist
colleague of mine recently told me about a painful exposed nerve in his tooth. Rather than requesting a
numbing option from his dentist, he used a “focus in” meditation technique to direct all his attention to his
mouth with as much calming equanimity as he could muster. Doing so transformed the pain for a few
minutes. Each time the dentist touched the tooth, my colleague felt bubbles of joy, and this feeling lasted
until the dentist interrupted by asking, “Why are you smiling?”
B A fair question is why anyone would want to be fully aware of intensely negative or painful experiences. But
what might sound like a punishing choice—to embrace suffering or distress—may in some instances be
helpful. A stream of scientific articles suggests that there are benefits in turning toward discomfort or
upsetting emotions with acceptance as all of us can gain from finding ways to cope with stress and
unhappiness—particularly when the circumstances are beyond our control. Moreover, incorporating
mindfulness practices over time has been shown to enhance the effectiveness of these coping mechanism.
C It’s important to first define the idea of turning toward discomfort. I’m not advocating for people to put
themselves in dangerous or excruciating positions. But when we push ourselves into challenging or
discomfiting situations, much like trainers who push athletes just past their comfort zone to make gains,
learning often happens. Indeed, a 2022 study involving more than 2,000 people demonstrated that the
participants who were explicitly encouraged to push themselves into awkward, uncomfortable situations
across multiple domains— including taking improv classes to boost self-confidence and reading about
opposing political viewpoints—later reported the greatest degree of personal growth. Another study,
published in 2023, found that people who can face negative emotions such as sadness and anger in a neutral
way are more satisfied, are less anxious and have fewer symptoms of depression than those who judge their
negative feelings harshly. That study aligns with a growing consensus in psychology that suggests we can learn
powerful lessons about ourselves if we can sit with our emotions and thoughts with an open, curious mind.
D My own research indicates that meditation provides an ideal way to practice turning toward discomfort—
particularly when it improves one’s equanimity. “Equanimity” refers to a mental attitude of being at peace
with the push and pull of experience. Broadly, it is a form of mental training that helps people focus on
attending to the present moment in an open and receptive way. In my laboratory at Carnegie Mellon
University, we conducted several clinical trials on developing equanimity during mindfulness-meditation
training. This approach includes guided meditation exercises such as using a matter-of-fact voice to label
uncomfortable sensations in the body and welcoming uncomfortable feelings by saying “yes” aloud each time
a sensation is detected.
E To gauge the effectiveness of such interventions, we recruited 153 stressed adults in Pittsburgh and offered
them a mindfulness- meditation training program with or without training in equanimity. For example, the
mindfulness-only group built skills to recognize ongoing experiences, whereas the equanimity group practiced
acceptance of those experiences in addition to the basic recognition. After just 14 days of training, the
participants who learned equanimity skills had significantly lower biological stress responses when asked to
deliver a difficult speech and solve math problems in front of experts in white lab coats. The equanimity skills
group also had lower blood pressure and hormonal stress levels. In the days after training, people introduced
to equanimity exercises reported significantly higher positive emotions and well-being throughout the day
and more meaningful social interactions than participants who received mindfulness training without the
equanimity component.
F Equanimity can help us weather the inevitable periods of suffering that we all face at some point in our life.
Many people are hurting and looking for ways to cope. Our social lives are suffering, too. Without question,
there are many important steps we need to take collectively to respond to these challenges—including
looking closely at societal structures and choices that contribute to these problems. But we can each build
resilience on a personal level by cultivating greater acceptance of our experience—good or bad, painful or
pleasant—in the present moment.
(Adapted from [Link]
thrive/)
Mark the alternatives that best answer the questions or complete the statements about the text.
1. How does paragraph A relate to paragraph B?
a) Paragraph A provides a specific example of using meditation for pain relief, while paragraph B
discusses the role of acceptance in coping with unpleasant emotions.
b) Paragraph A introduces the concept of equanimity in dental situations, while paragraph B questions
the implications of turning toward suffering and distress.
c) Paragraph A highlights the challenges of dental procedures without novocaine, while paragraph B
discusses the limitations of meditation in negative experiences.
2. What is one potential benefit of acceptance according to paragraph B?
a) It lengthens the focus and duration of mindfulness practices.
b) It helps to deal with emotional adversities outside of our control.
c) It eases the implementation of challenging dental practices.
3. In paragraph C, the findings of the studies revealed that facing challenging or uncomfortable situations
___.
a) leads to personal and emotional growth
b) gives powerful insights about ourselves
c) activates an open and curious way of thinking
4. Which of the following is NOT true about the term “equanimity” according to paragraph D?
a) It involves ignoring unwelcoming sensations.
b) It requires being in the present moment.
c) It refers to a state in which mind is at peace.
5. What did the mindfulness-meditation program reveal in paragraph E?
a) Positive social outcomes exceeded physiological ones in the mindfulness-only group.
b) The equanimity group had much better outcomes on several measures.
c) The mindfulness and equanimity components made little significant effect.
6. What is the writer’s attitude towards equanimity in paragraph F?
a) Pessimistic b) Skeptical c) Positive
7. What does the word “gauge” in paragraph E mean?
a) maximize b) assess c) demonstrate
8. What does the word “resilience” in paragraph F mean?
a) framework b) confidence c) strength
